Liberty
Matters News Service
September 1, 2006
Initiative 933 Gathers Attention and Money
The Washington State property rights protection measure, Initiative 933, seems to be a money magnet, on both sides of the issue. The controversial measure has generated over $1.6 million in cash, goods and services with the anti-property-rights groups shelling out over $1 million to defeat it. The Nature Conservancy is prominent among the opposition with its $72,000 donation, coming in third behind the anti-property rights group Futurewise with $142,000 cash and $22,812 in-kind; and Seattle environmentalist Duncan Hass, who donated $75,000. The Property Fairness Coalition, the pro-933 group, has so far come up with $492,083 in cash and $150,844 in-kind donations. Americans for Limited Government, a group that is backing similar initiatives around the country, has donated $200,000. The Nature Conservancy is increasingly and more boldly expanding its scope of influence over issues affecting the property rights and daily lives of the American people. Its veil of respectability has slipped to reveal a sinister organization constantly seeking to expand its power and control over both private and public lands.
Property Rights Initiative
Attracts the Most Dollars
U. S. Forest Service "Open Space "Propaganda
The U. S. Forest Service has published a propaganda piece touting the benefits of conserving "open space" in rural America. The brave new ideas for protecting rural America from rural Americans is the main reason behind the series of 24 "listening sessions" the federal government is conducting across the country. L. M. Schwartz, Chairman of the Virginia Land Rights Coalition, (VLRC) soundly denounced the government's attempt to hoodwink the public. "The report is filled with green half-truths and bogus solutions for non-existent problems. It is not even a veiled attempt at collectivism, but could only have been written by Marxist propagandists and proponents of Bertram Gross' Third Way-Friendly Fascism..." Schwartz writes. "Smart Growth, Sustainable Development, public-private partnerships, conservation easement, transfer of development rights, regulatory buffer zones...it's all there, right out of the UN's globalist planbook, part of The Wildlands Project agenda to eliminate most humans from 'protected lands' and crowd them into 'sustainable cities.'" The Forest Service intends to focus on the "Four Threats" that will require "working across jurisdictional boundaries to conserve open space in rural America...[W]here forests are in private ownership, as the majority are," the report claims, "residential growth alters the ability of these forests to provide ecosystem services and public benefits..." Mr. Schwartz says the report is further evidence that the greens, from The Nature Conservancy to the American Farmland Trust, "have infiltrated the upper (political) ranks of the USFS and are now influencing and even dictating the 'new' FS policy nationwide."
Open Space Conservation for Rural
America
Sen. George Allen's Heritage Bill Criticized
Sen. George Allen (R-VA) responded to criticism by property rights advocates of his "Journey Through Hallowed Ground National Heritage Act of 2006," through his spokesperson, John Reid. "I don't think [the National Center for Public Policy Research has] read the legislation...this bill is directly consistent with the principle of protecting personal, private property rights," Reid told the Richmond Times Dispatch. Peyton Knight, Director of Environmental and Regulatory Affairs for the National Center for Public Policy Research (NCPPR), said Reid is probably referring to Sec. 10 of S. 2645, "Nothing in this Act shall be construed to modify the authority of Federal, State, or Local governments to regulate land use,"(a boilerplate disclaimer regularly inserted in legislation). "Sec. 10's 'property rights protections' do not extend to land use restrictions and property acquisition performed by local officials at the behest of the new 'management entity' the bill creates," says Knight. "The bill subcontracts the dirty work to the federally-funded 'management entity'." Most troubling, according to Knight, is "the management entity for the Heritage Area shall be The Journey Through Hallowed Ground Partnership, a Virginia corporation, the Board of Directors of which shall include representatives from a broad cross-section of the individuals, agencies, organizations, States, and governments that were involved in the planning and development of the Heritage Area before the date of enactment of this Act." It excludes affected property owners from having a place at the decision table. That alone should be cause for alarm.
Allen Fights Criticism of
Preservation Bill
Response to Sen.
Allen: NCPPR
Unite to Fight
November 10th - 11th, in Salt Lake City, Utah will be the first "Unite to Fight" conference, sponsored by the American Land Foundation, Liberty Matters and Stewards of the Range. It is designed to teach individuals and local leaders how to win locally while uniting nationally. The first day will be packed with expert presentations on key issues facing landowners such as NAFTA Superhighway, North American Union, Conservation Easements and Cooperative Conservation, precedent setting cases, and other key topics. The second day is an in-depth training session with one of the movement's best strategist, Fred Kelly Grant. He will raise the level of expertise of participants teaching landowners how they can use the law against those who would erode property rights. "We are winning major battles at the local level, but few people know about these wins," commented Margaret Hage Byfield, one of the conference organizers. "That is why we decided to organize this conference, so that we can show people what is working at the local level and how they can do this in their community."