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comments Links to other blogs with local info m-pyre.blogspot.com more to come... |
Welcome to swop's new weblog...your blog for news and views with a community bias. Come back daily for local political analysis, local media criticisms and what's going on at SWOP.
January 31st - February 24, 2005
Below: February 25 - April 13 2005
Wednesday April 13, 2005
Posted 10:37AM
"Corky" Gonzales Dies
SWOPblogger got a late call last night informing us of Corky's passing.
Of course our thoughts and prayers go out to his family, friends and community. Many in New Mexico will miss him.
We're hoping others write in with their stories about back in the day and working with the journalist/poet/activist Chicano...
Speaking of Chicanos
SWOPblogger had some eyes and ears out at the Manny Aragon Rally in Vegas over the weekend.
"We woke the dead," was the report. It is said that many old-school Chicano/a, Civil Rights and Movement players were seen at the rally to support Aragon as he shakes up Highlands.
It is said the word 'Chicano' is making a comeback. According to our source, it was the preferred method of identification.
Many "progressives" may have a hard time understanding La Gente's support for Manny. That's New Mexico politics for you.
Can you still feel the ripple of colonization?
People aren't "Illegal"
Yeah, ok, we'll comment on the so-called Minute Men and their friends the Arizona Guard. Just didn't want to give those fools any credibility by talking about them.
By the sound of talk radio these days, it seems the armed group may have struck a cord. It's not hard to pit poor people against poor people, especially in the age of global economics. And the media is more than willing to play to polarization.
It always pains us to see immigrant bashing in a relatively young country with, to say the least, a history of immigration.
(And while it may be semantics, people aren't "illegal." We don't call people who break the law, say speeders," illegal Americans" do we?)
Vigilantism, at least in the US, is associated with racist imagery and the lynchings of the last century. And yes, these guys are racist. A quick glance at their message boards and such revealed a violent, bigoted tone. At the SWOP office yesterday, a former Black Beret talked about the death threats they used to receive from these guys back in the day - the Minute Men are not new, just trying to reinvent themselves. Letters with cross-hairs was how they used to get their message across, not talk radio.
(As a caution, there have been rumblings of a counter movement to the racists, also armed...)
The whole issue of immigration, now clouded by fear and the promise by the Bush Administration of more terrorist attacks, begs the question: If products, capital and corporations can cross borders freely without tax or tariff, why can't labor and human beings?
###
Tuesday April 12, 2005
Posted 10:41AM
Member Meeting and the Name Game
Member Meeting
SWOP's member meeting, last weekend, was an important step in making sure ordinary, working New Mexicans have a say in the political, economic and social decisions that affect our lives.
(As it stands, SWOP's tri-annual member meetings are important for members to attend - regular attendance is required for members to be eligible for the Board of Directors.)
It's also a chance to impact SWOP's organizing. Small group sessions give people a real opportunity to participate in creating a vision for working New Mexicans and to talk to your neighbors and friends about empowering our communities to realize racial and gender equality and social and economic justice.
The Name Game
Trevor, the Journal's sometimes funny cartoonist, was one of the first to try to change what S.W.O.P stands for with his famous "Southwest Whining Over Progress" cartoon - still up in the office. (I'll post the cartoon later -it's pretty funny.)
As an ice-breaker at the member meeting, participants were asked to make up different words for the letters in SWOP.
Here are a few responses:
"So-What's-Our-Plan?"
"Safe-Water-Operation-Project"
"Smart-Women-Organize-Powerfully"
"Sexy-Women-On-Patrol"
"Stop-Wasting-Our-Potential"
"Speak-Words-Of-Peace"
"Selfishness-Wiped-Out-Planetwide"
"Sweet-Words-Of-Potential"
Others weren't so serious:
"Socks-Worn-On-Pies"
"Salty-Wars-Over-Peanuts"
"Sweet-Watermelon-Over-Pancakes"
An yet others weren't so nice:
"Stupid-Worthless-Obese-Partypoopers"
"Silly-Wimpy-Opportunistic-Punks"
The last two were courtesy of the Roibal family - Roberto and Lolita...
