Democracy for New Mexico

The Facts: Bill Richardson Campaign Did NOT Donate to Lieberman Campaign

On Monday, Matt Stoller at MyDD claimed that Governor Bill Richardson's now defunct PAC, Moving America Forward, made a recent donation to Joe Lieberman's campaign. Apparently, Stoller didn't have time to check his facts before making the statement. After communicating with the campaign today, it's clear that Matt's statement was incorrect and he has since made a brief correction to his post.

In more detail, the facts are these. The entity that made the donation looks to be Move America Forward, which is a Republican PAC with a name very similar to Richardson's PAC. Richardson's Moving America Forward PAC was closed down completely in April of 2005. In addition, since Richardson's organization was a state rather than federal PAC, it was prohibited by law from donating to federal campaigns like Lieberman's. It only operated in five states with a goal of registering Hispanic and Native American voters. It succeeded, registering more than 150,000 new voters in New Mexico, Colorado, Arizona, Florida and Nevada.

Because Richardson's gubernatorial campaign also is a state level fund, it cant donate to any Senate candidate, either. Both cash and in-kind contributions are prohibited by legal restrictions. So, clearly, there is no way the contribution from something called "Move America Forward" came from the Richardson gubernatorial campaign or his disbanded PAC with a similar name.

It's anticipated that Governor Richardson will make a statement soon about the results of the Lieberman-Lamont primary. It's rumored that brainstorming is going on to determine some way Richardson can show his support for Lamont while following the campaign finance laws that prohibit direct contributions from his state office campaign.

It's certainly a very positive sign to see so many Dem officials and officeholders coming out in support of Lamont as the legitimate Dem in the race, and suggesting that Lieberman withdraw from what is increasingly being seen as a selfish and destructive run as an "independent." Come on, Joe, do the Democrats a favor. Drop out now.

From Blogger Anne Kass: The Fallacy of False Choice

Recent posts to the DFNM website concerning the Israel/Lebanon horror left me thinking that not enough people saw the Doonesbury cartoon last Sunday. See below the fold.

Trudeau is obviously picking on Mr. Bush, in particular, but it is important to understand how the logical fallacy of "false choice" works. When a human brain (not just Mr. Bush's) is asked a question, it quickly tries to answer it. When the question is posed as a choice between two possibilities, the brain tends to exclude other options and pick one from the two provided. It is an especially vicious rhetorical tactic because it immediately narrows the focus and over-simplifies whatever is at issue. Worse yet, when a brain selects one of the choices, the brain tends to want to defend the correctness of the choice it made. That is to say, the brain makes an ill-informed choice then locks it in. 

Recently a friend, who supports Israel, seemingly in all things, wrote to me claiming that it seems a short step from "opposition to Israel to accepting the killing of Jews." I was reminded of Trudeau's depiction of false choices.

The opposition I feel and hear others express is to Israel dropping bombs, especially on civilian targets and on civilian infrastructure, and to Israel undertaking a ground invasion of Lebanon. Our opposition is to actions taken at the direction of the current Israeli government, and not to Israel. It is a false choice that one must either approve of whatever Israel does or stand convicted of being opposed to Israel. Moreover, I've heard no sane person promote the killing of Jews or even the acceptance of killing Jews, and it is another false choice to suggest that either one must accept what Israel is doing or be convicted as having taken a step towards approving the killing of Jews.  The framing of this invasion in terms of Israel fighting for its life is yet another example of a false choice. The notion that one must choose between Israel destroying Lebanon or Israel being destroyed itself cannot withstand rational analysis, not today any more than in the 1980's when another such conflagration occurred and the same false choice was offered to us.

I am altogether weary of the rhetorical gimmicks that have infected virtually every aspect of what is called political discourse. If we're to have sensible conversations and if we're to engage in useful explorations for genuine solutions, the gimmicks and rhetorical excesses must be set aside. Let's start by becoming acutely aware of tricks disguised as questions posed in either/or terms. Be careful!  Know that your brain quickly accepts the task of choosing one, in which case you will almost certainly come to a bad decision. The tactic of either/or creates a simplistic picture of what is always a complex situation and once the simplistic decision is taken, it gets stuck, meaning learning, growth, considering new information, and critical thinking are diminished. We can and must do better.

