Quick and Dirty: a notebook of news and politics

Betrayed senator backs veterans for Kerry

Max Cleland is not a radical. As a Democratic senator from the traditionally conservative state of Georgia, he broke ranks with party liberals and voted in favor of President Bush's tax cut. A decorated Vietnam veteran who lost both legs and his right hand to a Viet Cong grenade in 1968, Cleland also supported Bush's war in Iraq.

Yet as Rep. Shelley Berkley noted Friday during a meeting of the Nevada Veterans for John Kerry at the Cambridge Community Center, Cleland fell victim to an "unforgivable" GOP smear campaign when he came up for re-election in 2002. Characterized as soft on terror because he refused to back Bush's homeland security legislation in its entirety, Cleland was soundly defeated by his Republican opponent, Rep. Saxby Chambliss, after Chambliss--who opted out of Vietnam with a bad knee--ran a series of television commercials linking Cleland with Osama bin Laden and Saddam Hussein.

But Cleland didn't take it lying down. He came out fighting, rallying behind Kerry and cementing himself as the stubborn cornerstone of the nationwide Veterans for Kerry movement. In Las Vegas on Kerry's behalf, Cleland said he has already signed up 100,000 veterans for Kerry, and he set a goal of 1 million by the November election.

"We're in deep trouble," Cleland said after receiving a standing ovation from those in attendance. "This crowd in Washington has crossed so many lines and broken through so many barriers that it's beginning to scare people. For the first time, the American people are deeply concerned about the future direction of this country."

Cleland went on during a 25-minute presentation to quote former White House counterterrorism adviser Richard Clarke ("Invading Iraq after 9/11 made as much sense as invading Mexico after Pearl Harbor") and to cite Bush's plan to cut $1 billion from the Department of Veterans Affairs health care budget in fiscal year 2006. Cleland also took issue with the right's attempt to discredit Kerry's military record.

"I didn't see Ann Coulter out there," he said. "I didn't see Rush Limbaugh. I didn't see Dick Cheney. God knows, the man got five deferments. I didn't see these people out there, yet they're so willing to turn on their Republican slime machine to criticize John Kerry. They turned it on against John McCain in 2000. They turned it on against me in 2002. Don't let them do that to John Kerry in 2004."

Afterward, Johnathan Abbinett--a U.S. Army veteran, activist and co-coordinator of the Nevada Veterans for Kerry movement--echoed Cleland's sentiments. "I was a Republican up until about six weeks ago," Abbinett said. "Bush has betrayed veterans. He is not worthy of my loyalty. For 22 years, I couldn't say such things under the uniform code of military justice. But I'm a free citizen, and I will tell you honestly that I cannot support this president. He's a cowboy, and he's getting young people killed every day."

Even those with no military background who attended the meeting were swayed by Cleland's passion. "I don't consider myself a political person," said 59-year-old Deborah Branch. "But I do believe that there's a certain way that people should be treated, and I am quite certain that these men were not treated right."--Newt Briggs

New transit system has MAX appeal

Half-robot. Half-human. All transit. In the spirit of summer blockbusters, that might be the tagline for Citizens Area Transit's new Metropolitan Area Express (MAX) bus, which debuted last Wednesday. Billed as a rapid transit system, MAX buses are semiautomated, using optically guided computers to run in a dedicated lane. Adding to the system's much-hyped swiftness is the bus's ability to extend the duration of green lights and bus stops where riders can buy passes at kiosks--to minimize that bane of public transportation, a slow file of passengers fumbling through wallets for money, coins and passes. Once on the bus, MAX passengers hand their pass to a combo security guard/ticket-taker, who scans the passes with a hand-held computer.

But don't buy your ticket just yet. So far, the only MAX route runs along Las Vegas Boulevard North, looping around near Craig Road to return to the Downtown Transportation Center; other routes are due in coming years. The word in transit circles is that other cities are watching Vegas' experiment closely, as MAX offers affordable public transit without the major infrastructure headaches of building a subway or rail system.

Is the hype justified? Pretty much. A spot-check that involved riding the route on a weekday finds that the buses are clean, well-run and nicely air-conditioned. Of course, it's too early to tell if MAX will succumb to those most frequent of rider complaints--breakdowns and tardiness--but an informal survey of MAXers reveals they're pleased, with only a few minor peeves.

Mark Wynn, a part-time poker dealer, beefs that the arrangement of the operator's seating area at the front of the bus makes it tough to catch your stop.

"You can't see out the front window," he says, "so you have no idea what your next stop is. I was always used to telling where I needed to get off by the view through the front."

Yeah, it is a hassle, but no dealbreaker. According to the Regional Transportation Commission, the nest of computers at the front requires that the driver sit in the middle of the bus, not the traditional left side, so the driver and the front window are pretty much walled off by plastic and metal. Thus, to make sure you get the right stop, you have to watch out the side windows for landmarks or listen hard when the driver calls out your stop--over a loudspeaker that barely competes with engine roar and air-conditioner hum.

Another rider, a craps dealer at Jerry's Nugget, lauds the new system, saying he appreciates the presence of security guards. A regular rider of conventional bus Route 113 on Las Vegas Boulevard North, he says scuffles started by homeless men riding are frustratingly common. "I'd catch the bus early to work just in case there was a fight," he says. "They'd have to stop the bus, the police would have to come. This MAX bus is a little faster, but I love the fact that there's security." RTC spokeswoman Ingrid Reisman says guards won't be on every vehicle, but will circulate between buses and routes, validating tickets at random.

Besides all that, for a mere $1.25, the premier route provides a cheap tour of North Las Vegas--a veritable safari of adult bookstores, trailer parks, petting zoos, shady watering holes and titty bars--for those in a mood to slum.--Andrew Kiraly

Local magician goes for comic strip glory

When Las Vegas magician Mac King announced he was going to have a comic strip based on him, several things went through my head in rapid succession: Vanity project. Extremely limited appeal. Does he still have a steady gig in Vegas? How did he lose his chin?

Of course, King does two afternoon shows five days a weeks at Harrah's. The comic strip debuted this week in the funnies section of Sunday's combined Sun and Review-Journal. The strip is a collaboration between Mac and his cousin, artist Bill King, who lives in Chicago and, among other things, designs cereal premiums. The pair have an impressive five-year contract with Tribune Media Services to produce the strip, titled "Mac King's Magic in a Minute," which explains each week how to do a simple, kid-level magic trick. Mac roughs out the concept for each strip and Bill fine-tunes the writing and draws it. Besides Mac, the other recurring character is a monkey named Lewis, named after the artist's father. Far from being a vanity project, the concept is very savvy, kid-friendly, apolitical and will very likely be picked up by papers across the country looking for safe, entertaining comics. Bill King notes that he gets to Vegas more frequently now that he has a free place to stay.

"Now that we have the strip, my flights are tax deductible," King says. "If this takes off, I can afford to buy a monkey."--F. Andrew Taylor