SWOPblogger

[Karlos says] From our friends over at JwJ...

For several years, JwJ coalitions across the country have held local 'Grinch of the Year' elections to determine the most deserving greedy Grinch in their hometowns. This year, national Jobs with Justice will sponsor the sixth annual online Grinch of the Year election to determine the national figure who does the most harm to working families.

Please submit your nomination for the national Grinch of the Year award by following the link below. Be sure to include a few sentences on why you think your nominee is deserving.

Nominate your favorite greedy Grinch here!

Click on the links to see last year's candidates and last year's winner.

JwJ will announce the nominees and begin the election next week.

There's lot's of stiff competition out there, but I nominated Intel Corp. Hey, if all laid off employees at Intel decide to vote, Intel managers are a shoe-in...

Oregonian:

"Intel says it's not done reorganizing, and nearly all industry watchers agree more job cuts are on the way. Estimates run as high as 15,000, but others expect the number to be much smaller.

(Layoff #'s: 10,000+)

"Although Intel wouldn't provide the job titles of any workers being laid off, there are apparently no top-level executives among them. That frustrated laid-off workers I spoke with on Friday. They complained that the people whose leadership put Intel in a tough spot dodged the ax, which fell instead on the rank and file.

Many former Enron employees may recognize the way top managers are protected, no matter how much damage they do...

Intel Layoffs

CITIZEN ACTION NEW MEXICO Contact: dave@radfreenm.org 505 262-186

Meet Your Nuclear Neighbor -- Sandia National Laboratories

$$$ Why Sandia Loves Bomplex 2030 $$$

What is Bomplex 2030?

The Dept. of Energy/National Nuclear Security Administration has a new plan to re-design and rebuild every nuclear weapon in the U.S. arsenal. This is the so-called “Reliable Replacement Warhead” program -- and the DOE/NNSA proposal to revamp the nuclear weapons complex to produce these new nuclear warheads is called “Bomplex 2030.” The name misleads one to think this plan is for the future. The effect on driving other countries to join the nuclear arms race will be immediate. The social, environmental, and economic costs will be enormous.

WHAT CAN YOU DO??

A Bombplex 2030 Public Hearing will be held by the DOE/NNSA on December 5^th at the Albuquerque Convention Center, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. or 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. Attend with Friends in Opposition.

Sandia will perform the certification testing for the nuclear triggers called “pits” that will be used in this new line of nuclear weapons. The pit is a nuclear weapon. Sandia will be involved in the design, construction and testing of components for this new line of nuclear weapons. The DOE/NNSA want to quadruple pit production at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) to 80 pits a year. LANL may well become location for a new plutonium center to produce 125 pits a year.

No justification can be found for further production of pits within the weapons complex for the RRW program. 4000 pits exist in “strategic reserve” in addition to a 12,000-plus “surplus” at Pantex in Texas. DOE/NNSA admits that age-induced impacts on pits have not been observed for pits up to 42 years old. The average age of pits in the current stockpile is 21 years old and lifetimes of pits can be 90+ years.

Sandia's primary mission is to implement the nation's nuclear weapon policies through research, development, and testing related to nuclear weapons. Sandia also manages the U.S. nuclear arsenal stockpile. Sandia designs and integrates over 6,300 parts of a modern nuclear weapon's 6,500 components. About 72 percent of Sandia’s $2,200,000,000 ($2.2 billion) annual budget goes for defense and national security related programs. Only a scant 4% of the Sandia budget goes for energy efficiency and renewable energy research.

The words “Reliable Replacement Warhead” are used to mislead the public to believe that the RRW program will maintain the nuclear status quo.

• The current inventory of nearly 10,000 nuclear weapons have been certified as “safe, secure and reliable” annually for the last ten years by the DOE/NNSA
• The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), the weapons arm of the Department of Energy, advertises the RRW as an "enabler" for changing to a "responsive infrastructure" which will one day "provide capabilities, if required, to produce weapons with different or modified military capabilities."

• The official Department of Defense website on "Stockpile Transformation" (the generic name for RRW and related plans) boasts of a goal of "developing warheads for next-generation delivery systems."

