by Jerry Gordon, Israpundit, May 10, 2008

Thursday was Yom Ha’aztma’ut (Israel Independence Day). There were festivities and commemorations across North America, Europe and in Israel. Christians United for Israel (CUFI) held a Night to honor Israel at a regional gathering in Seekonk, Massachusetts. Pastor John Hagee, founder of CUFI was there and according [...]

Score One for The State Department: they pulled a Refugee Agency contract in Waterbury, Connecticut

By Jerry Gordon

Today’s Waterbury, Connecticut Republican American has a follow up to a story we posted on back in March about the squalid conditions of housing and related resettlement services for 64 Burmese Keren Christian refugees. Our State Department had contracted services from with a volunteer agency (VOLAG)-the International Institute of Connecticut (IIC) an [...]

Official Hezbollah Websites Hosted in US/Canada: Oh no, really!

by Jerry Gordon

With all the news about a possible coup in Beirut by Hezbollah, in comes some ‘news’ that several Hizbollah websites are being hosted in….the US and Canada. This Jawa Report listed several ones. Here’s the list as of today. Note how many that the Jawa cyber troopers have smacked down and how many [...]

Illinois Undersheriff apologizes to CAIR for ‘fake Mosque’ terror drill

comment by Jerry Gordon

We knew it was too good to be true. When we posted the story about an Illinois Law Enforcement Alarm System drill using a fake ‘mosque’ for a security drill to free ‘hostages’ that appeared in PipeLineNews.org we noted the complaints by the Chicago area CAIR director. Now, it turns out that [...]

“Hezbollah’s Beirut Blitz”-prelude to a Lebanon coup by the Iranian-Syrian Hezbollah axis?

comment by Jerry Gordon

When we posted on the evident takeover of West Beirut by Hezbollah, we likened it to the opening round of a Second Civil War akin to that which ravaged Lebanon from 1976 to 1990 with a Jihad perpetrated by the PLO-Fatah, until pushed out by Israel in 1982 and then supplanted by [...]

Obama sacks adviser Robert Malley who met with Hamas

comment by Jerry Gordon

Obama has a problem. He lies down with dogs and picks up fleas. The latest episode is the fiasco of his campaign shedding ties with Robert Malley of the International Crisis Group, after a London Times article revealed that the Obama foreign policy adviser has held regular meetings with the Palestinian terror [...]

By: Chuck Muth

PROFILES IN POLITICAL COURAGE

“Republican Chairwoman Sue Lowden showed great political courage in standing up against mandatory vaccinations in the state Senate a few years back. That brave stand gave the Culinary union all the ammo they needed to bring her down, absurdly claiming the young mother was ‘in favor of childhood disease.’ And (Nevada GOP) convention chairman Bob Beers is as close to a lower-tax, smaller government Republican as this state party has produced in a long while.”

- Las Vegas Review-Journal columnist Vin Suprynowicz

SAGE ADVICE

“Here’s a fiscally responsible use of the Governor’s Mansion. Rent it. Surely it’s an idea that will intrigue the newly formed Spending and Government Efficiency (SAGE) Commission. Drop the pretense and just rent out the mansion to the highest bidder. Use the income to help chip away at the state’s $913 million budget deficit.”

- Las Vegas Review-Journal columnist John L. Smith

MORE SAGE ADVICE

“The Spending and Government Efficiency Commission—or SAGE —is intended to root out government waste. But unless the panel decides to kill entire programs, the amount of cost savings won’t help the state much.

“There are some parts of state government that the average Southern Nevada would willingly put on the chopping block. How about the Alfalfa Seed Advisory Board? Maybe the Board for the Education and Counseling of Displaced Homemakers or the Nevada State High School Rodeo Association? Of course, one person’s agricultural promotion is another’s Yucca Mountain fight.

“Even a cursory look at state government through its Web site would get the average person frustrated. There is, for example, no valid link to the Nevada Literacy Coalition of the state Cultural Affairs Division. And the signature senior prescription drug program, paid for largely with tobacco settlement funds, doesn’t even have a waiting list in these horrendous economic times. Some conservatives, who have never liked the program, may wonder whether Senior Rx should be covering those who aren’t seniors, for example. Of the roughly 5,500 people currently enrolled, about 480 are younger Nevadans suffering from a disability.”

