New Mexico
updated
2:21 a.m.
Remember, dear Babble reader, our discussion of a couple weeks back regarding wasted school days? I'd like to nominate another candidate: the Magazine Salesman Fundraiser Assembly (MSFA) . My first brush with this one happened yesterday, and it will take many, many mental showers before I feel anywhere close to ethically clean again. Here's how it went down: in a shortened academic day, st...
Burque Babble - Wed 10:50 p.m.
marjorie says... Gene (finally) clued us in earlier today that he and David Alire Garcia are blogging from Denver for KNME NM In Focus...check it out. It's great! ...
m-pyre - Wed 9:46 p.m.
marjorie says... Well, big Bill is going to speak at the main event Thursday instead of tonight (we hope)--from the sound of it tonight's schedule was just going too long. But if you can't wait, you can read his speech now. It's on the internet since it was released to the media before the change. It's quite good I think. It does include this curious bit about Musharraf: And Barack Obama s...
m-pyre - Wed 9:46 p.m. - 2 clicks 
So, it will probably come as no surprise to anyone that my gardening skills are non-existent. I went through a phase a few years ago (10, to be exact), when I wanted a real yard with, um, plants and stuff? So I spent a lot of money on tools and plants only to break and kill most of them. I also spent a lot of hours in Home Depot and, to this day, really can't bear to go in there. (One of my least ...
Julia Goldberg - Wed 8:00 p.m.
Maggie says: I'm watching the roll call right now, which I have always nerdily loved. I really enjoy seeing all the states represented and hearing what they have to say. Watching the delegates cheer in one of my happiest nerdy moments, actually. At any rate: so much excitement ahead tonight! I'll be gone from 6ish to 8ish Central time, so fill me in on what I miss, and know that I'll be back to ...
m-pyre - Wed 3:42 p.m.
The U.S. Census Bureau's annual release today of data on poverty, median household income, and health insurance coverage presents a mixed picture. There was a small but significant increase in the percentage of people in New Mexico who do not have health insurance. It rose from 20.1 percent in 2004-05 to 22.7 percent in 2006-07 for an increase of 2.6 percent. Nationally, the increase in uninsur...
Insight New Mexico - Wed 1:07 p.m. - 2 clicks
marjorie says... Hi Dad. It occurred to me that the best way for us to reference this speech was to simply post it here. Hopefully MSNBC will have it up for awhile. I have several thoughts about this performance, now that I've digested it. First and foremost, it showed just how strong Hillary is--which is why she's been able to withstand all the mysoginators since 1992. and second, and e...
m-pyre - Wed 11:43 a.m.
Maggie says: Whoopee, another night of politics! So tonight, we have the all-important Hillary Clinton speech and a keynote from Mark Warner. As I see it, Clinton needs to strongly and genuinely endorse Obama in the context of how damaging McCain will be for the country. Warner needs to deliver a pointed, all-fronts-attack on McCain that puts us on the offense. The context of Clinton's speech ...
m-pyre - Wed 10:48 a.m.
marjorie says... I know, I stole that from Mark. But it's kind of fitting... What's wrong with this paragraph? From LP's blog today , regarding the party Bill Richardson threw for the New Mexico delegation in Denver: Also there were Doug Fernandez of KOAT, Peter St. Cyr from KKOB radio, Steve Terrell o f the Santa Fe New Mexican, Jeff Jones of the Albuquerque Journal, my editor ...
m-pyre - Wed 10:48 a.m. - 2 clicks
Maggie says: I just caught the latest Obama ad... have you all seen this yet? I love smart use of music in ads. Not sure how this one will be received, but it definitely got my attention, and certainly hits on the right economic notes. Love that they got the hug in there, too. Thoughts? As much as I agree with Hillary Clinton not being on Obama's ticket, I have no stomach for the HRC-...
m-pyre - Wed 10:48 a.m.
marjorie says... I hope you guys are keeping up with the blogosphere to supplement that DNC convention floor rah-rah-rah. From Dave Maass at Swing State of Mind : You might also check out the NMI's sister site, the Colorado Independent for extensive pre-convention reporting about police preparations for the DNC. The streets are basically like a police state. And I don't believe th...
m-pyre - Wed 10:48 a.m.
