Democracy for New Mexico

Obama, Clinton, Edwards, Dodd Agree to First Ever TV Debate on Gay Issues

A live, one hour presidential debate on August 9th in Los Angeles will focus on issues of importance to GLBT Americans and others who believe equality under the law is a central tenant of any real democracy. Sponsored by the LOGO TV network and the Human Rights Campaign, the first of its kind TV forum will be aired on LOGO at 7:00 PM Mountain Time, as well as streamed live at LOGOonline.com. Panelists will include Human Rights Campaign president Joe Solmonese and singer Melissa Etheridge, who will ask the presidential candidates questions on such issues as relationship recognition, marriage equality, workplace fairness, the military, hate crimes and HIV/AIDS. LOGO is broadcast on Channel 163 on Comcast cable in Albuquerque.

According to this story at 365Gay.com, "Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, John Edwards and Chris Dodd have confirmed they will participate. Several other Democratic candidates also may join the debate." No word yet on whether Gov. Bill Richardson will appear.

As a side note, Richardson is currently the focus of a story about his use of a negative Hispanic term for gayness during a joke sequence with Don Imus on one of his shows about a year ago. I certainly don't approve of Richardson using the term, but given his generally strong record of being supportive of the GLBT community, expect this story to fade fast. The Governor has issued an apology for using the word. I hope he makes it to the LOGO debate to demonstrate his continuing respect for the issues of the GLBT community.

Lady Bird Johnson: December 22, 1912 - July 11, 2007

Left, in 1926, with friend. Right, with Lyndon Baines Johnson in 1959.

Left, with Secretary of the Interior, Stewart Udall (father of Rep. Tom Udall of NM), at Grand Teton National Park, 1964. Right, with some of her beloved wildflowers, 1990. (Photos courtesy LBJ Library. Click on images for larger versions.)

Lady Bird Johnson passed away this afternoon at 94 years of age. She died at her Austin home of natural causes and she was surrounded by family and friends.

“The environment is where we all meet; where all have a mutual interest; it is the one thing all of us share. It is not only a mirror of ourselves, but a focusing lens on what we can become.” -- Lady Bird

The Austin Statesman has a special section on Lady Bird and her life. Tribute at LBJ Library site. New York Times obituary. PBS documentary with many resources.

Petraeus Advisor Rejects Domenici-Backed Iraq Plan

Think Progress reports:

Stephen Biddle, a senior defense policy analyst at the Council on Foreign Relations, cautions against adopting “a politically moderate ‘Plan B’ that would split the difference between surge and withdrawal.” Biddle, an adviser to Gen. Petraeus who has cautioned that escalation is “likelier to fail than succeed,” says the Iraq debate should put aside “popular centrist options” embodied in the Iraq Study Group recommendations.

Biddle writes that the ISG’s call to “shift the mission” of U.S. troops while maintaining an occupation of Iraq would cause even greater problems. “Without a major U.S. combat effort to keep the violence down, the American training effort would face challenges even bigger than those our troops are confronting today. ... It is unrealistic to expect that we can pull back to some safe yet productive mission of training but not fighting — this would be neither safe nor productive.” he writes. ... middle-ground options leave us with the worst of both worlds: continuing casualties but even less chance of stability in exchange.

Repub Senate leaders still insist they will filibuster even the flawed and toothless Iraq Study Group legislation sponsored by Salazar-Alexander that's backed by Sen. Pete Domenici, along with anything meaningful that the Dems propose. Their strategy is to delay passage of anything that addresses the realities of the quagmire occupation until that magic day in September when Gen. Patraeus is supposed to deliver his report on the success of the "surge." Southern New Mexico's Repub Rep. Steve Pearce has rejected Domenici's stance and is sticking with Bush 100%, as usual.

Democrats are expected to rally around a Levin-Reed sponsored amendment to the massive defense spending bill that sets a withdrawal date to begin 120 days after passage and end by April 30, 2008. Sen. Jeff Bingaman supports the bill, saying that "Salazar's plan lacks specific requirements for troop withdrawal."

Meanwhile, Congressional Quarterly that House Dems will proceed with a bill that will set withdrawal timelines in the hopes of encouraging Senators to pass similar legislation:

The House bill (HR 2956), sponsored by Armed Services Committee Chairman Ike Skelton, D-Mo., would require troops to begin withdrawing from Iraq within 120 days of enactment of the legislation. All troops would have to be redeployed from Iraq by April 1, 2008, with minor exceptions.

It's expected that Dem Rep. Tom Udal of Northern New Mexico will support Skelton's bill.

