Democracy for New Mexico

Breaking: ANWR Preserved!

Hallelujah! An amazing gift! As told by CNN:

The Senate today blocked oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, rejecting a must-pass defense spending bill onto which supporters had added the quarter-century-old environmental issue to garner broader support. The vote was a stinging defeat for Sen. Ted Stevens, R-Alaska, who for years has waged an intense fight to open the refuge to drilling. Senate leaders were expected to withdraw the defense legislation so it could be reworked without the refuge language.

The vote: 56-44, four votes shy of the 60 needed to stop a threatened fillibuster. Go thank your Democratic Senator. Then revisit these astounding photos that showcase ANWR's unique natural bounties.

Here's one of them, as well as the Sierra Club's statement on this victory:

“To protect what is wild is to protect what is gentle. Perhaps the wilderness we fear is the pause within our own heartbeats, the silent space that says we live only by grace. Wilderness lives by this same grace.” -- Terry Tempest Williams

ARCTIC REFUGE VICTORY FOR ALL AMERICANS

Washington, D.C. -- In an against-all-odds victory for wildlife, wild places and all Americans, the Senate today rebuffed attempts to attach controversial provisions to drill in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to the Defense spending bill.

"Drilling proponents have pulled out all the stops, and tried every trick in their playbook to open up the Arctic Refuge to no avail," said Carl Pope, Sierra Club Executive Director. "This is a tremendous victory for all Americans and proof positive that the fate of the Arctic Refuge must be debated on its merits, not as part of a sneak attack."

Drilling proponents have now failed to include Arctic drilling on energy, budget and defense bills. The deplorable effort to link Arctic drilling to funding for America’s troops and Hurricane Katrina relief, led by Senator Ted Stevens (R-AK) and bolstered by intense lobbying from the Bush administration, failed in a cloture vote 44-56 (cloture requires 60 votes).

"We applaud those Senators who refused to let drilling proponents manipulate them and the democratic process," said Pope. "Today’s vote reaffirmed the Senate’s role as a deliberative body, not a place where unrelated and controversial issues are tacked on to any bill without debate and at the whim of special interests."

Senator Stevens -- the man who brought us the $450 million "bridges to nowhere" -- tried to bully the Senate into passing a bill that benefits his state and the oil industry at the expense of all Americans.

"This year the oil industry squeezed Americans at the gas pump to the tune of billions in record profits, carved out billions more in government subsidies, and then lied to Congress. Senator Stevens held defense spending and hurricane relief hostage to help Big Oil out," said Pope. "Today the Senate gave the oil industry and Stevens the lump of coal they deserved. We will remain vigilant as those who would plunder the Arctic Refuge for short-term gain are clearly willing to try anything regardless of cost."

"Americans want real energy solutions that protect special places like the Arctic Refuge. Today that message was heard loud and clear," said Pope. "Drilling proponents tried every excuse, but Americans know that Arctic drilling would not put a dent in our dependence on foreign oil, would do nothing to strengthen our national security, and would not save consumers money at the pump."

A recent report from the U.S. Department of Energy’s own Energy Information Administration (EIA) estimates that even 20 years down the road, when Arctic Refuge oil would be at or near peak production, gas prices would only be affected by about a penny per gallon. The United States sits on just 3 % of the world's known petroleum reserves. Government estimates indicate that there is less than a year’s supply of oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, and even the oil industry admits it would take 10 years to make it to US markets.

Caught in the Act

of what Bush had to say about wiretapping in 2004 and what he has to say about it now.

Now, by the way, any time you hear the United States government talking about wiretap, it requires-a wiretap requires a court order. Nothing has changed, by the way. When we're talking about chasing down terrorists, we're talking about getting a court order before we do so. It's important for our fellow citizens to understand, when you think Patriot Act, constitutional guarantees are in place when it comes to doing what is necessary to protect our homeland, because we value the Constitution. -- George Bush - April 2004

Check out The Emerging Story Behind the Wiretaps (Daily Kos) and another theory offered in Talking Points Memo, as well as the debunking of Bush's excuses by American Progress

Support Rep. John Conyers and Censure Bush

Support the DNC petition to obtain BushCo legal opinions on the surveillance via FOIA

See how Think Progress effectively counters Drudge lies about Clinton and Carter ordering surveillance the same way

Scrooge of the Day: Senator Pete Domenici

The budget bill that makes significant cuts in things like Medicaid, Medicare, student loans, child support enforcement, foster care and more just passed the Senate. A 50-50 tie was broken only by the vote of the always draconian Dick Cheney. Our own Senator Pete Domenici voted for the bill that will ensure that some of the gigantic deficits produced by tax cuts for the rich will be paid for by whacking the poor, the sick, the elderly and those seeking help with obtaining a college degree.

