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Penny PressNevada, USA Volume 9 Number 13 DECEMBER 8, 2011

THE PENNY PRESS,DECEMBER 8, 2011 PAGE 2

PennyPressLogotype Pointedlymad licensed from: Rich Gast

Credits:Publisher and Editor: Contributing Editors:Fred Weinberg Floyd Brown Al Thomas Doug French Chuck Muth John Getter Pat Choate Tom Mitchell

The Penny Press is published weekly by Far West Radio LLC All Contents © Penny Press 2011

Letters to the Editor are encouraged. They should be sent to our offices at 335 W. 4th Street Winnemucca, NV 891445 They can also be emailed to: [email protected] No unsigned or unverifiable letters will be printed.

702-418-0433 Fax: 702-920-8215

www.pennypressnv.com

By THOMAS MITCHELLContributing Editor

“Few people are capable of expressing with equanimity opinions which differ from the prejudices

of their social environment. Most people are even incapable of forming such opinions.” — Albert Einstein

In one of the closing chapters of the biography of Republican state Sen. Bill Raggio — “A Man of His Word,” by Michael Archer — while talking about the 2010 election cycle, Raggio is quoted as saying “the leadership of Nevada Republican Party had been taken over by the ultra conservatives, led by activist Chuck Muth (who is

actually a registered independent) and the likes of the Nevada Policy Research Institute. They wanted candidates who would sign no-tax pledges and would vote against any increased spending of any kind, insisting further cuts in the state budget should be made.”

This was about the time Raggio, who never met a tax hike he couldn’t embrace, had endorsed Sen. Harry Reid over Republican primary winner Sharron Angle, an action that resulted in him being ousted from party leadership, which apparently prompted him to resign from office.

So, whatever Raggio says is subject to analysis under the general unified field theory of political relativity: Your frame of reference determines what you see. No observer is stationary. Everyone moves at different velocities and in different directions along the

political spectrum from red to blue. Raggio displays a blue shift.

That explains why in an interview with Archer after the election, in which Reid beat Angle by 5 points with the help of a huge union get-out-the-vote push, Raggio seemed to take considerable pleasure in what he called the “sacking” of Review-Journal Publisher Sherman Frederick and myself as editor about a week after the election.

Archer quotes Raggio as saying, “There is any old saying that ‘what goes around comes around.’ These two had made the newspaper into what appeared to be an organized anti-Reid organ on a constant daily basis, not just in editorial content, but in news articles and the publishing of continual ‘poll’ results, which proved to be totally inaccurate in that race.”

Of course, as anyone who

actually read the news pages of the R-J during the election campaign knows, the news coverage was fair and balanced and thorough. Neither Frederick nor myself ever directed anything otherwise. I dare say probably 80 percent of the newsroom voted for Reid, and the reporter who did most of the coverage is so intent on objectivity she refuses to vote in any race she has covered.

Also, the opinion polls were accurate in all the races that lacked the union push.

“[Tom] Mitchell …” Raggio was quoted as saying, “should never have been an editor of a major newspaper, since he held such firm Libertarian, biased and almost anarchist views. Both Governor Guinn and I, and others with like opinions, who had voted for any tax increase, even though necessary at the time, were excoriated by him in his editorials

Penny PressWINNEMUCCA, NEVADA 16 PAGES VOLUME 9 NUMBER 13 DECEMBER 8, 2011

Penny WisdomAny party which takes credit for the rain must not be sur-prised if its opponents blame it for the drought. —Dwight D. Morrow

The Conservative Weekly Voice Of Las Vegas

Inside:Presidency Requires No Special ResumeSee Editorial Page 6

FLOYD BROWN PAGE 5FRED WEINBERG PAGE 6DOUG FRENCH PAGE 7AL THOMAS PAGE 10STEVEN MILLER PAGE 11CHUCK MUTH PAGE 14PETS OF THE WEEK PAGE 15

The Speed Of Insight Squared

Commentary

Continued on page4

and other rantings.”How dare anyone disagree with him and have a differing opinion.Apparently Raggio took considerable umbrage when the newspaper

deigned to disagree with him on ballot Question 1, which would have made judges appointed instead of elected. The voters excoriated the measure by handily defeating it.

