Democracy for New Mexico

Lazy, Hazy, Crazy Days of Summer, NM Style

There's a lot of crazy shakin' goin' on now that the dog daze of summer and their monsoonal bursts have arrived, bringing us ever closer to election day '06. Did you know that New Mexico's educators focus almost exclusively on teaching sexuality, self-esteem and socialism? That's what New Mexico's Republican gubernatorial candidate, John Dendahl, had to say during a recent radio appearance. Local blog FBIHop has some excellent commentary on this.

Dendahl continues to amuse in a sick sort of way, given the obvious comparisons between his political style and that of Joe McCarthy in the red baiting daze of yore. I guess Rove gave him and his Party-mates a crash course in Swiftboating during the BushCo fundraising visit to benefit one of their favorite rubber stamps, Heather Wilson. You can see Rove's fingerprints all over the Republican messaging in New Mexico this year. I guess Karl finally realized that the majority of Americans now see Bush as the main problem as they awaken from their Mission Accomplished dreams. And the same goes for anyone who still drinks the BushCo Kool-Aid, whether it's Joe Lieberman, Heather Wilson or John Dendahl. Voters are pissed and Bush enablers will suffer.

I guess if you've got nothing meaningful to say about your plans if you win, waxing hysterical is all that's left. You know the old Kristofferson saying, "freedom's just another word for nothing left to lose." I guess Dicey Dendahl's "freedom" moment has arrived. Since there's no chance he can win his race for Governor, he feels "free" enough to voice ridiculous smears about whomever he lays his conciousness on at any given moment. Even the Republican Party of NM had to try and distance themselves from Johnny's latest remarks, claiming he was merely voicing his "personal" views. Uh-huh.

Pat Lyons' Sweetheart Deal
Next up we've got Republican incumbent candidate for Land Commissioner, Pat Lyons, caught in the act of serving up a no-bid contract from heaven to some of his cronies. The lease essentially names his pals as middle men who'll profit greatly when a large tract of land in Rio Rancho passes hands from the state to developers. The Land Commissioner wouldn't permit UNM to purchase a large section of the acreage for a West Side campus back when it was about $16,00 an acre. Instead, Lyons stalled, leased the whole shebang to John Black et al., and then held it until the value rose to about $32,000 an acre.

Who stands to rake in the windfall? The bunch that got the no-bid contract of course. Well, what can you expect from a candidate whose campaign has collected nearly a half a million dollars from oil, gas and land speculators? Be sure to check out Lyons' opponent in the land commissioner race, Jim Baca, on this boondoggle.

Harry Field and the Disappearing Letter
Also still rattling around the monsoon water cooler is that imaginary letter that was allegedly sent to AG Patricia Madrid by Harry Field urging a look at the NM Treasurer's office. Funny, there's no record within the Department of Finance Administration of their sending the letter and there's no record within the AG's office of their ever receiving the letter. But that isn't stopping the Heather backers from repeating the myth ad infinitum.

Again, if you've got nothing to say about how to solve the vexing problems we confront in this era, it's so comforting to fall back on political BS. And if you'd like to know how untarnished and reliable Harry Field is, check out the research on his past at New Mexico Matters. Oh what a cozy relationship he had/has with Gary Johnson and Big J Enterprises. Let's just say that credibility isn't his strong suit. Hazy, crazy, yes. Believable, no.

Roll out those lazy, hazy, crazy days of summer
Those days of soda and pretzels and beer
Roll out those lazy, hazy, crazy days of summer
You'll wish that summer could always be here
-- Lazy, Hazy, Crazy Days of Summer (Nat King Cole)

Important Legislative Hearing Friday on Election Day Registration

From Verified Voting NM and United Voters NM:
Dear Election Reform Activists: We need as many activists as possible to attend an important legislative committee meeting on Election Day Registration.

On Friday, August 11, at 9:00 AM, at Ballroom B in the UNM Student Union Building in Albuquerque, there will be a presentation on election-day registration (EDR) given by an elected official from Idaho (an Election-day registration state). This person worked as a county clerk for more than a decade. He worked before EDR was the law in Idaho, during the transition, and after EDR was up and running. Thus, he comes with years of first-hand experience on election-day registration.

