One of the things I always admired about Nevada - being the pragmatic realist that I am - was that the people of this state seemed to understand that certain activities exist, have always existed, will always continue to exist and therefore, Nevada legalized them and regulated them.
So where has that good common sense gone? Yesterday, Sen. Harry Reid, who grew up around bordellos in Searchlight, Nevada back in the day wants to make prostitution illegal again. Following along in righteous lockstep is today’s Reno Gazette-Journal. They don’t want to be left off the boosterism, holier-than-thou train.
Some days, you have to ask where the grownups have all gone.
It seems some business person, considering a move to Storey County - home to famous brothels - got all queasy and said he wouldn’t want his little tykes looking out the school bus window to see a brothel. I suppose this means that little tykes aren’t traumatized by gambling, and seeing their grandma blow her Social Security monthly allotment is alright.
Gee, Harry Reid … RG-J editorial staff … let me know how it is to have it both ways.
But let’s get back to whoring. We know a few things about that around here.
Why do women choose to even do that? For the fun of it? For the money? They might tell you that, but more often it’s other reasons.
A 2009 survey identified the following main vulnerability factors for German sex workers (in the order of importance):
Financial problems, including debts and poverty.
Violence and abuse by clients, police and pimps.
No professional identity; lack of self-confidence.
Stigma and discrimination.
Exploitative personal dependencies.
Hmmmm. Those all seem to be problems that could be solved organically with really good education, that would in turn attract better, higher paying jobs. And, as some wag mentioned earlier, only when a society has little else to offer in the way of education or jobs, does a legal whorehouse trailer on the outskirts of town become a real deal breaker for incoming business.
Way back in the day, before Mr. Capt. Maven became an airline pilot, he flew plenty of charters from Idaho down to Wells, Elko and Winnemucca for nice, upstanding men. You buzzed the whorehouse, and they’d come out to the airport and pick up the Johns. Mr. Maven got to wait in the saloon with a coca-cola so he could later fly a bunch of puking, battling drunks back to their irate wives. It was a way to build up time in the logbook.
Despite this, Nevada seemed to thrive and stumble into the 20th century, albeit with some ‘baggage’ in tow.
Today, citizens and policy makers alike can too easily fall into the trap of self-righteous urban folk legend moralizing and hand wringing when it comes to prostitution. All they see are caricatures of the glamorous urban Hollywood Madams or the pitiful Crack Whores - when in reality either is merely a tip of the sex trade iceberg.
To merely assume that businesses flock to other cities - due to the supposed absence of prostitution is naive at best. You’d have to have been living on another planet to really believe this.
Most large U.S. cities - Dallas, Boston, New York City, Miami, San Francisco, Portland - have, if not exactly legal prostitution, then unofficially sanctioned prostitution. It is often spatially segregated to low-income areas, tolerated at convention centers and events (including fancy hotels), or sea-port towns. This localization works for the sex consumer - easy availability of goods ala one-stop shopping - and allows for police/social services to more easily monitor and control the trade and it’s attendant risks.
My point here, is that other cities, states and localities also offer prostitution - free trade zones, if you will - via zoning ordinances. The same can be done in any city, town, county or locality in Nevada as it is done today.
See, problem solved. Zone it away from middle-class school bus routes. The poor kids with drug addicted Mom’s already get it. The rich kids go to private boarding school in economic powerhouse Switzerland - where prostitution is legal and regulated.
Making prostitution less visible does nothing, zip, nada to make it go away. Make the regulated, controlled environs of the Bunny Ranch go away, and you’ll still have to deal with the problem as it exists in alleyways, backrooms, run down hotels, high rise apartments, glitzy hotel convention centers and high-crime areas in the poor areas.
I might just be a silly housewife, but I think gambling sort of comes hand in glove with social problems like prostitution and drug/alcohol addiction.
If Senator Reid and the Reno Gazette-Journal are truly on a mission to get rid of prostitution, then perhaps they should start by getting rid of gaming. Then Nevada can stand in line to become more like Wyoming - with not much more than sagebrush, skiing, minerals, world-class homophobia and right-wing self-righteousness to offer.
In the meantime, let’s tax the girls and buy us some ed-u-ka-tion.
“In the entire 19th century, the Senate saw fewer than, 12, a dozen filibusters. Now we see that many in a single month…Rather than offer amendments to improve legislation or compromise for the greater good — as members of this body have done for generations — the current minority has offered amendments simply to waste time, to delay us from proceeding to a bill or to score political points. The American people love government but they don’t like too much politics in government.
These rules are central to the Senate, but they are not sacrosanct. Senate procedures and rules have changed since the Senate was founded at the beginning of this century. Those decisions have never been made without great deliberation, and no future change should be made any differently…
Here’s the bottom line: We may not agree yet on how to fix the problem - but no one can credibly claim problems don’t exist. No one who has watched this body operate since the current minority took office can say it functions just fine. That wouldn’t be true, it would be dishonest. No one can deny that the filibuster has been used for purely political reasons — reasons far beyond those for which this protection was invented and intended.”
Sen. Harry Reid, D-NV
Let’s hope he find the spine - and the support in his own party - to make this a reality.
This has been quite a week, to be sure. I really do want to thank all the readers and friends who shared their condolences and stories - by email, phone and blog comments - about the passing of our beloved Jack Russell Terrier, Asta.
Is there any doubt about how much pets enrich and inform our lives? There isn’t here at Rancho Maven. We’ve had a few friends ask about whether we’ll get another dog. Maybe. Probably. Some day. I’m thinking late spring or summer. And we’re pretty sure it will be a pound puppy or rescue dog. For right now, though, we still think we ‘hear’ her coming in the dog door in the kitchen, or I wake in the night listening for her snoring.
I want to thank the staff at Klaich Animal Hospital. They cared for Asta all her life. We watched Mark Klaich go from newbie-vet to having, well … a few gray hairs. It’s been a nearly 20 year relationship with them and they’ve never let us down or disappointed. Nick Klaich was scheduled for surgery all day on Wednesday but still took the time to make the final arrangements for Asta - taking the necessary time with her and us.
There is a new art exhibit opening this evening at the McKinley Arts Center, Reno. I’ve known Roger Kinnaman for years, and worked with him extensively. For fine art of this quality, Roger’s work is a bargain - and a great idea for holiday gift giving. My sister-in-law’s den sports one of his pastel works.
· Gallery East (McKinley Arts & Culture Center, 925 Riverside Drive) - Sierra Nevada Series by Roger Kinnaman is inspired by the mountains of Northern Nevada. Kinnaman captures expansive vistas and detailed vignettes in his vibrant, textured pastel drawings and oil paintings. Shimmering waterfalls, colorful trees, and mossy rocks are depicted in a manner which is both realistic and expressive. The variation in nature holds Kinnaman’s attention and the subtlety in his technique will captivate audiences. The exhibit is on display from December 10, 2010 to January 28, 2011, and an artist’s reception will be December 10 from 5:30 p.m. – 7:30 pm.
Am I the only one thinking that Atlantis Casino’s CEO, John Farahi’s single-handed campaign to bill the Reno-Tahoe area as the only tourist destination to even consider is a bit over the top? Is there trouble in gaming paradise that we don’t know about?
You also have to wonder about Harry Reid and his attempt to make online poker the next legal big new thing. Haven’t these people learned anything regarding why Nevada isn’t the be-all and end-all anymore? This is another good case for campaign finance reform.
I’m also feeling a bit queasy about Bill Clinton stumping for Obama in the latest wrong-headed attempt to extend a hand across the aisle - that is sure to be bitten off. Can you say “DINO’S”? This deal to reduce the Social Security tax is a disaster in the making. This year it will be billed as a tax decrease. When it comes time to expire, restoring it will be billed as a tax increase. Sort of like the temporary Bush tax finagles.
Is it just me, or is this a sneaky way for the GOP to defund Social Security - then they can point to it and say “look! Social Security is insolvent!” What am I missing here?
