Democracy for New Mexico

Amy Goodman in NM on Un-Embed the Media Tour

Amy Goodman, internationally acclaimed journalist and host of the nationally broadcast daily radio/TV news hour Democracy Now!, brings the Un-Embed the Media! tour to New Mexico on Saturday, April 16th, and Sunday, April 17th.

Saturday, April 16
UNM Student Union Ballroom
Albuquerque
Noon

Free and open to the public. For more information, call 505-277-4806

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Amy Goodman in Conversation with Jose Ramos Horta
St. Johns College Gym
1160 Camino Cruz Blanca
Santa Fe, NM 87505
7PM

Tickets are $15.00 and are available at the Lensic box office, 505-988-1234. For more information, contact rdw2100@aol.com

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Sunday, April 17
Bataan Hall
Civic Plaza Drive
Taos
9 AM

$5; tickets go on sale at 8 AM. For more information, call 776-8486 or go to https://www.acttaos.com/

Join us as we launch the paperback edition of Amy and David Goodman's national best-seller, The Exception to the Rulers: Exposing Oily Politicians, War Profiteers, and the Media That Love Them.

Stop NAFTA's Evil Twin: CAFTA

From the Communication Workers of America:

Sen. Jeff Bingaman can stop an unfair trade deal that will hurt workers in New Mexico and in Central America. The Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA)—called NAFTA’s twin brother—debuts in Congress with a Senate Finance Committee hearing scheduled for April 13. Bingaman is on that committee—and he needs to hear from you now.

Please take one moment to send a message urging Sen. Bingaman to oppose CAFTA and instead work for a fair relationship with Central America and the Dominican Republic that does not lead to a race to the bottom. Click here:

www.unionvoice.org/campaign/Stop_CAFTA_cwa

CAFTA is just like NAFTA—a failure. NAFTA supporters promised us it would help our economy and reduce poverty and inequality in Mexico. Instead, we lost nearly a million U.S. jobs, and workers in Mexico earn less in real terms than they did before NAFTA.

CAFTA is more of the same—another flawed trade deal that will sell out America’s jobs and do nothing to pull people out of poverty in Central America and the Dominican Republic.

In fact, CAFTA is the Wal-Mart of trade deals. It gives big corporations all the breaks while good jobs, workers’ rights and decent wages are forsaken.

Trade deals like CAFTA have devastated our communities, shutting down American workplaces, exporting our jobs and leaving skilled workers unable to find jobs that can support their families. Right now, we are losing jobs because of bad trade deals in every single sector open to trade competition, from lumber and aerospace to clothing. You name it, we’ve lost it—and CAFTA will only make things worse.

Sen. Bingaman needs to hear from you that there are better ways to do trade. We need a fair relationship with Central America and the Dominican Republic that makes moral and economic sense for all workers.

Once you have contacted Bingaman, please click the following link to ask your friends, family and colleagues to contact him as well:

www.unionvoice.org/campaign/Stop_CAFTA_cwa/forward

Thank you for making your voice heard for workers here and in Central America and the Dominican Republic.

REMINDER: Excellent ABQ Progressive Event This SUNDAY

Everyone is invited to A Forum on Acting Together for Social Change on SUNDAY, April 10, from 2PM - 5PM at the First Congregational Church at the corner of Lomas and Girard NE in Albuquerque.

Headlining the event will be Rep. Bernie Sanders, U.S. Representative from Vermont, who is the only Independent voice in Congress.

This event is sponsored by:

The Coalition To Take Back Our Government
Gray Panthers
The Social Action Committee -1st Unitarian Church of Albuquerque
Community Coalition for Health Care Access
Quote...Unquote/Channel 27

Democracy for New Mexico, along with many other progressive groups, will be tabling at this event and taking part in the discussions. Come on down and spend a Sunday afternoon with like-minded souls.

Call 275-0597 or 463-3774 for more information

Measure of Success on Darfur and ICC

From Roger and Mary Schense:
We want to thank all those who complied with the request on your website to email  President Bush and the administration, urging the US to abstain on the vote for referral of the situation in Darfur to the International Criminal Court.

This past Friday the Security Council voted to refer Darfur to the ICC. Four countries abstained: Algeria, Brazil, China, and the US. We are extremely grateful for the pressure brought to bear by everyone who supported this issue. We are hearing that the emails carried a lot of weight.

We are amazed and heartened by this event. While we understand that trade-offs are a part of the game, we believe that the referral bodes well for the Africans who have been enduring this horror.

(Editor's Note: Click to read the post on the DFNM blog to which they are referring.)

Sound Off! Who's the Culprit?

