Heller’s Obstructionism On Full Display

Perhaps the most under-reported scandalous behavior in Washington, D.C. is the continual obstruction of Presidential nominations to fill vacancies in administrative and judicial posts, and Nevada junior Senator Dean Heller has been right in the middle of it.

First, he opposed the nomination of Elissa Cadish, refusing to sign the paperwork necessary for her candidacy as a judicial nominee to come before the Senate Judiciary Committee, because he was miffed by her position on guns.  Now, he’s opposing the nomination of Jennifer Dorsey because her previous law firm made a major donation to the PAC associated with Senator Harry Reid. [LVSun]

Surprise, surprise … law firms make significant political donations.  Who would have thought it?

“Nevada Sen. Dean Heller announced via statement Thursday that he would not be supporting Dorsey’s nomination because he was concerned about the propriety of large financial contributions Dorsey and her law firm — Kent, Jones & Coulthard — made to Sen. Harry Reid campaign and political action committees as he was considering recommending her to Obama for the position.” [LVSun]

That’s it?  No mention of her qualifications? Her previous legal work?  Not even a bit of sugar coating to make his opposition seem more professional, more considered?  Just pure good old fashioned unalloyed partisanship?  It doesn’t get more shallow than this.

Of course, Senator Heller’s previous press release wasn’t any more indicative of critical thinking.  His solution to the problem of interpreting the meaning of Internal Revenue Service regulations regarding the applications for 501(c)4 tax exempt status seems not to be the province of Congress to make clear and explicit statutes on what constitutes “social welfare” and if this should be the primary or the exclusive purpose of an applicant organization.

Nor, does Senator Heller propose that we restore the positions at the IRS, at least the 42 cut from the tax exemption department which took those ill advised shortcuts to process a 56% increase in the number of applications,  a staffing shortage which led to the creation of the shortcuts in the first place.  Believe it or not, Senator Heller’s “solution” is to exacerbate the problem.

“The President’s budget requested that about $440 million be diverted to the IRS for the purpose of enforcing the President’s healthcare law. Considering the IRS is under increasing scrutiny for targeting conservative groups seeking tax-exempt status, Heller introduced legislation to stop additional funding.”  [Heller]

Jolly, so budget cuts and staff reductions created problems for the Cincinnati office of the IRS in terms of determining the tax exempt status of 501(c)4 applicants, and now Senator Heller is promoting the idea that the IRS should be restricted in how it enforces health care insurance reform statutes?

This is simply classic Republican obstructionism at its finest.  The formula is predictable and thoroughly tested: Decry the incompetence of government, then cut funding and staffing levels for government agencies. When the agencies cannot function properly because of the funding and staffing cuts, decry the incompetence of government… lather…rinse…repeat.

Senator Heller’s machinations might be interesting, or at least amusing, if they were at least a tad bit unusual.  They aren’t.  He gives every appearance of spending the last week in full Obstruction and Blatant Partisanship Mode.   His fixation on the outward attributes of governmental operations makes Shallow Hal look like an astute and circumspect observer of human personality.

Meanwhile, the Federal District Courts in Nevada remain seriously understaffed.  How many more Nevada citizens and businesses must wait for their day in court before Senator Heller can find his  “perfect” nominee for an appointment to the bench?

Quick Hits

** The Las Vegas Sun has a quick list of bills that made it past the “Tuesday Deadline” for consideration in the Nevada Legislature.  Looking for bills that failed to meet the deadline? It’s here.  For information on other bills start with this link.

** Heads up: The Reno Gazette Journal will run an article on Sunday concerning the closing of the ATF office in Reno, NV, and how this has impacted the efforts to stop gun trafficking.  The Leahy-Collins amendment to curtail gun trafficking in the U.S. failed in the Senate on a 58-42 vote during which Republicans sustained their filibuster of the amendment. [TheHill] Senator Dean Heller (R-NV) voted to sustain the GOP filibuster. [Vote 99]

** Did we know? “Sixty-six Americans were killed in mass shootings by non-Muslims in 2012 alone, twice as many fatalities as from Muslim-American terrorism in all 11 years since 9/11.” [Politicususa] And, did we know that the NRA and Conservatives in Congress have made it more difficult to track or monitor non-Muslim extremists in this country since 2001?  Crooks and Liars posts a list of recent “eliminationist” attacks.

** It’s been a bad week for the Austerians.  First, comedian Stephen Colbert launched a devastating critique on the economic theorists.  Additionally, many others have piled on.  There’s Austerity as Flim-Flam.   There’s Who is Defending Austerity Now?  There’s rethinking austerity.   There’s the EU calling for diminishing austerian policies.  And, for good measure, there’s the choking effects of austerity policies in the UK.  Thus the House GOP budget plan is based on a seriously flawed study.

** What economic recovery? For 7% of this country it’s been a nice rebound, for the remaining 93% not so much.

“During the first two years of the nation’s economic recovery, the mean net worth of households in the upper 7% of the wealth distribution rose by an estimated 28%, while the mean net worth of households in the lower 93% dropped by 4%, according to a Pew Research Center analysis of newly released Census Bureau data.” [PewResearch]

Graph it out and it looks like this:

** Watch H.R. 1549 carefully. It would “Give sick people without insurance temporary access to crappy private plans at exorbitant rates as part of a strategy aimed at pulling the rug out from under them entirely at the end of the year, all the while mewling about one’s concern for sick people.” [WashMon]  When astro-turf organizations like Freedom Works and AMAC line up for something it’s time to head the other direction.  The best description for this legislation is “ruse and trap.”

