Democracy for New Mexico

Great Old Broads for Wilderness--2005 Calendar of Events

From the NM Wilderness Alliance:
The Great Old Broads for Wilderness have released their calender of events for 2005! The groups unique, passionate voices are needed in many places on many issues that threaten our nation’s wild places. Join the Broads as they do Wilderness events in New Mexico. For more information, contact Rose Chilcoat at: 970-385-9577, rose@greatoldbroads.org

Days in the Desert IV – Jemez Mountains, NM
Date: May 20-22
Cost: $70 incl. meals and camping
If you want to understand the effects of grazing on our desert riparian areas, this is the workshop for you! We gather Friday afternoon at an undeveloped campsite near La Cueva for dinner and to begin our awakening to the way streams in the desert should look. Scientists from the University of New Mexico will train us out in the field to systematically assess the health of a riparian area. We will spend a day visiting an ungrazed stretch of creek as our reference site, where you will be able to see what optimal conditions look like and to practice using the assessment tools. Sunday, we will visit an overgrazed, impacted stream, and continue to learn how to evaluate the health of the stream. Our weekend will conclude with a wrap-up Sunday afternoon. Folks are welcome to arrive early or stay longer to enjoy the beautiful Jemez Mountains, hiking trails, and hot springs.

Valle Vidal Broadwalk – northeast of Taos, NM
Date: June 23-27
Cost: $90 incl. meals and camping
Potential oil and gas leasing threaten the Valle Vidal, a lush mountain basin in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains. Donated to the American people in 1982 by Pennzoil, the Valle Vidal is managed by the Carson National Forest primarily for its wildlife, as well as its outstanding scenic and recreational opportunities. However, a forest management plan has never been developed for this area. The time for public input into the decision process is now. The Santa Fe Broadband is helping host this Broadwalk, so that Broads from all over can experience this special place and learn to speak for its protection. Folks from the Valle Vidal Coalition will lead us on hikes and talk about this special place. Forest Service District Ranger Ron Thibedeau will give us agency insight and a tour of the Valle. Tweeti Blancett, NM rancher, will share the horrors of oil and gas development on her ranch and adjoining BLM lands. Broads will help the Forest Service with a service project. We’ll be camping at a Forest Service campground. Cost includes camping fees, 4 breakfasts and dinners, and speakers.

To reserve your spot for any of these events, send full payment or a $50 deposit per event per person to Great Old Broads for Wilderness, PO Box 2924, Durango, CO 81302. Please include an email address if you have one. Detailed information on logistics, packing, and agenda will be sent to registered participants. More information is also available at www.greatoldbroads.org

Free Documentary Screening: IL Death Penalty Decision

From NM Coalition to Repeal the Death Penalty:

FREE SCREENING OF "DEADLINE," A DOCUMENTARY, AT ALBUQUERQUE'S SOUTH BROADWAY CULTURAL CENTER, MAY 16, 2005

Official Selection of The 2004 Sundance Film Festival
Winner of The 2005 Cine Golden Eagle Special Jury Award

Please join us for a special community screening of the award winning film, Deadline, which chronicles former Governor of Illinois, George Ryan, and his historic decision to grant clemency to 167 inmates on death row.

We are screening the film FREE OF CHARGE. After the film there for a special Q&A with one of the filmmakers and special guests. Spread the word and please join us for this limited engagement.

MONDAY, MAY 16TH, 7PM
SOUTH BROADWAY CULTURAL CENTER
1025 Broadway SE
Albuquerque, NM 87102
*******
About Deadline:
What if you discovered that 13 people slated for execution had been found innocent?

That was exactly the question that Illinios Governor George Ryan faced in his final days in the office. He alone was left to decide whether 167 death row inmates should live or die. In the riveting countdown to Ryan's decision, Deadline details the gripping drama of the state's clemency hearings. Documenred as the events unfolded, Deadline is a compelling look inside America's prisions, highlighting one man's unlikely and historic actions against the system.

Visit www.deadlinethemovie.com for more information.

Thank you for your continuing support,
NM Coalition to Repeal the Death Penalty
(505) 986-9536
www.nmrepeal.org
info@nmrepeal.org

Lakoff in Denver May 21

Although this is in Denver, I thought some New Mexicans might want to make the trip to see George Lakoff:

George Lakoff in Denver on May 21 -- Save the Date!
Our friends at ThisMatters invite Democracy for Colorado supporters to an important grassroots event. Berkeley linguistics professor and Rockridge Institute Senior Fellow George Lakoff will be coming to Denver to speak on Saturday, May 21. (The time and location are still to be determined.)

