Inertia

Arctic National Wildlife Refuge

You couldn't find two more different approaches to this nation's energy crunch than looking at the positions of Senator Pete Domenici and Senator Jeff Bingaman. Domenici wants to drill our way out of the crises even though we only have 3% of the reserves. Today he is calling for opening up the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge....again. It will mean absolutely nothing to our current crises since it won't bring on oil supplies for ten years and it will only last half that long. Ten years from now if we haven't set our path firmly away from oil we will be lost anyway, or at least buying renewable technology from Europe and the Pacific rim. Domenici is just following the wishes of his profit fixated handlers in the Oil and Gas Industry. It is the same kind of thing we cold expect from Republicans Steve Pearce and Heather Wilson. Electing Tom Udall to Domenici's seat looms even larger in the scheme of things.

Senator Bingaman has a plan that is quite simple. 1. Freezing the filling of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. 2. Taking effective action to bring the oil market under the control of U.S. laws and regulations. 3. Empowering consumers to reduce their demand.

The consumers are already reducing demand by buying up high mileage cars and reducing overall demand. Now it is up to Washington to show some true leadership, unlike Hillary Clinton and John McCain's lame brained summertime gas tax roll back.

Religion Everywhere

The newspapers today are filled with religion based stories. The Albuquerque Journal website has three major stories on religious cults, ministers and their politics today.

The Bishop in Gallup is resigning after a highly bizarre episode in which he claimed he was beaten. After recuperation for a year he had some more 'episodes' and finally left his position.

Then there is the nut case cult leader up in Northeastern New Mexico who apparently has achieved mind control over his 50 followers and might be messing with young girls. The locals say they are pretty nice people but they notice the cult has now cut itself off from the outside world. Not a good sign. (The Journal's reporting on this was quite good.)

And then there is more hammering of Obama for having a pastor who is a world class egotist and conspiracy theorist. Well, Obama certainly isn't the first person to have a 'mental' for a pastor but since he is black and running for President it is bad. The Journal had a very thoughtful and absolutely correct editorial this morning on that issue. Even so, it seems the ignorant American public is looking on Obama poorly because of this. Incredible.

I guess my point is that religion is taking up a lot of media space these days while more important things that are really affecting us are taking a toll. I imagine this is what the Kings and Clerics in the middle ages did too. Find and enemy and start a crusade. It takes peoples minds off the real issues. Think of Hillary as King Richard the Lion Hearted slaughtering the infidels. Oh wait, george bush is already doing that.

I have a feeling that Obama has probably bottomed out now and should start his rebound. In a way it is good he has been pummeled like this because it tempers him for the swift boating that will surely come.

Posts

I noticed today that I have posted 936 times to this blog since I began it in 2005. Some days it is hard to write anything halfway intelligent because of mood, time constraints or malfunctioning gray matter. Today is like that. I have stared at my draft page for 30 minutes and all I can think of is "Why should Obama's Church Pastor's stupid comments be held against him to the detriment of having real issues addressed?" Except, that has been blogged about already this month about 5 million times.

In the meantime read Thomas Friedman's column today. Mainly because he agrees with me!

Funny and True

This is Funny and True!

Bingaman for Obama

I was really happy that Senator Jeff Bingaman endorsed Barack Obama's run for the Presidency on Monday. I wonder what Hilary thinks about respected Senators doing that to her. I wonder if she does the math. Think about the money she needed to get a net gain of 10 delegate votes in Pennsylvania. Think of the nasty advertising and negative attacks she resorted to that have had little effect. Think about Binagman's Super Delegate vote now going to Obama and that fact that it cost nothing to the Obama camp. This all gets more and more interesting and I just hope everyone kisses and makes up before the convention. That is two New Mexico Super Delegate votes now that have jumped Obama's way if you include the Governors. Let's see if James Carville will attack Bingaman.

Let me give you one reason that I think Obama is the better person here. He is not pandering to folks by saying we should suspend the gas tax. Only a desperate pol would do that, think Clinton and McCain, in order to get votes. No matter that it would devastate our already crumbling highway infrastructure and 18 cents a gallon is going to make absolutely no difference to even even the poorest people. But, being the kind of pols that Clinton and McCain are they are really counting on peoples ignorance. Obama is trying to lead and he is showing he isn't afraid to make good decisions.

Science

I read in the Albuquerque Journal today that Science Fair participants are becoming fewer in our public schools because the bureaucratic malaise caused by bush's "No Child Left Behind" policy.

Then I read that San Juan County, up in the Farmington area, is the sixth largest emitter of CO2 of all counties in the United States. That is right up there with Houston and L.A. And some idiots want to build another coal fired power plant there!

So, what we are doing here is inspiring less kids getting into science at a time when we need to depend on it more than ever to solve our energy and climate change crises.

I remember that my good friend Lee Otteni and I entered the St. Pius X High School Science Fair in 1961 and came in second. We went to the regional and got clobbered. (No one had a prayer of winning with all those national lab parents from Sandia and LANL tutoring their kids.) Lee went on to become a wildlife research and scientist. I went into politics. I won't demean science by saying I am a political scientist.

After watching a weekend of Nova, National Geographic and other documentaries on the state of the earth, I am actually wondering if we can handle the collapse of ecosystems. Things are happening much faster that even the biggest pessimists had predicted. They only thing that might save us is a lot of smart kids being nurtured in the sciences and being put to work ASAP to solve our problems. The next President and our Congress will be our last hope.

Tax Evasion and Tax Theft

I just noticed that the actor Wesley Snipes was given three years in prison for tax evasion. I just noticed that Lockheed Martin Inc. just had another massive overrun on building a new Navy ship, to the tune of several hundred million dollars. Now, we get to pay $60K a year to keep Snipes in prison and most likely we will award some more Billion dollar contracts to Lockheed Martin. Sheesh!

Domenici's Distraction

Here is what the Senate Ethics Committee said about Senator Pete Domenici's late night phone call to U.S. Attorney David Iglesias.

