Category: random

Having jus’ gotten off duty, I was still in my camouflage fatigues when I stopped at the grocery store to pick up a couple of items. Finished, I went to the check-out stand, where I ended up standing behind a mother and her young son.

He was about seven and eye-balled me seriously for about a minute. The way he stared at me left me feeling slightly unnerved and caused me to check not only to see if my gig-line was straight, but to make sure my fly was buttoned.

Then he looked up at his mom and loudly whispered, “Does he think he can’t be seen?”

A few year later and now out of the Marine Corps, my six-year-old son, Kyle came walking quietly down the hallway dressed in camouflage pants and a long sleeve camouflage tee-shirt.  I said good morning to him.

He stopped, dead in his tracks and with eyes wide from surprise, and asked, “You can see me?”

Former President Bill Clinton is back in Nevada to stump in the campaign battleground state for President Barack Obama and local Democratic candidates. The former president spoke at the Springs Preserve in Las Vegas about choices in the presidential election between Obama and Republican challenger Mitt Romney.

U.S. Rep. Shelley Berkley and congressional candidates John Oceguera and Steven Horsford are took part in the rally. His visit comes 11 days before the start of early voting in Nevada.

Later the former president implored California university students to vote for Democrats this November, acting in what he says are their own best interests. Clinton rallied about 5,000 enthusiastic students and supporters at the University of California, Davis, saying he wanted to offer a “fact check” he says was missing from last week’s presidential debate.

He appeared with four California congressional candidates in newly competitive seats: incumbent Reps. John Garamendi and Jerry McNerney, and Democrats Ami Bera and Jose Hernandez, who are vying to unseat incumbent GOP congressmen in the Sacramento area.

Clinton said Republicans failed at their number one goal of keeping unemployment above 8 percent.

Mitt Romney’s son Craig is hitting the campaign trail in northern Nevada for his dad. The Romney-Ryan campaign bus made stops in Fernley, Fallon, Gardnerville and Reno. His last stop in Nevada was September 28th, when he visited to open the campaign’s new east Las Vegas office.

Both candidates are concentrating on nine of the 50 states including Nevada. Some 93 percent of the $746 million spent so far on campaign ads has poured into the so-called battleground states, which include less than a quarter of the nation’s voters.

Nevada’s Governor Brian Sandoval says he won’t decide whether expanding Medicaid eligibility as called for under the federal health care reform law will be part of his budget proposal until after the November election and state revenue projections in December. The governor said his administration is still awaiting guidance from the federal government on various aspects of the law.

Sandoval has told state agencies to prepare “flat” budgets for the upcoming biennium, in part because of anticipated costs associated with the health care reform law. Agency budget requests to be submitted this week.

Nevada’s newest town officially opened for business July 1st, 2001. One hundred years earlier though, there was no such place.

The general area was part of the fledgling Truckee-Carson Reclamation Project created by Congress in 1902. On June 9th, 1904, the Lyon County Commissioners created the Canal Township next to the newly constructed Truckee Canal.

It was not until the Southern Pacific Railroad realigned its route through northwestern Nevada that the Fernley siding was created. Fernley first shows up as a station stop on September 18th, 1904.

Nearly a year later, Fernley is listed with a day and night telegraph office and wye facilities, for turning trains around.  A public school also operated  during the 1908-09 school year.

The one room school-house is still in use today as the home of the Fernley Chamber of Commerce.

Jus’ 159 people lived in the Fernley area in 1910 and most were active in the Socialist Party. The Southern Pacific Railroad completed the Fernley & Lassen Railway four years later and a suitable depot was constructed in Fernley.

Residents welcomed the Transcontinental Lincoln/Victory highways through town in the 1920s. Yet by 1960, only 654 people were living near the siding.

In 1965, the Nevada Cement Company opened a new plant built on the north side of the city between Fernley and Wadsworth. This was the first significant non-agricultural/ranching business to come to Fernley, aside from the railroad.

The population more than doubled by 1970 with the construction of Interstate 80. By 1980, the population more than doubled again.

Then in 1999, Amazon opened an order fulfillment center in the  former Stanley Works building, providing thousands of new jobs.  Since then, more companies have opened facilities in the town including Trex Inc., Allied Signal, UPS Worldwide Logistics (Honeywell), ARE Campers, Johns Manville, and Sherwin Williams Paint.

In 2010, the census listed 19,368 people living in Fernley.

