Approaching the Collapse: Don’t Panic, Go Organic

By Ronnie Cummins
Organic Consumers Association, August 24, 2011 

http://www.organicconsumers.org/articles/article_23829.cfm 

A “perfect storm” or “ultimate recession” as described by Lester Brown in his new book, World on the Edge, could develop at any time, precipitated by extreme weather and crop failures on a massive scale. A growing number of nations, including the oil giants and China, are now scrambling to secure overseas farmland to feed their domestic populations. World grocers and supermarkets, including the U.S., have, on the average, only a four-day supply of food on hand. An oil shock, global disease pandemic, prolonged drought in the American heartland, or nuclear meltdown could set off a global food panic. Supermarket shelves and grain silos would be stripped bare within a short period of time. Have you thought about this? Are you and those in your local community ready for this?

Crash-Resistant and Climate-Friendly: The Organic Revolution

Fortunately, over the past 40 years, a new generation of organic farmers and ranchers have proliferated, building upon the wisdom and practices of indigenous and traditional farmers over the past 10,000 years. A growing corps of organic farmers and gardeners are producing increasing amounts of healthy, nutritious foods without the use of chemical fertilizers, pesticides, genetically engineered seeds, or animal drugs. At the same time, these 21st Century organic stewards of the land are consuming far less (50% or more) fossil fuels and water. Study after study has demonstrated that organic small farms in the developing world out-produce chemical and genetically engineered farms by a factor of two to one; while in the industrialized nations, sustainable organic yields are comparable in “normal” weather to industrial farms; but far superior (up to 50-70% higher) in times of drought or torrential rain, the types of extreme weather that have become the “new norm.”  In other words, not only can organic farming feed the world, but it is in fact the only way that we are going to be able to feed the world in this 21st Century era of energy, water, and climate crisis.

The burning question then becomes how do we build up a stronger Movement that can promote and scale up organic, local and regional-based systems of food and farming (while complimentary green Movements do the same in the energy, housing, and transportation sectors)? How can we, as quickly as possible, build up a critical mass of organic farms, gardens, seed banks, farm schools, and distribution networks in all the local regions of North America and world? We don’t have room in this essay to go into all the details, but here are a few things that millions of us are already starting to do, that are moving us forward and preparing us for survival in the likely eventuality of economic collapse.

(1)    Step-up public education and consciousness-raising. We have now crossed a major threshold of raising public awareness: the majority of Americans say they prefer organic food, for a variety of health, environmental, and ethical reasons. After forty years of public education and campaigning, organic foods and products are the fastest growing items in America’s grocery carts. Thirty million households, comprising 75 million people, are now buying organic foods and other products on a regular basis. Fifty-six percent of U.S. consumers say they prefer organic foods, citing a wide variety of reasons that we and the Organic Movement have taught them. Millions of young people and urban residents are starting to learn organic farming and gardening techniques.

(2)    Step-up the campaign against industrial agriculture and genetic engineering. The more we educate people about the hazards of chemical and energy-intensive food and farming and genetically modified organisms (GMOs), the greater the demand for organic foods and products, and the greater the number of new organic farmers, young organic farm apprentices, and urban organic gardeners (now 12 million-strong). The Achilles heel or weakest link of industrial agriculture is truthful labeling: consumers right to know. If toxic pesticides, chemicals and genetically engineered ingredients are labeled, consumers will not buy them, retailers will not sell them, and farmers will not grow them. Even though Washington has fallen under the control of Monsanto and corporate agribusiness, we can still change public policies at the state and local level, with grassroots-powered ballot initiatives and state legislation. Even though we live in Monsanto Nation, we can still bring down Goliath.

(3)    Link up with other Movements, local to global. Reducing global poverty, eliminating war and stabilizing the climate go hand-in-hand. The best way to reduce global rural poverty and conflict and eliminate war is through land reform and sustainable organic farming practices. With land reform and technical assistance, millions of organic farms in the Global South can develop and prosper, helping the world’s poorest people, especially women, to produce far more food with less or no fossil fuel or chemical inputs. This organic revolution will enable several billion peasants and rural villagers to rise up from poverty and reduce the unsustainable population growth that accompanies abject poverty. At the same time, one of the best ways to reduce fossil fuel use and naturally sequester climate-destabilizing greenhouse gases is to change our current land use practices, to go organic. For 10,000 years indigenous people and traditional farmers fed the world with organic farming and animal husbandry practices. By converting the world’s 12 billion acres of farmland and pasture land back to organic soil management we will be creating, instead of destroying, soil fertility, as well as restoring the soil food web’s amazing ability to permanently sequester enormous amounts of climate destabilizing CO2 through increased plant photosynthesis. With organic soil management spreading across the world’s 12 billion acres of farmland and pastureland, and a global mobilization to replant the 10 billion acres of forest that industry and agribusiness have destroyed, we can literally reverse global warming, bringing atmospheric concentrations of CO2 back down to a safe level of 350 parts per million from the current dangerous level of 390 ppm.

The hour is late, but there is still time to prepare ourselves and our communities before the economy collapses. Educate yourself and get active. Start to make preparations for an end to “business as usual.” Step up your efforts. Help link the issues and different constituencies in the body politic. Don’t panic. Go organic.

Read in its entirety 

 

 

 

Sidonie Squier puts her head in the lion’s mouth: “Changing Medicaid must be done”

The secretary of New Mexico’s Human Services Department says she is trying to save the state’s Medicaid program by changing it.

But by merely saying those words, Sidonie (pronounced “Sidney”) Squier is putting her head in the lion’s mouth … and there are people across the state who — figuratively — wouldn’t mind if the big cat clamps down.

