From Cox.net: The "Heavy Hitter" is facing the wrath of a judge for missing the first day of his client's murder trial. The "Review-Journal" says Glen Lerner left a message for Clark County prosecutor Roy Nelson over the weekend, saying he was in Pennsylvania "on sabbatical," and told him, quote, "if the judge wants to sanction me, she can sanction me." Nelson provided District Judge Michelle Leavitt with a copy of Lerner's recording. Lerner was to have defended Mario Lino on charges he killed a man whom he thought was having an affair with his wife. Leavitt re assigned Lino's case to a public defender and warned she would report Lerner to the State Bar. Lerner told the newspaper he expects to be back in Las Vegas by March or possibly May. He says he's reexamining his priorities, saying he has been, quote, "living the life of a rock star for so long."

I guess he should have been living the life of an attorney. Does this mean no more commercials and will he be subjected to any kind of state bar investigation and further sanctions?

In the Las Vegas Sun:
Two years ago, after learning that each of 23 tennis courts at the new Washington Buffalo Park was cracked even before it opened, city staff did not want the city to work again with Asphalt Paving Corp., the courts' general contractor.

The City Council ignored that recommendation, however, and allowed APCO to bid for $19.1 million worth of work on the Centennial Hills Community Center. APCO did not win that contract. But shortly after, APCO filed a $7 million claim against the city over the $29.7 million Washington Buffalo Park job.

During the past year, APCO has bid twice on city projects and both times the City Council awarded the contracts - worth a total of $13.2 million - to the company, unanimously and without question.
...
Mayor Oscar Goodman holds a 4 percent stake in Apex Business Park, which is partly owned by APCO employees.

'm sure readers can do the math.

Forbes is reporting on a quarterly report out of the University of California says the US economy, while not technically in a recession, is having a 'near recession experience.'

The UCLA study released today predicts real US economic growth will be just above 1 pct in the last quarter of this year and the first quarter of 2008, and says the deterioration of the housing market is to blame.
....
The forecast predicts the US economy will return to a 3 pct growth rate by 2009, and that the Fed will cut the federal funds rate to 4 pct by the end of this year, more than a full percentage point lower than the current 5.25 pct.

But in other news today the dollar fell to an all-time low against the euro today and oil prices surged to a record, suggesting that a weaker American economy will be accompanied by higher prices for energy and other imported goods.

Early this afternoon one euro was trading at $1.391, up from $1.384 on Tuesday evening; the euro is up 5.4 percent against the dollar so far this year and about 1 percent so far this week. Crude oil prices were up 2.2 percent, to $79.91 a barrel

Home market crash, credit crash, rising oil prices, rising product prices, and poisoned toys from China. If we don't see a recession, it's still going to be tough Christmas season.

Education Week reports that Congress approved legislation last week that seeks to bolster mathematics and science education through improved teacher recruitment and training and promote successful classroom practices through federal grants.

The bipartisan legislation, which the House approved by a 367-57 vote and the Senate passed unanimously, had the backing of numerous business and education organizations. Members of Congress have dubbed the proposals, now consolidated into one bill, "competitiveness" legislation, because they believe it will strengthen the quality of the U.S. workforce and gird the American economy against foreign competition.

The bill now goes to President Bush, who lawmakers believe will sign the bill.

However, at the same time the National Conference of State Legislatures has taken a hard-line against any form of national academic standards, declaring that any attempt to unite school curricula across states would be unacceptable until perceived flaws in the federal No Child Left Behind Act are fixed.

The strongly worded new policy against national standards--even voluntary ones--prompted virtually no debate today and was approved on a voice vote during the Denver-based group's business meeting at its annual conference here, which drew nearly 9,000 attendees. NCSL policies such as the new one on national standards set the Washington lobbying agenda of the legislative group.

So Congress wants to improve our science and math achievement in public schools--which is pretty dismal but so is our performance in language where our students spend class time text messaging their friends--and the states want the money but they don't want to be accountable for what actually goes into the curriculum. Some schools will proabably claim that their sports programs actually meet math and science requirements for the grant monies...understanding the physics of baseball design makes homeruns go farther, when we all know it really is steroid use, DYK. (Don't you know, for those who don't.)

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 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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

Regular gas for $4 a gallon.

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

Not really.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

In his article Buckley writes about the hope that Nigeria experienced in the 1960's when it threw off colonialism and became a democratic nation. However, since 1966 Nigeria has basically had military despots until the elections of last week, which promise only continuing chaos.

