Thursday, March 31, 2011

Governor Fails to Acknowledge Cuts to Classroom Education

Governor Martinez thinks that if she says it often enough that people will believe her when she says that she did not cut the classroom funding in this state. The reality is that when you cut teacher pay by 3.25% you cut funding to every classroom in this state. You also cut spending in the towns and cities of this state. Teachers often take money out of their own pockets to help support poor students in a state where a lot of children live near or below the poverty line.

Martinez has also cut school funding by 5% to K-12 public schools across the state which will result in even future cuts to instructor salaries. I fail to see administrators taking that money from their own paychecks.

You should make no mistake that community college presidents are getting ready to cut frontline workers pay at the same percentage rate they are forced to cut top administrators. Higher Education got a 7.5% cut in the state’s largest community college which I am sure will come out of the classrooms and out of teacher and support staff salaries. Why college presidents think it is ok to cut the salaries of people making less than $25,000 a year at the same rate they cut administration salaries is beyond my understanding. Clearly these people live a self centered it’s all about me and my money life style that has nothing to do with the reality of our current economic crisis.

People should call the governor so as to let her know that we do not buy the sugar coated lies coming from her and her less than honest open administration.

Wednesday, March 30, 2011

Smart Politicians Saying Stupid Things

“A person who disagrees with you isn't necessarily unintelligent. Sometimes, smart people say stupid things simply because they haven't gotten all the facts.” Or in the case of Republicans like Congressman Steve Pearce they simply disregard the facts in favor of large corporations.

Well that about sums it up for Congressman Steve Pearce. He wants to cut down more trees in this state and drive some poor little owl into extinction just to provide jobs that will not last very long in the first place. I think he would have been just the right congressman for this state in the 1800s because they tried sanctuaries (Reservations) with Native Americans but it just does not fly presently.

Now for all of us who are dealing with high pollen counts this spring cutting down all of those trees does not sound like such a bad idea at first. Since our state is an arid environment with very little water how could that be such a bad idea but I don’t think the spotted owls would be very happy with the results. And I don’t think our children and grandchildren would thank us over the long run.

Once upon a time New Mexico had a lot fewer trees back in the 1980s but with the building of more homes has come more trees. Maybe the Congressman should have all of the trees in our cities cut down instead of the ones that are there naturally in the forests around the state. Who knows it could create jobs for people who cut trees down and make a lot of people much healthier at the same time. I am sure the spotted owls don’t live in the cities of this state so what harm could it do except to make some home owners a little unhappy. But if they did not have to water their non-native trees maybe we could also save some water at the same time which I am sure would make the republican mayors happy.

All sarcasm aside cutting down our forest to create jobs that will not last is no way to create long lasting jobs for New Mexicans. We need new green jobs that will last a lot longer and provide high paying wages that can support state government. Harming our environment is no way to fix the problem of unemployment in this state. Republicans have to stop thinking in the past and start working for a better future for all New Mexicans.

Tuesday, March 29, 2011

The Supreme Court case is Wal-Mart Stores Inc v. Betty Dukes, No. 10-277

So will the U.S. Supreme Court side with women’s rights or large corporations in June? They will hear the case today of Wal-Mart Stores Inc v. Betty Dukes. We have seen a conservative court side with corporations far too often as of late. We know that at least one of the men of the U.S. Supreme Court would love to see women’s rights taken away since he has said that nowhere in the constitution does it state that women should be treated as equals. As he put it the founding fathers could not even have conceived in 1776 of women being treated as equals to men.

Yes, there are three women on the U.S. Supreme Court but they are outnumbered by five very conservative males at least one of which has shown that he is willing to engage in sex discrimination when it comes to female coworkers.

So, why must women put their faith in a court system which clearly sides with men and large corporations when it comes to equal treatment and equal pay? The fact is women in this country earn less pay for doing the same jobs as men. They are harassed in the workplace by men every day. Even one of the females on the U.S. Supreme Court has told women that it is best just to pretend to not hear sexual comments made by male coworkers if you desire to get ahead in this country.

How is this behavior a good example for our young women in this country? Why is it ok for men to stare at women and make unacceptable remarks during working hours just to intimate a female coworker? Why is it ok for women to make less money than men for doing the same job?

If the U.S. Supreme Court sides with this corporation which has a long history of abusing its employees then women in this country should no longer put their faith in the justice system to see that they are treated fairly as equals. We should fight back at the polls by putting women into power so as to see that no man ever is appointed to the U.S. Supreme Court until we can make the men in this country feel the same level of discrimination that women are forced to face every day of their lives in this country on the job.

It is our responsibility as parents to make sure that our daughters are given a workplace free of discrimination in any form in the future. At no point should any women in power tell our young women that they should turn a deaf ear to unacceptable speech or treatment in the workplace just in order to make $.77 to every $l a man makes who is doing the same job.

Wednesday, March 23, 2011

Susana Martinez has lost her Ever Loving Mind

Of all the nutcases in the world to appoint to the Judicial Standards Commission how could anyone in their right mind appoint Darren White? Has someone in the governor’s office drugged that woman? Clearly our governor has no respect for the rule of law. She wants to turn the Judicial Standards Commission into a public joke.

Darren White is the man who cannot stay away from a TV camera if his life depended on it. He has shown no respect for the legal system in general, and has made comments to the local news sources that would cause any sane person to question his ability to be an unbiased voice when it comes to our judges. His own personal record has shown very poor judgment when it comes to ethical standards.

