Democracy for New Mexico

(Updated) Palin's Religious Freak Show and The Press

Wish we had a candidate like this one on Biblical matters

Update: Turns out a Corrales resident asked Palin and McCain some questions during their short photo-op at El Pinto yesterday. AmericaBlog has their first-person account.
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I know we're all supposed to be locked into a contemplation on the types of salsa purchased by McCain and Palin at El Pinto in the North Valley yesterday, or pondering the deep meaning of Whitesnake music being played at the McCain-Palin rally at the Albuquerque Convention Center Saturday. I know that some in this town think Palin neighbor Anne Kilkenney's fair but critical piece About Sarah Palin is annoying, but I suggest reading it anyway if you haven't yet done so. However, I think it might be most useful to consider some of the excruciatingly odd religious connections that have shaped Palin's world views -- such as they are.

Consider her long-time and continuing associations with outliers in the Assemblies of God - Pentacostal - Dominionist - Joel's Army - Third Wave end-timer movement. Palin's religious connections aren't with your garden variety Christian fundamentalists, but with the truly extreme reaches of the Christian right. I won't regurgitate the info here. You can read it for yourself in this article (with video) on Alternet for starters. There's also this diary on Kos that provides a roadmap to the Dominionist underground and lots of helpful links. It's a tangled up, rapture-fueled, Christian Nation hullabaloo alright, and Palin is definitely hooked in. Scary stuff. But even worse ...

Do you think Charlie Gibson, who embarrassed himself so badly with his phenomenally weird questions and proselytizing at a couple of Dem prez primary debates, will delve into this aspect of Palin's political-world view when he's granted the very first "press" interview with Palin? Naw, he'll no doubt be lobbing her softball questions and hanging on her every word about the ins and outs of her mooseburger consumption and how she and McCain are "mavericks" who just happen to have supported almost every single Bushie policy position until they started positioning themselves to head the GOP ticket.

Remember when The Press saw its mission as puncturing propaganda so citizens would be privy to the truth? Now the majority of "journalists" seem to be just a photo-op seeking, soundbite collecting mob of celebrity groupies who avoid rocking the boat so they can keep their "access." Access meaning their first-row seats in the ambulance celebrity chasing squad where they are lured with promises of interviews that usually don't materialize. Thank goodness there are some "pushy" reporters still out there, like Peter St. Cyr, who risked the wrath of the powers that be by daring to ask Palin a question or two yesterday. Sure, they were innocuous start-up questions, but I know Peter would have gone deeper if he hadn't been ordered to stop by political handlers. I say hurrah for daring to go up to Palin and ask anything in this stifling environment. St. Cyr was the only one who got to Palin, and he's a radio reporter.

You can have just about every one of the local TV and print reporters here. I'll follow St. Cyr's audio blog and the ever-improving live reports by Matt at anyday before I delve into the dribble on our local TV news or in the Albuquerque Journal. I'll check on reports from writers like Marjorie Childress and Tracy Dingmann at the NMI blog before I'll take the word of any trad reporter on a story. The good news is that as the trad media collapses, the independent internet media improves.

One of the most revealing experiences I had at the Dem Convention in Denver was hanging out in the venue's bowels where press of all levels, including many members of the national TV media, were ensconsed. It was like watching fisherman throwing chum into the water to lure the sharks. Every so often a whispered rumor would sweep through the press corps about some maybe or maybe not chance to get a sound bite or a video clip from a politico. A long parade of journalists would start sprinting toward some designated portal, often with large entourages trailing. Often, the rumored chance for pouncing was just a fake out and the media folks would come shuffling back, dejected and destined to resume the long wait for anything to "happen," newswise. I could just picture the politicos' press people giggling at the cattle stampedes they could start with just a whisper of an opportunity to see a Very Important Politico in the flesh.

Watching the melodrama, it became very clear to me just how powerless the trad media has become in this era of controlled politico marketing-advertising-PR. No wonder the average voter is so uninformed and ready to swallow the latest BS whole. Can our democracy survive it? In November, we'll get a number of clues when the results come rolling in. Will ordinary Americans vote with the facts in hand or will they succumb completely to the propaganda onslaught? I'm not making any bets quite yet, but I'm getting more nervous by the day.

