Some are actually intimidating landowners from demanding access to their own land records, recorded deeds, etc.

Many landowners are attempting to see just what their deeds say, because the recorded deed often differs from the one that these landowners have had in their hands for generations. This is theft; theft by paper and it is apparently a booming business in parts of the South where many African Americans and poor people live in conditions, which haven't changed in generations.

Despite the gains of decades of Civil Rights activism, and the passage of numerous federal and state civil rights legislation, despite the passage of open records laws, people are still locked out of public documents, land records and official public documents.

Big time land owners and corporate interests still control the county courthouses in many localities, making it hard for individuals to stand up and assert their rights when they are overwhelmed, out-gunned, and out lawyered.

It is a sad state of affairs that we have military personnel dying overseas for "freedom", when many of our poor and minority land owners in this country are abused, victimized and cheated by corporate interests all the way from the insurance company which won't pay a tornado claim, to a farmer whose land is stolen by a real estate developer, all with the aid of clerks with poisonous pens and larcenous hearts.

The biggest thieves in this country these days are not the pitiful meth freaks or crack heads who hold up the local stop and rob for $20 bucks and get 20 years for their efforts.

No, the biggest thieves are the ones who steal with the clever use of paper, pen and computer, to the tune of millions of dollars and thousands of acres of land.

The stories are so plentiful that any enterprising reporter can sit on the street corner and ask one question of a single person and be deluged with a hundred stories of woe, misery and theft.

The question is, then, why are we not hearing about this abomination? Why do we not hear about the school bus driver who supplements her factory pension and is now virtually homeless because the insurance company did not pay enough money to rebuild her tornado destroyed home?

Why is it that we hear more about politicians' alleged fact finding mission to an exotic local, rather than see news about his meeting his constituents who can not afford their higher property taxes or, are forced to choose to between eating and buying medicine?

Why don't we hear about the danger poisoned pet food has for humans, for the shamed seniors who supplement their meager meals with an artfully crafted dish of Crappo pet food?

Why is it that day after day, hour after hour, all we hear on the nitwit news is the All-Baghdad Hour, all the time?

There are people who live in war zones in the United States. Ask the little old lady in New York who got beaten up by a mugger. Ask the woman who was shot by two cops on no knock warrant, after she shot at them, thinking they were housebreakers.

Ask the child who died of an abscessed tooth infection, something treatable with anti-biotics.

Ask the students who fear to go to school, the bus riders who fear getting killed by a drive by shooter, or the teachers who are scared to give failing grades.

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