Seriously folks, it was a great way to talk about values... without talking about values. And all we were using were 4 letters. The list above really only represents a small portion of what people said, but unfortunately all weren't written on butcher paper like those above.
Send in yours!
###
Monday April 4, 2005
Posted 11:10 am
IRBy Awards
ABQ, NM, Friday (April Fool's Day) - A packed house at Barelas were served up an evening of pasta and satire, as SWOP awarded this year's IRBy Award to...Daymon Ely. Congrats, Daymon, on selling out. You beat out a lot of deserving nominees.
$2 billlion in tax breaks for Intel over the next 20 years may never have happened without your hardwork.
McJobs
Go to Commondreams.org to see an article by Elana Berkowitz, of UC Berkley Labor Center, Eyes on the Fries. She says jobs at Burger King and the Gap aren't just "summer jobs," but rather vast wastelands where young people are exploited and their potential denied. Berkowitz says that 7 out of every 10 new jobs created are service sector jobs. (Not necessarily the best return on student loans.)
And to top it off, young people aren't well organized. 5% are unionized.
Talk around the SWOP office pointed to the fact that young people aren't the only ones suffering from this type of economy. It's a problem for everyone.
Thursday March 31, 2005
Posted 2 PM
Cesar Chavez B-Day
There are a few demos today honoring Cesar Chavez' life and contributions to worker and civil rights. (SWOP staff were also interviewed this afternoon for Channel 41's 5 pm news cast - check it out.)
UNM Chicano Studies, Recuerda a Cesar Chavez Commitee and the Central Labor Council are sponsoring an event at Cesar Chavez Community Center - 7505 Kathryn Ave SE - from 6-9 pm tonight.
Also, a rally to stop privatizing social security will be held at America's Parkway NE from 4:30 to 5:30 PM today, also sponsored by the Central Labor Council and the AFL-CIO.
A friend and supporter of SWOP commented this afternoon that Chavez' hunger strikes never garnered the attention that Terri Shaivo has recieved the last few months. (Terri's death today is a sad ending to the made-for-tv drama.) No Congressional intervention. No executive intervention. No Nada...
IRBy Awards to Pay Tribute to NM’s Corporate Welfare System
On April 1, 1998, SWOP awarded the first IRBy Award. The IRBy is a much-coveted tribute to those dedicated, driven corporate and public officials who have gone out of their way to exploit NM’s Corporate Welfare System.
Nominations for 2005 IRBy Awards:
In 2004, Intel Corporation again gained international recognition when it successfully petitioned
But since Intel has already received a Lifetime Achievement award from IRBy voters, we decided to showcase a truly little man and his undying commitment to milk taxpayers. Without Daymon Ely, Intel Corporation’s latest IRB may never have blossomed quite so favorably towards Intel. For more than six months, Ely tirelessly negotiated in secret with Intel on the 16 billion-dollar IRB deal on behalf of
This creative developer/politico has never seen an IRB he didn’t like. During his stint as an Albuquerque City Councilman Tim Cummins voted for every single proposal before him, and was known to be, shall we say, a bit ambitious. Greg Payne, former city councilman and current NM House member (and a former honorable mention IRBy winner himself) was quoted in the Alibi as saying, “If you want the county to issue IRBs for your business…the best thing you can do is enter into a business partnership with Tim Cummins.”
It seems as Cummins donated land on the far west side of town to Temper Pedic Swedish Mattress factory with a plan for more developments at the property. Then the Bernalillo County Commission also gave the company, with a median wage at $3 an hour lower than the metro average for manufacturing, an IRB soon after Cummins became a member. The Alibi quotes the commissioner saying, “I’m not sure of the timing. All of those things I’m real careful to stay out of.”
Cozy with Westland Development Corporation, Cummins is poised to make the big bucks after municipal water lines are extended to the project. Tim Cummins, Bernalillo County Commission member and 2005 IRBy nominee.
The Guv and New Mexico Economic Development Department have been busy making billboards and commercials touting the state’s attractiveness to out-of-state and multi-national employers, pointing to the state’s low labor costs and tax incentives as hooks. On the home front, they’ve been giving out job training funds to companies not paying a living wage.
