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The 8th Fighter Squadron received their first of 20 F-22 Raptors on the afternoon of December 21. The arrival of 8th FS flagship, a Langley AFB Raptor -- which came from maintenance in Palmdale, Calif. -- starts the next chapter of the "Black Sheep's" storied history that started in 1941 when the squadron was assigned to the 49th Pursuit Group, where during World War II, their pilots amassed 207 aerial victories. "Air dominance," said Lt. Col. Craig "Bluto" Baker, 8th FS commander, relating how the F-22 fits into Holloman's history. "The F-22 builds on what previous generations of air superiority...

— Trumpets recent victory to be grateful for this Christmas “Score one for the Gun Owners of America ….” Slate, December 20, 2009 Wednesday, December 23, 2009 You guys have a lot to be thankful for this Christmas. Our efforts together in lobbying against ObamaCare have netted some positive gains, and that has the political left up in arms. The writers at the ultra-liberal Slate magazine are beside themselves that an organization like the Gun Owners of America was able to move the Senate to include protections for gun owners. According to Slate on December 20: Score one for the...

12/21/2009 - CANNON AIR FORCE BASE, N.M. (AFNS) -- Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus, but at the 27th Special Operations Wing here he is not the jolly fat man dressed in red. All one shopper at the base exchange knows is that someone who retired from the military made her family holidays a lot brighter. Charlotte Riojas said she was patiently waiting at the BX checkout line with a cartful of presents for her children. Their move from Hurlburt Field in Florida had, like virtually everybody else who makes a permanent change of station, been stressful. She, her...

BUTTE — Former U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and his wife have purchased a 940-acre ranch on the Big Hole River in Montana’s Madison County, his spokesman confirmed Thursday. “Mrs. (Joyce) Rumsfeld was born in Montana, she has relatives in the state and the Rumsfelds have always thought very well of the state,” spokesman Keith Urbahn told The Montana Standard Thursday. “They plan to spend some time out there to enjoy it.” The property south of Twin Bridges includes hayfields, wetlands and river frontage. Urbahn said the Rumsfelds have no plans to develop the property. “He enjoys outdoor sports, and...

Former New Mexico Republican Gov. Gary Johnson is a teetotaling triathlete who looks the part of the laid-back Mountain West politician. But don’t let the jeans and black mock turtleneck he's sporting on his new website fool you: Johnson is starting to sound like a mad-as-hell populist with an eye cast on 2012 and the building fury aimed at Washington. “I’m finding myself really angry over spending and the deficit,” he said in an interview with POLITICO this week. “I’m finding myself really angry over what’s happening in the Middle East, the decision to stay in Afghanistan indefinitely. I’m angry...

It's birthday time for the Rail Runner Express commuter rail service — today marks the first anniversary of the train's service between Albuquerque and Santa Fe. Officials say that since the Santa Fe service started, the train has carried 1,372,000 passengers, a daily average of about 4,400. But fares still don't account for much of the Rail Runner's operating budget. Rail Runner spokeswoman Augusta Meyers said out of last fiscal year's $21 million operating budget for the train, about $1.9 million came from ticket sales. Most of the money, about $17 million, was from the federal government's Congestion Mitigation and...

Thursday December 17, 2009 Appeal to be Filed in Case of Photographer Fined for "Discrimination" ALBUQUERQUE, N.M., December 17, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Attorneys with the Alliance Defense Fund (ADF) will appeal a New Mexico judge's decision to uphold a ruling by the New Mexico Civil Rights Commission against an Albuquerque photography company. The commission ruled that the company, run by a young Christian husband and wife, was guilty of "sexual orientation" discrimination under state antidiscrimination laws for declining to photograph a same-sex "commitment ceremony."   "Christians in the marketplace should not be subject to predatory legal attacks for simply...

