E!! The True Conservative Story™

I assume most have checked the state election results by now, so here are some random thoughts:

– With 28 seats in the Assembly, a majority in the Senate, and just a couple of Republican votes the Dems can override a veto by Governor Jim Gibbons.  He is now officially a lame duck.  Or, in light of the constant trouble and controversy surrounding him, maybe just plain lame.

– In light of the above, expect a tax hike in Nevada as legislators contemplate a budget shortfall of (at least) $250 million.

– My condolences to Senator Heck (R) who lost to Breeden by 801 votes.  But, as Chuck Muth pointed out during this morning’s panel discussion on KNPR, Heck’s campaign ignored his advice to court the Libertarian active voting block (which by all counts was larger by far than Heck’s loss margin).  A few calls and mailers to Libertarian types and who knows what could have been?

– Incumbent Senator Bob Beers (R) was outspent and outslimed by a Democratic machine that did not hesitate to twist, lie and libel.  And somehow it didn’t seem to matter to voters that his opponent, Allison Copening, ducked most debate and interview opportunities throughout the campaign. 

– I was dissatisfied with both Beers’ and Copening’s pre-election responses to my “what will you cut, or what taxes will you raise, specifically” question in re: to Nevada’s budget shortfall.  Beers said we’d have to do one or the other (duh!) and Copening said she’d figure it out when she got to Carson City.  These answers are not good enough.  Voters have the right to know what their candidates plan to do before they cast their ballots.

– Congrats to Chad Christensen who is “my” Assemblyman.  A lot of people thought he was done, including Jon Ralston.

– Memo to Senator Raggio:  Please do what you can to convince your fellow senators to cut the budget and raise taxes as little as possible.

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An online news story reports the successful launch of China’s long-awaited space mission.  The account includes a riveting account of the take off as well as detailed account of the snappy inter-astronaut dialogue.

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Even more thrilling is the fact that the story was posted online by China’s official news agency Xinhua many hours before the rocket left the ground.

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In a bold move that has stunned the entire planet, the Chinese, in addition to building a spaceworthy vehicle, have mastered the art of time travel and are now able to report their achievements from the future.

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The Shenzhou 7 mission, which will feature China’s first-ever spacewalk, was set to launch yesterday between 9:07 a.m. EDT and 10:27 p.m. EDT.

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The Xinhua story was dated September 27, two days later.

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Electrifying as this is, with the rising super power now able to send operatives forward in time, hard questions must be asked about potential temporal rifts and disturbances, causality paradoxes, and the stability of the space-time continuum.

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The UN should immediately call a special meeting of the Assembly to discuss the appropriate response and prevent a cataclysm that could wipe out most of the solar system. 

Well, I don’t relish raining on conservatives’ celebratory parade after Tuesday’s primary victories here in Nevada, but a commitment to fair analysis requires that I do just that.

A reader emailed and asked why I didn’t say anything about today being Primary Day in Nevada.  The short answer is I didn’t think readers outside NV would care and residents here already knew about it.  Anyhoo, I just got home a little while ago and am checking the preliminary results online.

Here are a few Fun Clark County Facts while you wait for me to do that.  Clark County is NV’s largest county by population (because it contains Las Vegas).  County was created in 1908.  Total county population was 1.9 million in 2006.  We have approximately 327,000 registered Dems, 235,000 registered GOPers, and 136,000 “miscellaneous” (Independents etc.) for a total of about 697,000 registered voters.

OK, enough of that.  With 82% of the precincts and all the mail-outs in, we had about 102,000 people vote.  See all the results here.  No big surprises in the Congressional races.  I’m too tired to go through the rest of them one by one, but I will say this:

Glad to see Chad Christensen won in his Assembly race.  Glad to see Francis “the Knife” Allen did poorly in hers.  Didn’t much care whether Assemblyman Bob Beers won or lost, but know people who are glad. 

And am appalled and disgusted that Family Court Judge Del Vecchio got 20,000+ votes.  I’ve been sitting on some details I’m privy to re: Del Vecchio thinking it was all best revealed in October, but if That many people are not yet aware of the many, MANY reasons this guy should not only Not be on the bench but should be in prison…I’ll re-think the delay.

Not sure if anyone else caught Laura Ingraham’s interview with Danielle Bologna on her radio talk show last week?  This is the San Francisco woman whose husband and two sons were brutally murdered last month by Edwin Ramos, an illegal immigrant from El Salvador.  Thanks to the policies of America’s most famous “Sanctuary City,” authorities failed to place an immigration hold on Ramos despite TWO prior convictions on gang-related FELONIES…AND an arrest on gun charges in March.

Click here to contact San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsome’s office and let him know what you think about this!  You can also contact your Senator and/or Congressman with your thoughts about illegal immigration.

My three cents:  ALL illegal immigrants – not just those who violate ADDITIONAL laws after breaking our immigration laws to get here - should be reported and deported on “first contact” with a U.S. citizen and/or our authorities.  Our immigration laws are not (and should not be treated as if) they are casual suggestions. 

For an example of the proper care and handling of illegal immigrants, see this story re: a major raid and dozens of arrests in northern Nevada last fall and this follow up story describing the consequences for a company’s failure to comply with immigration law:  a Reno McDonald’s franchise owner was ordered to pay $1M in fines for knowingly employing illegal immigrants.

A couple of Nevada lawmakers are trying to get a bill passed that will do something about illegal immigration in Nevada – but unfortunately there does not seem to be wide support in the Nevada Assembly.