Episode 222: Now that you've had your dose of turkey....

or maybe several doses of turkey, like I know I have! Hopefully your Thanksgiving holiday has been an enjoyable one, spent with family and friends! We thought this week was the perfect opportunity to put two local authors in the spotlight on the show.





We start with Santa Fe author Lucas Conley. His first book is titled "Obsessive Branding Disorder" and it is a very timely book for everyone in the midst of the holiday shopping hysteria. His book is an in depth and provocative look at how companies go about branding and marketing their products to an often suscpetible audience (you and me!).







And, our second author just finished writing her 14th published book, titled "The Evolution of God". Chris Griscom also established the Light Foundation in Galisteo back in 1985. She is one of the leading thinkers on the topic of spirituality and reincarnation.








If you missed this week's episode, not to worry. You can watch it below. And, remember to let us know what you think about this week's show, or any of our past shows. Just leave us a comment, or email us personally at infocus@knme.org.



As always, thanks for watching!

THE PUBLIC AFFAIRS TEAM

Episode 221: The Budget Crunch

For those of you who missed this week's episode, not to worry! Here's the show, in its entirety!



And for those of you who watched last week, here's an update from Margaret Montoya:

I misspoke during last week's episode of The Line when we were talking about voter registrations in the national election. I said that only one out of four eligible voters is registered when I meant to say that one out of four is NOT registered. Actually upon closer examination the correct ratio is one out of five, the numbers look like this: 169 million are registered out of 213 million who are eligible (or about 79%).

During the taping I also commented that Republicans don't want a lot of people to vote. I was challenged by Whitney Cheshire and relied that I would explain on line. There is a rationale to the Republican's strategy and it was spelled out by Paul Weyrich.

Weyrich, a principal architect of today's GOP and co-founder with Jerry Falwell of the Moral Majority, infamously said, "Many of our Christians have what I call the 'goo-goo' syndrome - good government. They want everybody to vote. I don't want everybody to vote... As a matter of fact, our leverage in the elections quite candidly goes up as the voting populace goes down."

The nonpartisan Brennan Center at NYU has done a recent comprehensive study of voting suppression. Readers can learn for themselves about the role of the political parties in facilitating voting or in preventing voting.


When I say that Republicans don't want a lot of people to vote, I am recalling what Republicans have opposed policies that extend the franchise (such as their opposition to the 2006 extention of the Voting Rights Act).


Republicans have supported policies that create significant barriers for voters (such as Indiana Voter ID Act, both and other [bipartisan] legislation passed here in N.M. that limits voter registration drives.)


Republicans have failed to enforce laws that protect voters' rights.

From 2001 to 2006, no voting discrimination cases were brought on behalf of African American or Native American voters. U.S. attorneys were told instead to give priority to voter fraud cases, which, when coupled with the strong support for voter ID laws, indicated an intent to depress voter turnout in minority and poor communities.



Republicans have used practices that encumber the right to vote and unnecessarily involve the federal courts in protecting voters.

THE PUBLIC AFFAIRS TEAM

State of the City Address

For those of you who missed Mayor Chavez's State of the City Address last night, here it is:



And, David Alire Garcia had the chance to ask a few questions of the Mayor in the minutes after the speech. Watch for yourself:



The Public Affairs Team

Episode 220 - Honoring our Veterans

Veterans Day is a chance to honor the men and women who served in the U.S. Armed Forces. And this year is especially significant, when you consider this Tuesday marks 80 yaers since the signing of the armistice that ended hostilities between Germany and the Allied Nations at the end of World War I.

We wanted to make sure we took time on this week's show to honor our Veterans in some small way. The main message came through loud and clear from our conversation; we must all pitch in to make sure our Veterans get the care they need when they return from battle. You can find out much more about how you can help out, by checking the state's Department of Veteran Services website. For a national perspective, try the Armed Forces Veterans Homes Foundation.

