Friends Meeting House

My son Justin and I dropped by the Friends Meeting House tonight to watch the presentation of the Union of Concerned Scientists presentation on the proposed development of a nuclear bunker buster bomb. It really was very informative and if you look at my blog entry from this morning you can learn a little more. There were about 85 people at the meeting. I knew many of them from my past campaigns and work with environmental groups. This crowd is educated and dedicated about current events and liberal ideals.

I could not help but notice that out of the crowd there were not five attendees under the age of thirty. Look at the picture closely and you will see mainly a crowd made up of 45 plus activists. This is disturbing. Where will the next generation of people like this come from. As I recall, activism usually starts in colleges and universities. There wasn't much evidence of that tonight although this group of folks are experienced in moving their agendas forward. However, we aren't going to be around to do this forever and it is encouraging to know that many folks see what is happening and many foundations and philantrophists are aiming to do something about it.

And Finally

Please, you must read this

And then ponder this photo.

In the Thick of It! Pity Him

This is Jim Ludwick. He is the Albuquerque Journal Reporter who covers the City Hall beat, including the Mayor's office and the City Council. We should pity him a little bit for what he is about to endure over the next five weeks. It will be up to him to make sense of the Mayor's race, the minimum wage proposal and city Council races for the Journal's readers.

Jim is a really likeable guy. He moved here from Montana in 1997 just as I took office as Mayor. Jim has been a journalist for almost thirty years now. Like most of the Journal reporters he is very accurate and fair in his reporting and he is very professional in his demeanor. I always enjoyed working with him.

I remember when I ran for Mayor the first time back in 1985 that Karen Moses, the current Managing Editor, was covering the race. About a week before election time I don't know who was more exhausted of the two of us. I had one campaign to run, but she had to cover multiple ones. She was also very pregnant as I recall and I thought she might not make it to election day. I really thought very highly of her too.

Good People

I had early morning coffee with some really good people. They are all in town as representatives of the Union of Concerned Scientists. This has always been one my favorite activist groups because of their heavy reliance on science to move their agenda along. On the left is Doctor Robert Dodge of Ventura, California, in the middle is Damon Moglen of the Gobal Security Program, and on the right is an old colleague of mine from The Wilderness Society, Doctor Sue Gunn, Senior Washington Representative.

They are in town to alert New Mexicans to the dangers of the proposed Robust Nuclear Earth Penetrator, more commonly known as the bunker buster bomb. See more about it here.
This thing really looks like a boondoggle that won't do what it is supposed to do. And, do we really need more nukes in this world?

This group is making the rounds of New Mexico cities in hopes that the public will convince Senator Pete Domenici to eliminate funding for this project in the next year. They will make a presentation to the public on Wednesday night at the Friends Meeting House at 1600 5th North West in Albuquerque.

Red Cross Time

We all feel a little helpless as we watch events unfold on the Gulf Coast. One way of helping is by sending money to the Red Cross or some other non governmental entity that is involved in the disaster relief effort. Bobbi and I sent them an online donation last night. It took me several attempts to do it since the Red Cross servers were jammed up with other folks doing the same thing.

Justin and Noelle

I popped home prior to lunch and was greeted with this scene. Justin and Noelle eating breakfast burritos from Little Anitas while working on their wireless network computers. Justin will be here for several months working for his non profit group and Noelle leaves next week for Bangkok for the studies abroad program at Rice University.

Bobbi is home too and already went to Jazzercise class. I am going to take the afternoon off for some quality time with Bobbi on the golf course.

Corporate Albuquerque

If it is really true that Mayor Martin Chavez told the National Office and Industrial Parks audience yesterday that he wanted them to vote for 'corporate minded' city councillors, then I feel he has lost sight of who his real constituents are. Does the Mayor and Council serve corporate America or do they serve the people of Albuquerque?

When the Mayor was thinking of "corporate minded" councillors he probably wasn't thinking of this gentleman. He is Isaac Benton and he is running against one of Chavez's handpicked candidates, who happens to be a former employee of the Mayor's Office.

Isaac is a long time architect in Albuquerque and a small business man. He has been active with his neighborhood and believes in investing in the city's core. I think he is going to make a great city councilman and I am going to support him as much as possible. I will even send him a contribution.

Concealed Weapons Redux

The Albuquerque Journal's Editorial this morning really did amaze me. They stated that the one and a half year old concealed weapons law has not been so bad afterall, and that the carnage some people had predicted hasn't materialized. That is true. However they seem to feel that the killing last week of an abusive husband who was attacking his spouse with a knife is okay. Maybe it was, but what does having a concealed weapon have to do with it? Before this law was passed anyone could walk around this state with a gun strapped to their hip as long as it was visible. Wouldn't that be a better deterrent if you are looking to scare off abusive husbands? Why is a concealed weapon better than a visible one? Police officers wear their firearms where they are visible for a reason.

