the 10-13-5 Penny Press

5
ss
13, 2
00
OCT
OBE
R
Penn
y Pre
mber
3
n
a
n
a
h
c
u
B
Pat rvative Big Shot
NV
Volu
me
3 Nu
Conse
Las V
egas,
That's A
r
Shot Ove
rs
That Mie
Woman's
Bow
Only When
His
Buddies Ge
t
Something
See Commentary
Page 3
Pat
Doesn't The
Support t?
Presiden
THE PENNY PRESS, OCTOBER 13, 2005 PAGE 2
www.pennypresslv.com
Penny
Press
Logotype
Pointedlymad
licensed from:
Rich Gast
Credits:
Publisher and Editor:
Fred Weinberg
Circulation:
Charlotte Weinberg
The Penny Press is published weekly by
5010 Productions, Inc. All Contents © Penny Press 2005
Contributing Editors:
Brent Jordan
Al Thomas
Doug French
Bill Here
Brent Jordan
Pat Choate
Bob Jennings
Joyce Meyer
Letters to the Editor are encouraged. They should be
sent to our offices at 418 1/2 S. Maryland Parkway, Las
Vegas 89101. They can also be emailed to:
[email protected] No unsigned or unverifiable
letters will be printed.
702-740-5588
Fax: 702-920-8215
Penny Press
LAS VEGAS, NEVADA
16 PAGES
VOLUME 3 NUMBER 3
OCTOBER 13, 2005
Buchanan And Friends Just Like Church Lady
By FRED WEINBERG
Making lots of money.
You can do that as an Al Sharpton
or a Jesse Jackson by shaking down
In the wide world of conserva- the liberal faithful.
tive punditry, we don’t count for
And you can do that as Bill
much.
Kristol, Charles Krauthammer, Pat
Buchanan, David Frum and George
Will do, by sucking up to the conservative faithful.
That is exactly what is happening
in the case of Harriet Miers, President
Bush’s pick to replace Sandra Day
We publish a weekly in “fly- O’Conner on the Supreme Court.
over” country and if you think that
You see, these guys don’t really
all the lip service “flyover: coun- have any respect for George W.
try” and “red states” get on the Fox Bush.
News Channel count for anything,
They’re all just like Dana Carvy’s
than you don’t really understand “Church Lady” dancing their “supeWashington.
riority dance”.
You see, Washington isn’t about
And, just so I’m not leaving
a clash of ideas.
anybody out, let’s put these people
Washington is about making in their rightful place.
money.
They are the Al Sharptons, the
Penny Press Publisher
Commentary
The Conservative Weekly
Voice Of Las Vegas
Inside:
There Is No Secret
Conservative Club
See Editorial Page 6
Jesse Jacksons, the James Carvilles
of the far right and with their opposition to Miers’ nomination they are
actually earning the sobriquet “lunatic fringe far right nutjobs”
Take Pat Buchanan.
It happens that Pat may remember me as I was at Pat Choate’s side
in August of 2000 while we hijacked
the Reform Party’s nomination and
gave it to Buchanan at the convention in Long Beach.
Pat told us that he would take
the Reform Party and help turn it
into a viable third party, building on
the progress that Ross Perot and Pat
Choate had made in 1992 and 1996.
Instead he took the $12.5-million tax dollars which the Party
had earned from its previous showings under Perot and pissed it away,
hiring his political buddies for six
weeks to do nothing.
Penny Wisdom
A lot of people voting for
Pat Buchanan say they are
doing so to send a message.
Apparently that message
is, “Hey, look at me, I’m an
idiot.”
— Dennis Miller
His showing was so poor that
the Party was entitled to nothing in
2004.
Today, there is no Reform Party
and Buchanan is back to being part
of the GOP “intelligentsia”.
And he thinks he’s smarter than
the man who won the office of
President in 2000 and 2004.
Let’s see.
Buchanan was a speechwriter
for Ronald Reagan.
George Bush has been President
for five years.
Buchanan can write—and even
deliver—a pretty mean speech.
George Bush has to go to bed
every night knowing that decisions
he makes can cause young men and
women to die.
There’s a code word that guys
like Buchanan use. Gravitas. It
LETTER
PAT CHOATE
FRED WEINBERG
DOUG FRENCH
BILLHERE
AL THOMAS
DIANE GRASSI
JOYCE MEYER
BRENT JORDAN
PET OF THE WEEK
Continued on page4
PAGE 4
PAGE 5
PAGE 6
PAGE 7
PAGE 8
PAGE 10
PAGE 11
PAGE 12
PAGE 14
PAGE 15
THE PENNY PRESS, OCTOBER 13, 2005 PAGE 4
Don't Mess With Texas
Continued from page 3
means “seriousness of behavior” in
the dictionary.
To the clown princes of conservatism it means somebody whose
checkbook they would like to duplicate when they grow up.
They think Bush is a lightweight, somebody who they “made”
President and that they “own” him.
Well, it was the American public
who elected George Bush—twice—
and the actual contribution of the
conservative pundits was not nearly
as large as the fact that both Al
Gore and John Kerry were perceived by that public to be—in a
word—stiffs.
The truth is that guys like
Krauthammer, Will and Kristol are
mad because they think they are the
shadow Senate.
And, by the way, these clowns
not only think they’re smarter than
the President.
They also think they’re a lot
smarter than you and I.
Well, here’s a newsflash from
flyover country.
Nobody elected them, any
more than they elected Sharpton or
Jackson.
And they really can’t deliver
anything for a President who has
run his final campaign.
We’ll see if Bush is truly his
own man now.
