Stop the presses! I agree with eddobloggo!!!!! The eminent domain abuse is out of control. Utterly ridiculous.

bannedagain

Des Moines, IA Register

I think you forgot to mention that this deal, with the 2,200 acres and all, was originally struck in 2003 (with the previous administration). It's just that it has floundered all these years due to disagreements over fair market price. The only evil that the current NPS is involved in is actually trying to facilitate it and have it closed up by the 10th anniversary (9/11/11) But then, that wouldn't make for a good Obama Administration hatin' story, would it?

All the landowners involved are willing to give up their land for the memorial, just some of them aren't coming to an agreement with the fair market value, which often happens in these cases. They let their emotional idea of how much the land should be worth overshadow the reality of what the fair market value really is.

You should know about that, Ed. Being a car shucker. Make 'em fall in love with it, then you can sell it to 'em for any $$ amount. Appeal to the emotional side, and the dollar amount means nothing. By the same token, on a trade in, you have to devalue it in their eyes, make them realize it's not the lovely car they are emotionally attached to, so you can give them far less than it's actually worth. C'mon, that's how capitalism works.

OrangeTang

Lansing, MI State Journa

[Today's rant was not political in content or intent. No blame was placed.  Seizure of private property -- even under the best of circumstances and intentions -- is un-capitalistic.  All forms of sales are a creative process. You fail, in your meanness and spitefulness toward me and other car guys, to realize that no sale is ever complete until the value of the merchandise or service meets or exceeds the price in the BUYER's mind. -ED]

"conservative political commentary" - oh really? What a shocker!

mostlymalarkey

Wausau, WI Daily Herald

[100% malarkey from the haters on the left. No shocker there either. -ED]

Ruth Hardy Park in Palm Springs is 22 acres. Any plans to have ever made this memorial 100 times that size at any cost near that much was always insane.

WesleyC

Palm Springs, CA Desert Sun

[When did sanity ever have anything to do with government? -ED]

Many of the families believe the land should be sacred because the bodies were spread over a wide area. This reminds me of the trooper memorials in Utah and the crosses we see along the highway. Potentially every square inch of land along our highways could end up being sacred...possibly the most frustrating thing about this whole fiasco is that one landowner was working through his lawyer to donate the requested parcel when he was threatened. He's now having second thoughts.

another_patriot

Des Moines, IA Register

That prodigious porcine project may well have stamped on it the cloven hoof print of the Keystone State's erstwhile congressional porkmeister in chief, Bud Schuster, who chaired the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure till his resignation in '01. And it may bear, as well, the cloven hoof print of Bud's son, Bill, who's been the Schuster sinecure's caretaker since porcus pater stepped down.

BTW: Bud claimed he resigned for "health reasons"; but the smart money says 'twas on account of GAO gum-shoes closing in on him.

ignisfatuus

Burlington, VT Free Press

I don't think that the framers of the constitution had this in mind with eminent domain which has become tantamount to land stealing by the government.

Anonymous

This makes me wonder exactly what they didn't find or are trying to hide. Regardless of who's administration is pushing this it must be stopped. Let them build another monstrosity on the mall. Leave the countryside alone.

deserttrek

Palm Springs, CA Desert Sun

Well said Ed. (Or is this just a ruse to convince all the lefties that you occasionally make coherent arguments?) :)

Craig51

Des Moines, IA Register

[You had to ask? -ED]

On every corner we could have a cross across America. A few acres should be enough for this memorial. I feel for the families who lost love ones, but over 2000 acre's. Our gov, at work.

justpoor

Des Moines, IA Register

...I don't like this eminent domain deal. That's supposed to be used for the public good. How is this memorial for the public good? And why would they need that much land anyway?

CarolinStockbridge

Lansing, MI State Journal

Who are the landowners of record?  Are these power hungry landlords of mining glory and dairy barn construction playing subdivide parcel games that cause a propensity of fun.

Anonymous

[Regardless of who owns the "needed" acreage, why does the NPS need their land and the additional administrative costs involved with negotiating and/or purchasing it? The landowners are not responsible for initiating this process. -ED]

I get too confused on the other website when I try to post something - too old to program a TiVO if I had one. We are in some very strange times right now when it comes to government intervention on any front to include the reason for this excellent opine. I cannot even make it trough the opening scenes of 'Saving Private Ryan' and I will not visit a place where U.S. Citizens died on our soil during an act of war no matter how big, or small. I had my chance to visit Pearl Harbor on the way to the jungle and I demurred so I guess I will continue to walk the 'fence' on this one if that is OK?

boned

Great Falls, MT Tribune

Yes I have no problem seeing the threat to private property by the government. Native  people have had to deal with this all the time, when the gov lets mining operators move in and  then calls the land squeeze "encroachment", just another unfair term. With whites it is reluctantly done "as a last resort", while with Natives it is deliberately done as an overall plan to take away what little they have got by corrupt government agencies.

Anonymous

[Another perspective, for sure. - ED]

http://www.nps.gov/flni That's the Web site where people can go and read about the plan, as well as write a letter to voice your outrage. That this is even being considered is too outrageous to believe. Thanks, Ed, for bringing this to our attention.

Concerned Citizen

Eddo: Thank you for transcribing the Rush Limbaugh program for us on a regular basis like this. This is a great public service for busy folks who don't always have time to tune into Rush's show for their updated instructions on what to think.

PeterFisk

Fort Collins, CO Coloradoan

[You've proven that great minds think alike.  I haven't listened to any part of a Limbaugh program in at least a month but I'm glad to know he and I are on the same page. Unfortunately, you're not. -ED]

I'm in the business of eminent domain so I was following this story....last I heard the National Park Service WAS NOT going to use eminent domain to get the remaining land they needed. They already have some of the land anyway. I do agree that 2,200 acres does seem like a lot of land for this.

SWRF35

Wausau, WI Daily Herald