Generations

I stopped by one last time this Tuesday a.m. before driving back to ABQ and Luke shot this nice photo of Noelle, Alex and me.  These little girls are fighters.  The technology is incredible.

Little Katy was a short ways off in another cubicle.  She is the bigger girl, but will need some heart surgery at some later date.  There is a little hole in her heart between ventricles.  Apparently not caused by being premature.  Many babies have this.

Okay, back to politics and ranting tomorrow.  No more baby pics.

Southbound

I am heading back on down to Albuquerque from Fort Collins this morning. The little baby girls are doing okay but they are very small and the next four weeks are very important for their development. Our daughter Noelle is doing great and has a good attitude. Her husband Luke is standing by every minute of the day. He's going to be a great father.

The Albuquerque Journal poll shows that the Secretary of State race and Land Commissioner race are very competitive. My hope is that everyone will go and vote just on these two races if that's all they're interested in because they are very important to the future of our state.  We can't afford to have the republican right-wing take over the state land office. While Ray Powell has not been a mover and  shaker as land commissioner he is an honest man and will not be overly influenced by the oil and gas and agricultural interests that try to run the land office.

Maggie Toulouse Oliver's election to the Secretary of State's office is incredibly important to the future of elections in the state of New Mexico. She has proven her worth as County Clerk and now needs a shot at running the state election code. If the right wing holds onto this office voter suppression will be the main objective. It is one of the most crucial races this year.

Kathryn, Noelle, and Luke

First time holding one of the girls. 

Sent from my iPhone

Granddaughters

Alexandra and Kathryn are doing great. They are very small but doing well in the NICU facility here in Fort Collins. I will be up here for a couple of days.

In the meantime I wonder what will be happening in the US Senate races around the country. It seems to me that a lot of incumbents are in trouble just because of the fact that they are there. Sen. Udall's performance in the Albuquerque Journal poll makes me wonder whether or not things are not going to go as the experts think they will.  All of this will affect our new granddaughters. Not immediately but sometime in the future. It is really serious stuff.

North 7 a.m.

I am on the way to Fort Collins Colorado to see our new granddaughters.   Their names are Alexandra and Katherine. They are very small babies that are in very good shape according to the doctors. Noelle is doing great also.

Not Incestuous

Janet Blair lasted just about a year on the job as PR flack for the Albuquerque Police Department.  She said that she and Chief Eden agreed she wasn't a 'good fit' for the job.  Now,  that just brings to mind all sorts of things.  Probably, we will never know the details because Janet Blair, a formerly hard nosed reporter, won't spill the beans.

But I know what happened.  She was not the product of inbreeding with in the department's career ladder.  She was from the 'outside', and this is precisely why she didn't fit.  The Command structure at APD couldn't tolerate someone who wouldn't drink the Kool Aid.

Misc.

If churches keep up their practice of endorsing partisan candidates for office, then they should lose their non profit status and start paying property taxes.  Period.  But do you really think that any properly empowered elected official out there will pursue this?  I am thinking not one of them has the courage to take on these exemptions that are being ignored by the fundamentalist Christian mega churches.  It is shameful.

Is it true that all of Secretary of State Diana Duran's TV photos have been altered?  In looking at TV commercials versus candid shots it appears a few pounds have disappeared.  Well, this is nothing new in the world of photography nor is it new in the art of politics where people pretend to be someone they are not.

The most important close race that is winnable in New Mexico is that Secretary of State race.  Please vote for Maggie Toulouse Oliver if we want to keep voting easy and accessible for all of our citizens. I have no doubt that Governor Martinez, Duran and their neo con supporters will work even harder at suppressing the vote over the next couple of years in order to take New Mexico out of the blue state status in the Presidential election.

Time for a Follow Up

One of my readers reacted violently to the story in the Journal this morning for its lack of questioning of the Mayor on his panicking over APD officers retiring.  He suggests the following questions that an enterprising reporter might use to followup on this story.  I agree this story still has legs.

1.  Ask officers who have left or appeared at the recent city retirement seminar to ask them why they were leaving.  Not done.
2.  Ask Berry if this has anything to do with the DoJ? Not done
3.  Ask Berry if the turmoil with Chief Eden and Mayor Berry’s leadership of APD  is causing any retirement?
4.  Ask Berry why he got rid of the longevity bonus in 2010, and didn’t he think that action would cause this crisis?
5.  Ask Berry to prove that the APOA agreed to give up the longevity bonus in 2010.
6.  Ask Berry why Rob Perry, in the 2013 Journal article, saw this manpower crisis coming, yet here we are a year later and Berry did nothing to stop it.  In fact Berry did finally sign a contract with the APOA this summer, yet there was no mention of longevity bonus in this contract.  Why?  Does Berry  know what is going on?
7.  Ask Berry why he is going to try again (he did this every year he has been in office) to dump APD retention problems on the state pension plan (PERA).  Every year the legislature has told him NO, so why doesn’t he fix it at Albuquerque’s level and leave the PERA system out of it.
8.  SB 27, which revamped PERA was done in 2012.  Why is this such a crisis now?  Didn’t Berry read the changes and know they were coming?  The changes to PERA have been known for almost 3 years, a good manager would have planned for them back in 2012, why didn’t Berry?
9.  Ask Berry if he knows the number of public pensions going bankrupt in this country?
10.  Ask Berry why he would do something that harms pensions just to get Albuquerque (the town he has run for five years) out of trouble?  Is this being a good manager or is this passing the buck to someone else?
  

The Press

Every headline from the media today says the shooter in Canada panicked the whole city of Ottowa.  Really?  The whole city?  I kind of doubt that really happened, but it is indicative of the sheer pandering of the media covering such stories.  Oh, and it sells ads.  It is all about money in the end.  Yesterday two of my golfing friends said they had stopped watching local news because of the negative political ads.  They just find it nauseating to mix that up with lead stories about furry domestic pets in distress.

Why has the current Secretary of State not taken any heat for unilaterally killing the straight party ticket voting on our New Mexico ballot.  This is something that she and our Governor did behind closed doors.  Just think of that as you try to blacken out those endless little circles on this years lengthy ballot.  Duran and Martinez did this with no legislation, public hearings, or transparency.  If Bill Richardson had done something like this the Albuquerque Journal would have raised hell for the dictator type decree.  But the republican right wing editor, Kent Walz, was just serving his masters.

