ProgressNow Nevada Blog

When asked if he supported transfering some of the public land managed by the United States government back to the state of Nevada Mitt Romney told the Reno Gazette-Journal editorial board "I don't know why the government owns so much of this land. So I haven't studied it, what the purpose is of the land."

So the guy who wants to be the chief decision maker on what happens to our public lands has no idea why they exist or what they're for.

Wonderful.

Besides the fact that our public lands pump $1 billion into our state economy, creating jobs and state revenue, they're also some of the biggest quality of life enhancers we have.

Romney goes on to say "But where government ownership of land is designed to satisfy, let's say, the most extreme environmentalists, from keeping a population from developing their coal, their gold, their other resources for the benefit of the state, I would find that to be unacceptable."

Yes, because what Nevada needs is another champion for Big Mining, an industry so powerful in Nevada that until last year it had the right to sieze your property if it thought there was material worth mining under it.

One of the most important parts of the caucus process is the chance to introduce planks into the party platforms. These are the standards that the party will hold up as their ideals for both their members and elected officials.

This Saturday, February 4 is the Republican Party caucus and our chance to make a difference.

Find your caucus location using the tool here.

The Republican Party Platform Plank Process

To submit a plank for the party platform you must attend the caucus meeting (February 4, 2012. Start times vary by county. Clark County starts at 9:00am, Washoe County starts at 10:00am). At the meeting an informational packet will be handed out that includes an email address for the county party platform committee. You can then submit as many plank proposals as you would like to the platform committee, but they must be done by sending them to this email address.

After the planks are submitted the platform committee will hold two public hearings where proposed planks are discussed. Then at the county party convention the platform committee will submit a report on the proposed planks. A comment period will take place, followed by a vote of the entire convention membership on the proposed planks.

If the plank receives enough votes it will go to the state party convention. There will be another round of public discussion at the state convention. During this process anyone who is a member of the state convention can propose an amendment to the plank. The plank will then be voted on by the convention at large.

Suggested Planks

Below is a plank suggested by ProgressNow Nevada focusing on helping homeowners in Nevada who are facing foreclosure. Feel free to print it out and bring it to your caucus where you can introduce it.

Download and print the ProgressNow Nevada suggested policy plank.

For other suggested progressive policy planks visit the caucus page on the Nevada Values Coalition website.

PNNV GOP Platform Resolution

John McCain may have had seven, or was it eight, homes. But he could sometimes come across like W. who the average person would want to have a beer with.

Mitt Romney is so stuck in war mode from his carpetbombing of Newt Gingrich in Florida, that he can't even fake support for the middle class.

For Romney, it's as if he wants to be president of the hedge fund managers who've filled up the Super PAC doing his talking.

How else to explain a guy who doesn't get real Americans on any level. He wants to let banks take over homes so that the market can bottom out and investors can buy up the properties for renters.

He likes to fire people who don't provide him good service. And today, he said:
"I'm not concerned about the very poor. They have a safety net."

You've got to be kidding. Romney probably thinks the safety net is some kind of padded room of luxury for the extremely poor.

I'd love to see him walk one day in the shoes of an actual middle income person, let alone a poor one.

I don't know anyone poor who doesn't work. And as to that elusive safety net.

Here in Nevada legislators try to save budget face by cutting hole after hole into ours. On the federal level, Romney would support the Ryan budget, which eviscerates funding for low-income programs.

Not only does Romney not get it, at all. Even if you think he thinks there's a safety net, he has no idea what that net is.

Anyway, more the reason to go see him this evening at Brady Industries. And, take a moment to see Romney for yourself at our project: http://ForecloseRomney.com

Yesterday, many online sites blocked out their content to protest the Stop Online Piracy Act. And that's why this blog post is up a day later.

It's a noble effort, on paper, to take on pirates.

But how does downloading music equate to the noted rape and pillaging in the 16th century? Maybe Disney wants to protect its Pirates of the Caribbean series, but while I love Capt. Jack Sparrow as much as any woman, it's not fair to put Wikipedia, Google and Tumblr on the chopping block so the Mouse Inc., et al, get a bigger payday.

I prefer to read Wired online, to create websites on Tumblr and get some quick basic facts from Wiki and Google.

"Under the current wording of the measures, the Attorney General would have the power to order ISPs to block access to foreign-based sites suspected of trafficking in pirated and counterfeit goods; order search engines to delist the sites from their indexes; ban advertising on suspected sites; and block payment services from processing transactions for accused sites," Wired reports.

SOPA is simply a sop to big corporations at the expense of the First Amendment.

One of the most important parts of the caucus process is the chance to introduce planks into the party platforms. These are the standards that the party will hold up as their ideals for both their members and elected officials.

This Saturday, January 21 is the Democratic Party caucus and our first chance to make a difference.

Find your caucus location using the tool here.

The Democratic Party Platform Plank Process

To submit a plank for the party platform you must attend the caucus meeting (January 21, 2012 starting at 11:30am in all locations). At the caucus meeting you must submit your plank in writing to the chairperson at your caucus location. It can be written on any sheet of paper, but to make things easier we've provided a blank version of the official plank submission form (click here to download).

Voting then takes place at your caucus location, the county party convention, and the state party convention to determine if your plank will become part of the party platform.

Suggested Planks

Below is a plank suggested by ProgressNow Nevada focusing on helping homeowners in Nevada who are facing foreclosure. Feel free to print it out and bring it to your caucus where you can introduce it.

Download and print the ProgressNow Nevada suggested policy plank.

For other suggested progressive policy planks visit the caucus page on the Nevada Values Coalition website.

Help for Nevada Homeowners

Check back next week for information about the Republican Party caucus process and how to introduce policy planks in that process.