Libertarian ping! Click here to get added or here to be removed or post a message here!
Posted on 02/23/2009 1:16:58 PM PST by DBCJR
Thanks for the ping!
I reject your reality and substitute my own.
I know what sentiment you're trying to express and you're right, but boy, do you need to check your vocabulary.
Please enlighten
I reject your reality and substitute my own.
More like I reject your Constitution and substitute my own.
“Who owns the land those coal and mineral resources came from and how did they come to own it? (That’s not a trick question, but a straight forward question the answer to which I don’t yet know.)”
Back in the Clinton administration, Bill grabbed the clean coal by making the area that it’s under a federal reserve or park or something. He did this because he was getting campaign donations from an Indonesian guy who just happened to own a lot of land that held this same type of coal. Instead of getting it from Utah, we ended up having to import the Indonesian variety.
Democrats Demand That States Have No Power On What Funds They Can Accept From The Fed’s…..
Chuck Schumer is demanding that the States in the union should NOT have the power to make decisions on the what and where the money given to them is spent from the Generational Theft Act:
Oh....LOL....that’s different!!!
Excellent!
...as David Roberts at Grist has noted, Congressional Democrats are far from a unified bloc when it comes to climate policy, with many Blue Dog Democrats leery of anything that smacks of additional burdens on industry. Sen. Reid also made clear that Washington will call the shots as Congress and the Obama administration seek to overhaul how the country generates and uses electricity.Thanks Ernest.
It was supposed to be a federation of mostly autonomous states. The word "state" in fact is normally used for a sovereign nation.
This is the concept referred to by the word "Federalism", so "strong Federalism" would be a form of government with powerful states and less power in Washington, not a stronger Federal goobermint. I fully agree with you that this would be a good thing.
The Federalist party was a party which strong central government advocates, like Alexander Hamilton, belonged to. Washington, Jefferson, Madison, and others opposed this form of government fearing another aristocracy as in England.
The Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union (commonly referred to as the Articles of Confederation) was the first governing constitution of the United States of America. The Articles’ ratification (proposed in 1777) was completed in 1781, and legally united what were originally several sovereign and independent states, allied under the Articles of Association into a new sovereign federation styled the “United States of America”. Under the Articles (and the succeeding Constitution) the states retained sovereignty over all governmental functions not specifically relinquished to the central government. Though called a “confederation,” the terminology of the day makes this synonymous with what today is understood as a federal government, a usage similar to that of the Canadian and Swiss confederacies.
When the Articles of Confederation failed, our Constitution was drafted providing more centralized power, but certainly balanced. That balance was challenged in the 1860’s and the 1960’s, and is being challennged again.
Destroying the Constitution is treasonous. We need 5 gallows for treason: Pelosi, Reid, Frank, Dodd, Schumer.
Things are becoming rather dangerous as many of us had predicted. And the masses just move about with no idea as how their personal freedoms will be effected.
Hey Harry...SHUT THE F UP. Nevada will send you back to SEARCHLIGHT in 2010. Heck, an ALIEN from Area 57 could do BETTER!!
Don’t forget the green river formation that contains oil shale (1.7 trillion bbls) than in all of saudia arabia
That's a good question - The short answer is the states but the feds coerced them to adapt federal regulations into their state laws by attaching strings to federal funding.
Western public lands for the most part where managed by the the states up until the BLM was formed in 1932. The arrangement was intended to provide access to all interests via leases - ranchers, oilmen, miners, ect with both the states & feds sharing the mineral rights. When the eviroNazis got a hold of the BLM during the Carter years they broke that arrangement and tried (and mostly failed) to force a lot of it into no-humans-allowed-wilderness-area.
The fact is the counties have the right to overide the feds. Kane county Utah did just that several years ago when the BLM tried to make most of their county (in the Escalante Staircase Nat Monument) off limits to ATVs. The sheriff & his posse simply uprooted each offending "trail closed" sign and informed the BLM those 100+ year old trails were in fact going to stay open; which they did.
You might find this interesting:
Following is an overview of legislative milestones regarding the disposition of, and later the management of, public lands:
Land Ordinance of 1785 & 1787
Survey and settlement of public lands. Section 16 in each township to finance public education. Raised to two sections of land after 1848, then to four with the admission to statehood of UT, AZ, & NM.
Land Law of 1796, 1800, 1804
Governing the sale of lands. Land was auctioned, first in 640-, then 320-, then 160-acre tracts.
