Annual Free Seed Seconds Give-away at the Seeds of Change Research Farm

Folks - this is forward from Seeds of Change Farm -

Annual Free Seed Seconds Give-away at the Seeds of Change Research
Farm
April 13, 2007
3:00-7:00 PM

Hello All,

It is that time of year again! Time to clean out your planting
trays, make up some seedling mix and hop on over to the Seeds of
Change Research Farm to get some seeds.

Scheduled time - Friday, April 13, 3:00 PM - 7:00 PM.

This year we are adding two activities to our agenda:

3:00-4:00pm A presentation by Emily Gatch and Emily Skelton on
starting seeds, creating your own soilless seed starting mix, seed
dormancy, germination and testing. This will be a great time to get
all of your questions answered about growing from seed.

4:00-6:00 PM Free Seed Give-away from our seed seconds and un-
sellable seed.

Bring your own ziplock baggies and a sharpie pen!

6:00-7:00pm Potluck Dinner. Please bring your favourite dish to
share with your neighbours and friends.

Location:

Seeds of Change Research Farm
340 County Road 0057
San Juan Pueblo, NM 87566
505-852-1508

See you there.

Emily Skelton
Seed Cleaning and Quality Co-ordinator

Freecycle(TM) Santa Fe

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FreeCycle_Santa_Fe/

Welcome to Freecycle(TM) Santa Fe.

Tired of your toaster oven, never opened the cappucino maker, have an extra yard of gravel in your driveway.

Post and someone will find it.

Give and take freely. Your lost labelmaker is someone elses treasure.

FREECYCLE ETIQUETTE

1) NO POLITICS NO SPAM. Two strikes you're out. By spam we mean any commercial e-mail soliciting products or services.

2) SUBJECT LINE
Use these phrases:
OFFER: old couch
TAKEN: old couch
WANTED: old couch. [Please use this one sparingly]
ADMIN: new idea

3) KEEP IT FREE.

4) NO TRADING PLEASE

5) FYI: RESPONSES GO ONLY TO OFFERER. It keeps down the sheer # of e-mails.

6) PICK UP. arrange as you like, generally, 1st responded, 1st serve, if a charity responds, you may want to give them a 1st shot.

7) PETS. It is okay to offer pets up for adoption. Please be responsible and compassionate whether you are adopting or giving up a pet. Make sure the pet is going to the right home.

8) NO sexually explicit items, alcohol, drugs or guns.

Copyright (C) 2003-2006 The Freecycle Network (Freecycle.org) All rights reserved. Freecycle and the Freecycle logo are trademarks of The Freecycle Network in the United States and/or other countries.

Impeachment in New Mexico Defeated

Impeachment in New Mexico Defeated in Procedural Vote to Prevent Full Senate Debate. Senator John Grubesic Sends Out Beautiful Press Release.

In a move that appears to have been carefully orchestrated, New Mexico's impeachment resolution was blocked from full debate on the Senate floor by a handful of Democratic Senators, some of whom switched their votes for unknown reasons.

Here is the list of Senators who voted against the Resolution

Senator Ben Altamirano, President Pro Tem, Voted for it in Rules
Senator Pete Campos
Senator Carlos Cisneros, Signed the Bill but is on the Senate Finance Conference Committee with Smith and Jennings, strong opponents.
Senator Phil Griego
Senator Tim Jennings
Senator John Pinto
Senator John Arthur Smith
Senator James Taylor
Senator David Ulibarri, Voted for it in Public Affairs

From the media gallery, we noticed Senators Cisneros, Griego, Campos, Taylor and Smith in a huddle, but it wasn't until later that we considered its significance. Senator Altamirano, the President Pro Tem, appears to have been a strong voice on the topic, and there may have been some word from the Governor, although that is speculation. Please see Senator Grubesic's beautiful press release on the topic to go.

As I look at the way forward, I see several promising directions. There are still several important pieces of Legislation that need support, namely the No Real ID Resolutions, the Prohibit Nuclear Weapons Memorial and the Dismantle Kirtland Nuclear Weapons Permanently measure. I will need a day or so to examine the options and determine which to focus on and am interested in reader feedback on the subject.

At this point, it is also important to begin to turn once again to the national debate on the manufactured and propagandistic "War on Terror" and aggressively intervene in the ongoing lack of understanding there.

Several national marches will take place later this month, such as the March on the Pentagon on the anniversary of the Start of the Iraq War. Mother Media would like to join other citizen organizations in some sort of action here in Santa Fe on that day, and I believe there is significant effort involved in an Albuquerque event which we would like to publicize. There is also a multi-organization event this Saturday called by Dave Batcheler of the Constitution Party which may be of interest to some citizens, more information below Senator Grubesic's Press Release. I was enormously pleased recently to pick up my first Constitutionally sound Liberty Dollars in solid silver and silver certificate from Joe Thornton and his wife. I strongly support this intiative to use a currency that is backed by a commodity (any commodity would do, silver is handy and standard) and am thankful to Mr. Thornton and his wife Glorietta Miller of Carrizozo. Joe was formerly a registered Republican but one of our strongest impeachment team members. You can see his testimony in the several videos we created of the Rules and Public Affairs Committee Hearings which have had over 15,000 viewings between them. Congresswoman Liz Holtzman's videoconference testimony to Senator Ortiz y Pino is also now available online.

I very much enjoyed the opportunity to work with everyone, there were times where I felt we were all postively glowing in the Committee hearings. It is clear to me that we have a terrific team ready and willing to do what needs to be done in these dangerous, but opportune times. We must all do what we can to bring the issues that matter to the fore, and there is no better way to do so than as a candidate for office. To that end, I would like to offer my candidacy for US Senate and hope that you will let me know your thoughts on the issues that are important as well as recommendations for how I might be most effective on behalf of all of us, and Mother Earth. If you are interested in helping with such an initiative, let me know.

by Leland Lehrman h: (505) 982-3609 o: (505) 473-4458

Senate Joint Resolution 5 Killed in the Senate -- Procedure before People -- by Senator John T. L. Grubesic

Santa Fe, NM – This country was founded by rebels. This country was forged in violence, ferocity, dissent and uproar. This country is vanishing before our eyes, not because we are blind, but because we are willing participants in its destruction. Today on the Senate floor you witnessed an excellent example. The Impeachment Resolution -- Senate Joint Resolution 5 – died quietly with no debate whatsoever. The dignity of the New Mexico State Senate was maintained as we followed carefully designed rules of procedure to ensure that nothing disrupted the workings of this austere body. We did a great job of making it appear that government was working.

However, we have to ask, which government and on whose behalf? The action taken by the Senate was not the action taken by a body that protects the freedoms of a sovereign people. The action was a carefully orchestrated option designed to protect the integrity of an institution and perpetuate the well-oiled workings of government. A government that has evidently forgotten that we serve at the pleasure of those we govern.

It is clear that, from the highest levels of government in our country down to our State, very few of us want to deal with the unpleasant political mess that impeachment could become. Our actions today showed where our priorities are – we forgot that the Constitution was not designed to serve government, but to protect the people. There should have been debate, argument, uproar. Instead, we quietly gutted the sovereign power of the people with polite political procedure.

When future generations look back on our time, the shock will not be because of the violent, impolite nature of the fight that preceded the destruction of Constitutional government, but by the meekness with which we watched it die.

Urgent Alert: Republicans Mount Counterattack, Stall Impeachment Resolution in Procedural Maneuver.

Urgent Alert: Republicans Mount Counterattack, Stall Impeachment Resolution in Procedural Maneuver. Floor Vote Called Prior to Debate for Tomorrow, Thursday March 7th During Floor Session. All Citizens to the Roundhouse 9:30 AM On. Check Senate Print Media Gallery for Updates.

With shock I received word today from resolution sponsor Senator Ortiz y Pino's secretary Sharon Shaffer that the Republicans had used a procedural maneuver to stall the Impeachment Resolution and prevent a full debate on the floor. Immediately double-checking with Majority Leader Michael Sanchez's secretary Sharmaine, I realized that the impeachment resolution had been dealt a serious if not fatal blow.