- Las Vegas Review Journal columnist Erin Neff

SEEDS OF DOUBT

“His administration already beset by a litany of missteps, scandals and investigations, some are questioning whether Gov. Jim Gibbons can survive the political fallout of a drawn-out divorce long enough to see a second term.

“Many of Gibbons’ supporters are putting up a strong public front, refusing to acknowledge a possibility that Gibbons would be too weakened to make it through a re-election campaign in 2010. Gibbons himself has repeatedly said he will seek re-election, and his political consultants say he’s given no indication that isn’t the case.

“But others say his decision to divorce his wife of 22 years, Dawn Gibbons, midway through his first term could undermine what support he has left in a strong base of voters who put him in office despite the embattled end of his 2006 campaign.

“’It has gotten to the point that some folks close to Gibbons and firm supporters are starting to wonder, is he going to run for a second term?’ said Chuck Muth, a conservative activist and Gibbons supporter. ‘A seed of doubt is starting to creep up in their minds that maybe they better start considering the possibility and find somebody else.’

“No one, Republican or Democrat, has publicly stated they will challenge Gibbons in 2010. Political strategists said that probably will be the case at least until the end of the next legislative session. And Republican strategists see that session as Gibbons’ chance to redeem himself.

“.(Republican political consultant Ryan) Erwin said that he hasn’t counted Gibbons out for a second term. ‘He may have water up to the chin, but it’s not up to the nose and eyes yet,’ he said. Erwin and others are confident Gibbons can revive his administration in the remaining two years of his term.

“The political lifeline Gibbons has clung to is his no-new-taxes pledge. So far it has acted as a shield, keeping him popular with his base. With scandals plaguing his first term, Gibbons’ approval rating ticked up after holding the line on taxes as state revenues began to deteriorate.

“...’I think the tax pledge is the only thing keeping a lot of people on the reservation with him,’ Muth said. ‘A lot of folks will say this is the one thing he has to do. They can look past the divorce, the Warren Trepp thing and other stuff, but if he breaks the tax pledge, that’s just the cardinal sin.’

“An ongoing FBI investigation is looking into Gibbons’ relationship with Trepp, owner of Reno software company eTreppid. Erwin, however, contends Gibbons is going to have to do more to stand the line on taxes to reinvigorate his administration. ‘The lifeline may keep him from drowning, but he’s not going to be able to win a race on that,’ Erwin said.”

- Anjeanette Damon, Reno Gazette-Journal, 5/11/08

FAMOUS LAST WORDS

“You know, government isn’t always the answer for people. The private sector and Christian organizations like (Habitat for Humanity) have to be there.”

- First Lady Dawn Gibbons, Las Vegas Review-Journal, 5/11/08

By: Chuck Muth

NAACP FIGHTS FOR BUSSING

The Regional Transportation Commission (RTC) of Washoe County is in contract talks with the Teamsters this week at John Ascuaga’s Nugget in Sparks. And what cataclysmic issue is of such monumental concern in the negotiations that it warranted a full-scale press release this morning? Wages? Benefits? Working conditions? Safety? The cost of a gallon of petro? Nope. The Martin Luther King day bus schedule. Huh? Yep. Read all about it HERE on Muth’s Truths.

IT’S CALLED CHECKS AND BALANCES

The Founding Fathers were geniuses. They knew the executive branch nor the legislative branch nor the judicial branch of government could be trusted implicitly, so they set up a system of checks and balances to keep any one branch from taking control of the government from the people. I mention this because a lot of folks have been hammering Nevada Gov. Jim Gibbons over his “no new taxes” pledge to the point where, if stories yesterday were accurate, he might be starting to buckle under the pressure.

