Liberty
Matters News Service
June 29, 2006
Bush Executive Order Expands Use of Eminent Domain
President Bush marked the one-year anniversary of the infamous Kelo decision by issuing an Executive Order (EO) - "Protecting the Property Rights of the American People." However, property rights advocates across the nation have registered great disappointment with the text of the EO, noting how subtly it weaves in an anti-private property policy of the Bush Administration. Sec. 1 says the Federal Government must limit its private property takings to only that which will be used for a public purpose "and not merely for the purpose of advancing the economic interest of private parties to be given ownership or use of the property taken." However, Sec. 3 sets out "Specific Exclusions" under which private property can be taken by the Federal Government, including: "public ownership or exclusive use of the property by the public, such as for a public medical facility, roadway (NAFTA Superhighway), park, forest, governmental office building, or military reservation; (b) projects designated for public, common carrier, public transportation, or public utility use, including those for which a fee is assessed (toll roads); (c) conveying the property to a nongovernmental entity…(TNC for example); (d) "preventing or mitigating a harmful use of land that constitutes a threat to public health, safety, or the environment." The EO should have been called "Expanding the Use of Eminent Domain by the Federal Government."
Executive Order: Protecting the Property Rights of the American People
Bush Administration Quietly Plans NAFTA Super Highway
This Just In; July 4th is Independence Day!
President Bush has declared July 4, 2006, "Independence Day." Mr. Bush noted that on "July 4, 1776, our Nation's Founders declared '[T]hat these United Colonies are, and of Right, ought to be free and Independent States…all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.'" However, Bush didn't include the second part of that contract, which Jefferson so eloquently stated: "That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, -- That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it..." The Founders noted when a government abuses its power, "It is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for the future security." Now, 230 years later, everything we have is taxed, most of our property has been taken either by government or land trusts like TNC, and our liberty has been equally eroded. Mr. President, Jefferson said that in America every man was to be King, not just one person.
White House Press Release: A Proclamation
No Objections Raised as Paulson Is Confirmed
Just hours after the Senate Finance Committee approved the nomination of Henry Paulson, Goldman Sachs CEO, as the next Treasury Secretary, the full Senate confirmed him, on voice vote, with no objections. Paulson received kid-glove treatment from committee members who apparently were unconcerned about his belief in human-caused "global warming" and his support of the U. S. Kyoto Treaty that would require a reduction in the use of fossil fuels crippling the American economy. Detractors fear he will use his position to further his environmental agenda with taxpayer-funded favors to The Nature Conservancy. "Paulson is extremely weak on property rights...He has basically used corporate assets to pursue his personal interests," said Steven Milloy, Free Enterprise Action Fund portfolio manager. Wall Street Journal's David Wessel wrote: "...given [Paulson's] record in using Goldman's power and money toward environmental ends, he just might use his clout to push the administration toward dealing with climate change or even…considering an energy tax." But his role as Chairman of The Nature Conservancy, which an in-depth investigative report by the Washington Post revealed has a history of questionable deals, should have raised the concern of at least one Senator. But then, Mr. Smith doesn't go to Washington anymore.
U.S. Senate Confirms Paulson for U.S. Treasury
Like Sherman Marching Through Georgia
Private landowners face severe penalties if found guilty of or even suspected of causing harm to wildlife or their habitats under the Endangered Species Act. However, W. Russell Tyler writes in the Charleston, South Carolina Post Courier, that an agency of the powerful central U. S. government apparently is not bound by the same constraints. Mr. Tyler expressed his disgust with a recently reported U. S. Forest Service burn in which 1,600 acres of the Francis Marion National Forest was fire-bombed using "a helicopter to maximize the heat and to burn the area in one afternoon, creating an absolute inferno." Tyler castigated the Service for carrying out its "growing season burns" during nesting season and when new-born white-tailed fawns are the most helpless. "In this same brush," says Mr. Tyler, he and his partner who perform prescribed burns for private landowners, "…find nesting songbirds, nesting wild turkeys and nesting bobwhite quail and newborn fawns." "A local ornithologist tells me you can expect to find in those wild woods an average of one songbird nest per two acres," Tyler continued. "For 1,600 acres this is a loss of 800 nests losing all hatchlings unable to fly. This sad scene is repeated each year as the federal government burns millions of forest acres in the name of environmentalism.