Misspelled sign helps boost NM business

From KRQE-TV.com - ALBUQUERQUE (KRQE) - A sign at a local restaurant is bringing in extra customers and it is all because of something unintended. "Bandido's" next to UNM has posted a sign welcoming students back to campus but there is one problem the word 'students' is misspelled. The restaurant says it was an accident that has been great for business and they say people want to talk about it so they drop in and end up eating. As long as it is helping make money, the owners said they are not taking it down.
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Mexico says US man smuggled grenade parts

From the El Paso Times.com - MEXICO CITY (AP) - Police have arrested a U.S. man for smuggling American grenade parts into Mexico for use by the Sinaloa cartel, and a U.S. official said the case has now been included in investigations into flawed law enforcement operations aimed at gun-trafficking networks on the Mexican border. The arrest of a man who Mexican police identified as Jean Baptiste Kingery has provided details on a network that allegedly supplied hundreds of hand grenades to Mexico's powerful Sinaloa cartel. Such grenades have been blamed in the injuries or deaths of dozens of civilians in Mexico, where grenades have been tossed into public squares, streets, bars and nightclubs. A U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives operation, known as Fast and Furious, was designed to track small-time gun buyers at several Phoenix-area gun shops up the chain to make cases against major weapons traffickers. But a congressional investigation says ATF agents of lost track of about 1,400 of the more than 2,000 guns whose purchase they had watched. In Washington D.C., Justice Department spokeswoman Tracy Schmaler said the department's inspector general has expanded that investigation to include the Kingery case. Read more
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Just a Kiss


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Cervantes and Cook Co-Chair Jerome Block Jr. Impeachment Sub-Committee

Joseph Cervantes
According to reporter Steve Terrell (Roundhouse Roundup - Santa Fe New Mexican) Representative Joseph Cervantes will co-chair a subcommittee of the House Rules Committee that will explore the possible impeachment proceedings against Public Regulations Commissioner Jerome Block, Jr. Representative Zach Cook of Ruidoso will serve as co-chairman. Other committee members are Representatives Al Park, Debbie Rodella, Lee Alcon, Don Trip, Dennis Roch, Gail Chasey, Anna Crook, and Larry Larranaga. The sub-committee will report its findings before the end of the special legislative session that began earlier today in Santa Fe.
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Bi-Partisan 9-11 Commission Report Should Be Required Reading for ALL Lawmakers

Jim Spence
NewsNM note - In recent days there have been discussions on News New Mexico about the recommendations from the the 9-11 Commission, a bi-partisan group of distinguished Americans that conducted thousands of hours of hearings and interviewed countless witnesses. Their objective was to arrive at a consensus on the basic LESSONS to be learned from the 9-11 attacks on the U.S. Below is an excerpt that applies directly to the ridiculous rules in New Mexico that continue to allow a hopelessly slipshod approach to driver's license issuance. As many as two hundred-fifty foreigners have claimed the same home address on their driver's license applications. It is clear that our state has a policy in place that could severely weaken our national security:
Immigration Law and Enforcement:  It is elemental to border security to know who is coming into the country. Today more than 9 million people are in the United States outside the legal immigration system. We must also be able to monitor and respond to entrances between our ports of entry, working with Canada and Mexico as much as possible. There is a growing role for state and local law enforcement agencies.
They need more training and work with federal agencies so that they can cooperate more effectively with those federal authorities in identifying terrorist suspects. All but one of the 9/11 hijackers acquired some form of U.S. identification document, some by fraud. Acquisition of these forms of identification would have assisted them in boarding commercial flights, renting cars, and other necessary activities.
Rep. Miguel Garcia
Recommendation: Secure identification should begin in the United States. The federal government should set standards for the issuance of birth certificates and sources of identification, such as drivers licenses. Fraud in identification documents is no longer just a problem of theft. At many entry points to vulnerable facilities, including gates for boarding aircraft, sources of identification are the last opportunity to ensure that people are who they say they are and to check whether they are terrorists.
Driver's license issuance reform is not a "divisive" or partisan wedge issue as NM Representatives Lee Alcon, Miguel Garcia, and others have suggested. It is merely a fundamental approach to the needs of our basic national security interests.
Once again the people of New Mexico are way out in front on this issue, with 3 in 4 citizens polled supporting Governor Martinez' common sense reforms in this area. It has been more than seven years since the 9-11 Commission Report was published. Perhaps it is time for decision-makers to avail themselves of the facts regarding the inherent dangers of having slipshod practices in this area. The excerpt above from the 9-11 Commission Report is a good start.

