West Rocks CPAC

Allen West

The Hill - Freshman Rep. Allen West (R-Fla.) gave a speech to close this year's Conservative Political Action Conference that earned a more enthusiastic reaction from conservative activists than those given by most rumored 2012 presidential hopefuls over the past three days. The first-term congressman brought the audience to its feet several times late Saturday, repudiating President Obama's social and economic policies and promising "a new dawn in America." West took the coveted speaking slot that was rejected by former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, who declined to attend CPAC for the fourth straight year. Read more here:

West Rocks CPAC

Budget Brawl Looms

Washington Times - When President Obama rolls out his 2012 budget Monday, it will sound the starting gun on a three-month sprint that will determine just how serious Washington is about translating its cost-cutting rhetoric into serious action to reduce staggering deficits. Mr. Obama’s budget marks the beginning of the 2012 budget fight, but it also sets the tone for how Congress tackles the debt ceiling, likely in April.

With the federal government still operating on stopgap spending, Congress and the White House still have to hash out the 2011 spending bills that are more than four months overdue. At stake is nothing less than the fiscal health of the country. “The next few months are absolutely critical,” said Maya MacGuineas, president of the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget. “The process of putting the budget pack on track will either begin in earnest, or politicians will collectively bury their heads in the sand and continue their partisan bickering, pushing off the moment of change to beyond the next election cycle and potentially risking that a fiscal crisis hits us before we make changes on our own terms.” Read full story here:

Budget Brawl Looms

Grubesic column: How to get true transparency in NM, and why it will never happen

From Capitol Report New Mexico - Commentary by John Grubesic -

No drug, not even alcohol, causes the fundamental ills of society. If we’re looking for the source of our troubles, we shouldn’t test people for drugs, we should test them for stupidity, ignorance, greed and love of power. – P. J. O’Rourke

In a political dictionary the last seven words of Mr. O’Rourke’s quote is the definition of politician. Run a search for corrupt politician and you get pages of results. Charles Rangel, William J. Jefferson, Larry Craig, Randy “Duke” Cunningham, Mark Foley, this is just the national level…rest assured, just as much happening on your school board. The definition of politics is summed up in the final words, “greed and love of power.” The basis of politics is the incestuous relationship between lobbyists and the politicians they own. Regulating the politician is difficult. As I wrote in a previous post, politicians are reluctant to design their own noose. Read more

Grubesic column: How to get true transparency in NM, and why it will never happen

Lessons learned in aftermath of natural-gas crisis

From the Santa Fe New Mexican.com - The snowstorm that blew through New Mexico with an arctic blast in the first week of February, leaving an estimated 32,000 homes and businesses without natural gas for several days, tested the ability of an interstate utility system — and found it wanting. Frozen gas well heads, ruptured waterlines and freezing homes stretched 2,000 miles across at least 16 states from New Mexico and Texas northeast to Connecticut and Illinois. The storm took down power utility companies in Texas and disrupted production, ultimately affecting the ability of natural-gas processing plants to pack enough of the hydrocarbon into interstate pipelines for the thousands of people who needed it. The temperatures stayed below freezing for 80 to 90 hours straight from Feb. 1 to Feb. 4 in Northern New Mexico, according to the National Weather Service. New Mexicans finally have heat and hot water again. But they still have a lot of questions about what happened and, more importantly, why it took so long to fix. Why, in one of the largest natural-gas-producing states in the nation, where customers use less than a 10th of the gas produced, were so many people cut off from the resource for so long? Read more

Lessons learned in aftermath of natural-gas crisis

New NM Education Secretary Criticized

Hanna Skandera

From washingtonexaminer.com -New Mexico school administrators and a teachers union are upset over a decision by the state's new education secretary-designate to hire out-of-state consultants.  The eight consultants for Education Secretary-designate Hanna Skandera will be paid a total of $152,000 to advise Skandera on such things as tracking student achievement and handling public relations. The contracts expire at the end of March or end of April.  At least six have careers tied to either of former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush or former President George W. Bush, according to a copyright story Sunday by The Albuquerque Journal. Skandera worked for Jeb Bush. "You can't copy and paste an education agenda for New Mexico's kids that outside consultants have used elsewhere," Christine Trujillo, president of New Mexico's chapter of the American Federation of Teachers, said. "Our students and teachers need education leaders who come from New Mexico and understand the unique needs of our state's children — not folks with connections to the failed education policies of former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush and to former President George W. Bush's botched No Child Left Behind program."  More here

New NM Education Secretary Criticized

Andrew Brietbart Sued by Shirley Sherrod

Shirley Sherrod

From biggovernment.com -  It is no coincidence that this lawsuit was filed one day after I held a press conference revealing audio proof of orchestrated and systemic Pigford fraud. I can promise you this: neither I, nor my journalistic websites, will or can be silenced by the institutional Left, which is obviously funding this lawsuit. I welcome the judicial discovery process, including finding out which groups are doing so.” On Thursday, February 10, 2011, at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington, D.C., Mr. Breitbart held a national press conference at which he, Huffington Post blogger Lee Stranahan, and black farmer Eddie Slaughter presented compelling evidence for, and Representatives Michele Bachmann (R-MN) and Steve King (R-IA) specifically called for, Congressional investigation into the Pigford case. At the press conference, Mr. Breitbart revealed two hours of audio of Thomas Burrell, the head of the Black Farmers & Agriculturalist Association, Inc., teaching non-farmers in the South how to commit fraud in the Pigford “back-door” reparations case. This audio conclusively demonstrates how people have conspired to grow the class of Pigford claimants to 94,000, when in fact, there were only about 18,000 black farmers in the entire country during the relevant time period, and when there were never anticipated to be more than a few thousand potential claimants among those 18,000. The numbers just do not and cannot add up.  More here

