Apparently the proposed immigration bill in the Senate had even less support than Ted Kennedy (D-MA), Harry Reid (D-NV) and President George Bush had hoped. The bill failed to receive even a simple Senate majority. Only 46 senators, including 33 Democrats, 12 Republicans and 1 independent, voted to advance the bill. It appears that even 15 Democrats, who joined with 37 Republicans and 1 independent to block the legislation, didn't believe in the bill despite Ted's and Harry's behind the scenes manuevering.

Posted by Zounds Off at 2:04 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced a broader import control of all farm-raised catfish, basa, shrimp, dace (related to carp), and eel from China. FDA will start to detain these products at the border until the shipments are proven to be free of residues from drugs that are not approved in the United States for use in farm-raised aquatic animals.

This action by FDA, a part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, will protect American consumers from unsafe residues that have been detected in these products. There have been no reports of illnesses to date.

"We're taking this strong step because of current and continuing evidence that certain Chinese aquaculture products imported into the United States contain illegal substances that are not permitted in seafood sold in the United States," said Dr. David Acheson, FDA's assistant commissioner for food protection. "We will accept entries of these products from Chinese firms that demonstrate compliance with our requirements and safety standards."

During targeted sampling from October 2006 through May 2007, FDA repeatedly found that farm-raised seafood imported from China were contaminated with antimicrobial agents that are not approved for this use in the United States.

Do you think the Chinese are simply going to keep sending us poisoned and defective products as long as we shop at Wal-Mart until they have made enough money to change global economics and politics forever?

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

Today the Senate resurrected the immigration bill designed to eventually legalize millions of illegal immigrants, but it still has the same problems.

Conservatives succeeded in delaying until Wednesday consideration of a package of amendments designed to pave the way for a final vote on the bill by using Senate rules to insist that the entire 373-page package be read aloud.,

Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., agreed to postpone action on the amendments.
Probably no one has read the whole thing and it might take weeks for the rambling bill to be read in its entirety.

Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, D-MA, called the vote "a major step forward for our national security, for our economy and for our humanity."

National security? Add a couple more miles of fences and what...expect the illegals to turn themselves in? We keep losing the ones we catch.

President Hugo Chavez urged soldiers this weekend to prepare for a guerrilla-style war against the United States, claiming the U.S. government is using psychological and economic warfare as part of a campaign against his government. Note that some of that immense oil money has been spent to purchase $3 billion (U.S.) worth of arms from Russia, including 53 military helicopters, 100,000 Kalashnikov rifles, 24 SU-30 Sukhoi fighter jets.

Heck, they can just fly up to Mexico, cross the border, and fight us here--and probably win. Then maybe we can make them pay for school and road improvements in the Southwest.

Posted by Zounds Off at 6:49 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

A report is out that U.S. officials have told a small New Jersey importer to recall 450,000 radial tires for pickup trucks, sport utility vehicles and vans after the company disclosed that its Chinese manufacturer had stopped including a safety feature that prevented the tires from separating.

Tread separation is the same defect that led to the recall of millions of Firestone tires in 2000.
At the time, tire failure was linked to an increased risk of rollover of light trucks and SUV's.

The company, Foreign Tire Sales of Union, New Jersey, had originally sought the U.S. government's help with a recall, saying it did not have enough money to recall all the tires itself.

The defective tires join a growing list of problematic products with origins in China. A huge recall of potentially tainted pet food in March was followed by widespread reports of toothpaste manufactured with a toxic chemical and toys coated with lead paint.

In October 2005, the company said it became concerned because of a sharp increase in customer complaints about the Hangzhou Zhongce radial tires. In investigating the complaints, Foreign Tire Sales' officials became suspicious that Hangzhou Zhongce was manufacturing the tires without the gum strips or with inadequate gum strips, but the Chinese company denied it.

Hangzhou Zhongce admitted in September 2006 that it had "unilaterally decided to omit the gum strips" in the tires, the report says. The Chinese company was "generally unresponsive" when asked how many tires were involved and what they were going to do to resolve the problem.

Why do we even buy Chinese products when they are poorly made or defective? By the time you factor in how quickly the product fails, the initial low cost doesn't seem to be much of a bargain. But luckily, by giving China its huge trade surplus we can support slave labor, several new Chinese millionaires who will gamble in Macau at Steve Wynn's casino, and China's ability to now fire missiles into space and knock out satellites as shown when China did just that on January 11, 2007, blasting an old weather satellite to bits.

Posted by Zounds Off at 6:32 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Teamsters Local 14 wants to take over the Clark County Education Association.

They would need 50-percent of the vote to be able to overthrow the CCEA, yet some union members say they aren't worried.

They should be...with low pay, lousy administrators, and a weak union teachers in Clark County probably are ready for anyone but who they have, especially as teachers see unskilled workers making as much as they are--and more--in the hotel and casino industry. I noted earlier this month that the county's garbage collection provider, Republic Services, met with officials from the Teamsters Local 631, whose members now earn $24.34 per hour (approximately $20,000 a year more than a starting teacher), to reject an $8.39 wage and benefit increase over five years--prompting me to suggest the teachers needed a better union.

Posted by Zounds Off at 6:07 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

PMI has published its economic and real estate trends for high risk, hHigh volatility, and low affordability MSAs (metropolitan statistical areas).

Riverside, CA, Phoenix, AZ, Las Vegas, NV, and West Palm Beach, FL rank highest on the index, with a 60 percent or greater chance that home prices will be lower in two years.

Phoenix has seen the biggest drop in the rate of appreciation of all 50 MSAs, from 37.33 percent in Q1'06 to 4.52 percent in Q1'07, and its volatility is the highest in the country. While
in-migration from California has slowed, reducing upward pressure on home prices, affordability continues to drop.

Las Vegas has seen a less dramatic, yet still significant, slowing of appreciation, from
16.06 percent in Q1'06 to 1.69 in Q1'07, coupled with a decline in affordability and low unemployment. Its volatility is the second highest in the nation.

But wait!

For the first time in five years, Nevada's unemployment rate exceeds the national average according to a Las Vegas Business Press article.

The seasonally adjusted rate jumped half a percentage point in May to 4.6 percent, topping the U.S. average of 4.5 percent.

In the Las Vegas area, unemployment was 4.2 percent, down from 4.3 percent in April but still significantly higher than the 3.8 percent rate of May 2006.

Terry Johnson, director of the state Department of Employment, Training and Rehabilitation, blamed the higher unemployment figure on a number of factors.