Squier says she’s aware of the political danger of adjusting a program that 1 in 4 New Mexicans participate in but says she’s willing take the risk because in her mind the numbers simply don’t add up.

Read More Here

New Mexico Medicaid Modernization 

http://www.hsd.state.nm.us/Medicaid%20Modernization/

 

 

 

Another Santa Fe Moment: Low Income Seniors Left Hungry

The Commodity Supplemental Food Program and the Senior Van Service here in the City Different are blocking more than one senior, who cannot drive or is homebound, from receiving their commodities. The Senior Van Service, operated by the City of Santa Fe, has a new policy for commodities enacted in 2011.  Under this new policy all seniors are now denied rides to the Senior Commodities Program, which has a monthly distribution center at the rodeo grounds, stating that the Commodity Supplemental Food Program service delivers the commodities to the seniors who cannot drive or are otherwise homebound. The Commodity Supplemental Food Program has one person that legally delivers to 90 seniors.  This list has been full for the entire year, since they first received a small grant to deliver commodities to seniors who are “homebound.”  They will not add more seniors over their case load of 90 permanently to the delivery list.

So in the event that the Commodity Supplemental Food Program’s list fills up, and is only meant for homebound seniors, why can’t the Senior Van Service take seniors who are able enough to get there with transportation, but who cannot drive themselves to pick up their commodities? Their website still states that “Every third Tuesday of the month, rides for commodities, medical appointments, and lunch at senior centers are given top priority.”  http://www.santafenm.gov/index.aspx?NID=413

Another senior has stated that while attempting to access the monthly distribution center at the rodeo grounds on foot, due to being truly poor and unable to afford a car, they were turned away. Apparently the Commodity Supplemental Food Program as well as the Food Depot, which both distribute food by drive-through only, are more geared towards an upper-class poor that have family to drive them, or who can afford an automobile.

 

 

 

Whole Foods Carrot Cake Ripoff

Was in Southern California this winter and bought a yummy carrot cake at Whole Foods:

Reasonably priced as well:

So when I got home I went to get one. In Santa Fe things are expensive:

More than Los Angeles I guess. Did the altitude shrink the cake size or raise the price?

 

Needles to say, I wont be buying carrot cake at Whole Foods in Santa Fe, or much of anything else for that matter.

 

Greg Mello on US Nuclear Weapons Renaissance & Wildfire Threatens Los Alamos Nuclear Lab

 

County to expand public input methods

Phaedra Haywood | The New Mexican
Posted: Saturday, May 14, 2011 – 5/14/11

Via: http://www.santafenewmexican.com/localnews/County-to-expand-public-input-methods

Santa Fe County is taking a new approach to gathering public input while developing its new Sustainable Land Development Code.

“This is gong to be a lot more interactive than anything we’ve ever done before,” said David Gold, a facilitator, who is being paid $20,000 to help the county conduct a series of public meetings on the code rewrite. “We want involvement. We want to hear what people have to say, not just pay lip service to having heard it, but actually be able to play it back. So people can know they were listened to and see the effect.”

Last winter — after two years of work — Santa Fe County approved a Sustainable Land Development Plan that outlines a vision for the area’s future as it relates to land use, spelling out general philosophies about water use, density, lot sizes and other issues.

The new code will contain the rules and regulations that will implement the ideas contained in the Sustainable Land Development Plan.

County Land Use director Jack Kolkmeyer said the goal is to have a draft version of the code completed by the end of 2011.

Gold said one of the new approaches to gathering input for the code will be a focus on “concept decision” discussions which focus on certain hot-button topics generally and not just the proposed language of the code.

“In the past, when documents came out people would have to struggle with the wording and the language,” Gold said. “This time we are trying to isolate the important issues and just bring them up right in front and try to talk about them in plain English.”

Gold said the county will also use technology to increase participation and promote understanding among parties with opposing viewpoints. Some of the meetings will be broadcast live on the county’s website and mechanisms will be set up to allow people to call or write in with comments or questions that can be addressed in real time. County staff will also implement a “public input database,” where information and opinions on specific topics — open space or home-based business licenses, for example — can be posted and tracked.

The database will feature a message board where users can interact with each other, and a “wiki page” where the public can “clearly state preferred solutions” to regulatory dilemmas.

“If people can say why they don’t like something and what their concerns are, it’s really effective,” Gold said.

A county land use plan and code were written in 1980 and revised in 1996.

Gold said residents should seize the chance to help develop rules which will govern issues such as traffic, pollution, development fees and the use of water.

“This opportunity doesn’t roll around too often,” Gold said. “People should realize how much this impacts their lives. Any development that takes place in the county affects people in the city almost as much,” Gold said. “People always say ‘how did things get this way?’, and this is how!”

MEETING SCHEDULE

The first series of meetings on the code is scheduled to begin Wednesday. Upcoming dates, times and locations are:

• 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, May 18 at Edgewood Middle School.

6:30 p.m. Thursday, May 19 at the Galisteo Community Center.

6 p.m. Wednesday, May 25 at the County Administration Building, 102 Grant Ave. (This will be the first meeting that will feature interactive communication.)

6:30 p.m. Thursday, May 26 at the Sombrillo Elementary School.

