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Welcome to the New Mexico Independent
If you’ve made your way to this spot, that means you at least want to know a little more about what this corner of cyberspace is about.
Glaring differences between Denver and St. Paul
What chills me most as I sit here at Republican Central is the lack of diversity I see as I simply sit and watch the people – how they express themselves (or don’t), how they dress, their average age and their racial makeup. I’m not saying it’s scientific, but it’s one of my favorite things to do. I think of it as a requirement for getting to know the culture of any place or gathering and it has served me well thus far.
Lawsuits for lobos
Gray wolves in the Northern Rockies got a break last Friday as they regained endangered species status—thanks to a lawsuit brought by a coalition of environmental organizations, including Sierra Club and Natural Resources Defense Council. The decision comes as environmental groups in New Mexico await a decision on one lawsuit involving the Mexican gray wolf, and continue to pursue two others.
President Sarah Palin and other foolish things
Should John McCain’s health falter and Sarah Palin become the president, everything that every environmentalist, every alternative energy advocate, every women’s rights activist, every religious person of ecumenical leanings, and every Bill of Rights champion could go right down the drain. And they all know it. Perhaps Palin has galvanized the Republican base, but she’s galvanized everyone else as well, spunky and charming though she may be. It would be like having Sean Hannity for president.
Obama is rock star material, not presidential timber
As we move closer to the November election, it amazes me the nerve of Barack and his left-wing supporters and their already revisionist perspective on the war on terror, as well as their continued opposition to protecting Americans and our economy. It is so disgusting that last week on Barack’s world tour -- with stops in such friendly countries as Germany and France -- he couldn’t help bashing our country
Fight back!
Every once in a while when I'm in the car, I'll tune in to the local conservative talk radio station. You know the one - it proudly features Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity and some local equivalents spouting what they call "the truth" all day long.
"You're a great American," says each genuflecting caller who gets through to the self-important Hannity. "No, YOU'RE a great American," confers the host.
And so it is settled, just by saying so.
The Sarah Palin I knew
As a longtime Alaska journalist and resident who knew Gov. Sarah Palin and followed her political rise, I have to wonder what John McCain was thinking when he asked her to be his vice presidential nominee. Sure, she's a lot of things McCain is, was or needs. The 44-year-old is a maverick, a Republican who challenged the Alaska GOP's old-boy network and won. She is a fiscal and social conservative who opposes abortion rights. She's a photogenic former beauty queen with five kids, including one just born with Down syndrome and another in the Army heading to Iraq. She's a commercial salmon fisherman and a moose hunter and her husband races snowmobiles. But is she ready for this job?
The liberal blogosphere: Fair and balanced?
Liberals sure have figured out how to use the blogosphere to their advantage. A comment Republican 2nd Congressional District candidate Ed Tinsley made at a recent forum in Las Cruces exploded onto the national stage on Wednesday thanks to their efforts. It’s sure to come back to bite Tinsley in November.
Domenici's staffer blames wilderness group for lost opportunity
Steve Bell, U.S. Sen. Pete Domenici's chief of staff, had hoped the retiring Republican senator could travel to Las Cruces during his last months in office to celebrate a compromise that had protected hundreds of thousands of acres of land in Doña Ana County. But that won't happen, Bell said in an interview, and he blames the New Mexico Wilderness Alliance for the missed opportunity.
NMI Interview: Pearce sticks to his guns on energy, aims at Udall
Pearce brings years of experience in the oil industry to bear on what he sees as a pivotal issue in this year's campaign. And his prescriptions -- more domestic drilling, expanded nuclear power and renewable alternatives too -- flow from his view that the major problem is not enough supply.
McCain talks wilderness, economy, immigration
McCain granted an approximately 25-minute interview today to five New Mexico reporters -- including NMI's Heath Haussamen -- who rode with him on the Straight Talk Express, his campaign bus, from the Albuquerque International Airport to a campaign fundraiser at the Hilton Albuquerque.
West Siders beware
Although most people in Albuquerque remain unaware, a Texas based oil company, Tecton, has signed a lease to drill for oil on 50,000 acres of the West Mesa. Tecton has already started looking for oil, using three wells.
If Tecton strikes oil, Albuquerque residents could see more than a thousand wells on the horizon. The medical and public health communities believe strongly that this is the wrong prescription for Albuquerque. The actual act of drilling an oil well poses serious risks to Albuquerque’s way of life. Oil companies inject chemicals into underground aquifers, thus putting precious water supplies in danger. Oil wells also release toxic chemicals, increase ozone levels and smog, and contribute to air pollution.
McCain picks Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin
Republican presidential nominee John McCain has made his choice for VP and it's ... Sarah Palin.
Who?
Palin is the first-term Alaska governor and a 44-year-old conservative Christian and self-described “hockey mom” who has been governor for less than two years, as the New York Times put it in a story published a few minutes ago.
It's a surprise move but McCain's decision comes at a time when his campaign is trying to attract women voters.
Doug Burns at New Mexico Independent's sister publication, the Iowa Independent, predicted McCain's decision to choose Palin two months ago in this prescient column. Check it out.
Heather Wilson, other NM vets attack Obama on Iraq
U.S. Rep. Heather Wilson and other New Mexico veterans joined today in the assault on Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama’s stance on the Iraq War a day after the candidate visited the war-torn nation. Wilson said Obama is “frighteningly inexperienced” on foreign-policy issues.
Tax rebate outrage: Money goes to those who paid no taxes
Having just returned from what will probably be my last legislative session, I have to tell you I was amazed at how well the Democrats can stay on message nationally and locally. We finished a “special session” that was to deal with emergency issues. I was shocked to see that a proposal to give some people a small check had been labeled an “emergency.” This proposal was given the name “tax rebate.” Many people who will receive the so-called rebate actually paid no taxes at all. And many thousands of others paid very little.
No slam dunk
In April 2007, just a few months after a hard-fought and ultimately successful battle to ban energy development in northern New Mexico's pristine Valle Vidal, local conservationists were brimming with confidence and had their sights set on another chunk of rugged beauty near the Colorado border. A year later, conservationists are still waiting.
Honeybees at risk
New Mexico’s bees are faring better than in most places around the world, including the neighboring states of Colorado and Texas, where instances of the phenomenon known as bee colony collapse are decimating hives and putting beekeepers out of business. But that’s not to say bees are not threatened. “All of our pollinators are in trouble, including hummingbirds,” one expert says.
The right to fight
A little-known scholarly tome published 20 years ago by five-term U.S. Rep. Heather Wilson – now a Republican Senate hopeful – examined the right of groups like Yasir Arafat’s PLO to take up arms and fight violently for their national liberation. Back then, she concluded that such a legal right does exist. The question now is does she still.
Count one more superdelegate for Barack Obama
Laurie Weahkee, the recently elected Democratic Party of New Mexico superdelegate, has decided to throw her influential vote to the presidential candidacy of U.S. Sen. Barack Obama. In a wide-ranging interview with NMI, the long-time Native American activist says that last Tuesday's primary results in North Carolina and Indiana sealed the deal for her. She says she's eager for the party to unite around Obama and begin to focus on presumptive Republican Party presidential nominee Sen. John McCain.
Brace yourself
Bring a book, a magazine, anything to keep you occupied June 3. State elections officials expect a high voter turnout for the state primary, which could mean lines. In fact, one official estimates a whopping 70 percent turnout of the state's roughly 875,000 registered Democrats and Republicans. One million paper ballots will be ordered just for contingency sake. The big draw, some party officials speculate, could be the Republican U.S. Senate primary battle. And that would be good for the GOP.