Swickard: Tragedy stalks the bold young men
Posted by
Michael Swickard
on Monday, April 9, 2012
Commentary by Michael Swickard - Know this: the shooting of Trayvon Martin by George Zimmerman had absolutely nothing to do with race nor police work or gun control. The shooting was caused entirely by the bold young men syndrome. Every day there are plenty of news stories about fist, knife and gun fights among bold young men that end in tragedy. These deaths are caused by the inability of young men to step back from a confrontation. They charge head first into the confrontations as if honor were more important than life itself. To them maybe it is. Viewing the shooting in Florida through the lens of bold young men, it is easy to see how this situation happened. But bold young men theory is of no use politically since from the beginning of time young men have been bold and reckless, leading to needless deaths. Long after the television lights of this story have gone somewhere else we have the ability to learn something from this needless death. There are three issues: first, one step back and there would have been no story. Secondly, this is much more about the demons inside these two young men than about societal demons. Finally, sadly, the next generation of young men will be just as bold and reckless. They also will die needlessly. Read column
Border Patrol Agent Charged With Gun Smuggling
Posted by
Rachel Pulaski
Labels:
Border,
National News
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From chron.com - Authorities say a West Texas Border Patrol agent and his girlfriend are in custody after they were charged with conspiracy to buy firearms and more than 20,000 rounds of ammunition to be smuggled into Mexico. Ricardo Montalvo and Carla Gonzalez-Ortiz, both of El Paso, Texas, were arrested Monday after a federal grand jury returned a 20-count indictment. They're accused of acting as straw purchasers of at least nine firearms between November 2010 and January 2011, along with more than 100 high-capacity magazines and thousands of high-caliber bullets of the type used by Mexican cartels. They're also accused of knowing the munitions would be exported illegally to Mexico.
Court documents list no attorneys for the pair. Montalvo had been on administrative desk duty since the investigation started in January 2011.
Border Patrol Agent Charged With Gun Smuggling
NM Graduation Rate May Drop Again
Posted by
Rachel Pulaski
Labels:
Education,
New Mexico News
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From kob.com -An already low graduation rate for New Mexico may be dropping even lower. Under a federal mandate, the state is changing how graduation rates will be calculated. Albuquerque Public Schools Superintendent Winston Brooks said graduation rates could be significantly lower than before, possibly up to 20 percent but emphasizes that this does not mean more students are dropping out of school. It is simply a brand new formula for how graduation rates are calculated that may affect the numbers. Most recent data from the Department of Education shows for the class of 2010, about 65 percent of APS students graduated. This compares to about 67 percent at high schools statewide.
But this rate did not include certain groups of students. Under the new federal mandate, officials said there will be no more excusal for those groups which include pregnant, incarcerated or special needs students who were previously allowed additional time to graduate. More here
But this rate did not include certain groups of students. Under the new federal mandate, officials said there will be no more excusal for those groups which include pregnant, incarcerated or special needs students who were previously allowed additional time to graduate. More here
NM Graduation Rate May Drop Again
NM Independent Voters Blocked From Primaries
Posted by
Rachel Pulaski
Labels:
New Mexico News,
U.S. Politics
1 comments
From kob.com -Early voting starts in a month for New Mexico's primary election - an election thousands of registered voters will not be allowed to vote in, even though their tax dollars are helping to pay for it. They are independent voters, those who "decline to state" a party preference in the lingo of the state election code. They are about 190,000 strong in New Mexico right now, but they cannot cast ballots in the Democratic and Republican primaries that they help pay for. Independents make up about 17 percent of the state's registered voters, and that's quite a chunk when you add the three percent or so who register in so-called "third parties". But the law says only Democrats get to vote in the Democratic primary and only Republicans get to vote in the Republican primary, and longtime election watchers don't expect that to change anytime soon. More Here
NM Independent Voters Blocked From Primaries
Johnson: Romney-Martinez would be 'Palin-esque'
Posted by
AHD
Gary Johnson |
Johnson: Romney-Martinez would be 'Palin-esque'
Luevano kicked off ballot for NM House race, takes shot at Maestas
Posted by
AHD
Johnny Luevano |
Luevano kicked off ballot for NM House race, takes shot at Maestas
LANL selects three New Mexico firms for environmental work
Posted by
AHD
New Mexico Business Weekly - LANL awarded a “master task order” agreement for the work to ARS Cavanagh Environmental Services LLC, Portage Inc. and Navarro Research and Engineering Inc., said Andy Baumer, program manager for the lab’s Environmental Programs Waste Projects and Services.“These companies have the demonstrated safety records and expertise to meet stringent federal requirements for treating and disposing of waste,” Baumer said. “They will be valuable partners in the lab’s ability to dispose of the waste safely and efficiently.” Tasks will include preparing waste containers for shipment, loading the containers onto trucks, transporting them to disposal locations, and ensuring that shipments comply with U.S. Department of Transportation regulations. Under the master work agreement, the lab will either assign work to the three companies, or ask them to bid on tasks. Waste materials will include soil removed from cleanup sites, debris from demolished buildings and chemical or other hazardous wastes. Read More News New Mexico
LANL selects three New Mexico firms for environmental work
Govenor's PAC Raises Over $300K Since October
Posted by
Rachel Pulaski
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New Mexico News,
U.S. Politics
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From kfoxtv.com -A new campaign finance report shows Republican Gov. Susana Martinez's political action committee has raised about $335,000 in the past six months. The governor's political organization called Susana PAC released a fundraising summary on Monday showing it had cash-on-hand of about $295,000 last week. The PAC spent nearly $342,000 from early October through April 2. Monday was the deadline for political committees to file campaign finance disclosures with the secretary of state. All 112 seats in the Democratic-controlled Legislature are up for election this year and Republicans hope they can pick up seats in the House and Senate. Martinez's gubernatorial campaign committee reported a cash balance of nearly $467,000 last week. Martinez is not up for re-election until 2014, but her campaign committee has raised nearly $232,000 since last October. More here
Gov Martinez |
Govenor's PAC Raises Over $300K Since October
Heather Wilson Fundraising With Lisa Murkowski
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Rachel Pulaski
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New Mexico News,
U.S. Politics
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Heather Wilson |
Heather Wilson Fundraising With Lisa Murkowski
Why We Need Voter I.D. Laws Now
Posted by
Jim Spence
National Review - Attorney General Eric Holder is a staunch opponent of laws requiring voters to show photo ID at the polls to improve ballot security. He calls them “unnecessary” and has blocked their implementation in Texas and South Carolina, citing the fear they would discriminate against minorities.