One thing you can definitely do to help out is to pay a visit to the Veteran's Art show, on display this month out at EXPO New Mexico. We showed you some of the pieces in this week's episode, but there are so many other great works on display as well. And, the art show is the group's only fundraiser of the year. There are several works up for silent auction, so make sure you get out there and see all that hard work on display while you can! And, while you're at it, be sure to follow the efforts of the new UNM Veterans Association. They are doing a lot of great work for the growing number of college students that also happen to be military vets.

And, of course, Veterans Day is also a poignant reminder of the men and women still serving this country at home and abroad as we speak. I have to imagine the holidays are an especially hard time of year on those military members and their families. If you want to find out more about what you can do to help those families, check out the Rio Grande Valley Chapter of the Blue Star Moms.

Also on this week's show, we focused in on renewed efforts to curb the city and state's growing gang problem. The numbers are staggering: more than 13,000 known gang members statewide, nearly half of which live here in the Albuquerque Metro area. A recent UNM study also found that more than 74-percent of Law Enforcement officials believe the gang problem is getting worse, not better.

The state does have a gang task force that is constantly working to track the problem, and offer solutions. And now the West Side Coalition of Neighborhoods is getting in on the act. You can track their progress online over the coming months, as they work to create a legislative package ahead of next year's session.

If you missed any or all of this week's episode, not to worry! You can watch it by clicking play on the player below!



Let us know what you think about any of the topics we discussed this week! It's as easy as leaving a comment, or shooting us an email at infocus@knme.org.

As always, thanks for watching!

The KNME Public Affairs Team

More election reflections

LINE panelist Margaret Montoya wanted us to pass this along to all of our viewers. Enjoy!

During the last week’s episode of “The Line” I was asked to comment on the Obama victory. Here’s an expanded version of what I said together with some short vignettes from the law students in the Jurisprudence seminar I am teaching this semester at the UNM Law School.

On May 1, 2006, over a million Latinas and Latinos joined others in demonstrations in large and small cities around the nation. They were protesting both the draconian immigration policies being contemplated by the Bush administration and the nativist rhetoric being deployed by the Republican leadership aided by Lou Dobbs, Rush Limbaugh, and others in the media. The signs read, “Nuestro voto es nuestra voz” and “Hoy marchamos, mañana votamos,” promising that the marchers would continue their protests into the voting booth. However, in past elections Latino voter turnout has been relatively low (in 2004, it was about 20 percentage points lower than for whites).

Moreover, it was openly being suggested that Latinos would refuse to back Obama because of his race. During the Democratic primary campaign Hilary Clinton’s pollster Sergio Bendixen was quoted in The New Yorker as saying that, “the Hispanic voter -- and I want to say this very carefully -- has not shown a lot of willingness or affinity to support black candidates." Whether Latinos would support the candidacy of Barack Obama became one of the memes in the reporting. Of course, this supposed reticence on the part of Latinos became even more notorious when Fernando C de Baca, the chair of the N.M. Republican Party, explained to the BBC that Hispanics wouldn’t vote for Obama because “Hispanics came here as conquerors. African-Americans came here as slaves. ... Hispanics consider themselves above blacks.”

As all of this nonsense circulated in the press, I was aware of an impassioned mobilization by young Latinos/as around me—my two daughters, Diana, 26 and Alejandra, 20, many law students and those on UNM’s main campus were contributing their time and, even, their scarce dollars over many months to the Obama campaign.

Election night found me at the KUNM studios doing the radio commentary on the election. As the returns came in, I held my breath. The crucial states began to fall into his column, for me, from my vantage point, the most crucial were the states with large Latino populations. LULAC would later report that Latino turnout increased by an astonishing 44% over 2004 levels. Latinos provided unprecedented support in Indiana, Virginia, Florida, New Mexico, Colorado, and Nevada.

Barack Obama’s inspirational chant “yes, we can” was borrowed from the struggles of the United Farm Workers; “sí, se puede” was Dolores Huerta’s brainstorm during the 1972 fast by Cesar Chavez, one of the lowest moments in the farmworkers’ fight for unionization.

