Now that Cingular has defined itself as an uncaring and unethical company, SHARK is preparing to take the Cingular campaign to the next level. I decided not to wait until the New Year to terminate my contract. I have signed a contract with Humane Wireless, and ten percent of what I spend will go to a humane organization (unfortunately, not SHARK). The rate is no more than with Cingular, but instead of some of the money going to animal abusers, it is going to help animals. Check out the year-end offer at Humane Wireless HERE. If Cingular wants to charge a termination charge, I will fight it on ethical grounds. In fact, I can’t wait for the company to just try to get any more out of me. Take that, Cingular! But we have so much more in store for this heartless and unethical corporation.

I have changed the phone messages for my home and cell phone to talk about Cingular’s rodeo sponsorship, and to encourage others to dump the company just as I have. I encourage you to think about doing the same thing, especially if you do not have another pro-animal message to greet people who are calling you.

We are seriously considering bringing the Tiger Truck to Cingular’s headquarters in Atlanta in the next few weeks, which would give Cingular’s employees and neighbors an opportunity to see what the company is involved in. This strategy worked very well when we battled Campbell Soup, Starbucks, Coke, Pepsi and other companies. Company employees, most of whom have never attended a rodeo, initially accept their company’s assurances that rodeos aren’t cruel. But once they get a look at the issue for themselves, they realize that their company lied to them, and that their employers are unethical jerks. Thus begins the eroding of employee moral, and this is a very bad thing for any company.

SHARK is also considering a trip to the Los Angeles area to set up a video display in Santa Monica’s famed 3rd Street Promenade. The Promenade, which daily attracts incredible numbers of people from around the world, has played an important role in publicizing other successful SHARK campaigns. The Promenade will be especially good for the Cingular campaign since people can use their wireless phones on the spot to complain to Cingular. Please consider donating to SHARK’s Tiger Truck fund.

SHARK has videos now playing on YouTube.com and MySpace.com explaining the cruelty of rodeo and Cingular’s sponsorship, and we are looking for other Internet-based sites that will help us to publicize Cingular’s involvement in animal abuse.

Finally, SHARK is consulting with a couple animal- minded lawyers such as Bryan Pease in California and Cherie Travis in Illinois to find a way to deal with Cingular in court, perhaps as a class-action lawsuit. This is the most complex course of action, but it is one that would be a whole new headache for Cingular, and could appeal to a different segment of the media.

Also fueling the fight, In Defense of Animals (IDA), People for the Ethical Treatment (PETA), and other animal protection organizations have joined the "Cingular Sponsors Cruelty" campaign. Any way you slice it, Cingular is in for a rough new year, compliments of caring people like you.

This may sound like a silly question, but it really isn’t. You know that Cingular sponsors rodeos, and you know that rodeos are very cruel and maim and kill animals. But as SHARK’s www.CowboyCriminals.com web site demonstrates, these phony cowboys are also involved in so many additional crimes – against people.

Rodeo people are involved in the most heinous and disgusting criminal behavior against humans, including but by no means limited to, child abuse, child rape, attempted murder, rape/murder, racial hate crimes, intentionally endangering public health and desertion. Rodeo people are guilty of animal abuse – and so much more! I urge you to take a few minutes to check out www.CowboyCriminals.com and to use that information when you are arguing against rodeos. If some people aren’t taken with the repulsive abuse against nonhumans, maybe the crimes against people will make them think twice. That’s also worth remembering when you talk to rodeo sponsors like Cingular.

Those of you who follow professional sports have read about the scandalous case of a company named BALCO, whose founder and vice-president were both implicated in distributing steroids to professional athletes. For those who do not follow sports, it’s being called the biggest doping scandal in sports history, and has been reported worldwide. It has implicated some of the biggest names in the sports world, and has led to congressional hearings and a major debate on what to do to clean up professional sports.

One of the defense attorneys in the BALCO case is Troy Ellerman. Mr. Ellerman is a criminal defense attorney, and as such he has defended some very questionable characters. Now Mr. Ellerman’s character is itself in question as he is accused by a former associate of blatantly violating a secrecy order by leaking grand jury testimony in the case to reporters.

So what does this have to do with Cowboy Criminals or the Rodeo Mafia? As some of you know, Troy Ellerman is also the Commissioner of the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association (PRCA), the largest, and SHARK would argue, perhaps the most corrupt, rodeo association in the world.

