The Albuquerque Police Department is investigating Detective Pete Dwyer’s Twitter account just a day after it announced he would not be disciplined for another incendiary comment on his MySpace page.

Dwyer — whose tweets have since been deleted —  describes himself in his profile as a “Pro-life, ultra conservative republican who will never be poltically [sic] correct. my twitter my thoughts.” He tweeted an image of a Nazi flag morphed with the logo for President Obama’s campaign to Twitter user @aliegirl7: “put this on [Facebook] as it needs to be seen. Boss ordered me to remove it or be fired. Love wrkin 4 a Dem.”

This is the picture in question:

Some other tweets, caught by the Journal before they were deleted:

Next person that says ‘imma’ instead of ‘I am going to’ I’m going to pistol whip.

The Muslims are like Chinook salmon.. Life’s great till the SEALS show up!

The Journal says that Dwyer is a “top auto theft detective” and former APD Officers’ Association President.  At least two other APD officers have been disciplined for their postings on social media sites.

The New York Times has a story today that tells us that “although almost 90 percent of households in the United States now have a cellphone, the growth in voice minutes used by consumers has stagnated, according to government and industry data.”

In other words, people are calling less but texting, Tweeting, surfing — and, yes, reading news stories — more on their phones, which is changing how news outlets are delivering news to readers, viewers and listeners.

It’s a trend that’s been growing the past few years. For example, Facebook and Twitter both have applications for mobile phones, and more and more people are getting news through those two social networking sites, thanks to users’ ability to post news stories on those sites.

In fact, some tech commentators have said for some time that tech innovation is pushing more and more toward the Smart phone, or some future version of it,  becoming the universal platform.

At least one news hound doesn’t mind the revolution in how news is delivered.

I recently had the chance to speak with Jim Lehrer of PBS’ News Hour when he was in Albuquerque. And he told me that he doesn’t care how viewers watch his show –on TV, the computer, a mobile phone — as long as the journalistic standards  that make his show a go-to source of news — those are my words, not his — stay in place.

I totally agree with him.

All that said, thanks to all of you who are reading this post on your computer.

The blog initially began, “After declaring a weather-related disaster for Northwest New Mexico, Governor Bill Richardson decided another disaster declaration was necessary for the State Capitol Building.” Later, the blog was forced to clarify that the post was, indeed, only a joke.

In addition to writing that the Roundhouse “has been severely impacted by an extreme amount of bovine manure from the First Floor of the Roundhouse, beginning in January of 2003 and intensifying in duration and quantity since that time,” the post poked fun at the typical tension between the House and Senate.

WHEREAS, House and Senate members refuse to communicate, refuse to pass each other’s bills and are threatening to throw flour tortillas at each other;

This is in reference to the so-called tortilla tax that would apply the gross receipts tax to many staple foods including the flour tortilla, a New Mexico favorite.

KOB reporter Gadi Schwartz theorized on Twitter that “Someone must be bored in the gov’s office on the 4th floor.”

Though the blog was a joke, the Independent can’t say that we haven’t heard as bad on the House or Senate floor.

“The defeat of the food tax shows how important and effective your emails to policymakers truly are,” read a press release sent out today by the think tank.

In the first edition of The Independent Forum, Think New Mexico executive director Fred Nathan wrote, “Whatever money a food tax would generate for the state would be offset by reduced tax collections on other goods and services that these families can no longer afford. Thus, a new food tax would operate like an anti-stimulus package.”

In recent days, Think New Mexico had posted to Twitter and Facebook the name of a politician or group opposed to the food tax. For example, at noon Monday,  Think New Mexico tweeted: ”Democratic State Senator Eric G. Griego has stated his opposition to the reimposition of the food tax.”

Why did the group use social media to campaign against the food tax?

“Beginning in late December, as the session grew near, we wanted to convey the momentum against the Albuquerque Chamber of Commerce’s proposal to reimpose the food tax and have been releasing endorsements from legislators, organizations and newspapers hourly,” Nathan wrote.

As of Monday afternoon, Think New Mexico had 679 fans on its Facebook page and 166 followers on Twitter,  according to Nathan.

Nathan said the opposition “began as a trickle but is now an avalanche.”

While some politicians have been able to use social media effectively to advocate for positions and gain attention, this is the first time I’ve seen a group not aligned with a political party or media outlet have an effective social media campaign. (If there is one that I don’t recall, don’t hesitate to let me know in the comments).

Meantime, New Mexico isn’t the only state with a smaller prison population than it had a few years back. The U.S. soon may see its prison population drop for the first time in almost four decades, according to the Los Angeles Times, which lists the reasons for this trend, including states rethinking their tough-on-crime policies in the face of budget troubles. In 2007, New Mexico officials watched the state’s prison population shrink. Up until that point, New Mexico’s prison population had risen every year since the early 1980s.

Turning to New York, jurors who convicted former state Senate Majority Leader Joseph L. Bruno of fraud charges also would indict the state Legislature for negligence if they could, reports the Albany Times Union.

Moving to the Deep South, state budget cuts in recent years have gutted Georgia’s ethics panel, which now is an ethics panel in name only say some good government advocates, according to the Associated Press.

As for international news, tens of thousands of opposition supporters gathered in Qom, Iran’s main theological center, today to mourn the passing of the country’s top dissident cleric, Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri, who died late Saturday at the age of 87, reports the Los Angeles Times. Montazeri in recent months had leveraged his reputation as one of the architects of the 1979 revolution to criticize the current leaders in Iran.

In the media world, Twitter is posting a small profit for 2009 thanks to recent deals it inked with Google and Microsoft, reports BusinessWeek.

