Movies

The religious right is currently on record of saying the movie "The Golden Compass" is anti God and promotes atheism. Naturally, that will get more folks in the door including Bobbi and me. We will have a long lazy weekend while I enjoy my angst over bush and cheney promising to veto the energy bill sent over by the House of Representatives to the Senate. The Senate republicans are keeping it from coming to a vote because it will do away with tax subsidies for the oil and gas industry. Don't forget how much money they are really making right now. Don't forget that usually when this happens there is a windfall tax, not a subsidy. Can the bush administration get any more morally bankrupt than it is?

Jobs

There is a nice A.P. story on all of the Presidential candidates and the jobs they hated most through their careers. It was a story that really humanized them. Bill Richardson hated laying sod in Cape Cod for a summer. Hillary Clinton didn't like gutting salmon in Alaska. Barrack Obama augured ice cream at a Baskin Robbins.

It got me to thinking about some of the jobs I had in my youth. My first job was as a busboy at the Village Inn Pancake house when I was a sophomore at St. Pius X High School. You haven't scrubbed until you try getting syrup off tables.

I then worked in a door making factory in the North Valley and then delivered the goods to the construction sites. Those things were heavy. I also kept inventory on parts and learned how to match keys and lock sets.

I joined the Air National Guard and went to basic training and then to Photo School. I had always loved photography and the military provided me with a great opportunity.

I made money taking wedding photos after that to help with tuition expenses.

Also, while a college student I worked at a dry cleaners and laundromat. I worked at the old First National Bank in the mail room and as a courier. It was a great job. I was eventually promoted to be a Trust Auditor. I hated that job and it convinced me to not become an accountant.

I then got activated into the Air Force in 1968 and was sent to Phoenix. I wasn't allowed to do photography but was assigned the interesting job of sitting in F-100 fighter jets every night and shooting their 20 millimeter cannons at a target. My job was to make sure the gun camera was aimed at the target to correctly record the hits.

After being mustered out I returned to work at the bank, got my degree, but was then called by my friend Dick Knipfing and offered a job as a news photographer and reporter at Channel 7. I continued that work for 7 years and then got into politics when I signed on as Governor Bruce King's press secretary.

I can honestly say I learned something from all of these jobs, but the only one I didn't much care for was the busboy thing. I watched some of the older guys having to work in the restaurant because they had no education and it convinced me that a college degree was a must.

Oh, Wait a Minute

Any organization that has more than one hundred employees will always be somewhat incompetent. That is some unwritten natural law I think.

The bush administration is probably worse on most things because they really set out to 'kill the beast' of government so they naturally did not want it to work. But, you have to wonder if that included fiascoes within his administration's analysis of intelligence data on Iran. (Of course, they just wanted to invade another country to enrich the defense contractors and open up new oil production possibilities for their buddies. )

Well, they really look stupid in a bad way now.

Now move on the a story in the Albuquerque Journal this morning about the Albuquerque School System 'finding' $108,000,000 in new capital funding. It is the result of double dipping and reaping interest income on funds sitting at the bank. But at least this makes the Board and Administration look incompetent in a good way. I have no doubt there is a good use for those found funds as long as the incompetence doesn't spill over into managing the funds for construction.

This APS story will cause problems with the tax payers who think they are being taxed into oblivion right now. The sad thing is no one will react with the same kind of fury over the money being wasted by fighting a war based on a lie and the ensuing corruption that revolves around no-bid contracts to supply the war.

Finally I suggest you read Thomas Friedman in the Times today. See it here.

City Government

It may be that we need to buy ten fiddles for the Albuquerque City Council and Mayor. They will need something to do when the city budget burns down everyones projects, subsidies and union pay raises.

The first meeting of the new city council didn't go too well when four of the members boycotted the Monday evening lawmaking session. The four members didn't like the fact that Councilor Brad Winter, who ended up as the new President of the Council, had lied to them about who he would support for the job. I can tell you that this is pure Brad Winter behavior. When I was Mayor we found we could never rely on his support. I don't think it is because he lied though. He is just one of these elected officials that will always seem to support the last point of view that is presented to him before a vote. Like many elected officials today, think Marty Chavez, he has no strong core beliefs. He just wants to stay in the game.

All this is going on while the city revenue situation is smoldering. It will soon break into a major 4 alarm fire while this nonsense of boycotting on the council continues.

