With the 4th of July approaching, I decided to read David McCullough's 1776. It's a thoroughly researched account of the battles between the Continental Army and the British from the end of 1775 to early 1777. Just as Ken Burns' PBS series taught me more about the Civil War than I ever learned in school, 1776 taught me a lot I never knew or realized about the Revolutionary War. Here are a few:

• Many of the patriots' families had been in America for four or five generations. (Believe it or not, colonists had been here for more than 150 years. They didn't just get off the Mayflower, build a few towns and declare independence.)
• The war was fought right in the middle of civilian populations, which included both rebels and British Loyalists. General George Washington didn't whom he could trust. Spying and defections were common going both ways.
• Loyalists saw themselves as the true American patriots and considered the rebellion criminal. (Funny how the new country took the Loyalists' position less than 100 years later when the southern states tried to secede.)
• Washington seemed to take over the nicest house in town wherever the war took him. Sometimes both armies purchased supplies from locals, and sometimes they just took them.
• The British and Hessian troops were notorious for raping local women.
• Washington had a constant battle just hanging on to his troops, who apparently signed up for a year at a time. Every time their enlistments ended they all went home at once, and Washington had to beg Congress for more. They supposedly were motivated by the cause, but the motivation seemed to expire when their enlistment did.
• Washington told people in private correspondence how dirty and stupid the New England soldiers were.
• Washington gave orders to shoot down anyone who "presume[d] to skulk, hide himself, or retreat from the enemy, without the orders of his commanding officer."
• After the Declaration of Independence was written and signed in 1776, the war did not end until 1783.
• We might not have/probably would not have won the war if France had not helped us.

In this book, the Continental Congress is an invisible body off in Philadelphia to which Washington reports and sends requests for troops and money. I was surprised to see that they were spending dollars. I would have liked to have learned more about how they set up a monetary system so early in the revolution.

Whenever we celebrate Memorial Day or Veterans Day, I especially honor the patriots who fought to create the country we have now. In my next post I will look at their motivation.

        

Were you surprised to hear Bernie Madoff was going to have to forfeit $171 billion to be used for restitution to his scam victims? I knew he'd stolen a lot of money, but I found it hard to believe he'd accumulated that much.

He hadn't—it's a typo. See Dean Baker's "Millions, Billions, Whatever: It's Hard to Get Good Help." No kidding.

The AP article I linked to above says Madoff's victims lost $13.2 billion, if you can trust that number. Forfeited assets of $171 billion would more than cover all the losses with plenty left over to pay legal fees and penalties, but I don't see any victims celebrating or quitting their post-retirement jobs. Baker says, "Bill Gates and Warren Buffett never had $170 billion."

It's hard to believe the Associated Press would make a mistake like that. It's harder to believe all the other media picked up the story and used that number without noticing it didn't make sense. What's absolutely incredible is it still hasn't been corrected. I just searched Google News for "Madoff" and "$171 billion" and got 1,335 hits. I searched for "Madoff" and $171 million" and got no hits. I did find one—one— New York Post article from June 15 using $170 million. I didn't get any hits on "Madoff" and "typo," either. I didn't check all the 248 hits for "Madoff" plus "forfeit" plus "correction," but all the ones I did check were about "correctional facility" or "stock market correction."

I guess you really can't believe anything you read or hear in the news any more.

Afterthought: The "bloggers in glass houses" syndrome has struck again; it happens every time I criticize someone else's mistake. I thought I was publishing this earlier today, and instead I published the rough draft of an entry I was going to finish and post later this week. That wasn't enough, though. When this one didn't appear on my blog page or Nevada Blogs, I tried to publish it again! I apologize to my e-mail subscribers for the duplication. You'll probably receive the same Revolutionary War post for the third time in a few days.

        

A commenter on last week's post made a pretty good case that Barbara Buckley was not such an innocent scapegoat for the way the Nevada Legislature balanced the budget. I maintained that politicians are politicians and would have done what they did with or without closed-door meetings or public input.

The Las Vegas Sun today has its own analysis of the Legislature's actions, specifically its grab of property taxes from local governments. One of the opening paragraphs says "those involved in the process" have mentioned possible reasons:for the grab including "politics underlying the 2010 Democratic race for governor,which will likely pit Commission Chairman Rory Reid against Assembly Speaker Barbara Buckley." That caught my attention since that's exactly what my commenter brought up last week. Unfortunately, the reporter didn't mention that point again.

What he did write about at length was the failure of Clark County's lobbying efforts. The very last paragraph of the article, I think, confirms the point I tried to make in my comments last Sunday. It quotes Sheila Leslie, described as "a key ally of Buckley."

"I don’t think (Clark County) lost the money because the lobbying was bad, I think they would have lost the money anyway,” she said. “We were going to take the money because we needed it.”

