Month: May 2022

Lloyd and I watched the Indianapolis 500 race today on television. It went down to the wire and a Swedish driver won a two-lap sprint to the finish line after an accident and a re-start. It was interesting but mostly boring, like an episode of 60 Minutes.

I’m all in favor of safety and technology but, to be honest, the Indy 500 was more fun in the old days. There were more multi-car crashes, jostling between cars, guys ran out of gas, leading cars were slowed to a halt by a failed 50-cent part, competitors got into fistfights on Gasoline Alley, there was reckless driving and accidents in pit row, and loose tires flew into the bleachers. One year featured a horrible, fiery crash early in the race. It was an adventure happening right before your eyes; you never knew what was going to happen next. Today’s race was antiseptic and non-dramatic: there were fast cars and faster cars that could have been driven by robots. I missed Jim Nabors, too: he was one strange dude, but he sure could sing.

Lots of things aren’t what they used to be.

I remember watching the Oscars broadcast back when actual “movie stars” filled the seats in the auditorium; now, 90 percent of the attendees are celebrity wannabes and seat-holders. I also liked it better when there weren’t fisticuffs up on stage and the emcees didn’t bring up politics. Sure, call me Old Fashioned but the only Honest-to-God stars that attended this past Oscars telecast were Denzel Washington and Meryl Streep. Where were DiCaprio, Clooney, Julia Roberts, etc.? In the “old” days, famous stars showed up to honor their fellow actors even if they personally weren’t nominated. (If Hollywood royalty doesn’t care, maybe we shouldn’t?)

This year’s event was co-emceed by three trying-to-be-funny lady comedians, none of whom could carry Johnny Carson’s jockstrap. Bob Hope would do a better job, even though he been dead for decades. Billy Crystal: Please reconsider. Somebody breathe some life into this corpse or do away with it. Just sayin’.

The World Series broadcast used to be an annual rite that 90 percent of all households enjoyed… even if they weren’t baseball fans. Baseball was the so-called National Pastime back then. I would be surprised if the ratings for Game 7 of last year’s World Series beat the ratings of Fox News on the same date. Can you even name the team that won in 2021? Do you care? I used to but don’t anymore. (Just realized that the Dodgers, my old favorite team, won the Series last year! See what I’m sayin’?)

Everyone used to “go to the movies” fairly frequently. Taking a date to a blockbuster movie at a nice theater was a big thing back when I full of testosterone. Pretending to watch a movie while at a drive-in theater with your squeeze was even better. Nowadays, nobody goes to the movies and there aren’t any drive-ins anymore. People watch motion pictures on streaming TV or on their cell phones. And the cinema offerings are basically movie-length childrens’ cartoons, Marvel hero action flicks, and depressing dramas pushing politically correct themes starring LGBQT folks, blind people, hearing-impaired individuals, and minorities. To be blunt, I’d rather eat green flies that watch that crap.

Everyone who is my age (or my parents’ age, for that matter) played around the backyard pool with reckless abandon. Goofing off on the diving board was fun, as was running across the yard and jumping (or pushing your brother) into the deep end. Nowadays, there are no diving boards and there are fences surrounding pools to keep infants from falling in. The fun is gone. Backyard pools have turned into expensive soaker tubs.

When I was young, obviously “life” began when someone was born. This was cool because, in most cases, love had resulted in a pairing that was meaningful, and the new child was a welcome addition to the family. If there was a pairing that was a total mistake, or the result of some incest or rape, the pregnancy could be terminated after due consideration. In today’s society, the clergy and politicians have developed a devilish brew of bad policy which concludes that life begins at conception and that stopping the development of the fetus is immoral, no matter how wrong the pregnancy is. However, babies should be wanted, shouldn’t they? Would-be parents should make those decisions, right? Why should politicians and clergy make such important decisions for us? Most Americans don’t attend church and an even greater percentage of us feel that politicians are idiots. Why do we pay attention to them?

Roe v. Wade made more sense to my generation. Who knows what people are thinking now, if one can call it thinking.

It used to be simple to shop at the grocery store. Not anymore: one has to make sure that they are not buying regular lettuce, for example, because it may have been grown the old-fashioned way. No, we should opt for the organic stuff, which costs 50 percent more. Same with chicken: make sure that the fowl was free-ranged (also, more expensive). Keep an eye out for GMOs (genetically-modified-organisms): wouldn’t want to benefit from scientific advancements, would you. Are you looking for some items in the pharmacy? Sure, see what the medicine purports to do, but also check out the 150 potential side-effects that are printed on the container. It’s the Lawyers’ Full Employment Act in action.

Jesus, we used to just buy an ear of corn, eat it, and move on. Now we need to consult the Internet for guidance. What would Fauci do?

I liked it back in the day when Joe Namath played football. The guy was a decent quarterback who became famous when his Jets team got lucky and won Super Bowl III in 1969. He disappeared from public view for about thirty years and has recently been resurrected to hawk “senior” products on cable TV night and day. Joe was a handsome fellow in his prime but is now a decrepit, skinny, unhealthy-looking 78-year-old guy who closely resembles an animated skeleton. Who wants to buy any product that Old Joe is pushing? If that dying guy is using it, you don’t need it.

The same goes for Jimmy (“Dyno-mite!”) Walker’s Medicare Helpline benefits and Ice-T auto maintenance insurance testimonial endorsements. Attention Viewers: scam alert. The Orson Welles pitches for cheap Paul Masson wine back in my day (“We will drink no wine before its time!”), while the actor sat to rest his obeseness, had more credibility . Any one of Donald Trump’s many money-grubbing scams is more believable, and that’s saying something.

Speaking of annoying con men, I personally preferred the pre-Digital Age requirement that an actual human being had to mail you, appear at your doorstep, or cold-call you on the phone to pitch you his product. It was much easier to say “Go to Hell” back then, and the pesky salesmen had to put out an effort before they had the door slammed in their faces. In today’s world, the intrusion by these invisible losers is incessant, as they bombard everyone’s privacy with bot-generated phone calls and texts… there’s no getting away from the pests, who are using their free speech rights to destroy your peace and quiet with B.S. claims, false promises, and outright lies. We’re so inundated by this shit that we’ve just given up… it’s just part of life that we must endure. The politicians aren’t going to save us because they’re getting paid off by the corporations who inflict this night and day punishment on us. Welcome to Hell.

