Obama: Send in the Nobel Peace Drones

President Obama with Nobel Peace Prize

CNN - U.S. President Barack Obama has approved the use of armed Predator drones in Libya, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Thursday. Gates told CNN the unmanned Predators would allow for "some precision capability" against the forces of longtime Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi, and will offer a "modest contribution" to NATO efforts to support Libyan rebels. NATO, meanwhile, has signaled it may ramp up air strikes on Gadhafi's regime. NATO issued a new warning to Libyan civilians to stay away from military areas - foreshadowing plans for attacks on targets seen as strategically significant in stopping the government's attacks against civilians, according to a NATO military official.

Predator Drone

Libyan rebels had recently complained that NATO was not being aggressive enough to protect civilians from Gadhafi's forces. Planes and missiles from a coalition including the United States, the United Kingdom and France began attacking Libyan air-defense targets March 19 in part to establish a no-fly zone. It was authorized by a U.N. Security Council resolution, which approved military action –short of occupation - to prevent Gadhafi's forces from attacking civilians and cities. Read full story here: News New Mexico

Obama: Send in the Nobel Peace Drones

Balderas Into the Senate Scramble

Hector Balderas

Santa Fe New Mexican - Count state Auditor Hector Balderas among the candidates for the U.S. Senate seat that fellow Democrat Jeff Bingaman plans to vacate next year. Balderas filed a statement of candidacy with the Federal Election Commission and formally will announce his candidacy next week, a source close to Balderas said Thursday. Balderas, 37, will face at least one other candidate in next year's Democratic primary: U.S. Rep Martin Heinrich of Albuquerque. The news of Balderas' FEC filing came shortly after the political committee of the largest public employee union — the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees — voted unanimously to endorse Heinrich. Heinrich recently jumped in the race after Bingaman, a senator since 1983, announced that he won't be seeking re-election next year. Balderas is from the small northeastern New Mexico community of Wagon Mound. A lawyer by profession, he was elected to a state House of Representatives seat in 2004, defeating a Democratic incumbent, Benjie Regensberg. Read full story here: News New Mexico

Balderas Into the Senate Scramble

Spiking: Only Possible in Public Retirement Plans

MIchael and Conrad

NMPolitics - Because of spiking, New Mexico public school teachers risk their retirements. Spiking only happens in the public sector. Here is the core problem: Public sector retirement plans allow participants to pay into the retirement plans, but what retirees receive is not closely connected to what they paid in. Spiking is working for most of the professional life at a lower wage and then working a few years at a higher wage and having the retirement account pay as if the contributions were always at the higher level. The crisis caused by spiking is that the money teachers and the State of New Mexico set aside for retirements is significantly less than it needs to be. For many years no one has done more than say, “Looks like a problem.” I understand the reluctance, because as soon as I started talking about it on my radio talk show some people wanted to shoot (metaphorically I hope) the messenger. I got several cases of the stink eye from people who thought I should not wise up the citizens. If teachers remain teachers throughout their careers and then go to their happy places of retirement, there is no real problem. Well, still a small problem, because, again, what they pay in is not directly connected with what is paid out, which always goes against economic principle. But it is close enough. Private retirement plans pay out entirely based on how much money is put in. But this is not the same in the public sector.

The people who set up the New Mexico public school teacher retirement instead went against every economic principle of good practice. The formula looks at years of service plus age to equal 75 and computes the payout based on the high five years of paying into the system. It is not based on how much money is put into the account. So, if a teacher pays into retirement for 20 years while making on average $40,000 a year and then works for five years as an administrator at $80,000 a year, the entire retirement is based on the high salary even though the retirement system did not collect the sufficient resources to sustain this deal. Most public school administrators first had a number of lower paid years in the classroom. So the retirement account of that administrator is always short dollars that someone else has to make up. Read full column here: News New Mexico

Spiking: Only Possible in Public Retirement Plans

Obama and Holder to "Investigate"

SFGate - President Obama said a Justice Department probe will examine the role of "traders and speculators" in oil markets and how they contribute to high gasoline prices. "The attorney general's putting together a team whose job it is to root out any cases of fraud or manipulation in the oil markets that might affect gas prices, and that includes the role of traders and speculators," Obama said Thursday in Reno. "We are going to make sure that no one is taking advantage of American consumers for their own short-term gain." Read full story here: News New Mexico

Obama and Holder to "Investigate"

Border Agent Convicted for "Pulling Cuffs"

