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Government Pirates: The Assault on Private Property Rights--and How We Can Fight It
After years of hard work and saving, you finally own a home. But don't get too comfortable If government officials decide they want your property, they can take it--for a wide variety of shady reasons that go far beyond the usual definition of "public purposes." The courts have allowed these injustices to persist. And there is nothing you can do about it--not yet. Real estate developer and property rights expert Don Corace offers the first in-depth look at eminent domain abuse and other government regulations that are strangling the rights of property owners across America. Government Pirates is filled with shocking stories of corrupt politicians, activist judges, entrenched bureaucrats, greedy developers, NIMBY (Not-in-My-Backyard) activists, and environmental extremists who conspire to seize property and extort money and land in return for permits. Corace provides the hard facts about individual rights and offers invaluable advice for those whose property may be in danger. It is the one book that every property owner in America has to read. Questions for Don Corace 
What will people learn from reading Government Pirates? Readers will learn: - How unelected and unaccountable judges have eroded the intent of our founding fathers to protect private property rights
- Four categories of takings by the government--eminent domain, local zoning laws, the regulation of wetlands and complying with the Endangered Species Act
- Forty shocking stories from across America of how homes and small businesses are either being seized or whose owners are being strangled by regulations
- A blueprint on how to turn the tide of abuse
There has been a lot of media attention about eminent domain abuse. Explain what eminent domain is for people who are not familiar with the term. Eminent domain is the authority of government to seize property for a "public use." It was widely utilized in the 1800s to acquire land for railroads and post offices and then evolved to be used to build roads, schools, dams, and military bases. The takings clause in the Fifth Amendment of the Constitution permits it: "[N]or shall private property be taken for public use without just compensation." Unfortunately, its definition has been expanded and its use abused. What is your background and qualifications to write a book on property rights? I have been a developer for over 25 years. I was born and raised in Pittsburgh, PA and learned the business from the ground up. My father was a developer and contractor. . .and the guy on the bulldozer. In my teens, I worked as a laborer, carpenter's apprentice, surveyor by day and attended city council meetings with him at night. Over the years, I have had hands-on experience in every aspect of the development process with projects valued at more than $2 billion. I have been involved in some of the most complex and controversial projects in the country. Although there have been plenty of excellent books written on property rights by lawyers or journalists, Government Piratesis the first to be written by someone who has actually been in the trenches, and who has had their own money on the line. What motivated you to write the book? I picked up my morning newspaper on June 24, 2005, and read that the Supreme Court voted 5 to 4 in the Kelo case. I was outraged. To give government the legal authority to seize property to simply generate more tax revenues is unconscionable. At the time I was also embroiled in an ugly controversy over a bald eagle whose nest was located on some property we owned. Certain neighborhood groups were using the Endangered Species Act as tool to stop the project. I realized that eminent domain abuse like what happened in the Kelo case was outrageous, but at least in eminent domain cases property owners are supposed to be compensated by law. In endangered species issues, the Endangered Species Act clearly trumps the Fifth Amendment and allows government to not only not compensate land owners, but also to extort land and money in return for approvals. The same applies to local zoning laws and the regulation of wetlands--where I have also had considerable experience. I knew then that I had to write the book. Where do you stand on environmental issues? I consider myself a conservationist, not an environmentalist. There is a big difference in my mind. I was raised to respect the environment and learned at an early age to hunt and fish and enjoy the outdoors. Many people who consider themselves environmentalists have made it their life's mission to protect the environment at all costs--including at the expense of private property rights and economic growth. On a deeper examination of their motives, you will find that many of them use environmental causes to further that agenda to promote an anti-capitalistic and government-mandated redistribution of wealth. It is true that environmentalists have been successful in shedding light on important environmental issues and have forced landowners and industry to find creative ways to develop property and natural resources while safeguarding the environment. Unfortunately, as evidenced by stories in my book, there are too many instances of environmentalists simply going too far. What are your objectives for the book? Although many property rights organizations throughout the country are doing an excellent job in fighting property rights abuse, we need to take it up another notch and use the media as a weapon. We need to educate the public and get a groundswell of support to make lawmakers and bureaucrats accountable for their actions. Efforts to pass meaningful reforms will not be successful unless these officials--as well as NIMBY's and environmental extremists are exposed. I feel it is my responsibility to shed light on the issues--and make those who do not respect property rights famous. Why is the protection of property rights so important? The founding fathers believed that "the right of property is the guardian of every other right," but it is also a basic human right. Our homes, land, and businesses are expressions of ourselves. They represent the fruits of our labors and a family's financial security.
