I personally offer my sincere and public apologies to one of Navada's top attorneys, Glen Lerner, for a grievous mistake of fact in an article which has been corrected.

Posted by pokerprof at 9:53 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Friday, April 6, 2007 11:45 a.m., at the Canyon Gate Country Club in Las Vegas, the Las Vegas chapter of the Federalist Society is hosting a luncheon which will include such speakers as Prof. Michael Dimino, Widener University ; Prof. Stephen Presser, Northwestern University Law School ; and Moderator: Circuit Judge Jay S. Bybee, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.

The speakers will discuss the blue ribbon Article VI Commission which is studying Nevada's judicial system and is reportedly leaning toward a Missouri-type plan for Nevada: a nominating commission with gubernatorial appointment and subsequent retention election. The panel will explore the questions whether appointive methods of judicial selection are necessarily superior to the elective ones; are partisan elections better at securing accountability and competitive elections than nonpartisan ones; or do they sacrifice judicial independence? Does the national model of presidential nomination and senatorial advice and consent provide a model worth imitating? Does retention election strike the appropriate balance between accountability and independence, or is it merely a means of securing voter approval?

Contact KOLESAR & LEATHAM, Chtd., 3320 West Sahara Ave., Ste 380, Las Vegas for more information on the luncheron.

Posted by Zounds Off at 5:38 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

According to reports in the New York Daily News, Michael Jackson is considering a long-term deal to perform in Vegas, similar to performers like Celine Dion and Elton John.

One of the proposals to lure Jackson fans to a future venue--or to stroke poor Michael's fragile ego--is a 50-foot robot statue, complete with lasers. "It would be the first thing people flying would see," entertainment consultant Mike Luckman told the Daily News.

OK, I want to change my mutant nightmare (See Mutant Cane Toads....) of ten foot high Mayor Oscar Goodman bobble head dolls to one fifty foot statue of Michael Jackson. I will leave town, I swear.

Posted by Zounds Off at 1:50 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

We saw them lie about every single thing in the run up to the Iraq invasion.

We are consistently lied to. We are controlled and directed, in increasingly worse ways.

It looks now (and what thinking person familiar with recent history can be surprised) like another work of fiction being acted out. Another horrifying scene in a movie poorly directed by criminal madmen who imagine themselves to be great.

This may not be indisputable yet, but it's got a lot of goddamn credibility. It certainly warrants a much closer look and much greater transparency. It is Joe Wilson on the other side of the ocean.....is anyone going to listen, or are they going to eat their yellow cake and be "Good Germans" once again?

This is the edge of the abyss. It must stop.

Posted by Human Head at 4:34 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Macaulogia: Forum de Estudos reports that the government collects a cool 40% in tax on the daily take on the many casinos now in Macau including those owned by Sheldon Adelson and Steve Wynn and yet Macao's coffers have swollen and its GDP has doubled. Research by JP Morgan suggests that it could be twice the size of its American rival by the end of the decade.

Currently, Nevada casinos pay licensing fees on each slot and gaming table and according to NRS 463.370, based on gross gaming revenue - payable on or before the 24th day of each month covering the preceding calendar month at the following rates.

3.5% of the first $50,000 during the month, plus
4.5% of the next $84,000 plus
6.75% of revenue exceeding $134,000.

Alan Goodenough, chairman of LCI, once said, "We pay an effective tax rate of 29.9 percent in London; 50 percent in Egypt and 20.1 percent in South Africa. No tax regime is better than Nevada's. It's a breath of fresh air." (The Aladdin Genie stays in the bottle)

I suppose if the same casino owners paid half the Macau amount in taxes to Nevada, well...education might have half a chance of improving in this state, except for interference by legislators, administrators, parents, students...oh, and casinos.

Posted by Zounds Off at 6:53 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

According to a Reuters report the U.S. mortgage crisis, that had been seen as the result of the rash of subprime loans made to mostly poorer borrowers, is now hitting the million dollar home market which was often financed through jumbo loans for more than $400,000 and so-called Alt-A loans that are above subprime and a step below prime.

Americans already are facing foreclosure at a record pace, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association. Lenders started foreclosure actions against more than one in every 200 U.S. mortgage borrowers in the last quarter of 2006.

The 2.2 million foreclosures due to bad mortgage loans may cost U.S. homeowners $164 billion, mostly from lost home equity, according to the Center for Responsible Lending, a Durham, North Carolina-based research group.

Those that are not getting hurt seem to be the banks, which have made the loans. The debts on the foreclosed houses is still a small percentage of the total loan debt extended. Plus, most of these loans are insured which pays back the bank for its losses. And then...the bank just might be the purchaser of the property at the foreclosure sale. An example is Deutche Bank, holder of a loan for a Korean homeowner with $509,000 of outstanding debt, who bought the property with a $100 bid at the Justice Center in Hackensack, New Jersey, last Friday.

In the last three months, the percentage of foreclosures for U.S. homes valued at more than $750,000 has climbed to 2.5 percent, the highest since early 2005, when RealtyTrac, a online marketplace for foreclosed properties, began tracking data. The overall rate of foreclosures also is on pace to increase by a third this year.

About 40 percent of homes bought last year were second homes or investment properties by speculative buyers.

For the past four years I watched as the frenzy to buy into the Las Vegas market appeared as driven as the 1990's need to own tech stocks. Always at the end of the run someone--or many someones--is left holding a chunk of something he or she can't afford to hold on to, hoping for another rise in the market. I have to admit that I only feel sorry for the lower end people trying to get into a starter home and had the market manipulated by that 40 percent who thought they would make real estate killings like they advertise in the infomercials or simply those who believe that six bedrooms and five baths with clubhouse privileges made sense for a family of three. By the way, did anyone notice that those real estate commercials disappeared at least six months ago to be replaced by how to win in the stock market infomercials while the stock market rose dramatically, only to suffer its own deflation? I don't know what impact our lemming investors actually have, but it appears many Americans want to be Donald Trump--and didn't he go bankrupt a few times? But I am not an expert in banking and mortgage financing issues. Instead of staying up late with financial reports and banking treatises, I might have a glass from a six dollar bottle of wine or maybe go for a walk in the desert because you know...thar's gold in them thar hills.

Posted by Zounds Off at 6:16 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Just one day before the United Nations vote on increased sanctions against Iran for pursuing nuclear development, President Mahmoud Admadinejad raised the stakes in this poker game by ordering the arrest of fifteen British sailors and marines, who supposedly will be tried as criminals for entering the country illegally.

However, the U.N. Security Council, approved a resolution that bans all Iranian arms exports and freezes financial assets of Iranian individuals and entities linked to that country's military and nuclear agencies. The resolution passed unanimously with not only Russia and China voting for the resolution, but Qatar, a Gulf Arab state, and Indonesia, a Muslim nation.

Last summer the Israelis went to war in Lebanon over the kidnapping of soldiers. Now that Iran's capture of the British wasn't the turn card they were hoping for to leverage the U.N. vote, Las Vegas bookies are posting odds on the outcome of bluff or showdown.

Posted by Zounds Off at 4:28 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I have a desperate need to write many things, but with so much going on (and having an actual day job) in the news, it's all I can do just to keep up with it in my off-work hours. So for now, here is some light reading to tide everyone over.

So close to war we can taste it....

From PBS--

TONY BLAIR, Prime Minister of Britain: What we're trying to do at the moment is to pursue this through the diplomatic channels and make the Iranian government understand that these people have to be released and that there is absolutely no justification whatever for holding them. And I hope we manage to get them to realize they have to release them; if not, then this will move into a different phase.

JIM LEHRER: Blair did not say what that "different phase" might involve.

From Yahoo News--

Before the video was broadcast, a spokesman for British Prime Minister Tony Blair said any showing of British personnel on TV would be a breach of the Geneva Conventions.

"It's completely unacceptable for these pictures to be shown on television," the British Foreign Office said in a statement after the broadcast. "There is no doubt our personnel were seized in Iraqi territorial waters."

From Voice of America-- US Calls for British Sailors Release

I can't avoid commentary here. The Geneva Conventions?! These lying, scheming people have the sheer audacity and hubris to complain about Geneva conventions violations after spending the last four years (plus) condoning, supporting, and engaging in worldwide rendition and torture. It is also amazing that this drivel is allowed to escape from their lips unchallenged, as US national televised media in general quietly helps them in promoting selective amnesia by failing to remind everyone that the US captured/kidnapped a number of Iranian diplomats a few months ago. The British media seems to be bringing this fact up a bit more in their articles, but that doesn't matter in the US, where most people don't even know where Britain is.

Moving on.

From ABC--

The U.S. Navy is offering a huge show of military might near the location where Iran seized 15 British sailors and marines five days ago, in what is seen as a clear effort to send a message to Iran, a senior military official told ABC News' Martha Raddatz in Bahrain.

U.S. naval officials in Bahrain told ABC News that the operation was hastily planned after the 15 Britons were seized Friday, yet the Bush administration would not say publicly that this is the case.

From RIA Novosti--

MOSCOW, March 27 (RIA Novosti) - Russian military intelligence services are reporting a flurry of activity by U.S. Armed Forces near Iran's borders, a high-ranking security source said Tuesday.

Col.-Gen. Leonid Ivashov, vice president of the Academy of Geopolitical Sciences, said last week that the Pentagon is planning to deliver a massive air strike on Iran's military infrastructure in the near future.

And lastly on the subject of impending WWIII, the Jerusalem Post--

Several foreign embassies in Teheran are updating their emergency evacuation plans should a Western or Israeli attack on Iran occur.

Things are so ratcheted up at this point, it's barely even a question of "if" anymore, as it looks like the aggressors finally have the Gulf of Tonkin they have been seeking for so long. If you actually believe that the heads of US, Britain, and Israel are trying to avoid war, you are sadly deluded. Please take your head out of the sand before it gets ripped out by $8/gallon gasoline, along with a host of other tragedies both physical and economic that are (and very much will be) a natural consequence of world war.

Oh, right. That won't be our fault. It will be the fault of the dirty, Jew-hating terrorists who aren't anywhere near to being a nuclear power but might be someday who also hate our freedoms.

(Note to those who will read this and automatically assume that I, also, am some sort of pro-Iranian terrorist: I am not saying that Iran is a great and benevolent state full of goodness. What I am saying is that we have no business attacking them, morally or practically. Start seeing reality instead of being caught up in the "You're an anti-Semite terrorist lover" rhetoric that means less than nothing.)

Posted by Human Head at 12:53 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Read: Special Bulletin: Targeted Attack on UIGEA to be launched in April by Wendeen H. Eolis over at Poker Playerfor all the details and a ton of other links / articles on the topic.