Linking the activism of the Latino community with that of African Americans, Jesse Jackson once said that “sí, se puede” translates as “we shall overcome.” My favorite line in that Black anthem is” Oh, deep in my heart, I do believe that we shall overcome.” Those words, “deep in my heart,” contain the core of what I felt the evening of November 4, 2008. Many in my generation—people of many different backgrounds--hid our hopes about racial justice deep in our hearts. A racially egalitarian society seemed so elusive and illusory that, even though I worked for that eventuality, I hid away in the repository of my heart the idea that change might be imminent. On November 4th, Barach Obama’s victory vindicated old hopes and planted the seeds of new possibilities.


Hear some young voices reflect on election day:

Angela Chavez:
Election Day 2008

I didn't have to go outside of the library of Harrison Middle School to know that it was a cold Fall day in the South Valley. Yellow and orange leaves blew through the door announcing each voter.

Some of the voters were viejitas with carefully applied lipstick. Before voting, they unwrapped their scarves to reveal that their hair was still perfectly curled despite the wind that you could hear through the windows. The viejitos came too. One man with brittle silver hair carried a thermos in his calloused hand and wore a black and blue flannel jacket. I imagined that the thermos was full of coffee and that he was on his way to work, or maybe to rake up the leaves that were piling up in his yard. The familiar smell of Vicks mentholato followed him out the door.

Many of the voters were young moms. They carried babies wrapped in soft blankets. Tiny red noses peaked out of the blankets, reminding me of the cold. The older kids wore puffy jackets and resembled waddling marshmallows with arms and tiny gloved hands.

An older mother came in with her teenaged daughter. Her daughter was wearing a polo shirt from a local restaurant. Her smile revealed sparkly braces and dimples framed by rosy cheeks. The young girl was so excited to vote that she didn't seem to care about the stain on her uniform. The mother was proud to announce "It's my daughter's first time."

My eyes felt warm and I had chills because I was trying to hold back tears. My tears were prompted by pride and hope. I was proud to see that the cold did not keep people from voting. The continuous stream of female members of my own generation gave me a strong sense of solidarity. I felt like a member of strong brigade armed with the power to vote. Each vote cast by my sisters in arms was a vote for our future, a future that we would all share regardless of which political party prevailed. I felt like my generation recognized and accepted our responsibility to look forward and act now. My hope came from the realization that our collective voice was growing and that in this election, the voice calling for change and better tomorrow was going to be too loud to be ignored any longer. This was going to be the election that defined our generation. By voting, we chose to define ourselves rather than allowing ourselves to be defined.