I got several emails from friends yesterday with a link to the Santa Fe Reporter story on the Governor using government resources to aid in running license plates of car's owners with bumper stickers she didn't like.  It is a story that should be looked at once again by others, but it is too little too late to make any difference.

Early morning golf

Sympathy

The Tasmanian Devil's demise at the Albuquerque Bio Park is getting more angst out of the Mayor's Office than the deaths of many homeless and mentally ill victims of APD's shooting spree.  It is truly amazing that Mayor Berry and his chief of staff would show such an emotional response to this act of cruelty.  From a PR standpoint it was not the greatest thing to do.  But, he is acting no differently than many people these days.  Last night on Channel 13 the longest running story was about a mistreated dog.  At least Channel 13 has covered the APD mess with some professionalism.

Today in the Albuquerque Journal, Mayor Berry said that mayors come and go, and so the public needs to get involved in looking at APD's problems.  That is true, but he also has a responsibility to do the same in an open and vigorous manner.  That means he needs to sit in on those meetings.

Albuquerque will be getting another once over on APD as Rolling Stone magazine is on the prowl for  the APD story.  The magnifying glass will once again be on us.  But, I am sure that most attention in the next few days will be given to the Tasmanian Devil death, an endangered species.  It will get world wide attention.   If the guy who did this ever gets caught, I am confident he will get more punishment than those cops who shot the homeless guy in the back with their assault rifles.

P.S. That ballot I worked on as I voted yesterday was in fact the longest one I have ever seen.  I was blacking out little circles for fifteen minutes.  A lot of ink.

Misc.

I did not watch the debate last night between Gary King and Governor Martinez.  I didn't see any point in doing so because I will go vote for King today at an early voting site.  Probably, the only ones watching were pollsters, political bloggers(not me), campaign workers and all those consultants who are paid to make the Governor look like an informed and caring pol.  Day for Night.  Making her look like something she is not.

We had dinner guests over last night and the sample ballot on the dinner table brought lots of comments for its incredible size.  All those Judge races and retention questions make it mostly a crap shoot for the candidates.  No one knows them or pays much attention to these races.  They are important, but there needs to be a better way of handling these judicial elections.  I  will probably just vote for the democrats in most cases, although some of those judges aren't great.  I will take some of the advice of the Judicial Standards group who rate the sitting judges for retention.

I will vote for the marijuana question, but not the tax for mental health services in Bernallio County.  They are those two non-binding and frivolous questions thrown on to the ballot by the democrats on the County Commission.  It was a dumb thing to do.

The reason I will vote against the mental health question is its funding source.  Another increase to the gross receipts tax means that once again an extremely regressive tax will fund these needed services instead of a tax that hits the poorest the least.  And, if the County proceeds with the tax  then surrounding communities will send their patients here at no cost to them.  There needs to be a statewide solution to this problem.

Joe Friday and Congressman Steve Pearce

I loved Joe Friday on the old 50's TV Show 'Dragnet".  He always said, "I want just the facts ma'am....just the facts."  And so in case the pea brained republicans, like Congressman Steve Pearce, are wondering where the response capabilities to the Ebola virus is, here is a reminder of what they have done with the budget sequestration.  One item, a 98 million dollar cut in emergency response should give some clues to how things have worked out.

0. On March 1, 2013, as required by statute, President Obama signed an order initiating sequestration. The sequestration requires CDC to cut 5 percent or more than $285 million of its fiscal year (FY) 2013 budget. CDC applied the cut evenly across all programs, projects, and activities (PPAs), which are primarily CDC national centers, offices and centers. This means every area of CDC was affected. In addition, the Prevention and Public Health Fund allocation in FY 2013 was almost $350 million below FY 2012. In total, CDC’s program level, including the Vaccines for Children mandatory program and other external sources, was almost $1 billion (or 10%) below FY 2012.
   The reductions to CDC’s funding accounts are as follows:
   
•   Immunization = $100 million
  
•   HIV/AIDS, Viral Hepatitis, STI and TB Prevention = $62 million
  
•   Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases = $13 million
  
•   Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion = $195 million
  
•   Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities = $7 million
  

•   Environmental Health = $17 million
  
•   Injury Prevention and Control = $7 million
  
•   Public Health Scientific Services = $19 million
  
•   Occupational Safety and Health = $9 million
  
•   Global Health = $18 million
  
•   Public Health Preparedness and Response = $98 million
  
•   Cross-cutting Activities and Program Support = $35 million
  IMPACTS OF FUNDING LEVELS IN FY 2013 (COMPARED TO FY 2012) INCLUDE:
  Reduced ability to ensure global disease protection:
  

 Jeopardizes polio eradication efforts:
o Sequestration forced CDC to reduce support to purchase oral polio vaccine by over 40,000,000 doses.
o Cuts to UNICEF funding jeopardize plans for vaccination rounds later in 2013 and into 2014 to respond to ongoing outbreaks in Syria, Horn of Africa, and Cameroon along with planned aggressive campaigns during the December – April low transmission season in Nigeria, Pakistan, and Afghanistan unless other resources can be identified and secured.

•   $25 million cut to global efforts to eliminate polio, prevent measles outbreaks, malaria, and pandemic flu.
  
•   $13 million in cuts to our efforts to prevent and respond to outbreaks of other emerging infectious diseases, such as the MERS-Coronavirus emerging globally now.
  Reduced support for state and local public health efforts:
  

•   $160 million less in funding to on-the-ground public health in the United States, a system
  already strained by state and local budget cuts.
  
•   CDC's ability to support state, local, and international health departments was reduced.
  
•   $33 million will be cut from state and local preparedness ability to respond to natural and man-made disasters.
  Reduced ability to prevent domestic HIV/AIDS:
  

 $40 million reduction in HIV prevention.
o 175,000 fewer HIV tests would be conducted.
o $7 million reduction to CDC’s HIV testing activities.
Reduce ability to prevent the leading causes of illness and death:
 Programs to prevent cancer, heart attacks, strokes, and diabetes are being cut by almost
$200 million due to sequestration and Prevention and Public Health Fund allocations. 

