Democracy for New Mexico

Distracting Asides

I don't feel like writing about politics today. I'm so angry about too many Dems fiddling while Rome burns that I'd probably only depress you (more than you already are) with my premonitions about the dwindling prospects of real change anytime soon. Hypocrisy and beside-the-point fakery seem to be everywhere. So instead I'll offer some visual flotsam and jetsam to amuse and distract:

• A website called Strange Maps offers a map of the U.S. with the names of states replaced by those of nations that have comparable GDPs. For starters, New Mexico is renamed Hungary and Texas becomes Canada. Note that America remains the nation with the highest GDP in the world -- projected to be $13,22 trillion (or $13.220 billion) in 2007, almost as much as the economies of the next four (Japan, Germany, China, UK) combined.
• Go visit Frans Lantin's marvelous . Relax and float downstream.
• The Magnum Festival '07 website has a of 60 years of evocative photographs by top-notch photogs, one for each year. There's also a second 60-year collection by Magnum.
• Here's an intriguing video of 500 years of Portraits of Women in Western Art morphing into one another (to music).
• Trek Earth has a myriad of photos taken in New Mexico (and around the world).

Support NM Sen. Feldman at 6/14 Fundraiser

She's Been There For You ... Be There For Her:
Fundraiser for Senator Dede Feldman
Thursday, June 14, 2007 • 5:30-7:30 PM
Indian Pueblo Cultural Center, Chaco I • 2401 12th St. NW
Hors d’oeuvres • Tim Zannes Jazz Quartet •
Drinks • Gallery Gazing
Click for (pdf) for more info
Suggested Contribution: $100
RSVP to 243-1850

You Can't Make This Stuff Up

In keeping with coverage of GLBT Pride month issues, I offer this tidbit reported by a California CBS station:

A Berkeley watchdog organization that tracks military spending said it uncovered a strange U.S. military proposal to create a hormone bomb that could purportedly turn enemy soldiers into homosexuals and make them more interested in sex than fighting.

Pentagon officials on Friday confirmed to CBS 5 that military leaders had considered, and then subsquently rejected, building the so-called "Gay Bomb."

... The documents show the Air Force lab asked for $7.5 million to develop such a chemical weapon.

"The Ohio Air Force lab proposed that a bomb be developed that contained a chemical that would cause enemy soliders to become gay, and to have their units break down because all their soldiers became irresistably attractive to one another," Hammond said after reviewing the documents.

... Gay community leaders in California said Friday that they found the notion of a "gay bomb" both offensive and almost laughable at the same time.

"Throughout history we have had so many brave men and women who are gay and lesbian serving the military with distinction," said Geoff Kors of Equality California. "So, it's just offensive that they think by turning people gay that the other military would be incapable of doing their job. And its absurd because there's so much medical data that shows that sexual orientation is immutable and cannot be changed."

Surely this begs the question of when Congress and American voters are going to start questioning waste, fraud and plain insanity in military budgeting with the same zeal they apply to other government spending. Wanna bet there's some corporate blowhards out there who made large donations to politicos with power over military spending, and who would have made a bundle from government contracts to research this so-called "gay bomb"? 

Imagine how many other similar boondoggles are buried in our military budgets, as well as in the secret earmarks inserted into bills of every stripe. I won't hold my breath for any massive public outcries though. Americans have long been programmed to believe that all government expenditures are bad, except when they're classified as "military" or "homeland security" spending. If anyone dares to question anything in budgets related to these two classes of spending, they're accused to being "soft on terrorism" or "unpatriotic." One hand washes the other in the military technology complex. Bombs away ....

Voters Unite Warns Sen. Feinstein’s Election Reform Bill is a Constitutional Heresy

From Ellen Theisen, Co-Director and Managing Editor, www.VotersUnite.Org:

June 11, 2007 -- Senator Dianne Feinstein’s bill S. 1487, “The Ballot Integrity Act of 2007,” was introduced on May 24, 2007. Some were expecting it to be a companion to, and improvement on, Representative Holt’s bill, H.R. 811. (See Theisen's new post on The Brad Blog, which delineates the serious failures of the Holt bill.) Far from an improvement, S. 1487 introduces surprising — and disturbing — new provisions. The bill systematically dismantles government by the people, and it sanctions the disenfranchisement of “distinct communities” such as racial minorities. What follows is a discussion of these disturbing provisions. Click to read the report.

ALERT: Please contact your Senators and tell them that you oppose S. 1487, and before writing another bill they must learn more about the electronic voting machine industry, the use of electronic voting to disenfranchise minorities, and the past problems citizens and States have had with the EAC. If necessary, refer them also to the Declaration of Independence and the United States Constitution.

Editor's Notes: Click here for contact information for Sen. Jeff Bingaman. Also see our previous post on the seriously flawed Holt bill.

