I am writing today to announce the closure of the New Mexico Independent. After three and a half years of operation in New Mexico, the board of the American Independent News Network, has decided to shift publication of its news…
While environmental activists played their part yesterday during demonstrations at the capitol building, going so far as to dress up as solar panels and to sing the tune of “You Are My Sunshine,” their counterparts, the anti-cap-and-trade contingency who has…
Roughly one quarter of University of New Mexico students are unimpressed with the state’s flagship public school, according to a survey that questioned college students about their higher education experiences.
There’s a lot of buzz on the blogosphere and otherwise about the conservative “tea parties” — protests and rallies designed to express frustration with the nation’s economic policies. On New Mexico Liberty, Jim Scarantino writes about the “recipe for credible tea parties.”
“Bush and Cheney got us into this. Let’s make that clear. The federal deficit ballooned to over $8 trillion dollars thanks to Bush and Cheney. It was Cheney who said ‘Deficits don’t matter’ and ran out of town the fiscally conservative Treasury Secretary who saw the tsunami coming,” Scarantino wrote. “For these tea parties to be credible, we cannot shy from holding Republicans to account just like the spendthrift Democrats. Both parties are to blame. Neither has shown much sense in managing our nation’s finances.”
Meanwhile, two NMI staffers have postings on their own blogs discussing whether the events, which have been pushed heavily by conservative, national television journalists and organizations, are grassroots.
“National think tanks and cable news channels aren’t grassroots. The question is, do they have a base at the local level?” Marjorie Childress asks. “And by that, I don’t mean a fan base. I mean people at the local level who make decisions through an open decision making process, which then flow upward. Is there accountability between the national and local organizations?”
“With all of the largest local and national names in conservative news promoting these tea parties and encouraging their watchers, readers and listeners to participate, can it really be grassroots?” Matt Reichbach asks. His answer: No.
