News New Mexico: 11/09/10

Richardson has words of advice for governor-elect at their first meeting

From the Santa Fe New Mexican.com - Republican Gov.-elect Susana Martinez huddled privately Tuesday with the man she will replace, Democratic Gov. Bill Richardson, who she described as "gracious" during their first post-election meeting. Martinez said it was "sobering" to be in the Capitol for the first time since voters selected her to run the state. She takes office Jan. 1 and will immediately face serious challenges, such as a projected $260 million budget shortfall. "The first thing we have to do is balance the budget," Martinez said at a news conference after the meeting. Her transition team has received documents from the Richardson administration on the state's work force, and Martinez said they plan to review the material to determine current salaries and what positions are vacant, and to identify political appointees by Richardson who have moved into civil-service classified jobs. She said no decision has been made on whether she will make a blanket request for the resignations of appointed state workers under the governor's control — something Richardson and former Republican Gov. Gary Johnson did when they prepared to enter office. Read more

Gary Johnson brings libertarian message to Texas

From the New Mexico Independent - by Mary Tuma - “The voice of the Republican party is up for grabs,” former two-term New Mexico Gov. Gary Johnson told an audience in Austin Sunday. “It’s a contest right now.” Described as the ‘next Ron Paul,’ the potential 2012 presidential candidate appears to be cultivating that voice during his visits to more than 30 states since December. Johnson’s trip to Texas coincides with a national book tour by newly re-elected Texas Gov. Rick Perry, whose own White House ambitions are the subject of speculation among the national media. Hosted by the Republican Liberty Caucus of Texas, Johnson stopped in Austin Sunday to talk about his dissatisfaction with excessive federal spending, health care and immigration policy, while advocating for the decriminalization of marijuana among a crowd of Libertarians, tea partiers and conservative Republicans disenchanted with the current GOP. He heads next to Houston and Dallas during his Texas trip. Johnson’s tour is meant to spread the message of his nonprofit organization, the OUR America Initiative, a national advocacy committee focused on issues like lowering the federal deficit and combating the War on Drugs. Johnson said his nonprofit affiliation stops him from giving a direct answer to his presidential aspirations, but fielded hypothetical questions — with the ease and preparedness of a 2012 hopeful — about what direction he would take federal policy if elected president. Read more

Proposal aims to ease taxes for new ABQ businesses

From KOB-TV.com - By: Jeff Maher, KOB Eyewitness News 4; Taryn Bianchin, KOB.com -Vacant business spaces are everywhere across Albuquerque; some store fronts have been that way for years. One reason why new businesses aren’t moving in is because the tenants would be forced to pay impact fees—a tax charged by the city —but soon, that could be changing. At So Good Nutrition, downtown on 6th and Central Avenue, the Amador brothers are blending together creativity, aspiration and a dash of risk, in hopes of creating just the right mix to succeed in a post-recession era. “This was our dream,” says business co-owner Aaron Amador. “To be in control of our own business, our own future, financial situation.” City Councilors Dan Lewis and Ken Sanchez have introduced a proposal to eliminate impact fees for businesses that want to set up shop in existing vacant buildings. Lewis says he has seen examples of new businesses paying impact fees even though the fees were already paid for by the previous owner. “A fitness club that moved into the West Side—a business that had been sitting vacant for five years under the existing structure—paid $70 thousand in impact fees on a building that already paid its permits,” notes Lewis. Read more

Barack Obama: We Must Embrace Globalism And The Emerging One World Economy

From the Blog Economic Collapse - Although it received very little coverage in the mainstream media, Barack Obama made some comments about globalism during his speech in Mumbai, India that were very eye-opening. As he was discussing the new realities of world trade in 2010, Obama warned against "those who see globalization as a threat" and he spoke of the "integrated world" in which we all now live. But is merging the entire globe into a one world economy, a one world financial system and a one world labor market really the best thing for the American people? For the past two decades, all U.S. presidents have been heralding the benefits of merging the American economy with the rest of the globe. George Bush Sr., Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and Barack Obama have all steadfastly supported the emerging one world economy. These presidents have each used different terms to describe this process such as "globalism", "globalization", "an integrated world", "the global economy" and even "a New World Order", but they have all meant the same thing. All of these presidents have sought to integrate the United States even more deeply into the developing one world economic system. Barack Obama showed very clearly how he feels about globalism when he made the following statement during his speech in Mumbai....

