mjh's blog

It’s Time: US Out of Afghanistan

I’ve quoted Quigley before. He’s an insightful writer.

ABQJOURNAL UPFRONT: In Afghanistan, the Question Is Everything 

By Winthrop Quigley
Journal Staff Writer
      As President Obama weighs his options in Afghanistan, the disquiet that Afghanistan will become another Vietnam grows.
    If the United States is to avoid another Vietnam in Afghanistan, the Obama administration needs to understand the short-term failure in Southeast Asia (short-term because Vietnam became a trading partner and regional ally of the United States) was a result of our complete lack of understanding about Vietnamese culture and society. American policymakers, products of a Western, rationalist, future-oriented culture, kept pushing buttons and pulling levers that connected to nothing in Vietnam’s Confucian, animist, ancestor-focused culture. The Americans could never find the buttons and levers that did connect to something.
    Afghanistan’s culture and society could not be less like our own. Until Barack Obama is certain he knows what buttons and levers connect to something in Afghanistan’s tribal, multilingual, Islamic culture (and there is not a lot of evidence that he does), additional troops won’t accomplish anything useful there.

ABQJOURNAL UPFRONT: In Afghanistan, the Question Is Everything

Water Grab in Central New Mexico – Greedy & Destructive Madness

El Defensor Chieftain: Protesters to fight ‘water grab’ 

The New York City based corporation [Augustin Plains Ranch LLC] filed an application with the state Office of the Engineer two years ago, to drill 37 wells with 20-inch casings in order to pump 54,000 acre-feet of groundwater (about 17.6 billion gallons) from the San Agustin Basin each year. The wells would be located north and south of U.S. 60 just inside Catron County’s eastern boundary, between the Very Large Array and the town of Datil.

An amended application, filed in May 2008 and approved by the State Engineer in August of that year, called for an increase in the depth of the drilling from 2,000 to 3,500 feet. It also expanded the area of proposed places of use to any areas within Socorro, Catron, Sierra, Valencia, Bernalillo, Sandoval and Santa Fe counties that are in the Rio Grande Basin.

El Defensor Chieftain: Protesters to fight ‘water grab’

This Week’s WTF?!

By the following logic, no one has ever had a mandate.

ABQJOURNAL OPINION/LETTERS: U.S. Needs To Return to Its Roots

Only 30 percent of eligible voters participated in that election. Of that number, barely 52 percent voted for Obama. That means only 15.6 percent of eligible voters in America chose Obama as their president. The other 84.4 percent either actively voted against him or chose not to participate…. That is hardly a mandate from the people! [mjh: But better than Raygun did.]
       Who is this man elected by a scant 15.6 percent of the voting public? Does he care about you and me? Clearly he does! He feels we are too stupid to intelligently manage our money, so he is going to have the government do it for us. We are too ignorant to manage our health care, so he is going to manage it for us. Do we sense a theme?… [mjh: er, yes, the theme is utter cluelessness over what’s really going on in DC.]
       What we need is to mobilize the 70 percent of the voting population that did not speak up in 2008, and in 2010 we need to radically change the population of Washington, D.C. We need people who are truly our representatives. The majority of Americans identify themselves as conservative. We need to get them out to vote and move America back to its roots. Hard work, quality of life, the nuclear family and a government that lets us run our own lives — that’s what we need.
       GENE and GRETCHEN LINCOLN
       Albuquerque

ABQJOURNAL OPINION/LETTERS: U.S. Needs To Return to Its Roots

News Flash: Rod Adair is still an Idiot

Rod Adair gets caught driving like a madman –118MPH – and says, “I did what many thousands of New Mexicans do.” That’s a defense? He should be thrown out of the New Mexico Legislature for his crime and for setting such a horrible example of public behavior and personal responsibility. Rod Adair is an ass.

ABQJOURNAL NEWS/STATE: Senator Cited for Driving 118 Mph

"I did what many thousands of New Mexicans do," Adair said.

    When asked why he was going so fast, he said he did not want to go into details.

    Adair, a four-term senator who represents parts of Lincoln and Chaves counties, has faced a handful of speeding charges since 1999.

    Most recently, he was arrested in June 2006 in Roswell on a bench warrant for failing to pay a speeding ticket. He had been cited by State Police in April of that year for driving 85 mph in a 55-mph zone.