The proponents of the measure recruited former Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor to campaign for Question 1, taking her around to various media editorial boards, including the R-J, which posted a 72-minute video of the meeting.

“Nevertheless, the measure lost on the ballot,” Raggio was quoted as saying, “largely through the efforts of the likes of [Chuck] Muth and [Thomas] Mitchell. Justice O’Connor met with editorial boards throughout the state and was well received, except for Mitchell at the Review-Journal, who treated her with disrespect and went on to crusade against the measure in his editorial comments.”

Archer claimed Raggio accepted defeat but not a “lack of civility, often accompanied by a condescending air of self-righteousness.”

From my perspective O’Connor was treated with respect, though we politely challenged her contention that the voters are just too gosh darned ignorant to be able to handle such an important decision as who should be a judge.

I asked O’Connor, politely, if the plan to have selection panels and evaluation panels and retention elections was such a good idea, why not amend the U.S. Constitution to create such a system for federal judges.

She snapped, “You can propose it.”Chalk it up to relativity. The theory goes something like this (e=mc²):

The energy of one’s convictions equals the mass of one’s deductions times the speed of insight squared.Thomas Mitchell is a longtime Nevadan. You may share your views with him by emailing [email protected]. Read additional musings on his blog at http://4thst8.wordpress.com.


Raggio: It's Always The Right Wing Media's FaultContinued from page 3


You Have No Privacy

If you are like us, every day you pick up a smartphone and you send email, visit with friends on Facebook, send a text message or even log into your bank’s website and pay a bill. These modern day conveniences have become routine.

We all believe that our passwords are secure, our data is protected, and life is easier if we don’t have to write a check to pay a bill or dig around and find a stamp to send a friend a quick note.

But this morning we are no longer sure. The tech world is

in a fury, which we believe will soon break out into society at large, about a little know software program called Carrier IQ. Over the Thanksgiving weekend a 25 year old programmer by the name of Trevor Eckhart posted a video on YouTube which graphically displays how our naive beliefs of privacy are just plain wrong.

The video which lasts 17 minutes and starts slowly because he methodically goes through the privacy statements on his cell phone is frightening. If you watch it, you will never look at your smartphone the same again. We have posted the video at Floydreports.com if you want to watch.

The program, Carrier IQ cannot

be turned off. But it tracks your every move. Dial a friend’s phone, it sends the number off to someone. Send or receive a text message and the message is recorded and sent off. Call up your bank or another website in the allegedly secure https: mode which we have been told is secure and Carrier IQ is there recording your username, password and any other move you make on your phone.

Rather than calling them smartphones we should be calling them people monitors. The only action you take which it cannot record is a thought in your head that you refuse to express. These phones are even capable of recording what you say. Scary is not the word for it.

Trevor Eckhart even takes pains to turn off the GPS function for use by Google maps and search and then he demonstrates how Carrier IQ still is logging your position.

Now what can you do about it? The program can only be removed if you hack or as they

say “root” your phone. But beware rooting your phone likely violates the contract you have signed with your carrier, and it clearly voids any manufactures warranty you may have on the device.

Since the video was first posted others have gone to work and exposed how in addition to Android phones the Carrier IQ software is also present on I Phones with iOS 3 operating system and above.

The privacy issues surrounding smartphones have been numerous, but the exposure of Carrier IQ brings the threat to an entirely new level. Chances are if you have a smartphone you have no privacy around or while using the device. Be careful.

