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Grinning, I worked the levers and lowered my bucket. Drawing the teeth down and back, I chewed my first hole in the soil of Las Vegas, one of several I would dig over the next 90 minutes. Operating the 315CL Caterpillar Hydraulic Excavator at the Heavy Equipment Playground set me…
Read moreAs a child he witnessed magic. Among the spires of orange and russet rock, in the shadows of parapets ribboned with plum colored bands left by long receded seas, he watched as the Hopi medicine man placed the tip of an eagle feather against his mother’s neck and sang. His…
Read moreSouthwest Texas is vast, and mostly empty. From San Antonio to El Paso, a distance of 550 miles, no town larger than 9,000 people exists. In the entire region, an area about the size of California, the population does not exceed that of Rhode Island. In the 1880s the region…
Read more“What a piece of human trash.” “Should have put him in front of a wall and shot him.” “This dude is a fucking monster — the kind of person that nightmares are made of.” “He’s a cruel, twisted, sadistic scumbag.” “I wanna reach through the screen and strangle him.” “Lying…
Read moreWhen I was eight, I saw a vision of my future. According to Argosy magazine, by the time I was thirty I would be getting around with a jet pack. I would be rocketing off to work with 500 pounds of thrust on my back. At night I would be…
Read moreIn the months following the murder there was scarcely an hour when the earth did not shake. The sound of it was like distant thunder, which gave way to cracks and explosions like muskets being fired. The smell of sulfur and brimstone hung over everything. They said it was retribution…
Read moreFace it. There are some things you are not permitted to do. For example, you cannot perform surgery without a license. You cannot practice law without one either (but that’s all right, there are more than enough lawyers as it is). And you cannot jump off a diving board at…
Read moreWhen the squadron leader gave the signal, we hurried forward, crouching and firing, trying to get to an overturned cable spool where we could find cover. Or I should say they were firing, the other guys on my team. They were plugging away, spraying the field with ordinance, taking no…
Read moreClark Kent is resigning from the Daily Planet. Times have changed and Kent doesn’t appreciate the tabloid-like direction the paper is taking. He plans to become an independent journalist and blogger. Let me be the first to welcome him to the club. As earth shaking developments in the Superman saga…
Read moreThe United States today is a country of two different people, liberals and conservatives. The partisan divide is stark and unnerving. But at bottom what exactly is it that divides us? The best definition I’ve heard comes from libertarian essayist P.J. O’Rourke who said, “Conservatives fear the government more than…
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