Berkley and Titus, for Cap and Trade, Heller Against

The Nevada votes on the cap and trade/global warming bill followed strict party lines. Shelley Berkley and Dina Titus voting for the bill, Dean Heller voting against it. Democrats say the bill is designed to stop supposed global warming. Republicans say it will impose the most oppressive tax ever on Americans.

Democrats are certainly taking home an almost unexpected win to a July 4th break, as they muscled a global warming bill through the House on a 219-212 vote.
Many people are focusing on the eight Republicans who voted for the bill, but what about on the other side? There were 44 Democrats who bucked their leadership and voted no.
They were:
Bright (AL), Davis (AL), Griffith (AL), Berry (AR), Ross (AR), Kirkpatrick (AZ), Mitchell (AZ), Costa (CA), Stark (CA), Salazar (CO), Barrow (GA), Marshall (GA), Minnick (ID), Costello (IL), Foster (IL), Donnelly (IN), Ellsworth (IN), Visclosky (IN), Melancon (LA), Childers (MS), Taylor (MS), Kissell (NC), McIntyre (NC), Pomeroy (ND), Arcuri (NY), Massa (NY), Kucinich (OH), Wilson (OH), Boren (OK), DeFazio (OR), Altmire (PA), Carney (PA), Dahlkemper (PA), Holden (PA), Shuster (PA), Herseth Sandlin (SD), Tanner (TN), Edwards (TX), Ortiz (TX), Rodriguez (TX), Matheson UUT), Nye (VA), Mollohan (WV) and Rahall (WV).
What do I see in that group? Southern Democrats from Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi against the bill.
Energy state lawmakers from Texas, West Virginia and Oklahoma voting no.

More liberal lawmakers also voting no, worried the bill was watered down too much.
On the GOP side, there were eight Republicans who voted for the bill.
They were Bono Mack (CA), Castle (DE), Kirk (IL), Lance (NJ), LoBiondo (NJ), McHugh (NY), Reichert (WA) and Smith (NJ.)
Democrats still have a very tough road ahead of them, as a Senate filibuster seems likely.
But you cannot count out this bill. The Dems showed they could wheel and deal their way to victory in the House by promising all kinds of stuff for their members to win a vote here and there.
"Now it's up to the Senate to take the next step," said President Obama last night.
"I'm confident that in the coming weeks and months the Senate will demonstrate the same commitment to addressing what is a tremendous challenge and an extraordinary opportunity," the President added.
So we'll see what happens. Stay tuned.

More Races Ready To View

4 of the races from April 18th at the Las Vegas Motorspeedway Bullring are now up at LocalsLoveVegas.com.

We have now posted two of the Legends Car races, one Bandolero race and another from the Thunder Roadsters.

To access all of the races now posted, go to the SPORTS tab along the top bar and click on Motorsports and you will find what we have up. We are working to get more races up all the time.

Thanks.

"Year One" Movie Review

By Christian Toto www.whatwouldtotowatch.com


Just because the setting of director Harold Ramis’ new comedy is paleolithic doesn’t mean the gags have to be dated.

“Year One,” which teams Jack Black with Michael Cera as a pair of Neanderthal losers, seems dug up from a 1980s time capsule. The bulk of the humor here smells moldy, as if the gags came from a pitch meeting made during the heyday of “SCTV,” not “The Daily Show” and “The Office.”

Some scenes hearken back to an even earlier comic age. It’s a shock that neither of the leads cries, “Hey, Abbott!” at the top of his lungs.

The film follows Zed (Black) and Oh (Cera), two Neanderthals who can’t master the only jobs available to them - hunting and gathering.

So their tribe cuts them loose, forcing them to fend for themselves in a very strange land.
They bump into a bevy of characters who, like Cain and Abel (David Cross and Paul Rudd), come straight from the Old Testament.

“Year One” begins with a can’t miss hook. What if modern-day attitudes were fused onto characters living at the dawn of mankind? Ramis’ film manages a few gentle jabs at organized religion without suffering from “Religulous”-style condescension.

Yet the script lets Black and Cera down time and again, forcing them to mug and ad lib until something resembling comedy takes shape. It isn’t pretty, especially during several sequences which set up something humorous but just leave the moment alone to wither and die.
The leads make for a potentially lethal comic tag team. Black remains Black to the core, but Cera’s sweetness cuts the “School of Rock” star’s bluster down to size.

“Year One” feels way out of step with modern comic mores. Today’s young audiences likely won’t howl over jokes about how badly Jewish people perform at sports, and when the movie isn’t mimicking the tired comic tropes of the ’80s it turns Black and Cera into a modern day Abbott & Costello.

