Democracy for New Mexico

Must Hear: Dean in Denver

Must Hear Audio: The complete remarks of DNC Chair Howard Dean at a Party fundraiser in Denver yesterday!

Click for accounts of the appearance by the Denver Post .

(Photo above courtesy M.E. Broderick: Dean speaking at DemocracyFest in Austin last month. Click on photo for larger image.)

ACLU Hosts Citizens’ Meeting on Patriot Act: Councilor Griego Featured Speaker

From ACLU New Mexico:
ALBUQUERQUE –  On Monday, July 18th, at 6:00 PM the American Civil Liberties Union of New Mexico (ACLU-NM) is hosting the second in a series of “Reform the Patriot Act” town halls at the Peace and Justice Center at 202 Harvard SE in Albuquerque.  Featured speakers include Albuquerque City Councilor Eric Griego and Global Dialog Director Valerie Gremillion.

The bill to be considered next week will make permanent the parts of the Patriot Act that Congress initially intended to expire.  For example, it would make permanent the most unwise and intrusive provisions of the Patriot Act, such as those that give the government access to your medical, library, financial and other personal records, without any requirement that the federal government demonstrate that there are any facts connecting records about you to a foreign terrorist.

"Nearly 400 communities - including seven states - have passed resolutions calling on Congress to amend the Patriot Act to restore basic checks and balances," said ACLU of New Mexico Communications Manager Kimberly Lavender.  "Here in New Mexico, thirteen communities, the NM State House of Representatives, the NM Library Association, the NM Municipal League and others, passed resolutions within months of the Patriot Act’s passage."

ACLU members in New Mexico have been reaching out statewide to let their neighbors know how the Patriot Act affects them.  The ACLU Central New Mexico Chapter will be airing the movie “Unconstitutional” Thursday, July 21, at the Erna Ferguson Library Community Room at 6:15 PM.  The "Street Patriots" have been handing our information weekly in Albuquerque around town while wearing "sign" boards that display personal information, like "I took Viagra this morning" and "I keep a handgun hidden in my home office." Their message: the Patriot Act puts Americans’ privacy at risk by allowing law enforcement agencies access to medical, financial, religious, and gun purchase records.

The 16 expiring provisions of the Patriot Act were not properly vetted the first time, and included unwarranted expansions of federal power, yet some in Congress are poised to make them permanent with no real corrections. If they succeed, extreme provisions like Section 215 -- which gives the FBI broad access to your personal records without individual suspicion, probable cause or any meaningful ability to challenge the secret court order that allows this access -will forever be a fixture of our laws.

The following can be attributed to Lisa Graves, ACLU Senior Counsel for Legislative Strategy:

"Congress rightfully put sunsets on some provisions of the Patriot Act, so that lawmakers could reexamine the extraordinary powers when cooler heads would prevail. We cannot afford to sacrifice the very freedoms we seek to protect. Although the House Judiciary Committee’s base bill does not expand the Patriot Act in the unwise and unwarranted way the Senate Intelligence Committee proposed, it can and must be modified to ensure that Patriot powers are focused on terrorists, and not ordinary Americans whose civil liberties must be protected to preserve our American values." For more on the ACLU’s concerns with the Patriot Act, go to: https://www.reformthepatriotact.org

Kimberly Lavender, Communications Manager, ACLU of New Mexico at 505-266-4622
Go to our website at www.aclu-nm.org

Public Forum 7/21 on New Study on Health Risks of Depleted Uranium

A free public forum that will discuss the impacts of the use of depleted uranium on human health during the Gulf War will be held at the University of New Mexico Law School, 1117 Stanford Drive, (corner of Stanford & Mountain) Thursday, July 21, from 6-8 PM, in amphitheater #2405.

Al Marshall, a retired scientist with Sandia National Laboratories, has conducted an in-depth study of the potential health effects to civilians and veterans from exposure to depleted uranium during the 1991 Gulf War. Depleted uranium, or DU as it is commonly referred to, was used in the making of armor-piercing munitions and enhanced armor protection for American troops.

