"No Choice" Outsiders Import Phony "Christian" Sharia to Subjugate Albuquerque Women

The Psycho Reality

of NM's "No Choice" Army From Kansas

Normally, MeanMesa is a very genteel, soft spoken sort of blog, but in this instance a tiny bit of the old fire has found a home in these geriatric bones.  When that tantalizing fragrance of bodies burning on the stake and that alluring thud of stones "redeeming" a fallen woman reach these old nose and ears, the exquisitely simple thought of "enough is enough" seems to become an inescapable conclusion.

Enough is enough.  Give me a break,

The holy army of "Christian Love." (image source)

Of course, we have all seen the medieval depths to which our neighboring state, that is, Kansas, has plunged in its faux Old Testament legislative "tent  revival," but oozing that fetid ancient hatred and fear into Albuquerque is, well, the "enough" part of...

"enough is enough."

There are plenty of single issue "no choice" voters in Albuquerque -- more than enough to slide this regurgitated, imported, legislative trash onto a local ballot.  There is also a more than adequate cess pool of political cynicism on the suspiciously ALEC controlled -- now sporting an unelected Republican majority -- city council to shoe horn this monstrosity into a cravenly scheduled single issue election most likely to be held very, very, extremely, quietly on a day lost amid the long dreary doldrums of a New Mexico November chill.

It's nothing new. This is a "perfect wave" of the same old, sickening, ALEC machinations that are designed to ram pre-written, "contracted" laws straight from wing nut think tanks down the throats of a distracted electorate.  Quite aside from the local "no choice" band wagon, this same outfit brought the "stand your ground law" to Florida just in time for the killer, Zimmerman, to do his handiwork.  

ALEC is writing state laws so fast that you'd think you were reading a roll of toilet paper -- "sponsored" laws to disenfranchise registered voters, break unions and cut public education spending in two dozen states.  The anti-democracy, ALEC cracker running Michigan is trying to auction off the contents of the Detroit Museum of Fine Art to his billionaire cronies for a dime on the dollar.

Disabuse yourselves of any lingering possibility that these Kansan "vaginal control carpet baggers" have any shade of legitimacy in their origins.  The corporate sponsors are in control of ALEC, and ALEC is essentially in direct control of the State of Kansas, now pumping, under direct ALEC orders no doubt, car loads of equally crazed anti-abortion zealots into Albuquerque.

And in New Mexico the state wide and Bernalillo County GOP ALEC gangs are salivating over the prospect of injecting themselves even further into the local government in Albuquerque -- an action in direct contradiction to the majority Party affiliations seen in the votes in Albuquerque elections.  The NM Catholic Bishops are "carrying the water" for these smelly, rag tag invaders.

"Operation Rescue?" Abortion, Inc.

The puppet masters who are pulling the strings on this rolling gypsy passion play LOVE abortion, anti-abortion, early term abortion, late term abortion, rape and incest abortion -- or, no rape and incest abortion,  the shimmering violence of burning abortion clinics and the bullet riddled corpses of abortion doctors assassinated in their church pews.  All this high drama stuff is the proprietary work product of "Abortion, Inc." think tanks.

This is a hack political career opportunity for them -- just keep the single issue hill billies frothing at the mouth, do a little cynical gerrymandering and your client "candidate" will be in office for all eternity -- regardless of the voters.

Sometimes, while pondering the nature of the "home nest" of these state-to-state travelling trailer park weirdos, our fantasy fixes on a serene monastery at the top of some mountain or a hard working crowd in a busy community organizing office deep in some city.  Forget it.  The home office of "Abortion Inc." is in the board room of some billionaire's "hobby lobby" or the tactics room of some combo lawyer/PR firm.

It's all business.

Above the rank of second lieutenant in this organization none of these busy little hate merchants has ever worried a single moment about a fetus.  They know that the franchise operation that signs their pay checks sells boiling hot or, perhaps, hysterically sobbing, anti-abortionists of every possible ilk who can be used to populate their heavily subsidized "protest rallies,"  you know, the ones where 100 people show up in buses with pre-printed signs to parade their "spontaneous outrage" in front of 200 television cameras which were also furnished by the franchise.

Think of them as something similar to the tea bags, but the owners of "Abortion, Inc." know better than to let any of the "bus riding little people" do the spelling.