I noticed today in the Journal that state government has revised downward its revenue projections. It was mainly due to the housing bust and the state's share of the gross receipts tax revenue off of home construction. Well, the state still has money coming in from $95 a barrel oil. That is something that the city of Albuquerque can't rely on. So with the Mayor's double digit budget increases over the last six years the city is in for a large wakeup call. Get out of the way as all of the budget cuts will bring special interests and professional victims in front of the council to argue that they simply can't get cut.

Mayor Chavez will have his hands full as he runs for the Senate and the budget hearings occur at the same time. I am sure his nemesis Brad Winter will use his Council Presidency to make this a big issue.

Misc

I always get a kick out of stories that can appear in the same edition of the New York Times or the Albuquerque Journal. Today is a case in point.

1. The Pope says Atheism is a bad thing. Near by is a story that God fearing people want to cut off the head of a teacher because she gave the wrong name to a teddy bear. (I think Christians and Moslems worship the same God and have agreement on many Prophets) I will leave it up to you to decide which is more dangerous.

2. Evel Knievel. famous for jumping over buses on a motorcyle, had his obituary next to Roger Smith, former CEO of General Motors. Smith certainly had more impact on people and the nation but the cultural icon of a daredevil will trump gravitas anytime.

One last thing. I think Tommy Lee Jones should just buy a home in Albuquerque. We saw his third movie in three months that was shot on location here last night. It was "No Country for Old Men." It was excellent and had me tossing and turning all night.

Marty Chavez and the Santa Fe Trust Fund Elite

I am not quite sure why the media is giving Marty Chavez a pass on his remarks about what he calls the Santa Fe Trust Fund Elite. I got this comment today and though I should just let it speak for itself. I will be attending Tom Udall's announcement for Senate today at the Hispanic Cultural Center in Albuquerque at 11:30am.

"Here are some of the things that the “trust fund elites” in Santa Fe have supported: Quivira Coalition, Earthcare International, St. Elizabeth’s Homeless Shelter, Somos Un Pueblo Unido for immigrants, the Food Depot, the Lensic Performing Arts Center, National Dance Institute, Big Brothers Big Sisters, the Railyard Park, Friends of the Santa Fe Public Library, the Boys and Girls Club, the Santa Fe Farmers Market, Bienvenidos Outreach, the Wildlife Center, the Espanola Animal Shelter, the Santa Fe Animal Shelter and Humane Society, St. Johns Soup Kitchen, Kitchen Angels for homebound and disabled, Challenge New Mexico for disabled children, Think New Mexico, NM Voices for Children, the Youth Symphony, Open Hands for the Elderly, the Hospice Center for the terminally ill and the bereaved, the Teen Center, Cooking with Kids, Kids in Distressed Situations, Salvation Army, the SF Incubator for Small Business, Santa Fe Literacy Volunteers, Assistance Dogs of the West, Partners in Education, the Mentoring Project for Youth, the Council for International Relations, the Children’s Museum, Corazones Unidas for HIV+ Women and Families, Cornerstones Community Partnerships, La Familia Medical Centers for underserved populations and uninsured, Women’s Health Services, Fine Arts for Children, Girls, Inc., El Centro Health Centers of Northern NM, Hispanics in Philanthropy, the Forest Trust, Santa Fe Community Foundation, New Mexico Community Foundation, New Mexico Women’s Foundation, Futures for Children Indian Youth Education, Save the Children, League of Conservation Voters, Coalition for Quality Children’s Media, Homewise, Inc. for Affordable Housing, SF Land Use Resource Center, Taos County Economic Development Corp, SF Maternal and Child Health Centers, Teen Suicide and Crisis Hotline, Youth Shelters and Family Services, La Nueva Vida for mental health, drug and alcohol problems, SF Rape Crisis and Trauma Center, Natural Helpers Teen Suicide Prevention, NM Environmental Law Center, Southwest Women’s Law Center, Outside In for institutionalized people, Pecos Valley Medical Center, Heart Gallery New Mexico for adoption of older children, Santa Fe Watershed Assn, Santa Fe Mountain Center (for troubled youth), National Resource Defense Council, Southwest CARE Center for HIV/AIDS, Trust for Public Land, Amigos Bravos (conservation), Animal Protection of New Mexico, Trust for Public Land………….. and a couple of hundred other good community causes.

