Anxiety

I am anxious.  The other day tucked down in the corner of the newspaper was a little story about how an American drone in Afghanistan had killed a couple of dozen innocent civilians, fourteen of which were children.  Maybe the national media spent ten seconds on it.

Now we are getting 24 hour reruns of the horrific explosions in Boston.  Closer to home.  I stopped watching the news after seeing the explosion about 100 times.  Feeding the anxiety of Americans.

Yesterday at lunch with my golf buddies I decided that Americans like to be scared because it pulls them together.  At first I was greeted with guffaws, but then slowly the others thought maybe it was true.

I am not anxious because I am scared.  I am anxious because we ignore the death of 14 children in Afghanistan with no apologies for blood on our hands.  At the same time we show great empathy and caring for our own victims who most likely died at the hands of a crazy person, ala Tim McViegh.  It seems wrong.

Dem Governor's Primary

The New Mexico Governor's Democratic Primary is thankfully getting some more potential  candidates now that Senator Linda Lopez and Senator Tim Keller are considering entering the contest.  This is a good thing because Attorney General Gary King certainly needs some one to poke him in the eye to see if he reacts.

Linda Lopez's claim to fame will be the refusal of her Senate Committee to give the Governor's Education Secretary an up or down vote after two  years of endless and unnecessary delay and pontification.  Ms. Skandera has been treated unfairly by Lopez and the committee.  But is that enough for anyone to notice Lopez in a positive way?  Hardly.

Senator Time Keller is a charismatic and youthful leader who sits left of center.  He is hard working and not so full of dogma that he can't compromise once in a while.  He might make a pretty good candidate if he can raise some money.  I hope he can.

At the very least this will all liven the primary and will get the juices flowing.  That is positive all the way around.  At least some of these candidates act like grownups!

Missile Range or Renewables?

The Defense Department doesn't like the alignment of the SunZia power line that will carry renewable power.  They say it will harm the White Sands Missile Range even though it is well north of the active range.  The planning process has been exhaustive and now there are threats from self appointed defense guru Sherman McCorkle that the range will leave NM if Defense doesn't get its way.  What a crock?  Where would they go?  What other state has the space or stamina for going through NEPA qualifications etc. to get the range?

What is really more frustrating is the comments of Senator Tom Udall, the sometimes master of fence sitting on issues.  Here is what the Journal quoted him as saying,

Saying WSMR has a “diverse and important mission,” Udall said he has urged the cooperating agencies to work together for a “timely and fair resolution concerning WSMR and SunZia we can all benefit from.” 

What the hell does that mean?  Does he have a position?  Come on Tom!  Man  up a little.  You are on the appropriations committee.  Defense will most likely do what you want and deep down you know the power line is more important to the future than some missile shots.

Senator Heinrich was more forthcoming.  

"Heinrich said the siting process has been “deliberate, transparent and comprehensive. I am excited that this proposal is on the verge of moving from the planning phase to actual construction.” 

That sounds like support for the hard right of way decision for the power line.  He takes a position.  And it is the right one.

Still Moving Around

My big sister Carlota just returned from a month long sojourn to Peru.  She visited the desert, the Amazon, Cuzco and Machu Picchu.  She did a lot of hiking around on the new hip she got last year.  I hope I am getting around that well at 70.  

Blame

Why does everyone blame the Government for our unemployment problems?  I tend to do it sometimes too, especially when government makes absolutely no effort to make things better.(Think Governor Martinez here.)

But really, it is our much over rated American corporations that are responsible.  Right now  they are sitting on mountains of cash.  They have abandoned research and development in the favor of the bottom line.  They have cut employees and forced those remaining to work harder for less. And they sit there and say they can't do anything until they get some certainty in the economy which many of them helped wreck in the first place.  They hate government regulation and interference but they sit around and blame government for not fixing things.

The big missing item here is, of course, the media which feeds this self sustaining loop.  They constantly attack government but never attack their advertisers.  For the most part journalism is dead in this country.  It was the one thing we had watching our backs for a long time.  But nor more.

