Archive for December, 2011

Taxpayers roasting on an open fire …

Sunday, December 25th, 2011

Nation’s “Forests Are Severely Damaged By Marijuana Grow Sites,” reads the headline on the Dec. 7 press release from the U.S. Forest Service, datelined Washington, D&C. Marijuana cultivation sites in 20 states on 67 national forests “have caused severe damage,” said Forest Service director of law enforcement David Ferrell. In California alone, the Forest Service […]

`I’ll be home for Christmas, you can plan on me’

Saturday, December 24th, 2011

And now the bustling streets and malls fall strangely quiet. In many a home the living room rests ankle-deep in an effluvia of ribbons and bows, while in the background someone has left the TV running — Alastair Sim throws open his window on a bright and shining world for the 56th time, and asks […]

A doctrine ‘most false and unfounded’

Sunday, December 18th, 2011

America’s great national holiday is July 4 — celebrating the signing of the Declaration of Independence. But how long did that confederation of sovereign states, founded to fight the Revolution, really last?

Oh, those charmers at seterus Mortgage

Sunday, December 11th, 2011

Do you know who owns your mortgage? Wanna bet? In 2004, the nice New York couple who rented me my house decided to retire to San Diego instead of Las Vegas. They asked me if I wanted to buy. It sounded easier than moving. I asked the folks at my bank, then called Bank West […]

‘It’s not the bullets themselves, but they are bullet casings’

Sunday, December 4th, 2011

Did you read the interesting five-part series in last week’s Review-Journal on fatal shootings by local Las Vegas valley police. As ever, I’d urge folks to look not just at the 30 seconds leading up to gunfire, but to what goes on in the minutes or hours before.