** Republicans Behaving Badly.  Let’s start with the Tennessee legislator who thinks pressure cooker bombs are humorous.  Followed, of course, by his non-apology-apology.  His rationale is that advocates of sensible gun safety legislation should have stayed quiet after Newtown…  Then there’s the Conservative group that photo-shopped ethnic minority people from its mailer about voting restrictions.  And who could have missed GOP behemoth, Rush Limbaugh, comparing the Boston bombers to Trayvon Martin?  That Arkansas legislator who called for using “2nd Amendment” solutions to Medicaid expansion, “Most likely won’t kill lawmakers who support Medicaid expansion.”  Most likely? How nice.

** Lady’s Days:  Ann Coulter, scourge of all operative grey cells residing in every cerebral cortex, calls for women to to prosecuted for wearing the hijab.  So, do we tell nuns to refrain from wearing their habits?  A Washington state pastor tells women to submit to their husbands and not nag “like Chinese water torture.”  The adherents of the Church of Perpetual Intolerance (aka the Family Research Council) are trying to convince us that “many” experts believe Plan B contraceptives should not be available over the counter — there are a few critics, and those critiques tend to be based on religiosity not science.  Rebuffed last year, Ohio Republicans are taking another swipe at funding for Planned Parenthood women’s health care services in that state.

What’s Reinhart-Rogoff and why would Nevadans care?

Last January the Las Vegas Sun published an article reporting that economic development was costing Nevada about $30,000 per job created.  As noted in the publication, we need to be cautious tossing numbers about concerning “per-anything,” because the denominators in any arithmetical calculation are subject to interpretation.  However, Nevada has demurred on tax collections (revenue) and this does mean there are costs for economic development.  We may be incentivizing as fast as we can but the economic growth in the state is lagging as a result of “lackluster growth in construction and hospitality.” [Pew]  When the Governor proclaims we need to emphasize economic growth there are several ways to interpret this statement.  Let’s return to the Governor’s comment: “We cannot cut our way out, we cannot tax our way out, we can only grow our way out,” because it relates directly to some of the larger economic issues under debate.

As noted in a previous post, the statement is problematic because it disconnects three essential parts of the same question: How do we provide an acceptable level of public services with the current tax revenues?  Part A of the answer is that there are some expenditures which might be reduced.  Part B is that there are serious flaws in our significantly regressive system of taxation in this state with its emphasis on sales taxes while other sources of revenue remain low to barely consequential.  Part C  assumes that economic growth is predicated on a given set of ideological standards.  For some economic growth is a function of reduced regulation and “pro-business” policies, among which are debt reduction, low or no taxation, and tax breaks for businesses such as those which have benefited from our economic development efforts.

In light of the controversy over the Reinhart-Rogoff Study we need to take some time considering the austerity focus which was supposed to create a national business climate conducive to economic recovery.

One of the most oft-cited pieces of evidence used by those lawmakers and public figures enamored with austerity is that too much debt will eventually squash a country’s growth. The academic basis for that claim is a study done by economists Kenneth Rogoff and Carmen Reinhart that claims economic growth starts to slow when a country’s public debt-to-GDP ratio hits 90 percent. [USNWR]

The inferences drawn by various and sundry politicians at the national level from the Reinhart and Rogoff study tended toward the austerity camp (We Can Cut Our Way To Prosperity) and the latest incarnation of the House GOP budget proposal exemplified this thinking.  We should be paying attention to this for the following reasons:

#1. Austerity economics assumes that economic growth, as measured by the GDP, will be enhanced if the government cuts spending at the federal level.  The problem with this assumption is that government spending IS part of the formula by which we measure economic growth.  [Formula]

#2. Cuts at the federal level have implications for state economies, even if the states are required to have balanced budgets except for capital expenditures.   If we determine we cannot afford assistance for infrastructure investment, new technologies, or other innovations to diversify a state economy, then public investment in economic activities related to these efforts is reduced and consequently so is the state’s capacity for augmented economic growth.

#3. The point should be emphasized that there is considerable evidence that a weakened economy means more public indebtedness, reversing the austerian argument. [TP]  In a related vein, there’s also evidence indicating that our national debt isn’t seriously impeding our economic growth: [Forbes] [LAT] “…while there’s no way to know whether the economy would be expanding faster if the debt burden were lower, the traditional way that government debt hurts growth is by raising the cost of money as public sector borrowing “crowds out” private borrowers. That isn’t happening.”  [Bloomberg]

The Reinhart-Rogoff study, so piously intoned by conservative Republicans, was supposed to substantiate the austerity focus by providing statistically reliable and valid evidence that debt restrains economic growth.  Nevada Representative Mark Amodei (R-NV2) announced during his last campaign he’d never vote to raise Obama’s debt ceiling. [RJ] Nevada Senator Dean Heller (R-NV) sententiously announces, “Congress must immediately start to solve Washington’s out-of-control spending that has led to unprecedented debt and deficits. “  The facts that our spending is not out of control, nor is our debt level unprecedented seem to be lost on Nevada’s junior Senator.  In short, the GOP emphasis on debts and spending is only viable IF we assume the Reinhart-Rogoff study describes economic reality — but it doesn’t.

First, the R&R study was in trouble long before anyone tried to replicate it.  The study attempted to compare some very disparate economies using a few leverage ratios. [BusinessInsider] Goldman Sachs economist Jim O’Neill pointed out:

“… it would seem reasonably obvious that grouping countries together in terms of their debt levels and concluding that the economic consequences are the same is quite a tricky path to tread. Even to apply such arguments about balance of payments current accounts, which to some degree are more of an accounting identifying and therefore less subjective, is tricky, but countries with high debt levels usually share very little else with each other.”

Secondly, there’s that sticky part of science in which the results and conclusions drawn from objective data should be capable of replication.  The Reinhart-Rogoff study didn’t meet this criteria.

