What does Las Vegas Culinary union Local 226 have to do with the plans to move Las Vegas City Hall from its present location to a site 6 blocks south? And why did Culinary chief D. Taylor recently meet with Mayor Goodman?
Vin Suprynowicz has the shakedown details.
RedState lists a few things the Senate plans to add to the Stimulus anti-Stimulus bill.
Because Americans are calling for “More pork, please!”
Every House Republican plus eleven Democrats voted no.
The $953.3. billion (plus interest) bill passed 244 – 188.
And it’s not gonna stimulate squat because it’s pork-full of handouts to Democratic political-interest groups. And massive social spending.
(Obama supporters and voters: Here is your Thank You, tied up in big red trillion dollar bow.)
Notably, the infrastructure bailout part of the plan – the big “job creation” portion – is vastly smaller than was advertised. There’s just $30 billion in highway-related projects, plus another $40 billion for (future) broadband and electric-grid projects.
I wish I had that many.
Thanks to all two readers who have sent concerned emails asking if I am ok.
I am fine and just very busy with two new projects that are leaving me with very little time for browsing the blogosphere and offering my three cents here on E!!
The first project – RFC Radio – is the brain child of my All American Media business partner and dear friend Andrew Riley. Ideally, he would do all the work and I would reap the benefits. Alas, he says he needs me to help with the To Dos. And check his spelling. And help make Duane feel guilty for missing our conference call last week. (there, I did it)
The second project is Nevada News Platoon. Apparently, in a fit of extreme congeniality during which I hallucinated that I have spare time and that I am independently wealthy and do not need to paid for my work, I agreed to be the volunteer editor of this soon-to-launched grassroots news and blog site.
The gist is that we will cover news and politics in Nevada from an openly conservative and/or libertarian perspective. We will not advocate for political parties, but we will unapologetically promote free-market, small government policies. And provide valuable information to Nevada citizens who would like to Do Something about the current sad state of affairs.
February 5th is the “soft launch” (that’s New Media talk for all you greenies) and then the ”hard launch” and related fanfare will be sometime in March.
If anyone wants to help, here’s what I need from the conservative and/or libertarian citizens, activists, bloggers, writers, media-gurus, and leaders in Nevada (choose the one that fits):
- Commit to visiting the News Platoon site weekly and signing up for our news briefs
- Comment on our blog posts and stories so we know what you think
- Forward select Platoon news items to help spread the word (at your discretion)
- Send me news tips and story ideas (now and on an ongoing basis)
- Keep me informed of all your interesting political and business activitites (this is your opportunity to share info or expertise that only you have and maybe shed light on things for the public)
- Write letters to the editor (me) when you are upset about something going on in NV
- Refer bloggers and citizen journalists to me as potential contributors
- Tell anyone who’s not reading us that they Should Be
I think that about covers it.
Oh - and if anyone figures out how to squeeze more hours out of the day, please let me know.
Leslie Carbone, on tomorrow’s Stimulus anti-Stimulus vote in the House, that is.
Michelle Malkin provided us with the entire roll call vote on the Geithner nomination including the 10 GOP’ers who voted Yes:
Corker (R-TN)
Cornyn (R-TX)
Crapo (R-ID)
Ensign (R-NV)
Graham (R-SC)
Gregg (R-NH)
Hatch (R-UT)
Shelby (R-AL)
Snowe (R-ME)
Voinovich (R-OH)
Come on, guys: even Arlen Specter voted No on this one!
As did Democrats Tom Harkin, Robert Byrd, and Russ Feingold - and Independent Bernie Sanders.
Last week Conor Friedersdorf wanted specifics about acceptable methods of interrogation and torture from Bill O’Reilly (who had made some vague statements about it). The comments that followed were interesting; a few of them were mine. If you’re interested in the subject, it’s worth seeing what was said on both sides.
Samual Goldman, in another C11 post, also brought it up - and comments again ensued.
In general, I believe there are circumstances under which both war and “enhanced” interrogations are necessary - and that both can be conducted ethically. And three waterboardings out of thousands of individuals captured in the war on terror does not send me reeling.
As for those who suggest it would be better to suffer American citizens to die than to pour a bucket of water down someones’s throat so they’ll cough up an answer?
Imagine one of the dead will be your child, your parent, your brother, or your friend - and then ask yourself whether you really mean it.
