Democracy for New Mexico

The Creation of Gannon

If you've been following the blog-fueled story about White House correspondent slash male prostitute Jeff Gannon and his night life is the right life faux-Marine selling points, you might enjoy this:

Thank billmon over at The Whiskey Bar for this one. If you visit you can see an even bigger image of The Creation of Gannon. And if you haven't yet caught up on the Jeff Gannon, pseudo-reporter story, head over to AmericaBlog and start at the bottom. No kids allowed. Whew. I wonder if he's a friend of Rove or just McClellan? And I wonder how the mainstream media would be covering this if it was Clinton's White House where this was happening.

4,500 Roses for Boxer (and Vets)

Bloggers from Daily Kos and elsewhere got together and donated to purchase 4,500 roses for Senator Barbara Boxer to thank her for her strong leadership and courage in challenging the election results and the nominations of Condoleezza Rice and Alberto Gonzales.

Quite a Valentine's Day image, isn't it? Boxer then sent the roses to veterans at Bethesda Naval Hospital and Walter Reed Army Medical Center so that they could share in the Valentine's Day cheer.

Read Senator Boxer's thank you post on Daily Kos.

ROUNDUP: Gay Marriage and Domestic Partnership Bills

In honor of equality day (and Valentine's Day) at the NM Legislature, here's a rundown of so-called "defense of marriage" and domestic partnership bills.

HB445: MARRIAGE DEFINED
Sponsor: Gloria C. Vaughn
Track this bill.

According to Equality New Mexico this is an incredibly bad bill: HB 445 is an Omnibus Discrimination Act

The "Defense of Marriage" bill introduced on January 25, HB 445, is a "Super DOMA" that denies gay and lesbian families benefits, protections, and rights in almost every area of life. Click here to read this bill.

The core of the bill is the proposal that "a marriage between persons of the same sex, or any right or claim arising from their relationship, shall not be valid, binding, or enforceable in New Mexico. This "Super DOMA" does not "protect" marriage: it blatantly discriminating against gay and lesbian families and individuals.

If passed, provisions of the bill would:

Impose a fine on clergy for performing same-sex marriages with valid marriage licenses from states and nations (which violates separation of church and state).

Fine clergy for performing same-sex unions as "a right and claim arising from their relationship" (which violates free exercise of religious practice).

Fine gay and lesbian couples for marrying in other states and nations.

Render illegal entire bodies of sovereign law of other states and nations (e.g. Massachusetts, Vermont, California, Canada, Netherlands, Belgium, Sweden, France, Britain, Germany, Spain).

Make all domestic partnership benefits illegal, even if they are offered by large or small private corporations that use domestic partner benefits to attract skilled workers.

Make unlawful "any right or claim arising from their relationship" (e.g. all legal agreements drawn up by gay and lesbian couples to protect each other and their families; currently in NM these are the only protections available to gay and lesbian families' wills, documents of ownership, and other contracts and agreements).

Define civil contracts as the exclusive domain of heterosexual, married New Mexicans, thereby excluding all gay and lesbian couples from benefits and protections inside or outside marriage.

HB 445 is misleading: before similar "super DOMAs" passed into law in Ohio, Virginia, and Michigan, bill sponsors stated the bill would not be used to interfere with private contracts. Within days of passage, however, bill sponsors began dismantling domestic partnership benefits and other legal contracts. Please contact your state senator or representative to let them know DOMA DISCRIMINATES.

HB 445 will be heard in the House Consumer & Public Affairs Committee and the House Judiciary Committee.
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SB576: DOMESTIC PARTNER RIGHTS & RESPONSIBILITY ACT
Sponsor: Cisco McSorley
Track this bill.

A terrific bill, SB 576 is a comprehensive, statewide, domestic partnership, benefits bill for unmarried couples, regardless of sexual orientation. This bill will offer many of the rights, benefits, and protections that legally recognized families enjoy today. Click here to read this bill.

SB 576 will be heard in three committees: Senate Public Affairs, Senate Judiciary, and Senate Finance.
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SB597: RELATING TO MARRIAGE; PROVIDING FOR CONTEMPLATION OF MARRIAGE AS A CIVIL CONTRACT BETWEEN A MAN AND A WOMAN.
Sponsor: William E. Sharer
Track this bill.

SB 597 is regarded as a “Simple DOMA” and it states, “Marriage is contemplated by the law as a civil contract between a man and a woman for which the content of the contracting parties, capable in law of contracting, is essential.” The Senate has only 42 senators and this bill has 29 co-sponsors of which 11 are democrats. Click here to read this bill.

