Democracy for New Mexico

Majority of NM Congressional Delegation Skeptical On Sending More Troops to Iraq

Are the realities on the ground in Iraq FINALLY penetrating even the minds of Republicans? According to an Albuquerque Journal article, the entire New Mexico congressional delegation, except for Rep. Steve Pearce (R-NM-02), is voicing serious concerns about Bush's proposal to send up to 30,000 more U.S. troops to Iraq:

Senator Pete Domenici (R-NM):
"It's not going to do any good to send 30,000 more troops and equipment unless we know what we'll have them do. This war is taking a toll on many people. It's dragging on. I'm very hopeful that the president will come up with something better than this idea of a surge (in troops).

Senator Jeff Bingaman (D-NM):
"Putting more troops in Iraq is at odds with the recommendations of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the Iraq Study Group, and some top military leaders on the ground. I have very grave concerns about pursuing this option."

Rep. Heather Wilson (R-NM-01):
Rep. Wilson "believes we need to clarify the mission and objectives before sending additional forces into Baghdad," said Enrique Carlos Knell, Wilson's communications director. "Over the last three weeks, Rep. Wilson has been meeting with experts inside and outside the government on the situation in the Middle East. She expects to have more to say in early January."

Rep. Steve Pearce (R-NM-02):
"The United States must do whatever it takes to achieve victory in Iraq. Increasing American troop levels could significantly help the security situation, which must improve for freedom and democracy to have a chance. More troops would demonstrate America's consistent resolve ... in the Global War on Terror."

Rep. Tom Udall (D-NM-03):
In an interview, Udall called for an immediate pullout of U.S. troops in Iraq with redeployment to other strategic locations in the Middle East. Udall said that option would take at least six to nine months. "I don't think this (proposed surge in troops) is a good idea," Udall said. "We should begin a phased redeployment of our troops outside of Iraq now."

... He said he is unsure if the new Democratic Congress will shut off the Iraq war's spending spigot. "I think it's too early to tell on that," Udall said, adding that Democrats will insist on "very specific" benchmarks and instructions for future Iraq spending.

Latest Polling:
According to the latest CNN poll, only 11% of those polled support sending additional troops to Iraq. Moreover:

Only 32 percent said they would support keeping U.S. troops in Iraq "as long as necessary" to hand over control to a new Iraqi government. By comparison, 21 percent said they wanted to see Americans leave immediately, and 33 percent said they wanted to see a U.S. withdrawal within a year.

And according to a McClatchy Newspapers article:

Bush's overall job-approval rating hovers in the mid-30s, but support for his handling of Iraq has plummeted to the low to mid-20s, with disapproval around 70 percent, according to three national polls in mid-December. Fully 62 percent said it was "a mistake" to send U.S. troops to Iraq, according to a CBS poll taken Dec. 8-10.

The Mother Of All Icycles

Right outside our front door. Effects of the big storm live on.

Don't stand underneath!

Mama Icycle's babies....with that blue, blue Albuquerque sky.

Guest Blog: Support NM Impeachment Effort

Submitted by guest blogger Terry Riley:
I am mad as hell and I am going to do something. I just got an e-mail from a friend of mine in Santa Fe. Leland Lehrman worked with me on the paper ballot / election reform legislation in the 2005 and 2006 legislative sessions. He is proposing that we get out state legislature to bring impeachment proceedings against President Bush. Please read his message. He is right, the states can initiate the action and then the "Democrats" will have to deal with it. Please read, and contact your legislator.

It looks like Bush is going to put another 30,000 soldiers into Iraq after the first of the year and hold the troop strength at 185,000 for two years. Think about our soldiers. In order to maintain this troop level the Pentagon will have to put every soldier and EVERY reservist into a tight rotation, much more than any individual can be expected to survive.

Save our Soldiers! Impeach Bush
Terry Riley
Veterans for Peace
Son of a Veteran
Veteran
Brother of a Veteran
Father of a Veteran
Father or a combat Veteran

Leland Lehrman's Email:

Friends and Legislators,
We're working on a resolution that will impeach President Bush at the NM State Level. According to Jefferson's Rules of the Federal House, if an impeachment resolution passes at the State Level, the Federal Government is required to stop all business and hear impeachment proceedings immediately.

