Roswell police chief condemns million dollar lawsuit pay out

From KOB-TV.com - By: Joe Bartels, KOB Eyewitness News 4; Taryn Bianchin, KOB.com - The interim Roswell police chief is calling a wrongful death settlement against his department a big mistake. State Representative and Roswell Police Chief Dennis Kintigh spoke out for the first time publicly on Monday since the city settled earlier this month. The chief stands by his officers involved in a 2008 incident during which a man died while in police custody. He condemns the city for settling the lawsuit brought on by the man’s family. City leaders decided earlier this month to settle a $1.25 million lawsuit that alleged Roswell officers Tased, pepper-sprayed, and then hand cuffed Javier Aguilar. The office of the medical examiner found Aguilar died of positional asphyxia, a condition where a person cannot breath based on their body’s position. Javier Aguilar had a history of mental illness and weighed in excess of 300 pounds. The police chief says Aguilar fought with officers when they tried to commit him to a mental institution.He says Aguilar had one the officers in a headlock and that officers responded with appropriate force because their lives were in danger. “The officers of the Roswell police department have been vilified, the public treasury has been looted as a result of this settlement,” said Chief Dennis Kintigh, who continued “We are often told ‘You can’t comment because there is pending litigation,’ and it makes us look like we’ve got something to hide, and that’s what frustrates me.” Read more
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UN IPCC Official Admits 'We Redistribute World's Wealth By Climate Policy'

From NewsBusters.com - By Noel Sheppard - If you needed any more evidence that the entire theory of manmade global warming was a scheme to redistribute wealth you got it Sunday when a leading member of the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change told a German news outlet, "[W]e redistribute de facto the world's wealth by climate policy." Such was originally published by Germany's NZZ Online Sunday, and reprinted in English by the Global Warming Policy Foundation:
(NZZ AM SONNTAG): The new thing about your proposal for a Global Deal is the stress on the importance of development policy for climate policy. Until now, many think of aid when they hear development policies.
(OTTMAR EDENHOFER, UN IPCC OFFICIAL): That will change immediately if global emission rights are distributed. If this happens, on a per capita basis, then Africa will be the big winner, and huge amounts of money will flow there. This will have enormous implications for development policy. And it will raise the question if these countries can deal responsibly with so much money at all.
(NZZ): That does not sound anymore like the climate policy that we know.
(EDENHOFER): Basically it's a big mistake to discuss climate policy separately from the major themes of globalization. The climate summit in Cancun at the end of the month is not a climate conference, but one of the largest economic conferences since the Second World War. Why? Because we have 11,000 gigatons of carbon in the coal reserves in the soil under our feet - and we must emit only 400 gigatons in the atmosphere if we want to keep the 2-degree target. 11 000 to 400 - there is no getting around the fact that most of the fossil reserves must remain in the soil.
(NZZ): De facto, this means an expropriation of the countries with natural resources. This leads to a very different development from that which has been triggered by development policy.
(EDENHOFER): First of all, developed countries have basically expropriated the atmosphere of the world community. But one must say clearly that we redistribute de facto the world's wealth by climate policy. Obviously, the owners of coal and oil will not be enthusiastic about this. One has to free oneself from the illusion that international climate policy is environmental policy. This has almost nothing to do with environmental policy anymore, with problems such as deforestation or the ozone hole. Read more
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Another Obama Stealth Land Grab

Michelle Malkin
From michellemalkin.com - Click here for a map of the land the federal government already owns in the US.The TSA isn’t the only one with grabby hands. I’ve been reporting on the stealth Obama land and ocean grabs for the past several months now — and there is another new, under-the-radar-screen development that deserves your attention. Quick review: In August, I told you about the “Great Outdoors Initiative” to lock up more open spaces through executive order. This came on top on top of a separate, property-usurping initiative exposed by GOP Rep. Robert Bishop and Sen. Jim DeMint earlier this spring. According to an internal, 21-page Obama administration memo, 17 energy-rich areas in 11 states have been targeted as potential federal “monuments.” The Obama War on the West is a War on Jobs that extends from land to sea based on politicized junk science by executive fiat and czar evasion.
Ken Salazar
The latest power grab comes via Interior Secretary Ken Salazar — the unchecked, unaccountable data doctor and loathsome cowboy — who has just unilaterally elevated a government landscape conservation system to “directorate” status with no congressional debate, no witnesses, no testimony, no public input. The full secretarial order is here (PDF). From the announcement: LAS VEGAS, NV – Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar today issued a Secretarial Order elevating the Office of the National Landscape Conservation System and Community
Partnerships in the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) to the level of a directorate within BLM.
More story here

