RSSReforming the Endangered Species Act
For Release: February 27, 2006
Contact: Peyton Knight at (202) 543-4110 or pknight@nationalcenter.org
Protect Private Property Rights, 85 Groups Tell Senate, in Endangered Species Act Reform
Signatories Include Two Former Reagan Administration Cabinet Officials
Washington, D.C., Feb. 27 - Today, a letter signed by 85 major national and state policy organizations was delivered to Senators on the Environment and Public Works Committee. The letter warns Senators that any Endangered Species Act reform effort must include strong private property rights protections. The coalition letter was spearheaded by The National Center for Public Policy Research.
“Whatever action the Senate takes on ESA reform should reflect the national, bipartisan outcry for strong property rights protections,” said David Ridenour, vice president of The National Center for Public Policy Research. “Quite simply, when the government takes your property, the least it can do is pay for it.”
National policy organizations signing the letter include: Coalitions for America, the American Conservative Union, the National Taxpayers Union, Eagle Forum, the National Center for Policy Analysis, the 60 Plus Association, the Competitive Enterprise Institute, the Property Rights Foundation of America, the National Legal and Policy Center, and the American Family Association, among many others.
The letter was also signed by the Honorable Edwin Meese III, who served as U.S. Attorney General under President Ronald Reagan, and the Honorable Don Hodel, who served as both U.S. Secretary of Interior and Secretary of Energy in the Reagan Administration. Former Senator Malcolm Wallop (R-WY) signed the letter as well.
State policy groups, including the Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs, Oregonians in Action, the James Madison Institute, the Illinois Policy Institute, and the Virginia Institute for Public Policy, among others, also signed the letter.
“Today, private landowners live in fear of the ESA. Those who harbor endangered species on their property or merely own land suitable for such species can find themselves subject to severe land use restrictions that can be financially devastating,” said Ridenour. “This creates a perverse incentive for landowners to preemptively ’sterilize’ their land to keep rare species away. Such sterilizations benefit no one - least of all the species the ESA was established to protect.”
“Property owners should not be punished for being good environmental stewards, yet that is exactly what the ESA does,” said Peyton Knight, director of environmental and regulatory affairs for The National Center.
In order to fix the ESA’s perverse incentive problem, the letter says property owners who are denied the use of their land should be given 100 percent, fair market value compensation for losses. This would bring the ESA in line with the Fifth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, which guarantees such compensation (”nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation”).
“Americans nationwide were outraged when, in Kelo v. City of New London, the Supreme Court ruled that government could evict property owners to financially benefit private interests,” said Knight. “As terrible as eminent domain abuse is, at least the victims in eminent domain cases are compensated. Landowners who lose their property under the Endangered Species Act don’t receive a dime.”
Under the current ESA, landowners who apply to the Department of Interior for permission to use their property are often forced to wait years for a response - years during which they often are unable to use the land they legally own, and on which they pay taxes.
The letter suggests that establishing a simple time limit within which the Department of Interior must issue final decisions to landowners’ requests could prevent this injustice.
Meaningful ESA reform faces a big hurdle in the Senate, as the chairman of the subcommittee with jurisdiction over the Act is liberal Senator Lincoln Chafee (R-RI).
The National Center tried to schedule a meeting to discuss upcoming reform efforts with Senator Chafee’s staff. However, the prospect of a meeting was immediately rebuffed by the Senator’s staff after The National Center made it clear it wished to discuss the importance of protecting property rights in such a meeting.
“Allergy season is just around the corner and ‘property rights’ are apparently ragweed to the Chafee office,” said Knight. “Unfortunately, this strangest of allergies hurts American property owners and endangered species more than it does the Senator and his staff.”
A PDF copy of the letter can be obtained online at wwwnationalcenter.org/ESAPropertyRights022706.pdf.
The National Center for Public Policy Research is a conservative, free-market think-tank established in 1982 and located on Capitol Hill. For more information, contact Peyton Knight at (202) 543-4110, email pknight@nationalcenter.org or visit the National Center’s website at www.nationalcenter.org.
It’s About The Security Stupid
It?s funny sometimes how such simple situations turn into full blow political battles. Americans stood up and took notice when it became news that a company (Dubai Ports World) owned directly by the government of the United Arab Emirates was poised to take over day to day operations at 6 major ports. The first gut reaction was ?Woah! Back up the cart on this one!? by people all across the political spectrum.
Then President Bush came out and talked about how great the move would be and how if Congress moved to block the deal he would whip out his mighty veto pen ? something he couldn?t bring himself to do for oh say Campaign Finance Reform! With that you had many conservatives fall in line behind the President who was backing a deal that even he and many other senior officials admitted they knew little if anything about.