I am still a little aghast that it is illegal to take a gun into a wine bistro or court room, but not to the Wal Mart, or movie theater, or the newsroom of any TV station or newspaper. I wonder if the Albuquerque Publishing Company has a policy of not allowing any firearms on their premises.

Just asking!

Katrina and bush

I was watching CNN's coverage of the hurricane when bush showed up for a hastily called news conference. The purpose of the news conference was to make bush look 'prepared' to handle the aftermath of Katrina. He almost appeared happy as he proclaimed the government was ready to help with the recovery. I hope bush has planned this better than Iraq, after all his dad lost a presidential election because of his poor reaction to Andrew, which devastated Florida.

bush will hide out behind this natural disaster for as long as he can. He will make emotional visits and be shown hugging victims, but don't forget this is just show because so far as I know he still hasn't hugged any victims of the man made (bush) Iraq disaster. Watch what happens with him over the next few days. It will almost be nauseating.

Meanwhile, lets do what we can for the victims of Katrina.

Valles Caldera

I had to chuckle at the story in the Albuquerque Journal today regarding the grazing program at the Valles Caldera in the Jemez Mountains. This is the piece of pristine public land that is being managed under a scheme that pretty much deemphasises the professional public land managers in the US Forest Service and other agencies in management of that property. The Valles Caldera was purchased by the Federal Government some years ago but part of the deal was that the care of the land would be divested to a nine member committee appointed by the White House. This was an experiment that was aimed at giving locals control of Public Lands owned by all Americans. This committee has been working very hard however and they are finding this land management business is tricky. Their chief executive, former state land commissioner Ray Powell just resigned after only 10 months on the job.



It seems that the committee is spending a major portion of its time trying to manage its short grazing season. Like any grazing program in the west they are finding out that the revenues will probably never pay for the cost of the program, just like most of the other grazing programs on public or State trust lands in the west. The taxpayers continue to get soaked for these grazing lease give aways on public lands all over the west. That is just a fact and it probably won't change. The myth of the Cowboy and their 'way of life' is just to hard to overcome.

The Committee's mountain bike touring program is bringing in as much money as grazing and it causes less impact and environmental damage on the land. It probably is paying for itself.

My son Justin has been working for the National Public Lands Grazing Campaign in Washington, DC. They are working to get legislation allowing voluntary buyouts of grazing leases on public lands in the west. The idea is that ranchers aren't making any money, they are costing the taxpayers money in subsidizing them, and wouldn't it make more sense to buy them out of the allotments to give them a bankroll to start another business. The land is then retired from heavy grazing so it can recover and the taxpayer subsidies will go down.

Today, Justin is driving from New York to Albuquerque to spend the rest of the year here on the job for his employer before attending graduate school next year. Bobbi is traveling to Houston and she and Noelle will be driving home from there. Noelle has been working in Houston on her summer break from Rice University. Noelle leaves for Bangkok for a fall semester of study on September 8th. Bobbi and I are scheduled to go see here in November.

Anyway, they will all be arriving here late Monday night around the same time and we will be a nuclear family over the next ten days. Our first get together will undoubtedly be at the Frontier restaurant for breakfast burritos. The kids eat them by the dozen when they are in town. They will all be here for my 60th birthday on September 6th. That's cool.

Concealed Weapon Death

The first concealed weapon death has been recorded after a man was shot in a Wal Mart in Albuquerque by another man carrying a permitted concealed weapon. The dead man was allegedly stabbing one of the female employees whom he was estranged from.

When I was Mayor I was absolutely opposed to concealed weapons and that probably helped defeat me at reelection time. I am actually a gun owner(a dozen or so of all kinds) and was once a very active sportsman and marksman. I just saw no need for concealed weapons. It was already legal to wear weapons in public as long as people could see them, which I thought was more of a deterrent than hiding them. At least that way you could steer clear of the weapon carrier, good or bad. It just always seemed to me that people who wanted to carry these weapons were full of fear and it wouldn't take much for them to whip it out.

So, now you know that even in a Wal Mart or the movie theatre the guy next to you may be packing! It was very fortunate no innocent bystanders were injured or killed. Time will tell if the weapon carrier's use of deadly force was really necessary. This kind of thing will happen again.