"The committee finds no substantial evidence to determine that you attempted to improperly influence an ongoing investigation. The committee does find that you should have known that a federal prosecutor receiving such a telephone call, coupled with an approaching election which may have turned on or been influenced by the prosecutor's actions in the corruption matter, created an appearance of impropriety that reflected unfavorably on the Senate."

So, what does Domenici do? He doesn't apologize for the phone call but for the distraction that it caused. I can't imagine what the neo cons would be saying right now if Senator Bingaman had done something this stupid.

Speaking of ridiculous things people say, Domenici's answer to $4 dollar a gallon gasoline is to drill in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Why doesn't he just give that one up and let his staff start thinking about his legacy before leaving the Senate in January. Domenici could go out with a bang by sponsoring a windfall profit tax on the oil and gas industry and putting all that revenue into the nation's renewable energy research? He would be a hero in my book.

Common Cause

I had coffee with Bob Edgar, President and CEO of Common Cause this morning. He feels the way to help poor people in this country is to reform campaign finance laws. He has been impressed with the City of Albuquerque's new public financing laws and is hopeful other cities will adopt them. He especially calls out the New Mexico Legislative leadership for not acting on our states disastrous lack of campaign finance reform. Click on this clip.

So It Goes

Hillary Clinton got her 10% last night. I thought she would get 8%. Now she is making a deal out of winning the 'big' states. She seems to forget that Obama is winning the 'big' cities. He handily won Philadelphia last night but lost in the so called blue collar communities. So, this campaign will go on with the endgame still inevitable.

I find it amusing that the first thing Hillary did last night was ask people to go to her website to give her money. This after she spent the last week complaining that Obama was spending a lot more money than her. She spent what she had in negative campaigning. Here is what the New York Times thought about her victory. Don't forget they endorsed her.

I get way wrapped up in this stuff. I wonder how many New Mexicans other than us politicos really cares what happened in Pennsylvania last night. My gut feeling is people want a change in direction in this country and will vote for the Democrat no matter the animosity be engendered by Clinton's negativity. Yes, even I would vote for her although I hope it doesn't come to that.

In the meantime do not forget about this as one of my readers reminded me.

Diminishing Returns

Every time I watch Hillary Clinton do another attack on Barack Obama I believe she is a victim of diminishing returns in the way of support from many Democrats. For example, now that she has invoked Osama bin Laden in her advertising, thus using the 'fear' factor that she decried bush for in the last election, she ratcheted down my level of support should she be successful in her quest for the nomination. Where I might have gone out and tried to raise money for her, now I will just put up a yard sign. Get the picture? And I am pretty hardcore anti bush/McCain. I know I am not the only one who feels this way. We are totally fatigued with it and are actually angry.

I am assuming that Hillary will win today in Pennsylvania. If she doesn't win by 15% then she has failed to maintain her candidacy. If she wins by less than 5% she should graciously resign from her quest. Anywhere in between those two numbers and she just prolongs the inevitable.

It looks like another fun night watching returns on CNN and MSNBC. Well, I hope they wont use any analysts that are taking money from any of the candidates. Do you think?

More Media Stuff

My friend Rodger Beimer has been sending me lots of comments on the state of the national T.V. news operations lately. We served as reporters together thirty years ago at Channel 7.
Rodger and I sit around coffee about once a week and bitch about how bad it has gotten. How it couldn't get any worse. Well, we were wrong. After reading the story in the New York Times yesterday on the military analysts used by our national broadcast news networks I think we certainly have reached a new low. These retired opining Generals are all on the payrolls of Defense contractors who have a vested interest in war. How can they do honest and unbiased analysis if they worry about their access to the Pentagon for their companies? You must read this article. Every thing they say is tainted and you can not trust them to be honest about the military situation in Iraq.

I find it interesting that this new Internet based Center for Independent Media will be doing great work in New Mexico with some reporters inherited or hired away from the Albuquerque Journal. I also think it will be interesting to see if the Journal replaces the reporters. I know things are tough for most daily newspapers right now and the Journal is no exception. It was sad to see when Tania Soussan, their environment and energy reporter left last year that they didn't replace her. They need someone on that slot full time given the energy and climate change issues.

I have booked marked this new local news site and will check it our regularly.

Antelope

There is a picture of a hungry Haitian girl hunting for food in a landfill on the front page of the New York Times today. She and many others like her are victims of rising food prices around the Globe. It is caused by drought, speculators, ethanol production for fueling our cars, and poor distribution.

That is why I am getting angrier by the moment over the rancher slaughtering those antelope who were in his winter wheat field. He left them wounded and dead to rot in the sun. Food uneaten at the very least and cruelty beyond words. See the video on the Albuquerque Journal website, but even I turned it off after a minute. I am not squeamish at all. I just hate waste and cruelty.

The law that allowed this should be repealed within days of the next session of the legislature. In addition, I am sure there are other laws that should be invoked. Start with wanton waste and animal cruelty for letting these creatures suffer. New Mexico's livestock and agricultural communities have stayed silent so far as I know on this issue. They should find a way to make sure that other methods are found to keep New Mexico's publicly owned wildlife from this kind of waste.

Get real mad.

The West

Last nights TV debate put on by ABC was revolting. Okay, I didn't watch it. I was working Crossword puzzles instead. This morning I read the stories from the mainstream media and the blogs and made my decision that we need to ignore the main stream media in DC.

About the time flag pin politics and religion were taking all the time up in the debate about 50 more Iraqi citizens died in another bombing. Stephanopolous and Gibson, the debate moderators, marched on with their inane questions that ignored every important issue facing this country.

While these showbiz/National Enquirer type talking heads wasted valuable time on stupid questions the nation's Democrats learned little of their candidates beliefs. They could have asked about one of the most important part of the electorate, the Western States. There are real issues out here.

The American West is vital for Democrats. The number of voters self-identified as Independents has grown to nearly 40 percent in much of the West. In the past three election cycles, Democrats have gained five governorships, two U.S. Senate, and seven House seats. In the 2008 general election, the states of New Mexico, Colorado, Nevada, Arizona, and Montana could play a decisive role similar to Florida in 2000, and Ohio in 2004. Democrats, however, have not won an inter-mountain western state in the last two presidential races, with the exception of New Mexico's vote for Gore!

