Tuesday, January 30, 2007

Back to School!

School is on!

I may be sparse or off topic in my postings, but I am around.

These blogs will get more postings during school;
http://resistancetraining.wordpress.com/
http://flux64.wordpress.com/


http://www.johntaylorgatto.com/index.htm

http://www.thememoryhole.org/edu/school-mission.htm

It’s no secret that the US educational system doesn’t do a very good job. Like clockwork, studies show that America’s schoolkids lag behind their peers in pretty much every industrialized nation. We hear shocking statistics about the percentage of high-school seniors who can’t find the US on an unmarked map of the world or who don’t know who Abraham Lincoln was.

Fingers are pointed at various aspects of the schooling system—overcrowded classrooms, lack of funding, teachers who can’t pass competency exams in their fields, etc. But these are just secondary problems. Even if they were cleared up, schools would still suck. Why? Because they were designed to.

How can I make such a bold statement? How do I know why America’s public school system was designed the way it was (age-segregated, six to eight 50-minute classes in a row announced by Pavlovian bells, emphasis on rote memorization, lorded over by unquestionable authority figures, etc.)? Because the men who designed, funded, and implemented America’s formal educational system in the late 1800s and early 1900s wrote about what they were doing.

Almost all of these books, articles, and reports are out of print and hard to obtain. Luckily for us, John Taylor Gatto tracked them down. Gatto was voted the New York City Teacher of the Year three times and the New York State Teacher of the Year in 1991. But he became disillusioned with schools—the way they enforce conformity, the way they kill the natural creativity, inquisitiveness, and love of learning that every little child has at the beginning. So he began to dig into terra incognita, the roots of America’s educational system.

In 1888, the Senate Committee on Education was getting jittery about the localized, non-standardized, non-mandatory form of education that was actually teaching children to read at advanced levels, to comprehend history, and, egads, to think for themselves. The committee’s report stated, “We believe that education is one of the principal causes of discontent of late years manifesting itself among the laboring classes.”

By the turn of the century, America’s new educrats were pushing a new form of schooling with a new mission (and it wasn’t to teach). The famous philosopher and educator John Dewey wrote in 1897:

Every teacher should realize he is a social servant set apart for the maintenance of the proper social order and the securing of the right social growth.

In his 1905 dissertation for Columbia Teachers College, Elwood Cubberly—the future Dean of Education at Stanford—wrote that schools should be factories “in which raw products, children, are to be shaped and formed into finished products…manufactured like nails, and the specifications for manufacturing will come from government and industry.”

The next year, the Rockefeller Education Board—which funded the creation of numerous public schools—issued a statement which read in part:

In our dreams…people yield themselves with perfect docility to our molding hands. The present educational conventions [intellectual and character education] fade from our minds, and unhampered by tradition we work our own good will upon a grateful and responsive folk. We shall not try to make these people or any of their children into philosophers or men of learning or men of science. We have not to raise up from among them authors, educators, poets or men of letters. We shall not search for embryo great artists, painters, musicians, nor lawyers, doctors, preachers, politicians, statesmen, of whom we have ample supply. The task we set before ourselves is very simple…we will organize children…and teach them to do in a perfect way the things their fathers and mothers are doing in an imperfect way.

At the same time, William Torrey Harris, US Commissioner of Education from 1889 to 1906, wrote:

Ninety-nine [students] out of a hundred are automata, careful to walk in prescribed paths, careful to follow the prescribed custom. This is not an accident but the result of substantial education, which, scientifically defined, is the subsumption of the individual.

In that same book, The Philosophy of Education, Harris also revealed:

The great purpose of school can be realized better in dark, airless, ugly places…. It is to master the physical self, to transcend the beauty of nature. School should develop the power to withdraw from the external world.

Several years later, President Woodrow Wilson would echo these sentiments in a speech to businessmen:

We want one class to have a liberal education. We want another class, a very much larger class of necessity, to forego the privilege of a liberal education and fit themselves to perform specific difficult manual tasks.

Writes Gatto: “Another major architect of standardized testing, H.H. Goddard, said in his book Human Efficiency (1920) that government schooling was about ‘the perfect organization of the hive.’”

While President of Harvard from 1933 to 1953, James Bryant Conant wrote that the change to a forced, rigid, potential-destroying educational system had been demanded by “certain industrialists and the innovative who were altering the nature of the industrial process.”

In other words, the captains of industry and government explicitly wanted an educational system that would maintain social order by teaching us just enough to get by but not enough so that we could think for ourselves, question the sociopolitical order, or communicate articulately. We were to become good worker-drones, with a razor-thin slice of the population—mainly the children of the captains of industry and government—to rise to the level where they could continue running things.

