Pea soup in Vegas; Robosaurus attacks the wrong target

If you’re thinking of coming to Las Vegas for Christmas, I have one word of advice: Don’t. For the past week, Sin City has been steadily blanketed in rain, with no end in sight. It’s just miserable. (Instead of trying to build an arena, Gary Loveman should be working on an ark.) While this makes raking leaves easier, it’s hardly conducive to sightseeing. The cloud cover is so low today that the apex of the Luxor pyramid is invisible from even a block away. It’s easy to spot the older casinos — Bally’s Las Vegas (the original MGM Grand), Imperial Palace, the Tropicana — because their high-rise towers are the ones unobstructed by fog. You could tuck those old hotel towers nicely into successors like Aria or Mandalay Bay with room to spare.

For Yr. Humble Blogger, these Rains of Ranchipur have been a mixed blessing: good for the grass, bad for our house. We came home to find that our roof had sprung a leak right in the middle of the dining room (high winds last spring and summer have ripped away many a shingle). Also, the moisture seems to have permeated the electrical circuitry, rendering at least seven wall sockets hors de combat. So it’s looking to be a very soggy Christmas. Good thing we have a working fireplace — and candlelight. At the present rate, we’ll definitely need them.

They built this city. By its very nature, construction work is transitory. However, by attempting to build so many megaresorts simultaneously (and having several failsinos financially implode in quick succession), the casino industry laid a massive body blow on the construction industry. The irrational exuberance of 2005-07 was bound to come up short and, when it did, there was no shortage of collateral damage. Some of the carpenters now facing a bleak future may have lived beyond their means when times were good, but that was no less true of the companies that employed them. Suffice it to say that few executives are in such a heartbreaking predicament.

As for those who “ate a bullet,” there aren’t many places in the U.S. where it’s worse to be than Nevada (unofficial state motto: “Every man for himself and devil take the hindmost.”) To compound the problem for carpenters, they’re in a shrinking industry: Employment is at its lowest level in a seven-year period. If there are consequences for Vegas’ binge on the cocaine that was too-easy credit, they’ve fallen upon the worker bees and not the suits who had the bad decisions.

Casinos like to pay homage to “sustainability.” So how many of you are still serving shark-fin soup to your superstitious Asian high rollers and other chi-chi clientele? Thankfully, Congress has put an even stronger crimp in this wasteful and wantonly destructive practice. You’re not being very “sustainable” if you’re unbalancing the ecosystem to pamper a handful of Chinese poseurs.

On the lighter side …

Robosaurus was busy destroying cars at Hooters Hotel Casino last week. Could we please turn this bad boy loose on Fontainebleau? Pretty please?

Semi-grand opening. Five parachuting Santas and Wayne Newton … no, it’s not what Boyd Gaming plans for a celebration if it ever finishes the Echelon. It was the opening of Bok Homa Casino, latest project of the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians. The project was opposed by normally casino-friendly Gov. Haley Barbour (R), who even tried to subvert the state’s compact, as well as appealing to various federal agencies, but it was no dice. The casino opened in style. S&G sends the Choctaw its congratulations.