Democrats in Albuquerque: Get Out the Vote!

As has been noted in the Albuquerque Journal Sunday, the Mayoral election in Albuquerque is extremely close. (Polling has shown a tight three-way race.)

Albuquerque is a Democratic City and your Party thinks it should stay that way.

And while we recognize that the race for Mayor is a non-partisan race, we do note that there are candidates running who would serve the interests of people first.

Please take the time to visit each of the candidate's websites:

Martin Chavez

Richard Romero

These candidates should be supported by Democratic voters -- no matter whose box you check on your ballot, make sure it is a Democratic one.

Nothing would be worse than turning our city over to the GOP.

So get out the vote:

You can find both early voting sites and information on where to vote on the City's website.

Public Option: Down, But Not Out

Today, the Senate Finance Committee debated two amendments regarding the Public Option. One sponsored by Sen. Rockefeller of West Virginia failed 8-15; the other, sponsored by Sen. Schumer of New York also failed 10-13.

Obviously these votes are disappointing to the millions of Americans who not only wanted a strong public option, but also would have benefited from such an amendment. It is especially troubling to see that Democrats would defy their Party and vote against the amendments.

Among those Democrats voting "No" on either one or both of the amendments included: Sen. Baucus (MT); Sen. Conrad (ND); Sen. Lincoln (AR); Sen. Carper (DE) and Sen. Nelson (FL). All 10 Republicans on the Senate Finance Committee voted no on both amendments.

The Democratic Party of New Mexico fully supports a robust public option, passing a resolution to this effect during September 12th's State Central Committee meeting. We still support a public option as the best method to insure the some 468,000 New Mexicans without proper health coverage.

We are happy to note, that unlike the Democrats voting against a public option, Senator Jeff Bingaman voted in favor of both amendments today. We're proud of our senior Senator, and we'll remember that when the vote mattered, he voted for the interests of New Mexicans.

In the meantime, while the status of the public option is unknown, New Mexicans and Americans across this country must not relent.

Now more than ever, we must keep the pressure on our elected leaders to stress the need and importance for a public option.

We suggest that you use whatever means that you can to reach out and make your voices heard.

Rush Limbaugh is Not Polarizing

Last night, Conservative talk show host/ringmaster Rush Limbaugh told Jay Leno that he is not a polarizing figure and that everyone who listens to him agrees with him. Riiiiiight.

His evidence for his claim was to state, "Obama is polarizing . . . look how divided the country is right now."

Watch the video:

But what Rush doesn't seem to understand is that the country really isn't that polarized, especially on health care reform -- a new poll today states that 65% of Americans want a public option and only 26% oppose it.

That doesn't seem too polarized to us.

In fact, on February 27th 2009, Rush stated, " . . .Obama's not polarizing, no liberal is polarizing." So what's changed now?

It seems to us that as hacks like Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck begin to become more and more out of step with what real Americans want, their feeble attempts at fear-mongering are not holding weight any longer.

In fact, "newsmen" like Glenn Beck are shifting further and further to the fringe of the right-wing, and as such, make easy targets for late night comedy:

We say keep on talking crazy, Glenn.

The only people who take you seriously are already Republican voters, and after all, we do enjoy a good laugh.

Iowa: Not Just for Corn Anymore

In an interview on a conservative radio show, Representative Steve King (R-IA) suggested that same-sex marriage was a "purely socialist concept."

His reasoning was that if same-sex marriage was achieved throughout the country, it would somehow create a communal living scenario in which all people would have access to the same government resources. We're not entirely sure how these links would actually occur, so here is the audio from his speech:

If you chose not to listen to Rep. King for those five minutes, let us do a recap for you. In the speech Rep. King somehow links same-sex marriage to both socialism and incest, claiming that if it were to be legalized, there would be no stopping point in regards to other types of marriages.

Interestingly, Rep. King also elected to use the term "opposite marriage" -- which is curious at best. (To be honest, we are not totally sure what opposite marriage means, but we're sure you remember Carrie Prejean's now infamous Miss USA response.)

But what struck us most was that Rep. King seems to be out of step with the rest of Iowans. A recent poll conducted by the Des Moines Register finds that 92% of Iowans felt that same-sex marriage has had no effect on their life.

Yes, the poll finds that Iowans are nearly evenly divided on support for a constitutional amendment on gay marriage, but what its findings showed was that the fears of state governments intruding on churches, doctors and educators were unfounded.

