Democracy for New Mexico

Next SF Mayor Coffee Focuses on Disabled Community

From Santa Fe Mayor David Coss:
The first Morning Coffee with Mayor Coss of 2007 will be held Wednesday, Jan. 10 in the City Council Chambers (200 Lincoln Ave.) from 9:15 AM to 10:30 AM.  This Coffee with focus on the concerns of Santa Fe’s disabled community. All other Morning Coffees for 2007 will be held the first Wednesday of each month.

Morning Coffee with Mayor Coss is a forum established to facilitate dialogue between the community and city government. For more information, please contact Becky Lo Dolce, Special Projects Coordinator, at 955-6629.

News from Harwood Art Center re: "Politic"

WHAT: "Politic," an exhibition of constructions by Albuquerque artist Joe Forrest Sackett. Sackett's steel and mixed-media work incorporates symbols and images familiar to us from the daily news, and asks the viewer to reconsider these images in light of the current polarized political atmosphere. 

WHERE: Harwood Art Center, Main Gallery, 1114 7th NW, corner of 7th Street and Mountain Road

WHEN: January 2-30, 2007. A reception will be held Friday, January 19, from 5:00 - 8:30 PM, in conjunction with ArtsCrawl. Gallery hours are 10:00 AM - 4:00 PM, Monday through Friday, and from 11:00 AM - 2:00 PM on Saturday, January 13. 

HOW MUCH: Free

INFO: Joe Forrest Sackett, 247-8679, leftyy@earthlink.net or Buffy Fuller, 242-6367, buffy@harwoodartcenter.org

Hope for the Holidays Vigil Takes On Wal-Mart

From WakeUpWalMart:
“HOPE FOR THE HOLIDAYS” CANDLELIGHT VIGIL
THURSDAY, DECEMBER 14TH, 3:30 PM
WAL- MART {CORNER OF MENAUL & CARLISLE NE}
TO CHANGE WAL-MART TO A RESPONSIBLE EMPLOYER

For more information about this event, call Diane at {262-1986}. Check the WakeUpWalMart website for more information about this issue.

Have Coffee With Santa Fe Mayor Coss

From the Office of Mayor David Coss: Next Morning Coffee with Mayor Coss to be held December 13 with Preservation Community. Santa Fe Mayor David Coss will meet with community members interested in the preservation of Santa Fe’s historic areas at the next Morning Coffee with Mayor Coss, scheduled to be held Wednesday, December 13. The forum will be held from 9:15 AM to 10:30 AM in the Council Chambers, 200 Lincoln Ave.

Although the Morning Coffee public outreach forum has been regularly scheduled on the first and third Wednesdays of each month, Coffees will not be held on December 6 or December 20.

Beginning in January 2007, Morning Coffee with Mayor Coss will be held on the first Wednesday of each month. For more information, please contact Becky Lo Dolce, Special Projects Coordinator, at 955-6629.

You're Invited: Lt. Gov. Diane Denish Holiday Gathering This Sunday

Please Join LT. GOVERNOR DIANE D. DENISH at a Holiday Gathering

And Invited Guests:
SENATOR LINDA LOPEZ
SENATOR BERNADETTE SANCHEZ
SENATOR DEDE FELDMAN
REP. HARRIET RUIZ
REP. DAN SILVA
REP. ED SANDOVAL
REP.-ELECT ANTONIO "MOE" MAESTAS
PRC COMMISSIONER JASON MARKS
PRC COMMISSIONER-ELECT CAROL SLOAN
COUNTY COMMISSIONER ALAN ARMIJO
CITY COUNCILOR MICHAEL CADIGAN
CITY COUNCILOR KEN SANCHEZ
STATE TREASURER-ELECT JAMES B. LEWIS

Let's celebrate the holiday season and the beginning of a new four years together with a festive gathering on the Westside:

Date: Sunday, December 10, 2006
Time: 1:00 - 3:00 PM
Place: Ladera Golf Course Clubhouse
3401 Ladera Drive NW, Albuquerque

The holiday gathering will include a free enchilada buffet and musical entertainment provided by West Mesa High School Concert Choir. 

** We encourage you to bring an unwrapped gift for a child which will be donated to Namaste Child & Family Development Center, treating children and their families throughout the state of New Mexico.

I look forward to sharing the spirit of the season with you, your family and your friends. Please help spread the word and invite other community members. To RSVP and for questions please call (505) 255-1282

Lt. Governor Diane Denish, PO Box 30561, Albuquerque, NM 87190, (505) 255-1282,

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

Creating a Culture of Peace Event Set for 12/15

From Martha Dominguez:
Creating a Culture Of Peace (CCP)
Albuquerque Center For Peace & Justice
Friday 12/15/06 * 6:30-9:00
Music, Food, Fun !
Bands: Inanna & Uprising Voices
Improvisational Music * Reggae/Rock
$20 Donation Requested

Fundraiser to provide for Youth Scholarships and CCP Workshops for Personal and Social Change. Sponsored by “NM Creating a Culture of Peace” working to create a world without violence. Contact: 75-0597.