And here is a good post this morning from Bubba Munster.

Dennis Gets It Right

My friend Dennis Jett, retired from the US State Department as a career Diplomat and Ambassador, has a great Column today in the Pittsburgh Post Gazette.

Excuse me, but we never ‘won’ in Iraq
Don’t blame Obama for the rise of the Islamic State; its roots go deeper than that
October 16, 2014 12:00 AM

By Dennis Jett

It’s often been said that generals always fight the last war, especially if they think they won it. That old adage remains as true today as it was when the Maginot Line was built in the 1930s to prevent a second German invasion of France. And it is as true for politicians as it is for generals.

The proof can be found in the current debate about the so-called Islamic State, a terrorist organization so vile that even al-Qaida disowned it. While it may not be popular with fellow thugs, the Islamic State has managed to take over much of Iraq and Syria. Predictably, Washington seems more interested in assigning blame for the situation than dealing with it.

Sen. John McCain, for instance, said this about the war in Iraq: “We had it won. Gen. [David] Petraeus had the conflict won, thanks to the surge. If we had left a residual force behind, we would not be facing the crisis we are today. Those are fundamental facts. We had a stable government. But the president wanted out, and now we are paying a very heavy price.”

None of these “facts” is true. The Bush administration laid the groundwork for today’s mess when it negotiated a Status of Forces Agreement with the Iraqi government that stipulated American combat troops would be gone by the end of 2011. The Obama administration tried to negotiate a continuation of their presence, but the Iraqi government refused unless U.S. troops were subject to the Iraqi judicial system, a condition to which no president would agree. No Iraqi politician was going to agree without that provision. So, goodbye U.S. troops.

The surge also did not “win” the war. It won only a temporary lull in a civil war that started when American officials disbanded the Iraqi army and kicked members of Saddam Hussein’s Baath Party out of their government jobs. That left all the people who used to run the country (ruthlessly) with no stake in its future. They were not simply going to go home and quietly watch their children go hungry.

Instead they ignited an insurgency that grew into civil war, which the surge was supposed to extinguish. If there is any historical fact that Mr. McCain should have absorbed it is this: Vietnam demonstrated that American troops cannot win a civil war for a regime that is incapable of defending itself. Iraqi security forces outnumber those of the Islamic State by 20 to one but show no willingness to fight.

The service and sacrifice of our troops in Iraq was incredible, especially since the only thing most of us on the home front ever did to support the war was to take George W. Bush’s advice to “go shopping.” That sacrifice notwithstanding, a surge of 30,000 troops in a country of 28 million people, especially when 25,000 never left Baghdad, was not going to win the war or even do much to reduce the carnage.

Two other things brought about the lull in fighting. First, many of the foreign jihadis who joined the fray alienated the Iraqis. Second, and most important, many of those who used to have those jobs in the military and government were put back on the payroll. Once they began drawing paychecks again, they started defending the existing political order instead of trying to destroy it.

The relative calm lasted as long as the insurgents were kept employed. When the Americans stopped paying them, Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki continued to do so, but only for a time. He was more interested in converting the Iraqi armed forces and police into a Shiite militia loyal to him than he was in keeping happy Sunni supporters of the former regime. When they lost their paychecks, they resumed the civil war and many became members of what we now know as the Islamic State.

The man Mr. McCain claims won the war is the same David Petraeus who wrote in The Washington Post that “Iraq’s security forces are developing steadily and they are in the fight. Momentum has gathered in recent months. With strong Iraqi leaders out front and with continued coalition support, this trend will continue.” That gushingly optimistic article was published in September 2004. Six weeks later, Mr. Bush was reelected and a little over two years after that Mr. Petraeus pinned on his fourth star. Mission accomplished.

The Iraqi leaders Mr. Petraeus praised are as responsible for restarting the civil war in 2014 as American officials are for creating it in 2004. But don’t expect the architects of the Iraqi disaster to admit that. They prefer to echo the McCain version of history.

In a lengthy article for Foreign Policy titled “How We Won in Iraq,” Mr. Petraeus credits the “victory” to the surge of American troops. He mentions only in passing that putting 100,000 insurgents on the payroll might have had something to do with it. He spends most of the article praising those who worked with him and by extension himself. He throws in three sentences at the end describing how to regain “victory” — all that is required is a “surge of ideas.”

Mr. Petraeus mentions Mr. al-Maliki seven times, but never critically. He praises him for being “willing to undertake the vast majority of the necessary changes” when it is clear that the former prime minister’s corruption, incompetence and relentless sectarian exclusionism has made Iraq what it is today.

Mr. Petraeus will be speaking in Pittsburgh Oct. 28. For $25 to $65, you can hear about how he won the war.

At Sea

The Governor of New Mexico and the Mayor of Albuquerque are once again silent on the issue of the day.  Ebola is in Dallas with a second patient diagnosed at the hospital where a nurse is also down with the virus.  Of course Governor Rick Perry took the advantage of free air time to talk about the disease, and promptly made a fool of himself.

Has the Mayor or Governor ordered the State medical infrastructure to give them a report on how they would respond to the discovery of any cases here?  They really should insist on a public statement from both government and private medical providers about this.  But they remain in the cocoon of silence, hoping for the best.  That is GOP leadership these days.  Do nothing.

And then there was former republican and now libertarian Governor Gary Johnson on TV last night suggesting that marijuana might be helpful in the crisis.  At the least it would make us feel calm.  And at least he is saying something!

Misc.

The Albuquerque Journal had an excellent story on the problem of high school dropouts this morning in Albuquerque.  You can cite  poverty  as the main reason so many kids leave school.  It was an important story but somehow the reporter never got around to talking to the Governor or Mayor to see if they had any ideas on how to help with this issue.  Some people are arguing on the Journal facebook page that they don't have any responsibility for the problem.  That is arguing that elected officials are not supposed to be leaders.  Of course that is exactly what we have to deal with in Albuquerque's City Hall and the State Capitol.  No leadership.

I have talked to someone who is putting all of their travel plans on hold for the future until the Ebola outbreak is contained.  I can understand that, but one thing I don't get is how people can think Ebola is so dangerous while climate change is not!  They are very selective in the science the choose to accept I suppose.