This was the openly admitted blueprint for the public schooling system, a blueprint which remains unchanged to this day. Although the true reasons behind it aren’t often publicly expressed, they’re apparently still known within education circles. Clinical psychologist Bruce E. Levine wrote in 2001:

I once consulted with a teacher of an extremely bright eight-year-old boy labeled with oppositional defiant disorder. I suggested that perhaps the boy didn’t have a disease, but was just bored. His teacher, a pleasant woman, agreed with me. However, she added, “They told us at the state conference that our job is to get them ready for the work world…that the children have to get used to not being stimulated all the time or they will lose their jobs in the real world.”

Monday, January 29, 2007

New Mexico Resolution Hits CNN and The Nation

Impeachment: The Order of Peace
New Mexico Resolution Hits CNN and The Nation
by Leland Lehrman


CNN's Jack Cafferty picked up the New Mexico Impeachment Press Conference and gave a balanced summary and analysis of the situation. John Nichols of The Nation reported on the subject; here are the relevant excerpts:

"Prior to CNN personality Wolf Blitzer's testy-if-not-particularly substantive interview with the vice president..., the network's resident rabble rouser, commentator Jack Cafferty, presented a reasonably favorable feature on a move by New Mexico state Senators Jerry Ortiz y Pino, D-Albuquerque, and John Grubesic, D-Santa Fe, to get that state's legislature to petition Congress to impeach both Cheney and Bush. The New Mexico impeachment initiative, one of several currently moving forward in state legislatures around the country, is designed to force members of Congress to take seriously the increasingly-popular demand that the president and vice president be held to account for misleading Congress over the Iraq war, supporting torture, engaging in illegal spying on U.S. citizens and using their offices to punish critics. "I am an American citizen that believes that the Constitution is a sacred document and that the Bush administration clearly does not share this sentiment," explains Grubesic, while Ortiz y Pino says, "We're simply doing what all elected officials should be doing. That is, listening to the voice of the people and trying to carry it out as best we can."

"Most of the media and the political class has been inclined to neglect -- or in some cases ridicule -- efforts by state legislators to move the impeachment process along. But U.S. Rep. Tom Udall, a Democrat who represents much of New Mexico, expressed respect for the initiative. "These legislators speak for many of my constituents," explains Udall, who says he plans to talk with supporters of the impeachment resolution and closely monitor its progress.

Cafferty was similarly respectful. "[Although] House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has said impeachment is quote, 'off the table' not everybody is so sure about that," explained Cafferty. "Two New Mexico state senators have introduced a resolution calling on Congress to impeach President Bush and Vice President Cheney. The measure accuses Mr. Bush and Cheney of misleading Congress about the war in Iraq, torturing prisoners and violating Americans' civil liberties through the domestic spy program. One of the sponsors told a crowd of supporters 'We created a ripple. Your voice is going to turn it into a tidal wave hopefully.' Well the way it works is that a state of course, cannot mandate impeachment of a president but the impeachment charges can be forwarded to the House of Representatives. The newspaper in Santa Fe, 'The New Mexican' reports the measure already is running into trouble even though Democrats control both chambers of the state legislature, and that's because no Republicans support it. Senate leaders have assigned it to three different committee hearings, meaning that there are more chances to kill the measure before it ever makes it to a vote. But the fact that the issue of impeaching a sitting president is being discussed seriously in a state legislature like New Mexico's speaks volumes."

I spoke with Senator Linda Lopez, the Chair of Rules about the date of the Committee Hearing at which Citizens may speak to the Senators on the topic. Linda has already signed the resolution, so thank her for that when you call. Since the Rules Committee lacks a Democratic member - until the Governor appoints a replacement for Navajo Senator Leonard Tsosie hopefully today or tomorrow - Senator Lopez indicated that the hearing will be next week. She noted the many supportive phone calls and was entirely understanding. You can speak with Senator Lopez or her Committee Secretary Laine or her analyst Matt Baca by calling the Capitol Switchboard at (505) 986-4300 and asking for Senator Linda Lopez.

We are still looking for a House Sponsor, so keep calls into your Representatives, and ask them to sponsor or sign. We may have a sponsor, but the negotiations are ongoing and sensitive so I can't discuss it further at this point. Two representatives have said they would sign the bill, but we still need a sponsor to carry it in committee and on the floor. If your Representative might do that, please call them immediately and ask them to do so.

Although it is essential for both Executives to be impeached, a recent discussion with David Swanson of afterdowningstreet.org reveals that although we may get them both removed from office, it is unlikely that Nancy Pelosi would be the next President, despite what some think. The more likely scenario is that the Vice-President resigns, the President appoints a new vice-president, the President is impeached and convicted and then the appointed Vice-President becomes President. In other words, this is not about picking a President, it's about high crimes and misdemeanors and the necessity of removal from office for those who subvert the Constitution and break the law.

Legal counsel has advised me to be specific about how to financially support the impeachment process for tax purposes. If you wish to financially support the New Mexico impeachment, the best way to do that is to either support this newsletter directly with an advertisement or supportive contribution, or to advertise in the Sun News, our print partner. You can use the paypal link below for credit cards, or send a check to Leland Lehrman, 163 Old Lamy Trail, Lamy, NM 87540. Politics takes time, and we need to make sure the home fires keep burning.