Amnesty International Attorney to Lead Discussion on Military Commissions Act and Abuse of Power

From the Albuquerque Peace and Justice Calendar:
The Military Commissions Act, Torture, and the 'War on Terror' is the subject of this presentation / discussion taking place at the First Unitarian Church (3701 Carlisle NE - Albuquerque) on Thursday, November 30th, at 7:00 PM. The event is sponsored by the First Unitarian Church of Albuquerque Social Justice Council.

The guest speaker is Amnesty International lawyer and Amnesty International Director for Human Rights and International Justice, Jumana Musa. Discussion will include the ramifications of the Military Commissions Act and abuse of power by the current U.S. administration. For more information call Renee at 505-344-5735.

Join us for a discussion about current U.S. law, policy and practice in the 'War on Terror'. Jumana Musa has been Amnesty's legal observer at military commission hearings for detainees facing trial at Guantanamo Bay for the last two years. Bring your questions about pardoning torture, eliminating the writ of habeas corpus for declared enemy combatants and detaining prisoners indefinitely. Find out what can we do about this abuse of power.

JUMANA MUSA BIOGRAPHY
Jumana Musa is a human rights attorney and activist. She is currently the Advocacy Director for Domestic Human Rights and International Justice at Amnesty International, where she addresses the domestic and international impact of the Bush administration's "war on terror" on human rights. She was one of the first human rights attorneys allowed to travel to the naval base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and serves as Amnesty International's legal observer at military commission proceedings on the base.

She is also an adjunct lecturer at Georgetown University's Arab Studies program, teaching a class entitled, Human Rights in the Middle East and North Africa. Formerly, she worked as a policy attorney for the National Network to End Domestic Violence and handled international relations and immigrations issues as a fellow in the office of Congressman Jesse L. Jackson, Jr. Ms. Musa holds a BA in International Relations from Brown University and a JD from Georgetown University Law Center.

________________
Jumana Musa
Advocacy Director for
Domestic Human Rights and International Justice
Amnesty International USA
600 Pennsylvania Avenue, SE Washington DC, 20003
(202) 544-0200 ext. 241, (202) 546-7142 fax,
jmusa@aiusa.org
www.amnestyusa.org

Richardson Transition Committee Holds Community Conversations

From Bill Richardson for Governor:
I have put together a Transition Committee to take a fresh look at my administration and recommend improvements that will allow us to continue our progress, and I want to invite you to add your thoughts by using the form on our transition website. You can also share your ideas for our second term by participating in one of the community conversations taking place in Albuquerque:

Promoting and Growing New Mexico's Economy
Tuesday, November 28th from 1:00-5:00 PM
National Hispanic Cultural Center, Wells Fargo Theater (4th & Cesar Chavez)

Making Schools Work
Wednesday, November 29th from 5:00-8:00 PM
Workforce Training Center, 5600 Eagle Rock Ave, Room #103

A Safer New Mexico
Thursday, November 30th from 1:00-5:00 PM
CNM, Smith Brasher Hall, 717 University Blvd, Room #100

Editor's Note: There were other meetings Monday on additional topics, but I didn't get this notice up in time to include them. My recovery from my illness continues and I'm still not up to snuff.--BW

LWV to Hold Forum on Citizen Lobbying

From the Albuquerque Journal:
The League of Women Voters of New Mexico plans "A Public Educational Forum on Citizen Lobbying" from 9:30 AM to 1 PM on Saturday, December 2, at the Montezuma Lodge No. 1, 431 Paseo de Peralta in Santa Fe. The event is designed to help the public communicate with legislators and participate in democracy.

The workshop is about the process of lobbying, the league said in a news release. Specific political issues will not be addressed during this meeting, but attendees can use the general information when they want to support or oppose issues in 2007.

Speakers include a Bureau of Elections lobbyist registrar; legislative representatives; a paid lobbyist; a citizen lobbyist from the American Association of University Women; a citizen lobbyist and Webmaster from the league; and other citizen organization representatives.

Handouts and discussion will blueprint ways for attendees to communicate with their legislators in their neighborhoods, on the telephone, on the Internet and at the Roundhouse. People are invited to bring questions about process, not about issues.

The forum is free, but the audience is limited to 50. Coffee, water and cookies will be provided. For more information contact Marilyn Morgan at lillemor@nmia.com or at (505) 884-8441. A League of Women Voters' action committee meeting will follow at 1 PM.