If he caves to these arrogant
beltway dogs, then he’s not.
If he is standing in the Rose
Garden when Miers is being sworn
in, than many Washington “insiders” have totally missed what most
of us in “flyover” country already
know.
George W. Bush is nothing if
not tenacious.
George Wallace used to call liberals who act like this, “pointy-headed pseudo intellectuals who couldn’t
even park a bicycle straight.”
That’s as eloquent description of
Buchanan, Krauthammer, Kristol,
Frum and Will as we can think of.
Except for adding Spiro
Agnew’s, “nattering nabobs of negativism.”
Don’t like W’s picks?
Then vote for John Kerry.
And, by the way, conservative is
defined as that which governs least
governs best.
Abortion is not about conservative or liberal.
It’s about conscience.
And based on what we’ve seen
from the far left and the far right
recently, that’s something which is
in very short supply in Washington.
Which brings me to my final
piece of advice which is , remember, coming from a conservative
weekly newspaper publisher who
has done more than a bit of business
in Ms. Miers’ home state.
Don’t mess with Texas.
You Can Get
Billhere's
Calendar and
Newsletter
FREE
by email!
The FREE, e-mailed, VegasResource.com Newsletter
and complete index of
Las Vegas coupons for shows, buffets and attractions is available on the internet at:
http://www.vegasresource.com/FreeVRC.html
www.choateweinbergreport.com
www.pennypresslv.com
www.LasVegasCrooks.com
THE PENNY PRESS, OCTOBER 13, 2005 PAGE 5
Commentary: Pat Choate
Miers And Her
GOP Critics
Early in Franklin Roosevelt’s
first term, FDR asked Dean Acheson,
a senior official in the U.S. Treasury,
to sign some documents that
Acheson thought illegal. The two
prima donnas had a frank exchange
and Acheson resigned with a very
gracious letter.
Several years later, Raymond
Moley, one of the original Brain
Trusters, left the President’s service with a letter that was nothing
less than a tirade. Roosevelt had
his press secretary send Moley’s
letter back, along with a copy of
Acheson’s, and the admonishment,
“Ask Dean Acheson how a gentleman resigns.”
I believe the conservative GOP
critics of President Bush’s nomination of Harriet Miers to be associate
justice of the US Supreme Court
merit a similar dressing-down. More
than any President in living memory,
George W. Bush has delivered for
his base.
He has cut taxes, eliminated
regulations they opposed, shifted
power back to the states, appointed
conservatives to judicial positions
and fought hard for their ratification. Now, he has sent to the Senate
the nomination of a highly qualified
lawyer – Harriet Miers.
Miers has been with Bush
The Penny Press Tips Its Cap To:
Joel Fishman, Mandalay Bay and the Japanese Sumo Association for
executing and imaginative idea. Take a Sumo tournament out of Japan for
on the 12th time in 1500 years and hold it in Las Vegas. They did that last
week to mostly full houses and it was a startling success. Would it play
every week? Not likely. But was it a great show? Absolutely.
Southwest Airlines for rightly 86ing a passenger who was wearing a T-shirt
with a picture of the President and an offensive expletive. She's suing them
on the basis of the First Amendment. But the airplane is private property
and the First Amendment only gives you the freedom to say something, not
avoid the consequences of what you say.
The Penny Press Sends A Bronx Cheer
And A Bouquet of Weeds To:
The LVCVA and it's advertising agency, R&R Partners who still can't get
something straight. It was the taxpayers who paid to develop the "What
Happens In Vegas Stays In Vegas" campaign and that means nobody owns
the damn slogan. Stop wasting your time and our money and let's either
privatize the LVCVA or get rid of it in its entirety.
throughout his Presidency. It was
she who coordinated the vote recount
in Florida and for four years managed the flow of paper and decisions
from the cabinet that went to the
President. Better than any of her
critics, she knows how power and
decisions move in the White House
and the Executive Branch of the
United States Government.
She has successfully headed a
major law firm in Dallas, a major
business center. She has headed the
Texas Bar Association, a group of
lawyers whose egos are as outsized
as any in Washington, D.C. Most
important, she would have headed the American Bar Association,
the professional association for
American lawyers, except that she
decided serving in the White House
was more important.
If someone with that resume is
unqualified for the position of associate Justice of the Supreme Court,
no one is.
I am particularly piqued by the
comments of Robert Bork, William
Crystal, George Wills, William
Bennett and others who make their
living as “Cash Conservatives”
– men who are paid enormous
amounts as authors, lecturers, and
entertainers on radio and television
to preach their old-time gospel and
when necessary to criticize the heretical. Because they are not friends of
Miers, do not know her position on
matters, and are unable to speak as
an insider about her to their fellow
elites, they are urging the President
to withdrawn the nomination.
What hubris.
The fact that these men are even
asking this reveals how little they
know of this President and his nominee. A female Texas lawyer who
rose to her level of prominence in
the latter part of the 20th century
will never buckle under this kind of
criticism. She has grit.
After Moley went public with
his criticism of FDR, the President
never dealt with the man again in
any way. Roosevelt’s example is a
good one for Bush to follow.
PAT CHOATE
Want A
Penny Press
In The Mail?
$55 per year First Class Mail
Name__________________
Address________________
City_____State___ZIP_____
Penny Press
418 ½ S. Maryland
Las Vegas, NV 89101
OPINION
THE PENNY PRESS, OCTOBER 13, 2005 PAGE 6
From The Publisher...
There Is No Secret Conservative Handshake
On pages three and four of this week’s issue is a piece of The argument is more clearly defined on such issues as
commentary which may cause some folks to think that welfare.