For more information, visit Santa Fe County’s website at www.santafecounty.org, or call Melissa Holmes at 995-2717

Santa Fe Police State: or the Gestapo Go Out for Dinner

Here is another one of my Santa Fe moments. This one illustrates the City Different as the  US empire crumbles. The growing police state of the American Southwest. I hope you enjoy your visit.

~~~

Granny, my girlfriend, and I decided to go out for dinner Sunday night. It was Easter Sunday 2011, just yesterday at the time of my writing this. We were at our favorite Salvadoran restaurant here in Santa Fe, enjoying our meal. Around us, peacefully enjoying their meals and each others company were two other parties.

Enter two police officers. Not a big deal at that point, everything was normal enough, I didn’t think much of it.

I would later find out from someone nearer the officers than I, that the officers stated that they wanted to eat. At that point the “Peace” officers made their way over to a table of our fellow diners. They were an African American family, what seemed to be two daughters, their father and his grandson, at about 3 to 4 years of age. I enjoyed their presence, the kid was cute and they were a close seeming family enjoying their night out together.

Once at the table, the officers addressed the father saying something like “will you please step outside, we have to talk with you.” If he hadn’t refused, I would have interfered. He did refuse. He asked if there was a problem and let them know that an apology was in order. In fact an apology was in order to the entire restaurant for their unprofessional, Gestapoesque disruption of our meals.

The father handed them his id and repeated that an apology was in order. They said that they were looking for a suspect with a warrant for his arrest that looked identical to him. He told them that is impossible, because he just entered the state today. He was evidently visiting his family from out of state.

The officers carried on for a while, apologized and left without eating. They kept remarking on how he looked just like their suspect. I can’t believe that was the case. What it appeared to me to be, was that they came in to eat, saw the big scary black man and decided to harass him.

When he turned out to be civilized and professional, they backed down, changing their story. Once they left, he did express anger and outrage, but in a very contained manner. I was angry too and shocked. Where are we, what country is this? How is it that in this day and age we have thugs dressed up in Santa Fe Police uniforms harassing the citizenry?

Sweet Bert Baca – January 6 1948 to April 6 2011

‘I was born a cowboy’

By John Knoll | For The New Mexican

1/18/2009

http://www.santafenewmexican.com/PrintStory/19-COWBOY

 

Photo by: Jane Phillips/«IPTCCredit»

There’s no mistaking Bert Baca’s identity. He’s a cowboy.

Look for him sitting in the Santa Fe Baking Company — his daily haunt — and he’ll be wearing a black cowboy hat; boots; a scarf tied around his neck, accentuating his weathered face; and his long-rider beige duster will be draped over the back chair of his chair.

“My favorite roof is the sky,” Baca said. “I think I was born a cowboy; it’s part of my heritage. It goes way back to my great-great-great-grandfather.”

Although he grew up in Santa Fe, it was his summer vacations spent on his grandfather’s ranch near Mount Taylor, where he learned to ride and rope, that fueled his passion for the cowboy way of life.

Baca, 61, gave the white-collar world a shot — working briefly in the mortgage-loan business — after graduating from Santa Fe High in 1966, but it wasn’t to his liking.

In his early 20s, he did what many young cowboys are inclined to do: He started riding in rodeos.

“I don’t know why I wanted to rodeo, I just did,” Baca said. “For some reason, I started riding bulls. That’s just what I did.”

He said his first rodeo was in Grants. It was the first time he had ever straddled a bucking bull; steers and calves, yes, but never a bull.

“I got slam-dunked,” he said. “It seemed like I was up there forever, but I didn’t score.”

A rider has to stay up for 8 seconds to score. The score is then calculated on how fiercely the bull bucks and the rider’s style.

Back in Baca’s rodeo days, bull riders, in their culture of strong-willed independence, didn’t wear helmets. But recently, more and more riders strap on a helmet, similar to a hockey helmet, before they get up on a 1,600-pound bull.

“No, I wouldn’t wear a helmet if I was still riding,” Baca said.

“If I fell on my head, I’d be all right, because I’m hard-headed. But, you know, I’d probably wear a vest, because I had a friend who was gored by a bull and died.”

Three years after the Grants rodeo and a series of sprained ankles and wrists, Baca gave up bull riding. He wasn’t making much money — the most he ever earned for a ride was $50 — and his body ached.

But the cowboy life was in his blood and he didn’t want to give it up. He worked ranches from New Mexico to Montana “on and off” for approximately 40 years. His ranch career intersected with contract work on rodeos, where he took care of the livestock.

“I guess I’ve worked on over 200 ranches and spent about 12 years on the rodeo circuit,” the itinerant cowboy, who likes to read Tony Hillerman mystery novels, said.

He said working rodeos, feeding the livestock and sorting the bulls and horses to move in and out of the chutes is what he liked best.

“To tell the truth, I like animals better than I like people,” he said with a wry grin. “Animals are more honest.”

Although he’s retired, he periodically gives riding lessons to children.

“I won’t give lessons to adults; they have too many bad habits,” he said. “Kids have more brains and they do what you tell them. Their brains are like sponges.”

As he looks back on his life, he said, he has very few regrets.

“I liked what I was doing, or I wouldn’t have done it,” he said. “And the friends I made on the circuit are priceless. They’re friends for life.”

~~~

BERT BACA

|   Visit Guest Book

Bert Baca Age 63, died Wednesday, April 6, 2011 in Santa Fe.

Bert is survived by his son, Matthew Baca; his brother, Alfred Baltazar (“Baltie”) Baca, Esq.; his sister, Marie Wafer; his two nephews: Marvin Wafer, Jr. and his family, and Michael Wafer and his family; his niece, Michelle Wafer; and countless lifelong and very close friends.