"People are continuing to move to Nevada at a tremendous pace, but unfortunately the labor market has not been able to absorb that growth as quickly as in the past," he said. "Nevada is near the low point of its business cycle."

A decline in home sales has cooled off the construction boom, Johnson noted. And casino jobs are off slightly due to the pending closure of the New Frontier and the implosion of the Stardust on the Strip. No new hotel-casinos have opened in Las Vegas in more than a year.

But not to worry.

The Las Vegas City Council has approved plans for an 85-acre development along the west side of Main Street. The project would include more than 9,000 hotel, timeshare and condo units, 3.5 million sf of permanent exhibition space, 1.2 million sf of commercial/retail space, a 22,000-seat sports arena and 300,000 sf of gaming area. (See more at lvoffice.com.)

So it is just a matter of time before those unemployed people are back to work. But I wonder at the end result of this cycle of building more casinos and hotel--going vertical--which brings more people to work on them, which means more projects have to be approved to be built (or we have too much unemployment), while we don't have the infrastructure of roads and schools etc. to handle the influx of new residents and we certainly will not have the water. But when Las Vegas really takes a hit, I imagine all our "far sighted" politicians and developers, as I have said before, will have retired to a quiet place far from the "madding crowd." Read that as leaving us with the traffic jams, violent crime, incredibly high cost of living--to "fix" some of the problems--and extreme thirst.

Posted by Zounds Off at 5:46 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

NV Governor Gibbons, who dodged some of the scandal fallout from his garage escapade--enough to win the election--when the reported video tape didn't show him where Chrissy Mazzeo claimed, is once again having to rely on what the technology evidence does or does not show as one computer expert claims that the e-mail submitted in a civil law suit by Dennis Montgomery against his former company eTreppid has been altered.

In a Las Vegas Sun article, "Expert claims e-mail in Nev. governor corruption case altered," an expert has disputed the authenticity of an e-mail submitted to a Reno court as evidence that Gov. Jim Gibbons was bribed by eTreppid Technologies.

The sentence, "We need to take care of him like we discussed," supposedly about Gibbons, was cited by Montgomery in the suit, but Jonathan Karcher, a forensic computer expert, believes the sentence was added.

I have nothing to say, just in case someone tries to add words to show that I have been bribed--which according to my bank statement hasn't happened, but sure would be appreciated.

Posted by Zounds Off at 8:48 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Bloomberg reports the U.S. Senate passed legislation that would overhaul car fuel economy standards for the first time in more than two decades and quadruple use of alternative fuels.

The energy bill, approved 65 to 27 last night, would force automakers to build cars that average 35 miles a gallon by model year 2020, a 40 percent increase in fuel efficiency. The measure also responds to President George W. Bush's call to boost the use of alternative fuels by requiring 36 billion gallons of ethanol and other so-called biofuels by 2022.

Automakers, including General Motors Corp. and Toyota Motor Corp., have tried to block the mileage requirements, sparring with environmental groups that favor them. Tom LaSorda, head of the U.S. operations of DaimlerChrysler AG, has said a standard of 35 miles per gallon will ``cripple our business.''
WHY?

The record gasoline prices and concerns about national security and global warming have led to increasing calls to reduce U.S. petroleum consumption. Still, Democrats failed yesterday on key pieces of their legislative effort, including the package that would have subsidized renewable energy with increased taxes on the oil industry.
Which would be passed on to the consumers so it certainly won't hurt oil companies. Might as well tax us directly instead of making us believe Congress is taking on big oil.

Posted by Zounds Off at 1:45 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

it's the weekend and I thought that I would post something in the area of stupid entertainment news that would require no brainpower, so here goes:

George Clooney has joined a protest to stop construction of parking lots and a promenade in the northern Italian town of Laglio, where he owns a home on the shore of Lake Como.
Welcome to the real world, George. Most of us are dismayed by uncontrolled development, but our complaints don't make entertainment news, but being an overpaid actor does have its advantages.

NBC has denied reports that it agreed to shell out up to $1 million for the first after-jail sit-down with Paris Hilton, claiming it has no "agreement in place" with the jailed heiress.
Please, please, please, no more stories about Paris. NBC should pay all of us $1 million each to listen to one more word about one of the most pointless people on this entire planet.

Posted by Zounds Off at 1:17 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Scores of illegal immigrants, including a man wanted for murder and a convicted child molester, were arrested in Southern California raids this week, U.S. authorities said on Friday.

The sweeps in Orange County, south of Los Angeles, were part of an operation by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement targeting "criminal aliens" -- defined as people in the country illegally who have also committed other crimes.

Of the 175 people arrested, 27 are criminal aliens and another 26 are "immigration fugitives" who had ignored deportation orders by a judge.

The raids were part of larger crackdown on immigration fugitives, which this year has resulted in the first ever decline in their number, to 632,189, according to an agency spokeswoman.

26 as against 632,189 immigration fugitives--we must be winning the war on immigration problems. No wonder some of our politicians want to sign them up as citizens; we can't stop them from coming across the border and we can't find the ones we have already caught. I have looked at a few of the immigration bill proponents and here's my take on their positions:

President George W. Bush: George Bush is actually working for the Democratic party as he has single handedly castrated the Republican party and pushing for citizenship for illegals is definitely a plus for Democrats, for as registered voters they would overwhelmingly vote Democrat. The ones who are illegally registered already are voting Democrat.

Posted by Zounds Off at 2:46 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Two Canadian billionaires, David and Eskander Ghermezian, and one of the biggest developers in the Las Vegas area could be among the witnesses called to testify in the federal corruption trial of real estate consultant, Donald Davidson, accused of paying $200,000 for a favorable vote from former Clark County Commissioner Erin Kenny and of trying to buy votes from other elected officials including former Las Vegas City Councilman Michael McDonald, who just got his own sweetheart land deal from the Las Vegas City Council this week.

Among the Ghermezian clan, they are managers and officers of over 300 corporations listed on the secretary of state website for corporate entities

Posted by Zounds Off at 2:20 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The Las Vegas Review Journal reported that Michael McDonald addressed the Las Vegas City Council on Wednesday and left with the council agreeing to sell him land for millions of dollars less than it's worth.

Alpha Omega Strategies, of which McDonald is president, plans to build 600 apartments for low-income senior citizens on the 13 acres at Decatur Boulevard and Vegas Drive.

The mayor and the rest of the council voted to sell the land to the former Las Vegas councilman because of a desperate need for affordable housing for the elderly, they said.

