Posts from — December 2009

 CQ Politics figures Dean Heller, GOP holder of the congressional seat in Nevada’s District #2, is safe for re-election in 2010.

CQ says, “Jack Schofield, an 86-year-old who was a state senator in the 1970s, and Reno attorney Ken McKenna are vying for the Democratic nomination, but neither appears to have the profile to mount a threatening challenge to Heller, a former Nevada secretary of state who is viewed as a rising star in state and national Republican politics.”

Dan Hart, a Democratic political consultant based in Las Vegas, agreed that Heller does not face a strong threat in 2010.

“It is such a hard district for Democrats,” Hart said of the largely rural 2nd, which apart from the Reno region is a vast and sparsely populated expanse that takes in all of the state north of metropolitan Las Vegas. Hart said it is hard for Democrats “to get traction up there, especially this year.”

You can check out CQ’s political map here.

Dawn Gibbons

Rather than endure a four day public trial in their divorce Governor Jim Gibbons and Dawn Gibbons have reached a settlement. Now the judge has to approve it.

Nevada is a no-fault state. Settlement of divorces generally address a split of their property, determining spousal support (alimony) and child support (no children here).

Of course there has to be property to split. Real property, personal property, vested retirement, bank account(s) and the like. Most of us only have our houses to split, which may actually represent a community debt rather than asset in current times.

Jim and Dawn have agreed to split their Reno home and 40 acres in scenic Lamoille in Elko County, lawyers said. Each has a net value of about $575,000. Jim will get the guns, Dawn the art.

The governor and his wife live a bit higher on the hog than most of us.

The governor will get to keep a 1914 Model T car. The first lady will get a 1915 Model T. They are still dividing up their furniture. You know, who gets the big HD TV and who gets the smaller analog version.

Dawn will get a lump $275,000 payment within 60 days, representing half of the value of the 40 acres the couple own in Lamoille, outside Elko. Once she gets that payment, she’ll leave the apartment on the grounds of the governor’s residence where she has been staying.

She will also get $1,454 from Gibbons’ various pensions (he was an airline pilot and receives a federal pension from his time in Congress.) On top of that, for the next five years she would get 25 percent of his gross monthly income. Recent court documents filed in the divorce put his monthly pre-tax income at $16,700.

Dawn will keep the last name of Gibbons. Why she would want to retain the married name is beyond me.

It is historic. The first divorce for a sitting governor in Nevada.

[Source: Las Vegas Sun]

Job Outsourcing

I keep remembering the wholesale outsourcing of manufacturing jobs by global corporations over the past decade or so. Auto manufacturers outsourced their jobs to Mexico. Computer software companies outsourced their technical support to India, and so on.

As they did so thousands of Americans lost their jobs. It has been apparent that the motivation of the corporations in doing so was to cut their production costs thereby increasing their profits. Might have been a good move for the corporations, but devastating to the American blue-collar middle class.

My wife, who is the primary shopper in our family, tells me she looks at the labels of things she shops for to see if they were manufactured in the United States. She wants to buy American. But the preponderance of goods are manufactured in some foreign country. (Like many she shops at Wal-Mart). The stuff she is looking for is made in China, Mexico, Taiwan, etc. Very little is made in the USA.

Of course the lack of jobs in the USA is a major concern at present. No wonder there is such a lack of jobs—they are outsourced to foreign countries.

I don’t hear about the outsourcing being discussed on the news. Am I wrong in my conclusion that the outsourcing is the cause of the job loss in the US?

If I’m right then why isn’t it being talked about and addressed?

It may mean that sexual discrimination of men in favor of women is about to become a thing of the past. Nevada, famous for its legal brothels, has allowed women to practice the oldest profession for years, but not men. [Pahrump Mirror, December 17, 2009, pages 1, 8]

But earlier this month the door was opened for men to operate legally in brothels in Nevada. Bobbi Davis, owner of the Shady Lady Ranch, just north of Beatty, Nevada says “I’m excited about it….” She is contemplating adding men to her brothel’s services.

But she has to get the concurrence of the Nye County Board of Commissioners. Once that is accomplished she will begin interviewing males to add to the seven females on her staff. She refers to it as “adding a new product.”

Nobody knows whether there is a market for male prostitutes, including Davis. Will any women come to the brothel and engage any of the men? Beats me. Might help the job situation.

I’ve never quite understood how the brothels remain in business. But they have. Where do their clients come from? Who wants to pay for sex if it can be found for free?

Wonder if any special training is required of the men? Are their college courses somewhere that they can learn the ins and outs of the trade? Haven’t heard of any. What characteristics will Ms. Davis be looking for?

Where does one go to sign up for an interview?

January 1 on the Gregorian calendar  is celebrated as New Years Day worldwide and has been since ancient Rome. This New Years Day is of some additional significance because it also marks the beginning of the second decade of this year.

We traditionally look backward and review major events that have occurred, then make New Year’s Resolutions about how we are going to improve our lot in the coming year. Today, the eve of New Years Day, will see a number of people taking a dip in ice-cold water, swine flu notwithstanding.

We have before us the 2010 Census and the national and local elections to select those to run our governments in the coming years. Tomorrow many of us will be watching the Rose Bowl Parade and football game in Pasadena. Even more of us will watch the Times Square Ball spend the last minute of the year 2009 drop to herald the beginning of 2010. The first baby born on January 1 will be recognized with some acclaim.

