There’s a reason I’ve not been posting. I’ll tell you about it later.

What possible purpose did that serve besides smacking conservatives and Traditionalists? San Miguel is where the conservative refugees in Santa Fe attend Mass, and San Ignacio is the parish where the Archdiocese holds the indult (someone mentioned to me once, “Did you know San Ignacio is the smallest parish in the Archdiocese?” Of course it is, why do you think they sent us here?)

I guess this is why the Archdiocese has had two priests leave, one to join the FSSP and one to join the “schismatics” (I can only assume that means the SSPX). I guess that’s why the SSPX has enough people supporting them in Albuquerque to build an impressive new church for their Masses.

Like his predecessor, it seems the current Archbishop needs to realize that while some of us are former altar boys, we’re not going to keep bending over without protest.

From time to time, I get people who wonder if I’m a little too hard on Santa Fe when I remark that it has all the freakishness of San Francisco but without the water. There are other people who wonder if it can really be as bad as I make out. Finally, there are people who ask me to sum up my experience of living in the “City Different”. I’m happy to say I can finally answer all those people at the same time.

That’s right folks, I’ve done it. I have found the most perfect Santa Fe story ever. One small article in the Santa Fe New Mexican has encapsulated all of this whacked out town more accurately and succinctly than I could ever dare to imagine. Thank you, Tom Sharpe!

Eight Tibetan Buddhist monks, dressed in maroon robes, saffron shawls and yellow fringed hats, stood in the shade of a small cottonwood tree in Frenchy’s Field on Wednesday to bless Santa Fe’s imperiled prairie dogs.

The monks’ multiphonic chanting, called “overtone singing,” vibrated the hot afternoon air and perked up the prairie dogs nearby. Several stood up on their hind legs. One began to squeak, as if to answer the chant.

The blessing kicked off efforts to relocate prairie dogs from city parks, school campuses and other sites around Santa Fe to more rural locations. Although relocations began as early as March, they were suspended in mid-May to allow the animals time to give birth.

Santa Fe. Not only do they relocate prairie dogs, not only do they get them blessed by Tibetan monks, they also give them maternity leave.

To be perfectly honest, I’m seriously considering never writing anything under the “New Mexico” tag again. What could I possibly add to this?

Oh, and please check out the comments on the news article. It’s an e-ticket extravaganza.

Steve Terrell is a good guy. I don’t care what anyone else says, he’s a good guy.

He relays the following from some leftist New Mexican PAC (find it yourself, no traffic for you, NM leftists):

“The Black Balloon Fiesta represents a new mode of peaceful political action,” the site says. “In an era when progressives are, for whatever reasons, less inclined to take to the streets and protest, PAC505 is formulating new ways of providing them with a unified voice.”

Losing stinks, doesn’t it? I mean, back in the day you guys could get out there with your chants and your signs and meet 19 year chicks eager to…get back at mommy and daddy. Nowadays? Not so much, huh.

Then again, I’m sure there’s a logical explanation for nobody showing up at your little shindigs. I got it! It’s tough finding enough wheelchair accessible busses for all those geriatrics from the ’60s. And if the college whackjobs decide to get all, “Bush lied, kids died” their parents would want to come to the rally too. And what twenty-year old kid wants to be seen in public with his tye-dye wearing mom?

Anyhoo, I think we haven’t celebrated enough Zarqawi’s death, because the leftists haven’t gotten unhinged enough over it. Let’s crank it up a notch. (H/T Irish Elk). Bonus Question: Is that Jesse Macbeth’s uniform?

The relics of six Knights of Columbus canonized by Pope John Paul II in 2000 have begun a tour of the United States.

The 1920s brought a revolution to Mexico, along with the widespread persecution of Catholics.

Missionaries were expelled from the country, Catholic seminaries and schools were closed, and the Church was forbidden to own property. Priests and laymen were told to denounce Jesus and their faith in public; if they refused, they faced not just punishment but torture and death.

During this time of oppression and cruelty, the Knights of Columbus did not retreat in Mexico but grew dramatically, from 400 members in 1918 to 43 councils and 6,000 members just five years later. In the United States at the time, the Knights handed out five million pamphlets that described the brutality of the Mexican government toward Catholics. As a result, the Mexican government greatly feared and eventually outlawed the Order.

Read more them here.

They’ll be at the Cathedral Basilica of St. Francis of Assisi tomorrow. Mass will be at 5:30pm, followed by veneration of the relics. Come over, I’ll see you there.

This past weekend Primus was awarded his Light of Christ emblem.

Now if there’s something we should all know about the Light of Christ emblem, it’s this:

The purpose is to help the Cub develop a personal relationship with Jesus. With the parents’ active assistance and participation in this program, it is hoped that the Cub will come to see Jesus as a real person and his friend.

