Entries from June 2005 ↓

Bar none, the best Batman adaptation captured on film to date.

Arsenal announced their first new signing of the silly season today, as Belarussian mid-fielder Alexander Hleb joined the Gunners from Bundesliga side VfB Stuttgart.

Here are the details from Arsenal.com:

Belarus international midfielder, Alexander Hleb, has today agreed to join Arsenal from Bundesliga side VfB Stuttgart on a long term contract, in a deal which could rise to approximately 15 million Euros. This agreement is subject to a medical and the player obtaining a work permit.

Hleb (24), who made 137 appearances in his five years with Stuttgart and has 18 International caps for Belarus, is a versatile midfielder with experience of Champions League football, playing in all eight of Stuttgart’s matches in the 2003/04 competition.

Manager Arsene Wenger said: “We are delighted that Alexander Hleb has agreed to join us. He is a player I have admired for some time now and I know he will provide our squad with great quality. Hleb has proved his ability with his performances in the Bundesliga in recent seasons and he definitely has the potential to do very well with Arsenal.”

Alexander Hleb said: “I am very happy to have this fantastic opportunity to join Arsenal. They are a Club with a great history and many world class players.”

Alexander Hleb will join up with the Arsenal first team squad when they return for pre-season training in early July.

We’re not ones to make light of a serious issue, but this was just too good to not pass along:

from The Watley Review:

“Buoyed by the Supreme Court’s decision to expand cities’ power of eminent domain, New York City filed today to acquire the state of New Jersey for commercial development.

“New York has been facing some very difficult economic decisions,” said Mayor Michael Bloomberg. “Building viable economic development strategies for the city has been our number one priority. We think that the Supreme Court decision really opens a door for us, and will allow New York City to finally resolve some of these intractable issues.”

The Constitution says government may take private property “for public use” if it pays the owners “just compensation.” Originally, public use meant the land was used for roads, canals or military bases, or to clear blighted areas. In today’s decision, the court went a step further and said officials need not claim they were condemning blighted properties or clearing slums. Now, as long as officials hope to create jobs or raise tax collections, they can seize the homes of unwilling sellers, the court said. This “public purpose” is a “public use” of the land, the court said in Kelo vs. New London.

“The Supreme Court decision makes it easier for us to justify this course of action in the name of economic development,” said Bloomberg, “although actually we could easily have made the case that taking over New Jersey would be analogous to condemning a blighted property. I mean, come on. Have you been there lately?”

New York will compensate the current residents of New Jersey with “fair market value” for their property, a total amount estimated to be well within Bloomberg’s ability to pay out of his own pocket. After evicting all current residents from New Jersey, New York plans to add a new Olympic stadium, a Trump apartment complex, international airport, and, most critically, a 4,000 square mile landfill.

“I have mixed feelings about this,” said Newark resident Franklin Comstock. “On the one hand, I am not thrilled to be kicked out of my home and be paid pennies on the dollar for the privilege. On the other hand, New York is evicting our state government as well, every last official and bureaucrat. That is an immensely appealing concept.”

Others are more concerned about the Supreme Court decision and New York’s plans.

“The Supreme Court has really started down a slippery slope by expanding the definition of “benefit to society” which can be used to justify eminent domain ,” said economics professor Brad Turkelson, of Cornell University. “Making way for an interstate or a military base is one thing. Making way for a new golf course is something entirely different. Where is this going to stop? What if they decide that eminent domain could be invoked for the moral benefit of society? Do we want to go there?”

If New York is successful, it would mark the first time that eminent domain was used to take over an entire state. Other states are reportedly watching New York closely, and may be considering takeover efforts of their own.

“Dibs on Nevada,” said California Governor Schwarzenegger.”

Doris and Becca had the terrible task of spending last week at a law conference in Ocean City, MD. They invited Alyssa and I to share in their misery by spending Friday, their last day there, with them.

The weather was cooler than it had been all week prior, so swimming in the ocean was out of the question. However, checking out the boardwalk, dodging the high school kids, eating fudge and taffy, and swimming in the pool were all on the agenda.

Check out pics of the girls going nuts here

from yankees.com:

NEW YORK — A new Yankee Stadium leaped from past dreams to future reality Wednesday, when club and government officials parted the curtain on construction plans for an $800 million project to replace and honor the Major Leagues’ third-oldest ballpark.

Plans for the new stadium, the centerpiece of a broad redevelopment project to revitalize the Bronx riverfront, were announced at a press conference in the Stadium Club of the current Yankee Stadium.

Numerous political dignitaries, including New York mayor Michael Bloomberg, New York Gov. George Pataki and a host of city and Bronx elected officials, joined Yankees owner George Steinbrenner in an event highlighted by the unveiling of renderings of the 51,000-seat park, targeted for a 2009 opening.

Construction in Macombs Dam Park, adjacent to and north of the current field, is scheduled to begin late next spring.

“We decided we want to stay in the Bronx. We want to do the job here,” said Steinbrenner. “We wanted to do something for the people who’ve always supported this team.”

To read more, check out yankees.com

Take your pick!