By Jim Scarantino There’s one simple word to describe what the federal government should do about Wall Street’s bad bets on securitized mortgages and homeowners who recklessly or dishonestly took out mortgages they couldn’t afford. That one word: nothing. Wall Street is always condemned for its greed, though greed is what makes the wheels of capitalism spin. But greed also drove decisions of homebuyers who willingly played along with “liar’s loans” by inflating their income on mortgage applications. Many of them also engaged in kickback schemes with brokers and walked out of closings not only with mortgages too big for their finances, but also with cash in hand.
Pearce’s conservation bill: What’s not to like? (Part 2)
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By Jim Scarantino This is a follow-up to Scarantino’s July 3 column. Drop the rhetoric. Forget the generalities. Lose the political slogans. What does U.S. Rep. Steve Pearce’s bill for Doña Ana County, H.R. 6300, actually propose? Continue Reading
Pearce’s conservation bill: What’s not to like?
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By Jim Scarantino The Doña Ana County Wilderness Coalition deserves congratulations for Rep. Steve Pearce’s proposed legislation to protect more than 300,000 acres of federal land in Doña Ana County. By kick-starting the debate on how to preserve the landscape surrounding a booming Las Cruces, the wilderness coalition succeeded in prompting a conservative Republican congressman to introduce the first major land conservation legislation for southern New Mexico in nearly 30 years. Moreover, his legislation originated among constituencies acting out of stereotype in joining the call to permanently protect the rugged beauty of the area. I am the former chairman of the Coalition for New Mexico Wilderness. I was also a board member and executive director of the New Mexico Wilderness Alliance. Continue Reading
Bingaman goes to ANWR
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By Jim Scarantino Watching Democrats mishandling America’s energy crisis feels like 2002: There we were fighting Al Qaeda in Afghanistan. They had attacked us with hijacked planes. They wanted to upgrade from flying coach to detonating nuclear weapons in American cities. Al Qaeda had hoped to provoke us into doing something stupid. Al Qaeda knew it couldn’t defeat us. Continue Reading
Obama’s heroes
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By Jim Scarantino Outside Sharpsburg, Md., a stretch of soft grass rolls across a ditch to where corn sways in the wind. The ditch is barely wide enough to allow a truck or a horse-drawn wagon along its bottom. This is Bloody Lane at the Antietam National Battlefield. On October 17, 1862, Union forces under General George B. McClellan attacked Robert E. Lee’s Confederate army across miles of these pastures and cornfields. Lee was on his first invasion of the North. Continue Reading
Pro-life Democrats turning red to blue
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By Jim Scarantino “Three for three!” Democrats cheered after they won their third interim congressional election, taking seats previously held by the GOP. “Two for three!” cheered a growing faction within the Democrat Party. Two of those three successful Democrats are strongly pro-life. Don Cazayoux of Louisiana and Travis Childers of Mississippi made their opposition to abortion a central feature of their campaign. They join the ranks of pro-life Democrats elected to Congress in 2006 who have enabled Democratic control in both houses. Continue Reading
Still life with Democrats
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By Jim Scarantino With the prospect of winning the presidency, the Democrats’ energy plan heads to the big stage. Excitement fills the air. Critics are atwitter. Commuters and truckers crane their necks for a glimpse of Beltway stars. Cold homeowners and worried businesspeople crowd the sidewalk. Continue Reading
Off and running
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By Jim Scarantino Hello to Heath’s readers. I am excited about this opportunity to make a biweekly contribution to one of the finest state political sites you’ll find on the Web. I hope my participation might make it even better. You may have seen my work elsewhere. I write for Albuquerque’s Weekly Alibi. Continue Reading
Meet this site’s newest columnist
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Meet Jim Scarantino, this site’s newest columnist.He has been recognized as one of the country’s best political columnists by the American Association of Alternative Newsweeklies. His work has been published in more than 50 newspapers. He has been a guest on the Oliver North and Alan Colmes radio shows and is a regular panelist on KNME-TV’s “In Focus.” Jim also writes a column, “The Real Side,” for Albuquerque’s alternative paper, The Weekly Alibi. With that résumé, I’m honored to have Jim join this site and expect that, through his columns, he will make strong contributions to the conversation about New Mexico. His column, “Off the Leash,” will run on the second and fourth Thursdays of the month beginning tomorrow. Continue Reading