Facing Facts

Fact 1:  For the mortally wounded, heavily soiled, NM state GOP anti-abortion zealots are a dependable bloc of base voters which requires astonishingly little maintenance. MeanMesa is a close acquaintance with one of these dependable "walking ballots."  

Her vote is a sure thing.  It will be right there -- regardless of a candidate's campaign, record, abilities or anything else -- on election day.  This friend has a shocking antipathy to any information about the US economy, US foreign policy, US Congressional activity and even today's reports of US weather patterns, but when a drawling cracker utters the words "anti-abortion," he can count on her vote.

Fact 2:  The Bishops have a gigantic stake in this election issue.  They may be fairly quiet in the public commercial airwaves, but sitting deep in their fully funded, tax exempt cloisters they can see the writing on the wall.  The congregation populations in their parishes decline year after year, and their historically suffocating authority over "the faithful" is in tatters.

For example, an estimated 80% of Catholic women in New Mexico routinely use "Liturgically prohibited" birth control.

The Romans have shown no hesitation in forming an "unholy" pact with any politician or religion willing to assist their authoritarian anti-abortion, anti-gay agenda.  After all, during the medieval propaganda extravaganza in California's Proposition 8, the Bishops eagerly added their "campaign contributions" to the Mormon's envelope.

The Roman tactical frenzy in that affair was so apoplectic that none of them showed any remorse for the fact that Pope Urban II was probably turning over in his grave at the alliance.

Fact 3:  The title of this post includes the term "Sharia."  This is not merely an inconsequential product of MeanMesa's over indulgent, geriatric, strident hyperbole.

Sharia Law -- among many other echoes of the Dark Ages -- contains an extensive collection of Islamic "woman control" tenets.  While the focus is very purposefully directed at fetuses in the public discourse of the anti-abortionists, we find an expanded interest lurking just below that odious surface.

The sheep herding patriarchs who cooked up this scheme wanted to a.) preserve the dominant authority of their tribal roles and b.) maintain and reaffirm social authority over the sexual lives of all those in their tribal domains.  The anti-abortion incendiaries are meant to prepare the way for forcing all sexual activity into conformance with Old Testament Mosaic law under judicial enforcement.

In the Bishop's dreams a legally enforced policy of no condoms, no birth control and no abortions builds a fence within which there will be no sex without their patriarchal approval.  The control of sex presents an opportunity for the ultimate preservation of this patriarchal authority.  Beyond the Romans it can be violently promoted by the wildly insecure Wahabists in Saudi Arabia or simply by the dirty shirt preachers from the fields of Kansas, the game -- and the goal -- is the same.

No Problem.  We know how to control women. (image source)

Uttering these forbidden thoughts so openly is -- suspiciously -- considered an almost unforgivable social faux pas in modern culture, but MeanMesa very comfortably "steps up to the plate," as usual.

Albuquerque's Young Men Have a "Dog in This Fight"

MeanMesa is posting these thoughts here as a result of being contacted by a telephone call from RESPECT ABQ WOMEN, the local organization which is working to make certain this wretched proposal doesn't become law by winning an election. [Visit the RESPECT ABQ WOMEN web site by following this link.]

If you happen to be a "non-celibate" Albuquerque young man, go help them out with their public contact campaign. There's no real need to explain why YOU might be working in your own personal interests, not to mention participating in the wider democratic process for your neighbors and your city.

Think of it this way.  If you've met the anti-abortion lady carrying the ultra gross,  super sized, full color poster, squealing like Joshua's trumpet at Jericho and passing out nearly incomprehensible tracts, understand that this is the same woman who wants the law -- her version of what's "right" for you -- to control your choices if you and your girlfriend ever wind up needing one.




The right wing's "war on women" can very easily become a "war on you." Just as much as these -- religious or political -- derelicts from the past are obsessed with controlling women, they are equally obsessed with controlling you.

Make sure that you are registered to vote in this election.

The date for this vote has not been set.  This is straight from the ALEC play book.  If a lot of Albuquerque citizens go the polls, this abortion control law will lose.  If hardly voters any turn out, it will be approved by a few dozen of the "faithful," but it will become law for everyone living here.

