Democracy for New Mexico

Sunday Bird Blogging

This is Georgie, our powder blue parakeet. Although we once thought he was a male, we recently learned she's a hen thru and thru. In fact, we had to separate Georgie from Ginger, seen in the background above, because Ginger attacks any sister hen as soon as it reaches parakeet puberty.

We had a little scare this week when Georgie stayed lethargic and puffed up for a full day. No, we didn't think it was the infamous bird flu, but we did wonder if she had eaten bad seeds or come down with some other budgie ailment. I'm pleased to report she must have just been having a bad day as she's back to her gregariously active self. And she's proud, as usual, about being BLUE even if she has to reside in a marginally Red State these days!

UNM to Host Special Presentation of 'Running Dry: The Documentary'

Special Presentation
Thursday, November 10, 2005
7 PM - Woodward Hall 101
University of New Mexico Campus

UNM Water Resources Program, UNM Office of the Vice President for Research & Economic Development and New Mexico Office of the State Engineer present

Running Dry - The Documentary
with Jim Thebaut
Writer, Producer, and Director

The Running Dry project (www.runningdry.org) has been designed as a massive comprehensive public information/education program on the global humanitarian water crisis. A documentary of the same name has been produced and is the centerpiece of the overall education project.

Presentations of the documentary are currently taking place at international venues in conjunction with in-depth discussions of the crisis for the purpose of educating policy makers, educators, students, and the general public.

Actress Jane Seymour, the documentary narrator, and many other notable and knowledgeable individuals have come together to participate in the public information/education process. In addition, educators are also designing ways for the documentary to be utilized within academic curricula.

UNM is proud to present this groundbreaking documentary, hosted by writer, producer, and director Jim Thebaut. The film (80 minutes) will be followed by a Q & A session with Jim and local water experts.

Woodward Hall is Building 82 on the UNM campus map . Pay parking is available at the Parking Structure (Building 198) near the corner of Redondo and Stanford.

Give 'Em Hell Harry

Our leader in the U.S. Senate, Harry Reid, has launched a new action website and blog called Give 'Em Hell Harry. First action: You can sign a petition to be sent to Bush on Iraq that says:

You can no longer mislead Congress and the American people and need to honestly lay out the facts about Iraq. It's time for an Iraq success strategy that will bring our troops home.

We cannot continue to stay the course in Iraq -- we must change the course.

As MoveOn says:

Since 2004, Republicans have stonewalled on a promise to investigate the Bush administration deceptions that led to the Iraq war. So Republicans thought it was business as usual Tuesday afternoon when Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid took to the floor of the Senate to comment on Iraq. Then a modern day Boston Tea Party began.

Reid stopped all other Senate business and forced the Senate into a special closed session to discuss Iraq and demand accountability in the White House CIA Leak scandal. It was a bold move, but after more than an hour, Democrats emerged victorious having won a renewed investigation into the misuse of intelligence leading to the war in Iraq—including the White House CIA leak.

Reid didn't stop there. On Wednesday, he e-mailed supporters and asked them to join him in demanding a success strategy to bring our troops home from Iraq. Now that he's fighting this important fight, it's critical that we show him how much we appreciate this act of leadership. Check out his petition and add you name.

HOMELAND Airs This Sunday at 5PM on KNME /DT 35

(Click image for larger version.)

One of the most critical but least known human rights stories in America is the savaging of Native American lands and its impact on Native peoples.  Nearly all Indian nations sit on land threatened by ruinous environmental hazards - toxic waste, strip mining, oil drilling, and nuclear contamination. The realities that the tribes live with are bleak -- children play near radioactive waste, rivers that tribes depend on for food are poisoned and reservations are completely surrounded by strip mines and smoke stacks spewing noxious fumes.

Homeland: Four Portraits of Native Action, a ninety-minute documentary, is the first film to take a hard look at these realities.  It tells the stories of five remarkable Native American activists in four communities who are fighting these "new Indian Wars" - each in his own way passionately dedicated to protecting Indian lands against disastrous environmental hazards, preserving their sovereignty and ensuring the cultural survival of their peoples.  With the support of their communities, these leaders are actively rejecting the devastating affronts of multi-national energy companies and the current dismantling of 30 years of environmental laws.

There are internal struggles to be overcome as well. For many who live in extreme poverty on reservations lacking any sort of infrastructure, there is little hope for jobs, few prospects for a better life.  The lure of fast cash from big companies outweighs the long-range promise of environmental and cultural preservation.

From Alaska to Maine, Montana to New Mexico and against some of America's most spectacular backdrops, these first-person journeys unfold as our characters demand change, not sympathy, and rally grassroots support against the corporate and government behemoths who are exploiting and befouling tribal lands.  The vision that sustains them from one battle to the next is of a future where U.S. energy consumption and waste production will not be at the expense of indigenous people.