Last night I finished reading ‘Wealth and Our Commonwealth - Why America Should Tax Accumulated Fortunes” by William H. Gates Sr. and Chuck Collins (with forward by Paul Volker). This book should be required reading for any Progressive worth their salt. If you can read this completely accessible (only 140 pages!) book, and not come out realizing that repealing the estate tax (or ‘death tax’ as the GOP has framed it), in addition to rolling back taxes for the upper 2% is completely daft … then go join the GOP.
Paying taxes is a privilege. It’s an integral part of our social fabric and social contract, and helps us really define ‘what kind of nation do we want to be?’. The re-distribution upwards of income and wealth that has evolved since the ‘Reagan revolution’ will take this country down more certainly than any foreign terrorist. This book explains why this is so.
When the likes of notable Socialists like of Andrew Carnegie and Teddy Roosevelt thought the rich should be paying more than ‘their fair share’, we should re-think this move to unburden the rich of taxes.
Carnegie testified before Congress that the very wealthy should be paying a larger share, and discourage them from having undue advantages and prevent obscene accumulations of wealth - much like the European aristocracy that we fled from. Carnegie observed “the growing disposition to tax more and more heavily large estates left at death is a cheering indication of a salutary change in public opinion.” “
Roosevelt spoke against the “malefactors of great wealth”, proposing a system of progressive taxation … “the adoption of some such scheme as that of the progressive tax on all fortunes, beyond a certain amount either given in life or devised or bequeathed upon death to any individual - a tax so framed as to put it out of the power of the owner of one of these enormous fortunes to hand on more than a certain amount to any one individual; the tax, of course, to be imposed by the National and not the State Government. Such taxation should, of course, be aimed merely at the inheritance or transmission in their entirety of those fortunes swollen beyond all healthy limits.”
The truth is, that these hedge fund managers, corporate CEO’s, sports super-stars, entertainers and others who have accumulated enormous wealth, have been able to do so thanks in large part to the groundwork and investments made by us all - rich and poor alike - in a stable system of governance, that provides the rich soil for a growing economic engine. Therefore, they owe a larger share in return to all of us.
Never fear, they’ll still have plenty.
I’ve started making some suggestions under the Lifestyle page, for truly sensible gifts for Christmas, that won’t break the bank, and will probably be highly appreciated. If you have some suggestions, please offer them. If I think they’re cool, I’ll use them and give you the credit.
The abysmal state of breast cancer ‘care’ and ‘treatment’ here in Reno, Nevada has reared its ugly head again. One woman - retired RN - contacted me with her horror story. Another is the wife of my ‘computer guy’. That’s two who got sent right to the surgeons knife and ‘oh, we’ll figure out the rest of it later on’. Too bad that there are no ‘do-overs’ in cancer. Either you get it right the first time, or … not.
This makes me feel particularly ineffective and impotent. Is impotent a word reserved for men? I hope not. I’m giving what advice, support and encouragement I can - including directing them to other women here who have made the same grim discovery (as in ‘it isn’t just me’), usually too late - but I’m one lay woman bucking an entrenched system of for-profit medical providers who don’t want to change.
Sigh.
Oh, and my 93-year-old mom is staying here at least for tonight. The new med for the myoclonus apparently caused her to go to sleep for nearly 18 hours. By the time I got to her, she was dehydrated and hadn’t eaten in all that time. So it’s here with us for a bit of restorative.
I’m just not sure who’s going to need restoring. Us or her. I was just out in the kitchen listening to “why don’t you like Obama. He’s a nice man. He’s better than ‘W’. Why do you think ‘W’ was so good? Bill Clinton turned out to be a good man, too.”
“Uh huh.” Scrub the kitchen counter a little harder.
She hears about 25% of what you say and makes up the rest. Tee-vee is just a blur of pictures that she no longer understands. Reading requires too much effort. I think living independently at Sky Peaks has come to an end. The question is ‘what’s next’? I briefly considered moving her in here - that was before the wine took hold this evening. I mean, for what she pays at Sky Peaks, I could hire a lot of help. But by the end of this evening, I realize just how fucking crazy I would have to be to do that. Talk about a marriage and sanity killer. There isn’t enough money in the world.
You can have the liquor delivered to: 13470 South Hills Drive.
I’m kidding. Sorta. Kinda. I like off-dry white wines, not too much oak, some mineral.
Well, I think I go hide out in Asta’s old crate for a while and suck my thumb.
Like I said to my darling step-daughter this evening, “whatever your week was like, just know that it could’ve been much worse.” She knows all about Grandma, and heartily agreed.
“Thank the Lord! It is nice to know that we haven’t completely lost our minds. As for the House, the Republicans will have to either learn the art of compromise or they won’t get anything done in the next two years which is okay with me. Either way, it will be their turn to take the blame in 2012. Now if we just didn’t have to listen to their shit for the next two years… ” - An Alert Reader
It’s hard to not come out of this election feeling shaken and wondering what’s next. This is especially true, when you consider that our electoral system is now based on a Wild West model of campaign finance by shadowy groups that don’t have to make their donors public.
Although Crossroads GPS didn’t prevail this time won’t stop them. They thumbed their noses at the American electoral system and will continue to try and break it permanently.
This - plus an uncompromisingly arrogant and emboldened GOP majority in the House - is the underpinning of an economic system that is becoming ever more lopsided - in favor of the ultra wealthy. A plutocracy. Makes you kinda want to throw it in and say WTF? Especially since Obama is still making those ‘hands across the aisle’ noises, and looking for ‘common ground’ post-election. WTF? As BlueLyon says, “in what universe?”
More than one Alert Reader of this blog is saying that we could still see What’s-her-name in the Senate, should the less than worthless John ‘Pretty Boy’ Ensign now choose to resign before formal charges are levelled, leaving the less than lame duck Gibbons to appoint somebody equally worthless to that seat.
At least Ensign was smart enough to know that Harry Reid was probably his best and only friend in the Senate. She isn’t.
This Nevada apple cart is still plenty wobbly. As Alert Reader, Peg, suggests, we could be looking at a future of Sandoval and Heller in the Senate. But I can’t even think that far ahead. I’m leaving that to the paid strategists.
The bright spot here: Even Karl Rove’s money bomb couldn’t put Sharron Angle over the top. Similarly, Carly Fiorina and Meg Whitman both of the billionaire brand, proved that it still isn’t entirely about money. It’s mostly about money, but not completely.
Another hopeful place: I really do think that the efforts of the Nevada blog-o-sphere had some positive effect in this race. Especially toward the end, I felt that so many of us - while not exactly coordinating our efforts - were allowing each to focus on what they did best and speak to what we best understood and were most passionate about. That made us effective.
I really want to thank Carissa at BlueLyon, and Barbara at Desert Beacon. I think we made a hell of a tag team. It was fun. At least for me. The Las Vegas Gleaner was a hoot at times too, but I won’t thank him. He’s been too important to communicate with me. Sheesh.
At the end of the day, however, Reid’s superlative team ran a brilliant ground game that brought it all home for Nevada. They should be congratulated, as they trumped Angle’s considerable echo machine of the Fox and conservative radio variety. It sort of reminds me of that ‘Fried Green Tomatoes’ scene when Kathy Bates rams the arrogant young chick’s car in the parking lot.
TOWANDA!
Unfortunately, ‘Towanda!’ doesn’t exactly express Harry Reid’s post election action list. Hmmm. Immigration reform? Jobs? Green energy? These are all important and lofty goals - which he’s sure to get constant obstruction from the GOP over. If Harry Reid is all primed to make the GOP look like a bunch of jerks then why not make it over something really good - campaign finance reform. Oh, even better - publicly financed campaigns.
Each time Democrats try to play to the middle of the road and make nice, they get it shoved up their backsides. When will they ever learn to stand up proudly, as the conscience of the people? Like the party that gave America Social Security and Medicare. The healthcare reform legislation was just a start.
