Going to Cuba? {Property Theft by godgov}

Going to Cuba? {Property Theft by godgov}
Henry Lamb

Posted: August 10, 2002
1:00 a.m. Eastern

© 2002 WorldNetDaily.com

Arizona Congressman Jeff Flake stood on the House Floor and said "Our government should not tell us where we can and cannot travel. It is a fundamental right of every American to travel. Every one of us ought to have the right to go to Cuba …" The House of Representatives voted in agreement.

Interesting. If it is a fundamental right of every American to travel where he chooses, even to Cuba, should not every American also have a fundamental right to live wherever he chooses?

Many in Congress who believe that Americans should be free to travel to Cuba, or wherever they choose, apparently believe that Americans should live wherever government says they must live.

The entire concept of what is called "Smart Growth" says Americans are not free to live where they choose. They must live inside "urban growth boundaries." They may not live in "green-belt" areas around urban centers. They may not live in designated "wilderness" areas, nor in the "viewshed" of scenic highways, nor in the "buffer zone" of a Heritage River or a designated stream.

If it is wrong to deny an American the freedom to travel to Cuba, it is much more wrong to deny an American the freedom to live where he chooses.

This inconsistency in the application of fundamental freedom is frightening. The federal government has no business, or constitutional authority, to mandate zoning, or land-use restrictions on private land. Neither Congress, nor the agencies of government seem to be aware of this. Both are eager to mandate – perhaps more accurately, to dictate – where people may and may not live.

The so-called Community Character Act (S. 975) goes even further. It appropriates tax dollars for communities that adopt the "Growing Smart: Legislative Guidebook," produced by the American Planning Association, with more than $2 million of our tax dollars. This 2,000-page monstrosity spells out not only zoning restrictions, but specifies the types of building materials that may be used, the size and color of signs that businesses may use, and even the variety of plants that may be planted around private residences.

It provides for another, sinister, erosion of freedom: "amortization of non-conforming uses." This rather bland-sounding euphemism tears away a huge portion of the Fifth Amendment, which says "... nor shall private property be taken for public use without just compensation."

As reported by Wendell Cox, in his Forfeiting the American Dream," the principle of "amortization of non-conforming use" means that the right to own a non-conforming structure is extinguished over a period of time, which is determined by government. At the end of the amortization period, the property belongs to the government, with no compensation to the owner. Only a warped and twisted mind could possibly conceive of such a grotesque abrogation of the fundamental American right to just compensation for the taking of private property.

Government has gotten pretty good at taking private property – and calling it something else – to avoid paying just compensation. When private property is declared to be a critical habitat, or a wetland or a viewshed, compensation is rarely paid. The property has not been taken from the owner, the government reasons, only the productive use of the property has been taken. The owner still has liability, and the responsibility to pay taxes on the property.

In Florida, land adjacent to a right-of-way may be taken by the government if the property is mowed by the road maintenance crew for a period of time. The owner is not notified, and may only discover the taking by noticing a difference in acreage on the tax bill, or by attempting to sell the property.

We will be watching those congressmen who stood in the hallowed halls of Congress, huffing and puffing about the fundamental American right to travel to Cuba, when it comes time to vote on the fundamental right for an American to live wherever he or she chooses to live.

It is hypocrisy for a congressman to declare that an American has the right to travel where he chooses, and then deny that American's right to live where he chooses. The "Smart Growth," government-managed-society vision is not a vision of American freedom. It is a preview of what Americans will see when they exercise their freedom to travel to Cuba.

THIS article at WND

Preserving Our Delmarva Landscape

"Maybe some day we can come across that Bay Bridge and know that we've all worked together to help keep our landscape rural, given agriculture the opportunity to prosper, and guaranteed a quality of life for our grandchildren.

Guys, Above is the bottom line from an essay on "Conservation Corridors" from Waybe Gilchrest's {MY Republican{?} Congresscritter} Government "website". I just emailed him and asked if freedom of property rights he has enjoyed was a part of the "quality of life" he mentions. His support of ALL of the "environmental" legislation such as the above does not indicate that. Peace and love, George.

Speaking of traveling to Cuba, here is an experience I had the other night:

I went to a meeting where Congressman Sam Farr was to speak about his recent trip to Cuba to give obeisance to Castro. There was ol' Sam Farr, in his element, standing at the podium under a giant Cuban flag.(no American flag to be seen). The room full of aging communists must have been very thrilled to see their many years of work come to fruition in Mr. Farr. This is how communism is being spread in this country.

Mr. Farr, asked the organizers to hold the meeting, it wasn't the organizers who decided to hold a meeting and then asked Mr. Farr to come. They played a video extolling the virtues of Cuban schools (98%) literacy. Then the FREE medical care--and showed a "hospital" where "No woman has died in childbirth in the last 10 years". The idyllic shots were of how they want Santa Cruz to be-- occasional cars interspersed with horse drawn wagons and bicycles.

When Mr. Farr walked in the worshipful eyes turned his way--"hello Sam, hi Sam," everyone in the crowd called him by his first name.

The woman announcing Mr. Farr, Ellen Farmer, said that working at the grassroots level, creating a "sister county" pact with a region in Cuba, was a way to "exchange ideas and implement policies out of Cuba and keep out oversight by our government" . Mr. Farr's aide brought a clipboard to collect signatures from the audience who would support his view on Cuba. I noticed there was not clipboard for those who do not support him.

There were a little over 100 people there.