Bert was born on January 6, 1948, in Las Vegas, NM to Mary Rose Lucero and Joseph Baltazar Baca but grew up in Santa Fe after moving there in the fourth grade. He spent many of his childhood summers on his grandparents’, Cruz Baca and Tiburcia Baca’s, ranch in Cubero, NM. It was in Cubero where he learned to ride horses and cultivated his lifelong love of the outdoors, animals, and ranching. He graduated from Santa Fe High School in 1966, where he was a pitcher on the baseball team. After working several jobs in Santa Fe, Bert took up, for a short while, working in two savings and loan companies in Denver, CO. Soon thereafter, he went to work for another savings and loan, as a construction loan officer, in Anchorage, Alaska. But, Bert’s love of the outdoors caused him to resign from his indoor jobs and take up working rodeos throughout the West, sometimes as a bull rider and, often, quietly working behind the scenes. This love for the West led Bert to live in Alaska, Colorado, Montana, and ultimately back in his home of Santa Fe. Throughout his life, Bert worked on ranches and rodeos, was a riding instructor and, put simply, a cowboy or vaquero. In 2009, the Santa Fe New Mexican featured Bert in an article about how he was born to be a cowboy.

He spent free time on creative hobbies such as stone carving, jewelry, photography, and even acting as an extra in cowboy films such as “3:10 to Yuma.” Bert Baca’s feisty spirit, loyalty, and unbridled and unique sense of humor will be remembered.

http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/santafenewmexican/obituary.aspx?n=bert-baca&pid=150108008

Social Stratification in Art

Here are a couple shots of a metal sculpture showing social stratification in Northern New Mexico.

 

Can you tell me where these are taken?

The 6th annual Pueblos y Semillas Gathering and Seed Exchange

 

Land grant claims won’t go away

By Ernie Atencio | Jul 08, 2008 12:45 PM

Via http://www.hcn.org/blogs/goat/land-grant-claims-wont-go-away

Some of my neighbors in northern New Mexico call this region “occupied Mexico.” They’re only half joking. Heirs of community land grants made by the Spanish and Mexican governments are still arguing – 160 years later – that the U.S. did not honor its obligations under the 1848 Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo. The treaty promised to protect all pre-existing land grants and other property rights of the former Mexican citizens when the U.S. took this territory from Mexico. But it didn’t.

As a result, over 80 percent of community land grants were lost to Indo-Hispano villagers, in most cases after a century, or two or three, of living and working on those lands. All the Indian Pueblos retained their land grants, which became reservations under the U.S. system, but most of the rest ended up as Forest Service or BLM land.

Of course this is not the first or last time the U.S. violated a treaty for land, but this fight is still going strong.

In the latest issue of La Jicarita News, scholar David Correia reviews the well-documented history of fraud and various chicanery within the office of the Surveyor General and the Court of Private Land Grant Claims, which were supposed to adjudicate land claims during the late 1800s. And he lays out a convincing legal argument about how the U.S. government did not fulfill its fiduciary duty under the treaty.

Correia’s article is part of a concerted response by local activists, scholars, attorneys, county governments and the New Mexico Attorney General to a 2004 report on community land grants from the Government Accountability Office. The GAO report, predictably, absolved the government of any wrongdoing, saying that having an adjudication process was all it was required to do (even though that process was riddled with corruption and incompetence).

There’s no question that people around here have long memories and know how to hold a grudge. But it’s more than that. The persistent poverty in this part of New Mexico – along with the substance abuse Angela Garcia wrote about in HCN two years ago – are linked to the “historical trauma” of losing traditional lands, livelihoods and cultural identity. It’s not unusual at community meetings for some weather-worn old timer to pull a tattered copy of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo out of his back pocket, emotionally quote it chapter and verse and ask when the government is going to give him access the ancestral land.

Against this historical backdrop, I was stunned once to hear a local enviro (an individual well known for his inflammatory and confrontational statements) blithely dismiss the idea of returning land grants to their rightful heirs as “the agenda of the ‘wise-use’ movement dressed up as social justice.”

Activists have considered any number of ways to rectify the social and economic consequences of losing their land grants – priority access to grant lands, economic development assistance, educational scholarships, federal trust funds for land grant communities or just getting the land back. Since this fight is not going away any time soon, I’m curious what others think.

Related:

http://donchuyspad.blogspot.com/2009/11/junta-de-acequias-and-land-grants-rio.html

Peaceful Skies

Links:

http://www.peacefulskies.org/

On facebook

Why has delivery of natural gas into New Mexico been impeded?

If:

New Mexico has been a major producer of oil and natural gas since hydrocarbons were first discovered in the state during the early 1920′s. In 2000, New Mexico produced more than 68 million barrels of oil, 1.6 trillion cubic feet of natural gas, and 119 billion cubic feet of naturally occurring carbon dioxide for a total value of $8.2 billion. These valuable commodities are obtained from more than 2,000 oil and gas fields. http://geoinfo.nmt.edu/resources/petroleum/home.html

and:

Using a geology-based assessment methodology, the U.S. Geological Survey estimated a mean of 50.6 trillion cubic feet of undiscovered natural gas, a mean of 19 million barrels of undiscovered oil, and a mean of 148 million barrels of natural gas liquids in the San Juan Basin Province. http://pubs.usgs.gov/fs/fs-147-02/fs-147-02.html

and:

The San Juan Basin of northwest New Mexico and southwest Colorado is the second largest gas basin in the United States, second to the greater Hugoton Field of Texas, Oklahoma, and Kansas. Until the 1970s, most of the gas produced in the basin came from the three major fractured-sandstone reservoirs: the Dakota Sandstone, the Mesaverde Group, and the Pictured Cliffs Sandstone, all of Late Cretaceous age. Starting in the late 1970s, and accelerating in the 1980s to the present, production from coal-bed methane (CBM) reservoirs in the basin has gone from virtually none to around one trillion cubic ft of gas (TCFG)/year, making the San Juan Basin’s Fruitland CBM field the largest CBM field in the world. http://www.searchanddiscovery.net/documents/2010/10254fassett/ndx_fassett.pdf

and:

Ten of New Mexico’s counties currently produce oil and/or natural gas ­Chaves, Eddy, Lea, Roosevelt and Quay in the southeast, and McKinley, Rio Arriba, San Juan and Sandoval in the northwest and Colfax in the northeast. Pipeline mileage stretches more than 25,000 miles, exceeding the combined mileage of New Mexico’s railroads and highways. In year 2007, over 1200 new wells were drilled and the state produced 1.6 trillion cubic feet of natural gas and 65.4 million barrels of crude oil.” http://nmoga.org/industry.asp?CustComKey=361961&CategoryKey=361962&pn=Page&DomName=nmoga.org

and:

NM Oil & Gas Statistics

70 Percent of Homes
An estimated 70% of homes in New Mexico are heated by natural gas.

43rd
New Mexico is ranked 43rd in overall population

$22,203
New Mexico’s per capita income is $22,203. (ranked 49th)

0.6 Quadrillion Btu.
Total energy consumption in New Mexico is 0.6 quadrillion Btu. (ranked 37th)

365 Million Btu.
Per capita energy consumption is 365 million Btu. (ranked 23rd)

5.5 Million Gallons Per Day
Total petroleum consumption is 5.5 million gallons per day. (ranked 34th)

2.6 Million Gallons Per Day
Gasoline consumption is 2.6 million gallons per day. (ranked 35th)

1.4 Million
Distillate Fuel Consumption is 1.4 million gallons per day. (ranked 38th)

0.5 Million Gallons
Liquefied petroleum gas consumption is 0.5 million gallons per day. (ranked 27th)

Jet Fuel
Jet fuel consumption is 0.3 million gallons per day. (ranked 34th)

718 Million Barrels
New Mexico’s crude oil reserves are 718 million barrels. (ranked 4th)

184 Thousand Barrels
New Mexico’s crude oil production is 184 thousand barrels per day. (ranked 6th)

56,000 Wells
The number of wells producing oil numbered 56,000 in year 2007.

78 Rotary Rigs
There are an average of 78 rotary rigs per week in exploring new wells in year 2007.

95,600 Barrels
New Mexico’s refineries have a combined capacity of 95,600 barrels per calendar day.

0.8 Percent
New Mexico has 1,478 gasoline stations, less than 0.8 percent of the U.S. total.

*Statistics provided by the Energy Information Administration, visit http://www.eia.doe.gov for more information. http://nmoga.org/industry.asp?CustComKey=361961&CategoryKey=362104&pn=Page&domname=nmoga.org

Then why?:

The New Mexico Gas Company issued a press release at noon which said, “Due to rolling black outs in West Texas and other problems, the delivery of natural gas into New Mexico has been impeded. States in the southwest are experiencing similar issues.” http://newmexicoindependent.com/68766/gov-declares-state-of-emergency-due-to-gas-shortage-cold

Why are we getting our gas from Texas?

~~~

Who will cover the damages?

The National Guard has been dispatched to Espanola, Taos, and the north central pueblos, where less than 10 percent of customers have gas. Relighting will continue throughout the area Monday and Tuesday.

Annette Gardiner, president of New Mexico Gas, was asked during Sunday’s press conference if people would be reimbursed for damage from burst water pipes caused by heating failure.

She replied, “Our efforts are fully focused on restoration of service and getting our customers back up and running, and that is what we need to focus on at this point in time. Anything beyond that will be dealt with after this emergency is concluded.”

Officials say they’re setting up an expedited process for damage claims. http://www.kob.com/article/stories/s1960944.shtml?cat=516&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Kobcom-AlbuquerqueMetro+%28KOB.com+-+Albuquerque+Metro+News%29

~~~

Why does a Michigan firm own New Mexico Gas Co.?

With a gas emergency declared this week in New Mexico and thousands without heat — a problem caused by low pressure in feeder transmission lines because of power interruptions in Texas — at least one goal with the PNM asset transfer was not met.

In 2008, Schreiber said, “We will consider it a success if the customer doesn’t even notice it’s going on. We want to fold the gas assets out of PNM Resources and not even have the customer notice it.”

Because Continental Energy is a private limited liability company, little is known about who has invested or its profitability, and Tom Domme, a vice president, said he could not share that information.