From examiner.com -Agent Jesus Diaz facing 10+ years in prison for “pulling handcuffs” during arrest in Texas.In what appears to be yet another case of the Mexican Government orchestrating a fake crime against one of their drug smuggling criminals hauling dope into the U.S., Border Patrol Agent Jesus Diaz, a 7-year Border Patrol veteran, was convicted in Federal Court on February 24 of one count of excessive force (under color of law) and 5 counts of lying to Internal Affairs.  He is facing a maximum of 35 years in prison when he is sentenced in November.  Meanwhile, he’s been in jail since the verdict nearly two months ago.  He’s in solitary confinement 23 hours per day for his safety.  So far, the judge has refused to allow bond while Diaz awaits sentencing.   More News New Mexico

Border Agent Convicted for "Pulling Cuffs"

CMS Investigates Irregularities in Obtaining Federal Matching Funds for NM Hospitals

From beckershospitalreview.com -A draft audit issued by CMS has identified irregularities in how local New Mexico governments and eight hospitals in the state generated money used to obtain federal matching funds as part of CMS' Sole Community Provider fund program during 2009, according to a Sante Fe New Mexican report. CMS has determined that $21.7 in payments by local governments did not comply with its rules for the Sole Community Provider fund program. Through this program, federal government matches 3-to-1 the money local governments provide for indigent health care in their communities, according to the report. Christus St. Vincent Regional Medical Center in Santa Fe is one of the hospitals being investigated. In 2009, Sante Fe County provided $9.5 million for indigent care, drawing approximately $27 million in federal matching funds  More News New Mexico

CMS Investigates Irregularities in Obtaining Federal Matching Funds for NM Hospitals

EPA Releases Rap Song:Clip It-Flip It

Pulaski note:  Your tax payer dollars at work. The government website states: "Do your part for climate change and children's health" ....the song is a blatant attempt to indoctrinate children. From epa.gov- Come on and Click it, flip it, turn the handle to the right, turn off the water, twist the handle real tight. Slip on your sneakers, lace em up tight, leave the car parked you know that’s alright. Public transportation is the way to go, it’s one of the ways to keep emissions low, you can ride your bike, instead of the car, if we save on fuel then we’ll all go far.  Audio clip and More News New Mexico

EPA Releases Rap Song:Clip It-Flip It

NM Symphony Ends on a Sour Note

KOB TV - After almost 80 years in the business the New Mexico Symphony Orchestra is making its final curtain call. On Tuesday the board of trustees of NMSO voted to file for Chapter 7 bankruptcy. NMSO is facing more than a million dollars in debt and officials say musicians have not been paid for month. George Boerigter, NMSO Vice Chairmen, spoke to KOB Eyewitness News 4 Wednesday on the board’s decision. Read full story here: News New Mexico

NM Symphony Ends on a Sour Note

Progressive: Obama War President

Progressive - In 2008, many voters viewed Barack Obama as the peace candidate, but he’s turned into a war president. On the campaign trail, he promised to get all combat troops out of Iraq by the spring of 2010. Then he extended that to the end of this year, and now his administration is trying to persuade the Iraqi government to sign an agreement extending the presence of U.S. troops there indefinitely. And in Afghanistan, where Obama has tripled the number of U.S. troops, his administration is again backpedaling on withdrawal.

President Obama in the War Room



Obama said he’d start bringing troops home this July, but that seems more and more likely to be just a token number. He had vowed that all U.S. troops would be out of there by the end of 2014, but now his administration is negotiating with Kabul to have long-term military bases in Afghanistan. And, of course, a month ago, Obama launched the war on Libya, which shows no signs of ending any time soon. From his Nobel Prize speech to his Libya speech, Obama has become the chief advocate of war, boasting of its utility and expanding its justifications. He’s turned into a better salesman for war than his predecessor, and he’s running the empire more efficiently—and with less antagonism. More bombs, less bombast: That’s the Obama doctrine for you. Read full column here: News New Mexico



Progressive: Obama War President

Whatever Happened to Walter Cronkite?

Big Government - Last weekend, His Presidency Barack Obama was captured making potentially offensive comments to a group of big money donors who had paid large sums of money for special access to His Presidency. We observed that CBS only released “selectively edited” moments from the raw tape. We know how much the mainstream media values complete and full disclosure of recordings of this nature, so we found it curious, to say the least, that there was not one drop of intellectual curiosity from these guardians of media purity regarding the content of the full recording. Read full story here: News New Mexico

Whatever Happened to Walter Cronkite?