MUTH'S TRUTHS 10/02/2013

FATHER OF KIRNER TAX HAS A COW

In a spleen-venting, p*ss-and-vinegar letter-to-the-editor complaining about my Kirner Tax column published in the Nevada Appeal, Gumby Assemblyman Randy “Kirner Tax” Kirner (R-Kirner Tax), father of the Kirner Tax (www.KirnerTax.com), wrote…

“Bottom-line, his (Chuck Muth’s) opinion page missive is political and lacks respect for the legislative process, my colleagues, myself and most especially you the reader as he tries to bully us with his political agenda.”

Well, um, duh.  My weekly Nevada Appeal column is a political column.  I don’t write about travel, food or sports; I write about politics.  That’s what makes it, um, political.

Secondly, I have a lot of respect for the legislative process. Problem is, Kirner attempted to circumvent the will of the people themselves by passing the buck and kicking the can with his scheme to get the members of the Washoe County Commission to approve a tax hike instead of getting 2/3 of the Legislature to pass it.

Thirdly, if by “colleagues” Kirner is referring to his gaggle of moderate Republicans who regularly wipe their feet on the Republican Party platform and sell us out to the Democrats for a handful of magic beans because they’re too afraid or too incompetent to act like a true opposition party…then, yeah, guilty as charged. 

And I’m sorry Mr. Kirner has such a problem with citizens voicing their opinions which don’t comport with his own. What he calls “bullying” for a political agenda the Founders called “free speech” and the right to petition government for redress.  If Mr. Kirner doesn’t like it, maybe he should run in Kabul instead of Reno.

RALSTON RETORTS!

• Not 1, not 2, not 3, not 4…but FIVE boo-boos in one weekly report
• Ralston flubs…but “never mind”

THE BILBRAY FILES

Democrat congressional candidate Erin Bilbray-without-the-Kohn tweeted the following on Tuesday about the government shutdown:

“A vote to not fund our government for ideological reasons is a vote that deliberately weakens our country.”

Typical mindless partisan pap. 

It’s not for “ideological” reasons.  It’s for fiscal reasons.  As Sen. Rand Paul (R-Kentucky) explained in an earlier tweet, “While I don't want to shut down government, we're spending our kids' future and we cannot keep doing it.”

We will if Bilbray-without-the-Kohn gets her way.

THE REAL WAR ON WOMEN

(by Nevada State Sen. Don Gustavson) - Overall, the Second Amendment saw minor victories in the last session, but sadly, one important pro-Second Amendment bill saw defeat again - one that would allow for law-abiding citizens like Amanda Collins to protect herself while on campus.

Most of you are already aware of Amanda's attempt to persuade the Nevada Legislature to enable her right to defend herself...her story goes like this:

In 2007, she was walking to her car after class at UNR when she was attacked and raped by a gun-brandishing serial rapist inside a university parking garage less than 300 yards from a campus police office.

Just months later, this same serial rapist went on to brutally rape and murder 19-year old Brianna Dennison - and to this day Amanda has to live with the additional fact that Brianna's fate might also be different if Amanda, a licensed firearm carrier, had been allowed to carry her own weapon on campus. But because the campus is a designated "gun-free zone," Amanda's fate had already been decided.

This was Amanda's second attempt to persuade the Nevada Legislature to amend their laws in the same fashion that some other states have.  During her first attempt throughout the 2011 session, a former Democrat Nevada lawmaker who labored to defeat the bill argued by stating "by the time any student could get a gun, when they were attacked by someone else with a gun if they went for their gun, it would be a bad outcome."

Apparently, this former lawmaker was oblivious to the fact that getting raped with a gun to your head is already a bad outcome. But that lawmaker misses the bigger point, the point being that any bad outcome is less likely to ever materialize when the bad guys distinguish that citizens are able to protect themselves. Criminals comprehend too well that an advertised "gun-free zone" is a flashing welcome-sign that gives them a license to prey on the helpless. Disarming a victim protects a criminal - it's as simple as that!

For two legislative sessions in a row now, the Assembly Democrat Judiciary Chairs have blocked Amanda's Collins and other women like her the right to protect themselves. So the next time you hear the phrase "war on women," remind yourself which political party is less enthusiastic to allow women the legal right to defend oneself from a serial rapist.

AMANDA COLLINS AT FIRST FRIDAY HAPPY HOUR!

This month’s First Friday Happy Hour is this Friday, October 4 from 5:00 – 7:00 pm at the Blue Martini in Town Square on the south end of the Strip in Las Vegas.  Our VIP guest-of-honor will be our 2014 Courage Under Fire award recipient, Amanda Collins.  Come meet this extraordinary young woman.

EVENTS

The Douglas County Republican Central Committee will hold its Heritage Fundraiser at the Dangberg Ranch Historic Park in Carson Valley on Saturday, October 12th.  Congressman Mark Amodei, State Senator James Settelmeyer and Assemblyman Jim Wheeler plan to attend, as well as NRP Chairman Michael McDonald and NRP Vice Chairman Jim DeGraffenreid.

Further information and tickets available at: http://www.douglasgop.org/p/heritage-fundraiser.html.

FAMOUS LAST WORDS

“Not for the long haul but not because of this. The reason no one has had Pat Hickey's back on this is because he never stands up for anyone else. … The reaction is less about what was said than about Hickey never stepping out for someone else.  This issue has exposed to the public what many already know - that Hickey has his job out of default, rather than the support of his colleagues or a trust in his leadership.” – Anonymous Carson City insider on whether or not Minority Leader Pat Hickey will be able to retain his leadership post after his “minorities” gaffe last week (Hat tip: Ralston Reports)