The Grandview Resort Las Vegas

I don't mind a sales pitch. I understand a little bit about marketing. I also follow business, and I know how important it is to capture the attentions of potential customers. After all, no business could ever survive without its customers.

Still, there is a fine line, I think, between marketing and just being a flat-out pest.

My wife and I recently took a trip to Las Vegas, Nevada, and stayed at the Excalibur. We flew Southwest airlines and took a Showtime shuttle to the hotel. We had an early flight, and so when we got to the hotel it was too soon before check-in. We went through the casino, luggage in tow, and headed for the bag storage. Walking past the registration desks, we were approached by a woman, "How long will you be in Vegas?"

"Till Sunday," I told her.

"Come with me," she said and walked us over to another desk a few feet away.

We were offered a choice between two tickets to a show, or $100 worth of gambling money which could be used in any casino where the MGM Player's Club card was accepted and two buffets at the Excalibur. All we had to do was sit through a presentation for a new resort in Las Vegas, The Grandview, which is a time share, and have a look around the place.

All fine and dandy. It's not really my thing. But I let my wife decide and she decided if we couldn't check in yet anyway, and we'd get a few things free, why not? What did we have to lose?

Well, nothing really. Though we did have to cough up $40 right off the bat. $20 would be returned to us at the end along with the rewards.

We sat through the presentation, and checked out the condos, and listened to the spiels. I won't get into the details. We all know what a time share is. We also know what it is not. All I will say is that we politely said "No thank you" to at least 3 people before they finally let us go and we were able to collect our rewards—which we did get.

The time share deal was a bogus one. The presentation was weird at best. But my problem was more with the fact that throughout our stay we were approached by the Grandview people on the casino floor at the Excalibur at least 25 times in 4 days and 3 nights. It probably would have been a much higher number had we spent our entire time on the Excalibur's casino floor—but it's Vegas, and there's myriad casino's to choose from. So we went to others.

The Grandview folks were at the Luxor as well, I should note.

Again, I don't mind being thrown a sales pitch. Business is business. And no matter what my thoughts may be on time shares, it's a business, and there are customers who enjoy them. There is a market. And if you want to fill rooms, you have to market them.

But I will say this. The experience left me with a sour taste in my mouth.

I like the Excalibur. It's a nice hotel. The staff was courteous. The room was nice. The price was right. And they have an amazing casino and the upstairs section between the Excalibur and the Luxor is very convenient with McDonald's, Starbucks, Krispy Kreme and whatever else you may fancy, including Pizza Hut.

But when you have to constantly say no to someone who approaches you it becomes annoying. When it's repeated over 25 times? It's extremely annoying. Excalibur should be aware that it has customers too. It needs to keep those customers coming back. I'll likely stay there again. But this is strike one. In this case there are only two strikes allowed. If my next stay at the Excalibur is riddled with sales people at every door, and at every turn, I will not stay there again.

As for The Grandview Resort Las Vegas? It's a scam. It may not seem that way in the beginning. But once you reach the end of it, it becomes all too clear.

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FOX FORBIDDING HANNITY TAPING AT TEA PARTY EVENT WAS RIGHT DECISION

Fox News' recent decision to forbid Sean Hannity from taping his popular nightly show from a Cincinatti tea party event, after learning that the event's organizers were charging attendees for a chance to be closer to the Fox News talking head during the taping, is a good one in my opinion. According to various reports, attendees were being charged between $5 and $20, depending upon how close to the Fox star they wanted to be, for the opportunity. Media Matters, a liberal media outlet, cited that Hannity was also directing supporters through his own personal website to a link where they could buy tickets to attend the rally.

Even Rupert Murdoch, owner of News Corp., which also owns the Fox News channel, got in on the discussion, telling reporters that he felt it was not appropriate for Fox News to be associated with any current movement.

That assertion makes perfect sense to me. News media is there to cover an event. Not to drive one. If anyone need any proof of this, one need look no further than nearly the entire coverage by liberal media circles of the presidential campaign of Barack Obama.

Fox News prides itself on being fair and balanced, and while there are plenty of people on the left who like to try and portray Fox as an "arm of the republican party," as had been strongly suggested by the Obama administration back when the big war with Fox was underway, it is simply not true. Anita Dunn, on the White House communications team, practically was made famous by making this very claim—we won't even get into the Chairman Mao comment, but it clearly erases any credibility on her part if you ask me.

It is important, in my view, that media remain as biased as it possibly can. Wherever there are people involved, you will always have some ideology injected into the discussion, and into the news coverage. That's undeniable. And clearly guys like Sean Hannity are no strangers to being involved with a particular political party—certainly that will have some bearing on their commentary. But they also clearly label themselves for what they are. Commentators. Not journalists.