Please consider attending this important presentation and question-and-answer period. The presentation will still be on Friday, August 11, 2006; the presentation will still be during a meeting of the interim committee on courts, corrections, and justice. The time of day and location of the presentation have changed. The new time is 9:00 AM; the new location is Ballroom C at the Student Union building on the University of New Mexico Campus in Albuquerque.

Sincerely,
Paul Stokes & Stephen Fettig

Sunday Bird & Butterfly Blogging

It was such a humidly calm summer morning, we decided to give our seven parakeets a chance to enjoy it while we sat out back finishing our coffees and savoring the green green against the bright hues of sunflowers, zinnias, morning glories and ripening tomatoes. That's the 4-member "girl cage" on the left and the three-member "boy cage" on the right. They're usually in separate rooms so they were quite excited to visit and chat at closer range. You may recall we had to house the keets by gender so we wouldn't have nonstop monkey business and egg production. Despite the divide, Whitey kept right on laying eggs until we learned the trick of covering the birds early in summer, so the longer days wouldn't set off her laying instincts.

Here's Whitey with Hambone, one of her offspring, digging the summer sunshine filtered by gathering rain clouds. The continuing heavy rains have turned our backyard grass and gardens into a bountiful display of new growth popping out all over. Mary Ellen and I were discussing how zinnias are known to attract butterflies, but how we hadn't yet seen any this year, when what should appear but a delicate, graceful butterfly slowly swooping in on our zinnia patch.

What turned out to be a swallowtail fluttered lazily from flower to flower and even headed over to take a look at us up close before flitting off to other neighborhood garden delights.

Summertime, and the livin' is easy, at least in our back yard. (Click on photos for larger images.)

Saturday Music Hall: Lives in the Balance

This is a video accompanied by Jackson Browne's song, "Lives in the Balance." It's been termed an animated editorial by its creator, Andrew Thomas . Although Jackson wrote this song during the horrors we helped perpetrate in Central America in the '80s (remember Iran-Contra?), the video uses images related to the neocons' Iraq War. Now that neocon forces are behind a widening of the war into Lebanon, and probably beyond, I thought it was time for another look.

Lives are definitely in the balance all over the world and the dogs of war are ferociously hungry for blood. It can sometimes be hard for me to believe that so many still believe military power can produce "victories" in this era of guerillas vs. high tech machines. Minds and hearts don't change for the better at the point of a gun barrel, facing a tank barrage or exploding under a 500 pound bomb dropped from the skies. And when people have been so manipulated by power brokers that they have nothing to lose, "rebellions" will always, always erupt against the perceived oppressors. You'd think we'd know better by now and fix the root causes of these problems, but of course that wouldn't produce many profits for those who call the shots. And the rest don't seem to have the gumption to stand up to the war propagandists.

Below are the lyrics from another song off the same 1986 album by Browne. When you think of it, we have been "at war," whether cold or hot, for most of the time since WW II, haven't we? Meanwhile, billmon believes there may not be a way out of the gathering clouds of WW III, given the proclivities of the neocons and, yes, the Dems. Unfortunately, I have to agree with him for the most part. He claims the only forces that might have a chance to stop the attack on Iran reside within certain cliques in the Pentagon and deep within the CIA. If that isn't depressing, I don't know what is.

FOR AMERICA

As if I really didn't understand
That I was just another part of their plan
I went off looking for the promise
Believing in the Motherland
And from the comfort of a dreamer's bed
And the safety of my own head
I went on speaking of the future
While other people fought and bled
The kid I was when I first left home
Was looking for his freedom and a life of his own
But the freedom that he found wasn't quite as sweet
When the truth was known
I have prayed for America
I was made for America
It's in my blood and in my bones
By the dawn's early light
By all I know is right
We're going to reap what we have sown

As if freedom was a question of might
As if loyalty was black and white
You hear people say it all the time-
"My country wrong or right"
I want to know what that's got to do
With what it takes to find out what's true
With everyone from the President on down
Trying to keep it from you