In the good old days, if you needed some tool or hardware to complete a Honey-do project around the house, you went to your local Mom and Pop hardware store. The owner himself or his experienced helper would guide you to what you needed and explain how the stuff worked. There might have been 40 years of wisdom behind the counter informing your decision to purchase. Nowadays, we go down to a big box Home Depot to buy such things, and most of the employees that work there are hard to find and don’t really know shit about the products. I think they are employed just to keep you from getting lost on your way to the young cashier, who does a who-gives-a-shit job while texting her BFF.

Professional and amateur sports has changed a lot since I was a kid. Newspaper and TV sports news used to talk about league standings, achievements, honors, etc. We would hear that UCLA won ten NCAA basketball titles in 12 years, Ted Williams hit two homers in a game, Jim Brown ran for 200 yards against the Packers, Wilt Chamberlain blocked 20 shots against the Celtics, Richard Petty won the Daytona 500, and so forth. Nowadays, the news reports that Clayton Kershaw is making $5 million for every game pitched, Kobe Bryant raped a barmaid, Patriot’s tight end Aaron Hernandez murdered two people, Penn State assistant coach Jerry Sandusky molested 8 young boys, Kyrie Irving is skipping Nets basketball games in protest of Covid-19 vaccine protocols, and Russian athletes are being barred from international competitions because Vladimir Putin is bombing the Hell out of Ukraine. Yellow journalism has replaced Sports Illustrated and The Sporting News. Titillation now overshadows sporting achievement, just like it does in many other aspects of modern life.

Does anyone remember Ronald Reagan? How about Tip O’Neill? Two leaders of different political parties who actually worked together to get things done in Washington D.C. The phenomenon was called “compromise” back then. Nowadays, our elected officials from both parties at all levels of government spend 95 percent of their time shooting spitwads at each other and the remaining 5 percent groveling to corporations for campaign contributions. Serious issues which deserve attention from policymakers take a back seat to Congressional hearings on alleged scandalous behavior. Government has become a Rube Goldberg contraption that does nothing but spend money and piss people off.

Thoughts and prayers are all they offer to their constituents in return for the opportunity to grow rich at the public trough. Ex-legislators and ex-Cabinet officials fill up corporate boards and live like royalty, laughing at the schmucks who bought their earnest/dishonest campaign pitches.

Back when I was young, most things that we needed were Made in America, and they were made to last. Nowadays, everything seems to be made out of plastic and manufactured in China, India, Bangladesh, Taiwan, Thailand, Vietnam, and Mexico. I’m happy for them (that they’ve got jobs), but we now have a lot of healthy and capable American workers who are wondering about their futures. Free enterprise, capitalism, laissez faire and such are cool economic ideas, but when everything important is measured by profit, important things get lost, like community and generational legacy. We’ve become a mass of dolts, wandering about, waiting for the next bad news to hit, bitter that the American Dream is becoming harder and harder to achieve.

Maybe the worst invention that the world has seen in my lifetime is the credit card. People used to be more prudent in their family finances, lived within their means, and bought what they could afford. You saved to buy that extravagance, like a new suit, a vacation, or a boat. In today’s world, you can have whatever you want, when you want it, as long as you can use the plastic. And credit is easy to get: hardly a week goes by that my mailbox doesn’t receive several new credit offerings. All I have to do is make a phone call to activate access to easy money. It’s no wonder that so many households are “under water” financially. Maybe, if financing wasn’t so easy to get, more of our college students wouldn’t have chosen an expensive university to attend and wouldn’t now have that crippling mountain of debt that dogs them years after graduating?

Yeah, I know that we now have cell phones, Viagra, electric cars, free-range chicken, Tylenol, social media, luxury vinyl flooring and, for the time being, the ability to vote by mail. We can buy condoms off the rack, smoke marijuana for pleasure, supply our teenage son with a military assault rifle for “hunting”, watch porn whenever we so desire, and use social media at will to spew our hatred for people who are not like us.

Civility was taken for granted back when I was younger. People got respect when they gave respect, abrasive manners were discouraged, and adults listened more to each other. That’s how communication occurs, problems are identified, and solutions are found. Nowadays, everyone’s shouting, no one is listening, and nothing productive gets accomplished. No one wants to give an inch because they believe what they believe, and their “truth”, even if it isn’t supported by facts, is going to prevail by hook or crook. Feet are held fast by concrete. Cooperation and compromise are ideas that are passe in today’s society, and the Average Joe doesn’t seem to care or want to become engaged in positive societal accomplishments.

Call me a sentimental idiot but there is a lot to commend about the good old days of Ozzie and Harriet, when things were a bit simpler, common sense was more in fashion, people were nicer to each other, and society seemed to be engaged in doing productive things that moved the needle of progress forward.

Scientific discoveries and innovations arising therefrom had a great bearing on American culture when I was young, and scientists were appreciated and honored for making our lives better. New technologies, advances in medicine, more productivity in agriculture, and a better understanding of the world around us came from scientists doing their thing. Nowadays, politics threatens to stifle the wisdom that comes from scientific investigation and experimentation. Scientifically-derived truths are being pushed aside in favor of politically-motivated propaganda. Scientists are targeted for ridicule and scorn when the facts and evidence don’t advance popular political rhetoric. When I was young, no one gave a second thought to declining life-saving vaccines; nowadays, large portions of the population scorn vaccines and the scientists who developed them.

Conspiracy theories seem to excite people more than scientific discoveries. Go figure.