The gist:
• Nevada Rep. Shelley Berkley (D) will play second fiddle to Rep. Frank.
• Rep. Barney Frank (D) is seeking a carve-out similar to the existing lottery and pony exceptions in the UIGEA.
• The new PPA Chair D'Amato (R) is, for now, in the background.

Posted by pokerprof at 5:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

It sounds like a 1950's science fiction movie but it is true.

Cane toads have been spreading through the Australian tropics since being introduced in the 1935 from South America, but new research suggests that people in western and south Australia may soon have to beat them off with sticks and clubs.

They have also prompted new thoughts on climate change adaptation.

The study, undertaken by the University of Sydney and an international team of researchers, reveals the toad has rapidly adapted to the Australian climate since its introduction and has overturned previous predictions about the spread of cane toads through Australia, which were based on the assumption the toads could only survive in conditions similar to their original South American habitat.

One of the researchers, Professor Rick Shine, said the toads had evolved incredibly quickly because of the rich genetic diversity, the result of a reproductive cycle in which they lay 30,000 eggs in a single clutch.

Their body shape has changed to enable them to move more quickly, and they have become more resilient, coping with much higher temperatures.

"The toads at the invasion front are long-legged, very fast-moving animals and they move every day ... in pretty much straight lines," Prof Shine said, "Compared to the ones in the old populations, which have got relatively short legs and are much less active and tend to meander around."

My mutant invasion nightmare includes 10 foot high bobble head dolls of Mayor Oscar Goodman on every Las Vegas street corner, in the parks, in the malls...!

For more on these toads go to Yahoo News.

And in another report, scientists said on Monday that global warming could re-make the world's climate zones by 2100, with some polar and mountain climates disappearing altogether and formerly unknown ones emerging in the tropics.

But we know that cane toads will survive. I'm less sure about global warming scientists and Al Gore, though.

Posted by Zounds Off at 4:25 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Well, we made it through another week with no war. That is, no war with Iran, ignoring for now that we are still in wars in Iraq and Afghanistan while continuing to fight the oh-so-noble war on Drugs, Terror, Poverty, etc. Not only have these "wars" been demonstrated time and time again to be unsuccessful, they have actually contributed to the worsening of the very problems they claim to be fighting.

We may not be at war with Iran yet, but that doesn't mean we haven't crept closer.

Glenn Greenwald has a great recent post , in part speaking on the depths to which US/British credibility have sunk as they try and use this incident and others like it to foment a new round of regime change. Of course, our propaganda platforms media apparatus continually presents this issue as simply an aggressive act by the insane and very terrorist Persians, completely and conveniently ignoring the fact that we have kidnapped/captured Iranian officials without producing a shred of evidence (other than talking points) justifying the overtly aggressive acts. It is the blatant self-delusion and hypocrisy on the world stage for all to see. The US funds terrorist groups such as MEK to cause bedlam and destruction in Iran, kidnap Iranian officials who have been invited into the country by the "sovereign" Iraqi government, and there are many indications that we have been running cross border operations of our own into their country for some time now.

But our leaders just stand and point, telling the public, "Oh no! Look at the nasty brown terrorist regime that is aggressively capturing the soldiers of our friends and allies and trying to build nuclear bombs to destroy us all, especially the defenseless Israel!"

It must have simply slipped their minds that Israel is itself a nuclear power. I wonder how it is that they have the right to nuclear technology, but Iran does not? Oh yes, it's because they're so friendly, something I'm sure to which the corralled Palestinians would be willing to attest.

Even if Iran is/was trying to achieve "THE BOMB", there is an ocean of credible and internationally diverse evidence (including reports from our own CIA) that they are nowhere near to realistically achieving such a thing. Not only is there no credible evidence backing up the claims of the various warmongering mouthpieces, there in fact exists a continual stream of evidence to the contrary.

But the rhetoric and aggressive testing of Iran's fences continues as Lord Bush, Chancellor Cheney, Baron Blair, and the AIPAC-serving Congress continue to press for new war abroad.

For those who continue in their blind support of the constant fiery (and amazingly shallow) war rhetoric, consider for a moment what is likely to happen to our overstretched, exhausted, and increasingly mentally unstable forces should we continue down this path.

That's right, mentally unstable. Ruined is another fitting description that you'll no doubt hear much more of in the coming years, as keeping their true collective condition under wraps will inevitably become a true impossibility. No one escapes PTSD and worse after 3 and 4 consecutive forced tours in a combat zone with no end in sight.

Here is a good overview of the US supply line situation in Iraq. Guess what al-Sadr and his Shiite brethren are going to do to that supply line if we attack Iran?

**snip**

And it will only go downhill from there as the neocon wet dream of world war will begin in earnest. Neocons will get to giggle together in dark corners of power, beating their uninspired, flaccid meat for all it's worth as they continue to hope with all of their might for the detonation of a nuclear device in the Middle East.

Speaking of wrinkly and flaccid, there was the great neocon fellator, Joe Lieberman, on Wolf Blitzer's show this morning. He spewed the same inane talking points he always does, and did so at great length with the current focus being on how bad the new emergency funding bill is that recently passed the House by a narrow margin (with nary an interruption or challenge from Wolf, I might add, who is obviously very content to simply go along with his softball script).

Joe then proceeded to knocked me out of my chair by actually saying something that was not only true, but had some substance. I'm still reeling, quite frankly.

As proof that the current piece of emergency war funding legislation is ineffective he said (and I'm paraphrasing here because I couldn't record it), "If the members of Congress want this war to end then all they have to do is de-fund it."

Go find it. Go watch it. He said it.

Wolf just stood there quietly, letting the remark pass by in the stream of Lieberman detritus, never asking the question that should have been asked immediately after hearing this statement.

If that's all Congress has to do to stop this war, why aren't they doing it? Isn't that exactly the thing the American public demanded by overcoming obviously rigged mid-terms and installing a new majority to do their will? A majority that promised they would do just that-put an end to this illegal war?

Lieberman's statement is as true as it is illuminating. The only thing that Congress has to do is de-fund the war. That's it. And yet, here we sit, mired in aggressive and illegal wars (or rather, invasions) that we have quite obviously lost while our "leaders" in the legislative branch continue beating the war drums and try, at the behest of their AIPAC masters, to help the neocons begin another war, this time with Iran.

And the best they can come up with, the best that they can narrowly pass, is a bill that doesn't get our people out, but "redeploys" them sometime during the next year and a half. Not only that, but the bill is 25% more than the amount Lord Bush wanted--simply because Pelosi had to pay off some other whores to get the votes and get it out of the House so she could say she did her job.

Sure, Democrats will end the war, sort of. So long as they get a slice of the tasty funds for themselves, they'll be happy to. The bill is going to get vetoed anyway, so what the hell.

They continue to spend money that we do not have and waste the lives of people who do not concern them.

There is really only one explanation for this. These politicians view you and I as infantile and unable to comprehend the "subtle nuances" of our racist and destructive foreign policy. In their overwhelming hubris, they see themselves in the combined role of your parent as well as your better. What the public demands or wants is of no consequence because they know better. They will set the parameters, and then, if they deem it appropriate, they will let Americans choose the direction of their country, just so long as it stays within the artificial limits that they and their well-moneyed handlers have set.

The crucial time is closing in.

Extra Credit Flashback: Zbigniew Brzezinski op-ed in the LA Times from almost exactly one year ago.

Posted by Human Head at 1:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

A Texas schoolteacher won first place in a contest to find America's messiest desk.

Sponsored by publisher Little, Brown and Co., the competition promoted "A Perfect Mess: The Hidden Benefits of Disorder," by Eric Abrahamson and David Freedman, a new book that argues neatness is overrated, costs money, wastes time and quashes creativity.

Ha! I can't even find my desk. But, of course, I know where to find everything...except when I can't.

Posted by Zounds Off at 8:46 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

France has placed all the information it has gathered on more than 1,600 UFO sightings on a website. The site immediately crashed when millions of aliens visited the site to see if their vacation photos had been posted. I thought to go to the site, but as of yet my internet connection can't go galactic. George Knapp, a Las Vegas reporter known for his fascination with Area 51 located north of Las Vegas, probably hasn't come back from the site, yet.

The site (if it ever comes back) is: cnes-geipan France UFO Site

Posted by Zounds Off at 6:43 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

One of our readers wrote in about a letter written recently to Governor Gibbons--our other reader was following all day kindergarten news--and as the professor sent this to as many media outlets he could, we provide the letter here:

March 5, 2007

MEMORANDUM

TO: Jim Gibbons
Governor, State of Nevada

FROM: Hussein S. Hussein, Ph.D.
Associate Professor

SUBJECT: WHY IS A STATE EMPLOYEE UNDER SURVEILLANCE BY A STATE AGENCY FOR MORE TWO YEARS?

Request: This memorandum is a request to our newly elected governor to protect a state employee (Dr. Hussein Hussein) from a state agency (Nevada System of Higher Education "NSHE") and to immediately order the removal of the long-term surveillance by NSHE against me.

Background: On December 27, 2004, NSHE found itself on the front page of the Reno Gazette Journal (RGJ). The news was bad for NSHE. The news exposed rampant animal abuse at the UNR. The RGJ called the series of articles "Trouble on the Farm". The news hit the wires and was republished across the nation in the press. I exposed this animal abuse to the RGJ. I was "the source".

Within hours of the release of this news, a surveillance camera was installed outside of my laboratory and office at the UNR. The surveillance is 24/7 and continues to this day. I don't know if you have ever been under such a microscope. It is not very fun.
Why was this one State employee singled out for 24/7 surveillance for more than two years, all within hours of being exposed as a whistle blower in the press? Regardless of the answer to that question, the time has come for this to stop. This is where I need your help.

The law on spy cameras on campus is clear in at least two regards. One, criminal activity has to be suspected. Two, the UNR President must approve it.
Therefore, the UNR President has concluded I am a criminal in need of surveillance. But all I am is a State employee who is trying to do his job.

In the last two years, no criminal charges have been brought. I am an innocent State employee who happens to have blown the whistle on severe and systemic animal abuse. The surveillance continues almost as persistently as the animal abuse continues. You may recall the 400 drowned UNR sheep last winter. This continues, despite UNR having paid taxpayer money to the USDA for the 56 confirmed violations of the Animal Welfare Act.

Are we working as State employees in an Orwellian totalitarian State?
Well, maybe not everyone is, but I am.
I need your help, Sir.

I have endeavored for two long years to get an answer to the surveillance, to the spy cameras. No one has any answers.
NSHE State lawyers have no answers. NSHE private lawyers, McDonald Carano Wilson LLP, have no answers.
So, I need your help. Can you help me?

Thank you very much.
_______________

Reading about the surveillance kind of reminded me of that little known critter known as the Patriot Act which then reminded me of ....

Just 45 days after the September 11 attacks, with virtually no debate, Congress passed the USA PATRIOT Act.