The Supreme Court ruled that your girlfriend -- and you -- have legal access to safe, medical abortion if and when you need it, but the Supreme Court, now populated by a majority of wing nut Bush W. political creatures and a majority of Catholics, cannot be counted on to protect your rights.

The current Supreme Court cannot even be counted on to support its previous decisions -- especially not if cash and political favors are involved.  Don't be hypnotized into automatically thinking that you and your girlfriend have access to family planning services -- including abortion.  The anti-abortion thugs from Kansas have other plans for you two.  In their dream the law and the courts will force you to live in accordance to their barely Biblical religious ideas.

Stand with our New Mexico women.  They cannot successfully face this challenge without our active support and active participation.  Fundamentalists, regardless of which religion or which issue, are brutal, functioning on an alien value system, and this is no exception.

Please Send These Crazies Back to Kansas

See, people in Kansas like folks like this bunch.  Folks in Kansas think it's just swell to send this pack of Biblical thugs anywhere that will have them.

It's not.

Defeating this ballot initiative will be worth a thousand words.  The first four of those thousand words will be:

No thanks.

Go home.

Additional Reading

The New York Times has covered the Operation Rescue scam in Albuquerque.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/05/us/albuquerque-becomes-latest-focal-point-in-abortion-wars.html

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/28/us/28albuquerque.html

Here's what the "pro-life" ["no choice"] bunch has on their site.

http://www.prolifenm.com/2013/08/the-abortion-issue-remains-front-and.html

This is a previous post from MeanMesa concerning ALEC New Mexico.

ALEC NM: Anti-Democracy in the High Desert

Latest ALEC Scourge Hits New Mexico

[A MeanMesa Note:  Blogger is not able to correctly format parts of this post.  Our apologies.]

N.M. GOPCons Screaming Back to "Tax the Poor"  

 Just think of "High Desert Visigoths" 

The Sacking of Rome (image source)

 

All across the country -- especially in those unfortunate states currently stuck with typically ruthless straight Republican governments -- the latest "tax the middle class and hand the goods over to the top earners" scam is being trotted out as if it were something new. It isn't new.

It's old.

Very old.

For MeanMesa visitors "old enough to remember" George W. Bush's wild borrow and spend antics, this latest scam is only slightly newer -- but not any less stinky. This latest scheme promises to stink just as much as the unregulated mayhem of the banksters' paradise which roared, unabated, right up the the explosion of the Great Republican Recession of 2008.

Here's a sample article from the Alamogordo Daily News. This pair of likeable fellows are the ALEC front men who are dutifully proposing this latest regressive tax legislation in the Round House. They enjoy the same dilemma which characterizes state legislators of their ilk. Unable to actually operate a state government -- for example, sustain a local economy which will provide adequate revenue to run the state -- these two have predictably reverted to the road weary lament of the sickeningly familiar oligarch refrain.

"Broaden the tax base." You know, to include more poor people.
"Cut tax rates for high earners and businesses so they will create jobs."
"Eliminate state revenues from income taxes
so 'job creators' will move here."

NM State Representative Tom Taylor (R)

NM State Senator William Sharer (R)

N.M. legislators propose 2% consumption tax, 

elimination of other taxes
Alamogordo Daily News

By Milan Simonich, Texas-New Mexico Newspapers

Posted: 01/31/2013 01:36:53 PM MST

SANTA FE -- Two legislators from Farmington on Thursday outlined their bill for a sweeping overhaul of the state's tax system, but admitted they did not know if they are on exactly the right track.

Sen. William Sharer and Rep. Tom Taylor, both Republicans, said their 207-page bill would eliminate almost all taxes and replace them with a 2 percent across-the-board consumption tax.

Their hope is that this would raise the same amount of revenue for the state, cities and counties, but make New Mexico more attractive to businesses by eliminating the corporate tax, the compensating tax, personal income tax and myriad other taxes.

"Far too many people come into this building seeking exemptions, credits and deductions," Taylor said during a news conference at the state Capitol.

Each time something is exempted or credited, the tax system becomes more complicated and less reliable in terms of what revenue it will generate, he said.

"For a long time, we have talked about a broad-based tax with very low rates. The bill does exactly that," Taylor said, likening it to the original gross receipts tax of the 1960s.