Worst of all, “Year One” traffics in sexual and excretory humor, a neon sign declaring the script’s limited resources.

But for every three jokes which fizzle there’s at least one that draws a smirk, and the movie’s set design is surprisingly first rate. So, too, is the soundtrack, which thunders with the sort of self-important notes that help sharpen the modest comic moments.
“Year One” will make audiences feel as if they were clubbed over the head with outdated comedy shtick.

4th of July Parade in Summerlin!

The entire Las Vegas valley is invited to celebrate Independence Day at the 15th annual Summerlin Council Patriotic Parade, Southern Nevada’s largest and most colorful Fourth of July parade. More than 30,000 people are expected to attend.

The parade features more than 60 entries including traditional floats, Macy’s-style giant helium balloons, exciting bands and performing groups and a variety of kids’ favorite storybook characters.

Featured 2009 parade entries include an all-star salute to Nellis Air Force Base featuring a 30-foot giant inflatable eagle, an enchanting tribute to the Mad Hatter’s Tea Party and Native American dancing by Danza Del Carrizo. Serving as this year’s grand marshal is General Kevin McLaughlin, vice commander, United States Air Force Warfare Center.

The parade is coordinated by The Summerlin Council, the non-profit arm of the Summerlin Community Association dedicated to the social, educational and recreational enrichment of residents.

Title sponsors of the 2009 parade are Summerlin and The Howard Hughes Corporation, developer of Summerlin. Securitas is serving as the elite sponsor. Other major sponsors include Clear Channel and Las Vegas Review-Journal.

WHEN Saturday, July 4, 2009
9 – 11 a.m.
Escort division commences at 8:45 a.m.

WHERE The parade begins at the corner of Hillpointe Road and Hills Center Drive in The Trails village of Summerlin. Participants travel south on Hills Center Drive toward the Village Center Circle roundabout before heading west on Trailwood Drive. The parade will end at the corner of Trailwood Drive and Spring Gate Lane.

Police Release Incident Report on Danny Gans

Henderson police have released the report on what they found the night they responded to the home of Las Vegas entertainer Danny Gans.

Gans was found in his bed, with his wife trying to perform CPR. Efforts continued to revive Gans but they were unsuccessful.

The coroner's investigators examined Gans' body and noticed that his faced was swollen and red. They found nothing during the examination that suggested foul play.

Clark County Coroner Mike Murphy announced earlier this month that Gans died because of toxic levels of hydromorphone — best known as Dilaudid — in conjunction with other medical conditions.

For the full story check out this article in the Las Vegas Sun

http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2009/jun/25/police-release-incident-report-danny-gans-death/

af2 Championship Game Moving To Vegas

Las Vegas–Further strengthening its reputation as one of Las Vegas’ leading sports and entertainment venues, the Orleans Arena announced today that it will host the Arena Football League 2’s ArenaCup 10 championship game on Saturday, August 22.
With more than 25 teams competing in its 10th anniversary season, the Arena Football League 2 (af2) showcases fan-friendly football across the country, with more than 200 regular-season and 15 post-season games scheduled. The current season began March 20.
Renowned for its fast pace and high-scoring matches, Arena Football is played indoors on a 50-yard field, with eight players on each side. af2 is an affiliate developmental league of the Arena Football League, developed to take advantage of geographical rivalries in smaller markets that would not otherwise experience the sport of professional football.
“We are excited to bring the ArenaCup to Las Vegas,” said af2 President Jerry Kurz. “Our owners saw the value in bringing our league’s showcase event to the biggest showcase city in the world. Our fans will be treated to a unique, total entertainment experience from touchdown to takeoff.”

The game is scheduled to begin at 7 p.m. and will be will be accompanied by a series of fan-oriented events throughout the day.

Tickets for ArenaCup 10 will go on sale July 10 at 10 a.m. Tickets are priced at $17.50, $32.50, $45 and $60 inclusive of tax and fees. Ticket information is available by calling 702-284-7777 or visiting www.orleansarena.com.

WAC Basketball Tournament Moving To Las Vegas

The Orleans Arena announced today that it will host the Western Athletic Conference (WAC) Men’s and Women’s Basketball Championships in 2011 and 2012.
The 8,500-seat Orleans Arena has become a leading college basketball venue beginning in 2006 when it hosted the Las Vegas Invitational, featuring a showdown between defending national champions Florida and top-ranked Kansas. Since then, the Las Vegas Classic has become an annual event each December featuring top college basketball programs, and in March 2009 the Orleans Arena hosted the sold-out NCAA West Coast Conference Championships.

