The Editor's Desk

We’ve been working on putting blogs together for months, so of course they would actually finally go live while I’m out of town.

I’m in Tempe, Arizona, attending an annual company conference we call “Freedom School.” This conference is a gathering of editors, publishers and other leaders of Freedom Communications where speakers educate us on current issues regarding personal liberty both in America and abroad.

One of the more notable speakers today was Timothy Sandefur of the Pacific Legal Foundation, talking about the status of eminent domain in America. He was a very informative and entertaining speaker, though the lesson I took from the discussion is that property rights are essentially dead in America. Not a positive outlook I’m afraid. I’ll have an editorial in Wednesday’s Desert Dispatch about City Council’s decision to allow abuse of eminent domain intentions in the Barstow Redevelopment Agency. (Sandefur is in favor of abolishing redevelopment agencies entirely, and leaving matters up to market forces)