How disappointing and how ignorant of Marty Chavez to suggest that Santa Fe County’s charitable donations and generosity are somehow diminished because of its reputation for also supporting New Mexico’s arts, culture and diverse heritage and ethnicities. I suggest his speechwriters do their homework before having him mouth such stupid and moronic statements."

Dr. Maria Carlota Baca Explains It All

My sister Carlota who lives in Santa Fe, but is not a 'trust fund elite' that Marty Chavez demonizes, wrote today's guest blog. It is worth spending the time to read..

The Imminence of Converging Catastrophes

I have been concerned lately because I see a converging set of catastrophes approaching our country and many other nations around the globe. The baby boomers will probably do all right, and some of them have been so arrogant as to state that it’s not really going to impact them, because they will be dead. True, but our children and their children will bear the brunt of the worst economic leadership in our country’s history.

There is an article that has just come out that I consider required reading. It is by Nobel laureate Joseph Stiglitz and it’s called The Economic Consequences of Mr. Bush in the newest issue of Vanity Fair. (http://www.vanityfair.com/politics/features/2007/12/bush200712)

In the economic sphere, let me paraphrase Mr. Stiglitz. We are currently looking at the following dangers: a avalanche of mortgage defaults, during which it is estimated that 1.7 million Americans will lose their homes in the coming year. This crisis was driven by greed and irresponsibility on the part of predatory lenders, a willfully ignorant populace, and an administration that stood by and did nothing.

We have an $850 billion trade deficit and we are going to depend on other countries, particularly China, to finance our national debt. The interest alone on this debt is horrendous.

We have a tax code obscenely slanted in favor of the wealthy. The Bush administration came into office with an almost $2.2 trillion surplus, but rather than using it to upgrade education or investing in the Social Security fund, this administration converted the surplus into tax cuts for the rich. To quote Mr. Stiglitz: “The first major economic initiative pursued by the president was a massive tax cut for the rich, enacted in June of 2001. Those with incomes over a million got a tax cut of $18,000—more than 30 times larger than the cut received by the average American. The inequities were compounded by a second tax cut, in 2003, this one skewed even more heavily toward the rich. Together these tax cuts, when fully implemented and if made permanent, mean that in 2012 the average reduction for an American in the bottom 20 percent will be a scant $45, while those with incomes of more than $1 million will see their tax bills reduced by an average of $162,000.”

We have a currency that is rapidly approaching such fragility that international trade is veering towards the euro as the medium of international barter. The dollar has lost 40% of its value since 2001. Because this country imports 80% of its goods, this translates into a frightening rate of inflation. The consequence is financial fear on the part of middle class families who simply stop spending, and that almost always results in a crippling recession. In just the past 18 months, bankruptcies have soared 60%.

In the sphere of foreign policy, we have, of course, the cynicism, immorality and tragedy of the Iraq war. Directly related to this is the overwhelming national shame of Guantanamo/Abu Ghraib, foreign renditions of prisoners, and our ugly association with the practice of torture. Our country, once the beacon of human rights and due process is now held in contempt by most of the international community. This war was and is about U.S. control of foreign oil fields, NOT the spread of democracy. It was further a war embarked upon because the Administration knew that this country seldom, if ever, changes administrations during a war. The attacks of 9/11 were a perfect pretext and our leaders preyed on our fear. This war is one of the most shameful military actions ever taken by this country and it relied almost totally on our own fear, our credulity, and our feelings of impotency. It is important to remember: this was not done without our permission.

In the sphere of civil rights, we have watched the erosion of our national pride and ethic with warrantless searches and electronic eavesdropping, and we now know that most of our “terrorist” prisoners were innocent bystanders who are now wasting away in unspeakable prison conditions, with no charges leveled against them. Our own Department of Justice is cringing with shame as we break every international rule of decency. Again, this did not happen without our permission.

In the area of energy, we have an administration that is so beholden to major oil corporations and their political financing, that the development of alternative sources of fuel has been easily set back a generation. We created the atomic bomb in a few years, we put humans on the moon in a decade, and yet we won’t embark on the proven technologies that can wean us from oil within the next 15 years. We are woefully behind on this effort and we need an enlightened leadership to embark on the equivalent of the Manhattan Project or the Apollo Project. We know we can do it, but our current political leadership is too heavily invested financially and politically in the status quo. We have given our permission for this unspeakable circumstance.