Issues out here include energy, water, health care, and protection of our beloved environment. I am an Obama fan as you all know and here is what he must think about.

Seven out of ten of the nation’s fastest growing counties are in the West. People and businesses move to the region for its quality of life, environment, and other amenities. To win the West, Senator Obama will need to share a vision that respects traditional western culture and custom while implementing policies to conserve the lands and waters that define the region. Over the last several presidential elections, Republicans have taken the West for granted and Democrats have ignored it. If Senator Obama can articulate an integrated social and ecological agenda that recognizes the inextricable link among community well-being, and land and water protection, he can carry the West.

Call in the Feds

State Land Commissioner Pat Lyons told Attorney General Gary King today to "stick it." Lyons says he will continue to pursue unlawful land deals with developers on State Lands. The AG had told him it was not kosher and Lyons did so "at his own risk." Now it is up to Gary King to decide what to do next. My suggestion is that he ask the U.S. Attorney to get involved and conduct an investigation in to Lyons Land Office dealings with the developers. Since the state land office was set up by the Congressional Enabling Act that made us a state, the U.S. Attorney has the power to look into this since it appears the Enabling Act and our resulting New Mexico Constitution are probably being violated. One thing is for sure, the developers involved in these sweetheart deals should be wary of proceeding until this is all cleared up. Also, the beneficiary institutions of the land office should be fearful of costly lawsuits that will cut into their income from the land office. Oh wait, that is already happening because of these sweetheart deals! My big question is, "Where is the New Mexico Legislature on this issue?" Oh, thats right, the son of an influential legislator is the lobbyist for the developers.

Slaughter

The slaughter of 39 Pronghorn Antelope by a North Eastern New Mexico rancher because they were "taking money out of my pocket" will surely start a firestorm of recriminations between New Mexico sportsmen and ranchers. The Ranch Lobby ought to run away from this one as fast as they can. If they don't they will certainly lose big time in Santa Fe at the next legislature. And they should. At the same time I recognize that many ranchers protect wildlife and see them as an asset and adjunct to their ranching business. They provide waterholes that are crucial to wildlife and many love these animals for their own sake. But this inhumane shotgunning of New Mexico's wildlife is not pardonable especially when the Game and Fish Department offered to help with fencing.

The agricultural community has always had a strong and effective lobby in Santa Fe. But it will pale beside the outrage of our state's hundreds of thousands of hunters. State land lease holders should be very interested in this issue because it will certainly envelope them.

10 Things

My sister Carlota thought I should put this on the blog.

10 things you should know about John McCain (but probably don't):

1. John McCain voted against establishing a national holiday in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Now he says his position has "evolved," yet he's continued to oppose key civil rights laws.¹

2. According to Bloomberg News, McCain is more hawkish than Bush on Iraq, Russia and China. Conservative columnist Pat Buchanan says McCain "will make Cheney look like Gandhi."²

3. His reputation is built on his opposition to torture, but McCain voted against a bill to ban waterboarding, and then applauded President Bush for vetoing that ban.³

4. McCain opposes a woman's right to choose. He said, "I do not support Roe versus Wade. It should be overturned."⁴

5. The Children's Defense Fund rated McCain as the worst senator in Congress for children. He voted against the children's health care bill last year, then defended Bush's veto of the bill.⁵

6. He's one of the richest people in a Senate filled with millionaires. The Associated Press reports he and his wife own at least eight homes! Yet McCain says the solution to the housing crisis is for people facing foreclosure to get a "second job" and skip their vacations.⁶

7. Many of McCain's fellow Republican senators say he's too reckless to be commander in chief. One Republican senator said: "The thought of his being president sends a cold chill down my spine. He's erratic. He's hotheaded. He loses his temper and he worries me."⁷

8. McCain talks a lot about taking on special interests, but his campaign manager and top advisers are actually lobbyists. The government watchdog group Public Citizen says McCain has 59 lobbyists raising money for his campaign, more than any of the other presidential candidates.⁸

9. McCain has sought closer ties to the extreme religious right in recent years. The pastor McCain calls his "spiritual guide," Rod Parsley, believes America's founding mission is to destroy Islam, which he calls a "false religion." McCain sought the political support of right-wing preacher John Hagee, who believes Hurricane Katrina was God's punishment for gay rights and called the Catholic Church "the Antichrist" and a "false cult."⁹

10. He positions himself as pro-environment, but he scored a 0—yes, zero—from the League of Conservation Voters last year.¹⁰

Sources:
1. "The Complicated History of John McCain and MLK Day," ABC News, April 3, 2008
http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2008/04/the-complicated.html

"McCain Facts," ColorOfChange.org, April 4, 2008
http://colorofchange.org/mccain_facts/

2. "McCain More Hawkish Than Bush on Russia, China, Iraq," Bloomberg News, March 12, 2008
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601103&sid=aF28rSCtk0ZM&refer=us

"Buchanan: John McCain 'Will Make Cheney Look Like Gandhi,'" ThinkProgress, February 6, 2008
http://thinkprogress.org/2008/02/06/buchanan-gandhi-mccain/

3. "McCain Sides With Bush On Torture Again, Supports Veto Of Anti-Waterboarding Bill," ThinkProgress, February 20, 2008
http://thinkprogress.org/2008/02/20/mccain-torture-veto/

4. "McCain says Roe v. Wade should be overturned," MSNBC, February 18, 2007
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17222147/

5. "2007 Children's Defense Fund Action Council^® Nonpartisan Congressional Scorecard," February 2008
http://www.childrensdefense.org/site/PageServer?pagename=act_learn_scorecard2007

"McCain: Bush right to veto kids health insurance expansion," CNN, October 3, 2007
http://www.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/10/03/mccain.interview/

6. "Beer Executive Could Be Next First Lady," Associated Press, April 3, 2008
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5h-S1sWHm0tchtdMP5LcLywg5ZtMgD8VQ86M80

"McCain Says Bank Bailout Should End `Systemic Risk,'" Bloomberg News, March 25, 2008
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aHMiDVYaXZFM&refer=home

7. "Will McCain's Temper Be a Liability?," Associated Press, February 16, 2008
http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory?id=4301022