Originally passed after the September 11, 2001 attacks on the World Trade Centers in New York, New York; the Act (full text) was formed in response to the terrorist attacks against the United States, and dramatically expanded the authority of American law enforcement for the stated purpose of fighting terrorism in the United States and abroad. , At the time the ACLU, who often supports frightening causes such as NAMBLA, correctly pointed out flaws that threaten your fundamental freedoms by giving the government the power to access to your medical records, tax records, information about the books you buy or borrow without probable cause, and the power to break into your home and conduct secret searches without telling you for weeks, months, or indefinitely. It has also supposedly been used to detect and prosecute other alleged potential crimes, such as providing false information on terrorism, but on March 9, 2007, the US Justice Department released an internal audit that found that the FBI had acted illegally in its use of the USA Patriot Act to secretly obtain personal information about US citizens. Federal courts have ruled that some provisions are unconstitutional infringements on civil liberties. The Patriot act had been renewed on March 2, 2006 with a vote of 89 to 11 in the Senate and on March 7 280 to 138 in the House. The renewal was signed into law by President Bush on March 9, 2006.
.
And then there is a little something called the Real ID Act which federalizes and standardizes state driver's licenses for all 50 states, and it will result in something that has been resisted in this country for a long time -- a national identity card.

The Real ID Act was pushed through Congress in 2005 with little meaningful debate. The changes should result in new fees and if you thought the lines were long at the DMV before, wait until everyone has to come in to replace their now obsolete license, loaded with paper to scan. Plus, there is a little more to consider about this new threat to Americans' privacy.

The law requires DMVs to store scanned copies of birth certificates, Social Security cards, and any other documents that individuals present when they apply for a license. It creates a national linked database allowing millions of employees at all levels of government around the nation to access personal data. It also mandates a nationally standardized "machine-readable zone" that will let bars, merchants, and other private parties scan personal data off licenses with greater ease than ever before, putting all that information into even greater circulation. Privacy activists, such as privacyrights.org, point out how this will create new opportunities for ID thieves to commit identity theft, while the supposed reliability of the documents should make them more valuable to counterfeit.
An anti-Real ID Web site that includes the status of efforts in all 50 states and what consumers can do to take action is at www.realnightmare.org.

But back to our professor and his letter. If I was the professor, I would either put up a giant smiley face, find creative ways to express my magic finger, or, heaven forbid, install my own camera aimed right at theirs.

Posted by Zounds Off at 6:08 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Hear me, people: We have now to deal with another race--small and feeble when our fathers first met them, but now great and overbearing. Stangely enough they have a mind to till the soil and the love of possession is a disease with them. These people have made many rules that the rich may break but the poor may not. They take their tithes from the poor and weak to support the rich and those who rule. (emphasis HH)

--Chief Sitting Bull, speaking at the Powder River Conference in 1877

Ponder the words of a real chief as you consider Lord Bush's bravado at yesterday's press conference, and his continuing hubris regarding the war and the freedom's of individual Americans.

Yeah, I'm still pissed off about it.

The issue of the brewing crisis involving the US Attorney firings has still been bouncing around in my head the entire day, mostly in relation to my previous post.

Bugging me, bugging me, bugging me. Something about it wasn't quite right, and I knew it at the time but couldn't quite nail it down. Bush being a smug tough guy yesterday was something we mostly only hear about. I mean, he's been differing degrees of yesterday, but never quite yesterday.

He seems to be actively seeking this fight. This is what has been bothering me.

Back and forth, all day long, I have questioned myself about being too far out with this nuisance train of thought tumor. It appears that I'm not alone, as I found a link to this waiting in my inbox this afternoon.

"If they lose this showdown, they lose their leverage in investigating NSA spying, the DeLay/Abramoff-financed Texas redistricting, Cheney's Energy Task Force, the political manipulation of science, the Plame outing... everything."

Crafty bastards.

My thoughts earlier were centered around the fact that when stripped down to its bare technicalities, it really may be permissible for the administration to fire these attorney's even though the "why" of the firings is particularly odious. It seemed to me all day long that they could very well secure themselves a legal wall on this basis alone, halting any move forward and weakening the resolve and political strength to pursue the more concrete investigations on which they really ought to be focusing with equal, if not greater, vigor.

IANAL, and there is great likelihood that the above is not absolutely correct for a variety of reasons. Chief among these, I Am Not A Lawyer. Absolutely correct or not, it should get illustrate the underlying nag, which is that this just seems too easy and that Bush seems to want this just a little too much.

Kos had on different glasses, but seems to come from the same angle. The fact that this seems to be a real possibility quite frankly scares the Bong Hits 4 Jesus out of me.

Posted by Human Head at 1:13 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

On March 20, 2007, Claire's Stores, Inc. announced that the company has agreed to a $3.1 billion takeover proposal from New York-based private equity firm Apollo Management LP.
You might remember that on December 19, 2006 Apollo's buyout of Harrah's Entertainment in partnership with Texas Pacific Group for $17.1 billion was approved by Harrah's board and later approved by stockholders and regulators.

Also, Smart & Final, Inc. announced on February 20, 2007 that it has entered into a definitive merger agreement to be acquired by an affiliate of Apollo Management, to close in the second quarter of 2007.

These private equity firms, such as Apollo and its partner in the Harrah's buyout, invest in companies listed on public exchanges and take them private. Passive institutional investors may invest in private equity funds, which are in turn used by private equity firms for investment in target companies. Types of private equity investment include leveraged buyout, venture capital, growth capital, angel investing, mezzanine capital and others. After acquisition, these firms seem to often divest parts of the acquisition quickly, holding onto the more profitable divisions for later sale or offering the company again to the public through an initial public offering to complete the "sell out."

Apollo Management L.P. was founded in 1990 by Leon Black (Apollo Advisors). It has invested over $16 billion in companies and, along with Harrah's, Apollo has invested in such companies as AMC Entertainment, CEVA Logistics , Hexion Specialty Chemicals, General Nutrition Centers (GNC), and Linens 'n Things.

TPG Capital, L.P., Apollo's partner in the Harrah's buyout and formerly Texas Pacific Group, commonly referred as "TPG", was founded by David Bonderman, James Coulter, and William S. Price III in 1992 and focuses on turnarounds, management buyouts, and leveraged recapitalizations. TPG is noted for the 2002 leveraged buyout of Burger King with Bain Capital and Goldman Sachs Capital Partners, and the acquisition of MGM in 2005 with Sony Corp. and other private equity firms. Also, on December 1, 2006, it was announced Texas Pacific Group and Kohlberg Kravis Roberts were exploring the possibility of a record $100 billion leveraged buyout of the nation's second-largest retailer Home Depot . And in February 2007, Texas Pacific Group and Kohlberg Kravis Roberts announce intention to acquire TXU http://www.txucorp.com/media/default.aspx for about $45 billion, including debt, in the largest-ever leveraged buyout. The deal is also notable for a drastic change in environmental policy for the energy giant, in terms of its carbon emissions from coal power plants and funding alternative energy. However, The Blackstone Group, together with The Carlyle Group and Riverstone Holdings, are considering a rival offer for TXU Corporation.

Two things come to my mind when I look at these players in business acquisitions, which amaze me by the fact they don't "produce" anything: first, that my assets total about $1,100 and a 1990 Ford, and my debt in student loans exceeds $50,000, so guys, I am ready to negotiate a hostile takeover by you; and second, if only AMC Entertainment, with Leon Black sitting as a director, was affiliated with AMC tv, I would know why AMC tv continually shows the movie "Jaws," all about a predator which consumes everything it sees.

Posted by Zounds Off at 6:31 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I have no idea how normal this is or isn't to people, but whenever I think about things, there are always a certain number of said things that prompt a song in my head.

Remember the awkward phase of rap that produced the cringe-inducing song from West Coast Rap All-Stars, We're All in the Same Gang?

That's the song that plays in my head every time I begin considering things political. I wish I could explain it and I wish it weren't so. As if "modern" politics weren't intellectual torture enough, this song has to pop in and add to the mental waterboarding.

(I thought it might be nice to get my digression out of the way early--c'mon, follow me through the jump)

With regards to the widening and deepening of the US Attorney firing scandal, the president did what de does best today--spew ridiculousness and generally try to be a tough guy. That's not the primary thrust, as it is more than obvious that these silly presidential actions and words are nothing more than the natural result of a child with entirely too much privilege and power. One who was never told "no" and who has no concept of what it is like to without, under any circumstances--someone whose words evidence that these concepts are completely and utterly foreign if not couched in the very, very distant abstract.

Today, I'm feeling much more like addressing the continued national bought-and-paid-for, partisan (and unbelievably shallow) national media. You have the media "conservatives" hollering, "but Carter (or Truman or Roosevelt) did it!" on TV, echoing bloggers and columnists and of course, the waterboys. Here are a couple of articles from TIME in 1978 for further details on Carter and "Floodgate" (gleaned by myself and BG in a combined 10 minute research effort on the Internets, aka the new Terrorist Training and Recruiting Camp). The national media seems to primarily be focusing in on Carter, but only in the broad strokes by "liberal" MSNBC, among others. Likely because they are very aware that in the modern bankrupt-in-oh-so-many-ways America they would have some trouble finding people who really know who Truman and Roosevelt were (does Leno still do Jaywalking?) and the media demonstrates time and time again that "details" and "context" aren't things that they think the public needs.

My natural reflex here is that I ache to pose the same question my mother posed to me so many times. "If (insert friend name) went and jumped off a bridge does that mean you have to do it too?"

The obvious and logical answer to that (even for children) is "no"--unfortunately in Washington (which is increasingly just a playpen for criminally-minded simpleton children, itself) the "no" answer is neither logical nor obvious.

Then there are the "liberals", who are trying to ignore the "Carter did it too" platitudes and focus (correctly) on the fact that Bush's offer to interview Rove and others on the condition that they not be under oath and that there be no transcripts from said testimony is basically nothing more than Bush telling Congress that his people need a comfortable and secret forum in which to tell more half-truths (also known as lies).

Yet, a witless media is still trying on behalf of Lord Bush and the powerful people who own him to convince everyone that this is no big deal because everybody does it and has done it.

This is no longer about the firings themselves. It is about the accompanying lies that are explicitly designed to (feebly) disguise true intent to manipulate and ignore the law as the president sees fit and to destroy anyone who does not march in lockstep alongside. It will be interesting to watch Congressional Democrats respond--not the verbal responses, but the action taken to push on (or not) into the belly of this beast.

Let's see if they can pull up their shorts and keep this one "on the table".

*******

However, all of the above simply leads me to this statement, found (via NitPicker) yesterday.