Then you have people like myself ? conservatives who still do not like this deal one little bit.
I?ve gotten hit with being called an ?Islamophobe? and all the ?racist? arguments so many times already by left wing hacks who see everything I do as anti-something that it is getting old. And I have also gotten hit with the old ?You don?t know enough about this? complaint by fellow conservatives as an attempt to poo poo my virulent opposition.
Tell you what. I?ve got some ?reasons? and they are simple and powerful and don?t require a PhD in Business or Islamo-American relations. And guess what? Not one of them has to do with the race OR the religion of the people involved either. They are simply facts.
Fact one:
D.P.W. is owned by a foreign government. NO, I repeat, NO foreign corporation owned by a foreign government should control U.S. land or assets. No foreign government should control major access points to America and our economy. I don?t care if it is the U.A.E., Saudi Arabia, China, France or Great Britain.
Fact two:
We do not need to subsidize the socialism, communism and fascism of foreign countries. Yes, I?ve heard the arguments about how if we integrate them into our ?free? market system they will eventually become the same but in the end all we are doing is integrating more socialism, communism and fascism into our own economy and bringing it down. Subsidizing these forms of government only make them linger and puts off their demise.
Fact three:
The port operator DOES have a lot to do with our ?security?. They control the manifesting and moving of cargo and ARE privy to security related documents and operations. Knowing that even today only a small fraction of our cargo containers entering this country are screened thoroughly how hard can it be for someone that handles the day to day movements of ships and cargo to ?help? a dangerous load get past security? Answer: not hard.
Fact four:
The U.A.E has a history of not being all that helpful in combating terrorism despite some progress in the past couple years. First, they supported the Taliban. Second the refuse to recognize Israel?s right to exist. Third there are credible reports that one of the attempts to get bin Laden was halted because of the presence of a representative of the government in the area with bin Laden. What else? The U.A.E. is reportedly a major access point for illegal shipments of nuclear components to Lybia, Iran, and North Korea. Or how about that money to fund the 9/11 hijackers came through the U.A.E. banking system and the Treasury Department reported that after 9/11 the government was not being helpful in tracking down Usama?s bank accounts?
Fact five:
Jimmy Carter thinks the deal is ?ok?. This is the same man that brought us the Ayatollah Khomeini and a nuclear North Korea while trashing President Bush abroad. Would you trust this man? Ok, let me clarify that. Would you trust this man if you weren?t a raving rabid liberal moonbat?
See, not ONE of those reasons has anything to do with ?race? or ?religion? of the region. And I think I have demonstrated that I understand quite a bit about the situation.
And you know what? I still come to the same opinion and that is ?NO? to the deal. Some people however have said to me though that Congress does not have the power to stop this deal ? despite as much as they claim to be against it. I say baloney! Grab your Constitution and turn to Article I, Section 8.
It says clearly ?Congress shall have Power ? to regulate Commerce with foreign Nations?. And last time I looked ?commerce? meant the exchange of goods and services. If managing our ports is not a ?service? and hence ?commerce? then I don?t know what is.
And see? I?m still not a racist, bigoted, islamophobe ignorant on the issues either.
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(Book)
Authors:Mary Habeck
Manufacturer:Yale University Press Released:04 January, 2006 |
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(Book)
Authors:Irshad Manji
Manufacturer:St. Martin’s Griffin Released:10 February, 2005 |
God Bless South Dakota
I know I wrote about this earlier, but I even found an article in CNN about South Dakota passing a bill to ban abortion!
“It is the time for the South Dakota Legislature to deal with this issue and protect the lives and rights of unborn children,” said Democratic Sen. Julie Bartling, the bill’s main sponsor.
Did I read that right? Did a Democrat actually say that? Is there a Democrat actually sponsoring this bill, even as a main sponsor?
I am a bit suspect as to what political motivations might be behind any Democrat sponsoring such a bill, but I don’t care. If by passing this bill, a few more children aren’t murdered, I’m all for it.
Bartling and other supporters noted that the recent appointment of Justices John Roberts and Samuel Alito make the Supreme Court more likely to consider overturning Roe v. Wade.
I certainly hope so. I wish it would happen now. No matter how soon or how late Roe v. Wade is overturned, the ugliest mark in our nation’s society will be the fact that over forty million people have been murdered!
Opponents argued that the measure was too extreme because it would allow abortions only to save the lives of pregnant women. They said abortion should at least be allowed in cases involving rape, incest and a threat to a woman’s health.
