Post-lunch food coma? Wake up with Quick Hits! Here we go!

• The AFL-CIO endorsed candidates in plenty of races, but left the most contested race — governor — alone. The fault lies largely with the Culinary Union Local 226, which has about half the local AFL-CIO membership and can veto any endorsement.

The official line is that the union didn’t want to split its members by endorsing either state Sen. Dina Titus or Henderson Mayor Jim Gibson. But by taking a pass, the union also forgoes any clout it otherwise would have had in picking a candidate of its choice. (Although, we note with irony, the AFL-CIO didn’t have a problem doing pre-primary endorsements in two Assembly races, thus risking splitting the membership.)

The Culinary Union once picketed the Frontier hotel for six years. Six years. It picketed the opening of the Venetian, and took a free-speech-on-sidewalks case all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court. This is an organization known for courage, and deservedly so.

We think it should have shown some courage and given the nod to a candidate now, and helped that candidate win, not just the primary, but the general election, too.

• How do we love U.S. Rep. Shelley Berkley? Let us count the ways.

The most recent reason: Berkley’s announcement that she’ll introduce a long-overdue bill to eliminate subsidies to oil, gas and nuclear power projects and direct the money to research and tax credits for clean energy, like solar, wind and fuel-cells. Her bill would also increase CAFE miles-per-gallon standards to 33.

We’re sure the oil companies will survive on their billions in profits without government subsidies, although the nuke guys may be in trouble. But if we were ever to put some real research dollars into clean energy, we’re guessing we wouldn’t need nuclear power around for much longer. Or oil, either, for that matter.

• Quotable: “The president has said some frightening things lately. He said the next president can take care of Iraq. He said those coming into West Point this year will solve the problem.” — U.S. Sen. Harry Reid.

Hey, it’s not just lately that the president has said some frightening things. How about when he said Jesus Christ was his favorite political philosopher? Or that there were weapons of mass destruction in Iraq? Or that we had found the weapons of mass destruction, when we clearly hadn’t? Or that dissent with his war policy — or reporters unearthing illegal acts taken by his administration — help the terrorists? We’re frightened by all of those things.

• And speaking of Reid, he took to the Senate floor today to oppose a plan to amend the Constitution to ban gay marriage. This comes despite the fact that Reid’s church, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, supports the amendment.

Reid personally believes in limiting marriage to heterosexual couples, and he voted for Nevada’s gay marriage ban. We happen to disagree with him on that.

And Reid has already been pilloried for opposing the amendment by the Nevada Republican Party and Richard Ziser, chairman of Nevada Concerned Citizens. But we think Reid is right to oppose it.

You see, Republican leaders don’t give a rat’s ass about marriage, gays or activist courts. They need an issue, something they can use against their opponents in the upcoming midterm elections, something to save them from the fact that they have mismanaged the country to a degree that shocks the conscience. Gays are merely their latest whipping boys (and girls).

It’s despicable, and so we offer kudos to Reid for calling it as it is. In fact, we’re so pleased with the senator’s stance, that we hereby reprint his Senate floor statement on the subject, in its entirety. Here’s hoping that American voters are smarter than the Karl Roves of the Republican Party think they are.

Senator Harry Reid:

“In Nevada today, gas prices are over $3 a gallon. Fill-ups at the tank cause emptiness at the bank. This administration, the most friendly-to-oil presidency in our history, refuses to buck Big Oil or the auto manufacturers. Our citizens are literally choking on the lack of alternative fuel. Few incentives for energy created by the sun, the wind, or the earth’s geothermal reserves has this administration endorsed.

“Raging in Iraq is an intractable war. Our soldiers are fighting valiantly, but we have Abu Ghraib and Haditha — where 24 or more civilians were allegedly killed by our own — and no policy for winning the peace. However, [Defense] Secretary [Donald] Rumsfeld continues in his job with the full backing of the president. Not a reprimand, not a suggestion that his defense secretary is at fault.