"We have a crisis where there doesn't need to be one, and now Democrats have an issue where they can open up the subpoena floodgates," said an exasperated Republican aide. "Once these investigations start, there always ends up being a lot of messy collateral damage." (Emphasis NitPicker's)

NitPicker's emphasis is well placed, and the exasperated Republican aide is right on. With the proper pursuit there is sure to be a lot of collateral damage, and messy collateral damage, at that (here is a nice peek into just one of the many rabbit holes). I'm not a big believer that any of it will go very far, though, because it likely won't be too long before we hear the cries of Lieberman-ized congresscritters acquiescing to transparent bullying, telling everyone something that echoes the sentiments of "...a Constitutional Crisis is not what the country needs in Time of War" or some such tripe.

Constitutional Crises are exactly what we need, they are exactly what we are heading for (and should have arrived at long ago), and they are the only thing that Americans have left to grab onto that might allow them to regain the freedoms they once enjoyed.

"Liberal" Democrats are arguing malice (and doing it pretty darn effectively) and "Conservative" Republicans pleading the combination of incompetence and "they did it too". It doesn't matter one iota if one attributes these events (past or present, Democrat or Republican) to ineptitude or malice. I want to know why either has been deemed be acceptable as defined by your party affiliation.

It is all about protecting the corruption on your side of the partisan fence, and the media consistently promotes this way of thinking as being acceptable, just as they ever have. They media are simply the announcers that preside over a body politic primarily composed of cutthroat, connected people who fight with each other over what have become (and have been for some time) "the spoils of government".

And the public continues to sit and watch this bi-partisan symphony of gluttonous destruction through the windowpane as we are promised scraps from politicians who pay only lip service, ignorant to the fact that we are dying in the outdoor cold, and never remembering that it is our allowance of both malice and incompetence that enable them to shut us out in the first place.

Posted by Human Head at 3:48 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Donna Childs of the Dayton Daily News reported that a Troy, Ohio woman contacted the Better Business Bureau inquiring about a letter she received from Household Finance, Inc. in Las Vegas, saying she'd won a $48,000 home improvement grant. The company alleged it had tried contacting her previously, but she hadn't responded and this was the final attempt to settle the claim.
A check for $4,920.30, an advance on her winnings, was enclosed with the letter to help her pay mandatory fees and foreign access taxes. The letter stated the fees also served as verification to establish the legitimacy of the claim.
The check is supposedly issued by Lean Horizons Consulting, LLC in Glastonbury, Conn., and drawn on Bank of America. A Lean Horizons' employee said: "Although Lean Horizons is a legitimate consulting firm, the letters and checks your consumers have received from Household Finance is a sophisticated bank scam. We recently became aware of the problem and have involved the local police, who are currently investigating the issue as check fraud." The telephone numbers listed on the check are incorrect for Lean Horizons Consulting, LLC and Bank of America.
The letter instructed her to call the listed telephone number and speak with the claim manager assigned to her file.. Although the company is allegedly located in Nevada, the number is to a cell phone in Toronto, while the envelope the letter arrived in was postmarked and stamped in Canada.
The toll-free fax number listed on the letter belongs to Liberty Group, Inc. in Las Vegas, a sweepstakes business which has an unsatisfactory record with the BBB due to one or more unanswered complaints. The BBB has been unable to confirm whether or not this company has a valid local business license.

Household Finance appears to be a different company than that listed with the secretary of state office although the one listed with the state has officers who are also involved with HSBC Finance Corporation, which has problems of its own involving subprime credit cards. HSBC has also offered tax refund anticipation loans in a partnership with H&R Block, which are targeted primarily at low-income individuals and can have annualised interest rates as high as 130 percent. HSBC has continued to expand its portfolio of subprime lending with the acquisition of Metris Companies, who also stand accused of predatory lending practises.

Liberty Group, Inc. had its status with the Nevada Secretary of State office permanently revoked in 2003. Officers of the company include Guido Volante of Delray Beach, FL and Rafe Cohen of Sherman Oaks, CA.

Posted by Zounds Off at 5:32 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Ahhh KSM, you devil. Oh the misery and pain you've wrought upon us. What a bombshell that this man, the Ron Jeremy of terror, was actually responsible of nearly every bad thing that's happened over roughly two-thirds of my lifetime.

That is, if we believe the government and its corporate media lapdogs. But time and time again, unfortunately for them, reality keeps intruding.

Let's ignore for now that this confession comes to us courtesy of a secret court with secret evidence where torture is not only allowed, but is encouraged by our leaders using their Holy Waterboard of Truth in the waging of their divinely inspired Global War on Terror (GWOT).

Given the above, we'll also ignore the very reasonable possibility that KSM didn't actually confess anything, and that the entire heavily redacted episode is pure fiction. That may be a little far-fetched, but is it really? Everything is completely secret and closed off, no one even has an updated picture of the man after being in captivity for years.

We're living the Straussian neocon dream, baby.

I immediately guffawed when I saw that Ron Jeremy KSM had confessed to the '93 WTC bombings. The '93 bombings were an FBI operation, period. Whether or not you think as I do (that the FBI underestimated their Egyptian patsy, who was suspicious and had been recording his handlers during the "sting") or you are simply content to write it off as typical government incompetence and generally shoddy law enforcement work and leave it at that (ignoring the question of, "why was it 'left at that'"?), it is documented that there was not even a whiff of the "al-Qaeda".

I wonder what they did to his kids (other than kidnap them, which is apparently no big deal) to extract that bit-no doubt John Yoo and Gonzo had some "robust" torture-boners the day they found out about that one (for those readers who find my crass bit of snark distasteful or offensive, I can only say that it stems from a loathing of these people that is truly unparalleled, and definitely not unfounded).

But today my friends, we find out that KSM was magical. Indeed, thanks to the fine work of many others who immediately put this thing under the microscope, we have the ludicrous confession of the plot to blow up the Plaza Bank. Except that the bank didn't even exist before KSM was captured, and did not, in fact, even exist until 2006.

Next thing we know, corporate media cronies will be telling us that upon further "interrogation" it has come to their attention through an anonymous and unnamed but highly placed and trustworthy intelligence professional that KSM was a New Age adept with a specialty in astral projection*, having the ability to travel in time and bend space on a whim. Ordinarily, no walls could hold him, but thanks to the James Dobson gang erecting "walls of prayer" he is currently secure.

*He learned these things through the writings and movies of Shirley McLaine who is also now under investigation (at the behest of "independent" Joe Lieberman) for providing aid and comfort under a pending and secret Patriot Act III provision.

The amazing thing about this is not the sheer stupidity and obvious fact that some "genius" of the administration thought this would be a great distraction from the scandal arising from the scandal of the US Attorney (seriously, I've seen fiction with less holes from the pencils of seven year-old kids). It is the fact that our government and media think that they can keep propagandizing and terrorizing the citizenry in perpetuity. Certainly, our society has been ridiculously dumbed down and blinded, but even with my pessimistic view I have a difficult time believing that the majority of our people have sunk low enough to believe this unbelievably low-grade drivel. And for the first time in a long time, there was finally a small ray of encouragement, as online polls at CNN showed that 74% do not believe this latest fabrication (I will post the screenshot if I can find it--perhaps someone already knows and can link it in the comments).

In a vast negative ocean, I'll take these positive indicators where I can get them. That poll has me hopeful that we may yet again see the active, informed, and angry citizenry essential for turning this thing around and getting back to the constitutional republic we used to be rather than this corporate outsourced "democracy" bearing down on us. It may be the very smallest of things, but it is something, and oatmeal is better than no meal.

KSM may not have been fortunate enough to avoid the Holy Waterboard of Truth, but if the CNN poll is any indication, We the People may yet escape its viciousness and prevent its horrors from being visited on others (as well as ourselves) in the future.

Posted by Human Head at 5:52 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada is working on his memoirs, which should be published spring 2008, by G.P. Putnam's Sons.

How much he will be paid is not disclosed; the bookdoesn't have a title, and it will be co-authored by Esquire Executive Editor Mark Warren.

I take this to mean that Warren will actually write the book; Attorney Jay Brown of Las Vegas, Nevada will arrange a corporation that Harry will assign proceeds to, which then will miraculously net him a 10 million dollar, or more, windfall profit four years later; and that the title of the book should be Mr. Cleanface Comes Clean: My Years Holding Hands with the Mob in Nevada.

Posted by Zounds Off at 12:59 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

California has joined as many as two dozen states that have selected Feb. 5 or are considering that date for one or both of their Democratic or Republican primaries or caucuses. Other states that have already set that date for their primary are Alabama, Arkansas, Delaware, Idaho (Democrats only), Missouri, Utah, and New Mexico Democrats have set their presidential caucus for Feb. 5.

Another 15 other states are considering moving their contests to Feb. 5 including Florida, Illinois, Michigan, New Jersey, New York and Texas.

With all those big states--Florida, Illinois, Michigan, New Jersey, New York, Texas, and California--lining up for a February 5 primary, will anyone even remember the Nevada caucus NV Senator Harry Reid was so proud of a few months ago.

For a little more you can go to CBS News.

Posted by Zounds Off at 5:02 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The moon will be at it's darkest for a week beginning 3/15.

March 19 will mark the 4-year anniversary of the invasion of Iraq.

All of US forces are in position around Iran (and cannot just sit there forever).

A path through Iran's neighboring airspace has been cleared--the agreements have been procured.

A high-ranking "defector" has suddenly materialized.

The Iranian New Year begins on March 21.

Gasoline has risen 20-30% in the last 2-3 weeks.

Saying I'm "tense" right now would be an gross understatement.

Posted by Human Head at 5:17 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I have been percolating on this subject--at least after the coffee has kicked in--but I believe it will take a good bit more study than our legislators are giving it. (Or it could be I like to read and learn much more than I want to put this to an article.) But until I can wade through brain development studies, income demographics, and the refrigerator, I would like to give you the simplified version:

1. Parents don't usually have good information or a clear understanding of the issue ( Hey, they are the product of a public education system that is not noted for teaching critical thinking skills.) but putting those kids to work earlier sounds like giving them a head start--even if kids learn more from play than structured activities at that age And besides, IT REALLY WILL BE LIKE DAYCARE, ONLY CHEAPER FOR THE PARENTS--NOT THE REST OF US. How many children is a daycare provider allowed compared to the number per teacher in our classrooms?

2. Democrats want to appear hard at work changing education in Nevada--which needs a lot of work which all day kindergarten won't address--and certainly want to please the teachers' unions, which like those in many states is substantially Democrat.

3. Teachers and administrators and teachers' unions want all day kindergarten because it means hiring more teachers, possibly Democrats who will join the union, meaning more dues and voting power, and thus avoiding the one thing that would make a huge difference compared to kindergarten--making the school day longer for grades one through twelve. I believe that Nevada has one of the shortest school days of any state--Clark County teachers are only required to spend seven hours and ten minutes in the building, the students approximately six hours and fifteen minutes and that includes lunch. I can guarantee that a longer school day is not high on the teachers' solution list, and with all the other problems with being a teacher in this state and especially Clark County, I actually don't blame them. Who wants to spend more time trying to reach students who can make more money parking cars than being say...a teacher?

