Sign of the Times

Tubac, Arizona.  Though Canada has universal health coverage, some Canadians move to Arizona because of the better medical care available in the United States.  There is even a Mayo clinic branch in Phoenix.  However, many Americans eschew dental care in United States and instead go to Nogales, Mexico for their dental work. Evidently, dentists in Mexico are much less expensive and have a very modern equipment.  I wonder where Mexicans get their medical and dental care?  Guatemala? Honduras?

Ross department store, Florissant Missouri.   At the front of the store are two security guards watching everyone enter and exit the store.  Only one cashier is working.   15 people stand in line waiting to check out.  I was going to purchase my father a Notre Dame T-shirt, but upon seeing the long checkout line, I left.  The two security guards asked me to have a nice day.  I wonder if there's a TJ Maxx in Ferguson?

Las Vegas international airport.  Naturally, there are more slot machines than either airline employees or Homeland security personnel.  I noticed passengers in the gate area drinking beer and wine.  Of course all the restaurants allow you to you take out alcoholic beverages. Alcohol and slot machines go together well in a casino.

St. Louis.  Do you remember the PBS series called Civilization?  The narrator, Kenneth Clark, commented that in assessing a civilization you could determine what it's values were by the height of its buildings. For example, in medieval France, the tallest structures in town would always be cathedrals.  In most cities in the United States structures of business and commerce dominate the skyline.  In St. Louis Missouri, one of the tallest buildings is not the Gateway arch, but the federal courthouse.  When constructed, it was massively over budget, but I'm sure the federal contractors were paid for their work.  The federal court in Missouri has a smaller caseload than the courts across the river in Illinois.