It’s Back. A flood of flashing lights and fast cars, lights brighter that the sun. A cast of thousands, the flashy dressed high rollers, laughing at the amount they are pissing away. Tourists, dressed for the heat, ready to walk everywhere, every sight enthralling, yet, the soul is melting in this desert hallucination.
And everyone is wasted. Stumbling around, laughing, doing what they can to miss the homeless lining the skyways, the sidewalks, hiding in plain sight.
The homeless here are a special bunch, they are not run of the mill. Not down and out. These are a group of fighters. They are not a bunch of bums stuck here cause they lost everything at some blackjack table. They came here for a special fight for their own survival. They seem to not want to live any other way. So much money to be had in this town, everyone is sure to get a share. Seems they do get a large enough share.
Mickey and Minnie are here, albiet somewhat dirty, hiding the truth in a somewhat outlandish head. The truth of the dirty Disney idols on Fremont, is the wrinkled lines, the sun torn leathery skin, graying hair and lost eyes. They live here on this monstrosity of the cesspool, taking pictures for tips, each flashbulb taking part of the characters soul, in trade for a buck or two. They are among the cast of thousands, chasing something in this town, along with Sonic The Hedgehog, a ventriloquist, looking after themselves, looking after each other.
All of Vegas is not a sham, or a shame. There is a unity here. There is a spirit.
But alas this Strip. Miles of hotels casinos dreams and nightmares. Slot Machines and Blackjack tables full of empty souls looking for that jackpot, that hot streak, or hitting 13 they placed the last $5 in chips. This is an adult wonderland. An over twenty one playground. DO NOT BRING YOUR FUCKING KIDS HERE! No child needs to see mom and dad lose the college fund because they know this time they will hit black, a dozen golden Elvises, fire breathing midgets, let alone grandpa drunkenly crawling up the stairs after getting kicked out of the strip club. Take the kids to Disneyland, leave them at home, probably not with that old perv grandpa, just for fuck’s sake, don’t bring them here. This is a sanctuary for the party people.
Drinks are free, drugs are cheap and plentiful and the hookers and fetish artists are on every corner. There is a place for everyone, a price for everyone, and everything is for sale.
For some of us that place is the street, and those streets belong to us. For months, I had inhabited those streets in this nations capitol. The activists streets. A so called mild winter, on the east coast. Perfect weather for protesting the wrongs of a government that knows no rights. Kerosene and propane heaters going full force to keep us warm, and the full force of the United States Park Police to keep us uncomfortable, awake, uneasy. A movement of love, peace and equality, forced to live awake, on the streets, treated worse than the homeless, worse than the rats. Cat and mouse games get old, as do power struggles between activists. The mice never have the guns, and the mice don’t believe in them.
It was a daily struggle. Not just against the police forces. More factions against us than I could count. Including our own bodies. A constant struggle for a meal, a drink of water, heat, a place out of the wind.
But here is a paintbrush, a sheet, another fucking slogan, another fucking march. Even our powerful friends, have become our foes.
But not this monstrosity in the Nevada Desert. Billions of gallons of water and beer a day. Tons of food prepared in any way, anywhere, you want. And yes, you can eat the sushi off of her belly should you so choose. Just pay up.
Vegas is a destination, not a home. Those that do stick it out and live here, the locals have seen it all. Seen. Too. Much. Nothing here phases a local.
Just another day. No matter what the seen is, a tourist puking out the excesses, fire farting ponds, drug deals gone wrong, the roommate going out to prostitute for the rent the coke dealer, the food bill.
The wrinkles of the working class, the 4am humorless bartender, is a way of fighting the tears. Fighting the desolation of a town built to have temporary acquaintances constantly out on the next flight, bus, the next ride they can hitch. Between the insult to the planet for this obscene gesture to our Mother Earth, to the psychic cost extracted from the visitor, a toll by all those involved must be paid.
Beach cleaning drive planned to save turtles. go to website green sea turtle
The Week (Muscat, Oman) October 26, 2008 Byline: Our Correspondent (Images: clean.jpg) Passion-Trek, Bait al Baranda, the municipality of Sharqiyah and the sheikh of Ras al Hadd join hands for campaign on October 23 and 24 At a time when Oman is positioning itself as an upcoming tourist destination, litter on beaches has become a concern in a fragile eco system that is home to the sultanate’s pri-zed possession – Green Sea Turtles. Passion-Trek, a company that org-anises nature trails and tourist packages for European visitors, claims a shocking number of Green Sea Turtles have been killed as a direct consequence of beach littering and indiscriminate fishing in the sultanate.
