Predictable

A qualification first.  I like Gary King.  He is a decent guy.  He is honest.

But, one could have predicted that the Albuquerque Journal would endorse him.  They did so because he will be the weakest possible candidate to go up against that right wing neo con sweetie Susana Martinez.  Anyone who knows Gary will realize he isn't exactly a confrontational kind of guy.  And that is precisely what the democrats don't need running up to November.

There is just to much grist for the mill and Gary won't throw it under the stones.  Certainly, no one so far in the race has really taken a hard and consistent enough campaign against the Governor.  There is so much potential when all she can do is for the fifth year in a row talk about selling the state jet plane. That is her big accomplishment by her own words?  Yep.  Meanwhile we have a net migration of people and jobs from the Land of Enchantment and no one is doing a great job of exposing that.

Let's face it.  None of the democratic candidates, Gary included, have enough money to pull this off just yet.  And soon it will dribble down to other races on the ticket that are important too.  We must take back the Secretary of State's office and with such weakness up top that just won't be easy.

It will be an interesting month.

Golfing in California with Bob Grethel

And then my first In and Out burger!  Yum. 

Venice Beach

Girls

Niece Stephanie and grand nieces Emma and Maya

Pit Stop

Barstow rest stop. Iconic Americana. 

Forest

The only forest in Arizona not stressed by climate change.  At the rail museum. 

Newspeak

an oil car!

Road Trip

I am off on a road trip for a few days to Los Angeles and environs to play golf with a good friend.  I will post along the way when possible.  Of course the big win here is that I get out of the pollen induced mind fog.  L.A. will be over 100 degrees.  But, might be worth it!  I will visit the Venice Beach and make offerings to El Nino.

Silly Solution

The notion that the Chief of Police position in the city of Albuquerque should be elected is a stupid idea.  If you want to keep professionalism in the leadership of the police department then use the leverage we have in making life miserable for the Mayor and City Council instead of getting unqualified and partisan driven political hacks into the department that gets to carry assault rifles and  drive around in armored cars.  Do you really want the Koch brothers donating funds to elect APD Chiefs?  They would get their own corporate police force.  (Watch 'Continum' on the SCI FI channel to see how poorly that could work.)

The Chief should be confirmed by the city council upon appointment by the Mayor, but they should not have the power to fire the top cop.  That should stay with the Mayor's office.  It would be easier to convince one person to fire a bad chief than nine persons on the council.  That would spread out accountability so every councillor could hide.

Moms

Happy Mothers day to my Mom Dixie Sapp Baca, rest in peace,

 and to Bobbi Miller Baca, the mother of our children Justin and Noelle.

And there is Karly, mother of two sons with our son Justin.  Simon and Finn.

Oil Boom

Yes, in New Mexico, we are pumping lots and lots of oil these days with new drilling technologies.  To me, the oil boom really means 'boom goes the planet Earth' as we continue to burn fossil fuels because they are reachable and profitable for the big oil boys.

But the boom is here for a while and we need to take advantage of it in new ways.  Right now much of the revenue to the state comes from severance taxes and royalties paid to the State Land Office for taking state owned oil out of the ground from trust lands.  The money from these systems are used for only certain things.  It is time for the legislature to widen the opportunities for using these monies.  And, raise the taxes generally on oil production here to help pay for the coming disasters brought on by climate change.

The oil boys say the pay for everything through current taxes, despite the fact they are subsidized.  But in fact they pay nothing for the damage they, and we, are inflicting.  None of us are paying enough.  So, we consumers of fossil fuels must pay too.  The best and most productive way would be to raise the gasoline tax by 15 cents a gallon.  Use that money to rebuild our infrastructure and strengthen renewable energy.  Take all subsidies now going to fossil fuels and put it into solar development.

This all makes sense, really, so it will not be allowed to happen by oil industry mascots in the Congress and Legislature.  

History

I have been working on a project.  My 92 year old Uncle, Jaime Baca, is sitting with me for an hour a week to recount his growing up in  northern New Mexico, Pena Blanca specifically, and also his experiences in World War II in the Pacific.