General Land Office created, 1812
Charged with the responsibility to “perform all acts and things touching or respecting the public lands of the United States.”
Military land bounties
To reward those who served in the Revolutionary army, War of 1812, military service. Amount of land varied according to rank (100 to 1,000 acres) and the practice continued until the Civil War.
Land Law of 1820
Discontinued sale of land on credit. Land could be purchased for as little as $1.25 per acre, in tracts as small as 80 acres. Unauctioned land could be purchased in unlimited quantities.
Preemption Law of 1841
160 acres at the minimum price of $1.25 per acre.
Also in 1841: 500,000 acres to each of the public lands states for internal improvements.
Homestead Act, 1862
Free 160 acres to heads of households, widows, single persons. Patent issued after 5 years of residence and cultivation.
Morrill Act of 1862
Land given to states, 30,000 acres per each senator and representative the state had, to finance agricultural and mechanical arts colleges.
Railroad land grants
The government gave away 128 million acres between 1862 and 1871. At first, the railroads received five alternate sections on each side of the track for each mile of track laid and within ten miles on each side. Increased to 20 alternate sections after 1864. Public opposition ended the grants after 1871.
Yosemite Act of 1864
Yosemite Valley is given to the state of California as a “public park” by Abraham Lincoln, setting the precedent for the national wilderness park idea
The Great Surveys: 1867-1879
Hayden (1867-1878)
King (1867-1872)
Wheeler (1869-1879)
Powell (1869- 1879)
Yellowstone National Park, 1872
The world’s first national park, set apart by Congess fromt he Public Domain, as a “public park” or pleasuring ground for the “benefit and enjoyment of the people.”
General Mining Law of 1872
“Valuable” mineral deposits were free and open to exploration and purchase. $100 assessment work yearly and at least $500 improvements before claims could be patented. Individual claimants limited to 20 acres; lode locations 1,500 feet long and 600 feet wide. Milling sites not to exceed 5 acres. Valid claims given status akin to private property. Development of minerals on public lands was given priority over potential other land uses.
Timber Culture Law of 1873
160 acres, 40 of which had to be planted in trees, later reduced to 10 acres. No residence was required.
Desert Land Act, 1877
640 acres at $1.25 per acre, no residence required, patent given after 3 years if irrigation was accomplished.
Timber & Stone Law of 1878
160 acres of land chiefly valuable for timber or stone at $2.50 per acre.
First Public Lands Commission
Fraud had been a problem since the creation of the Public Domain. By the late 1870s fraud was pronounced. Mineral, livestock, and timber companies amassed large land holdings by paying people to make entries under the Preemption and Homestead Laws, then, after claims had been patented, purchased the claims. Stock raisers used the Desert Land Law to control access to rivers and streams.
U.S. Geological Survey established, 1879
Charged with the responsibility for classifying public lands and examining the geologic structure and mineral resources and products of the public domain
Opening of Indian lands, 1887
Congress tried to satisfy would-be homesteaders’ land hunger by giving individual farms to reservation Indians and opening the remaining lands to non-Indian settlers. The Great Sioux Indian Reservation in South Dakota, Chippewa lands in Minnesota, tribal lands in Oklahoma were opened.
General Public Lands Reform Act of 1891
Answer to widespread land fraud. Congress ended auctioning land, repeal of Timber Culture and Preemption acts. Desert Land entries reduced to 320 acres.
Forest Reserve Law of 1891
Last section of the General Public Lands Reform Act allowed the President to withdraw and reserve public lands wholly or in part covered by timber or undergrowth. Radical change from the previous disposal policies.
First Forest Reserve, 1891
Adjacent to Yellowstone National Park. By 1893, 16 more reserves were created, totaling 18 million acres.
Forest Management Act of 1897
Gave the Secretary of the Interior authority to regulate occupancy and use within the reserves, develop mineral resources, provide fire protection, permit timber sales.
Reclamation Law of 1902
Provided for federal irrigation projects in western states and territories, using proceeds from the sale of public lands. Lands selected for reclamation were withdrawn from settlement but then opened for settlers under the Homestead Act after projects were completed. Limited to 160 acres. Irrigation projects were administered by Recla-mation Service, later renamed Bureau of Reclamation.
Pelican Island, Florida, 1903
First national wildlife refuge.
