Misc.

Here is an idea for all Albuquerque Journal reporters.  Every time you  write a story print out a version that you hand in to the editor.  Then after the rightwing editor gets done editing your piece, print that out also put it in a personal paper file.  And when you finally can't take the bullshit from him any more, quit your job and make your file public.  Send it to the Columbia Journalism review.  Find a lawyer and sue the crap out of the publisher for forcing you to quit your job because you were coerced into being unethical.

The Governor's xenophobic stand on drivers licenses is going to get another go around.  She thinks we are over run by undocumented brown people from the south.  But consider this Pew Poll. The states who went to two tier licensing systems and have a much bigger percentage wise population of undocumented immigrants and yet they all have gangbuster economic growth.  The are leaving our hapless governor and her neo con advisors and Journal editors in the dust.  If they were to look at real data, they would see our population of undocumented has fallen.

Stranger than Fiction

There was a little story in the ABQ Journal yesterday that could be viewed as positive or negative when looking at our economy.  It seems the Albuquerque Community Foundation has now started giving grants for economic and workforce development.

The Foundation usually helps students, organizations, cultural programs and projects that might be considered charity, but now this non profit will start funding projects leading to economic development.  It sort of begs the question, what is the purpose of the Albuquerque Chamber of Commerce?  What is the purpose of Mayor Berry's and Governor Susana Martinez's economic development teams?  Is there so much desperation that they have turned to a charitable organization to come up with some job creation ideas?

This may be viewed as positive in that some new motivated players, not willing to sit by playing the fiddle in a fire, will get something done.  And if they do, watch the Mayor and Governor show up at the news conferences.

Dumbing Down is Real

The performance of New Mexico students on math and reading are once again in the cellar.  I am not a professional educator so I don't know why this keeps happening, not just here but everywhere in our country.

Just yesterday I was thinking about loss of intellectual depth and read some articles after Googling the term, "are people getting stupider?"  Scientific studies seem to support that notion.  Read it and weep.

A Tragedy

APD Officer Daniel Webster died this morning.  No matter what anyone thinks of the performance of APD, this is always a tragedy.  Hopefully, his family will be taken care of by our community.  Hopefully, we will begin to see a real effort at handling such gun violence that took his life from him.  

Hype Machine

Here is the bio that Governor Susana Martinez's neocon handlers sent to the Republican party in Hawaii.   How much is true?

47

New Mexico has been listed as being in the cellar, ranking as number 47 in economic health and a terrible state to do business in.  Forbes just skewered New Mexico's economic performance, noting that over 11,000 people have out migrated due the lowest job creation performance in the good ole USA.  Of course there is no comment from the Governor on this.  Why?  Because she is in Hawaii this week having a good time doing fund raisers for republicans there.  There is really nothing wrong doing fund raisers, but there is a lot wrong back here where there are fewer and fewer constituents in the electorate every year.

It is a new day and age in the Land of Enchantment, a time where no leader is held accountable by our corporate media, if they are republicans that is.    I suppose the only good thing is that there is not much lower we can go, but I am sure in a few months we will find out.

First Birthday at the Pumpkin Patch

Noelle, Luke , Kate, and Alex.

Newspeak

Secretary of State Diana Duran used newspeak with the press after pleading guilty to felony counts in the misuse of her campaign money.  The news media took it all in.  She said she had not violated the integrity of her elected office, even though she was charged with enforcing campaign funding laws.  It is like jumping back to 1984, except things are worse now than then.

Newspeak is the fictional language in the novel Nineteen Eighty-Four, written by George Orwell. It is a controlled language created by the totalitarian state Oceania as a tool to limit freedom of thought, and concepts that pose a threat to the regime such as freedom, self-expression, individuality, and peace.

An Ideal Question to Ask

Will one of our so called journalists on TV ask a simple question, since the ABQ Journal won't let their reporters make hard probes into the Berry administration's performance?  Come on Larry Barker or Stuart Dyson, you used to be journalists and I know you have it in you to ask hard questions.  Just ask the Chief of APD and Mayor Berry how many officers were on duty in the area command  where the officer was shot last night.  And compare that with how many would have been on duty in the year 2000.  Is that doable for  you poor leftovers in modern TV News?

No Confidence

Mayor Berry, CAO Perry, and APD Chief Eden have proven to be ineffectual in their jobs.  They have given their best, and it is not good enough.  The City Council has stood by while gun violence, economic decay, and Police problems have devastated our city.   Perhaps it is time for a vote of no confidence to be taken by the Council.

I don't say this lightly.  I have been a Mayor and know just how tough the job can be.  But being a Mayor means more than continually saying the phrase, "thoughts and prayers, " every time another person dies by gunfire.  And it means standing up front to talk about our economy and what needs to be done to pull Albuquerque out of its last place position in every measurement list for prosperity.