Posted by Zounds Off at 2:55 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

For all intents and purposes, any hope for avoiding war with Iran just went out the window. The provision forcing Bush to seek congressional approval has been struck from the latest supplemental funding bill. The only hurdle remaining for US wimps and warmongers is to strike from the bill the provision of a timetable for withdrawal.

Let's focus on the idiocy dressed up as intelligent assertion with regards to the striking of the "Make Bush get authorization" provision.

Republicans will continue to stand united in this debate, and will oppose efforts by Democrats to undermine the ability of General Petraeus and our troops to achieve victory in the Global War on Terror.

That quote is from GOP Leader John Boener. Again, we hear a great deal about "winning" the GWOT, but no one seems to be able to articulate what the indications are (or will be) that will let us know that this "victory" is at hand. As much as Boener's statement is cringe-worthy in its ignorance, there is every bit as much (if not more) of the same from our "congressional leaders" (two words that have had no reason to rest alongside each other in the same sentence for quite some time).

And the Nevada reps are showin' out.

Harry Reid pretended to take a stand (again) by making the same flavor statement he usually does, filled with words about how we're less safe since the war started, the president needs to change course, and the Senate has to make him. **yawn**

Shelley Berkly, D-NV, in referring to the stricken provision stated, "It would take away perhaps the most important negotiating tool that the U.S. has when it comes to Iran."

So, according to Berkley, the crucial tool for the US ("US" in this context being the Zionists and Neocons that inhabit nearly every nook and cranny in the higher levels of our government) in bringing the smart-mouthed Iran to heel is to continue letting the President and his pals be complete loose cannons with the ability to unleash "shock and awe" on Iran whenever the mood strikes. Getting any approval from Congress for such folly would require stuff like "proof" in the face of the CIA's own assessment as well as reports worldwide stating clearly that Iran is, at minimum, 5 years away from even one nuclear device, and this assumes no development or funding problems. Well, they are having funding issues, which should logically extend the forecast of their attaining nuclear arms, but no one seems to want to bring that up unless it's in a vacuum. Even if it does come down to the presentation of "proof", the administration has this well in hand as they are busily rehearsing their new Curveball-esque defector (kind of like the Iranian diplomats we recently kidnapped are "defectors") as we speak, so it looks like things are still on track for reducing Iran to rubble in the upcoming weeks or months. It's not like Congress critters will have the courage to stand up and call bullshit in any meaningful way, demonstrated by the fact that not only did they assist in our going blindly into Iraq, but also by the fact that we are still there.

But what we will do is help out Libya (apparently our new BFF) in their quest for nuclear technology. Didn't Reagan refer to Kaddafi as a "mad dog", and weren't they one of the early terrorist incarnations with whom we would never negotiate? Well, yes, they were, but not any more now that Kaddafi has repented of his ways and has pledged to do US bidding from here on out, further illustrating American love of repentance (real or feigned) and capitulation.

Dan Boren, D-OK, said he will oppose any legislation that sets any sort of timetable for leaving, proving to all that he has no idea what the word "support" actually means. After all, a great many troops are already on their fourth and fifth compulsory tours in a combat zone, which must mean that they enjoy being in Iraq fighting for their lives in a war with no benefit for anyone other than those currently in power alongside their no-bid corporate pals, right? (Speaking of no-bid contracts, Haliburton is moving to Dubai! Nothing to see here, move along, it's just business.) When the troops get back, they get to deal with the VA (if they're not in a bodybag), something I'm sure each and every one of their broken bodies and minds are looking forward to immensely. You know, because the VA has always made sure that the military is well taken care of.

Every day brings us more blatant hypocrisy, lies, and utter emptiness which is embodied by bland and empty talking point statements from politicians whose heads are every bit as hollow as their integrity.

I just couldn't be more tired of it.

Posted by Human Head at 1:11 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Reported in several sources, including the Las Vegas Review Journal, according to his attorney, Robert Rose, former strip club entrepreneur Michael Galardi was apparently "shocked and stunned" Monday when U.S. District Judge Larry Hicks gave him a 30-month sentence even though Galardi spent four years cooperating with investigators and prosecutors.

Judge Hicks also imposed a $100,000 fine, the most allowed under the law, and ordered Galardi to pay Las Vegas and Clark County $200,000 each in restitution. Galardi also must start serving his sentence by June 22.

Judge Hicks said Galardi was the leader of a scheme to bribe Clark County commissioners for votes that benefited his multimillion-dollar strip club empire, stating, "This is one of the most reprehensible crimes of public corruption that has ever been prosecuted in the state of Nevada," None of it would have happened ... but for Mr. Galardi paying the money."

Once again a judge in Nevada has shown no understanding of the facts around him--none of this would have happened if the county commissioners hadn't been so eager to take the money. If one of them had simply gone to authorities at once about a proposed bribe, it would have been a little scandal, barely a blip on the Las Vegas corruption scene. And if this is one of the biggest crimes of corruption prosecuted in the state of Nevada, one can only wonder about the ones that got away.

Posted by Zounds Off at 11:36 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Reported on IBLS INTERNET LAW - NEWS PORTAL, the plaintiff, Frank Snowney, a California resident, reserved a room by telephone from his California residence. He was told that the room would cost $ 50 per night plus the room tax. However, at the time of payment of the bill, he paid a $ 3 energy surcharge.

Subsequently, the plaintiff filed class action against defendants in Superior Court of Los Angeles County alleging that defendants charged him and other guests more than the advertised or quoted price. He alleged causes of action for: (1) fraudulent and deceptive business practices in violation of Business and Professions Code; (2) breach of contract; (3) unjust enrichment; and (4) violations of Business and Professions Code section 17500 et seq.
Defendants filed a motion to quash the summons for lack of personal jurisdiction, arguing that they were incorporated and maintained their principal place of business in Nevada.

The Superior Court of Los Angeles County granted the defendants" motion, holding that the defendants did not have sufficient contacts with the State of California to warrant the exercise of personal jurisdiction. The Court of Appeal, Second District, Division Three, reversed this finding, and stated that the defendants had sufficient contacts with California to justify the exercise of specific jurisdiction. The California Supreme Court affirmed the Appeals Court ruling and concluded that the defendants' Website and other promotional activities conducted in California established sufficient contacts with the State necessary to warrant the exercise of jurisdiction.

Plaintiff submitted evidence that the defendants: (1) advertised extensively to California residents through billboards in California, newspapers, and radio and television stations; (2) maintained an interactive Web site that accepted reservations from California residents; (3) provided driving directions to their hotels from California; (4) and touted the proximity of their hotels to California; and (5) accepted reservations from California residents through their Internet Web site and a toll-free phone number listed on the site and in their advertisements.

Examining the defendants' Internet contacts with California residents, the California Supreme Court noted that the defendants' Web site, which quoted room rates to visitors and permitted visitors to make reservations at their hotels, was interactive and, at a minimum, fell within the aegis of the Zippo sliding scale. (Zippo Mfg. Co. v. Zippo Dot Com, Inc. (W.D.Pa. 1997) 952 F. Supp. 1119)

So, I wonder if he will get his three dollars back. It looks like businesses who advertise on the Internet are liable to be subject to court jurisdiction in any state where their advertisements reach...I wonder what the international ramifications might be. Maybe get sued in China, Zimbabwe....Who knows?

Posted by Zounds Off at 4:52 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Oil prices dropped below $59 a barrel Monday on forecasts of warmer weather in the United States and the belief that OPEC will keep production quotas stable at its meeting later this week.

The retail price of self-serve regular gas rose to $2.55 cents per gallon, according to the latest Lundberg Survey released Sunday.

My prediction--a no-brainer, a virtual slam dunk--is that oil companies will boast of record profits again, shareholders will be happy, and those silly Democrats, who last year complained about price gouging when they didn’t control Congress, will either not notice this year or make a few token remarks.

My other "high risk" prediction is that the stock markets will continue to be fragile and volitile partially from all those people who were watching real estate informercials the last four years and played with flipping property until that crashed and now want to win easy stock market money--the new infomercial craze and probably the same ones who brought us the real estate schemes last year. Gee, didn't things like this happen as recently as the late 1990's with tech stocks or did someone forget. By the way I wonder who really is making the money, and how cheaply can I produce an infomercial?

Posted by Zounds Off at 4:14 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Steve Miller, in his article, writes how on January 17, the Las Vegas City Council extended the temporary liquor license of Crazy Horse Too operator Mike Signorelli for another 90 days. Signorelli, who claims to be a bonafide buyer for the club, is scheduled to face the Council again on April 18 to ask for a permanent license, or face closure.

Signorelli admitted that he's not paying Crazy Horse owner and convicted felon Rick Rizzolo rent, and that he may not be able to close the purported $45 million dollar purchase for several years. He blamed his lack of cash on the high cost of illegally paying off cab drivers to bring patrons to his business.

During the January Council hearing, Signorelli's attorney, Jay Brown, who is intimately connected with Mayor Oscar Goodman and Senator Harry Reid, admitted that the topless bar is paying cab drivers to deliver customers.

Councilman Steve Ross remarked that Signorelli is "running this business outside the law" based on his admission, while Mayor Pro Tem Gary Reese emphasized that a liquor license is a privilege that must be exercised in the moral best interest of the community.

Councilman Steve Wolfson informed Signorelli that he would not tolerate any infractions of the law and ordered him to stop paying cabbies, and Signorelli and his attorney, Brown, agreed to abide by the order.

Business at the Crazy Horse immediately decreased, probably because cab drivers diverted customers to bars that paid them a bounty.

Miller reports that Signorelli is again paying for customers delivered to Crazy Horse Too, and his current pay off is $70.

But wait…here is an excerpt from an article, Cameras helping fight crime, taxi officials say,
from about 20 months ago.

A taxi driver is assaulted by a late night reveler while his companions look on from the back seat. A transient takes off in a cab left running outside a convenience store. Another man argues with a cabby over an unpaid fare and chokes the driver before fleeing. Yet another steals a taxi while the driver delivers dinner to his wife, then proceeds to rack up charges on the driver's credit cards.

All of these suspects were caught in the act in recent weeks by cameras mounted in taxis, according to the Nevada Taxicab Authority. Photos and video identifications led to the arrest of two of the suspects, while the remaining two fled to California. One was arrested on other charges, and the other still is wanted.

"The cameras are definitely working," said Rob Stewart, a spokesman with the Taxicab Authority. "It's all about case solvability."

Meanwhile, the Taxicab Authority, the taxi drivers' union and cab company owners continue to argue about proposed rules governing just how far companies can go to monitor what happens in taxis.

