Free Republic

SANTA FE — A House committee approved a controversial bill Thursday that would allow certain ex-cons who have steered clear of trouble to have their criminal histories essentially erased. Over objections from prosecutors and the Albuquerque business community, members of the House Consumer and Public Affairs Committee endorsed the bill 3-2. Supporters of the measure, House Bill 866, said that people with criminal histories have difficulty landing good jobs and that the possibility of having their records expunged could encourage good behavior. “These people are marked for life, even if they get a conditional discharge,” said Hugh Dangler, New Mexico's...

Republican U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, fresh from a visit to Laredo to meet with officials on the growing drug cartel violence, today sent a letter to President Obama, urging the new president to "come to Texas to visit the border and see the situation firsthand. "The seriousness of this situation warrants your personal attention, and I urge you to make it a top priority. With our ongoing military campaigns overseas, it is easy to overlook the significance of the alarming violence occurring on our southern border. To ensure our national security, the situation in Mexico demands that we dedicate sufficient...

By now you’ve probably heard that the Senate approved an amendment a few days ago to outlaw the “Fairness Doctrine.” Republican Senator Jim DeMint’s amendment passed by a comfortable margin of 87-to-11. Although one would think it’s important to know which senators cast their votes in favor of censorship, we can’t find a single news report that calls out their names. So we’ll do it:

Heeding the advice of Gen. David Petraeus, Barack Obama has committed 17,000 more troops to Afghanistan and will keep 50,000 in Iraq after U.S. combat operations end in August 2010. But are U.S. vital interests more threatened by what happens in Anbar or Helmand than in the war raging along our southern border? Prediction: After all U.S. troops in Iraq, Afghanistan and Korea have come home, there will be a U.S. army on the Mexican border. For this is where the fate of our republic will be decided, as the fate of Europe will be decided by the millions streaming...

Archbishop Michael J. Sheehan. Former Albuquerque Police Chief Bob Stover. Former UNM Athletic Director Rudy Davalos. Senate President Pro-Tem Tim Jennings. They were among the notable New Mexicans who wrote letters on behalf of convicted political powerhouse Manny Aragon, who is to be sentenced in federal court March 17 for his role in a scheme to siphon $4.2 million from the Metropolitan Courthouse construction project. -SNIP- He describes his legislative accomplishments, apologizes to the public, asks that the court not strip all his resources and explains that his actions resulted from his devastation over being ousted as Senate president pro...

ABQ Journal video: Ride the Rail Runner with Dan Mayfield(Works only in my IE Browser, not Firefox version 2)

The House approved non-binding measures Thursday requesting the Department of Transportation to study the feasibility of extending commuter rail from Santa Fe to Taos and from Santa Fe to Las Vegas and Raton. Also endorsed was a non-binding measure for a feasibility study of establishing commuter rail service between El Paso, Texas, and Las Cruces, the second largest city in the state.

Who tried to deep-six New Mexico's public records law? It's a Roundhouse mystery with an intriguing cast, including a powerful veteran Democratic lawmaker, a freshman Republican and a behind-the-scenes state lawyer who isn't returning a reporter's calls. Some clues seem to lead back to Gov. Bill Richardson's Cabinet-level agencies, but the Governor's Office said he wasn't aware of the attempted hit. While questions abound, this much is clear: A sweeping rewrite of the state Inspection of Public Records Act was quietly inserted earlier this week into a bill aimed at beefing up the statute. And that rewrite, which now appears...

As bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of the Rio Grande, the Rev. Jeffrey Steenson came down on the conservative side of many issues. He opposed the election of the first openly gay bishop, and he did not allow the blessing of same-sex unions in his diocese. Steenson said those conflicts made it impossible for him to pursue his ultimate goal of helping the Anglican Communion unite with the Roman Catholic Church. On Saturday, both Catholics and Episcopalians celebrated Steenson's ordination as a Roman Catholic priest. Steenson, a married father of three, said he is the first sitting Episcopal bishop since...

Tiny Columbus, N.M., a haven for baby boomer retirees seeking cheap living, small-town values and solitude, can't quite believe that a bloody brawl has broken out on its doorstep. The day began gently here on the U.S.-Mexico border. The cold, starry sky gave way to the orange smile of a sunrise. Over at the Pancho Villa Cafe, short-order cook Maria Gutierrez whipped up her egg and chopped tortilla special. Down the street, Martha Skinner, still in her housecoat, brewed a pot of coffee for guests at her bed and breakfast. Her husband, the local judge, walked two blocks to his...

