Democracy for New Mexico

REVISED: Bernalillo County and State Dems Set Meeting Schedule

From Marvin Moss, DPBC Chair:
Here is the REVISED schedule of upcoming ward, precinct, central committee and working committee meetings to be held in March and April 2007 by the Democratic Party of Bernalillo County and the Democratic Party of New Mexico. More times and locations will be announced soon. All Democrats are welcome at these meetings:

Changes shown in RED:

March 19 (Monday): Site coordinator training at DPBC/DPNM HQs, now combined at 1301 San Pedro, NE, 7:00 PM

March 20 (Tuesday): Ward Chair meeting at Plumbers Hall, San Pedro and Zuni, 7:00 PM. All Ward Chairs or their representatives must attend.

March 22 (Thursday): Ward/Precinct cluster meetings to elect Precinct and Ward Chairs and additional County Central Committee members, 7:00 PM, sites to be announced

April 10 (Tuesday): County Credentials and Resolutions Committees meetings at UNM Law School, Rooms 2405 and 2406, respectively, 6:00 PM

April 14 (Saturday): County Central Committee meeting to elect State Central Committee delegation, consider resolutions and conduct other business; possibly in Highland High School gym - registration 9 AM, call to order 10 AM.                               

April 28 (Saturday): State Central Committee meeting to elect State Officers, consider resolutions and conduct other business - in Las Cruces.

Note: Proxy voting is permitted at County Central Committee and State Central Committee meetings. Proxy voting is not permitted at Ward/Precinct meetings.

For more information: Democratic Party of Bernalillo County; 1301 San Pedro Dr. NE; Albuquerque, NM 87110; (505) 830-3650, Ext. 22

Bush Intends to Provoke Iran War?

U.S. sending third carrier strike group to Gulf: Newsweek on “The Hidden War With Iran.”

At least one former White House official contends that some Bush advisers secretly want an excuse to attack Iran. “They intend to be as provocative as possible and make the Iranians do something [America] would be forced to retaliate for,” says Hillary Mann, the administration’s former National Security Council director for Iran and Persian Gulf Affairs. …

A second Navy carrier group is steaming toward the Persian Gulf, and NEWSWEEK has learned that a third carrier will likely follow. Iran shot off a few missiles in those same tense waters last week, in a highly publicized test. With Americans and Iranians jousting on the chaotic battleground of Iraq, the chances of a small incident’s spiraling into a crisis are higher than they’ve been in years.

Now read what Juan Cole has to say about how the NY Times ia passing along completely and obviously dishonest stories about Iran supplying explosives that are killing U.S. troops. Unlike the pseudo-journalists at our "paper of record," Cole actually checks the story against the documented deaths that are being alleged to have been caused by Iran-supplied explosives. Surprise - they don't match up. Feels like deja vu all over again, doesn't it? How much more madness can we take?

Impeachment Vigil Begins Monday at NM Legislature

This message is being circulated via email from several sources. Pass it on: There will be a vigil in support of Impeachment Resolution before the New Mexico Legislature.

• When: Every day, Monday through Friday, beginning this Monday, Feb. 12 from 11:30 AM to 1:30 PM
• Where: East side of Capitol Building in Santa Fe, Paseo De Peralta and Old Pecos Trail.
• What: We will display banners and signs along the street and intersection supporting Impeachment and SJR 5. We will collect signatures on petitions supporting SJR 5 from lunch time pedestrian traffic coming to and from the Capitol. Blank Petitions, clipboards, and extra signs are available.

A dignified vigil and one on one contacts through the petition efforts will help move this important legislation forward. Please help as much as possible and pass the word to others.

Editor's note: As of now SJR 5 is scheduled to be heard by the Senate Rules Committee on Friday, February 16, 2007 at 8:30 AM. Remember that this schedule is subject to change at any time so check back often. To contact members of the Committee, click here.

The Second Best Thing to Do On Valentine's Day

(Click on image to enlarge.)

An evening of romantic humor and comedy starring Eric Griego and Steven Michael Quezada, hosted by Rep. Antonio "Moe" Maestas. Valentine's Day, February 14th, at The Lodge in Santa Fe. Click on the flyer above to learn more.