The real question here is whether we want to or have to tolerate politicians who take pragmatism to such an extreme. I'm not so sure myself, but I am sure they would have been vilified no matter how they balanced the budget. However, my commenter last week proved we have some politicians who have higher standards for politics than I have come to expect.

        

No sacred cow today. I was going to write about pretending people were saints after they're dead no matter how flawed they were while they were alive. However, the media restrained themselves for only a half hour or so after Michael Jackson's death was confirmed, and then they let loose with everything they had.

Instead, I've decided to write about the the Summer Real Estate Super Section in today's RGJ. Our local real estate agents are getting pretty good at putting lipstick on pigs. Here are some examples:

• "$425,000 to $44,500—Own a hotel condominium in the finest luxury hi-rise resort/spa/casino . . . " (A 90 percent markdown is some fine lipstick.)
• "REDUCED! College Student Looking to Buy?" (Dream on.)
• "Once in a lifetime do you find a home like this. Fully fenced custom home right on the Truckee River." (But will the fence keep out the flood waters?)
• "The house you've always wondered about is on the market!" (I was curious about this, but there was no photo or location and I wouldn't bother to call about it.)
• "Great Little Neighborhood—3 block long street showing EXCELLENT pride of ownership." (Then it finally gets into a description of the house that's for sale.)
• "Bring your tools and your imagination and make this house your home. Lots of projects started but not quite finished. . . . Hurry this great value won't last long." (Several ads similar to this.)
• For a 1-acre lot in SW suburban Reno: "Price includes fantastic approved plans for ultimate 8000+ sq. ft. castle. Excavation had been started and all bids had been submitted, when the bank decided not to issue the construction loan." Price for the lot and plans: $550,000.
• "Imagine sitting on the banks of the Truckee River from your own beach. . . . The Truckee River is seen from the great room, dining room, master bedrm, loft & kitchen. . . . A rare find in a secret gated community. . . . $2,100,000." (Imagine watching the Truckee River flowing into your $2 million home the next time it floods.)
• "4 bd, 4.5 ba, 4-car gar home in Arrowcreek's subgated 'reserve.' Top location on cul de sac, over an acre w/ tasteful landscaping & lighting. . . . $2,295,000." (Inside a subgate? Top location on the cul de sac? Gotta have it.)
• With a photo of a long building that might be a mobile home: "This 3 bd, 2 ba, 1584 sf home on 10 acres needs tlc. Great country home. Secluded location with spectacular sunset views. $90,000." (Sunset views? Gotta have this one, too.)
• "GREAT FAMILY HOME . . . NEVER BEEN LIVED IN. . . . NOT A SHORT SALE OR BANK OWNED." (Just a bad investment?)
• 7020 Peppermint. Photo of a house painted peppermint pink.
• "Great neighbors, too." (One more I gotta have!)
• "Soon to be listed! . . . Not a bank-owned or short sale. . . . Please call for pricing and a showing!" (But it's not listed yet? What's the deal?)
• "Historical Alley Location—Old Southwest. . . . Condo-type living ease, with no HOA." (What historical alley location would that be? Is condo-type living ease with no HOA the same thing as apartment-type living ease?)
• "Contractor Special—Demolition for remodel complete. Needs new kitchen, baths, flooring, paint, etc. . . . Very rare opportunity."
• "Priced to allow for a remodel."
• "Blank slate backyard for buyers ideas." (Several of these. So the sellers couldn't afford to landscape their backyards after they got into their houses?)
• "This home could go FHA with some minor repairs, seller will not pay for any lender required repairs."
• "Nice small low maintenance yard. Just like having a townhome without the common wall!" (Wonder if this is the same as "condo-type living ease without the HOA.")
• "A mini paradise . . . ask about financing for repairs."
• "NOT A BANK FORECLOSURE OR SHORT SALE . . . JUST AN OWNER TAKING A LOSS."
• In an article about a home in Donner Springs: "Many of the nearby homes in this neighborhood appear to be well-kept." (Many of them? Glad you brought that up.)
• Some ad writers spell words the way they sound to them: "rod iron fence," "frost free spickets."

Except for the bad spellers, I'd recommend all of these agents to ad agencies as copywriters. Here's my referral in their own words: Bright and Open! Tremendous Potential! Can Be Yours with the Right Offer!

        

5 a.m., that is.

I had to take Mr. Ann in for a medical procedure this morning, which meant I had to get up (blush) several hours earlier than normal. I was amazed to see that it was light outside at 5:30 a.m.! Furthermore, I saw one of our neighbors in his driveway, the roads were full of traffic and people were going into 7-Elevens.