Well you know, mission accomplished. That “dying on the cross” thing was kinda his first clue that Jesus cares about him. We were really interested in the section on Eucharist, but I think our book was defective and didn’t have it. We did have something about a favorite meal, and sharing the types of food you like to eat though. Maybe there was some mixup at the printer’s and we got some chapter from a children’s cookbook or something.

In any event, the archdiocese held a special (Novus Ordo) Mass for all the Scouts in the state who earned their religious emblems. Before Mass I gave Primus a rosary with instructions to pray it if the other Scouts started talking and being distracting during Mass. Four minutes after the procession, I saw the rosary come out of his pocket.

Why yes, I did time it.

Mass was said by his Excellency, Archbishop Michael Sheehan. My favorite part of the Mass was the recessional hymn, that traditional tune, “Praise Him”

Praise Him, praise Him
Praise Him in the morning, praise Him in the noontime
Praise Him, praise Him
Praise Him when the sun goes down

Jesus, Jesus
Jesus in the morning, Jesus in the noontime
Jesus, Jesus
Jesus when the sun goes down

Now I could be wrong, but I’m pretty sure this was a Jimmy Dean smoked sausage jingle. The only difference is that the Jimmy Dean people threw in the phrase “supper time” somewhere. Both the hymn and the jingle pronounced “morning” as “moe-nin”.

In actuality, I shouldn’t be so tough on “Praise Him”. Unlike nearly every other contemporary Catholic hymn, it actually recommends that we . . . praise God. This does stand in stark contrast to just about the rest of the contemporary hymnal, where we are told all the awesome things God will do for us, since we are so awesome ourselves. Good job, “Praise Him”!

For proof of this, read the lyrics of “Eagles Wings”, “Be Not Afraid”, or most of the other stuff in your average pew today. In most other hymns, the message conveyed is, “That’s mighty white of you, God, to look out for me like that. If there’s anything I can do for you (except reform my life and try to live it in a way so as to be pleasing to You) just give me a ring, ok?”

Since my wife always flinches when I say, “That’s mighty white of you” someone please remind me to tell her not to read this post.

Yes, I know he should have taken off his Tiger Cub Paw. And no, the other Cub Scouts are not in the Witness Protection Program. The wife pointed out that there were other children in the picture. And yes, if you download the picture and zoom in, you will notice the name tags have been blurred as well.

The Chaser
Sea Scout Ship 90
Napa, California

Well, we’ve elected our new mayor here in Santa Fe, in a campaign which I think revolved around how illegal our occupation of Iraq is. Oh, and there was something about Wal-Mart too.

In any event, my candidate Donado Coviello/John Coventry/Danny Cabeza de Calabazo of Fat Bill and Me came up just short in his quest for Mayor with 77 votes, or .9% of the total tally.

Personally, I believe my blog should take credit for about 40 of those votes or so. I got the word out, John/Danny/Donado! I’m also going to figure that maybe 10 votes were swayed by the eloquent endorsement of his wife, Maya Blue. She has my respect, because I can’t even begin to imagine what it must be like to be married to J-D-D.

On the bright side, he can now focus his full energies on his campaign for governor.

Please stop by the blog and send your condolences to J-D-D.

Do you have a cat you want to share with us all? email Der_Tommissar at goowy dot com

For those of you who didn’t feel like downloading the file of that “campaign contribution” I’ve got it up on google video. Now it can play right in the frame here. Here ya go.

Welcome Catholic Weblog Awards Visitors!

Without further ado, our post:

I know most of the folks who come here say to themselves, “You know, I’ve never really seen someone take a bribe. I wonder what that looks like. Could the Donegal Express help me out with that?”

That’s what I’m here for, people. I’m all about helping you.

Save this link (you want broadband for this one, kids) and watch former New Mexico State Treasurer Robert Vigil accept a $10,000 bribe campaign contribution. This is a chunk of an actual FBI surveillance film made by an informant. Since Mr. Vigil is currently arguing in court that the money mentioned is a campaign contribution, I figured I’d be fair and label it as such.

At the same time, the FBI didn’t get a DOJ proseuctor to indict him on accepting “campaign contributions”. I may be wrong, but I don’t think most campaign contributions are given in folded up envelopes in cars parked in the middle of nowhere either. I think most times you write a check and hand it to a really perky eighteen year old wearing a straw hat who then gives you a bunch of bumperstickers and lawn signs. This usually takes place in like, a campaign office or at a fundraiser with really bad food.

I guess they just decided to cut out the bad food and the lawn signs and reduce the bribe campaign contribution to its bare essentials. I guess you can call it a deconstructionist campaign contribution.

A civics note to kids thinking about a career in politics: You may get in trouble if you take a campaign contribution from a guy in a car who says, “Don’t expect more from me until I get some business.” Apparently, it’s an ethical gray area.

If you want to read up on it, you can always check out The New Mexican. They just reported it. They didn’t take any bribes campaign contributions or anything.

Richardson charged that many bloggers are paid “indirectly�? by political organizations. “On both sides,�? he said, “But I think the preponderance is on the right.�?

