Kelo Report, Part 1

[FTL_Ian]

All of your suggestions are good, LR6, but you presume that:

1.  Your protests will be covered.
2.  People watching will give a damn.

So what if the govt looks bad?  They've looked terrible before, (Waco, Ruby Ridge) and lots of people were angry and demanding change?  What happened?  Nothing.  Just some dead crazy people.

We reported a few months ago on a non-violent protest that some college kids did on their campus.. there were about 100 students as well as some faculty that decided they wanted to have class outside.  Instead of encouraging it, the administration of this state college said no, and when the kids did it anyway at nightfall they sent in the JBTs.  The kids locked arms and resisted arrest (some say they should not have resisted, what do you think?).  The cops ended up having to perform some weird pressure point maneuver on them in order to get them to pass out one by one, so they could remove them from their circles.   Here's the video: http://dmedia.ucsc.edu/%7Eafrojas/TU/ToProtectAndServe.mov

I understand that this was not a property rights protest, nor related to a supreme court case.  However my point is to show you how effective their noncooperative protest was:

They were disbanded and arrested by the police.
The only reason the cops were "gentle" was because the media was present.
The media coverage was non existant outside Santa Fe, CA (excepting Free Talk Live).
....

-Peacefully blockade the police to stop the families from being arrested.  When police come to arrest the families, surround the homes with people and form a border around the property.  Stand in their way and tell the police they'll have to arrest you, too.  Do not compromise, even under the threat of death.

I like this idea, but if the cops say they are arresting you, will you turn around and let them cuff you, or will you resist?  Just curious as to how you would handle it.

[Michael Fisher]

I do not see resisting arrest as a nonviolent action directed at a system, I see it as a neutral action directed at an individual, so the effect of this type of resistance is diminished greatly.

If I had forced the police to drag me off at the outlaw manicure event, do you think the coverage would have been as positive as it was?? Not a chance.? I would have looked like a typical melodramatic whiner like the anti-war or anti-abortion protestors who lay down in the street.

Words of intent are all that is necessary to create the reaction.? Russell and I both proved it.

For example:? Stand around the house shoulder to shoulder.? When the police come, tell them you will not move unless they arrest you as well.? No force is necessary.? Just stand in their way and tell them you're not moving.? If they arrest you, do not resist.? If they force you out of the way, do not resist.? This is obviously only an effective action if the cameras are watching.? Otherwise, it's still meaningful and principled.







March from Selma. March 7, 1965:? 600-700 black civil rights marchers are ordered to disperse by the police.? They stand there in blatant refusal.? The police march up to them, rush them, and trample and beat them on national television.
Watch the video here:
http://www.earthstation1.com/Civil_Rights/MarchFromSelma650307.ram

[FTL_Ian]

March from Selma. March 7, 1965:  600-700 black civil rights marchers are ordered to disperse by the police.  They stand there in blatant refusal.  The police march up to them, rush them, and trample and beat them on national television.

What a sick video.  Those dirty, violent pigs.

Great, so I get my head smashed in or trampled by the cops, and I get to hope that some change comes down the line because of it?  If the cops are going to beat on innocent people, the innocent people should shoot the cops.  Govt. is not scared of harmless protestors, but an angry mob of armed protesters?  Now that's enough to strike a little terror into the coldest of bureaucrats.

I think non violence is the appropriate choice for most protests, but when it comes to defending the last vestiges of freedom (your property), armed defense is totally appropriate.

I'd love to hear some others' thoughts on this.

[Michael Fisher]

Great, so I get my head smashed in or trampled by the cops, and I get to hope that some change comes down the line because of it?

It's a huge sacrifice indeed, but it works.? The means are moral and justified.? The quest of nonviolent noncooperation involves self-suffering, sometimes even unto death.

If the cops are going to beat on innocent people, the innocent people should shoot the cops.

If violence is the means to freedom, it will also be the end.? Do not see the cops as our enemies, but as normal everyday people who have yet to understand the principles of freedom.? Nonviolent noncooperation is a method of educating public opinion.

You may not agree, but I don't want to hurt or threaten to hurt anyone to obtain freedom.? I do not see anyone as an enemy.

Someone must suffer for us to be free, and I would rather it be me than someone who I have provoked to attack me.

[Lloyd Danforth]

I'm not sure how the actual 'Taking' will be manifested.  In the past it would probably have been done by Sherrifs, but, the Sherrif dept. has been done away with in CT.
Local Cops?  New London is in a crunch due to a budgetg crisis.  As I write this there are 4 officers on the streets.  There is an event in town this weekend where they expect 60,000 people, weather providing, and there is no funds for overtime.
State cops are a possibility.
If we could get enough people to Ft Trumbull and keep them there long enough, the development corp might back down and sell what they have aquired.

[FTL_Ian]

LR6, would you have not seen the redcoats as an enemy?   

[FTL_Ian]

The latest news from New London is the Governor has ordered the evictions rescinded...

[tracysaboe]

Opinion polls after the Supreme Court decision showed 90+% in favor of the landowners.   

If this is true, where are the protesters?  A thousand or so, perhaps even several hundred people willing to stop authorities from entering these people's properties would go a lot further then the threat of violence.
The whole world (I hope) will be watching, I doubt they will arrest hundreds of people.

Exactly. Talk is cheep. Talk on annonymous oppinion poles are that much cheeper.

Tracy

[tracysaboe]

Great, so I get my head smashed in or trampled by the cops, and I get to hope that some change comes down the line because of it?

It's a huge sacrifice indeed, but it works.  The means are moral and justified.  The quest of nonviolent noncooperation involves self-suffering, sometimes even unto death.

Some of us aren't willing to make that sacrafise. I've made a vow to protect and provide for my wife. how am I going to do that if I'm dead and unable to pretect her anymore.