Responding to fears of escalating violence in Mexico that could spill over the border into Texas and other states, the U.S. government has stepped up law enforcement. Border Patrol and Drug Enforcement Administration agents were sent to shore up local law enforcement, and to their credit the violence has not spread to those communities and regions. In fact, El Paso — just across the border from Ciudad Juarez, which ranks as one of the most dangerous places in the world — is ranked as one of the safest cities in the United States. Unfortunately, the stepped-up enforcement in border cities...

Investigators have found the remains of three more bodies on the far West Mesa during the past few days -- including one this morning -- bringing the total number of bodies to six, Police Chief Ray Schultz tells ABQJournal.com. Earlier articles on this, Here.. Remains of 3 Found on West Mesa And here.... Police: One Person Likely Buried Bodies

In the story of the emperor with no clothes, it took someone whose observations are rarely heeded -- a child -- to point out the obvious fact that no one else could acknowledge. In the case of drug policy, it takes people who are usually ignored by Washington policymakers -- Latin Americans -- to perform the same invaluable service. Last week, a commission made up of 17 members, from Peruvian novelist Mario Vargas Llosa to Sonia Picado, the Costa Rican who heads the Inter-American Institute on Human Rights, did nothing but admit the truth: The war on drugs is a...

Headline: Grenades that were used in three attacks -- the first two in northern Mexico, the last in Texas -- over the past four months all trace back to the same source, the paramilitary group known as Los Zetas. The attempted bombing in Texas occurred in January in a small town named Pharr, just outside of McAllen and Brownsville, and not all that far from the Mexican border and places like Matamoros and Monterrey. It so happens that another grenade failed to detonate in a January attack in Pharr. Three men, members of two gangs, Tri-City Bombers and the Texas...

SNIPPET: "Authorities say 30-year-old Sheri A. Zulpo of Edgewood, N.M., was booked into the Coconino County jail on charges of terrorism, attempted first-degree murder and endangerment and possible federal charges may also be filed."

Okay I'm getting the heck out of a blue spot and looking at the Hobbs NM / Seminole TX area. I have sort of scoped out real estate and there is a job - so I'm looking to compare the best state in which to reside. I'm looking for other FReepers' input on taxes, utility costs, culture, gun laws, etc in those neighborhoods, anything good or bad I ought to know.

WASHINGTON – The Los Alamos nuclear weapons laboratory in New Mexico is missing 69 computers, including at least a dozen that were stolen last year, a lab spokesman said. No classified information has been lost, spokesman Kevin Roark said. The watchdog group Project on Government Oversight on Wednesday released a memo dated Feb. 3 from the Energy Department's National Nuclear Security Administration that said 67 computers were missing, including 13 that were lost or stolen in past 12 months.

Good day, Fr. Bud Pelletier here. As I sit here and type this post, I still can't believe it, and I'm still shaking a bit. One of my brother priests, one of the finest priests I know, has been named Bishop of Gallup, N.M. this morning. I want to shout it from the rooftops, yet I feel a little sadness too. One of the best priests in our Diocese is leaving, and a personal friend is leaving as well. Let me give you just a little of the background that I know about Bishop Elect Wall (still can't get used...

div class="noticia_imagen_contenedor" style="width: 288px;"> Bishop-elect James S. Wall Phoenix, Feb 5, 2009 / 11:33 am (CNA).- This morning, the Holy Father appointed a Phoenix priest, Fr. James S. Wall as the new bishop of Gallup, New Mexico.  Fr. Wall, 44, will be the diocese’s fourth bishop. Fr. Wall, the current Vicar for Priests for the Diocese of Phoenix, was born in 1964 in Gando, Arizona on the Navajo reservation.  After studying History at Arizona State University, he went on to earn a Master of Divinity degree from St. John Seminary in Camarillo California, Jim Dwyer from the Diocese of Phoenix...

This week brought good news for Virginia gun owners. Yesterday the Virginia Senate passed SB 1035, patroned by Senator Emmett W. Hanger, Jr. (R - Mt. Solon), to repeal the hated restaurant ban. A matching bill, HB 1821 patroned by Delegate Joseph P. Johnson, Jr. (D – Abingdon), is pending action by the House of Delegates. Meanwhile New Mexico's House Business & Industry Committee unanimously recommended a bill to decriminalize gun carry in many or most restaurants serving alcohol, and a similar bill will be also considered by the Tennessee legislature this year. [See previous report.] And today the Virginia...

