The Scipps News reported that the emerging racial generation divide, as sociologists and demographers call it, is more obvious in Nevada than most states, according to an analysis of Census Bureau data released this month.

Nevada State Demographer Jeff Hardcastle says non-whites under voting age in Nevada have increased by more than 116,500 since 2000 and now make up 51 percent of the younger-than-18 population, compared with 44 percent in 2000.

The trend raises a host of questions affecting public policy issues and political agendas.
Will an older, white electorate be sympathetic to a large population of Hispanic, black and Asian-American non-voting teens over such issues as, say, the need for new schools?
(Most likely, if they would actually demonstrate they value education and learn something.)

The racial generation gaps are widest in California, Texas, Arizona, Nevada and New Mexico, according to one analysis by The New York Times of the government's data.

Note also that four of those states listed-- California, Arizona, Nevada and New Mexico--now rank at the bottom in education supplanting such traditional bottom dwelling states as Mississippi, Louisiana, and Arkansas. Funny how Asians soon excel in the classrooms without our help after entering this country and Hispanics continue to languish at the bottom despite all the attention and resources they are getting.

Fernando Romero, president of Hispanics in Politics in Las Vegas, said Hispanic activists struggle for political support from older whites.

"We've already seen how it has hurt in recent years when highly qualified Hispanics ran in county wide races and lost," he said. "We've seen white voters with little knowledge of either candidate vote for the opponent of the Hispanic candidate based on name alone."

I think we also saw what Dario Herrera accomplished while a Clark County Commissioner--taking bribes and getting free lap dances.

Posted by Zounds Off at 7:59 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Drugs
Scientists have discovered particles of cocaine and marijuana, as well as caffeine and tobacco, in the air of Rome, Italy's capital. The concentration of drugs was heaviest in the air around Rome's Sapienza university, though the National Research Council's Dr. Angelo Cecinato warned against drawing conclusions about students' recreational habits.

But there is a chance the doctor is at the university right now doing some more testing. Makes me wonder where the Las Vegas City Council and Clark County Commissioners are going in the valley to get their highs, judging by some of their recent votes, especially on strip clubs. Probably safe to say, Oscar just goes to his office and cracks some more Bombay.

Money
Dollar Tree Stores, Inc. (DLTR) said that sales for the first quarter were $975.0 million, a 13.8% increase from $856.5 million, for the same period, one year ago.
That's probably because with soaring food, fuel, and utility costs, many people can't even afford to shop at Wal-Mart anymore, even with its employee unfriendly business plans to keep costs down.

At the Spelling Bee
The English language went completely off the map Thursday morning at the semifinals of the Scripps National Spelling Bee, leaving the 59 remaining spellers to wrestle with little-seen creatures of the dictionary such as "ptilopod."
"Is that English?" asked 12-year-old Josiah Wright of Fleetwood, N.C.
"They tell me it is," the judge deadpanned.

"Is that English?" That is what I ask whenever I read e-mails or see text messages--in our sound-bite and quick messaging world, grammar, spelling, and meaning are non-existent. And for anyone who cares...ptilopod is not in MY four inch thick Webster's Dictionary, so I think Josiah had a legitimate question.

Posted by Zounds Off at 7:41 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

See Also:
Bill Richardson for President

My dream ticket for 08' Bill Richarson v. ...

Ron Paul.

Posted by pokerprof at 1:42 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Bills passed Saturday

AB90: Punishes men who commit "paternity fraud" by recruiting friends to take their paternity test. Hey! Make it even more interesting. Make the friends responsible for child support also and see how many then want to take the test for their buddies.

AB112: Creates minimum jail hold times for those driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs.
Will we at least wait until they are sober?

AB137: Creates penalties for hoax terrorism threats.
Hmm, we could sit them on a "hoax" bomb--or is it?--and push the red button.

AB143: Increases the time the state Ethics Commission has to investigate complaints.
They investigate complaints? Oh, that's right. Investigate maybe; follow up, not likely.

AB331: Mandates that water providers set rates to encourage water conservation.
OK, I guess that means rate hikes--unless you are a casino.

AB383: Creates penalties for human trafficking and allows fines against businesses who employ illegal immigrants.
What if the business is owned and run by illegals? Fined twice?

AB483: Adds some tax credits and personal property to a list of items exempt from forfeiture in a bankruptcy. The Federal government taketh away; Nevada giveth back?