The city acquired the acreage -- including some parcels that were purchased during the years McDonald held his office -- for $8.5 million and two recent appraisals for the city valued the land at $9.2 million and $9.6 million, but the council is letting it go for $6.5 million.

Mayor Oscar Goodman acknowledged that flak might be coming the city's way.
"Only an idiot would say this transaction would not be looked at closely," he said.

Only an idiot would believe that our "good ole boy" network of developers and politicians, making sweetheart land deals from Senator Harry Reid down to McDonald, would care whether any transactions would be looked at closely. It is time for Las Vegas voters to finally care and vote out the city council (too late for Oscar who is in his last term). After all, anyone who buys property for $8.5 million and sells for $6.5 million, even in the current market, is simply cheating the citizens. Don't let the sound bite "affordable housing" fool you.

Posted by Zounds Off at 1:39 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

U.S. Senators Harry Reid and John Ensign of Nevada today introduced legislation that establishes a conservation program that helps ranchers prevent the occurrence, spread of, and damages caused by wildfire to rangeland.

"Nevada, along with other Western states, is facing unprecedented threats to the rangeland," said Reid. "In the past, Nevada wildfires have devastated our rural families and ranches. This legislation will help prevent wildfires and mitigate damages from ones that occur. This is a good step forward in addressing the conservation and environmental concerns of Nevada and the Great Basin."

Meanwhile in Carson City, Nevada Governor Jim Gibbons joined with Senator Maurice Washington (R-Washoe), Senator Barbara Cegavske (R-Clark), Clark County Superintendent Walt Rulffes, Clark County Assistant Superintendent Dr. Karlene Lee, and others to sign a bill providing for the establishment of 29 empowerment schools across Nevada and provides an additional $400 in per pupil spending at those schools.

"By signing this bill, we are taking that next big step toward providing our children with an education that will better prepare them for the future," said Governor Gibbons. "Who better to assess and meet the needs of students than the principals, teachers, and parents who spend time with these children each day?"

Maybe juvenile corrections officers? And who paid for two Clark County Superintendents to make the trip to Carson City?

Posted by Zounds Off at 11:41 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

In the Las Vegas Sun:
Trial for a developer, Donald Davidson, accused of bribing southern Nevada officials has been delayed until Wednesday while prosecutors and defense attorneys argue over whether too much time has elapsed to pursue one of the charges.

Jury selection was to have begun Monday but was postponed so U.S. District Judge Roger Hunt in Las Vegas could decide whether a conspiracy charge against the real estate consultant exceeded a five-year statute of limitations.

Davidson, 72, and his son, Lawrence Davidson, 40, were indicted in 2005 on charges of conspiracy, mail fraud and money laundering that could result in decades in prison and millions of dollars in fines on conviction.

Both men pleaded not guilty to accusations that they paid former Clark County Commissioner Erin Kenny $200,000 in exchange for her help in 2001 to allow a chain pharmacy to be built in northwest Las Vegas.

Lawrence Davidson, a former Las Vegas attorney, became a fugitive and a warrant was issued last October for his arrest after he failed to appear for a trial in a separate federal case.

Lawyers were arguing Monday whether a conspiracy charge contained in a second superseding indictment filed against Donald Davidson in 2006 exceeded the five-year time limit.

The revised indictment alleged Davidson conspired with Kenny on a proposal for a neighborhood casino in the Spring Valley area of Clark County outside Las Vegas.

Davidson's lawyer, Dominic Gentile, has argued that there was no evidence that Kenny received money for the casino vote. Even if Davidson and Kenny had an agreement before the vote, Gentile said, the act of conspiracy would have been completed once the vote took place.

Of course, the counter argument most likely is that it was part of an ongoing conspiracy of money for influence that included the later events also. Heck, maybe there was some tax evasion which should have been considered, bringing down the wrath of the IRS and a six year limitation, I believe.

Posted by Zounds Off at 11:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg left the Republican Party on Tuesday and switched to unaffiliated, a move in line with speculation he might consider an independent presidential bid for the 2008 race.

Formerly. he was a general partner at Salomon Brothers and is also the founder of Bloomberg L.P., a software company.

With an estimated worth of approximately $5.5 billion, he is seen as capable of financing an independent presidential run reminiscent of billionaireRoss Perot in 1992, who received 18.9% of the popular vote (but no electoral votes), making him the most successful Independent presidential candidate since Theodore Roosevelt in the 1912 election. Perot is apparently also considering another independent run for 2008.

The Beachwood Reporter is posting a three part series on Joey "the Clown" Lombardo as he and other alleged "mobsters" who go on trial this week in what may be the last housecleaning of the oldtime Chicago mob. Joey "the Clown" is the brother of Rocco Lombardo, former employee and associate of Rick Rizzolo whose ownership of the Crazy Horse Too and subsequent felony conviction are covered by Steve Miller at AmericanMafia.com. Steve is reported to writing a true crime book focusing on the events surrounding the ownership, running, and possible sale, sales? Check Steve's site soon for a possible new 'straw man" article update.

Posted by Zounds Off at 12:06 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

From FBI tries to fight zombie hordes

The FBI has been trying to tackle networks of zombies for some time as part of an initiative it has dubbed Operation Bot Roast.

The FBI is contacting more than one million PC owners who have had their computers hijacked by cyber criminals.

The initiative is part of an ongoing project to thwart the use of hijacked home computers, or zombies, as launch platforms for hi-tech crimes.

The FBI has found networks of zombie computers being used to spread spam, steal IDs and attack websites.

With the oil companies gouging, utility companies gouging, insurance companies gouging, pharmaceutical companies gouging, banking institutions gouging, politicians wanting to raise my taxes and fees on everything but breathing, and now this, I feel so used.

PRNewswire
The Department of Justice and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) today announced a
$60.7 million Clean Air Act settlement with Nevada Power Company that will improve air quality in the Clark County/Las Vegas, Nev. area by requiring the company to reduce emissions of nitrogen oxides (NOx), a harmful air pollutant, from its Clark Generating Station by about 2,300 tons annually.

The settlement resolves the federal government's claims that Nevada Power violated the New Source Review (NSR) provisions of the Clean Air Act at its Clark Generating Station by undertaking modifications of combustion turbines and increasing emissions of NOx without installing the required air pollution controls.

This is the first NSR settlement with an electric utility concerning alleged violations at a gas-fired power plant. It is also the second NSR settlement in the past year in the Western United States.