"Famed McCain temper is tamed," Boston Globe, January 27, 2008
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2008/01/27/famed_mccain_temper_is_tamed/

8. "Black Claims McCain's Campaign Is Above Lobbyist Influence: 'I Don't Know What The Criticism Is,'" ThinkProgress, April 2, 2008
http://thinkprogress.org/2008/04/02/mccain-black-lobbyist/

"McCain's Lobbyist Friends Rally 'Round Their Man," ABC News, January 29, 2008
http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/story?id=4210251

9. "McCain's Spiritual Guide: Destroy Islam," Mother Jones Magazine, March 12, 2008
http://www.motherjones.com/washington_dispatch/2008/03/john-mccain-rod-parsley-spiritual-guide.html

"Will McCain Specifically 'Repudiate' Hagee's Anti-Gay Comments?," ThinkProgress, March 12, 2008
http://thinkprogress.org/2008/03/12/mccain-hagee-anti-gay/

"McCain 'Very Honored' By Support Of Pastor Preaching 'End-Time Confrontation With Iran,'" ThinkProgress, February 28, 2008
http://thinkprogress.org/2008/02/28/hagee-mccain-endorsement/

10. "John McCain Gets a Zero Rating for His Environmental Record," Sierra Club, February 28, 2008
http://www.alternet.org/blogs/environment/77913/

Reality in Politics Today?

I am posting this video blog with some trepidation.  I am just getting this sinking feeling about next November's election. 

Misc

Courtesy

This case of the off duty Albuquerque Police Officer who allegedly ran over a woman in the parking lot of a bar has all the makings of one of those 'professional courtesy' cases that law enforcement often finds themselves in. It seems to me that APD is dancing around the actions of that officer. Would you or I get the same treatment if we had backed over and killed this woman. Don't forget this was all caught on a video camera. Would a politician get this same kind of treatment? Not a chance in hell I think.

Mayor Chavez and his Chief need to get to the truth of this incident as quickly as possible.

The Dark Side of the Force

The Governor issued an Executive Order that clarifying the consolidation of all computer and software related issues and personnel into the Office of Information Technology. That agency is run by my good friend Roy Soto. I called him today and equated him with Darth Vader's comment that one should not underestimate 'the power of the dark side.' Roy's agency now controls the Information Technology Officers in every agency. "The Circle is Complete." He got a kick out of that. He doesn't look like Darth Vader.

Actually, this is a good move by the Governor in his efforts to get the state's IT costs and operations under control.

Basic Training

I finally feel I should comment a little on the flag incident at
UNM a few months back. Apparently a lot of people feel threatened that a Mexican Flag was flying next to an American Flag on the campus. A student was angry it was still there after Old Glory was taken down for the day. So, he tore it up. He was tried and found guilty of destruction of property. See the story here.

The erstwhile columnist Jim Belshaw at the Journal wrote a thoughtful column about and it resulted in many people accusing him of being unpatriotic since he couldn’t understand why people were so fearful of a Mexican flag. Many of his harshest critics were military men or retirees. (Some defended him too.)

It got me to thinking about how our soldiers are being trained. When I was in boot camp 42 years ago I remember sitting through many classroom hours learning about everything military, but I don’t recall ever being given any classes on this Country’s Constitution which we were there to defend. I had learned quite a bit about it at St. Pius X High School in Civics class. I think it was a great course that made me understand that we do live in a great country that offers us many civil liberties.

I wonder, given that most high schools don’t offer such classes anymore, whether or not there should be strong instruction in our Constitution at boot camp for our armed forces. I can assure you that every naturalized citizen that emigrated from Mexico and is now serving in the military for this country knows more about the principles of the Constitution than their fellow men and women at arms. They had to pass a test to become an American citizen. If all recruits were educated about the concepts in this Constitution then they would be less likely to act like anyone who disagrees with them is unpatriotic.

Ingenuity

Maybe I just don't get out enough anymore. When I saw this card come in yesterday amidst the daily haul of 3lbs of catalogs I took notice and marveled at the ingenuity behind this idea.

Can you believe someone has a full time business cleaning up, er, uh, dog shit? They must be successful because it is a high class glossy mailer. Just like the ones that Heather Wilson sends out at government expense.

The card says that there will be a $20 off coupon for the first month if you sign up. I am almost afraid to call and find out how much this service costs if there is a discount that big. However, congrats to the minds that thought this up. I think that I will stick with my twice weekly cleanup with an $8 dollar pooper scooper and a kitchen size garbage bag.

My First Video Blog

This is a first stab at getting all of my new software, HD camera and computer to work together. Be gentle.

Knives Come Out

The knives come out about this time every April before a Primary Election. First we saw back room dealing that picked Sheriff Darren White to be the neo-con candidate when the bush republican operatives in the state got the national party to endorse him and throw Senator Joe Cararro under the bus.

Now we see an effort underway to get former Secretary of State Rebbecca Vigil Giron thrown off the ballot by the forces of Michelle L. Grisham in the Congressional race in Albuquerque. Rebecca didn't get enough delegate votes at the nominating convention so she opted to get more signatures from regular old Democrats going into grocery stores. (one of the best places in my experience) This allows her to get on the ballot.

Michelle and her supporters say Rebbecca allegedly came up 100 signatures short, but there is a great danger in trying to get a judge to bar her from running. Mostly, I think there is nothing wrong with people getting on the ballot and don't forget the thousands of folks who did sign Rebbecca's signature petitions. What are they? Worthless?

Of course the real game here is to weaken the front runner Martin Heinrich. Michelle and her handlers don't want two Latino women running on the ballot under the conventional wisdom that it will split the vote. I don't think that wisdom is valid and I don't think this will weaken Heinrich. Maybe it will improve his position as Rebbecca will now pull the "Bowie" knife out whether she stays on the ballot or not!

Adventurous

I had a great time at our Foundation meeting in Boulder and even got time for a nice massage in the Hotel Julien Spa. Then we sat around and gave away money and ate for two days. I feel like a beached whale.

