Business Community Pleads with Bingaman

Jeff Bingaman with Senators Kerry and Reid
From the Westerner - Saying "We do not believe S. 1689 as currently written is in the best interests of the citizens of Dona Ana County", three business organizations have asked Senator Jeff Bingaman to remove the bill from "any last minute consideration by the Congress." The chair persons of the Greater Las Cruces Chamber of Commerce, the Las Cruces Association of Realtors and Building Industry Association of Southern NM stated in a letter to Senator Bingaman "our organizations continue to have significant concerns with S. 1689, especially in the areas of Border Security and Flood Control." Click here to read the complete letter.
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Time to Re-visit ANWR

Al Gore's Carbon Footprint
Now that the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico has long been capped and the dreadful ecological and economic consequences garner universal disgust it is time to revisit ANWR. So abhorent and disgusting are the images of unemployment lines and foreclosure signs in Louisiana been, one cannot help but be angry on some level. Let us use our ability to reason to direct our anger in the proper direction. Below is the link to a story written by National Review columnist Jonah Goldberg. It was written after he made a trip to the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) in 2001. Unlike 99.99% of all others that leave their carbon footprints while insisting on legislation that has pushed so many drilling rigs into 5,000 feet of water, Goldberg actually took the time to visit ANWR. If you are wondering about FACTS related to ANWR as it continues to remain off limits to develpment ,and why we should be pumping oil there instead of into the gulf click here for the archived report of his findings:

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British Socialism: Pensioners Freezing to Death

From Express.co.uk - MIDDLE class families are among millions of Britons who cannot afford to heat their homes this winter, as elderly ride on buses all day to stay in the warm. After a week of snow and freezing temperatures a shocking picture has emerged of the bleak months ahead for 5.5 million households. Pensioners, who are among those most ­vulnerable to the cold, are resorting to ­extraordinary measures to keep warm. Many have been using their free travel ­passes to spend the day riding on buses while others are seeking refuge from the cold in libraries and shopping centres.  Read full story here:
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Progressive Magazine: New Negotiating Wish List

From Progressive.org - Before the Democrats cave in to the Republicans’ extortion gambit for the rich, the least the Dems could do is to bargain harder. Not just for the long-term unemployed this go round, but for a permanent extension of unemployment benefits, especially given the no-end-in-sight reality of no jobs. But let’s not stop there. Let’s actually create jobs for these 15 million Americans and more. The Dems should propose that the government hire the unemployed to put up solar panels on every government building in the country, and repair the bridges, and fix the roads. Read full column here:
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McCullough: Why True Consensus is Against Obama

From Townhall.com - by Kevin McCullough - Quiz question: "Who in Washington DC is obstructionist, angry, dishonest, and of course extremely partisan?" If you guessed liberal Senate democrats, congrats... How did Republicans at least temporarily halt a runaway train to insure that every American who pays taxes does not see an increase? Simple, they got lame ducks, democrats, and independents to join the cause. In doing so they halted a harmful tax increase against 75% of small business in America today. Oh sure, to hear the Senate liberals explain it, they weren't voting for tax increases against small business. No, they would argue, they were just desiring the steepest tax increase in history against people who OWN small businesses, or file their taxes as an s-corp business which makes their corporate earning vulnerable to the tax increases President Obama seems intent upon hammering them with. Read full column here:
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Parker: Deficit Cutting Commission Gets it Wrong

Star Parker
From Townhall.com - The Bowles-Simpson deficit cutting commission is more Washington theater. Another show with an impressive cast designed to give the appearance of being serious. This kind of theater, unfortunately, not only accomplishes little or nothing, but it makes things worse. Under the guise of doing something, it obfuscates our real problems. Our federal budget did not explode over a few short years to sucking up a quarter of our economy because we didn't have politicos with green eyeshades looking at it. It exploded because we have government in Washington that can do practically anything it wants. Without clarity about the role of government and meaningful law enforcing it, we're never going to get spending and debt under control. And this is what Americans need to wise up to and get resigned about. Here's a few things sticking in my craw from just over the last week that speak to the reality of government with no constitutional constraint. Read full column here: 

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Outstanding German Economic Performance Continues

