I wasn't planning on writing a diary today; this is spur-of-the-moment, so bear with me. But Senator McCain made a gaffe today that's as hilarious as it is telling. More of a Freudian slip, if you will. I haven't seen it mentioned anywhere because it's so quick that it's really easy to miss.

The presumptive Republican nominee for President Bush's third term was campaigning in Pennsylvania, so naturally he tried to raise Barack Obama's "bitter" comments again. He couldn't even do that right.

According to Mark Halperin, he said the following:

"We’re going to go to the small towns in Pennsylvania and I’m gonna to tell them I don’t agree with Senator Obama that they cling to their religion and the Constitution because they’re bitter."

Wait. What???

California Prop. 98.  A look inside the hidden agenda that is here to destroy rent control/rent stabilization.  I.E. The rich get rich the poor get kicked out on their collective ass.

Earlier this month, a three-judge panel upheld a decision awarding $18 million to the Halper family, former owners of a farm in Piscataway, New Jersey, which was taken by the Township through eminent domain.  The Halpers had argued that they were entitled to the market value of the property when they had exhausted their legal options in 2004 while the Township sought to pay the family $4.3 million, the value of the property when the condemnation complaint was filed in 1999.  The Court found that the Halpers were entitled to the market value of the property in 2004, holding that the legal actions undertaken by the family should not be used against them when determining the appropriate market value of the property.

I was sitting here puttering at my computer a little while ago, and trying to force myself to get up and grade some papers, so I turned the TV to C-Span, figuring there wouldn't be anything there with a plot that would suck my attention away from my duties.

A few minutes after I tuned in, they started showing McCain's speech at Wake Forest University last week, which I figured was suitably boring, and had the advantage of being too annoying for me to watch or listen to very intently; after several months of Obama's speeches, I can barely tolerate McCain speaking.

But since it was on a subject that I'm familiar with and somewhat interested in, I kept one ear tuned in. One ear was just barely enough; if I'd been paying any less attention, I might have missed John's Big Boo-Boo -- and it really is a big one. Follow below the fold for the latest reason this man should not be elected president.

When Tip O'Neill was Speaker of the House, he said, "All government is local."  Right now, so much of the attention seems focused on the national level, particularly the Democratic presidential primary.  But, the real impact of the presidential race will come back to most of us at the local level.  The Democratic candidates are making that point in their discussions of health care and the economy in particular.

I try to post about things I know personally, or in a way that others may not have experienced.  A couple of weeks ago, our family ranch was honored by the local county and the State of Texas Department of Agriculture for being a ranch operated by our family for more than 150 years.  It has reminded me of our local fights to preserve it, and the way that the larger government structure affects us.  So, this is a very personal story that I think illustrates how the actions of the higher-level government come home to us at the local level – and why we need Democratic government that recognizes there are values which deserve consideration other than those of big business donors.

I wrote this for today's Beyond Chron.  Prop 98 is a June ballot measure in California to abolish rent control.

To learn about Proposition 98’s agenda, look no further than Dan Faller, President and Founder of the American Owner’s Association (AOA) – the largest landlord group in California.  In a nine-page essay published in the association’s magazine, Faller complains heatedly about rent control, calls pro-tenant elected officials “terrorists” and “suicide bombers,” compares the effort to pass Prop 98 with World War II, says that renters “choose not to provide for themselves,” and – with rhetoric that channels George Bush – tells landlords: “you are either for us or against us in this fight for your freedom and property rights.”  We cannot dismiss Faller as just another right-wing kook, for his organization has already contributed $325,000 to the “Yes on 98” cause – and the AOA has plans to raise even more money in the coming weeks.  And with voter turnout in June expected to be very low, Faller's fringe beliefs might actually become public policy in California – if we don't act now.

Disgraced Ohio Republican Bob Ney has been given a job with Talk Radio News Service with the help of self described Fox News "Proud Liberal" Ellen Ratner, sister of Center for Constitutional Rights President Michael Ratner and mega-developer/Atlantic Yards developer Bruce Ratner.