Over the years, there has been speculation about Fernley’s name. One claim is that a Welsh physician by the name of Fernley opened a coal mine in the area, supplying coal to the railroad and yet another is that a Tom Fernley owned and operated a casino there in the 1930s

Yet no coal mines are known to have operated near Fernley, there’s no record of a Dr. Fernley living or practicing medicine there and Tom Fernley never operated a casino there either. It should be noted however, the Fernley family name is of Welsh origin and the town of Hereford, near Wales, was once known as Fernley.

Nevada’s largest newspaper is endorsing Mitt Romney for president, saying he has the principles and experience to lead the U.S. to prosperity again. The Las Vegas Review-Journal, in its Sunday editions, wrote that Romney was a Republican governor in heavily Democratic Massachusetts who had to work with Democrats to get things done.

The newspaper states his business management skills turned failing companies into profitable ones, and he has pledged to create a Cabinet of private-sector leaders focused on strengthening the nation’s business climate. The Review-Journal faulted President Barack Obama, saying his administration lacks in business experience and is openly hostile to free-market capitalism.

The newspaper endorsed Republican U.S. Sen. John McCain for president four years ago.

Two members of Nevada’s congressional delegation have joined the list of those who want to know why federal prosecutors in Reno stopped pursuing cases from local agents with the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. Aides to Senator Dean Heller and Congressman Mark Amodei they have requested an explanation from both ATF and the U.S. Attorney’s office in Nevada.

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley is investigating the yearlong rift, which all but emptied the Reno ATF office and ended their undercover investigations into illegal firearms trafficking operations in Nevada. An assistant U.S. attorney in Reno reportedly told ATF agents in a September 2011 letter that her office won’t prosecute any ATF cases until certain unnamed “issues” are resolved.

Democratic congressional candidate John Oceguera is out with a new ad criticizing Congressman Joe Heck for his votes on a rape crisis center and abortion. The commercial points to Heck’s 2007 vote on a bill funding a crisis center, and says the Republican tried to restrict abortion for victims of rape.

It features a victim advocate saying she can’t understand someone voting that way unless he hadn’t looked in victims’ eyes. Heck’s campaign says Heck denied the bill including the rape crisis center money because it contained several unrelated provisions and was being pushed through in the final hours of the Nevada legislative session.

Heck officials say that while the congressman supported a bill against taxpayer-funded abortions, it included an exception for victims of rape and incest.

Faced with rising costs, Governor Brian Sandoval is backing off his promise to undo pay cuts imposed on state employees last year. Gerald Gardner, his chief of staff, says the governor has issued orders to agency heads to continue the reductions in the proposed 2014-15 budget.

Faced with rising costs, Sandoval is backing off his promise to undo pay cuts imposed on state employees last year. Gerald Gardner, his chief of staff, says the governor has issued orders to agency heads to continue the reductions in the proposed 2014-15 budget.

Gardner adds Sandoval hasn’t given up on efforts to undo the work furloughs, pay cuts, and suspension of merit and longevity pay imposed on state workers. But he says the governor doesn’t know if he’ll get the money to do so as rising costs are more than eating up revenue gains amid a weak economic recovery.

State employees complain the cuts amount to a tax increase on them so that businesses don’t have to pay more taxes.

Nevada has launched a new website to help  the state’s youth in their job searches. The site is available at NevadaYouth.org and includes tips on resumes, cover letters and interviews.

The site links to state-approved programs and organizations that help young people in assessing their career interests and planning for their future. It also highlights job openings throughout the state. Governor Sandoval says Nevada’s future depends on preparing youth, and is encouraging parents and teens to explore the site’s resources.

The site is a project of Nevada JobConnect and comes with the help of the Governor’s Workforce Investment Board.

Bumper stickers are generally an entire thesis in one sentence. In the last couple of months I’ve written down a few:

“All men are animals and some make nice pets.”

“Grow your own dope – plant a man.”

“Never judge a girl by her bumper sticker.”

“Have you ever experienced déjà vu? Have you ever experienced déjà vu?”

“I’ve lowered my expectations to the point where they’ve already been met.”

“I’m not a complete idiot. Some parts are missing.”

“Jack Kevorkian for White House Physician.”

“You know you are getting older when Happy Hour is a nap.”

“Getting second place means you won first place as a loser.”

“I’ve upped my standards, now up yours.”

“When all the chips are down, the buffalo is empty.”

“Never eat more than you can lift.”

“Watch out for the idiot behind me.”

“The fastest way to a fisherman’s heart is through his fly.”

And my favorite: “Very funny Scotty; now beam down my clothes!”

“The nation that reveres the First Amendment cannot revere it so much as to regard it without the First Commandment,” I told a group of church-goers once.

That is to say, the First Commandment should be more important to ‘how’ I use my words than the First Amendment, which gives me the right to say ‘what’ I do. And although I enjoy my free speech, being a Christ-follower entails exercising my rights in a way that shows ‘love’ towards others.

