Change has come!!!

I moved the blog to a new address, which can be found here: http://buzzizarownd.com/

Paulbarians at the gates (of Henderson) & the battle for Horizon Ridge!

Big announcement earlier this week in two GOP state races!

After the Ron Paul (here to fore known as Paulbarians) contingent was recently ousted from leadership positions inside the Clark County Republican Party, we wondered if they would go quietly into the night ...........they have not!!!

Two brothers, the brothers Bunce, have announced they will primary two established sitting republicans!

The two republicans in the sights of these Bunce Paulbarians are Assemblyman Lynn Stewart (AD22) and Senate Minority Leader Mike Roberson (SD 20).

The main target of the Paulbarain siege is Mike Roberson. Poor Roberson has had quite the two legislative sessions between 2011 & 2013. In 2010, Roberson was swept into office in November 2010 when there was a tidal wave of "tea" sweeping America, where republicans made big gains in the House of Representatives and state races across the land...........the tea was sweet & the Obama hate piping hot!

So flip the calender to the 2011 Nevada Legislative session: Roberson fresh off the teabag & nicely steeped went to Carson City in the mode of Governors Scott Walker (WI), John Kasich (OH) & Rick Scott (FL) ready to firmly punish the evil doers who were ruining the US economy.......... those evil teachers, public employees and prevailing wage workers!!

Roberson was loud & proud, pounding the teachers & their socialist collective bargaining...........hammering state and public employees and their cushy untouchable positions.........and also targeting those leeches who build public roads and buildings for pro-athlete type salaries!!!! The problems were identified and the legislative policy's were aimed and ready to fire!

Those were halcyon days for "Tea party" Mike Roberson and the outraged voters who put him in office............so impressive was the wrath that Roberson brought, that he earned "Rookie of the Year" from a conservative watch dog group!!!

Now what of Lynn Stewart you might be asking your self, well here's where he comes in: Stewart is "Stan Laurel" to Roberson's "Oliver Hardy". Roberson is the leader of the two and the more boisterous of the duo, always ready for a press interview, while Stewart sort of stayed out of the limelight.

Since Stewart's assembly district is inside Roberson's larger senate district, the opportunity for the Brothers Bunce & their Paulbarian supporters to fight a battle right in their own neighborhoods and take on two in one senate district!!

Let's flip the calender to the 2013 session. Pundits were all on alert to see how "Tea Party" Mike Roberson was going to eviscerate all things public........... schools, unions, workers wages. This was sure to be the second raid on the evils dragging down society in Nevada and a blood bath was expected! Conservatives were drooling with anticipation of the undoing of decades of public policy and would dance with glee to see these "public takers" get their comeuppance!

Then "Tea Party" Mike Roberson had a sudden change of heart. WTF?!?!?! NO!!! Yep! During the session, as usual the issue of removing the constitutionally protected taxation mining has enjoyed since 1864 was broached............this was ALWAYS a democratic issue & priority..........not so in 2013!

Shockingly, it was "Tea Party" Mike Roberson who dove into the deep end and without hesitation, Mike tossed out 149 years of republican support mining had counted on..........and "Tea Party" Mike went after mining like a rottweiler going after a cottontail bunny!! He unleashed a vicious attack on the holy of holy's: Mining!!

Where did this come from?!?!?! Was "Tea party" Mike now "Moderate"Mike?!?! Conservative blogger's were stunned............pundits wondered what happened.............even democrats sidled up to "Moderate" Mike. Roberson not only sinned against the Savior of Nevada (mining), Roberson went as far as agreeing to extend some taxation that was set to expire?!?! NOOOO!!!!

This was too much for the tea sloshed conservatives to handle. Punishment must be meted out for this sudden, dastardly betrayal of all things conservative!!! Not only had Roberson betrayed the holy institution of mining, he allowed taxation to extend beyond it's expiration, which brings us to the last grievous sin.............Roberson reneged on his NO TAX PLEDGE?!?! GASP!!!

Conservatives were livid...........Paulbarians were clamoring for scalps and heads on pikes. The fight was on for the soul of the Nevada republican party! The Paulbarains had ruled the castle after a coup was instigated in 2010, bringing pure 1830's libertarian thinking to the GOP of Clark County!