AB518: which removes state price caps on basic phone service in 2012.
By 2012 I expect the chip in my head should be able to talk directly to the chip in your head. Why will I need basic phone service?

Senate Bill 112: Mirrors a federal anti-meth law and restricts access to medicines that can be used to make meth.

SB277: Allows a program of DUI courts and alcohol treatment for repeat DUI offenders.

Will illegal aliens qualify? Apparently, about as many Americans have been killed on U.S. highways by drunk driving illegals as have been killed in Iraq over the last four years; one situation has created public outrage while the other has engendered proposed plans toward citizenship.

Posted by Zounds Off at 7:29 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The Reno Gazette-Journal reported that the Nevada Senate voted 20-1 to approve Assembly Bill 478, which Assembly Speaker Barbara Buckley, D-Las Vegas, said was needed to close a loophole in the state's 2005 payday loan law.

Several small payday loan companies opposed the law, insisting they were "installment lenders" who should be regulated differently. Buckley noted the companies changed their contracts when the 2005 law took effect. Those changes allowed them to charge interest rates ranging up to 900 percent for over a year.

Under AB478, any company charging more than 40 percent interest on a loan must limit the term of the loan to 35 days. If a borrower can't pay the loan back after that time, the interest rate must drop to the prime rate plus 10 percent, or 18.25 percent in the current market.

Within a week after the proposed 2005 law change was announced, attorneys were advising their payday loan clients to basically create contracts that are executory in nature, meaning it is like signing a rental agreement for six or twelve months. As soon as you default, the whole amount of the contract becomes immediately due. By the time the law went into effect, the loan companies already had their new business plan in effect, so they never missed out on their loan shark returns; plus they had another two years to invest in new enterprises as they had to know the law eventually would be reworked. Also, their attorneys have had two more years to think of possible ways to continue collecting exorbitant rates from the segment of our population who can't qualify for bank loans in the midst of our booming economy...for some. And I wonder if the legislature is looking at how a credit card company owned by Illinois residents incorporated in lNevada--I am referring to HSBC--can, through penalties and fees and other clauses, pump interests rates to 120 percent or more? But hey, as long as "corporations" file their fees to incorporate, Nevada remains a scam friendly state. Spend a day on the Secretary of State website and you might be amazed how many corporations are formed and then sort of vanish before they comply with furnishing a list of officer which they have at least a year to do, or corporations which are managed by other corporations which further searching shows don't exist

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

photo by flipchip/lasvegasvegas.com

Greg "Fossilman" Raymer is best known for wearing holographic sunglasses en route to his victory at the 2004 World Series of Poker where the mild-mannered patent attorney from Connecticut won $5 million.

These days, he's being considered the Vice-Presidential candidate for the Libertarian party. Third Party Watch, a blog dedicated to minor political parties, recently had a post titled Poker Player for Vice-President?

"I think a Libertarian candidate would do a better job of running the country than any of the Republicans or Democrats we've seen," the Fossilman said. "It's inherently better when a candidate believes in the philosophy of being able to do what you deem is right, as long as you don't hurt anyone else in the process."

That quote originally appeared in an article called Fossilman Eyes Libertarian VP Run in Casino City Times.

Raymer will not decide about his political future until the Libertarian National Convention take place in the spring of 2008.

photo by flipchip/lasvegasvegas.com

Posted by Dr. Pauly at 11:35 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

As reported in the Sun, Nevada lawmakers heard last-minute pleas this week for several tax breaks supporting the film industry, seniors, and nonprofit medical providers.

Lobbyists for the movie industry and unions asked the Senate Finance Committee to pass SB321, a bill containing sales and fuel tax breaks for companies that make films in Nevada.

Movie companies are spending much less money in Nevada, mostly because other states have aggressively competed for their business, according to Tim Rubald, director of the state Commission on Economic Development. Spending on feature films in Nevada has dropped from $44.8 million in 2000 to just $14.3 million last year.

State tax officials estimate the tax break will take about $35,000 from state coffers each year.
However, supporters say that is vastly outweighed by film companies' contributions to Nevada's economy, and that the breaks will create jobs and spark millions of dollars in investments. To get the tax break, film companies must hire at least 30 percent Nevada employees, in full-time positions.

The committee also heard testimony on SB179, a bill sponsored by Senate Minority Leader Dina Titus, D-Las Vegas, which would expand eligibility for a property tax break for low-income seniors.

