The American Guesser

Cross posted from Peoria Pundit.

Peoria knows a lot about eminent domain for private gain. They used it to build the half-abandoned MidTown Plaza. Well, one Long Branch, N.J. neighborhood fought back and the city caved in after along battle.

“Today’s agreement finally ends this government-created nightmare that was imposed upon these Long Branch homeowners,” said Scott Bullock, a senior attorney at the Institute for Justice which, along with noted New Jersey eminent domain lawyers Peter H. Wegener and William Ward, represented the homeowners. “With this agreement, the neighborhood can be restored to the kind of wonderful community it was before the city and the developer targeted it. These modest, proudly-maintained homes will no longer be threatened by the bulldozers.”

“At long last, we can get our homes, lives and neighborhood back,” said Lori Vendetti, who owns one of the homes across the street from the house her parents bought more than 40 years ago—a home where her mother still resides. “I am so glad my father and the other seniors in the neighborhood were able to live out their days in their homes, but I wish they could have been here to see this wonderful conclusion.” Lori’s father, Carmen Vendetti, passed away in June of this year while still battling to protect the home the former truck driver built for his family.

Under the terms of the agreement announced today, the city must dismiss the eminent domain actions filed against the MTOTSA homeowners in 2005. (MTOTSA is an acronym for the streets Marine Terrace, Ocean Terrace and Seaview Avenue, the neighborhood targeted for eminent domain for private gain.) Just as important, the order also provides that the city is barred from taking the homes in the future under the current or any subsequent redevelopment plan. The agreement further provides that the homeowners can take advantage of tax abatements, just as the city-designated developer was permitted to do, for reinvesting in their properties. The city is also paying a portion of the attorneys’ fees for the homeowners.

Wow. This is a big, big victory for property rights. It’s something Peoria neighborhood groups will have to remember if the city gets itching to grab more land on behalf of millionaires.

Via American Journalism Review:

Speaking of dead, the death panels canard is another one that refuses to disappear, helped along by the antics of cynically manipulative politicians. Somehow, the notion of having Medicare pay for voluntary end-of-life counseling sessions has morphed in the minds of opponents of health care legislation into evil cabals killing the elderly. It is, as Jackson says, a “complete misrepresentation.” He adds, “Hip replacements are covered by Medicare, but they aren’t mandatory.”

Of course, it’s not as if the right has a monopoly on misinformation. While Obama has said repeatedly that health care reform will pay for itself, that isn’t the case with versions of the bill drafted thus far. And Congress hasn’t helped with what Jackson calls the “untransparent” approach it has taken to putting the legislation together.

No, this isn’t a post about legalized prostitution. It’s about ballot access and the lack thereof.

Via Ballot Access News:

On August 18, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court again upheld the unique Pennsylvania practice of charging candidates for the costs of removing them from the ballot. The Court issued a one-sentence order in the 2006 Green Party case, affirming that the Court’s prior opinion stands, and that the Green Party’s candidate for U.S. Senate in 2006 and his attorney must pay approximately $80,000 to the people who challenged their petition.

If petition challenges work in Pennsylvania like they do here in Illinois, the extremely political. Sometimes, state workers are dispatched to make sure those nasty greens and libertarians are kept out of the process.

Woo Hoo! Good news in Peoria:

[Peoria resident Lonnie] Tinsley told police he was sitting on his porch when two males came around the side of his house just before midnight Sunday. Tinsley said Wells pointed a gun at him and told him to get inside the house.

Once inside, Tinsley tried to hold the door shut while being struck in the head.

—

Tinsley said he eventually went to retrieve his own gun from inside the house.

“I got to my gun, spun around and shot it,” Tinsley said, adding that he probably shot three rounds at the intruders.

When police arrived, witnesses reported seeing a man wearing a ski mask and holding a revolver. They said the masked man shot three times at Tinsley, who returned fire.

Wells was the only person shot during the exchange. Police did not say how many total shots may have been fired.

For those out-of-towners reading this, the mayor and other community leaders want the state’s permission to use Peoria’s home rule power and start letting citizens who qualify the power to carry concealed weapons. I’ll bet my next paycheck that neither of the two sociopaths who ended up getting shot at would qualify. And note that no law stopped them from carrying.

Cross posted to Peoria Pundit.

Why am I not surprised? Via IPR:

The Green Party of the United States calls for an immediate end to Israel’s bombing attacks on Gaza, which in the past four days has already caused at least 364 deaths, including Palestinian women and children, with hundreds more wounded. “It’s clear that President Bush gave a green light for Israel’s massive and disproportionate display of force.  The Green Party demands that the US seek a bilateral ceasefire, with immediate pressure on Israel to stop the bombardment and end the occupation,” said Rosa Clemente, the Green Party’s 2008 candidate for Vice President of the United States.

No word from the Green Party on their position on the rockets that Hamas was lobbing into Israel.

A U.S. Court in Utah thinks (.pdf file) so:

By itself, mere possession of a firearm in public is not unlawful and may well represent the exercise of a fundamental constitutional right guaranteed by the Second Amendment to the United States Constitution….. See District of Columbia v. Heller, 128 S. Ct. 2783, 2799 (2008) (“There seems to us no doubt, on the basis of both text and history, that the Second Amendment conferred an individual right to keep and bear arms.”)….. Salt Lake City’s asserted governmental interest in its police officers’ response to a report of a “man with a gun” in a public park cannot be weighed in isolation….there may well be more individual constitutional rights at stake than the Fourth Amendment freedom from unreasonable searches and seizures.

