EVERYBODY'S Cover Story

Okay, here's the thing ...

When did we get to the point where politics was about slinging as much mud as possible on each candidate? When did we get to the point where the issues took a back seat to digging up and explaining all the mud in your life?

Don't get me wrong, I believe that your ethics need to be consistent, you cannot screw people here and then NOT screw them there. That is an imposibility even in our dichotic world.

BUT there is a lot of room for HUMANS who make mistakes in the political arena. There has to be or only Jesus Christ could run for office. There has to be room for an honest politician to say, "You know what, you are right, I screwed up, I shouldn't have done that, but I learned from it, I am now a better person than I was then. NOW lets talk about our fixing our schools, or economic issues, or even Yucca Mountain."

I pray there is still room for our great state to forgive and forget. But in the age of internet searches we will always find stupid things our politicians say and do and a grainy video to prove it. I pray there is still room to discuss REAL issues instead of just the latest dirt.

Everybody's cover story is Gibbons possible affair or Bush's press secretary's new book. What just happened to the issues?

Let's get over it, get on with it, get done with it, and GET GOING AGAIN!

Politics and more Politics

How many of you out there REALLY think you can make a difference in American Politics? Seriously? I would really like to see a politician who honestly says what he/she is thinking and believes in. All I hear is politicians telling me what they think I want to hear:

"I don't support Yucca" in Nevada; "I support Yucca" in New York.
"I'll lower gas prices"
"I'll make the value of your home come back!"
"I'll make your schools better!"
"I'll vote out the dirty bastards!"
"I support your values!"
"I focus on what's important to YOU!"
"I'm the PRO Nevada candidate!"

Well, how refreshing would this be:

"I'm not going to promise a damn thing to you other then that I will tell you the truth whether you want to hear it or not!"
"I'm not going to take a more than $100 from any one person and not a damn cent from businesses, unions, PACs, or other politicians!"

Now THAT would be PRO Nevada!

Nevada Gold Mining!

Congrats to Nevada Miners who set a record in gold production this year. While the actual ounces was a few less than last year, with the gold prices being so high they had record profits. (PVT) This is good for employment in Nevada. This is good for the security and stability as well as the wages of Nevada workers. And this is good for tax revenue for the state.

Mining in Nevada is definitely PRO Nevada!

Ethanol and/or Food

The LVRJ had a major editorial on Ethanol calling it"magical beans" and a scam. As the price of food goes up and the price of grain goes up I find I am torn.

My brother is an Indiana farmer and is now enjoying, for the first time in my 48 years of memory, a price for corn that he can actually make a living off of. $2 per bushel corn was the standard for almost 50 years, imagine that, imagine YOUR wages staying the same as they were in 1958! Instead of complaining and fighting (okay there has always been a little complaining and subsidies) the American farmer buckled down and became more and more efficient, and more efficient. They produced more and more grain off the same few acres. NOW suddenly we have corn at $6 per bushel because of the dream of ethanol fueling the US economy. Hooray for the farmer!

But on the other hand food is more expensive because corn also feeds animals that feed us both milk and meat. It still takes a lot of energy and water to produce ethanol and while I believe we will get better at it, there might be a better way to spend our resources. Like on Wind, Sun, and Geothermal.

PRONevada covers and area that doesn't include many corn growers, although wheat has gone up in price too. But PRONevada has to push alternative energy in Nevada and we would like to see the cost of food go down for many reasons while producing renewable energy in other ways.

Let's get back to business!

I read a LOT of the Nevada blogs. Some are good and some are not so good. I read the left wing blogs and the right wing ones. I enjoy reading both sides take on the same issue and I get pretty good at finding out your particular bent from simple looking at the adjectives you use in your writing. If you describe our Governor as "the idiot Jim Gibbons" or "the beleaguered Jim Gibbons" you get a good idea of the bent of the writer.

Well I am simply tired of the blogs on Jim Gibbons being about his divorce. For a week now that is all the local blogs have been about and it is time to get back to business and let the tabloids deal with the divorce if they feel it necessary. Let's talk about budget issues. Let's talk about Yucca issues. Let's talk about water issues. Let's talk about who's running for what and what their ideas are. Let's get back to business!

Nye County Direction

Nye County has approved "A $492,000 renewable energy study (that) will examine planning issues associated with various wind and solar projects proposed around Nye County"

This study will look at the "feasibility" of Wind Power, Biomass Power from landfills, Solar Power and infrastructure issues in Nye County. You can read about this here in the Pahrump Valley Times.

Now PRONevada is ALL FOR alternative energy in rural Nevada and we believe that there is no reason why Nevada can not be energy POSITIVE by the end of the next decade but this study has the smell of a stall tactic. I understand that Nye County has to go through proper channels and has to make sure they don't step on any toes but LET'S GET MOVING!

EVERYBODY KNOWS alternative energy is the right thing to do so instead of doing another feasibility study, let's knock down some of the barriers! Read the March 14 blog below and let's get moving instead of talking about it and studying it for another year!

PRONevada praises Nye County for their steps, even though they are baby steps, at least they are in the right direction.

Brothels safer than Health Clinics

I truly am sorry and this is not normally a cause PRO Nevada supports but ... brothels are ONLY IN rural Nevada, so ...

I just really got a kick out of this letter to the Editors of the LVRJ:

Mar. 26, 2008 Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal
LETTERS: Brothels safer than health clinics
To the editor:

Last week the ABC News show "20/20" addressed the topic of prostitution in America, specifically in Nevada. Diane Sawyer of "20/20" observed that the health department stated that in more than 30 years, it has not had one case of HIV among the women working in the more than 30 legal brothels in Nevada. Ms. Sawyer also stated that each of the women is tested every week for sexually transmitted diseases, and for HIV every month.

Compare the track record of the legal brothels in Nevada, when it comes to disease transmitted, to the Endoscopy Center of Southern Nevada, where at least six patients were infected with hepatitis C. Who would have thought that a patron of a legal brothel would be at less risk of catching a disease than a patient at a medical clinic? Both places operate under a profit motive, yet it appears from news reports that one engaged in practices that put its clients/patients health, and very lives, at risk in order to maximize its profits.

It is also interesting to note that the state appears to do a thorough job of ensuring the clients of brothels and the women employed there are protected from being infected, yet for whatever reason can't seem to do the same thorough job when it comes to health care clinics.

There is no justifiable reason for the state health department not doing their job, despite all the excuses we have been hearing about a lack of funding and staff, lack of support from the governor for staffing positions, inability to hire staff, etc. This issue of the health, safety and welfare of the citizens of Nevada is far too important to ever be ignored or rationalized away. If you don't believe that, just consider the plight of the 40,000-plus people now living in a medical purgatory as they await the outcome of their medical tests -- or their future as they struggle with a deadly disease.

And finally, like thousands or hundreds of thousands of other citizens, I keep watching the local evening news, waiting to see some health care providers in Las Vegas do the "perp walk" in handcuffs.

Tom Lynch
NORTH LAS VEGAS

All PRO Nevada can say is "Amen"