Teen Endangerment, Political Tricks, and Nerves

Well it's been a while since I posted anything, and I apologize for that! If you read my friend Maggie's blog, or Michelle's, you know how busy things are. We are currently 40 days away from election day. For most people that translates into "40 more days of these phone calls, and ads, and mudslinging?" And for those of us who work in this schtuff are saying "what?? 40 days! I can't wait for it to be over, but can I have more time please? My calls? My door knocking goals, my absentee ballots! I'll never get this all done in 40 days."

And then if you are a republican in congress, you think something else entirely!!!

You think, Finally we'll pass this law that's as dangerous to young women as it purports to be safe for them.
You think, we'll go ahead and pass a law that limits citizens abilities to use the judicial system to protect them from governmental tyranny.
You think, we know these bills won't pass in the Senate in the tiny amount of time we have left before congress recesses for the election, we're just going to do these things so we can tell our base that they should be happy with us.

The Teen Endangerment Act, this law is ridiculous. I've blogged about it before. This law is aimed at protecting minors from being taken across state boundaries to avoid a parental notification law in their home state. Parental Notifications are bad laws to begin with, they aim to "strengthen family ties" and reduce the number of women having dangerous abortions or dying of complications afterward because their parents didn't know they did. Well these situations rarely occur, and we all know that if a young woman has a relationship with her parents that fosters that communication, she will tell her parents. I've stated before that we know only 3% of young women who get abortions don't tell their parents, there are good reasons.
This new law will allow the Government to put Grandmothers in jail for taking their granddaughters across the state lines nearest them for an abortion. Cab Drivers may be held liable legally.

During the Same legislative day, the US House passed a law limiting the amount of money granted in lawsuits against government entities for freedom of religion situations. Essentially we've passed a law that says that local governments such as counties or cities can put up things like nativity scenes, a blatant disregard for freedom of or FROM religion, and the result will be a minor lawsuit. There won't be enough money allow to be granted by a judge, to make the government entity want to take down the display.

The kicker for these things is that there is no chance of this legislation passing the Senate, or probably being signed by the President. This is just to be able to go back into the districts from which they come, and say we've done this for conservatives across the country.

This is a base mobilizer, a cover up, and way to deceive the conservatives who are concerned with things like when we are going to get out of this war, that they aren't even supporting anymore.

Most importantly, the message is this:

We are 40 days from Election Day, please do something!!!!!

Feels Good to scapegoat someone

The headline of the Journal this morning gave me some inspiration to write again after a week or so of writer’s block.

Kendra’s Law Gets Council OK.

There was one vote against it, and I have to make the statement that this woman in constantly a inspiration, an epitome of bravery, strength, and conscience in politics.

Kendra’s Law was something I had only heard minimal things about last year when a Friend of mine, and State Rep. decided to carry the bill in the state legislature. It is a horrible bill, and I’m used to keeping friends who do things like this. Its what politics is all about. She has been good to me, and is right on 99.9% of the issues, this time she thinks differently than I but it won’t impact our friendship. I trust and respect her more for being honest with me when I approached her about it.
That said, this is a horrible law. It began in NY some years ago when a girl named Kendra was pushed in front of a subway by a man who was mentally Ill. The law aims at helping people, the public, keep dangerously mentally ill people off the streets and out of situations where they can do harm to others. This sounds like a great idea, and it definitely has good intentions. But the dangers outweigh the goods.

I actively opposed the bill in the state legislative session last year, and have been mostly off the scene on the city level, with the exception of speaking with a friend of mine on the City Council.

The bill allows family members, law enforcement, and “others” to report a mentally ill person as dangerous to people around them. Once they so do, there will be a court hearing, where a judge, (with recommendation from a doctor hopefully) will make the ultimate decision as to whether or not the person needs to be force medicated.
Then we begin the process of force medicating, and potentially incarcerating these mentally ill people.

The law came about in ABQ after John Hyde, a schizophrenic man, shot and killed 5 people in one day. The story behind that story is still mostly rumors. But apparently the man was kicked off his medications, after being denied state funded help to pay for the prescriptions. He had attempted repeatedly to gain access to his meds, and was begging for help, knowing that he was going to be a danger to himself and others if off of them for a prolonged period of time. This points us to the real problem, and that is not that we need a mechanism for forcing medications on mentally ill people, but rather that we need better funding for prescriptions drugs. We need to address the real problems of our society not stop gap measures.

This is a piece of feel-good legislation. This is a bill that elected officials, with the exception of the brave Debbie O’Malley, were afraid to stand up against. This bill will not ensure that dangerous people are taken care of. Nor will it help us attack the serious problems of mental illness in this society, or city. But it will serve as a mechanism to allow more people to be made into criminals.

Congratulations Albuquerque, you’ve made mental illness a crime! I hope you “feel good” about yourself!

