New Mexico Mercury

Provincial Matters, 2-3-2014

V.B. Price's weekly collection of appreciations and observations.

Trickle-down PR in the Journal

You have to give it the corporate elite in this country for their crafty effectiveness in convincing a large percentage of the working poor and the debt-ridden middle class to parrot economic talking points that work in direct opposition to their best interest.  A marketing coup made possible with the support of much of the mainstream media establishment at the national and local level.

Winthrop Quigley gives us the latest supporting example this week in an Albuquerque Journal column, “Minimum wage hike won’t fix income inequality”...

Answering response to ‘Reforms in Mexico’

On January 24, I submitted an article entitled “Reforms in Mexico” and writer Margaret Randall filed a very articulate response, finding my ideas “extremely troubling.” She raised three issues to which I would like to respond.

1. My characterization of two-time presidential candidate Andrés Manuel López Obrador as “loony” when, in fact, she believes that he is a “genuine revolutionary reformer” and “widely believed to have won the election in his first bid for the presidency.” I agree with part of her criticism. Using the word “loony” was wrong because he’s a very intelligent individual. The word “hypocritical” would have been more accurate...

Friday Voyage: El Salvador

In a country battered by decades of violence and instability, a New Mexican organization is supporting community resilience through economic and environmental sustainability.

Insight New Mexico - Lawrence Rael

V.B. Price speaks with life-long public servant and gubernatorial candidate Lawrence Rael about the Martinez administration's handling of the behavioral health audit, education reform in New Mexico, the Kirtland Airforce Base diesel fuel spill and more.

Provincial Matters, 1-27-2014

V.B. Price's weekly collection of appreciations and observations.

Omaree Varela article source responds

George Ortega (pseudonym)—the source at the state Children, Youth and Families Department for my article, “Why did Omaree Vaela die?"—responded to the article with following letter:

Wally, Thank you for writing “Why did Omaree Varela die?” Hopefully it will spur some action. I want to clarify a few points you made...

Reforms in Mexico

Congratulations to Mexico’s President, Enrique Peña Nieto. When I was in Mexico City interviewing voters prior to the 2012 elections which he won, he was generally viewed as a dandy from a discredited party but the lesser of the three evils – the loony Andrés  Manuel López Obrador (AMLO )and Josefina Vázquez Mota from the party of former President Felipe Calderón whose “drug war” had cost so many thousands of innocent lives. Josefina, as the voters called her, seemed the best candidate but because of Calderón’s record, she didn’t have a chance. So Peña Nieto won but expectations were low...

Insight New Mexico - Richard Barish

V.B. Price talks with Richard Barish, the Bosque Issues chair for the Sierra Club Rio Grande Chapter, about how Albuquerque Mayor Richard Berry's Rio Grande Vision plan will effect the Bosque. 

Susana’s Other Grading System

Good morning Case 3520. We are here to discuss your uh differently abled son.

Can you stand a pleasant little surprise this morning? Good, because the Administration wishes to discuss some wonderful news with you, Case 3520, news that will doubtless change your life forever! I can see the excitement behind the tears in your narrow, beady eyes. Good...