GOP Blocks Obama Land Grab

From michellemalkin.com -Yes, dear readers, corruptocrat Interior Secretary Ken Salazar can be stopped.  Since day one llemalkin.comof the Obama administration, I’ve chronicled Loathsome Cowboy Ken Salazar’s War on the West, War on Jobs, and War on Science/Rule of Law. The last straw was his attempted Wild Lands grab. GOP leaders rose up with farmers, ranchers, and Western governors to stop the scheme in its tracks. Utah and Alaska have filed suit. Wyoming joined the litigation this week.And now, Salazar has officially announced the backpedalMore News New Mexico
Share/Bookmark

Governor Issues Notary Procedure Changes

Susana Martinez
SANTA FE – Today, Governor Susana Martinez signed an executive order that establishes new procedures for the revocation of notary commissions, removing responsibility for investigating misuse and administering hearings from the Attorney General’s Office and placing it under the control of the Regulation and Licensing Department (RLD). State law provides for the Office of the Governor to be the only entity responsible for officially revoking a notary commission. In issuing her new order, Governor Martinez rescinded a 2004 executive order by Governor Richardson that required the Secretary of State’s office, upon hearing of potential misuse of a notary commission, to alert the Attorney General’s Office of the wrongdoing and wait for its determination on whether sufficient evidence existed for revocation.
The new executive order comes on the heels of a high profile case involving an Albuquerque notary named Ana Hernandez, who was arrested in May of this year for allegedly operating as part of a heroin ring that has been likened to the efficiency of a pizza delivery operation. After her arrest, state records came to light showing that New Mexico officials were informed in 2010 that Hernandez’s tax preparation company had been used as a hub for foreign national driver’s license fraud.

Share/Bookmark

Obama Likes Palin Wildland Management Strategy

From hotair.com -Remember when the Left erupted in Outrageous Outrage over Alaska’s attempts to cull the troublesome wolf population by shooting them from aircraft?  Do you recall when animal-rights groups painted Sarah Palin as a “brutal” and “unethical” sadist for sanctioning this strategy?  When it comes to controlling the spread of feral pigs in San Diego County, the public hunting effort isn’t doing the job. That has led federal agencies to launch an ambitious program that will use cage traps, corral traps, federal hunters with guns and dogs and even shooting from helicopters to exterminate the area’s population of wild swine. Palin didn’t start the practice in Alaska, and Alaska didn’t pioneer the technique in any case.  Congress included the exception for predator control in the original 1972 bill that made it illegal for hunters to track down prey by plane or helicopter.
More News New Mexico
Share/Bookmark

Pro Amnesty Dem Latinos Start "Tequila Party"

From nydailynews.com -The Tequila Party - yes, that's its name - is holding its kickoff event Saturday in TucsonLoosely inspired by the rapidly deflating Tea Party, the Tequila Party was created to mobilize a record number of Latinos to go out and vote in the 2012 election.  The independent, grass-roots group is the brainchild of Fernando Romero, a Democrat who is president of Hispanics in Politics, a nonpartisan Nevada group. The Tequila Party gets its impetus from the deep-seated Latino disillusionment with President Obama's performance on issues important to them.  More News New Mexico
Share/Bookmark

Location, Location, Location

On a global basis there are billions of dollars of income booked every day. For any individual or entity not spending all its income, a decision must be made on what to do with the resulting reserves. This is a never-ending process. Even during economic downturns, decision makers must make choices on where to place their reserves. When it comes to placing these reserves, the three most important elements of real estate investing- Location, Location, and Location- actually apply to all types of investing. In the bigger scheme of things there are basically only three primary LOCATIONS for the globe’s vast generation of income reserves to go. They are: (1) interest bearing instruments (bonds), (2) income producing real estate, and (3) business enterprises (common stocks).
The first location- interest bearing instruments- fluctuate in value based on interest rates. Globally speaking, governments in most developed nations are engaging in policies that have artificially depressed interest rates for a couple of years. They are doing so because it enables them to borrow cheaply. These policies act as wealth transfer mechanisms. They transfer wealth from SAVERS to BORROWERS. These conditions are not conducive to good results on investments in interest bearing instruments. Risk-averse savers, left with no good options, are quickly becoming the investment equivalent of slum lords.
An objective evaluation of the prospects for the next location- income producing real estate- suggests a very mixed bag at best. Although real estate encompasses many types and classes of properties, from condos in Florida to track homes in Vegas to skyscrapers in Manhattan, there are still several secular economic trends that do NOT bode well for most property values. In the residential arena, historic over-building suggests gradual price erosion could continue. And once there is stability in housing prices, it might take years before shortages begin to drive prices higher again. In the commercial real estate arena, it is difficult to overestimate the incredible impact the digital era has had on demand for retail space and office space. Internet retailing has changed life as we know it for commercial retail space. And the telecommuting of office workers has had a similar impact, albeit to a lesser extent, on office space.
Demand for apartments has stabilized as higher lending standards have put houses off limits for millions of marginal home buyers. However, healthcare office space is likely to recover more rapidly than retail and office space, primarily because many health care treatments and services must be delivered face-to-face rather than online. In other words, when placing reserves in the location of income producing real estate, a tenant with dim future prospects can be analogous to purchasing the property that backs up to the railroad tracks.
This brings us to the prospects for businesses. Common stocks, which are simply shares of businesses, are affected somewhat by all the factors mentioned in the previous two paragraphs. However, though these secular trends affect businesses, the single greatest virtue of surveying the universe of businesses is that unlike fixed income instruments or fixed location real estate properties, great businesses are capable of being far more “adaptive.” In this sense, the year 2011 is no different than 1911; the future remains bright for the best, most adaptive businesses. Akin to searching for a home in the best school district or commanding a corner lot with high visibility, it is critical to buy only the best “locations” within the common stock universe. These “locations” include particularly adaptive businesses with outstanding financial characteristics and durable competitive advantages. Differentiating between what constitutes a durable competitive business advantage that will lead to an acceptable growth rate and what doesn’t is critical. If you won stocks your current portfolio positions should be fully reflective of which businesses we feel offer the best chance for sustained success as well as our diligent research- which is our version of “getting to know the neighbors as well as the neighborhood” for each and every business that we own. As with real estate, no one investment location is completely perfect; all three have inherent risks. Also like real estate, no one investment location is the ideal location for all investors- we all have a place where we are most comfortable. For those comfortable with the risks inherent in owning shares of businesses, we feel correctly identifying the strongest, most adaptive management teams will continue to provide above average rates of return, especially when compared to interest bearing instruments or income producing real estate.


