http://www.illinoisleader.com/columnists/columnistsview.asp?c=9090

MORRISON: Perception vs. truth, Part I
Tuesday, October 14, 2003


OPINION -- Perception is a strange thing. We allow ourselves to believe what we read or hear without bothering to check facts. The way we perceive an issue has already been molded by expert molders, and we go daily through our lives with formed opinions not really understanding what is happening around us.

Although this article is a bit long, please read to the end so you can begin to put another piece in the puzzle.

The liberal media are accomplished illusionists as they spin the news, and most of us believe exactly what they tell us. We are very gullible, and we form our perception based on what we are told - not what we really know to be truth.

There are conservatives who pride themselves on their discernment of issues, but they have bought into the "new environmentalism" on the basis of what the media has told them without searching for the underlying agenda.

If they tell us we are overpopulated, we believe them. If they tell us urban sprawl is using up all the farmland, we believe them. If they say we need more open space and parkland, we love it without asking how much we already have. If they say a woman has the right to choose to kill her baby, we believe them. If they say we shouldn’t say the G(od) word in school, we agree. We never question the vaccines given our children. If they say we should all live a certain lifestyle, we comply.

Recently someone asked me, "Just what are property rights?"

Some perceive "property rights" to mean you see black helicopters everywhere. Others perceive that you are paranoid about the U.N. and the government. There are those who think you are selfish and don’t want parks and open space.

If you perceive property rights to mean that you have the God given and Constitutional right:


~ to live in the home or on the land you choose,
~ to raise a family according to your values,
~ to worship and teach your children about God,
~ to provide the best education for your children,
~ to be a good law abiding citizen,
~ the right for the pursuit of happiness,
~ and if you desire, you can even have a gun to protect your family,

then you are correct. These are "property rights."

Every American citizen should have the freedom to all these "rights" without undue government interference. If you share this belief, then you too believe in "property rights."



The United States is a self governing nation - we are independent (sovereign) of any other nation in the world. The media says the word "global" in every newscast but we have become desensitized, and we don’t even hear the word. We see the United Nations as a peacekeeping force, and we collect for UNICEF and we don’t realize:
 

The United Nations is global.
The United States belongs to the UN along with many other nations.
The UN holds lots of meetings with representatives from all nations attending, including the United States.
Treaties are signed.
Nations abiding under the UN must comply even if it destroys that nation’s sovereignty, and that includes the United States - your state - your town.

There is no conspiracy theory - there is no paranoia - it is just reading the information that is readily available to know what to expect next that could destroy the security of your family and your home. It is not perception.

How it works

All parents think their children are theirs (property), and yet the UN keeps pushing the "rights of the child," and our legislators pass legislation according to UN standards mandating vaccines, restricting parental notification and on and on - removing your rights as a parent.

The headline from the October 9, 2003, National Post reads, "U.N. rules Canada should ban spanking - Committee on the Rights of the Child issues decision in Geneva."

As a signatory of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, Canada is obligated to make periodic appearances before the UN's Committee on Rights of the Child, which said the country should "adopt legislation to remove the existing authorization of the use of "reasonable force" in disciplining children." (To view this item online, visit http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=35000.)

The United States Constitution gives you the right to bear arms, but the UN does not want the people of any nation to have this right. Legislation is passed for gun control... .and crime increases as the criminals keep their guns.

World Heritage areas and Biosphere reserves are established in the United States under the auspices of the UN, and all the people who live in these areas must comply with global standards.

If the UN wants to establish wetlands, according to the Ramsar treaty signed by the United States at a meeting held in Iran (http://www.ramsar.org/), Illinois or whatever state you live in will pass wetlands legislation.

Check out IL HB422 and see if it complies with United Nations standards. Federal measures are also taken.

If HB422 passes, wetlands will be claimed on privately owned property. A 17-member board will form the Wetlands Advisory Committee appointed by the governor and two non-voting members, according the Section 45 of HB422. The appointments will consist of five members from business, real estate, and agriculture, five members from environmental and conservation, two from counties, one from municipalities, one from building trades unions, three members appointed by Governor, and non-voting members from the Department of Natural Resources, Environmental Protection Agency.

Did you see "landowner" listed among the 17 member board? Agriculture does not mean farmer or landowner. This is cause for concern for anyone who believes in "property rights."

The bill calls for up to a $10,000 per day fine for violation of the wetlands act. If you can’t drain, fill or build on your property that has been deemed a wetland, you have just woke up to the reality of the bill - control of YOUR property.

There are 28 million acres of farm land in Illinois and there is no doubt a wet spot on almost every one of these farms, not to mention the small acreages owned by those who hope to someday build a home.

If this concerns you, I suggest you read HB422 and contact your Illinois state senator before the veto session coming up on November 4-6 and November 18-20. Environmentalists are lobbying hard for this bill. Chicago is exempt from the bill. It has passed the House, and is in the third reading in the Senate Rules Committee - just a breath away from a Senate vote.

Eric T. Freyfogle, a professor of law at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, has published widely on land ownership and environmental ethics, according to the University of Illinois press.

An Illinois Leader reader from New Mexico sent the following quote which he attributed to Freyfogle:

"If we can redefine harm to include substantial ecological disruption, thereby pushing such land uses outside the bounds of protected ownership rights, private ownership then becomes a much smaller obstacle in the path ahead.".

My perception of this statement is that if we can label a piece of privately owned property - as perhaps a wetland, a viewshed, endangered species, or some other "ecological disruption" - then the owner has lost his rights on his property. It doesn’t matter if he owns it, someone else now governs the use.

What is your perception?

(Perception Part II next week)





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