I am writing today to announce the closure of the New Mexico Independent. After three and a half years of operation in New Mexico, the board of the American Independent News Network, has decided to shift publication of its news…
While environmental activists played their part yesterday during demonstrations at the capitol building, going so far as to dress up as solar panels and to sing the tune of “You Are My Sunshine,” their counterparts, the anti-cap-and-trade contingency who has…
Roughly one quarter of University of New Mexico students are unimpressed with the state’s flagship public school, according to a survey that questioned college students about their higher education experiences.
Ex-President Bill Clinton spoke to a crowd of activists and bloggers at Netroots Nation on Thursday night, touching on a wide range of issues, from defending his signing of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) and the Don’t Ask Don’t Tell policy in the U.S. military to advocating health care reform.
On the contentious health care debate, Clinton said “I personally savor a public option — and I always have.” In recent weeks, the public option has been a bone of contention between liberal Democrats and the more conservative members of Congress in both the House and Senate.
“The worst thing we can do,” Clinton told the Pittsburgh crowd,” is nothing.”
A member of the crowd stood up and challenged Clinton to talk about his actions on gay rights and Clinton gave a full-throated defense of his signing of both DOMA and the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy.
Clinton said he signed DOMA because he was attempting to hold off attempts on a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage in America.
“I didn’t like signing DOMA,” he told the crowd of activists, the vast majority of which oppose the policy.
However, Clinton said that America is in a different place. “America has rapidly moved to a different place on these issues,” Clinton said to applause to the crowd. By the end of his speech, nearly everyone in the David L. Lawrence Convention Center gave the former president a standing ovation.
On health care, Clinton promoted Democratic efforts to reform health care — including defending his administration’s major push in 1993, claiming that the effort would have actually simplified health care laws in America.
“We need to pass a bill and move this thing forward,” Clinton declared.
On climate change, Clinton echoed some of the same things his former vice president, Al Gore, has said in recent years. Included in his call for climate change legislation was a declaration of support for the wildly popular “cash for clunkers” program.
“This ‘cash for clunker’ program has worked great,” Clinton said to cheers from the room full of progressive activists.
Clinton also said that the government should “put this plan on steroids” for electric cars to further help environmentally.
Clinton said that efficiency is also key to advocacy.
The former president only made tangential references to his recent work freeing two American journalists imprisoned in North Korea, only saying that his voice was hoarse after being on planes a lot recently.
Editor’s note: Matthew Reichbach is reporting on location in Pittsburgh from Netroots Nation for the New Mexico Independent.
