BIIL? I'VE GOT SOME QUESTIONS

Sometimes balancing acts are easy -- sometimes they're not.

Our fearless governator (yeah, small g), Bill Richardson, looked horrible on the Democratic "Debate" last night. Worn out, a bit confused, fat and flabby, unkempt. (A bit like me when I wake up from a nap.)

I think perhaps he was intimidated by Tim Russert, the host. Last time he and Russert met, Tim embarrassed him without mercy. Mr. Russert seems to think he's a buffoon and of no importance. I'm frantically looking for a rebuff to use on Russert, but I'm running in circles.

Anyway, our Bill puffed himself up (No need to. He looks like he's put on thirty pounds), and told how he had done all this good stuff for New Mexico. Like improve our schools (Albuquerque alone needs at least six new schools), raised the income level for all New Mexicans (Yeah, on average. But more than 40% of Albuquerqueans earn less than the poverty level), solved the health care problem (Simple, easy solution: If you don't have money, don't see a doctor.) and how he was experienced in international negotiations (he's about one step above Rudy Guiliani in success there.)

Anyway, today's paper had a full page insert in it from an outfit called Rio Grande (our river) Food Project. They title it: "New Mexicans Faces of Hunger" and of course there's a picture of a very cute, about to cry little child. The ad goes on to say that 37% are children, 63% are female and 37% are male. I guess they mean hungry people here.

The ad states the average Monthly income is $673.

45% have no telephone nor car.

45% have to choose between food or rent.

27% have to choose between food and medication or medical care.

It concludes with the statement "Hunger is a problem in New Mexico. Help us solve it."

Hey, Bill, sir. Did you see this free ad?

Bill also talked about what he'd do to bring the Iraqi troops home. He said he'd pull all our troops out immediately. Well, all except for some special forces troops in Afghanistan. You know. That country where the Taliban is the boss? Where Al Qaeda is headquartered? Where Osama probably is hiding?

Keep at it Bill.

HOW FUN IT IS

SEATTLE - Officially, it's the South Lake Union Streetcar. But in the neighborhood where the new line runs, it's called the South Lake Union Trolley - or, the SLUT. At Kapow! Coffee, a shop in the old Cascade neighborhood, 100 T-shirts bearing the words "Ride the SLUT" sold out in days, and another 100 are on order. "We're welcoming the SLUT into the neighborhood," said Jerry Johnson, 29, a part-time barista. Some claim - incorrectly, according to representatives of Vulcan Inc., the company that is developing the area - that South Lake Union Trolley was the original name and that it was changed when officials belatedly realized the acronym. The $50.5 million project should be completed with streetcars running in December. Underlying the lighthearted opposition, however, is resentment over changes in the old working-class neighborhood. "There was a meeting with representatives from the city several years ago," Johnson recalled. "They asked us, 'What we could do for you?' Most people raised their hands and said, 'Affordable housing,'" he said. "Then the people from the city huddled together - 'whisper, whisper, whisper,' - and they said, 'How about a trolley?'" Since then, Cascade has been ignored in Vulcan brochures that lump the neighborhood together with Denny Park and Denny Triangle under the term South Lake Union. With the streetcar, said Don Clifton, a Cascade resident, "We learned how fun it is to change the name of things."

I kinda liked the name....

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Older Than Dirt Quiz

Count all the ones that you remember....not the ones you were told about. ~Blackjack chewing gum ~Wax Coke-shaped bottles with colored sugar water ~Candy cigarettes ~Soda pop machines that dispensed glass bottles ~Coffee shops or diners with tableside juke boxes ~Home milk delivery in glass bottles with cardboard stoppers ~Party lines ~Newsreels before the movie ~P.F. Flyers ~Butch wax ~Telephone numbers with a word prefix (OLive-6933) ~Peashooters ~Howdy Doody ~45 RPM records ~S&H Green Stamps ~Hi-Fi's ~Metal ice trays with lever ~Mimeograph paper ~Blue flashbulbs ~Packards ~Roller skate keys ~Cork popguns ~Drive-in movies ~Studebakers ~Wash tub wringers If you remembered 0-5...You're still young. If you remembered 6-10...You're getting older. If you remembered 11-15...Don't tell your age. If you remembered 16-25...You're OLDER THAN DIRT! If you find you're 'older than dirt'....you have plenty of company.

