Free Republic

Senator Watkins John C. Watkins, (Member of the Virginia Senate from the 10th district) claimed he is just “a country boy” and “I’m a God-fearing, God-believing Christian. … If any of us think that we own the property, you better take a close look inside you,” he continued, “Because God and Mother Nature own everything.” I understand exactly what he means. I have read this same thing in The Preamble to UN Agenda 21. It claims in this United Nations document that no one can really own property; it should be shared by all. This is, of course, a basic...

NASHVILLE — A new effort is under way toward passage of legislation that pits the interests of gun rights advocates against the property rights of businesses, a politically volatile mix that was apparently a factor in a public confrontation between two legislators. Senate Speaker Ron Ramsey last week declared he strongly supports passage of the key proposal, which would authorize handgun permit holders to take their weapons to work — provided they are left in a locked car — even if the permit holder’s employer prohibits guns on company property. “It almost negates even having a permit if you can’t...

I got a buddy, a former Marine, who had been renting a room in a house in Nashville, Tennessee for several years. Lately he got behind a few months on his rent, and the landlady never followed the Tennessee or local law concerning serving notice, let alone asking for an order of eviction. Instead, the landlady, who is living in Texas, had a person in Nashville with whom she was in cahoots spirit my buddy's property (worth well over $2000) to parts unknown. I think this slick move was simply a theft. While maybe nobody is wearing a halo in...

This morning on “Meet the Press,” former Speaker Newt Gingrich repeatedly insisted that he and the other candidates should be evaluated based upon their respective records....... Gingrich personally prevented property-rights-protective reforms of the Endangered Species Act from passing the House and then gave one of the most liberal members of the Republican caucus and environmental activist groups a de facto veto over environmental legislation. These machinations were documented in an article in The Environmental Forum, a magazine published by the Environmental Law Institute — an article Gingrich cited favorably in his own book on environmental policy. Does Gingrich still believe...

Since 2007, Mike and Chantell Sackett have been fighting to build their dream home on the Idaho lot they bought years ago. The Sacketts say they had gotten local permits and spent thousands prepping the land for construction - then the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) showed up. The EPA told the Sacketts their property contained wetlands and issued a compliance order mandating that they return it to its original state or risk facing fines starting at $37,500 per day. The Sacketts say they were stunned, and asked the EPA for a hearing on the matter. The agency denied their request,...

The government’s actions in a dispute between the Environmental Protection Agency and a husband and wife targeted by the agency when they bought a residential lot in Idaho and started building their dream home are both “outrageous” and “very strange.” There were comments today from justices on the U.S. Supreme Court about the Environmental Protection Agency’s actions in a fight with Mike and Chantell Sackett, of Priest Lake, Idaho. Their case began in 2005 when the Sacketts were working on their dream home. Their land, purchased for $23,000, is about two-thirds of an acre and is about 500 feet from...

WASHINGTON — Several Supreme Court justices are criticizing the Environmental Protection Agency for heavy-handed enforcement of rules affecting homeowners. The justices were considering whether to let a North Idaho couple challenge an EPA order identifying their land as “protected wetlands.” Mike and Chantell Sackett of Priest Lake wanted to build their house on the land. But the EPA says the Sacketts can’t challenge the order to restore the land to wetlands or face thousands of dollars in fines. Justice Samuel Alito called EPA’s actions “outrageous.” Justice Antonin Scalia noted the “high-handedness of the agency” in dealing with private property. Chief...

WASHINGTON – Sacramento attorney Damien Schiff will be carrying the conservative flame Monday when the Supreme Court considers what could become the year's hottest environmental case. For the 32-year-old Schiff, a senior staff attorney with the Pacific Legal Foundation, the hourlong oral argument marks a personal milestone. The Monday morning session will be his first appearance before the famously aggressive questioners of the nation's highest court. "There is a greater intensity of preparation," Schiff acknowledged Thursday, following a moot court session at Georgetown University Law Center. "Everyone knows that (an attorney) is lucky to have 30 seconds to make their...

The Sea Shepherd anti-whaling group said three Australian activists were being held as "prisoners" by the Japanese harpoon fleet Sunday after sneaking aboard one of their vessels overnight to protest. Sea Shepherd said they had helped the three men from the Forest Rescue Australia environmental group to board the Shonan Maru No.2 16 miles (26 kilometres) off Australia's west coast. "The boats approached the Shonan Maru under the cover of darkness and the three negotiated their way past the razor wire and spikes and over the rails to successfully board the Japanese whaling vessel," Sea Shepherd said of the Forest...