Ok, where’s my money? Who took my money? I’m serious now, I haven’t received my check from the Vast Right Wing Conspiracy in…well…I’ve never received any money. Now that I find out that “many” of us are paid indirectly, I’m a little ticked off. Personally, I’m blaming either Steve Terrell or Beth. Either the Conspiracy’s New Mexico branch over at the state is giving Steve my money and asking him to walk it over for me, OR My Vast Right Wing Conspiracy writes the checks for the Right Wing Conspiracy, and Beth has decided I don’t do enough politics to get paid for here. Curse you, Beth!

Is it me, or did Gov. Richardson just kick off his campaign for President? I mean, isn’t citing the evil conservative presence on the internet, and then using a throw-away statement like, “they’re in it for the money, unlike our noble and high minded liberal blogging allies” right out of the potential nominee playbook?

On the other hand, maybe the governor just got tongue tied. What I really think he wanted to say was:

“Many state treasurers are paid “directly” by private investment consultants.”

Boy, what would us po’ ol New Mexico Republicans do without Joe Monahan? I mean, not only is he the biggest political blogger in New Mexico, he also cares enough about us to offer his help. In this instance, he’s offering us some rock solid, surefire way to vault into control in New Mexico. We need to address the pitiful state of education like Democrats. Thanks Joe!

Monahan gives us the gist of ex-Governor Gary Carruther’s thoughts on the state of education:

In a bold, blunt assessment, the dean of the New Mexico State University College of Business dares to say what the politicos can’t or won’t–our state’s deep-seated education problems are race-based. The Anglos around here do pretty well, thank you. But widespread pockets of poor performance among Hispanics and Native Americans, not Anglos, is what keeps our state at or near the bottom of the important quality of life rankings.

Now, what do affluent white New Mexicans tend to have greater access to than poorer Hispanic and Indian New Mexicans? Hmm…let me think. Could it be…private schools? Got it! Maybe if we can reduce government interference and get Hispanic and Indian kids into private schools in greater numbers, their test scores will improve. A good way to do that would be to cut taxes so more folks could afford to send their kids to private schools, right?

Oh, oops.

Tax cuts and biz incentives are not going to solve the educational issues Carruthers cites as the root of the problem. It’s going to take a commitment to government.

So if I want my kids (and other kids) to get a better education, I don’t need to push for strong families and increased accessability for disadvantaged kids to attend better schools; I need to make a commitment to government. Gosh, I’m glad Joe is here to help me with that sort of thing. That’s why he /is/ the biggest political blogger in New Mexico.

I’m going to remember that in the future.

Uxor: Tom (she still won’t call me “Tommissar”), Primus needs help with his reading. Can you put down that beer and turn off the TV for a minute to help him with it?

Tommissar: *Ear splitting belch* Shut yer piehole, woman. I don’t need to help Primus with his schoolwork. What I need to do is make a commitment to government. I’ve done my part already. Don’t look at me like that, Joe Monahan says so and he /is/ the biggest political blogger in New Mexico. You gonna disagree with him? Gah! You made me miss that goal the Flyers scored.

But wait, Joe continues. Since he /is/ the biggest political blogger in New Mexico, maybe he doesn’t just rehash liberal boilerplate and attempt to fool Republicans into partaking.

Hispanics and Native Americans have stuck with the Ds through thick and thin, but now with record surpluses available, the R’s have a chance to broaden their appeal by following Carruthers and dealing with reality. If NM is to get out of the cellar, programs and policies need to be crafted that directly impact the particular woes of Hispanic and Indian New Mexico. Couldn’t a middle-of-the-road GOP do that and not alienate its Anglo base? Why not? Could they do it in a fiscally responsible fashion? That’s their calling card, isn’t it?

Oh, oops. My bad. Joe thinks that Republicans should start throwing money around like me at Best Buy because there are surpluses. That’s what the other side calls “fiscally responsible”. I think I’ll try that one too!

Tommissar: Honey, guesst what? I could a huge bonus at work today!

Uxor: You did? That’s wonderful! How big is it, how much will we be able to add toour savings account?

Tommissar: Nothing! I went out and got a case of Guinness, Battlefield 2, and a new video card.

Uxor: Are you nuts? We want to buy a house! How could you just throw away money like that?

Tommissar: Look, I don’t know where you get your weird ideas, but I was fiscally responsible! This was surplus money, after all. When you blow surplus money, that’s the essence of fiscal responsibility. After all, that’s what Joe Monahan says and he /is/ the biggest political blogger in New Mexico. Don’t tell me you think you know better than he does. Good! Now, fix me some dinner.

Finally, before I get comments about how I’m jealous or anything…it’s true, Joe Monahan is the biggest political blogger in New Mexico. However, I /am/ the biggest blogger in New Mexico. If this were prison, I’d have my own personal corner of the yard and Joe would be running to fetch me cigarettes.