As you may recall, the gaming industry and the teachers union are reportedly close to a deal whereby the union will abandon its effort to gather enough signatures on a petition to hike the gaming tax some 44 percent (an indication that they might not be on target to get enough signatures by the May 20 deadline) in return for the Legislature putting an “advisory question” on the ballot asking the people if it’s OK for the Legislature to raise the hotel room tax instead – which would primarily hit out-of-state tourists who will have no vote on the tax hike.

In other words, taxation without representation. But that’s another argument for another day.

But here’s the thing: Because of the system of checks and balances we enjoy in this state, the ultimate decision on whether or not to raise taxes lies with the Legislature, not the governor. Indeed, even uber-liberals such as Assemblywoman Sheila Leslie (D-Reno) acknowledge, as she is quoted in this morning’s Reno Gazette-Journal as saying, that “we do not live in a monarchy and the legislative branch is equal to the executive branch.”

In reality, however, when it comes to raising taxes the legislative branch is actually MORE equal. You see, the Legislature, not the governor, gets the final word. The Legislature, by a 2/3 vote, can approve any tax hike, including one to jack up the taxes on our already beleaguered tourists. And the governor, honoring the promise he made to the people, could and should then veto any such bill. But the matter wouldn’t end there. The Legislature, you see, could then over-ride the governor’s veto by the same 2/3 vote it needed to pass the tax hike in the first place.

So those who want to raise taxes, rather than cut spending and lay off non-essential government workers, should really get off the governor’s back and instead hammer the Legislature. After all, Gov. Gibbons campaigned for office promising not to raise taxes; the same can’t be said for most legislators who steadfastly refuse to make such a bold fiscally conservative commitment to voters and then run on it.

And instead of buckling and trying to find “loopholes” to get around his pledge – like this ill-advised and pledge-breaking “advisory question” scheme – the governor should simply tell everyone over and over and over again that if it wants to, the Legislature should go ahead and pass a tax hike with a 2/3 majority, he’ll then veto it like he promised, and then they can over-ride his veto and impose yet higher taxes on Nevada’s “working families” (isn’t that the term the Left always uses?). The governor can then run for re-election in 2010 as having kept his word not to raise our taxes and campaign against the 2/3 of the Legislature who did.

And may the best protector of the taxpayer win.

FAMOUS LAST WORDS

“Chuck Muth doesn’t understand the concept of the single-front war. Muth, the former Republican but solid conservative, has three targets in his sights. He is running ads against the teachers’ attempt to raise the gaming tax for education – Muth hates taxes more than Jim Gibbons does, which I’ll get to in a moment. Muth also is going after government employees and their travel, submitting requests for information to state folks. That will be something to see. And, finally, he is going after the governor for not being tax-pure, for contemplating support for a room tax increase if it goes on the ballot first. Muth says that violates a pledge Gibbons signed. If Muth isn’t careful, he may have to leave the state. Again.”

- Flashpoint, 5/10/08

comment by Jerry Gordon

The new Palestinian ploy is to trash Israel on the 60th Anniversary by trying to focus the media’s attention on ‘Nakba’- the Disaster referring to the Arab defeat during Israel’s War for Independence in 1948-1949 and the flight of refugees. Of course there were several more ‘nakbas’ meaning the Wars that Israel [...]

Rochester (NY) Yemenis charged with money laundering for Hezbollah

comment by Jerry Gordon

A tip of the chapeau to Barbara T for this story. Yesterday in Rochester, NY it was the matter of the Muslim woman 911 operator hit with felony charges on misuse of state police and FBI databases. Today, it is the arraignment of three Yemenis for money laundering-they sent $12.3 million in [...]

Olmert and Israel Agonistes

by Jerry Gordon

The blood sport in Israeli politics has turned serious. Knesset Members increasingly cry out for Olmert’s resignation as the gag order is lifted and more revelations come out about the Talansky dealings. NU-NRP M.K. Arieh Eldad and his colleague Uri Ariel had these telling comments in today”s Jerusalem Post article, MK’s Call for [...]

Vatican Flypaper May Entrap Shia Iran

by Jerry Gordon, The Iconoclast, May 8, 2008

Dr. Richard L. Rubenstein, noted theologian, distinguished university professor of comparative religion and former University president is among the few academics who ‘get it’ about the threat of radical Islam. He sent a number of us an interesting article about a recent Vatican encounter with Shia clerics [...]

