Is the government listening to your phone calls? Is it monitoring your Internet use? Is it watching over your shoulder right now even as you read these words?! (We sure hope so! We need all the readers we can get!)

It’s time for Quick Hits, people! Here we go!

• Oh, that’s right: If we build an airport down in Ivanpah, we need a way to get people down there, and we all know I-15 sucks. Hey, whatever happened to that superspeed, magnetic levitation train that was supposed to run between Primm and Las Vegas, at least as a demonstration project for an eventual line that connects (irony alert!) Sin City with Anaheim, home of Disneyland? That would sure be a cool way to come to town!
  
• One thing’s for sure: We know the monorail won’t do the job. Even the Review-Journal editorial page thinks that thing sucks.
  
• So U.S. Sen. Harry Reid is in the hot seat again: On the one hand, he’s got Republicans who want to renew a bill that allows the government to spy on American citizens, and to protect big phone companies because they allowed the government to spy on Americans without warrants after Sept. 11. On the other hand, he’s got Democrats who want to extend the law, but without the immunity for phone companies. (It expires next Friday.)
  
• Why, we wonder, doesn’t Reid suggest a perfectly reasonable middle course: Killing both bills, since spying on Americans without warrants is illegal under the Fourth Amendment? And then we can get to holding phone companies liable for violating the Fourth Amendment, which is perfectly reasonable.
  
• Oh, that’s right: Reid voted for the Patriot Act.
  
• Meanwhile, Vice President Dick Cheney told the Heritage Foundation that we need the law — and the immunity — to stop terrorism. And if there’s one thing we know about terrorism-related talk from Cheney, it’s that he’s almost always wrong, or lying, or both. Another great reason for Reid to stand up and let the damn law expire.
  
• The White House and Congress are close to a deal that would see taxpayers get a rebate check from the government. Oh, yes, by all means, with oceans of red ink flowing in Washington, let’s most definitely pursue an idea first proposed by Nevada state Sen. Bob Beers. You know, because it’s worked wonders for Nevada.
  
• Speaking of our economic dire straits, state Sen. Bob Coffin wants to sue Gov. Jim Gibbons over Gibbons’ proposed budget cuts. State Sen. Randolph Townsend says no, and that the law allows for the cuts. We see where Coffin is coming from, and we hate Gibbons’ cuts as much as the next crazy liberal blogger, but we have to agree with Townsend here: Gibbons can legally do what he’s doing.
  
• And that’s why it was so important to elect somebody other than Jim Gibbons to office when we have these election things. Get it now, Nevada?

Look, people, we like KVBC Channel 3. We really do. Sure, it’s an NBC affiliate, and NBC canceled Journeyman, and will probably cancel Bionic Woman after those last five episodes in the network’s original 13-episode order are shot. But that’s network, and we all know network is run by assholes who like to field good shows and then cancel them, just to spite us. God, we hate network!

But what is up with the station’s latest promotion, known as "WOFY"? (It stands for "watching out for you," which is actually a longtime Channel 3 slogan.) The station bought billboards and bumper stickers and … what? rock formations??? … in order to promote WOFY. And recently, the enduring mystery was solved with a news release that announced WOFY is KVBC!

We’re sure glad that’s over. Now we can go back to solving our beloved Wonderword puzzles. (Seriously, check them out here. They’re cool.)

Anyway, like we said, we like Channel 3. We’ve got friends who work there. But really, WOFY makes us ask WTF?

First, is Channel 3 really watching out for us? Sure, they run editorials noting that the rabidly anti-tax Review-Journal doesn’t even pay sales taxes on selling or making the daily newspaper. That’s fun. But if they were really looking out for us, wouldn’t they put Jeopardy on in prime-time when we have time to watch?

Second, how do you even pronounce WOFY? Is it WOOF-IE? WHOA-FIE? What? (We only ask because astute observers say station personalities have pronounced it differently since the campaign began.) And the fact that station personalities have to pronounce it at all tells us it’s definitely time for a union over at Channel 3. 

But maybe we’re wrong about this. After all, some marketing genius at Channel 3 thinks this is going to work at getting viewers. Maybe we at Various Things & Stuff should try to create a clever acronym to promote ourselves and get more readers (and by "more" we of course mean "some." Or "any." Or "seriously, we’ll pay you to read this blog!!!")

How about this? "We’re HUNGRY!" (That could stand for HUmerous Nonsense that Grates on Republican Yuppies!") Or maybe "We’re WAY COOL!" (That’s "Wary of Yankees who Come Out Of Limos!")

Wait, they have to make sense? OK, well, you didn’t tell us that. If you’re going to have rules and whatnot. Well, in that case, how about this:

"We’re BORED!" That means Bring On Republicans Eating Democrats! Because without a caucus, and with the election so far away, what’s there to write about! C’mon, people! Do something political!