February 21st, 2012 · 2 Comments
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.
Tags: Big Government · Campaign '12 · Constitutional Law · Corruption · Education · Environment · Environmentalists · Federalism · Health Care · Libertarians · Mitt Romney · Nevada Politics · Newt Gingrich · Principles · Religion · Republicans · Rick Santorum · Social Conservatism · Taxes
February 21st, 2012 · 1 Comment
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.
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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 will be found that can be sued without the issue being moot. Best to decide the issue now.
The really interesting twist in this will be the Leslie/Brower race, if the District Court moves forward with the case and if it gets to the Supreme Court before the 2013 session. The Supreme Court could conceivably be in the position of effectively deciding the balance of power in the state Senate.
I wonder if for that reason, the District Court will punt and declare the issue moot, leaving the question for a time when the Supremes wouldn’t be so open to accusations of partisan bias no matter which way they decided the case.
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Speaking of NPRI, Victor Joecks has some stinging criticism of the Governor’s new economic plan.
I largely agree – government attracts sustainable innovation and entrepreneurship by acting as an umbrella, not a chaperone. But one nitpick – Nevada spent $500 million less in the budget that was passed after Sandoval took office, vs. the budget passed the previous biennium. While our government has grown significantly since 2000, it has shrunk under Sandoval’s watch, even with a Democratically controlled legislature.
Like any plan, it’s merely a starting point, and I’m glad to see it out there for exactly this sort of intelligent criticism that asks what second, third, and forth order effects of the plan would actually be. And this is exactly why the down ticket races matter soooooo much.
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“[D]oes anyone seriously believe that it is in the Republicans’ interest for the 2012 presidential election to center on theology and gynecology?“
Hey – don’t blame Nevada. Santorum came in dead last here. The Nevada GOP may be dysfunctional as hell, but at least we got that right.
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A national budget group is advising all states to
move immediately to a defined contribution pension system, now that even GM had to give in and realize that defined benefit plans are slow fiscal suicide.
It’s a good idea, since it’s going to happen sooner or later when the current unsustainable system runs out of money. (NVPERS is by all accounts astoundingly well run, but the best run investment program in the world can’t keep up with impossible future promises.) The alternative is to wait until the bitter end, when folks on the cusp of retiring will really, really get screwed when municipalities start declaring bankruptcy.
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50 Years After John Glenn’s Flight, US Needs New Space Ride.
NASA channeled that momentum into a series of successes in human spaceflight. Over the years, the space agency has executed six manned moon landings, launched 135 space shuttle missions and helped build the $100 billion International Space Station.
But now, a half-century after Glenn’s flight, NASA lacks a way to get astronauts off the ground.
It is truly an embarrassment – what did we win the Cold War for, anyway? I believe space exploration is critically important in the same way that the westward expansion of our nation was critically important to creating and sustaining ourselves as a nation of self-sustaining, individualistic, entrepreneurial innovators. And I believe there is a role for the government in promoting such exploration and expansion, not to mention the military necessity of being able to service and protect our own communications, spy, and GPS satellites. Newt Gingrich got a terrible rap for bringing this all up, frankly.
The silver lining, though, is that the neglect has opened the way for a lot of private sector entrants into the space industry, and that’s ultimately a great thing for everyone. As I said, I believe there’s a role for government, but spending billions upon billions to send a few government employees into space for a few days at a time shouldn’t be the end-all-be-all of humanity’s skyward expansion. Let’s just hope that the government partnerships that are inevitable in such enterprises (heh) will promote, rather than stifle this kind of innovation, even in the face the the very real risks these pioneers are taking.
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Jim Rogers asks an interesting question pertaining to Nevada’s higher education priorities:
The Medical School costs are $141,324 per year, per student. The Law School costs are $26,794 per year, per student. The Dental School costs are $39,297 per year, per student. I would assume spending $141,324 on a medical student who pays only $17,999 in registration fees, the least of all the professional schools, should cause you to ask, “How the hell did this happen? How did the doctors get such a sweet deal?”