State Rep. Brian Egolf cited a blog post by the Santa Fe New Mexican’s Kate Nash, when he posted on Twitter, “Nash Nails it: World Comes to End, Richardson Blames Legislature.”

Later, Egolf tweeted: ”The administration’s sky-is-falling daily releases about budget cuts are becoming ridiculous. Really unhelpful after our hands were tied.”

Then his colleague, Rep. Ben Rodefer, replied: ”@BrianEgolf Yes, absolutely ridiculous. The sky is not falling, but we do need to all contribute to the solution.”

It came to a head with some snark from Egolf, who Tweeted, “BREAKING: Legislature bans apple pie and green chile. Governor vetoes, saves New Mexico.”

It’s clear that the Legislature—including freshman Democrats Egolf and Rodefer—are not happy with being made scapegoats by Richardson’s daily press releases and blog posts.

(About Richardson’s blog: The page includes a note that says, “Bloggers will include Governor Richardson, Cabinet Secretaries and representatives from the Governor’s Office.” But so far none of the posts includes attribution to anyone in particular, so we’ve just been referring to “the governor’s blog” or something similar.)

Representative Brian Egolf, D-Santa Fe, (@BrianEgolf) Tweeted that he was unsuccessful in getting his revenue bills through the House Rules Committee.

Senator Dede Feldman, D-Albuquerque, (@senatorfeldman) used Twitter to criticize the scope of the special session, writing, “Looks like legislators are handcuffed into doing some minor bandaids on our gaping revenue wound thanks to the Gov. and conservatives.”

Other legislators making occasional use of Twitter are Senator Tim Keller, D-Albuquerque, (@tk4nm) and Al Park, D-Albuquerque, (@al_park).

While there are five Democrats on Twitter, the entire Republican Party in the House is on Twitter — kind of. @NMHOUSEGOP is the “official Twitter page of the NM House GOP.”

Governor Bill Richardson, D-N.M., is also on Twitter, with the account @GovRichardson. However, Richardson’s account hasn’t sent a tweet since the beginning of the special session.

Some in the media, and not just at NMI, have embraced the microblogging service.

KOB-TV reporter Gadi Schwartz (@GadiRoget) is one of the most active Twitter users in the Roundhouse. He used the service yesterday to inform followers that Governor Richardson was “sticking with his 1.5% cuts to edu[cation].”

Other media to follow for updates on the special session including Santa Fe New Mexican political reporter Steve Terrell (@steveterrell), Terrell’s employer the Santa Fe New Mexican (@thenewmexican), New Mexico Independent editor Gwyneth Doland (@gwynethdoland) and yours truly, Matthew Reichbach (@fbihop).

A good way to sift through what is relevant to the special session and what isn’t is the hash tag #nmspecial — that is, a phrase that is added to tweets about the special session to make it easier to search for them.

I asked Scott Oskay, via Twitter, “are you advocating violence against ACORN or SEIU members?” He responded, “I would advocate retaliation for intimidation, be it verbal or physical.”

This comes on the heels of the fistfight at a health care town hall meeting in Florida.

It all began just before noon today when Oskay wrote:

if ACORN/SEIU attends these townhalls, take pictures of them, and of their license plates on anticipation of disruption. #iamthemob #tlot

Then:

If ACORN/SEIU attends these meetings for disruptive purposes, and you have a license to carry….carry.

Then:

If ACORN/SEIU attends these townhalls for disruption, stop being peaceful, and hurt them. Badly #iamthemob

And:

If ACORN/SEIU attends, remind them that your target is centralized, while you and your allies, are not. #iamthemob #tlot

A screenshot of Oskay’s page is below:

No? Me either.

But Dan Boyd of the Albuquerque Journal has got the scoop in a story in today’s paper. Apparently the governor has jumped on the social networking wave and is riding the swell by becoming a regular on Twitter and reporting status updates on Facebook.

Who knew the guv was a techie?

I first saw Richardson, or more accurately one of his staff, tweeting on Twitter when he was in Rome and the Vatican to be honored for signing the law that abolished the death penalty in New Mexico.

He, or more accurately a member of his staff, has moved to more mundane stuff since that first foray on Twitter.

Here’s an excerpt from the story:

In his most recent tweet, posted Wednesday, Richardson said he had enjoyed a great taco burger at Sadie’s, a popular restaurant in Albuquerque’s North Valley.

On July 24, he tweeted he had “thoroughly enjoyed” a green chile cheeseburger from the Buckhorn Tavern in San Antonio, N.M., whose owner recently bested a New York celebrity chef in a Food Network “Throwdown with Bobby Flay.”

The governor launched his Twitter site in April during a trip to Rome, where he was honored for signing a repeal of New Mexico’s death penalty.

Richardson spokesman Gilbert Gallegos said staff members do the updates, not Richardson himself, though the governor sometimes has input on what’s posted.

Richardson personally asked for the Facebook page, Gallegos said. Fittingly, the Facebook page was announced via Twitter on June 9.

Udall is now officially on Twitter at @SenatorTomUdall, has an official Senate Flickr account in addition to his already-existing Facebook and YouTube pages.

Surprisingly, Udall is just the second member of the New Mexico delegation to use Twitter. The first was the person who succeeded Udall in the 3rd Congressional District, Democratic Congressman Ben Ray Lujan (@RepBenRayLujan).

According to TweetCongress, 155 members of the House and Senate are active members Twitter — 99 Republicans and 56 Democrats.

So if you’re looking to connect with Udall’s office, there are a few more ways.