I don’t know who invented marriage, or why, but it seemed to be a more important institution back in the day. People in love got married and those unions tended to last much longer than they do nowadays. My parents and Charlie’s parents both celebrated 50^th wedding anniversaries (as we will in 2 years!), as did my best friend’s parents, my sister-in-laws parents, and so forth. As anyone who has been married knows, a marriage is always a work-in-progress and it takes two people engaged in problem-solving to make a marriage succeed. In the modern world, relationships seem to be more transactional, less about team-building, and almost acknowledging that they are doomed to fail. Once again, the spirit of cooperation and compromise that is necessary in life to achieve anything seems to be less important nowadays in personal relationships. Marriages are shorter and many people aren’t getting married at all. Adults, living and sleeping together, but not forming a team, seems to be the wave of the future.

Who’s to say that this is wrong? Personally, I’d be uncomfortable with changing partners and new situations; that is reflective of my long career with one employer. Nowadays, we see more of a “gig” economy, where employment relationships are short-lived, as people with skills move from job to job, hiring out to the highest bidder. The same seems to take place in modern relationships between romantic partners; if a better offer comes along, jumping ship is to be expected, no harm, no foul.

The modern human relationship model sounds very pragmatic but, as the saying goes, “Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned”, and we cannot change our DNA, our hormones, and our instinctive feelings. More changing relationships, more drama, and more customers for scumbag attorneys.

Just what we need in modern society.

Lloyd and I have traveled all around Mesquite (Nevada) and St. George (Utah) in the past several days and it has been an eye-opener for Lloyd, who has been gone from the Southwest for the past year.

New subdivisions are popping up all over Mesquite and St. George… thousands of new households that will need a lot of the same thing: WA TER.

The big question: Where is that water going to come from?

We live in a what? A desert that is in the midst of a decades-long drought. The great natural aqueduct that moistens this part of America, the Colorado River drainage, ain’t what she used to be and the massive reservoirs at Lake Powell and Lake Mead are drying up quite rapidly. There is less water coming down the river from the Rockies and there are more thirsty cities along the route that need increasing amounts of water.

Rainfall that normally moistens the desert in the Southwest is diminished, so recharge of underground water-bearing strata (the groundwater aquifer) is almost negligible. Wells that tap these aquifers for agriculture and municipal needs, like here in Mesquite, are having to search deeper underground and are becoming less productive. Some have gone dry already.

Bottom line: We have diminishing snowmelt in the Rockies and drier conditions in the desert, resulting in a very questionable future for life-sustaining water resources in this part of the country.

So, what is the response of local government to this existential problem? Allow the construction of thousands of more homes in the region.

Go figure.

It is quite evident what has been going on in the past year. The home building industry has “put the pedal to the metal” in constructing as many homes as possible before the shit hits the fan. In this case, that would be water restrictions by the local municipal water districts, followed by building moratoriums enacted by municipalities… after the cow has escaped the barn!

The big builders, like Pulte here in Mesquite, want to make their money and get the Hell out of Dodge before the locals begin storming the City Council meetings carrying lit torches and pitchforks. Water rationing is as welcome as a fart in church, and people are going to want to know why the city fathers approved all those new homes in the past five years with no reasonable expectation of adequate water down the road.

This situation is not unique to Mesquite, Nevada or St. George, Utah. It is happening all over the Southwest as the drought lingers and homebuilding continues at a rapid rate. Local governments all over the Southwest have been whistling in the graveyard for many years, pretending that there was no problem… when they knew that there was. Unfortunately, the mother’s milk of politics is money provided by the deep-pocketed construction industry. The quid pro quo to being elected is that you look the other way when bad things are going down, much like the NRA-supported politicians do when some doofus sprays 4-year-old children in their schoolroom with an assault rifle.

So, we in the West have a huge problem a-brewin’. If the current drought continues (as it is predicted in Global Warming scenarios), a catastrophe is in the offing much like the water shortage that caused the ancient Navajo people (the Anasazi) to abandon their communities about 900 years ago not that far from here.

Sustained drought, no water, no life… the party’s over.

Some real creative thinking would be needed to solve the problem even if city-building stopped tomorrow all across the Southwest.  There simply is not enough water to nourish the homes, businesses, and agriculture that sustain our economy and way of life. We need to replace the lost Colorado River water and recharge the groundwater aquifers which have been mined to the point of minimal production.

De-salinization of sea water is the obvious answer, but something that massive in scale would require political will that is probably not realistic in today’s society. Many other countries, particularly in the Middle East, are de-salinizing water for municipal purposes. It is expensive at this time, with the technology available, but “you do what you have to do” to survive.

Those megalopolises on the West Coast (Los Angeles, San Diego, San Francisco) are situated adjacent to the largest source of sea water in the world. The enormous economy of California could afford the infrastructure that it would take to convert sea water to potable water.

Laws would have to be enacted to allow the infrastructure to be built quickly. Political compromises would have to be made. If not, a ballot proposition, putting the matter direct to the voters, could provide the legal basis for State government to permit construction of the facilities required, which might also require nuclear power plants to supply the energy needed.

Expensive, sure. But money is no issue in California.

Here in Mesquite we cannot expect Santa Claus to rescue us with de-salinized water piped in from the Pacific Ocean. We are down to just a couple of options: Prayer (that we will be delivered from the Drought) or… Stop Building All of Those F’ing New Houses!!

This is serious time, Everyone.

I just hope that I don’t die of thirst out here in the desert: it would be a crummy way to croak.

It’s a new week and there’s news.

My buddy Lloyd Chartrand has returned from his self-imposed exile in Mexico and my son Jeff and wife Carol are implementing their pre-retirement RV adventure.

Lloyd left Mesquite last Fall to experience life in the Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico. He had designs on relocating to Merida, the regional capital, but ended up in Progreso, which is on the Caribbean coast. I think that he bought his home there because it was near the sea and his girlfriend, Juanita, wasn’t too keen on the oppressive inland heat and humidity. Also, he got a good deal on a 2,400 s.f. home with pool.

Juanita’s visa ran out and she left Mexico to see her daughters and grandkids in S. Africa and Australia, as I understand. Lloyd is uncertain right now about when/how they will hook up next, whether in Mexico, S. Africa, or wherever.

Lloyd is going to stay with us for a while. He needs to run up to Reno and see his 91-year-old mother in a week. Then, I think, he intends to rent a house here in Mesquite until he figures out what his next adventure will be. I know he is going to renew his Mexican residency permit… just in case he wants to go back.