Just nice to know that the utility companies have legal staffs which apparently don't know much about environmental regulations. I don't think it has been any secret for some years that modifications without adding new pollution controls has been a tricky area, but I suppose someone thought if we don't ask, the EPA won't know. Or maybe one of those "well-trained" or at least highly paid (over-paid) attorneys could have typed "new source review plant modifications" into Google and looked at New Source Review (NSR) at epa.gov where said highly trained attorney could have read, "All new major sources of air pollution will need to comply with the best control technology and existing sources which make major modifications and have a significant increase in actual emissions also will have to meet these requirements." I know it is extremely difficult to find this info and needs a highly educated individual paid extreme amounts of money because it took me exactly two minutes and eleven seconds to find and copy the above quote, and I know I should be paid obscene amounts of money for every two minutes I work--just like a corporate CEO.

From KLAS:
The Clark County School District made a public plea for teachers Friday. The school district needs 1,163 teachers to fill vacancies before August. That is almost twice the number the district needed last year.

There are not many options if the vacancies are not filled.

The school district will have to increase class size, meaning fewer teachers, or some teachers would have to teach second classes in addition to their normal work load taking away from lesson planning.

Missy Nettleingham teaches first grade at Tate Elementary School. She moved from Washington State to teach at the year-round school.

She said, "The first year is tough. I was lucky to have a co-teacher, but your first year you feel lost. You don't think you are giving your kids the best education you can give them. You think you are doing everything wrong."

That's part of the reason 30-percent of first year teachers resign every year.

I bet that other reasons include a lack of supportive administrators in the buildings, such as principals; a regional administration system that does not support teachers when their building administrators won't address questions or issues; mentor teachers who are more interested in checking their e-mail than mentoring a first year teacher; computer and technology failures (all grades and attendance are supposed to be on computers, but what if no one put one in the classroom); harassment for not using enough technology in the classroom (see computer and technology failures above); not even a teacher's manual for the subject and the first year teacher may have to scrounge the closets even to have enough books in the classroom for each student, though not to issue a copy to each student; no access to students achievement scores on standardized test to determine skill level activities and no information on Individualized Education Plans (IEP's) for special needs students being mainstreamed in the "regular" classroom, which is a violation of state and federal regulations; watching a large number of other teachers who are apathetic, incompetent, or thoroughly P.O'ed, while basically feeling that the prevailing coping strategy in the schools is "Don't ask, because we won't tell you--or can't--and if you persist in trying to be a teacher or have standards, you are an enemy to education; just give the students A's and B's or go home."

Oh, and by the way...if they can't find 3,000 teachers, why are legislators and school administrators continually pushing all day kindergarten? How many more teachers will that demand? Simpler to make the school day longer, but I bet the apathetic, incompetent, and underpaid teachers would fight that one to the death--who wants to spend even more time on a job you can't stand?

Posted by Zounds Off at 8:47 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

In the Nevada Observer the following:

In a move seldom seen in recent memory, criminal charges have been filed against a politician involved in allegedly breaking Nevada's porous election law regarding campaign finance and residence. Former Clark County Commissioner Lynette Boggs has been charged with four felonies, two of which deal with campaign finance and two with filing forged or otherwise illegal documents. There are also reports that a state investigation is underway dealing with a high-end automobile purchase.

Boggs was arraigned June 7 and released without bail. The charges carried a recommendation from the prosecution that bond be set at $120,000. A preliminary hearing has been set for August 14. The arraignment came as Boggs returned to Las Vegas from a jaunt out of the county.

Questions of financial improprieties were raised when Boggs was running for reelection, but then Attorney General George Chanos and then Secretary of State Dean Heller recused themselves from the investigation because both of them used the same campaign treasurer as Boggs. Clark County District Attorney David Roger filed the charges on June 4.

According to Roger's charges, Boggs used campaign funds to pay a baby sitter and charged the cost to her campaign expenses. The amount listed was $1,230. There is also an alleged campaign donation of $5,000 that is not listed in her campaign and expense reports.

Boggs has also been charged with lying on her election forms about where she lived. Clark County commissioners must live in the district they represent and Boggs was found to be living in a home outside the district and listing a home in the district in which she did not live. Union representatives in a private investigation video taped Boggs over a several week period coming from the home outside the district dressed only in a bathrobe.

One of the unions involved was the police protective association of Clark County, which may have led to the decision by Roger to file the charges. Nevada's election law is generally looked at as a joke by politicians who often barely squeak by on their obligations to report contributions and expenses. In the past many years the secretary of state, the state's elections officer, and the attorney general have neglected their responsibilities to enforce the law.

Remember that the police union was angry with Boggs for voting against the pay raise the union asked for. Just think of the drug deals, strip club beatings, and other crimes they might have missed by making sure they got even with her. Certainly shows they deserve a pay raise or they might neglect some other criminal activity, like officers accepting gifts from suspects and consorting with persons of ill repute. (See a 2003 story Top Cop calls Rizzolo person of "ill repute," and "suspect" by Steve Miller.) Of course, I am not excusing what Boggs did, just questioning the resources expended for such a desperado while Las Vegas has seen one of the largest increases in violent crime in the past couple of years.

Posted by Zounds Off at 1:59 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Carson City has received a number of grants in recent days aimed at combating street gangs according to the Nevada Appeal.

District Attorney Neil Rombardo announced Wednesday that Carson City has been selected as one of six jurisdictions nationwide that will participate in an initiative known as the Gang Response Model created by the National District Attorneys Association.

"The Carson City Sheriff's Office has identified at least nine gangs in Carson City, and various factors are drawing more gang members to the Carson City area," Rombardo said. In the application for the assistance, Rombardo noted that the city's location geographically makes it an ideal rest stop for Mexican drug traffickers and the estimated 400 gang members in Carson City are easy prey for large drug cartels looking for people to move their merchandise.

Wow--400 gang members--must be nearly impossible to know what they are doing. One of the things Rudy Giuliani was noted for was putting police back on foot patrol in New York City--the result was the officers actually got to know the neighborhoods, both the good and the bad people, when they weren't looking at the world through a windshield. Obviously, in Clark County officers are not likely to leave their air conditioned cars except for emergencies or donuts but getting to know the neighborhoods face to face seems like a good "gang response model," without the fancy title.

