ARE HYBRID CARS WORTH THE TROUBLE?

A new 2010 Ford Escape with gas engine:  $20,515 
The hybrid version stickered for $31,500!

I read an article in either the Arizona Republic or the Phoenix Gazette in the early 1990s about a guy in this area converting his 1980s vintage Ford Escort from being gas powered to solar powered.

I remember he was a middle class guy who had an aptitude for that sort of thing and, although the car was comically ugly to look at, it would go about 100 miles on solar power.  I don’t know any other details other than in the picture it looked like a Rube Goldberg invention with those big panels on the roof.  It was ugly but effective and saved the guy some gas money.

In 1996, the EV-I electric car from General Motors emerged only to disappear after a couple years.  It was leased through Saturn dealerships and was well liked by many customers.  Eventually GM decided to get rid of them in spite of customer protests as they were considered unprofitable.  They called in all the leases and the cars were crushed.  GM obviously doesn’t screw around when they take a car off the market!

Fast forward to 2012 where the best the car companies can come up with in their green mentality are hybrids or electric cars like the Nissan Leaf and the Chevy Volt.  Since the Leaf and Volt are basically jokes, we’ll dispense of them quickly.  If you can get 100 miles range from them you are doing well. 

The cost is too much even with the extravagant rebates the feds offer.  The Volt’s battery weighs about 400 pounds and the car has been known to catch on fire.  At about $40,000 these heaps are grossly overpriced and not practical for Americans.  Strangely, under the Opel badge, the Volt is the car of the year in Europe.  It must be because of the shorter distances driven.

Much more popular for the green freaks are the hybrids but they have their minuses too in spite of what the showroom salesman may tell you.  They will rave about the gas mileage and in many cases, although not all, the hybrid will get better gas mileage than a standard gas powered engine.  However, because of the increased cost of a hybrid, anywhere from $2000 to $10,000, it takes a long time for it to pay off in savings from gas expense.  Repairs are also more expensive especially if the battery needs replacing.  That can cost in the $3,000 range.

An R. L. Polk survey shows that the Lincoln MKZ and the Toyota Prius were the only hybrids that saved owners money over a six year period.  However, that was based on gas costing $8 per gallon.  So, the green enthusiasts might say, “Yeah, but hybrids are good for the environment!”  Not necessarily since there are large batteries involved which can strain the environment if needed to be disposed.  Also, since manufacturing includes making two engines, the environment can be affected by that.  Since most of the work is still being done by the gas engine, the environment is still affected from exhaust although a bit less.

To sum up, I would not buy a hybrid.  I think the technology is too complicated with the two engines and many gas powered cars get as good if not better mileage without driving a contraption.  One test showed a BMW getting better mileage than a Prius.

For now, my gas powered Hyundai is looking pretty good.

OBAMA'S BUFFETT RULE IS "FRENCH PASTRY"

The king of income redistribution is at it again for the umpteenth time.  It’s not like we haven’t heard this “spread the wealth around” pitch from Obama before as he keeps pounding away at those darn rich people who dare to work hard to expand their businesses so we can have job growth through free enterprise and avoid the pitfalls of socialism.

How many times do we have to listen to this guy crab about the Buffett rule where big Warren pays taxes at a lower rate than his secretary?  I think he is out of ammunition and like the television shows, he is heading into his summer reruns.

It looks like his ideas about the economy and taking from the rich aren’t going over so well.  A current Washington Post /ABC News poll shows 44% endorsing Obama’s handling of the economy while 54% disapprove.  On the other hand, the same poll shows that 47% trust Romney with the economy over Obama who has 44%.  Never mind that Romney hasn’t been nominated or seriously campaigned yet.

According to columnist Charles Krauthammer, Obama is using the Buffet rule as a political ploy to gain acceptance by “pitting the 99% against the 1%.”  He is selling the idea of taking from the rich and giving to the poor.  He knows what his audience likes to hear.  “Obama does not know how to govern or is he a good president but he sure knows how to campaign” says Krauthammer.

The second method Obama uses to incite his base is that since the rich pay only a 15% capital gains tax, they are paying far less in taxes than others like the middle class.  Not so, says Charles.  He says that although the capital gains tax is 15%, it has been proven over the last half century that if you raise capital gains taxes the amount of money going into the treasury is actually less than if the tax is lower.

When asked in 2008 by Charles Gibson of ABC News if he would raise capital gains taxes even if it meant less revenue, Obama replied:  “Yes, in the name of fairness.”  Krauthammer says that Obama can’t run on his record and doesn’t have a vision for his second term, so why not run on fairness?”   Why not, indeed?  He isn’t going to balance the budget anyway.

According to Steve Hayes of The Weekly Standard, the Buffet rule would raise about the same amount of money in one year as the federal government accumulates in debt in a single day.  So, what is the big deal about the rich and the 15% capital gains?  The lower the taxes they pay, the more they can put back into their businesses to create jobs and more customers.   However, Obama tells his crowd that lower taxes on the rich mean the poor are being screwed.  Hence, his incorrect “fairness” spiel.

It doesn’t wash and even liberal writers like Dana Milbank of the Washington Post call the Buffett rule a “gimmick.”

As far as the rich not paying their fair share, here are some numbers from the Americans For Tax Reform:  PERCENT OF ALL TAX REVENUE:  Top 1%, $344,000+ income:  income tax, 39.5%, All Federal taxes, 28.1%.  Middle Quintile, $65,000 income:  income tax, 4.6%, All Federal taxes, 9.2%.

AVERAGE TAX RATES:  Top 1%:  19% of income taxes and 29.5% of all Federal taxes.  Middle quintile:  3.3% of income taxes, 14.3% of all Federal taxes.

The Democrats like to reference John Kennedy as one of their great presidents.  John Kennedy lowered the capital gains tax.  I guess he had a different definition of “fairness” that didn’t include redistribution of income and class warfare.

I WISH RITA HAYWORTH WAS STILL HERE

Rita Hayworth

My buddy in New England, Allen, has sent to me a great YouTube clip that I think is worth watching for a couple of reasons:   First, its 4:48 in length which will only tie you up for a few minutes.  Second, it features the Bee Gees doing their great hit of 1977, “Stayin' Alive”, from the most popular film of that time, “Saturday Night Fever”.  Third and most important, someone has taken the song and dance moves from the film and synchronized them with some films from the 1940s and 1950s starring the great Rita Hayworth.

Most of you probably remember Rita but in case you don’t, she was the hottest lady in film during the 1940s and 1950s.  She was a red headed beauty who could really dance and the fascination with this clip is the way the Bee Gees tune fits her dancing style.

I love classic films and to see Rita Hayworth cavorting on the dance floor with people like Gene Kelly and Fred Astaire is a great pleasure.   Most of the clips are from the 1940s but there is one from 1957 (“Pal Joey”) with Rita and Frank Sinatra. (If you have a sharp eye you can see Phil Silvers of "Sgt. Bilko" fame dancing with Rita and Gene Kelly in a couple of scenes!)