New Mexico Gas is required to file an annual financial report every year with the state Public Regulation Commission, but that was unavailable Friday since state offices were closed because of the gas emergency. http://www.santafenewmexican.com/Local%20News/Michigan-firm-owns-New-Mexico-Gas-Co-

~~~

Energy Advances New Mexico is an alliance of energy companies focused on realizing domestic energy solutions to help meet our nation’s energy demand, while reducing dependence on foreign resources.

Energy Advances New Mexico wants to persuade you to let them remove natural resources from New Mexico. Look at their ads here http://www.energyadvancesnewmexico.com/advertising If we let them take our resources, we have to be well compensated, as well as participate in the resources we are so rich in. Why are so many New Mexicans without gas in below freezing temperatures?

Energy Advances New Mexico (EANM) is an organization committed to educating New Mexican citizens about the importance of the oil and natural gas industry within the state. More than 30,000 New Mexico jobs depend on the industry, which is consistently one of the top contributors to the tax coffer.

EANM also highlights the state’s role as a national player, helping meet the nation’s energy demand through domestic solutions, while reducing our dependence on foreign oil. Brothers welcomed the opportunity to help this organization define their voice and raise awareness among the people of New Mexico. http://www.broco.com/clients-work/energy/energy-advances-new-mexico

Take your resources, take your money, and leave you in the cold with a wink and a smile?

The Energy Advances New Mexico (EANM) launch campaign is the industry’s way of introducing itself and its benefits to the citizens of the state.Using messaging that gives a nod toward renewable energy, EANM acknowledges the importance of the land to the state while educating citizens of the economic benefits of the industry – nearly 33% of all state funding in 2008 came from taxes on the industry.

EANM: ENVIRONMENTAL STEWARDSHIP This print campaign was developed to be used in coordination with Earth Day. The campaign focuses on preservation, restoration and respect for New Mexico’s most vital resource – its land. http://crg.iogcc.org/node/102

And if organizations and companies like those involved with Energy Advances New Mexico (and their friends in Alaska and offshore) are trying to “help meet our nation’s energy demand, while reducing dependence on foreign resources,” why do they take that oil and gas to the world market and make huge profits on it? If we really want our domestic oil to “help meet our nation’s energy demand, while reducing dependence on foreign resources,” it needs to go straight to our reserves.

Reminds me of a game of Three-card Monte.

Local dentist and his wife open center offering affordable care

Ana Maria Trujillo | The New Mexican

Dental care is out of reach for a lot of people, but Gabriel Roybal, a local dentist, and his wife, Teresa Roybal, who specializes in business, recently opened Northside Dental to offer free or low-cost dental care to people in the community.

“The options are grim when someone is really struggling to put food on the table or pay their rent,” Teresa Roybal explained. “They are not going to spend $1,000 on a root canal.”

The couple paid for the clinic themselves and have spent the last 10 months getting everything set up at the facility, 806 Calle Mejia. The equipment alone set them back about $500,000, but it is well worth it, they said.

“It’s a project of faith,” Teresa Roybal said. “We believe in making an investment in the community.”

The couple recently launched a campaign to promote the new clinic, which will be staffed by about six dentists and a few hygienists, who are all volunteering.

The Roybals are no strangers to helping people. For many years, Gabriel Roybal has been providing free dental care through Villa Therese Catholic Clinic, La Familia Medical Center and United Way of Santa Fe. The couple noted that those interactions with patients are generally extractions and other extreme, last-resort procedures. At Northside Dental, Gabriel Roybal is going to focus more on prevention.

“The earlier we intervene, the sooner we can get these people and they don’t have to deal with the nightmares” that occur after many years of dental neglect, Gabriel Roybal said.

“It’s heartbreaking to see beautiful young men and women — because they don’t have the resources — where the only option they have is pulling their teeth,” Teresa Roybal said. “They don’t have the options down the road to replace those teeth.”

Katherine Freeman, the CEO of United Way of Santa Fe, is grateful for all the work the Roybals have done for The Santa Fe Children’s Project over the last three years. She said the Roybals came to her three years ago to ask what they could do to help.

“It’s one of the most generous offerings that we’ve had, and it came as such a total surprise,” Freeman said. The Roybals recruited other health practitioners, including chiropractor Bobby Perea, to provide free care to United Way families involved in the Santa Fe Children’s Project.

“Dental care is one of the key health issues with our kids, and finding affordable care is almost impossible for these families,” Freeman said. “It’s just a gift of generosity almost not imaginable.”

Freeman noted that Northside Dental is “just another demonstration of their generosity and compassion and willingness to give back to the community.”

Gabriel Roybal and his volunteer team will continue to work with United Way families at Northside Dental.

The Roybals give back to the community because they wouldn’t feel right if they didn’t. They run a successful, high-end dental practice on St. Michael’s Drive that is a fee-for-service practice, which Gabriel Roybal said is rare.

“To be able to do that and not give back to the community doesn’t seem fair,” he said. He also expressed gratitude to his patients, who have helped make Northside Dental a reality. “We’re lucky to have this patient base who can afford (care), but that is a very small crowd who has the resources to pay $50,000, $70,000, $80,000 in one mouth to fix their problems.”

“You reach a point in your life where you fulfill a lot of your own personal goals and business goals, and I think you learn a lesson as you get older that the greater reward is just outright helping people,” Teresa Roybal said. “It’s great to achieve success in business, but it doesn’t feel right to achieve business success and not really give back.”

They also help because it’s much “easier to just take care of people than it is to go through the loops and hoops and rigmarole of Medicaid and Medicare and the government programs,” Gabriel Roybal said. “We just adopt (patients) and take care of them, and they come here and we see them. Everybody wins. They’re a pleasure to take care of.”

Northside Dental opened its doors three months ago and patients are trickling in. The clinic features state-of-the-art technology, including digital radiology, laser technology and computerized records.

“It’s one of the best things that the staff and doctors do because it’s such a rewarding experience,” Teresa Roybal said. “People are very grateful to have this opportunity.”

“It feels great to be able to help people,” Gabriel Roybal said. “Very often people will come in and they’ve gone through so much grief and aggravation their whole life, they’re in tears. They’re so grateful for the care that you’ve given them and it’s priceless. I can’t think of anything more pleasurable.”

Contact Ana Maria Trujillo at 986-3084 or atrujillo@sfnewmexican.com.

and from

http://www.nmdental.org/news.php?news_id=62

Volunteer Dentists Hope to Fill in Gaps

Few things hurt worse than a toothache. But for some, going to the dentist to is a luxury they can’t afford — or the nearest one is way down the highway. A group of New Mexico, Colorado, Kansas and California dentists who want to address those needs is offering some relief via a free dental clinic. The New Mexico Mission of Mercy clinic is scheduled for Oct. 15-16 at Expo New Mexico. Organized by the New Mexico Dental Foundation, the focus is on children and adults who can’t afford dental care or who don’t have a regular dentist. Patients will not be asked about employment, residency or citizenship. Beyond affordability, New Mexicans face a problem with the availability of dentists — problems organizers of the event hope legislators pick up on. Changing Medicaid rules might help with affordability, but as long as New Mexico lacks a dental school, availability likely will remain a problem. The national average is 64 dentists per 100,000 residents, but in New Mexico there are just 34 dentists per 100,000. Besides ending the pain that can distract from work and play, fixing dental problems benefits overall health and improves quality of life. Poor oral health is linked to other health issues like premature or underweight babies, heart disease and diabetes. Patients at the mission will be evaluated, and an attempt will be made to address their most pressing needs. That can range from a simple cleaning to a root canal and beyond. It’s first come, first served, so if your pearly whites need some TLC take advantage of the services these generous dentists are offering.

the effects that the NAFTA agreement caused on Mexico

Thimerosal and 2010-2011 Seasonal Flu Vaccines

I received the Thimerosal and 2010-2011 Seasonal Flu Vaccines, and had a strange reaction. I received the “mist” this last Monday, October 25th and am just now feeling better on Wednesday. Why don’t they warn  people that they will possibly get sick for a few days?

Almost immediately after the “mist” I got dizzy, light headed and needed to sit for a few minutes. Once I was able, I returned to the people giving the vaccines to let them know about my reactions. They were not very open to the idea that what I was experiencing was a valid reaction to their immunization, they didn’t want to hear about it. They said I must have panicked or hyperventilated. I was dizzy, light headed, hot to the touch and sick feeling. My sinuses were foggy feeling, I  couldn’t focus.

I thought it strange to deny my reaction and not note it somewhere. They are scientists of some sort aren’t they? Or do they only collect data that supports their hypothesis? They told me that I must have hyperventilated or something.

I have been on earth long enough to know what hyperventilating is. I explained the whole sequence of events, which did include labored breathing while on my way back to inform them of my reactions. She said, “see, you must have hyperventilated, just sit down here until you catch your breath.” I had a hard time breathing due to the effects I was experiencing from the vaccine.

I am already suspicious of vaccinations, this experience only confirms my suspicions, and freaks me out about those who administer the vaccinations. I never signed a release of liability.  I will never get another immunization until I understand every risk and am assured that I will be covered for any further treatment that may be caused by their “immunization.”

I talked to a nursing student friend who said that if I survived past 1/2 hour that I was in the clear, but watch out next time I get that vaccine, because it tends to get you worse the second time around, this could have been an allergic reaction.

Yeah, of all people to have an ill reaction. I knew better. Well now I know not to do that again, and that I have an allergic reaction to it. I can’t be browbeaten about not getting vaccinated. I definitely feel sick still, just not as severe as earlier. Pretty Stupid.

Three days latter, my joints are achy and stiff. I have the Creepy Crawly skin. I was fine before this “immunization.”

This reaction lasted over a month. Beware of who you are trusting and if they will help you after they harm you.

The information below is not true. I have yet to see any “vaccine safety research and monitoring activities” by the CDC.  As I said earlier, the  ”health care providers” did not record my reaction, but kept trying to shush me out of the room where they were doing their deeds.