Makes you understand why criminals all use burner phones.FLOYD and MARY BETH BROWN


Commentary: Floyd Brown

The Penny Press Tips Its Cap To:Nevada Senior Deputy Attorney General George Taylor who warned that Incline Village General Improvement District board Chairman Ted Fuller will face legal action if he violates the law again. Fuller cut off the com-ments of two citizen activists during meetings. Taylor says that the Lake Tahoe governmental board violated the state open meeting law in doing so. You think?

Lynn Jones of Lockwood for refusing to load an emaciated hunting dog on a plane. She paid for her concern by getting fired. We hope she sues everybody in sight from the TSA to the airline to the contractor who fired her and the hunter who dared treat his dog that way. He ought to go to jail.

The Penny Press Sends A Bronx Cheer And A Bouquet of Weeds To:The Nevada Department of Transportation which refuses to rehire or make a financial settlement with a fired state pilot, despite a state Supreme Court ruling that he must be given a flying job.. Instead of accepting that decision, Deputy Attorney General Catherine Thayer, on behalf of the Transportation Department, asked the court in documents filed Wednesday to rehear the case -- a request that rarely is granted. That's a good reason for public officials to listen to these clowns.


The post-mortem of the Herman Cain campaign has begun in earnest this week with the Wall Street Journal chiming in that “Cain was as surprised as anyone” at his own success and, thus, was never prepared to actually run for President.

Perhaps that’s true, but if it is, it is a sad commentary on the state of our Democratic Republic.

We live, by choice, far, far away from Washington D.C.

Northern Nevada—all of rural America, for that matter—doesn’t have its citizens waking up each morning wondering what Washington will do for us each day. (Sometimes we wonder about what Washington will do TO us, but that’s another column.) For the most part, we live our lives fairly independently of what happens in the nation’s capitol.

But that does not mean that one of us is singularly unqualified to become President.

I can name five residents of rural Nevada (I will spare them the embarrassment by actually naming them) three of whom have never held elected public office off the top of my head who could easily take on that job. And they are not unique. There are common folks (and I do not mean that in the pejorative) all over this great nation who could easily become President and do a fine job. In fact, Americans have a history of stepping up when the times have required it.

The notion that the ability to run for and win the Presidency is limited to a select few “special” people is ludicrous.

Especially in view of who holds that job at present.

Exactly which of President Obama’s qualifications to become President can’t be matched by thousands of people who live in places like Northern Nevada?

His several years in the Illinois State Senate? His experience as a “community organizer”?

Now the one thing that Barack Obama presents is an outstanding example of what happens when we elect a president who makes a good speech but has no track record of running anything.

That would not have been the case with a Herman Cain because a) he has a well defined track record of running things and b) a well defined political philosophy that everybody understood.

The claim that he, somehow, mishandled a couple of bimbo eruptions which came without anything but an accusation explains in great detail how the Barack Obamas and the John McCains of the world keep coming to power. They’re the guys who can withstand not giving up birth certificates and bimbo eruptions until the last vote is cast.

Maybe that’s the way it is supposed to be.

Maybe that’s the test of fire we want our candidates for President to go through.

As for me, I will opt for the debate—really a discussion—which Newt Gingrich and Cain had several weeks ago which illuminated some fairly deep thinking on the role of the Federal Government in our daily lives and the limits of what a government can do.

As long as we concentrate on the horse race aspect of the election process (“and down the stretch they come”) we will never actually look at what is important in a candidate—on either side of the aisle.

The Republicans place way too much emphasis on whose turn it is. On who has paid their dues.

The Democrats always want to make a point supporting the ideology of one of their support groups with their candidate.

In all that hoo-hah, we forget that what we are trying to select is a CEO and CEOs need to have some experience and some intellectual capacity but most of all a lot of common sense.

Those are things which, frankly, are not well measured by the media because most reporters and pundits are lacking in at least two and in many cases all three of those qualities.

FRED WEINBERG


OPINIONFrom The Publisher...Being One Of Chosen Few No Qualification To Be Prez


Support the Mises Institute in 2012Dear Friend,Remember the promises of economic recovery? Two presidents have now made

them and spent (and printed) many trillions to see them come true. There was QE1, QE2, Operation Twist, and thousands of other tricks.