Quoting from ImpeachFor Peace.org:
"In the House of Representatives there are various methods of setting an impeachment in motion: by charges made on the floor on the responsibility of a Member or Delegate (II, 1303; III, 2342, 2400, 2469; VI, 525, 526, 528, 535, 536); by charges preferred by a memorial, which is usually referred to a committee for examination (III, 2364, 2491, 2494, 2496, 2499, 2515; VI, 552); or by a resolution dropped in the hopper by a Member and referred to a committee (April 15, 1970, p. 11941- 2); by a message from the President (III, 2294, 2319; VI, 498); by charges transmitted from the legislature of a State (III, 2469) or Territory (III, 2487) or from a grand jury (III, 2488); or from facts developed and reported by an investigating committee of the House (III, 2399, 2444)."

According to Section 604 of the Manual, "direct proposition to impeach is a question of high privilege in the House and at once supersedes business otherwise in order under the rules governing the order of business." It does not lose its privilege just because "a similar proposition has been made at a previous time during the same session of Congress." On the other hand, "a resolution simply proposing an investigation, even though impeachment may be a possible consequence, is not privileged." Where, however, "a resolution of investigation positively proposes impeachment or suggests that end, it has been admitted as of privilege."

It is also possible to impeach through the submission of a memorial by any private citizen, given a Congressional Committee picks it up and acts on it. This type of initiative has been organized by Impeach for Peace here.

Furthermore, Impeachment of the President was passed with overwhelming support by the NM Democratic Party when it held its most recent statewide Platform hearings. It is an official policy of the NM Democratic Party to impeach President Bush.

We will have to repeat that over and over because it is not common knowledge.

Also, Georgia Dem. Rep. Cynthia McKinney has written articles of impeachment during the last few weeks of her term and we can use those at the State Level. I need everyone to call Senators John Grubesic and Gerry Ortiz y Pino (Santa Fe and Albuquerque) and ask them to support an impeachment resolution and to help us get it drafted before the January session. Rep. Peter Wirth is my target for the House, although we may have better luck with someone else. Please call your Legislators now, and email, mail or fax this information to them.

Grubesic and Wirth are Santa Fe's own, we can hopefully count on them. Ortiz y Pino is one of  the best legislators in the NM House overall; he is associated with the NM PACE and the Albuquerque Peace and Justice social fabric. A social worker by profession.

Grubesic: 820-1825
Ortiz y Pino: 505.250.1280
Wirth: 988-1668

Also, essential to success with be Speaker of the House Ben Lujan, Majority Leader Ken Martinez, Sen Majority Leader Michael Sanchez and President Pro Tem Ben Altamirano. Get familiar with them at the NM Legislature website. All are Democrats. The Governor will have to be invoved as well. With Democratic control of every governmental body in the State, NM has a good chance to make history here.

Please forward to all interested. I have yet to hear from anyone, but will be in their offices or on the phone again with them this week coming. Once we get the OK to draft, we will proceed to incorporate McKinney's articles of impeachment and those in the book, "The Case for Impeachment." Also, below, I include information compiled by of the Green Party, much of which is at the website ArticlesOfImpeachment.net where you can get completely sorted out about the legal methods and more.

Leland Lehrman (505) 982-3609

Editor's Note: This is a guest blog by Terry Riley. If you'd like to submit a post for consideration as a guest blog, contact me by clicking on the Email Me link at the upper left-hand corner of our main page.

Take Action: Immigrants Imprisoned in American Concentration Camps, On Christmas

firedoglake has everything you need to know about this horror story. Their entire post is well worth a read, but here's an excerpt:

Latina Lista has been doing fantastic work on the story of the truly evil ICE roundup of immigrant children and families, which has in many cases left American citizen children effectively orphaned. Now, we learn of American concentration camps for brown people, holding hundreds of children, just in time for Christmas, here on mainland American soil. As allied forces liberated Europe after defeating Germany, the undesirables of the Nazi regime were set free. Who will liberate these people?

It has to be you.

I'll give you the details of the situation after the jump, but here's what we need you to do:  this holiday season, while congress is out of session and your representatives are back home, please contact the local offices of your senators and congressmen and tell them this is immoral, unAmerican, and it has to stop. Now. None of these people are expecting calls on this, and certainly not during the holidays. Flood their fax machines with messages, too. If you wanted something truly good for the soul to do this holiday season, this is it. Please act. These families and children have no hope without you.

