As you may know, Bernalillo County’s Probate Judge, Merri Rudd (y mi esposa) was unopposed in the Democratic Primary yesterday and also is unopposed in the General Election in November. So, she won back in March on Filing Day but for the need for one vote yesterday. Still, some might want to know she received 25,737 votes, more than any other judge or county position in Bernalillo. More than Gary King or Jim Baca or any candidate other than the top state-wide offices (within Bernalillo County) — 10,000+ votes more than Heather Wilson. Bernalillo County, New Mexico, USA – Unofficial Election Results

You won’t know this from the Albuquerque Journal (or local TV news). Intrepid journalist Dan McKay, who Merri introduced me to in the neighborhood grocery store, studiously ignores the office of Probate Judge and Merri Rudd. McKay has written many, many articles on Bernalillo politics and elections. Only once have I seen him mention the office or the office holder, and that may have been the last time I chastised him for his negligence.

Does the office of Probate Judge matter less than dog-catcher (sorry, under the new HEART ordinance, that’s “Dog-Human Interface Facilitator”)? There are only 5 elected county positions mandated by the state constitution; Probate Judge is one of these. Constitutionally, the office is as “important” as sheriff.

“Aw, come on, she was unopposed.” That, in itself, may have been news. But note that Michael Brasher is in a similar position and got a paragraph explaining that (and 4,855 votes). Somehow, the Journal can’t spare a sentence for one of the top vote-getters in the county. What else are they overlooking/under-reporting? mjh

PS: my friends at the Journal might warn McKay to watch out for me at the grocery store — I may slip something embarrassing or expensive in his basket.

Update at 1:17pm: after my venting, Merri notes that none of the judges races seem to have merited coverage in McKay’s article. So, rather then being the only county official ignored, she’s one of many judges. So much fairer.

[See mjh’s blog — The Thrill of Victory]

In the last 15 minutes of the season finale of Lost, which was mind-spinningly good, local KOAT slapped the banner you see below during a touching seen. Kudos to KOAT for bad taste AND bad timing.

Lost is loaded with thought-provoking distractions and tangents; the finale set up dozens of possible story lines for next season. Among much that was good and intriguing (like the 3rd role for Libby), there was this image:

This prompted Sayid to say, “I don’t know which is more disquieting: that the rest of the statue is gone or that it only has 4 toes.” Indeed. mjh

Duke City Fix » Trains, planes, and uh, sex toys

andrew wrote:
MJH has a lot of time on his hands, and he’s not perfect either. For instance, he capitalizes “mother,” but two words later, the word “brother” is lowercase.

Is he implying that his mother is more important than his brother?

We all make misteaks.

Good one, andy (or is it Andy?).

I know I’m about to prove aNdy’s point, but he proved mine, so I’m happy to repay him.

You see, anDrew correctly apprehended the meaning of my capitalization. So, was my writing in error? Apparently not that part of it. I meant no insult to my brother, I just have trouble writing about my Mother without a capital, much as I cannot write god with one.

Still, while he grasped that subtlety of case, andY missed/ignored my sincere declaration of not being perfect.

By the way, we all have the same time on our hands, whether we realize that or not. mjh

ABQjournal: Astorga Alone During Stop, Police Say By T.J. Wilham, Journal Staff Writer

Marcantel said Astorga, 29, knew that had McGrane, 38, taken his driver’s license and went back to his squad car, the deputy would have known about the warrant within minutes.

ABQjournal: Mayor Had a Reason to Speed By T.J. Wilham, Of the Journal

Last Friday, Schultz invited myself on a ride-along.

OK, I am officially an old-fart — something you probably already knew about me. I have to say these two abuses of language get to me, especially seeing both by the same writer on the same day in two separate articles.

Understand, I shattered my glass house years ago. I’m a recovering perfectionist whose recovery began with recognizing I can’t be perfect nor can I expect that of anyone else.

Even before that, I was shaken from incipient language-fascism by my great language mentor (after my Mother, of course), my brother, Dan. When, as a young-fart, I attacked some change in language that offended even my young ears, he set me straight on the inevitability of change and the irony of that progression from “misuse” to mainstream and the reversal of fortunes that comes when “saying it correctly” suddenly sounds archaic. Shakespeare would be appalled by my very best English and I sometimes don’t get his.

In fact, the conundrum of celebrating the richness of language is that one cannot define what is wealth. Which is not meant to give in and say “it’s all good” (snap). At any one moment, it’s not all good — context rules.

Ah, but what of journalists? Their context has its own rules and stylebooks. Is something that would be terrible in the context of oratory or literature more acceptable on newsprint? More than likely.

All that aside, these two examples really grate on me. I hope T.J. Wilham can rise above the colloquial. I wish he had an editor who would help him do so. mjh

I applaud much about the www.DukeCityFix.com and I envy its success. But, I have to say something about its recent “blog-in.”

First, kudos to Chantal Foster, et. al., for getting an open wireless connection into Council Chambers. When I was down there in mid-March for Filing Day, I was stunned there was none (and I did nothing about that except probably carp).