Additionally, the poll showed that 63% of respondents to the survey also stated that gay marriage was not the most pressing issue which would determine their vote in 2010 elections.

Using gay marriage as the principle strategy in upcoming elections may back-fire as approval for same-sex marriage gains nationwide.

More and more, Republican fear-mongering on the issue of gay marriage is out-of-step with cultural attitudes, and the fear-filled messages get more and more outlandish:

Rep. King has stated that repealing the Defense of Marriage Act would be tantamount to opening the floodgates towards all sorts of social perversion, but luckily here in New Mexico, our Party has taken up the cause of same-sex marriage.

In 2008, the Democratic Party of New Mexico adopted in its platform a strong support for same-sex civil marriages as well as a repeal of the Defense of Marriage Act. Javier Gonzales, newly elected Party Chair has also indicated support for equal marriage rights for all and CD-1 Rep. Martin Heinrich is a sponsor for the Defense of Marriage Act's repeal. Both Heinrich and CD-3 Rep. Ben Ray Lujan support the repeal of Don't Ask Don't Tell policies as well.

As the pre-eminent party in New Mexico, we're proud to be the most inclusive party as well. Thank you Reps. Heinrich and Lujan for carrying the GLBT community's message to Washington.

Re-Capping President Obama's UN Speech

This morning, President Obama offered his first speech to the delegates of the General Assembly of the United Nations. All eyes were certainly on our President, and he delivered a speech with was worthy of the occasion as well as the forum.

Quite surprisingly to those in attendance, the President offered an apology of sorts for the actions of the last administration -- firmly stating that the United States would not engage in torture while he was President.

In addition to these comments, President Obama also challenged other states to rise from a pattern of inaction due to American unilateralism and to do their part to handle international issues on their own.

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

President Obama in his speech also stated that the United States was committed to Afghanistan and defeating Al-Qaeda forces there:

"We have set a clear and focused goal: to work with all members of this body to disrupt, dismantle, and defeat al Qaeda and its extremist allies - a network that has killed thousands of people of many faiths and nations, and that plotted to blow up this very building. In Afghanistan and Pakistan, we - and many nations here - are helping those governments develop the capacity to take the lead in this effort, while working to advance opportunity and security for their people."

He also noted that the United States was also executing a responsible withdrawal from Iraq:

"In Iraq, we are responsibly ending a war. We have removed American combat brigades from Iraqi cities, and set a deadline of next August to remove all of our combat brigades from Iraqi territory. And I have made clear that we will help Iraqis transition to full responsibility for their future, and keep our commitment to remove all American troops by the end of 2011."

You can read the full text of President Obama's speech here.

Also included in his remarks are strong statements concerning nuclear armaments, global health security, climate change and the rejection of treating international relations as a zero-sum game.

New to his speech, was President Obama's four pillars for international relations, which include: stopping the spread of nuclear weapons, and removing those that are present; the pursuit of peace; peace is contingent on securing our planet's safety; and a globalized economy that advances the interests of all people.

Some of the President's most powerful statements to the General Assembly come at the end of his speech:

"Democracy cannot be imposed on any nation from the outside. Each society must search for its own path, and no path is perfect. Each country will pursue a path rooted in the culture of its people, and - in the past - America has too often been selective in its promotion of democracy. But that does not weaken our commitment, it only reinforces it. There are basic principles that are universal; there are certain truths which are self evident - and the United States of America will never waiver in our efforts to stand up for the right of people everywhere to determine their own destiny . . .

We have reached a pivotal moment. The United States stands ready to begin a new chapter of international cooperation - one that recognizes the rights and responsibilities of all nations. With confidence in our cause, and with a commitment to our values, we call on all nations to join us in building the future that our people deserve."

Today, President Obama gave his first major international relations speech to the international community -- and in doing so, he has set our course with all states of the international community. No longer are we standing alone among our peers.

Dancing with Delay

We surely miss Tom DeLay, but with last night's season premier of Dancing with the Stars, we no longer have to live without "The Hammer" any longer.

In case you didn't know, Tom DeLay, the disgraced former Republican House Majority Leader is a "celebrity" contestant on Dancing with the Stars.

And just in case you missed it, here is the frightening video:

You may be asking yourself what could be more disturbing than Tom DeLay in a medium-heel? Well, the answer to that question is that Tom DeLay is taking this competition seriously.

