Posting Date: 05/13/2013

Libya may not technically be part of the Middle East, but its neighbor, Egypt, and all the other countries that stretch around the eastern end of the Mediterranean Sea are. Libya was included in the original definition of Middle East when the Eisenhower administration coined the phrase. It shares many maladies with the more recognized Middle Eastern countries. So, for now, Libya will be lumped into that cache of nations. [Read more]

Posting Date: 04/29/2013

In what looks like an attempt to disparage the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) and the United States Congress, of which he is a member, Nevada Senator Dean Heller seems to have grabbed at some low hanging fruit that turned out to be repugnant. [Read more]

Posting Date: 04/15/2013

What’s all the fuss? Now that Al Litman has been reelected to his City Council seat out of the primary election, the fur is flying. It shouldn’t be.

Nevada Revised Statutes state that any primary candidate who gets 50 percent plus one vote of the primary ballots is deemed elected and will not face any opposition in the general election. For political nerds the statute citation is 293/C.175. [Read more]

Posting Date: 04/01/2013

In an unexpected announcement earlier this morning, Mesquite Mayor Mark Wier announced that by fiat; all seats on the City Council will reveal their partisan political affiliation. [Read more]

Posting Date: 03/18/2013

In a February 2011 column I offered a snappy new title for the mayor to use replacing the stodgy “State of the City” address. I offered up the title “Mesquite Matters.” I thought the alliteration was nifty and the double meaning just right for a city moving forward. Mayor Mark Wier didn’t take me up on the offer and I can see why. [Read more]

Posting Date: 03/11/2013

We have created a Gordian knot. Our immigration policy is in such disarray that there hardly seems to be any policy at this point. America has issued visas to tons of students, workers, visitors, and on and on and then forgotten about them. Many have stayed years beyond the expiration date. Many of those in this category are not Latinos.  [Read more]

Posting Date: 02/25/2013

As we come to the end of Black History Month, this year marks the sesquicentennial of the Emancipation Proclamation. President Lincoln, a strong government advocate, issued the presidential edict on January 1, 1863. He did so with neither advice nor consent of Congress. Conservatives, including Lincoln’s arch rival Steven Douglass who railed against government powers and fought to save slavery, called Lincoln what conservatives are calling President Obama today: a tyrant. [Read more]

Posting Date: 02/13/2013

Football: the sport of kings–no that’s falconry. Football: breakfast of champions–no that’s Wheaties. Football: America’s sport–it used to be baseball, but now, maybe.

What football has become is a crippler of extraordinary magnitude. Years ago when players retired many were so broken they could hardly function physically. [Read more]

Posting Date: 02/04/2013

Champion golfer Phil Mickelson has made the news in an area he likely should have left alone. This is a golfing community, so any further explanation of who Mickelson is, is likely unnecessary. But, let it be said that he is an all around nice guy, great father and husband, and one whose family has suffered more than their share of health problems. Both his wife and mother battling breast cancer, and add to that Phil’s possibly career ending arthritis. [Read more]

Posting Date: 01/21/2013

Nevada Governor Brian Sandoval is once again on solid ground. His State of the State address, delivered Wednesday, Jan. 16, reflected the thinking that is necessary and will be instrumental in assisting Nevada in its continued Great Recession recovery. He spoke with an upbeat tone about how we are headed in the right direction–most indicators are looking much rosier. [Read more]