GOP's Chairman Yates is the New Joe Mcarthy

Tail Gunner Joe would be proud. In what has to be one of the silliest, or maybe scariest news releases I have seen in some time, GOP Chairman Harvey Yates seems to invoke communism and climate change scientists as one in the same. You just have to read this thing to believe it, especially the last paragraph. Just remember, if you pal around with those scientists you might be suspected of being a commie, or worse. You might be accused of not supporting the oil and gas and coal industries. You know, these hundreds of thousands of scientists around the world are part of a conspiracy!

Let us hope this is a defining moment for the NM Republican Party. I have a feeling that they have no clue how over the top this news release seems to most people. Was it written by a three year old?

Governor Richardson

As I munch my lunch after the Governor's cabinet meeting today I can say that he seems to be in a pretty good mood and on top of the budget issues the state is facing. Certainly, there are challenges there and the upcoming special session of the legislature will be jam packed with ideas on how to handle all of this. It is really unprecedented in New Mexico's modern history. Still, in comparison to California, Arizona and Colorado we are in good shape.

Auction Bizzaro

This formerly filthy rich guy John MacAfee, whose software protects most peoples computers, has hit hard times and is auctioning off all of his assets. His investments turned his $100 million into $4 million. It is really strange but this story has got more legs than I would have ever given it. I guess we consumers of news just want the comfort that the middle and lower classes are not the only ones who have been hosed by the economy over the last 18 months.

Sure, he has $4 million left and who wouldn't feel comfortable with that? He seems from interviews to be a guy who is just fine with it and now seems to aspire to a minimalist life. That sort of follows the trend of people saving a lot more money these days. Of course that slows down the economic recovery but it is also a welcome return to prudence.

How Much Did It Cost?

With the demise of any case against Governor Richardson and his staff one can only wonder how much money was spent by the federal prosecutors on this case. Also, how much money was spent by the defendants in hiring high priced attorneys to defend themselves in this year long debacle?

I wonder if that information can be pried out of the Justice Department. I hope so. Especially when we know that the bush White House and karl rove were insistent on politically inspired prosecutions.

I also wonder what this outcome will do to the case of a disgruntled state employee, Frank Foy, who has a civil case against the Governor on similar charges involving the state educational retirement system. He said he was illegally fired after he alleged improper actions on investments.

I think all of this can be forestalled in the future by the legislature enacting public financing for elections in New Mexico. That will take the favoritism out of the system, at least on a money basis.

Apology?

KRQE News was out with a scoop last night that says Governor Richardson and his staff will not be charged with any wrong doing in 'pay for play' allegations. The U.S. Attorney's office apparently just wasted millions of dollars and countless man hours pursuing a politician unnecessarily. Think what they have put the Governor through for the last year! He lost a cabinet appointment with the Obama administration and has been under constant stress.

So, what will we hear from the US Attorney's office? An apology? Don't count on it. But, maybe we can hear a farewell from the prosecutors who piped this thing up out of the ether. They should be held accountable for the mess and moved off into the sunset.

Whether you like the Governor or not, this kind of neverending action against someone is horrendous. Countless innuendo reaching the press will now dog the Governor and his staff forever. Just google his name and see what pops up.

I hope the Obama administration will appoint a new US Attorney in short order.

Arghhh

Bobbi and her Camry Hybrid got nailed by a guy making an illegal U turn today. No one was hurt and the guy was very apologetic and polite. Phone and policy numbers were exchanged. The problem was that his insurance company had canceled his policy. Bobbi called the police after the accident at 7:30 am or so. They said they had no officers available for at least an hour and to file a report. We then went to the police sub station at Rio Grande and Central to fill our an accident report. A really nice retired officer Greta Boyer helped us through the process. She really impressed me. Then we were off to the body shop for estimates. It comes in at about $5000 because the doors have to be replaced.

Our insurance is covered by State Farm which we have always found to be very responsive. We have uninsured motorist coverage so we won't be out much money. Just the deductible of $250 and 20% the cost of a rental car. Also, we have both been doing this stuff all day instead of working at our jobs.

Waiting

What is going on with Albuquerque City Government finances? We keep seeing stories about New Mexico state government finances and the challenges the Governor and legislature are facing. We all know that a starting points for cuts in the current budget for the state is three percent. But, what is happening in Mayor Chavez' administration to cope with the plummeting revenues? Nary a word from anyone.

