Government and Industry Trample On the Rights of Environmentalists: Ho Hum

I just ran across this bit of news, although I have to admit that I fully expected to find a story sooner or later detailing how government and industry are spying on groups who oppose fracking or are otherwise working for a better environment. It was completely unsurprising to me that Monsanto contracted with a subsidiary of Blackwater to spy on environmental groups. I expected that the FBI would investigate organizations opposed to hydraulic fracking, even with no evidence of criminal activity. It is no surprise to me that Americans for Prosperity, a Koch brothers backed organization, would make harassing FOIA requests for the emails of a college professor who had formed a group opposed to fracking.

            And I guess I’ll continue to be unsurprised as Congress holds hearings on Benghazi and the IRS’s handling of 501(c)(3) filings of the tea party and ignores the trampling of the rights of people working for a better environment.