Sparks Fly In Albuquerque City Council Over DOJ Investigation

From KOAT-TV.com - ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. -- Sparks flew at Wednesday’s City Council meeting, both before and after council members failed to override the mayor’s veto nixing the request for the U.S. Department of Justice to investigate Albuquerque police. City council members listened to supporters and critics of Albuquerque police for more than two hours before siding with the mayor and aggravating a number of people in the audience. “There’s no police officer who goes out each day who tries to take out a citizen. They do everything they possibly can to defuse that situation,” retired police officer Bob Martinez said. Martinez worked for the Department of Justice for years and now heads up the Fraternal Order of Police. He directly asked the council to sustain the mayor’s veto. In the end, council members voted to uphold the mayor’s veto. The interesting twist is that the DOJ has already been to Albuquerque to see if it wants to launch an investigation. An official city request would have been more of a formaility. Six votes were needed to override the veto and only five council members voted for the override. Read more

Sparks Fly In Albuquerque City Council Over DOJ Investigation

City of Albuquerque and union workers fight over furloughs

From KOB-TV.com - By: Eddie Garcia, KOB Eyewitness News - Some city union employees were given a letter Wednesday informing them furlough days were coming and more than 1,000 union members can expect the same news soon. Union leaders say the city is implementing furloughs out of retaliation. The city said the union did it to themselves. The issue recently came before a judge, who ruled the city and the union have to abide by their 2011 contract, which includes furloughs for union employees in exchange for a smaller pay cut, until they can hammer out a new contract. "They're the one's that bargained for furlough days last year in lieu of receiving a one percent pay cut," said Albuquerque Chief Administrative Officer Rob Perry. The fiscal 2011 union contract expired in June and negotiations for a new one became contentious to the point the union sued the city and won. The judge ruled the old contract "evergreen" until a new one could be made. The city says it's just abiding by the old contract as the judge instructed and delivering furloughs to workers. The union says that's a misinterpretation of the judge's decision. Read more

City of Albuquerque and union workers fight over furloughs

Encounter between US hunters, Mexican police under investigation

From the El Paso Times - By Daniel Borunda - An emergency call about armed men along the Rio Grande sparked the cross- border encounter between Mexican federal police and U.S. hunters in the Lower Valley last week, a Mexico federal police spokesman said Wednesday. The incident between hunters on the U.S. river levee and Mexican federal police occurred a week ago today near the Zaragoza Bridge on the first day of dove hunting season. Federal police spokesman José Ramón Salinas denied that Mexican officers crossed the border as reported by U.S. Border Patrol officials. A hunter, who asked that his name not be published for safety reasons because he regularly visits Juárez, said it appeared that a shot was fired from the Mexican side before the arrival of the federal police. "I saw the actual rifle round hit between (two of his friends) and pop up dirt. My friend said, 'Did you do that?' We looked at the trajectory and it looked like it came from Mexico," he said. He and his friends took cover behind a vehicle. He said the situation intensified when Mexican police arrived, pointing assault rifles and yelling at another group of hunters downriver. Mexican police "were asking what they were doing there. They were yelling, 'Put down your weapons' or something. I couldn't hear exactly what they were saying. We were too far away," the hunter said. He saw Mexican officers walk down the levee but was unable to see whether they crossed the international boundary in the middle of the river. Arriving at the scene, Border Patrol agents saw Mexican police returning to Mexico after an incursion to the U.S. side, said a Border Patrol spokesman. An investigation continues. Read more

Encounter between US hunters, Mexican police under investigation

More Speech Therapy

Courtesy of conservativedailynews.com

More Speech Therapy

Commentary: Are Republicans the Party of Stupid?

From Blog Richard A. Viguerie ConservativeHQ - 9/7/11 Tonight’s Politico-NBC News event at the Reagan Library marks the first in a month-long marathon of baby seal hunts in which liberal reporters and commentators club Republican candidates for president in a ritual Democrats would never tolerate during their nomination process. Imagine a debate among the Democratic candidates for President in which Sean Hannity, Mark Levin, and Laura Ingraham asked the questions. It will never happen because the Democrats don’t feel the need to pander to the conservative media the way Republicans are willing to pander to the establishment press. If Republicans want to get their message out, they are going to have to show some spine and get tough with the establishment media. Read Commentary

Commentary: Are Republicans the Party of Stupid?

