12/3/09

Nevada News & Views – December 3, 2009

By: Chuck Muth
Nevada News and Views

TODAY’S NN&V HEADLINES

  • You Might Be a RINO If… (Chuck Muth) – So what exactly is a RINO?
  • The Growth of Homeschooling in Nevada (Elissa Wahl) – By now you probably know someone that homeschools, or know of someone who knows someone….but are you still falling for that old myth of “What About Socialization?”
  • It’s Time to Opt Out of Senator Reid’s Government Health Care Utopia (Danny Tarkanian) – In the very near future, Senator Reid is going follow Speaker Pelosi’s lead and try to pass his Senate version of the liberal utopian health care plan – a full, unabashed socialist-style takeover of our nation’s health care system.
  • Labor Unions Appeal to Political Allies, Scramble for Work in Tough Times (Mike Chamberlain/Nevada News Bureau) – For years Nevadans joked that the state bird was the crane – the construction crane. But with the mortgage meltdown, the credit crunch and the recession, construction has now ground to a virtual halt. The cranes have begun disappearing.
  • Time to Outlaw Public Employee Unions (Warner Todd Huston) – What happens when a private sector union gets far too many benefits to the point where the business for which its membership works goes under or whose existence is threatened? Punishment. Unfortunately, there is no such corrective for union overreach for government employees.

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

MUTHS TRUTHS

  • In addition to Senator-in-Waiting Dean Heller, former Gov. Kenny Guinn and the United States Marines, Republican U.S. Senate candidate Sharron Angle is coming down from Reno to join us for this week’s First Friday Happy Hour and Christmas Party this Friday from 5-7 pm at Stoney’s on the south end of the Strip.
  • Gov. Jim Gibbons said this morning that Sen. Harry Reid’s version of Obama-Care includes “a mandatory expansion of the Nevada Medicaid program” which “would add more than 41,000 people to the program’s rolls in 2014” and “cost Nevada taxpayers more than $613 million in state General Fund dollars between 2014 and 2019.” Gibbons added that “this bill will cripple or bankrupt the state’s general fund, costing taxpayers money at a time they can least afford it.” Lovely.
  • The Southern Nevada Health District announced yet another swine flu death in Clark County yesterday as the government continues to ration the swine flu vaccine and decide which citizens get it and which citizens don’t. Obama-Care supporters, ye be warned.
  • President Barack Obama is hosting a dog-and-pony “Jobs Summit” today in which he’ll try to hide the fact that some 3 million Americans have lost their jobs since his and Harry Reid’s “stimulus” plan was approved by Congress. Unfortunately, the head of the Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce, Kara Kelly, will reportedly participate in this keister-covering White House charade.
  • As for any “path to citizenship” for illegal aliens residing in the U.S. today, here’s what it should be: The exact same path to citizenship that everyone else must go through to get into the United States legally – only illegals should be required to move to the back on the line, not to the front of it.
  • In a recent fundraising letter (hat tip: Ralston’s Flash), Republican Brian Sandoval says it’s time to “set a new direction” for Nevada and that’s why he decided to run for governor. He says he wants to reduce the size of government, no new taxes, help small businesses, make the government more efficient, etc. New direction? That’s the same direction Republican Gov. Jim Gibbons has been going for the last three years.
  • The Associated Press reports that “Nevada Gov. Jim Gibbons has asked agency heads for plans to reduce their budgets by 1.4 percent and 3 percent in light of continued revenue shortfalls.” Of course, if the Legislature hadn’t increased spending by about a billion dollars over and above what the governor’s budget called for last January in the first place, this wouldn’t be necessary.
  • Unfortunate but necessary layoffs in the private sector continue, as Binion’s Gambling Hall closes down its hotel tower and lays off 100 employees, while the Las Vegas Sun consolidates and lays off 20. Remind me again how many government workers have been laid off during this recession?
  • Just two weeks after well-respected and well-established pro-life leaders in Nevada came out publicly in opposition to the proposed “Personhood” initiative being pushed by out-of-state interests, Richard Ziser, the initiative’s lead sponsor in Nevada, has suddenly quit the effort for “personal and family considerations.” That pretty much drives the final nail into this effort’s coffin here.