Two other issues that strike me with this article are:
1. Calling the gang members easy prey for drug cartels to recruit to move drugs. Excuse me, but the gang members are predators, looking to make just these kind of connections, not victims.
2. While many seem to weep over the plight of the illegal Mexican who enters this country supposedly to work "jobs Americans don't want," which seems to include construction, hotel service, lawn care, etc., many of these illegals have been forging papers, creating several false identities to avoid arrest, committing sex crimes, drunk driving, robbery, theft, and surprise...trafficking in drugs with the Mexican cartels. Boo hoo for the poor Mexican illegal. Go back to Mexico and overthrow your own corrupt government and let us deal with ours. Why don't we arrest illegals and immediately take them to the border--so they can't change identities and go back to work the next day--and for everyone deported allow someone from another country who has been waiting legally to enter this country to come? That way the politicians could replace one potential voter, who is already a lawbreaker, with one who enters legally.

Posted by Zounds Off at 1:58 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Bloomberg reports that Wynn Resorts Ltd. increased the size of a loan for its casino in Macau, the world's biggest gambling market, by 24 percent to $1.55 billion.

The company, controlled by billionaire Steve Wynn, boosted borrowings from $1.25 billion after more than 50 banks and funds offered to lend more than it sought, according to sources, who declined to be identified because details aren't public. Bank of America Corp., Deutsche Bank AG and Societe Generale SA are arranging the financing, they said.

Wynn, 65, entered Macau in September after China in 2002 ended Stanley Ho's 40-year casino monopoly in the former Portuguese enclave. The loan will trim Wynn's interest costs and finance an expansion that will more than double the size of the 110,000 square-foot (10,200 square meter) Wynn Macau.

And I'm just trying to afford that dollar a gallon rise in milk prices at my local grocery store.

Posted by Zounds Off at 1:27 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

From gaming news on Casino City Times:

The New York-based private-ownership group buying the New Frontier's 34.5-acre Strip location is expected to seek financing from Israel's largest investment company for up to $8 billion to redevelop the site.

Meanwhile, a spokeswoman for the New Frontier said Tuesday the 984-room Western-themed hotel-casino will close at midnight July 15.

Elad Group, which is controlled by Israeli billionaire Yitzhak Tshuva, said in May it would pay more than $1.2 billion for the New Frontier site and spend $5 billion more to construct a replica of New York's famous Plaza Hotel. The complex would include a casino and a hotel with 3,500 rooms and 300 private residences.

Posted by Zounds Off at 6:47 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The Labor Department reported that the Consumer Price Index rose 0.7 percent increase last month.

The Federal Reserve reported that industrial production was flat in May.

The Commerce Department reported that the deficit increased to $192.6 billion in the first quarter of this year, compared to $187.9 billion in the fourth quarter of 2006.

Excluding food and energy, core inflation is reportedly up at an annual rate of 2.1 percent through May.

But adding in gasoline prices which are 95 cents higher than in January and that is a 40 percent rise so far this year for gasoline.

Supposedly food costs were only up 0.3 percent in May as beef, poultry, and fresh fruit prices went up, while clothing costs dropped by 0.3 percent.

I guess someone forgot to check milk and pork prices when adding up food prices. Hallelujah though, clothing prices are down. However, I can wait a few weeks or months before buying a new pair of socks, but I do like to eat everyday. In the long run though, no matter what statistics the different departments publish, costs are way up but people are putting more money in the stock market now that housing is a bust because the "published" statistics aren't as bad as the "analysts" predicted. I was never an economics major but buying a product which isn't as bad or losing as much money as expected doesn't make any sense to me. Half the businesses listed on the stock market don't appear to be doing very well but people are in a hurry to buy stocks thinking to get rich. Does anyone remember the tech stock crash of 2000?

Actually, I think I will buy those new socks and keep walking to the grocery store so those oil companies don't get rich at my expense. I just have to be especially careful in the crosswalks of being run over by tunnel vision, cell phone using, SUV driving women hellbent on getting to the grocery store and finding the closest parking space before someone else gets it so they can pick up a quart of healthy soymilk. (Ok, ok, I admit there are a lot of pickup driving, cell phone using guys out there picking up a 12 pack of beer. Neither gender has a lock on virtue and brains.)

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

The Democratic-led U.S. House of Representatives on Wednesday responded to the deadliest shooting rampage in modern American history by passing legislation to help keep guns out of hands of the mentally ill.

What? Are they crazy? How can they abrogate the rights of citizens just because of their mental state? They might as well want to keep guns out of the hands of felons and illegal aliens. Perhaps they should take guns away from trigger happy Metro officers who shoot to kill, not to wound.

Police shot and killed a woman on a busy roadway Tuesday after she walked into traffic with a child and threatened passing drivers with a knife in Las Vegas.

Officers used pepper spray, Taser stun guns, and beanbag shotgun rounds to try to subdue the woman, but with no visible effect, said Officer Jose Montoya, a Las Vegas police spokesman.

Two officers shot her at about 8 a.m., Montoya said.

Just before the shooting, officers pulled a boy who appeared to be about 3 years old away from the woman. Neither was identified, and police did not describe their relationship.

Montoya said authorities believed the woman was suffering from a mental condition.

The good news is she no longer is suffering from a mental condition; on the other hand, if she had a gun, at least it would have been a fair fight. So the police can grabbed the child but can't subdue a woman without deadly force? Sounds like how Oscar would like to handle the homeless problem to me--oh wait, I think that was tried some months ago when an officer shot a homeless man who threw a rock at him.

For more on the legislation bill go to Gun Legislation.
For the other story go to Police Kill Woman.

Posted by Zounds Off at 9:17 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Japanese researchers found that cockroaches have a memory and can be taught to salivate in response to neutral stimuli in the way that Pavlov's dogs would do when the famed Russian doctor rang his bell.

Such "conditioning" can only take place when there is memory and learning, and this salivating response had only previously been proven in humans and dogs.

Now, cockroaches appear to have that aptitude too.

Researchers said they hoped to learn more about the human brain by exploring what goes on in the simpler brain of the cockroach.

I wonder, since we have Dave Letterman's "Stupid Human Tricks", Jay Leno's interviews in the street, American Idol and 50 other "reality" shows, politicians, and a news media which finds a dead Anna Nicole Smith more newsworthy than massive Chinese troop buildups, and since cockroaches are so successful, perhaps it should be the other way around and researchers should be examining the cockroach brain to find out why humans are so stupid and simple.

For the layman's version of the whole story go to Cockroaches; for the scientific dirt go to Plos one.

Posted by Zounds Off at 7:47 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's presidential campaign announced Tuesday it had the support of state Senate Minority Leader Dina Titus, a longtime Democrat who lost a bid for governor in November to "Boss" Gibbons.

"She's got a plan and it's a plan that's not just platitudes but real policy directives," said Titus
That must mean its a plan with more than just words but with "real" words that sound "really" good in a speech.

