DISQUS

JoMa · 1 month ago

If Denish wants to win, she needs to seriously pay attention to the middle - the independent minded voters.

She has the time to seriously push for meaningful ethics reform, real education reform (yes - challenge the unions), and declare that the wild spending party is over. NJ and VA are precursors of how angry voters are.

Same with Heinrich. His answer to my question about why the Dems want to end the Medicare Advantage plans when those plans provide for more than just Medicare (wellness programs, a focus on prevention, etc.) was a typically snarky liberal answer that not only lost my vote next time around, but will cause me to support any viable opponent.

If the Dems want to continue to ride the "We're for the little people" myth, they need to prove it.

southvalley · 1 month ago

Yes, the governor's race in VA proves that the America people are sick of Dems acting like Republicans. The progessive base stayed home.

I've asked Heinrich a few pointed questions me own self! Like if they're going to expand Medicaid, are the Feds going to fund it? or just throw more people into a system which is going broke what with the HMOs skimming and Walmart giving out applications for food stamps AFDIC and Medicaid to their new, low paid hirees.
Not to mention all the people allowed up here to "do the jobs Americans won't do" who stayed home for the Chili harvest cause they're doing just fine off the Social Services, thankyouverymuch. so, Americans desperate for jobs picked the chili!
GEEZ LOUEZZ!!!!

Vince Ramos · 1 month ago

Typically about 15,000 chile pickers, including women and children, are hired each year in NM but I bet you didn't know agricultural workers are by NM law exempted from the $7.50 an hour minimum wage and don't have to be covered by workers compensation or provided with any sort of health coverage. In any case, most chile pickers are hired by labor contractors to work on large corporately owned farms where they're paid a "piece" rate for what they harvest. For example, for each bucket they pick the worker will receive one plastic chip, which typically is worth around 60 cents. In order for a picker to make anything approaching the minimum hourly wage at that rate they have to fill around 12 buckets, each of which weighs about 40 pounds when it's full, then carry it to a trailer. Typically the picker's work day starts at about 6 am and finishes at around 4 pm (10 hours) - but that doesn't include the time it takes to get to get to work or return from it, nor any time off for lunch (which translates into less chile picked and take home pay at the end of the day). Also there are environment issues having to do with health since commercial chile producers are using ever increasing amounts of chemicals to deal with crop diseases and to increase production, as well as using large doses of pesticides such as Nemacur, Furadan (carbofuran) and Methyl-Parathion, in addition to various fungicides and herbicides.

southvalley · 1 month ago

Well, somebody picked it and they were having trouble finding pickers so you figure it out.

With all the chemicals you mention, who'd want to pick ( or eat for that matter) the things.
And yes, I know it's slave labor.

Consafo · 1 month ago

So why then did you lay all that phony b/s on us about the pickers?

Guest · 1 month ago

...try going without eating for 24 hours to get a sense of what it's like to be really hungry, better yet leave the comfort of your home and spend a night on the street - it might give you a better sense of perspective.

Bill527 · 1 month ago

"The number of people caught illegally entering the U.S. dropped by more than 23% during the past year, continuing a longer trend, federal data shows. ...Economists say the souring U.S. jobs market is a driving force behind the decline in illegal crossings. The U.S. unemployment rate last month passed 10% for the first time since the early 1980s. Fewer jobs mean fewer people are willing to risk a journey that has become more perilous and more expensive, experts say." http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125781594948540...

Guest · 1 month ago

...also children as young as 10 are allowed to work as a hand-harvest laborers, but for no more than 8 weeks in a year.

Frida · 1 month ago

Obviously those of us who are not literally living hand to mouth and have never experienced anything even remotely approaching that kind of poverty cannot begin to imagine what it's like to struggle on a daily basis to basically stay alive. No wonder we have so little compassion for the poor and unfortunate, they only exist in a distant and threateningly alien world that's far easier to dismiss then to begin to recognize - much less try to change.

Harold Hill · 1 month ago

...considering where things are headed it might be worth taking some time to seek out and listen to people who've already been forced to learn how to survive with little or nothing, rather then just recoiling in fear of the unknown.

Gene Gadera · 1 month ago

It shouldn't come as a surprise that impoverished refugees are willing to do whatever it takes to escape from Mexico, which is rapidly turning into a failed state. Imagine for a moment what it's like to try to survive in a country where the central government is too weak and ineffective to exercise any practical control over much of its territory, where corruption and criminality run rampant, public services are all but non-existent, runaway inflation is the norm and the economy has all but crashed - while political power and the nation's wealth is concentrated in the hands of a very small group of oligarchs.

Elohim152 · 1 month ago

"The number of minors swept up in Mexico's drug wars - as killers and victims - is soaring, with U.S. and Mexican officials warning that a toxic culture of fast money, drug abuse and murder is creating a "lost generation." http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/ar...

Alberto Gonzales · 1 month ago

I was wondering where you got your information about the labor that was employed during this year's chili harvest - I couldn't turn any up.
Incidentally some interesting info about this years crop and NMSU's research into mechanical harvesters and destemmers at http://westernfarmpress.com/vegetables/chile-pe...

Guest · 1 month ago

In New Mexico, the term chili, with an i at the end, refers to a hearty stew, usually based on ground or finely diced beef or pork, made using chiles, usually in dried flaked or powdered form, as a primary seasoning (other ingredients are up for debate, especially beans).

Alberto Gonzales · 1 month ago

I was interested because this kind of hard work is usually only done by people who are desperate and have no other decent way to make a living for themselves and their families, so if in fact the demographics of the labor force (the majority of which are typically imported from Mexico by labor contractors) changed this year, that could be very significant.

Fedup77 · 1 month ago

Good job for the LT Gov. regarding being truthful that double dipping hurts the budget.

Now let's see if she can get this bad law repealed (no grandfathering), in the January 2010 session. If she can get it done, that is a mark of a good leader.

southvalley · 1 month ago

I was very disappointed that Denish didn't get the governorship when Richardson wasn't tapped for Washington. I guess Obama doesn't like political expediency any more than anyone else, at least not in this case.

Eddie · 1 month ago

...of course there was also the matter of El Patrón being in the midst of the CDR Financial Products / GRIPgate scandal at the time
http://newmexicoindependent.com/40769/cdr-finan...

Guest · 1 month ago

Won't someone please tell Diane's handlers to set things up so she can't be photographed in profile.

GimmieAMilk · 1 month ago

Where was Denish during the 2009 legislative session when Rep. "Lucky" Varela sponsored the "double-dipping" bill that passed both houses overwhemingly and was vetoed by Richardson? Now she uses this issue in her campaign gestures? Diane Denish really needs a "reality check" about the sentiment of the people and how we feel about our disfunctional and corrupt state govt. Instead of learning from officials like Varela, she is off on her own hiring people from outside NM to run her campaign. She just doesn't get it!