My apologies to all those who dropped by over the last few days and found Nothingness.
“FYI” I am trying out this new template/theme while my other/original theme is improved. (Or maybe I’ll like this one and will stay with it.)(What do you think?)
I’ll have some new posts up at lunch.
A faithful reader (aka The Venerable Mr. Crum) recently mentioned that I haven’t been providing my recent Ladyblog posts for your (his) convenience. Here they are:
Condi Signs with William Morris, Wants to Help U.S. Children Become Global Citizens
He’s Too Sexy for These Shirts
Vanity, Maybe Thy Name Really IS Woman (or At Least, This One)
I Will Remember to Relate Everything to Women. I Will Remember…
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A loyal reader sent this interesting little story tidbit along. She searched it out because her “eagle eye” husband spotted Beau Biden in some camera shots of THE Obama-Biden Express (train ride) the other day.
No two ways about it, this is pretty special treatment.
The aforementioned reader writes:
“The only person I know who’s gotten to come home early from a deployment to Iraq or Afghanistan is a friend from church: his wife (also Air Force) was diagnosed with breast cancer a month or so before he was due to come back and they brought him home early.
Soldiers are missing the birth of their kids and Beau Biden gets to come home for a “special assignment” at the Pentagon?”
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Nevada’s most incorrigible tax hater, Chuck Muth, penned a pretty good one today. Read it for yourself, but here’s a sum-up with a little E!! on the side:
The Silver State’s usual tax-and-spend suspects are crying a river over what amounts to a 10% budget cut (not 15%, not 22%, and not 34%, as has been reported by various hysterical persons who shall go unnamed).
Yes indeedy, 10% is the official figure that Andrew Clinger, the state’s official Budget Director, is officially using in his official correspondence with people. According to Clinger, Gov. Gibbons’ proposed general fund budget this year “is $632.9 million smaller than last biennium,” a reduction of 9.3 percent.
So why all the discrepancies, disparities, and dispepsia over huge budget cuts? Let’s have a little history (and MATH) lesson and see:
2003: The Legislature increased taxes by more than 3/4 of a billion dollars. And there were no spending cuts. Then-REPRESENTATIVE Jim Gibbons criticized then-Governor Kenny Guinn for not cutting 3/4 of a billion dollars from the budget rather than raising taxes.
2005: Wonder of wonders, Nevada had a budget surplus of about 3/4 of a billion dollars. Gov. Guinn put some of the surplus into the Rainy Day Fund and rebated $300 million back to the taxpayers. The general fund budget was around $6 billion.
2007: Gov. Guinn is out; Gov. Gibbons is IN. Gibbons SHOULD HAVE proposed a budget which included the 3/4 of a billion in cuts he’d suggested to Guinn back in 2003, which is to say he should have proposed a budget of around $5.5 billion (allowing for inflation and giving a little leeway and such). But instead Gibbons suffered from sudden budget amnesia (SBA) and proposed about a billion dollars MORE in state spending. So the Gibbons budget was nearly $7 billion.
2008: Astonishingly enough, The Economic Forum projects actual revenues coming into the state coffers at around $5.5 billion.
SO, here we are, 2009: Looking at the insufficient funds left over from 2007’s budget and faced with having to roll back spending to 2005 levels based on current state revenues.
AND the big-government gurus want the 2009 Legislature to spend NOT ONLY the $7 billion the government already can’t afford, but ANOTHER $1 billion on top of that! Yes, it’s true: the spendy spenders are demanding $8 billion in government spending while the state is only taking in $5.5 billion.
AND – here’s the big finish, folks! – the Spenders are calling any talk like the Talk I just talked (i.e. only spending what we are actually taking in), an “irresponsible $2.5 BILLION BUDGET CUT.”
.
Any questions?!
Those of you who read E!! regularly know that I never ask for money and have NO advertising on my blog. I don’t even have a Support button on my side bar. But today I’m asking for two kinds of donations: money and/or a minute or two of your time.
It’s not for myself but for a worthy and Fun Project. (Click here to see our Cool splash page!) RFC is a partner project of All American Blogger and is owned by All American Media, of which I am a founder and apparently an employee of some sort.
Radio for Conservatives will be a 24/7 internet radio station PLUS interactive website CREATED BY AND FOR CONSERVATIVES. As the splash page so succinctly says, we will feature News, Rock, and Talk. And as you can see from the splash page, we will look really cool while doing it.
