A Relevant Quote

I got into a senseless argument with right-wingers on the deportation of that 40 year old father of three kids who had been in America since he was ten years old.  I stretched it a bit by saying the Homeland Security officers who escorted him out were like death camp guards, who fell back on the excuse they were just following orders.  It did remind me of that famous quote,

 "First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out—

Because I was not a Socialist.

Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Trade Unionist.

Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Jew.

Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.

Perspective

Remember when?  It used to be that other countries would respect the United States.  A time when a sitting President didn't need to call black and brown people as residents of shitholes.

Take, for example, Cuba.  This is a photo I snapped while there a few days ago in Havana.  It is a park that honors Cuba's heroes.  Yes, that is Abraham Lincoln.  The man who emancipated slaves in our nation.  That meant something to Cubans who have no small experience with slavery in their history.

trump overstepped this time to the point where articles of impeachment are certainly warranted.  But the morally bankrupt republicans in this country will march against it.  Frankly, anyone in the Republican party is complicit.

A BLM Movement

Bureau of Land Management moving out of DC?  As a former Director of the BLM, this only makes sense if the BLM is regionalized, much like other Interior Departments and the Forest Service.  Instead of having a State Director in every western state who is beholding to Governors and Senators supported by the extractive industries,  the Department could be split up into identifiable ecoregions.  Take for instance the Colorado Plateau states of Colorado, New Mexico, Utah, and Arizona.  But wait, that would make too much sense, wouldn't it?

Cuba Si!

We had a great stop in Havana for a couple of days.  One can really see the effects of the Embargo and the fall of the Soviet Union here.  The Cuban people are resilient and hope for a better future and of course, they are disappointed in trump going retro from Obama's opening of better relations with the country.  The country needs a major infusion of capital and a lessening of government authoritarianism.  But, the people we met seem to be patient even if they cant see the light at the end of the tunnel.  We had a great time touring around in an old Buick with a Mercedez engine and homemade radiator.

Sailing away from a very polluted bay.  The water had a lot of sewage and fuel oil in it and the air was bad until there was a nice shower.

Sailing soon to Cuba

Outta Here

We are off to Havana, Cuba, and a few other stops.  Our house sitter has invested in Claymore mines so we will still have cars in the garage when we return.

We booked this trip on July 16th and it became harder over time to be able to enjoy Cuba because of an asshole named trump.  If we had booked two weeks earlier we would not have been affected because we would have been grandfathered under Obama rules.  trump is turning this country into a backwater.  We will watch Europeans and Canadians saunter off the ship on their own and explore Havana, while we Americans must be escorted so that trump can think his little penis has gotten bigger.  Well, he is a big dick, isn't he?

Out of the Wilderness

I have just come out of the Wilderness of the worse cold/flu virus I have dealt with in years.  Most of our friends have been dealing with it also and we were all together at a party, so I guess that is where it spread.  Some friends had to go to urgent care and they said it looked like a triage center from all of the human wreckage laid low by little microbes.  Hours of waiting to be told to go home and tough it out.

It is kind of like dealing with trump/pence for the last year.  Except they are still around tearing the democracy apart since the antibodies you would usually rely on to kill their policy crimes, (that would be the Senate,) have been absent due to a GOP majority.  We can only assume it can't get any worse.  Right?

Sheeesh

Well, why do I feel as if this Pence visit to Afghanistan really is meaningless? This Christian Fundamentalist understands little of the issues facing the world. He thinks jesus will save us and that end of days are coming. That is leadership in our country today. Burdened with dogma while intellectually bankrupt.

Grandkids Lament

Think of it this way.  An old white GOP member of Congress decides he needs a new $5 million dollar house.  He buys it with a huge mortgage.  He works the deal so that his grandchildren have to pay off the debt after he his dead.  That way he gets all the rewards and they get bankruptcy and then start living in a third world nation.

That is the tax cut viewed in a different way.

More to Come

If you think things are falling apart in government now, just wait.  Case in point.  A  train derailment on a new route kills and injures passengers because Congress keeps cutting funding of Amtrak.  And then their strangulation of the IRS will make it nearly impossible to collect owed taxes, even under the new tax con job by the GOP.

Bobbi and I stand to gain from this tax cut and we shouldn't.  We would rather the money go into fixing the nation's infrastructure so we at least stay in the low rankings for first world economies.  Take a look at our streets and highways if you think things are working right now.

The bankruptcy of the government and the morality of the GOP go hand in hand.

No Regressive Taxes

It never fails.  Republican officer holders leave deficits for incoming Democratic office holders.  Mayor Berry with the help of the city council covered up the anemic revenues coming into ABQ's city coffers.  And now a progressive office holder, Tim Keller, is left with a mess.

Certainly, the ax must come out on frivolous projects.  One I can think of is the Roundabout at Rio Grande and Candelaria and the ridiculous strangling of that street at the behest of Councillor Benton. That money might well be diverted to ART anyway if the Feds don't send what they said they would.

But about the last thing we need is another regressive increase in the gross receipts tax.  Anything but that might be feasible, but only as a last resort.  One of the first things I would do is to get a good audit going to make sure NM state government is sending ABQ what is actually owed.  When I was Mayor that was the first place we would look and we always hit paydirt.

Every City Councillor should be watched carefully in this process.  As well as every County Commissioner.  They have a finger in this pie too.