The events of the last two days are further hammering Albuquerque's national image into the ground. Our current leadership is helpless and inadequate.

Four Years Old

She joins this list of statistics, and she was only four years old as she died from a gunshot in a road rage incident on Interstate 40 near the Rio Grande.

Since 1970 1.35 million people have died from gunshot wounds in the United States.  That almost equals the 1.39 million who have died in American wars since the American Revolution.

Currently our death and injured rate from gunfire is 1269 people and children per week.  That is 180 per day or just over seven victims per hour.  Albuquerque's four year old child dying in her parents pickup truck will be just another statistic that will be submerged by the gun fanatics and their sponsoring terrorist organization, the NRA.

And sadly, many will soon forget this tragedy.  We will remember this years great balloon fiesta much longer than this unfathomable murder.

Ever?

After reading today about our state's dismal bottom ranking in rate of high school graduations rates I wondered what elected officials must be thinking.  Would they be held accountable and asked for explanations?

In the six years that Susana Martinez has been governor of New Mexico, has she ever held a full news conference attended by numerous reporters and writers, with out limiting questions?  I can't remember one.  Isn't it time now since she has had a chance to learn the issues?

Before I started my own political career, I was news secretary for democratic Governor Bruce King.  After finishing that job at the end of his term I took on the same duties for republican Harry Kinney.  Both of them regularly held news conferences or allowed unrestrained questioning in one on one interviews with journalists.  Journal reporters, TV reporters, editorial boards only had to call to ask for an interview on any subject and they were allowed right in to King or Kinney's office. Those two great leaders often squirmed and fidgeted under the questioning, but they understood they had to do it.

Now we have elected officials who have never held a full scale wide ranging news conference.  They hide from such things either because they are cowardly, apathetic, or don't really know what is going on in their own offices.  I think in Susana Martinez and Mayor Richard Berry's case all three reasons are true.  They evidently just like being there, and don't want to face reporters.

Where are the journalists?  Why are they not moving together to insist on regular news conferences with no limiting of questions and no political consultants present.  Well mostly I suspect, it is the corporate ownership of media and their control of the news departments.  Look at how the corporate ABQ Journal lies in bed with everything rightwing.  I can't remember a negative story on the Governor during her terms.  I could be wrong.  

Self Evident

The controversy in Belen, NM over a permanent nativity scene in a public park continues to roil with City Officials spending time and money on fighting the US Constitution and Supreme Court decisions.  This makes the danger of mixing religion and government self evident.

The city will expend money to hold a public auction to sell off the part of a city park that contains the permanent installation of the birth of Christ.  The Freedom From Religion Foundation, who sued Belen,  says that is a good idea, but then they start acting silly by saying they will bid for the property too.  That is as stupid as locating religious preferences on public property.  I am a member of FRFF and have told them to knock it off.  They are wasting money just as badly as the city officials in Belen.  What is with the sophomoric retaliation?

It is surprising to see a politician like Senate Leader Michael Sanchez defend having the religious installation on public property.  But, he is probably under great political pressure from the predominantly catholic community there.  He is in a very tough spot.  It shows the dangers of letting religion into politics for sure.

Different Worlds

You would think that the sixty miles that separates the daily newspapers in Albuquerque and Santa Fe would not make those New Mexico Cities look like they are in different worlds.  However, if you were to read yesterdays coverage in the Santa Fe New Mexican and Albuquerque Journal on the  statewide fundraising of the Republicans and Democrats you would think, WTF?

The Journal story says that pro Republican groups have an edge.  The Santa Fe New Mexican puts the real story out about how the oil and gas industry is single handedly funding our right wing Governor Susana Martinez's PACs to the tune of hundreds of thousands of dollars.  The Journal seems to think the fact the former Governor Bill Richardson gave $1500 to Senate leader Michael Sanchez is paramount, but then practically ignores reporting the numerous large denomination contributions of the fossil fuel boys largesse to the GOP.  The Journal does point out the the real benefactors in the GOP are Susana's right wing advisors and campaign managers, Jay McClesky and his wife who walked off with hundreds of thousands in fees.

Go back an read the stories and see the differences.  It is striking and just proves the point that the Editor of the Journal, Kent Walz, has truly moved the right wing editorial page agenda onto front page news coverage.  How much longer can the Publishers, the Lang family, allow this to continue?

There is one silver lining here in my opinion.  The dependance of the GOP on the fossil fuel boys can only be fruitful for a limited time.  Their era of dominance is passing quickly and renewable energy becomes more and more competitive.  It can't happen soon enough.  

