Target Centermass

The U.S. Supreme Court has issued a ruling in the matter of Kelo v. New London. Their decision: a swift kick to the nuts of private property rights.

A divided U.S. Supreme Court ruled Thursday that local governments may seize people’s homes and businesses against their will for private development in a decision anxiously awaited in communities where economic growth often is at war with individual property rights.

The 5-4 ruling – assailed by dissenting Justice Sandra Day O’Connor as handing “disproportionate influence and power” to the well-heeled in America – was a defeat for some Connecticut residents whose homes are scheduled for destruction to make room for an office complex. They had 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.

As a result, cities now have wide power to bulldoze residences for projects such as shopping malls and hotel complexes in order to generate tax revenue.

The libertarian in me cries that this is almost, so freaking atrociously almost, Dred Scott v. Sandford kind of horrible. I can, to a degree, see the need for the ability of government to seize land, given adequate compensation, for a strong public interest. I cannot accept that the government should have the power to essentially choose arbitrarily between private and non-related entities, stripping one of its property in favor of the other.

Excellent collections of reactions around the blogosphere have been assembled by John Little, Michelle Malkin and Eric Cowperthwaite .

Representatives of over 80 nations attended yesterday’s international conference on Iraq in Brussels. Here are three stories coming out of the gathering, co-hosted by the U.S. and the European Union, that I found interesting or significant.

Iraq Begs the World for A Marshall Plan

The staid conference room in Brussels could not have seemed further from the bloodstained streets of Baghdad. There, Iraqi leaders pleaded with the world to focus on the human costs of the conflict engulfing their homeland, and to do more to bring peace

“The children of Iraq are just like yours – they don’t want to lose their fathers” Iraqi Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari said in opening remarks to an international conference that concluded with calls for not just cash, but a Marshall Plan-style commitment to help those most vulnerable among Iraq’s citizens.

The UN, the European Union, the US and more than 80 other nations pledged their support – while saying Iraq could also do more to help itself. No new money was offered at a meeting that was never intended as a donors’ conference, but the gathering was applauded as proof that sharp differences over the US-led invasion of Iraq could be put aside to help Iraqis.

High price to pay if Iraq democracy fails: Fischer

Speaking at a conference on Iraq being co-hosted in Brussels by the U.S. and the European Union, German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer warned there would be a “high price to pay” if the democratisation process in Iraq fails.

The conference is focusing on international support for the Iraqi transitional government on political reform, economic reconstruction and strengthening security through the rule of law. No new aid pledges or troop contributions are expected.

[...]

Whether countries were for or against the U.S.- led Iraq war, the focus now was on stabilising the country, German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer told reporters. “If the democratisation process fails, there will be a high price to pay…we cannot allow that to happen,” Fischer underlined.

The meeting emphasised that “the international community, having been deeply divided over Iraq, has now come together actively,” said British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw.

Syria to discuss cross-border infiltration claims

Syria will ask the Baghdad government to provide evidence of would-be insurgents infiltrating across the Syrian-Iraqi border, Syrian Foreign Minister Farouk al-Sharaa said Thursday.

Speaking to reporters, al-Sharaa indicated his government’s concern about charges that it is allowing infiltration into Iraq – accusations that were repeated by US and Iraqi envoys at the international conference on Iraq in Brussels on Wednesday.

[...]

“The delegation will ask for documents and evidence about the accusations (of infiltration), because we want to know the source and truth,” al-Sharaa said.

“Any border in the world, including the United States’ borders, is prone to infiltration,” Sharaa added.

Unfortunately, there is much truth in that last statement, far too much when considering the U.S. borders. Still, one would be quite foolish to state that Syria is doing all it can to assist the establishment of a stable, democratic Iraq, something that Syria does not want as a neighbor.

Another donors conference is planned in mid-July in Amman, Jordan. The mind boggles at the security precautions that will have to be in place and how tempting such a target will have to be to the radical Islamists.