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.

Aggies win opener 49 - 19

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 

New Mexicans upset networks snubbed governor's speech

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

Sowell: Entitlement Reforms

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

Udall visits Mescalero Schools to talk language preservation