News New Mexico: 12/12/11

UNM buys porn website domain names

From KOB-TV.com - It is not your everyday purchase if you are in the marketing department at The University of New Mexico. Three weeks ago the marketing heads purchased two porn website domain names at $200 a pop. You have likely heard of .com’s and .net’s. But have you heard of .xxx? The new extensions are sold for the adult industry. The university purchased www.unm.xxx and www.lobos.xxx to make sure no one uses them inappropriately in the future to link the university to porn. “The use of the domain names is something that concerns us and that's why we purchased them and put them aside," said Dr. Gilbert Gonzales, UNM’s public information officer. Each of the triple x domain names cost UNM $200. “It’s a very good idea, you have to protect the name of the school,” said Patrick Lopez, an electrical engineer major at UNM. In September, Icann, the group that overseas domain name registration started selling .xxx domain names to porn sites. The University of New Mexico took a proactive approach because they were worried the domain names would fall into the wrong hands. There’s not just students, there's people in the community that will use the university affiliation with young people in inappropriate ways. We wanted to limit or restrict it," Gonzales said. When you go to the .xxx UNM websites, a message reads, “This domain has been reserved from registration.” The university said it will keep it that way forever. Using money out of the general fund, UNM plans to buy about a half dozen more UNM related triple x domain names in the next month and a half. Read more

Santa Ana Star Center Losing $3 Million Each Year

From KOAT-TV.com - RIO RANCHO, N.M. -- Target 7 has uncovered that Rio Rancho's Santa Ana Star Center is hemorrhaging massive amounts of money every year. While customers pack The Pit, Tingley Coliseum and the Hard Rock Pavilion, the Santa Ana Star Center continues to struggle. With its current location in Rio Rancho, Target 7 asked a few people in Albuquerque if they would regularly attend events at the struggling facility. "I might. It's just a heck of a long drive," Albuquerque resident Skip Brown said. City leaders said the arena is losing around $3 million in taxpayer money each year. "The goal is to really get as close as possible to breaking equal in that facility," Rio Rancho Mayor Tom Swisstack said. The $47 million facility, which was built in 2006, has already lost two sports franchises. Swisstack said the arena he inherited has a new management team and has started to make some money. But since it continues to sit in an unpopulated part of Rio Rancho, he admits that taxpayers may be on the pricey hook for several more years. Read more

Gautsche hits airwaves to defend decision

From the Rio Rancho Observer - BY GARY HERRON - Cole Gautsche, the senior southpaw quarterback who led Cleveland High School to a perfect 13-0 season that ended last Saturday with a 48-28 victory over host Mayfield in the Class 5A championship game, has been taking some heat lately for his decision not to continue his career at New Mexico State University, where he had given a verbal commitment, but rather play closer to home with the University of New Mexico football team next fall. Gautsche, the Gatorade Football Player of the Year in New Mexico, was an in-studio guest Wednesday evening of Rio Ranchoan Bob Brown on his Locker Room Show on ESPN Radio, 101.7-FM. Toward the end of the interview, Gautsche said he wants to someday be a teacher and return to Cleveland, where he'd like to coach. Read more

Senator calls for endowment to make NM America's leader in energy research

Tim Keller

From the Alamogordo Daily News - SANTA FE -- A state legislator wants to create a $40 million university endowment to make New Mexico the leader in energy research and technology. The plan's author, Sen. Timothy Keller, said Monday the state must move decisively to establish a sector of business expertise that will strengthen its economy for the long term. "We have to do something like this for economic development, and to make our state more relevant nationally," said Keller, D-Albuquerque. His bill would create the $40 million fund in four years. A total of $835,000 a month would be diverted from gross receipts taxes and funneled to the university endowment. Then New Mexico's research universities would share 5 percent -- or $2 million -- every year from the endowment's investment profits. With the windfall, they would recruit top faculty responsible for research, teaching, development and commercialization of sustainable energy technologies. The schools that would receive the money are New Mexico State University, New Mexico Tech and the University of New Mexico. Their job would be to land the finest professors in the energy field, then give them the tools they need to make commercial and scientific advances. Read more

