Tuesday, February 11, 2014

Turn It Off: Fight the NSA Stasi at State Level


What has become painfully apparent is that any effort to restrain the rogue NSA and the ongoing illegal surveillance and mass data-mining programs conducted against law-abiding Americans is doomed to fail at the federal level. With each new report based on the data procured by former government contractor turned NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden the outrage grows even as Leviathan on the Potomac digs in to resist calls for accountability. With the stories that came out yesterday on how the Obama administration is furiously working on their next extrajudicial murder of an American citizen without due process as well as SCOTUS Justice Antonin Scalia's remarks on the inevitable return of internment camps it is evident that the monstrous and bloated federal government is now fully out of control. It has been poisoned by corruption, driven mad by the prospect of an eternal war and all of the accompanying spoils and now is on the brink of being fully weaponized and unleashed upon dissenters. It is time to put an end to all of this and the target should be the NSA which provides the snooping and data that makes all future repression possible.
A few months back I wrote a piece based on something that I ran across in the Salt Lake Tribune proposing that there be organizing to appeal to the state to cut off the water to that mammoth data collection center that sits in Bluffdale. The op ed written by Connor Boyack stated:
Like the eye of Sauron, the NSA’s new facility in Utah overlooks hundreds of thousands of people in the valley below. Perched on a mountainside fortress of concrete and barricades, the 1-million-square-foot complex exists solely to allow the NSA to "see all."
In the wake of the Snowden leaks and widespread concern with the pervasive surveillance activities of the federal government, many Americans have been wondering how to fight back. Can an effective opposition even be mounted against the power of the NSA? What can be done to restore privacy and protect our rights?
The strategy to succeed is quite simple. When fully operational, the NSA facility is expected to require a staggering 1.7 million gallons of water every day to cool down the computers harvesting information on people worldwide. That water is supplied by the Jordan Valley Water Conservancy District, a political subdivision of the state. Without it, the facility cannot function.
It was actually a damned good idea although one that would be quickly squashed by the all powerful government that is located in Mordor or as it is formally known Washington D.C. The idea however has been gaining traction and there is now a national movement known as OffNow that is pushing for the nullification of the unconstitutional and illegal activities at the state level. No invading force can operate without water and resources and wherever possible laws prohibiting access to thwart what are blatantly illegal incursions on the civil liberties and rights of law-abiding, taxpaying, loyal Americans there needs to be local resistance. As history shows invaders are vulnerable to guerrilla warfare tactics and while the power may be centralized in the official confines of the elitist beltway there is much to the dismay and surprise to the ensconced transgressors a very large country out there. OffNow has a website that from first examination is not at this point as comprehensive as it needs to be (particularly in terms of locations where the NSA has set up criminal operations) but with support and the spreading of the word could experience a rapid spurt of growth. 
While I am aware of similar nullification efforts on other matters undertaken by groups that I do not agree with as well as the ongoing operations of the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) which creates cookie cutter laws to be implemented at the state level by defacto corporate lobbyists disguised as legislators OffNow is different. ALEC is nothing more than a pack of wealthy corporate interests funding a system to circumvent the democratic process and should be shunned as such. The push for the implementation of state laws fighting the anti-American NSA however is about as democratic as it gets, especially so when the federal government not only ignores the vast majority of it's citizens but holds them in open in full contempt. 
It is time to take the fight to these bastards now while we still have a chance before the next war or 'terrorist' attack creates the conditions necessary for the mother of all crackdowns to preserve their power. 
The website is offnow.org.
Image: Wired)

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