A full-page ad in today’s The New York Times accuses the Humane Society of “helping an animal rights terrorism group.”

The ad was bought by the Center for Consumer Freedom (CCF), a front group that represents the fast food, meat and dairy industries. You might remember CCF from when they attacked Mothers Against Drunk Driving (yep, they represent big alcohol, too).

Here’s the gist of the ad: a Humane Society vice president is speaking at a holiday event sponsored by the Humane League. CCF says the Humane League has members from a group “Hugs for Puppies,” and Hugs for Puppies had members from SHAC Philly, and SHAC Philly had members from SHAC USA, and six members of SHAC USA were convicted on “animal enterprise terrorism” charges for running a controversial website.

Whew. Got that?

If not, don’t worry… the ad has a flow chart!

You know, folks, it really is a sad day when good old scare-mongering needs a six-step process. (Hell, I could connect the Humane Society to Kevin Bacon with fewer steps. And even Sarah Palin could scare-monger with fewer connections!)

And all of those steps are used to connect the Humane Society to what, exactly? A speaking event? Is that really the best CCF can do?

They’ve tried stunts like this before. When Hugs for Puppies had a table at a Humane Society conference (a table alongside dozens of other groups), CCF said they are “consorting with terrorists.” It didn’t get much media play. So now, it looks like CCF is using their deep corporate pocketbooks to get their scare-mongering to the public.

Likewise, this isn’t the first time we’ve seen ads in the The New York Times calling activists “terrorists.” But when those ads ran, they were directed at the so-called “extremists” with Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty.

These ads, though, are going straight for the throat of mainstream groups. And I hate to say it under these circumstances, but… I told you so. When the Humane Society offered a reward for the “eco-terrorist” witch hunt in California, I wrote here that naming names and pledging loyalty oaths wouldn’t be able to protect them, just like it wasn’t able to protect people during the Red Scare.

These corporations and industry groups don’t just want to stop groups like the Animal Liberation Front. They don’t just want to stop the animal rights movement. They want to stop the animal welfare movement. They want to destroy all of them, together. This is a culture war, and it’s time the “mainstream” groups start fighting back.

On that note, I have a proposal. CCF’s ad says it connects the Humane Society to “terrorism” in six steps. I bet we could connect CCF to terrorism (the real kind, not this terrorist-activist nonsense) in fewer.

To play Six Degrees of Consumer Freedom, leave a comment on this post explaining how CCF is connected to terrorism. The best answer gets a free “domestic terrorist” apron!