Monday, January 22, 2007

Senators Put Impeachment Back on The Table ~<{( ¡23rd! )}>~


Call Press Conference for Tuesday January 23rd at 1PM in the New Mexico Capitol Building
by Leland Lehrman - leland.lehrman@gmail.com

[Press Conference, Lobbying and Support information at bottom.]

Two opposing viewpoints are commonly cited when proposing the impeachment of President Bush and Vice-President Cheney. The most often heard is that impeachment is unrealistic or tactically inferior to some other approach to ending the immoral “War on Terror” and its domestic police state apparatus. The other, inherently opposing viewpoint, is based on the false assumption that the United States was attacked on 9/11 by a skilled “Islamofascist” enemy and is therefore “at war” and thus “all is fair.” However, the evidence regarding 9/11 indicates that it was largely an inside job by traitorous elements of the US and global elite facilitated by bin Laden’s band of delusional punks who had just the right amount of criminality to be useful to the architects of global domination.f

When on Tuesday, January 23rd at 1pm in the Capitol Rotunda, Senators Gerald Ortiz y Pino of Albuquerque and John Grubesic of Santa Fe publicly introduce their resolution to impeach President George Bush and Richard Cheney, Americans will find themselves reminded that politics is an inherently moral and principled occupation when practised by those who have not succumbed to the dodge, feint and raise money mindset that passes for politics in these times.

Coincidentally, the groundbreaking documentary, “Terrorstorm” by internationally famous director Alex Jones will debut in Santa Fe on Jan. 23rd at 7:45 pm at the Santa Fe Film Center. This film is all the proof you will ever need that governments do in fact attack their own people to create pretexts for war and the police state.

Politics is an inherently spiritual endeavor, because perhaps more than any other occupation, it represents the direct effort of an individual to express a worldview within his or her community. Although the separation of Church and State remains an essential protection for the citizenry, it is still necessary for the body politic to express itself morally rather than tactically, self-interestedly or not at all.

The impeachment resolution cites two specific violations of the Constitution perpetrated by the Executive Branch: ordering torture in contravention of international treaties which are the supreme law of the land under Article Six and ordering illegal detentions without access to a habeas corpus petition which violates the sixth amendment. Anyone who has read the news even in passing these days will know that these charges are true. The only defense the President can mount against them is that we are at war. However this “War on Terror” was created and is prosecuted under false pretense as hundreds of intelligence, political, military and scholarly witnesses have proved over and again for example in the pages of the excellent website patriotsquestion911.com .

Word has it that Senators Ortiz y Pino and Grubesic have both been overwhelmed with supportive letters and phone calls. Why am I not surprised? Although Congressional Democrats claim that impeachment is off the table, they should be on alert; for their unwillingness to listen to the American people will result in their subsequent impeachment as well.

Just look at one of the abominations the Federal Democratic leadership muscled through in their first one hundred hours. Called the “Implementing the 9/11 Commission Recommendations Act,” HR 1 legislates the following police state provisions: “…The creation of Homeland Security identity checkpoints on America’s roads and highways. Mandatory biometric iris and finger scanning systems at all American airports and seaports. The creation of a national I.D. card. The expansion of “no-fly” and “watch” lists. The implementation of special screening for all airline passengers, which paves the way for invasive body scanners. The federal takeover of publicly owned communications networks and increased government surveillance of Americans’ financial records and activities.” As Robert Jones, the astute hemp advocate from Las Vegas, NM observed, “With friends like these, who needs enemies?” Fortunately in New Mexico, the Democratic Leadership of both the Senate and House, Senator Michael Sanchez and Representative Ken Martinez have sponsored a beautiful Joint Memorial opposing the creation of a national ID card and refusing to pass legislation or appropriate money for such a purpose. Take a look at that beautiful Memorial here:

http://mothermedia.org/norealid.pdf

The impeachment of the President and Vice-President are but chess moves in a much larger game which involves disempowering the transnational financier and corporate elite with their Central Bank temple-fortresses and their media conglomerates. Both parties are largely beholden to this malicious octopus, and just as the Democratic victory in the 2006 elections was but an optimistic note in a much larger symphony, so the impeachment is just the beginning of an international policy to put on notice international warmongers and societal predators. This effort is necessary for the preservation of the health and liberty of the American people as well as Mother Earth herself. Please join us and come to the Press Conference at the introduction of the Impeachment Resolution on January 23rd, at 1pm in the Rotunda of the State Capitol Building. If you cannot make the press conference but would like to support the effort, please call Leland Lehrman at (505) 982-3609 or email leland.lehrman@gmail.com

More info on Terrorstorm: www.infowars.com
More on the Santa Fe Film Center: www.santafefilmfestival.com/Information ph: 988-5225

Press Conference and Lobbying Information

We will be having a press conference at the introduction of the Impeachment Resolution in Santa Fe in the Rotunda of the Roundhouse (Capitol Building) on Tuesday, January 23rd. We want you all to be there, and those inclined, to speak. I am especially interested in having people from other counties than Bernalillo and Santa Fe come to speak, as SF and Bernalillo are well-represented at this time. However, if you have a burning urge to speak and are from SF or ABQ, please let me know.