As talented as Rita Hayworth was, she didn’t have a happy personal life as she was married five times between 1937 and 1961.  Her last film was a stinker called “The Wrath of God” (1972) with Robert Mitchum and in 1987 she was diagnosed with advanced Alzheimer’s disease.

Rita Hayworth died in 1987 at age 68 but left behind a lot of great films that we can still enjoy today.

This is great stuff! and it takes me back to those days of youth when my buddies and I salivated over girls like Rita, Marilyn Monroe,  Gina Lollobridgida,and Brigette Bardot.

None of us were old enough to drive so we walked and hitchhiked everywhere.  One friend of mine was really bold.  He would hitch rides and have the nerve to ask the driver to change his radio station!

We would go to double feature films and not worry about whether we got there for the beginning or not.  When the film made its cycle back someone would whisper down the row that "This is where we came in."

Vacations were always taken in non air conditioned cars and we never passed up the opportunity to have a good snowball fight on snowy winter days.  As far as I know, nobody ever had their eye put out!

That was a great era and the time when Rita Hayworth ruled.  I sure miss her.

AL, JESSE, PANTHERS, AND OBAMA: QUITE THE CREW

Columnist Rich Lowry makes some interesting points about the Trayvon Martin case in his column of March 31.

Lowry opines that “….if Martin had been shot by a Black classmate, if he had been caught in random crossfire or if he had looked at a rival gang member the wrong way, his death would have been relegated to the back pages of the local newspaper.  Not a cause, not even a curiosity:  just another dead young Black man.  Nothing to see here.  Please move on.”

Lowry also quotes some interesting numbers:  “According to a 2005 FBI report, Blacks accounted for 13 per cent of the population and 49 percent of all homicide victims.  In 93 per cent of the cases the killer was Black.  Half of the victims were ages 17 to 29.  That works out to 4,000 murders of young Blacks in one year, overwhelmingly at the hands of other Blacks.”

In the case of George Zimmerman, who is half white and half Hispanic and the alleged killer in Florida of Black Trayvon Martin, Black “leaders” like Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton figure half white is good enough to turn the country upside down in outrage.   The Black on Black killings don’t seem to faze them, but let a guy with one spoonful of white blood be involved, guilty or not, and they are calling for riots to protest such a great injustice to Blacks whether the proof is there or not.

Jesse and Al like the limelight and love to be seen on TV shouting away in their thousand dollar Armani suits and jewelry.  So do washed up “celebrities” like Spike Lee and Roseanne Barr who feel it is up to them to Twitter people’s addresses to the public even when they are incorrect.  Hey, it got them on the tube, right?

Then there is NBC and MSNBC who took sides in the matter rather than just reporting the news.  NBC supposedly edited a tape to falsely incriminate Zimmerman even more.  Since they were caught, they have fortunately received the discredit they deserve.

How about those Black Panthers parading around in their fatigue uniforms with insignias of rank as though they are really an official organization.  One guy had captain’s bars and another considered himself a lieutenant colonel.  At least they knew enough to make themselves officers.  Those geniuses were offering a million bucks as a bounty on Zimmerman.  That’s laughable; they better go back to doing what they are good at:  intimidating voters at polls.

If that isn’t enough, Obama had to stick his nose into the situation with his famous “If I had a son, he would look like Trayvon.”  How sweet and sentimental!  Quite a contrast to his reaction after the Ft. Hood massacre when he said, “Let’s not jump to conclusions.”  Thirteen people killed by a Muslim officer on an Army base and that was his reaction?  Draw your own conclusions.

Don’t get me started on the hoodies, the sympathetic photo of Trayvon at 13, and the nationwide marches.

Does this nonsense ever end?  There is a racial problem in the US, otherwise the Black leaders would be more concerned with the ignored deaths of young Blacks in their communities rather than trying to make an issue of something they have no facts on in the white community.   However, when you are dealing with guys like Al and Jesse who love the exposure, the Zimmerman situation is right down their alley.  After all, what network would send cameras to cover the murder of a 16 year old Black girl on a Chicago street by a Black man?  That’s much too boring for them.

WHERE IS JAMES DEAN WHEN WE NEED HIM?

James Dean's ultra cool 1949 Mercury used in his film "Rebel Without a Cause" (1955).  Dean was a great influence to teenagers of his era; especially in their love for cars.

If you grew up in the 40s, 50s, 60s or even later, you can probably remember the love affair between kids and cars.  In small town America, kids would “drag Main” on a Friday night after a football game with their AM radios blasting in hopes of meeting some babes at the local Dog and Suds.  In cities like Phoenix it was a similar existence only on a bigger scale as Central was the street to cruise and KRIZ was the station to blare the current hit tunes.

I wonder how many gallons of Aqua Velva and Hai Karate the kids poured on themselves in those days to match their slicked down Wildroot Cream Oil soaked hair.  Their cars were the coolest too.  I remember the competition between the Chevy and Ford owners.  It didn’t matter which car you had, it better have a set of “duals” with “glass pack” mufflers and be able to “get rubber in second.”

A lot of guys from that era were good mechanics and did all the work on their “heaps” themselves.  I was no expert but I always changed my own oil and oil filters and spark plugs.  You could get Pennzoil for 25 cents a quart and a filter for about $1.50 at K-Mart.  Then, you would park your car over a curb and slide under to drain the oil.  For about $2.75, you had an oil and filter change.  Today, the same job is about $35 at a dealer.

Those were fun days.  Cars were a lot simpler and any kid with a mechanical aptitude could easily work on his own car.  The front seat was a bench so three could easily ride there.  Even more important, when you took your girlfriend out (hopefully to the drive-in theater!), she could sit right next to you.  I had a stick shift Chevy and I would drive with my right arm around her while she shifted gears.  

Those days are apparently gone as I read recently from two different reports that kids don’t really care about cars anymore.   Veteran sportswriter Frank Deford reports that NASCAR has been in trouble because “those old, white guys, who were the bread-and-butter NASCAR constituency, were not being replicated by their sons and grandsons. Frankly, the younger generations don’t care to mess around with cars.”  The love affair with the car is apparently over.

The New York Times reports that “Today, Facebook, Twitter and text messaging allow teenagers and 20-somethings to connect without wheels. High gas prices and environmental concerns don’t help matters.”  They think of a car as “a giant bummer.”

Maybe they should start thinking of what a giant bummer it will be when they realize they can’t spell or write correctly with their dependence on Smartphones, texting, and the other nonsense today that is considered by many to be progress.

As for me, I prefer to remember hanging with my buddies in our heaps with the radio blasting Elvis, The Drifters, or Dion and enjoying our 4/70 air conditioning.