So, if a woman is raped, the child deserves to die? What threat to a woman’s health is worth sacrificing the child’s life? I do see that if the woman’s life is in danger, an abortion must be carried out if for no other reason than neither person will survive in the end. However, any other reason is not worth that unborn child’s life.
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(Book)
Authors:Elizabeth Achtemeier, Connie Roland Alt, John B. Brown, Paul M. Clark, Edward Fehskens, Michael J. Gorman, Richard John Neuhaus, John Joseph Cardinal O’Connor, Frank A. Pavone, Terry Schlossberg
Manufacturer:Abingdon Press Released:March, 1997 |
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(Book)
Authors:BernardN. Nathanson
Manufacturer:Regnery Publishing, Inc. Released:25 October, 2001 |
Exactly How Complicated IS The Tax Code?
SAN FRANCISCO (Dow Jones) - Shares of H&R Block Inc., the company that helps millions of Americans complete tax returns, fell 8% Friday after it said that it got its own taxes wrong in recent years. The Kansas City, Mo.-based company said it will restate results for fiscal years 2004 and 2005, plus previous 2006 quarters, mainly because of errors in calculating its state effective income tax rate. The mistakes resulted in H&R Block understating its state income tax liability by about $32 million as of the end of April, 2005, the company added. Story
Well GEE! If H & R Block which makes it their business to know the tax code and help people file taxes can’t get it right what chance do you and I have? The current tax code does nothing but make criminals out of hard working people who try their hardest to be honest and pay what Big Daddy government demands of them each year.
Time to reform this process.
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(Book)
Authors:Neal Boortz, John Linder
Manufacturer:Regan Books Released:02 August, 2005 |
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(Book)
Authors:Al Ose
Manufacturer:Authorhouse Released:December, 2002 |
Well There Is A Reason I’ve Not Posted This Weekend
I’ve been blogifying (even a word?) The Land of the Free and integrating Word Press as the new management system over there. It’s taken the better part of the last 3 days but it is mostly done. There is some tweaking that needs done over the next week as well. Hopefully be back to posting here in the next day or so!
John Stewart Get’s Something Right
The GOP ran a parody called “Election Wars” at a recent meeting which made reference to preventing the return of “Darth Nancy” and the “Evil Democrat Empire”.
To which John Stewart replied:
“Evil Democrat Empire? I got news for you if we’re gonna do the Star Wars analogy, the Democrats are at best Ewoks. At best.”
and
“You’d be pumping up their egos to call them Jawas.”
Yep, I’ll agree with that!
Watch the video at Devil Ducky.
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(Book)
Authors:Ann Coulter
Manufacturer:Crown Forum Released:05 October, 2004 |
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(Book)
Authors:Michelle Malkin
Manufacturer:Regnery Publishing Released:24 October, 2005 |
Liberalism Really IS A “Mental Disorder”
I swear that liberals really are diseased as Michael Savage often says. Now I read this from WorldNetDaily
“A Maryland organization that runs four government-funded day-labor hiring centers is training volunteer “legal observers” to videotape members of the Minuteman border security group and to picket their homes, places of work and their children’s schools.”
Executive Director of Casa de Maryland Gustavo Torres says “We are going to target them in a specific way”.
What “way” is that?
“we are going to picket their houses, and the schools of their kids, and go to their work,”
And why?
“If they are going to do this to us, we are going to respond in the same way, to let people know their neighbors are extremists, that they are anti-immigrant. They are going to hear from us.”
In case you are unaware, the Minutemen have started to monitor these day labor centers for illegal aliens which is what Comrade Torres is referring to.
So the question is if Casa de Maryland isn’t breaking the law by shuffling illegal aliens through their doors why take action? Answer: because they probably are and don’t want to get caught. So their response is what all good little liberals do when they don’t want to deal with reality - they harass people. And when they really want to try and turn the heat up on someone they also harass their children too in an attempt to intimidate.
“Threatening children like this is outrageous,” said Minuteman Civil Defense Corps President Chris Simcox. “Casa de Maryland’s funding should be pulled and its contracts cancelled. It is beyond belief that taxpayer dollars are funding this thuggish behavior.”
These liberals just don’t get it. There is nothing wrong with the Minutemen looking for illegals. There is however something inherently wrong with threatening and harassing children however. But then again, for the left this is nothing new just like how the “Animal Rights” wackos stalk people and target their children most left wingers see this as acceptable in an attempt to draw attention away from what they are doing.
Hey Casa de Maryland, don’t push too hard. I would hazard to guess that a lot of the Minutemen and their families are armed and not afraid to use those arms in defense of their families either.
