We thought we'd show you today the great diversity of ideas on the RJ's editorial page.

Today, with space for just one letter, the RJ ran one that criticizes the paper for an accurate headline last Friday.

http://www.lvrj.com/opinion/enough-partisanship-on-unemployment--debt-97371954.html

This shows you just how upset the RJ is at whichever copy editor read the stories and rightly noted that since only one Democrat voted against it, the reason unemployment and Medicaid payments were killed in the Senate was the Republicans.

The original story also pointed out why the GOP killed it.

And this is the kind of story local Republicans hate. So they've ginned up the AstroTurf letter to the editor campaign and in just four days (including the weekend) they've managed to get two letters through the RJ's editorial gatekeepers.

By Sunday we fully expect the state GOP Chairman, or some other party rep, to be given a full guest commentary space to discuss the "misleading" headline.

It just goes to show you that even when the newspaper's news staff portrays political events accurately, the pressure from the editorial page takes over.

Before we leave this item, one more thought -- maybe the paper ought to rename "Letters to the Editor." On Monday and Tuesday, it was only Letter to the Editor.

**
Also today we have a glorious look at the "Job Killing" minimum wage increase.

Never mind that the news story is about how the unemployment tax paid by employers is likely going to have to increase because there's so much unemployment. Is that job killing?

No, the RJ just parrots whatever some small niche free marketer wants to complain about. Today it's a "small" restaurant owner.

http://www.lvrj.com/opinion/job-killer-97371959.html

First of all the RJ lets the Nevada Restaurant Association rep give a completely misleading example. In his "minimum wage earner" example he cites a waiter who also makes $25-an-hour in tips.

That employee isn't even subject to the increase, under Nevada's scheme. The law doesn't apply to those who also earn tips, bonuses, overtime, etc.

Additionally, more than a few economic studies have stated the actual number of minimum wage earners in Nevada is minuscule.

A 2006 study by Applied Analysis found 5,700 workers out of a statewide workforce of 1.3 million earning a true minimum wage. That's 0.4 percent of the labor pool. Undoubtedly the numbers have risen slightly in the current economy. Still, minimum wage earners wouldn't even crack 1 percent under the gloomiest of current economic modeling.

But last I checked, all businesses, including this one, pay the unemployment tax.

Laura Myers continues her two-day fellating of Sharron Angle with a piece begging readers to donate to her.

http://www.lvrj.com/news/angle-seeks--25-from-million-backers-97289309.html

It's funny how Myers continues the yarn about Sen. Harry Reid's fund-raising. It is widely assumed by the RJ's readers that Reid already has $25 million in the bank. She repeats the $25 million number so frequently it's become the established belief even though Reid has roughly $8 million in the bank.

Myers would know that if she pulled the Federal Election Commission reports instead of simply relying on other journos to do the legwork as she does in today's political notebook by referencing the Washington Post.

The notebook today is also interesting in that the main photo is of a "Anybody but Reid" sign in Ely. Myers writes about "Anybody but" in the context of Angle's unpopularity rising. So what picture runs? An anti-Reid picture of course.

On Sunday, Myers had the section front services for Angle under the guise of a glass-breaking story.

http://www.lvrj.com/news/sharron-angle-aims-to-become-first-female-senator-from-nevada-97255149.html

Wow, Angle could be Nevada's first female senator.  Worth a line in the primary election coverage June 9. Worth a whole story? Perhaps. After all, with bosses like Myers' who think women ought not to have the right to vote -- we've still got a long way to go baby. http://www.lvjournalreview.com/fact-checks/246-how-progressive

But it would have been nice if Myers had actually talked to some women about Angle. She wouldn't have even had to bring up the old abortions give you cancer bill of Angle's, or her platform to get rid of the U.S. Department of Education; Social Security, Medicare and the Veterans Administration.

Wow. Women sure have come a long way. Now it seems, at least in the RJ, it's perfectly suitable for a female candidate to be certifiably nuts.