There is no doubt Mayor Chavez will sign the bill. And Albuquerque, don’t you feel safer already?

A side note, the original Kendra’s Law in New York is currently being debated on again, with a majority of the state calling for the repeal of the law because it is not effective, and unduly harsh toward the Mentally Ill.

I thought at least the Democrats on the City Council would have remembered the campaign slogans fro 2004, “No more fear driven policies, hope is on the way.”

I guess I was wrong. So often that is the case… sadly…

Speak Out

I am going to sound a bit twisted with this. I don’t mind that, and I bet that if you read until the end you’ll understand my logic.

I was blessed to grow up with some extremely strong, courageous women in my life. My mother, Grandmother, and Aunts were all great influences on my life. I learned from them, though they are not politically active, that if we believe in something we should really stand up for it.

So there is this organization called Justice for All, (I warn you now that checking out their website might be disturbing) that travels to college campuses with these huge pictures they claim are of “aborted fetuses” trying to convince young women that abortion is a bad choice for them to make.

I am excited that they are coming back. This is the part where people will think I’m crazy, or twisted, or run to my profile to find out if they’ve missed the fact that I’m anti choice. I’m not! I’m as pro choice as it gets, huge feminist, and proud of it. Why then am I glad that they are coming?
Well I think the organization has a screwed mission, and that they are really disgusting in many ways.
But they will serve a great purpose, and I wish there was another way to serve this purpose on campus and in my community.
Many of my friends are Pro-choice in theory, but they are not reminded on a daily basis of how organized, and radical the Anti-choice movement is. This is how it happens, NM has a great progressive Legislature, a good governor, and pretty good libertarian views as a statewide society. But the Right, the anti choice agenda is mobilized here, quietly, and they are building, (its like owning the purple Australia and Papua New Guinea in a RISK game, never attacking anyone, just building up, and building up…) and at some point they will be poised for an attack beyond our expectation, and we as a pro choice majority will be caught off guard, once again letting the vocal minority win a battle.

This exhibit of sensationalized ridiculousness will be helpful in motivating pro choice folks everywhere in ABQ that the Radical Anti Choicer are this horrible. They are this bad. They do want this badly to take our rights away as a society.

And so, I am looking forward to the protests, the conversations, the dialogue, and the sign ups. I am looking forward to this effort to remind women how hard the battle for Reproductive Justice is, and why we have fought it.

I may blog occasionally about this, but in the meanwhile, I’m hoping many people reading this will email me, or contact me through this blog, just to remind me, how pro choice we are! Its worth stating, just once even, even just to me!!!

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Gay Victims....

Today is September 11. I know I know, you probably have forgotten all about it, what with the president speaking about it, every news anchor in the country mentioning it, the memorial services, the movies, the commercials, hey there is even a used car sale for patriots today at a local car dealership! Well I needed to remind you in case you hadn’t been reminded enough already…

So I just want to do my part to remember September 11th. This isn’t about the political crap that so many other remembrances are about, but rather recognizing that this is a serious somber day in American history, and that we need to remember it appropriately.

I suggest you go to this link, today, and read the descriptions of the GLBT folks whose lives were severely changed or ended because of the events of that fateful day.

And also I want to take this chance to remind people of something. I have said it before and will say it again, we all were reminded time and again that September 11th wasn’t an attack on 3,000 people in two buildings; it was an attack on our ideas. An attack on which we are as a nation. Well the next time you have a conversation with someone about why Hate Crimes Legislation is necessary tell them this. Remind them that when a plane flies into a building, and kills 3,000 people its not about that it’s about the ideas that are being attacked. Well when a gay boy gets beat up after school, it’s not about that one boy getting beat up, it’s about a community being attacked. It’s about the fear that an entire segment of the population will feel as a result.

Think about it!!!!

I’ll have more to write tomorrow, I promise…

Gay Victims

My CoWorkers

Well I had a great trip to Detroit this weekend; I’ve never experienced such a beautiful wedding ceremony, and such an amazing family. Embracing love, between two women, and loving them unconditionally was amazing to see. Maybe later in the week, I’ll take some time to share pictures from the trip, and a few stories.

But for now, I was scratching my head, and talking to my friend Michelle, about how I had no idea what to write about, because the Wedding wasn’t political enough. Then I signed off the chat window, to go to our staff meeting, and had my inspiration…

The League of Conservation Voters, is a 501(c)4  running an independent expenditure campaign to elect Patricia Madrid in this congressional race.  This, in short, means we are not allowed to cooperate at all with the Madrid campaign, but we will be highly instrumental in getting her elected.  

And the staff here is wonderful, so I think I’ll tell you all a little bit about us, and what we’re doing, in hopes, that if nothing else, you’ll consider helping us out a few times before Election day.