Sharer said 51 new tax bills already had been introduced this year in New Mexico.

"Obviously, our system is an epic failure," he said.

A solution to the madness would seem to be eliminating taxes and therefore all the possibilities for credits and exemptions. Then to make up the revenue that would be lost, the 2 percent consumption tax would be instituted.

But both legislators said there could be problems with their bill that they have not accounted for, even after months of review. Taylor said one difficulty was that exemptions and credits are sprinkled throughout New Mexico law, not just in the tax code. 

Sharer's proposal, Senate Bill 368, faces four committee hearings in the Senate. Sharer said that exceeds the number of hearings allowed by the Senate rules, but he did not seem to mind.

A companion bill that Taylor will carry in the House of Representatives has been scheduled for six committee hearings.

"I'm sure that's a world record," Taylor said.

But, like Sharer, he said multiple reviews of the bill would likely expose any flaws in the concept that many taxes can be erased and replaced by one.

As analysts from the state and other groups dig into the bill, they may find deficiencies that so far had not been flagged, Sharer said.

Not eliminated by their bill, the legislators said, would be severance, gasoline and property taxes.

They have made allowance in the proposal for impoverished people or those living just above the poverty line. Sharer said they could file for rebates and reclaim some of the taxes they paid for living expenses.

The motive for this latest crime is presented as "eliminating the income taxes" on personal and corporate earnings as an incentive for out of state businesses to rush to New Mexico where they can pay even lower wages and offer even fewer, cheaper benefits.

MeanMesa is still waiting to see a list of the businesses and jobs resulting from the stupendously large, over priced, ineffective "give aways" we're already making every year.

Democrats Reportedly Also Interested in Bill -- Really?

This legislation has sometimes been described as having Democratic support in the legislature.  While any evidence supporting this claim is elusive, the treachery would not be below some New Mexico Democrats.  Although these quiet supporters don't get all the ALEC privileges which come with entirely forgetting their oath, there is so much free cash floating around that anti-democracy outfit that this little scheme might still be quite interesting to them.

One exclusively New Mexican advantage these soiled state legislators enjoy is that state voters, as usual, have no idea what they are trying to do in Santa Fe.  Not surprisingly, when most of both the written word and television coverage throughout New Mexico is fundamentally reactionary and "fact free," public interest lagged to a comatose state years ago.

Tax the Poor, Trickle Down and Job Creation

Wait a minute!  These are the same "oldies but goldies" which lubricated media cover for the massive looting of the Bush W. autocracy!  Yet, there they are.  They might seem to be no more than battery operated corpses of the bad old days, but ALEC's owners are obviously insisting that the Zombie Apocalypse won't be over until they say it's over.

We may forget quickly, but we don't forget that quickly.

The fact that identical legislation for this crazy proposal surfaced in every state under Republican control within a period of a week is pretty good evidence that the GOPCon state legislators in all those places were handed Xerox copies still smouldering from the same print run.  MeanMesa has said before that it's unfair to assume that these hill billies and bigots have, somehow, written all this identical ALEC legislation on their own while sitting in a hotel room somewhere.

Here, we are immediately confronting the old "big picture" problem for the ALEC puppets.  Theoretically, each one of these Republican state Representatives and Senators, both here in New Mexico and all the other places this same bill has been introduced, are supposed to be responding to their constituent interests.

This bill, however, only favorably responds to the "constituent interests" of voters rich enough to dodge the regressive tax increases it contains.  The count on that crowd is so far below an election majority anywhere that the ALEC Xerox conspiracy emerges as the most likely explanation.  No one else could reasonably want this thing to become law.

Bribing Job Creators: The Zero Sum Game

If your state eliminates corporate and high earner income tax -- and the state revenues which come from those taxes -- in an effort to woo businesses away from states which won't cut the throats of the poor in the same way, does this mean that there will be more jobs?

Sure, there might be more jobs in your state, but when considered as an impact all across the country, it only means that some "job creators" have simply moved from where ever they used to be to this place because of incentives, a slightly more favorable tax policy and, in New Mexico's case, even lower wages.  We must realize that what's really being offered in these sweet deals is the prospect of relocating the pain of unemployment.