From where we are standing, it looks like the accusation against Ellerman is true, and that means that “Cowboy Troy” is in for a rough ride, compliments of the federal government. That’s because we know how rodeo people act when they are nailed – they run and hide. In fact, we have watched Troy Ellerman run and hide a number of times when we have nailed the PRCA in the last couple years. And now “Cowboy Troy” is running again.

Federal prosecutors are likely pretty ticked at Ellerman, who had the nerve to publicly castigate them for supposedly being the source of the leaks. Imagine that – a lying rodeo person! In this case, those lies could cost dearly, since the judge in the BALCO case reportedly ordered some key players – including Ellerman – to sign statements saying that they were not the source of the leak. If Ellerman did indeed falsely sign such a statement for a federal judge, that will be a very, very serious matter, on top of an already very serious matter.

Ellerman’s accuser is a former cop and private investigator named Larry McCormack. According to media reports, McCormack - the investigator- and Ellerman - the criminal attorney- worked together for a time and even shared an office. Ellerman became the commissioner of the PRCA in January 2005, and McCormack somehow managed to land a job as the Executive Director of the PRCA’s Rodeo Hall of Fame the following March. Isn’t that special? We can only surmise exactly what qualifications Mr. McCormack developed during his tenure in law enforcement and private investigation that would qualify him to run the Rodeo Hall of Fame. The position couldn’t have been a payoff for his silence after Ellerman violated federal court rules, could it? McCormack was recently fired by the PRCA, and then went to the FBI to talk about Ellerman’s misdeeds.

Enter our favorite law enforcement agency, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). The same FBI that has repeatedly harassed SHARK has quite a different approach when it comes to dealing with the Rodeo Mafia. According to a December 21 article on Yahoo! Sports:

“When McCormack said he learned FBI agents planned to confront Ellerman during the National Finals Rodeo – rodeo’s premier annual event, which ran from Nov. 27 to Dec. 9 – McCormack asked them to wait. He worried the incident could affect his own rodeo-related business interests, spoil the event for the entire rodeo industry and cause Ellerman unnecessary embarrassment.

The agents granted his request and met with Ellerman in Colorado Springs on Dec. 13, according to McCormack.”

Now isn’t THAT special? The FBI doesn’t want to disturb the Rodeo Mafia’s celebrations! How very different the FBI behaves when it is dealing with animal abuses compared to when it is dealing with animal protectors.

Before the 2002 Olympic Winter Games (and rodeo) in Salt Lake City, the FBI falsely told police departments along the torch route that SHARK was making bomb threats against the Olympics. This was an effort to stop our Tiger Truck from following the torch parade and exposing the cruelty of rodeos on the Tiger’s big video screens.

Just last summer the FBI falsely claimed that SHARK was going to release rodeo animals in connection with the National High School Rodeo Finals in Springfield, Illinois. Attempts to hold the FBI responsible for its behavior resulted in the agency putting out doubletalk propaganda and hiding out – just like it’s buddies in the Rodeo Mafia. You can read more about the FBI and SHARK and see a cartoon by Dan Piraro HERE.

This is a sordid soap opera freak show that is being played out with even more sordid players ranging from the Rodeo Mafia to the FBI. If the Justice Department truly wants to get to the bottom of the Rodeo Mafia mess, it had better rely on an agency that has a lot more integrity and competence than the FBI.

A lot of people have been voicing concerns about the Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act (AETA) – the recently passed law that some say will restrict how animal protectors protest. I have been asked what I think about this new law. I will say more a little later, but the quick version is that I haven’t lost a second of sleep over it. Not only do I NOT believe that AETA will affect legitimate protest activities, but SHARK will happily be a test subject by laying as much economic damage as possible to rodeo sponsors like Cingular Wireless, Coca-Cola and others. If the government wants us, they know where to find us. However, I don’t anticipate any problems whatsoever. The order is – “FULL SPEED AHEAD” when it comes to dealing with animal abuse.

Make one more New Year’s Resolution to dump Cingular for as long as the wireless company continues to sponsor the PRCA and animal abuse! Please contact Cingular as soon as possible to tell them of your intentions. By going to CingularSponsorsCruelty.com, you can get contact information, see letters written by SHARK and other caring consumers, and read Cingular’s latest statement on the issue.

Best wishes for the animals in the new year,
Steve Hindi and Your SHARK Team