Category Archives: loco

As Tip O’Neill never said, “All politics is loco.”

alBAHquerque

Couple: SWAT Storming Traumatic

Imagine if this couple had legally possessed a weapon and legally had it in hand against this home invasion. They’d be dead now.

ABQJournal Online » Couple: SWAT Storming Traumatic

By Olivier Uyttebrouck / Journal Staff Writeron Wed, Apr 18, 2012

Bertha and Carlos Gamboa were watching TV in their home last week when SWAT officers with the Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Office broke through a door and ordered the couple at gunpoint to lie on the floor.

The deputies were executing a search warrant April 10 at an apartment two doors away from the Gamboas’ home in connection with the deaths of two people whose charred remains had been found earlier that day on the West Mesa.

But the Gamboas had no connection with those deaths, the couple said. A week later, the Gamoas remain traumatized that armed men stormed their home and held them at gunpoint for up to 10 minutes. …

Deputies used a battering ram to break through a wooden outer door, she said. When Bertha Gamboa opened her solid wood door, she saw the muzzle of a shotgun thrust toward her.

About seven deputies armed with shotguns entered the apartment and ordered the couple to lie on the floor, she said.

“Carlos was frozen, standing in the living room,” his wife recalled. Carlos Gamboa, who doesn’t speak English fluently, did not understand the deputy’s order. Bertha Gamboa said she told her husband in Spanish to lie down.

For the next five to 10 minutes, armed men stomped around the apartment until one of the deputies explained that they had the wrong apartment, she said.

ABQJournal Online » Couple: SWAT Storming Traumatic

loco, NADA - New American Dark Ages, The Atheist's Pulpit

Let the mean-spirited wicked bastards win

I no longer support efforts to restore the lobo to its rightful habitat in the wildlands of New Mexico. Yes, the blood-thirsty, cold-hearted sons-of-bitches can have their way, just like well-armed babies. Yes, the late-comers who claim they own all public lands can deny the majority its will. Yes, a small number of cowardly dimwits can determine the fate of the ecosystem.

Now and then, ugly, stupid, mean, and wrong triumph. I’m tired of the slaughter of decent animals by indecent ones.

Election, media

Subheading Shenanigans at abqjoural

Does the Albuquerque Journal let political bias write headlines on the Business Page?

Buffet Rule in Play Already
Economists Call It The ‘Stupid Rule’

"The Buffett Rule, amongst economists, could also be called the stupid rule," said Kevin Hassett, a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, a Washington group that supports free enterprise.

Did you see that "could" in a quote from a guy who isn’t an economist but works at at a leading Conservative "think" tank? You can hear the sniff as our senior fellow says amongst.

Still don’t think abqjournal is playing politics? Here’s the original Bloomberg News (by Richard Rubin) heading:

Top Earners Pay Higher Tax Rate Without Buffett Rule

Stupid abqjournal.

Election, media

ABQJournal lays a guilt-trip on environmentalists? Greed motivates liars.

I find the following “reasoning” amazing: if we don’t let Keystone cross the US, the Canadians and the Chinese will wreck the environment in Canada. But the pipeline in the US would be absolutely safe. Huh?

The Journal repeats the lie (until it becomes truth) that this pipeline has anything to do with US energy independence. ALL of the product will be shipped overseas. This is ALL about who profits; screw the environment, screw the nation, screw everybody but the board and the shareholders (and don’t let them know you’re screwing them, too). Greed motivates liars.

ABQJournal Online » Editorial: Keystone XL Decision Impacts Energy Edge

Already in the permitting process is a proposal by another Canadian company — with investments from China — to build a pipeline from Alberta to a remote and culturally sensitive area on Canada’s west coast, home to the Gitga’at tribe. It also would go through the protected Great Bear Rainforest, one of the world’s largest remaining unspoiled temperate rainforests and home to the “spirit bear,” a rare white black bear. Some locals fear that giant tankers threading through narrow channels to Kitimat, the pipeline’s proposed destination, could result in an Exxon Valdez-like disaster.

