courtesy of http://www.conservativedailynews.com/


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The Beauty of Martin Luther King's Dream

Jim Spence
Commentary by Jim Spence - Four years ago Barack Obama’s election in 2008 suggested a turning point in American history. Beyond all else the Obama victory demonstrated that America was ready, willing, and able to elect a non-white person to highest office in the land. Few could argue that even the mere symbolism did not have great value for our country. If nothing else, Obama offered the promise of ushering in a new age. From 2008 forward only the content of character would matter and the color of skin would be irrelevant.  Martin Luther King’s dream has come true. It is a wonderful thing. 
Fast forward almost four years and see how Democrats are dealing with the good news. President Obama’s signature legislation involves the federal government taking control of 16% of the economy (healthcare). Is he willing to run on that so-called accomplishment? No way. The legislation remains so unpopular Democrats know full well it is political poison to bring it up let alone try to brag about. How about the economy under Obama's policies? This is an increasingly large liability. We are in the middle of the most pathetic economic environment since the Great Depression. Unemployment has been over 8% for a longer period of time than ever in history. It is pretty hard to brag about the track we are on after four years.
If you survey the landscape you realize that making the case for President Obama’s re-election is difficult. Not to worry. Democrats have a strategy plan. It can be summarized in two sentences. 1) Demonize anyone who has achieved success and give credit for what they did to the government. 2) Accuse anyone who is critical of Obama’s central planning economy of being a racist.
The bad news for those truly interested in King's dream is the Obama campaign has help with its race exploitation strategy. Columnist Michelle Malkin does a great job of explaining all the words used in the normal course of conversation and discussion that are now being cynically identified as code for racism by the Obama biased news media. You can read her column here. This is a bastardization of everything King stood for.
Susana Martinez was censored
In watching the television coverage of the GOP convention this week it became clear that though Martin Luther King’s dream was realized in 2008, the political exploitation of race is still growing stronger. In the face of an economy that is clearly failing, accusations of racism are now being hurled at anyone and anything that is not considered completely supportive of Obama. Conceding the realization of Martin Luther King's dream takes a valuable tool away from Democrats. They won't have it and neither will their friends in the mainstream media. Coverage of speeches by African-Americans supporting Romney were censored across America as a matter of routine this week. Devoted followers of Governor Susana Martinez found themselves scrambling to find mainstream media coverage of her prime time speech. It was remorselessly omitted by ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, and MSNBC. Her message did not fit the race exploitation narrative that Democrats now believe is the only hope Obama has left.
Not only is the Democrat's center-pieced race exploitation strategy horrifyingly cynical, it provides a sad commentary on just how hard they must think the Obama record is to defend. Hurling the charge of racism around in every direction is now crossing all ethical boundaries.
The hard truth is racism has nothing to do with Obama’s policy failures. The policies he has tried have never succeeded. What Obama has going for him that Jimmy Carter didn’t is all the goodwill the vast majority of Americans have towards minorities. Regardless of political affiliation Americans love the underdog. Unfortunately for Obama, he has failed in spite of all the goodwill he has been handed by a nation that was so eager to see the dreams of Dr. King realized. Americans now realize their preference for an underdog caused them to elect a man who was completely unprepared for the job. The economy is the proof.
Clint Eastwood might have rambled a bit on Thursday night but he got it right. When someone doesn’t get the job done you have to let them go.

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Attention PBS Donors: KNME GM Makes $165K Per Year

NM Watchdog - For a non-profit organization dedicated to public service, KNME-TV pays its general manager more than its faithful supporters might imagine. Polly Anderson, the general manager of PBS New Mexico, receives $165,000 a year, plus benefits. Her non-profit salary is right up there with what for-profit corporations pay managers at far larger television stations. Though her staff is tiny in comparison, she makes significantly more than the people who manage the huge workforces of the City of Albuquerque and Bernalillo County.
“I’m offended,” said Bernalillo County Commissioner Wayne Johnson when he heard of Anderson’s salary. “What does she do? KNME has become basically a satellite repeater. They don’t do the level of original production they used to do. The station once was all about education and what was happening locally. That’s not what they’re doing now.”
Johnson knows the station’s history. His mother worked at KNME for fifteen years offering an educational program for children called “Kaleidoscope.”
Johnson compared Anderson’s salary and less demanding responsibilities to the duties of Thomas Zdunek, the Bernalillo County Manager. At $148,000, he receives the highest salary New Mexico Watchdog has found so far in its survey of the payrolls of local governments. Albuquerque’s City Manager makes $144,773 for overseeing an even larger City Hall workforce responsible for public health and safety, as well streets, roads, parks, vast real estate holdings and huge capital projects.
“The Bernalillo County manager oversees 2500 employees,” Johnson said. KNME employs 49 other than Anderson, according to data obtained from the University of New Mexico’s Sunshine Portal.
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Aggies win opener 49 - 19

