Democracy for New Mexico

So Is Heather For or Against Bush's Social Security Plan?

Josh Marshall at Talking Points Memo has been doing a terrific job of pushing members of Congress to go on the record about their positions on Bush's proposed Social Security destruction. He's been providing almost daily coverage of the meandering linguistic trails politicos often create to hide their real views from the citizenry.

Trying to track down what Rep. Heather Wilson (R-NM) believes about Bush's plans has been a hard row to hoe. Follow the yellow brick road here. I wonder why she and her staff seem so reticent to detail her position on privatization? I wonder.

If you'd like to ask Heather the same questions posed by Josh Marshall, here is her contact info:

In Washington DC
318 Cannon House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515
202-225-6316 phone
202-225-4975 fax

In Albuquerque
20 First Plaza NW
Suite 603
Albuquerque, NM 87102
505-346-6781 phone
505-346-6723 fax

Email form at her website: https://wilson.house.gov/

Bush's Birth Tax

Free Speech Zone

Otero Mesa Update

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NEWS
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The Otero Mesa website has a new addition!

Check out the new "Well Site of the Week" section by clicking the following link or copying it and then pasting it in your web browser:

https://www.oteromesa.org/wellsiteoftheweek.htm

The purpose of this section is to continually provide the public with photos of oil and gas development in southeastern New Mexico on public lands. These photos testify to the fact that the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and the oil and gas industry have a very poor tract record of "environmentally sensitive" drilling operations.
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NEWS
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The "Protect our Public Lands Rally!" was a tremendous success last Saturday. Over 700 people attended the event. All three local television stations came, as well as many of the major newspapers. Most importantly though, people made it clear to us that they wanted us to fight and never give up with this administration. What people asked the most for was civil disobedience training so they could block roads or occupy offices of elected officials. People understand what is happening and when it comes to Otero Mesa, Valle Vidal and the Arctic Refuge they are ready to go to the next level.

Stay Involved, Your Voice is making the Difference!

Nathan Newcomer
Otero Mesa Campaign Organizer
nathan@oteromesa.org

(Editor's Note: You can contribute here to the efforts to save Otero Mesa, the Valle Vidal and other environmentally irreplaceable sites.)

Action Profile: Socorroans for Democracy

I had an excellent conversation with Mary McMullin of Socorroans for Democracy recently. An offshoot of the Dean campaign, Socorroans for Democracy were very active during the November election season and are moving ahead with a variety of new political projects.

SFD meets every two weeks and they're a big reason why Socorro County went to Kerry in November. SFD worked very hard and successfully brought hundreds of new voters into the Democratic Party. They have been getting state level recognition for their efforts, and have met with both the number two staffer in Gov. Richardson's office and Lt. Governor Diane Denish.

SFD members are an eclectic and proactive bunch -- from NM Tech students and professors to workers at the astronomy observatory, retirees and stay-at-home moms. Their letters to the editor and guest editorials have been appearing regularly in their local paper on a variety of subjects.

Election reform, preserving Social Security and working to increase green energy sources are top priorities of the group, and they are planning a number of actions on these fronts. With many at NM Tech knowledgeable in the energy field, they have a lot of talent to draw from in creating persuasive arguments for increasing green energy technology.

The Socorroans are already working on winning the Second Congressional District  in 2006. Right now, efforts are underway to reach out to people in other areas of the District, like Roswell and Las Cruces. SFD hope to create a network of folks ready to start working now to defeat Rep. Steve Pearce, a conservative Republican who currently holds the job.

If you live in the Socorro area and are interested in joining or learning more about the Socorroans for Democracy, email Mary McMullin at sfd_socorro@sdc.org.

And if any of you in parts of New Mexico without a DFA Meetup would be interested in forming one, email dfnm_albq@comcast.net and we'll do what we can to help. We need activists coming together for progressive projects in all areas of the state. As Howard Dean has said many times, YOU have the power! But only if you step up to the plate, join forces with like-minded friends and neighbors and get involved in the kinds of activities Socorroans for Democracy are tackling.

