Mechanics Lien Laws in New Mexico

The mechanic's lien in New Mexico is being used and abused to the detriment of homeowners and contractors alike. With current New Mexico laws regarding the placement of mechanic's liens no proof is required before placing a cloud over an owner's title.

To file a lien in any court in New Mexico the person filing the lien does not have to prove they are a licensed contractor, had a legitimate contract with the person named in the lien, or are actually owned any monies let alone the amount claimed. The lien, once placed rightly or wrongly, clouds the title of the homeowner for two years making it next to impossible for them to refinance or sell without paying the sum named in the lien.

Removal of the lien before the two years requires going to court to prove they are innocent; a concept which runs counter of the belief that all men are innocent until proven guilty. When I sought legal advice as to the removal of a lien on my property by a contractor no longer licensed I was told to just pay him as the amount owed was less than the legal fees it would cost to go to court. This, in opinion, amounts to legalized blackmail.

A contractor can at any time within that two years move for judgment. And the homeowner can actually have their home foreclosed on and sold out from under them to settle lien even if it is a fraction of the worth of the house. The only recourse for the homeowner is to participate in a lengthy and costly legal action for which there seems to be no alternative or affordable path even if the lien was illegally placed, the contractor has no proof of the contract, or the amount owed. And until the matter is settled in court the title of the property is still clouded and the homeowner hog tied. In my instance the legal action took four and a half years. And extends beyond the license of the contractor or the legal standing of his now defunct company.

Regardless of the legal rightness of either side of the argument changes need to be made in New Mexico's Mechanic's lien laws to avoid the tying up of court time, the abuse by contractors, and the victimization of homeowners.

Other states have amended their mechanic lien laws to be more fair. But as the law currently stands in New Mexico it is merely a legalized form of black mail which damages everyone involved. I have lots of friends that have been a victim of the Mechanic's Lien and who, like me, would never, ever hire a contractor again. So this law damages the construction industry as well as homeowners and the real estate market. And the Construction Industries division does little to monitor this process and its abuse.

After a two and a half year deliberation on the court trial the judge finally found in my favor and released the lien on my property. He found that the contractor did not have a case. I fortunately was assisted in my battle by New Mexico Legal Aid because they saw this as a problem many homeowners that could not afford to fight had and were subsequently losing their homes.

I would be more than happy to meet with any New Mexico legislator willing to take on this miscarriage of equal rights before the law and testify before any committee or answer any questions as to my personal experience with this abusive law.

Whew!!!

The First Family Still

I was so happy last night when President Obama won re-election in record time against all predictions that we might not know for weeks or months because of all the dirty tricks and fraud and suspected voting irregularities.

Elections have never been easy for me. Much of my youth I seemed to always be voting for the least onerous candidate. And when I was deeply devoted to a candidate they seemed to lose. The 2000 election when Gore had the election stolen from him I was a wreck for weeks. I was so embarrassed for my country. We export democracy and yet we failed at it on our home turf. And when GW turned out to be a drunken fool that leaned on podiums and could not speak proper English I just tuned out.

When Kerry lost to GW in 2004, again by suspected voting machine manipulation, I seriously contemplated moving to Canada. Evidently one hell of a lot of Americans did the same thing. When Barack Obama won the nod of the Democratic party for the 2008 election I didn't dare hope he might win. It was a huge and historic victory. The first black man in the white house! Made up for not having the first woman president in Hillary Clinton.

Had I been the president elect in 2008 as GW Bush and policies pushed the United States off the financial cliff I would have moved to Canada. What an impossible task? There we were as not merely a nation but the world heading for economic free fall. And everyone seemed to believe he was superman. He was suppose to keep us out of the deepest depression the world had ever known and deliver on all his campaign promises. And all against a GOP subset that was determined from day 8 to make him a one term president. And yet he got us the ACA and signed into law a bill to help ensure equal pay for equal work for women. And slowly inch by inch the economy has been improving.