Neither the Department of Defense nor the Department of Energy has cleaned up the hazardous waste and radioactive contamination at many locations throughout the United States from the nuclear weapons production during the Cold War. The actions at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) and Sandia National Laboratories (SNL) are part of a larger action of bomb making activities in New Mexico and nationally that devastate water and air resources through release of hazardous and radioactive wastes. In New Mexico, for example:

• Sandia National Laboratories’ (SNL) Mixed Waste Landfill (MWL) is a radioactive cesspool that threatens the drinking water supplies for Albuquerque, New Mexico with 100,000 cu. feet of hazardous and radioactive wastes in unlined trenches. DOE/NNSA has failed to excavate the MWL for long-term protection of Albuquerque’s drinking water. There is no adequate well-monitoring system that complies with federal law. Monitoring wells were constructed using Bentonite clay and organic drilling additives that hide contaminants instead of detecting them.
• Storm water run-off at LANL contains significant amounts of americium-241, strontium-90 and plutonium-238 & 239 measured at levels up to ten times the drinking water standard. Hundreds of other toxic contaminants are in the soil at the bottom of the canyons and contaminated wetlands. Contaminated stormwater either seeps into the ground, posing a threat to groundwater, or, in intense storm events, drains to the Rio Grande.

The Bomplex 2030 program flies in the face of legal requirements for the United States to participate in the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. Bomplex 2030 will create the capacity for the US to build nuclear weapons more rapidly, reducing the size of nuclear warheads to allow a greater range. The 1970 Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) obliged all nuclear weapons states as signatories to Article VI of the Treaty to undertake “to pursue negotiations in good faith on effective measures relating to cessation of the nuclear arms race at an early date and to nuclear disarmament...” International security is further destroyed by the fear that the US will use these weapons of mass destruction “preemptively. A new nuclear arms race must be prevented.

Other countries are no longer deterred by the nuclear threats of the United States but will seek to also obtain nuclear weapons. Nuclear bombs can be built by any country with the will to do so. The secrets for the technology are out. The US must turn from threatening annihilation of other countries to serious participation in solving the global problems of poverty and environmental damage that lead to political unrest, hopelessness and terrorism. The tens of billions planned to be spent by the US weapons complex for new warheads must be spent instead to create more peaceful societies in our world.

THE US NEEDS FRIENDS, NOT MORE BOMBS IN THIS WORLD.

These scoping hearings will be your opportunity to tell the Department of Energy (DOE) that your “vision of the future” opposes plans to spend more TENS of BILLIONS OF DOLLARS to build new nuclear weapons in New Mexico. The scoping hearings are required as part of an Environmental Impact Statement. Demand environmental and social costs be considered now!

Hearing Schedule:

Albuquerque: Dec. 5, Albuquerque Convention Center, 11 a.m. – 3 p.m., 6 – 10 p.m.
Socorro: Dec. 4, Macey Center, 801 Leroy Place, 6 – 10 p.m.
Los Alamos: Dec. 6, Hilltop House Best Western, 10:30 a.m. – 2:30 p.m.
Santa Fe: Dec. 6, Genoveva Chavez Community Center, 6 - 10 p.m.

Wednesday November 29^th 2006 come to the SWOP MOVIE NIGHT!!!

Presented by the Young Leaders of the SouthWest Organizing Project

All are welcome to come watch and participate in the discussions!!

Feel free to bring any Candy and Snacks that you want, Popcorn and Drinks will be provided!!!

Any Questions please call Rodrigo 505-620-1476

Mississippi: Is This America? (1986). 58 minutes. Part five of the Eyes on the Prize series by Henry Hampton, "Mississippi: Is this America?" covers the the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee – SNCC – voter registration drives throughout the state as part of Mississippi Freedom Summer in 1964. The segment concludes with the fight by the SNCC-organized Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party to be seated at the 1964 Democratic National Convention. Our Enemy in Vietnam: 1954-1967 (1983). 58 min. This segment of Vietnam: A Television History tells you lots about the Democratic Republic of Vietnam and the southern Vietnamese National Liberation Front, and their fight against the US puppet "Republic of (South) Vietnam" government, US "advisors" and finally, 500,000 US troops and the US air force. An important chapter in the story of some of the bravest and most determined people to ever walk the earth.

from Nov 21 ABQ Journal:

Good Samaritans Show Up on I-40

I HAD SPENT a week in the Veterans Affairs Hospital in Albuquerque. I
was released and on my way home to Hobbs. About 30 miles out of Vaughn,
there was a sharp piece of steel lying in the highway. I did not see it in
time to avoid hitting it with my front tire, which blew out.

I tried to use my cell phone, but there wasn't any service in that area.
I am on oxygen and could not change my tire myself. My wife began trying to
flag someone down, but everyone kept going.

I began to think we were stranded, when two great gentlemen- Rey Garduño
and Joaquin Lujan-- with the SouthWest Organizing Project in Albuquerque
came by and stopped. They were on their way to Carlsbad. They worked hard as
my jack would not raise the pickup high enough for them to get it off the
ground. They finally tried the jack in their rental car, and it worked, and
they fixed the tire.

