Democracy for New Mexico

Join Albuquerque's New CODEPINK Chapter

From Albuquerque CODEPINK:
Come join CODEPINK and help decide how to take action for peace right here, right now!

What: First meeting of the new Albuquerque CODEPINK
When: Saturday, February 18, 2006 at 3 PM
Where: Range Restaurant on Menaul (Click for map)

We want to hear your ideas for making CODEPINK vibrant and effective locally and globally and we want to make plans for an action on International Women's Day, March 8. 

Power to the peaceful,
Dana Leach, danaleach@comcast.net
(505) 259-2187 (call for more information or directions)

P.S. If you haven't done so already, please sign on to the Women's Urgent Call for Peace, and invite your friends and colleagues to sign so that we can reach our goal of 100,000 signatures by March 8, International Women's Day.

Bernalillo County Dem Ward & Precinct Meetings Tonight

The Democratic Party of Bernalillo County will be holding ward and precinct meetings tonight, February 9, at 6:30 PM. Wards will elect delegates and alternates to the State Party Pre-Primary Convention. All registered Democrats are urged to attend. Any Democrat can run for a delegate or alternate position. See below for meeting locations around the county.

Attendees can also submit resolutions tonight for approval. If approved, they will be referred for approval to the Bernalillo County Resolutions Committee, which will meet on Saturday, February 11, at 9:00 AM at the UNM Law School, Room 2401.

To determine which ward meeting to attend, first you need to determine your precinct. Visit the and type in your address. Once you know your precinct, you can find your ward either by calling Terri Holland at County Party Headquarters, (505) 256-1855, or checking this .

Here are the ward meeting locations:

• WARDS 16A, 16B, 23A, 23B, 29
  LBJ Middle School, 6011 Taylor Ranch Road NW
• WARDS 10, 12A, 12B, 13A, 13B, 14A, 14B
  Rio Grande High School, 2300 Arenal Road SW
• WARDS 11A, 11B, 11C, 17A, 17B
  Valley High School, 1505 Candelaria Road NW
• WARDS 15A , 15B, 25A, 25B
  Del Norte High School, 5323 Montgomery Blvd N E
• WARDS 18A, 18B, 19A, 19B, 26
  Highland High School, 4700 Coal Avenue SE
• WARDS 24A, 24B, 27A, 27B, 30A, 30B
  Sandia High School, 7801 Candelaria Drive NE
• WARDS 20A, 20B, 21A, 21B
  Grant Middle School, 1111 Easterday Drive NE
• WARDS 28A, 28B, 31A, 31B
  Eldorado High School, 11300 Montgomery Blvd N E
• WARDS 20C, 22,
  Los Vecinos Community Center, Old Route 66, Tijeras

Other upcoming County Party meetings:

COUNTY RESOLUTIONS COMMITTEE AND CREDENTIAL/RULES COMMITTEE, SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 11, 2006, 9:00 AM, UNM LAW SCHOOL, 1117 STANFORD NE, ROOM 2401, ALBUQUERQUE.

PRE-PRIMARY COUNTY CONVENTION, SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2006, 10:00 AM, HIGHLAND HIGH SCHOOL THEATER, 4700 COAL SE, ALBUQUERQUE.

PURPOSE OF COUNTY CONVENTION: The purpose of the County Convention is to certify the delegates and alternates elected at the Ward elections to the Democratic Party of New Mexico Pre-Primary Convention and conduct other business pertaining to the county.

DEMOCRATIC PARTY OF NEW MEXICO STATE PRE-PRIMARY CONVENTION, SATURDAY, MARCH 18, 2006, HIGHLAND HIGH SCHOOL, 4700 COAL SE, ALBUQUERQUE

Rest In Peace

Her funeral is taking place today. It's being televised on CSPAN, CNN, MSNBC and Fox. You can also watch or listen online at CSPAN2. The entire funeral will be reaired on CSPAN TV tonight at 6:00 PM MST. Here's a link to her elaborate funeral program. The New York Times has a good article about her life, including a slide show and video.