I would not have run again (see previous mentions of moving to Canada) but he did. But there was so very much at stake. With the economy beginning to heal we could not turn it over to a party and the same polices that broke it. And it was clear from the outset that the GOP wanted to return women to the '50's. The 1850's. It was so scary because losing was not an option but also not in our control. There were several indications the GOP was willing to cheat. That was taken so seriously the United Nations sent Election Observers to several key battle grounds. The polls kept saying it was too close to call. This has not been good on my stress levels. But Nate Silver's reading of polling data gave me hope.

I had voted early so on election day I could divert my mind and tummy with something creative with a friend - Nuno felting. And I was so exhausted when I came home I figured I would just go to sleep. But an election junkie I tuned in and watched. At ten o'clock it was all over and Barack Obama was still president of the United States.

I am not sure this will solve all our problems. This campaign has shown that we are a deeply divided nation. Maybe even more divided than the days before the Civil War. But at least we did not turn over the country to the people that broke it in the first place and seemed determined to do anything to get in power including lying, cheating, and bigoted/sexist slurs.

To my list of words I no longer want to hear I add - polls, polling data, cliff hanger, birther, Donald Trump, Romney, Ryan, and Republican. Not another word about 2016 until at least 2015. See campaign reform.

We need a third party

On October 19th I early voted. For one of the first times in my voting history I voted a straight Democratic ticket. Beyond President, Senators and Congressmen (both national and state) I had no clue who I was voting for. I was voting against a party. So I looked seriously for other options.

New Mexico has in the past been host of a relatively strong Green Party. And I have voted for them in local offices. This election they did not seem to be running any candidates. There were six people running for President. I have a friend that is an advocate of the Libertarian candidate Johnson.

Sadly our current campaign laws and financing make it impossible for a third party to compete. And given the huge division between the two parties we now have we need a third party. Badly. If for no other reason that to make our two party system pay attention to itself and realize how very much they have turned off a large proportion of the populace. While that bile is still lurking in our mouths we need to get serious about campaign reform. No longer than 100 days and no more money spent by a candidate than twice the annual salary of the office they are campaigning for. And definitely no out of state or out of district funds.

A third or fourth party candidate could compete viably in a campaign under such restrictions. And the American people would benefit from having more choices. How many of us are truly red or blue, Jesus or Darwin like the illustration. I think of myself as a centralist more than liberal or conservative. I admit to some believes that are far right (not beyond Attila the Hun but out there) and others that are as far left. But I am not Christian (and the more fanatic the fundamentalist become the more that is true). And while Darwin's work was ground braking current science is proving him wrong in some instances. Like it may be survival of the fanciest and not the fittest. Scientific theory is a moving target. Quite literally were earth sciences are concerned but that is another blog.

I believe in my right to carry a gun, and in the right for same sex marriage. I think the US is not a Christian nation and would fight to defend that. And contrary to my blog friends that did not vote for either of the major party candidates because they did not mention Global Warming, I seriously believe it needs to be a campaign issue. But because of our entrenched two party system the only topics that get heard are those that are important to five or six swing states that because of the Electoral college matter more than the one citizen one vote principle. We are a republic and not a democracy.

If there is good news in this election it is that it has made some people truly upset at the sad state of affairs. We could end up with a Mormon Theocracy if Romney wins or a totally broken Republican party if Obama wins. Frankly I am for the latter because it gives us a real chance to end the Red State/Blue State civil war.

Either way we are going to have a large group of people very upset about the sorry state of politics in the United States. Read up on Article V conventions. Let's change the path we are taking.

Words and Phrases I Would Ban

It has been a long, long, long campaign and a particularly divisive one. I do not even have access to television stations to be bombarded by campaign ads. But social media on the internet has been bad enough. And if I get another request for campaign funds via an e-mail I may just scream

I do not live in a critical swing state. I can image what it is like for poor Ohio. I frankly think the political process is seriously broken and I do not know if I ever want to participate on any level in another campaign ever again. And as I told a friend recently I want to ban several words and phrases.

Do not ever in my presence say we are a Christian nation! We are not. The word Jesus (which I also want to ban) is not mentioned anywhere in any of the federalist papers. Nor do I want to be told that Sandy was an act of God. I never want to see the word RAPE with a modifier. And the phrase legitimate rape should carry a prison term if used in a political speech or a police station.

