ACLU Says Law Benefits The Rich

The Nevada ACLU has testified that a law that would allow people to pay a fine instead of serving community service is going to favor the rich.

Review Journal:

"It's a law for the rich," lobbyist Joseph Turco told the Assembly Judiciary Committee. "It is just blatant. Money talks."

Turco testified against Senate Bill 216, which would allow judges to order people to make a payment to the general fund of the city where they committed a crime, instead of having to perform community service.

The proposal only would apply to misdemeanor offenders who live outside the county where they committed their crimes and who would face an unreasonable burden in having to return to perform community service. It also would apply in cases where the offenders are physically incapable of performing jobs.

This has been a long time argument in Nevada given that we have such an abundance of tourism, and tourist commit crimes. Usually those crimes are relatively minor, and having them serve community service is impractical. Senate Bill 216 will allow Nevada to get some reimbursement for the crimes without forcing someone from New York, or even China, to come back and perform community service.

People who commit minor infractions who are physically unable to perform community service will also have the option of paying the fine instead of going to jail.

I really have no idea why the ACLU is so up in arms about this bill, but when do we ever understand their point of view anyway.

Putin Says U.S. Is Like Third Reich

Um ... yeah ... this coming from the guy whose enemies have all mysteriously died.

Massive Counter-Terrorism Raids In Germany

Germany has been conducting raids on leftist groups in an attempt to prevent violence at the upcoming G-8 summit.

AP:

Hundreds of police on Wednesday raided the offices and apartments of left-wing activists suspected of planning to disrupt next month's Group of Eight summit, and security officials tightened border controls ahead of the gathering.

The crackdown was an attempt to ward off the violence that has marred past summits, particularly in 2001 in Genoa, Italy, when police and protesters clashed in the streets for days.

Prosecutors said they were investigating more than 18 people suspected of organizing what they called a terrorist group that planned to carry out firebombings and other violent attacks.

Apparently 40 premises were raided, and nearly 900 German government forces took part. I haven't been able to find out if the GSG-9 were involved, but you can bet they were.

Activists have come out and said this is an attempt to criminalize, and censor, peaceful protests.

'The only point of these searches is to criminalize and disrupt the protests against the G-8,' the Anti-Fascist Leftists of Berlin said. 'The accusation that terrorists would coordinate their movements through a leftist-run Internet server is ridiculous.'

Sure ... the past, and recent, violence had nothing to do with it. Besides, if Germany calls you a terrorist ... you are a terrorist.

Father Of Killed Soldier "Pissed" At Harry Reid

Here in Las Vegas, NV we are mourning the loss of another local soldier killed in Iraq. Army Reserve Staff Sgt. Coby Schwab was on his second tour in Iraq, and he chose to go back to help protect his buddies. His family said he went back:

Because he didn't want his buddies to fight the country's freedom-wrecking militants alone.

He was from Vegas' sister city, Henderson, he was stationed at Ft. Lewis, and he was only 25. His father had some very choice words for Sen. Reid. Who is our senator from Nevada.

Review Journal:

"He had no problem going back (to Iraq) because of what was being done and because of the people he had dealt with the first time he was there," he said.

Don Hanson said the media do not emphasize the military's accomplishments in Iraq. "They aren't telling about the schools that are opened, the power that's been turned on, the water that's being delivered," he said.

I wrote a little about the lack of publicity for progress in Iraq yesterday.

For those of you outside Nevada you have no idea the relationship we've had with Reid for decades. It isn't a positive one, and he's been the subject of countless ethics and corruption allegations. He is typically elected by the massive amount of people who are new to Nevada. Locals are outnumbered by those from California, and other left leaning states.

Mr. Hanson expresses his disgust for Harry Reid with this statement after hearing his stepson was killed by an IED:

"There's a number of things I feel would be more appropriate than these damn politicians trying to say the war is lost," he said. "I'm really pissed at (Sen. Harry) Reid. Personal belief is one thing. But when you're in that position, I don't think you should voice everything," he said about the Senate majority leader from Nevada.

Staff Sgt. Coby Schwab's mother told us what her son felt about this war.

