Brittany Walters-Bearden

"There’s this show on Showtime I just can’t help watching, whether or not I know that it’s a complete waste of my brain cells. You might have heard of it and you, like me, might be guilty of watching it. It’s called Gigolos. Try as I might, I can’t stop watching. I mostly watch because it happens in Vegas and I like going 'hey, I’ve been there!' Although I can’t pretend to know the life of the gigolo, their lives outside of work are pretty similar to the lives of anyone living in Las Vegas..."

"As I walk into a new tanning salon, I can’t help but snort. Only in Vegas would they ever put a tip jar out for the 'tanologists.' Thank you for pressing the button that says '12 minutes' particularly well today; except that would imply that tipping was still for a job well done, which it is not. It is expected..."

""Throughout the Christmas season, I have repeatedly caught myself calling it 'the holiday season,' wishing people 'happy holidays' rather than 'Merry Christmas,' and other gross miscarriages of my indomitable Christmas spirit. When I was growing up, it was all about ensuring that menorahs had an equal place with Christmas trees, and I can respect that. Now, you will often see holiday displays that combine the two and, because the Christian and Jewish religions have holidays that fall so closely together, that’s great. It shows progress and is nice..."

"In Las Vegas, there seems to be a complete lack of courtesy among drivers and a complete lack of common sense among pedestrians. Both parties are incredibly negligent in their attention to anyone but themselves, which has resulted in a tragic epidemic in Las Vegas..."

"First, there was the tanning tax. Now, there has been an attempt to place a fifteen cent tax on Christmas trees. The only thing that can be concluded out of this is that President Barack Obama doesn’t like WASPs. Or WASCs for that matter (yes, I made it up the word 'WASC' but he doesn’t like White Anglo Saxon Catholics either)...."

"As candidates jockey for the top spot in the GOP and rising stars come into favor and then fizzle, one is left wondering why Ron Paul has never gained the mass, if only momentary, popularity that each of the other candidates has experienced..."

"Thanks to Hollywood’s fascination with schools that are frequently referred to as “dropout factories,” most of America knows about the economically and socially disadvantaged schools that breed high dropout rates through the generally bad nature of the neighborhood and lifestyle associated with growing up in that neighborhood. Although not all of these dropout factories are in bad neighborhoods, they do all eventually produce bad neighborhoods as a result..."

"Unemployment figures show that Nevada is suffering more than any other state in the country and that the source of the state’s problem comes from Las Vegas..."

"Hank Williams Jr. recently made a controversial statement about the golf summit between President Obama and House Speaker John Boehner, stating that 'It would be like Hitler playing golf with Benjamin Netanyahu.' While his statement has certainly risen more than a few eyebrows and is in questionable taste, the backlash from his statement cannot help but raise questions about the nature of free speech..."

"2011 marked a 42 percent increase in welfare spending and, if Obama gets re-elected and makes good on his early campaign promises, the coming years will show no decrease in this expenditure..."