Master Lobbyist, Golfer and Friend

I got a quick round of golf in with my long time friend Tom Horan. This is a picture I took of Tom and his wife, Mary Ann Campbell-Horan, at their home in the north valley near the Albuquerque Country Club where we are members. As you can see from the sign in their front window, they still show their allegiance proudly.

Tom and I entered the first grade together at Our Lady of Fatima Heights Catholic School in 1951. We went to school together all the way through high school. Tom's father was Frank Horan, the legendary Albuquerque City Attorney for many years. His dad was one of the funniest men who ever lived. He was also very competent and he got Tom interested in politics.

Before that however, Tom and my twin brother Tom flew helicopters in Viet Nam. My brother, who is now New Mexico's State Aviation Director, gave Tom his first helicopter ride when Horan was a Lieutenant in the Infantry. That convinced him to take to the air and he flew for many years with the Army and the New Mexico National Guard. A few years ago Tom's flying skills were validated when his Beechcraft bonanza blew an engine outside of Roswell one night. He made a safe emergency wheels up landing in the desert and he and his passenger walked away. That plane is now flying again with Tom as the pilot.

Tom served in the Legislature for several terms. I am well aware of this because back in 1975 or so he told me he was not going to run again so I decided to move into that district and take a shot at the seat. So I moved to a new apartment there and then he let me know he had decided to run for one more term. I was a little pissed off at that for a while, but looking back on it I think it was the best thing to happen to me career wise. Very few legislators ever rise above that level. A few years later I ran for state wide office and was elected.

Tom is now one of the most respected and knowledgeable lobbyists in Santa Fe. He has a large stable of clients, including the City of Albuquerque. He is a good guy to know up in the round house. If you ever need his services give him a call because there is no one better at pushing legislation through that meat grinder in Santa Fe.

Summer Evening Stimulation

We spent a wonderful August evening in Arturo Sandoval's back yard. Pizza, beer, and a great speaker in the person of Dr. Juan Almendares of Honduras. The good Doctor is running for President of Honduras and is well known for his clinics that serve Honduras' poorest citizens. The Doctor does not allow his Doctors and healthcare assistants to wear white coats or sit at desks when dealing with patients. He believes this separates them for the people they are trying to cure. He is a proponent of alternative medicine.

Juan is getting a lot of attention on his work involving torture of political prisoners and prisoners of war, where ever it may occur. Read more about him here.



Dr. Almendares was in Albuquerque to speak to the Strategic Leadership Institute which brings together leaders pushing for positive change in New Mexico. Yes, this is probably a very liberal group and that is really a good thing.

There are many Leadership Institutes in New Mexico and most of them are strictly business oriented or very conservative in nature. This new Institute helps balance things out.


Finally, it occurred to me that the reason we should all care about this is symbolized in little Anila's gaze over the back of her lawn chair. She is after all the one who will live with the decisions we are making in this country right now.

Awakening

Could it be Americans are beginning to understand. See this latest poll.

Clueless

I recieved this from my former classmate at St. Pius X High School. Dennis Jett was a career State department dipolmat and served as U.S. Ambassador to Mozambique and Peru. He retired a few years ago. He is a columnist for various newspapers across the country and is currently the Dean of the International Center at the University of Florida.

I had actually thought about putting this together myself, but Dennis beat me to it.

President Honors Veterans of Foreign Wars at National Convention
Salt Palace Convention Center
August 22, 2005 11:17 A.M. MDT

President Bush: “We've also expanded grants to help homeless veterans in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. No veteran who served in the blazing heat or bitter cold of foreign lands should have to live without shelter in the very country whose freedom they fought for.”(Applause.)

The Reality:

More than half a million veterans experience homelessness over the course of a year. Conservatively, one out of every three homeless males who is sleeping in a doorway, alley, or box in our cities and rural communities has put on a uniform and served our country.

Source: National Coalition for Homeless Veterans web site: http://www.nchv.org/background.cfm

President Discusses Iraqi Constitution with Press Pool
Tamarack Resort
Donnelly, Idaho

August 23, 2005, 8:50 A.M. MDT

Q Sorry about that. Does the administration's goal -- I'll ask you about the Iraqi constitution. You said you're confident that it will honor the rights of women.

THE PRESIDENT: Yes.

Q If it's rooted in Islam, as it seems it will be, is that still -- is there still the possibility of honoring the rights of women?

THE PRESIDENT: I talked to Condi, and there is not -- as I understand it, the way the constitution is written is that women have got rights, inherent rights recognized in the constitution, and that the constitution talks about not "the religion," but "a religion." Twenty-five percent of the assembly is going to be women, which is a -- is embedded in the constitution.