But having Hannity directly associated with the tea party movement via Fox News pushes the envelope. And if you think about, I'm inclined to even offer Hannity a little bit of a shame on you for this one. Don't you think MSNBC and all the other left wing loons like Keith Olbermann and Chris Matthews are going to eat it right up if they actually tape a television show at a conservative event?

Quite frankly, I'm thinking as well that if MSNBC were to tape a show from an obvious left wing group, no matter what it was, Fox News would as well find that to be an affirmation of bias. Why would we want to be associated in the same light?

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STARVIN' THE DANDELIONS

I've got this notion that if you pull off the tops of dandelions that they'll starve. It's sort of like taking away someone's mouth, if you think about it. The bees can't come along and pollinate, and well, isn't the flower part where a lot of the food action is in a dandelion? I don't know, really. I'm not a scientist by trade, and certainly by the looks of any plant I've ever been on the side of trying not to kill, it's clear I'm not a botanist either.

Perhaps the word butcher would be a more suitable fit.

I'm sure I look like a bonafide damned fool trekking through the yard with my pail in hand, plucking off those yellowy flower tops. Then again, it's always a mighty dandy site (no pun itended) to look across the freshly plucked yard and see only patches of green.

Voila! Success. Take that you damned wicked weeds!

I laugh all the time at my neighbor who bothers to pay those guys who come along and spray chemicals on his grass, and then put up those nifty little white signs that read "Treated Lawn—Keep Off Grass." Even if I must concede that he does, in fact, have the best looking lawn on the block.

But I've got the way, plucking those dandelions out of my own lawn. I need pay no one. I need no special dandelion expunging chemicals. Starvin' the little bastards is what I do. And it's free, aside from my time, and depending on the day, maybe just a tiny crick in my back from all that bending down.

At least that's my thought. That is, until the next day. Then the laughter stops. As I walk out and peer over the green landscape, only to find that they've returned. The dandelions. There they are like tiny yellow soldiers standing afoot in my lawn. I cry foul. I feel like a fool. Defeat is swift. Damnit all!

But not for long.

For I've got the power of my wits, and my pail is empty. And just as the day before, I begin picking them off one by one, tossing the little yellow bulbs into the pail. Hah, hah, hah, I've got you! A sinister grin forms on my lips. I'll win this fight. Eat your heart out Mr. Neighbor with your pristine green lawn.

You see, I've got this notion that if you pull off the tops of dandelions they'll starve.

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THE GOD IN SCHOOL LOOPHOLE

I'm not a religious guy at all. Still, I am a conservative, and I absolutely do subscribe to America, its traditions and values, and while I do not believe that prayer should be allowed in schools, that the word God certainly does have its place in some context. Invoking God in the pledge of allegiance for example. And if a student wishes to invoke God or their religion in a speech on the school grounds, that should well be allowed as well. That's really a part of free speech is it not? And it's different from teaching religion, certainly that's true. Invoking something religious will not create converts, and so long as the invocation is done without being a sermon I don't see anything wrong with it.

A story I read recently was really fun to read because it shows us one small loophole around policies that go too far, such as using the word God in schools. I think you'll get a kick out of it, and certainly will find it inspiring as well. I give a very big thumbs up to the graduating class in this story.

The Sneeze

DOW 11,000

I remember a while back I tried to start a stock picking blog. Not that I'm a Wall Street elite or anything like that, but I do play the market, and I do know a little bit about it. I'm certainly not giving Warren Buffet a run for his money in case you may be wondering. Still, I do all right. Though the title I chose was sort of a silly one looking back on it. What in the hell was I thinking?
The Nail Biting Stock Picker.

I really had to ask myself who in their right mind would follow a guy who picks stocks like that? Nail biting doesn't really elude a sense of confidence does it? I mean, it would be like hopping into a taxi with the moniker White Knuckled Cab Service on the door.

No, I don't think I'd go with that service either.

Still, getting it right can be a difficult prospect. There's so much going on in the markets everyday, up one and down two, and the news is quick. And there's a ton of it. Throughout the day tons and tons of news hits the newsrooms and bounces around the Internet sites, and all of it pulls and tugs a little bit this way and a little bit that way.

I call it the dance. And it makes me laugh sometimes. Because it seems that the news sways. Just a few days ago we get this new jobs number out, and guys sit at a round table and start hemming and hawing about this being great. Best numbers in a long time. Ah, forget the fact that 46,000 of that 160,000 were newly hired census workers. But the numbers looked good. Not the end of the road for trouble in the jobs sector, but better. The market rallies.

And then today we get a spike in unemployment claims.

We're dancing. We really are. One day spike in new home starts and the market gets a lift. The next day a report comes out that we have seen a rise in foreclosures yet again.

Right now the markets are just up against that 11,000 number. We're doing the dance with it.

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