D e s e r t E x p o s u r e
June 2010
Gun Tracing
Your assessment of Mexico's continual bloodletting ("The Nightmare Next Door," May) should win you a fifth Society of Professional Journalists award. Clear, thorough, and entertaining.
I have to take issue, however, with the statement that "US laws allow citizens to buy multiple military-style rifles without the sales being reported to authorities." While not strictly false, the sentence is grossly misleading. The only firearm sales not subject to reporting are those between private citizens, i.e., if I sell a gun to you. All over-the-counter sales, even at gun shows, have to be reported. And all modern guns were, at least once, sold over the counter. Thus, the origins of any firearms sold in the United States and seized in Mexico should be traceable.
Jack Warner
Silver City
Teague Party, Cont.
Your analysis of the Health Care Reform Act (Editor's Notebook, April) was excellent. It will extend care and save us a lot of money. No one was angrier at Rep. Harry Teague than I when he voted against the Health Care Reform Act. But I'm going to vote for Harry in this coming election because he is much better than the reactionary Steve Pearce.
I've compiled a list of the good things Harry has voted for including millions of dollars for the people of Grant County for roads, housing, unemployment insurance, etc. Thirty items all counted, just for us.
If you criticize him on healthcare, you should praise his voting for healthcare for 11 million poor kids. He voted for a tax cut for 95% of Americans and investment in renewable energy. Harry voted for 14 bills to help vets; eight became law, six are waiting for Republican support in the Senate. He certainly is not Steve Pearce. That's a good reason to vote for Harry Teague in the next election.
You tell people to write in Bill McCamley as a protest instead of voting for Harry. Bill is a great guy and a very good candidate for commissioner in this election. I'll vote for him every chance I get, but I won't throw away my vote and help the Republicans.
Electoral politics is the tool of middle-class democracy. We improve legislation little by little because we are fearful of what we may lose, so we make incremental, judicious changes. We elected President Obama to make big changes, and he has been very moderate. This gives us an opportunity to win over neighbors to our point of view. Change comes slowly but more surely this way.
Just as we improve legislation, we can improve candidates. We should start a campaign fund right now for a better candidate chosen by a readers' poll in your newspaper. Set up the fund in a local bank and run articles in every issue evaluating potential candidates. I like Howie Morales and Bill McCamley. I'm sure there would be others if we could bankroll them. Bill said one reason he lost to Teague was Harry's much larger campaign fund. Only those of us who desire a better world can correct that by donating our money.
Don't tell people to throw away their precious votes; democracy is too important. Let's use elections sensibly to make life better for the middle class instead of just punishing an errant congressman.
Jim Gillespie
Mimbres
Thanks for the analysis of the Health Care Reform Act. It extends coverage to millions of Americans and will save us all a lot of money in the long run.
June 1 we choose candidates who best represent our hope for a better world. Every vote counts. Nothing less than Democratic Party control of the House of Representatives is at stake. We dare not return control of our government to the Republican Party.
Your strategy of a protest write-in vote against Harry Teague is a vote that strengthens Republican chances. Harry Teague says he cast a vote against the healthcare bill because it was not good enough. Don't use Harry's logic; it wastes your vote and helps the Republican Party and their corporate friends.
The 2010 elections are about our local interests. We will choose the congressmen, state officials, local sheriff, judges and commissioners who will determine the direction of our communities. Harry Teague has voted for the democratic values of People First. He made one bad mistake.
I agree with Harry. The Health Care Reform Act was not good enough. The Grant County Democratic Party wanted a public option. It would have made healthcare insurance more available. But I will vote for Harry because he represents more of my democratic values than will his opponent.
I have another strategy for dealing with Harry. Go to his town meetings, question his vote, argue with him, tell him to improve the Health Care Reform Act and ask him how we can help. Give him your ideas to take back to Washington. I think this is the way to make representative democracy work for us.
I have the greatest respect for all this year's Democratic candidates. I ask my fellow citizens to vote like your future depends on it.