During the ordinarily mundane reading of committee reports, wherein the Senate is informed of the decisions of the various Committees, the Republicans decided to block "adoption" of the Judiciary Committee report. They were successful in a voice vote largely because the Democrats, caught completely off guard, were not on hand in number to oppose the motion.

Majority Leader Michael Sanchez successfully held the roll call vote until the Democrats could be present in number, and when I spoke with him late in the day, he told me that the roll call vote would happen some time Thursday.

Therefore, it is now urgently important to call in high volume and with utmost respect to the swing vote Senators listed below under action items via the Capitol Switchboard at 986-4300. Let them know through their secretaries that the Republicans have chosen to use an unfair procedural method to require a vote on the resolution before it even gets a chance to be openly debated. Explain that there will be a Senate Floor roll call vote on the adoption of the Judiciary Committee Report with the Impeachment Resolution SJR 5 in it, and ask them to be on the floor alert to vote in favor.

This vote may be more difficult to win than the vote for final passage, because it must be taken without opportunity for debate on the merits of the resolution. Some believe that Senator Sanchez has everything under control and will successfully move adoption when he gets the opportunity. According to experienced sources, there is a remote possibility that there will be a "Call of the Senate" wherein the State Police are assigned to track down every Senator and all are required to be on hand. Regardless, this moment of truth will be a historic occasion and it is essential that maximum public scrutiny of the decision be brought to bear in order that the gravity of the decision be made clear by the citizenry. Be there. Along with the action items below, I have created two worksheets for serious citizens with the phone numbers of relevant Democratic Party Central Committee Members and County Chairs on it. Download and call away:

Basic List of All Relevant County Chairs and Vice Chairs
Complete List of All Relevant County Central Committee Members

Please lobby all media outlets aggressively to cover the floor vote.

Action Items:

Stay focused on the swing votes in order of difficulty from estimated hardest to easiest: John Arthur Smith, Shannon Robinson, Tim Jennings, Phil Griego, Lynda Lovejoy, Pete Campos, Nancy Rodriguez, John Pinto, and James Taylor. Lidio Rainaldi is a special case, having expressed exasperation with the amount of in-person activist pressure, but also appearing to be favorable. Senator Ortiz y Pino's strategy now is to leave all in-person negotiations to him, Senator Grubesic and the other favorable Senators. Some passionnate in-person testimony has disturbed undecided Senators and although understandable, it could swing the vote the wrong way.

Shannon Robinson, the respected sponsor of SJM 47 Prohibit Nuclear Weapons Production deserves special attention from Albuquerque voters, especially those in his district: 17. To find out if you are in his district, check the NM Legislature website at http://legis.state.nm.us . We can't really understand why he's against the resolution, and he needs to hear from his constituents. They can have a significant impact on him, especially delegates of the Bernalillo Democratic Party who should immediately pass a new resolution of support and forward it on to him.

Here's the info on the Bernalillo County Democratic Party Leadership for Senator Shannon Robinson:

Bernalillo County Democratic Party Officers: Chair: Marvin Moss (505) 298-2643 Vice Chair: Cate Stetson (505) 264-1658 130 Alvarado NE Suite 400 , Albuquerque New Mexico 87108 505-256-1855 (main) terribk7@aol.com

Here's the info on the Sierra, Luna and Hidalgo County Leadership, relevant to Senator John Arthur Smith (Deming):

Luna County Democratic Party Party Officers Chair: Sam Baca (505) 546-3322; Vice: Sonia Arteche (505) 546-3406 322 West Pine Street , Deming New Mexico 88030 505-544-4609 (main) 505-546-5777 (fax)

Sierra County Democratic Party Party Officers Chair: David W. Farrell (505) 895-3352, dafarrelli@hotmail.com Vice: Jan Thetford (505) 894-1208, jan@BlueFeatherEnergetics.com P O Box 583 , Truth Or Consequences New Mexico 87901 (505) 740-2700 (main) dafarrelli@hotmail.com

Hidalgo County Democratic Party Party Officers Chair: David Escobar (505) 542-8053 Vice Chair: Rebecca Estrada (505) 542-9629 1516 Main St. , Lordsburg New Mexico 88045 (505) 542-8053 (main)

Here's the info on Chaves County, relevant to Roswell Senator Tim Jennings along with Eddy, Lincoln and Otero:

Chaves County Democratic Party Party Officers Chair: Tom Jennings (505) 625-1984 Vice Chair: Melissa Jones- Witt PO Box 1797 , Roswell New Mexico 88202 505-623-8331 (main)

All County Party Information is here.

http://www.nmdemocrats.org/ht/d/GetLocal/letter/b/pid/360053

The below information is still relevant regarding the final outcome.

When contacted, Senator John Arthur Smith D - Hidalgo, Luna and Sierra was solid against and it now appears that Senator Shannon Robinson D-Bernalillo is solid against. Please call them as well as Senator Tim Jennings, John Arthur Smith's co-chair on Senate Finance who now becomes a serious swing vote, along with Senators Phil Griego, Pete Campos, Lynda Lovejoy and the other undecideds above. Most are expected to vote with the Democratic leadership which is now solidly on our side.

Please remember decorum without feeling overly restricted.

If you have not already memorized the phone number for the Capitol Switchboard which can connect you with anyone in the Roundhouse, it's 986-4300. Click the image above right to view the Public Affairs Commitee hearing video. Judiciary Committee video coming soon.

Basic Impeachment Background Here.

by Leland Lehrman h: (505) 982-3609 o: (505) 473-4458

NM Impeachment Resolution in Solid 5-1 Victory

NM Impeachment Resolution in Solid 5-1 Victory in Senate Judiciary

Committee - Floor Vote Imminent

In what may be a national first, a State-initiated impeachment
resolution against the President and Vice-President of the United
States has reached the floor of a State Senate. Drawing support from
hundreds of supremely dedicated citizens willing to wait hours on both
weekends and weekdays for the opportunity to speak, the five Democrats
present on the New Mexico Senate Judiciary Committee, voted in favor
without doubt or hesitation. No audience member spoke against.

Former Congresswoman Liz Holtzman's expert witness testimony appeared
via videotape and was enormously influential due to her standing as a
member of the Judiciary Committee that begain impeachment proceedings
against Richard Nixon.

Senator Rod Adair, the sole Republican willing to answer the charges
made a best effort to deny them, but was ultimately unconvincing.
Predictably citing the now suspect war powers of the Executive Branch
and claiming that the United States is the guardian of the free world
against fascism and totalitarianism, Senator Adair used the propaganda
term Islamofascists to vilify America's opponents in the Middle East
and justify the ongoing wars. No Democrat attempted to refute Senator
Adair's position, but the hour was late and their vote said it all.

The resolution now goes to the Senate floor where the vote is expected
to be close. Majority Leader Michael Sanchez, who controls the floor
schedule, voted solidly without comment for the Resolution in
Judiciary and recently stated to the press that he expects the measure
to pass in a party line vote. However, Democratic Senators John Arthur
Smith and Shannon Robinson have declared their hesitance to vote for
the measure and Senator Tim Jennings and Phil Griego remain
uncommitted. There is some question as to whether or not the vote must
pass with a majority of the Senate (22 yes votes) or a majority of
those present. Authorities on the Rules of the New Mexico Legislature
are working on the question but believe that a majority of those
present will suffice.

All hands on deck by 1:30PM, Saturday at Capitol ready to stay into the evening.

Impeachment Still in Judiciary, Senate Floor Vote Also Possible But Uncertain. Majority Leader Michael Sanchez and Democrats were in caucus last night perhaps discussing deal with Republicans. All hands on deck by 1:30PM, Saturday at Capitol ready to stay into the evening.
The best information we currently have is that SJR 5 is on the agenda in Judiciary today, Saturday, after 2:30PM in Room 321, but that Majority Leader Michael Sanchez may make a motion to take SJR 5 out of committee and down to the floor for a full three-hour debate and vote sometime after 1:30PM. There is some kind of deal rumored, namely, that the Republicans will get to have a controversial bill heard on the floor as well: Mandatory Parental Notification for women sixteen and under seeking abortion. The Senate Democrats and Republicans met in caucus yesterday, perhaps to discuss particulars.