With this in mind, Emilie Luquel and Pascal Beaudemoulin, who run Passion-Trek, have organised a beach clean-up campaign at Ras al Hadd on October 23 and 24. “Our message is clear – people should care for the environment and keep areas green. Don’t throw rubbish everywhere; it’s the only way we can keep Oman green and beautiful.” Bait al Baranda Museum, the municipality of Sharqiyah and the sheikh of Ras al Hadd have join hands in this campaign.
“It appears as if tourists have been living – and dumping garbage – on the beaches for decades,” Emilie observed. A study along the Gulf of Oman reported densities of marine debris ranging from 0.43 to 6.01 items/m, with a mean of 1.79 items/m. The plastic debris appeared to be of local origin or discarded fishing gear, according to the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) report.
Oman is home to five species of turtles – Green Sea Turtle, Loggerhead, Olive Ridley, Hawksbill and Leatherback – of which four nest on its soft white sandy beaches. The sultanate’s population of Green Sea Turtles is the largest in the Indian Ocean, Ras al Hadd being the biggest nesting site of the species. Every year, close to 800 Green Sea Turtles migrate to Ras al Hadd to lay their eggs in a unique natural phe- nomenon that sees the creatures swimming in from as far as Australia and Sri Lanka. The nesting is a spectacle attracting environmentalists, nature lovers and tourists in large numbers from all over the world. see here green sea turtle
What makes the Green Sea Turtle so precious is its abysmal survival rate. Of the several thousand eggs laid every winter, only two in a thousand hatchlings survive. Fish-ing nets and plastics kill most of them. “These turtles swallow plastic bags mistaking them for jellyfish,” Emilie said.
Once hatched, the baby turtles rush to the sea using moonlight as a navigational tool. Reaching the sea is vital for their survival but road lights often blind and misdirect them. “The turtles are frightened by the chaos and commotion of the tourists on these beaches; they flee from the area because of the tourists. Often, we find 150 visitors with just a single guide,” Pascal informed.
According to Emilie and Pascal, commercial trawling has also killed some Green Sea Turtles in Oman. The helpless creatures are caught in the nets dragged behind boats. When they are unable to surface, the turtles asphyxiate. The UNEP report cites various factors behind turtle mortality in recent decades – widespread exploitation for eggs, meat and shell, fisheries-related mortality and destruction, degradation of critical habitats and global warming.
Emilie said tourists often flout government regulation prohibiting camping on turtle beaches to avoid disturbing their nocturnal laying and hatching habit. “The car park (for the Ras al Hadd beach) is often packed to capacity after dark with the four-wheel drive vehicles of the tourists. Many of them carry torches and ignore requests for silence. The turtles are often frightened and swim away without laying eggs.” According to a report, 41.68 per cent of the turtles – Oman has tagged 23,000 of them – had not laid eggs on the Ras al Hadd beach in 2006. In 2005, 34.67 per cent of the tagged turtles didn’t lay eggs on this beach.
Box (What makes the Green Sea Turtle so precious is its abysmal survival rate. Of the several thousand eggs laid every winter, only two in a thousand hatchlings survive. Fishing nets and plastics kill most of them. The turtles swallow plastic bags mistaking them for jellyfish) Green Sea Turtle Found in tropical and subtropical seas with two distinct populations in the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans Loggerhead Grows up to 364kg and 1.1m in length; shell colour is reddish brown and the skin is brown-yellow Hawksbill A critically endangered sea turtle species; it has two visible claws in each flipper Leatherback The largest of all living turtles; easily distinguishable from other sea turtles by its lack of a bony shell Apex Press and Publishing Provided by Syndigate.info an Albawaba.com company
Author:
Visit 's Website -
Email A tall deranged writer and traveller. An adventurer on the East Coast looking for trouble, usually involving hordes of people carrying dangerous cardboard signs. Can usually be found shooting video at protests, or on a sidewalk trying to find out what is going on in the country. Still looking for the American Dream. Field Reporter for OWS and those looking for the truth about what this country is all about. My beat is the protester, the drifter, and the dreamer. My drink of choice is Straight Kentucky Bourbon. "Let's Party!
