And I'm going to kick the shit out of you as a life-long Westerner, liberal, conservationist and grandson of 3rd-generation dirt farmers that ranched, farmed, logged and then gave it up to work for The Man.

1) You are utterly and completely mistaken. Those of us who grew up in New Mexico were required to learn New Mexico history back to Cabeza de Vaca. "Mexico" became a country in 1810. El Rancho de las Golondrinas was settled in 1710. Arizona and California are no different.

2) My grandparents dirt farmed on 8 acres near Claunch. They sharecropped with 4 other families on 50 acres. Go do a google image search on Claunch, NM. I'll wait.

3) Tell that to the barbed wire and shotgun shells I grew up with.

4) The west is the west. If your minerals are gone and the towns are drying up, MOVE. That's why my grandparents are no longer in Claunch, NM. There is no part of your deed that guarantees you clear skies, gentle rain and mild frosts.

5) I'm not sure where you get off assuming I don't know what the fuck I'm talking about.

I'm not sure where you get off leaping from your buddies to a farmer with twelve thousand acres of land on a lake.

But I'll say this - condescend to me again and I'll be even crankier.