Kelo's attitude, as expressed in her greeting card, is less than gracious, but it does illustrate the destructive force that eminent domain decisions can bring to bear on ordinary persons whose homes are taken and whose lives are turned upside down. Even generous "just compensation" cannot always heal the wounds that are sometimes caused when homes are taken. It reminds me of Holmes' famous statement about adverse possession:"The true explanation of title by prescription seems to me to be that man, like a tree in the cleft of a rock, gradually shapes his roots to his surroundings, and when the roots have grown to a certain size, cannot be displaced without cutting at his life."
It seems that the City of New London's decision to take Susette Kelo's "little pink house" was one that cut at her life.
