Livable Communities Act = Mill Housing

I thought Senator Joseph Lieberman's Expatriation Bill was was about as bad of a bill as any legislator could think to propose. This bill allowed the government to arbitrarily label anyone a terrorist, strip them of their citizenship, imprison them indefinitely, and then deny them of due process and habeas corpus. Well, Senator Christopher Dodd is pushing a bill that comes a close second to the Expatriation Bill.

The Livable Communities Act, sponsored by Senator Christopher Dodd, has been approved by the Senate Banking Committee and now is heading to the Senate floor. This bill which forces the connection of housing to jobs is like bringing back the idea of mill housing. We still have the ruins of many textile mills here in Augusta GA. The old Augusta area textile mills wouldnt even pay you in money but in mill credits. Back in the day, people worked in the mills, lived in mill housing, went to the mill school, and shopped at the mill store. You never quite made enough to pay for everything so you were eternally indebted and enslaved to the company.

According to several reports on this legislation, the mission of the Office of Sustainable Housing and Communities is to create strong, sustainable communities by connecting housing to jobs, fostering local innovation, and helping to build a clean energy economy. In order to better connect housing to jobs, the office will work to coordinate federal housing and transportation investments with local land use decisions in order to reduce transportation costs for families, improve housing affordability, save energy, and increase access to housing and employment opportunities. By ensuring that housing is located near job centers and affordable, accessible transportation, we will nurture healthier, more inclusive communities – which provide opportunities for people of all ages, incomes, races, and ethnicities to live, work, and learn together.

"The Office of Sustainable Housing and Communities would end up overseeing development in every community," he said. "They say it's voluntary, but it really isn't. The $4 billion in grants will be used by radical green groups, who helped write it, to force your city council to comply. If your city says no to the pressure to take the grant money, the radical greens will tell your citizens that their city officials are losing them millions of dollars that is owed to the community. Then, when the council caves into the pressure and takes the money, it will force compliance. That is not voluntary, it is blackmail."

Homeowners would end up paying exorbitant costs and losing control over their own homes, according to DeWeese. " To get the money, a community must meet environmental standards," he said. "That requires houses to be equipped with new roofs, new windows, and efficient appliances. They did this last year in Oakland. It costs an estimated $35,000 to make a house comply with the environmental regulations. They say homeowners cant sell their houses if they dont meet these standards."

Other bad ideas:
Value Added (Ad Valorum) Tax = tax on all purchases and transactions = total control
Cap and Trade Bill = tax all industry based on CO2 production and level of "greeness." Greeness is totally arbitrary = total control
Health Care Bill = base doctor reimbursement on "quality measures." If you refuse to give this vaccine or abortion pill, we will reduce you quality factor. = total control
Expatriation Bill = if we label you a terrorist, we can strip your citizenship, detain you indefinately, and deny you habeas corpus, and due process. = total control
Livable Communities = your company owns your house, no property rights, you get paid in mill credit, shop at the mill store, your kids go to the mill school, and you never quite get paid enough to cover expenses. = total control.
Mandatory Military Service = Switzerland and Great Britain require several years of military service. This is a form of slavery. = total control. ( I do like the Swiss attitude about arming and training their population. I think state national guards could do this on a local level to organize standing local militias).
City Police over County Sheriff = County Sheriff is elected while city police chief is appointed. Therefore, the Sheriffs have always maintained a loyalty to the people while city police train with national police such as US Marshals, ATF, FBI and even US Military and can be influenced to put protection of state over protection of the people.