Democrats can’t seem to understand that their ‘kumbayah’ spirit of cooperation is not shared by the GOP. The GOP understands that they are not operating in a corporate board room and that it’s war. All out war. Winner take all. This isn’t about negotiating to ‘yes’ for them.
Everybody needs to kick back and take a well-earned breather for a while now. But we’ve still got a lot to do. I’d love to see the effort we put forth during this election to continue, on perhaps, a more coordinated level although I’m not sure right now what that might look like.
I’m open to suggestions.
But as ColinfromLasVegas says - we’ve got to deal with this regrettable Ensign problem first. He is a slop-bucket that needs to be carried out and dumped.
When we asked for the check at Peg’s Glorified Ham ‘n Eggs (South Meadows) this morning, I knew it was going to be an alright day. And, I’m not talking about the fact that Dean Heller, R-NV was there. No, when Mr. Maven asked for the check, the server replied that our bill had been taken care of. Huh? Yes, she said, we had a ‘secret admirer’.
Whoa. “Quick. Take a look around! Who do you see?”
The only person I could make out was a guy I used to run into while serving on the Nevada State SAR (Search and Rescue) Board. Naw. Not him. I didn’t know him that well anyway.
Was it Dean Heller. Not unless he remembers that email I sent. Hmmmm.
Anyway, I’ve still gotta recommend Peg’s out here on South Meadows Parkway. They were slammed when we got there. Breakfast crowd on a Friday sorta holiday. It’s Nevada Day. Why folks take Nevada Day off still puzzles me. I never got it off at the uh, environmental consulting firm. Hint.
My CIA-HydePark,NY grad nephew is a serious ‘front of the house’ man and executive chef with a big restaurant chain, so I know some of the challenges of keeping a place running smoothly when everything could be going to hell in a handbasket. The guy who runs that South Meadows version of Peg’s is an artist, and has a staff that has been well trained. They all have a clue. He was directing bus service to various tables like an air traffic controller at JFK - “4 and 2, no, 2 and 2. Get it going” referring to getting tables set up for the next customers. Four tops and two tops.
That’s why waits at even the busy times aren’t onerous. The service is efficiently spot-on and friendly. I like that.
Well, plus the food of course.
This takes me to what I’d like to be doing other than political posts after the election is over - except for the crying. As in get serious about being more food/restaurant centered, with the politics being a bit more on the sideline. At least that’s what I hope for. I’m a meddler and can’t generally contain high umbrage and outrage, so it could all go off the rails. I’m going to try.
Hey- here’s another true Republican tipping to Harry Reid:
Yerington, NV Mayor Doug Homestead sums up the situation in the Reid-Angle election: “The choice in this election is clear. You can side with the experience and leadership that Senator Reid brings to the table, or you can side with the dangerous, radical agenda of Sharron Angle. I hope you join me in doing the right thing for Nevada and vote for Senator Reid.”(Mason Valley News, op-ed)
If you’re not from Nevada - or are new to the state - let me clue you in. There ain’t any Liberals in Yerington. Nice folks there. Had lots of cool friends there over the years. But they be very Republican. They don’t go over to the Harry side lightly.
I think part of the most discouraging aspect of this election was seeing just how easily people I know and respected can be led to think that slogans and talking points, with a large splash of viral (in the worst ‘typhoid mary’ sense of that word) email are a good substitute for thoughtful, critical discourse - armed with facts. I don’t mean Glenn Becks facts. I refer to facts that can be corroborated with actual evidence from impartial, authoritative sources.
Here’s the latest (an excerpt):
USA, free enterprise companies at their finest, not socialism.
Far be it for our President and his America bashing administration to publicly congratulate (let alone even mention) AMERICAN ingenuity and AMERICAN PRIVATE ENTERPRISE for its part in the miracle rescue of the Chilean Miners. Nor does our current government/media seem to have the slightest concept of the value in public relations that American’s plain old love of our fellow man brings.
Schramm Inc. of West Chester, Pennsylvania built the drills and equipment used to reach the trapped miners.
Center Rock Company, also from Pennsylvania, built the special percussion drill bits used to reach the miners.
UPS, the US shipping company, delivered the 13-ton drilling equipment from Pennsylvania to Chile in less than 48 hours.
Crews from Layne Christensen Company of Wichita Kansas and its subsidiary Geotec Boyles Bros. worked the drills and machinery to locate and reach the miners and then enlarge the holes to ultimately rescue them.
(Blah, blah, blah - list of more companies)
The hearts of people all over the world were touched by the dramatic rescue of these miners. It would seem appropriate to allow the world to know the part the American Private Enterprise System contributed to the happy outcome For some reason, our Administration seems to prefer to stay mum on the subject. The bastards!!
Yes, I applaud those companies that helped free the Chilean miners, too. Funny thing, though, I hadn’t heard Obama or anybody in his administration say anything negative about American enterprise, the free market, American innovation or ingenuity. Where do these people get this stuff?
I know where they DIDN’T get it - the mainstream and usually credible press.
“WASHINGTON —President Barack Obama on Thursday congratulated officials from NASA and several U.S. companies for their role in this month’s rescue of 33 miners trapped underground in Chile.
In public comments earlier this month, Obama said the rescue had captivated the world. He also commended everyone involved, including a NASA team that helped design the capsule that was used to bring the miners above ground one at a time.
Jim Stefanic, operations manager for Geotec Boyles Bros., S.A., a drilling company, said they had a “very good chat” with the president.
“He congratulated everybody on this great rescue mission down there,” Stefanic told reporters outside the White House after the meeting. Stefanic said Obama also told them he was “very proud that we were down there doing this job and rescued all 33 miners alive.”
Geotec Boyles Bros., S.A., is a U.S.-Chilean company based in Santiago, Chile.
Other drilling companies represented at the meeting were Schramm Inc., of West Chester, Pa.; Center Rock Inc. of Berlin, Pa.; and Layne Christensen Co. of Kansas City, Kan. Also attending were representatives of Philadelphia-based Aramark, a professional services company.”
Hmmm. That took me about one minute to find that. Obama publicly congratulating the American companies that helped with the rescue effort. Doesn’t sound like bashing at all. What do you think?
I mean, Obama even gave the NASA guys medals - how much more should he have done?
The Atlanta Constitution Journal also seemed to know about Obama doing everything except kissing these executives on the lips - I guess it all got around, except to a few true-believers here in Nevada.
Ard and Bill, you know who you are. Why not do your homework next time - before hitting that forward button - and so, quit looking foolishly out of touch? Now, there’s a thought. Jeeze, the one guy flew a 747 for a giant world wide airline, the same ‘airframe’ that fell into Long Island Sound just a week later in 1996. He testified before Congress. You’d think …. nah, don’t go there.
But see, it has nothing, nada to do with ‘IQ smarts’. It’s about being intellectually lazy. It’s about wanting important and complex issues boiled down to easily swallowed bullet points. I’ve been a fan of Edward Tufte - the arch enemy of the powerpoint, for a long time. Tufte is Professor Emeritus at Yale University, where he taught courses in statistical evidence, information design, and interface design and he simply says that reducing complex information to bullet points all too often obfuscates, confuses and otherwise fails to inform.
Apparently, that’s what the TeaNuts/GOP prefer. To be bamboozled. They do not seem to value critical thinking, civil discourse or the other attributes of higher learning. Perhaps this is why they - and Sharron Angle - are so eager to defund things like the Department of Education.
The creepy part is that once you point out how they’ve been mis-led - bamboozled - they go right on repeating the same fallacies. Is there a Doctor of Psychology out there who would like to address this? Shelley?
I’m talking about ‘intelligent’ folks, here, not the unwashed rank and file TeaBag idiots. Doctors, dentists and airline captains. They worked damn hard to get to where they were professionally, and then they just …. just, quit thinking? Quit questioning? I mean, is it even reasonable that the POTUS would not want to honor the companies that saved the Chilean miners? Does that even make sense?
I think I want another glass of wine.