Laura Vega
Election memories
I was driving to Autozone with my Mom passing the early voting location on the Westside, off of 98th Street, when we decided to vote. My Mom said “vamos a votar, mija?” I replied “vamos, ma.” The voting location was in an empty shopping center store, the walls remained unpainted and the floor was simply grey concrete. Most of the voters were over 55 years, mostly “gente” from the neighborhood who, for many was the first time they even imagined that a Black man would be on the ballot. We waited patiently in the makeshift waiting area until our names were called. One woman, shouted to another how nice she looked, she replied that she was dressed in her Sunday best. Although, the nicely dressed older woman did not make it explicit, in my mind she was dressed in her Sunday best because the mere ballot deserved it, we all needed to present our best to win the election.
My Mom wasn’t wearing her glasses and couldn’t see the ballot, so she asked for my help like when I was a child behind the black cloth standing on my toes so that I could see. When Mom did not know whom to vote for she would ask for my help. Using my young great wisdom we often voted for the candidate who had a Latino last name; if that failed, we voted for the Democrats. This election I helped Mom fill out the bubbles and explained why I thought one candidate was better than the other, but the one bubble that she did not struggle filling in was the one for president and vice-president. She happily managed to fill that bubble out perfectly. After we finished, we scanned our ballots and we proudly wore our “I voted” sticker.
I want to share another story about a football game where I saw the fear my mom had when I told a group of white men who were supporting McCain whom I was voting for. The Saturday before the election I took Mom to her first football game ever! We saw the Lobos courtesy of Robles, Rael and Anaya, and the seats were close to the field and the weather was perfect. When we entered a woman gave us Obama stickers, we wore them proudly. Unfortunately, our seats were surrounded by a folks from a company outing, most of whom had consumed too much of the Crown cocoa and were McCain supporters. As we were leaving, one of the men who saw our stickers said “Obama huh?” I replied, “You know it, he’s our next president!” As soon as we passed the bleachers my mom asked why I told them Obama is going to be our president. She sounded worried and almost frightened. I said because it’s true and my constitutional right to do so! She was not convinced and warned that I had to be careful because “uno nunca sabe quienes son.”
How could she be worried about our safety in such a public place? How could she be silenced? I saw the silence that she has been forced to sustain. My heart broke because I finally understood what this election meant to people of color like my family. We no longer had to be silent or fearful. WE is the operative word. We are powerful because of the sacrifices of generations past, we stand on their shoulders to have the power we do today. I will stand for those who are fearful, silent and perhaps even ashamed of what they believe. The days for silence have long passed. Our power is illustrated by President-elect Barack Obama, but we must continue the fight as long as silence and fear remain.

Javier Martinez:
I witnessed several stories on election day. Perhaps one of the most striking stories, however, came towards the end of the day. We were out canvassing at about 6:40, or about 20 minutes before the polls closed.
We were on an emergency canvass, because according to campaign numbers, the Republican turnout had been higher than expected. We were given a walklist of the people whose homes had been visited earlier in the day but who had not answered the door, probably because they were not at home.
By that point, we had been canvassing for over 9 hours, and I was physically tired and my mind was very hazy. The area where we were canvassing (along Old Coors and Central) was dark (there was a lack of street lights) and the temperature was turning cold.
As I walked towards one of the houses on my list (I had to use the light from my cell phone in order to read the house numbers - the streets were dark!!), I was thinking about what I was going to tell the voter. "Have you voted yet? Did you support Barack Obama? Can I answer any questions?" - The usual presentation...However, upon knocking on the door, and upon reciting the script, I was met with an eye of suspicion by a man in a "wifebeater” t-shirt and shorts, who patiently awaited for me to finish my speech. In the background I heard small children laughing, and what appeared to be a baby crying. From the house came the smell of "frijoles de la olla," and something that smelled very, very spicy (I sneezed a couple of times).
Finally the man, after a short and rather ackward silence, pointed towards the large Obama button I was wearing, and gave me a thumbs up. Recognizing that my tired and hazy state of mind had led me to assume that my campaign presentation in English would suffice, I quickly recovered and delivered my presentation again, this time in Spanish. The man, this time with a smile on his face, interrupted me halfway through and said "Ya votamos! Votamos por El Obama! Oye, y tu hablas espanol? Por ahi hubieras empezado!"
I replied to the man that indeed I spoke Spanish, and that although I had lived here for most of my life, my language is something that I cherish dearly. He again smiled, patted me on the back and said: "Que bien! Y que bueno que estes haciendo este trabajo. Necesitamos que gane Obama.” I thanked the man for his time, and as I made my way back towards his front gate, he peeked his head out the door and screamed: "Vamos a ganar! No te preocupes! “
This story, which came at the end of the election, was a testament to the absurdity that Latinos would not vote for an African American candidate. It was also a testament to the power of a new silent majority - those people who immigrated to this country not so long ago, and who are now making their voices heard.
On November 4th, many of those voices were heard - and those voices, by an overwhelming majority, called for CHANGE.
Al Hutchinson