The Mayors candidates are starting to attend forums to answer questions. I think a forum should be held on city finances and what we can expect in budgets after Marty Chavez and his double digit increases for most of his term. It is time to pay the piper. But, the news media just lets this issue slide while the campaign goes on. The city council candidates ought to debate this too.

At a forum in front of real estate developers yesterday Mayor Chavez said he wasn't elected to 'get along with people', but to do a job. Yet he used to attack me for not getting along with the council. Just wait until the true budget morass is revealed. Then he and the council will have to get along to solve the problem. They could take a cue from the Governor and legislators who seem to be working together.

32%

After thinking about this mess with former Secretary of State Rebecca Vigil Giron I figured out how much money this Armando Gutierrez might have got away with. First he took a 17% administrative fee off the top the multi million dollar contract. Then I believe he might have recieved another 15% commission on every purchase of TV ads he made to air Rebecca's nauseous commercials. So, out of a 6+ million dollar contract he gets 32%! And that is what he got on monies actually expended. It remains to be seen where the other millions went.

Also, it was said that the lobbyists, Mr. and Mrs. Kupfer, cut in on the deal for 750K made their money to monitor that the TV ads followed federal law. That might have taken 4 hours work, max! That is pretty good wages.

It will really be interesting to follow every dime of that money too.

Why We Have A Freezer

Eighty one bags of Hatch 'Big Jim" green chile is why we have a freezer.

Today Bobbi and I did the annual ritual thing of traveling to the Fruit Basket and ordering two large burlap bags of raw chiles. The green chile roasters are miracles of invention. No more sweating like a pig in the back yard with the grill, you know. This should take care of us for the year. We just had two bags left from last year.

How do we love green chile? Let me count the ways. Green Chile Stew, Gypsy stew(mmm), green chile cheese burgers, green chile omelets, green chile and bologna sandwiches, green chile hot dogs, green chile calabacitas, green chile tacos, green chile on a spoon with a little garlic salt, green chile nachos, green chile and pinto beans......

Those are just a few. I know bologna and hotdogs are bad for me. I don't eat to much of those anymore.

Absence of Malice

There was probably an 'absence of malice' in an incredible error made in the Albuquerque Journal's reporting on the indictments of former Secretary of State Rebecca Vigil Giron, Armando Guiterrez and others. When I read the story I actually questioned the background they gave on Gutierrez. I was right when I thought it didn't ring true.

On the Journal website they do a large retraction on the story that said Gutierrez was a political consultant from Miami. It turns out that they put down a description of another Armando Gutierrez who did live in Miami and owned a political consulting company with the same name as New Mexico's Armando.

Still, this is kind of a major blunder caused by deadlines and reduced editing by a short staffed news paper. I also never really saw this correction made in the print edition of the Journal, although I might have missed it due to the tiny little corrections they usually print.

Also, before long when you google the Armando Gutierrez name will it come up with this mistake? The Florida Armando is probably more than a little upset.

Groan

There was an article in the Times this morning that will bring a collective groan to the Governor and Legislators. Natural gas prices are at a seven year low. Right now it is $3 mcf(thousand cubic feet), last summer it was $13. I wonder if this new number has been factored in to the deficit we are now facing. I understand the new estimates this week had pegged revenues based on $4.30mcf. For every ten cents that the price falls, the state loses another $12 million. Ouch.

No doubt, as a recovery appears those prices will shoot sky high again, but in the meantime the next couple of years look bleak for the gravy train of natural resource revenues. Don't feel sorry for the oil and gas boys though. Their untaxed outrageous record profits over the last decade should carry them for a while. And guess what? These guys are now going to the federal government for help. They want the Fed to force coal burning power plants to switch to natural gas. I would actually favor that! It might give us just a little more time on the climate change crisis.

Corruption

Former Secretary of State Rebecca Vigil Giron, Armando Gutierrez and others will probably all do some time before this is over. It is sad to see Rebecca, who I first met in the 1980's, go down this road. The evidence doesn't look good for her. Power corrupts for sure. Her feeble claims that this is all a conspiracy to get her is laughable. I guess she thinks she was such a powerhouse politico that people would care enough to do that. I don't think so Rebecca. People used to refer to her as "Bruce King in high heels." Not anymore.

