Although Mayor Michael Bloomberg has denied having any plans to seek the presidency, he recently left the Republican Party to become an independent and has increased his out-of-state travel,

But new details reported by Yahoo News from a sexual harassment lawsuit he settled in 2000 and other comments over the years could prove to be a liability if he runs for president.

Before his election as mayor in 2001, Bloomberg was the target of a sexual harassment suit by a female executive who accused him of making repeated raunchy sexual comments while he was chief executive of his financial company, Bloomberg LP.

Maybe Bloomberg should go back to being a Democrat as he was before switching parties to run for Mayor since sexcapades, scandals, and crimes are more tolerated by Democrats--as long as they are committed by Democrats.

Ah, the sweet smell of hypocrisy.

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

On Yahoo News: The FBI and IRS have searched the home of Republican Sen. Ted Stevens in a ski resort in Alaska as part of an investigation into his links with an oil-services company

Stevens is the subject of a grand-jury investigation into his links with managers of VECO Corp., the state's largest oil-services company, as well as numerous unrelated fisheries matters.

In May, Bill Allen, then the chief executive of VECO, along with a vice president, Rick Smith, pleaded guilty to several federal corruption charges.

Posted by Zounds Off at 1:30 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The New York Times is reporting that Congressional Democrats reached tentative agreement Friday night on a major overhaul of lobbying rules that would for the first time require lawmakers to identify lobbyists who assemble multiple donations and turn them over to candidates.

The disclosure of what is known in political circles as bundling would be a central element of the first major changes made in lobbying rules in the aftermath of the Jack Abramoff scandal and other Congressional corruption cases tied to lobbying.

Under the tentative proposal, Congressional contenders and the respective campaign committees would be required to notify the Federal Election Commission once one individual had delivered more than $15,000 in contributions within six months or $30,000 in one year.

But disclosure doesn't mean they won't take the money; for the most part our politicians act with impunity and while Dems claim that this measure is to stop the Abramoffs of the world, did they forget that he gave money to Senator Harry Reid, who has created quite a resume of questionable land deals and associations with the underside of Las Vegas politics and organized crime. It also doesn't mean that Dems won't take lots of money from special interests as the following Times story shows:

June was a busy month for Senator Charles E. Schumer. On the phone, at large parties and small gatherings around the nation, he raised more than $1 million from the booming private equity and hedge fund industries for the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, of which he is chairman.

But there is another way Mr. Schumer has been busy with hedge fund and private equity managers, an important part of his constituency in New York. He has been reassuring them that he will resist an effort led by members of his own party to single out the industry with a plan that would more than double the taxes on the enormous profits reaped by its executives.
Mr. Schumer has considerable say on the issue. In addition to being the third-ranking Democrat in the Senate leadership, he is the only Democrat serving on both of the major committees, Banking and Finance, that have jurisdiction in the matter.

He has long been a pro-business Democrat and a fund-raising machine for the party, as well as a vociferous supporter of Wall Street issues in Washington, much the way Michigan lawmakers defend the auto industry and Iowa politicians work on behalf of corn farmers.

But in the case of the tax proposals, the strategy behind Mr. Schumer's efforts is putting to the test another set of principles he is known for. He has regularly portrayed himself as a progressive politician who identifies with the struggles of the middle class and is sharply critical of the selfish "plutocrats" who he says control the Republican Party.

Sounds to me as if Dems don't need lobbyists when they go directly to businesses and solicit funds while apparently offering up a quid pro quo. And while Schumer claims to be for the middle class but working so hard to protect the exorbitant "earnings" of hedge fund managers, those same middle class constituents better be aware of changes in the tax legislation for next year decided this year by our Democratic Congress affecting the college savings plans of many parents as reported in the Nevada Appeal.

They are finding that their children with unearned income are suddenly being hit up for higher taxes. The Small Business and Work Opportunity Tax Act of 2007 ("2007 Small Business Tax Act") that was passed on May 25 has extended the kiddie tax to those who are 18 years old or who are full-time students under age 24. The expanded kiddie tax rules apply only to dependent children who have income on investments and whose earned income does not exceed one-half the amount of their support. This provision is effective for most families as of Jan. 1, 2008.

This tax change makes custodial accounts a less attractive way to save for college education and other long-term expenses. If you have custodial accounts set up for minors or are thinking of gifting appreciated securities to these accounts, be sure to talk with your tax advisors before year end to determine if you can take advantage of any potential tax benefits for 2007.

I guess "plutocrats" come in Republican and Democratic party flavors Mr. Schumer.

Posted by Zounds Off at 5:39 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Steve Miller is reporting in his column at AmericanMafia.com that ex-Las Vegas City Councilman Michael J. McDonald is currently the subject of an IRS tax fraud investigation. A federal grand jury will convene in several weeks to hear the government's case against McDonald. An Indictment is expected soon thereafter.

Steve notes that while McDonald sat on the city council between 1995 and 2003, he was best known for being the pawn of two topless bar owners, and doing the bidding of a shady golf course developer and the local trash collection company. In eight years, he went from a $42,000 per year cop to a multimillionaire real estate developer/business consultant though he never built anything other than his own $1.75 million dollar residence, and his only known consulting job was for a little known topless joint called Pleasures that reportedly paid him $30,000 per month for his "consulting services."

For Steve's full story.

Posted by Zounds Off at 5:29 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The government is spending $5 million to let owners know that on Feb. 18, 2009, tens of millions of televisions that are not equipped to receive digital signals will become junk, and they have also committed $1.5 billion for viewers to spend on converter boxes that will translate digital signals for older televisions.

Just so the government knows--although I doubt any of the 513,000 elected officials in this country is paying attention to me (Geez...isn't that about one out of every 500 people including children and dead Democratic voters; add in a few million appointed and hired and bribed government officials and sycophants and it's no wonder we don't produce anything except regulations--almost everyone is working for the government, even thousands of illegal aliens.), my TV is already junk, but it is because of the absolutely mindless programming available. My TV remains off except for an occasional showing of NOVA, and when I want to watch DVD's, which invariably are film noir or comedies of the '40's and 50's. Throw in a few music performances and a thousand good books and I can easily survive 2009; I won't even notice when the signal goes dead. That's my "reality show."

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

The Democratic-controlled House passed legislation Friday that combines billions in aid to farmers with funds for low-income nutrition programs, defying a veto threat from President Bush over the bill's largesse to crop producers.

The measure, which was passed on a 231-191 vote, devotes more money to conservation, renewable energy, nutrition and specialty crop programs than in the past but leaves in place -- and in some cases increases -- subsidies to producers of major crops such as corn and soybeans at a time of record-high prices.

It reflected a delicate straddle for Democrats writing their first farm bill in a decade, who struggled to balance the needs of first-term, farm-state lawmakers against the demands of liberals seeking more money for environmental and nutrition programs.

It is a "delicate straddle" for Democrats to claim fiscal responsibility and the end of pork and then create a farm subsidy bill to benefit recent Democrat winners in Congress at a time when farmers are seeing record prices for grain. Can you say hypocrisy?

Posted by Zounds Off at 4:07 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The Commerce Department reported that sales of new single-family homes dropped by 6.6 percent last month. The decline was more than triple what had been expected and was the largest percentage drop since sales fell by 12.7 percent in January.

Sales in the existing home market also fell in June, dropping by 3.8 percent to an annual rate of 5.75 million units, the slowest pace in nearly five years.

Investors are excited over Ford's $750 million second-quarter profit, but unfortunately, it came through cost cutting, mainly a roughly 30 percent decline in jobs, and you just can't do that every quarter so Ford's woes will continue

Orders for long-lasting U.S.-made goods were weaker than analysts predicted.

U.S. airlines continue to struggle with high fuel prices and maintenance.

Posted by Zounds Off at 3:44 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The Final Interim Suspension Order has been issued and filed July 25, 2007 by the Nevada Commission on Judicial Discipline in the matter involving Judge Elizabeth Halverson. The District Court has requested a Senior Judge from the Administrative Office of the Courts and it is expected the Supreme Court will assign a Senior Judge to fill in for Halverson beginning Monday (July 30).

Only legalese scholars could come up with a "final" "interim" "suspension" and I use the term scholars in only the sincerest and strictest sense of sarcasm and scholarly suspension of disbelief.

