Soy Blue

Countdown...T-3 days

Be sure to make time Saturday morning ( December 3) to hear the first show on Air America from a Latina/o point of view.  Albuquerque's own-and Time Magazine's choice for one of America's most influential Hispanics- Alisa Valdes-Rodriguez will premiere "Our America" this Saturday.  She'll host the show with her father where they'll discuss a variety of issues. 

From Alisa's blog:

The show is called "Our America," a progressive political and cultural program in English with an emphasis on our Latino point of view on issues of the day.                                                                                    

[...]  On the first program we'll talk to Fernando Suarez, whose son was killed in Iraq, about how a trip to Iraq to see where his child died changed his life, and how he has gone from being an overnight clerk at a 7-11 in Escondido, California, to being one of the most visible peace activists in the world.

On the same show, we'll discuss the US military's ruthless/dishonest recruitment tactics toward Latino youth, documented and undocumented alike, and we'll ask experts why it is that while Latinos make up only 11 percent of all enlisted soldiers, we make up more than 20 percent of those serving on the front lines - meaning our children are dying at a higher rate than those in other groups.

The show won't all be heavy, however. We will also discuss filmmakers, actors, musical artists and other important and influential Latinos in sports, entertainment and other parts of American society. Look for interviews with people like Shakira, Moctezuma Esparze, and Salma Hayek, where these brilliant artists get asked their opinions on politics, society, and popular culture.

It's important to note that Alisa and her father have only two shows (Dec 3 & 10) to get Our America off the ground.  Alisa noted in her blog that "If New York likes the demo shows, radio stations across America will be able to put us on the air. I already have the owner of four Air America affiliates in Texas who said he wants the show! Ditto for NYC"

The first show begins at 11 am (MST) on 1350 AM - KABQ so don't forget to tune in and support two of Albuquerque's own on Air America so that all of America can get a progressive POV from Albuquerque.

 

A Friendly Correction

On Tuesday,  Mario Burgos accused Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid of leaking sensitive national security information.  Well he didn't exactly accuse Sen. Reid as much as he repeated the unsupported claims of the WSJ's Political Diary (sub. req.) and the RNC.

From MB

[...]  He had been informed just that day that Osama bin Laden was killed in the giant earthquake last month.

"I heard that Osama bin Laden died in the earthquake, and if that's the case, I certainly wouldn't wish anyone harm, but if that's the case, that's good for the world."

[...]  With irresponsible behavior like this from Democratic leaders... 

Nice try Mario, stacking the deck and leaving out relevant information are two of the takedown moves of the RNM.  You've been indoctrinated well.  I guess Fox News was practicing  "irresponsible behavior" as well when they reported that

"bin Laden was killed in the quake and U.S. troops have been searching for his body."

Where's the outrage, ad hominem attacks, and leading rhetoric for Fox News?  You don't have to respond to that Media Matters  has that covered already.  I guess I may be making a big deal out of nothing, it's not like Sen. Reid outed Valarie Plame or anything, but thanks for the cool pic of Sen. Reid.

National Journal's Hotline On Call has a nice write up on this smear by the Republican Noise Machine.

Sen. Reid's full quote is here as well as video of the interview.

On the flip is a rabid rundown from other Republican pundits and bloggers.

 

 

Sentae and House Democrats Respond

From the DSCC

During the 2004 presidential campaign, the White House and the Bush campaign used to hype the President’s usual speeches as major or new in an effort to maximize his news coverage. With the White House on the defensive over its failure to detail how the U.S. will achieve victory in Iraq, the President’s advisers reverted to their 2004 campaign playbook today:

                 

NOTHING NEW IN THIS SPEECH – IT’S A REHASH OF GOALS FOR IRAQ, NOT A STRATEGY FOR HOW TO ACHIEVE THEM. As the New York Times reported today, much of the booklet being released by Bush today sounds “like a list of goals for Iraq’s military, political, and economic development rather than new prescriptions on how to accomplish the job.” [

New   York

Times, 11/30/05]

                 

BUSH SPEECH FAILS TO LIVE UP TO THE HYPE. Bush has a long tradition of hyping his usual speeches as new addresses. During the 2004 campaign, Bush’s advisers would often frame his stump speech as “new” or “major” to maximize his coverage. But those speeches – including the White House’s spring 2004 claim that Bush would deliver five major speeches about Iraq – almost always failed to contain anything new. After Bush’s first speech on May 24, 2004, CNN’s John King summed it up by saying: “There are no new policy proposals in this at all.” [

Washington

Post, 10/26/04; CNN, 5/24/04]

                 

VIDEO: HERE’S ONE TV REPORTER’S REACTION TO THE SPEECH: “This release of this document -- recently declassified as […] a Plan For Victory In Iraq -- is a lot more re-packaging than real substance. This was in many ways a spin job by the president, a salesman's pitch about the progress of the war. There's not a lot new here,” NBC’s David Gregory said after the speech. [VIDEO CLIP: MSNBC, 11/30/05 -- you’ll need Internet Explorer to access the video]

Apparently  Nancy Pelosi, House Minority Leader, apparently didn't get the memo not to step all over bush's message:

"We should follow the lead of Congressman John Murtha, who has put forth a plan to make America safer, to make our military stronger, and to make Iraq more stable.  That is what the American people and our troops deserve." 