Maggie Toulouse Oliver, Democratic candidate for Secretary of State, will go up on TV with ads soon.  I watched it and it is professionally done.  It has probably been done for some time, but I suggest that she get another one together talking about the voter suppression attempted by her opponent and the Governor.  Even the US Supreme Court has ruled against such attempts. We really need her in this office, so send her some money. 

And while you are at it send Democratic Land Commissioner Ray Powell a few bucks to keep the Land Office from being totally controlled by the oil and gas industry.

Signaled

Republican Senate Candidate and war profiteer Alan Weh has signaled the direction he would take as a U.S. Senator.  He was caught on tape at an Albuquerque Business gathering by saying, "so what?" to the dilemma of people making $4 an hour.  He doesn't think anyone under the age of 26 should get a minimum wage.  This is your modern day republican speaking in front of members of the Economic Forum in Albuquerque.  These are the supposed movers and shakers in our business community.  Except they have been sitting on their collective butts for years by protecting what they have rather than growing the economy in this state.  They are leaderless and bereft of ideas.  It hasn't always been like this with those folks, but something has happened to these once community minded people.  It is a very sad situation.

The whole question of a minimum wage hike in this country should get more attention, especially in New Mexico.  I remember my first job at a lumber yard back in 1963 provided me with a $1.25 an hour wage.  I lived on that for a summer before starting at the University.  I also earned minimum wage in my other jobs while in school and I got regular raises.  This was back when the income tax rates were high and the economy was booming and the local business leaders were good at what they did and were generous in giving resources to the community.

Gary King's campaign finally has some TV time purchased.  His  new ad is effective on the minimum wage and the Governor Martinez era meltdown of the economy here.  But, it probably is too little and too late to make a difference.

Food for Thought

I am somewhat bothered about reaching back into the 90's for a democratic presidential candidate for the next go round.  Of course I would vote for the democrat, whom ever it is, but the thought of having another Clinton or Bush in office makes me think this country just can't move on.  Yesterday I blogged about the ability of the internet to hold us back from progress.  My favorite blogger, Bubba Munster, posted this comment yesterday and I wanted to put it on the main page.  It should get you thinking.

"That's true about the right wing internet. It's a vast area you might not even be aware of unless you stumble upon it. 

When I was on Facebook I'd see an occasional posting from my brother Bill, the family Republican (married a Baptist preacher's daughter and, I think, got caught up in the ecstasy). They have their own memes and web sites, tea bagger sites, news sites, and it's all interconnected. The Left might take a look and see how it's done.

But it's pretty dumb, too. Bill never posted a single a thing that I couldn't easily point out the central flaw in. But it never mattered, either. With them, it's not an intellectual endeavor, it's emotional. Their heart is stirred by odes to entrepreneurial spirit or Ronald Reagan's city on a hill and they are made afraid by scary religions and images of brown hoards and a disappearing America that never existed.


The dumbing down of America may well be unstoppable, but there was a previous America that wasn't well educated, either, and it managed to assume quite a bit of political power, which was expressed through unions and various Socialist and Populist parties and by the Democratic Party, eventually.

For all of the benefits of our post WWII public education system, that was remarkable in educating people and making college open to practically all who wanted to attend, that generation, of the well educated, hasn't been able to stop public education's ongoing gutting, nor the dumbing down, nor the evisceration of anything else from the New Deal era like increasingly higher wages and living standards.

The reason: Democrats stopped being a class based party and became Republicans who are socially liberal, and stood by doing nothing while war was waged on the unions.

The only thing that will unite working people, that ever has, is class identity. It will unite people across region, race, gender and ethnicity. The rich have it, but they've managed to make working people believe we live in a classless society. And they have waged Reaganomics, which is nothing but a war of the ruling class against the working class, a scheme for the massive redistribution of wealth upward, and the Democratic Party eventually went along with it.

It all started back in the 70s with Bill Clinton and Al Gore and their Democratic Leadership Council, and Tony Coehlo, the congressman from California, when he was put in charge of fundraising and said we should go after all that Wall Street money, and they did.

Now you have New Mexico Democrats who won't even utter the word "union" in public, who veer far, far away from anything that hints of populism, whose campaigns and votes once in office make mockeries of working peoples' economic interests, as they slash rich peoples' taxes ever further, cut Medicare and Social Security, cut veteran's benefits, cut Head Start, and look away as college becomes a disappearing dream for more and more kids. But they're fighting hard to save the middle class. Just listen to them."

Without a Clue Rant

The Albuquerque Journal profiles on our local congressional candidates shows just how clueless and out of touch most republican candidates are in the current era.  Michelle Lujan Grisham's opponent wants to cut down rules and regs in the federal government and turn over most responsibilities to the state.

Think Texas.  Those folks there let a man from western Africa loose from a hospital with out even checking to see if he had Ebola.  He is dead and the private sector hospital and the Governor's office under Rick Perry seem rather stupid.  (In Perry's case--stupider.)

Is now really the time to be saying that the CDC, who has taken budget hits from republicans, should turn over its responsibilities to states?  Think Susana Martinez.  Would she fund a state agency correctly to do such work, or would she continue to find ways to cut corporate taxes for our corrupt business system in the country.

Sometimes the dumbing down of America seems unstoppable.  The downside of the internet is that it let morons become organized and manipulated by the wealthy right wing.  

Early Golf

Santa Ana

GOP Killers

I am sorry, but the hysteria about Ebola is misplaced.  People should not be angry that our infrastructure for containing outbreaks has holes in it. They should be angry at republicans for cutting CDC's budgets.  The agency works with much less resources than they have in the past because of the reckless and uncaring budget cutting of the ultra right wingers in congress.  Maybe they should be turned into front line healthcare workers in this current crisis.  These are the guys who hate government, except when you need them and they can't respond because of the actions of these guys.

Especially in Texas.  Last night I watched a Frontline presentation on the execution of a father who was accused of setting a fire that killed his three daughters.  All of the evidence that was collected was proven wrongly validated.  All that idiot Governor Perry could say was essentially, Meh!

I really don't understand what has happened to that party.  I know all republicans are not idiots, any more than all democrats are honest, but the silence of the moderates is somewhat akin to the silence of most of the peaceful Muslims in the world.  If you don't speak out you get lumped in with the radical crazies.