Posted by Zounds Off at 12:16 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Part of an aricle found on FOXNEWS.COM HOME > OPINION

Housing Boom Boomerangs on Vulnerable Homeowners
Wednesday, July 25, 2007
By Robert Massi

With mortgage rates rising, home prices falling and consumers hampered by more credit card, auto and bank debt than ever, there has never been a more fertile time for scams that target homeowners.

A July 3 New York Times article put a face on the victims of the latest practice of "equity stripping." In this home loan scam, homeowners who have fallen behind in their mortgage payments sign over the deed to their property -- often unknowingly -- in exchange for promises of immediate cash and the chance to retain their home.

Once these unscrupulous lending companies have the deed to the property, they borrow against the equity in the home, pocket the cash and patiently wait for the inevitable: the homeowner again falling behind in payments. As holders of the property deed, these predatory lenders are then able to foreclose. Armed with misleading advertising -- and with an increasing number of homeowners seeking a quick fix for financial woes -- these companies are successfully exploiting some of the most vulnerable members of our society.

Advertisements on the page the article is found:

Refinance at 5.35% Fixed
Get $300,000 loan for $875/month. Calculate Your New Payment. Act Now!
Refinance.LoanOffer.com

Mortgage Rates at 3.0%
$150,000 loan for $391/month - refinance, home equity and purchase.
Refinance.LeadSteps.com

Go figure!

Posted by Zounds Off at 11:07 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

On MSNBC: Sen. Obama has escalated his criticism of Hillary Clinton....

Obama said in part:

"I think what is irresponsible and naive is to have authorized a war without asking how we were going to get out -- and you know I think Senator Clinton hasn't fully answered that issue.

And also:

"[But] the general principle is one that I think Senator Clinton is wrong on -- and that is if we are laying out preconditions that prevents us from speaking frankly to these folks, then we are continuing with Bush-Cheney policies, and I am not interested in continuing that."

But then:

Clinton supporters respond to Obama's new criticism by pointing out that Clinton has been very critical of the Bush's Administration policies on diplomacy. Also, her response at the debate -- and in yesterday's skirmish -- was that it doesn't make any sense to pursue vigorous diplomacy without getting the most of it. You just can't promise to meet with world leaders, they say, without conditions.

Won't it be fun to watch if Clinton and Obama both end the primary season at the top of the heap. Hillary will want the presidential nominee spot and no one in the Democratic party will work very hard against the Clinton machine for fear of cutting their political throats. So how will Obama make up to Hillary to have a chance as a running mate? Probably something on the line of "it was in the spirit of political debate but now is the time to work together for an America which screws the little people." Well...maybe not in exactly those words.

Posted by Zounds Off at 10:53 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

AT&T reported fewer activations of Apple Inc.'s iPhone than analysts expected when the device debuted before the quarter's end.

Then there is stodgy old me...I do have a cell phone and if I remember to bring it I don't usually answer anyhow since if I wanted people to talk to me while driving, shopping, occasionally working, I would just bring them along. And let me listen to some accoustic jazz rather than synthesizer. Is it possible for people to be over-teched? I know the world is starting to sound and look like a giant electronic billboard--oh, right, I must be on Las Vegas Blvd.

And if I wasn't bored enough with obsessions over technology, oops, the Democrats pop up on YouTube.com with their latest debate, hoping to snatch young voters--those that are home videogaming on elections day

MSNBC reports that young, Internet-savvy voters challenged Democratic presidential hopefuls on Iraq, the military draft and the candidates' own place in a broken political system, playing starring roles in a provocative, video-driven debate Monday night.

"Wassup?" came the first question, from a voter named Zach.

Yeah, savvy on the Internet, but do they research who the campaign contributors are, past voting records, whom the candidates have business ties with, and how much practice the candidates do in front of the mirror and pretend audiences to hone their "sincerity" skills? Do they understand minimum wage, medicaid, education issues, financial institutions, trade practices, foreign relations, environmental issues not attached to grant money, microeconomics or macroeconomics and global economies, and, as products mainly of public education, can they even read a newspaper or a book; or do they simply know how to click a mouse and react to the same old sound bites?

Posted by Zounds Off at 2:25 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The Dow dropped 226.47, or 1.62 percent, closing at 13,716.95. The drop was the biggest since March 13, when it fell 242 points, both times because investors reacted to concerns that the subprime problems could infect the broader lending industry.

Overseas, Japan's Nikkei stock average fell 0.21 percent, while Britain's FTSE 100 dropped 1.90 percent, Germany's DAX index fell 1.73 percent, and France's CAC-40 fell 1.69 percent.

Funny how the same problem caused both drops according to the "experts" while the subprime problem has remained the same--bad--for the last several months. Someone will have to tell me why investors ignore the same information one day that makes them pull back the next.

Posted by Zounds Off at 2:13 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

"A Chip Off the Old Block," by Steve Miller reviews many of the "antics" of the offspring of yesterday's lawless bunch, including Benny Behnen (Benny Binion's grandson) and Dominic Rizzolo (Rick Rizzolo's son), the attorneys who keep them out of trouble, and more. Oscar (Goodman) claims the mob doesn't exist, but these "little" mafia guys must believe they are "big stuff."

Posted by Zounds Off at 11:50 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Auditors have found that the Department of Agriculture has not been conducting the necessary checks to ensure that subsidy payments are proper.

"USDA has made farm payments to estates more than two years after recipients died, without determining, as its regulations require, whether the estates were kept open to receive these payments," their report said.

Of the identified payments to deceased farmers' estates or businesses, 40 percent went to those who had been dead more than three years, and 19 percent went to those who had been dead for seven or more years.

The report was requested by Iowa Sen. Charles Grassley, senior Republican on the Senate Finance Committee

Senator Grassley's interest may have to do with the fact that he himself is a recipient of farm subsidies as reported last Monday, the 16th, by Fox News, which may be a conflict of interest worthy of an award--for hypocrisy.

Today, the average farm household earns $81,420 and has a net worth of $838,875 -- both well above the national average. Farm incomes are setting records, and farms have one of the lowest failure rates of any industry.

To be sure, some family farmers continue to struggle. But if farm subsidies were really about alleviating farmer poverty, then lawmakers could guarantee every full-time farmer an income of 185 percent of the federal level ($38,203 for a family of four) for under $5 billion annually -- one-fifth the current cost of farm subsidies.

Instead, small farmers are largely excluded from farm subsidies. Farm subsidy payments are based on acreage, so by definition, the largest agribusinesses get the largest subsidies. Consequently, commercial farmers -- who report an average income of $200,000 and net worth of nearly $2 million -- now collect the majority of farm subsidies. Most farm subsidy dollars go to millionaires.

Fom 1995 to 2005, farm subsidies have been distributed to Fortune 500 companies such as John Hancock Life Insurance ($2,849,799) and Westvaco ($534,210); as well as celebrity hobby farmers like David Rockefeller ($553,782) and Ted Turner ($206,948). Even Members of Congress who vote on farm legislation have received subsidies, such as Sen. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa, $225,041) and Rep. John Salazar (D-Colo., $161,084).

The Washington Post reported that Tyler Farms (a big supporter of the Clintons over the years) in Arkansas has collected $37 million in farm subsidies since 1996 by dividing itself into 66 legally separate corporations. Other farmers evade payment limits by signing up family members, such as the Georgia farmer who reportedly collected thousands in additional subsidies by listing his two-year-old daughter as a co-farmer.

It gets even sillier. Most subsidies are based on land's historical use, even if it is no longer used for farming. So when 75 acres of Texas farmland was recently converted into a housing development, the homeowners on these $300,000-properties become eligible for annual farm subsidies for the lawn in their backyards.

There is not much more that I can say...our country is owned and run by special interests through campaign contributions which lead to legislation to benefit the few while education, health care, small businesses, etc. all lose ground because most of us are simply fodder for the powerful minority who see competition as detrimental to their profits.

Posted by Zounds Off at 11:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

From "Massachusetts Bill Would Give New Option to Voters:"

Retired Cape Cod systems analyst William White wants to give Massachusetts voters a new ballot choice: none of the above.

White testified before state lawmakers Wednesday on behalf of legislation he drafted that would add "None of the above: for a new election" below the names of every candidate on Massachusetts ballots except those running in the constitutionally protected presidential race.

