New Mexico Gas Faces Lawmakers, Is That Redundant?

Capitol Report New Mexico - Representatives from New Mexico Gas Company received an expected — but not too harsh — grilling from lawmakers in the wake of the heating outages across the state that has still left between 16,000 to 18,000 customers without heat Monday (Feb. 7) . A frigid cold front that dropped temperatures across New Mexico to levels unseen in 40 years was the main culprit, gas company vice president Tom Domme told members of the House Energy and Natural Resources Committee Monday morning, who added the company is trying its best to re-light homes that are still without power as another cold front is expected to come through the state by midweek. Read full story here:

New Mexico Gas Faces Lawmakers, Is That Redundant?

Heath: Time to Expand Web-Casting

Heath Haussamen

NMPolitics - The New Mexico Legislature has taken huge steps in recent years to let the sun shine on its work through webcasting, but there’s more to be done. And it’s time that the other branches of government follow suit. It’s great that we can watch and/or listen to the House and Senate when they’re in session, and that we can listen to House committees. But Senate committees still aren’t accessible for people who aren’t at the Roundhouse. Fortunately, Sen. Mark Boitano, R-Albuquerque, is keeping up the fight this session with a bill that would require audio webcasting of Senate committees. Let’s hope his colleagues finally approve this important legislation. Read full column here:

Heath: Time to Expand Web-Casting

Doan: Obama's False Tune on Innovation

Lurita Doan

Townhall - Obama deserves some credit for his recent interest in innovation and the creative abilities of American entrepreneurs. Now, if only Team Obama would change their tune and review the many White House initiatives and policies that are killing innovation and punishing entrepreneurs. The disconnect between Obama’s fascination with innovation and Washington’s continued hostility to innovators and risk takers in our economy has never been so stark. Even as Obama is talking about his intention to foster more innovation, American companies like Pfizer are announcing cuts of $2 billion in research and development. Team Obama does not seem to understand that they have championed policies that are essentially adding “miracle grow” to the already tangled regulatory regime currently strangling American entrepreneurial energies. As a result, the task of bringing new and more innovative products to market in America has never been more difficult. Read full column here:

Doan: Obama's False Tune on Innovation

Parker: If You Want to Promote "Freedom"

Townhall -Watching the wave of unrest in the Middle East, there are lessons to consider regarding how we view the world and how we manage our lives here at home. I’d call it getting perspective on what you can control and what you can’t. It should be pretty clear that the upheavals in Tunisia and Egypt came as complete surprises. No one predicted them. Is this because no one was paying attention? Of course not. We’ve got armies of analysts – “experts”- who do nothing but study countries. Not just in the government, but also in the private sector - at consulting firms and investment firms. Despite the fact that we’ve got “experts” galore doing nothing but studying particular regions and countries, they rarely, if ever, make a correct prediction if it means that tomorrow will be fundamentally different from yesterday. We can depend on them for plenty of conventional wisdom drawing on reams of information from what’s already happened. But can we turn to them for the entirely new, for the unanticipated, for the inconceivable? Forget it. Read full column here:

Parker: If You Want to Promote "Freedom"

Anti-Corruption Bill Introduced

Santa Fe, N.M. – Representatives Nate Gentry (Albuquerque, Dist. 30) and Rep. David Doyle (Albuquerque, Dist. 23) today announced the filing of landmark anti-corruption legislation that will bring stronger penalties for corrupt public officials and abettors of those who take advantage of their position for personal benefit.  Their press release said, "For far too long, New Mexico has condoned a ‘culture of corruption,’ and these bills will provide authorities with the tools to put an end to it. These measures are a comprehensive effort to expand education for public officials on ethics rules, bring transparency to the process to give authorities access to the necessary documents to prove corruption, and strengthen penalties, ensuring those that break the public trust are held accountable for their actions." For full story read here:

Anti-Corruption Bill Introduced

AOL Buys Huffington Post for $315 million

From hotair.com -AOL has agreed to purchase The Huffington Post for $315 million, the two entities announced in a joint news release Monday. “As part of the transaction, Arianna Huffington, The Huffington Post’s co-founder and editor-in-chief, will be named president and editor-in-chief of The Huffington Post Media Group, which will include all Huffington Post and AOL content,” the statement said. The new group will have a combined 117 million unique visitors a month in the United States and 270 million around the world, according to the release, which cited December 2010 data from the marketing research company comScore. The editorial arrangement seems like a strange decision. AOL has been careful to give the impression of political balance in their news and opinion offerings on line. Putting a political activist like Arianna Huffington in charge of all AOL content will upend that balance, and might have a significant number of subscribers and readers heading for the door. The end result might be less a combination of the two readerships and more of a replacement of AOL’s community with that of the HuffPo. Another strange decision, related to the first, is to rebrand AOL’s content with the Huffington label. From here

AOL Buys Huffington Post for $315 million

Surge of Illegals from India Baffles Border Officials in Texas

From latimes.com -Thousands of immigrants from India have crossed into the United States illegally at the southern tip of Texas in the last year, part of a mysterious and rapidly growing human-smuggling pipeline that is backing up court dockets, filling detention centers and triggering investigations. The immigrants, mostly young men from poor villages, say they are fleeing religious and political persecution. More than 1,600 Indians have been caught since the influx began here early last year, while an undetermined number, perhaps thousands, are believed to have sneaked through undetected, according to U.S. border authorities. Hundreds have been released on their own recognizance or after posting bond. They catch buses or go to local Indian-run motels before flying north for the final leg of their months-long journeys. More here

Surge of Illegals from India Baffles Border Officials in Texas

Debt Burden Could be Eased for New Mexico Residents

From e-wisdom.com -Consumers in the U.S. have been facing an increased debt burden in recent months, and some turned to credit cards to meet their monthly payment obligations and took out more nonrevolving credit lines for big purchases. However, there could soon be changes in how companies collect this debt due to the passage of a new law in New Mexico. The law states that borrowers cannot be taken to court for long-overdue debts, and was spurred on by attention from the Federal Trade Commission, which has seen a recent rise in complaints pertaining to this type of debt. In addition, the rule requires debt collectors in New Mexico to inform inquiring borrowers whether the statute of limitations on the loan has passed, The Wall Street Journal reports. For those who are struggling with credit cards, this means they can be freed of any court obligation on unpaid debt four years or older. More here

Debt Burden Could be Eased for New Mexico Residents

How Much Did Aguilera Get Paid? No Teleprompter?

Christina Aguilera

Christina Aguilera fluffed her lines while singing the national anthem at the start of the Super Bowl last night, in front of a television audience of more than 100 million. The 30-year-old singer, who opened the match between the Green Bay Packers and the Pittsburgh Steelers, was supposed to sing the lyrics "O'er the ramparts we watched, were so gallantly streaming." But instead she repeated and mangled an earlier line, singing: "What so proudly we watched at the twilight's last reaming". Read full story here:

How Much Did Aguilera Get Paid? No Teleprompter?

Super Bowl Ads, Part of the Culture

Super Bowl XLV ads didn't blow anybody out Sunday night, but Faith Hill fans can confirm they pulled off a couple of slick reverses. Hill's Teleflora spot interrupted an America's Sweetheart moment to toss a crude sexual one-liner into America's lap. Almost as surprisingly for long-time Super Bowl ad fans, Budweiser's Clydesdales became almost an afterthought in their annual spot, a curiously silly ad whose punchline had a gunslinger breaking into "Tiny Dancer." We saw an animated Eminem in a Pepsi spot that talked about how before this he never did ads. Then a few minutes later we saw him do another one, for Chrysler. Once he started, apparently he couldn't stop. Coke had a nice spot involving two border guards who figure out a way to share a Coke while still officially remaining mortal enemies. Bridgestone tires figured out how to achieve similar détente between man and beaver, but the real dark horse surprise Sunday night came from the car companies. Most Super Bowl car ads over the years have been like Super Bowl movie ads. Perfectly fine and perfectly dull. This year, however, car companies decided they also might want to entertain us. Hey, with gas heading for four dollars a gallon, we'll take what we can get. Read more here:

Super Bowl Ads, Part of the Culture