Andrew Brietbart Sued by Shirley Sherrod

Napolitano Goes on Offense

From americanthinker.com - We have a big problem the country needs to understand, free of Napolitano's spin and political hackery.  Her argument includes two key points -- the positive crime numbers coming from Southwest border towns and the plunging arrests of illegals. Both true. But let's complete the picture.  The border towns are safe because that's where the feds have poured in money and agents, and built better fencing. In places like Nogales, as elsewhere, that has pushed the traffic into the back-country. Out of sight, out of mind is part of the strategy, says Brandon Judd, president of the Tucson chapter of the National Border Patrol Council, the agents' union.  He says the feds are deliberately under-staffing remote areas, cutting arrests and allowing Napolitano to claim the border is more secure. This is a prelude to Obama's real goal of comprehensive immigration reform. As for the mountains and deserts, Judd says, "The border in those areas is as wide open as it has ever been."  More here

Napolitano Goes on Offense

More Mass Murders in Murder City

CIUDAD JUAREZ, Mexico (AP) — Gunmen barged into a bar in the battered border city of Ciudad Juarez and opened fire late Thursday, killing seven women and one man, authorities said. Three other people were wounded at the "Las Torres" bar and were in critical condition, said Arturo Sandoval, spokesman for Chihuahua state prosecutors. Sandoval said investigators were still trying to determine who was behind the attack. Ciudad Juarez is the center of a fierce turf war between the Sinaloa and Juarez drug cartels, and has become one of the world's most dangerous cities. More than 3,000 people were killed last year in the city of 1.3 million residents across from El Paso, Texas. Meanwhile, a shootout between troops and armed men killed nine people in a central Mexican state that his seen a rise in drug violence, the government said Thursday. Read full story here:

More Mass Murders in Murder City

Pearce Addresses Threats to NM Freedoms

Steve Pearce

Many of us in New Mexico have fond memories of the Gila as a weekend paradise. We have spent Friday nights after work driving to our favorite spot, unloading the kids, camping out, telling stories, and making memories before piling back into the minivan, pickup, or station wagon on Sunday. Our schedules don’t allow us to spend days or weeks hiking in, but open access has always made this a treasure to be enjoyed by all. Now, the Forest Service wants to take away that freedom. Numerous New Mexicans have been contacting me—by email, phone, Facebook, meetings, and when I visit their hometowns—to tell their stories. They tell me of a friend or family member who will lose access to their favorite corner of the world. They tell me of their memories of the Gila, and their hopes for future trips. They tell me that to preserve these, the proposed closures must be stopped.

Some, like Reverend Mike Skidmore from Truth or Consequences, simply love escaping with their loved ones into the Gila. For Rev. Skidmore, the Gila is a place to enjoy nature and “get away”—an experience he has shared with his children, grandchildren, and even members of his congregation. He fears that road closures will force everyone to the same crowded campsites, ending the days of quiet refuge and fellowship he always found there. Others have expressed concern for the elderly and disabled. The joys of the forest should be available to everyone, not just those with the physical ability to hike miles with a heavy pack. Charlie and Paula Stevens have camped in the Taylor Creek Canyon together for the past 35 years. The couple explained that as they grow older, they will become unable to access their spot without roads. Restricted access could bring their lifelong tradition to an end. This sort of discrimination against the elderly and disabled is unacceptable.

Some worry about their families. Butch Morgan, a local small-business owner, shared his disappointment that his eleven grandchildren could be unable to experience the forest the way he did when he was their age. Restricting access could mean that fewer families have the time or ability to make memories in this splendid forest. Those who live in the Gila, including ranchers and farmers, are deeply concerned. Roads throughout the Gila connect them to their livelihoods, their homes, and their backyards. Still others worry about safety. I share their concerns: any time roads are closed, it is important to ensure that emergency personnel will not be impeded. When addressing public safety, minutes count. I will continue to ask questions and hold the Forest Service accountable to ensure that no time is lost. I share the concerns of my fellow New Mexicans, and will fight for their access to our national treasures. But I can’t do this alone. Attend local meetings. Call your friends and newspapers. Express your concerns to the rest of our congressional delegation, and to the Forest Service. Together, we can defend the freedom to enjoy the Gila for generations to come.

Pearce Addresses Threats to NM Freedoms

O'Reilly: Comparing Obama to "W"

Bill O'Reilly

Townhall - Presidents Obama and Bush the Younger have one striking similarity: self-assurance. After speaking with both men recently, I am firmly convinced that they are convinced their policies are/were right for the nation. Let's take Bush first. The Iraq War has cost America more than $750 billion since it began in March 2003. So far, more than 4,400 Americans have been killed in that country, in addition to the approximately 32,000 who have been wounded. Many of those wounds are life-altering. Yet Bush thinks the great sacrifice was worth it because Saddam Hussein is dead and Iraq is on the road to democracy. There is not an argument in the world that could dissuade Bush from this belief. It is likewise with Obama. He sincerely believes the country was on the verge of another Great Depression when he took office, and that the massive federal spending he has championed prevented economic catastrophe. Again, there is no way anyone is going to persuade the president otherwise. Read full column here:

O'Reilly: Comparing Obama to "W"