"My interest is really in enhancing the democratic nature of the political process," White, the director of voters for None of the Above, told ABC News. "I feel one of the most fundamental things we can do is give voters the choice to reject all candidates."

Under White's proposal, if none of the candidates for a particular office received a plurality and the "None of the above" option did, a new election would be held two months later that excluded the original field's losing candidates.

So many races go uncontested in Massachusetts, according to White, that a "None of the above" option would force parties to put up more viable candidates. White, a registered independent, said the bill is rooted squarely in reviving the democratic process and has nothing to do with partisan politics.

He admits that there's little appetite for such a significant change in voting among lawmakers.

If we had this option in Nevada, Oscar Goodman might have ended up the "angriest" ex-mayor of Las Vegas since only 20 percent of the voters actually came out to vote because of the foregone conclusion that Goodman would win, since there was no real competition.

Posted by Zounds Off at 10:27 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Macau's first quarter casino revenues shattered records at HK$ 17.87 billion

Casino revenues in Macau surged again in the second quarter to a record HK$19.57 billion.

Just like a new restuarant, I imagine that for gamblers, Macau is now the place to go while Las Vegas is simply a remodeled restuarant with a has-been lounge singer, Barry Manilow.

Posted by Zounds Off at 9:55 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Thousands of Argentines cheered and threw snowballs in the streets of Buenos Aires on July 9, 2007 enjoying the first major snowfall since 1918.

Oh, wait...maybe that disproves global warming.

Early proponents of protecting the environment include Dupont which lobbied Congress to ban the refrigerant R-12 in favor of 135. It also happened that 135 was the product of fruitless research by Dupont because it was not as efficient as R-12 and the R-12 patent owned by Dupont was about to end, opening the product to be sold cheaper by competitors of Dupont. But thankfully, Congress did ban R-12 and thus protect Dupont from losing money on 135--which appears to be more corrosive than R-12. Also on the list is former Prime Minister of the U.K., Margaret Thatcher, who announced threats to the environment by green house gases while she battled unions of miners who threatened the British economy. Obviously, since miners dug coal and coal creates gases when burned, the miners became the "bad guys" for wanting to continue mining coal and make a living. Later, Bill Clinton and Al Gore met with Ken Lay who suggested that his company be protected from competition because his was a "green" company. Yes, that Ken Lay--the one who ran the failed Enron corporation; and yes, that Al Gore--the one who wants you to know he is so environmentally concerned while he heats and cools his 30 room mansion and once claimed that volcanoes can't throw ash high enough into the atmosphere to affect climate, commenting on the eruption of Mt. Pinatubo.

Strangely, the so called "green" movement calls for more government regulation and yet less competition against the largest of corporations which can afford to buy pollution credits.
So it seems like a win/win for both Democrats and Republican politicians alike. Democrats who support more government and Republicans who support bigger monopolies of companies.

Losers will be ordinary citizens who pay for "green" programs in taxes and higher prices for products from the "favored" companies.

And for anyone who wondered: The Pinatubo eruption in June 1991, more than 490 years after the last known eruptive activity, produced the second largest terrestrial eruption of the 20th century.

The effects of the eruption were felt worldwide. It ejected roughly 10 billion metric tons of magma, and 20 million tons of SO2, bringing vast quantities of minerals and metals to the surface environment. It injected large amounts of aerosols into the stratosphere--more than any eruption since that of Krakatoa in 1883. Over the following months, the aerosols formed a global layer of sulfuric acid haze. Global temperatures dropped by about 0.5 °C (0.9 °F), and ozone destruction increased substantially. But remember, Al Gore said that couldn't happen.

Posted by Zounds Off at 9:22 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

In case you didn't know, since all the media is on Clinton's and Obama's money, McCain's implosion, and will actor/former Congressman Fred Thompson--not to be confused with former Gov. Tommy Thompson who is running--run, Colorado Rep. Tom Tancredo is seeking the Republican presidential nomination and has been for months.

Just so you know.

Next entry...did you know Representative Ron Paul....

Posted by Zounds Off at 4:03 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Disappointing quarterly reports;

More subprime troubles;

Sizable increases in energy prices have boosted overall inflation and eroded real wages;

Countries holding large amounts of the dollar are still dumping the dollar in favor of the rising euro;

Leading indicators predict economic slowdown on housing woes;

Manufacturing shows slowdown;

Leading indexes dropped by more than expected in June;

Bulls keep running the stock market;

Does anything seem wrong with this picture?

Posted by Zounds Off at 3:35 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Joe Mysak writes that the Las Vegas Monorail should be carrying 56,000 passengers every day by now, according to the experts. In June, the train carried an average of 24,000 riders daily.

At this rate, the monorail will default on its bonds in three years, says Fitch Investors Service, which downgraded the securities to CC from CCC on July 10.

Things are deteriorating ``slightly more rapidly'' than the rating company calculated last October, when it lowered the monorail bonds to CCC from BB. The monorail is using up its reserves to help pay debt service.

The non-investment CCC grade means that default is a ``real possibility.'' CC means that default ``appears probable.''

And yet management is still talking about a plan to expand service beyond the Strip, right out to McCarran International Airport, which it says will cost $500 million and surely result in more riders.

"This reminds me of that song in the 1960 musical ``Oliver!,'' entitled ``Who Will Buy?'' I'm not sure who is going to buy another $500 million in bonds to pay for the roughly five-mile addition to the airport, or who might perhaps buy the whole train system itself.

If I had to bet, though, I would bet that the residents of Las Vegas or Clark County or Nevada will," says Mysak

....

There are several solutions.

The casinos could, of course, buck up, and help the monorail to expand to the airport in a bid to increase the number of riders.

The city, or county, or even state could decide that as a matter of good public policy, the monorail needs to be expanded, and that the public should help subsidize those bond payments, when they come due.

....

A columnist for the Las Vegas Review-Journal on July 12 had another idea: ``It's time for county transportation officials to admit the inevitable -- the little mass transit experiment has gone on long enough.'' Erin Neff suggested that the monorail shut down and use its remaining cash to tear down the tracks.

We know who will be paying for the monorail. For a state without a state income tax, it is still one of the most expensive to live in in the country and, if Nevada residents have to support corrupt politicians and developers, the gaming industry, and pay for disastrous mistakes, it will keep getting worse.

And for us in Clark County--add the monorail. Viva Las Vegas!

Posted by Zounds Off at 2:57 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The Las Vegas Sun is reporting university system Chancellor Jim Rogers is again stepping into the political realm, endorsing Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., in her run for the presidency.

In turn, the campaign has appointed Rogers co-chairman for Clinton's Nevada campaign, with Clark County Commission Chairman Rory Reid.

Rogers, a friend of the Clintons, said the senator best clicked with his educational views. Like Rogers, Hillary and Bill Clinton taught law, and the chancellor has donated $1 million to the Clinton library.

"I think they are very bright people who are very progressive," said Rogers, who has yet to donate to the campaign.

Bill taught law for one year and lost the completed finals for the last class he ever taught. Plus while the Clintons "ran" Arkansas, the state actually fell behind Mississippi in education. That makes the Clintons bright people who are very progressive? Perhaps, everyone should visit Arkansas and take a look at a beautiful state populated by some of the poorest people in this country, a state dotted whith towns where more than half the residents live in mobile homes and trailers. It is no wonder Hillary went to New York--it certainly better suits a rich girl from Chicago. And as for Rogers, this is the same Rogers who interfered with the Clark County School Board search for a superintendent to replace Garcia. If you ask me, he sees Sen.Clinton as wrapping up the nomination already--maybe with the help of his little media empire--and is placing himself in position for any benefits to be had.

Posted by Zounds Off at 2:33 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

John McCain's top communications aides and several staffers in Iowa and South Carolina quit today following the departures last week of campaign manager Terry Nelson and chief strategist John Weaver.

McCain poll numbers have plummetted--nearly as fast as he has run out of money--over the past six months, probably because of his support on Iraq and Sen.Kennedy's immigration plan.

Two other Republican presidential hpefuls also trailing in polls, Mike Huckabee and Tommy Thompson, each raised less than $1 million during the last three months.

At the same time Democrats Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton ended the first half of the year with more than $30 million each for the presidential primaries.

Without money--fuhget aboudit!