ANKARA, Turkey — Turkish warplanes and artillery units have hit Kurdish rebel positions in northern Iraq, following a rebel raid on a military outpost in Turkey, the military said Sunday.

Targets in Saturday’s raids included an area just across the border where rebels had allegedly gathered after attacking the military station in Hakkari province, near the Iraq border, the military said in a statement posted on its Web site.

Six soldiers and 19 rebels were killed in that attack and military airstrikes that followed, the military said. The rebels denied suffering any losses.

In its statement, the military said artillery units and attack aircraft “intensely and effectively” struck rebel targets in the Avasin-Basyan area in northern Iraq on Saturday.

read more…

DEBKAfile’s military sources report that three weeks before Hizballah seized western Beirut, the Shiite terrorist group took delivery of 35 fast speedboats for use with explosives from Iran. The craft can threaten US Sixth Fleet and Israel Navy shipping close to Lebanese shores, reach Israel’s Haifa and Ashdod Mediterranean ports and raid its coastal oil installations.

The speedboats were tailor-made for Hizballah by Iranian Revolutionary Guards shipyards at Bandar Abbas as the only marine terror fleet operating in Mediterranean waters. Our military sources report the boats are capable of carrying chemical, biological and radiological weapons systems.

They were delivered in mid-April by an Iranian freighter at the Syrian port of Latakia and trucked to Naimah port south of Beirut. There they were hidden in the subterranean hangars belonging to Ahmed Jibril, head of the Palestinian Liberation Front-General Command. Today, the PLF-GC is financed and directed by the Revolutionary Guards. The hangars were constructed in the seventies by East Germany engineers with a protected Mediterranean anchorage and made virtually impenetrable by sea or air.

By Tom Bergin

ImageLONDON (Reuters) – Oil major Royal Dutch Shell has pulled out of a planned gas project in Iran, after coming under pressure not to participate from U.S. lawmakers who were concerned about Iran’s nuclear programme.

A spokeswoman said on Saturday that the world’s second-largest non government-controlled oil company by market capitalisation was pulling out of Phase 13 of the giant South Pars gas field but may yet join later stages of the field’s development.

Shell, Spain’s Repsol and the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) signed a Memorandum of Understanding in January 2002 to develop Phase 13 in a project to be known as Persian LNG.

read more…

BEIRUT, Lebanon — Hezbollah TV says that Hezbollah-led opposition forces will withdraw all their gunmen from Beirut in compliance with an army request.

An opposition statement says the move comes in response to an army order, but the statement said that a “civil disobedience” campaign will continue until its demands are met.

read more…

ANB Financial banks closed by federal regulators over ‘unsafe and unsound’ practices

BENTONVILLE, Ark. (AP)—Federal regulators says they’ve closed ANB Financial National Association banks after discovering “unsafe and unsound” business practices there.

David Barr, a spokesman for the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. says many customers served by the bank’s nine locations had accounts under $100,000, which will be fully insured by the government. Barr says customers can continue to write checks and draw money from ATMs through the weekend.

read more…

WASHINGTON (AFP) — Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert reiterated his warning that the Jewish state will not tolerate a nuclear-armed Iran, but expressed hope the international community would be successful in checking Tehran’s nuclear ambitions.

“Yes, Israel will not tolerate a nuclear weapon in the hands of people who say openly, explicitly and publicly that they want to wipe Israel off the map. Why should we?” Olmert asked in an interview with The Washington Post.

The newspaper plans to publish the interview in its Sunday issue, but it posted the text on its website late Friday.

At the same time, the prime minister held out hope that diplomatic efforts by the United States, the European Union and Russia aimed at ensuring the peaceful nature of the Iranian nuclear program would bear fruit.

“I hope they will be successful,” Olmert said.

However, he sharply disagreed with findings contained in last year’s US National Intelligence Estimate, which argued that Iran’s military nuclear program had been halted in 2003.

“Based on the information we have, the military program continues and has never been stopped,” Olmert insisted.