Saturday Music Hall: Mellencamp

Rain On the Scarecrow, Blood On the Plow

I've always really liked John Mellencamp (even when he was known, incongruously, as John Cougar). I liked his bands, often featuring the fabulous Kenny Aranoff on drums, and usually including African-American and women musicians. There were diverse people populating his videos. I also think it's got a lot to do with going to college in downstate Illinois, in Champaign-Urbana. I enjoyed the small town atmosphere there so much in that era that I stayed an extra year surrounded by the flat, flat cornfields. I met many guys like Mellencamp in those years, from nearby farming towns like Rantoul, Mattoon, Villa Grove, Decatur (DEE-ca-tur), Danville, Tuscola, Effingham, Flora, Vandalia.

I grew to love the wide open landscape of lonely grain elevators, Illinois-Central railroad tracks, straight-line county roads good for speeding rides on motorcycles, peeling paint wooden houses with generous porches and tiny town centers of chipped red brick. Most of it run down, fading, failing, but hanging on. Back then the interstate ended just south of Chicago so, if we drove down to Champaign, we rolled slowly through many of the tiny family farm towns and stopped to eat breakfast at the little diners where people still rolled their own cigarettes and wore bib overalls. If we rode the IC train down, the Black conductors were ancient, the club cars lively as we passed by the run-down backsides of the towns, listening to the mesmerizing clickety clack below us.

The first round of people in the rural Midwest were losing their family farms right then, owned for generations, and having to go to work in the factories that still punctuated the mostly empty landscapes. Their children exhibited a strong populist (and antiwar) streak because of this, something I could connect with given my own upbringing in second generation, blue collar, union enclaves in the Windy City. They were wise asses too, confronters, in a good way. I could connect with that too. And many of them even looked like Mellencamp, Germanic, short, dark-haired, wiry. Some were going to the U of I's big ag school, others were weekend visitors to the campus, searching out parties, music, adventures. Many were fans of Bob Dye-lin, as they used to call him, which always surprised me somewhat.

Mellencamp's music, videos and politics all remind me of that era, that attitude, that feeling of place at a time when the American working class was getting its first hits from the merging corporate monsters. At first they came for the family farms. Now they've got almost everything. What have the little people got? Little Pink Houses of course. Only this time they're flooded out and rotting while the stock markets rise astronomically, and Bush can't even utter the words "New Orleans." If we don't think it can happen to us next, we just aren't paying attention ...

Mellencamp recently released a new album called "Freedom's Road," with a new video release of the song This Is Our Country. Let's act like it and take it back. At last.

Today's Insight NM Radio Show Line-Up

Photo montage of last week's show by Suzanne Prescott. (Click on image for larger version.)

The weekly Albuquerque area progressive radio talk show, Insight New Mexico, hosted by Eric Griego and produced by Suzanne Prescott, returns this afternoon on Progressive Talk Radio 1350 from 3:00 to 4:00 PM. Guests this week include NM Senator Cisco McSorley, local blogger Coco of Cocoposts and Common Cause Executive Director, Matt Brix. Visit the show's website at for more info on guests, issues, blogging and more. You're also encouraged to call in during the broadcast with questions for the guests. Just punch in 338-4090 and you'll have a chance to ask your question on the air.

The site also now includes podcasts of interviews from previous shows. You can listen at the site, load your iPod or download the mp3. So if you missed the live broadcast of a show or would like to listen again to one of the show's guests, it's easy to catch up. You can even hear yours truly in a live interview from last week's show.

If we want to nourish progressive talk radio, we're the ones who need to do it. Tune in this afternoon and help support Insight New Mexico.

Obama to Officially Announce for Prez Tomorrow

He'll do it in Springfield, Illinois, Land of Lincoln, tomorrow morning at 8:55 AM Mountain Time. It will be webcast live at his website at https://www.barackobama.com/. Here's the preview video and invitation to watch the live feed tomorrow. He's off.

Same Day Voter Registration Passes NM House Consumer & Public Affairs

From the NM House Leadership:
Two bills that would allow same-day voter registration were presented in House Consumer & Public Affairs yesterday. HB 394, introduced by Rep. Joseph Cervantes (D- Las Cruces), was tabled at his request. The second bill (HB 346) introduced by Rep. Mary Helen Garcia (D-Las Cruces) received a do pass recommendation with a vote of 4 to 3.