Yesterday, Bush said he would veto any defense spending bill that contained requirements for a withdrawal by “an arbitrary date.” I guess his arbitrary war full of arbitrary deaths doesn't bother him any. Close-minded zealots are like that.

Right On, Right On, Right On

Michael Moore riffing on the sins of Sanjay Gupta, CNN and the MSM. Gogogogogogogogo. Admit it -- you, yourself, have often yelled at the TV set with similar passion when Wolfie or another of the mocking bobbleheads is twisting reality to suit the overlords, haven't you? Gupta's review of Sicko that precipitated Moore's rant.

On the ever widening impeachment front, there's this. I hope they don't shoot it out of the sky. Nothing is impossible these days in the Bush-Cheney Land of a Thousand Nightmares.

Join Noted NM Activist and Rancher Tweeti Blancett for a Discussion on Oil and Gas Drilling in Santa Fe County

Editor's Note -- Background on this issue and the Blancetts: Here's some excellent material from Orion Magazine about the battle against irresponsible oil and gas drilling in New Mexico and other parts of the West. And here's a video in the fine Sierra Club Chronicles series about the Blancett's fight against the drillers on their ranch in Northwestern New Mexico and beyond.

Tweeti Blancett and her husband, Linn

From Drilling Santa Fe:
On Tuesday, July 17, 2007, from 6:30 PM to 8:30 PM, Tweeti Blancett, longtime activist and New Mexico rancher, will present her graphic story of the ravages of oil and gas exploration and production in the San Juan Basin. Join Tweeti at the El Dorado Community Center, 1 Hacienda Loop, Santa Fe. Admission is free. Click for flyer.

Oil and gas exploration and production have not been an issue in Santa Fe County since the '80s. As energy prices skyrocket and as federal environmental regulations ease, the situation is quickly changing. Tweeti will discuss these changes.

In 2006, an oil company leased the mineral rights to 64,000 acres of private lands between the villages of Galisteo and Cerillos. In March 2007, over 6,000 acres of state-owned mineral rights between the village of Galisteo and County Roads 44/45 were leased by oil and gas interests. Already, one 1980's well in the Galisteo watershed has been revisited with high-pressure injections of possibly toxic chemicals to get the high grade oil flowing. Applications for more wells are pending.

Most of the land in Santa Fe County is a "split-estate." This means that even though one owns the surface of the land, the mineral rights belong to someone else. In Santa Fe County that "someone else" is likely to be oil and gas interests that can invade property, bulldoze a large site, set up a pit and drill through the water table for oil and gas.

It is critical that the County protect Santa Fe's many natural resources and quality of life, enforce its existing regulations, and strengthen certain provisions to address oil and gas production. Oil companies are now arguing that less stringent State regulations preempt local regulations, but citizens in other areas of New Mexico have fought back against the influence of the oil and gas industry. Counties can protect residents, wildlife and water.

Tweeti Blancett has traveled tirelessly for years speaking to groups from Montana to Otero Mesa. She brings together ranchers and environmentalists with a common message -- protect our land and water. Encourage local governments to stand up to the threats of immensely powerful industries. It is time for the citizens of Santa Fe County to hear her message.

For more information on this event and the issue, visit https://drillingsantafe.blogspot.com/ and or email us at drillingsantafe@earthlink.net.

Heinrich Exceeds Fundraising Goal, Garners National Praise

Democratic Congressional candidate Martin Heinrich, who's running to replace Repub incumbent Heather Wilson in NM-01, announced that his campaign raised about $181,000 in the quarter that ended on June 30th. That's $31,000 more than the goal of $150,000 set by his campaign when he entered the race in April. Donations came from about 700 individuals in only nine weeks of fundraising. According to the campaign, about 71% of donations came from within New Mexico's first Congressional District, and about 88% from within the state.

As reported in a previous post, Heinrich's campaign was one of the top 20 online fundraisers at ActBlue, the Democratic netroots website. Donations to his campaign this quarter on ActBlue totaled more than $35,000, $800 of which was donated via Democracy for New Mexico's netroots page on the site.

According to an Albuquerque Tribune article:

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee says it is impressed with Martin Heinrich's quick start in raising money ... That's a good showing, a committee spokesman said. "We think he's a strong candidate," said Fernando Cuevas, Western regional press secretary for the DCCC.

An Albuquerque Journal article quotes Heinrich's reaction to the news:

"I am really humbled at the amount of support we've gotten in a short period of time," said Heinrich ... "We exceeded our goal for the quarter fairly substantially. I was trying to hit $150,000— and obviously we went past that ... I think this will be another top-tier race ..."

