Obama

CARSON CITY – The U.S. Department of Homeland Security will officially begin accepting applications Wednesday for “deferred action” from young immigrants who were brought to the United States as children and who meet other specific requirements.

Talk about a “dog with a bone”!

The Republican House of Representatives has once again voted to eliminate the Corporation for National and Community Service (“CNCS”). The first time they did this, the Senate voted it down and you would have thought that’s that.

CARSON CITY – The U.S. Department of Education today approved Nevada’s request for a waiver from the No Child Left Behind Act in exchange for state-developed accountability measures.

Nevada’s accountability plan is designed to prepare all students for college and career readiness, substantially raise the achievement of the lowest achieving students, and support effective teaching and administration.

CARSON CITY – It’s not just jobs and the economy but the future of Social Security and Medicare that concerns Nevadans aged 50 and older in this 2012 presidential election year, according to a new poll commissioned by the AARP and released today.

CARSON CITY – With U.S. Sen. Harry Reid’s 5^th annual National Clean Energy Summit set to kick off today in Las Vegas, the debate over alternative energy development and the government’s role in its future rages on.

CARSON CITY – A pair of Nevada small business owners today said the federal government needs to ease off on its excessive regulatory efforts under the Obama administration if it wants to encourage job growth here and around the country.

The chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, Julius Genachowski, will visit Barton Memorial Hospital in South Lake Tahoe on Monday as part of a tour visiting health care facilities in California and Nevada. The visit coincides with the FCC's Rural Healthcare Pilot Program, in which Barton Health received funding.
More information on the visit is forthcoming. Check back later today at www.SouthTahoeNow.com. Here is a bio on Genachowski found on the FCC's website.

CARSON CITY – Nevada ranks 40^th among the states for the amount of energy consumed per person, according to the nonprofit website EnergyTrends.org.

The state rankings were released on Wednesday and show Nevadans consumed 239 million Btu per capita in 2010 compared to 303 Btu per capita in 2007.

RENO – Presumptive GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney went on the attack against President Obama today in a speech to attendees of the Veterans of Foreign Wars convention here, criticizing him for national security leaks, weak foreign policy and a failure to seize on political opportunities in such countries as Iran.

Romney, speaking to the same group that Obama addressed on Monday, spent his 27-minute talk focusing on his foreign policy views and the need to maintain a strong military presence.

RENO – President Obama told members of the Veterans of Foreign Wars today that he has fulfilled the promises he made four years ago to make America safer, strengthen jobs programs for returning military personnel and fight homelessness, suicide and posttraumatic stress disorder among the nation’s veterans.

LAS VEGAS – State senate Majority Leader and 4th Congressional District candidate Steven Horsford, D-North Las Vegas, said he supports the federal health care law that was upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court in late June.

Dating back to Republican President Theodore Roosevelt (1904) he and every president since has toyed with some kind of a health care plan, but none have had the appetite to place their political careers on the line for it with the exception of President Barrack Obama.

The Carson City Democratic Women's Club monthly meeting will be held Saturday July 14, at Grandma Hatties. At noon, the featured speaker is Dennis Noone, Editor of the Nevada Appeal. There will also be a brief presentation from the Organization of America's Nevada Rural Coordinator concerning the start up of the Obama campaign. A new program for the members will be introduced and plans for the Candidate's BBQ August 25th announced. Please come by 11:15 AM to 11:30 AM if you wish to order off the menu. For more information please call Donna at 884-3037.

CARSON CITY – U.S. Senate candidate and Rep. Shelley Berkley defended her efforts to preserve a kidney transplant program in Nevada in 2008, saying she never advocated for anything that was not in the best interests of patients and patient care.

Berkley, D-Nev., defended her role in preserving the program in response to questions in an interview on the Face To Face television program.

LAS VEGAS — Six-hundred or so of the state’s Democratic party faithful this morning attended their annual state convention at the Bally’s Hotel conference center in Las Vegas. Five-hundred sixty-two delegates were credentialed but about two dozen vendors lined both sides of the room and guests were also welcomed.

CARSON CITY – Washoe County Republican and Democratic Party leaders may disagree on who the best choice is for president, but they agree on one point – Washoe is the “battleground” county in the battleground state that is Nevada.

Clark County is expected to go big for Democrats and President Obama, while Nevada’s rural counties are expected to go strong for Mitt Romney. But Washoe County, where Republicans lead in voter registration by 3,700, has gone for both parties in past elections.

CARSON CITY – Long-time Republican political consultant Sig Rogich said today the 2013 Nevada Legislature has to take a serious look at collective bargaining reforms so that situations like the impending layoff of hundreds of Clark County teachers can be avoided in the future.

