Democracy for New Mexico

Readings from 'Veterans of War, Veterans of Peace' Set for 12/1 at Pojoaque Pueblo

From Koa Books:
Tomorrow night , Friday December 1, at 7 PM, at the Roxane Swentzell Tower Gallery in Pojoaque Pueblo, eight miles north of Santa Fe, Lee Swenson and Doug Zachary will be reading from a new collection of writings gathered by National Book Award winner Maxine Hong Kingston, entitled Veterans of War, Veterans of Peace.

For 15 years, Maxine has been leading writing and meditation worships for veterans and their families. The harvest of their creative, redemptive storytelling -- nonfiction, fiction, and poetry -- was published this month by Koa Books. Hearing the words of these veterans of war and peace, we witness worlds being torn apart and rebuilt.

Lee Swenson was director of the Institute for the Study of Nonviolence in Palo Alto. Doug Zachary, a Marine from 1968-1970, is national fundraiser for Veterans for Peace. Please join Lee and Doug for this free event, open to the public. Copies of Veterans of War, Veterans of Peace will be available for purchase.

Directions from Santa Fe: Drive North on Highway 285 for 15.2 miles. Upon arriving at Pojoaque, turn right at the second stop light. Make another immediate right turn on Cities of Gold Road. The Roxanne Swentzell Tower Gallery will be to the left in the large (45-foot high) adobe tower.

For more information about the reading, call the Gallery at 505-455-3037. For more information about the book, visit www.vetsofwarvetsofpeace.org.

Note: The ads in Pasa Tiempo say the reading starts at 6 PM. The correct time is 7:00 PM.

Aloha,
Arnie Kotler, Koa Books
PO Box 822
Kihei, Hawai'i 96753
www.koabooks.com

Michael Weinstein to Discuss 'With God On Our Side' at Page One

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“With God on Our Side is the story of one man’s willingness to stand up for the Constitution of the United States. Arrayed against Mikey Weinstein are those who would transform the United States military, our most revered institution, into a force of evangelical crusaders, intolerant of the diversity of our society and willfully subversive of our national security interests. It is an important call to arms for all who love our country and the principles for which it stands.” —Ambassador Joseph C. Wilson IV, author of The Politics of Truth

“U.S. Air Force Academy graduate Mikey Weinstein’s struggle to keep his beloved school—and the U.S. military—a secular institution has meaning for all of us. Wherever you are on America’s religious and political spectrums, you’ll find With God on Our Side a challenging and provocative read.” —Ray Suarez, author of The Holy Vote: The Politics of Faith in America, and senior correspondent, The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer

“No one I know is more willing than Mikey Weinstein to take on such a tough, unpopular issue that goes to the very heart of one of our nation’s most important and long cherished principles. Read this book to understand why we should all share Mikey’s concern.” —Robert T. Herres, General, USAF (Retired), former vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff

The book's inside flap has this to say:

"One of the most elite educational institutions in the world, the Air Force Academy has, from its inception, attracted the best and the brightest, producing leaders not only in the military but throughout American society.

"In recent years, however, the Academy has also been producing a cadre of zealous evangelical Christians intent on creating a fundamentalist power base at the highest levels of our country.

"With God on Our Side is shocking exposé of life inside the United States Air Force Academy and the systematic program of indoctrination sanctioned, coordinated, and carried out by fundamentalist Christians within the U.S. military.

"It is also the story of Michael L. Weinstein, a proud Academy graduate and the father of two graduates and a current cadet, who single-handedly brought to light the evangelicals’ utter disregard of the constitutional principle of separation of church and state that is so essential to the nation’s military mission. Weinstein’s war would pit him and his small band of fellow graduates, cadets, and concerned citizens against a program of Christian fundamentalist indoctrination that could transform our fighting men and women into “right-thinking” warriors more befitting a theocracy. In the process, he would come face to face with religious bigotry and at its most extreme and fight an unrelenting battle to save his beloved Academy, the ideals it stood for, and the very future of the country.

"An important book at a critical time in our nation’s history, With God on Our Side is the story of one man’s courageous struggle to thwart a creeping evangelism permeating America’s military and to prevent a taxpayer-funded theocracy in which only the true believers have power."

Click to read more about Weinstein. The goals and activities of the organization he founded to confront the military on its religious intolerance are discussed at the website of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation.