Finally, the committee considered SB501, a proposal to give sales and fuel tax breaks to nonprofit organizations that provide ambulance or air ambulance services.

Plus legislators may be moving toward revoking "green building" tax breaks (See "Tax break pulled 'out of the air' could cost state $900 million"), which they hurriedly passed in 2005.

In 2004 Chris Giunchigliani, then a state assemblywoman, was listening to a NPR show on building green and tax incentives while working on "smart growth" bills to introduce the next year and came up with a tax break plan of her own tax of 50 percent. If a business met a certain green standard, it would get a 50 percent property tax break for 10 years. And if a business applied in the fourth quarter of 2005, it could qualify for a 50 percent sales tax break on construction materials. It sounded so good that lawmakers rushed it right through.

Did the 50 percent number come from careful research and debate?

"I just pulled it out of the air," said "Chris G.

More and more builders were already going green because building green can save a lot of money in utility costs, even before tax breaks are considered. With the 50 percent tax break developers may save three times as much in taxes as they invest in building green. MGM Mirage, for example, estimates it will spend an additional $125 million to $225 million to make its $7.4 billion CityCenter a green development, which may net as much as $390 million in tax breaks.

The number that Chris pulled out of her hmm... turns out not to be an incentive but a lucrative gift to the big developers, while possibly costing the state nearly one billion dollars in revenue over ten years. I wonder who will have to make up this deficit in budget revenue while the legislature presides over statewide infrastructure shortfalls? Let's see: I'm not a casino, a developer, a senior, or a movie maker. Oh yeah, it must be me.

Posted by Zounds Off at 7:48 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Steve Miller is reporting that Mike Signorelli is shopping for a $38 million loan to close his supposed purchase of Crazy Horse Too. His source said that Signorelli is asking for a 100 percent loan, without offering collateral or asking about interest. Signorelli has until May 31 to close the purchase according to his confidential loan agreement. Miller suggests that Signorelli should go to Las Vegas mayor, Oscar Goodman, for the money. After all, Oscar has been working hard to keep the Crazy Horse Too open, even as current owner Rick Rizzolo sits in a Los Angeles jail on an apparent drunk driving charge and is to enter a federal prison in June on his racketeering conviction. As for Signorelli, he recently received a permanent liquor license from the Las Vegas city council, even against the advice of the city attorney and Metro officers who believe Rizzolo is still running the club. For more go to Steve Miller's columns at AmericanMafia.com.

Posted by Zounds Off at 6:28 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

As I am sure virtually everyone with a tv or newspaper or Internet connection has already heard, billionaire and MGM Mirage majority shareholder Kirk Kerkorian wants to buy the Bellagio and CityCenter in Las Vegas.

As the "big boys" play Monopoly (Hasbro) with Las Vegas casinos, I just can't pass Go until I figure out how to put gasoline in the old Ford. Thank you Harry Reid with being so concerned with high gasoline prices--and food prices and utility prices and immigration issues and health care and education and ...-- this year as you posture and strut ineffectively on the Iraq war.

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

Casino City Times reported that the Nevada problem gambling bill is expected to pass

The Assembly Ways and Means Committee is scheduled to discuss legislation this week that would make state funding of problem gambling treatment and research permanent with a vote on Senate Bill 453 following. The bill passed out of the Senate on May 7 following a 20-1 vote approving the measure.

Former Gov. Kenny Guinn appointed the advisory committee in 2005 to make recommendations on disbursing the state funds.

The money is diverted from the state general fund through an existing tax on slot machines, with an allocation equivalent of $2 per machine.

William Bingham, Bellagio's vice president of table games and an advisory committee member, said the measure seems to have the support of the entire gaming industry. "We're just waiting to have this renewed and to continue to monitor the programs that are being funded," Bingham said. Of course, because anything else would be bad publicity for an industry that generally feeds indiscriminately, I mean provides us with quality entertainment.

Six percent of Clark County's approximately 11,000 homeless listed problem gambling as their primary reason for being homeless, a Southern Nevada Regional Planning Commission's Committee on Homelessness survey released in April shows.

