New Mexico Mercury

When U.S. Grant turned on Lew Wallace

Lew Wallace made the most ambitious effort of any New Mexico governor to reform our state’s errant political ways but famously conceded, “Every calculation based on experience elsewhere fails in New Mexico.”

Wallace was not just a territorial governor from 1848 to 1851. He was also one of the most celebrated novelists of his time due to the success of his historical epic, Ben-Hur. Before he was a governor or a novelist, however, he was a major general in the Union Army during the Civil War, where he became an arch-foe of his boss, Gen. Ulysses S. Grant...

Distractions from Syria

El Machete

Cereal, or Syria, or Whatever

I think we should just get in there to Swaziland as quick as possible before the UN can say diddle squat to tell Adam, or Sadam, or Asad, or Borat, or what’shisface  to stop raising our gas prices and murdering his own people with postulations. We have lock-sure evidence he was the one who released sarin on all those folks who all look the same.

This is nothing like Iraq. This is nothing like Afghanistan. This is nothing like Viet Nam or New Jersey, for that matter...

The Sadness of Trayvon Martin

Sadness!  Why is it that so many have lost their hearts and ability to think clearly in an America that grows more totalitarian and militaristic every day? Why do we confuse the victim and the executioner?  George Zimmerman was acting in a militaristic manner and hunting with his gun.  Travyon Martin was minding his own business and eating Skittles.  Apparently being young, being black and wearing a hoodie  makes one threatening and/or guilty-a target for all the George Zimmermans of America...

Insight New Mexico - Linda Lopez

V.B. Price talks with state senator and gubernatorial candidate Linda Lopez about the direction our state has taken under the Martinez administration.

The New Mexico State Fair for the 21st Century

It’s time to open the New Mexico State Fair 2013. The rides on the Midway will turn you upside down. Now let’s turn the Fair inside out and make it great fun next year - all year long!

The future success of the State Fair in Albuquerque depends on the Fair becoming more a part of Albuquerque, not more of a secure, gated entertainment compound behind its blank walls and parking lots. As a public venue, Expo New Mexico has a greater duty to the community than say, Disneyland. At the same time, Expo has a duty to deliver a first class entertainment experience to the citizens of New Mexico and the residents of Albuquerque beyond the slot machines of the Downs at Albuquerque...

¡Ah, Chihuahua!

The changing character of the vast Mexican state that's our neighbor.

Countdown to health care reform

The Affordable Care Act (ACA) is barely one month away from its first major milestone on October 1, 2013 when Health Insurance Exchanges (HIX) will be operational.  The HIX is the marketplace for individual and small businesses to purchase affordable health insurance. As this deadline approaches, a flurry of anxiety and confusion will inevitably surface. Change is never easy even when it’s simple – and changes in health care are never simple...

What’s Happened to Albuquerque? Part 8: The Apolitical City

Water scarcity is nowhere to be found in a mayoral race seemingly void of real issues.

One Million Bones on ¡Colores! particularly timely

My most striking memories of being on the National Mall for the One Million Bones installation are of the conversations I overheard. Families of four would stop and look. One of the younger family members would ask, “What’s that?” One of the older family members would pause for approximately a moment of silence. Then, I’d listen as the adult gracelessly tries to choreograph an explanation as to why there is a mass grave in front of the United States Capitol without stepping on the word “genocide"...