Democracy for New Mexico

Action Alert: Contact Members of House Judiciary Committe on Vote Fraud

From Sonja Elison of NM Democratic Friends:

On Wednesday, The Alliance for Democracy will present evidence to a "forum" of the Judiciary Committee, held by John Conyers of Michigan. They will present evidence that the Republicans stole the Ohio election. The Judiciary Committee refuses to hold hearings. Only the Chair -- Orin Hatch -- can schedule formal hearings.

We need to find out about this -- and call members of the Judiciary Committee and make our feelings HEARD! Even if they prove that Kerry won the election there will be more work to be done to get these *bleeps* to admit it and give back the presidency.

You can go to the TheAllianceForDemocracy.org/ or GregPalast.com to get more information. We need to absolutely blitz the Congress with calls, emails, and even letters. Go to Firstgov.gov, click on Federal Legislative and then on House of Representatives, then Committees to get the list of members of the House Judiciary Committee (or click here for a direct link). It might be a good idea to write down and share the telephone numbers with your friends, so we can all call them with the least amount of work (looking up phone numbers).

Editor's Note: Another excellent site with tools that make it easy to contact members of Congress, local and state government officials, local and national media and more is Congress.org, powered by powerful CapWiz software. It also has extensive information on legislation and issues. Check it out.

Take Action

George Bush and Congressional Republicans are gearing up to take yet another swing at working families. This time the plan calls for a tax hike by removing the deductibility of your state and local income and property taxes. This money isn't going to deficit reduction, and it's not even going to fund new spending initiatives. Instead, the money is going to the wealthiest one percent of Americans in the form of new tax breaks on investments like stock sales, dividends, and interest earnings.

To make things worse, Bush and his Republican allies have decided that adding to the tax burden of working families isn't enough, so they're going after their employers by removing the tax deductibility of insuring workers—a move sure to increase both the cost of health care and the number of uninsured Americans.

But we can stop them by standing up for what we believe in. The first step is to spread the word: write a letter to the editor of your local newspaper and tell them that giveaways to the rich are wrong. Then call your member of Congress and tell them that as a constituent you don't support unfairly taxing working families. We must act today in order to stop this backdoor tax hike and prevent further erosion of the tax system.

(From Kicking Ass.)

How About a Little Recogntion for our Hosts

To honor our original hosts for feasts of thanksgiving, whether they celebrated with the Spanish explorers in the Southwest or the Pilgrims out East, here's a variety of Native American links:

News and Views by Native American Students can be found at Rez Net

Brown Chick is a more personal blog by a Native American student who writes: “Plea to liberal/cool white people: Please do not flee the country. I am Native American and do not have the option of moving to another country to escape Bush and his neonazi Republican minions. This, in the deepest sense possible, is my country. And so we need cool white people here more than ever. Please don't leave, please don't give up. Fight!!!!!!

Plea to Bush's neonazi Republican minions: Go back to where you came from. And if you're Native American, you need to have some sense bitchslapped into you. I will gladly oblige.”

Reflections of an Outlaw Indian Lawyer has an interesting story about Ronald Reagan who is, let us give thanks on this day of thanks, still dead.

Finally, check out Blue Corn Comic Books for some interesting art work and story lines.

(The above links and comments are courtesy of Atrios.)

For extensive information and links related to New Mexico's native tribes, check out New Mexico's Pueblo Indians, a website by San Juan Pueblo/Hopi native, Bernadett Charley Gallegos.

And we can't forget the Spanish thanksgiving feasters who preceded the Pilgrims by up to a half century. Click here to read about the various claims for the FIRST thanksgiving, from the banks of the Rio Grande to St. Augustine and Jacksonville, Florida.

Never Surrender

I'm gonna be wearing one of these bracelets and passing them out to my friends:

Click here to sign the Never Surrender pledge from Working Assets.

Click here to make a donation to the Working Assets Never Surrender Fund. If you donate $25 or more to the Fund, they'll send you a ten-pack of Never Surrender bracelets at no cost to you. (To purchase additional bracelets click here.) One hundred percent of your tax deductible donation will go to groups fighting for our values including:

• Project Vote
• Public Campaign
• Planned Parenthood
• NARAL
• Free Press
• Media Matters for America
• The American Civil Liberties Union
• Alliance for Justice
• Natural Resources Defense Council
• Earthjustice
• Doctors Without Borders
• Oxfam
• Human Rights Watch

Early Christmas for Conservatives

From The Daily Outrage by Ari Bernman of The Nation Online:

In their massive year-end omnibus spending bill, Congressional Republicans replaced the holiday turkey with a heaping of pork. The $388 billion, fourteen pound, 1,000 page legislation overwhelmingly passed both houses of Congress, replete with 11,000 wasteful local pet projects, cuts to vital social services and handouts to the wealthy and religious right. Out of hundreds of items, The Daily Outrage selected the top five favors to big business and Christian conservatives.