We have already passed through the winter solstice, the shortest day of the year in our hemisphere. Each day is getting longer.

New Years Eve is renowned for drinking. Those that overindulge need to make a New Years resolution before they begin their revelry. Don’t drink and drive. No need to spend part of your New Years sleeping it off in Sheriff DeMeo’s jail. But better there than in the morgue. Designate a driver. Why spend the money in January for a DUI? Or begin the New Year with the guilt of having caused someone else’s death or injury in an auto accident!

Pahrump is well populated with 2^nd right gun supporters. Alcohol and guns do not mix. Use your head and “leave your gun at home son, don’t take your gun to town,” advised the mother to her son in the well-known song. No point in being dumb as well as stupid.

The past decade has not been a good one. Wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and the horrendous national debt accelerated by them. Scandals galore. Mortgage foreclosures through the roof. Jobs as scarce as hen’s teeth. The rich getting richer—the poor poorer. People at each other’s throats over healthcare and climate change. Congress controlled by corporate lobbyists. VEA raising electrical rates.

On the other hand there are positive signs. Election recalls here in Pahrump have started and floundered. There are a few jobs in the offing from the new federal detention facility under construction. Nationally there seems to have been a shift from a band-aid approach to addressing ever present problems to a deeper and more comprehensive method of fundamental adjustment to the root causes. Far more difficult than applying band-aids but at least a change to try something different. I sense a more positive attitude than a negative. Perhaps it is the “change” from the status quo of the past to the “Yes, we can” view of the new Obama administration. The horizon doesn’t look as bleak as before. Still a long way to go but at least headed in the right direction. Progressive change is always better than stagnant status quo.

There are groups of positive forward thinking people here in Pahrump working toward optimistically focusing on good things rather than bad. The new League of Women Voters in Pahrump is one such group. The Nevada Center for Public Policy Dialogue is another. There is light at the end of the tunnel and I don’t think it is the headlights of a freight train coming.

Happy New Year to you all.

Sen. John Ensign (R-Nev.) filed a constitutional point of order against the legislation Tuesday, arguing that the mandate that all U.S. residents purchase health insurance or pay a penalty is unconstitutional. [California Healthline]

Ensign said that the federal government does not have the power to force individuals to buy a specific product. “(I)f one of my constituents in Nevada does not want to spend his or her hard-earned income on health insurance coverage and would prefer to spend it on something else, such as rent or a car payment, this requirement could be a taking of private property under the Fifth Amendment,” Ensign said.

Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-Texas) also said Monday that a provision in the bill that would levy fees on insurance companies — but would provide exceptions to benefit not-for-profit insurers in Nebraska and Michigan — “will not stand the test of the Constitution” because it “cannot be considered equal protection under the law.”

Some legal experts disagreed with Ensign and Hutchison, arguing that the mandate is constitutional because Congress is permitted to “regulate commerce… among the several states.” In addition, the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment does not apply to Congress (CQ Today, 12/22).

Interesting constitutional question. Congress can pass any bill they want, constitutional or not. At any rate, the case is not yet ripe. A challenge could only be filed by someone who was penalized for not purchasing insurance, and the fine (or tax) portion of the overhaul won’t kick in – if the bill becomes law – until 2014 as the measures now stand.

We won’t know for sure until the United States Supreme Court decides it.

The U.S. spends more for war annually than all state governments combined spend for the health, education, welfare, and safety of 308 million Americans.[Greenchange]

the total budget for what the Pentagon calls “defense” in fiscal year 2010 will be at least $880 billion and could possibly top $1 trillion. That’s more than all the state governments collect.

“[A]ll American local governments combined (cities, counties, etc.) collect about $500 billion in taxes. Add that to total state tax take and you get over $1.3 trillion. This means Uncle Sam’s Pentagon is sopping up nearly as much money as all state, county, city, and other governmental units spend to run the country.”

Keep in mind the FBI, the various intelligence agencies, the VA, the National Institutes of Health (biological warfare) are also spending on war-related activities.

Sounds like the United States is just one huge war machine.

Census 2010

Christmas is over and New Years is immediately ahead. When March arrives the Census 2010 will be underway. Ran across a website which points out that scammers work their magic during the census. The census is a constitutionally mandated function of government. The census is important. It has a direct impact on the amount of money states and counties receive from the federal government. It has a political impact because it affects the number of political districts in each state. For example, Nevada may wind up with four Congressional Districts rather than just three. All depends on the population of the state, which the census seeks to count. Finally, people, like me, that engage in genealogical research finds all kinds of information from each Census about their ancestors. The last census available to genealogists was the 1930 census.

The 2010 Census forms will be mailed out to you. You are required to fill out the form and mail it in to the Census Bureau. Some will, some won’t for various reasons. If you follow the rules you won’t even see or hear from a census taker. If you don’t mail your census form in you will hear from them, probably knocking at your door.

There’s good reason to believe that 2010 could be a bumper year for crooks who try to trick you either out of your possessions or personal information they can use for identity theft.

None of us want to be taken by Census scammers. I ran across a site that provides some tips to prevent you from being victimized. Thought I’d share it with you.

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