“The underlying problem is not that their method is necessarily wrong, but that it is particularly sensitive to outliers. This contributed to the “perfect storm” of errors whose combined effect caused the large decline in average GDP. If the only problem was the weighting, this would not have been sufficient to cause a drastic decline in average GDP growth.  However, it was the combination of the weighting system with the exclusion – for whatever reason – that combined to cause the most significant fall in average GDP growth. There is nothing inherently wrong with their weighting system. However it is unusual and it is their obligation to be open and clear in explaining why they used this unusual methodology.

O’Neill was proven correct — the central assumption, that a study which lumped all manner of countries together and then concluded that their economies would all behave in the same ways despite significant differences was tenuous to the breaking point.  The problems weren’t just spread sheet anomalies and errors — the assumptions underpinning the study could not withstand scrutiny.

When the “scientific” validity of a phenomena is questionable at best, then the great debt debate devolves into emotional arguments.  Thus we are treated to such misinformation as “The federal budget should balance the way a family budget balances.”  No, most family budgets are not balanced in terms of revenues and debt.   The currently reported 4Q2012 Debt Service Ratio for American families stands at 10.38.  [FedRes] For American homeowners  it was 13.60 as of the 4th quarter of 2012. [FedRes]  The only Americans whose budgets balance by the GOP definition are those with no mortgages, car loans, student loans, or credit cards.  Not exactly our average American family.

Another “monster” pulled out from under the bed is the Foreign Owned Debt — or The Chinese are Coming.  Not to put too fine a point to it but the United States doesn’t have creditors — it has investors.  Foreign finance buys U.S. Treasuries expecting to receive interest payments on solid investments, just as we expect the government to pay interest on the EE series Savings Bonds we give to kids on their birthdays or other special occasions.

With no “scientific” study to support the austerity campaigners, and no common sense rationale to substantiate their arguments, it’s little wonder the whole austerity binge is standing on rapidly liquifying silt:

In a speech Monday, European Commission President José Manuel Barroso said the policy of austerity pursued by the EU in recent years no longer has the political and social support needed to work.

The International Monetary Fund last week said the bloc should ease back on austerity, while a number of governments outside the EU have made the same call, arguing its belt-tightening is holding back the global economic recovery and is self-defeating.  [WallStJ]

When you’ve lost the head of the European Commission, and the IMF, there aren’t too many advocates left besides the radical conservatives like Blackstone billionaire Pete Peterson [C&L] and his Republican allies.

Meanwhile, Nevada spends about $30,000 for each job created in an effort to offset the grinding slowness of an economic recovery freighted with a self defeating economic theory which places the interests of the bankers over their customers, clients, and countrymen.

Problems with your credit report? Heller isn’t helping.

On February 10, 2013 CBS broadcast a “60 Minutes” report concerning the 40,000,000 mistakes made by credit rating agencies.  Worse still, not only are mistakes being made which have profoundly negative effects on individual credit reports but the errors are exceedingly difficult to correct.  If this situation weren’t sufficiently dismal, we have 43 members of the United States Senate — including Senator Dean Heller (R-NV) — who aren’t helping.

Members of the Republican caucus sent a letter to President Obama on February 1, 2013 expressing their “concern” for the operations of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, and their intent to block the nomination of director Cordray until the bureau — which is to exercise oversight of CONSUMER CREDIT REPORTING AGENCIES — until said agency is “reformed” to their satisfaction.  The second name on the sign up sheet?  Senator Dean Heller, Republican, Nevada.

Here’s the core of their discontent:

“As presently organized, the CFPB is insulated from congressional oversight of its actions and its budget.  Far too much power is vested in the sole CFPB director without any meaningful checks and balances.
We again urge the adoptions of the following reforms:
1. Establish a bipartisan board of directors to oversee the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
2. Subject the Bureau to the annual appropriation process, similar to other federal regulators.
3. Establish a safety-and-soundness check for the prudential regulators.”

This is essentially a repetition of their complaints in 2011 after the passage of the Dodd Frank Act and the nomination of Mr. Cordray to head the CFPB, and the Banker’s Boys are disturbed about provisions of the financial reform act which placed banks under adult supervision.  That “bipartisan board,” for example, is code for replacing the director with a five member committee, to be confirmed by the Senate.

There is nothing so effective in creating gridlock as to have a watchdog agency governed by committee.  Especially a committee subject to all the political pressure the Senate can create.   What of the second “hostage demand?”

The Republican Senators would “subject the agency to the annual appropriation process.”  There is no way to hamstring an oversight agency so quickly as chopping its budget to shreds under the flapping banner of “savings.”

“Despite claims about its unlimited power, the CFPB is the only banking regulator whose budget will be capped (for now, at 12 percent of the total Fed budget) and whose rules can be overturned (by a two-thirds vote from the Financial Stability Oversight Council, a new group of top federal economic policy-makers)”  [Nation] (emphasis added)

Thus much for the “rogue” agency, unencumbered by accountability argument.  The problem, as perceived by the Republican Senators, Senator Heller included, is that the agency isn’t sufficiently controlled by the American Bankers Association, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, and the other banking interests which have bankrolled the opposition to financial reform and regulation.

When we tread toward the Safety and Soundness hostage demand we’re approaching some semantic territory in which the intent is couched in bureaucratic jargon.  The essential issue is captured in the following analysis:

“The tug-of-war between “safety and soundness” and “consumer protection” is at the heart of this debate. Consumer advocates want a powerful single-body regulator and enforcer that is distinct from safety and soundness regulators. The conservative response is that it’s a very bad idea to have one consumer organization slashing profitable practices — or promoting risk taking — divorced from any safety and soundness responsibility.”

First, it’s assumed that bank regulators of yore were primarily concerned with the “safety and soundness” of the banks under their purview; and, that “safety and soundness” means PROFITABILITY.  So, what the Republicans, Senator Heller prominently included, do not want the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to issue any regulation likely to impact on the PROFITABILITY of the banking institutions.