This Armando Guiterrez character lived next door to my brother Tom. One night about 18 months ago they up and moved out at 3 am in the morning and disappeared. They abandoned their home and left it a mess. A few days later my brother got a visit from investigators from the Attorney General's Office asking if he knew where they went. My brother didn't know. They eventually tracked him down in Texas.

If this latest debacle isn't a sign post for the need for serious Ethics legislation, then I don't know what the legislature exists for. Time for them to get to work on this issue.

P.R.

I blogged a couple of days ago about the business community luncheon that I attended. They are working on renewable energy resources as a way of powering their businesses while fighting climate change. At the event I ran into John Fleck of the Journal. We were wondering why there was no sense of urgency on this issue in congress or the administration, and John made a pretty good observation. He said that he and some scientists had decided that the scientific community just didn't know how to do public relations programs to advance their findings. I think that is true. Maybe Science needs a radio talk show. Sooner rather than later!

I also made a mistake in saying that some protestors at the luncheon were there to work against the climate change bill. That group does exist and is being funded by the oil and gas industry, but they weren't there that day.

My Day

I think I am starting this process today.

Update. Everything is seems fine. I gotta check back in six weeks.

Head in the Sand

Yesterday I attended a luncheon on the corporate and business sector's responsibility in assuring climate change doesn't kill us all. This group is working towards revenwable energy to power their enterprises. The keynote was given by Senator Bingaman and then a panel made up of business economists and owners responded. One of the panel members however was a scientist from Los Alamos National Labs. He scared me silly. He says that essentially climate change events are cascading much faster than anyone thought possible and the results are frightening.

So, what is going besides the meeting that 230 people attended? Why a front group funded by the oil and gas industry, who runs the republican party in New Mexico, are planning protests of the passage of a climate bill by the US House of Representatives. They said the bill would cost money and jobs. They didn't say anything about the lives it will save in the future.

It is just hard for me to fathom how the oil and gas industry can be run by people whose heads are buried in the sand. Define sand as future profits I guess. How can they go home at night and face loved ones? Are they so ignorant that they think they know better than several hundred thousand scientists who pretty much accept climate change as happening?

I guess it all comes down to spin meisters these days. And radio talk show hosts and Fox news.

Dennis Jett Strikes Again

This is another of my friend Dennis Jett's columns. He is a retired diplomat and former Ambassador to Peru and Mozambique.

He added in a note to me when he sent this along, "The editors insist on writing the headlines even on op ed pieces. I would have entitled this one: "Why the Opponents of Health Care Reform Are Baby Killers."


Sunday, August 16, 2009 8:41 AM

U.S. healthcare reform faces the status quo

By Dennis Jett | Special to McClatchy Newspapers

Many opponents of abortion consider those with opposing points of view as guilty of supporting the murder of thousands of unborn children. Some of them even condoned the recent assassination of a doctor in Kansas who provided late term abortions.

Taking that approach to public policy yields the conclusion that there are others with the blood on their hands. Given that way of thinking, the opponents of health care reform can also be considered responsible for the deaths of thousands of children.

Those uninterested in some basic facts would of course vehemently reject such an assertion. That would undoubted include all those who attempted to win the Republican nomination for president in the last election. One of the more memorable lines from the debates they held was the mantra that America has the best health care in the world. That is true only if you are wealthy, white and well insured like they all are.

One of the most basic indicators of the overall health of a nation's population is infant mortality. According to the CIA Fact Book, 44 of the 244 countries they list have a lower infant mortality rate than the United States. For every 1000 live births in this country, 6.26 infants do not live to see there first birthday.

If reform of the health care system resulted in dropping the infant mortality rate to that of say France, where it is 3.33, the lives of some 13,000 children would be saved each year. If the United States was able to emulate socialist Sweden, the rate would fall even further to 2.75 and the lives of 15,000 babies would be saved.

Some would be quick to counter that the governments of those countries are more involved in health care and therefore must spend much more than the United States does. Once again the facts intrude. France devotes 11.0 percent of its economic output to health care and Sweden a mere 9.1 percent. This country, on the other hand, spends 16.0 percent, which is nearly twice the average for other industrialized democracies.

