Please read the 12:36 am post first.

The New Colonist is a webzine. Not a lot of people have heard of it, but it does an ace job of reporting on urban culture and issues. Also, isn't it nice to see a webzine not go down like some junky cosmonaut, to quote a song? Eric Miller has a nice article on the abuse of eminent domain laws.
AH, I know, I know -- those are sleepin' words, pardner - eminent domain. But while the legalese puts the good people to sleep, city honchos often operate as front men for corporations and developers by using the power to seize property in order to suppress "blight." Here's a quote from the piece:

"But just what is blight? Can a business district will almost full retail occupancy be considered blighted? Can a discount store be labeled as blighted so that an upscale chain can move in? Can a golf course constitute blight? Can a working factory be labeled as blighted so that another factory can raze the plant to build a new facility? Increasingly, the answer to these questions is yes.

In Las Vegas, some legislators and community activists recently opposed a new �development,� not on the grounds of saving historic buildings, but on the grounds that the local government may have larger goals than removing blight. The group demanded that potential beneficiaries in �blight removal� schemes be named.

Nevada Assembly woman Chris Giunchigliani introduced legislation that would redirect five percent of redevelopment money away from commercial projects to be used for sidewalk repairs, street lights and other improvements, but according to the Las Vegas Sun, officials �came out in force� to object to redevelopment money being used for neighborhood blight. "

To fight blight is one thing, but to find out who benefits from that fight is a dastardly usurpation of a timehonored government function - graft and the redistribution of wealth upwards.

Okay, I'm rather splenetic today. Mal d'actualites, don't you know. It is one of those days, Congress rolls over for Bush, the planet's whacked, and Dick Cheney, in all his goutridden and disgusting length, is infused with a feeling of youth. Doesn't it make you sick? Write me at the Editor