In the area of the environment, we now have irrefutable evidence of the consequences of human-caused climate change and global warming. The Center for American Progess reports that “2,500 scientific expert reviewers, 800 contributing authors, and 450 lead authors representing 130 countries warn that ALL countries will be affected by climate change if carbon emissions continue to spiral. By 2100, global average surface temperatures could rise by between 1.1 and 6.4 degrees celsius, and carbon dioxide in the atmosphere could lead to an eventual rise in sea levels of up to 1.40 meters.”

But forget oil. Forget coal. We need to understand that WATER is going to be the most valuable substance on the face of the planet. The increased desertification of land, unbridled deforestation, melting freshwater icecaps converting to salt water, extinction of species, and privatization of water resources are the most dangerous phenomena facing the world’s populations. Consequently, we can expect that the environmental refugee movements of these populations will make illegal economic immigration seem trivial by comparison.

Perhaps one of the most dangerous and irresponsible neglects of the Bush Administration is its willful disdain and disregard for science. We see diminishing support for basic research in health and energy. New pandemics that are afflicting poor populations in developing countries will eventually spill over into the industrialized nations. Right wing political power and its short-range thinking have resulted in the dumbing down of our national intellect. We are actually still arguing about the validity of evolution! The most powerful nation in the world has abandoned critical thinking and scientific vision and the reason is that, for the most part, our citizenry has left the thinking to the ideological idiots in the White House, in the Congress and on the school boards. We have engaged in collusion by our passivity.

Finally, we seem in this country to have forgotten our founding precepts as embodied in the Constitution and its wise amendments, and the Bill of Rights. Remarkable, inspiring and humane documents that remind us that we need to care for each other. If we abandon the middle class, the whole society collapses. If we ignore the underclass, the result will be civil chaos resulting in crime waves unimagined in the past.

What can we do? Yes, we can convert to hybrid cars. Yes, we can switch to energy efficient light bulbs. Yes, we can stop buying bottled water. But what we really need to do is clean out the stables. Our problems are fixable. This is the only planet we’ve got, and in an economic sense, there is only one Market, and it’s global.

It’s tempting to take refuge in isolationism, but that is a refuge that doesn’t exist. What happens in Darfur, Zimbabwe and Burma affects us all. Catastrophic economic conditions in the Southern Hemisphere are at our doorstep. The construction of fences is an almost comical response.

It’s time to become citizens again. We must vote with the future of our kids in mind. We must make noise. We must be vigilant against religious fundamentalism, particularly at home. We must be skeptical of leaders who have everything to gain from their cynical promotion of the fear that keeps us quiet and passive.

I know that it’s very easy to blame everything on the current Administration and 9/11. But we’ve got to realize that we all share the blame. Our comfortable lives are in danger but we put them there. Giving up our power to the bureaucrats and their financiers is what got us here. Let’s take back the power, clean out the stables and then let us get back to and vote for the fundamental values that have made our country so admired in the past. This means voting with our conscience, civic activism, and abandoning the passive comfort of our nests. Let’s do it.

M. Carlota Baca, Ph.D.
Santa Fe, New Mexico

Marty Again & Alien P.R.

There was a really interesting comment from Marty Chavez in the news today. He made a comment about Congressmen Tom Udall's supporters as being "Santa Fe Trust Fund Elites". I guess he is referring to people who have inherited money and live in Santa Fe, right? This comment brings to mind the worst in politicians as far as I am concerned. It is the Balkanization and hate approach to winning an election. Try and get people to hate another group as being the cause of their problems.

I don't think that until now that I realized what a danger a guy like Marty can really be. This statement is meant to do one thing, engender prejudice. I am surprised he went this far and it denotes "the end justifies the means" kind of campaign that Chavez is willing to conduct.

I can remember when my Mayoral administration was fighting hard to get a new Triple A Baseball team to Albuquerque. The Albuquerque City Council was trying to bring in a Class B team and kill any chance of a new stadium while a group of good folks like Rodger Beimer and Dave Bucholz worked to move the city towards having a great facility and great team.

