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10/17: ABQ City Councilor Rey Garduño to Intro Proclamation Supporting We Are 99%-Occupy Wall Street Movement

October 16, 2011 by Democracy for N...

Albuquerque City Councilor Rey Garduño (District 6) has announced that he will be introducing a proclamation (pdf) at the Albuquerque City Council meeting that starts at 5:00 PM on Monday, October 17, at One Civic Plaza. The document states that the governing body of the City of Albuquerque recognizes "We Are The 99%," and stands with the Occupy Wall Street movement, listing the reasons why.

In the video clip above, taken at Satuday's demonstration on Central Avenue in the Nob Hill area, Councilor Garduño discusses the proclamation and his reasons for presenting it to the City Council.

10/16 ABQ: Fulbright Association Hosts Perspectives on Climate Change

October 12, 2011 by Democracy for N...

From Fullbright Association, New Mexico Chapter:

You are invited to 
Perspectives on Climate Change
3:00 PM, Sunday, October 16, 2011
Jewish Community Center
5520 Wyoming Blvd. NE, Albuquerque, NM 87109
Click for Flyer (PDF)
Free and Open to the Public

INTRODUCTION
“Current views in Congress on the threats of global warming:" Senator Jeff Bingaman (by video)

PANEL
“The scientific evidence that growing carbon dioxide levels and global warming are largely of human origin” -- Professor David Gutzler, The University of New Mexico

“Potential consequences of global warming, from inconvenient weather to global catastrophe” -- Dr. Mark Boslough, Sandia National Laboratories

“Obstacles standing in the way of addressing global warming- a business community perspective” -- Mr. Jeff Sterba,Chairman, PNM Resources

Kaiser Forced to Repay Small Businesses for Overcharging

October 4, 2011 by Calitics

HMO faces scrutiny for their arithmetic

by Brian Leubitz

Kaiser is something of a mixed bag.  They get some good press for focusing on areas that help to reduce health care costs, preventative care, that sort of thing.  On the flip side, they are usually somewhere in the background on lobbying efforts, killing any attempts to make health care insurance more consumer friendly in California.

Well, today's news is more on the dark side.  It turns out that they've been overcharging small business customers and not really providing the data to back it up:

Kaiser Permanente has retroactively rolled back rate increases that went into effect for small businesses on July 1 by 1.2 percent.

The welcomed - albeit small - bit of news for thousands of  California enrollees comes after a bit of wrangling with the state regulators.

Kaiser in April had proposed a 10.7 percent rate hikes for the bulk of its small business customers. The state Department of Managed Health Care, armed with a new law that allows them to scrutinize actuarial data behind the rate filings, pushed back.

"We've been  concerned about the lack of data they provided to support their trends and we requested they reduce their rates," said department spokeswoman Lynne Randolph.

The new increase of 9.5 percent translates into a total savings of $13.5 million, Randolph said.

Steve Klinger Guest Blog: New Independent Newspaper 'The Light of New Mexico' Seeks to Illuminate Inconvenient Truths

September 28, 2011 by Democracy for N...

This is a guest blog by Steve Klinger, a long-time journalist and editor of the Grassroots Press, on the recent launch of a new, independent print and online newspaper called The Light of New Mexico. Steve will be editing the paper, which will initially be published monthly. The first print issue of The Light of New Mexico hit the streets of Santa Fe on September 15, with a cover story on "The Politics of H2O: Who Controls Your Water?" It's also available for download as a pdf by clicking here.

The newspaper, published by Skip Whitson, will focus on "Illuminating Inconvenient Truths," and will be covering "Conscious Culture, including Politics, Reviews, Books and Entertainment." The Light of New Mexico is designed to serve as a progressive, alternative source of ideas, information and a networking nexus for north-central New Mexico and beyond, providing a newspaper, a blog and a community resource.

New National Report: How Gov. Susana Martinez's Big Business Agenda Endangers New Mexicans

September 28, 2011 by Democracy for N...

Just the facts! Food & Water Watch, joined by Conservation Voters New Mexico and the New Mexico Federation of Labor, today released a report (pdf) that outlines numerous examples of how Governor Susana Martinez has given special privilege to industries like oil and gas, industrialized dairy, homebuilders and mining -- at the expense of environmental protection and the local economy. The well-documented report also provide useful charts that demonstrate -- in no uncertain terms -- how and why the Martinez administration puts politics and campaign donor wishes ahead of the needs of New Mexicans and protecting our vital natural resources.