Support the youth of Socorro County through the Junior Livestock Sale on Saturday August 30th, 3:00pm at the Socorro County Fairgrounds.

A reader’s e-mailed response to August 7th’s Pencil Warrior illustrated the impasse many Americans have reached on the issue of corporate power. “I hope you tell us how to exercise some meaningful control over the abuses you describe,” read the message from Albuquerque.

Got a hankerin' for some good old fashioned ice cream? Welcome to Evett's Cafe in Magdalena, New Mexico! Just be careful to avoid the world's worst waitress.

In the latest barrage from the Albuquerque Journal, their editorial board has issued a scathing, and at times comical, rebuke of Dr. John Meason of EMRTC and his attempt to justify Tech's refusal to release public records under the New Mexico Inspection of Public Records Act. This marks the second editorial in recent weeks to run in the Albuquerque Journal in which they chastised EMRTC and New Mexico Tech for their handling of the drop zone affair.

Augustin Plains Ranch LLC has yet again filed with the state to drill 37 giant wells, pumping millions of gallons of water from the aquifer in Catron County and threatening to deplete the most precious of resources in a desert: water. If you are concerned about this issue, you should mail a letter of protest to the state engineer's office, as well as contact your local, state, and national elected representatives.

The Albuquerque Journal's editorial board has issued a scathing rebuke of New Mexico Tech's attempts to suppress release of documents under the New Mexico's Inspection of Public Records law.

Today our world is reeling from the effects of all manner of profound challenges. Crashing economies. Climate change. Energy shortages. Increasing hunger and thirst. Threats of epidemic disease. The snowballing effects of environmental destruction. A widening abyss between the “haves” and the “have-nots,” and the increasingly deadly competition for the resources that support both economies and life itself. As Dave Wheelock, The Pencil Warrior, notes, many of these problems can be traced back to a single root cause: corporate power.

New Mexico Tech and EMRTC have fought tooth and nail - spending large sums of taxpayer and tuition money - attempting to prevent the public from viewing documents related to the possible establishment of a drop zone near Socorro. Unfortunately for the administrators at New Mexico Tech and EMRTC, their refusal to allow the public to view such documents violates state law, specifically the New Mexico Inspection of Public Records Act.

Normally I keep the business of this column above that of debunking obvious oil industry PR. I give my readers credit for seeing through such obviously self-serving – and bogus – stunts as British Petroleum’s new translation of their familiar BP logo to mean “Beyond Petroleum” or Chevron’s proclaimed new emphasis on “corporate responsibility,” “protecting the environment,” and “human energy.” No matter how much giant energy corporations dress up their pigs, they still tend to let off a pronounced barnyard aroma.

The suit or "writ of mandamus" demanding release of the public records related to the proposed EMRTC drop zone near Socorro will be heard at Socorro's court house on July 29th, 2008 at 2:30 p.m. The public is welcome to attend the hearing, although space is limited.