I Don't Care About Apathy

I have some acquaintances who seem to be signing out.  I feel that way sometimes too.  When we talk about the issue of the day we more and more seem to shrug our shoulders and say there is nothing to be done.  I kind of wonder of that is normal for us folks approaching the age of 70.  Maybe it is a natural defense against stress and worry.   Of course those of us who fret about things all the time will probably not get total relief, but the angst probably won't be quite as severe.

I haven't written about Omaree, the 9 year old boy who was kicked to death by his mother, after the system as a whole shrugged its shoulders about his endangerment.  What is to be done?  But this morning I figured it out.  Lets all just use common sense.  That seemed to be missing in the boy's case.  Putting two and two together isn't that difficult, even for hardened police officers and child welfare workers.  Everyone seemed to have ignored their own gut feelings.  If someone erred in their judgement there must have been someone involved nearby who might have said, take a second look.  Like that 911 operator did.  No one listened.

Everyone is on guard now.  They will be more vigilant until they aren't.  And so there needs to be some sort of system that reenforces the front line providers to listen.

Another example of this is the legislature not passing a tough DUI penalty for repeat offenders.  Members say they don't know the ramifications of such penalties.  Well, I do.  It is common sense.  It will keep offenders off the streets.

Something in the Water?

They say that the Roman Empire failed because everyone drank out of leaded cups and it made them stupid.  They could no longer understand what was in their best interests and they couldn't make rational decisions to protect their civilization.

It makes one wonder if there are leaded pipes at the New Mexico State Capitol.  How else could one explain the death of a bill to keep guns out of the legislature and the building that houses it.  I can't imagine the lawsuits that will happen when one of our mentally insane people buys his assault rifle at a gun show, while on hiatus from the state hospital, and then visits the building to waste the source of all the strange voices he hears.  Will he first go down into the chambers?  Or will he just start in the hallways or perhaps the daily briefing for the young pages who work for the lawmakers?

Truth is stranger than fiction.

And then there is the leadership of the Albuquerque Chamber of Commerce.  They are fighting attempts to get additional funding for early childhood education in this state.  This is the most lackluster Chamber in the history of our city.  They are doing nothing to insist on a public private partnership to come up with an economic development plan for our state.  They just sit around a try to protect low taxes and the resulting bottom ranking of our state in just about anything.  No matter that many states are now seeing bipartisan efforts at increasing early childhood education.  New Mexico just has to be the odd man out.

Here is that great graph again from the Wall Street Journal.  It says it all for the leadership in New Mexico.  If there were any leaders in the business community, like the old-timers Bob Hoffman and Larry Willard,  there would be some action taken.

Lesson #1

All the New Mexico statewide candidates have filed their petition signatures up in Santa Fe.  Now, they have to waste time and money trying to get delegate votes amongst the chosen few who get involved in these conventions, rather than going out to see everyday voters.  It is a system that has outlived its usefulness.  But that is the system we have to live with.

New systems also now exist in politics.  And lesson number one is that they can shoot you down quicker than a meager showing at the convention.  The system is comprised of Facebook, Twitter, Text Messages and emails.  So, my advice to all of the candidates is to only comment on the weather on any of these modern day communication devices.  If you want to use them however, just make sure anything you write is vetted by at least ten people who hope to get a job from you if you are elected.  They will most likely not want to endanger their chances of employment and will edit your missives brutally.

It is the safest bet!

Again!

New Mexico sleeps as its economic outlook quickly goes under like the Titanic.  The news of the city of Albuquerque's plunge in the eyes of the film industry will pretty much mean nothing to the future of Governor Martinez and Mayor Berry.  These two do-nothing non leaders seem to escape every downturn in our collective well being.  Susana just keeps talking about drivers licenses for the undocumented and Mayor Berry just shrugs his shoulders and moves on.

What is really compelling here is a complete lack of an economic recovery plan.  And the responsibility doesn't solely rest with these two hapless pols.  The legislature, city councils, county commissions and private sector are all sitting at the table while  this economic gruel is served up.  The lack of creativity in the kitchen is hidden by the local media either through incompetence, coverup, or lack of real working journalists.

This is actually getting very serious for our state.  Throw in threats to our water supplies from climate change and Texas and things look scary.  Even income inequality seems absent  in our state because there is so little going on.

What would it take to wake people up to the need for new leadership in New Mexico?  Put in a comment.  

