All Stories
McCain attempts to challenge Obama where he is strong: Online.
GOP presidential candidate John McCain appears to be trying to give Democrat Barack Obama a run for his money in an area of strength -- the Internet.
The Boston Globe's political blog reports today:
Trying to catch up with Barack Obama's online machine, John McCain's told supporters this evening that it has created "McCain Nation," a way for them to connect and organize.< /blockquote>
Joining forces
By Gwyneth Doland 07/24/2008
Activists from Equality New Mexico, the Human Rights Campaign and America Votes say this year they're doing everything they can to help elect candidates sympathetic to gay rights to the state House and Senate. And this weekend they're rolling out Camp Equality, an intensive political campaign training for local supporters. Domestic partnership legislation is on the top of activists' lists, but they hope that by electing candidates who support gay rights, they'll get more votes for other types of legislation.
Groups sue the state to block new law
By Trip Jennings 07/24/2008
Several groups have sued to block a new law restricting registration drives, The Associated Press is reporting.
The 2005 law limits organizations to 50 registration forms at a time, requires groups to record registrars with the secretary of state and provide information on them and give registrations to county clerks within 48 hours. Registering ineligible voters is subject to a $500 fine and-or up to six months in jail.
Advocates say the law has a chilling effect on registration dives and groups' ability to urge people to get involved in politics.
Obama Consolidates Hispanic Support
By Gwyneth Doland 07/24/2008
Hispanic voters prefer Barack Obama to John McCain by 66 percent to 23 percent, according to a nationwide survey of 2,015 Latinos released today by the Pew Hispanic Center. Hispanic voters say that education, the cost of living, jobs and health care are the issues most important to them, and they prefer Obama on those issues by as much as three to one.
Navajos take on the government over compensation for uranium mining.
By Trip Jennings 07/24/2008
The Rocky Mountain News is taking an in-depth look at how Navajo uranium miners are faring in receiving compensation from the U.S. government decades after their work.
The story says many uranium workers are by law supposed to be compensated automatically through a program created eight years ago. It compensates workers who sacrificed their health, and sometimes their lives, as they labored amid highly toxic and top-secret materials used to build nuclear weapons.
But the paper reports:
Many of the Navajo were compensated $100,000 by a previous program created in 1990 and were to be automatically eligible for the new one, so their total benefits would rise to the current standards.
Instead, the Navajos have joined other former nuclear workers in fighting a different cold war, this time against their own government.
Corporations buy influence and civic pride with DNC cash
By Naomi Zeveloff, J.C. O’Connell 07/24/2008
More than 100 sponsors, many of them corporations, are footing the bill for this summer’s Democratic National Convention in Denver Aug. 25-28. Of the 112 sponsors listed on the DNC host committee Web site, only 23 (a mere 20 percent) would reveal how much they had donated. Those who did disclose gave almost $14.8 million, or half of the current money haul. The "silent majority" that make up the remaining 89 convention donors contributed $14.2 million.
NM to adopt first-in-nation Navajo-language school textbook
By Trip Jennings 07/24/2008
New Mexico's Public Education Department announced today that the state will become the first in the nation to adopt a Navajo language textbook on Monday at the Instructional Materials Bureau Advisory Council meeting in Santa Fe.
A press release from the education department says:
The textbook is Dine Bizaad Binahoo’aah (Rediscovering the Navajo Language), written by Dr. Evangeline Parsons Yazzie (Navajo), Professor of Navajo at Northern Arizona University, and Dr. Margaret Speas, Professor of Linguistics at University of Massachusetts.
The textbook will be used in ten school districts that provide Navajo language instruction and by Bureau of Indian Education schools. In 2006-07 seven Native American languages were taught in New Mexico public schools throughout the state. Navajo language classes served the highest number of Native language learners totaling 5,024 students in 2006-07.
TODAY'S TOP STORIES: Layoffs at the Santa Fe New Mexican
By Trip Jennings, benito aragon 07/24/2008
The Santa Fe New Mexican newspaper is resorting to layoffs because of a decline in ad revenue, the paper reports today.
The state of New Mexico has signed an agreement to explore clean energy projects to supply power to Kirtland, Holloman and Cannon Air Force bases according to New Mexico Business Weekly.
An innovative charter high school is set to commence within the confines of the Bernalillo County Metropolitan Detention Center. Gordon Bernell Charter High School is a full fledged APS charter school and will begin classes full-time on August 4th, according to the Weekly Alibi.
The Associated Press is reporting that Nebraska is putting an embargo on beef cattle coming from New Mexico and California.
A national Hispanic group is calling on Gov. Bill Richardson to back a change in the New Mexico Constitution that would strip him and future governors of the power to appoint university regents, but Richardson isn't biting, the Albuquerque Journal reports.
The state announced a hearing on proposed rules for New Mexico's medical marijuana bill, according to The Associated Press.
The Navajo Nation also averted a shutdown of its Internet services -- for now, the Gallup Independent is reporting.
Tickets to Obama's acceptance speech come with a price: activism.
By Marjorie Childress 07/24/2008
Barack Obama's intriguing blend of electoral campaign savvy with a community organizing ethos is going to be on full display in Colorado.
Obama's rock star acceptance speech at the Democratic National Convention is going to be open to 70,000 people at Invesco Field, and the Denver Post tells us that many of those will be recruited from throughout the U.S., with a focus on neighboring battleground states Nevada and New Mexico.
This means a few more New Mexicans may be making the road trip to Denver, or to a hotel within driving distance.
But if you get a ticket, in pure organizing style you'll be asked to do something.