All Shapes, All Sizes, All Colors, All Kinds

Duke City Fix has a great collection of links to tons of photos from this Saturday's Albuquerque Pride 2007 Parade up Central to Expo New Mexico (Fairgrounds). If you missed it (as I did), the slide shows are almost (but not quite) as good as being there. The ABQ Pride website will also have some photos shortly.

League of Women Voters to Host Talk on Civil Liberties by Ret. Chief Justice Franchini

From the League of Women Voters, Albuquerque/Bernalillo County:

June General Meeting, Thursday, June 14th, at 11:45 AM
Wyndham Hotel, 2910 Yale Boulevard SE, Albuquerque

Chief Justice (Retired) Franchini on the Current Status of Our Civil Liberties: Please call in your reservations to the office for this Thursday's General Meeting. Chief Justice (Retired) Franchini of the New Mexico Supreme Court will speak on the changed status of civil liberties since September 11, 2001 and the implementation of the USA PATRIOT law, and what he sees as the future of habeas corpus in the United States. Come hear Justice Franchini's insights into these critical topics that affect our liberties. Bring your friends along as well. All are welcome.

Luncheon is $15 in advance or payable at the door. Reservations are required by Tuesday noon. Call the office at 505-884-8441 to make a reservation. A fruit plate alternative is available. Please inform the office if you want a fruit plate when you make your reservation.

Martin Luther King III in Albuquerque Today and Tomorrow for Poverty Initiative

According to a brief item in the Albuquerque Journal, Martin Luther King III, the eldest son of civil rights leader MLK Jr., arrives in Albuquerque today as part of his Realizing the Dream -- Poverty in America Initiative. He'll visit the in the South Valley, tour the South Broadway neighborhood and meet with Mayor Marty Chavez.

Tomorrow, Tuesday, June 12, he'll tour the Alamosa neighborhood on the SW Mesa, beginning at 9:00 AM at 6013 Sunset Gardens SW, ending the tour with a program at the Alamosa Multipurpose Center gym, located at 6900 Gonzales Road SW (just south of Central off Coors Blvd., 836-8760). Later on Tuesday, King will host a town hall meeting at the South Broadway Cultural Center from 5:30 to 8:30 PM. For more information on the SBCC event: 848-1320.

(Updated) Services Tuesday for Albuquerque Soldier Killed in Iraq

UPDATE: Carter Bundy's column on Heath Haussamen provides another fitting tribute to Sgt. Akins and the life he lived.
************

Obituary in Albuquerque Journal:

AKIN -- James Christopher Akin, 23, born June 28, 1983 in Albuquerque, NM, passed away on June 2, 2007. James was killed by an IED while driving a humvee in Thania, Iraq. He was preceded in death by his mother, Mae Antonucci. He is survived by his wife, Syreeta Akin and his father, James Akin. He was a Sergeant in the United States Army and worked as a cannon crew member in Field Artillery stationed out of Ft. Lewis, WA. James was a part of the 1st Battalion, 37th Field Artillery Regiment, 3rd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division (Stryker Brigade Combat Team). He was serving his tour of duty at Camp Taji in Iraq just north of Baghdad.

Services will take place Tuesday, June 12, 2007 at 10:00 a.m. at Calvary Chapel of Albuquerque, 4100 Osuna Rd. NE. Interment will follow at Santa Fe National Cemetery at 1:00 p.m. French Mortuary 9300 Golf Course Rd. NW (505) 897-0300 www.frenchmortuary.com

(AP Photo/Akin Family via Victor Raigoza)

As stated in a previous guest blog by Victor Raigoza, Democrats are being urged to attend the service:

At the request of Mrs. Syreeta Akin, James' widow, I am asking that all Democrats attend his service ... The reason Syreeta wants Democrats there is because James loved the Democratic party and had aspirations of one day serving the people of New Mexico and the United States in the capacity of an elected official.

From Brian Colón, Chairman of the Democratic Party of New Mexico:

Dear Fellow Democrats,

Please join us on Tuesday, June 12 at 10:00 AM to honor fallen soldier and hero Sgt. James C. Akin of Albuquerque. The tragedy is a great loss for the State of New Mexico and the United States of America.  Sgt, Akin was a young man who accomplished so much in such a short time and by his own words recognized that "the measure of our progress is not whether we can provide more for those who have plenty, but whether we can provide enough to those who have little." His life of service and desire to be a part of New Mexico's political landscape is inspiring to many.

Please join us in the comforting thoughts and prayers we are sending out to Sgt. Akin's family.  Included below is Sgt. Akin's brief obituary, which can not begin to describe the impact he had and the inspiration he was to so many.

Let us also not forget the other New Mexicans and Americans that have given their lives in service to our country.

Respectfully,
Brian Colon

Albuquerque soldier killed in Baghdad
The Associated Press

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — A New Mexico soldier who wanted to someday become president of the U.S. has been killed in Iraq.

