Culture

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

The 1960s rears its ugly head ... again

Steve Pearce is defending his ad that links Tom Udall to 1960s protestors and on Wednesday he advanced that attack, repeatedly saying his Democratic rival sides with "extremists" on environmental issues, according to the Albuquerque Journal.

It appears that the cultural wars over the 1960s are still being fought -- in New Mexico, no less. I wonder sometimes how significant fighting over things that happened nearly 40 years ago are to everyday Americans. But it's a theme we've seen over and over again. Below is a long excerpt from the Albuquerque Journal story by Jeff Jones. It includes a glimpse into Pearce's own personal history, his view of that time and how he came to decide on the ad. After reading it, tell us what you think.

Southern NM developer stands to make millions from controversial lease

You know those controversial leases the State Land Office has been routinely entering into over the past few years? Well, planning work under one was recently completed by Las Cruces developer Philip Philippou and the land is now up for sale. When you crunch the numbers based on the minimum acceptable bids for the parcels, Philippou stands to make several million dollars. The original appraised value of the land was $8,000 per acre, or $1,968,000 given the total of 246 acres up for sale. If the land office receives bids for each of the 13 parcels offered that Philippou did work on, the minimum required bid amounts will total $17,180,000, or $15.2 million over the original appraisal. Philippou will get a majo cut of that.

The big H2O transfer

The demand for water has driven up the value of Middle Rio Grande water rights more than tenfold in the last 20 years, and landowners are cashing out in what appear to be record numbers. But even as water transfers speed up, so has opposition from farmers and pueblos alike. In recent months the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation has chimed in over concern for the endangered Rio Grande silvery minnow.

Survey: Many want wolves to thrive

A large majority of New Mexico voters support reintroducing the Mexican gray wolf, according to a statewide poll released Monday. Conservationists hope the survey results will give them ammunition to persuade elected officials to work harder to protect the wolves—even if lawsuits filed earlier this year fail.

BBC: N.M. GOP leader says Hispanics 'won't vote for a black president'

A BBC reporter tooling through the state fair Thursday -- the same day that Democrat Barack Obama was in New Mexico -- was asking Hispanics their views on Barack Obama's presidential bid. Reporter Jon Kelly talked first to a young graduate student who said he was going to vote for Obama.

Then Kelly stumbled upon Fernando C de Baca, chairman of  the Bernalillo County Republicans. According to Kelly, C de Baca said Hispanics were a naturally conservative group.

Then C de Baca offered Kelly a blunt assessment on why Hispanics wouldn't vote for Obama.

The reporter, John Kelly, quotes C de Baca as saying:
 

"The truth is that Hispanics came here as conquerors," he said. "African-Americans came here as slaves.

"Hispanics consider themselves above blacks. They won't vote for a black president."

The DNC drifts into history

The fourth night of the Democratic national convention was a profoundly historic day for the United States. But as one of the two major political parties officially nominated an African American to be their presidential candidate, on the 45th anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I have a dream" speech at the Lincoln Memorial, hardly a word was said to acknowledge it. Here, there or anywhere it seemed.

Impeach John Paul Stevens

I was reading with much enjoyment the recent decision by the United States Supreme Court to uphold the Constitution with regard to the Second Amendment. But then my blood ran cold when it dawned on me that the case was decided by a 5-4 margin. My mind quickly moved from enjoyment to complete and total fear -- fear that we actually have four nimrods who for some reason can find a way to limit my ownership of guns, despite the clear language of the Bill of Rights...

Obama right on Cherokee Freedmen controversy

Race has been and will continue to be an issue in this year’s national elections. But now it seems tribal affiliation can be added to the list of campaign issues. Last month, Sen. Barack Obama outlined his position on the rights and affiliation of Cherokee Freedmen. It's a position that strikes the right note on the specific controversy as well as the larger issue of tribal sovereignty.

'Post-racial' triumph hits home

My son Gabriel didn’t care one bit about politics—until the day he first caught sight of a tall brown brother named Barack Obama. “Mom, he looks just like me!” Gabriel said excitedly as he watched him on TV. “And he’s running for president?”

God or evolution? That's serious

God or evolution? A local pastor steps into the debate by helping to produce Ben Stein's anti-Darwinism film "Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed."

TODAY'S TOP STORIES: APS super blasts federal education goals as unrealistic

The head of Albuquerque Public Schools says federal No Child Left Behind goals are unrealistic. The state’s top game officer may lose his hunting privileges for two years. A former magistrate judge in Taos has sued a Taos newspaper for libel over an article published in May. And the much-discussed but long-delayed improvement to the road into Chaco Culture National Historical Park looks like it’s still a long way off.

TODAY'S TOP STORIES: It was a stormy weekend

It was a stormy weekend on the national front. While Ike taught Texas a lesson, Wall Street banks “faltered.”. New Mexico’s congressional delegation views with skepticism John McCain’s pledge to veto earmarks. Meanwhile, there’s been a 30 percent drop in applications for drilling permits. Doña Ana County is in the top tier of small metropolitan areas for job growth and retention. Last but not least, the Albuquerque police chief has fired Daniel Guzman, the police officer who attacked and arrested a TV reporter for doing his job back in May.

The obstacles they face

University of New Mexico law professor Margaret Montoya recently addressed the teachers at Atrisco Heritage Academy. It was a pep talk from a woman who knows how to overcome challenges. She was the first Hispanic woman accepted at Harvard Law School. What she left us with after her talk was a feeling that if I or any of my colleagues at Atrisco want to make a difference, we're going to have to overcome obstacles that have been in place for years.

The risks and rewards of desalination

Yet another plan has emerged for desalinating the vast brackish water supplies deep below the ground west of Albuquerque, pushing to three the number of possible future projects. But there are many "ifs" surrounding the projects that may take their toll, either technologically or politically.