Category Archives: loco

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

Letters-to-the-Editor, media

the pornification of advertising

alibi . september 1 – 7, 2005
Ad Nauseum
BK loves BJ?
By Devin D. O’Leary

For the last month or so, I–and most of America by extension–have been subjected to Burger King’s ubiquitous ad campaign for “chicken fries.” Frightening inedibility of the alleged “food” product aside, the television commercials have crossed new boundaries of idiocy and raunch and are–I believe–contributing to the wholesale degeneration of American society as surely as the vomitoriums and coliseums of ancient Rome contributed to that once great empire’s death.

Did Devin O’Leary just turn 30 or have a kid? How else to understand his sudden concern about the pornification of advertising. Devin, whatever you do, don’t look at the rest of the Alibi!

Devin’s still young enough to imagine the slick young man putting one over on the out-of-it oldsters who head the ad agency. Yeah, right, Devin. Those old guys grew up to the Who singing “I hope I die before I get old.” They just didn’t get their wish.

But, perhaps Devin was actually born yesterday, if he doesn’t realize Rock ‘n’ Roll has been about sex for 50+ years — your grandparents felt each other up to “Great Balls O’ Fire!” And the saying that “sex sells” has been around for at least 40 years; time to read “The Hidden Persuaders” by Vance Packard (so tame by today’s fallen standard). What is rock or adversing but the effort to get into your pants?

I hope an actual journalist will look into the advertising agency behind BK’s coq roq, the earlier Singing Cowboy (“and the breasts that grow on trees!“) and, more than likely, Carl Jr’s Paris Hilton soft-core soak. It’s no longer about the meat that satisfies a conventional hunger. If that bothers you, get a job at Crosswinds. mjh

mjh’s Blog: You Are What You Eat

Am I the only one disturbed by the Burger King Singing Cowboy commercial? ….

loco

Tuesday Deadline to Register to Vote

ABQjournal: Tuesday Deadline to Register to Vote
Journal Staff Report

The deadline to register to vote in the Oct. 4 municipal election is Tuesday.

To be eligible, you must register with the Bernalillo County Clerk’s Office, which is in the city-county Government Center at Fifth and Marquette NW. Call 768-4085 for more information.

Here are other key election dates:

# Wednesday: Absentee in-person voting starts. You may cast your absentee ballot in person at the City Clerk’s Office at the government center or at the city records center at 604 Menaul NW. The hours are Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Contact the clerk’s office online at www.cabq.gov or 768-3030 to request an absentee ballot application.

# Sept. 14: Early voting starts. You can vote in person at the City Clerk’s Office or at the Menaul records center. Both are open 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday.
The records center is also open on two Saturdays — Sept. 17 and Sept. 24 — from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.

# Sept. 30: Early voting ends.

# Oct. 4: Election Day. If you haven’t already turned in your absentee ballot, you must do so by 7 p.m. on Election Day.

# Nov. 15: Runoff election. If no candidate gets 40 percent of the vote on Oct. 4, there will be a runoff election involving the top two candidates in that race.

loco

ABQjournal: Minimum Wage Hike Pressed, Could End Up On The Legislature’s Calendar By Barry Massey
The Associated Press

“Increasing the minimum wage is a proven way to decrease poverty,” Gerry Bradley, an economist with New Mexico Voices for Children, said Thursday in releasing a report critical of the state’s economy.

A greater share of New Mexicans — about 6 percent — work in jobs paying at or below the minimum wage than any other state in the nation, he said.

“The bottom line is New Mexico’s economy is not an engine for opportunity and prosperity for far too many of our working families. A staggering 43 percent of New Mexicans live at or below 200 percent of the federal poverty level,” said Bradley. …

There are 16 states and the District of Columbia with minimum wages above the federal level, according to the U.S. Department of Labor.

The state of Washington has a $7.35 an hour minimum wage, which is adjusted yearly for inflation. Oregon is next with a $7.25-an-hour.

Anybody know which the other 14 states are? Have they all gone to hell as a result of raising the minimum wage? mjh

loco

It’s a nasty weapon

ABQjournal: Bunker-Buster Critics Make N.M. Visit By John Fleck, Journal Staff Writer

Weapons supporters say it could be an important military tool to destroy deep underground enemy bunkers. Critics say it would kick up dangerous clouds of radioactive fallout, while being of little military utility.