Tom actually has a "Dancing with DeLay" website which explains to fans how to vote and gives a brief bio about his career. (It fails to mention his indictments.)

And what about those indictments? The indicting prosecutor is still pursuing them.

As much as we liked watching Tom dance last night, we think that he shouldn't get too comfortable in Hollywood . . . after all, he is only free on bail.

A post script: We hope that Tom does well in the competition, but we have to admit, Charles Durning is a much better dancer. Check out this video -- the parallels between Tom and Charles are quite astonishing.

Rising Health Insurance Premiums

Take a look at Democracy for New Mexico's blog for an article on the rising costs of health care in the United States.

In New Mexico, premiums have grown 118% while wages have only increased 50%.

These statistics are certainly of concern to all New Mexicans.

Fox, We Call Foul!

One of our more popular entries to this blog was posted right after the September 1st Rio Rancho Tea Party event -- and although we would have thought that event was faded and distant in our collective memories, a news piece just surfaced on Huffington Post which triggered our memory back to our own Tea Party experiences here in New Mexico.

In short, the video shows a Fox News producer rallying a crowd (of crazy people) to really amp up their cheers, etc. for the filming of a segment. The capacity in which the woman is acting is much like that of a cheerleader of sorts. This is not necessarily unheard of, but it does create a scenario where the raucous nature of the crowd is inflated.

So where's the problem? And why are we writing about Rio Rancho?

To be honest, probably no one would have cared what the producer at Fox was doing, had Fox News not purchased a full-page ad in the Washington Post claiming that other major news outlets were not covering the 9/12 Tea Party Event sufficiently -- claims which were resolutely rejected by the accused media outlets. (Yes, this is the same event where organizers used old photos to imply that participants numbered higher than in actuality.)

Here is the clip of what eventually aired on Fox -- We especially liked the part about how this movement was organic in nature -- with a little encouragement, of course.

Griff Jones, the anchor in the video, however, is not inexperienced as he was the same anchor who covered the Tea Party event in Rio Rancho.

We were there, and we also watched as Mr. Jones not only arranged protesters for a "good" news segment, but also hand-picked the types of signs being held by the protesters. (You can see more pics from the Tea Party here.) Note in the video we took how he lets the crowd know he is about to start filming:

By Fox's own standards, we think that Mr. Jones should also be disciplined.

We're not really counting on it though.

Joe Wilson: Didn't Get the Memo

Hello Readers! This Friday, we're happy to have a little help on our blog from Saturday Night Live -- they have figured out how Joe Wilson (R-SC) could have been so misguided during his oft-cited Congressional outburst.

It seems as though the entirety of the GOP was supposed to shout at the President, but Joe Wilson didn't get the memo. (Shocking, we know, but Wilson seems to be out of step on a lot of things.)

After seeing this video, the whole scenario totally makes sense. Thanks, SNL!

Yesterday, the House of Representatives did in fact reprimand Wilson for his behavior -- the text of which can be viewed here. Despite the relatively benign nature of the language of the bill, Wilson's outburst has opened a maelstrom of controversy in the wake of the interjection.

Most notably, Former President Carter used the outburst as forum for examining race relations in the South and more over in the United States. We're not sure what the motivation for Wilson's outburst really was, but it is hard to believe that Joe Wilson is anything but happy as a result of the new-found attention he is getting. Conservative action groups like AmeriPAC are funneling money to Wilson and he is being propped up like a new American hero.

We are also slightly amused that in an interview with South Carolina's CN2 News, Governor Mark Sanford of South Carolina took a break from hiking to tell the media that it should move on from the Wilson story.

We kind of agree -- as strange as it sounds. Wilson should have apologized to his colleagues, but he isn't going to do that. The House has formally reprimanded him -- so move on.

As Harry Teague (NM-2), stated, Congress needs to spend serious time working on issues such as health care, veterans and energy.

This is especially true for New Mexicans -- we're falling behind on health care and we need our Congressional delegation to fight for us in Washington and not spend anymore time with people like Wilson.

Our Congresspeople are fighting for us in Washington against people like Joe Wilson -- let's make sure we fight for them in 2010!

