Alas, Jon Ralston is probably right and we shall be entertained (if not altogether amused) by the specter of yet another special session of the Assembled Wisdom in Carson City, NV. The entertainment will no doubt feature Governor Gibbons acting as though he has never said a [...]
OK, let me get this straight: According to Representative Dean Heller (R-NV2), if I want to purchase a new television set instead of paying for my required automobile insurance, then it should be my privilege to do so? “They ought to choose whether or not they want access,” [...]
"Now that the House has passed major health-care legislation, the pressure is building on Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., to pass a bill by President Obama's Christmas deadline. Reid has an even harder task in front of him than House Speaker Nancy Pelosi did." [Examiner] Yes, because there are' [...]
It takes two to tango. It takes two to be bipartisan. There is no indication the Republican Party members in Congress have any intention of cooperating with much of anything. Some examples:
#1. Filibuster delays on the extension of unemployment benefits, business tax credits, and housing tax credit [...]
The good news is that Congress passed, and the President is ready to sign, legislation that extends unemployment benefits for another 20 weeks for Nevadans who have exhausted their benefits. The bad news is that includes approximately 10,000 people in the Silver State. [RGJ] Worse still, we're' [...]
As the Las Vegas Sun article this morning points out, Nevada Congressional District 2 voters seem to like their candidates to be conservative, just not That conservative. [LVSun] However, the August 2006 Republican Primary was a bit closer than most might remember. Ultra-right wing conservative Sharron Angle, [...]
** Merry Christmas? Tax revenues in Nevada continue to drop, the budget gap is growing, and we're probably looking at another Special Session of the Assembled Wisdom – not that they'll actually raise taxes to fill in the gap – expect more tinkering in the form of moving [...]
Why would anyone in Nevada, coffee in hand on a cool October morning, be thinking about the regulation of derivatives trading? Protracted economic epistles are usually a recipe for eye-rolling, yawn inducing, apathetic reactions, even with a heavy dose of caffeine. Not to extend the tease remorselessly, but [...]
Back in 2008 during the 24th Special Session of the Nevada Legislature approximately $106 million was shaved from the operating budgets of state agencies, there was a 50% reduction in funds set aside for educational supplies and equipment, and a one time transfer of $19.8 million from nonreverting [...]
Hey, at least he didn't lie. Senator John Ensign (R-NV) ducked questions about investigations of his affair/payoff/lobbying law violations, and instead turned his attentions toward one of the least defensible GOP talking points attacking the Obama Administration. [LV Sun] The far-far Right has embraced the “czar” argument,' [...]
In the interest of some form of disclosure, I'm a “Single Payer,” “Medicare for Everyone,” enthusiast. Therefore, the announcement by Senator Harry Reid (D-NV) that the Senate version of a health care reform bill would incorporate a public option with an “opt out” clause wasn't exactly what I [...]
Nevada Governor Jim Gibbons weighs in on health care reform with “predictable” rhetoric: “I have a hard time remembering when anything as important as health care was ever improved by having the federal government involved.” The federal government does not belong “in your medicine cabinet, in the operating [...]
It's on the Twitter lines this morning: A brief announcement that at 11:30 (E) AM Senators Reid (D-NV) Leahy (D-VT) and Schumer (D-NY) will call for the repeal of the McCarran-Ferguson anti-trust exemption for insurance companies. 'Bout time!Two essential features of the Nevada prosecution of ACORN which one might reasonably bet will be ignored, misreported, or just flat lied about by the radical Right: “The organization is not charged with voter registration fraud, but rather with 13 counts of compensation for registration of voters, a [...]
Senator Harry Reid (D-NV) and his Merry Band of Negotiators will now have to merge the two versions of the health care reform legislation in the U.S. Senate. For all of Senator Reid's assurances that the final package will include a public option, there are still questions (given' [...]
The headline reads, “Gibbons promotes energy director to new position,” [Las Vegas Sun] and informs us that, “Gecol's tenure has not been without controversy. Legislators, both Democrats and Republicans, complained of the pace that Gecol's office applied for federal stimulus funds. Nevada was one of the last [...]
Washington Post columnist Howard Kurtz muses that “Ensign (R-NV) is no Letterman.” [WaPo] And, Foser (MMA) opines that Kurtz offers up an “inane explanation” why the Ensign story hasn't gathered more public notice. [MMA] Meanwhile back in the land of Ensign's Ob/Gyn, The Muskogee Phoenix' [...]
Nevada, and other, viewers of “Capitalism, A Love Story,” should heed the warning about Dead Peasant's Insurance – a tax scam perpetrated by corporations on states and the federal government. The scam is relatively straight forward, a company takes out life insurance on low level employees – without [...]
If there is one thing at which the right wing echo chamber excels, it's making a mountain from a molehill and then getting the media to follow a non-story until someone, or everyone, gets embarrassed. Witness a letter to the editor of the Las Vegas Sun from a [...]
It had to happen. Eventually one of the Medicare supplement insurance mailers would reach my mailbox in the remote Nevada wilderness, and so it did. The insurance corporation assured me, right at the top, that “the three things you want most from Medicare health coverage are now available [...]
There are at least two ways to pay for medical care for Americans working in low income jobs. One way, as advocated by Senator Harry Reid (D-NV) would give Nevada a 30% increase in Medicaid funding for a 1.6% match in order to cover families of three with [...]