Army Sgt. James C. Akin, 23, and three other soldiers were killed June 3 near Baghdad when the Humvee that Akin was driving was destroyed by a bomb, family spokesman Victor Raigoza said. Akin would have been 24 on June 28, according to his wife, Syreeta, of Rio Rancho.

“He was willing to put his actions where his mouth was,” Raigoza said. “If he one day occupied the office where war would be determined, [he felt] that it would be necessary for him to have experienced that.”

Syreeta Akin wrote on his Web page — https://www.myspace.com/akin_for_president — on the social networking site MySpace.com: “You always did what you loved to do, and that is serve your country. I appreciate your sacrifice and well as all others before you. Without people like you where would our country be?”

The Web page has turned into a memorial for Akin, with comments from family, friends and Army buddies.

The U.S. Department of Defense had not confirmed Akin’s death as of June 6.

Funeral services are pending, and Akin will be buried in the National Cemetery in Santa Fe, Raigoza said.

Akin, an Albuquerque native and 2001 Valley High School graduate who joined the Army in 2004, was a self-professed politics and sports junkie. He worked on Raigoza’s 2004 campaign when Raigoza sought the Democratic nomination for a state Senate seat.

“We ended up spending three months together, almost day and night,” Raigoza recalled.

He said he worried when Akin was deployed. Because of Akin’s gregarity and leadership qualities, he felt at the time “there’s a good chance James will never come back,” Raigoza said.

In addition to his wife, Akin is survived by his father, James W. Akin of Albuquerque. His mother, Marianne, died in October, Raigoza said.

Sunday Bird Blogging: Burrowing Owls

(Click on image for larger version)

We haven't taken any good photos of our birds lately -- gardening comes first at this time of year -- so instead here's a link to a webcam pointed at a colony of burrowing owls. The image refreshes once per minute. PNM, believe it or not, provides the webcam coverage of the owl colony, which resides at their Reeves Generating Station in the northern part of Albuquerque (sample above). Right now, many babies are present in the colony and are a hoot to watch (sorry). They seem to be most active during the cooler parts of the day. PNM works closely with New Mexico's Hawks Aloft, the terrific indigenous bird conservation group, on a number of bird protection and education programs. (Hat tip: Bridgett)

The photos below aren't from the webcam but they do give you a better idea of what the small owls look like. For more info on burrowing owls, including some audio files of their calls, click here.

According to The Nature Conservancy in New Mexico:

The burrowing owl can be found at the Sevilleta National Wildlife Refuge -- the Conservancy’s first New Mexico conservation project. The burrowing owl is listed among the Conservancy’s Unlucky 13, grassland birds whose populations have dangerously declined in recent years. The burrowing owl is found throughout New Mexico at lower elevations, particularly areas with prairie dogs and other rodents that make burrows. Restoration of the owl hinges on sustaining burrowing mammal populations to provide adequate habitat.

“I've heard a rumor that burrowing owls are nesting in the end zone at New Mexico State University’s stadium in Las Cruces,” says Mehlman “The owls can still be found nesting around Albuquerque and they should be looked for in any existing prairie dog colony.”

August 2-5, 2007: Yearly Kos II

Anyone else going to the second annual Yearly Kos Convention at McCormick Place on Chicago's lakefront? We've registered, reserved our hotel room and bought our airline tickets. Slots are filling up fast. In fact, the event's room block at the Hyatt next to the convention center has sold out. A second room block, at the Michigan Avenue Hilton Hotel, has just opened. Sounds like this year's YK will be even better than the first gathering in Las Vegas last year, which we regretfully had to miss. We're not missing it this year! After all, I was born and raised in Chicago and haven't seen it in more than 5 years.

Already confirmed for Saturday's Dem presidential candidate forum: Sen. John Edwards, Sen. Barack Obama, and our own Gov. Bill Richardson. Matt Bai, writer for The New York Times Magazine and author of a book on Democratic politics to be released in August, and Joan McCarter, contributing editor at Daily Kos, will moderate. Author and blogger Dr. Jeffrey Feldman will facilitate questions from convention attendees and those submitted in advance from tens of thousands of blog readers.

Just announced: Howard Dean will be the keynote speaker at Thursday evening's kickoff event. Markos and Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) will provide the welcoming remarks that night. A reception will be held afterwards. Wesley Clark has also confirmed he'll be the keynote speaker on Friday morning.

In addition to the forum, the conference will include panels and caucuses led by national and international experts; prominent nationally recognized political, issue and policy-oriented speakers; a progressive film screening series; and the most concentrated gathering of high-profile progressive bloggers to date

Yearly Kos is entirely organized by volunteers who came up with the idea on their own last year. They had no idea how large and influential it would become. For more information or to register, visit the Yearly Kos Convention website.