House Bill 346 permits same-day registration in primary and general elections at the polling place for the precinct in which the voter resides. The qualified voter would be allowed to complete a certificate of registration and cast a ballot with the presentation of a valid photo identification card, utility bill, bank statement, government check, paycheck, student identification card or other government document, including identification issued by an Indian nation, tribe or pueblo.

Rep. Garcia said, “I would like to thank Rep. Cervantes for requesting that his bill be tabled. It was a coincidence that we both introduced bills that were almost identical. Rep. Cervantes is a true gentleman and I consider him a full partner in this same-day voter registration effort.”

In support of HB 346 Rep Cervantes said, “I believe that it is time to move beyond our outdated attitudes towards voting. Decades ago it took days and weeks to accurately maintain voting records. Today that work can be done in seconds. We must embrace technology because it makes it easier for a person to vote while ensuring the integrity of the system.”

Rep. Garcia said, “There are many groups who would benefit from same day voter registration. This includes our young people who move around so much and people with disabilities who often confront barriers to transportation. Many new citizens, people of color, or low-income voters are forced by circumstances to move frequently and they should not be disenfranchised by the system.”

Eight states allow registration and voting on the day of an election. Supporters say that the process increases voter turnout. In New Mexico a voter must be registered 28 days before any type of election to qualify to vote in that election.

“We can bank instantly at an ATM or on-line. Why should voting registration be less secure using the same type of technology?” concluded Rep. Cervantes.

Editor's Note: United Voters of NM, Vertified Voters NM and other election reform activists are supporting the same day voter registration bill. The bill goes next to the House Voters and Elections Committee. To contact members of that committee, click here.

Update on NM Ethics Reform Bills

I was going to reseach and report on what's going on with the ethics reform package at the NM Legislature, but Las Cruces blogger Heath Haussamen has already done a great job on that today. Check it out. Where there's life, there's hope. Let's put the pressure on our legislators to get these bills passed. Contact information is available at the official website of the NM Legislature. If not now, when? Click for our previous post on this issue.

Albuquerque Activists Respond to Richardson's Call for Disarmament

From Stop the War Machine:
On Thursday, Feb. 8, 2007, Bill Richardson is quoted as saying the United States must lead the way by reducing its nuclear weapons. Disarmament activists in Albuquerque, home to the largest concentration of nuclear weapons in the world, were surprised to hear this.

“Governor Richardson could lead the way himself by calling for nuclear disarmament right here at home in New Mexico,” said Jeanne Pahls of Stop the War Machine/Nukes Out of Duke City. “We met with Governor Richardson last year on this topic and gave him a petition signed by 7,000 people that called for the dismantlement of the nuclear weapons at Kirtland. We asked the governor to call for their dismantlement as well, but we still have not received a response from him on this issue.”

Bob Anderson of Stop the War Machine/Nukes Out of Duke City said, “Governor Richardson’s choosing to address this issue of non-proliferation is due to the tremendous grassroots effort around the world for no more wars and nuclear weapons. Richardson has recognized, since last November, the electoral superpower of the peace movement. It is time for action now, not sometime in the future!”

Governor Richardson could act on his call for disarmament by supporting a memorial written by State Senator Jerry Ortiz y Pino’s office this past week, a memorial calling for the dismantlement of the Kirtland nuclear weapons. As home to 2,000 nuclear weapons, which constitutes roughly one-fifth of the US nuclear arsenal, Albuquerque has a unique role to play in disarmament.

On Friday morning, February 9th, at 7:30 AM Albuquerque citizens will gather at the Albuquerque Peace Center (202 Harvard SE). They will depart for the Roundhouse together in order to spend the day lobbying their senators and representatives on the issue of dismantling the nuclear weapons at Kirtland. They will be taking the petition to have the Kirtland nuclear weapons dismantled, which has 8,000 signatures at this point in time.

It would be nice if the governor would sign on to a local disarmament effort!

Questions? 401-4808

Editor's Note: Check out our previous post on Gov. Richardson's call for a halt in U.S. nuclear weapons production as well as an earlier post on the memorial to dismantle the nuclear weapons at Kirtland Air Force Base.