Am I dreaming or is that a room full of 1955, '56, and '57 Chevy convertibles in mint condition?  Some billionaire owns them and a couple more garages full of similar cars.

AMERICAN HISTORY IS IMPORTANT; CHECK IT OUT

Photo from c. 1940 of gas for 20.5 cents a gallon.  Apparently the station owner was receiving flack about his price so he broke it down so customers knew he made only 4 cents a gallon!

I received some photos of the past this week from reader FD in northern Arizona.  They are great relics and illustrate how life used to be in the good old USA.

It begs the question:  “What was life like in the US of the past?"  Unfortunately, a lot of people simply don’t know or care.  However, I’m sure many of them know how to text while driving a car and can recite the last two episodes of “Jersey Shore” or “The Kardashians.”

That’s fine (except for the texting which is stupid) but shouldn’t everyone know something about the history of their country?  I hear that American History is not taught much anymore in some schools.  Maybe that is why, along with the political stances of some teachers, so many kids and young adults don’t know the simplest answers to questions about the past.

Here are some questions Jay Leno has asked students over the years in his “Jaywalking” segment of the “Tonight Show.”  The answers are so ridiculous that they are funny but at the same time are sad because it shows the lack of history being taught today.

1.  Jay shows a kid a picture of Thomas Jefferson and asks him who it is.  His answer?  “Jefferson!”  Very good until the next question:  “What is Jefferson’s first name?”  answer:  “George?”  Oops!

2.  Jay asks:  “When is Independence Day?”  Answer:  “July 4.”  Very good.  Who did we win independence from?  Answer:  “Mexico?”  Whoops!

3.  “In what war was the Battle of Gettysburg?”  Answer:  “World  War II?”  That is, of course, wrong but I’ll give a hooyah to the kid for at least knowing that there was a World War II.

4.  “Who won the Civil War?”  Answer:  “Unfortunately, the South.”  HUH?  Jeez, she had a 50-50- chance and still muffed it!

5.  “What happened at Pearl Harbor during World War II?”  Answer:  “It was bombed?” CORRECT!  "Who bombed it?”  "Uh….Hawaii?”  Ouch!

These are just some mild examples of the things people don’t know about their own country.   History is important; it tells why we did what we did in the past and how it affects us today.  It should be taught as a serious subject in schools.

This photo from World War II shows women (all wearing dresses!) at a meat counter.  The sign on the meat case in the foreground says:  "Save waste fats for explosives."  Meat along with sugar,  butter, and other staples were rationed during wartime and NOTHING was thrown away.

World War II  was a time when Americans banded together saving anything for use in the war effort.  It was also the time when women stepped up to the challenge and worked in war plants by night while running a household during the day often with precious little sleep.

Post World war II America saw women gaining more independence and leaving the pre-war expectations of getting married, having children, and running a household.

Many women who worked in the plants liked getting a paycheck and wanted to continue doing it after the war ended.  It was the beginning of women's lib!

(For more information about WWII on the home front, google "WWII Victory gardens" and "WWII Scrap metal drives.")

YOU WAITED IN LINE 8 HOURS TO BUY AN iPAD?

(Left:  Yes, they are waiting in line to buy an iPad)

I forget who said it and I am too lazy to check but it may have been Jefferson (Thomas, not George) who once claimed:  “The people are a great beast.”  Well…..maybe not a beast in the literal definition but a beast that will congregate for one to eight hours in sleeping bags or drinking mass quantities of black joe just for the privilege of plunking down $500 to $850 for a new 3^rd generation Apple iPad.

It seems kind of sad that people who otherwise have at least an iota of common sense would have to have that item the exact moment it is available.  What’s the hurry?  If it were children waiting for a Christmas present of a new pair of roller skates (Do kids still roller skate?  You know, the kind of skates with a key), I could understand.  But, adults?  Please!

If it is so important to have the latest in iPad technology, you would think that the pseudo intellectuals who allow such technology to control their lives would at lease pre-order the damn things to avoid the long line of those salivating for the delicious moment they can push that “on” button to begin their descent into who knows where.  In Scottsdale the pre order people stood in a line of five people while the disorganized rabble had a line of 60.

So, there they were all over town in front of Apple, Best Buy, and A T & T stores waiting for the big moment when they could get their new iPad with Wi-Fi and 4G wireless data transfer.  Don’t ask me what that means; I just report the news, not live it.  I’m still cruising all the small office supply stores looking for liquid paper, typewriter erasers with the little brushes, and a print ball for my Remington Selectronic.

Somewhere in computer heaven Steve Jobs is laughing himself silly watching these scenes of people waiting in line all night to give a clerk a lot of money for what is basically a toy.  I can imagine him telling Thomas Edison, Henry Ford, and the rest of his new buddies how he punched out the iPads for $1.98 and sold them for $500 and up.  Recession?  What recession?

I have often wondered about the timing for these “latest and greatest” versions of any product.  I’m not saying that Apple holds back advances that could all happen at once just to increase sales, but doesn’t it seem a bit odd that there always seems to be a new and improved model ready to sell fairly soon after the latest new and improved item?

The golf equipment business is similar.  If you play golf you probably know that there is always a “latest and greatest” set of clubs on the market that will allow you to hit the “latest and greatest” golf ball farther with a lot less effort.   It’s all about the merchandising and keeping sales figures intact.

As silly as it is with the iPads, at least the customers seem behaved while in line.  It might have something to do with their knowing lots of three and four syllable words and having a college degree or two.  On the other hand, don’t get in line for the latest Michael Jordan shoe unless you have no regard for your life!

CHECKING OUT THE PASSING PARADE

                                                                                         

Probably the most read column I have done since I started this blog in 2005 is the one from November 2008 dealing with “Kids Growing Up too fast.”  Second place would go to “Dancing with Fred and Ginger” from August 2011.  I don’t have actual numbers but those are the two that keep popping up on the meter the most.  Many of the hits even come from overseas.

What is your favorite movie from 2011?  That’s an easy one for me; it was Woody Allen’s “Midnight in Paris.”  It contains good acting and no glorifying of the stars in the credits as Allen lists them small and alphabetically.  Allen has been making great “small” films for years and always on a low budget.   The man is a genius in the business.

Does anyone but me feel that Michelle Wie is basically stealing all the money she is being paid by sponsors to be on the Ladies Golf Tour?  She made something like $19 million last year and didn’t do much on the golf course.  She once said she wanted to compete with guys instead of women.  Big mistake!  She better learn to beat the girls first and quit her whining.

Ron Pinkowski, a fellow Plugged-in writer for the Sunday Arizona Republic,  observed recently that with so many people having total dependency on iPhones, who would know how to survive if all those gadgets suddenly disappeared?  His answer was “seniors.”  Good point, most seniors don’t have and don’t need the latest communication technology.  Somehow they survive the “old fashioned way.”