Seating will be limited, so please RSVP now at https://democracyforcolorado.com/lakoff_rsvp.

George Lakoff is one of the most influential political thinkers of the progressive movement. His ideas on using language to effectively "frame" an issue and change the debate to our terms have influenced grassroots volunteers as well as Democratic leaders. Lakoff is the author of Moral Politics and Don't Think of an Elephant, and the DVD How Democrats and Progressives Can Win.

Professor George Lakoff will be speaking on Saturday, May 21st in Denver, so RSVP now and save the date! Please check back with Democracy for Colorado and ThisMatters for details of when and where.

Santa Fe: Greg Palast Benefit for Election Reform

I already posted information about Greg Palast's Albuquerque fundraising event on May 20th. Here's the info on his Santa Fe event on May 21st:

"The State of Democracy"
A special evening with Greg Palast and Friends in Santa Fe

To benefit the critical research and legal work of Voter Action & Voter Action New Mexico.

Come hear Greg Palast and attorneys Lowell Finley and John Boyd speak about the state of voting and democracy in New Mexico, the U.S. & around the globe and find out what you can do to help fix it.

Saturday, May 21st, 2005
5:00 - 7:00 PM
at
Cloud Cliff Cafe and Art Space
1805 Second Street
Santa Fe, NM

Limited seating
Refreshments
$15.00 -Tickets at the door

Greg Palast, award winning BBC investigative journalist and NY Times best selling author of "The Best Democracy Money Can Buy" & his investigative team are joining forces with Voter Action and Voter Action New Mexico to help find the missing votes from 2004.

Learn how New Mexico can help our country move towards more fair and accurate elections.

www.voteraction.org

For more information,
info@voteraction.org  (505)760-6794
Contributions to Voter Action New Mexico are tax deductible.

RSVP NOW for ABQ Greg Palast Benefit for Election Reform

 

"The State of Democracy"

A Special Evening with Greg Palast and Friends

To benefit the critical research and legal work of Voter Action & Voter Action New Mexico.

Cosponsored by Democracy for New Mexico and New Mexico Democratic Friends.

Come hear Greg Palast and attorneys Lowell Finley and John Boyd speak about the state of voting and democracy in New Mexico, the U.S. & around the globe and, most importantly, what you can do to help fix it.

Friday, May 20st, 2005
5:00 - 7:00 PM
at
IBEW Hall
4921 Alexander Blvd. NE
(Click for map: https://tinyurl.com/7bp7u)

Limited seating
With refreshments, music and fun!
$15.00 or two for $25

Email dfnm_albq@comcast.net or selison22@comcast.net to RSVP.

Greg Palast, award winning BBC investigative journalist and NY Times best selling author of "The Best Democracy Money Can Buy" & his investigative team are joining forces with Voter Action and Voter action New Mexico to help find the missing votes from 2004.

Learn how New Mexico can help the rest of the country towards more fair and accurate elections.

For additional information,
info@voteraction.org  (505)760 6794
www.voteraction.org

Contributions to Voter Action are tax deductible.

MOBILIZE AGAINST CAFTA TUESDAY

ACTION ALERT!!

MOBILIZE

To Oppose CAFTA

Tuesday, May 10

7:00 AM

National Hispanic Cultural Center
1701 4th St SW (corner of 4th St & Bridge)

The President of El Salvador will be the guest of the Greater Albuquerque Chamber of Commerce promoting Free Trade and what it offers to New Mexico.

OPPOSE free trade and the damage it does to labor, the environment, and democracy in the US, Central America and the Dominican Republic.

Show Up!  Bring Signs!  Shout Out!

NO TO CAFTA!

For more information, contact 232-3100 or michael@econjustice.net

Click to download a flyer on this event in English or in Spanish:

Download MOBILIZE.doc

Click for more information on CAFTA.

DemocracyFest 2005: Register Now

From Democracy for America:
Come spring, minds turn to all sorts of great things to come. Like warmer weather, longer days, and DemocracyFest 2005.

Preparations for this year's festival, scheduled for Austin, Texas -- one of America's great cities -- from June 17 through 19, have hit fever pitch. Planners have lined up a star-studded agenda -- including our very own DNC chairman Governor Howard Dean.