Naturally, the ALEC parasites have been instructed to relocate that pain to blue states at any cost.  We, as tax payers in New Mexico, will, of course, be paying that "any cost" as we throw everything on the table to entice these fickle "job creators" across our border.

We may not be a deliciously red state, but with Martinez in Santa Fe, we are definitely a purple state.

MeanMesa might be more positive about this if the ALEC scheme ever even worked.  It doesn't.  Perhaps even more interesting, it never has.  This is, excusing the expression, the "elephant in the living room."  These ALEC boys in the Round House get to their "competing with other states" pretty quickly when you show them a microphone, but the actual picture is more akin to Lucy holding the football for Linus, year after year.

Republican, in their panic, have generally adopted the "Sherman's March" approach to retaining power.  They can't win elections.  They can't stand with their record. They have no salable platform beyond the drawls of the feral anti-abortionists.  They have geriatric dreams, at this late stage in their dwindling life, of being able to inflict even more economic pain on poor people or on states which won't continue to bribe businesses sympathetic to the ALEC philosophy to stay put.

Amazingly, the GOPCons and their owners still think this is an election winning program.

Additional Reading

This story has received significant media attention.  Here are a few suggested links if you would like to read more.  Take note:  Some of these articles are quite reactionary.

Albuquerque Business First  http://www.bizjournals.com/albuquerque/news/2013/01/31/new-bill-aims-to-reboot-nm-tax-system.html

State Tax Reformers - OnLine WSJ http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887323968304578245720280333676.html

More Governors Look to Repeal Their Income Taxes - RealClearPolitics http://www.realclearpolitics.com/2013/01/30/more_governors_look_to_repeal_their_income_taxes_300879.html 

 Income Tax Could Be Eliminated by Many Republican Controlled States - Huff Post http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/01/13/income-tax-eliminated_n_2466612.html

 

 

Heinrich Takes the Plunge -- For New Mexico

Where We Are Right Now

In 2010, many New Mexicans dabbled with a "Gateway Republican," electing Martinez to replace Richardson -- the political equivalent of a "Gateway Drug" your kids might experiment with at an unsupervised party. Lots of US state elections went that way.  Too many. Already, however, all across the middle of the country we see screaming cases of "buyer's remorse," large protests, state treasuries handed over to cozy, non-tax paying corporations and public commitments being slashed.

In fact, we see recall petitions and large majorities of voters -- some of whom voted these crooks into office in the election a few months ago -- signing them.  Unlike past GOPCons, these new governors went to work immediately -- in broad daylight -- emptying the  already slim state treasuries with tax cuts for their bosses while cutting state services to the unemployed, the children, the elderly and the handicapped to pay for it, conveniently bankrupting a few cities along the way.

It has been a state by state version of a sickening collection of "looting festivals" cast in the grisly memory of what went on during the autocracy.

That travesty was just their "day job."  Their "main marching orders" from the oligarchs who paid for their campaigns was union busting.  Generally speaking, these tea bag candidates were ordered to plunge the US social economy back into the 1950's just as fast as they could sign these stinking bills into law in their respective state houses.

An Email With Some Good News

Martin

Heinrich... for Senate

There was nothing wrong with Bingaman.  That was then.  This is now.

The email with the good news:

Dear MeanMesa,

Six weeks ago, my friend and mentor Senator Jeff Bingaman announced that he would be ending his distinguished career in public service at the end of his term.  Over those weeks, I have discussed at length with my family how I might best continue to serve New Mexico.  After much serious thought, I am excited to announce today that I will be a candidate for the United States Senate.

I was raised in a working-class family.  My father was an electrician and my mom worked in a factory.  My parents taught me the values that I still hold dear today, and that I believe can help anyone get ahead—hard work, honesty, responsibility, and self-reliance. 

My wife Julie and I are raising our two sons in New Mexico with those same values.  Like many families across our state, Julie and I sit at the kitchen table and talk about our children’s future and how tough the path is for too many of our neighbors and friends.  The fact is, a lot of middle class families in New Mexico are struggling to get by as costs continue to rise and the deck seems stacked against them.  It doesn’t take long in Washington to see that things there just aren’t working. Big corporations and special interests seem to get all of the breaks while regular New Mexico families are left holding the bill.  New Mexico families deserve better.

