What The Hell? 6.23.05

At Eben Cripplefinger's, watching the NY Mets hold on by their fingernails to a 4-3 lead over the Philadelphia Sillies.

Just read:

The Supreme Court today backed the right of local governments to snatch lands/ property on the behalf of private developers, if the development promotes economic development.

The dissenter's view, from Justice Sandra Day O'Connor and taken from the NY Times:

"The specter of condemnation hangs over all property. Nothing is to prevent the state from replacing any Motel 6 with a Ritz-Carlton, any home with a shopping mall, or any farm with a factory."

"Any property may now be taken for the benefit of another private property, but the fallout from this decision will not be random. The beneficiaries are likely to be those citizens with disproportionate influence and power in the political process, including large corporations and development firms.

"As for the victims," Justice O'Connor went on, "the government now has license to transfer property from those with fewer resources to those with more. The Founders cannot have intended this perverse result."

Supporting the dissnter's view: Scalia, Thomas, and Rehnquist.