“We have a national debt that President Bush won’t acknowledge, but our children, their children, and their children’s children will have to acknowledge the generations of debt created by President Bush’s economic policies. Federal red ink as far as one can see. America is becoming continually more dependent on loans from China, Japan, Saudi Arabia and England.

“Our world is changing as we speak as a result of global warming — a condition our president does not acknowledge, let alone attempt to reverse.

“Today nearly 46 million Americans have absolutely no health insurance. Millions more of our countrymen have inadequate health insurance. This administration has come forward with nothing of substance to address this national emergency.

“Seniors in Nevada and each of the 50 states are struggling to survive. Some physicians refuse to take Medicare patients. The president’s Medicare prescription drug plan has been a gift to HMO’s, insurance companies and drug companies and a nightmare for seniors.

“Education for many of our graduating high school seniors has become a goal too far. Student loans and Pell grants are not a priority of the Bush administration. The ability to obtain a college education is becoming more and more based on how much money your parents have instead of how much academic potential our youth have.

“Crime remains a national worry, but money from the federal government to our states for crime fighting and crime prevention is being drastically cut. Successful anti-crime programs such as the COPS program are being eliminated by President Bush, much to the consternation of police officers across America.

“A trade policy that is continually eroding America’s favorable balance of payments seems to be the watchword of the Bush administration. This trade policy causes America to be less and less globally competitive.

“The scientific community cries for help. They believe dread diseases such as Alzheimer’s, Lou Gehrig’s, Parkinson’s, and diabetes could be moderated and prevented, but President Bush emphatically says NO to allowing scientists to study and research the healing powers of stem cells. He refuses to keep hope alive for the suffering people of our great country.

“In spite of the many serious problems we have just discussed, what is the United States Senate going to debate this week?

“A new energy policy? NO.

“Will we debate the raging war in Iraq? NO.

“Will we address our staggering national debt? NO.

“Will we address the seriousness of global warming? NO

“Will we address the aging of America? NO.

“Will we address America’s education dilemma? NO.

“Will we address rising crime statistics? NO.

“Will we debate our county’s trade imbalance? NO.

“Will we debate stem cell research? NO.

“But what we will spend most of the week on is a constitutional amendment that will fail by a large margin, a constitutional amendment on same sex marriage — an effort that failed to pick up a simple majority, when we recently voted on it. Remember, an amendment to our Constitution requires 67 votes.

“I believe marriage should be between a man and a woman. I believe in our federal system of government, described to me in college as a central whole divided among self-governing parts. Those self-governing parts — the 50 states — have already decided this on their own in state after state. For example, in Nevada the constitution was amended to prevent same sex marriage. Congress and President Clinton passed a law that gave the states the guarantee that their individual laws regarding marriage would be respected. The Defense of Marriage Act creates an exception to the Full Faith and Credit Clause of the Constitution so that no state can force its laws of marriage on another.

“So why are we being directed by the president and this Republican majority to debate an Amendment to the Constitution, a document inspired more than two centuries ago? Why would we be asked to change this American masterpiece?

“Will it next be to constitutionally dictate the cause of divorce, or military service, or even what America’s religion must be?

“So for me it is clear the reason for this debate is to divide our society, to pit one against another. This is another one of the president’s efforts to frighten, to distort, to distract, and to confuse America. It is this administration’s way of avoiding the tough, real problems that American citizens are confronted with each and every day:

“High gas prices.

“The war in Iraq.

“The national debt.

“Health care.

“Senior citizens.

“Education.

“Crime.

“Trade policy.

“Stem cell research.

“Each issue begging the president’s attention, each issue being ignored — valuable time in the Senate spent on an issue that today is without hope of passing.

“These issues are not Democratic issues. These issues are not Republican issues. There must be bipartisan efforts to address America’s ills.

“I will vote no on the Motion to Proceed, as it is not a measure meant to bring America together. Rather, it is an effort to cover and conceal the issues necessary to make America more competitive, caring, considerate and stronger.

“Together, America can do better.”

It’s been awhile since we checked in on Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman. It turns out, he doesn’t like the media much. Can somebody please pass a tissue so that we may wipe away our bitter, bitter tears?

