blzrul

I cracked up over an article about an "estate" somewhat out a ways, perhaps Geneseo, asking price 750,000....what cracked me up was not the house but that after a year in Sea-Tac the first thought that popped into my head was "hmmm not bad". And then I thought back to when I was living in Rochester some ten years ago...this same estate would probably have been worth that much THEN ... very sad, although someone moving from another area of the country is going to get a great bargain.

Then you need to work at your state and local governmental level to ensure your property is protected. In the state of Washington the constitution is restrictive as to the definition of "public use" (not "public good" and there's a difference). And land that qualifies would be needed for something like roadways, trains etc OR be considered a blight, or dangerous, or other. Kinda like the South Bronx. But seriously, this ruling is just a high-level interpretation. Before you panic check your state and local laws.

The voters, my friend. We outnumber them. This isn't the first time that evildoers were given the keys to the henhouse by the government. If the government is bad it's our fault.

Agreed, which is the point I was trying to make in my first post. If we had represntatives we could actually trust we'd feel comfortable that emminent domain would be exercised rarely and probably as a last resort. That the current climate damns the little guy to hell in favor of the rich, and the government not only tolerates but promotes it, is well outside the issue of Constitutional Law. It's OUR problem to fix.

By the way, although the SCOTUS has clarified what they believe to be "public interest" uses that are valid for emminent domain, the ruling is very broad. Local governments can and should enact their own regulations.

You have a very unhealthy obsession with excrement. I hope you get help for that.

The SCOTUS merely interprets the Constitution - the issue at question was not whether the government is kowtowing to rich developers but whether certain land uses qualify for "public good". I don't know many communities that would argue that nice facilities or services available to residents, incremental tax revenue, and jobs, isn't in the best public interest. The fact that people are freaking out over it addresses an issue beyond the SCOTUS or the Constitution, and that is the fact that our Federal government has set the example of bowing to special interests, to the detriment on the little guy. If state and local governments follow their lead, people could lose their houses on a whim (as in Long Branch, NJ, where "little pink houses" maybe bulldozed in order to erect high-dollar condos in the name of the public good). However this ruling had nothing to do with unprincipled politicians - it's up to US to try to elect some "representatives" that have their constituents' best interests at hears...even the poor ones. In other words if our government was trustworthy, it would be a moot point. This ruling will allow unprincipled people to run amok - but you can only blame US, not the SCOTUS, for that.

You guys ought to know by now that I only do it to freak you out. Because I can. I may never climb Mt. Everest but I can set some heads to exploding at will. It's an art.

Actually the problems was the conservatives didn't see the savagery and prepare for war until it was too late. They were too concerned about illicit sexual activity in the White House. Let's see who crawls out from under the rocks now. But I guess the answer to your question (from me) would be affirmative!

They ought to worry more about all those fat kids getting Type 2 (also known as "adult onset") diabetes. If they're in wheelchairs, blind or dead by age 25 why worry about their mental health...

Stranger things have happened.

Tailgates were against the law for years at Texas Stadium - at least REAL tailgates. You couldn't cook because of the fire hazard. Now one must wonder since there are no trees and grass in the parking lot....and since the stadium itself sits quarantined amidst freeways...where exactly they thought this wildfire would go, or who would care when it got there... But there it is. The removed the restriction a few years ago and and lo! That I know of, no ijit has fallen into his deep-fryer and killed his dumb self. And unfortunately no wildfires have burned down some of the ugliest real estate ANY side of the Mississippi.

That doesn't sound like anything any Christian person would welcome. I'd think a Christian person would want to find ways to prevent killing, not hone it to a precision science. And I'm not a right winger in case you had missed that somewhere. On the other hand, as long as there are men there are unfortunately going to be idiots starting wars. So these things should be developed and handed out to all women and children, our beloved "collateral damage", to use as protection and defense. Now THAT I could support.

John Lennon once commented that "woman is the N-- of the world". So who should have been insulted? Is the objection to the WORD itself or the context in which it's used - meaning someone who's discriminated against, treated like a sub-human, used and abused? It's come to be an ugly word because of the association with slavery and all that means. I'm not defending Nader - it was a stupid thing to say. He doesn't know what it's like nor can he And, thankfully, neither can 99.99999% of the people living in America. If Nader was seeking to make a point, it has been eclipsed by his poor choice of words - it only makes him look stupid.