Really. Is that because while cameras are capturing crimes against cab drivers, those same camers might be capturing cabbies taking illegal payoffs for diverting customers to certain clubs? While the Las Vegas City Council orders Signorelli to stop paying, is it just more Las Vegas business as usual that others continue to do the same? I wonder just who has access to these videos and whether Metro's Intelligence division or corruption unit should consider viewing videos, either by polite request or subpoena. If cabbies are taking illegal payoffs, it is easy to see why the taxi drivers' union might be concerned. It appears the cameras might be working--just not only on the crimes they were intended to capture.

Posted by Zounds Off at 3:27 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Right now the media is fueling a minor frenzy over a usually ignored political reality and the Democrats are making the most of it, claiming to be absolutely shocked at the White House based firing of eight U.S. Attorneys. "I think we need a change in the top at the Justice Department," said Sen. Charles Schumer of New York, a member of the Democratic leadership, in response to the firings and about whom Dob Dole once said that the most dangerous place in Washington, D.C. is between Schumer and a television camera.

What seems to have escaped the notice of most of the country and all of the Democrats is that one of President Bill Clinton's very first official acts upon taking office in 1993 was to fire every United States attorney then serving -- except Michael Chertoff, now Homeland Security secretary but then U.S. attorney for the District of New Jersey, because New Jersey Democrat, Sen. Bill Bradley, specifically requested his retention.

Personally, I am so tired of hearing from our Congressmen and women that exhausted refrain that the other party is playing partisan politics. It usually means that the other side simply beat them to it. I for one want to hear another refrain for anyone who has six years in Congress ..."It's Time You Learned About Goodbye." Just start voting them out before they have enough time to wear the hypocracy and corruption well.

Posted by Zounds Off at 6:26 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Pakistan's President Musharraf has obviously been paying attention to the US Global War of on Terror, specifically our recent spate of US attorney firings, and has placed under house arrest one of Pakistan's preeminent Supreme Court judges.

After spending many years fighting the Global War of on Terror alone, it's good to see our allies in this fight stepping up to the plate. There are reports of outrage in Pakistan, with lawyers organizing national protests because of the Musharraf action.

Obviously, these people have no idea what the Global War of on Terror is really about. That judge was going around demanding investigations into the “disappearances” of several terror suspects. No wonder Musharraf took away his mobile and passport. Like Premier Bush, Musharraf understands that only terrorists care about what happens to other terrorists. It’s science. This judge was calling for the waste of time, effort, consideration, and a whole host of other resources trying to provide aid and comfort, while Musharraf (acting as the Pakistani decider-in-chief) seems to be the only one who understands that these resources are better used in the rounding up of more terrorists, starting with this judge (but excluding the Taliban or Osama who are infinitely crafty, intelligent, some say invisible, and likely lurking outside your door at this very moment waiting to suicide bomb you).

But who cares about disappearances? Not patriots. Things get lost all the time. Why, just last week we lost a few videotapes (which a few people seem to be trying to make a big deal about). People need to remember that the world is full of nasty terrorists, which means some things are going to "get lost" or "disappear". Why is this a big deal? Disappearances mean more free space to house more terrorists and their sympathizers. Geez, you'd think after so many years fighting the Global War of on Terror more people would have realized this by now.

The question is, with national protests being scheduled, how will Musharraf handle an entire population of terrorist sympathizers? Here exists another follow-up opportunity to learn from The Greatest Leader. Go with your gut and talk to Jesus (who seems a lot more racist and homophobic these days than he used to be-a touch of the arthritis perhaps?). George does this on a daily basis and one only has to look at his track record in order to find the strength to do what needs to be done, which means rounding up terrorists en masse and bombing Iran. In regards to the upcoming mass terrorist demonstrations, Musharraf would do well to mimic Bush by build up extra martial law authority as quickly and secretively as possible, which the Pakistani ISI can help Musharraf foment and enforce.

Many would be terrorists might take issue with the fact that Pakistan’s ISI has a long history of terror support, as does the US (MEK , most recently). These comforters would probably say it is the height of hypocrisy, but that only means that they haven’t learned the lessons of the Global War of on Terror.

Fire must be fought with fire, and the Global War of on Terror Batman and Robin are on the front lines taking it right to "our enemies". They are reluctant dictators who’s only wish is to make everyone realize that if they would just help rid the world of terrorists instead of standing around bitching about "rights", this war could progress toward a conclusion and people could have their respective Constitutions back in as little as thirty to forty years.

Posted by Human Head at 9:20 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

According to a Police Executive Research Forum report on violent crime statistics, fwith over 50 major police departments reporting, most have seen a substantial increase in violent crime over the past two years including increases
of more than 30 percent in robberies in Arlington, Tex.; Baltimore County, Md.; Cleveland; Detroit; Fort Wayne, Ind.; Las Vegas; Memphis; Milwaukee; Minneapolis; Montgomery County, Md.; Orlando, Fla.; Prince William County, Va.; Rochester, N.Y.; San Francisco; San Jose, Calif.; and Virginia Beach, Va.; and increases of more than 30 percent in aggravated assaults with firearms in Boston; Cincinnati; Cleveland; Las Vegas; Orlando; Rochester, N.Y.; Sacramento, Calif.; St. Louis; Seattle; and other jurisdictions.

The numbers for Las Vegas show the homicide rate jumped 15.91 percent from 2004 to 2006; robbery from 3729 in 2004 to 5381 in 2006 or 44.30 percent increase; aggravated assault from 5318 to 6681 for a 25.63 percent rise; and agravated assault with a firearm rose 30.69 percent.

Probably the reason a paunchy Bill Young, former Sheriff Jerry Keller's protege, chose to ride into the sunset rather than run again for Sheriff...that and he put in his five years so his sheriff's pension would vest, and there is a lot more money in the private sector for ex-politicos even if there is less fame.

Possible GOP presidential candidate Rudolph Giullani's popularity across the nation has some New Yorkers baffled as they remember him as an antagonistic and mean-spirited mayor, while admitting that he got many things done in New York in areas of violent crime, welfare reform, etc. See New York Wonders.

Maybe those complaining wanted a return to the days of corrupt Mayor David Dinkens' administration.

Posted by Zounds Off at 4:47 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

In a field of candidates that predominantly talk themselves up and attacking their opponents in various childish ways, this is the only one I've witnessed not taking part, choosing instead to speak like a real person rather than issue a constant stream of the latest empty, self-aggrandizing, and just plain stupid political rhetoric.

And the damndest thing is, his voting record over a long period bears out his words. He is not someone who promises things and then takes them "off the table". His words are clear, concise, and do not patronize. He's the only person who is actually looking out for American interests while the others simply tell you they are. You may not think he voted perfectly on everything, but the one thing you are guaranteed is a clear explanation of why he voted the way he did.

If nothing else, gambling folks (and especially the online poker community) need only take note of one thing. Ron Paul voted "NO" on the restriction of online gambling. He is aware that you are an adult, and as such, should be able to make your own decisions, good or bad.

This is the man who will actually begin removing the chains saddling us of late.

Reprinted from LewRockwell.com--

Statement on the Iraq War Resolution
Before the U.S. House of Representatives March 7, 2007

Watch Ron Paul's speech on video.

The scandal at Walter Reed is not an isolated incident. It is directly related to our foreign policy of interventionism.

There is a pressing need to reassess our now widely accepted role as the world's lone superpower. If we don't, we are destined to reduce our nation to something far less powerful.

It has always been politically popular for politicians to promise they will keep us out of foreign wars, especially before World War I. That hasn't changed, even though many in Washington today don't understand it.

Likewise it has been popular to advocate ending prolonged and painful conflicts like the wars in Korea and Vietnam, and now Iraq.

In 2000, it was quite popular to condemn nation building and reject the policy of policing the world, in the wake of our involvement in Kosovo and Somalia. We were promised a more humble foreign policy.

Nobody wins elections by promising to take us to war. But once elected, many politicians greatly exaggerate the threat posed by a potential enemy-- and the people too often carelessly accept the dubious reasons given to justify wars. Opposition arises only when the true costs are felt here at home.

A foreign policy of interventionism costs so much money that we're forced to close military bases in the U.S., even as we're building them overseas. Interventionism is never good fiscal policy.

Interventionism symbolizes an attitude of looking outward, toward empire, while diminishing the importance of maintaining a constitutional republic.

We close bases here at home - some want to close Walter Reed - while building bases in Arab and Muslim countries like Saudi Arabia. We worry about foreign borders while ignoring our own. We build permanent outposts in Muslim holy lands, occupy territory, and prop up puppet governments. This motivates suicide terrorism against us.

Our policies naturally lead to resentment, which in turn leads to prolonged wars and increased casualties. We spend billions in Iraq, while bases like Walter Reed fall into disrepair. This undermines our ability to care for the thousands of wounded soldiers we should have anticipated, despite the rosy predictions that we would be greeted as liberators in Iraq.

Now comes the outrage.

Now Congress holds hearings.

Now comes the wringing of hands. Yes, better late than never.

Clean it up, paint the walls, make Walter Reed look neat and tidy! But this won't solve our problems. We must someday look critically at the shortcomings of our foreign policy, a policy that needlessly and foolishly intervenes in places where we have no business being.

Voters spoke very clearly in November: they want the war to end. Yet Congress has taken no steps to defund or end a war it never should have condoned in the first place.

On the contrary, Congress plans to spend another $100 billion or more in an upcoming Iraq funding bill - more even than the administration has requested. The 2007 military budget, $700 billion, apparently is not enough. And it's all done under the slogan of "supporting the troops," even as our policy guarantees more Americans will die and Walter Reed will continue to receive casualties.

Every problem Congress and the administration create requires more money to fix. The mantra remains the same: spend more money we don't have, borrow from the Chinese, or just print it.

This policy of interventionism is folly, and it cannot continue forever. It will end, either because we wake up or because we go broke.

Interventionism always leads to unanticipated consequences and blowback, like:

* A weakened, demoralized military;
* Exploding deficits;
* Billions of dollars wasted;
* Increased inflation;
* Less economic growth;
* An unstable currency;
* Painful stock market corrections;
* Political demagoguery;
* Lingering anger at home; and
* Confusion about who is to blame.

These elements combine to create an environment that inevitably undermines personal liberty. Virtually all American wars have led to diminished civil liberties at home.

Most of our mistakes can be laid at the doorstep of our failure to follow the Constitution.

That Constitution, if we so desire, can provide needed guidance and a roadmap to restore our liberties and change our foreign policy. This is critical if we truly seek peace and prosperity.

Posted by Human Head at 2:41 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

On Tuesday a Nevada Assembly committee considered a bill that would require new lobbyists and newly elected and appointed officials to take a course on ethics.

And the already serving officials and "old" lobbyists should be exempt from the class? Have they proven to be more ethical than the not yet tempted officials and lobbyists?

