The Supreme Courts Slippery Slope

I like talk radio. I can't help it. It is the only way to keep up with the obscure news stories that the national media doesn't report on. This morning, as I sipped my too-sweet Dunkin Donuts coffee, I flipped the radio dial to Neal Bortz. Now, I'll be honest. Sometimes he annoys the crap out of me and I can only spend 45 seconds listening to him before I begin shouting my dissent at the radio. Yes, I look like a raving lunatic doing so, but hey, its my car.

Imagine my suprise this morning when I found myself nodding along in agreement with him. He was discussing the supreme court decision to destroy our property rights. He brought up a little town called Freeport, Texas. Here is the background Mr. Bortz gave. Freeport is a small town that doesn't have very much commercial draw. Most of its inhabitants travel to surrounding towns to do their shopping and leisure activities. The Mayor of Freeport is unhappy with this system and wants his citizens spending their money in town. His solution? A marina, which he hopes will draw tourism, hotels, shopping, etc. to the area. However, the mayor wants the marina built on a prime piece of real estate that is currently inhabited by several privately owned seafood companies.

On Thursday, this mayors dream came true. By Friday he had his team of lawyers drawing up the necessary paperwork to seize this property from these private companies to be turned around for private use. Sure, it is only one small town with one corrupt mayor. It could never happen in our town. People need to wake up. We are so concerned with Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes and who the next American Idol is going to be that we are having our rights taken away from us right under our noses and nobody is putting up a fight! Some people are up in arms about this decision right now, but when election time rolls around, are they going to be at their local debates, asking the important questions of their elected officials? Are they going to be at the polls? Nope, they'll be at home watching the Jenna Jameson version of "The Apprentice" (on Fox of course).

It is just a matter of time. Before long, those contractors and companies that have donated big to campaigns are going to be knocking on the mayoral office door demanding that their backs be scratched too. The American public needs to get out to the polls and vote. It is the only way to guarantee that our backs are more important than the corporations.

Link to Freeport,TX information: http://www.scandalinfreeport.com/ (apparently there have been problems with Eminent Domain in this town for a while)
Link to Neal Bortz website: http://boortz.com/nuze/index.html

4,641 views 3 replies
Reply #1 Top
Here in Sheboygan, Wisconsin, they all but did just what you talk about here. They didn't have to have a Supreme Court ruling either. Now, the marina here was built on lakefront property that was basically wasted anyway, so there was no "siezing" to be done. However, what could have been a great idea, turned out to be a socialist samba.

First of all, they built two facilities, one a really nice public marina. It really is beautiful. They built a beach area and even stuck a lighthouse out at the end of the pier. Then they built a "private yacht club". They justified it by saying, "but half the money that went into building it was from private donors and members". The yacht club (of course) is a dues paying member club only, subsidized pretty heavily with taxpayer dollars.

If that wasn't enough. Last year they went halvsies on another beautiful facility called "Blue Harbor". This is a hotel, Condo, Restaurant, Water Park resort. The killer here is, they upped the "room tax" on all the other hotels, motels and B&Bs in the area, saying "this will help bring in new business". How would you like to pay an extra tax to subsidize your competition. They sued, and won this one... and rightly so!!

Reply #2 Top
I know we don't get to vote for our supreme court justices and I think that there is wisdom in that. The attempt to keep them incorruptable and uninfluenced by political pressure is vailiant. However, we do get to vote for our mayors, congressmen (and women), and other local, state, and federal officials. So what we need to do is vote for candidates who have strong moral fortitude and who won't be corrupted by the corporations waving big money in front of their faces. And we have to vote out the ones who do give in to that pressure and take away our property. It is up to us to send a message to our local and state officials that We The People oppose this ruling and we hold them accountable for their actions. It would take many more years and court battles to ever get this issue to the supreme court again, and even if that happens, the chances of them overturning their decision is slim. So we have to fight this injustice at the local level by holding our elected officials accountable. If they try to take our property rights, we take away their job by refusing to re-elect. The power of the vote is extremely strong, but only if we use it.

As for this Fair Market Value bull, here is the real deal. Fair Market Value (FMV) is defined in IRS Publication 561 as:
“...the price that a property would sell for in the open market. It is the price that would be agreed upon between a willing buyer and a WILLING SELLER, with NEITHER BEING REQUIRED TO ACT, and both having reasonable knowledge of the relevant facts.” [emphases mine]

People whose homes are taken under eminent domain are not willing sellers (generally) and they are being required to act. Both of these facts violate the FMV standard. (these last two paragraphs are from a post on another blog, link provided)

So lets get out and vote, hold our elected officials who really controls the government, and continue to bitch loudly. The squeaky wheel really does get the grease...

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