Post Debate

Sanders won my heart and a small donation.  Sent some more money to O'Malley.  Thought Webb was disappointing but still interesting.

Conclusion,

Clinton....Performance art.
Sanders....From the heart.

I will help Hilary if she is still standing in a year..... It is a long long road to the election.  

Easy Street

The passage of a gross receipts tax to double the zoo budget for 15 years on the backs of the poor was easily passed in a low turnout election.  Zoo proponents pulled one on all of us.  Even us people who like the Bio Park but think city workers deserve some raises after 7 years of stagnant wages and that the gross receipts tax is too regressive.

And now as a result of that low turn out election, it will be even easier for special interests groups to get their special interest items onto the city ballot.  Why?  Because it will take so many fewer signatures of voters to mandate these issues be put on the ballot.  An 11% turn out now means a large reduction in the amount of required signatures based on  20% requirements of votes cast in the last election, or an average of the last four regular city elections, which ever is higher.  This is spelled out in the city charter.

So here is your chance to get every little thing on the ballot easily, and then hope for another low turn out election to get it passed.  And then another new low turnout election makes it even easier the next time a narrow issue group gets to clutter up the ballot.

Bad Government!  Chaos follows.

Sandia Sunset

Must Read

This is an article everyone should read.  Bill Moyers penned it two years ago.  Given the fact that the New York Times has reported 158 families have given half of all campaign contributions, it is more timely than ever.

Our Corporate Governor

UNM is one of the main economic engines in the Albuquerque area.  Funded with taxpayer dollars much like the Military and Research institutions in our state.  UNM is incredibly important to us in many ways.  But, since it is government you will never see Governor Susana Martinez coming to its aid because she and her right wing minions hate government and want to strangle it.

If a large company in New Mexico were to suffer financially like UNM is suffering right now, Martinez would be there in a heartbeat offering incentives and tax cuts to see them through the storm.   But this most worthless Governor in our state's modern era is no where to be seen in helping out our institutions of research and higher learning.  It is almost criminal.

She sits by in her dogma, while New Mexico's economy runs in reverse.  We are about the only state suffering this way, and much of it is due to her inaction on important economic and government development.  Will the public ever wake up?

Misc.

Just when I think I might better like Representative Michelle Grisham Lujan she does something to make me think she is a run of the mill member of Congress.  Her blind support for lifting the ban on oil export sales from this country is nothing more than a pandering for money from the fossil fuel boys and their dirty ways.  The oil guys say it will mean more money for the state's share of royalties from federal oil lands in the state.  If they and the Congresswoman are so concerned about that why don't they move quickly to increase the royalty rate the Bureau of Land Management charges.  It has been stuck at 12.5% for almost a hundred years!  State Land Offices and private land owners get a hell of a lot more than that.  So, will we see Lujan Grisham rise to the occasion to move along a nascent effort to get this done?  Or will she just prove herself an ally of right wing crazy Congressman Steve Pearce?

And then there is the silly battle over Columbus day on the Albuquerque City Council.  Members are fighting over something that happened hundreds of years ago and really has no relevance to anyones lives today.  Sure, Columbus didn't discover America since natives were already living here.  But you can't step back to 1492 to change what happened.  This debate just engenders hate between people who who were born hundreds of years after Columbus arrived.  It is kind of like the continued warfare in the middle east where everyone fights over tribal incursions that happened thousands of years ago. The council needs to spend its efforts on real time problems, like our miserable state of affairs under the absence of economic growth policies of Mayor Richard Berry's administration.

The Journal and the Councillor

It will be interesting to see how the right wing Journal Editor, Kent Walz, handles the election and service of the new City Councillor Pat Davis.  Walz, in his constant effort to put editorials into the Journal's news stories by bullying otherwise competent reporters, did everything he could to stop the election of Davis, a progressive candidate from a progressive part of town.  Walz's actions almost constituted a pogrom against the young former policeman turned activist.  Well, Walz looks weak on this one, because Davis creamed two other candidates.

Will Walz now treat Davis fairly in news coverage of city hall?  He will look a fool if he doesn't, well, more foolish than he looks to many of us already.  Mark my words on this issue and see if this fairness can emerge from the smoked filled editorial offices.

And, as for Pat Davis, he needs to make a real effort at being effective rather than just showing up as the most left of center council member.  He is a bright young guy who could have a future if he plays his cards smartly.  

Inspiration

What Inspiration?  An 8% voter turnout yesterday is more of an indictment against Mayor Berry and the City Council than any amount of ranting I could engage in.

As a result we now have poor people paying for Zoo improvements for the Bio Park Supporters.  We now have the City Council making decisions on who the police chief will be and making it near impossible to hold anyone accountable.  We now have a gross receipts tax that has increased mightily and will affect the poor.  We will now have a tougher time getting business to locate here since they notice this kind of malaise and lack of leadership.

