News New Mexico

Big Labor, Not Tea Party is Biggest Threat to Workers

Michellle Malkin

The Service Employees International Union plans to send 25,000 rank-and-file workers on 500 buses to Washington this weekend to protest the tea party movement, Republicans and Fox News. If SEIU members had any sense, they'd be demonstrating at their own bosses' D.C. headquarters. It's the Big Labor Left, not the Tea Party Right, that is flushing rank-and-file union workers' hard-earned dues down the collective toilet in these hard times. Read more here:

Mayor Miyagishima to Appear on NewsNM

Ken Miyagishima

Mayor Ken Miyagishima will be a guest on News New Mexico at 8:00am this morning. We will discuss the controversy surrounding the city's decision to create a mandatory recycling ordinance. We will also speak to him about so many other efforts being pushed by certain councilors that are likely to kill jobs in the area.

Local Governments and Their Strange Budget Priorities

Jim Harbison

Did you ever wonder why your taxes never go down even when old bonds are retired and the debt paid? Ever wonder why there is that constant thirst by County and City governments for more taxes? A political expression says to “follow the money.” Perhaps we need to question some of the things that our County Commissioners and our City Council spends our money on. While the projects may be worthwhile are they appropriate in the current financial and economic reality? Are they the best use of our limited resources at the current time or do they just satisfy the ego of the elected official and the special interest groups who demanded them?

We seem to have money to create seldom used bicycle lanes and walking paths that service a minority of our population while entire neighborhoods continue to exist without curbs and sidewalks. We cannot find adequate money to fill the potholes in our roads, install curbs and sidewalks, or resurface worn out streets but they can find creative ways to find matching funds for State and Federal grants for projects that were not on our funded projects priority list. How many pot holes could be filled or feet of curbs and sidewalks could be created with these funds? Those underserved and ignored neighborhoods pay property taxes have a right to expect that their taxes be used for their benefit instead of special interest groups in the City. How do our elected officials justify these priorities?

It is apparent that the special interest groups are receiving the benefits. For example, a special interest group with membership less than 4% of the population dictates through the City Council that we have bicycle lanes on older major streets that seldom see a bicyclist. This causes significant traffic implications for the majority of the public that relies on the automobile to get to and from work, or the doctor, or do their shopping, etc. Many of those no longer able to drive an automobile now have to rely on our inadequate public transportation system or the good graces of family and friends to get to their appointed rounds. My real issue this week is not about the priority for bicycle lanes but the City and County jointly owned and operated Animal Shelter. They fund an animal shelter but cannot provide housing for the homeless. Our 911 call center continues to be inadequate because the County and City cannot find the funds to fix it even though they could find the financial resources to create a $36 million City Hall, a $20+ million Convention Center, and a multi-million dollar Aquatic Center (without a proper swimming pool).

A "Loon"

I find it absolutely appalling that the tax payers are paying over $200,000 to retrofit and repair the air conditioning, heating, and air filtration system on the Animal Shelter at a time when we were forced to release incarcerated juvenile delinquents because they could not find the funding to make the necessary repairs to the roof and other parts of the building that cost approximately half of the amount allocated to the Animal Shelter. How do intelligent people create unintelligent priorities? What is the thought process they use? Who do they value more, the people, the environment, or the animals and wildlife? I would submit that the direct support of the people should be the first priority for all expenditures of public money. Are your Councilors or Commissioners looking out for the welfare of the totality of its citizens, just the people in their respective district, or some special interest group? Perhaps you should ask.

Obama Blasts Fox News

President Barack Obama is blasting Fox News as "destructive," saying the cable channel's point of view is "undeniable." Obama made his comments in a Rolling Stone article, reports The New York Times, and he said Fox was tune with legendary newspaper baron William Randolph Hearst and other media giants who expressed a point a view. “The golden age of an objective press was a pretty narrow span of time in our history,” Obama said in an interview with Rolling Stone. Read more here:

John Stossel - Taxing the Rich

John Stossel

Progressives want to raise taxes on individuals who make more than $200,000 a year because they say it's wrong for the rich to be "given" more money. Sunday's New York Times carries a cartoon showing Uncle Sam handing money to a fat cat. They just don't get it. As I've said before, a tax cut is not a handout. It simply means government steals less. What progressives want to do is take money from some -- by force -- and spend it on others. It sounds less noble when plainly stated. Read more here:

Walter Williams: Liberals Confuse Me

Walter Williams

Christine O'Donnell, U.S. Senate candidate from Delaware, has faced considerable criticism and news media attention about her youthful association with witchcraft. Have we seen similar news media attention given to other politicians who have made bizarre remarks that border on gross stupidity -- possibly lunacy?