CARSON CITY – While Mitt Romney and Barack Obama were campaigning elsewhere today, Nevada Democrats and Republicans took up the battle for the presidency on their behalf.

Rep. Joe Heck, R-Nev., held a telephone conference call to talk up Romney’s credentials as a “turnaround specialist” who will get the country back on track. He also criticized Obama for failing to get spending or the national deficit under control as he promised early on in his presidency.

RENO – President Barack Obama made a brief stopover here today, visiting with a couple who refinanced their home through a White House initiative helping underwater homeowners who have government-backed loans.

After meeting with Paul and Valerie Keller, Obama urged Congress to expand the Home Affordable Refinancing Program (HARP) to other mortgages as well.

CARSON CITY – Gov. Brian Sandoval today announced he has signed an executive order providing reciprocity for military spouses seeking professional licensure in Nevada. The order is effective immediately.

SPARKS — An impassioned motion to revoke credentials for more than 300 delegates who arrived after the meeting began. Heated questions about the presence of guests and whether they were voting. An angry motion to remove the convention chairman. And that was just for starters.

More than 1,600 county delegates today gathered at the Nevada Republican Party convention in Sparks in a meeting that fluctuated between contentiousness and relative calm as the hours rolled on.

CARSON CITY – U.S. Sen. Dean Heller, R-Nev., today sent a letter to the chairmen and ranking members of both the Senate and House Committees on Appropriations asking them to continue defunding the proposed high level nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain.

Elaine and I just returned home from a special way to celebrate a special occasion. March 30 was our 10th wedding anniversary and we had wanted to do something out of the ordinary for that event.

When we were married 10 years ago, we took a 19 day honeymoon in Southeast Asia, which included Hong Kong, China; Singapore, Malaysia; Bangkok, Thailand; and the last eight days at Bali, Indonesia.

Most interesting, we took my new mother-in-law, Mary Bottoms, with us!
I bet that very few of you took your mother-in-law on your honeymoon!

Reading over the coverage of the Supreme Court's oral arguments over the fate of ObamaCare, you might get the impression that the conservative-leaning court will strike this law down.

While those people on each side of the political divide will have their opinions about this, I, as a person whose profession is all about writing and words, am struck by how the future of this law seems hinged on the wording in the legislation.

The major argument against ObamaCare has to do with the requirement that everyone must buy health insurance, otherwise known as the individual mandate.

The Copper Mountain Solar 1 facility in Boulder City that President Obama visited Wednesday is certainly impressive. With nearly 1 million solar panels, the nation’s largest operating solar facility can provide power for about 17,000 homes without producing any harmful emissions or sending any money out of state for dirty coal or foreign oil.

CARSON CITY – After months of prognostications and political maneuvering, Nevada’s 2012 election season crystallized today as the state’s two-week filing period for public office came to a close.

Next up: A June 12 primary followed by the Nov. 6 general election, which will see a lengthy ballot topped by the presidential race, a competitive U.S. Senate race and four congressional contests.

Also at stake is control of the state Legislature, particularly the state Senate, where Democrats have a razor thin 11-10 majority.

CARSON CITY – A new report questions the value of tax incentives and regulations approved by many states around the country, including Nevada, to create “green jobs,” noting that subsidies used for such programs can take away revenue for other needs such as public education.

Event at Obama for America Campaign Office, March 15, at the Carson City Democratic Central Committee Headquarters
at 502 E. John Street (& Roop St.) behind Bank of America

On Thursday at Noon, Occupy Carson City demonstrators, MoveOn.org members and homeowners in crisis will rally at the local Obama for America (OFA) office in Carson City, NV to demand that government-controlled mortgage lenders Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac provide relief to ten million underwater homeowners by adjusting their mortgages to reflect the true value of their home.

Get up and stand up for your fellow Americans at a "Save American Homes" demonstration hosted by Occupy Carson City members. Join us on your lunch hour during our Thursday, March 15 event from 12Noon until 2pm in front of the Carson City Democratic Campaign Office to deliver our message and a petition to President Obama. Please RSVP at:
http://pol.moveon.org/event/saveourhomes/128066

Rick Santorum — “Prenatal testing, particularly amniocentesis, I’m not talking about general prenatal care...We’re talking about specifically prenatal testing, and specifically amniocentesis, which is a procedure that actually creates a risk of having a miscarriage when you have it, and is done for the purposes of identifying maladies in the womb. And which in many cases, in fact most cases, physicians recommend, particularly if there’s a problem, recommend abortion.