Fasting for the World’s Children

Opinion

Friends and family,

Albuquerque has a very special person, Sally-Alice Thompson, who has been an activist for peace and for many human rights issues for decades. She and her husband, Don, founded the Albuquerque Peace and Justice Center which is a community center for a whole variety of campaigns to improve the condition of humanity.

Sally-Alice is nearing her 96th year and she has decided to undertake a fast of water only to draw attention to the children who are starving and dying due to US policies around the world. She is a passionate person of sound mind and commitment. Many of her friends have tried to talk her out of this but she started her fast on Saturday and is steadfast in doing this to bring awareness to the children.

What am I asking of you? If you like, you can skip a meal or fast a day or two in solidarity with her. That may be too much for many people to do so in lieu of that you can be informed and inform others.

The most important thing is to let Sally-Alice know that you care. That is the request that she has made – that people e-mail her if they fast (for any length of time) and that they aware of the tragedy that is happening to the world’s children. She thinks that not enough people know what is happening!

sally-aliceanddon@juno.com

I’ve attached three short video clips from today when she was at the weekly Resist Trump Tuesday in front of the New Mexico Congressional offices in downtown Albuquerque. Sally-Alice and others have been there EVERY Tuesday since the 2016 election.

I’m copying below her statement that she presented today.

Statement from Sally-Alice Thompson:
“I am starting “Fast Against Sanctions and Sieges” (FASS) because of American sanctions on Venezuela, Cuba, Iran, and North Korea, and sieges, supported by America, of Yemen and Gaza, are resulting in the starvation of thousands of infants and children. If hungry children, who need nourishment to develop their bodies and minds, are going hungry, then so must I. These sanctions and sieges must end!”

Please call your Members of Congress and say that you oppose any one of these measures that is hurting children. Your call will be tallied and is important.

View the videos here.

Pat Bartels

A press converence with Sally-Alice

Progressive Democrats of America Central NM Chapter Newsletter June 17, 2019

Events, Meetings, News

Union of Concerned Scientists: Your New Mexico senator needs to stop a dangerous new nuclear weapon

Paul Stokes, former member of the 18-Nation Disarmament Conference 

The Union of Concerned Scientists has asked its members to urge their senators to stop the development of a low-yield nuclear warhead that would be deployed on Sea-Launched Ballistic Missiles (SLBMs) in our submarine fleet.

The W76-2 is a low-yield version of the W76 nuclear warhead carried on SLBMs.  It has been reported in the press as being considered more usable by the Trump administration because of its low yield – 6.5 kilotons.

I am disappointed that NNSA and the nuclear weapons labs (Sandia and probably Los Alamos) agreed to undertake this project. There was a time when the establishment of the nuclear weapons program in the AEC (now DOE/NNSA) and not in the Department of Defense was considered to provide some push-back on the zeal of the Defense Department to develop weapons that would increase its war-fighting capability when that capability also increased the likelihood of nuclear war.  That idealism may be totally absent today.

Many decades ago, when I was a young member of the US delegation to what was then known as the Eighteen Nation Disarmament Conference in Geneva, the Conference had become aware of the development of what were then called mini-nukes, and were worried that they would be considered more usable because of their low yields, thereby lowering the threshold for nuclear war.  I wrote a short speech for the US Ambassador, assuring the Conference that US policy on the use of nuclear weapons was the same for any yield of the weapons.  (I don’t remember what levels of authority I had to go through to get approval for that position.)

Today, US policy is apparently different, at least as reported in the media.  Now, it seems that President Trump does, indeed, want these low yield weapons because they are more usable.

The firebreak representing the policy difference regarding the use of conventional and nuclear weapons has, thankfully, held since Hiroshima and Nagasaki.  It would be tragic if the firebreak were weakened.

Last week, The House Armed Services Committee voted to delete language from the Fiscal Year 2020 National Defense Authorization Act for the development of the W-76-2, the low-yield weapon for deployment on SLBMs. But it may come up again in the Senate or the Senate/House Conference Committee.Senator Heinrich sits on the Senate Armed Services Committee, which could stop the development of this weapon. Senator Udall sits on the Senate Appropriations Committee which might have jurisdiction. Let them know that you are opposed to the development of the W76-2, a low-yield nuclear weapon, because it would increase the likelihood of nuclear war.

Paul Stokes

Read the Newsletter Here!