In December 04 the Job Training Incentive Program awarded Solo Cup (you know, those plastic cups for parties) $74,857 in training funds for 24 jobs that pay only a little over 6 dollars an hour. Anytime you can get training funds for jobs at minimum wage, IRBy voters are likely to take notice. The State of
This columnist/lobbyist has done a lot for his corporate buddies over the years. He has never missed a chance to promote the interests of big business in his column nor in smoke-filled back rooms at the roundhouse. One of his favorite pastimes is to attack stubborn local advocacy and community organizations for standing up for the little guy.
When promoting Intel’s latest round of IRBs, he attacked SWOP. When promoting the Guv’s tax breaks for the rich and the state’s plan to lure multi-nationals with tax breaks, he attacked NM Voices for Children. Word on the street is that in his spare time he goes around kicking dogs. JD Bullington, Tribune Columnist/Industry Lobbyist and 2005 IRBy nominee.
Honorable Mentions:
Gary Tonjes, Albuquerque Economic Development Corp. for his recent quote saying the state’s request that private money be donated to NM Economic Development Partnership’s state-funded $1 million slush fund would create an “undue and unreasonable burden” on the private sector.
Marty Chavez, Mayor City of Albuquerque, for not being able to give a name of a local mattress manufacturer (there are 4) after touting Temper Pedic’s IRB, giving them tax breaks not afforded to local mattress makers.
###
Tuesday March 29, 2005
Posted 10:30 am
Note from SWOPblogger: The following post is an editorial from Volume 1 Issue 1 of Voces Unidas, SWOP's quarterly News Magazine, printed in the spring of 1991.
An unjust war
The Bush Administration has taken the United States in to a war for which it had no prior consensus in the country. Both in the polls and in the Congress, there were huge portions of opinion opposed to the United States initiating war against Iraq. The United States knew Iraq had legitimate economic concerns regarding Kuwait, but did nothing to prevent a conflict. In fact, the United States avoided negotiations; the Bush Administration was set on going to war long before we were informed of this decision. Bush has split this country and has forced us all to make many hard 
and undeserved decisions. The SouthWest Organizing Project opposes this war. In so doing, we need to set the record straight on several points.
THIS WAR IS NOT ABOUT DEMOCRACY. We believe that freedom is best upheld by promoting the truth. Bush's contention that the war is to uphold freedom in the Middle East is a lie. Kuwait and Saudi Arabia are sheikdoms, where unelected royal families rule through "naked aggression" towards their own peoples. The United States has supported both regimes for years. If the US Government was truly opposed to "naked aggression" it would not have invaded Grenada or Panama, or supported the contras in Nicaragua. If Bush were concerned about democracy, he would support the democratic rights of Palestinians and of the Black majority in South Africa. The administration's real goal is US domination of the Persian Gulf and its oil resources. Meanwhile, wasteful oil consumption continues at home, promoted by the policies of both the Bush and Reagan administrations. 
THIS IS A RACIST WAR. Bush has put people of color and working
class people on the front lines of this war in disproportionate numbers. We join the military because we have few alternatives for employment or educational opportunities, except through the "poverty draft." We are being forced to fight against Third World people so that Bush and his wealthy supporters can maintain control over Third World resources. Poor people at home have already paid for this war. The "high-tech" weapons presently being used to destroy Iraq were developed at the expense of health and nutrition programs, affordable housing, drug rehabilitation programs, decent educational opportunities, and the maintenenance of local services. People of color especially have been give the choice of joining the military or facing increasing unemployment, poverty and despair.
THE US GOVERNMENT AND THE MEDIA ARE NOT TELLING US THE TRUTH. The media should live up to its own rhetoric about objectivity. It has chosen instead to accept the Pentagon's censorship of what is happening in the war in order to limit massive domestic opposition to US policy. We hear very little about the potential global environmental damage from burning oil fields and petroleum spills in the Gulf. Iraqi civilians and military casualties go unreported. We hear very little about the actual cost of war, when in fact we have already spent billions and billions of dollars.