(What kind of News, Rock, and Talk, you ask? Oh, my Dearies, it is the kind you will Love. You will laugh. You will cry. No doubt you will ask, “Where has RFC Radio been all my life?” and “Who are the creative geniuses who dreamed all this up?”)
If you choose to help us out with a few dollars, all donated funds will go directly to equipment and software costs and/or service fees. None will go to our team who will continue to slave away for free in our quest for Liberty and Virtue.
So far, due to the generosity of 9 contributors, we have raised $376 of the $600 that is needed for a Go - so we are more than half way there. If you can spare a few bucks, please donate. And if you have any questions, shoot me an email and I’ll be glad to tell you more.
Also, sometime in the next few weeks, I invite you to contribute to the RFC launch by forwarding our flash page around and leaving a pithy comment on the RFC STUDIO LINE: 623-582-3432. We will play the best of them on February 16 and throughout Launch Week!
Example: “Hi! This is Bill calling in from El Paso, Texas! Just wanna wish y’all the best and say I think RFC Radio is going to be hotter than than a stolen tamale on the Fourth of July!”
Example 2: “Hi! This is Beantown Bloggah callin’ in from freakin’ Beantown, where else?! I heard you RFC guys ah wicked smaht, so I’ll be listenin’ except when I gotta run to the packie.”
Etc.
Thanks for your support and let the RFC count down begin!
Update: Here’s more on RFC from our friends at Politeia.
Almost forgot to post this! If you live in Nevada and want your name added to to the coalition letter below, email your name and location to chuck@chuckmuth.com
Chuck will see that the names get added and the letter is delivered!
|
****************************************************** TO: Nevada Board of Examiners
(DATE)
As concerned citizens who live in Nevada, we are writing today to oppose the use of taxpayer funds to defend Bob Loux, the outgoing director of the Agency for Nuclear Projects, as well as protest what appears to be two sets of rules regarding prosecutions which apparently are being followed by Attorney General Catherine Cortez Masto.
Last month, General Cortez Masto sought the indictment of Lt. Governor Brian Krolicki despite no reports of wrong-doing and against clear evidence by a legislative audit that no money was missing from the college savings program he administered. Yet the Attorney General is now requesting $20,000 to defend a man who has admitted to overspending his budget and bilking Nevada taxpayers for the singular purpose of enriching himself and his staff.
General Cortez Masto says Mr. Loux did this in “good faith,” claiming he gave himself and his staff those unauthorized pay raises in accordance with a policy established by former Gov. Kenny Guinn despite the fact that there is no evidence of this whatsoever. Indeed, we don’t believe Gov. Guinn has ever even been asked about Mr. Loux’s claim, let alone verified it.
The people of this state should not foot the bill for the legal defense of Bob Loux or any other state employee who admits to committing malfeasance in office and violates our trust. As such, and on behalf of the people and organizations represented below, we respectfully ask that you deny General Cortez Masto’s request to have the taxpayers of this state pay for the legal defense of Bob Loux.
Respectfully,
(Add your name/organization here…) Chuck Muth, Citizen Outreach |
An astute reader wonders why no one (not Obama, not the poet) flipped a few words around and used “seven score and four years ago” in today’s rhetoric – especially as Obama did other things that mimicked Lincoln’s inauguration.
It’s been 144 years since Lincoln was assassinated and the south surrendered.
(If you didn’t know it, a score is 20 years.)
I just dropped in to The Conservative Muse for some much-needed cheering up and was not disappointed. If the hypocrisy of Hollywood on the issue of conservation ever irks, this poem’s for you! Here’s a taste:
Although he became a legitimate actor,
It’s hard to ignore the hypocrisy factor
Of Leo’s campaign to reduce all consumption –
From Hollywood types it’s the height of presumption!
Just look at Babs Streisand, who lately observed
That water and energy must be conserved
To stave off the crisis of warming we’ve made;
For curbing our usage she’s on a crusade.
We guess from these strictures she’s gotten a pardon:
She spends twenty grand just to water her garden!
I agree with every word of this post called “Why I Hate Inaugurations” by the always thoughtful Joe Carter. Here’s most of it:
I cannot bear to watch the religious fervor, the tears and chants and beaming visages, for the promotion of a man or woman to a secular office. We do not live in a monarchy; we do not crown queens and kings in American.
