Posts by Kate Nelson

There is something to be said for those who answer their nation’s call to service. And there is something else altogether to be said for a nation’s duty to serve those veterans upon their return.

You can count the days until George W. Bush is history, or you can join 249,999 of your closest friends in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 20 for the Barack Obama inauguration. And, much like the taxpayer-funded bailout, it’s free. Or seems like it.

Ceremonies to honor New Mexico’s long tradition of military service will be held throughout the state on Tuesday, Veterans Day. This year marks the 90th anniversary of the signing of the armistice that ended World War I. It was signed on “the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month.”
State Department of Veterans [...]

Baby, it’s cold outside, but will it snow? More important, can you ski on it? New Mexico’s $114 million ski industry sure hopes so, with Sipapu the first one to open this Friday. But if you believe the forecasters, maybe this isn’t the year to invest in that new pair of Rossignol Classic CX-80s.

While Gov. Bill Richardson’s name gets bandied about for an Obama administration post, Aussie Stephen Morris, a senior fellow at Johns Hopkins University’s School of Advanced International Studies, in Washington, D.C., pooh-poohs anything smacking of “secretary of state.” Writing in the Sunday edition of The Australian, an online newspaper, he said of Richardson’s globe-trotting prowess:
Richardson, [...]

The Prophet Yahweh, as we noted in a previous post, had hoped to summon UFOs for Obama on Halloween. Their purpose was to tell the world that a vote for John McCain over Barack Obama was a vote for war, pestilence and general havoc.
Alas, the hopes of Yahweh, the Las Vegas, Nev., director of the [...]

During his victory speech Tuesday night, President-elect Barack Obama promised his daughters, Malia, 10, and Sasha, 7, that their reward for putting up with the campaign would be a new puppy.
Presidential pets — especially dogs — have a long and storied history (anyone remember Checkers?), and have included Eisenhower’s Weimaraner, Kennedy’s Welsh terrier (and Caroline’s [...]

Despite the tears and occasional jeers at the New Mexico Republican Party’s election-watch event Tuesday, rays of hope began to emerge. Are any of them ready to heed the call to turn around and get right back into another election? (And, yes, another election is our reward for getting through this one.)

The news has already begun on who’s going to be who in the Barack Obama Oval Office. First up: Rahm Emanuel as chief of staff.
The Chicago-area U.S. representative caught Obama’s eye, according to ABC’s George Stephanopoulos on “Good Morning America” today, because he “knows policy, knows politics, knows Capitol Hill,” and Obama has told associates [...]

The first rule of any veteran election-night party-goer is this: Don’t show up on time. At 7 p.m., the bar may be open and the buffet full-up, but the real fun won’t start until results start pouring in. For Republicans on Tuesday, the sentiment seemed to be don’t show up at all.

Credit (or blame) Barack Obama’s coattails, but New Mexico Democrats have plenty to celebrate on the state level, too. In the Albuquerque-area, five Democrats picked off Republican incumbents in the state House and Senate, doing their part to improve their party’s long domination of both chambers.

With his 36-year term in the U.S. Senate coming to an end, Sen. Pete Domenici spend the day campaigning as though he was on the ballot. While surely a bittersweet time for him, New Mexico’s senior senator paused to offer the Independent thoughts on the state of the nation and advice to tonight’s eventual victor.

Want to be where the action (or, perhaps, inaction) will be tonight? Don’t go to the New Mexico Republican Party’s Web site for help.
There’s nothing on the homepage, and its calendar offers only a monthly candidate breakfast (from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m.?), the Curry County Central Committee meeting at 6 p.m., and the Republican [...]

Of all the depressing statistics bedeviling our nation right now, here’s one that’s easy to fix: When the polls close Tuesday night, one in three women will have failed to cast a ballot. Jane Addams and Susan B. Anthony, two of the suffragists who truly suffered through the long fight to win women’s right to vote, will be shaking their heads in shame.

So you’ve had enough jabber about Sarah Palin’s lipstick? Political jokes about putting lipstick on a whatever? Lipstick talk, period?
Well, Palin may have lasted until the campaign’s final moments, but in the world of retail, Hillary Clinton’s lipstick lasted longer.
Proof? Kriss Cosmetics continues to offer $15 tubes of its luscious “Debate” shade, the perfect match [...]