To Be or Not To Be, Impeachable He Runs Free

Opinion

by Jerilyn Bowen

 The question of impeaching President Trump now hangs before the nation on every newscast.  This is unsettling. More disconcerting, however, is the seeming inability of the Democratic  Congressional leadership to take an unequivocal, principled stand on Mueller’s documentation of multiple attempts to obstruct justice by the man who occupies the White House, offenses that more than meet the impeachment standard of “high crimes and misdemeanors.”   Were this any other president,  that personage would long ago have been subject to impeachment on a number of other grounds as well, including corruption and collaboration with foreign powers in service to a private agenda.

Continue reading To Be or Not To Be, Impeachable He Runs Free →

Progressive Democrats of America Central NM Chapter Newsletter June 6, 2019 – Join PDA at the Guild

Events, Meetings, News

Read the Newsletter Here!

Biden Campaign Admits Plagiarizing Part of Climate Plan From Fossil Fuel Groups

‘In a Twitter thread on Tuesday, climate researcher and University of California, Santa Barbara professor Leah Stokes said Biden’s proposal to confront the climate crisis – which was released amid growing pressure and criticism from grassroots environmental groups – reads like a ‘cribbed plan.'”
” ‘As a professor, I’ve seen plagiarism before,’ Stokes wrote. ‘It’s like his team copied off of his competitors, using all the same keywords (‘environmental justice,’ ‘Green New Deal’) but with less substance.’ “
” ‘I have no problem with campaigns borrowing ideas with one another,’ Stokes added. ‘But there needs to be substance and commitment behind those plans. I am wary that we will find empty words with the Biden team.’ “

“Green groups echoed Stokes’ concerns about the substance of Biden’s plan prior to accusations that parts of the proposal were lifted straight from industry-friendly organizations.

In a statement following the release of Biden’s plan on Tuesday, Wenonah Hauter – executive director of Food & Water Action – described the proposal as ‘a cobbled-together assortment of weak emissions targets and unproven technological schemes that fail to adequately address the depth and urgency of the climate crisis we face.’

“‘This plan cannot be considered a serious proposal to tackle climate change,” Hauter said. ‘Biden’s focus on ‘net zero’ emissions, carbon capture programs, and vague pollution pricing schemes all point to one outcome: a society continuing to be dominated by fossil fuels, and a future of irrevocable climate chaos’ ” Read article here.

By Jake Johnson, Common Dreams, June 5, 2019

 

Progressive Democrats of America Central NM Chapter Newsletter May 23, 2019 END CORPORATE RULE

Events, Meetings, News

209 Economists Endorse Medicare
for All Ahead of House Budget Hearing


National Nurses United, May 21, 2019

“209 economists have signed a public statement (here) supporting Medicare for All

. The letter calls the current health care system “exorbitant and wasteful” and asserts that ‘the time is now to create a universal, single-payer, Medicare for All health care system in the United States.'”

“‘This letter illustrates how Medicare for All is really a win-win,’ says Cathy Albisa, Executive Director of the National Economic and Social Rights Initiative. ‘It would lower the nation’s health care costs over time while guaranteeing everyone the care they need and financial security. The only real losers are the big health care companies profiting off of our sickness and health.'”

Read article here.

National Nurses United has been a loyal supporter of PDA for years.  Donate if you can.  They don’t take corporate money.

Read the Newsletter Here!

Progressive Democrats of America Central NM Chapter Newsletter May 17, 2019

Events, Meetings, News

Udall Holds ‘For The People Act’ Forum in Albuquerque

Discusses his efforts to enact a sweeping package of reforms that will fight corruption, fix our broken politics, and make government work for all Americans.

Senator Udall, NM Rep. Linda Trujillo; NM Rep. Moe Maestas; Paul Stokes, PDACNM;  Max Feldman, Counsel in the Democracy Program at the Brennan Center for Justice; Judy Williams, President NM League of Women Voters; Laurie Weahkee; Exec. Dir. Native American Voters Alliance.

“The For the People Act is a sweeping package of pro-democracy reforms that aims to make it easier, not harder, to vote; end the dominance of big money in politics; and ensure that public officials work for the public interest. The bill serves as Senate companion legislation to H.R. 1 in the U.S. House of Representatives, which passed the House in March of this year. It builds off of Udall’s We the People Democracy Reform Act of 2017, which was introduced in the 115th Congress as a comprehensive reform package encompassing a number of bills championed by Udall and others to address various shortcomings in our political system, and strengthen and revitalize our democracy.”  Press Release May 11

PDACNM applauds the Senator for taking bold steps to save our Democracy when it would be easy for him to sit back and relax now that he is no longer a candidate.  Instead, he is motivated to do the people’s work as energetically as ever.  Let’s support and promote this very important and comprehensive bill.

Read the Newsletter Here!