Mr. Farr and his organization orchestrated the whole meeting-- it wasn't really a grassroots effort. He has sent a letter to the Santa Cruz city council asking that they adopt the measure to make Santa Cruz a sister city with Guama. After this occurs their "exchanges" are protected from too much scrutiny by our government, under the sister city pact. No doubt these loyal Americans will want to bring in ideas from Cuba on how to force “sustainable development” on our ignorant county population, exploit the local musicians and the promote the area as a vacation spot for the aging communists.

USA Today, August 12, 2002

Don't encourage Castro

By Frank Calzon

Since 1982, when Washington began identifying states that sponsor terrorism, Cuba has been on the list. Moreover, there is a demonstrable relationship between Fidel Castro's ability to raise money and his support of anti-American terrorism. That's why the U.S. government works to contain Havana by limiting its access to dollars.

Secretary of State Colin Powell recently wrote Congress reaffirming U.S. policy: "Cuba has refused to cooperate with the global coalition's efforts to combat terrorism. Unrestricted tourist travel to Cuba would benefit the government of Cuba more than the Cuban people. (And) the administration is determined to oppose any policy action that would bolster the Cuban dictatorship."

There are other reasons as well: Castro provides a safe haven for more than 70 fugitives from U.S. justice, including several accused of killing U.S. police officers. Cuba's tourist facilities hotels, beaches, medical clinics remain off-limits to most Cubans, an internal apartheid that defeats meaningful "people-to-people" contact.

Also, a Johns Hopkins University report says, "Canadian and American tourists have contributed to a sharp increase in child prostitution and exploitation of women in Cuba (due to) a current drop in political restrictions on travel to Cuba and a crackdown on sex tourism in Southeast Asia." Castro allows most foreigners to get away with it.

Foreign investment has plummeted to $38.9 million in 2001 from $488 million in 2000. One-third of the island's sugar mills are closed. The Associated Press reports that "the European Union excluded Cuba from a multibillion-dollar pool of aid because of its poor human-rights record." Exiles' remittances are down. When Russia closed its spy facility near Havana, Castro lost $200 million a year. All of this has weakened him.

Yet, like a bad scene out of a Hollywood movie about the Old West, there are Americans trying to muster a cavalry. In this instance, it's a cavalry of U.S. tourists to rescue the regime, extend the repression and misery it wreaks on the Cuban people and provide the wherewithal for the country to continue its support for anti-American movements and dictators around the world.

Frank Calzon is executive director of the Center for a Free Cuba, a non-profit organization based in Washington, D.C., that promotes human rights and democracy for Cuba.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/opinion/editorials/2002-08-11-oppose_x.htm

Distributed by the Free Cuba Foundation
http://www.fiu.edu/~fcf/

Huh. Just found this one. Maybe this is why Mr. Farr is so worried about his buddy Castro:

A former Cuban ambassador to the United Nations who recently defected said yesterday that widespread economic problems on the island could produce an uprising against President Fidel Castro and his system.

Alcibiades Hidalgo, who arrived in South Florida on July 29, said many aspects of daily life in Cuba could produce a "social explosion" at any time.

"There is lot of concern among the elite that this could occur," said Hidalgo, who also served as chief of staff to Defense Minister Raul Castro, brother of the Cuban leader.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/732287/posts

MULTI-BILLION DOLLAR HEIST
OF U.S. TREASURY BY CASTRO

Business/Economy
By Jesus J. Chao
Multibillion-Dollar Heist of U.S. Treasury by Castro

Castro is coming close to obtaining his life long dream of having U.S. taxpayers granting him over 7 billion dollars annually as a non-deductible charitable donation. The American people should not allow themselves to be fooled by Castro’s lobby; this is what they mean by ending the U.S. commercial embargo, opening an unlimited credit account for buying in the U.S. without expectations of ever being repaid.

The Soviet Union that kept Castro in power is gone and so are the 6 billion dollars a year and over 150 billion dollars in military aid; and has almost exhausted the largesse of the Western countries including Japan, which willingly accepted to be defrauded by the Cuban tyrant of many billions of dollars of un-collectable debts, Castro is now counting on his strong lobby in the United States to end the embargo and open for him the doors to Fort Knox.

Castro’s debt to Spain is 11.2 billion dollars so far, and the Spanish pirates are being paid, in part, with American properties stolen by Castro and whose legitimate owners are U.S. citizens. Similar is the case with Cuba’s debts to Argentina, Japan, Canada, Brazil, Mexico, the Paris Club of European banks, and every other country that jumped in and risked shadowy dealings with an international outlaw, as is the case of the international promoted prostitution based tourism trade.

Before jumping into Cuba’s economic black hole, American investors and the American people should be aware that according to the 1995 country investment risk survey, made by the specialized magazine Euromoney, Cuba was rated in 183rd place out of 187 countries, ranking below Somalia. The Financial Times reported on June 30, 1995. “Why then, investors may ask, should they bother with Cuba in a world replete with opportunities and more welcoming governments?” The country’s investments situation have worsened considerably since 1995. Cuba’s per capita income went down from $364 in 1958 (fourth in Latin America according to the International Monetary Fund and with a strong currency on par with the dollar), to $48 year income and a worthless currency. What kind of return can the foreign investors expect?

“Useful idiots” in the U.S. Congress such as Jose Serrano, Charles Rangel, Sheila Jackson Lee and Senator Christopher Todd, among others, who strongly opposed president’s Bush tax relief for overburdening American taxpayers; are demanding, along with the unrelenting 42 year support of the radical left controlled media, the World Council of Churches and many other fellow travelers and communist front organizations, that the U.S. taxpayers bankroll Castro’s reign of terror.

The American people seem to have forgotten that President Kennedy instituted the embargo in February 1962, after Castro had seized billions of dollars of American assets. That was Castro’s first heist of the American treasure, now he is aiming to raid Fort Knox with the approval of the American people.

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.