My favorite recent quote comes from New Jersey Republican Governor Chris Christie as he was talking about Warren Buffet:   “He should just write a check (for more taxes) and shut up.  Really…..I’m tired of hearing about it.”  Amen!

What is it with luxury car TV ads today?  Cadillac, BMW, Mercedes, and others are trying to sell cars showing them skidding sideways at high speeds.  To me, it looks ridiculous unless they are trying to entice immature drivers.  But then, are they the ones with enough dough to buy those overpriced heaps?  Just wondering!

Are spring training games in the Phoenix area having attendance problems?  It’s still early but some of the crowds have looked pretty dismal, especially since the weather has been nice.  Recent totals show 2,781 showing up at a Kansas City-San Diego game in a stadium that holds 10,714.  Los Angeles drew 7,038 against the Giants in a 13,000 seat stadium and the normally popular Chicago Cubs had 6,415 show up in a 13,100 seat stadium against the Rockies.  To me spring training is OK but I prefer the Fall League.

Last year in Fountain Hills I really had a lucky break.  I ran a stop sign while turning left off Pueblo Boulevard onto Mohave Road on the Yavapai reservation.  No big deal, right?  Well, maybe if the incident would not have taken place in front of a parked Maricopa County Sheriff’s car!  The only way I can figure he didn’t see me is that he was probably doing some paperwork and wasn’t looking.

(Note:  Since I switched to this format after the demise of Plugged-in Scottsdale, I have received 473 hits and 92 comments (21 per blog).  That's a great turnout and I thank everyone who is still tuning in.....  JM)

PHOENIX, GENE AUTRY, AND WATER BAGS ON ROUTE 66

Recently my wife and I decided to stop by a restaurant in north Scottsdale that we have patronized for years.  When the place was built about 15 years ago, it was in a lonely desert setting in the Frank Lloyd Wright and Pima area.  In those days the patio was a nice place to sit and have a drink when the weather was pleasant.  Today, the patio faces an “on” ramp to the 101 and the restaurant has changed names. 

Not much stays the same in the Phoenix area.  I moved to Scottsdale in 1987 and remember when I would turn east on Bell Road off I-17, there was a mileage sign saying “Scottsdale 21 miles”.   That’s not very long ago but there were still Arabian horse farms along Bell Road around 60^th Street.  They are long gone and replaced by strip malls and homes.

Scottsdale Road from Camelback Road to Carefree has heavy traffic, shopping areas, car dealerships, the 101, and four to six lanes all the way north but in the early 1960s, there was one traffic light at Lincoln Boulevard before you reached the Gainey and McCormick cattle ranches.  From there it was clear sailing the rest of the way.  The road was two lanes and paved but north of Bell it was like a roller coaster because of the many washes crossing the road.  It remained that way into the 1990s and from my experience, it was not a road you wanted to drive on when it rained.

1964-1970 was a great era to be young and partying in the Valley of the Sun.  It was the time of the “British Invasion” where The Beatles inspired a new wave of music from the UK tailored for the taste of the fickle younger crowd.  Clubs like JD’s and the Red Dog Saloon in Scottsdale did a brisk business.  For the teens it was the Pacesetter Club and the Fifth Estate.  There were even dances in the lobby entrance to Chris-Town Mall.  During this time Alice Cooper and his group The Spiders became a favorite of partiers as they did cover versions of tunes from The Rolling Stones.  Does anyone remember Phil and the Frantics playing at JD’s in those days?

Popular singing cowboy Gene Autry had strong ties to Phoenix.  While stationed at Luke AFB in 1942, he met future communications magnate Tom Chauncey who was a jeweler in downtown Phoenix at that time.  Gene and Tom saw a bright future for “over the air” media in the Phoenix area.  They pooled their resources and bought radio station KOOL which broadcasted Autry’s show “Melody Ranch”.  After his military discharge in 1945 and with television booming, Gene bought more stations and in 1953 expanded KOOL radio into the TV business with the establishment of KOOL-TV, Channel 10 (currently KSAZ).  He also bought KOPO-TV in Tucson (which became KOLD) and invested in several radio stations around Arizona.  Autry saw the future of TV and it made him a lot of money.

My first contact with Arizona was in August of 1959.  I was a wide eyed 18 year old kid with my buddy driving to Los Angeles from Cincinnati via Route 66 in a ’57 Chevy “six banger”.  I remember an attendant at a Whiting Bros. gas station in New Mexico telling me to get a burlap water bag on my bumper before driving across the desert.  The only time I had seen one of those was in the 1951 Kirk Douglas film “Ace in the Hole” where Kirk had one on his DeSoto.

The Whiting Bros. gas stations were a staple on Route 66 from 1926 until 1985 when 66 was decommissioned in favor of the interstates.  A few years later, they were gone leaving behind a lot of memories.  Bobby Troup summed up the old road in Arizona best in his song from 1948, “Route 66”:  “Flagstaff, Arizona.  Don’t forget Winona; Kingman, Barstow, San Bernardino.”

In 1940, John Steinbeck’s novel “The Grapes of Wrath” was filmed partly along Route 66.  It was a grim story about a family leaving the mid-west dust bowl during the 1930s Depression in search of a better life in California.  If you travel the backroads today you can still see evidence of the old road from that era.

             Henry Fonda, Jane Darwell, and Dorris Bowden in "The Grapes of Wrath" (1940)

WELCOME FORMER PLUGGED-IN READERS

I want to thank everyone who has followed me from Plugged-in Scottsdale to my Blogspot blog.  Although this blog is new to many of you, I have been doing it since 2005 when I did a weekly 800 word column for the hard copy North Scottsdale Independent  newspaper.  

The days at the Independent were fun as they let me do my own thing which included a variety of subjects with as little about politics as possible.  During that time I did a couple of concert reviews in Laughlin, Nevada (ZZ Top, Crosby, Stills, and Nash) and covered the McDowell Mountain Music Festival.  That and the other subjects that you see listed in the title of this blog are and were my main items of interest.  I think we have so many political so called “experts” now that you don’t need to be reading another amateur’s opinion on that subject.

Plugged-in Scottsdale was fun for the 5+ years it lasted but it was doomed when the comments on the blogs became too nasty for the Republic to bear.  An attempt to solve that problem by accepting only Facebook comments was a failure.  Hence, the Plugged-in blogs will now join the long list of historical footnotes.

As far as what I am about, you can get a good idea about me from my short bio in the right column of this blog.  To that information I would add that my career was in sales to the grocery and drug store trade.  I spent my career working in the mid-west and living in Johnson County, Kansas which was basically a suburb of Kansas City, Missouri.  I have no children and my wife spent her career as an elementary school teacher.  At this time we have been married 44 years so we get along fine.