The fact that the United States devotes a higher portion of its economy to health care than any other country in the world is the main reason the resistance to reform is so great. The status quo always exists not simply because of the absence of a bright idea about how to do things better. It exists because there are always powerful interests who profit from the way things are and they invariably see change as a threat.

That is why in the current health care debate every interest group says it supports reform, but only if it means their slice of the health care pie is made bigger or at least not diminished in any way. That can't happen of course without increasing the percentage of our economy consumed by health care to an even higher level.

Americans pride themselves on having a country with a market economy. But for a market to function, the buyers and the sellers have to have information. When you last entered a doctor's office, did you know how much it was going to cost? Did you discuss the cost of alternative treatments? And after the office call was over did you know what the total bill was? Health care is perhaps the only thing people buy without any idea of what the price is and with almost no capacity to negotiate what the ultimate cost will be. So the idea that the market should just be left to decide is another way of saying the 47 million Americans without insurance can just eat cake.

One more thing about our market based economy makes the prospects for real reform dim. The more money involved, the more powerful the protectors of the status quo will be and the harder they will work to protect the system that has enriched them even if it has failed to serve others. And where there is money, there are pliable politicians because legislation is just one more commodity that is traded in the Washington marketplace. So if you can't afford a lobbyist you can forget your voice being heard.

Voices that will be heard, however, and make a rational debate even less likely are those of the media stars and Astroturf activists who are willing to profit themselves by inflaming and exploiting the fears and uncertainties about change.

So if anything comes out of the current health care debate, the amount of reform is likely to be truly small. But even a little bit of change could help. If reform resulted in lowering the U.S. infant mortality rate to only that of Cuba, it would save the lives of 1900 infants every year.

Hiding Out

I noticed that Mayor Marty is hiding from voters. Last night he flipped off the people who showed up at the North Valley candidate forum by saying he had an endorsement interview with the Fraternal Order of Police. As a former candidate and Mayor I can tell you that those interviews can be done just about anytime. But stop and think about this, Marty opted for a special interest group over voters.

Who can blame him? Some one might ask a question about the city budget. We keep seeing headlines in the Journal about a state special session of the legislature to deal with serious financial problems. Many of those problems are brought on by a precipitous fall in sales tax revenues. Don't forget that tax is also the city's life blood and main source of revenue. But do we see anything being said about this in the Albuquerque Journal? Very little.

Marty will keep dodging these forums as long as he can. But, if he is elected then he will have to deal with the naked truth on the city budget. And he will suffer the fruits of his own overspending(with city council help).

In the meantime, I was disappointed to see Richard Berry, the republican candidate for Mayor, fall back on the mantra of running government like a business. Earth to Berry.....government is not a business. It should not be run like one. It should be run to provide services for it's citizens. I did like Berry coming after the Mayor for taking capital funds to pay for operating expenses. That is topical and serious.

P.S. I am hard on the Journal, but they are suffering from the economy too and have cutback their staff, mostly from attrition. I think though there are two stories they should give better coverage too. One is the Mayor's race and one is the role of state republicans in the firing of the U.S. Attorney. Those stories require a lot of followup!

Reassurance

I have for the last couple of days been wondering how so many American citizens have been so ignorant about things. Has it always been this way? Maybe. How can they fall for the Limbaughs and Becks of the world? How can they work against their own self interests in such a potentially catastrophic way? Why are they this ignorant? My friend Rodger says that it is because of the instant media reaction that occurs everyday on a 24 hour basis. Couple that with the internet and blogs (count me as a blog) and you have people who don't think very hard. They just react.

But then Bobbi and I went to see the movie "Julie and Julia" on Wednesday evening and I felt a little more assured that just maybe many of the misled(and lazy) people might figure out the truth. I say this because in this cute movie about Julia Child and a modern day blogger who cooks all her recipes there was some mention of the effects of the McCarthy era in the 1950s. That guy did a lot of damage and hurt a lot of American people. Probably aided and abetted by a timid and lazy media. But, in the end he was discredited by Edward R. Murrow and CBS news, and a few other courageous journalists who managed to push the truth out through all the garbage. I hope some like them will pop out soon. Real soon.

