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| U. S. Representative Darrell Issa |
Five ATF officials found responsible for Fast and Furious
Sowell: Big Lies in Politics
Commentary by Thomas Sowell - It was either Adolf Hitler or his propaganda minister, Joseph Goebbels, who said that the people will believe any lie, if it is big enough and told often enough, loud enough. Although the Nazis were defeated in World War II, this part of their philosophy survives triumphantly to this day among politicians, and nowhere more so than during election years. Perhaps the biggest lie of this election year, and the one likely to be repeated the most often, is that the income of "the rich" is going up, while other people's incomes are going down. If you listen to Barack Obama, you are bound to hear this lie repeatedly. But the government's own Congressional Budget Office has just published a report whose statistics flatly contradict this claim. The CBO report shows that, while the average household income fell 12 percent between 2007 and 2009, the average for the lower four-fifths fell by 5 percent or less, while the average income for households in the top fifth fell 18 percent. For households in the "top one percent" that seems to fascinate so many people, income fell by 36 percent in those same years. Read column
Three US livestock groups seek drought relief with ethanol waiver
Reuters - Hard-hit U.S. livestock and poultry producers petitioned the government on Monday to reduce or cancel the required use of ethanol in gasoline for a year, asking for "a little help" to ride out the worst drought in 56 years. The request for a first-ever waiver from the federal Environmental Protection Agency's mandate, which in essence requires that more than a third of the U.S. corn harvest be converted into ethanol, comes as grain prices have surged to record highs, driving up feed costs and squeezing profits for producers. "We are having trouble buying corn... it's really putting a burden on our operations and many others across the nation," says J.D. Alexander, president of the National Cattlemen's Beef Association, whose Nebraska feedlot is about half full of cattle. "It's time to wean the ethanol industry and let it stand on its own." The EPA has not granted a waiver since the Renewable Fuels Standard (RFS) was enacted in 2007. The policy has enjoyed years of staunch bipartisan support, boosting income for U.S. farmers and helping reduce the country's dependence on foreign oil. But it is now coming under renewed attack. The beef, chicken, pork and turkey trade groups said they had delivered a petition to EPA administrator Lisa Jackson to waive the mandate "in whole or in substantial part" for the remainder of this year and part of next. Read More News New Mexico
Apollo Moon Landing Flags Still Standing, Photos Reveal
Space.com - An enduring question ever since the manned moon landings of the 1960s has been: Are the flags planted by the astronauts still standing? Now, lunar scientists say the verdict is in from the latest photos of the moon taken by NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera (LROC): Most do, in fact, still stand. "From the LROC images it is now certain that the American flags are still standing and casting shadows at all of the sites, except Apollo 11," LROC principal investigator Mark Robinson wrote in a blog post today (July 27). "Astronaut Buzz Aldrin reported that the flag was blown over by the exhaust from the ascent engine during liftoff of Apollo 11, and it looks like he was correct!" Each of the six manned Apollo missions that landed on the moon planted an American flag in the lunar dirt. Read More News New Mexico
Lawyers get nearly $3 million from taxpayers in redistricting fight UPDATE: Yikes! Legal fees will actually total more than $5.4 million
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| Judge Hall |
Capitol Report New Mexico - Update: We received a call from the Legislative Council
Service telling us the legal fees will actually be substantially more than the $3 million figure reported earlier Monday. In fact, the costs will end up being more like $5.4 million — “at least,” the LCS employee said. While the $3 million figure announced by Judge Hall is correct, we have been told the figure does not count:
*$300,000+ settled on for attorneys and costs to the Navajo Nation
*$460,000 in costs for plaintiffs, experts and legal fees
*$894,402 in legislative expenses, research and polling, and
*$800,000+ in expenses for executive offices of the Governor, Lt. Governor and Secretary of State
Adding those figures, the back of the envelope total is more like $5.4 million in legal fees that taxpayers will end up paying. That’s compared to $3.5 million in legal fees after the redistricting court battles of 2001.
Well, it wasn’t as expensive as the last time around but New Mexico taxpayers will still pay almost $3 million for lawyers involved the recent redistricting legal battles. On Monday, retired district judge Jim Hall – the man assigned to hearing the arguments over realigning voting boundaries for the state — announced awards of nearly $3 million in fees for attorneys who represented Democratic, Republican, Native American and Hispanic interests in redistricting trials heard earlier this year. Like all states, New Mexico has to reapportion districts according to the US Census every 10 years. The $3 million figure is an improvement over the $3.5 million that went out to attorneys the last time New Mexico wrestled with the issue in 2001-2002 and there were fears the price tag would be even higher. Ten years ago, then-Gov. Gary Johnson and the legislature couldn’t come to an agreement on redistricting and we saw a replay in this past legislative session when the Democratically-controlled Roundhouse passed a redistricting map over Republican objections. Republican Gov. Susana Martinez vetoed the legislation, sending the battle to court. Read More News New Mexico
Memo to Mitt: Marco Rubio Has Nothing on Susana Martinez
| Susana Martinez |
Gary Bland Could Be Trouble for The SIC’s Pay-to-Play Lawsuit
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| Gary Bland |
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