SB 597 will be heard in two committees: Senate Public Affairs and Senate Judiciary.
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HB86: RELATING TO INSURANCE; DEFINING DOMESTIC PARTNER BENEFITS; AMENDING AND ENACTING SECTIONS OF THE NMSA 1978.
Sponsor: Mimi Stewart
Track this bill.

HB 86 requires that insurance companies offer domestic partner benefits to any New Mexican employer who requests the benefits. Currently, most large employers usually do not have trouble with domestic partner benefits but smaller employers with fewer employees often are told that the insurance company does not provide that benefit. A similar bill passed the House 2 years ago but died in the Senate due to lack of time. Click here to read this bill.

HB 86 passed the Consumer and Public Affairs Committee and is currently in the House Business & Industry Committee.
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SB340: RELATING TO RETIREMENT; AMENDING THE RETIREE HEALTH CARE ACT
Sponsor: John T.L. Grubesic
Track this bill.

SB340 proposes amending the Retiree Health Care Act and was introduced for New Mexico State employees who have retired. In 2003, Governor Bill Richardson signed an executive order creating domestic partnerships for New Mexico State employees, regardless of sexual orientation. The New Mexico State insurance companies are denying benefits to partners of retired state employees. This bill will clarify that domestic partnership benefits apply to retirement. Click here read this bill.

SB 340 will be heard in the Senate Public Affairs Committee and the Senate Judiciary Committee.
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Equality New Mexico provides an easy way to contact your legislator regarding Defense of Marriage Act bills. Thanks to EQNM for the descriptions of these bills.

UPDATE: NM Election Reform Bills

On Tuesday, February 15th, the House Voters and Elections Committee at the NM Legislature will review a number of election reform bills that may include the Republican voter ID bill. The Committee meets at 8:30 AM in Room 305 at the Roundhouse. If you'd like to contact members of this Committee to comment on these bills, click here. A list of the bills is here. You can read copies of the bills and track them here. And of course you are encouraged to visit the committee meeting in Santa Fe.

On Wednesday, February 16, members of DFNM and NM Democratic Friends will be attending the Senate Rules Committee chaired by Sen. Linda Lopez in Room 321 at 8:30 AM as it continues its review of Senate Bills SB40 (Duran-R) and SB718 (Ortiz y Pino-D). Janet Reznick of DFNM is leading this trip and Terry Riley of NMDF is coordinating car pooling. Please contact them for more information or to sign up for the trip. Email Terry at Terryactivist@aol.com and Janet at jrez@comcast.net. The carpools will be leaving Albuquerque at 6:30 AM. You can find committee members and agendas for this committee here. Check out the recent post by Janet Reznick on this effort here.

Sometime this week, it's anticipated that Sen. Cisco McSorley will introduce a bill drafted at the request of Sonja Elison and Clo Barnaby that includes many of our most important reforms, including a requirement that voting machines provide a voter verified paper ballot. Watch for an action alert on this bill, which is expected to be introduced in the Senate Judiciary Committee.

The main NM Legislature page that links to bills, committees, agendas and more is at https://legis.state.nm.us/lcs/. There's link to this on the right-hand sidebar of our website, near the top.

So Is Heather For or Against Bush's Social Security Plan?

Josh Marshall at Talking Points Memo has been doing a terrific job of pushing members of Congress to go on the record about their positions on Bush's proposed Social Security destruction. He's been providing almost daily coverage of the meandering linguistic trails politicos often create to hide their real views from the citizenry.

Trying to track down what Rep. Heather Wilson (R-NM) believes about Bush's plans has been a hard row to hoe. Follow the yellow brick road here. I wonder why she and her staff seem so reticent to detail her position on privatization? I wonder.

If you'd like to ask Heather the same questions posed by Josh Marshall, here is her contact info:

In Washington DC
318 Cannon House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515
202-225-6316 phone
202-225-4975 fax

In Albuquerque
20 First Plaza NW
Suite 603
Albuquerque, NM 87102
505-346-6781 phone
505-346-6723 fax

Email form at her website: https://wilson.house.gov/

Local Rabbi Discusses DOMA Thursday Morning on KUNM

It is so heartening to realize that many religious leaders and members are on the side of inclusion and diversity. Here's one of them.

From Rabbi Joseph R. Black, passed along by Patricia Lee:
I wanted to let you know that I will be appearing on the KUNM (89.9) call-in program tomorrow (Thursday) morning from 8:00 - 9:00 AM. The topic will be the so-called "Defense of Marriage Act" that is currently being introduced into the New Mexico legislature. DOMA is a bill that would define marriage as being between men and women only. I will be representing New Mexico R.A.I.N. (the Religious Alliance for Inclusion and Non-Discrimination).

