Albuquerque Police Chief Gordon Eden has made himself a tool of the right wing by blaming the department's problems on the police officer's union. As a former Mayor I can attest that the union was hard to work with, but to blame them for all the APD issues is the biggest indicator of a lack of leadership on the Mayor Berry administration. It is getting downright embarrassing.
In the meantime the Journal did a needed story this morning on how Albuquerque really isn't the leader in crime and murder amongst cities. I have been saying that for years, but the people of this city are paranoid after watching the police blotter news every night on TV from the poorly run news departments. I know our neighborhood list serve has become filled with missives about strange cars and people in the neighborhood. There is a lot less crime here than the past, but people feed on the fear frenzy caused by one incident.
When I first saw that Senator Martin Heinrich had participated in a survivor type TV reality show I thought he had lost his way. However, the more I read about it I was convinced it was not a bad idea. It shows that two US Senators with widely divergent views might find a way to work together. I might even watch it.
In the meantime the Journal did a needed story this morning on how Albuquerque really isn't the leader in crime and murder amongst cities. I have been saying that for years, but the people of this city are paranoid after watching the police blotter news every night on TV from the poorly run news departments. I know our neighborhood list serve has become filled with missives about strange cars and people in the neighborhood. There is a lot less crime here than the past, but people feed on the fear frenzy caused by one incident.
When I first saw that Senator Martin Heinrich had participated in a survivor type TV reality show I thought he had lost his way. However, the more I read about it I was convinced it was not a bad idea. It shows that two US Senators with widely divergent views might find a way to work together. I might even watch it.
2 comments:
Herrera's article seems to me like an attempt to misdirect people. It's not violent crime by criminals I'm worried about but violent crime by our police. It's our cops blowing away unarmed people helter skelter and getting away with it every single time.
In the opening paragraph that's what Herrera begins talking about, killer cops, then his article morphs into criminal violence. There's no connection made between the two. If there is a connection, that's a problem, too, I'd think. I wish they'd had you write the article.
With all due respect, we differ on Martin Heinrich. If he had actually lost his way he'd be barnstorming the country fighting for economic justice, but he's right on track, using his office, his power, his influence, his access to the media, for everything but fighting for economic justice, as far as I can tell.
Michelle Grisham did a similar thing awhile ago, sending out a photograph of her short self taken with a very tall Republican representative. Grisham was smiling and seemed giddy to be diverting voters attention from the fact that she has completely sold them out.
Democrats are the only party that talks about bipartisanship. Republicans stick to their guns and concede nothing. Their beliefs are important to them. They don't demonstrate their approval of their Democratic counterparts but display their disdain for them by calling it the Democrat Party.
I see your point about working together. There's a certain kind of analysis of the political process, that people who are familiar with the nuts and bolts of the process like to use, that sees politics as a mechanism for finding compromise and not as a forum for ideological debate.
But compromise between what? Ronald Reagan and the Republican Party since him and their vast media echo chamber have moved the country so far to the right and have established the supremacy of trickle down economics, which the record shows benefits only the rich, to the extent that Democrats who keep compromising instead of arguing are only assisting in the economic decline of working Americans.
Thanks for the two comments critical of Herrera's column--which IMO was terrible and misleading. Within the past three months I personally know of three families--all professionals--who are leaving ABQ because of the violence, disrespect, hostility and
general meanness here. Try traveling on our freeways without encountering these in some form. And as for APD, they feared them, as I do.
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