This will drive the Enviro-weenies nuts! http://www.chathamdailynews.ca/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=3425246

VICTORVILLE • A controversial proposal to give federal land north of Victorville to Cemex in hopes of ending a 12-year dispute over mining in Santa Clarita is back before the City Council Tuesday night.Rep. Howard "Buck" McKeon, R-Santa Clarita, first introduced the Soledad Canyon Mine Act in 2008 and then again in 2009. The bills aimed to give 10,600 acres of Bureau of Land Management property north of Victorville to cement producer Cemex USA. In exchange, the company would agree to a band on its rights to mine gravel in Soledad Canyon, where residents have been protesting the impact on...

In the past, most if not all North American indigenous peoples had a strong belief in individual property rights and ownership. Frederick Hodge (1910) noted that individual private ownership was “the norm” for North American tribes. Likewise, Julian Steward (1938, 253) asserted that among Native Americans communal property was limited, and Frances Densmore (1939) concluded that the Makah tribe in the Paci�c Northwest had property rights similar to Europeans.’ These early twentieth-century historians and anthropologists had the advantage of actually interviewing tribal members who had lived in pre-reservation Indian society.

The UN plan referenced by Newt Gingrich is a real threat to private property and US sovereignty.“Agenda 21 proposes an array of actions which are intended to be implemented by every person on Earth…it calls for specific changes in the activities of all people… Effective execution of Agenda 21 will require a profound reorientation of all humans, unlike anything the world has ever experienced… ” - Agenda 21: The Earth Summit Strategy to Save Our Planet (Earthpress, 1993). Presidential candidate Newt Gingrich stated during a recent campaign event that the United Nations was seeking to create an “extraconstitutional control” over...

The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department unlawfully seized up to $7 million worth of property from a Santa Clarita landowner, according to a lawsuit filed in a federal court. Attorney Richard Gibson of Woodland Hills represents the owners of the property that was seized on a 20-acre site near Magic Mountain. Deputies allegedly seized tractors, trailers, boats and cargo containers after discovering a reportedly stolen skiploader that Gibson said was abandoned on the site without the landowners’ knowledge. “For many years, my client has stored a great deal of stuff on the property,” said Gibson. “One of [the owners] had...

PRIEST LAKE, Idaho – Four years ago, Mike and Chantell Sackett cleared a lot to build a house overlooking one of North Idaho’s most scenic mountain lakes. They pictured a roomy A-frame, with a deck for entertaining. At the front of the house, windows would frame views of Priest Lake and the deep forest stretching down to the lake’s indigo water. From the back, the couple could watch the Selkirk Mountains change with the seasons. But instead of their dream home, the Sacketts got a bitter legal fight with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency about whether they improperly filled in...

Which would you rather have in the view from your house? A thing about the size of a domestic garage, or eight towers twice the height of Nelson’s column with blades noisily thrumming the air. The energy they can produce over ten years is similar: eight wind turbines of 2.5-megawatts (working at roughly 25% capacity) roughly equal the output of an average Pennsylvania shale gas well (converted to electricity at 50% efficiency) in its first ten years. Difficult choice? Let’s make it easier. The gas well can be hidden in a hollow, behind a hedge. The eight wind turbines must...

...The orders do tremendous harm to the economy as well as to people’s lives by preventing them from using their property the way they had intended. This is one reason that the Physical Property Rights ranking by the International Property Rights Index (IPRI) has shown a decline in recent years for the United States. The great harm that each and everyone one of these “administrative compliance orders” causes has recently been brought home by a couple from Idaho. Mike and Chantell Sackett purchased .63 acres of land for $23,000 in 2005 to build their dream home. Despite being 500 feet...

U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin G. Scalia said Tuesday he does not believe the high court's "infamous" Kelo decision of 2005, which held that cities can take land from some residents with compensation and give it to others for economic development, will be lasting law. "I do not think the Kelo decision is long for this world," Scalia said in a speech to Chicago-Kent College of Law. He compared the court's decision in Kelo v. New London, Conn., No. 04-108, to the Dred Scott case, which held that slaves were outside the protection of the U.S. Constitution, and to the...

As the national media continues to promote the idea that these absurd "Occupy" protests demonstrate some groundswell of popular opinion, reports continue to emerge from localized media showing how ugly these encampments are becoming. A report out of Cleveland that  police are investigating a rape claim made by a 19-year-old woman last weekend has received little attention. Do you suppose if a rape claim was made against a tea partier that it would receive more attention?It's gotten so bad in Baltimore that organizers are discouraging alleged victims from going to the police (maybe they should go to Sheriff Biden).Meanwhile,...