Alarming New Numbers of Uninsured

For Immediate Release

September 16, 2009

New Data Showing Number Of Uninsured Growing Proves Once Again That We Must Pass Heath Insurance Reform Now

Albuquerque, NM - This morning, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius released a state-by-state analysis of U.S. Census data showing the number of uninsured is rising. The report states that in 2008 there were 46.3 million uninsured nationwide, up from 39.8 million in 2001.

In New Mexico, alone, there are 468,000 uninsured persons, which has increased from 363,000 uninsured persons in 2001. The percent of non-elderly adults without insurance increased from 27.4% to 31.1%. And this number only considers people who are uninsured for an entire year - it does not include the millions of people in New Mexico who have more recently lost coverage through the recession, or who had shorter gaps in their coverage.

Lack of health insurance is a phenomenon which cuts across socio-economic lines. Health and Human Services estimates that 49,000 high-income New Mexicans are among those without health insurance coverage. Everyone in New Mexico is vulnerable to loss of health insurance in these difficult times.

Democratic Party Chairman Javier Gonzales issued the following statement in response to these alarming statistics:

"These new numbers are yet another important reminder that maintaining the status quo is not an option. There are 468,000 New Mexicans without health insurance and that number will continue to rise if we don't act now. The current health insurance system is simply unsustainable, not only because of the rising number of uninsured, but because of the sky-rocketing costs of health care which are crushing families, businesses and local governments and the instability of the system, which leaves everyone, even people with health insurance, at risk of losing their coverage.

"We need health insurance reform now which gives security and stability to New Mexicans who are insured, provides quality, affordable options for the growing number of uninsured and takes the strain of high health care costs off of families, businesses and government."

Joe Wilson: Still Defiant

As Democratic Leadership in Congress decides today whether or not they should formally reprimand the Representative on the floor of the House, Joe Wilson (R-SC) continues to be defiant in his opposition to the President's initiatives to reform health care in a meaningful way.

NPR reports that while Wilson's initial apology to the President and Vice President was accepted, it was after GOP leadership told him to do so. (Wilson states in an interview that he was merely provided the phone number for the White House.)

With Joe Wilson touting himself as a new American Hero for standing up to liberal reforms, many conservative groups are seizing the opportunity to use Wilson as a method to raise money and continue the mis-truths about health care which were so prevalent during the August recess.

Just today, we received two e-mails from AmeriPAC which describe Joe Wilson as a "hero. " (These e-mails also refer to our President as Barack Hussein Obama.) These e-mails state that Wilson's anger was "righteous" and that Democrats were "out for blood." Creating a martyr out of Joe Wilson is just an attempt to divert attention from the fact that support for the President increased after his speech to Congress and once again, the Republicans are left wandering in Washington with no clear direction.

Even in interviews, Joe Wilson seems to be playing up to this martyr mantle. He has issued a campaign ad which features his wife talking about Joe Wilson -- we hope it touches you as much as it touched us:

Even before this campaign spot was produced, Joe Wilson sought to maintain that he was somehow justified in his actions, speaking to FOX News and stating that he would no longer apologize for his conduct:

Democrats can take comfort that our leaders do not encourage such behavior and that we have the American people standing with us calling for meaningful health care reform.

Now is not the time to allow Republicans to make Joe Wilson into a martyr for their cause -- Joe Wilson lived in obscurity until last Wednesday and he should stay there.

Weekend Wrap-up from the State Central Committee Meeting

As many of you know -- or have read elsewhere -- this past Saturday saw State Central Committee members of the Democratic Party of New Mexico assemble at the Isleta Resort and Casino to conduct business of the party. (Special thanks to Democracy for New Mexico for a great post on this subject yesterday.)

The meeting began with registration which saw 339 members of the SCC present their credentials at the Resort. The members came from 29 of New Mexico's 33 counties. Once the credentials report was delivered, and quorum was established, a series of highly motivating speeches were delivered by Democratic leaders from across the state.

Videos of speeches from Rep. Ben Ray Lujan; Hector Balderas; Victor Raigoza; Lt. Governor Diane Denish can be viewed on the DPNM's YouTube Channel.

Rep. Lujan gave an emotional speech of the need for health care reform in New Mexico and that he supported a strong public option which would be available to all people. Delegates were highly receptive of this speech and have the freshman legislator a resounding level of applause at the conclusion of his speech.

From there, State Auditor Balderas called for Democrats to be the leaders in the state for accountability and to ensure that we continued our work for the people of New Mexico.