I also want to remind you of two upcoming events that address this topic:

1. The R.A.I.N. forum that will be taking place tomorrow (Thursday) evening at 7:00 in our sanctuary.
2. This Sunday, the Brotherhood and Sisterhood will be hosting a joint breakfast forum on the topic of Gay Marriage.

B'shalom,
Rabbi Joseph R. Black
Email: Rabbi@CongregationAlbert.org

Visit Congregation Albert On-Line at https://www.CongregationAlbert.org
Congregation Albert
3800 Louisiana Boulevard NE
Albuquerque, NM 87110
Phone: 505-883-1818
Fax: 505-883-1814

Jugular Cuts

According to David Corn at The Nation:

Senator Jim Jeffords, the Republican-turned-independent from Vermont, put out a short list of the worst of Bush's proposed cuts. Here it is:

* Environment. Cuts the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) budget by 5.6 percent from $8.02 billion to $7.57 billion, culminating in an almost 10 percent cut over two years. Most cuts come in efforts to maintain and improve the nation's clean water infrastructure.

* Veterans. More than doubles the co-payment charged to many veterans for prescription drugs and would require some to pay a new fee of $250 a year for the privilege of using the Veterans health care system.

* Health Care. Cuts Medicaid funding by $45 billion over 10 years and eliminates 28 health programs, totaling $1.36 billion. These programs range from rural hospital grants (cuts $39.5 million) to emergency medical services for children (cuts $20 million).

* Job Training. Cuts federal spending on job training by a half-billion dollars. Federal job training programs, including dislocated-worker training, will be cut by $200 million. Federal aid to states for job training, including funding to train veterans, will be cut by $300 million.

* Amtrak. Eliminates all funding for Amtrak, calling bankruptcy proceedings as the solution for our nation's rail system.

* Low Income Home Energy Assistance (LIHEAP). Cuts LIHEAP by over 8 percent, from $2.2 billion to $2 billion.

* Parks. Cuts the National Park Service by 3 percent from $2.31 billion to $2.24 billion.

Nothing like cuts or cancellations of almost every single domestic line item so the funds can be transferred to our wealthiest citizens. I can see why Bush is portrayed in the corporate media as a man of the people. They just don't say which people.

Of course, according the the New York Times, The Pentagon's budget of $419.3 billion for the 2006 fiscal year increases spending by $19.2 billion, or 4.8 percent, over current levels, but Bush's budget doesn't include funds beyond this year for Iraq or Afghanistan. Or for his Medicare prescription drug transfer of big bucks to pharmaceutical companies. Of for his plans to privatize Social Security. Or for the lost funds from making his tax cuts permanent and adding new ones.

I wonder what the Pentagon needs 19.2 BILLION more dollars for, not counting our current wars. Must be some expensive wrenches and toilet seats out there in defenseland, eh? Meanwhile most domestic programs, including education, Medicaid, and the COPS program, would have their budgets slashed or frozen.  Priorities. Priorities.

Laissez Les Bons Temps Rouler

Happy Mardi Gras, Fat Tuesday, let the good times roll! NPR has a nice selection of New Orleans Mardi Gras music clips, as well as radio programs past and present about Fat Tuesday and its traditions. Hey, with Howard Dean almost the DNC Chair, we should celebrate!

Here's a site with historical photos of Mardi Gras in New Orleans, many from 1907.

I went to Mardi Gras once and it was a gas, and I've been to New Orleans several other times. Thinking about New Orleans today makes me pine for creole and cajun food: crawfish etouffee, jambalaya, gumbo, red beans and rice, spicy, ready-to-peel shrimp, great big freshly shucked oysters on the half shell at the Acme Oyster House, a fried oyster po'boy, a muffaletta sandwich on round bread from a little Italian grocery store on Decatur Street and beignets and strong, chicory cafe au lait from Cafe du Monde at the French Market.

I'd have to fit in dinners at Commander's Palace and Antoine's, and a breakfast at Brennan's. Yum. And perhaps the best thing about it, given our having to exist in Bush's America, is that there are so many things FRENCH in New Orleans!

Granny D Hospitalized

From one of my email lists:
Doris "Granny D" Haddock, 95, is in a Lebanon, New Hampshire hospital today. She is in surgery at this moment to remove a tumor in her throat. The surgery is expected to cost her her normal voice, though she said before surgery that she will find ways to continue to communicate her political message of reform and democracy. "Sometimes you speak loudest just by standing there," she said, remembering her several arrests in the U.S. Capitol Rotunda for standing up for the Bill of Rights and democratic reforms.