Titus joins a list of recent jump on the Clinton wagon state democrats which includes the recent endorsemt by Clark County Commissioner Chris Giunchigliani, former state legislator who pulled the 50 percent green building tax break out of the air creating a windfall break for casinos and big developers and nothing for the homeowner.

With some 500 days until the elections, I am surprised at how many endorsements Hillary is picking up in the state. One would think that savvy state politicians would wait until closer to the election to curry the best return for an endorsement and to protect against endorsing so early that a candidate has plenty of time to stumble and make the endorsement politically foolish. So, are they getting a really good deal, are they pleasing the Reid crime family ( Harry Reid in another shady land deal) headed by Mr. Clean, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, and now run by son Rory within the state, or are they afraid that if Hillary were to win, she would break a few legs for failing to support her?

Posted by Zounds Off at 6:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Posted on kxmb.com, a North Dakota CBS affiliate:

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nevada, said on Monday that his party's energy bill will cut demand for gas and help lower prices at the pump.

"Our bill will save American consumers tens of billions of dollars annually, cut our oil consumption by more than four million barrels per day and reduce our dependence on foreign energy sources right away. And by the way, we might just save the planet while we're at it," Reid told reporters Monday. The Democrat from Nevada discussed the Senate Democrats' energy legislation during a speech at the Center for American Progress, a progressive think tank.

And how are they going to do it? By telling you what kind of cars you can drive and what fuels you can use, of course.

Reid said the Democrats' plan calls for new cars and trucks to get 35 miles per gallon by the year 2020. To cut down on imported oil, the proposal also requires an increase in the production of ethanol and other renewable fuels used by vehicles in the United States.

There are some problems with this, however, not the least of which is the idea of the government telling us what kind of vehicles we can drive. With pickups and SUV's flying off car lots while hybrid sales disappoint, it's pretty clear that not all or even most Americans want to cram themselves, their families and their belongings into a Prius. And as long as Americans are willing to buy these less efficient vehicles and pay the larger fuel bills, who are Harry Reid and his Democrats to tell them they can't?

And how is requiring the use of more alternative fuels going to save Americans "tens of billions of dollars?" Even the most wildly available gasoline alternative, E85, is still remarkably more expensive than gasoline - even when gasoline is some $0.60/gallon higher in price - due to the fact that it reduces your vehicles miles per gallon. Something that doesn't even take into account the billions of dollars in subsidies your tax dollars are spent on to prop up the ethanol industry. (North Dakota apparently has a hefty subsidy to reduce the price of E85. Also consider that it is highly inefficient to make ethanol. I believe it takes the energy of nearly 0.9 gallon of ethanol to make 1 gallon of ethanol.)

You know what the real solution to the energy situation is? For the government to butt out. Stop subsidizing all types of energy (be it alternative energy, fossil fuel energy or otherwise) and outside of facilitating greater expansion of energy production and research simply let the market choose what fuels we use in the future. When gasoline gets expensive enough, Americans will look for alternatives. And the alternative the most of them choose will undoubtedly be the one that works best in our market

But this apparently makes far too much sense for meddling liberals, who aren't happy unless they're telling the rest of us how to live our lives

Just for the record, the first time I tried ethanol my fuel mileage dropped 15 percent for a fuel with only 10 percent ethanol added. That has to make the oil companies happy--use ethanol and use more regular fuel to boot. I also have to wonder, if the fuel is less efficient, isn't less work getting done, which means more waste? But the oil companies and farmers are profiting at our expense for a subsidized energy source of questionable value.

Posted by Zounds Off at 3:11 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Eye on Gambling reports that:

Sen. John McCain stopped by Tabu Ultra Lounge, next to the craps and roulette tables on the MGM Grand casino floor, and left with roughly $400,000 for his presidential campaign.

Former New York City Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani walked away from the Red Rock Casino with $100,000, courtesy of the owners of Station Casinos Inc., whose interests include Nevada and California gambling halls.

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York gathered $320,000 in March at the Four Seasons Hotel on the Strip, the same place former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney celebrated his 60th birthday and collected $400,000, mostly from noncasino interests.

Gambling's campaign role has grown since the 2000 election, as Indian casinos boomed, Wall Street became a big financier for the major casinos, gambling spread to 48 states, and gross U.S. wagering revenue soared to $85 billion annually.

But gaming has always been interested in presidential politics, at least as far back as President John Kennedy and his rumoured Cal-Neva Hotel tryst with actress Marilyn Monroe.

Posted by Zounds Off at 1:25 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Liz Pulliam Weston writes in her article, "When Banks Turn Evil," six ways that your bank might be charging you outrageous fees, including charging for 'potential' overdrafts and fees for using personal-finance software. She notes that banks generate $50 billion in fees each year and has suggestions on how to fight back.

Besides the banks, the oil companies are evil, telemarketers are evil, telephone companies are, insurance companies are, pharmaceutical companies, politicians, public education, and I think even my neighbor's dog might be evil.

Posted by Zounds Off at 5:47 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Louisiana Democratic Congressman William Jefferson has pleaded not guilty to federal charges that accuse him of soliciting hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes, after a grand jury handed down a 94-page indictment .

A couple of years ago, investigators raided Jefferson's home and found $90,000 in cash stashed in his freezer.

Of course, I wonder how Nancy Pelosi, Democrat from California and House Majority Leader will spin Jefferson's eventual conviction after pledging to bring ethics back to Congress. An ethical Congress is simply an oxymoron; if we want one we have to get rid of all incumbents, Republican and Democrat alike.

The Las Vegas Sun noted this week that Fighting AIDS in our Community Today, FACT, shut down May 14 after years of questions about its operations.

Michael Chambliss, a former Las Vegas city staffer, founded the organization in 1999 to reduce new HIV infections in the black community. He is now awaiting trial on murder charges after police say he stabbed a man to death in November 2005.

Former Commissioner Yvonne Atkinson Gates, the subject of a police probe, voted three times to allocate $408,000 to the group in 2005 and 2006, without disclosing that FACT had paid her son's advertising company $58,000 to register voters.

But at least Yvonne is not in jail...yet.

Posted by Zounds Off at 12:04 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The county's garbage collection provider, Republic Services, met last week with officials from the Teamsters Local 631, whose members now earn $24.34 per hour and rejected an $8.39 wage and benefit increase over five years last month.

$24.34 an hour works out to about $50,000 a year without overtime. $50,000 a year will buy a lot of beer and a nice car. Clark County teachers start at $30,299; to make $49,476, a teacher must have a Master's degree and 11 years of teaching experience. The obvious conclusion: teachers need a better union.