When I travel across our great state—from Las Vegas to Las Cruces, from Silver City to Clovis—I see land abundant in resources, and people filled with potential. We have the chance to harness our natural resources—our sun and wind—into a vibrant clean energy economy that can power our country and employ thousands of New Mexicans. We have the ingenuity and innovation that resides not only in our universities, labs, and small businesses but also in the minds of our students, scientists, entrepreneurs, and workers to make this a reality.

I would be proud to represent you in the U.S. Senate.  I hope you’ll join me on this journey to provide everyone in this state with a prosperous future worthy of our efforts and our values.

                                                                 Thank you for all you do,
Martin Heinrich

 What to Expect Next

The corporate money bins which installed these loser tea bags  in state governments in the first place are now bulging  with cash to seat some "wholly owned" Republican schill in Bingaman's Senate chair.  

Every vote in the US Senate, the way these billionaires see it, is worth a lot to their schemes.  A "lot?"  So much that a cash figure can be placed on winning an election. And, and election in New Mexico, although perhaps not in the coastal "economic treasure states," can go a long ways toward delivering the Senate to control by the "looters."

Worse, with Citizens United conveniently delivered by the national socialist majority of the Supreme Court just in a nick of time, we could easily see a Heinrich opponent so flush with cash to spend that our state economy would feel the jolt.  Also, by "opponent" we might have to include another  alleged Democrat emerge from the money bin crowd, such as the carefully disguised "Joe Romero,"  the "red herring" who delivered a Republican mayor to Albuquerque when a majority of voters cast Democratic ballots.

The point?

Electing Heinrich in this "cash climate" is going to be a tough run.  MeanMesa is in for the fight.

We will have to work, but we can do this -- even without bundles of corporate cash.

For MeanMesa's international visitors:

MeanMesa's compliments to Martin Heinrich.

10 New Years Wishes for New Mexico

Some nice, local, sentimental New Year's Wishes...

As the "terror and stench" of the years of the 2000's pass into history, MeanMesa is experiencing the common sentiment of considering exactly what could be well-reasoned hopes for a better future. Of course, the recent history of the nation presents some inescapable and obvious choices. It would be nice indeed if the USA were to more carefully avoid being hurled into reckless and costly military adventures, not be subject to catastrophic "greed tantrum hangovers" from the financial sector and to begin healing from the GOP's crazy addiction to divisiveness and fear mongering.


But those are national matters. What about New Mexico? What wishes might one have for the State of Origin of MeanMesa? After all, our Galactic Headquarters are here.


But first, for both our international visitors and even our fellow Americans who live elsewhere in the country, a few words to introduce our state. New Mexico has a population of about 2 million souls. It was the 47th state to enter the union (next door Arizona was the 48th) in 1912. Politically, New Mexico has a generally populist state government which includes a few crusty rural ideologues, a corporatist liberal Governor and a remarkably "common sense oriented" electorate, most likely a predictable result of traditionally durable but low end economy.


A cursory review of names for everything from streets to schools to cities betrays a strong Spanish influence. That European "tribe" arrived en masse around 1550 with a well heated obsession for colonialism, oppressive religion and more than a few other, violent bad habits. What was to become New Mexico became an Imperial Spanish Viceroyalty. Although the locals successfully recaptured the place a few times, they were no match for a European colonial power in the end.


Naturally, the "totals for the day" showed that these locals also did most of the bleeding.


Ancient history-wise, there was a significant Clovis culture here around 9,000 BC, followed by a Folsom culture a thousand years later. The state is littered with artifacts from these periods along with substantial desert pueblos from later times. Many MeanMesa visitors may have heard of the famous ruins at Mesa Verde or the cities of the Anazasi.


Modern New Mexico has the largest Hispanic population of any U.S. states, and around 80% of New Mexicans speak English. (MeanMesa visitors who would like to know more details about this beautiful, high desert place can consult Google/Wikipedia:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Mexico#Population

for all sorts of additional information.)

Ooops. New Mexico is the place where MINORITIES are the MAJORITY.

So, with that short introduction complete, what ten wishes for the New Year will MeanMesa settle on for this posting? The introduction was necessary because one's wishes for a home state such as New Mexico might be rather different from one's wishes for a more developed or heavily populated place. Likewise, the pivotal cultural issues for New Mexico are also somewhat unique.