 

 

Bush's PR Problem

A friend reminded me remind that this "victory " talk is a product of a couple of academic pollsters who studied Vietnam and concluded that the public can be persuaded to "stay the course" as long as they believe the country is winning.

One of them is currently advising the National Security Council.  (What?  You're surprised that the NSC needs a pollster?)  Check this WaPo story out detailing how bush is trying to keep selling the war by using pollsters to help him sell it.  Here's a choice snippet.

The White House recently brought onto its staff one of the nation's top academic experts on public opinion during wartime, whose studies are now helping Bush craft his message two years into a war with no easy end in sight.

Behind the president's speech is a conviction among White House officials that the battle for public opinion on Iraq hinges on their success in convincing Americans that, whatever their views of going to war in the first place, the conflict there must and can be won.

UPDATE
Remember when bush said that he wouldn't govern by polls.

And as to whether or not I make decisions based upon polls, I don't.  I just don't make decisions that way.

Ironically he said this on April 13, 2004, speaking to  the American people about the situation in Iraq.

 

White House releases “National Strategy for Victory in Iraq”

Steve Clemons over at The Washington Note  has posted the newly released report by the White House, “National Strategy for Victory in Iraq”.

Obviously Bush wants to do for the word "victory" what he has done for the words compassion, freedom and economic growth.

UPDATE
The American Progress Action Fund is saying that bush's speech was a
A Public Relations Pitch Masquerading As A Strategy

After two-and-a-half years and 2,110 U.S. troop fatalities, the Bush administration released what it calls a "National Strategy for Victory in Iraq" (NSVI).

The problem is, it's not a new strategy for success in Iraq; it's a public relations document. The strategy describes what has transpired in Iraq to date as a resounding success and refuses to establish any standards for accountability.

It dismisses serious problems such as the dramatic increase in bombings as "metrics that the terrorists and insurgents want the world to use." Americans understand it's time for a new course in Iraq.

Unfortunately, this document is little more than an extended justification for a President "determined to stay his course." (For a bold new approach, check out American Progress's plan, Strategic Redeployment)

The Border

You've probably heard by now about the Republicans outrage that US Border Patrol uniforms are being made in Mexico.   Apparently this poses a security risk because the Mexicans could steal the uniforms and fool the real Border Patrol agents at the border. It's also a little embarrassing.   I swear I’m not making this up:

"It's embarrassing to be protecting the U.S.-Mexico border and be wearing a uniform made in Mexico," says T.J. Bonner, president of the National Border Patrol Council, a 6,500-member union.

I'll tell you what's embarrassing, it's being an American citizen and having to declare  my citizenship at every Border Patrol check point in South Texas since I was about 16.  My standard response was "Yes Sir" and then under my breath "We didn't cross the river the rover crossed us".

I first heard about it Sunday night watching the news and all I could do was shake my head in disbelief and think was no mames guey (you’re pulling my leg).  This from the party that was overwhelmingly in favor of NAFTA (and to be fair so  were some Democrats)

I guess this is what Lou Dobbs means by the exporting of America but if republicans are so outraged then they should fast track a law that mandates that all products that the Federal Government procures should be Made in the USA.  It shouldn't be that hard since Republicans control the Presidency, House, and Senate.  You’d think that they’d have been able to get their Social Security bill passed by now but I guess Democrats are too formidable of an opposition party for them but I digress.

Anyway back on the ranch...

I thought to myself that this has the potential to get out of hand much in the same way the Republican Party got swept up in the patriotic jingoism of 2003 renaming French fries to freedom fries.   You see immigration and our nations borders will probably be the polarizing issue in 2006. 

The Abq. Journal recently did an eight part series on the border and immigration.  Lou Dobbs has been beating the issue like a dead horse for the last couple of years now and who can forget Colorado's lovable fuzzy Congressman Tom "Let's Bomb Mecca and the Hell with New Orleans" Tancredo and his letter to Governor Richardson.

Governor Richardson and Governor Napolitano took action in August and declared a state of emergency along their states respective borders with Mexico.  This was largely a result of a failure of leadership on the Federal Government’s behalf for not taking including violence directed at law enforcement, damage to property and livestock, increased evidence of drug smuggling,

But then I read something in a Tejano blog: Terrorist Caught on Texas-Mexico Border and thoughts of Pete Wilson came back to me.

More on the flip

Labor Organizing in Houston

The NYT had a  story yesterday on SEIU's efforts to organize janitors in Houston.  That's Houston the one in Texas that's a right to work state.  What's newsworthy about SEIU's efforts is that some labor law academics are saying "It's the largest unionization campaign in the South in years,".