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Lujan still NM Speaker of the House; but a challenge may still lurk in January

Rob Nikolewski
News New Mexico note - This linked story below contains excellent video interviews by Rob Nikolewski with Ben Lujan, Joseph Cervantes and Andy Nunez.
From capitolreportnewmexico.com - Rep. Ben Lujân (D-Nambé) survived a challenge for his decade-long hold as Speaker of the House on Saturday (Nov. 20) from Rep. Joe Cervantes (D-Las Cruces) but the possibility of a handful of Democrats forming a coalition with Republicans to oust Luján still exists. Read rest of story and watch video interviews here:
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House Coalition Still a Possibility

Joseph Cervantes
From NMPolitics.net - Though House Democrats voted Saturday to nominate Rep. Ben Luján to continue serving as speaker, there’s still a chance some Democrats and Republicans will band together to overthrow him in January. Rep. Joseph Cervantes of Las Cruces, who unsuccessfully challenged Luján during this weekend’s Democratic caucus, wouldn’t say during an interview whether he is still considering trying to form a bipartisan coalition to become speaker. But he sounded like someone who is considering doing just that. Read here:
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Crushing the Middle Class Family

From zerohedge.com - Tonight's stunning financial piece de resistance comes from Wyatt Emerich of The Cleveland Current. In what is sure to inspire some serious ire among all those who once believed Ronald Reagan that it was the USSR that was the "Evil Empire", Emmerich analyzes disposable income and economic benefits among several key income classes and comes to the stunning (and verifiable) conclusion that "a one-parent family of three making $14,500 a year (minimum wage) has more disposable income than a family making $60,000 a year." And that excludes benefits from Supplemental Security Income disability checks. America is now a country which punishes those middle-class people who not only try to work hard, but avoid scamming the system. Not surprisingly, it is not only the richest and most audacious thieves that prosper - it is also the penny scammers at the very bottom of the economic ladder that rip off the middle class each and every day, courtesy of the world's most generous entitlement system. Perhaps if Reagan were alive today, he would wish to modify the object of his once legendary remark.
More here


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Cervantes is the Alternative to Lujan

News New Mexico has learned that Representative Joseph Cervantes of Las Cruces took the risk of formally entering his name for consideration as New Mexico Speaker of the House behind closed doors in the Roundhouse in Santa Fe Saturday afternoon. While the final vote count for Speaker in the Democratic Party caucus was secret, multiple sources indicate that Cervantes received a significant number of votes. And while he did not receive the 19 vote majority within his own party, he did garner many votes. In the next day or so News New Mexico will attempt to determine precisely what the vote tally for Cervantes actually was. If we can get a count we can report with confidence, we will report that number on this website.
Joseph Cervantes
Regardless of the final vote count, the lengthy timeline of the Democrat's House caucus meeting on Saturday offers rather compelling proof of a severely damaged Speaker. Ben Lujan is clear a fading authority figure with dwindling support in his own party. Naturally, when the exhausted House Democrats finally emerged from the long and arduous caucus meeting Saturday, it was announced that Lujan was the sole nominee for Speaker. But of course the public posturing for the appearance of party "unity" does not tell the real story. Logic tells even the passive observer that it would not take more than three hours after week-long party member meetings to unanimously nominate the sitting Speaker for another term. We are told that many…… repeat many…….House Democrats stepped to the podium behind closed doors Saturday to speak their minds about the issues they had with the dictatorial practices of Lujan. While some members also spoke in favor of Lujan continuing as speaker, a few others took the risk to openly expose his domineering management style for consideration. Lujan’s bully techniques, those that involve the liberal (no pun intended) use of severe punishments to divide, conquer, and maintain complete control within his own party caucus were brought to the floor.
Ben Lujan
It was also reported to New New Mexico from multiple sources that while Lujan rambled badly during his speech and sometimes spoke rather incoherently, Cervantes actually spoke articulately and with the calm authority of a leader in command of the facts. Only Cervantes spoke of a more bi-partisan and cooperative future for New Mexico. In the end, New Mexican voters should come away with a few basic conclusions regarding Saturday’s House Democratic caucus meetings. First and foremost, Joseph Cervantes was the only Democrat in the House of Representatives with the intestinal fortitude to openly challenge Speaker Ben Lujan. And strangely enough, it also became very clear with the events taking place that Ben Lujan only commands the loyalty of a remarkably small minority of duly elected House members in this state. Further, and based on multiple corroborations of reports concerning what actually transpired behind closed doors, the attention of News New Mexico website visitors and radio and Internet listeners should shift back to the House GOP leaders and the remainder of the minority caucus. In days and weeks ahead, and considering what happened within the so-called "majority," a few fundamental political questions continue to linger.
Do New Mexico GOP House members think of themselves merely as Republicans? Is this particular collection of elected officials merely a group of old-style partisan politicians that could never bring themselves to collectively support and work with any Democrat, even a more inclusive Democrat such as Joseph Cervantes? Or is it possible that as a short period of time passes, and there is a little more opportunity to reflect, that the GOP members may wind up thinking of themselves first and foremost as New Mexicans…..as elected officials responsible for facilitating change......the sort of change that will provide themselves with a much longed for and well-deserved seat at the governing table. Again………only the time remaining between now and the next legislative session will answer these tricky questions. One fact remains indisputable. A golden opportunity for the GOP House caucus to promptly begin a new era of bi-partisan policy making slipped through their hands this week. What will they do now that it is clear they have the votes to make a meaningful change at the all important Speaker level? Stay tuned.