NewsNM Swickard: Fine game with both teams looking good. The NMSU Aggies played well and made few mistakes. Final score: 49-19 for the Aggies.Aggies Win Season Opener 49-19

LAS CRUCES, N.M. (Aug. 30)-The New Mexico State football team opened its season with a 49-19 victory over Sacramento State inside Aggie Memorial Stadium. Sophomore quarterback Andrew Manley and sophomore wide receiver Austin Franklin led the Aggie offense with career-high performances. Manley finished with a career-high 367 passing yards and three touchdowns on a 14-of-22 showing through the air. Franklin recorded a career-high 236 receiving yards and a pair of touchdowns.
Defensively, junior linebacker Trashaun Nixon led the team with 15 tackles, his first career double-digit tackle performance. Junior linebacker Bryan Bonilla and senior safety Davis Cazares also finished with double-digit tackles. Bonilla finished with 11 tackles, his second career double-digit tackle performance, while Davis finished with 10, his first career double-figures performance.
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New Mexicans upset networks snubbed governor's speech

NewsNM note Swickard: since it was all major networks except Fox I have to believe it was a political statement not a television statement. For three years I worked for KOB-TV and regret they are caught by the network decision to omit the Martinez speech. From KOB-TV.com - A lot of New Mexico voters and viewers are ticked off about what happened - or better yet, what didn't happen during Wednesday night's coverage of the Republican National Convention. All three major broadcast networks cut away from the podium when New Mexico Governor Susana Martinez delivered her prime time speech, and now there's plenty of fallout over how it was handled. NBC, CBS and ABC all pulled away from the action when Martinez was onstage, while viewers here scrambled to find the speech elsewhere - on cable, satellite and internet sources. Martinez got a ringing introduction as "the first Hispanic female Governor in the history of the United States", and her first words to the audience were "thank you and good evening."  While Gov. Martinez delivered her speech the networks all cut to talking heads, analysis and color commentary. Thousands of New Mexicans and millions across the country never saw the speech. Plenty of viewers wasted no time in letting us know how they felt. "My wife and i are extremely upset that NBC thought it was more appropriate to listen to the bantering of Tom Brokaw and other NBC News people than the electrifying speech by our governor," went one email. Others felt the move was disrespectful to the state and Martinez. "They apparently didn't feel New Mexico, women, Hispanics count," said another. "What a slap in the face of all New Mexicans! Shame on NBC!" Dozens have sent their criticism directly to the KOB 4 newsroom and Facebook page. "It truly amazes me that you guys would not carry Susana Martinez's convention speech live!!??" a third e-mail stated. You guys. That's what really hurts. If it was "us guys" we would plead guilty and say we're sorry. But it was a decision made by NBC News.  Tonight NBC issued this statement: "The one hour broadcasts of the convention on the broadcast network are not meant to provide wall to wall coverage. Our producers made a decision to focus on the (Condoleezza) Rice and (Paul) Ryan speeches... Read more 


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Sowell: Entitlement Reforms


Thomas Sowel
Commentary by Thomas Sowell - For those of us who like to believe that human beings are rational, trying to explain what happens in politics can be a real challenge.  For example, that segment of the population that has the least to fear from a reform of Medicare or Social Security is the most fearful -- namely, those already receiving Medicare or Social Security benefits.  It is understandable that people heavily dependent on these programs would fear losing their benefits, especially after a lifetime of paying into these programs. But nobody in his right mind has even proposed taking away the benefits of those who are already receiving them.
Let's stop and think, if only for the novelty of it.
If you make any change in anything, you are ending it "as we know it." Does that mean that everything in the status quo should be considered to be set in concrete forever?  If there were not a single Republican, or none who got elected to any office, arithmetic would still end "Medicare as we know it," for the simple reason that the money in the till is not enough to keep paying for it. The same is true of Social Security.  The same has been true of welfare state programs in European countries that are currently struggling with both financial crises and riots in the streets from people who feel betrayed by their governments. They have in fact been betrayed by their politicians, who have promised them things that there was not enough money to pay for. That is the basic problem in the United States as well.  We are not yet Greece, but we are not exempt from the same rules of arithmetic that eventually caught up with Greece. We just have a little more time. The only question is whether we will use that time to make politically difficult changes or whether we will just kick the can down the road, and keep pretending that "Medicare as we know it" would continue on indefinitely, if it were not for people who just want to be mean to the elderly.  Read more