OTHER NEWS & VIEWS

  • Governor Jim Gibbons responded yesterday to a Harry Reid letter regarding K-12 education in Nevada, essentially but politely telling johnny-come-lately Reid to blow it out his…er, tailpipe. Read it HERE
  • The Las Vegas Review-Journal weighs in on the ridiculous state law “that prevents classroom data measuring student performance from being used to reward or punish individual teachers.”
  • Assemblyman Ed Goedhart says a “bureaucratic decision” by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is turning a retreat for a church group “into a patch of hell” purportedly to help the speckled dace. Another heavy-handed property rights “taking” by environmental extremists in the government. Read all about it HERE

TUBE TIPS

Republican Las Vegas City Councilman Stavros Anthony 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. http://www.lasvegassun.com/videos/face-face/

FAMOUS LAST WORDS

“The American people do not need a daylong seminar on how to create jobs, least of all from many of the people responsible for creating this recession in the first place. We already had a large and successful jobs summit in this country: it was called the 1980s. The failed Obama stimulus has proven once again that government cannot create jobs, except perhaps fake ones in fictional congressional districts. Real jobs are created when real entrepreneurs have a realistic expectation of a return on their investments.” – Club for Growth President Chris Chocola

HELP WANTED

Freelance “Stringers” – Volunteers wanted to write interesting op-eds or engage in targeted “citizen journalism” around the state. If you have a gift for the written word and an interest in government and/or politics, please contact Nevada News Bureau editor Elizabeth Crum at [email protected]

CALENDAR

  • December 4: Nevada “Newsmaker Briefing” with Rep. Dean Heller (R-Nevada) sponsored by Citizen Outreach Foundation and the Nevada News Bureau.
  • December 4: First Friday Happy Hour Brewhaha and CHRISTMAS (not “Holiday”) Party in Las Vegas. VIP guests include Nevada Congressman Dean Heller, former Governor and First Lady Kenny and Dema Guinn….and the United States Marines! Please bring a new, unwrapped toy for their Toys for Tots campaign. Visit www.FirstFridayNevada.com
  • December 4: First Friday Happy Hour RENO at 5:30 pm at the Prospectors Lounge in Harrah’s downtown. Bring a an unwrapped gift for a child and get a discount on the great eats at Harrah’s. The gifts will benefit Kid’s Kottage emergency shelter.
  • December 15: Center-right coalition meeting co-hosted by Citizen Outreach and the Nevada Policy Research Institute at 8:30 am. Invitation only.
12/3/09

Links to Visit – 12/03/09

Ann Coulter – Do Smoking Guns Cause Global Warming, Too?

Jonah Goldberg – Groupthink and the Global Warming Industry

Dr. Melissa Clouthier – Another Terrorist Dry Run: Part II Interview With Witness Dr. Keith Robinson

Andrea Shea King – Ward Carroll of Military.com

The Weekly Standard – What Johnny Needs to Learn about Islam

Family Security Matters – A Smallpox Thanksgiving and other Happy Tales from the Loony Left

The Weekly Standard – General Panic

The Radio Patriot – COURAGEOUS ANITA MONCRIEF AGAIN TESTIFIES AGAINST ACORN

The Radio Patriot – STUNNING New ACORN Revelations: Shifting Public Money To Elect Progressives, NY Times Cover-up

Gateway Pundit – Obama’s Socialist Science Czar Grilled at Global Warming Hearing (Video)

Gateway Pundit – Pakistani Officials: Obama’s 2011 Withdrawal Timeline “Is Not a Wise Decision”

Gateway Pundit – Huckabee: Sarah Palin Has a Very Different Political Direction Than I Do

Reuters – Putin says no plans to leave power; PRAISES STALIN FOR INDUSTRIALIZATION AND VICTORY

Reuters – Russia has no evidence of Iran nuclear bomb

Yahoo! News – Cadet read ‘Kill Bin Laden’ book at Obama speech

WTVR – 90 year-old World War II Vet Fights Homeowner’s Association Over Flying U.S. Flag

Fox News – Left Hits Obama on Jobs

Fox News – U.N. Hides Info on Self-Greening Plan

Fox News – ‘Don’t Hold Your Breath’ on Putin Leaving Politics

12/3/09

Financial News Update – 12/03/09

Michelle Malkin – Unbelievable update: The crappiest NYTimes column on Obamacare just got crappier; Update: Kristof’s disingenuous non-response

The Forgotten Depression of 1920

Congressional Black Caucus pushes bailout for Air America/Sharpton/Jackson crony

Dog-and-crony show: Another White House summit distraction

Dem’s NEW Jobs Plan will Only Cost America $300 Billion …Update: Another US Manufacturer Packs Its Bags

Michelle Malkin exposes exceptionally shoddy New York Times “journalism”

John Brodniak: The Sob Story That Isn’t

Flopping Aces Own Climategate Read-me File

Some Interesting Updates to NYT ObamaCare Story

Anatomy of Obama’s Government-Abetted Fraud: Why Soros Always Forecloses

Obama Confronts Job-Growth Limits at Employment Forum (Update1)

