Got root?

On Thursday, the United States Supreme Court ruled 5-4 that it was okay for government to take your property by eminent domain for the purposes of economic development.

Now, I’m not going to pretend that I know much of the legalities of this entire situation, but I will tell you that this just plain feels wrong.

I have most often heard of emiment domain being applied it situations where road or other public improvements are needed. I cannot remember any case where it was applied to build a luxury hotel or a parking lot, as is the case in New London, CT.

From what I have read and understand, this basically means that if your local government decides that their economic interests (which are ostensibly “your” economic interests from their point of view), if their economic interests are best served by giving you 50 cents on the dollar for your home, tearing it down and putting up a Ritz Carlton, then you are just plain outta luck.

This should make you very, very afraid. Especially if you didn’t vote for the bozos who are currently running your city or your town.

What to do about this? Not quite sure yet, but I have plenty more research and reading to do on the subject.

Stay tuned, and check out some of the links at: http://www.starkeith.net/coredump/index.php?p=553

A co-worker of mine turned me on to the comedy of Brian Regan.

If you’re into comedy, check this guy out. Not only is he hilariously funny, capable of taking those little every day situations that we all face and making us laugh our butts off, he’s also very clean. The kids can watch him, and these days that says a lot!

Everyone in the office has become a fan, and a lot of his expressions have entered our lexicon.

Check him out. Here’s a link:Brian Regan

Last Friday night we had free tickets to go see Foreigner at the Webster Theater in Hartford, CT.

We scored the tickets the evening before while we sat in Bushnell Park listening to the Black Eyed & Blues Festival, a blues fest sponsored by a local Cajun restaurant that features blues bands. The evening was spectacular — not quite so hot as it is now, and the sky was blue and the air clean.

While we were enjoying the concert, a fellow from the Webster came up to us, offered us the tickets and suddenly we had something to do the next night.

Friday evening we had dinner at the 99, including a couple of tall Samuel Adams Summer Ales, and off we went into Hartford. At the Webster, the main lot was full so we had to detour down a side street to a super market lot.

The Webster is an old movie theater, converted into a music venue. Beer and drinks are available inside, but aside from a few small tables and stools, it’s a standing room.

The show was good — after suffering through a couple of lousy opening acts. (But hey, isn’t that always that case? Twenty years ago I stood through 90 intolerable minutes of a band called Jason & The Scorchers — quick, name their one MTV hit — to get to listen to Stevie Ray Vaughn. Believe me, SRV was worth the wait).

The acoustics don’t really matter though in the Webster — it’s all concrete in there, and they had the amps cranked up to a Spinal Tap-like “11″. Couldn’t hear a thing out of my right ear all the next day. But, the band played all their old hits, and they sounded like Foreigner, even though the only original band member was Mick Jones.

As an added treat, Jason Bonham was on drums, and in tribute to his late father, they did cover “Misty Mountain Hop”, which really revved up this old Zep fan.

All in all, for the price, the concert was GREAT.

Next up on the horizon? Santana, at the Oakdale, on Father’s Day. CANNOT WAIT.

And lastly, the trivia question answer is “Where Are You Tonight, Sweet Marie?” (You can look that one up!)

Just installed this WordPress deal — kinda cool. Heard about it from the folks at Core Dump.

I experienced some of the same frustrations with Blogger as well, although I’m a lot newer to blogging, I guess.

If any of you are interested, try it out.