Should’ve posted a “Gone Fishin’” sign (and have done so now).

I’ll be back someday (when the time is right), but in the meantime here is where to find me these days:

– Editing and managing the Nevada News Bureau

– Blogging on The Blog there (now branded E!!Politics)

– Doing political analysis & commentary wherever I’m hired or invited

Also:  Follow me on Twitter @elizcrum

Here we go:

– Both Reid and Pelosi said last week Continue reading...]]> Since there is both state-level and national interest in Harry Reid’s falling poll numbers and much talked about 2010 election campaign, I think I’ll start doing occasional “round ups” of Reid related news and info here on E!! I’ll scan the news wires and blogs; if you see anything news and/or noteworthy, please send it to me at elizcrum at gmail dot com – or just drop a Comment with any pertinent links.

Here we go:

– Both Reid and Pelosi said last week that they would not commit to giving the public even a week to review the final text of the health-care bill, nor would they commit to waiting for the Central Budget Office (CBO) to review the bill and report the costs to the public.  I find their audacity – in the form of their continued lack of transparency and accountability to the American public – just appalling.  This by itself should be reason enough not to vote for Reid in 2010.

– Steve Benen at Washington Monthly provides some very self-revealing Reid quotes.  In a nutshell, Reid admits he is more bark than bite and doesn’t have much power over Senate votes.  Remind me again why Nevada “needs” Reid on the Hill?

– The LVRJ reports that membership in the controversial group “Republicans for Reid” is growing.  Though, apparently, some formerly named members are back-peddling and/or denying their support for Reid.

– The LAT reports that Department of the Interior – which in yet another irony of government nomenclature is in charge of everything Outdoors – secretary Ken Salazar has just designated 1,000 square miles of land in the Southwest U.S. “for two years of study and environmental reviews to determine where solar power stations should be built.” Says the LAT:

Salazar vowed to have 13 “commercial-scale” solar projects under construction by the end of 2010. He set a goal of producing a total of 100,000 megawatts of solar electricity.  Salazar said the federal Bureau of Land Management plans to spend $22 million conducting studies of 24 tracts in the 670,000 acres of property he set aside in Nevada, Arizona, California, Colorado, Utah and New Mexico.

Expect Reid, aka Mr. Green Jeans, to take credit for all this in his 2010 run.  Expect his opponents to say that some lines on a BLM map and a $22M two year study is not the same as action.

– On Thursday, July 2, 2009, Harry Reid, along with Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, held a press conference about a proposed high-speed train that would go from Las Vegas to Southern California.  Though there was no mention of the DesertXpress by name, Reid’s portion of the announcement featured a large map showing the DesertXpress route to Victorville.  The Las Vegas Sun story described Victorville as “the high-desert outpost 85 miles north of Los Angeles” and explained that DesertXpress has a “planned spur to Palmdale to connect with California’s planned north-south line connecting San Francisco, Los Angeles and Orange County.”  Public opinion varies re: Reid’s recent abandonment of the maglev train and sudden enthusiastic support of (prominent Republican) Sig Rogich’s DesertXpress.  Either way, I think most people who travel back and forth agree with Rick Moore’s recent post:  “I personally don’t care if the thing’s magnetic or runs on Froot Loops. I just want to see a train on that route.”

Update: If you want more background on how/why Reid left long-time Mistress Maglev in the lurch and took up with DesertX, read Victor Joeck’s post over at the Nevada Policy Research Institute blog.

– Everyone’s known for months that Rory Reid plans to run for governor of NV.  Though he has not officially announced, CQ reports that he has hired David Chase Cohen as his campaign manager.  Cohen worked on Obama’s presidential campaign as deputy national director of voter contact and then as manager of general election direct mail in 16 battleground states.  The race should be interesting.  Word on the street is that state Assembly speaker Barbara Buckley (D) will also make a run – and though (so far) only Joe Heck and Mike Montandon have announced for the R’s, there is another possible candidate who could break the whole thing wide open.  Especially because he says he would run as an Independent…

Cranky Hermit did such a great job of reporting who said what – and of providing reliable research data that handily refutes many of the claims made by those in attendance – that I am going to withhold comment and encourage you to just go read it.  (And then drop him a comment with Continue reading...]]> My friend and fellow blogger over at Cranky Hermit reports on a recent discussion panel  - the “Organizing for America Health Care Forum” – at Centennial Hills Library.  The panel was moderated by former Las Vegas Review-Journal columnist Erin Neff. 

Cranky Hermit did such a great job of reporting who said what – and of providing reliable research data that handily refutes many of the claims made by those in attendance – that I am going to withhold comment and encourage you to just go read it.  (And then drop him a comment with your thoughts and thanks.  We need more citizen journalists covering these kinds of events.)

