The Week in Review

We began the week with the story of a TSA employee demanding that a 95 year old woman dying of leukemia allow her adult diaper to be searched before boarding a plane. The story called "It's something I couldn't imagine happening on America,” is a perfect illustration of government at work.
In our story entitled “How About LIFO to FIFO?” a $72 billion cash grab scheme by the Obama Administration is exposed. The latest business shakedown scam involves a proposal to force a critical change in accounting and reserving rules. Apparently, since the federal government long since blew its own rainy day reserves, the Obama administration is looking to tap into the emergency funds of job creators. If you are wondering why hiring has slowed to a crawl read this story.

Fire dominated the news in the week just past in New Mexico. The Las Conchas fire in Los Alamos is now the largest fire in the history of the state. We were stunned as we made our way to Roswell for the UFO Festival by the damage in the Ruidoso Downs and Hondo areas. The size of the burned area is remarkable. The Ruidoso Downs fire engulfed tens of thousands of acres and threatened the racetrack. As the Donaldson fire near Hondo continues, we can only imagine the devastation in the Jemez forest near Los Alamos. It is difficult for pictures to tell the story.

Susana Martinez

News New Mexico was simply swamped by press releases from the governor’s office all week as Susana Martinez juggled National Guard resources and deployed emergency service personnel in areas where they were urgently needed. Governor Martinez also pleaded with citizens to use common sense and not light fireworks in a state that is best described as a tinderbox. We only hope the state’s citizens will comply. All and all it was a very harrowing week for people near forest areas in many parts of the state.

In the Santa Fe New Mexican story “Santa Fe Schools Near Bottom” we learned that in an area of New Mexico where anything other than big government thinking including the support of pouring endless resources into the public education cesspool is tantamount to blasphemy, the Santa Fe schools rank near the bottom in graduation rates. What is the solution according to public education advocates? It is all very simple. We suspect they will say what we really need is more government involvement.
The White House said it all this week as the debate raged over exactly how much more inter-generational theft we should tolerate by increasing the debt ceiling. Those in favor of borrowing additional trillions of dollars are: Morally Superior. It would seem that being morally superior is really getting easier. With his budget rejected 97-0 in the Senate, it would appear our president is the only moral elected official we have left.

Forest Management Policymakers

We posted an op-ed piece by Congressman Steve Pearce entitled: “Common Sense Forest Management Needed.” And then, on Wednesday’s show, we had one of our best guests ever. Dr. John Fowler offered coherent science-based explanations of how the hysterically radical environmental movement has finally, through years of threatening costly and endless litigation, set the stage for the series of devastating forest fires the state and the nation. You can listen to Dr. Fowler’s segment here:



Michael and Conrad

My partner Dr. Michael Swickard’s column, “The Consent of the Governed” represented one of the more thought-provoking columns I have read in recent months. It poses a very simple proposition for those of us who catch ourselves yelling at the television or biting our tongues at an airport while mindless government practices violate common sense in nearly every way.
NMPolitics.net ran a story called, “Denish Out Chavez In.” The piece explains the decision by former Lt. Governor Diane Denish to skip the CD # 1 race. It also discusses the decision by former Albuquerque mayor Marty Chavez to jump in. Rob Nikolewski of Capitol Report New Mexico called the one dimensional monologue video Chavez released announcing his candidacy, one of the worst he had ever seen.


Martin Chavez

Just a couple of days before News New Mexico celebrated its first birthday, this site, newsnm.com, crossed the six figure mark in page views. We thank all of our loyal followers, our sponsors, and our radio station affiliates for contributing to our success. Governor Garrey Carruthers signed off in the final seconds of his latest appearance on News New Mexico on Friday morning by seemingly affectionately referring to the hosts as the “Bubbas of Broadcasting.” Though we may well have found a new moniker for our second year, Michael and I both hopped in our pickup trucks and drove off right after the show wondering what the former governor meant by the term “bubbas.”

Chris Garcia



In the story “More Than Books in Garcia's UNM Office” New Mexico is being treated to its own sex scandal. This one involves former UNM President Chris Garcia. We promise to do what we can to have fun with this story. However, without a name like “Weiner” to work with, it is going to be a bit tougher. Please “bare” with us.

Michelle Bachmann

In the story “Bachman Leads in NM Republican Poll” we learned that the message of former tax attorney and current Minnesota Congresswoman Michelle Bachmann is resonating with GOP voters in the state. We will try to get Congressman Steve Pearce’s take on the surging popularity of Bachmann when he appears on the show Tuesday morning.

Bill Richardson

And finally, it seems like we simply cannot experience more than a week in New Mexico without the announcement of another pay-to-play scandal involving Bill Richardson. In the Chicago Tribune story “Lawsuit Ties Ex-Congressman to Pay to Play Deal” we read about the latest round of allegations casting a long shadow on the two terms served by Big Bill.

The Week in Review