Senator Sanchez has told the press that he expects the impeachment resolution to pass the Senate floor in a party line vote, but we've counted the votes and it is perilously close. According to the sponsor, Ortiz y Pino, a Senate Joint Resolution, since it has so much power, must pass with twenty two votes in favor, a true majority of the Senate, rather than just a majority of those present. Looking at it the other way, we can lose only two Democrats and still win. Senator John Arthur Smith D - Hidalgo, Luna and Sierra was solid against and it now appears that Senator Shannon Robinson D-Bernalillo is solid against. Please visit or call them as well as Senator Tim Jennings, John Arthur Smith's co-chair on Senate Finance who now becomes the swing vote, along with Senators Griego, Rainaldi and the other undecideds. Most are expected to vote with the Democratic leadership which is now apparently on our side.

But there's a new wrinkle, Senator Linda Lopez's mom may have had a stroke yesterday, and Linda is in the hospital and missed yesterday's session. If we lose her vote, Senator Robinson, and John Arthur Smith, we lose. There are of course plenty of other ways this could go, but that's my concern. Absolutely all respectful, supportive testimony and documentation must be brought to bear on Senators Jennings, Robinson, Griego, Rainaldi and John Arthur Smith. Prayers for Senator Lopez and her family are in order. There will be DVDs available of former US Congresswoman Liz Holtzman's videoconference testimony in favor and a viewing station set up in the Roundhouse by around 1pm, check with impeachment headquarters in Senator Ortiz y Pino's office, Room 414.

Although there is no longer any real concern that the bill will be heard on the floor in the morning session today, the best guidance I can offer is that all citizens get to the Roundhouse by 10:30AM for the 11:00 opening of business on the floor. That half hour is the best window available for direct discussion with Senators as they come down from committee to the floor, which is open to citizens until roll is called. Today is likely to be a fateful one, and we will be metaphorically painted and in full ceremonial dress. I will be moving between the Senate Majority Leader's office and the Information Desk at the East Entrance from 10:00 or so helping people identify and pitch the Senators. Terrence McCarthy and Nancy Kenney, among others, will be set up in the Senate Media Gallery where one may also find allies. Once again, you may be able to reach me through Arwen's cell phone: (505) 603-6084. It is also possible to have the operator page me from the information desk if necessary.

Please also note decorum without feeling overly restricted. No clapping in Committee after speeches or from the gallery.

If you have not already memorized the phone number for the Capitol Switchboard which can connect you with anyone in the Roundhouse, it's 986-4300. Click the image above right to view the new Public Affairs Commitee hearing video.

Basic Impeachment Background Here.

by Leland Lehrman h: (505) 982-3609 o: (505) 473-4458

Urgent Update: Impeachment Resolution

Urgent Update: Impeachment Resolution May Bypass the Judiciary Committee and Go Straight to the Senate Floor Vote During Friday, Saturday Sessions.
There is speculation that action may happen on Friday, March 2nd to take SJR 5 out of the Judiciary Committee. Attorney Randall Cherry - Senator McSorley's staff analyst - is the source of this information as directly relayed by citizen Terrence McCarthy of Vivo Studios. Jim Williams of KUNM and Dorothy Fadiman, Concentric.org, co-producer of the video linked at right above provided corroborating statements.

Since both the bill sponsor and the Committee Chairman are already in favor, they can make a motion on the floor in open session that the Resolution bypass Judiciary. However, this motion must receive unanimous consent - not likely - or then win either a voice or roll-call vote. According to Charlotte Roybal, longtime Democratic Party delegate, if the Senate votes to take the resolution out of Judiciary, floor debate on the resolution will still have to wait until Saturday, perhaps around 10AM. Stay tuned via either the sponsors Ortiz y Pino and Grubesic's office, Judiciary Chairman McSorley's office or the Majority Leader Sanchez' office. Again, all can be contacted at 986-4300. Did you memorize the number yet?

It is now time to count our votes on the entire Senate floor. If all the Republicans vote together and are present (likely), we can afford to lose only three Democratic votes against or five abstentions. We know that John Arthur Smith D - Hidalgo, Luna and Sierra was solid against. Tim Jennings D - Chaves, Eddy, Lincoln and Otero may take his cue from Smith, but is on the fence, having told me personally: "You can't impeach someone for stupidity." Sen. Lidio Rainaldi is known for conservatism, and declined an information packet recently offerred saying that he already knew how he was voting, but not saying how that was. Senator Phil Griego, D-Los Alamos, Mora, Sandoval, San Miguel, Santa Fe, Taos is also well-known for skepticism and the following Senators' votes are not known: John Pinto, Lynda Lovejoy, Nancy Rodriguez, Pete Campos, James Taylor, Shannon Robinson.

Given that that the timetable for the floor vote has been accelerated, it is now time for the full-court press. Every Democratic undecided Senator, all the time, especially the swing votes: Sanchez above all, the rest of the above undecideds and some say Altamirano. Although he voted for the resolution in Rules Committee, Senators do not always vote for a bill on the floor the way they did in Committee, for various reasons.

Please also note decorum without feeling overly restricted. No clapping after speeches or votes in committee or from the gallery, in particular. Although I find the thought that decorum should have an impact on a meaningful vote abhorrent, I must admit that as a father, there have been times when my children's unruly behavior has brought my anger upon them. I'm not proud of it, and there can be one hell of a fuss when they don't get to watch a movie, but sometimes it happens and I have to end up apologizing later if I was out of order.

We won't get a second chance.

I am going to leave the number and type of speakers to the sponsor and the Chair this time. The sponsors are now suggesting that we focus on the "asking for an investigation" part and avoid rendering verdicts in our testimony. I agree there may be some merit to the cautious approach at this time. Apparently it may help us with swing voters. Take this under advisement, but it is not meant to stifle your initiative, which is the most precious of all the human qualities found on this team.

If you have not already memorized the phone number for the Capitol Switchboard which can connect you with anyone in the Roundhouse, it's 986-4300. Citizens will be onsite at the Roundhouse tomorrow, Friday, and Saturday to assist if you would like to hit any of the key offices in person. Please look for us either on the floor, outside the Majority Leader's office, or in the Media Gallery overlooking the House floor on the East Side of the Capitol Building. I can be paged at the Information Desk on the East Side. I will be also be leaving updates with Arwen Gwyneth Hubbard at (505) 603-6084 and may be reachable at that number. Click the image above right to view the Rules Commitee hearing. The Public Affairs hearing will be online shortly. Basic Impeachment Background Here.
by Leland Lehrman h: (505) 982-3609 o: (505) 473-4458

Senate Judiciary Committee Hearing Saturday for NM Impeachment Resolution.

Senate Judiciary Committee Hearing Saturday for NM Impeachment Resolution.
The Saturday hearing will probably be after the floor session, however, we do not know exactly when that will be. The best guess is after 3PM, but maybe in the morning and possibly not until 7PM, as we are at the back of the agenda. Stay in touch with Senator McSorley's office for updated time information: 986-4485. Please continue to call Senators Michael Sanchez, Lidio Rainaldi and Richard Martinez, the swing votes on the Judiciary Committee. If you have not already memorized the phone number for the Capitol Switchboard which can connect you with anyone in the Roundhouse, it's 986-4300. Click the image above right to view the Rules Commitee hearing. The Public Affairs hearing will be online shortly. Basic Impeachment Background Here.
by Leland Lehrman h: (505) 982-3609 o: (505) 473-4458

The below action items are still relevant, but I want to make a commentary on the proceedings. Senator Michael Sanchez, as the Majority Leader, is supremely important to the success of this initiative for more than just the reasons given below: swing vote on Judiciary and in charge of the Senate Floor hearing. Because he is in charge of the Senate Floor schedule, he also decides which House Bills get heard on the Senate floor, giving him enormous leverage with House members. What this means is that we will need his support not just to get the resolution onto the floor of the Senate, but to get it through the House. We will need him, for example, to recommend to House Majority Leader Ken Martinez that it receive only one committee if possible. If it must receive two committees, we will need his support asking the Chairs of those committees to schedule it quickly. As the session winds down, the competition for passage gets intense, and the question is no longer do the Legislators support the bill, but how much do they support it? Are they willing to take the chance that it will be a "showstopper," as House Majority Leader Ken Martinez worried.

