Category: Property Rights

The Democrats Terrible, Tumultuous Temper Tantrums

The hallmark of democratic governments is the smooth transition of power from one duly elected leader and duly elected legislature to the next.  Never before in our history have we seen an outgoing president and the leaders of his losing political party so hellbent on tripping up those who will succeed them.

Obama set the stage by inviting the president-elect to the White House for a friendly chat and then snatching the welcome matt right from under his feet as he was leaving the White House.

After jetting off to Hawaii for another luxury vacation, costing taxpayer millions of $$$ ( http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2016/dec/22/obamas-hawaii-christmas-vacations-cost-taxpayers-3/), it became obvious that Obama left land mines for his successor, hoping they will blow up during some portion of  Trump’s initial stay in the White House.  Between rounds of golf, he gave orders to throw Israel under the bus at the United Nations.  He expelled 35 Russian diplomats.  He used an arcane statue to block oil drilling in much of the Arctic and portions of the Atlantic Ocean in an obvious attempt to keep Trump from making good on his promise to use all available fuel reserves and take actions to allow more off-shore drilling.  He used another arcane statue to grab 1.6 million acres of valuable land in Utah and Nevada, two states that helped put Trump over the top.

Obama is going to extreme lengths to make it difficult for Trump to roll back job killing federal regulations that have been crippling economic growth by releasing hundreds more in the waning days of his administration.  Word Continue reading “The Democrats Terrible, Tumultuous Temper Tantrums” →

Defending Elizabeth Warren

Let me make one thing perfectly clear:  If I lost my mind and moved to Taxachusetts, I would not vote for Elizabeth Warren for the U.S. Senate.  Truth is, Warren, who misrepresented herself as a minority in order to gain affirmative action status and get a job at Harvard, would be unlikely to get my vote for dog catcher in “The Old Colony” or any other state.

The fact that Warren has Roseanne Barr campaigning for her is all you really need to know about her challenge to Scott Brown, R-Mass, for the seat once held by Teddy Kennedy.  Warren is a left-wing opportunist who never sees a government program she doesn’t like and alternately beats the tomtoms of class warfare, angry feminism and gay activism in her bid to hitch a ride to Washington.

That said, the latest attack against her is over-the-top.  Last weekend, the Boston Herald reported that this Cherokee wannabe, who has railed against predatory banks and heartless foreclosures, had, in the 90’s, turned a tidy profit by purchasing foreclosed homes and flipping them. Continue reading “Defending Elizabeth Warren” →

Earth to “Occupy Wall Street”

“Occupy Wall Street” is a movement in search of a goal. The growing hoards of malcontents offer a convenient stage for anyone or any group with a cause.

 

It’s a street fair for the disenfranchised with too much time and money on their hands. This may seem incompatible with one of its reoccurring themes: social and economic inequity, but hear me out. The hoards that have gathered in New York, Los Angeles, Denver, Boston, etc. do not appear to be the underclass. They are not malnourished or diseased. As street mobs go they are well-dressed and appear quite comfortable.

 

If anything, they resemble their brethren in Greece. They are coddled, overpaid and over subsidized by the very systems they despise. If this were not the case, how in the world could they afford these extended vacations? To be sure, many are sleeping on the street. However, many have more conventional accommodations and use their state of the art pop-ups as a convenient place to hang with the crowd in order to whine about their lack of power, political influence, wealth or whatever. Continue reading “Earth to “Occupy Wall Street”” →

Obama’s Latest Plan to take over the Private Sector

Quick, name me one thing the government does better than the private sector?

Frankly, I’ve really tried and I can’t come up with one.

At the moment, I am reeling over the latest scheme to expand government under the guise of shoring up the nation’s real estate market.  President Obama is laying the groundwork to become the nation’s landlord-in-chief.   He wants the government to rent out these houses.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency announced it is seeking input from investors on how to rent homes owned by government-controlled Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and the Federal Housing Administration.

Continue reading “Obama’s Latest Plan to take over the Private Sector” →

Not another Federal Power Grab!

It’s not enough that Barack Obama and the Democrats want complete control of health care, the financial system and the air above, now they are advancing a bill that will control the land beneath our feet.

You can forget the property provision of the Fifth Amendment to the Constitution and tear up any deeds you may now possess.   If this bill passes, that property you own won’t be worth more than the paper those deeds are written on unless you have the blessing of Big Brother’s bureaucrats. Continue reading “Not another Federal Power Grab!” →

Reform of the Clean Water Act

When most people think of wetlands they think of swamps, marshes, and bogs, places where ducks, geese and waterfowl swim and build their nests.

That’s what President Bush was thinking about back in 1988 when he promised that under his Administration there would be “no net loss of wetlands.”   Environmentalists used that innocent line like a club, and they beat him with it his entire four years in office.   Mr. Bush thought that he was talking about wet lands, but “wetlands” is a term, manufactured by bureaucrats at no less that five governmental agencies, that now includes, yes, that pothole in your back yard. Continue reading “Reform of the Clean Water Act” →

Portrait of a Polluter

Steve Lathrop decided to take matters into his own hands and do what his city, his county and the state of Illinois had not been able to do — clean up a local eyesore, a low area at the end of his street know as Doubrey Slough.  The 14 acres at the edge of Granite City was filed with water and mosquitoes and a lot of other things.  For 30 years it had served as a dump.  Heavy rains were a constant problem to local residents because this area backed up.  There was no drainage.  According to one study the average annual damage was over $300,000.

Hundreds of thousands of tax dollars had been spent over the years studying the problem to no avail.   The governor proposed a $4.2 million project in the early 70s.  A 1984 study done by the Corps of Engineers recommended a $4.8 million channel be dug to a nearby lake, but that didn’t work out either. Continue reading “Portrait of a Polluter” →

He Won’t be Home for Christmas

He won’t be home for Christmas.  On Monday, Bill Ellen, a law abiding, mild-mannered marine engineer from Mathews, Virginia, was locked away in a cell in the Petersburg Federal Penitentiary after being caught up in the tangled bureaucratic maze of our wetlands regulations.

In 1987, Ellen was hired by a private owner to convert part of his Maryland estate into a 103-acre wildlife sanctuary.  That job cost Ellen his life-savings and his freedom.    Continue reading “He Won’t be Home for Christmas” →

That Mud Puddle Could Be Hazardous to Your Property Rights

Have you ever had a mud puddle in your yard?  Mud puddles are common in places where it rains a lot, but even in dry states like California they do occur.  If you’ve got a low spot you can have a mud puddle from just watering your lawn.

If this occurs you’d better go out in the dead of night when no one is looking and fill in that low spot, because your property rights are in jeopardy. Continue reading “That Mud Puddle Could Be Hazardous to Your Property Rights” →