Could there be a more elegant and dignified representative of the civil rights movement? Coretta carried the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. for 37 years after his assassination in April 1968, and did it with grace, strength and conviction. She also spoke out against a variety of injustices internationally and, unlike some others in the civil rights movement, strongly supported gay rights:

I still hear people say that I should not be talking about the rights of lesbian and gay people and I should stick to the issue of racial justice," she said. "But I hasten to remind them that Martin Luther King Jr. said, 'Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.'" I appeal to everyone who believes in Martin Luther King Jr.'s dream to make room at the table of brother- and sisterhood for lesbian and gay people. -- March 31, 1998

Peace and farewell, Coretta. And thank you.

I am convinced that if I had not had a wife with the fortitude, strength and calmness of Coretta, I could not have stood up amid the ordeals and tensions surrounding the Montgomery movement. I came to see the real meaning of that rather trite statement: “A wife can either make or break a husband.” Coretta proved to be that type of wife with qualities to make a husband when he could have been so easily broken. In the darkest moments she always brought the light of hope. -– Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Hearing Saturday on House Paper Ballot Voting Machine Bill

From Paul Stokes, United Voters NM:
Your phone calls are needed right away to members of the House Consumer and Public Affairs Committee, urging support of HB 430, which mandates use of paper ballots in NM elections. The bill is set to be heard tomorrow, Saturday, February 3, at 8:30AM in Room 315. Please be there to show citizen support. From here, it presumably will go to the House Voters and Elections Committee on Tuesday or Thursday.

House Consumer and Public Affairs Committee:

Representative: Gail Chasey (D)
Dist. 18. Bernalillo
Capitol Office Phone: 986-4844
E-mail:  gailchasey@msn.com

Representative: Irvin Harrison (D)
Dist. 5, McKinley and San Juan
Capitol Office Phone: 986-4464, Office: 863-121
E-mail:  irv4u@cnetco.com

Representative: Thomas A. Anderson (R)
Dist. 29, Bernalillo
Capitol Office Phone: 986-4226
E-mail:  kb5ysg@arrl.net

Representative: Keith J. Gardner (R)
Dist. 66, Chaves, Eddy, Lea and Roosevelt
Capitol Office Phone: 986-4211, Office: 622-6500
E-mail:  gardners@prodigy.net

Representative: Joni Marie Gutierrez (D)
Dist. 33, Dona Ana
Capitol Office Phone: 986-4234, Office: 647-5577
E-mail:  jonig@zianet.com

Representative: Dianne Miller Hamilton (R)
DIst. 38, Grant, Hidalgo and Sierra
Capitol Office Phone:  986-4221
E-mail:  dianne38john4132@zianet.com

Representative:  Al Park (D)
Dist. 26, Bernalillo
Capitol Office Phone: 986-4234

Monday Senate Hearing on Two Important Bills

02/04 UPDATE: Hearing date change -- Senate Memorial 11 on withdrawing the NM Guard from Iraq, introduced by Sen. Ortiz y Pino, will NOT be heard along with SB 295 in the Senate Rules committee on MONDAY. It is now set for WEDNESDAY morning, Feb.8, Room 321, at 9:30 AM.

Sen. Ortiz y Pino's Senate Memorial 11, which requests that the Governor bring home New Mexico's National Guard troops from Iraq, will be discussed in the Senate Rules Committee on Monday Wednesday. The Committee will meet on February 6 8, at 8:00 9:30 AM in Room 321 at the Roundhouse in Santa Fe.

Sen. Linda Lopez's Senate Bill 295, mandating paper ballot voting machines, is included on this same agenda will still be heard in the Senate Rules Committee on Monday, February 6, at 8:30 AM. This is very exciting. Both items are of tremendous importance.

Click to contact members of the Senate Rules Committee.

Albuquerque Bush Watch

(See Updates below.) According to unnamed sources (!) President Bush will be arriving in Albuquerque sometime today (Update: He arrived at the Marriott about 3:15PM today with a massive motorcade) and is staying at the Uptown Marriott Hotel at 2101 Lousiana NE. Eyewitness reports (!) indicate that groups of police, men in suits and military vehicles have converged on the site. There are roped off areas already in place and the top three floors of the Marriott have become off limits. The last time Bush came to town, he stayed at the Marriott.

