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HEADLINES

• Scheme Intended to Shield Legislators from Accountability
• Ernaut Takes GOP Reins
• A Case of Mayoral Mix-Up
• Gibbons Pushes for Reconsideration of Emergency Regulations
• California vs. Nevada: The “Move Your Business” Ad War
• Olympic Rejection: Obama Loses Weapon of Mass Distraction

MUTH’S TRUTHS

• According to news reports, a NATO airstrike was called in after troops came under fire from inside a compound in Kabul, Afghanistan.  And according to a tribal leader, a civilian family of six was killed in the strike “despite orders from the top U.S. commander to avoid airpower if civilians are at risk.”  Avoid killing the enemy which is shooting at our people while hiding behind civilians?  Is this any way to win a war? 

• The New York Times story yesterday on Sen. John Ensign’s affair with a married staffer provided a lot of new details ripe for an investigation, but not any kind of new bombshell of a revelation which will cause him any immediate new political harm.  Indeed, Ensign appears to have weathered the scandal an will remain in office unless or until the heat is turned up enough that GOP candidates themselves in Nevada become hurt politically by Ensign.  At that point, all bets will be off.

• The Wall Street Journal reports today that “Job cuts accelerated in September as employers eliminated 263,000 positions, more than expected and higher than August’s revised 201,000 cuts.” When will the Nevada state government finally come to the same conclusion the private sector came to long ago; that significant layoffs of non-essential government employees are absolutely, positively necessary and unavoidable?

• From MSNBC’s “First Read” blog: “Also yesterday, Republicans have, perhaps, the best candidate they are going to get in their effort to topple Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid in Nevada. Former state GOP chair Sue Lowden made her bid official. While she’s no John Thune (remember, he’s the GOPer who upset then Senate Dem Leader Tom Daschle in 2004), she’s probably a good enough candidate to give Reid fits.”

OTHER NEVADA NEWS

• NPRI’s 2009 Nevada Legislative Review & Report Card
• Clark County Officials Say Layoffs Might Be Needed
• Ensign’s Aid to Mistress’s Husband Raises Ethics Flags
• GOP Aides Say Probes to Decide Ensign’s Fate
• Lowden says Reid hasn’t done enough for Nevada
• State Revenue Drops to Pre-Boom Levels
• Washoe Treasurer Won’t Seek Another Term

OTHER NEVADA VOICES

• Daily Kos: Harry F*cking Reid Just Sent Me This
• Sebelius: NYT Story on Ensign
• LVRJ: A Perpetual Tax-and-Spend Cycle
• Zahara: Forget High-Speed Rail, Build High-Speed Rapid Transit Instead
• Campaign Diaries: Reid Lands Yet Another Challenger

FAMOUS LAST WORDS

• “After reading The New York Times’ article on Sen. John Ensign’s behavior during and after his affair with Cynthia Hampton – namely, the steps he went to make sure someone paid his former friend Doug Hampton – it’s clearer than ever that whatever credibility Ensign once had is gone for good.” - Las Vegas Review-Journal columnist John L. Smith

• “Sen. Harry Reid symbolizes everything that’s wrong with Washington, DC.  He’s out of touch, oblivious to what Ameicans feel and contemptuous of what Republicans think.  He’s a Washington insider, a 43-year professional politician, wildly partisan, disconnected from reality and disengaged from everyday life.” - GOP U.S. Senate candidate Danny Tarkanian in a recent fundraising letter

• “(A)t some point (Sue Lowden’s) going to have to be candid with voters and explain the one and perhaps only action in her professional life that actually has had a discernible impact on the lives of average Nevadans: WTF WERE SHE AND HER HUSBAND THINKING when they shut down the Wet ‘n Wild water park…?” - Liberal blogger Hugh Jackson

• “You have to ask who in their right mind would want to be the next governor.  Anybody who thinks that they’re going to be governor and going to have a great future doesn’t know what’s going on in Sacramento. You want somebody to take the job who has no future.” - Oakland Mayor and former CA Gov. Jerry Brown announcing that he was going to run for governor again next year