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Suspected War Criminal Lands Job at UN

From foxnews.com - A suspected war criminal who allegedly played a key role in the slaughter of 40,000 civilians in Sri Lanka has landed a cushy job at the United Nations -- with full diplomatic immunity. Human-rights groups are outraged that Shavendra Silva, 46, a top ex-military commander, was named Sri Lanka's deputy permanent U.N. representative in August, after which he moved to New York. More here

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Saudi King Abdullah Comes to US for Medical Treatment

King Abdullah with President Obama
From michellemalkin.com by Doug Powers - The day after the Obamacare law passed, Saudi King Abdullah reportedly called President Obama to congratulate him. The bill, it seems, was one more step toward the US embracing a superior universal health care system like that which can be found in Saudia Arabia, where treatments for medical problems such as, oh, say, blood clots, are fully covered. Now, the king of the country with that health care system that gives the US something to strive for won’t be treated in that system, but will instead come to the US for treatment. He’s lucky the law that will make US health care system more closely resemble the Saudi system — the one that isn’t good enough for Saudi royalty — hasn’t kicked in yet:  More here

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NM Girl Scouts Participate in Climate Change "Art" Show

From google.com - LOS ANGELES — The first global art show on climate change kicked off this weekend, launching several symbolic performances seen from space that bring people and planet together to highlight the hazards of global warming. From the US southwest to spots in countries like China, Egypt, India and Spain, thousands of volunteers were coming together for the weeklong photo-performance project that ends November 27, just ahead of UN climate talks in Cancun, Mexico. Using human bodies as the main media, the show was organized by US environmentalist Bill McKibben and his 350 Earth advocacy group, whose name points to the number of parts per million that most scientists agree is an acceptable upper level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Currently, that level is about 390 parts per million. The group brought the global project into focus Saturday in the United States and Spain. In Santa Fe, New Mexico, more than 1,000 Girl Scouts and other residents holding blue posters crammed into a dry riverbed to form a human "flash flood" depicting where the Santa Fe River should be flowing. "It's hot in here, there's too much carbon in the atmosphere!" the volunteers chanted. More here

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U.S. Active Rig Count Decreases by Eight

From shreveporttimes.com - HOUSTON — The number of rigs actively exploring for oil and natural gas in the U.S. decreased by eight this week to 1,677. Houston-based Baker Hughes Inc. said Friday that 936 rigs were exploring for natural gas and 731 for oil. Ten were listed as miscellaneous. A year ago this week, the rig count stood at 1,113. Of the major oil- and gas-producing states, Texas gained seven rigs and Arkansas, Colorado and North Dakota each gained two. Oklahoma lost eight rigs, Louisiana lost five, New Mexico and Pennsylvania each lost three and Wyoming lost two. Alaska, California and West Virginia remained unchanged. The rig count tally peaked at 4,530 in 1981 and fell to a record low of 488 in 1999. More here

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Parker: Rangel Symptom of Bigger Problem

Star Parker
From Townhall.com - Charlie Rangel, convicted of eleven ethics violations – the most ever found against any member of Congress – was resoundingly re-elected, getting 80% of his district’s vote. After 40 years representing these folks, you can’t conclude he was an unknown commodity. Granted, the conviction occurred after the election, but the charges were well publicized. Has Charlie Rangel’s leadership produced life so grand in Harlem that flagrant and persistent unethical behavior by their Congressman means nothing to its residents? The national poverty rate is around 14%. In the 15th district of New York, Charlie Rangel’s district, it’s 24.3%. The child poverty rate is 30.9%. Whatever it is that Harlem voters find so attractive about Mr. Rangel, it’s hard to conclude that quality of life is something they feel they owe to him. Read here:
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