Martinez has crossed the line with this appointment and the State Supreme Court should demand that she remove that man for that commission at once. The only good thing about this whole issue is that the commission does not have final say over our judges. Thank god, the final say is left up to the State Supreme Court itself.

Sunday, March 20, 2011

Governor Martinez--Rich Republicans and Corporations more important than our children

Governor Susana Martinez will sign into law a budget bill this year that will balance the state budget on the backs of educational employees. Make no mistake this is a 3.25% plus across the board pay cut to every educational employee in this state no matter how low their income. The governor made no attempt to direct those cost toward overpaid educational administration. The governor appointed Heather Wilson, a person of questionable character, to select her administration. She came out fighting for highly emotional issues this legislative session in order to draw attention away from the main issues of education and jobs.

Martinez has protected the rich in this state at the expense of our children’s future education and the future of our educated workforce. Clearly this governor, a woman, has broken the promise of protecting our children above all else in order to protect rich corporations and rich republicans. When will we get a governor who cares more for our children and their future then the well being of special interest groups.

Martinez and her republicans have shown that they like high paid lobbyists and will protect them over and above our children. She has shown where she places her priority and they don’t include the health and safety of our children in this state. She has shown that she likes republicans of questionable character and more than likely has hired more that a few of them to run her current administration. She has shown no respect for the rule of law when dealing with how she makes changes in her administration. She is a former district attorney who clearly has no respect for the laws of this state when it comes to dealing fairly with the voting public in this state.

All of this seriously calls into questions her intentions and her own personal character of fighting for our children and our state. She either does not know what she is doing and is letting corrupt individuals take control of our state or she is one of them and has managed to hide that fact up until now.

She was clearly a liar when she said that she would not harm our educational system. Teacher who are paid lower sums cannot afford to put their own personal income toward the classroom. She has cut funding to the classroom by taking that money from teachers salaries. She knows that the top administration will also cut classroom supplies before they would reduce their own income and clearly she approves of this behavior since she has now made friends with those in the top educational administration. Clearly her administration is now as corrupt as that of the top paid educational administration in this state. One has to wonder what her price was to sell out to the top educational administration of this state...

Wednesday, March 2, 2011

Does the City Council Feel Safer?

The Albuquerque City Council and the Bernalillo County Commission spend $40,000 to build a bulletproof dais in its chambers. With murders and stabbings covering the local newspaper one does have to wonder about the mayor’s approach to fighting crime in this city. It would appear that even the city council does not feel safe in their own city hall otherwise why would they be spending large sums of money at a time like this to protect themselves from the general public.

Where is the republican lead tough on property crime police force when the city council or the residents of this city honestly need them? Oh that is right; they are all on central guns drawn arresting a thief for stealing copper. Or maybe they are out arresting prominent city lawyers. Clearly these are hardened criminals that deserve the most attention from our city police force. Makes you just feel oh so safe does it not? Shows just what a great safety director Darren White truly is…

The leaders of the police force are too busy investigating their own employees for comments made on-line to bother policing our city streets. Gangs are seeing the weakness and beginning to reemerge out of lack of fear of being arrested for committing violent crimes in our city. As long as they stay away from rich citizen’s property and copper then they are fee to commit any crime they want to in this city.

We need safety leadership that will stop mugging for the evening news cameras and start finding ways to prevent citizens from being mugged in their own homes or on our city streets. Property crime although a major source of crime in this city is not the only type of crime in a city this large. Which would you rather loss a car or your life? Why should any citizen in this city be forced to make that decision in the first place? Effective leadership would find a way to make our city safe for its citizens all the while protecting its property from real criminals who mean us serious physical harm.

Tuesday, March 1, 2011

Party Leadership the Best Defense is a Good Offense?

In the near future the Democratic Party of New Mexico will be electing a leader. Will they stay with Javier Gonzales or go with Sam Bregman?

What do we know about Javier Gonzales?

Javier is a quiet polite kind individual who has conservative democratic views. He works well with middle of the road democrats and people who have been well established in the democratic party of this state. He is a family man with a wife and children. He is a real life cowboy who loves his horses and loves ridding. His style is not in your face attacking but more working in the back ground to get things done. He will not tell the party which candidate is best for the job or who to pick. He would rather see the party work for all democrats rather than the chosen few. He would never dream of backing a candidate down on an issue in public or demanding a stand on any issue that affects our state. His is not the attack style of republican politics.

The negatives to this are that his style lacks fire and passion. You will never see him out on the campaign trail getting the crowds all fired up but he will stand behind the candidates on the platform giving his quiet support. He talks about issues but never gives his own personal option on hot button issues. The Republican Party has taken advantage of this by using his lack of forcefulness to define issues in our state.

So what do we know about Sam Bregman?

He is a lawyer with a long history. He has a reputation of being very good at his job. He has been known to be very loud and outspoken on issues so don’t look for him to allow anyone to define his issues better then he can in public. He now has a Facebook page where he is posting his views on some of the issues and republican leadership.

The negatives are not much more is known about his at this time. Nothing about his personal likes or dislikes. Not an easy man to get to know in person at first meetings since he tends to be guarded. He is kind of standoffish at first meetings. He is known to be loud on subjects that at times can be good and at times can be bad. He is a lawyer which leads us to believe that he does not know how to admit when he is wrong on a subject. Some lawyers in the past have proven to be nothing more than little tin dictators. We all know the prime example of that when it comes to the City of Albuquerque.

So the race for party leader should heat up in the next few weeks and maybe we will get to hear why one candidate deserves support over the other.