Controversial bills such as this one become hot potatoes, and the horse trading gets heated over them. Republican procedural moves like boycotts and filibusters become likely. We could get pressure from allies who have other bills that are in danger because of our resolution. Absolutely the only way to make sure that we succeed in the face of such resistance will be massive citizen pressure, both on the legislators themselves as well as on the press. These two "estates" must be lobbied with equal skill and dedication in order to create the synergistic effect known as "the story," wherein the entire population suddenly becomes involved in a kind of collective consciousness event. The energy around the initiative is already moving in that direction, with television producers beginning to focus on it and radio, print and internet audiences already well-attuned.

The Rules Commitee documentary has been seen nearly 8,000 times since it was first uploaded, and is ranked five stars.

New Mexico Impeachment Resolution in Stunning 3-2 Victory Sunday.

New Mexico Impeachment Resolution in Stunning 3-2 Victory Sunday. All Eyes Turn to Judiciary Committee and Swing Votes Sanchez, Rainaldi and Martinez
Judiciary Chairman Cisco McSorley both signed and voted for the bill in Rules and we hope to get a hearing this week, but have heard from the Committee Secretary Mary Parlet that it will not be scheduled until next week. Supportive and thankful calls to his office encouraging a hearing as soon as possible are in order. More importantly please call Senators Michael Sanchez, Lidio Rainaldi and Richard Martinez, the swing votes on the Judiciary Committee. If you have not already memorized the phone number for the Capitol Switchboard who can connect you with anyone in the Roundhouse, dial 986-4300.
Basic Impeachment Background Here.
by Leland Lehrman h: (505) 982-3609 o: (505) 473-4458

Video coverage of the event will be available online shortly. Video
coverage of the Rules Committee hearing is at:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-4529463175813468205&hl=en

Video of the introductory Press Conference is at:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=9070880407596532695&hl=en

More information on the New Mexico effort to impeach Bush and Cheney
can be found at:
http://mothermedia.org and http://afterdowningstreet.org/nm

NM Impeachment Resolution Public Affairs Hearing

I didn't get inside the hearing, but I was fortunate to hear this man's music. If the crowd in the hall outside the hearing was indicative of the out come, it was yay for impeachment.

Google Video of New Mexico Resolution to Impeach Bush and Cheney in Rules Committee 5-0 Victory

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-4529463175813468205&hl=en

This video was taken on February 16th. We won that round 5-0. At 2:30 today, Sunday, Feb. 25th, the resolution gets heard in Senate Public Affairs. We will have that video ASAP. But this one is amazing. Do all you can to get it out there. For those not familiar with the situation, please see http://mothermedia.org and http://afterdowningstreet.org/nm

Local seed bombing

I am thinking to make a variety of seed bombs that focus around local tree guilds. I think the easiest will be acacia and sumac, but I would also like to make some with ponderosas too. I am planning to use the guild format, putting complimentary seeds together in guilds so they help each other out.

Another idea I had was to make three sisters bombs.

If anyone has any good ideas let me know.

Below are some links about seed bombs in general.

Seed bombing

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

(Redirected from Seed bomb)

Jump to: navigation, search

Seed bombing, also known as "Seed Grenades" is a technique of introducing vegetation to arid soils or otherwise inhospitable terrains. A seed bomb is a compressed clod of soil containing live vegetation that may be thrown or dropped onto a terrain to be modified. The term "seed grenade" was first used by Liz Christy in 1973 when she started the "Green Guerillas". The first seed grenades were made from balloons filled with local wildflower seeds, water and fertilizer. The seed grenades were tossed over fences onto empty lots in New York City in order to make the neighborhoods look better. It was the start of the Guerrilla Gardening movement.

[edit] External links

• Guerrilla Gardening
• Bitter Melon Homeopathy for Urban Renewal
• Environmental Art Museum, Kathryn Miller
• Kathryn Miller, Artist (LandLiving.com)

• Original Seed Bomb instructions

http://greenmuseum.org/content/work_index/img_id-11__prev_size-0__artist_id-3__work_id-4.html

http://www.bittermelon.org/SeedBomb.htm

http://www.treehugger.com/files/2006/02/guerilla_garden_1.php

http://www.guerrillagardening.org/

The Power of Community: How Cuba Survived Peak Oil

http://resistancetraining.wordpress.com/2007/02/24/
the-power-of-community-how-cuba-survived-peak-oil/

NM Impeachment Resolution Public Affairs Hearing Set for Sunday, February 25th around 2PM, Room 321.

NM Impeachment Resolution Public Affairs Hearing Set for Sunday, February 25th around 2PM, Room 321.
Senators Mary Kay Papen D- Dona Ana and David Ulibarri D-Cibola, Valencia, Socorro are still the swing votes. Continue to call their offices as well as those of the Dona Ana, Cibola, Valencia and Socorro County Democratic Legislative delegations via the Capitol Switchboard: (505) 986-4300. Call the Democratic County Party Leaders in the above counties, contact info below. Ask them to pass a resolution of support and call Sen. Papen and Ulibarri. Basic Impeachment Background Here.
by Leland Lehrman h: (505) 982-3609 o: (505) 473-4458

Fearless citizen Paulette Frankl suggested I stick to action items. Here's what we need to do in order to win in Public Affairs on Sunday. Remember our neighbors in Afghanistan, Iraq and around the world, and be ambitious. The official schedule will be posted on the New Mexico Legislature website later today.

1. Bring all your friends. Call everyone you know and tell them about the hearing. Call the press and ask them to cover it. Come early to get a seat, bring signs to hold outside and cameras. Memorize one phone number: 986-4300, the Capitol Switchboard. Forward this message to your lists and friends.

2. Personally visit with Senators Papen and Ulibarri in the Capitol Building. Volunteers will show you how to pull them off the floor or find them in the Roundhouse if you would like to learn the process. We have a team of volunteers who will be at the Roundhouse daily, call Terrence McCarthy at 231-8382 or David Luckey at 986-6022 to arrange. Grab your copy of the 2007 Legislative Almanac at the Information Desk. Bring multiple copies of a personal letter addressed to "Senator/Representative [Leave Name Blank]" so you can fill it in as needed. Bring copies of the resolution itself, our talking points, the New Mexico Democratic Party platform, and your favorite documentation on the subject. My favorite is James Bamford's article on ACLU vs NSA which shows that a Federal Judge has found the Bush Administration guilty as charged for violating the Constitution as well as the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. Senator Ortiz y Pino's latest official SJR 5 Press Release is also useful.

3. Call or visit with the other Senators and Representatives from Dona Ana, Cibola, Valencia and Socorro County. These are Senator Papen and Ulibarri's neighbors. Senators Mary Jane Garcia and Cynthia Nava, D-Dona Ana are in support. Ask them to talk with Sen. Papen. Representatives Antonio Lujan, Mary Helen Garcia and Joni Marie Gutierrez, D-Dona Ana are also in support. Ask them to speak with Senator Papen. Call Senator Linda Lovejoy, the Navajo. Ask her to support and speak with Sen. Ulibarri. Call Majority Leader Ken Martinez, D-Cibola and ask him to support and speak with Ulibarri. For Ulibarri also call Reps. George Hanosh, Elias Barela, Andrew Barreras and Irvin Harrison. For Papen also call Rep. Nunez. Many of these legislators are Democratic Party delegates and will have been at the Platform Convention to hear the roar of applause when the Impeachment Resolution passed last March. Remind them of it. Senator Tim Jennings of Roswell is reported to have influence with Senator Papen. He's on the fence, and told me you can't impeach Bush for stupidity. Let him know what it's really about, and then ask him to speak with Senator Papen.