Misc.

I have been following the horrific story about the 40 students in southern Mexico who were apparently shot by police and then buried in a mass grave in a feeble cover up attempt.  Certainly my first reaction was that Mexico is a dangerous place that is subject to extreme governmental violence against it's citizens.  But are they really different that the USA where thousands die from gunfire every year and where a good amount of them from police weapons?  Albuquerque's police haven't killed 40 human beings all at once, but over a couple of years they did more than half that many.  So, are we different?

I wasn't surprised at the US Supreme Court's decision to let stand Appeals court rulings that gay marriage is constitutional.  This court is ruled by libertarians and they really couldn't do much else.  They are treating this as a freedom issue.  I still haven't figured out how they came to the conclusion that corporations are people.  Maybe that signals that mergers should be allowed no matter what damage they do to consumers.  They have to be consistent. Mergers and marriages....kind of the same thing except marriage doesn't rely quite so much on greed.

Absentee voting starts today.  I will wait until early voting to go cast my ballot.  We need to elect Democrats to all of the lower offices to counteract the Governor.

Think New Mexico

Think New Mexico has come out with another great report on the lack of transparency in the health care industry.  This studious group is asking all the right questions about a very sick system that is supposed to help the sick.  For example, why does being treated for blood poisoning in Taos coast $19,556 while just over the hill in Las Vegas it costs $72,346?  Why do the poorest people pay the most for medical care in a poor state?

Of course this is a complex issue with a labyrinth of cause and effects, but at the end of the day it is one being manipulated by an immoral and criminal healthcare complex.  It is worth reading  the report.  And then get angry and call  your legislators to demand transparency.  I doubt the Governor gives a damn.

Overrun

It is bad enough to be overrun with nauseous and negative TV ads.  In the valley we are getting over run with critters.  These guys were on my back fence in the middle of the night and triggered the wildlife cam I own.  Not a very good camera, but it caught the grub hunters in the act.  They are tearing up back yards around here looking for meals.

Blunders on KNME PBS

I watched an interview that Gary King did on New Mexico in Focus Friday evening on KNME and it seems that the questioner has imbibed the Kool-Aid.  She talked about the oil and gas industry's 'contributions' to the permanent fund at the state land office.  A blunder!  That is the fund that spins off so much money for education.  It was an ignorant and embarrassing moment for that news show, New Mexico in Focus.

The oil and gas industry does not contribute to the permanent fund.  It pays for a product owned by the state land office.  That product is oil or gas.  It is not owned by the industry but by the trust set up by the constitution of the state.  Every year the oil and gas industry talks about how much money they turn over to the land office as if it were a gift.  They spend lots of money to make people think it is just an unfair gouging of their industry when it fact they really aren't paying enough.  On federal lands that oil and gas is owned by the taxpayers.

The second blunder of the evening was Gary King appearing with no makeup, and poor lighting provided by the inept KNME production crew.  Does anyone help Gary with these kinds of basic modern day necessities?  He looked absolutely cadaverous.  It certainly represents the sad state of affairs in that campaign.  King's answers were good ones, but these days that isn't enough.

Miscellaneous Mud

The attacks by Aubrey Dunn Jr. on Ray Powell in the Land Commissioner race may be one of the lowest things I have seen in TV ads yet.  Dunn scared up the family who lost the Land Office owned Dixon Apple Orchard near Cochiti and got them to say Ray Powell was at fault for fire and flood that destroyed the place.  You might remember they had no business insurance and tried to get the Land Office to pay them for $2 million dollars in losses of improvements.  Problem is they never built the improvements nor planted the orchard.  They were just trying to steal from the school children of this state to make up for their imprudent lack of insurance.  But since money rules politics and Ray doesn't fight back very hard, then he could actually lose this race because lies and mud work every time.

And then there is the Governor's ad on the fact that Gary King leases a building to the state for $1 a square foot in Moriarty.  The ad makes it seem like King is ripping off the taxpayer.  At $1 a square foot?  Ask any real estate agent or property manager if that is a rip off.  But since the Governor and her minions have no morals they just  aren't constrained in anything they say.

Encounter

I took Bobbi's Prius to be serviced this morning and a man came up to me and asked if I was Mayor Kinney!  Hilarious!  No, I said, but I had worked for him back in the 70's and then became Mayor myself in 1997.

He said he was a retired UNM professor with 37 years of tenure.  He asked me if I had ever seen the city and state in such bad shape.  I said no I had not.  He said he was thinking of moving out of state because no one seemed to be doing anything.  This is not the first time I have had this conversation in the last couple of weeks.

I have been catching up on the PBS series 'The Roosevelt's' which I recorded in full.  Last night the segment was on the first election of FDR during the height of the depression.  At his inauguration he gave the famous speech that made American citizens feel that someone cared for them and that things would get better.  His fireside chats were instrumental in convincing people that they needed to have faith in government to help solve the disastrous economic policies that led the country to the brink of destruction.

Oh, that we could find someone in New Mexico that could inspire such confidence.  Instead we have two bit ad men using millions of dollars to tear government down so their bosses don't have to pay taxes and support our democracy.  We are in deep trouble and as someone else said today these kind of conversations become self fulfilling prophecies.

Not Again

Harken back to 1969 to the University of New Mexico campus.  The fires of hell, in some peoples estimation, were loosed with the distribution of Lenore Kandel's poem 'Love Lust' in a poetry class.  The graphic poem about oral sex was viewed by some legislators and religious zealots as the end of civilization.
We are still here though and the controversy will begin again as hormone enraged students are invited to on campus seminars on better sex.  It is hilarious really and the kind of story that TV news and tabloid journalists will milk for the next two months.  Everything else that is really important will be ignored by the preference of modern day journalism's need for sex related stories.  Life is too short!

Reminder

I am hearing murmurings that the case of the guy who allegedly committed suicide in a dumpster after shooting a police dog might be resurrected for another look.  This is the 14th time I have written about this shooting that happened last spring.  The Office of Medical Investigator said it was a suicide although there was no powder residue on the man's clothing.  And I got a tip today that the bullet they removed from him was of a different size than the gun he supposedly used on  himself.  I also hear that APD is now being very reluctant to talk about the case, which is strange if they say it is a suicide.  Stay tuned.