Oh, if you haven’t read Tufte’s seminal essay “The Cognitive Style of PowerPoint: Pitching Out Corrupts Within” you should. It’s sorta, kinda required reading among the circles that matter. Taking one of his courses would absolutely rock if you want to present complex information in the best way possible.
“I will answer those questions when I’m the senator.” Sharron Angle
Whoa! Sharron Angle isn’t letting anything out of the bag until AFTER she’s elected queen of that undiscovered planet out past Pluto:
She doesn’t have to tell Nevada’s electorate a damn thing until ….. until….. that message comes in from her handlers, through the tinfoil helmet.
Where does this woman get off? She’ll let us know her views after the election? WTF? This is the kind of shirking, coward that TeaNuts want to represent Nevada?
Yup. Just like my friends that seem a bit daft … half a bubble off when it comes to the intellect. They’re so worried about the ‘guvmint coming to get their guns’ and the UN, and the Black Helicopters, One World Guvmint, and, and those GAYS!!!!!!! AND ILLEGALS!!!!!!!!!!!! that they have lost all touch with reality.
Which might be right where some people want them, if a certain video I saw today is to be believed - and I’m not sure it is.
I was reminded by a fellow blogger that I have some credibility in the blogging community, so I’ve decided not to post the videos in question. It could be a huge hoax. However, the whole idea is that large corporations in this country don’t give a rats’ ass about Sharron Angle, but they do care about getting rid of the last vestiges of credible, sensible Congressional representation that might not agree with their agenda. So with the blessing of the Citizens United SCOTUS decision, they are free to ‘donate’ tens of millions to get rid of the likes of Harry Reid.
Anonymously. Get rid of the guy who thinks, who questions. Put the bat-shit crazy lady in there. They can control her.
That’s not the way our democracy can survive. So. What’s the answer?
VOTE.
That’s an honor you do for yourself - as a citizen of the United States - and to the Founders who risked so much. It’s an honor you pay to the women who couldn’t vote. It’s an honor you pay to the African-Americans who couldn’t vote.
Along with the vote, also comes a responsibility to think. To question. To challenge your deeply held beliefs and assumptions.
That’s all your country asks of you. That’s not much at the end of the day and yet it’s everything.
“WASHINGTON — There may be something rotten at McDonald’s — and it’s not a year-old Happy Meal.
The owner of a franchise in Canton, Ohio enclosed a handbill in employees’ paychecks that threatened lower wages and benefits if Republicans don’t win on Tuesday.
“As the election season is here we wanted you to know which candidates will help our business grow in the future,” reads the letter. “As you know, the better our business does it enables us to invest in our people and our restaurants. If the right people are elected we will be able to continue with raises and benefits at or above our present levels. If others are elected, we will not. As always, who you vote for is completely your personal decision and many factors go into your decision.”
The note ends with a list of candidates McDonald’s believes “will help our business move forward.” It names Republicans John Kasich for governor, Rob Portman for Senate, and Jim Renacci for Congress. With the letter was a biography of Renacci.”
Can you spell V-O-T-E-R I-N-T-M-I-D-A-T-I-O-N?
Ah, just another reason to support Republicans. Right?
It never ceases to puzzle me that Republicans and TeaNuts still prefer to get their ‘facts’ via Facebook, viral unsubstantiated emails and Fox mouthpieces like Glenn Beck. Don’t they possess any critical thinking skills?
Today, the Harry Reid campaign sent out an email blast showing how low the Angle campaign can sink - handing out flyers to seniors, scaring them with this same tired, dis-proven crap about ‘death panels’.
The ‘death panel’ lie has been debunked so many times, but apparently the TeaNuts still fall for it.
Numerous media outlets have now debunked right-wing claims that the House health care reform bill would encourage euthanasia of the elderly, including Sarah Palin’s claim — forwarded by the conservative media — that the bill would create a “death panel” and the related claim — initiated by Betsy McCaughey — that the bill would “absolutely require” that seniors on Medicare undergo end-of-life counseling “that will tell them how to end their life sooner.” Indeed, Media Matters for America has identified more than 40 instances of media reporting that these claims are false.
Even were I not an unabashed, unashamed PROGRESSIVE LIBERAL, I would still vote for Harry Reid, just simply to punish Angle and the TeaParty for thinking I’m that damn gullible.
This was in my email:
Dear Maven,
A Nevada journalist just caught Angle supporters circulating a shocking flyer containing the false claim that seniors will be euthanized by death panels under the provisions of the health insurance reform law. It actually claims that “Your Lifespan will depend on” your vote.
This is just wrong. The “death panels” lie has been debunked over and over again. Shame on Sharron Angle and her supporters who would attempt to scare seniors like this.
The truth is that it’s Sharron Angle who is not on Seniors’ side. Just this week, she was caught on tape calling Social Security and Medicare “wicked.”
This has to be either one of the most bone-headed moves in the final crunch of a heated political campaign - or a flagrant slap in the face directed at the already Angle-queasy Hispanic voting block.
Either way, the newest ad from Angle (‘The Wave’) seems to fly right in the face of the hub-bub just a short while back where she made some clueless statements when speaking to the Hispanic Union students group at a Las Vegas high school, and then proceeded to revise her own history be declaring previous ad hadn’t featured Hispanics - when it so obviously was, and then suggesting that the students looked Asian. Why, she even declared that she was mistaken for Asian.
Then her campaign pulled the offending ad. They’re making up for it now with one even more disgraceful.
“Sharron Angle has decided to run one of the ugliest anti-illegal immigrants ad campaigns in history,” said Frank Sharry, executive director of America’s Voice, Christian Science Monitor
I want you to go to the YouTube site where this ad is - take a look at the Comments section. Comments have been disabled. She and her staff - plus her Karl Rove handlers - know what a firestorm this ad is likely to ignite.
This is just like her sneak attack campaign stops where she hides from the media, only taking the risk of public appearances where she’s among true-believers or completely insulated by goons from uncomfortable questions. The only interviews she’ll grant are those where she can fund raise among friends. Informing and educating Nevadans about important issues of the day, apparently, isn’t an objective. That’s surprising for somebody that keeps reminding us that we was a ‘teacher’.
Is Sharron Angle the kind of public servant Nevadans want? In the biggest downturn since the Great Depression, does Nevada need a legislator that can’t even stand up to a few questions from reporters? How will she stand up for Nevada?
There will always be a comfortable block of true believers for Sharron Angle - those people simply can’t challenge their own deeply held beliefs.
For the rest of Nevada though, how could you not vote for Harry Reid?
Take a listen at the ad again.
Where are the ‘waves of illegal immigrants, streaming in’ … into Nevada? WTF? “Joining violent gangs ...” or just schlepping dishes in the casino buffet, and mowing the lawns in the gated communities.
Are you living in fear of the waves of illegals? Sharron sez you are.
Did Harry Reid vote to extend social security benefits to illegal aliens? No. I blogged about this as have others.
Does Harry Reid want to vote against making English the official language? You may not like Reid, but he’s not stupid. No politician worth his salt would even consider such a stupid, impolitic move.
Is Reid against Arizona’s unconstitutional anti-immigration law? Uh, I hope so. Angle is such a supposedly strict constitutionalist, she ought to be against it as well.
Yes, it’s clear which side Harry Reid is on: Nevada’s
Sharron Angle appears to be on the side of whomever is paying for her crazy, racist ads.
Jon Ralston offers up this analysis of Sharron Angle’s penchant for revisionist history on those rare occasions somebody can actually engage her to talk - she runs off whenever the media shows up.
Sharron Angle must believe in evolution, her stories keep changing faster than fruitfly DNA.
Note the way she rambles on - argument by verbosity - below. And remember, as you stumble over the goofy verb-subject agreement, this woman claims to have been a school teacher for more than 25 years.
Yikes! Her poor students.
Here’s the scary part: I’ve pointed these obvious inconsistencies out to some true believers. They don’t get it and they don’t care to. Nobody wants it pointed out that they’ve been made a fool of. Would that the Democratic party could give these folks a safe way to come back in from the intellectual cold of TeaNut land.