Once these speeches were concluded, Lt. Governor Diane Denish addressed the members of the SCC and did so in a compelling way:

Her nomination was seconded by Vice Chair of the Bernalillo County Democratic Party, Victor Raigoza. Nominations were closed and Javier Gonzales was elected Party Chairman by acclamation.

In his acceptance speech, Chairman Gonzales called for a strong effort towards education in New Mexico; complete equality for all citizens and comprehensive health care reform, which would include a strong public option. His speech is roughly 15 minutes long, but it is well worth the time. A .pdf of the speech can be found here.

The meeting continued after Gonzales' acceptance speech with the unanimous passage of a resolution calling for a strong public option in any health care reform package adopted by Congress.

In all, it was a great day to be a Democrat in New Mexico.

With renewed energy and focus, we can -- and will -- achieve victory in 2010, keeping New Mexico Blue for many years to come!

The Shout Heard 'Round the Country

In yesterday's blog post, we had expected that the Republican response to President Obama's Health Care reform speech to the Joint Session of Congress, given by Rep. Boustany of Louisiana would be lackluster at best. And it was.

We knew we could count on the GOP.

In his speech, Boustany called for bipartisanship and affordable health care for all Americans . . . wait, isn't that what President Obama also called for in his speech? It was apparent to this viewer that Boustany's speech was written for him well before the President's address and clearly did not align with the President's main arguments. You can watch Boustany's brief speech here:

What's more, Boustany repeated the mis-informing statement that the President wished to "replace" Americans' insurance with government run insurance. We're pretty sure President Obama did not say that, in fact he offered the guarantee that no American would be forced to change doctors or coverage if they chose not to.

We were totally wrong about one thing, however. We had expected Boustany's weak speech to be the main point of conversation for news pundits post-speech.

We were so wrong.

Enter, Joe Wilson, Republican from South Carolina. (Republicans have been doing that State proud lately.)

Rep. Wilson was one of the many GOP-ers who grumbled during the President's speech, but that's to be expected in a partisan debate. But during President Obama's discussion of illegal immigrants and health care, Rep. Wilson had the nerve to call the President a liar.

Rep. Wilson, if you remember, also got into trouble for saying that the late Strom Thurmond's (R-SC) daughter was "shameful."

GOP leadership demanded that Rep. Wilson apologize to the White House, an apology that was accepted by President Obama.

Even Rep. Wilson's outburst could not overshadow the power of the President's speech, which has been described as a "turning point." His commitment to a strong public option and stating that he would not waste time with those who would seek to derail and delay reform for purely political reasons were met with great acclaim by Democrats and supporters of comprehensive reform.

Even Republican lawmakers could not help but appreciate the President's commitment to reform of malpractice laws and his praise of former rival John McCain's ideas on health care reform.

With renewed energy, we Democrats can be assured that President Obama will fight for meaningful reform in the coming weeks. His commitment to us stands firm:

"We did not come to fear the future. We came here to shape it. I still believe we can act even when it's hard. I still believe we can replace acrimony with civility, and gridlock with progress. I still believe we can do great things, and that here and now we will meet history's test. Because that is who we are. That is our calling. That is our character."

President Obama to Address Joint Houses of Congress

With President Obama's speech to the joint Session of Congress about to occur in about two hours, what can we expect to hear during the speech?

President Obama is expected to still make a pitch as to why a public option is still a good option for increasing competition and accountability among insurance companies.

Aides to the President have stated that he is not to make a make-it-or-break-it speech to Congress, but to present a speech which will ensure competition and choice for Americans.

We're waiting with anticipation for President Obama's speech and look forward to his ideas.

As a side note, like most addresses to the joint Session of Congress, the opposition (in this case, the Republicans) have the opportunity to present a rebuttal to the speech.

If you remember the State of the Union, you'll also remember Gov. Bobby Jindal's (R-LA) epic failure of an address:

Well this time around, the Republicans have chosen another member of Louisana's Congressional delegation, Rep. Chrales Boustany (R-LA). In addition to being a doctor, Rep. Boustany also has a 100% record on voting pro-life in Congress, according to Lifenews.com.

Boustany is expected to give "common sense reforms that Republicans and all Americans can stand behind." The article does not elaborate on what these reforms may be.

