#1

Albuquerque is listed as the #1 community by CNN Money for people to retire and take up residence.  One reason given was the revitalization of downtown.  Something I was given hell for when I was Mayor for pursuing and something that the current Mayor Berry is trying to minimize with his impact fee strategy that favors undeveloped desert land over the city's core.  I do think Berry is a decent guy, but he is so wrong on this I can't begin to enumerate the reasons why.

It was nice to see that the city planning department is giving a thumbs down on the Walmart location at Coors and Montano.  That is a positive thing.  It will be interesting to see if the Mayor and City Council will back them up on this gutsy recommendation.  If you know the intersection you will recognize that it just isn't appropriate.

Thin Veil

Did you stop and think about Fearless Felix's jump?  From 24 miles high in an unlivable environment.  Alien and cold.  But as the crow flies about the same distance in a drive from Albuquerque to Los Lunas.  Not far at all.  Felix was not at a life sustaining altitude until his drop from near space was 88% complete.

And yet all of our lives depend on a thin veil of atmosphere that can only sustain life up to about 3 and a half miles.  Yet we just keep pumping more crap into it.  And the world leaders can not even bring themselves to deal with it because it might cut into profits for the fossil fuel crowd.

Misc.

More beating up of the public servant in the Journal this morning.  More lamenting of the fact that they get more retirement benefits than the average worker.  Why is that?  Well, because our GOP elite have so emasculated the private sector American Worker that they have no retirement benefits left.  That is what makes government workers look so fat and happy.

So in the GOP's eagerness to destroy the middle class they have decided to also destroy the retirement benefits of those in government service.  And so many Americans have signed on to this madness.  Instead of trying to screw pensions for government workers why don't they organize and reset the bar for higher benefits for them selves?  This is a sign of a breakdown in our American workers unity.  All brought to us by greedy Tea Party types.

Martin Heinrich looks to be our next US Senator.  His nine point lead in the Research and Polling Poll today looks insurmountable for Heather Wilson.   I predict he will quickly be the goto guy for help in DC by all New Mexicans.  Senator Udall's poor staff and his reluctance to lead on hard issues will elevate a go getter like Heinrich.  Don't get me wrong.  I like Udall and have known him for years.  But he is more than a little bit invisible and unavailable.

Obama's lead in New Mexico is inspiring.  Our state on all of the political maps is this little spot of blue in a sea of red madness.  We can hope for Colorado.  The Obama campaign had real effective leadership in the last campaign there in the work of Ray Rivera.  They could use him there now, but after a time working at the Interior department Ray wandered off to other things.  The Interior department has not exactly been a beacon of reform and progress on public land issues.  

Sunday Reading Assignment

Read this.  

Rubber Necking

Many Americans right now are like some drivers racing down I-25 near the launch site for the Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta.  They are rubbernecking, staring into the skies, and crashing in increased numbers.  They forget that their job behind the wheel is to drive a couple thousand pounds of steel and plastic down the road safely.

Just like many Americans who watch a 90 minute debate instead of what has been going around them for the last four years and deciding the debate is all that matters.  It is ignorance and inattention at its best and nothing but a crash for the middle class is in the offing.

I Voted

Now, all that special interest money that will be spent in the next few weeks will have no influence on me.  If it ever did.  I voted early because of upcoming knee surgery.  I sat there and blacked out every single oval on the ballot that was for a democrat.  I could have saved a few minutes by just inking in a straight ticket, but the Governor and Secretary of state unilaterally decided that wasn't allowed any longer after decades of the choice being on the ballot.  They made this voter suppression move several months ago and the democratic party just got around to filing suit yesterday.  Why the wait?  Was there some grand strategy?  Anyone want to clue us in?

I managed to sit through the VP debate last night.  Biden took the kid to the wood shed and now the GOP spinmeisters are saying Biden is  unhinged.  The thing I liked most about that woodshed was when Biden put Ryan in the bent over position by saying that the GOP put two wars on a credit card while cutting revenues.  Priceless!

And I marveled at how far Martin Heinrich has come in his presence and ability to orate.  His debate with Heather Wilson, who signed that credit card that Biden talked about when she was in congress, was great.  He is on his way to the Senate.

Things Don't Change

I know you have seen this already at some point.  But, please watch it again.

Ponder on the Course

I only have a few games of golf left in these knees before I get them replaced.  Today I will play and ponder out on the course the story by Leslie Lithicum in the Journal today about voters in the oil patch. They say Obama is a Muslim.  That he is a socialist.  That he is godless.  Why don't they just say the real reason they don't like him?  This his skin is black.

