New Mexico Regains Lead in Silliest State in the Nation Competition

Today's first offering in yet another effort to prove that New Mexico, "The Land of Entrapment," (Our Motto: "Come on vacation, leave on probation") does not have a monopoly on silliness. Take for example, this item from Sam Hananel of the Associated Press:

"Dozens of employees of the Service Workers International Union picketed their own union Friday over its decision to lay off about 75 workers ...

"'This union is supposed to be at the forefront of the progressive movement, but it can't seem to follow its own ideology,' said Malcolm Harris, President of the Union of Union Representatives, which represents 210 SEIU organizers and field staff around the country."

An accompanying photograph shows an irate-appearing young man carrying a sign that reads "Hypocrite."

I love it! A union of employees at another union who are angry because they're being laid off? Tell me God doesn't have a sense of humor!

In order to appreciate the silliness of out next item, it is necessary to have a bit of tragic background information.

Over the past several weeks, City of Albuquerque cops have unearthed a mass grave on the city's far west mesa that contained the bodies of twelve women that were apparently the victims of a serial killer. According to the cops, the four bodies identified so far were prostitutes and the other eight are believed to have been actively pursuing that vocation.

Now, please have an orchestra-level seat for Act One in the New Mexico Theater of the Absurd.

About a month after the story of above-mentioned mass grave excavation hit the headlines, New Mexico's Lieutenant-Governor Diane Dinesh, who is running for Governor (and, if appearances count, running away from Jenny Craig), responded in classic political form: she rounded up a few lobbyists for "women's advocacy groups" and held a press conference.

In that 2 minutes of face time on the local news Dinesh called for the State of New Mexico to set up something called an Adult Missing Person (AMP) Alert System to "help prevent" Albuquerque's version of the Keystone Cops from digging another crater in the middle of nowhere. Fortunately the Legislature, in a rare show of common sense, refused to take the Governor wanna-be seriously and simply ignored her.

Now let's see: Diane Dinesh wants to establish an Amber Alert for Adults to prevent incidents like the mass grave excavation. There might be a small problem with this idea because 1) you can't report a missing person to the cops until that person has been gone for 24 hours and, 2) in the above mentioned incident all the victims appear to have beenprostitutes, a group that isn't well-known for its extended family relationships and is also notorious for avoiding the police whenever possible.

I'm giving even money that the Obama Administration will throw money at this idea as part of its Economic Plan. At least until Diane Dinesh doesn't have to worry about job hunting in 2010.

Here's another very good reason why the public's opinion of law enforcement in the City of Albuquerque and in Bernalillo County, New Mexico rates these agencies somewhere between Pancho Villa and the Third Reich:

Deputy draws controversy after drawing gun on 70-year-old

By Hailey Heinz
Albuquerque Journal

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. - At 70 years old, Margaret King is not very threatening. But when a Bernalillo County sheriff's deputy pulled her over for speeding, he thought she was dangerous enough to draw his gun and call for backup.

Undersheriff Sal Baragiola said failing to stop and opening a car door can signal danger for deputies.

A 70 year-old woman is such a potential danger to an armed deputy that he has to throw down on her with a 9mm semi-automatic pistol AND call for backup?

And finally, the most powerful organized crime family in the state, known to federal law enforcement officials as the New Mexico Legislature, adjourned last week at the end of its constitutionally-mandated 60-day session. As the editorialists of the Albuquerque Journal lamented, the Legislature once again did not pass an ethics bill.

Weren't they ethical before the session started? And why should there have to be a law to require the Legislature act ethically? Maybe there should be a law that allows the citizens to mandate ethical behavior from the end of a rope. If the idea catches on, maybe we should go national with it but, given the body mass index of some of the sows and boars in Washington pig sty, only if we can find some heavy duty rope.