Maggie admits: I know nothing about golf, but what's the deal with this ? The LPGA is now requiring all players to speak English. Isn't that a little... big- brother sister of them? A bit xenophobic? Is there precedent for this policy in U.S.-based sports? I can't imagine something like this flying in baseball or basketball, where the teams work together to come up with ways to communicate w...
m-pyre - Wed 10:48 a.m.
marjorie says... The Secretary of State has hired Tom Udall's son-in-law, Jim Noel, to be the state's elections director. I believe this means he's the head honcho in charge of pulling off the election in November. The SoS doesn't think its a problem...afterall, he has a law degree. Read it and weep. I think we finally may know why the SoS is jumping through the A.G. Gary King's hoop....
m-pyre - Wed 10:48 a.m. - 3 clicks
Maggie says: The convention is on! I'm particularly excited about the Kennedy tribute and Michelle Obama's speech tonight. MSNBC is the house channel. Thoughts and musings here the rest of the night......
m-pyre - Wed 10:48 a.m.
Maggie points out: Two men in Arizona - self-appointed "grammar vigilantes" - were busted recently on their three-month national tour correcting signage in U.S. National Parks. Jeff Michael Deck, 28, of Somerville, Mass., and Benjamin Douglas Herson, 28, of Virginia Beach, Va., pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Flagstaff after damaging a rare, hand-painted sign in Grand Canyon National...
m-pyre - Wed 10:48 a.m. - 3 clicks
Maggie says: After last night's rousing speech from HRC and her irrefutable chastisement of delegates who threaten to vote McCain, I have two thoughts regarding past and future spin. Republican HRC ads . On the admission that for the most part the recent HRC-themed Republican ads (one shown here ) were not aired and basically constituted "video press releases," we can see very clearly ...
m-pyre - Wed 10:48 a.m.
The boy likes to cook, which is convenient since I, occasionally, like to eat but rarely feel like cooking. Jen's man also is quite the chef, so a few weekends ago I devised my most brilliant plan ever: An ironchef cookoff between our boyfriends! So it came to be that while the men slaved in the kitchen, the ladies drank wine and played Rock Band. Who says feminist hasn't made any advances? (...
Julia Goldberg - Mon 3:12 p.m.
The Democratic National Convention kicks off Monday in Denver, bringing tens of thousands of visitors to the Mile High City. Party and city officials have set the ambitious goal of making sure the event is the "greenest" convention ever....
Insight New Mexico - Mon 9:44 a.m.
marjorie says... m-pyre didn't make the trek to Denver for the DNC this week---what can we say? Yes, it's true. We really aren't political animals. When it comes to that kind of politics anyway. However, some of our buddies in the blogosphere are and I'm counting on them to have some great commentary over the course of the week. Democracy for New Mexico is our "state blogger"--this means Ba...
m-pyre - Mon 8:05 a.m.
-Eamon Mac Mahon, Associated Press Or in this case, "TIDRA": Things I Didn't Run Across. I've always been interested in the more subtle forms of press censorship, in particular the gatekeeping role played by local newspapers. The photo above accompanies an Associated Press story by Rob Gillies entitled "Critics: Canada's Oil Boom an Environmental Bust". I came across the story at ...
Burque Babble - Sun 10:41 a.m.
Getting close now... let's continue our VP chatter in an updated spot. Part 1 here . Part 2 here. And.... go!...
m-pyre - Fri 9:30 a.m.
Maggie lists: I'm flying to Albuquerque this evening for a weekend of hugging the Ms, gabbing with great friends, eating my weight in green chile, and helping to raise some much-deserved cash for Martin Heinrich . "Does Air Conditioning Make People Vote Republican?" , which sounds so much like my dad (were he a Northerner) that I imagine him speaking the words as I read it to myself. ...
m-pyre - Fri 8:12 a.m. - 10 clicks
Every organization has strangely named departments, job titles and such, but you can't beat public education when it comes to bizarrely misnamed occupations. School "Counselor" for instance. Now there probably was a time, way back in the hazy John Dewey past when school counselors actually counseled students about things like where to go to college, or how to best deal with the bully in the sc...
Burque Babble - Fri 6:29 a.m.
marjorie says... I wrote a piece about the Hot Springs Motorplex in Truth or Consequences for the NMI that some of you may find interesting. The story was spurred by an investigative piece published in the St. Petersburg Times, out of Tampa, Florida. That piece exposes almost 20 claims by the developer, Greg Neal, as ”...exaggerated, misleading, disputed, or downright false," including claims...
m-pyre - Fri 12:25 a.m. - 9 clicks
marjorie says... Not to make light of the serious allegations in these two cases...but what is up (besides the obvious) with our fire fighters and police officers ?? First, a lawsuit is filed that makes the Albuquerque Police Department sound downright seedy. The suit calls it a "sub-culture of sexual fraternization." Then, today we have an article about the sexual harassment put up with ...
m-pyre - Thu 1:03 p.m. - 11 clicks
Now we all know why the Governor/New Mexico Legislature really wants to magnanimously give us New Mexicans some money. I guess I'd have more friends too, if only I would tell everyone I was giving them fifty bucks. I get that. But... I'd definitely have me some dumb new friends if I recruited these friends via the following strategy: "Hey, why don't you all put a bunch of money in this hat...