He served as a waist gunner on a B-24 and flew 40 combat missions.  He was in the famous 90th bombardment Group known as the 'Jolly Rogers'.  That is the young Jaime on the top row, second from the right.  Jaime was a long time teacher in New Mexico and has dedicated his life to helping others as a Deacon in the Catholic Church at St. Thomas Aquinas in Rio Rancho.

He has asked me to not publish the full history until after he passes.  But here is one small excerpt.

"Peña Blanca was a very typical Hispanic village of that time. It was basically a farming and livestock place where all the people made their living by both farming and raising livestock. It was a rather pleasant place to be growing up. I always tell everybody that I’m really happy that I grew up in a farming community because I got the experience of seeing the crops grow, the crops being harvested. I saw animals being raised. Also as a young boy, we got used to seeing animals being slaughtered for food, so we grew up thinking of that as a very natural process.

Of course, probably the greatest asset we had in Peña Blanca was the school run by the Franciscan nuns. The school building had been built by the people of the town, and it was a well-built, sturdy adobe structure of two stories. These nuns … I started school at the age of five, not knowing a word of English, but, boy, these nuns in no time at all they had us speaking, starting to speak English and immediately, they got us going to learn the alphabet. We began to start reading, even though at the time, we didn’t understand every word that we read, but we were … These nuns were very strict, and I’m glad they were because that’s the way we were channeled to learn."

Signs

The stand offs between ranchers and public land management agencies are a sign that climate change and craziness are both growing in the USA.  The latest standoff is between ranchers in Otero County and the Forest Service who is trying to protect riparian areas.  Incredibly, the ranchers are having a problem with 23 acres out of 28,000 being protected from grazing in order to make a natural system work and protect endangered species.  The Forest Service is doing what they should be doing.

Those ranchers are  hurting for sure.  Grazing in an arid landscape is always hard and many times outrageously destructive to streams and rivers.  The cattle trample the natural banks of the riparian areas and the water spreads out and evaporates.  In other words, they lose even more water in the long run

One wonders what happens to the ranchers in the West as they continue to support rightwing corporate  republicans who deny the science that says the planet is warming.  It is nothing more than suicide for their so called 'way of life'. 

Small Thinking

Look around New Mexicans.  Look at Colorado, Texas, Arizona, and Utah.  Look at their full steam ahead economies.  Then look at the Land of Enchantment's economic history.  Look at how all of our kids had to go elsewhere for work.  Look at our ranking in poverty, childhood hunger, and healthcare.  They all rank pitifully in the bottom tiers.

Small thinking got  us here.  Small thinking like you will see in Governor Susana Martinez's new TV commercial where the only thing she can tout is selling the State's jet aircraft.  Silliness. That is it.  She sold a jet.  She didn't use it to bring in jobs.  Why would she need a jet to travel far and wide to bring in jobs for our people?  Because she is to busy flying on corporate jets to out of state fundraisers thrown by corporate right-wingers.  Or using the state police helicopter to go to strictly partisan political gatherings, mostly thrown by the oil and gas and coal industries.

Really, how long before people start waking up?  My advice is to never trust corporations or the big media that they own.  They must be realizing this since they corporate boys are spending millions on TV ads telling everyone how great they are and that they really care.  The big lie.  Time for head knocking.

The Machine

It is truly sad to see how the Albuquerque Journal has become part of the GOP machine.  Today's editorial decrying the peaceful but noisy civil disobedience in the city council meeting Monday evening seems to forget the importance of such actions to this nation's history.  Gee, remember the Tea Party?  And all to protect the Mayor who was once again no where to be seen.  And then the Journal puts in a snippet about how the adjourned meeting might have cost the city $200,000 in higher interest charges because some bonds were not purchased.  How about the tens of millions of dollars that the city has paid out in lawsuits for the killing spree from APD?  Does the Journal editorial board have any sense of proportion?

I was looking closely at the video of the protestors and noticed that a lot of senior citizens were in attendance along with the families of the victims of APD's itchy trigger fingers.  Not exactly a group that looks like they are advocating violence.  Granted, the 'citizens arrest' attempt of the APD Chief by the protestors was a bit lame.(At least he was there)  And as for the UNM professor who led the group, good for him.  University faculties and students have long been the ones pushing for reform that made this a great democracy.  But, the neocons at the Journal see that as a great evil now.