All 44 Democratic Senators voted against this budget travesty, joined by one independent (Jim Jeffers) and five Republicans who have a conscience: Senators Susan Collins and Olympia J. Snowe of Maine, Gordon Smith of Oregon, Mike DeWine of Ohio and Lincoln Chafee of Rhode Island

Quote:

Senate Minority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.) called it "an ideologically driven, extreme, radical budget" that "caters to lobbyists and an elite group of ultraconservative ideologues here in Washington, all at the expense of middle class Americans."

Miserly Pete, however, sided with those supporting the rich elites and the wealthiest of the investor class at the expense of ordinary Americans. Hats off to today's Scrooge of the Day -- good ole Pete Domenici. Click to let Pete know what you think about his enlistment in the Republican War on America's Poor, Seniors, Children, Sick and Students. And be sure to thank Senator Bingaman for hanging tough and voting against this abomination.

Sound Off: Time for Outrage at Emperor Bush

This Soundoff is from Tom Solomon:

My friends,

It is time to be outraged.

By ordering the National Security Agency to spy on American citizens without a judicial warrant, Bush has gone too far. He is clearly violating the law. He believes his authority is unconstrained by the Constitution he swore to uphold, and like Napoleon, he has crowned himself King. Well he is not our king, he is not our emperor and he is not above the law.

This is the time, if no other, when we must make our outraged voices heard. This is a democracy, damn it, with a Constitution that places checks and balances on our government. The people rule here, not Emperor Bush.

Our Senators and Representatives must exercise their oversight authority and demand that this illegal behavior be stopped and stopped immediately. We should flood their phone lines and email in-boxes with our outrage at this illegal violation of American's civil rights.

I urge you to take a few minutes today to call our NM Senators and Representatives and tell them in no uncertain terms what you feel. Please make it clear that they should require President Bush to:

a. immediately reverse this directive on domestic spying
b. promise to desist in the future from warrantless spying on Americans
c. cooperate fully with a bi-partisan investigation of the policy
d. release the texts of the directives along with the legal opinions they were based on
e. identify to the Senate all residents of the US who were targets of unconstitutional spying

Here are the phone numbers to call:
Representative Heather Wilson   DC: (202) 225-6316  or ABQ: (505) 346-6781
Senator Pete Domenici   DC:  (202) 224-6621 or ABQ  (505) 346-6791
Senator Jeff Bingaman  DC: (202) 224-5521 or ABQ (505) 988-6647
And in Sandoval County and points north,
Representative Tom Udall   DC: (202) 225-6190 or ABQ (505) 984-8950

It is also easy to send them emails by using Congress.org.

Please let's raise an enormous stink about this. Bush has placed himself above the law, and above the people. It is time to remind him who he works for.

Good background information, if you want to know more: Raw Story article; LA Times editorial.

Editor's Note: According to another article on Raw Story, Sen. Barbara Boxer Boxer said she's asked "four presidential scholars" for their opinion on impeachment after former White Housel counsel John Dean -- made famous by his role in revealing the Watergate tapes -- asserted that President Bush had 'admitted' to an 'impeachable offense.' Also Senator Robert Byrd has released a scathing statement about the administration's intelligence abuses. And the LA Times reports the NY Times had the info on this story BEFORE the 2004 presidential election.

High Tech Explosives Stolen in NM

ABC News reports that ATF agents are investigating the theft of 400 pounds of powerful explosives and 2500 detonators from Cherry Enginering, a company owned by Chris Cherry, for decades the senior explosives scientist at Sandia National Laboratories in New Mexico. Not good news.