Memo to NM Dem Leaders

It is all there waiting for you.  First there is the really bad news on the declining work force in New Mexico.  Thousands are just giving up looking for decent jobs and either moving out of state or becoming couch potatoes.  And what jobs there are pay a pittance minimum wage that the Chamber of Commerce and Governor Susana Martinez guaranteed with her veto of a raise in that wage.  This state is consuming itself in poverty while the Governor gets ready to have a $10,000 a person fund raiser at a trendy spa in Taos for her corporate supporters to hand over the cash.

This is what prospective Democratic party chairman should be talking about.  Constantly!  But, Martinez continues to get a break on criticism.  Here is an idea.  One of the TV News Stations should demand a one hour interview in prime time with her hosted by an economist, a reporter, and an unemployed person so they can try and elicit some answers from her on the current state of affairs.  I think then people would realize just how much she is in over her head.  And the TV station should do a ten second story every night on how the Governor has refused to go in front of a large TV audience to explain what she intends to do.  Every night.

Dinelli

Pete Dinelli called me yesterday to state that he had very little support from the Labor Unions in getting his signatures and $5 contributions for public financing in his Mayor's race.  He said they were worried about getting backlash from the NM Legislature as the attempted to fix the Public Employees Retirement system.  He said he hired a professional organizer to over see the successful effort.  He said the city sent him his $360K finance funds immediately

 The big question is the amount of outside independent PAC money will be injected into the race.  It could be huge.

Salt Lake

I am off to Salt Lake City for a meeting of the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance Board.  I have to say that being on a Wilderness advocacy board in Utah is like being an atheist at a Christian fundamentalist church gathering.  It is pretty much a hard road to travel given the inclinations of the Utah Legislature who have just appropriated $3 million dollars to sue the United States to get all public land turned over to the state.  These guys are incredibly stupid.  And they keep getting worse.  I have been on this board for over 20 years and the political scene in Utah just gets weirder and weirder.

The magnificent landscapes of Utah are under real threats due to the legislature and counties attempting to claim rights of way for non existent roads through every park, wilderness study area and monument. Thousands of roads.  All at the behest of the oil, gas and mining industries.   Groups like the Alliance fight back and use the courts and public opinion to fight the craziness.  It is great to be part of this fight. I have been doing it for twenty years now.  It is a fight that is seemingly endless.

Albuquerque Mayor's Race

I was surprised that Pete Dinelli collected all those $5 contributions to get him public financing.  It showed some organization and cohesiveness to do it.  I am not sure who helped, but my guess is the Union folks did.  There is nothing wrong with that since the corporate boys and right wing Chamber of Commerce will be with Mayor Berry.  It was also a cheap way for the Union guys to help a candidate.  Now they wont need to pony up any money now that Pete has his pubic financing.

He will most assuredly be greatly outspent.  That could spell disaster for the ability to get in the public's face.  All Berry will have to do is outspend the former Marty Chavez ally by having independent pacs and others do a job on Pete.

Still, there is a way to victory for Dinelli, but it might be pretty much out of his hands on designing such a path to a happy election night.  Events that can't be foreseen, such as in Councillor Michael Cooks case, can alter the political process quickly and with finality.  It could just be something that Mayor Berry and his managers can not foresee.  But right now, I think the odds are 4-1 for Berry.  But that could change overnight.  And, my odds making really don't work well.  I didn't think Pete could get the  required thousands of  $5 contributions.  He deserves some respect on that accomplishment.

Misc.

Governor Martinez, probably at the behest of her oil and gas supporters, vetoed a Photo Voltaic array for the Capitol Building parking structure in Santa Fe.  The legislature voted for it.  It would have been the right thing to do, but she would rather support fossil fuel consumption and their corporate tax breaks.  This is the kind of leadership that will literally cook New Mexico. It is shortsighted and stupid.