PATRIOTISM MEANS LOVE OF COUNTRY. Our opposition to this war is patriotic, in that patriotism in its highest sense means love of country. Bush has shown that his love is for his policy and for salvaging his own political reputation. The greatest support we can show our troops - and their families - is to stop this war now and bring them home safely.
Those of us with friends and relative in the Persian Gulf have all the more reason to oppose the war. The shoddy treatment of Vietnam Veterans by past administrations must not be repeated by this one. It must provide all necessary benefits not only to Persian Gulf veterans but to those of past conflicts as well.
Take a stand. All Americans must make the difficult but necessary decision to stop Bush's war. There has already been strong opposition to this shameful intervention, both within the United States and throughout the world. The SouthWest Organizing Project fully supports these actions. We especially encourage Latinos, African Americans, Native Americans, Asian Americans and all working people show show opposition to this war which is so adversely affecting our lives. The only way to stop it is by actively opposing it.
Monday March 28, 2005
Posted 10 am
Economic Development "Recruiters" Upset
Gary Tonjes says cash contributions to NM ED Partnership "undue and unreasonable burden" for the private sector. With the state (and taxpayers) footing most of their $1 million budget, it seems as little to ask.
"Gary Tonjes and the like won't even contribute to their own slush fund," says Robby Rodriguez, SWOP's director.
The question SWOPblogger poses: What is that $1 million for anyway? Most of the "recruiters" quoted in the article posted below referenced their contributions toward the partnership's marketing strategies. (More billboards with Big Bill's face on them.)
This so called "recruitment" of big business seems as such an unseemly underworld of favors, back room deals and quid pro quo. And what has it done to really help middle and working class residents in the state? NM is still on the wrong end of all the economic indicators, education and income included.
Instead of investing in a slush fund for Gary Tonjes and his ilk, taxpayers should invest directly in the state's potential, our kids and the untapped resources of NM's communities.
Monday, March 28, 2005
Recruiter to Match State Funds
By Diane Velasco
Journal Staff Writer
The state's business recruitment arm, the New Mexico Economic Development Partnership, now has to raise funds from the private sector in order to receive money from the state.
In a new wrinkle for the fledgling organization, the Legislature's budget bill has set the partnership's funding at $1 million and adds the condition it raise $100,000 from the private sector.
Requiring matching private money was in the original legislation that created the partnership, said Sen. Sue Wilson Beffort, R-Albuquerque.
The Legislature decided to reinstate that in the budget bill since the partnership has not met the requirement, she explained.
The partnership's board "may not have realized the expectation the Legislature had on this match," she said.
The $100,000 is meant to be a cash commitment from the private sector and does not include in-kind services, such as collaborative marketing that the private sector has been doing, she said.
The partnership's executive director, Jim Colson, said he knew attracting private funds was a goal in the legislation that created the partnership.
"Our goal always is to leverage public and private funds to get the best return," he said.
But private economic developers are balking at the Legislature's requirement.
The Albuquerque Economic Development Corp. spent as much as $75,000 in joint marketing activities with the partnership last year, said executive director Gary Tonjes.
But cash contributions "would be an undue and unreasonable burden considering all the private sector brings to the table today," Tonjes said.
The private sector already spends more on business recruitment than the state does, he added. His organization's budget alone is $1.4 million, with only $100,000 of that coming from the public sector.
Still, Tonjes, who sits on the partnership's board, did not plan to abandon the group.
"We will find a way to make it work because it's important for the partnership to survive," he said.
Noreen Scott, executive director of the Rio Rancho Economic Development Corp., called the required match "inappro-priate."
"We are already matching what the state does," she said.
Her organization invested more than $10,000, a third of its marketing budget, in joint efforts with the partnership last year.
She also took issue with the $1 million budget, saying the partnership was originally promised twice that amount.
"They can't reach the goals laid out for them when you give a half or a third of the money they were supposed to get," she said.
The $1 million budget was a result of budget pressures for education reform, Medicaid reform, and skepticism about the partnership because initially it had not met the jobs goals it had set for itself, Beffort said. And the private-sector money could be raised from large employers rather than the economic development groups, she said.