Misc.

That game was a letdown.  Guess their chile was worthless.

The Journal article on Poverty on their front page this morning was a breath of fresh air.  There was no local followup with political leaders to explain New Mexico's continued laggard status in the world of the needy.  The consensus is that food stamp and anti poverty programs really keep people afloat and without them things would be much worse.  Of course the Republicans see that a perfecty acceptable by continually trying to gut food stamp assistance.

There was a puff piece on the Chamber of Commerce and their shared goals with the governor.  No explanations from anyone on how the corporate tax cut last year has done much of anything to help our dismal economy.  Oh, but they want more subsidies to train workers for jobs, but no thanks on the minimum wage reform.

Actor Philip Seymour Hoffman, one of my favorite performers, either purposely or accidentally over dosed and died.  These brilliant people seem to realize how silly celebrity status really is.  They seem to keep looking for some meaning in things and resort to finding happiness in getting high.  What a conundrum and a lesson for us all.

The third week of the legislature starts and little has been done in this election year.  Why do they even meet on election years?  Their sole responsibility seems to be not offending anyone which might cost themselves votes.  What they should do is just pass two year budgets the year before an election and then stay at home.  I have always thought two year budgets make a lot of sense.  But that would require real planning which these legislative bodies don't want to mess with.

Super Bowl

The Super Bowl and TV ads makes meaningful the meaningless of the annual event.

Two Sides to the Coin

This is a very interesting read.

Misc.

I am tired of this whole 'hero' thing in this country.  Everyone is a hero, especially if they are wearing a uniform.  Today, I saw an article comparing Justin Beiber to a US Marine.  Who do you think the hero was?  The Marine of course.  He was wearing a uniform.  But believe me when I say that anyone who ever served the country in a uniform knows for sure that some soldiers are heroes and some are not.  Some are just as twisted as little Beiber.

As a great watcher of weekend golf tournaments I have to marvel that uniformed service members are now holding the golf flags at the 18th hole.  Just once I would like to see a member of the Peace Corp be given that honor.  But a uniform trumps all.

The big news event in all the media in New Mexico today is the fact that Colorado seems to think it has the best green chile in the world.  This is front page news and lead story stuff.  Okay, it is humorous and some times that comes first.  But while this is the big news I would like to see it followed up with a thorough story on how Colorado is kicking our New Mexican butt on job creation and economic progress.  But that would take work on the medias part.  Silly me.  And it might make the republican Governor and Albuquerque Mayor look less than competent.

Kilroy

This is where Ajax hangs out at every meal.  Seriously, he just stands up and looks up at us snacking or dining.  I always think of the "Kilroy Was Here' graffiti from World War II.

Ajax is pretty persevering in this pose.  Today I was eating a little carne adovada.  This pose will end once a morsel is thrown onto the floor.  Especially if it is Salmon.  Or a french fry from Lota Burger.  He really pigs out on those Lota Burger delights although he only gets just one.  We split that order of fries three ways since we know they are so bad for us.  Our other cat, Casper, would rather go out at dinner time and eat a spider of something.

Blameless

It is this way everywhere I suppose.  Corporations are never blamed for the problems they cause.  The blame is always shuffled elsewhere.  There is an interesting story in the Times today about how the mafia in the Naples region of Italy are being accused of burying and illegally burning up to 10 million tons of toxic waste.  Cancer and a ruined environment are the result.  But while the mafia gets the finger pointed at them the Corporations who created this toxic brew escape relatively unscathed.

Just like in America.  Our corporate boards and bosses fight safety regulations and oversight so they can cut safety, and the well being of their communities and employees.  Then when a disaster hits, like the poisoning of 300,000 people's water supply by a coal company, the consensus is that the government is to blame.  It is a perfect system for those corporate ogres.  They get away pretty much unscathed.

Could Americans ever take to the streets to demand reigning in of corporate control of the government?  Maybe someday.  But after watching a documentary last night on the famous editorial cartoonist Herblock,  one wonders.  He had the same fears in the 1950s, 60s, 70s and it has only gotten worse.

Misc.

You could almost hear all of the sphincters tightening out in the western United States last night.  After the President said he would unilaterally protect public lands, without even mentioning the underlying Antiquities Act, a lot of the 'lords of yesterday' in the fossil fuel, mining and livestock industry must have felt some puckering.  One of those areas will hopefully be the Organ Mountains-Desert Peaks proposed National Monument.  Get those cards and letters in to the White House.

