Greening the Office of ‘Homeland Security’
Gar Smith
March, 2008
Voices
On
October 8, 2001, George W. Bush created the Office of Homeland Security
to protect the US “from terrorist threats or attacks.”
We believe that the OHS doesn’t go far enough. In the interest of
achieving a secure and peaceful nation, we are proposing that the OHS
consider adopting the following provisions:
- Create
an ombudsman to oversee the OHD’s operations. Assign the position to a
trusted political leader like Sen. Russ Feingold (D-WI). (The only US
Senator to vote against the OHS).
- Shut down nuclear powerplants.
- Phase out all industries that use and stockpile toxic compounds - i.e., refineries, plastics and chemical plants.
- Stop shipping toxic chemicals by rail, road, ship and air.
- Stop fluoridating drinking water. (Fluorosilicic acid,
the major fluoridation ingredient, is a corrosive, toxic industrial
waste product. Carried by trucks, it can be easily hijacked and used to
poison entire communities.)
- Close airports permanently. (Replace polluting jets with high-speed rail. A train will never be hijacked and flown into a high-rise.)
- Ban chemical fertilizers. (Ammonia nitrate fertilizer
was used to make the bomb that destroyed the Federal Building in
Oklahoma City).
- Ban chemically dependent agriculture. (Promoting small,
family-owned organic farms, would eliminate crop dusters as a terrorist
tool).
- Put a member of the American Civil Liberties Union on the OHD.
(The ACLU has warned that the “Patriot Act” grants “expanded power to
invade our privacy, imprison people without due process and punish
dissent.”)
- Extend the powers of the Patriot Act to cover the
activities of corporations and the wealthy, thereby allowing citizens
to “sneak and peak” into private mansions and corporate headquarters to
conduct secret searches, download computer files and snap surveillance
photos.
- Permit citizens groups to obtain “blank” warrants to
conduct “intelligence wiretaps” on the private banking practices of the
super-rich.
- Ban autos, trucks, and vans from downtown streets since
they can be used to deliver bombs. (City streets can then be turned
into pedestrian zones with orchards, vegetable gardens, playgrounds and
bike paths.)
- Phase out oil and gas pipelines and chemical storage facilities near population centers.
- Close the Trans-Alaska Pipeline. (In 1978, 16,000 barrels spilled when terrorists blew up the pipeline near Fairbanks.)
- Decentralize the power grid. (Turning every rooftop into a solar powerplant would make it impossible for terrorists to black out a city.)
- Fight anthrax by banning junk mail. (Require the USPS
to deliver only personal mail. Business mail would be handled by bonded
couriers hired by the businesses themselves.)