If the U.S. attorney doesn’t like what commenters say on your site, you may be served with a subpoena demanding their personal information.  Even if no crime has been indicated or committed in those comments.

So it is at the Las Vegas Review Journal, which has received a demand for all records related to recent commenter postings, including “full name, date of birth, physical address, gender, ZIP code, password prompts, security questions, telephone numbers and other identifiers … the Continue reading...]]> Newspapers with online versions and newsblogs everywhere take note:

If the U.S. attorney doesn’t like what commenters say on your site, you may be served with a subpoena demanding their personal information.  Even if no crime has been indicated or committed in those comments.

So it is at the Las Vegas Review Journal, which has received a demand for all records related to recent commenter postings, including “full name, date of birth, physical address, gender, ZIP code, password prompts, security questions, telephone numbers and other identifiers … the IP address”.

The comments were posted on this op-ed about an ongoing federal tax evasion trial. The defendant, Las Vegas resident Robert Kahre, is accused of tax fraud for paying people in U.S. minted gold and silver coins based on their precious metal value but using their face value for tax purposes (which is many times less).

As you will see if you scan them, the comments – about 100 of them - fall on various points on the Sane and Nutty graphs, per usual with these kinds of things.  Nothing terribly surprising or disturbing in any of them.

Here’s what Thomas Mitchell, editor at the LVRJ, is saying:

My first instinct is to fight the subpoena tooth and nail. After all, John Peter Zenger was just the printer who published anonymous essays critical of the colonial governor. His jury nullified the existing law and freed him.

On the other hand, if someone were to confess to a real and specific crime on our Web site, I’d give him up at the drop of a hat.

Bottom line: We could fight the federal subpoena, at considerable expense, and lose. Our attorneys are now trying to see if we can limit the scope of the information sought.

What the prosecutors don’t appear to understand is that we don’t have most of what they are seeking. We don’t require registration. A person could use a fictitious name and e-mail address, and most do. We have no addresses or phone numbers.

To add prior restraint to the chilling effect of the sweeping subpoena, we were warned: “You have no obligation of secrecy concerning this subpoena; however, any such disclosure could obstruct and impede an ongoing criminal investigation. …”

I wonder if Thomas Jefferson could have been subpoenaed when he wrote from Paris in 1787:  “The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots & tyrants. It is its natural manure.”

The Sedition Act wasn’t passed until 12 years later. I thought it had since been repealed.

Heh!

Update: The LVRJ is fighting the subpoena.  And the ACLU has posted a message asking commenters if they would like free representation.  See here.  (Thanks to SinCityXtreme for sending the head’s up and link.)

Also, there are now 173 comments on the story.

It’s bad because it’s always fun to be first to chime in, but it’s great because the story doesn’t get missed – and sometimes someone says something just as well, or better, than you could have said it yourself.

So, on the subject(s) of Harry Reid, Sig Rogich, Reid’s Continue reading...]]> One great – or terrible – thing about being a blogger is that very often, sometime between the moment you say to yourself, “I gotta blog about that this week” and the moment you find time to login to your site, someone else beat you to it.

It’s bad because it’s always fun to be first to chime in, but it’s great because the story doesn’t get missed – and sometimes someone says something just as well, or better, than you could have said it yourself.

So, on the subject(s) of Harry Reid, Sig Rogich, Reid’s withdrawn support of the maglev train to L.A., and Reid’s sudden enthusiasm for the DesertXpress train between Vegas and Victorville (wot?!), here’s The Gleaner, and here’s Steve Sebelius, and here’s Sherm Frederick at the LVRJ.  (None of them are overly long, so don’t be afraid to click thru. One or two minutes each, max.)

I think between the three of them they managed to say what I would have said anyway, what I didn’t think of, and what I probably wouldn’t have said. At least not out loud.

Update: Mark Hemingway penned a piece  – “Harry Reid Euthanizes Pet Project” – at National Review Online.  Chuck Muth was interviewed, and I think explains things quite well.  And Hemingway rightly speculates that maglev train or no, Reid’s poll numbers render him extremely vulnerable.

No one who understands political entrenchment and the fact that Big Business, Big Labor, and Big Government are all BFFs (that’s “Best Friends Forever” in text language, for all you old-uns) should be surprised that some wealthy Nevada Republican businessmen are supporting Reid in 2010.  Rogich and others are voting in their own self-interest on the issues that matter to them most.

