Deregulator: Alive since '85!

Meanwhile, back at the Legislature ... Kenny Guinn's "temporary tax hike" is dead. Caput. Finito. Legislative committee heads refused to subject Guinn's proposals to a vote, citing a lack of support. Rumor has it the gross receipts tax is going nowhere as well. Other tax plans are in jeopardy, as no proposal is getting the two-thirds support from lawmakers in both houses required for passage. Of course, the Legislature is in session for two more months, so anything can happen. But if I dare go out on a limb, the reaction of lawmakers to date should be heartening -- and not just for anti-tax cranks like me. The reluctance of legislators to be pushed around by Guinn (and the casino bosses and public employees who lead him around) may suggest that Nevada is growing up, becoming a real state -- one in which decisions are made through a deliberative process, not in the proverbial smoke-filled room. This somewhat surprising resistance to tax hikes also suggests that it...

Tar Heel blues The Washington Post's Michael Wilbon offers the best summary to date why UNC fired Matt Doherty. When you go to a tradition-rich institution, clean house, and try to prove you're beholden to no one, you'd damn well better succeed. Doherty didn't, and so he's gone. I've been a tentative Doherty supporter for much of his tenure, mainly because I loved his intensity and enthusiasm. Putting student fans closer to the floor, tossing out t-shirts before the games, singing the alma mater with the cheerleaders after wins -- passionate alumni just love that stuff. But you can't ignore the on-court performance of the players -- and their relationship to their coach. After MD's first year, three players left early: Joe Forte to the NBA, Ronald Curry and Julius Peppers to the NFL. Each of them could have helped the team avert its meltdown -- and in hindsight, Forte and Curry really screwed up by departing prematurely. Forte has played fewer than a do...