What will it take for the rest of America to wake up?? Land Grabs… Water Grabs… FCC Internet and Media Regulation without Congressional approval… Restrictions of party food and bake sales at school, healthcare takeover, attacks on the Constitution and God
There are ten planks in the Communist Manifesto and it will come as no surprise to anyone to discover that they are being implemented by the Obama administration in league with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid.
The first plank of the Communist Manifesto called for the abolition of all private property ownership and the application of all rents of land to public purposes.
The Constitution regards the ownership of private property to be of such importance that the Bill of Rights’ Fifth Amendment includes an injunction against the taking of private property for public use without just compensation. The object was to keep as much private property as private as possible.
Some of the other Communist goals included a heavy progressive or graduated income tax and abolition of all rights of inheritance. If the Bush tax cuts are not extended, the “death tax” on estates will partially implement the inheritance goal and, of course, everyone currently anticipates that income tax rates will rise.
The federal government has long been involved in sequestering land from private ownership and in cases such as the establishment of National parks and forests it has proven to be a good idea, ensuring the protection of landmarks such as the Grand Canyon and Yellowstone National Park.
Such efforts ensured that the U.S. still has 70% of the forest land that existed in 1600—737 million acres. Of these 33.5% are reserved from harvest by law or represent slow-growth areas unsuitable for timber production. The rest are timberlands that, for forest management purposes, are still harvested.
This has not stopped environmentalists, often called tree-huggers, from trying to stop any harvesting and the 1980s Spotted Owl hoax in the Northwest was so successful it closed down timber and sawmill operations, devastating an important industry. The claim was that the owls were endangered. Like most environmental claims it was false.
Most people will be surprised to learn that nearly 30% of the 2.63 million square miles of the United States is directly owned by the federal government.
This federal land is located primarily in the West. For example, 69.1% of Alaska is owned by the federal government and 84% of Nevada. More than half of both Utah and Idaho is owned by the federal government. Other western states such as Arizona, California, Wyoming, Oregon, New Mexicoand Colorado have from 53.1% to 36.6% of their land allocated to the federal government.
If the States are sovereign republics in their own right, it begs the question why the federal government owns so much of the West, but the most pressing question today is why new legislation is making its way through the House and Senate to create a permanent trust fund for the purpose of acquiring still more federal land.
Though beaten back in the past, the House recently passed the “Consolidated Land, Energy and Aquatic Resources Act of 2010 and, in the Senate, Harry Reid is trying to incorporate similar legislation in his so-called “energy act”, creating a multi-billion trust that, unlike the original Land and Water Conservation Fund, would not have to go through the appropriations process.
The so-called trust fund aspect is an old Congressional trick. The Social Security trust fund has been raided for years to the point where it is insolvent, but trust funds set up for highway funds, airport funds, and others have been regularly diverted.
Another land grab effort is an act called “America’s Commitment to Clean Water Act” that is in essence a Corps of Engineers and Environmental Protection Agency authorization to control every drop of water in the nation.
The original 1972 Clean Water Act applies only to “navigable” waters, i.e. bodies of water on which boats and ships can function, but the new bill would include wetlands and everywhere else water is found. In short, not just farmers and ranchers would be affected, but your backyard if it has puddles after a rainstorm. This has long been an EPA objective.
Would it surprise anyone to know that Carol Browner, the president’s chief advisor (czar) on environment and energy was a former high ranking member of Socialist International?
The Obama administration is filled with people for whom the environment is a kind of religion, devoid of any scienceto support its bad intentions, and willing to ignore the U.S. Constitution any time it might get in the way.
Cong. Ron Paul (R-TX) has been a longtime opponent of the Conservation and Reinvestment Act (CARA). In June he issued a warning against the latest efforts to grab more land for federal government control, citing in his view that the “federal government already owns far too much real property.”
This is really bad legislation that must be defeated. Otherwise, as Rep. Paul warns, “it allows the Executive Branch to have powers that are constitutionally directed to Congress. So this bill not only diminishes private property, it also erodes the Constitutional separation of powers.”
The Constitution is under attack by Communists. Our freedoms are constantly eroded and the keystone of wealth, private property, is under attack.
For more information, visit www.landrights.org
© Alan Caruba, 2010
Obama’s Land Grab Nightmare
ALERT: U.S. CONGRESS SECRET LAND GRAB LEGISLATION - Let's roll folks!
Thursday, December 02, 2010 3:27:52 PM · by Jo Nuvark · 1 replies
KEN MORSE (Olympia Tea Party Organizer) | 12-2-10
Omnibus Lands Vote, Hundreds of Bills In One, Call Senators Now! --- Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi have put together a massive bill with hundreds of Wilderness and land lock up bills inside that have not yet passed the Congress in 2010. --- Things are being done in secret. No bill number yet. Included will be all the Wilderness Bills, Billion Dollar LWCF Trust Fund, Corps and EPA Land and Water Jurisdiction Grab and many, many more.
Land Rights Network American Land Rights Association (ALRA) Keep Private Land In Private Hands Coalition PO Box 400 - Battle Ground, WA 98604 Phone: 360-687-3087 - Fax: 360-687-2973
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Land Rights Network American Land Rights Association (ALRA) Keep Private Land In Private Hands Coalition PO Box 400 - Battle Ground, WA 98604 Phone: 360-687-3087 - Fax: 360-687-2973 E-mail: alra@pacifier.com Web Address: http://www.landrights.org Legislative Office: 507 Seward Square SE - Washington, DC 20003
Omnibus Lands Vote, Hundreds of Bills In One, Call Senators Now
Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi have put together a massive bill with hundreds of Wilderness and land lock up bills inside that have not yet passed the Congress in 2010.