The case is Elane Photography, LLC v. Willock, and I blogged about it here, when it was being considered by the New Mexico Human Rights Commission. The decision was handed down last Friday, but the opinion wasn’t distributed until yesterday. I hope to blog more about it today, but here’s my analysis from last year: Elaine Huguenin co-owns Elane Photography with her husband. The bulk of Elane’s work is done by Elaine, though she subcontracts some of the work some of the time. Elane refused to photograph Vanessa Willock’s same-sex commitment ceremonies, and just today the New Mexico Human Rights...

FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. — Navajo President Joe Shirley Jr. is back on the job. A Window Rock judge issued a permanent injunction late Monday against a Tribal Council resolution that placed Shirley on leave, saying lawmakers acted outside of their authority in passing it, according to attorneys in the case. A council spokesman said an appeal is likely. The ruling came on the eve of an election in which Navajos will vote on reducing the number of tribal lawmakers from 88 to 24 and giving the president line-item veto authority. Lawmakers voted 48-22 in late October to place Shirley on administrative...

TYNDALL AIR FORCE BASE, Fla., Dec. 9, 2009 – Air Force Col. Michael Stapleton has come a long way since being diagnosed with cancer in 2006 while serving as 43rd Fighter Squadron commander here. Air Force Col. Michael Stapleton, diagnosed with cancer in 2006, is back flying in F-22 Raptors and T-38 Talons at Holloman Air Force Base, N.M. U.S. Air Force photo  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. Now the 49th Fighter Wing Operations Group commander at Holloman Air Force Base, N.M., Stapleton recalled that he didn’t realize at first that his illness was serious. "I had what appeared...

Millions of undocumented people in the U.S. should be given a path to legal status after the country finds a way to stop illegal immigration, business and government leaders said in a report Wednesday. The University of Denver report argues that legalizing as many of the estimated 12 million undocumented immigrants as possible could strengthen the economy and national security. But it should come with conditions, such as requiring new immigrants to learn English, pass criminal and medical background checks, and pay any taxes that they owe, the document states. The report is the product of a year of discussions...

El Paso, Texas - A Mexican Army Humvee with a machine gun and several soldiers on foot entered into the U.S. through the Columbus Port of Entry early Saturday morning. The incident happened at about 2:35 a.m. Saturday when the Mexican soldiers were chasing three U.S. citizens, according to Customs and Border Patrol spokesperson Roger Maier. The group of soldiers was confronted by CBP inspectors and the soldiers quickly turned around on orders from one of their officers. A few minutes later, a Mexican Army commander arrived and apologized to the U.S. inspectors, claiming the soldiers had been pursuing a...

Cap and trade legislation may be one of the biggest issues facing the oil and gas industry according to Dr. Daniel Fine, Associate of Policy, Strategy and Development at New Mexico Tech. He also serves on the New Mexico Center for Energy Policy which is hosting the presentation by former Shell Oil executive, John Hofmeister tonight. “What is the purpose to cap and trade?” asks Fine. “Is the purpose to raise revenue? Is the purpose to lower CO2? Or both?” The bill (Waxman-Markey) coming out of the U.S. House of Representatives claims both purposes without a clear policy declaration.

ROSWELL, N.M. (KRQE-KBIM) - Former Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin brought her book tour to Roswell Tuesday drawing more than 1,000 people who waited hours--and in one case days--to catch a glimpse or an autographed copy of "Going Rogue." The line was long, but the wait at the front for some was even longer. "I have been here since about five o'clock Sunday afternoon," Shelly Barreras said. Barreras, who read “Going Rogue” in only eight hours, has been living out of her camper for two days just for the chance to be the first person to meet Palin at...

ROSWELL, N.M. (AP) - Shelly Barreras of Rio Rancho drove more than 200 miles, arrived in Roswell two nights ago and slept in a camper in a bookstore parking lot to meet former Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin. Barreras' effort paid off -- she was first in line to meet Palin, who brought her "Going Rogue" book tour to Roswell on Tuesday. The former Alaska governor signed copies of her new book for three hours at Hastings Books, Music & Videos.

Having to carry a passport to fly out of the Sunport after the New Year is still weighing heavily on the minds of many New Mexicans. Because New Mexico issues driver's licenses to illegal immigrants, come Jan. 1, state licenses won't comply with the REAL ID law and won't be accepted at airports.