-maven
Angle: I never said I wanted to privatize the VA - but of course she did.
GOP Senate nominee Sharron Angle was asked at a private function Saturday evening in Reno hosted by the Republican Jewish Coalition about privatizing the VA. And, as she has done before, she took the opportunity to rewrite history.
Here’s the exchange — audio at right:
Guest: Sharron I wanted to task you about one of the new ads that Harry has got running against you, and that concerns the VA hospitals. I’m really big on one that we have here, and I would like to hear a clarification about what your stand really is.
Angle: Well, first of all, when we talk about Harry Reid’s ads, let’s remember that a half-truth is no truth. And what you’re finding in his ads are these half truths. We were discussing, at the time that I made that remark, we were discussing Obamacare and Medicare. And how Harry Reid has taken a half a trillion dollars out of Medicare, right out at a place where seniors have choices—Medicare Advantage, one of the programs that actually works. And I was talking about my father, who is 88 years old, he’s on Medicare, he’s on Social Security, and he’s a veteran. Not of just World War II, but also the Korean War. He had a Purple Heart. He has served this country, and yet he pays $800 a month in prescription drugs that are not covered by the VA and they’re not covered by Medicare. And, there is a lot of you that understand what I’m saying. And that was the context of those comments. I said that they could do a better job, that’s all I said, is the VA could do a better job for our veterans. And I believe that. I believe that our veterans fit in that A priority box. We should be supporting our military and their dependents (applause) and our veterans. We should be supporting them. We owe them. We owe them and we should be supporting them. And then of course he pulls out something that I said about my grandfather, and I’ll clear this up at the same time. My grandfather didn’t pay into Social Security. And so, when they sent his first Social Security check, he said “I’m not taking this. I don’t need this check. I saved for my retirement.” And that’s what that was, that was my grandfather. And of course he was quite, well he wasn’t too old, he wasn’t as old as I am now. But still he was a potato farmer, he worked in California, he raised a family, been through the Depression, and he saved for his retirement, and he had not paid into the Social Security system and so he refused to take his check (applause).
This is quite the revisionist history (again) by Angle. The context she claims is wrong, and so is her recollection of what she argued.
Here’s what she said on KNPR in May — note context and use of word “privatized” in this interview with Dave Becker:
Angle: … And my father did the same thing. He calls it his rocking chair pay but he doesn’t live on his social security, he has investments that he has made over the years in rental properties and things like that—that are actually paying for his retirement. He needs more and more supervised care. He’s 87 years old and has Parkinson’s and we have to pay more and more for his healthcare. I know he pays over 800 dollars a month in prescription drugs that we can’t get through his VA nor through Medicare—they just wont cover those things. And I know lots of seniors—
Becker: Should they cover those things?
Angle: No, not if you’re working towards a privatized system. And he can pay for them. That’s my whole point. Even with the system we’ve got, it’s broken, its not covering for every cost that he has. And if he were dependent upon that, he wouldn’t be getting the healthcare he needs and that’s why we need to fix the system.
Becker: As a senator, how would you fix that system if it’s not to say that you’re on your own? If VA is not going to cover then you have to cover it yourself. Over how long?
Angle: Well, I’m not the only person and I’m not the President. I can propose bills and then my job as a senator is to build a coalition that will get on board with my idea. And, of course, as you know that my idea may be a good idea, but the details of that idea will be worked out through that coalition. And you know there are smarter heads than mine on this and that’s what we’ll be doing.
I am beginning to wonder about this seemingly pathological habit Angle has of saying she never said something when it is on tape and so easily retrieved. Does she really not remember, or does she think this is a “Mission Impossible” world where all tapes self-destruct after five seconds?
Former Republican National Committee Chairman Frank Fahrenkopf Jr. has endorsed Democratic Sen. Harry Reid, saying it would be a mistake for Nevadans to elect Republican Sharron Angle and lose Reid’s clout to protect the state’s lifeblood gambling industry.
“It’s disturbing that she (Angle) is taking money from people who oppose gambling,” Fahrenkopf told The Associated Press. “She may not even know it, but Gary Bauer has been a longtime, outspoken opponent of legalized gambling. I did a double-take when I read she was re ceiving assistance from someone who has opposed Nevada’s chief industry for so long.”
To paraphrase an Angle ad - “what more do you need to know?”
Doesn’t it figure that Angle is apparently getting an endorsement from Gary Bauer’s friend, Newt Gingrich. It looks like she’s well into the Citizens for The Republic PAC.
“We just can’t take any more assaults on us tax-wise or otherwise,” Fahrenkopf said. “We need someone strong to protect the state and the industry. No freshman senator would have clout. To trade the most powerful position in the Senate for a freshman senator doesn’t make sense.”
MGM Resorts CEO Jim Murren, a Republican, agreed.
“For a small state like Nevada to have the most powerful person in the Senate is not something we should be willing to let go,” he said in a statement. “Simply put: Harry Reid is a better choice for Nevada’s future. He has far more experience and can wield far more authority and influence on our behalf than any freshman senator.”
As usual, neither Angle nor her campaign staff, feel obligated to return phone calls from the RGJ to respond to all this. She and her staff have also not thought it important enough to answer additional questions - although she agreed to prior to the debate - from the night of her televised debate with Reid. Harry Reid had guts enough to respond and answer questions submitted by the public after the debate.
What you need to know here: Follow the big money. Gary Bauer just lanched a $1 million ad campaign against Harry Reid this week. Follow it right to Sharron Angle’s doorstep of her ‘modest home’ in Sparks.
Yup, this is the same woman who thinks it a bad thing that Harry Reid rose from impoverished miner’s son to live in something besides a shack in Searchlight, Nevada.
Just when you think the senate race here in Nevada couldn’t get any more bizarre, it looks like Tea Party candidate Jon Ashjian would vote for Harry Reid?
Watch this:
“I’m saying that Sharron Angle lies on her issues,” Ashjian explained. “She’s come off 100 percent of where she was in the beginning when I supported her, compared to where she is today. She went to Washington, DC, where you’re from, and got schooled on what to say, when to say it, and how to say it. And, at the end of the day she’s turned into the consummate politician.”
Alright, here’s the latest Angle gaffe: She goes to Las Vegas’ Rancho High School to convince the schools Hispanic Student Union that she’s not really a bigot or a racist, and the students ask her about the Angle ads condemning Harry Reid of delivering tax breaks, and every other perk on the planet to ‘illegals’
Now watch the ad carefully :
Here’s what Sharron Angle told the students -
“I think that you’re misinterpreting those commercials,” Angle tells the students.
“I’m not sure that those are Latinos in that commercial. What it is, is a fence and there are people coming across that fence. What we know is that our northern border is where the terrorists came through. That’s the most porous border that we have. We cannot allow terrorists, we cannot allow anyone to come across our border if we don’t know why they’re coming. So, we have to secure all of our borders and that’s what that was about, is border security.”
Here’s what one student said:
“She said that they were just people crossing the fence, but they weren’t Latinos. And then she said some of us don’t even look Latino, we could be Asian,” said Debbie Rios, 16, a junior at Rancho who was sitting in the front row at the assembly, which drew about 50 to 60 people. “She dodged the question; she didn’t really answer it.”
You know, Angle probably has a point. Hordes of French-Canadians are probably pouring across the northern border into the U. S. looking for expensive health insurance.
Canadians, Mexicans, Asians … they all look alike in the dark, with hoodies on.
But notice the ad makes repeated references to Mexico and the Arizona anti-immigrant law. So, there’s your proof. She’s worried about terrorists coming from Canada.
Sheesh. See, this is what happens when you allow people getting their marching orders beamed in through a tinfoil helmet to enter politics or public life.
“Sharron has said several times before that illegal immigration is not about race. It is about the rule of law in this country. It would be a misinterpretation to think that one group of people should be singled out,” Angle campaign spokesman Jarrod Agen said Saturday.