Even though it was bright enough to see clearly, the sun wasn't quite up yet.  Everyone was moving around the same way they do in mid afternoon. It felt really strange, almost as if we were having an eclipse of the sun or something.

Mr. Ann often has to be to work by 6 a.m. in the summer, so he knows he's not the only one out and about that early. I would say he was surprised that I was surprised, but he knows how much I hate waking up in the morning. That's OK—I'm familiar with the 11:30 p.m. world.

We're back home now and he's fine. I might need a nap.

        

I've been trying to stick to the high ground and not write about John Ensign's affair, but with Gov. Mark Sanford's confession this afternoon it's getting ridiculous. If there's something you've been hiding and you know it's going to get out sooner or later, this might be a good time to come clean. Maybe your confession will be lost in the flood and quickly forgotten. Hurry and hold your press conference now while everyone is distracted by Gov. Sanford's e-mail!

I happen to have a zero tolerance policy on adultery. I'd rather not be married than married to someone I'm not good enough for. Yes, I'd far rather see people get divorces than stay together in loveless marriages. And, for the record, I've been married to my first and only husband for almost 36 years.

Mr. Ann had a friend who used to say, "If you're cheating on your spouse with someone else, isn't that saying you had to settle for second best when you got married? So what does that say about you?"

I do have one positive thing to say about Sen. Ensign. When our nephew was killed in Iraq, Ensign attended his funeral. I wouldn't expect anything less of a senator who supported the war. Even though I strongly disagreed with his position, I respected him for being willing to face the consequences of it.

        

First, does Write on Nevada (not to be confused with the Nevada Writer blog!) allow comments, and if not, why not? I tried to comment on an entry last Thursday, and when I hit "preview" my comment disappeared. I sent a polite query about it to the e-mail address on the site (Nevada Policy Research Institute) and have not received a reply. I've looked at the most recent entries, and none of them have comments. Isn't it a little odd for a blog not to accept comments?

Second, no one ever replied to my question a year ago about why people shuck corn in the store. They're at it again, and it's driving me nuts. If you do it, why????? Don't make me have to confront a shucker in the act!

        

I can't believe people are criticizing Barbara Buckley for not accomplishing more in this year's legislative session. As her defenders point out in the RGJ article today, she had to contend with having to get a two thirds majority to pass tax legislation, a governor on a veto binge and the requirement of a two thirds majority to override his vetoes. The criticism verges on blaming the victim. Put another way, the economy and the governor gave Buckley lemons and she made lemonade. Her critics apparently expected lemoncello.

        

If only my dad were loving, supportive, patient and generous. He's not and never has been, so shopping for birthday and Father's Day cards for him just reminds me of what I've never had. If I said to him what most greeting cards say, it would be pure sarcasm. When I'm lucky, I find a card that says something about wishing he'll get everything he deserves.

Today I'll be taking a card to him at the nursing home. I've often felt the need to apologize for his behavior to the caregivers there and at the assisted living homes he's stayed in for the past three and a half years. They usually seem relieved that they can quit pretending they like him. Then, however, they make excuses for him, saying it's the dementia and older people often have personality changes that are not their fault. No, actually, my dad has been mean all my life.

Here's the happy ending. Tomorrow I'll be celebrating Father's Day with Mr. Ann, my husband since I was 20 years old and father of our two sons. They say women marry their fathers; I was lucky enough to marry someone like my mother instead. I can pick any card off the rack and it will apply to Mr. Ann no matter how gushy it is. I'm pretty sure our sons feel the same way.

        

Regarding a L.A.M.B. purse she had just purchased at Saks Fifth Avenue Off 5th for $200 yesterday, a 20-year-old woman told an RGJ reporter, "This is very exciting and affordable because everything is marked down."

I'm almost speechless, but

1. In what world is $200 for a container to carry small items around in affordable?
2. Being marked down from an even more ridiculous price does not make it a bargain if it's still overpriced.
3. 99.9 percent of the people who see this woman carrying the purse will not know (or care) whether she paid $200 or $20 for it. Only people like her will be impressed.

Then there's "Montrêux community holds opening." (Is that special "ê" a pain in the butt, or what?). The first thing the article, which I presume is an unedited news release, says after announcing the date and time is it's an "exclusive, invitation-only event ." So why is it of any interest whatsoever to anyone who wasn't invited?

But it's this quote from the article that leaves me almost speechless: "The French countryside-style development has 65 lots designed to mimic the feel of a close-knit neighborhood. " Why not "enable" a close-knit neighborhood? "Encourage development of" or "foster" a close-knit neighborhood? Nah, just mimicking the feel of one is good enough for these developers and their target market.

Thorstein Veblen wouldn't have been speechless regarding these quotes. See his views in Conspicuous Consumption.