For anyone with any practical experience in the private sector, listing the sorts of things companies look for in order to open or move a business to Nevada is pretty simple….and obvious.

But those who want to raise taxes to spend on all manner of government-run programs and services continue to claim companies aren’t looking at taxes so much, but want a whole panoply of other “stuff” – including government-run schools, museums, performing arts centers, parks and recreation.

Well, a recent story by Las Vegas Review-Journal business reporter Jennifer Robison should put the matter to rest….except the forces of bigger government never rest and never quit.
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U.S. Senate candidate (for now) and Tea Party poser Scott Ashjian slithered his way onto the set of Jon Ralston’s Face-to-Face program on Wednesday and proceeded to “pull a Perot” – claiming he had withdrawn from actively campaigning because he likes Sharron Angle, but now that she’s not blowing Reid away in the polls he’s decided to re-engage and actually says he thinks he can win.

This guy is a scheming, steaming sack of cow pies.

On the other hand, the RJ notes today that “Ashjian contends he filed for office because people who hold Tea Party values have been duped by the Republican Party.” And the fact is, the Republican Party and its nominee have the most to lose if this goofball stays on the ballot and a significant number of clueless voters vote for him just because he has “Tea Party” next to his name on the ballot.

Yet….

The local, state and national GOP leaders have done NOTHING to try to block Ashjian from appearing on the ballot despite the fact that he filed a false statement of candidacy with the Secretary of State and the fact that his “party” hasn’t fulfilled the requirements to be recognized as a party on the ballot.

Republicans seem content to pour millions upon millions of dollars into this race with the risk of Ashjian pulling one or two percent of the vote – enough to tilt the election Harry Reid’s way – and yet won’t invest a few thousand dollars for a court challenge to possibly knock the guy off the ballot for failing to comply with the state’s election laws.

The GOP isn’t called the “Stupid Party” for nothing, folks.

“There will be a lame duck session of Congress even after voters have rendered their verdict on the work of the current incumbents in November,” writes John Fund in Political Diary today. “Majority Leader Harry Reid has announced the Senate will return on November 15, then take a Thanksgiving break, then come back for more business on November 29, with no specified target date for adjournment.”

Fund further notes that Senate tradition holds that any “lame duck session, if necessary, should be limited to must-pass legislation that extends current spending levels and tax policies, but doesn’t break new ground.”

But Harry Reid doesn’t give a damn about Senate tradition. He broke numerous Senate traditions to shove ObamaCare up our…er, down our throat, and he’ll do whatever he can to further the left’s agenda before losing his veto-proof majority, tradition be damned.

Which makes it all the more aggravating that Republican Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, citing Senate tradition, has declared that he will not come to Nevada to campaign against Reid this election cycle.

Once again, Republicans play by Queen of Marquesberry rules while the D’s play by the Marquis de Sade’s rules. And Republicans wonder why they keep losing?

We all know that there are certain “dirty” words you can’t say on broadcast TV. When a show airs on broadcast TV, those words are bleeped out so as to not run afoul of the anti-foul-mouthed government censors. But now, if the Parents Television Council (PTC) gets its way, even bleeping out naughty word would be a no-no.

William Shatner, better known as Captain Jim Kirk of the USS Enterprise, is boldly going where no one has gone before with a new sitcom on CBS this fall titled “$#*! My Dad Says.” Yes, “$#*!” stands for a certain four-letter word that begins with “sh” and ends with “it.” But the word itself isn’t in the title. The “$#*!” characters are used to bleep out the offensive word from the title.

Nevertheless, the PTC has its tights in a twist and is calling for an advertising boycott of the program.

Which, of course, means the show will now get a heckuva a lot more viewers when it debuts than it would have otherwise. Sometimes these do-gooders just need to know when to shut the $#*! up.

And finally, CNS News reports that Rep. John Shadegg (R-Az.) “says all bills introduced in Congress should include a statement setting forth the specific constitutional authority under which a law is being enacted.” Shadegg’s Enumerated Powers Act would “force Congress to re-examine the role of the national government and curb its ever-expanding reach.” Amen.