NoLandGrab, a blog that follows Bruce Ratner's eminent domain abusing, controversial Atlantic Yards project in Brooklyn, New York points to the story:

Good to see Bruce isn't the only Ratner creating jobs, and for an ex-con, no less. Of course, this ex-con just happens to be disgraced former Ohio Congressman Bob Ney, who was sentenced to 30 months on corruption charges back in 2006. Ney, we should point out, is a conservative Republican...

God bless those Ratners. They never let ideology get in the way of friendship — or campaign contributions.

Original article is in The Hill

The Community Youth Athletic Center is a free, all volunteer, non-profit program serving at-risk youth in National City, California year round. In order for youth to participate, they must abide a strict code of conduct and behavior in the gym, at home,  in school and in the community. The Center also provides tutoring and mentoring programs for the youth. The Center has 25 to 40 participants at all times.

The Center provides amateur boxing and mentoring. They help at-risk youth build self-confidence, develop discipline and teamwork. They provide the necessary support. Their mission is "To provide underprivileged and at risk youth with a constructive alternative to self defeating behavior through an athletic and mentoring program." In fact, in 1997 local law enforcement and the San Diego District Attorney's Office noticed that CYAC is indeed a realistic prevention, intervention and diversion measure for at-risk youth. They recognized this program has been successful in providing an intelligent alternative to criminal behavior.

All sounds good, follow me over the flip for the problem...

Today, in the LA Times, Patrick McGreevy has an article about the funders of what will become, unfortunately Prop. 98. A sidebar real quick about the ballot designation of propositions. I've always felt that the initiatives that are particularly noteworthy should have their ballot designations retired. Take 98 for example. When somebody says Prop 98 to you, what do you think of? Education, probably. Well, now you're going to have to start thinking of the the Hidden Agendas Scheme as well, so for the next 4+ months, you're going to have to remember No on 98/Yes on 99. Put them together, remember them both. It's vitally important that, just for these few months, we hear, we know, and we repeat the phrase: "This is the WRONG Prop 98!"

So, back to the LA Times story. Basically, the fact that this is about rent control, pure and simple, is made plainly clear by the sources of funding: Apartment and mobile home owners. And coincidentally, Sam Zell.

Follow me over the flip.

I wonder - and I wonder if other citizens wonder - what is the role of our governments, especially local governments. We hear from time to time about the elections for "local government" offices, but most citizens - and local media for that matter - seem to not care, really, about who is running for what obsure "local government" office, let alone the name and the history of the city council-member who is making decisions and spending that tax money ripped from our salaries and paychecks. I'm learning here, you see; and I want to tell you what a local government here in Northwest, Ohio believes its purpose is: to take property from one private citizen and give it to another!

Cross-posted from Calitics. Disclosure.

Way back during the times of the Romans, Odysseus, before he set out upon his journey back home, filled a large wooden horse with a whole mess of heavily armed soldiers. Clever, so clever that the tactic is still seen to this day. At any rate it's alive and well in California's ballot initiative process.

Last year, the opponents of Proposition 90 (including Oakland City Attorney John Russo at CPR)pointed out that a trojan horse was indeed in our midst.

Well, today we get a report(PDF) from the Western Center on Law & Poverty that says Howard Jarvis' latest attempt is just another one of their spiffed-up Trojan Horses.

5th Amendment:

...nor shall private property be taken for public use without just compensation

I used to give credence to the precedent behind Kelo. But having done further research, I was wrong to ever give credence to Berman v. Parker 348 U.S. 26 (1954), which ruled:

The decision is important in two ways. First, it established that aesthetics are a legitimate public purpose, for which government may regulate and condemn land. This principle has encouraged increased governmental intervention to achieve aesthetic and environmental goals. Second, Berman made clear that the phrase "public use" in the Takings Clause did not mean that land condemned had to remain in government ownership or be used physically by the public. The Court seemed to hold that eminent domain might be used to advance any goal that government could pursue under any of its powers. Subsequent decisions have confirmed this broad understanding of Berman. Thus, under the Takings Clause, "public use" means only public purpose.

