Something to take comfort in as we happy frogs grow warmer

If it wasn't for the fact that it was inevitable, it would be easy to rant about the renewal of USAPATRIOT (which, given that its purpose is "Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism," has utterly failed because America is less united than it was before and the concept of America has been further weakened, not strenghtened), but the Happy Curmudgeon has pointed out one small ray of sunshine in the dark, not unlike the crocus plants that should be sending green shoots up through the swiftly melting snow any day now.

The word from the Institute for Justice is the banking institution BB&T has announced it won't provide loans to develop who seize property under the Kelo case's corruption of the power of eminent domain. HC further directs us to BB&T's information page, where the firm spells out a philosophy fairly unlike what you'd expect from a major financial corporation.

It's almost enough to encourage me to move to the former Confederacy so I can hire this company as my banker - if I didn't like the four seasons so much and I didn't know from more than one personal experience how easily one corporation can be absorbed into another.