After leaving Mexico, Lloyd went to Costa Rica for several weeks to visit some old friends that live in San Jose and do some hiking and exploration of the rainforest. He noted that it was extremely humid there, even when it wasn’t raining and even when he was indoors. However, he enjoyed the tropical atmosphere and the brightly-colored parrots and such that adorned the forests.

Lloyd has shared a few stories about his experiences south of the border. He had some problems with his cell phone service, Internet, WiFi, vendors doing work on his home, and such. He doesn’t seem deterred, and there might be a place in Mexico for him.

I think he would like Puerta Vallarta, personally; he thinks it would be too expensive, but the guy has plenty of dinero to live on and the weather is much nicer on the Pacific coast. Juanita would LOVE it there.

Our son Jeff and wife Carol just sold their home in Murrieta. They bought it about 20 years ago and paid it off recently, so the $709K that they got from it will come in handy.

Jeff and Carol are in their mid-Fifties but are planning to quit their jobs in December and go into RV’ing full time. They have purchased a Jeep Cherokee Trail Hawk and a used motorhome, which they plan on living in for the next six months. After that, they may sell the motorhome and purchase a more road-worthy Class A.

Their biggest challenge right now will be finding places in Southern California to stay in their motorhome when they are not working. Jeff intends to do a lot of scouting for temporary “boondocking” sites where they can stay a night or so, and then go to an RV park to dump waste, refill tanks, and clean up every so often.

It will be a Third World existence for a while, but those two are resourceful and will somehow make it happen, I’m sure. But, they’re in for a learning experience doing the boondocking thing: I hope all of the old parts in the RV hold up for six months.

We’re in that odd time of year where it will be 100 degrees one day and 85 degrees the next. Soon, probably in a few weeks, the temperature will be 90 to 100 all of the time with some windy days thrown in. It’s definitely growing season for our landscaping; everything is looking perky now.

Lloyd, Mac, and I hiked out along the base of Flat Top Mesa on Thursday. There is some 80-year-old guy who has been doing desert sculpture work out there for the past couple of years using rocks and his own sweat. He’s built some impressive trails, wagon wheels, and other interesting stuff… all by himself. That’s a lot of drudgery for an old codger. Wow, I’m impressed.

By the way, there’s always some busybody who can’t stand it when an artist does something cool like this in public space. Just down the road from this guy’s desert artwork there are the road cut areas where another bored desert dweller did the beautiful sculptures of Mt. Rushmore, Charlie Brown and friends, the Statue of Liberty torch, etc. that I mentioned in a previous blog. Really cool stuff by a talented fellow on sandstone that is crumbling away each year from wind, rain, and time. No harm to anyone and a real cool thing to happen by.

Sometime between today and last week, local city officials felt it necessary to ban this guy from doing this beautification project. We saw signs today prohibiting such activity. What a shame!

Don’t we have bigger problems to solve than this?

I visited my optician yesterday for my annual check-up. My eyesight remains about the same (crummy) which requires me to wear several pairs of glasses for reading, watching TV, and driving/golfing/hiking in the sun. The doc recommended that I get lens replacement surgery, supposedly paid for by Medicare, and is going to refer me to the same ophthalmologist that did Charlie’s cataract surgeries. I will talk to the guy, but I don’t want to spend a lot of money on this: I can keep doing the glasses thing until I croak and probably save dough.

Lloyd is living with us right now in the guest room, so the dogs have someone else to bug and we get to play cards in the evening, have some drinks, and shoot the bull.

It’s nice to have him back.

We got a very welcome surprise this week when my sister Claudia and husband Ted dropped by to see us for a few days.

They live in Temecula, California just a few miles from Bear Creek (Murrieta), where we lived for thirty years prior to coming to Mesquite, Nevada. It’s about a six-hour drive from there, which Claudia and Ted broke up with a stop in Las Vegas for the night.

They stayed at the Trump International Hotel which, according to Claudia, was bright and shiny but had lousy service, pretty much in keeping with the Trump brand.

After a good meal and an evening of catching up on family news, the four of us spent most of the next day in St. George, Utah. Charlie and two medical appointments there and I had the chance to chauffeur our guests around town.

They hadn’t seen the Virgin River Gorge, which is in Arizona en route to St. George, and were suitably impressed. It’s like driving a car through the Grand Canyon: very dramatic. I never get tired of the commute to St. George because the drive is a feast for the eyes.

Our first destination in St. George was an estate sale. Claudia and Ted go to these all of the time and find all manner of treasures. They found this one on the Internet: it was a three-storied house that was jammed-packed with stuff. The man of the house had been a handy guy, a hobbyist, a photographer, and a collector. Claudia and Ted know exactly what they’re looking for and didn’t find anything that excited them. I bought seven good-as-new tools from the guy’s garage and only spent $5.

After dropping Charlie off at her doctor’s, I took Claudia and Ted up to Snow Canyon to see the Tuacahn Performing Arts facility.

Tuacahn is a small-time version of the Red Rocks amphitheater in Colorado, where the stage is in a red rock canyon and the music and lights bounce off the sandstone walls at night.

Charlie and I have never had the chance to see a show there but it’s on my bucket list.

We took a photo looking down into the amphitheater and some of the self-absorbed performers, wearing street clothes and doing a walk-through, got all upset that we were watching them and shouted, “No photos! Delete that photo from your cell phone!”

Sure, I’ll delete it right after I post this blog.

Back in Mesquite, the four of us went down the road a mile or so to a badlands area where some local artist has been sculpting stuff in the sandstone cliffs for the past year or so.

Later that day, the four of us had dinner at the Golden West Casino/Bar (delicious hamburgers, but I had the Chicken Fried Chicken) and then we went over to the Casablanca Casino/Hotel for some gambling.

We lost, of course.

In the evening, we all sat on the couch and watched YouTube videos of big rig truck accidents and boat ramp launch failures. Lots of “Oh, Shit!” moments and laughing at imbeciles who shouldn’t get in a boat, let alone own one.