Editor's Note: I'm pleased to announce that Anne Kass has agreed to be a regular contributor to the DFNM blog. Keep an eye out for future posts by Anne as they can pop up any time, whenever the writing spirit moves her.

(Click on image for larger version.)

Quote of the Day on Joe

By Glenn Greenwald, writing on Salon:
Most of the ramifications of Joe Lieberman's extraordinary defeat will require some time to discern, but one thing is already painfully clear. With his behavior Tuesday night, Lieberman has turned himself into the most vivid symbol of the insular, arrogant, corrupt and power-desperate Washington establishment, the sheer cravenness and corruption of which are what catalyzed the campaign against him in the first place.

Those who compose that entrenched Beltway power establishment -- the endlessly reelected political officials, the hordes of consultants and lobbyists who feed off and control them, and the pampered, self-loving "journalists" who enable it all -- are characterized by a single-minded quest to perpetuate their own power, flavored by a thinly masked contempt for the masses on whose behalf this system ostensibly plods along. Lieberman's conduct last night was a perfect textbook for all of those afflictions.

Lamont Wins! Grassroots Change On the Way: We Have Just Begun to Fight!

The next Dem Senator from Connecticut!Unofficial CT Dem Primary Results:
Lamont 52%, Lieberman 48%Sweet Victory!

I really liked that Lamont quoted JFK in his victory speech about where we need to be headed: "Let us never negotiate out of fear. But let us never fear to negotiate." He also said we'd be working for the COMMON GOOD, something long neglected in too many parts of our party and our nation.

Meanwhile, lapsed Democrat Joe Lieberman announced he'll be running as an "independent." Well, a Connecticut for Lieberman party candidate anyway, as his petition calls it. Sore loser. He lost fair and square. I predict that any prominent Dem who dares to support Joe's "independent" run will be run out of town, literally. This is a political earthquake coming straight from the people. We are just getting started, aren't we? And we all know it all began with the Howard Dean campaign. We've got the power! And never forget, The Whole World Is Watching....

(Right now, https://www.c-span.org/ has clips up of Lamont's victory speech and Lieberman's concession speech, such that it was.)

Come On Lamont! Catch the CT Returns

According to ABC's The Note: "The Connecticut Legislation and Elections website (LINK and LINK) will be updated continually, as soon as information comes in. The state is using a brand new system, which may or may not work. Should the system not work, officials are prepared with a spreadsheet and the site should be updated at roughly fifteen minute intervals with results."

Check my previous post for links to sites that are live blogging tonight's results.

The War Tapes at Guild Thru Thursday

From Terry Riley. "The War Tapes," a film recorded by U.S. troops in Iraq, is being shown at
the Guild Cinema in Albuquerque thru Thursday, August 10th, at 4:30, 6:30 and 8:30 PM. An article in today's Albuquerque Tribune describes the film and the appearance of Mike Moriarty, one of the soldiers who shot the movie at Monday's screening. Well worth a read. Excerpt:

The movie stirred viewers Monday evening. Keif Henley, who runs the Guild, said, "In my 11 years at this place, I can't remember a time when I've seen people walking out of a movie - even before it's over - in tears like that."

One woman, having walked out of the screening, sat in the lobby's lone chair, her head in her hands, nearly inconsolable. When asked if any one scene in particular upset her, she said, "No. All of it."

From the carnage to the civilian contractors' greed to the Lebanese soldier "fighting against his own people," she said, the film overwhelmed her. She declined to give her name.

... With an unflinching eye, "The War Tapes" runs from the mundane lives of infantrymen - intercut with scenes from their family lives back home in New England - to brutal and graphic images. Dead bodies are shown. There are bloody close-ups, with running commentary from the soldiers often comparing body parts to cuts of meat you'd find in a butcher shop.

Footage like that and the shaky camera work mean the film is not for the squeamish. One scene shows a convoy zipping along at 50 mph when Moriarty's vehicle clips an Iraqi woman, who quickly gets run over repeatedly by U.S. military vehicles and killed. Moriarty's camera whirs as what's left of her is rolled up into a body bag.

