By: Chuck Muth
Nevada News and Views

TODAY’S NN&V HEADLINES

  • Reagan Biographer to Keynote Reagan Birthday Party in Vegas (Karri Bragg) – Citizen Outreach Foundation will kick off its Reagan Legacy Project at a birthday party/reception at the M Resort in Las Vegas on February 6, 2010.
  • Shake Your Fist and Do the Tarkanian Twist (Chuck Muth) – Here we go again. On Saturday Republican U.S. Senate candidate Danny Tarkanian put out yet another attack piece against fellow conservative Republican candidate Sue Lowden which contains a kernel of truth but with a liberal dose of word-twisting, false claims and misleading innuendos. Here’s what Danny wrote:
  • Proven Leadership, Commitment to Principles (Jim Gibbons) – When was the last time a politician kept his word? I stand up for what I believe in and I have the track record to prove it.
  • Economic Forum Presents Grim Picture (Sean Whaley/Nevada News Bureau) – When the dust settled from the Economic Forum meeting late yesterday, the message was clear: Governor Jim Gibbons and the Nevada Legislature have an enormous challenge to rebalance the state budget – a $580 million challenge that could still get worse.
  • Ron Paul’s State of the Republic Address (Dr. Ron Paul) – As we start the new year 2010, the establishment politicians, economists and Wall Street are trying to convince themselves that we have turned the corner and economic growth has once again begun. The predictions that conditions are getting back to normal come from those who never saw the crisis coming and don’t have the vaguest notion what caused it.

Click here to read these stories at the Nevada News & Views site!

SURVEY SAYS!

Who would you most like to see fight The Undertaker at Wrestlemania XXVI in Phoenix in March?

  • Sean Michaels
  • Batista
  • Rey Mysterio
  • Nathan “Li’l Nate” Taylor

To cast your vote in today’s online survey, click here!

MUTHS TRUTHS

  • Here’s a shocker: The Associated Press reports that “Americans are more than twice as likely to express prejudice against Muslims than they are against Christians, Jews or Buddhists, a new study found.” Gee, I wonder what could possibly account for THAT?
  • This has got to be one of the scariest trends in America today: AP also reports that “the number of union workers employed by the government for the first time outnumbered union ranks in the private sector last year.” And you wonder why governments at all levels are in such fiscal distress?
  • It was reported yesterday that Republican U.S. Senate candidate Danny Tarkanian is trying to block foreclosure on an investment property. Where was opponent Sue Lowden’s “Real Estate Speculator Danny Tarkanian Facing Foreclosure” press release on this ginormous softball? Talk about a wasted opportunity.
  • Jim Gibbons (45.6 percent) edged out Brian Sandoval (41.4 percent) in Saturday’s gubernatorial straw poll of over 300 party regulars of the Washoe County Republican Party, with Mike Montandon lagging badly at 12.6 percent..though it must be pointed out that Gibbons and Sandoval are from the Reno area, while Montandon hails from Clark County. Also, Montandon won the GOP straw poll for Clark County a week ago.
  • In the Washoe straw poll for U.S. Senate, Sharron Angle smoked the opposition, pulling in almost half of the total votes (42.9 percent). Sue Lowden was first runner-up with 18.4 percent, followed by Danny Tarkanian with 15.2 percent and Mark Amodei with 10 percent. Mike Wiley voted for himself and won Miss Congeniality.
  • The Nevada Legislature increased spending by some $800 million last year in the middle of the worst recession in the state’s history. It then raised taxes by $800 million to pay for their increased spending in the middle of the worst recession in the state’s history, and then overrode the governor’s veto of the $800 million in higher spending and $800 million in higher taxes in the middle of the worst recession in that state’s history.
  • Now, because the Legislature increased taxes and spending in the middle of the worst recession in the state’s history rather making large and absolutely necessary cuts – including rescission of that 4 percent cost-of-living increase state workers never should have gotten in 2008 and laying off large numbers of non-essential, ungrateful, bellyaching government employees – the Economic Forum on Friday estimated that Nevada has a $580 million hole in its budget.
  • Our elected state legislators are our own worst enemies.
  • Matt Passalacqua is gaining a lot of notice as a new Republican candidate in the ever-growing GOP primary field for Assembly District 13 – currently held by Republican Assemblyman Chad Christensen who has said he’s running for the Senate..but we’re not sure if it’s the Nevada Senate or the U.S. Senate. More info on Matt here: http://assembly13.com (Helpful hint: Matt, get a new domain name that includes, well, your name.)

OTHER NEWS & VIEWS

McCain’s Pick for Nevada’s Senate Seat

“Yes, I do think Lt. Gov. Brian Krolicki is a stugots if he decides to challenge Harry Reid and jump into this already too crowded field.

“He’s the Polish kid with the funny haircut whom I defended regarding his false indictment, but he should stay put and likely be re-elected because he can’t win the primary – only Heller stirs things up there – and he would lose to Harry Reid if he did win the primary. I don’t think the GOP wants to take that chance this year, do you?

“Perhaps Lt. Gov. Krolicki is unaware that Sen John McCain is not a favorite of red-meat conservative GOP primary voters, he just got his lousy McCain-Feingold tossed by the Supremes, and he is likely to lose to former Rep. JD Hayworth in the Arizona primary this year.

“John McCain is not exactly the guy to be taking advice from Brian! Waiting for 2012 seems your better choice and you don’t want to be labeled the ‘McCain’ senate candidate by all of your primary opponents, do you?”

– Blogger Mike Zahara, WatchdogWag.com, 1/24/10

FAMOUS LAST WORDS

  • “Let’s recap: Congress passed a law that allows the government to ban books. The Supreme Court tossed it out as an abridgement of the First Amendment. Apoplectic Democrats and progressives attack the decision. What’s wrong with this picture?” – Las Vegas Review-Journal editorial
  • “You always back your very strongest horses in an election like this (Nevada U.S. Senate) and hold your nose in the primary if you feel you must with the singular thought of this: ‘Who is best equipped to beat Harry Reid?'” – Blogger Mike Zahara
  • “I suspect that (Republican U.S. Senate candidate Sue Lowden is) ready for battle. . . . Sue’s problem is her handlers.” – Conservative blogger Mark Anderson