Misc.

The New York Times lead web story this morning is about Climate Change.  It states that the evidence is that it is real and having real effects in the present day.  More storms, wildfires, droughts, heat waves and floods are ravaging the planet.  Scary stuff.

Meanwhile, the Albuquerque Journal's climate change denying editorials continue in a stealth way.  Today they opined that we need to essentially be gentle with the coal industry.  They say less climate killing coal means more expensive energy.   The full column editorial never once mentions climate change.  One begins to wonder if the Journal has been secretly purchased by the fossil fuel industry.

The Supreme Court's endorsement yesterday of opening prayer in public meetings doesn't seem to work that well in ABQ.  The Albuquerque City Council had to adjourn quickly last night when a crowd took over the meeting to vent on APD.  The hapless APD Chief Eden was forced to flee the meeting when he was served with a citizen's arrest warrant.  This GOP picked new Chief from Governor Martinez's administration should just shuffle off into history for his own good and that of the city of Albuquerque.  He is not up to this job and a nationwide search needs to start immediately for a 'fixer' to come in.  Actually, this public disobedience is refreshing.

Still no word on how that suspect who shot a police dog six weeks ago died.  Will we ever know?

Left Behind

We are all being left behind by the Albuquerque Journal on its reporting of the Primary election in which early voting starts tomorrow.  It is kind of astonishing that we have not seen any profiles on the  candidates yet.  Although there seems to be little interest in this primary election there still needs to be some action on part of the media to let folks see some information on the candidates.

If you stop to think about it, the only folks who seem to be reading  newspapers any more are senior citizens.  And they are the ones most likely to vote.  So, you would think there would be more timely coverage on the candidate profiles, but I have a feeling that the reporters at the paper are so over worked due to cutbacks that they just can't get it done quickly.

I  have come to the conclusion that, seriously, newspapers are on their last decade of existence.  There is just many other ways of getting information.  And, it is pretty special interest and diluted.   Most people will only go to web sources on issues that they are interested in reading about.  They have that choice, while with newspapers you usually read other stuff too.

Finally, since most newspaper readers are seniors, and they vote, why is all the attention put on TV ads that try to reach voters that have 300 channels to choose from?  That market is so incredibly fragmented that few people will see a political ad.  It would make sense to buy ads in the Journal.

Berry Tax Hike and Bernalillo County Commission Tax Hike

Mayor Berry is continuing to seek a 'secret' tax hike by disguising it as garbage rate increase.  Where is the Albuquerque Journal and GOP on this?  Berry wants to raise your garbage rates in order to fund the maintenance of street medians.  That is usually a task that must be funded by general funds of the city.  The gross receipts tax would normally fund that, but Berry thinks he can surreptitiously pull a fast one by this gambit.  He probably can since the media doesn't understand what is going on.  What a shame.

And then there is the Bernalillo County Commission who, amongst others, just guaranteed that the County Assessor would have to raise the property tax assessments by the maximum 3% for the tenth year in a row.  Everyone of those Commissioners really needs to explain to retired folks why this is necessary.  I sure don't know any retirees whose social security and pensions go up by 3%.  In fact the legislature has limited retired government workers cost of living hikes to 2% a year.  Do the math here and you will see the problem.

Some More

The commenter from my post yesterday was back with some more this morning, and I think it is right on the issue of the 'back yard' mentality of the center and left of center groups that can't seem to get together on a unified message.  Here it is.

Jim,

Thanks for posting my comment as part of your blog today. Allow me to expound on it. I have contacted several of the leaders within the grass-roots movement wanting to contribute something in a meaningful way based on my skills and experience. I am the person who responded to Bubba’s previous comment of needing to consolidate resources and that I am working on it. It has been an eye-opening experience and a great disappointment in my journey. 