“If this program continues, at some point they will be in possession of a nuclear weapon,” he warned.

BRUSSELS (AFP) — The EU presidency on Friday condemned “in the strongest possible terms” anti-Israeli remarks made by Iran’s hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who called the state of Israel “a stinking corpse”.

Ahmadinejad’s comments, delivered Thursday, “are unacceptable, damaging and uncivilised,” the European Union’s Slovenian presidency said in a statement.

The EU presidency “condemns in the strongest possible terms the recent statements made by the President of the Islamic Republic of Iran… Such statements are improper for representatives of the Iranian authorities,” the statement said.

read more…

TEHRAN (Reuters) – The weak U.S. dollar is the main reason behind oil prices rising to record levels, not demand or supply factors, an Iranian Oil Ministry official was quoted as saying on Saturday.

“We must be aware that it is not the price of crude oil that has risen but the dollar value that has weakened,” said Mohammad Ali Khatibi, deputy director of international affairs at the National Iranian Oil Company.

“Currently the prices of crude oil do not follow supply and demand and they will gain moderation in the event of improvement in (the value of) the dollar,” he was quoted as saying by the Oil Ministry website Shana.

read more…

Tehran, Iran, May 10 – Iran has presented a package of nuclear proposals to the West in a bid to counter a similar offer to be made by major world powers to Tehran to convince it to abandon its controversial nuclear activities.

The package was handed to Spanish Foreign Minister Angel Moratinos in Madrid on Friday by Iran’s ambassador to Spain, Davoud Salehi Monfared, the official news agency IRNA reported.

The package was said to include “scientific and executive proposals on political, security, economic, and nuclear issues”.

read more…

Adnkronos International

ImageTehran, 9 May (AKI) – Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi, German chancellor Angela Merkel and French president Nicolas Sarkozy were a dangerous triangle, according to an Iranian website close to the government.

“The Berlusconi-Merkel-Sarkozy triangle represents a threat,” said the website,’Tabnak, considered to be close to the former commander of Iran’s revolutionary guards, Mohsen Rezaii.

The article published by Tabnak also discussed the possibility of withdrawing investments by European oil companies in the Iranian energy sector.

“The triangle is doing everything to impede European oil companies to collaborate with the Islamic Republic, despite their avid interest in investing in Iran,” said the site.

Tabnak denied claims by the Spanish media that announced a decision by energy giant Repsol and Dutch Shell to leave Iran and stop the development of the 13th and 14th phase of the offshore oil field in South Pars.

According to the newsite, both European companies will honour the contract, rather than collaborate in later phases of development.

“Managers from both companies are looking for funding by Arab countries in the Gulf,” concluded the article.

DEBKAfile’s military sources report: Hizballah’s advance on two key Lebanese locations Saturday, May 10 had immediate effect on the strategic balance between the Iran-backed Shiite group and Israel. Sidon in the south, Lebanon’s second largest city, which provides Hizballah with control of a continuous coastal strip from its southern Beirut district all the way to Tyre.

The second point is on the northern slopes of the Hermon range. After Hizballah seizes control of this enclave and the Syrian 10th and 14th armored divisions step over the border into Lebanon, the two forces can join to form a strong military line opposite Israel near the Litani River.

Our military sources report that the vanguard of the 10th Division has already moved across to the Lebanese side of the border.

Hizballah’s victory in taking over western and central Beirut therefore has had the effect of adding another link to the pro-Iranian chain encircling Israel. In many ways it is a more damaging setback for Israel’s national security than the Palestinian Hamas’ seizure of the Gaza Strip

Yet Israel’s prime minister, defense minister and foreign minister are all too busy with the political fallout of the bribery case against Ehud Olmert to lift a finger to arrest Lebanon’s decline to a Tehran satellite before it is too late – any more than Hamas was stopped from developing into a major military menace.

Equally inert are the two presidents who are pledged to support the Siniora regime, George W. Bush and Nicolas Sarkozy. The United Nations, which maintains 15,000 armed peacekeepers in southern Lebanon, backed by marine forces off the shores of Beirut, has no thought of stopping the Iranian-Syrian-backed terrorist militia from capturing the country.

