Memorial Day Reflections

There are many Americans who can routinely articulate, based on their own personal experiences, what the true implications of Memorial Day are. During the weekend just passed, any American patriot who was paying attention, had to realize that there are WW II, Korean War, Viet Nam, Desert Storm, and recent Iraqi Freedom and Afghanistan war veterans in our neighborhoods. Only these heroes can explain on a first hand basis the true human risks involved in authentic battles for freedom. It has been reasonably suggested, that the best thing one can do if one has not performed military service for this nation, is to respect those who have actually contributed real life combat experience in defense of our freedoms. The vast majority of Americans live such sheltered lives. We are so unknowing. And we are mostly so totally unaware of our responsibilities to protect our military volunteers from the whims of politicians. Decisions to engage in reckless military incursions is a great temptation. Yet often doing the "right thing" missions are so ill-defined. It is such a delicate citizen assignment for all of us to know when we should approve of or disapprove of military actions. However unknowing, as participating citizens, the worst thing we can do is be hesitant in questioning what constitutes a battle for freedom, particularly when the said battle is most likely nothing more than a futile overseas incursion. Rational thinkers should rightfully argue for continuous debate. To blink on this topic, and always defer authority to those who might not understand the sacrifices, is to tacitly approve committing lives of others to the ultimate risks. As responsible citizens it is wise not to defer judgements or remain silent. As good citizens it is our duty to ask all relevant questions on these important questions. That is what Memorial Day means to me....since I never served. 

Memorial Day Reflections

Wasserman-Schultz Puts DNC Tactics on Table

In the wake of President Obama's stunning defeat on his budget in the U.S. Senate last week (the vote was 97 - 0), DNC Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman-Schultz appeared on on Face the Nation yesterday. After hearing the chairwoman blast Paul Ryan's budget proposal guest host Harry Smith asked the DNC chair to explain what the Democrats are planning to propose. Given that Dems control a majority in the Senate it was a logical question. Despite the fact that the White House is veto-proof, Wasserman-Schultz engaged in a very curious exchange with Harry Smith when he quoted Medicare trustees with saying something has to be done. Below is the transcript of the question by Smith and the answer by Wasserman-Schultz:
Smith: "But the Trustees also said a couple of Fridays ago that this thing (Medicare) could be insolvent in the next decade. Doesn’t something really dramatic have to happen, and as the Congressman suggested, Republicans have a plan, do the Democrats have a plan?"

Wasserman - Schultz: Like I said [sic], the Republicans have a plan to end Medicare as we know it. What they would do is they would take the people who are younger than 55 years old today and tell them You know what? You’re on your own. Go and find private health insurance in the healthcare insurance market, we’re going to throw you to the wolves and allow insurance companies to deny you coverage and drop you for pre-existing conditions. We’re going to give you X amount of dollars and you figure it out.

Instead of pressing the DNC chair further to see if there was a proposal Smith gave up and changed the subject. Observers say voters may well have eighteen months to decide if they will allow Senate Democrats to not cast a single vote for President Obama's budget or offer a budget plan of their own. The exchange between Smith and Wasserman-Schultz was telling. It is increasingly obvious that the political strategy of Democrats, despite having control of the Senate and White House, is to criticize the Ryan budget proposal and make the GOP defend it until the election in 2012. Will this tactic work? It might.

Wasserman-Schultz Puts DNC Tactics on Table

Hispanic Cultural Center Fined for Illegal Lobbying

Dianna Duran

VeritasNM - Updated – Citing a “serious breach of the law,” New Mexico Secretary of State Dianna Duran has fined the National Hispanic Cultural Center Foundation $5,000, the maximum allowed, for violations of the Lobbyist Regulation Act.Duran also demanded Foundation accounting records and expenditure reports for its lobbying efforts since 2006. Legislative appropriations secured by the Foundation are now at the center of a separate state investigation into alleged misappropriations and commingling of state funds with private money in the Foundation’s bank account.

