TODAY’S NN&V HEADLINES

• NN&V EXCLUSIVE: A Conversation with the Father of the Tax Pledge (Karri Bragg) –  Yesterday I interviewed Grover Norquist, president of Americans for Tax Reform, in advance of his trip this weekend to Las Vegas.  In it, Norquist discusses taxes, Ronald Regan, taxes, Harry Reid, taxes, the Tax Pledge, taxes, Nevada’s budget crunch, and taxes.

• Mount Gipper (Jennifer Harper/Inside the Beltway) – Two efforts are under way to place a “Mount Reagan” on the map before Feb 6, 2011 – what would have been Mr. Reagan’s 100th birthday. Citizen Outreach Foundation is determined that peak be in Nevada.

• Admirers Can’t Get Enough of Things Named Reagan (Steve Friess/AOL.com) – They’ve already named an airport, an aircraft carrier, a courthouse, a medical center, at least two post offices, several schools and more than two dozen roads for him. A McDonald’s in Alabama where he once ate even boasts a bust of him.  Yet that’s not enough for the most devout supporters of Ronald Reagan.

• Annual Controller Report on Finances Reveals Dismal State of Affairs (Sean Whaley/Nevada News Bureau) – An annual financial report released today by state Controller Kim Wallin examining the 2009 fiscal year that ended June 30 details just how difficult the national recession has been on the Nevada budget and how much worse it’s going to get.

• The Inconvenient Truth about Yucca Mountain (Randi Thompson) – Senator Reid has issued several statements recently related to Yucca Mountain that I feel compelled to dispel as myth.    

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

SURVEY SAYS!

Should Republicans now abandon being “the party of no” and start compromising with President Obama and congressional Democrats?

·         Yes

·         No

·         Hell no!

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

MUTHS TRUTHS

• There’s an old saying in the non-profit public policy world that you can’t save the world if you can’t pay the rent.  With that in mind….as well as the increasingly expensive cost of raising three kids….I will soon convert Muth’s Truths into a stand-alone daily subscription publication.  As such, I’ll be sending it out as a separate email from Nevada News & Views starting tomorrow.  Additional details to follow….

• The Nevada University Board of Regents is meeting today to discuss the higher education budget.  And you can bet there will be liberal dose of Armageddon-like hand wringing about necessary spending cuts – which is kinda weird since the board, I’m pretty sure, is the ONLY major governing entity in the state, including the Legislature, which has a solid majority of Republican members.  Proving once again that Republican and conservative are NOT necessarily the same thing.

• From EIN News this morning: “The Associated Press reports that at least 27 of the 104 nuclear reactors in the US have been leaking a cancer-causing by-product of nuclear fission, with the leaks mostly occurring through deteriorating underground pipes.”  Yet Harry Reid says storing nuclear waste on location at nuclear power plants all over the country is safer than storing it at one dedicated central repository at Yucca Mountain.  Gee, could Harry be wrong?

• OK, now let’s see if you can follow the bouncing ball on this one….

• Conventional wisdom suggests that Nevadans must re-elect Democrat Sen. Harry Reid because Harry Reid opposes Yucca Mountain.  Lt. Gov. Brian Krolicki is mulling entering the GOP primary race against Reid, telling everyone he has been recruited by Sen. John McCain. 

• Meanwhile, Republican National Committeeman Bob List said last week that Krolicki should stay out of the U.S. Senate race and run for re-election.  Krolicki then slammed List, saying that if List had his way we’d get Yucca Mountain. 

• Meanwhile, on Monday Sen. McCain said he supports Yucca Mountain.  So the best GOP nominee to go up against anti-Yucca Harry Reid is an anti-Yucca protégé of pro-Yucca John McCain?  Somebody ‘splain how that makes any sense whatsoever.

• Run Brian, run!

• Las Vegas resident and NN&V columnist Wayne Allyn Root, vice presidential candidate for the Libertarian Party in 2008 and likely candidate for LP National Chairman later this spring, has been added as a regular columnist by the national conservative Newsmax.com website.  Congrats, WAR.

• Took my daughter Kristen to see the Rick Thomas magic show at the Sahara Saturday night.  Thomas mentioned during the show his interaction with the government over his captive breeding efforts to save the kinds of endangered tigers which appear in his show. 

• After the show, we had an opportunity to get our picture taken with Mr. Thomas, and I used the opportunity to inquire as to whether the government has been helpful in his efforts to save these endangered animals or a problem. 