I can now say with some truthfulness that I am older than dirt. So there. How'd you do?

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Camping is nature's way of promoting the motel business."--- Dave Barry Etc.: A sign to make others believe that you know more than you actually do. Grandfather: A banker provided by nature. Politician: One who shakes your hand before elections and your confidence after.

YOOHOO BILL, WHERE ARE YOU?

All pics can be enlarged by clicking them. Headers cost another click.

Sometimes, someone has to do something when the water is rising.

One of our local TV stations (KOAT TV) did a bit about our governator and how much time he has spent away from New Mexico (while state government collapsed in graft, bribery and incompetence).

Since January, when he announced his ambition, he's spent a little time here. They say perhaps 60 per cent, perhaps less, back in his home state. They also remarked that the time he's spent here is on weekends (the congress doesn't hold sessions on weekends) and a holiday or two.

Last month he spent 27 of 31 days out of state. Out of 126 days he spent 14 days here. In June and July he was here three out of every four days on the campaign trail.

Meanwhile, the state is burning. We are having major health care problems in our few free hospitals, various bills are apparently piling up on his desk waiting for approval or veto, corporations are waiting for executive decisions, the real people are beginning to wonder what he looks like, our Motor Vehicle Department is understaffed, our police forces (sheriffs and assistants) are short in man/womanpower, we'd like to know how a developer hosted a fund raiser for him and got a $400,00 state contract, how New Mexico is going to fund health care for children when the Feds stop contributing, among many other problems we have.

Now, Bill has an answer to these complaints: "He said he conducts state business by telephone and keeps in contact through e-mail." By telephone? He reads email? Oh, stupid me. That's called goverment by remote control. What's wrong with me not understanding how one can do this?

Another response he made to the remark that he doesn't spend much time here is: "He said he usually spends a day a week in the state." Well, that should be enough time. After all, there are only about two million New Mexicans. And our Bill has super powers. And remote control. And email.

I noticed that he never refers to the Lieutenant Governor. You know, the woman who will not appear next to him in any meeting.

The final comment from our governator (eat your heart out Arnie) blames the citizens here for his absences: "He added that New Mexicans knew when they re-elected him as governor that he might be running for president." See how we are here in New Mexico? Obviously we're a selfish, shallow thinking lot. How dare we expect the man we elected to our highest State office to actually govern the problems of our state?

From what I remember of his last run for Governor of, Richardson always just said that New Mexico was his first priority. But then, I'm just a citizen here.

He's got the band wagon approach to the Iraq fiasco too. He says he wants to withdraw all the support troops from there. He even figured out that he would leave the Iraqi troops in their own country. He wants to put some of these troops in Kuwait and some more in Afghanistan. And then he doesn't seem to understand what he's said. Afghanistan must not have Jihad members, but Kuwait might. Maybe. Or something. Why do I feel that he doesn't understand what his own party wants? Oh shucks. Click the header.

And then there's this:

And another thing: Richardson keeps playing this "governor" bogeyman under his "experience" credentials. Normally, I would agree with it, except in Richardson's case, his governorship has been anything but a resounding success.

Here's a quote from his disastrous appearance on Meet the Press back on May 27th:

MR. RUSSERT: But let’s go through the resume a little bit. First, there’s governor of New Mexico. As you well know, they rank states in a whole variety of categories from one being the best, 50th being the worst. This is New Mexico’s scorecard, and you are the governor. Percent of people living below the poverty line, you’re 48. Percent of children below, 48. Median family income, 47. People without health insurance, 49. Children without health insurance, 46. Teen high school dropouts, 47. Death rate due to firearms, 48. Violent crime rate, 46. You’re the very bottom of all those statistics of all 50 states, and you’re the governor for five years. GOV. RICHARDSON: Well, Tim, let me just say that we’ve made enormous progress in all of those areas.

This is the mantle of executive experience that Richardson is claiming? Biden's point about Richardson being given a free pass is nothing if not exemplified by this. Why hasn't more of the mainstream press challenged these executive credentials Richardson keeps burnishing?

Notice that the governator didn't support his "enormous progress" with any statistics? Hmmm.