Misc.

There is a lot of finger pointing going on about settling of police misconduct law suits against the city of Albuquerque. Former Mayor Marty Chavez  would not settle lawsuits which was a risky business because runaway juries could end up giving huge awards that would cripple the city's self insurance fund.  Now Mayor Berry is faced with settling a lot of cases that have occurred during his watch.  Many of them from police fatal shootings that were unnecessary.  But, should Mayor Berry get the blame?  He inherited more than a few officers that were recruited willy nilly during the Chavez administration in his effort to bring the police force up to an arbitrary number that he called for in his mayoral campaigns.  Some times less than desirable officer candidates were brought in to meet that number.  Couple that up with the US Marine style academy training and problems were inevitable.

The Albuquerque Journal, which arrived on my driveway and turned into paper pulp in the rain today, is now advertising on its own pages.  In an ad designed to get political advertising it touts the number of democrats and republicans who read its editions on weekdays and Sundays.  There were a lot more democrats than republicans that read the paper and yet the editor still insists on a lopsided editorial page that caters to right wing ideologies.

The New York Times did arrive in a nice plastic bag with out even a drop on it.  I do have to say though that our Journal carrier is a very efficient and punctual person and that this rarely happens.  I read the online version today.  In a way it is easier because I can make the fonts easily readable.