At any rate, that's two-for-two. Sunday and Monday free ads for Sharron Angle.

**

We can ignore Pat Buchanan trashing the president and Sherm Frederick trashing the president, but Sunday's editorial section had a column we just can't ignore.

Editor Thomas Mitchell, on the cusp of being outed as a hypocrite by other media reporting on renewable energy, came clean (sort of) in a piece showing how he makes roughly $100 a month because he's got solar panels in his yard -- solar panels largely paid for by taxpayers.

http://www.lvrj.com/opinion/confessions-of-a-green-power-welfare-queen-97255534.html

Mitchell decides his disclosure could put more pressure on the PUC to release the corporate "generators" of renewable energy. At least that's the impression he wants to leave you. But he couldn't just disclose and get out without slamming the state's portfolio standard and environmentalists.

Feeding at the photovoltaic trough, indeed.

**

The Democrats had a state convention Saturday and the RJ's Ben Spillman was on hand to cover the speeches.

Spillman didn't quote any of the delegates, but did accurately describe the attendance, the mood and the speeches.

Then he went and got a quote from the GOP chairman about how the Democrats lack diversity. Spillman must not have been in the hall when the party's legislative nominees took the stage in every size, gender, race, sexual orientation and age imaginable.

http://www.lvrj.com/news/reids----harry-and-rory---take-spotlight-as-nevada-democrats-gather-for-convention-97239694.html

Kevin Cannon spent the day inside the hall and put 14 pictures online. The editors chose two to run in the actual paper.

The first is a fairly staged one with Reid and his supporters. The second is a shot taken early in the day as delegates arrived. (Yours truly is in the far right corner).

But here's shot the RJ will never run in the paper. (Click the link and advance to No. 13).

That didn't run because, well, Harry looks happy.

**

The gossips ran into the correction mill this weekend.

On Saturday, the paper fixed up one of its gossip columnists.

"Doug Elfman's column Friday listed the wrong location for the Travie McCoy show. McCoy will perform tonight at Blush at Wynn Las Vegas."

On Sunday, the other gossip wag did the unthinkable. He ran an item pointing out a mistake he made that wasn't in print.

It's amazing frankly that any "celebrity" (and we use that term loosely) would ask Norm Clarke's advice on anything. But apparently, a celeb-journo, Ed Henry, asked Clarke for an Elvis impersonator.

Wow. The RJ runs a headline today that we suspect is designed to gin up the base.

Thankfully it could work both ways.

"Republicans kill jobless aid bill" is on the top of the fold.

The paper actually interviewed a Las Vegas guy screwed by the GOP's move although calling him "dismayed" in the lede is quite the downplay.

http://www.lvrj.com/news/failure-of-spending-measure-in-senate-to-affect-nevadans-97140999.html

Funny thing about the screaming headline. It's cut off by the flap featuring the gossip writers. And online it's nowhere since the main story is an Associated Press one.

And today, online, reporter Steve Tetreault has posted a lengthy piece allowing Sen. Harry Reid to tee-off on the Republicans for their heartlessness.

http://www.lvrj.com/news/reid-blasts-republicans-for-blocking-benefits-bill-97158704.html

Maybe by the time Saturday's print edition hits, Tetreault will have softened his piece to include some GOP response. But for now it's pretty apparent the paper is playing the GOP's heartless move as straight as it could. Sunday will undoubtedly be another story.

**

There's a real story buried in Benjamin Spillman's silly reporting of leaked e-mails by the outgoing Gibbons administration today. http://www.lvrj.com/news/governor--legislative-panel-in-a-dogfight-97141089.html

The admin staff leaked these e-mails to Spillman because they thought it made the Interim Finance Committee look bad.

Now if Spillman were really interested in state government or policy or politics, he'd ask for all e-mails from Robin Reedy, Lynn Hettrick and Jim Gibbons dealing with the subject of revenue; taxes, budgets.

That's a story we'd love to read.

