Free Republic

WASHINGTON -- The Supreme Court gave local governments broad power today to bulldoze homes and other private property to make way for business development, a ruling that could encourage more city-backed plans to replace small stores with big-box retailers. The 5-4 ruling upheld a plan by officials in a coastal Connecticut town to condemn nine homes of longtime residents that would be replaced with an office complex and a marina. The dispute between the homeowners and the city officials became a classic test of government power versus individual rights. It pitted a community's hopes for economic rebirth against an individual's...

NEW YORK -- A red-light district tentatively cleared for construction on the Internet -- the ''.xxx'' domain -- is being billed by backers as giving the online porn industry an opportunity to clean up its act. A distinct online sector for the salacious will reduce the chances of Internet users accidentally stumbling onto porn sites, they argue. If only it were so simple. Zoning in cyberspace has always been a daunting proposition, and participation in the porn domain will be voluntary. Even if it's voluntary, supporters say, adult sites will have incentives to use ''.xxx.'' ''If the carrot's big enough,...

The city of Monroe agreed to pay former city manager Doug Spell more than $100,000 following his sudden decision to quit Wednesday, records show. Following Spell's abrupt resignation and the City Council's acceptance, city attorney Terry Sholar hammered out a settlement agreement that provides Spell the exact compensation that he would have received had he remained employed until his employment contract expired in December. Although Spell submitted a formal resignation, terms of the settlement confirm that he was fired. The council unanimously, though Mayor Judy Davis and Spell were absent, accepted Spell's resignation during a special meeting Wednesday that was...

Easement acquisition stirs anger By RITCHIE E. STARNES - WEDDINGTON Several property owners in Weddington are still fuming about how Union County officials seemingly fast-tracked the condemnation of their land to help build a sewer-trunk line for developers in 2002. Exercising eminent domain typically strikes an emotional chord among most property owners, but mix in what the residents see as poor communication, insulting compensation and allegations of conspiracy theories, and the result is raw feelings. That's the situation for the majority of 40 land owners who had swaths of their land condemned to make way for the West Fork Twelve...

Med : Supreme Court case could severely limit cities Eminent domain. It is the ultimate exercise in government power over individual property owners. A city can forcibly buy out a homeowner and take over his land, with the argument that the public would benefit more from a shopping mall than a private house. But that power could be significantly curbed after a U.S. Supreme Court decision this spring. The ruling has a potentially significant impact on how local cities do business. From the construction of Pasadena car dealerships to an ongoing lawsuit over a Temple City office building, eminent domain...

Judge critical of Bush, Congress One of the appeals court judges rebuked the White House and lawmakers Wednesday for acting “in a manner demonstrably at odds with our Founding Fathers’ blueprint for the governance of a free people — our Constitution.” “Any further action by our court or the district court would be improper,” wrote Judge Stanley Birch Jr., appointed by President Bush’s father.

The U.S. Supreme Court recently heard arguments in Kelo v. New London, the Connecticut eminent domain case which will determine how this ultimate government power is used for generations. The truth has been obscured in this and almost every other case of eminent domain seizure for "economic benefit."So many of the facts in this and similar cases have been obscured and misrepresented that a new web site has been created dedicated to countering this propaganda.  Use it as a resource to obtain the truth.Learn the facts here:  http://www.CottageCoalition.orgYou will learn: New London is not a city in economic distress. Its...

E-mail and Web addresses ending in ".eu" should appear on the Internet within the next year or so, giving Europeans a unified presence online. The Internet's key oversight body still needs to complete a contract with EURid, a nonprofit group selected by the European Commission, the 25-nation bloc's executive body, to run ".eu." But in a telephone conference call this week, the board of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers gave ICANN's staff the go-ahead to do so. Within weeks, ".eu" is expected to be formally entered into the 13 computers that form the master directories for the...

Commissioner accuses county manager of sweetheart home deal By PETER J. HOVANEC -- MONROE (March 19, 2005) The latest bout in the ongoing dispute between Union County Commissioner Stony Rushing and county manager Mike Shalati came to a head Monday night when Shalati defended himself, yet again, against a number of allegations. Shalati took the podium near the end of Monday's meeting to respond to allegations of impropriety, which Rushing sent to various investigative organizations, as well as numerous county residents. While Shalati contends that he had to defend his professional reputation, Rushing said he just wants the truth to...

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- At least four Internet domain names that potential DFL gubernatorial and U.S. Senate candidates might like to have, including Attorney General Mike Hatch and Patty Wetterling, have been purchased by a blogger to direct visitors to a weblog critical of Minnesota Democrats. The websites -- including www.mikehatchforgovernor.com and www.wetterlingforsenate.com -- are registered to Domains by Proxy, an Arizona-based company that acts as a front for people who want to shield their website registration information from the public. The anonymous person who runs Minnesota Democrats Exposed posted a statement Monday saying that he or she purchased the domain...