The City of Albuquerque will send off another $8 million from the city's internally financed risk fund to deal with another cop shooting settlement.  It might have been a good settlement given what a jury might have awarded.  But, of course, that money comes from taxpayers and they should be pounding down the doors wanting reform at APD.  Now what happens is that all city departments will be assessed more funds to be paid into the risk fund over the next few years which ultimately cuts into their programs.  If the largely invisible on this issue Mayor holds regular weekly department head meetings like I used to do, then he will probably see some real animosity aimed at the APD Chief.  Some enterprising reporter should look into how this risk fund will be replenished.

Newman Center

The parishioners at the Aquinas Newman Center at the University of New Mexico have gathered the signatures of just about everyone connected with the church asking the Archbishop to reconsider throwing out their Dominican priests and salting the campus parish with more conservative priests.

The parishioners have received no word from the Archdiocese according to people in the know there.  But I am told out he will send them someone to negotiate who has some experience with enforcing dogma.

Guns in the Capitol

I am glad to see Senators Peter Wirth and Brian Egolf publicly worrying about guns in the state capitol building.  They want to make it illegal for yahoos to bring their assault weapons to committee hearings.  Makes sense.  Everyone wants to be safe.

But, why does it make sense to let these neurotic folks bring guns to the local pizza parlor, movie theater, football game....etc. etc?  Should our lawmakers be concerned about more than themselves?  Of course, but I think there is some method to this madness by those two left of center legislators.  Could it be they are setting  up a situation where only elites get some added protection from the shooters?  Might they think this is a good way  of making more progress later on?  What is good for the goose is good for the gander?

As an aside, yesterday I went to sell my sporting rifles and shotguns at a local gun store.  I don't use them for hunting anymore and they are quality stuff.  The local gun store manager commented what beautiful condition they were in and what they were worth.  But they didn't want to buy them because they didn't fit their market.  Looking around the place I could see what they meant.  The walls were covered with assault rifles of every kind.  The other type of prominent gun in the store was the semi automatic pistol.  Essentially, this was a gun store for people killing weapons.  Not sporting or sharpshooting.  Times change for sure.  

Primary Obsolete?

Polls are showing more and more party faithful switching their registrations to independent.   The lack of bipartisan work in Congress and legislatures is probably one reason.  The other is the sheer radicalism of the GOP which sets a stage for everyone to not want to identify with a political party.

Whatever the reason, this should give pause to the legislature to do something about our system of political primary elections.  They will soon be obsolete and meaningless.  The danger is that fewer and fewer people will be putting candidates into general elections and most likely those candidates will be more and more fringe.

Someone, without a vested interest, should start working on a revamped system for Primary elections.  Is there some brave legislator out there that would be willing to take this one on?  Surely one out of 112 could take this on.  Perhaps the legislature could set up a commission to look at different Primary systems that work around the U.S.

Maybe a start would be to let independents vote in our Primaries in New Mexico.  This would be better than a closed primary where only specific party members could vote.  An open non partisan election might be the best in the long run seeing as the parties are dying on the vine.

Even as a life long democrat I sometimes think about crossing into independent territory, except for the fact that I would be denying myself a vote in the NM primaries.  I feel it is a system that must change although I could never vote for the types of republicans currently in office and the Koch funded pipeline of corporate serving conservative candidates.

Mall Shooting

The American media is something.  The NRA and gun manufacturers have them by the throat.  Think about it.  The print and broadcaster editors have been talking constantly about perceived dangers at the Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia.  They are reporting obsessively on 'possible violence' at the games.  Nothing has happened there, although it could.

Switch back to America.  If one were being balanced then every editor should be doing stories and coverage every day on possible violence in America because of readily available guns with no background checks.  But they don't.  They wait until it actually happens as it did today at a Maryland mall where another well armed crazy person wasted innocent shoppers.

If we put as much effort into protecting innocents in this country as the Russians and International community are doing in Sochi to protect the games, then I would feel good.

Divide

We have seen what the GOP has done with the confirmation of President Obama's appointees.  It is a criminal lack of due process on advise and consent.  Now, the same thing is happening to Governor Martinez in the NM State Legislature.   Call it bipartisan malfeasance separated by the Mississippi.

