SOMETHING ACTUALLY IMPORTANT

KELO case in plain English: Summing it up: You and I no longer own homes. We occupy them. We pay the bank every month for the privilege of living there as long as the government wants to let us. The 5-4 Supreme Court 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. Also included is a health club. Get this: your house can be grabbed for a goddam health club. At 3PM PDT I have covered 23 Left Blogs. There is not one comment on any of them.

Reynolds has become boring, what with his enless links to sycophants, BUT today he has something original to say. This is a case that to any conservative would be open and shut. A local government seized private property and donated it to a corporation because the corporation would pay more taxes. A no brainer right? Wrong! All the courts, including the Supreme Court has approved. This means we have no right to private property at all. Unless the brain dead Republicans get off their asses and act on this case and others, we have basically lost our rights. This has been under my radar, mainly because I assumed the Supreme Court would never approve of this land grab. Wrong. You can read up on it in plain english here.

This is really horrible. Start writing to Republican Assholes Everywhere. Start with the asshole chairman of the GOP and then follow up with the 2nd in command asshole and then follow up with everyone you know in the GOP----and THIS GUY says it best. Get off your butts on this one or stop reading here and go to the comics.

The only reaction so far has been from the Right. No Left commentary at all, as if they have to be told how to react. A few statements

Thank God. Now we can grab land for the birdies, fishies, flowers, and Left Wing think tanks....

"they paved paradise and put up a parking lot"

The individual doesn’t even count anymore. Property rights? Only as long as someone with a bigger bankroll doesn’t want your property for themselves.

"While You Were Busy Protesting The Patriot Act......the government took your house.

DC Mayor To Bulldoze Ruth Bader Ginsberg's House For Health Club."

They just gave the keys to your home to any developer who can throw enough silly money at local city officials.

The individual citizen is no longer paramount—the community is. The individual doesn’t even count anymore. Property rights? Only as long as someone with a bigger bankroll doesn’t want your property for themselves.

Now, your home can all be taken away if a company wants their new building to overlook the river or the park across the street from your house.

Now if Donald Trump wants to put a casino on your property, and you don’t want to sell, the government can seize your land, and then sell it to Trump.

So much for the value of individual property rights.

Today, I am ashamed of my country, my government, and the legal system (we don’t have a justice system).

It’s a dark day for American homeowners.

Every home, small business, or church would produce more taxes than a shopping center or office building. And according to the Court, that’s a good enough reason for eminent domain.

A significant right that is clearly and simply stated in our constitution now has no meaning. It took just five boobs in black robes to kill this right to which I refer.

Thank goodness the Supreme Court today ruled that cities have the right to seize people’s homes in order to sell them to rich developers.

Now tell me again why the Senate battle for judicial confirmations isn’t important. This country needs a different type of judge on the bench to revisit and overturn this decision.

All a developer has to do now is make a lowball offer and threaten to involve a bought-and-paid-for politician to take the property away if the owner doesn’t acquiesce.

.....the only justification the government needs to take away your house and land is that the government wants more money. Have you ever met a government that didn’t want more money? Me neither.

Property rights are now officially meaningless in the United States - the land of the free (reign of government.)

.....the concept of private property has been abolished by the Supreme Court.

Passing laws restricting localities from seizing private property (which is precisely what happens when an owner is forced to sell) except under very specific circumstances should become the goal of everyone who was watching this and hoping for different results.

If you own any property, and the local municipality decides that someone else “deserves” or “needs” your property more than you do (i.e., the “other guy” can increase the tax base or provide jobs), then you’re S.O.L. They get to take your land. And you don’t have a damn thing to say about it.

This is a wide-open invitation to complete corruption.

It is very inconvenient for the likes of Costco to have to buy their own land. They would rather have the government steal it for them.

Supreme Court Allows States To Steal Property (headline)

Kelo Decision Trashes Taxpayer Rights as Well as Property Rights

Many of the affected citizens have deep roots in their community, including a married couple in their 80s who have lived in the same home for more than 50 years.

Kiss your property rights goodbye

We are fucked.