It’s told-you-so time.

State Sen. Bob Beers, our lookalike in the upper house, admits his Tax and Spending Control initiative is flawed. Seems the spending limits (population plus inflation combined) may apply only to the state government and cities “chartered” by the state.

Counties? School districts? Special-improvement districts? Not so much. Since they are general-law entities, they’d be free from the TASC spending limits, or so a Carson City judge may rule. (The Nevada AFL-CIO sued, saying the 200-word description of TASC to be printed on the initiative was misleading.)

“We should have used the word ‘created.’ Even if the judge determines that it’s a material misstatement, we should go forward,” Beers said.

And that’s where the told-you-so part comes in: If this were a piece of legislation, working its way through the normal legislative process, a sharp-eyed lobbyist would have noticed the error, and it would be fixed. But since it’s an initiative, Beers is stuck: He can either throw the whole thing out, re-write it (again) and re-file it (again), or he can live with it.

Government by initiative is bad, folks. We need to remember that, for this and so many other reasons.

In fairness to Beers, he did at least try to get this proposal enacted through normal channels, but got nowhere. But there are plenty of other people for whom do-it-yourself legislating is the first course of action, not the last resort.

And this is the kind of thing that can happen.

• The Associated Press reports the White House rejected a call from some congressional Democrats for President George W. Bush to appoint a special prosecutor to look into Bush’s authorizing the National Security Agency to eavesdrop on American citizens’ phone calls without getting a warrant, in violation of the Fourth Amendment.

Gee, there’s a big surprise.

The decision, which probably took all of 0.00000021 nanoseconds, follows decisions by the inspectors general of the Department of Defense and the Department of Justice to pass on a probe, as well as the Government Accountability Office.

Because if there’s one thing Bush’s government doesn’t want, it’s accountability.

• The city of Henderson is still pushing forward with a plan to annex all the land that His Majesty, King James Gibson surveys. A plan to annex 3,625 acres is stalled, however, because Clark County hasn’t signed off on the transfer of property from its current owner, the Bureau of Land Management.

Why? It seems Gibson wants to grab the south strip, where big casinos will soon dot the landscape, as well as reach into the Ivanpah Valley, where one day a new airport will ferry ever more tourists and cargo to our fine city. Or Gibson’s fine city, depending whoever annexes first.

“We obviously have to be able to grow — to have land come into the city of Henderson,” Gibson said on Face to Face with Jon Ralston. “That’s what we are all about. … We can’t allow ourselves to be put in a position where we are hemmed in. … It is good for all of Southern Nevada to have Henderson strong, dynamic and successful.”

We’d get all worked up about this, but why? The alternative to Henderson — the Clark County Commission — isn’t too much better in terms of development policy. Neither government has ever shown any inclination toward ever telling a developer he couldn’t do anything, so we doubt it would make much difference which one is in charge, in terms of air quality, traffic gridlock, smart growth or general quality of life.

But have a nice fight over it. We love land-grab stories, especially if Clark County Commissioner Lynette Boggs McDonald is right, and Henderson wants to gobble up ground all the way to the California border. Can you imagine the sign at Primm: “Welcome to fabulous Henderson, Nevada, the Right Honorable James Gibson, Mayor and Lord Ruler Presiding”? Now that would be something.

• We’re not saying Nevada Highway Patrol Trooper Joshua Corcran is getting special treatment after apparently causing an accident in which four people died.

But we are saying if we at Various Things & Stuff were in his place, we’d probably not get the same treatment.

Think about it: We’re speeding, something even Corcran’s own lawyer (Las Vegas Councilman Steve Wolfson) admits the trooper did. We rear-end a car full of Mexican immigrants on their way to Las Vegas, looking for work. Four die.

Heck, if we were uninjured in the crash, we’d probably have been arrested on the spot. Even if we were injured, we’d be interrogated and possibly arrested in the hospital. And we’d no doubt spend some time in jail before we were free. We’d certainly not be able to refuse all contact with investigators for 11 days.

Corcran wasn’t arrested, and hasn’t been interrogated, mostly because he told investigators to talk to Wolfson. And Wolfson seems to be taking his sweet time deciding whether to let his client speak to the police. (Now, before you say Wolfson is being a dick, remember, it’s his job to keep his client out of legal jeopardy. And while we may infer — probably correctly — that Corcran did something wrong, we have to respect the system.)

“I will say I characterize this as nothing more than a horrific and terrible, terrible accident. [But] I don’t think this elevates to the level of criminal conduct by Mr. Corcran. He’s suffering, too,” Wolfson said in the Review-Journal.

OK, maybe Wolfson is being a dick after all. (He’s suffering, too? Hell, he’s still alive, and given the choice, we’d rather be alive and suffering than dead. But that’s beside the point.)

Metro investigators are proceeding cautiously, knowing this will be a high-profile case with a suspect represented by a high-profile attorney. We’re confident the police will be fair and professional.

All we’re saying is, if it were just us, and we didn’t have a high-profile lawyer, things would have gone very differently. And that, sad to say, is the system, too.

• And finally today, a Las Vegas masonry contractor called Steve Brown wants evolution taught “correctly” in Nevada schools, which is to say, “tempered with unprovable religious dogma.”

Don’t get us wrong — we at Various Things & Stuff believe the Nicene Creed when it says “we believe in one God, the Father, the Almighty, maker of heaven and earth, of all that is seen and unseen.” We’re just not prepared to describe the particular method of his creation, not being a deity ourselves.

And we certainly don’t think we should amend our constitution to describe what proponents call “intelligent design.” Constitutional amendments are reserved for screwing up the tax system and keeping gay people from getting married, after all.

Speaking of that, Brown’s initiative did get a spark of interest from gay-marriage banning Richard Ziser. He’s got Leviticus down. If he gets Genesis, too, it’s on to the big tomato: Exodus, home of the 10 Commandments!

Won’t you just love living in Nevada then, people?

No, the blog hasn’t been cancelled or killed by a virus! It’s just changed servers, to an all new server with powers and abilities far beyond those of mere mortal servers. Or something.

In any case, Various Things & Stuff will be back soon with all-new naked outrage, in just a short while.