Drought in the Desert – Go Figure

 I am what most people term a skeptic. When Al Gore told us the sky was falling, I looked for tangible evidence. After all, this is the same Al Gore who claimed to have invented the Internet. Okay, I’m still not convinced, but scientists on both sides of the issue make some very good points. That only adds to the confusion.

When Jerry Brown said we are in a drought, my initial reaction was, “humph, it’s dry but just how dry.” That’s when they started inundating us with data – the snowpack depth, annual rainfall numbers, and weather predictions. Again, “that doesn’t sound good, but I still get water when I turn on the tap. Don’t we have reservoirs to get us through dry years? ”

Then they cut the agricultural water to next to nothing. At that point, I began to take notice. Then they showed pictures of our reservoirs, or what might have been reservoirs at one time – pictures of small mud holes.

This week we were warned about the fines for water misuse. Okay, I’m convinced. We are in a drought.

Apparently, many are not yet convinced, though. I see water running in city streets, yards being flooded in the heat of the day, and driveways and sidewalks being watered like they are expected to die if not irrigated. Many of the offenders are government agencies and businesses.

On its website, Western Municipal Water District (WMWD) says that 60% of residential water use is for outdoors. Wow, think about it. Sixty percent of your water bill goes to keep your grass green and your exotic trees growing.

At our house, you won’t find grass – never wanted any – but we do have trees and bushes that we drip irrigate. The few flowers we have are drought tolerant and drip irrigated. Even with only that, our water bill is an outrage. I shudder to imagine what people with big lawns and exotic plants are paying each month for water.

For those of us living within the Western Municipal Water District service area, there is an opportunity to not only help the drought situation and save on your water bill, but you can even make money doing so. WMWD has a program that will pay you $2 per square foot to rip out all that nasty grass and replace it with “climate-appropriate landscaping.” Check it out at http://www.westernturfreplacement.com/.

Think about it. No more sweltering under the hot sun while mowing the lawn each week; no more fertilizing and worrying about crabgrass, dandelions, mustard or tumbleweeds; no more being tied down to your yard, while being held up on your water bill. You could be saving some 60% of your bill, AND get paid $2 per square foot to do it! Can you beat that?

An offer like that almost makes me wish I had grass to rip out. Nah, I hate mowing the lawn. Dirt, rocks and desert landscaping is more my thing. After all, we do live in a desert.

Hypocrisy thy name is Democrat

Remember the brouhaha over Sarah Palin’s crosshairs? In her 2011 campaign, she placed crosshairs over areas she wanted to target for increased Republican effort.

Well, you would have thought she was going to drop bombs on those areas the way the Lamestream media made it out. We heard nothing but criticism of the incident for weeks after.

Now we have a Democrat running for Congress in a Washington State district actually shooting a stuffed elephant with a shotgun! And what have we heard about this? Not much.

There is a YouTube video showing his campaign ad, and I found a piece from ABC News seemingly buried on the internet, but nothing like the weeks of “reporting” following Palin’s crosshairs incident.

Here is an excerpt from the ABC piece:

The video opened with Beltran posing in a high-desert landscape.

“They call me a long shot. They say I can't win in this district,” his voice-over says. “But what happens to an elephant when it stands around, doing nothing, for too long?”

The camera panned to an elephant piñata, and then back to Beltran, who blasted it in the backside with a pump-action shotgun.

“My name is Estakio Beltran,” he said. “And I approved this message.”

Beltran then rode off on a donkey toward a sign pointing toward the U.S. Capitol.

Apparently, at least one Democrat was offended by the ad. Former Arizona Congresswoman, Gabriel Giffords and her husband Mark have taken issue with Beltran, but not for targeting the symbol of the Republican party, for using a gun to do it.

Wow, I am amazed too! I didn’t thing anyone in one of the most liberal states would even have a gun, let alone a Democrat.

“The purpose of the video was to call attention to a do-nothing Congress in need of a kick in the butt,” campaign spokesman Grady O'Brien said in a statement emailed to The Associated Press.

Well I agree. But it is the Democrats that need a “kick in the butt.” Nancy Pelosi and the 70 Congressional card-carrying members of the Socialist Party of America need to be booted out of office at the very least.

Although Sarah Palin’s crosshairs incident was front-page news, a Democrat blowing apart the symbol of the Republican Party with a shotgun seems hardly worth mentioning by the major news outlets. Do you suppose that if he had used an AK47 we might have heard about it? I wonder whether he used environmentally friendly steel shot or that nasty old lead. Do you think his shotgun was registered? Did it use microstamping? Will this violent act promote more mass killing of elephants? And what about the donkey he rode off on; isn’t that animal cruelty? Where’s PETA when things like this happen?

We may never know the answer to these questions, since the incident won’t stir up a frenzy like having crosshairs on a map.