After four days of fierce fighting in which at least 24 people died, the Lebanese army revoked two government measures in obedience to Hizballah demands: the Shiite group’s independent telecommunication network will not be shut down and the pro-Hizballah Brig. Gen Wafiq Shqeir would keep his job as Beirut international airport head of security.

In a broadcast speech, Saturday, May 10, the pro-Western prime minister Fouad Siniora asked the army to defuse the crisis after Hizballah seized control of western Beirut, besieged the government center and attacked pro-government Sunni centers across Lebanon. Government loyalists found no support from Sinora’s powerful backers, the United States, France or even Saudi Arabia and Egypt. The pro-Western government was therefore forced to back down.

This means its acceptance of Hizballah’s communication system in central, southern and eastern Lebanon and its direct link to Syrian and Iranian command centers in Damascus; and the Shiite group’s Beirut headquarters online communications link to its Revolutionary Guards bosses in Tehran.

DEBKAfile’s military sources report: Triumphant, the Hizballah chief Hassan Hasrallah will be a more dangerous enemy than ever. The army rather than the government laid down the condition that Hizballah withdraw from the Sunni districts of Beirut and the rest of the country and remove its armed men from the streets.

Even so, a government minister remarked that the deal awaits approval by Hizballah leaders and the Iranian ambassador in Beirut. It is far from certain that the Shiite terrorists will give up the territory they gained in the last four days.

Also in question are the roadblocks on highways and the shutdown of Beirut air and sea ports.

China’s rise is posing serious challenges and its military buildup and international behavior could produce an “adversarial” relationship with the world, CIA Director Michael V. Hayden said last week.

“After two centuries of perceived Western hegemony, China seems to be determined to flex its muscles,” Hayden said.

read more…

BEIRUT (AFP) — Hezbollah fighters, their guns blazing, seized control of west Beirut on Friday after three days of deadly street battles with pro-government foes pushed Lebanon dangerously close to all-out civil war.

Convoys of triumphant Shiite opposition gunmen firing into the air and flashing victory signs took to the streets after routing Sunni militants loyal to the Western-backed government of the divided nation.

As the fighting eased, the army and police moved across areas now in the hands of Iranian- and Syrian-backed opposition forces which have been locked in an 18-month power struggle with the ruling coalition.

But as foreigners scrambled to leave it was unclear what the immediate future would hold, amid fears the protracted political feud could plunge Lebanon back to the dark days of the 1975-1990 civil war.

read more…

Source: Ynetnews.com

Lebanon government decision to make Hizbullah communications system illegal incenses Shiite gunmen, who seize control of Sunni neighborhoods, pro-government media; surround home of anti-Syrian leader Hariri. Saudi leaders call emergency meeting

Hizbullah gunmen took control of large areas of Beirut on Friday in a third day of fighting between the pro-Iranian group and fighters loyal to the US-backed governing coalition, seizing control of roads leading to Beirut’s airport, which was forced to halt all activity, as well as the city’s seaport. All of the media offices in Beirut have also reportedly halted all activity, and the employees were evacuated by gunmen.

read more…

By: Chuck Muth

STOP THE UNION TAX GRAB

Citizen Outreach is launching a 10-day informational television campaign in Reno and rural Nevada urging voters not to sign the teachers union’s petition to raise taxes which will primarily go to paying union members more money for the bang-up job their doing in our public schools today. You know, like how 80-90 percent of Clark County high school students can’t pass a basic math test. You can view the commercials, scheduled to begin airing later today, HERE on Reno Gazette-Journal reporter Anjeanette Damon’s blog.

GIBBONS GOING WOBBLY ON TAX HIKE

Political columnist Jon Ralston just published the following update titled “Governor says he would support room tax deal if put on ballot and approved” in his “Flash” e-newsletter…

“Gov. Jim Gibbons met Thursday with Steve Wynn to discuss negotiations between gamers and teachers to swap bump in room tax for gross gaming tax proposed in initiative. Senate Majority Leader Bill Raggio also was on the meeting. Gubernatorial spokesman Ben Kieckhefer said ‘the Governor indicated that if this plan were to receive a vote of the people through an advisory question, he could support it, which is his policy.’”