Earlier this year, WAC announced plans to hold its 2009 Volleyball Tournament at the Orleans Arena November 23, 24 and 25.

“We are excited to build on our relationship with WAC by hosting their championship basketball tournaments. As we saw last year, these tournaments are significant tourism draws for our community, and we are excited to welcome another major conference in Las Vegas,” said Darren Davis, Orleans Arena Executive Director.

The WAC tournament will be played March 8-12, 2011 and March 6-10, 2012. The conference’s eight members are Boise State, Fresno State, Hawaii, Idaho, Louisiana Tech, Nevada, New Mexico State, San Jose State and Utah State.

“WAC head basketball coaches have been pushing for a neutral site for a number of years,” said Utah State men’s head coach Stew Morrill. “Las Vegas will be an exciting location, the Orleans Arena is a great venue, and most importantly no team will have home court advantage.”

Ticket information will be provided at a later date.

Pelam 1 2 3, Movie Review

By Christian Toto www.whatwouldtotowatch.com

Need a clear-cut example of just how movies have changed since the 1970s?

Step right up and buy a ticket to “The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3,” the remake of the 1974 thriller.
The new film replaces craggy-faced Walter Matthau with the handsome Denzel Washington, but more importantly it brims with the sort of flashy camera work and hard-charging music that stand in sharp contrast to the meditative movie making of the ’70s.

“Pelam” also happens to be one of the better thrillers of the summer, but that’s faint praise considering recent letdowns like “Terminator Salvation” and “X-Men Origins: Wolverine.”

“Pelham” 2.0 finds Washington, looking heavier than we’ve ever seen him before, playing Walter Garber, an Everyman subway director who gets dragged into a nightmare scenario.
A charismatic killer named Ryder (John Travolta, sporting a neck tattoo and closely cropped hair) has commandeered a subway train and promises to kill a hostage a minute if he isn’t hand-delivered $10 million dollars and one cent in an hour.

Let the cat and mouse games begin.

The mental battle between Garber and Ryder is the main attraction here, and it’s good enough to make us forgive Hollywood for retooling a classic in the first place.

But the new “Pelham” remains a conflicted creation, a film which brings the requisite New Yawk flavor and character details, but can’t help itself from staging superfluous car crashes.
And while Washington’s character is portrayed as a flawed Average Joe, he eventually becomes your Standard Action Hero just when the screenplay runs out of inspiration.

The film has director Tony Scott’s imprimatur all over it, and that’s rarely a good thing. The “Domino” director can’t stage a single sequence without shaking the camera, monkeying with the film stock or drowning out the drama with overheated music.

Travolta follows Scott’s heavy-handed lead, shouting some of his lines and dropping F-bombs without conviction. The actor maintains such a reservoir of charisma that he still holds the screen with the uber-reliable Washington.

“The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3″ wants to be a gritty thriller and a blockbuster all at once. Only when the film splits the difference does it directly honor the source material.

Nevada Works Hard To Count People

It's Census time once again. Every 10 years as mandated by the U.S. Constitution.

Nevada is in the same position as every state in the Union, count as many people as you can to get increased representation in Congress and more federal dollars. Illegal or not, count the people who live there and they give the state more power at the federal level. Right or wrong, them's the rules. It wasn't always like that, in fact it was never designed by the Constitution to be like this where states are rewarded for having more residents than another state.

When the Census was established under the Constitution there were two purposes, in no particular order:

1) Count people for Congressional Representation and the Electoral College system. Individuals were important in this new government and that mattered deeply to the Founders (we still have this system in place).

2) Taxation (this is long gone). The second is the main topic of this column. Taxation. At the time the new united states were deep in dept from the Revolution and the new federal government needed the cash to pay the bill. States were taxed based on their population. If you had more people, you paid more money. Fewer people, less money. It was a very simple system and provided perfect BALANCE for the states. Balance is the key word here. The Founders were brilliant in knowing that this would provide a system where by the states would have no motivation to count as many people as possible. More people meant you paid more taxes, but got more representation in Congress. Balance.

1913 changed everything. The federal government changed from the system of state taxation to individual taxation (you know, the April 15th thing). Not sure if these consequences were intended, or even known at the time, but it doesn't really matter, those folks are all gone now, we are living it right here, right now. Now the balance is gone. There is only motivation to count as many people as possible and get more representatives in Congress and more Electoral power in the 2012 presidential election.

