Investigation of Governor halted

The Governor is no longer under investigation.
http://www.abqjournal.com/cgi-bin/decision.pl?attempted=www.abqjournal.com/north/282342328120north08-28-09.htm

The above link requires a subscription, unfortunately, but the gist is this:

‘ A letter to defense lawyers from U.S. Attorney Greg Fouratt sent late Thursday said the United States “will not seek to bring charges against your clients” arising out of the New Mexico Finance Authority’s award of financial work to California-based CDR Financial Products.’

‘The letter said, “It is not to be interpreted as an exoneration of any party’s conduct.” ‘

‘Richardson spokesman Gilbert Gallegos responded late Thursday, saying, “The prosecutor’s letter is wrong on the facts and appears to be nothing more than sour grapes.” ‘

So why was the investigation called off? Dunno… political convenience, lack of solid evidence, all of the above, neither?

Not against Health Care Reform, but…

I was reading an article on CNN
http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/08/18/reinhardt.health.inflation/index.html

Insisting that opposing health care reform was ignorant, and we should be happy with what’s being done.

My reply (I wonder if they’ll post it):

What the good professor fails to realize is that we that stand in opposition aren’t opposed to healthcare reform, we are opposed to THIS “health insurance reform”. There are numerous things we could do to reduce the cost and increase the availability that do not call for massive federal intrusion into the market, a public option, and the one Trillion dollar plus price tag. The problem is that Leftists aren’t interested in anything that doesn’t increase their power base. That’s the true goal of this legislation.

Does anyone else find it ironic that such a left leaning fellow is the “James Madison Professor of Political Economics”, Madison being an opponent of government spending on things not expressly authorized by the Constitution?
“I cannot undertake to lay my finger on that article of the Constitution which granted a right to Congress of expending, on objects of benevolence, the money of their constituents.”-James Madison

Wall Street is NOT the cause of our financial woes

(I recently submitted this to the NY Times comment section in reply to a poster that was ranting that Geithner and the President weren’t doing enough to punish financial marketeers.)

I don’t get it. Some people still think “Wall Street” created the mess, and are mad at the President for not being even more “Progressive” (ie. marxist) in his approach to financial institutions.
The driver of the real estate bubble, the real cause of our troubles, was cheap, easy money provided by the Federal Reserve, Freddie Mac, Fannie Mae, and other government-controlled entities pushing hard for “stimulus” and home-buying ease.
Did many financial institutions and players stick their hands in the cookie jar? Yup. Was the Gov’t. too busy patting themselves on the back to care? Yup. But in the long run, it was the gaming of the free market by government forces that got us to where we are today, not the free market itself.
So here, we are. Hey, here’s an idea: Let’s throw out more cheap, easy money via government handouts to get us out of this mess,

Hair of the dog!

Pictures from the April 15th Tea party

Here are some pics from April’s Tea Party in Albuquerque. It was a pretty good turn out, although the reports vary on its size. Every one behaved themselves, and a good time was had by all.

Generally, the Tea Party was not anti-tax, but rather anti-spending, and a general protest against an ever growing Federal government. Just about everyone had their own little axe to grind.

To be honest, I don’t really think protests of any kind promote any political change. It was just good to see a mass of like-minded people.

Sorry for the lack of posts….

I’m in the middle of working on a film, so I’m a little behind the eightball at the moment. More posts soon.

Civil Unions for homosexuals denied in New Mexico

A measure to pass “Civil Unions” for homosexuals died in the legislature recently. I’m really of two minds about the issue myself. I mean, I don’t think the law should oppose or deny homosexuals basic human rights, but I don’t want the law used to force me to support or condone homosexuality either.

I suspect that “Civil Unions” are a means to support the latter, but I’m not a hundred percent on that.

If I’m wrong, tell me why.

Death Penalty repealed in New Mexico

The death penalty was repealed by state legislators this month, replaced by life imprisonment without parole.
http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/03/18/new.mexico.death.penalty/

While I believe that the repealers are well-intended, I don’t think justice is served. Life without parole is a common sentence for a number of crimes. Is a murder equivalent to a three-strikes offender or a corporate swindler?

I recall a while back discussion of the impending execution of a murderer who forced a victim to drink Draino, then upon hearing his screams, told him to “Shut up and die like a man”. Why do we hold him equal with the rest of criminal society, when his crime is so much more heinous?

We need the death penalty. We need it to remind criminals that there are some crimes so evil that they require the ultimate punishment.

New link!

I’m adding the Rio Rancho Foundation website to my links list. It seems to offer some interesting ideas and tools for monitoring what Santa Fe does.

http://www.riograndefoundation.org/

Gov. Richardson under investigation

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601103&sid=aL0GGUluJeT8&refer=us

The Feds are looking into whether a company known to make contributions to Gov. Richardson’s political action committees received state contracts for doing so.

This not proof of anything, just a heads-up of what’s going on.

Gov. Richardson picked as Sec. of Commerce nominee Update: Not any more

Update: Gov. Richardson has withdrawn his nomination. Whether it was his idea or not, depends on with whom you speak. In either case, the Obama Team claims outrage, stating that he was not honest with them concerning the extend of the investigation.
What I don’t get is, given the fact that he’s been under investigation since August, why the outrage? Has something new developed that confirms his culpability, or, as the latest conspiracy theory I’ve heard conjects, did he see something rotten in the Obama administration and used the investigation to beg off? Curious…

It would seem that our governor is soon to resign for a new post. I honestly don’t know how to feel about that. As a public official I found him aggravating and egotistical, but not altogether incompetent. He will probably follow suit in his new position.

Link:Richardson offered new position

(By the way I am not the first to point it out, but there is no “Department of Change” in the government, nor is there an “Office of the President-Elect”. I mean, what kind of tool thought that up?)

What concerns me is Diane Denish. Not that she’s a bad public official; it’s just that I don’t know much about her.

Update: Gov. Richardson has withdrawn his nomination