God's Country
"God's Country" has been hijacked by petro-chemical prostitutes. Here in Sandpoint, famed for its pristine Lake Pend Oreille, Eric Anderson (AKA "Morty Milfoil") seeks reelection for stewarding citizens along party lines laid by Gov. Dirk Kempthorne — the Bush-appointed director of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and Interior Department. Proud prostitutes for a cadre of chemical company campaign contributors Anderson and friends say the only way to attack aquatic milfoil is to dump 200,000 pounds of Dow Chemical's 2,4-D (a relative of Agent Orange), and the equivalent of the toxic liquid herbicide, Sonar, into waterways that flow to Canada, Washington state, and the Columbia River.
Bonner County Noxious Weeds Warrior Brad Bluemer issued a promise to local activists that if they presented viable alternatives to officially sanctioned chemical "exterminations," local officials would consider integrating these options. So natural milfoil control experts were summoned; their successful alternative methods were presented, and before officials even deliberated on the data, the political pundits marched out steadfast in their plan for annual lake poisonings.
Issuing objections to advocates advancing alternatives, Anderson threatened that unless chemical-complainers censored their pleas, their chances of being heard and funded next year was nil. Never mind three widely successful, lower cost, and little risk alternatives offered by experts. Lucrative contracts were already signed. Chemical companies rest assured of annual profits produced by Anderson's malfeasance, political extortion, and criminal fraud considering 2,4-D's many risks to public health in this land of the free.
Leslie Marshall, director of the Bonner County Public Works Department, likewise engaged in the conspiracy to defraud the public by repeatedly misrepresenting 2,4-D and Sonar as "harmless" (a claim not even their manufacturers make), is also guilty of malicious mischief. Legally defined as "intentionally destroying another's property," beginning July 10, 2006, Marshall will administer lethal pollutions to 4,000 acres of waterfront real estate. Her official malfeasance lies in grossly neglecting and rejecting far safer, less costly, and equally effective alternatives including the local-harvesting of milfoil to produce chicken/cattle feed and/or composted fertilizer.
Once-upon-a-time in America, public servants felt a "duty to act" — the obligation to take action to prevent harm to another. Risks versus benefits were responsibly weighed prior to implementing policies impacting the public's health, safety, and environmental quality. Honest officials acted "ex aequo et bono," according to what is just and good, rather than what is politically expedient, legally profitable, and arguably criminal.
The irony of Independence Day in Idaho, and elsewhere, this year is that Americans have become unlawfully enslaved in a system of governance characterized by official malfeasance and gross criminal negligence.
? Leonard G. Horowitz, D.M.D., M.A., M.P.H., is a Harvard University trained public health expert, and internationally renowned award-winning author of 15 books including three national bestsellers examining medical malfeasance and exploitations by the petrochemical-pharmaceutical cartel.