This blog has gained something of a following over the years as I have received hits from many countries besides the U.S.  Since I have several topics listed in my title, I think a lot of those hits are people generally researching some of the subjects I have written about.  If I had to guess I would say that the two blogs visited the most are “Kids growing up too fast” from November, 2008 and “Dancing with Fred and Ginger” from August, 2011.   Those are two different subjects for sure but they are consistently numbers one and two in popularity.  It’s not that they get a lot of comments, but the hits are numerous.

That is pretty much the case with all these blogs over the last seven years.  I average over 100 hits a week on them with few comments.  Now that Plugged-in is gone, I should have more local interest and the comment totals should increase to at least close to the 30-40 per week I received at Plugged-in Scottsdale.

Thanks for stopping by and if there is any subject you would like to see discussed, let me know.  I also can add photos if you think you have something you would like published.  Remember, all comments will receive a reply and if you like what you see here, tell your friends.

E-CIGARETTES, SMOKING, AND TOO MUCH SENSITIVITY

I’M GLAD I DON’T SMOKE 

When I was growing up in the 1950s the cars were big, the food was fatty with large portions, Milton Berle and Ed Sullivan ruled TV, and almost everyone who could get their hands on cigarettes, smoked.

It was the era of “Winston tastes good like a cigarette should” and I’d walk a mile for a Camel.”   Midget bellboy Johnny Roventini sold millions of packs of Plilip Morris cigarettes with his popular announcement of “Call for Philip Morrisssseeeese!”

Most of my friends and I were in our early teens and, although my parents didn’t smoke, most of their parents did so they would frequently swipe some from their stash.  I was the lucky one:  Although I tried my best to smoke, cigarettes tasted obnoxious to me so I finally gave up trying. 

When I entered the Air Force in 1961, I found that most of the guys I was stationed with were smokers.  I gave smoking another shot at that time but my reaction was the same.  I have never touched one since.

With the evidence against smoking in recent years, not to mention the high cost of cigarettes, I made the right decision although it wasn’t because of the fear of health problems or the cost; it was all about my hating the taste of the nasty things.

Every now and then, someone will come up with an idea that supposedly gives a person the pleasure of smoking, hopefully without any dangerous side effects.  We’ve all seen the nicotine gum and patches and I have heard of certain pills that claim to break the habit but it seems those ideas are hit and miss if they work at all.

Lately, the panacea for smokers seems to be the e-cigarette.  It looks like a cigarette although it is made of plastic.  According to Wiki,  " It is an electrical device that simulates the act of tobacco smoking by producing an inhaled mist bearing the physical sensation, appearance, and often

the flavor and nicotine content of inhaled tobacco smoke; though without its odor, and intended to omit its health risks. The device uses heat (or in some cases, ultrasonics) to vaporize apropylene glycol- or glycerin-based liquid solution into an aerosol mist, similar to the way a nebulizer or humidifier vaporizes solutions for inhalation."

I’ve seen some people using them and to me they look kind of silly plus I would bet the enjoyment of them is far from what smokers are used to.

If I was a smoker, I doubt if I would use an e-cigarette.  If you see someone smoking one, take a good look.  I think they are another flash in the pan in the battle against smoking.

TOO MUCH SENSITIVITY TODAY

We have become much too sensitive.  St. John’s University dropped their nickname “Redmen” in 1994 because Native Americans thought it was offensive.  Never mind that the 70 year old name had nothing to do with Indians.  The football team wore red uniforms, hence, “Redmen.”  Now, the NCAA is threatening the U. of North Dakota about using its 80 year old “Fighting Sioux” nickname.  These are just two of many examples of the silly political correctness we have to endure.  Will the Whittier College “Poets” and UC Santa Cruz “Banana Slugs” be the next to feel demeaned?  Let’s hope not!

e-cigarette

Little Johnny Roventini selling Christmas cartons of Philip Morris cigarettes.  He started representing them in 1933 and retired in 1974 at age 64.  He died at 88 in 1998.

SO.... YOU WANT TO BE A SUPERMARKET CHECKER?

My wife and I have been involved in the grocery business for years.  While in college in the 1960’s, she was a checker for Kroger’s and many years later worked the checkouts for Safeway in Scottsdale.  I was a salesman to the grocery trade at the headquarters and retail level for twenty years.

As a peddler, I had my share of headaches in the job but no more than peddlers in any other profession.  My wife, however, had to deal with the eccentricities of customers who knew nothing of the grocery business or, for that matter, about working at the retail level of any job.

Phil Hawkes writes for the Arizona Food Industry Journal and has listed a number of ways to annoy a supermarket checker.  Ever since I went to work in the supermarket business, I have had the utmost respect for the checkers of the world.  If I was in their position, I probably would have smeared more than one lemon meringue pie in some customer’s faces but the checkers I have seen over the years possess the patience of Job and I admire that.

I’m sure you have had the displeasure of seeing some of these antics if you have spent much time shopping in a supermarket:

(1)  I hate cellphones anyway but when I see someone yapping on one while holding up a checkout line, I hate them even more.  I have even seen customers “shushing” the checker while they are on the phone.

(2)  Don’t complain about being carded for alcohol.  The checker dislikes asking you as much as you dislike being asked.  It’s her/his job so let it go.

(3)  Use the dividers to separate your order from the person behind you.  It’s easy to do and speeds things up.  Is that asking too much?

(4)  If the check stand light is off, don’t use it.  Remember:  Off, no.  On, yes.  It’s like at Halloween.  If the resident didn’t want you ringing their doorbell, the porch light would be off.

(5)  There are still those who write checks at the check stand.  If you must do this antiquated practice, have the check filled out except for the amount when you pay.  Also, PLEASE do not balance your checkbook at the check stand.

(6)  Don’t be the food stamp shopper who buys porterhouse steaks and king crab legs with them.

(7)  Don’t wait until the checker has bagged your order before saying you brought your own bags.

(8)  Don’t load the check stand with groceries then tell the checker, “I only have $80 so stop when you get there.”

(9)  Don’t argue with the checker when your debit or credit cards don’t work.  That’s your problem, not theirs.

There are more irritants in the thankless job of being a supermarket checker but you get the idea.  I don’t think it is too much to ask for everyone to apply a bit of common sense while shopping.

Whew!  I feel a lot better now having said this!

GOOD CUSTOMER SERVICE IS A MUST

Being an ex-salesman, I can appreciate a recent column by business writer Harvey MacKay.  Mackay knows his way around the business world and has the dough to prove he has been successful.

He says that “Customer service is crucial to success.”  I couldn’t agree more.  For twenty years, I called on the grocery trade in the Kansas, Missouri, and Nebraska areas.  My job was to sell packaging products to grocery stores and the warehouses that supplied them.  It wasn’t like I was the only one in that business; I had plenty of competition.