MeanMesa's Ten New Year's Wishes for New Mexico

1. An end to the "patrone" cultural structure

New Mexico's history of colonial elitists laid an enduring foundation for the idea that decisions about social directions would be a permanently "top down" affair. Even New Mexico's most egregious crooks are desperately unsophisticated. Hardly any effort is spent to conceal even the most outrageous corruption, much less impose limits on its scope based on a criminal's well reasoned self-preservation instincts. Civilizing statutory structures ranging from landlord tenant laws to dependable, uniform prosecution of drunk drivers which are well established in other places seem to always fall short here in the New Mexico desert.


The collective bishops of the Roman church just finished savaging the state legislature's attempts to secularize marriage to a new form which would be out of their control.


The man on the street has been groomed by local history to simply accept his "class status" and to abide by relentless insults from others who believe they have escaped its entrapment.


MeanMesa's first wish: That the population could become actively enfranchised in the decisions of the State. That community organizing might embolden and inspire New Mexico's common folk to firmly take charge of directing their state government.


2. More sophisticated labor unions


We're not referring to the importation of East Coast Union Thugs, but organized labor in the state is disturbingly toothless. Of course, there are unions for state employees, teachers, policemen and firemen, and a limited number of unions exist around in the famous laboratories at Sandia and Los Alamos. However, the class system has remained a suffocating burden on most of the state's workers. The local economy is centrally comprised of smaller businesses, creating another obstacle for advances in organized labor.


Wages are low, benefits are sparse and opportunities are limited. At the same time, the quality and education of New Mexico's labor force is low compared to other states. The remants of the old class (Patrone) system are apparently locked into the idea that all is well so long as they have more than anyone else.


MeanMesa's second wish: That well structured labor unions might organize and focus on developing a better educated and better trained work force along with better pay and benefits. Higher wages would mean more money in the local economy, better business and more prosperity.


3. More brave, new development ideas


To its credit, the state government has done a remarkable job of implementing news ideas for the local economy -- especially when one takes into account the fact that New Mexico is a very poor state. We have subsidized movie making, built a small light rail train between some population centers and even made significant loan money available to the nation's first space port. These are -- at the time of this posting -- all successful, innovative development projects which have provided good jobs and improved the possibilities of a more prosperous future.


MeanMesa's third wish: More thoughtful, modern, well designed ventures which will contribute to the state's economic development. The old "trickle down" oligarchy of the past can dies a well deserved, lonely death. New ideas can capture the imagination and energy of New Mexicans who dare to think ahead!


4. A New Mexico State Bank


Most MeanMesa visitors, being pretty darned savvy about national politics, are familiar with the incredible advantages the State Bank of North Dakota provided its state's residents during the latest GOP economic blunder. (If you are not up to speed on this great idea, chase down the following links:

http://www.firststatebanknd.com/
http://ezinearticles.com/?Job-Losses?-Not-in-North-Dakota---A-Stimulus-Plan-That-Really-Works&id=3203890

MeanMesa's fourth wish: Found and fund a New Mexico State Bank which can provide a similar independence and durability for our own economy!


5. State wide water and renewable energy projects


New Mexico probably has some of the highest quality solar and wind resources in the country. Even a short visit to this beautiful place on a windy summer day will erase any doubt about the availability of incredible amounts of renewable energy resources! However, like most states with oil and natural gas reserves, New Mexico developed some remarkably durable bad habits early on. We can do much better -- we could even export clean, renewable electricity to other states if the national grid were improved. For a recap of existing energy resources in the country (including New Mexico):

http://www.eia.doe.gov/oil_gas/natural_gas/data_publications/crude_oil_natural_gas_reserves/cr.html

MeanMesa's fifth wish: Engage renewable energy development in a big way -- starting NOW! New Mexico can benefit with jobs and promising infrastructure improvements right away, taking advantage of the stimulus grid projects and funding opportunities.


6. More modern and sophisticated race relations


If a visitor to New Mexico didn't know any better, he would arrive at all sorts of incorrect observations about what is going on here. To him, we might look like a slightly less vicious version of slavery in the South -- at least a slightly less destructive form of the Jim Crow era! Far too many of the Hispanic population is poor and under employed with only the most lack luster hope for improving their condition. There are plenty of desperately poor white folks, too. Wages are awful. Most jobs have neither benefits, much job security or much a chance to advance (see "patrone" above...).