I had to chuckle about their problems with socialism and big government.  Everyone in that south eastern part of the state makes their living or are subsidized by the government.  Think subsidized grazing fees.  Think cheap oil and gas from federal and state lands.  Think social security for all of their seniors.  etc. etc.

And as a friend of mine reminded me,

"And I am amazed by the energy debate.  The fossil energy industry says Americans shouldn't subsidize renewables (but what about the $100 billion-plus America spends to protect oil around the world?) and that people will never accept higher electricity bills to pay for clean energy (but what about the 1000% increase in oil prices in the past 12 years?)."  

I will also ponder on the course the fact that the NRA has stabbed Martin Heinrich in the back and endorsed his opponent.  What could he expect?   They are not really a gun rights organization.  They are an extreme right wing cabal.  Now, Martin you need to understand it is much more than it seems.  As I am sure you do this morning.

Jett Stream

Here is another great column by my classmate Dennis Jett.  He writes for the McClatchy Newspapers.  Those are real newspapers unlike some I know.  Dennis is a retired career diplomat.

ROMNEY'S FACT FREE FOREIGN POLICY

Fact checking the things that Mitt Romney says is like shooting at an elephant with a shotgun from a distance of five feet. The target is too big to miss, but hitting it also won't slow it down.

The effort to make him appear presidential just keeps lumbering on, like that elephant, unconstrained by the truth. One of his pollsters even said<http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2012/08/president-obama-quotes-romney-pollster-dismissing-fact-checkers/>: "We're not going to let our campaign be dictated by fact-checkers."

His foreign policy speech on Monday to a group of cadets at the Virginia Military Institute was the latest example of inventing the facts to fit the message. The speech had the usual share of half-truths, plus a generous helping of foreign policy fantasies.

He said for instance "The president has not signed one new free trade agreement in the last four years." That's true if you ignore the ones signed with South Korea, Colombia and Panama. They were negotiated under the Bush administration, but the Obama administration had to work with Congress to end a battle over aid to workers to get them signed. Aid to workers would of course not slow down the old profit maximizer who would happily close a factory, and send the jobs to China, if it meant another dollar in the bank.

He said the size of the Navy was at levels not seen since 1916. Not seen as long as no one looks at the last four years of the Bush administration when there were ten percent fewer ships than there are now.

Romney criticized Obama for the fact that we no longer have combat troops in Iraq as if their mere presence could prevent the chaos in that country. President Bush set the withdrawal timetable when he signed a status of forces agreement with Iraq that spelled it out. The Obama administration could not convince Iraqi leaders to commit political suicide by agreeing to allow an occupation army to stay longer. An extension could have been achieved, but it would have meant agreeing to the Iraqi insistence that the troops would be subject to Iraqi law and its judicial system.

Romney also said he will prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons capability. Don't look now Mitt, but they already have it if capability is defined as having the raw material and the ability to enrich it to weapons grade uranium. Whether they can fabricate a bomb and how long it would take to produce the highly enriched uranium required is not clear, but the intelligence community believes they have not decided to construct one. Romney's red line is sufficiently fuzzy; however, that he can make the call that it has been crossed whenever he wants to start a war.

Or perhaps whenever Prime Minister Netanyahu decides it is time for America to attack Iran. Romney stressed that "the world must never see any daylight" between Israel and the United States. He has said in the past that he would check with Netanyahu before making any statements about the Middle East and leave it up to him to decide when the American embassy would be moved from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. That is a move so contrary to American interests that no president has seriously contemplated taking such a foolish step. But if there is really to be no daylight, Romney will have to let Netanyahu dictate American policy for the region and not just the decision on the embassy's location.

In general, Romney used the speech to blame all the ills of the world on Obama saying that, if elected, his leadership will result in peace and prosperity for all. If he does become president, he will discover even the most powerful man in the world cannot simply pound his chest, rattle his saber and everyone will follow because he thinks himself exceptional.

But his fact-free pitch to become that man is aimed at the voters who share his distain for reality. They believe that if unemployment drops, the statistics must have been rigged, and that polls that show him behind obviously oversample Democrats.  They also think any foreign policy goal can be achieved by simply telling the world that he is as great a leader as he thinks he is. Good luck with that.