Thus, while 40 million Americans are grappling with credit reporting agency errors, the Banker’s Boys in the U.S. Senate want (1) a consumer protection agency saddled with management by committee; (2) a committee subject to the political pressure of the Bankers and the Senators who are bankrolled by them; and (3) unable to issue any regulation that might have any negative impact on the profitability of the banks.

Rarely will we see such a blatant display of pure special interest pleading by any group of special interest pleaders.  It doesn’t seem to matter to the Banker’s Boys if there are taxpayers expected to bail out the bankers when their traders’ excesses create systemic problems.  It doesn’t seem to disturb the Banker’s Boys if there are homeowners subjected to exotic mortgage products — as long as the “safety and soundness” (profitability) of the mortgage bankers is assured.  And, it doesn’t appear to trouble the Banker’s Boys if there are American consumers whose own financial “safety and soundness” are at the mercy of banks, mortgage bankers, and credit rating agencies unable, or unwilling, to put their own profitability at any risk in order to create a more positive financial environment for the rest of us.

Bits and Pieces: Monday Musings

Yes, Nevada is paying attention to election laws; and, the Assembly Committee on Legislative Operations and Elections will hold a hearing on AB 48 this Thursday — Valentine’s Day.   The “title:”

AN ACT relating to elections; providing that a person who is not a qualified elector and who votes or attempts to vote knowing that fact, or a person who votes or attempts to vote using the name of another person, is guilty of a category B felony; revising certain nomination procedures; requiring county clerks to certify certain lists of candidates and nominees to the Secretary of State; extending the period in which a person may register to vote by computer; making various other changes relating to the administration and conduct of an election; expanding the definition of “campaign expenses”; amending reporting requirements relating to special elections; requiring persons and entities which make expenditures against candidates to report contributions and expenditures; requiring nonprofit corporations to report certain contributions and campaign expenditures; eliminating a requirement that the Secretary of State obtain certain advice and consent of the Legislative Commission; making various other changes relating to campaign finance; providing penalties;….

The hearing will begin at 4:00 pm in Carson City, video-conferenced to room 4401 of the Grant Sawyer State Office Bldg. Las Vegas.   Keep up with other Legislative doings compliments of the Nevada Rural Democratic Caucus.

Secretary of State Ross Miller will discuss proposals for voter identification at Reno’s Great Basin Brewery, (details here) sponsored by the DWWC.

There’s some informative and insightful reading available in the Silver State blogosphere — there’s Flashpoint, from the Nevada Progressive.   There’s a “Don’t Miss” graph on domestic violence available from The Sin City Siren.   But, wait!  Heritage Action would warn us of the nefarious content of the Violence Against Women Act:

“Under VAWA, men effectively lose their constitutional rights to due process, presumption of innocence, equal treatment under the law, the right to a fair trial and to confront one’s accusers, the right to bear arms, and all custody/visitation rights,” the group wrote. “It is unprecedented, unnecessary and dangerous.” [TPM]

Then there’s  “El Nuevo GOP” from Hugh Jackson in which the pivots, positions, and parsing of one Senator Dean Heller (Nuevo R-NV) are on full display.  What? Senator Heller, run as an arch conservative and then periodically vote as a ‘moderate,’ before reverting to right wing rhetoric — we’re shocked! Shocked I Say.

What’s the first clue?  Here’s advice from the heart (and head) about how to spot a clueless financial reporter –> LINK.  There are many of these unfortunate creatures populating the pages of what’s been passing for economic and business news these days.   Forewarned is forearmed.

Chart for the Day:

Off the Charts explains more fully.  There’s an important point buried, and often obfuscated, in the screeching about the horrible terrible no good debt — debt reduction is good, but what we need to do is to stabilize our level of national indebtedness.    How to spot someone who doesn’t understand the characteristics of national indebtedness, or that national indebtedness is NOT analogous to household debt?  Listen for people “explaining” we should “pay off our national debt.”   Nope, at least not unless we want to stiff people and institutions who have invested in our Treasuries as part of their investment portfolios.  Never a really good idea.

Bits and Pieces

From the Sinecure Foundation for the Advancement of Easy Jobs:  “The Republican leader (John Boehner) said during a speech at the Ripon Society Tuesday that after listening to the president’s inaugural address, there was no doubt in his mind that in order to get his full agenda accomplished before he leaves office, Obama will be trying to “annihilate the Republican Party.” [Media-ite]   This from the party of Self-Deportation, Gerrymandered Congressional Districts, Electoral College Manipulation, Carry Your Rapist’s Child to Term, Cut Medicare, Privatize Social Security, Start a Lovely War with Iran, Only Sluts Take Contraceptives, Hillary Clinton Cries on Cue, Guns Have More Rights Than People, Corporations Are People My Friend, Only Black People Are On Welfare, and We Have To Cut Social Security Benefits to Protect The Income of Uber Wealthy Americans…. to which one might say, “Please Proceed.”

From The Myopic Vision Division of the Stunt and Special Effects Department:  Nevada Senator Dean Heller evidently can’t discern the difference between an unconstitutional publicity stunt and the stuff of which budget and policy are made.  See more at Nevada Progressive.

From the Real World With Numbers In It:  The U.S. Department of Labor reports that unemployment insurance initial claims are the lowest they’ve been for the last five years.   The Bureau of Justice Statistics reports: “An offender was armed with a gun, knife, or other object used as a weapon in an estimated 22% of all incidents of violent crime.” And, “Firearms (28%) were the most common weapons used in robberies.” Contrary to the amount of press and media coverage given, violent crime doesn’t lead the statistics.  The most common crime in the U.S. is good old fashioned theft.  Of the 20,057,180 crimes reported in the country as of 2009 — 11,709,830 were thefts, (pdf) which dropped by 6% from the previous reporting period in 2008.  Violent crimes were down 11.2%, assaults were down by 10.8%.  So, if crime rates are trending down, and only 22% of crimes involved an offender armed with “something,” then explain to me why my House Must Be A Fortress?