P.S. Updates will be posted on the https://DemocracyWeek.org site. For those of you who heard her speak in Washington DC during the recent counter-inaugural protests, cherish that memory of the great sound of her voice -- one of the few in our times with the courage to speak the truth.

Editor's Note: Truthout also has information on Granny D's hospitalization as well a wonderful collection of quotes and links to her speeches. Talk about inspiration. (Thanks to Nancy G. for the heads-up.)

And here are her remarks from the morning of January 20 at Meridian (Malcolm X) Park in D.C. Well worth a read this morning:

We have honored Dr. King this week. When we honor him we honor many others, all the way back in time to the Sermon on the Mount and beyond, who have given us, if we will but use them, the political tools of love and their great power over all other human forces.

Gandhi taught us that, when used right, non-violent non-cooperation always wins. He gave us five principles to remember in its use: First, know that you are dealing with the truth. Do your research. Bring in the experts. Know the truth before you dare speak for it.

Second, ask those in authority to remedy the problem at hand, and give them a reasonable time to act. Don't ask them to do more than they can.

Third, involve the wider community's conscience in the problem. Share the problem widely.

Fourth, if those in power will not remedy the problem, show the extent of your moral concern through your personal sacrifice. Stand in the way of the injustice with your own body, doing no harm to others, for it is your moral courage that will move the conscience of society toward awareness and action. If you have not won yet, your sacrifice has been insufficient. The fifth principle, because the previous four will give you control of the issue, is to graciously allow the opposing side to save face in the final settlement, as you must love them, too, and will meet them again.

We have the power to win, to serve justice, to protect our neighbors and our planet, but victory comes at the price of our courage and our pain.

So we have our issues. A warming planet, an unjust war, a long list of policies that do great harm to the people and places of the world. We have done our homework and know the truth. We have petitioned for the redress of our grievances and we have waited. We have informed the world so that many are involved. We know what is next for us and it is the fourth principle: our sacrifice.

So that our great grandchildren will look back and say of us, yes, in the first years of the 21st Century, they faced the most difficult of times with extraordinary courage. They knew they would not live forever and they cared that their lives and deaths should mean something. They saved American democracy and the life of the planet with their creative resistance and their courage. While others around them slept through grey lives, they were awake, they saw, they acted, they overcame all the great forces against them. They saved the forests and mountains, the oceans, streams, the air, the Constitution and its Bill of Rights, they saved our ancient hope for a just world, for a peaceful world, where the highest potential of every human might be understood as the greatest resource of every society and nation.

Well, we know where we are and who we struggle against. I have been in their jails and it's not so bad. I know many of you have been in their prisons and felt the sting of their batons and bullets and gasses, and it is not so bad, compared to losing our freedom or the life of our planet.

The limousines of monstrous presumption whisk by us today, but we need not feel powerless, for the real power of history is always in the people's hearts and hands. All the power of change is given by fate and history to the courageous, who fear the loss of liberty and justice more than that brief glimmer of life that sparkles through the eternity of who we are. And so we take our parts in the great struggle between dark and light, fear and love, between the withering decomposition of separation, and the living joy of combination, cooperation and growth.

Let our neighbors, who have voted another way or not at all, see what we are made of and what we are willing to do for love, for life, for justice. Only a few more of them need step forward to our side for love and life and justice to win. They will not step forward if we are not full of courage and grace and beauty and most of all love. We will inspire them with awe. For, from this time forward, our courage must rise to end the war and the coming wars, to end the destruction of our land and its people, and of our planet and its life. With love in our hearts, with a vision before us of a better America made visible in our own lives, we will do what history demands of us now. And so say us all. 

Trade Offs

A website called the National Priorities Project Database provides some excellent talking points for letters to the editor, conversations with friends and family or for your own knowledge. You can enter your state and get its tradeoffs in terms of what certain federal budget expenditures would provide if allocated to our human needs instead of war and weapons.

For instance,

Taxpayers in New Mexico will pay $58.9 million for nuclear weapons in FY2006. For the same amount of money, the following could have been provided:

14,186 People Receiving Health Care or

8,604 Head Start Places for Children or

38,319 Children Receiving Health Care or

616 Affordable Housing Units or

9 New Elementary Schools or

17,468 Scholarships for University Students or

1,019 Music and Arts Teachers or

1,587 Public Safety Officers or

11,783 Homes with Renewable Electricity or

1,163 Port Container Inspectors

If you register at the site, you can get a variety of data reports for any state about such things as health care, energy use, demographics, poverty and much more. Well worth a visit.