Kneecapping Time

My search for matching a surgeon with my insurance has been instructive.  I am covered under Blue Cross/Blue Shield of NM through Bobbi's workplace at the Forest Service.  My secondary insurance is Medicare.  The first surgeon I went to see is highly recommended.  But he only does surgery at Presbyterian Hospital.  Presbyterian wont work with Blue Cross insurance because really they are now their own insurance company....and a health care provider.....and like all insurance companies they care only about money.   So, I found another really good surgeon who does his magic at Lovelace.  Now, we learn that the new owners of Lovelace and the two hundred or so doctors at ABQ Health Partners can't reach agreement to work together.  Yeah, it is a fight over money.  Not peoples health.  This latest news was announced Tuesday afternoon just as my appointment ended and my surgery was scheduled for knee replacement. Thousands of New Mexicans with Lovelace insurance will need to find new doctors, new insurance, or pay out of their own pockets for life saving care. Luckily, I won't be affected by this latest tribute to Corporate Insurance crimes against Americans.  Or so I am led to believe.

And now we find that some mystery group who don't want to be identified are behind a move to kill an addition to the UNMH hospital complex.  Could it be the other hospitals in the region?  Why don't they just come out and say what they feel instead of lurking in the shadows.  If their reasoning is good then we might agree.

Now,  we need to take these insurance CEO's and Boards out for some surgery on their knees to see if they like the 'out of plan services' we consumers can provide.  (insert evil laugh here)

The Politics of Bullying

Here is how bullying works.  The bully finds someone who is easy pickings.  It can be demonstrated in this new hilarious commercial by the Obama campaign.  It might win Obama the race.

Bullying is alive and well in New Mexico in the Governor's office.  Recent allegations of battery upon an APS female lobbyist by the Guv's Chief of Staff is one example.  The Guv's political henchman Jay McClesky is now specializing in attacking female democratic candidates via huge expenditures of cash garnered from the oil and gas industry.  Although, if these female candidates win they wont be easy pickings at all.  Maybe all them could corner the Chief of Staff at  once in the Capitol hallways and give him some comeuppance.  And of course there is those Governor's appointees and staff who have had domestic violence charges and convictions.  Yes, bullying is alive and well in the state's capitol all while the Governor enjoys her high favorability ratings on the issue of bullying immigrants.

Romney's Enemies

MItt Romney wants to make the Russians our enemies again.  Why?  Okay, Putin is a dick.  So is Romney.  Here is a Russian flash mob at one of the sites we visited in Moscow.  Do these folks look like enemies?  Or just young people having fund!

Misc.

Think about the money we are about to shell out for the Paseo/I-25 interchange if the voters approve a $50 million dollar downpayment on the project on election day.  The total cost would be over $300 million.  This project, which is needed, is really the result of improperly funding growth on a pay as you go basis in the Albuquerque metro area.

Now, the city council and Mayor want to undo the legislation that was meant to alleviate that problem.  They are supporting rolling back the impact fees that would prohibit such sprawl development running up these deficits in infrastructure that the taxpayers end up paying for the developers.  This is a giant step backwards.  If, as is alleged, the system is currently too complex then fix that.  But it appears that the only area that would see an increase in impact fees would be the core areas of the city while undeveloped property on the fringe would see reductions.  How does this make sense?  Well, only in the political prowess of  developers responsible for unbridled  home building and mortgage ripoffs that got us into our current economic mess.

If the Mayor and Council want to help with economic development they should start a giant effort at helping more expansion of the solar equipment industry in this city.  Today's Journal Business Outlook paints a great picture of that kind of manufacturing effort here.  If the city pols are serious on job creation then they could turn us into a national resource center for this kind of work.

Mitt Pong

Bobbi has always thought I am an early adopter.  I always buy the original technology at an inflated price.  One of my first ever digital purchases was the Atari Pong game.  The year was 1975 or so and I brought the game home and hooked it up to the old tube TV.

It was back and forth, back and forth in black and white as we played ping pong with little controllers.  It was real Neandrethal stuff, but it entertained us in a new and weird way.

I bring this up because we are getting a new version of this almost 40 years later.  Mitt Romney is giving it to us with his back and forth, back and forth changing of his position on the issues and political philosophy.  First he is a moderate republican, then he is an extreme right wing nut, now he is back to being kinder and gentler.  The real problem here is that he is doing all this not out of his own personal choices but because the political handlers in his life just stick a new program into him and he automatically regurgitates it out to the public.  Does he have any real convictions?  Maybe that 47% number that got him in so much trouble is really the stat for how often he changes his position on any one issue.

And, the last time I checked the Electoral vote map the news is still bad for Romney, even after a lackluster debate performance by Obama.  Obama is really in good shape there.