Posted by Zounds Off at 10:34 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The former Clark County School District superintendent is the only finalist for the position in San Francisco, and the school board is expected to vote Tuesday on whether to offer him the job and on the terms of a contract.

Garcia spent five years as superintendent in Clark County, the fifth largest school district in the nation, and six years combined as superintendent for Fresno Unified and Sanger Unified districts in Fresno County. He also was a social studies teacher and a principal, running San Francisco's Horace Mann Middle School for three years until 1991. During his his five years in Clark County, test scores were stagnant or declined and dropouts increased.

Garcia left Clark County in 2005 to become vice president of urban markets of the educational services company McGraw-Hill.

Through Garcia's efforts the Clark County School Board approved hiring a McGraw-Hill consultant to score tests for the district's English Language Learner program in January of 2005

At the time Garcia said there is no conflict of interest in his switching to the private company.

"This was not an easy decision to make but it was the right one for me and for my family," Garcia told the Las Vegas Sun. "It's an opportunity to try something completely different after three decades in education."

I guess it wasn't the right decision after all. Notice how each time one of our public officials bail out of a position, they use the "it's for my family" reason. (See Las Vegas quotes including "I'm not going to jail." for Yvonne Atkinson Gates take on family.) In Clark County his major contribution appears to have been staying just long enough to allow his pension to vest. Good choice, San Francisco? I doubt it. Good luck, though, you'll need it!

Posted by Zounds Off at 6:36 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

A $1 billion plan to cover part of the projected $5 billion shortfall in funding for highway projects was signed into law by Governor Jim Gibbons.

The bill takes $20 million annually from the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority and part of the existing rental car tax and property tax revenues for capital projects in Washoe and Clark Counties.

The money should finance $1 billion in bonds for improvements to Interstate 15 and U.S. 95 in the Las Vegas area and Interstate 80 in the Reno area.

Posted by Zounds Off at 9:19 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

In the world of research and medicine where I hope important discoveries are coming in cancer, heart disease, diabetes, and lesser known diseases such as Lou Gehrig's, I couldn't help but notice a Sixty Minutes segment entitled Creating Gay Rats. It's good to know that while I could someday contract Lou Gehrig's and suffer an inevitable death by suffocation as all the muscles in my body stop working, I would die knowing how to make gay rats. Somehow I am not as concerned over human sexuality as some researchers appear to be; all of us here are the results of perhaps millions of successful copulations throughout the history of our planet and if population growth is any indication, we are getting even better at it. Just a thought.

Also making the news recently was the release of Dr. Kevorkian, age 79, from prison June 1 after spending eight years in prison on a conviction for murder in one death. Kevorkian claims to have assisted as many as 100 terminally ill people, many of whom suffered from the above mentioned Lou Gehrig's Disease. I find ours to be an extremely strange society to have legalized abortion, argue for years over the gruesome practice of partial birth abortion, but also prosecute someone for assisting in the death of people who wish to avoid strangulation in a body which no longer functions except for the mind.

Posted by Zounds Off at 8:19 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Harry Reid of Nevada, who in the past three years has blamed Republicans for being soft and beholden to big oil, has finally noticed that gasoline prices are at record prices already this year.

CQ Today reports that Energy legislation and the annual defense authorization bill -- including an amendment to begin a withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq -- will dominate the Senate floor between now and the Fourth of July recess, according to Majority Leader Harry Reid.

Senators returned this week from their Memorial Day recess, during which they got an earful from constituents. Reid said, "There are two issues that are foremost in their minds: No. 1 is the Iraq War and No. 2 are gas prices. We're going to deal with that as soon as we finish with this immigration legislation." In non-political without posturing words what Harry means is: Which we will never finish because both sides are more interested in creating more voters than closing borders and dealing with criminals so your gasoline prices will be high all summer unless something happens to depress prices which is beyond our control but that we will take credit for.

Reid, a Democrat who represents Nevada, was referring to a comprehensive immigration overhaul that has been offered as a substitute amendment to a shell bill (S 1348). The controversial bill has attracted numerous amendments, and Reid may try to force an end to the debate later this week -- a move Republicans will resist. Or not, as politicians determine how many political miles can be forced out of posturing for the public. If we could just get as many miles per gallon from our vehicles as politicians get from empty posturing we would have a world-wide oil glut.

Reid said that once the immigration debate ends, there will be an effort to proceed to a "no confidence" vote on Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales. But that attempt is unlikely to garner the 60 votes needed. I thought after immigration the Senate was going to tackle gasoline prices. In ordinary speak this means by the time we are done with the small stuff oil companies will have two more record breaking quarters and the economy will be in a real recession that even the media might recognize.

The energy legislation could prove contentious, even though its pieces commanded broad bipartisan support in committee. Much will depend on the amendments offered on the floor. PORK!!!

Reid said the legislation (S 1419) is an amalgam of bills approved by four committees: Energy and Natural Resources (S 1321); Environment and Public Works (S 992); Commerce, Science and Transportation (S 357); and Foreign Relations (S 193). Oh no. If one committee is bad, think what four committees have done to the bill.

He said he did not think the legislation was the "appropriate time" for a floor fight over efforts to address global warming. But he acknowledged that battles are likely over moves to toughen fuel efficiency standards and to set a national renewable-portfolio standard requiring 10 percent to 20 percent of electricity to be produced from renewable sources by 2020. While at the same time there is Democratic Congressman, Alan Mollohan, from West Virginia trying to put restrictions on wind generated power which just might affect his state's coal industry. He claims the blades kill bats. My experience is that bats are smarter than congressmen. Naturally, miners vote and bats don't so I am sure his concern for the bats is "real." The question of how to have wind turbines and protect birds and bats has been the subject of articles for the past few years with several solutions being tested. Perhaps the Congressman simply wants the wind farms built on the land he purchased with the head of a small defense contractor that had won a $2.1 million contract from funds that the congressman added to a 2005 spending bill.

As for global warming, will someone please explain why temperatures on the other planets have also risen--is our global warming so powerful that we can affect Mars? And has anyone actually considered how much pollution is created by China, India, Mexico, etc.? Even Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton is aware that China is bringing on-line a 1,000 megawatt coal-fired power plant every 10 days. Are they going to stop?

Posted by Zounds Off at 12:26 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Steve Miller is happily reporting that garage owner Buffalo Jim Barrier has finally won three motions in Clark County District Court last week against his landlord, convicted racketeer Rick Rizzolo, who currently sits in a Los Angeles County jail.