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Udall visits Mescalero Schools to talk language preservation

U.S. Senator Tom Udall speaks with Jennie Pea's fourth-grade
Apache classroom. (photo by Duane Barbati, Daily News)
From the Alamogordo Daily News - By Harold Oakes - MESCALERO -- Some of the things U.S. Sen. Tom Udall (D-N.M.) heard during his visit to Mescalero Apache Schools Wednesday were in a language he does not understand but is working to save. Udall visited first-grade, fourth-grade and middle school Apache language classes and greeted the children with "What's the news?" in Apache, which brought giggles from the children. Before his visit to the classrooms and a question-and-answer session in the auditorium with all the students, Udall sat down with Mescalero Apache President Fredrick Chino, three members of the tribal council and school officials to discuss programs to preserve the Apache language. "I believe for you to retain your culture, for you to hold on to your culture you have to retain your language. If you don't do that, the culture slowly disappears," Udall said. Chino said the Apache language has been disappearing. "Back in 1960 they did a study on the Mescalero Apache Reservation about the Apache language," Chino said. "At that time 99 percent spoke the language. In 1990 they did the study again and the number who spoke Apache was down to 30 percent." Tribal council member Freddie Kaydahzinne said in 2000 the number of Apache speakers on the reservation was down to 25 percent. Read more
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Mainstream Media Censored Martinez Last Night

Commentary by Jim Spence - The big story in New Mexico last night was not what a smashing performance Governor Susana Martinez delivered on the national stage. Though her performance was top shelf. It was the story that the same old collaborators who carry water for the Obama re-election campaign actually took the radical step of completely CENSORING her. That’s right, the Martinez speech was censored right off the air. I was watching the address on C-SPAN when my daughter texted me from Portland and said she could not find coverage of the Martinez speech anywhere on basic cable. Sure enough, the race card playing partners of the Democratic Party (CNN, ABC, CBS, NBC, and MSNBC) all chose to omit her speech from their national television coverage.
Why censor Martinez? The answer is simple. Governor Martinez represents a tremendous contradiction to the one narrative that Democrats are still hoping will help them hold on to their voting base. Because Democrats don't dare talk about what they have spent the last four years doing (sneaking Obamacare through and blocking intelligent energy policies) they resort to a usually reliable scehme designed to divide people along racial/ethnic/gender lines. Though it is a filthy obscene thing to do (according to Harlem Democrat Charles Rangel), it works. Accusing Republicans of being anti-women, anti-Hispanic, and anti-African American raises the suspicions of women, Hispanic, and African-American voters. The tactic also drives a predictable percentage of white voters, people who do not want to be identified as racists, to the political clutches of Democrats.
With the Obama recovery now by far the worst of any on record, this is a year when a huge media assist is going to be needed to keep him in power. And last night, as well as Tuesday night, every major news network except for Fox participated in the helping the tactic of smearing of Republicans as racists. Saying the GOP is only interested in white men for leadership is much better than showing a diverse collection of speakers actually talk about ideas that refute the notion.
The blatant censorship of primetime appearances this week of Mia Love, Phil Archuleta, Brian Sandoval, Artur Davis, and yes even our own governor Susana Martinez serves as proof that the racist narrative is what Charles Rangel said it was......a filthy obscene accusation that is baseless. CNN, ABC, CBS, NBC, and MSNBC not only censored these people they turned loose expert panels to lament the lack of women and minority representation in the GOP. These are the tactics one would expect from Lenin, Stalin, or Mao. These people exerted direct control of state media. What America's mainstream television networks did last night goes farther than anything else in explaining the remarkable ratings domination by Fox at the expense of every other news outlet. America deserves better.

