The Moab Giants Dinosaur Park

  I have written about Moab, Utah many times. The natural beauty of the region around the town astounds the senses: two national parks (Arches and Canyonlands), innumerable canyons, the La Sal Mountains, petroglyphs, pictographs,…

Wage Slaves in Our National Parks

 This past January, twenty-seven year old Ryan Hiller died when a tree fell on his tent cabin during a storm at Yosemite National Park. Tent cabins are structures with concrete flooring and walls, canvas roofs,…

Poisoning People in Apollo: All in a Day's…

 Apollo is a small town in western Pennsylvania, part of the old coal and steel belt that surrounds Pittsburgh. The shallow Kiskiminitas River, a tributary of the Allegheny, flows through the borough. Although it is…

The National Parks Were Made for You and…

Arches National Park in Utah is a jumble of strange and beautiful rocks, spires, arches, and fins. The more times you come here, the more amazing wonders you might find: a fifty-feet long natural rock…

On Vacation

Cheap Motels and a Hot Plate is going on vacation for awhile. I've run out of things to say. Thanks for reading.

Whoopee! We're All Gonna Die (Working)

 We were in a Wal-Mart in Richfield, Utah. The greeters at the door were an elderly man and woman. Both were in wheelchairs. At a grocery store in Colorado, an old man bagging groceries was…

It's Still Slavery by Another Name

 Right-wingers like Fox’s Bill O’Reilly are fond of saying that whites don’t have a monopoly on racism. Some black people hate whites, so they are racist too. Whites must stop being racist, but so must…

After the Wisconsin Uprising

 The most important thing that has taken place since Wisconsin is another uprising, the phenomenal Occupy Wall Street (OWS). It began in Manhattan’s Zuccotti Park in September 2011 and spread rapidly to more than 2,600…

If I Were a Rich Man

When the great populist Huey Long was campaigning for governor of Louisiana, he wrote some clever slogans and songs. One song began: "Every man a king, for you can be a millionaire." Back then, in…

Fools' Gold

As I was channel surfing a few months ago, I stopped to watch a new Discovery Channel reality show called Gold Rush. Since then I have seen every episode. The show is now in its…