Homeland was shot on film by esteemed cinematographer, Dyanna Taylor; directed by veteran documentary filmmaker, Roberta Grossman and produced by Katahdin Foundation.

More Info: https://www.katahdin.org/homelandabout.htm

More

Marston Moore at Duke City Fix weighs in on the continuing coverage of Democratic Party issues, Steve Terrell of the Santa Fe New Mexican adds another column on the topic today and Monahan makes a claim about the DPNM Executive Director.  (Our previous posts on this are here and here.)

Calling All Bloggers!

From an "unnamed source" --

Do political campaigns stir your passion? Are you addicted to DFNM, Joe Monahan, Daily Kos and/or Duke City Fix? Do you fancy yourself a "political insider?" Can you write? Do you want to help get rid of Heather Wilson? If so, we want to hear from you!

A new blog is brewing and they're looking for contributors. The blog will focus on a prominent New Mexico political campaign. If you're interested in being a featured blogger, please send an email to nmpoliticalblog@hotmail.com and let us know a little bit about your blogging/writing experience and share with us some blog entries you've written. Pseudonyms accepted.

A Year Ago Today

Lest we forget why we're all so concerned about strengthening the Democratic Party. Can it really be that only a year has passed since this debacle? Seems like an eon, with only three more eons to go ...

If you're wondering how those 59,054,087 Bush voters are feeling now, check out the latest CBS News poll results:

Bush Job Approval:   Approve 35%, Disapprove 57%
Is result of war in Iraq worth its costs?   Yes 31%, No 64%

The Continuing Saga of State Party Politics

For ready reference, I thought I'd gather together links to recent media and online coverage on State Democratic Party politics and issues raised by State Central Committee members:

Steve Terrell had an article in the Santa Fe New Mexican on October 29th (pdf) that didn't show up online, as well as an extensive article and sidebar in the New Mexican today that you can read on his blog.

UPDATE: Terrell has more on Richard Buckman in the 11/3/05 Santa Fe New Mexican.

Kate Nash had a column in the Albuquerque Tribune on October 31st.

Joe Monahan has put up two posts in the last two days, here and here.

DFNM featured a post on October 25th on staff leaving the DPNM, as well as the one yesterday in response to Joe Monahan's first post.

I've received a number of emails from people wanting to know more about Richard Buckman of TCB after Terrell's coverage on this. He was paid tens of thousands of dollars by the State Party for consulting, supposedly to lobby on the Party's behalf at the DNC and DCCC. People are finding it odd that the DPNM felt it had to pay someone to interact with the Party in Washington. It's also been stated that one of Buckman's accomplishments was to arrange for Wesley Clark to appear at a Party fundraiser in Hobbs, NM.

Here and here are articles I found by Googling on Buckman. In one of them he's referred to as "formerly a GOP consultant." Both articles cover his involvement with the appointment of U.S. District Court Judge Charles Pickering of Mississippi to the federal Court of Appeals. Pickering was eventually appointed to the post by Bush in a temporary recess appointment.

Although I think some of the comments in yesterday's thread provide more heat than light, and are too personal in some cases, I still believe a dialog on where we are as a Party and where we're going can be a positive thing. I don't censor commenters on this site. You're on your own in judging how accurate or reasonable their points are. Blogs always attract juvenile comments along with the more rational ones.

I want to reiterate that the majority of Dems who are speaking out, publicly or behind the scenes, are seeking only to encourage better accountability, transparency and results from the State Party. These are all  touchstones of any effective and professional organization. We are regular, rank and file members of the Party's State Central Committee, its wards and its precincts -- workers from within the mainstream of the Party who are committed to getting things done and making sure our Party infrastructure is efficient and honest. Don'' believe anyone saying otherwise.

Half-Truths, Non-Truths and the Facts

Joe Monahan has a rambling and often ill-informed piece up today on his blog about Democratic Party Chair John Wertheim, a letter sent to the Party's State Central Committee (SCC) members from a group of their colleagues and an alleged effort by ex-Albuquerque mayoral candidate Judy Espinosa to become Dem Party Chair at some point. I need to clear up some of the misconceptions communicated by Monahan.

First off, a group of SCC members (including me) did draft and send off a letter to other members expressing concerns about how the Party is functioning and where it is headed. Click to read the letter (pdf). We're following up with phone calls to these same people. We did not send the letter to bloggers or the media. We did not mention anything about the Party's actions to keep Nader off the ballot. We are not connected with any effort to have Judy Espinosa become Party Chair. We are expressing our own views as SCC members, not those of any Party staffers or officials who recently resigned. The signers of the letter are not "Deaniacs" per se. We arrived at our views from many points on the political compass.

The letter was meant to generate interest in moving the Party forward, to gauge how Party members around the state view the Party's efforts and to urge Party officers to follow the Party's rules and bylaws so our Party might function more effectively and efficiently.