Uhhh – because educating doctors is a much better use of taxpayer dollars than educating more lawyers?
We hear all the time about how critical it is that we “invest” in education in this state, and I agree. But “investment” assumes we’ll get a return on that investment, and that means that not all majors or professional degrees can or should be subsidized equally. It’s not that we don’t need attorneys (lawyer jokes aside but appreciated), but as a member of that profession I can say with some confidence that the legal market in most of the state is pretty saturated. I don’t think the same is true for doctors, which are frankly of higher value to society, in my opinion. If we’re going to subsidize professional training as a society, let’s focus most on the areas where we need members of that profession the most.
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Mike Chamberlain has a great roundup of some of the political maneuvering involving the state Senate, as well as the Las Vegas City Council race. He discusses the welcome return of Bob Beers to Nevada politics, a Conservative so effective the Dems had to literally defame him to defeat him.
I have to wonder, though, if he might be casting an eye back on the State Senate, now that Halseth has resigned. If he lives in that district, or is willing to move, it would turn a crappy situation into an enormous opportunity for a huge net political gain for Senate Republicans.
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The Left opposes entry level jobs for young people, homeless. Because standing on a street corner is unacceptably dangerous, apparently.
Just 4 generations ago, we were crossing the continent in covered wagons. Sigh.
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Here’s the thing that worries me the most. People who are so obsessed and ready to assume cheating at every turn are that way because they themselves would cheat in the same way in a New York Second if given half the chance. And while they don’t have a chance in hell of winning a legitimate election, they have in very large part embedded themselves deeply at all levels of the party organization. The results of that have been – and will continue to be – exactly what you’d expect.
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God help us when it comes time for the State Convention again. Do these people really think they can get Ron Paul on the ballot at a brokered/contested national convention? And even if they did, do they seriously think the 85% or so of Republicans who don’t support Paul would see that as legitimate and would work to get out the vote for him?
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And given the probability that there is a group of folks ready to reenact the 2008 Convention Chaos, how is the current state chair – a staunch Ron Paul supporter – planning for it?
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I’m shocked – SHOCKED! – that there is Politics going on here! The trouble with accurately reporting crime stats.
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If only we boasted the Senate’s most powerful member. “Nevada loses millions of dollars from FEMA.“
We’re better off getting used to being on our own now, anyway. One way or another, and probably sooner rather than later, there just won’t be any more of other people’s money to spread around from Washington.
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Oops. “Uses for thousands of dollars of campaign funds going undisclosed by Nevada Democrats”There seems to be some ambiguity in the law here, but just from a purely political standpoint, why would you err on the side of non-disclosure and open yourself up to the appearance of shadiness when you were unsure enough that you had to get advice from your caucus’ lawyer to start with?
And please, lawmakers, let this be a lesson well learned. That’s just one regulation in the law. You’re smart people yourselves. You involved lawyers, and still may have gotten it wrong, and wrong in a way which could have a significant negative impact on your profession. Now think of the thousands of laws and regs currently out there that businesses large and small have to contend with on a daily basis, and think of your experience every time you’re tempted to pass a new one without thinking through the second, third, fourth, and fifth order consequences to the people whose livelihoods depend on understanding and complying with the rules you write and pass.
Tags: Campaign '12 · Class Warfare · Constitutional Law · Crime · Democrats · Economy · Education · Free Markets · Harry Reid · Judges · Lawyers and the Law · Nevada Politics · Religion · Republicans · Rick Santorum · Social Conservatism · Space
February 21st, 2012 · 5 Comments
Chuck Muth has responded to my last two posts in typical Muthian fashion. In one, he and James Smack respond to my complaints about the new temporary chairman, with Smack by saying in essence (exactly as I predicted he would), “It’s not my fault! – I totally tried to do the right thing, but couldn’t convince anyone else to do anything!”