4. Call the leaders of the Dona Ana, Cibola, Valencia and Socorro County Democratic Party, most of whom were also delegates to the Platform Convention. Ask them to pass a resolution in support of SJR 5, to announce the hearing on Sunday to the party members, to attend it, and to call their Senators. For Dona Ana County, we have two Democratic Party phone lists: the leadership list and the delegates to the Convention list. Call a page or so.

5. If you're religious, pray. If not, focus your intention.

If you can support us financially, buy an ad in this newsletter or in the Sun News. This bulletin is on the web at http://mothermedia.org for those who don't have html email. Send paypal to leland@33o.com or use the link below for credit cards.

All experience gained elsewhere, fails in New Mexico

1st house spider

The First Ladybug of 2007

All Hands on Deck in Support of upcoming Public Affairs Impeachment Hearing - Senator Jeff Bingaman at the New Mexico Capitol on Wednesday, Feb. 21, 10 AM - We May Get a Chance to Petition Him on Iran and Impeachment
Senators Mary Kay Papen and David Ulibarri are the swing votes on Public Affairs. Please call their offices via the Capitol Switchboard: (505) 986-4300. Also please call Senate Public Affairs Committee Chairwoman Senator Dede Feldman encouraging her to schedule the hearing this week (Friday or Sunday) and thanking her for her leadership on the issue and her positive vote in Rules. Basic Background Here.
by Leland Lehrman h: (505) 982-3609 o: (505) 473-4458

This is it folks, over the next three to five days we are looking down the barrel of the Legislative gun. Dona Ana County Senator Mary Kay Papen, in a frank and cordial exchange of views, declared her disinclination today to support the resolution to impeach. However, it was not a hostile no, and sources close to her office consider her undecided. She expressed her openness to constituent opinion and responded favorably when I offered her a press packet with several editorials, news articles, the NM Democratic Party Platform and talking points. It is now essential that members of the Dona Ana county Democratic Party remind Senator Papen of the Democratic Party's official resolution to impeach made with overwhelming support in March of 2006. The Republicans have indicated they plan to attend the hearing. If they do, and either Ulibarri or Papen vote with them, it's over.

Public Affairs Committee Chairwoman Senator Dede Feldman decided not to take the resolution out of her committee today, fearing Republican opposition. She also asked that we limit the number of speakers at the Public Affairs Committee to five, which number I hope is still negotiable. It is essential that citizens be on standby to arrive early to get a seat at either Friday's 2:30pm hearing or Sunday's hearing if scheduled. Final date confirmation should come tomorrow. We will get a show of hands audience vote at the hearing and our presence will not be overlooked. I am also asking that those willing to support my testimony please send me their name, city and phone number such that I can invoke you all when I testify and present our petition to the Committee.

There are other things we citizens can do since urgent political action is necessary. Please contact Senator Papen's Dona Ana County Democratic Party Chairwoman Melinda Whitley at (505) 523-0470 and Vice-Chair Carlos Riis Gonzalez at (505) 202-1040. Please also call Senator Ulibarri's Cibola County Democratic Party Chairman Bruce Boynton at (505) 285-4242 and Vice Chair: Elisa Bro (505) 287-4915. (Extra Credit: Call the Valencia and Socorro County Democratic Party Leadership) Ask them to call an emergency meeting to put forward a new resolution in support of SJR 5 and to call their Senators in support. Santa Fe and Grants County have already put forward new resolutions, thank you. At bottom please find the official letter from the Santa Fe County Democrats. Feel free to use it as a template in your own county. Here is the news story on the Grants County Resolution in Support of SJR 5 Impeach Bush and Cheney:

http://www.scsun-news.com/news/ci_5197003

We do have plenty of support down South. Majority Whip, Dona Ana County Senator Mary Jane Garcia signed the bill and is expected to vote in favor on Public Affairs. She - along with Reps. Antonio Lujan and Mary Helen Garcia who are also supportive - should be contacted through the switchboard (505) 986-4300 and urged to impress upon Senator Papen the importance of voting for impeachment: warrantless wiretapping, lying to congress to provoke war, ordering torture and the suspension of habeas corpus.

News Recap from the Rules Committee Hearing

Bulletin: Citizens Inspire New Mexico Rules Committee in 5-0 Vote in Favor of Impeachment Despite Republican Boycott.

When President Pro Tem Senator Ben Altamirano, the swing vote on the Rules Committee, seconded the motion to impeach, it was clear the people had done their job well. Well over one hundred people, nearly fifty of whom spoke, crammed into the Rules Committee hearing room. After impassioned speeches from the citizenry, the Democratic Senators made intelligent, straightforward comments in favor. When the final vote to impeach was cast, applause could be heard all the way outside in the halls of the Roundhouse. But there is much more to do. We have just one month to get through two more committees, the Senate floor vote, the House committees and the House floor vote.

A good summary of events at the Roundhouse last Friday can be found on the Democracy for New Mexico blog here:

http://tinyurl.com/2xxej5

But today I will focus on what we need to do now. The swing votes on the Public Affairs committee are Senators Mary Kay Papen of Las Cruces and David Ulibarri of Grants. It is essential to mention to them that the New Mexico Democratic Party overwhelmingly supported the Impeachment Resolution at the March 2006 Platform Convention:

http://www.nmdemocrats.org/ht/a/GetDocumentAction/i/838875

Senator Papen was confused on this point, suggesting to me that the support was lukwarm. However, the unanimous opinion of the delegates I know who were there is that of the 1200 delegates, there were only 22 or so against. The thunderous standing ovation in favor took the gavel of the Chairman to quiet. Senator Ulibarri has spoken favorably about the resolution to us, but has not committed his vote either way.

The people of New Mexico brought us to tears in Rules. A man with his son shipping out to Iraq this week, a former CIA officer, Judge Anne Kass, Republicans for Impeachment, youth, Veterans for Peace, a Rabbi - it was amazing. There was not a single voice of opposition, as even the Republicans on the committee hid throughout the proceedings.

Although Senator Papen's vote may be difficult to get, the right amount of support from her constituents should bring it around. It certainly did in the case of Senator Altamirano. If the next committee hearing is as impressive as the last one, Senator Papen may change her mind on the spot. But in order to keep the momentum building, we need your help.

Furthermore, we urgently need to raise money for video production and extra people to monitor the press and stay on the Senators. This is where those not in New Mexico can help greatly, because with money, we can quickly turn around video production like the above and post it on Google Video. Volunteers are great, but they frequently cannot work quickly, something we must now do.

We lost time and energy due to the fact that our Senators were not aware of discouraging and erroneous information that came out in the media. We need to keep a close eye on the press and make sure that such stories are countered effectively and immediately. Extra full-time eyes and hands on the scene are now essential such that foolish mistakes don't cost us more time.

The best way to help Mother Media's impeachment efforts is to buy an advertisement in this newsletter or in our print partner, The Northern New Mexico Sun News. You can send support via paypal to leland@33o.com or by clicking the link at the top. Checks can be sent to the address below. Thank you for helping us prevent further catastrophe at the hands of this ruthless and lawless Executive Branch.

Leland Lehrman
163 Old Lamy Trail
Lamy, NM 87540
h: (505) 982-3609 o: (505) 473-4458
leland.lehrman@gmail.com

To Santa Fe County Democrats,

State Senator John Grubesic of Santa Fe joined Senator Gerald Ortiz y Pino of Albuquerque in sponsoring Senate Joint Resolution 5, Impeach President Bush and Vice-President Cheney. The resolution is in line with the Democratic Party Platform as established at the platform convention in March of 2006 where impeachment was put on the platform with thunderous applause by more than 95% of the 1200 delegates present.