Clara Apodaca

 “(I)t is clear from your own records that the Foundation engaged in lobbying for and obtaining appropriations without following the reporting requirements of the Lobbyist Regulation Act,” Duran wrote in a May 19 letter disclosed Saturday to Veritas NM. “This violation alone constitutes a serious breach of the law, and is exacerbated by the mutually contradictory reports you have filed. Therefore, I am imposing (a) fine on the Foundation in the amount of $5,000.” Read full story here: News New Mexico

Hispanic Cultural Center Fined for Illegal Lobbying

Honor Our Troops by Bringing Them Home

John Nichols

The Nation - by John Nichols - It is unfortunate but true that on this Memorial Day -- when we pause to honor those Americans who have fought the good fights against British colonialism, the sin of slavery and the menace of fascism -- U.S. troops are currently bogged down in a quagmire of George Bush's creation in Afghanistan and an continuing mission of Bush's creation in Iraq. Appallingly, Barack Obama has maintained Bush's undeclared wars of occupation. And he has now steered the United States into another fight with Libya.

Aftermath of a Roadside Bomb in Afghanistan

Everything about these undeclared and open-ended conflicts is at odds with the vision of the founders of the American experiment -- who generally shared James Madison's view that "permanent war" posed the greatest threat to liberty -- and the serious intent of wars against kings, slaveholders and fascists. Soldiers fight wars because of a sense of duty. And the soldiers involved in America's current conflicts are good men and women. But these are not good fights. Nor are their necessary fights for the U.S. military. Read full column here: News New Mexico

Honor Our Troops by Bringing Them Home

"Unexpectedly?"



Michael Barone

Townhall - "How many times in a row can something happen unexpectedly before the experts start to, you know, expect it? At some point, shouldn't they be required to state the foundation for their expectations?" One answer is that many in the mainstream media have been cheerleading for Barack Obama. They and he both naturally hope for a strong economic recovery. After all, Obama can't keep blaming the economic doldrums on George W. Bush forever. Unexpectedly! As megablogger Glenn Reynolds, aka Instapundit, has noted with amusement, the word "unexpectedly" or variants thereon keep cropping up in mainstream media stories about the economy. "New U.S. claims for unemployment benefits unexpectedly climbed," reported cnbc.com May 25. "Personal consumption fell," Business Insider reported the same day, "when it was expected to rise." "Durable goods declined 3.6 percent last month," Reuters reported May 25, "worse than economists' expectations." "Previously owned home sales unexpectedly fall," headlined Bloomberg News May 19. "U.S. home construction fell unexpectedly in April," wrote The Wall Street Journal May 18. Those examples are all from the last two weeks. Reynolds has been linking to similar items since October 2009. Read full story here: News New Mexico

"Unexpectedly?"

Rawson: We've Got an Agency That's Running Loose

Lee Rawson

Capitol Report New Mexico - A month ago, we wrote about the New Mexico Small Business Corporation (NMSBIC), which has absorbed some $9 million in losses and asked in a headline: “Is this a big deal?” Apparently it’s a big enough deal for the entity that funds the NMSBIC to pass a series of recommendations aimed at changing how the agency is run. Some background: The NMSBIC was created 10 years ago by the state legislature as a way to encourage and grow small and start-up businesses across the state. It’s funded by the State Investment Council (SIC), which is mandated to send 1 percent of the state’s Severance Tax Permanent Fund the NMSBIC’s way. One percent may not seem like much but when you consider that the Severance Tax Permanent Fund is currently worth $3.9 billion — well, we’re talking about some real money here. So what’s the problem? Read full story here: News New Mexico

Rawson: We've Got an Agency That's Running Loose

Los Alamos National Labs: Target of Job Killers

KOB - TV - It's a familiar scene in New Mexico: Peace activists, aging hippies, environmentalists and scientists lining up to oppose expansions of the military and nuclear facilities that are a major economic engine for the state. They were back in force this week, this time to oppose a $5.8 billion nuclear lab being designed to replace the 60-year-old lab at Los Alamos National Laboratories. Read full story here: News New Mexico