Posted by Zounds Off at 9:26 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Suggested Reading to cause sleepless nights from Money Market Magazine:

"Insider Trading: The Options Multiply"
As corporate takeovers soar, the scourge of the 1980s is back. This time, those with access to secrets are targeting stock options and credit default swaps.

"The KKR Way"
The deals are just the start. The original "barbarians at the gate" now command a $107 billion global empire. Here's how the buyout giant fires up its companies with a profit-or-perish creed.

I am constantly amazed at how much "wealth" is created by those who create nothing but simply move money or property back and forth. If our GDP is stagnant and our economy is stumbling, how do a few capitalize so mightily as most of us struggle with real double digit inflation--not government censored inflation?

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

From "Analysts see no end in sight to Las Vegas housing slump" in the Las Vegas Sun:

New homes sales through May were down 43.8 percent in Las Vegas from a year ago and resales were off by 34.7 percent, according to Home Builders Research.

Median new home prices have declined 4.4 percent to $308,874 and existing home prices slipped 3.8 percent to $278,000.

The inventory of homes for sale on the Multiple Listing Service climbed to a record 23,642 in June, with about 40 percent of them sitting vacant.

Real estate consultant John Burns said home prices in Las Vegas must drop by 33 percent, or about $100,000, before the market returns to normal conditions.

He said the housing cost-to-income ratio in both Las Vegas and Reno is 50 percent, meaning people spend half their income on housing. The national average is around 30 percent.

Basically, this just reinforces what I already knew; housing is way over priced, especially because of Californians flipping property, and wages in the Las Vegas valley are low since there is an abundance of workers moving to the area competing for jobs. Add heat, remove water, and I don't think this is "Paradise Valley." If housing prices were to drop 30 percent to stabilize the market, you just might see some home buyers suing developers for having overpaid. No wonder some developers are moving to Arizona and New Mexico ahead of the lawsuits.

Posted by Zounds Off at 4:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Republican White House hopeful Mitt Romney spent almost $20.5mn in the second quarter on his campaign, outspending nearly double the party front-runner Rudy Giuliani, according to election filings made public on Friday.

Romney, the former governor of Massachusetts and a wealthy investment banker, has trailed in opinion polls but has been gaining some steam after spending heavily on advertising in New Hampshire and Iowa, which hold early contests for the party's nomination.

He ended the second quarter with more than $12.1mn on hand after raising $14mn and giving himself a $6.5mn loan. Giuliani, the former New York mayor, raised $17.6mn, spent over $11mn and had $18.3mn on hand.

All of Romney's money is allocated for the primary campaign and he reported almost $9mn in debt. Giuliani had $3.3mn set aside for the general election and no debt.

If we consider fiscal responsibility among Republicans, it appears that Giuliani has the upper hand since he isn't in the red already, has money to go beyond the primaries, hasn't lent himself money--that I know--and isn't an investment banker, a member of a profession which, if I recall correctly, has a tendency to back corporate raiders, inflated stock analysis, market-making, promotion of securities, pension funds, mutual funds, hedge funds, and finally "earn" outrageous multi-million dollar salaries and benefits for its money managers, CEO's, etc; and John McCain's run has slowed to a ragged crawl.

Posted by Zounds Off at 3:33 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

In the news, dietary supplement maker Nature's Sunshine Products Inc. is coming under increasing scrutiny by federal regulators for auditing omissions, missing income tax returns, and problems with its foreign operations.

The company has received a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission subpoena for internal documents relating to operations in 32 other countries, while the U.S. Department of Justice has requested the same documents.

Nature's Sunshine has failed to file quarterly or annual financial reports since 2005 and blames the resignation of auditor KPMG for the omission. KPMG has said it resigned because company executives failed to take its advice.

I just want to know if any of their products come from China which has been the source of several tainted products including pet food, toothpaste, seafood, etc. At the same time, there is finally a chance that the government might finally start enforcing a five-year-old law requiring meat and other products to carry labels with their country of origin.

"The political dynamic is such that there's just no getting around it," said Colin Woodall, director of legislative affairs for the National Cattlemen's Beef Association. The livestock group has opposed a mandatory labeling program.

The Agriculture Department never put in place the labeling requirement because then-majority Republicans repeatedly delayed it, most recently to 2008.

The law's leading opponents are grocery stores and large meatpacking companies, many of whom mix U.S. and Mexican beef, along with other businesses involved in getting products to supermarket shelves. They say the tracking and the paperwork needed to comply with the law is too burdensome and would cause them to raise prices.

Venezuela students protest for free speech:
Hundreds of students set up a sprawling, 450-m blackboard in Caracas on Saturday for people to write what they feel, as part of a protest over the government shutdown of a popular TV station. One thing that no one better write is "Bong 4 Jesus."

Posted by Zounds Off at 12:22 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Former Virginia Gov. Jim Gilmore ended his long-shot campaign for presidency on Saturday, acknowledging he couldn't raise enough money. Who? Oh, yeah...that's why he quit.
John Edwards and Hillary Rodham Clinton were overheard discussing among themselves their hope of limiting the number of Democrats in presidential debates. It's nice to know that Democrats are so protective of the democratic process and are as supportive of free and fair debate as Poor George is about the Iraq war.

Posted by Zounds Off at 12:19 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Keith Olbermann offerd his take this week on Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff's scare tactics: "We are risking all of our rights and protections and risking the anger and hatred of the rest of the world for the sake of Michael Chertoff's gut."

For the rest of Olbermann's column, go to MSNBC.com.

"Those who would give up essential liberties to purchase temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety." Benjamin Franklin, Nov. 11, 1755

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

Published in the Las Vegas Review-Journal on July 9 as a letter to the editor.

To the editor:

Because more and more teachers in Clark County have expressed discontent with their representative unit, the Clark County Education Association, the Teamsters have decided to throw their hat in the ring.

But the fact of the matter is neither the association nor the Teamsters is looking out for the best interests of teachers. Teachers are professionals who deserve a professional organization that will engender the type of respect and recognition that unions do not bring to the table. The Teamsters are no better a solution to the concerns of the teachers of Clark County than the association.

...

It's understandable that Clark County's educators are wondering if there are better options than a union. The answer is yes. In fact, there is a groundswell among America's teachers, who are leaving traditional teacher labor unions to join non-union professional associations. Nearly 300,000 teachers nationwide have opted to join non-union educators associations such as the Association of American Educators, which has members in all 50 states. Members can get most of the benefits that the unions provide but at a fraction of the cost.

...

Gary Beckner

MISSION VIEJO, CALIF.

THE WRITER IS CHAIRMAN OF THE ASSOCIATION OF AMERICAN EDUCATORS.

Ah hah! No agenda here, is there Gary? I think if I was a teacher in Clark County I would be looking for hard ball, kick butt representation and not a tea and crumpets professionalism. This is Nevada after all, a state run by professional crooks who are only one generation--if that--from break your knees or dump the body in the desert solutions.

Posted by Zounds Off at 5:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

According to a Review Journal article, Stephen Stein, attorney for Signorelli, told the Las Vegas City Council on Wednesday that Crazy Horse Too owner Rick Rizzolo has passed on Signorelli's offer for a higher bid for the topless club.

The unknown buyer is offering $34.5 million and has $5 million in escrow, Stein said.

Perhaps the unknown buyer is Mayor Oscar Goodman. After all, he has worked very hard to keep the doors open, would have no trouble getting a liquor license from the city council despite conflicts of interests, and could soon retire as the happiest ex-mayor in the world, drinking gin, hanging with the babes, and regaling cronies with stories about the mob that wasn't there.

Posted by Zounds Off at 4:51 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The Medway, MA School District:
The empirical evidence on all-day, half-day, and alternate-day programs suggest that there are no clear differential effects of kindergarten schedules on both academic achievement and classroom social behaviors. Therefore, Medway can consider financial, philosophical, and other factors in deciding kindergarten schedules.

For a bibliography of 300 reports on early education go to Nevada Policy Research Institute.

Perhaps during the two year legislative break some of our legislators will read from the above list and make sound decisions, not emotional pleas. As I have written before, pay teachers more money, increase the school day by 1 hour and every student benefits through the twelfth grade. What I haven't heard is how Clark County would pay for at least 750 new teachers and 750 new classrooms for the sudden doublling of the kindergarten class.

