The great leap backward - The land is no longer free

World Net Daily.com ^ | June 27, 2005 | Vox Day

[johnk]

It is time to change the national anthem. The land is no longer free. Last week, in an appalling decision that will prove to be every bit as infamous as the Dred Scott and Roe v. Wade decisions, the Supreme Court eliminated the American right to property and in one fell swoop, converted the country into the legal equivalent of a Third World society......

[frankiep]

My guess is that it's because they either support it or don't care that our rights are just about gone.

Also, notice how this ruling came at just about the same exact time as the no flag burning amendment passing in the House. Just putting that out there.....

[NCC-1701]

"...I've noticed how strangely I-40 is through Memphis. Power has it's privileges doesn't it?..."

The reason I-40 is like it is through Memphis goes back 30+ years. The intended route was nearly a straight shot from the Hernando Desoto Bridge to where the Nashville exit now is. A citizens group fought tooth and nail to prevent it going through their neighborhoods and through the Overton Park Zoo. The Zoo was spared but the homes in the intended path were bulldozed. The people were forced to find other digs. After protracted court cases, they won and I-40 was then shifted to the current configuration where you have to take the northern loop of I-240 to get back onto I-40 at the Nashville exit. That's one of the biggest wins for the common citizen this city has ever seen. The original owners of the property had first right of repurchase to their original lots. A lot of them did and the area looks great. That was around 15+ years ago.
Personally, I find the current layout more user-friendly. It takes you around to where the growth areas are and you avoid the traffic that would have been encountered had the original proposed route had gone through. It may have been "for the public good" but it works a lot better now.

[lakeman]

Different shades of gray

[Iron Matron]

Our Government is fanning flames...Our Government is inciting the people with its Tyranny.

Our Government..no more.

[jeremiah]

In Washington state, the tribes own the legislature. They won a victory with refusal of state licenses for slots in off reservation sites. They are pushing to eliminate smoking in all bars, restaurants and bowling alleys, with Pierce county actually instituting a ban by decree that was repealed. They now have the right to buy motels and casinos off reservation, and run them like they are on the reservation. This makes them super citizens beyond belief. What is to stop them from having prime land condemned, and turning it into a pseudo-reservation? So now the land grab will be like the 1800's in reverse. In summary, they want casino monopoly. They will have the only gaming that allows smoking, slots and will build anywhere they please, regardless of the original zoning laws.

[F-117A]

Fascism is a political/economic system that combines totalitarian rule (complete with its disregard for individual rights) with directed partnership of and with free enterprise.

Free? Hardly!

[pepperdog]

Thanks for explaining that. I stand corrected, it appears that the individuals triumphed and that is a good thing. I just hope it wasn't because they were wealthy, but because they were Right. :-)

[Vicomte13]

"All it takes is for a state legislature to say out loud that they're not impressed. That would bring down the whole glass house. Hopefully, it will happen soon."

In this case, it won't do a thing.
A state legislature passing a law that says that eminent domain can't be used to transfer private property to another private party will undo the effect of the Supreme Court ruling for that state. It won't provoke a confrontation with the Federal Government.

A state legislature passing a law that, say, outlawed partial birth abortion, and then proceeding to ENFORCE it, ignoring a federal district court ruling that overturned the state law on Federal constitutional grounds: that WOULD be defiance. And the President would react by using federal force to coerce the state to obey the federal courts. The federal government will protect its power.

The only real way to override a Supreme Court decision that has ever been effective in US history was President Lincoln's consistent defiance of Supreme Court habeas corpus decisions. They ordered him to release various political prisoners on habeas corpus. He ignored them. If Congress will not impeach and remove the President, and in his case obviously it didn't, then the Supreme Court is effectively overruled and that is that.

That is the way you override the Supreme Court.
Nothing else will work.

[thoughtomator]

That is the Republican reaction... silence.

[af_vet_rr]

It's been about a week already. Still waiting for a republican reaction to this......

Tree of Liberty answered this in another thread: The solicitor general, the President's representative before SCOTUS, argued in favor of the city.

In other words, the administration, and therefore the Republican National Committee, support the decision.

[af_vet_rr]

I'm getting flamed on another board here because I made the "outrageous" claim that there is very little difference between the pubs and dems. I said that they are now basically the same party that only differ in what they say to get into power; once there they act exactly the same. It makes me wonder if both major parties keep their supporters argueing with each other on purpose so that they can both continue to rape us while we're distracted.

I believe you are right to an extent, but I think you give too much credit to a conspiracy, as it were.