Gee whiz, oh gosh, my my--six percent works out to 660 homeless persons who blame gambling problems for their homelessness. I wonder if we could compare that to the two million residents who are affected by the lack of Clark County and the state ever developing a real transportation plan; or well over 200,000 Clark County students getting one of the worst educations in the country while legislators dicker over all day kindergarten--which is simply a disguised plan to get Mexican children out of their non-English speaking homes a little more and leading to the need to build a thousand more classrooms and hire a thousand more teachers for a program which has no lasting benefit past second to fourth grade. A more effective plan would be to give existing teachers a raise and extend the school day one hour, giving students benefits over the whole twelve year experience. But then, maybe giving our children to Clark County schools for extra time isn't the best idea either...I went to their website for information on just how many students and teachers there are in the district and found on the ccsd website some of the following headings:
School Links
Back to School Information
Important Dates for 2004-2005 (PDF)
School Directory (PDF)

Important dates for 2004 in the year 2007--yep, these people are surely the ones I want educating our children. Now I know why our legislators are so knowledgeable and wise. They must all have had a Nevada public education.

Posted by Zounds Off at 5:34 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The Las Vegas Sun reports that Clark County Commissioner Bruce Woodbury, who also chairs the Regional Transportation Commission has threatened that growth in Las Vegas might have to be slowed If the Legislature fails to address a state highway funding shortfall of $3.8 billion. Apparently, Woodbury recently threatened residents of Boulder City, which has growth restrictions, that they better vote to open part of the Eldorado valley to development or approve a land swap with Henderson to benefit a particular developer, or the County would vote to take control of the land itself.

"It's just inconceivable to me that the state would not act responsibly to address this issue in a decisive way," said Woodbury. Of course, it was just inconceivable to me that Commissioner Woodbury would vote to give convicted felon, Vinnie Faraci, who is on his way to prison, a liquor license so he can manage a strip club when he gets out of prison.

"The question will at least need to be asked whether the community wants to continue with the explosive resort corridor growth without an adequate transit infrastructure," he said. Do you mean we haven't even asked the question yet?

The highway construction funding is needed to fund 10 "superprojects," which include widening Interstate 15 and U.S. Highway 95 in the Las Vegas valley, and a Boulder City bypass road.
Clark County Manager Virginia Valentine notes the county, through Question 10, is already solely underwriting the $1.1 billion Las Vegas Beltway; helped pay for the $35 million U.S. 95/Beltway "Henderson Spaghetti Bowl" interchange and a renovated I-15/Blue Diamond Road junction; and took over maintenance responsibilities from the state for the Strip. All are projects or tasks normally handled by state, not local, transportation agencies.

Woodbury said he doesn't have a specific growth-slowing proposal, but such a scheme would likely involve limiting new hotels and condos in the resort corridor, since growth there is what's attracting tourists, workers and other newcomers that are adding to congestion.

"I don't think the Legislature is going to appreciate Bruce Woodbury threatening them," said state Senate Minority Leader Dina Titus, D-Las Vegas. "Implementing growth control? That is not going to happen."

Of course, growth control won't happen in the next ten years. We still have a few miles of valley which haven't been paved over with new developments; we haven't completely drained Lake Mead; and we are still the fastest growing city (cities) in the country which has such a nice sound to it--the clinking sound of coins to casinos, developers, and our local politicians. Plus, if growth limits were implemented, the sudden unemployment of construction workers would be disastrous for the reputations and pockets of our politicians. Oh, and also to the economy of the valley, unemployment funds, housing market, etc. But don't worry...by the time the residents here are finally in total traffic gridlock, out of water, and really angry, the current group of politicians who failed to act will have collected their payolas from sweet deals and moved to areas which haven't been overrun with uncontrolled growth.

Posted by Zounds Off at 5:45 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

LasVegasNow reports that the governor's proposed plan using Clark County room tax money to help pay for road construction is considered a sure failure according to republican sources.

Below are a few bills which have passed committee and a Friday deadline:

Assembly Bill 383 would make it a Class B felony to smuggle people into Nevada.
Assembly Bill 127 will allow you to record phone conversations if a debt collector harasses you.
Assembly Bill 421 will add prison time for retail theft rings. They work in tandem to steal thousands of dollars in merchandise in a matter of minutes.
Assembly Bill 212, a high school reform bill, will increase the drop out age from 17 to 18. It will also create a clear path for graduation for incoming freshman.

Posted by Zounds Off at 7:51 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I see by a post in the Pioneer Loan Center Blog that dear ole Babs got her way in the house, which as far as I can tell, is run by her and her pet dilettantes.
AB478 passed.