Burque Babble - Thu 9:30 a.m. - 12 clicks
marjorie says... Re: John Fleck's blog today: If you count the two security guards sitting in the lobby, Albuquerque Mayor Martin Chávez had an entourage of seven this afternoon when he came in for a sit-down with the Journal's editorial board. Just after the mayor and his posse left, Jeff Bingaman, chairman of the Senate Energy Committee, showed up for a similar meeting. By himself. To...
m-pyre - Aug 20 - 14 clicks
Maggie points to: Two Women Sentenced to 'Re-education' in China. They are in their late 70s, and their crime was repeatedly seeking a permit to protest the fact that their homes in Beijing were demolished without fair compensation to make way for the Olympics....
m-pyre - Aug 20
Maggie is... Bursting! Just saw this . Just in time for the closing rush of the presidential election, MSNBC is shaking up its prime-time programming lineup, removing the long-time host –- and one-time general manager of the network — Dan Abrams from his 9 p.m. program and replacing him with Rachel Maddow, who has emerged as a favored political commentator for the all-news cable channel. She b...
m-pyre - Aug 20
Maggie says: The indefatigable New Mexico political blog FBIHOP is trying to get to Denver to cover the convention for New Mexicans. Don't you want to send LP some gas money to make the trip? I thought so. Of folks I know going to Denver, LP will join local "personality" Gene Grant (for real this time) and my old buddy Richard , who will presumably avoid riling up the Jezebel girls in T...
m-pyre - Aug 20 - 8 clicks
My moratorium on any news of a political sort is going pretty well, but I made the big mistake of seeing a "report" last night on the just-concluded special session. It must have been exceedingly "special". Our "rebate" for the horrors of high-priced gasoline: Up to $30,000 a household ...you get fifty bucks (plus $50 for each dependent) and if I read it right, up to $70,000 you get tw...
Burque Babble - Aug 20 - 5 clicks
Even after only a few days of the new school year, it's quite obvious that the big change at my school, Jefferson MS, is the ubiquitous presence of our two new school cops. These guys, one of whom is wearing a gun (a fact noted by every student with a combined sense of awe and disapproval), have an uncanny ability to be everywhere, like they have mirrors or clones or something. To be honest, the...
Burque Babble - Aug 19
Well I've put my buck in the office pool on who Obama's VP pick will be. I am not a sentimental fool, I'm just putting my money where my journalist's black heart is: Richardson as VP is a much more interesting story for me than Biden. So there. Plus I saw the guv last night at a reception for film people at the Mansion and he was in such high spirits that something has got to be up. I wish I could...
Julia Goldberg - Aug 19 - 3 clicks
marjorie says... Thanks to Barb for pointing me to this video clip of Barack Obama today at Rio Grande High School in the South Valley. In it, he responds to a local Democratic party activist, Dallas Timmons, who called him out for his positions on moving Iraq soldiers to Afghanistan, and for his FISA vote...asking him if he was for real change... or a compromiser with the Republican minority. ...
m-pyre - Aug 18
My flight home from Chicago was as easy as my flight there: It left on time, was not full (I had empty seats next to me on both legs) and both also arrived early. Security was a breeze. Sheesh, even the baby two seats over was happy and never cried once. As we took off, the pilot told us we'd be getting into Albuquerque a few moments early and that the temperature was 62 degrees, which caused quit...
Julia Goldberg - Aug 18 - 4 clicks
FBIHOP is live-blogging the Obama event over at Rio Grande High School right now. I believe Gene is there with KNME as well....
m-pyre - Aug 18 - 4 clicks
Santa Fe - They're asking for a "time out" on Desert Rock. The state, along with conservation and citizens' groups, are asking the EPA for more time to review an air quality permit for the coal plant that was approved last month. Dailan Long with the Navajo group Dine Care says the federal agency left out several required analyses of the proposed plant's impacts on the environment and public healt...
Insight New Mexico - Aug 18 - 8 clicks
**Update Note 8/18/08 7:20 P.M. MDT: It's been a long, uncommonly popular day here at 'ol Burque Babble. Between being linked by real web sites with actual traffic and such and other web sites that aren't quite as famous, but still have 100,000 times more traffic than this little blip on the Internet Superhighway, we've been visited by aliens, viral cruisers, the depraved and the inquisitive. ...
Burque Babble - Aug 17 - 2 clicks