House panel: Regulate airline fees

From the politico.com - By Giovanni Russonello - Members of Congress who constantly fly home to their districts are familiar with the latest trend in the airline industry: fees for everything from checked bags to fuel costs. Now they want to regulate and tax those fees. A panel of six experts from government agencies, airline companies and consumer associations testifying before the Aviation Subcommittee Wednesday voiced nearly unanimous agreement that these practices need to be regulated. Robert Rivkin, the general counsel for the Department of Transportation argued that the so-called ancillary charges “serve only to confuse or deceive consumers regarding the true full price of the ticket and to make price comparisons difficult.” Rep. Jerry Costello (D-Ill.), (above left) chairman of the subcommittee, said that the fees – which can’t be taxed — had deprived the federal government’s Airport and Airway Trust Fund of about $200 million in the last quarter of 2009 alone. Read more:

House panel: Regulate airline fees

Heath Offers Susana Martinez Advice

NMPolitics.net founder Heath Haussamen offers his views on what GOP gubernatorial candidate Susana Martinez has to do to win the election. Read his thoughts here:

Heath Offers Susana Martinez Advice

Wall Street Still Owns Washington D.C.

Elizabeth Warren, who leads the congressional panel overseeing the Troubled Asset Relief Program, said U.S. taxpayer bailouts helped Wall Street and not small banks. TARP “worked really well for the Wall Street banks, but it didn’t work well for the rest of the banks in the system,” Warren said today on Bloomberg Television’s “In the Loop with Betty Liu.” Read more here:

Wall Street Still Owns Washington D.C.

Ken Blackwell - Government Motors?

Columnist Ken Blackwell has some thoughts on government motors.......My friend Matt Lewis recently authored a thoughtful column about General Motors. As he pointed out, regardless of how one feels about the government bailout of GM – which he and I both vigorously opposed – there is reason for optimism about the company’s future. Read more here:

Ken Blackwell - Government Motors?

Walter Williams - Stimulus

Economist Walter Williams explains the problem.....Let's think about President Obama's failed economic stimulus program. Before getting to the nitty-gritty of why stimulus packages fail, let's look at the failed stimulus program of Obama's hero, Franklin Delano Roosevelt. FDR's Treasury Secretary, Henry Morgenthau, wrote in his diary: "We have tried spending money. We are spending more than we have ever spent before and it does not work. ... We have never made good on our promises. ... I say after eight years of this Administration we have just as much unemployment as when we started ... and an enormous debt to boot!"  Read more here:

Walter Williams - Stimulus

“Green Jobs” Report Touts NM Jobs That Don’t and Won’t Exist

From New Mexico WatchDog.org - By Jim Scarantino - Much hoopla has surrounded release of a study showing that so-called “green jobs” in New Mexico have exploded. But the fact sheet accompanying the report touts 600 “high wage jobs” at a solar plant that isn’t going to be built. The report was featured in an op-ed placed in The Albuquerque Journal, and won glowing coverage by The New Mexico Independent. The report by Headwaters Economics of Bozeman, Montana claims that “green job” growth outpaced all other types of job growth over twelve years from 1995 to 2007. They claim “green jobs” increased 62% while all other jobs increased 13%. The number of “green jobs,” however, remains a fraction of overall employment. At the end of a dozen years of explosive growth, “green jobs” amounted to only about 4,800 positions of the state’s 2008 total employment of 825,736. Read more

“Green Jobs” Report Touts NM Jobs That Don’t and Won’t Exist

Rhode Island and Immigration Law

Commentary published at Merle Widmer's PEORIA WATCH - Well whaddya know? It turns out that Rhode Island has long been carrying out the procedures at issue in the Arizona immigration statute: As a matter of routine, RI state police check immigration status at traffic stops whenever there is reasonable suspicion to do so, and they report all illegal's to the feds for deportation. Besides the usual profiling blather, critics have trotted out the now familiar saw that such procedures hamstring police because they make immigrants afraid to cooperate. But it turns out that it’s the Rhode Island police who insist on enforcing the law. As Cornell law professor William Jacobson details at Legal Insurrection, Colonel Brendan P. Doherty, the state police commander, “refuses to hide from the issue,” explaining, ”I would feel that I'm derelict in my duties to look the other way.” Read more

Rhode Island and Immigration Law

Are Overdue Reports Concealing ObamaCare Impact On Medicare?

From Investors.com - By Peter Ferrara - Every year, the Annual Report of the Social Security Board of Trustees comes out between mid-April and mid-May. Now it's July, and there's no sign of this year's report. What is the Obama administration hiding? The annual report includes detailed information about Social Security and its financing over the next 75 years, produced by the Office of the Actuary of the Social Security Administration. Read more

Are Overdue Reports Concealing ObamaCare Impact On Medicare?

Commentary - Let’s teach the right lessons in our schools

Guest column in NM Politic.net - by NM State Senator Steve Fischmann - Nine-year-old Bobby reads at a first-grade level, but at his parents’ insistence is promoted to the fourth grade. Because he cannot follow the fourth-grade lessons, he loses interest and falls further behind. Bobby learns that he will get promoted to the next grade whether he can do the work or not. School becomes a meaningless exercise and eventually he drops out. Under pressure to meet No Child Left Behind testing standards, an elementary school principal tells teachers to spend less time on science and social studies and more time drilling students in preparation for math and English standardized tests. Regardless of test performance, true math and language development is stunted because these skills are seldom applied to real world situations. Students learn that school lessons are abstract and boring. Read more

Commentary - Let’s teach the right lessons in our schools

Clovis pet licensing law kicks in next week

This is a story from the Clovis News Journal - NewsNM would like to know how long this pet tag in Clovis will be free? And, Conrad, (left) would like to know why people should have to pay a fee to a city for the city to return their constitutional right to have a great dog, eh?

CNJ - Beginning Monday, Fido needs a license to live in Clovis. A new city ordinance requires residents to license their dogs and cats at the Clovis Animal Shelter or the police department. Pet owners will receive a tag for their pet; their address and pet’s identifying information will be entered into a database system that police and animal control officers can access. There is no charge. Read more

Clovis pet licensing law kicks in next week

The Issue Won't Go Away

City Councilors are starting to get an earful from constituents for their decision (against the Mayor's advice) to block efforts to move along the construction of North Sonoma Ranch Boulevard. In e-mails counselors are launching accusations that some people are spreading "misinformation" on this sticky subject that involves millions in taxpayer dollars. This morning on News New Mexico we are going to replay a portion of our interview with Las Cruces Mayor Ken Miyagishima. During our interview the mayor spelled out what he thinks has been happening that is keeping this area suffering from a dead-end road. You can hear the podcast of today's show. Just click on the KSNM 570 logo on this site.

The Issue Won't Go Away