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Susana makes her star turn at GOP convention

From Capitol Report New Mexico - Susana Martinez got her shot Wednesday night. And the early reviews were good. The New Mexico governor seemed to touch all the political bases Republicans hoped she would hit when she made her national debut in front of millions of Americans on Thursday night (Aug. 29) at the Republican National Convention in Tampa. The first Hispanic female governor in US history received a plumb spot on the speakers’ roster, following former Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice and preceding vice presidential pick Paul Ryan and her 10-minute speech brought delegates to their feet on at least three occasions:
*with Mitt Romney needing to appeal to Hispanic voters, one of the first things Martinez said in her speech was “En America, todo es posible.”
*recalling her time working for her parents’ security business, she fired off her first big applause line by saying, “I carried a Smith & Wesson .357 magnum.”
*although it’s a familiar story for New Mexico political followers, she recounted how she long considered herself a Democrat. But after a lunch date she and her husband Chuck had with GOP officials, she declared, “I’ll be damned, we’re Republicans.”
*took a shot at President Obama’s “you didn’t build that” comment by saying, “If he can take credit for government building small businesses, then he can accept responsibility for breaking his promise and adding 5 trillion dollars to the national debt. Because he did build that.”
Within minutes of the speech, #SusanaMartinez was trending on Twitter and the Washington Post’s Chris Cillizza wrote, “This is very good stuff from Susana Martinez. I am a little surprised how good she is tonight given she’s never done this before.” As you’d expect, conservatives on the blogosphere raved about her performance. On Powerline, Paul Mirengoff wrote: I confess to wondering about the decision to give the New Mexico governor a plum speaking time on a big convention night, just in front of Paul Ryan. But then I had never really seen Susana Martinez in action. Now that I have, I wonder no more. The sky could be the limit for this rising star. But even liberals gave her good reviews. The convention live blogger for the über-lefty Daily Kos wrote: Susana Martinez is giving a terrific speech, I think. Which I assume means Republicans will hate it. Here’s more from Cillizza who placed Martinez under the heading of the night’s “winners”: * Susana Martinez: Before tonight most people — including most Republicans — didn’t know much (if anything) about the New Mexico governor. Martinez changed that — in a good way — with a down-to-earth delivery and ease in the moment that many politicians with much more experience on the national stage would rightly be jealous of. Read more
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Isaac Hits New Orleans, Police and Guard on Patrol

Hurricane Isaac's floodwaters spilled over a levee just outside of New Orleans today. The gigantic slow moving system weakened to a tropical storm this afternoon. New multibillion-dollar barriers paid for with the nation's taxpayer dollars, which were constructed to protect the city after Hurricane Katrina, seemed to be holding.
Reuters quoted New Orleans Mayor Mitchell Landrieu as saying, "The federal levee system ... is fine," when he was asked about the city that was built below sea level today.
"There are no risks. It is holding exactly as we expected it to and is performing exactly as it should," he added.
Police and National Guard units, patrolled the downtown area of the city to protect businesses and homes from looters who use crippling storms as an opportunity to steal.
Despite widespread flood damage, a few injuries, and devastating power outages that are fairly typical of any hurricane, the mainstream media was relieved that unlike the damages and threats to life caused during Katrina, the damages and destruction caused by Issac were not a result of racism. Only hurricanes that occured between 2001 and the end of 2008 that hit cities constructed below sea level, that have large minority populations that ignore advance storm warnings, are storms that cause death and damages due to racism.

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courtesy of http://www.conservativedailynews.com/


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Media (Except Fox) Repeats "White Man Party" Drumbeat

Mia Love
Commentary by Jim Spence - It is no wonder Fox News has gobbled up market share in the news game. Read the roster of speakers at the Republican National Convention. Or better yet, actually watch and listen to them (not me, I watched the U.S. Open Tennis matches last night). Then watch every organization in the mainstream media cover the convention except for Fox. What you will see is intentional misrepresentation, distortion, and the outright lies. Other than Fox News the national media consistently repeats the most desired message the Democratic National Committee wants to incorporate into the American voter's psyche.

Ted Cruz
John Harwood of NBC provided a stunning example when he reviewed the first day of the GOP convention this morning for NBC. Harwood said the Republicans are a party “dominated by white men.” And in his roster of speakers for tonight Harwood conveniently forgot to put New Mexico Governor Susana Martinez on the list, despite the fact that Martinez goes on stage in prime time right before V.P. nominee Paul Ryan. Yesterday New Mexico business person Phil Archuleta, Representative Artur Davis, a black American; Mia Love, a black candidate for the U.S. House of Representatives from Utah, Texas senatorial hopeful Ted Cruz, a Latino American, and Governor Brian Sandoval of Nevada spoke at the convention. And last night it seems that MSNBC, which serves as the unofficial mouthpiece for the DNC, intentionally omitted coverage of all minority speakers so they could go to their handpicked panel of "experts" who proceeded to bash the GOP for an absence of "diversity." Coverage of the convention at CNN, ABC, CBS, and NBC is similarly biased with the party of white people being a common theme.
Brian Sandoval
It will be interesting to see how the media handles Susana Martinez tonight who is scheduled to address the delegates around 8:00pm MDT. A rock star in this state the smart money says every major news network EXCEPT Fox News will downplay the Martinez speech and draw attention away from the leadership role she has taken in a state dominated by Democrats of all shapes and sizes for eight decades. Democrats seem to pin their hopes on the race card once again. After four years of skyrocketing deficits and national debt, unemployment over 8% for longer than anytime in modern history, what else do they have to talk about? Charles Rangel said it best. It is a filthy, obsene, game....this race baiting.