Jacobs: Occupy the journey

From NM Politics.net - By Mark Jacobs - Within hours of Occupy Wall Street’s explosion onto Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Livestream, I booked a flight for New York, keeping the promise I made to myself. What was that promise? As the Arab Spring unfolded in early 2011, followed by the uprisings in Europe, I knew in my soul that it was only a matter of time before discontent swept the globe. The consciousness of humanity was shifting before my eyes, so I vowed that when it hit our shores, I would be in the thick of it. The inner journey has been central to my life for 25 years, which has included a rich, open spiritual inquiry. Caught in the wave of arrests during OWS’s first big march through the crowded streets of Manhattan, I realized, sitting in a paddy wagon with a dozen strangers, that my entire inner journey had brought me to this particular moment in time, where my “boots on the ground” would be required to effect change alongside millions of others. Read more

A 21st Century Cartoon

More Borrowing Encouraged by NM "Coalition"

A coalition of elected officials, environmentalists and labor unions is urging New Mexico's congressional leaders to throw their support behind the reauthorization of a federally sponsored federal "jobs" bill. According to the group, through additional federal borrowing, millions of dollars of water system improvements might be obtainable for New Mexico.

The coalition released a report Monday indicating that more federal borrowing for water management systems across the country, including those in New Mexico, could lead to billions of dollars of debt and the possibility of temporary employment.

The chairman of the Albuquerque Bernalillo County Water Utility Authority, Art de la Cruz, indicated that the utility had not independently planned for the need of more than $200 million in water treatment upgrades. And according to a story published on the KOB TV website, de la Cruz indicated that the timing for politicizing the decision to borrow money for infrastructure investment was appropriate.

Wasserman Schultz Can't Admit Rise in Unemployment

Debbie Wasserman Schultz

Fox News - NewsNM note (Spence) DNC Chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz is either incredibly uninformed or a shameless liar. When President Obama took office in January of 2009 the nation's unemployment rate stood at 7.8%. As of November it stood at 8.6%. Check out the transcript and video exchange between Gretchen Carlson of Fox News and Wasserman Schultz:
Gretchen Carlson, FOX News: Unemployment has gone up precipitously since he took office.
Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, DNC Chair: That is simply not true. In fact, unemployment has now dropped below 9%. It's continuing to drop. He's been focused on --
Carlson: It's higher than when they promised the stimulus would lower it to 8%.
Wasserman Schultz: You see, that narrative doesn't work for you anymore, though, because --
Carlson: It's not my narrative. I'm just talking about facts.
Wasserman Schultz: You just said the unemployment rate is going up since Obama took office, and it hasn't.
Carlson: Is unemployment higher since President Obama took office?
Wasserman Schultz: What's happened since President Obama took office --
Carlson: Is unemployment higher than when he took office?
Wasserman Schultz: Unemployment is nearing right around where it was when President Obama took office and it's dropping. You just said it's been increasing and that's not true.
Watch video here: News New Mexico

Obama to Cut Border Security

Washington Times - Blaming budget cuts, the Obama administration early next year will cut the number of National Guard troops patrolling the U.S.-Mexico border by at least half, according to a congressman who was briefed on the plan. The National Guard said an announcement will be made by the White House “in the near future,” but Rep. Duncan Hunter, a California Republican who has learned of the plans, said slashing the deployment in half is the minimum number, and he said it will mean reshuffling the remaining troops along the nearly 2,000-mile border. In California, that will mean going from 264 Guard troops down to just 14, he said. Read full story here: News New Mexico

Land of the Envious and Home of the Victim

Star Parker

Townhall - President Obama laid out his vision of America in Osawatomie, Kansas. We are no longer, in our president’s take on things, land of the free and home of the brave. America now is land of the envious and home of the victim. We are a land, as our president explains it, where the success of one American comes at the expense of another. Where the poor are poor because the rich are rich. And where the role of government is not to ensure “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” but to tax away wealth from those it deems to have too much and determine how to invest our nation’s resources. The president chose to give this speech in Osawatomie because President Theodore Roosevelt, a Republican, spoke there in 1910 and made a plea for more government in American life. How clever. But in 1910 the federal government was extracting less than five cents from every dollar produced by the American economy.