Los Alamos National Labs: Target of Job Killers

Memorializing the Week

Debbie Wasserman-Schultz

Why watch sitcoms or reality television when you have politics? Not long ago DNC Chair Debbie Wasserman-Schultz was supportive of the autoworker's union bailout. She suggested if it were up to those damned Republicans, we’d all be driving foreign cars. It turns out she already is driving a foreign car. Only in American politics is it not necessary to remember what make of car you drive, before pointing the finger at others you want to accuse of not helping the domestic auto industry. God Bless America. The evolution of the union movement is accelerating. Over the last five decades union demands on private employers have chased millions of competition-sensitive jobs overseas. Not long ago union bosses realized future union growth was going to be easier in the public sector where bankruptcy was unthinkable. Union bosses are now doing to taxpayers supporting municipal and state governments what they used to do to the likes of Eastern Airlines, Bethlehem Steel and hundreds of other union-plagued and bankrupt companies. Unfortunately, state and municipal bankruptcies are now no longer unthinkable, and in some entire nations (Greece, Portugal, Spain) the public union's abilities to extort unrealistic wage and benefit concessions from their federal governments has taken several to the brink of bankruptcy.

This week MSNBC host Ed Schultz was suspended for a week without pay for calling someone he disagreed with (Laura Ingraham) a right-wing "slut." And this weekend The Nation columnist John Nichols characterized the subsequent apology from Schultz as “classy.” This leaves me wondering. Once we dumb down the idea of "classy" is there anything left?

Benjamin Netanyahu

The Nation hit the daily double this week. Columnist Robert Dreyfuss let us know that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu went over the top in reminding us that one million Arabs living inside the borders of Israel have what those causing unrest all over the Middle East are purportedly fighting for……freedom. Pointing out the existence of human rights is over the top? How can we reconcile the Dreyfuss contradiction? Easy. Those fighting for human rights are noble, but those who simply remind us they are providing human rights are...“boorish.” It would seem that The Nation engages in a pitched battle almost every week with The Progressive for the “defying all logic” prize. This week The Nation gets the nod. Kudos to Nichols and Drefuss.

Finally, we come to the carefully crafted messages coming from Senator Tom Udall’s office. Udall posted a video on his website this week explaining why he voted against Paul Ryan’s “Path to Prosperity” budget plan. However, he offered no ideas whatsoever for spending cuts nor did he provide any explanation for why no Democrat in the Senate voted YES for either Ryan’s budget or……..President Obama’s budget which went down by a vote count of 97-0. It is also worth noting that like Udall, not a single Senate Democrat submitted an alternative to President Obama's budget or Ryan's budget.

Tom Udall

Hmmmm. Correct me if I am wrong but that is a lot of “no” votes. Now, some might accuse Udall of being nothing more than a cynical demagogue for pointing fingers at the other side, voting against the president, and not even bothering to attempt a pitiful fakeout regarding his own responsibilities of leadership. However, it is important to realize that while Tom Udall is no leader, he is also no political dummy. He has surveyed the mood landscape in this state and in this country. Seasoned lawyers do have skills and Udall's skills help him exploit both the selfish and the uninformed. He is pretty sure he can look the other way while America borrows $4 billion a day and not get fired. All he has to do is blast those detestable “rich” people and keep voting “no” on any and all budget proposals for the foreseeable future. Good call Tom. Can't wait for your next "no" vote video.

Memorializing the Week

A Nightmare in Las Cruces

Charlie Minn

The nationwide DVD release of "A Nightmare in Las Cruces," the story of an unsolved bowling alley massacre that occurred in Las Cruces, New Mexico in 1990 is coming on Tuesday, May 31st. Filmaker Charlie Minn (Cruces Divided, 8 Murders a Day) will be at the Barnes and Noble at 2:00pm in Cruces to introduce the dvd with some of the victims. The public is invited.

A Nightmare in Las Cruces

Brown: 5 Simple Truths About the Middle East

Michael Brown

Townhall - There is no such thing as a historic “Palestinian people” living in the Middle East. To be sure, there have been Arabs living in the land of Palestine for centuries. (The land of Israel was derisively renamed “Palestine” by the Romans in the second century A.D.). And it is true that some of these families have lived in Palestine without interruption for many generations. But at no time before 1967 did these Arabs identify themselves as “Palestinians,” nor did they seek to achieve any kind of statehood there. As expressed by former terrorist Walid Shoebat, “Why is it that on June 4th 1967 I was a Jordanian and overnight I became a Palestinian?” Read full column here: News New Mexico

Brown: 5 Simple Truths About the Middle East