From Barbara Wold:
I was shocked and appalled to see the following item on Joe Monahan's website today:

Linda Lopez & The Deaniacs; No, It's Not a Rock Band
It would make a good name for a rock band: Linda Lopez and the Deaniacs. But the veteran Dem ABQ Valley State Senator is probably in no mood to joke about her whipping at the hands of supporters of onetime prez candidate and now Democrat National Chair Howard Dean. Lopez was unceremoniously dumped from her spot as chairwoman of the Bernalillo County Democratic Party and replaced by party liberal and oldtimer Marvin Moss.

"It was the Dean supporters who did did her in. They packed the precinct and ward meetings leading up to the county convention and they did Linda in," reported an Alligator in attendance at the weekend confab. "The post has lost its glamour. Just what does the county chair do? Not a whole lot," added our on-the-scene Gator.

But whatever the chair does, Linda Lopez will not being doing it. By any measure that is a setback. She has repeatedly been mentioned as a possible candidate for higher political office, everything from Guv to mayor, but her detractors are now saying she was unable to hold on to a relatively minor party post. That gladdens the hearts of her rivals, including friends of Light Guv Diane Denish who are tired of being taunted by the Lopez clan for keeping Linda off the ballot when the two sought the Dem nomination for Light Guv in 02.' Oh yeah, Big Bill isn't crying in his beer about this one either.

I wonder who the devisive and wrong-headed person is who fed this line of distorted untruth to Monahan, who's always glad to feed the fires of Dem bashing. Given the tenor of the rumor, I'm not surprised they decided to spew this garbage anonymously.

First off, DFA-DFNM is much more than "Deaniacs" these days. Our ranks now have many people who weren't supporters of Dean's presidential run joining the "old-timers" whose involvement stretches back to the early days of the presidential primary.

Second, as anyone who knows anything knows, DFA-DFNM took no stand on the race for Bernalillo Dem County Chair. In conversations with many members, I learned first-hand that many voted for Linda Lopez and many voted for Marvin Moss. Contrary to the rather hysterical tone of the Monahan item, there was no concerted effort by "Deaniacs" to sway the race one way or another.  And most people had a hard time deciding between them.

Many I spoke with who had decided to vote for Marvin Moss said they were doing so NOT because they disliked Senator Lopez or didn't respect her politically, but because they thought Moss would have more time and inclination to immerse himself in the often tedious work that will be necessary to rebuild the Party, its infrastructure and its procedures in this time of upheaval. Many believe he has exactly the right skills for the job.

As for Linda Lopez, a significant number of members I spoke with said they thought she should instead run for higher office, like the governorship or Congress, instead of devoting time to the more mundane responsibilities of the County Chair position.

Also, every single DFA-DFNM member and other progressives I've talked to who worked with Senator Lopez on the election reform bill that's being signed today by Governor Richardson came away from the process with a very high regard for her. To a person they were impressed with her energy, enthusiasm, smarts, dedication, talent and honesty as exhibited in her negotiations with advocates, the Governor's office and other legislators.

It's clear that whoever planted this item wants to sow the seeds of divisiveness among progressive Democrats and bash Senator Lopez. They will not succeed. Contrary to to what the leaked item says, progressives sought precinct and ward chair slots, as well as membership on the State Central Committee, in order to change the Party from within and have a say on Party positions and candidates -- not to damage the chances of one of our most progressive and enlightened State Senators. 

Believe me, there are few fans of Govenor Richardson in the liberal and progressive ranks of the Party these days and it is upsetting that the item claims Richardson "isn't crying in his beer" over Senator Lopez's loss. Message for you, Bill (and whoever planted that item) -- we're trying to rebuild this Party from the ground up to counter the Republican-lite voices of Democrats-in-name-only like you and promote lively and courageous voices like Senator Lopez. Many of us intend to support her for higher office and work to get rid of the anti-progressive voices of pro-corporate Dems who vote against the little people way too much of the time. Saavy?

DFA-DFNM Meetups Today and Tomorrow

DFA-DFNM Meetups will be held tonight (Wednesday) in Santa Fe and Las Cruces and tomorrow evening (Thursday) in Albuquerque. Click on the meeting links on the right-hand sidebar of this page under Coming Events to find out more, to RSVP or to join one of these groups and get on the mailing list.

Most DFA Meetups across the nation will be focusing on a project to help defeat Bush's attempt to privatize Social Security and cut benefits. Hundreds of people all over America will be meeting with their members of Congress on April 12th to tell their personal stories about the benefits of Social Security and urge their Representatives and Senators to oppose Bush's plan. Click to see a video about this effort produced by DFA.

