Democracy for New Mexico

A Global Focus on Women: United Nations Day Program Set for 10/25

United Nations Day Program Presented by the Albuquerque Chapter of the United Nations Association:

Wednesday, October 25, 2006, 6:30 PM
Smith-Brasher Hall, Central NM Community College (TVI)
SW Corner of University and Coal, ABQ

A GLOBAL FOCUS ON WOMEN: Maternal Health, Economic Opportunity and Political Status. For 2006 the United Nations Association is concentrating on the United Nations Millennium Development Goal of Maternal Health and Well Being. FORMAT: A Panel of Four Experts and Moderator Deanna Sauceda, News Anchor KRQE-TV

PANELISTS:
Luis Ben Curet, MD, Emeritus Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology, UNM. Dr. Curet will describe his work for the "Save The Mother" campaign of the American Academy of OB-Gyn. Dr. Curet has directed  the "Save the Mother" campaign in Central America and has been teaching improved maternal care in six countries. Some of those countries have had success and some have not had success. He will discuss the differences.

Jim Neustel, Executive Director of Peacecraft and Earth Hero. Mr. Neustel will tell of his international experiences while developing economic opportunities in villages around the world and the resulting changes for the people of those villages.

Anne Foster-Rosales, MD, Director of International Training, Center for Reproductive Research and Policy, University of California-San Francisco. Dr. Foster-Rosales' career has focused on reproductive health and policy issues in the less developed world, including maternal mortality, family planning and gender equity. She will describe her work with the "Save The Mother" program in Central America, highlighting the complex interaction of social disparities on maternal mortality.

Dorothy VanderJagt, PhD, Research Associate Professor in the Dept. of Biochemistry at the UNM School of Medicine. For the past 15 years, Dr. VanderJagt has been the Co-director of the international research training program that sends UNM students to Africa. The research projects have focused on maternal/child health, particularly the nutritional status of women. Dr. VanderJagt has also been involved in efforts to increase the access of nomadic women to education. She will describe her projects in Nigeria among both rural, nomadic women and women from urban areas.

For more information, call Bill Pratt at 869-4212 or email at prattsalwm@comcast.net

Abundant Life - Celebrate the Valle Vidal This Friday in Taos

From the Coalition for the Valle Vidal:
The Taos County Club, the Coalition for the Valle Vidal and Sustain Taos invite you to the opening of

Abundant Life Art Exhibit -- Celebrating the Valle Vidal
Gallery on the Green, Taos County Club, Taos, NM
Opening Reception, 6-9:00 PM, October 20, 2006

Art exhibit opening admission free to artists; $25 for the public. Bioneers attendees receive a $10 discount. For more information visit: https://www.vallevidal.org.

Coalition for the Valle Vidal:  Jim O’Donnell 505.758.3874; jodonnell@vallevidal.org

Abundant Life Art Exhibit/Coalition for the Valle Vidal: William M. Brown; wmb3@zianet.com

Taos Country Club: 505.758.7300.  Artists’ Contact: Betsy Carey, betsy@kitcarson.net

NM Bioneers Conference/Sustain Taos:  Sharon Leach, 758-2103, sharonl@sustaintaos.org

During the summer and fall this year, artists from throughout New Mexico and our neighboring states visited the Valle Vidal to portray its exceptional beauty in paintings, sculpture, film, pottery, photography, jewelry, and other media.

The Gallery on the Green at the Taos Country Club will display these special artworks for sale at a gala reception on October 20th.  Artists will take half of the proceeds of their sales, and half will go directly to protecting and restoring the Valle Vidal.

Quote of the Day: If We Lose Heather Wilson ...

Reported by Kevin Drum at Political Animal:
GOP MELTDOWN WATCH ... From conservative Kate O'Beirne at The Corner:

A well-connected Republican source who was running through the most competitive House races this morning said, "If we lose Heather Wilson, we lose the House." The explanation was that Wilson has faced tough reelection races in the past and so knows what she's up against. She's aggressive, knows how to fight for her seat, and raises plenty of money. The reasoning is that if she is knocked off this year, there is little hope for incumbents facing their first real challenge. At the end of September, polls had Wilson tied with New Mexico's attorney general Patricia Madrid. Recent polls give Madrid an edge of about 8 points.

(Tip o' the hat to KathyF, Democrat Abroad, who blogs at What Do I Know?)