We will begin at 12 Noon, Jan. 23 with an hour of lobbying Senators - I will help folks find their legislators, especially Senators. We will meet on the ground floor of the Roundhouse near the Information booth at the East Entrance. At 1PM the press conference begins. Please let friends and family know by email and phone and bring them if you can. There will be press and probably television and we will all have fun, do the right thing and make history.

Senators Ortiz y Pino and Grubesic have been deluged by positive calls, emails, and press contacts already and are very excited to be part of such a groundswell "people's bill." Our first major hurdle will be to get it out of Rules Committee with five votes. That means we have to concentrate on all five Democratic Senators on Rules, priority Senators have stars:

**Sen. Linda Lopez, Chair - sympathetic and a friend: 986-4737
**Senator Cisco McSorley (who is Chair of Judiciary and the Second Committee Hearing): 986-4485
*Senator Dede Feldman - sympathetic and a friend: 986-4482
Sen. John Grubesic is Vice Chair: 986-4265
Sen. Ortiz y Pino: 986-4380

If any of the top three Senators are in your district, please contact them, especially noting that you are in their district.

All phones are Capitol office phones. Contact info for all NM Legislators can be found at

http://legis.state.nm.us

The Republicans could follow Republican Rep. Ron Paul from Texas' lead and support it as well, but only call them if you are certain you can handle a difficult discussion politely and effectively. Ron Paul's endorsement of impeachment can be found here:

http://www.prisonplanet.com/articles/july2006/100706impeachbush.htm

Republican heavyweight Paul Craig Roberts endorsement of impeachment can be found here:

http://www.counterpunch.org/roberts09032005.html

Here is the full Rules Committee list as well as their room assignment and hearing days. Find Republican contact info here: http://legis.state.nm.us

RULES - Monday, Wednesday & Friday - 8:00 a.m. (Room 321)
Lopez, Linda M. - Chair (D)
Grubesic, John T.L. - Vice Chair (D)
Adair, Rod - Ranking Member (R)
McSorley, Cisco - (D)
Cravens, Kent L. - (R)
Duran, Dianna J. - (R)
Feldman, Dede - (D)
Komadina, Steve - (R)
Ortiz y Pino, Gerald - (D)

Friends, this is going to be an endurance contest as well as a fight. We will have to be balanced and pace ourselves. We will have to go through the House as well so will have to constantly fight to get our Resolution scheduled by Committee Chairs in order to get heard on the floor in both houses. This will take time at the Roundhouse and we will need to allocate as much of that as possible.

In order to be effective, we need to raise money in particular so that we can keep someone in the Roundhouse moving things along. If you can help me financially to that end, I will be most appreciative and will be able to take care of my family while we do the right thing politically.

If you are interested in contributing to this effort financially, you can send money via paypal to leland@33o.com or by check to

Leland Lehrman
163 Old Lamy Trail
Lamy, NM 87540

You can send money with your credit card using the paypal links on this page, just select the credit card option when asked your choice.

Please call if you have any problems or questions, and thanks for your efforts,

Leland Lehrman (505) 982-3609

Leland Lehrman can be reached at 982-3609 and leland.lehrman@gmail.com

More info on Mother's Arms: http://mothermedia.org/mothersarms.htm

Thursday, January 18, 2007

State of New Mexico ignores its citizens

Stay tuned to this story, I don't hve time at this very moment to elaborate, but since the big storm, the state of New Mexico has been ignoring many of it's citizens, who are in danger for one reason or other.

For an earlier example, see the comment in an earlier post of mine . . . http://riogrande-santafe.blogspot.com/2006/12/storm-blankets-new-mexico.html

Today, a few weeks latter and a few promises, by the State, latter, I am headed up Rowe Mesa to help out a friend, whos plumbing is freezing and needs fire wood amongh other things. The State has said a number of times, that they will be plowing hwy 34, ever since 3 4X4 trucks and private county contracted grader and bulldozer got stuck for over 12 hours over night, a week or so ago on hwy 34. Needless to say, that road has been plowed maybe once or twice since. Hwy 34 is a State Hwy that the county needs to travel to clear county roads up on the Mesa. The county is into and trying to clear their roads but the State doesn't seem to give a fuck, must either be sheer laziness or some stupid masonic prank.

I will write more latter on how incompetent the state hwy department and State police acted the night everyone got stuck.

Tuesday, January 16, 2007

How a local food system builds health and community wealth

While not in my immediate bioregion, this article covers a topic which applies to mine and every bioregion. It is also descriptive of the southwest in general, so it hits pretty close to how things are here in my area.

