Some 1000 nurses at local hospitals may go on strike this Monday.  Both sides.. management and nurses.. have legitimate arguments in their favor. We can all hope the disagreement can be settled before these vital caregivers feel they must walk off the job.  The specifics of that issue aside, I wonder what YOU think of the financial tug-of-war that dominates our healthcare system?   We all complain about the cost of healthcare, but no one seems to have the stomach for reform.  Capitalism is at the very heart of our economy, yet most Americans would expect hospital profits to be thrown out the door when a poverty-stricken woman arrives at the ER in labor.  We hate paying taxes, but taxes pay for the poor woman’s delivery.  We hate paying premiums for insurance, but we realize we’re gambling.. and most of us win the bet.  But the system is on a collision course with disaster.  Insurers are cutting back so severly on payments to doctors, that the doctors must increase their patient load, or go with the new trend, "concierge medicine," seeing fewer patients, who have to be rich enough to afford the upfront cost.  Any ideas to fix the system?  Two suggestions from analysts:  1. Structure payments to doctors & hospitals on success rates, not on fee-for-service, in other words, how many patients get well?.. and 2. Mandate that everyone have insurance, according to their ability to pay. Surprisingly, that could drive insurance costs down, because it would bring into the system the people who need it the least: healthy young men, who are now the least likely to be insured.  What do YOU think we should do, before none of us can afford healthcare any more?

A massive pipeline project has been proposed that would import billions of gallons of water from rural Nevada to the Las Vegas Valley. It is now waiting approval by the state engineer. The Southern Nevada Water Authority acknowledges it could cost more than $3 billion. If the plans get the green light, will you be willing to pay for it?

I know it’s hard to believe, but not everyone in Southern Nevada is excited about living in the 70s in November!  While the rest of the country is donning jackets, boasting their gorgeous fall colors – even digging out from an early snowfall – here we sit in the desert under the golden yellow sun, in our summer shorts and flip-flops, waiting for a leaf to drop. What’s wrong with that? 

So I was actually surprised when I received a "hate-mail" last week barking at me about our beautifully abnormal November!  Okay, "hate" is such a strong word – let’s call it "less-than-like" mail.  This viewer is more than ready to wear their snuggly fall sweaters and obviously Mother Nature is throwing a monkey wrench into his plans.  Since I praise the extra-pleasant afternoons, he decided to take it out on me.  That’s okay, I guess because afterall, I do front the customer service desk for the Weather Complaints department.  It comes with the territory.

We’ll call our viewer, "frantically-in-need-of-a-fall-fix, Fred."  I sort of feel Fred’s pain, but it soon melts away when I walk outside at the end of my day – around 1 p.m. – and feel that sun bathe my face with comfortable warmth.  I can almost forget that blistering ball of fire that fried my skin and heated up my car steering wheel to a toasty 125 degrees as recently as early September.  We need this short little season (which always feels like it only lasts a couple of weeks) to really enjoy our sublime sunshine, without having to run like roadrunners from shady spot to shady spot to escape the burn.  I really like walking barefoot leisurely around my patio, instead of hopping around like a jackrabbit dodging cars on the Summerlin Parkway during the summer.  And I sure has heck don’t want to be shoveling the deck yet like they are back in Minne-snowta already.  Relax.  We wait a long time to get these beautiful autumn afternoons.  But Fred is still not digging it. 

So what can we do to make Fred – and all the other autumn chill advocates out there like him – happy?  We’ll focus on the crisp mornings and the cool evenings.  Those are nice, too.  The temperatures really take a tumble after that sun goes down before 4:30.  I get a shiver in short sleeves by 6 p.m.  Gasp!  It’s almost too cool to wear my summer capris in the evenings now.  AND I even have to throw on a light-weight warm-up jacket on my commute to work at o’dark-thirty in the morning.  AND… AND I flicked on my heater once already last week when we dipped into the 30’s overnight!  There.  Isn’t that enough?  Trust me, as quickly as our bearable fall and spring seasons pop up, they just as quickly evaporate into our high desert marathons of hot and cold.    

So don’t hate me because I’m not ready to flip the switch on the fireplace just yet!  I want our best two-week season of the year to linger as long as possible.  So what if it’s a little above normal – it’s great!  Relax and rake some leaves, Fred.  I’ll be checking in with you in mid-January to see how weary you are from wearing that winter coat. 

Posted by Sherry Swensk

Boys, boys, boys!! 

    Investigative reporter George Knapp, and multi book author/columnist Jack Sheehan sat down for a couple of beers recently and came up with a list of what they call ”truly iconic figures in the history of Las Vegas”

    It appears they came up with their list of “four individual names, and one generic symbol that qualified” before they defined “iconic.”

   With their names in hand the boys went looking for a definition of “iconic” that fit their pre determined list.

   You can read Sheehan’s column in the Sunday’s Las Vegas Sun to find their definition of iconic, which appears to include just about anyone between a scared religious leader and Sadam Hussein.