“The issue is that we must stop illegal immigration by security our borders, both northern and southern, and by enforcing our immigration laws,” he said. “Harry Reid does not want to end illegal immigration; he is pro-amnesty.”
Uh, Jarrod, if you want to be completely unambiguous about the illegal immigration thing, here’s a suggestion: Show a diverse group of scary ‘illegals’ in your ads next time.
Oh, and quite trying to say that being in favor of doing something fair regarding illegals who are here already ( an incremental and careful type of amnesty program ) is the same thing as being ‘in favor’ of illegal immigration. (“Harry Reid favors so-called ‘amnesty’ therefore he must favor illegal immigration? False analogy? Straw Man argument? Appeal to emotion? It’s faulty reasoning anyway.)
Or quit peeing on my shoes, Jarrod and telling me that it’s raining.
If this mid-term election proves nothing else, it will demonstrate beyond a shadow of a doubt that we need publicly financed political campaigns. For just a moment, try to visualize what the last several months would’ve been like with equal public financing. Without the shadowy front groups.
When campaigns can be financed by vast personal wealth (think the two women over in California. No, not Boxer. Fiorina and Whitman) or failing that - when you’re living on a Federal/BLM pension like Angle - you get Karl Rove to march in with Crossroads GPS and throw millions at your campaign - is that really what the Founders had in mind for First Amendment protected free speech?
At least the Reno Gazette-Journal got it right and endorsed Harry Reid - Jon Ralston notwithstanding.
The RGJ editorial in Sunday’s paper was as strong and well-reasoned argument for dumping Angle and supporting Harry Reid as I’ve seen anywhere.
If you aren’t happy with the partisan gridlock in Washington D. C., then why in the world would you want to make it worse by sending the Queen of Nay, Angle, there? To lamely offer that she’ll be junior and therefore ‘harmless’ for six years until the GOP can find a ‘better’ candidate is simply ludicrous. She never reached across the aisle during her years in the Assembly, so why would she start now?
Polls have shown that the average person doesn’t want partisan bickering and stalemates. They expect the party sharing power to uh, “Man up” and be a part of the solution. Candidates like Angle have more than demonstrated that they are on a search and destroy mission, and compromise is not part of it. They see victories as a referendum on Obama, rather than a chance to solve problems.
So let’s send the person voted “least effective” by her peers in the Nevada Assembly. Yup. That’ll do it - send the obstinate, wacky, intellectually bankrupt one.
She can join forces with the other Super Hero from Nevada - Sen. John Ensign, R-NV who has reportedly spent more than $500,000 in the last three months on legal expenses. Uh, they’re probably related to those pesky stories of gross infidelity and payoffs.
Yup, if the rest of the country didn’t already have that queasy feeling that Nevada was the place of Area 51, hidden aliens and just generally crazy shit that stays in Vegas, this should really cap it. That ranks right up there with doubling down when the dealer is showing a face card. Duh.
Finally, we lost one of our tee-vee icons over the weekend. Barbara Billingsly of ‘Leave it to Beaver’ fame died. She was that nice lady named June, that never raised her voice, never told the men to “Man up”, was always dressed nice. I’ll bet she always smelled nice, too.
Sharron Angle got the role of June Cleaver confused with reality. And unfortunately, there are a lot of other people doing the same thing. Most of them belong to the Tea Party.
Well, have a tolerable work week or a good one if you must.
Check back in occasionally for updates - not through your tinfoil helmet though. Take that damn thing off and put it away until Halloween … aka Nevada Day.
And now Ms Angle becomes completely confused about her own ethnic heritage:
“So that’s what we want is a secure and sovereign nation and, you know, I don’t know that all of you are Latino. Some of you look a little more Asian to me. I don’t know that,” Angle said, according to video posted by the Nevada paper. “What we know, what we know about ourselves is that we are a melting pot in this country.”
Angle then claimed that she too has been confused as a different ethnicity, seemingly in an attempt to illustrate her melting pot point.
“I’ve been called the first Asian legislator in our Nevada State Assembly,” Angle said.
Angle supporters may call this a cynical move but seniors on Social Security might want to remember that Harry Reid is the one who could actually make this happen despite the times. The word was that seniors wouldn’t be getting any cost of living increases through 2012.
This just in:
REID TO LEAD PASSAGE OF SOCIAL SECURITY COLA FOR SENIORS
Las Vegas, NV - Nevada Senator Harry Reid released the following statement today announcing his intention to pass a cost-of-living adjustment for Social Security recipients when the Senate reconvenes in November:
“Millions of seniors rely on Social Security to make ends meet, especially in today’s troubled economy. While the Social Security Administration has announced that no COLA will be provided next year, it’s a decision I don’t agree with. Too many seniors are struggling to pay rising costs for basic necessities, even while their retirement savings and home values have taken real hits.
“Earlier this year I voted to provide seniors a $250 Social Security raise. While Republicans blocked our efforts to help seniors the last time, we cannot give up. That is why when the Senate reconvenes, we will give seniors in Nevada and across the country this badly-needed raise. I will be working hard to gain Senate passage for a proposal that ensures that America’s seniors are treated fairly.”
Would Sharron Angle be able to get this done for seniors in Nevada? If Sharron Angle could for a moment disentangle herself from ideology which seems to promote dismantling Social Security, she’d still be too junior to even be effective on a question like this.
Can you imagine a senior that would vote against Social Security COLA’s? Yup. Those are the ones supporting Sharron Angle.
The fact that Angle can’t think of a single thing medical insurance companies should be mandated - forced - to provide to you the insured is so very telling.
As Reid said during the debate, the insurance companies are their to provide necessary and lifesaving things like colonoscopies and mammograms out of the goodness of their hearts.
“Insurance companies … don’t do things out of the goodness of their hearts. They do it out of a profit motive and they have almost destroyed our economy,” Reid fired back.
Too true. As a breast cancer survivor and advocate, I can tell you that I’ve seen women denied. I’ve seen women torn apart with worry about the ‘maybe’ of that ‘odd’ thing they feel in their breast.
That isn’t right. That’s cruel.
That’s not what civilized societies do to their citizens.
Thursday night was the great takedown that wasn’t. I’ve heard from more than a few people - Reid supporters mostly - that they were disappointed but not surprised. It changed nobody’s mind. In the comments sections of several media websites, the Angle supporters were present, in full delusional tinfoil helmeted force:
Timekeeper wrote on October 15, 2010 02:55 PM:
“The best “Social Program” is a JOB! The Best Neighborhood cop is a “Home Owner!” the socialist democrats have destroyed both!
Harry Reid refuses to discuss the issues; Unemployment, high Taxes, Stim-U-Less, Takeovers of “private” businesses, MASSIVE SPENDING, Backroom Deals, Voting without reading the bill, Home Forclosures, Bankruptcy, Mortgage Scams, NV last in Education, Cap & Trade, Union paybacks(card-check), … Vote for Sharron Angle - she has the American Values that will be needed to help restore this nation, stop the spending spree and create jobs.”
What this amounts to is the usual TeaNut strategies of suppressed correlatives, bare assertions, and existential fallacies, plus a lot of angry verbal foot stamping and name calling. Sadly, GOP operatives like Rove and Gillespie are kicking back with a satisfied smirk.
When they write like that, what do they expect people to do besides laugh? These are the same voters who believe every viral email hoax that comes across their inbox. This is sad. Slogan based intellects.
On a more personal, and local level: I was told this week that one of our favorite restaurants will be closing. Oddly, I didn’t hear a thing about Obama-care, Socialists or tax and spend liberals being the cause. Add to that the sad news that a familiar waitperson at another restaurant we frequent committed suicide this week. Again, no mention of a failed stimulus, interference by the United Nations or the World Bank, or even MASSIVE SPENDING.
I’ll tell you what killed a business and a person:
A- An economy played so fast and loose by a largely unregulated, out of control Wall Street (thanks to the Grover Norquist philosophy of starving the ‘beast’) while a pro-business White House watched with a complete lack of concern, that it eventually broke. When the Christmas choo-choo train finally went off the tracks it took a lot of people, mortgages and businesses with it. This was all set into motion long before Obama got there.