Share/Bookmark

Weiner Probe Could Be Painful


Weiner
(CBS News) New York City Congressman Anthony Weiner has not asked the FBI or U.S. Capitol Police to investigate a bizarre Twitter incident in which a lewd photo of a man's groin was sent to his 45,000 followers from his account. Weiner told CBS News Congressional Correspondent Nancy Cordes in an interview Wednesday he has asked a law firm and an Internet security operation to "give advice" on the situation. He said, "I don't believe this is a federal case, I don't believe that this is a capital crime. I believe this is a bit of mischief." But why is Weiner so seemingly reluctant to involve law enforcement authorities in the case? On "The Early Show" Thursday, CBS News Legal Analyst Jack Ford said if he's not pursuing official assistance in this situation, it's about not getting wrapped up official statements.  Read full story here: News New Mexico
Share/Bookmark

Russell: Medicare and Circuses

Brigette Russell
Capitol Report New Mexico - The front page of Monday’s Santa Fe New Mexican featured the headline,“ ‘Ryan Plan’ for Medicare is GOP’s Catch-22.” In the story, Steve Terrell discussed the difficult task Republican candidates for New Mexico’s Senate seat face in negotiating this political minefield. They have before them the cautionary tale of the May 24 special election in New York’s 26th Congressional District, where Democrat Kathy Hochul defeated Republican Jane Corwin by making the Ryan plan her central issue. One could argue that Corwin was handicapped because the Republican she was hoping to replace was Chris Lee, who lost his seat after losing his shirt for an embarrassing photo sent to a woman on Craigslist. That, of course, should have been a cautionary tale for Anthony Weiner, but I digress. Read full column here: News New Mexico
Share/Bookmark

Libya: A War Fit for a King

Steve Chapman
Townhall - More than two months ago, President Obama abruptly took the nation to war against Libya, a country that had not attacked us or threatened us. His ostensible purpose was to protect Libyan civilians from the government of Moammar Gadhafi, which is at war with insurgents. Obama acted after getting authorization from the United Nations, which is not mentioned in the Constitution, rather than Congress, which is. Specifically, the framers stipulated that Congress has the power to "declare war," giving it the chief responsibility except when the president needed to act quickly to repel an attack.
President Obama with Nobel Peace Prize
But in the ensuing centuries, presidents of both parties have often trampled over their original limits, and Congress has usually let them. This has not gone over well with all lawmakers -- like the senator who said in 2007 that the president has no right to go to war on his own, barring an actual or potential attack. His name was Barack Obama. But President Obama has thoroughly repudiated the naive and simplistic notions voiced by Sen. Obama. In some ways, he has also been even more aggressive than his predecessors in doing whatever he pleases. Read full column here: News New Mexico


Share/Bookmark

Riddell: U.S. Economic Data "Falling Off a Cliff"

CNBC - The last month has been a horror show for the U.S. economy, with economic data falling off a cliff, according to Mike Riddell, a fund manager at M&G Investments in London. "It seems that almost every bit of data about the health of the US economy has disappointed expectations recently," said Riddell, in a note sent to CNBC on Wednesday. "US house prices have fallen by more than 5 percent year on year, pending home sales have collapsed and existing home sales disappointed, the trend of improving jobless claims has arrested, first quarter GDP wasn’t revised upwards by the 0.4 percent forecast, durables goods orders shrank, manufacturing surveys from Philadelphia Fed, Richmond Fed and Chicago Fed were all very disappointing. And that’s just in the last week and a bit," said Riddell. Read full story here: News New Mexico
Share/Bookmark

