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LasVegasLawyerGal

...and of course, if her name was Paris Schnmuckosky, as opposed to Hilton, the LVMPD would follow the bail schedule and force her to either post bail or enjoy CCDC's hospitality until a JP could see her on Monday.

While the "juice for justice" issues raised in the article are disturbing, the bigger issue for me is that a judicial candidate==thanks to the canons of judicial ethics==can't "promise" to do X, Y or Z during a campaign in exchange for votes. Accordingly, judicial elections usually degenerate into: "Vote Mary Schmoe! The choice of law enforcement! Garbage Collectors! Left-handed professional tiddlywink players!" while Mary recites anodyne promises about "following the law". Since it's impossible to have an election in the conventional sense for judges anyway, the appointment/retention model seems to make the most sense.

This is yet another example of Reid's spinelessness. Since when does everyone in America get to opine on a local planning isssue which has been *approved* by the planning commission which has jurisdiction over lower Manhattan? Moreover, given AQ's separatist views, they would probably abhor the backers of the mosque even more than they do non-Muslims, given the mosque developers' stated goal of engaging with other faiths. Finally, it bears noting that innocent atheists, Christians, Buddhists, Hindus, Jews, Pagans and Sikhs--as well as Muslims--died in and around the WTC on that terrible day. Would Reid oppose an LDS temple "within sight of Ground Zero" because it might "hurt" the feelings of Mark Bingham, an out gay man who helped fight to take back Flight 93 (and who arguably helped save the life of hundreds of people in DC)? Shame!

Last time I checked, Las Vegas Boulevard S was a public road--so the only "permit" the protestors should have needed is the one enshrined in our constitution. It's about time an LGBT group challenged the conventional wisdom on protests and actually held one where people might see it. If Las Vegas history teaches us anything, it is that only protests involving the strip are significant--remember the Poor People's March in the 1960s?