"Still we confront, year after year, decade after decade, the surrealistic proposition that progress is measured by the extent of democratic practices. In a brilliant dispatch from Kano, a formerly prosperous city in the north of Nigeria, Lydia Polgreen of The New York Times gave us the true measure of the problem." he writes.

Nigeria is the second-wealthiest country in Africa and exports 2 million barrels of oil per day, but the money disappears into the hands of politicians and random profiteers. Observers calculate that, since independence, $380 billion has been wasted or plundered. The straits of the country are best recorded by describing daily life.

"In Kano's Government Residential Area, where the wealthy live," Ms. Polgreen writes, "each household is its own power and water company. Plastic water tanks on spidery legs tower over the tiled roofs, each fed by an electric pump sucking water from a private well. The electric company provides light just a few hours a day, so the air is thick with the belching diesel smoke of a thousand generators, clattering away in miserable, endless unison."

The reporter cites specific cases. "Idriss Abdoulaye sells water from a pushcart for 20 naira a jerry can, about 15 cents, to people like himself, too poor to have wells. He makes about $2 a day, and cannot afford to send his sons to school."

Consider the enterprise of Saidu Dattijo Adhama. He was in the textile business, and in days gone by he produced 3,000 garments a day. "Six years ago he was forced to shut down because paying for private generator power to run his knitters and spinners and pump water for his bleaching and dyeing machines left him unable to compete with cheap imports flooding the country in the wake of trade liberalization. 'The reason I went out of business is simple,' he said. 'It is the Nigerian factor. No light. No water. No reliable suppliers. How can I compete with someone in China who opens the tap and sees water? Who taps a switch and sees light?'"

There is sentiment for returning to power Muhammadu Buhari, who ruled with a big stick for two years but in a regime in which there was less crime and corruption than at present.

After reading this article I have to wonder... is this a picture of the type of democracy our country has brought the Iraqi people?

The Las Vegas City Council voted unanimously to follow through on a plan to sue the FAA over the right-turn flight path. The estimated cost is somewhere between $300,000 and $350,000 taxpayer dollars.

Mayor Oscar Goodman has been urging Las Vegas locals to contact the FAA with their complaints about noise.

Perhaps Oscar, the city council, and the residents of the Summerlin area will indemnify the airlines, McCarran airport, and the FAA from all lawsuits if a plane happens to fall from the sky because it was forced to fly too close to the backwash of a previous flight on takeoff. Summerlin probably exists only because of the increasing number of flights bringing tourists to and from Las Vegas. Its residents will most likely have to "enjoy" what the rest of the valley has been all along until the proposed Ivanpah airport is built.

Thursday, April 5, 2007: NYMEX West Texas Intermediate for May delivery closed down $0.10 at $64.28 per barrel. Average retail price is closing in on $2.80 per gallon.

Last year about this time:
April 20, 2006 Oil prices hit a record high of $72.49; average retail price $2.78. (Gasoline prices would average over $3.00 a gallon in August of 2006.)

Some of Harry's past responses to high gasoline prices:
August 19, 2005
Democratic Senators Ask President to Investigate and Relieve High Gas Prices
Washington, DC - Today, Democratic Leader Harry Reid, Assistant Democrat Leader Dick Durbin, and Senator Maria Cantwell sent a letter to the White House asking the President to take a leadership role in helping to bring down gas prices. While oil companies are experiencing record profits, American families and businesses are facing record gas prices, even when crude oil supplies are at record highs.

October 12, 2005
Reid Unveils Proposals to Lower Gas Prices
Las Vegas, NV - Putting forth a real plan to lower skyrocketing gas prices and see America become energy independent by 2020, U.S. Senator Harry Reid today focused on four proposals to help give Nevadans relief at the pump.
Reid highlighted both near term and future proposals to lower gas prices now and protect consumers down the road.
"With gas hovering around three dollars a gallon, Nevada families are feeling the pinch of skyrocketing prices," Senator Reid said. "As part of a larger strategy to make America Energy Independent by 2020, I have been working with my Senate colleagues on a plan to reduce gas prices in the near and longer-term future."
Reid proposed better regulation to prevent market manipulation and price gouging, imposing criminal penalties for offenders, passing legislation to encourage investments in new oil refining capacity, offering a tax rebate to American gas consumers, and creating a strategic gasoline and jet fuel reserve. Sen. Reid also called on President Bush to meet with oil company CEOs and urge them to lower prices.
July 27, 2006
Reid Calls Oil Profits 'Backhand to the American People'
After ExxonMobil Corporation announced on Thursday that it had made a profit of $10.36 billion during the second quarter of 2006 Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) called the oil company's profits "shocking" and part of the GOP's "backhand to the American people."