Senate Breaks Health Stalemate; First Votes Today

GROVES: National sovereignty may melt at climate conference

Tea-party explosion! Movement blasts off – ‘We’re delivering this crowd right to the White House’

Video: Baucus Admits Obamacare Costs $2.5 Trillion

The Jobs Summit: Jobs Failure 2.0

Why Big Government Stimulus Fails

Dead Men Pay No Taxes

NOW: Live POLITICO Webchat on Jobs, Economy & the Death Tax

Guest Blogger: Rep. Schock (R-IL):Free Trade Will Boost Jobs

Morning Bell: The Road to Recovery Begins with the End of Obamacare

Climategate Escalating, Smoking Gun Could Be 1940’s ‘Blip’

Senator moves to slow Bernanke’s Fed confirmation

POLL: Just 21% Favor Reappointment

Comcast to Take Majority Stake in NBC

John Stossel: Who Creates Jobs?

Jobless Claims Fall for Fifth Straight Week

FoxBusiness: U.S. Services Sector Takes Downturn

Obama to Meet With Business Leaders at Jobs Summit

SurvivalBlog:

Virginia Borrows $1.26 Billion to Pay Unemployment Benefits; Detroit Loses $400 Million on $800 Million of Bonds; Detroit’s Easy Solution

Four Reasons Hyperinflation Hasn¹t Hit the U.S. Economy Yet

What’s Worse? Hyperinflation or Deep Recession?

National Inflation Association’s 10 Most Interesting New Answers

Potential For Fed To Hyperinflate

More Consumers Late on Auto Loan Repayments in Third Quarter

Morgan Stanley Fears UK Sovereign Debt Crisis In 2010

Gold $1,200; Gold And Silver Up 13% and 14% In November

Food Stamp Usage Across The Country

Fed Moves To Drain Some Money Out Of The Economy

Unemployment Rises In Almost Half Of Metro Areas

Fed Survey Finds Recovery Gaining Momentum. [JWR Adds: We really should have a “Humor” department to file these news items.]

Stocks, Commodities Rise On Dubai, China; Dollar Weakens

The New Iceland? Greece Fights To Rein In Debt

Gold Breaks $1,200

12/3/09

‘Out Damn’d spot!’ – the bloodstains of Jo Savage on the S-R newsroom floor won’t go away

By: RBT
Friends of Mark Fuhrman

Climategate/RPS Bond Fraud, and the Savage manslaughter were failures of critical thinking skills

[Note: I’m starting a new post on S-R Gary Crooks’ censoring my comments in the S-R blog’s open thread that went quickly to Climategate from my previous post on Climategate]

Mr. Crooks [associate editor/editorial writer for the Spokesman-Review],

I see you left my reply to your retort in the open thread at S-R’s “A Matter of Opinion” blog that my analogy regarding Climategate/RPS Bond Fraud, and the Savage manslaughter were failures of critical thinking skills was a, “. . . creative attempt to press your silly conspiracy:”

Be careful this is something I do really know about from my thirty-five years as a criminal investigator. Care to start another thread without selectively removing posts and I will defend my professional opinion openly. I have the evidence to back my play. BTW this started out as an open thread. So why pull comments?

Actually in view of today’s WSJ OP/ED piece that I linked to, my analogy was dead on the mark. A credentialed researcher, a MIT professor of meteorology, is calling this a, “. . . ‘bait and switch’ scam. . . .”

What does all this have to do with climate catastrophe? The answer brings us to a scandal that is, in my opinion, considerably greater than that implied in the hacked emails from the Climate Research Unit (though perhaps not as bad as their destruction of raw data): namely the suggestion that the very existence of warming or of the greenhouse effect is tantamount to catastrophe. This is the grossest of “bait and switch” scams. It is only such a scam that lends importance to the machinations in the emails designed to nudge temperatures a few tenths of a degree.

The notion that complex climate “catastrophes” are simply a matter of the response of a single number, GATA, to a single forcing, CO2 (or solar forcing for that matter), represents a gigantic step backward in the science of climate. Many disasters associated with warming are simply normal occurrences whose existence is falsely claimed to be evidence of warming. And all these examples involve phenomena that are dependent on the confluence of many factors.

Our perceptions of nature are similarly dragged back centuries so that the normal occasional occurrences of open water in summer over the North Pole, droughts, floods, hurricanes, sea-level variations, etc. are all taken as omens, portending doom due to our sinful ways (as epitomized by our carbon footprint). All of these phenomena depend on the confluence of multiple factors as well.

read more…

UPDATE: We Love – Blogs Lucianne Loves & the developing story Climategate as discussed by AJ Strata