Posts – Page 10 – Freedom Advocates

Rapanos Revisited

January 15, 2009 Ronald A. Zumbrun Comments Off

The Price Of Successfully Challenging The Federal Interpretation Of The Clean Water Act

By Ronald A. Zumbrun, 1/15/2009 – In 2006 I wrote about the United States Supreme Court rendering its highly anticipated decision in John Rapanos v. United States. The issue was whether the term “waters of the United States” as used in the Clean Water Act included wetlands on private property not directly abutting navigable waters.

Of particular interest was the effect that the Court’s two newest members, Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Samuel Alito, might have on the course of our nation––particularly in the area of private property rights.

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Why We MUST Invoke Our Individual Rights—Now

December 3, 2008 Genevieve LaGreca Comments Off

By Genevieve LaGreca, 12/3/2008 – America today is a nation in trouble. The great fortress of liberty, the country of the most productive, prosperous, and happy people in the world is in grave danger. America is under siege by the Dark Side, the forces of statism, while its Knights of Liberty are disarmed, demoralized, and suffering near-fatal wounds.

The country that once elected leaders whose ideas upheld liberty now elects leaders whose sweet-sounding platitudes and woozy promises are all that is required; and whose actual, dangerous ideas need not be examined until after Election Day.

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Yukon to Yellowstone: Concern is our animal “cousins”??

December 1, 2008 Vern Westgate Comments Off

By Vern Westgate, 12/1/2008 – Here is an example of the impact environmental activists have on our constitutionally protected private property rights. They come at us under the guise of “fixing” an issue by creating a “local” or “regional” body to control individual property rights. The error in their thinking is that they are promoting the “common good” in the same manner and for the same reasons that the United Nations attacks private property.

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Local Government’s Permit Policies Cost Taxpayers

November 19, 2008 Ronald A. Zumbrun Comments Off

By Ronald A. Zumbrun, 11/19/2008 – It is seldom that we find a community so devastated by a lawsuit that it faces bankruptcy. It is even more unusual to see the exposure potentially repeat itself in a similarly explosive lawsuit. Unfortunately, this seems to be the case in San Mateo County.

In January, I published a Viewpoint article about the case of Joyce Yamagiwa, Trustee v. City of Half Moon Bay. The City of Half Moon Bay had prohibited development on a 24-acre parcel because the parcel was determined to constitute wetlands. The California Coastal Act prohibits residential development on wetlands. However, the California and United States Constitutions mandate the payment of just compensation for the taking or damaging of private property for public use.

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Restoring the Heart of America: American Crisis Newsletter Part 1

November 7, 2008 Clyde Cleveland Comments Off

By Clyde Cleveland, 11/7/2008 – At the end of 1776 Thomas Paine wrote a series of articles entitled "American Crisis." This series played a critical role in saving the Revolutionary war against the British. Most of the British officers returned home for the winter thinking that the war was over. It was a very bleak time for the colonial army after their humiliating loss in New York. Most of the troops went home for the winter, and those that stayed were freezing and starving. Many defected to the British.

Paine’s first letter in the American Crisis series shifted the public awareness, and troops enlisted and people donated essential materials. Paine’s articles made a major impact.

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How Global Governance Emerged

October 29, 2008 Henry Lamb Comments Off

By Henry Lamb, 10/26/2008 – October 24 was U.N. day, celebrated by many as the birthday of the United Nations. In its 63 years of operation, it has spent untold billions of dollars in its quest to create global governance. Its goal is almost in its grasp. European leaders are pushing for a summit meeting with President Bush to create a new global “central bank,” with the authority to control global monetary policy in much the same way U.S. monetary policy is controlled by the Federal Reserve.

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U.S. Set to Take Coloradans Land Without Compensation

October 28, 2008 Fred Kelly Grant Comments Off

By Fred Kelly Grant, 10/28/2008 – At this very hour, Colorado landowners are fighting to prevent the United States federal government from taking their land. Ignored by the mass media, hundreds of farmers and ranchers in southeastern Colorado are facing loss of their property at the hands of the IRS. They are victims of “conservation easements” promoted by federal and state governments, land trust companies, and conservation groups.

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Liberty or Sustainable Development?

October 27, 2008 Michael Shaw Comments Off

Reinvention of Government – Part 1

I want you to know that the hard effort made by my fellow Local Santa Cruz Agenda 21 collaborators was noticed by important people in important places. Here is a letter on U.S. Congressional letterhead from my local Congressman Sam Farr. Sam Farr is Leon Panetta’s successor representing a district on the central coast of California. The letter was written to the Local Agenda 21 Committee.

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Governor Vetoes California Real ID Act, For Now

October 7, 2008 Freedom Advocates Staff Comments Off

By Freedom Advocates Staff, 10/7/2008 –

BILL NUMBER: SB 60 / VETOED DATE: 09/30/2008 / To the Members of the California State Senate:
I am returning Senate Bill 60 without my signature.

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A Setting Sun?

October 2, 2008 Marilyn Taylor Comments Off

By Marilyn Taylor, 10/2/2008 – Finally—after the long, hot summer without communiqué, the tension broke as the delegates emerged to publicize the fruition of their exhausting deliberation.
A lady approached one of the delegates. “What kind of a country have you given us, Mr. Franklin?” she asked.
In response, Benjamin Franklin replied, “A republic, madame, if you can keep it.”
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