Senator Harry Reid (D-NV) and his Senate cohorts will be processing the health care reform bills this month, and seeking to combine the provisions of the Baucus mark-up version from the Finance Committee (not yet voted on by the committee) and the HELP committee version which was finalized [...]
Economists warned us during the housing bubble, in which Nevada participated so enthusiastically, that the effects of a decline in that sector would be ominous because of its midstream economic position. That meant a collapse in the housing sector would ripple back to primary industries (lumber, non-precious metals) [...]
We can refer to statistics until the underworld freezes over, but none of the numbers concerning the health care crisis in this country come close to fully describing the situation except the powerful stories shared by individual Nevadans interviewed by Marshall Allen for the Las Vegas Sun. [...]
The very slender thread by which the opponents of health care reform hang their argument that undocumented workers could receive health care benefits is composed of part mythology and part misdirection. This post will explore the Republican charge that “illegal aliens” would be eligible for health care services [...]
Congressman Dean Heller (R-NV2) would have us attend to the “STAR” bill (H.R. 3483) as a model for Republican health care reform suggestions. [Ralston, LVSun] [via Ralston] Congressman Heller admits that “this legislation will not be a 'silver bullet' solution to all the problems facing our [...]
From the Department of Unsolicited Advice: Before making statements such as the following it is good to remember the old adage – It is better to keep one's mouth closed and be thought a fool, than to open it and remove all doubt: “Since taking office in January, [...]
Oh, Gee How Could Anyone Criticize a “purely social event” at Lake Tahoe bringing together the Nevada Insurance Division with the Insurance industry people they are supposed to be regulating? “Dan Burns, spokesman for Gov. Jim Gibbons, ... dismissed criticism of the event.
“The governor wants an open [...]
There's something incongruous about opponents of health care reform who create distractions at town hall meetings, and then do an about face to complain when proponents chose to speak to invitation only sessions, such as the one held by Senator Harry Reid (D-NV) last evening in Las Vegas. [...]
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) issued this statement on the passing of Senator Edward Kennedy (D-MA):
"As we mourn his loss, we rededicate ourselves to the causes for which he so dutifully dedicated his life. Senator Kennedy’s legacy stands with the greatest, the most devoted, the" [...]
It's now late evening, August 24, 2009, the sky has not opened up, the chasm hasn't rent the Earth, the sulfurous fumes have not enveloped the state of Nevada, and 78 same-sex or heterogeneous couples have pre-filed under the terms of Nevada's brand new domestic partnership statute.
The numbers are in for the Washoe County (NV) School District: 34% of African American students are receiving diplomas, the numbers are only slightly better for Hispanic students who have a 38% graduation rate. The graduation rate for white students is 64% and for Asian-American students 67%. [[...]
There could be a reasonable debate about the form and policies associated with health care reform in this country if both sides would argue facts and political philosophy. However, if a person's watching the cable news coverage, and the “debate,” from the conflict narrative (the more dramatic the [...]
Strange, but true, when corporations seek to defend their institutions, asking for data like profit margins and corporate compensation packages is “a distraction,” but when they speak to prospective investors they can't wait to share that information and even more. For example, when the Democratic leadership of the' [...]
Steve Sebelius observes that Senator John Ensign (R-NV) has acquired the technology necessary to split a semantic hair into yoctometers (ym), and The Gleaner suggests that the junior Senator from the Silver State may have come upon his campaign reelection slogan: “I haven't done anything' [...]
If Las Vegas, NV had woods, it wouldn't be out of them – at least not economically. One out of every 56 housing units received a foreclosure notice in July. Home prices are down 34.6% (yoy) now showing a $140,500 median price. 82.5% of Las Vegas home mortgages' [...]
Between 1991 and 2004 health care costs in Nevada increased by 10%; the national average was 6.7%. The average annual percentage rate growth in health care expenditures per capita in Nevada during the same period was 5.2%. In 2006, the average single premium per enrolled employee for employer [...]
As if Republican opposition to the confirmation of Justice Sonia Sotomayor weren't enough to help convince Hispanic-American citizens in Nevada that the party doesn't represent their interests, opposition to health care reform measures that might alleviate the economic pressure felt by Hispanic working families isn't likely to make' [...]
Update: Perhaps we should not have taken Mrs. Abram all that seriously, she was not a newcomer to politics at all; instead she's an organizer for the "9/12" groups.
Mrs. Katy Abram has had her 15 minutes of fame, telling MSNBC viewers why she's opposed to health [...]
On December 8, 2003, President George Bush signed the Medicare Prescription Drug Improvement and Medicare Modernization Act of 2003 into law. His Department of Health and Human Services said: “This landmark legislation provides seniors and individuals with disabilities with a prescription drug benefit, more choices, and better benefits [...]
On June 9, 1954, ABC cameras were recording the Army-McCarthy hearings in the U.S. Senate, and captured this famous exchange between attorney Joseph Welch and committee member Senator Joe McCarthy (R-WI):
"Mr. WELCH. I meant to do you no personal injury, and if I did, beg your pardon.Let us not" [...]
For the 25% or so of Americans so opposed to any health care reform that they would make complete fools of themselves in town hall sessions there are several things that just don't matter. For example, it doesn't matter to them that H.R. 3200's provisions on advance' [...]