And yet the economy is sinking ever more. Incomes are falling more now than two years ago. Job prospects for young people are in the pits. This entire fiasco represents one of the great failures of the state and the economic theories the state has tried. They promised a dream and delivered disaster.

The Mises Institute has been the one consistent voice of opposition from the very beginning of this crisis. We stood nearly alone against Bush’s bailout schemes and continued that opposition through the Obama years. Not only that: our editorials and publications had warned of the crisis before it happened.

We’ve prepared for this opportunity for 30 years with conferences, books, fellowships, and programs of every sort. We had every technology in place and many thousands of intellectuals around the world who have learned from what the Mises Institute does.

This is why this crisis has brought all new attention to the Austrian School of economics, as represented in the writings of Mises, Rothbard, Hayek, Hazlitt, and their entire tradition. This is the power of ideas at work — and good ideas are more effective than all the propaganda that the state can dish out.

This is why we hope we can count on your most generous donation going forward into next year. We cannot miss this opportunity. We want to do more than we’ve ever done before to flood the world with truth.

Truly, for the first time, the Austrians are leading the debate. We’ve seized the moment to educate the world about the economics of liberty. Mises’s name and the Austrian School in general are in the press. Even contenders for the GOP nomination are scrambling to identify with the Austrians so they can keep up with the intellectual appeal of Ron Paul.

What’s more, the Keynesians are under fire. Chairman Ben Bernanke was supposed to be a world-renowned expert of the Great Depression. Only two years ago, he was TIME’s Person of the Year. The politicians gave him a free hand to do what he needed to do.

What’s the excuse now? We are told that the central bankers just haven’t done enough yet. They just haven’t pulled the right monetary lever or pushed the right liquidity button. The money masters will stumble onto the right equation soon. People just have not been cooperating with the models.

Who believes this anymore? Unemployment was supposed to end two years ago, and yet one in five people in this country is unemployed. Nearly 50 million Americans obtain their groceries with food stamps.

Even now, Washington is living high on the hog. There is plenty of money sloshing around Wall Street.

Who has the answers? The Chicago School isn’t on the tip of anyone’s tongue. Neoclassical economics isn’t a part of the debate. No, it’s all Austrian that matters this time. The Keynesians vs. the Austrians is the fight of the century, playing out day after day on television and in print media.

How could this be? Thirty years ago the Austrian School was nearly forgotten. As Murray Rothbard explained in an interview 20 years ago, an entire generation of Austrians had been wiped out by the New Deal. When Rothbard was writing Man, Economy, and State, he was a young man in his twenties and completely alone. At the same time, Mises was in his sixties, while Hayek and Hazlitt were in their fifties. There was no one in between.

Murray’s work made the Austrian School survive through the 1980s and beyond. It could have been lost again during Obama’s Newer Deal, but it has not and will not: because of your support for the Mises Institute. The Institute will turn 30 next year. And for three decades Lew Rockwell and the Mises Institute have fought against the Keynesians and the statists that preach on college campuses and in Washington, DC.

The Institute has stuck to its guns and it’s paying off. The Austrian School isn’t just part of the conversation; it is the conversation. Mises Institute staff and scholars are explaining the free market from the Austrian perspective on television, at congressional

hearings, in academic journals, on films, and in articles that appear around the world every single day. Radio appearances and articles in mainstream print media by Institute staff, faculty, and former fellows are too numerous to count.

The Federal Reserve is under pressure like never before. Did you ever expect that in your lifetime there would be protest rallies in front of Federal Reserve offices? It’s remarkable. And if you talk to the people behind them, they will tell you: their inspiration comes from the Mises Institute. Not since Andrew Jackson took down the Second Bank of the United States have America’s central bankers felt such heat.