How Smack felt or might have voted on any of these issues was not my point (although I didn’t bother to find out, and I was wrong and careless for not doing that). The point is that, as Vice Chairman with a Chaiman who had already been sidelined, he was responsible. [Read more →]
Tags: Nevada Politics
February 19th, 2012 · 1 Comment
If the overarching theme of the Republican nominee for President in November is the economy, and the ways Barack Obama’s policies have helped a) keep the economy so turgid and b) are taxing the holy, incomprehensible bejesus out of out children and grandchildren via crushing debt, then that nominee stands a great chance of winning.
If the overarching theme is “My Christianity is better than his Christianity, and my agenda will be based on MY Christianity instead of HIS Christianity,” then that nominee will lose. Unless your “Bible based” agenda is leaving me free to succeed or fail, or glorify God or not (you know, free will and all of that), I’m not interested.
Rick Santorum has overtly attacked the idea that individual liberty is the foundation of our laws and our society, which is not only historically wrong, but frankly just not conservative. And politically speaking, that’s a HUGE hunk of the Republican base, especially the younger folks, and especially these days.
To win, the Republican nominee MUST stay disciplined and stay on message – an economic message. So far, he’s shown a total inability to do that.
I was talking to an old friend of mine the other day, and he said something which has really stuck with me. He said, “This country needs an intervention,” and he’s right. Mitt Romney may or may not be the one to pull that off. But Santorum is definitely not, even if by some political mystery he found himself in the White House.
Tags: Campaign '12 · Rick Santorum · Social Conservatism
So – Chuck Muth helped run Senator Elizabeth Halseth out of the Legislature by dragging her through the worst kind of tabloid mud on his various media outlets, and in doing so, made it orders of magnitude more difficult for the Republicans to take a majority in the state Senate. Oh, and then he brags about it. If this is conservative activism, then Harry Reid, Barack Obama, and the Democrats in the State Legislature must be some hard core conservatives.
God - it's depressing how many times this image is useful in the context of Chuck Muth in this state.
[Read more →]
Tags: Nevada Politics · Social Conservatism
February 16th, 2012 · 6 Comments
Or, How To Lose $100,000 For the Party You Want To Lead in a Single E-mail!
Back in October, a small group of paranoid fools with their priorities completely out of whack “took over” the Nevada GOP by getting themselves elected to several key positions on the state Executive Board. I wrote an incredibly frustrated post at the time, noting:
The lunatics started taking over the asylum, and the [Nevada Republican Party]’s budding credibility laid in tatters by mid-afternoon. [...]
For years, because of the perceived dysfunction within the party activist ranks, Republican elected officials held the party at arm’s length, if they acknowledged them at all. Sitting Senators and Assemblymen rarely attended party events or county central committee meetings, and if they did, they kept their own operations distinct. They ran their own campaigns, used their own staff, and handled their own GOTV efforts. Sadly, this hampered the kind of coordination and resource sharing that could have made a huge difference in any number of close races.
That was starting to change. But I bet it changes back.
Sadly, all has proceeded as I had foreseen.
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Cue one of the leaders of this group of “revolutionary” stooges, the current temporary chair of the state GOP, James Smack. Yesterday, we learned from Jon Ralston that Mr. Smack inexplicably fired the volunteer Finance Committee Chair for the party, former US Senate candidate and wealthy financier John Chachas, and probably lost at least $100,000 for the party in the process (did I mention the party is broke and desperately needs money?). This is just the latest of many acts of incompetence on Smack’s part in the short time he’s been part of the leadership of our party. [Read more →]
Tags: Nevada Politics · Republicans
February 14th, 2012 · 1 Comment
Via Starts with a Bang, which also includes the science behind all of this beauty.
Update: Had I been more on the ball when I put this post together, I would have noted at the outset that this is, of course, mostly for my wonderful wife, who graciously shares me with this blog, caucuses, and various and sundry other bad habits and pursuits. I love you, Sweetie!