Is Congress, behindhand on Barack Obama's deadlines on health care and cap-and-trade legislation, and flummoxed by the failure of the stimulus package to hold unemployment below 10.2 percent, prepared to address the immigration issue next year? Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano says it better be. The current situation, she told the Center for American Progress on Nov. 13, "is simply unacceptable." We need a "three-legged stool," with provisions to strengthen enforcement, legalize some illegal immigrants and improve "legal flows for families and workers." Ironically, the push for legalization in 2006-07 resulted instead in stronger enforcement measures. Some 600 miles of...

<p>Contact your Senators and let them know what you think!</p> <p>U.S. veterans or subsidies for United Nations (U.N.) bureaucracy.</p>

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and environmentalists reached an agreement Friday that scraps a rule the agency had used to kill or permanently remove any wolf that killed three heads of livestock in a year. Fish and Wildlife spokesman Tom Buckley said the three-strikes rule "will no longer stand." Ranchers said the policy targeted wolves that grow accustomed to preying on cattle. Several environmental groups sued in May 2008, asking a U.S. District Court in Arizona to stop the removal policy on the Mexican gray wolf, a subspecies of the gray wolf. Buckley said agency officials hope a judge...

The day before he shot and killed a Las Vegas, N.M., man in an apparent road rage incident, an active duty soldier on leave from Iraq posted on his MySpace page that he was going to break in a new gun and was planning to "finish off" a stash of ammunition. Richard Baca, a National Guard specialist from Los Lunas sounded giddy in his online posts in the days leading up to the Monday shooting death of Benito Lemos in a Las Vegas intersection. "What to do today?" Baca wrote Sunday on his profile page on the social networking site...

A radical Muslim cleric alleged to have inspired the Fort Hood gunman has been praised in the past as “a preacher of peace” by a prominent SNP candidate with close links to Alex Salmond. The FBI is investigating communications between Major Nidal Hasan, who killed 13 people at the US Army base in Texas, and Imam Anwar al-Awlaki, a US-born Muslim cleric now based in Yemen. Mr Awlaki has a large following in Britain and counts prominent mainstream Muslims among his supporters. In 2006 Osama Saeed, who has been selected as the SNP candidate for Glasgow Central for the next...

Note: The following text is a quote: Ware Man Charged with Illegal Possession of Ammunition and Manufacturing Explosive Materials SPRINGFIELD, MA—A Ware man was charged today in federal court with Possession of Ammunition by a Convicted Felon and Manufacturing Explosive Materials without a License. United States Attorney Carmen M. Ortiz; Glenn N. Anderson, Special Agent in Charge of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, Boston Field Division; Warren T. Bamford, Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Boston Field Division; Leigh-Alistair Barzey, Resident Agent in Charge of the Office of Inspector General, Department of Defense’s...

Western Refining is shuttering its Bloomfield refinery and consolidating the operations of its two northwestern New Mexico plants at its Gallup refinery in a move the company says will save $25 million per year.

While roaming the grounds of the US Capitol yesterday, Kristinn Taylor obtained a list of possible democrat defectors of the now infamous “Healthcare” bill. Kristinn was asked to post this list of wobbly democrats on FreeRepublic in an effort to mobilize our forces and overwhelm these members with phone calls and e-mails asking them to vote NO on the socialization of our healthcare. We also learned that Nancy Pelosi had just scheduled the vote for tomorrow; Saturday, November 7, 2009 at 6:00 PM. For all those who were unable to answer the call to surround the Capitol yesterday, here is...

The slaying of a 64-year-old Catholic nun in her convent over the weekend has stunned and saddened a small Navajo Nation community about 30 miles northwest of Gallup. The FBI is looking for suspects in the death of Sister Marguerite Bartz, a 10-year resident of the community of Navajo, who was killed on church property at St. Berard Mission Church. The FBI would not release details about the manner of death or other aspects of the investigation. They confirmed they are looking for a suspect or suspects who may be armed and dangerous, as well as the vehicle Bartz had...