But we must keep the heat on. While the media is starting to pay attention, the Keynesian doctrine of more government spending, manipulated lower interest rates, and central planning of the economy is still the paradigm in the nation’s classrooms and the back rooms where government policy is made.

The state and its apologists will not go away easily. The facts will not get in their way.

More and cheaper money benefits those in government. The idea that academics can manage an economy appeals to campus Keynesians who have never run a business or made a payroll. The real economy of voluntary exchanges is foreign to them and fraught with danger. They are convinced that government must police the market, taking care of the weak and controlling the strong.

The donors to the Mises Institute know that it is actually the free market, with people spending their own money as they please, that makes for a prosperous and free world. Our supporters know that capital and savings cannot be created with a printing press. They know students must learn that only the forgoing of consumption creates the capital needed to finance future prosperity.

A recent study found that the majority of high-school students have no economic education at all. For example, they believe that the government sets the prices of all goods. They have never been introduced to the concept of supply and demand and the mutual satisfaction of trade. Public schools indoctrinate young people into believing that government is omnipotent and that their best options in life amount to jobs as government bureaucrats.

Sadly, this ignorance can continue through college and even graduate school, unless they are introduced to sound economics. Young people must be taught that it is entrepreneurs, like so many supporters of the Institute who own their own businesses, who create wealth and jobs for everyone. Those making a million dollars a year should be cheered and thanked, not slapped with surtaxes to decrease their incentive to produce.

Because of you, the Mises Institute has breathed life back into the Austrian School. And it is the Austrians who stand alone in the fight against Keynesian statism. If not for the Austrians, there would be no answer to the Keynesians. Because the monetarists and neoclassicals are just Keynesian Lite, believing their equations can predict and their government policies will work.

That’s why it’s left to us to educate young students in the Misesian and Rothbardian tradition. It is not enough to seek kinder, gentler bureaucrats and better monetary policy. What we need is free markets and sound money without compromise.

In 2011, we held more teaching events than ever, including our famous Mises University program. Our website hosted 1.4 million visitors every month. We published books and articles as never before. The media appearances were constant. Our offices were busier than ever, the very center of the global resistance to statism and the global font of economic truth.

We want to do this again in 2012 and even step it up. We cannot rest. But we also need resources to continue this pace. We’ve never faced this opportunity in our lifetimes, and we do not know how long it will last. This is the time to act. We hope we can have your highest possible level of support.

Gifts of $100, $500, $1,000 are fantastic. But consider making the biggest investment possible in the work of liberty with a more substantial gift. We need your help to achieve the dream of every great thinker who has ever worked for liberty.

The Mises Institute is the real thing: not pulling any punches or backing away. Now is the time to strike a blow for liberty. We can’t let this moment pass. We have the Keynesians on the run. Now is the time to deliver the knockout blow to every form of statism. We have the ideas that are needed to build a future of liberty.

Please give generously. DOUG FRENCH


Commentary: Doug French


Commentary: Albert ThomasCheck Your 401K

How long since you ran up a chart on all the mutual funds and stocks you have in your retirement account?

With the current volatility it is prudent to try to do this once each week. What is not showing when the major indexes are plotted is what is happening to many of the smaller issues. Currently there are more stocks making new lows than highs.

This will be apparent in most mutual funds. After the big break in 2008 there has been a nice rally. Almost none

of the mutual funds have returned to the highs of 2007 and few have even made a 50% recovery.

If an investor’s retirement account was not being monitored the investor could easily have lost 40% or more of the savings.

I hate to tell you this, but it is going to happen again. Is there anything a person can do to protect the savings?

Yes, you can save your money, but you won’t have help from a broker, investment advisor or mutual fund manager. YOU are the only one that can prevent the loss.

If any stock, ETF or mutual fund has lost more than 10 to 15% of its value SELL it now. The chance of a recovery to the old high is almost impossible.

