Perhaps no U.S. Supreme Court ruling in recent memory - outside Roe v. Wade or the one that gave George W. Bush his first presidency - has generated the national anger of the court's recent decision on eminent domain.

The 5-4 ruling said that the city fathers in New London, Conn., had the authority to take private homes for development projects, and effectively put an "Up for Grabs" sign on the front lawns of every homeowner with property that some future developer might covet.

The news was a blow to private property owners across the nation and in Monmouth County, where the city of Long Branch is in the process of gobbling property by eminent domain like a drunk loose in the wine cellar.

It was also a call to arms for those tired of eminent domain abuse and determined to stop it. Their ammunition was the court's statement that although New London was acting properly under Connecticut law, states are free to ban, or strictly regulate, the practice of taking property by eminent domain if they so choose.

In the weeks since the decision, 25 states across the country have begun discussing changes to their eminent domain laws. In Alabama, according to The Associated Press, Gov. Bob Riley is crafting a bill that would ban city and county governments from using eminent domain to take property for retail, office or residential development.

In Connecticut, politicians want a moratorium on eminent domain until the legislature can act. Many states already forbid the practice of taking property by eminent domain except to eliminate blight, and others allow it only for roads and schools. Politicians in all of those states are clearly listening to their constituents, who say that enough is enough.

They aren't listening in New Jersey, however. And they're certainly not listening in Long Branch, where the council last week adopted an ordinance extending eminent domain to nine more properties in the second phase of the Pier Village redevelopment zone.

Meanwhile, the 26 homeowners who formed the MTOTSA alliance, who stand to lose their beachfront homes so they can be replaced by luxury condominiums and townhouses, are so fed up they're hoping the Washington, D.C.-based Institute for Justice - which says it will try to convince the Supreme Court to rehear the New London case - will agree to represent them as they fight to save their properties, or at least receive just compensation for them.

You've got to wonder what the leaders of Long Branch's municipal government were thinking last week as they listened to resident after resident beg them to stop.

Bruce MacCloud, who owned a home on Cooper Avenue that was taken through eminent domain for the Beachfront North Phase I redevelopment project, spoke for many in attendance when he said, "Your use of eminent domain is an abuse to the residents of this city. When are you going to stop? Have some mercy on these people and change your minds."

They're not going to change their minds, though, until someone makes them. There's simply too much at stake.

That's why it's time to remind people around here who works for whom. We need to tell our lawmakers in Trenton to get on the national bandwagon and join those 25 states considering laws to stop eminent domain abuse. We need to let them know that protecting private property rights is our demand, not our request. And we need to hold their feet to the fire until they do.

In Long Branch, it may be time for more drastic action, time to vote this gang out of office and bring in some new faces.

If you've got a bunch of drunks loose in your wine cellar, you don't sit back and hope they'll finally get full and go away on their own. You grab them by their collars and throw them out the door.

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Like almost 10 million other fans worldwide, my wife, a voracious speed reader, spent last weekend devouring the new Harry Potter book in a single sitting.

Her tastes usually run to legal thrillers and cozy English mysteries, but something in the J.K. Rowling fantasies speaks to her. I've never been a fan of Harry myself, but as I watched her read last weekend, saw the smile of pleasure on her face, I realized that anything that can cause 10 million people on our planet to turn off their televisions, computers and iPods, and curl up with a good book has to be a very wonderful development indeed.

In a time when so few people are reading that many people can count the number of books they read in a lifetime on one hand, J.K. Rowling and Harry Potter are an unprecedented phenomenon - and all that excitement has made me feel positively optimistic about the next generation.

That's a hard thing for a curmudgeon to admit, but there you are.

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These items just in on the political correctness front:

+ In London, members of the Profes-sional Association of Teachers argue that the word "fail" should be banned from British classrooms and be replaced with the words "deferred success" because telling students they've failed something can demoralize them.

I can't wait to try this one on the people I work for. "Sorry, but we didn't miss deadline last week. We only deferred our success."

I'm sure my boss will understand.

+ New York City mayoral candidate C. Virginia Fields got in hot water recently when, speaking in Alabama, she described being arrested during a civil rights protest and hauled away in a "paddy wagon." Immediately, some people claiming to be of Irish heritage complained that "paddy wagon" is derogatory to people of that background and said they were insulted. Fields' campaign said she did not mean to offend anyone and apologized.

As someone of solid Celtic background - whose own son is named Padraic, called Paddy - I think I speak for a lot of us when I tell Fields she's forgiven and assure her we don't hold a grudge.

I'd also like to tell those so-called Irishmen who claimed offense (and don't seem to know where the term came from) to get a bleedin' life.

Gregory Bean is executive editor of Greater Media Newspapers.