Bush is scheduled to speak at Intel in Rio Rancho Friday morning, participating in some sort of panel discussion. Some business leaders and politicos have allegedly been invited. Unnamed sources (!) report that Bush will be speaking in the first floor cafeteria of the building called RR7. This is the furthest south office building (4 floors), just south of the 3-tiered parking garage on the Intel site. I've also heard that 528 will be closed to traffic for a time when Bush arrives. The roundtable will take place around 7:00 or 8:00 AM.

UPDATE: A Presidential Rally organized by New Mexico PACE will be held on Friday, February 3rd, at 8 AM at Haynes Park in Rio Rancho. Gather on the West corner of 21st St. and HW 528.

The rally will focus on the issues of not cutting the budget for education or health care to pay of lobbyists. They will be shutting down HW528 for a time when Bush arrives so people should try to arrive early to be sure to get through. There will be signs if people can't bring their own. If enough people are there at 7 the event will start early. Any questions please call Esteli at 255-4266 or email at esteli3@yahoo.com. Click for a Rally Flyer (doc).

You can rest assured that no-one will have to be dragged from the event, handcuffed and jailed for wearing a teeshirt displaying the number of US troops killed in Iraq. The "screening" of attendees should be tight indeed. By the way, five more casualites yesterday bring the total American military deaths in Iraq to 2,247.

Although the administration has described Bush's four-city, post-State of the Union trip as a chance for him to explain his plans to the public, this morning's Albuquerque Journal reports there will be no events open to the public during Bush's Albuquerque visit.

Today's must-read delineation of Bush's unlawful actions? Senator Russ Feingold's diary on Daily Kos entitled Pre-1776 Mentality. Quote:

I've seen some strange things in my life, but I cannot describe the feeling I had, sitting on the House floor during Tuesday's State of the Union speech, listening to the President assert that his executive power is, basically, absolute, and watching several members of Congress stand up and cheer him on.  It was surreal and disrespectful to our system of government and to the oath that as elected officials we have all sworn to uphold. Cheering? Clapping? Applause?  All for violating the law?

Former Brigadier General Janis Karpinski to Speak on Abu Ghraib in Santa Fe

Santa Fe, NM—The Northern New Mexico Chapter of the ACLU-NM is bringing Janis Karpinski, the former brigadier general in charge of the American military prison system in Iraq from July 2003 until May 2005, and author of the book One Woman’s Army – The Commanding General of Abu Ghraib Tells Her Story, to Santa Fe.

She arrives in Santa Fe on Wednesday, February 1, 2006 for a four-day stay that begins with a Press Conference in the State Capitol Rotunda at 3:00 PM and concludes with a two-evening presentation and book signing from 6 - 9 PM at the James A. Little Theater on Friday and Saturday evenings, February 3rd and 4th.

At her press conference, Janis Karpinski, scapegoated by the Bush administration for the Abu Ghraib scandal, will present compelling evidence showing how the lines of responsibility for the torture and degradation of prisoners at Abu Ghraib prison go to the top echelons of the White House and Department of Defense.

She has since said, “If my superiors expected me to accept their version of events and go away meekly, they made a mistake of strategic proportions.”

In support of that statement, she is prepared to pull out the stops by discussing:

• What she knew and when she knew it.
• Her testimony at the final session of the International Commission of Inquiry on Crimes Against Humanity Committed by the Bush Administration held January 20-22, 2006 in New York City.  (The verdict is to be delivered on February 2 in Washington, DC.)
• The ill treatment of women in the military deployed to Iraq – sexual harassment, assaults, rape and suicides – subjects not only inadequately investigated but, for the most part, hushed up by the military brass.
• Senior military leaders who abandoned military leadership responsibilities to focus on the political implications of each decision made and report rendered.
• The taking of the Fifth by Maj. Gen. Geoffrey Miller, formerly commandant of Guantanamo Bay, and his refusing to provide testimony at the Courts Martial of soldiers because immunity was not an option.
• Col. Thomas Pappas, the Military Intelligence Commander at Abu Ghraib, who has been given immunity and may finally reveal who gave the orders to treat prisoners more harshly and when the harsher treatment began.
• How some “leaders” apparently sought to model prisons in Iraq on the prison at Guantanamo Bay (GITMO) and “how idiotic and naive the plans and planners were to believe such an operation was feasible.”
• * The truth behind Bush administration assertions that troops will be withdrawn when conditions on the ground warrant. As one of the highest-ranking officers in Iraq, she was part of the Army’s struggle to meet with the demands placed upon it — a struggle that may not be sustainable for long enough to defeat the insurgency and that risks a "catastrophic decline" in recruitment and reenlistment.
• Why a culture of cowardice permeates the senior military ranks and is seen as a means of self-preservation and the only route to promotion.
• Corruption among civilian contractors.