New Mexicans should brace for tax increases in 2010, Gov. Bill Richardson warned Monday. "It's inevitable," Richardson told a news conference in the state Capitol. "It's very painful." Richardson ruled out tax hikes during a recent special legislative session called to deal with a projected $650 million state deficit for this year. His remarks Monday represented his strongest words to date on the likelihood of increasing taxes during the regular session that begins in January. Reaction to Richardson's remarks were mixed. Sen. Dede Feldman, D-Albuquerque, agreed with Richardson and said tax loopholes should be closely scrutinized. "We should remember that...

Controversial Maricopa County sheriff Joe Arpaio and former New Mexico U.S. Attorney David Iglesias are involved in a controversy related to an FBI investigation, Talking Points Memo highlights. Arpaio, known as “America’s toughest sheriff” is currently under investigation by the FBI for targeting his political foes in apparent retaliation, according to KHPO, a Phoenix area TV station. Iglesias told KPHO, that he would “seek an indictment” against Arpaio if he were the U.S. Attorney in Arpaio’s area. Then things get even stranger, with Arpaio’s office releasing a statement attacking Iglesias’ reputation. The statement reads in part: *** Rather than dignify...

Gary Johnson Gearing up for 2012? The pro-drug legalization, pro-immigration, small government budget hawk and former governor of New Mexico looks to be preparing for a run. Gary Johnson is preparing to launch his Our America PAC shortly, as soon as he gets all of his legal ducks in a row. He will be hitting the trail hard soon, traveling the country to speak in support of issues and candidates, re-immersing himself in the public policy debate. This December, Governor Johnson will also be releasing a book entitled “Seven Principles Of Good Government,” published by The Heartland Institute (a conservative-libertarian...

Today is Halloween, but Gov. Bill Richardson has been running around as Dr. Doom all week. Richardson is upset the Legislature approved a 7.6 percent cut in funding for most of his agencies as a means to help address a $650 million budget deficit. Day after day this week, in a well-orchestrated public-relations campaign, Richardson and other administration officials warned of dire consequences ... Senior citizens will go hungry, poor children will go without medical care, state parks will be shut, two prisons will be closed and hundreds of criminals will be set loose to prey on you, the administration...

Early Release for 660 Inmates a Possibility A pair of New Mexico prisons would be closed and as many as 660 inmates released before completing their full prison terms if a budget-cutting bill passed last week   by state lawmakers is signed into law, state officials said Wednesday.    -SNIP-    Richardson told reporters Wednesday that he’s concerned   closing the prisons could raise public safety issues and criticized lawmakers for approving state agency cuts during last week’s special session that average 7.6 percent.   -SNIP-    Between 530 and 660 inmates could be released early, about 10 percent of the state’s...

EL PASO, Texas -- Rain and snow fell in parts of the Borderland on Wednesday afternoon as a cold front moved in. Light snow was reported in West, Northeast and far East El Paso about 5:30 p.m. Wednesday. Snowfall was also spotted in the Franklin Mountains in El Paso and the Organ Mountains near Las Cruces. The National Weather Service has issued a freeze warning for southern New Mexico and west Texas from 3 to 10 a.m. Thursday. NWS officials said some areas may be just above freezing tonight but low temperatures for Friday will likely affect more areas.

The lovely-looking restaurant and bar The Breslin begins lunch service tomorrow, and co-owner Ken Friedman (The Spotted Pig) is planning on serving alcohol despite objections from the Masjid Ar-Rahman mosque across the street. Earlier this month the mosque’s leaders called a meeting with Friedman at The Ace Hotel, where The Breslin is located, and asked, "Can you move the bar?" Friedman's response makes us want to hurry over to The Breslin right now for a dram of Laphroaig to show our support (and drown out the voices): I laughed. And the guy said, "Oh, you think that’s funny?" And I...