Tags: Life
February 14th, 2012 · 2 Comments
In a word, no, in spite of ridiculous and baseless allegations from various folks, including these national Ron Paul folks who make the accusations pretty directly.
I take these allegations a little personally, since I was in the counting room in Washoe County. So let me just say for the record that in Washoe we counted every vote we could. Observers from every campaign were in the room. Ron Paul supporters easily outnumbered any other candidate’s in the room, and at least 50% of the counters for most of the count supported Paul. Second to Paul supporters in number (at least visibly) were Gingrich supporters.
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The ways such ready and baseless accusations of fraud are stupid are countless. When it’s so obviously unsupported by fact, you lose credibility. You invite people to assume your candidate shares your propensity to be a whiny, sore loser, and no one wants a whiny sore loser to be the President of the United States. (See Gingrich, Newt – collapse of Republican support after Nevada of.)
You don't want your candidate to be remembered like this, do you? This tactic is similar to nerds whining to their date about how other girls don't appreciate "nice guys", and in the end has about the same success rate.
[Read more →]
Tags: Campaign '12 · Nevada Politics · Newt Gingrich · Republicans · Ron Paul · Voter Fraud
February 10th, 2012 · 2 Comments
So – on Superbowl Sunday 41 cops from 8 separate law enforcement agencies stop and harass 2,699 innocent motorists over a period of what I can only assume to be many hours, and they catch… 5 whole drunk drivers?
That’s an accuracy rate of 0.00185% of total stops versus stops of people who are actual threats to the public safety.
I’ve written before about how insanely stupid these checkpoints are, both from a cost/benefit standpoint as well as a Constitutional/philosophical one. But it’s worth pointing out again that no matter how many times union bosses claim we just can’t cut a single dime more of government spending without putting public safety at risk, it just ain’t true.
Tags: Crime · Deficits and Debt
February 8th, 2012 · 3 Comments
Four years ago, I attended (and wrote about) my first caucus at Galena High School. In spite of the chaos that marked most of the precinct meetings that year, I had a lot of fun. Indeed – the reasons my precinct was successful that year when most of the others were a mess is that we had advantages that most other folks didn’t. We had our own room (a large auditorium), and we had several people who had volunteered to help set things up, which means we had folks who knew what they were doing.
When Dave Buell asked me to chair the county caucus effort this time (after he fed me enough beers to say yes), we hoped to replicate that to the extent we could to ensure that more people a) knew what they were doing, and b) had the space to do it. To that extent, I think we were largely successful. It wasn’t perfect, but it was a definite improvement over 2008.
[Read more →]
Tags: Campaign '12 · Nevada Politics · Republicans
February 5th, 2012 · 2 Comments
My blogging’s been pretty sparse of late, on account of my involvement with the Washoe County caucuses yesterday. I’m happy it’s done, and even happier that Washoe County’s caucuses were smooth and successful, even if the turnout was disappointing. But the overwhelming consensus from caucus goers county-wide was that the planning and organization of this year’s caucus was orders of magnitude better than it was in 2008, and every Republican in the county has an army of phenomenal volunteers to thank for that.
When our precinct meetings were done, the counting began. Somehow, with only 4 – 6 people counting ballots at any one time (we would have had more, but the campaign observers were worried they wouldn’t be able to see and track the count), we finished our final count and reported it to the state party in just a few hours. The observers from all four campaigns left happy with the transparency, fairness, and accuracy of the count. In fact, the mood in the room amongst the different partisans of one candidate or another was relaxed and fun – I dare say that in that room at least, the party unifying was already beginning.
So given my experience, I’m still trying to fully comprehend the depth of incompetence that has the Clark County GOP still counting ballots as of this writing, 34 hours or so after the last regular caucus vote was cast. It is maddening that the entire state is now being slagged in the national media because of the buffoonery of a single county. It’s unfortunate that the CCRP did such a poor job educating their folks about the other purposes of a precinct meeting (which includes selecting all of the members of that county’s Central Committee) – otherwise I suspect that every member of their county party’s leadership would have been summarily ousted yesterday.