The boating stuff reminded Claudia and I of our youth, when we always had a nice ski boat and how skilled my Mom and Dad were at the boat ramps that we visited. It also reminded me of the time that my brother Terry and I saw a Class A motorhome submerged up to the roof at the launch ramp down in Long Beach: the doofus had launched something but had ventured too far down the mossy, slippery concrete ramp and had paid the price.

It’s a funny thing: one must obtain a license to drive a car but nothing is required to own and operate a trailered vehicle or captain a boat.

Nothing but machismo.

Anyway, Charlie and I and the pooches had a great two days with my Sis and her guy and can hardly wait to see them again, probably in Southern California during the Fall.

Charlie and I just concluded a wonderful seven-day RV vacation with our good friends, Dan and Peggy Quinn.

It was an unusual vacation in that we never left our home city of Mesquite, Nevada!

The Quinns were just starting their annual RV road trip, which will take them from Yuma, Arizona all the way east to Stone Mountain, Georgia and then back to Yuma for the Winter. They had to pass through Las Vegas to pick up parts, so they decided to stay at the Sun Resorts RV Park in Mesquite for a week.

We had originally planned to vacation in Kanab, Utah with our kids (Jeff and Carol) for a few days and then spend the rest of the week with the Quinns at the Sun Resorts park. However, Jeff and Carol couldn’t make it, as their home in Southern California sold with a 21-day escrow. So, we decided to park the rig at Sun Resorts for the whole week and party with the Quinns.

Unfortunately (or fortunately!) we experienced crummy weather: very windy for several days and then quite toasty for several more. Luckily for the partygoers, our home was about 5 minutes from the RV park. So, we spent most of the vacation relaxing at our digs and very little time in the RV.

Dan is a master BBQer and he brought his mini Big Green Egg grill over to the house, where we cooked up Beef Tenderloins one night and Pork Country Ribs on another night. The eating orgy also included a visit to Samurai 21 Steakhouse one evening, Golden West Casino and Bar on another, the 1880 Grille one afternoon, and a visit to Los Lupes Mexican restaurant on another day. In between, Dan made the most delicious pepperoni pizza on his little BGE.

Needless to say, our diet was blown on this staycation and lots of alcohol was consumed.

Dan and Peggy are the proud owners of one Boston Terrier, “Katie”, who is the cutest little dog.

Our three Boston Terriers (Baby, BonBon, and Vinnie) took turns annoying, playing with, and bitey-facing little Katie during her stay. The four of them wore out several “indestructible” toys while having a great vacation of their own.

On Sunday, the four of us watched the NASCAR race from Kansas together in the living room. Dan and Peggy bet on these weekly races, and Dan won. Charlie and I learned more about NASCAR than we probably needed to but enjoyed the spectacle and the camaraderie with the Quinns, who are AVID race fans.

For our part, we introduced the Quinns to a dominoes game called “Spinner”, which we played numerous times. They seemed to enjoy it, so I gave them the game as a going-away present to be used while they are on their six-month jaunt.

We love those Quinns and are looking forward to a RV staycation at their property in Yuma at Christmastime.

We Americans enjoy many freedoms that citizens of many other countries do not. America is  “the Land of the Free”, as the saying goes.

It is nice to have freedom, for sure. However, with freedom comes responsibility.

The Constitution of the United States, specifically the Bill of Rights, enumerates some of the freedoms that we enjoy. The 1^st and 2^nd Amendments lay out, in sparse detail, those some key freedoms that we cherish.

The Founding Fathers knew what they were talking about at that point in the Nation’s history, and they had no way of knowing that their new republic would change in a million ways over the coming centuries. Had they possessed a crystal ball, they might have crafted those Bill of Rights (and the entire Constitution) differently.

Anticipating a changing Nation and the application of laws, the Constitution included a Judicial Branch of government to interpret our rights as America morphed beyond the initial thirteen colonies and as society and the economy changed.

The First Amendment guarantees Americans freedom of speech, the press, assembly and the right to petition the Government for redress of grievances. Basically, those were the freedoms that our Nation’s settlers didn’t enjoy under British rule, resulting in dissatisfaction and, eventually, causing the Revolutionary War.

Those are our most cherished rights, the ones that changed us from Kings’ subjects into participants in a democracy.

The freedom of speech allows us to say what’s on our mind, in private and in public, about society and government. “Free Speech” is not absolute, however, as the Supreme Court has determined that, for example, one cannot yell, “Fire!”, in a crowded theatre when there is no danger present, causing a stampede that might injure innocent people. The Supreme Court has also determined that inciting a riot or lynch mob is not a reasonable exercise of free speech, because innocent people can be harmed.

The Court has also ruled that individuals possess a right not to be subjected to falsehoods that impugn their character via slanderous (oral) or libelous (written) statements.

The Court’s guiding principle, over the centuries, was that “free speech” which harms innocent citizens is not, or may not, be protected by the 1^st Amendment. You may say nasty things about my wife in private, but if you insult her publicly, in front of me, juries have found that I have the right to beat your ass. In fact, one of the Founding Fathers, Alexander Hamilton, was shot to death in a duel by Aaron Burr over perceived libelous comments… and was not prosecuted.

Of course, the Founding Fathers never anticipated anything like the Information Age, where facts and falsehoods are virtually indistinguishable, information and misinformation can be disseminated instantaneously all over the world in a few seconds, and the originator of such information can remain unknown or, worse, portrayed as someone who had nothing to do with the statement (i.e. a “false flag” dirty trick).

We live in a country right now where we are flooded by devious and hurtful “free speech” which is destroying our society. Social media and broadcast media are being used to confuse people, inflame tense situations, incite angry mobs, and gain notoriety for psychopathic individuals.

This is our precious “free speech” at work, and government and society seem to be powerless to regain control of civility in America.

Just the other day, a deranged 18-year-old fellow, influenced by hateful conspiracy theory rubbish on social and broadcast media, gunned down 13 citizens in Buffalo, New York. He live-stream broadcasted his proud accomplishment on Twitch (a social media platform) and it was later determined that he had planned this attack on predominantly African American grocery shoppers well in advance, having prepared a 180-page manifesto for public consumption that rationalized his defense of “White” America.