As the struggle for the republican party moved into 2013, the Paulbarians were defeated by a knight in shining armor who matriculated from his kingdom in California (where his father rules a congressional seat)...........and with the help of some "establishment" republicans they wrested the kingdom from the hands of the Paulbarians.

Suddenly the Paulbarians found themselves in the wilderness, with no party, (they sure weren't going to make good with the likes of normal republicans), no home and possibly no voice.

Thus we have the Brothers Bunce and their announcement that they will (in the names of Paulbarains everywhere) restore true conservative ideals to the masses by challenging Stan (Lynn Stewart) and Ollie (Mike Roberson) in a battle for true conservatism!!!

Now "Moderate" Mike Roberson faces a challenge from the right and church going Lynn Stewart is in the firing line of Paulbarian and "true" conservative anger..........where real American Libertarian ideals will be espoused and "LIBERTY" and "FREEDOM" will be the talking points................and where will this battle be fought?? The battle for liberty & freedom will be fought in the Henderson hills along Horizon Ridge.............right in the middle of Home Owner's Association central...........nothing screams "liberty & Freedom" like a solid Home Owner's Association !!!!

Dean Heller flips on immigration reform, but what else can he do?!?!

Nevada Republican Senator Dean Heller has recently come out as a big supporter of the pending immigration bill, which is currently being massaged in the US Senate. But there are some hurdles republicans will have to get over and past to make it possible for them to vote FOR any immigration reform.

First the national republican quandary:

Everyone knows republicans are in a real messy situation when it comes to this immigration reform issue.

For republicans to remain somewhat in the good graces of their base, republicans can't come out and support immigration reform (IR), without putting up some sort of hurdles that will hinder any path to citizenship.

The far right GOP base of tea party and the more "immigrant intolerant" segment of the GOP will not accept any real immigration reform. This fact is being seen with the split within the republican party where some are saying "if the GOP doesn't embrace IR, then the party is doomed in the near future" as Hispanic and minority voters are on the increase in just about every state of the union and those future voters will not be voting republican. Others are taking the hard line against IR, holding to the liking of their far right voting base and trying to fend off any potential backlash by the tea party by being forced into a primary election fight by outraged tea party and the far right.

So what are republicans to do?!?! They can't cheese off their hard core voting base by just passing a simple pathway legislation...........they can't hard line IR as their base probably would prefer, because that means the GOP will be on the shit list to huge numbers of immigrant and minority voters.

So the only middle ground republicans can take, is to get multiple amendments to the IR bill, that basically make the US - Mexican border a second version of the Great Wall of China!!

So now we have "conservative", "have to stop the spending" republicans tossing billions of dollars at the border as a condition for republican support for immigration reform, in a lame attempt to appease their base and also make it look like they are a friend to immigrants, Hispanics and minorities.

The Dean Heller Quandary:

Dean Heller's situation in Nevada is a microcosm of the national GOP problem.

Heller was in the US house, where he had a generally safe district of rural GOP voting Nevada and his home turf in Washoe County, Douglas County and Carson City......pretty safe and not a district where one need pander to Hispanics or minorities!

Now Heller finds himself in the Senate and suddenly Hispanic and minority rich Clark County (where 70+%) of the Nevada's population lies. Now all of a sudden Dean Heller sort of needs to reach out to the Hispanic voters in southern Nevada, an area he could ignore in all his other elections!

Heller didn't poll well with Hispanics in Clark County, and thus his sudden flip on immigration. See this article from November 2012: http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2012/nov/15/heller-positions-himself-help-broker-immigration-r/#axzz2XMmyhgMy

Quite the month this has been!

Been a busy month on the news & political front..........so without fanfare, let me say this about that!

Edward Snowden & the NSA affairs.

This story probably has evoked some opinion from almost everyone. Some are for it as "it keeps us safe"......some are against it as it's "way to much government intrusion".

My questions are:

1) How does a lower level person in a massive system like the NSA/Homeland Security come to have the supposed information and depth of clearance that Snowden is suspected of having?

2) Why is the US government farming out this type of work to private contractors who are paying inflated salaries & then billing the tax payer for probably two and a half times the salary of these employees?