Bobbi and I had a big adventure today. My computer has been crashing lately so we went out to shop for a new one. One reason I really needed one was to get the capability to edit high definition video. My family got me a high def Canon HG 10 camcorder for Christmas and I didn't have a computer that could handle the editing. I have been wanting to start some video blogs on this site and now maybe I will be able to do it. The big adventure is that we bought an Apple Mac Pro Laptop. I have been playing with it quite a bit and it is impressive. It is handling the video editing nicely, although I have a lot to learn. I have signed up for lessons on how to operate an Apple. It might take a little getting used to.

Board Meeting and the Sheriff

I am off to a meeting of the Wyss Foundation Board in Colorado for the next few days. We will be doing funding work for many western public land groups. It is always a lot of fun. I am looking forward to getting out of the pollen blanket over Albuquerque, although it will be snowing and blustery in Boulder.

I read this morning that Sheriff Darren White who is running for Heather Wilson's seat has done some back room dealing to get the National Republican Party's endorsement over Senator Joe Cararro. And their Primary election hasn't even occurred. This kind of thing fits a pattern that the bush administration would love. Remember all the back room deals for Halliburton? Let's not forget what an unabashed supporter of the bush/cheney team that our Sheriff was. White was a great supporter of the Iraq war as bush's Bernalillo County campaign chairman. This is something that we will never let anyone forget. He can not run away from it or try to rewrite his history on it.

Doug Kent Hall

Doug at his studio-June 2005

One of my secret ambitions was to be a world famous photographer. About as close as I got was knowing Douglas Kent Hall who passed away this weekend. Bobbi and I met Doug and his wonderful spouse Dawn back in the early 90's when our son Justin and his son Devon became best friends at Valley High School.

We last saw Doug at our Christmas Eve party when he and the family came over to meet Justin and his new bride Karly. I was just thinking of calling him last week for coffee and now he is gone from us.

Doug was one of those people that could pick up a camera and somehow every time get on film the essence of his subject. I especially loved his photos of every day people living their lives in New Mexico. I was inspired by his images of Flamenco dancers. His many books grace legions of coffee tables through out the world. The art community in New Mexico has lost another great member.

Take the Quiz

Take this quiz on the Pew Research site and then compare yourself to the sample of Americans who also took this test. It is astounding.

Mountain Out of a Mole Hill and a Mole Hill Out of a Mountain

I had to chuckle when I saw the story on the New Mexico Expo in the paper on Sunday. A guy who put on a rodeo at Tingley Coliseum is making a mountain out of a mole hill because two banks of lights weren't turned on for seven minutes before the event began. Despite his filling the coliseum for his events at prices of up to $75 bucks a seat he says he wont come back. As I understand it, everything started on time. He did the same thing two years ago and pocketed ten grand in refunds. Looks like the same thing might happen this time. I would suggest reporters back track this operator to see if this happens regularly at other venues. Maybe he is an honest guy, but I saw this same kind of thing happen at the Convention Center when I was Mayor. The venue operators should do their jobs correctly and as efficiently as humanly possible, but at the same time the 'customers' aren't always right.

Then I see Mayor Marty Chavez try to make a mole hill out of his $65 million dollar deficit mountain at city hall. He says he will not fill 200 vacancies and pull in the belt in other areas. 200 jobs wont save much after the Mayor and Council's spending spree of the last six years. Won't some enterprising journalist look into where Marty threw that money? Will someone check out if the transportation tax we passed ten years ago has really been used as it should have? Or was it used on things the voters didn't approve? $65 million is a big chunk and this will be very painful for the city to handle. It may get worse. When will the legislature and cities work together to widen city revenue options rather than depending on the gross receipts tax for such a large portion of city revenues?

China Girl

This is a nice picture that my daughter Noelle took of herself at a Panda reserve near Chengdu, China. Noelle is traveling there on business for Intel. She endured a 16 hour flight in coach from Los Angeles to Hong Kong and then on to her destination on and airline named 'Dragon Air'.

I am amazed at the places she has already visited around the world at her age. As I recall I had been to Jaurez at that point in my life. I didn't start world traveling until my late thirties. I am also amazed that I can post this photo of her just a few hours after it was taken. What would we do without the internet now? That is kind of scary to think about.

Noelle has been to France, Swizterland, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Mexico, Thailand, Laos, Spain and a few other places I cant remember right now. I think this is great and that it bodes well for her. Come to think of it, her brother Justin is just as accomplished on the globe trotting.

Zoned

Tell me something I don't know. The Juniper pollen is at a peak and I am zoned out for the third day in a row trying to fight it. Let's see, I am taking native honey, echanasia, Benadryl at night and Claritin (non drowsy) during the day. I feel like I am living in another dimension. (Kind of like Hillary must be feeling today after Senator Bob Casey of Pennsylvania endorsed Barack Obama)

The Albuquerque Journal announced this morning that Juniper pollen was at its peak and would continue heavily for a few more weeks. Groan. It also said that the reasons some people get pollen allergies and some don't are unknown. Some even say that if your mom smoked it would make you vulnerable. Well Mom smoked a lot but I doubt that means much. I had this malady as a child and into college. But then it disappeared for forty years only to start revisiting me three years ago. Weird.

The hardest part of all this really is the lack of energy brought on by labored breathing. Despite my weight problems I am an avid aerobics guy and walker. I just haven't been able to do it for a few days and I think that complicates things. It also feels like someone has lifted up my eyelids and poured sand under them. I know it could always be worse so I will not complain about it anymore. Zoned!

Me Toos

All of the Congressional candidates from around the state who didn't get enough of the insider votes at the state pre-primary nominating conventions got on the ballot yesterday by turning in additional signature petitions. A few opted out but most took advantage of a hastily repealed law that would not have allowed them on the ballot if they didn't get the magic 20% of the delegate vote.

I am glad the legislature repealed that law but, in reality it wont do those candidates much good. I don't remember any candidate who didn't get that 20% going on to win the primary elections. I do recall candidates who got just over the 20% going on to win. Often the candidates who won the delegate votes don't go on to win either. I think the value of the process however is that at some point it will enable a really good outsider candidate to make a case that they are the best and then go on to win. What is the value in keeping any one from doing that?