Never mind that Europe is about to collapse financially and that their crash is going to infect the entire world economies. You don’t need to know that. All you need to know is your equities are going down. Your chart

shows you that very clearly. Only you can protect your money. Never hold a losing position. Any stock or fund that has lost 50% means

it must go up 100% to be “even”. “Even” is for losers. It is better to be out with a small loss than wait for a big loss to occur.

When a new down trend starts it usually continues for a long time. Don’t try to be one of those who thinks he can pick the 1% that won’t go down. You can’t. And your fund manager can’t either.

Brokers will tell you your fund has an exceptional manager. Really? How did he do during 2008? That will tell you how “exceptional” he is.

Morningstar might even give a fund a 4 or 5 star rating. Doesn’t mean a thing. Look at the performance during any bear market. That will tell you how starry it is.

Others will say it outperforms its sector. So what! If the sector was in the toilet.

None of the standard Wall Street evaluations mean anything if your fund is going down. Transfer from the equity fund to a money market fund preferably one that invests only in U.S. Treasuries.

Personally I consider these touts either stupid or liars. When you look at your account you will know which group is managing your money.

Don’t wait. Now is the time to look at your 401K. AL THOMASAl Thomas’ new book, “If It Doesn’t Go Up, Don’t Buy It!”, 3rd edition, has helped thousands of people make money and keep their profits with his simple 2-step method. The method made 10% during 2008. Read the first chapter at mutualfundmagic.com and discover why he’s the man that Wall Street does not want you to know.

By STEVEN MILLERSpecial To The Penny Press

The Las Vegas Monorail — despite years of protestations to the contrary — is still seeking a shotgun marriage with Nevada taxpayers, hearings in U.S. bankruptcy court confirmed last month.

Moreover, the odds of monorail insiders accomplishing their long-held goal of making Clark County government take the system over appear to be growing ever stronger.

In that effort, the monorail appears to be succeeding — by failing.In 2006, the casino-servicing “nonprofit” quit paying on its $660 million

debt — while continuing to pay lavish salaries to insiders like CEO Curtis Myles III. His annual compensation over the four-year period, 2006 through 2010, averaged $350,631.

Now, the monorail’s remaining tier-one bondholders — desperate to minimize their losses — have agreed to a reorganization plan that would erase the $450 million they are owed. In exchange, they would accept new promises from the monorail: that it will pay them, down the road, approximately one-tenth of that sum: $44.5 million. The alternative — taking ownership of the system’s assets — might yield a mere $8.5 million.

Under the plan, other bondholders — the second and third tier, owed some $207 million — are simply wiped out.

Altogether, the Las Vegas Monorail Company (LVMC) owes approximately $707 million — repayment of which it will almost entirely avoid.

While Judge Bruce Markell ordered hearings this week in U.S. bankruptcy court to help him determine whether the monorail plan even makes financial sense, to some extent that question is merely academic: Whether the judge chooses to confirm the plan or not, virtually all roads still lead to a county — or, possibly, state — takeover.

Say that Markell does not confirm the reorganization plan. Then, the belly-up company — absent some near-divine financial intervention — will almost certainly soon run out of the maintenance and capital-equipment-replacement funds it needs to continue operating.

Las Vegas would then face the very real prospect of a huge, dead, mechanical white elephant sprawling across its world-famous resort corridor — an image of failure and depression that would be lethal for tourism and the city’s economic-revival hopes.

Conceivably, the monorail infrastructure could simply be torn down and removed, using the security deposit that the LVMC placed with Clark County for such an eventuality. But is it plausible that county commissioners would, at this late date, suddenly deprive Strip gaming moguls of their people-mover to the Las Vegas Convention Center?

Thus, long before any dire situation would be allowed to arise, county commissioners — with whatever assistance they would need from the State of Nevada — most likely would take decisive action.

But what about the alternative possibility — that Judge Markell might confirm the LVMC’s reorganization plan?