Posted by Zounds Off at 4:42 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Democratic glamour boy, Sen. Barack Obama had better be more careful. Right now he enjoys near rock star celebrity status, but if he snubs the media like he did in Iowa last week, those reporters just might take a swing at him. During the two days he campaigned in Iowa he only met with the press who were following his campaign for a brief ten minutes. On the other hand, reporters following Sen. Hillary Clinton through Iowa were treated to malts by former president Bill. For sixty bucks the Clintons had reporters eating out of their hands.

Posted by Zounds Off at 4:31 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

In Yahoo News the sun's changing energy levels are not to blame for recent global warming and, if anything, solar variations over the past 20 years should have had a cooling effect, scientists said on Wednesday.

There is little doubt that solar variability has influenced the Earth's climate in the past and may well have been a factor in the first half of the last century, but British and Swiss researchers said it could not explain recent warming.

Most scientists say emissions of greenhouse gases, mainly from burning fossil fuels in power plants, factories and cars, are the prime cause of the current warming trend.

Mike Lockwood of Britain's Rutherford Appleton Laboratory and Claus Froehlich of the World Radiation Centre in Davos, Switzerland (which is data collection agency working with the U.S. Department of Energy's National Renewable Energy Laboratory), studied factors that could have forced climate change in recent decades, including variations in total solar irradiance and cosmic rays.

The data was smoothed to take account of the 11-year sunspot cycle, which affects the amount of heat the sun emits but does not impact the Earth's surface air temperature, due to the way the oceans absorb and retain heat.

But I thought if the oceans got warmer, then there should be more water evaporation, and water vapor is also a greenhouse gas. I just love it when I am smarter than the scientists, who of course are working for research facilities which have no agenda to see fossil fuel use replaced by the nuclear (notice I did not write nucular as Poor George [Bush] says) energy sources their governments are funding.

Please follow the above link to National Renewable Energy Laboratory to learn about NREL's research and development of renewable fuels and electricity that advance national energy goals to change the way we power our homes, businesses, and cars; you decide if they would have an agenda. As for me, the article doesn't answer my question as to why global warming has been detected on Mars. Perhaps Martians drive SUV's and we just can't see them.

Posted by Zounds Off at 11:58 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Pope Benedict XVI reasserted the primacy of the Roman Catholic Church, approving a document released Tuesday that says other Christian communities are either defective or not true churches and Catholicism provides the only true path to salvation.

Posted on 04/20/2005

VATICAN CITY - Pope Benedict XVI pledged to work to unify all Christians, reach out to other religions and continue implementing reforms from the Second Vatican Council as he outlined his goals and made clear his pontificate would closely follow the trajectory of his predecessor, Pope John Paul II.

Three years later and it sounds as if dialogue to other Christian churches is over; apparently unification means the Catholic way or the highway. Behind the lines has to be the message that if other Christian faiths are not true churches, then Islam is even less so. Again the battle lines are drawn.

Posted by Zounds Off at 8:15 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Pat Hearn is leaving his job as executive director of the Nevada Commission on Ethics after having the position for less than a year.

Commission Chairman Jim Kosinski said Hearn is resigning the $94,136-a-year job to return to Oregon, where he headed the state ethics commission for 15 years before taking the Nevada job Aug. 1 of last year.

Is that because there are no ethics in the state of Nevada at all?

Posted by Zounds Off at 8:04 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The New York Times from Georgia: "Despite a vibrant local economy, Atlanta homeowners are falling behind on mortgage payments and losing their homes at one of the highest rates in the nation, offering a troubling glimpse of what experts fear may be in store for other parts of the country."

"The real estate slump here and elsewhere is likely to worsen, given that most of the adjustable rate mortgages written in the last three years will be reset with higher interest rates," said Christopher F. Thornberg, an economist in Los Angeles.

A zip code-by-zip code analysis reported on lasvegasnow.com found that an area of North Las Vegas has one of the nation's 10 worst rates of home foreclosure. For the rest of the valley there are 8 in the top 100, and, according to the numbers from Realty Trac, there also are 24 zip codes in the top 500.

The largest number of foreclosures in this area have occurred in the North Las Vegas zip code 89031 -- the 8th worst in the nation. 89131, 89148, and 89129 also ranked in the top 50.

Other cities hit hard by foreclosures are Cleveland, Detroit, Denver--which never seems to have completely recovered from the days of the Savings & Loan debacle--and Sacramento.

Add credit card debt, leverage buyouts, hedge funds, money market manipulation, enormous debt owed to foreign nations, rising oil prices--the Iraq war will end when our econony collapses, not because politicians finally bring troops home.

Posted by Zounds Off at 7:39 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

George Knapp is reporting that the grandson of Benny Binion, Benny Behnen, has assaulted another woman at one of Las Vegas' most popular gourmet restaurants, Piero's, on Convention Center Drive.

He reports sources say Behnen and his group were involved in some sort of argument with another group when he spotted Sandy Murphy--forever linked to the Binion family as the girlfriend of Ted Binion who was tried twice for murder in Ted's death--across the restaurant and came over to her, smashed her head on a table and gave her a shot to the jaw. Metro police were called to the scene.

This just happens to be a recurring behavior by Behnen at the same restuarant. Steve Miller reported on another such event for the Las Vegas Tribune in 2000.

August 25, 2000 Stratosphere Tower developer Bob Stupak was dining with his 23-year-old daughter Summer at Piero's restaurant on Convention Center Drive in Las Vegas when three men attacked the duo at their table after claiming that Stupak had "stolen Horseshoe Casino chips."

Summer Stupak, who attempted to stop the beating of her 58-year-old father, narrowly missed being hit by a chair swung at her by one of the assailants. She is quoted in the police report stating: "The owner of Piero's did nothing to intervene or stop this assault."

One of the assailants was then 23 year old Benny Behnen, the grandson of Horseshoe founder Benny Binion.

Eyewitnesses collaborated the police report though Piero's owner Freddie Glusman later denied the incident occurred. Similar incidents had been reported at the restuarant in the past.

The I-Team reports it called Piero's manager, Evan Glusman on this latest event, but apparently he declined to comment.

I guess like Freddie said about the 2000 assault, this one never happened, either. One thing is for sure, I ain't a gonna eata ata thata place.

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

Apparently earmarks are not earmarks when Democrats tell us they aren't.

From the L.A. Times article "Lawmakers Try To Save Their Earmarks:"
After Democrats won control of Congress, they moved to fulfill their pledge to crack down on the controversial practice of lawmakers slipping projects in spending bills without public scrutiny.

In February, they scrapped Republican-drafted bills loaded with earmarks and passed a bill that they boasted had none.

Among those celebrating the achievement was Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), who said that piecing together the $463.5-billion spending bill was difficult, "but we got it done without a single earmark."

But the day after President Bush signed it, Reid wrote federal agencies to "strongly support the priorities" in the discarded GOP bills. "I believe they are essential to the nation and to my home state of Nevada."

Reid was not alone in seeking to save his earmarks.

Lawmakers from both parties -- including Democrats ranging from the most senior, such as Sen. Robert C. Byrd of West Virginia, to one of the most junior, such as Sen. Jon Tester of Montana -- pressed agencies to grant their spending requests, according to correspondence obtained under the Freedom of Information Act by the Center for Investigative Reporting.

What were those Democratic campaign promises again?

Posted by Zounds Off at 11:21 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I have been writing periodically on what I see as instability in our economy; the housing bust, the lack of production in this country, leveraged buyouts, hedge funds, inept politicians who don't see the coming problems for the forest of money they rake in through bribes, pork contracts, campaign contributions, etc. As a crazy person, living here in a true desert, I have begun to read more in the area of economics, the Federal Reserve, Middle East and Pacific rim politics and economies, in order to have a better understanding of why my gut is screaming "TROUBLE."

Rather than refer readers to 750 page textbook type sources, I suggest checking out "US Economy on Life-Support and Global Financial System on Brink of Collapse" for a thought provoking look at some of the above issues. Although, I have some reservations about Cook's solutions, I think I might have to seriously consider buying a few acres in a rich dirt state with rainfall and set up a wind turbine generator before the coming "dark age." A few excerpts to peak your interest follow:

Remember when the U.S. was the world's greatest industrial democracy? Barely thirty years ago the output of our producing economy and the skills of our workforce led the world.

What happened? It's hard to believe that in the space of a generation our character and capabilities just collapsed as, for example, did our steel and automobile industries and our family farming.

