Welcome Home Josh Londer

Josh Londer is happily married to his lovely wife, Brenda, and works as a certified public accountant in 1981. They have a modest but comfortable home in Morristown, Massachusetts, and spend as much time together as they can. Before long, the company that Josh works for downsizes, and he is let go with several other employees. Due to an economic downslide, he is able to find sporadic work; but before long, he and his wife begin to struggle to meet their monthly expenses. On a summer afternoon, Josh stops for gasoline and is kidnapped by three thieves who force him to participate in the robbery of a liquor store. One man is shot and killed by the store clerk, and soon afterward, the second is shot dead by the police. The third member, a girl, manages to escape, and Josh is arrested and charged. Overwhelming evidence convinces the jury that he is guilty, and he is sentenced to four years in prison even though he is completely innocent. While he is away, his wife is hired at an electrical component company where the plant manager takes an interest in her and moves her up to a very good paying position. He agrees to hire Josh upon his release as a delivery driver for the company, which is good because with his prison record, employment would be difficult to obtain. Shortly afterward, the manager plans to use her to “entertain” some of the buyers in order to sway them to purchase exclusively from his company. Realizing that she doesn’t want Josh to learn of this after all that he has been through, he sets her up and then blackmails her into doing so. The whole situation takes a serious turn for the worse, and Josh finds himself facing another prison sentence—this time for murder.

In 2005, the Supreme Court ruled that the city of New London, Connecticut, could condemn fifteen residential properties in order to transfer them to a new private owner. Although the Fifth Amendment only permits the taking of private property for “public use,” the Court ruled that the transfer of condemned land to private parties for “economic development” is permitted by the Constitution—even if the government cannot prove that the expected development will ever actually happen. The Court’s decision in Kelo v. City of New London empowered the grasping hand of the state at the expense of the invisible hand of the market. In this detailed study of one of the most controversial Supreme Court cases in modern times, Ilya Somin argues that Kelo was a grave error. Economic development and “blight” condemnations are unconstitutional under both originalist and most “living constitution” theories of legal interpretation. They also victimize the poor and the politically weak for the benefit of powerful interest groups and often destroy more economic value than they create. Kelo itself exemplifies these patterns. The residents targeted for condemnation lacked the influence needed to combat the formidable government and corporate interests arrayed against them. Moreover, the city’s poorly conceived development plan ultimately failed: the condemned land lies empty to this day, occupied only by feral cats. The Supreme Court’s unpopular ruling triggered an unprecedented political reaction, with forty-five states passing new laws intended to limit the use of eminent domain. But many of the new laws impose few or no genuine constraints on takings. The Kelo backlash led to significant progress, but not nearly as much as it may have seemed. Despite its outcome, the closely divided 5-4 ruling shattered what many believed to be a consensus that virtually any condemnation qualifies as a public use under the Fifth Amendment. It also showed that there is widespread public opposition to eminent domain abuse. With controversy over takings sure to continue, The Grasping Hand offers the first book-length analysis of Kelo by a legal scholar, alongside a broader history of the dispute over public use and eminent domain and an evaluation of options for reform.

Hidden far from sight, deep in the thick underbrush of the North Florida woods are the ghostly graves of more than thirty unidentified bodies, some of which are thought to be children who were beaten to death at the old Florida Industrial School for Boys at Marianna. It is suspected that many more bodies will be found in the fields and swamplands surrounding the institution. Investigations into the unmarked graves have compelled many grown men to come forward and share their stories of the abuses they endured and the atrocities they witnessed in the 1950s and 1960s at the institution. The White House Boys: An American Tragedy is the true story of the horrors recalled by Roger Dean Kiser, one of the boys incarcerated at the facility in the late fifties for the crime of being a confused, unwanted, and wayward child. In a style reminiscent of the works of Mark Twain, Kiser recollects the horrifying verbal, sexual, and physical abuse he and other innocent young boys endured at the hands of their "caretakers." Questions remain unanswered and theories abound, but Roger and the other 'White House Boys' are determined to learn the truth and see justice served.

The incredible bestselling first novel from Pulitzer Prize- winning author, Jhumpa Lahiri. 'The kind of writer who makes you want to grab the next person and say "Read this!"' Amy Tan

Reproduction of the original: Character Sketches of Romance, Fiction and the Drama by E. Cobham Brewer

If legal scholar Richard Epstein is right, then the New Deal is wrong, if not unconstitutional. Epstein reaches this sweeping conclusion after making a detailed analysis of the eminent domain, or takings, clause of the Constitution, which states that private property shall not be taken for public use without just compensation. In contrast to the other guarantees in the Bill of Rights, the eminent domain clause has been interpreted narrowly. It has been invoked to force the government to compensate a citizen when his land is taken to build a post office, but not when its value is diminished by a comprehensive zoning ordinance. Epstein argues that this narrow interpretation is inconsistent with the language of the takings clause and the political theory that animates it. He develops a coherent normative theory that permits us to distinguish between permissible takings for public use and impermissible ones. He then examines a wide range of government regulations and taxes under a single comprehensive theory. He asks four questions: What constitutes a taking of private property? When is that taking justified without compensation under the police power? When is a taking for public use? And when is a taking compensated, in cash or in kind? Zoning, rent control, progressive and special taxes, workers’ compensation, and bankruptcy are only a few of the programs analyzed within this framework. Epstein’s theory casts doubt upon the established view today that the redistribution of wealth is a proper function of government. Throughout the book he uses recent developments in law and economics and the theory of collective choice to find in the eminent domain clause a theory of political obligation that he claims is superior to any of its modern rivals.

Best-selling author George Daniel shares expert tactics and techniques for a new generation of nymph anglers. He covers specialized equipment, flies, and presentations, focusing on advanced lessons and tips for anglers with a solid grasp of fundamentals. Important technique sequences and fly patterns are photographed in detail.

The memoir of a man and woman who escaped into the forest, joined the Jewish partisans—and fell in love—as Hitler laid waste to their Polish hometowns. Jack and Rochelle first met at a youth dance in Poland before the war. They shared one dance, and Jack stepped on Rochelle’s shoes. She was unimpressed. When the Nazis invaded eastern Poland in 1941, both Jack (in the town of Mir) and Rochelle (in the town of Stolpce) witnessed the horrors of ghettoization, forced labor, and mass killings that decimated their families. Jack and Rochelle managed, in their separate ways, to escape into the forest. They reunited, against all odds, in the winter of 1942–43 and became Jewish partisans who fought back against the Nazis. The couple’s careful courtship soon blossomed into an enduring love that sustained them through the raging hatred of the Holocaust and the destruction of the lives they had known. Jack and Rochelle’s story, told in their own voices through extensive interviews with their son, Lawrence, has been in print for twenty years and is celebrated as a classic of Holocaust memoir literature. This is the first electronic edition. “A story of heroism and of touching romance in a time of fear and danger.” —USA Today