I wonder what Holder will think when he learns just how easy it was for someone to be offered his ballot just by mentioning his name in a Washington, D.C., polling place in Tuesday’s primaries.
I wonder what Holder will think when he learns just how easy it was for someone to be offered his ballot just by mentioning his name in a Washington, D.C., polling place in Tuesday’s primaries.
Holder’s opposition to ID laws comes in spite of the Supreme Court’s 6–3 decision in 2008, authored by liberal Justice John Paul Stevens, that upheld the constitutionality of Indiana’s tough ID requirement. When groups sue to block photo-ID laws in court, they can’t seem to produce real-world examples of people who have actually been denied the right to vote. According to opinion polls, over 75 percent of Americans — including majorities of Hispanics and African-Americans — routinely support such laws.
Eric Holder |
One reason is that people know you can’t function in the modern world without showing ID — you can’t cash a check, travel by plane or even train, or rent a video without being asked for one. In fact, PJ Media recently proved that you can’t even enter the Justice Department in Washington without showing a photo ID. Average voters understand that it’s only common sense to require ID because of how easy it is for people to pretend they are someone else. Read full story here: News New Mexico
Why We Need Voter I.D. Laws Now
Forecast predicts dismal runoff for NM
Posted by
AHD
Las Cruces Sun-News - Gary Esslinger's chosen profession, delivering irrigation water to southern New Mexico farmers, looks like some sort of cruel joke these days. The latest punch line came this week in the form the federal government's April Rio Grande runoff forecast, which calls for just 29 percent of normal spring and summer runoff into Elephant Butte Reservoir. That's the reservoir that supplies water to farmers in the Elephant Butte Irrigation District, in the Hatch and Mesilla valleys of southern New Mexico. Esslinger, the district's general manager, faces the unhappy task of going back to his farmers next week and telling them to expect even less than the meager allotment they had been counting on. "The business that I'm in, of supplying surface water, is kinda like going out of business," Esslinger said Thursday. This week's preliminary forecast, after a hot, dry March, showed a drop from expectations just a month ago that New Mexico State University hydrologist Phil King called "pretty catastrophic." "Things in one month basically just went away," said Rolf Schmidt-Petersen, Rio Grande basin manager for the New Mexico Interstate Stream Commission. Low elevation snow is largely gone, and much of what has already melted has soaked into soil left bone dry from last year's drought, rather than flowing into New Mexico's rivers, King said Thursday. The latest weekly federal Drought Monitor showed an expansion of dry conditions, with the entire state ranging from "abnormally dry" in the northwest to "exceptional drought" in the southeast. The federal forecast calls for 151,000 acre feet of water flowing into Elephant Butte between now and the end of July, which is the main snowmelt runoff season. That is 29 percent of the 1971-2000 average, which federal managers define as their long term "normal" for water management planning purposes. Read More News New Mexico
Forecast predicts dismal runoff for NM
Fill Up at Home?
Posted by
Jim Spence
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Energy
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NewsNM note - If you have natural gas in your home you have the basic infrastructure to fill up your car with fuel that costs about 60 cents a gallon.
Business Insider - CNBC's Rick Santelli will be making some noise on Monday. He plans on demonstrating to the world that cars can easily be converted to run on natural gas. Remember, Santelli arguably started the whole Tea Party movement with his famous rant about paying for his neighbors' mortgage. Santelli was interviewed by King World News: "But, being somewhat of a mechanic by hobby, I had an idea several weeks ago. I’m from the Midwest and I remember lots of guys I went to college with, in Champaign, telling me how they converted various vehicles, trucks, tractors, on the farms to natural gas, and it was no big deal. Well, we’re drowning in natural gas. To me it should be the energy that every politician should be pushing. I think we could have an energy revolution, create boatloads of jobs, have lower energy (costs) and cleaner energy. So, to that end, this Monday I am going to be in Oklahoma City at CNG Industries...
What I’m going to do personally is drive in a brand new Ford, F-150, 5-liter V-8, that runs on gas, and convert it to run both on natural gas and regular gasoline. I will then drive it out on natural gas by the end of the day, probably during one of the afternoon shows."
Read full story here: News New Mexico
Fill Up at Home?