It was not until the 1930’s, except for the period of World War I, that this doubled to 10 cents of every dollar. After World War II, this doubled again to 20 cents. Now, after three years under President Obama’s vision, the federal government takes 25 cents of every dollar produced by the American economy. If we throw in the costs of state and local government, barely 50 cents of each dollar of our economic output remains in the private economy. But President Obama thinks we’re languishing because we’re still too free. The idea that “the market will take care of everything” may look good on a “bumper sticker” according to our president, but, in his words, the idea of free citizens and free markets “…doesn’t work” and “…never worked.”
Perhaps our president ought to wake from his dream, and our nightmare, and take a closer look at the country he is living in. Read full column here: News New Mexico

More Drug Cartel Violence on Border

Fox News - The Mexican army said Monday 11 suspected drug cartel members were killed and a soldier wounded in a shootout just south of the Texas border. Soldiers began engaging with the gunmen Saturday after they opened fire from a building where they had holed up in city of Valle Hermoso, south of Brownsville, Texas, the Defense Department said in a news release. The army patrol later seized the building, finding 11 dead gunmen and 73 rifles inside. Two suspects were arrested. The wounded soldier was taken to a hospital for treatment. His condition was unknown. The Gulf and Zetas drug cartels operate in the area. Read full story here: News New Mexico

Miller: More Troubles for State Law Enforcement

Jay Miller

Inside the Capitol - SANTA FE – The state Law Enforcement Academy is still having big problems. This time it involves police, who have been fired, moving to similar jobs in other communities because the Academy never files statewide charges against the officer. The Albuquerque Journal in a copyrighted story has covered the present situation well. The following is a review of what happened three years ago when the academy was called on the carpet. Both times the problem apparently was disinterest by Attorney General Gary King.

In November 2009, an interim legislative committee heard evidence that police brutality charges never get prosecuted by the state... Testimony indicated that complaints to local officials seldom result in any action. Albuquerque has some police oversight mechanisms but no one present recommended those mechanisms as being models others should employ. Read full column here: News New Mexico

"Agitated Liberals"

Courtesy of Conservativedailynews.com

janice2012.us

APD Oversight Under Review

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (KRQE) — City officials say the report is especially important now with the department still in the shadow of a long string of officer involved shootings. It was issued by MGT of America, a private company hired by the city to make sure the committee is efficient and honest. There are pages and pages of evaluations, findings and recommendations concerning the city's independent review officer, APD's internal affairs division and the police oversight commission. Among them are that the commission should be required to have more training and to attend specific events. It also suggests that the city's independent review officer be required to attend and investigate each officer involved shooting as the investigation unfolds. Something the city's Chief Administrative Officer says already happens. Read full story here: News New Mexico

More Wet Weather on the Way

KOAT TV - ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. -- Another blast of wet weather is headed for New Mexico, but warmer temperatures will result in more rain than snow, First Alert Chief Meteorologist Joe Diaz said. This storm will be the wettest since Balloon Fiesta. But travel will not be affected as much as it was during the last storm because this one is warmer. Winter storm watches have been issued Monday afternoon through Wednesday morning for all mountains over the northern half of the state, including Tijeras, Cedar Crest, Red River, Angel Fire, Chama, Los Alamos, Quemado and the stretch between Gallup and Grants on Interstate 40. On Monday evening, expect increasing cold rain in Albuquerque and Santa Fe and a wintry mix in the Tijeras Canyon. Read full story here: News New Mexico

Global Warming: has China had a change of heart or just a change of strategy?

