Vacation

I'll have new columns in September, barring compelling breaking news. In the meantime, enjoy the archives and use this as an open thread. The Front Page and Phoenix and Arizona will be updated daily.

 

Comments

[Ruben]

Space Force??

I'm guessing if the prez told Pence we were forming a Mole Army to combat the underworld forces at the center of the earth, we would soon thereafter see Pence at the podium with a pick and shovel.

[Cal Lash]

Enjoy Jon
I recall when Sonoran desert businesses used to close for the month of August .

In case you have not been here
or near the Wi:kchsawa
its Monsoon season. Arizona has four seasons.

https://www.bing.com/images/search?view=detailV2&ccid=elt6Gnkh&id=466E97F04C7B8132FE52E80BF33EFBF768CFCEA4&thid=OIP.elt6GnkhQdN6n-oSUqA5HAHaEK&mediaurl=http%3a%2f%2fp2.trrsf.com.br%2fimage%2ffget%2fcf%2f889%2f500%2fimages.terra.com%2f2014%2f02%2f14%2fstorm9.jpg&exph=500&expw=889&q=photos+of+a+summer+storm%EE%80%81+over+the+%EE%80%80superstition+mountains&simid=608000271606153639&selectedIndex=147&ajaxhist=0

https://www.bing.com/images/search?view=detailV2&ccid=kJJBJMK2&id=51DEF892D857DA2A4F038E368DCD254A715687AB&thid=OIP.kJJBJMK2GrFnW6Kd5Cm46gHaEv&mediaurl=http%3a%2f%2fpic20.picturetrail.com%2fVOL1373%2f6511424%2f21096662%2f407393662.jpg&exph=400&expw=625&q=photos+of+a+summer+storm%EE%80%81+over+the+%EE%80%80superstition+mountains&simid=608055251440501459&selectedIndex=3&ajaxhist=0

https://www.bing.com/images/search?view=detailV2&ccid=E2wY2utl&id=B0BAF6EC8E1AF3042FDB80297FD4E274B306B4AA&thid=OIP.E2wY2utleiZyoLb_LcU5RAHaE5&mediaurl=http%3a%2f%2fwheninyourstate.com%2fwp-content%2fuploads%2f2016%2f04%2fimages.fineartamerica.com_.jpg&exph=595&expw=900&q=monsoons&simid=608003673204850884&selectedIndex=56&ajaxhist=0

[Rogue Columnist]

New comment on the Retiring in Arizona column is you wish to weigh in.

[El Kabong]

I just read The Bomb Shelter and I thought it was terrific. Writing it must have required a lot of work. It would be a fine book even if I lived in Topeka but since I live in Phoenix there's the added pleasure of reading about places that I know (and in one instance a person).

[Rogue Columnist]

Thanks, El Kabong. It was the hardest book I ever wrote.

[Cal Lash]

El Kabong?
Is that you Phoenix Sun Fan
masquerading as ZorroThe Whip
also know as Quick Draw McGraw?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quick_Draw_McGraw

[Cal Lash]

Who are the Arizona Supreme Court Judges that just approved another fatal strangulation of Arizona ground water?
See todays Arizona Republic newspaper.

[Ruben]

Anyone who looks at the San Pedro river and associated ground aquifer and says , "sure it'll support another 7,000 housing units" is just plain loco or has been bought off. That simple.

Whiskey is for drinking, water is for fighting over.

[El Kabong]

"El Kabong?
Is that you Phoenix Sun Fan
masquerading as ZorroThe Whip
also know as Quick Draw McGraw?"

Alas, Cal Lash, no. I'm not that interesting.

[Cal Lash]

El Ka and a Bong sounds interesting!

[Cal Lash]

Forward to ADOT the Front Pages article on wider roads make for more congestion.

[Rogue Columnist]

New comments on the haboob column.

[Don Lowmiller]

Has anyone noticed this article in the Guardian?:

https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2018/aug/14/it-cant-get-much-hotter-can-it-how-heat-became-a-national-us-problem

Yes, I know that the Guardian is rated left of center:

https://mediabiasfactcheck.com/the-guardian/

Nevertheless, I know from personal experience that Phoenix is getting hotter. I grew up near the Arizona canal and 17th Ave. When I was a kid we wore jackets under our Haloween costumes. Try that now.

[Don Lowmiller]

My apologies to the Sunnyslope readers. I grew up near 17th Ave and the GRAND canal. My claim to the Arizona canal vicinity was a Freudian slip. I always thought that the Arizona canal had a much cooler name.

[Cal Lash]

Near Nelsons Pool

[Don Lowmiller]

Yes, near Nelson's Pool. This is the first I've seen it mentioned on this site. It was quite an institution. Very, very cold.