This year's response by Harry to high gasoline prices:
April 6, 2007
?????
I am still waiting for Harry to combat the big oil companies this year now that Democrats are in the driver's seat, but I don't hear anything yet. Maybe Harry is just asleep at the wheel. Part of the Democrats first 100 hours proposal included H.R. 6 - Repealing Big Oil Subsidies as their plan to control big oil profits. Can I say...IT AIN'T WORKING! Of course, now that they are in power, it behooves Democrats to only wag the stick while oil companies can wave the bucks, thereby protecting campaign donations. In an earlier posting I predicted that Democrats would not fight oil prices this year and I guess I was right. As a side note, I wonder what happened to the liberal blogs who bragged that the oil companies would get it from the Democrats now in power. Last one I checked closed the comment section on its hurray for the Democrats versus oil companies posting. Hmm...afraid of what people might write? As to most Democrats versus Republicans rhetoric, it generally reminds me of some lyrics by the Who:

There's nothing in the streets
Looks any different to me
And the slogans are replaced, by-the-bye
And the parting on the left
Are now parting on the right
...
Meet the new boss
Same as the old boss
(Won't Get Fooled Again from the album Who's Next)

All I can say before before launching into this is that keeping up with current world madness is pushing ill winds through my medulla. It is what it is.

It's getting close to Easter, and you know what that means. That's right kids, Good Friday is almost upon us. Hooray!

Good Friday is the Friday before Easter to commemorate the crucifixion of Jesus. Commemorate? Hell, the US is fixin' ta celebrate-shock and awe style, baby! I can't think of a better day (or reason) to sow some death by blowing the smithereens out of some terrorists, and according to some, neither does King George or his court.

Ahmadinejad, of course, is not making things any easier with his own provocations, although it sounds like the moderates in Iran have control for now.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

From PBS--

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Yeah, I'm still pissed off about it.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

We're living the Straussian neocon dream, baby.

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

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

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

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

A high-ranking "defector" has suddenly materialized.

The Iranian New Year begins on March 21.

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

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

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

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

I see where the 60,000-member strong Culinary Workers Union is intensifying its voter registration efforts both in English and in Spanish because of the new presidential calendar, though it remains to be seen how the final positioning of caucuses and primaries plays out as several mostly unimportant states jockey for momentary fame.

With Nevada's Hispanic population at nearly 23 percent, compared to 3.5 percent in Iowa and 2 percent in New Hampshire, Hispanics in Nevada are looking forward to making noise in the coming presidential race.

According to a quote I found at CNN.com Manny Barajas, a member of the Culinary Union stated, "We are busboys, we are dishwashers, we are waiters, we are cooks, but you know we impact a lot of the economy of the United States."

They are also in higher paying construction jobs so don't let the sob story fool anyone that the Hispanics only take jobs no one wants. They are also thousands, most likely, of illegal immigrants in Nevada and, interestingly, it also appears that many thousands in this state have managed to obtain several identities with social security numbers and different names. I would guess that, if one is arrested on one identity, he or she can simply disappear and go back to work on another. I can only believe that the big push to enroll Hispanic voters will lead to a lot of Hispanics holding more than one voter registration in the next elections, since the registration process is so rigorous in this state—when I first moved back to this state, all I had was an out of state driver's license and I was registered on the sidewalk in front of a Circuit City store by saying yes to a few questions. Illegal and allowed to vote two or more times—seems like a crime our politicians either support or are afraid to address for fear of not getting the illegal vote.

Occasionally I just like to gather quotes:

Las Vegas casino owner, Bob Stupack once said, "We target everybody. Money's money. What is the difference if it is a Social Security check, a pension check, welfare check or a stock dividend check? It's our duty to extract as much money as we can from the customer."

"...I'm not going to jail," says Yvonne Atkinson Gates, County Commissioner after announcing she will step down from her position during an interview with Jon Ralston. Her last day on the board will be March 2, 2007.

She has been in the center of several scandals here in the valley, including G-Sting which claimed the political careers of Erin Kenney, Dario Herraro, and Mary Kincaid, plus the recent University Medical Center mess where its president Lacey Thomas had to step down for awarding phoney contracts to his college fraternity brothers. Despite the heat she claims one of the reasons she's stepping down is because she wants to spend more time with her family.

Do politicians really believe that after several years of neglecting family for ambition, we "believe" its for family and not that the fire is too close that causes them to flee the kitchen.