What is happening in Albuquerque?  Or in New Mexico for that matter?  Our economic tailspin continues at a frightening rate and the public just lets the weak leadership endure.  Scary stuff.

Eagle Diner

This is billed as the oldest diner in Gallup.  Right on old 66.  Hell of a good breakfast.

My friend Dennis gets it right!

Fix the U.S.-Israel special relationship

Netanyahu's disrespect for an American president is unprecedented

 

Pittsburgh Post Gazette, October 2, 2015 12:00 AM

 

By Dennis Jett

 

Ever since the creation of the state of Israel, it has had a special relationship with the United States. In recent months that relationship has been damaged by domestic politics in both countries, and steps must be taken to mend it.

 

Israel has been the single largest recipient of American foreign aid, totaling about $234 billion over the years. Not bad for a country with a population smaller than that of New York City. But the American commitment to Israel's defense and development has never meant that both governments must always agree.

 

The United States has consistently opposed expansion of Jewish settlements on the West Bank and urged progress in peace talks with the Palestinians. Yet the settlements have continually grown, while prospects for peace seem more remote every day.

 

When Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu recently said he was ready to restart negotiations, there was a collective yawn because few believed him. That disbelief is well-founded. When faced with a tight battle for reelection last March, he promised his supporters that a Palestinian state never would be established while he was in office.

 

Mr. Netanyahu won the election but barely cobbled together a majority in parliament. Three of the four parties that joined his coalition are firmly opposed to a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and would rather formally annex most of the West Bank. They would leave the vast majority of Palestinians confined to a semi-autonomous nonstate not unlike the Bantustans that the South African government created under apartheid.

 

The number of Israeli settlers on the West Bank has grown to 600,000 and they have become a powerful political force in Israeli politics. Most assert a biblical right to cheap, heavily subsidized housing on someone else's land, which has pulled the country away from any possible path to peace. To maintain their support, Mr. Netanyahu has avoided serious negotiations.

 

The damage done to the special relationship by domestic politics in Israel is minor, however, compared to what Mr. Netanyahu's intrusion into American domestic politics has wrought.

 

His support for his old friend, Mitt Romney, in the 2012 presidential election was no secret. And his opposition to the nuclear agreement with Iran has been adamant and unrelenting. While not a single Republican senator or congressman has supported the agreement, their attempts to destroy it have failed. Yet Mr. Netanyahu has vowed to continue his efforts to do so. Never has the leader of a friendly country shown such contempt for an American president.

 

Openly identifying with the Republican Party may appeal to Mr. Netanyahu since, according to a new report, only three of 10 Republicans support a two-state solution while six of 10 Democrats do.

 

By aligning himself with the GOP, Mr. Netanyahu is following in the footsteps of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee. AIPAC, which is famous for its political muscle, began reaching out to fundamentalist Christians in the mid-1980s. One might think it strange for a group supporting Israel to ally with those who eagerly await the Rapture, during which Jews are predicted to become Christians or be incinerated. But enhancing AIPAC's power was all that mattered.

 

All this posturing is exacerbating the partisan divide in Washington. A solid majority of Jewish Americans now vote consistently for Democrats, and many are increasingly secular. Conservative Christians, on the other hand, are the bedrock of the GOP base of support. To appeal to them, the contenders for the Republican presidential nomination try to outdo each other in asserting support for Israel and now would essentially outsource American policy in the region to Mr. Netanyahu.

 

Despite the increasingly partisan tenor of the special relationship, the president, according to The New York Times, is expected "to deliver a huge new military-aid package to Israel and perhaps make some political moves to appease Mr. Netanyahu" when the prime minister visits the United States in November.

 

Some have suggested that Israel be given the Massive Ordnance Penetrator, which could destroy Iran's buried nuclear facilities. Such a transfer would hand Iranian hardliners a superb argument that America bargained in bad faith on the nuclear deal. And it would enable Mr. Netanyahu to start a war, at the moment of his choosing, that he would be incapable of ending.

 

The special relationship will not endure if it drags the United States into another unwinnable war with another Muslim country. It will not endure if the American Jewish community is sharply divided. And it will not endure if it becomes just another part of the partisan food fight in Washington.

 

Mr. Obama should use the occasion of Mr. Netanyahu's visit not to shower him with gifts but to tell him that the United States just might recognize Palestine as a nation and a full member of the United Nations (something that over 70 percent of the U.N.'s 193 member states already do) unless he returns to the bargaining table and makes rapid progress toward lasting peace.

Sent from my iPad

Paso Robles

We arrived in wine country and wasted no time.