My wife saw my last few rantings and told me I needed to calm down and get some perspective. So I took her advice yesterday afternoon, grabbed a sweet tea and went out to water the garden. It was a perfect way to recenter on things and get a good perspective. Watching the stream of water shoot out and land on my work-in-progress plot of earth, I let the cool sweet tea refresh me from the hot and humid day hoping that the water I was spraying was bringing the same relieve to the beautiful garden that was springing forth. I delighted in the bounty that was growing — quite a few varieties of small, green tomatoes; a baby watermelon; many different peppers and a single, thumb-sized cucumber. I focused on getting the water to just the rows that needed it; not wasting any moisture on the dirt in between. Finally, with my sweet tea finished and the plants all wet and happy, I coiled up the hose content and relaxed.
Now, back to the Supreme Court property rights decision. In Thursday’s Wall Street Journal Opinion section, there was a good summary of what has been going on. It seems that the Supreme Court allowed for some “wiggle room” in their decision saying that the states can take remedial action — “Nothing in our opinion precludes any state from placing further restrictions on its exercise of the takings power”. That means that a state can limit this eminent domain power…..or encourage it. Luckily I live in a state that has restricted it. Quoted from the article:
“At least 10 states — Arkansas, Florida, Illinois, Kentucky, Maine, Michigan, Montana, South Carolina, Utah and Washington — already forbid the use of eminent domain for economic development (while permitting it for legitimate “public use” such as building a highway). Six states — Connecticut, Kansas, Maryland, Minnesota, New York and North Dakota — expressly allow private property to be taken for private economic purposes. The rest haven’t spoken on the issue.”
The article even stated of the intention of “an outraged citizen”, Logan Darrow Clements (my hero), to start an application process to build a hotel on juctice Souter’s land. It’s a long shot but it would be poetic justice. Here’s his media announcement — http://www.freestarmedia.com/hotellostliberty2.html — if you didn’t catch it on yesterday’s post — http://aslowerpace.com/serendipity/archives/229-A-little-less-America……html
Oh, and by the way, welcome to July!
…..Dan at aslowerpace dot net