    Adair also pleaded no contest in 2004 for a speeding citation in Reserve, where he was nabbed for driving more than 35 mph above the speed limit.
    Three previous speeding citations — two in 1999 and one in 2002 — were dismissed. [mjh: Because he has clout. The worst assholes always have clout.]

ABQJOURNAL NEWS/STATE: Senator Cited for Driving 118 Mph

mjh’s blog — In Which Adair Makes an Ass of Himself (Sat 11/18/06 at 1:51 pm)

Most of us have come to expect arrogance from Republican leaders, as well as some disconnect from reality. Rod Adair seldom disappoints on both counts. In his latest column for the Journal, Adair explains that everything good is and always has been Republican and everything shifty and immoral is and always has been Democrat. [read on at the link]

mjh’s blog — In Which Adair Makes an Ass of Himself

Mayor Berry

The Republican Party must be ecstatic over the election in Albuquerque. Fair enough – a win is a win, if not a trend. Keep in mind that more people voted Democratic than Republican – far more. So anyone seeing this as an out-right victory of Republican principles over Democratic ones is simply wrong. However, as clear a majority had had enough of Mayor Marty and voted for change (rather consistent with 2008). Thank god, Karl Rove hasn’t announced another generation of Republican rule based on this election.

So, welcome, Mayor Berry. We’ll overlook the macho posturing and the pornstar mustache. We’ll ignore that your wife capitalizes on Federal programs you must despise. We’ll give you and the new Republican majority on the City Council some time to prove you can govern. Despite the craven conservatives who haven’t granted as much to the Democratic majority at the Federal level – and the far clearer, undeniable call for change at that level – we’ll show conservatives what graciousness-in-defeat (albeit, tiny and forced) looks like, since they’ve never seen it in a mirror or among their ilk. peace, mjh

Think Progress » REPORT: ‘We Will Overthrow The Government’ — Calls For Violence Repeatedly Stoked By Conservative Voices 

REPORT: ‘We Will Overthrow The Government’ — Calls For Violence Repeatedly Stoked By Conservative Voices

Last week, the right-wing media outlet Newsmax — which receives 4 million unique monthly visitors and 130,000 print subscribers — published a column by conservative author John Perry arguing that a military coup could “resolve” the “radical left…Obama problem.” After being widely criticized, Newsmax retracted the column. However, the column appears to have encouraged an already angry group of anti-Obama radicals who have been plotting violence against the government.

While discussing the Newsmax column on his XM Sirius radio show last week, Michelangelo Signorile heard from a caller, “Jim from Oklahoma,” who explained that the idea of a coup is already being planned by a group of at least 200 people:

Pulling our government down, pulling our President out, and putting him back where he should be [...] [using] the right to bear arms, it’s in the Constitution. [...] We need a coup, there needs to be a coup and if the United States military won’t do it, we’ll do it.

Jim confirmed that he was “dead serious.” Although he was coy about specific details, Jim said that he was motivated by homophobia and an interest in bringing back slavery. A second caller confessed that her own mother has been scheming against the government because she has been captivated by racist thoughts and a belief that “Jesus is coming to overthrow Barack Obama.” She pleaded for people to recognize the extremist threat against Obama.

Think Progress » REPORT: ‘We Will Overthrow The Government’ — Calls For Violence Repeatedly Stoked By Conservative Voices

All Mark Considered

It’s nice to have been noticed by mi virtual vecino, Rudolfo Carrillo:

If you like challenging content and clunky pre-Web 2.0 layout, I’ve got the perfect site for you. While the questionably formatted photographic elements may raise a few eyebrows, you can hear a real heart beating here. Dang intellectuals! Usability rating: 5/10.

I’m thrilled to be associated with “challenging content” and intellectuals. I’m glad my heartbeat has been heard. I’ll consider the source regarding “clunky” and “questionably formatted.” I’m not sure I can stomach being in the same context as Mario Burgos, however.

For the record, edgewiseblog.com is my blog collective, mostly occupied by me and Walking Raven. I salt this page with thumbnails of my photos, which I wish you would take the time to see at www.flickr.com/photos/mjhinton. I have other blogs, as well, including one on computer topics and another on wilderness and anything I associate with that. My pages on Chaco Canyon used to rank high in Google, though I’ve let them languish.

