Nevada

Nevada is an arid state of the USA, lying between California and Utah. Most of the state is within the Great Basin, but parts of the northeast drain into the Snake River and the southern portion is within the Mohave Desert and the Colorado River drainage. Please note that while many outsiders pronounce the state's name as "ne-VAH-duh", the correct local pronunciation is, with a short "a" as in apple, Although the majority of tourists only visit Las Vegas, Reno and Tahoe to gamble, watch shows, and indulge themselves in food and drink, Nevada offers the more discerning traveler western frontier experiences verging on horse opera cliché, and landscapes utterly different from Europe, East Asia or more populated parts of North America. In this more primitive environment, gambling seems not so much a high-tech means of fleecing the overly optimistic as the direct descendent of the itinerant cardsharp. Legal brothels are another holdover, from the "soiled doves" of frontier times. It isn't that Nevadans approve, so much as they haven't gotten around to outlawing all of their history yet.

Larson on MSNBC: GOP Congress Frozen In The Ice Of Their Indifference

WASHINGTON – On MSNBC yesterday, House Democratic Caucus Chairman John Larson (CT) told Reverend Al Sharpton that when it comes to helping working class Americans, the Republican controlled Congress is frozen in the ice of their indifference.

“This Republican controlled Congress would rather see Obama fail than the entire nation succeed. They are frozen in the ice of their obstinance and indifference,” Larson said on Politics Nation last night. “They would rather see the President fail than the nation succeed on several fronts, but certainly in the area of tax cuts, certainly in the area of healthcare and certainly in the area of job creation.”

Charities for Veterans Shortchanging the troops

Americans gave millions of dollars in the past year to veterans charities designed to help troops wounded in Iraq and Afghanistan, but several of the groups spent relatively little money on the wounded, according to a leading watchdog organization and federal tax filings. [MSNBC]

Veterans are having a tough row to hoe it seems. Last week or so we learned that the Army was wanting wounded veterans who had been unable to complete their enlistment terms to refund their enlistment bonuses. That included veterans who had lost legs, arms, eyesight, etc. while serving in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Now we learn that veteran's charities aren't spending the money they have collected from donors on the veterans.
Eight veterans charities, including some of the nation's largest, gave
less than a third of the money raised to the causes they champion, far
below the recommended standard, the American Institute of Philanthropy
says in a report.
I don't know why, but I'm not surprised.

"One group passed along 1 cent for every dollar raised" according to the report. Another paid its founder and his wife a combined $540,000 in compensation and benefits last year.

Can you imagine that?
There are no laws regulating the amount of money charities spend on
overhead, fundraising or giving. But the institute's report suggests
that 20 of the 29 military charities studied were managing their
resources poorly, paying high overhead costs and direct-mail
fundraising fees and, in some cases, providing their leaders with
six-figure salaries.
Knowing how people can be it is amazing to me there are no laws regulating these "charities." Charity organizations have, in the past, bilked donors out of their money. Apparently with impunity absent regulatory laws and enforcement of them.

And here we are in the Christmas season. Merry Christmas everyone!