In the meantime I marvel at the mostly white middle class folks who are turning out at these health insurance town halls. Why are they so angry? They are just mostly ignorant and the Congress and Obama trying to rush through a health insurance program in just a few months didn't help.

Take this Quiz

My sister Carlota says everyone should take this quiz.

Weapons at Town Hall

Legislators have mostly protected themselves from having to worry about wingnuts with concealed weapons coming into the Capitol building in DC or in New Mexico for that matter. But, they are finding themselves vulnerable at these town halls they are holding around the country. I am wondering if concealed weapons, or even unconcealed weapons are allowable in the locales where these town halls are being held. Probably, if they are in non governmental settings they would be allowed. Right? Maybe even in some government facilities like senior centers or community centers.

This is all pretty crazy and if anyone gets hurt as a result of this insane concealed weapons law then we need to rethink where these weapons can be carried. At least now our NRA frightened legislators might think a little harder about the need for better legislation.

I wonder if Rush Limbaugh allows concealed weapons in his radio studio.

Bombs Away

This is a bombshell story out of the Washington Post. I wonder how many games of connect the dots that people will make out of this. I think the Republicans, the US Attorney's Office, Senator Domenici and Heather Wilson all need to take a deep breath. And maybe the Governor can take a sign of relief. Politics and prosecutors make for damaged reputations.

Comcast

I recently switched my phone service to Comcast from Vonage. Vonage was having a lot of problems....for me anyway and I got a pretty good deal from Comcast. The cable guy showed up on time and did a great job. That is the good news.

Now I want to dump on Comcast for taking 160 jobs out of Albuquerque while still raking in huge profits from their franchised monopoly in our city. Their company profits for the last quarter rose 6%, even in this severe recession. So, why at this difficult time would they axe 160 much needed jobs here? That is definitely a question that the Mayor and City Council should ask the next time Comcast comes sniffing around for franchise improvements.


On another issue, you have a chance to vote on keeping New Mexico's distinctive red and yellow license plate on the road. I have always liked the plate because you can spot them from afar no matter where you might be. There is a plan to change the plate to some not so distinctive colors that just don't scream New Mexico like the current one does. Go here to vote!

Misc

Are all the political candidates out to lunch? Why has no one said anything about trying to save the GE Plant in Albuquerque from closing and subsequently trashing 400 good union paid jobs? None of the Mayor candidates, Governor candidates, Lt. Governor candidates have said much at all about this. It is very strange.

The Albuquerque Journal did a puff piece on State Land Commissioner Pat Lyons not increasing his budget. (They did not ardently pursue his pay for play scheme with developers in Las Cruces either.) Think about this budget thing....we are in the midst of climate change, we see species dying off, our ground water supplies are threatened by the oil and gas industry, and Pat Lyons has done nothing to hire biologists, scientists, geologists, and other specialists to make sure our state land isn't being wasted. Of course his republican bosses, the oil and gas industry, would not want to see those folks out on the 13 million acres of state trust land. They just view public servants as pests.

As I was exercising on my elliptical early this a.m. I was watching the History Channel. Mostly commercials as you can imagine.These ads are about snoring, rip off cheap mortgages, insurance, reverse mortgages and diet aids. I have a theory now that the more you see of those kinds of commercials, the more you can be assured those companies are run by con men.

I Wish I Had Written This

So, we get our dose of reality every evening from Jon Stewart. On Friday evenings we get Bill Maher on HBO. His column today pretty much hits things on the nose......

Bobbi is Always Right (mostly)

Bobbi has been fretting over the posts that support our back porch. She kept warning me that they were rotting from14 years of sitting on concrete moistened by lawn sprinklers.


"Oh, it is probably not all that bad" I said. She has won this argument.


This is how I am spending my Friday off. Watching how right she was about this. When the house was built in 1994 there was apparently no code that required these things to be above water level. Now there is. So Steven Spensley and his crew are bringing us up to code and hopefully preventing our deaths in a structural collapse while reading the Journal in the cool summer mornings. (What a way to die....reading the morning Journal!)

Dear Republican Party

A letter that might get written.

Dear Republican Party,

I am a republican candidate for Governor. I need some advice. I am sure many of my moderate republican Congressional and Senate hopefuls will be contacting you too.

