.
By Ray Hanania
.
I’m a veteran, so I get to talk about the other issues we face on Memorial Day besides remembering those who saved and who gave their lives to defend this country.
I am not knocking them, of course. I am knocking those who exploit Memorial Day for their own profits.
The barbecue industry is on top of my list.
The one thing most people associate with Memorial Day besides placing an American flag on Dad’s grave at the cemetery is celebrating with a barbecue.
The problem is barbecue grills are cheaply made for a reason. The barbecue manufacturers want their grills to look great, but they don’t want them to last long.
Ray Hanania
So they use cheap burners inside that rust out after only a few years.
Oh, they will tell you to remove the burners. Clean them. Then store them inside the house for the winter to prevent them from rusting. But that’s a cop-out.
I like to barbecue not only during Memorial Day weekend, but even during the winter when it snows.
Barbecuing is less greasy. The food tastes better. And it’s fun.
I could buy a charcoal grill instead of the natural gas or propane tanks for the grill and use the charcoal and the lighter fluid. But I prefer the propane tanks. They are cheap. It’s amazing. While the price of everything has doubled, the price of a large propane gas canister remains at $21.
Of course, that will probably change sometime soon.
And of course (I hate starting a sentence with “and”), burning charcoal harms the environment and the quality of our air.
Still, the barbecue grills are made cheaply to force you to buy a new grill.
Father’s Day follows Memorial Day by a few weeks; and one of the top Father’s Day gifts — besides a new lawnmower — is a barbecue grill.
The burners are made to rust and fall apart. The grease plate underneath also is cheap and rusts out fast.
A new burner costs $25 at your local Menards or Lowes, which means to replace four of them costs more than $100 with taxes. A new gas grill only costs about $300.
I get a veteran’s discount at Lowes, so I save 10%. That’s what they mean when they say, “Thank you for your service.”
No, thank you!
So, I scrapped my gas grill and bought a new one. I had no choice. It put a damper on my Memorial Day feelings. It does every year because you can see the burners degrade as you cook.
Anyway, Happy Memorial Day to everyone from this curmudgeon who isn’t afraid to take a happy moment and pull back the scabs.
You can read more of my syndicated columns and more details on Memorial Day at my website (hanania.com).
Consider subscribing. Curmudgeons with no money are even more grumpy. Topics include an analysis of how Joe Biden and Donald Trump are colluding — I love that word — to keep Robert F. Kennedy Jr. from taking their votes. RFK Jr. may not be the best candidate. I go back and forth on him.
I also look in detail at the “Crime Fright Flight” of residents from Cook County and Illinois. We’re losing population faster than a corrupt politician takes a bribe, and we all know why.