I’ve walked away from the conservative reservation.
But the bottom line is that liberals and conservatives simWell, if the conservative reservation includes the same ply have differing philosophies of government.
tactics which we have always detested from the far left,
The problem we face these days is when certain groups
they would be correct.
start wrapping their real agenda in the cloak of liberalism
Fortunately (for me), I believe that the people who are off or conservatism. Abortion is the most glaring example.
the reservation happen to be the GOP intelligentsia which
is now beating the drums for Harriet Miers to step aside People who believe that a woman has complete domain
as President Bush’s Supreme Court nominee because she over her own body and that abortion on demand is a perfectly legitimate action tend to call themselves liberals.
is, somehow, not conservative enough.
And people who believe that life begins at conception and
All of which begs the question, what is a conservative and that abortion is murder tend to call themselves conservatives. Thus the battle lines are set.
what is a liberal?
To hear people like Pat Buchanan, tell it, conservatives are The problem is that abortion, like many other social
all members of a club whose rules are set by guys like issues, really has nothing to do with a philosophy of govhim, Charles Krauthammer, George Will and the rest of ernment.
the usual suspects.
Those issues have to do with conscience.
And, they tend to also suggest that liberals are evil people
So, when Pat Buchanan demands a Supreme Court Justice
who drink at the same bar as Teddy Kennedy.
who would overturn Roe v. Wade in the name of conserYou may find this hard to believe, but there are no secret vatism, he’s way off base.
handshakes and or secret lodge initiations.
A conservative Supreme Court Justice is one who will not
That’s because a conservative believes that you are assume the job of the legislature on the bench.
responsible for your own fate, that government exists
to help people do what they cannot do themselves, that Pat and his buddies have confused where a philosophy of
the role of government should be strictly limited and that government ends and where their own personal agendas
the least government intrusion in your life possible is the begin.
best.
I have no doubt that the anti-Miers alliance is sincere.
Simply put, liberals believe in a broader use of govern- But they are completely misguided.
ment.
They’re not upholding the banner of conservatism. They’re
There are no absolutes in the argument. When a great just being sexist and obnoxious in an ill-fated attempt to
big hurricane comes and wipes out a whole city, liberals get one of their own buddies on the Supreme Court.
naturally make the case for government intervention. So
FRED WEINBERG
do conservatives. The only argument is how much and
for how long.
THE PENNY PRESS, OCTOBER 13, 2005 PAGE 7
Commentary: Doug French
It’s Never Enough
For Government Workers!
People from Kansas are assumed to have good sense. After all America’s
heartland isn’t La-La Land. The weather is harsh and the people are hardy.
“If you want total security, go to prison,” was Abilene, Kansas’s favorite
son Dwight D. Eisenhower’s view. “There you’re fed, clothed, given medical care and so on. The only thing lacking... is freedom.”
But, Kansas ain’t what it used to be. Politicians there, like everywhere,
want more and more tax money to take care of everyone from cradle to
grave. The Kansas state government budget this year is $11.4 billion compared to just $1 billion in 1974. You might be wondering if the population of
the Sunflower state has increased ten-fold during those 30 years. Not even
close. Just short of 2.3 million people lived Kansas in 1974 (including this
writer). Since then, the population has grown, barely, to 2.7 million.
But, while government has been living high on the hog, job and economic growth in Kansas has been punk.
No wonder Kansas congresswoman Rep. Brenda Landwehr, R-Wichita,
has introduced a Colorado-like Taxpayers Bill of Rights (TABOR). The
bill is co-authored by University of Colorado economics professor Barry
Poulson, and is slated for consideration in the 2006 Kansas Legislature.
Colorado’s TABOR serves to limit increases to that state’s government
budget to; Consumer Price Index (CPI) increases plus population growth.
Should the state collect more than that they must return it to taxpayers.
Should the state collect less, Colorado’s budget adjusts down to that new
baseline level.
It’s been estimated that if Kansas had put a TABOR budget in place in
1993 when Colorado did, taxpayers would have $980 million more to spend
this year, instead of their state government wasting it.
But, politicians and the press in Kansas don’t care about taxpayers.
It is state government they worry about. Despite the fact that Colorado’s
TABOR has never caused that state to cut its budget from one year to the
next, doomsday prophecies are being floated.
If Kansas would have enacted TABOR:
“the state would have to decide which universities must close, which
would have applications for rural communities.”
“When you think about the role of Pittsburg University in the economy
of Pittsburg, or Fort Hays State in the economy of Hays, Kansas, that’s substantial and significant economic impact.” “might have included shortening
the school years by 23 days,” “taking away health care for 50,000 children,” “eliminating all Medicaid payments to community health centers”
“eliminating prescription drug coverage for half of all adult Medicaid prescription drug beneficiaries.” “the elderly will not get care.” “will damage
our quality of life by undermining the pillars of that life —education and
health care.”
Why should we care about Kansas? Because it makes the point that
no matter what population growth is (high or low), politicians and anyone
receiving money from the government either directly, indirectly or tangentially will line up against TABOR, TASC or whatever you want to call it,
knowing that some of their individual taxpayer-supported livelihoods may
be at stake.
Remember, Nevada’s state budget has been increased by over half just
since 2003, with Republicans and Democrats alike engaging in the tax
attack against Nevada citizens. Evidently there are two constituencies that
vote consistently: seniors, and people with children. Thus, every scare tactic
involves seniors and their healthcare, and kids and their education, as if the
government is responsible for either.
The issue is that Republicans aspire to be elected the same as Democrats.
