News New Mexico: 01/31/12

Obama's old Chrysler offered on eBay for $1 million

From the Washington Post - If you’ve got $1 million and a burning desire for a 2005 Chrysler 300C once driven by the then-senator, you can snag it on eBay. Obama leased the car until 2007, when he replaced it with a greener Ford Escape hybrid, reports CNN. Chicago’s Tim O’Boyle bought it from a showroom — only 20,800 miles on it — and tried to auction it off after the 2008 election. Jokers ran the price up to $100 million. Ha! No sale. Hoping to capitalize on the campaign season, O’Boyle got serious again two weeks ago and re-listed the car — with pre-screening and a $2,000 deposit required to bid. ”Please understand that the $1 million dollar starting price is not a joke,” reads the listing. The current Blue Book value of the Chrysler is around $14,000. The auction ends Wednesday night. As of press time, exactly zero bids. Read more

2012 Non-political humor

2012 Political Humor (On the Right)

My Daughter's Moving Out -
Last night, my daughter just walked into the living room and said, "Dad, cancel my allowance immediately, rent my room out, throw all my clothes out of the window, take my TV, stereo, iPhone, iPod, and my laptop. Please take all of my jewelry to the Salvation Army or Goodwill. Then sell my new car. Take my front door key away from me and throw me out of the house. Then disown me and never talk to me again. And don't forget to write me out of your will and leave my share to my sister."
Well, she didn't put it quite like that. She actually said...
'Dad, I have decided to work for Obama's re-election campaign.'"

2012 Political Humor (on the left)

Approved: $21.5M Rate Increase for NM Gas Co.

From therepublic.com -New Mexico regulators have approved a $21.5 million rate increase for New Mexico Gas Co. The Public Regulation Commission made its decision Tuesday after a two-hour meeting in which commissioners heard recommendations from a hearing examiner and the utility's attorneys. The rate increase was $13 million less than what the utility initially requested. Commissioners say they approved the lower rate to ease the burden on low-income customers. The rate hike will take effect Wednesday. New Mexico Gas officials say residential customers will see their monthly bills increase by an average of $3.19, or about $38 a year. The 6.4 percent rate increase stems from a settlement reached last fall by the utility, ConocoPhillips, an advocacy group and the U.S. Department of Energy. The utility serves about 505,000 New Mexico customers.

N.M. To Hold Tours Of 1980 Pen Riot

From koat.com -New Mexico's Corrections Department is opening to the public the site of the violent 1980 riot at the state's penitentiary near Santa Fe. The state will begin offering public tours Thursday of the infamous "Old Main" prison building. That's the anniversary of one of the nation's worst prison riots in history that claimed 33 people before National Guard units were called. Corrections Department spokeswoman Rosie Sais said the idea for the tours followed Gov. Susana Martinez's request that all state government departments organize public events in connection with the state's Centennial celebration this year. More News New Mexico

Law Abiding Mexicans Taking Up Illegal Guns

From npr.com - In Mexico, where criminals are armed to the teeth with high-powered weapons smuggled from the United States, it may come as a surprise that the country has some of the most restrictive gun laws in the world. Law-abiding Mexicans who want a gun to defend themselves have no good options. Either they fight government red tape to get a legal permit, or they buy one on the black market. After an outbreak of violence, one embattled community in northern Mexico called Colonia LeBaron has begun to ask if it's time for the country to address its gun laws. More News New Mexico

Occupier Strangles Parents

From thegatewaypundit.com - Friends and relatives said Susan Poff and Robert Kamin of Oakland were the perfect pair to adopt a foster child. They had dedicated their careers to helping others escape poverty, she as a physician assistant in a city-run clinic in the Tenderloin and he as a clinical psychologist for inmates in the San Francisco County Jail system. But now, less than a decade after they adopted, their 15-year-old son stands accused of strangling both Poff, 50, and Kamin, 55, then hiding their bodies in the back of the family’s PT Cruiser… Co-workers said Poff and Kamin were having some arguments with their son, some of it having to do with him spending too much time in the Occupy Oakland encampment, but nothing that sounded beyond the scope of typical teenage rebelliousness. More News New Mexico

House Committee Delays Budget Vote

KOAT TV - A proposed $5.6 billion state budget hit a last-minute snag in a House committee Monday after Republicans objected that several of the GOP governor's initiatives might get chopped if the state's revenue outlook dims. The Appropriations and Finance Committee postponed a final vote on the budget, and the chairman, Rep. Henry Kiki Saavedra, D-Albuquerque, said he was surprised by the GOP complaints because members of the panel had tentatively agreed last week on provisions of the spending plan. The budget proposal calls for a spending increase of nearly $216 million, or about 4 percent, in the fiscal year that starts July 1. However, the plan leaves about $41 million available for possible tax cuts - a high priority for the governor - or additional budget increases.
Economic growth is expected to generate about $257 million in new revenues next year that lawmakers can use for the budget or to cover the cost of tax reductions. Read full story here: News New Mexico

Journal Takes Gary King to Woodshed

Gary King

Albuquerque Journal - This month New Mexicans were treated to an absolutely surreal exercise in dissembling courtesy of their attorney general, one that would almost be amusing if it wasn’t coming from the state’s top lawyer on taxpayers’ time and dime. When confronted with a civil lawsuit investigation that concluded his office had been made aware of an alleged multimillion-dollar fraud scheme at Christus St. Vincent Regional Medical Center back in 2008 — and the fact his staff claimed it had known about the case for only a few months — New Mexico Attorney General Gary King offered the astonishing explanation that his “folks” were “just trying to be indefinite” and not say too much about an ongoing investigation.

His “folks” also haven’t tried to prosecute the case criminally — four years in. And that should prompt New Mexicans to ask what else have they gotten from this attorney general. Read full column here (subscription required) : News New Mexico

"Pigs Snout"

Courtesy of Conservativedailynews.com

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