​ATP Board of Directors: It is with deep sadness that we share with you that fellow Board member Marge Tapia has passed away. 

Marge was a dear friend to us all. A true patriot. Her tireless dedication to promoting the values that made America great was, and continues to be, an inspiration to our whole community. She has passed on to us the torch she carried so valiantly for so long.

Our heartfelt thoughts and prayers are with Marge's husband Stino and family in this time of sorrow. A celebration and memorial service for our dear friend will be announced in the coming days.

The article in the Journal stated: “The Justice Department announced that it has settled 2 lawsuits - one for millions of dollars – in connection with the IRS scrutiny of TEA Party groups….” This is misleading.

There have been multiple law suits. The two groups the paper is referring to are 1) ours with the ACLJ (American Center for Law & Justice) and 2) a class action lawsuit with a private legal firm, which we decided not to join. Our lawsuit is complete except for the final step of submitting the agreement signatures of the participants.

We won the constitutional protection part of our law suit. The other group has NOT settled yet; and if they do get the award that the paper mentioned, the lawyers will take their 40% cut with the rest divided up among all the participants – which will amount to about $1,000 - $2,000 each.

We feel the constitution protection for the future is much more important.
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Graham Bartlett
President, ATP

It is true, history repeats itself. In 1616, Copernicus was tried and judged guilty of "formally heretical" and "at least erroneous in faith" for his view on the earth revolving around the sun. That was against the Church’s belief. Then in 1633. Galileo was found "vehemently suspect of heresy", forced to recant his support of Copernicus, and spent the rest of his life under house arrest. Now 400 years later, there are elements in our society that are calling for arrest and conviction of “climate change deniers”. Hasn’t mankind learned anything about science?

History of science is full of those who suggested theories counter to popular belief and, yes, many times they were ridiculed until they were proved right. The idea of a “consensus of scientists” agreeing on any theory making it an absolute law has never stood the test of time. Any scientific theory must go through a rigorous process of examination and testing before it is accepted as valid.

Merely stating two “events” (in this case “rising” earth temperatures and two hurricanes) as having a cause and effect relationship without even an explanation of the cause/effect process and asking us to accept it or be damned is the same as insisting the earth is the center of the universe.

Any real scientist knows that scientific theories will be challenged until the evidence is solid, including the process in the cause – effect. Until we reach that point in climate change, many of us will continue to question and try to understand the mechanisms involved. That includes the impact of man-made greenhouse gases, the atmosphere’s ability to stabilize atmospheric gas ratios, other sources of warming just to name a few.

We know we do not have all the answers, but we are not willing to take the climate change theory on faith alone. If the theory turns out to be true, we will be better able to logically attack the problem.
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Graham Bartlett
President, ATP

ACHE [Albuquerque for a Healthy Economy] provides the following copy of the paid sick leave ordinance on the upcoming Municipal Elections, October 3, 2017. ACHE has highlighted some of the most damaging elements of this ordinance. Read, share and vote No come October 3!