Aside from being a former heart surgeon and member of the House of Representatives, Rep. Boustany is best known for being the victim of a fraudulent scam which sought to sell forged British titles of aristocracy to rich Americans and has also been linked to defending "birthers" in questioning President Obama's citizenship. (Rep. Boustany appears at the 0.27 mark.)

Of all of the Republican members of Congress, this is the best that the GOP can come up with?

Let's hope that Rep. Boustany's speech is as good as Governor Jindal's. We'll be watching and crossing our fingers.

Governor? No Weh!

It has been a week since we attended the Rio Rancho Tea Party Express on September 1st, and while we have been blogging over the course of the last few days about what we saw and heard at the Tea Party, we've saved this post especially for today.

According to NMPolitics.net, Weh made his formal announcement entering the race for New Mexico Governor via Facebook -- stating that he is a "likely candidate."

Weh, now officially a candidate, joins Janice Arnold-Jones and Susana Martinez with one or two candidates still considering a run on the Republican side of the ballot. (Former US-Rep. Heather Wilson among the group.)

So how does this relate to last week's Tea Party? Weh used the rally as a tool to advance his campaign.

While at the rally, at least two paid Weh staffers (we spoke with one of them) were distributing literature to the crowd. We caught one of them on camera, which can be viewed on our Flickr page. In another photo, you can see one of the crowd enthusiastically holding Weh's literature along with his Anti-Obama sign. According to his Twitter account, Weh himself was also at the event.

Weh certainly is not the first Republican candidate for office which has cashed in on events like last Tuesday's Tea Party (In fact, we also spoke with Adam Kokesh at the rally and got his literature as well) by feeding on the misinformation of the crowd and organizers, but seeing his campaign willingly participating in the event is distressing.

Weh's literature stated that voters should "Think Different," but nothing we saw from Weh shows that he is encouraging free thought.

Allen, are the people we saw at the Tea Party representative of the voters you want in 2010?

Those with hate-filled signs and woefully misinformed "facts"?

Are the empty shouts of rhetoric what we can expect from your campaign as well?

Where were you, Allen? Why did you not publicly condemn and discourage signs like this? New Mexico does not need leaders who turn blind eyes to racially charged and blatantly disrespectful depictions of our President.

Sure, people can "Think Differently", but when they are being told lies and half-truths, we can't expect too much, can we?

Pushing the Public Option in New Mexico

In a post from Democracy for New Mexico, an open letter to President Obama from Anne Lamott is discussed as a "must read." We have to agree.

The letter, which is a compassionate plea from an Obama voter (actually 66 million voters) calls for and reminds the President that one of the main reasons he was elected was that the American electorate wants affordable and universal health care.

Health care by no means is a simple issue, despite what those at Tuesday's Rio Rancho Tea Party would have you believe (see video below), and as we have blogged numerous times before passions are heated surrounding this issue.

Rank-and-file-Democrats have been waiting to hear what President Obama will say during his address to the joins Houses of Congress scheduled for September 9. Sources close to the President note that his speech to Congress will include specific language on how he would want a reform bill to look like. CNN is also reporting that the White House is working on a bill of their own.

The oft-cited statistic that 77% of Americans support a public option seems to be factoring in heavily in Congressional caucuses.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has seemingly laid down the gauntlet for the President by stating that any bill without a "strong public option" would not pass the House. This speech comes on the heels of statements by the House Progressive Caucus that none of its members would vote for a Bill which failed to include a "robust" public option. Similar sentiments were echoed by the Congressional Black Caucus. The House Progressive Caucus has 83 members and the Congressional Black Caucus has 42 voting members. (Some members share membership in the two groups.)

The national debate for the inclusion of a public option naturally extends to the States as well. Next week at the Democratic Party of New Mexico's State Central Committee meeting, voting delegates will be asked to approve a resolution calling for and expressing support for a "strong public health insurance option."

Originally passed on August 19th by the Santa Fe County Democratic Party, the resolution notes that New Mexico ranks 49th in the country for the number of uninsured (some one in four) and that most of the uninsured or under-insured are working adults.

Importantly it notes that access to health insurance is a right for all people living in America.

Tea Party Express -- Not Quite the Whole Story

While we were at the Tea Party rally held in Rio Rancho Tuesday, we listened (and recorded) one of the speakers at the event, a Mr. Kenneth Gladney, who claims in the video to have been assaulted by members of the SEIU, a labor union, outside of a Health Care Town Hall in St. Louis, Missouri.