"This will keep America on its toes. America is going to have to compete. There is going to be a tug-of-war within the US between those who see globalization as a threat and those who accept we live in a open integrated world, which has challenges and opportunities."

This is something that Barack Obama has obviously thought quite a bit about. In fact, during the same speech he warned that those supporting globalization will need to "guard against" those who would seek to put up barriers to the full integration of the economies of the world....

"If the American people feel that trade is just a one-way street where everybody is selling to the enormous US market but we can never sell what we make anywhere else, then the people of the US will start thinking that this is a bad deal for us and it could end up leading to a more protectionist instinct in both parties, not just among Democrats but also Republicans. So, that we have to guard against."

But in this new "global economy", aren't jobs leaving the United States and heading to developing nations at a blinding pace? Of course, but apparently we are just supposed to shut up and accept this new reality. In fact, Obama says that persistently high unemployment is "a new normal" that we are all just going to have to get used to. Virtually all of the proponents of globalism understand that the process of merging the United States into a one world economy will be at least somewhat painful for the American people. Our wages are going to have to go down and our standards of living are going to have to fall, according to them. Read more

How Do California and the Titanic Differ?

Commentary by Dennis Prager - OK, riddle fans, here's a toughie: What's the difference between California voters and the passengers on the Titanic? The passengers on the Titanic didn't vote to hit the iceberg. Most Americans understand that California is sinking. What is almost incredible is that it has voted to sink. On Election Day, 2010 Californians voted Democrats into every statewide position (one is still undecided). This is the party that singlehandedly has brought one of the world's greatest economies to near ruin. There may well be historical parallels to what Californians did -- but I cannot think of any. A listener called my radio show two days after the elections to tell me that his business is booming -- thanks to Californians. His occupation? He's a real estate agent in Phoenix, Ariz. The middle class has begun to leave California. It is, of course, impossible for most members of such a large group to leave a state; few people leave their family, their friends, their job and their home except under the most dramatic circumstances. But this fact makes all the more noteworthy the exodus from California that has been taking place. Read more

Sowell Column: Political Judges

Column by Thomas Sowell - Results of the recent elections showed that growing numbers of Americans are fed up with "public servants" who act as if they are public masters. This went beyond the usual objections to particular policies. It was the fact that policies were crammed down our throats, whether we liked them or not. In fact, laws were passed so fast that nobody had time to read them.
Whether these policies were good, bad or indifferent, the way they were imposed represented a more fundamental threat to the very principles of a self-governing people established by the Constitution of the United States. Arrogant politicians who do this are dismantling the Constitution piecemeal-- which is to say, they are dismantling America. The voters struck back, as they had to, if we are to keep the freedoms that define this country. The Constitution cannot protect us unless we protect the Constitution, by getting rid of those who circumvent it or disregard it. The same thing applies to judges. The runaway arrogance that politicians get when they have huge majorities in Congress is a more or less common arrogance among federal judges with lifetime tenure or state judges who are seldom defeated in elections to confirm their appointments to the bench. It was a surprise to many-- and a shock to media liberals-- when three judges on Iowa's Supreme Court were voted off that court in the same recent elections in which a lot of politicians were also sent packing. These judges had taken it upon themselves to rule that the voters of Iowa did not have the right to block attempts to change the definition of marriage to include homosexual couples. Here again, the particular issue-- so-called "gay marriage"-- was not as fundamental as the question of depriving the voting public of their right to decide what kinds of laws they want to live under. If they are going to act like politicians, then they should be voted out like politicians. Read more

The Grey-Haired Brigade

From ResistNet.com - author unknown - posted by Debrah Levy - They like to refer to us as senior citizens, old fogies, geezers, and in some cases dinosaurs. Some of us are "baby boomer" getting ready to retire. Others have been retired for some time. We walk a little slower these days and our eyes and hearing are not what they once were. We have worked hard, raised our children,worshiped our God, and grown old together. Yes, we are the ones some refer to as being over the hill and that is probably true.We are not inclined to brag but these are just the facts! So before writing us off, there are a few things that need to be taken into consideration. Read more

Armed Security Guards At All 36 Unemployment Offices In Indiana State: Why Is This Happening?