Democratic Women of Sandoval County to Hold First Anniversary Picnic

Janice Saxton, Dem candidate for State Rep. District 22

From the Democratic Women of Sandoval County:

Guess who’s having a birthday!
DEMOCRATIC WOMEN OF SANDOVAL COUNTY
First Anniversary Celebration Picnic
Sunday, August 20, 2006, Noon until 3 PM

Join us as we celebrate our first anniversary as Democratic Women of Sandoval County! We will meet for a picnic in the pavilion at the Coronado State Monument Campground (turn right into the campground immediately after you turn off the highway) on Highway 550 in Bernalillo.

Everyone is welcome from age 0 to 109. Bring your relatives, your friends, your neighbors, and anyone else who wants to have fun. There will be good food, music, games and balloons for the kids, lots of politicians (short speeches) and information about local organizations. The pavilion is a short hike from the river and a short drive to the monument. Admission to the monument is free on Sundays and tours are available.

Please help us spread the word to local organizations that they are welcome to have a table (free if they provide the table) at this event. Let your favorite cause know about our celebration. We’d welcome their participation. Click to download a flyer (.doc). If you have questions call Janice Saxton at 867-1139 or email jnjsaxton@msn.com. Don’t miss our Birthday Bash! See you there! You can keep track of Democratic events in Sandoval county at the website of the New Mexico Democratic Club of Sandoval County.

Day of Reckoning in Lamont-Lieberman Race

Tonight's the night! The Dem primary voters of Connecticut will finally cut through all the bluster and select their candidate to run for the Senate on the Dem ticket. Pundits, bloggers, insider strategists, anti-war activists and DLC naysayers are all poised to pounce after the results are in. The lastest poll shows Lamont ahead by only about 5 points, down from 13 in an earlier survey. Given the odd nature of this contest and the fact that nobody really knows how many people will vote in an August primary when so many are on vacation or preoccupied, it's safe to say the race is a tight one and can go either way. Nothing can be taken for granted, and I'm sure Lamont's campaign folks and volunteers will working like dogs until the very minute the polls close. Fasten your seatbelts -- we're in for a bumpy ride!

Many of these sites are live blogging the election and will have updates all day and into the night:

• firedoglake
• Connecticut Bob
• My Left Nutmeg
• ConnecticutBlog
• Ned Lamont (official site)
• LamontBlog
• (DFA)
• MyDD
• Daily Kos

I think David Sirota, as usual, has it just right about the four scenarios that might occur, depending on how the election results shake out. Excerpts:

1. Lieberman wins by more than 10 points: Champagne purchases in Washington, D.C. skyrocket, as the professional Democratic Party apparatus (ie. consultants, Hill staffers, think tankers, etc.) collectively celebrates the perception that they still do not have to worry at all about small-d democracy threatening their cushy lifestyles. Pundits like Cokie Roberts and Stu Rothenberg and neoconservatives Iraq War apologists like Robert Kagan, Peter Beinart, Al From, Marshall Wittman and other chickenhawk members of the 101st Fighting Keyboard Brigade clink glasses at restaurants like the Capital Grille.

... Meanwhile, the divide in the Democratic Party will grow far worse, as voters will feel that, once again, the Democratic Party apparatus was complicit in helping a Big Money candidate to buy an election and distort the debate over critical issues like the Iraq War.

2. Lieberman barely wins (less than 10 points): Again, champagne purchases in the Beltway are high ... They proceed to ignore polls clearly showing where the real center of American politics is and instead claim that Lieberman's right-wing, sellout politics represents the real "center." But, in the back of their minds, they know that something big is happening, and that a real small-d democratic power is building through the progressive movement. Though the Beltway never admits so in public, they know in the places they don't talk about at parties that the progressive movement has etched a very real win.

3. Lamont ekes out a win (less than 4 points): Xanax, Prosac and Valium fly off the shelves of DC pharmacies, as the Democratic Party Establishment goes into a depression because it realizes it no longer gets to give orders from Mt. Olympus. Lieberman, who for weeks has been trying to downplay expectations, cites the closeness of the results as a reason to go ahead with an Independent Lieberman for Lieberman bid, even though the fact that he - an 18-year incumbent with a massive warchest - should have won by a huge margin, and his loss is a clear repudiation of his corruption and his dishonesty. Though Lieberman's move threatens the Democratic Party's hold on the Connecticut Senate seat, and though Democratic voters have made themselves clear, at least some of Lieberman's Senate Democratic buddies decide to continue backing him, as does his wide network of Enron lobbyists, corporate lawyers and other professional business shills in D.C.