Bookworks Hosts Local Author Bookfair

From :
Time: Sunday, August 27, 2006 from 3:00 – 5:00 PM
Title of Event: Local Author Book Fair
Location: Bookworks, 4022 Rio Grande NW, Albuquerque

Come out to Bookworks to meet some of the most interesting authors living in New Mexico. We will have numerous talented authors here with their books, to give you a chance to learn about some new books and meet new people! The authors in attendance will include the following:

• Margaret Nava with Remembering: A Guide to New Mexico Cemeteries, Monuments, and Memorials and Along the High Road: A Guide to the Scenic Route Between Espanola and Taos
• Ray Michael Baca with Brotherhood of the Light: The Penitentes and Crypto-Jews of New Mexico
• Leigh Michaels with The Last Amazon Book One: Seadragon - a fabulous young adult novel
• Don Bullis with Bull's Eye
• Pamela Smith and Richard Polese with Passions in Print: Private Press Artistry in New Mexico, 1834-Present
• Joan McIver Gibson and Mark Bennett with A Field Guide to Good Decisions: Values in Action
• Richard McCord with The Other State: New Mexico, USA
• Tom Hughes and Meredith Sayles Hughes of The FOOD Museum with Gastronomie: Food Museums and Heritage Sites of France
• Dick Heath with Dear Parents: Twenty Years of Letters from a Seasoned Headmaster

Editor's Note: See the entry in bold. Tom and Meredith were known as Foodies for Dean back in the day. I'm sure many of our DFA-DFNM Meetup members will remember them. Go say hi, and buy their book!

DCCC Plans Big Ad Buy in NM, Elsewhere

According to an AP story published yesterday, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Commitee (DCCC) plans to spend at least $30 million in ad buys in approximately 24 congressional districts across the nation. One of those will be New Mexico's CD-1, where Dem Patricia Madrid is challenging incumbent Republican Heather Wilson:

Based on information available to date, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee intends to air ads for eight weeks in an attempt to defeat Rep. Heather Wilson of New Mexico.

The DCCC must operate independent of the candidate campaigns, and their advertising is not approved by the candidates. However, it can have a powerful impact on local races. For a change, the DCCC has more money than its Republican counterpart:

The DCCC reported this week it had $32 million in the bank as of June 30, compared with $18.4 at the same point two years ago. The NRCC reported slightly $26.5 million cash on hand as of June 30.

Democrats need a net change of 15 seats to take back the U.S. House of Representatives. With the DCCC planning to advertise heavily in more than two dozen districts, there appear to be enough competitive seats to allow for a possible Dem takeover of the House come November.

A reports that the campaigns of Democratic challengers are also raising funds at a record pace:

Specifically, Democrats dominate the list of the — those candidates who are seeking to unseat incumbents of the other party — according to a CQPolitics.com review.

Madrid 4th on House Challenger List for Fundraising
In CQ's chart listing 50 House challenger candidates that reported the most cash-on-hand as of June 30th, the campaign of New Mexico's Patricia Madrid came in fourth, with $1,258,845. In the second quarter of 2006 alone, the Madrid campaign raised $684,402. They've raised a recordbreaking total of $1.8 million, more than twice the amount Richard Romero had raised by the same point in his 2004 campaign and nearly four times more than he raised in 2002. And they've done it without the benefit of a $375,000 donation dump like the one Heather Wilson received from President Bush's Albuquerque fundraiser.

It seems clear we'll have enough money to compete in many races across the nation. The question is, will our candidates have the passion, conviction and courage to run the kinds of races we need to turn out large numbers of voters enthusiastic about supporting Dem candidates. Money alone can't bring victory, but it's a start.

Surprises From the Past

'1491': Ken Wright has a thought-provoking review of the book '1491' over at NewWest. He calls his piece 'Out With the Old New World, and in With the New Old World.' The title is descriptive of the surprising, even shocking, revelations and theories being produced by recent archaeological, anthropological and other scientific research about the state of the environments and civilizations of the Americas before the arrival of Columbus. In a nutshell: civilizations much more advanced than originally thought; environments heavily managed by natives in creative and sustainable manners; all massively impacted by a widespread epidemic of germs from the Old World that preceded most of the European arrivals by many years. (Above, reconstruction of the Native American city of Cahokia near present-day St. Louis, c. 1250 AD.)