The thing I wonder about the Dads and Moms
Who send their sons to the Vietnams
Will they really think their way of life
Has been protected as the next war comes?
I have prayed for America
I was made for America
Her shining dream plays in my mind
By the rockets red glare
A generation's blank stare
We better wake her up this time

The kid I was when I first left home
Was looking for his freedom and a life of his own
But the freedom that he found wasn't quite as sweet
When the truth was known
I have prayed for America
I was made for America
I can't let go till she comes around
Until the land of the free
Is awake and can see
And until her conscience has been found

Heather Wilson Lies

Stamp and Rubber Stamp

I know, it's a shock, isn't it? I guess you have resort to lies when the only ways you can think of to try to get re-elected are to pretend you aren't REALLY a rubberstamp for BushCo and the culture of corruption, or use the infamous Rove tactic of blaming your own transgressions on your rival. These right-wing Republicans never give up on these Swiftboat tactics, do they? Remember how they accused Kerry -- a decorated war vet -- of being a coward, while claiming that Bush -- the national guard runaway -- was a courageous tough guy? Wilson is following the same playbook in her race against Patricia Madrid.

Wilson's latest lie? In her second poisonous ad this summer, she claims that Attorney General Patricia Madrid ignored a whistleblower letter urging her to investigate the State Treasurer's office. The problem is that no such letter was ever sent or received. The Madrid campaign has revealed an official letter from the Department of Finance Administration (DFA), where the alleged letter supposedly originated, documenting that no such letter was ever sent.

According to an Albuquerque Journal story the letter from DFA says in part, "Our office conducted an extensive search and found no documentation in our current files or archives of such a letter being signed and sent." End of story. Well, except that Heather's dishonest ad based on the lie about the letter continues to air.

Wilson doesn't have a leg to stand on in terms of calling for investigations. Despite serving on the House Intelligence Committee, it's apparently never bothered her that BushCo is clearly operating outside the legal lines on a variety of intelligence surveillance projects, such as the NSA wiretapping. No, she's been content to cruise, letting the neocons call the shots and ignore the constitution whenever it's convenient. Oh, she did make one weak call for an investigation once it was known it was already forthcoming, but that's about it for go along to get along Heather.

I also notice it never bothered her to take money from Abramoff scandal culprits or the shady Tom DeLay bunch. Did she ever call for investigations of that web of corruption and pay for play? Oh no, that would have upset her big donors, the entrenched Republican corruption network and BushCo, all in one fell swoop. Independent? Only when it's expedient.

Remember how thoroughly connected to the wrongdoing Heather has been all during the Bush years, and then ponder why she feels the need to resort to dishonest fingerpointing on the very moral weaknesses she exhibits herself. I guess when the only positive accomplishments you can claim are rubberstamps of the wildly unpopular Bush agenda, you have to try something to keep your seat.

To help stop that from happening, visit the Madrid campaign website and pledge your help.

West Side ABQ Dems Meet & Greet Set for 8/16

All Welcome:
West Side Albuquerque Democrats
Meet & Greet Candidates & Neighbors
Ladera Golf Club - 3401 Ladera Dr. NW
August 16, 2006, 6-8 PM

FREE TO ALL:
Light Snacks, Beverages (Cash Bar) - Mariachi Music

Special Guest - Lieutenant Governor Diane Denish
Antonio “Moe” Maestas - Rep. Dist 16
Traci Cadigan - Rep. Dist 15
Ann Stirling - Rep. Dist 23
Antonio Sandoval - Rep. Dist 29
Carol Sloan - Public Regulation Commission Dist #4
Mary Herrera - Secretary of State
James Lewis - State Treasurer
Jeff Armijo - State Treasurer
Jim Baca - State Land Commissioner

Map: https://www.cabq.gov/golf/ladera.html
RSVP:  Marlene Seaton: Bugszie@aol.com or H 505-831-3335
Candy Patterson: candypatt@aol.com or H 505-839-9235

AJPA Friday Peace Vigils Continue in Albuquerque

From the Arab-Jewish Peace Alliance:
The Arab-Jewish Peace Alliance will hold its 5th weekly vigil to protest the war on Lebanon and Gaza and ask elected officials to be accountable for human rights violations.