UPDATES: Here's a 12/20/05 update on this story by ABC News. This story states the explosives theft was one of the largest in recent history, that the buildings where it took place just Southwest of Albuquerque did not have surveillance cameras or security guards in place and that the robbery was the second over the past two years at the location. The thieves apparently used blowtorches to access the storage trailers. The amount of stolen explosives would be enough to match the bomb that destroyed the Oklahoma City federal building. The Santa Fe New Mexican also provides additional details on the crime.

Here's a 12/21/05 update in the Albuquerque Tribune that describes hightened security in Albuquerque as a result of the theft.

Republican Horrors for the Holidays

This Washington Post article details the horrors contained in the "defense spending bill" and a budget bill filled with stealth attacks on ordinary people and wildlife. The bills were passed during an all-night House pressure session by Republicans still enamored with voodoo economics and drilling the hell out of one of the last pristine wildlife refuges in the nation. Quote:

"I don't know what the poor, the elderly, the disabled or our foster children have done to Republicans to deserve this. And I don't know why the Republicans would wait until the pre-dawn hours of the morning, just a few days before Christmas, to show just how mean-spirited they can be, but they've given us a clear view of Republican economics at work," fumed Rep. Charles Rangel (D-N.Y.).

To help pay for the continuing massive tax cuts for the richest segments of the investor class, as well as out-of-control, no-bid military spending, Republicans pushed through a budget that cuts Medicare, Medicaid, student loans, foster care aid, child support enforcement and other positive, human needs-based programs to the tune of almost $40 billion. Merry Christmas ordinary Americans, as Bill O'Reilly is so fond of spinning. According to the WP article:

Tens of thousands of low-income Americans are likely to lose health coverage under the measure, and many millions will face premiums, deductibles and co-payments for the first time, said Jocelyn Guyer, senior program director of the Georgetown University Center for Children and Families.

And by jamming an inappropriate measure into the so-called defense spending bill, Republican oil company shills gained approval for opening the Alaskan Wildlife Refuge to drilling.

I can't wait to see how the rightwingnut pseudo-religious types will sell these moves as supportive of "family values" and "biblical morality." When in doubt, trash the environment and gouge our poorest and most at-risk citizens to maximize your butt kissing of rich elites. Does the bible recommend this kind of selfish, corrupt brutality, or is it just God talking directly to Hastert and Dubya?

Of course it could have been worse:

In late-night budget negotiations, the total savings from the budget bill fell by nearly $1 billion after Republican leaders -- at the insistence of Ohio lawmakers -- dropped a measure that would have lowered subsidies for medical oxygen tanks delivered under Medicaid.

Negotiations on these travesties now move to the Senate. If this isn't a place and time for Democrats to take an unrelenting stand against the Republican Party's morally bankrupt actions and unfair tactics, I don't know what is. Repubs are banking on the expectation that Dems won't dare to hold up the defense spending bill because it includes war spending, bird flu funds and hurricane relief measures. I'd say it's time to call their bluff and spend the Congressional recess explaining in no uncertain terms why it had to be done. Dems Senators, including our own Senator Jeff Bingman, took a strong stance by holding up the extension of the Patriot Act the other day. Let's hope they take a similar tack with these horrors.

Best of the Best

Once again it's that time of year when all those 'best of the year' lists appear. Here's a source that brings hundreds of the best of them together in one place. There are categories for words, books, films, DVDs, toys, gadgets, art, online, people, ideas, music, photos and more, and entries will be updated with additional suggestions from site visitors.

And what year-end summary would be complete without the latest animation from Jib-Jab?

Sunday (Pagan) Bird Blogging

Bosco the peach-faced lovebird loves all things pagan, of nature. (Well, maybe not cats and such.) He told me he thinks all the right-wing hoopla about the "war on Christmas" is misguided and silly, given the holiday's symbolic focus on pagan rituals aimed at countering the darkness of a long winter's night. Festival of Light! Consider: holly, ivy, mistletoe, yule log, the giving of gifts, decorated evergreen tree, magical reindeer, etc.

Above, Bosco seems more interested in the strap that came off the camera than the Xmas tree and wintertime mascots but trust me, he digs the sights and sounds of the holidaze.

