Nobody is taking any stuff from the poor. The poor don't have stuff. That's why they're poor.

When you get down under this line of liberal thinking, with complaints about wages/benefits/government programs not being high enough, you eventually arrive at "the poor aren't being allowed to take as much stuff from the rich as they should be." This is then interpreted as the poor "losing" wealth.

Colonel Lee's is still open, thanks, and my family is a regular there. The Printer's Ink closed, but was replaced by the almost identical Books Inc., complete with bearded, pony-tailed clerks and the same great coffee place upstairs. Conservatives are still hit by blue Force Lightning when they come in the door, but it's worth it to hang out there. Lots of great author events, too.

The used bookstore next door is still there, too. Also a good place to hang out. Nothing smells as good as a place full of old books stacked in high shelf mazes.

I love this town. Wall-to-wall restaurants, mostly ethnic, with a lot of turnover. The closest thing in real life I've seen to William Pene DuBois' "gourmet society" from "The Twenty-One Balloons."

Were you here before or after the rebuilding of the downtown?