Second, bravo to the concept of moving bloggers out of our little isolated boxes and into a public space. This is an even bolder push into territory no longer limited to MSM.

Sadly, like the first sexual experience for many, it wasn’t as good as it could be (and will be, someday). The running entry and comments at theFix are at the level of passing notes in class. I’m not dismissing it, I’m just disappointed by it. I know someone will spit that I did nothing to help (guilty), but that rarely is a requirement for a blogger’s right to opine.

Compare this to Laura Sanchez’s Council Takes in the Alibi. In her column, we get some facts and some opinion and some sense of the process. Something like that but live and on the spot might also be interesting. Digitally yawning and rolling one’s eyes over the lame or hot participants isn’t. mjh

Duke City Fix » Charge of the Laptop Brigade: Blogging LIVE from City Hall

Now, I don’t mean to obsess with The Line, KNME’s local news analysis roundtable. Still, as one of the four people who watch and are not related to the participants, I feel a right to respond (and, there, my friends, is the force that powers most blogs).

Fellow blogger Chantal Foster was the guest participant this week. At about the same time that I founded www.edgewiseblog.com as a blog collective and host, Chantal founded the more widely viewed www.dukecityfix.com, of which I am a lapsed contributor. Chantal writes about her experience on theFix, of course.

It was interesting to hear Steve Lawrence’s somewhat pointed question to Chantal of “what can one get from a blog that one can’t get from, say, the Albuquerque Journal?” (Ignoring that the Journal itself has several blogs.) Interesting, in part, because Lawrence’s own alternative paper, Crosswinds Weekly, folded and was not particularly lamented by most of theFix’s commenters. Chantal mentioned timeliness and community dialog with diverse views. I might add that bloggers preserve links to various sources of information and opinion. Tomorrow’s Journal may not have any connection to today’s outside of the comics page. Miss a story and it sinks forever in the paper sea. Bloggers paper our houses with the little shiny bits you might have missed. We are archivists extending the life of topics beyond our own short attention spans.

What can you get from blogs that you can’t get from newspapers? Relief from whole pages of nothing but ads. More bluntly, most of us do this for free while the Journal expects you to pay to see the ads that accompany the content you can read elsewhere. (Yeah, yeah, “you get what you pay for,” etc.)

Dimdahl reminded us of the overthrow of Dan Rather in the blogosphere’s version of a Swift Boat drive-by. He may want to read the more contemporary (The Left, Online and Outraged By David Finkel).

I notice that Steve Lawrence spends too much time emulating Charlie Rose, though he’s not nearly as obnoxious. Rule one in all conversations: shut up and listen. If you can’t do that, then start a blog instead of a talk show. But Steve disdains blogs.

In a nice bit of synchronicity, a letter I wrote ended the Line. Calling me “MH” (it’s “MJH”, thank you very much) and failing to mention my own blog, Steve read a portion of my letter (leaving out the more intellectual part). I asked why no one on the panel the week before had challenged Dimdahl’s distortion of the ACLU’s position on languages other than English in the workplace. Amazingly, rather than answer why no one had anything to say — even in agreement with Dimdahl — Lawrence gave it to Dimdahl to respond. Johnny sputtered about how he wished he could speak several languages and “I don’t think I was wrong.” Strong words, indeed. I would ask Dimdahl if he really believes the ACLU supports my right to speak German at work 8 hours a day or, rather, opposes my employer claiming the right to punish me for ever using German at work. Just as my views of Dimdahl’s Rio Grande Foundation should be suspect, so, too, are Dimdahl’s views of the ACLU. More so, since no one pays me for my biases. mjh

I’m still not quite happy with The Line on KNME (7pm Fridays). What brings me back is the hope the guest panelist will make it all work better for me. Friday night, the combination of Janice Paster and Susan Conway did just that. Afterwards, I wrote theline@knme.org :

There is one important defect in comparing the assimilation of European immigrants of the early 1900’s with immigration today. They had just left Europe, and clearly so. An Irish immigrant in Boston had a long way to go “home”; a Mexican immigrant in Las Cruces does not; a native New Mexican in Las Vegas has been “home” for centuries. Hispanics have been in the southwest and west longer than the United States itself or any English speakers. It makes for a significantly different set of facts.

Janice Paster is such a great addition to the line up; she’s cool, articulate and bright. I appreciate much about Margret Montoya and I think you do well to have at least one Hispanic perspective; can’t you have both Montoya and Paster? Are two-fifths too much yin?

Susan Conway is also an excellent counter-balance to John Dimdahl. Let’s see her again.

Dimdahl said the ACLU argues an employer cannot make employees speak English. Nonsense — why didn’t one of the others challenge him? The issue is employers trying to *prevent* their employees from ever using something other than English — even during breaks. That’s a very different matter. But Dimdahl gets his sly digs in, no matter how far from the truth.mjh

Search blog for Dimdahl.