Jane Hanson, a florist at an Albertsons store, said her son felt "very strongly that the war was necessary. He was proud to be over there. He was proud to be fight that war."

We have a very large military community here in Nevada, and the reaction to Reid's statements have not been well received. Websites such as opposereid.com sprung up from locals, and TV and radio stations have been flooded with requests for information to recall Reid. Unfortunately, legally Reid can not be recalled. We are stuck with him for the remainder of his term. Most believe he will retire from the Senate then, but that we will have to deal with his son Rory Reid. An equally corrupt, and inept, political figure here in Nevada's government.

All my best wishes to this family, and thank you Mr. Hanson for speaking your mind.

O.J. Simpson Refused Service At Steak House

Juiced!

Is George Tenet Profiting From The War In Iraq

That would be a resounding yes.

Tenet has been widely misquoted in the last several days by anti-bush suckers, but it turns out he is turning a profit off of this war. A war that his words helped to start.

Tenet recently confirmed everything that Bush argued in going to war with Iraq in his new book, and he received a $4 million dollar advance for his book. There is still more.

Salon:

In fact, Tenet has been earning substantial income by working for corporations that provide the U.S. government with technology, equipment and personnel used for the war in Iraq as well as the broader war on terror.

Apparently to the tune of at least $2.3 million from four corporations. Not that anything is wrong with that ... legally, but it is a little convenient that he left all of that out of his book as well as his public appearances.

It is a great read ... there's more ... a lot more.

Republicans Say Bush Doesn't Promote The Good Things In Iraq Enough In The Islamic World

And with a thunderous DUH ... it was good!

Not only is Bush not doing enough to highlight the accomplishments of the coalition in Iraq to the American people, but he isn't getting that message across to the Islamic world either.

Post Dispatch:

Sen. Christopher "Kit" Bond, R-Mo., who returned Monday from a brief trip to Iraq with other congressional Republicans said he saw a mosque that soldiers had rebuilt, calling it the "type of assistance in Iraqi communities that is critical to winning the broader war on terror."

But he doesn't think the administration is doing enough to publicize such efforts in the Islamic world.

"We can't win in this war if there isn't a strong voice out there saying what the United States is trying to do," he said in an interview last week.

Not only is he right, but he isn't the only one outside the blogosphere saying this.

Ken Gude of the Center for American Progress says the U.S. has done "a staggeringly bad job" of explaining itself to the rest of the world. For example, he says the U.S. failed to capitalize on its newfound popularity in the areas engulfed by the 2004 South Asia tsunami by not explaining to other Muslim nations what it had done to help and why, and then responded insufficiently to the 2005 earthquake in Pakistan.

Well, some of that is correct. We shouldn't have to keep shelling out money to countries that hold protests burning pictures of our president in effigy to prove we are the good guys. We've been doing that for a long time now. However, he is correct in criticizing the US in its failure to showcase the tsunami aid. I would also like to see Bush call the Muslim world out, and ask where they all were when the Christians were committing genocide against the Muslims in the Balkans ... cause we were there.

The article cites other examples of missed opportunities to pimp our image out the the Muslims around the world.

Iraqi Oil Workers To Go On Strike

In yet another defiant display of freedom the Iraqi oil union (Iraq Federation of Oil Unions) is going on strike to protest the draft oil law.

UPI:

"The central government must be in total ownership and complete control of production and the export of oil," said Imad Abdul-Hussain, federation deputy chair of the Iraq Federation of Oil Unions, in a statement released Tuesday. The union represents more than 26,000 workers.

The union has come out against production-sharing agreements with foreign investors because they are afraid of too much foreign ownership.

As an added bonus the Iraqi union has taken a page out of the American union's playbook.

The unions also want a stepped up salary structure and land to build homes for workers.

Let freedom ring folks ... let freedom ring.

Harry Reid Does Not Accept Invitation For Dinner With Queen Elizabeth

I've been meaning to blog about this for a couple of days. Harry Reid skipped dinner at the White House with the Queen of England. Many will proclaim that Reid missing dinner with the queen is no big deal, but clearly it was a big deal.