Personal Responsibility vs. Government Control

Jim Harbison
Every day we read in the newspaper or hear on the news where someone is blaming someone else for their personal indiscretions, anti-social behavior, criminal activities, poor health, financial failures, or home mortgage foreclosures. We are provided with all kinds of justifications why we should not be held responsible, even for the most heinous crimes. It has become fashionable and socially or politically acceptable to blame others rather than to accept personal responsibility. The Government continues its drive to impose itself on nearly every aspect of our lives and to “protect” us from the consequences of our choices. As individuals we are losing the ability to make personal choices about many products or services we use. No longer does the free-market determine the type and quality of products that are available. The entrepreneurial spirit that caused America to be the world leader is being inhibited by excessive government management of our daily lives.
State and local governments are mandating healthy life styles, restricting products restaurants can use to prepare our meals, and limiting the types of foods that may be sold within the community. Cities have banned McDonald’s Happy Meals and mom’s home prepared brown-bag lunches are prohibited by schools because they are not considered “healthy”. When did the parents lose the personal responsibility for what their children eat? Why hasn’t the government mandated physical education in our schools rather than regulate what students eat. San Francisco has banned snack foods and soft drinks from all government buildings and mandated that only approved “healthy” foods, milk and fruit juices be sold. What happened to free enterprise, personal responsibility and individual choice?
The government does have a role in protecting society. Thomas Jefferson said “I predict future happiness for Americans if they can prevent the government from wasting the labors of the people under the pretense of taking care of them”. The question is “when does that role begin to diminish our individual freedoms?” Is it an appropriate role to prohibit behaviors and products rather than advise the public about their consequences? Shouldn’t government acknowledge the concept of personal responsibility rather than usurping it? Many of the poor choices made in the recent past can be attributed to government policies that failed to include personal responsibility. We should be teaching the values of individual responsibility and integrity in our schools. The government cannot control stupidity. Is it the proper role of government to protect us from ourselves? Can it even do that? Should the government become the parent? Even Oprah Winfrey, during her final show, stated that her success was due to her taking responsibility for herself. In a free society there will always be winners and losers and accepting individual responsibility for success or failure is what caused this nation to develop and become the envy of the world.
Oprah Winfrey
Unfortunately, much of our society has become so complacent or apathetic that they do not object to the increasing demise of individual freedoms and increasing government control over their lives. Life for them is simpler when they do not have to make decisions or take personal responsibility for themselves or for society. When people do this they forfeit another part of their freedom and give the government more responsibility to manage their lives.
I find it hard to disagree with Thomas Jefferson who said “my reading of history convinces me that most bad government results from too much government”. More government is no substitute for individual responsibility and accountability. We are responsible for our personal choices and we must expect each individual be held responsible for their own decisions and actions.

Share/Bookmark

Yemen "Worse Than Libya"

The Guardian - The crisis engulfing Yemen deepened on Wednesday with dozens of people killed as President Ali Abdullah Saleh reinforced his troops after heavy clashes with gunmen loyal to an influential tribal leader. Overnight street battles left at least 41 people dead, some trapped in burning buildings. Fighting raged until dawn as presidential guard units shelled the headquarters of an army brigade responsible for protecting government institutions. Arab embassies were said to be evacuating their staff and the few remaining western residents were being advised to leave urgently. The Foreign Office is urging all Britons to leave while flights are still available in a situation diplomats described as "worse than Libya." Read full story here: News New Mexico
Share/Bookmark

NM Ratepayers Facing EIB Ruling

Capitol Report New Mexico - Approve a costly plan regulating the amount of pollution that causes haze in the atmosphere or adopt a plan that isn’t as stringent but would cost New Mexico electricity customers a lot less money? That’s what the newly-constituted Environmental Improvement Board (EIB) will decide in the next few days as the members of the board appointed by Gov. Susana Martinez make their first major decision since they replaced the controversial members of the EIB appointed by former Gov. Bill Richardson. In Santa Fe on Wednesday (June 1), the board members listened to environmentalists urging them to adopt a plan by the federal government’s Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) restricting pollutants generated by the coal-fired San Juan Generating Station near Farmington. Members also heard from the New Mexico Environment Department (NMED) and the state’s largest utility, PNM, who advised the board to adopt a state implementation program instead. Read full story here: News New Mexico
Share/Bookmark

APS Budget Dilemma: Cut Admin or Teachers?

Winstron Brooks
KOB TV - The APS school board was scheduled for a vote on a budget proposal that calls for $37 million in cuts on Wednesday night. The Superintendent's proposal calls for increased class sizes, and because of that, APS officials are worried that the state might reject it. At the last school board meeting, Superintendent Winston Brooks said he had no idea what would happen if the state were to reject his budget. He was unclear if APS would have to go back to the drawing board and draft up an entirely new proposal.
Hanna Skandera
State Secretary of Education Hanna Skandera stated it would be hard for her to approve a budget that calls for increased class sizes when further cuts could be made to central administration. Read full story here: News New Mexico

Share/Bookmark