...our economy is on an artificial life-support system, a barely-breathing hostage in a lunatic asylum. That asylum is the U.S. and world financial systems which are on the verge of collapse.

The inmates are the world's central bankers, along with most of the financial magnates big and small. The fact is that the economy of much of the world is in a decisive downward slide which the financiers cannot stop because the systems they operate are the primary cause. As often happens, the inmates rule the asylum.

Unemployment worldwide is increasing, debt is rampant, infrastructures are crumbling, and commodity prices are rising.

In such an environment, crime, warfare, terrorism, and other forms of violence are endemic.

As many responsible commentators are warning, we are likely to see major financial shocks within the next few months. The warnings are even coming from high-flying institutional players like the Bank of International Settlements and the International Monetary Fund.

The countries that will be least able to master their own destiny are those like the U.S. where governments have been most passive to economic decomposition from actions of their financial sectors. The financiers are the ones who for the last generation have benefited most from economies marked by privatization, deregulation, and speculation, but that may be about to change.

Foreign purchase of U.S. securities has plummeted. And our debt-laden economy, where our manufacturing base has been largely outsourced, is no longer capable of providing our own population with a living by utilizing our own productive resources.

For a while we were floating on the housing bubble, but those days are now history when, according to a Merrill-Lynch study, the artificially pumped-up housing industry, as late as 2005, accounted for fifty percent of U.S. economic growth.

As everyone knows, the Federal Reserve under Chairman Alan Greenspan used the housing bubble, like a steroid drug, to pump liquidity into the economy.

The bubble was coordinated from Wall Street, where brokerages "bundled" the "creatively-financed" mortgages and sold them as bonds to retirement and mutual funds and to overseas investors. Portfolio managers were directed to buy subprime bonds as other bonds matured. It's the subprime segment of the industry that has now collapsed, triggering, for instance, the recent highly-publicized demise of two Bear Stearns hedge funds.

And so on.... Read mortals and weep. Of course, doomsayers have predicted the end many times and it hasn't happened, but Egyptian and Incan and Roman societies, for example, have fallen in the past--I may break out my violin, rosin the bow, and begin to fiddle.

Posted by Zounds Off at 11:57 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

From myfoxboston.com -- Police are looking for a man who robbed a Citizen's Bank in Manchester, New Hampshire on Saturday disguised as a tree.

The man walked into the bank with tree branches duct taped on his arms and demanded money from the teller. The teller filled the bag with cash and the suspect took off.

He must have thought that since trees are so important to environmentalists, especially in New Hampshire, the police would never shoot a tree. Now I'm waiting for a story where a tree robs a bank disguised as an environmentalist!

Posted by Zounds Off at 5:55 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

In Reno, Thursday's high of 108 degrees smashed the city's previous record for July 5, of 100 degrees set in 1970. Northern Nevada's hottest temperature Thursday was recorded in Lovelock at 112 degrees, surpassing the community's previous high of 104 degrees in 1991.

In Las Vegas, temperatures spiked Thursday at 116, one degree shy of the city's all-time high in 2005 and 1942.

Along with that good news is the following report that the U.S. Southwest may be in store for a 90 year drought.

Conditions in the southwestern states and portions of northern Mexico will be similar to those seen during a severe multiyear drought in the southwest during the 1950s and the drought that turned the Great Plains into the Dust Bowl in the 1930s.

Too hot to sleep; soon to be too dry to drink. Anybody worried yet?

Posted by Zounds Off at 12:38 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Apparently after selling 1,000 acres near Kingman, AZ--and giving control of development plans for over 7,000 more acres--to Jim Rhodes, officials at the state Land Department learned that Rhodes has admitted to illegally using his money to aid powerful politicians in Nevada; that he has repeatedly and successfully been sued over allegations of fraud, theft and self-dealing by his investment partners and others he's done business with; and that he has a long history of complaints for shoddy workmanship and construction defects from people who bought his homes.

Jamie Hogue, deputy state land commissioner, said officials at the agency were not aware of those things when Rhodes officials first contacted them about the property nine days before the auction.

If they knew then what they know today, they probably couldn't have done much differently because Rhodes met the bidder qualifications published before the auction, she said.

At that time, land department officials were concerned about who could bring the money to the table.

The character of the high bidder was not an issue, she said.

Character never seems to be an issue. Look how hard Las Vegas city councilmembers have worked to keep Rick Rizzolo's club open, county commissioners to give licenses to felons like Vinnie Faraci, and how many commissioners have been caught or investigated for bribery. Part of the information on Rhodes came to light from Erin Kenney testimony during the G-Sting trial, which showed that after being a commissioner she received $200,000 a year from Rhodes as a consultant, and, from another witness, that supposedly Kenney was paid $20,000 a month while commissioner.

Other names which continue to pop up stinking of corruption along with Rhodes:

Sen. Harry Reid, who got $10,000 in illegal contributions from Rhodes.

Jay Brown, the Las Vegas lawyer who worked for Rhodes and has recently been representing Signorelli in the "imaginary" transfer of Crazy Horse Too from Rick Rizzolo, which manueverings have been extensively covered by Steve Miller. Brown is a longtime friend and investment partner of Sen. Reid. Among Brown's other clients was Mike Galardi, former owner of Cheetahs, who was convicted of racketeering and bribery of Clark County Commissioners in the G-Sting trial.

Galardi has stated he and Mike Malone, the former county commissioner, paid cash to Kenny and Commissioner Kincaid-Chauncey, and arranged sexual favors for Herrera. All of it was done in return for favorable treatment from the commission, he said.

Galardi has also claimed that local cops, prosecutors, judges, even FBI agents and an assistant U.S. attorney had taken payoffs in the form of money, campaign contributions or free services at his strip clubs.

And interestingly, attorney Christopher Kaempfer, partner at Kummer, Kaempfer, Bonner, Renshaw, & Ferrario, apparently passed on a threat by the law firm's client Rhodes to Commissioner Mark James who sponsored freezing zoning in the Red Rock Canyon area, limiting the number of houses Rhodes could build there.

Yep. It takes a whole lot of character to be successful in Clark County, if the meaning of character is money, money, money!

For more go to "New land baron has checkered past," or "Commissioners want more answers from developer Rhodes."

Posted by Zounds Off at 11:06 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The Latin Chamber of Commerce is hosting a series of tequila tastings this summer to benefit the La Oportunidad Scholarship Fund.

Just how do you taste tequila? I thought it was by the shot glass with a lick of salt and bite of lime. Perhaps Metro should park a few officers outside the event with a breathylizer. Maybe check a few documents while they are at it.

Posted by Zounds Off at 10:50 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The GOP hasn't spent any time advertising the fact that it has moved its caucus forward, now scheduled for Jan. 19, only five days after Iowa's caucuses, until a sudden avalanche of postings on how the GOP hasn't made any noise.

Democrats have been all over Nevada while Republicans have hardly stopped by. Some may take this as a snub by Republicans who probably see delegate-rich states that have moved to Feb. 5, such as California, New York and New Jersey as more important.

I for one am considering voting for the candidate who spends the least amount of time with tv ads, which probably means some poor sixth party schmoe with no money and no chance--but at least he or she won't be spending hundreds of millions lying about his or her virtue and slamming the other candidates. Thankfully, I have several dozen books in mind to read and a number of DVDs to watch so I won't have to watch 18 months of political balderdash, blather, bunkum, claptrap, drivel, idiocy, nonsense, piffle, poppycock, rigmarole, rubbish, tomfoolery, trash, twaddle, baloney, bilge, bull, bunk, crap, hooey, malarkey.

Posted by Zounds Off at 2:07 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Swiss police stumbled across a cannabis farm while hunting for a deer that had been acting strangely. Locals in Trient had reported a deer that had been attacking hikers, wandering into shops and even sleeping on the roads. When rangers set off in search of the deer, they found the cause of the deer's strange behaviour and two men harvesting their crop were arrested.

Officials were alerted when the deer ordered a pepperoni pizza and a copy of "Fast Times at Ridgemont High" to go. OK, I added the last part.

Posted by Zounds Off at 2:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

"Southern Nevadans will get traffic relief up to two years faster, thanks to the design-build concept," said Gov. Jim Gibbons, announcing the North Corridor project, the $242 million project which will improve about four miles of Interstate 15 north of the busy Spaghetti Bowl interchange near downtown Las Vegas and should be completed by 2010.

