Originally posted by starless and bible black
At one time I was a close party to a landowner. One day, the city decided to attempt to simply seize the property. A scrawled letter was rec'd.,
saying that there was a party about your land (two weeks past) and you'd better show up on account that we wish to seize it. It was serious balls on
their behalf, as even the notice was sent out 2 weeks later than the 'meeting'. Real hack work. Illinois.
Soon after this attempt was made to steal the property, our state legislature passed a new bill which rescinded some of these eminent domain powers,
or at least procedures, so they backed off. The party must have known about this bill and had a hurried deadline, and they bored holes into, and
preyed upon, the land holder's conscience, since it was a 'closed factory', as to try to instill guilt. It was crooked, inside stuff, but the
result's the same: they can make anyone lose, just like that, with paltry compensation, and they can saddle you with huge penalties for the most
unheard of, trivial things. The fun never stops.
It's not always simple to tell what the views of the FF were. Some of these guys were quite opposite what you would conclude, based on a cliffnote
approach to the body of their writings. edit on 25-1-2011 by starless and bible black because: (no reason given)
That isn't as bad as what the former city government of Lansford PA did to my Dad. He owned a used tire shop(and a tire/metal-general disposal
business) he ran out of an old Victorian theater(that place was a major fire hazard before he bought it, probably spent hundreds of hours fixing and
reworking the electrical system to make it safe). For awhile the Greek Orthodox Church across the street had been trying to get him to sell the land
to him dirt cheap for parking. Luckily he had a relative that worked at in the State Polices Fire Code enforcement department(or something like that),
so if they tried the eminent domain route they would of had a city wide inspection on their hands. So that kept the peace for awhile.
Then Pennsylvania enacted new environmental regulation in regards to tire disposal. A state legislator even commended my dad while they where
talking about implementing the law. But the end result of the law was those that cheated and dumped tires in quarries and along the side of the road
where the only ones who could afford the red tape fees, shutting down environmentally conscious businesses.
Well a few months later the Police Chief, Mayor and Fire Chief conducted an illegal inspection of the roof and said "The roof is going to come down
any day now"(I have been on that roof myself and it was solid). Three day's later on Friday the 13th the roof caved in. The roof didn't just fall
apart, it did a perfect "V" cave in.
A building engineer from Wilksbarre,PA was sent to inspect the building, and said the second floor was toast, but the first floor was safe
because the walls where very strong. The Mayor at the time ignored the building engineer and had part of the building torn down to street level(making
it unrepairable).
Even with part of the building torn down to street level the rest of the first floor was so solid we where able to go inside and remove
valuables safely. Shortly afterward the Church across the street suggested that my dad "donate" the building to their Church.
Well to make a long story short we got the last laugh. My dad held out, forcing the city to pay the clean-up cost, then when said Mayor
was voted out he handed the property over to the City(also to ensure no liability with said massive bill) and I think it is still an empty lot or a
park or something. But I know the Church didn't get their grubby hands on it.
The thing is government isn't just some big, all mighty thing. It is merely an institution made up by people. If the people that make up an
institution are corrupt, then the institution itself is corrupt. The more power an institution has means the more power it has to act, for good or
evil.
So ancient that stars and flags didn't exist possibily as I had to flag and star the entire freaking awesome thread
regardless, just to make it look pretty for everybody's enjoyment! 
] and Bump it for Justice! Hail Achlys