In a press release, Heinrich continued:

“The outpouring of grassroots energy I have witnessed since entering this race demonstrates to me that voters are ready for new leadership. As I have spoken with voters across this district, they have told me that they’re sick and tired of the failed policies of George Bush and Heather Wilson, and they’re ready to put our country back on the right track.”

To gain some perspective, recall that at this time two years ago, no Democratic candidate had yet announced a run for the NM-01 seat. The eventual Democratic contender, former Attorney General Patricia Madrid, didn't start raising money for the race until Octobe 2005.

Rep. Heather Wilson has until July 15th to report her fundraising totals for the second quarter to the Federal Election Commission. Her campaign raised more than $274,000 in the first quarter of 2007.

As of July 5th, the NM-01 race has another Dem contender in the form of attorney Jon Adams. has the details.

Note: Martin Heinrich will be the featured guest at our next DFA-Democracy for New Mexico Meetup set for Thursday, August 2nd, at 7:00 PM, at the Social Hall of the First Unitarian Church at Carlisle and Comanche in Albuquerque. He'll be speaking to the group about his campaign and taking questions and comments. To join the DFA-DFNM Meetup group and get on our email list, click here. We've been meeting since 2003, when the Meetup originated as Dean for America.

To check out our previous posts on the NM-01 race, visit our archive.

New Mexicans to Deliver Letter to Domenici and Wilson Urging They Take a Real Stand on Endless War in Iraq

From Americans Against Escalation in Iraq:
Constituent letter also requests town hall meeting as part of “Iraq Summer” Campaign

Constituents will hand deliver a letter to Senator Pete Domenici and Congresswoman Heather Wilson urging them to take a stand on President Bush’s reckless Iraq war policy. The letter also requests that they attend a town hall meeting on August 28th to explain their stance on Bush’s endless war.

WHO:    Sen. Pete Domenici, Rep. Heather Wilson
WHAT:  “Take a Stand” letter delivery
WHEN:   Wednesday, July 11, 2007
TIME:   11:00 AM (Wilson), 11:30 AM (Domenici)
WHERE:  Congresswoman Heather Wilson’s district office: 20 First Plaza NW, Suite  603,  Albuquerque, NM 87102; Senator Pete Domenici’s office: 201 3rd Street, Suite 710, Albuquerque, New Mexico 87102

If you can make it, come on down and join us and make your voices heard! Visit our website: .

RFK Jr. at Live Earth: See You On The Barricades

Audio (with photo) of RFK Jr. at Live Earth, Giants Stadium

The full text of Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s kickass speech at this past weekend's Live Earth can be found at BradBlog, along with non-MSN video to accompany the sound. If you can only find the time to pay attention to one aspect of Live Earth, RFK Jr.'s no holds barred rant is the one to check out. Talk about speaking truth to power. Changing light bulbs is good. Changing the very power structure that controls how policy is made is paramount -- in other words, a paradigm change. Please read or see or listen to the whole thing, but here are a few excerpts:

The most important thing you can do is to get involved in the political process and get rid of all of these rotten politicians that we have in Washington D.C. -- Who are nothing more than corporate toadies for companies like Exxon and Southern Company, these villainous companies that consistently put their private financial interest ahead of American interest and ahead of the interest of all of humanity. This is treason and we need to start treating them now as traitors.

... And I want you to remember this, that we are not protecting the environment for the sake of the fishes and the birds, we are protecting it because nature is the infrastructure of our communities. And if we want to meet our obligation as a generation, as a civilization, as a nation, which is to create communities for our children that provide them with the same opportunities for dignity, and enrichment, and good health, and prosperity, and stability as the communities that our parents gave us, we've got to start by protecting our environmental infrastructure.

The air we breathe, the water we drink, the wildlife, the public lands, the things that connect us to our past to our history that provide context to our communities and that are the source, ultimately, of our values and our virtues and our character as a people and the future of our children.

And I will see all of you on the barricades.

There's been a lot of negative punditry about Live Earth in the mainstream media and on the web. Yeah, I know, the concerts used significant amounts of energy, much of the music wasn't someone's cup of tea, nothing will come of it, there's nothing we can do. In my opinion there's way too much of that  "I'm too cool to watch something like this and I'm gonna prove it by mocking it in print" attitude, even from certain segments of the progressive community.

I beg to differ. It was what it was, but I think it had incredibly strong elements of activism and leadership and inspired musicianship behind it and within it and reaching outside it. Remember, as Al Gore said many times, this was the KICKOFF to a 3-year MOVEMENT, not just a single event. Thousands of people worked hard all over the globe to make it happen, to try and incite ordinary people to action. There were many musical and rhetorical gems, some of which I'll be posting later. And make no mistake about it -- the messages about the seriousness of our environmental emergency penetrated everyone who tuned in via TV, webstream or radio at some level. It's a start. We have to start somewhere. There is no time to waste.

