First Principles

I haven’t done one of these in awhile, because the Earth still won’t stop spinning too quickly for me to do all the things I want to do in a day.  But there was too much good stuff I wanted to include with my latest RGJ column that I just didn’t have the space for. […]

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$5.4 Trillion in additional debt.  23 million un- or underemployed people.  Jihadists taking over the Middle East after the “Arab Spring”.  A trillion dollars (give or take) spent on economic stimulus that resulted in a significantly higher unemployment rate than we were told would result if NO money was spent.  Solyndra and its failed ilk.  […]

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When asking the question, “Is the Taxpayer Protection Pledge Conservative?”, once must first know what the pledge says, and know what we mean by “Conservative.”  I’ve written about the later for years, but if you need a review on my starting point, you can find it here. The short version, though, is that “Conservatives” are […]

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Today on Nevada Newsmakers we had a spirited discussion about the unemployment rate, with a claim that the number of jobs has actually been increasing under President Obama.  (You can see the full panel discussion here – it was much feistier than usual!)  I threw out some rough approximation of stats during the debate (you […]

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Throughout history, poverty is the normal condition of man. Advances which permit this norm to be exceeded — here and there, now and then — are the work of an extremely small minority, frequently despised, often condemned, and almost always opposed by all right-thinking people. Whenever this tiny minority is kept from creating, or (as […]

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I only got home last night in time to see the second half of the Presidential debate.  I didn’t hear anything unexpected, although overall I thought it was substantive and good.  Will it matter?  Who can say.  But here are my thoughts. ~~~ The most compelling thing to me was in the part I missed, […]

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Here’s a roundup of some of the happenings of Nevada’s blogosphere over the weekend, in case you were off having a life or something. ~~~ Will NPRI’s separation of powers lawsuit continue forward?  There are clearly grounds for moving forward, even if the original defendant is no longer directly impacted, and eventually, a sitting legislator […]

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I wish this debate had happened sooner.  Although it definitely helped that there were fewer candidates on stage – it’s not an accident that fewer candidates and no absurd timeclock led to a far more substantive debate than we’ve seen in the past. I haven’t seen a lot of the post-debate spin from other people […]

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The liberal Nevada View had a post in support of President Obama’s “American Jobs Act,” arguing that it’s going to be especially good for Nevada.  That’s not in and of itself isn’t surprising.  But when I read it, I had to wonder – if it’s so good for Nevada, why hasn’t a single member of […]

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I have to work for a living, so I couldn’t make it home in time to do a real live blog.  But here’s almost live reaction via my DVR, with listed times Eastern.

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I couldn’t live blog tonight, as I had a class to teach.  But I listened to most of it on the radio, and watched the rest on DVR when I got home. I wish the entire nation could have seen Governor Sandoval’s speech last night, in order to contrast it with this one.  Sandoval gave […]

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True social conservatism, that is – not Big Government nanny-statism in the name of the Lord. Last week, various tea party movement activists from around the country sent a letter to GOP leaders asking them to back off the social issues and focus on deficits and spending.  I agree with them to a point, but […]

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Two years ago, on the eve of another historical election, I wrote about my hopes for the election results and the next several years.  I said that my desires, in order of preference, were 1) that John McCain won, and was successful, 2) that Barack Obama won, and was successful, or, failing those two outcomes, […]

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Today I came across this very interesting – and relevant – article in the City Journal about how California’s public employee unions have contributed mightily to the Golden State’s economic destruction. [W]hat was once the most prosperous state now suffers from an unemployment rate far steeper than the nation’s and a flood of firms and […]

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Well, no big surprises.  He made the same promises that he made a year ago, and the only difference is that now we can be even more sure he won’t keep any of them. The big takeaway from me on this was just how unserious this speech was. 

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Last night the Young Republicans co-sponsored Reno’s first First Friday event, and local activist and candidate for State Senate (Washoe 4) Todd “Taxpayer” Bailey was on hand with his podcast equipment.  Here’s his cast, with my interview at the begining: First Friday Podcast Thanks, Todd! The next First Friday is – of course – the […]

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Today when I got home from work, the following pre-recorded message was on my answering machine: Hello.  This is a message from Accountable America. Why is the recession and increased unemployment dragging on?  We need to ask our Congressman Dean Heller.  He voted against spending money to put America back to work.  Congressman Heller voted […]

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Obama has declared the program a “success.” But what does that mean?  Consider: Congress authorized $1 Billion for the program, and expected it to last until November.  It didn’t make it past the first week of August.  This is an important thing to consider when considering the President’s own spending and deficit projections. That first […]

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I just got home from Reno’s Tea Party, and it was great fun.  What better way to spend America’s Birthday than to talk and think and debate and celebrate the founding ideas of the United States! There was certainly anger in evidence, and rightfully so.  But that was a small undercurrent in what (to my […]

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I recently bought a new car.  I test drove an Accord I really liked, but knowing I needed to be careful not to get sucked in (and having a smarter-than-me wife who reins me in), I told them I wanted to go test drive some other brands of cars.  The saleswoman said, “That’s fine – […]

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