From the Department of the Do-Able: “The deal will address the filibuster on the motion to proceed by changing the amount of debate time that would follow a cloture vote from 30 hours to four, speeding up Senate business and allowing more legislation to reach the floor. But the deal still requires Democrats to muscle 60 votes to invoke cloture on that motion, despite Reid’s earlier suggestion that he would bar a filibuster on that motion entirely. [full story Huffington Post]  OK, I’m not thrilled with this, but it’s do-able, and cutting the time from 30 hours to 4 hours after a motion to proceed, does make it possible for things to….proceed.  And there is this:

“First, senators who wish to object or threaten a filibuster must actually come to the floor to do so. And second, the two leaders will make sure that debate time post-cloture is actually used in debate. If senators seeking to slow down business simply put in quorum calls to delay action, the Senate will go live, force votes to produce a quorum, and otherwise work to make sure senators actually show up and debate.”  (emphasis added)

Voices in their heads, money in their pockets?

“I come at this not as an elected official but as a parent,” he said. “My view is that we need to move from a culture of violence to a culture of safety.”  [Stephen Horsford, Representative Elect, (D-NV4) LVSun] Mr. Horsford supports an assault weapons ban.  Good for him.

Some other Nevada Representatives appear to be on “radio silence.”  Representative Mark Amodei (R-NV2), he of the “NV2 Channel on You Tube” has posted nothing on the subject of banning assault rifles.  Representative Joe Heck (R-NV3) has nothing new on his copious video collection either.   Republican Representatives seem to be more comfortable with those Telephone Town Halls, wherein the questioners are faceless friends who ask questions to which the recipient may drone on at length for the  session.  This guarantees the constituents will (1) probably not get a question answered during the session but will received a written response later, and (2) never have to face up to organized criticism of their policy positions.

We do have Representative  Amodei’s acceptance statement when the NRA endorsed him:

“Mark Amodei is a steadfast supporter of freedom. He earned the NRA-PVF endorsement because of his demonstrated support for our rights, including improvements to Nevada’s right-to-carry law; preventing gun confiscations during states of emergency; and protecting firearm manufacturers and dealers from bogus lawsuits,” said Chris W. Cox, chairman of NRA-PVF. “His proven commitment to our Second Amendment rights and hunting heritage make Amodei the best choice for Nevada gun owners in this special election in Nevada’s 2nd congressional district.”

So we can be reasonably assured that Representative Amodei will not be voting to repeal the shield law for gun manufacturers which was enacted in October 2005, “aimed at ending a spate of lawsuits by individuals and municipalities, including New York City, seeking to hold gun manufacturers and dealers liable for negligence when their weapons are used in crimes.” [NYT]

Among the 283 members of Congress voting in favor of S. 397, the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act, were Representative James Gibbons (R-NV2), and Representative Jon Porter (R-NV3).   The law they voted for contained an exception, but one with an interesting twist.

“While it bars such suits, the measure contains an exception allowing certain cases involving defective weapons or criminal behavior by a gun maker or dealer, such as knowingly selling a weapon to someone who has failed a criminal background check.” [NYT]  “Knowingly” is a high legal standard.  Further, there’s a Catch 22 involved.  If we have a significant Gun Show loophole, and about 40% of all gun sales are conducted without a background check, then no gun manufacturer can be held liable for any use of a firearm resulting in death or injury where no background check was conducted.

The NRA contributed $4,000 to Representative Amodei’s campaign in 2012.

Congressman Joe Heck (R-NV3) touts his 92% rating from the National Rifle Association, and his 83% rating from the Gun Owners of America.  It’s difficult to imagine his support for an expansion of gun registration, a ban on assault rifles, and comprehensive background checks for prospective gun buyers.

Heck’s rating from the Gun Owners of America indicates an appreciation for the GOA’s position:

“Larry Pratt. According to Pratt, the best way to protect people from mass shootings is to make sure more guns are allowed in more places. “Gun-free zones are like magnets for the monsters in our society,” Pratt told Mike Huckabee during a radio interview Monday. More guns, he argued, equal more safety.”  [HuffPo]

And then there was this response from the GOA  to the Newtown tragedy, issued on December 19, 2012:

“While the nation witnessed a real tragedy last week, the media continues to ignore the far greater number of kids who die by other means—like in cars or pools. Sadly, I know about this personally, as one of my children drowned a few years ago.

But just as I’m not going on a nation-wide campaign to ban access to pools, neither should Congress deny access to the very instruments that help good people stop violent thugs from killing children.”

In other words, the answer to gun violence is to put more guns on the streets, in the malls, on the highways, on the airplanes?  This, from an organization which posted this conspiracy theory on its website:

“A top communist defector is warning of an unprecedented “alliance” between the Democratic Party and the Communist Party, reflected in the CPUSA’s endorsement of Barack Obama for president in 2008 and the party’s continued support for Democratic Party policies. But is this warning going to be too hot to handle for the media? And the Republicans?

Lt. Gen. Ion Mihai Pacepa, the highest-ranking official ever to have defected from the former Soviet bloc, says in an article for PJMedia that any doubt that the Democratic and the Communist parties had secretly joined forces was erased in 2009, “when Van Jones, part of a left fringe of declared communists, became the White House’s green jobs czar.”

Obama aide Valerie Jarrett had disclosed at a left-wing bloggers convention that “we,” apparently referring to herself and President Obama, had hired Jones for the job. However, Jones was fired when an outcry developed over his communist background, and the media quickly dropped any probes into Jones’ White House contacts.”

