Save the Enchantment

Stay tuned for a little announcement from me later today. In the meantime check this website out!

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ONE NATION UNDER SURVIELLANCE

Rodger Beimer called me and said he saw that phrase on a bumper sticker this morning. Someone acted fast and efficiently on that one.

My friend Steve Cobble and I were discussing bush's in your face attitude about spying on Americans in order to protect us from terrorists. In the face of an impeachable offense bush seems belligerent and unfazed. Cobble was wondering if it was because rove had done some polling on it and found support for spying on citizens by the government. bush and rove never take a stand with out polling, but I told Cobble it was because bush just won't ever admit he was wrong. Cobble and I then agreed it might be both things at work. If I were a democratic leader I would simply lose all the rhetoric over this and say, "Do we as Americans want our government spying on us?" I bet very few would say yes.

Remember, democracy never lasts long. It soon wastes, exhausts, and murders itself. There never was a democracy yet that did not commit suicide.
John Adams

Pena Blanca Farm Progress and Noelle

You might remember our jungle covered farmland in Pena Blanca. The first picture is an aerial taken last July before serious work started.
This is how it looks this Sunday morning as the crews continue to laser level the land for better irrigation and water conservation.Noelle is taking a real liking to the land there and thinks it would be a good place for a weekend home. I agree.

This is one of our cool mousers in the stable area. There are three of them there and they are really nice friendly cats. Fred Espinosa, our lessee, lavishes food and care on them.

This is a 'bar' that Fred built for his equestrian friends. Fred is quite a creative guy.

Cold Sunny Morning in the Bosque-Photos

Karly, Justin, Athena and Beagle

Older than me?

Gnarled

Grass the cows won't get

Rio Grande Bosque

Construction at Campbell Road and the Rio Grande on the new water pipeline.

We can't let Mayor Midnight Marty make this bridge permanent!

Erik & Canoe

Anyone who has lived around Albuquerque City Government and Politics over the last few decades will know this couple. Erik Pfeiffer was the city Economic Development Director for both Mayor Chavez and me. I have known Erik since the early 80's when he helped me with my first State Land Commissioner race. His wife, Canoe Ghandilon, has just had her first book published. It is called "The Emperor's Bracelet" and chronicles her emigration from France to America. They were in town quick book signing for many of their friends and they leave for New York in the morning for another event there.

Erik retired after I left office and he and Canoe lived in San Carlos, Mexico for three years before moving to Hawaii. He and Canoe are truly good people who worked hard for many years for the good of Albuquerque. I miss them, although we stay in touch via email and telephone. I read the first chapter of her book and I can tell it will be a good piece of literature.

Train Rides

The Albuquerque Journal had a really great front page story on the plight of some of our Amtrak train stations. I am hopeful this story will light a fire under the Mayor and the Congressional Delegation to work with Amtrak to utilize some part of the new transportation complex in Downtown. That was on track when I was Mayor and I am surprised it has fallen apart.

This is an old photo I carry around in my wallet. It shows mom, dad, my sister Carlota and twin brother Tom in the early 1950's waiting at the train station here to start one of our train rides. I am not sure if this photo is in Albuquerque or Belen. My mother Dixie was from Washington, DC. She met my dad Fermin there after he traveled to the nation's capitol with other young men to get their education and jobs under the tutelage of Senator Dennis Chavez. Consequently, after my mom and dad moved back to Albuquerque we would take the Santa Fe Super Chief back to DC to visit her parents. I remember these trips well and the magnificent train stations we would pass through.

Let's see if some leadership can be exerted here to show that Albuquerque wants to have a train depot that shows we care about the railroads contribution to the history of our city. I would suggest a sweetheart deal with Amtrak, who is truly broke. If nothing else it would be useful not to embarrass our city by having the train depot in a former storage shack.

Narnia Diversity

Justin, Karly, Noelle and I went to see the Chronicles of Narnia this evening. It is a good movie to send children to see although there is violence.

This C.S. Lewis fantasy is one of the few of the genre I never got around to reading. Bobbi and Noelle have read it and liked it. C.S. Lewis was a devout Christian and as everyone who reads about the movies now knows this movie is being embraced by the Christian community. It is really a story about Christ, redemption and resurrection and Lewis would be happy to know it follows the book 'religiously', according to Bobbi and Noelle.

I liked the movie because it really does show that Lewis was probably a Christian that Christ would have liked. (Except maybe for Santa Claus handing out lethal weapons to children in his book.) C.S. Lewis must be a guy who likes diversity. The forces of good in the movie are the most diverse group of holy warriors you would ever want to see. Half men half goats, half horse half men, cheetahs, gryphans, talking beavers and other animals, some creatures I couldn't really identify and regular humans. I don't think that Aslan, the Christ-like lion, would have told the half men half goats that they were to weird to fight the good fight. I am sure gay people wouldn't have bothered Aslan one bit. Or Christ for that matter.

