Tortillas

The Lobbyist for the Arch Diocese of Santa Fe was on TV last night railing against the thought that tortillas might be classified as junk food and then be taxed.  While I agree that tortillas are not junk food, but a staple, I have to marvel at what the catholic church is doing up in Santa Fe.  They want to protect your taxless tortilla consumption but not the ability of two same sex people to marry and live in happiness.

Do tortillas have more importance than happiness of human beings?  Do gay people eat tortillas?  Do gay priests eat tortillas?  All these questions are silly of course but it is this kind of thing that is driving so many young catholics away from the church.  And a few old ones too,

I see where the Legislature has killed same day voter registration in New Mexico again.  This is what I said about this proposed law in the Independent this week.


Paranoia runs deep. Or so the old song goes from Buffalo Springfield. Was it written for the Republican Party and its neurosis over same day voter registration? Well, not really but the GOP really hates the idea of making it convenient for American citizens to vote. They feel that massive fraud will occur. They have faith that the Democrats are well organized enough to pull of a fraud on that grand a scale. They can’t.


That is where the paranoia comes in. Even the former republican U.S. Attorney David Iglesias couldn’t be convinced there was mass Democratic voter fraud being practiced and he refused to pursue cases for the local Republicans in New Mexico. So naturally he was fired by Bush after phone calls from GOP enforcer Pat Rodgers, Senator Domenici and Congresswoman Wilson.


All joking aside, same day voter registration is something that should be enacted into law. Today’s Internet and communications systems could easily ferret out fraud as it takes place. People might not want to fool around with that since there would likely be prison terms waiting for them.


Now I will say something out of character. I think if same day registration and voting is allowed then proper identification should be on hand. And I don’t mean a water bill, but rather a real license like a driver’s license or state ID card. Maybe that could be a compromise position for the GOP. A fair trade: same day registration for a new law requiring ID.


And finally, I hope the Mayor's office will try and get our city as a pilot project for Google's new fiberoptic to the home internet system.  That would be great.