I was completely prepared for a lengthy opinion on this article, however I think the first sentence sums it all up without any help from me.

All of this "praise" and no one noticed or mentioned that Misko is sitting on a "1970s gray velour coach in his home studio". If I were that "coach" I'd tell him to find a piece of furniture to sit on. Then again perhaps he's sitting on the kind of coach that you ride around in, not one that blows a whistle and smacks your butt on the way out of the locker room. Good job Peterson and the Sun. Good job. Good thing they don't take away Pulitzlers for second grade grammar.

To wit:

MGM Mirage turns to loss
By William Spain, MarketWatch

Last Update: 5:13 PM ET Aug 3, 2009

CHICAGO (MarketWatch) -- MGM Mirage stayed in the loss column during the second quarter, as the gambling giant reported Monday it was saddled with massive debts and a further deterioration in visitor traffic and spending on the Las Vegas Strip.

MGM Mirage (MGM) lost $216.2 million, or 60 cents a share, on the period -- a turn from a profit of $113.1 million, or 40 cents a share in the same quarter of 2008. Excluding charges, the company would have lost 15 cents a share.

Sales fell to $1.7 billion from $2.1 billion, a 17% drop as casino revenue slumped 12%.

The average estimate of analysts polled by FactSet Research had been for the company to lose 7 cents a share on revenue of $1.48 billion.

The company's average occupancy level fell to 94% from 97% while average daily rates were down to $111 from $156. Revenue-per-available room for its properties on the Las Vegas Strip plunged to $104 from $151.

"But MGM Mirage has rebuilt its balance sheet with a stock issuance and other measures; and has finalized financing for the massive $8.5 billion CityCenter complex in Las Vegas; and is no longer considered to be at risk of going into bankruptcy." According to whom? A source citation would nice.

Let's be realistic for a moment. MGM Mirage is still in negative earnings. CityCenter has yet to open and when it does the corporation will begin to hemorrhage from day one. This article fails to put into perspective the fact that CityCenter will have a daily operating cost in the tens of millions of dollars. The math simply does not add up with the current trends in the market. CityCenter opens with a nearly $10 billion price tag. How can they compete with the existing properties on the Strip who are practically giving away their rooms for free and manage to pay the debt let alone meet their daily operating expenses?

Furthermore, to the comment posted above, if executives did in fact make false or misleading statements it is a crime not just an inconvenience to shareholders. Many giant corporations have disappeared off the face of the earth in the wake of such behavior i.e. Worldcom, Enron, etc. These are serious accusations and must be taken seriously. Mismanagement, if indeed there was any, by the largest employer in the state has frightening implications for the future of Las Vegas.

Poor reporting overall on this very serious issue. Frankly the media has been just as much to blame for the current economic crisis as they've been too timid to take on large corporations and take a serious look at their decisions and how they would effect the economy as a whole.

Has anyone else noticed that anyone who criticizes the current President and defends the indefensible does so with the most appalling grammar? It's extraordinary to see how the Ranting Right media machine has managed to hypnotize every under-educated, ill-informed, excitable armchair politician into repeating the gibberish they're filling their heads with. To date not a single person in the U.S. has seen a single percentage tax increase. John Ensign still has his job, despite the fact that even the supposed Left Wing Media hasn't suggested that a "severance" to your mistress used to be called a bribe. The governor or South Carolina walked off the job to visit his mistress in a foreign country and didn't bother to transfer power to anyone else should he, oh I don't know, die in a plane crash. And, Sarah Palin spent her days responding to comedians and gossip show hosts only to quit her post altogether when she got stressed out. The only thing that frightens me, beyond the incredible dumbing-down of America, is that anyone would actually think that Palin, who is clearly sensitive to open criticism and distracted by it, would make a suitable Commander in Chief of the most complicated and diverse nation in the world. These aren't just rumors or stories folks. These are facts. For all of you who attend the Glenn Beck School of Slavering Name Calling, you might actually want to take a hard look at the facts. But then again, if you can't spell, you probably have a difficult time with words with more than four letters and research is out of the question. What precisely is a "welfare pimp" anyway? I have to say, that's got to be one of my favorites.