The U.S. is the most logical market for oil sands crude. But the Obama administration, instead of coming down on the side of job creation and energy security, jilted one of our strongest allies in an apparent bid to curry election-year favor from environmentalists.

If Canada does develop a West Coast oil port, U.S. refineries and consumers will be left out of this energy independence game — and the oil will still be moved, refined and consumed. Who wins? [mjh: Who profits?]

This editorial first appeared in the Albuquerque Journal. It was written by members of the editorial board and is unsigned as it represents the opinion of the newspaper rather than the writers.

ABQJournal Online » Editorial: Keystone XL Decision Impacts Energy Edge

Journal Acknowledges a Crack in the Keystone Jobs Argument By Denise Tessier, www.abqjournalwatch.com

Media Matters found that industry claims of the pipeline’s importance in terms of energy security was rarely questioned, either:

Print Media Frequently Touted Keystone XL As A Step Towards U.S. Energy Security. The purported contribution from the Keystone XL pipeline to American energy security was mentioned in 52% of print coverage, 22% of broadcast coverage, and 28% of cable coverage. USA Today, whose editorial board supports the pipeline, mentioned energy security in 67% of its coverage, more than any other print outlet. Fox News mentioned it more than all the other television networks combined. Only items in the New York Times and the Los Angeles Times questioned the energy security benefits of the pipeline.

Journal Acknowledges a Crack in the Keystone Jobs Argument

media

Quigley sorts it out, as usual

Albuquerque is lucky to have Winthrop Quigley, a clear and fine writer.

ABQJournal Online » Cycle of life, death sustains U.S. economy By Winthrop Quigley / Journal Staff Writer on Mon, Oct 24, 2011

I never worry very much about the American economy, no matter how awful things seem to be. The weak businesses are culled, the strong businesses thrive, capital and labor flow to the strong, and the economy keeps growing. It’s an ugly process, but it works. …

Something amazing is going to happen, and when it does somebody else’s employer will be killed. It’s wonderful. It’s terrible.

ABQJournal Online » Cycle of life, death sustains U.S. economy

loco, WTF?!

Ignore Paul Gessing. He’s a paid curmudgeon.

Several times a month, Paul Gessing earns a paycheck by complaining about some public service or public benefit. He never disappoints his masters (the Koch brothers?).

Most recently, Gessing complained that the money spent on the only bridge over the Rio Grande built to serve pedestrians and bicycle riders should have been pissed away on the federal debt. Normally, Gessing has no need to conduct research, content to cut and paste from his masters’ playbook. In this case, Gessing sent employees to monitor the bridge for a few minutes out of a year. (How many employees does the un-think tank have?) Their conclusion, in part, is that they didn’t see anyone dressed for work, therefore, no commuters. Does Gessing really believe people wear coats and ties on bikes (or to most jobs in Albuquerque, for that matter). Most bike commuters dress for comfort and safety, which eliminates neck ties, monocles, and shoes with little tassels, like those favored by the “Rio Grande Foundation.” No one rides a bike with a briefcase dangling from the handlebars. After a cold commute, they dress at work, and then get sneered at by fat coworkers quoting Gessing. The luckiest can shower at work, as I did 30 years ago, as a bicycle commuter.

Not everyone who commutes by bike does so every day; some ride once a week. Let’s see Gessing station observers on the bridge seven days a week for one full month, 5am to 9pm, everyday. Then, his data will be more than just the crap he has now.

But it doesn’t matter to Gessing that he can’t recognize a bicycle commuter. It doesn’t actually matter to him how many people use the bridge. He doesn’t give a damn about quality of life, the health of the community, or the reputation Albuquerque enjoys as a nice place to live and work. All that matters is he earned another paycheck shooting down the public good and the community on behalf of his wealthy benefactors.