The American Guesser

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.

In the past Peoria, has seen quite a bit of abuse of eminent domain laws. They’ve used it to take away private property and use it to build strip malls and baseball parks. But the most recent version of the Peoria City Council hasn’t even allowed this sort of thing to even reach the proposal stage. Yet.

Not so much in Schaumberg, according to the Schaumburg Freedom Coalition:

This property is home to a Sara Lee/Market Day outlet store that has given back hundreds of thousands of dollars back to the local community over the many years of its existence. This small store shown a great deal of concern for the people of our community that not many other local businesses can match.

It is also home to Hair Clip, whose owner escaped the oppression of communist Vietnam to live and work in the greatest bastion of freedom, the United States of America. Now that the Village of Schaumburg is looking to kick these people out of their businesses we are learning that the land of the free isn’t so free after all.

When private property can be taken away simply because someone with a lot of money wants it, then none of us are really any better off than serfs.

Even though the Kelo Decision didn’t go the way that people who care about property rights wanted, I think it did open a lot of eyes. I’m sorry it didn’t happen in Schaumburg.

But I’m worried that with the economy tanking and people in a panic, the politicians and the developers will be scaring people into turing a blind eye toward this kind of eminent domain abuse. After all, there are jobs at stake. 

Feh.

 

From the Wilson Quarterly:

Muscular moderation from our leaders, and a renewed faith among citizens, requires a new American nationalism, with national identity trumping party loyalty. The public’s frustrated yearning for a patriotic and civic revival fueled both Ronald Reagan’s success and Barack Obama’s meteoric rise. Both men captured Americans’ desire for greater faith in their leaders, their country, their system, themselves. The excitement about John McCain’s compelling life story likewise reflects a yearning for simpler, more patriotic times, rooted in self-sacrifice rather than self-indulgence.

We will start reducing the tension and reviving some faith in politics when we have leaders who understand that they must lead from the center, uniting Americans around core values and ensuring that politics are once again about being rooted in community and solving problems, not just rooting for one set of culture warriors over another.

This reminded me of why I’m a small-L libertarian, disenchanted with the Libertarian Party — not to mention others that claim to support a return to Constitutional liberties. The LP and the others attract single issue zealots and crackpots who are perfectly willing to fight and argue ad infinitum over tiny little scraps of philosophy. To do anything else isn’t “principled.”

That’s why I like the idea of a party that borrows the best ideas of both the Democrats and the Republicans.

Hat tip, The Whig.

Via Baraboo (Wisc.) News Republic, some legal difficulties for Libertarian Party U.S. Congress candidate Kevin J. Barrett: 

According to the criminal complaint, Barrett’s wife told a Sauk County deputy sheriff he was sleeping the morning of the primary election when one of his children was making noise in their home near Arena. Barrett charged out of the bedroom saying “that’s it” and the boy said Barrett struck him on the back.

The bail jumping charge stems from a few days later when police say Barrett picked up the car his wife was using from outside a Madison home where she and the children were staying. When he was charged with disorderly conduct, Barrett had been ordered to stay away from his wife and was allowed to pick up personal property only after notifying her in advance and with a law enforcement officer present. That is the routine manner in which domestic dispute incidents are handled.

Barrett says his wife concocted the story of him striking the child because she was trying to extort money from him. His wife has also been unhappy with the attention he gets for his advocacy of the idea the United States government, not foreign terrorists, caused the collapse of the World Trade Towers on Sept. 11, 2001.

I can see it now: “Your honor, I am completely innocent. You see, the Government is out to get me.”

In other words, when you dismiss the words of rational scientists because it doesn’t conform with your irrational beliefs, you tend to lose credibility.

The lede paragraph of the article makes it out like he was arrested for swatting his child, which I take to mean an open hand across the butt. Slapping a kid on his presumably bare back is, at best, bad aim. And it’s always best to follow the letter of the law when the ex has filed a restraining order. I have no idea how that translates into a bail jumping charge.

Hat tip: IPR.

Via the McHenry County Libertarian Party Blog:

The Libertarian Party of Illinois (”LP Illinois”) condemns the recent actions of Democratic Governor Rob Blagojevich and calls for his immediate resignation for the good of the State of Illinois.

Blagojevich was arrested on December 9, 2008, accused of scheming to profit from the selling of President-Elect Barack Obama’s senate seat for cash or for a political appointment. Charges against Blagojevich were detailed in a 76 page criminal complaint.