Once we acquired a team and funding for a facility a new debate arose. That was whether to name the new team as the Albuquerque Dukes, the old long time used moniker, or decide to really jazz things up with a new and unusual name. The debate went on for some time with the traditionalists sticking with the Dukes and the rest of us wanting something that denoted more excitement. As it turned our we really left it open to the new team owners and they came up with the name Albuquerque Isotopes. It was inspired by the Simpsons TV show and a now legend episode where Albuquerque was trying to steal the Springfield baseball team named the Isotopes.

The new name set the stage for a much better baseball experience in the state and it garnered lots of national attention.

I cant figure out why the naysayers are now attacking the State's Tourism Department's Rosebowl parade float and TV advertising campaign which uses the 'Roswell Alien Story" to great advantage. It may not be traditional but I predict that it will be highly successful. Just watch the Rosebowl parade on TV and watch the attention the New Mexico Float will get this year.

Marty Chavez and the H-Bomb

Marty Chavez should just go ahead and change his registration to Republican. After all, he is being egged on by Republicans to do a job on Congressman Tom Udall over budget cuts at Los Alamos National Labs. Chavez, who is running a negative campaign against Udall, is doing what he does best. Bait and switch. Udall sensibly saw the handwriting on the wall recently over the Lab's dubious role of concentrating on nuclear weapons component production and design. Marty Chavez issued a press release yesterday saying that Udall didn't care about Northern New Mexicans who would lose their jobs at the Labs. What Marty is really doing here is the work of the Defense Industry and their republican enablers. Nuclear weapons make a big market for other weapons systems.

This is pure Marty Chavez. It is his way or the highway. Obviously he doesn't realize that there are a majority of 525 Congressmen and Senators who also feel that the labs missions must change. They also realize pounding money down a rat hole of nuclear weapons is not making this country energy independent or a leader in other scientific research. Just maybe, that might happen if the Lab's mission is redirected and that is what much of this budget fight is about. This is about Marty standing for the status quo.

If I were Marty Chavez I would start worrying about a looming budget crisis at city hall. His double digit budget increases will soon come home to roost on our city. Since Albuquerque's revenues depend primarily on sales tax we can be assured of a big hit over the next couple of quarters. Marty's traffic light cameras won't be able to fill in the gaps.

Alka Seltzer

We pigged out, but I must say not as much in the past. Twenty five or so of family only this year. Only one dose of Alka Seltzer needed.


I snapped this picture of all the female progeny of the family except for little Maya Schmidt shown on her own. She belongs to Stephanie.


Top row is Stephanie and Sara, my brother and Jan's daughters, Noelle who belongs to Bobbi and me(well, used to belong). Bottom row is Emma Schmidt who belongs to Stephanie and Mike, Kelly who belongs to Sara and Jason Reeves, and Amanda and Anya who belong to Lisa (Jan's sister) and John Newell.


Everything today was really nice except for an editorial in the Albuquerque Journal saying we should drill in the Alaska Wildlife Refuge. How about we put a drilling rig in front of Journal Center and see if they still think it is okay? And then put a couple dozen more on every vacant lot in Journal Center. And then connect them all up with pipelines and roads. Well, I hope you get my point.

Thankful Things

It is no secret that Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. It really beats out all of the religious and national holidays since it doesn't mark someones violent death or political career. Christmas is okay too, but its mostly just another prehistoric holiday adapted for Christians and global corporate retailers.

But Thanksgiving day is for guiltlessly pigging out on carbs with the family, and really reflecting on the good things we have experienced over the year, or at least the bad things that didn't happen. So here is my Thanksgiving list for the year.

1. We are thankful for our new daughter in law, Karly. She and Justin were married six weeks ago. Justin really lucked out in meeting such a wonderful woman.

2. We are thankful for our greatest vacation ever to Venice, Croatia, Greece, Turkey(the country, not the food), and Slovenia.

3. We are thankful our daughter Noelle got her first big promotion and raise at Intel in Arizona after her first year with them. Noelle is 22 and makes more money than I did at 45.

4. We are thankful that bush and cheney are so disliked by the American electorate. It should have happened sooner but it did happen.

5. We are thankful that New Mexico is a beacon of hope in the growing hysteria over immigrants. Governor Richardson, the legislature and the people should be recognized for valuing our immigrant neighbors as hard working folks who care about their families.

6. We are thankful that the Land of Enchantment stands a good chance of having an entirely Democratic congressional delegation.