Great News: Madrid 53% - Wilson 45% in Latest SUSA-KOB-TV Poll

In the lastest Survey USA-KOB-TV poll, Madrid tops Wilson by 8 points:

Democrat Patricia Madrid 53%
Republican Heather Wilson 45%
Undecided 3%
M.O.E. plus or minus 4.6%
Survey taken 10/13-10/15/06
800 adults, including 687 registered voters and 470 likely voters

Here's SUSA's analysis, their pie chart showing the results and the survey's cross-tabs. Some telling points made by SUSA:

• In the past 4 weeks, the composition of likely voters in NM1 has changed from a 5-point Democrat[ic] advantage to a 16-point Democrat[ic] advantage
• Madrid leads by 16 points among women. The race is tied among men.
• Wilson gets 85% of Republican votes. Madrid gets 79% of Democrat[ic] votes.
• Independents favor Madrid 55% to 42%.

(Editor's Note: In the quote from SUSA analysis above, I changed the word "Democrat" to "Democratic" because that's its proper form when being used as an adjective.) You may recall that the previous poll by SUSA-KOB-TV had Wilson up 51 to 46 over Madrid, so the race swung 13 points in Madrid's favor in this SUSA survey compared with an identical poll they conducted on 9/18-9/20/06.

Although SUSA's automated phone methodology has its critics, their latest results are in line with those of two other recent polls -- by Constituent Dynamics (Madrid 52, Wilson 44) and Zogby-Reuters (Madrid 50, Wilson 40). The latest Albuquerque Journal poll had the race at a dead heat at 44% each. Taken together, poll results in New Mexico's first congressional district show a strong trend towards Madrid as we move closer to election day, something shared by Dems all over the nation in tight congressional races.

Check out local blog New Mexico FBIHOP for some additional analysis of the polling data.

Of course, the only results that really count are those provided by voters in the election. Anything can happen in the last few weeks before an election. RUMORS are that heavy hitters will be traveling to New Mexico to try and affect the outcome, and may include Bill Clinton for Madrid, Rudy Giuliani for Wilson.

If we want to keep the Big Mo moving in Madrid's direction, we have to GET OUT THE VOTE and make sure our fellow Democrats vote absentee (mail-in), early or on election day. Call the Madrid campaign to volunteer for phone banking or canvassing on election day or anytime between now and then:

Main Office
Phone: 505-242-6000
200 Oak St. NE #4
Albuquerque, NM 87106

South Valley Office
Phone: 505-452-2006
1220 Isleta Blvd. SW
Albuquerque, NM 87105

Noted ABQ Attorney to Speak on Warrantless Wiretapping Tonight

This evening, October 17, at 7 PM, noted attorney Nancy Hollander will be speaking at the UNM School of Law, 1117 Stanford NE, Room 2402, about the Bush administration's illegal NSA warrantless spying program and its impact on civil liberties. Admission to the event is free and hosted by ACLU New Mexico. For more info, see flyer (doc) or call 255-1978; 255-2537; or 856-1427.

Bush and Wilson: Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them

---------We Need Change in Washington: Watch Madrid's latest ad

It's no wonder that George W. Bush and Heather Wilson are viewed as bosom buddies -- they both lie like rugs, on many of the same topics. There are reams of documentation about Bush administration lies on a myriad of issues, including the whoppers they've spewed since they first decided to invade Iraq. Some of the latest revelations are in Bob Woodword's new book, State of Denial, and the leaked intelligence report that states the Iraq occupation is creating more terrorism, not making us safer.

Wilson, the Repub incumbent who's running against Dem challenger Patricia Madrid in NM-01, can surely be seen as a kind of co-conspirator in these lies. After all, she a longstanding member of the House Subcomittee on Intelligence Policy and raised nary a peep to challenge the distortions churned out by the Bushies, even though she now claims she did. Wilson continues to lie about what she did to help "sell" Bush's Iraq invasion. And her story's getting just a might muddled.

Which Is It, Heather?
According to a Saturday Albuquerque Journal article,

"The intelligence that caused me to vote in favor of authorizing the use of force was not Saddam's nuclear program, but his biological program," Wilson said in the written statement this week.

However, back on March 8, 2003, just before the Iraq War started, Wilson told the Albuquerque Tribune that it wasn't just biological weapons - that it was also Saddam's chemical weapons and his desire to obtain nuclear weapons that caused her to vote for the war:

"For me," (Wilson) said, "the action against Iraq has to do with chemical and biological weapons and Saddam Hussein's desire to get nuclear weapons. We can't let him have those weapons."

This dishonesty follows on the heels of a similar factual foul-up just a few weeks ago. In that case Wilson told the Albuquerque Tribune she'd questioned how accurate the intelligence was, but still voted for the war. Oops -- three years earlier she told the Journal that there was no incorrect intelligence used to hype the war, period.  Again, which is it, Heather?

Had enough? Call the Madrid Campaign at 505-242-6000 and volunteer and/or click to make a campaign donation. We need change in Washington and it needs to start right here.