John Adams must have been spinning in his grave while attorneys for the city of New London Development Corporation explained to the U.S. Supreme Court why Susette Kelo’s home should be taken by the government and resold to another private owner. John Adams believed that "The moment the idea is admitted into society that property is not as sacred as the laws of God, and that there is no force of law and public justice to protect it, anarchy and tyranny commence. Property must be secured or liberty cannot exist." In New London, Connecticut, the idea of "sacred" private property...

This Tuesday, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear Kelo v. New London, the first time it has addressed whether governments can seize your home and replace it with something yielding more tax revenue. The number of people this has happened to is easily in the hundreds of thousands. This is the first time the Court has directly addressed this question. In recent decades, activist courts and legislatures have grown increasingly brazen in wielding eminent domain powers. Unless the homeowners prevail in Kelo, there are no legal impediments restraining governments and no one’s property is safe from the insatiable appetite for...

Clifton Heights restaurants lose domain battle Dan Monk Courier Senior Staff Reporter A Hamilton County judge has ruled in favor of a Clifton Heights redevelopment initiative that wants to use the city's power of eminent domain to tear down and rebuild part of Calhoun Street south of the University of Cincinnati. "There can be no doubt that a public purpose is served by this urban renewal plan designed to revitalize a declining, deteriorating neighborhood," wrote Hamilton County Common Pleas Judge Thomas Crush earlier this month. The court fight pitted the Clifton Heights Community Urban Redevelopment Corp. against two small-business owners...

Victims of Oregon’s tyrannical web of land use restrictions, ordinances, and regulatory takings can finally seek justice. Measure 37 passed on November 2 and it allows Oregon property owners who have been wronged by any myriad of radical land use restrictions imposed by the state and local governments to seek just compensation for their monetary losses. And if the governmental body responsible for the offending regulation can’t pony up the dough, the Measure calls for the property owner to be immune from the regulation. Measure 37 is right. It is fair. It is brilliant in its simplicity. Measure 37 is...

WASHINGTON -- The U.S. Constitution, properly construed by a vigilant Supreme Court, prevents untrammeled power, which is the definition of despotism. But the human propensity for abusing power -- a propensity the Constitution's unsentimental framers understood and tried to shackle with prudent language -- is perennial. There always are people trying to carve crevices in constitutional terminology to allow scope for despotism. Such carving is occurring in Connecticut. Soon -- perhaps on the first Monday in October -- the court will announce whether it will hear an appeal against a 4-3 ruling last March by Connecticut's Supreme Court. That ruling...

(CNN) -- KerryEdwards.com is getting a lot of attention, but you won't find any pictures of the Democratic presidential candidate and his running mate. The online address belongs to Kerry Edwards, a bail bondsman from Indianapolis, Indiana. He joined CNN's Carol Lin to discuss the coincidence and the Web site. LIN: I don't suppose your middle name is John? EDWARDS: No. LIN: No such luck there. All right. EDWARDS: But my wife's name is Elizabeth. LIN: Oh, I cannot believe this coincidence. How much do you think this Web site is worth? Because you've been offered a lot of money...

Someone is selling the domain bushcheney2004.info on ebay. Wanna bet a liberal grabs this domain to weave their eeeeevil web? Tempted to bid... ebay

I’m sixteen years old and I am trying to start my own conservative website. Lately I’ve been outraged over the liberalism that is constantly blared out on the media and the Internet that is anti American and anti Bush so a friend of mine who is also conservative suggested that we try starting our own website. I don’t have a credit card or a checking account so I decided to try somewhere I could get a free website and free domain ETC. I’ve never done this before so I have been going around the Internet asking for advice. I’m wondering...

Tom Daschle has learned the information superhighway has some detours. South Dakotans in search of the Democratic senator's campaign Web site may instead find an anti-abortion site. Daschle's political site is www.tomdaschle.com. However, www.daschleforsenate.com or www.daschleforsenate.org are much different pit stops on the Internet. Andrew Jaspers, who said he used to live in Pine Ridge, created the opposition Web sites as well as other similar ones. He's a 25-year-old graduate student at Fordham University in New York City. All of his Internet sites target "politicians who support no restrictions on abortions," he said via an e-mail interview with the American...

Anyone believing that the state process of eminent domain is fair for citizens has not gone through it. It is a traumatic and trying experience and one which is calculated to force average citizens to accept what is offered by the state to avoid going through their eminent domain proceedings. Below are listed some of the experiences you will encounter on the way if you choose to fight the state and proceed to an eminent domain hearing. On October 2, 2003 we must move from our home and property at 6230 Golden Gate Parkway Naples Florida by court ordered dictate...