These losers are so busy saving the world that they don’t even consider the consequences of their actions.
Instead of fixing the problem they simply created an untenable situation for the consumers.
They force people to try and repay a loan in 210 days, instead if a year or more.
If they had done something reasonable about interest rates and forced the 400% + crowd to actually do installment loans, the problem could have been resolved.

As far as I can tell, their goal is to put all the loan companies, except for banks and mortgage companies out of business.

Obviously, most short term and title loans go to people the banks won’t touch, and the mythical maximum 100 and 200 dollar loans exist mostly in the egocentric, delusional world of the idealogs.
These people are so attacking the evil loan companies that they are making it impossible for the little people to borrow from anyone but the local loansharks. (If you think loansharks have disappeared then you don’t know jack about human nature.)

If it was possible to loan money out to high risk customers at a total, including any and all fees, of 40%, the banks would be all over that market.
You’ll notice who’s not jumping in.

Original post from RCNevada used with permission.

Posted by pokerprof at 7:44 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Wednesday, May 16, 2007: NYMEX West Texas Intermediate for June delivery closed down $0.62 at $62.55 per barrel. Oil prices are about $4 a barrel less than 10 days ago but the price keeps climbing at the pump while Democrats who railed against Republicans in the past for being in bed with big oil are still basically quiet this year. And while oil companies continue to reap record profits, and other businesses see profits down as consumers put more money in their tank, the oil companies apparently are squeezing every penny even out of their own distributors. The following story was carried in the San Francisco Chronicle :

It has become almost a regular stop for San Francisco tourists. Once they've seen the Golden Gate Bridge and the Transamerica Pyramid, they can drive down Harrison Street to see the most amazing sight of all.

Regular gas for $4 a gallon.

Actually, it is higher than that. At Bob Oyster's Shell station at Sixth and Harrison, regular is $4.33 a gallon, plus is $4.43, and "V-Power'' is $4.53. Motorists can be seen rolling their eyes as they drive by. Just another example of a greedy station owner, sticking his customers for all they are worth?

Not really.

There's a much deeper story here, and it begins with Oyster, a respected, self-made businessman who turned a single station into Oyster Petroleum, a profitable firm in Redwood City. Oyster is nobody's fool. Don't think he isn't well aware that the Chevron station across the street is selling regular for 70 cents less.

Putting the price way up over $4 a gallon isn't about making a profit. It's about making a statement to a multinational corporation. After Shell forced him to pay higher prices for gas in San Francisco and jacked up his rent, Oyster says, he decided to fight back.

"I got fed up,'' Oyster admits. "It makes a statement, and I guess when people see that price they also see the Shell sign right next to it.''

In fact, far from making a huge profit, Oyster is going out of business. He has operated the Shell station at Sixth and Harrison for 22 years, but he's walking away from it at the end of the month, handing over the keys to Shell officials and expecting them to shut it down.

"I'm getting nothing for the station,'' he says. "I just give them the keys and walk away. They told me they were probably just going to fence it and bulldoze it anyway.''

For franchise dealers like Oyster, it is the ultimate irony. At a time when the oil companies are posting record profits, the little guys are struggling to stay in business. And many, like Oyster, are giving up the fight.

According to Dennis DeCota, executive director of the California Service Station and Automotive Repair Association, "The companies are squeezing these guys out....If the dealers like them leave, a company like Shell can run its stations with its own employees and set its own pump prices. "That way they really are controlling it from the well head to the gas pump,''

With only eight major oil companies in the world pumping the oil, bidding on the oil, shipping the oil, refining the oil, and selling the oil, soon $4.00 a gallon might sound like a bargain.

"Matthew Josephson called them 'Robber Barons'. He wanted readers to think back to their European history classes, back to thugs with spears on horses who did nothing save fight each other and loot merchant caravans that passed under the walls of their castles. He judged that their wealth was in no sense of their own creation, but was like a tax levied upon the productive workers and craftsmen of the American economy. Many others agreed: President Theodore Roosevelt--the Republican Roosevelt, president in the first decade of this century--spoke of the 'malefactors of great wealth' and embraced a public, political role for the government in 'anti-trust': controlling, curbing, and breaking up large private concentrations of economic power."
From "Robber Barons."