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Driver's License Crime Ring Suspects Waive Arraignments

KOB TV - Four members of a suspected Chinese crime ring waived their appearances in and Albuquerque court Tuesday. Each face more than 300 felony counts for allegedly helping out-of-state illegal immigrants get New Mexico driver’s licenses. The four were due in court today for arraignments. Officials say they advertised in Chinese newspapers in New York City, offering to charge illegal immigrants $1,500 each for a New Mexico license. Read full story here: News New Mexico Watch KOB Video Here
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Eric Griego Makes His Case

Eric Griego
NM Politics - Today, as we celebrate Labor Day, I express my sincere respect and admiration for the men and women of the labor movement who have worked tirelessly to protect all American workers’ dignity. All workers in this country have benefited from efforts by unions to gain safe working conditions, fair treatment at work, a fair or at least minimum wage, and the right to collectively bargain. I stand proudly behind my record of fighting for workers and their families even when it got tough as a state senator, former Albuquerque city councilor and now as a Democratic candidate for Congress. My values in public life come from my own experience as a poor kid growing up in a tough neighborhood and raised by a single parent. Because FDR, LBJ and other Democrats pushed for programs like Head Start, universal public education, civil rights, Pell Grants, and decent wages, I was able to succeed despite my humble beginnings.
To realize the American Dream, hard work is important, but not enough. Every kid and every family, not just the richest and the most powerful few, need to have the opportunity to succeed. That is why I am running for Congress and why I support the labor movement. In 2004-05, I worked closely with then-City Councilor Martin Heinrich and other pro-worker members of the Albuquerque City Council to increase the minimum wage so that the city would become a better place to work and make a living. Unfortunately, Republicans and corporate lobbyists opposed the increase, and ultimately we had to settle for a much smaller increase that was not indexed to inflation. Read full commentary here: News New Mexico

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Obama Poll Numbers Continue to Slide

Rasmussen - The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll for Tuesday shows that 22% of the nation's voters Strongly Approve of the way that Barack Obama is performing his role as president. Forty-four percent (44%) Strongly Disapprove, giving Obama a Presidential Approval Index rating of -22 (see trends). Republicans hold a seven-point advantage on the Generic Congressional Ballot. Consumer confidence has fallen four points since Friday’s jobs report. Most Americans believe that solar activity plays a role in global warming. However, a plurality believes human activity plays a bigger role. Fifty-seven percent (57%) of voters favor repeal of the health care law passed by Congress last year. Fifty-four percent (54%) believe repeal is at least somewhat likely to happen. The Presidential Approval Index is calculated by subtracting the number who Strongly Disapprove from the number who Strongly Approve. It is updated daily at 9:30 a.m. Eastern (sign up for free daily e-mail update). Updates are also available on Twitter and Facebook. Overall, 43% of voters say they at least somewhat approve of the president's performance. Fifty-five percent (55%) at least somewhat disapprove. New polling from Iowa shows Rick Perry in front with Michelle Bachmann and Mitt Romney trailing by double digits. Read full story here: News New Mexico
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Spaceport Phase One is 90% Complete

Richard Branson
Daily Mail - Phase one of the world's first commercial spaceport, which will be the hub for Virgin's consumer spaceflights, is now 90 per cent complete. The 1,800-acre Spaceport America site, in Las Cruces, New Mexico, is the home base for Virgin Galactic, Richard Branson's most ambitious business venture yet. It already boasts a runway stretching to nearly two miles long, a futuristic styled terminal hanger, and a dome-shaped Space Operations Centre. Read full story here: News New Mexico
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Enviros: Build-Absolutely-Nothing-Anywhere-Near-Anyone is Our Real Energy Problem

Marita Noon
Townhall - The ascent of the Democrats has generated buzz regarding renewables as the obvious energy evolution. But there are many problems with deployment that have nothing to do with subsidies, conspiracies or economies. Though renewables get all the good press, they have been unable to make the leap to mainstream. And there are good, solid reasons for that. Despite the power density shortcomings of wind and solar (nuclear power: 56W Per Square Meter, solar: 6.7W PSM, Wind: 1.2W PSM) and the storage problems associated with delivering the renewable power to the grid, wind and solar are pushed as the solutions--propped up by government subsidies. T. Boone Pickens concedes he would not have an interest in wind power without the Federal backing. Energy has evolved from wood, to whale oil, to coal, to petroleum, to nuclear.
There are many who believe that renewables, particularly wind and solar, are the next step in the evolution of energy. But there is a missing link: you have to get the energy to the user. Wind and solar are land intensive. To be able to replace an average coal-fueled power plant with solar will require massive amounts of land—which predicates that the installation be “out,” away from the people. To get the power “in” to the people will require miles and miles of high-voltage power lines. Somehow, no one seems to think about how the energy is going to get from there to here. Read full column here: News New Mexico
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Special session to begin Tuesday at noon

From KOB-TV.com - State lawmakers will get down to business in a special session starting 12 p.m. Tuesday. Governor Susana Martinez has an ambitious agenda and the one constitutionally-required job is one of the hardest things in politics. Every 10 years with the new census numbers, the Legislature draws new boundaries for our members of the U.S. House of Representatives and for both chambers of Legislature itself. The idea is to give representatives democracy to the people as equally and as fairly as possible, which is a noble goal. But the deal is cooked up in the great sausage factory of politics, the legislator and all 112 members are potential losers. Some will not survive. Here is a snapshot of the problem. Rio Rancho with about 90,000 residents currently has one member of the State House of Representatives. Roswell, with about 50,000 people has four and somebody has got to go. Read more
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Loosing the Magic


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