J. Patrick Coolican

Columns

Steven Horsford on his political missteps: 'I learned': Oct. 11, 2012; Last week I wrote about Danny Tarkanian, the son of the legendary UNLV coach and Republican candidate for Congress in the 4th District. Let’s take a look at his opponent, state Senate Majority Leader Steven Horsford.

On order for Danny Tarkanian's congressional term: a 'stacked failure sandwich,' complete with FDIC suit: Oct. 4, 2012; If the voters of Nevada’s newly created Congressional District 4 aren’t careful, they could wind up with a congressman who is in bankruptcy. But that’s just the start of the weirdness.

First Berkley-Heller debate left so much to be desired: Sept. 29, 2012; Some quick thoughts on Thursday’s debate between Sen. Dean Heller and Rep. Shelley Berkley. Overall, a weak display. But I was most disappointed in Berkley, who failed to make an affirmative case for the Democratic position.

Portraits of the 47 percent don't match Romney's narrative: Sept. 21, 2012; Mitt Romney is gracing us with his presence in Las Vegas today. In case you missed it, Mother Jones magazine showed video on its website of Romney telling a group of wealthy donors that people who vote for President Barack Obama “believe they are victims.”

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Can we solve the homeless situation by ... giving them a place to live?: Sept. 19, 2012; A prominent business person suggested to me that to solve the homeless problem Downtown, we should buy an empty subdivision in the suburbs and move everybody in. This person was joking, but there’s actually some validity to that idea. Why? Well, that’s what we’re already doing, and it’s working.

The new rigors of PE: How these kids are muscling their way through school: Sept. 15, 2012; When I was in school, gym class was a bit of a joke, and I’m sure the same is true for you. The kids who were athletic and competitive would play flag football or basketball while everyone else stood around.

Obama doesn't have to apologize for lies told about his speeches: Sept. 13, 2012; With President Barack Obama in town this week, I thought it useful to explore a commonly held belief about his foreign policy, namely, that Obama has apologized for America and doesn’t believe in “American exceptionalism.”

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Despite efforts to beat them blue with our shoes, bedbugs are winning: Sept. 7, 2012; My bedbug obsession began about a decade ago, when I read a story in The New York Times that I was certain was an April Fool’s joke.

Close down bathrooms, not food trucks: Sept. 6, 2012; An attempt by brick-and-mortar restaurants to stifle competition from mobile food trucks stalled at the Las Vegas City Council Wednesday, though only thanks to the council’s fecklessness. ...

'Queen of Versailles' serves as an indictment of years of false prosperity: Sept. 6, 2012; Along with a lot of misery, the 2008 financial crisis and the resulting Great Recession have produced excellent films, both dramatic and documentary. ...

Reflecting on recession's unfolding a timely reminder of what Obama inherited: Aug. 23, 2012; As I watched President Barack Obama on Wednesday at Canyon Springs High School in North Las Vegas, I thought about four years ago. Because I was so busy covering the campaign, I wasn’t paying close enough attention to the fact that the world was collapsing.

Six questions I'd like to ask President Barack Obama: Aug. 22, 2012; Last time Mitt Romney was in town, I had six questions for him and promised I’d do the same for President Barack Obama, who will be in North Las Vegas today. So, here goes.

Dissecting the Downtown glut of bail bondsmen: Aug. 8, 2012; How bail bonds work, what the bondsmen do and more.

Medicaid expansion should be a no-brainer for Nevada: Aug. 6, 2012; If Nevada doesn’t expand its Medicaid program, one result is that people will die. That’s the stark conclusion we can draw from a New England Journal of Medicine study, which found that in states that expanded their Medicaid programs, mortality rates declined 6.1 percent, with the largest declines among minorities and older adults.

Six questions I'd like to ask Mitt Romney: Aug. 3, 2012; I can’t make it to this morning’s Mitt Romney event in North Las Vegas, but here are some questions I’m hoping the assembled media will ask him:

Blog

On this, anyway, father and son agree: Turning schools into armed fortresses a bad idea

Dec. 21, 2012 6:40 p.m.
Steve Wynn much better suited to casinos than politics

Nov. 15, 2012 2 a.m.
Republicans nationally can learn from Nevada GOP … at least in some respects

Nov. 8, 2012 2 a.m.

All blog entries »

J. Patrick Coolican was born in Connecticut to a large, Irish Catholic family and then studied dead white male authors at the University of Notre Dame. He started his career during the 2000 presidential campaign, writing for a Web site he created with two friends. He's written for The Seattle Times, The Nation, LA Weekly and, since early 2006, for the Sun.