Linda Pafford
Grant County Democratic Party Chair
Your Editor's Note in the Letters section (May), chastising your readers for supporting Harry Teague's vote AGAINST ObamaCare, amused me. You claim Teague campaigned to support Health Care Reform and then broke that promise with his NO vote on ObamaCare. It is you, Mr. Editor that is missing the point, not your readers.
ObamaCare is NOT Heath Care Reform. ObamaCare is a huge, convoluted piece of legislation that does nothing to lower the real cost of medical care. ObamaCare pays back favors to the Unions, the Lawyers, those on welfare and other political interest groups. The main theme is to eliminate private insurance and FORCE socialized medicine on the masses. This legislation will be deemed un-constitutional, wasting a lot of time and money.
Real Heath Care Reform would have reduced current medical care costs in a step by step manner so more folks could afford heath care insurance on their own, not on welfare. These simple steps would have included:
- Tort reform to cap malpractice insurance costs for heathcare professionals.
- Revising Medicare D so that US Citizens could shop for better drug prices worldwide.
- Revising Medicare D so that BIGPHARMA would be required to offer drugs to US citizens at their "Most Favorable Customer" rate.
- Increasing the enrollment of healthcare professionals in our schools and universities.
- Standardizing medical records and forms and going digital.
- Initiating a Guest Workers Program to rid the nation of Illegal Aliens seeking free medical care.
Finally, you took a swing at Rep. Teague by suggesting his lack of a degree was the cause of his voting NO on ObamaCare. This has to be the most Liberal driven logic I have ever seen in print. Here you are, a person working in a failing industry, the Liberal Media papers, criticizing a person who has is now a Representative in the House, and one of the wealthiest.
You are trying to give away free papers while criticizing your readers and a successful man. Wonders never cease.
This is from a Registered Republican who voted against Mr. Teague but will vote FOR him in the next election. It is refreshing to see a man that can think.
Ross B. Yingst
Lemitar, NM
Editor's note: Reader Yingst's letter makes our point more dramatically than anything we could add. In voting against the healthcare bill and breaking his promises to those who sent him to Congress, Rep. Teague made a calculated and cynical appeal to GOP-leaning voters. Perhaps, as in this reader's case, it worked. Unfortunately, it leaves voters who thought they could trust Harry Teague out in the cold, with no choice in November. Voters who agree with Yingst already had a candidate to represent them this fall in Steve Pearce; it continues to baffle us why such folks can't understand that progressives might also want someone on the ballot who represents their views (rather than simply lying about such an intention).
To clarify, however:
- There is no such thing as "ObamaCare." The Health Care Reform Act was written by Congress, not the president.
- Healthcare reform, as passed, does nothing whatsoever to "eliminate private insurance and FORCE socialized medicine on the masses." In fact, it forces Americans to buy private insurance.
- To repeat: The comment about Teague's education was in reference to his claim that he had greater expertise on healthcare policy than those with relevant degrees who've spent decades studying these issues. He's certainly proven you don't need a college degree to make a lot of money. But being one of the wealthiest men in Congress doesn't automatically give you wisdom or, apparently, compassion for people like Teague's employees, who recently all lost their own health insurance. (See this issue's Tumbleweeds section.)
- And for a business in a "failing industry," we're doing just fine, thanks. Not as well as Harry Teague, obviously, but then again at least we don't have to put our principles through the paper shredder to keep our jobs.
Global Warming, Still Hot
For several years, this non-scientist has relied on the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS), a membership organization, for current information on planetary changes. Their message? You bet your booties we've got a big problem.
UCS keeps a low profile, but it lobbies both sides of the congressional aisle continuously on various issues, with encouraging success.
As for Larry Lightner (Ramblin' Outdoors, April), I'm sure he is good to his dogs, ATV and his wife, but I have always felt Ol' Lar is not and never will be Desert Exposure caliber, and I stopped reading him long ago.
Bradley Grower and Stephen Sans, please accept many thanks for your illuminating letters in the May issue.
Helen I. Francis
Silver City
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