Divided

The real takeaway from Alabama should be the huge divide between rural and urban America.  And it just isn't in that Southern State.  One can only wonder at the factors that cause this split, but I think it is education, economic potential, religious fundamentalism, and innate stupidity when it comes to knowing what is really in one's own self-interest.

I don't know how this gets healed, but I have a feeling that education and eradication of christian fundamentalism is the answer.  The first would be easy to solve.  The second would be hard because those evangelicals really love their imaginary friend who lives in the clouds and will give them wings.

Alabama

If I weren’t an atheist, I would say there is a god. 

Scale

A person labeled as a terrorist yesterday set off a feeble pipe bomb in NYC that caused minor injuries to bystanders and a serious injury to himself.  Thankfully, no deaths.  But of course, the media and President go apeshit over this incident.

In the meantime, they ignored the fact that over 90 people were killed by gunfire in the US yesterday.  A major terrorist called the NRA is responsible.  And not a word.

Toasting Les

When I was State Liquor Director in the late 70's and early 80's the licensing system was corrupt and dangerous.  We set out, with the blessing of Bruce King, to try and fix things in a legislature rife with liquor lobby controlled members and organized crime involvement in the licensing structure.

After a couple of years of extreme maneuvering, we came up with a reform bill to be introduced to the Legislature.  The bill was carried by Senator Les Houston.   Les passed away this last week.

The effort he put out to pass the bill was heroic and successful.  His astonishing sense of humor carried the day and he beat the liquor lobby into submission.

Most of the reform was killed over the next few terms of office for Governor, but one thing really stuck.  And that was Beer and Wine licenses.  So the next time you go into a small place for dinner and a brew or glass of red, make a toast to Les Houston.

Of Course a Fire Sale

A submission by a good friend, Ned Farquhar.

Yes, if you are producing oil and gas, or want to, you do pretty well under the tax reform legislation moving through the Congress with the Trump Administration's strong urging and approval.  Significant wind energy tax preferences, however, will go toes-up.  As this article says, it's part of a concerted campaign FOR fossil fuels, and AGAINST renewable energy.  See "reward oil and gas while taking aim at renewables"  https://oilprice.com/Energy/Crude-Oil/The-GOP-Tax-Bill-Is-A-Big-Win-For-US-Oil-And-Gas.html

Another consideration: If you are an oil and gas entity, and you make a lot of political contributions, it will be really nice to deduct your contributions as charitable donations not subject to Federal income tax.  Just send them to a politically oriented church.  How's that?  The legislation now under consideration removes the prohibitions on political activity by charitable entities.  https://www.independentsector.org/resource/2017-house-tax-reform-talking-points/

Yet further, tax reform will reward residents and businesses in oil-rich states where there is no income tax - Wyoming, Texas, and Alaska, for example - by eliminating deductions of state and local income taxes from Federal income tax.  In contrast, residents of states with income taxes will suffer, paying taxes on the money they pay to their state governments in income tax.  (The big GOP objection to the inheritance tax has always been that it makes an estate pay tax on funds that were already taxed when they were earned - in other word, double-taxation.  But no objection to violating the same principle by double -taxing via elimination of the state tax payments tax deduction.  And big advantages to oil-windfall state residents, who tend to be very loyal to the GOP.  Remember, it's Alaska, Texas, and Wyoming...)

And oil and gas loopholes are preserved in this tax reform bill, which eliminates middle-class benefits and causes tax increases for many with incomes under $100,000/yr. 

Pretty nice gift to fossil energy from the GOP Congress and Administration - while renewable energy is pushed backward.

PED Stupid

Susana's Public Education department is being run by idiots.  They have condemned four Albuquerque Schools for having bad test scores.  They have denigrated the teachers who work the hardest in schools whose communities are in chaos and poverty.  Teachers from higher scoring affluent schools wouldn't last a week in these difficult areas because of the daily grind of not only teaching but trying to nurture kids from broken and parent addicted homes.  This bludgeoning by PED is criminal.  And think what it does to the kids that go to those schools.  One more black mark on their lives.

My hat is off to the courageous teachers and administrators who work in these kinds of schools  They are the bravest people in the school system.

GOP

G=Greed
O=Oligarchy
P=Pedophilia

Ravaged

As a former Director of the Bureau of Land Management, I am trying very hard to understand why trump and zinke are working so hard to destroy our heritage.  One of the things that have made our nation great is its public lands and conservation ethic.  Hard battles have been waged in protecting our great western landscapes.  And then these two, well, clowns, come along and set back our peoples efforts to a time before Theodore Roosevelt when watersheds, forests, rivers, and landscapes were to be pillaged.  The actions in Utah today by our psychopathic liar of a president and his minions in the oil and gas, mining and livestock industry will go down in infamy.

Corpse

How do you make a corpse out of a corporation?  The right-wing supreme court has said corporations are people.  And these people are destroying America by the tax cut, funding of right-wing politicians, denying decent healthcare to citizens, and interference in nurturing a strong middle class.  They are enemies of the people.

So how would one go about doing away with a corporation by assassination?  Is there a way to do it? I think not unless wholesale slaughter is visited upon the executives, boards, and stockholders.  So, is a corporation even a person?  Well the GOP thinks so even though there is no way to kill a corporation to protect the public health safety and welfare.

This is where the ultra-rich have taken America.