We know the politicians are lying and breaking the law and yet nothing is done. We know the bankers have broken laws and are not being prosecuted. We taxpayers are being robbed. The corruption is so blatant and yet nothing is being done.

Romarco Minerals Inc. reopened the historic Haile Gold Mine near Kershaw, S.C., this year and expects to pour its first gold bar there in early 2014, Chief Executive Diane Garrett told Reuters this week. Environmentalists also are concerned about an endangered freshwater mussel, the Carolina heelsplitter, found in creeks near the site.

Washington, D.C. - A Priest Lake couple is headed for the U.S. Supreme Court over a land use dispute with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) that should have never occurred, according to Members of the Idaho Congressional Delegation. Mike and Chantell Sackett were in Washington, D.C., today as part of a forum convened by Senator Rand Paul (R-Kentucky) and attended by Idaho Senator Mike Crapo, Idaho Senator Jim Risch and Idaho Representative Raúl Labrador.

The United States has a long history of working to protect species from extinction. In 1939, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services (USFWS) was created for this purpose, and in 1973 the Endangered Species Act (ESA) was passed to augment its power. Protecting species naturally puts the government at odds with landowners, however. The ESA effectively allows the government to determine how land can be used, even if it is on private land. As current estimates put the percentage of endangered species on private land at 90%, this conflict is somewhat inevitable. This became evident even as far back as...

A source on the Rick Perry campaign tells Hot Air that the Texas governor conducted some Texas-size fundraising in the third quarter. Coming in just a little over halfway through, Perry raised $17.1 million. That number would put Perry somewhere between $4-6 million ahead of Mitt Romney’s rumored total for Q3, according to this report last week from the Boston Globe. It’s also likely to far outpace Herman Cain’s fundraising or that of the other Republicans currently in the race. The pace is even more impressive. Perry had 49 days in which to raise funds, rather than the full 92...

PRIEST LAKE, Idaho - It's a classic David versus Goliath battle. The United States Supreme Court now says it will consider the case of a Priest Lake couple that's just hoping to build a home. But the Federal Government says you can build a home, just not where you bought your property. It's illegal.

Just imagine. You want to build a home, so you buy a $23,000 piece of land in a residential subdivision in your hometown and get started. The government then tells you to stop, threatens you with $40 million in fines and is not kidding. That's the case now before the U.S. Supreme Court, with briefs being filed today by the Pacific Legal Foundation on behalf of a Priest Lake, Idaho, family, Chantell and Mike Sackett. Attorney Damien Schiff, who will be arguing before the high court in the case, said it's simply a case of a government run amok, and...

Just imagine. You want to build a home, so you buy a $23,000 piece of land in a residential subdivision in your hometown and get started. The government then tells you to stop, threatens you with $40 million in fines and is not kidding. That's the case now before the U.S. Supreme Court, with briefs being filed today by the Pacific Legal Foundation on behalf of a Priest Lake, Idaho, family, Chantell and Mike Sackett. Attorney Damien Schiff, who will be arguing before the high court in the case, said it's simply a case of a government run amok, and...

Reason Magazine featured a great article that chronicles a new twist in the famous Kelo vs. New London case. This landmark case radically increased the size of government under the eminent domain clause by forcing Susette Kelo to leave her house so that the City of New London could use the land for “economic development” in 2005. The new twist comes from a story recounted by a journalist and author Jeff Benedict. Benedict recounts a recent book reading of The Little Pink House (written on the Kelo case) in which Justice Richard N. Palmer, one of the 4 judges who...

September 21 at 6:30 PM, the Ground Zero Mosque will open its doors to show a photo exhibit in its community space. Park51 is hoping to discourage its opponents by declaring an early victory in spite of its recent embarrassments and setbacks. This grand opening does not mean that the fight is over. The project still has a long way to go until completion.

“I will not allow violence against this house,” stated Dustin Hoffman’s character in the original Straw Dogs (1971), a graphic film that is still worth watching, but only by adults. Most will watch Sam Peckinpah’s psychological thriller with some Western themes only once. For many, some quick editing via the remote will be required. The central point of the movie is still valid. Civilized men once had a universal understanding that a man’s home was his castle. Why? The idea that a man’s, or now in many cases a woman’s, house and property should be within their own control is...

Taking Liberty is a comprehensive look at the lower 48 states showing, region by region, how the Environmental Movement is rapidly abolishing Private Property in America. When you click on the links below, a new window will open and play each program. Please Note: You must have a Macromedia or Adobe Flash player installed on your computer to view the programs.