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Erhard pledges to focus on ‘the plight of the people’

Evelyn Madrid Erhard, Candidate for Congress
From NMPolitics.net - by Jeff Berg - “I’m running for congress, and I’m a Democrat,” Evelyn Madrid Erhard offers strongly and convincingly. I ask Erhard, why now? Here’s what she says:“I came to Las Cruces in 1975, and for most of that time the district has been Republican. First it was Joe Skeen and now it is Steve Pearce. They’re always with the Republicans – there was the ‘Contract for America,’ Skeen was there for the start of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the Halliburton incidents and so on. Now the Republicans are bringing the U.S. close to failure and deep poverty.” Her website includes this note: “Their agenda was always to take care of their own interests and the interests of the top 1%. They have supported laws that created corporate loopholes and stripped American workers of pension and health insurance benefits.” Because of those concerns, and having received leadership recognition from the Democratic National Committee and being invited to participate in Hispanic leadership conferences, Erhard felt that her time to try and make a big difference had come. Although always a long time political observer – “I remember having an interest in politics starting about the time that JFK was assassinated,” she said – Erhard never really had an opportunity to get involved until the Obama campaign of 2008. “My husband really encouraged me, even though I was busy all the time,” she said. “He knew that I listened to other people’s stories, and when the Obama office opened here in 2008, he told me to go there.” She did, and found herself busy as a volunteer from the first day. She helped sign up more volunteers and assisted in arranging campaign events locally for Obama and former U.S. Congressman Harry Teague, who lost to Pearce in the last election. Her efforts did not go unnoticed, and in 2009, she was one of a handful of supporters to be chosen to meet President Barack Obama at a rally in Rio Rancho. “He did a talk and there were some pictures of us taken with him,” she said. “He called me and encouraged me to continue to work hard, and recently has given me his support for my campaign.” Read more
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PolitiFiction

Pants On Fire
From National Review Online - he website PolitiFact is going to be truth-squadding the Republican convention speakers this week, delivering verdicts on which claims are “mostly true” and which deserve a “pants on fire” rating. Our advice: Pay no attention to those ratings. PolitiFact can’t be trusted to get the story right. Its recent rulings on Medicare have demonstrated the point thrice over. PolitiFact said that Romney’s comment that Obama had “robbed” Medicare of $716 billion to pay for Obamacare was “mostly false.” Among its reasons: “The money was not robbed in any literal sense of the word.” So if Romney led anyone to believe that Obama had held Medicare at gunpoint and ordered it to hand over its wallet, they can now rest easy, because PolitiFact is on the case. PolitiFact’s other arguments are that Medicare spending will continue to rise and that Obama’s spending reductions are “mainly aimed at insurers and hospitals, not beneficiaries.” Leave aside the economic naïveté of that argument, and focus instead on the irrelevance. Romney said that Obama had taken money that was going to be spent on Medicare and instead spend it on Obamacare, and suggested that this was a bad thing. In other words: an absolutely true claim, and an opinion based on it. If PolitiFact disagrees with that opinion, let it publish its views under a different name. Read more

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Obama Team Rejects Catholic Request to Participate, But Will Host 2 Hour Muslim Prayer Event at Convention

The Blaze - The Democratic National Committee is raising a number of eyebrows after choosing to proceed with hosting Islamic “Jumah” prayers for two hours on the Friday of its convention, though it denied a Catholic cardinal’s request to say a prayer at the same event.
The event is being promoted on the official Charlottein2012.com page. You can watch the promotional video, via the Bureau of Muslim Affairs, which is partnering with the DNC for the event.
The first two minutes are rather dry, but around 2:04 a muezzin sings the call to prayer with an American flag background, and the video “picks up” considerably:
Up to 20,000 people are expected to attend the Friday prayers and Jibril Hough, a spokesman for the Bureau of Indigenous Muslim Affairs (BIMA), said the purpose of the event is to hold political parties accountable for the issues faced by Muslim-Americans.
In particular, the event will target the Patriot Act, the NYPD, the National Defense Authorization Act, and anti-Shariah sentiment.
Imam Siraj Wahhaj
And while Muslim-Americans undeniably face distinct challenges, those who are well-informed on the dangers of radical Islam are expressing their doubts about the event. Dr. Zuhdi Jasser, a devout Muslim and the Founder and President of the American Islamic Forum for Democracy, wrote: “The leaders of this event – Jibril Hough and Imam Siraj Wahhaj are not moderates. They are radicals. These individuals embrace Islamist supremacy and have demonstrated support for radical ideologies.