OK, it doesn’t get much Looney Tunes wackier than this, but this organization did give Representative Heck an 83% rating.   Rep. Heck also accepted $2,500 from the National Rifle Association.

The grand prize winner for NRA contributions in Nevada is Senator Dean Heller, who accepted $6,950 from the organization, making him the 10th highest recipient of the NRA’s largess.  He also accepted $2,500 from the National Shooting Sports Foundation, and $7,000 from the “canned hunt” crowd at the Safari Club.  Senator Heller thus accepted a total of $16,450 from gun related organizations.

The National Shooting Sports Foundation website is still playing possum on the issues related to the massacre at Newtown, on behalf of the Firearms Industry Trade Association:

“We listened with careful attention to President Obama’s statement from the White House today. Being one of the “stakeholders” he discussed, we would welcome the opportunity at the appropriate time to become part of a full national conversation with all policy makers that has as its goal the improved protection of our children and our communities from future violence.”

In other words, “we listened,” now “we’re going to be very quiet until the waves of grief subside, and then we’ll lobby with a vengeance to make sure no meaningful legislation is enacted which might curtail any of our sales?”

Safety First?

Yes, I’d like to discuss ultra-violent video games — but those games are available on every continent.  Why is it our children must be protected from violent video games but not from individuals who purchase assault rifles without undergoing a thorough background check?

Yes, I do believe the broadcast media all too often glamorizes violence. However, these broadcasts are also nothing new on this planet, or exclusive to our society.  Why is it that only our children seem to be at risk?

Yes, I do think we definitely need to take better care of our citizens who suffer from mental illnesses.  Lord knows we need to apply more resources to research, diagnosis, and treatment of mental health problems.  However, this isn’t exclusive to this country either.   So what makes our schools such as Columbine, Platt County High School, Virginia Tech University, and Sandy Hook the object of attack?  And, no, it’s not the “magnetization of gun free zone.”

It is simply the easy access to guns which are too powerful to be used by anyone other than military personnel or law enforcement officers.  We have 5% of the world’s population and 50% of the world’s guns. That’s a recipe for more, not less, disasters.

A reasonable approach would be to ban assault weapons, require comprehensive background checks for all gun sales, and encourage more scientific research on the subject of gun violence by the Centers for Disease Control.  In short, I am a gun owner BUT the NRA doesn’t speak for me. Nor do Representatives Heck, Amodei, and Senator Heller on this subject.

Legislation to Save Lives

When might it be an appropriate time to discuss these proposals rationally?  When the financial sector collapsed in an avalanche of mismanagement we didn’t worry about “politicizing” the issues. We enacted new laws to protect our money.  Might we not take equal action to protect our children?

In the wake of 9/11 we didn’t “politicize” the issues; we enacted a Terrorist Watch List.  We reorganized the government to create the Department of Homeland Security.  We instituted increased security at airports. Why can’t we reorganize our government priorities to protect kids?

After the collapse of the I-35 bridge in Minneapolis  we beefed up our  bridge safety protocols demanding better inspection, evaluation, and maintenance of gusset plates on truss bridges.  Why should we take substantive action which our kids aren’t traveling over bridges…but sitting in their classrooms?

NOW is the time to discuss school safety, but we’ll have a much more productive conversation if the voices we hear aren’t the voices in the heads of delusional radicals who have decided that in the event of some fictitious government takeover they are going to reenact the fantasies of their favorite cartoon action figures.

If our politicians are listening to these voices — we have an even larger problems.

We’re Number One! Female Murder Victims in Nevada

One of the bills stalled in the Do Absolutely Nothing 112th Congress of the United States of America is the Violence Against Women Act.  The Senate version extends the protections of the Act to LGBT citizens, Native Americans, and immigrants.  The GOP leadership of the  House of Representatives objects to the extensions.  [CD]  The objections are spurious.  However, that doesn’t prevent the bill from being stalled, and the Next Great Big Debt Crisis — which evidently wasn’t a problem for the Bush Administration “Deficits Don’t Matter” crowd — is chewing up the air time on the cable news networks.  Meanwhile, we have a real economic problem on our hands — domestic violence.

Intimate partner violence is expensive.  We’ve known this since the 2003 Center for Disease Control report. (pdf)

“The costs of intimate partner rape, physical assault, and stalking exceed $5.8 billion each year, nearly $4.1 billion of which is for direct medical and mental health care services. The total costs of IPV also include nearly $0.9 billion in lost productivity from paid work and household chores for victims of nonfatal IPV and $0.9  billion in lifetime earnings lost by victims of IPV homicide. The largest proportion of the costs is derived from physical assault victimization because that type of IPV is the most prevalent. The largest component of IPV-related costs is health care, which accounts for more than two-thirds of the total costs.”

So, as of 2003 the price tag for domestic violence was $5.8 billion annually, and the price tag for the health care component was $4.1 billion.  Want to help bring down health care costs in this country, then reduce the instances of domestic violence!

For those who persist in speaking of the issue as a police matter, or a “woman’s issue,” consider the following information from that 2003 CDC study:

As of nine years ago we were pitching the equivalent of 32,114 full time jobs in the dust bin because women lost valuable work days due to incidents of domestic violence.

The Corporate Alliance to End Partner Violence updated the numbers and reported that as of 2005, “The annual cost of lost productivity due to domestic violence is estimated as $727.8 million with over 7.9 million paid workdays lost per year.”   That, of course, is $727.8 million that doesn’t add anything to the national economy every year.