Gary Johnson is preparing to launch his Our America PAC shortly, as soon as he gets all of his legal ducks in a row. He will be hitting the trail hard soon, traveling the country to speak in support of issues and candidates, re-immersing himself in the public policy debate. This December, Governor Johnson will also be releasing a book entitled “Seven Principles Of Good Government,” published by The Heartland Institute (a conservative-libertarian think tank).

Hotel Owner to Workers: No Spanish! By MELANIE DABOVICH, AP TAOS, N.M. (Oct. 26) -- Larry Whitten marched into this northern New Mexico town in late July on a mission: resurrect a failing hotel. The tough-talking former Marine immediately laid down some new rules. Among them, he forbade the Hispanic workers at the run-down, Southwestern adobe-style hotel from speaking Spanish in his presence (he thought they'd be talking about him), and ordered some to Anglicize their names. No more Martin (Mahr-TEEN). It was plain-old Martin. No more Marcos. Now it would be Mark. Whitten's management style had worked for him...

TAOS, N.M. – Larry Whitten marched into this northern New Mexico town in late July on a mission: resurrect a failing hotel. The tough-talking former Marine immediately laid down some new rules. Among them, he forbade the Hispanic workers at the run-down, Southwestern adobe-style hotel from speaking Spanish in his presence (he thought they'd be talking about him), and ordered some to Anglicize their names. No more Martin (Mahr-TEEN). It was plain-old Martin. No more Marcos. Now it would be Mark. Whitten's management style had worked for him as he's turned around other distressed hotels he bought in recent years...

Beheadings and amputations. Iraqi-style brutality, bribery, extortion, kidnapping, and murder. More than 7,200 dead—almost double last year’s tally—in shoot-outs between federales and often better-armed drug cartels. This is modern Mexico ... law enforcement officials on the take from drug lords—is becoming an American problem as well.

I’ve been in New Mexico less than 10 minutes when I realize that no ordinary politician rules the Land of Enchantment. After the young woman working the rental car counter discovers I need wheels to visit her very own governor, she starts talking excitedly and positively about his efforts to pass a school choice bill. One of her co-workers, a Democratic activist, tries to straighten her out, and the conversation soon grows to include other employees, all of whom are surprisingly well-informed due to the governor’s high-profile efforts to pass a statewide voucher program. The Democrat wants to make something...

Clovis, New Mexico, might just be the cornerstone of a clean-energy revolution. It might also be the epicenter of a political battle over how America embraces green energy. Clovis is the site chosen for the Tres Amigas electricity-transmission project, as our colleague Rebecca Smith reports today in The Wall Street Journal. The idea is to build a powerful substation in New Mexico using advanced supercondctors that could physically connect the three otherwise isolated power grids—the Eastern, the Western, and Texas grids. The project, which could take five years to finish, seeks to remedy one of the problems with renewable energy:...

"New Mexico’s oil and gas producers are used to cyclic ups and downs, but operators say the current slump is the worst they’ve seen in decades." .... "Industry representatives also blame adverse environmental regulations, especially new state rules on the management of oil-and-gas pits that took effect in New Mexico last June. “The overzealous and out-of-control regulatory environment makes it very tough to do business in New Mexico,” said Bob Gallagher, president of the New Mexico Oil and Gas Association. “I’d say that’s even a bigger concern than price instability.”"

Recent reports that the U.S. Department of Homeland Security may cut back on the number of Border Patrol agents along the southern border have made U.S. Sens. John Cornyn and Kay Bailey Hutchison of Texas, John McCain and John Kyl of Arizona and several others very nervous. Nervous enough to write DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano a letter, asking for reassurance that no such cuts are being planned. “ we would like you to confirm that the current strength of 17,415 agents will be maintained or increased in fiscal year 2010,” the letter reads. Hopefully the reports of border agent cutbacks...