Unfortunately, many Americans have become inured to the trampling of freedom of association. You can work your fingers to the bone starting a business, and the government becomes a partner that contributes nothing but extracts much. It not only shares your profits and regulates you to death, but, more to the point here, dictates whom you must serve and the bases on which you may hire and fire people. And woe betide he who doesn't bow before Leviathan. A recent example of this is the Wildflower Inn, a Vermont B&B. After devout Catholic owners Jim and Mary O'Reilly refused to...

Ten years ago, Postmedia News reporter Douglas Quan was living in New York City when two hijacked airliners crashed into the World Trade Center towers. He spent the next several months filing reports on the city's recovery. As the tenth anniversary of 9/11 approaches, Quan revisited some of the New Yorkers he interviewed and found others who experienced the attack first-hand to talk about their recollections of that day and how it changed their lives. NEW YORK — The guest imam delivering the sermon today is giving advice on how Muslims can assert themselves without causing tensions in the community....

Legislature Approves Renter Smoking Ban Updated: Monday, 15 Aug 2011, 7:12 PM PDT Published : Monday, 15 Aug 2011, 7:12 PM PDT Sacramento - Landlords will be able to ban smoking on their properties, including inside rental units, if Gov. Jerry Brown signs a bill sent to him by the state Senate. Democratic Sen. Alex Padilla of Los Angeles says his bill is designed to give families more smoke-free options. He says 86 percent of Californians don't smoke, yet smoke-free multifamily housing remains comparatively rare.

...The Mississippi Farm Bureau Federation and the National Federation of Independent Business appeared as “friends of the court”, arguing that placing the amendment to the state constitution on the ballot is permissible under the US Constitution because they claim that it does not change the definition of “public use” or grant new rights to property owners, but rather codifies existing definitions in order to protect property-owners from abuse and provide certainty. Karen Harned, a spokesperson for the NFIB legal center, stated that “"It's one thing for government to take private property for long-standing and well-agreed public uses, but it's just...

The Alliance Defense Fund sent a letter to the township of Livingston urging officials to stop using a town ordinance to prohibit a resident from displaying crosses in various areas of his own yard. Police ordered the homeowner to take down a cross he had affixed to a tree in celebration of Lent after a neighbor complained. “It’s ridiculous to stop citizens from displaying a cross on their own property,” said ADF Litigation Staff Counsel Jonathan Scruggs. “The Constitution guarantees the right of Americans to express their religious beliefs in this fashion, and no local ordinance can trump that. In...

Condo board tells elderly woman to upgrade condo or get foreclosed onSarah Eisenberg has lived through many storms in her 96 years, but the ominous forecast she faces these days comes from the association that runs her condominium. Eisenberg said that she has been told that if she doesn't pay to upgrade to hurricane windows and doors, the association will foreclose on her Fort Lauderdale unit. The cost is $6,500, a price tag too expensive for a senior citizen on a fixed income, Eisenberg said. She gets $1,500 per month from her Social Security check. "They want $2,000 for a...

A society of sheep must in time beget a government of wolves.- Bertrand de Jouvenel des Ursins, usually known only as Bertrand de Jouvenel (31 October 1903, Paris – 1 March 1987) was a French philosopher, political economist, and futurist. G u l a g B o u n d Video, "Gov. Rick Perry’s amazing speech to RLC 2011" at TheRightScoop.com James Richard "Rick" Perry assumed the governorship of Texas in 2000 when he took over from George W. Bush, who resigned to take the oath of office of President. He holds all records for Texas gubernatorial tenure. Perry has...

A HOMEOWNER has been ordered to leave the house where he was caring for his 92-year-old mother to allow his estranged wife to move back in. Angus and Barbara Ann Fraser are fighting a legal battle over the home in the Lochaber village of Caol. Mrs Fraser, 61, left the house the couple shared with her mother-in-law Elizabeth nine weeks ago when the pair separated, but then began a legaADVERTISEMENT l move at Fort William Sheriff Court to return to live there. Sheriff Douglas Small has granted an interim exclusion order against Mr Fraser, 54, banning him from the house...

It probably is just a matter of days before an Idaho family will learn whether it will have to decide between giving the government hundreds of thousands of dollars or giving up completely on its plans for a dream home in Priest Lake. It may have to pay the government even if it gives up its dreams. At issue is a pending request before the U.S. Supreme Court to intervene in a decision by the Environmental Protection Agency that the couple's land in a residential subdivision falls under its authority to protect the nation's wetlands. The problem for the Sackett...

