Whether it was our lack of commitment to education, our inability to address an inequitable and unsustainable tax structure, our failure to pay for the kind of city infrastructure that turns a good place to live into a great one, or our singular lack of leadership at the highest levels of state government, it is easy to understand why sophisticated industries choose other states over Nevada to relocate or build.
Too bad most are still obsessing over this.
Harry came back to Nevada, the state that gave him birth amid the rough and tumble of a mining town replete with the vices commonly available in such places, to lay out a vision of a Nevada that no longer condones or approves of the practice of legal prostitution. It caused quite a stir.
The story, of course, went worldwide. It didn’t drown out the voices of freedom and whatever else the protesters are clamoring for in the streets of the Middle East, or the devastation in Christchurch, New Zealand. But it did provide some relief for people worried beyond measure that the world is about to blow up in our faces while we can’t seem to do much to stop it.
Oh, jeez. "Brothel-gate". This is just stupid. OK, so Harry Reid doesn't approve of the brothels. WHO FUCKING CARES??!!
(I usually reserve the cursing and caps lock for real fits of anger, and right now I'm getting angry.)
The brothels aren't going away. Rural legislators won't allow for that, and frankly I hope Clark and Washoe legislators will be too busy tackling real issues to spend time on the stupid bullshit.
While I wish Senator Reid hadn't gone there, the fact of the matter is that he wanted to and he just did it. And come on, we should all know by now that this is how Harry rolls.
In my humble opinion, what's really pathetic is that the entire rest of Senator Reid's speech to The Legislature was almost entirely ignored, and talk of governing as grown-ups was shelved as certain politicians and pundits engaged in boyhood fantasies as they blathered on and on and on about sex with prostitutes.
Never mind that certain Taliban-esque Washington politicians are out to waste time attacking women's right to access the health care they need. Never mind that budgets still need to be passed at the state and national levels. Never mind that there now looks to be a real grassroots uprising happening throughout the country demanding an end to the attack on workers that people finally started to realize when Wisconsin started making the headlines. And never mind that people here in Nevada might be doing the same tomorrow.
Nope, never mind all that. What matters is what Harry Reid thinks of prostitution. And Sharron Angle taking her journey of self-delusion to New Hampshire. And a whole bunch of meaningless pomp and circumstance. And all that jazz.
It's so easy for the media to obsess over the latest salacious scandal full of sex, money, passion, intrigue, and/or whatever else can sell ads. And it's so easy for us to fall into the trap of thinking any of that crap really matters.
So what really matters? Look around you. Notice the kids wondering how they can afford college? Notice the neighbors wondering how much longer they can pay the mortgage with no jobs available? And we're still fixated on the sideshow?
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