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The "Luevano Incident"
Consider N.M. House District # 16 candidate Johnny Luevano who just finished a twenty year career in the U.S. Marine Corps. In doing so, he, like all others who serve in the military, essentially surrendered his freedom of movement. It was up to his commanding officers in the Marines to decide where his temporary residences would be. Whenever and wherever the Marines wanted Luevano to go, it was his sworn duty to go there.
Several years ago Luevano could see the end of his military career approaching. Accordingly, he purchased a building lot in House District # 16 in Albuquerque. In recent years, while paying taxes on his permanent residential lot, he made plans to build his post military career residence there. Construction of the new home began in 2011.
Luevano voted his entire active duty career as a New Mexico resident. Recently he was stationed in Tucson, Arizona. On January 1, 2012, Luevano’s retirement from active duty became official. And also early in 2012, the Luevano family began the joyful process of packing their belongings in anticipation of a move to a long awaited and well-deseved permanent residence. As luck would have it, construction and permitting delays at the city of Albuquerque kept the family move to the permanent residence in limbo until March. And then suddenly, all hell broke loose.
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| Johnny Luevano |
Since then the smear of this 20 year Marine veteran has been on. And so far there has been little or no recognition of the implications of Luevano’s active duty status in the media. Why would anyone want to smear Luevano and suggest he committed fraud? It is all very simple. He had the gall to run for elected office against one of Progress Now New Mexico’s favorite darlings, Representative Antonio “Moe” Maestas.
For his part Maestas, an attorney, has filed a lawsuit to try to have Luevano removed from the ballot. The hearing is set for April 9th. It is simply amazing to contrast this situation with the recent technical flaws in filing documents submitted by elected officials. If that contrast is not enough, consider the circumstances surrounding the candidates in the recent Sunland Park municipal elections.With the unemployment rate for returning veterans at somewhere between 20 and 30%, and all of the seemingly heartfelt “Support the Troops” efforts made in our society, the “Luevano Incident” seems to have finally put all sense of shame and decency to rest. What people will do now days to hold on to political power is simply remarkable. American citizens who claim to “Support our Troops” should come from all over the nation and defend the rights of Johnny Luevano to serve his country and when he finishes, run for elected office.
Only One Blasting Cap Away From Tyranny
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| Ruth Bader Ginsburg |
The Bill of Rights is supposed to protect us from all human beings who would dare to use government as a tool to deny freedoms. Specifically we are promised free: speech, press, religion, and assembly. We are also guaranteed the right keep and bear arms. Unreasonable searches and seizures by people in the government are prohibited. Our freedom is guaranteed by a due process guarantee in a court of law.
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| Elena Kagan |
And we are also protected from our government through the requirement of speedy hearings, and trials by jury. Excessive bail, fines, or punishments are also prohibited. Most important of all we are provided with the specific guarantee that any authority not explicitly granted to the government, is reserved to us, as individuals. Make no mistake, the Bill of Rights is an irrevocable CAN’T DO list for ambitious elected officials. It is based on the assumption that one of the great failing of all human beings is the tendency to use the machinery of government to dominate life and usurp individual choices.
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| Sonia Sotomayor |
Let’s turn our attention to the legal community. For most of the 225 years since the U.S. Constitution was adopted, a parade of crafty lawyers, acting as wordsmiths, illusionists, and legal magicians, have tried to convince the courts to countermand the fundamental protections of the Constitution. The latest effort came earlier this week when the Obama administrations lawyers tried to convince a majority of Supreme Court justices that the federal government has the authority to require all citizens to enter into private commercial contracts or face fines for not doing so.
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| John Paul Stevens |
The questions offered by some of those lawyer-judges sitting on the Supreme Court shed light on just how precarious our constitutional protections have become. We can assume that as many as four of the nine Supreme Court justices are now ready to provide blasting caps to those who argued that the "mandate" provision contained in the Affordable Health Care Act is constitutional. The Obama administration has already placed legal explosives underneath the constitutional foundation of our country. All this president needs is one more lawyer-judge to give him a perverse "opinion." George III must be smirking somewhere.
