As a Santa Fean lobbying for the City Different to be be a preliminary roll-out candidate for Google’s gigabit fiber network, it’s been depressing to watch Farmington kick our ass in the application process.

The City of Santa Fe’s IT department was put on point for this and, near as anyone can tell, it has ignored all offers of assistance from capable partner organizations to help construct a solid strategy and identify and market key strengths.

Early on, Farmington had it together to solicit letters to Google from our shared District 3 congressmen, Rep. Ben Ray Lujan and Sen. Tom Udall.

Now, as the deadline strikes (and yes, SFR will be verifying whether or not the City of Santa Fe actually even got an official municipal application in), Tom and Ben Ray have doubled down on the Farmington bet by participating in a YouTube video that counters Duluth, MN’s Al Franken promo. Strangely, Tom and Ben Ray whip up on Al: Farmington is straight up funnier than Franken (don’t take that the wrong way, Farmington).

I’m personally a little peeved at our congressmen for pushing Farmington when Santa Fe is a far better candidate, but I don’t want to upset Tom Udall, because it turns out he’s a ninja:

Recently appointed First Judicial District Judge Sarah Singleton delayed ruling today on the much-publicized case of a local anti-wi-fi activist who sued his neighbor to stop her use of an iPhone and wireless internet.

Singleton decided to give the activist, Arthur Firstenberg, one week to see if his lawyers can win some temporary concessions from his neighbor, Raphaela Monribot–concessions such as limiting her computer use at night.

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Today, New Mexico’s own US Sen. Tom Udall (D) brought some fresh, reformist air to the Senate Rules Committee. Here’s Udall on the need, recently obviated by the Supreme Court’s Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission decision, for overhauling campaign finance:

Udall’s “ideal solution,” he says, is a constitutional amendment—the only way to truly curb corporations’ ability to weigh in heavily on political campaigns—but he says he plans to introduce a bill anyway. The forthcoming bill, Udall says, “makes fundamental, wholesale changes” to campaign finance and “contains a finding that America’s faith in the election system has been fundamentally corrupted by big money from outside interest groups.”

Yeah, Udall! Let’s hope this doesn’t somehow get twisted into a partisan showdown. Here’s the kicker: “It’s my hope that the high court’s disappointing decision will provide the push we need to put elections back in the hands of average Americans.”

SFR made a shocking discovery at lunchtime: There is life outside the Roundhouse!

New Mexico’s newest US Senator, Tom Udall, was on the Rachel Maddow show last night talking about his anti-filibuster proposal. Watch:

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

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Update 4:44 pm, Jan. 14: Hi, HuffPo readers. Check out our follow-up to this story here.

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Regular SFR readers may remember the name Arthur Firstenberg. He’s the “electrosensitive” activist who has campaigned against wi-fi in public buildings and, more recently, against digital television broadcasts.

Firstenberg claims that the low-level electromagnetic radiation emitted by cell phones and other modern gadgets makes him, and others “sensitive” to radio waves, suffer terribly. The side-effects of exposure, he believes, include “nausea, vertigo, diarrhea, ringing in the ears, severe headaches and body aches, crippling joint pains, insomnia, impaired vision, impaired muscular control” and other ailments, some potentially deadly.

In the past, he has taken his case to City Hall, where he found a polite if unreceptive audience.

Now, Firstenberg wants a judge to stop his neighbor from using her iPhone, her wireless internet and her laptop charger, saying the radiation has forced him from his home.

He also wants $530,000 in damages, including $100,000 for pain and suffering.

The lawsuit was filed Jan. 4 at the First Judicial District Court in Santa Fe. Firstenberg’s attorney, Lindsay Lovejoy, Jr, is a graduate of Harvard and Yale, as well as a former Assistant New Mexico Assistant Attorney General who has argued cases alongside now-US Sen. Tom Udall, D-NM.

Read more about this bizarre lawsuit after the cut. We’ll update this post as we learn more.

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