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RSVP for Energy Town Hall Meeting with T. Boone Pickens

I'm a little late on this announcement, probably because I'm less than enthusiastic about T. Boone Pickens and his motives. Somehow, it's hard for me to trust Pickens, who was one of the primary funders of the swiftboating of John Kerry and other nefarious efforts to smear Democrats. This Alternet article, called "Why T. Boone Pickens' 'Clean Energy' Plan Is a Ponzi Scheme," does a good job of delineating my other reasons for doubt. Yes, T. Boone is into wind farms these days, which is all to the good, but it helps to probe a little deeper to catch a glimpse of what he may really be up to, and why. Water and natural gas equal currency in Boone's world. Anyway, he's coming to town this week so you can take a measure of the man and his plan for yourself.

Please join T. Boone Pickens for an Energy Town Hall Meeting where he will discuss his plan and take questions from the audience:.

Wednesday, September 10th, 10:30 AM (Doors Open 9:30 AM)
No ticket required, open to the public
Limited seating available
RSVP reply to aliesharuiz@yahoo.com
Albuquerque Convention Center Ballroom, West Complex
Click for flyer

Learn How to Be an Effective Citizen Lobbyist

CITIZEN LOBBYIST WORKSHOP:
Sponsored by Working Families Win NM
Co-hosted by Carter Bundy, AFSCME; Richard Romero, UNM
Tuesday, September 9, 2008, 6:00 – 7:30 PM
UNM School of Law, Room 3406
(From Lomas & Girard, head North to Mountain. Proceed West on Mountain to Stanford. The Law school will be straight ahead to the right. ROOM 3406 upstairs, in the new Hart Wing on the West Side of the building.)

Come join two of the State’s most effective lobbyists & learn the basics to becoming a successful Citizen Lobbyist! Come raise your voice! Refreshments will be served.

Reception to Support State Senate Candidate Steve Fischmann

Here's another legislative race that demands our attention. Dem Steve Fischmann is challenging incumbent Repub Leonard Lee Rawson in Senate District 37 in Southern New Mexico. Rawson has one of the worst environmental records in the State Senate and has opposed ethics and health care reform. On legislation related to important issues like these, we're only a few votes away from passage. If we can pick up a small handful of seats in November, things can be very different when the Legislature meets next January. Think about it, and then we hope you'll give what you can afford to help Fischmann and other candidates like him.

From People to Elect Steve Fischmann: You are Cordially Invited For a Reception In Support of Steve Fischmann, Candidate for State Senate District 37

September 10, 2008, 5:30 - 7:00 PM
Luebben Johnson & Barnhouse LLP
7424 4th Street NW, Los Ranchos de Albuquerque

Hosts: AFSCME Council 18, Committee on Individual Responsibility, Conservation Voters New Mexico Action Fund, Senator Dede Feldman, Luebben Johnson & Barnhouse LLP, Plumbers & Pipefitters Local 412, Senator Michael Sanchez, Southwest Regional Council of Carpenters, Rep. Mimi Stewart

Sponsors: American Federation of Teachers, Rep. Joseph Cervantes, Rep. Joni Gutierrez, National Education Association - New Mexico Patrons, Rep. Gail Chasey, Senator Elect Eric Griego, Senator Cisco McSorley, NARAL Pro-Choice New Mexico

Suggested Contribution: Hosts - $1,000, Sponsors - $500, Patrons - $250, Guests - $50. Contributions can be made out and sent to: People to Elect Steve Fischmann Senator; PO Box 2580; Mesilla Park, NM 88047. RSVP to Steve Fitzer at (505) 270-4079 or sfitzer139@gmail.com

You can also donate via ActBlue.

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Guest Blog: Vote, Baby, Vote ... Are You Registered, Baby?

Rachel N. Rodriguez talks about her experience becoming a voter registrar today

This is a guest blog by Rachel N. Rodriguez of Albuquerque. Also see her previous guest blog about attending Friday's Michelle Obama rally at UNM.

By October 7 at 5 PM, anyone who wants to vote in the presidential election must be registered. That's the deadline -- just one very short month from tomorrow.