3) Should private companies be allowed to maintain this type of information?

We all know that in this digital era we live in, that few "secrets" can be hidden from prying eyes. Corporations have mined the electronic data since the early days of the internet and this is just another set of eyes that have access to all the digital information flying through the wires and airwaves of modern society.

George Zimmerman trial.

The trial is finally underway in the shooting of Trayvon Martin and the media is all over it. Regardless of the outcome of this particular incident, the basic problem with these "Stand your Ground" laws, is that with few or no witnesses, you can basically get away with murder and call it self-defense.

Paula Deen comments.

The career meltdown of Paula Deen has been on the fast track since the public became aware of her use of the "N" word. Now I agree that the word is offensive, and she has done some apologizing, but the back lash against Deen has been overly swift and drastic, so much so that her empire is under full collapse. While I don't advocate her use of the term, the fallout has been extreme in my opinion.

Apparently society has reached a point that if a Caucasian person utters the word, it's a career ending mistake of epic proportions.........but just search Twitter for the use of "nigga" (the urban form of the N word) and you get an endless stream of tweets using that word by of all people, African American's?!?!

Supreme Court ruling #1 - The Voting Rights decision.

The court ruled on the 1965 Voting Rights Act & came down on the side of voter suppression. This ruling opens the door for republican led states to impose various voter restrictions. Look for the southern states and of course Texas to impose all kinds of hurdles that will be implemented to hinder people of color from voting.

Supreme Court ruling #2 - Overturning DOMA.

The court overturned the 1990's Defense of Marriage Act! This was a big step to same sex marriage equality in the US. The battles for full marriage equality will now be fought in each state, but this ruling opens the door for equality in federal laws. Expect the far right & religious right to counter with state regulations and perhaps even a try at a constitutional amendment......I think as more states approve and warm to marriage equality, there might not be enough states to ratify any constitutional push by the haters on the right.

The Texas sized filibuster.

Texas state legislator Wendy Davis took to the floor and went on a 13 hour filibuster to block Texas republicans from passing another (in endless GOP) abortion bills. The filibuster worked as the clock struck midnight before the republicans could get the vote in! The twitter-verse and Facebook were on fire last night as the epic showdown played out through the evening hours, with supporters following the proceedings and packing the capitol building in Austin.

So, is the battle finished for the assault against Texas women? Of course not! Dimwitted Texas Governor Rick Perry has (late today) called for yet another special session to try and ram rod the abortion bill through yet again.

If nothing else comes from this Texas showdown, it's the proof that the republican party is solely focused on abortion issues and anything else be damned.

Why any female of child bearing age, any person of ethnicity or culture and any THINKING person would cast a vote for a republican is beyond me.

"Bad teachers" & what it really means

Over the last few years we have continually heard caterwauling, mainly from the right, about the abominable state of public education in the United States. What was wrong, they say, is that there are "bad teachers"!!!

BAD TEACHERS  - BAD, BAD, BAD

This term, "bad teachers" has become the usual battle cry from those who insist public schools need major reform and must be fixed or the future is sure to be one of doom, where pestilence will reign over a land of uneducated zombies.

Yet for all the times I have heard the term "bad teachers" tosses out as the REASON we need immediate reform, I have yet to hear one case where "bad teachers" has been defined.

Is the teacher bad when little Johnny refuses to open his book to the correct page, when little Susan comes to school mid term & has to suddenly meld into a new school/classroom, when little Billy comes to school not having had a decent meal in days, or when little Lindsey comes to school after a night of hearing her dysfunctional parents have it out til the wee hours?!?!

Is it a "bad teacher" who is responsible for taking up to 35 or 40 individual kids; who each has a different basis for their being, health, wealth, nutrition, nurturing, clothing; and when these 35 to 40 kids take some standardized cookie cutter test and comes up short on the results that do not meet the assembly line results that are expected?!

Is it a "bad teacher" who has to deal with 3 or 4 ADD/Autistic kids, while also catering to the slower learners so they keep pace, and all the while trying to keep the more gifted learners engaged?!?! 

Is it a "bad teacher" who has to not only deal with the 35 to 40 kids in her classroom, but might also have to deal with the extended families of the students and their over the top expectations that their little genius is just one test score from a full academic scholarship to Harvard?!