We hope you will voice your support for the resolution by calling President Pro Tem of the Senate Ben Altamirano and Majority Leader Michael Sanchez to urge their support for the resolution. Their support is necessary for passage. Call any legislator at the switchboard: 986-4300. We also need Senators Rainaldi, Papen, Ulibarri and Martinez of the Public Affairs and Judiciary Committees.

The resolution may come before the Senate Public Affairs Committee as soon as this Friday, February 23rd around 2:30pm in Rm 303 at the Roundhouse. It will be officially posted on the Senate Committee schedule:
http://legis.state.nm.us/lcs/agecalendars.asp
later this week. We hope you will make time to attend the hearing and voice your support for the resolution.

As the President ignores the American people and Congress on the subject of Iraq and prepares for war with Iran, it becomes more and more obvious that the duty of citizens is to impeach. The resolution itself lists four charges, which under Jefferson's Rules of the House can be transmitted by a State Legislature triggering Federal proceedings:

1. Lying to Congress to provoke war. 2. Ordering warrantless wiretapping. 3. Ordering torture. 4. Ordering illegal detentions.

Any one of these charges is grounds for impeachment. In the case of ACLU vs. NSA, federal judge Anna Diggs Taylor ruled that the President had "indisputably violated" not only the First and Fourth Amendments of the Constitution, but also statutory law, the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.

How long can we allow the Executive Branch to put itself above the law before our cherished Democratic Republic is destroyed, taking the world with it? Now is the time to act. Please attend the Rules Committee Hearing this Friday morning around 9 AM and call Senator Ben Altamirano and Majority Leader Michael Sanchez asking them to support the Democratic Party platform and the welfare of the American people and the world.

Sincerely,

Connie Salazar, Chair Santa Fe County Resolutions Committee and Member of the NM Democratic Party Resolutions Committee

An interview with Chellis Glendinning

http://inthewake.org/glendinning1.html

Chellis Glendinning is writer and a psychologist specializing in recovery from post-traumatic stress. She is the author of Waking Up in the Nuclear Age (1987); When Technology Wounds (1990); My Name Is Chellis and I'm in Recovery from Western Civilization (1994); Off the Map: An Expedition Deep into Empire and the Global Economy (1999, 2002); and Chiva: A Village Takes on the Global Heroin Trade (2005). Off the Map won the National Federation of Press Women 2000 Book Award. I interviewed her by telephone in January, 2005.

Aric McBay: Can you tell us about the community where you are living now?

Chellis Glendinning: I live in the village of Chimayó, New Mexico. It is one of a number of villages, a village system, that was established in the 1700's and the 1800's. It was Spanish culture meeting an indigenous situation. But the people themselves were only partly Spanish. A lot of them were Mexican natives, and a number of Moors and Jews. Also there was intermarrying with Native people here in the Rio Grande Valley. And then there were also various people who were fleeing Europe, so there were Greeks, Irish, and other kinds of folk. What we call the result is Chicano, but it's a in fact a big mixture.

Each village has its own common lands that usually extend out from the village into the forest. So the setup is fairly archetypal the world around, and it's a setup of sustainable living with hunting, fishing, and small agriculture. I've been living here for more than twelve years.

AM: Can you tell us a little bit about the changes that have been happening recently in your village in terms of encroachments by the dominant culture?

CG: There's been a huge change. Such that the place is unrecognizable in a way because, in I'd say the last four years, around the turn of the millennium, the changes really started. And they all happened at once so it's hard to point to one thing. Before this, the old way was very much being lived and assumed. The old philosophy was part and parcel of every breath.

Then all of a sudden, we get the big freeway coming up from Sante Fe, we get the WalMart, we get the cell phones, we get the satellite dish. For the longest time it seemed like just one person in the village had a computer, and all of a sudden, computers became common. Right now we're just getting the Home Improvement, so when that thing opens it is going to be the end of traditional adobe architecture.

And also a lot of money that came in. So that there was new clothes, new cars, and everything changed.

AM: How are people psychologically reacting to some of the changes that you are seeing now?

CG: Well, it's very new, so that's hard to say. I think that that's something we can maybe talk about in ten years. I think that a lot of people are excited about the changes right now.

AM: Is mostly the young people who are excited about it, or is that something that spans across different ages?

CG: I think a lot of people are excited about it. For many young people, it's all they've ever known.

AM: What has the relationship of the people in your community been to the civilized people who have been increasingly encroaching over the last few decades?

CG: Well, one of the reasons why I really like living here - and I felt at home immediately - is because of the gut level mistrust of things that come in from outside.

An example is when some poor, unsuspecting bank - who did not realize that they were dealing with what we call El Norte - put an ATM machine in Chimayó.

It was out in a place that used to be a barn that had a kind of overhang. I can't think of the world in English but in Navajo it's cha-ah-o. It's got poles with a roof, cha-ah-o. A "carport"-type thing, I guess is the word. Only it wasn't made out of carport materials, it was made out of wood and brush from the forest. This was a place to where the horses from around in that area would always escape and meet with each other to hang out under the cha-ah-o. Well, this is the building where the bank decided to put the ATM machine. [Laughter]

They made that cha-ah-o thing the pull-up, so you could be protected from the rain or whatever. Not very much time went by before the guys in the village took their hunting rifles and shot the ATM to shreds. Just shot it to shreds! There was nothing left of it.

The bank just fled.

Another story is when the state come up here from the capital, Sante Fe, to put a dam in. And so they decided they were going to hire the local people from the village of Chimayó and also other villages nearby: Truchas, Córdova.

The people from the state said it was going to take about six months to do the project. Every day the guys would go up there, and this was just great, they had a job, they got money.

And they built things and whatnot, and at the end of the day they'd come back to the village and have dinner. Then in the dark of the night they'd go up there and burn down whatever it was that they'd built that day!

AM: Wow.

CG: There was a real distaste for anything coming in from the outside world. Which I'm very sorry to say has been seduced out of the people.

One of the first things that happened was that they brought in these cell phones, and they started putting towers up. It's not a tower that we have, a cell phone tower that spews microwave radiation out in 360 degrees. It's more like a relay, that's channeling radiation to the next tower.

It was put up right in our village. It's very obvious, and the act of putting it up was very obvious. But nobody did anything. I was the only one who seemed to be appalled at this thing. I had a lot of information on the health effects of microwave radiation. I can't fully explain what happened to that can-do attitude that was so prevalent before.

AM: So did you have television at this point? When the tower came in?

CG: Having technology was spotty in the beginning of my time here. Not everybody had a telephone. Very often if you called somebody you were calling the phone next door, and you would have to wait fifteen minutes while someone would go over and get them. Not everybody had a television. Not everybody had running water. Not everybody had a toilet. Certainly not everybody had a car.

I grew up in a time when the telephone numbers were things like "Fairmount one, oh-nine-hundred," "Yellowstone two, nine-five-seven-four," things like that. And then at a certain point, and I think it was in the seventies, they changed to all numbers.

I'm not bragging that this was a major Luddite act, maybe it was more an act of nostalgia on my part. But I thought, "Well, why don't we in our village," - because each village has its own unique telephone exchange - "why don't we go back to what '351' was before it got changed to all numbers?" I got these blank stares. All we really would have had to do was change the zeitgeist of three thousand people. But I got blank stares. It turned out that we didn't get phones in the village of Chimayó until the rest of the country had already changed to all numbers!

AM: I'm curious about some of the differences that you've observed from when you were - were you living in San Francisco before you moved there, or...

CG: I grew up in Cleveland, Ohio and went briefly to college on the East Coast. Then I went to Berkeley and lived in the Bay Area for twenty years. Then I moved here. I moved to another village first. So I was living in another village for about seven years.

AM: I'm curious about some of the differences that you've observed between people living in the Big Cities and people living in the communities where you are. And, in general what do you think makes the dominant society, civilization, so distinct from sustainable and indigenous communities?

CG: That is an incredible topic. I don't even know if I can bring words to it. Every time I go somewhere, like the Bay area, I cannot believe it.