While it is true that Mr. Gladney was in fact assaulted on that day -- August 6th, 2009 -- what is less than true is the way in which Mr. Gladney presents his story.

In the video, Mr. Gladney states that he was assaulted by 4 people, three men and a woman and that the man who punched him in the face was the Director of the SEIU. He didn't give his name, or any other descriptive facts about this particular assailant, but he stated that he was a "Reverend."

According to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, there were only two people arrested for alleged assault and while neither were identified, there was no indication that SEIU members were directly involved in the assault. Others who were arrested were done so for interference with police work.

Additionally, Mr. Gladney himself was not even sure that SEIU members were those to blame. In an interview with Fox News shortly after the assault, Mr. Gladney stated:

"To tell you the truth, I don’t know anything about them. All I know is they belong to some type of a union of- of some sort. I was just there to- you know, to do a job. I wasn’t there to- you know, join in or to have an opinion on anything that was going on, for that matter, and- you know, I didn’t say anything to these- to these people. They just started attacking me."

In the video, Mr. Gladney states the he was selling his flags, trying to make a living as he was unemployed. In the Fox news article, he stated that he was barred from entry to the event.

NewsBusters, a conservative website posted a video of the aftermath of Gladney's assault, but when you watch the video, all you see are SEIU members walking around the scene, not actually doing "the dirty work." If this is the evidence of union involvement, organization and execution, it is tangential at best.

While any violence against Gladney is certainly to be condemned, his claims that the SEIU was behind the attacks are less than solid.

We may note that while Mr. Gladney claims to be an independent, he certainly seemed to relish the opportunity to speak at the rally, and has set up a donation page under the title of "Project Liberty." Project Liberty is a program which seeks to spread the word regarding freedom of speech to youths. We're not skeptics, but he failed to mention this at the rally.

He was, however, selling his flags for $5 each.

Photos from Rio Rancho Tea Party

These are some of the signs, t-shirts and sentiments of the mob from yesterday's Rio Rancho Tea Party more photos can be viewed at our Flickr page. (Or you can click the links on the right.)

It was sad for us to see such mis-information, hate and anger here in New Mexico.

Tea Party Express comes to Rio Rancho

Not only is today the first day of September, but today is also the day that the Tea Party Express came to Albuquerque . . . well, Rio Rancho. (Sorry to our readers that this wasn't posted yesterday.)

These people are a part of the "Taxed Enough Already" "grassroots" movement which has become the most well-known method for criticizing everything from health care reform to immigration to others' patriotism. (We say "grassroots" as there were a handful of people from Colorado and Texas in attendance.)

Awash with red, white and blue, the organizers of this rally sought to put a dent in President Obama's administration and its policies, but as an interested observer, their points of criticism were somewhat lacking, resembling more like the generalizations and fear-mongering that we have seen in other parts of our country.

To this point, New Mexicans have been quite civil in regards to health care town halls, but today's display in Rio Rancho tarnished that track record. The DPNM saw signs labeling our President as a Marxist, a Muslim, a Nazi and more famously, the Joker from the recent Batman flick. While free speech is still cherished in this country, there is a sense of decency that should be observed. Likening our President to a Nazi (the basis of this relationship is still unclear to us) does not advance your cause, it only seeks to heighten and misinform those who lack complete information.

Likewise, those who spoke at this event pandered to the crown in a way which was lass than satisfying (not that we expected differently). Supporting our President does not make you un-American; supporting health care reform does not make you un-American; expanding social benefits to those who need it does not make you un-American.

The organizers would like you to think otherwise. Failing to correct crowd-members for shouting anti-Obama remarks (some of which were racially charged), the speakers at this event lost credibility in our eyes.

While there were 400-500 in attendance, the crowd seemed to be more interested in trappings, sing alongs and the cheap shots of a mob-like rally than actual debate on issues which they claimed to be interested -- no talk of how to reform health care, but admissions that even the speakers had yet to read the bill in its entirety. (Luckily, as she stated, the speaker of this part of the rally relied on the news media for her information -- we might also note that Fox News was in attendance.)

To be honest, we were disappointed, but we had expected to be.

We went in order to show others what is happening in our State -- and the people who are bringing it to us. Democrats should be emboldened at this event, redoubling our efforts and support for reform-minded legislators and begin tomorrow to dispel these baseless attacks on our President and leaders.