Thus, legislators from both parties are all for doling out your dollars so that
each can say, “I support education and making sure our seniors are medicated to their satisfaction. Please send me back to Carson City for 120 days
of booze, babes and bureaucracy.”
For those of us interested in freedom, rather than prison, hardwiring a
restraint on spending and taxing into the Nevada constitution is a must. I
can’t be sure if Ike (who graduated from Abilene High a couple of years
ahead of this scribbler) would be for restraining government growth (in his
day he was considered a moderate), but I think he’d be appalled at what
government has grown into.
DOUG FRENCH
THE PENNY PRESS, OCTOBER 13, 2005 PAGE 8
The Best Vegas Calendar BAR NONE!
By Billhere
The FREE, e-mailed, VegasResource.com Newsletter and complete index of
Las Vegas coupons for shows, buffets and attractions is available on the internet at:
http://www.vegasresource.com/FreeVRC.html
OCTOBER, 2005
================
Through Oct.29=Play: “Dracula’s Audition” - New City Theatre:
www.newcitytheatre.com
Through Oct.31= Titanic... The Artifact Exhibition - Tropicana.
Through Oct.31= “ Feathered Dinosaurs“exhibit - Las Vegas
Museum of Natural History
Through Dec. 31= Demolition continues of Castaways.
Through Jan.15,2006= RUSSIA! The Majesty of the Tsars:
Treasures from the Kremlin Museum - Venetian Guggenheim
Hermitage Museum.
+++++
13-16= Elton John - Caesars palace.
14-15= The Black Crowes -Hard Rock The Joint
14-15= David Spade - The Mirage.
14-15= World Equestrian Event-Thomas &Mack:
www.lvwijump.com
14-16= Juan Gabriel - Las Vegas Hilton.
14-16= Mr.Olympia Contest-Orleans Arena.
14-16= Roger Williams - Suncoast.
15= 3 Doors Down - Aladdin.
15= Eagles - MGM Grand.
15= Grand Funk Railroad - Texas Station.
15-16= Gun & Knife Show - Cashman Center.
15-17= The Letterman - Suncoast.
16= Paul Rodriguez - Mandalay Bay House of Blues.
17= Alice Cooper - Hard Rock The Joint.
18-23= Elton John - Caesars Palace.
18-25= . STATION CASINOS. Free Conference Call at 1-800-6201687.
19= AZTAR (Tropicana). Free conference call. at 4:30 pm ET. Tel.
1-866-235-4445.
19-Nov. 5= Barry Manilow - Las Vegas Hilton.
20-23= Don Rickles - Stardust.
20-23= Frankie Avalon/Bobby Rydell-Orleans.
20-24= Dennis Miller - MGM Grand.
21= Nazareth - Boulder Station.
21= 311 - Mandalay Bay House of Blues.
21-23= Home Show - Cashman Center.
21-23= Smothers Brothers - Suncoast.
22= Jimmy Buffett - MGM Grand.
22-24= Jose Feliciano - Suncoast.
23= Home Show - Cashman Center.
23= Sheryl Crow - Hard Rock. CANCELED.
25= Montgomery Gentry - Texas Station.
25-Nov.9= Howie Mandel - MGM Grand.
26= Entertainment Expo - Golden Nugget.
26-29= Steve Lawrence and Eydie Gorme - Stardust.
27= Home Buyers Fair - Cashman Center.
27= Hank’s Fine Steaks & Martini’s grand opening - Green Valley
Ranch.
27-30= Pointer Sisters - The Orleans.
28= Blues Traveler - Mandalay Bay House of Blues.
28= Basketball: Lakers vs. Kings - Thomas & Mack Center.
28-29= Fine Art Awards Show - MGM Grand.:http://www.artvawards.com/
28= Rocky Horror Picture Show-Tropicana Cinema:www.divinedecadence.org
28-30= Ray Romano - Mirage.
28-Nov.6= Professional Bull Riders Finals - Mandalay Bay.
28-30= Antique Arms Show - Mandalay Bay.
28-30= Air Supply - Suncoast.
29= Horse Racing-Breeders Cup-All Sportsbooks.
29= Jason Mraz - Hard Rock The Joint.
29= Jimmy Buffett - MGM Grand.
29-30= Dave Matthews etc.-Sam Boyd Stadium.
29-31= James Darren - Suncoast.
30= Move clocks back one hour.
30= Halloween Show - Cannery.
30-Feb.7= Danny Gans show closed - Mirage.
31= Halloween.
Oct.??= La Bete nightclub closes for four weeks and will have
a multimillion dollar renovation, new management and a new
name-Wynn Las Vegas.
Oct.??= Opening of magician Steve Wyrick’s entertainment complex, featuring a brand new production show, as well as a new
dining, retail and nightlife experiences - Desert Passage Mall in
the Aladdin.
NOVEMBER, 2005
==================
1= Bucking Bull Classic - Orleans Arena.
2= Job Fair - Palace Station. Information: www.lasvegasjobs.
com
3-5= B.B.King - Stardust.
3-6= Engelbert Humperdinck - Orleans.
4= First Friday-huge arts night 6-9 p.m. - Downtown Arts District:
http://www.firstfriday-lasvegas.org
4-5= Blues Brothers Tribute - Cannery.
4-5= U2 - MGM Grand.
4-5= Hall & Oates - Mirage.
4-6= Las Vegas Craft Show - Cashman Ctr.
4-6= Vicki Lawrence - Suncoast.
4-20= London Suite by Neil Simon - Las Vegas Little Theatre.
6= Craft Show - Cashman Center.