Please, mayor, don’t lead your fellow mayors from around the county in a boo! After all, since media apparently weren’t welcome at one of the events staged in connection with the U.S. Conference of Mayors, we’ll never hear it anyway. And you don’t want to make a total ass of yourself, do you?

Whoops. Too late.

Credit our intrepid colleague Norm Clarke with witnessing the spectacle of Goodman expressing his frustration with local media, which, with one notable exception, tend to regard him as something of a buffoon.

But we come not to complain about the mayor’s behavior. After all, everybody expects to be entertained in Sin City. No, we come to question some of the mayor’s spending habits.

For example, as the Las Vegas Sun noted in a story last week, taxpayers have apparently paid for the showgirls and Elvis impersonator who accompany the mayor to public appearances, here in Nevada and around the country.

According to the Sun piece, the city paid $1,800 for showgirls and an Elvis impersonator to attend two events, and is on the hook for another $1,125 to pay the performers for work at the U.S. Conference of Mayors. That’s at least $2,925. (We at Various Things & Stuff have e-mailed the city of Las Vegas to find out if taxpayers have spent any more than that; we’ll let you know what the city says.)

In addition, the Las Vegas Centennial Committee has put out for $22,873, and the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority has paid $13,000, according to the Sun.

Grant total? Just shy of $40,000. We guess you really can buy publicity like that.

We have no problem if hapless casinos’ room tax dollars are wasted, or even the license plate fees of Centennial plate holders. But city taxpayer dollars should not be used to adorn the mayor with eye candy for his appearances. And the fact that need be said shows what a sorry state of affairs we’re in.

But wait, there’s more. Like the Review-Journal’s story about U.S. Conference of Mayors events being held outside the city limits of Las Vegas with the exception of a brief tour of the Fremont Street Experience and the World Market Center. (And getting inside that is a real treat; although the venue gets tax breaks from locals, it’s not open to the public.)

We think the real crime, however, is that the conference was also subsidized by taxpayers. The $1.9 million cost was defrayed by a lot of donations, but the city still had to pay for the event’s oversight, fund-raising, ground transportation and a Friday night dinner for visiting mayors.)

Why, pray tell, do city taxpayers have to foot this particular bill?

“This makes us legitimate,” Goodman told the R-J. “Seven years ago, I went back to Washington D.C. and they kicked me out of town. The proposal [to hold a U.S. Conference of Mayors meeting in Las Vegas] was met with derision and scorn.”

Ah, but the mayor makes a fundamental error: First, most Las Vegas residents think their city already is legitimate, and doesn’t need a bunch of local mayors to show up in order to prove it. Second, as Goodman has apparently not yet earned, you can’t buy legitimacy, even with taxpayer dollars. (We’ve also requested from the city an accounting of taxpayer expenses related to the U.S. Conference of Mayors.)

And the fact that most of the events weren’t even held in the city that underwrote a big chunk of the expenses?

“I’m the mayor of everything. I don’t care if some invisible line makes a difference to misanthropes. I was just in North Las Vegas and they said ‘Hi, mayor.’ I can’t help it,” Goodman said.

Well, we at Various Things & Stuff may be misanthropes, but maybe it’s time we Las Vegans (and since Goodman is mayor of everything, we’re all Las Vegans) wrestle with an important question: Does our mayor have some sort of personality disorder? Extreme narcissism, coupled with paranoia and delusions of grandeur? Can’t we institutionalize him for that, even if it’s against his will?

Speaking of that, according to the R-J, Goodman asked his fellow mayors for strategies on dealing with the homeless that wouldn’t get the city sued for civil rights violations. Unfortunately, he immediately left the room he’d just asked for advice, saying he had to “say hi” to the mayor of Beijing, China.

Here’s hoping he’ll listen more to the compassionate and intelligent advice offered by Santa Barbara, Calif., Mayor Marty Blum and not to, say, the mayor of Beijing. Then again, Goodman thankfully doesn’t have tanks under his command.