Posted by Zounds Off at 10:51 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

It has been nearly two years since the international law firm Greenberg Traurig LLP opened an office in Las Vegas incorporating Quirk & Tratos, Nevada’s largest intellectual property and entertainment law firm and giving Greenberg Traurig offices in 24 locations in the United States and five overseas.

"We have had the privilege for more than 20 years of representing world-class clients in this remarkably dynamic and entrepreneurial environment. As our clients continue to grow globally, we recognized our ability to provide quality international support was vital to their ongoing success. Greenberg Traurig’s unparalleled depth and breadth matches that of our clients…," said Mark Tratos, co-founder of Quirk & Tratos and Managing Shareholder of Greenberg Traurig’s Las Vegas office from the 2005 announcement.

"Our strategy is to create the best and highest quality delivery system for legal services in the United States and in key foreign locations by establishing offices in high growth states as well as key financial and governmental cities. This move is an important element in our expansion strategy, " said Cesar L. Alvarez, President and Chief Executive Officer of Greenberg Traurig.

Greenberg Traurig has had the kind of profit growth that oil companies have come to expect. Revenues are up by more than 880 percent from 1996, and in 2006 they topped the billion-dollar mark. Profits per partner have soared from $480,000 to $1.2 million, and it expects revenue to rise another 18-20 percent in 2007.

GT has a national client list that includes Lowe's Companies, Inc., The Related Companies, LP, and Alcoa Inc. Its real estate, entertainment, and litigation practices are soaring while it has played a role in high-profile transactions, such as representing MetLife, Inc., in its $5.4 billion sale of New York's Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village, the biggest deal ever for a single piece of American property.

But Greenberg's story is far more complicated than one of exuberant expansion. This is the firm that hired Jack Abramoff, the Washington, D.C., lobbyist who engineered a scheme to defraud Native American tribes out of millions and whose shady business deals have landed him in a Maryland federal prison. Abramhoff also paid money to Nevada Senator Harry Reid but surely the Senator wouldn't allow a few thousand to influence his protection of Nevada casinos.

Abramoff's isn't the only recent imbroglio starring Greenberg lawyers. There's the Philadelphia of counsel convicted in a City Hall corruption case; the just-departed Chicago partner bogged down in another federal corruption probe; the Miami corporate partner banned from working with federally insured banks for allegedly helping to cover up a client's losses; the New York rainmaker who took kickbacks for steering clients to tax shelter operators; and the Philadelphia partner escorted from the office by federal marshals after being convicted of lying to conceal his theft of client funds in a real estate deal.

Apparently, Greenberg has paid millions-perhaps tens of millions-in fines and settlements to clean up the messes. But the firm says the scandals are isolated incidents by a few of approximately 1,680 lawyers. "We've had a couple of bad ones, no question," says Cesar Alvarez, the firm's CEO. "But every single major [professional] firm has items that are embarrassing to them."

I wonder if during the past two years if Mark Tratos has wondered about the decision to become a GT satellite. Probably not. It was probably "they showed me the money," which brought Greenberg Traurig to Las Vegas no matter how noble everyone wanted to sound. They are in business to make money. "The Greenberg Traurig mantra is . . . get out of the way and let people grow their practice with our support," according to Michael Lehr, managing partner of the Philadelphia office. However, with big money seems to come big seduction, especially as Greenberg Traurig appears like any corporation trying to please the shareholders (itself) and not get caught…a Faustian bargain made with a real life Wolfram & Hart.

Posted by Zounds Off at 6:09 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

According to a Las Vegas Review Journal story Gibbon's office reported it has filed with the Nevada Secretary of State office a list of the contributions to and expenditures from a legal defense fund formed to deal with three scandals prior to the November election, including a pesky case of alleged bribery by software entrepeneur Trepp, currently being investigated by the FBI. Of the $204,000 taken in, $193,000 has already been spent, for the most part on the Gibbon's/Mazzeo alleged parking garage encounter.

The 2006 donors include a number of doctors and medical companies, including Las Vegas-based Nevada Heart and Vascular Center, giving $10,000; its managing partner, William Resh, who gave $5,000; and three of its physicians, Drs. Robert Berkley, Cres Miranda Jr. and Nicholas Tselikis, each giving $5,000.

Nevada Heart and Vascular Center was the beneficiary of a $ five million a year cardiology contract with mismanaged University Medical Center, formerly run by Lacy Thomas, who manged to let a $ one million a year contract with Heart Center of Nevada to expire. Recently stepped down Commissioner Yvonne Atkinson Gates voted for the new contract without disclosing that her company, Built By Yvonne, was bidding at the same time to build a custom home for Dr. Raj Chanderraj, one of Nevada Heart and Vascular's partners. Her vote was one of the four required to award the contract.

Atkinson Gates claims she did not know Chanderraj was a partner with Nevada Heart and Vascular - even though she met to discuss the contract with him and Dr. William Resh, managing partner of the group. She says she does not recall the meeting. She has also stated that at least she is not going to jail in reference to former Clark County Commissioners, Dario Herrara, Lance Malone, and others caught in G-Sting. There's still time, Yvonne.

Three entities managed by developer Harvey Whittemore each gave $10,000 to the Gibbon's fund for a total of $30,000. Shawn Lampman and his company, CAK LLP, each gave $10,000 for a total of $20,000.

Other notables on the donor list include Jay H. Brown, attorney and former lobbyist who was involved in land deals with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev. and is now a player in the Crazy Horse Too deal, and the Rogich Communications Group, the public relations company belonging to Republican consultant Sig Rogich, a political and public relations consultant who advised ex-President Reagan and the first President Bush, and who needed his own image polished in April 2000 after the Las Vegas City Council ignored the advice of its own lawyer and voted to approve a controversial liquor permit for a property Rogich owned. With the liquor license, Rogich’s property was worth $3.5 million because it could be used as a topless bar; without the license it was worth perhaps $2 million. Rogich just happened to be a consultant to several of the council members who tossed the topless-bar premium his way, and more recently was with Governor Gibbons on the night he went into the parking garage with 'that woman."

Always the same games, always the same players, always the same results.

Posted by Zounds Off at 9:04 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

As with almost everything which involves government officials--at all levels--our legal system, our education system, people as a whole, I am always hopeful that something sensible will surface but I am still waiting. I have to admit that in the Scooter Libby matter, I have basically ignored the news stories--as most people probably have--but there is one issue that did catch my attention; federal prosecutors indicted and gained a conviction which could get Scooter 25 years in jail--and with a name like Scooter it better be country club jail--while during the four year investigation and prosecution for leaking the name of Valerie Plame as a CIA operative, to which all accounts seemed to have been less than a secret, I have not noticed prosecutors pursuing the man who actually was the source for the news stories, Richard Armitage. So, Scooter, who did not leak but apparently wasn't honest about what he did know and when, should get jail time and Richard who was the source of the leak gets...? So much for Truth, Justice, and the American Way, Mr. Kent.

For a bunch of stories on Libby's conviction go to Full Coverage: CIA Leak Case

Posted by Zounds Off at 4:36 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

A group of U.S. senators has introduced legislation that aims to improve how U.S. workers and industries compete against the rest of the world by pumping more money into math and science programs.

The bill, introduced Monday by Sen. John Ensign (R-Nev.), combines the efforts of several Senate committees working to address U.S. competitiveness. The bill would double the $5.6 billion annual funding for the National Science Foundation, a major backer of scientific research in the U.S., and would create a grant program to help students struggling with mathematics.

Co-sponsors include Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and Republican leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky. See "U.S. 'competitiveness' bill..."

Posted by Zounds Off at 8:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

In news that is of local as well as national significance, many are already aware of the recent firings of eight US Attorneys, one of them being Nevada's Daniel Bogden, an Independent. The Justice Department cited "poor performance evaluations" in the mass purge denying that there were any politics figuring into the decision.

Really? Did Daniel Bogden (and the others) actually suck that bad?

It would seem, contrary to the infallible words of Justice, that 7 of those 8 had good to excellent performance reviews and 6 out of the 8 were currently presiding over public corruption cases largely involving Republican lawmakers (link).

Kevin Ryan out of San Fran seems to be the only one coming close to sucking anywhere near the appropriate level for firing (doping clinics, indeed). There is also the very salient point that a firing of US attorney's in such a manner is highly unprecedented (pdf is here), with only 3 leaving under similar circumstances in the last 25 years. Can they even get away with this? Of course!

From the 2006 USA PATRIOT Act Reauthorization--

(a) Except as provided in subsection (b), the Attorney General may appoint a
United States attorney for the district in which the office of United States
attorney is vacant.

(b) The Attorney General shall not appoint as United States attorney a person to
whose appointment by the President to that office the Senate refused to give
advice and consent.

(c) A person appointed as United States attorney under this section may serve
until the qualification of a United States Attorney for such district appointed by
the President under section 541 of this title.

Boy, I'm gettin' that super secure feeling way down in my taint. Thanks Patriot Act! Thanks, Congress, for not reading it but passing it anyway--bang up job!

We then have the words of Mr. Bogden himself in a LasVegas Sun telephone interview where he was told following his dismissal that "my performance, and that of my office, was not the reason."

So, just to be straight, we have Justice telling Congress and the rest of the world that it was job performance and not politics, while out of the other side of their mouth they tell the newly ousted attorney that it isn't his performance and that the decision came from the highest levels. And then, what do you know, the Director of the Executive Office for US Attorney's who carried out the action, Mike Battle, resigned (nothing fishy there whatsoever). Who is the Justice Department lying to and why is no one screaming for Gonzo to get his ass down there to answer for it?

Oh that's right. We have a congress largely comprised of sand-ridden vaginas who don't have the courage to stand up to themselves in the mirror, let alone stand up to the fascist neocon madmen running the place.

So if it's not performance, and it's not politics, what could it possibly be for? Seems an awful lot like we're being set up for something does it not? In that vein, I'll simply leave off with two things. The first are statements I've seen flying around many, many articles in recent days. These remarks aren't prominent, mind you, but they have been printed widely.

From The Journal News--

Robert P. George of Princeton University, an increasingly influential thinker among conservative Catholics and Republican politicians, said that Giuliani's best chance of winning the nomination would be if there is another terrorist attack in the United States.

Again, the words differ slightly from article to article, but the sentiment has been liberally scattered throughout the media apparatus. Lastly, I give you Zbigniew Brzezinski, Carter's former Security Advisor, generally bad dude in his own right, but certainly the polar opposite of stupid whom you generally do not find speaking from his rear, testifying in front of the Senate foreign relations committee.