What it really comes down to, is the money. Large companies and wealthy individuals donate a lot of money to the parties to have some kind of influence. They benefit from this ruling. Therefore, neither party will come out trashing this attack against our freedoms.

The other thing is, people expect President Bush to do something, yet he and his business partners profited from eminent domain. I would love to hear him address this, but I don't think it'll happen.

It's unfortunate it's not a campaign year - at some point somebody would get a chance at asking him about this, or try to make it an issue.

[Strutt9]

Watching C-Span2.. John Croyn(sp?) of TX got up on the Senate floor discussing this very same issue and requesting the Legislators enact some type of protection for the property owners. To restrict the use of eminent domain by the Federals and that the States should also enact laws governing property protection in the same manner.

[CharlesWayneCT]

The Supreme Court ruling was that government has the RIGHT to take land from one private landowner and give it to another private entity. The ruling does not OBLIGATE the state to do so.

So, in contrast to Court rulings in which they grant new rights to individuals (which prohibit government from making laws which effect those rights), this ruling took a right away from individuals.

So, your state government, and if allowed by the state, your local government, can pass laws which keeps them from taking your land in this fashion.

The problem is that the state could also revoke the law at a later time. Having a right is better for the individual than having a law.

This is the real problem with the way the courts are re-writing the constitution. Sometimes the court gives rights to people that they shouldn't have, usually in ways that takes rights away from the rest of us. But sometimes the court takes away our individual rights, giving government the power to harm us.

[Jasper]

NEW MILLENIUM SONS OF LIBERTY - BUMP!!

Stand Fast!
Don't let the ba$tards grind you down!

/jasper

[NCC-1701]

"... but because they were Right. :-)..."

I can assure you that they were, indeed, RIGHT.

[Dr.Zoidberg]

It's been about a week already.

That IS the republican reaction mate. If you're expecting something more, you're out of luck.

[johnk]

I was listening to one of the many talk until you are blue in the face "shows" the other day. A statement was made that this type of thing goes on all the time.

I am 36 and every year it seems to grow worse. I can't decide whether it is my personal perspective (father of 3 and middle aged) or is there really a shift taking place.

Things seem to be changing at a rapid pace, and it's hard to seperate truth from exageration.

Just hangin' on for the ride...... and I don't even have cable TV....

:-\

[kjvail]

You have it dead on, I been screaming in the wind that this administration and government is headed for fascism the last 5 years. Maybe now someone will listen instead of planting their heads in the sand and shaking their fists to another chorus of George W. Bush RA RA RA.

[Dr.Zoidberg]

Our freedom has been under attack for decades, small erosions of guaranteed (HAH!) rights under the constitution have occurred in myriad ways. Nothing new there except for the frequency of abuse and the degree of disdain shown for the rights being taken by those not immediately effected.

Look through some of the illegal invasion, questionable police shooting and WOD posts here on FR and you'll see several sterling examples of "conservatives" who couldn't care less about others constitutional rights as long as they aren't effected personally. It's that very "As long as it's not me, I couldn't care less" attitude that emboldens scum like those sitting on the SCrOTUS(and the legislative and the executive branches) to make outrageous decisions like this.

It is growing worse and there will be no end to it. There will be the occasional last stand by lone free men (and women) that ends in a hail of submachinegun fire from a JBT, but nothing organized. And those dead martyrs of conscience will be vilified by all as crazed psychopaths for daring to resist. The media and our own brainwashing against resisting authority will guarantee their demonization.

We, as a nation, have lost the stomach for hardship and hard decisions and there will be no resistance to this or any of the other blatant acts of tyranny that will be shoved down our throats in the months and years to come. Blood should be spilled in response to the many egregious breaches of the compact between our government and the once free citizens of this nation, but it won't happen. And I'll be sneered at by many as a reactionary nut job for even entertaining the thought, let along putting it into words.

My heart aches for you and others who have young children. Just imagining the nation they are going to inherit makes me sick. Watching ones children being born into slavery must be the worst thing a man can possibly live through. Having known freedom himself(or the illusion thereof) has got to eat at ones soul when he looks into the faces of his babies and knows they never will.

/disgusted rant mode off

[frankiep]

I'm not saying that its a conspiracy at all. IMO, it is just a case of both major parties simply being drunk on power. They both want power, over anything and anyone, and are willing to do and say anything to get it. Add that to the fact that the major players in both parties are completely isolated from the average citizen. These guys all work together, and live near each other for a good portion of the year. A good number of them have held the same office for decades (making them senior member and subsequently capable of setting an agenda for others to follow). Think about it, most of the people politicans associate with on a daily basis are other politicians. It stands to reason then, considering all of this, that they would eventually start thinking in pretty much the same way.