A Night On The Town

I have written before about Las Vegas politics, Oscar "Thumbs" Goodman and ethics in general in Nevada. Things happen out here for the same basic reasons as back East. Money, power and sex dominate it's just a bit more so out west.

In typical Las Vegas fashion we have a politician who wants to come back from Washington as a Representative and run for Governor. I have wondered if he is leaving Washington one step ahead of the sheriff or if there is more money to stick to his fingers in Nevada or both.

He came here for a televised debate (he is from Reno by the way) with Dina Titus (who had our vote to begin with) and went out trolling after leaving the studio. He had the same motives as my Red Rock Tarantula (see the Blog below) but he didn't get girl and he didn't get away either.

A bit of flirting while partying in a high end restaurant followed by some kind of an encounter has created a media feeding frenzy. You can follow it on-line if you want at the conservative Review Journal or the liberal Las Vegas Sun

I doubt that we will ever know what really happened but I do know what Gibbons has said in response to the media. Today he is quoted as saying "As a nearly 30-year member of our nation's military, I try to present myself as an officer and a gentleman, and my actions that night were consistent with that practice." If this bozo thinks I am impressed by his standards as an officer and a gentleman he is sorly out of touch. Torture coverups, murder in Iraq, sexual harassment in the military, service academy scandals and high government conduct have left me way beyond this kind of claim.

All other conduct aside there is no dispute that as a public official walking a drunken person to their car is not a good idea.

The best quote of the affair, for a politician was yesterday, "gosh, I learned an important lession, never to offer a helping hand to anyone again."

Boy oh boy, that just makes me want to be a constituent of his. And that's enough about Nevada politics.

Bob

A Day in Oak Creek Canyon

I decided to take a walk in Red Rock Canyon this morning and climb up Oak Creek.

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It was still dark when I left Lugo Street and just breaking dawn when I got to the entrance to Red Rock. I noticed a car full of climbers in front of me at the entrance booth. Climbers can always spot climbers but in this case the tipoff was a car full of gear featuring helmets and the guys in the back seat were reading a topo map.

I stopped to take a dawn picture of the strip (from about 20 miles away) and check out a waterfall that I thought might have water, it didn't.

I was up early enough that not everybody in the park was awake.

By the time I actually got to Oak Creek, the climbers were ahead of me so I found them on the rock. I stuck around and got out the telephoto and tripod. Later I left a note on their car to email me for the pictures.

This is the time of the year when the serious climbers come out. The heat of the summer sun is gone and they can climb all day.

They were nice to watch and moved with ease.

Walking out in time to be home for lunch I discovered I discovered I was not as alone as I thought. A solitary Tarantula was on his way to lunch also. Well actually he was out looking for a date also.

This is the season when the big guys come out and move around in the daytime. During the hot months they hunt at night. Now they are out looking for female company (who says Las Vegas is a family entertainment town) during the day. In the summer I saw nothing but burrows and webs.

This guy did not like the flash on the camera and after 3 shots he dove under a rock.

Like the Black Widow, if this guy actually finds a receptive female, he will use a bit of hypnotysm to calm the her before impregnating her and then he will run home as fast as he can (boy does this sound like Vegas or what) before the female can kill and eat him. Unlike the male Black Widow, he will be strong enough and fast enough to actually get away.

Always a suprise to be had and a lession to be learned in the City of Illusion.

Bob