…because I did tell you, repeatedly:

China more popular than U.S. overseas

New poll finds Iraq war a key factor in tattered image of U.S.
The Associated Press
Updated: 4:49 p.m. ET June 23, 2005

WASHINGTON - The United States’ image is so tattered overseas two years after the Iraq invasion that China, which is ruled by a communist dictatorship, is viewed more favorably than the U.S. in many countries, an international poll found.

Want to bet the fallout I predicted from this outcome will also come to pass?

WARNING: Those who have bet against me on almost any topic regret it.

—

An important note. I take no joy in being right about this. This does not bode well for the country I love, and the fallout from it could be the first steps to the decline of the United States as a world power.

I love my country. If I did not, I would not get so upset when I see those in power toss aside our fundamental principles at will for the sake of expedience and pandering to the extremes. Often I feel that those in power, BOTH Democrats and Republicans, have no principles nor regard for the principles that people died for to create and preserve our nation.

This is a very sad day for me.

…can be found here:

High court OKs personal property seizures
Majority: Local officials know how best to help cities

Thursday, June 23, 2005 Posted: 1450 GMT (2250 HKT)

WASHINGTON (AP) — – The Supreme Court on Thursday ruled that local governments may seize people’s homes and businesses — even against their will — for private economic development.

It was a decision fraught with huge implications for a country with many areas, particularly the rapidly growing urban and suburban areas, facing countervailing pressures of development and property ownership rights.

The 5-4 ruling represented a defeat for some Connecticut residents whose homes are slated for destruction to make room for an office complex. They argued that cities have no right to take their land except for projects with a clear public use, such as roads or schools, or to revitalize blighted areas.

In other words, eminent domain now trumps private property rights, even when the private property is being seized to give to a developer so the developer can make money.

So, those of you who wonder why I always complain about expanding the power of government and my loud cries of “foul” any time I believe the basis of our rights are being eroded, do you have any questions why I make such noise?

The preservation of property rights has been a foundation for our robust economy. Without certainty, you cannot plan for the future.

China (the mainland part) seizes what would be nominally private property at whim.

We are not to that point yet, but we have started down the same road.

Government apparently now ALWAYS triumphs over the individual, because government “knows better”…

Welcome to 1984 and Animal Farm. Just pray that you are one of the animals that is more equal than the other animals.

I cannot recommend more highly reading this entire post by John Cole: Durbin Wrap Up. To provide an incentive, I give you a quote that encapsulates what I have been trying to convey about the prison at Guantanamo:

The fact of the matter is, we just don’t know the whole story. And no matter what the blowhards and the administration apologists (and I used to be one) say, it isn’t liberal ACLU pro-terrorist anti-military crazinesss to demand the facts and to demand that we behave better than we have in the past. It isn’t anti-soldier to question policy and to demand that abuses and torture aren’t being conducted under our flag, even if we benignly label them ‘approved interrogation techniques.’

And one more thing- Dick Durbin didn’t do anything wrong- he used some stupid rhetoric. He could have used a better example, and it was stupid to include regimes as murderous as the Khmer Rouge and the Nazis in that speech, even though he didn’t compare our troops to those guys. But that doesn’t give us any excuse to ignore his message.

And just because I have to say it given the idiotic political climate we currently have to live in- I think the severe allegations and the deaths are an aberration, not the norm. I don’t think all of our soldiers are evil and sadistic torturers. I don’t know what is true and what is not, and I don’t know what is considered acceptable under international norms. I, in fact, love the military and think it is the best way that we as a society spend our money. But I don’t think it is stupid or slanderous or unpatriotic to have the idea that everything isn’t kosher.

I wish I had the time to comment both on what Cole has written and to elaborate on my earlier writings on this topic.

This is important, and Cole provides some much-needed perspective from someone who leans to the right on the political spectrum.

…I’m in the midst of the meeting-hell-week that I mentioned in some earlier posts, so I don’t have much time to write here.

Then, Congress goes and does this:

House Backs Ban On Flag Burning

By THE NEW YORK TIMES
Published: June 23, 2005

WASHINGTON, June 22 - The House of Representatives passed a resolution on Wednesday proposing a constitutional amendment that would enable Congress to prohibit the destruction or debasement of the flag without violating free speech rights.

The vote was 286 to 130, more than the two-thirds of the members present and voting that is required to approve a proposed amendment.

I will not write the string of epithets that are running through my mind.

I only have time to write this one thing: This goes to show that at least 286 Congressmen do not understand the fundamental principles that motivated the First Amendment and the structure of Constitution itself, or if they do understand the principles, they abandon them to pander to the extremists.

This is beyond stupid.

This is beyond partisan politics.

This is attacking the foundation of our freedoms.