Back from A Prospering State

I traveled back from Fort Collins yesterday after visiting our daughter.  She is in good spirits after having to hit the mattress for the next two months to keep here twin girls from being born too early.  Bobbi is still out there tending to her every need.

As I drove through that corridor from Pueblo to Fort Collins I couldn't help but think that I had entered another world.  The obvious booming economy and prosperity in Colorado is evident.  They have some leaders there in the Governor's office and in their city halls.  The politics is brutal in that purple state, but somehow the business community and political sphere seem to come together to get things done.

Coming back into the state Sunday afternoon, the first thing I was greeted with was a closed rest area on southbound I-25.  There were cars outside the locked gate and people going to the rear of the facility to get some relief.  On the way up on Friday the northbound rest area was open, but it was dirty and unkempt.  That is different from other trips when they were well tended.  What must people think who travel into our state?  The rest areas in Colorado were pristine.

So Susanna Martinez cuts back on the most essential services in order to keep taxes down for her right wing corporate supporters.  New Mexico can't take another leaderless four years.  But we will have to endure it and hope to pick up the pieces.

Foggy

Lots of fog between La Vegas and Raton this morning.

Up North

I am heading up to Fort Collins, Colorado this morning to join Bobbi in helping out our daughter Noelle.  She has been ordered to bed for the next few months because of twin girls wanting to be born early.  All on the weekend she and Luke were to move into a new home.  My job is to fix up batches of New Mexican food to be frozen into lunch size portions.  Also, a dozen Frontier breakfast burritos are in the freezer.   They seem to be her favorite comfort food.

We are hoping for the best.  Noelle, who is very fit, will need a lot of encouragement to stay rested and not be running marathons.  We will be helping with that too.

Bobbi retired from her Federal job with the US Forest Service on Tuesday after 28 years as an engineer and financial whiz.  I am so proud of her.  Less than twelve hours later she was headed up to Noelle's to start her job of grandmother.  She is a dynamo.

News Anorexic

I think I am becoming a TV news anorexic.  I haven't watched a local or national newscast in a week and I am finding out I just don't miss it much.  If I don't see another story on the chaos in the Middle East for the rest of my life it will be fine with me.

I am not reading anything about that violent culture in the newspapers any more.  It is old news and it never changes.  We bomb, they organize and try to develop toothpaste bombs.  They slaughter innocents as we do.  It is just what we are I guess.

As a post script, I am giving up in fighting loose dogs in our neighborhood park.  People truly think the dog leash  law doesn't apply to them because their dogs are "nice".  They say their dogs have had bad experiences in the city dog parks and so that makes it okay for them to unleash their dogs in a non dog park. I am sure most of them are nice dogs, until one of them isn't.  It is only a matter of time and then the city will face a massive lawsuit for not enforcing the leash law that was so carefully and laboriously hammered out some years ago.  

I.D.

Yesterday I had to stop at the Walgreen's liquor store and get some good dry Sherry wine for my green chile Gypsy Stew recipe.  I needed to prove I wasn't under 21 at the age of 69 with my drivers license.  The day before I had to show my drivers license to the TSA gropers to prove I  wouldn't be a danger to the flying public.  Just about every time I make a purchase with a check or debit card I have to show a picture I.D.  I am used to it and it isn't that big a deal.  I don't think a picture I.D. to vote is such a violation of my rights nor would it suppress the vote.  A tempest in a Tea Pot.  A silly culture war that is meaningless.  So I kind of go against the grain of my favorite democratic candidate, Maggie Tolouse Oliver who is running for Secretary of State.  However, I certainly support her efforts to get voter registration legal up to and including election day.  It shows she is a reformer and thinker.

At the same time the mantra of her opponent Diana Duran is sickening. She keeps saying voter fraud is rampant when any sane person would realize it is really non existent.  She wants to suppress the vote.  And, she is carrying the message for the far right that democrats are evil and steal elections.  When in fact the GOP is the one who has gerrymandered the congressional districts to deny true democratic elections for the House of Representatives.  And the GOP has loaded the Supreme Court to give corporations unfettered control of our elections by allowing huge amounts of money to be invested in their right wing candidates.  What does Duran have to say about that?

I wonder how long the sleeping American citizen will put up with corporate control of their lives.  Sooner or later they will wake up and go looking for some guillotines.  I wonder if the one per centers ever think of that.

The Not Great Debate

I didn't attend the lunch time back and forth between Governor Martinez and Democrat challenger Gary King yesterday.  Speaking in front of the National Industrial and Office Park group, neither of them, according to friends who were there, got around to talking about the dismal condition of the construction industry in New Mexico.  They are in deep trouble and one would think one of these candidates could expound on possible public works projects that might help.

Yes, there were lamentations by the candidates on economic meltdowns in New Mexico.  The governor said things are really picking up and Gary King said things are not.  But that hardly gets down into the weeds of how to really fix things.

This campaign will be over in a matter of weeks and it may well go down in history for failing to give the public any solutions to our current and growing crisis.  And the public for its part doesn't seem to give a damn.

Homeward Bound.

Glad to be heading home after days on the road. Then up to Fort Collins to help out our daughter who is having twins.  She is a trooper!  

Grandsons

Bobbi, Finn and Simon.  Syracuse, NY. 

Dinosaur

 I am ending my 22 years as a councilmember with the wilderness Society. They erected a dinosaur in my honor across the street at the National Geographic building.  Bahahahaha!

Last Meeting

I am off to Washington DC for my last meeting as a member of the Governing Council of the Wilderness Society.  I have been on that Council for twenty two years and it is time to move over and let the younger generation take up the never-ending job of protecting America's public lands.

Those who would ravish our national landscapes for a few bucks never tire of attempting to legislate ways to steal that land from its citizen owners.  Every seven or eight years the so called sagebrush rebellion types come up with a new angle and a new name to try again.  Now they are cloaked in the group called the  American Legislative Exchange Council who are trying to insist those public lands really belong to the states.  Pure Bullshit!