As the Pranksters used to ask, "Are you on the bus (powered by biofueld) or off the bus? Sign the pledge now. Stop being cynical. It's no a longer a luxury we can afford.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. website

Global Warming: A Real Solution, an incredibly hopeful must-read article by RFK Jr. that originally appeared in the 06.18.07 edition of Rolling Stone.

AlGore.com

P.S. You can now watch video segments of all the performances and speeches on demand at the Live Earth website.

Don't Bite on Domenici's Cosmetic Makeover on Iraq

Sen. Pete Domenici's sudden pubilc acknowledgement that there are serious problems with the Bush-Cheney strategy being employed in Iraq is, of course, noteworthy. After all, he's been zealously supportive of the BushCo line since before the invasion of Iraq, and among the true believers who felt entirely comfortable casting critics of Bush and the war as terrorists-lite. If nothing else, his newfound concern represents his handlers' realization that any candidate who continues to support the debacle will be in serious jeopardy of being tossed out in 2008.

However, if you actually read the so-called "Iraq Study Group Recommendations Implementation Act" (S 1545) that  Domenici is now supporting, you'll encounter a myriad of obstacles to troop withdrawal rather than effective, binding ways to get it done. In reality, the legislation is designed to keep our troops on the ground in Iraq while appearing to do otherwise -- it's nothing more than another example of the toothless sleight of hand we've seen in the past. To understand just how false and misleading the Salazar-Alexander bill is, check the analysis by AMERICAblog.

Bottom line: the bill would "keep US troops in Iraq indefinitely. What's worse, they're claiming that the legislation implements the recommendations of the bipartisan Iraq Studgy Group, when in fact, the legislation codifies George Bush's current failed policies in Iraq ... Probably the most offensive thing about the legislation is that it outright calls for the continuation of the status quo policy of keeping US troops in Iraq until the day that Iraq is 100% ready to stand on its own - namely, never." More:

Specifically, the legislation buries a little nugget on page 18 of the bill. In a section entitled "Sense of Congress on Redeployment of United States Forces from Iraq," the legislation spells out the following preconditions to withdrawing US troops:

1. A massive list of suggested policies need to first be accomplished before the US withdraws. These include transferring the Iraqi National Police to the Ministry of Defense, reorganizing the Iraqi security forces, upgrading Iraq's police communications equipment, establishing courts, training judges, prosecutors and investigators, drafting oil legislation, implementing metering at the oil pipelines, reorganizing the entire Iraqi oil industry, and more. But that's not all that has to happen before our troops are permitted to withdraw from Iraq. Oh no. Read on.

2. Additional Iraqi brigades need to deployed. Meaning, the exact same policy we have now under George Bush. No withdrawal until the Iraqi security forces are up to par. And our military people on the ground in Iraq say this could take 40 to 50 years, if ever.

3. The eventual withdrawal of US forces is "subject to unexpected development in the security situation on the ground." Meaning, if things don't get better, we don't leave. That's the current policy. And things aren't getting better.

The legislation then says that if ALL of those things I listed above are met, THEN we can possibly consider to maybe redeploy some of the troops next spring, 2008.

Are they kidding?

Oh but that's not all. The legislation also says that the Iraq Study Group never ever said that we should actually withdraw from Iraq by next year. And put aside the fact that the entire legislation is written as a "sense of the Congress" - meaning, it has the same legal weight as National Ice Cream Day.

What we're really seeing is the formation of a cowardly coalition of fearful, "moderate" Dems and dishonest Repubs who want to appear to be doing something meaningful to end the Iraq occupation when they're really just into treading water and donning masks. We all know that's not nearly enough and that in order to gain support for REAL CHANGE in Iraq, bogus bills like Salazar-Alexander will have to be defeated. We see through you, Pete.

Education to be Focus of Next LWV Luncheon

From League of Women Voters, Albuquerque/Bernalillo County: Dr. Pauline Rindome, Director of the Legislative Education Action Committee (LESC), will be the keynote speaker at the League of Women Voter's July Luncheon Meeting. She will discuss issues in New Mexico's K-12 Public Education System. The luncheon will be held at the Wyndham Hotel, 2910 Yale Blvd SE, on Thursday, July, 12, 2007 at 11:45 AM. Reservations are required! Contact the Office (505) 884-8441, Monday - Thursday before Noon. For more information about the League visit, www.lwvabc.org.

CONTACT PERSONS: Carolyne DeVore-Parks, Public Relations Director (505)818-7974, carolynedp@msn.com; or Dick Mason, Health Care Chair, (505)994-0685, polirich@aol.com.