So, I just don't buy into some folks saying the film being overly "Christian." The thing that really makes it good for Christians is its message of inclusiveness. This message probably missed the fundamentalist wackos and possibly the Pope. But, I think somhow in their subconscious the children will see that message.

Another Moyers Gem

This is another great speech, with some history, from Bill Moyers. I recently got an email from someone asking me to help draft Bill Moyers for President. Well, he will never be President but the thought of it is pretty thrilling.

Minimum Wage

Here is a report you simply must read on the minimum wage. Thanks to my good friend Steve Cobble for sending this along. The summary puts it in perspective. Read the full report.

"In the nine years since Congress last acted to increase the minimum wage, inflation has eroded about 18 percent of its purchasing power. Meanwhile, low-wage Americans and their families enter the 2005 holidays facing high and rising costs for home heating (up 21.6 percent in the last year), gasoline (up 37.0 percent), air fare (up 9.1 percent), and other seasonal expenses."

Nine years! Stop and think about that. Nine Years! This kind of widening gap between the rich and poor simply cannot continue. Right now the middle class taxpayer is facing the jaws of falling under the Alternative Minimum Tax from the bush administration and Congress. That great humanitarian bill frist said the senate wouldn't deal with it this year and a lot of middle class taxpayers are getting ready to 'bend over' in the next tax year. It will cost thousands of dollars for unsuspecting middle class guy, yes I said thousands. Oh, but the filthy rich will continue to get their tax decreases.

Money is better than poverty, if only for financial reasons.
Woody Allen

On another matter

I was watching cable last night and saw a TV commercial for my potential republican opponent, State Land Commissioner Patrick Lyons. The commercial appears to be paid for by the State Land Office. Will some enterprising reporter look into the legality of this? Using state funds for promoting yourself is a bit of a problem for me. Especially with the election only about five months away. It is not like it is a public service announcement, because I checked and they said it wasn't. There was no disclaimer on it saying it was a political commercial either. Just asking.

Cramp from Hell

6 am this morning I woke up as usual and was immediately launched out of bed by the muscle cramp from hell. Think of someone inserting a meat hook into your calf muscle and then twisting it until it is all wrapped around the hook. Think of this going on for about two minutes. This happens to me occasionally. One time at three a.m. one let loose on me and it terrified Bobbi who thought I was having an aneurysm.

I limped around the rest of the day and got a sore throat too. I took some of the Airborne fizzy stuff and an emergency Vitamin C, also a fizzy, and went home to rest. Now at 9:30 pm I am writing this stupid blog entry because I feel like I will have failed if I don't do an entry today.

Things could be worse, but only in the midst of another cramp.

Beagle Love

Our daughter Noelle, who will be twenty one on January 3rd, has arrived back in the states after her sojourn to Thailand for her study abroad program. We named her Noelle because she was supposed to be born on Christmas, but that didn't happen. Bobbi was so happy to have her nine days later that we named her Noelle anyway.

Noelle with her Uncle Dave Miller. He is the Safety Officer at the Airport.

Noelle with her brother Justin and his girlfriend Karly


Beagle Love. There are a lot of elements in this picture.

1. Evidence of the obligatory stop at the Frontier for Burritos and Chile
2. Beagles, one unseen, howling with delight at Noelle's return
3. Noelle's car keys represent her independence. She has to get used to traffic driving on the right side of the road. Thailand traffic patterns are all wrong, just like England.

Pondering Cash

I am still pondering running for State Land Commissioner this next year. I will decide by January 1st. But that is not the subject of this blog.

As I contemplate this move I decided I would get the Secretary of State's election manual and calendar and give them a read. I have to say I am astonished all over again at the lack of reporting requirements for raising money for statewide office. Essentially, no contribution need be reported until 30 days before the election and there is no limit on the amount of money that can be contributed by any one person. This is essentially unchanged since I first ran for State Land Commissioner in 1981.(I won that one) This is really unbelievable. This is legal and so far as I can tell there is little penalty for violating even these provisions.

If I run I will abide by this law because that is what the other candidates will be doing. If you don't take advantage of these lax laws you will be at a disadvantage in the election because your opponents will 'follow the rules'.

At the very least there should be reporting of contributions every month in the calendar year of the election and six months following it. There should be some limit on the amount of a donation that any one entity can make to a candidacy. How hard would this be to do? Why hasn't it been done? Even the City of Albuquerque has much more stringent reporting requirements and donor limitations. Obviously, donor limits for statewide office might be more generous than the city's limit of 10% of the elected official's salary from any one source. In the case of the Albuquerque Mayor's race that would be about $5000. Perhaps for statewide office in New Mexico $25,000 might be a fair limit. One of the problems is that really rich people can donate millions to their own campaign and that has been upheld by the Supreme Court.

If anyone out there wants to fund my potential campaign completely, give me a call. One million should be enough! Right!

Space Mountain

Governor Richardson and Richard Branson, of Virgin Airlines and about a dozen other succcessful businesses, will hold a news conference tomorrow that will put New Mexico into a very unique global position. It has to do with space flight for the masses, or at least for those who can afford it. You can read about it here.

