New Mexico Mercury

Provincial Matters, 8-26-2013

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

Why aren’t more people in ABQ concerned about the Kirtland jet fuel spill?

During the past few months, a sense of dismay and outrage about the situation has been growing in me. In March, V.B. Price wrote a NM Mercury article entitled “Kirtland Spill: Get Serious,” which was commendable for its honesty in raising red flags. I began to pay more attention to this issue. Over the summer, I read with growing alarm various Albuquerque Journal articles by John Fleck. Fleck reported that the current effort to clean up the spill, the soil vapor extraction system, was malfunctioning repeatedly and even when running was only able to extract about half of the contaminants originally projected...

Ligature Church loves you

Unless you are a member of Ligature Church and you are totally approved by Head Pastor Steve Smotherperson, don’t even think of running for Bernalillo County Sheriff because Jesus will bust you until the world looks level.

You see, God controls the law in Bernalillo County, so you had just better mind your Ps and Qs. As a matter of fact don’t even think of being a voter in Bernalillo County without belonging to Ligature Church. Remember last year, when Jesus personally handed out diplomas to all the new BC deputy cadets right here in good ol’ Ligature Church?...

Uncle Sam’s Psychic Reading

El Machete

ALEC Is in New Mexico, but only marginally in the Albuquerque Journal

Because the Albuquerque Journal has the resources – a team of investigative reporters and excellent politics and government reporters – I have been waiting for the state’s leading daily to produce a story explaining how many, if any, of New Mexico’s legislators are under the influence of the American Legislative Exchange Committee (ALEC).

ALEC trains state legislators and gives them boilerplate legislation to introduce in their states, furthering the national agenda of ALEC’s corporate backers. Read this story in The Nation to learn about its connection to the Koch brothers. Last week, four legislators were “outed” as supporters of this “bill mill”, but not by the Albuquerque Journal...

Action breeds inspiration

My friend, Kris Olson, is a fifth grade teacher at Monte Vista Elementary.  Last week we were visiting over a cup of coffee and just catching up on one another’s summer adventures and about the upcoming school year. In the midst of this, Kris shared with me that she had attended the candle-light vigil at Bataan park for Travon Martin and how deeply that experience had touched her.

A few days ago, in preparation for school, Kris told me about going to Chama to clear her head and have some time to reflect before going into the classroom with her new fifth-graders.  While standing on the platform with many others awaiting the Cumbres and Toltec train, Kris said she noticed two gentlemen that walked up with these cowboy style hats on...

Resisting Corporate Citizenship in the Age of ALEC

How do legislators and a concerned public counter ALEC's 40-year head start? A couple of organizations are utilizing the right-wing corporate behemoth's own playbook and harnessing a collective infrastructure already in place.

New Mexico’s dwindling Lottery Scholarship Trust Fund a symptom of state’s poor financial aid policy

Classes begin this week at the University of New Mexico and other state colleges and universities. The tuition for some students will be covered by the New Mexico Legislative Lottery Scholarship. Each level of education these students attain will mean higher incomes and lower levels of unemployment.

The lottery scholarship has made it possible for tens of thousands of New Mexico youth to attend college, but the trust fund that supports the scholarship is fast running out of money.  Unless the Legislature finds more money for the trust fund, limits the number of students who can receive the scholarship, or lowers the amount of the award, the fund will be nearly depleted by the end of fiscal year 2014...

Jerrymander

It’s no secret that Albuquerque retiree Jerrymander Ginsburg wants to buy the North Valley because he absolutely detests going in circles and he absolutely hates Isaac Benton who is running for city council in the Valley.

It seems Ike who was on the council before he was re-districted out of his elected position has been doing some terrible and evil things that renegade Democrat Jerrymander wants everbody to know about. This is why Jerrymander has given $40 grand to help some mysterious shadow group from outer space that has blanketed the North Valley with incredibly beautiful mailers...

New Mexico-Chihuahua Border Brouhaha

In the aftermath of a media blitz staged by the state governments of New Mexico and Chihuahua to jointly promote the development of the emerging Jeronimo-Santa Teresa borderplex, a sharp polemic over the project has rekindled in Ciudad Juarez.