(Click for information on Socorro and Socorro County.)

Local Rabbi Discusses DOMA Thursday Morning on KUNM

It is so heartening to realize that many religious leaders and members are on the side of inclusion and diversity. Here's one of them.

From Rabbi Joseph R. Black, passed along by Patricia Lee:
I wanted to let you know that I will be appearing on the KUNM (89.9) call-in program tomorrow (Thursday) morning from 8:00 - 9:00 AM. The topic will be the so-called "Defense of Marriage Act" that is currently being introduced into the New Mexico legislature. DOMA is a bill that would define marriage as being between men and women only. I will be representing New Mexico R.A.I.N. (the Religious Alliance for Inclusion and Non-Discrimination).

I also want to remind you of two upcoming events that address this topic:

1. The R.A.I.N. forum that will be taking place tomorrow (Thursday) evening at 7:00 in our sanctuary.
2. This Sunday, the Brotherhood and Sisterhood will be hosting a joint breakfast forum on the topic of Gay Marriage.

B'shalom,
Rabbi Joseph R. Black
Email: Rabbi@CongregationAlbert.org

Visit Congregation Albert On-Line at https://www.CongregationAlbert.org
Congregation Albert
3800 Louisiana Boulevard NE
Albuquerque, NM 87110
Phone: 505-883-1818
Fax: 505-883-1814

Jugular Cuts

According to David Corn at The Nation:

Senator Jim Jeffords, the Republican-turned-independent from Vermont, put out a short list of the worst of Bush's proposed cuts. Here it is:

* Environment. Cuts the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) budget by 5.6 percent from $8.02 billion to $7.57 billion, culminating in an almost 10 percent cut over two years. Most cuts come in efforts to maintain and improve the nation's clean water infrastructure.

* Veterans. More than doubles the co-payment charged to many veterans for prescription drugs and would require some to pay a new fee of $250 a year for the privilege of using the Veterans health care system.

* Health Care. Cuts Medicaid funding by $45 billion over 10 years and eliminates 28 health programs, totaling $1.36 billion. These programs range from rural hospital grants (cuts $39.5 million) to emergency medical services for children (cuts $20 million).

* Job Training. Cuts federal spending on job training by a half-billion dollars. Federal job training programs, including dislocated-worker training, will be cut by $200 million. Federal aid to states for job training, including funding to train veterans, will be cut by $300 million.

* Amtrak. Eliminates all funding for Amtrak, calling bankruptcy proceedings as the solution for our nation's rail system.

* Low Income Home Energy Assistance (LIHEAP). Cuts LIHEAP by over 8 percent, from $2.2 billion to $2 billion.

* Parks. Cuts the National Park Service by 3 percent from $2.31 billion to $2.24 billion.

Nothing like cuts or cancellations of almost every single domestic line item so the funds can be transferred to our wealthiest citizens. I can see why Bush is portrayed in the corporate media as a man of the people. They just don't say which people.

Of course, according the the New York Times, The Pentagon's budget of $419.3 billion for the 2006 fiscal year increases spending by $19.2 billion, or 4.8 percent, over current levels, but Bush's budget doesn't include funds beyond this year for Iraq or Afghanistan. Or for his Medicare prescription drug transfer of big bucks to pharmaceutical companies. Of for his plans to privatize Social Security. Or for the lost funds from making his tax cuts permanent and adding new ones.

I wonder what the Pentagon needs 19.2 BILLION more dollars for, not counting our current wars. Must be some expensive wrenches and toilet seats out there in defenseland, eh? Meanwhile most domestic programs, including education, Medicaid, and the COPS program, would have their budgets slashed or frozen.  Priorities. Priorities.

ACTION ALERT: Letters to Editor

There's a column on the op-ed page in today's Albuquerque Journal by Michael Goodwin of the New York Daily News entitled, "Dean 'The Scream' Is Democrats' Gravedigger." Here's a link to the column at , which is easier to access than the Journal's subscription-only version.

