What a wonderful tribute to Tim Russert, Jon. This weekend watching MSNBC, I heard similar comments from people. And this morning, MSNBC had clips of an interview with his son, Luke, that was done shortly after Sunday's Meet The Press memorializing Tim. Luke was so composed and gracious. He made his father proud. I am saddened by his death although I never met him. But I enjoyed his broadcasts and enthusiasm. Maybe that's the Irish in me. Thanks, Jon, for the touching story!

I thought Senator Reid's appearance on The Daily Show was refreshing. His book has received favorable critiques. Surprisingly, Senator Reid did not attack the Republicans when Jon Stewart accused the Senate of being in a holding pattern. He briefly explained that neither house holds a majority large enough to override a veto (although I find that a lame excuse -- pass legislation and let the President take the heat for vetoing it). Yet, he admitted and accepted that the Democrats have not been able to push its agenda forward. Given the posturing from most politicians, Senator Reid's remarks were, as I said before, refreshing.

I'm not a lawyer, but I just read both Halverson's pleading and the constitutional articles regarding the Judiciary. The constitution clearly allows the Legislature to amend the districts and to set the terms and the seats of Supreme Court Justices and District Court Judges. Regarding the Supreme Court Justices, if the Legislature increases the number of seats on the Supreme Court, the constitution specifically requires the Legislature to stagger the terms of the newly-created seats. Although this specific language does not appear in the articles for district court judges, there is a blanket statement that the terms are set by law. Therefore, I think Elizabeth Halverson's pleading is nothing more than a frivolous pleading and I hope the Supreme Court slaps her accordingly.

I think he's trying to ship his ASSETS out of the country where they can't be liened by an order of the court. In addition to "flagging" his passport, the DA's office should be freezing his assets to ensure they are available for liquidation once the legal wrangling is finished.

I've given this situation a lot of thought, and I keep thinking about policies regarding car chases. Let me explain: many police departments have instituted policies regarding car chases to lessen the deaths of innocent people. Too many deaths resulted from chases for minor traffic infractions and the public reacted strongly. In this instance, I cannot help but think: why didn't the Henderson Police Department just back down? We hold police officers to a higher standard, and in this situation, the police officers held the key to defusing it simply by walking away. They had the driver's name, address, etc. Why didn't they say, "hey, this is for a minor traffic offense. Let's do this by mail or have the DA's office issue a summons." They should have risen above the fray and walked away. I understand this woman was frantic, and perhaps there were some language misunderstandings. Still, there was a better, less violent way to address this traffic violation other than to kill this woman. And we, as a society, need to stress to all officers that killing someone over a traffic citation is never acceptable. While I understand that refusing to sign the ticket is cause to arrest a driver, why bother? Under no circumstances should an officer be so rigid during a minor traffic stop that he or she actually aggravates the situation to the point that it ends as this tragedy did. I'm tired of hearing police officers defend what the HPD's actions. There were alternatives but it would have required the HPD to back off and find another way to cite Mr. Selimaj. But the problem with my theory is that it requires these proud, and often arrogant, officers to take the higher road by walking away, and that's something these officers would consider weak.