A Republican — yes a Republican — runs for state House of Reps in same district as Sheryl Williams Stapleton
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| Erica Landry |
Maestas Has Two Chances to Win, Luevano One
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| Antonio "Moe" Maestas |
Under the veneer of technicalities, the questions facing the courts are all about the rights of active duty military servants. Luevano has been an active duty Marine until he recently retired. He has owned the property in question and paid taxes on it for several years while serving in the military and moving from one assignment to another in various places. Expecting to move into his newly built Albuquerque-area home months ago, the bureaucracy at the City of Albuquerque dragged its feet in issuing the final occupancy permit to Luevano. Coincidentally just a few days AFTER the official residency deadline, Luevano did receive his final permit. The question of Luevano's eligibility was immediately put before Bernalillo County Clerk Maggie Toulouse Oliver by progressive political activists earlier this month. Their efforts to throw the election to Maestas failed when Toulouse Oliver made the decision to certify Luevano’s candidacy and put him on the ballot.
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| Johnny Luevano |
Instead of pondering that question and all it entails, it seems that for Representative Maestas it is all about securing as many chances to win as possible. First the progressives took their shot at the County Clerk. As a lawyer, Maestas understands he has an opportunity take Luevano into court after the Bernalillo County Clerk certified Luevano's candidacy. In doing so, Maestas has a relatively inexpensive shot at convincing the court to ignore the complications of military service and how the transition from active duty to retirement can affect the seemingly simple task of establishing permanent residency. Maestas is no dummy. This will be his second shot at winning the District #16 House seat. If he loses in the courtroom in April, he will still have one more shot, when District #16 finally gets to vote in November. Other than making running for office even more complicated for those who risk life and limb for their country, it's a pretty darn slick campaign strategy.
Facts Not Critical to Sierra Club Approach
The problem with the press release is there is NO ground or surface water contamination downstream from the plant and coal mine that originates from coal ash or other sources at the plant or coal mine. In fact, the settlement agreement does not require any change in the way coal is mined or handled. It also does not require any change in how coal ash is managed at the plant or placed at the coal mine. Placement of coal ash at the mine is already required by the state as part of the mine reclamation procedures. Coal ash is not regulated as a hazardous, or “toxic,” waste. And the system the companies are installing is only a “capture” system. There is no requirement that any of the water captured in the system be treated in any respect.
Always on the offensive, what the Sierra Club failed to mention is that under mandates passed during the Richardson administration, PNM already has significant investments in renewable energy programs. In fact, PNM entered the renewable arena long before renewable energy mandates existed.
Back in 2003, PNM agreed to purchase all the energy produced by the New Mexico Wind Energy Center, which at the time was the world’s third-largest wind facility. In 2011, the utility invested $95 million to add 22 megawatts of solar power to its system. And, PNM has the state’s largest solar distributed generation program. About 2,400 customers have installed solar systems, amounting to 15 megawatts of power. PNM provides credits to these customers as an incentive to invest in solar technology. The program more than doubled in 2011.
For New Mexico citizens served by PNM it is naïve to think the company could easily move away from fossil fuels, like coal. There is simply NO technology to store wind or solar power. A complete move to these much more expensive resources is virtually impossible.
It is unfortunate that the Sierra Club feels compelled to engage in misinforming the public regarding electrical power in New Mexico. In doing so it puts pressure on existing power sources, electricity prices, and the possibility of blackouts in this area. Electricity blackouts are not GREEN, they are dangerous to the health and welfare of New Mexico.