Be sure to check out Gary Nabhan's other work.

Food to Stay

by Gary Nabhan
http://yesmagazine.org/article.asp?ID=1581

How a local food system builds health and community wealth

On farmers’ market Sundays in Flagstaff, Arizona, local growers may offer you heirloom chiles and tomatoes you can’t get anywhere else, apples from nearby orchards in Oak Creek Canyon, and verdolagas (purslane) from dry-farmed fields near Sunset Crater. When rains quench the thirst of drought-stricken forests, local foragers bring pinyon nuts, mushrooms, and wild horseradish. Livestock producers bring their Dominique hens, Black Spanish turkeys, pot-bellied pigs, or grass-fed beef. The air is as filled with the discussion of local political issues as it is with the aroma of family-recipe tamales, ­salsa, pesto, and hummus. A decade ago, none of this was readily available.

This market lies smack-dab in one of the most culturally diverse regions of North America, with more speakers of Native American languages than all the other regions of the United States combined, along with a strong Hispanic, ­Anglo, and Basque heritage. It also includes some of the poorest and most food-insecure counties in the West.

The Flagstaff market is now one of 10 in the region—the newest is the Navajo Nation’s market in Tuba City. Those markets, and a series of multicultural discussions facilitated by the Flagstaff-based Center for Sustainable Environments, led to creation of the Canyon Country Fresh Network. That, in turn, catalyzed a number of youth gardens on the Hopi and Navajo reservations, a ­network of outlets for local food, and huge growth in the amount of food money that stays in the local economy.

The dramatic shift in sourcing foods in Grand Canyon country is not unique. Similar shifts are occurring in many other rural and urban food systems as well. Over the last decade, the number of farmers’ markets in the United States has grown from 1,755 to over 3,700, while community-­supported agriculture projects, “Buy Fresh, Buy Local” campaigns, and community kitchens have also proliferated. Thanks to non-profits like Community Food Security Coalition and Food Routes, more Americans than ever before are thinking about where their food comes from and how far it travels.

Yet, despite the rapid growth of ­local food projects throughout North America, their contributions to wealth and health at the community level still fail to register with many conventional businesspeople and economic development officials. Perhaps this is because the annual growth in food sales for a corporation such as Wal-Mart is easy to measure. It’s harder to track the ­diffuse growth of the local foods movement—whose participating markets may collectively have a higher growth rate in the United States than Wal-Mart—where the majority of benefits do not flow back to a single, distant corporate headquarters.

Nevertheless, the generation of wealth and well-being by local and ­regional food initiatives is quantifiable, and directly benefits members of rural communities like those in Northern Arizona. Ironically, the other side of the coin is seldom considered by urban and rural planners: just how much is lost when farmers in a region export most of their foods into the global commodity market, while their own communities buy back many of the same foodstuffs through an international network of intermediaries. Not only is the food more costly to purchase, but it has diminished freshness, reduced ­nutritional quality, and a higher probability of carrying food-borne diseases.

Let’s consider the cost of farmers and ranchers not selling their meats, grains and produce locally, and not using ­local inputs to produce them. The master detectives solving this economic mystery have been Ken Meter of the Crossroads Center and Jon ­Rosales at the Institute of Social, Economic and Ecological Sustainability in Minnesota. They pioneered this topic in a classic series of studies of rural areas across the U.S. called “Finding Food in Farm Country.”

Meter recently did an analysis, commissioned by our Center for Sustainable Environments, of the multi-­cultural food system of northern Arizona. In particular, Ken studied how much food—especially meat—is produced in the Arizona counties of Coconino, Navajo, and Yavapai relative to what is eaten there.

Coconino County surrounds the Grand Canyon, and includes much of Western Navajo and Hopi lands. In 2002, its 213 ranches and farms sold $10.3 million in livestock and byproducts. In that year, county residents spent $37 million on meat, poultry, fish and eggs. Local consumers could absorb all the meat produced in the county if it were directly available to them. Yet, in 2002, they bought $53,000 of food
directly from their farming neighbors.

The way the food economy is now structured, the direct producer-­consumer connection does not exist—or is just developing. Coconino County ranchers and farmers currently lose $10 million each year selling the bulk of the food they produce into the national or globalized commodity marketplace. Eliminating the middlemen and selling locally would go a long way toward stopping those losses.

As county ranchers and farmers struggle with losses, county con­sumers spend $215 million a year buying food from the outside. As Ken has summarized, this is a total loss to the region of $231 million of potential wealth each year. This loss amounts to 14 times the value of all food commodities raised in the county—a giant sucking sound that drains both wealth and well-being from our communities.

On the brighter side, let’s look at what’s happened in Flagstaff and surrounding areas of northern Arizona since 2001, when a community farmers’ market and several related local food micro-enterprises opened their gates to put a stopper in the drain.
From 2001 to 2005, annual purchases of locally and regionally produced foods went from less than $20,000 to $250,000 in Flagstaff and from $85,000 to nearly $500,000 in the surrounding Northern Arizona region. This is a six- to eight-fold increase in direct economic benefits to the community resulting from local food purchases in the first five years of these initiatives.