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(Book)
Authors:J. D. Hayworth
Manufacturer:Regnery Publishing, Inc. Released:25 January, 2006 |
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(Book)
Authors:Moises Naim
Manufacturer:Doubleday Released:18 October, 2005 |
Iraq On Verge Of Civil War? Really?
So I was browsing around the net today and I came across 24 Steps to Liberty who has some interesting quotes and information about what is really going on in Iraq after this new wave of terrorist violence. You’ll note that this violence increasingly targets Iraqis as well and this past week targeted the Askariyah shrine in a move designed to provoke the Shiites.
Here are some quotes he reports on which you may not have heard amid all the “civil war” talk:
- Wafiq Samarraie, a Sunni politician from Samarra city and serves as Iraq?s president?s advisor for security issues. [from Arabiya satellite channel]
He said ?Iamam Ali al-Hadi is not only for Shiites. The shrine is a symbol of all Iraqis and of Samara city in particular. I demand to dismiss the governor of the province and take all the legal procedures to prevent strife. There will be no strife in Iraq. Iraqis will not fight each other. Samarra city should be protected. The information is very clear. The government should have chased the terrorists in eastern Samarra and they are a few. The government and the governor should have done something this issue. I tell the tribes in Samarra, especially in eastern Samarra, that ? it is a shame to leave the strangers among you. You should inform the police force about them.??
- The Iraqi Islamic Party, IIP, one of the most powerful Sunni political and religious groups, issued a statement saying: ?The size of the wicked conspiracy that is targeting the Iraqis, their sacred symbols, and unity, is clear now. After the series of attacking mosques and assassinations of clergies, people of Samarra woke up today on the bombing of Imam Ali Al-Hadi dome. We, the Iraqi Islamic Party/ Samarra branch, denounce this criminal act and demand a wide investigation to reveal the controversies that raise many questions on who was behind this incident. The commandos have cordoned the holy shrine since last night and tide up its guards and put them in a room and the people of Samarra released them after the bombing. The commandos prevented shop owners from going to their shops in the morning and there was movement of the occupation forces in the city all night long. All these controversies and others need an honest and wide investigation to find the real criminals and not hide them no matter what the reason is. We in the Iraqi Islamic Party/ Samarra branch, urge our people to go in wide, peaceful demonstrations to condemn this crime. We also remind all Iraqis to protect their unity to prevent the chance for suspicious conspiracies, which target all Iraqis with no exception. IIP/ Samarra branch?
- Iraq?s Kurdish president, Jalal Talbani, net with tribal leaders and prominent figures from Salahudin province, where Samarra city is, and talked about the incident. [from Iraqiya satellite channel]
He said ?This is a crime against Iraq as a whole, not against Shiites only. It aims to provoke a sectarian strife and a civil war among us. I hope the Sunni clergies would condemn this crime. We all are facing a conspiracy against Iraq and its entity. Therefore we should all unite to prevent the danger of civil war.?
- Tariq al-Hashimi, secretary general of the Iraqi Islamic Party, held a press conference yesterday. Some of what he said was: ?”29 mosques were attacked either by burning or occupation using missiles and grenades. The IIP considers these attacks as historical crimes which everybody should work on stooping them. we call on everybody for the self control. There is a conspiracy against the Iraqi people. Everyone should cooperate to stop this conspiracy. This is a battle in which everyone wants to hurt the other.”
- Abdil Aziz Hakim, leader of the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq, the Shiite party that controls the country now, appeared on Arabiya satellite channel and said: ?The Sunnis had honorable reaction today. They rejected and condemned this crime. All of us should hold our hands together to combat terrorism.?
- Iraq?s Marjiyas [religious authorities] Shiite and Sunni, they all called on people to self-control and ?peacefully? demonstrate together to condemn the attack. They specifically asked people ?not to attack Sunni mosques or shrines.?
Doesn’t sound quite as bad as the naysayers make it now does it?
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(Book)
Authors:L. Paul Bremer III, Malcolm McConnell
Manufacturer:Simon & Schuster Released:09 January, 2006 |
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(Book)
Authors:Eric Holmes
Manufacturer:Timberwolf Press Released:01 April, 2005 |
——————-
Edit:
Went Poking around the net and found The Real Ugly American commenting on this same topic and also refering to 24 Steps to Liberty. There is added information in this post
Animal Rights Marxists On The Prowl Again
TRENTON, New Jersey (AP) — One woman said she received an e-mail threatening to cut her 7-year-old son open and stuff him with poison. A man said he was showered with glass as people smashed all the windows of his home and overturned his wife’s car.