Unseen Photos: I also recently took some time to study dozens of produced by photographers for the Birmingham News of Alabama during the early days of the civil rights movement. These often moving depictions of racial and civil rights battles from 1956-65 didn't see the light of day until February of this year. In all, the negatives of five thousand unpublished photos stashed in a closet for decades were discovered in 2004 by an intern at the newpaper. Many of the photographs were reportedly suppressed by the paper in an effort to cover up embarrassing truths about the city’s race relations:

Why weren't more of the photos published 40 or 50 years ago?

"It was difficult for people to see," said Horace Huntley, director of oral history at the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute and professor of history at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. "People were embarrassed by it. The city fathers were embarrassed by it."

The National Press Photographers Association provides more background on the found photos along with similar finds elsewhere.

Investigative Journalist Greg Palast to be in Albuquerque 6/17

This is an important chance for New Mexicans to hear directly from Greg Palast. Please pass this information to your friends and your networks. Democracy for New Mexico is one of the community sponsors for this event, along with the Albuquerque Center for Peace & Justice, KUNM-FM, the League of Independent Voters and Voter Action.

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On June 17 investigative journalist Greg Palast is coming to Albuquerque to promote ARMED MADHOUSE, the long-anticipated follow-up to his bestseller The Best Democracy Money Can Buy.

ARMED MADHOUSE goes on sale June 6 at local bookstores, but can be ordered now at Bookworks (344-8139), or online through Amazon or www.GregPalast.com. It can be read non-sequentially, so readers can browse the table of contents to find new information Greg has uncovered about issues that concern them most, whether it is Iraq, domestic disasters (from Katrina to Social Security to the national debt), globalization or voter fraud and theft.   

Greg will give a talk and sign books in Albuquerque (his only New Mexico stop) on Saturday, June 17, 2006, 7 PM, St. John’s Episcopal Cathedral, 318 Silver Avenue, SW. Tickets are the price of one book ($25.95 plus tax) purchased from Bookworks by phone or in person. Ticket/book purchasers can buy a companion ticket for $10—which can be used for a $5 discount on the book at the event only.

BOOKSTORE SPONSOR: Bookworks, 4022 Rio Grande Blvd. NW, Albuquerque, NM 87107   PHONE: 505-344-8139

COMMUNITY SPONSORS: ; Democracy for New Mexico; KUNM-FM; League of Independent Voters; Voter Action

ARMED MADHOUSE uncovers even more stories Americans won't hear on their Fox-i-fied news channels:

• the titanic battle between neo-cons and Big Oil, and Ground Zero as a profit center
• the 3 million ballots that weren’t counted in 2004 and Republicans’ caging lists, felons of the future, rotting ballots, the undead, and more tricks on voters
• how much money floated in from the busted New Orleans’ levees and where it landed
• how Bush is planning to have China save our Social Security system
• the truth about globalization, from the vaults of the IMF, the World Bank, and the WTO
• and, the coming assassination of Hugo Chavez

"I am reading the book. I consider myself to be ‘well informed’ about the War on Iraq. Everyone knows about the oil, but I didn't know that US corporations are also stealing food from the Iraqis. I am so furious, I am practically shaking. Everyone should read this book."   --Barbara Grothus

Note: Greg Palast was here in May of last year, and held an fundraiser for Voter Action's New Mexico voter lawsuit. Click to check out photo album of the event.

Greg's Bio (pdf).

Upcoming Governor Richardson Book Signing Events 12/10

From Meredith Dixon:
If you missed the recent book signing at BookWorks for Between Worlds: The Making of an American Life with Governor Bill Richardson you can join the Governor this Saturday, December 10th and have your book signed!

When: Saturday, December 10, 2005, 10:00 AM-11:00 AM
Location:  UNM Bookstore, 2301 Central NE

When: Saturday, December 10, 2005 12:00 PM-1:30 PM
Location:  Borders, 10420 Coors Bypass NW

We hope to see you there! If you have questions call 505-828-2455

Sign Up for Training as a Lakoff Workshop Facilitator

From Janet Resnick:
I am inviting people interested in becoming George Lakoff workshop facilitators to a training for facilitators on Saturday, Aug 20th, from 11 AM - 3 PM (brown bag lunch) and a followup session on Wednesday evening, Aug 24th, from 6 - 8 PM.