The matching-fund mandate "could encourage the partnership to be even more collaborative with other economic development organizations," said Carol Radosevich, economic development specialist with the Public Service Company of New Mexico.
She declined to say whether PNM would contribute, however.
"We spend a lot of money already donating to these organizations," she said.
Beffort, who is a supporter of the partnership, said she has spoken with other business leaders and was confident the money could be raised. ###
Thursday March 24, 2005
Posted 9 am
After a few software problems and a small vacation, SWOPblogger is back.
Keep coming back daily for all things SWOP.
Member Meeting
SWOP's membership is poised to gather for our tri-annual member meetings on Saturday, April 2 following the annual IRBy award spaghetti dinner and ceremony the night before. Both will be held at Barelas Community Center.
There is still time to nominate that company or person that has cynically exploited New Mexico's corporate welfare system for personal or private gain.
IRBy the Octopus will be on hand to award his buddies.
Thursday March 24, 2005
Posted 9 am
An update from our friends at Southwest Worker's Union in San Antonio - ATSDR is studying Corrales Air Quality Concerns
Kelly study points to need for another study
Web Posted: 03/22/2005 12:00 AM CST
New studies by state health officials show higher-than-expected rates of liver cancer and certain birth defects in neighborhoods around the old Kelly AFB.
The reports bolster findings in previous federal studies, along with the arguments of those who link the health problems to contamination from the defunct military base.
But state health experts explicitly said no such link has been found.
"A cancer cluster investigation is just documenting where there is a greater-than-expected number of cases," said Brenda Mokry, epidemiologist with the Texas Cancer Registry.
"We did find that there is nothing linking these specific cases and deaths to any environmental causes. These are two independent events, and we have not done the study that we would need to."
That study soon could be on the way, said Dr. Fernando Guerra, director of the Metropolitan Health District.
"Our next steps will involve planning for more formal and comprehensive descriptive and case control studies that can address causal associations with liver cancer in the area," he said.
Before Kelly closed in 2001, a preliminary study by the federal Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry found elevated levels of leukemia, low birth weights, some birth defects and cancers of the liver, kidney and lungs in neighborhoods surrounding Kelly.
The latest studies find fewer statistically significant health concerns. And future studies would seek to factor out issues like occupational exposure, lifestyle choices and the presence of infectious hepatitis that could account for elevated cancer rates.
Guerra and state health experts do not plan to further pursue the three birth defects found in elevated levels within a mile of the base — Down syndrome, lung underdevelopment and a congenital heart defect.
That's because those defects, although found at higher rates near the base than in the rest of Bexar County, represent such a small number that further study "probably will not be fruitful," state senior epidemiologist Peter Langlois said.
"When you have too few cases, it really limits your ability to interpret the data," he said. "What we will do at the State Department of Health Services is continue to monitor the occurrences of birth defects."
State researchers found five cases of the heart defect, eight of underdeveloped lungs and 21 of Down syndrome within a mile of the base. Those cases translate to roughly twice the rate of the heart defect and Down syndrome found in the rest of Bexar County, and three times the rate of the lung defect.
The studies also focused on low birth weight among newborns and the incidences of leukemia for residents around Kelly, but found no evidence of elevated rates in either case.
Pollution — chlorinated solvents that likely were spilled, leaked or dumped during aircraft maintenance activities at the base — first was found in the shallow aquifer under Kelly in 1985.
The contaminants have formed a 5-mile-long plume that spreads under roughly 20,000 homes and businesses in neighborhoods south and east of the base. But state epidemiologists said it is "unlikely that residents of the area had any access to this shallow contaminated aquifer, since fewer than 5 percent of the households over the plume used well water as their source."
Those findings fail to impress neighborhood resident Yolanda Johnson, who has been investigating illnesses in her neighborhood since 1983 and doesn't understand how the pollution from the base couldn't have contributed.
Johnson, one of several neighborhood activists, started her work roughly a decade after her grade-school-age son and daughter started suffering from a mysterious bone condition that bowed their arms and legs. Doctors were unable to diagnose the condition, and the children had to sleep in half casts and bandages for three years.
"Isn't that something?" she said.