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Price: $8.64
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Personality Psychology: Domains of Knowledge About Human Nature
Larsen and Buss's Personality Psychology is based on a framework of six important domains of knowledge about personality functioning. These six domains are the dispositional domain (traits, trait taxonomies, and personality dispositions over time), the biological domain (physiology, genetics, evolution), the intrapsychic domain (psychodynamics, motives), the cognitive/experiential domain (cognition, emotion, and the self), the social and cultural domain (social interaction, gender, and culture), and the adjustment domain (stress, coping, health, and personality disorders). This book is based on the notion that these domains of knowledge represent the organizing structure of contemporary personality psychology..
Price: $99.50
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Head First C# (Brain-Friendly Guides)
Do you want to learn C#? Programmers around the world have learned that C# lets them design great-looking programs and build them fast. With C#, you ve got a powerful programming language and a valuable tool at your fingertips. And with the Visual Studio IDE, you ll never have to spend hours writing obscure code just to get a button working. C#, Visual Studio and .NET take care of the grunt-work, and let you focus on the interesting parts of getting your programs written. Sound appealing? Unlike other C# books, which just show you examples and expect you to just memorize them and move on, Head First C# gets you writing code from the beginning. You're given the tools you need, and then you're guided through fun and engaging programming projects. You'll build programs to play a card game, explore a house, and help lazy programmers manage their sick day excuses. But it's not all fun and games: you'll build business applications too, like a contact database and a program to help a party planner estimate her dinner parties. You'll build a dungeon role-playing game and a fully animated, colorful simulation of a beehive. And by the end of the book, you'll build a fast-paced, full-featured retro Invaders arcade game. Make no mistake: by the time you're done with Head First C#, you'll be able to build full-scale, complex, and highly visual programs. And you'll have all of the C# tools you need to tackle almost any programming problem that comes your way. Head First C# is built for your brain, using the revolutionary approach that was pioneered by the highly acclaimed and popular Head First series. You'll never get that bored, "eyes glazed over" feeling from Head First C#, because it guides you through one challenging project after another until, by the end of the book, you're a C# rock star! Here's what you'll learn: - Core C# programming concepts
- How to use the Visual Studio 2008 IDE to build, debug and run your programs
- Important .NET 3.5 features, including generic collections, Windows forms, GDI+ graphics, streams, serialization and more
- Using object oriented programming concepts to help you build well-designed programs
- How to build robust applications with good error handling
- The latest C# 3.0 features, including LINQ, object and collection initializers, automatic properties, extension methods and more
Throughout the book, you'll confront and conquer advanced C# concepts. Some of the most mysterious ideas are demystified and explained with clear examples: how Unicode works, events and delegates, references versus value types, the stack versus the heap, what's really going on with garbage collection, and more. Thousands of readers have learned C# using this innovative book, including: - Beginning programmers who want to learn programming from the ground up
- More advanced programmers who are proficient in another language (like Visual Basic, Java, SQL, FoxPro) and want to add C# to their toolbox
- Programmers who understand basic C# syntax, but are still looking to get a handle on how objects work
- Anyone who's tried to learn C#, but had to deal with books full of dull examples and nothing but boring console applications
- Lots of people who just want to learn how to build cool games!
Head First C# is built to work with any version of Visual Studio 2008, including the free express edition. (It can also can be used with any version of Visual Studio 2005.).
Price: $27.33
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C# 3.0 in a Nutshell: A Desktop Quick Reference (In a Nutshell (O'Reilly))
This is a concise yet thorough reference to C# 3.0 programming as implemented in Microsoft's Visual Studio 2008. C# 3.0 in a Nutshell gets right to the point, covering the essentials of language syntax and usage as well as the parts of the .NET base class libraries you need to build working applications. But unlike earlier editions, this book is now organized entirely around concepts and use cases, providing greater depth and readability. C# 3.0 introduces the most significant enhancements yet to the programming language, and C# 3.0 in a Nutshell delves deep into the subject while assuming minimal prior knowledge of C#-making it accessible to anyone with a reasonable background in programming. In addition to the language, the book covers the .NET CLR and the core Framework assemblies, along with the unified querying syntax called Language Integrated Query (LINQ), which bridges the traditional divide between programs and their data sources. Free of clutter and long introductions, this book provides a map of C# 3.0 knowledge in a succinct and unified style: Opening chapters concentrate purely on C#, starting with the basics of syntax, types and variables, and finishing with advanced topics such as unsafe code and preprocessor directives Later chapters cover the core .NET 3.5 Framework, including such topics as LINQ, XML, collections, I/O and networking, memory management, reflection, attributes, security, threading, application domains and native interoperability Designed as a handbook for daily use, C# 3.0 in a Nutshell is an ideal companion to any of the vast array of books that focus on an applied technology such as WPF, ASP.NET, or WCF. The areas of the language and .NET Frameworkthat such books omit, this one covers in detail..