I wonder who could have predicted that a small group of paranoid loons who don’t understand the purpose of a political party would so completely screw up the most basic of party duties?
I’ll have much more on all of this in a couple of days. In the meantime, I’ll be on Nevada Newsmakers tomorrow at 12:30 on Channel 4 to discuss the caucus.
Tags: Campaign '12 · Media Alert · Republicans
January 16th, 2012 · 1 Comment
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 yet, but what little I saw seems to argue that Newt Gingrich put himself back in contention. Maybe. He definitely had some strong moments, but he started weak and was weakest against Romney, the one guy he really needed to take. And at this point, his volatility is the issue, not his debating skills. I’m not sure he can recover from that.
I thought Paul did the worst he’s done in a lot of ways. He really got wrapped around the axle on some fo the foreign policy stuff, and while it won’t matter to his supporters, it will, in my view, solidify his already low ceiling.
Perry and Santorum had some nice moments, but I thought Santorum came off as just too petulant too many times. But then, I’m not a fan of Santorum, he and I have serious philosophical differences (here he is hatin’ on libertarians) and so I’m already disposed to not caring for what he has to say. I also don’t think he’s going anywhere.
Perry had some great moments – I was sort of hoping it would be enough to sustain him, but I’m not sure he can recover either at this point.
I think Romney still came out on top – he was commanding and forceful, but I also think that the previous attacks from the other folks up there have made him much, much better. Hard fought primaries are a good thing for exactly this reason. It was getting so ridiculous that I had come to hope that it would all be over sooner rather than later, but I’m again re-assessing that. Each one of the candidates on stage tonight had better answers and ideas in one area or another than Romney (and they all had worse ones, too), and the more airtime those ideas and answers get, the better Romney will be if he winds up being the nominee. Done right, the forge of debate can strengthen good ideas, destroy bad ones, and ultimately drive better policy, and I think this debate, while not perfect, moved us in that direction.
Click to read the whole, real-time wrap up. [Read more →]
Tags: 1st Amendment · 2nd Amendment · Big Government · Campaign '12 · Capitalism · Congress · Crime · Culture · Deficits and Debt · Drugs · Economy · Education · Federalism · Foreign Policy · Judges · Military Service · Mitt Romney · Newt Gingrich · Race · Republicans · Rick Perry · Rick Santorum · Ron Paul · Taxes · Voter Fraud
January 16th, 2012 · 6 Comments
Over the weekend a Ron Paul supporter dropped off this brochure at my house. And by “dropped off” I mean “jammed it under my front door so it was actually inside the house when my wife got home.” (Note to all campaign volunteers – when you do something that creates even the slightest appearance of you having actually broken into my house, I am LESS likely to vote for your preferred candidate.)
It’s an interesting brochure – lots and lots of charts and numbers and YouTube suggestions. It’s apparently NOT paid for by the Paul campaign, but is rather an “independent” expenditure by volunteers who buy the pieces and then distribute them on their own. (More details here.) That seems a little weird to me – what would be the point of distributing campaign literature in such a roundabout way? Maybe it’s just an attempt to make it look more grass-rootsy, I don’t know. But my flags always go up a little when a candidate doesn’t have to claim expenditures – and the source of that money – on their regular reports.
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But that’s not what really got my attention. Instead, it’s an issue with one of the images that in all fairness, you have to be pretty nerdy to spot right away. [Read more →]
Tags: Campaign '12 · Foreign Policy · Ron Paul
Steve Sebelius wrote a nice piece – from the left, no less – which correctly points out the tremendous danger of President Obama’s completely lawless non-recess recess appointment of Richard Cordray to be the Director of the newly created Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. But then Sebelius tries to find a Constitutional fig leaf for the President to still ignore the Senate’s rejection of Cordray by citing the “extraordinary circumstances” clause of Article 2, Section 3.
It just doesn’t – nor should it – work that way.