From Daily Markets.com - Did you ever think that things in America would get so bad that we would need to put armed guards into our unemployment offices? Well, that is exactly what is happening in Indiana. Armed security guards will now be posted at all 36 full-service unemployment offices in the state of Indiana. So why is this happening now? Well, Indiana Department of Workforce Development spokesman Marc Lotter says that the agency is bringing in the extra security in anticipation of an upcoming deadline when thousands upon thousands of Indiana residents could have their unemployment benefits cut off. But it is not just the state of Indiana that could have a problem. In fact, one recent study found that approximately 2 million Americans will lose their unemployment insurance benefits during this upcoming holiday season unless Congress authorizes another emergency extension of benefits by the end of November. At this point, however, that is looking less and less likely.So perhaps all the states will have to start putting armed security guards in their unemployment offices. The truth is that frustration among unemployed Americans is growing by the day.Could we soon see economic riots similar to what we have seen in Greece and France?Let’s hope not. Read more

Andy Nunez Calls for Lujan's Ouster

Andy Nunez

From NMPolitics.net - State Rep. Andy Nuñez, D-Hatch, says it’s time for a new House speaker, and he’s willing to support a bipartisan coalition, if necessary, to make that happen. But Nuñez said he would prefer that the House Democratic caucus agree to internally replace current Speaker Ben Luján with Rep. Joseph Cervantes, D-Las Cruces, or someone else. “I personally would hate to see a coalition,” Nuñez said Monday in an interview with NMPolitics.net. “I would hate to see it come down to that because it doesn’t do the Democrats – and I’m a Democrat – it doesn’t do us any good.” Read here:

York: New GOP and Obama Headed for Showdown

Byron York

From Townhall.com - Here's Barack Obama's problem when it comes to dealing with newly elected Republican members of Congress. They are convinced they won because voters rejected Obama's agenda of national health care, spending and bailouts. But Obama cannot admit that his agenda -- his legacy -- is fundamentally flawed and that voters repudiated it. The result will be irreconcilable conflict. Just look at Ron Johnson, a man likely to be one of the more influential members of the new GOP class in the Senate. Last year, he was a highly successful plastics manufacturer in Oshkosh, Wis., who had never even thought about running for public office. Then he watched Obama and congressional Democrats march through the stimulus, the earmark-laden budget, the auto bailouts, and, finally, Obamacare. Read here:

Seven Excuses for Shellacking

From Townhall.com by John Hawkins -

"Mm, your tears are so yummy and sweet! Oh, the tears of unfathomable sadness! My-yummy!" -- Cartman, South Park Admittedly, it has been a lot of fun to watch the wailing and gnashing of teeth on the Left after the savage beating they received on election day. However, it's more than a little disturbing that almost no one on the Left seems to think they lost because they actually did a bad job. In other words, according to liberals: Obamacare, the failure of the stimulus, Obama bowing to foreign leaders, the way they handled the BP oil spill, trying to close Guantanamo, not reading bills before they passed them, cash for clunkers, talking up amnesty, trying to pass card check and cap and trade, taking over student loans, refusing to seriously address the problems at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, taking over GM and Chrysler, doing nothing to stop Iran from gaining nuclear weapons, dropping the Black Panther intimidation case, expanding the bailouts and raising spending up to frightening levels had nothing whatsoever to do with why they lost. Read here:

New Mexico Born Terrorist Urges Holy War

Anwar al-Awlaki

From the Washington Times - Hunted by U.S. drones and Yemeni authorities, one of the world's most wanted Islamic terrorist leaders on Monday issued a new video message calling on extremists to ignore the anti-terrorism edicts of Muslim religious authorities and continue their holy war against America and Israel. In the 23-minute video, American-born al Qaeda cleric Anwar al-Awlaki also warns repeatedly of the danger posed to Sunni Arab Muslims by the rise of Iranian Shiite power in the Middle East. Posted on an extremist website, the video shows Mr. al-Awlaki seated and speaking in Arabic. Mr. Al-Awlaki is thought to be hiding in Yemen, from where al Qaeda last month sent package bombs to the United States, but the video appears to have been recorded before that plot was discovered because he does not refer to it. Read here:

Lujan: Unaware of Any Pending Challenge

Ben Lujan

From the Santa Fe New Mexican - Is a Democratic lawmaker from Las Cruces about to launch a challenge to New Mexico House Speaker Ben Luján, D-Nambé — possibly with the help of revitalized Republicans? Rumors of a leadership fight are swirling around the rumor-prone halls of the Roundhouse, thanks largely to the eight-seat Republican gain in the state House of Representatives after last week's election. Assuming unofficial results hold, there will be 37 Democrats and 33 Republicans in the House. Luján, who first was elected speaker in 2001, said Monday that he's not aware of any pending challenge. But, he said, "We'll be meeting in caucus on (Nov. 20). I'm sure we'll have a good discussion then." Read here:

Bernanke Critics Mushrooming

Larry Kudlow

From Townhall.com - The great Bernanke QE2 debate continues to heat up. In the run-up to the G-20 meetings, China, Russia, Germany, and others are all coming out against the Federal Reserve’s quantitative-easing agenda. They don’t want hot-money excess dollars to flow into their higher-yielding currencies. The assault against Bernanke’s easy money has reached such fever that President Obama felt it necessary to defend the $600 billion in new-money printing in a news conference in India. Meanwhile, World Bank president Robert Zoellick has actually called for putting gold back into global money, in order to use it as an international reference point to measure market expectations over inflation or deflation. The former Treasury and State Department official wants a successor to Bretton Woods. To my way of thinking, Zoellick is dead-on right. And then there’s Kevin Warsh’s opus op-ed in Monday’s Wall Street Journal. I have written about Warsh in the past, and his sound-thinking views. Taking a bit of a shot at Bernanke’s QE2, the Fed board member basically says: Look, you want better growth, reform the tax code and stop regulating. “The Federal Reserve is not a repair shop for broken fiscal, trade, or regulatory policies,” he writes. Read here:

Progressive Rothschild: Ripping Rand Paul

Matthew Rothschild

From Progressive.org - Kentucky’s newly minted Senator is not ready to play nice. Appearing on “This Week” with Christiane Amanpour on Sunday, Paul boasted that the tea partiers have will not be coopted by the Republican Party but vice versa. “The tea party is coopting Washington,” he said. “We’re proud, we’re strong, we’re loud, and we’re going to coopt. And in fact, I think we’re already shaping the debate.” He’s shaping it in such an ugly way, too. Paul says he favors cutting the number of federal employees by 10 percent, and then slashing the salaries of those who remain by 10 percent. This is economic folly. We’re facing a huge gap of purchasing power in the country right now, and he intends to widen that gap by decimating the purchasing power of almost three million people.

He also said he’d raise the retirement age for Social Security for everyone 55 and under. Hey, I’m 52. What are you doing to me and my friends—and the more than 200 million other Americans who will now have to work into our dotage? Read here:

Jemez Try to Revive Casino Proposal

From the El Paso Times - ANTHONY, N.M. -- The U.S. government is taking a second look at a proposal by the Jemez Pueblo Indian Tribe to open a $72 million resort casino -- an action that is worrying some and exciting others in this community of 7,900. The Bureau of Indian Affairs and the Department of the Interior said they are reconsidering the application the tribe submitted to build the 48,000-square-foot casino on 100 acres near Interstate 10 about 20 miles north of El Paso. The casino, if opened, would be a significant boost to the economy and create 950 jobs, according to tribal officials. That possibility has some people saying the good times are on the way. Read here:

WSJ: California is the Lindsay Lohan of States

Capitol Report New Mexico and the Wall Street Journal drew our attention to this website which addresses the basic reasons why California is broke. Maggie's Farm says: "We are a commune of inquiring, skeptical, politically centrist, capitalist, anglophile, traditionalist New England Yankee humans, humanoids, and animals with many interests beyond and above politics. Each of us has had a high-school education (or GED), but all had ADD so didn't pay attention very well, especially the dogs. Each one of us does "try my best to be just like I am," and none of us enjoys working for others, including for Maggie, from whom we receive neither a nickel nor a dime. Freedom from nags, cranks, government, do-gooders, control-freaks and idiots is all that we ask for." Read here:

Independent Laments Rise of Climate Skeptics

From the New Mexico Independent - The midterm elections brought an unprecedented number of climate skeptics into Congress, with no incoming Republicans acknowledging the existence of man-made climate change. Environmentalists have all but given up on passing significant climate legislation in the near future, but in the long term, it may be difficult for climate skeptics to hold their ranks: Young Americans are significantly more concerned about global warming than older generations, and there are no major organizations of young climate skeptics. This raises the question: What will come of climate skeptics as young people begin to rise to positions of power? Read here:

News New Mexico

Total Pageviews

Archives

Michael Swickard's new novel about New Mexico