Archive for June, 2010

Steven Hutson

I never had a chance to be a racist.

I grew up in a racially diverse neighborhood.  My neighbors, classmates and fellow parishioners were black, white, Japanese, Mexican, Hungarian, Ukrainian, Vietnamese, and Armenian, representing every continent of the world (with the possible exception of Antarctica).    I thought nothing of it at time, but remarkably this melting pot took shape without the benefit of school busing, Affirmative Action, mortgage-lending quotas, or any other type of artificial engineering.  People lived and shopped and worshipped where they chose, and were quickly accepted.  Like any other community we had our share of interracial scuffles in the schoolyard, but for the most part no one sniffed a budding race war; we attributed it to the normal struggles of youth.

My nominee for the next ambassador to Kyrgystan

In 1941, at Battle of Pearl Harbor, the Imperial Japanese Navy assumed that they would enjoy a quick decisive victory in their campaign of shock and awe.  Why?  Among other things, they believed that their own ethnically monolithic society was innately superior to the multiethnic forces of their American adversaries.  Surely an integrated force could never come together to fight off a common enemy.  As we now know, they were wrong.  Dead wrong.
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Kelly Anderson Wright

A wise, 82-yr-old woman on the Internet, and this writer in Reno, wish to thank President Obama for all the hope and change he has brought to our great country. Thanks to him, we are finally rebuilding the American Dream.

Leader of the Conservative movement?

Obama has done so much for each and every one of us, hasn’t he?

1. Obama destroyed the Clinton Political Machine, driving a stake through the heart of Hillary’s presidential aspirations, something no Republican was ever able to do. The thought of a Hillary presidency scared the daylights out of us!

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Brett Noel

cartoon

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Large version for newspaper publication.

Greyscale version for newspaper publication.

Jill Ciminillo

I like to root for the underdog. And that’s what I used to think Kia was.

But I have to admit, the all-new Forte is a complete game changer for this Korean automaker. I think Kia is officially equipped to take on the likes of Honda and Toyota.

And win.

2010 Kia Forte Koup

The new Forte has everything I could want in a car from a compact, attractive package to a really decent starting price of $13,695 for the base LX sedan with a manual transmission ($14,695 if you upgrade to the base automatic). The test vehicle happened to be a very hot Forte Koup SX model with a base price of $19,390 (the base EX Koup starts at $16,595). When the test vehicle added the Leather Package ($1,000) and the power sunroof ($700), it had everything on it I could possibly want (including heated front seats), and the as-tested price was a mere $21,090.

I liked the price; I really liked the car. But the true test, according to my boyfriend, is whether or not I would buy it. The answer: Yes.

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David Karki

A new Pew Research Center study released this week indicates that 20 percent – 1 in 5 – women aged 40-44 is childless. This is an all-time high for the United States; never before in its history have as many of this group not been mothers. Not surprisingly, there is a concomitant lack of marriage amongst this cohort as well, with 40 percent of the childless also being single and never married.

Hello, EPA!

This may not seem like a big deal, or like something worthy of a societal-level analysis. After all, selection of a spouse (or to not have one) and whether to have children or not are two of the most personal decisions anyone has in life. But this doesn’t mean that there aren’t significant demographic consequences, at least once a sufficient threshold number of such has been reached. Read the rest of this entry »

Dan Calabrese

Washington doesn’t know what to do.

When someone, somewhere, wants money, Congress sends it to them. Whether by tax hike, borrowing from the Chinese, printing more money, hook or crook . . . Congress allocates money. Budgeted, non-budgeted, an “emergency” measure – it makes no difference. Fish swim. The Lions lose. Congress spends. It is the natural order of things.

Armageddon?

Until Thursday, when enough Republicans (and one Democrat) became momentarily serious about fiscal responsibility and refused to send another $16 billion to the states to aid in balancing their budgets and extend expiring unemployment benefits.

Across the nation, stunned governors “warn” (as the Associated Press puts it) that they might have to reduce their payrolls. Unemployed workers face the shocking prospect that their benefits might actually expire on the expiration date – and they might have to find a different source of income.

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Gregory D. Lee

This week, President Obama relieved four-star general Stanley McChrystal of his duties in Afghanistan after Rolling Stone published an unflattering magazine article about him and his staff’s feelings toward the administration’s national security team. Although the vast majority of the discouraging quotes came from his staff, Gen. McChrystal is ultimately responsible, and the president did what any commander in chief would have done under the circumstances.

Neocons!

He promptly replaced him with well-respected Gen. David Petraeus, who engineered the successful “surge” campaign in Iraq.

Gen. McChrystal and his staff should have realized that there is no such thing as “off the record.” If a journalist hears a juicy quote that supports his or her story, you can count on reading it. The reporter scores points with his publisher and readers, and he documents you saying something stupid forever.

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Joe Bell

I wonder if I’m the only conservative who doesn’t hyperventilate over comments made by celebrity liberals. If I gave any credence to what celebrities thought I might get annoyed but since I don’t I shrug them off and accept that they are among the more uninformed and insulated individuals on the planet.

Paul McCartney made a pointless statement recently upon receiving the Library of Congress’s Gershwin Prize for Popular Song. At an event hosted by President and Ms. Obama, McCartney remarked, “After the last eight years it’s good to have a president that knows what a library is.”

The ‘witty’ comment was aimed at former President George W. Bush’s intellect. It was as inappropriate to the occasion as it is false. What is most disappointing to me is that such a rude statement was dribbled by someone whose music I have enjoyed since the 1960s. No serious individual takes the former Beatle as an authoritative social commentator. Sir Paul should stick to his “Silly Love Songs.”

McCartney is not alone. Singer Sheryl Crow once said, “I think war is never the answer to solving any problems. The best way to solve problems is to not have enemies.” Read the rest of this entry »

Kelly Anderson Wright

Boneheaded moves must be a genetic trait in the Reid family.

Rory Reid (D-Nevada), son of Harry, originally thought his last name would be an asset to help him become the next governor of Nevada.

Months ago, a certain writer in Reno wrote an article warning the younger Reid not to hitch his bus to his dad’s.

Would you go sit over there, Dad?

Apparently, Rory finally agreed: He has removed the Reid name from his new campaign ad, which just says “Rory for Governor.” Rory’s website and bumper stickers, like the one pictured, are similarly sans the Reid moniker, a decision that has already come back to bite him in the behind, much like his father’s infamous comments have done.

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Bob Franken

Don’t you just love all the writers, like me, who find it necessary to add a “Full Disclosure”, which is supposed to provide absolute honesty about a potential conflict-of-interest?

Of course, a really full disclosure would go something like this: “Full disclosure, this reporter is advocating this point of view because it will make him a ton of money”. Or “…because he is being

Come on, man!

blackmailed into saying it by someone who has pictures of him with a hooker”. Or my personal favorite” “Full disclosure. I have no earthly idea what I’m talking about”.

This one will fall short of that (I hope, anyway) but it may surprise you: “Full disclosure: Geraldo Rivera and I are friends of long standing”. At least we have been until now, because I want to take issue with his Fox News appearance where he strongly criticized Michael Hastings for repeating the incendiary comments by General Stanley McChrystal and his aides that got Gen. McChrystal fired.

Geraldo contends Hastings and the magazine were out of line, that, given his access, there should have been “a cone of privilege (Geraldo’s words) that kept the bitter snarkiness about the president and the chain-of-command confidential. “If it’s not on the record”, Rivera continued, “It’s off the record”, meaning, I suppose, that these defiant statements should have been kept confidential because the smart alecks didn’t know better.

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