All posts by pdacnm

Letter to the Editor: Stop Manchin’s Dirty Fossil Fuel Deal!

Opinion

Published September 15th, 2022 in The Paper – Independent News for ABQ

By Lora Lucero, Progressive Democrats of America – Central New Mexico and Anni Hanna, NM Climate Justice

There was a mixture of relief and resignation when the so-called Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 (IRA) passed the Senate on August 7. Many people, organizations and environmental justice groups worked for years to finally get the IRA over the finish line.  

With President Biden signing the IRA into law, Americans can expect many benefits, including: caps on out-of-pocket drug costs; lower energy bills; historic climate investments which should reduce carbon emissions by roughly 40% by 2030; more than $60 billion invested for new domestic clean manufacturing jobs; cleaning up pollution and taking steps to reduce environmental injustice with $60 billion for environmental justice; and closing tax loopholes used by the very wealthy. The IRA didn’t include everything climate activists wanted but many of us knew that failure to pass significant reforms was not an option leading up to the COP27 international climate conference in Egypt this November. 

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September 2022 PDACNM Newsletter

Newsletter

This story is a staff report from The Paper.
Published September 1st, 2022 at 4:25 pm

KKOB Airing QAnon Conspiracy Ads
Some Say Are Call For Violence

Dark money group spending millions to influence Hispanic
voters in New Mexico, similar states, through right-wing radio

The group Citizens For Sanity announced last month that it would begin airing millions of dollars in ads in Hispanic states to advance dangerous right-wing conspiracy theories in the run up to Congressional midterm elections in November, but they say the ads are not political because they do not invoke the name of candidates or call to vote. That, say extremism watchers, is exactly the problem.

READ MORE….

Read the complete Newsletter here….

August 2022 PDACNM Newsletter

Newsletter

Cause of homelessness? It’s not drugs
or mental illness, researchers say.

Lack of affordable housing is key factor,
according to study of nation’s major areas

 SAN DIEGO —Ask just about anyone for their thoughts on what causes homelessness, and you will likely hear drug addiction, mental illness, alcoholism and poverty. 

A pair of researchers, however, looked at those issues across the country and found they occur everywhere. What does vary greatly around the country, they found, was the availability of affordable housing.

READ MORE…

Read the complete Newsletter here….

PDACNM Redevelopment

Information

Dear PDACNM friends,

PDACNM is going on hiatus, suspending monthly gatherings and planning committee meetings while PDACNM is “under redevelopment”.  Paul and Laura are stepping down from their leadership roles and would like to see some new leadership come forward, new leadership meaning one or more persons with vision and passion for continuing to promote progressive ideals and progressive candidates for elective office.  When we began PDACNM 11 years ago this coming August, progressive issues were considered “fringe” and unattainable. But what was once considered laughable is now mainstream and popular with the majority of the country. We just need to see those progressive ideals be further on the road to reality. We hope there are folks out there who share our values enough to come forward and take on leadership roles. We plan to have clarity on PDACNM’s future by this fall, likely post-election. Your comments via email are welcome.

I would add that we will continue sharing with others the coordination of the monthly letters to our Members of Congress. Some of you may not be sure what these letters are. Basically, they are letters drafted by the PDA National Team and sent to all PDA chapters explaining the importance of specific, key progressive legislation and requesting that the MOCs co-sponsor the legislation. These letters are edited as needed to reflect local and state interests. They are then discussed with the leaders of the state offices of the MOCs, who then forward the letters to the MOCs, 

Also, our able newsletter editor Larry Baca will continue the monthly newsletter offering info and actions and our Stop Wars and Occupations team will keep up their important work.

In the meantime, we don’t need to remind anyone reading this that we are living in perilous times so even though PDACNM is taking a break, we will all be out working to get Democrats elected all over the country.  It’s imperative that we give time and money like we have never given before.

Yours with gratitude and in solidarity,

PDACNM Planning Committee, State Coordinators and Chapter Leader