A few notes from the world of media…

• The Review-Journal today had a story so good, it ran twice: An Associated Press story on ex-Devo frontman David Casale’s decision to release new music exclusively online. A photo of Casale, clad in purple turban in front of the federal building on Wilshire Boulevard in West Los Angeles, appears with both versions of the story, in the Living section as well as the Business section.

Hey, it happens at newspapers sometimes. For our part, we like the Business section headline better: “Now you hear it — but it may only be online.”

And we’d rather have seen the Living section run a second AP story in the place of writer John Przybys’ piece on the popularity of retro video games like Pacman. Nobody can spot a trend months or years after it’s begun like Przybys.

• Speaking of the R-J, somebody needs to check the coding on certain features. That is, unless the paper wants its editorials to be freely mixing with its news stories.

On today’s headlines page — linked above — the paper’s editorials appear in the section set aside for news, and then again in the section set aside for opinion.

Now, some R-J critics, including us at Various Things & Stuff, have argued that the paper’s conservative bias occasionally creeps into its news reporting, but nobody has suggested the two sections are literally crossing over.

And while we’re talking about editorials, we’d like to congratulate our former colleagues on the page for their restraint when addressing gadfly Tony Dane’s ill-considered, doomed-to-failure proposal to raise the top tier of the state’s gambling tax to 18.25 percent.

“Proposal not well thought out” is the nicest thing they could say about Dane’s idea.

• We at Various Things & Stuff don’t hesitate to admit that we like to leaf through Liberty Watch The Magazine now and again. We’ve got to keep up on what the right-wingers are doing, right? And this issue is extra special to us, since we’re quoted in an article by Editor Mike Zigler. (We can’t say we care for the photo, but that can certainly not be Zigler’s fault. And we finally found an issue where the editors and readers of Liberty Watch and we can agree: Letting people smoke if they damn well want to.)

Anyway, we laughed out loud when we read the table of contents, where we saw magazine’s publisher, George Harris, was described as “Nevada’s biggest political activist” for his interview with Iran-Contra figure Oliver North.

Now, was that a reference to Harris’ status in the political community, or his girth?

Now, before you readers jump on us for being mean to Harris, we at Various Things & Stuff are also members of the Hefto-American Community, and thus we’re fully authorized by law to make fat jokes. So settle down.

As for the North interview, it was pretty standard stuff: If you’re critical of the troops, North implied, you’re hurting the war effort. Therefore, we must all support the war effort in order to support the troops. It’s a tautology that even a child could unravel, and we’ll leave you to that two-minute task now.

U.S. Sen. Harry Reid is the king of pork. Or so we’re supposed to think, despite a report showing Nevada dead last in the nation when it comes to getting federal dollars from Washington, D.C.

We at Various Things & Stuff wrote Tuesday about the irony of the state represented by the minority leader in the Senate lagging when it comes to per capita spending, a lowly $5,467.20 per person in Nevada in 2004. Alaska, the No. 1 state in per capita spending last year, saw $12,885.17, according to the report.

But Reid spokeswoman Tessa Hafen wrote to say that the figures don’t tell the whole story. Consider this, Hafen said:

• Citizens Against Government Waste ranks Nevada No. 11 when it comes to per capita “earmark” dollars, which translates to pork. Then again, one man’s pork is another man’s extra freeway lane, bridge or interchange. And even vegetarian drivers like that kind of pork in rush-hour traffic.

• Reid has worked to get the federal government to change the formula for spending homeland security dollars to reflect the actual population of a city, including visitors. That helps Las Vegas, where just less than 2 million people live, but which sees a huge influx of tourists and thus becomes a higher-profile terrorist target.

(We personally think that anti-terror dollars should be allocated based on risk assessments; Wyoming is a pretty low profile target compared with Los Angeles, New York, Las Vegas, or Chicago, wouldn’t you say?)

• Reid has worked to keep the Bush administration from stealing billions in proceeds from the sale of federal lands under the Southern Nevada Public Lands Management Act. (The administration earlier sought to use the lion’s share of the money to pay down the federal budget deficit, while the act says the money should be used for recreation, environmental protection, schools and water projects in Nevada.)

• The report, while ranking Nevada last in per capita federal spending, also showed the state was 38th in retirement and disability benefits, including Social Security and Veterans Administration benefits. The state was 31st in procurement of federal contracts, and 35th in federal salaries and wages. The state was lowest in programs like Medicaid, unemployment and community development block grants, which state and local agencies apply to the government to receive. (See, it’s the state and local people’s fault!)

Anyway, that’s the word from the Reid camp. And speaking of Reid, it seems he’s going to spend his winter break going to Republican states to tell residents just how corrupt Republicans are.

No, seriously, according to the Review-Journal, Reid will head next month to Phoenix, Denver, Salt Lake City, Pocatello, Idaho, and Omaha, Neb. on his Republicans Are Bad Tour 2006. Talk about your easy targets: More Republicans are under indictment, investigation and suspicion this year than any since perhaps Watergate.

“He [Reid] wants to take his message to some of these red states that the Democrats want to clean up Washington,” Hafen said. “He will be talking on the theme that America can do better and just letting these red states know who the Democrats are.”

Yes, by all means, let’s introduce the red states to Washington-cleaning Democrats like … U.S. Sen. Ted Kennedy, D-Mass.! No, no, that’s not right. How about former U.S. Rep. Jim Wright, D-Texas! He wants to clean up Washington, right? Oh, wait, no, that’s not right, either. How about ex-President Bill Clinton? Washington was sure clean under him, right? OK, no, forget that. Let’s go with ex-U.S. Rep. Dan Rostenkowski, D-Ill. He’s out of the big house by now, right? Too bad former President Lyndon Johnson has passed on. How he was one clean guy!

Now, to be fair, most of the unethical Democrats are out of office, while most of the investigated/indicted Republicans are currently serving. But do you really think a change of party leadership in Congress and the White House will bring moral uprightness to the Capitol?

Hardly. The most we can hope for is to end a string of lies about the Iraq war, the illegal spying on American citizens, the obscene corporate welfare for energy and drug companies, the coddling of the rich and the continual assaults against Social Security. Democrats might not have sterling ethics records themselves, but they’re a damn sight better when it comes to getting the government’s priorities in order.

Plus, despite their unfortunate choice of “American can do better,” the Democrats are slightly better at coming up with sound bites. Don’t believe me? Check out the National Republican Senatorial Committee’s response to Reid’s visit: “Pack warm clothes because you may get a chilly reception.”

See what we mean? Republicans should go back to doing what they do best: Insider trading, money laundering, conspiracy, accepting bribes in exchange for official action, and privatizing Social Security.