It’s Friday, there are only two shopping days left before Christmas and we are about to wing our way south for a little California holiday time. But there’s always time for blogging, so let’s do a few quick hits before we close out the week:

• Does somebody at the Review-Journal’s copy desk work part-time for Boyd Gaming? We only ask because of the ridiculous headline that appeared above the R-J’s story about the opening of the South Coast casino in today’s paper.

It seems fireworks set off to commemorate the casino’s opening (a full 5 1/2 weeks ahead of schedule) set fire to some building materials atop the hotel’s tower. The fire was put out quickly and no one was hurt, although the fire alarms did go off for about 45 minutes and some smoke was pumped into the hotel’s top floors via a ventilation system.

So how did the R-J headline the story? Like this: “South Coast opens with flair,” followed by a subhead: “Fireworks ignite fire, add to excitement.”

Huh?

Sure, the opening a new casino is exciting. Sure, it’s always packed with gamblers, hoping rumors of loose slots and legendary Megabucks payouts are true. And, as a native of Southern California, we applaud any casino that carries the SoCal theme. But let’s be honest, folks: A fire ignited by your own fireworks is a bit of a mistake, not a bit of “flair.” (To their credit, Boyd officials acknowledged this. Too bad the R-J headlined the story like it was to appear in the company’s newsletter. And, for the record, let us say that the story itself, by business reporter Chris Jones was fair, accurate and complete.)

But we can’t help but wonder how that same editor might have handled some other events in local and world history. Hmmmm….

“Nixon resigns with a flourish/Looks forward to exciting post-White House career as commentator, writer”

“Titanic sinks like a pro/Survivors marvel at ship’s classy demise”

“Corruption queen Kenny pleads ‘guilty’/Sassy ex-commish still stylish in prison orange”

“Allies take Berlin!/Nazi leader Hitler goes out with a bang!”

“Global warming all the rage/Rising water levels mean more ocean fun for everyone”

“Hurricane Katrina blows New Orleans/Residents thrilled with new sport of ‘street surfing’”

We’ll leave it there, in the spirit of Christmas. But in the spirit of journalism, maybe somebody should have a little talk with whoever wrote that steamy pile of a headline?

• Our friend, colleague and now, successor at the R-J, Erin Neff, did a great job in today’s newspaper analyzing the use and abuse of free parking for elected officials, bureaucrats and even some in the private sector.

We won’t regale you with the whole tale, but suffice to say, there’s a whole lot of people parking for free at McCarran while folks like us at Various Things & Stuff hunt for a space in the garage for which we’ll have to pay a whopping $12 per day.

A couple things we noticed about this story.

Thing No. 1: Both state Treasurer Brian Krolicki and state Controller Kathy Augustine keep cars in the garage at McCarran for free, and simply use them whenever they’re in town. (To make matters worse, Augustine, who lives in Las Vegas, racked up almost as much in parking fees as did Krolicki, who doesn’t. Was she here to campaign?)

Both say what everybody else says: If they had to pay, they’d just apply for reimbursement. So, the free-parking program is there to make things easier for them? Maybe if they had to apply for reimbursement, and the charge were to show up on required forms, they’d be less cavalier about taking up a space that could otherwise be used by a member of the public. You remember the public: They’re the saps who voted Krolicki and Augustine into office, who pay their salaries and whose fees go to pay for the garage at McCarran.

Thing No. 2: The award of the parking privilege is apparently 100 percent arbitrary and capricious. Witness the sad saga of Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce President Kara Kelley, who enjoyed free parking until the airport grew disenchanted with her organization’s capitalist-enabling stances at the state Legislature. The airport pulled out of the chamber (what the hell was the airport doing as a chamber member in the first damn place?) and canceled Kelley’s free parking, says Rosemary Vassiliadis, the airport’s deputy director.

Well, that will show Kelley. The only thing is, the cancellation order didn’t get recorded until early this month, and that meant Kelley got more free parking than the airport overlords thought she should get.

Don’t get us wrong: We haven’t agreed with a single Chamber of Commerce lobbying stance in our lives, mostly because “screw the public … and all of our small-business members, too!” seems to be the guiding philosophy. But yanking the free-parking privilege seems to us to indicate that there are no rules governing who gets parking, who doesn’t and whose parking can be pulled at any moment. That’s bad.

• University Regent Howard Rosenberg, a UNR art professor, serves in total violation of common sense, the doctrine of separation of powers and laws governing conflicts of interest. And now, board Chairman Bret Whipple has created yet another conflict: Appointing Rosenberg to the search committee that will chose the next president of UNR. You know, Rosenberg’s new boss.

What does the Most Conflicted Member of the Worst Public Body in America have to say about it? He simply chooses not to acknowledge the problem. “I don’t consider the president of the university to be anybody’s boss. What he is is a leader of an institution. I don’t believe in the old plantation routine, never have.”

Well, there you go: Proof that President George W. Bush’s philosophy of sticking one’s head up one’s ass — because if you can’t see trouble, it can’t see you! — is gaining ground. We can’t wait until Rosenberg decides there’s no such thing as gravity —why, he’ll be able to fly then!

Or not. Because whether Rosenberg believes it or not, UNR’s president is the boss of him, except, of course, when Rosenberg is sitting as a regent, when Rosenberg becomes the boss of the UNR president.

This is why Rosenberg has to be removed from office forthwith. No matter how much he abstains from votes (who wants a representative, after all, who cannot represent?) he’s still got an untenable, uncurable conflict. And, like reality, that exists whether Rosenberg chooses to admit it or not.

That’s it for us for this week, folks. Have a Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Joyous Kwanzaa, Happy Boxing Day, Pleasant Winter Solstice or whatever holiday you choose to celebrate. We’ll be back on Tuesday for the final week of 2005, and a look ahead at 2006.