“They are not journalists, but rather

propagandists…working for a third-rate socialist ‘newspaper.’ … These are writers who would be considered liberal whackos in

Holland, for God’s sake!” — Paul Linkenheimer, Rio Rancho, in Crosswinds Weekly

Thank you for printing the

perfect example of right wing deep thought. I am happy to read ignorant rants that broadcast the real nature of such people. Linkenheimer

thoroughly denigrates the Crosswind staff in complete ignorance of your experience (and ages). While Duhbya pays lip-service to ‘small

business entrepreneurs’ we see the respect his worshippers grant the real thing. As for freedom of the press, well, just you wait.

Finally, Linkenheimer attacks every single Democrat over 40 as leeches (no doubt worthy of extermination, or, at least, internment) —

and crows about his contribution to political discourse. Ah, the open arms of the diversity-loving Republicans!

We’re not afraid of

the views of people we disagree with. Let them make fools of themselves. Please devote an entire issue to such BUllSHit

before the election. mjh

ABQjournal: Las Cruces Puts Runway Damage at $1 Million

City

officials said airport staff warned members of the president’s advance team and a pilot that runway 4/22 did not have the weight-bearing

capacity to handle the big cargo jets or the Boeing 757 the president flew in on. …

[Republican?] Mayor Bill Mattiace said the

incident could be a ”blessing in disguise” if the city is able to gain federal funding to build a stronger, longer runway. [mjh:

‘federal funding’? As in ‘money stolen from taxpayers’?]

Well, I’m relieved to see (in my own anecdotal, unscientific

way) that the Albuquerque Journal finally mentioned the damage Bush’s recent visit did to an airport runway in Las Cruces (a few days

after the story broke). I’m even stunned it made it to page one (well below the fold, proving it is still not as important as Kerry’s

crime against commuters). Notice this headline writer doesn’t mention Bush.

I’m still waiting for the editorial demanding Bush pay for the repairs. mjh

ABQjournal Opinion: ‘State of the Art’ Road May Be Headed South [har-har]

After U.S. 550 was completed, the Heartland

Institute, a conservative think-tank hailed the arrangement. “One key factor in the project’s success is that the state is not telling

Koch how to build the road, … (allowing) innovative practices often not available to the public sector.”

Today’s

Journal Editorial deals with problems with US550, formerly NM44. In 521 words, they fail to mention Gary Johnson once. This is the

virtual Gary Johnson Memorial Highway, a road many saw as a great big thank you to conservative Republicans in the Four Corners. Gary

cheated and violated process to build this road in an outrageously unorthodox manner, all the while promising that this was the

innovative way to do things (borrow and stick us with the bill later). Now we see this was not merely incompetence but criminal. Not that

Gary will be held in any way accountable nor brilliant Republican innovations discredited. mjh

Column:Taxes punish rich Americans by Alex Hughes, Daily Lobo columnist

I hate taxes more than just about anything

else on this planet. … I, for one, feel this amount of taxation is absolutely ridiculous. … That is correct. I am calling

progressive taxation a form of communism. … If a person is rich, it is probably for a good reason.

I wonder how

long it is going to take conservative readers to realize that “Alex Hughes” is actually a satirist whose purpose is to make conservatives

seem shallow and dim. Alex confesses, “I hate taxes more than just about anything else on this planet.” I assume “just about” carries the

burden of covering rape, murder, war, and lying to the public for personal profit and political gain.

Outraged, he asks, “Does the

government honestly think it can spend my money more effectively than I can?” Gee, Alex, how many nuclear warheads can you and your pals

afford? Daddy may have given you an SUV, but who gave you the road? Where do voting machines and public schools come from?

Let’s

consider one simple fact: there are things that only a government can or should do (libertarians and anarchists notwithstanding). Even

conservatives have things they want the government to do, like spy on you, restrict your freedom and make war. These things cost money.

Now, it is true, we could have the Coca-Cola Department of the Fatherland (next term), but for the short term, the government needs money

and it gets it two ways: borrow and tax. Taxes are what you and I pay for benefits and services we’re never going to get from

corporations (until we have the Nike Department of War). Borrowed money has to be repaid with interest to large corporations and rich

investors. So, not only are the rich not paying taxes, they are also getting richer from the interest paid out of the taxes you and I

will pay forever.