The Founders were brilliant in their understanding of the balance the Census would bring, but those days are long gone, we are now in an era where the state that does the best job to bring as many people in from Who-Knows-Where, becomes the "winner". Citizenship is not an issue, count people once, count people again, and count them again, just to make sure. Somehow I think we all become the losers in the long run with the balance being a thing of the distant past.

Telesphere Grand Opening!

A new business communications company has opened its doors in Las Vegas. Telesphere held its grand opening Tuesday in Las Vegas. You can find an exclusive interview with CEO Clark Peterson here on the main page of this web site. More interviews with Telesphere officials will be posted soon.

www.telesphere.com

Telesphere provides small and medium businesses with the extensive service and features generally available only to larger corporations—all without the cost, hassle, and limitations of traditional systems. Rather than a business needing to buy an expensive PBX for their office and then pay a technician to maintain it, technology has enabled providers like Telesphere to “centralize” all of the functionality of the traditional PBX into a central “softswitch” for the whole country. By connecting your office with a private and dedicated pure IP t-1, Telesphere is able to provide all of your telephone and internet service through a “hosted” solution.

Gans Death Ruled Accidental

The sudden death of entertainer Danny Gans last month has been rule accidental by the Clark County Coroner.

Gans had high blood pressure and was taking pain medication for injuries he received during his baseball career, and a recent auto accident. Those were contributing factors to his death ruled Coroner Michael Murphy on Tuesday in Las Vegas.

More details here from the Las Vegas Sun


http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2009/jun/09/coroner-release-cause-danny-gans-death/

Land Of The Lost-Movie Review

By Christian Toto www.whatwouldtotowatch.com


Perhaps the worst to be said about the new Will Ferrell comedy, “Land of the Lost,” is that it lives down to the source material.

Remember that kitschy ’70s show, the one where Marshall, Will and Holly got transported to a strange land with claymation-style dinosaurs and men in rubber suits called Sleestaks?

Well, the new “Lost” may have glossier effects, a publicity blitz of epic proportions and the lovely Anna Friel, but it’s hardly more entertaining than the TV original.

Ferrell plays Dr. Rick Marshall, a disgraced scientist who melts down during an amusing interview with “Today’s” Matt Lauer in the opening sequence.

Three years later, Marshall mistakenly triggers one of his own inventions to send him, a buffoonish tour guide (Danny McBride) and a comely researcher (Anna Friel) to another place in time. The trio now must deal with a grumpy T. Rex, a tribe of lizard-like beasties and third-rate ad libbing. It’s the latter which proves their undoing. Ferrell plays another variation on his haughty persona, a man-child who thinks he’s brilliant but barely can conceal his deep insecurities. If he hadn’t played this character before we’d have nothing to go on here, since characterization, storytellng and continuity are in short supply.

The film plays lip service to fans of the old show - look, the characters are named Marshall, Will and Holly! And a cute banjo sequence ties in to the show’s musical interludes. But wouldn’t it have been funnier if the show painstakingly recreated the old dinosaur effects rather than ape what we saw in “Jurassic Park?”

“Lost” might have been a passable lark for the youngsters, but the film keeps heaping on the sexual and scatalogical jokes to spoil that option. Dinosaur urine and a caveman who feels up Friel’s character are just two reasons why parents should think twice about letting “Lost” babysit their young ones.

“Land of the Lost” represents the ultimate crash and burn synergy. Take a hot comic actor, combine him with a “name” property, market it to death and you end up with a summer dud.

Michael Jacksons Thriller Casino?

When it comes to anything that Michael Jackson touches, difficulties and peculiarities are never far behind. And it’s certainly taken a toll on the iconic performer. But never one to back down from controversy, Jackson always finds a way to capitalize on his own brand. His latest venture? The undisputed King of Pop is in discussions to open a new Las Vegas casino next year, entirely themed on his 1982 international breakthrough song, Thriller.

The headline, lawsuit and debt magnet is actively seeking out new ways to generate income based on his incalculable global following. The casino idea comes on the back of his 50-date UK tour, a brand new album and several films, all of which are planned to materialize over the next 12 months. Never a dull moment in the Jackson camp. But it’s a form of necessity as he is quoted to owe an estimated $100 to $300 million.

The Thriller casino will replicate sets from the hit song Thriller, from the multi-platinum-award-winning album of the same name, and will feature zombies behind slot machines and “the living dead” roaming round the casino at night.

http://www.facebook.com/ext/share.php?sid=184832455429&h=7RNrq&u=EWNwx&ref=nf