9-12= Harvey Korman/Tim Conway - Stardust.
10= Kelly Clarkson - Aladdin.
10-16= Carrot Top - MGM Grand.
11= Remembrance Day.
11= David Allan Coe - Boulder Station.
11= Paula Poundstone - Sunset Station.
11-12= Dana Carvey - The Mirage.
11-13= Roy Clark - Suncoast.
12= LDS Music Festival - Cashman Center.
12= Guess Who - Fremont Sreet Experience.
12= Boxing. Vitali Klitschko vs.Hasim Rahman - Thomas & Mack
Center.
12= Johnny Rivers - Texas Station.
12-13= Nellis Air Force Base Air Show: http://www.nellisairshow.
com
16= Bureau of Land Management Public Land Auction - Cashman
Center.
16= Toxic Audio Show closes - Luxor.
17= Celebrity Impersonators Convention - Imperial Palace.
17= Westward Ho closes to make way for high-rise residences.
====================================
Please e-mail errors, omissions and additions to:
[email protected]
THE PENNY PRESS, OCTOBER 13, 2005 PAGE 9
Challenge: Take the biggest, heaviest production passenger
vehicle made and make it handle like a sports car.
Answer: Rollgard™.
Like a lot of people, my life precludes the Porsche 911 Turbo or the Saleen Mustang I might buy if practicality wasn’t a consideration.
In my case, kids, mountainous terrain, and a lot of stuff to schlep around pretty much
rule out sports cars as an option.
And so, in the last five years, I’ve driven a Four Wheel Drive Ford F-150 and two Four
Wheel Drive Ford Excursions.
All of them, including the brand new Power Stroke
Diesel Excursion, are big, tough trucks with a lot of torque, a lot of power and a lot
of space.
The downside is that they all have a fairly high center of gravity and are susceptible to
rolling into a turn at highway speeds.
And all of them have been tamed by Rollgard.
My name is Fred Weinberg and I don’t work for Rollgard, which means you can call
me at my office, 702-740-5588, and I’ll be glad to give you the benefit of my 170,000
miles of driving with the product.
Simply put, Rollgard
is a set of counter
springs which keeps
the rear wheels firmly
planted on the road.
It was designed by a
race car engineer to
give any vehicle with
leaf springs (that’s
Here’s the F-150. We put about
most pickup trucks,
50,000 miles on it with Rollgard
vans and many SUV’s)
the same kind of handling control which a race car can get from the various adjustments
you see them make in the pits on race day.
What it does is to allow you to steer the vehicle without constant
corrections. In other words, point the vehicle where you want to
go and it goes there. Last summer, we tested an Excursion with
Yes, the Excursion is big. With Rollgard, it is very well behaved! Rollgard under full safety conditions on closed off pieces of Nevada
highways in connection with open road racing events.
We discovered that you could blast this 8,000 pound vehicle down a winding highway at speeds in excess of 95 miles an hour
with complete control only using a very light touch on the steering wheel. The professionals behind the wheel were extremely
impressed.
Now you’ll probably never have to drive a big, heavy truck like that, but it’s sure nice to know that you could. Because if it handles
that well at those speeds, imagine how well it works at regular interstate highway speeds.
The best news is that Rollgard isn’t very expensive. And, because it’s a Las Vegas company, we’ve arranged a special deal for you:
Buy it at any of the dealers below and we’ll send you a $25 rebate when you mail us a copy of the paid receipt and the rebate coupon from this ad.
And one last thing. Rollgard has an absolute 30-day money back guarantee.
You can’t offer one of those unless the product actually works.
Buy Rollgard At One Of These Fine Retailers:
Checkers Autoparts Stores, Integrity Dodge (870-9793)
Sun Valley Bumper (362-9003)
$25 REBATE COUPON
Purchase a Rollgard from One Of The
Retailers In This Ad And We’ll Rebate
Your Purchase with a $25 Check.
Offer Good To November 30, 2005
Rebate subject to terms and conditions listed at www.pennypresslv.com
THE PENNY PRESS, OCTOBER 13, 2005 PAGE 10
Commentary: Albert Thomas
Rear View Mirror
Buying a stock or mutual fund is like a driver who is going down the
road at high speed, but is using looking in the rearview mirror as a guide. He
can see fine out the back, but has no idea what is ahead. Sound familiar?
Your broker is going to help you with driving; I mean picking stocks
and mutual funds, so your car (investment) will stay in the road and not
crash. He is going to send you all kinds of information. You know - green
sheets, pink sheets, blue sheets, full color slick pages, brochures, booklets
and more: turn right, turn left, put on the brake, speed up, slow down. He
might even get you in on an interview on the Internet with the CEO of some
company. Wow!
Or you can buy special reports from Morningstar. They are not too
expensive. The dedicated investor might want to visit the company headquarters especially if it is a new public offering. Of course, the investor
might want to check out the background of the company officers by inquiring at the NASD (National Association of Securities Dealers) and the SEC
(Securities and Exchange Commission) in Washington.
Have any of the corporate officers been involved in other companies
that have failed? You can ask these questions and more. What does all
this information mean? Isn’t this looking in the rearview mirror? Some of
what you have found is ancient history and some is not quite ancient, maybe
a little mildewed. It is supposed to help the investor get an idea if the company is financially sound and is expanding so he can expect his investment
to grow.
Are these guides any good?
Everything is past performance. The required imprint according to
regulations on every piece of sales literature is, “Past performance is no
guarantee of future performance”. Basically all the information you have is
worthless; you are looking in the mirror.