Make no mistake. If the teachers gather enough signatures to put a tax hike on the ballot this year, the Governor is obligated by the Taxpayer Protection Pledge he signed in 2006 to oppose it.

Likewise, if the Legislature, rather than the people themselves through the signature-gathering process, attempts to put even an advisory question on the ballot in an effort to raise taxes, the Governor is obligated by the Taxpayer Protection Pledge to oppose and veto any such effort should it reach his desk.

That the Governor appears to be going wobbly on this should be of considerable concern to fiscal conservatives and Republicans. A violation of his Tax Pledge would likely doom any and all thoughts of a second Gibbons gubernatorial term and kill the electoral chances of GOP candidates up and down the ballot.

Apparently either the Governor or some people on his staff (where is Diane Cornwall on this?) are having difficulty reading and/or understanding the plain language of the Taxpayer Protection Pledge the governor made to the people of Nevada when he ran for governor in 2006. So please allow me to again reprint it verbatim so that there is no further confusion or misunderstanding on this issue…

“I, Jim Gibbons, pledge to the taxpayers of Nevada, and all the people of this State, that I will oppose and veto any and all efforts to increase taxes.”

The deal some in the gaming industry are trying to cut with the teachers union to raise taxes through a legislatively created “advisory question” rather than gathering signatures from citizens to do such a thing is absolutely, positively, without question, no-doubt-about-it an effort to increase taxes. And Gov. Gibbons absolutely, positively, without question, no-doubt-about-it is obligated by the pledge he signed to oppose any such effort and veto any such bill should it come before him. If not, he will have absolutely, positively, without question, no-doubt-about-it broken the Taxpayer Protection Pledge he signed. I can’t make it any clearer than that.

Perhaps it might be helpful for you all to call and/or email the governor with a little friendly reminder of the promise he made to us in 2006, since it seems it might just be slipping his or his staff’s mind these days.

In Carson City call: (775) 684-5670

In Las Vegas call: (702) 486-2500

Or email the governor directly at: jgibbons@gov.nv.gov

SOME SAGE ADVISE

As noted yesterday and commented upon in my weekly Nevada Appeal column today, Gov. Jim Gibbons has signed an executive order creating a Nevada version of Ronald Reagan’s “Grace Commission” to find ways to make state government more efficient and less expensive. He has appointed former Government Printing Officer Bruce James to head that commission and 11 additional members will be selected in the next couple of weeks.

While my recommendations for slots on the panel would naturally include folks generally hostile to big, energetic government, it would give the commission a greater deal of clout and credibility if former Gov. Kenny Guinn was to fill one of those dozen seats. While everyone and his uncle knows Gov. Guinn and I don’t always see eye-to-eye on the proper role of government, NOBODY knows Nevada’s state budget better. And his call in 2005 for the Legislature to address the coming calamity involving the state’s pension and health care systems will absolutely have to be in the mix of ANY effort to streamline and make Nevada’s government more efficient and less expensive.

So two down and ten to go…

FLYING HIGH

You’ll recall that it was recently reported that government employees racked up some $30 million-plus in air travel last year. Well, in response to our public records request in that regard, Greg Smith of the Purchasing Division of Nevada’s Department of Administration has forwarded to me the master summary of Southwest Airlines’ travel reports for each of the state government’s major departments for the month of May 2007. And boy, does this report ever raise some questions…

1.) It has been stated that air travel costs were higher than normal last year because the Legislature was in session in Carson City from roughly January through June. But if that’s true, then why does the vast amount of travel originate in Reno and end in Las Vegas. You’d think people would be flying IN to Reno to get to Carson, not the other way around.

2.) It appears that for most departments, government employees are purchasing full-fare tickets. Why? I can certainly understand some last-minute trips, but you’d think most travel could be anticipated and 7-day advance purchase fares could be had. Why are Nevada taxpayers paying through the nose for full-fare tickets?