Steve Pearce - The Jobs Frontier Report

Steve Pearce

By U.S. Congressman Steve Pearce, Congressional Western Caucus Chairman - It is time for the Obama Administration to accept that we cannot spend our way to economic recovery. While the President continues to blame House Republicans for impeding his ability to fix America’s economy, he fails to acknowledge that for most of his presidency he enjoyed a House and Senate controlled by his own party. During that period, the President and Democrats in Congress made grand promises about how they would create jobs if only they could spend more money and grow the size of our federal government.
Obama predicted the trillion dollar stimulus plan would save or create 3.5 million jobs. He claimed green energy policies would create 5 million new jobs. He argued extending unemployment benefits through 2011 would create over 600,000 jobs this year alone. Nancy Pelosi claimed that Obama’s health care law would create 4 million jobs. In short, the President promised 13 million new jobs for the American people. Thirty months and trillions of dollars in government spending later, we now see that we have lost 2.3 million jobs since the President took office. Unemployment climbed from 7.8% to 9.1% during his presidency. Despite promises that his stimulus could keep unemployment below 8%, we have seen over 30 consecutive months of unemployment above 8%. This is the longest streak since the Great Depression. It is time to acknowledge that the President’s policies have failed by his own measures. More government is not the answer. Read full column here: News New Mexico

Steve Pearce - The Jobs Frontier Report

Noon: Best Stimulus is to STOP Killing Jobs

Marita Noon

Townhall - A study released today by Wood Mackenzie told you everything you needed to know about what’s wrong with Obama on jobs. The report estimates that across the country 1.4 million jobs could be created if the federal government would stop delaying the development of existing energy resources in the country. “U.S. oil and natural gas policy changes could generate more than 1.4 million new jobs,” said a statement with the report, “$800 billion in additional government revenue, and 10 million barrels worth of added daily oil and natural gas production by 2030, according to a study by Wood Mackenzie released today by API. New jobs could be added in every state.” All that’s needed are policy changes by Obama via his signature on a piece of paper- or even just a phone call to a cabinet secretary- and we could be adding jobs tomorrow while reducing our dependence on Middle East oil to next to nothing.

So what is Obama doing? Killing those jobs, ignoring that energy. And Obama’s refusal to develop those resources has him at odds with the American people. Recent polling indicates that seventy-six percent (76%) of voters say the country is heading down the wrong track. Clearly, something needs to be done to turn the train around and head in a different direction. Three recent news stories—all under-reported—offer more snapshots of the wrong-headed energy and jobs policy followed by Obama. Read rest of column here: News New Mexico

Noon: Best Stimulus is to STOP Killing Jobs

Plead Guilty to Bribery Charges, Lose Your Job, Collect Unemployment from NM Dept. of Workforce Solutions

Santa Fe New Mexican - Laurie Chapman, a former state Corrections Department official who has pleaded guilty to 30 counts of federal bribery charges, has been receiving unemployment benefits since shortly after she was fired by the state early this year, according to documents filed in court. In an affidavit filed in Chapman's case, Deputy U.S. Marshal Dave Loyer wrote, "Since her state employment ended in February 2011, I learned from the New Mexico Department of Workforce Solutions that Defendant Chapman applied for unemployment benefits in February 2011, and has been receiving unemployment benefits weekly since March of 2011."

After resigning as the facilities manager for the Corrections Department in May 2010, Chapman went to work for the state Indian Affairs Department, where she earned $63,124, a spokesman for Gov. Susana Martinez said after Chapman was indicted in April. She was fired from that post Feb. 23. Senate Republican Leader Bill Payne of Albuquerque has sponsored bills aimed at prohibiting state officials who have been convicted of corruption charges from receiving state pensions. On Wednesday, when told about Chapman's unemployment benefits, he said changes in unemployment-benefit policies might be necessary. Read full story here: News New Mexico 

Plead Guilty to Bribery Charges, Lose Your Job, Collect Unemployment from NM Dept. of Workforce Solutions

Hoffa Thug Speech

Courtesy of conservativedailynews.com

Hoffa Thug Speech

Heinrich Says Get Them All Out

Martin Heinrich

Capitol Report New Mexico - Reports that President Obama will draw down US troops in Iraq from 46,000 to 3,000 by the end of the year has prompted calls from some in Congress — including Democrats like California’s Dianne Feinstein — to argue the reduction is too steep. But Rep. Martin Heinrich (D-New Mexico) is pushing in the opposite direction. In a statement made Wednesday (Sept. 7), Heinrich says all US troops should be withdrawn from Iraq at the end of the year: “I stand with the people of New Mexico in calling for an end to the war in Iraq. With the deadline for a final withdrawal now less than four months away, I strongly urge President Obama to maintain our Status of Forces Agreement with the government of Iraq and bring all of our troops and military contractors home at the end of the year. “Extending our presence in Iraq is neither in our nation’s economic nor national security interests. Keeping troops on the ground would only deepen the perception of the Iraqi people that we have no intention of leaving their country. It’s time for our brave service men and women to return home to their families.” Read full story here: News New Mexico

Heinrich Says Get Them All Out

Martinez Finally Wins in Supreme Court

Susana Martinez

KOB - TV - The state Supreme Court has turned down a request by labor unions to oust Republican Gov. Susana Martinez's appointee to the Public Employee Labor Relations Board. The court ruled Wednesday but the legal dispute may not be over. At issue is whether Martinez can appoint a retired Clovis police official to the board, which enforces the state's collective bargaining law for government workers. Unions had wanted the court to order the governor to reappoint Albuquerque lawyer John Boyd to the board. News New Mexico

Martinez Finally Wins in Supreme Court