7. We are thankful that people and the media are finally thinking a little about what a small planet we live on and how we can truly screw it up if we are not careful.

8. We are thankful we are all in good health in our family and that all of us have health insurance.

9. We are thankful for having good friends, good wine, two cute beagles and Jerry the cat.

10. We are especially thankful that bush and his ilk will be gone in just 14 months and that the country can work towards being great again.

Around the West and at Home

I want the media and other critics of the Rail runner to take the trip I just did over the last week. I started in Phoenix, and Chandler, went to Wickenburg and then to Glendale, Arizona. Then it was up to Salt Lake city. Last week I was also in Denver and Colorado Springs. There are two clear things from that trip. One is that water is running out, two and maybe more importantly people are choking to death on air polluted by automobiles. It was so bad in Phoenix, Denver and especially Salt Lake City that I felt like I had a bad cold coming on. My eyes burned and a general sense of malaise set in. Let face it, Albuquerque is fast approaching that.

And then I come back to hear the whining that subsidies for the Rail Runner are cutting too much into the subsidies for the automobile manufacturers. (Those subsidies being road construction.)

Its hilarious to see the highway construction industry in the newspaper crying that the gravy train is slowing down. Well, it is about time that gravy went to a real train. Governor Richardson was looking into the future by aggressively pushing for that train from Belen to Santa Fe. In fact, the next Governor should tackle a joint commuter train between El Paso and Las Cruces.

Visionary leaders are what we need most right now in this state and country. I look at Mayor Marty Chavez and his vision for traffic light cameras to finance his run away budgeting and I look at Representative Tom Udall's vote against the Iraq war some years back and I know who I am working for and voting for.

Phoenix

Marty Chavez would love it here. I arrived at about 10 a.m. and went immediately to my daughter Noelle's house in Chandler, about 17 miles south and east of the airport. I hadn't been to see her little home before. We had good Japanese food and a little father daughter conversation. It was fun. She is like many young people today who want to live in a place with sunshine. Who can blame her. (Although 119 degrees is a lot of sun)

Then I had to head for Wickenburg, Arizona where my meeting is being held. I zeroed the trip meter on the rental car at the restaurant to track my mileage. It was 43.5 miles before I left the metro area of Phoenix. I was dumbfounded by the additional overpasses and frontage roads being constructed along I-17 towards Flagstaff. It will only be a matter of time......

So I decided that Marty Chavez should come and run in Arizona for the Senate. He would understand this place.

His kind of sprawl development is unabated and unsustainable but they would probably embrace him here.

Movie

I had kind of decided to opt out of seeing all the movies about Iraq that are coming out, but I am failing.. I mean, just how pissed off am I already? I couldn't bring my self to go see Rendition after having seen "In the Valley of Elah" (filmed here in Albuquerque.) It was a very good movie.

But the call of buttered popcorn and Diet Coke over took Bobbi and me this afternoon so we went to the downtown movie theater and saw "Lions for Lambs." Now of course, I am really pissed off even more. It was not a great movie but it certainly hits all the right buttons. Especially Meryl Streep as a reporter with a nagging conscience and growing dislike for Washington leaders and corporate media..

Now I will sleep fitfully as the subject of Iraq, bush, cheney, and American apathy dominate my dreams.

Tuesday morning I am off to several meetings in Arizona and Utah and may not be able to do much blogging.

Wagon Mound Aliens

Rodger Beimer and I ran up to Denver for the night. I snapped this photo at my favorite Rest Area at Wagon Mound along I-25. Note to the Transportation Department....the rest area was very clean but the sinks were missing and one couldn't wash their hands.


There was something intriguing about these brightly painted trash cans standing sentinel over the rest area. I told Rodger they were really space aliens watching the comings and goings of the poor human species. We spent the afternoon driving back spinning alien conspiracies and what role cows play in their plans. We also think cell towers are playing a role, but we are not quite certain how they fit in yet.

Imminent Converging Catastrophes

My sister Carlota spent the last couple of nights with us while attending the annual New Mexico Grant Makers conference. She used to be the head honcho of that group but recently retired.

She moderated some sessions today and spontaneously came up with the term 'Imminent Converging Catastrophes.' She is referring to global warming, poverty, energy shortages, forced immigration caused by these things, and a general lack of people not caring about each other in this country anymore.