It seems Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid cannot do anything other then peddle power and cash in on questionable deals.

Let's start with the land deal that netted Reid a mere $700,000. Steve Miller has tied Harry Reid to Jay Brown - a close friend of Reid's for more then 35 years. Brown, in turn, has close ties to the Bononno Organized Crime Family and of a Bononno Family Capo, Vinny Faraci, who received the minimum possible sentence from Us Federal Judge Kent Dawson. Judge Dawson continues the Reid connection since Reid recommended him to the bench back in 1999. [American Mafia]

I have a feeling there is far more to this and hope the media continues to research all the dealings of Harry Reid. In fact, with $700,000 cozy land deals, I expect Harry isn't too concerned about not getting the pay hike that Senators normally enjoy; of course, the millions of Americans that have been denied a minimum wage increase for over 10 years by this Senate and its partisan divisions are not so lucky and will be pushed further into the depths of poverty. Harry, why can't you be as talented at making deals and closing agreements for Americans as you are for yourself? [Minimum Wage Increase Blocked]

Now, I see yet another questionable land deal with Reid taking home another of those five or six figure payday checks. I'd say we need to give Harry a lot more Hell over this. [Reid Land Deal #2].

In other news Reid isn't quite as tough on the Yucca Mountain Nuclear Waste Dump Project as his past rhetoric would indicate. [Nucular Regulatory Commision Apponitments]

Indeed, I agree with Wonkette, Harry Reid, you are insane.

I love lists, and this is my current list of the top 10 problems in the Las Vegas Valley:

10. Gangs / Violent Crime - This isn't really a major problem here, stay away from rough parts of town most of North Las Vegas and it's not even a consideration; however, more and more areas are decaying and becoming prime breeding grounds for gangs.

9. Homeless - It's a problem in every American city, but poses special issue for a city dependant on a tourist economy. Tourists don't like homeless people so they are kept away from the private properties and quietly shuffled out of site; but, Vegas has an increasing homeless problem which should be addressed. (As a side note: How Oscar Goodman can be our Mayor and Vegas be only the 5th meanest city to be homeless is something I cannot fathom).

8. Hard Drugs - Yes, it's a problem in Sin City, as even new Gov Gibbons acknowledged in his State of the State address - In particular methamphetamine.

7. Air Quality and Pollution - There is a constant haze in the city as can be seen on the live Vegas traffic cams lingering over the valley as a deep brown haze. The air quality ranges between mustard gas and clouds of flesh eating bacteria.

6. Health Care Quality and Corruption - The recent UMC case had me livid, epically considering the horrid state of our Health Care.

5. Home foreclosures and the housing market - I expect the instability will continue for another month or two (because foreclosure is a lag indicator of events that happened 3 months ago and we've yet to reach the crest).

4. Water. Las Vegas is in he middle of the desert and as the population swells so do our water requirements. We are sill 10-15 years away from serious H2O problems but this should be on every resident's radar.

3. Political Corruption - every local government has some degree of corruption, however, when the whole city counsels guilty that's excessive! And it continues to this day, as our favorite Vegas phenomenal pain in the ass, Steve Miller continues to uncover and make headlines with his discoveries in the Crazy Horse Too / Rizzolo / Las Vegas City Council case.

2. Traffic and congestion - Weekends are almost unbearable with traffic jams sometimes adding almost an hour to local trips about town that not too long ago only took 15 minutes.

1. Our crumbling education system. This is a dire situation and must be addressed. I'll let Zounds Off, an expert on the Nevada education system, tee off on this massive issue. Suffice to say, the best part of solving this is that in time it contributes to the solution of almost every other problem.

In the short time I've followed Jim Gibbons (about 3 weeks before the November elections) he's engaged in several deceptions ancd questionable practices.

First it was the waitress incident, which I seriously doubt anyone will know the facts of while the parties are still living, that something happened is a certainty.

Next the illegal immigrant housekeeper, the real story is again an unknown, however, something happened.

Now, the midnight swearing in ceremony; wherein the first excuse for this decidedly odd procedure that pops into Gibbons' head is Terrorism?!. Be real Governor, and have a little more faith in the intellect and perception of the voter.

Why couldn't he tell the truth, that he wanted to change some appointments and policies; and, the only way to do this was the midnight ceremony. This I could understand and, in fact, such a show of honesty would have really improved my opinion of him. Gibbons' appointment seems to be more qualified and less bias then Guinn's on the face of prior experience (outlined below). Of course, his terrorism lie greatly increases my interest as to why he felt the need to try and cover up what would otherwise seem like a politically honest (is that an oxymoron?) move on Gibbons part.

