TODAY’S NN&V HEADLINES

• Conservative Black Leaders Respond to Reid’s Racial Remarks (NN&V Staff) – Black conservatives with the Project 21 leadership network are speaking out about the recently-revealed racial comments about Barack Obama that were made by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) in 2008:

• The Standard Double-Standard (Rich Galen) – For those of you who may have been off the grid over the weekend the big news was an item in a new book by Mullpal Mark Halperin and John Heilemann titled “Game Change” in which Majority Leader Harry Reid was quoted as using inappropriate language when describing then-Senator Barack Obama.

• Harry Reid Plays Race Cards as He Practiced (National Republican Senatorial Committee) – In light of controversial racially-derogatory statements by U.S. Senator Harry Reid (D-NV) about Barack Obama’s skin color and so-called “Negro dialect,” voters are reminded of Reid’s outrage in response to then-Majority Leader Trent Lott’s (R-MS) offhand remark at a birthday party for former U.S. Senator Strom Thurmond in 2002.

• SAGE Commission’s 44 Recommendations (NN&V Staff) – The following is a recently released list of the entire 44 recommendations made by Gov. Jim Gibbons’s “Spending and Government Efficiency” (SAGE) Commission:

• Health Care Reform will be an albatross around Democrats’ necks (Grace-Marie Turner) – Health reform is the Holy Grail for Democrats, but it may turn out instead to be their political death march. 

Click here to read these stories at the Nevada News & Views site!

SURVEY SAYS!

Should Harry Reid resign for his “Negro” remarks about President Obama?

·         Yes

·         No

To cast your vote in today’s online survey, click here!

MUTHS TRUTHS

• Liberal dark-skinned black leaders who speak with a Negro dialect would be having a veritable COW if Harry Reid was a Republican, demanding his white-bread head on a platter.  Any black “leader”….dark- or light-skinned….who excuses Harry Reid, defends Harry Reid or forgives Harry Reid without simultaneously at least calling for his immediate resignation as Majority Leader is a world-class hypocrite who should NEVER be taken seriously on race matters in this country ever again.  That includes Nevada state Senate Majority Leader Steven Horsford.

• The Harry Reid story has been white hot since Jon Ralston broke it here in Nevada three days ago.  Yet still not a single public comment, statement or press release from either the Clark County or Nevada Republican Party chairmen.  Waldo is easier to find than these guys.  Does somebody have a St. Bernard Nevada Republicans could borrow – preferably one that is light-skinned with no Negro dialect?

• Joe Tatner inked a long defense of his role in a 2004 soft-porn movie as a priest spanking girls in a Catholic school on Sunday.  None of which, unfortunately for him, matters.  All that matters is that as long as he’s a Republican candidate for Congress on the ballot in 2010, it will be used against every other Republican candidate on the ballot for every other office in 2010.  This isn’t about Joe; it’s about everybody else.  Joe needs to drop out – even though he is light-skinned with no Negro dialect.

• Don’t look now, but there’s a longshot possibility that Ted Kennedy’s U.S. Senate seat could be filled by a Republican after the January 19^th special election in Massachusetts – especially since the Republican, Scott Brown, is light-skinned and has no Negro dialect.  If so, Harry Reid can say bye-bye to the 60 votes he needs to pass ObamaCare.  Keep your fingers crossed and checkbook open.

• BTW, belated congratulations to our buddy Steve Sebelius who landed a gig on KLAS Channel 8 in Las Vegas as the station’s twice-weekly political analyst.  Sebelius is a former political columnist for the Las Vegas Review-Journal and current editor of CityLife.  We know he’ll be a big smash on Channel 8 covering politics because he’s pretty light-skinned and has no Negro dialect – except after three bottles of wine.  Break a leg, Steve.

OTHER NEWS & VIEWS

Nevada lawmaker per diems double their base pay

Anjeanette Damon, Reno Gazette-Journal

When lawmakers meet in Carson City every other year for the 120-day legislative session, state law dictates that their salaries run out after 60 days. But legislators hardly stop making money on day 61, according to a Reno Gazette-Journal analysis of thousands of lawmaker compensation records.

They collect one of the highest per diem allowances in the country, creating a shadow salary that’s more than double their allotted pay of $8,777. That’s because in Nevada, lawmakers automatically collect their $167 per diem each day of the 120-day session — whether they are working in Carson City or home for the weekend with their families.

Lawmakers aren’t required to submit receipts for their per diems. And in recent years, they’ve created a reimbursement system that allows them to collect for travel and lodging, expenses traditionally covered by a per diem.

“That’s a pretty high per diem,” said Chuck Muth, a conservative activist and spending watchdog. “In the real world that you and I live in, the per diem is supposed to be covering lodging, food and travel. In the world of government and legislators, I guess the per diem is for — well, what the heck is it for if travel and lodging are already covered?”

When the per diem, travel and lodging expenses are totaled, the state spent an average of $39,483 per lawmaker during the 2009 legislative session, according to the RGJ analysis. That’s more than four times their salaries.

Read the rest of this story HERE

TUBE TIPS

• Clark County Sheriff Doug Gillespie and and Reno Airport official Brian Kulpin go Face to Face with Jon Ralston tonight to discuss security in public areas in Nevada.  The program airs at 4:00 pm Monday through Friday on KVBC Channel 3 in Las Vegas, as well as NBC affiliates in Reno and Elko.  http://www.lasvegassun.com/videos/face-face/

• Sam Shad’s guest today on the Nevada Newsmakers program will be Nevada U.S. Senator John Ensign.  The program airs on KRNV-TV Channel 4 at 12:30 pm in Reno and on Cox Cable Channel 123 at 4:30 pm and 11:35 pm in Las Vegas.  http://www.nevadanewsmakers.com/

FAMOUS LAST WORDS 

• “In 2002, Democrats expressed outrage at Senator Lott and called on him to step down as Leader. That same standard should be applied to Senator Reid and his embarrassing and racially insensitive statements; statements, I would add, that Senator Reid still has yet to clarify.  As we await his explanation, Senator Reid should do the right thing, follow the example that he himself set in 2002, and step down as Majority Leader.” – Sen. Jon Cornyn (R-Texas)

• “Sen. Harry Reid is no Archie Bunker, though from the state of the polls in Nevada, even the fictional Archie might beat him in a head-to-head contest right about now.” – Mary Curtis in the Politics Daily blog

• “If you look at the history of incumbent senators polling this far behind…they lose. The only winner I can of in a generation who was down by more than this to come back win was Jesse Helms in ’84 against Jim Hunt, North Carolina, and that was on the back of the Reagan landslide. Well, Harry Reid is running in a midterm.  It’s all about Harry Reid in Nevada.  There is no upward coattail that can drag him across the finish line.” – Political prognosticator Chuck Todd

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