A few thoughts and items while experiencing the longest days of the year under the hottest sun we’ll get. Here in Gilbert, AZ it’s light enough to do yard work at 5 AM and if you don’t pass out from heat exhaustion you can go all the way past 8 PM. This is the time of year where carmelo and the boys really earn their landscaping pay.

End of an era: The Beach Boys are releasing what I’m guessing will be their final album, a 6-disc compilation of curiosities, unreleased tracks, and previously-unheard live performances called Made In California, due in the stores on August 27. I can’t wait, as there are several tracks featuring the late Carl and Dennis Wilson that I’ve only heard on crummy bootlegs. It’ll be a must for any serious BB collector.

You can’t have it both ways: It was none other than Lindsey Vonn who pronounced to the media that she and Tiger Woods were an item, and none other than Lindsey Vonn who didn’t do much to disguise her presence at tournaments her new beau was playing. So excuse me for not feeling sorry for Ms. Vonn when she complains to the media that she’s more than just Tiger’s girl.

The headline says it all: NTSB: Bad eyesight likely caused Okla. train crash. I mean, what’s wrong with this picture? Am I missing something here?

TULSA, Okla. (AP) — An engineer killed in a fiery train collision in the Oklahoma Panhandle last year suffered from serious vision problems for much of his life, underwent several corrective procedures in the years leading up to the crash and even complained that he couldn’t distinguish between red and green signals, a doctor told a federal oversight board Tuesday.

So why on earth was this guy still engineering trains?

Immigration reform: Count me as over supposed Republican Senator Marco Rubio and his push for amnesty for 11 million illegal aliens over the scurity of our borders. I get calls from national Republican groups asking for $ and end up arguing with them because I won’t give them one dime if Senate Republicans keep pushing this folly. The Republican establishment in Washington just can’t get it through their thick skulls that it wasn’t the lack of Hispanic votes that kept Mitt Romney from being president, it was conservatives that sat on their hands and stayed home. I keep telling them the best way to combat the Democrats on this issue is to make folks understand that the one demographic that will be hurt the most by amnesty is the Democratic Party’s #1 constituency: African Americans. Comprehensive immigration reform will hurt inner-city blacks more than any other group by suppressing wages and taking lower-end jobs away.