www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1508617/posts?page=26#26
vrwc0915 You can count on your constitutional due process rights if you are a thie f, a rapist, or a murderer. But if you're accused of committing a crime against the environment, you may as well tear up the Constitution and bu ry it in a landfillor better yet, send it for recycling. That, at least, is the message of the legal tactics that the government h as employed in its two-decade-long crusade against John Rapanos, a Michi gan developer. He shifted sand from one part of his prop erty to another without a wetland permit, a felony under the Clean Water Act. This is in addition to the $185,000 in fines and 200 hours of community s ervice Rapanos has already received for the criminal conviction. He esca ped a jail term the federal prosecutors wanted to impose on him only bec ause Judge Lawrence Zatkoff, the federal district court judge who presid ed over the trial and witnessed the prosecutor's underhanded legal maneu vering first hand, rejected the prosecutor's demand earlier this year. In fact, so prejudicial were some of the government's tactics that Judge Zatkoff ordered a new trial after the jury broke its deadlock and convic ted Rapanos on the criminal charges in 1997. However, later that year, t he 6th Circuit Courtnotorious for its soft spot for big government caus esoverruled Judge Zatkoff. Rapanos' troubles began back in 1985, when he decided to develop 175 acre s of farmland he had bought in the 1950s in bucolic mid-Michigan. With t he exception of two small areas, his property was bone dry, thanks to it s sandy soil and the drainage ditches the county had dug in the area at the turn of the century. Because Rapanos was not planning to touch the wet spots, he began to clea r shrubs and even out the sand to prepare his land for development witho ut feeling the necessity of obtaining a wetland permit. That's when agen ts from Michigan's Department of Natural Resources (DNR)the state enfor cement arm of the federal Environmental Protection Agencyshowed up at h is door with cease-and-desist orders, their first of many visits. Rapanos, by all accounts, is rude, arrogant, and obscene. In other words, he's precisely the kind of person whomJudge Zarkoff notes"the Constit ution was passed to protect." But Rapanos cooperated with the agents during the first few visits when i t seemed they intended only to inspect his property visually. However, d uring one visit when Rapanos and his lawyer were convinced that the agen ts meant to collect soil samples and other evidence to use against him i n court, they demanded a search warranta perfectly appropriate demand.
over the coals"in the words of a dissenting 6th Circuit Court judge for electing to exercise his Fourth Amendment rights. The prosecutors also questioned why Rapanos would insist on a warrant if he was not destroying wetlands. Finally, the attorneys for the government likened Rapa nos to a devil and compared his "treeless property" to the "Warsaw ghett o without Jews." The government's prejudicial conduct and violation of Rapanos' civil righ ts is not directly at issue in the current case before the Supreme Court . Rather, the court will consider a novel theory that the federal govern mentbacked by the Bush Justice Departmentis putting forward to defend its decision to prosecute Rapanos, given that the nearest federally prot ected navigable water is 20 miles away from his property. The government is arguing that it has the authority to regulate any property whose run offs could reach navigable waters. A nod from the court will put virtually every puddle and pond on anyone's property within the reach of wetland bureaucrats. But the question is n ot only if this would be allowed under a fair reading of the lawalthoug h the government's expansive interpretation is audacious, to say the lea st. The court also ought to consider this question: How is the federal govern ment likely to use these expanded powers? Rapanos' treatment suggests a one-word answer: abusively.
View Replies To: metmom This is one area where I get in trouble with some conservatives by saying not all felons should have their gun rights taken away once they're rel eased. Let him have his guns, and lock of the idiots who put him in jail.
View Replies To: vrwc0915 A nod from the court will put virtually every puddle and pond on anyone's property within the reach of wetland bureaucrats. Wonder why they won't go after New Orleans, it really IS a wetland?
View Replies To: vrwc0915 and bury it in a landfill And meanwhile tons and tons of Canuck wastes come over the USA border eve ry day and buried in MI landfills. Fed trade laws and not to mention taxes the leftist confiscate for t his disposal. Canada along with our own gubmint ought to get together and build a super -landfill.
View Replies To: Stellar Dendrite The government's prejudicial conduct and violation of Rapanos' civil righ ts is not directly at issue in the current case before the Supreme Court . Rather, the court will consider a novel theory that the federal govern mentbacked by the Bush Justice Departmentis putting forward to defend its decision to prosecute Rapanos, given that the nearest federally prot ected navigable water is 20 miles away from his property. The government is arguing that it has the authority to regulate any property whose run offs could reach navigable waters. This decision by the Bush administration to expand Gub'Mint rights over p roperty rights is EXACTLY what should be the beginning of a real Revolut ion to retake our rights and liberties from the REAL eeee-litists! and wear a copy of the Constitution pinned to your shirt! Time to clean house of ALL these anti-Constitutionalists!
View Replies To: flashbunny This is one area where I get in trouble with some conservatives by saying not all felons should have their gun rights taken away once they're rel eased.
Thought you folks might like to see this article, if you haven't already... The stupid grass just doesn't ever seem to want to just cut itself. Fortunately though, I recently picked up some new equipment, which DOES make the job a little easier... Nothing Runs Like a Deere click for more (Please FReepmail if you want on, or off, this list. I certainly have n o desire to increase anyones stress-level.
View Replies To: vrwc0915 Enviro-terror is spreading rapidly across the nation. In two counties nea r my home: one has passed a Critical Areas Ordinance that requires land owners maintain 65% of their property as undisturbed space, the other ha s just declared that a buffer of 200 feet must be maintained from any wa ter on private property such as streams, ponds or lakes. The second ordi nance makes one and two acre parcels along streams and creeks virtually unusable.
View Replies To: Itzlzha "This decision by the Bush administration to expand Gub'Mint rights over property rights is EXACTLY what should be the beginning of a real Revolu tion to retake our rights and liberties from the REAL eeee-litists!" I am slowly coming to a belief that those in government are pushing to ma ke this an inevitability.
View Replies To: vrwc0915 The prosecutors also questioned why Rapanos would insist on a warrant if he was not destroying wetlands. The founding fathers wrote the Fourth Amendment because they knew that go vernment officials cannot be trusted to do the right thing. They did not write it with the intent of criminals hiding crimes. It is meant to pro tect the people from government officials like the prosecutors. Or worse, their int ent to invert the purpose of the fourth amendment..
View Replies To: Dan from Michigan The prosecutors also questioned why Rapanos would insist on a warrant if he was not destroying wetlands. Finally, the attorneys for the government likened R apanos to a devil and compared his "treeless property" to the "Warsaw g hetto without Jews."
An Act of Federal Piracy The moment the idea is admitted into society, that property is not as sa cred as the laws of God, and that there is not a force of law and public justice to protect it, anarchy and tyranny commence. Its imprint is designed to scare the serfs back into the ir rabbit holes, so unelected pirates annointed wi...
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