The Wilderness Act is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year.  It was passed back in 1964 at a time when republicans could still vote for protecting our environment.  They used to do so on a regular basis, but no more as the fossil fuel boys and rightwing business community has found that hurts profits and the once conservation minded GOP find it hurts political donations.

I will remain on some other environmental boards for a few more years.  I do enjoy the meetings and think these organizations can still be effective.  Send them money when you can.

Bipolar?

One would think the registered voters in the Journal poll might be a little bipolar.  They are throwing incredible support to our rightwing Governor, but at the same time they overwhelmingly support raising the minimum wage.  What  gives?  She doesn't want to raise the minimum wage.

The result could be parsed in so many different ways.  People who don't support King do support a higher minimum wage. It actually comes down to just a couple of things in my mind.  One is that the Governor's opponent Gary King is incredibly ineffectual and made more so by being buried by negative TV ads,  and secondly that most people want something approaching a livable  paycheck for everyone.

This poll should give some real legs to a legislative effort to raise the minimum wage statewide and it will actually force the Governor's hand in signing such legislation.  I think it could happen.

In the  meantime other niggling little things are happening.  Gary King's epic and tragic meltdown in the Governor's race continues to the bitter end.  Three campaign managers have now come and gone and none of them have broken into Gary's bubble.

The Bernalillo County Commission wanted people to speak on some non-binding ballot questions at the last second, and have only ended up delaying the voting process for everyone with law suits.  The Supreme Court ordered the county not to mail absentee ballots until they hear the case.  This whole thing turned into a circus.

Part Deux

The Journal Poll this morning shows Senator Tom Udall with a comfortable lead over his republican opponent and war profiteer Alan Weh.  Udall, a proponent of taking corporate money out of elections, will most likely win his race.

I wonder what the critics of the Research and Polling results on the Governor's race have to say today.  Is this poll wrong too?  I am looking forward to more results coming up, especially on issue questions.  They will be dribbling out for a week or so if the pattern from past years is followed.

I am not sure the congressional races will be polled.  The only one up for grabs is down in the southern district where the oil and gas tool Steve Pearce reigns.  I hope Rocky Lara gives him a good run.  That is a tough race because Pearce wins with slightly more than 2-1 in the oil patch and that is hard to over come in Dona Ana County where Lara should shine.  But it could happen.  Harry Teague did  it in a presidential election year, but remember he was only there for one term until Pearce took back that seat.  Teague was a oil guy too.  But, Lara has put on an impressive fundraising campaign and has impressive support.

Grasping at Straws

The Research and Polling election poll results in the Albuquerque Journal this morning shows Democratic Governor Candidate Gary King in even worse shape than I thought possible.  His numbers have dropped as he has failed to get up on TV to answer Governor Martinez's onslaught of slime.  She leads him by 18 points, 54-36.

Just last night ProgressNow New Mexico dug up a month old poll showing King behind by only  5%.  This reach back into history to shore things up for King is grasping at straws.  Especially when that poll received wide spread criticism for the New York Times and CBS because it used unproven techniques.  The American Association for Public Opinion Research said the results in that poll were highly suspect.  Read about it here.

But no matter, I will have to stick with Research and Polling's results because they are always, once again always, with in the margin of error.  It is just hard to argue if you look at the accuracy over the last 25 years of that poll.  I recall everyone went apoplectic when that poll showed Mayor Berry with over sixty percent on his reelect numbers just before the election.  Everyone said that was wrong.  But Berry went on to win with 68%.

The only hope for King now is to come up with the money and do some real truth telling on TV about the economic meltdown of our state under Martinez.  Her filthy TV ads can't go unanswered.

Dog Parks

I guess I am an Ogre.

I have continually asked people to stop using our Dulcinea neighborhood park as a dog park.  It is not a dog park.  Some of them told me they didn't care and would pay fines, but they haven't had to because Animal Control refuses to take action.  This morning there were seven dogs running loose in the park.  There are signs in the park saying dogs must be on a leash and a reference to a city ordinance that requires it.

When Mayor I created the first dog park as a way of giving our canine friends a place to run free in the city.  The city council didn't want to do it, but they finally saw it made sense.  There are now thirteen fine dog parks in the city/county.  There are two within two miles of Dulcinea Park.

I guess this is a city ordinance that has become a joke.  What is next?  Allowing dumping of refuse on any city street?  I hope one of these dogs doesn't injure anyone, especially the kids who frequent the playground.  But in the meantime I am just an Ogre.  

Misc.

Albuquerque Police Chief Gordon Eden has made himself a tool of the right wing by blaming the department's problems on the police officer's union.  As a former Mayor I can attest that the union was hard to work with, but to blame them for all the APD issues is the biggest indicator of a lack of leadership on the Mayor Berry administration.  It is getting downright embarrassing.

In the meantime the Journal did a needed story this morning on how Albuquerque really isn't the leader in crime and murder amongst cities.  I have been saying that for years, but the people of this city are paranoid after watching the police blotter news every night on TV from the poorly run news departments.  I know our neighborhood list serve has become filled with missives about strange cars and people in the neighborhood.  There is a lot less crime here than the past, but people feed on the fear frenzy caused by one incident.

When I first saw that Senator Martin Heinrich had participated in a survivor type TV reality show I thought he had lost his way.  However, the more I read about it I was convinced it was not a bad idea.  It shows that two US Senators with widely divergent views might find a way to work together.  I might even watch it.

Early Golf at Cochiti

Heart Murmur

Everyone I have spoken with this morning are murmuring about Democratic Governor Candidate Gary King's attempt to figure out what is in the Governor's heart when it comes to Latinos.  Other than being a really stupid thing to even mention, it is really impossible to know what is in Susanna Martinez's heart.  So why even bring it up?

King's statement that Latinos should not vote for someone just because they are Latino is fine.  He should have left it at that.  You wonder if anyone in that campaign has any influence over what Gary is going to say at a campaign stop.  I kind of doubt it.  It appears that Gary is in a bubble and going it alone.  His campaign is turning into what most feared it would be.  Totally ineffectual.  It is too bad, because he is a decent honest guy.

And the Governor?  She continues down a path paved with right wing corporate money as our economy continues to crumble and our malaise continues to grow.  I would say she hasn't had an original idea since she took office.

