Busy day here at Various Things & Stuff’s headquarters in a nondescript building somewhere near McCarran International Airport. So, let’s stick with Friday’s quick hits format, and cover as much ground as we can.

• U.S. Sen. John Kerry was one of those desperate souls trying to impress the liberal base of the Democratic Party with his resolve. Seriously. He advocated the futile gesture of filibustering the nomination of Judge Samuel Alito to the U.S. Supreme Court, over the objections of more sensible Democrats who saw all downside and no upside. (U.S. Sen. Harry Reid, who some say is the majority leader, said he opposed the filibuster but would vote against closing off debate, thus securing the worst of both worlds.)

“I reject those notions that there ought to somehow be some political calculus about the future … the choice is now,” Kerry said. But wasn’t a futile filibuster evidence of Kerry’s own future political calculus?

In any case, he lost, 72-25.

Our friend and colleague Hugh Jackson, publisher of the Las Vegas Gleaner blog, disagrees with us on this one, saying Kerry stood up for the half of the electorate that didn’t vote for Bush. That’s a legitimate point: Even lost causes need champions sometimes. But standing up and being effective, is still possible. On this one, the opportunity came not at vote time, but immediately after Alito was nominated. Alas, another opportunity lost.

• The Council for a Better Nevada continued to demonstrate its own hubris, with council chief Maureen Peckman rejecting even the pathetic attempt by new superintendent Walt Rulffes to give her what she wants by mimicking the ideas of council-backed would-be superintendent Eric Nadelstern of New York. (Rulffes said he, too, would try “autonomy zones” and smaller schools.)

“It’s the right concept. I don’t know if it’s the right people. You can’t consult your way to autonomy. You have to have people that have worked with it,” she said in the Review-Journal. Ah, gracious losers. There’s nothing like them.

For our part, we think Rulffes should tell the council to go have sexual relations with themselves, and chart his own course for the district. You can’t win following somebody else’s game plan; he should do what he thinks is right, and stand and fall on his own merits. It’s clear the business types aren’t going to be satisfied with anybody but their own man, so he’s got nothing to lose.

• Speaking of hubris, Impeached Controller Kathy Augustine continues to amaze with dispatches from her own world. “My name recognition is high,” she told the R-J. “I have some unfavorables, but I have done a lot of good things in this office. The press only concentrates on the negatives. I have to overcome that by focusing on the positives.”

Yes, that nasty press, focusing on the “negatives” that she’s done in office, say, using her taxpayer-financed equipment to run for re-election, resulting in an impeachment, conviction and censure. The press can be such nit-pickers.

Steady yourselves, readers, as we’re about to praise a Republican, one Paul Adams, chairman of the state GOP. Instead of shilling for Augustine as the best chance to win the office and helping her focus on the positives, Adams exhibits actual principle by saying the party specifically won’t endorse her, and go with lesser-known Mark DeStefano instead. A party hack wouldn’t make that choice, but instead grab for as much power as possible. Now, it’s doubtful Augustine could win, but Adams could have stayed out of the whole mess. Instead, he stood on principle, and we offer humble props to him for doing so.

• Quote of the weekend goes to Howard Rosenberg in the Las Vegas Sun, speaking about Chancellor Jim Rogers efforts to force UNLV President Carol Harter to quit. “The behavior I’m seeing is typical of Mussolini,” he said.

What? Rogers can make the trains run on time? Get him over to the Las Vegas Monorail, which had another minor problem on Friday.

But seriously, folks, Rosenberg — with one foot in the executive branch and one foot in the legislative as a regent — is closer to the classic definition of dictator than Rogers. The chancellor does exhibit a certain dictatorial temperament, however, which probably explains why KVBC Channel 3, one of the television stations he owns, went light on the Harter story over the weekend.

C’mon, Channel 3: Either declare your conflict of interest and do legitimate reporting, or abstain from covering anything to do with Rogers. Don’t go halfway.

Meanwhile, the Sun quoted Rogers saying he was nonplussed by the criticism levied at him by the media, and that anybody who tries to do something will get criticism.

Yes, chancellor, but just doing something is no guarantee you’re doing the right thing. We happen to think Nadelstern was the better of the two finalists. But the way the Council for a Better Nevada (which includes Rogers) handled the situation was most definitely wrong.

Never confuse motion with progress, the saying goes. To that, we add another: Never confuse moving with moving in the right direction.

Oh, for more regent quotables, check out my friend and colleague Jon Ralston’s blog, where he’s nabbed the letter penned by Regent Linda Howard to Rogers, calling him on some recent behaviors. We’re sure Rogers is holding back the tears.

• Speaking of the monorail, the R-J’s little Living section that couldn’t discovered that the train just isn’t for everyone. Does anybody else get the idea that Living writers are working off clips from two years ago to generate story ideas? The alternative — that this is the best they can do — is simply incomprehensible.

• And finally today, we at Various Things & Stuff on Friday linked to a post in Monday Morning Politics. That post accused Ralston of ignoring the back-room goings-on of Nevada politics, an accusation that we don’t think is fair. Much of what we — and the rest of the public — know about Nevada politics comes from Ralston’s work. Every journalist struggles with source relationships and maintaining access. The best way, in our view, to accomplish that is to tell the best obtainable version of the truth about everybody, declare conflicts when they arise and pull no punches when it comes to analysis. And, as a longtime reader of Ralston, we can say that he does all three, and that’s a big part of the reason that he’s got the access he’s got. Having said that, we still endorse Monday’s main point, which is that the state’s politics are all about the relationships formed, consummated and cultivated in back rooms, out of the public’s eye. If it’s the obligation of us in the media to explain to readers what’s really going on, we need to pay attention to such things. Closely.