Titanic Post

By Joseph L. Galloway | McClatchy Newspapers

It took just eight decades but H.L. Mencken’s astute prediction on the future course of American presidential politics and the electorate’s taste in candidates came true:

On July 26, 1920, the acerbic and cranky scribe wrote in The Baltimore Sun: ” . . . all the odds are on the man who is, intrinsically, the most devious and mediocre — the man who can most easily (and) adeptly disperse the notion that his mind is a virtual vacuum. The presidency tends, year by year, to go to such men. As democracy is perfected, the office represents, more closely, the inner soul of the people. We move toward a lofty ideal. On some great and glorious day, the plain folks of the land will reach their heart’s desire at last, and the White House will be adorned by a downright moron.” (more…)

The following are my notes from the Forum on Substance Abuse held by the Otero County New Mexico Chapter of PDA June 25th – Ken Nicholson

The Otero County chapter of Progressive Democrats of America hosted a panel discussion on the substance abuse situation in the county. Panel members Dr. Gil Heredia, physician and chair of the Otero Libertarian Party, Sharon Hodges of the New Mexico Department of Health, and Ken Larson, Certified Peer Specialist and Recovery Mentor presented a comprehensive survey of the drug problems we are facing in Otero County to an interested audience of local activists. Al Kissling of PDA NM was the moderator.

Dr. Heredia said that the so called “War on Drugs” was having a more devastating effect on our community than the actual use of drugs. He cited the emphasis of the drug war being on law enforcement and leading to incarceration rather than treatment and rehabilitation. When those caught in the system have finished their time, they are released back into the community, still addicted, without the root of their situation being addressed. Heredia noted the high cost of incarceration versus treatment. Also, drug crimes are crimes against oneself and not directly against the community. He said that if drugs were legal, market forces would pressure dealer profits, and the supply of drugs would dwindle. One community activist added that the prison industry has lobbied for mandatory minimum sentences to the benefit of the private prison industry while removing judges’ discretion. (more…)

Fear is an insidious destroyer of a good time, also fear is bad for your health. To deal with fear, people are always looking over their shoulder to see how close they are to something bad happening. Fearful people are forever devising strategies to be safe, secure, and protected from all the worlds evils. To escape bad happenings, people hoard things—things and money, and they organize their world in such a way so as to preclude bad things happening . They become Republicans.

And yet, bad things happen anyway. Life is not fair. For example: In Otero County and Southern New Mexico, as in most of the country, the wolf had been hunted to extinction, Apaches and Mexicans were marginalized and killed to make life safe for the Anglos who had migrated here from Texas, via Appalachia, and originally, Northern Ireland. (more…)

I lifted this from the Alamogordo Daily News Forum. It is post #20 and was posted by “Totally Tired.”

“Gore has been involved with the development of the Internet since the 1970s, first as a Congressman and later as Senator and Vice-President. Internet pioneers Vint Cerf and Bob Kahn stated in the 2000 article “Al Gore and the Internet”, that Gore was “the first political leader to recognize the importance of the Internet and to promote and support its development.”[107] His High Performance Computing and Communication Act of 1991[108](often referred to as the Gore Bill) was passed on December 9, 1991 and led to the National Information Infrastructure (NII)[109] which Gore referred to as the “information superhighway.” (more…)

by Ken Nicholson

We had another murder in Alamogordo yesterday. The Alamogordo Daily News covered the story with a photograph of the victim and another of a blood spattered suspect. The reaction of some people in Otero County was displeasure directed against ADN for printing the photos. The following is my reply:

Yes, it is unpleasant to view death and so much more pleasant to sweep reality under the carpet. The US media is all too happy to pander to our tender sensibilities by not publishing news that is “too real” and that could possibly spoil our appetite for shopping. (more…)

Published on Sunday, May 4, 2008 by PBS.org

by Bill Moyers

I once asked a reporter back from Vietnam, “Who’s telling the truth over there?” “Everyone, he said. “Everyone sees what’s happening through the lens of their own experience.” That’s how people see Jeremiah Wright. In my conversation with him on this broadcast a week ago and in his dramatic public appearances since, he revealed himself to be far more complex than the sound bites that propelled him onto the public stage. Over 2000 of you have written me about him, and your opinions vary widely. Some sting: “Jeremiah Wright is nothing more than a race-hustling, American hating radical,” one viewer wrote. A “nut case,” said another. Others were far more were sympathetic to him.

Many of you have asked for some rational explanation for Wright’s transition from reasonable conversation to shocking anger at the National Press Club. A psychologist might pull back some of the layers and see this complicated man more clearly, but I’m not a psychologist. Many black preachers I’ve known - scholarly, smart, and gentle in person - uncorked fire and brimstone in the pulpit. Of course I’ve known many white preachers like that, too. (more…)