Print edition for November 14, 2007

Editorial: Personal data risk: The Las Vegas Sun reported that the loss of 479 disks from a number of state agencies was revealed last week at a personnel hearing in which James Elste, former chief of information security for the state Information Technology Department, was fighting to get his job back. Elste was fired shortly after he disclosed in July that the disks were missing, the Sun's Cy Ryan reported. State personnel officials have said Elste was fired for reasons not related to the loss of the disks.

Editorial: A new day for Iraq funding: Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said Tuesday that Bush's latest demand to borrow more billions for Iraq will not be met as easily as were past demands.

Letter: Immigration comments absurd: His contention that there would be no debate about illegal immigration if illegal immigrants were white and rich is absurd. If they were rich they never would have come here and if they were white and used services they did not pay for there still would be deep resentment on the part of American workers and taxpayers.

Editorial: Hypocritical veto: "Congress owes the taxpayers much better than this effort," Bush said. "The majority was elected on a pledge of fiscal responsibility, but so far it's acting like a teenager with a new credit card."

Tuesday's College Basketball: AP; Buffalo 76, South Florida 69

Review: `Beowulf' Sexes Up Epic Poem: AP; Never fear. This 3-D animated "Beowulf" is more like "300," only with more violence, if that's possible. And nudity - lots and lots of nudity.

Quotes from O.J. Simpson's preliminary hearing: AP; -"I was trying to calm him down because I know that he wanted some answers. I could see it in his face. He wanted an explanation why we were there with his property." - memorabilia dealer Alfred Beardsley.

HOW THE DEBATE WILL WORK: SECRET 100 WILL GET A SHOT AT QUIZZING CANDIDATES: David McGrath Schwartz; Call them the Silver State's Secret 100, the unknown faces of Nevada at Thursday's national Democratic presidential debate.

Brian Greenspun on visit from Brookings: It may be a bit presumptuous, speaking for an entire city and all, but it seems an appropriate subject for this column because starting today, Las Vegas has made it to the big time of national and international thinking. And any time that happens, someone has to acknowledge the fact.

Out of his Vegas garden, he'll speak to a president: By Timothy Pratt; Within an hour of finishing his shift, Las Vegas gardener Alonso Flores had changed out of his green uniform and into a dark blue suit and white shirt and was sitting at a Starbucks table.

BRING ON THE HOPEFULS. WE'VE GOT ISSUES: By J. Patrick Coolican; BRING ON THE HOPEFULS. WE'VE GOT ISSUES

FLASHPOINT for Nov 14, 2007: Everything's fine in the Nevada construction industry - that is, if you don't count residential construction. That's the message from the Associated General Contractors this week after it commissioned a study by Applied Analysis. "Hotel-casino, office, retail and industrial construction maintained its torrid pace, offsetting continued softness in the residential market," began a news release from the AGC. Good to know because, as the AGC newsletter puts it: "After three years of higher-than-average development volumes, single-family and multifamily permitting are down 46 percent and 56 percent, respectively, during the past 12 months ... this trend will continue to worsen in ...

Just let those sleeping dogs of cliches lie: After just months and months of driving long, quaint, death-tempting New Hampshire roads and eating in small, quaint, death-tempting Iowa diners, the political media are ready for a break. And so they holler, "Vegas, baby, Vegas!"

Jon Ralston tells us the debate is good, but this caucus is everything: By Jon Ralston; Four years ago Nevada was considered a potential swing state and Democratic fantasists still thought their nominee could win in GOP-locked Nevada. But no one was even chattering about the state's presidential caucus, which would take place on Valentine's Day. The race for the nomination would be virtually decided by the time Nevadans caucused, but Democratic Party officials nonetheless gushed about the 9,000-voter turnout - record-breaking, they boasted - at least five times what it was in 2000.

Letter: Smut peddlers lucky county isn't tougher: And now the smut peddlers who fill these news racks with their adult-themed garbage/girlie handbills are planning to fight the increase in court because somehow this increase violates their First Amendment rights.

From the Sun's Political Blog: Nevada Sen. Harry Reid and Colorado Sen. Ken Salazar held a conference call this afternoon to discuss Thursday's Democratic presidential debate and the importance of the West in the race for the White House in 2008.

Feds get more time to sell club, recover millions ex-owner owes: By Jeff German; With the help of the Las Vegas City Council, federal marshals have been given breathing room in their rush to sell the Crazy Horse Too strip club by a year's end deadline.

Letter: Some things worse than waterboarding: I really hope that Mr. Coffman is right and our enemies do start waterboarding our citizens when they are abducted. It is better than having their heads cut off, tongues cut out, eyes gouged out or being burned alive, which are many of the techniques now used by our enemies. I think waterboarding would be much better.

Letter: Bush, cohorts should try waterboarding: Jean Colby, Las Vegas

Q+A: Theodore Bikel: Who: Theodore Bikel and Alberto Mizrahi

Ron Kantowski on baseball games, and their heroes, that were played behind barbed wire: But during World War II, baseball, this American pastime that has been immortalized and glamorized and rhapsodized and trivialized, at least by Chicago Cubs fans during October, served a much greater purpose for Japanese-Americans who were imprisoned by their own government.

And the newspaper clipping proves it: Victor Ikeda was sharing a newspaper clipping extolling the virtues of the Minidoka War Relocation Center baseball team when an elderly gentleman in a navy blue leisure suit sidled by, his wife on his arm.

Arizona Wins Debut Without Coach Olson: AP; The Wildcats missed his presence on the bench in their 76-69 season-opening win over Northern Arizona on Tuesday night.

Adwatch: Giuliani Touts Mayoral Record: AP; LENGTH: 60 seconds.

Marking boundaries: Julie Seabaugh; Julie Seabaugh: Depends. Are we talking about people like Criss Angel, Steve Wyrick and Lance Burton, or ... you know what? Doesn’t matter. My answer will always be an emphatic “no” as to whether any of these forms of entertainment should be considered the bastard children of comedy.

Congress Passes Head Start Bill: AP; READY FOR LAW: Bush, while unhappy with several aspects of the bill, is expected to sign it.

Quotes From Musharraf: AP; - Will the army ever oust him?

Adwatch: Giuliani and New York: AP; LENGTH: 60 seconds.

Denmark's Political System: AP; ---

Building wraps: Art or schlock ?: By Liz Benston; Along one stretch of the Strip, high-rise condos and hotels are rising from the drafting boards of some of the world's leading architects, catapulting Las Vegas toward cosmopolitan chic. Down the street, a gargantuan banner is draped over the sloping side of the landmark Luxor, showing a 40-foot-tall bottle of vodka. So where is Vegas headed - toward architectural sophistication or marketing schlock?

Poll: Dems Deadlocked, Huckabee Gaining: AP; THE NUMBERS - DEMOCRATS

Poll: Clinton, Romney Maintain Leads: AP; THE NUMBERS - DEMOCRATS

Hybrid System Comes to Full-Size Autos: AP; Some of the largest pickups and sport utility vehicles will soon come in hybrid versions, as automakers bet that consumers want to save fuel without compromising capability. Chrysler LLC will show its first two hybrids - both SUVs - at this week's Los Angeles Auto Show, while General Motors Corp. will unveil its hybrid Chevrolet Silverado pickup. Even the mammoth Cadillac Escalade is getting a hybrid option.