If you invest you should determine before you put any money on the line
how much you are willing to lose. Will you stick with this hummer if it goes
to zero or have you determined what percentage you are willing to part with
if it declines? Do you have an exit strategy for both loss and when to take
profit? Most investors have neither.
Every professional investor I know has an exit plan. He knows how
many dollars he will give back if he if wrong and if his stock selection is
positive he has some idea of a price objective or having the price performance tell him where to sell.
The great secret of the market is not buying. It is selling. Until the investor learns how to sell he will never make money in the market.
Looking at past performance (the rearview mirror) may make the investor feel better, but it is not the way to keep your investments on the road to
success.
AL THOMAS
Al Thomas’ best selling book, “If It Doesn’t Go Up, Don’t Buy It!” has
helped thousands of people make money and keep their profits with his
simple 2-step method. Read the first chapter and receive his market letter
for 3 months at www.mutualfundmagic.com and discover why he’s the man
that Wall Street does not want you to know.
THE PENNY PRESS, OCTOBER 13, 2005 PAGE 11
Commentary: Diane Grassi
Middle Class Losses
From Katrina Underestimated
The media has been both praised and admonished for its Hurricane
Katrina coverage over the past weeks, and particularly during the first week
of the crisis in New Orleans, LA. And media coverage was largely criticized
by political appointees and lawmakers who felt the wrath of scrutiny concerning the lack of coordination of relief efforts by local, state and federal
governments. The dust continues to settle concerning the costs of relief
efforts and the entire toll of human life and life as it once was in southern
Louisiana southern Mississippi, as well as parts of Texas, which suffered
from Hurricane Rita some four weeks after Hurricane Katrina. But missing
from most government assessments and coverage of myriad problems the
disaster wrought, is the affect on middle class survivors.
Homeowners who lost their homes and had jobs with employer provided
healthcare have predominantly been left on their own and prevented from
getting funds and ongoing assistance during these weeks after Hurricane
Katrina. They suffer from a web of problems and there appears to be no end
in sight to their dilemmas.
First there is the issue of insurance companies assessing damage from
homes and whether or not their homeowners’ policies will be honored.
There is a continuing problem of getting enough insurance assessors into
the disaster areas, many of which were not accessible for the first couple
of weeks. Then there is the issue of whether damage resulted from wind
or floodwaters. In Mississippi there is a pending lawsuit filed by Attorney
General, Jim Hood, who has sued major insurers on behalf of Mississippi
residents. He said that “A standard homeowner’s policy should cover hurricane damage, whether the loss came from wind or wind-driven water such
as a storm surge.” It will be hard for insurers to deny that all damage was
caused by floods, especially in the areas not in the flood plain, and for that
reason as well, Hood believes that those without flood insurance are still
entitled to coverage. Unfortunately, the onus is on the plaintiff to prove
otherwise.
But home loss is not the only problem for these individuals and their
families. Many have permanently lost their livelihoods in southern Louisiana
and southern Mississippi due to businesses being destroyed. Along with
their job loss is loss of their healthcare benefits. While some companies
were able to extend some benefits a month or two, those employees who
have any kind of chronic health condition, such as asthma, are in danger of
losing all their benefits indefinitely as there is a waiting period for those
enrolling in new plans with preexisting conditions. In addition, there is a
probationary period for joining a healthcare plan with any new employer,
provided they are able to find a job with healthcare benefits.
And while homeowners wait for insurance assessments with the possibility of not being covered at all if they had not previously purchased flood
insurance from the federal government, the ability to declare bankruptcy is
no simple option either. First, the mortgage payments on destroyed homes
do not simply disappear even though the house may have. Various lending
institutions and banks have given some hurricane victims some leniency by
way of 30 or 60-day extensions to pay. That however will not go very far
for those who have had to pay for their own living accommodations over the
past six weeks and may be short on their mortgage payments.
With the Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act of
2005 to become effective October 17, 2005, while it would make sense for
some to declare bankruptcy prior to then when the law becomes much more
restrictive for filers, most homeowners cannot yet assess their damages or
evaluate their assets. But the U.S. Department of Justice through its U.S.
Trustee Program has temporarily waived for one year one of the provisions
necessary to declare bankruptcy in the new law, specifically for residents in
the disaster areas of southern Louisiana and southern Mississippi.
However, the waived provision just eliminates the need to undergo credit counseling prior to filing. All other provisions remain which makes it far
more difficult to declare Chapter 7 bankruptcy or liquidation. Unfortunately,
the bankruptcy law will require repayment or re-organization based on the
prior year’s income. For those who have permanently lost income, this new
measure is hardly consoling. And in order to file bankruptcy the filer must
retain an attorney, and given that many have temporarily re-located out of
state with little paperwork at their disposal, that task alone is now far more
complicated than it would have ordinarily been.
It is not only bankruptcy court which may discriminate against those
most in need at this time. Most homeowners who have had regular incomes
are not eligible for housing assistance or Medicaid benefits which would
cover their healthcare. It is primarily those people in New Orleans proper
who have enjoyed the federal benefits such as housing vouchers and
Medicaid benefits, as many were already receiving such benefits from the
federal government. Such was another matter which the media failed to
mention time and again in their reports. For those who have credit and paid
their bills in 2004, there will not be much help from the federal government,
if any, as again the prior year’s tax return and assets are used in qualifying
for benefits. Adults without children will be the hardest hit, especially with
personal savings only taking them so far.
