Print edition for August 12, 2006

Letter: Put confirmation of Bolton on fast track: But I would like to commend Mr. Greenspun for his support of the nomination of Mr. John Bolton as the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations.

Editorial: Final curtain call: According to stories by The New York Times, the Education Department has stripped the National Theater of the Deaf of an annual $687,000 grant that provided two-thirds of the company's annual budget. The cuts were ordered by Congress in December 2004, and the money stopped coming this year.

But why do they call at dinner?: Emily Richmond, Las Vegas Sun; Telephone banks to drum up support for candidates are a time-honored tradition in political campaigns - not quite as personal as a knock on the front door by the candidate, but more intimate than a TV commercial or billboard. Here is a peek into the phone banks operated by the two Democratic candidates for governor, Henderson Mayor Jim Gibson and state Senate Minority Leader Dina Titus of Las Vegas.

Letter: Oil executives use leak to gouge consumers: The oil companies only know two things: shortages and price increases. These, of course, lead to higher profits.

Letter: Cockroach symbolism extends elsewhere: There is an old, fitting Texas adage that might have had the Bush clan in mind, which is, "Politicians are like cockroaches. It ain't what they eat and carry off, it's what they fall into and mess up."

Gold wins record poker payoff: Jamie Gold isn't a familiar face in the high-stakes "Big Game" on the Strip, where poker's leading professional players mix it up for staggering amounts of cash.

FLASHPOINT for Aug 12, 2006: As the election draws nigh and so many unqualified folks seem to be running this year, here's an idea for the Gang of 63 come 2007: How about setting some minimum qualifications for some of these offices? Just look at public administrator and recorder - either appoint them or set some standards so a bunch of clowns and never-was legislators don't get elected. And what about the same for state treasurer? No bankruptcies might be a start. Don't know how you stop lieutenant governor candidates from talking about illegal immigration or sheriff contenders from claiming to be a cop. But ...

Editorial: Bush team strong-arms FDA: That was the finding of the Union of Concerned Scientists, which surveyed nearly 1,000 FDA employees. Among the troubling results: 61 percent of respondents knew of cases in which political appointees injected themselves into FDA decisions or actions. The survey found that 18.4 percent of respondents "have been asked, for nonscientific reasons, to inappropriately exclude or alter technical information or their conclusions in a FDA scientific document."

Editorial: 'Finest hour' gets darker: That is an allegation made by some commissioners and staffers of the top panel to investigate the terrorist strikes. They believed evidence they had gathered showed probable cause that federal military and aviation officials illegally made false statements to the panel and Congress, with the intent of masking the government's poor response to the attacks, The Washington Post reported last week.