DU is both radioactive and chemically toxic. Many critics believe that DU exposure has caused significant increases in leukemia, birth defects, and other illnesses among U.S. veterans and civilians. Based on these concerns, legislation has been introduced to ban the use of DU in warfare and many believe the use of DU violates the Geneva Conventions. The presentation examines the validity of these beliefs and concerns.

Mr. Marshall’s presentation is intended for general audiences, and questions from the public are welcomed and encouraged. The forum is being hosted by Citizen Action New Mexico.

For more information contact Citizen Action New Mexico: (505) 262-1862. For directions to the U.N.M. Law School please call: 277- 2146.

Contact: Susan Dayton, Director
Citizen Action: (505) 262-1862
Citizen Action New Mexico: www.radfreenm.org

Last Call for Living Wage Signatures

From Albuquerque Living Wage:

We must turn all Living Wage petitions into the City Clerk this coming Sunday, so please get your petitions to the ACORN office by this Friday.  The office is located at 411 Bellamah NW 87102, between the Mexican Consulate on 4th Street and the Friends Meeting House on 5th Street.  For more information, call 242-7411, or email us at matthew@abqlivingwage.org.

As of Wednesday, we have turned in over 30,000 signatures and expect to top 33,000 by the end of the weekend, a full 20,000 more than we need!

Lastly, join us for the Petition Wrap-Up Rally on Monday.  We will meet at 11:00 AM on the City Hall side of Civic Plaza.

Tonight On We The People TV: Can the Democratic Party Be Saved?

WE THE PEOPLE

JULY 14, 2005 - Albuquerque Channel 27, 7-8 PM. CALL-IN:  346-1633. Please, TAPE the program if you cannot be present.

GUEST:    Matt Farrauto, Communications Director, Democratic Party of New Mexico
TOPIC:    Can the Democratic Party Be Saved?
HOST:    Mickey Bock

WE THE PEOPLE is an innovative call-in television show looking for TRUTH and TRANSPARENCY in local, state and federal governments. We hope to remind viewers of their legacy and heritage coming from the Declaration of Independence, the U.S. Constitution, and the Bill of Rights. It is our country's government--based on law and not tyranny--that grants us FREEDOM.

Watch us every Thursday 7-8 PM, Community Cable Channel 27, Albuquerque, NM

Call-in (the number will be flashed on the TV Screen) or e-mail us and we will try to answer your questions and concerns. Kindly forward to Albuquerque area friends.

www.1776wethepeople.com
mickbo@earthlink.com

THANKS FOR WATCHING
Mickey Bock/Judith Binder
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Editor's Note: A recent article by Ollie Reed, Jr. in the Albuquerque Tribune profiles Public Access Channel 27 and some of its participants, including Mickey and Judith. Excerpt:

People whose shows are coming up later in the evening begin filing in. Mickey Bock arrives with his wife, Judith, the producer of "We the People."
[. . .]
Bock, 76, and his wife are disappointed supporters of Howard Dean's presidential campaign. They started "We the People" to carry forth Dean's philosophy of "take back your country" and to drive home Bock's concerns about enforcing separation of church and state.

"The rock of this country is separation of church and state," says Bock. "Believe what you want, just keep it out of government."

Scandal

RoveGate: A story that's finally reached SCANDAL level, on a TV screen near you!

UPDATE: According to an AP article:

Senate Democrats moved forcefully into the controversy surrounding White House aide Karl Rove on Thursday, calling for legislation to deny security clearances to officials who disclose the identity of an undercover agent."

Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., sought to attach the proposal to a spending bill for the Department of Homeland Security, and aides said he hoped for a vote by day's end.

Also:

Reid and three other Senate Democratic leaders - Charles Schumer of New York, Dick Durbin of Illinois and Debbie Stabenow of Michigan - sent a letter to Andrew Card, the White House chief of staff, asking him to release results of an initial internal investigation into the leak.

Albuquerque Shuffle

Political blogger Marston Moore over at Duke City Fix has an excellent piece on Albuquerque election politics today. News nuggets: thanks to wooing and moolah promises from da Mayor, Tina Cummins in back in the race in City Council District 9, Councilor Miguel Gomez will face Mayor Marty cohort Ken Sanchez in his race in District 1 and Mayor Chavez has hired a new campaign manager to replace Bridget Cusick. Read all about it.

