There is a man out in Acton, California, named Alan "Kim" Fahey. For almost 30 years he's been building a structure on his property in the Mojave Desert that's been dubbed "Phonehenge West": an eclectic, artistic assortment of buildings out of salvaged materials, interconnected by bridges and featuring, among other things, stained glass windows and a 70-foot tower overlooking the scenery.

He tried getting permits before building several of the structures, only to get the run-around from L.A. County, have his plans lost not once, but twice, and having to deal with snide county officials who essentially robbed him over the course of years only to deny his permits while laughing and lining their pockets. He built anyway, for over 20 years, and they never bothered him. Until 2006.

He has faced endless court battles to save his property, finally being given 45 days last month to tear down everything except the original ranch house. Just today, not even 30 days after the order was given, he was placed in custody without being sentenced, with a $75,000 bail. $75,000 dollars to keep a 60-year-old man in prison, because he built a house.

A "convicted tree house builder", they want to throw Kim Fahey in jail for 7 years for not having permits. This man did nothing wrong. He lives in the middle of the desert, none of his neighbors have a problem with what he's doing (contrary to claims by the county that "a neighbor" complained about his property), and they cannot prove that his buildings aren't safe. They want him to rot in jail for 7 years for not having a piece of paper. Murderers, rapists, and child molesters have gotten less time in jail than they want him to serve, and that is simply ludicrous.

Devin Schiro made a beautiful documentary about Phonehenge West, which can be viewed here on Vimeo. I'm not ashamed to say that it actually made me shed a tear or two.

This isn't just happening to Kim Fahey either. This article by LA Weekly outlines how county officials have been bullying numerous desert dwellers off their property, forcing them to strip down homes that they've lived in for many years. And if you want to widen the conversation to eminent domain, it gets even uglier.

A high-profile case on eminent domain, Kelo vs. City of New London, happened right in my home state of Connecticut. They kicked all those people off their property and bulldozed their homes; want to know what happened to the big development deal that was supposed to happen, with high-priced condos and shopping malls? The entire deal fell through, nothing was ever built on that property. If I drive there right now to the old Fort Trumbull neighborhood, all I'll see is an open field of nothingness where there was once a thriving community.

This is something I feel very strongly about. If our property, the property we build our homes on, pay our taxes on, live our lives on and raise our children on, isn't ours, then who's is it? Do you think it's right for someone to come bang on your door, surrounded by armed agents, and tell you that the home you've lived in for most of your life has to go? What would you do? This is what scares me the most about one day owning my own home; the idea that someone can just kick me out, uproot my life, because someone else wants my land, or because they don't like that treehouse that I built in the backyard for my kids, or simply to exercise their political muscle.

I don't care if this thread gets locked for being "political", I don't care if I get a bunch of naysayers with the predictable "he deserves what he gets" and "why should I fight for this, I'm a law-abiding citizen, this'll never happen to me," and "lol, this doesn't belong on a gaming forum!" I don't even care if it get no comments at all and the thread dies in obscurity. I'm standing up for something I believe in, and if I can even get one other person to look at this and get angry and think "this isn't right", then it will have served it's purpose.