"We're speeding up the process," said Susan Martinovich, Nevada Department of Transportation chief. "Traditional highway projects require the design to be finished first, then the bidding, before construction can begin. The design-build system allows actual construction to start while the designing is still taking place."

Plans call for widening I-15 from six lanes to 10 lanes from the Spaghetti Bowl to Lake Mead Boulevard, reconfiguring the Lake Mead Boulevard interchange, and widening the freeway to eight lanes from Lake Mead Boulevard to Craig Road.

Oh boy! Look what they managed to do with the "Spaghetti Bowl," the Henderson "Collision Bowl," and several other crazy loops and whirls with inadequate signs and no coordination of traffic lights when "they" designed it first. I can't wait to see what they build before they design it. Or, maybe building first and then designing it might actually work better. See you soon at the I-15 demolition derby.

Posted by Zounds Off at 1:28 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Toughening ethics laws, once a priority of Democrats, has bogged down in Congress as party leaders find their campaign promises colliding with lawmakers' re-election concerns. Two months have passed since a task force was supposed to have recommended how an independent panel might look into ethics complaints before they go to the House ethics committee. A key sticking point is opposition in both parties to letting outsiders file complaints against members of Congress.

Currently, only House members can initiate an ethics probe. Public watchdog groups call the restriction self-serving and unreasonable.

Before the elections Dems campaigned for change; since they took office, they act just like Republicans. Big promises forgotten for Big money.

For more go to Ethics reform bogged down in Congress.

Posted by Zounds Off at 1:03 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Just a few excerpts I found interesting from Robert Massi's article "A Call to Change: Why the U.S. Legal System Harms Americans, and How We Can Reclaim Our Rights:"

The president of the American Bar Association noted in an interview in June that almost half of the nation's 900,000 lawyers will be retiring over the next 10 to 15 years.

Karen J. Mathis told the Third Branch newsletter, published by the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts Office of Public Affairs, that up to 400,000 attorneys will be retiring, and she called upon those baby boomers to make a positive impact on their communities and professions.

"Boomer lawyers," as they're called, came to the practice of law with the energy, enthusiasm, work ethic and democratic and liberal ideals of the '60s. We held the law in reverence and believed in a justice system that was created to protect the rights of all citizens.

And while the ABA president's call to retiring lawyers to continue to contribute through "active retirement" is critical, we cannot wait for these educated volunteers to create a positive impact on our flawed civil court system. The work must begin now.

...

By the time [these] clients arrive in a lawyer's office they have formed a poor opinion of our current overburdened legal system. It has let them down, cost them money, impeded solutions and delayed resolutions to their problems.

I propose that a lawyer's role today is not to "bail out" their clients but to educate them and help them find a solution without kicking them back into the legal system's vicious cycle of expense, delay and frustration.

People are right to look to the legal system for resolution of a dispute. But as it exists now, the cost, the complexity and the slowness of the system can be intimidating. However, there are ways to settle legal problems outside of the court system. These methods include mediation, arbitration (both binding and nonbinding) and other, more specialized forms of alternative dispute resolution (ADR). These methods are generally less contentious, less costly and less time-consuming than traditional civil litigation.

A radical shift in how lawyers, judges, courts and legislatures view the forum for dispute resolution is a critical step in restoring the legal system as a viable option for settling disagreements. Our legal system must return to the ideals it is rooted in and offer equal access and justice for all -- not only for those with the means to afford counsel, but also for those without financial means who need impartial advice.

The legal system was meant to promote equality and provide a fair venue in which to resolve disputes. But the erosion of access for those without financial means, the cynical and calloused attitudes of some of those who do legal work and the dehumanizing processes of an overburdened system have contributed to the erosion of our reverence for the law.

I agree 200 percent that the legal system is broke--many people file frivolous law suits hoping to retire on their "reward," some people are constantly contentious litigators, some just know that they can get away with a lot within our legal system because of a regular network of payoffs and courting of political and legal "juice," and millions can't afford legal representation.

Your generation is the one that found the "golden goose" and is the reason that law schools have to spend more and more time teaching ethics in the practice of law. But that doesn't seem to have much effect on the "real" practice of law. Just write a few more delaying motions, review a few more case files, and pile up those billable hours at $350 per hour. If you want to do something, you might consider why the court system and the bar association are so adamant in policing themselves. Seems to me it's so the system can remain exactly the same. Certainly your generation of attorneys hasn't stepped forward on this until millions have been made. You are the generation which has spawned thousands of lawyer jokes. Be proud of yourselves for that; you have earned it.

Posted by Zounds Off at 3:55 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

From "Clinton sees differences between Libby, husband's pardons."

Just hours after a federal appeals court rejected Libby's appeal, Bush announced his decision to commute the prison term portion of the sentence, which he labeled excessive.

Senator Hillary Clinton has joined other Democrats in ripping Bush's decision.

In an interview, she said it was "one more example" of the Bush administration thinking "it is above the rule of law."

She claims her husband's pardons were simply routine exercises in the use of the pardon power, and none were aimed at protecting the Clinton presidency or legacy, she said.

"This particular action by the president is one more piece of evidence in their ongoing disregard for the rule of law that they think they don't have to answer to," she said.

According to many who paid attention to Bill Clinton's pardons, his actions were worthy of being dubbed "Pardongate." Obviously, Hillary is either another politician able to speak in tongues or she was unconscious during Bill's presidency. After the embarassments she suffered by Bill's pecadillos, I suspect she wishes she had been knocked out. A few of Bill's "routine exercise in the use of the pardon power" follow:

On August 11, 1999, Clinton commuted the sentences of 16 members of FALN, a violent Puerto Rican nationalist group that set off 120 bombs in the United States mostly in New York City and Chicago, convicted for conspiracies to commit robbery, bomb-making, and sedition, as well as for firearms and explosives violations.

Carlos A. Vignali had his sentence for cocaine trafficking commuted, after serving 6 of 15 years in federal prison.

Almon Glenn Braswell was pardoned of his mail fraud and perjury convictions, even while a federal investigation was underway regarding additional money laundering and tax evasion charges.[12] Braswell and Carlos Vignali each paid approximately $200,000 to Hillary Clinton's brother, Hugh Rodham, to represent their respective cases for clemency. Hugh Rodham returned the payments after they were disclosed to the public. Braswell would later invoke the Fifth Amendment at a Senate Committee hearing in 2001, when questioned about allegations of his having systematically defrauded senior citizens of millions of dollars.

Marc Rich, a fugitive, was pardoned of tax evasion, after clemency pleas from Israeli prime minister Ehud Barak, among many other international luminaries. Denise Rich, Marc's former wife, was a close friend of the Clintons and had made substantial donations to both Clinton's library and Hillary's Senate campaign. Clinton agreed to a pardon that required Marc Rich to pay a $100,000,000 fine before he could return to the United States. According to Paul Volcker's independent investigation of Iraqi Oil-for-Food kickback schemes, Marc Rich was a middleman for several suspect Iraqi oil deals involving over 4 million barrels of oil.
Susan McDougal, who had already completed her sentence, was pardoned for her role in the Whitewater scandal; McDougal had served 18 months on contempt charges for refusing to testify about Clinton's role.

Dan Rostenkowski, a former Democratic Congressman convicted in the Congressional Post Office Scandal. Rostenkowski had served his entire sentence.

Melvin J. Reynolds, a Democratic Congressman from Illinois, who was convicted of bank fraud, 12 counts of sexual assault, obstruction of justice, and solicitation of child pornography had his sentence commuted on the bank fraud charged and was allowed to serve the final months under the auspices of a half way house. He had served his entire sentence on child sex abuse charges before the commutation of the later convictions.

Roger Clinton, the president's half-brother, on drug charges after having served the entire sentence more than a decade before. Roger Clinton would be charged with drunk driving and disorderly conduct in an unrelated incident within a year of the pardon.

Notice that many of the pardons went to people who gave large amounts of money to the Clintons. I wonder if many of Hillary's campaign contributors are already looking forward to Presidential pardons for criminal activities if she should get into office.