Here is my question. How do I get elected after thirty one of your wing nut southern white guys (and one female) Senators voted against our new Supreme Court Judge Sonia Sotomayor? Were you all thinking clearly? Could one call this mindless strategic decision a gift from God for the Democrats?

Are you on heroin, or crack?

Will you go further and raise money against the GOP Senators who did vote for the new judge?

It might not go unnoticed by the growing and ever more powerful Latino vote that you just gave their members the finger. How might we overcome this? Any ideas? I don't think having more tea parties will help. Do you?

Just asking. That's all.

Sincerely yours,

(republican candidate sign name here)

Truck Load

John Bolton, the bush/cheney Ambassador to the United Nations is criticizing Bill Clinton's successful mission to North Korea to free two American journalists. I was at a meeting a couple of weeks ago when we were wondering where all the bush/cheney people were now. One of our funnier guys said about Bolton, "if you ordered a whole truck load of assholes and only Bolton showed up, you would feel you got your money's worth." That is funny!

Great News for Forests

This is a great decision out of a court today that is a slap in the face to the bush administrations public lands policy.

Conservancy District Playing Favorites

The Middle Rio Grande Conservancy district has been caught with their pants down. They have been playing favorites in granting leases from their water bank to people who have sold their water rights for irrigating. Their pants are down because they have been doing it for some people and not for others.

Now they have been exposed and they are doing the right thing by saying anyone who sells pre-1907 water rights can no longer irrigate. They did it because of possible civil rights law suits where some were able to do this leasing if they were in the good graces of the powers that be. If you were not in good graces then you were not afforded the ability to lease.

Add to that the District is blaming the State Engineer for this situation. They say the engineer didn't tell them when someone sold their water rights. That is a bogus charge and really shows the district didn't want to vet possible lessees who came in for the water.

The fact is, if you sell your water rights then you should not be able to irrigate. The MRGCD has been forced to act accordingly because bad policy and corruption were exposed. So what else is new?

Paranoia Runs Deep

Now, if I were a paranoid person I would suspect that the Republican Party, which is sponsored by Yates Petroleum and the oil and gas boys, decided to start funding rightwing non profits to attack democrats because they knew all along that the State of New Mexico's stand against such progressive non profits would fail on constitutional grounds. Well that suit did fail today when Federal Judge Judith Herrera sided with the nonprofits and against the State Attorney General Gary King and Secretary of State Mary Herrera. They had insisted that nonprofits make their donors known under campaign contribution laws. The nonprofits merely presented voting records of legislators. Yeah, sometimes they were pretty strong and left the impression that those legislators were agents of Satan. And yeah they went after some entrenched democrats.

A paranoid person would suspect that the GOP/Oil Axis just loved the law suit because it gave them breathing room until they could get their merde together to do the same thing the progressive groups did. At least the progressives were non partisan about it. I am sure the wing nuts on the right will be too as they try to guillotine any moderate republican. In someway the wing nuts won here because while the suit probably had a chilling effect on donors to the progressives, the oil and gas guys just turned on the money spigot for their groups.

Having said all this I now go on record as saying it probably would not hurt to know where some of this money comes from. What is wrong with a little sunshine?

PNM Retro

I tipped off the Albuquerque Journal about PNM trying to gut their program that lets homeowners put solar voltaic panels on their homes and sell power to PNM's grid. They did a great story on it today. They had interviewed me about it but I hit the editors scissors and they quoted Marty Chavez instead. Wouldn't you know?

Anyway, it was a solid story and I hope it brings pressure onto the Public Regulatory Commission to deny PNM's request. At least the part about homeowners like me selling power to them. I don't object to their proposed program of leasing peoples rooftops to place solar arrays to produce power. That could work too if homeowners can't afford the upfront costs themselves. Anything to get renewables on board. But, lets don't let PNM monopolize renewables too.

I saw Jeff Sterba, CEO of PNM at the Animal Humane Fundraiser on Saturday night. He has gone solar too. He has a shaved head and a goatee! So his head is soaking up the solar rays. Most people didn't recognize him, but I managed to figure out who he was. Why are so many people shaving their heads? I guess you save energy on blow dryers. Right Jeff?