Election day has finally arrived. I can’t believe it! After listening to Barack’s opponents rebuke him for over a year, he has made it to the finale. Think about it. They called him every name in the book, even if they didn’t show it on TV. They questioned his patriotism, ideology and even his race. Once they attacked his religion and the actions of his church, I knew White America was still so far out of touch with African Americans.
All that’s behind us for now, we’ve made it to the morning of election day! November 4th has arrived! It’s time for me to go pick up my assigned partner for Election Protection. She has come all the way from Oregon to help protect voting rights. How cool. Maybe she is from here and is doing it so she can spend some time with her family. Who cares? After the last two elections and the flagrant tampering that occurred, let’s go make sure it does not happen this time. That is the only way Obama could lose, so I’m sure they will be out there again.
Nicole Bernhard-Lee, my partner, is a very nice middle-aged white woman who flew in last night. She treated me to dinner and explained how she is a law school graduate working as a clerk. She is originally from Idaho but is now living in Oregon. Come to find out, she has no family in town. During the ’04 election, she worked with Election Protection out of Philadelphia and felt she had made a difference so decided to do it again this go round.
Since we have four polling locations to rotate through throughout the day, we setup a nice rotation schedule and decide to check them all quickly in the morning to be sure they are all open. They are! Each location has three to four districts and a judge for each district. Although the Democratic Party has a challenger for each district, the Republicans could only muster one challenger per polling location. The Democratic Party also has poll watchers outside each location. One location has a middle-aged white man from Los Angeles. Imagine my surprise when I found out the three other locations have varying aged white men from Texas. All lawyers too. Wow!
To our surprise, none of the locations have lines at 7am. Nicole and I begin our rotation amongst our four locations spending about an hour at each one. Election Protection provided us with a surplus of snacks so we could give some to others working the polls. Everything is running so smoothly. Too smoothly. The only “incident” we have all day is the Republican challenger at one location requires the outdoor Democratic poll watcher to stay 100ft away instead of 50ft, even though he is not promoting his party. Not a single line forms throughout the day as approximately 60% of voters at all our locations voted early. Way to go, Barack!
One location had a young woman doing exit polls. I had never met an exit poller before. Riti Sachdeva is a Graduate Student at the UNM Department for Theatre and Dance. She gets as many people as possible to fill out the form. I just want to know who comes up with those crazy questions? No wonder they are so out of touch. Riti has to check in every three hours and report her results.
While outside at another location, a young couple pulled up in a car asking for locations that have long lines. To our surprise, Barack had organized ‘street teams’ to entertain the masses as they stood in line waiting to vote. Their back seat was full of juggling devices and what looked like magic tricks. Nicole called our district lead to find out where the long lines were and he reported there were none. The couple decided to roam the streets to find a location with someone to entertain.
Nicole and I were able to check a TV for results over lunch around 2pm but nothing. We did hear about long lines and rain on the East Coast. There were also problems with machines in Ohio and Pennsylvania. Up to their old tricks again, huh? It might work but we’re keeping our fingers crossed. “Please don’t let them steal another one!”
Sometime after 4pm my sister Etanah in NJ started calling with results. NH for Obama. SC for McCain. NJ for Obama. KY for McCain. Back and forth it went with every victory for Obama resulting in yelling and screaming from Nicole and me. Just before 7pm, Brandon Cummings met us at our last location before the polls closed. He had spent some time canvassing with Javier Martinez earlier in the day. The polls close and Obama has racked up a slew of nice victories; PA, MA, VT, DC. We agree that we can’t trust those results because they are only projections and something could still go wrong. Nicole is beat so we take her to the hotel, and Brandon and I go downtown to the Convention Center to finish watching the results.
There are hundreds of people all over the place as we approach and enter the Center. They are all smiling, screaming and excited that it could be true. Barack could really win this thing. In one of the large convention rooms on the second floor, they set up free hors d'oeuvres, four cash bars and four humongous big-screen TVs. Everyone is fired up! More results keep coming in and each win by Obama yields a glorious roar from the ever-increasing crowd.
The next roar is a crescendo that ends with the walls shaking. Everyone is on their feet screaming at the top of our lungs. The election is called for Barack! HE WON! The room was silent during his speech except for the occasional cheer. What power he has. Power to speak. Power to organize. Power to unite.
Although a very emotional person, I absorbed this day intellectually. It is more than great that an African American has been elected President of the United States. This is the land of opportunity, right? What I think is amazing is that he figured out how to do it in spite of the system. He was able to reach the goodness inside each of us. The goodness that allows us to see through color. The goodness that forces us to support one another for a common cause. The goodness that all people aspire to show their fellow man, at all times. What a day I have witnessed this election day.
Please don’t let it end.

