Print edition for August 9, 2007

Clinton campaign finds perfect hosts for house party: By J. Patrick Coolican; Jose Espinoza doesn't have much interest in talking politics, even though Sen. Hillary Clinton will be a guest at a house party he's throwing today.

Push for safe drinking water gains legs - runners' legs: Running through the Mojave Desert on Tuesday, Sunila Jayaraj saw a familiar answer to drought issues in the southwestern United States, one he's been teaching in his native India.

FLASHPOINT for Aug 09, 2007: Gov. Jim Gibbons is headed to the border this month for photo ops. The ostensible reason is to meet with Nevada National Guard troops, Mexico President Felipe Calderon and Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano. The excursion supposedly is to gather information on enforcement of border laws, the flow of illegal immigrants, the problem of meth trafficking and moves to improve homeland security. But Gibbons can't fool me. This is the guy who once employed an illegal immigrant as a nanny and housekeeper - a labor document attesting to that was released during his campaign last year. His wife, Dawn Gibbons, signed ...

Editorial: Hardly a religious freedom: As reported in Wednesday's Las Vegas Sun by Marshall Allen, people pay each month to be part of the group Christian Care Medi-Share and can submit medical bills for reimbursement. Sounds like insurance, right?

Letter: Does accountability exist anymore?: It is interesting how the government's accounting procedures have changed! When I was processing out of the Air Force in 1961, the folks at Ellsworth Air Force Base did a complete accounting of my toolbox.

Health screenings of Nevada Test Site workers go private: Ed Koch and Mary Manning; A federal program that has provided free health screening tests for thousands of Nevada Test Site workers for the past 11 years is being taken out of the hands of medical research universities and assigned to hospitals and doctors scattered across the country.

Letter: Males more likely to commit suicide: "Groups at Risk - Suicide is the eighth leading cause of death for all U.S. men (Anderson and Smith 2003). Males are four times more likely to die from suicide than females. Suicide rates are highest among whites and second highest among American Indian and Native Alaskan men. Of the 24,672 suicide deaths reported among men in 2001, 60 percent involved the use of a firearm. Women report attempting suicide during their lifetime about three times as often as men." (Source: http://www.cdc.gov/ncipc/factsheets/suifacts.htm)

Fat's beauty in eye of beholder: As long as Rob Stevens stands six feet away from the Flamingo, between the showgirl in a pink leotard pushing some act and the man handing out cards for direct-to-your-door companionship, the Chicago weight loss coach can peddle his message to the masses, printed on a 3x5 card: "PLEASE DO NOT FEED THE FAT PEOPLE."

Guest columnist Don Snyder: A performing arts center will have a transforming effect on Southern Nevada: Don Snyder; We have made progress in many areas. Thanks to projects such as the Lou Ruvo Brain Institute and the Nevada Cancer Institute, we are now embarking on a journey that will have a remarkably transforming effect on our community.

Letter: Bush to blame for disastrous turn: On returning from vacation, I was greeted on Aug. 3 with a picture in the opinion section of the Las Vegas Sun of George Bush, brazen-faced, holding hands with two veterans; one who has lost one leg and the other who has lost both legs.

TV veterans to bid for uncanned laughter: What: "An Evening of Comedy" starring Jerry Van Dyke, Murray Langston and Steve Landesburg

Editorial: Era of the steroid slugger: The confluence of the three milestones should have been a glorious moment for baseball, but it was bittersweet at best. The chase to break a record is always a thrill, and Bonds was chasing baseball's greatest record. Unfortunately, it wasn't any fun.

Editorial: Lessons from space: Morgan was the backup teacher for the 1986 mission by the Challenger shuttle, which exploded shortly after takeoff and killed all seven crew members aboard, including Christa McAuliffe, who taught at a New Hampshire high school.

Don't rush to add coal plant, EPA warns: By Phoebe Sweet; The Environmental Protection Agency is questioning whether Nevada is shouldering too much of the burden of generating power for the Southwest.

Letter: Dire situation in Iraq lost on conservatives: But he should realize that this information will not make any impression on conservatives, who refuse to believe negative reports published in The New York Times, The Washington Post or the Las Vegas Sun. They rely instead on their conservative network for information, papers such as The Wall Street Journal and conservative talk show hosts such as Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Mike Savage and Bill O'Reilly, who regularly bash the Clintons, Kennedys, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, while singing the praises of President Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney and other members of the administration, as ...

Letter: Not enough being done about suicide: We need better research, better data and better community programs and services to address the specific factors of older adult suicide - all of which Sen. Reid's Stop Senior Suicide Act would provide.

Q+A: George Carlin: By Jerry Fink; You'll never be able to accuse George Carlin of kissing anyone's (one of those words you can say on TV but not in a family newspaper).

Ron Kantowski has the real plan for David Beckham's stint with the Los Angeles Galaxy figured out - and fans aren't going to like it: But it also lends more credence to this theory of mine - that the English soccer star was brought to Los Angeles only to sell advance tickets to bad soccer games. And replica jerseys with his number (23) on them. And posters with his face on them. And so that his wife, Victoria, - aka Posh of the Spice Girls - could play a gig at the Hollywood Bowl or the Whisky a Go Go if she succeeds in putting the band back together for a VH1 special.