For more information or to sign up, contact me at jrez@hotmail.com or call my cell at 505-350-4281. I will then provide you with directions to the meeting location in Albuquerque.
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Editor's Note: If you attended one of Janet's workshops on George Lakoff's framing techniques presented in conjunction with our DFA-DFNM Albuquerque Meetup, up in Santa Fe or elsewhere, you know what an excellent experience they are. With so many requests for additional workshops, Janet has decided to train people to hold their own workshops here and around the state. Highly recommended!

And if you don't know about Democratic strategist George Lakoff and his important work on framing issues to our advantage, you should. Here's a few links where you can learn about Lakoff's work and his best-selling books:

Rockridge Institute

Don't Think of an Elephant by George Lakoff: The essential guide for progressives, this book is the antidote to the last forty years of conservative dominance of the national public policy debate.

Wikipedia on Lakoff

New Book: Rebuilding the Democratic Party from the Grassroots

Rebuilding the Democratic Party from the Grassroots: The Ultimate Guidebook For Democrats

This book is hot off the press and has just hit the shelves!

Following the presidential election of 2004, many believed the Democratic Party had reached the lowest point in its history. Rebuilding the Democratic Party from the Grassroots offers a definitive blueprint for reversing that course and returning the Democratic Party to its roots and its core values. Authors Drucilla Badurina and Shawn O’Donnell seek to restore the Democratic Party to the party for the average American and the traditional party for a new century.

With its candid, flowing style, Rebuilding the Democratic Party from the Grassroots explains how John Kerry, the last Democratic presidential candidate, lost the national election. It also illustrates campaign realities with in-depth examples of what actually happened, proposes solutions for bottom-up election reform, and offers a specific plan to reinvent and reinvigorate the Democratic Party.

Shawn O'Donnell is a regular contributor to Root Camp and Rebuilding the Democratic Party from the Grassrooots is the ultimate guidebook for taking the Democratic Party back to its future, back to its values, and back to the people.

From Taking Root™, a semi-monthly newsletter by Grassroots for America. Click to subscribe (free).

Creativity is an American Value

For weekend pondering: Since there is so much talk about "values" and "morals" these days, and how Republicans allegedly have cornered the market on them, I think it's satisfying to remember that creativity is also a value, and that "our side" has alot of that. Here's one example.

In Book of Qualities, artist J. Ruth Gendler describes many qualities as if they were people, some of whom know each other. A few of them:

Patience: Patience wears my grandmother's filigree earrings. She bakes marvelous dark bread. She has beautiful hands. She carries great sacks of peace and purses filled with small treasures. You don't notice Patience right away in a crowd, but suddenly you see her all at once, and then she is so beautiful you wonder why you never saw her before.

Courage: Courage has roots. She sleeps on a futon on the floor and lives close to the ground. Courage looks you straight in the eye. She is not impressed with powertrippers, and she knows first aid. Courage is not afraid to weep and she is not afraid to pray, even when she is not sure who she is praying to. When Courage walks, it is clear that she has made the journey from loneliness to solitude. The people who told me she is stern were not lying; they just forgot to mention that she is kind.

Greed: Greed is lonely and impulsive. He eats his food quickly and can't remember what it tastes like. He wants to make things stand still so he can understand, but he is always running somewhere himself. He was very cold as a child, and he still fears that he will never be warm enough.

Greed is a tyrannical boss. He needs a reason for everything. He used to disguise his temper with a thin layer of politeness. Since he has become rich and famous, he doesn't bother with amenities. He masks his fear of women with contempt. He exports nightmares on the international commodities market, an advertising executive turned pornographer of the soul.

Honesty: Honesty is the most vulnerable man I have ever met. He is simple and loving. He lives in a small town on a cliff near the beach. I had forgotten how many stars there are in the midnight sky until I spent a week with him at his house by the sea. (Thanks to Atrios' Eschaton blog.)

A few more from Gendler's website:

Stillness will meet you for tea or a walk by the ocean. She is more sensitive than we can even imagine and she does not explain herself much. Her favorite time is dawn. (Image above is "Stillness" by J. Ruth Gendler.)

Excitement wears orange socks. Despair papered her bathroom walls with newspaper articles about acid rain. Joy drinks pure water.