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.

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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.