Hat tip: Best magazine ever.

There’s an interesting piece in Reason (Best. Magazine. EVAR.) about eminent domain about a H. Walker Royall, private developer who sues anyone who is critical of his use of eminent domain.

So after thinking carefully about my potential legal exposure, I have decided not to say that Royall is an arrogant, thin-skinned cheater who thinks nothing of abusing the legal process and violating other people’s rights to advance his business interests and protect his vanity. Although that opinion is completely protected by the First Amendment as criticism of a public figure and speech about an issue of public importance, Royall still could sue me. And as the Institute for Justice, which is representing Main, Epstein, and Encounter Books, points out, even if defamation lawsuits against critics of eminent domain abuse fail in court, “the large expenditure of time and money associated with defending them all too often accomplishes the goal of silencing those who stand up for their rights.” With that in mind, I have decided to refrain from calling Royall a corrupt coward, a litigious leech, or a supersensitive censor. I encourage you to refrain from doing so as well.

Thank God for restraint.

Call me a dirty neo-Libertarian, if you must. Supporters of pacifist Ron Paul also might object, considering how the war is illegal and all that. But, this story (hat tip to Kim) brought a crooked smile to my face. It’s about some Marines who found themselves outnumbered in Afghanistan.

During the battle, the designated marksman single handedly thwarted a company-sized enemy RPG and machine gun ambush by reportedly killing 20 enemy fighters with his devastatingly accurate precision fire. He selflessly exposed himself time and again to intense enemy fire during a critical point in the eight-hour battle for Shewan in order to kill any enemy combatants who attempted to engage or maneuver on the Marines in the kill zone. What made his actions even more impressive was the fact that he didn’t miss any shots, despite the enemies’ rounds impacting within a foot of his fighting position.

“I was in my own little world,” the young corporal said. “I wasn’t even aware of a lot of the rounds impacting near my position, because I was concentrating so hard on making sure my rounds were on target.”

After calling for close-air support, the small group of Marines pushed forward and broke the enemies’ spirit as many of them dropped their weapons and fled the battlefield. At the end of the battle, the Marines had reduced an enemy stronghold, killed more than 50 insurgents and wounded several more.

“I didn’t realize how many bad guys there were until we had broken through the enemies’ lines and forced them to retreat. It was roughly 250 insurgents against 30 of us,” the corporal said. “It was a good day for the Marine Corps. We killed a lot of bad guys, and none of our guys were seriously injured.”

Yesterday was Thanksgiving. Now, I don’t usually post about how it’s this or that holiday. I figure my readers know it’s Thanksgiving, and they don’t need me telling them what I’m thankful for, or what they ought to be thankful for.

But I will say this: I am damn thankful for the men and women in uniform who are in harm’s war in foreign lands making it safe for “no-first-blow” libertarians spout off on their blogs.

It’s better we fight them over there rather then to wait for them to strike another blow here, then chase them around trying to arrest them.

So, kudos to Task Force 2d Battalion, 7th Marine Regiment, Special Purpose Marine Air Ground Task Force Afghanistan, and everyone like them in all branches of the military. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Be safe and come home soon.

Cross posted to Peoria Pundit.

This is amazing:

The lawsuit that George William Roberts filed Thursday stems from a May 11 incident in which Roberts was charged with public intoxication. The charge was later dismissed in General District Court.

Melvin Williams, who is representing Roberts, said court testimony indicated that police were answering a call about someone disturbing the peace. After speaking to neighbors, they went to Roberts’ door in the 800 block of Peck Street [in Roakoke, VA].

According to the lawsuit, Roberts’ girlfriend answered and when asked if anyone else was home, she told them Roberts was getting dressed in a back room. As she spoke, Roberts walked into the living room where he could be seen from the door.

Officers pushed into the house, seized Roberts, dragged him outside and charged him with being drunk in public, the lawsuit says.

Naturally, he’s suing for $10 million, saying that police trespassed, committed assault and battery, and both the U.S. Constitution’s prohibition of unreasonable search and seizure and Virginia law by entering his home without a warrant.

Hey, I mean it’s not like they held him down and forced him to drink before they violated his privacy, committed assault and dragged him outside where they could claim he was drunk and in public.

Good luck with the lawsuit.

The Green Party is hoping one of their guys has a shot of getting into Congress out of Louisiana’s 2nd district :

The Republican is a Vietnamese American who almost never mentions his party affiliation when campaigning inside New Orleans. The Democrat is disgraced nine-term incumbent William “Dollar Bill” Jefferson, under indictment for bribery after the FBI discovered $90,000 stashed in the plastic containers of his home freezer. The Green Party candidate is longtime community organizer Malik Rahim, a co-founder of Common Ground Relief Network, a grassroots organization brought together in the wake of Katrina to open medical clinics, distribute flood relief supplies and repair and rebuild homes damaged by the flood. With a projected low turnout, it’s shaping up as a three way race that could go in a surprising direction. “We are shooting for 30,000 votes here,” a Rahim campaign spokesperson told BAR, “and we think we can win.”

I dunno. You can never underestimate the ability of people to rationalize away a candidates obviously criminal behavior because they think they need someone to bring home the bacon. After all, they’ve been told by the media, the schools and their churches for years that they cannot possibly service without assistance from the nanny state. The only reason for wanting the ability to vote is to be able to get stuff from the government.

And right now, you just bet that Bill Jefferson is pumping out that message. At least Malik Rahim has been rolling up his hands and working for the people. Jefferson has literally be rolling away the cash.