Citizen Action NM to Sue Sandia National Labs on Mixed Waste Landfill Illegalities

From Citizen Action NM:
Citizen Action New Mexico, an Albuquerque-based public interest group, today filed a Notice of Intent to Sue charging that state and federal regulators for the Mixed Waste Landfill (MWL) at Sandia National Laboratories (SNL), allowed the illegal operation of the MWL. This included the failure to enforce the requirement to have federal permits and failure to properly monitor the ground water underneath the dump. The notice names the New Mexico Environment Department (NMED), the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the Department of Defense (DOD), Sandia National Laboratories (SNL) and Lockheed Martin Corporation.

The Mixed Waste Landfill, a Cold War legacy waste dump containing an estimated 100,000 cubic ft. of radioactive and hazardous waste, is situated on the East Mesa at Sandia National Laboratories, Albuquerque, New Mexico and operated from 1959 to 1988. Citizen Action contends that years of data collected from monitoring wells at the MWL are unreliable and do not justify the NMED’s approval of a permit that will allow DOE/SNL to place a vegetative cover over the dump. Citizen Action maintains that excavation of the dump’s toxic wastes is the only sure way to protect Albuquerque’s drinking water.

The legal notice states that the Mixed Waste Landfill represents an imminent and substantial endangerment to the Albuquerque’s sole source aquifer that underlies the dump’s hazardous and radioactive wastes.  The notice alleges that the NMED failed to impose permitting, closure and groundwater monitoring requirements under a federal law known as the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA).  RCRA requires that hazardous landfill operations either had to have permits to operate legally or the dump should have been closed to provide maximum protection to the public. Citizen Action contends the NMED and EPA failed to take corrective action against DOE/Sandia for known violations and deficiencies at the dump.

The 36-page notice examines the legal permitting history of the Mixed Waste Landfill from over 20,000 pages of administrative records from a public hearing conducted for the dump in December, 2004. The administrative record shows that the dump operated illegally by disposing of hazardous wastes without obtaining a permit required under RCRA.  RCRA provides for criminal prosecution where there is knowledge that disposal of hazardous waste is taking place when there is no federal permit.

Legal charges of DOE/Sandia’s criminal wrongdoing involve falsification of records by purging and destruction; violations of manifest and record keeping requirements; the knowing transportation of hazardous waste to an unpermitted dump; and lateral expansion of the dump without providing lined trenches with leachate collection.

Dave McCoy, Director of Citizen Action said, “The NMED has allowed the DOE and Sandia to avoid compliance with strict federal legal regulations designed to protect the community from toxic contamination of drinking water supplies.  This has resulted in millions of taxpayer dollars wasted on improper installation of monitoring wells at a legacy waste site.  Both the NMED and DOE/SNL have relied on flawed data from the monitoring wells to claim that Albuquerque’s drinking water will remain safe for years to come.  However, since the monitoring wells at the dump were installed improperly and are incapable of detecting contamination, there is no accurate information about the status of contamination at the Mixed Waste Landfill to make an informed decision. The safest course of action is to excavate the waste and install proper monitoring wells as required by law.”

McCoy added that similar waste sites have been successfully removed from other locations at Sandia, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Idaho National Laboratory, and other locations without injuring workers or causing dangerous public exposures.

The administrative record puts the EPA and NMED on record in the early 1990s in stating that the well monitoring system at the dump was not in compliance with federal law:

• “The monitoring system is inadequate;” 
• “The monitoring wells are located crossgradient instead of downgradient from the MWL; therefore, contaminants emanating from the MWL may not be detected in the monitoring wells;” 
• “The hydraulic conductivity of the aquifer is unknown;”
• The mud drilling technology used for several of the wells was “considered to be the worse [sic] drilling technology available.”

Despite the deficient well monitoring, neither the NMED nor the EPA took action to require the monitoring wells to be correctly installed in proper locations to comply with federal law.  Instead, the regulators continued to rely on data from the wells which they knew to be spurious.

Citizen Action is a project of the New Mexico Community Foundation and a member of the New Mexicans for Sustainable Energy and Effective Stewardship (NMSEES). Contact: Dave McCoy  dave@radfreenm.org

Sneak Preview: Moyers on Saving the Internet

Be sure to tune into the next installment of the top-notch new Moyers On America series that will be aired on PBS stations this week. On KNME Albuquerque/Santa Fe, you can see it on Wednesday, October 18 at 9:00 PM. (See below for additional dates and times.) This time Bill Moyers focuses on The Net at Risk and delves into the threats to our freedom of access to the internet that are being pushed strongly by big telecom and cable interests. Click to see a video preview of the show plus much, much more about the program and the issues it considers.