This was not an effort to push a clandestine agenda or seek support for a run for chair by Judy Espinosa or anyone else. It was meant as a grassroots effort to engage more people in the discussion of where the Party should be headed -- a lively and often heated discussion that has been taking place all over the nation. We see ourselves as grassroots activists interested in various reforms and improvements that can make the Party, its candidates and its positions more representative of core Democratic values. We want to win and we strongly believe these kinds of changes can make that happen more frequently.

Unlike the Republicans, most true Democrats believe debate, brainstorming and inclusive discussions among our diverse members yield positive results. As you may have noticed, we don't favor the lockstep exclusivism and elitism that characterize Republican politics. We see ourselves as members of what has long been the Party of the People, not some club organized for wealthy movers and shakers.

We don't know who contacted Joe Monahan with the info he published, but it wasn't us. And we have absolutely nothing to do with any effort by Espinosa to take over the reins of the Party. We didn't call for Chairman Wertheim's removal.

Of course our letter expressing concerns and ways we might address them don't "pose a threat to either him [John Wertheim] or the party," a Wetheim quote included in Monahan's post. Our goals are to strengthen the Party, help improve how it operates and activate Party members around the state to become more actively engaged in developing our message and assuming the responsibilities delineated in the Party rules for SCC members.

We believe the Party's focus has been on candidates and their big personalities at the top instead of on principles and positions that come from the bottom up -- the very things that define who we are and what we stand for as a Party.  And we're willing to do the often tedious work necessary to help the Party regain its footing and once again represent what rank and file Democrats believe, not just what politicos see as good matches to poll results.

We want Party members, its staff, its officers, its candidates and its officeholders to be proactive leaders who carry a message from the grassroots up. And to communicate that message persuasively and boldly. We're part of a very large number of Democratic activists around the nation who have become precinct and ward officers, central committee members, state and county Party chairs, phonebankers and doorknockers. We believe we bring much-needed positive energies and new blood to a Party often seen as tired and stuck in the past, or cynically tied to today's big dollar donors.

Perhaps most exciting is the fact we're finding so much support and encouragement from long-time Party members here in New Mexico. Reaching out via conversations, letters and phone calls, we are finding that a majority of NM Democrats share many of our concerns about how the Party is operating today, as well as a hope for a stronger, more effective Party if we are willing to work together.

So don't believe Monahan's take on what we're doing (or that of whoever is feeding him distorted info). We're not out to toss around personal insults, trash the Party or launch a destructive attack on anyone. What we're trying to do is set the bar higher on the quality of the Party's transparency, communication, accountability, efficiency and inclusiveness. Party rules set out the duties of our officers and require SCC members to approve budgets and expenditures. They delineate clear responsibilities for the SCC and Party officers. We've decided we need to take these responsibilites seriously and we want everyone concerned to do the same. This is not a time for complacency or business as usual.

We're asking questions, expecting answers and demanding accountability. Is that a bad thing? We think it's a good thing. What do you think? --Barbara Wold

P.S. Sorry this is so long, but I felt I had to be in this case.

URGENT REQUEST from NRDC on 3 Votes Needed to Save ANWR

Editor's Note: We get so many of these kinds of urgent requests for help, but I think this one is really important -- and we are so close to victory. Please consider donating a few dollars today to this effort. If you need a reminder of what's at stake, click here and check out the exquisite photos of the pristine Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

From the Natural Resources Defense Council:

It's all come down to this. The House of Representatives will vote as early as next week on a budget bill that would sacrifice the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to massive oil development and destruction.

We can win this showdown in Congress, but we must secure the votes of three more moderate Republicans:  Representatives Jim Gerlach (PA), David Reichert (WA), and Mark Kennedy (MN).

We urgently need your financial support to run hard-hitting ads targeting these three key Representatives in next Sunday's newspapers.

View the ad and donate:  https://www.nrdcactionfund.org/arcticad/donate.asp

Our three targeted Congressmen say they oppose drilling in the Arctic Refuge. But they are under tremendous pressure from President Bush and House leaders to do the bidding of Big Oil.

We cannot expect these Republican Congressmen to vote against their leadership unless they hear from thousands of their own constituents, demanding that they stand strong in defense of the Arctic Refuge.

All we need is your support to make that outcry happen. View the ad and donate: https://www.nrdcactionfund.org/arcticad/donate.asp

The Bush Administration is shamelessly exploiting the recent hurricanes and high gas prices as excuses to industrialize the Arctic Refuge. But, as our ad reveals, drilling in the Arctic Refuge will only save consumers one penny per gallon at the pump in 20 years!

Meanwhile, ExxonMobil and Shell just reported third-quarter profits totaling nearly $19 billion!

Help us get the truth out to tens of thousands of voters in the three decisive Congressional districts before next week's showdown vote.

I urge you to make an online donation right now that could save America's greatest sanctuary for Arctic wildlife: https://www.nrdcactionfund.org/arcticad/donate.asp

Thank you.
John H. Adams, NRDC Action Fund