Opinion

A former Army doctor who served in Iraq, Dr. Jason Newsom returned home to Panama City, Fla., a few years ago and took a $140,000-a-year job running the Bay County Health Department.

WEDNESDAY

Nevadans who value their constitutional rights, worry about the erosion of individual liberties and believe the Bill of Rights actually means what it says will have to battle future government intrusions without one of their greatest advocates. Gary Peck, the tireless, highly principled executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Nevada, has resigned to start a new chapter in his life.

“We are having a vigorous debate in the United States, and I think that’s a healthy thing. I suspect that once we get into the fall and people look at the actual legislation that’s being proposed, that more sensible and reasoned arguments will emerge. And we’re going to get this passed.”

After reading articles from bean counters such as Glenn Cook and Geoffrey Lawrence in your Viewpoints section about the overpaid, narcissistic Clark County firefighters, I can no longer remain silent on the subject. You see, I worked for the Clark County Fire Department for 30 years and am very proud of both the department and its hard-working members. So I trust that includes me as one of those overpaid retirees.

On the long and winding road of public opinion, it doesn’t take much to go from driving one-handed with the top down and the whole world before you to missing a hairpin turn and careening over the cliff.

Of all the NIMBYs and no-growth nitwits that valley residents have had to put up with this decade, none threw out more red herrings than the Sierra Club and a handful of Sun City Summerlin grumps.

Lately, I am asked, what are the most critical issues facing our state’s economy?

Gov. Jim Gibbons has apparently won the battle over who will oversee the handling of some $2.2 billion in federal stimulus money earmarked for Nevada, despite the Legislature’s recent refusal to authorize him to appoint a $120,000 “czar” to oversee and track that spending.

Angry, fearful conservatives are saying President Obama is lying when he opposes a single-payer government system of health insurance.