1. Undermining Reproductive Rights: Rep. David Weldon (R-Fla) inserted an amendment--with no debate in either the House or Senate--allowing hospitals and insurers to refuse to , even in the case of rape or incest. The new provision applies the "conscience clause"--which allows churches to withhold abortions based on religious grounds--to secular hospitals, undermining both the spirit and law of Roe v. Wade. Any doctor can now deny a woman the right to choose, disregarding the Constitution in the process.

2. Slashing Education: As special interests charged ahead, underprivileged students--from pre school to college age--were left even further behind. Congressional Republicans underfunded President Bush's modest requests for special education by $481 million, No Child Left Behind by $398 million and Head Start by $103 million. Up to 100,000 college students, primarily from families making $35,000-40,000, will lose their financial aid benefits entirely. Under a new Department of Education aid formula, 1.2 million low-income students could face additional grant cuts in the coming year.

3. Harming the Environment: Congress authorized drilling in the protected Yukon Wildlife Refuge in Alaska, opened up the East Coast's largest undeveloped island for commercial exploration, and defeated an amendment eliminating subsidies for timber corporations. While slashing clean water spending by $242 million, Republicans allocated $1.7 billion for an unnecessary expansion on the Upper Mississippi River.

4. Privatizing the Government: Facing a rarely-invoked veto threat from the White House, at the last hour Congress dropped a bipartisan proposal--passed in two consecutive years--to place new restrictions on the Bush Administration's plan to privatize thousands of government jobs. Bush's "competitive sourcing initiative" actually prevents government workers from submitting their most competitive bids while exempting private contractors from having to outline the costs saved by privatization. According to the AFL-CIO, House Republicans inserted the Bush-approved language as the spending bill's second-to-last-item.

5. Boosting Outer Space: While presiding over deep cuts in education, environmental cleanup, foreign aid and HIV/AIDS funding, Tom DeLay dramatically the budget of NASA--located in the majority leader's backyard--by $16.2 billion, an astonishing $822 million increase from last year. If only they could've included a provision sending DeLay and his corporate cronies on a permanent test-run to outer space.

Help Our Troops and Vets

I've added "Help Our Troops"  links on the right-hand side of this page for those who would like to support our troops and veterans in tangible ways that are a little more effective and personal than the yellow ribbons you often find on massive SUVs.

If you explore the sites, you'll find organizations dedicated to helping you to provide active duty troops and veterans with phone cards,  books, care packages, frequent flyer miles, family support, letters and more.

I got this forwarded email today that details the need that's out there, and points you to one of the organizations dedicated to helping:

I am the wife of a soldier currently stationed in Iraq and have heard the stories of some soldiers that don't have families or receive any mail. Well the reason for this e-mail is for those that would like to adopt a soldier. There are many needy soldiers that ask for the simplest things like chapstick, or gum. I am looking to possibly adopt one for the holidays b/c I know what it feels like to feel alone so if I could put a smile on someones face by sending them some beef jerky than I'm all for it. Here is the link www.anysoldier.com.

Here you read through it to know how you send the package and things that could be sent, then you will go to their list of soldiers that are in need. There you will get their names, address, the date of their expected return home, maybe photo and a list of some things they would like. I would like to thank you all in advance speaking for myself and the soldiers. Sometimes its the little things you do that make the world a better place. Thank you all and God Bless. --Shirley Lindsey

Fiscal Conservatism

From Yahoo News: "Republicans whisked a $388 billion spending bill through the House on Saturday, a mammoth measure that underscores the dominance of deficit politics by curbing dollars for everything from education to environmental cleanups.(...)

"Also enacted during the postelection session was an $800 billion increase in the government's borrowing limit. The measure was yet another testament to record annual deficits, which reached $413 billion last year and are expected to climb indefinitely.(...)

"A potential boon for Bush himself, $2 million for the government to try buying back the presidential yacht Sequoia. The boat was sold three decades ago, though its current owners say the yacht is not for sale."

Meanwhile, according to UPI , spending on the war in Iraq has risen to $5.8 billion a month, nearly a 50 percent increase above the $4 billion-a-month benchmark the Pentagon has used so far.

Kerry Asks Us to Cosponsor Healthcare Bill

Have you gotten the new email from Kerry? Excerpt:

Normally, a member of the Senate will first approach other senators and ask them to co-sponsor a bill before it is introduced -- instead, I am turning to you. Imagine the power of a bill co-sponsored by hundreds of thousands of Americans being presented on the floor of the United States Senate. You can make it happen. Sign our "Every Child Protected" pledge today and forward it to your family, friends, and neighbors: https://johnkerry.com/EveryChild.

You can read the entire email from Kerry by clicking to the continuation page. You can also see a video that explains his plan by clicking on the link above.

