There were a couple of stories in the Albuquerque Journal today that were more alike than not. One concerns religion and the other concerns mine waste. In both cases the taxpayers will end up paying because people think things will work out, when they won't.
In the mine waste category we are finally seeing the media stepping up to the fact that the good leaders of Silverton, Colorado did not want mine waste cleaned up under Superfund designations because it might hurt tourism and future mining operations. They thought things would work out. Things didn't, and astonishingly some of those leaders are still resisting adding these sites to a cleanup list. Real poster kids for the boom/bust cycle of western resource extraction.
And then there are the folks and elected officials in Belen who will use taxpayer money to keep their religious beliefs front and center on government property in the form of a Nativity scene that is clearly unconstitutional. They will fight a lawsuit by the Freedom from Religion Foundation, (I am a member), that would seek to keep Christianity in front of all other beliefs on public property. Things won't work out here either no matter how hard they believe they are right. So, a priest and a mayor will do everything wrong in pursuing this issue.
So we have a very few people making decisions both inside and outside of government that will end up costing the average taxpayer money and headaches.
In the mine waste category we are finally seeing the media stepping up to the fact that the good leaders of Silverton, Colorado did not want mine waste cleaned up under Superfund designations because it might hurt tourism and future mining operations. They thought things would work out. Things didn't, and astonishingly some of those leaders are still resisting adding these sites to a cleanup list. Real poster kids for the boom/bust cycle of western resource extraction.
And then there are the folks and elected officials in Belen who will use taxpayer money to keep their religious beliefs front and center on government property in the form of a Nativity scene that is clearly unconstitutional. They will fight a lawsuit by the Freedom from Religion Foundation, (I am a member), that would seek to keep Christianity in front of all other beliefs on public property. Things won't work out here either no matter how hard they believe they are right. So, a priest and a mayor will do everything wrong in pursuing this issue.So we have a very few people making decisions both inside and outside of government that will end up costing the average taxpayer money and headaches.
1 comment:
The mayor of Belen is a young republican gun, who is undoubtedly looking to score points in this fight. I see that this one has already made Fox news' War on Xmas. They could just go ahead, abide by the law, and move the display to a privately-owned location, but that doesn't make the news.
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