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Americana: Bryce Canyon, Proposition 8 And A Truck Stop
28 September 2010By Jane Stillwater
Right now I'm off driving around Utah. And in Park
City yesterday, I went to a branch office of the
Mormon family heritage center and they helped me trace
my ancestors back to North Carolina, back from before
the Trail of Tears. Wow. The center even printed me
out a copy of an original 1900 Oklahoma census tract.
It actually had my great-grandmother Mary's name on it
-- and the names of her ten children as well.
And I was recently telling someone in Salt Lake City
about how much I liked Utah. "You sound surprised," he
replied. And I was. My only experience with Mormons
(aside from my cute high school boyfriend) came from
the time that they poured millions of dollars into a
California election in a clear effort to dictate to us
how we should think and and how we should vote --
subtly instructing us that we were supposed to hate
gay people.
After visiting SLC, I was off to Bryce Canyon -- which
is really amazing. You should go there sometime. I
think you might be as amazed as I was. And on the way
there, I pulled over at a truck stop to get something
to eat -- and was amazed at that too. There was aisle
after aisle, filled to overflowing, with stuff that
was bad for you. You name it, they had it -- starting
with Twinkies and chips and working their way up. I
took photos. I'm going to put an exhibit up on
Facebook. "The Way America Eats".
Next I crossed the Utah-Arizona border and one of the
first things I saw there was a store's billboard that
read, "Lotto, Ammo, Guns and Beer". Welcome to
Arizona.
Some Homeland Security bureaucrat has recently stated
that Arizona's draconian immigration laws are "a
desperate cry for help." So here's some help for you,
guys. GET RID OF NAFTA! And also John McCain.
In addition, I would also recommend that we stop
worrying about closing our borders to Mexico and start
worrying about closing our borders to China! "Why is
that?" you might ask. Because most of America's jobs
are being sent overseas -- to China and elsewhere. And
who knows? Someday we too may be forced to become
undocumented aliens, sneaking over the border from
Hong Kong as we too follow the jobs.
However, there's gonna be one big problem with that
one. Think how easy it will be for the Chinese
government to "racially profile" us!
PS: Right before I left Berkeley in search of the
Great American Experience, I heard someone make a very
interesting statement: "I'll NEVER work retail again!"
"Sorry, dude," I should have said, "you're plum out of
luck on that one. Most of America is employed in the
service industry these days. It's retail or else!"
All over The West, I have seen this again and again --
people employed in the service industry, mostly
tourism. But guess what? The service industry, in the
end, is NOT economically viable. People can take turns
being providers and customers all they want and
pretend for days, weeks, months, years that this
[circular illusion] is producing a healthy economy --
but it is not.
Unfortunately, America's true economic reality has
already immigrated to the steel mills and
manufacturing plants of China and the sweatshops of
Asia.
Further, according to Tim Lange at the Daily Kos,
America's infrastructure is also falling apart -- but
China's isn't. "Europe...puts 5 percent of its gross
domestic product into infrastructure spending and
China 9 percent. In the United States, it's only 2.4
percent. Nearly two years ago, the ASCE estimated the
five-year investment needed for infrastructure at $2.2
trillion."
So if I want to continue my road trip in style, I may
have to go over and drive around in China.
PPS: The next stop on my trip will be the Grand Canyon
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