How do you feel about this move by Kerry? Grandstanding or effective opposition party effort?

Dear Supporter,

I want to thank you personally for what you did in the election -- you rewrote the book on grassroots politics, taking control of campaigns away from big donors. No campaign will ever be the same.

You moved voters, helped hold George Bush accountable, and countered the attacks from big news organizations such as Fox, Sinclair Broadcasting, and conservative talk radio.

And your efforts count now more than ever. Despite the words of cooperation and moderate sounding promises, this administration is planning a right wing assault on values and ideals we hold most deeply. Healthy debate and diverse opinion are being eliminated from the State Department and CIA, and the cabinet is being remade to rubber stamp policies that will undermine Social Security, balloon the deficit, avoid real reforms in health care and education, weaken homeland security, and walk away from critical allies around the world.

Regardless of the outcome of this election, once all the votes are counted -- and they will be counted -- we will continue to challenge this administration. This is not a time for Democrats to retreat and accommodate extremists on critical principles -- it is a time to stand firm.

I will fight for a national standard for federal elections that has both transparency and accountability in our voting system. It's unacceptable in the United States that people still don't have full confidence in the integrity of the voting process.

I ask you to join me in this cause.

And we must fight not only against George Bush's extreme policies -- we must also uphold our own values. This is why on the first day Congress is in session next year, I will introduce a bill to provide every child in America with health insurance. And, with your help, that legislation will be accompanied by the support of hundreds of thousands of Americans.

There are more than eight million uninsured children in our nation.

That's eight million reasons for us to stay together and fight for a new direction. It is a disgrace that in the wealthiest nation on earth, eight million children go without health insurance.

Normally, a member of the Senate will first approach other senators and ask them to co-sponsor a bill before it is introduced -- instead, I am turning to you. Imagine the power of a bill co-sponsored by hundreds of thousands of Americans being presented on the floor of the United States Senate. You can make it happen. Sign our "Every Child Protected" pledge today and forward it to your family, friends, and neighbors:

https://johnkerry.com/EveryChild

This is the beginning of a second term effort to hold the Bush administration accountable and to stand up and fight for our principles and our values. They want you to disappear; they are counting on that. I'm confident you will prove them wrong, and you will rewrite history again.

Here is what I want you to know. I understand the strength, commitment, and passion that are at the core of what we built together -- and I am determined to make our collective energy and organization a force to be reckoned with in the weeks and months ahead.

Let's roll up our sleeves and get back to work for our country.

To Avoid Divorce, Move to Massachusetts

Since we're being inundated with testimonials these days about how "moral" Bush voters are, and in contrast, how nasty, nasty, nasty Democrats are, I thought it might be useful to actual ponder some FACTS about the Red Staters. This New York Times article provides some:

If blue states care less about moral values, why are divorce rates so low in the bluest of the blue states? It's a question that intrigues conservatives, as much as it emboldens liberals. As researchers have noted, the areas of the country where divorce rates are highest are also frequently the areas where many conservative Christians live.

Kentucky, Mississippi and Arkansas, for example, voted overwhelmingly for constitutional amendments to ban gay marriage. But they had three of the highest divorce rates in 2003, based on figures from the Census Bureau and the National Center for Health Statistics.

The lowest divorce rates are largely in the blue states: the Northeast and the upper Midwest. And the state with the lowest divorce rate was Massachusetts, home to John Kerry, the Kennedys and same-sex marriage.

In 2003, the rate in Massachusetts was 5.7 divorces per 1,000 married people, compared with 10.8 in Kentucky, 11.1 in Mississippi and 12.7 in Arkansas.

"Some people are saying, 'The Bible Belt is so pro-marriage, but gee, they have the highest divorce rates in the country,' " said Barbara Dafoe Whitehead, co-director of the National Marriage Project at Rutgers University. "And there's a lot of worry in the red states about the high rate of divorce."

To read more, click here.

Race for DNC Chair to Include Dean?

This ABC News article has the latest news about the many Democrats who are vying to be the new DNC Chair. As I'm sure you've heard, Howard Dean is considering running for the post but has not yet made a decision on it. If selected for the post, he would reportedly have to forego another run for president in 2008.

According to the ABC article,

Two party conferences in early December will influence the chairmanship race: a meeting of Democratic governors in Washington in early December, and an annual gathering of state party chairs on Dec. 12 in Orlando, Fla. Democratic Party of Michigan executive Mark Brewer, who heads the association of state Democratic Party chairs, has asked his colleagues to hold off endorsing candidates until that meeting.

On a conference call today with Democracy for America's Political Director, Tom Hughes, and Meetup Director, Chris Warshaw, our DFNM group members were urged to email their views about Dean's possible run for the top DNC post to Dr. Dean at howarddean@democracyforamerica.com.