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Columns

  • 'Nays' defeat the 'Ayes'

    “I never vote for anyone,” W. C. Fields supposedly once snorted. “I always vote against.”
    Judging from comments I’ve been hearing lately, whole gobs of prospective voters are approaching their polling places this year with much the same mindset.
    Another whole batch of prospective voters reportedly has no intention whatsoever of approaching their voting places this year.

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  • Process vs. punishment

    Corruption has two costs — the loss itself and the clean-up.
    And the latter isn’t small potatoes, as State Investment Officer Steve Moise made clear during a talk last week at UNM’s Anderson School of Business. Moise (pronounced mo-EESE) became the Marshal Dillon of state investment when his predecessor, Gary Bland, left in a tailwind of allegations.

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  • Are you ready for some voting?

                Early Voting begins in New Mexico on Oct. 16. Are you ready?

                Perhaps you have reached a firm decision on your choices for governor and your district’s representative to Congress. Good. How about the rest of the ballot? 

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  • Revisiting Petticoat Junction

    A horse is a horse, of course of course, and no one can talk to a horse, of course, and you’re definitely showing your age if you recognize that rhyme.  You also watched way too much television as a child if you can now hear the tune playing in your head.  
    Yes, those were the days, back when dudes like Balaam debated angelic responsibilities with creatures of the genus Equus.  I find it oddly comforting to think back to a time when audiences could be entertained by a talking horse.

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  • What’s up with the governor in his final 10 weeks in office

    What is Gov. Bill Richardson up to? What will he be doing during his last two and a half months in office?
    We know he can’t sit still so his final months are bound to be busy.
    Will he stay in Santa Fe as he says he will or will he leave for something more exciting?
    Will he make bold moves that will deeply affect our state or will he concentrate on finding a job or polishing his legacy?
    Gov. Richardson occasionally gives hints.
    What other governor, here or anywhere, holds a garage sale three months before going out of office?

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  • Tailpipe pollution may be doomed

    Kids delight in blowing up a balloon and letting it go. The air inside is under mild pressure, and when a youngster lets go of the neck of the balloon, air rushes outward. The escaping air propels the balloon forward like an erratic jet.  

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  • Cancer reveals a special grace

    Cancer is a lonely business. You need friends and loved ones to see you through, but in the end, there’s nothing like having someone who completely understands what you’re going through, from the inside out.
    A Cancer Buddy. Because peace, from friendship, is one of the greatest ways of finding relief from the anxiety the disease brings.
    So, in this month of ovarian cancer awareness, I’d like to tell you about a very special person, my buddy.

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  • Grades can be grating

    Earlier this year, the Rhode Island Central Falls school board made national news by firing all teachers in the high school.
    It was a drastic move intended to address the school’s declining performance.  
    Union officials quickly condemned the dismissals as “immoral, illegal, unjust, irresponsible, disgraceful and disrespectful” (they would have said more, but they didn’t have a big enough Thesaurus).  

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  • Voters just want a change

    Susana and Obama. They almost rhyme. And they are alike in other ways. We don’t know much about them and they are both minorities, which usually makes it more difficult to win.
    But there is a certain magic about them. That magic propelled Barack Obama to a rather amazing election victory two years ago and it is giving Susana Martinez a big boost in this year’s gubernatorial contest.

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  • Pouring salt on a big wound

    Among the many bad communication ideas the George W. Bush administration came up with was the famous “Mission Accomplished” speech aboard the aircraft carrier USS Lincoln.
    It would prove a shaker of salt in the open wound that would become the long-running conflict in Iraq.
    So it was with great interest that I read the headlines on Internet news sites and in local papers declaring the “End of the Great Recession.”

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