3.) In most cases, it appears these airline tickets are being purchased by one master credit card for each department. That would seem to indicate that the department is racking up a lot of frequent flyer passes. If so, who is getting them? Is there a master frequent flyer account for each department, or are employees entering their personal frequent flyer number when making reservations?

4.) I’m told that when the State of Nevada and Southwest Airlines had an agreement for government employees to fly at a discounted rate, part of the agreement was that no frequent flyer awards would be offered. OK, fine. But that agreement ended a few years ago. Now it appears Nevada taxpayers are paying full-price for air travel again. So if we’re NOT getting frequent flyer awards…why the heck not?

5.) And the biggest question of all is still: Why are government employees, in this day of email and teleconferencing, jetting around the state so much?

I feel more public records requests coming on…

FULL OF GAS

As everyone now knows, the governor has been living at his private home in Reno while the first lady is living in the Governor’s Mansion in Carson City. And according to Reno Gazette-Journal reporter Anjeanette Damon, Gov. Jim Gibbons “denied that his commuting back and forth to Reno is a waste of gas.”

For those who aren’t familiar with Carson City, the governor’s office and Governor’s Mansion are pretty much within walking distance in good weather. And a couple years back there was criticism of Gov. Kenny Guinn for not doing exactly that in the face of higher gas prices.

So if the minimal use of gas to get a few blocks from home to office was of concern when gas prices were around two bucks a gallon, why isn’t it a concern today when the commute is some 30 miles and when gas prices are close to four bucks a gallon?

FAMOUS LAST WORDS

“Rep. Dean Heller dusted off a hot-button issue Tuesday, introducing a bill that would require voter ballots to be in English only. Heller’s bill would repeal Voting Rights Act provisions that require cities and counties to provide bilingual ballots when 5 percent of voting-age citizens are deemed by the U.S. census to be limited in English.”

- Las Vegas Review-Journal, 5/7/08

“The move to implement a federal English-only ballot rule would undermine Americans’ responsibility to encourage all citizens to participate in the democratic process. . . . After all, only citizens can vote.”

- Reno Gazette-Journal editorial, 5/9/08

Ever imagined what it might be like to live in a community full of people who once supported Ron Paul for president of the United States? Well, imagine no more. The concept from which late-night talk show hosts and comedians alike will draw material for months is becoming a reality, thanks in part to a web site, Paulville.org.

read more…

WASHINGTON, May 9, 2008 – More than a dozen insurgents were killed during a coalition forces operation to disrupt Taliban support operations in Afghanistan’s Helmand province yesterday, military officials reported.

Coalition forces searched compounds in the province’s Garmsir district, targeting a Taliban insurgent associated with procurement and smuggling of various types of small arms, munitions, fuses and explosives.

During their search, coalition forces were fired upon, and they responded with small arms and air strikes, killing more than a dozen of their attackers, officials said.

Troops found PK machine guns, AK-47 assault rifles, rocket-propelled grenades, mortar rounds, fuses, small-arms ammunition and ammunition vests on the compound, and destroyed them to prevent future use.

(From a Combined Joint Task Force 101 news release.)

Steven Emerson

The Council on American-Islamic Relations appears to have parted ways with one of its highest profile executives, but no one is saying why.

Ahmed Bedier, executive director of CAIR’s Tampa chapter, is no longer being identified as such in media reports. He has been quoted three times in the past week – two references call him a “civil rights activist” – while a third invokes his volunteer role as president of the Tampa-Hillsborough County Human Rights Council.

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Douglas Farah

Yesterday, the Associated Press today reported on how thinly spread U.S. Special Forces are in many parts of the world, including Latin America, at a crucial time.

“We’re going to fewer countries, staying for shorter periods of time, with smaller numbers of people than historically we have done,” Adm. Eric T. Olson said May 5th in his first interview since becoming commander of U.S. Special Operations Command last July.

To illustrate that point, Olson said that when the 7th Special Forces Group, which is based at Fort Bragg, N.C. (whose normal area of focus is Latin America) rotates into Afghanistan for seven-month tours, it takes two of its three battalions, leaving just one in Latin America.

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