Marita Noon

Following the failure in Copenhagen and Cancun, no one expected much from the UN’s seventeenth year of climate talks that took place during the past two weeks in South Africa. However, the sluggish conference got a jolt of excitement when China teased that they might agree, after sixteen years of disagreement, to sign a legally binding deal for reducing emissions. China’s softening position escalated enthusiasm at the United Nations Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP17) with news coming out stating that negotiators “were steps closer to an agreement on combating climate change” and “Agreement on emissions reduction appears near.” COP17, according to The Economist, was “more about saving the circus” than “saving the planet.” Regarding the event, the Wall Street Journal declared that it “appeared destined to end as a well-advertised convention of environmental officials and activists swapping strategies on creating new national parks and shuttering old coal-fired plants.” But that was before China’s changing rhetoric—and rhetoric it was. China’s shift came with a “laundry list” of pre-conditions that meant they never really had to change their position, while appearing to be promoting environmental policies. Read rest of column here: News New Mexico

King Under Fire With Law Enforcement

Gary King

KRQE - SANTA FE - An emergency meeting to evaluate how New Mexico Attorney General Gary King handles law-enforcement disciplinary cases is being called by state Law Enforcement Board members who are concerned that a backlog of hearings may be allowing unfit officers to carry a badge and gun. Albuquerque Police Chief Ray Schultz, who is on the board, said he is worried officers who should not be entrusted with a gun and a badge could be because disciplinary cases against them are in limbo. "The bigger concern says Schultz is did these officers go and work for other agencies and other community?" Those on the state board evaluating these officers want to question the Attorney General's Office in an emergency meeting, scheduled for tomorrow and listed on the agenda is the entry: "Ineffective Prosecution by Attorney General's Office." Attorney General King is the board's chairman and provides a prosecutor for the cases and some board members said he's not aggressive enough. Read full story here: News New Mexico

Tea Party, Occupiers, and the City of Santa Fe

Steve Terrell

Santa Fe New Mexican - Dec. 11--Santa Fe Republicans indisputably are in the minority. This often leads to grumbling about their treatment by the Democratic majority. Like all political beefs, from any side, sometimes the concerns are overblown. Sometimes not. Last week a couple of local GOP activists raised a valid question about basic fairness. Jim and Sheryl Bohlander emailed that they don't think it's fair that they had to pay hundreds of dollars to use the Santa Fe Plaza for tea-party events while members of the Occupy Santa Fe movement camp out at the city's Railyard Park for free. "As two of the principal organizers of the 2009 and 2010 tea-party rallies on the Plaza, we can confirm that we had to secure a permit to use the Plaza, $400 for each event, plus we had to secure at liability insurance policy for both events, well over $300 each time," the Bohlanders said in their email. "The permit fee for 2011 was $455. Additionally, we had to state specifically the time frame of the events." I realize some readers will be thinking, "What the heck? They're Republicans. They can afford it." But setting political prejudices aside -- if that's ever possible -- one can ask if it's fair to make one group of citizens pay to use a city park for a political gathering while another group gets to use a park for free? Read full story here: News New Mexico

Another Bad Weekend for Tim Tebow Haters

Tim Tebow

Tim Tebow and the Denver Broncos delivered again for their "believers" with an another amazing finish yesterday after yet another very slow start against the Chicago Bears. Tebow was phenomenal in the fourth quarter and in overtime and the Broncos' tenacious defense, which held the Chicago Bears to just ten points for the entire game, produced a huge fumble recovery also in overtime to create the opportunity for the completion of the stunning comeback. After trailing the Bears 10-0 late, the Broncos won their sixth straight game, with a stirring 13-10 come-from-behind win. Matt Prater's 51-yard field goal in overtime provided the winning margin. After the game Tebow raised up from his knees and pointed to the sky. And in his first post-game interview he once again gave credit first, to his "Lord and Savior Jesus Christ." His credit to a higher power was surely much to the chagrin of the atheists and other anti-Christian Tebow haters everywhere.

Ski Season Off to Early Start in NM

KOB TV - Skiers are hitting the slopes early in the Albuquerque area this season. Sandia Peak opened over the weekend, a week ahead of schedule. Peak officials say the snowstorm last week dropped about 16 inches of fresh powder on the mountain, but they needed it packed. Operations Manager Brian Coon said the skiers and snowboarders are the best way to compact the snow so the winds don't take the top layer away. The ski facilities at Angel Fire are set for an opening this Thursday and there are several runs open at Ski Apache near Ruidoso thanks to the early season storm last week. Read full story here: News New Mexico

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