13 Nov 2003
Off and Running

What an idiot!

Chief Justice Moore said he had done nothing wrong by flouting a federal court order to remove a 5,280-pound granite monument of the Ten Commandments that he had installed in the lobby of the State Supreme Court.

I wonder how the good judge would react if I told him I'd done nothing wrong by publically flouting an order of his court? Hmmmm...

This dude's jockeying for political position in a run for something.

He'd Do It Again, Says the 'Ten Commandments Judge'. Alabama's chief justice, Roy S. Moore, was called in front of a special court Wednesday to face ethics charges, but even with his job on the line he was as defiant as ever. By Jeffrey Gettleman. [New York Times: NYT HomePage]

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Corporate Welfare

Below is an expanded article from CNet on "tax incentives" offered to companies for location/relocation in a community. These kinds of under the table and behind the back dealings are what give both local governments and business a black eye - they aren't that different from and sometimes actually involve) land sharking.

With the usual IANAL cavaet, it seems to me that these kinds of arrangement are essentially "bills of attainder" in reverse - rather than punishing a specific entity, they reward it! It's pretty obvious why we wouldn't want our governments declaring certain specific people guily of crimes and punishing them by legislative fiat - isn't it equally obvious that the government shouldn't be passing laws giving certain corporation (and only certain corporations, under certain conditions) millions of taxpayer dollars for "developement"? I think so ...

Company towns: The cost of tax breaks [CNET News.com - Front Door]

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Whistling Winds

Some pretty serious weather out there right now: a wind advisory - west-north-west winds from 25 to 35 mph all night, gusts to 55 mph.

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