Many others said they were besieged by screaming protesters outside their homes at all hours, deluged by threatening phone calls, and sent pornographic magazines they had not ordered.
The trauma that employees of Huntingdon Life Sciences and other companies say they experienced at the hands of radical animal rights advocates is on display during the federal court trial of a Philadelphia-based group and six of its members on domestic terrorism charges. The trial continues in Trenton this week. - CNN
The defense of the group “Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty” (which doesn’t seem to care much about stopping HUMAN cruelty) is “While people may find it obnoxious, unpleasant or scary, it’s not illegal”. There defense is that the group itself did nothing wrong and has incited no one to violence. Why? Because they claim so on their site “Nothing contained on this website or in any SHAC publication is intended to encourage or incite illegal acts.”
This may be technically true. But the reality of the matter is quite different. Someone is obviously targeting employees of Huntingdon Life Sciences and Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty is certainly trying to impact the company. Materials on their site are very action orientated including posters that incite saying things such as “Huntingdon Life Sciences Kill And Main People” and “STOP THEM”.
However they admit to publishing the personal information of employees that have been targetted “Any names and addresses of Huntingdon Life Sciences’ laboratories and companies associated with them are published for the sole purpose of allowing members of the public to voice their concerns and carry out protests in a legal manner.”
So tell us then oh vaunted left wingers who care more about animals than humans how have people known to target these people specifically? Hmmm? This is the same excuse the left wing radicals have used time and again. They publish information with the intent of people reading it and acting upon it. Then when action is taken they claim no connection. Question does this mean that Abu Musab al-Zarqawi isn’t guilty of terrorism because he is not specifically blowing himself up but sending others to do the deed?
We’ll see how this one plays out. Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty even ADMITS on their site that at these “protests” they are surrounded by those of “like mind”
If you are new to SHAC please remember that we all went on our first demonstration once. On demonstrations you are surrounded by like-minded people all with the common aim of shutting down the disgusting Huntingdon Life Sciences.
So in one breath they say they don’t condone the violence and in the next they say … but these protests are of our “like-minded” brethren.
Well which is it?
Hopefully the Marxists at this farcical group will learn a lesson. And that is that inciting people to commit crimes, even as you talk out both sides of your mouth is still illegal. I believe it’s called “conspiracy” - something the left wing knows a lot about. Hopefully Kevin Kjonaas, Lauren Gazzola, Jacob Conroy, Joshua Harper, Andrew Stepanian and Darius Fullmer will all be spending a lot of time in their own cages.
Come protest at my home sometime, break my windows and touch my wife’s car if you don’t get jail time however. We’ll see if you have the courage to stare down the barrel of .40 caliber. These domestic terrorists don’t have the courage.
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(Book)
Authors:Karl Marx, Friedrich Engels, Martin Malia
Manufacturer:Signet Classics Released:01 October, 1998 |
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(Book)
Authors:Michelle Malkin
Manufacturer:Regnery Publishing Released:24 October, 2005 |
Ann Coulter Is Right … Again
SO, THREE MUSLIMS WALK INTO A PORT
By Ann Coulter February 22, 2006The idea that the Democrats have any meaningful interest in America’s national security is a joke, so I’m perfectly willing to believe there’s more to this port story.
But Bush is going to need a better justification for turning over management of our ports to an Arab country than he’s come up with so far ? especially now that Jimmy Carter has said it’s a good idea. Judging from his life’s work to date, Carter’s definition of a good idea is “an idea likely to hurt America and/or help its enemies.”
Bush’s defense of the port deal is to say that “those who are questioning it” need to “step up and explain why all of a sudden a Middle Eastern company is held to a different standard than a Great British company.”
First of all, it’s not “all of a sudden.” The phrase you’re searching for, Mr. President, is “ever since the murderous attacks of Sept. 11.” The Bush administration’s obstinate refusal to profile Middle Easterners has been the one massive gaping hole in national security since the 9/11 attacks ? attacks that received indirect support from the United Arab Emirates.
(read the rest on Ann’s Web Site)
While some “conservatives” are now appearing to go wishy washy on this whole issue it is important that we do not. The UAE deal raises serious concerns because of their past dealings with dictators and terrorists and because it seems like every time we turn around we catch our “friends” in the middle east saying one thing and doing another.
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(Book)
Authors:Ann Coulter
Manufacturer:Crown Forum Released:05 October, 2004 |
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(Book)
Authors:Ann Coulter
Manufacturer:Three Rivers Press Released:16 September, 2003 |
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