Shadegg has introduced this bill every session of Congress since he was elected in 1994, but he’s retiring at the end of this year. I wonder who, if anyone, will take up this noble cause?

Linda McMahon, former CEO of the WWE professional wrestling operation, crushed her GOP primary opponents in the Connecticut U.S. Senate race yesterday. She defeated a former congressman by 21 points and an economist by 26 points. Yet Democrats are bleating that McMahon is a weak candidate because she only pulled a total of 49 percent of the vote instead of 50 percent.

McMahon now will face off against the state’s attorney general int he general.

The Hill reports that “The House ethics committee on Monday outlined its charges against Rep. Maxine Waters, who is accused of helping a bank in which her husband owned stock secure federal bailout funds.” The Congressional Black Caucus responded by nominating Waters for “Woman of the Yea.”

Republicans, seeing spending as a “cutting” issue with the electorate this year, are planning to introduce a balanced budget amendment when they come back from Congress’ summer vacation. But the problem with requiring a balanced budget is that you can balance a budget two ways: cut spending or increase taxes. And we already know which most elected officials will opt for if given the chance.

Government agents swooped down on a monthly arts fair in Portland, Oregon, last week and shut down a rogue vendor illegally operating a business without a restaurant license. The vendor was told to immediately cease and desist from her illegal operation or “face a fine of up to $500.”

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Considering the budget crunch facing Nevada, the commitment of both candidates for governor not to raise taxes to deal with it (yes!), and the court ruling in California last week striking down the ban on gay marriages, perhaps now is the time for Nevadans to embrace the age-old wisdom of “If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em.”
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So let me get this straight. Seven teenagers who can’t swim go swimming in a river in Louisiana a week ago. When one starts to drown the others try to save him as their families, who also can’t swim, watch helplessly from the shore. The teens who tried to save the first drowning teen all die in the attempt, while the first teen somehow is rescued and survived.

And this is all somehow the white man’s fault?
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Turmoil continues to roil in Minority Leader Pete Goicoechea’s Republican Assembly Caucus.
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Remember a year ago when Scotland released the Lockerbie bomber who took down Pan Am Flight 103, killing 270 people back in 1988? The reason given was that he supposedly only had three months to live. Well, as the Wall Street Journal notes this afternoon, twelve months later and this barbarian is still alive and kicking and living the sweet life in Tripoli, Libya. I’m surprised Obama hasn’t invited him to the White House for a beer summit yet.

Democrats certainly do have their priorities. As The Hill reported this morning, “Speaker Nancy Pelosi threw lawmakers’ summer plans into chaos Wednesday, announcing the House will interrupt its six-week recess and return to Washington next week to act on Medicaid and education funding for states.” Nothing like a bailout to bring the D’s back to DC.

Any bets on whether or not Charlie Rangel and Maxine Waters “beat the rap”? My guess is that even if found guilty of each and every one of the ethics charges brought against them, unless they are also convicted in a court of law and sentenced to prison…their dumbass voters will re-elect them. And maybe even if they ARE sent to the pokey.

The post office announced on Thursday that it lost $3.5 billion in just the third quarter of this year alone. $3.5 BILLION! When will the idiots in Washington who run our government recognize that ever since Al Gore invented the Internet, we no longer need six-days-a-week mail service and a post office in every town….and that privatizing snail-mail delivery is an idea whose time has come?

The Associated Press reports that Google and Verizon “are close to finalizing a proposal for so-called ‘network neutrality’ rules, which would dictate how broadband providers treat Internet traffic flowing over their lines.” While “net neutrality” sounds innocent enough and sounds warm-and-fuzzy, what it really means is government regulation of the Internet. As Josh Silver put it today on the liberal Huffington Post, this marks “the end of the Internet as we know it.” Al Gore must be rolling over on his massage table.