Such a secondary option would still do violence to the Constitution – certainly its spirit. [Read more →]
Tags: Constitutional Law · Obama
A reader recently E-mailed me with this question, and I thought the night before the Iowa caucus would be a time to reflect on it here.
Is there a good “conservative” “Republican” in the race? As much as I’d like to think the guy currently in office is vulnerable, the Republicans seem to be trying harder to make some kind of a point this year than actually run a candidate that can beat him. The collection of candidates the GOP is running out there is almost humorously bad, in my opinion. Your thoughts?
The short answer is, “Not really, but several are ‘good enough’.” But as disappointing as that may be, there are silver linings to be found in that fact.
[Read more →]
Tags: Big Government · Campaign '12 · Jon Huntsman · Michelle Bachmann · Mike Huckabee · Mitt Romney · Nevada Politics · Newt Gingrich · Principles · Republicans · Rick Perry · Rick Santorum · Ron Paul
January 2nd, 2012 · 1 Comment
If you’re a Republican living in Washoe County, be part of the conversation and the solution. Register for the 2012 Caucus today! Remember, the caucuses will be Saturday, February 4, 2012, with registration/check-in starting at 9:00 AM.
Click here to go straight to the registration page.
All the info you need to learn about the caucus – your location, times, and how to conduct your precinct meeting itself – can all be found at WashoeCountyGOP.org. Please bookmark it, share it, tell your friends, and then bring them along to the caucus.
[Read more →]
Tags: Nevada Politics · Republicans
December 30th, 2011 · Comments Off
The other day these guys were protesting on the sidewalk between my office and the courthouse. I thought they were just a regular #Occupy protest, and most of them looked the part. (Yes, how you dress matters, hippies. If you want to be taken seriously, shower, shave, take the fishing tackle out of your face, pull the masks down, and don’t otherwise dress like a hipster clown.) Apparently, though, the protests in this particular case were sparked by a woman who was frustrated with the bank after they wouldn’t work with her on a loan modification on a loan on a second house, although it DID turn into an “official” #Occupy Reno event.
[Read more →]
Tags: Big Government · Class Warfare · Hippies
December 29th, 2011 · Comments Off
Republicans in Clark County have been up in arms over some new election regulations being pushed through by the Secretary of State’s Office over the holidays. I admit, the timing is very suspicious, and should alone raise all kinds of red flags. But the article on it is frustrating, because nowhere is there any hint of the actual substance of what is being protested. What, exactly, are the proposed changes and how will they harm Republicans/Democrats/minorities/America/what- or whoever? [Read more →]
Tags: 1st Amendment · Constitutional Law · Corruption · Nevada Politics · Partisanship · Republicans · Sharron Angle · Voter Fraud
December 29th, 2011 · 1 Comment
Ron Anderson at Local So-and-So explains why he’s still in Paul’s camp, in spite of The Newsletters. Ace of Spades explains why he is not. (Hint: It’s much, much, much more than newsletters.)
On my deployments to the Persian Gulf, the Iranians would come take a look at us from time to time. This is a patrol boat watching us as we conducted anti-smuggling boarding operations in 2001. They would also send out "fishing" dhows to disrupt fueling operations just by getting in the way and other sorts of things. And this was a "quiet" time in US-Iranian naval involvement - the incident with the USS Vincennes was sparked by out and out attacks from similar Iranian patrol craft.
I respect where Ron (Anderson) is coming from, but I’m with Ace. [Read more →]
Tags: Campaign '12 · Foreign Policy · Iran · Obama · Ron Paul · Sea Stories
December 29th, 2011 · Comments Off
A couple of days ago I came across this really nice piece on Clark County’s Senator Mike Roberson. We’re extremely lucky to have this guy in Carson City. In fact, I would argue that the entire Senate GOP Caucus – with its nice mix of veterans and folks with fresh passion – was the most effective entity in Carson during the last legislative session, short of the Governor himself. [Read more →]
Tags: Mike Roberson · Nevada Politics · Republicans