Excerpts:

• OK, as Mark Twain might say, reports of the Democratic Party's death are premature. But come Feb. 12, they won't be. That's the day Howard 'The Scream' Dean is likely to win the job of national Dem boss. It's also the day the party ceases to be a viable alternative to George Bush.

• In public, there is silence from those who know that Dean will take the party over the cliff and into an abyss of fringe liberalism that has no foundation in the American populace. Dean and the extremists he represents shouldn't even be allowed to call themselves Democrats. Deaniacs is what they are.

• He was too far left for primary voters, the cream of the liberal crop. But now the 447 internal electors think he should be the face, voice and chief operator of the whole party. That tells you something about the state chairs and other special-interest shills supporting Dean.

So, Deaniacs (!), do you think this is a perfect time to send a letter to the editor at the Albuquerque Journal? When you do, reference this column so that your letter has a better chance of being printed. Keep it short and to the point and provide your full contact information including name, address and phone number as they usually check with you before printing a letter.

Albuquerque Journal: Snail mail - 7777 Jefferson St NE, Albuquerque, NM 87109. You can also compose and send your letter to the Journal online at the Congress.org site or at the Journal website. Here are some ideas for talking points.

I always wonder when I read this kind of diatribe exactly where they think the Democratic Party is now. We've lost two presidential elections, the House and Senate, and numerous state and local elections since the Republican-lite forces inside Washington and the Party have held sway. Nevertheless, insider "consultants" and pundits like Al From and others from the DLC wing of the Party keep insisting we must keep banging our heads against the same wall, expecting different results -- the classic definition of insanity.

Remember all the naysayers who succeeded in getting Kerry the nomination by convincing primary voters that Dean was "unelectable" because he had no foreign policy experience? How ironic that Kerry turned out to be "unelectable" because he was so worried about offending the "center" that his position was virtually identical to Bush's on many issues, including the Iraq war. I have high hopes for future success now that the Democratic Wing of the Democratic Party will have some clout, don't you?

Laissez Les Bons Temps Rouler

Happy Mardi Gras, Fat Tuesday, let the good times roll! NPR has a nice selection of New Orleans Mardi Gras music clips, as well as radio programs past and present about Fat Tuesday and its traditions. Hey, with Howard Dean almost the DNC Chair, we should celebrate!

Here's a site with historical photos of Mardi Gras in New Orleans, many from 1907.

I went to Mardi Gras once and it was a gas, and I've been to New Orleans several other times. Thinking about New Orleans today makes me pine for creole and cajun food: crawfish etouffee, jambalaya, gumbo, red beans and rice, spicy, ready-to-peel shrimp, great big freshly shucked oysters on the half shell at the Acme Oyster House, a fried oyster po'boy, a muffaletta sandwich on round bread from a little Italian grocery store on Decatur Street and beignets and strong, chicory cafe au lait from Cafe du Monde at the French Market.

I'd have to fit in dinners at Commander's Palace and Antoine's, and a breakfast at Brennan's. Yum. And perhaps the best thing about it, given our having to exist in Bush's America, is that there are so many things FRENCH in New Orleans!

Granny D Hospitalized

From one of my email lists:
Doris "Granny D" Haddock, 95, is in a Lebanon, New Hampshire hospital today. She is in surgery at this moment to remove a tumor in her throat. The surgery is expected to cost her her normal voice, though she said before surgery that she will find ways to continue to communicate her political message of reform and democracy. "Sometimes you speak loudest just by standing there," she said, remembering her several arrests in the U.S. Capitol Rotunda for standing up for the Bill of Rights and democratic reforms.

P.S. Updates will be posted on the https://DemocracyWeek.org site. For those of you who heard her speak in Washington DC during the recent counter-inaugural protests, cherish that memory of the great sound of her voice -- one of the few in our times with the courage to speak the truth.

Editor's Note: Truthout also has information on Granny D's hospitalization as well a wonderful collection of quotes and links to her speeches. Talk about inspiration. (Thanks to Nancy G. for the heads-up.)