"I have tried to communicate that all of the energy being put into these groups is fantastic and it’s wonderful to see people so passionate and willing to give so selflessly. Unfortunately I have not found one person who is willing to listen to my observations or suggestions or look beyond their priorities within their individual grass-roots movement. We have missed so many opportunities. For example, why didn’t ANYONE think of passing out flyers with a UNIFIED message at the DOJ meetings this week? I have come to the conclusion that the diversity of our community, which is wonderful, is also our downfall. Everyone wants THEIR message heard. They appear to be clueless about divide and conquer tactics. I don’t even think Berry or Martinez need to work very hard at succeeding with their plan because the grass-roots movements do a pretty good job at collectively failing as a whole based on my journey. They also, in my opinion, appear to be somewhat damaged by the abuse they have experienced. They appear to have “attitude” and prejudices rather than be welcoming to fresh and new perspectives from people that may be “different” than them.

Albuquerque and New Mexico are a “hot mess” like I’ve never seen in my life. It’s so sad that this movement, which has the power to succeed against the Berry/Martinez machine, will fail because they are too small-minded to see the forest for the trees. 

I’ve decided that I’m going to give up on trying to do my part in this crisis and get the hell out of this ranked-at-the-bottom state as soon as I can. So Bubba, you can take the lead on consolidating resources. We desperately need to do it. After this journey, I now know why we are ranked at the bottom, how the Berry/Martinez financiers saw the hole and capitalized on that, why we are in this situation and why it will get worse. 

If this movement collectively utilized their energy effectively, because they all have fantastic ideas, they would first unite to remove Martinez and Berry and then once the new leaders were in place, they could work on their individual priorities to make Albuquerque and New Mexico one of the greatest cities and states in the US. They will all fail if they do the latter first.

What a shame! Albuquerque and New Mexico have the potential to be one of the best places to live in the US.

And to respond to the previous comment posted above this regarding our pathetic congress, you are correct, we also need to do that for the federal government. And that movement has the potential to originate here since we have the infrastructure already in place with a lot of passion and energy. We just don’t have the cohesiveness and unity, led with ONE VOICE. I’d be willing to donate my time and money to that!

That’s my two cents. Thanks for letting me voice my opinion."......Anonymous

Misc.

I got an interesting comment on my last blog from someone who is trying to support Alan Webber for Governor.  I had wondered about the day to day organization of that campaign and had criticized earlier in the year for which I was given hell by someone in that campaign.  I think that Webber did a good job of getting after Martinez after the Mother Jones article, and that he might have hit his stride.  But this comment was telling.

"I was hopeful like you are at one time. I also thought that Webber would be just what the doctor ordered based on his talking points and background. 

Unfortunately, my observations based on how they are managing their website so far, lead me to believe that if they can’t get that right, how could he possibly manage the State government, not to mention that you need some crisis management skills to do it. Their sign up for emails on their website doesn’t work and no one responds to the volunteer phone number. If Webber can’t get simple things like that to work, he’ll never be able to lead NM like we need and Martinez will blow him out of the water.

I think the ONLY hope for this city and state is to recall Berry and oust Martinez. If that doesn’t happen and you think things are bad now, just wait. Once she gets reelected, she and Berry will be even more aggressive on changing laws and eliminating individual rights. 

Even though there are a lot of grass-roots movements right now, they are not organized enough nor do they work together sufficiently to counter the Martinez/Berry machine. There is a lot of energy output but it's not efficient nor unified enough with ONE voice to get the result. They appear to be all interested in their specific cause rather than the big picture.

I expect that things will get A LOT worse after November and we will continue to spiral downward as a result. We will be stuck with the Martinez/Berry machine. Hold on to your hat.

GET UNITED AND ORGAINIZED WITH ONE VOICE OR WE WILL LOOSE THIS WAR. STAY FOCUSED ON THE BIG PICTURE AND PUT A CONCENTRATED EFFORT INTO TAKING BERRY AND MARTINEZ OUT OF POWER."

At the same time I am a little disappointed at Lawrence Rael's first TV commercial.  I think it could  have stood out a little more with some unmerciless attacks on the Governor's failed economic development efforts.  I don't think you can be touchy-feely on your media if you want to win.