Lest we forget, the President of the United States is the servant of the American people. (Despite what actors like Ashton Kutcher think, we do not serve him.) There is something unseemly, and dare I say, almost un-American, about making such a spectacle about a public servant taking office.
Transition ceremonies should be dignified, graceful, and modest – the exact opposite of all that Inauguration ceremonies have become. For this one, President Bush even declared a state of emergency for the entire city of DC so that taxpayer money could be diverted from the FEMA budget for this spectacle. This disgraceful action by our outgoing President barely raised a shrug from the populace. We no longer question our kings.
Many of our fellow citizens have lost all sense of decorum and perspective about this event. The transition of Presidential power from one man to another does not mark a significant transition in the culture of America. Our worries, fears, and concerns do not abate because there is a different man in the White House. Our dreams, hopes, and happiness do not increase because of who occupies the Oval Office. This change in government does not portend a change in human nature or the hearts of our fellow citizens. America — all that is good and bad about us — remains the same.
Fortunately, the unseemly pageantry of the Inauguration will be over by tomorrow, allowing us to move on to what truly matters in our country. Perhaps then all of us, even those of us in DC, can move beyond the deification of the political to focus once again on what truly matters.
I’m trying not to be grouchy and just let ObamaNation have their fun today, but that’s one hell of a price tag for today’s Festivities. Seems to me we could have had a very nice Inauguration for a lot less.
Garden State Patriot helps us remember Reagan’s first inaugural address.
Take away quote: “In this present crisis, government is not the solution to our problem. Government is the problem.”
“There exists in the economy and course of nature, an indissoluble union between virtue and happiness; between duty and advantage; between the genuine maxims of an honest and magnanimous policy, and the solid rewards of public prosperity and felicity; since we ought to be no less persuaded that the propitious smiles of Heaven can never be expected on a nation that disregards the eternal rules of order and right, which Heaven itself has ordained.”
– George Washington, First Inaugural Address, 1789
Source: Founder’s Quote Daily, a service of The Patriot Post. To subscribe, link to http://patriotpost.us/subscribe.php.
So says the Toronto Star.
“I don’t know why I was turned back,” Ayers said. “I got off the plane like everyone else and I was asked to come over to the other side. The border guards reviewed some stuff and said I wasn’t going to be allowed into Canada. To me it seems quite bureaucratic and not at all interesting … If it were me I would have let me in. I couldn’t possibly be a threat to Canada.”
Agree: because Canada is already a socialist nation so Ayers-like covert bombing ops are not really necessary.
The Reckoner has an interesting little pie chart posted + a link to a website called USAspending.gov which says it exists because it has to (because of the Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act).
Browse around!
Check out this post on this report.
Sum up: The Institute for Liberty estimated the carbon emission stats for Inauguration Day. And it would take the average American household about 60,000 years to match the carbon output of Obama’s supercalifrajilistic party.
I’ve been saying all week that in this age of high-def and live satellite feeds, it is ridiculous that between 1 and 2 million people will be going to D.C. to try to “witness” this event. Most of them will not be able to get close access or even see Obama with their own eyes. So what is the point? It’s a collossal waste of time and energy for very little (if any) return.
Every American with a television or an internet connection can stay home and have a “front row seat” to the swearing-in, speeches, poem readings, parades, confetti showers and joyous weeping.
If they can even stand to watch it, which I doubt I can – knowing that at least $75 million in taxpayer funds will be spent on this one-day event.
Yucca Facts today posts a letter from Ty Cobb, a former Reagan official, to key Nevada decision makers re: Yucca Mountain, as well as a letter Cobb penned to Bruce Breslow, the new executive director of the Nevada Agency for Nuclear Projects.
I have long hoped that Nevadans could/would be fully and fairly informed about Yucca Mountain and that the NANP and Harry Reid and others would stop doing their utmost to kill every proposal for Yucca before a detailed debate has been had. Nevada citizens deserve unbiased information on Yucca so we can weigh the real pros and cons of hosting the waste facility - and possibly a reprocessing center. We need to understand the safety issues and consider all the costs and benefits so we can make an informed decision.
I have done some reading and research and I believe safe transportation and storage are possible; that a viable reprocessing center would solve many of the present concerns about volume; that a world-class university R&D center at the plant would be a boon to our higher education system and the state; and that the $100 billion injection into our economy plus an estimated 8,000 jobs during construction would be very good for Nevada.