I think I get the drift of the real meaning of "bad teachers" when used as the blanket statement to cast the entire teaching profession in a bad light. It's not so much about individual "bad teachers" as it is an all out assault on  driving public opinion that public schools/education are a bane to America and the only solution is to create a "new system" where private schools and charter schools are the answer to all the supposed ills of education in the United States.

A side effect of this move to private and charter schools of course is to eliminate the unions of public education, from administrative staff to the teachers to the support staff.

See, when it's a union represented teacher in a public school..........that is a "bad teacher"..........yet when this same teacher lands at a private or charter school, where that "bad teacher" is cleansed of union representation and benefits beyond some basics and where some "educator" holding the school business license is skimming taxpayer dollars to line his/her pockets, then that "bad teacher" suddenly morphs into a "teacher"!!!

This school reform is nothing more than a union busting, drive wages and benefits down effort to create a hierarchy of schools were we separate kids into categorized levels of economic and racial  compartmentalization all based on a propaganda program disguised as "school reform".

Now that my rant is over, and if you stayed around to read this, please check out this article:

http://www.salon.com/2013/06/03/instead_of_a_war_on_teachers_how_about_one_on_poverty/

Idle thoughts on the Nevada Legislative Session #NVLEG

Well the 77th Session of the Nevada Legislature is in the books and even had a last second "Special Session" tacked on to finalize a few (5) bills that were pending when the clock hit zero.

Here's a few non all encompassing thoughts on the session that was:

The Special Session 

Governor Sandoval was the one who called for the special session (at a cost of about $25,000) when a few of his pet bills were left for dead when the clock ran out at midnight Monday night/Tuesday morning.

I realize there was a captive senate & assembly still around when the special session was first discussed, but why couldn't the special session be scheduled for, say noon on Tuesday, so the senate, assembly & legislative workers could grab some sleep before plowing into the last bit of work?

No reason the Governor couldn't have gotten his required paper work out from 8 am to 11 am and called the session to order at noon or 1 pm Tuesday, rather than keep the entire legislative operation up all night while the paper work was being completed.

Just seems that might have been a bit more friendly way to handle the last few bills on a short special session.

Accomplishments

SJR-13 was the first vote (of two required) to work towards repealing the same sex marriage ban that was placed in the Nevada Constitution back in 2003. Time has moved on, opinions are changing, and more states and countries are coming around to allowing/recognizing same sex marriage and now Nevada has take step one in this 3 step process to grant marriage equality to all in Nevada.

SJR-15 was another landmark vote. This vote was the 2nd of the two votes required to remove the 150 year old protected mining tax cap from the state constitution. This resolution was fought by mining interests and even the Governor opposed it (shocking!), but with the VERY surprising help of GOP Senator Mike Roberson, a long time democratic issue was finally able to get enough support to get a passing vote. Now this issue will be brought before the voters in November 2014, where it should pass with ease. Mining will fight it, but I hear some business folks will jump on board to see this vote passes. Of course the business folks, would rather see mining take the hit so thus the support for the measure. Also, the business folks want to see the mining bill pass so it can squash the modified business tax proposed by the teachers union. But after 150 years and 3 decades of talk, it appears mining is set to lose their constitutional protection, a thing no other Nevada business/industry enjoys, not even the gambling houses!

After thinking the gun sale background check bill (SB 221) was all but dead, the bill rose like the Phoenix from the legislative ashes, even fighting off a watered down GOP version to make it out of committee and see votes in both chambers! The bill passed pretty much along party lines and now will go to the Governor Sandoval. Sandoval has said he will veto the bill, but there is political risk in that move. Background checks are popular with over 70% of Nevadans. So bully to those who stepped up and passed this bill and now puts it squarely in Sandoval's lap - Let's see if this veto or even signing comes back to haunt Sandoval in his re-election run in 2014.

There were other good things that came out of this session, but in the interest of brevity, I will stop at those 3!