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Obama's Ohio Military Vote Strategy
courtesy of http://www.conservativedailynews.com/

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Expect More Emboldened Voter Fraud Schemes

Eric Holder
Newsmax - Voter fraud will become “more brazen” with Attorney General Eric Holder in office because the Justice Department aims to block states and local governments from enforcing the law that’s been on the books for decades, Cleta Mitchell, president of the Republican National Lawyers’ Convention, told Newsmax.TV in an exclusive interview.
Mitchell said Holder’s policies emboldens vote scheming, which, she points out, is a felony. “I think they get more and more brazen and because they know that Eric Holder, the Attorney General, rather than trying to enforce federal laws that would protect us from voter crimes, Eric Holder and his Justice Department have done just the opposite,” she said.
“They have tried to block states and local governments from enforcing the law that we have operated on for decades. I mean it’s illegal. It’s a felony under federal law for someone to register to vote or to vote if you’re not a citizen. But instead of enforcing that law, the Justice Department under Eric Holder is suing the state of Florida to keep them from enforcing it. So that’s why I think that that emboldens those who would concoct schemes to have illegal votes cast.”
Mitchell’s group has been working for several years to help states “adopt procedures and laws that will guard against voter fraud,” she said. Read full story here: News New Mexico
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Consumer Confidence Falls to Ten Month Low

Bloomberg - Confidence among U.S. consumers fell in August by the most in 10 months as households grew more pessimistic about their employment prospects and the economic outlook.
The Conference Board’s index decreased to 60.6 from a revised 65.4 in July, figures from the New York-based private research group showed today. The 4.8-point decrease was the biggest since October. The reading was less than the most- pessimistic forecast in a Bloomberg survey in which the median projection was 66.
Rising gasoline prices, a jobless rate that’s been above 8 percent since the start of 2009 and limited income gains are keeping consumers glum. Persistent pessimism raises the risk of a pullback in household purchases that account for about 70 percent of the world’s biggest economy. Read full story here: News New Mexico

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Solyndra: There's More

(Reuters) - Two investment firms could walk away from the bankruptcy of solar panel maker Solyndra LLC with hundreds of millions of dollars in future tax breaks, the U.S. government said in court papers seeking more information on the arrangement.

Units of Argonaut Ventures and Madrone Partners could end up with "significantly more" than $500 million in tax benefits as part of Solyndra's bankruptcy, the Department of Energy and the Internal Revenue Service said in a bankruptcy court filing on Friday.
Under the bankruptcy plan, the U.S. government is unlikely to recoup much of its $528 million loan to Solyndra.
The government agencies asked the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Wilmington, Delaware, to reject Solyndra's "disclosure statement," which describes its plan to repay creditors, unless the company provides more details on the tax benefits.
Under the proposed plan, tax benefits such as "net operating losses" would be preserved for Argonaut, which is controlled by a foundation linked to billionaire George Kaiser, and Madrone. Under a 2011 restructuring, the two firms committed to investing $75 million to keep Solyndra afloat with the condition they would be repaid before the U.S. government.
"Argonaut and Madrone could potentially use Solyndra's net operating losses to avoid hundreds of millions of dollars in future income taxes that they would owe on income generated by business ventures wholly unrelated to the debtors," the government agencies said in the filing.
Debra Grassgreen, an attorney with Pachulski Stang Ziehl & Jones, which represents Solyndra, declined to comment beyond saying that the company would file a reply with the court.
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City of Las Cruces Demands Photo Identification, For Children Who Want to Play in City Programs