Loyalty Oaths

Dear Mayor Chavez,

I know folks like you always like to pile on. You and James Carville and other Clinton supporters are having such fun trying to eviscerate Governor Richardson for not taking a loyalty oath to Hillary that I wonder if you have thought ahead a few months. What if Hillary actually wins the nomination? How hard will it be to get Richardson and people like him back into the fold? How hard will they work after being accused of being Judas? How would a perceived moderate like McCain take advantage of all of this?

And, if as you all say the endorsement doesn't mean much at this point, why are you doing this?

We all know that you got to play golf for a few days with President Clinton. Is that what earned your loyalty? Or are there solid policy reasons? Or promises of jobs to get you out of town before the full impact of the city budget meltdown is felt? I sincerely would like to hear you tell us why you support Hillary so strongly so that we might see the light. We already know that Governor Richardson likes Obama's message of change and frank approach to the issues.

There is nothing wrong will calling out your opponents and supporters on their policy issues. But calling them out because they don't support your candidate is infantile.

I think the real problem for the Clinton supporters right now is that they know they have already lost and they might just be doing some early venting. Lets hope so.

4000

There is no more important news today than fact that 4000 Americans have died in Iraq, along with hundreds of thousands of Iraqis. There is a lot more fun news to dally with, but this is the one that should mostly be on our minds.

Yesterday, the Albuquerque Journal's Sunday Editorial on the Iraq war was down to earth, realistic and logical. Every once in a while I marvel at how good some of their opinion pieces can be. (Every once in a while.)

But then they do it again today with their Editorial on PNM and the reality of that companies precarious business position right now. PNM, which has not had a rate increase in 20 years, needs to up its rates. Political posturing PRC members, aspiring Mayor candidates in Albuquerque, and others have been ranting that this shouldn't ever happen. Get real. It has to happen or some large conglomerate will buy up PNM and then watch what happens. Along with that I will say PNM has to get real too and tell the people who are building that Pinon Tree burning power plant in Estancia that they wont buy their power.

Finally, James Carville's likening of Bill Richardson to Judas because of Bill's endorsement of Barack Obama proves to me that Carville is really Gollum from the "Lord of the Rings."

Septic Chuckle

Rodger Beimer sent this to me this afternoon.

Richardson's Endorsement

I was really happy to see Governor Richardson step up to the endorsement of Barrack Obama. I think a lot of people don't realize it was a gutsy thing to do given the job ahead of him now.

I was talking with a long time Hispanic friend the other day who felt that Obama was going to lose the general election if nominated because African Americans and Latinos have too much bad blood between them. He says we don't see it in New Mexico but that it is very real in the rest of the country. I think this means that Bill Richardson will have a lot of work to do for Obama in the next eight months. We all know Richardson isn't afraid of hard campaigning and effective diplomacy. He is one person that can bridge this divide, assuming the divide exists.

So, I am quite certain the Governor will be out on the campaign trail quite often. There is no one that loves it more than him or is better at it than him. This is all good for the Obama campaign.

Enviros Gather for Udall

We had about 75 good staunch supporters of conservation show up at our home last night for a fundraiser and endorsement of Congressman Tom Udall for the Senate.

Gene Karpinski flew in from the National League of Conservation Voters to endorse for that influential organization. They have so far endorsed Udall, Ben Ray Lujan in the Northern District, and soon my good friend Martin Heinrich in the Albuquerque district.

Tom Udall got a 100% rating from the League last year for his votes to protect our nation's land, water and air resources.

Udall, as is normal at these events, pretty much preached to the choir.

Obama's Speech

Obama's speech on race will rank up there with Martin Luther King's "I Have A Dream Speech."

Misc

The Albuquerque Journal had three stories I know a little bit about today. Mayor Chavez and his budget orgies of the last few years have caught up to the Albuquerque taxpayer. State Land Commissioner Pat Lyon's sweetheart deals with developers have caught up with him. There is also a story on suppression of testimony in the Congress that is upsetting.

Mayor Chavez says he has instituted eleven balanced budgets as Mayor. I think he forgets abut the $25 million dollar deficit he left me when I took over the Mayor's office from him in 1998. Adding to the current city budget meltdown are his pay raises for the police and fire departments that will cost another $10 million and his wish to cut taxes and you have a classic set up for a budget disaster. The city council and the Mayor have launched double digit budget increases for six years and it will now haunt them.

Commissioner Pat Lyons has been shut down on his sweetheart deals by Attorney General Gary King. Lyons has been attempting to give away large sums of potential state income to land developers who contributed huge sums to his campaigns. Gary King did the right thing here but I am hopeful there will be some serious investigations by someone into these deals themselves. I admire Gary King's stand because his cousin Jerry King, who is rumored to be running for Land Commissioner, is a political appointee in the Land Office.

Finally, a Deputy Sheriff in Dona Ana County mysteriously canceled his appearance before a congressional committee in Washington. The Deputy was to have testified on the abuse of public lands by unregulated off road vehicle users. I have worked extensively on this issue and was surprised by the last minute pullout by the Deputy. I suspect, although it has been denied, that Congressman Steve Pearce had a hand in this since he is supported financially by manufacturers and retailers of all terrain vehicles. When I heard of this cancellation I called the Republican Sheriff in Dona Ana county to see if he disallowed the Deputy's testimony. He never returned my call. I hope the media will stay on this one!

Pollen/Politics

It feels like someone sat on my chest all night. When we came over the Arizona/New Mexico border yesterday the wind started wafting the juniper pollen into the car. We came back on Highway 60 from Phoenix. The trip through the Salt River Canyon was breathtaking. I just didn't know by breath would continue to be taken by the 50mph cross wind from Springerville to Socorro.

Everyone seems to have home remedies for this malady. My uncle swears by New Mexico raw honey. Another friend from Hawaii says I should take liquid Ecanasia before bed. Maybe the best thing to do is what my sister Carlota does this time of year. Leave NM for a month.

I watched the Nominating conventions via the Internet from Arizona. No surprises for me at all. I was especially glad to see Pearce beat Wilson in the convention. That shows me the extreme right wing is still in control of the GOP. We know that Wilson her self is pretty right wing too, but apparently not enough for her party. This all bodes well for Tom Udall.