The NY Times wrote about a possible "international incident" because Bush Sr. wasn't in attendence, and even Nancy Pelosi showed up.

When asked about Reid's declining his invitation to white collar affair his spokesman said:

"Senator Reid isn’t much of a white-tail-at-dinner kind of a guy."

The LA Times added to that quote with:

"He would just as soon spend a nice quiet dinner with his wife."

It sounds sweet and all, but Reid is the majority leader in the most powerful house of our congress. I guess Reid couldn't be bothered with diplomacy because it didn't fit his style.

FDA Can't Regulate Drugs From Canada, But It Can Regulate The Names Of Energy Drinks

Las Vegas based Redux Beverages LLC was forced to pull its "Cocaine" energy drink line from the shelves of all stores nationwide. The company has been in a legal fight with bored extremist soccer moms, and the FDA, over the name of the beverage designed to give you a jolt of energy when needed.

Review Journal:

The Food and Drug Administration issued a warning letter last month that said Redux was illegally marketing the drink as a street drug alternative and a dietary supplement. Friday was the deadline for the company to respond.

The FDA cited the drink's labeling and Web site, which included the statements "Speed in a Can," "Liquid Cocaine" and "Cocaine -- Instant Rush." The company says Cocaine contains no drugs and is marketed as an energy drink. It has been sold since August in at least a dozen states.

It's nice to know that the FDA is doing something as of late to protect American's health. Of course, you'd have to be the worst kind of idiot to believe that Cocaine the drink was ... well ... cocaine. Since the FDA cited the Cocaine website I figured I would mosey on over, and check it out. Much to my surprise ... I found this:

The warning label (which I assume is also on the packaging) clearly states that Cocaine the drink is not, nor does it contain, any illegal substances.

"Our goal is to literally flush Cocaine down the drain across the nation," said Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal, who announced the company's agreement with his state Monday. "Our main complaint about Cocaine is its name and marketing strategy seeking to glorify illegal drug use and exploit the allure of marketing 'Speed in a Can,' as it called the product."

Uh, yeah ... if I spend $3 on an energy drink it better give me an energy boost like speed. That hardly makes me a speed fiend, and I find it hard to believe that an attorney general doesn't have better things to do than attack a product's name.

Just a side note here ... I wonder how many people have downed a Red Bull, and jumped off of a building thinking it would "give them wings?"

Rudux Beverages could have changed the spelling of Cocaine to possibly, and I stress possibly, avoid this kind of outrageous assault on free enterprise, but they were going for a shock value marketing scheme. There is certainly nothing wrong with that, and we see it all the time. Naming the beverage Cocaine was clearly a brilliant marketing gimmick, and it worked.

The truth is ... the FDA has been looking for a way to weasel their bureaucracy into the nutritional supplement market for years now. Cocaine provided them an opportunity.

I'm surprised that the involvement of the FDA in assaulting a company for the name of its product didn't spark more of a response of outrage from a number of people. This is, after all, a perfectly legal company with a perfectly legal product. Where's the pro-capitalist and free speech crowd?

There is also another form of outrage here. The FDA has been telling us that they can't regulate prescription drugs that come in from Canada. They've been claiming they don't have the resources to do so. Yet, somehow they have the resources to regulate the names of certain products? Talk about a misappropriation of priorities.

The FDA has no right to regulate the name of a product, and we have no right to censor a product's name unless it's profanity laced. Even then it's a difficult endeavor ... example: Fuct clothing line. At the end of the day people it's just a name, and it isn't going to make your kids do cocaine anymore than having hemp fabric in the house is going to make your kid smoke pot.

Poland To Tear Down Soviet Monuments

Remember when I told you Estonia was taking down old Soviet monuments, and how Russia was really upset about it? Well, Poland is doing the same.

Nevada Legislature Passes Bill To Seize Profits From Businesses

I have done a couple of shows about this bill since it was first proposed, and people are very upset that socialism is taking over Nevada's usually business friendly atmosphere. The bill allows the state of Nevada to "keep" the money from unused gift cards, and other items as well.