Of course, most of the world's religions and ethnicities honor this human tendency to gather around light, fire, food and mythical stories in Fall or Winter by overlaying or combining their own stories with much older tribal or pagan celebrations. Take your pick: Kwanzaa, Chanukah, Christmas, Diwali, Saturnalia, Yule, Lenaea, the Long Night, Bodhi Day, Bacchanalia, Soyal, Shab-e Yaldaa, just plain secular hustle, bustle, gift-giving and feasting. Or, as Bosco does, feel free to intermingle your affection for green rubber extra-terrestrials, Santa and polar bears in one diverse Winter Solstice get-together.

In this last photo, Bosco is singing "Christmas is Coming" to his Noel-mates. It's one of his favorites mostly because it mentions geese, which at least are distant relatives of lovebirds:

Christmas is coming,
The geese are getting fat,
Please put a penny
In the old man's hat.
If you haven't got a penny,
A ha'penny will do,
If you haven't got a ha'penny,
Then God bless you.

He whispered to me that he's looking forward to kissing under the mistletoe, him being a lovebird and all. You know how they are.

Further Investigation Reveals NM Voting Machine Purchase May Violate State Law

From United Voters of New Mexico:

Sequoia Edge Voting Machines Do Not Meet New Federal Standards

Secretary of State Vigil-Giron is set to purchase hundreds of electronic machines that meet 15-year-old standards, but not the current 2002 standards. The machines proposed for purchase, furthermore, don’t produce a paper record of votes as required by state law. Stephen Fettig, a citizen involved in voting issues, says, “Last winter many citizens worked with many legislators to get the state law as it is written. We are asking that the secretary of state purchase only machines that comply with both state and federal law.”

The National Association of State Election Directors (NASED) is the organization that determines when voting machines meeting federal standards. The 17-page list of these machines, dated November 18, 2005 doesn’t list any Sequoia Edge machines as meeting current standards. By “current,” the NASED means standards set in 2002. The list does identify some Sequoia software and firmware that meets the current standards, but no complete Sequoia machines meet the 2002 standards.

Sequoia Edge voting machines have a known history of problems. These machines were the source of vote switching in the 2004 election, where votes were switched from the selected candidate to an opponent. Voting systems using these same machines were responsible for the loss of over 12,000 votes in Bernalillo County, New Mexico in 2002, which may or may not ever have been “recreated” when the vendor took the cartridge back up to it’s headquarter in Denver. These machines also have a history of failing to record Spanish language votes.

“In a state where our Hispanic population is so important to our democratic process, we need to insure that the votes of our Spanish language voters are counted as accurately as English language votes. Having seen these problems, one wonders what else will happen," says Paul Stokes of United Voters of New Mexico.

With the known problems with vote switching, lost votes, and unrecorded Spanish votes, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) added its opinion in a September 2005 report. The GAO report said there were design flaws, poor security, and inadequate testing of electronic voting machines such as Sequoia Edge and others. The report groups all these machines as “DREs” because they are “direct recording electronic” machines and says concerns that they lose or miscount votes have merit.

A week ago, citizen groups from around the state asked Bernalillo County Clerk Mary Herrera and Santa Fe County Clerk Valerie Espinoza to select the AutoMark voting system which is currently certified at both the state and federal levels.  Instead, Herrera and Espinoza asked Secretary of State Vigil-Giron to buy some 800 Sequoia Edge machines that are not certified to current federal standards and are in potential violation of state law because they don’t produce a paper record of votes.

What’s driving this seemingly unwise and potentially unlawful action by the Secretary of State - an action that could waste millions of dollars of taxpayers money? We don't know.

For more information contact United Voters of New Mexico by calling Paul Stokes at 505-898-1237 or Stephen Fettig at 505-662-6785.

Casino Nation

A couple things to watch as we ponder the implications of George W. Bush ordering the surveillance of emails and phone calls of U.S. citizens, as well as the activities of peace groups in the United States. A couple videos to absorb as we witness the push back against seeing and acting upon the truths of the Iraq War and the powers and reasons behind it, even by many in our own Dem Party. A nod to my friend up North for the links:

One (Quicktime)

One (Windows Media)

Two (Quicktime)

Two (Windows Media)