I think she has it down pretty good. It all started with Ronald Reagan's administration and has reached its crescendo with bush. Clinton and numerous Congresses share the blame too.

I am out of town for a couple of days but I asked her to write up an essay on this which I will put on the blog soon.

The Obvious

This is a photo of the Gila Wilderness. It was the first wilderness area created in the United States. That was in 1924.

The Wilderness Society has just come out with a new report titled "Natural Dividends." Every elected official and news reporter should read it and then put it to use in their professions. This professional economic report really puts into focus a very clear fact, that protected public lands are better for economic growth in the west than the damaging extractive practices of the oil and gas and mining industries.

The real economic wealth is now coming from the professional and service industries, the outdoor recreation industry, entrepreneurs and retirees. The oil and gas extractive industries in 2005 accounted for just 1.3% of the region's personal income. And you can imagine where most of that money ends up. It ends up in the pockets of the stockholders and executives of the oil and gas industry who are not paying fair taxes and in fact are receiving tax subsidies.

Las Cruces as a Bellwether?

The Green Team won in the Las Cruces city elections last night. The new Mayor is Ken Miyagishima, a good environmentalist. A new city Councilor is Nathan Small, and employee and activist from the New Mexico Wilderness Alliance. Another big winner is New Mexico Conservation Voters Alliance who heavily backed the winners.

Wilderness groups now have three elected officials who are also employed in the effort to save New Mexico's great landscapes aquifers and watersheds. NMWA's Jeff Steinborn is a State Representative, Nathan Small is a new city councilor, and Bernalillo County Commissioner Deanna Archuleta is the new Southwest Director for the Wilderness Society.

This group of elected officials existence in the state's fastest growing county should be a bellwether message to the developers and industries who oppose land protection and smart growth. The message is the people really want to protect their communities from unbridled exploitation and sprawl development.

At the same time the oil and gas industry and real estate developers have an awful lot of elected officials doing their biding. However, these results in Dona Ana county should be a wake up call that the public doesn't like them pushing their way around with campaign donations and sweetheart deals.

I would predict that this election is just the beginning of a movement against incumbents. There may be a certain fatigue setting in on the electorate where there is a feeling that new leadership is needed and incumbents can't provide that.

Seen It All

This is my Aunt Pelta. She turned 94 years old on Sunday. I think she has seen it all. Pelta was born in Pena Blanca, NM as were my dad Fermin and Uncle Jaime. They came from a long lived family. Pelta's full name is Rupertita.

I got to thinking about all the things Pelta has seen in her lifetime. Airplanes had only been flying a few years when she was born and now we have interplanetary spacecraft moving away from earth. When Pelta was born in 1913 the Congress enacted the 16th Amendment which led to the income tax. A near riot occurred in Washington, DC prior to the Inauguration of Woodrow Wilson. It was caused be 5000 women suffragettes wanting the vote. The 17th Amendment allowed for the direct election of US Senators. They had been elected by state legislatures. And Ford started the first moving assembly line.

Pelta was a school teacher for over thirty years in the Bernalillo and Albuquerque school systems. She now lives in a very nice assisted living center in Albuquerque.

Where's the Money Coming From?

I think the scramble for money to fuel all of the upcoming Congressional and Senate races will be unprecedented. Add to that the need for money for the Presidential candidates, including Governor Richardson's natural home state take, and you have a big time shortfall. It is especially dangerous in New Mexico because there is not that much money here in the first place, except for the tunnel visioned oil and gas industry. We know their money will automatically accrue to republican candidates. That money will hurt Democrats big time.

The Senate Campaign Committee and the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committees need to be careful about assessing viable candidates in New Mexico on something other than their ability to raise money, since there is little of that here. Of course, candidates have to ante up a respectful amount just to show they can, say $350,000 by the first of the year. But, what is respectful here may look puny in other richer states. These committees need to get involved in raising money for the optimum candidates in the Federal races almost immediately.

No matter what happens, we will see one thing during the general election. Lots of out of state money will decide these races and we will have to make sure that the 'big money boys' don't run the elected officials lives after the election.

Now, think where all that money is going. It is going to the TV stations. This whole system is designed to get money to the TV stations for advertising. The campaign accounts are nothing more that holding areas for enriching the media giants. Pathetic.