On September 15, 2005, Senator Charles Grassley (R-IA) and Chairman
of the Senate Finance Committee introduced a bi-partisan measure, the
Grassley-Baucus bill, which would have opened up Medicaid services for
single, childless adults who have been displaced and have lost their health
insurance from employers, for up to 10 months. Medicaid does not cover
working adults without children. But the White House has raised objections
to the Grassley bill stating it is too expensive.
Many lessons are still being learned after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita
with respect to distribution of services. And while emergency funding is in
place for those usually taken care of by public assistance, there clearly is
no support system in place for working and middle class people who are
hit with immediate devastation. Responsible, law abiding, and tax paying
individuals who also may have good educations, need not apply.
The story being logged has not been complete in its depiction of victims from the storms and subsequent malfunctioning levees in southern
Louisiana. All residents need food, shelter and healthcare. Yet the government and media alike would like us to believe that there are the poor and the
rich in the U.S. Unfortunately, casting a blind eye does not make a problem
go away, but rather usually makes it worse.
We have been subject to picture after picture of shelters for the people
of New Orleans proper, but perhaps the most disenfranchised of all in
this disastrous situation is the middle class. It will be nearly impossible to
recover from the sudden and simultaneous loss of home, job and healthcare
without help. Most of these people who would never have entertained a
thought about turning to public assistance may however eventually wind up
on it. Giving people no option but to apply for public assistance once their
assets are completely depleted may prove shortsighted, and in the long run
may ultimately prove one which the federal government can ill afford.
DIANE GRASSI
www.lasvegascrooks.com
THE PENNY PRESS, OCTOBER 13, 2005 PAGE 12
Commentary: Joyce Meyer
Learning To
Wait Well
There was a man in the Bible
named Abraham, and he had a very
definite idea of what God wanted in
his future. He knew that God had
promised him a son and he believed
that God would make good on His
promise even though he and his wife
Sarah were very old. But Abraham
had no idea when it would take
place.
Sometimes we also know that
God has something special planned
for our lives—but we wonder when
it will ever happen. It’s easy to lose
patience while waiting for God’s
plan to materialize.
Once God speaks to us or shows
us what He wants to do, we are filled
with it. It’s like being “pregnant”
with God’s promise. It’s like He has
planted a seed in us and we must go
through a time of preparation before
the seed will grow and bear fruit.
This period of time prepares us to
handle whatever it is that God has
promised.
It is very much like the process
of giving birth to a child. First, the
seed is planted in the womb, then
come nine months of waiting and
finally a baby is born. During those
nine months of waiting a great deal
happens. The woman’s body goes
through changes that prepare her to
give birth. The seed is growing into
maturity. The parents are preparing
for the baby’s arrival by accumulating the necessary items to properly
care for a child.
In the same way that there is a
lot of activity going on inside the
mother’s body that we cannot see,
there is also a lot of unseen activity
concerning God’s promises to us.
Just because we cannot see or feel
anything doesn’t mean nothing is
taking place. God does some of His
best work in secret, and He delights
in surprising His children.
Not only does God do His best
work in secret, but He never does
anything without first being prepared—without first getting us
ready.
Your preparation may mean
going to college or getting some
other kind of formal training. Your
preparation may be spending a few
years working under someone else’s
authority in business or ministry so
you’ll know how to handle yourself down the road. It could mean
working at a job that you don’t particularly like…for a boss you are not
very fond of.
Preparation may take place in
a lot of different settings, but it’s
always necessary if we’re going to
be successful at the next level.
Each phase we go through is
important. There is something we
can learn at every step. It is all part
of our preparation. We must “graduate,” so to speak, from one phase
to the next, and this comes after we
have proven ourselves in the current
phase. Between all of these stages
of preparation, there is a lot of waiting.
Learning to wait well is very
important. Becoming impatient,
grouchy, critical and just generally
hard to get along with will not make
the process any shorter…and it could
make the process take longer.
By the way—God fulfilled His
promise to Abraham and Sarah.
After they faithfully waited, they
did indeed have a son, whom they
named Isaac.
So be patient! Make the most of
your waiting period and give God
time to do the wonderful thing He
has planned for your life.
JOYCE MEYER
For more on this topic, you may
order Joyce’s book titled Enjoying
Where You Are on the Way to Where
You Are Going, which is available by
calling 1-800-727-9673 or by visiting www.joycemeyer.org.
THE PENNY PRESS, OCTOBER 13, 2005 PAGE 13
You think you know what goes on in here?
You don’t have a clue.
Find Out What REALLY Was Happening At Cheetahs
Available Now At All Las Vegas Borders Books
THE PENNY PRESS, OCTOBER 13, 2005 PAGE 14
Commentary: Brent Jordan
The HOA Nazis
Imagine living under a Fascist
government who uses your tax dollars to fund their secret police force
and spies to your home to take
photographs of your private property and report back to the government any laws you may potentially
be guilty of breaking. Imagine that
government, then, immediately taking steps to seize your home, yank
it from beneath you and your family,
your children. You are allowed no
recourse. Other governments refuse
to become involved, refuse to come
to your aid. You are left with two
choices: drop to your belly and submit to any and all decrees and whims
of the tyrannical government, or
abandon your home and attempt to
flee beyond their reach.
I know what you are thinking: It’s
good to be an American, away from
those third-world countries where
tyrannical of governments reign.
I’m not talking about a thirdworld government. I’m talking about
your HOA.
You think I’m exaggerating,
being melodramatic, sarcastic,
ironic, sardonic...or maybe you just
thought it was only you feeling this
way about your HOA.
A Home Owners Association is
no less than a self formed, self
regulated governmental body that
holds you under a binding contract
from which there is no realistic form
of escape (short of leaving your
home and neighborhood). The US
Government, indeed the Constitution
of the United States offers no protection from this private governmental
body––the HOA.