Here you go. Dallas Morning News: Are missing minorities getting media coverage? News executives questioned in light of recent cases 03:53 PM CDT on Wednesday, June 15, 2005 Associated Press Most of the missing adults tracked by the FBI are men. More than one-in-five of those abducted or kidnapped are black. But you might not get that impression from the news media, and some journalism watchdogs are now taking the industry to task for what they see as a disproportionate emphasis on cases in which white girls and women – overwhelmingly upper-middle class and attractive – disappear. Television executives, who receive much of the criticism, defend their coverage. They stress that cases such as the recent disappearance in Aruba of 18-year-old Natalee Holloway of Alabama are extraordinary, and would be newsworthy no matter her background. Indeed, no critic denies that the Holloway case and other disappearances are wrenching for those involved. But some insist that media attention on so few people overshadows the more than 100,000 active files on missing adults and children currently tracked by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. "To be blunt, blond white chicks who go missing get covered and poor, black, Hispanic or other people of color who go missing do not get covered," said Tom Rosenstiel, director of the Washington-based Project for Excellence in Journalism. "You're more likely to get coverage if you're attractive than if you're not." Said Dori Maynard, president of the Robert C. Maynard Institute for Journalism Education, a group that works to improve diversity in newsrooms and news coverage: "In terms of giving citizens the information they need, I think we're failing because we're not giving an accurate portrayal of the world around them." On its Web site, the National Center for Missing Adults profiles more than 1,000 individuals, including photos, physical descriptions and short narratives of when they were last seen. They are young and old, working-class and professional, of all ethnic backgrounds. Most are average-looking. And most never receive a mention in their local newspapers or television broadcasts, said Erin Bruno, a case manager at the center who tries to interest media outlets in publicizing missing adults. "We want everyone to get coverage, but we don't get to make those choices," said Bruno, who estimates that one out of the five news releases she sends out each week gets media attention. Of the nearly 47,600 active adult cases tracked by the FBI as of the beginning of May, 53 percent were men and 29 percent black. (About 12 percent of the U.S. population is black, Census data show.) About 62 percent of those missing are white, but that figure includes Hispanics. "Quoting those (FBI) statistics – it's like saying '99 percent of the nations in the world are not at war, so why are you focusing on the war?' But Iraq is an extraordinary event involving Americans," said Mark Effron, vice president of news at MSNBC. "What makes news is the unexpected." He said Holloway's disappearance during a chaperoned trip is unusual, and would be heavily covered by MSNBC regardless of her gender or ethnicity. Christa Robinson, a spokeswoman for CNN, said that a wide range of editorial considerations – including competition from other news events – impact the attention given to each potential story. The race or ethnicity of a possible victim, she said, is not a factor. But Rosenstiel said that analyses of cable news in recent years shows an upward "trajectory of the salacious crime story" including those of missing white females such as Chandra Levy, Laci Peterson, JonBenet Ramsey and Elizabeth Smart. Many consider women more sympathetic potential victims than men – and white women even more so, said Kristal Brent Zook, a professor at Columbia University's journalism school who wrote an article published in this month's Essence magazine about missing black women who are largely ignored. "Who's appealing? Who's sexy?" she asked. "The virginal, pure, blond princess is missing. ... It has a lot to do with class and sexuality and ageism, not just race." Maynard said many news directors, editors and everyday people stereotype men and minorities who turn up missing and assume "it's drugs or criminal activity or some sort of pathology." If journalists – consciously or unconsciously – expect men and minorities to be crime victims, she said, few will consider it newsworthy if that actually happens. "I don't think it's a conscious thing," she added. "I think it's an unconscious bias." Dan Shelley, chairman of the Radio-Television News Directors Association, agreed that unconscious bias is possible. But "to the extent that we as an industry have created a perception in some that we're ignoring missing person cases involving men or people of certain ethnicities, it's unfortunate," he said. "The more diverse our work forces are and newsrooms are, the greater the chances our stories will truly reflect our communities." In 2004, 22 percent of the broadcast news work force were people of color, up from 17 percent in 1995, RTNDA data show. About 30 percent of Americans are minorities, Census data show.