State lawmakers are trying to put a stop to pensions that corrupt New Mexico politicians who continue to receive, even after felony convictions. Former New Mexico Treasurer Robert Vigil, convicted of attempted extortion, is collecting more than $53,000 a year from Mew Mexico taxpayers while doing time in a federal prison. And one-time legislative heavyweight Manny Aragon, who admitted to ripping off more than $600-thousand dollars worth of taxpayer money, will collect more than $24,000 a year in pension pay, even though he faces up to five and half years in prison.

-SNIP- Attorney Victor Marshall kicked it off when he held a news conference Tuesday to publicly claim that Dave Contarino, one of Gov. Bill Richardson's closest advisers, pressured State Investment Board and Education Retirement Board members to support a total of $90 million in bad investments. Defense lawyers Marty Esquivel and Sam Bregman took to the podium immediately afterward to attack Marshall's statements. A 30-minute shouting match ensued in which Bregman yelled "liar" and "hypocrite" and Esquivel attacked former investment officer Frank Foy's credibility. -SNIP-The State Investment Council and Educational Retirement Board invested the $90 million with the Chicago investment...

Note: The following text is a quote: http://dallas.fbi.gov/dojpressrel/pressrel09/dl020309.htm Man Arrested in New Mexico for Sending Threatening White-Powder Laced Hoax Letters to Banks Across the U.S. DALLAS— At a press conference held today in Dallas, acting U.S. Attorney James T. Jacks of the Northern District of Texas, Robert E. Casey, Jr., Special Agent in Charge of the Dallas FBI, and Randall C. Till, Postal Inspector in Charge of the Fort Worth Division of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, announced that special agents and postal inspectors arrested Richard Leon Goyette, a/k/a Michael Jurek, 47, yesterday at the airport in Albuquerque, New Mexico,...

Actor Val Kilmer says he is strongly considering a run for governor of New Mexico in 2011 when term limits force Democratic Gov. Bill Richardson out after 12 years. Reports that Kilmer is serious about making a bid for his home state’s highest office have been circulating for months. In November, Kilmer told the New York Post, "There's sort of a rumor around that I'm maybe thinking about running to be governor of New Mexico? Well, it's sort of true. It's been my home for 25 years. I really love my state. Poor, hardworking, decent people — Native Americans, carpenters,...

CHAMA, NM - Several meandering V-shaped UFOs near a mountain slope here turned up on a woman's digital photos. Three photos shot with a 21 megapixel camera caught multiple crafts approaching in the first frame, one craft in frame two moving close to the ground while the others take positions in the sky, and then frame three shows all of the crafts moving out of the area.

Two news reports point to the clear and present danger the deteriorating situation in Mexico poses to our nation and our citizens. The first article, "U.S. Plans Border ‘Surge’ Against Any Drug Wars" appears in today's edition of the New York Times, while the second article, "Obama faces Mexican drug war" was published in the Washington Times last week, on January 2nd. In my judgement, the deteriorating situation in Mexico can be traced back to the relative ease with which the drug cartels were able to move people and narcotics into the United States because our nation's "leaders" have been...

Moving away from New Mexico in early 2007 was neither easy nor fun. The state calls itself “Land of Enchantment,” an apt description in many ways. The lovely city of Santa Fe had been my family’s home for about 130 years. I am among the third of four Dendahl generations born in Santa Fe and had spent most of my 68 years there. However, perhaps hearkening to the echo of Ayn Rand’s fictional hero John Galt in Atlas Shrugged, my wife and I decided to leave. New Mexico has long carried a rap for political malodor on account of corruption...

Gov. Bill Richardson and his entourage lived like VIPs in Boston back in 2004, when Democrats gathered for their national convention. High-end hotels. A big tab for an event at a pub on Canal Street. An even bigger bill with Lifestyle Transportation, which bills itself as "Boston's premier limousine service." The governor, who chaired the convention, has said his expenses were paid by the convention and the Democratic Governors Association. For others in his group, it was large living financed in part by a political committee whose biggest contributor is at the center of a federal investigation that derailed Richardson's...

Governor Bill Richardson says it's all a matter of timing -- that if only the feds had wrapped up a corruption investigation into his New Mexico Administration by now, he'd be cleared and would be winging his way to Washington confident of Senate confirmation as the next Commerce Secretary. Instead, he withdrew his nomination earlier this week. And maybe he's right about timing. But we'd dial the clock back not to August, as the national media have in clucking that Barack Obama has a sloppy vetting process. Rather, go back to December 7, 2006. That's the day the Bush Justice...

