Santa Fe New Mexican endorses Dianna Duran

From Capitol Report New Mexico - A Republican has not been elected as New Mexico’s Secretary of State for 80 years but on Friday (Oct. 22), the Santa Fe New Mexican editorial board endorsed the GOP’s Dianna Duran over Democratic incumbent Mary Herrera: The office of the New Mexico secretary of state is, to put it mildly, a mess: a politicized pit where paranoia reigns supreme and public service is a distant second — if even that, according to disgruntled former employees. Even taking their complaints with necessary grains of salt, the office has lost the confidence of too many of the New Mexicans it purports to serve. Since that office is the one people count on for record-keeping and for ensuring fair elections, it’s time to clean house — beginning with the secretary herself. Mary Herrera might have, as she claims, inherited an office in disarray; her predecessor faces federal indictments. But four years later, the operation is borderline chaotic. New Mexico’s voters need to break 80 years of Democratic rule in that office — and elect Dianna Duran secretary of state. Read more

Santa Fe New Mexican endorses Dianna Duran

Scandal? Martinez bought supplies from Hicks’ niece

From NM Politics.net - by Heath Haussamen - Doña Ana County District Attorney Susana Martinez’s office bought supplies and equipment from a business owned by the niece of an employee at the same time that her office was making purchases from a business owned by that employee. Martinez’s office bought about $2,200 worth of office supplies and electronic equipment in May 2004 from KPM Enterprises of Roswell, a business owned by Janetta Hicks’ niece, Kristen Huddleston. Martinez’s office purchased more than $60,000 in office supplies and equipment from Hicks’ business, Titan Office Supply, in 2003 and 2004. At the time, Hicks was one of the top prosecutors in Martinez’s office. She’s now a district attorney in Eastern New Mexico. Read more

Scandal? Martinez bought supplies from Hicks’ niece

ND Vote Could Ban Big Game Hunting on Fenced Land

From the Blaze.com - LISBON, N.D. (AP) — Butch and Deb Dick’s lifelong dream was to open a big game hunting preserve and after years of preparation, they expected to welcome the first customers to their southeastern North Dakota ranch this month. Voters will decide next month whether to shut them down. Measure No. 2 on the Nov. 2 general election ballot seeks to abolish fenced preserves where people pay to shoot big game such as deer and elk. Supporters of the measure say the practice is unethical because the animals can’t escape. Opponents say it’s free enterprise. There are thousands of big game breeding operations in the United States. Although it’s not clear how many offer hunting, there’s no federal law banning fenced hunting and a majority of states allow it. “I think it comes down to property rights,” Butch Dick, 34, said quietly, gazing from a ridge that overlooks his wooded and hilly Dragon Creek Ranch in the surprisingly rugged Sheyenne River Valley 8 miles west of Lisbon. Most of eastern North Dakota is flat farmland. About a dozen of the state’s more than 100 game preserves offer hunting for a fee. The cost of a hunt depends on the size of the animal, but some packages can run more than $10,000. Read more

ND Vote Could Ban Big Game Hunting on Fenced Land

The next emperor

From the Economist.com - A crown prince is anointed in a vast kingdom facing vaster stresses. China is in a fragile state - “WITH you in charge, I am at ease,” Mao Zedong is supposed to have told his successor, Hua Guofeng. It proved a disastrous choice. Mr Hua lasted a couple of years before being toppled in 1978. A decade later succession plans once again unravelled spectacularly, against a backdrop of pro-democracy unrest. Only once, eight years ago, has China’s Communist Party managed a smooth transfer of power—to Hu Jintao. Now a new transition is under way. The world should be nervous about it for two reasons: the unknown character of China’s next leader; and the brittle nature of a regime that is far less monolithic and assured than many foreigners assume. The man ordained to take over Mr Hu’s twin roles as party chief in 2012 and president the following year is hardly a household name. On October 18th Vice-President Xi Jinping was given a new job as vice-chairman of China’s Central Military Commission, which Mr Hu heads. This is a position for leaders-in-waiting. The portly son of one of Communist China’s founders, little known to the outside world until a few years ago, Mr Xi is preparing to take the helm of a country with the world’s second-biggest economy and its biggest armed forces—and which is in the midst of wrenching social change. Read more

The next emperor

Chevy Volt dubbed a 'fraud'

From Red Alert.com - Last summer, General Motors, commonly called "Government Motors" since the Obama administration takeover last year, unveiled the first of its "Obamamobiles," the Chevrolet Volt, a compact electric car that is priced to sell at $41,000. At the end of July, Obama permitted himself a Dukakis moment, allowing himself at a GM plant in Michigan to be photographed looking somewhat nervous and uncomfortable behind the wheel of a production-line model of the Chevy volt. Now it turns out the GM promotion about the Volt being the first truly all-electric car was just a lot of hype. In its editorial, the daily Wall Street newspaper Investors Business Daily charged GM and the Obama administration with fraud over their promotion of the Volt. "Advertised as an all-electric car that could drive 50 miles on its lithium battery, GM addressed concerns about where you plug the thing in en route to Grandma's house by adding a small gasoline engine to help maintain the charge on the battery as it starts to run down," the IBD editors wrote. "It was still an electric car, we were told, not a hybrid on steroids." IBD objected: "That's not quite true. The gasoline engine has been found to be more than a range-extender for the battery. Volt engineers are now admitting that when the vehicle's lithium-ion battery pack runs down and at speeds near or above 70 mph, the Volt's gasoline engine will directly drive the front wheels along with the electric motors. That's not charging the battery – that's driving the car." IBD concluded the Volt is not an all-electric car, "but rather a pricey $41,000 hybrid that requires a taxpayer-funded $7,500 subsidy to get car shoppers to look at it." Read more

Chevy Volt dubbed a 'fraud'

O'Reilly: a "View" to a Kill

Bill O'Reilly

From Townhall.com - Now that I've had a week to think about the big controversy on "The View," I've come to the conclusion that my comment that "Muslims killed us on 9/11" was really not what caused Whoopi Goldberg and Joy Behar to walk off the set. No doubt that pithy piece of analysis ticked them off, but there is more to this deal than meets the eye. Keeping in mind that I could be wrong about my speculation, let's walk through this. I've been on "The View" a number of times, and usually things are lively but under control. We've even had some laughs. But when I entered the studio last week, I picked up a different vibe, especially from Goldberg. Read more here:

O'Reilly: a "View" to a Kill

13 Dead and 20 Wounded in Juarez

From the El Paso Times - Gunmen killed 13 young people and wounded 20 others at a birthday party Friday night in Juárez - a massacre that has once again brought international attention to one of the world's most violent cities. The Chihuahua state attorney general's office reported that the dead ranged in age from 13 to 30 and included six women and girls. The 20 people wounded, including a 9-year-old boy, were being treated at various hospitals. The multiple killing was condemned at the highest levels of the Mexican government and shocked the city accustomed to several murders a day, due in part to a war between the Sinaloa and Juárez drug cartels. Shortly before 11 p.m. Friday, the victims were celebrating a birthday party in two homes on Arquitectos street in colonia Horizontes del Sur in east Juárez, according to an initial account from state authorities. The assailants, armed with assault rifles, arrived in two vehicles, stormed into the homes and began shooting indiscriminately as party guests attempted to run to safety. Read more here:

13 Dead and 20 Wounded in Juarez