The Reality:

Draft Iraqi constitution from the New York Times web site:

Article (2): First, Islam is the official religion of the state and is a basic source of legislation:

a) No law can be passed that contradicts the undisputed rules of Islam.

I am beginning to think bush is living in an alternative universe and only pops over to this side to conduct news conferences based on what is happening in his world.

The darkest places in hell are reserved for those who maintain their neutrality in times of moral crisis.
Dante Alighieri

Death of Science in Rio Rancho?

Just when I think news headlines can't get any worse the Rio Rancho School Board makes a fool out of me. On a three to two vote last night they opened the door for the teaching of intelligent design in their schools.(Read this for sure) The courageous Rio Rancho science teachers were flipped off on this vote by the three zealots on the board.

Creationists make it sound as though a 'theory' is something you dreamt up after being drunk all night.
Isaac Asimov

This comes on the tail of television preacher Pat Robertson's statements that we should probably assassinate Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez, a constant critic of the Bush Administration. Roberston said, "You know, I don't know about this doctrine of assassination, but if he thinks we're trying to assassinate him, I think that we really ought to go ahead and do it. It's a whole lot cheaper than starting a war ... and I don't think any oil shipments will stop." Aww....that good old time religion! Read about it here.

I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ.
Mohandas Gandhi

Add to all this the adoption of Islamic law as a major force in the new Iraqi constitution that America is condoning and it seems if we are headed into the dark ages again.

Well, it seems the Christian bush administrators in Iraq seem to be agreeing with the Mullahs on one thing, Women's rights! They shouldn't have any.

I wonder how much longer free thinking Americans will put up with this crowd. Not long I hope. The best place to start fighting it I believe is on the local level and we should start in Rio Rancho. I am not a big fan of the American Civil Liberties Union because I don't think they do a good job of picking their fights, but if they want to fight this school board action I will send them a check today.

You need to check out the Washington Post's Tom Toles today. He just got back from vacation and his editorial cartoon today is priceless.

Meanwhile, bush is still officially on vacation.

Core Beliefs

This is a picture of Mayor Rocky Anderson of Salt Lake City. I know Rocky well from my time as Mayor and in other dealings I have on public lands issues in Utah. Rocky is a somewhat liberal Mayor in a state that voted 71% for bush the last election. Rocky is pretty well liked in the city of Salt Lake itself, but once outside those boundaries I don't think he would score very high with the voters.

The reason I like Mayor Rocky is because he is a guy with strong core beliefs. Today, he organized and attended a anti Iraq war rally near bush's speech to the Veterans of Foreign Wars in Salt Lake City. I really respect him for doing that. I have always felt that most politicians, including corrupt or blindly ambitious ones, have some strong core beliefs.(I have only known one who doesn't seem to have any.) Many times they will hide those beliefs because it is politically smart to do so, but some, like Rocky, aren't afraid to let them be known. He is courageous and I am proud to know him.

Press Guys



Now here is a trio that you should know. They are the hardworking news relations guys in the Governors Office. They do a lot more than handle the press. Just about anything that will end up in front of the public or media concerning Governor Richardson and his administration in Santa Fe will be filtered through these guys.

Billy Sparks, Deputy Chief of Staff, hails from North Carolina and the Blue Ridge Mountains. Billy has been working with the Governor for many years and seems to be one of the calmest guys I have ever known. I have never seen him get angry which is impressive when dealing with some of the media sometimes.

Just below Billy on the left is Gilbert Gallegos. Gilbert was a long time reporter at the Albuquerque Tribune and was on the job there when I was Mayor. Gilbert was simply one of the most accurate reporters I had ever worked with and he had a good sense for a story's meaning. He was one of the Governor's first hires and it was a great choice.

Next is Pahl Shipley. Pahl is the former news director of my old employer some thirty years ago, KOAT TV. Pahl has always reminded me of Lou Grant in the Mary Tyler Moore show(also from 30 years ago.) He has a dry sense of humor which I really enjoy. Paul's wife Liz is a long time media and policy person at the Albuquerque Public School System and now serves as the Executive for Board Services.

These are hardworking staffers who rarely get recognized by the public for their professionalism.

Mayor's Poll

As a former Mayor of Albuquerque I will now interpret the research and Polling Poll that was released in the Albuquerque Journal today. This interpretation is totally prejudicial though. The poll shows Mayor Martin Chavez right on 40% but with over 60% in approval ratings. His nearest competitors are Eric Griego at 13%, Brad Winter at 11% and David Steele at 3%.