Review Journal:

Sixty percent of the value of unused gift cards given Nevadans would be forwarded to state government for support of public schools under a bill unanimously approved Friday by a Senate committee.

The Senate Judiciary Committee approved Assembly Bill 279, but not before tacking on an amendment sought by the Retail Association of Nevada.

Under the amendment, the issuer of expired, unused gift cards or certificates can keep 40 percent of the value. The remaining 60 percent would go to state government and be earmarked for education.

You'll notice that the legislature settled for only 60% of the profits while the businesses that the transaction originated from only get 40%. The legislature was seeking 100% of the dollar amount from unused gift cards.

Assemblyman Ruben Kihuen, D-Las Vegas, was the primary sponsor of the bill which passed the Assembly 41-1. He has been citing the new Texas legislation on a nearly non-stop basis. Texas hasn't even collected any of these funds yet, but has released how much they "may" make.

Of course, Kihuen used education as the major selling point, but education funds will not change at all with this legislation. No matter how much money is seized from legitimate businesses from this bill ... they will simply defund education by that amount to balance it.

Last year about $8 billion went unclaimed on gift cards. Depending on the expiration date on the cards ... much of that ends up being a profit for the issuing company. Some companies like Wal-Mart don't have an expiration date, and you are always free to use the card whenever you want ... not anymore in Nevada. Now you have three years to use the gift cards, or Nevada takes the funds away.

There has always been complaints of companies charging a monthly fee for the amount on the cards, etc. This, however, goes way beyond that poor practice. This is blatant government theft. Not just from the customer, but the company itself. Nevada is issuing a tax without any representation upon businesses and consumers.

The consumer has already been taxed on the funds they used to purchase the gift card, then there is the sales tax for the amount on the gift card, and the business has already been taxed on the amount of revenue it takes in. This is, at best, a quartet of taxation.

The state of Nevada has had nothing to do with these transactions whatsoever. There were no state efforts to make the transaction possible, but the state believes that it is entitled to the funds of a legal, legitimate business transaction of which it was not involved. Maybe it's for the pleasure of doing business in Nevada.

What was Nevada's justification for this socialist endeavor?

"If the company is incorporated in Delaware, the remaining balance goes to Delaware," Kihuen said. "It only makes sense if the card was purchased here, it should stay in Nevada. We can generate much needed revenue for education without raising taxes or fees."

Clearly this IS a fee/tax. So it's ok to steal money from a company because the funds may leave Nevada and go to another state? Are we now going to seize a percentage of all consumer transactions that happen in Nevada with companies who have their corporate headquarters in another state? Where's the incentive for companies to open a local branch in Nevada?

Kihuen and his cohorts are trying to argue that this is no different than the Uniform Unclaimed Property Act, but that is a lie. These gift cards aren't unclaimed, or abandoned, they are unused. Last I checked ... a house that is not being used but whose owner is still making the payments on is not unclaimed property ... it belongs to the owner and not the state.

Surely this is just a Democrat ploy to tax without taxing ... right?

Judiciary Chairman Mark Amodei, R-Carson City, supported the bill, but expressed concern that companies issuing unredeemed gift cards were being allowed to keep too much money.

"Forty percent is a heck of a deal," he said.

That disspicable bastard! He actually thinks it's a "hell of a deal" for the business to keep just 40% of the revenue from its own transaction? He thinks Nevada is being too nice by only keeping 60% of the revenue for a transaction of which they had no part!

If our founding fathers were to see that the government was taking money away from a business just because the business sold an item to a customer, and the customer wasn't using said item, they'd call it what it was ... stealing. If I purchased a radio from Best Buy and didn't use it for three years ... can the state of Nevada come take it away, auction it off, and keep the money for themselves? Why not ... there's no difference.

I'm no lawyer, but I know damn well there is some violation of interstate commerce laws here. You can't have a state seizing funds from a company just because they don't want that company to send those funds to their headquarters in another state.