As the judge’s cross-examination of the monorail CEO and a top advisor made clear Monday, there are ample reasons to doubt that the reorganization plan, even if approved, will work.

“How can I confirm a plan ... which, at its core, says in 2019 [the LVMC will still run] a $38.4 million shortfall?” asked Markell. “How can I confirm a plan that shows that, under any accounting standards that you choose, [the LVMC is] going to run losses from now until 2019?

“How can I confirm a plan,” he continued, “that admits that there are going to be significant capital expenditures required in 2019 or earlier, and certainly by 2025, that are not accounted for, nor is there any credible evidence that they can be met by the debtors’ ability to generate cash?

“Finally, under feasibility, how can I confirm a plan in which [the] total debt structure imposed ... is more than twice what both witnesses indicated they thought the reorganization value of the company is?”

Those questions — presented to monorail attorney William N. Noall on Monday by Markell — show how serious the challenges the LVMC will face are — even if the court confirms the reorganization plan.

CEO Curtis Myles III and restructuring advisor Matthew Kvarda told the judge that, at present, they see only three “up-side” possibilities under which the company could quit running deficits:

1) The monorail might pick up from 240,000 to 480,000 new riders a year from the Project Linq “observation wheel” entertainment development being planned by Caesar’s Entertainment on the Strip;

2) The monorail might pick up about 65,000 new riders annually if the planned, but still indefinite, re-opening of the Sahara hotel-casino occurs;

3) The monorail might be able, by changing its legal relationship to the state or the county, to receive significant federal grants and subsidies.

None of the three scenarios were included in the reorganization plan’s revenue projections, said Myles, given their highly tentative nature. But he did reveal that the possibility of federal money is something he and the monorail board have, since 2006, been pursuing vigorously — talking to U.S. Transportation Department officials “several times” every year.

With the federal funders, however, the talks regularly ran into two primary obstacles, said Myles. One was the monorail’s massive debt, on which the company was not paying. The second was the fact that the monorail was not, in federal transportation parlance, a “grant-eligible” entity — i.e., it lacked the appropriate “legal relationship with the state, or an entity of the state.”

What exactly characterizes such a “legal relationship”? Federal Transit Administration rules suggest it would entail the monorail becoming a legal instrument of the local municipality. Afterward, it would be the municipality — the county or the city — that receives the federal dollars and assumes responsibility “for the daily administration and management of the grant in compliance with the grant agreement and applicable FTA circulars and regulations.”

For all intents and purposes, therefore, the monorail would become a city or county agency — for which the ultimate financial responsibility passes to taxpayers.

Myles indicated that, by declaring bankruptcy and shedding the hundreds-of-millions-of-dollars obligation to bondholders, the LVMC now expects to surmount the first obstacle to getting the federal dollars.

To deal with the second obstacle to receiving those funds, Myles said, “we’ve had some discussions with various parties around the community about becoming a grant-eligible entity — either directly, or through a legal relationship.”

Nevada residents were repeatedly promised at the kickoff of the monorail project, in 2000 and the years before, that they would never get stuck with its tab or have to bail it out.

However, at that very time, monorail proponents were also busy writing provisions into Clark County ordinances to facilitate transfer of the monorail to the county, when the time was right.

Title 5 of the Clark County Code of Ordinances sets forth several ways that Clark County can assume ownership of the monorail:

It can be taken through eminent domain. If it does, however, it must provide the casinos the same service, at “fares and performance conforming to those existing at the time of acquisition, for a period necessary to protect the usefulness of the monorail to the franchisee.”

The monorail company can simply abandon the system. Then the county, after providing LVMC with notice and “a reasonable opportunity to cure,” can take it over, and “the monorail shall be deemed voluntarily transferred to the county.”

Finally, the county can also acquire the monorail through “voluntary transfer,” in which “the county and franchisee may mutually agree to any terms.”