But what they need more than anything are participants ready to get energized about building our democracy from the ground up. In short, they need you.

So sign up today. You can do it right here:

https://www.democracyforamerica.com/democracyfest

DemocracyFest 2005 promises to feature some of the best that Austin and the progressive grassroots movement have to offer.

You can learn the truth about Tom DeLay from two of his most formidable foes: Richard Morrison, who almost knocked him out of office in the 2004 elections, and former Congressman Chris Bell, who helped expose DeLay's ethics problems to the American people.

You can learn how to frame issues from Dr. Jeffrey Feldman of Frameshop, and get the scoop on alternative media from Markos Moulitsas of the Daily Kos. You can hear Rep. Jesse Jackson, Jr. explain how you can help work for election reform, and collect tall tales of Texas politics from the one and only Molly Ivins.

And it wouldn't be Texas without good food and music -- they've got them both, from bands like the Asylum Street Spankers and barbecue from the world-famous Stubbs.

Governor Dean is coming. Hundreds of your friends and colleagues in the trenches across the country are coming. You should too. Sign up now:

https://www.democracyforamerica.com/democracyfest

DemocracyFest has a fabulous program coming up for you -- a weekend where you can trade ideas, learn new strategies, and get energized for the hard political work ahead. It'll be a great celebration in Austin -- I look forward to seeing you there.

Sincerely,
Tom Hughes
Executive Director
Democracy for America

Also participating: Jerome Armstrong (mydd.com), Markos Moulitsas Zuniga (dailykos.com), Jim Hightower and more.

Emergency Rally to Stop the Nuclear Option!

Support Democracy; Stop the Nuclear Option

WHAT:  New Mexicans for a Fair and Independent Judiciary will RALLY to urge Senator Domenici to keep rules that have always guaranteed that the most controversial judicial nominees could not pass on a partisan party-line vote.

WHEN: Thursday, May 5, 12:00 PM.

WHERE: Outside Sen. Domenici's office, 201 3rd St. NW, Albuquerque (NW corner of 3rd and Copper)

WHY: To urge Senator Domenici to preserve Senate checks and balances and oppose the nuclear option.

Next week, Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist is expected to execute his plan to upset Senate checks and balances and end time-honored Senate rules that allow lawmakers to filibuster judicial nominees. This so-called nuclear option would eliminate senators' most powerful line of defense against nominees - including anti-choice Supreme Court nominees who are out of touch with American values.

If Sen. Frist's proposal gets enough votes, Senate moderates will have virtually no chance to block President Bush's ideologically extreme nominees.  It is imperative that Senator Domenici hears from his constituents in opposition to this drastic rule change NOW. Come to an anti-nuclear option rally this Thursday to make a difference. 

This remarkable abuse of power would let Bush and anti-choice Senate Republicans change the rules in the middle of the game to clear the way for Supreme Court Justices who are right-wing extremists.

Coalition partners include:
NARAL Pro-Choice NM, AFSCME Council 18,  AFT (NMEE),  NM Coalition Against Domestic Violence, NM Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice, NM Progressive Alliance for Community Empowerment, National Women's Political Caucus-NM, Homeless Advocacy Coalition, Inc, Albuquerque Rape Crisis Center, Albuquerque Center for Peace and Justice.

It Was 35 Years Ago Today

From AxisofLogic.com:

May 4, 1970 - Burned into World Memory

"...it's very hard to ignore that Kent State thing. They were down there, man, ready to do it. You can see them, they're all kneeling there, they're all in the kneeling position and they got their slings tight and they're ready to shoot. And there's this kid, this long-haired kid standin' there with a flag wavin' it ... I mean, I cannot be a man, and be a human, and ignore that." 

-- David Crosby, July, 1970, Rolling Stone interview
**********
"It was like -- oh my God, I can't believe it. So everybody came out and there were kids lying on the ground, running all over the place,...There isn't a day in my life that goes by that I don't wake up without some conscious thought of this. I was in Vietnam twice before. I didn't have the fear that I had on this campus -- helicopters swooping down, tear gas, bullets. It was a scary thing. I get goosebumps talking about it right at this moment,"

-- Kent State Student, Bob Carpenter
**********
"When I saw the students in their pools of blood, I said this is it, it's got to stop -- the protests, the war. It's gone too far,"

-- Kent State Student, Paul Tople
**********
"I like to call it murder. I see no justification and no justice,"

