Archive for June 18, 2010

NMED, NMDOH Issue Smoke Advisory

NMED/NMDOH Press Release

(Santa Fe, NM) — The New Mexico Environment Department and the New Mexico Department of Health today issued a smoke advisory for the areas of New Mexico affected by smoke from the numerous wildfires currently burning across the state.

The Department of Health recommends that sensitive groups, such as the elderly, small children, or any individual with respiratory or heart problems, leave the area where the smoke levels are within the unhealthy range (see table below) until the smoke dissipates or stay inside as much as possible. Citizens are also urged not to use swamp coolers as they will pull the smoke inside.

Air quality conditions associated with smoke are especially important for people with underlying health conditions such as asthma, emphysema, and cardiovascular disease. If symptoms associated with these preexisting conditions do not respond to your usual recommended medications, see a health care provider immediately. NMED and DOH do feel that sensitive groups should practice caution until the smoke dissipates. Real-time air monitoring data is available for some areas of the state at NMED’s website at http://air.nmenv.state.nm.us/.

In areas without real-time particulate monitors, visibility can serve as a good surrogate in determining air quality. The following chart includes guidelines for extrapolating air quality from observed visibility.

Categories Visibility in Miles
Good 10 miles and up
Moderate 6 to 9
Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups 3 to 5
Unhealthy 1½ to 2½
Very Unhealthy 1 to 1¼
Hazardous ¾ mile or less

Procedure for Making Personal Observation to Determine Smoke Concentrations

  • Face away from the sun
  • Determine the limit of your visibility range by looking for targets at known distances (miles). Visible range is that point at which even the high contrast objects totally disappear
  • After determining visibility in miles, use the chart to determine health effect and appropriate cautionary statement.

For further information on the impacts of smoke to health, go to NMED’s Web page:

http://www.nmenv.state.nm.us/aqb/Wildfire-PM.html, or contact Marissa Bardino, NMED Communications Director, at (505) 827-0314 or Deborah Busemeyer, DOH Communications Director at (505) 827-2619.

Public Service Announcement: Father’s Day Car Show

by John Weckerle

Those looking for something to do this weekend might consider the 7th Annual Father’s Day Car Show at Valley View Christian Church just north of NM 344 and Dinkle Road in Edgewood, which will be held from 9 a.m to 3:30 p.m. this Sunday, June 20.  For more information, see the Valley View Car Show page or the Gadabout-Blogalot.com announcement.

Baying For Blood

by John Weckerle

Returning from vacation, we were gratified to see that the Mountain View Telegraph shares our sentiments on political advertisements.  In an editorial titled “Save The Venom For After Summer,” the link to which has inexplicably and disappointingly disappeared from the Telegraph’s web site, editor Rory McClannahan bemoans the tone – and the early appearance – of vitriolic campaign ads associated with this Fall’s general elections.  We couldn’t agree more – we made some comments on the primary election ads ourselves – but we are not stopping with Ms. Denish and Ms. Martinez.

There are a growing number of people – your editor included – who are simply sick to death of the tone that the local, state, and national debates on critical issues have taken.  The falsehoods, name calling, inflammatory language, hyperbole, and invective have reached a near-historic pitch, and I for one am tired of hearing it.  Commentators are “Marxist-Socialist” for simply suggesting that the “Tea Party movement” might become a third major political party (Bob Steiner, letter to The Independent, 5/26/10).  Tea Party Express chairman Mark Williams decries Muslims as worshipers of a “monkey god” and “animals of Allah,” and refers to President Barak Obama as “an Indonesian Muslim turned welfare thug and a racist in chief.”   Biggovernment.com bloviator Andrew Breitbart propagates a lie about Robert Byrd getting an earmark for a nonexistent company – a lie enthusiastically picked up and passed along by bloggers across the country (see our stories here and here).  Demonstrations are held in which signs are proudly carried comparing Mr. Obama to Adolph Hitler and decrying anyone holding a different opinion as either Socialist, Marxist, or Nazi (none of which terms seem to be particularly well understood by those using them). A demonstrator at a Washington rally became so incensed over the pending passage of a health care bill that his saliva ended up on a Congressman’s face.  (Note: After watching the video a couple of dozen times, we really don’t think he deliberately spit at the Congressman.  However, the obvious alternative explanation – that he was foaming at the mouth over the issue – is only slightly less ugly, and perhaps just as absurd.)

And lest the folks on the other side of the debate get too complacent, here: we have not forgotten MoveOn.org’s contemptible “General Betray-Us” ad in the New York Times, or comparisons of Mr. Obama’s predecessor with the aforementioned ruler of the Third Reich.

To those flinging around the invective: We see little to be proud of in this behavior.  Perhaps we should remember that the people we are attacking are our fellow Americans, our fellow citizens.  Few, if any, on either side of the “fence” (whichever side that may be) are seeking to destroy America, or our “American values,” or our “American way of life.”  They simply hold different opinions and have different ideas on how the country should be run and what direction we should take with respect to certain issues.  A more polite and considerate discussion may not bring agreement on all issues, but it might bring at least compromise on some.  We are calling on all parties to stop the shouting, and engage in more constructive dialogue.