If you're wondering how you can help get Obama in the White House (as well as NM Dems in office), show up at the Nob Hill Obama office -- right there on the corner of Carlisle and Central -- at 10:45 AM next Saturday to get yourself "deputized" to register others to vote. It's ridiculously easy, and it's critically important!

I showed up this morning at the training, and by the time the County Clerk's representative showed up -- an hour late due to the fact that the earlier training at another office had 88 people attend! -- the office was overflowing with folks wanting to get deputized. The training was short and simple, and the paperwork easy and quick. A notary signed my paper and used her stamp, and I was done!

Obama Nob Hill campaign office today with people signing up to be voter registrars

Other things we can do to help:

1. Sign up to vote by mail. This is being pushed hard so we can beat the R's in voting by mail.


2. Encourage others to vote by mail.


3. Be part of the "99" program - talk to 99 people between now and the election about Obama (and NM Dems!)


4. Take an hour or two each week to volunteer at the Obama office -- calling folks on the phone, entering data, going door-to-door.


5. Call the Obama office at 425-0723 to get linked into the folks working in YOUR neighborhood to help put Obama in the White House.

And, if you are itching to donate stuff and money, they can use it. Phones are especially needed as an important "voter contact tool" -- if you have $125 burning a hole in your pocket, you can go to (or call) the Cricket store on Menaul and purchase a phone for the campaign to use.

Whatever you do, it will make a difference!

Rachel N. Rodriguez
rachelnrodriguez AT yahoo.com

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Sierra Club Weighs in on McCain Remarks on Energy at Albuquerque Rally

Note: Read the live blog at for more on the McCain-Palin appearance at the Albuquerque Convention Center last night (with photos). Also listen to Peter St. Cyr's audio of the short speeches by McCain and Palin.

Must Read: I just got this release from the Sierra Club NM Club NM and it tells the story so well, I'm going to publish it verbatim:

At a ‘Road to Victory’ rally in Albuquerque this evening, Senator John McCain advocated for the reprocessing of spent nuclear fuel as a way to deal with the tons of high-level nuclear waste accumulating at reactors around the country. However, he failed to mention America’s troubled past with reprocessing – namely, tanks of liquid waste that are corroding and threatening nearby bodies of water (Columbia and Savannah Rivers as well as Snake River Aquifer). McCain also neglected to mention that France and the UK simply pipe their liquid wastes from reprocessing directly into the North and Irish seas to the ire of neighboring countries, and that reprocessing has not significantly reduced the need for a deep geological repository (Institute for Energy & Environmental Research, www.ieer.org/fctsheet/repro-intl.html).

McCain also advocated for greater solar power production, but failed to mention that he did not show up to any of the eight votes held this year on extending clean energy tax credits. About 2,000 construction jobs with the Solana concentrating solar project in McCain’s home state of Arizona are on hold as a result. Similarly, McCain’s opposition to a national Renewable Electricity Standard has cost New Mexicans at least 2,800 new jobs in the solar and wind industries, $200 million in lower electricity and natural gas bills by 2020 (growing to nearly $400 million by 2030), and another $100 million in income to farmers, ranchers, and rural landowners (Union of Concerned Scientists, Cashing in on Clean Energy in New Mexico).

Statement of Shrayas Jatkar, Sierra Club NM

“Despite efforts to claim that they are mavericks and agents of change, the McCain/Palin campaign continues to simply reach for the costly and dirty energy policies of the past.”

“It is highly irresponsible for the McCain/Palin campaign to advocate for the reprocessing of spent fuel when we have not yet dealt with the wastes generated by reprocessing in the past. New Mexicans defeated in 2007 a Bush Administration scheme to resume reprocessing - which listed two sites in southeastern New Mexico as potential hosts for a reprocessing plant – because no community can afford to sacrifice its public health and water sources for a dangerous, dirty, and costly technology.”

“The McCain/Palin campaign must stop misleading voters about their supposed support for clean energy development. Their voting record clearly shows a failure to stand up for the solar and wind industries – and the hundreds of thousands of workers in those industries – when it truly counts.”

Want to learn more facts about John McCain and his real views? Visit JustMoreoftheSame.com.

