There really is something rotten in the state of Nevada.
Gary Perea one of the most dynamic leaders in the fight to keep rural Nevada water in rural Nevada and not in some Las Vegas swimming pool was forced to resign and withdraw from his bid for a third term because the state gaming commission suddenly found out that he operated a small casino in Baker, Nevada.
Actually to call what Mr. Perea own a casino is a pretty big stretch.
There are probably more slot machines in Reno supermarket than there are at the Border Inn.
That is not to say the Border Inn is not a nice place.
We were there this summer and we had a great time.
We didn’t gamble because we don’t gamble but we had a great time.
A nice mix of meeting old friends, making new ones, talking water and astronomy.
And it is on his cozy little corner of the world that the state gaming commission came down on Mr. Perea like a load of bricks.
Perhaps he was in technical violation of the law, but come on now eight years?
EIGHT YEARS it took the gaming commission to discover he had a gaming license and was a county commissioner.
As Rene told Rick in Casablanca they were shocked, shocked that there was gambling going on.
In the movie that line brought laughs.
In reality it brings outrage.
If the law is used by the powerful to arrogantly rob the weak don’t be too surprised if the weak begin to look at extra legal means to seek redress.
We were pleased about the fall out from last week’s presidential debate as we wrote last year in August:
We admit that we always harbored a deep prejudice against Barack Obama from the moment we heard him in the 2004 Democratic convention. He gave a great speech no doubt about it, and we hate great speech makers.
Our prejudice against speech makers goes back to our days as high school debaters.
Debate is a competition between two teams who on a coin flip take on opposing sides for or against a resolution.
It is a game where there are winners and loses and like most games the differences between winning and losing is harder work and quicker wits than the other guys.
Debaters are a scruffy lot, part of that has to do with puberty, but part of it has to do with a love of a good fight.
All debaters love a good fight, they love working on an argument, they love zinging it to the other team and without exception they hate orators.
Oratory is another for lack of a better word competition held under the umbrella of high school forensics.
While debate necessitates hours of keeping up on the ever changing argument for and against an issue as the season goes on, orators pick their own topic write their own speech and give it again and again and again for the entire year. They tweek it here and there practice a lot in front of a mirror. They dress impeccably, usually have better voices and let’s be honest are usually much better looking than debaters. A good one can bring home just as many trophies as a good debater for about one tenth the amount of work and is luckier with the girls.
Debaters have one thing to cling to during those years of adolescent angst. Most successful politicians were debaters. Presidents like Reagan, Nixon, Kennedy and Johnson are counted in our number. Most orators end up in the toastmasters because there is more to running a country than looking and sounding pretty.
Until Barrack Obama that is.