Disappointments

One big whammy was the failure of AB 230 (the Sex Education Bill) - This failure really sent the activists into hyperventilation with the heat for the failure being placed directly on Senate Majority Leader Mo Denis & Senator Justin Jones. Emmily Bristol who blogs as the Sin City Siren ( see blog here: http://sincitysiren.wordpress.com/ ) really went off and pulled no punches on her and her fellow activists angst regarding the collapse of the bill. The galling thing was that it didn't even get a vote and died in committee, despite promises and assurances that the bill would seemingly sail to passage. What political fallout from this remains to be seen, but rest assured many democratic supporters were fuming over this bills collapse.

Removing the mining taxation cap from the state constitution. (SJR-15) There is some head scratching over how a issue democrats had embraced and made their cause for the better part of 25 years was hijacked by a suddenly moderate republican Senator Mike Roberson?!?! It wasn't the democrats who really sounded the horn on going after the mining cap this session, it was mining's long time buddies the GOP who turned on them!  When Mike "Benedict Arnold" Roberson (mining's nickname for him) went public he was on board to go after mining, the democrats kind of meekly sat silent and let Roberson steal the spotlight that rightfully should have been on the democrats, as this was supposedly their issue?!?! The democratic leadership should have been out front leading the charge on SJR-15 & making sure the people of Nevada knew that this was a DEMOCRATIC issue. But no, they sat back and let Roberson get all the press, which might help in GOP races in 2014 - Opportunity lost, in my humble opinion, and opportunity the democrats might regret in 2014. 

Strong moments

These were some of the strong moments that stood out to me.

During the debates over same sex marriage (SJR 13) there were more than a few stirring bits of oratory, but a few stood out.

1) Senator Kelvin Atkinson gained national notoriety when he spoke and mentioned he was gay during a floor session. His comments went nationwide, getting Atkinson interviews and appearances on national TV outlets.

2) Senator Justin Jones had to go against his church leanings and mentioned his own family circle when explaining his support of same sex marriage

3) Senator Pat Spearman likened the discrimination of same sex marriage to that of the racial discrimination she has faced over her lifetime.

4) Assemblywoman Michelle Fiore who broke with her own republican party leanings explaining her mother was gay & how this vote was personal in extending equality to all couple who seek marriage.

A strong moment that caused a bit of a stir, started a Twitter hash tag (#FierceFlores) and rallied activists to the cause on the sex ed bill (AB230) was when Assemblywoman Lucy Flores testified that she had had an abortion in her teens. This admission brought admiration from supporters, but also brought hate from others who take the rather intolerant angle to their ideology.

Capable rookies

These freshmen legislators stood out to me.

Senator Aaron Ford - The bow tied one is not one to miss details and questions, and questions thoroughly and thoughtfully, delving deep into the issues leaving no stone unturned.

Senator Pat Spearman - "Pastor Pat" stood out as one of the calmer voices, imparting wisdom, compassion and perspective like few others.

Senator Justin Jones - Jones took on the NRA with his gun bill, and while he was hit from all sides, his background check bill stood the test and got a passing vote.

#nvleg Let Governor Sandoval take the political risk #SB221 #SB322

There's two bills in the Nevada legislature that have (or at least should have) good support in Nevada's largest county: SB 221 The background checks for fire arms purchases and SB 322 which would add more positions to the state transportation board of directors, and is written so that Clark County (home to 70+% of the states population) would be given more seats on the board.

Governor Sandoval has already publicly said he would veto the bill (SB 221) on back ground checks for fire arm purchases and for some unknown reason SB 322 has been buried in committee and might not see the light of day in the waning hours of the legislative session.

So here's an open door for the democratic caucus (at least the southern Nevada contingent) to force the governors hand.

Get SB 221 out and passed and let Governor Sandoval veto it. The public polling suggests that background checks aren't the big threat to "liberty" the overzealous "gun enthusiast's" say it is.

For the sake of Clark County, SB 322 needs to get passed out of committee and also needs to be voted on and sent to the governor. This bill would also make the Clark County republicans make a choice as to, are they going to stand up for Clark County, or will they cave on supporting their home turf.

So let Governor Sandoval veto these bills and let him face the politics of those veto's. Also this gets the Clark County GOPer's on the record as either having supported their home county or allowing the underpopulated northern's have the major say on whether Clark County will get funding for our highways & freeways.

Sack up democrats and play a little hardball !!!!