This nuance is often missed entirely by those who claim the First Commandment and First Amendment do not go together.  The reason it’s missed is simple: application of intellect and not heart.

Admittedly, I miss the mark on this more times than not — but I’m trying to do better.

Former pro basketball player Greg Anthony is backing Mitt Romney for president in a new Nevada TV commercial.  Romney’s campaign says the commercial launched statewide Friday.

The University of Nevada, Las Vegas alum says in the ad that he voted for President Barack Obama in 2008 because he thought Obama was a centrist. Anthony says he lost faith in Obama and is now supporting Romney, who he calls “a no-excuse kind of guy.”

Anthony is a native Nevadan who played for NBA teams in New York, Vancouver, Seattle, Portland, Milwaukee and Chicago. He’s a sports analyst for CBS.

Tens of thousands of the Mormon faithful are descending on Utah’s largest city for the semi-annual general conference of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. The general conference in Salt Lake City allows Mormons to hear gospel-centered talks about faith, family and mission work from senior church leaders.

Senator Harry Reid’s office says the Senate Majority Leader will not be attending.

The conference also could be particularly festive given the upcoming presidential election, with Republican candidate Mitt Romney the first Mormon to gain the nomination from a major party. A church spokesman says it’s unlikely that Romney’s name will come up during the five church sessions this weekend.

And it was a testy first debate for two candidates running for Nevada’s newest congressional seat. Democrat Steven Horsford and Republican Danny Tarkanian faced off Thursday night.

Tarkanian slammed Horsford for proposing a tax increase while Horsford served as state senate majority leader. Horsford invoked his latest attack ad tying Tarkanian to the tea party by calling his opponent a “self-proclaimed crazy radical.” Both candidates however sidestepped direct questions on their policy plans.

The debate is the first of three scheduled in the race for Congressional District 4, which stretches across Clark, Esmeralda, Lincoln, Lyon, Mineral, Nye and White Pine counties.

In 2004, Tarkanian was the Republican nominee for Nevada Senate and lost in the general election. In 2006, he was the Republican nominee for Nevada Secretary of State and lost in the general election. In 2010 he was a candidate in the Republican primary for the U.S. Senate, finishing third behind Sharron Angle and Sue Lowden.

Third-party candidates Gary Johnson and Virgil Goode are simply blips in the presidential race, but that makes them a big deal. Johnson is a former New Mexico governor running as the Libertarian Party nominee, while Goode is a conservative ex-congressman from Virginia competing as the Constitution Party candidate.

Democratic President Barack Obama’s campaign quietly has been keeping track of the two former Republican officeholders who could prove pivotal in Nevada where he and Republican challenger Mitt Romney are in a tight race. In 2008, more than 2 million voters chose someone other than the major party nominee.

The unemployment rate nationwide decreased to 7.8 percent in September as employment rose by 114,000. The Bureau of Labor Statistic shows among what it calls the “major worker groups,” the unemployment rates for adult men is 7.3 percent; adult women, 7.0 percent; whites, 7.0 percent; teenagers, 23.7 percent; blacks,13.4 percent; Hispanics, 9.9 percent; and Asians, 4.8 percent.

If you add all seven groups together, it works out to a rounded total of 77.9 percent. Then by dividing 77.9 percent by seven the rate increases to jus’ over 11-percent.

Meanwhile 12.1 million people in the U.S. remain unemployed.

It’s more than clear to me that President Obama ran guns through Libya into Syria, by-passing Congress once again. This comes as its been learned that between 300 to 400 national security officials received emails detailing the Benghazi terrorist attack as it was happening on 9/11, raising fresh questions about the truth behind the attack.

The emails show that the Libyan radical Islamic group Ansar al-Sharia claimed responsibility for the attack jus’ two hours after it began via social media. Furthermore, White House officials said an unmanned Predator drone was sent over the U.S. mission in Libya, providing Washington with a live feed to the chaos that unfolded.

Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens was officially on a diplomatic mission in Benghazi, though it’s clear the U.S. “Special Mission Compound” building had more to do with the CIA than diplomacy. The idea that Stevens could have been involved in redirecting arms from Libya to Syria is hardly a stretch.

He had the perfect résumé for gun-running, as he had helped manage gun-running to the Libyan rebels during the insurgency against former dictator Moammar Gadhafi. The White House named Stevens liaison to the Libyan rebels in March 2011, months before Gadhafi’s August 2011 ouster.

