The perfect gift any time.
Nevada News & Views – November 25, 2009
Nov 26th, 2009 by TMH
By: Chuck Muth
Nevada News and Views
TODAY’S NN&V HEADLINES
- Vucanovich Dishes on Ensign, Reid, Gibbons and More (Sean Whaley/Nevada News Bureau) – Former Rep. Barbara Vucanovich offered some blunt assessments of Nevada’s political landscape today, praising Gov. Jim Gibbons for his stand against taxes in the 2009 legislative session and suggesting that it will be tough for any Republican to beat U.S. Sen. Harry Reid next year.
- I’m the Conservative Who Can Beat Harry Reid (Sharron Angle) – Can anyone beat a powerful senator like Harry Reid?
- This Time is Different (Jim Clark) – President Obama recently traveled to China to assure People’s Republic officials that US Government Treasury Securities held by the Chinese Government are sound. At the same time House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid were twisting arms to try to pass a huge new health care spending bill, the admitted cost of which will run between $800+ billions to well over a trillion dollars, depending on which version is finally agreed on.
- Prescription for Real Health Care Reform (Mike Zahara) – Let’s begin with what Congress could easily pass tomorrow and save itself a whole bunch of seats that will otherwise be lost next year because they’re forcing through such a bad bill that reforms nothing and still leaves millions uninsured in the process:
- Gibbons, Montandon and Sandoval: What Are You Offering Us? (Mark Noonan) – With the gubernatorial election less than a year away, it seems that our declared candidates for Governor should offer us at least a clue about what they want to do, should they be elected. Certainly, our collapsing economy should be front and center in GOP plans. Unfortunately, it seems that our current GOP contenders are deaf to the needs of the moment.
Click here to read these and other stories at the Nevada News & Views website!
SURVEY SAYS!
For the good of the state and the Nevada Republican Party, is it time for John Ensign to resign?
- Yes
- No
To cast your vote in today’s online survey, click here!
MUTH’S TRUTHS
Teachers Union Turkeys Gobbling for Goodies
Back in 2003, the anti-education apparatchiks who run the Nevada teachers union used their clout in the Legislature to pass a law banning teachers from being evaluated based on, you know, something so objective as how well their students performed on standard tests. Teacher competence, you see, shouldn’t be based on how well teachers teach our kids, but on how well they make our kids feel.
That was then. This is now. Now that law the teachers union foisted on an unsuspecting public has come back to bite us.
Because of the law, Nevada is unable to compete for a slot at the $4.3 billion federal “Race to the Top” trough. According to the Department of Education, if Nevada wasn’t the ONLY state barring the use of test scores in evaluating the performance of public school teachers, the state could be eligible for upwards of $200 million to throw down the government-run public education monopoly rathole.
The money won’t help fix our broken education system, but it’ll sure make school bureaucrats feel better. And isn’t that what public education is supposed to be all about?
Anyway, the teachers union is doing a 180. Union bosses are now saying they’re willing to work with legislators to undo the damage they themselves inflicted upon the state six years ago. Which is kinda like OJ helping law enforcement officers look for the “real killers.”
Adding insult to insult, Ruben Murillo, the union chief for Clark County teachers, is now sounding like….well, a conservative.
“It’s unfortunate that the Obama administration is going further with No Child Left Behind and tying money and grants to school districts on this criteria,” Murillo whined to Las Vegas Sun reporter David McGrath Schwartz on Tuesday. “It’s part of a federal takeover of our schools.”
Well, duh. Where the hell has Murillo been for the last 30 years? The federal government has been trying to take over our schools, with spectacular and regrettable success, ever since Jimmy Carter rewarded the teachers union for supporting him by creating the federal Department of Education. Hello?
And remind me again who the teachers union endorsed for president last year? Oh, yeah. That Obama guy. So let’s all whip out our “World’s Smallest Violins” for Mr. Murillo, shall we?
And in conclusion, you honor, consider this quote from Lynn Warne, the Nevada teachers union chief, explaining to Mr. Schwartz why she now backs repeal of her own 2003 law: “We are reformists. We are agents of change.”
No, no. Really. She actually said that. And when she did, she was struck down by a bolt of lightning, injuring 23 others who were standing nearby when she said it.
On this Thanksgiving, I’m eternally grateful that Gia and I are able to home-school our kids so they don’t have to be subjected to the Murillo/Warne system of educational mediocrity. And that more and more average citizens are beginning to see that the teachers union is the cause of our education problems, not the solution.
Happy Turkey Day everybody!
TUBE TIPS
- Democrat Rep. Shelley Berkley goes Face to Face with Jon Ralston tonight. The program airs on Las Vegas ONE on Cox Channel 19 at 5:30 pm, 6:30 pm and 8:00 pm.
- Sam Shad’s guest on today’s Nevada Newsmakers program will be Dr. Robin Titus, Republican Candidate for U.S. Senate. The program airs on KRNV-TV Channel 4 at 12:30 pm in Reno and on Cox Cable Channel 123 at 4:30 pm and 11:35 pm in Las Vegas.
FAMOUS LAST WORDS
“Maybe I have an idealized view of what a Senate leader ought to be. I think the Senate has, through different periods, had wonderful leadership. I wish it had that kind of leadership now. . . . I’ve been very disappointed by what I’d call the parochialism of Sen. (Harry) Reid’s approach to his job and his responsibilities. . . . Time after time I’ve seen Reid take a narrow, partisan and parochial view of what the Senate can be.” – Washington Post syndicated columnist David Broder
CALENDAR
December 4: First Friday Happy Hour Brew-ha-ha and CHRISTMAS (not “Holiday”) Party in Las Vegas. Tentative invited VIP guest will be Nevada Congressman Dean Heller. Visit www.FirstFridayNevada.com