Commentary by Jim Spence - Progressive Democrats dominate the Las Cruces City Council. Most businesspeople agree it is the most anti-business council in the history of the City of Crosses. One of the defining policy positions of all progressives is vigorous opposition to efforts to require photo voter identification to prevent voter fraud. The hypocricy in city hall in New Mexico's second largest city is reaching epic proportions. Here is the latest press release:
The City of Las Cruces Parks & Recreation Department will now issue individual activity identification cards for all youth who participate in Parks & Recreation programs. The card will contain a photo, I.D. number, birth month and year, grade level as of school year 2012-2013 and issue/expiration dates. The initial card will be free of charge.
This card will help streamline the administration of Parks & Recreation programs and assist in getting children placed on teams and receive information on upcoming events.
"Every child that participates in a program sponsored by the City of Las Cruces Parks & Recreation Department will be required to have an activities identification card," said Parks & Recreation Department Director Mark Johnston. For a child to obtain a card, parents or guardians, along with the child, must appear in person at Meerscheidt Recreation Center, 1600 E. Hadley Ave., to fill out the permission form, provide proof of child's age and grade level, and to have the child's photo taken. Cards will be issued Monday thru Friday between 9 a.m. and 8 p.m. and Saturdays from 10 a.m. - 1 p.m.
The implications of this rule are pretty clear. Preventing voter fraud is not a priority but preventing unidentified children (with no photo ID) from playing is. Incredible.

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NMSU Tries to Close Barn Door at DABCC Nursing Program With "Free" Scholarships

The horse left the barn at Dona Ana Community College. Several years after deficiencies were identified in the nursing program that raised the spectre of lost accreditation the hammer finally came down on the management team at DABCC and NMSU. Earlier this month the National League for Nursing Accreditation Commission denied accreditation for the Dona Ana Community College nursing program.
New Mexico State University and DABCC finally made a much too late effort to close the door to barn yesterday when it issued this statement: "NMSU will provide scholarships to cover tuition and fees for DACC nursing students who transfer into the BSN (Bachelor of Science in Nursing) program and the scholarship can be renewed through the duration of the program if the student maintains a 3.O (grade point average).” No mention was made of tuition refunds to current students.
In effect the university is encouraging existing and future students to gamble that NMSU and DABCC will regain its credibility and obtain accreditation at some point in the future. The "free tuition" offered in the wake of the breech will only have real value to students if accreditation is regained.

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Land Office Takes in $7.4 Million on Oil and Gas Leases

The New Mexico State Land Office reported sales of oil and natural gas leases brought in nearly $7.4 million for August.
A total of 26 tracts of land covering more than 8,000 acres were sold. Revenues from the oil and gas industry represent 97% of all income brought in by the Land Office. The revenues are used to support public schools, universities and hospitals.
The highest sealed bid of $466,140 was made by Ronald Miles of Roswell for about 163 acres in Eddy County who also placed the highest oral bid - $2 million for about 640 acres in Lea County.
Experts wonder how much more money might have come to the State Land Office if it had not tried to retroactively change the formula for how royalties are calculated on productive leases.

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State Land Office Loses Bid to Retroactively Change Oil and Gas Royalty Rules to Increase Revenues

Santa Fe New Mexican - New Mexico’s highest court has ruled in favor of the oil industry in a dispute over whether two companies owed the state nearly $25 million in royalties for natural gas and oil produced on state land.

The court’s unanimous ruling last week was a setback for the State Land Office, which contended that producers have shortchanged New Mexico in what they pay for producing gas and oil on land owned by the state. The decision could affect several other pending royalty lawsuits potentially involving tens of millions of dollars.
Wally Drangmeister, a spokesman for the New Mexico Oil and Gas Association, said Monday the court’s ruling “reaffirms the common sense interpretation and application of lease provisions that the industry has employed for decades.”
One of the central issues is whether companies should be allowed to continue to deduct certain expenses for making natural gas marketable after it’s produced at well sites. Those so-called post-production costs include removing water and other impurities from the gas, and then transporting the gas to plants for additional processing before it’s shipped in pipelines for commercial distribution.
Royalties are paid on “net proceeds” and the Land Office sought to limit costs that can be deducted by producers. Some gas is produced from oil wells and the ruling also involves royalties paid on that. Read full story here: News New Mexico
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Live Morning Coverage of GOP Convention Begins

Tampa Convention Center
News New Mexico begins its morning coverage each day of the Republican Convention in Tampa, Florida tomorrow. We have three NewsNM contributors: Aaron Henry Diaz, Marita Noon, and Jamie Estrada scheduled to provide updates on what is going on behind the scenes. We will also be speaking with prominent GOP elected officials from New Mexico as well as spokespersons from the Romney organization. 