Your CC&R’s (the HOA’s legal
method of oppression) is a binding
contract that your state government
has no power to regulate.
Did you read your CC&R’s when
you were buying your house? If you
didn’t, don’t bother now. It is too
late. Typically, the CC&R’s dictate
everything about “your” home, from
what type of tree you can plant, to
which, if any, cars you may park in
“your” driveway, to when (if) you
may put up “your” Christmas lights.
I know, I know...the intent of
the regulations is to retain property
value and prevent a neighborhood
from falling into disrepair...(bla, bla,
bla...) and they were set forth with
the best of intentions. Good intentions: paving our way straight to
Hell.
The problem is that these HOAs
are generally put in place by the
home developers. Home Owner association companies are large corporations whose sole business is to establish and run HOA’s––many times
from another state. They are not
your neighbors. These HOA companies have complete and uncontested
authority: Absolute power. And as
we know: Absolute power corrupts,
Absolutely.
The HOA “Board of Directors”
(or regulation Nazi’s as I prefer to
refer to them), initially chosen by
this huge corporation, are all too
often “that neighbor” who is constantly poking her nose over your
back wall, or peeking out his front
curtains, never content to simply
keep their own house in order.
Take the “Eldorado II Home
Owners Association” (under whose
tyranny I live), for example; Nearly
every month I receive a nastygram
(violation letter, if you prefer) from
the Association concerning one or
another feature of my home. First it
was my back yard––fully enclosed
in a 6 foot block wall––didn’t have
enough plants in it. (No matter the
yard was indeed fully planted with
seedling plants that needed a first
season to bloom.) Next it was my
$12,000.00 zeroscape front yard
conversion; they didn’t like the color
of the retaining wall. Even though
the natural indigenous stone color
of the wall matches the home and
neighborhood beautifully, and they
had approved it well before construction began, they later decided it
would look better painted the color
of the house stucco. Eventually the
nastygrams began reading that my
Halloween decorations were put up
too early (two weeks), my Christmas
decorations remained up too long
(one week), my car was “stored” in
my driveway (no, I’m not kidding),
even though when I am driving the
vehicle to work or school every
day. I prefer to call it parked, not
“stored.” My basketball hoop needs
to be put away at night (I don’t own
a basketball hoop), and most lately,
my car “stored” in my driveway has
a flat tire: Talk about adding insult
to injury.
I live in a community with teenagers. The price we pay for that privilege is, on occasion, we will be victims of vandalism. One night, a few
kids (I’m presuming) let the air out
of all four of my car’s tires––great
fun! As I was reinflating them the
next morning with my handy-dandyanti-teen-inflation-device, the local
HOA extra-special-secret-agent-spy
drove by and snapped a picture of
my car with one remaining flat tire.
A few days later I received the
obligatory nastygram about storing
a vehicle in my driveway with a flat
tire. If I did not remedy the situation
immediately, I would be subject to a
fine (of $50.00 per day) and a lien on
my home. No matter I had to have
the tire inflated before I could go to
school that morning, and indeed it
was within a few minutes of the spy
snapping the picture.
The threat of a lien is a serious
one. Once a lien has been applied,
and the fine assessed, the meter is
running and the dollars continue to
add up as you go through the futile
process of trying to have the fine and
lien removed.
You can spend tens of thousands
of dollars hiring an attorney and
fighting the HOA in court, but in the
end you are more likely to lose the
case for the reasons stated earlier,
and have a huge legal bill on top of
it.
If you believe any of this is
simply sour grapes, and that my
half-million dollar home must be the
scourge of the neighborhood, simply Google the phrase “HOA problems” and begin wading through the
exactly 418,000 results. I am in good
company on this one.
So, what is my solution? I will
continue to rant and rave and bitch
and moan and curse and threaten,
and in the end, I will drop to my
belly and plead for forgiveness from
the HOA powers-that-be. I will set
my alarm clock for 5:00 AM to
check my yard to be sure there are
no flat tires on my vehicle, there are
no Halloween or Christmas decorations left out, the color of my wall
has not changed, the trees have not
shed so many leaves as to appear
bare, my trash and recycle bins are
not left out more than a few minutes
after pickup, and all is generally
right and prepared for the all-knowing powers of the HOA.
BRENT KENTON JORDAN
THE PENNY PRESS, OCTOBER 13, 2005 PAGE 15
Pet Of The Week
Adopt This Pet !
Riley is a 1 year old
female with a wonderful
temperment. She is
a spayed Dalmation/
Pointer mix. Riley has
a girly bark and loves
to play. She plays well
with other dogs, and
is current on yearly
vaccinations.
Riley
would love to play with
children and be a jewel
in the home.
If you are looking for a pet we will do our best to find you a pet that
fits your needs and you will fit theirs.
This is just one of the pets awaiting a loving home.To inquire about
a certain pet you can e-mail us at: [email protected]
or call 361-2484. Also, we need kitty litter and food donations.
Betty Honn founded Southern Nevada’s first no-kill, non-profit
animal sanctuary in 1968. Since then, volunteers, contributors and
patrons have made our daily operations possible.
Betty passed away in 1997, but not before saving countless
thousands of animals from needless euthanasia. Her daughter, Teresa
now continues the work, and is committed to fulfilling her mother’s
vision.For more than 30 years, from kittens to Kodiaks, Betty Honn’s
Animal Adoptions, Ltd. has provided refuge for animals.
THE PENNY PRESS, OCTOBER 13, 2005 PAGE 16