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More trouble in GOP paradise

From columnist John L. Smith:

Politically conservative readers love to take a shot at me when I write something that doesn't fall onto their end of the radio dial -- especially when I remind them of the chaos their Grand Old Party finds itself in these days.

For proof that there is trouble in paradise, consider this week's letter from former Clark County Republican Party Chairman Jim Uster to Gov. Jim Gibbons.

"It is with a great deal of pleasure that I write this letter to you in light of the events of the past few days.

"I watched your big politically motivated news conference with a great deal of disdain as you made such a big deal of the use of your veto stamp. At the time it did not upset me though as I already knew that you were politically impotent and that you were making a grandiose fool of yourself as you stamped away on bill after bill. Nice try but the Nevada legislature is far more powerful that you are by any stretch of the imagination. The voters of Nevada are far smarter than you give them credit for and realize your politically motivated vetoes are wrong for them and their families. ...

"It was with joy in my heart and total respect for the rational thinking members of the legislature that I witnessed the legislature do the right thing and politically neuter you time after time as they overrode your vetoes one after the other. You are without question a political has been and I call on you to step down and allow the Lieutenant Governor to take charge of the state. That would be the honorable thing for you to do if you have any honor left and is the only way the Republican Party has any chance of electing a Republican governor in 2010.

"You snubbed the President of the United States, you vetoed a record number of bills which have been over-ridden by our fine legislators, you have been involved in one scandal after another, and you have been politically neutered. Don't you realize your time has come and gone, face the facts you have been put out to pasture."

I guess it's too late for Gibbons to ask Uster to join his re-election committee.

For more from John L. Smith, go to www.lvrj.com/blogs/smith/

Theft by any other name

From Editor Thomas Mitchell:

From the couldn't-have-said-it-better-myself department comes today's lead editorial in Investor's Business Daily. While the lead on the front page of the R-J by The Washington Post included the word "nationalization," IBD called the takeover of General Motors by the federal government theft.

"They call it 'restructuring.' " the editorial said. "We call it theft. Never in our memory has there been a more thorough, systematic effort to disenfranchise the shareholders and bondholders of a major American firm."

For $27 billion, stockholders got 10 percent of GM. For $50 billion the government got 60 percent. The unions got 17.5 percent for their $10 billion.

Is that economic justice? President Obama?

For more, go to www.lvrj.com/blogs/mitchell/

In utero picture worth a thousand words

From Publisher Sherman Frederick:

Time's Nancy Gibbs advances the theory that the reason more people under 30 now say they are "pro life" than people who say they are "pro choice" is because their first baby pictures were probably taken in utero.

An interesting theory. If you have a picture of yourself in the womb in your growing-up photo album, it's harder to get your arms around traditional pro-abortion arguments of when life begins. For example, President Obama said knowing when life begins is "above his pay grade." Anyone with an in utero picture of him or herself knows what a glib (to be nice) or dumb (to be less nice) statement that is.

Some states are now debating laws that would require a woman seeking an abortion to view an in utero picture of her "baby" before the "procedure" is allowed.

What would be the argument against that? Pain and suffering from seeing what is?

For more, go to www.lvrj.com/blogs/sherm/

Definitely his game

From gaming writer Howard Stutz:

Las Vegan Thang Luu has pulled off one of the more unusual feats at the World Series of Poker.

Luu, a 34-year-old native of Vietnam who has been in the United States for 17 years, won the $1,500 buy-in Omaha High-Low event for the second year in a row. In addition, Luu finished second in the same event in 2007.

"In the future, poker historians will debate poker's greatest accomplishments and this feat is certainly among them," said World Series of Poker spokesman Nolan Dalla.

Luu collected $263,135 for first place, the largest cash prize ever awarded in an Omaha High-Low tournament. He defeated a field of 918 players over three days.

The last time any player has finished first, first and second in the same event at the World Series of Poker was Johnny Chan's accumulated record in the $10,000 buy-in Main Event in 1987-1989. He won the titles the first two years but finished runner-up to Phil Hellmuth in 1989.

For more, go to www.lvrj.com/blogs/stutz/