Reforms in Mexico
Congratulations to Mexico’s President, Enrique Peña Nieto. When I was in Mexico City interviewing voters prior to the 2012 elections which he won, he was generally viewed as a dandy from a discredited party but the lesser of the three evils – the loony Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO )and Josefina Vázquez Mota from the party of former President Felipe Calderón whose “drug war” had cost so many thousands of innocent lives. Josefina, as the voters called her, seemed the best candidate but because of Calderón’s record, she didn’t have a chance. So Peña Nieto won but expectations were low...
Susana’s Other Grading System
Good morning Case 3520. We are here to discuss your uh differently abled son.
Can you stand a pleasant little surprise this morning? Good, because the Administration wishes to discuss some wonderful news with you, Case 3520, news that will doubtless change your life forever! I can see the excitement behind the tears in your narrow, beady eyes. Good...
Mexico: The Politics of a State Meltdown
As a massive federal police and military deployment gains momentum in the Mexican state of Michoacan, polemics and debate shroud the first major such operation undertaken by the administration of President Enrique Pena Nieto.
At stake in the campaign is not only the reassertion of state power, but also the strategic control of the Pacific coastal port of Lazaro Cardenas, one of the key portals of the Asia/NAFTA economy, as well as the productive mountains and farmlands whose products and people travel a network of highways leading across Mexico and into the United States...
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...
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...
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. ..
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...
Finally an honest book about the New Mexico Legislature
After her first New Mexico legislative session in 1997, Sen. Dede Feldman said it was “like riding a motorcycle in a thunderstorm in the nude.”
When she left the Senate 16 years later, the liberal Democrat from Albuquerque’s North Valley still felt like “Alice in Wonderland” in this “crazy unpredictable place” dominated by “peculiar personalities [and] strange alliances"...