Until then, the state will continue to burn as the RJ goes to the dogs.

**

We thought that Doug Gillespie piece yesterday was a strange one.

Today, the paper had to "clarify" it.

"A headline in Thursday's Las Vegas Review-Journal misstated comments by Clark County Sheriff Doug Gillespie. During his monthly appearance on a Las Vegas radio talk show, Gillespie did not mention the handcuffing of a 72-year-old suspect."

Maybe we can help clarify things for the paper. If you make your reporters write stories based on what someone thinks they heard on right-wing radio, you're going to have plenty more of these clarifying moments.

It's better to simply ask Sheriff Gillespie the questions yourself.

The RJ is all law-and-order today with perps front and center in the paper and online.

Watch out! Those legistors are out to get you.

Here's a story on 5B that we only noticed online because the crack IT team at the RJ is in LA LA land. At least they're missing an LA, as evidenced in the screen shot at left. Clearly this is an error that will never garner a correction.

**

There's a great piece in today's RJ about how a poor kid growing up in Vegas has made it to the World Cup stage.

This is a piece the paper could have done with its local reporters, but we're glad it didn't.

http://www.lvrj.com/sports/not-how-the-ball-usually-bounces-96864629.html

Herculez Gomez deserved the front page. His story deserved to be covered by someone who can write. We're glad the RJ agreed and hired an out-of-state writer for the out-of-continent byline about a very local athlete.

Goes to show the RJ misses the stories in its backyard until they reach the world's stage and then the paper has no choice but to cover. Anyway, Gomez is a great representative of the spirit of Las Vegas. Bravo to him and to Mark Ziegler of the San Diego Union-Tribune for doing it justice.

**

Steve Tetreault gives us a fairly straight-forward Q-and-A-type piece about Harry Reid.

http://www.lvrj.com/news/reid-says-nevada-will-recover--can-_x92-t-say-when-96846079.html

It's actually more technically called an answer piece, as Tetreault was listening in to a call to get his story. But it's got answers.

Tetreault also has a 13-graph piece on Sharron Angle's web ad. The headline erroneously suggests "Angle produces first campaign ad."

http://www.lvrj.com/news/angle-produces-first-ad-96801949.html

Angle actually has a 90-second piece up online. This isn't a television commercial. It's not saleable or able to run anywhere other than online.

Is it worth coverage? Yes, but if Tetreault's going to do this story he better darn well cover the Reid campaign's web ads. And so far, he hasn't.

When is anyone at the Review-Journal going to start disclosing?

For a paper so "committed' to sunshine, almost every other day, the paper doesn't disclose its lawsuits against its sources.

In today's Political Eye column by Benjamin Spillman, the RJ does an incredible two-fer of sources it has sued without disclosing that fact in either instance.

Back when I worked in the editorial page room at the RJ any time the Las Vegas Sun would write about Stations Casinos or any other of its owners' business partners, the grousing about the failure to disclose such a tie up top in a story was common.

http://www.lvrj.com/news/gop-group-discloses-call-to-sandoval-96780609.html

In the Spillman column today, he quotes Melanie Sloan of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington in one item and then he talks about the Progressive Leadership Alliance of Nevada in another item.

Both of these groups are among the many who have been sued by the paper's legal partners at Righthaven LLC.

And until the paper starts disclosing its lawsuits when it mentions these sources, it's clearly not acting in sunshine.

**

I'd write more about the Monday paper, but it's almost all wire service.

**

The Sunday paper wasn't much better. The most interesting read was a wire service piece on the birth of Tea Party movement. It was loaded with Nevada references, from the Showdown in Searchlight to coverage of operative Eric Odom, a Las Vegas resident. It's the kind of story the RJ should do, but doesn't have the apparent skills to pull off.

http://www.lvrj.com/news/today-_x92-s-america--isn-_x92-t-their-cup-of-tea-96747144.html

Instead, the RJ's political reporter gives us a glimpse at what she thinks constitutes the Reid Machine.

http://www.lvrj.com/news/reid-machine-dwarfs-angle-96747169.html

Interesting that beyond one reference to Rebecca Lambe, there's no mention of the Vast Reid Wing Conspiracy. If you've worked for Reid, and that list is exceptionally long, you're part of the machine from Washington all the way out here.

