[u-89]

Wasn't there a land grab by the government of Texas - eminent domain - to build a baseball stadium? And while they were at it they claimed land across the highway which was later commercially developed in a way that had nothing to do with the ball field but very porfitable to the political cronnies. I remember reading something about that before the 2000 election. And why do governments (taxpayers) have to build ball fields for private corporations anyway?

[Fraulein]

This powerful clique of New England/New York/Chicago business interests "aroused the suspicions of the South," says Brown, since they were so vigorously lobbying Congress to allocate huge sums of money for a transcontinental railroad across the Northern states. Southern politicians wanted the route to pass through their states, naturally, but they knew they were outgunned politically by the political clique from "the Yankee belt"

history ping

[Mind-numbed Robot]

Wasn't there a land grab by the government of Texas - eminent domain - to build a baseball stadium?

No, I don't think so. You must be thinking of the left's attempt to smear Bush by claiming, as Managing Partner of the Rangers, he had the city of Arlington build him a baseball stadium. Not so. The Rangers were already in Arlington and the city wanted to keep them there so they took the initiative in buiding the new stadium. Incidentally, it was ex-Mayor of Arlington, now judge, Tom Vadergriff, who almost single handedly brought major league baseball to North Texas. Staying in Arlington was fitting.

The most recent deal was Maverick and Stars owners getting the city of Dallas to sell bonds to build a new basketball/hockey arena when they already had a relatively new and perfectly good arena. Ironically, Ross Perot, Jr. was owner of the Mavericks at the time so, once again, he was feeding at the public trough. (Those who believed Ross Perot wanted clean government and therefore voted for him back in 2000 were played for fools. He was just gunning for G.H.W. Bush for some imagined sleight in the past. He succeeded in giving us Clinton.)

However, nearly all sports team owners try to get the taxpayers to foot the bill for their playpens. The Cowboys are presently shopping for a new place. What is wrong with Texas Stadium? Nothing.

And, yes, it is always the rich insiders who get things cheaper and at someone else's expense. As unfair as it seems, I don't know how it can be prevented. The only way to stop the pain is to become a rich insider, so work hard.