Price: $28.42
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DNS and BIND (5th Edition)
This is the definitive book on the Domain Name System (DNS), the powerful scheme that facilitates the translation of English-like domain names (www.amazon.com) into computer-comprehensible Internet Protocol (IP) addresses (208.216.182.15). If you run a DNS server of any kind, particularly under Unix, you need to have this book on hand. This book's early chapters give a view of DNS from high altitude, explaining basic concepts such as domains, name servers, and name resolution. From there, the authors proceed on a more practical tack, presenting specific instructions for setting up your own domain and DNS server using BIND. The authors then tell you what to do as your domain grows and you need to add more machines, subdomains, and greater throughput capacity. They also talk a lot about nslookup and C programming with the various DNS and BIND libraries. Administrators will find the chapter on BIND debugging output particularly helpful. Here, the authors translate BIND's mysterious error messages and offer specific strategies for fixing and optimizing the program. This edition covers BIND 8.1.2, but pays lots of attention to older versions that are still in wide use (4.8.3 and 4.9). The authors are careful to note differences among the versions. --David Wall.
Price: $24.99
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Occupational Therapy Practice Framework: Domain and Process
A landmark document every occupational therapy practitioner and student needs at hand. This convenient 32-page publication originally appeared in the November/December 2002 issue of the American Journal of Occupational Therapy. Pagination in this bound version corresponds to the original journal pagination to simplify your citing of this document. If fully incorporates the text, charts, graphs, tables, complete glossary, and extensive references and bibliography as first published. Add this conveniently bound version of the Framework to your professional bookshelf, clinical library, student resources, or university library, and carry it with you for immediate reference..
Price: $42.00
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The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
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C# 3.0 Pocket Reference: Instant Help for C# 3.0 Programmers (Pocket Reference (O'Reilly))
This book is for busy programmers who want a succinct and yet readable guide to C# 3.0 and LINQ. C# 3.0 Pocket Reference tells you exactly what you need to know, without long introductions or bloated samples. Despite its conciseness, this book doesn't skimp on depth or detail, and embraces the conceptual challenges in learning C# 3.0 and LINQ. Tightly focused and highly practical, this pocket reference covers more ground than many of the big books on C#. C# 3.0 Pocket Reference includes plenty of illustrations and code examples to explain: Features new to C# 3.0, such as lambda expressions, anonymous types, automatic properties, and more All aspects of C# syntax, predefined types, expressions, and operators Creating classes, structs, delegates and events, enums, generics and constraints, exception handling, and iterators The subtleties of boxing, operating overloading, delegate covariance, extension method resolution, interface reimplementation, nullable types, and operating lifting LINQ, starting with the principles of sequences, deferred execution and standard query operators, and finishing with a complete reference to query syntax-including multiple generators, joining, grouping, and query continuations Consuming, writing, and reflecting on custom attributes You'll also find chapters on unsafe code and pointers, preprocessor directives, XML documentation, and a framework overview. If you're already familiar with Java, C++, or an earlier version of C#, C# 3.0 Pocket Reference is an ideal choice. No other book or online resource can get you up to speed so quickly..
Price: $8.45
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The Definitive ANTLR Reference: Building Domain-Specific Languages (Pragmatic Programmers)
ANTLR v3 is the most powerful, easy-to-use parser generator built to date, and represents the culmination of more than 15 years of research by Terence Parr. This book is the essential reference guide to using this completely rebuilt version of ANTLR, with its amazing new LL(*) parsing technology, tree construction facilities, StringTemplate code generation template engine, and sophisticated ANTLRWorks GUI development environment. Learn to use ANTLR directly from the author! ANTLR is a parser generator-a program that generates code to translate a specified input language into a nice, tidy data structure. You might think that parser generators are only used to build compilers. But in fact, programmers usually use parser generators to build translators and interpreters for domain-specific languages such as proprietary data formats, common network protocols, text processing languages, and domain-specific programming languages. Domain-specific languages are important to software development because they represent a more natural, high fidelity, robust, and maintainable means of encoding a problem than simply writing software in a general-purpose language. For example, NASA uses domain-specific command languages for space missions to improve reliability, reduce risk, reduce cost, and increase the speed of development. Even the first Apollo guidance control computer from the 1960s used a domain-specific language that supported vector computations. This book is the definitive guide to using the completely rebuilt ANTLR v3 and describes all features in detail, including the amazing new LL(*) parsing technology, tree construction facilities, StringTemplate code generation template engine, and sophisticated ANTLRWorks GUI development environment. You'll learn all about ANTLR grammar syntax, resolving grammar ambiguities, parser fault tolerance and error reporting, embedding actions to interpret or translate languages, building intermediate-form trees, extracting information from trees, generating source code, and how to use the ANTLR Java API..
Price: $20.66
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