By DR. LARRY MOSES

No one asked me but… Senator Harry Reid is now giving Governor Sandoval advice. Harry, who has enough trouble running the Senate, now wants to run the State.

Harry says he and President Obama have made Governor Sandoval an “offer he can’t refuse”. However, Governor Sandoval is still refusing.

The answer to the health care problem in Nevada, according to Harry, is an expansion of Medicaid. Those who cannot afford insurance will be placed under Medicaid with the federal government picking up from 90-95 percent of the cost. Harry says that the extra $71 million dollars a year that would be the State’s share of the increase is mere pocket change.

The Governor’s budget people say there is no telling how much the total cost to the State would be. The State of Nevada has been cutting programs to balance the State budget.

Now Harry says it is a no-brainer to place this additional burden on the people of the State. The fact that it is a no-brainer may be why it appeals to Harry. Unfortunately for Reid, Sandoval has a brain, and can see the problems inherit in a partially funded federal program. The guidelines as to who would be eligible for Medicaid under the new law would increase the number of people on Medicaid in Nevada by 133 percent.

If you really want confirmation that Chief Justice Roberts’ vote on the health bill was a bad idea, all one must do is review Harry’s reaction to it. Harry said, “I’m going to call him when I have an opportunity. I was proud of what he did.”

Reid further stated that he thought Justice Kennedy was going to be the key vote. But Kennedy voted against it. Harry said Kennedy “went way off the reservation… I have been fairly disappointed in him.”

One must wonder why he was disappointed. Was it because Kennedy refused to make a political decision and stuck to the Constitution? It would be no more proper for Chief Justice Roberts to make a political decision to declare the law un-Constitutional than for Kennedy to declare it Constitutional for political reasons. It would be nice to think the Supreme Court of the United States would make a decision based on law rather than political pressures. But again, I guess it would be nice if there were a Santa Claus, an Easter Bunny, or a Big Foot.

No one ask me but… I really dislike my sprinklers. Twenty years ago I decide to create a lawn in the middle of the desert. My Iowa upbringing would not allow me to live with desert landscaping even though that makes sense.

Some of my neighbors actually grow gardens, plant trees, and have flowers. Not me! I have grass. Not that sissy hybrid Bermuda but just ugly old rough Bermuda. You know, that stuff that loves the hot weather. It is the embodiment of the American spirit. It takes care of itself even to the point that it will catch its own soil. I truly believe if left alone it would cover my driveway, patio, and sidewalk.

While I love my rogue grass, I hate my sprinklers. I believe they are possessed. I set out with a friend of mine to perform an exorcism on them. Two days and $150 later, we may have quieted the demons, but I am under no illusion that they have been cast out. They are merely resting up for the next battle.

Between the cost of the fight against the dandelions, chickweed, clover, and the replacement and repair of sprinkler heads, I could have sent another kid to college. But I will soon once again have green grass, or a collection of weeds that will pass for green grass. Hope springs eternal in the human heart.

This is not the first time I have attacked the sprinkler system. In fact, I have had a local handy man on retainer. His fees are more than fair and his efforts have been heroic as he has been on the frontline facing the forces of the underworld that have targeted my sprinklers.

Over the years, Jim has faced down the manifold demons that control the myriad of pipes and heads of my system. I am not sure he has won many battles, but he has made a truck payment or two.

For generations theologians have debated as to where the demons sent into the biblical pigs went when the pigs drowned. I believe I have solved that theological question. They now infest my sprinkler system. Having chased them from two of my clocks, they seem to have taken up residency in my third clock. After cycling through as programmed, station four and five come back on for no apparent reason.

But enough about my sprinklers. Let’s look at my lawn mower that has gone on strike. Last week lawnmower boy explained to me that my mower was refusing to fire up.

Going to the garage, I found my usually dependable mower refusing to do anything until it has an overhaul. Its union rep, the rake, stated that, according to the Lawn Tools of America Union (LTAU) contract, until it gets a new spark plug and a higher grade of oil, the lawnmower will not work.

The lawnmower apparently has forgotten the trip to the dump its three companions, the weed eaters who refused to work, have taken.

My wife has standing orders if I ever leave the house muttering that I am going to purchase another weed eater, she is to shoot me on the spot. I have been the proud owner of two electric and one gas powered weed eaters, none of which made it past the first month of operation.

Maybe if the Republicans take control of the government they will find time, after they destroy public employee unions, to go after the LTAU.

When I asked my neighbor when he was going to put grass in his yard, he informed me he had just sodded the yard. When I asked then why is there no grass? He informed me the landscapers put the grass in upside down. Well, at least he doesn’t have to water or deal with the Lawn Tools of America Union.