Second Public Lands Commission
Found public land laws antiquated and ill-suited to conditions of the remaining Public Domain. Called for changes in the Homestead and Desert Land Laws and asked for the repeal of the Timber and Stone Law because timber companies were using it illegally to acquire large forest holdings.
Forest Service created, 1905
Within Department of the Interior, later moved to Department of Agriculture. To adminsiter national forests which had originally been “forest reserves.”
Antiquities Act of 1906
For the protection of historic and prehistoric structures, historic landmarks and other objects of historic or scientific interest on the Public Domain. Authorized the President to create national monu-ments.
Devil’s Tower, 1906
First national monument, by proclamation of President Theodore Roosevelt.
Coal Lands withdrawal
66 million acres by 1906. Government reserved mineral rights, first for coal, then extended to oil and gas, later to a list of other minerals.
Forest Homestead Law of 1906
Opened agricultural lands in forest reserves to settlement.
Enlarged Homestead Law, 1909
Gave 320 acres to farmers who entered public lands which could not be irrigated. Dryland farming promotion, wet cycle, rising commodity prices led to millions of acres turned to plow. WW I and drought ended the rush.
National Park Service created, 1916
Unified the management of national parks, monuments, battlefields, etc.
Oregon and California Revested Lands, 1916
Congress revoked title to more than 2 million acres of land granted to the Oregon & California Railroad in 1869 for failure to abide by conditions of the grant. Another 93,000 acres are reclaimed in 1919 from the Coos Bay Wagon Road Grant. These revested lands were given to the Gener-al Land Office to administer because of ill will that Oregoni-ans held toward the Forest Service.
Mineral Leasing Law of 1920
Changed the disposal of oil, gas, coal, and other minerals to leasing. 10% of royalties to US Treasury, 37.5% to states, remainder to fund federal irrigation projects.
Third Public Lands Commission, 1931
Called for the cession of public lands to the states. Opposition both in the East and the West killed the recommendation.
Taylor Grazing Act of 1934
Answer to crowding and overgrazing of the Public Do-main—as early as 1870s there was more livestock than the range could support. President withdrew from nonmineral entry all vacant, unreserved and unappropriated public lands so that grazing districts could be set aside. First district established in Wyoming in 1935. Districts advisory boards were set up, Congress gave them legal status in 1939. Grazing Service was created to administer the Taylor Act.
Oregon and California Revested Lands Sustained Yield Man-agement Act of 1937
Timber sales not to exceed forest regeneration, lands could be used for grazing and recreation. Water-sheds, wildlife, and other resources to be protected.
Fish and Wildlife Service created, 1940
By the merger of the Bureau of Biological Survey and the Bureau of Fisheries.
Bureau of Land Management created, 1946
By the merger of the Grazing Service and the General Land Office. To administer what had not been withdrawn from the Public Domain under national forests, national parks, and other designations.
Wilderness Act of 1964
The Act defined a wilderness area as “where the earth and its community of life are untrammeled by man, where man himself is a visitor who does not remain.” Its provisions were initially not applied to BLM lands.
Land and Water Conservation Fund, 1964
Established to fund the acquisition of outdoor recre-ation areas.
Water Quality Act of 1965
Established quality standards for the nation.
National Historic Preservation Act, 1966
To inventory, evaluate, and protect cultural resources.
Wild and Scenic Rivers Act of 1968
The Act stated that “certain selected rivers of the Nation which, with their immediate environments, possess outstandingly remarkable scenic, recreational, geologic, fish and wildlife, historic, cultural, or other similar values, shall be preserved in free-flowing condition and that they and their immediate environments shall be protected for the benefit and enjoyment of present and future generations.”
National Environmental Policy Act of 1970
Made protection of environment a national priority and required all federal agencies to asses the impacts of their actions on the environment and mitigate adverse effects
Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act of 1971
Provided 40 million acres to Natives, 80 million acres withheld by the Department of the Interior as potential national parks forests, wildlife refuges, wild and scenic rivers.
Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act, 1980
Added 47 million acres of Alaska public lands to the national park system.
Endangered Species Act, 1973
Provided for federal listing of wildlife threatened with extinction and for the designation of critical habitat by the US Fish & Wildlife Service.
Federal Land Policy and Management Act (FLPMA) of 1976
Congress established as policy to retain public lands in public ownership, to identify and inventory their resources, to provide for multiple use & sustained yield management. Homestead Laws repealed except in Alaska where it ended in 1986.
Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monumet, 1996
First national monument under BLM management, 1.8 million acres in southwestern Utah
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