Point to point

There are a lot of beautiful places in El Cabrero's beloved state of West Virginia and I just got to spend a little time with family in one of them, to wit Fayette County in and around the New River Gorge. In lieu of trying to write some semi-serious social commentary, let me just say that at one point we hiked a trail near Fayetteville to a great view of the Gorge and of the famous bridge that crosses it. Yes, that would be the one they parachute off of (sorry about ending that phrase with a preposition).

 

A little later, as we crossed the bridge, the Spousal Unit snapped a picture of the overlook at the spur of the mountain in the middle. Between the two, there is a whole lot of down. If you've never been to the area, drop everything and hit it ASAP. There is something magical about the place.

SCORE ONE FOR F. SCOTT FITZGERALD, who wrote in so many words that the rich are different. That's especially true these days when it comes to taxes.

THE BUFFETT RULE. You've probably heard about it and will hear more on Tax Day. Here's a starter.

MORE ON TAXES here.

GOAT ROPE ADVISORY LEVEL: ELEVATED

Water under the bridge

We interrupt our regularly scheduled programming to bring you this random post about a memory that was just jogged. In yesterday's Charleston Gazette, there was an article with a great picture about the catwalk beneath West Virginia's famous New River Gorge Bridge. (The view is worth a click.)

There are many cool things in El Cabrero's beloved home state, and the bridge is definitely one of them. It's over 3300 feet long and stands over 800 feet above the New River.

The article mentioned above talks about a new program that will provide tours of the underbelly of the bridge along a 30 inch catwalk just below it. I'm glad that people will legally be able to take that stroll.

It so happens that around 30 years ago, when the bridge and the earth were fairly new, El Cabrero took an extra-legal tour of the catwalk after stupidly walking on an I-beam to get there. The view was spectacular and we were very lucky not to get busted or worse. I took an instant photo of it to prove that I'd done it, but it is now long lost.

I'm only writing this because I assume that the statute of limitations on extra-legal catwalking has expired. If that is not the case, I just made that whole story up.

(But now that it's legal, I may have to revisit the scene of the crime.)

OK, back to the salt mines...

UNEQUAL IMPACT. The recession has hit minorities hard, according to this CNN report on a new study by the Center for American Progress. Here's a link to the CAP website that can take you to the full report.

G 20. Lots of eyes are turning to Pittsburgh for the latest of these international wingdings. The American Friends Service Committee is there and while we're at it, so is the AFLCIO.

HONEST ABE. Here's a review of the latest Lincoln books by someone who knows his stuff.

OVERDETERMINED. West Virginia leads the nation in the percentage of residents with disabilities for all kinds of reasons.

ONE TO WATCH. Here's a review of Michael Moore's latest cinematic offering.

GOAT ROPE ADVISORY LEVEL: ELEVATED