In Albuquerque, we'll be planning a meeting with Rep. Heather Wilson and forming working groups to coordinate various aspects of the project.  Our Albuquerque Meetup will also feature announcements on actions and events from a variety of progressives, a visit from mayoral candidate Eric Griego and Eli Lee of Soltari, and a celebration of the progressive community's highly successful effort to get people elected to precinct, ward and State Central Committee positions.

If you plan to attend one of our Meetups and haven't yet RSVPed, please go to the links noted above let us know you are coming so we have a good idea of how many people we'll be accommodating. Come on out and attend a Meetup!

INVITATION: Wellstone National Civic Dialogue Project on Social Security

NOTE: THIS EVENT WAS CANCELLED ON 4/15/05:

From Lynn Jacobs:

I am holding a house party for the Wellstone National Civic Dialogue Project to discuss the privatization of Social Security on:

Tuesday, April 19th from 6:30 to 8:00 PM

We invite you to come together to discuss Social Security and talk about ways to take action on this critical issue. This is an opportunity to use a new way of talking about Social Security, developing messages rooted in our core progressive values and principles.  This should be of particular interest to those who are proponents of George Lakoff's 'framing' philosophy.

Please click on this link or copy and paste into your browser to register:

https://www.thedatabank.com/meeting/calsignup.asp?ccf=114131&caleventid=5212

Lynn Jacobs
1201 Lafayette Drive NE
Albuquerque NM 87106
265-1622
( NW corner of Constitution...between Carlisle and Girard)

Black Hawk Facility in Santa Fe?

From Citizens for Environmental Safeguards (CES):

(CES) Director Elaine Cimino will be speaking at the Veterans for Peace meeting on Wednesday evening, April 13 at 7:15 PM at Museo Cultural, on Paseo Peralta (Guadalupe St and the Railyard) in Santa Fe.

The Final Environmental Assessment will be released this month in April on the Blackhawk facility in Santa Fe NM.

Ms. Cimino will update the community as to the future military base and operations in Santa Fe, NM. A five year battle in the the federal courts was dissmissed pending an environmental review. It is now a whole new ball game.

The base is scheduled to include 24 blackhawk helicopters, 4 jets, 3 C-130 and other personel and equipment carriers. Operations are designed for training and support to the expanded training base in the US Forest Service area of the Caja del Rio, which is under a no-fly zone.

This operation is quite different from the first presentation made to the Santa Fe City Council who approved a 50 year lease for the facility supporting 9 helicopters (only), and when the US Army and NM National Guard promised a $6M yearly boost to the local economy. This area is also included in the Patriot Missile Defense systems that is being implemented throught NM. The final approval for the lease facility hung on one vote of the City Council and Patty Bushee who voted for the facility.

To find out more about this issue please attend.

Elaine Cimino, Director,
ecimino@cybermesa.com
1-800-424-9100

Sound Off: HIP, HIP, HOORAY!

From Mary Ellen Broderick:

CONGRATULATIONS TO US ALL!!!

WOW what a lot of work to get the results we did for the precinct and ward elections and the state central committee slots.

To me it was a sure test of all the progressive groups coming together, working together and getting people in.

What we know is this:

The county convention was totally chaotic -- but we can and will work on that to improve the next one.

We filled possibly 12 out of the 41 Ward chair slots -- 25% now filled by progressives.

We filled possibly 40 precinct slots.

We filled 25 of the 119 state central committee slots -- a whopping 21%!!!!!!!!

Now I know there are many other great local progressive people who did not get on the as yet unofficial state central committee list, including Jeanne Carritt, Andrea Sterling, Nancy Galloway (possibly), Tom Soloman and Don Schiff.  These people are now our dear friends and I would gladly give up my seat for any one of them.  Because we are all in this for the long haul, maybe the rest of our lives . . . because we all know that the country is ours too and we can take it back.

As Rosie the Riveter says: “ WE CAN DO IT.” And “WE ARE.”

And one more thing:

Linda Lopez -- if you come to this site and read it -- I am one voice speaking out for myself:  I AM A BIG FAN!!!! You have really gone to the fight for us and with us. We greatly need you, your brains, your gentle political way!!

Thanks to all . . . the work has just begun!

See you on Thursday nite at the DFNM meetup for a bit of a celebration!

Sound Off: "Centrist Democrats"

From Terry Riley:
We just passed some of the most encouraging platform resolutions in our Bernalillo county central commitee as did Santa Fe, Taos, and Los Alamos.  I was really feeling good until I read this story from the Washington Times.

The actions of our county and state committees will reach the national party in a couple of months, though I am sure that the word has reached them already.  I think that we should work outside the normal channel as well as we are inside the normal channel. 

I believe that we should all write e-mails to Dean and to the DNC highlighting our agenda and pointing to the error of the "centrist Democrats."

What do you think?