[Cal Lash]

Large intertubes, body builder the Rock and sun bather Razor Blades Legs Dedde among many other not so famous but fun loving kids. Dick Elardo and I still here.
Ole man Nelson died of cancer. Actually i thought the water at Encanto pool was coolder. Heres to the good times at the pools, swimming and water skiing in the canals and shoooting the flumes.

[Ramjet]

Nelson's pool was my office 51 to 56. The water was always cold because it came directly from the pump continuously. The water then flowed directly into the canal. No chemicals were ever added. Imagine that happening today.
They used to show movies at night. You don't want to know what went on in the kiddie pool during the movies.

[Cal Lash]

Sounds like time for a club meeting?

[Ramjet]

Set it up Cal

[Cal Lash]

How about Sunday the 26th at 1400 at Fair Trade at 1 ave and Roosevelt?

[Cal Lash]

Better at 1000 hours on Sunday.

[Ramjet]

That can work for me. See you then.

[Cal Lash]

Ok Ramjet but let me ck with others. And remind me what your email address is at [email protected]

[Cal Lash]

Coffee. There was someone else that wanted to come but i cant recall who. Maybe a guy from Tempe?

[100 Octane]

https://www.cnn.com/politics/live-news/john-mccain-death/index.html

[Ramjet]

I almost never agreed with John McCain's political positions.
I have always respected him as a man. He remained true to his principles at all times

America has suffered a great and unreplaceable loss.

Vaya con Dios mi amigo.

[El Nogalense]

There is certainly something to be said about the late John McCain being more "America's Senator" than "Arizona's Senator." I second Ramjet's comment on respecting McCain as a man and an individual, even if the majority of his political positions were objectively noxious to ordinary working people in Arizona and throughout the nation. The man was an institution and it was hard not to take pride in such a distinguished national leader "representing" our state, despite his shameful carpetbaggery.

The Phx New Times had an interesting story a few days ago on McCain's legacy in our dear state:

https://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/news/john-mccain-america-senator-arizona-obituary-10001670

I will never forgive McCain for his unabashed war-mongering over Iraq and the "Global War on Terror" - he had plenty of support for expenditures on those failed adventures but was quite the fiscal conservative when it came to the Zadroga 9/11 Health Compensation Act for 9/11 first responders when McCain opposed it for being another "entitlement program" and voting against it on different occasions.

http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/ailing-ground-zero-hero-sen-john-mccain-zadroga-bill-weaseling-article-1.469059#ixzz17FbhmZzZ

I also will not forgive him for encouraging anti-Mexican racism with his foolish comments in 2011 tying undocumented immigrants to the major fires the state faced on its eastern edges that summer.

http://www.cnn.com/2011/US/06/19/arizona.mccain.wildfire.claim/index.html

Still, it's a tantalizing question to imagine what would have happened if McCain had been the GOP nominee in 2000 and won the Presidential race that year. Warts and all, late 1990s/early 2000s McCain seemed like a thoughtful, nuanced leader and might have made for a great president, but it's hard to say with McCain being a consummate opportunist, err, "maverick," all throughout his career.

[Rogue Columnist]

I will write on McCain when I come back in September. I may lose friends but this hagiography needs to be knocked down.

[drifter]

Bravo Rogue

[Ruben]

Satan was wise to call Bishop O'Brien back home when all the attention is on McCain and Aretha. Satan still has legions of followers remaining in his church.

[Ramjet]

Rogue, Any friends you might lose for sharing your opinions. Are not "friends" and are better gone.

[Rogue Columnist]

A wonderful new comment on the comment about our lost department stores:

http://www.roguecolumnist.com/rogue_columnist/2017/12/phoenix-101-the-great-stores.html

[Cal Lash]

Yep, good post.

Note, above i said Arizona has 4 seasons when it in fact has five The Monsoon being a season.

Regarding Senator McCain. His most serious issue was being Human. I think he would have been as comfortable as a Senator in the Roman empire as he was here. Thats all im going to comment on about him out of respect for the "deceased" mans children as kids dont get to chose their parents.

August 30, 2014 was the day author Charles C Bowden left our community leaving a gaping hole in the universe.

[Cal Lash]

Last Sunday the Editorial board met at Fair Trade Coffee in "downtown" Phoenix and approved Jon's Rogue Columnist contract for another year. Absent was the indigenous native whose grandmother was scapled by a White man.

Ruben where artthou?

From Cal,hanging out in Willow

[Ruben]

Hope you had a quorum, otherwise Jon's new $100 million contract is on hold. He's worth as much as an NFL quarterback, don't you think?

[Rogue Columnist]

I thank the Editorial Board (I think).