Angela Merkel
How does German Chancellor Angela Merkel do it? Unemployment in Germany hit a 17 year low in November while the jobless rate in the U.S. moved from 9.6% to 9.8%. Progressives in America continue to blame George W. Bush nearly four years after Democrats seized control of Congress and nearly two years after he left office. The Merkel magic is hardly magic at all. The German Chancellor merely understands basic economics. So, while the progressive in the United States continue to attempt to advance policies that penalize working and investments while rewarding bureaucratic sloth and non-competitiveness Merkel has engineered a remarkable turnaround in Germany's economic fortunes.
Just a few years ago it was America's unemployment rate that was low and its businesses were well respected by government. While Germans continued to hold onto vague hopes that socialism would work Americans understood the importance of private sector leadership. It has only been with the ascension of Angela Merkel that Germany has become the lone exception to the sputtering economic rules that are now dragging down the rest of Western Europe and the United States. What did Merkel do? First she refused to listen to the Obama Adminsitration's calls for more BORROWING and SPENDING to "stimulate" the German economy. Instead, Merkel has been the author of a substantial reform agenda concerning Germany's economic and social system. A trained scientist rather than a social engineering lawyer, Merkel has strongly advocated basic reforms to German labor laws.
By removing illogical barriers preventing businesses from adjusting their workforces to competitive conditions and increasing the allowed number of work hours in a week, Merkel has made her country more competitive. While the United States continues to engage in charades disguised as tax policy debates with socialists continuing to defend the indefensible, Germany has become more economically viable and influential while America becomes more weakened. No, Merkel is no miracle worker. She has simply learned what America seems to have unlearned. When you punish success, investments, and work and you reward cluelessness and sloth, you will get more of the latter and less of the former.


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Emissions-Cap Judgement Day

From albjournal.com The New Energy Economy petition to cap greenhouse gas emissions in New Mexico is back in the spotlight, with the state Environmental Improvement Board expected to rule on the controversial plan this week. Lengthy testimony on the petition was heard by the board over seven days in August and October. But it drifted a bit off the public radar last month when the EIB voted 4-3 to adopt another proposal to combat greenhouse gas emissions — the New Mexico Environment Department's plan for state participation in a regional cap-and-trade program. The board is expected to start deliberating a decision on the NEE petition today.
Unlike the cap-and-trade strategy, which requires a partnership with other states and Canadian provinces, the NEE proposal affects New Mexico alone, requiring large emitters to reduce emissions by 3 percent a year, starting in 2012. More here
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Richardson's Push for Subnational Climate Action

From yahoo.com CANCUN, Mexico, Dec. 6, 2010 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- U.S. states and Chinese provinces launch focused effort to cooperate on comprehensive climate action planning. The Center for Climate Strategies (CCS), a U.S.-based 501(c)3, and its Chinese partner the Global Environment Institute (GEI), a China-based NGO, have teamed up to lead the subnational effort between states and provinces in the two nations. CCS and GEI will showcase cooperative work between U.S. states and Chinese provinces. Presentations by key national and subnational government leaders from China and the U.S. will focus on the challenges and opportunities for cooperative engagement at the subnational level. More here
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Abra Cadabra: Fed Buys Bonds and We Get Jobs

From Bloomberg - Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke said the economy is barely expanding at a sustainable pace and that it’s possible the Fed may expand bond purchases beyond the $600 billion announced last month to spur growth. “We’re not very far from the level where the economy is not self-sustaining,” Bernanke said in an interview broadcast yesterday by CBS Corp.’s “60 Minutes” program. “It’s very close to the border. It takes about 2.5 percent growth just to keep unemployment stable and that’s about what we’re getting.” Bernanke, in a rare appearance on a nationally broadcast news program, defended the Fed’s efforts to prop up a recovery so weak that only 39,000 jobs were created in November. Read full story here:
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Climate Change: The End Justifies the Means Mentality

From the Guardian - Hidden behind the save-the-world rhetoric of the global climate change negotiations lies the mucky realpolitik: money and threats buy political support; spying and cyberwarfare are used to seek out leverage. The US diplomatic cables reveal how the US seeks dirt on nations opposed to its approach to tackling global warming; how financial and other aid is used by countries to gain political backing; how distrust, broken promises and creative accounting dog negotiations; and how the US mounted a secret global diplomatic offensive to overwhelm opposition to the controversial "Copenhagen accord", the unofficial document that emerged from the ruins of the Copenhagen climate change summit in 2009. Negotiating a climate treaty is a high-stakes game, not just because of the danger warming poses to civilisation but also because re-engineering the global economy to a low-carbon model will see the flow of billions of dollars redirected. Read full story here:
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NM Republicans Get the Full Monty

Monty Newman
From Capitol Report New Mexico - After helping oversee an election that resulted in Republicans retaking the governor’s office, winning the Secretary of State’s race for first time in 82 years and picking up eight seats in the New Mexico legislature, Harvey Yates stepped down as head of the state GOP. Read full story here:
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