Prepare for a no-holds-barred discussion of these and other topics concerning Abu Ghraib, the situation in Iraq and its implications for this country and our cherished American freedoms and civil liberties.

LAST CHANCE: RSVP for Voter Action NM Dinner Event

As many of you know, Voter Action NM is the excellent activist group behind the NM voters' lawsuit against the use of unreliable touchscreen voting machines, as well as other election reform actions that are resulting in successes like moving the Governor to support purchasing paper ballot voting machines for the entire state.

To carry out such a lawsuit and other actions takes money. If we don't help with that, who will?

I urge you to RSVP TODAY for this benefit for Voter Action. In order for the event to go forward we need more people to buy tickets NOW. You need to call and reserve tickets before this coming Friday and submit payment.

I know the dinner, dance and silent auction will be a fun event and an excellent opportunity to connect with other election reform activists. If we don't want another fraudulent election, it's up to us to support events like this that make effective action possible.

Please call one of the people listed below TODAY!

VOTER ACTION NEW MEXICO
Valentine's Day
Dinner, Dance & Silent Auction
6 PM Saturday
February 11, 2006
Albuquerque Wool Warehouse
516 1st Street NW, Albuquerque, NM

Music by the Bleeker Street Boys
Dinner: vegetarian lasagna or chicken cordon bleu
Admission: $35 suggested donation
MUST CALL & ARRANGE PAYMENT BEFORE SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 3, TO RESERVE:

MUST CALL & ARRANGE PAYMENT BEFORE FEBRUARY 3 TO RESERVE:

Jane Ronca-Washburn 323.6162
Ana Canales 275.1283
Barbara Neher 797.1322
Ardis Hanish 268.5761
Liz McMaster 255.5965

Make checks payable to: IH Center/Voter Action

Voter Action is a project of the International Humanities Center

Minimum Wage Vote Tomorrow!

The Senate Public Affairs Committee will vote on the Governor’s proposal, Senate Bill 449, sponsored by Senator Ben Altamirano, tomorrow, Tuesday, at 2:30 in Room 321. We have to let the Senate know that a three-year phase-in to $7.50 with no indexing to inflation is not enough!  Please call committee members before 2:30 PM tomorrow and tell them:

“Amend SB 449 to include indexing and no three-year phase in.”

Democrats: Dede Feldman Chair ( 986-4482), Senator Mary Jane M. Garcia Vice Chair (986-4726), Gerald Ortiz y Pino (986-4380), Senator Mary Kay Papen (986-4270), Senator James G. Taylor (986-4862)

Republicans: Senator Steve Komadina (986-4377), Senator Stuart Ingle (986-4702), Senator Gay G. Kernan (986-4274), Senator Steven P. Neville (986-986-4266)

Last Call for Lobby Day: Join us for the Fair Wage Lobby Day, tomorrow, Tuesday.  Meet us on the east side of the roundhouse at 10:30, or email us to get a seat on one of our buses leaving Albuquerque at 9:00 AM (nmacorn@acorn.org).

Bush Coming to ABQ Thursday

1/31 UPDATE: According to an article in the Albuquerque Tribune, Bush will participate in a panel discussion on science research and education at Intel in Rio Rancho on Friday.

KOB-TV says:
WASHINGTON (AP) - White House spokesman Scott McClellan says that President George Bush will spend Thursday night in Albuquerque and speak Friday, but he has not released any details.

McClellan says Bush will travel around the country after tomorrow’s State of the Union address to give a series of policy speeches laying out his 2006 agenda.

McClellan says the president is scheduled to give four major policy speeches this week in Nashville, Tennessee; Maplewood, Minnesota; Albuquerque and Dallas.