In the grocery business, the warehouse buyers are busy guys who don’t like to spend a lot of time on secondary items like supplies.  Seeing that situation, I seized upon it by making it as easy as possible for my buyers to buy from me instead of my competition.  I did that by earning their trust which is a large part of customer service.  They knew they could count on me to ship to them on time and follow up on any problems.  My motto to them was simple:  “If you have any problem at your warehouse or stores, call me and I will have it handled within 24 hours at the latest.”

My method worked great:  I had the buyers’ trust, gave them fast and efficient service, and as a commission paid salesman, made excellent money.

Mr. MacKay’s advice is important to remember.  You are in the customer service business no matter what you sell.  You may have a restaurant with the greatest food in the world but you will not make it if your service is bad.  Even if you have great food and happy employees you can still fail if you are tied down with idiotic rules and procedures.  They will irritate customers as much as bad food.

When hiring, always select the “A” players and be sure you have great training in customer service from A to Z.  It takes a lot of time but is well worth the effort.

I live in Scottsdale, Arizona and we have a great chain of bakeries/delis called Paradise Bakery.  At lunch time people are lined up to eat their great fare.  The lines can get long so to ease the anxiety of some customers, they have a smiling employee walk the line giving small samples of hot bread to customers.  It’s a small thing but customers love it!  That company “gets it.”

One of my annoyances is when a clerk is incapable of counting change.  It is pretty typical today with registers that tell the clerk what the change should be.  That’s no excuse; I wouldn’t have an employee who can’t count change.  However, to top that, one day at McDonald’s, a clerk refused to take a 50 cent piece from me until the manager told her it was OK.

Welcome to 21^st century America!

Phoenix grocery store history (From 3-09)

The grocery store business has changed a lot in Phoenix over the years. 

J. B. Bayless markets started in1917 and grew to 18 stores before selling out in 1929. In 1930 A. J. Bayless, J.B.’s son, opened his own group of stores. Safeway was the first chain in Arizona arriving in 1928. In 1932 Bashas’ came along and Food City was opened in 1942.

By the 1950s S & H Green Stamps made their appearance and had catalogs and stores where they could be redeemed. They were a huge success and gave retailers plenty of extra business which easily covered the cost of the stamps. "Double stamp Wednesdays" were a big success and could give some stores as much as one third of their total business for a week.

Another innovation of the ‘50s was supermarkets staying open on Sunday. Also, frozen foods were more plentiful by that time and the appearance of the first convenience stores started forcing the "mom and pop" stores out of business. By the ‘60s Smitty’s and Fry’s came aboard with Smitty’s adding general merchandise to their product mix. I bought a bicycle there once.

By the 1970s Alpha Beta had entered the market and in the 80s Southwest Markets introduced their Hispanic oriented stores. During this time, Albertson’s and Smith’s also made their entrance into the area. With more housewives entering the workforce, convenience foods became more popular in grocery stores and the introduction of computers and UPC codes were of tremendous benefit too as they eliminated the need to price items on the shelves.

Today Wal-Mart dominates the grocery business in Phoenix followed by Fry’s and Safeway. Bayless and Food City were bought by Bashas’ in the 1980s and early 90s and IGA is not a factor in the market as the chains now dominate. Megafoods, Southwest Markets, Smitty’s, Smith’s, Fred Meyer, ABCO, Alpha Beta, Lucky’s, and The Fleming Company warehouse have either been sold to other groups or have gone out of business. New entries include Fresh and Easy who now operates 28 stores in the area soon to be joined by 17 more.

I worked as a sales rep for Procter and Gamble during 1993-94 and I learned quickly that the grocery trade in Phoenix is very volatile. I never thought accounts like Smitty’s and The Fleming Company would disappear but they have. Wal-Mart is a dominant force and we may see even more changes in the future as chains like Fry’s and Bashas’ are laying off workers. Stay tuned.

(top)  A. J. Bayless (center, with trademark derby hat) operated 60 stores in Phoenix as late as 1984.  (bottom)  These stores operated into the 1990s in Phoenix but most are now a memory.

Garvey stampers and pay phones: Grocery peddling in the 1960s

I'm glad I am not out beating the bushes looking for a job. It's highly competitive today and you better know all there is to know about current technology if you want any chance to succeed.

According to Dilemma #1 on the CareerBuilder list, you need to have your name showing up in search engines like LinkedIn while making sure you are carefully leveraging the site. You also need to be on additional social networking sites like Plaxo, XING, or Viadeo and be sure you are on Facebook for professional networking. Don’t forget social media sites like Twitter and be sure to create a blog using a platform that will sync to your LinkedIn profile.

I don’t understand what a lot of that even means. My first job after college in 1969 was with Lever Brothers Company calling on drug and grocery headquarter and retail accounts in Kansas City selling products like Dove Soap, Imperial Margarine, Close-Up Toothpaste, Pepsodent, and many other items.

Nothing listed in the second paragraph was heard of yet so I went to the want ads in the Kansas City Star newspaper. Want ads are extinct now but they were a good way to find a job in the 1960s. I saw the ad from Lever for a salesman and made a call on a ten cent pay phone for an appointment.

Since the appointment was a few days off, I had to type a resume to submit to the interviewer. I got a book from the library about resumes, and typed one up on my 1955 Smith-Corona typewriter.

When I arrived for the interview, I felt that I was ready although I was pretty nervous. I had my checklist covered: shined black shoes, dark blue suit, conservative white shirt and tie, good haircut, close shave, no political or religious buttons, nothing weird hanging out of my nose, and hopefully a polished, professional demeanor.

The interview went well and after one more interview I got the job. I don’t know if I was great or the other guys interviewed were a bunch of stiffs and I didn’t care. I had a $140 a week job and a 1968 Ford company car. Combined with my wife’s teaching job we were pulling in a cool $13,500 a year; not bad in 1969 dollars where two steaks and a bottle of wine went for about $10!

I can still hear my boss who trained me my first week: “When you call on a store, park away from the front door. Those good spaces are for customers! Be sure to pick up all damage and watch out for union stores where they won’t let you stock a shelf! Br sure to face up the shelves! Know the difference between calling on a chain or an independent! Sell displays!”

In retrospect, those were fun days to be young and sell to the food and drug trade. There were no answering machines, scanners, UPC codes, or faxes and we kept in touch through pay phones. If we had to price products we used the old Garvey stampers with the purple ink.

Checkers wore dresses and usually had the week’s ad taped to their registers which were gigantic machines with large buttons. All sacking was done in paper and department items would have stickers like “ring on produce” so they would receive their credit. Many stores had an area where you would return your glass returnable deposit bottles. Cigarettes were sold by the pack at the check stand and seeing customers smoke while shopping wasn’t unusual. Most sales were paid for in cash and if by check, the check had to be approved.