We are not a democracy. I think the Tea Party has proven that beyond a shadow of a doubt. We are a broken Republic in my humble opinion. I got really tired of hanging chads in the 2000 election and I am really, really, really tired of voter ID requirements. Voting is a right and not privilege like driving or buying liquor. I need a photo ID for the last two but not the first one.

No doubt because of Sandy and the suspected faulty voting machines owned by the Romneys I will get really tired of the word recount. I am tired of dressing the stage at campaign events and photoshopping crowds to double their size GOP. And I am sick to death of the fact that only Ohio and Florida count.

I plan to work hard for an Article V convention to move for campaign and electoral reform. But I am not going to refriend anyone that was abusive to me because of my views not matching theirs. I am fed up.

BTW this is just a short list.

Call for an Article V Convention

Last Friday a friend and I headed east to Raton, New Mexico to cast our ballots in the 2012 United States Presidential election. The two hour drive across the plains gives you a lot of time to think and talk. We did not have to think about our vote because our minds were firmly made up. But we talked about how deeply divided our country has become. This great experiment of ours is not working. Something has to change.

I am reminded of Abraham Lincoln's Springfield, Illinois speech of June 18, 1858 in which he addressed the issue of slave vs. free: "A house divided divided against itself cannot stand. I believe this government cannot endure, permanently half slave and half free." It took the bloodiest war in the history of the world to resolve that issue. And the years I lived in the south made me doubt that the wounds of that war were ever going to heal.

Now we are divided Red and Blue, Republican and Democrat, Christian and freedom to believe as you will. Politicians have played on the differences and erected fences against either side talking to each other. Such must have been the tension along the Mason Dixon line in the days before war broke out with brother fighting against brother. To avoid another civil war I think we need to call a Constitutional Convention as provided for in Article V of the Constitution. Our system is broken and it needs fixed.

 "Even though the Article V convention process has never been used to amend the Constitution, the number of states applying for a convention has nearly reached the required threshold several times. Congress has proposed amendments to the Constitution on several occasions, at least in part, because of the threat of an Article V Convention. Rather than risk such a convention taking control of the amendment process away from it, Congress acted pre-emptively to propose the amendments instead. At least four amendments (the Seventeenth, Twenty-First, Twenty-Second and Twenty-Fifth) have been identified as being proposed by congress at least partly in response to the threat of an Article V convention."

What is clearly broken is the election process, including but not limited to the Electoral College. At the time our constitution was written maybe we needed two years to campaign for office. Not so today in this age of rapid communication. And maybe we needed the safeguard of the Electoral College procedure to prevent a do over of the election should a candidate die between election and swearing into office. But not so today. Nor should candidates be allowed to buy an office. Or buy the voting machines that will tally his votes for that office.

We need to put a sense of power back into the hands of the people and that means taking that power from the millionaires and billionaires and mega corporations and lobby groups. "Government of the people, by the people and for the people . . ." Enough already! This election has shown just how bad it can get. And there is a real danger of a popular vote for one candidate and election of the other by unfairly distributed Electoral College numbers.

At the county court house in Raton a 91 year old couple, the Romeros of Raton, were voting early. And a young woman came in with her daughter to vote. The court house staff gave the little girl a sample ballot and pencil to fill out. I hope when she is old enough to vote voting will still mean something. And that it will continue to mean something until she is 91 or older. But if that is going to be true we have to do something decisive and we have to do it soon.

After you cast your vote connect up with others in your state to begin the process of calling for an Article V convention. Save our noble experiment.

After?

What is it about the whole election process that seems to bring me to wanting to ask the Queen of England if she will take us back?

Mind you I was a very political animal in my youth (voting for Snoopy not withstanding) and my sister would say I am too political now. But there are things I find worth fighting for - women's rights being the primary one this election. What a shock to find that one on the cutting block again. And obviously wishing the rapture would come and the fundamental Christians be whisked away did not work.

