This was ironic when I wrote it, now it’s ironic because I wrote it. mjh

mjh’s blog — I Submit (Sat 06/10/06 at 11:41 am)

Postcard from Albuquerque

Dear friends,

Greetings from New Mexico! This is the 40th straight day of rain here. It’s been raining so hard we haven’t been able to spend time at the beach or even to ride the paddlewheel up to Taos. The Rio Puerco washed away the Interstate yesterday. Lake Rio Rancho is close to overflowing. My hair is completely frizzy from the 100% humidity and mildew keeps forming on my suitcase. I can’t wait to get home to the desert around sunny Seattle.

Mer, Lucky and I drove a long loop up through eastern Utah, south-central Wyoming and central Colorado over 12 days.

I’ve posted my journal and some photos. mjh

My five loyal readers may have noticed I’m not keeping up. I want you to know I have not burned out or quit. Instead, I’m more deeply committed to writing than ever. So much so, in fact, that I am writing a book and — I’m not looking for sympathy here — under a schedule that gives wiser writers pause. I have 8 weeks to produce 400 pages that read as if I didn’t just have cranking out pages as my task.

I’ll tell you much more about the project and the process, if only you will come back. To make things easier for all of us, here’s my plan. I will post something on this blog every Sunday. Please come back in a few days.

In the meantime, I’ve been dying to say that Mel Gibson is absolutely an anti-Semite but that’s OK (to some) because he is not an “Islamofascist.” I think Eugene Robinson expressed my sentiments very well. Perhaps someone will post a link to his piece (www.washingtonpost.com) from a week or more ago in a comment. However, let me say that the world is full of anti-Semites and bigotry is humanity. I may be a bigot for not being surprised that someone of Gibson’s religious training is an anti-Semite. mjh

UNM Today: UNMH Shuttle begins Rail Runner Express service
University Hospitals Parking & Transportation Department has announced UNMH shuttle service between the Alvarado station in downtown Albuquerque and the UNM main hospital to accommodate Rail Runner Express riders. The service begins today, July 14. …

To meet the needs of most morning-arriving hospitals employees and visitors, the shuttle will be available at the Amtrak stop at the Alvarado station at:

• 6:25 a.m. to pick up passengers from the 6:30 a.m. train (no initial shuttle stop at UNMH)

• 7:30 a.m. to pick up passengers from the 7:35 a.m. train (leaves UNMH shuttle stop at 7:15 a.m.)

• 8:40 a.m. to pick up passengers from the 8:45 a.m. train (leaves UNMH shuttle stop at 8:25 a.m.)

In normal conditions, you may expect the shuttle to arrive at the main hospital
within approximately 10-15 minutes.

To meet the needs of most afternoon-departing hospitals employees and isitors, the shuttle will leave UNM Hospitals at:

• 3:45 p.m. to drop off passengers for the 4:10 p.m. train

• 5:05 p.m. to drop off passengers for the 5:25 p.m. train

• 6:10 p.m. to drop off passengers for the 6:30 p.m. train

Merri and I got back yesterday afternoon from a 12-day camping trip that took us through parts of New Mexico, Utah, Wyoming and Colorado. We were above 10,000 feet much of the time. We think that big storm may have followed us home.

Over the next week, I’ll be posting some thoughts from the trail and a few of the 1,000 photos we took.

As always, we are first struck by how much space our house has, after spending almost two weeks in the camper with 2ft x 4ft floorspace. Of course, on the road, all of the outdoors is our other room.

Then there is the free-flowing water. Our first night back, we used more water than we did most of our trip.

peace, mjh

Guadalupe Outlier Trip (mjh)

My “quest” for the Guadalupe Outlier began years ago, when I first heard of an outlier along the Rio Puerco near Cabezon.

Stars & Stripes
Future military radio menu could be more pop, less talk
Hip-hop-heavy content recommended for stations around the world

By Leo Shane III, Stars and Stripes
Mideast edition, Saturday, June 3, 2006

WASHINGTON – Military radio stations around the globe soon could be playing more hip-hop, more pop hits, less country music and no sports or political chat shows.

The biggest change proposed in the review would be centralizing most programming decisions in the United States, and creating a pair of music stations for broadcast worldwide.

The first station would feature hip-hop, rap, pop music and other similar formats. A second station would have classic rock, alternative bands and a mix of other Top 40 songs.

Popular talk radio programs such as Rush Limbaugh and those from National Public Radio, as well as country music, would be relegated to a third station, broadcast only in a few select areas with three military radio frequencies.

http://www.estripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=36735&archive=true

http://www.stripes.com/06/jun06/afrts.jpg

The Radio Equalizer: Brian Maloney: Limbaugh, Hannity, AFRTS
“if both liberal and conservative programming are dealt the same blow, where’s the bias?

Because conservative talkers are many times more popular with the troops than their liberal counterparts, the right will suffer greatly, while “progressives” have much less to lose. That’s because very few stationed overseas are listening to the lefties.”

With this kind of data, how could anyone determine that nearly all political talk radio should be eliminated from the two proposed primary worldwide broadcast stations? Why not remove the unpopular liberal shows and keep the rest?

http://radioequalizer.blogspot.com/2006/06/limbaugh-hannity-afrts.html

GOP takes aim at PBS funding – The Boston Globe
By Rick Klein, Globe Staff | June 8, 2006

WASHINGTON — House Republicans yesterday revived their efforts to slash funding for public broadcasting, as a key committee approved a $115 million reduction in the budget for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting that could force the elimination of some popular PBS and NPR programs.

On a party-line vote, the House Appropriations subcommittee that oversees health and education funding approved the cut to the budget for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which distributes money to the Public Broadcasting Service and National Public Radio. It would reduce the corporation’s budget by 23 percent next year, to $380 million, in a cut that Republicans said was necessary to rein in government spending. …

The same appropriations subcommittee called last year for an even more drastic cut of $223 million from public broadcasting programs. At the time, Republicans attacked the PBS for programming they said represented out-of-the-mainstream viewpoints, highlighting in particular a “Postcards From Buster” episode that featured lesbian couples and their children in Vermont.

But, in a defeat for House leaders, 87 Republicans joined unanimous Democrats in bucking an attempt to cut funding from the stations.

http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2006/06/08/gop_takes_aim_at_pbs_funding/