I have no problem with today’s technology; it is what it is. Today you need all the items mentioned in paragraph two to even have hope of an interview. I got mine with one call and when I typed my resume, I don’t think there was even liquid paper to correct mistakes. We had no fax machines or phone answering machines but somehow got by always having a pocketful of dimes for the pay phones. It was hard work but very satisfying.

A Scottsdale guy tours Sheriff's Arpaio's Tent City

Recently I was invited to tour Sheriff Joe’s Tent City prison facility on West Durango in Phoenix. It is internationally known for its prison striped uniforms, pink underwear, and outdoor sleeping accommodations of 22 to a tent. It’s also where you may wind up if you are caught driving with a snootful on a Saturday night.
Sheriff Joe and his crew of officers run a tight ship which becomes obvious as soon as you set foot in the front door.

After entering, you report to a glassed in window where a sheriff’s deputy announces your arrival to an officer who will be your guide. The waiting area is prison stark and for a bit of irony, someone has decorated the check-in area with a string of Christmas lights to add a little cheer to the place. It helps but with surveillance cameras everywhere, it’s hard to forget where you are.

Our guide was Officer McVaugh, a short but strong guy who looked like he could handle more than someone his size in a scuffle. His only protection was pepper spray as no guns are carried by officers.

He mentioned that prisoners usually get up to 3½ hour long visits but visitors have to remain in the lobby and visit via a monitor. There is a day room near the lobby that prisoners can use if they are not involved with something else. It is open 24/7 but the prisoners have to live outside in the tents. Most of the guys in the day room had a clean cut look that might hide the fact that they were residents of a prison facility.

Tent City is considered a minimum classification jail which means it houses prisoners not in the general prison population. It holds about 1,000 with the ratio of men to women about 5 to 1. Inmates are there to serve one year or less for crimes like DUI or lesser crimes. Some are given permission to go to jobs during the day after which they must report back that night.

When they return from outside, they are thoroughly searched while nude because of their propensity to be imaginative about places on the human body to hide contraband.

The inmates who stay full time must pull duty in the kitchen, the dog pound, or the laundry. Some are also used on the chain gang. They have the opportunity to earn courses toward GED certificates and receive 20% off purchases at the prison canteen. They are fed twice a day with food presented in “Ladmo Bags”. As far as green baloney being served, Officer McVaugh said that is not true and that he eats the baloney all the time.

Prisoners are allowed to receive special diets and there is medical care available for $10. During the holidays, a Christmas tree is on display near the tower with the “Vacancy” sign.

Tent City may be better than the state pen in Florence, Arizona but prison is prison so you do not want to be there. As for me, It was comforting after my visit to head east on the 202 and see the “Welcome to Scottsdale” sign!

Welcome to Tent City, AZ

"Chowing Down" at the movies

I used to love the holidays when I was in college or in the Air Force. While in the Air Force I usually took leave for the holidays and in college they were either during term break or between terms. Hence, it meant plenty of party times and debauchery. How well I remember the three for a dollar happy hour martinis at the Peacock Lounge in Cincinnati in the mid-60s! Whew! Enough of that; I get a headache just thinking about that cheap gin.

I watch a lot of classic films, especially during the holidays since many of my favorites are on Turner Classic Movies or in my own library. Since the holidays mean eating more than usual, I was thinking today about films with great eating scenes.

One of my favorites is from Animal House (1978) where Bluto (John Belushi) goes through the line in the college cafeteria stuffing his mouth and pockets with everything in sight.

If you’ve seen Blazing Saddles (1974), you have to remember the scene of the guys sitting around the campfire eating beans with the expected result.

Then there is Paul Newman in Cool Hand Luke (1967) proving that yes, he can eat 50 hard boiled eggs in an hour in spite of George Kennedy saying it couldn’t be done.

Another favorite is the scene from Five Easy Pieces (1970) in the roadside restaurant with Jack Nicholson telling off a surly waitress after she will not allow any substitutes on his meal.

In 1931, James Cagney was becoming a star in films with his portrayal of Tom Powers in The Public Enemy. This is a famous scene at the breakfast table between Cagney and actress Mae Clarke. I haven’t been able to eat grapefruit since the first time I saw it!

Those are five of the best food related scenes I have seen in film. There are many more good ones and probably some that you think are better than those on my list. Although I love those five, I still have one that tops them all. At this moment you are probably thinking you know what it is since it is a real stand out. Click here to find out if you are right. (Clue: Think of Billy Crystal and Meg Ryan from 1989.)

Happy New Year!

Some Christmas thoughts

Last night I dusted off my DVD of Miracle on 34th Street (1947) to give it its yearly viewing. Of the three greatest Christmas films I have seen, this one leads the way followed closely by The Bishop’s Wife (1947) and It’s a Wonderful Life (1946).

There are other great Christmas films and I would be amiss if I didn’t mention A Christmas Story (1983) which as always will be shown for twenty-four hours over Christmas on WTBS. We all have our favorites and it’s comforting to watch them every year during the holidays.

Miracle on 34th Street is a great example of Hollywood’s use of the fine character actors of the day to produce a fine, heartwarming film about Christmas. The stars are John Payne and a beautiful 27 year old Maureen O’Hara with nine year old Natalie Wood playing her daughter. Edmund Gwenn stole the show and won an Oscar for his role as Kris Kringle.

Probably the most important thing to remember when watching the classic films is to watch them in the form in which they were originally intended. That means that if they were filmed in black and white, that is the way to see them.

Years ago when Ted Turner bought the libraries of the MGM and Warner Brothers films, he thought colorization of the black and white classics would be a genius idea. It wasn’t. A good example of the failure of colorization is what it did to the Jimmy Cagney classic Yankee Doodle Dandy. Cagney won best actor in1942 for his portrayal of George M. Cohan and to see him dancing across the stage in a powder blue jacket that looked like a poor excuse for a leisure suit reject, was incredible. Fortunately, viewers agreed.

I guess I am old fashioned about Christmas. Like all kids, I loved everything about the Christmas holidays and there was never any dissension about the day just because it was a Christian holiday. We would have a tree in our grade school classrooms and the schools would always have a Christmas show. Any kids who weren’t Christian went along for the ride with no concern about the Christian aspect. I think they and their parents figured "What the hell." The one thing we all agreed upon was how great it was to get off school at noon on December 24 if it landed on a school day.

Today is December 21 which is my wife’s birthday. That means a celebratory trip to the casino with dinner at the Orange Sky restaurant on the roof of the Talking Stick Resort. The views there are incredible. After that we might make a late night of it by turning on the Christmas tree lights and watching The Bishop’s Wife.

That may sound corny to some but I can’t think of a better way to end the day.

                         Natalie Wood and Edmund Gwenn in Miracle on 34th Street (1947)

Sheriff Arpaio of Arizona and Scottsdale stuff

Scottsdale, Arizona Mayor Jim Lane commented recently about a new city ordinance concerning littering that could hit downtown violators with fines of $300 or more: “This is another tool to be used, and it gives the city a higher level of control. This is a sincere effort, not a soft and fuzzy one.”