Martin Heinrich will be the Democratic nominee in June despite a nice effort by Michelle Grisham Lujan. I foresee the Democratic Congressional Campaign committee getting behind him completely and that will help with his fund raising. I think he will have a challenging race against President bush campaign chairman Darren White, but that Martin will win because he is running against the President bush campaign chairman.

Big City

I was stationed in Phoenix at Luke Air Force Base almost 40 years ago. It was still a small town. Today I am going to meet an old friend for lunch. I am Noelle's home in Chandler and need to go to Glendale. It is 37 miles through totally urban traffic. Hard to believe the sprawl here. This must be Mayor Chavez' vision. Yuk.

Phoenix Girl

While our house sitter cleans his gun collection Bobbi and I will travel to Phoenix to spend the weekend with Noelle. We might even take in a spring training game.

Before I leave I want to give all of the political candidates for the Congressional races some advice. Saturday, you will participate in the Pre-Primary nominating conventions. You must remember one thing. Ten minutes after your delegate votes are counted up and announced they will amount to nothing more than a hill of beans. At that point the real campaign begins to win votes from the non-insiders. If you win the delegate vote count, by all means spin it and revel in it for about a day. Then go out and convince regular party members to vote for you in the June Primary election. The convention and election day in New Mexico are not really connected at all as far as amassing votes.

Veterans for Peace

The Veterans for Peace set up their exhibit at the University of New Mexico Duck Pond today that shows the photos and stories of all Americans killed in Iraq and Afghanistan.

It is certainly not as beautiful as the Viet Nam Veterans Memorial in Washington, but is just as emotional.

There were a lot students stopping by to see the more than 4000 names and photos, including this young ROTC student.

Shame

Click to Enlarge

My Accomplished Friend

I graduated in 1963 from St. Pius X High School in Albuquerque. One of my classmates was a guy named Dennis Jett. He seemed to me to be a relatively quiet guy who seemed to get along with everyone.

Dennis went on to a stellar career with the U.S. State Department. He served as Diplomat in Residence at the Carter Center in Atlanta, as the Ambassador to Mozambique and Ambassador to Peru. While he was in Peru I was serving as Mayor of Albuquerque and he invited me to Peru to travel around the country to meet with Peruvian Mayors. I spoke on the importance of pressing the national government to decentralize and give more power to local government. It was a grueling week but my son Justin went with me and we got to see Cuzco and Machu Picchu.

Dennis and I had coffee early this morning. He is currently serving as Dean of the International Center at the University of Florida but will be moving on from there soon. Dennis is a progressive statesman who has just released a book titled, "Why American Foreign Policy Fails." He also writes regular columns that appear around the country. You can see them all at "The Smirking Chimp." You will understand the blog name after looking at it.

It is nice to know Dennis and people like him are out there talking sense.

WTF

This might be worth coverage by the local media, at least to find out if there is anything to it!

Just a Reminder

As the Iraq war approaches its 5th birthday amidst stories of sexual misconduct by current, former and soon to be former elected officials, I thought we needed to be reminded of these statistics.

American Deaths			Total	In Combat
Since war began (3/19/03):			3983	3258
Since "Mission Accomplished" (5/1/03)			3844	3150
Since Capture of Saddam (12/13/03):			3522	2952
Since Handover (6/29/04):			3124	2625
Since Election (1/31/05):			2546	2362
American Wounded			Official	Estimated
Total Wounded:			29320	23000 - 100000

Add in 80-90,000 Iraqi civilian deaths.

Any Bets

Do I have any takers on a bet that the New York Governor's use of a prostitution ring will get more attention from America's media than the five American soldiers who died in Baghdad today?

Fact and Fiction

I am really into SciFi author Michael Flynn. I am reading his "In the Country of the Blind" in which he postulates a secret society controlling the future of mankind by the use of mathematical models and assasinations. The group formed when the concept of computers was postulated by Charles Babbage.

Anyway, he gets into this essay about fiction and fact. He says there is more truth in fiction and more lies in fact. I think he is right. Facts are merely things given to us by people who can't get rid of bias, no matter how hard they try. Fiction predicts things that usually come true.

I was reading this last night and thinking of the last couple of weeks politics. In the final analysis Clinton has maybe gained three or four net delegate votes. The media says she has broken the momentum of Obama. They say it as a fact. Obama on the other hand says pay attention to the math. He predicts there is no way she can over come him. This might be a fiction at this point but most likely it is true.

Meanwhile, it was reported this morning that the TV commercial Clinton used about the 3 a.m. phone call used a young girl actress who was eight years old when the stock footage was made. She is now eighteen years old and is working for Obama. How funny is that?

Good Ol'e Harry

There is a great character in John Nichols' "Milagro Bean field War" who keeps bouncing back from certain death. Amarante Cordova just wouldn't succumb.

He came to mind today when I went by to see Harry Pavlides at the hospital. Harry had a triple bypass last Monday. This was on top of his bad kidneys, diabetes, and weak lungs. He has rebounded once again so that he may keep giving out his passionate advice to all who would be politicians.

I met Harry about 30 years ago when he came to work for the Bruce King campaign for Governor. Harry hasn't stopped talking since! He is an extremely interesting character who most in the political game in New Mexico have run across. He is one of those people who can make us see life's great universe of personalities, although he may be one of a kind.

Get well soon Harry!

Republican Nasty and Worrisome Trend

I really don't know Rod Adair, the republican State Senator from Roswell, but I have to say everytime I read his name he is involved in some nasty politics. He is calling fellow republican Ed Tinsley, one of the congressional candidates in the southern district, a 'Santa Fe Liberal." It seems Tinsley's big crime is that he owns a home in the State's Capitol.

In other words Adair is saying there is something wrong with Santa Feans. They are to be mistrusted. They are all bad people. They should be expunged. Put them up against a wall even though they live in the Land of Enchantment like many of us. This is the kind of stuff I just abhor about the politics being practiced today. It is meant to get groups of people hating each other for political gain. Adair is emulating despots like Milosevich and sectarian Mullahs.