Showing Up.

Romney showed up.  An empty vessel, but an empty vessel will float.  It all reminded me of that movie 'Being There' where Peter Sellars is a low IQ gardener who becomes famous for just showing up and muttering vague things that the media overanalyzes.

Obama seemed preoccupied.  Well, he is the President and has a lot on his mind.  

A Message from the Past

Click Here.

Misc.

It is still a mystery to me why the local media has not covered in any detail the the appointment of former NM Secretary of the Environment Ron Curry as the new leader of the EPA's Region Six office.  Today the Albuquerque Journal did a headline story on the proposed solution to the problem of the San Juan coal fired power plant in which two of the units there will be shut down.  Most of this was brought about by the EPA's insistence that something be done about the pollution coming from those old technology generating units.  (This might be a good compromise on the problem.)

Add to that issue the EPA's influence on water, oil, gas, and other environmental problems and Region Six looms large in protecting our landscapes and watersheds.  And yet, the fact that a well respected New Mexican now has that job goes relatively under reported.  One wonders if the fossil fuel boys have so much influence that they manage to squelch the story that they will have a new and honest regulator to deal with.

We were munching burritos this morning and wondering what the real story was behind the secretive deal at NMSU over the firing(?) of the President there.  One of us opined that it probably had something to do with the schools lack of membership in an athletic conference.  Could be, but there just has to be more to that story.

The story that the ex Governor of Santa Ana Pueblo, Bruce Sanchez, and Santa Fe Realtor Tom Keesing have been indicted on ripping off almost $3 million from the All Indian Pueblo Council is a juicy morsel.  One time Keesing, a long time political operative in Santa Fe, interviewed me on a Santa Fe christian fundamentalist TV station.  He insisted we say a little prayer at the beginning of the show.  I just bowed my head.  Maybe he was praying that he never get caught stealing.

NMSU UNM NMTECH

The University President revolving door continues in New Mexico.  The latest to bite the dust is NMSU's Barbara Couture.  The only news the media has been able to ferret out about it is that she will get a $450K severance package.  It is sad that we can't find out from our media what really happened.  But that would take perseverance and work.  It is easier to get police dash cam video and tapes and run inane stories around them than do real the real job of journalism.

Here is one followup the media could do as mentioned by my friend Roy.  Why not go pay a visit to the NM Tech President Dan Lopez and his board of Regents to see how they do things vis a vis UNM and NMSU?  What is the formula there at Tech for stability and team work?  Could it be applied to the other larger schools.  Revolving doors at major institutions are now common and in my opinion mostly caused by the Regents meddling in day to day operations instead of watching over the big picture.

But maybe this case is different.  Will we ever know?  Probably, but only when it is an old story and the staleness will put it on the bottom of the pile.

Polls

Both Martin Heinrich and Heather Wilson released polls this week that showed the independent Tea Party guy, named Barrie,  with as much as 9% of the vote in that Senate race.  Now, I would certainly say that is a lot of potential votes.  Maybe it is time that all the polling firms start including that independent candidate's name in their polls.  Even if no one knows who he is, if he is mustering that much of a percentage then it could affect the race one way or another.  This candidate is supposedly right wing.  Does that mean he takes more votes from Heather or Martin?  I am betting his stealth candidacy probably is hurt Wilson's chances much more.  It would be nice to see the polls enlighten us.

On the national scene we keep reading that the Presidential race is close.  That might be true, but meaningless.  The only thing that counts is the electoral vote and I am predicting that Obama will get over 300.  270 would win it.  

Unlikely

The meltdown of the American team in the Ryder Cup golf matches yesterday should be seen as a metaphor.  It proves even the unlikely can happen if focus is blurred.  After coming into Sunday's individual matches with a 10-6 lead the Americans lost big time on the final day.  The Europeans retained the cup for another two  years.

All I could keep thinking about as I saw this unfolding was, "All right democrats, your in good shape right now for November, don't emulate these guys.  Don't blow it.  Concentrate and focus!"

My friend Rodger Beimer was at the event and he texted that the problem was that Europe sends their young, lean and hungry jocks while America relies on the older guys. I think he is right.  This is athletics where youth and bravado count a lot.  Even if experience is lacking.

If you think about it, that is what is happening in many political races.  I would argue Obama is part of the young crowd, just like Martin Heinrich and Michelle Lujan Grisham.  They are energetic and smart and are easily outclassing their GOP opponents.   Now, they just need to keep their focus.