B- There comes a point when people break too. After years of living hand to mouth doing the jobs that need to be done yet don’t pay big - like waiting tables - with a seriously disabled spouse at home, little in the way of help from struggling social services, medical insurance and more, people simply wear down and out. The pain of the struggle becomes too much to bear on a daily basis.
This was a sad week for Mr. Maven and I, but sadder still for those whose efforts and story have come to an end.
I can say pretty confidently that Sharron Angle would simply shrug it off. ‘They’ failed. All failures are ‘personal’ for true believers. Harry Reid would want to know why so that he could prevent it from happening again to somebody else. He believes that such failures, although they might have some personal/individual responsibility, also have roots in the community and it’s responsibilities to people.
Sharron Angle sees ‘me’. Harry Reid sees ‘we’.
That’s an important distinction.
Sharron Angle the Darwinian said during the debate that she believed it was her responsibility to make policy such that business could survive and thrive, rather than bringing jobs to Nevada herself, let the conditions or lack of them bring jobs … or not.
Harry Reid said, and has repeatedly shown by his actions, that he believes he has to both craft the right policy to grow an economy and bring the jobs. He would both teach the man to fish, and bring a spare fishing pole and bait to the pond.
I’ve always believed that you can’t really separate self/individual from the larger community. I support Harry Reid because I know he also believes that.
Oh, one last thing about the debate. I’ll be happy to hear the last of Sharron Angle’s self-promotion as a ‘teacher’. I can’t find anything that spells out what her actual teaching experience or credentials are beyond being a substitute teacher for 25 years (in all that time nobody wanted her full time?) and a two year gig at a tiny private religious school. Now there’s a resume to be proud of. When did she get her teaching certifications and from where?
Was Angle’s teaching just a nice bit of extra money while husband, Ted, was busy working for the BLM?
Oh, if you want to read an entertaining view of the debate, check out the Rude Pundit. Funny. And, FactCheck.org has a nifty analysis of the Sharron Angle ‘Viagra’ ad.
We went to see ‘Social Network’ the other day and really liked it. It’s a fascinating inside look at how one of the most wildly viral of modern phenomena came to be - Facebook.
We both got a lot out of this movie. He better understands the whole social networking thing. I related in a much different way - as a participant in an eerily similar story. Brilliantly creative people are both a gift and a curse. You can make some enemies and fail some friends on your way up. I’ll let it go at that.
I’ve been working with Adobe tech support in Delhi for the last month, dogging a rather novel bug that’s been creating some anguish when I used Photoshop Elements 8.0. I think we’ve finally gotten it fixed in today’s session. What I really want to say here is that Adobe really went the distance in trying to resolve the problem. I’ve had nothing but positive experiences with their folks in Delhi. They are professional and easy to work with - and they speak enough of an American style of English that communications wasn’t an issue.
Do I have any angst over outsourced jobs like this? No. Not really. It’s a world economy, and as long as the primary software development - the core creative engine behind it all with the best paying jobs - is done here in the United States, why would I?
Worrying about keeping some phone tech support here in the United States would be about as smart as trying to keep all the Adobe jobs - for example - in San Jose, California. I say this having worked on a web-based SaaS product that was created here in Reno, Nevada but built both here and in Delhi, India.
There’s an important distinction - that one of the Indian software guys point out to me. One thing that is unique to America is our creative drive … our ability to take entrepenurial risks and challenge the status quo. That’s why enterprise the world over comes to the United States. We’ll be alright as long as we keep supporting an educational system that produces people like Bill Gates. Without that, it won’t matter how many assembly line jobs we keep here, our economy will fail.
The next time a politician talks about keeping American jobs here - ask what kind of jobs. High volume, minimum wage jobs of yesteryear? Or high value, high wage jobs of the future? There’s an important distinction there that few politicians understand, not to mention the electorate. Unfortunately, our economic future depends on it.
Talking about Adobe, I was taking a peek at the new version, 9.0, of Photoshop Elements and Photoshop Premier. Adobe finally gets it. Not everybody needs to be a Photoshop guru. Too time intensive - it becomes an end in itself. We want to enjoy the pictures we take of our friends and families, our lives and move on to share them in new ways. Adobe has finally made Photoshop for the rest of us, and then with 9.0 taken it even closer.
I’ll be upgrading from PSE 8.0 to 9.0 soon. But what I keep wondering is why they are still bothering to put out software on a disc? Why it’s not web-based. A part of the cloud. Maybe if the American infrastructure lived up to its own self hype … You can bet that the Sharron Angles of the world will never understand the question not to mention the possible answers.
Ah, that’s a discussion for another place and time.
Were you as psyched up for this HUGE DEBATE as we were? Wow. I even invited guests, did a brisket, served cocktails and dessert. I have to admit that I was a tad embarrassed, with our new to Nevada friends here watching, that neither candidate exactly set the world on fire with eloquence speechifying.
Would that, just for a few minutes, Harry Reid could’ve channeled Rove or motor-mouth Ed Gillespie. Thank gawd, we had really good dessert to look forward to. Fortunately, Reid makes up for being professorial and occasionally tongue-tied with a decent command of facts - not that Angle is at all swayed by them.
Sigh.
Here’s what I was thinking through the debate: When will it end? Sharron Angle - refusing to be influenced by evidence or reason, Harry Reid wandering off onto wonkishly long-winded answers. Slogans vs. substance. Fossil fueled Sharron Angle vs the always renewable power of Harry Reid. Neither is exactly Churchillian in their presence or style.
Amid the confusing non-answers, flubbed numbers, exaggerations, missed opportunities, disconnected attempts at Reagan-era boosterism and misplaced gravitas there is one point that stood up and saluted:
Sharron Angle has been living on the largesse of her BLM retiree husband’s federal pension and medical insurance for virtually her entire adult life. She’s right up there with a lot of the politicians she so loves to hate for what they supposedly have.
She came across as a self-absorbed, self-satisfied and yet jealous bitch who knew all her bizarre talking points to a ‘t’ - whether they were appropriate to the question or not.
Angle consistently ignores available data in favor of anecdotal particulars - such as mentioning that her father pays $800 for his monthly drugs despite being a wounded war veteran. The point went to Reid as he suggested that dear old Dad should come to the Reid office so that wiser heads might help him remedy such a ridiculous and unnecessary situation.
And typically, she engages in one ad hominum argument after another - attacking Reid personally. This works for her, since she would otherwise have to have an actual command of facts and issues beyond the simplistic TeaNut demagoguery.
On the subject of health care reform, Harry Reid remarked that, obviously, insurance companies wouldn’t do squat unless the government forced them to - so much for the free market. But Angle blundered forward carrying the banner of “Obama-care” saying “What we have here is a choice between the free market and Americanism…. We don’t have to force anyone to buy anything,” agreeing that she would not force companies to cover specific disorders.
The point went to Reid when Angle whined about not getting a coal-fired power plant in Ely or nuclear power at Yucca Mountain. Reid shot back that the reason just might be that he was working really hard to make Nevada a leader in renewable power - and related that he had just brought 1,000 jobs to Nevada with an LED plant. Sharron, duh!
That Angle had the bad manners and lack of class to suggest that the Senate Majority Leader “Man up” was telling. Refer to my earlier statement about being a bitch. She’s a no-class bitch spewing the same old simple-minded TeaNut drool. She even went on to attack Reid for uh, having money. Isn’t that sort of the point of her free-market driven American dream? Point goes to Reid for explaining that as a successful attorney and investor, that can happen, even while you put five kids through “100 semesters” of college.
I do have to hand it to Angle, she didn’t come off as well, crazy. That maniacal Stepford Wives smile was fixed and creepily unchanging. But that doesn’t seem to be a debate winning attribute. And you have to say that she really does embrace her own brand of fact-challenged crazy saying she was “glad to give voters the opportunity to see that Harry Reid has voted to give Social Security to illegal aliens.”
Sigh.
