I am not going to be able to take any more time off if I want to keep some of my old friends. Every time I take time off, I lose a friend; this time I lost two friends – two old friends that maybe I was not that close to, but they were friends nevertheless. Rogelio Darias, one of the best bongo players of the last two centuries, died at the age of 93 in his favorite city, Las Vegas, where most of his successful career took place when he was not touring the European or Asian continent or South and Central America with the many superstars of show business with whom he worked. Liberace, Xavier Cougar, Paul Anka and Miguelito Valdez were among those who saw and recognized Darias' talent and added him to their band or group during his career. Darias was always dressed impeccably and was...

Most people who know me and Lou Toomin are aware that we have had some differences and disagreements in the past; but last December Lou was humble enough to approach me during an event that we both attended to ask me for a truce. We shook hands and wished each other a happy holiday in front of several FIORE presidents who were very happy to witness our peace pact. Lou used to be part of the Friday Lunch Cabinet where, for a long time, a group of five friends got together for lunch and talked about nothing and about everything but business. Business is not part of that friendly Friday lunch. It is almost like a miniature FIORE non-club club created by that entertainment luminary, Nelson Sardelli. Later, one of the participants – Las Vegas businessman Peter Elliades – stopped attending...

Dear Mr. Hunt:   Last Sunday I was lying in bed watching This Week with George Staponopolis – as I do every Sunday, my only day off – when I heard you talk about the Republican corruption in Las Vegas. I could not believe that a journalist, a newsman of your caliber, could go on a national television show and spew such an ignorant statement when you said that the corruption in Nevada is from the Governor down. Mr. Hunt, I have no idea how many times you have visited Las Vegas or how many times you have covered any news in Las Vegas, but let me remind you that Las Vegas is not only what the only local daily newspaper, the Las Vegas Review-Journal, prints on its pages. Actually, investigative reporters from the Los Angeles Times come here and then they reprint those articles in their...

Many people have been asking me what I expect or what I wish to see happen during this year that started this past week. I really never put that much attention on expectations, and I really did not think of making a wish for this year; but after so many close friends brought it to my attention, I think I am going to make a temporary wish list, adding to it as the year goes by. I wish people would stop using their cell phones while they walk across the street, or when they're walking in the parking lot of shopping centers – ignoring cars passing by and giving the impression that the parking lot belongs to them; or looking at the drivers of the cars passing by with "that look" on their faces, as though you are trying to interrupt their telephone call. I wish people would stop thinking...

The death of former Venezuelan president Rafael Antonio Caldera last week in Caracas, at the age of 93, has brought memories to my mind of the mistakes politicians make – without weighing the consequences – when they pardon and release from prison undesirable human beings. It was just two months ago, in November 2009, that a convicted, professional criminal in Washington State ambushed and killed four Lakewood police officers in a cafeteria, leaving four families totally destroyed just before Christmas. The shooter of the officers, Maurice Clemmons, was granted clemency by former Republican governor of Arkansas, Mike Huckabee, after Clemmons served only 11 years of a combined 95-year sentence for robbery and burglary convictions on charges prosecuted when he was 17. Clemmons moved...

We have always been of the impression that the mainstream media is not the fountain of information that it should be. In fact, we got to the point where we believe that the mainstream media is more of an obstacle than a service to the community we live in. The important issues are either ignored or just reported very lightly, leaving the people even more confused or more ignorant by offering them the wrong information. There is no doubt in our minds that the reporting of the news has become more of a news mogul editorial or commentary than a news reporting. As our founder and editor in chief has said time and time again, the media likes to create the news instead of just doing its job of R-E-PO-R-T-I-N-G the news as it is supposed to do. Both daily newspapers maintain an office inside the Regional Justice Center, City Hall and the County building but they leave it to the "outside" newspapers to come in and badger our judicial system in an obvious personal vendetta so they,...

Obama's obsession President Obama is so obsessed with his healthcare reform that he doesn't want to accept the fact and reality that what the American people need are jobs. JOBS, to enable people to pay for items of primary necessity – necessities such as paying the rent or mortgage; and the electric, gas, water and telephone bills. And I'm not even mentioning food: who needs to buy food when we can expect the First Lady to send us vegetables grown in the White House garden? Is Obama going to continue blaming the Bush administration for the fate of this country? Is it too much to ask him to understand that his so-called changes have taken us to changes for the worse? That in one whole year we haven't seen any of his hope and change? This man is spending millions and billions of dollars like there is no tomorrow. He has been traveling from coast to coast, country to country, without considering the fact that Air Force One doesn't operate on the pee of the Secret...

For more than a decade this newspaper has worked very hard to keep a good and amicable relationship with other publications and media organizations – most of them owned by the one and only Las Vegas Review-Journal – by staying away and not paying attention to whatever they do. We neither criticized nor complimented their work. We may personally compliment some of the reporters, and maybe even some of the columnists, when they deserve it, but we never interfere with their jobs. On many occasions we even stepped aside so they could do their job faster, taking into consideration that they are daily and we have one whole week for working a story. Our concessions were not made because we thought the R-J was better than we are; they were a simple courtesy to colleagues who most likely have more pressure on them than any of us have. We have always given our writers, reporters and columnists the freedom to write whatever they wanted, about whoever they wanted, as long as it was not a...