Given those two issues alone I definitely cannot check none of the above. In fact for the first time in my history of voting I am not voting for a single solitary Republican. I have been a registered Republican. I have worked for a US Senator that was a Republican. It was definitely a different Republican party. I frankly cannot see myself voting for a Republican candidate ever, ever again. This has been a horridly divisive election. Have have some Republican ex-friends I may never ever chat with again on line.

All of which begs the question of after the election. Regardless of who wins. But it will be worse of the Republicans win. See paragraph about women's rights and Christian Right. But also my truly rude and crude Republican acquaintances will be graceful winners. And if they lose they will be even worse.

I do have some friends across the aisle that have behaved well. We have tap danced around all the forbidden subjects. So win or lose I will be able to talk to them for as long as the world lasts. I am not sure the US will last if the Republicans win all houses. I know I am considering leaving social media. And of course asking England if they will take us back is an option.

But regardless of the outcome of the election we need to change the election process: length and financing has got to be changed.

Here we go again

Warning: This is ultimately a political statement but unpaid.

I will accept contributions, however. I need the money to replace the failed Samsung Galaxy Tab, and to save up for a new desktop.

The Tab was just over 6 months old and the HP Pavilion Desktop is still under the two year warranty and has its second failed hard drive if you do not count the one they first sent with a hard drive that never worked.

Every time I have trouble with my HP I get the MAC users telling me how trouble free their MAC's are. Go away. In the last three months I have had three MAC friends (PC's vs MACS is about as entrenched as Republicans vs. Democrats so I count myself lucky we still talk) that have had failed hard drives. And from what I gather their customer support sucks. HP, the last time this happened, did offer data recovery. Not MAC.

One of my friends with the failed MAC has informed me that 99% of all hard drives be they in a Dell, MAC, HP or tablet or laptop of any of those brands probably come from the same off-shore company. And what incentive do they have for making a dependable product? NONE. It is win/win for them even if we lose. They get to continually make replacement hard drives. And all their people that can speak even a modicum of English get employed in tech support centers.

We have come a long way since my mother's 25 year old Maytag that was still working when Dad bought her a new washer and dryer set. 

So it is not all about American jobs overseas. It is about accountability. Your neighbor working at the assembly plant in Detroit took pride in his role in producing Fords and he did not want to hear us complain about them. But the workers in China do not know us. And if introduced would not even understand what we were screaming. I wonder at times about even the tech support people.

HP does seem to be working on its customer service image. It was once rated one of the worst in the industry. Just a bit better than Dell. I have a friend that told me Dell has gotten better but I have no intention of finding out. But this time from HP I received an e-mail I am able to respond to about the tech problem being experienced. Last year it took me something like 6 days and twice as many phone calls to get my problem escalated (don't you love that word) to someone that might actually own a computer and know that the DVD tray is not a cup holder. It did take me over 30 days to get the computer fixed. And then it didn't work when I got it. Fortunately that time I was able to immediately talk to someone that speaks computer.

So this morning I emailed HP and let them know I think the solution their tech (I do hate using that word for someone speaking from a set list of phrases that constantly has to put you on hold to go ask someone else what to do if that just did not work) came up with is wrong. A recovery disk returning the computer to factory specifications won't work. There are bad sectors on this hard drive. And if I have to go to the problem of restoring all my programs and backing up all my data I want it to work.

I do not want to go back to the incident on the last computer where I insisted it was a hard ware problem and they were adamant it was not. Two days of erasing and recovering and it did not work. Turns out that when they replaced the memory sticks (those had failed in 30 days) they had unplugged the wireless internal modem.

But I do not know that industry today wants anything to work. They make too much money re-selling you a new version of the failed product and promising that major improvements were made. It isn't just that all our money goes overseas it is that it does it again and again and again.

My first computer lasted me over 12 years. I bought a new one because of the internet and a need for more RAM because I changed what I did with it. Since then no computer, except my laptop, has made it past four. It is the manufacturing version of the food industries smaller packages at the same prices. In case you hadn't noticed there is no such thing as a 50 pound bag of dog food any more. And the 25 pound bag is now 17.

I do not think I want to trust my government to a CEO. Their track record with the products I purchase is not that good.