Unfortunately, this massacre was only the latest such hate crime perpetrated in the United States: there have been many in the past couple of decades.

Not coincidentally, this has also been the period when cable broadcast news (primarily Fox News) has become a bully pulpit for conspiracy theories, denigration of blocs of human beings, use of hate tropes, and partisan support of political candidates and parties. The product that prime-time Fox News disseminates is not “news” but entertainment and propaganda.

Enormous and un-paid-for Fox News promotion coupled with the soapbox offered by social media giant Twitter, basically enabled the successful Trump for President campaign in 2016. Following the campaign, Fox News became the mouthpiece for the Trump Administration and Fox News personalities became the de-facto Press Secretaries and chief advisors to Mr. Trump. The President spent less of his time presidenting than Tweeting lies, slanders, and tropes designed to excite his political base.

This situation is undoubtedly not what the Founding Fathers had in mind when they included “freedom of the press” in the 1^st Amendment. The press was, at that time, composed of regular citizens/businessmen/amateur journalists who brought to light goings on in society and in government. It was thought that a strong press, keeping tabs on our elected officials, was critical to a working democracy. For the first two hundred years of this country, the press was considered “The Fourth Estate” of our republic, an essential component along with the Executive, Legislative, and Judicial branches of government.

The role of the Fourth Estate was to keep government honest.

We now have broadcast media using their “free speech” freedom to editorialize on political matters, disseminate misinformation, distribute conspiracy theories, incite anger and hate, help elect political candidates, and act as a cheerleader and prop for the Executive Branch of government.

The hateful stuff in the Buffalo pyschopath’s manifesto is remarkably similar to the filthy conspiracy theories and hateful racism that has been promulgated by Fox News over the past couple of decades.

Amazingly, in today’s world, this kind of “journalism” seems to be acceptable under current interpretation of free speech and freedom of the press… even though it is designed to be hurtful and inflammatory, things that the American judicial system have ruled for two hundred years to be not covered by freedoms granted under the 1^st Amendment.

The 2^nd Amendment to the Constitution guarantees American citizens the freedom to keep and bear arms (i.e. weapons). This freedom was considered essential back in the late 18^th century as the new republic had just weathered a war with Britain, who knows when they might come back to reclaim the former colonies, and guns would be needed to tame the primitive American frontier. In addition, there was the possibility that the experiment with democracy wouldn’t pan out, an authoritarian government would emerge, and that local and state militias might have to be reconstituted to reclaim citizen freedoms.

These were good reasons for the 2^nd Amendment protections.

Of course, America became a great nation, the frontier was settled, and the United States now has, by far, the strongest military in the world. The need for each household to possess deadly weapons is thereby diminished manyfold.

The biggest problem we have now with the 2^nd Amendment is the proliferation of deadly weapons in our country, stimulated by the scare tactics of the arms industry (the National Rifle Association). The constant drumbeat of NRA propaganda, and the support of politicians who get campaign funds from the NRA, has resulted in an America that is armed to the teeth, with more than one gun per capita. That is far more than any industrialized country in the world.

Not surprisingly, we have more gun violence here, too. Typically, it is familial blood being shed, either through suicide or via arguments between husband, wife, and children that escalate into fatal incidents. We also see gun violence occurring between street gangs and criminals. More often, non-family gun violence is Black on Black, Brown on Brown, or White on White.

The least common occurrence is gun violence where the criminal is attacking a stranger. However, this is the nightmare that the NRA uses to scare people into acquiring guns for their household protection.

Why? Probably so that the gun manufacturers can sell more guns.

Skeptical? In the United Kingdom (those guys that we gained independence from), gun ownership is less than 5 per 100,000 people; in the United States, it is 120 per 100,000 people. In 2017, there were almost 11,000 deaths from gun crime in the U.S., while only 33 in the U.K.

The inescapable conclusion: more guns equals more gun violence.

What the Founding Fathers never anticipated was the lethality of weapons that we have now nor the ability of young people to possess same. It is now common for gun enthusiasts, criminals, and psychologically-impaired individuals to possess weapons that can kill scores of people in seconds. These military-grade weapons were designed for one purpose: to kill human beings easily and quickly. They are not built this way for hunting game: what kind of “sport” would that be?

It is possible, and even legal, for very young people to get their hands on such weapons and, because of their immaturity, raging hormones, and bad judgment, do stupid and impulsive things… like shoot people with guns.

Oftentimes, these young adults, who are not of a legal age to own a gun, use one of their parents’ weapons, have a friend provide them with one, or use fake I.D. in the purchase. In some locales, it is easier for a teenager to acquire a semi-automatic weapon that score a dime bag of marijuana.

Did the Founding Fathers intend for teenagers to easily “keep and bear” military-grade weapons? It is doubtful.

By the way, what are the “arms” that we have the freedom to possess? The general definition would be weapons. The N.R.A. and gun rights advocates feel that the 2^nd Amendment freedom is absolute and should allow citizens to openly carry lethal weapons. That certainly wasn’t the practice in the 13 original colonies, and only in Western movies did every guy in town adorn himself with a holstered gun.

Does “arms” include military-grade weapons? How about hand grenades? How about rocket propelled grenades? Bazookas? Flame throwers? Bouncing Bettis and Claymore mines?

The Buffalo teenager/psychopath/doofus was wearing military tactical clothing including bulletproof armored vest and helmet.

Do the gun rights advocates who advocate Constitutional Carry (unlimited ability to be armed anywhere and anytime) believe that they should be able to be so attired and armed when they enter a school, bank, police station, court, or Capitol building?

Can you imagine passing a guy outfitted and strapped like this on the sidewalk in your neighborhood? I would be afraid to look him in the eye, smile, smirk, fart, or belch lest he take offense and lay waste to me.

Maybe that’s the point of the gun rights folks: they want to be bullies, making ordinary people afraid of them?

We live in a very scary time when a large bloc of Americans insists on its freedom to say and do whatever it wants, including intimidating and harming other Americans.

This is not what our Founding Fathers had in mind when they declared the unalienable rights of “Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness”.