ACTION ALERT: Otero Mesa Drilling

From Nathan Newcomer, Otero Mesa Campaign Organizer:
Yesterday, New Mexico State Land Commissioner, Patrick Lyons stomped on the voices of New Mexicans by siding with the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) in their plan to open 95% of Otero Mesa to irresponsible oil and gas development.

Lyons says he will battle Gov. Bill Richardson and Attorney General Patricia Madrid in federal court to allow oil and gas drilling at Otero Mesa.

"We're going to intervene to let 'em do drilling down there," Lyons said in a meeting with Albuquerque Journal editors and reporters Tuesday. "We feel like it's our constitutional duty."

But Madrid already is questioning Lyons' authority to challenge her position against drilling.

The governor's senior energy and environment policy adviser, Ned Farquhar, said Richardson proposed a balanced alternative for Otero Mesa development but the BLM ignored it.

"Commissioner Lyons is making a mistake if he's going to support the BLM's proposal to open 95 percent of the area to oil and gas activity," Farquhar said.

*********
ACTION
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Call and tell State Land Commissioner Patrick Lyons that you think his recent actions to support the full-scale development of Otero Mesa is not in the best interest for New Mexicans or our quality of life.

State Land Office
Patrick Lyons
(505) 827-5760

Here are a few talking points to use when leaving a message for Commissioner Lyons:

1. The Commissioner demanded that development begin so that money from oil and gas royalties could be funneled to our children. However, even the BLM says that the amount of oil and gas under Otero Mesa is "small potatoes." Thus, any revenue generated to the state from industry royalties will be very minimal.

2. The greater resource of Otero Mesa is the fact that it contains  the largest remaining source of fresh drinking water left in the state of New Mexico. This water is much more valuable to our children and their future than a few days of oil and gas.

3. Tell Commssioner Lyons that you want him to work to protect Otero Mesa's groundwater, and not to side with the oil and gas industry, as he is now doing.

State Land Office
Patrick Lyons
(505) 827-5760

New Book: Rebuilding the Democratic Party from the Grassroots

Rebuilding the Democratic Party from the Grassroots: The Ultimate Guidebook For Democrats

This book is hot off the press and has just hit the shelves!

Following the presidential election of 2004, many believed the Democratic Party had reached the lowest point in its history. Rebuilding the Democratic Party from the Grassroots offers a definitive blueprint for reversing that course and returning the Democratic Party to its roots and its core values. Authors Drucilla Badurina and Shawn O’Donnell seek to restore the Democratic Party to the party for the average American and the traditional party for a new century.

With its candid, flowing style, Rebuilding the Democratic Party from the Grassroots explains how John Kerry, the last Democratic presidential candidate, lost the national election. It also illustrates campaign realities with in-depth examples of what actually happened, proposes solutions for bottom-up election reform, and offers a specific plan to reinvent and reinvigorate the Democratic Party.

Shawn O'Donnell is a regular contributor to Root Camp and Rebuilding the Democratic Party from the Grassrooots is the ultimate guidebook for taking the Democratic Party back to its future, back to its values, and back to the people.

From Taking Root™, a semi-monthly newsletter by Grassroots for America. Click to subscribe (free).

Good News On ABQ Living Wage Petition

From Stop the War Machine's email newsletter:
The Albuquerque Living Wage Campaign this week reached 28,680 petition signatures, more than twice the number required to place the measure to increase the minimum wage to $7.50 per hour on the October city election ballot. Just under 14,000 signatures of registered city voters are necessary, but organizers set a goal of twice that number to compensate for any signatures invalidated by the city clerk's office.

Campaign organizers will continue to obtain petition signatures until the July 18 deadline, when they expect to increase the total to more than 30,000 signatures. A press conference has been tentatively scheduled for Civic Plaza at 11 AM on July 18, when the last of the petitions will be delivered to the city clerk. Stay tuned for details.

Questions?  Contact tsos@earthlink.net