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Todd Bensman & Robert Riggs
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06/27/05 Those with the gold rule,
and they will take your land.
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For those of us who believe in law
and order, this was a tough week to keep our faith. Somebody at City Hall has been working so
close to the edge of right and wrong, that they have earned the attention of
the FBI. The allegations relate to misuse of federal grants for
building affordable housing. Think about the potential for abuse now
that five Supreme Court Justices have nullified your right to own your
property. |
Granted, the Supreme Court
Dirty Five dumped the matter back into the hands of local politicians (a rarity
for them), but that's where the abuse of eminent domain occurs. It's at
the local level where politicians are bought the cheapest. Some like
former councilwoman Princess Velveeta (doesn't that sound great? "former
councilwoman") would never dream of selling a vote for cash, but raise the
option of an invite to a high society soiree and your wish becomes her position.
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It's at the local level that a billionaire like
Grandpa Jones can spread around the least amount of cash to get the biggest
bang for his buck. Look at what Arlington voters decided to do to some
blue collar homeowners. The million or so Grandpa Jones spent to get
the jock sniffers and civic boosters to the polls in Arlington will be a
drop in the bucket compared to the windfall he will reap. Disgusting! |
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What do a bunch of jock-sniffing
apartment dwellers care if an entire neighborhood is wiped out? The irony
is that many of the voters who approved the bond package that will result in
confiscation of the homes of U.S. citizens for the benefit of Grandpa Jerry
Jones will never be able to afford a ticket for a seat in the Arkansas Freak's
new stadium. They may be able to occasionally buy a ticket to stand in the
poor section of the stadium, but their rears will seldom, if ever, be planted in
a seat intended for the more affluent.
What do a bunch of civic boosters care if an entire neighborhood of working
class homeowners is wiped out? The "least among us" is the least of their
concerns. They do not see a neighborhood of working class homeowners as
consumers who pay sales taxes, they see them as obstacles to accommodating the
wants of Grandpa Jones. |
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(6/25) Charlie Barrett:
This Supreme Court ruling on Eminent Domain is a serious
threat to the United States. A constitutional amendment is called for
to reverse this outrage. Forget Gay Marriage, School Prayer & Flag
Burning, this is a REAL issue.
It's also time for these
5 majority Supreme Court justices to retire
- They have now done enough damage: Ruth Bader Ginsburg, John
Paul Stevens, Anthony Kennedy, David Souter, and Stephen G. Breyer.
Thank God, at least we have
4 sane justices on the Court -
Sandra Day O'Connor, Clarence Thomas, Anthony Scalia and Chief Justice
William Rehnquist all wrote in their dissent:
"under the banner of economic
development, all private property is now vulnerable to
being taken and transferred to another private owner,
so long as it might be upgraded - i.e., given to an owner who will use
it in a way that the legislature deems more beneficial to the
public-in the process."
The little guy whose home is about to be bulldozed
for a shopping center or new Cowboy's football stadium has the
right to hold out for more money - That is called
supply & demand, and it's the foundation of the American
economic system. Give him his million dollars if that's what his land
is suddenly worth because some billionaire developer needs it for
his stadium's parking lot. need it for a stadium.
Eminent Domain for private
for-profit projects does not give the property owner
current fair market price for their land. It gives
them YESTERDAY's market price, and puts the
huge difference in a developer's pocket.
Now the future of your home is
in the hands of politicians and their power brokers - How scary is
that? Great day for billionaire developers, sad day for the rest of
us. Champaign glasses are clinking in penthouses all over this country
This cannot stand.
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| I absolutely do not think Grandpa Jones had to bribe any public officials in
Arlington to get their support for his plans to steal the homes of working class
U.S. citizens. They were happy to help him steal those homes.
Don't
call it anything other than thievery. One moment families had a roof over
their head, a yard and neighbors they knew. Now, they face eviction and a
payout for their property that will not get them in another house in a safe
neighborhood. |
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(6/27) James
Northrup:
The law of eminent domain derives from the "police power of
the state" - basically the right of the state to exercise power over an
individual for the benefit of the public.
Condemning private property for another private use - in the
name of "redevelopment" is the most extreme example of how far private
property rights have eroded.
It is the "tyranny of
the majority" in action. More common ones are down-zoning, overly
restrictive zoning, etc. It should be no secret that of all our fundamental
rights, property rights are the most commonly abused. |
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What is their loss and the confiscation of their property for? So, a bunch of jock sniffers can show up 7
or 8 times a year to watch a football game? Disgusting!
Justice Sandra O'Connor is totally correct in her dissenting opinion:
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... "all private property is now vulnerable." She
wrote that a judicial check on eminent domain use was necessary because "if
predicted (or even guaranteed) positive side effects are enough to render
transfer from one private party to another constitutional, then the words
'for public use' do not realistically exclude any takings."
"Nothing is to prevent the State from replacing any Motel 6 with a
Ritz-Carlton, any home with a shopping mall, or any farm with a factory,"
O'Connor wrote, noting that, "The beneficiaries are likely to be those
citizens with disproportionate influence and power in the political
process." ...
Supreme Court Upholds
Eminent Domain
Ruling on Kelo v. New London Could
Affect Manhattanville
By Erin
Durkin, Spectator Staff Writer
(Daily Spectator)
June 26, 2005 |
| When business owners realize
the truth of her concerns and how vulnerable they are now to the whims of
bigger business owners, they will start pressuring local politicians to pass
laws limiting the use of eminent domain. Business owners (even little
business owners) are much more likely to be heard at City Hall than peons like
the Arlington homeowners being displaced to accommodate Grandpa Jones. |
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(6/27) Citizen D:
It seems you CAN'T go out of town and trust us to do the right thing!
What bothers me most about the
misuse of eminent domain for shopping centers, stadia, upscale housing and
other "non-public" uses is that nobody ever puts in a safety clause to
require developers to pay any losses or shortfalls when so many of these
projects go belly up or do not produce the levels of revenue they promised
when people's property was taken.
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The first State Representative or Senator who proposes legislation limiting how
local governments can use eminent domain will get a lot of attention and
support.
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What better
time than as we near the July 4th weekend to have a Declaration of Property
Rights for U.S. citizens and businesses?
What better time than July 4th to demand our lawmakers protect our homes and
business? |
If the decision of the Dirty Five Justices stands
without Congress passing corrective legislation, we are in big trouble and
eventually our recent problems at City Hall will be remembered as the Days of
Innocence.
If the decision of the Dirty Five Justices stands, democracy as we know it is a
thing of the past because we will only be serfs and all property will
be either owned by a wealthy few or controlled by them through their puppets on
whatever local government body has jurisdiction.
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Currently, those with the gold rule.
In the near future, those with the gold will take your property and your
gold. Call or write your State Senator and your State Representative.
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