Take some time to look around. “Get to know me,” as Jon Lovitz so famously said. Thanks for visiting. peace, mjh

PS: Web 2.0 (Internet) The second generation of the World Wide Web, especially the movement away from static webpages to dynamic and shareable content and social networking. [Hmmm. My database-driven website with social-networking content (Flickr) may not be 3.0.]

Facts, not Fiction, in Health Care Coverage [updated 8-25-09]

Winthrop Quigley is in a class by himself as a writer. He does a superb job of breaking down complex topics. Everyone should read all of his column on health care coverage (linked).

ABQJOURNAL BIZ: For sake of argument, stick to the facts
By Winthrop Quigley
Of the Journal
         If the nation is to have any hope of a reasonable debate about health policy, people on both ends of the political spectrum would do well to renounce some cherished myths about health care not only in the United States but in the rest of the world.
       Policies based on reality really should work better.
       There is a case to be made that commercial insurance has no place in health care. There is a case to be made that government has no place in health care. …

[updated 8-25-09]

Not a Bad Return
By Winthrop Quigley
Monday, 24 August 2009 15:02

Some of the predictable sniping occurred at Martin Heinrich’s town hall on the health care bills Saturday. A noisy but minority cohort insisted on describing as socialism proposals to cover more low-income people with public funds and to establish a government-operated competitor for insurance companies.

Socialism as a theory says that the only input to production of any value is labor and therefore the only return from production should be to labor. As a practice, socialism generally means central planning and state ownership of factors of production.

I am not a big fan of the federal bail-out of GM and Chrysler. I have written in the Journal that I doubt the government-run insurance company that President Obama favors will make any meaningful difference to health care in America. I do not believe that any business is too big to fail.

But I am a big fan of calling things by their proper name. The people screaming about socialism at Heinrich’s town hall were upset about the car company bailouts, the need of the government to recapitalize Fannie Mae, investments in Citigroup, loans and warrants in the finance sector. What they are upset about is not socialism but state capitalism — state investment in the private sector.

There is a bunch of that around. The state of New Mexico invested in Eclipse Aviation. China’s sovereign wealth funds have positions in natural resource companies. The United States owns stock in Citigroup.

Like any owner, sovereign owners have a say in how things are done, but they are no more interested in running the companies they invest in than is the average worker who owns shares of IBM through his 401K plan.
But here’s the fun part: It turns out Uncle Sam has been a very saavy investor. We the taxpayers own 34 percent of Citigroup, and based on its recent stock price so far we’ve made $11 billion. (Citi is the only bank in which the U.S. government has an ownership stake.) We earned 23 percent on the TARP money we gave Goldman Sachs. In fact, it looks as if the government will make money on most of the deals it did during the financial turmoil of the past year or so.

Another Rightwinger Wants to Dissolve the Union

http://www.abqjournal.com/opinion/letters/2222946letters08-22-09.htm

Obama and the Democrat Party have returned us full circle to the tyrannical days of Taxation Without Representation. And if I might point out to our politicians and the rest of their communist colleagues, it was Taxation Without Representation which started this country and it’s going to be Taxation Without Representation which ends it.
       CLYDE J. ARAGON
       Albuquerque

Seriously, Clyde? Were you not represented by Tricky Dick Nixon, the crook, and Spiro Agnew, the godfather of thuggery? Were you not represented by Ronnie Raygun, the god of the GOP and bumpersticker politics? Were you not represented by Gingrinch and the Contract on America? Were you not represented by BushCo? In all those years, I paid taxes. In most of those years, if I complained, your ilk told me to shut up or move to another country. Now, after one election, you’re ready to dissolve the union? Where’s your respect for America? peace, mjh

Just You Wait, John Wayne Higgins – Trust in Fate

I first heard of John Wayne Higgins when he ran for Bernco Probate Judge in 1998. Aside from his cool name, his most distinguishing trait in that race was a complete lack of probate experience. That’s NM’s constitution, for you: The only requirements for county office are being 18 and paying a small filing fee.

Higgins is a DWI attorney. After his second arrest for DWI, I wonder if he is subconsciously drawn to DWI or if the appeal is learning to game the system. The belligerent, bellicose drunk in the police videos clearly needs to dry out. But, heck, can you blame him for celebrating after getting off of domestic violence charges that same day?