Corruption allegations are again swirling around Gov. Bill Richardson's administration, after a longtime investment manager for the state admitted giving into pressure to push financial deals that would enrich political heavyweights here. Saul Meyer, a founding partner of the Dallas-based firm Aldus Equity, made the admission in a plea agreement unsealed this week in New York, where Mr. Meyer pleaded guilty to securities fraud for a kickback scheme involving New York state's pension fund. Mr. Meyer said he violated his fiduciary duty in New Mexico "on numerous occasions" by urging investments for two state boards that he knew would prove...

Not only was Republican Richard J. Berry elected mayor of Albuquerque yesterday, but the G.O.P. also took control of the Albuquerque City Council, as the New Mexico Independent reports: GOP challenger Richard Berry surprised even himself Tuesday, knocking off longtime Democratic Mayor Martin Chavez and avoiding a two-man runoff while doing it. Berry, a two-term Republican state legislator, bested Chavez in convincing fashion, collecting nearly 44 percent of votes to Chavez’s 35 percent. Richard Romero received nearly 21 percent of the vote. Only provisional ballots remained to be counted early Wednesday. ... City Councilor Michael Cadigan lost a bid Tuesday...

State Rep. Richard Berry scored an impressive victory Tuesday with an outright win over three-term incumbent Martin Chávez to become Albuquerque's next mayor. "We had a message that resonated with voters in Albuquerque, and we worked hard," said Berry, a general contractor and two-term Republican state representative who campaigned as a "common-sense" business owner with conservative themes. ...Berry maintained a 5 percentage point or better lead over Chávez throughout the night and finished above the 40 percent threshold needed to avoid a runoff election next month. Richard Romero, the third candidate in the race, was trailing, with about 21 percent....

Richard “RJ” Berry appears to be winning a plurality of the absentee votes posted to the Bernalillo county Web site moments ago. Berry now has 41.62 percent of the vote compared to 36.03 percent for incumbent mayor Martin Chavez and 22.18 percent for former state Pro Tem Richard Romero.

A business without slumps___ Santa Fe home builders Steve Gibson and Jim Gill, trying to adjust to the slump in the housing market, have turned to constructing something else many people eventually spend a lot of time in — coffins. "We wanted a business we could do at waist level, had few callbacks and was recession-proof," said Gill, 49. Gibson, also 49, said the two haven't thrown in the towel on the their custom home-building businesses, but needed something to supplement the occasional remodeling and repair jobs they get from previous home customers. Gill owns Jim Gill Construction; Gibson owns...

Senate Finance Committee Democrats rejected a proposed a requirement that immigrants prove their identity with photo identification when signing up for federal healthcare programs. Finance Committee ranking member Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) said that current law and the healthcare bill under consideration are too lax and leave the door open to illegal immigrants defrauding the government using false or stolen identities to obtain benefits. Grassley's amendment was beaten back 10-13 on a party-line vote. The bill, authored by committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.), would require applicants to verify their names, places of birth and Social Security numbers. In addition, legal immigrants...

General Electric will close its Albuquerque jet engine plant, despite proposals from an employee union and Bernalillo County to keep it open. General Electric heard the proposals last week but still decided to close the plant at south Broadway and Woodward next fall. The move will cut more than 400 jobs.

A state official said New Mexico's budget problems are likely much larger than expected. State Controller Anthony Armijo told legislators Monday that a revenue shortfall in the just-ended 2009 fiscal year may be at least $100 million greater than previously projected.

      The First-Time Home Buyer Tax Credit was meant to provide money for renters to buy homes, but a ring of local residents apparently saw only the money part.   -SNIP-      The tax credit program offers up to $8,000 to eligible first-time homebuyers, who claim the credit by filing a specific IRS form with their federal tax return. The credit is a dollar-fordollar credit on the amount owed by a homebuyer in federal taxes. If a buyer doesn’t owe the IRS any money at the end of the year, the credit amount comes back as cash in...

New information on two couples killed at a Juarez motel. Authorities say three of the people killed were from New Mexico. Police say they are sisters Yolanda and Brenda Torres Fernandez and a man named Jimmy Moreno Macias. The exact town in New Mexico is unknown. Investigators believe the fourth man killed was the intended target.