Positive change comes from critical thinking and analysis not just bobbing your head up and down and grinning like a plastic dashboard decoration. Once anyone who has a brain has left for places where people actually give a damn you might not be such a cockeyed optimist. It's people like my wife and myself who put thousands of dollars into the local art scene only to see them wasted or dismissed with ingratitude. What has been your contribution beyond an overflowing cup of gushing praise and snotty high-school retorts? It's a pity that this blank canvas of an urban development experiment has been splattered with idiots like Paco who seem to think that change is somehow affected by never questioning anything or offering intelligent criticism and then gently suggesting that those who do get out of town.

My wife and I have been watching the arts scene for a while and wonder how from month to month there can be so many contradictory developments and comments. Renaissance means rebirth essentially. It's a little difficult to see a cultural renaissance in a city that never had culture to begin with. Get off your high horse and have some common sense. The facts are plain. The museum was allowed to collapse by a lack of local support and funding coupled with poor leadership. As members we might just as well have thrown our money in the garbage. Who, then, I ask is going to support this new endeavor and what makes this so different? As a medical facility, the center is an extraordinary achievement for Las Vegas and Mr. Ruvo's amazing and ongoing support of Alzheimer's research is really one of the most outstanding things anyone in our community has ever done. I question, however, this notion that somehow contemporary art is going draw crowds. It hasn't and it generally doesn't - period. And, Lumpkin's involvement is baffling to say the least considering the museum debacle. I would like someone to intelligently explain why this is going to work when the museum failed. I call on Kristen Peterson to write a piece that looks at this idea from a practical standpoint based on the arts scene's history, not simply a puff piece. When no one comes or significant revenue isn't produced from this exercise what will be the excuse then? Do you actually think about anything Paco or do you simply faint on the sofa in a romantic fit every time you read the word art?? Since I ruined your morning I thought I should do the same for your evening.

Ok wait a minute. Isn't this the same individual who was at the helm when the Las Vegas Art Museum sank to the bottom of the ocean? And wasn't she the same one who only a couple of months before stormed out of a board meeting when someone wanted to talk about the budget? Now we've heard every excuse in the world why that museum closed. What makes anyone think that people are going to pay money to look at art Downtown when they wouldn't support the museum??? Furthermore, if there was a fortune in local funding floating around to assemble collections that people want to see why do we not have a proper art museum? Let's see - most affluent suburb of Las Vegas can't support a museum but a medical center in beleaguered Downtown can. Um yeah. This really is absurdity taken to a degree that even outdoes Las Vegas.

Heidi is absolutely correct. Half a horse isn't better than none at all. Since the news that Naomi Arin was leaving town and since the Las Vegas Art Museum has closed, Peterson's articles have become fewer and farther between. There IS still much going on downtown and about town and instead of focusing on that news she chose to once again write about a mythical "what if". We need full and unabashed support of what is if it is to thrive. Furthermore, I think it's a pity that if anyone outside of the clique makes a negative comment they are immediately shot down. Kristen Peterson is the assigned arts writer for the Sun and rules the roost, so to speak. Apparently if it doesn't get her uniquivocal stamp of approval it's not worthy to note and anyone who has a differing view point is simply ignored. What we need is a new voice or two.

Actually this is not "great news all around". What the article fails to mention is that the Desertxpress will only travel to Victorville. Now forgive me for being cynical but Victorville isn't exactly a destination. If you're only going to be taken halfway to L.A., why not drive to begin with? The rail project was intended to stimulate the movement of money and to create jobs. A route to Victorville will doom the train to becoming nothing more than an alternate bus route. The Maglev is more environmentally friendly, faster, and by connecting to Anaheim would make more sense for Las Vegas and Orange County. Reid has become yet another lump of deadwood in Congress. He is more interested in getting the support of local monied powerbrokers than doing what makes the most sense for his state and the country. This is yet another sad failure of what should have been a great project.

Oh and forgive the typo. We'll see if anyone even notices. I was thinking of fish for lunch.