The Albuquerque Journal did what they always do in their edition today.  Instead of putting a picture of former GOP Governor Gary Johnson on the front page story detailing the ripping off of the state on his much vaunted financial deal  on construction of the 550 highway to Farmington with the Koch brothers, they inexplicably put a picture of Governor Richardson on the front page.  Richardson had absolutely nothing to do with that project between  the extreme right wing Koch boys and the highway department.  Richardson did refinance the bonds later on, but that is standard practice.  This is a perfect example of why you can not trust the Journal to report fairly and accurately their stories.  I will bet you a million that the editor forced the picture of Richardson on to the front page.  Well, it wont matter in another ten years.  This newspaper wont be around anymore if circulation continues to drop as young people turn to other avenues for news in ever growing numbers.

Democracy at Work

A friend of mine had an interesting idea on how to deal with the NRA and other right wing groups.  Just get a campaign together to have millions of people who don't think we need assault rifles to join the NRA and then get a vote called to oust the current boards and CEOs.  Then pursue the reasonable firearm policies that most sensible countries have.  Or at least the eradication of assault rifles and implementation of universal background checks.

I think some organization out there could pull this off over a couple of years.  The NRA has only 4.5 million members.  If another five million moderate members are added then the days of Wayne la Pierre and his ilk are numbered in those groups.

Misc.

So, UNM will run after Steve Alford and spend money and time in their legal department.  They want $1 million from him.   Ultimately, will we get in a fight with UCLA's legal department?  That is a great use of time for institutions of higher learning, isn't it?  This is a fight hardly worth having.  It is really looking to me as a form of punishment meted out by an incompetent Athletics department.  It takes the heat off of them.

The oil and gas industry is funding another right wing conservative educational group in New Mexico whose name is GOAL.  Their goal is to fight endangered species listing that get in the way of the fossil fuel boys hunger for profits.  This group will spend money on the media blaming certain of Nature's creatures with destroying human jobs and values.  Watch for their weekly opeds in the oil and gas controlled Albuquerque Journal.

I have to say the Journal has been doing a pretty good job of straight news coverage lately.  Not wide ranging, but certainly focused.  I have also noticed lots of full page ads in the paper recently.  Many of them from that giant new liquor warehouse on the west side.  Their ad might accidentally end up in the section with pictures of drunk drivers someday.  That would be funny.  Especially since the Journal is somewhat focused on DUI issues.  When our kids and spouses were home last week I only saw one of them pick up a newspaper once.  It was the New York Times.  They get most of their content from the internet and NPR.

Different Standards

Manny Aragon got what he deserved when he was sent to prison for corruption.  His multi million dollar kickbacks from the construction of the metro court in Albuquerque was extreme.  But somehow, as we discussed at coffee the other day, it seems less serious than former Senator Pete Domenici abandoning a child he fathered, keeping it a secret from the public, his children and his wife for decades.  A child who grew up with out a father because of political protection for a republican known as St. Pete who the GOP needed to keep in place.

The rush to eradicate the name of Manny Aragon from the Hispanic Cultural Center was quick and decisive.  Any thought of doing the same to the Domenici name who threw away a child hasn't even been brought up.  His name graces the US Federal Court House.  A supposed place of Justice.  Except when it comes to his name.  Why the different treatment?  Most probably it is because of race.  That is all I can come up with.

 I started thinking about this again today when I saw that formerly disgraced republican Governor Sanford of South Carolina won his primary for congress.   The fact that those GOP voters wanted him back shows a different standard from the one they espouse on family values.  Maybe when all the women vote in the general election he will get handed his Appalachian hiking hat.

Teflon

She is coated with it.  Teflon.  Here is what the Governor has done in the last few days.

Lowered taxes for corporations.
Raised taxes on poor and working people by causing cities to raise taxes on them.
Told gay people they aren't worthy of marriage.(Along with New Mexico's Catholic Bishops.)
Vetoed the minimum wage increase for the Chamber of Commerce.

Susanah Martinez gets away this kind of behavior because people just don't pay attention.   Corporate moneybags keep her and her right wing mascots in good standing.  Along with the media mostly doing inane positive stories on her.  Such as her hiring 40 fire fighters for the upcoming conflagrations.  Well, that just might be the culmination of her job creation efforts.

Misc.