CORAL GABLES— Starting this month, the city of Coral Gables will issue warning notices to owners of pickup trucks who do not park their trucks inside their garages at night. Since the 1960s, the city has banned people from parking their pickup trucks in their driveways or on city streets from 7 p.m. to 7 a.m. After Aug. 8, Coral Gables will start issuing tickets to people who violate the parking ban. The city has resumed enforcement of this controversial law because last month, the Florida Supreme Court decided not to consider an appeal by Lowell Kuvin, who sued Coral...

Gov. Jerry Brown wants to eliminate dozens of state panels and commissions, a good idea and long overdue. But the governor needs to be more inclusive, and stalk bigger game. His list includes the Unemployment Insurance Appeals Board, a typical soft landing spot for ex-legislators. They meet about once a month but get paid $128,109 a year, more than they were paid as legislators, as the Sacramento Bee recently noted. Such ruling-class parasitism doesn’t help balance the budget. The governor also wants to eliminate the California Commission on the Status of Women, which began on the watch of his father,...

TOLEDO, Ohio (AP) — An Ohio restaurant mentioned last week by President Barack Obama as an indirect beneficiary of the government's Chrysler bailout will go out of business Sunday after a more than 70-year history. Co-owner Richard Lawrence of New Chet's Restaurant in Toledo says business has fallen victim to the economy and the workplace smoking ban approved by Ohio voters in 2006.

The Texas Legislature has gone into special session to take care of unfinished business, like the budget. But the regular session produced some consumer protections for landowners. Eminent Domain is the 900 pound gorilla in the room for Texas landowners. And until now, you could have your property taken by local government or some private companies. And there’s nothing you can do to stop it. Well, KETK has learned that no matter what Austin says…that can still happen. But some folks, like the Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association, are very happy with the new protections written into law. “It...

Homeowner, who owns the land you live on? You might think you do, in America, but you'd be forgetting a few things. One) eminent domain: you could at any time lose you house if, say, your city or state wants to put in a freeway there. Two) County building codes: You can lose your house if it gets too weird, ugly, unsafe, or enough of an annoyance to neighbors. Yes. In the end, this is not as free a country as you think when it comes to home design. Ask former telephone tech Alan Kimble Fahey of Acton, CA, who...

Is it possible that PETA, an organization which has equated the eating of animals to the lynching of black Americans, has something in common with the Tea Party? I wondered when I received an email from a fellow Tea Partier which had originated from the radical animal rights group. House File (HF) 1369 and Senate File (SF) 1118, which are currently making their way through the Minnesota State Legislature, could subject whistleblowers to criminal prosecution for their efforts to expose animal abuse on factory farms. If passed, these bills would penalize those who report and expose cruelty to animals and...

Cuba says it will allow people to buy and sell their homes for the first time since the communist revolution in 1959. For the past 50 years, Cubans have only been allowed to pass on their homes to their children, or to swap them through a complicated and often corrupt system. The move was decided during the first congress held by the ruling Communist Party in 14 years, aimed at breathing new life into the communist system. No details were given on how the new property sales could work. Cuban President Raul Castro warned that the concentration of property would...

The right to own private property unfettered by excessive government control is under attack in Virginia. Private property is a fundamental right that distinguishes us as a free people, The framers of the constitution understood the importance of protecting private property rights. The Fifth Amendment of the Bill of Rights states, “No person shall be … deprived of life, liberty, or property without due process of law, nor shall private property be taken for public use without just compensation.” (Related: Agenda 21 Resource Page and also The Path To Agenda 21 Sustainable Development) Despite constitutional protection against property confiscation, state...

DE BEQUE, Colo. -- A man with thousands of tires on his land may soon have them removed if the county has its way. As of Monday, Mesa County is pushing for a six figure state grant to get rid of the rubber on his De Beque property. Stan Eisenach says he uses the rubber for various projects and he has a right to do what he wants on his property. There are 17,000 tires sitting on the land in De Beque, just feet from I-70 and no other real neighbors around. The man who lives here wants to be...

National City, Calif.—A San Diego-area boxing gym that serves at-risk kids is showing what it takes to fight for what is right and to win.  A trial is scheduled to begin on Monday, March 14, 2011, to decide whether National City, Calif., may declare nearly 700 properties—including the gym—“blighted,” thus freeing the city to bulldoze these properties and make way for luxury condos among other private developments.  The trial will be held before the Honorable Steven R. Denton, Superior Court of California, Hall of Justice, 330 W. Broadway in San Diego, Calif. The Community Youth Athletic Center (CYAC) has had...