“It’s a nasty weapon,” said Robert Nelson, a Princeton University physicist who studies nuclear weapons for the Union of Concerned Scientists. …

“We’re just here to kill it,” Nelson said of the groups’ New Mexico trip.

loco, Uncategorized

Political Yard Signs Belong in YARDS

MR and I have discussed this issue for many election cycles (the full story is below). We believe yard signs belong in yards, not in public spaces. So, starting with this entry, I intend to highlight candidates who violate this simple guideline: put your yard signs in someone’s yard — nowhere else.

When you see a candidate’s signs in many yards, you know that candidate has real people supporting him or her. When you see yard signs in public spaces, you know that candidate has at least one hard working volunteer and some money to waste — but possibly no support whatsoever. The way to get signs in people’s yards is to meet them; the way to get signs in public spaces is to sneak around at night, like those exuberant Bush supporters who nailed Bush signs high on telephone poles in my neighborhood to make them hard to remove. Turns out it was quite easy with a golf club.

Today’s inaugural violator is Wayne Johnson. On my morning bike ride, I saw many, many of Wayne Johnson’s yard signs in various public spaces and only one in a yard (Wayne’s own yard?).

Mr Johnson: I will not consider voting for you until you remove your signs from public spaces. peace, mjh

The back story:
Continue reading Political Yard Signs Belong in YARDS →

loco

Raise the Minimum Wage!

ABQjournal: Mandated Minimum Wage Ships Jobs Outside City Limits By Kenneth M. Brown and Micha Gisser, The Rio Grande Foundation

Obviously a $7.50 minimum wage would send a bad signal to out-of-state firms considering moving here, depending on their wage structure.

But more important would be the not-so-subtle message that Albuquerque municipal government stands ready to insert itself into private working arrangements between companies and their employees. What’s next, they would wonder. Albuquerque would never again make one of those “Best Of” lists produced by Forbes magazine and others.

The logic of a mandatory minimum wage is flawed. Basically, it is the philosophy that a government can force producers to pay employees more than the value of their contribution to production.

Yes, let’s send a message to companies looking our way. Paint your CEO gold; bury your board in cash; reward your shareholders royally. But pay those at the bottom of it all enough to live on. If you intend to enrich the top by starving the bottom, look for a real Red State.

Brown and Gisser, who you can be sure made more than $7.50 an hour for this article, use the shotgun approach in their drive by the minimum wage issue. Raising the minimum wage will ruin everything every way imaginable. I, for one, would be delighted to see a single McDonald’s or WalMart close up and move to Los Lunas or New Delhi — ain’t gonna happen. I’m sure Texas will welcome the Rio Grande Foundation with open arms when they move to El Paso to save $2/hour per employee.

Note that B&G’s argument could be used to do away with the federal minimum wage entirely. It is, in fact, the job of government to “insert itself” in lots of areas corporations and profit-takers would rather government stay out of, including many matters of health and safety that impact the bottom line.

Opponents of a living wage often say if one doesn’t want a minimum wage job, one should get an education. I’ve taught UNM Continuing Education for over 17 years. Classes have never been more expensive. Someone on minimum wage can’t afford to take a class.

What has happened to the notion of risk-taking? Do we no longer believe in trial and error, experimentation, observation and revision? Can’t we try something and risk failure? Conservative no longer means cautious, it means fearful. Let’s try raising the minimum wage and reconsider it in a few years — if we were wrong, will Albuquerque really become a ghost town in that short interval? mjh

loco

PhD of ID

This is where ID supporters are taking us. Get your doctorate of bible sciences. mjh

Lawsuit: UC biased vs. Christians

A group representing California religious schools has filed a lawsuit accusing the University of California system of discriminating against high schools that teach creationism and other conservative Christian viewpoints.

The Association of Christian Schools International, which represents more than 800 schools, filed a federal lawsuit Thursday claiming UC admissions officials have refused to certify high school science courses that use textbooks challenging Darwin’s theory of evolution. Other rejected courses include “Christianity’s Influence in American History.”

According to the lawsuit, the Calvary Chapel Christian School in Murrieta was told its courses were rejected because they use textbooks printed by two Christian publishers, Bob Jones University Press and A Beka Books.