Supreme Court Liberals Fail to See the Forest for the Trees

WASHINGTON (AP) - A divided Supreme Court ruled (5-4) Thursday that local governments may seize people's homes and businesses against their will for private development in a decision anxiously awaited in communities where economic growth often is at war with individual property rights.

In an ironic twist of fate just after the ruling, the lieutenant governor of West Virginia, Witherspoon Moneybags III, seized the homes of the five deciding Supreme Court justices and turned them into private hotels.

The justices were paid on average $250,000 for their homes (fair market value) but then Lt. Gov Moneybags charged them a whopping $1,100 per night rent, until they move out, which for some may be months.

As they painted his lovely green house a bright shade of red, Justice John Paul Stevens was heard to cry, "But that's MY house! I built that with my own two hands and raised my family there! How is a hotel on Baltic Avenue going to benefit the community?"