Property owners like Sandy are in the worst position under this bill, it does not take land with compensation, it simply claims any wetland (damp land) as being government property regardless of the price paid or generations of property tax payments. Beyond permitting, it also claims this land for recreational users. be it hunters, ATV riders, or even kayaks after floods. The bill is an assault on property rights, cloaked in the guise of environmental legislation.

Over half of my property consists of swamp land and a small river running through it. I already can’t do anything to my own property. I think they should reduce my taxes by the percentage of my land that they think they already own, and even more if this bill gets passed. Just watch Oberstar’s video on his website. What a stuttering old fool. Minnesota, the land of 10,000 lakes, and even more wet lands. I am sooooo tired of government passing more and more laws all the time that nobody knows what they can and can’t do anymore, and neither does government because nobody reads the friggin bills.

Oberstar is up for mid-term election November 2010. If you live in Minnesota I encourage you to vote for somebody who will adhere to the constitution.

H.R.5088 – We don’t need our ponds and drainage ditches scrutinized. The way things are going they will want us to fence our ponds and streams to keep the cows out! Just another incumbant politician that needs to be voted out folks.

Here is the link to comments on the previous version of this same stupid bill.
http://www.opencongress.org/bill/111-s787/comments?comment_page=2

Had the bill simply sought to protect water quality without laying claim to private property, it would not be another underhanded attempt to usurp constitutional intent. As written, congressman Oberstar is proving to be another sleazy politician, or not bright enough to understand the consequences of his puppeteer’s proposed bill on private lands.

This bill is again another sleazy attempt by Oberstar to permit unregulated public activities (including recreation and trespassing) onto private lands. Had the bill limited the scope to protecting water quality, it may have been understandable; but the bill references constitutional law that insinuates that these waterways already belong to the US government. This is outright LIE. The Bill’s reference to Article IV Sec3 of the Constitution indicates “The Congress shall have Power to dispose of and make all needful Rules and Regulations respecting the Territory or other Property belonging to the United States”. However not all surface waters within the United States “belong to” the United States, nor does the land beneath drainage-ditches, puddles and pot-holes “belong” to the US. Therefore the Act clearly states a claim to land currently considered private property that is sometimes damp.