Prices of consumer goods and home mortgage rates are going up, stock prices are going down, and the unemployment rate is at an all-time low of 3.6 percent.

What’s going on? What’s next?

I’m no economist, that’s for sure, so I’m just spitballing here: I think there are at least three forces at work right now which are unsettling the economy.

First, the global energy market is disrupted because of the war in the Ukraine. Russia is a major energy provider, and many nations (particularly N.A.T.O. members) are boycotting Russian exports as a way of sanctioning that nation’s aggression. So, there is the normal demand for energy which temporarily must be supplied by one less energy-supplying nation. In essence, there is a bidding war for petroleum right now which is causing energy costs to go up.

Energy costs certainly impact transportation, but energy is also required to produce just about every consumer product. Hence, costs of everything are higher now than before the Ukraine war.

President Biden is taking it in the neck for the high inflation right now (around 8 percent this month), but other countries are experiencing it, too. The U.K. is 7%, Italy is 7%, Germany is 7.6%, Mexico is 7.45%, India is 6.95%, and Brazil is 11.3%, to mention a few other countries.

It wouldn’t matter who was President right now, as the White House doesn’t control global oil prices and certainly didn’t start the war in Ukraine.

Secondly, there is the undeniable fact that the “sugar high” from the Covid-19 economic stimulus programs is wearing off. All of that “free” money that was hastily printed by Trump and Biden and shipped out into the economy had the effect of raising prices (stocks and real estate, in particular).

Third, is the changing Federal Funds rate (the interest rate that banks charge each other), which helped to supercharge the economy out of the 2008 Great Recession. That rate has been practically zero in recent years, encouraging investors to speculate on stocks using borrowed money and stimulating home purchases via very low mortgage interest rates.

The Federal Reserve, a bit late to the party but now fully-engaged in controlling inflation, is steadily raising the Fed funds rate. Almost immediately, the stock market got a downward jolt and home mortgage rates, which were at around 3 percent last year, have now climbed to around 6 percent for a 30-year fixed rate mortgage. On a $500,000 loan, that difference translates to an additional $800 per month payment.

Many households will be priced out of the home buying market because of this, and we can expect rental housing to see prices increases accordingly. New home building starts will decline, resulting in layoffs in that sector of the economy.

Of course, the Fed Funds rate increase will also have an upward impact on consumer credit card rates, which will stifle consumer spending accordingly.

Maybe that’s not such a bad thing, as Americans tend to buy more crap (on credit!) than they actually need.

But those very spendaholics will hold it against the Biden Administration and the Democrats… because they can’t afford that new speedboat that they wanted.

I would expect the Republicans to mercilessly hammer the Democrats about the crappy economy during the mid-term election campaigns, pretending that the world is going into the shitter because of bad Biden mojo.

That’s what the Democrats did when “Trump’s” unemployment rate hit 15 percent in 2020. It was true, technically, but that aberration was caused by a global pandemic.

Who said politics is fair?

Or, rational?

We once had a President who claimed that his Administration had a novel Coronavirus pandemic “under control” and that it was only impacting “five people, maybe only one guy”. There was “no need to worry”, “it’s only the flu”, and “it will go away in the Spring” that President told us on TV.

One million Americans have died thus far from Covid-19, more deaths than the United States has suffered in all the wars that it has fought.

Who ever said “presidenting” was easy?

The same guy who said, in 2016, that he would probably not play much golf while President, because he would be “so busy working hard for Americans”.

Yeah, politics is a strange business.

Both it and the economy are going to get very weird this year.

It seems like every month or so Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) feels compelled to call for the forgiveness of student loan debt.

Sounds like a good idea to me. By the way, while you’re at it, Senator, how about forgiving mortgage loan debt as well? And then, could you add consumer credit card debt to the list, too?

Who wants to owe money to anyone? I know I don’t.

That’s probably why I try not to “live large” on borrowed money. No brand-new car every couple of years, no boats, no fancy clothes, no Harley, and no $100 cigars. Living within your means is the prudent way to go about life.

Nobody forces anyone to attend a pricey university. It is a choice that can come with a long-term commitment to pay back a huge amount of borrowed money. Graduates from elite universities, like the Ivy League schools, have whopping student loan debt, perhaps a much as ten times that owed by graduates of State colleges. Should we, as a Nation, forgive the education cost of these future lawyers, doctors, MBA’s, and politicians who are going to earn a lot of money very fast when they go to work? Actually, these high achievers can afford those loans.

A more economical choice would be going the junior college route, then finishing up your Bachelor’s Degree at a relatively inexpensive State school.

Or getting an online education.

Or foregoing college all together.

Lots of successful people don’t have pricey college degrees. Among them: Steve Jobs (Apple), Mark Zuckerberg (Facebook), Bill Gates (Microsoft), Tiger Woods (Golf), Henry Ford (Ford Motor Company), Brad Pitt (Actor), Jack Dorsey (Twitter), Ellen Degeneres (TV host), Ralph Lauren (Polo), Rachel Ray (Culinary Arts), Steven Spielberg (Movie Director), David Neeleman (JetBlue), Harry S. Truman (President), Dave Thomas (Wendy’s), Paul Allen (Microsoft), Frank Lloyd Wright (Architect), Lady Gaga (Entertainer), Michael Dell (Computers), Kim Kardashian (Lifestyle), R. Buckminster Fuller (Architect), Ted Turner (Media Mogul), Anna Wintour (Vogue), Larry Ellison (Oracle), Russell Simmons (Def Jam Recordings), David Geffen (DreamWorks), and John D. Rockefeller (Standard Oil).

As a matter of fact, none of those successful people graduated from any college. Business Insider reported recently that nearly one-third of the world’s billionaires in 2016 didn’t graduate from college.

Heck, Abraham Lincoln had less than 12 months of formal education. However, he absorbed a lot of life education which translated into wisdom.

The bottom line is that one doesn’t need to borrow-and-buy success through an expensive college education. If you’re eager to learn, work hard, and take advantage of opportunities that come your way, good things will happen. (And, having good ideas helps, too.)

