I’m not claiming that my idea is in perfect accord with property rights. I frankly doubt it would work worth a damn in the real world anyway, but wanted to see if I could spark some ideas other than “trust in the taste and sense of the local government” and “let the owner of a property do whatever they damn please”; both seem to me to be flawed.

Anybody else got any third ways?

It’s not is the sticks at all, it’s on a fully paved road with all the trappings of civilization. There’s a housing development right next door. Those trees you see in the video? There are about 12 houses right on the other side and it’s only 2 miles from town.

Basically, it’s legacy farmland that’s in an area annexed by the growing town of Alexandria to the south east.

The guy could sell this land for a small fortune (Relatively speaking) and get what he really wants… land in the middle of nowhere where he can live with his animals in peace.

Just because you own land doesn’t mean you’re the sole master of it. No one lives in a vacuum. There are other people around. You have to adjust and compromise to that.

Bob: If Mr. Thompson decided to keep horses on his 36 acres – not that many, maybe three or four, properly fenced in – would that be legal?

Follow-up question: Have you ever seen just how much shit a horse produces?

Biology lesson: Horses are herbivores with long digestive tracts. Their shit is essentially ready made fertilizer. It can be easily and safely composted, and with the addition of Bone Meal, is made into a balanced fertilizer. A horse can produce more than 50 pounds of manure a day. It’s astonishing.

The processing of human waste is far more complex, and contains far more dangerous pathogens.

#37 Brian

@26 Bob

Yes, because all of our drinking water comes straight from the streams, without the inclusion of anything like chlorine in the process.

Just to make sure I understand your “logic”, one man on 36 acres is a health threat, but all of the wildlife on the property defecating without a sewer system is not?

I don’t know where you get your information, but it’s wrong. Rural water supplies generally come from wells, and the water is not processed. It is important in rural areas to NOT allow the ground water to be contaminated.

Yes, all the wildlife crapping on his 36 acres is perfectly safe, this is because wildlife is self limiting. It’s either being hunted, is small, does not generate toxic shit, or is territorial. Humans and domesticated animals don’t follow these natural rules, and as such, need to be regulated to protect ground water supplies.

No, ONE GUY crapping in the woods is not a health hazard. The entire county crapping in the woods, however, would be a total fucking disaster. If you let this guy off the hook for well and septic, you have to let everyone off the hook for well and septic. A few decades later? Cholera epidemics.

1) I may be alone here, but by me? That’s ugly. I’m sick to the teeth of cutsey-poo cartoon critters. Foo.

2) That said, I think the woman has more right to put the mural up than the local zoning-fascists have to tell her to tae it down. I think the distinction between “commercial speech” and other kinds is bogus, regardless of what the Supreme Court has said.

3) This probably wouldn’t work in practice, but what if we said “Business signs limited by zoning restrictions are protected by law from vandalism. Other signs are allowed under the First Amendment, but are NOT protected. If somebody spraypaints over them because they don’t like them – or because they are adolescent baboons with no manners – tough.”

Follow-up question: Have you ever seen just how much shit a horse produces?

Yes, because all of our drinking water comes straight from the streams, without the inclusion of anything like chlorine in the process.

Just to make sure I understand your “logic”, one man on 36 acres is a health threat, but all of the wildlife on the property defecating without a sewer system is not?

When all else fails, bring in the Code Nazis.

If it’s a crazy guy, then that’s not an example of what cops have to face, that’s an example of what people might have to face. If he was disturbed and intent on hurting someone, he might have never encountered that trooper and then pulled up to a gas station to open fire on the customers and staff, or something.

The point is, many of the ‘risks’ that law enforcement claim make them heroes are born by the populace as well. Violent drug dealers have to live somewhere, shop somewhere, travel where they are wont. A great many of the ‘risks’ the police powers in this country are exposed to are a direct result of the policies of this country. Individually I think it’s sad when a wife won’t ever see her LEO husband again, etc, but institutionally they are supporting the problems they claim as crosses they bear.

Often this site has police excesses (and rightly so) but here is an example of what cops also have to face.

I thought the small penis rule was this lift you put on your pickup truck is inversely proportional to your penis size (unless you actually are a monster truck driver).

Dude, you need a huge lift so the Truck Nutz don’t drag on the ground.

The alternative is to put laughably small Truck Nutz on your truck. And that just ain’t right!

Proper Truck Nutz are made from two basketballs inside a synthetic leather pouch. You need an 8″ lift to give them adequate clearance.

It ain’t easy being a Redneck.

orogeny: Should all 150,000 people be allowed to dump their waste on the ground, as long as they own the ground that they are dumping on?

If you add the condition “and they don’t allow that waste to pollute anyone else’s property” then the answer you’ll get is “yes”. As long as you’re not hurting anyone else, then yes, you should be allowed to do what you want with property you own.

That’s what I do. I put up a sign between my property and the adjoining creek that says. “All runoff water containing harmful bacteria must remain on property”.

It works great!

If you add the condition “and they don’t allow that waste to pollute anyone else’s property” then the answer you’ll get is “yes”. As long as you’re not hurting anyone else, then yes, you should be allowed to do what you want with property you own.