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Yes, Romney Can; No, Obama Can't

Marita Noon
Townhall - President Obama’s energy policies have kept investment and jobs out of America; Romney’s energy plan can bring money and jobs back. Analysts are picking apart Romney’s 21-page energy plan that was introduced in Hobbs, New Mexico, on Thursday. Is energy independence by 2020 possible, or is it, as the Financial Times posited, “an act of hubris?” More important than whether or not his energy play is realistic is the international implications of his “independence” assertion and how he plans to get there.

As the news coverage reminds us, “Every US president since Richard Nixon has set an objective of reducing the country’s reliance on foreign oil, and most of them have failed.”
President Obama’s approach has been to “end the age of oil.” To that end, he has poured billions of dollars into green energy projects—many of which were risky investments that have now failed or are headed for failure. His approach has done nothing to reduce our reliance on foreign oil—though we are importing less due to the bad economy and high prices, and the new oil boom presently centered on North Dakota. To companies looking to invest in any kind of extractive endeavor, his policies have screamed “You can’t!” Read full story here: News New Mexico
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In House Critic Calls New York Times Out for Bias

Politico - The executive editor of the New York Times is disputing an accusation of liberal bias made by her very own public editor, Arthur Brisbane.
In his final column for the Times, Brisbane wrote that his fellow staffers "share a kind of political and cultural progressivism" that "virtually bleeds through the fabric of The Times." Brisbane even argued that Times reporters approached some liberal issues, like gay marriage and the Occupy movement, "more like causes than news subjects." But Times executive editor Jill Abramson says she disagrees with Brisbane's "sweeping conclusions." Read full story here: News New Mexico
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NMSU Rolls in Opening Tourney at NIU

The New Mexico State volleyball team earned its third consecutive victory defeating Northern Illinois 3-1 (14-25, 25-19, 25-16, 25-10) to win the NUI Invitational on Victor E. Court, Saturday, Aug. 25. NM State returns home with a 3-0 record as the Aggies look forward to hosting a tournament in the Pan American Center next weekend.
NMSU Volleyball Coach Mike Jordan
NM State played tough team defense in the final three sets of the match to bring home the hardware. Sophomore Meredith Hays, who was named tournament MVP, ended her evening with 18 kills. Junior Preslie Alexander put up eight kills, two service aces and a block assist, while being named to the all-tournament team along with junior Desiree Scott. Scott finished the tournament with 18 kills and 16 total blocks in the tournament to help the Aggies to three wins.
The Aggies struggled in set one falling 25-14 to NIU. NM State jumped out to an early 4-0 lead but couldn't hold on as the Huskies tied the set at nine. NM State bounced back and took set two 25-19. Had four total team blocks through two sets with three coming in the second. The Aggies held NIU to a .026 hitting percentage in the second set before heading to set three where they jumped out to a 10-point lead at 19-9 and rounded out the tournament winning the final set in dominant fashion, 25-10.
The NM State defense showed up against the Huskies as it posted 19 total team blocks and held it's opponent to a -.014 hitting percentage in the match.
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Re-Shuffle Puts Martinez in Primetime on Wednesday

Susana Martinez
New Mexico Watchdog - New Mexico Gov. Susana Martinez will now precede Paul Ryan on the speaker’s list on Wednesday night as officials rejiggered the format of the Republican National Convention in Tampa as tropical storm Isaac begins to lash the Gulf Coast.
Gov. Martinez originally was going to be the second-to-last speaker on Tuesday night in prime time but with Isaac expected to hit landfall early Monday, GOP officials decided to cancel Monday’s scheduled opening of the convention and plan to start on Tuesday (Aug. 28).
Under the revised schedule, Martinez will still receive a plumb assignment — being the penultimate speaker on Wednesday night, following former Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice and coming right before Vice Presidential candidate Ryan concludes the day’s events — guaranteeing her a national audience.
Officials lumped Rice, Martinez and Ryan together in a listing slated to start at 10 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time. Read full story here: News New Mexico
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More Deficit Spending, Bingaman Brags About Pork

Jeff Bingaman
He is at it again, trumpeting dubious spending that will come back to New Mexico. With the federal government running a trillion dollar plus deficit for the fourth year in a row New Mexico Senator Jeff Bingaman seems oblivious. Last week Bingaman announced that the federal government is borrowing more money to fund nine New Mexico groups with "federal grants aimed at fighting drugs."
The borrowed money will be given to the New Mexico groups to help support the fostering of citizen participation in local drug prevention efforts.
Bingaman offered no comments on the fact that the federal government has not passed a budget for more than three years.

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