A very bad idea, I think, is borrowing heavily to attend a prestigious 4-year university “on the come”, figuring that your pricey degree will pay for itself and then some. For one thing, only 41.2 percent of college enrollees actually graduate, so you might not get that prestigious sheepskin even after sinking a lot of money into the quest. Secondly, in 2019, the median annual income for bachelor’s degree holders was $44,000, while it was $30,000 for high school graduates. Over the long haul, yes, the college graduate is going to make somewhere between $500,000 and $900,000 more during his working career. But, in the short term, making only $14,000 per year “extra”, life would be difficult if the graduate was burdened by student loans.

This is probably what has been happening in recent decades as college education costs have skyrocketed. Those who chose to attend expensive universities on borrowed money are struggling, particularly with the Covid-19 pandemic barely in our rearview mirror.

Should we help them out of their self-induced economic hardship? Uh, why should we? They chose to go this route, they used “other people’s money” to finance their extravagant education, and they have an obligation to reimburse their lenders. Is it any different from Joe Sixpack who can’t afford decent clothes for his children but has a big, shiny speedboat parked in the driveway? Should we forgive his boat loan when he loses his job or gets bored waterskiing?

Nah.

Sometimes I think that, as a country, we’re looking at this “problem” from the wrong angle. Education “is” the future. However, pricey higher education is THE problem. If educational costs were cut way back, then there would be fewer student loan defaults.

There is no reason that higher education can’t be accomplished remotely. Sure, there would be no football games, no fraternities, no living in dorms and getting shitfaced on weekends, etc. However, for those who want to learn, the sky’s the limit when it comes to online opportunities: you get what you put into it. Perhaps there could be an online United States University, offering college courses for free? As recent events have demonstrated, we need more smart people in America.

Back when I was younger, junior college and even State college education was affordable to all in California. I’m sure my 4-year degree from Cal State Los Angeles cost me somewhere between $5,000 and $10,000. I paid as I went, working part-time for $1.25 per hour. Sure, times have changed and costs have gone up, but shouldn’t it be a goal of society to educate our children as fully as we can?

As a Nation, we can afford to give other countries billions of dollars in foreign aid, so why can’t we afford to subsidize higher education in this country? Young men and women who have the brains and desire to learn should be encouraged to take that ambition as far as they can. “Higher education” in this sense includes all levels of learning beyond public school. If someone aspires to be a chef, or a carpenter, or a diesel mechanic, or a computer repair guy, the education should be paid for by society, which will then be repaid in economic vitality.

Our Federal budget includes $714 billion for Defense, which is more than the next-ranking seven countries combined. China, for example, spends about one-third that of the U.S. Our per capita spending on defense is around $2,000 per year for every man, woman, and child in America.

At the same time, we have about 1 million students going to college each year, paying their way or borrowing money to do so. (And, probably another million young people attending tech schools to learn a trade.)

If we lowered our Defense budget by $10 billion (less than 1.5 percent), and put that money toward higher education, each of those students would be entitled to $5,000 in education credit.

It would be the second-coming of the G.I. Bill. That Federal program created “The Greatest Generation” and put men on the Moon.

So, do we need more submarines in this country or do we need more smart people?

I’d go with the latter.

We really enjoy living here in Mesquite, Nevada: the air is fresh, not much traffic, no crime, and the scenery is beautiful.

Our little city of 20,000 people, astride Interstate 15, features the 500’ Flat Top Mesa on the west, the 8,000’ Virgin Peak on the east, Casablanca Hotel and Casino at the south end of town, and the Eureka Casino Resort and Virgin River Hotel and Casino at the north end of town. We also have eight golf courses, a WalMart, a hospital, an Ace Hardware, a huge discount liquor store, and the Deep Roots Harvest (Marijuana) Dispensary.

The latter two facilities keep the circumspect southern Utah Mormons supplied with mind-altering chemicals.

What else does one need?

Well, for one thing, nice places to eat. Other than the decent steakhouses inside the Eureka and Casablanca casinos, the Samurai 21 teppanyaki restaurant, and a couple of Thai joints, it’s a gastronomical desert out here in the desert.

We could really use a Black Bear Diner.

Our good friends Dan and Peggy Quinn are coming to visit us, and I know they like to go to bars, have a drink and some bar food, and meet locals. So, we’ve been doing some scouting around, in advance, to identify a few watering holes for our friends.

They might try the 1880 Grille up at the Conestoga Golf Course. There’s a sports bar inside and a patio with great views on the outside.

There’s also Wedgies, a sports bar on Pioneer Boulevard. It can get noisy in there, as it is a favorite of golf groups after a round at Falcon Ridge or the Oasis courses.

Another place for a drink, snacks, and a great view is the Terrace Restaurant at the Wolf Creek Golf Course clubhouse.

Yesterday, we tried a dusty old casino/bar on Mesquite Boulevard called the “Golden West”. It is right across the street from City Hall and just north of the local museum. Word has it that the hamburgers there are the best in town, so we thought we’d give it a shot.

I got the Classic burger. It was about 4″ thick, a monster of a burger, and pretty good. Charlie’s Golden West burger was better, though: if I was to come back, I’d order that one. It had all kinds of goodies in it sandwiched between two pieces of grilled sourdough. Excellent, it was. With our drinks and tip we were out about $33.

As I mentioned, this old joint also features a sports bar and a mini-casino. We decided to play some video poker at the bar afterward. I shot my $20 pretty fast, as did Charlie. She decided to play another $20, so the little “date” at the Golden West was going to set us back a total of about $93.

I went outside to take a couple of photos of the old dive. Interestingly, it is one of the oldest buildings in Mesquite, having once been a “tithing lot” for the Mormon Church back in the 1890’s. Farmers would do their tithe to the Church in produce.

Nowadays, in Nevada, tithing (to the State) takes place at the slot machines.

I returned to the bar to find my wife with a big smile: she had hit four Aces for 450 credits ($112.50) !!! Yay, I love that girl, always providing for the family.

Anyway, we walked away from the Golden West with a net profit of about twenty bucks.

We highly recommend this bar: free food.