You can read more about the fed busts at Swift & Co. in my earlier post.

Must See TV

Check out the video a(or text) at Crooks and Liars. You know it's bad when Joe Scarborough and Mike Barnicle express severe doubts about our president's sanity.

Happy Winter Solstice

Solstice literally means standing-still-sun. At Winter Solstice the hemisphere is leaning farthest away from the sun because of the earth's tilt, and therefore daylight is the shortest and the sun has its lowest arc across the sky. Winter Solstice occurs today in the Northern Hemisphere of Planet Earth at exactly 5:22 PM Mountain Time.

Many ancient cultures knew about the solstices (and equinoxes) and lined up structures in relation to the sun, like those at Stonehenge in England and Chaco Canyon in NM, so that these times could be accurately observed and celebrated. Many of the traditions that we associate with Christmas and other religious holidays around this time actually are variations on so-called pagan rites that were dedicated to light, warmth, community and the forces of life during nature's time of cold, dark and fear.

Think candles and evergreens and lights and bonfires and feasting and Yule logs and starlight and raising voices in unison to fill the long, long nights with song and spirit. All are a celebration of the fact that more and more light will be returning with each passing day beyond the Winter Solstice.

Click to send a Solstice e-card. We''ll be lighting a candle for peace and and patience, enlightenment and love tonight. We need as much warmth and light as we can get these days. Love the ones you're with.

Iraq Outrage of the Day: Americans in Secret Custody

Another unbelievable tale of the Iraq fiasco is revealed in this recent New York Times article. It provides an overview of what it's like in one of our secret maximum security military prisons in Iraq. The account is provided by an American who was a whistleblower to the FBI after discovering problems within the Iraqi security company where he worked. He and another American were wrongly seized by U.S. authorities and imprisoned for 97 awful days in Baghdad. His story offers yet another upsetting view into the chaotic, confusing labyrinth of allegiances, secrets and illegalities that defines what's going on in Iraq three plus years into our "cakewalk."

Read it and consider carefully the horrors being performed in our names, ostensibly to nurture freedom and democracy, allegedly to protect our citizens, supposedly to show the world what America is all about. How much worse will it get if BushCo gets away with escalating our blind and completely ineffective militarism instead of working to excise the fast-growing tumor of an aggressive cancer that's almost all of our own making?

Excerpt from article:

The story told through those records and interviews illuminates the haphazard system of detention and prosecution that has evolved in Iraq, where detainees are often held for long periods without charges or legal representation, and where the authorities struggle to sort through the endless stream of detainees to identify those who pose real threats.

“Even Saddam Hussein had more legal counsel than I ever had,” said Mr. Vance, who said he planned to sue the former defense secretary, Donald H. Rumsfeld, on grounds that his constitutional rights had been violated. “While we were detained, we wrote a letter to the camp commandant stating that the same democratic ideals we are trying to instill in the fledgling democratic country of Iraq, from simple due process to the Magna Carta, we are absolutely, positively refusing to follow ourselves.”

Gov. Richardson Releases Proposed Ethics Reform Package

Here's a pdf of the press release. Gov. Bill Richardson will be pushing for legislation in January in the following areas:

• Establish an independent ethics commission
• Limits on gifts
• Set campaign contribution limits
• “Clean Elections” public financing
• Better campaign reporting
• Amend Governmental Conduct Act

As always, the devil will be in the details, a few of which are provided in the press release. I haven't looked at the proposals much but what jumps out at me initially is that public financing for candidates beyond the currently applicable PRC races will be extended only to contested judicial contests. I find that very disappointing since reform activists have been pushing for voluntary public financing for all candidates in all races. It's certainly important to get special interest money out of judicial races, but I think that special interest money is much more suspect in other more competitive races.

No gifts over $250 would be allowed generally, with a $100 limit during legislative sessions. Campaign contribution limits would be $2,100 per individual, per election in statewide races, with $1,050 limits for PRC and District races, and a ban on cash of more than $100 from one person.

An independent ethics commission would have "strong powers to investigate and discipline, including the ability to fine, censure, and reprimand public officials, state employees, lobbyists, contractors and officials." I don't know if that would include the power of subpoena witnesses.