So far the Service Employees International Union has brought in 5,000 janitors from several companies at once and their tactics are not going unnoticed.

Unnoticed may be an understatement. 

"It's just basic justice and fairness that the wages should be increased here."

Roman Catholic archbishop, Joseph A. Fiorenza.

It's been a while since a Catholic anything has publicly said something that resonated with me on having anything to do with social justice.  "The archbishop even celebrated a special Mass for janitors in August and spoke at the union's kickoff rally, telling the janitors that God was unhappy that they earned so little and did not have health coverage."

It's about time the Church takes a position on an issue that's not just about abortion but it's not just the Catholic Church's entry into this issue that is hopeful it's who else SEIU was able to bring to the table in support of it's Justice for Janitors.

Houston's Mayor Bill White, several congressmen, dozens of clergy, and pension fund companies.  SEIU even played a little bit of hardball because they're in Texas after all and Texas is all about money and business.

In the current campaign, the service employees urged several public-employee pension funds to press building owners and janitorial companies not to mount hard-hitting anti-union campaigns to defeat the organizing drive.

To step up the pressure, the union called a strike at one building in Houston and then arranged sympathy strikes by janitors at 75 office buildings in four other states.

Score one for workers right to organize.  The business community has even acquiesced but not out of their concern for their employee's.  One Source, one of the nation's largest cleaning companies, said,

"One Source, along with every other major contractor in the Houston area, made a business decision to remain neutral in this process."

 

Union leaders said the cleaning companies had agreed to remain neutral because of pressures from building owners and pension funds, and because the service employees had threatened to pressure operations elsewhere, as it did with the sympathy strikes in California, Illinois, New York and Connecticut.

SEIU and their Justice for Janitors campaign are not nearly out of the woods yet especially when you consider that:

1.  The American Arbitration Association has to inspect the union cards and certify them when the union has received majority support.  Convinced that it is easier to unionize workers through card checks, the union has shunned the typical process of having an election run by the National Labor Relations Board.

2.  SEIU still needs to be recognized by the janitorial companies.  The janitorial companies have promised to recognize the union once that happens.

3.  Even if the union is recognized, it still faces a big obstacle in negotiating a contract that delivers some of the hoped-for improvements in wages and benefits.

4.  bush has stacked the Labor Department in business's favor. 

Remember who Bush's first appointee was?  Linda Chavez,  who had a little confirmation problem  because she hired an undocumented  contractor and didn't pay Medicare  or FICA taxes on her employee's behalf.  Need I say more?

SEIU has proved that unions can still organize workers and their not stopping in  Houston.  The service employees hope to unionize 4,000 janitors in Atlanta, 2,000 in Phoenix and tens of thousands of shopping mall janitors nationwide.

Buena Suerte!

Ya Regrese Mi Gente

Oye!  Bueno!  Hello?  Is anybody out there?  Ahhh there you are and here I am.  Fresh from a gubernatorial win in New Jersey, a sharper political/field operative, and ready to get back to blogging and working on Governor Richardson's 2006 Re-election campaign.

First of all let me just say that I'm glad to be back home.  I missed New Mexico  in a way that  surprised  myself.  New Mexico is my home now and my beloved Los Ranchos de Albuquerque, the Sandia's and Manzano Mountains, El Bosque, Bumble Bee's in Santa Fe, and countless friends and party activists that I've met this past year are but a few of the things that missed.

You may have noticed that I've done some site redesign.  Pretty que no?  Gone are members of the Blue Man Group and in it's place is the New Mexico State Flag. 

You may have also noticed that beneath the flag is a link for Governor Richardson's book "Between Worlds".  I highly recommend it if you're interested in learning more about one of New Mexico's and this country's most dynamic governors.  By the way, he'll have a book signing Wednesday, Nov. 30 at Bookworks from 5:30 - 7:00 pm.  Their located at 4022 Rio Grande NW ( right next door to the Flying Star)

There are two newcomers to my links section.  First up, the New Mexico ACLU  has joined El NMB (El New Mexico Blogosphere) with a blog of their own.  I suggest that you check it out and if you're so inclined make or send them a donation.  They're suing the city of Albuquerque over its new voter ID ordinance, contending it's unconstitutional.

The second is New Mexico Viewpoint a smart and insightful blog with insights into Nuevo Mexico's cultural history and current affairs.  I would especially recommend the authors posts on social security, Onate, and El Pachuco.

El NMB is a richer place with these two new blogs and I look forward to reading their commentary. 

Finally I'd like to close this inaugural post by noting that El NMB has grown tremendously in the past year and my hope is that it continues to grow with new voices and interesting commentary.  The two blogs that I've mentioned are only a fraction of what's probably out in El NMB so for a more complete NMB Blog roll please visit Pika and the gang over at Duke City Fix.

More to come,
Amor y Paz

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