I Won the Book... "It’s OK To Say God"

I actually won a free book thanks to Issues, Etc. The book, Tad Armstrong's It’s OK to Say God: Prelude to a Constitutional Renaissance, arrived in the mail recently.

How did I win the book? See the embedded image below from Twitter.

@IssuesEtc In future RFRA cases, any chance of picking up the vote of one of the four dissenting Justices? #HHSMandate
— Dave Lambert (@DLambertsOnline) July 3, 2014

On the ELL Constitution Club website, Mr. Armstrong says that "preserving our freedom is the single most important issue facing us today, and that religious freedom is the single most important freedom unique to America." I look forward to reading the book primarily to compare Armstrong's views with the doctrine of the Two Kingdoms. Hopefully Mr. Armstrong avoids the errors that Derek Rishmawy discusses in the article Huckabee and the Heresy of Americanism.

Also, I see that there is a local angle to Armstrong. The first ELL Constitution Club outside of his "backyard" in the St. Louis, MO area was started here in Troy, MI.

Below are a couple of videos from the ELL Constitution Club website.

Troy Zoning Board of Appeals - August 2014 Meeting Recap

City staff has posted the video recording of the 8/19/14 Troy Zoning Board of Appeals meeting to YouTube. At the bottom of this post is the video. (The meeting actually starts at around the 45 second mark of the video.)

Click here to download the entire Agenda Packet from the August 19th meeting.

Judge Transfers Transit Center Title to Troy

Photo via Local 4 News

Last Friday (8/15/14), I posted the information below from Troy City Councilmember Dave Henderson on Twitter and on our Facebook page. In summary, here's what Councilman Henderson said, "The judge gave the title to the transit center to the city of Troy this morning, and ordered Troy to pay $1,050,000 (the appraised value) in our condemnation case."

#TroyMI @CityTroyMI #transitcenter condemnation case resolved - https://t.co/Yq9eWYVOiX
— Dave Lambert (@DLambertsOnline) August 15, 2014

Click any of the links below for local news coverage on the judge's decision below.

The Detroit News

Detroit Free Press

The Oakland Press

Troy Times

Crain's Detroit Business

According to Free Press reporter Marlon A. Walker, there may be other legal issues to resolve. "In addition to compensation for the land, Grand/Sakwa Properties has sought money to cover the shopping center’s anticipated costs of wear by transit riders on the access drives through the center’s property, use of its parking spaces by travelers and the added need for security."

This is good news and I hope a judge will quickly dismiss the rest of Grand/Sakwa's claims. After all, when the original consent order was entered into, Grand/Sakwa did not raise concerns about anticipated costs of wear by transit riders, added need for security, and/or use of its parking spaces.