• My God, I thought we were gonna be there all night!  Thus reinforcing the lesson I try to impart on my home-schooled children on a regular basis: Government isn’t the solution to our problems; government is the CAUSE of our problems. 

• Gee, where have I heard that before?

TARK TALES

The Nevada News Bureau reported yesterday that Danny Tarkanian, The Perpetual Candidate, has sent a letter to all 17 of Nevada’s county GOP chairmen calling for a U.S. Senate candidate debate in each county.  And I say….GREAT idea. 

Let’s start with Danny Tarkanian debating himself on each seat he’s wanted to run for over the last few election cycles. 

City council candidate Danny Tarkanian can debate university regent candidate Danny Tarkanian.  Then state assembly candidate Danny Tarkanian can debate state Senate candidate Danny Tarkanian.  Followed by secretary of state candidate Danny Tarkanian debating attorney general candidate Danny Tarkanian.

And then finally we can have U.S. Senate candidate Danny Tarkanian debating Danny Tarkanian’s conscience over the dishonest and dishonorable campaign he’s been waging against fellow Republican candidate Sue Lowden for the last few weeks.

All kidding aside, until Danny elevates his campaign above curb level, he should be lucky if even Mike Wiley will debate him.

OTHER NEWS & VIEWS

Hey, kids!  Chew on this declaration of war on status quo defenders of our failed public education system in Nevada which was just announced by Gov. Jim Gibbons to his re-election campaign supporters:

It is time to break the cycle of hearings, studies, reports, and committees to report on the studies.  It is time to implement real change. It is time for new ideas and fresh resolve.

We must rethink the historic pattern of imposing special earmarks from Carson City and legislatively mandated expenditures on our school districts.

The manner in which education is delivered to children should not be dictated by unions.

Parents, teachers, communities, and teams of dedicated administrators and staff are the key to student success.  These education leaders should not have to answer to the coercive power of teacher unions that are not working in the best interests of our children.

We need to recognize that it is possible to both save money and enhance student performance.

My plan to overhaul the education system begins with these steps:

Adopt a statewide voucher system, give parents choice and control, and give school districts more power over the way their funding is allocated.

Allow more flexibility in school structure and planning by eliminating local government and school district collective bargaining. This will return control of the education system to parents, students, and school boards in the local communities. 

Eliminate the elected state Board of Education and replace it with a five member advisory board.  The State Superintendent of Education would be hired by, serve at the pleasure of, and report to the Governor.

Streamline K-12 school funding and create empowerment school districts, letting school districts decide where to best put those resources based on their student populations.

Teachers and parents all across Nevada have contacted me and applauded our efforts to find new solutions to old problems.  We can work together with innovation and determination to make Nevada schools a model for the future!

My friend, please join me in the fight to give Nevada’s children the educational opportunities they deserve by breaking away from old, worn out strategies that have not delivered satisfactory student achievement.  I need your help to move this fight forward!

TUBE TIPS

• Experts on the mining industry go Face to Face with Jon Ralston to discuss mining tax hike proposals tonight.  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 guests today on the Nevada Newsmakers program will be Ellie Lopez Bowlen, Republican Candidate for the Nevada Assembly.  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 

• “If you want to create competition is schools, allow that parent to chose the school to take their child to and give them 75-percent of the per pupil dollars that we spend; any school, whether it is public, private, charter, or whatever – leaving 25-percent in the school district from which it came.  We are empowering you to choose.  We want you to have a say in where and how your child gets an education.  If anything I said tonight sounds draconian, you must be a union member.” – Gov. Jim Gibbons last week in remarks to the Mt. Rose Republican Women’s club

• “Once people have decided that they don’t like the dog food, the ability to advertise the dog food drops.” – Grover Norquist on Sen. Harry Reid’s bulging campaign warchest and his ability to use it for saturation campaign advertising

• “Nevada’s senior Sen. Harry Reid has killed Yucca Mountain and derailed the high speed train from Anaheim, California. Both projects would bring thousands of jobs for high tech personnel and millions of dollars for our beleaguered Nevada economy.  Most mainstream chief operating officers would educate us on how we could take these two projects and make them work well in Nevada.  Most geologists will tell you that Yucca Mountain is perfectly safe and can be used for other alternative uses. – Mark Alden, Senior Regent of the Nevada System of Higher Education