Over coffee this morning we were debating whether anyone even gives a damn about the fact that 133 of the Governor's appointments to confirmable positions have not been heard by Senator Linda Lopez's Committee.  She isn't getting the job done and it is not a great thing to put on ones resume for her gubernatorial run.  But does anyone care?

Or, does anyone care that every legislator gets a little slush fund to use in his own district every session.  That half million dollars apiece might be okay during good times, but right now that nearly $60 million might best be put forth in major projects for the state in education or infrastructure.  This haphazard doling out of money is silly given the needs in this state.  It doesn't make sense to have bridges and roads falling apart in favor of bringing home the bacon for dubious projects.

And does anyone care if the State Democratic Party Chairman is in a war of words with Democratic Senator Michael Sanchez over the conservatism of Democratic Senator John Arthur Smith.  I doubt it.  As I recall the Democrats are supposed to have a big tent.

Misc.

Now we understand why Governor Susana Martinez is the way she is.  Right wing that is.  She is submitting to Congressman Steve Pearce in her own southern district homeland.  Seriously, it is truly a marvel that a guy like Pearce can exist in office with these kinds of beliefs.  His biography in which he believes women should submit to their men is just over the top.

The Albuquerque Journal had it wrong again this morning in their story about the dwindling Severance Tax Permanent Fund in New Mexico.  The fund, which is in jeopardy of disappearing from over spending, was compared to the Land Permanent fund for the amount of tax revenues they brought in.  The reporter needs a civics lesson and he fell into what the oil and gas boys love so much.  The land permanent fund recieves royalties, not taxes.  Those royalties are payment for publicly owned resources.  It is not a tax.  But the oil boys want you to think it is so they can beat their breasts about how they pay for everything.

The Serverance Tax fund revenues are a tax that also fund a permanent fund and the legislature has been spending just about every nickel of the earnings of that fund.  They need to let some money stay there so the fund can grow for when the resources run out.  It is good there is a movement to do this.

Footage

I spent the morning looking over old 16mm news film from the early 1970's.  It was footage that I saved from some of my favorite stories at KOAT TV.  It may be the only footage left from those days and there is not much of it.  Some time ago I lamented that the film library from Channel 7 that was given to the state archives was all misplaced, destroyed or lost.  They still don't have an explanation for what happened.

At any rate I am going to get to work on putting together some clips for the former staff of Channel 7.  So if any of you worked there in the late 60's and early 70's you might be in some of the party scenes we filmed.  Buck Battin, Steve Finnell, Kathi Schroeder, Dick Knipfing, Rodger Beimer, Conroy Chino, and others will enjoy looking at this.  It will be a while before it is done, but just be patient.

I have no comment on the opening of the legislature yesterday except to say it is less interesting than ever.  

XGR

The New Mexico State Legislature opens today.  Back in the day when the broadcasters used to have real news departments, we would extensively cover the legislature.  Up on the assignment board would be the lineups for daily assignments for legislative reporters like Rodger Beimer and sometimes this blogger Jim Baca.  The slot was labeled XGR which was short for legislature.

These days we can assume that when the TV stations cover the lawmakers it will be about personalities or the outrageous happening of the day, rather than something really important.  Here are some suggestions from an old time broadcast journalist for coverage this year.

1. Find out if any committees have followed the impact of the tax cuts for the rich that the Governor and Legislature enacted last year and if not, why not.
2. Ask and report on the costs of private prisons for the state of New Mexico and if they have any positive impact on recidivism.  Should private prisons who require prisoners for profit stay in business in NM?
3. Find out if the legislature is interested in mimicking any of the great best practices of other states in innovative programs in government.
4. Ask the leadership of both houses if they would support legislation limiting the use of surveillance drones by both law enforcement agencies and private sector concerns.  (This could be called the backyard hot tub bill.)
5. Who will sponsor a bill to stop the practice of forgiving gross receipts taxes on newspapers in this state since most publications are nothing more than large conservative corporate p.r. machines.

Well, maybe some of these aren't too important but they would be informative.  Speaking of which this is a must read for anyone who has fallen victim to myths about America.

And then if this doesn't scare you, nothing will.

The Phone Book and the GOP

Guys are running around delivering the Dex Phone Books.  I decided the books are like the Republican Party.  Irrelevant now and in the future and only useful to really old conservative luddites.