For many years, conservatives have won converts with a simple mantra: taxation is theft; the government is stealing

your money. To them, there is no commonwealth nor common good; every man for himself. If you want a nation, it is going to cost you

something.

On just one more matter, the Estate Tax, or the Death Tax as marketing-savvy conservatives call it, had one major public

benefit: it delayed the rise of an American Aristocracy. If you allow families to accumulate wealth endlessly, some of them will end up

so stinking rich they can buy anything, even an election.

Alex declares, “If a person is rich, it is probably for a good reason.”

(This is the ‘compassionate’ version of ‘if you’re poor it’s your own damn fault.”) Maybe you’re rich because you worked really

hard; maybe you’re rich because Great-Granddaddy was — it’s not quite the same thing, is it Alex?

Let me suggest you google

“revolutions of 1848.” That was a time when the poor of the world said to the rich: enough! Talk about ‘punishing the rich’; which is

worse, a progressive tax scale or your head on a pike? America was spared this bloodshed because our own greedy rich hadn’t yet taken

over. What a difference 156 years make! mjh

Published 9/7/04 in the Daily Lobo: Letter:Government costs money, needs taxes to do its

job

ABQjournal: Budget, Iraq are Bush Topics On Tour

In Albuquerque,

protesters stood in parking lots across from the Convention Center.

A police spokeswoman estimated the number as several pockets

of 50 or fewer.

The Albuquerque Journal manages 64 words at the butt-end of 1109 words on Pharoah’s triumphant visit. Any

protests in Las Cruces or Farmington (ha!)? Don’t expect any interviews or photos.

Duhbya gave the same speech 3 times and was still

reading it on the 3rd go round. I guess a week resting in Crawford wasn’t enough. mjh

PS: Oh, by the way, from page 4:

ABQjournal: Over 1

Million More Living in Poverty

The new Census report — issued Thursday but not mentioned by Bush in his speeches in Las

Cruces, Farmington and Albuquerque — showed the number of Americans living in poverty increased by more than 1.3 million last year

while the number of Americans without health insurance rose 1.4 million.

It was the third straight year of increases for both

categories.

It interests me that this is on A4 when a few cars towed by the Secret Service — and blamed on Kerry —

made it to page one the last time Duhbya came

to town (yes, that again). mjh

mjh’s Blog: With All Due Respect

ABQjournal: Master Fingerpointer Falls Short of Propaganda Paragon By

John Dendahl

Right at the get-go, for example, the screen is dark but the sound is of some kind of enormous crash. The pictures that

follow make clear that what wasn’t seen is an air transport being flown into the World Trade Center.

Moore later proffered some

lame excuse about excessive violence for leaving out the important visual — real life, not some special effects man’s gory scare

stuff — of the event that led President George W. Bush to declare war against international terrorism. Any inquiring person who

sees the film in its entirety knows very well that these pictures would have detracted mightily from the likely purpose of the film,

demonizing the Bush administration.

One shouldn’t be surprised that John Dimdahl is no better as a movie critic than he

is as a political commentator. That long dark scene in Moore’s film which Dimdahl misinterprets was powerful to the point of painful; it

was even radical in film to depend entirely on sound. No one has forgotten what the attack looked like; listening to it was, in a way,

new and freshly shocking.

But, I would be happy for Dimdahl to become a film critic if it distracted him from his normal job of attach

dog for the Radical Right. He doesn’t even rise to the label ‘propagandist’ — he’s a vicious hack of the Lush Limbaugh ilk.

mjh

mjh’s Blog: Dimdahl is

an Ass

The Democratic presidential candidate is probably

oblivious to the inconvenience and expense visited on hapless citizens. [S]ince the mistake was committed on Kerry’s

behalf [mjh: in an effort to protect his life], his campaign ought to reimburse passengers who were railroaded into paying tow

fee. — The Mighty Albuquerque Journal

”Oblivious”? How do you even spell that without a duhbya?

I’m puzzled by the Journal’s outrage on behalf of 6 citizens who were inconvenienced by the Secret Service’s decision to tow their

vehicles. I’m more puzzled still how the Journal hangs this on John Kerry (on the front page, no less, and, days later, the editorial

page). Is it possible that more than 6 people have been inconvenienced by the frequent visits of Dick Cheney and George Bush? Is it

possible that more than 6 people have paid a steep price in terms of loss of freedom, especially free speech and free association? We’ll

never know from the Journal, which isn’t about to investigate such matters. mjh

[published 8/24/04]