It's fine, thanks for asking. The weather is much more bearable that DFW in terms of extremes, the job is a lot of fun, and I work with nice folks. The family is thriving which is what's important.

Don't freak out about this but: excellent point. I second it. Look how 9/11 has affected this country, and the world. Who's to say it didn't push her over the edge. It's a pretty good bet she is not the only one.

The current death benefit is $12,500. Where'd you get $200,000?

The people of California deserve better prosecutors. They put on a lousy case. I think Michael Jackson is a pathetic freak and would not be surprised to learn he was a pervert too but ... the best they could come up with was a bunch of con artists, what did they expect. The funniest part is Marcia Clark's commenting on how SHOCKED she is...it must be the smog or something.

I'd gladly sacrifice my cat if it would bring back your Darlene. And I'd give up just about everything else to get Nick back. That all said - I assume you were just in your own backhanded way pointing out that what was such a big, freaking, divisive deal mere weeks ago is now...forgotten? Not meaningless...but there are probably many sheepish people out there. Anticlimactic? Maybe. With the emphasis on the sheep part. Or perhaps just that for all we have free will and can make choices, there are some that are made for us an no matter how hard we fight, we can't change it.

I'll refrain from commenting on the stupidity of allowing 125 just-graduated 18-year olds to go to a tropical island with only 7 chaperones.... But I have to wonder, where is the coverage of the men who go missing...or the homely women who go missing...or the women (and men) who are unfortunate enough to go missing under unremarkable circumstances? I guess otherwise we'd have to read about mundane rapes, robberies and homicides but...sorry as I feel for this girl and her family I can't help but think of the hundreds of other families we AREN'T hearing about, who are perhaps fighting to get the word out about their loved one...after all the best way to find a missing person is to make sure as many people as possible know about it (hence the Amber Alert). I suppose I expect too much from today's media...but I can remember the day when the media performed a useful service instead of just making empty noise. If one didn't know better, one would think that only pretty white girls disappeared. Or perhaps the media thinks we're all so shallow we'd only care about pretty white girls' disappearance. I pray for her family and the families of all those missing.

So will you still be at UT in the fall of 2006? Because my daughter graduates next spring and may well be headed there... I'll just need to warn her is all.

My favorite bumper sticker: seen on my first day home from work in my new job when I first moved to Dallas: "I'd rather be shooting Yankees." It was then that I realized that some people really have not gotten over the Civil War. I thought it was a joke. After almost ten years in Texas I found out otherwise.

You can ask UM about why they included those children. That's the way the numbers were given. To each their own - but I think the government mandating a reasonable thing like a gun lock at manufacture is not much different than the government mandating airbags, seatbelts and other safety features in autos. There are always the idiots who won't wear the seatbelts and will maybe even disable the airbags just to show the government who's boss...but then there are idiots everywhere.

That's it, trot out Bill Clinton. As I scan my posts above I don't see mention of any politician. It transcends administrations. I guess that's what I'd expect, you have no answer so you'll sputter and out with some childish stuff that has nothing to do with anything. Here are some facts: in 1999, according to the University of Michigan, 3,385 children between 0 (that's less than a year in case it's confusing) and 19 were killed with guns. These break down with the bulk, some 1,990 being homicide. There were over 1000 suicides. One could argue that the homicides come from guns OUTSIDE the child's home - but they come from someone's home. In 2001 LESS THAN 3000 PEOPLE were killed in a terror attack. Given that we've had two terror attacks by outsiders on our soil in some 240 years, that would be statistically more a remote happenstance than lightening striking. But look at the reaction - people have willingly given up some of their freedoms and the government is starting wars and spending a bazillion dollars on it to avoid it happening again. Sure, they're different. They're different like dropping dead of a heart attack versus wasting away from cancer. Once's sudden and final. The other one gives more notice. But in the end they both end in death. Statistically then it is probably more likely that a child will die from a gun injury that a terror attack. So why is one so important and the other just gets poo-pooed? I don't want to take anyone's guns away. I just don't feel like burying another kid because someone else isn't responsible. Is that so much to ask? I wonder, do you have children?