ELF: ‘Remember Sept. 11?’

I am outraged at the opinion that Alyson Hill has regarding terrorism on U.S. soil against Americans, carried out, apparently, by Americans (‘Burning down the house’ Monday). An act of terrorism is hardly misleading. It is a cruel hatred that has penetrated our country. This is no way to get a message across – any message.

First, there are a total of no less than 87 different certifying agencies (both government and private) that all have different standards of what “”green”” means.

Since the experts in government and corporate America cannot agree on what “”green”” means, who are the Earth Liberation Front to tell us? Was the agenda to tell us their version of “”green,”” or was it something else? What are the standards of “”green”” that the ELF use? Any group that trespasses, seizes private property and destroys that property must be treated as eco-terrorists and dealt with as an enemy of the United States to whom we are currently at war with. Remember Sept. 11?

“”The group did not injure or kill anyone, nor did they intend to do so”” was another line from Alyson Hill. I suppose that Ms. Hill has never seen a building fire as I have. Rushing into a building that is fully enveloped in order to minimize the damage is dangerous work. “”Burning down the house”” puts firefighters at an extreme risk for personal injury and death. Thank God that no one was hurt or killed – a credit to the professionalism and training of the firefighters.

The investors who put up the money might well be insured against a loss of this magnitude, but the investors in the insurance company will have to come up with the money to pay for this.

How many investors were harmed in this way?

Many of the luxury homes in this country are built by smaller companies run by families. How many families are harmed? What about the workers for these companies who may face layoffs? Are they not harmed? How about the property values and lost revenues in the community? I would not want to move from here to a part of the country where a terrorist group is running rampant.

And yet Ms. Hill states “”they did not intend to do so.””

While the public is largely concerned with being “”green,”” the market is responding to those demands. The houses were built with those concerns in mind. Although what “”green”” actually means continues to evolve, there is no reason to punish companies and communities and our nation at large for trying to be “”green.””

I can argue with ELF’s complaint. Instead of trying to make a positive change for the future of this country, tyrants like those folks in the ELF use violence to make America change. I feel threatened by the ELF and anyone who thinks that harming Americans is any way to make America greener. I am sorry that Alyson Hill and the Arizona Daily Wildcat have sympathy for people like that.

J. Michael Johnston
pre-business senior