If we could delve only in the realm of national, and therefore generalized, statistics Nevadans might be more comfortable.  However, the Silver State has a problem according to Attorney General Catherine Cortez Masto:

“Victims of domestic violence comprise the largest crime victim category in Nevada. Although domestic violence is significantly underreported and statistics are incomplete, the Nevada Department of Public Safety Uniform Crime Report for 2009 reported 29,091 female victims and 12,060 children present at incidents of domestic violence. The Nevada Network Against Domestic Violence reports that 42,877 first-time victims received services from domestic violence programs in fiscal year 2010-11.” [LVSun]

The numbers sting more when they’re describing what is going on in this state alone.   The sting is even greater when reading headlines like this one: “Nevada Ranks #1 in Rate of Women Murdered by Men for Third Year in a Row According to VPC Study Released Annually for Domestic Violence Awareness Month in October.”   That’s right… We’re Number One… in the rate of women murdered by men for the THIRD YEAR IN A ROW.  But wait, the news actually gets worse.

“The state has held the top position for five of the last six years. The annual VPC report details national and state-by-state information on female homicides involving one female murder victim and one male offender. The study uses the most recent data available from the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s unpublished Supplementary Homicide Report and is released each year to coincide with Domestic Violence Awareness Month in October.

Ranked behind Nevada (2.62) were: South Carolina at 2 with a rate of 1.94 per 100,000; Tennessee at 3 with a rate of 1.91 per 100,000; Louisiana at 4 with a rate of 1.86 per 100,000; Virginia at 5 with a rate of 1.77 per 100,000; Texas at 6 with a rate of 1.75 per 100,000; New Mexico at 7 with a rate of 1.63 per 100,000; Hawaii at 8 (tie) with a rate of 1.62 per 100,000; Arizona at 8 (tie) with a rate of 1.62 per 100,000; and, Georgia at 10 with a rate of 1.61 per 100,000. Nationally, the rate of women killed by men in single victim/single offender instances was 1.22 per 100,000.” [VPC] (emphasis added)

We can extrapolate that the national trends might apply to the Nevada cases.  For example, 94% of the victims knew their attackers.  Of the victims who knew their attackers, 65% were murdered by husbands or intimate partners.  70% of the murders were accomplished with a firearm, followed by the use of knives or cutting instruments (20%), bodily force (12%), and the ubiquitous “blunt object” was the implement of choice in about 7% of the homicides.  (full study, pdf link)

For once, Senator Dean Heller (R-NV) didn’t sign on to the misogynistic agenda of some of his GOP colleagues, and he joined the Democratic majority in the Senate voting in favor of the renewed VAWA. [LVSun] Senator Harry Reid (D-NV) voted with the 67 other Senators who favored the renewal of the act.   Sometimes being Number One isn’t the place to be.

Congressman Joe Heck was eager to trumpet his vote for the VAWA, however it was the watered down House version (H.R. 4970), with no protection for immigrant women, LGBT citizens, and Native American women.  [NVProg]  Congressman Mark Amodei (R-NV2) tapped danced around the issue of tribal jurisdiction over rapes and assaults perpetrated on tribal lands, and supported the House version of the bill.  What might their positions be on the ‘real’ VAWA bill, S. 1925?

They, and their cohorts in the U.S. House of Representatives will have to work quickly to deal with the back-load of bills piling up, especially given that they are only scheduled to be in session for 126 days next year.

One of those precious days should really be devoted to the loss of the equivalent of 32,000 full time jobs, the loss of at least $727.8 million to the economy every year, and to the $5.8 billion in health care costs attributable to domestic violence.   Perhaps then Nevada could lose the dubious honor of being “Number One?”

Nevada Political Notes

Nevada Political News:  “Organizations step up final push to get Hispanics to the polls,” Las Vegas Sun.  Plans are still on for President Obama to speak in North Las Vegas (info here) if recovery activities after Sandy permit. The race for the middle in Nevada Senate District 5; Kirk may call himself a pragmatist — if so, then why the attack on collective bargaining, which brings to mind the antics of the GOP in Wisconsin and Ohio?  Woodhouse (D) is the actual moderate in this race.

It should be remembered in Nevada District 4 that the Republican in the race has touched the third rail of Nevada politics — advocating that the Silver State become the nation’s nuclear trash dump.

Governor Sandoval may be talking nationally, but his money’s on legislative races. [RGJ] *Note that one of Sandoval’s favorites is ALEC supporter Greg Brower (R-Reno).   Senator (by appointment only) Dean Heller has received the endorsement of noted advocate of scrambling up church and state, and of pushing the  USCOCB’s version of women’s health — Rick Santorum.

Nationally, 538 shows President Obama up by 3.2% in statewide polling.  The same source reports Senator Dean Heller leading Democratic challenger Shelley Berkley by 3.6 to 4.4 depending on the measurement used.

The astroturf follies are alive and well in Nevada, and it’s not just down south.  Northern Nevada voters have been getting pro-Heller fliers in the mail from Safari International, the gun lobby, the Idaho Republican Central Committee, and Karl Rove’s Crossroads Super PAC, along with robo-calls from “Jack” and “Sandy” to get out the vote for the Republicans.  Since the fliers and calls are broadcast generally a person could wonder what happened to that carefully targeted GOP “Voter Vault” advertizing effort of recent memory — but why bother when there’s plenty of PAC money flooding the process?

Line of the Week: “Reid repeatedly said he has “nothing personal” against Romney, but nonetheless delivered a harsh political attack. “He’s multiple choice on everything,” Reid said. “He doesn’t stand for anything. He’s the plastic man of American politics.”   Yes, the “Plastic Man” of American Politics.  Yes, “plastic” in the sense of be capable of being molded or modeled, and “plastic” in the sense of being synthetic or processed materials that are mostly thermoplastic or thermosetting polymers of high molecular weight. AKA artificial.

The Sin City Siren is decked out for Halloween, complete with Creature Features which describe the Jekyll and Hyde (plastic) capacities of one Willard Mitt Romney.