-- Kent State Student, John Darnell
**********
"I don't care if you've never listened to anybody before in your life. I am begging you right now, if you don't disperse right now, they're going to move in. It will only be a slaughter. Please, listen to me. Jesus Christ, I don't want to be part of this. Listen to me,"

-- Kent State Professor Glenn Frank
**********

By noon May 4, two thousand people had gathered in the vicinity of the commons. Many knew that the rally had been banned. Others, especially commuters, did not know of this prohibition. Chants, curses and rocks answered an order to disperse. Shortly after noon, tear gas canisters were fired...The guard moved forward with fixed bayonets, forcing demonstrators to retreat...The guardsmen then retraced their line of march. Some demonstrators followed as close as 20 yards, but most were between 60 and 75 yards behind the guard.

Near the crest of Blanket Hill, the guard turned and 28 guardsmen fired between 61 and 67 shots in 13 seconds toward the parking lot. Four persons lay dying and nine wounded. The closest casualty was 20 yards and the farthest was almost 250 yards away. All 13 were students at Kent State University.
**********

The four students who were killed were Jeffrey Miller, Allison Krause, William Schroeder and Sandra Scheuer. The nine wounded students were Joseph Lewis, John Cleary, Thomas Grace, Alan Canfora, Dean Kahler, Douglas Wrentmore, James Russell, Robert Stamps, and Donald MacKenzie. Dean Kahler was permanently paralyzed from his injury.
**********

"You know, you see these bums, you know, blowin' up the campuses. Listen, the boys that are on the college campuses today are the luckiest people in the world, going to the greatest universities, and here they are, burnin' up the books, I mean, stormin' around about this issue, I mean, you name it —- get rid of the war, there'll be another one."

-- Richard Nixon, May 2, 1970, New York Times
**********
(Click photos for larger images.)

An account with links of what happened and what came afterwards can be found at Wikipedia.

Editor's Note: The Cambodian invasion and Kent State killings resulted in a student strike that closed down the University of Illinois, where I was at college, as well as hundreds of other campuses around the nation. The rest of the semester's classes were cancelled and we all got the grades we had earned until that point.

National Guard troops killed several "hippie dogs" on the main quad on campus. I saw a professor trying to calm a situation get his face beaten in with a cop's nightstick. A friend had an arm broken by campus police. Students were lying down in front of trucks trying to deliver goods to campus warehouses. Glass got broken out in some of the less-liked stores on the main drag. I threw a rock at cops for the first and only time in my life when I saw a bunch of them pummeling a student I knew on the ground. Most National Guard troops looked very scared and had their weapons drawn almost all the time. But we were lucky. No-one was killed.

I had to add 'Ohio," written by Neil Young, performed by CSNY and released as a 45 rpm within a week of the shootings at Kent State. This was arguably the quickest music release in the history of the recording industry, before the Internet came into play:

Tin soldiers and Nixon coming,
We're finally on our own.
This summer I hear the drumming,
Four dead in Ohio.

Gotta get down to it
Soldiers are cutting us down
Should have been done long ago.
What if you knew her
And found her dead on the ground
How can you run when you know?

Gotta get down to it
Soldiers are cutting us down
Should have been done long ago.
What if you knew her
And found her dead on the ground
How can you run when you know?

Tin soldiers and Nixon coming,
We're finally on our own.
This summer I hear the drumming,
Four dead in Ohio.

DFA Meetups Today and Tomorrow

DFA - Democracy for New Mexico Meetups will be held in Santa Fe and Las Cruces tonight, and in Albuquerque Thursday night. Click on links in the Coming Events section of the right-hand sidebar on this page for event details or to RSVP.

Our Albuquerque Meetup will feature visits from Mayor Martin Chavez and District 7 City Council candidate Marianne Dickinson, as well as our honoring of citizen activists and NM legislators who were involved in the passage of the election reform bill, including Sen. Cisco McSorley, Sen. Gerald Ortiz y Pino, Rep. Danice Picraux and Rep. Ken Martinez. (Although Sen. Linda Lopez was invited, she'll be unable to attend because she's celebrating her mom's birthday.)

We'll also be hearing from Matt Henderson of ACORN about how we can help with their Living Wage project. State Democratic Party Resolutions Chair Mel O'Reilly will be reporting on events at the State Central Committee and Resolutins meetings this month and his views on where the Party should go from here. And of course we'll be hearing a number of announcements, including info on upcoming election reform fundraisers featuring investigative journalist Greg Palast. Come on down!