Congress Makes Its Move To Ban Incandescent Bulbs

Hot Air put this up this weekend, but I've been talking about it for a couple of weeks now. This weekend was my first wedding anniversary so they got the scoop, but not after I did a whole show about it on Friday. The Democrats in Congress are trying to require CFL bulbs everywhere while banning incandescent bulbs. There are some major problems with that.

First of all, as I wrote here, if you break a CFL bulb you can expect to spend about $2000 to clean it up. Why do you have to clean it up? Mercury vapor ... that's why. Mercury in its gas form is extremely dangerous. It not only poses a health hazard to humans, but it is an environmental pollutant. You can expect that $2000 to come out of your pocket as well because most insurance companies won't pay to have a pollutant cleaned by a hazmat team.

Since CFL bulbs claim to save you about $180 a year off your power bill ... if you break one you can expect it to take 11 years for the bulb to pay for itself.

There isn't much that is environmentally friendly about the CFL bulbs either. Ok so you don't think you'll break a CFL bulb, and have to worry about mercury poisoning. What happens when the bulb dies out? Bet you didn't think of that one did you? You're not allowed to throw them in the garbage to be sent to the dump. They must be disposed of properly because of the mercury. If everyone threw out their CFL bulbs in the trash we'd have a major mercury problem on our hands.

Just like you can't throw away motor oil ... you can't throw away mercury. You must get it to a designated disposal area, or to someone certified to dispose of it. You will pay for that service as well so you can expect that $180 annual savings to be just a little lower now. If you've ever tried to get rid of oil after you did your own oil change ... you know what I'm talking about.

If you don't have anyplace to take the CFL bulbs locally then you must deliver them to the proper dumping site ... often several miles outside of the city. Now you have wasted gas, and added more greenhouse emissions to the atmosphere. So much for being green. Some places don't even have these disposal facilities yet, and I know our local garbage service doesn't handle CFL bulbs.

As usual, Democrats are in a mad rush to pander to their greenie base in time for the next election, and haven't thought this through. CFL bulbs are not cost efficient, and they are far from environmentally friendly. LED lighting is, but it's still new and expensive, and the Dems can't wait that long to mobilize their base for an election. There will be a lot of costs, hassles, and probably injuries as a result of this legislation if it goes through.

Car Bomb In Las Vegas

We just had an explosion here in Vegas that appears to be a car bomb at the Luxor casino. It doesn't appear to be terrorism, but rather a murder in the old mafia style of doing things. More as I learn it.

Environmentalist Groups Says Children Are Bad For The Planet

God I love it when they release statements even more stupid than the statement before. The group is Optimum Population Trust, and they have a problem with families having children.

Source:

John Guillebaud, co-chairman of OPT and emeritus professor of family planning at University College London, said: "The effect on the planet of having one child less is an order of magnitude greater than all these other things we might do, such as switching off lights.

"The greatest thing anyone in Britain could do to help the future of the planet would be to have one less child."

Just have one less child everyone, and everything will be ok. The didn't address the sun heating up in their statement so I have no idea how they will fix that little problem.

They went on to say that couples shouldn't have more than two kids. Isn't that about average anyway? What about the couples who only have one kid? Can they give their extra kid to another couple who would like three kids? It's the same amount of total children. We can make it like a carbon-credit for children. If you want to produce more pollutants (ie children) you can purchase a "baby-credit" to have another child. You would get this from a couple who has a credit, or two, left over from their children making. If they aren't going to use it they can then sell it to another couple to have an additional child. It's capitalistic and environmentally friendly!

Also, do you get a refund on your "baby-credits" if you have a miscarriage, or if your toddler should pass away? What would be the time period be before you can no longer redeem the credit, and try to have another child?

Clearly this group is in love with China's environmental program. China, the other day, revealed that their child limits (1 per family) had reduced greenhouse gas emissions. Apparently forced abortions can work.

This group needs to see the movie Children of Men to get an idea of what a world looks like without babies.

Pro-US Candidate Beats Socialist In French Election

Yet another anit-American candidate loses an election to lead their country into the next decade. First it was Germany who elected a leader who favors the US, and now it is France. This is historic because Germany and France are the only two US allies who didn't support the Iraq war, and they were the only two allies who were caught giving Saddam illegal goods leading up to the war.