Kudos to CNN
By Tracy Dingmann 07/24/2008
It's not often that the major television networks crank out anything particularly thought-provoking in the summer, but this week there's an exception. I recommend you check out the sweeping CNN series "Black in America" for a compelling yet ultimately sobering view of the current state of black people in this country. The series, hosted by an incongruously perky Soledad O'Brien, began Wednesday with a segment on black women and families and continues tonight with a installment about black men.
The big H2O transfer
The demand for water has driven up the value of Middle Rio Grande water rights more than tenfold in the last 20 years, and landowners are cashing out in what appear to be record numbers. But even as water transfers speed up, so has opposition from farmers and pueblos alike. In recent months the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation has chimed in over concern for the endangered Rio Grande silvery minnow.
Ad Watch: Pro-drilling group airs ads against Udall
By Matthew Reichbach 07/23/2008 | 2 Comments
A pro-drilling group called the American Energy Alliance is airing ads on both 770 KKOB-AM and 1350 KABQ-AM attacking Tom Udall's stance on drilling.
KABQ is owned byClear Channel Communications Inc. which also owns popular music FM stations. KKOB is by far the most popular radio station in the Albuquerque media market, is owned by Citadel Broadcasting and boasts a 9.4 share in the winter of 2008, according to Arbitron numbers. KABQ, a local Air America radio affiliate, has a 2.1 share.
"The U.S. is sitting on top of vast untapped oil reserves, estimated at about 2 trillion barrels, enough oil to last us for 300 years," the ad by the American Energy Alliance claims. However, the largest oil reserves in the world belong to Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabia has an estimated 260 billion barrels of oil, or around one-fifth of the world's known oil reserves.
Netroots on the rise
By Matthew Reichbach 07/23/2008Progressive bloggers and online activists, known collectively as the netroots, gathered in Austin, Texas this weekend for a convention. The 2,500 attendees included former Vice President Al Gore and Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi. The netroots hit their stride in 2004 with the Presidential bid of Howard Dean. After four years the influence of the netroots is growing and has turned into a real political force for reasons beyond impressive fundraising.
Obama campaign unveils Spanish-language radio ad
By Heath Haussamen 07/23/2008Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama is out today with his first Spanish-language radio ad, a personal look at his life in which he aims to relate to Hispanic voters. But he's behind Republican opponent John McCain, who has already aired one television and two radio ads targeting Hispanics.
Get on board, Congress.
By Heath Haussamen 07/23/2008 | 1 CommentIt’s no secret that, for two or three decades, the powers-that-be in America have ignored the looming energy crisis. Now, the emergency that could have been avoided has arrived. An Apollo-like program is what we need to solve the energy crisis, which is one of the most serious threats America has faced in decades. Enter T. Boone Pickens, an oilman who has the wisdom to understand that we can’t drill our way out of this problem, the guts to stick his neck out and the money to ensure his message is heard.
Richardson to McCain: Stop Whining
By Matthew Reichbach 07/23/2008
New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, a Barack Obama supporter, has some advice for John McCain: Stop whining.
The advice comes after an op-ed by McCain was rejected by the New York Times op-ed page. The McCain op-ed was in response to one by his Democratic opponent, Obama.
Here's what op-ed editor David Shipley instructed McCain to change via e-mail:
The hidden costs of a 'maquiladora'
By benito aragon 07/23/2008 | 1 Comment
Last week ground was broken on the outskirts of Ciudad Juarez in what is set to be Mexico's largest 'maquiladora'. The Taiwanese manufacturing giant Foxconn started construction in Jeronimo, Chihuaha on a facility that will eventually span 500 acres with more than 1.2 million square feet of structures and employ 30,000 people. Foxconn is one of the largest manufacturers of computer components and electronics worldwide.
TODAY'S TOP STORIES: Monsoons arrive and people cut water use.
By Gwyneth Doland 07/23/2008
After an extraordinarily dry spring, the summer monsoons have kicked in and in response, Albuquerque water customers have cut their use, reports the Albuquerque Journal.
In today's Santa Fe Reporter, (and posted on the paper's brand-new Web site ) Dave Maass follows up on a brouhaha between Green Party Public Regulation Commission candidate Rick Lass and Jerome Block, Sr., the father of Democratic candidate Jerome Block, Jr.
Also today, The Daily Times of Farmington follows up on the controversy over the proposed Desert Rock Power Plant. Read more here.
UNM School of Medicine researcher Dr. H. George Nurnberg was the leader of a study released yesterday showing that Viagra may help women overcome the sexual side-effects of antidepressants. According to the AP, Dr. Nurnberg's study of pre-menopausal women found that it helped them achieve orgasm.
There's great jazz in NM. Who knew?
By Marjorie Childress 07/23/2008
National Public Radio had a great feature about Albuquerque's jazz community Monday night in their series on homegrown music scenes:
A jazz fan visiting Albuquerque, N.M., might equate the chances of seeing great live jazz there with the chances of getting caught in a rain shower. But since the 1970s, a devoted group of musicians and educators has turned the area into a hotbed of jazz performance, with a scene so hearty, its musicians can support themselves by playing out. Its venues are so magnetic that international stars often make it a stop on their tours.
Hidden oligarchy
By V.B. Price 07/23/2008 | 2 Comments
Is the American economy undergoing a historic readjustment from powerhouse to a ne’er-do-well nation down at the heel, on the brink of social trouble with a financial aristocracy thumbing its nose at vast legions of the working poor? It may well be.
And if it is, this decline stems in large part from one simple source – what I like to call holier-than-thou-art economics, a false notion in which the rich are seen as unfailingly good and the not-so-rich and poor are suspects of unworthiness, or as one politician put it recently, “whiners.”