The piece is also an exceptionally biased piece -- suggesting that three dozen or so seniors who came out last week for a hastily-called press conference on Sharron Angle's Social Security position -- are simply party tools. This shows her bias because the very same article suggests that the "hundreds" of people who showed up for a "Sharron Angle homecoming" were merely her supporters.

The "homecoming" Myers references was actually part of the right-wing machinery. Americans for Progress used that event as part of its major Regulation Reality tour.

Of course the tour, which included stops in Reno, Carson City, Henderson and Las Vegas over two days last week, really had nothing to do with EPA regulations on climate change. It was all about tricking local media into believing Angle has her own rapid-response army.

No mention of this machinery in the Myers piece. Either she's that biased, or that unaware. It could be either, but neither passes for decent journalism.

Also on Sunday there's a business piece about the pending loss of jobs with the closing of Yucca Mountain.

http://www.lvrj.com/business/yucca-_x92-s-nuclear-fallout-96747224.html

So the only fallout from Yucca is going to be some lost jobs. Boo. Hoo.

The smart report would have examined Yucca's job potential in the wake of the dump's death. Clearly the government doesn't really want to walk away from the billions and billions spent in that hole.

This is just the RJ's way of slamming Harry Reid even when he's done something unbelievably great for the entire state. This is a classic example of the paper trying to take over the messaging in what should be Reid's strength.

And lastly Sunday, the RJ once again gives NPRI free range on its editorial pages.

http://www.lvrj.com/opinion/don-_x92-t-blame-the-tax-base-96747569.html

I wonder how NPRI reports these in-kind donations come tax time.

The RJ can't find the national story in its own backyard.

On Tuesday, Sharron Angle made the rounds in DC on the arms of Sen. John Ensign to meet with senators and potential donors.

The national media all reported on roughly the same theme -- Angle is ducking them and won't answer any specific questions.

Here's Roll Call's take -- http://hotlineoncall.nationaljournal.com/archives/2010/06/angle_dodges_me.php

WashPo -- http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/06/15/AR2010061504807.html

What does the RJ do about Angle's duck and cover? Steve Tetreault says she "pledges to work hard." That's kind of like BP saying it pledges to work hard to clean up the

http://www.lvrj.com/news/angle-introduced-to-gop-senators--pledges-to-work-hard-against-reid-96411979.html

It's just more embarrassing proof that the RJ won't cover the real issue even when it comes right to them.

**

The Review-Journal has an opinion about the Progressive Leadership Alliance of Nevada's signature gathering for a mining tax initiative.

http://www.lvrj.com/opinion/on-the-ballot-96455269.html

It's funny the paper continues to write about PLAN without mentioning that it's suing PLAN. Ben Spillman's piece Tuesday also failed to mention his paper's lawsuit.

No sunshine anywhere at the RJ.

**

Oops, he's done it again.

Norm Clarke has once again buried a correction in his column. Since that's the only thing we read his column for, we found it for you. http://www.lvrj.com/news/burlesque-star-dodges-photo-op-96455354.html

Maybe Norm should re-name the section Sightings to Sightings and Screw-Ups. His so-called sighting today: "A case of mistaken identity: That was not Elaine Wynn at Mundo last week at the Las Vegas Design Center."

We know he only has one working eye, but c'mon Norm.

The RJ leads today with more cop stuff we don't find interesting.

Laura Myers suggests President Barack Obama won't be able to help Sen. Harry Reid when he comes next month for a visit.

http://www.lvrj.com/news/president-expected-to-visit-las-vegas-early-july-on-behalf-of-reid-96340759.html

We know the RJ doesn't like Obama. We know they endorsed McCain. We know they veer to the right constantly.