Rep Hank Johnson (D-Ga.)

During a congressional Armed Services hearing in March, Rep. Hank Johnson, D-Ga., expressed concern that stationing 8,000 Marines and their equipment on Guam, our Pacific territory, could cause the island "to become so overly populated that it will tip over and capsize." Such a remark is grossly stupid but the liberal press didn't give it anywhere near the amount of attention and derision that they gave Christine O'Donnell. Read more here:

Europe: Austerity Implemented Confidence Rises

From Bloomberg - European confidence in the economic outlook unexpectedly improved this month as executives and consumers weathered tougher government budget cuts by countries struggling to convince investors that they won’t need external aid. An index of executive and consumer sentiment in the 16 euro nations rose to 103.2, the highest since January 2008, from a revised 102.3 in August, the European Commission in Brussels said in an e-mailed statement today. That compares with economists’ forecast for a decline to 101.3, based on the median of 28 estimates in a Bloomberg News survey. Europe’s recovery may lose some momentum after surging exports and a rebound in investment helped fuel the fastest growth in four years in the second quarter. While business sentiment in Germany also unexpectedly rose this month, the European Commission on Sept. 13 forecast a more “moderate” expansion in the second half of the year as governments from Ireland to Portugal step up spending cuts to push down deficits. Read more here:

Kids' science kits may take hit from safety ruling

From the Santa Fe New Mexican.com - WASHINGTON (AP) — One of the tools that teachers use to get kids jazzed about science — hands-on science kits — could face an uncertain future amid a debate on safety. The Consumer Product Safety Commission has been mired for weeks in deliberation as it writes guidelines on what makes a product a "children's product." That guidance, expected Wednesday, is supposed to help sort out which products have to be tested under legislation passed by Congress over two years ago that requires rigorous safety checks for lead, chemicals, flammability and other potential dangers. Plenty of companies, from makers of handmade toys and Halloween costumes to firms selling science kits, have flooded the CPSC with requests for exemptions on some of their products. For the makers of science kits, it is an issue that they say could lead to fewer hands-on science experiments for younger children. The industry has asked the commission for a testing exemption for "general use" items such as rulers, rubber bands and paper clips inside the kits. They say the products aren't harmful to children, would be too expensive to test, and shouldn't have to be tested because they are everyday items found in homes and schools that don't have to be tested if bought separately at retail. Read more

Feedback from Listener

Feedback Message via our comment link:
I realize that I may not be your normal AM radio listener (as a 25-year-old female), but I appreciate hearing your show as I commute to work every morning. Thank you for getting out there and adding your voices to the mix. I am proud to be an independent voter in New Mexico and I can't express how happy I am to hear more and more people turning away from the corruption and the "way it is" attitude that seems to fill the streets (and minds) in Washington, DC. I know that politics is always a tricky thing, but I am thrilled to see the populace becoming fed up with the norm. Keep up the good work, and I'll keep listening and spreading the word about your show! (from our feedback link)

Steny Hoyer - Portrait of a Bald-faced Liar

Steny Hoyer (D- Md.)

A top House Democrat is pushing to rebrand the looming expiration of tax cuts passed under President George W. Bush as a "Republican tax increase," arguing that the GOP deserves the blame because the tax cuts were originally written to run out at the end of the 2010. But in the game of political chicken that has sprung up over the tax-cut stalemate, Republicans say that is a misreading of history, arguing that Democrats should bear the blame for blocking past efforts to make the tax cuts permanent. Read more here:

News New Mexico

Total Pageviews

Archives

Michael Swickard's new novel about New Mexico