Rights and Privilege...

Property rights: We in the United States and other civilized countries have the right to own property. The dictionary defines it as a 'right of ownership' which really means, if we have enough money to buy a home, we can do so. Then we must pay taxes on it in order to keep living there. If you pay for your house but don't pay the taxes, you can't live there anymore and a bureaucratic government employee can make you homeless.

Eminent domain: means 'The right of a government to appropriate private property for public use, usually with compensation to the owner.' The compensation part is only there because it was added to the U.S. Constitution in the 5th Amendment. A bureaucratic government employee can make you sell your home so they can build an expessway. There is now a new extension of this term based on a decision by the U.S. Supreme Court. Now a neighbor or business can get a bureaucratic government employee to make you sell your home so they can build a condo or a mall or whatever that will generate more taxes than you are paying for the privilege of living in your own house.

Privilege: A special advantage, immunity, permission, right, or benefit granted to or enjoyed by an individual, class, or caste. The principle of granting and maintaining a special right or immunity. Translation: A bureaucratic government employee has a special advantage... that being the second definition: a bureaucratic governmental employee has the power to give homeowners permits to do certain actions on their property.

Not only can they tell you what you can and cannot do on your own property which you continue paying for the rest of your life through property taxes, they get to make the rules and change the rules. For instance, the Director of the MDEQ (Michigan Dept. of Environmental Quality) has looked me square in the eye in front of his boss, Jennifer Granholm's 'second in command,' John Cherry, Lt. Governor of Michigan, and said he could not CHANGE the rule that calls my home a 'facility.' He said it could only 'change through legislation' so my friends and I went to our Legislators and began getting the rule changed. That legislation, referred to as 'homeowners' rights legislation' passed in the Michigan House of Representatives by 77-29, with special thanks to John Moolenaar, our fair and balanced District 98 legislator.

Just yesterday I read in the Midland Daily News that Steve Chester, Director of MDEQ, redefined the rule. I can't say he lied when he said he couldn't change the rule, but he couldn't 'redefine' the rule until after we got our legislation going. Semantics... it's all about semantics. Read about the latest edict from the King of Michigan right here...'Facility' redefined by DEQ. I hope his boss, Ms. Granholm, is aware of this guy's antics. He is, in my very humble opinion, equatable to things that slither in the wetlands.