The Census is Coming! The Census is Coming! So, every ten years, give or take a few days, weeks or months, the overwhelming project of people-counting gets underway. Our government tells us that they need that information to better know how to distribute that $400 billion that is waiting to be apportioned between hospitals, schools, programs for the elderly, job training, public works and emergency services. It is not just important, they say; it is mandatory. "The actual enumeration shall be made within three years after the first meeting of the Congress of the United States, and within every subsequent term of 10 years, in such manner as they shall by Law direct," so it states in Article I, Section 2 of the Constitution of the United States. Apparently, that kind of information has been of interest to our country – for one reason or another – ever since 1790, the year of our first census. And, apparently, the task of such information-gathering does not...

Everyone is up in arms about the misuse of words coming out of Senator Harry Reid's big mouth during the last presidential election, in 2008. This is not the first time that our senior senator erred and it is not going to be the last time either, but asking the senator to resign his position is a little too harsh. Many other elected officials have erred as many times as Harry Reid has, and no one has asked for their resignations. The issue is too old to request a punishment now instead of waiting until November and then voting him out; after all, most likely he might not be as powerful any more now that the president knows how he thinks, despite the fact that he accepted Reid's appology.  We have been predicting that this is the last time Harry Reid will serve in the Senate, and we have also suggested to our senator to retire with dignity instead of running again, but he has ignored both our predictions and our suggestions. It seems as if he would rather fight to the end and...

We’re inundated with conflicting statistics regarding the economy. Don’t believe everything you hear or read, but do gather information, think for yourself and make your own decisions. This leads me to issue Trend Warning #1: What’s being pitched today by the government has been tried before. It didn’t work then, and it won’t work now. Following the Group of 20 summit, Barack Obama, while acknowledging there are no guarantees of success, declared, “I have no doubt, though, that the steps that have been taken are critical to preventing us sliding into a depression.” Given that President Obama cannot provide guarantees, how can he “have no doubt”? It looks to me like all of the bailouts, rescue packages, stimulus plans that he has supported or initiated to date have already failed. And since the new plans are nothing more than variations upon tried, tested and failed policies, they, too, are destined to fail. And we’re borrowing massively against future generations...

According to a January 4th report out of Albany, NY, Richard and Margie Cressy were “arrested on child endangerment charges” after authorities received an anonymous tip.  And just what heinous abuse were the Cressys inflicting on their four children, ages 8 to 14? You’re not going to believe it. These dastardly, diabolical monsters….dared to home-school their children for seven years without getting the permission of government authorities! Richard Hoffman, the local school district superintendent, said the Cressys “didn’t fulfill their legal responsibility to file with the school district to be home-schooled” even while admitting that the Cressys were, in fact, teaching their kids at home.  That’s right. Richard and Margie were busted, not for failing to educate their children, but for “failing to register their children with the school district.” By the way, Nevada requires the same kind of “registration.” According to the news story, “Hoffman said the Cressys...

More than 31 million Americans have been idled to some degree by this Grave Recession. That number is shockingly high. But when you're out of work, it's easy to feel alone. And it's easy to lose sight of the fact that millions of Americans share the strains of unemployment: the sleepless nights worrying about the bills, the dreary days surfing job listings and countless weekends shopping for cheap eats. Realizing that you're not alone, though, is the first step in getting back to work. There is strength in numbers. And the more jobless Americans work  together, the quicker they can end this devastating downturn.

EULOGY Today we mourn the passing of a beloved old friend, Common Sense, who has been with us for many years. No one knows for sure how old he was or where he was born, since his birth records were long ago lost in bureaucratic red tape.  He will be remembered as having cultivated such valuable lessons as: - Knowing when to come in out of the rain - Why the early bird gets the worm - Life isn't always fair - The value of treating others with respect and dignity - Refusing to be abused by others - Being honest and fair - Maybe it was my fault - Money isn’t everything

On a recent family visit to my hometown of Memphis, Tennessee, I took my daughters by the Lorraine Motel, the site of the assination of the Rev. Dr.  Martin Luther King, Jr. I was seven years old when King was struck down. I have gone by the Lorraine numerous times over the years to remember King and his amazing legacy. Next week we will celebrate his memory with a holiday in his honor. Aristotle said, “Hope is a waking dream.” Martin Luther King, Jr. was certainly a man whose dream awakened a nation and helped right the course of our history. Though taken from us way too early, we can still learn lessons from him when we challenge ourselves to live big dreams. Big dreams inspire us to greater causes. On August 28, 1963, hundreds of thousands descended on the Mall in Washington, D.C. to hear King deliver his famous I Have a Dream speech. In it he said, “This note was a promise that all men, yes, black men as well as white men, would be guaranteed the unalienable rights of life,...