Follow me over the flip...

They're back!

Last year we defeated a right-wing anti-environment proposition that would have prevented "the State, local governments – and even voters – from acting to protect our wildlife, open space, coastline, farmland and other important resources."

The anti-government extremists have are at it again.  They are circulating petitions for a new--and even worse!--version of this right-wing rip-off.  Here's what the Planning and Conservation League says about it:

Wealthy owners of apartments and mobile home parks are currently collecting signatures to place another initiative on California's June 2008 ballot that they'd like you to believe is about eminent domain. And once again, they're hiding their anti-environment agenda. Tucked into the text of the initiative are provisions that would effectively prohibit laws and regulations that are intended to protect our air, land, water, and coasts from pollution, as well as laws that regulate development and prevent sprawl.

You can stop them.  See below.

Ah, what to do when the cities and industry suck so much power that we get brown outs and such?
We declare eminent domain, and grab "corridors". This is the first time I've seen corridors on a map that encompass whole states.

The residents don't want their land taken, Governers backed their citizens, yet north from Virginia, to include most of Maryland, all of New Jersey and Delaware and large sections of New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia, runs the widest "corridor" I ever seen. The other would stretch from Southern California into Arizona and Nevada.

Hell, I was worried about a little National Forest, and they're taking whole states.

Wolf Hinchlye Ammendment fails. Narrowly.
Katy, bar the door.  

Steve Gilliard was big before I even knew about Daily Kos. In some ways I fairly consistently missed his best stuff just because my attention was always elsewhere. But even if I wasn't a consistent reader of his stuff, he was always one of the "big name bloggers" to me. From the very beginning, he was always one of the people I could name.

I had forgotten that he wrote a great piece on a topic that affects me directly: the extremely corrupt Atlantic Yards development plan for Brooklyn, NY. I, and others at Daily Gotham, subject have written extensively about this subject and its pervassive influence on Brooklyn politics. But Steve Gilliard summed up a major aspect of the project and why it was so insane much better than I ever could.

Crossposted from DFW REGIONAL CONCERNED CITIZENS
What is so bad about the "apply market valuation" clause in SB 792?
Q. Does this clause give landowners a better price for land confiscated by eminent domain?
A. No, in this bill, they are referring to market valuation for the ENTIRE INFRASTRUCTURE PROJECT rather than for getting an appraisal on the real estate before they pay the land owner. There are rules that apply to acquisition of land by eminent domain which will not be changed by this phrase in this bill.

Q. What is Market Valuation as used in HB 792?
A. What they are referring to is HOW THEY VALUE the land years after it is acquired, how they VALUE the entire infrastructure throughout the life of the contract.

The dust has settled in the Pennsylvania primary election.  Debra Todd and Seamus McCaffery are now the Democratic nominees for two open State Supreme Court positions.  Act 1, part of Governor Rendell’s plan for property tax relief, faced a resounding defeat, everywhere in the state.  And, in my home county of York, Pennsylvania, Doug Hoke and Ned Grove, in a surprising upset, defeated incumbent Doug Kilgore in the Democratic primary for County Commissioner.

The Democratic results in the County Commissioner race were close.  This closeness illustrates how, at the local level, the saying "let every vote count" – one that we mostly hear repeated in contested federal races – can become all the more important.

The first name given by Spanish explorers to the Rio Grande was the Rio de las Palmas, after the extensive forests of sabal palm trees there.  Those forests are mostly gone now, replaced by grapefruit orchards, etc.  Only small patches of it remain, in sanctuaries and wildlife refuges, such as Sabal Palms run by the Audubon Society east of Brownsville, Texas.  The bird life at this southernmost point of the lower 48 has a Central American feel.  

               

                  Plain Chachalaca, 22" long

It's a mecca for birders, who flock to the area from around the world.  And, according to The Monitor, a lower Rio Grande Valley online outlet, National Wildlife Refuges along the Rio have been "fast-tracked" for construction of the Border Fence.  Bulldozing is expected to begin by next year at the latest.

Cross-posted at Texas Kos