But Myers' suggesting Obama has no impact is kind of like suggesting the Tea Party Express played no role in Sharron Angle's primary victory.

"Reid got no bounce from Obama's last visit on Feb. 19, when the president spoke highly of him at Green Valley High School in Henderson and to business leaders at CityCenter, polling indicates."

Perhaps Myers forgets the massive six figures Obama helped raise for Reid at Caesars Palace. Perhaps Myers forgets Obama won Nevada by 13 points.

Sure people are pissed right now. They're pissed at everyone. But Obama is still Obama and suggesting he's nothing belies the fact that she wrote the story in the first place.

Elsewhere in the paper, there's a 7-graph story detailing Sen. Harry Reid's letter to BP executives suggesting they set aside $20 billion in escrow to clean up the Gulf spill.

http://www.lvrj.com/news/reid-suggests-bp-pay--20-billion-for-compensation-fund-96383404.html

We're sure the paper will write an editorial with more than seven graphs against the $20 billion amount. And frankly, we're surprised they went with the superintendent search for today's editorial.

Getting back to the Reid story by Steve Tetreault -- it's a refreshingly short piece, albeit one with no real reporting. The upside is there was no chance for Tetreault to editorialize.

John L. Smith does a rare (for him) political column and comes out against the paper's editorial philosophy by favorably reporting on a Democratic candidate.

Smith's piece on Rory Reid's education event last week doesn't just show Rory Reid in a positive light, but is a fairly aggressive push-back (for Smith) against GOP candidate Brian Sandoval.

http://www.lvrj.com/news/reid-stakes-claim-for-relevance-extolling-his-education-plan-96360424.html

Rory Reid couldn't have asked for a better promotion of his campaign theme -- "Rory has a plan." We'll see how many of these political columns Smith gets away with before returning to petty mobsters and other Vegas oddities.

**

We missed a few corrections in the few days we didn't blog last week.

On Saturday, the RJ had to correct a community listing. This is an unidentified news assistant's error.

"The date for the National Community Band concert listed in Friday's Neon section was incorrect. The free concert will be at 3:30 p.m. July 11 at Artemus Ham Hall, 4505 S. Maryland Parkway."

On Thursday, the paper corrected City Hall reporter Alan Choate's non-election news from Wednesday.

"Antoinette Giancana's first name was misspelled in a Las Vegas Review-Journal story Wednesday about the Las Vegas Mob Experience."

There used to be a time in Las Vegas when important political races were covered.

The Las Vegas Sun, thanks its position in the joint operating agreement, will do the big picture stuff and cover the races at the top of the ticket.

The Review-Journal proves today it can only do two things at once, and neither of them particularly well.

As predicted, the RJ doesn't really analyze Sharron Angle's expected victory or, more importantly, Sue Lowden's horrific and inept campaign. http://www.lvrj.com/news/brewing-for-a-fight-95937634.html

And there's barely a blip about the historic political death of incumbent Gov. Jim Gibbons.

The Sun actually did a retrospective on Gibbons and an analysis of the Angle victory.

But here's where it really gets screwed up in Las Vegas.

There's no local legislative coverage. We're talking about a $3 billion deficit. These legislative races are critical.

The Sun didn't cover them and the RJ farmed out the election coverage to the Associated Press.

Nothing against Oskar Garcia, but the way his piece ran in the RJ, you know who lost Assembly 15, but not who won.

"Lou Toomin, a former assemblyman from District 15 who served one term in 1993, came in third among Democrats seeking the same seat this year."

There's also this classic only in the RJ decision.

Traffic reporter Adrienne Packer was told to cover the lieutenant governor's race. She leads with incumbent Brian Krolicki's expected victory. And so does the headline. http://www.lvrj.com/news/krolicki-easily-wins-gop-nomination-for-lieutenant-governor-95928584.html

We can't even get a local record on local races anymore in the RJ. And sadly, that shows we can't get it anywhere.