Military
TODAY’S TOP STORIES: New Mexico loses another son in Iraq
Another New Mexican dies in Iraq. The Secretary of State has decided there will be no more fines for Democrat Jerome Block Jr. Here’s the letter informing him. Gov. Bill Richardson sent a letter out this week to state agencies asking them to list brick-and-mortar projects to stop funding.
A $50 billion warship mystery
While costly, the ship was the linchpin in the sea service’s advanced strategy to patrol and fight in the most dangerous shallow sea lanes, known as littorals. Think Iraq’s national waters, where the country’s two oil terminals are located. But the Navy suddenly killed the weapon program. The explanation has pleased no one — especially Congress.
Productive Obama-military relationship possible
During his July trip to Iraq, Sen. Barack Obama met with a man who represents both an opportunity and an obstacle to his presidency: Army Gen. David H. Petraeus. Petraeus, a hero to many Americans for his management of the war in Iraq, argued in a private briefing that military commanders should be given wide latitude in handing the future course of the war — though Obama was running for president on a platform calling for a withdrawal of combat troops in 16 months.
Barack Obama’s Pentagon-in-waiting
The rumor started to spread last week that if Sen. Barack Obama won the presidential election, Michele Flournoy would resign from the Center for a New American Security on Thursday following the election. Friday at the latest.
Costs of war: Those who did their duty deserve proper care
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.
Events to honor New Mexico’s veterans
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 [...]
TODAY’S TOP STORIES: Can straight ticket to voter laziness be abolished?
New Mexico is one of only 16 states that still has a straight-party voting option on its ballots, and Green Party candidate Rick Lass says he will lobby to abolish it. A beheaded man was left hanging from an overpass in Ciudad Juarez Thursday, a gruesome calling card in the latest violence in the Mexican [...]
TODAY’S TOP STORIES: English & Poetry teacher Bill Nevins let go by CNM
Remember Bill Nevins? Nevins was fired by Rio Rancho High School in 2003 from his position as a humanities teacher and poetry coach after one of his poetry students read an anti-war poem over the school intercom system. This was during a the context of multiple anti-war protests in Albuquerque that were characterized by police [...]
The backstory of Colin Powell’s endorsment
“His name was Kareem Rashad Sultan Khan, and he was an American. He was born in New Jersey. He was 14 years old at the time of 9/11, and he waited until he could go serve his country, and he gave his life.”
Juárez tourism pronounced dead
Tourism is dead in the once-popular Mexican border town of Juárez.
That’s the pronouncement of a story put together by the Las Cruces Sun-News and Associated Press summarizing the uncontrolled violence that has killed more than 1,100 people this year, including 37 last weekend alone.