Perhaps most dangerous is the heavily financed (and fact-challenged) effort by big telecoms and cable to get rid of so-called "net neutrality" and replace it with a tiered system where big players who can afford high fees can get better connectivity. Net neutrality has provided a level playing field for all users and content providers from the inception of the internet, not just deep pocket powerhouses. That could change if the massive telecom bill that's already passed the House gains approval in the Senate without amendments to restore our net neutrality protections. Already the FCC has ruled against net neutrality. This may be our last chance to preserve our freedoms on the net and avoid the concentrations of power and access that have become endemic on TV and in other media.

This is the real deal, folks. If we don't win this, you won't recognize what the big media and communications conglomerates will do to the net. If we can judge their future behavior by their past, we can expect big players to have the advantage of lightning fast connections for visitors while bloggers, innovators, start-ups, musicians, artists and political commentators that aren't connected with the megacorps will be hard to access. To learn more, visit SaveTheInternet.com and FreePress.net

Contact Your Senator AGAIN
Fortunately, the damaging telecom bill has failed so far to be heard in the Senate. However, there will undoubtedly be another push to get the bill to the Senate floor after the election, so it's vital that we continue to urge our Senators to stop it unless it's amended to solidly protect net neutrality. New Mexico's Senator Jeff Bingaman has so far refused to publicly support net neutrality and pledge to vote nay on any telecom bill that doesn't preserve it. You can contact him here: Sen. Jeff Bingaman

KNME - Channel 5 (Albuquerque/Santa Fe)
Moyers on America
The Net at Risk: The Internet's future, including the role of big business.

• Wednesday, October 18, 9:00 PM
• Thursday, October 19, 2:00 AM
• Friday, October 20, 9:30 PM
• Saturday, October 21, 3:30 AM

Here's a listing of the scheduled rebroadcasts of the previous Moyers in America show:

KNME - Channel 5 (Albuquerque/Santa Fe)
Moyers on America: Is God Green?
The evangelical community's embrace of environmentalism.
Wednesday, October 11, 9:00 PM
Thursday, October 12, 3:00 AM
Friday, October 13, 9:00 PM
Saturday, October 14, 3:00 AM

10/22 Art in the Valley Benefit for DPBC

From the Democratic Party of Bernalillo County:
Art in the Valley
Sunday, October 22, 1-5 PM
An Art Show and Silent Auction
to benefit the Democratic Party of Bernalillo County

Help GET OUT THE VOTE this November! Join fellow Democrats for an afternoon of art, music, refreshments and politics on Sunday October 22, from 1-5 PM at two Albuquerque North Valley homes:

• 4201 Rio Grande Blvd NW, the 275-year-old renovated adobe home of acclaimed interior designer Susan Westbrook (featured in Phoenix Home & Garden Magazine, Oct. 2006) and
• 5819 Tierra Viva Place NW the home of businesswoman and North Valley real estate specialist Judith Campbell.

Your purchases of original works of art will support efforts to "Get Out the Vote" and assure Democratic candidate victories this November. $10 per person. (cash and checks only please). Call 256-1855 to RSVP and for directions!

Terri Holland, Executive Director
Democratic Party of Bernalillo County

Tonight on 'Espejos de Aztlan' Plus November Panel: Disappearance of 700 Women on Mexican Border

From Espejos de Aztlan:
Check out KUNM 89.9FM tonight, Monday, October 16th, at 8:00 PM for "Espejos de Aztlan," a weekly radio program highlighting the courage, strength and beauty of the Chicano/Latino community in New Mexico.  Cecilia Chavez will be interviewed about her work to fight the injustices surrounding the investigation of the tragic disappearance and murder of over 700 women in the border region of Mexico and the United States over the past 10 years.

Panel Discussion:
On Saturday, November 4th, from 4-7:00 PM at the St. Francis Xavier Parish Hall (801 Arno SE), the Albuquerque Peace and Justice Center will be hosting a panel discusson entitled "Justicia para Nuestras Hijas." The panel presentation will feature members of the Mexican non-profit organization ‘Justicia para Nuestras Hijas’: the sisters of three disappeared/assassinated women; their lawyer, from the human rights organization ‘Centro de Derechos Humanos de Mujeres, AC’; and a representative of ‘Amigos de las Mujeres de Juárez, a non-profit from Las Cruces, NM. Also at the panel will be Diana Washington Valdez, journalist from El Paso, TX who has investigated the murders for a number of years and authored Cosecha de Mujeres (2005) and Harvest of Women: Safari in Mexico (2006). 

Espejos de Aztlan has been on-air since 1979 and is part of the Raices Collective which conducts programming on news, culture and music from a Latino perspective on KUNM 89.9. For more information or to submit input about our shows, please visit the "Espejos de Aztlan" link at .