Things are being done in secret. No bill number yet. Included will be all the Wilderness Bills, Billion Dollar LWCF Trust Fund, Corps and EPA Land and Water Jurisdiction Grab and many, many more.
Reid is going around to the Republicans and getting them to agree to sign on. You must make it clear to the Republicans that this vote is a threat to rural America and you and will be remembered forever.
When you call, do not threaten. Just make it clear that this is a terrible bill where they have lumped together hundreds of bills that no Senator has read completely.
Let them know you are telling all your neighbors, friends, allies, and business associates about the Omnibus Federal Lands Bill and will remember how they vote on this bill when you vote in the future.
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-----You must urge your Senators to filibuster, place a hold on, or otherwise delay the Omnibus Lands Bill. They must agree to vote against it when it comes to a vote. The Senate has a limited amount of time in the Lame Duck Session. Every day your Senator delays the bill gives rural America a better chance to survive this onslaught.
Michelle Malkin: The great Obama land grab
Have you heard of the "Great Outdoors Initiative"? Chances are, you haven't.
But across the country, White House officials have been meeting quietly with environmental groups to map out government plans for acquiring untold millions of acres of both public and private land. It's another stealthy power grab through executive order that promises to radically transform the American way of life.
In April, President Obama issued a memorandum outlining his "21st century strategy for America's great outdoors." It was addressed to the interior secretary, the agriculture secretary, the head of the Environmental Protection Agency and the chair of the Council on Environmental Quality.
The memo calls on the officials to conduct "listening and learning sessions" with the public to "identify the places that mean the most to Americans, and leverage the support of the Federal Government" to "protect" outdoor spaces. Eighteen of 25 planned sessions have already been held. But there's much more to the agenda than simply "reconnecting Americans to nature."
The federal government, as the memo boasted, is the nation's "largest land manager." It already owns roughly one of every three acres in the United States.
This is apparently not enough. At a "listening session" in New Hampshire last week, government bureaucrats trained their sights on millions of private forest land throughout the New England region. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack crusaded for "the need for additional attention to the Land and Water Conservation Fund -- and the need to promptly support full funding of that fund."
Property owners have every reason to be worried. The Land and Water Conservation Fund is a pet project of green radicals, who want the decades-old government slush fund for buying up private lands to be freed from congressional appropriations oversight. It's paid for primarily with receipts from the government's offshore oil and gas leases.
Both Senate and House Democrats have included $900 million in full LWCF funding, not subject to congressional approval, in their energy/BP oil spill legislative packages. The Democrats have also included a provision in these packages that would require the federal government to take over energy permitting in state waters, which provoked an outcry from Texas state officials, who sent a letter of protest to Capitol Hill last month:
"In light of federal failures, it is incomprehensible that the United States Congress is entertaining proposals that expand federal authority over oil and gas drilling in state water and lands long regulated by states. ... Given the track record, putting the federal government in charge of energy production on state land and waters not only breaks years of successful precedent and threatens the 10th Amendment to the United Sates Constitution, but it also undermines common sense and threatens the environmental and economy security of our state's citizens."
This power grab, masquerading as a feel-good, all-American recreation program, comes on top of a separate, property-usurping initiative exposed by GOP Rep. Robert Bishop and Sen. Jim DeMint earlier this spring.
According to an internal, 21-page Obama administration memo, 17 energy-rich areas in 11 states have been targeted as potential federal "monuments." The lives of coyotes, deer and prairie dogs would be elevated above states' needs to generate jobs, tourism business and energy solutions.
Take my home state of Colorado. The Obama administration is considering locking up some 380,000 acres of Bureau of Land Management land and private land in Colorado under the 1906 Antiquities Act.
The Vermillion Basin and the Alpine Triangle would be shut off to mining, hunting, grazing, oil and gas development, and recreational activities. Alan Foutz, president of the Colorado Farm Bureau, blasted the administration's meddling: "Deer and elk populations are thriving, and we in Colorado don't need help from the federal government in order to manage them effectively."
Indeed, the feds have enough trouble as it is managing the vast amount of land they already control. As the D.C.-based Americans for Limited Government group, which defends private property rights, points out:
"The [National Park Service] claims it would need about $9.5 billion just to clear its backlog of the necessary improvements and repairs. At a time when our existing national parks are suffering, it doesn't make sense for the federal government to grab new lands."
The bureaucrats behind Obama's "Great Outdoors Initiative" plan on wrapping up their public comment solicitation by Nov. 15. The initiative's taxpayer-funded web site (http://ideas.usda.gov/ago/ideas.nsf/) has been dominated by left-wing environmental activists proposing human population reduction, private property confiscation, and gun bans, hunting bans and vehicle bans in national parks.
It's time for private property owners to send their own loud, clear message to the land-hungry feds: Take a hike.
Examiner Columnist Michelle Malkin, author of "Culture of Corruption”: Obama and his Team of Tax Cheats, Crooks & Cronies," is nationally syndicated by Creator Syndicate Article Originally Posted on August 13, 2010
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