Sometimes you almost sound like a unionist or a communist who does things for "the movement." I care about my own liberty, and that of my close friends and family. It's those very social networks that as a libertarian I'm trying to protect. I'm not going to abbanden them getting myself killed for "the movement."

If using a gun and killing a cop is going to save my life and the life of my family, I'm going to do it.

Tracy

[Lloyd Danforth]

The latest news from New London is the Governor has ordered the evictions rescinded...

Can't find this news anywhere.

[FTL_Ian]

I was sent this by one of the Homeowners:

Published on web: 9/15/2005 By TED MANN Day Staff Writer, will be pub. in fri 091605 print version

New London  ?  Gov. M. Jodi Rell ordered the New London Development Corp. Thursday to rescind the relocation notices it sent to some property owners at Fort Trumbull, and her staff suggested that she ? like some city officials ? had lost confidence in the agency's management of its $73 million redevelopment project.

In addition to her demand that the NLDC withdraw its orders to relocate, which were sent last week to three of the individuals whose land has been seized via eminent domain, Rell called for a third-party mediator to guide the negotiations between property owners, the NLDC, and the city, and for the NLDC to consider a solution it has long refused ? incorporating some of the remaining houses into the final development plan for the peninsula.

City officials, meanwhile, pressed forward with their plan for a vote of no confidence in the development agency on Monday, and told state officials that the project cannot go forward unless the NLDC's current leadership steps down.

?I don't think it can be overstated, the frustration of the governor,? said her legal counsel, Kevin Rasch, in an early morning meeting with NLDC officials, including its president, Michael Joplin, and chief operating officer, David Goebel.

Rasch was joined by Commissioner James F. Abromaitis and a deputy, Ronald Angelo, of the Department of Economic and Community Development, which has provided virtually all of the funding for the Fort Trumbull project. Neither the governor's office nor the agency was informed before the relocation notices were sent on Friday.

Rasch would not go as far as the city officials ? Mayor Jane Glover, City Manager Richard Brown, and Councilor Beth Sabilia ? who called for the dismissal of Joplin and Goebel, but he said the governor was as angry as her counterparts.

?The governor's tone may be at times restrained. That should not be misunderstood,? Rasch told the city officials, referring to Rell's ?extreme displeasure, frustration and annoyance at the NLDC for handling the relocation notices in the way they did.?

Pressed after that meeting to say whether Rell also wanted Joplin and Goebel to step aside, Rasch and Abromaitis demurred, saying they hoped to work closely with city officials to begin mediation and get development on the peninsula re-started at last.

But, Rasch added, the NLDC leaders know they are on thin ice.

?The governor is not happy,? he said. ?I think they understand that her displeasure is a loss of confidence.?

Tom Picinich

City Council Candidate

OneNewLondon.org

[Lloyd Danforth]

This is very kool!

i couldn't find any mention of it on any of the CT TV sites or, Google news.

[FTL_Ian]

The first line claims it will be published tomorrow...

[Russell Kanning]

Great, so I get my head smashed in or trampled by the cops, and I get to hope that some change comes down the line because of it?? If the cops are going to beat on innocent people, the innocent people should shoot the cops.? Govt. is not scared of harmless protestors....

Don't you think the authorities where very scared of MLK and all those resisters?

[Kat Kanning]

INSTITUTE FOR JUSTICE  www.ij.org

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: September 16, 2003

NLDC Backs Down,

New London Property Owners Safe For Now

But Push for Legislative Reform Continues

Washington, D.C.-Bowing to an order by Connecticut Gov. M. Jodi Rell, the New London Development Corporation-the organization of un-elected officials who have been abusing the government?s power of eminent domain-has agreed to rescind notices to evict sent to New London, Conn., homeowners.

Earlier this week, the NLDC had broken its word and defied both Governor Rell and the Connecticut legislature by breaking a moratorium it had agreed to abide by that was called for by both the governor and legislature.  Three Fort Trumbull residents received eviction notices stating that they must vacate the properties in 30 to 90 days and must start paying rent to the NLDC during that period.  NLDC President Michael Joplin claimed that the moratorium on eminent domain applied only to new cases and not to the homes in New London, and that additional eviction notices would be forthcoming.

        ?We and the homeowners in New London are so appreciative of Governor?s Rell?s order to the NLDC to stop the evictions,? said Institute for Justice Senior Attorney Dana Berliner, who is debating the issue of eminent domain today in Hartford at the State Capitol.  ?By ordering the evictions, the NLDC acted with complete contempt for the property owners, the governor and the state legislature.  The NLDC is an un-elected and therefore unaccountable body that has been given the power of eminent domain by the City of New London.  The NLDC is the poster child for eminent domain abusers and its power must be reined in at last by New London?s City Council.?

        ?It is a great day for Fort Trumbull homeowners who were facing eviction from their homes, but the battle is not over,? said Scott Bullock, senior attorney for the Institute for Justice, which represents the Fort Trumbull homeowners.  ?The Connecticut legislature must do what the state and federal courts refused to do:  require that eminent domain can only be used for genuine public uses and not for private development, as is happening in New London.  Both keeping the seven Fort Trumbull families safe and extending similar protections to homeowners across the state are absolutely vital.?

        Michael Cristofaro, one of the homeowners, said, ?We?ve always wanted to stay.  We still want to stay.  We just want the NLDC and the City to leave us alone.  We are so grateful to Gov. Rell for coming to our aid.?

        ?Reform efforts in dozens of others states across the nation are watching what?s going on in Connecticut,? said Chip Mellor, president and general counsel of the Institute for Justice.  ?There is tremendous public outrage over eminent domain abuse, outrage which only continues to grow.  The public is demanding that legislators restore legal protection to property in the wake of the Kelo decision.?

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