News - Eminent Domain

In the U.S. we seem to be losing respect for the individual. Government is ever more intruding into our private lives. Unless we elect some representatives who will reverse the trend, it might one day call for another revolution. It frightens me and saddens me.

This Is True (newsletter, web site) occasionally takes shots at the government - I don't always agree with what Randy has to say, but the following piece, which made the national news, deserves some special attention. See more - subscribe to the newsletter - at thisistrue.com.

HOLIDAY GREETINGS: Susette Kelo fought the city of New London, Conn., when they forced her from her home under "eminent domain" -- they wanted her property, and 114 others, for a new development of condos, shops and hotels to generate more tax revenue than houses do. She was the lead plaintiff in a lawsuit that went all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court. She lost, 5-4, but meanwhile the city raised the buyout price on her home from $123,000 to $442,155, and started eviction procedures in June. For Christmas, she's sending greeting cards to many of the politicians involved in the taking of her property. It reads, in part, "Your houses, your homes / Your family, your friends / May they live in misery / That never ends. / I curse you all / May you rot in hell / To each of you / I send this spell." One recipient called the card "immensely childish," while Gail Schwenker-Mayer, who publicly supported the project and also got a card, said she found it "amazing anyone could be so vindictive when they've made so much money." (New London Day) ...While thoughtful people find it amazing there can be anyone left who thinks money solves every problem.