Northern Indiana Democrat Congressthing Pete Visclosky is worried about Federal budget-cutting. He sees dire shortfalls in....
Wait, I know what you're thinking: he's a Democrat. He's concerned about The Poor or The Homeless, or maybe The Hungry, right? Or "Illegal guns" or racism or Social Justice or some other core value of the American Left, for sure?
Not exactly.
See, there's some Federal parkland up his way (some State parkland, too): the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore. It's a young park, established in 1966. Though it might not be all that well-known, it is indeed lovely. (Steel mills and all.) When it was established, there were plenty of property owners who declined to sell or donate their land; about a hundred parcels inside the park are still privately owned. The Feds had been buyin' 'em whenever they could and now.... Now the money has been cut off. Congress has had to choose between kiting checks to pay their light bill and buy fuel for tanks, or keep on buyin' land that's not goin' anywhere (well, no faster than dunes move, that is). And Pete can't hardly stand it -- not that he's asking for donations, mind you; he just wants the Free Money From The Government to keep on rollin' in.
I dunno, seems a bit misplaced if you ask me. The "run 'em all out" attitude of the Regional Director isn't helping any. What happened, Pete, y'solve all the other problems up that way already?
hmmmm, not near enough trees to sustain a Yellowstone style forest fire, one that would burn inholders out of house and home and allowing the gov to buy up the condemned acreage cheap. He'll have to think of something else.
ReplyDeleteWe live in the land of "Condemn private property to annex it for public use" anyway. When Kelo came along, I wondered what the big deal was, Eminent Domain BS has been going on here for ages. The only reason they haven't pulled it off in Dunes is the political pull of the original donors.
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