But this money also generates multiplier effects within Northern Arizona, or what Richard McCarthy of the Crescent City Farmers’ Market calls “sticky money.” Money spent locally stays in the community rather than draining off to corporate headquarters in Phoenix or Los Angeles. In addition, McCarthy’s studies in New Orleans prior to Hurricane Katrina showed that downtown retailers near his market witnessed a 30–70 percent increase in sales on market days, gaining an ­additional $450,000 a year as a result of increased foot traffic.

Our informal surveys of Flagstaff’s downtown retailers, all of whom are open during Sunday market hours, indicate that they benefit substantially from market-directed foot traffic. The retailers’ direct benefits in Flagstaff are similar to those in New Orleans—downtown Flagstaff businesses gain approximately $54,000 annually just from the increased traffic during summer and fall when the Flagstaff Community Farmers’ Market is open.

Of course, not all of the economic and nutritional benefits of local food initiatives come directly from farmers’ markets. In Flagstaff, the farmers’ market served as a cornerstone that supported other bricks needed to build a healthy local food system.
Soon after the farmers’ market opened, chefs from restaurants such as The Turquoise Room at La Posada in Winslow, Arizona, became “early adopters” of ­local foods.
They were followed by a second wave of chefs, primarily caterers, who began to regularly purchase food from local farms, orchards and ranches. The Flagstaff Community ­Supported Agriculture Project also contracted with one of the farmers from the market, and has since added other vendors to supply weekly packages of regionally produced foods to 150-170 households.

From there, the local food initiatives grew even more diverse. The country’s first community-supported wild-­foraging project was started to supply 20 households, and still supplies caterers and restaurants with native and naturalized wild foods. Several ranchers began to market their locally produced meats in northern Arizona, and a new restaurant featuring grass-fed meats is set to open this winter.

More than a dozen new youth gardens in Flagstaff and on the Hopi and Navajo reservations have begun to produce food for local consumption. Their fall 2005 harvest celebrations fed between 1,800 and 2,400 people with fresh produce, and their fall 2006 Native Harvest conference at Moenave near Tuba City engaged more than 150 Navajo ranchers, gardeners, and farmers.

Over several years, the NAU Healing Gardens program, Nava-Tech, Indigenous Community Enterprises, New Dawn, and Native Youth Movement have galvanized various facets of local food work in Diné (Navajo) communities, while the Natwani Coalition has done the same in Hopi communities. Most recently, a Diné Farmers’ Association has decided to incorporate at Leupp, Arizona, building on the earlier successes of a project called Navajo Family Farms. That same community formed the first Native American-led “convivium” associated with Slow Food USA, and has featured blue corn and churro lamb dinners at its events.

The Canyon Country Fresh Network began as a means of promoting more purchase of locally produced foods in the region. It includes 27 restaurants, cafes, caterers, resorts, vineyard tasting rooms, groceries and gift shops. Each must pledge to purchase foods from three or more of the many local producers on a regular basis. Network members are located in Flagstaff, Sedona, Winslow, Prescott, Dewey, Mormon Lake, Cottonwood, and Chino Valley, Arizona; Boulder, Utah; and in Zion and Petrified Forest national parks.

A community kitchen program has been in the works for two years, and several school districts are working on food policies that favor ­local food purchases. All of these organizations, plus several ranchers’ groups such as Diablo Trust, have joined together for discussions sponsored by a new Northern Arizona Food and ­Agriculture Council, which Drake ­University’s Agricultural Law Center has assisted. Their shared goal is to build more collaboration and infrastructure to access more local foods and keep our communities healthy.

All of these efforts add not only to the local economy, but to the sense of being in a cohesive, multi-cultural community in Grand Canyon country. There’s value beyond mere calories in fresh, local food. Building a local food supply system makes for healthier food, fosters more economically viable farms and ranches, and provides a forum for community members to collectively imagine a more sustainable future for the region. The informal conversations that take place at marketplaces and feasts are as important as the network’s more formal accomplishments.

With the dry humor characteristic of their arid region, some activists in Canyon Country now jokingly call themselves “terroir-ists,” expressing their love of the flavors and fragrances of the food native to their homeland. It is the kind of “terroir” that even advocates of homeland security might celebrate, for it has increased the food security of a homeland that had earlier found itself at risk in terms of food security, nutrition-related diseases, and poverty. Although these risks have not instantly disappeared, residents can now see “a green light” at the end of the tunnel.

Gary Nabhan is director of the NAU Center for Sustainable Environments. For more information, visit www.garynabhan.com.