Recovering from an Election Night Hangover

I think our entire station has been in full-on recovery mode since last Tuesday. The weight of all those month of election preps just got to be too much to bear! Not that it wasn't plenty exciting, because it was that and more. Still, I think there are a lot of leftover questions this state and nation face, one week after Barack Obama's historic win. Here are just a few that come to my mind:

*What will President Elect Obama's immediate agenda be, and will that agenda include any prominent New Mexico politicians?

*If Governor Richardson leaves for a post in an Obama cabinet, will that be good or bad for the state overall?

*What will the Republican party do to regroup and reorganize after this huge trouncing?

*How will that Dem. trouncing affect the Roundhouse come next year's session?

*Is it time to put an end to straight party ballot voting?

*Do Heather Wilson and Steve Pearce regret both entering the U.S. Senate race, thereby putting their relatively safe House seats in jeopardy (both of which went to Dems)?

*Is single party domination really a good thing for New Mexico's congressional delegation?

Just a few issues I know we will all be watching and talking about for months to come! Let us know what you think are some other lingering questions after the election. Either leave us a comment here, or email us at infocus@knme.org.

For those of you who missed last week's show, not to worry, it's available with just the click of a mouse!



The Public Affairs Team

Election Day - Update

Everything seems to be going well still, at least for the most part. I just got off the phone for the 2nd of two conference calls with Common Cause New Mexico, which is tracking election issues today. They say for the most part things are still going smoothly, with 2 exceptions:

1) There have been at least 5 reports in Roswell of people getting calls at home telling them election day has been moved to November 8th because of the overwhelming interest in this election. An investigation is underway, but as of right now they don't know who is behind the calls.

2) There were problems with absentee ballots in Dona Ana County. Apparently some of them went out late, which means people won't be able to get them returned in time. If you fall into that category, the advice is to head to a polling place right now before they close at 7pm, and someone should be able to help you out there.

Be sure to watch newmexicoinfocus.org starting at 7pm for live local analysis and coverage of the election!

Election Day - So far, so good!

I just got done with a conference call hosted in part by Common Cause New Mexico, which is tracking election problems today. And at least so far, the news is good.

The group's election day deployment is big... they have people in 8 different counties, watching the polls. That includes the big population centers like Albuquerque, Santa Fe and Las Cruces, as well as counties with a history of election problems such as Cibloa County and Rio Arriba County. Team members are wearing black shirts or green vests and offering help and information wherever they can. Some of the volunteers are actually inside the polling places, and others are right outside handling out pamphlets like the voters bill of rights.

There have been some minor reports of problems today, with the biggest potential problem coming out of Grants Middle School. Common Cause is verifying claims there that poll workers were requiring all voters to show ID. That's against state law here in New Mexico. Only first time voters have to show ID here in the Land of Enchantment. The only other problems have been a few reports of optical scanners breaking, but crews are working on them and returning them to service rather quickly.

A reminder if you have any election concerns to call 1-866-OUR-VOTE immediately!

Also, I just got some exciting news. New Mexican Christine Begay is covering the election tonight as part of MTV's Choose or Lose campaign. You can keep track of her coverage tonight on the Choose or Lose Twitter. She also has a blog that she will be updating throughout the night. And don't forget, our citizen journalists will also be blogging throughout the night, and you can follow their observations and analysis here.

And, while I have your attention: for those of you who may have missed last week's show, by the way, here's the full episode.