Where: Friday, Central and Wellesley; When: 6:30 – 8:00 PM

Over 100 people are expected to attend the fifth weekly vigil on Friday, August 4 from 6:30 – 8:00 PM, on Central Avenue and Wellesley. The vigil is being sponsored by the Arab-Jewish Peace Alliance to demand that the US government support an immediate cease fire to the violence in the Middle East. The New Mexico congressional delegation or their representatives have been invited to the vigil to engage in a public dialogue and explain their positions. All four NM representatives voted to support Israel’s war against Lebanon.

The Arab-Jewish Peace Alliance supports an immediate and unconditional cease fire and urges negotiations now to resolve all disputes, including the release of prisoners on all sides, with the goal of a comprehensive, just and lasting peace in the region based on the implementation of international law.

Rev. Barbara Dua, a Presbyterian minister and AJPA member, stated: "Over 750 Lebanese have been killed by Israel using US supplied weapons, and one third of them are children; and over 800,000 people have been made refugees. This is a clear violation of international law, and will only serve the cause of more violence, not peace. Our elected representatives must stand firmly on the side of peace building, not war- making."

AJPA will also be sponsoring a Lebanon and Palestine video - discussion - potluck on Tuesday, August 8th, from 6-9 PM at the Albuquerque Center for Peace and Justice, 202 Harvard SE. Activities include a roundtable discussion about the Israeli invasion of Palestine and Lebanon with a short video of BBC correspondent in Lebanon, Robert Fisk. Potluck 6pm, roundtable and video 7-9. Free.

More info on these events: Joan Robins 341-2306 or Katherine Hughes-Fraitekh 323-1629; cell 480-9008

The Dogs of War

(Click on image for larger version.)

"The neocons' next war: By secretly providing NSA intelligence to Israel and undermining the hapless Condi Rice, hardliners in the Bush administration are trying to widen the Middle East conflict to Iran and Syria, not stop it."

... By using NSA intelligence to set an invisible tripwire, the Bush administration is laying the condition for regional conflagration with untold consequences -- from Pakistan to Afghanistan, from Iraq to Israel. Secretly devising a scheme that might thrust Israel into a ring of fire cannot be construed as a blunder. It is a deliberate, calculated and methodical plot.

So says a revealing article by Sidney Blumenthal on Salon. Go read it.

Jim Baca Keynote Speaker at Tonight's DFA-DFNM Meetup

Jim Baca stops in to say hi at our Meetup in April.
This time he's our featured speaker.

Our monthly Albuquerque DFA-Democracy for NM Meetup is set for tonight at 7:00 PM at the First Unitarian Church Social Hall at Carlisle and Comanche in Albuquerque.

Our keynote speaker will be former Albuquerque Mayor JIM BACA, who's running on the Dem ticket for State Land Commissioner. It's a very important race in terms of our state's environment and use of public lands. Baca is running hard against an incumbent Republican who's funded largely by oil and gas interests. Come meet Jim Baca and learn more about this race. You can also visit his website linked to his name above or check out his blog, Only in New Mexico. All Dems are strongly urged to donate some bucks or time to Jim's campaign.

We'll also have a short presentation from our local Communities United to Strengthen America group about their work on healthcare and retirement security, and a short report from Lynn Jacobs on her trip to this year's DFA DemocracyFest in San Diego. To join our email list or RSVP for tonight's activistiies, visit our group page at the Meetup website.

Peace Day Events in Santa Fe and Los Alamos This Weekend

Click for a provided by the Los Alamos Peace Project of Santa Fe's Eighth Annual Peace Day event, as as well as related activities set for Northern New Mexico this weekend. They include this Sunday's annual gathering at Ashley Pond in Los Alamos to commemorate the Hiroshima atomic bomb anniversary. Be sure to go to the bottom of the first page and click on "More" to see the rest of the schedule. Also, note that Cindy Sheehan had to cancel her participation because she'll be in Jordan participating in discussions with members of the Iraqi parliament. She'll be rescheduling her visit to New Mexico for sometime in September. See our previous post for more info on that.