Happy Whelpday!

Happy Whelpday - well, Birthday in this case - to katiebare!

Well, that didn't take long

Hollywood, *FLORIDA* - For the second time in a month, the city is using its power of eminent domain to force the sale of private property to benefit a private developer and the city's tax base.

Last month, the city voted to take a small retail building owned by the Mach family for 34 years to make way for a $100 million condo ... City commissioners on Tuesday agreed to let developer Steve Berman build a second condo tower, this time at the Bank of America parking lot ...

When Commissioner Cathy Anderson asked what the public purpose was, City Attorney Dan Abbott did not hesitate. "Economic development," he said, "which is a legitimate public purpose according to the United States Supreme Court."

The article is here.

We'll not be opening a business in any state that allows "economic development" as a valid reason for taking one's business away - several states had passed legislation specifically blocking it before the Supereme Court ruled on it. And we'll be avoiding areas that enthusiastically embrace it - like Hollywood - for the forseeable future; they've shown by their actions that they're not areas we would want to live or work.

There are times when eminent domain is needed - but they should be few and far between, and should not be based on the income potential of the property.

Edit - my bad, wrong state given at first because it didn't say in the body of the article. It's Florida, not California.

Yea!

Got the new DVD burner installed and working. A minor victory, but you take what you can get :)

Pope Ratzinger Reportedly Opposes Harry Potter Books

Yes, I know, it's another Potter story. Not entirely my fault; the books are in the news right now because of the upcoming sixth book.

In a letter dated March 7, 2003 [then] Cardinal Ratzinger thanked [Gabriele] Kuby for her "instructive" book Harry Potter - gut oder böse (Harry Potter- good or evil?), in which Kuby says the Potter books corrupt the hearts of the young, preventing them from developing a properly ordered sense of good and evil, thus harming their relationship with God while that relationship is still in its infancy.

Scans of the letter are online, but I wouldn't recognize the signature if it bit me. As far as I know, the new Pope hasn't issued any official statement about Harry Potter, so the whole story could be a fabrication to enhance sales of Kuby's book. Read it here.

OK, one more ... an article that points out that the Harry Potter books "also topped the lists of the American Library Association's Most Frequently Challenged Books for at least four of the last six years?"