I sure hope Bruce Breslow will give things a fair shake.
Everything I proposed above is already being done in France and dozens of other nations around the world. The United States is way behind most of the developed world when it comes to nuclear power plants, storage, and reprocessing – because of the fear-mongering and misinformation dissemination that has been allowed to go on for so long.
As an alternative to drinking yourself into a stupor and sobbing dejectedly as the D.C. Democrats embark on a major spendfest, how about this:
The Republican Study Committee has introduced the Economic Recovery and Middle-Class Relief Act of 2009 as an alternative to the Democrats’ big-spending stimulus plan. Click through for either the full text or highlights as well as letters of support from Americans for Tax Reform and the National Taxpayers Union. It includes:
- A 5% across the board income tax cut (all six federal rates would be cut)
- An increase in the child tax credit from $1,000 to $5,000
- Permanently lowering capital gains tax to 15% (the rate cuts from 2003 expire in 2010)
- Repeal of the Alternate Minimium Tax on individuals
- Permanently repeal required distributions on retirement accounts (suspended for 2009, but goes back into effect in 2010)
- Making all withdrawals from IRAs tax and penalty free in 2009
- Increasing by 50% the tax deduction on student loans and qualified higher education costs
- Full, immediate expensing for businesses all costs of assets (uncaps and accelerates exepensing which will encourage capital spending)
- Reduction of the corporate tax rate from 35% to 25% (for all you contintental types, that would align our rate with the average rate in the EU)
- End capital gains tax on inflation and simplify the capital gains rate structure
- Make the R&D tax credit permanent (originally enacted as part of Reagan’s Economic Recovery Tax Act of 1981)
- Extend the carryback period for net operating losses to seven years
This bill contains NO NEW SPENDING, unlike the “stimulus” bill the Dems are pushing which will put us at an unprecedented peacetime deficit (about 8.3% of the GDP). The bill also contains a one percent reduction to Fiscal Year 2009 discretionary spending, excepting Defense and Military Construction, which is a step toward further spending restraint.
All fiscal conservatives should contact their congressman and support this bill. It is a no-brainer.
Ricardo Montalban passed away yesterday at the age of 88.
I remember him most fondly as the delightfully maniacal Khan in my favorite Star Trek movie: Star Trek II ~ The Wrath of Kahn. In particular I always loved his intense and quasi-Shakespearean delivery of these famous lines from Herman Melville’s Moby Dick (uttered to Kirk, of course):
“No, no, you can’t get away…
To the last, I will grapple with thee!
From Hell’s heart, I stab at thee!
For hate’s sake, I spit my last breath at thee!”
Here’s another tired story about how the most helpless people in our society – our disabled, our children, and our disabled children - will be harmed if the Nevada legislature makes any more cuts to the state budget.
(yawn)
The thing about these kinds of stories is that most people don’t dare criticize them because then you’re called a supporter of “unconscionable” acts and a heartless hating hater of autistic kids.
Unless you’re me, and then you dare.
As a general rule, large government bureaucracies run so inefficiently and are guilty of so much over-spending and waste that any run-of-the-mill efficiency auditor could find ways to shave 5 to 10% without much of an impact on anyone.
If you doubt me, check out some of the information on the new Transparent Nevada website.
Like the sum total of the astronomical above-market salaries, overtime, and benfits packages being paid to some state employees. A few reasonable adjustments and everyone could keep their jobs while the state saves about $100 million.
Or the astoundingly large vendor contracts that exist just here in Clark County. You cannot convince me that out of the six $100,000,000 – ONE HUNDRED MILLION DOLLAR – contracts, there are no reasonable cost reductions that could be made while still maintaining adequate service levels.
It’s all about identifying and reducing inefficiency and waste - not cheating the poor kids out of their speech therapy classes.
Nevadans may remember when Judge Elizabeth Halverson was found guilty of gross misconduct and removed from the bench by the Nevada Discipline Commission?
You can read the sequel in the Las Vegas Review Journal:
Halverson’s husband recently tried to beat her to death with a frying pan and has plead out his case to the tune of 3 to 10 years in jail.
Quite a pair, these two.
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© 2010 Elizabeth Crum. All Rights Reserved.