The US media has made a point out of the "go it alone" mentality of the US because of the lack of support from Germany and France. Two countries that will typically fight with us in some capacity. The "go it alone" argument is, of course, incorrect as the US built a larger coalition for Iraqi Freedom than we did for Desert Storm.

France and Germany have also been getting more serious threats from al Qaeda the past several months. This has led many in those two countries to accept what the US has been saying about the War On Terror, and these last two elections prove it.

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Black Man Says He's Happy White Man's Mother Is Dead ... Jackson, Sharpton Silent

If this were the other way around I bet there would be more outrage about this, but I could be wrong.

This is Michael McGee. He's a talk show host on WNOV-AM.

This is Charlie Sykes. He's a talk show host on WTMJ-AM.

McGee and Sykes have had a rivalry for some time now, but it crossed into a whole other dimension recently. Sykes' mother just died in a house fire (our condolences). Her death made McGee very happy, and he wasn't bashful about showing it either.

TheMilwaukeeChannel.com:

McGee and Sykes have been publicly battling for years, but even in the world of talk radio, some are saying the comments made are extreme.

"Mother Sykes, she dead. To me it's the vengeance of God. I ain't got no tears. Matter of fact a woman that would have a fool like that deserve whatever is coming her. She raised a sure enough idiot," McGee said on his radio show. "My instincts say Charlie Sykes killed his momma, cuz she live out in this big palace in Mequon all isolated. He got tired of waiting for her money."

He talked about it for a few minutes then moved on, but a caller asked him about his comments later in the show.

"Mike McGee Senior," the caller began, "You really don't mean that, about your enemies families members being dead -- killed."

"Man, you don't think I mean that, man, you out of your mind," McGee replied.

As you can see from the transcript above that Mr. McGee is real educated, and clearly was out of line. Just as Stern was out of line with Man Cow all those years ago.

Given the recent "nappy-headed ho" comments by Imus, that were directed at two white girls as well as black girls, were considered racist ... I wonder if this could be construed as racist?

Democrats Want Intelligence Funds To Go To Global Warming Study

Yep, they're making the same mistakes they made in the 90's leading up to 9/11. They don't feel the intelligence community needs the funds they have so they cut them, and divert them to a social program. Remember when I wrote about the Dems wanting to make the Pentagon hold war games to assess the risk of global warming instead of focusing on our 'real' war? That fight comes next week.

Washington Times:

Senior House Republicans are complaining about Democrats' plans to divert "scarce" intelligence funds to study global warming.

The House next week will consider the Democrat-crafted Intelligence Authorization bill, which includes a provision directing an assessment of the effects that climate change has on national security.

There are several different goverment committees that are studying global warming right now, but the Dems want to make sure weaken the intelligence gathering ability of the United States. Why? Well ... I'll leave that up to you.

At the very least there is a massive waste of resources if this thing flies, and at the worst we get hit again. Then we'll have to listen to the conspiracy theorists yapping about how the President missed this attack because he/she was too busy worrying about global warming.

The Dems are saying they are worried about how global warming can risk mainland national security. Our mainland national security is already at great risk, but it isn't from global warming.

Vegan Diet Kills Baby

I've been studying this subject for years now, and I've been saying how dangerous it is for children. Now I've been proven right, unfortunately.

WSBRadio:

A Superior Court jury in Atlanta convicted a vegan couple of murder and cruelty to children Wednesday in the death of their six-week old, who was fed a diet largely consisting of soy milk and apple juice.

I don't really have the energy to go into how dangerous soy is for children. I will simply ask you a question. Would you feed your child one of the 7 deadliest allergens in the world? If your baby happens to be a boy then the risks are compounded because men are not suppose to consume soy. It alters our testosterone production, and leads to disease.

The parents each got life for allowing their child to starve. They, of course, believed that they weren't hurting their child because of all the misinformation on the vegan lifestyle that has been pushed on people who don't check the info out. These people are just as stupid as the people who buy vegan dog food because they think their dog (a carnivore) shouldn't each meat.