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NM-01: Martin Heinrich Going 100 Miles an Hour

Mary Ellen happened to run into NM-01 Congressional candidate Martin Heinrich today as she was visiting the Obama campaign office at Central and Carlisle and he stopped to fill us in on how his campaign's going with 58 days until the election. As he says, "If we turn out this year we're gonna turn New Mexico Blue -- top to bottom and North to South -- and it's all up to YOU."

Click to visit the Heinrich campaign's Voting Center where you can request a voter registration form, see if you're already registered to vote and get all the info you need on voting. You can vote by mail, you can vote early or you can vote on election day, Tuesday, November 4th.

THE LAST DAY TO REGISTER TO VOTE IN THE PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION IS TUESDAY, OCTOBER 7TH! If you're not registered, start the process NOW.

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Barack Obama to Visit Northern New Mexico September 18th

Obama at Pepsi Center: change from the bottom up, not the top down (better quality here)

Note: See my later post more information.
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The Obama campaign announced that Barack will make his fifth visit to New Mexico, hosting an event in Northern New Mexico on September 18th. More details will be released when they become available.

NM-02: Cheney to Stump for Tinsley at Hobbs Fundraiser

According to an AP story, VP Dick Cheney, who did not attend the GOP convention in St. Paul and whose name was never mentioned formally there, will attend a fundraiser for Ed Tinsley on September 26th in Hobbs. Hobbs is the hometown of Tinsley's Dem rival, Harry Teague. No further details were immediately available on the fundraiser.

"The vice president intends to work hard this cycle to return a Republican majority to Congress and he is looking forward to returning to New Mexico," Cheney spokesman Jamie Hennigan said.

Dick has his work cut out for him on that count, don't you think? Odd, too, that in a year when the GOP prez and VP candidates are trying to convince voters they're running to "change Washington" and throw out the crooked "do-nothing" bums who have been running things, one of the most notorious bums is coming to New Mexico to boost Tinsley (left). Of course they don't want to send the incredibly unpopular Bush to stump for GOP candidates, but I wonder why they think the venal Cheney is any better.

Why, just the other day one of Cheney's cronies at Halliburton plead guilty to bribery:

A former colleague of the US Vice-President, Dick Cheney, has pleaded guilty to funnelling millions of dollars in bribes to win lucrative contracts in Nigeria for Halliburton, during the period in the Nineties when Mr Cheney ran the giant oil and gas services company.

Albert Stanley, who was appointed by Mr Cheney as chief executive of Halliburton's subsidiary KBR, admitted using a north London lawyer to channel payments to Nigerian officials as part of a bribery scheme that landed some $6bn of work in the country over a decade.

The guilty plea, announced yesterday, came after a four-year investigation by US attorneys and threatens to stir up old controversies just as eyes are trained on the Republican party convention. Mr Cheney, who pulled out of an address to the convention because of Hurricane Gustav earlier this week, led Halliburton from 1995 until returning to government in 2000. He had previously been Defence Secretary under the first President George Bush, and the links with Halliburton have been a constant thorn in the side of the current administration as the company has gone on to win billions of dollars of contracts in Iraq and other US military spheres.

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Join Hector Balderas for Sign-Making Party Tonight; Change Not More of the Same Rally Tomorrow

The Democratic Party of New Mexico announced that State Auditor Hector Balderas, the country's youngest Hispanic Statewide elected official, will be joined by University of New Mexico students and other young Democrats tonight to make signs for the "Change, Not More of The Same" Rally tomorrow with New Mexico Women Legislators. Come on down to DPNM headquarters, 1301 San Pedro NE, tonight at 6:30 PM to join in.

This election cycle has energized young people to get involved more than ever in the political process. For many, this is the first time they've engaged in politics. Tonight's sign-making party is meant to help them organize and mobilize for tomorrow's rally:

Please Join Democratic Women Legislators
State Senator Linda Lopez
State Senator Dede Feldman
City Councilwoman Debbie O’Malley
For a Rally and Press Conference

Let’s Show the McCain-Palin ticket that New Mexico
wants change, not more of the same!

Saturday, September 6th at 4:00 PM
Civic Plaza – 3rd and Tijeras NW; ABQ
Click for Flyer (pdf) - Pass It On