~~~~~~~~

The information here at the Vaccine Safety Monitoring Systems for 2010-2011 Influenza Season web page is exactly the reason I figured that those administering the vaccines would want to record my reactions to the “mist.”

What is CDC doing to ensure the safety of influenza vaccines used in the United States?

Every year, CDC works closely with FDA, health care providers, state and local health departments, and other partners to ensure the highest safety standards for flu vaccines. CDC and FDA both share responsibility for monitoring the safety of vaccines and ensuring systems are in place to promptly detect unexpected health problems following vaccination.

At CDC, the Immunization Safety Office (ISO) leads most of the agency’s vaccine safety research and monitoring activities.

Over the past 50 years, flu vaccines have been shown to be safe.

http://www.cdc.gov/flu/protect/vaccine/monitoring.htm

A Forgotten Injustice chronicles the mass deportation of Mexican immigrants in the 1930s

By Lou Mattei

via: http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/4465/home_again

Vicente Serrano’s documentary A Forgotten Injustice tells how in the 1930s, the Hoover administration deported millions of Mexican-American citizens. 

The Hoover administration, while racist, also reasoned that is was cheaper to deport Mexicans than other groups of immigrants because of the relative proximity of the border.

With the economy in a rut and anxieties about national security festering in the nether regions of America’s social conscience, it’s minorities—immigrants, outsiders, heathens, you name it—who now, as in the past, bear the brunt of the backlash. Tolerance sounds swell so long as the Dow cries kowabunga. But when fat cats go belly up and “real Americans” fill unemployment lines, fear takes over.

Vicente Serrano’s documentary A Forgotten Injustice chronicles our ability to turn against our brothers and sisters during times of social panic. The film tells the hidden history of the mass deportation of more than 2 million Mexican immigrants in the 1930s. More than 60 percent of those given the boot were U.S. citizens who ended up living in Mexico as illegal aliens.

Read More . . .

Food and the 2010 elections

This woman is mad because the government is telling her what to buy by taxing her food . . .

Feeding a family is already difficult in today’s economy – now some politicians want to use taxes to tell us how we should do it. We need to send a clear message to these lawmakers that enough is enough! Keep government out of our grocery carts.

Ok, but how about the right to know what is in that food? Is taxing junk food really a big deal? Is the government telling you what to buy when they tax junk food? What about the quality of our food?

Do we have a right to  know what is in our food?