Nothing changed this evening. For those who’ve been paying attention all along - you knew when Angle was lying and dissembling, running for cover in slogans and tales of Ronald Reagan when confronted with actual uh, issue questions. Reid, for his part, dryly plodded onward delivering facts like he delivers jobs for Nevadans - just fine, if without style or flash, thank you.
What can you say about the woulda been match of the century?
She’s busily flip-flopping her position on privatizing Social Security, Medicare and the VA - running like to hell to distance herself from the extreme positions everybody who’s been paying attention knows she’s held since the ‘flood’ - which she’s probably blaming Harry Reid for.
Meanwhile, Harry Reid just brought 1,000 jobs in a high tech LED plant to Henderson, Nevada.
What I wonder is how many Angle supporters will be there standing in line to put in an application?
Senate Majority leader Harry Reid, center, arrives with Kai Huang, 2nd left, deputy mayor of Shenyang, China, Jinxiang Lu, 2nd right, chairman/CEO of A-Power, and Tom Conway, right, international vice president of the United Steelworkers union, for the dedication of a new A-Power Energy Generation Systems manufacturing facility in Henderson Tuesday, October 12, 2010. A translator is at far left. The company, based in China, will produce wind turbines and LED lighting.
Officials unveiled an LED manufacturing plant on Tuesday expected to create more than 1,000 jobs in Henderson by the end of the year.
The 36,000-square-foot plant at 1100 Mary Crest Road, near the Interstate 215 and Gibson Road interchange, will house a manufacturing plant for Singapore-based Asia New Energy.
An LED is a light emitting diode, which produce light while using less energy than standard light bulbs. They can be used in everything from flashlights to televisions.
The building also will be a temporary site for a wind turbine assembly facility operated by renewable energy company A-Power. Officials said A-Power will hire about 100 workers initially and up to 300 workers after it relocates to a planned 320,000-square-foot facility.
“The idea that we had to bring manufacturing jobs to Clark County…that’s what brings this about today,” Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said at a news conference to announce the manufacturing plant.
Reid noted that the U.S. is the greatest consumer of oil in the world. Green energy projects will help create jobs in Nevada and reduce dependence on foreign oil — two priorities, he said.
“Today we’re here for a strategy for tomorrow,” Reid said. “Nevada is already the nation’s hub for renewable energy.”
The campaign stop allowed Reid to showcase the kind of international clout and recognition he says he brings to Nevada as the Senate majority leader.
Cappy McGarr, managing partner of U.S. Renewable Energy Group and host of the event, said Reid was instrumental in getting the companies to locate in Henderson.
“He has been very astute at bringing new-energy jobs to Nevada,” McGarr said, calling the Silver State “pro-business” and adding that all jobs would be local jobs.
“I don’t know how you could get any more local than all this,” he said.
Tom Conway, international vice president of United Steelworkers, said that because 250 tons of steel are in each turbine, he expects jobs for his union’s members.
“Reid has been instrumental in bringing this about,” he said.
Asia New Energy and A-Power have a long-standing relationship of partnerships in Aisa, said Gene Jixiang Lu, chairmain and CEO of A-Power. A-Power is based in Senyang, China.
“In the future, we will also depend on your support,” Lu said through a translator.
Speaking through a translator, Kai Huang, vice mayor of Senyang City Government, said, “As the biggest energy-producing and consumer countries in the world, China and the U.S. are expanding new energy.”
The countries could continue to “set a good example for energy and environmental protection” by supporting green energy projects, he said.
The location of the final facility for wind turbines is yet to be determined, Lu said, but it will be located in either Clark County or Lincoln County in Southern Nevada. The LED manufacturing facility, he said, will begin hiring to fill the 1,000 job openings right away.
Lu didn’t give any specific instructions for applying for jobs, but he said his company had been working closely with the state to recruit.
“Wednesday, all fifty U.S. State attorneys general launched a joint investigation into allegations that mortgage companies broke laws in foreclosing on homeowners.
Ally Financial, Bank of America, JP Morgan Chase, and Wells Fargo halted foreclosures in 23 states after bank employees testified to having robo-signed documents without reading them.”
Sharron Angle’s campaign has repeatedly hammered home that Senate Majority Leader Reid is the diabolical mastermind behind the foreclosure crisis here in Nevada.
Just how does she plan to spin this new information? Do you think she might want to revisit blaming him for everything else that’s happened since the beginning of the world?
That awful Harry Reid and his Obamacare! Who amongst the true believers would want new tax cuts to help out with medical insurance premiums?
Me! A tax cut? Sign me up, please! I’ll take it. Can I be first in line?
Don’t let any of those TeaNuts have any. They don’t want or need anything from the ‘guvmint’ anyhow.
The following was released by the non-partisan FamiliesUSA
As Part of the Huge and Unprecedented Middle-Income Tax Cut, Nevadans’ Taxes Will Be Reduced by $1.1 Billion in 2014
Washington, D.C.—In Nevada, 287,400 people will be eligible for new tax cuts beginning in 2014 that will significantly reduce the cost of private health insurance for those individuals and families. The historic tax cut in the health reform law, which is estimated to reduce nationwide income taxes by more than $110 billion in 2014 alone, will be provided through tax credits to offset a portion of the cost of health insurance premiums, and Nevadans’ tax reductions will approximate $1.1 billion in that year.
Those are among the key findings of a report for Nevada released today by the health care consumer group Families USA, which commissioned The Lewin Group to use its economic models to estimate how many individuals in the state would benefit from the new premium tax credits.
Titled “Lower Taxes, Lower Premiums: The New Health Insurance Tax Credit in Nevada,” the report also states that the vast majority of Nevadans who will be eligible for the premiums tax credit—96 percent—will be in working families.
Approximately 256,400 people, the majority of those who will be eligible for the credits, will be in families with a worker who is employed full-time.
Another 20,000 people will be in families with a worker who is employed part-time.
The new tax credit targets middle-income families. For families of four, the tax credits—provided on a sliding scale—are focused on families with annual incomes between $29,327 and $88,200.
People with annual incomes at or above 200 percent of the federal poverty level, $44,100 for a family of four in 2010, will constitute two-thirds (66 percent) of the people who will be eligible for a premium tax credit.
Because the size of the tax credit is determined on a sliding scale based on income, however, more than half of the dollars from the tax cut (56 percent) will be targeted to families with incomes below 200 percent of poverty.
“This is the largest middle-income tax cut in history, and it will enable many hard-working Nevadans to afford health insurance premiums that have stretched family budgets,” said Ron Pollack, Executive Director of Families USA.
“The tax cut will not only put significant extra cash in Nevadans’ pocketbooks, but it will also ease the burden of families’ growing health care costs,” Pollack said.
There are about 143,200 uninsured Nevadans who will be eligible for the tax credits, and another 144,200 eligible people are currently insured but are still struggling to afford coverage.
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Families USA is the national organization for health care consumers. It is nonprofit and nonpartisan and advocates for high-quality, affordable health care for all Americans.
It’s about freaking time the Reid campaign called out Miss Liar Liar Pantsuit on Fire, Sharron Angle. Jeeze, it’s all right there on tape for everybody to see.
This is great.
But really, is Sharron Angle so silly that she doesn’t think anybody will remember this stuff? Are her supporters all having GOP-induced ‘memory’ issues?
Here it all is … in her own words.
“At the behest of her new DC handlers, Sharron Angle has transformed herself into faux-moderate actress, delivering a public performance in which she proclaims to believe the exact opposite of the extreme and dangerous agenda she has advocated her entire career,” said Reid campaign spokesman Kelly Steele. “Sharron Angle is banking on the ignorance and indifference of the Nevada electorate, and is currently engaged in a campaign of pathological lies where she’ll do or say anything to hide her extreme and dangerous agenda – eliminating of Medicare and Social Security, privatization the Veterans Administration, and shutting down the Department of Education – lest there be armed insurrection by her supporters against the government.”
Wednesday, February 23, 2011 at 10:38 