I want people in Albuquerque to know there are still good people out
there. These two men were my "heroes for the day." Thanks to both.

MERVIN ROBERTS
Hobbs

From the Campaign for A Better New Mexico Headquarters…

Election day started early for us. Staff and volunteers arrived at the office at 7 am after doing a round of doorhangers at the homes of potential voters. We spent the day crunching numbers, making phone calls, driving far and wide to knock on doors and urge people to vote.

In southeastern New Mexico, southeast New Mexico field director Joaquin Lujan described dropping 1500 get out the vote doorhangers with the team down there, particulary the Dorado family in Carlsbad and the MLK Dream Team headed by Lydia Williams. Staff Member Monica Cordova’s sister reported seeing I Heart New Mexico yard signs on her way back to school in San Antonio throughout the southeastern part of the state. We are very excited about the work we've been doing in the southeast and the potential that this area of the state holds for building progressive power at the grassroots.

Based on our efforts, it looks as though the unlikely voters we targeted throughout the state should vote in record numbers. SWOP Lead Organizer Victoria Rodriguez says “I’m exhausted but the response on the doors was great. People were excited about voting and many said that they already had voted either early or absentee. We feel our efforts really made a difference in getting people engaged and active in making New Mexico a better place to live, work and play.”

Our primary goal is to empower historically disenfranchised communities to make their voices heard through the electoral process. For this reason, the Campaign for a Better New Mexico seeks out unlikely voters, new voters, low-income and people of color voters. Unlike many of the other voter engagement efforts, we know that many of the families we contact are being reached out to for the first time. While its too early to report the numerical outcome of our efforts, we're confident that we're on the right track. We hope all of you will join us in making New Mexico a better place for our children's futures.

SWOP, NAVA and ‘King’s Dream Team’ Mobilizing, Educating Voters in New Mexico; Groups Bucking Trend of Negative Advertising

Campaign for a Better New Mexico a nonpartisan, nonprofit effort of SWOP

New Mexico – SouthWest Organizing Project (SWOP), Native American Voters Alliance and 'King’s Dream Team' are canvassing door-to-door and calling their neighbors in Bernalillo County and Southeastern New Mexico to get voters out to the polls on Tuesday.

The groups say it’s important for historically unrepresented and disenfranchised communities to get out and vote this election season.

Voters of color in Ohio, Florida and New Mexico were less likely to have their votes for president count than their white counterparts during the 2004 Election.

"We want people to get out and vote, despite the negative tone of party politics and candidates," says Victoria Rodriguez, SWOP Lead Organizer. "We didn't give up when they refused to serve people at the lunch counter. And we didn't give up when people were sent to the back of the bus. We believe in the Voting Rights Act, a centerpiece of the civil rights movement-that's why we are going to the polls on Tuesday."

“The Native American Voters Alliance calls on the Native American community to raise its voice and get out the Native vote. It is our opportunity to voice our concerns about the issues impacting our community,” says Milton Bluehouse Jr., Executive Director SAGE Council.

The groups say the negative ads by the parties and special interests suppress the vote of people turned off by the desperation in politics today.

“Our message is about hope, opportunity and justice for our communities,” says Rey Garduno, a volunteer for SWOP.

Along with a ground game, SWOP's radio and direct mail campaign has focused on Carlsbad, Roswell, Hobbs, Loving, Artesia and Bernalillo County to get out their message of assured health care for everyone, better wages and schools and putting politics back in the hands of people through elections reform.

SWOP, NAVA and the King's Dream Team, a group of mostly highschoolers from Carlsbad, are hooking up to get out their message to residents who are often left out of the debate.

“Our ‘I Love New Mexico’ signs are popping up everywhere,” says Joaquin Lujan, a SWOP statewide field organizer who lives in Polvadera, NM. “Everyone knows there are problems everywhere. We want to do something about it, and people are listening.”

Go to BetterNM.com and listen to the radio ads and see the mailers.
For additional information on Native American Voting Alliance, go to sagecouncil.org.

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Worried about voter protection this election season? If you, or someone you know, has a hard time tomorrow at the polls, fill out the voter story widget in the navigation bar (to the left) and your story will be sent to voter protection organizations in the area who can help ensure that your vote counts.

Here are photos taken by Moc and I today at the Dia de los Muertos Marigold Parade in the South Valley. SWOP’s float was a beautiful as ever. I also posted another set of our pics over at m-pyre.

SWOP’s Float

SWOP Banner

Rosina puts finishing touches on the SWOP float

Sandra pointing out the children’s coffin

Victoria works on the float

Tomas gets his face painted

Junior looked sharp!

Gladys strikes a pose

Silviana getting a little help

Victoria paints her face

Here comes the parade…