MeanMesa sat on jury duty here a couple of months ago. Every trial was another sickening case of a young Hispanic screw-up facing a devastating judicial onslaught. The tragedy went far beyond "guilt or innocence." It was heartbreaking. The most awful part was that all the "players" (cops, judges, defendants, jurors, attorneys) simply accepted the social meat grinder as their inevitable lot in life. It seems as if there is not even a dream of a better state socially.


MeanMesa's sixth wish: Fire up an in state civil rights campaign! Begin programs which will eat away at New Mexico's passive race inequities and don't relent until things get evened out!


7. Radical improvements to public education


MeanMesa seldom embraces the concept of a "clean sweep" as a good idea when it comes to reforming failed institutions, but this might be an exception. The rate of high school students failing to graduate is over 50%. The streets (and the courts and the prisons) are a dismal march of hopeless gang members and other hopeless sorts who would consider a job at McDonalds both a "sell out" and an "unbridled career opportunity." Step one might be a good public flogging of every teacher in New Mexico public schools followed by an opportunity to either go into exile somewhere else or change professions.


Let's see, now. Perhaps this little rant has "tipped our hand." Nah. Public education costs represent half of the state budget and cannot be characterized -- even on a good day -- as anything besides a nightmarish social menace.


About the changes Washington DC is making in public schools:

http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200811/michelle-rhee

MeanMesa's seventh wish: New Mexico needs to import an all new staff of everyone needed to run its public schools from some place where the system is working -- even a little! Washington DC has a school "Chancellor" determined to improve public education there. New Mexico needs a "State Chancellor" with the same kind of guts. Nothing changes until the young ones change.


8. An exciting new image


Aside from the slums, the drug addicted teenagers and the forlorn, drunken survivors of this crippled classist economy, there is nothing permanently wrong with New Mexico! This is a magnificent place absolutely chuck full of beautiful scenery, resources and hopeful, energetic, ambitious people. Yet, say the words "New Mexico" in Los Angeles or New York and people begin to think of cruddy western movies they saw in their youth.


Sure, we have problems, but life here has qualities that folks on the coast only dream about.


MeanMesa's eighth wish: Reveal our state! Not just to potential tourists, but to new residents! We have both the space and the opportunities for many exciting new neighbors, and we need fresh ideas and ambitions to move our home into the 21st Century. Rustic and free are great ideas, and when they are coupled with wide open frontiers, reasonable living costs and lots of fresh air, who could resist?


9. A state cooperative


New Mexico has traditionally been prey to out of state "box stores," but it doesn't need to remain that way. In fact, most of the Chinese "one size fits all" merchandise crap for sale around here doesn't even meet the needs of local conditions. This complaint can be made for everything from swamp coolers to boots, rain water cisterns to camping tents, agricultural crops to affordable housing. It's time to think local! The state has suffered long enough with stuff made for somewhere else.


MeanMesa's ninth wish: Start a state cooperative -- the state bank might be a great first step. Then foster local manufacturing of locally designed products in a price range accessible for local consumption. The cooperative idea, once matured, can offer us a way out of our total dependence on outside jobs, products, companies and out-of-state profits.


10. Look at state ownership of oil and gas reserves

Private ownership of New Mexico's energy reserves has not served us well at all. The basic idea seems to lead unavoidably to concentrated legislative powers, half-hearted environmental compliance and unpredictable fluctuations in state income. Even if the price were high, state control of local natural resources would constitute a great improvement over the way things are presently -- one which would pay for itself over time. The local economy needs to be served by a state run energy system in place of the current set up. What we have right now is an unhealthy mix of the "patrone" idea married to the normal avarice of lease holders who think they are above any local responsibilities or, in some cases, even local laws.


MeanMesa's tenth wish: Formulate a plan for the state purchase and management of all underground hydrocarbon reserves. Everything can be planned -- without the profits or influence -- to serve the residents of the state, lower their energy costs, share the profits and better meet their needs.


There you have it. How about making some New Year's wishes for your own state? Happy New Year from MeanMesa!