I guess what he is saying between the lines is, “Hey, drunks! Quit urinating, barfing, and throwing beer and whiskey bottles in the neighbor’s yards that surround the downtown entertainment district.”

Times have changed from my partying days. We used to think we were really raising hell on Friday nights but compared to the twenty-somethings of today, we were amateurs. Today, a Friday night for many seems to involve fights like the ten person battle in the Galleria garage a few weeks ago and strolling into nearby residential areas to throw trash in people’s yards or throw up on the way to their illegally parked cars.

All we wanted to do was meet babes and cop a phone number for a future date. Looking back, it seems old fashioned to remember how girls would give a guy a deposit slip to her bank account with her phone number and address printed on it. With the nuts on the loose today, that’s not likely to happen anymore.

Since 1981, the Scottsdale Airport has had four restaurants fail in their main building. One was the Left Seat which Barb and I frequented and thought they did a good job.

I think one problem those places had was the location of the airport being hidden a few blocks east of Scottsdale Road. Once you found it, it was pleasant to eat there and watch the planes come and go. Plus, the terminal was fun to explore.

Now, there is a catering company in the terminal called “Ciao Baby” that is going to re-open the restaurant und the name of the “Zulu Caffe”. Their idea is to offer Southwestern dishes, the ever popular “wood fired” pizzas and other dessert and salad items plus a happy hour.

They are getting the place for only $800 per month rent which seems cheap for that large space. If I was a rich and single swinger, I would have taken it, put up some partitions, and lived in the place. With that amount of square feet and the runway views, it would have been a natural.

A quick note about Sheriff Arpaio: Within the last few days, The Republic, with their usual crew of Sheriff Joe haters like Montini, Benson, and others, is going after the sheriff again. Even Eric Holder, who has plenty of problems of his own, has joined in. Holder ought to clean up his own backyard before he sticks his nose into Maricopa County. At the same time, maybe he should explain his laissez-faire attitude toward sanctuary city sheriffs.

Those of you who know me know I like Sheriff Joe and have voted for him every time he has run. I will continue to do so as one of my enjoyments in life is to hear the whining when those who run against him go down to defeat.

                         Sheriff Joe Arpaio of Arizona and me.

The virtue of thrift

Robert Robb of the Arizona Republic newspaper wrote an interesting column on December 9. He quoted Obama’s usual oration about how the middle class is threatened by greedy and irresponsible rich people and how it is up to the government to save them from those who dare to become successful.

Robb points out activities like globalization and the destruction of free markets as a couple of economic reasons that the middle class lifestyle has become “more volatile and less secure” and that “traditional pathways to the middle class for those without a college education, such as manufacturing and construction, have been eroded.” There is no question that income inequality exists more today but is it the fault of those who are successful?

In spite of Obama’s doomsday status of the middle class, Robb points out that they are living better than ever compared to a generation ago. Houses are bigger, more and newer cars are owned, there are flat screen TVs throughout homes, most family members have access to the Internet everywhere they go via iPhones or Droids, and families eat out a lot more.

Robb then points out an internal factor that leads to increased middle-class insecurity: “the abandonment of the virtue of thrift.” Wow, do I ever agree with that!

Does anyone follow the old adage anymore about saving for a rainy day? It looks like those rainy days are here for a lot of people and as much as Obama wants to use the rich as a scapegoat, maybe many of the problems of the middle class are their own fault.

I grew up in the middle class during the 1950s. Both of my parents worked and I worked after school in a grocery store. We saved a portion of our income every week and when we wanted something special, we paid for it in cash. There were no MasterCards to max out and pay down at 24% interest per month. We didn’t have a new car every year with the latest bells and whistles. We also had a cushion for intangibles like the furnace needing to be replaced or a bad economy.

Today, people want to have everything NOW! It’s so easy to pull out a plastic card to buy that new luxury while considering how to pay for it is a minor detail. In Scottsdale I see young families with a couple kids, two SUVs in the driveway, and one income. I wonder how they can possibly stay ahead of the curve.

If the number of BMWs, Mercedes, and other luxury cars I see with expired license plates is any indication, there has to be a problem. After all, renewing your car registration isn’t near as important as paying for mom’s gym membership is it?

"TEARS" of the USS ARIZONA still flow

On December 8, 1941, President Franklin Roosevelt addressed Congress: "Yesterday, December 7, 1941–a date which will live in infamy–the United States of America was suddenly and deliberately attacked by the naval and air forces of the empire of Japan."

With that statement describing the attack on the U.S. Naval Base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, this nation was thrust into World War II. The first wave of Japanese aircraft attacked at 7:53 a.m. and by the end of the second wave at 9:45 a.m., the U.S. had suffered casualties of 2,335 servicemen and 68 civilians, while 1,178 were wounded.

Of the dead, 1,177 were men stationed on the USS Arizona, which was destroyed when a bomb hit the forward magazine, starting a series of explosions. Eight Arizona residents were listed among the dead on the battleship, which was moored near Ford Island on that dreadful morning 65 years ago.

Today the remains of the Arizona still lie in the same shallow water where she sat helpless during the attack. In 1962, the ship was declared a national shrine and a memorial was built across her remains. A room within the shrine lists the names of the dead crew members, and regular memorial services are performed to respect their memory. A new U.S. flag is raised each day above the site, and at the end of the day is folded and given to various dignitaries.

Time has taken its toll on the memorial and in September, 2005, Governor Janet Napolitano toured the site and pledged Arizona’s help in raising $34 million to build a new visitors’s center. ("Napolitano to help raise $34 million for USS Arizona," The Arizona Republic, Oct. 20, 2005).

"It’s Arizona’s battleship," she said in the article. "When it was commissioned (1916), they broke not just a bottle of champagne over its bow, but a bottle of water that had just come from the newly created Roosevelt Dam. We’ve always had a close connection with the USS Arizona."

Napolitano also declared 2006 as the "Year of the USS Arizona Memorial."

Many of the dead from the Arizona are still entombed within its hulk. Oil still seeps from the wreckage after 65 years and is sometimes referred to as "the tears of the Arizona." Each year the number of survivors decreases and many of them have made arrangements to be cremated with their ashes placed by their fallen shipmates at the site. Many of these men believe that the oil will continue to leak until the last survivor dies.


                                         The New Pearl Harbor Museum Opened on 12-7-2010

Every president since Franklin Roosevelt, and every emperor since Hirohito, has visited the site. All ships of the U.S. Merchant Marine, Navy, and Coast Guard show their respect by the tradition of "manning the rails." All personnel stand in silence at their ship’s guardrails and salute the Arizona Memorial as they enter Pearl Harbor.

It’s a fitting tribute to a bunch of brave guys who fought to defend their country.