Higgins should accept his 48 hours in jail (not yet served) and one year probation. Of course, he’s going to fight it to restore his,  ahem, good name. Oh, but those videos will be around forever, JW.

Attorney found guilty of aggravated DWI | KRQE News 13 New Mexico

Amen

America, we’re better than this. How about toning down the rhetoric, stopping the violence, and instead putting our efforts into attempting to understand each other and come up with real solutions to our problems? – Heath Haussamen

Poets versus Clowns

VB Price is a poet and one hell of a commentator. Read his latest. I’ll pluck this sweet morsel:

“Vicious jokers, fake news salesmen, industrial corporate PR, paranoia-for-hire TV commentators, and slapstick self-promoters are in charge of information. You keep on wondering how many other guys with red noses and flappy shoes can pile out of the tiny car under the big top and spray the crowds with excrement.”

More questions than answers for media in free fall 
By V.B. Price 8/5/09 9:22 AM

Jim Scarantino Finds Peace

Just two weeks ago, I called Jim Scarantino the biggest jackass in New Mexico. Today, he has written something that couldn’t be more different from the angry tone of his usual political column. Jim found peace and it infuses this column. I hope – I would pray, if I prayed – his next column is as free of anger and hate. One would begin to look forward to reading his column.

Will those readers who like Scarantino’s Limbaugh impression be put off by this column? I can imagine them yelling “traitor! terrorist!”

peace,
mjh

Arabs Continue To Find N.M. a Welcoming Place
By Jim Scarantino
For the Journal
http://www.abqjournal.com/opinion/guest_columns/06215640955opinionguestcolumns08-06-09.htm

Thank Yourself for Never Smoking

I smoked cigarettes for about 10 years. I loved rolling my own. I went through periods of smoking Kools menthols and Camel filterless. I loved to smoke with a drink or a cuppa coffee, before and after some demanding task. As a shy person, I valued that cigarettes gave me entree into a community, especially when I traveled foreign lands. Gotta light? Spare a smoke? My brand is OPs (Other Peoples’ – Von Anderen, auf deutsch). I smoked when it was cheap to smoke. When I quit, I was smoking more than a pack a day.

My uncle couldn’t quit, even when he needed to prop himself up on the kitchen counter to clutch a cigarette in trembling hands. His elbows bled from that effort, despite the foam pads his accommodating wife cut for him.

An old friend didn’t have time to quit. He died of a massive heart attack at 37 after smoking two packs a day for 20 years.

My buddy quit in order to get on the lung transplant list. She’s not quite sick enough to be at the top of the list. That would amaze you if you saw her struggle to cross a room or witnessed one of her oxygen-starved attacks (even with an oxygen tank).

I quit for love. None of my friends smoked by then, but it took my girlfriend to give me reason to save my own life. More than 25 years later, we’ve been married for years. Thank you, darling.

And after all this time without cigarettes, I still feel the pull. Nicotine is powerful and I believe one is never really free of it, although one can overcome it and construct a smoke-free life with the help of friends, family, and community.

You have the right to kill yourself, if you can do so without endangering others. You may have the sense to save yourself. It’s your choice. As for the recent controversy over UNM’s smoking ban: if the ban helps one person quit or, better, keeps one person from this suicidal addiction, it is a success.

I miss Dimdahl

Right now, the biggest jackass in New Mexico is Jim Scarethemtino. And, he may well be worse than John Dimdahl was. (At least, Dimdahl liked skiing and legalizing marijuana.) It has been awful watching Scarethemtino’s transformation – he used to be an OK guy and a half-decent writer.

Don’t worry, though. Democrats/liberals/socialists/gays/non-whites (immigrants)/women are working on classifying “wrong thinking” (conservatism and love of gawd and country) as a mental illness. Help is on the way, Jim – you’re covered.

Dems’ Plan Is Hidden Tax
By Jim Scarantino

This is the new “culture of coverage.” Instead of promoting personal responsibility and self-reliance, government will indoctrinate its citizens in the merits of hitching a free ride on other’s backs.
       Organized calisthenics will involve extending an arm forward from the shoulder, turning one hand to the sky, and holding that pose until free stuff graces the palm. All citizens must participate. Them that’s got, give it up. Everyone else, find your place in line.