September 21, 2009
The Fox
was a folk hero who made a positive environmentalist impact while causing fear in the halls of corporate polluters. Pulitzer Prize winner Mike Royko, syndicated columnist for The Chicago Daily News, was one of many who denied that The Fox was an eco-terrorist. Royko's FBI file was 86 pages long, so not everyone agreed.
Current US law might also dispute the gentle view with its inclusive definition of terrorism as "premeditated, politically motivated violence perpetrated against noncombatant targets by subnational groups or clandestine agents." Might there be a better definition that would give more weight to beneficial effects?
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I don't want to derail, but I love Mike Royko. I read his column long before I read anything else on the editorial page.
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The FBI and other federal organizations spent millions of dollars investigating and prosecuting members of groups like Earth First, and Greenpeace who never harmed people, only property; while Timothy McVeigh and Osama bin Laden walked around free. "Never forget" that.
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But, but, they're a bunch of commie/socialist environazi weirdos! And property vs people? Pffft! We KNOW the value of property!
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When they want to install upscale condos into poor neighborhoods, all of a sudden there's the law of eminent domain to oust those people in favor of the developers. Or when they want to put in a new freeway through, same thing. So for environmental activist litigation, exalt the environment as public property versus the private misuse of it. There's still the question who decides what's best for all, but I think the people spoke in favor of what The Fox was doing.
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Now Ecuador has given rights to Nature in their 2008 consititution, for what it's worth. Already the law has been circumvented, proving that even an enlightened society may need someone like The Fox to mind the hen house...