Check out the press release and feel free to leave your comments on the Governor's proposals. I'm not sure how they match what his task force on ethics and campaign finance recommended, but I'll be looking at that soon.

Images of Snowy Albuquerque

Part of our backyard in the NE Heights yesterday near sundown.

Out front as the light of day dims.

Stacked snow on one of our outdoor bird feeders.

Snowy trees in the NE Heights.

It was garbage pickup day for us yesterday and the accumulation atop our container provides a good measure of how much fell here yesterday by sundown, in the Hoffmantown area.

Don't you just love our rare snow day reveries in Albuquerque? It was so silent and bright last night with everything coated with what we estimate to be 5-7 inches in our neighborhood. We got another half inch to an inch this morning, but now a filtered sun has emerged and started the melting process. I doubt all of it will melt today, though, so watch out for those shiny, icy patches on the roads tonight. (Click on images for larger versions. All photos by Mary Ellen.)

The Duke City Fix photo group at flickr, has more snow pictures from other Albuquerqueans.

Vendor Chosen to Analyze Health Care Models that will Close the Health Coverage Gap in NM

From the NM Human Services Department:
Santa Fe, New Mexico, December 19, 2006 – An agreement has been reached on behalf of the Health Coverage for New Mexicans Committee (Committee), between the state and Mathematica Policy Research, Inc. (Mathematica), to conduct an extensive quantitative and comparative analysis of three health coverage models to help close the health coverage gap in New Mexico. “Governor Bill Richardson charged the Committee with finding a health care model that would get every New Mexico citizen the health care coverage they deserve,” said Secretary Pamela Hyde, Human Services Department. “This contract gets us one step closer to making that a reality.”

Mathematica was selected the successful bidder from three finalists. Mathematica, Lewin Group, and Health Management Associates were asked to submit best and final offers after careful evaluation of the original proposals and oral presentations before the Committee last month. 

Mathematica was chosen due to its experience and expertise in financial, actuarial and health policy reform studies, including the experience and expertise of its subcontractors. Mathematica is based in Washington, D.C. and will be using the University of New Mexico's Bureau of Business and Economic Research, Institute of Public Law and Institute of Public Health, and two other subcontractors to conduct this study. The total contract cost to be paid by the state is $310,782.

Mathematica will be working on a short timeframe to analyze the costs of the three different approaches to closing the health coverage gap in New Mexico. A preliminary report and presentation are due in April 2007, with the final report and presentation due in June 2007.

The analysis will consider the costs of the models to employers, the state, individuals and health care companies compared to taking no action with the current system. The three models chosen take different approaches to providing a comprehensive approach to provide health insurance or coverage for all New Mexicans. The models are:

• The Health Security Act, which is a single plan administered by a commission appointed by the Governor,
• The New Mexico Health Choices Plan, which is a market-based universal coverage plan that would utilize vouchers provided to individuals, and
• The New Mexico Health Coverage Plan, which is also a market-based plan that would preserve roles for both the current public and private health care system in the state, and includes a requirement that everyone have insurance with a clear role for employers.

The 23-member Committee and four advisors appointed by the Governor and the Legislative leadership selected these models from several presented to them.

NEW MEXICO HUMAN SERVICES DEPARTMENT
P.O. Box 2348
Santa Fe, New Mexico 87504-2348

For more information contact Betina Gonzales McCracken 505-827-6245 or 505-699-4675

Editor's Note - Background Info:

This Santa Fe New Mexican article provides summaries of the three health coverage plans that will be studied.

Here's a post on State Sen. Dede Feldman's blog on Governor Richardson's formation of the Health Coverage for New Mexicans Committee and its members.

And here's a recent Albuquerque Journal op/ed column by Eleanor Chavez and Max Bartlett of the Health Security for New Mexicans Campaign that describes their plan and reports that "11 out of 19 members of Gov. Bill Richardson's Health Coverage for New Mexicans  ... ranked the New Mexico Health Security Plan as their No. 1 choice to be included in a study that will analyze three different health care reform models and how they impact rising health care costs." Those who attended the this month's DFA-DFNM Meetup had a chance to hear about the plan from Dana Millen of the Health Security for New Mexicans Campaign.