Maggie Toulouse, our state director, has a long history of political work.  She has worked on campaigns ranging from the Governing Board of TVI, (now CNM) to city council, to mayor, senator, and presidential races. She was the state director here at LCV in 2004 when we were responsible for securing a victory for John Kerry in Bernalillo county. Maggie is a pleasure to work for/with, hates it when I call her “boss lady”, and couldn’t be replaced for anything. This woman will lead us boldly and strategically into victory for this race, no questions about it.

Mario Montoya, our Canvass director, is an amazing guy. He is a blast to work with, constantly entertaining the office, with among other, my favorite quote from our quote board:
Rachel: how do you spell Irresistible?
Mario: M-A-R-I-O
Mario had a great ability to use his instincts, listen to suggestions from others, and above all, be a leader, to make sure our paid organizers are getting the job done, and in the most efficient way.  Mario makes the office a fun place, and mixed in with his ability to be the guy in charge, in a straight to business, but fun way, the staff loves him, and clearly loves working here.

Dustin, one of 6 paid organizers, is a great guy to work with. Dustin gets into the office early everyday, doing a good job of demonstrating his commitment to the office, the staff, and the race. Dustin has worked with LCV on and off for a number of years now, and is our Rockstar Canvasser, always getting to every door in his packet, talking to as many people as possible, and doing so with a smile on his face, and no complaints in the office.  Dustin is fun to work with, and proud to have recently started college.

Graham, another organizer, recently graduated with a peace studies degree, and is excited to learn and practice his organizing skills. Graham walks in daily, ready to work, and constantly questioning things to learn more.  

JoAnn, a long time organizer, is trying her hand for the first time at door-to-door canvassing, learning increasingly about targeting certain voters, and how these elections are won.

Mahad, another organizer, has worked for a long time in progressive politics, and with his excitement about using art as well to mobilize volunteers and voters, is a pleasure to work with.  Mahad makes the office fun, and interesting.

Rachel, organizing for the first time, brings witty commentary, and light hearted fun to the office.  The LCV office is definitely a better environment because Rachel is here.

Terra, an organizer who will be leaving us soon to return to Eugene, Oregon for school, is a bubbly, happy, exciting addition to our office. Terra is here on time everyday, excited to assist me with me volunteer tasks.  Terra will be sorely missed when she leaves, and in the meanwhile she is so much fun to work with.

Travis, a friend of mine, who was recently hired to help us out, is just starting his political career. This young man is excited and energetic, enthusiastic to do the work necessary to elect Patsy, and always fun to debate policies with, as we are able to watch him grow politically, daily.

I’m the volunteer coordinator here in the office, my job is to recruit, maintain, and keep our volunteers and volunteer database.  This is a great job, and I love to do it. If you should decide to come in to volunteer, I’m the guy you get to hang out with…

We go out canvassing Monday through Thursday, 3pm and Saturdays at 10am.  We knock on doors of people likely to vote for, or completely undecided on, the race between Patricia Madrid, and Heather Wilson.
We make phone calls to voters and volunteers every Saturday at 10:30am, and Monday Through Thursday at 5:00pm.


I am excited to have this job, and looking forward to November 7th, when we win this election.

I hope this little intro to the staff (photos, to follow) will motivate you much more to come in the doors and check out our office, our staff, and help us win this election.  

Jeff, remain trustworthy and good on your word...

SO I was all set to write about my office Comrades here at LCV today, and then I got a phone call. This is the new news, and so the office intros will wait until tomorrow (which is better anyway because I get a picture for them all tomorrow to put with their little bios)

Jeff Armijo, announced today that he wasn’t going to withdraw his name from the ballot, followed by a statement by Chairman Wertheim that his actions and statements on August 29th created a vacancy on the ballot, and that the State Central Committee will be meeting on Saturday in order to fill that vacancy.

I personally, as a member of the State Central Committee, am here and now, committing my vote and support to Representative Hector Balderas. He is qualified, currently elected, and energetic to take the seat, and to win the race.

Jeff Armijo, if he wasn’t before, is currently driven completely and totally by his ego. He obviously has no care for the party whatsoever. What candidate in their right mind would do such a thing? I can understand that, ok if he was positive he was innocent, and he thought it would be proven, then he would want to stay on the ballot. I thought at the time, that it was a bad idea, but could see how he justified it in his head.
Then he met with the Governor, came out of the meeting, and said it was in the best interest of the Party, and the State, not to mention his family, that he with draw his name form the ballot. So going back on his word now, is a ridiculous idea, and quite frankly dangerous.

Jeff, you need to do the right thing. You made a promise, to the Party Leadership, the Democrats of this state, and the voters of this state.

Jeff, I’m asking you, and asking people from the state central committee and the Democrats across the state who are interested in a victorious November 7, to please call Jeff Armijo and ask him to resign.