"We have lived here since 1963. My husband had bought this house here as my Valentine's gift. If I knew what was happening here I would never have moved here, even if they would have given me the land."
To resident Robert Alvarado, the new state studies are just more evidence that the federal government needs to take the base's contamination more seriously.
Alvarado, 63, lost his sight six years ago and recently was diagnosed with kidney failure.
"And there are lots of miscarriages and lots of cancer in this neighborhood," he said. "This is real. Nobody wants to pay attention to our problem, but this is real."
Guerra said his department is sensitive to the plight of the residents and will continue to pursue "rigorous environmental contamination assessments" to determine if the base's pollution is harming those who live, or have lived, in nearby communities.
"This does give us cause for concern and help us recognize that we do need to do more," he said. acaputo@express-news.net
Friday March 11, 2005
Posted
Phone Tree
SWOP's phone tree to encourage NM residents to support the NM Healthy Communities Act has begun.
A mailer with a tear-away postcard has been mailed. The postcard is pre-addressed to resident's senators.
Victoria Rodriguez, is asking for supporters to volunteer.
SWOPblogger out for week...
From March 14th to 18th, SWOPblogger will not be posted. Please bear with us.
Monday, March 7, 2005
Posted 1:50 PM
More Intel-Related News
States Race to Cut Taxes to Attract Intel
Sun Mar 6, 2005 02:16 PM ET
By Daniel Sorid
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Intel Corp. (INTC.O: Quote, Profile, Research) , the world's largest chip maker, is offering U.S. states the promise of dollars of capital investment in exchange for an overhaul of their tax laws, which it says are making the United States less competitive than other regions of the world. Read More:
Also, a Google News Search turns up many related articles, including some from Arizona, Ireland, and Israel.
Scroll down for last Thursday's post on Intel's corporate strategy to pit communities against eachother in hopes of receiving tax breaks, corporate welfare...
Monday, March 7, 2005
Posted 10:40 AM
Media Complicit in Steroid Scandal
Yes, baseball’s team owners knew about rampant steroid use in their locker rooms. They looked the other way as baseball, that pastoral past time of the Americas, made a miracle comeback from debilitating player strike and fan apathy. A comeback fueled by home runs, steroids…and a complicit media.
Baseball just wasn’t keeping up with other sports that offered a little more instant gratification. Grounders to shortstop aren’t exciting enough to sustain SportCenter’s top ten plays of the week. Homeruns and dramatic broken records are.
So where were ESPN (Disney), Fox Sports (NewsCorp) and Sports illustrated (TimeWarner) while steroids were so openly being used in dugouts and locker rooms of stadiums often funded by taxpayers? While their highlight reels were filled with long blasts over the fence and Chris Berman’s famous “back, back, back, back” call, rarely if ever was there a story on Jose Canseco injecting himself and teammates with illegal performance enhancing drugs.
Instead of juiced players we were fed stories of juiced balls.
A question – turned on its head – for Keith Oberman: What did you know and when did you know it?
So why does this affect the rest of us? The sport’s popularity emboldened local politicians and governments to push publicly-funded stadiums, which have proven as disastrous investments for taxpayers.
The owners profited from steroid use, and looked the other way. The media profited from steroid use, and looked the other way. Taxpayers were burdened by steroid use, and the media looked the other way.
Thursday March 3, 2005
Posted 12:30 PM
M-pyre's Marjorie alerted folks yesterday about Intel shaking down Oregon for more tax breaks, saying they'd move some production to (you guessed it) New Mexico if Oregonians didn't let Intel slide on property taxes.
Sounds familiar...to a lot of folks.
Many will remember when Sandoval County was held up for $2 billion dollars in breaks just last year.
Arizona heard a similar threat - http://www.eastvalleytribune.com/index.php?sty=36975
In related news, Intel's Irish branch is reeling from the European Union signalng that an Irish corporate welfare package for the chip giant wouldn't be approved.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/03/03/irish_intel_grant/
http://www.ireland.com/newspaper/front/2005/0304/741504455HM1INTEL.html
SWOPblogger remembers some rumbling a couple years back by Intel big wigs - Andrew Grove, Craig Barret, etc. - about outsourcing jobs if they weren't given more subsidies.
