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)

Here's an Innovative Idea: Cut off Water to NSA Utah Facility

While I have not idea whether it is practical or not an innovative idea of how to fight back against the NSA Stasi is being floated in Utah home of the huge NSA surveillance center that will soon be open for business. Courtesy of an op ed piece in the Salt Lake Tribune entitled Utahns should deny water to NSA center written by a Connor Boyack advocates for the people of the state to deny critical resources to this blight upon the state and the nation as a whole. In tossing in Lord of the Rings references the facility is referred to by the author in a metaphoric sense as the eye of Sauron, the all-seeing orb of the dark kingdom of Mordor. Cultural references aside the specs for the facility are cited as:

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.

The original necessity for the remote NSA complex - which will come to allow the rogue government to one day when the order is given to retroactively haul in Americans and convict them for past statements and affiliations critical of the police state - came when it was no longer feasible to operate solely at Fort Meade due to the huge drain on the local power grid. In the SLT op ed piece it is stated that:

In 2006, the NSA faced major challenges at its facility at Fort Meade, Md. The energy consumption required by the computers at that complex maxed out the electric capacity of the Baltimore area power grid. The NSA, as Baltimore Gas & Electric’s largest customer, was using as much power as the entire city of Annapolis. Unable to use some of their costly and sophisticated new equipment, the agency knew it needed to look elsewhere.

The costs of operating in Utah would be far cheaper and the political climate would be friendly, longtime Republican Senator Orrin Hatch, a fixture on the Senate Intelligence Committee could be counted on to grease the rails. While at the time of its conception the NSA did not face the scrutiny that has been brought upon it by the revelations of former government contractor Booz Allen employee Edward Snowden that has portrayed the agency as exactly what it truly is, a menace to any concept of liberty and privacy and a blight upon the land that would effectively nullify good chunks of what remains of the Constitution. More detail on the Bluffdale spy center is provided by writer James Bamford in a 2012 piece that he did for Wired Magazine entitled The NSA Is Building the Country’s Biggest Spy Center (Watch What You Say). This is a very dangerous facility but that it is at least now receiving some attention is good, such a thing would have been inconceivable in the early years of the decade of 9/11.

It is incumbent upon the people to find a way to reign in this travesty. There will be nothing done by a corrupt, craven and on the payroll Congress. The NSA and multi-billion dollar surveillance industry has powerful embeds within the government, notably the ultra-fascist Congressman Mike Rogers and the bursting at the seams sack of hypocrisy and amorality Diane Feinstein (DiFi) who are both pushing legislation in the House and Senate respectively to further immunize the American Stasi and cement it's power into place. The Supreme Court is in the bag as well and as far as Obama goes he has done nothing but defend the unconstitutional actions of the surveillance monstrosity. Perhaps the people of Utah can somehow mobilize against this facility by denying it the water/electricity it needs to function but that is doubtful given the state of TV addled lethargy that exists on the world's biggest sheep ranch that is The Homeland. Were they to be successful in any way it would likely trigger some sort of heavy handed paramilitary action of the sort that the fascist state always uses to put down resistance to its criminality. But that this sort of idea is even being floated is an encouraging sign that there are at least some patriotic souls who abhor what has been done to this once great country and are fighting back.