If the United States continues to be bogged down in a protracted bloody involvement in Iraq, the final destination on this downhill track is likely to be a head-on conflict with Iran and with much of the world of Islam at large. A plausible scenario for a military collision with Iran involves Iraqi failure to meet the benchmarks; followed by accusations of Iranian responsibility for the failure; then by some provocation in Iraq or a terrorist act in the U.S. blamed on Iran; culminating in a "defensive" U.S. military action against Iran that plunges a lonely America into a spreading and deepening quagmire eventually ranging across Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, and Pakistan.

Remember, docile citizen. It's not political, it just happens to be very, very convenient and will come in handy during the next "domestic crisis", to be sure.

Posted by Human Head at 7:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Reported in several new outlets, including International Herald Tribune, Golden Gaming Corp , owner of the Sahara Hotel and Casino, former hangout of the famous 1960s "Rat Pack" and the setting of the original "Ocean's Eleven" film, have agreed to sell the aging property to an investor group, including Los Angeles-based SBE Entertainment Group LLC and San Mateo, California-based Stockbridge Real Estate Funds.

The hotel was opened in 1952 by Milton Prell just outside of the City of Las Vegas, and was the sixth resort to open on the Strip.

In late 1954, the hotel hired jazz musician Louis Prima to be their late night lounge act, one of the earliest ones on the Las Vegas Strip. Along with his then wife Keely Smith and sax player Sam Butera, they created one of the hottest latenight attractions on the Strip.

In 1961, the hotel was purchased by Del Webb, who added a 24-story tower in 1963.

The resort was the site of the annual Jerry Lewis Labor Day Telethon for many years, mostly in the 1970s, and for a brief time in the 1990s.

Bill Bennett bought the property in 1995 and owned the hotel until his death on December 22, 2002. The property had since been owned by the Bill Bennett Family Trust.

Posted by Zounds Off at 6:23 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The Raw Story and Prison Planet (by way of AFP) have new updates on the case of Lebanese-born German Khalid el-Masri who was a victim of the CIA's "extraordinary rendition" program, where the judge has thrown out the case at the behest of his Federal masters citing "national security."

Logic is bent and think is doubled as, to make his case, the defendant is required to provide proof that he was detained, who detained him, and how they are personally liable.

"Such a showing could be made only with evidence that exposes how the CIA organizes, staffs and supervises its most sensitive intelligence operations.

The defendants could not properly defend themselves without using privileged evidence," the decision said.

So, it's common knowledge that the CIA did (and more than likely, is still doing) "extraordinary renditions" which are heinous and illegal in every sense of the word, but somehow if the people that approved and actively took part are exposed for their wrongdoing then this somehow harms our "national security." Right, if by "national security" you mean coming a few steps closer to blowing wide open the criminality masquerading as "policy" at the highest levels of our government which is dutifully implemented by sociopathic toadies in the field.

All people (still mostly brown people who look like they might be Muslim, dissenters, protesters, and other assorted peace activist hippy-kind) are now guilty until proven innocent (Prove to me you're not working with our enemies? That still blows my mind). If you're an establishment good ole boy, either personally or organizationally, then the American principle of innocent until proven guilty reigns supreme and the ability of the accuser to prove is blatantly withheld.

The plain English version of this decision is that it's okay for criminals to run amok if they work for an intelligence agency or hold high government position, nothing to see here, move along, don't worry we'll do it to everyone but you. Why worry, you're not a terrorist, right?

Welcome to your future, America, where justice increasingly takes a backseat to the all encompassing and ever hazy "security". The Long Knives are getting closer.

Posted by Human Head at 6:39 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

BusinessWeek.com posted an article I enjoyed giving some of the history and flavor of Macau, shich is now surpassing Las Vegas in number of dollars wagered, and is the new playground for the continuing Aldelson/Wynn feuds. Highlights include:

Macau is a peninsula and two islands and was ruled by Portugal for 442 years before it was returned to China as a semiautonomous territory in 1999, making it the last European settlement in Asia.

Street signs are in Portuguese and Chinese, while the signature snack is a creamy egg tart on puff pastry. There are colonial-style mansions, churches, and government buildings painted in pastel yellow, pink and peach.

But the beautiful buildings are outnumbered by concrete apartment blocks that often have rusty anti-theft bars and cages over the windows and balconies; in the old casino district on the peninsula the streets are lined with small stores lit with bright fluorescent lights, while cashiers stare at customers from elevated booths made of bulletproof glass. Bleach-blonde Russian and mainland Chinese prostitutes hang out at outdoor cafes, cruise the dark, littered side streets, or linger in dark corners of closed storefronts.

Macau survived a violent transition in the 1990’s as Portugal left, leaving Chinese gangsters to battle for turf, and leading one security official famously proclaimed there was nothing to fear [for tourists] in Macau because the triad assassins were professional killers who didn't miss their targets.

The violence mostly ended after 1999 when the Chinese People's Liberation Army marched into Macau. But the biggest change came a day after the handover. The Chinese government announced it was ending the four-decade monopoly on gambling held by Hong Kong tycoon Stanley Ho.

The news created a huge stir in the global gambling world, and more than 20 bidders vied for the three concessions that were offered. One went to Las Vegas mogul Steve Wynn and another went to a partnership between Hong Kong tycoon Lui Che Woo and the Sands' head Sheldon Adelson, ranked No. 3 on Forbes' list of the richest Americans, and who later split to develop their own projects. The third concession went to billionaire Ho, now ranked 84th on Forbes' 100 richest people in the world.

And, despite predictions of a glut of rooms and gaming tables with growing competition from Singapore and other Asian cities, others making plans include James Packer, executive chairman of Australia's biggest media and gambling company, Publishing & Broadcasting Ltd., and number 114 on Forbes' richest in the world, while Richard Branson of Britain's Virgin Group Ltd. has been talking about investing in a casino resort, also.

Posted by Zounds Off at 6:41 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Michigan Democratic leaders announced they'll hold their presidential caucus no later than Saturday, Feb. 9, 2008, and may go earlier if other states abuse national party rules.

Former Sen. John Edwards’s (D-N.C.) strong support of prohibiting gambling on college sports is seen as snake eyes for his chances in the Nevada presidential caucus. The Hill
After all, I think we should allow gambling on T-ball games in Nevada so six year olds can learn the real meaning of why we play games. Note that "Mr. Cleanface," I mean Senator Harry Reid, of course endorses betting on college sports for the revenue it brings the casinos--and the casinos have always bet on Harry and haven't lost yet. Maybe Nevada needs more than a one dimensional economy and a one dimensional Senator.

Posted by Zounds Off at 5:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Perusing Google News this morning brought more blurbs about the "battle" over the latest funding request (or, if you like, demand) for the continuing occupation of Iraq and Afghanistan.

Of course, this is not news to you. The reason I mention it is that while busy this morning attending to the humdrum maintenance activities of life I had some time to ponder these things a bit more than usual. The thing that made the thoughts of this morning different were, instead of thinking about the politics of it all, I found myself dwelling on the money.

Specifically, the word "billions."

Again, not special, right? After all, we are beaten over the head so consistently with the word when hearing about government and big business/finance it has essentially lost all meaning. But sit back and consider it quietly for a moment--let it sink in a bit.

One billion. That's 1,000 million.

Just think of what you might be able to accomplish, not just on a personal level, but beyond if you had just one of those millions. Half of one of those millions. Hell, 1/10 of one of those millions. Even with our ridiculously devalued dollar, just 10K out of one of those 1,000 millions would be a nice financial shot in the arm (or a downright windfall) for a good many people.

Just one of those billions could give 100,000 people 10K. I know whole families that are forced to scratch by on barely more than that over the course of an entire year, and that's just speaking in the context of this country--it doesn't even begin to take into account the masses of unbelievably poor throughout the world that make our poor look positively wealthy.

George and Co. want 100 of those '1,000 milllions' to continue the prosecution of adventurous wars abroad based on outright lies -- an "enterprise" that is accomplishing the polar opposite of the above, and that's just the supplemental.

And the new congressional leadership (remember, these are the folks who were going to save us from King George and the Nasties) wrings their hands, crying empty platitudes about "harms way" or terror threats to the Homeland and Pals while they ostensibly try and summon the courage to stand up and do the bidding of the Americans that put them there. Americans who are themselves being weighted down by an accelerated tyranny also largely ignored and catered to by the same.

Those who would write off the above as overly simplistic and therefore invalid miss my point. I do not think that there are no real problems in the world or that the world is not a very large and complicated place. I am not foolish enough to think that, with a proverbial snap of the fingers, we can suddenly have a world where everyone is swathed in the finest silks, eats filet mignon for every meal, and never loses their erection.

It is meant to highlight a measure of the true gravity of surrounding events that we have been trained to think of insignificant because we are meant to ascribe to the notion that such things are commonplace, and should be allowed to continue as such.

Most of us like to wonder what we would do with cash should we ever be "lucky" enough to win the lottery or the Mega Millions Jackpot on the Wheel of Fortune slots (my personal guilty pleasure during Vegas vacations). Taking a bit of time pondering the depths of billions (and further, trillions) now has me thinking about what better things we might be wondering were lottery aspirations not an issue.

Posted by Human Head at 8:18 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

I'll confess that until recently I didn't know very much of Gov. Jim Gibbons other than something overheard or read in passing having to do with "that waitress thing."

Oh hell, now I have to go out and read some stuff.  At least I can't say it wasn't interesting reading . 

In the interest of terrible punnery, I would be remiss if I didn't add that following my brief review of the man, it was with some Treppid -ation that I found myself heading over read some more "official" words from the state website .

**cringe**

(I know that was terrible, I'll try not to do it again)

Government sites of all sorts are nothing but good fun.  I always save those for last because for me it's like watching soaps.  Never has so much money or effort been expended with such dismal results as a government press release in their attempts to make a pile of doo smell like FeBreze.

From the Press Release section--

"Gov. Gibbons announces sex offender registration and tracking program"

"These are three important steps toward improving the safety of Nevada communities by limiting the ability of a sex offender to strike again,"   said Governor Gibbons.  "As I promised Nevadans in my State of the State address, we are closing the gaps in our law.  No longer will released sex offenders be lost for days before they're required to register.  Our law enforcement officers will be able to monitor offenders in real time and will be able to quickly track down sex offenders who are at high risk to re-offend.  Nevada families will have new assurance that we have a clearer picture of who and where these people are at all times."

…sez the guy with a penchant for waitresses.  As a token of good faith towards the public (and in the interest of their safety, of course), perhaps someone needs to introduce legislation for GPS-politician tracking.  Given the increasingly brazen soul selling amongst their ranks, knowing the where and what about these folks "in real time" seems just as important as knowing the same about the sex offenders that supposedly so greatly concern them.

If you are at all like me, and by "like me" I mean "get suspicious when shady politicians begin pontificating about sex offenders" then perhaps I'll see you back here again.

2007 looks like it's gonna be fun.

Posted by Human Head at 6:46 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)