Somebody picks me up at the airport, let's say, who maybe I've known for a long time. They look at me, and the basic difference is that I'm wearing jeans and cowboy boots, but who cares? They look at me and I look like I'm the same person I was before. And so they start talking to me the way that they talk to each other. And I have absolutely no idea what are talking about.

I have to negotiate a massive cultural shift. Now often these are radical people with whom I agree on a lot of things, people who eat health foods and are against the war in Iraq, and are feminists and all that. But there's this bottom line difference in their set of assumptions and experiences. After two or three days I can figure out what's going on. And then I can participate in their world. But they can't know where I'm coming from.

It's been a really interesting education for me in terms of how Native people have to interface with people from the dominant society. Clearly Native people feel like they're not being understood. Where they come from - what they know - is a separate reality.

I've taken living here very seriously. I've taken it as seriously as anything I've ever done in my life. In many ways I've been assimilated into this world.

AM: I lived under a tarp in a forest defense campaign out in the woods for about six weeks at one point, and I and the other people who lived there noticed that whenever we went back into the city it was a completely different - and really very unpleasant - experience to be in that environment. And that everyone behaved in a completely manner than we did in our little autonomous collective. And I can only imagine the changes that would occur after decades of living outside of that.

CG: I can make a stab at explaining what some of these things are.

AM: Please do!

CG: One thing is that life here is face-to-face. You know everybody. And if you don't know everybody, you probably know their family. This is not mass society.

Your experience is your guide. It doesn't matter that people here don't read books, so much, that many people have not been "educated" in the way that the dominant society defines what education is.

People know about things based on experience, or based on what the culture has given them. Let's take something like "psychology." People's understanding of what the human psyche is capable of and how to deal with is is highly honed. But the understanding is not abstracted, or in the same language that you learn at psychology school.

When people talk about basic human knowledge, it's often explained in terms of stories. And that's the lifeblood of village life - the stories.

There are workshops and classes and conferences on story-telling in the dominant society, but still, in a way, it's a thing outside of ourselves. But when you are living in a culture where story-telling is the way information is passed around, it becomes second nature. It is how people know things.

There's something very human-scale about this, because that's the way that were created to understand life. There's something very handleable about it. And also there are things that emerge from that.

For instance, when story-telling forms the basis for how people know and think, there's a lot of room for people to be themselves. Out in the dominant society there are rules; you're allowed to have a tear, but you can't burst out crying. Or you can't get angry.

In this world you can be however you're going to be. Life is viewed as a process. So if one day someone's out there shouting and screaming and tearing down the fence, the next day it's back to normal. It's no big deal.

If such a thing happened in suburbia, it would be all shameful, and perhaps the family would be tainted for generations to come.

In the village life where everything hangs out and life is viewed as a process, there's no disaster if somebody has some kind of an outburst.

AM: That's great!

CG: And also, in the dominant society, there's an emphasis on achievement. Individual achievement. We might surmise that - with the loss of the connectedness to other people, to the tribe, to the natural world and to sustainable life in the natural world, with the loss of all that, and with an arising economic system emphasizing the survival of the individual or the nuclear family unit - then individual achievement becomes the meaning of life. I was dating a guy who was a local farmer, and I asked him, "What do you want for the rest of your life?"

And he said, "I hope that nothing happens."

I was dumbfounded!

I was thinking, "Well I'd like to write a whole bunch more books and have an impact, you know."

But that was his goal: he hoped that nothing would happen, that the seasons would pass and he would go hunting and grow corn and take care of his horses. But that nothing really major would happen.

AM: That certainly indicates how people in the dominant culture seem to be driven by a deep dissatisfaction about their own lives. Is there anything else you wanted to talk about in terms of the difference between the dominant society and indigenous societies?

CG: By the way, I would call the world of northern New Mexico "land-based". There are Native people who preceded these folks and still live here. Even though the Chicanos share a lot of survival practices, there is a difference in terms of length of time of being here.

I could go on and on. What it means to raise a pig and kill it, what it means to go hunting, what it means to grow corn and use every single part of the plant...

There is something here that's a problem, though, and the problem is called envidia, envy. Surely it exists out in the dominant society, but people there don't identify it as a problem. And I always think "Well, these folks here are so close to a survival that was communal." It's relatively recent that some people here got more than other people. And the dominant society came and dangled things - and so some people do have more than others: more acreage, more cars, a bigger TV, nicer cowboy boots, more cows.

In envidia, if one person rises above the others, then everybody gets upset about it. And this phenomenon is viewed as a problem. But I see it as an outgrowth of the fact that somebody could get a bunch of new stuff or could become more famous than the others - and that's a result of the brush with the dominant society. Envidia is a symptom, really.

AM: I'd like to ask about some of the psychology of people in the dominant society. We know that people have a lot of psychological defense mechanisms that prevent them from recognizing the severity of our situation and the damage that civilization is causing to the planet and to communities. And that society at large has it's own mechanisms to encourage this ignorance. You write about both of these in your book When Technology Wounds. So my question is what does it take to break down these barriers so that people can honestly perceive and recognize what is happening? Or, in other words, what will it take for the majority of people in the world to recognize the destructiveness of the dominant culture?

CG: That's the question, isn't it?

AM: [Pause] OK.

CG: [Laughter] One thing I've learned by living here is how I just responded to that question.

AM: Yes,.well, that's fair!

CG: Yeah, I'm sure I could spout off but I don't feel any reason to. We've been grappling with that problem for a long time.

AM: So, on slightly more practical note, I think that we'd agree that people in the dominant culture operate on premises that are both false and absurd. Premises like "Human beings are separate from or superior to the rest of nature," or that "Progress, capitalism and technology are both good and inevitable." And I hope that as industrial collapse progresses people will increasingly question these assumptions. So, on a more pragmatic note, how can we help people to reorient themselves away from these harmful assumptions and towards the assumptions of healthy, ecologically sane communities?

CG: One of my assumptions is that the dominant society is dysfunctional at every level and within every one of its structures. It doesn't serve people. It doesn't serve life. It doesn't enhance connectedness or beauty or spiritual meaning. It's not even sustainable. Which doesn't mean that the healing spirit doesn't find a way to express beauty or connectedness, or aid in a million ways. It does, that's what is so miraculous. But the basic morals that we're living in, the social structures, the architectural structures, the way the road is, the way the transportation is, the way you get money - anything that you could bring up is dysfunctional.

Good people have been trying on so many levels for the longest time. When I was younger I thought "Oh, well, here's the answer. Oh, here's the answer." I had that kind of an attitude about the things that I engaged in. Not to say that they weren't really good things, I always picked really good ideas and projects - but whatever it was it always remained as a small thing in the world of the dominant society. It always remained as an "alternative."

I still believe that - whether you are offering workshops to people on racism, or you're a masseuse, or you're demanding the return of land that was stolen, or you're doing natural childbirth, or you're growing your own food, or protesting the war, or you're dismantling the microwave relay stations - no matter what, it's all crucial.

Maybe I could divide the important effects into categories.

In one category would be challenging the dysfunction, saying "No," attempting to reveal it or bring it down.

On the other side would all the ways in which to say "Yes." All the ways to reconnect. All the ways to love. All the ways to enhance healing. All the ways to reach out to others, and support others in their struggles.

AM: You know that I'm writing about "collapse," and so I think a lot about people's context within the dominant society - and about how that's going to be lost for an increasing number of people. I'm trying to think about things that we can do for them if that's something that we want to do, or if that's an option that's open to us.

CG: I think we all had a chance to think about collapse in the year 2000. It was acceptable to think about it. Which is interesting. Because before that you would really be viewed as a wacko if you talked about such a thing.

"What if you don't have any electricity? And you don't have any gas in your car? And neither does anybody else?" That's really about all you have to think about to imagine it. And then you have to think about what you're going to do about that. Each one of us has a different situation.