This is Peter Lynch, his e-mail begins. The guy who tore down the Mexican flag. That is his identity now, still, more than a year since he tore down — and tearing up — both the fabric of another country and the fabric of his life. It is not the identity he wanted. He never imagined himself the poster boy of both patriotic zeal and xenophobic bile, never imagined his single act would crystallize in him both what he loves about his country and what he hates. You remember this guy. On Sept. 17, 2007, Lynch was fresh from eight...

January 08, 2009 Inconvenient Astronaut: NASA Moonwalker Joins Skeptics Despite Gore's Claim Skeptics Believe Moon Landing was 'Staged' Gore’s frequent comparison of global warming skeptics to people who "believe the moon landing was actually staged in a movie lot in Arizona" was delivered a major blow when Moonwalker and Award-Winning NASA Astronaut/Geologist Jack Schmitt who flew on the Apollo 17 mission declared he was a skeptic. “The ‘global warming scare’ is being used as a political tool to increase government control over American lives, incomes and decision making. It has no place in the Society's activities,” Schmitt said. See: Astronaut...

Los Angeles financier David Rubin - the man who cost Bill Richardson a position in the Obama Cabinet - is apparently linked to Pennsylvania Governor “Fast Eddie” Rendell. Rubin is not exactly just “a guy from the neighborhood,” either. He gave lots of money to Rendell’s campaign, and was later appointed to the governor’s transition team. Isn’t that interesting? HARRISBURG, Pa. - January 6, 2009 — A campaign donor who is the target of an federal investigation that forced New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson to withdraw from consideration for U.S. Commerce secretary also gave generously to Gov. Ed Rendell’s campaigns....

Hey Freepers on Las Cruces/El Paso area: I'm on PCS orders from CA back to AR and stopping in your area for the night. My honey and I would like some suggestions on some local good eats! NO CHAIN RESTAURANTS!We would like either a good steakhouse or the best Mexican food restaurant. Thank you so much!

OBAMA-BUST: Bill Richardson will withdraw as Commerce secretary... Developing...

Removing All Doubt Obama Would Cede Southwest to Mexico American Patrol Report -- December 19 "We are all Americans, whether you are legalized or not" Anyone who still doubts that Barack Obama is determined to grant de-facto amnesty to millions of illegal aliens should explain to the rest of us why he picked Hilda Solis to be Secretary of Labor. A long-time supporter of la Reconquista, the Mexican takeover of the American Southwest, Solis is also a leader in the movement to silence Americans who speaks out against the invasion, specifically Lou Dobbs, Glenn Beck and Bill O'Reilly. At a...

Elwood Cardon was hanging upside down. He was pinned against the steering wheel of his SUV, which had plunged off a snow-covered mountain road. His spine was cracked, his limbs were freezing and there was no one in sight. The 82-year-old retired architect prayed to God to take his life. But Baby wouldn't let that happen. Cardon's 5-year-old Great Dane curled up next to him to keep him warm, licked him, snuggled with him and made several trips back and forth looking for help. After the sun set 10 hours later, Baby was able to get the attention of a...

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – A federal grand jury is investigating how a California firm that contributed to the political activities of New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, the nominee to head the Commerce Department, won a lucrative government contract. A person familiar with the proceedings told The Associated Press on Tuesday that the panel is looking into possible "pay-to-play" dealings between CDR Financial Products and someone in a position to push the contract through with the state of New Mexico. The person asked not to be named because the proceedings are secret.

Hanging upside down from her seat belt, Nina Chiotasso knew she had to act quickly. Her dog, Lill, had flown through the windshield after the van Chiotasso was driving hit a patch of ice on U.S. 285/84 [outside Santa Fe] Saturday morning. The van rolled, landing upside down on the guardrail ... of the busy road. In the back, were 36 puppies, fate unknown. Chiotasso unlatched herself ... and crawled through the busted windshield, desperately hoping to stop Lill from wandering into traffic. That's when the first of many miracles happened. The first person to come upon the accident was...

ALBUQUERQUE (KRQE) - Mid-school students shoving toward a skydiver who landed at their school trampled nearly two dozen classmates sending three to the hospital Thursday afternoon. What was supposed to be a fun experiment at LBJ Middle School suddenly became frightening. The students were outside waiting for a skydiver to jump out of a plane and lined up around the field. Minutes after the skydiver landed safely, the kids surrounded him and a News 13 photojournalist. Youthful enthusiasm quickly turned to pushing and shoving. Students fell and were trampled by their peers. Security and school staff step in to try...