Marty is probably in pretty good shape right now, but with 40% reelect numbers he is not out of the danger of having a run off election. His low reelect numbers are traditional for any Mayor in Albuquerque. No Mayor has ever won a reelection effort, although two have hung out for four years and come back to win again. They are Harry Kinney and Mayor Chavez. Chavez could break that jinx this time around because of the nonexistence of any serious opposition campaigns. It probably will get pretty nasty in the last month however and that is why Chavez might indeed face a runoff.

One other thing to consider is the effect of the minimum wage ballot initiative. If the public is heavily in favor of that initiative then where do those voters break out on election day for Mayor? Marty Chavez opposes the initiative and that could potentially hurt him. I feel that this initiative will drive the turn out and you can be assured most of the campaigning by special interest groups will center on this issue and not the ho-hum Mayor's race. Some of the city council races might be more interesting to watch, but overall apathy still reigns on local politics.

APD Officers & War News

Albuquerque has lost two police officers to a deranged man who is also suspected in the deaths of two other men at a local motorcycle shop. It is a very sad occasion and I send all my sympathies to the families of both the officers and the other victims.

This will be the lead media story in New Mexico and especially Albuquerque for the next few days. The story will provide very big headlines and lots of airtime, and it probably should. When this kind of loss is experienced close to home then it becomes very real. It is almost as if geographical proximity increases the sense of loss. Maybe that is why media coverage of the loss of American soldiers in far away Iraq and Afghanistan seems to dwindle with the repetitive casualty reports. You can't help but notice that these stories fall further back in the front section of many newspapers. Of course when a local soldier dies in that conflict the coverage will pick up for a day or two.

One difference you will notice over the next few days is that the Governor, Mayor, Legislators and Councilors will probably attend services for these men. They will do this because they know it is important to honor the officers for the service they provided their local citizens. This kind of recognition is something we have not seen from the bush administration when their service men fall far away.

Theocracy vs. Democracy

I am glad my wife Bobbi, daughter Noelle, sister Carlota and all other women I know don't live in Iraq. If they did they would be facing a bleaker future than they might have had under the government of Saddam Hussein. My sister sent me this link.

This is a link worth following. Although the issue of the disintegration of women's right in Iraq has been poorly covered by the media, it should have every man and woman in America, liberal or conservative, questioning our country's collusion in this unfolding disaster. This nation is condoning the turning of women's rights over to fundamentalist religous zealots. Was that bush's vision for Iraq?

Men, their rights, and nothing more; women, their rights, and nothing less.
Susan B. Anthony

Movie Night

I often go to the movies. I love them and see at least three or four a month at the Century Theatre Downtown in Albuquerque. (I helped convince them to build it when I was Mayor.) I caught the late matinee of the movie "The Great Raid". It is about the rescue of 500 Americans from a Japanese prisoner of war camp in the Philippines in 1945. I knew the story of this true occurrence because I am a history fanatic of the 30's and 40's. It was a fairly good movie and as most war movies now was realistic.

This particular raid was one of the best documented actions by armed forces camera men during the war. I was a military photographer during my service in the Air Force and have always respected the work of the combat photographers in World War II. At the end of the movie they show quite a bit of the news footage of the rescued servicemen and the American and Philippine guerrillas who freed them. It was very emotional visual journalism and it got me to thinking how much has changed. There were scenes of the emaciated POWs returning on a troop ship to San Francisco and the thousands of people who turned out to greet them with marching bands, parades and rallies. I was joined at this movie by my friend Pat Bryan who just happened to show up at the same time I did. He is a graduate of the Naval Academy and a combat veteran in Viet Nam. He made the remark when we walked out that when he returned from Viet Nam he wishes he had gotten that kind of reception.

Fast forward to 2005. Now, it takes freedom of information lawsuits to get photographs of our returning wounded and dead Americans from Iraq. Think about this. It is really pretty staggering to think bush and his neocons have come this far. Do they think this policy will hide the 1800 dead service men and women from their family and friends? Do they think that none of us at all will notice their sacrifice and the sacrifice of the thousands of maimed soldiers in hospitals all around Europe and the United States? All in an unnecessary war!

The movie will stir patriotism in those who see it, but it should be tempered with the reality of what our government is currently doing in respect to being open and honest.

Well, that was the first movie I saw tonight. The second was an independent film that I first saw In theatrical release, and it may be the most thought provoking movie I have ever seen. I ordered it up on Netflix and it was delivered today. It was good I watched it after that first movie. The movie's title is "What the Bleep Do We Know". It is a hybrid documentary movie about quantum physics and the human brain and our perceptions of reality and how we can change it. It is simply a movie that everyone should see at least twice. I will watch it once more to be sure I have absorbed it all. I highly recommend it.