Here's a thumbnail of the two appointees, Guinn's first then Gibbons.

Keith Munro (this link will die soon)
1991 JD from Oklahoma City University School of Law
1993 Deputy Attorney General and Capital Case Coordinator for the Office of the Nevada Attorney General
1993-2000 (criminal prosecutor, a civil litigator, and as general legal counsel for the Department of Prisons)
2000-2003 - Gov. Office General Counsel
2003-2006 - Deputy Chief of Staff
2006 Kenny Guinn's Chief of Staff

Randall Sayre
1975 University of Nevada, Reno, with a Bachelor of Arts in Criminal Justice
1980 Masters Degree in Public Administration from Golden Gate University
1981-1990 - "employed by the Gaming Control Board"
June 1990 - appointed to Chief of the Investigations Division of the Nevada State Gaming Control Board
1999-Present Appointed to the Standing Committee on Judicial Ethics and Election Practices by Governor Kenny Guinn

Finally, to Gov. Gibbons I plead...
Gibbons, you continually draw the scrutiny of Nevada, especially now that your it's Chief Executive Officer, the Governor, please, consider the office and it's importance as Nevada enters a period of economic downturn and is faced with new and emerging threats to gaming, it's leading industry, from abroad. So, stop acting bat-shit crazy and stop with the cellophane lies, they only hurt. Hurt you as a person, hurt the Governorship as an office and most espically hurt Nevada as a state where I happen to be a concerned resident. It's not too late to change your ways! Oh... and about that redbull you drank, I have serveral close Mormon friends and caffeine is a big no-no... how Mormon are you, sir?

Of course the fact that you have two blogs dedicated to his political demise, No Gibbons and Vote Gibbons Out leaves me less then optimistic here.

See Also: Las Vegas Gleaner

You Should be reading: Rag Hand

John Edwards made his stop in Reno, Nevada the other day and drew a 'larger then expected' audience. John Kerry's 2004 Vice Presidential running mate outlined his priorities to the enthralled crowd (Poverty, Healthcare, Education and Global Warming cf. The Budget). Oh, he also wants 40,000-50,000 of our 170,000+ troops out of Iraq ASAP. This seems a hideous compromise number where-by too few troops are withdrawn making an already difficult environment far more deadly for the remaining troops. If we are to withdraw from the region it must be a total exit leaving behind only the necessary resources to protect the critical infrastructure (oil pipes)... and I don't believe 100,000+ combat troops is needed for this. The Edward's plan for Iraq is one of the few I've heard that's actually worse on its face than the status quo.

The most interesting aspect of this first-tier candidate's Nevada visit was, at least for me, his shift in media focus from traditional print to the 'new' media, namely blogs.

As a blogger I am beyond thrilled to see the attention showered upon fellow bloggers; however, I believe Edwards made a serious error when he choose to provide his only exclusive one-on-one interview to Reno and It's Discontents (an excellent read). Why? Because the traditional print media is antagonistic towards bloggers. 'The Big Media Blog Bias' will adversely impact opinions of candidates that choose to embrace the Internet venues as deserving of equal attention, or in Edwards case superior attention.

The problem for Edwards is that, although media power is becoming more viral and less centralized, the scales have not yet (and may never) tip away from the existing central press organizations. A single AP or Reuters correspondent will be disproportionately influential in shaping public opinion and the AP had an underwhelming assessment of your bid for candidacy.

To John Edwards I say... "If you had only one interview to give at a minor function such as this Reno meeting then give it to the people with the most reach... give it to the AP/Reuters. If you have two give one to the AP and one to a blogger. If you have three give one to the AP, one to a blogger and one to a local traditional print (preferably the one with the largest and most open web presence). Now, always make sure you give at least two interviews and you're in good shape."

In other news outgoing Governor Guinn is skipping Gibbons inauguration, Gleaner is keeping an eye on Gibbons, and I believe the attention and scrutiny are far more meritorious then his recent conduct.

With a few new "concessions" to appease Democrats (damn the consumer), AT&T's acquisition of BellSouth draws ever closer and is nigh unstoppable at this point given that the deal may be approved as early as today.

(Reuters)" The No. 1 U.S. telephone carrier said it would sell off certain wireless airwaves in the 2.5 gigahertz band, offer a $19.95 per month stand-alone basic high-speed Internet service and for up to 24 months would not charge content providers like Google Inc.[...] to speed their services to consumers."