Absent an undiscussed possibility — or the political courage to tear it down — a government takeover of the monorail seems inevitable. It also raises a serious question: Was this outcome, contrary to promises to the public, the monorail backers’ long-term plan all along?Steven Miller is the managing editor of Nevada Journal, a publication of the Nevada Policy Research Institute. For more in-depth reporting, visit http://nevadajournal.com/ and http://npri.org/.


Failing Monorail Still Wants Taxpayer Bailout

What Did You Do In The Great Ideology War, Mitt?

In a recent interview with Fox News’ Bret Baier, Republican presidential front-runner Mitt Romney slammed former House Speaker Newt Gingrich as a lifelong politician. “He spent his last 30 or 40 years in Washington,” Romney charged. “I spent my career in the private sector.”

Fair enough, however....First, this is still a little of the pot calling the kettle black. Recall that Romney, son of a former governor, ran for the United States

Senate way back in 1994 (losing to uber-liberal Teddy Kennedy), then served for four years as governor of Massachusetts, and has been running for president for the last five or so years. So while he hasn’t quite been in the game as long as Newt, come on; the guy’s a longtime politician, as well.

Secondly, during the last thirty-plus years “in Washington,” Gingrich has also led efforts to build the conservative movement all across the country - including, let’s not forget, winning a Republican majority in the United States House of Representatives in 1994 (hello, Contract with America!) after 40 years in the political wilderness.

In addition, let’s not forget Newt’s leadership at GOPAC in the ‘90s which not only resulted in electing more Republicans to Congress, but to local and state legislative seats from sea to shining sea, as well.

GOPAC, under his leadership, also trained scores of grassroots activists, campaign staffers and party officials - many of whom are still active today,

including me and many others here in Nevada.Nor should we forget the former House Speaker’s efforts to build a

nationwide grassroots organization/network, American Solutions, focused on developing winning conservative campaign issues (“Drill Here/Drill Now!”), while also being a vocal champion of the tea party movement.

And does anyone have any idea how many FREE speeches Newt has delivered on behalf of conservative organizations, candidates, and local GOP party organizations and clubs over the last 30 years, helping to build and strengthen those operations? I’m guessing the number reaches into the thousands, not hundreds.

Now...remind me again what Mr. Romney has done for the conservative movement over that same period of time?

During his immortal opening speech in the 1970 award-winning motion picture “Patton,” the legendary American general said to his troops: “Thirty years from now, when you’re sitting around your fireside with your grandson on your knee and he asks you, ‘What did you do in the great World War II,’ you won’t have to say, ‘Well, I shoveled (expletive rhyming with “spit”) in Louisiana.”

Say whatever else you will about the former House Speaker, but in the great Ideology War of the last 30 years, Newt has been a fully engaged warrior; winning some, losing some. Other than shoveling ObamneyCare in Massachusetts, what has Mr. Romney done? CHUCK MUTHChuck Muth is president of Citizen Outreach and publisher of NevadaNewsandViews.com. He may be reached at [email protected].


Commentary: Chuck Muth


Pet Of The WeekAdopt This Pet !

Sage was found wandering in the desert. This sweet, abandoned Doberman deserves a better life! She is a mature red and tan lady about 8 years old, but active, playful, full of life and wanting desperately to have a family. She is very social and gets along well with other dogs. She is spayed, up to date on all of her shots and microchipped. If you are interested in giving Sage a forever home, fill out an application.

Billy is a sweet blue Doberman about 3 years old. His expressiveness is punctuated by a striking wrinkle in the middle of his forehead. Just watch the dreamy look on his face when you rub his ears. This active youngster weighs 70 pounds and will need obedience training that his previous owners neglected to provide. He is eager to learn and once his high energy is properly managed, Billy will be a loving addition to any family. Billy gets along well with female dogs and could easily share his home with one.

SAGECall

702-672-7204

BILLYCall

702-672-7204

702-418-0433


Northern Nevada Life and Homes December 2011

Winnemucca • Battle Mountain • Lovelock • Surrounding Areas

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