The Supreme Court's Kelo ruling on government taking private property through eminent domain is nothing compared to what's going on in parts of cash-strapped Michigan. The Detroit News reports that government has taken a shockingly brazen new approach to tax collection, that reads like a story from the worst periods of the dark ages. Local law enforcement agencies are raising millions of dollars by seizing private property suspected in crimes, but often without charges being filed -- and sometimes even when authorities admit no offense was committed.The money raised by confiscating goods in Metro Detroit soared more than 50 percent to at least $20.62 million from 2003 to 2007, according to a Detroit News analysis of records from 58 law enforcement agencies. In some communities, amounts raised went from tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands -- and, in one case, into the millions."It's like legalized stealing," said Jacque Sutton, a 21-year-old college student from...(Read Full Post)