Feel Good

The County Clerk now has to jump through hoops after the County Commission put two non binding questions on the General election ballot as some sort of 'feel good' effort  to keep a couple of constituencies happy.  The questions on decriminalization of pot and a tax for mental health services will clutter up an already full ballot.

Here is an idea for the stampeded Commission.  Call Brian Sanderoff at Research and Polling and have him conduct a poll to see how people are feeling about these issues.  You will get the same results and you will do it cheaper.  And you won't screw up the ballot.

One thing to feel good about today is the firing of that NFL football player for viciously and violently knocking his fiancee unconscious.  That video should guarantee that he never play again.  But if you look at that former NFL dog fight promoter, you know that he will.  It is laughable that the NFL looks to make its players as violent as possible on the field, and then think that doesn't spill over into life off the field.  These guys think they can do no wrong.

Misc.

My sleep patterns are finally back to normal after a week at home.  I always have more problems with the sleep cycle coming back from a trip than going. And I have lost the four pounds I gained plus two more.  Back on weight watchers.

 Now that I am more alert I have noticed that my prediction of a blowout campaign for Governor by Martinez is coming true.  Her millions of dollars just can't be answered by Gary King.  He is realistically invisible.

The most important race, once again, might be for Secretary of State.  Maggie Tolouse Oliver stands a good chance of winning, but I fully suspect that the Koch brothers and others will soon fill the republicans coffers for that vote suppressing incumbent Dianna Duran.  So send some money to Maggie here.

I noticed the Mayor of Rio Rancho is going out to town hall meetings all over his jurisdiction.  I wonder if Mayor Berry is still locked in his office?  I see he is going to Nevada to learn about proper police training and procedures.  Maybe he needs a recharge from the new Tesla battery site.

And why is the highest paid public employee at UNM the basket ball coach?   Madness.

Our Cruise Video

You are welcome to watch our cruise video.  I know you would have to be awful bored and slightly brain damaged to do so.  But in case you are......  See it here.

Dinosaurs Abound

Who knew there would be two stories about huge dinosaurs in one day.  One was found in Argentina a few years back. It is called Dreadnoughtus.  It is estimated it weighed in at 65 tons.  Same as ten big bull elephants.  It ate plants.

The other huge dinosaur is Mittus Romnius.  He was found to be lacking a few years back with his simplistic ideas and solutions.  He ate dirt.  But now, he is back showing his dinosaur ideas center on ever more expenditures for the USA's military industrial complex.  He is a peculiar type of dinosaur in that he, and ones like him, are not extinct.

Ripples

The Tesla folks really had everyone running around trying to attract their new battery factory.  I had predicted that Nevada would win for a lot of reasons so it is not really surprising to me.  The logistics just favored Nevada.  But the ripples of being an also ran will continue to radiate outwards.

The fact of the matter is that our leaderless state continues to fester thanks to the Governor's office, legislative chambers and Mayor's office around the Land of Enchantment.  One never gets the feeling that there is a sense of  urgency being shown on fixing things around here.  Maybe we should change our state's moniker to the 'Land of Bewilderment'.

Things don't look to be getting any better.  Our business community is as responsible as anyone, along with the dismal abilities of our newspaper and broadcast journalists.  No one is thinking about real solutions to New Mexico's seemingly solitary slide amongst the states into economic depression.  How long can this go on?

PNM vs. The Gov

I am waiting to see what kind of nasty things the Governor's office mascots will say about the Public Service Company of NM after their comments in the Journal this morning. PNM will be seeking a massive rate hike for numerous reasons, some valid, and they think one of them is the dismal performance of New Mexico's economy.  They were pretty blunt about falling revenues from falling demand because of less commercial and industrial power use.  Then they said this wasn't happening in surrounding states.  And it isn't for sure.

It is nice to see someone in the business community finally saying the 'king has no clothes'.  And I don't mean Gary King either.  Of course, this will come to nothing because all Susanna has to do is call on right-wingers to send another 5 million to buy more feel good TV commercials.

Sadly, we are adrift and asleep here in our state.  We get the leadership in Santa Fe that we deserve.  And there is still no legislative firebrand that will take over the reins and do something innovative to save our economy.

Labor

Bobbi's Labor in her little garden shows a real harvest every week.  She gets something in return for her work in this 80 square foot patch of soil in our patio.  Those are the best damn tomatoes in the world as far as I am concerned.

As for the American worker their returns for their hard work in this corporate run America diminishes every single week.  Good jobs are now difficult to find and CEOs and Boards continue to oppose minimum wage laws.  How long can they hope to get away with the greed?  They have a lot of tunnel vision on profits.  They can't see the building resentment.  Maybe they should consider what is happening in Ferguson.  That is not just about another police shooting.  There is something more going on there.

Seamless

We have never had a trip that went as well as this sojourn to Ireleand, Scotland and Norway.  Everything was about as perfect as it could have been.  One of those confluence of good things that occasionally happen in the universe.

Lots of talk in Europe about Russia and the Ukraine.  One night the Rotterdams theater show featured Scorpion's song called 'Wind of Change', which was written about 15 years ago about the then positive changes in Russia.  Every Russian should listen to this again.

Amsterdam

Out of Flam

We sailed out of Flam in early evening through a 100 mile long Fjord.  Pictures say it all.  Back on Saturday.

Flam

We are at Sea fpr two days now before board a flight to arrive back in ABQ Saturday night..

Alesund, Norway

Alesund is a pretty city.  It is clean and planned following a fire that destroyed in in 1904.  It was rebuilt in modern architectural styles of that era.  

We have had incredible luck with weather having sunshine everyday and very little rain.  

Great weather again today after a shower just prior to our going off for a three hour walk in the city.

Bergen

We sailed into Norway today.  Certainly it is a rugged, but beautiful landscape.

The fish market has some really ugly fish hanging up.

We heard this was an expensive place.  It is.  I got out 600 Kroner from an ATM.  That was over $100,  We went to coffee and one cup plus a really good cinnamon roll cost $14.

Sweaters cost 300.   Lunch on a BLT for $20.  We ate on the ship.  On to Alesund, Norway tomorrow.

But is was a nice visit where we were joined by Rotterdam’s sister ship, the Ryndam.