New Mexico Mercury

Why do people smile?

Do people smile because they are happy or because they are too dumb to know they should be frowning? That, it seems to me, is the basic issue posed by the article on Denver by James Burbank. Maybe I am just a happy fool, but I opt for the former.

I have always liked Denver, and I still do. I have visited the city often since the 1960s when my brother was doing his training there in psychology. I edited a newspaper there, got married there and lived in a charismatic little tree house above a museum...

Nearly four-in-five of state voters believe there is corruption in NM politics

Common Cause New Mexico just released a December 2013 poll by Research and Polling, Inc. on money in politics in New Mexico. The numbers are overwhelming, and show that New Mexico voters believe corruption in politics is alive and well in our state.

Those who frequent the New Mexico Capitol know the old saying that gets tossed around quite a bit – “perception is reality at the Roundhouse,” and this poll shows that perception is also competing with reality across New Mexico...

Weekly Poem: Sea In My Palm

Sitting on the train,
clickidy-clack, clickidy-clack, clickidy-clack,
hour after hour, after hour,
towns slip further and further away
as the ocean rises to greet us.

I watch the waves grasp the coastline,
spew white fingers of foam over tops of stone,
and I am pulled from my green coach chair...

Reviewing NAFTA and the Environment

As possible, new trade agreements stir debate on the world stage, a North American citizen advisory panel is urging that a new emphasis be placed on the ecological costs of increased trade and money flows.

In a statement issued shortly before Christmas, the Joint Public Advisory Committee (JPAC), a trinational group consisting of representatives from the three member nations of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), called on the leaders of Canada, the United States and Mexico to demonstrate a “revival of political will” and undertake a “new mission” with enhanced public involvement in trade and environmental matters...

Dimver—Report from Blandolandia

“Dimver,” that’s all how all seven surviving long-term residents of Colorado pronounce the capital city’s name.  I was born in Dimver. I grew up in Dimver.  All those Dimver years remain a blur to me. When I am in Dimver, even now, I never know who I am, or where I am, for that matter. What’s more, I don’t care. I have that Dimver attitude.

In an odd sense the identity problems that plagued the good old Dimver Days when I was a total amnesiac kid still haunt the Queen City of the Plains.  Dimver wants to be somewhere rather than stuck out on what used to be plains and grasslands before it was a contiguous Wal-Mart and IKEA complex...

Water Quality Control Commission Votes for Politics and Against Water Quality Protection

Last Wednesday, the New Mexico Water Quality Control Commission (WQCC) - a state decision-making entity responsible for protecting New Mexico's water – unanimously voted down (10-0) a Motion to Stay the Copper Rule. In September 2013, the WQCC adopted the Copper Rule, which would allow contamination of groundwater beneath copper mine sites in New Mexico. The stay would have prevented the new Rule from being used by the New Mexico Environment Department (NMED) in copper mine permitting decisions while the Copper Rule is under appeal in the NM Court of Appeals...

El Machete - Climate Change

Climate Change

Education Reform About Corporate Profit and Campaigns - Not Kids

These feel-good phrases sound great to the general public: "We need to raise education standards in New Mexico." "Our kids deserve better." "Kids First."

No one in our state, which has ranked persistently in the bottom of the nation in child poverty and graduation rates, would argue. But dig deep into the world where concerned parents, students and teachers are operating, and Gov. Susana Martinez’s reforms are not about kids. Her reforms -- spearheaded by Hanna Skandera, a non-teacher and a non-parent -- are really about corporate money and re-election campaign slogans...

APD Shooting Stats Reaffirm Grim Situation

In a recent column on this site, Jewel L. Hall of the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Multicultural Center called for greater action by citizens, elected officials, and the Albuquerque Police Department themselves to address the all-too-common occurrence of officers shooting suspects who are quite frequently unarmed.  I agree that more should be done, but I do think that Mrs. Hall is dramatically understating how truly atrocious the situation has become.

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Hanna Skandera’s Reforms Cause More Than ‘Discomfort’

Education Secretary-Designate Hanna Skandera recently wrote an editorial to the Albuquerque Journal stating more untruths, vague ideas, and plenty of blame against those who are questioning her initiatives.  She suggests that there will be some “discomfort” during her period of reforms.  I suggest that discomfort isn’t the problem; what we’re fighting against is the actual damage being done...