My well is electric, so one of the things that I had to explore as 2000 was arriving was if I could get a handpump for my well. And it turned out it would have been a really stupid thing to do because it's seventy feet down. The other thing was the river was about an eighth of a mile away. And so I was thinking, how was I going to haul water from the river? Or go to the river to use the water?

But somebody who lives in an urban apartment has another challenge. And so collapse is going to be different in different places.

AM: Some of my friends find the idea of collapse really terrifying, and that's certainly understandable. I suspect that they might emotionally feel that prospect of collapse more deeply than I sometimes do. Do you have any thoughts or advice for people who find collapse really frightening, on how they can deal with those those feelings of fear, and then think about what they might have to do?

CG: I think that the act of thinking about what you need to do could help. Get practical about it. Put thought into creating a system for yourself. And that system might have to do with the other people in your apartment building. Or it might have to do with wheelbarrows. Or it might have to do with walking somewhere and meeting people. Or it might have to do with fish in the bay. Think it through. Where are you going to be? What are you going to do? Be practical. My sense is that people can prepare, but that a lot of the rest is going to be invented on the spot.

The system, as dysfunctional as it is, is keeping us alive, you know? It is what we know. The human psyche is, I believe, built to mirror the environment. We were built to mirror the sky, and the wind, and the seasons, and then to relate to them in their language.

As a psychologist, my practice is with post-traumatic stress disorder. Instead of mirroring the tribe and the human touch and the feeling of the wind and the animals, the psyche actually mirrors back the trauma, and becomes structured according to the trauma. Living in a society as we do - mass society, dysfunctional civilization - it's what we know, it's what we expect, it's how we believe that reality is. And so we have to inject ourselves with a different vision.

To begin with: how to get water. How to get food. How to deal with waste.

The puppy doesn't poop on the bed, you know. The teeniest little puppy knows that.

Back in the seventies and eighties, I was involved in the creation of a psychological process whose purpose was to get us out of denial and numbing about the nuclear arms race. It was called Despair and Empowerment, and it was a process for coming to terms with feelings so that people could face death. And therefore become active to stop the arms race. Maybe that same process could be applied to the current situation. But I'm feeling much more down-to-earth and practical about it. Today's challenge doesn't feel like a big psychological process. It feels like re-thinking how you are going to deal with water, food, and waste. And how your relationships are going to be arranged around those tasks.

AM: You talked about our minds mirroring back the world that's around us. I hope that as a lot of the industrial infrastructure and institutions are removed or become inactive, that people's minds will begin to mirror the localized communities they are creating, and begin to see the nature and living creatures and land wherever they are. How long does something like that take to happen? How long does it take for people to start to shift away from that institutionalized framework?

CG: [Pause] I don't think there's a single answer. People are going to go to what they know. For instance, I bet that a lot of people would end up hanging with the people in their churches, or their synagogues or their mosques or their sanghas. Other people might end up being in their apartment buildings. For some people it will just be completely, utterly chaotic. Some people may be caught in the subway. They may be far from home. They may have to deal with it where they are. What if you are an American soldier in Iraq, and for some reason the electricity stops working? Well, that's a different situation than me being in Chimayó. Some people will be in dangerous situations in terms of human contact. Some people will be in dangerous situations in terms of technology. They may be in danger because of something like in the BART system under the San Francisco Bay. And they are in a tunnel underneath water. You know?

AM: Yes.

CG: In the early days of the bioregional movement in the Bay Area, we were challenged to think about where we were. To think about "Where does the water come from?" Of course, people thought the water came out of the tap. "Where does it really come from? It comes from the Sierra Mountains." And to think about matters of sustainability, how the various Native peoples sustained themselves in the East Bay, in San Francisco, in Marin County. What were their ways? What kind of resources are there? In other words, basic questions of place. These are all good things to do.

When the Soviet Union broke apart in 1989 and Cuba was no longer getting aid they had to figure out how to survive. And now every single apartment in Havana has a garden.

During World War II, when all resources were being pinched inside the United States, there was a thing called the Victory Garden. It was viewed as patriotic for every single home to have a vegetable garden.

And then after the War, of course, the food corporations, and the unsustainable economy rose up again to make profit. And so then they pooh-poohed gardening and made going to the supermarket the new thing.

The other thing that you might want to have is medicine. I've always thought that the most valuable things that I have are my homeopathic medicines. Get your medicines together.

Speaking as a psychologist I'd say preparation will help people deal with feelings of fear.

AM: Ok, great.

CG: I'm sorry I can't give you more. I mean, we're just people! [Laughter] And we're dependent on this monstrous system. Most people are not in a good situation with this.

AM: Well, I think it's good for me actually, because it's helped to confirm some of the direction that I've already been taking, and the work that I've been doing on so far. I was worried, "Oh, I'm going to have to do all this elaborate research into psychology," to understand how people might respond in that situation.

CG: Crisis brings out the worst and the best. But nobody knows who's going to be which way, you know? Clearly there will be marauding people. Hungry, marauding people. Maybe with weapons. That will happen in some places. And in some places people will pull together.

Did you see the issue that Adbusters put out?

AM: I saw some content on their website, I haven't read the physical one. What did you think of it? You've read it?

CG: I actually have a piece in there under another name. It's smaller than I wrote it originally. I pretended that I was from suburbia. This exercise in imagination gave me an opportunity to think about what you would do if you were in that situation. I found myself thinking about systems that people could use. I had this idea of turning the football field into a massive community garden. And hauling water in different things that were made for other activities, like shopping carts and garbage bags and children's wagons. I imagined that the cheerleaders from the high school had gotten together and put what they knew about communicating in groups - which is an area of expertise for teenage girls - and they came up with a ritual that bonded everybody together.

But I also got a chance to think about the psychological stuff. There's a wonderful book written in the fifties by a psychiatrist named Martha Wolfenstein. It's called Disaster. There's an awful lot being written about post-traumatic stress in today's world because trauma is so prevalent in our lives at this point. But this was written earlier.

She'd done studies of communities that had gone through things like floods or fires, and she came up with an overview of what happens to a community when there is a disaster.

Even if it's non-violent, a disaster is a break with people's assumptions about reality - and where help comes from. Collapse of social and technological systems is clearly a case where we won't be sitting around waiting for the Red Cross to show up. The job of helping is going to fall upon us. To be the Red Cross, to be the police, to be the ministers, to be the mothers, to be the fathers, to be the ceremonialists, to be the farmers, everything.

If I can think of things that already exist, I would have to say that co-counseling would have a role to play.It was founded in the sixties, as a radical approach to psychotherapy. The idea was that you don't have to go to a therapist and you don't have to pay money. Co-counseling is a way for people to do it themselves. It's not "real" psychotherapy in the sense that you pay a psychotherapist is because a psychotherapist knows something about how psyches are structured; there is an expertise.

But there's an incredible wisdom to co-counseling in that it's two people talking to each other. Each one takes the agreed upon period of time to talk and express feelings, and the other one listens. And then you turn it the other way around.

Another thing is to create ceremonies to bind people together and give them strength. For some people it might be the ceremonies they've always used. For other people, it may be a process that emerges that's egalitarian and reflective of the new predicament.

AM: I also think of Augusto Boal's "Theatre of the Oppressed" - I don't know if you've heard or read much about that?

CG: Yes.

AM: It seems like some sort of theatre or drama or public performance can also be really useful for binding people together, and also for exploring feelings and relationships in a community.

CG: Yes. Great.

AM: Are there any other books or resources that you wanted to recommend or suggest?

CG: Well, my first book is called Waking up in the Nuclear Age, and that is a description of the psychological process that we developed in the 1980s. Another book with actual exercises in it is a book by one of my colleagues named Joanna Macy, Despair and Personal Power in the Nuclear Age. She collected various practices that many different people had come up with.

Again, I don't feel very highfalutin about this. I mean, in contrast to other times in my life when I felt like, "This will really work." We're talking about the breaking apart of mass society. By its nature it's got to be human-scale process. It comes down to who you are with and what you are going to do. So it's hard to be highfalutin about it because it just comes down to everybody's ingenuity and strength - wherever they find themselves.