The problem is that this stuff can work because it is now in many voters minds down there that Tinsley is a liberal and there is something wrong with people from Santa Fe. Nastiness trumps substance every time.

There is one other thing that is concerning me this morning. That is the fact that the national republican party is out fundraising the national Democratic party. This is not a good thing for all of our Congressional candidates because the republican neo-con crazies will do to the Democrats what Adair has done to one of his victims. Put them in a frame of denying they are something they are not. Send a few bucks to the Democratic party in DC to help counter this.

Aghast?

Some of the candidates for the Congressional seat being vacated by Congressman Tom Udall are aghast that Don Wiviott is loaning more money to his campaign. Wiviott pumped in another quarter million to his treasury recently. He wants to keep running those incredibly effective TV commercials of his and he is putting up his own dough to do it.

What I find amusing is that any candidate or person would find Wiviott's self funding offensive given our state campaign financing corruption. At least he is not selling himself to the oil and gas industry or others. Also, why are some of his opponents acting like he is trying to buy the election while at the same time remaining silent during the last legislative session on campaign reform in state political races. In those races the special interests can give any amount of money to a candidate, think Land Commissioner Pat Lyons donors for example, and get away with it with little criticism.

At least there are limits in Federal races on what individuals and special interests can give to a candidate. While there are no limits on a candidates personal wealth being used, at least it is a better situation than the states. I guess I do have a little problem with the uneven playing field that rich people have in funding their own campaigns. That is allowed by Supreme Court decisions so you cant really blame them.

How on earth can our legislature continue to rationalize not taking action on this issue of campaign reform in state races?

Addendum

Here is comments from Rachel Cohen in Austin. She is my sister's step daughter. She retired from Texas State Government a few years ago.

I'm so depressed this morning I can barely make myself listen to the news. I agree with your blog this morning -- if it goes really negative -- and ESPECIALLY if she insists on trying to get the Michigan and Florida delegates seated without a real primary in those states -- then I'm not sure I'll be able to be there for her in November. One of the only things that could allow republicans to win in November would be that troika of events -- (1) turning away dyed-in-the-wool democrats like me (2) allowing yet another generation of kids to think that it really DOESN'T matter if they vote and (3) the revitalizing effect that a Hillary nomination would have on the Republican party.

We went to the Texas caucuses last night -- a really interesting civics lesson. And the Hillary people were more "in-yer-face" than the Obama people were, but our caucus had SEVEN HUNDRED TWENTY EIGHT PEOPLE sign in (the presiding chair said that she'd never had more than 30 there before). Obama won 62% of the delegates from our precinct -- they will go to the county convention on March 29, where they will sign in for Obama.

How it works: When our precinct is combined with the other precincts in Travis County, they will determine how many of the 8 delegates allocated to Travis County will go the state convention, and from there to the national convention. (Travis County gets a big proportion of the 67 or 69 or whatever it is delegates allocated by caucus because we tend to have more democratic voters than the rest of the state -- it's determined by how many people voted for the democratic candidates in the last governor's election and the previous presidential election.)

So I guess that people could figure out how it's GOING to go, give or take a couple of delegates, but I'm not really sure what the news people are talking about when they talk about how many delegates WERE awarded yesterday through the caucus process.

How will Democrats survive this?

Late Night

I actually stayed awake last night until 11:30 watching the election returns. No huge surprises there for me except I thought that Obama might take Texas. A few weeks ago he was almost 20% down so this is still impressive, and he still leads in delegates.

I think the thing that astonishes me most is the information gathered from the exit polls. While American kids are still fighting and dying in Iraq the American public seemed to vote more on their paycheck and economic fears. This certainly played in Clinton's favor in Ohio which blames her husbands support of NAFTA as being the reason. They still voted for her. The economy is an important issue, but Obama has to reconnect the importance of ending the carnage in Iraq as being the best economic move we can make.

The other thing that amazed me is the age statistics. Clinton won the older voters by huge margins and Obama won the young ones. This should be very worrisome for the Democrats because it will be hard to keep the youngsters interested if they don't see Obama winning the nomination.

As I said yesterday, Clinton's negative TV ads worked, as they always do and we can now expect a lot more. Every time I read about them I will be less enamored with her efforts if she wins. She needs to stick to the high road if she wants folks like me to be there.

This truly is far from over. McCain sits in the wings rejuvenating himself while Clinton and Obama slug it out for at least two more months.

Munchie Night

I am treating tonight's Elections in Ohio and Texas as I would a Super Bowl night. I am breaking out the munchies, wine and beer and will stay with it until I can't stay awake any longer. Probably around 10:30!

Right now I am totally p.o.'d at the Clinton Campaign for purposely trying to weaken a front running Obama campaign with negative and silly ads. As we all know that strategy works and if Obama manages to move Hillary out of the picture tonight then he has to spend time and money recovering from it. That energy and money should be aimed at the '100 Year' war candidate John McCain.

I think I am feeling like a lot of Obama supporters. I feel that if Hillary is victorious in the race that my support will not be as fevered as it could have been if she hadn't done this stuff. Seriously!

Just Wondering

I spent most of the weekend puttering around the house. Bobbi and I did a little yard work on a nice spring Saturday and then we hunkered down to a wintry and blustery Sunday. It was a nice day to read and wonder.

1. Why does a U.S. Marine and Iraq veteran who chases down a thief and kills him get the support of the community for clemency from the Governor when two Hispanic men who did the same thing spend long years in prison? (I am sure they all overstepped the law, but is prison really the only answer? How about two years working in a Veterans hospital?)

2. Why does Hillary Clinton keep saying that experience is so important for a President when her long years of experience have resulted in one of the worst run campaigns in memory?

3. Why is the renewable energy industry being denied tax breaks while the Senate continues to delay on doing away with $17 billion dollars in tax credits for the oil and gas industry which is seeing record profits?

4. Why are banks and lenders raising interest rates on student loans while (again) the oil and gas industry gets tax subsidies from all of us? (I think Senator Pete Domenici and his pals could answer this question.)

5. Why is Barack Obama dressed in native clothing (a turban) more ominous than bush dressed in native clothing(Chinese)?