“This type of arrogant, outrageous behavior has become the norm among our elected officials and must no longer be tolerated in Illinois,” said Dave Brady, State Chair of LP Illinois. “The citizens of this state deserve and must demand elected officials who serve honestly and with integrity,” he added.

Brady also emphasized the need for more voter choices in Illinois. “First, George Ryan, a Republican, and now Rob Blagojevich, a Democrat, abusing the public trust in an attempt to enrich themselves,” he said. “I hope this sends a signal to the voters of Illinois and to the media that there really is no difference between the two major parties, and more choices are needed,” said Brady. “We fully expect to provide an alternative candidate for governor who is well qualified, accountable and responsive,” he added. “I challenge all media to provide equal attention to all third parties during the next campaign for governor,” he added.

The following is the official statement from the Illinois Green Party on the arrest of Gov. Rod Blagojevich:

We in the Illinois Green Party are deeply troubled by the arrest of Governor Rod Blagojevich and his chief-of-staff John Harris. The Governor is charged with attempting to personally profit from his power to appoint a person to the U.S. Senate. While we recognize that the accused are innocent until proven guilty, we must also admit that we are not surprised by these allegations. We have seen a long pattern of pay-to-play from Blagojevich, and indeed, a long pattern of pay-to-play throughout Illinois politics for years. The long sordid history of corruption in Illinois must finally come to an end.

The Green Party has always stood for accountability, transparency, and clean government through clean elections. We reject all corporate campaign contributions, advocate for public financing, and have long pushed for at least caps on individual contributions, so that our elections will no longer be pay-to-play.

We call on the Illinois General Assembly to hold an emergency session to:

1) Develop legislation to give the people of Illinois the ability to recall their public officials;

2) Consider the impeachment of Governor Blagojevich;

3) Amend Illinois statute to provide for an open process for filling this and future U.S. Senate seats, preferably through a special election, as the process for filling the current vacancy has been irrevocably tainted;

4) Reform the campaign finance system, banning all corporate campaign contributions, and installing caps on individual contributions;

5) Further reform the campaign finance system to eliminate pay-for-play, by barring or severely limiting contributions from political appointees, and mandating that political committees return donations made from individuals subsequently appointed to public office, boards, or commissions.

These are the first steps which need to be taken to help instill integrity, transparency, and accountability to our state government.

Phil Huckelberry
Chair, Illinois Green Party

My two cents: The only one of these suggestions that disturbs me is the proposal to further limit personal contributions. I smacks of a limit on the personal freedoms of millions of people because of concerns that some of them will be giving cash for bad reasons. As long as there’s full disclosure and transparency, I see no problems with people donating money to support the candidates of their choice.

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.

Reuters has an interesting story about powerful senators who really, really, really want to see the Fairness Doctrine come back. And yes, people, the article does state that President-elect Obama is on record as opposing a Fairness Doctrine comeback.

Several points:

He has not stated that he would veto a new Fairness Doctrine.

He might be willing to trade his opposition to the Fairness Doctrine for something else, or simply might not be opposed enough to fight to keep it from becoming law if it’s attached to another bill.

And as the article points out, there are other ways to skin a cat:

Obama has called on Henry Rivera, who was a commissioner in the 1980s when the Fairness Doctrine existed, to oversee the FCC transition process. Rivera is a supporter of bringing back the provisions. And heading Obama’s overall transition team is John Podesta, head of liberal think tank the Center for American Progress. Last year, the CAP issued a report called “The Structural Imbalance of Political Talk Radio.”

While the CAP stopped short of advocating a return of the Fairness Doctrine, it did support more stringent adherence to so-called localism, which critics consider a back door to requiring that stations ditch some of their conservative hosts.

The FCC is considering the matter now, weighing such questions as whether to require stations to create “community advisory boards” made up of “local officials and other community leaders.” The boards would tell radio executives whether the content they broadcast is adequately addressing the needs of the community, subject to the board’s interpretation.

In other words, Obama isn’t going to demand that stations like WMBD1470 gut their profitable programing by requiring the station to hand over free air time to anyone who disagrees with an opinion Rush Limbaugh states.

No, what Obama and his minions on the FCC are going to require that the station — ALL stations — let volunteers from the community decide what programing to air.

In other words, fairness and equity will be mandatory.

Here’s another idea: Just demand that the FCC finally free up those low-power FM licenses that they’ve kept on hold at the behest of Big Media for years. Let these new license holders — presumably members of the local community — compete in the free marketplaces of both commerce and ideas.