But all the Republican endorsements in the world are not going to keep the Little People from taking down Big Harry.  In fact, based on the backlash against “RINO”s that just happened in Clark County Republican Party, and the general digust of voters in both parties with Harry’s whoring ways, I’d say those kinds of endorsements will only fuel the fire of already outraged voters.

Burn, baby, burn!

The main purpose of the controversial meeting was to consider and vote on a resolution censuring the Republican state legislators who voted for this session’s higher taxes. Here’s the text of the resolution:

Whereas, Clark County, Nevada is already burdened with high unemployment and a sagging business economy; and,

Whereas, the Continue reading...]]> I was unable to attend, but Chuck Muth gives us the details of the special meeting of the Clark County Republican Central Committee last night.  We agreed in advance it would probably be a circus.  But Chuck says it was all business:  ”serious, thoughtful and orderly.”

The main purpose of the controversial meeting was to consider and vote on a resolution censuring the Republican state legislators who voted for this session’s higher taxes. Here’s the text of the resolution:

Whereas, Clark County, Nevada is already burdened with high unemployment and a sagging business economy; and,

Whereas, the platform of the Clark County Republican Party is clear in its opposition to new taxes; and,

Whereas, raising taxes is extremely poor public policy for Nevada’s people and it’s economy; and,

Whereas, the Nevada Republican Party as a whole, and every Chairman of every Nevada County Central Committee has signed a resolution urging it’s elected legislators to vote against raising new taxes; and,

Whereas, the political damage caused to the Republican Party brand name from Republican officeholders who support higher taxes is tremendous; and,

Whereas the Clark County, Nevada Republican Party has a responsibility to make it clear that individual legislators who are registered as Republicans who voted for tax increases did so in disregard for and in opposition to their own political party; therefore,

BE IT RESOLVED by the Clark County, Nevada Republican Party that for their votes in support of raising taxes in SB 429, we censure the following registered Republican legislators:

Republican Senators:
Dennis Nolan
Warren Hardy
William Raggio
Dean Rhoads
Randolph Townsend

Republican Assemblymen:
John Carpenter

BE IT FINALLY RESOLVED that the members of the Clark County Nevada Republican Party urge the Republican Party Central Committee, or any other official party entity from giving any assistance of any kind to those legislators listed above.

Chuck said a few people spoke against the resolution, on the grounds that it would hurt the party to appear fractured. But those speaking in favor pointed out that the harm done to the party by Republican legislators voting for this tax hike was far more harmful - and that something had to be said about it.

The resolution passed OVERWHELMINGLY. Says Chuck:  “The “yeas” were thunderous; the “nays” were barely audible whispers.”

And so it is that the party folks in Clark County took a major step toward reclaiming the GOP from the ”moderate” legislative leadership.

May all Nevada’s other counties follow suit.  So let it be written, so let it be done.

– Gun Owners of Nevada SB-52 alert here. Raggio and Gansert’s contact numbers are conveniently provided.

– A moderate Democrat displeased with the leftward lurch of the Obama White House writes to the Las Vegas Sun here.

– On Friday, Carson City protestors protested about the state budget Continue reading...]]> Yeah, I know what I said, but tomorrow ran a bit long. And right now it’s late and I’m really too tired to wax blogetic.  But I’ll give you a few interesting items to read:

– Gun Owners of Nevada SB-52 alert here. Raggio and Gansert’s contact numbers are conveniently provided.

– A moderate Democrat displeased with the leftward lurch of the Obama White House writes to the Las Vegas Sun here.

– On Friday, Carson City protestors protested about the state budget here.  The state Assembly overrode the governor’s veto so we now have a $6.9m budget and a $781 million tax increase to fund it.  (Gov. Gibbons’ proposed $6.2 billion budget, which legislators rejected, included a $220 million voter-approved room tax increase.) Me, I reject BOTH budgets as more than was needed – and more than Nevada can afford.

– If the facts are as represented, it seems a mistrial and re-trial for an Army Ranger would be in order here.  Personally, I don’t care if he shot the Al Quada operative while he was just sitting on the rock.  Why are we politely escorting known terrorists around anyway…?

– A seemingly worthy non-partisan breast cancer initiative petition is here. It urges Congress to pass legislation to end the practice of so-called “drive-through” mastectomies in which women are forced out of the hospital only hours after invasive breast cancer surgery.  Hours...?

Unfortunately, my sidebar widgets, blogrolls, link lists, and ”In the Media” blurbs did not carry over, so I’ll have to re-build those.

But I think  I can safely blog here now without fear of losing things in cyberspace…so, happily, I’ll start blogging again tomorrow!!

Sincere thanks to all my readers for their patience and support during these very trying weeks.