Seen on the street in Kyiv.

Words of Advice:

"If Something Seems To Be Too Good To Be True, It's Best To Shoot It, Just In Case." -- Fiona Glenanne

“The Mob takes the Fifth. If you’re innocent, why are you taking the Fifth Amendment?” -- The TOFF *

"Foreign Relations Boil Down to Two Things: Talking With People or Killing Them." -- Unknown

“Speed is a poor substitute for accuracy.” -- Real, no-shit, fortune from a fortune cookie

"Thou Shalt Get Sidetracked by Bullshit, Every Goddamned Time." -- The Ghoul

"If you believe that you are talking to G-d, you can justify anything.” — my Dad

"Colt .45s; putting bad guys in the ground since 1873." -- Unknown

"Stay Strapped or Get Clapped." -- probably not Mr. Rogers

"The Dildo of Karma rarely comes lubed." -- Unknown

"Eck!" -- George the Cat

* "TOFF" = Treasonous Orange Fat Fuck,
"FOFF" = Felonious Old Fat Fuck,
"COFF" = Convicted Old Felonious Fool,
A/K/A Commandante (or Cadet) Bone Spurs,
A/K/A El Caudillo de Mar-a-Lago, A/K/A the Asset,
A/K/A P01135809, A/K/A Dementia Donnie, A/K/A Felon^34,
A/K/A Dolt-45, A/K/A Don Snoreleone

Friday, June 25, 2010

You Do Not Own Land, You Only License It

Oh, you may think you own your home or your farm, but if the government decides that it wants to kick you out, it will. And that reason still can be "because we like this other entity more than we like you."

In this case, it is Columbia University, which has gotten the State of New York to throw people out of their businesses.

Private ownership of real estate is a legal fiction. You "own" real estate because the governments (local, state and federal) permit you to use the land that they regard as theirs, and they will take it back from you if it damn well suits them.

3 comments:

CalvinsMom said...

Gotta love the fallout from Kelo v. New London.

Joe said...

You're exactly right, Miss Fit. We don't own land. The only authority we have over the land is what the state is willing to enforce for us.

I don't think it's correct to call ownership a "legal fiction", though. Judges and lawyers know the deal precisely. I'd call it a naïve dream.

BobG said...

Yep, you don't own land, you lease it from the government.