Kilmer refocuses energy into Mark Twain project
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| Val Kilmer |
NM Green Party and NM Constitution Party File Lawsuit
Donald Rumsfeld Endorses Rick Newton
Sunland Park's Mayor Elect Seeks Help of Supreme Court
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| Daniel Salinas |
NM Town Requires $100k Insurance Policy for Pit Bulls
Albuquerque police union to end shooting payments
From KOB-TV.com - ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) - The Albuquerque Police Officers Association is ending its controversial practice of giving money to police officers who have been involved in shootings. The union, along with Albuquerque Mayor Richard Berry and Police Chief Ray Schultz, made the announcement Thursday after the union named Sgt. Greg Weber as interim president and Sgt. Tom Henderson as interim vice president. The Albuquerque Journal reported last week the union gave 20 officers involved in shootings in 2010 and 2011 $300 or $500 each to help them get out of town and decompress. Read more
Affordable Care Act bad for NM, worse for US
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| Dr. Deane Waldman |
From NMPolitics.net - By Dr. Deane Waldman- Very clearly, the forced passage of the Affordable Care Act had much more to do with partisan domestic politics than the health of either health care or We The Patients. The U.S. Supreme Court is discussing the ACA, the latest abbreviation for the Patient Protection and Affordable Health Care Act of 2010, pejoratively named Obamacare. Defenders of the law like State Senator Dede Feldman say the law is good for both New Mexico and the United States. They argue that it brings lots of money into our state, creates new jobs, increases insurance coverage, and eliminates the exclusion for pre-existing condition. ACA may bring large buckets of federal dollars into New Mexico, but that money will be spent on bureaucracy, not on patients. ACA is likely to increase jobs – 38,000 to 47,000 new bureaucrats, regulators, insurance adjusters, IRS investigators, and compliance officers, but not one new nurse or doctor.Read column
Obamacare Increased Insurance Premiums
Spaceport Board Approves $7M Runway
Irrigation Season Starts in Southern N.M.
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| Elephant Butte Dam |
SIC financial adviser under fire for Earthstone/Growstone investments
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| Leonard Lee Rawson |
Parents of Murdered Students Criticize President Obama
Ruidoso stews over wildlife feeding ban
From KRQE-TV.com - by Gabrielle Burkhart - RUIDOSO, N.M. (KRQE) - Wildlife officials and some Ruidoso residents are butting heads over a proposed ordinance that would ban feeding wildlife The ban would apply an area where officials say the animals have become a problem. Deer calmly grazing in someone's yard right next to the roads are lately not an uncommon sight in Ruidoso. It's part of the reason wildlife biologist Quentin Hays proposed an ordinance that would put a stop to people feeding wildlife in the village. "Just as the community grows, and particularly as we're faced with drought and sort of increases in these wildlife-human conflicts, I felt like it was something that really needed to be addressed," Hays explained. But the proposal isn't sitting well with some people. Hays said he believes the people feeding wildlife in Ruidoso are in the minority, but they're having a major impact. "We have deer and elk in our communities now that are completely unafraid of humans and of dogs and everything else," said Hays. He also explained that the concentrated deer population brings predators closer to humans, which also poses a threat. Read more
Ski Apache to close season early; last run is Sunday
The Science of Half-Baked Ideas
Swickard: Oh those Econ 101 deniers
Commentary by Michael Swickard - Last week’s column mentioned political energy policy as one of five major issues Americans need to keep their eyes on this election and not be distracted by hundreds of other lesser political issues. When I mentioned drilling to lower gas pump prices, my email filled up with Econ 101 deniers who said supply and demand does not work in the oil patch because oil is global. That answer is simple, quick and wrong. Econ 101 deniers say all nations drink from only one bucket (a very large one) so the price of oil in India is exactly the same price as it is in Indiana. It is not. There are many reasons why crude oil price is different by nation, not the least of which is the actual purity of the oil. Further, we use oil products regionally; therefore regional influences adjust the prices. It is important to count the major ways our government is a factor in the pump price of fuel. Read column
Cornyn Offers Amendment to Block Lizard Listing
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has delayed until this summer a final decision on whether to list the lizard. Cornyn and congressional representatives from several other states had sent letters to the agency and Interior Secretary Ken Salazar asking for the delay.
Will Obama Return $1.6 Million Raised by Spike Lee?
Jerome Block Jr. Gets Probation
Judge Weighs Release of Deming Gun Defendant
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