I have been getting some real wacko comments lately on the Mary Han case as well as some constructive ones.  It all points to one thing for me.  The Department of Justice must step in and investigate Mary Han's untimely death.  So far the bizarre actions of the Albuquerque Police Department at the scene would make one very concerned that a proper investigation was not done.  The City Attorney should definitely ask for an independent review of the case from top to bottom.  Already, the national media is showing interest in this story and it could be that our city will end up with another black eye.  But really, at the end of the day we must all know that the Justice system and its backups are working.  So far as Mary's death, they don't seem to be.

Where were the Mayor's lobbyists during the Legislative session?  I can only assume that they didn't know about the screw job done to Albuquerque in the tax reform bill that cut taxes for corporations and raised them on the poor and working folks.  Or, they were ordered by the Mayor and City Council to ignore it.  Or, as happens many times, Albuquerque's own legislators did not stand up for the well being of their home districts.  No matter what happened, they all failed us.

There is something else that has been bothering me.  The legislature has enacted law that will do away with the automatic 3% cost of living raise for public employee retirees.  I understand it was necessary for a while.  But at the same time they ignore the actions of the County Commissions and Assessors in automatically raising property taxes 3% a year.  Shouldn't they be put on a diet too?  Just asking, that is all.

Finally, we had a great week with our kids and grandson Simon.  Justin, Karly and Simon flew away from the Juniper pollen yesterday.  Daughter Noelle and Luke flew back to Colorado Juniper pollen in Fort Collins.  We went to Costco to buy a bale of Kleenex to get us through the next few weeks.

Generations

My uncle Deacon Jaime Baca had a good time with the youngest Baca on Saturday.  We had our Easter Feast a day early since all the kids are leaving on Sunday.

Jaime is 90 years old.  Grandson Simon is 29 months old. There is a lot of time between their births.  But only in some ways.  As my wife Bobbi was mentioning last night, this country will be celebrating its 240th anniversary soon.  When you stop and think that my uncle has been alive for almost 40% of the time that the United States has existed then we don't seem to be such a long time world power.  Even at my age of almost 68 I have been around for over one quarter of the USA's history.

So, one should not feel that this country is necessarily a long term success yet.  If we don't curb the power of corporate America it is doubtful the Union can stand.  But there is time to remedy that.

Ettu Steve

I read a story one time by Arthur C. Clarke titled "The 9 Billion Names of God."  The premise was once the human race knew all of those 9 billion names that the universe would cease to exist.

I don't think those 9 billion names will approach the names Steve Alford of the Lobos will be called.  Now that he has bolted to UCLA one day before his new contract starts.  If this doesn't show college basketball athletics for what they are, then nothing will.  It is just a cut throat money business where the big names get everything.  

It's All Happening at the Zoo

At 10AM this morning folks were pouring into the Albuquerque Biological Park.  

Us Included.

Grandma Bobbi and Grampa Jim got to spend time with Grandson Simon.

Simon's parents Justin and Karly were there.

Simon has a double crown and a cowlick for life.

Meanwhile our daughter Noelle and her husband Luke enjoyed the little guy.

Stretch

A beautiful morning.  On the first tee.  Little warm up swings at Santa Ana because the range was closed.  Hit a 240 yard draw down the middle of the fairway.  And felt like some one stabbed me in the lower back.  Totally pulled a muscle of some sort and then played four more holes before the knife twisted.  Now, several days recuperation with ice, heat, and some pretty good pain killers!

Note to self.  If you cant warm up on the range then stretch for 10 minutes you imbecile.

Write a Letter Mayor Berry

Mayor Berry should show some backbone and write a letter to Governor Martinez asking her to veto the tax bill that was passed in the last moments of the session which will absolutely screw his city and the people who live in it.  If he doesn't make this effort he may well open himself to a weakened reelection effort.

Here is a commercial I would script for TV.

While the Corporate lobbyists pushed through another state tax break for their clients at the expense of working people in our city and counties, Mayor Richard Berry sided with the CEO's of the nations biggest corporations.  The tax break will be paid for by the city's residents.  He has betrayed his duty to his city and the citizens who live in it by siding with the corporations and the right wing chamber of commerce.  All so the bottom lines result in even bigger bonuses for corporate executives.  Why did he remain silent?

The video for such an ad would show working people at their jobs and then at home trying to make ends meet.