They’re small, yet entertaining, and always delicious. Here we go!

• U.S. Sen. John Ensign, who apparently is part Filipino, voted against an amendment to grant increased veterans benefits for Filipino veterans of World War II. How could he?  Filipino activists cry. Hey, people, Ensign is part human, too, and he votes against humans almost every day.
• Talk about your Screw Nevada bills. The Review-Journal’s Road Warrior (we call him “Beardy,”) reports that even if the feds ditch the gas tax, screwed Nevadans still get the bills. Guess we won’t be seeing that $37.76 after all.
• The Las Vegas Sun reports Dr. Dipak Desai may be fleeing the state, and in style, too! Somebody call the … oh, wait. Nevermind.
• Dean Heller says he’s “less and less interested” in running for governor, despite saying a year ago that he would eventually run for governor. Heller said it was his successes in Washington, D.C. that inspired him to change his mind, which we’re pretty sure means finally getting ranked higher than non-voting delegates on Washington’s power assessment. But since we weren’t totally sure, we did some research and discovered that, in fact, Dean Heller is a congressman from Northern Nevada.
• Let’s pretend the suggested reform of the 1872 Mining Law were in place today. Based upon the $4.2 billion worth of gold mined in Nevada alone, and calculating for a 4 percent royalty on existing mines, we’d be seeing about $168 million in taxes. But, Nevada’s congressional delegation is probably right: The industry probably couldn’t afford that. Could it?
• Somebody got her feelings hurt when renowned architecture critics said Vegas sucks, or something along those lines. Hey, planners: Sticks and stones may break our bones, but we see you dragged your elitist asses to town for your conference! Oh, yeah, you just got owned!
• Elect John McCain, lest we all end up speaking Arabic, R-J editor says. No, seriously, he said it.
• Terry Lanni for governor, Sun editor says. No, seriously, he said it. (Hey, how about this for a campaign slogan: “Eliminate the middleman!”?)
• OK, it’s officially a recession: The 99-cent shrimp cocktail just went up to $1.99. Next up: A pale horse, whose rider is Death, trotting down Fremont Street…