A distress message left by U.S. diplomat Sean Smith, who died in the attack, on a gaming website, a strange place to post a message like this: “Assuming we don’t die tonight, we saw one of our ‘police’ that guard the compound taking pictures.”

Thirty four minutes later, when the Americans in the CIA safe house already knew something was wrong, U.S. Ambassador Stevens took a meeting with the Turkish ambassador. That ambassador leaves with no incident, unharmed.

Hours later, the attack began. The fight lasted for seven hours, until the break of dawn, again — with the live feed streamed to the White House Situation Room.

Benghazi isn’t the first time unauthorized gun-running schemes initiated by the Obama administration have cost American lives. The U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATFE) gave some 2,000 high-powered weapons to Mexican-based drug cartels in 2009 and then lost track of the guns.

The death toll from weapons used in the ATFE program — dubbed “Fast and Furious” – stands at more than 200 people 200 deaths and it continues to rise. Among the dead is U.S. Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry, shot and killed in December 2010 near Rio Rico, Arizona, while attempting to apprehend a group of armed subjects.

Obama allowed the attack to happen and four Americans die so the evidence would be obliterated and the trail back to the White House would go cold. This is also why it took the FBI such a long time to get into the compound where the attack happened, even though a CNN reporter was able to walk in and recover Stevens’ personal diary.

You can live days without water and weeks without food. People who don’t survive in the outdoors most often die from losing their body heat, not necessarily from starvation or dehydration.

You need to be able to start a fire. And perhaps most importantly, you need to be able to build a shelter to stave off wind, rain and snow, and to keep your body heat trapped where it belongs: near your body.

Here are the keys to taking shelter in the wilderness:

Choosing the best place to build a survival shelter is important. It should be in the driest spot you can find. Nothing sucks out body heat faster than wetness.

If it isn’t too cold, build a shelter on high ground. Breezes will help keep the bugs away, and you’ll be easier to see if a search party passes nearby.

If a cold wind is blowing, choose a spot sheltered by trees. But don’t build in the bottom of deep valleys or ravines where cold air settles at night.

Other bad places to build a shelter includes anywhere the ground is damp or on mountaintops and open ridges where exposed to the wind. Again in the bottom of narrow valleys where cold collects at night.or washes where water runs when it rains.

If it’s almost dark and you can hurriedly collect dry debris (leaves, pine needles, bark) from the forest floor, make a pile two or three feet high and longer than you are tall. When you burrow into the pile, you are in a natural sleeping bag that protects against heat loss.

The simplest shelter is a fallen tree that has enough room under it for you to crawl in. Lean the branches against the windward side of the tree (so the wind is blowing into it and not against it) to make a wall.

Make the wall thick enough to keep out wind. If you can build a fire on the open side of your shelter, the heat will help keep you warm.

If you find a fallen tree without enough room under it, or a rock or a small overhang, you can build a simple lean-to. Start by leaning fallen limbs against the object, such as the top edge of an overhang, to create a wall.

Lean the limbs at an angle to help shield rain. Cover the leaning limbs with leaves, boughs, pine needles, bark or whatever the forest offers.

When you have built a thick wall, you can crawl underneath into your shelter. Remember to make your shelter no bigger than you need to fit you and anybody else with you.

The bigger the space, the harder it is to keep warm.

You can also build a lean-to by placing one end of a long stick across a low limb of a tree and propping up the other end of the stick with two more sticks. Tie the ends of the sticks together with your boot laces or belt.

Lean more sticks against the horizontal stick. Then pile leaves and other forest debris against the leaning sticks until you have a wall.

Once again, a fire on the open side of the lean-to will add much heat to your “room.”

If you can’t make a lean-to, you can make an A-frame shelter. You’ll need two sticks four or five feet long and one stick 10 to 12 feet long.

Prop the two shorter sticks up in the shape of the letter A. Prop the longer stick up at the top of the A. Tie the three sticks together where they meet. The three sticks will be in the shape of an A-frame tent with one end collapsed against the ground.

Now prop up more sticks against the longer stick, and pile forest debris against the sticks until you have an insulated shelter open at the high-end.

When you have a tarp, sheet of plastic or Space Blanket with you, and some rope or cord, tie a line between two trees. Tie it low to the ground with just enough room for you to lie beneath.

Stretch the tarp over the line. Place large rocks or logs on the ends of the tarp to hold it in place with the edges close to the ground. If it’s snowing, tie the line off higher on the trees. Steeper walls will shed snow better.

Now you have an emergency tent.

Your shelter is not complete until you have made a bed to lie in. Dry leaves work well.

Make your bed a little bigger than the space your body covers and at least eight inches thick. When you snuggle into it, you are ready for the unexpected night out.