His Inside Vegas column reports in the following excerpt that:
District Court Judge Elizabeth Gonzalez agreed with Barrier's attorney Kim D. Price that Federal stays had been in effect that stalled Barrier's harassment case for almost three years. She ruled that NRCP 41(e), the five year rule, should be waived and Barrier's case allowed to go to trial.

Judge Gonzalez dismissed Rizzolo's defamation action against Barrier. In September 2000, Rizzolo sued his next door neighbor for accusing the strip bar owner of racketeering -- one of the charges Rizzolo pleaded guilty to last summer.

Judge Gonzalez then ordered that a Writ of Attachment be granted against Rizzolo for $1 million dollars to be deposited immediately into an interest bearing escrow account in the likely event Barrier wins at trial.

After reading a Purchase Agreement never meant for her eyes, Judge Gonzalez determined that Barrier may not be able to collect if he wins. Therefore, the judge made sure the funds would be available if and when they are needed.

Prior to last Thursday, in his five year old harassment lawsuit against Rizzolo, Barrier had met with nothing but road blocks.

His previous judge Nancy M. Saitta (now a Justice on the Nevada Supreme Court) sanctioned Barrier $4,500 for "wasting the time" of Rizzolo's attorneys. She did this after making the statement: "Mr. Rizzolo has a good name in the community." Saitta ordered Barrier to pay the law firm of Patti & Sgro before leaving the courtroom. Then she dismissed the racketeering portion of his suit calling it "meritless."

In an effort to humiliate Barrier, he was forced to write Rizzolo's lawyers a check while she watched from her bench.

It was later discovered that Rizzolo was one of Saitta's heaviest campaign contributors and that she enjoys a close personal relationship with him and his family.

Saitta's ruling and complimentary statement led Steve Miller to write his AmericanMafia.com column "A Judge in Their Pocket," and share his Saitta files with the Los Angeles Times and FBI.

Saitta was a subject of the June 2006 Los Angeles Times story JUICE VS. JUSTICE | A TIMES INVESTIGATION; "In Las Vegas, They're Playing With a Stacked Judicial Deck. Some judges routinely rule in cases involving friends, former clients and business associates -- and in favor of lawyers who fill their campaign coffers," by Michael J. Goodman and William C. Rempel.

Posted by Zounds Off at 2:09 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Federal figures announced Monday, compiled from 387 tribal facilities in 28 states show Indian gambling pulled in $25 billion in 2006, 11 percent more than the year before and nearly double from just five years ago.

Indian casinos brought in $12.8 billion from gambling in 2001, $22.5 billion in 2005 and $25.1 billion in 2006, according to the National Indian Gaming Commission.

In 1988 Congress passed a law allowing Indian tribes, with the consent of a state's governor, to run slot machines and other games on their reservations.

There are now 415 Indian gambling facilities nationwide operated by more than 200 tribes.

Posted by Zounds Off at 1:23 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Gov. Jim Gibbons signed a bill on Thursday making Nevada one of at least a dozen states to enact laws against fake groups promoting themselves as famed musicians.

"Nevada is the entertainment capital of the world, so this was one of our major goals," said Sonny Turner of the Platters.

Pennsylvania, Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Jersey and Illinois are among the states with similar legislation.

I am all for protecting artists and the public from fake groups but I was really hoping to see movement on education, transportation, water, corruption, ethics reform, and a ban on Elvis impersonators, especially those over 70 with chicken necks.

Posted by Zounds Off at 5:24 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The Clark County Manager's office is encouraging recreational boaters and others to get involved by applying for a seat on the Clark County Boating Facilities and Safety Committee.

The committee advises the County Commission on the expenditure of marina fuel tax dollars generated at marinas within the Lake Mead National Recreation Area.

If interested you can request an application by calling Arlene Chapman in the County Manager's Office at 702-455-3530, which must be returned to that office on the 6th floor of the County Government Center no later than 1 p.m. June 21.

Perhaps one suggestion would be to limit boating to boats under 15 feet so that the incredible shrinking Lake Mead would at least look bigger.

Posted by Zounds Off at 8:14 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Nevada Governor Jim Gibbons joined with Assemblyman Joe Hardy (R-Boulder City) May 30 during a ceremonial signing of AB 6 sponsored by Assemblyman Joe Hardy, which reaffirms the legal authority for local governments to offer prescription discount cards, such as the one offered by the National Association of Counties (NACo). The Prescription Drug Discount Card can provide as much as 20% in savings on each prescription and is available to the insured, underinsured, and non-insured.

The Governor stated, "I am pleased that all 17 counties will now have the opportunity to provide residents with the savings option provided through the Prescription Drug Discount Card program or other similar programs. The costs of prescription drugs can often create a significant burden for those living on a fixed income."

I wonder how it affects those of us on a flexible income. Mine keeps getting smaller every year.

For further details on this program contact www.NACO.org/drugcard.

Posted by Zounds Off at 1:13 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Sen. Hillary Clinton (D), New York: The people of Nevada are ready for change. We want it to happen.
I believe that is a royal "We."

Nancy Pelosi, the speaker of the House, spoke in part on recent developments in Venezuela, "The decision by Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez not to renew the license of Radio Caracas Television," which is a large station he shut down on Sunday, which started all this, "in order to silence criticism, is exactly the kind of action that raises concern about his leadership. President Chavez should know that efforts to suppress the media will not only ultimately fail, but are also a detriment to one of the pillars of democracy, freedom of expression.
Somewhere along the line Nancy has usurped the position of the State Department. I imagine being one of the richest people in Congress has its privileges.

George W. Bush, President: If you want to kill the bill, if you don't want do what's right for America, you can pick one little aspect out of it. You can use it to frighten people.
George, who has angered liberals, moderates, majorities, minorities, men, women, children, and most of the world, has just "killed" his last remaining support in the conservative base with this comment on immigration reform. George had the perfect blueprint for how not to run a presidency--his Daddy's, though Bush Sr. was often unfairly portrayed by the media since he was so boring--and he still screwed it up. Bush Sr. didn't do anything exciting until he jumped out of an airplane at age 80, Jimmy Carter didn't accomplish anything until he began buildings houses one at a time, and it appears Bill Clinton has a new girlfriend who hopefully has a higher IQ than an Anna Nicole Smith or that woman, Monica Lewinsky, and remembers to dry clean her dresses. It seems like all these guys simply chose the wrong job.

Posted by Zounds Off at 6:51 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)