So Jim Bensman, who's a fixture of just about any environmental debate in the Midwest, goes to a public meeting to discuss a dam in St. Louis and, surprise, says he'd just as soon see the dam gone. The local paper dutifully reports that Benson "said he would like to see the dam blown up and resents paying taxes to fix dam problems when it is barge companies that profit from the dam." Next thing you know the Corps of Engineers--which you'd think had other things to worry about--calls the FBI to investigate Bensman as a possible security threat. And the FBI actually bothers to follow through. All this at a time when the White House is, for the first time ever, endorsing blowing up dams.

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Monika Bauerlein

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Monika Bauerlein is co-editor of Mother Jones. For more of her stories, click here. You can also follow her on Twitter. RSS | Twitter