... Nonetheless, every Democratic officeholder in America realizes how totally out of touch Washington pundits/operatives really are and how important the progressive movement is.

4. Lamont wins big (by more than 5 points): Again, Xanax, Prosac and Valium fly off the shelves of DC pharmacies, though this time so does Immodium, because the Democratic Party elites get so scared, they collectively and uncontrollably begin soiling their pants. Incumbents begin worrying about whether their votes to sell out to Big Money or to preserve the Bush administration's "stay-the-course" nonsense in Iraq will draw them a serious primary challenge. Suddenly, votes by the Democratic caucus in both the House and Senate become far more unified. Instead of huge numbers of Democrats undermining their party on core economic and national security issues, there is more party discipline than has been seen in a long time because suddenly, every Democratic lawmaker realizes that they, too, might have to actually answer to voters.

... Despite begging from Lieberman's chief of staff-turned-Enron lobbyist Michael Lewan, Lieberman drops his bid for a "Lieberman for Lieberman" independent candidacy not because he's not a sore loser - but because most other Democratic politicians are embarrassed to be around him after such a shellacking.

Las Cruces Peace Vigil to Feature CodePINK Peace Ribbon 8/9

Join the Weekly Peace Vigil/ACCION SEMANAL POR LA PAZ for a special event and see the CodePINK Peace Ribbon Project on WEDNESDAY AUGUST 9, 2006, 4-6 PM, in front of the Federal Building, downtown Las Cruces, corner of Church and Griggs.

About the Peace Ribbon: The Peace Ribbon honors the victims of the war in Iraq by creating a memorial to the fallen soldiers and Iraqi civilians who have died as a result of the invasion and occupation of Iraq. Our goal is to create a remembrance panel for each life that has been claimed by this war. These panels will be tied together in chronological order and displayed around the U.S. to remember and honor those who have died. Please join us in this tribute and contribute by making a panel.

After being here in Las Cruces the Ribbon goes to Camp Casey in Crawford, Texas to join Cindy Sheehan and others. Volunteers needed to help set up ribbon. Contact Laurie 525-3225 shadeneff@zianet.com

Donate: Middle East Humanitarian Relief

There are many organizations to which you can donate to help the victims of the current humanitarian disaster in the Middle East caused by military operations. USAID provides links to recommended organizations working in Lebanon, Israel and the West Bank/Gaza at InterAction.org. Other excellent organizations include Doctors Without Borders and Amnesty International.

To learn more about the worsening shortages of food, water, sanitation, fuel, medical care and supplies, housing and other basic necessities in the region, check out this United Nations report. Excerpts on the situation in Lebanon:

The ongoing Israel Defence Forces (IDF) military operation has caused enormous damage to residential areas and key civilian infrastructure such as power plants, seaports, and fuel depots. Hundreds of bridges and virtually all road networks have been systematically destroyed leaving entire communities in the South inaccessible. This profound damage to traffic arteries will pose a key challenge to Government institutions and humanitarian agencies alike in the weeks to come, particularly in remote areas of the South.

As remaining fuel stocks are increasingly exhausted or targeted by the IDF, fuel shortages in many areas of essential public services could plunge the humanitarian situation to a new low. Skyrocketing prices for basic goods (e.g. the price of sugar has risen by 600%, and cooking gas by 400%) further deplete the coping mechanisms of the Lebanese population, particularly those of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs), people under siege, the elderly, and families already living below the poverty line. Economic life has come to a complete standstill with the extreme level of destruction to the basic infrastructure posing a major obstacle to a quick recovery.

... The situation will be further compounded by the ongoing air, sea, and land blockade that is effectively preventing even basic relief supplies from entering the country.

... Approximately 800,000 people are affected by the conflict. Many of them have been internally displaced and are in need of assistance and protection or remain essentially trapped in the South. Others have become refugees and/or asylum seekers. Particularly vulnerable groups include the elderly and chronically ill – especially those confined to hospitals, women and children. Lack of access to water and sanitation, basic health care, and food are also affecting those communities under siege.