First Principles

So much great stuff around the Silver State’s Intertubes (and beyond) today…

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Attorney General Cortez-Masto says that the presence of a middle man cures otherwise Unconstitutional transfer of money from government to private industry.  Interesting.

I really hope NPRI files a lawsuit over this, if for no other reason than I always get a great lesson in Nevada Constitutional Law that way.

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Dog Bites Man:  Green Extremist Argues Against Transparency and Reason

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“Can anyone EVER trust government numbers?“

It’s not so much that the numbers themselves, as the way they’re presented.  It’s just a matter of being able to predict the spin by knowing the narrative they’re trying to support.

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Rick Santorum picks a fight with libertarians, tea party activists, and “mainstream Protestants,” who are apparently “gone from the world of Christianity.   ‘Cause that’ll win independents.  In Rome.  In 1552.

Politics of subtraction don’t work here, and they don’t work nationally.

In related news, Sheldon Adelson might donate a ton more cash to Gingrich, which I have to think actually helps Romney the most.

Jim Rose has more, noting:

If you’re making Rush cringe, you’ve got a problem.

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Happy Tenth Bloggoversary to Mike Chamberlain at Cranky Hermit!  It can be hard to stick with, so ten years is impressive.  And we’re all the richer for his efforts.

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Government waste in Las Vegas.

The city hall project, which was sold as an economic development project that would catalyze future downtown investment, however, goes a step beyond even the state-directed economic development efforts being considered by Governor Brian Sandoval and his advisors. Their ideas would arbitrarily pick winners and losers from among private industry. With the construction of a $185 million shrine to government in the midst of recession, city officials in Las Vegas have chosen themselves as the winners and private taxpayers as the losers!

I don’t know that it’s fair to conflate wasting money on a government building (you can hardly say that building City Hall isn’t a government function) with directly subsidizing businesses or entire industries.  But either way, this is the kind of thing that should be remembered the next time we hear about how budget cuts will decimate cops and teachers.

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Just don’t call them “death panels.”

A month ago, 16-month-old Brandon Mojica-Lamas of Reno was under a death sentence after Nevada’s Medicaid program declined to approve the oral chemotherapy drugs to treat his rare central nervous system tumor.

On Monday, thanks to the advocacy of his doctor, legal aid lawyers and others, Brandon began taking the medication that will give him a chance at survival.

In the future, as the role of government in our health care system grows, there will be more of this, and less of an ability to get those life-saving waivers.

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Well, the facts of life ARE Conservative.  Democrat Announces for Senate Seat; Pledges to Run as Republican:

Kelli Ross announced her candidacy as a Democrat for Nevada State Senate by adopting the language of the GOP. In a story announcing her candidacy, the RJ quotes her as saying she is “‘very conservative'”, “‘not partisan'”, and that one of her stated goals “is to help small businesses by reducing red tape.” Her husband took to Twitter to announce that she packs heat.

I actually got Ms. Ross’ announcement E-mail today, and it didn’t include her party affiliation anywhere.  But from the text, I fully figured she must be a Republican.  It honestly wasn’t until I saw Mike’s post that I confirmed she was a Democrat.

Then I tried to go to her website, but in spite of the link being included in the announcement E-mail, it was still just a GoDaddy page that was parked.  She should have at least have had a splash page or something with her campaign logo, or have it redirect to her twitter feed.

Ms. Ross, it’s not to late to come over to the GOP, and join the side you’re already on!

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Former Senator Ensign:  “Don’t let power go to your head.”

It always will, because the propensity to be corrupted by power is part of the human condition.  That’s why having – and enforcing! – serious limits on government power is so crucial.  And in the meantime, it’s why I wish GOP politicians would spend far more time with the party rank and file (although I understand these days why they don’t want to).

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Ira Hansen is running for re-election, which I don’t know is a surprise to anyone.

I really like Ira.  I used to disagree with him frequently on his radio show, but he really, really impressed me as a legislator, even if I didn’t agree with a position he took.  He wrote an incredibly strong piece in the RGJ many months ago defending his vote for the sunset tax extensions on the grounds that keeping those taxes in place was far more conservative than the usual shell game of debt and theft from local governments – I wish I could find an on-line copy to link to.  If someone out there has one…

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Nevada is seeking a No Child Left Behind waiver.  Good.  Frankly, I think we should follow Utah’s example and cuts the strings even more.

I used to support NCLB, because I liked the idea of accountability via measurable metrics.  I don’t have any problem with standardized tests, as long as they test real subject matter.  If you can’t do certain math functions, or aren’t able to read or write at an adult level, you shouldn’t graduate from high school.

The key, though, it to create local metrics which can be identified and enforced.  Doing it from Washington, DC makes no sense (my realization that NCLB was failing is one of the things that really made me realize the importance of Federalism), but not doing it at all makes even less sense.

And whatever standards we settle on, please let’s not water them down every time we want to pad our graduation stats.  Our kids deserve the respect of being held to a high standard.