Read the labels!  About all a person needs to know about the trade and economic policies of the Romney and the Obama campaigns is illustrated by Vegas Jessie who helpfully posts pictures of the labels on campaign gear. Guess whose is made in China?  Blue Lyon posts the GOP “Rape Advisory Chart,” along with some very compelling reasons why this election matters.

There’s another good graphic from On My Blotter concerning why a middle class tax cut is a sound economic idea.

The Must Read Roundup

** Housing Bubble Splatter/Slime still oozing:  Bad news, foreclosure numbers are inching back up in Las Vegas, NV; good news home prices have started to climb up a bit. [Las Vegas Sun] Realytrac has more numbers. What is even more interesting is that now Elko and Churchill Counties have been included in the high range of home foreclosures.  There may be some hope on the horizon, the Washington Post notices some positive signs in the housing market.   Meanwhile, the government settled with Wells Fargo over discriminatory practices in the mortgage market to the tune of $175 million. [DoJ]

** Why should voters praise Romney’s business experience if he doesn’t know where his money is? Or does he?  The Romney campaign says the former Massachusetts governor cannot be accountable for actions taken by Bain Capital after Mr. Romney’s departure from the company — even though he founded the company and directed its course as a pioneer in business consulting in mergers and acquisitions.   This Boston Globe article opens with “Government documents filed by Mitt Romney and Bain Capital say Romney remained chief executive and chairman of the firm three years beyond the date he said he ceded control, even creating five new investment partnerships during that time.”   The Romney camp responded that the former Governor was not “active” in Bain management after Feb. 1999, or might we say: “I did not have management with that firm?“

For a closer examination of Mr. Romney’s financial reports, limited as they are, see Crooks & Liars on the Romney off shore accounts. There’s more information at The Nation’s “Romney’s Donors Share His Love Of Offshore Tax Havens.”   The question really is obvious: Why go to all the bother of moving money off-shore if the purpose ISN’T to avoid paying taxes?

Governor Romney’s been “tough on China” of late, however once there was a manager of Bain Capital who ” invested heavily in a Chinese manufacturing company that depended on US outsourcing for its profits—and that explicitly stated that such outsourcing was crucial to its success.” [MotherJones]

** LIBOR rigging and the financial sector that spawned it continue to make news.   If you were wondering why this should be of any interest to you, there is an excellent infographic from Deal Book.  Still wondering? Note 45% of prime mortgages and 80% of subprime mortgages are based on the LIBOR (London Interbank Offer Rate) and about 50% of student loans are tied to LIBOR.  Business Insider has a more colorful version, also a good place to start, and it illustrates how the LIBOR affects some $800 Trillion in securities and investments.

Now that you have the basics, you might want to see where the scandal is headed.  JPMorgan has already been implicated.  Now there are questions about the role of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. [Telegraph] Massachusetts is beginning an investigation to see if any of its public agencies were affected by the LIBOR manipulations.  [BostonGlobe] The situation could get uglier as some cities file lawsuits stating that manipulated borrowing costs damaged their loans and investments. [HuffPo]  The article explains why the “just shrug it off there’s nothing to see here” protestations from Wall Street may not be accurate:

If the banks were responsible for moving the three-month Libor rate by just 1/100th of a percentage point on that entire universe of $800 trillion in notional derivatives contracts, then that would be worth $20 billion, according to Tchir’s calculations.

“Banks are probably not going to be on the hook for derivatives worth anything close to that $800 trillion. But if banks manipulated rates by more than that 1/100th of a point, or for more than 90 days — the term of three-month Libor — on even smaller notional derivative amounts, then the numbers can still get big in a hurry. And that doesn’t even include punitive damages. And it doesn’t include the estimated $10 trillion in mortgages and other loans tied to Libor, including $275 billion worth of U.S. mortgages, according to an estimate from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency referenced in the FT.”

There are Big Bucks involved in this game, and entities from school districts to homeowners have skin in it.  The Economist warns the scandal is about to go global in a must read piece, “The Rotten Heart of Finance.”

** Once upon a time a U.S. president called for higher taxes on the wealthiest Americans and the Republicans cried out, “Class Warfare, and Job Killer.”  It was 1993 and Bill Clinton’s administration launched the longest economic expansion in recent history and created 23 million jobs. More at Perrspectives.   Sound familiar?

** Oh those tax and spend Democrats! Oh,…wait.  There’s this:

“Yesterday, a new Congressional Budget Office report said that in 2009, taxes were at their lowest rate in 30 years and that does not include the other tax cuts this President enacted since 2009. In fact, President Obama’s historically low taxes were less than Bush I, Clinton, Bush II, and Reagan administrations, but Republicans will never admit that inconvenient truth, but there’s more.” at [Politicususa]

So, now do the Congressional Republicans want to hold tax cuts for 98% of the American public hostage in order to secure extended tax cuts for 2%?

Taxed Enough Already?  In the REAL world federal taxation rates are the lowest they’ve been since 1979:

Sometimes it’s hard to get Republicans to move from closely held Ancient Truths, but in the case of taxation there’s really no argument anymore about the average rate of federal taxes.  However, e-mailing the little graphic to fuzzy math Uncle Fester could produce some interesting sounds?  He probably won’t want to read the full article at the Washington Post, because it’s “from one of ‘em librul media buyass places.”

** Body parts.  NV Progressive neatly eviscerates Senator By Appointment Only™  Dean Heller’s attempt to attack Rep. Shelley Berkley on vague “ethics” allegations. ™Gleaner.  Could it be that Senator Heller forgot he worked with Representative Berkley to save the UMC’s kidney transplant center?

While we’re on the subject of news — there’s this piece from Media Matters about local political reporting and who’s paying for it.   Must Read!