Posted by Zounds Off at 3:06 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Some interesting excerpts of a Tony Cook colunm in Las Vegas Sun Politics:

Clark County hired Josh Griffin and Tim Crowley in February 2006 at a rate of $5,000 a month until the session began, when the monthly rate jumped to $10,000. Overall, the county paid the pair $105,000. Griffin and Crowley also represent gaming giant MGM Mirage.

The county stood to lose hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue because of the tax breaks and wanted them reduced as much as possible. MGM Mirage, on the other hand, had expected to save about $395 million on its $7.4 billion CityCenter thanks to the tax breaks and wanted to keep as much as possible.

The issue pitted the interests of one Griffin-Crowley client against another.

"They couldn't forcefully advocate for the county because in doing so they would have been forcefully arguing against another client," one county official complained privately. "They weren't able to help us."

The issue highlights a common problem.

The state's most talented lobbyists often boast more than a dozen clients. Indeed, 67 lobbyists in Carson City this year each represented more than 10 clients, making occasional conflicts inevitable.

The client lists of some lobbyists include local governments and special interests that they regulate. When it comes to which client will bear the burden of a tax shift, lobbyists can suddenly find themselves in sticky situations.

Sometimes, the ironies are rich. For example, R&R Partners, one of the state's lobbying powerhouses, represents the Indoor Tanning Association and the Nevada Cancer Institute.

Conflict of interest means disclosure and withdrawal in most places...in Nevada it just means that you get paid for not being able to do the job. Great work if you can get it, but you have to be part of the corrupt network of politicians, developers, attorneys, courts, and corporations to have a chance.

Posted by Zounds Off at 1:05 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Hedge funds are a trillion dollar a year player in today's commodity, real estate, and stock markets.

Democrats seek to collect more in campaign donations than the traditionally money rich Republicans.

Hedge funds are vast pools of capital that operate secretively and with little government supervision and can use techniques such as short-selling, or betting on falling stocks or markets to make a profit from downturns.

Hedge funds want to continue making money for their wealthy investors without further government restrictions; recognizing that Democrats have Congress and a good chance of gaining the White House in 2008, hedge funds are pouring money into Democrat's pockets.

Democrats like money as much as Republicans and want to win elections, so their pockets are open.

Hedge fund managers make obscene amounts of money--James Simons of Renaissance Technologies Corp., made $1.7 billion--and want to make sure it continues.

How will Democrats explain to the constituency they supposedly represent that taking vast sums on money from Republican-like, "robber baron" devils is a good thing? For more go to Hedge Funds Take On Emerging Political Role.

Posted by Zounds Off at 12:35 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Posted on PCWorld just one day after the iPhone went on sale Friday:

Many people who lined up to be the first buyers of Apple Inc.'s iPhone made good on promises to try to flip the gadgets online at inflated prices, but a quick buck appeared out of reach for many.

Auction Web site eBay had more than 400 listings for iPhones just 2 hours after the combination mobile phone, Web browser, and music and video player went on sale on the U.S. East Coast.

But the vast majority of offers failed to attract even a single bid, and many of those that had drawn interest were not yet above the list price.

A handful of offers did draw enthusiastic bidding. One eBay auction had attracted 35 bids and a leading offer of $1520. Another was up to $960 with 25 bids.

The iPhone is available at Apple and AT&T stores in two models priced at $500 and $600, depending on whether it has 4GB or 8GB of memory. It requires a service contract from AT&T Inc. that runs at least $1400 over two years.

Online classifieds site Craigslist had 404 iPhone listings for New York City, with most seeking about $1000 and one optimist asking $10,000 from "collectors only."

Buy something that is too expensive and then try to find someone--the bigger fool--who will pay even more--sounds like a sound business plan--and sometimes it even works until the bubble bursts and someone just bought something that ain't worth all that much. And guess what...! No one seems to care whether the phone part of the iPhone even works. So you can select the songs you want to play by searching through the cover art and you can download a web page--if you want to wait a few minutes for it to load with AT&T's slowest speed network. It has no hands free capability, your headphones need a special adaptor, and the phone only works with AT&T SIM cards--not Verizon, Sprint, T-Mobile, Alltel, etc., so coverage may be less than desirable. For people who really want to use technology as a tool, the iPhone is pointless; for those who need an expensive toy to define themselves, this is the "new thing." However, in a few months, it will be the "old thing" as Apple upgrades phones to use a faster network. And owning the phone should lead to an increase in obnoxious or foolish behaviors as people try to find ways to bring their phones into the conversation or flash it before our eyes or prop it on the table in the restuarant or wave it out the window of their car. For the record, I won't even recognize it so keep it in your pocket--and skip the fake phone call routine, only your like-minded friends and thieves will be really interested in your phone.

Posted by Zounds Off at 7:23 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The Supreme Court on Thursday rejected school assignment plans that take account of students' race in two major public school districts in Louisville, Ky., and Seattle, WA.

Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote a concurring opinion in which he said race may be a component of school district plans designed to achieve diversity.

Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama and the other Democratic presidential contenders, in a debate at Howard University in Washington, took the opportunity to slam the above Supreme Court decision barring the use of race in assigning students to public schools

Hoping for the black vote (especially interesting between Clinton and Obama, who both appear popular to black voters) the candidates spoke of racism, made promises to raise the poor off the floor and to do more for Africa. But did any of the candidates discuss antitrust laws which have been gutted allowing mega-corporations to form which limit competition and allow those corporations to dictate to the American people what services they can receive? And have Democrats done anything in the last 50 years which have actually raised the standard of living for the bottom 40 percent of the population or have they just kept promising--remember that for most of the last 50 years we have had Democrats in power in Congress and 20 years of Democrats in the presidency. Me thinks the Democrats smell just like Republicans; it's just the words are different.

The Supreme Court also abandoned a 96-year-old ban on manufacturers and retailers setting price floors for products, where in 1911 the Supreme Court found that price floors violated antitrust laws.

In a 5-4 decision, the court said that agreements on minimum prices are legal if they promote competition.

The ruling means that accusations of minimum pricing pacts will have to be evaluated on a case by case basis.

I suppose, intellectually, that Wal-Mart could set a minimum price floor with some "Mom & Pop" stores so that Wal-Mart wouldn't undersell and drive the little stores out of business, but I haven't seen an example yet; more common is the activity of an Archer Daniels Midland which was found to be price fixing and agreed to pay $100 million in fines. This latest Supreme Court ruling seems like a good way to allow those corporations, which have our best interests in mind, to agree to raise that minimum price to a level where they make enormous profit, make stockholders happy, and allow corporate officers to make obscene amounts of money. Just for fun let's look at some of those salaries.

Executive Title Company Total Compensation Salary
Thomas J. Fitzpatrick CEO Sallie Mae $39,629,325 $682,500

Richard D. Fairbank Chairman, President,CEO Capital One Financial Corp.$31,604,431 $0

Martine A. Rothblatt Chairman and CEO United Therapeutics Corp. $31,104,933 $660,000
Gary D. Forsee President and CEO Sprint Nextel Corp. $29,980,973 $1,252,875
Nicholas D. Chabraja Chairman, CEO General Dynamics Corp. $17,683,972 $1,300,000
Len J. Lauer COO Sprint Nextel Corp. $16,360,481 $934,062

Robert J. Stevens--Chairman, President. CEO Lockheed Martin Corp. $15,687,137 $1,248,750
Bryce Blair Chairman and CEO AvalonBay Communities Inc. $15,611,876 $716,827
Dwight C. Schar Chairman NVR Inc. $15,598,383 $2,000,000

Richard F. Syron Chairman and CEO Freddie Mac $15,554,809 $1,100,000

Posted by Zounds Off at 4:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Friday, June 29, 2007: NYMEX West Texas Intermediate for August delivery closed up $1.11 at $70.68 per barrel.

Quote of the week should go to Tim Evans, an analyst at Citigroup Inc., who argued that there was no fundamental reason for oil prices to be moving higher, claiming there is plenty of crude on hand for the refining process.

"You're in territory where, I think, you're operating a little bit under the 'bigger fool' theory," according to Evans.

IBasically, people are buying oil for more than $70 a barrel hoping they can find a "bigger fool" willing to pay $71.

Sounds just like the housing market of the last four years where many homes were purchased simply to be put back on the market at a higher price. Also sounds just like any old pyramid scheme where some make big money and those who come in at the end lose big.

Posted by Zounds Off at 1:40 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)