SWOP's community economist predicted then that Intel would be back at the trough.
Clearly, a corporate strategy was hatched to seek out tax breaks by pitting sites against eachother in a race to the bottom in terms of wages and environmental protections.
What would happen if we all said no?
Wednesday March 2, 2005
Posted 12:30 PM
SWOPblogger called the Journal's city editor, Charlie Moore, yesterday to inquire about a staff report (scroll down) that quoted an FBI spokesman as saying a westside fire near the Petroglyph Monument was an act of "ecoterrorism." To be fair, Moore was responsive and only mildly defensive. Moore said he was following the lead of KRQE, but didn't want to replicate KRQE's coverage.
Moore said it was a staff report, but wasn't exactly sure which reporter contacted the FBI spokesperson to get his quote. While he promised a call-back to SWOP from a staff reporter, it has yet to happen.
The question is: Should reporters and news agencies be stenographers for 'official' sources?
It's more than a reach for the FBI to say the fire was an act of "eco-terrorism." The only thing reported so far is that a fire near the monument was deemed arson and that there were folks against the road through the monument.
News agencies have to be more objective and investigate outrageous claims by official sources. In the least, stories must be critical when accusations don't square with the facts.
Haven't media agencies learned their lesson from the WMD debacle and the Iraq war? Stenography has consequences.
Tuesday March 1, 2005
Posted 12 PM
http://www.krqe.com/video/expanded.asp?ID=1811
Journal and Tribune Follow Channel 13's Lead; Unfair, Unfounded Reporting (follow links above to see coverage)
I guess we can expect lazy, unfounded reporting from the TV media. They're easily disregarded as sensationalist and influenced by their corporate owners. But we don't expect it to come from the local print news. While we've had plenty of disagreements with the Journal's coverage over the years, the state's most read local paper has never been so disingenuous and reckless in its coverage.
The Journal reported in today's paper that a fire on Albuquerque's westside is being called "eco terrorism" by an FBI spokesman. "We are aware of the protest to development near the monument," the spokesman said.
The Trib reported the same thing last week. Michael Cadigan, a westside city councilor, was quoted by the Trib saying, "Any reason for arson is awful, particularly if somebody is trying to express a political opinion."
Cadigan, the Journal, Channel 13 and the Trib should be ashamed of themselves.
Below is a press statement from the SAGE Council released last week in response to this unfounded, lazy reporting.
As a non-violent, peace seeking organization for the past 25 years, SWOP does not condone violent, criminal acts.
Press Statement: Contact: Laurie Weahkee, 238-9243 or
260-4696
February 18, 2005
“ Retaliation for building near sacred land”
remark is offensive and unfounded.
We are offended that without any facts regarding the burnt house out on the Petroglyph escarpment that Channel 13 would link this criminal act to the very legitimate issue of protecting Native American Sacred Sites. The statement that the fire was “retaliation for building near sacred land” is an offensive statement and unfounded. The protection of Native American Sacred Sites does not include violence or destruction of property.
SAGE Council does not condone criminal acts.
Call the Journal at 823 3800,
The Tribune at 823 3653,
and Channel 13 at 243 2285
to complain about the lazy, unfounded coverage..
Monday February 28, 2005
Posted 4:30 PM
This just in - Repeal bill passes House!
ATSDR update
A week of so back (check Archives) SWOPblogger reported that the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) would be investigating any correlation between Intel's emissions and Corrales residents' health complaints. Since then, a few readers have wondered about ATSDR's effectiveness. The posting below, from MySA.com, features Southwest Workers Union (SWU), a sister organization of SWOP.
Genaro López-Rendón, SWU's Co-director, is quoted saying, "ATSDR is flawed by design — it has a structure that's set up to side with the polluter."
ATSDR met last week with Corrales residents, a pretty tough bunch who have been BS'd by more than their share of regulators, industry hacks, etc. A fly on the wall said that the residents were prepared and asked hard questions.
The jury's still out.