Posted by Zounds Off at 3:48 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

The Washington Post reported on Monday that nearly half the U.S. attorneys slated for removal by the administration last year were identified by Rove or other administration officials as working in districts that were trouble spots for voter fraud -- Kansas City, Mo.; Milwaukee; New Mexico; Nevada; and Washington state. Four of the five prosecutors in those districts were dismissed.

Senior counselor Matthew Friedrich, turned over notes to Congress that detailed a telephone conversation about voter fraud with another Justice official, Benton Campbell, chief of staff for the Criminal Division.

The notes show that Campbell identified Nevada as a problem district. Daniel G. Bogden of Las Vegas was among the nine U.S. attorneys known to have been removed from their jobs last year.

Rick Hasen, a professor at Loyola Law School who runs an election law blog, said that "there's no question that Karl Rove and other political operatives" urged Justice officials to apply pressure on U.S. attorneys to pursue voter-fraud allegations in parts of the country that were critical to the GOP.

Hasen said it remains unclear, however, "whether they believed there was a lot of fraud and U.S. attorneys would ferret it out, or whether they believed there wasn't a lot of fraud but the allegations would serve political purposes."

The behind-the-scenes maneuvering to replace U.S. attorneys viewed as weak on voter fraud, from state Republican parties to the White House, is one element of a nationwide partisan brawl over voting rights in recent years. Ever since the contested 2000 presidential election, which ended in a Florida recount and intervention by the U.S. Supreme Court, both political parties have attempted to use election law to tip close contests to their advantage.

Possible voter fraud in Nevada. I can't believe it. It's not like we live in a state where Clark County commissioners would give key employer status to Vinnie Faraci who is going to prison later this year--after several commissioners received jail sentences for taking bribes over another strip club incident; or the Las Vegas city council or its mayor, Oscar Goodman, would continue to support mob run businesses, such as Crazy Horse Too; or judges would sit on cases involving business partners; or Governor Gibbons would be under investigation for possibly taking favors, including an alleged $100,000, to award contracts to a friend while Gibbons was in Congress. I mean...I would just be shocked!

Posted by Zounds Off at 5:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Photo by CTAM

According to the UK Times, Chris Albrecht was sacked.

The Wall Street Journal reported that HBO lost its top executive. The article also said:

"Earlier this week, Chris Albrecht, head of Time Warner Inc.'s HBO cable unit, was arrested on charges tied to a physical confrontation with his girlfriend. The scandal deepened after a newspaper report said he had also assaulted a woman in the past..."

It appeared that his drunken assult of HBO big wig Chris Albrecht's lady friend in the parking lot of the MGM after the Oscar De La Hoya and Floyd Mayweather was not his first incidence of violence towards women. He kicked a a female in the early 1990s and HBO settled for 400K payment towards the victim. That's one expensive kick.

Update: The Smoking Gun has the police report posted.

Posted by Dr. Pauly at 1:25 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

According to a recent report, a team of scientists claim they have evidence to back climate change in the form of global cooling as the main cause for the demise of Neanderthals, noting that the period 26,000 years ago was very cold and dry.

However some scientists believe Neanderthals never went extinct and instead interbred their genes into our own, as recent skeletal evidence might suggest.

I think it is pretty easy to subscribe to the last theory and, judging by the performance of our politicians, global warming is bringing them back to life.

Posted by Zounds Off at 4:24 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

We here at LasVegasVegas absolutely love Oliver Stone's 1987 film Wall Street. Guess what? There's going to be a sequel tentatively titled Money Never Sleeps. We get to follow the Gordo Gekko character decades after he gets out of prison. Oliver Stone will not be directing the sequel that will be starring Michael Douglas

According to an article in the NY Times titled, Film's Wall Street Predator to Make a Comeback...

Edward R. Pressman, who produced the original movie and reached an agreement with Fox this week to develop a sequel in which Mr. Douglas will resume his machinations on a global scale in the hedge-fund era. Mr. Pressman declined to say more about the plot.

Greed is still good. Personally, I'm waiting for the cross-over film where the crew from Ocean's Eleven pull a fast one over Gordon Gekko. Hijinks ensue.

