by Dr. Larry Moses
Published August 6, 2008
No one asked me but…Because of term limits we will lose two of our best public officials. County Commissioner Bruce Woodbury and School Board member Ruth Johnson have been exemplary public servants. The Nevada Supreme Court has ruled that the term limit law, passed by referendum in 1996, applies to both of these government employees.
Ruth and Bruce were both in office when the law was passed and if the law was to be applied as it was to presidential terms limits they would both still be eligible to run for re-election. But this is not the federal law and the Nevada Supreme Court has ruled that the term limit law, as written, applies to both.
While I, too, am not thrilled with losing these two representatives to their respective boards, this is the will of the people. When the referendum was in the process my stand was, and still is, that we have term limits for all elected offices. Periodically all elected officials have to stand to election and at that time the people can replace them if they so desire.
There is no question the incumbent has an advantage and they should have this advantage. They have been in the public making decisions and doing the job. This gives the electorate a chance to evaluate what they have done. If the people are displeased, they can remove them by voting for their opponent. However, those who are now whining about term limits need to remember this was not the doing of the legislature that we so often attack for passing stupid laws; this one belongs to the people. We demanded this through the referendum process. There is an old saying, “Be careful what you wish for, you may just get it.”
No one asked me but…Exxon Mobil announced the biggest quarterly profit of any corporation in U.S. History. This is the corporation that took a 1.2 billion dollar tax break from the government last year. For this break they were supposed to be drilling and exploring for new sources of oil. Which is interesting since the very government that is paying them more than a billion dollars a year to explore will not allow them to drill if they find the oil. Exxon vice president for public affairs says the company would like to do more but they need access to areas currently off limits to the company.
What he needs to understand is that the oil companies had better get what they can while they can because their arrogant attitude is driving people into the alternative energy camp and the greedier they appear the better support the Gorities (I just made that terminology up for Al Gore worshipers) will get.
If we can maintain reasonable prices for oil based products, there will be less demand for alternative fuels. The reason Americans turned to petroleum in the first place was that it was abundant and cheap. Whale oil was cleaner burning but was limited in sources and expensive, besides who would want to kill a whale. Those who tell you that oil based products are limited must look deep into the future to find the world running out of carbon based energy.
Democratic Senator Charles Schumer said he is shocked that “Big Oil” is plowing these profits into stock buybacks instead of increasing production or investing in alternative energy. He stated: “Why do they need more land to drill on when all their money is going into buying up stock?” Why should stock buybacks surprise anyone? Who are the major stock holders in “Big Oil”? They are the executives and board members of the oil companies and that is money in their pockets. The CEO of Exxon, Rex Tillerson, holds $74.7 million dollars worth of Exxon stock. How much did he profit when they voted to buy back stock keeping the Exxon shares from dropping. This does not count his salary or dividends from the stock he holds.
No one asked me but…Scientists have developed a pill that could replace exercise for building muscle. AICAR was used in mice and allowed them to run 44 percent further on a treadmill than mice that did who were not given the drug. This is great news for those of us for who a walk to the refrigerator is a forced march.
I have always believed exercise was over rated. I have on numerous occasions set out to lose weight and get in shape and in that pursuit have tried various methods none of which were very successful. By the way, I will remind you health nuts that round is a shape. It seems only fair that if you walk a mile, you should be able to consume a chocolate sundae.
I even went so far as to take out a gym membership once, cost me $100. I didn’t lose a pound, apparently you have to go there and work out for it to have any effect, nobody told me that.
The scientists developing the pill have stated that it will be a while before the pill will be available for human use. They indicated that they would have to have a test group to see what the side effects are. Now who do you get to test this on? What if it has weird side effects? Are there people who volunteer for this type of experimentation?
When I was in college, I met a fellow in class who was working his way through as a test person for studies done by scientist at the university. I found this out when he came to class one day with a black eye. I asked him what happened and he said he fell off his bike. He was involved in an experiment dealing with riding a bicycle under the influence of alcohol.
I suppose there are people who will be willing to be test subjects. As for myself, I will wait to see if extra appendages grow with the use of this drug. Meantime we had better get some people using the drug so we have someone to catch the super mice being produced.
Gold Star Award…The state budget crunch has hit Moapa Valley in two educational settings. Not only has the high school operating budget been decreased by a significant amount, the prospect of losing the classes for the Moapa Valley campus of The College of Southern Nevada has people in an uproar. I sat in on The College of Southern Nevada Advisory Board meeting last week and listened as a number of citizens volunteered time to come up with ideas to keep a college presence in the community after June of 2009. These people are to be commended for the time they have volunteered to keep educational opportunities available in our valley. With gas prices being what they are, the need for local college classes has never been greater. Here is wishing these citizens luck in their pursuits and a thank you for their time and efforts.
Thought for the day…We have always had terms limits. It is called an election.
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