"Newspapers, especially on the editorial page, are looked upon to give fair assessments of politicians, especially one as powerful and impactful as Reagan. And yet we see The Las Vegas Review-Journal rewriting history in defending Reagan's poor economic practices by blaming Congress."
— Joe Strupp, Editor and Publisher
Damon Hodge on the fleecing of his plastic: Like underwear, debit cards (DCs) are something I never leave home without. I'm so enamored of DCs, I've huffed out of restaurants and stores that don't accept them. The cards are especially handy for seat-of-the-pants bankers (guilty!) who couldn't tell if you if they had $20 to withdraw and whose bank's purported octazillion locations are never where you need them. Like when you're craving a spicy tender chicken sandwich and large Sprite. Like, um, Friday. (I'll expound in a sec.)
Not that it's been an unrequited friendship. Whoever schemed the we're-going-to-screw-you-because-you-bank-elsewhere ATM fees (casinos are the worst) deserve a month's sentence at Abu Ghraib. It took some time, but I adjusted to 25-, 50- and 75-cent (ouch!) surcharges tacked on at fast-food establishments. What happened Friday took the despoiling to a new level: surcharged $1.75 for the sandwich and drink at Burger King. Oh, that's not all. I'll let the attendant explain: "It's not debit. It's ATM. It's going to charge you $10, take out the surcharge and I'll give you the change." Eleven. Seventy. Friggin. Five. Mouth agape. Eyes soulless. Zambian warlords, third-world oligarchies and the top brass at WorldCom could learn a thing from Visa and MasterCard about pillaging.
I should have seen it coming. Eight years ago, Visa and MasterCard pissed Wal-Mart off so bad that the world's largest retailer sued. (Wally's beef was over PIN-numbered debit vs. signature debit transactions; card insurers chose machines that honored the latter because they generated more revenue. Thus merchants had to eat the fees and often passed the costs to consumers). Wally won some concessions but was back in court last year.
All of which help me none at this point. Some time this week, Burger King will zap $11.75 from my account, and those debit cards I so admire will lose some of their luster. At least the sandwich was good.
Give the Nevada State Museum and Historical Society and Cox Cable a kudo. They're fighting back and standing proud. A little.
Last week, in a nice little so there!/flip the bird to The New York Slimes and its cheap shots at Vegas, the museum partnered with Cox to inaugurate a "media library/educational exhibit"—essentially a TV and cassettes—to celebrate Vegas and Nevada history. The library features an array of biographies from The Biography Channel (carried on Cox Digital Channel 336) that visitors can screen, from profiles of Wayne Newton and Sammy Davis Jr. and Siegfried & Roy to documentaries about Hoover Dam, Area 51 and nuclear testing. Unveiling the exhibit, Cox Cable veep Steve Schorr voiced mild but unmistakable annoyance at The Slimes, noting that the exhibit reflects our community pride and history, and "displays what we are, not what The New York Times wishes we were."
It's a cute little touch of cheerleading, but where's the roar of civic boastfulness this city is entitled to? C'mon, Vegas, let's find a way to seriously step up and proclaim to the world the greatness that is us. A bunch of programs from the Biography Channel don't seem up to the task.
If you're going to validate parking for theatergoers in that fabulous, sparkling, taxpayer-funded parking garage, at least have an employee around to hand out the validation cards after the late showing each night. As it is now, no one's there. Even worse? Theater employees tell you when you walk in that you have to wait until after the movie to show your stub and get validation. Lies, Neonopolis. All lies.
We're Tragic? We're Beautiful? We're Tragic? It's So Hard Being So Misunderstood
While some 30 Vegas leaders met June 4 at the Chamber of Commerce to lament the The New York Times' nasty portrayal of the city in a recent series, an LA Times article presenting Vegas as a great place to nurture onself is still making the rounds.
Janet Eastman's story, which begins, "No one comes to Sin City to meditate, take a yoga class, hang out in a hotel room. But my sister and I did," ran in several papers across the nation June 7, and concludes that our fair city is a peaceful, uplifting destination.
They just don't get us.