Posted by Dr. Pauly at 8:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Once again I missed a debate; this time it was the Republican debate I missed as I was reading Montaigne's essay "Of Cannibalism." He writes of a tribe where prophets rarely appear in the villages but when they do they speak in public..."and if things turn out otherwise than he has predicted, he is cut up into a thousand pieces if they catch him and condemned as a false prophet. For this reason, the prophet who has once been mistaken is never seen again." Ah, one can only dream of what would be the result if we placed such a high standard on our politicians/prophets today. I suppose each would last a day or so. Anyway, back to the debate..., it must have been considered un-newsworthy by the media--not being Democrats performing--so there is little that major media seems to have put out, but here is a snippet from MSNBC:

Rudy Giuliani on abortion: "Ultimately, since it is an issue of conscience, I would respect a woman's right to make a different choice.... You have to respect a woman's right to make that choice differently than my conscience."

When asked what he disliked most about America, Mit Romney answered, "Gosh, I love America. I'm afraid I'm going to be at a loss for words...." But then, apparently, he spoke to America's natural and spiritual beauties, thereby avoiding the question.

And last, John McCain vowed that he would "follow bin Laden to the gates of hell" to capture or kill the al-Qaida leader.

John's too old to chase anyone. Rudy really is a New Yorker unlike Hillary on the other side. Mit Romney has great hair. As a woman told me after the 1992 Presidential election, she voted for Bill Clinton because he had nicer looking hair than George Bush, Sr. Ergo, Mit Romney must have won the debate last night.

Probably of more interest to the public is this article "20 million chickens may have eaten tainted feed." Pets, beef, pork, chickens, and people--here we thought we should be worried about terrorists and it's the Chinese and our own corporations we should be watching.

Posted by Zounds Off at 12:02 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

According to the Las Vegas Review-Journal, Nevada Power is preparing for rate increases that would send residential bills through the roof. If state regulators approve this increase, it will go into effect beginning June 1.

UNLV's Rebel Yell reports the increase can widely be attributed to programs initiated in the early 1990s that failed to take the long-term electrical needs of Nevada into account.

Record untility bills, gasoline prices, beef and pork prices, home foreclosures, personal debt, and the list goes on. While the top one percent of this country are getting extremely rich, most of us are getting less each year. If we put the "volatiles" back into the equation, we are suffering higher inflation than we have in decades and for almost all wage earners we fall farther behind. Exxon-Mobile record profits are not going to benefit the U.S. population--any dividends will most likely be invested in markets overseas at this time. And although the Iraq war is forefront on everyone's mind (And how can it not since, along with several months of Anna Nicole Smith stories, it has been the media's primary story. But if we look back to before the war started, though, the media pushed as hard for this war as did George Bush, apparently all for ratings.) what we really have is two sides--Democrats and Republicans--posturing for position and votes for 2008. If a Democrat is in the White House in 2009, and the Iraq war is still being fought, the likely outcome will be the new Democrat President will find it's suddenly irresponsible or dangerous to abandon Iraq just yet. Lucky for our politicians, the American public doesn't pay attention except to sound bites and most don't vote. Give 'em their SUV, a credit card, cable TV, and a drug of choice be it tranquilizers, alcohol, or illegal, and many will treat tomorrow the same as today. Problems other than Iraq are mentioned, sometimes discussed, put in committee, and eventually anaethesized. It's time for voters to stop returning incumbents to office, thinking "oh, my Senator has been there so long he is now a "Very Important Person." Your Senator is now a "Very Rich Person," having parleyed position and votes that reward the Senator and his friends, not the rest of his constituents, because today is just like yesterday.

Posted by Zounds Off at 4:22 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Casino City Times reported that Las Vegas City Council members received more than $80,000 in contributions from casino operators in 2006, according to a conservative estimate based on campaign finance reports.

Mayor Oscar Goodman led the pack with $42,000 in casino donations. About half, $20,000, came in the form of two $10,000 contributions from Boyd Gaming Corp., which owns three downtown casinos. Goodman logged $10,000 from Boyd on Oct. 13 and $10,000 from the Boyd-owned California on the same day.

Council member Gary Reese reported $35,000 in contributions from casinos. Station Casinos, Boyd subsidiary Coast Casinos, El Cortez and Four Queens were among the contributors. Council member Lois Tarkanian received $5,000, a contribution from Station Casinos she reported in January.

Council members Steve Ross, Steven Wolfson and Larry Brown didn't report any casino money in 2006.

Of course, in today's Las Vegas that has been "cleaned up" since the good old days, if a bag of cash ever fell on an office floor, I'm sure it would be spent, I mean, reported immediately.