Family, politicos and a well-lived lifetime's worth of friends and admirers will gather in Moriarty on Thursday to say their final goodbyes to Alice King, the popular and highly respected wife of former three-term Gov. Bruce King. State Attorney General Gary King, one of the Kings' two sons, said during a news conference Monday that a public funeral service for his mother has been set for 9 a.m. Thursday inside the Moriarty High School gymnasium, which is expected to be filled to capacity with all of the about 2,500 seats taken. The burial for Alice King, who was 78, will...

Speaking at Albuquerque Interfaith's 15th anniversary celebration, Lt. Gov Denish said government will need advocacy groups like Interfaith to help retool an ailing state and national economy. "For so long, we thought business made the sole determination about who gets the jobs, but what you and I know is that the community helps to make those decisions, by working together and by organizing," she told about 150 people at Our Lady of the Most Holy Rosary. --snip— "We now know that government can't do this alone," she said, adding that strong advocacy communities are needed "to tell the story of...

LAS CRUCES, N.M. -- A New Mexico infant is dead and another is getting treatment at a hospital for a rare illness called enterobacter sakazakii. The New Mexico Department of Health said the illness is sometimes associated with baby formula. A baby boy in Otero County has died from the bloodstream and central nervous system infection. Now the state is advising safe ways to feed infants, including breastfeeding. “We're doing lab tests right now we're working with the Centers for Disease Control, and the Food and Drug Administration to look at every possible avenue. Right now it hasn't been linked...

"Barack Obama is the best candidate for the Hispanic community because our community wants a united country. Obama is an immigrant. When he speaks to Latinos, he doesn't just speak about immigration and civil rights..."

New Mexico finishes at the bottom of the heap in PC Magazine's survey of Internet surf speed. Nevada, Virginia and Pennsylvania are home to the nation's fastest Internet Service Providers (ISPs) and New Mexico, with a Surf Speed of 322 Kbps (kilobits per second), is dead last, according to a new survey just posted on PCMag.com.

The name alone would make a stomach-growling man wish to get up and go there: PieTown. And then too, there are the old photographs—those moving gelatin-silver prints, and the equally beautiful ones made in Kodachrome color, six and a half decades ago, at the heel of the Depression, on the eve of a global war, by a gifted, itinerant, government, documentary photographer working on behalf of FDR’s New Deal. His name was Russell Lee. His Pie Town images—and there are something like 600 of them preserved in the archives of the Library of Congress—portrayed this little clot of high-mountain-desert New...

-SNIP-Obama today announced that former UNM President Louis Caldera will serve as Director of the White House Military Office. In his new post, Caldera will coordinate all military support for Presidential operations. -SNIP- Also, according to the news release, Caldera has had a "30-year career as a soldier, lawyer, legislator, high ranking government official, university president and professor of law." Caldera, a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, is a former member of the California Assembly and a graduate of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. He earned his law and business degrees at Harvard University in 1987,...

My left-wing radical friend insists we stole all this land from Mexico . Any history buffs out there in Freeperland who can supply some ammo for me ?

WASHINGTON — He doesn't claim to be cured, but Sen. Pete Domenici said Tuesday that a prominent doctor has raised doubts he suffers from the degenerative brain disease that prompted his decision to retire from the Senate after 36 years in office. Cured or not, Domenici said he's feeling better than he has in months and is optimistic about his future based on recent medical diagnoses. A devout Catholic, Domenici didn't discount the power of prayer in connection with his improved condition. Domenici said he doesn't know why his condition hasn't worsened, but said he suspects God has played a...

-SNIP- Everything that happened in Chicago and Washington last week makes it look like Richardson's chances of getting the job he's been auditioning for his whole career are as dead as those turkeys in the Sarah Palin video. It looks like President-elect Barack Obama is going with Hillary Clinton for the prestigious post of secretary of state, if she wants it. It's a good pick, but a blow to the guy who played footsie with throwing his support to her, then ditched her, then campaigned his tail off for Obama wearing that big, black beard. It's a good pick, but...

New Mexico's Economic Development Department has signed a memorandum of understanding with the city government of Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, to coordinate business-building efforts along the border. Each agency has agreed to share information about industry sectors that hold the greatest promise of joint success for each side, such as trade leads and joint venture opportunities. Another part of the agreement calls for each side to include the other, when appropriate, in cross-border site visits when the region is under consideration by potential maquiladora supplier leads.