Purple crosses mark health worries
Web Posted: 02/26/2005 12:00 AM CST
Standing in her back yard overlooking the area once known as Kelly AFB, Virginia Castillo inhaled deeply.
"Can you smell it?" asked Castillo, shoving her hands in the pockets of her plaid housedress. "It's always here. It gets on your clothes if you stay outside for too long."
Castillo says a faint chemical smell has lingered around her one-story house in North Kelly Gardens for the 30 years she's lived there. Because of it, she doesn't hang clean clothes out to dry and she doesn't like her grandchildren to play outside too often.
Most of all, she wonders whether pollution from the former base or from the vast plume of contaminated groundwater that sits under her house are to blame for her health problems, which have included muscular problems and a benign glandular tumor.
So when a neighborhood activist asked if she'd display a purple wooden cross in her front yard to symbolize concerns over a possible link between her health problems and the former base's pollution, Castillo readily agreed.
"It think it's a good thing and that we should be vocal about all this," she said. "It's not something that's going away. There are still a lot of people who are worried."
The campaign launched Friday aims to place the crosses outside homes near the former base to honor those who suffer or have suffered from cancer or other illnesses possibly linked to contamination. Activists, who are also passing out information about the effort and asking residents questions about their health, will continue going door to door today and Sunday.
The crosses should serve as a visual reminder of the "environmental disregard" the Air Force has had for the neighborhoods, said Genaro López-Rendón, a director of Southwest Workers Union. The group is in a coalition that includes the Committee for Environmental Justice Action seeking answers about health effects of pollution around the former base.
There are ongoing attempts to clean up the contaminated groundwater plume under Kelly neighborhoods, and the Air Force has invested millions of dollars in the so far successful effort, the Air Force Real Property Agency said Friday. And several federal studies found no evidence neighborhood health problems are directly linked to the pollution, the agency said in a statement.
A study by the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) released last year of past air emissions at the former base, however, did not rule out the possibility that neighbors may have suffered health problems from chemicals and fuels used at the base.
Many residents and activists said Friday they didn't trust federal studies showing no links between health issues and the contamination. ATSDR based most of its findings in its several studies on local death records, but a door-to-door health survey, which the coalition expects to begin soon, is necessary to get a true picture of the issue, said López-Rendón.
"ATSDR is flawed by design — it has a structure that's set up to side with the polluter."
ATSDR found higher expected levels of kidney cancer, liver cancer, lung cancer and leukemia in some ZIP codes around the former base, which closed in 2001, but concluded those illnesses could not be linked to Kelly pollutants.
For more information on the coalition's campaign or to participate, call the CEJA at (210) 922-2420 or Southwest Workers Union at (210) 299-2666.
Monday February 28, 2005
Posted 12:00 PM
Historic Vote in Legislature Today
HB 576 goes to the floor of the House today, where legislators will have their first chance to vote to repeal the death penalty in the state.
SWOP has been solidly against the death penalty for the last 25 years.
Go to NMREPEAL.ORG for more info and how you can get involved!
February 25, 2005
Posted 3:30 PM
Healthy Communties Shouldn't Be Partisan Issue
The NM Healthy Communties Act was heard and tabled without discussion in the House Energy and Natural Resources Committee on Wednesday.
On Thursday in the Senate the Public Affairs Committee also heard the bill, with Committee Republicans and industry lobbyists against the NM Healthy Communities Act and Committee Dems in support. A deadlock left the bill in limbo.
James Taylor was the only Senate Public Affairs Committee member absent when the NM Healthy Communities Act was heard. After a meeting with industry lobbyists in his office, he blew up at a few constituents who were in support of the bill. Senator Taylor purportedly dropped the F Bomb...often. It's too bad too, because his constituents will be affected. The South Valley has long been a place where industry has polluted without oversight.
For legislators to be against this bill, they have to be pretty darn cynical. It's a pretty tame bill, simply requiring polluters to notify communties when they plan to site a facility near families. It also requires state and local agencies to prepare a Community Impact report before granting permits to polluters, while giving communities an opportunity and a process to protect themselves.
People really have a right to know when their health is in danger from polluting facilities. It's simple.