C.G.Jung in the Upper Rio Grande

"On my next trip to the United States I went with a group of American
friends to visit the Indians of New Mexico, the city-building Pueblos...
There for the first time I had the good fortune to talk with a non-
European, that is, to a non-white. He was a chief of Taos pueblos, an
intelligent man between the ages of forty and fifty. His name was
Ochwiay Biano (Mountain Lake). I was able to talk with him as I have
rarely been able to talk with a European. To be sure, he was caught up in
his world just as much as a European is in his, but what a world it was! In
talk with a European, one is constantly running up on the sand bars of
things long known but never understood; with this Indian, the vessel
floated freely on deep, alien seas...

"See," Ochwiay Biano said, "how cruel the whites look. Their lips are thin,
their noses sharp, their faces furrowed and distorted by folds. Their eyes
have a staring expression; they are always seeking something. What are
they seeking? The whites always want something; they are always uneasy
and restless. We do not know what they want. We do not understand
them. We think that they are mad.:

I asked him why he thought the whites were all mad.

"They say that they think with their heads," he replied.

"Why of course. What do you think with?" I asked him in surprise.

"We think here," he said, indicating his heart.

I fell into a long meditation. For the first time in my life, so it seemed to
me, someone had drawn for me a picture of the real white man. It was
as though until now I had seen nothing but sentimental, prettified color
prints. This Indian had struck our vulnerable spot, unveiled a truth to
which we are blind. I felt rising within me like a shapeless mist something
unknown and yet deeply familiar. And out of this mist, image upon image
detached itself: first Roman legions smashing into the cities of Gaul, and
the keenly incised features of Julius Caesar, Scipio Africanus, and Pompey.
I saw the Roman eagle on the North Sea and on the banks of the White
Nile. Then I saw St. Augustine transmitting the Christian creed to the
Britons on the tips of Roman lances, and Charlemagne's most glorious
forced conversions of the heathen; then the pillaging and murdering bands
of the Crusading armies. With a secret stab I realized the hollowness of
that old romanticism about the Crusades. Then followed Columbus,
Cortes, and the other conquistadors who with fire, sword, torture, and
Christianity came down upon even these remote pueblos dreaming
peacefully in the Sun, their Father. I saw, too, the peoples of the Pacific
islands decimated by firewater, syphilis, and scarlet fever carried in the
clothes the missionaries forced on them.

It was enough. What we from our point of view call colonization, missions
to the heathen, spread of civilization, etc., has another face -- the face of
a bird of prey seeking with cruel intentness for distant quarry -- a face
worthy of a race of pirates and highwaymen. All the eagles and other
predatory creatures that adorn our coats of arms seem to me apt
psychological representatives of our true nature."

- Ochwiay Biano (Taos Pueblo Chief 1924) to C. G. Jung in MDR, pp.247-49


Individuation, Seeing-through, and Liberation:
Depth Psychology and Colonialism

Thursday, January 11, 2007

Emergency Rally to Prevent Iraq Escalation on Santa Fe Plaza

MoveOn Emergency Rally to Prevent Iraq Escalation on Santa Fe Plaza then Congressional Offices Thursday January 11, Noon
by Leland Lehrman - leland.lehrman@gmail.com

Santa Fe Area Residents Urge Rep. Udall and Senators Domenici and Bingaman to Stop Bush Escalation of Iraq War. One of Hundreds Held Nationwide

Santa Fe, New Mexico – This Thursday, January 11, at 12 Noon, local families will rally at the Santa Fe Plaza and then visit Congressional offices to urge Senators Pete Domenici and Jeff Bingaman to stop President Bush's escalation of the Iraq War. We will also ask Bingaman in particular to support Edward Kennedy's new bill S. 233 designed to prevent escalation.

This "Emergency Rally To Stop Iraq Escalation" is one of hundreds being held nationwide by members of MoveOn.org Political Action and other Peace groups. The rally is in reaction to President Bush's Wednesday announcement that he supports sending more troops into Iraq. Congress can block an Iraq escalation, but it is uncertain if members of Congress will. At the event, constituents will call their representative and senators to press Congress to oppose Bush's escalation.

"MoveOn members urge Senators Domenici and Bingaman to stop President Bush from escalating the Iraq War and to start a responsible exit. An escalation in Iraq is the wrong way home—it will make things worse, not better," said Leland Lehrman a MoveOn member in Santa Fe.

Iraq escalation has been rejected by voters, the bipartisan Iraq Study Group, Colin Powell, and many military generals, including those on the ground in Iraq. A December CNN Poll showed that only 11% of Americans support Bush's plan for escalation. MoveOn represents 3.2 million members nationwide.


Event Details: Emergency Rally To Stop Iraq Escalation

Who: MoveOn and other Peace Group members in Santa Fe

Where: The Plaza, Santa Fe, then to Senator Domenici and Bingaman's offices

When: Thursday, January 11, 12 Noon

What: Local residents demand Rep. Udall & Senators Domenici and Bingaman stop President Bush from escalating the Iraq War

Recent CNN Poll:

http://www.moveon.org/r?r=2301

Tuesday, January 09, 2007

New Mexico Legislature Rejects National ID Card Plan

by Leland Lehrman - leland.lehrman@gmail.com

Senator Michael Sanchez and Rep. Ken Martinez

The Joint Resolution of the New Mexico House and Senate, sponsored by the Majority Leaders of both houses boils down to this.