To save the world from the pathetic, virus-like grip of ethnic stereotypes

TEX[T]-MEX: SEDUCTIVE HALLUCINATIONS OF THE “MEXICAN” IN AMERICA, a University of Texas Press book from February 2007

“Marvels! Rompecabezas! And cartoons that bite into the mind appear throughout this long-awaited book that promises to reshape and refocus how we see Mexicans in the Americas and how we are taught and seduced to mis/understand our human potentials for solidarity. This is the closest Latin@ studies has come to a revolutionary vision of how American culture works through its image machines, a vision that cuts through to the roots of the U.S. propaganda archive on Mexican, Tex-Mex, Latino, Chicano/a humanity. Nericcio exposes, deciphers, historicizes, and ‘cuts-up’ the postcards, movies, captions, poems, and adverts that plaster dehumanization (he calls them ‘miscegenated semantic oddities’) through our brains. For him, understanding the sweet and sour hallucinations is not enough. He wants the flashing waters of our critical education to become instruments of restoration. In this book, Walter Benjamin meets Italo Calvino and they morph into Nericcio. Orale!”

—Davíd Carrasco, Harvard University

A rogues’ gallery of Mexican bandits, bombshells, lotharios, and thieves saturates American popular culture. Remember Speedy Gonzalez? “Mexican Spitfire” Lupe Vélez? The Frito Bandito? Familiar and reassuring—at least to Anglos—these Mexican stereotypes are not a people but a text, a carefully woven, articulated, and consumer-ready commodity. In this original, provocative, and highly entertaining book, William Anthony Nericcio deconstructs Tex[t]-Mexicans in films, television, advertising, comic books, toys, literature, and even critical theory, revealing them to be less flesh-and-blood than “seductive hallucinations,” less reality than consumer products, a kind of “digital crack.”

Nericcio engages in close readings of rogue/icons Rita Hayworth, Speedy Gonzalez, Lupe Vélez, and Frida Kahlo, as well as Orson Welles’ film Touch of Evil and the comic artistry of Gilbert Hernandez. He playfully yet devastatingly discloses how American cultural creators have invented and used these and other Tex[t]-Mexicans since the Mexican Revolution of 1910, thereby exposing the stereotypes, agendas, phobias, and intellectual deceits that drive American popular culture. This sophisticated, innovative history of celebrity Latina/o mannequins in the American marketplace takes a quantum leap toward a constructive and deconstructive next-generation figuration/adoration of Latinos in America.

William Anthony Nericcio is Professor of English and Comparative Literature at San Diego State University in California, where he also serves on the faculty of the Center for Latin American Studies and the Department of Chicana and Chicano Studies.

Via: http://www.utexas.edu/utpress/books/nertex.html

and

http://textmex.blogspot.com/

Garden’s Edge

Garden’s Edge is a 501 (c)3 non-profit corporation that works in New Mexico and Guatemala to revitalize local culture and economy through projects in sustainable agriculture and environmental education.

http://www.gardensedge.org/index.html

New Mexico

In the summer and fall of 2009, The Garden’s Edge and members from Qachuu Aloom taught workshops, provided technical assistance, and shared traditions with farming communities throughout New Mexico and Arizona.

There were a total of 281 participants in the 17 workshops, including youth, adults, and elders.

Seed Saving Workshops: These workshops were designed to present farmers with information and techniques about saving seed adapted to their specific farms and gardens thus increasing yields and crop hardiness, as well as decreasing farm inputs.

Seed Bank: We are establishing a seed bank, based in Albuquerque, that includes crop varieties that are suitable to the soils, climate, and culture of New Mexico.

Seed Saving (Field Trip and workshops with Jardin del Alma Farm):
The Goal of these workshops was to:
1.Encourage established growers to begin saving seeds on their farm.
2.Provide growers with a possible market/buyer for their seed, helping to increase farm income.
3.Find growers to grow out heritage New Mexican seed from the abandoned Ghost Ranch Seed Collections, which includes many New Mexico heritage crops in threat of extinction.

“Thanks for the inspiration and knowledge. Without this we wouldn’t have known how to save our seeds. It gives us a whole new perspective of where we should go with our farming project.”
“We only knew so little about this, and now we can start a seed bank in our own community” – From workshop participants, 2009

Workshops and Cultural Exchange Participants:

TNAFA(Traditional Native American Farmers Association) Hopi, Picuris Pueblo, Santa Domingo Pueblo, TEWA Women United, Santa Clara Pueblo, Isleta Pueblo, Santa Fe Indian School, San Felipe Pueblo, Dine Agriculture (Navajo, Shiprock), Leupp Family Farm (Navajo) Arizona, Tierra y Libertad, Tucson Arizona .

Community Groups: Penasco and Dixon Farmers, Northern New Mexico Community College, Resolana (Española), Seeds of Change (San Juan Pueblo), Sanchez Farm,
San Juan College (Farmington), Jardin del Alma (Monticello), Albuquerque Farmers/Growers, Barcelona Elementary School, Cuidando los Niños (Homeless Women and Children Program, Albuquerque).

Aspens Turning

. . . We went up last Saturday (09/18/10) evening and caught the aspens just as they are starting to turn . . .

Underage Drinking

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=7103963529320284328&hl=en#docid=-2230793684600105769

SUPER ATHLETES OF THE SIERRA MADRE

Here is a piece on our brothers and sisters to the south:

Living in Mexico’s Sierra Madre mountain range, the Raramuri Indians are some of the best long distance runners in the world, but how far can they run in the face of problems like environmental damage, loss of native lands, and the drug war? An American ultra marathon runner known as Caballo Blanco is fighting to help the Raramuri preserve their culture and tradition of long distance running. The Copper Canyon Ultra Marathon is the result.