    I do not want to steal their thunder, so I will only list the first names of their selection; Howard, Frank, Elvis, Show, and Bugsy.

   How these two giants of the media could fall into the mire of prolonging the bogus contributions of Bugsy is beyond me.

   Bugsy did zilch, jack, nothing, nada, zero, for Las Vegas except for getting killed.  He didn’t like Las Vegas, he was sent to Las Vegas by Meyer Lansky, he had no idea how to create, build or run a casino, and Hollywood had found Las Vegas long before and after Siegel opened and closed the Flamingo.

  Bugsy is a creation of the media perpetuated by those caught up in their own frame of reference.

   Now if Jack and George labeled their list as ”truly iconic figures of southern Nevada south of Sahara and north of Sunset road, along Las Vegas Blvd,” it would have had some validity.

    We should give them their dues, Jack and George, did label Bugsy the “least iconic” of their list.   “Least Iconic?” o.k.

    To help the boys, we should come up with list of who you think are the “truly iconic figures in Las Vegas history.”    I’ll start.  Helen Stewart.

  Submitted by:  Bob Stoldal, Current member of the American Air Mail Society and former member of the Magic Lantern Society of the United States and Canada.

Posted by:  Bob Stoldal

Automobile related complaints top the list of consumer concerns and for good reason. The Nevada attorney general’s office is cracking down on crooked mechanics.

Has a car repair shop ever ripped you off? The I-Team wants to know.

Actual names of auto repair shops will be replaced with "auto repair shop" and those names will be forwarded to the I-Team.

Now, I am not taking sides here, but just pointing out if Rory Reid and the Clark County Commission, and Mayor Oscar Goodman and the Las Vegas City Council following their pals in Pahrump, we will have to redo our infamous slogan to “What occurs in the Meadows says in the Meadows.”   By the way, don’t even think about it Mr. Rossi Ralenkotter, head of the Meadows Convention Authority, I am already in the process of copyrighting, or trade marking or what ever you do to protect a great idea.

    Other changes would be in order; the famous  Meadows Strip, Meadows Mayor Oscar Goodman. (humm that does have a familiar ring.)

     I already missed one opportunity.  A well known wag is working in trying to make a few bucks off of “whatever occurs in Pahrump says in Pahrump.”  He thought it was a bon mot.

Submitted by: Robert Stoldal, former member of the American Name Society, and current member of Friends of Midas, Nevada and half Danish.

The Federal Aviation Administration announced in Nov. 2006 that planes will again start to leave McCarran International Airport to the northwest.  When the plan was tested, it produced a firestorm of protest.

Now, the city of Las Vegas says is taking t he FAA to court over the "right turn" decision. The city claims the FAA did not analyze the impact on air quality, specifically carbon monoxide and particular matter from the increase in the number of planes sitting on the runway.

Do you agree with the city of Las Vegas and the residents in the northwest valley? Or do you agree with the FAA’s "right turn" decision?

People wonder why we’re a society so obsessed about drugs — legal or illegal. They wonder why today’s youth think it’s OK. They think it’s OK, ’cause we’re a society obsessed by drugs. We get sick — take a pill. Turn on the TV, and inevitably we see drug ads. Kids don’t distinguish. We use the same word for legal and illegal subsances: Drugs.

I think the same goes for problems on our roads and highways. Police, and sane drivers everywhere want all the “rest” of the drivers to slow down, act sensibly, and drive courteously.

It won’t happen as long as we are in a society that promotes individual initiative, aggressiveness, and “me” above virtually all else that matters.

Police may be successful in forcing speeders to slow down, but it’s just a band-aid.

We as Americans didn’t get to be #1 by being “nice” (for the most part). As a collective consciousness globally we’re bullies, and we get our way…because we work hard, yes, but because we’re a culture of pugnacious, assertive, and self-centered individuals.

To really make drivers behave, they have to be considerate, caring, and sharing. Those are lovely words, and they apply to some of us some of the time…but not during a hectic, busy work day when the individual’s needs must be met in a dash to achieve more, have higher status, and if necessary — yes– walk (or drive) all over my neighbor on the road to get where I’M going while I’m on my way to the top!

Speed can be like a drug, actually. It literally raises the endorphins and other esoterically-named hormones that can change our normally calm demeanor into rage when we’re all sitting anonymously protected in our cans (cars).

Oh, and besides drugs, and a narcissistic love of self, our country is obsessed by the culture of cars too.

It doesn’t surprise me that the above combination leads to rude drivers being the #1 pet peeve in Las Vegas.

—–submitted by Dave Courvoisier

English is now the official language of Pahrump. The town board passed an English-only ordinance after heated and emotional debate Tuesday night. Critics called the ordinance racist. It’s author, a town board member, says they are sending a message. What’s your take? Scroll down to the end of the blog to post your comment.