And here are her remarks from the morning of January 20 at Meridian (Malcolm X) Park in D.C. Well worth a read this morning:

We have honored Dr. King this week. When we honor him we honor many others, all the way back in time to the Sermon on the Mount and beyond, who have given us, if we will but use them, the political tools of love and their great power over all other human forces.

Gandhi taught us that, when used right, non-violent non-cooperation always wins. He gave us five principles to remember in its use: First, know that you are dealing with the truth. Do your research. Bring in the experts. Know the truth before you dare speak for it.

Second, ask those in authority to remedy the problem at hand, and give them a reasonable time to act. Don't ask them to do more than they can.

Third, involve the wider community's conscience in the problem. Share the problem widely.

Fourth, if those in power will not remedy the problem, show the extent of your moral concern through your personal sacrifice. Stand in the way of the injustice with your own body, doing no harm to others, for it is your moral courage that will move the conscience of society toward awareness and action. If you have not won yet, your sacrifice has been insufficient. The fifth principle, because the previous four will give you control of the issue, is to graciously allow the opposing side to save face in the final settlement, as you must love them, too, and will meet them again.

We have the power to win, to serve justice, to protect our neighbors and our planet, but victory comes at the price of our courage and our pain.

So we have our issues. A warming planet, an unjust war, a long list of policies that do great harm to the people and places of the world. We have done our homework and know the truth. We have petitioned for the redress of our grievances and we have waited. We have informed the world so that many are involved. We know what is next for us and it is the fourth principle: our sacrifice.

So that our great grandchildren will look back and say of us, yes, in the first years of the 21st Century, they faced the most difficult of times with extraordinary courage. They knew they would not live forever and they cared that their lives and deaths should mean something. They saved American democracy and the life of the planet with their creative resistance and their courage. While others around them slept through grey lives, they were awake, they saw, they acted, they overcame all the great forces against them. They saved the forests and mountains, the oceans, streams, the air, the Constitution and its Bill of Rights, they saved our ancient hope for a just world, for a peaceful world, where the highest potential of every human might be understood as the greatest resource of every society and nation.

Well, we know where we are and who we struggle against. I have been in their jails and it's not so bad. I know many of you have been in their prisons and felt the sting of their batons and bullets and gasses, and it is not so bad, compared to losing our freedom or the life of our planet.

The limousines of monstrous presumption whisk by us today, but we need not feel powerless, for the real power of history is always in the people's hearts and hands. All the power of change is given by fate and history to the courageous, who fear the loss of liberty and justice more than that brief glimmer of life that sparkles through the eternity of who we are. And so we take our parts in the great struggle between dark and light, fear and love, between the withering decomposition of separation, and the living joy of combination, cooperation and growth.

Let our neighbors, who have voted another way or not at all, see what we are made of and what we are willing to do for love, for life, for justice. Only a few more of them need step forward to our side for love and life and justice to win. They will not step forward if we are not full of courage and grace and beauty and most of all love. We will inspire them with awe. For, from this time forward, our courage must rise to end the war and the coming wars, to end the destruction of our land and its people, and of our planet and its life. With love in our hearts, with a vision before us of a better America made visible in our own lives, we will do what history demands of us now. And so say us all. 

Trade Offs

A website called the National Priorities Project Database provides some excellent talking points for letters to the editor, conversations with friends and family or for your own knowledge. You can enter your state and get its tradeoffs in terms of what certain federal budget expenditures would provide if allocated to our human needs instead of war and weapons.

For instance,

Taxpayers in New Mexico will pay $58.9 million for nuclear weapons in FY2006. For the same amount of money, the following could have been provided:

14,186 People Receiving Health Care or

8,604 Head Start Places for Children or

38,319 Children Receiving Health Care or

616 Affordable Housing Units or

9 New Elementary Schools or

17,468 Scholarships for University Students or

1,019 Music and Arts Teachers or

1,587 Public Safety Officers or

11,783 Homes with Renewable Electricity or

1,163 Port Container Inspectors

If you register at the site, you can get a variety of data reports for any state about such things as health care, energy use, demographics, poverty and much more. Well worth a visit.