"...WHEREAS, the state of New Mexico recognizes the constitution of the United States as our charter of liberty and the bill of rights as affirming the fundamental and inalienable rights of Americans, including freedom of privacy and freedom from unreasonable searches... NOW THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that the New Mexico legislature enact no legislation nor authorize an appropriation to further the passage of the REAL ID Act in New Mexico...."

With increasingly totalitarian legislation coming out of Washington, such as the Real ID Act of 2005, it is refreshing to see New Mexico put its foot down hard against this fascist-communist style internal passport. Not only does the bill mandate radio tracking for all US driver's licenses, but it also centralizes driver's license databases nationally making identity theft all that more dangerous and easy. Although the bill requires all states to implement standardized tracking measures for all driver's licenses - enabling easier spying on Americans - and makes the identification card mandatory for travel or even to enter a Federal Building, all costs are to be borne by the states: $37 million over the first five years in New Mexico, $11 billion nationally.

Never in the history of America has such a violation of fundamental Civil Rights been attempted except during "insurrection or rebellion," such as the Civil War. Thank God the good Senator Michael Sanchez and Representative Ken Martinez had the sense to oppose the creation of the National ID and instruct our national delegation to seek repeal of the Real ID Act of 2005. Take a look at the full text of the bill at http://mothermedia.org/norealid.pdf and see if it doesn't warm your heart. Then contact Senator Sanchez at (505) 865-0688 and Representative Martinez at (505) 287-8801 to express your appreciation. More info on their roles and the New Mexico Legislature at http://legis.nm.state.us

Rock Neighbors



Tuesday, January 02, 2007

Body Electrik Santa Fe Internet Radio

Body Electrik Santa Fe Internet Radio will send wave after wave of music your way - music to dance to, music to work to, music to share with those you love - waves of music to embrace you as you move to the rhythms of Life.

Our taste is eclectic. The artists that we enjoy include Paul Van Dyk, Tiesto, Hybrid, Shulman, Paul Oakenfold, Infected Mushroom, The Chemical Brothers, Juno Reactor, ATB, The Streets, DJ Tiesto, Thievery Corporation, Sasha, DJ Cheb, Moby, Crystal Method, Keoki, D:Fuse, Sphongle, Josh Wink, Yahel and many, many others. The format leans heavily toward Electronica and Dance (Psytrance, Trance, Techno, House, Progressive, Drum and Base, Break Beats and Downtempo) - but our play list includes a wide variety of genres, including world music and pop - and most all of it will likely make you want to dance.

We invite you and encourage you to dance, move, sing, celebrate, cry, laugh, scream and dream your dreams to the rhythms of your own Body Electrik.

DJ EaZy lives at the foot of the Sangre de Cristo range in Santa Fe, NM, USA - the City Different - and this broadcast originates from a spot overlooking the Plaza. He is not a professional DJ or CDJ, and he has no serious aspirations to become one. He believes that DJ's and musicians and all creative beings are guides and guardians for each generation - not purely entertainers - they are shamans, if you will, for the evolving human community.

His passions include dancing, sharing music, exploring techno shamanism, promoting community, using the Internet to enrich the Planet, promoting non-profits, encouraging interfaith dialogue and embracing non-conformity.

He was introduced to a love of dance and music and to dreams of peace and One World by amazing young people from all over the world. And the manifestation of that love are his 24/7 efforts to share the dance and the music and a vision of peace with others. He has also been personally influenced by the Body Choir community, by the teachings of His Holiness the Dalai Lama, Thich Nhat Hahn, Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King, by the courageous work of Neale Donald Walsch, by the meditations put down so eloquently in writing by Thomas Merton, and by the social activism and heroic antiwar activism of Dorothy Day and her Catholic Worker movement - by the world view and philosophy of Ken Wilbur - and above all by the call to One World that is exemplified in the lives and teachings of the great prophets of our Planet Earth - Buddha, Mohammed and Jesus of Nazareth.

His philosophy is simple (a gift from his teachers) - We are all One. There is enough here for everyone. And Love is all there is.

He is convinced that the sharing of dance and music is one of many viable approaches to realizing the dream of One World - and that World Peace is not a creation at all - that it is an evolutionary realization - a personal awakening.

He invites you to share the dream, to tune in to your own Body ElectriK.

He encourages you to support Internet radio broadcasters - it is quite possible that they are the hope and the future of radio and broadcasting and music in their studios and clubs (and bedrooms) throughout the world.

And he welcomes you to Body ElectriK Internet Radio Santa Fe where you can Dare to Rock Your Body - Resample Your Universe - and Remix Your Mind.