I have always admired Branson. Especially his marketing skills. Imagine naming all of your business Virgin. It has all sorts of implications from purity to lust.

Branson recently announced formation of a new domestic low cost airline service in the United States. I hope he will fly his airline into Albuquerque because I worry that some of our tried and true airlines like Delta may not be around here much longer. We need a little more competition here.

Sunday Morning Again

My regular Sunday morning today. Coffee with Brian Sanderoff and then we joined my son Justin and his friend Brendan for a really good burrito at Hello Deli on Candelaria. I thought the frozen ice fountain looked kind of neat at the Starbucks on Rio Grande.

I still am reeling from former state republican party chair John Dendahl calling republican Attorney General candidate Bob Schwartz a buffoon. He said he looked like a buffoon too. Apparently Dendahl thinks that way about Bob because he worked as Governor Richardson's Crime Policy Advisor. In Dendahl's mind no bipartisanship goes unpunished. Now, I have on occasion said such stupid things too and was rightly chastised by the media. It will be interesting to see if the same happens to Dendahl. I think it might. Dendahl is so representative of the right wing hatred within parts of the republican party. I am hopeful moderate republicans will also distance themselves from this remark.



Some critics are beginning to whine about the costs of Governor Richardson's commuter train that will eventually run from Belen north to Santa Fe and then eventually to the border. Well, yes, it will be expensive but in 10 years it will look like the smartest thing we have done in New Mexico in a long time. No, like most public works projects it will not turn a profit, but neither does building endless roads to serve sprawl development. The real value here is that it will save on overall emissions that are threatening our global climate. If you have any doubts about this investment, just take a trip to other western cities and states to see the success of their invesments in light rail and commuter systems.

Speaking of which, I am proud of Senator Jeff Bingaman coming forward to state the obvious, that global climate change is real and we need to do something about it and quickly. Bingaman took this message to Montreal this week as a keynote speaker to assembled legislators from around the world. The bush administration embarassed us as a country at this meeting.

Fiddling-Burning

U.S. Delegation Walks Out of Climate Talks

What is going on in Kansas Toto?

First the Kansas school board mandates teaching intelligent design in the classroom. Then it becomes a disciplinary event if you speak Spanish in the school hallways? I remember when I was a student at Our Lady of Fatima Heights Catholic School in the mid fifties that my classmates who spoke spanish in the class room were punished by our Dominican nuns. I thought this kind of racism had pretty much ended. Read it here!

Leave No School Behind

Governor Richardson has committed to getting funding for new Albuquerque West Mesa High Schools and Middle Schools. This is good news for those areas and it is the right thing to do since so many people are moving there under our current sprawl development policies. This is a cost to us taxpayers but one that must be met. Let's hope the developers are doing their share too. At the same time, one can only wonder what is happening to investment in the existing schools within the core areas of Albuquerque. Certainly, some of them are under enrolled and they have available space, but they suffer from age and inferior infrastructure when compared to the new modern schools that are being constructed these days. We need to be thinking about updating and improving those existing schools and perhaps wholesale rebuilding of some of them. I am not naive and realize there will always be sprawl to some extent. However, the students in these older schools should not be left behind either.

Whatever happens, lets don't let the powers that be design these new schools to look like prisons, which most new schools resemble. Some windows would be nice. They are good for students to stare out of and daydream! I remember doing a lot of that myself.

Best Laid Plans

Trip to DC is cancelled due to a frozen airplane in Albuquerque and cancelled flights in the East. After waiting for some resolution for three hours I decided to bag the trip. Snow and freezing rain in DC makes for a bad time anyway. Bobbi will be home in a couple of weeks for Christmas so that will have to suffice!

The way I figure it....the Ice storm will arrive at the White House just as the Christmas Tree lighting is getting under way at 5pm. A lot of good New Mexico folks who went out there to see the lighting of the New Mexico tree will freeze their burritos if they are not careful.

DC

I am off to Washington, DC first thing Thursday morning. Congress is not in session so it should be relatively relaxed around there. Will blog from the road.

"Some people think it's terrible that Washington doesn't work, but Mark thinks it's wonderful, because if it worked, something might actually be accomplished and then we'd really be in bad shape."
-- Heartburn
Nora Ephron

Items of Interest

The crew at the Middle Rio Grande Conservancy District continues to screw up the public notification procedures for their meetings. After having to call a special meeting yesterday to reconsider three months of decisions that the board made without public notification, it now appears they may have screwed up the notification for the special meeting. When will this tree stooges kind of thing end? Why not just do it right? And, when will we get the legislature to take a hard look at the District? Reform is needed.

I am also kind of amazed at the Albuquerque Journal's continuing look at Governor Richardson's fundraising events and who is giving money. Frankly, this is fair game, but why is the Journal concentrating on Richardson? Shouldn't this be also done on Heather Wilson(number four on the list for contributions from Tom Delay) , Steve Pearce and Pete Domenici?

No, I am not crabby today. But here is a really cool new picture of the Crab Nebula taken by the Hubble Space Telescope.