A Quiet Community Sunday

Our hens are taking a break, so for Sunday brunch we bicycle to Nessa's. It's a peaceful ride on quiet streets. We pass some small but appealing houses that have seen better days. I always wish I could save them. They're like stray cats I want to feed.

Nessa's is small and welcoming – and nearly empty, because everyone's out back, where musicians are jamming and drinking coffee. Inside, at the table next to ours, two state legislators are discussing energy. After ordering, we briefly discuss with them New Mexico's overly restrictive cottage-industry laws. Then they get back to working, and we start eating. 

Nessa's daughter turned two not long ago, so we've brought along a children's book written by our friend Yosef Lapid. Retiring from his NMSU professorial duties (government), he revived an old dream of writing children's books. After ten successful books starring an adventurous and mischievous snowman named Paul, he's written this one about Yara, a young girl who wants to save the Amazonian rainforest she lives in.  (see www.snowmanpaul.com)

Leaving, we pause out back. Musicians creating, others drinking coffee and listening. As we unlock our bicycles, enjoying the music, we resolve to come back some Sunday when we've time to linger and listen.

Today, we have an appointment to pick apples. “Apple Days,” at Burke's U-Pick Mesilla Valley Apples have ended, but LuAnne Burke has agreed to let us pick the season's last apples and gather free fallen apples for the hens. We want the fresh apples for snacking, and baking in the solar oven;

but it's also a delightful outing – particularly for Foxy, a dog (Red Heeler mix) who is living with us while her person deals with medical issues. Foxy loves to run, and discovers nearby fields where she can really open up her canine throttle. Does she dream she's herding Australian cattle, as her ancestors did?

We also like talking with LuAnne about the great pies she makes and about her family's decades of farming here. Once the valley had many apple orchards. This is the last one of any size, and LuAnne is the last of her family farming here. We want to see her family legacy survive. And thrive.

Picking apples is a diverting task. Fallen apples in various states of decay cover whole areas like a slippery rug. Few apples are left on the trees, mostly high up. Some are rotten, or look fine until closer inspection reveals that a bird has absconded with a chunk. Others are beautiful. We use a fruit-picker – a very long pole with a small basket at one end. The orchard envelops us. We can't even see the mountains. Wandering from tree to tree, I lose my sense of direction. 

At dusk we water trees in Oddfellows Cemetery, having signed up for this task as part of the Las Cruces tree steward program. After nearly two years, “our” trees are almost ready to fend for themselves. We marvel at their growth.

No single part of the day is earth-shaking. It's just another quiet Sunday in a modest city in the Southwest. But it's home. It's our community. Community, which folks once took for granted, is increasingly rare. We're not strangers to nature here, or to each other. Most of us care about this land that provides for hens and cafes, music and friendship, writing and dreams, farms and foxes, and silence. 

Works for me!

                                                 -30-

[The above column appeared this morning, Sunday, 17 November 2019, in the Las Cruces Sun-News, as well as on the newspaper's website and KRWG's website.  A spoken version is also available on the latter, and will air during the week on KRWG and on KTAL, 101.5 FM (www.lccommunityradio.org)] 

[Community.  Between my leaving Las Cruces (August 1977) and my moving back here with my wife (2010-11), I thought often about the concept of what I called the village.  I met many wonderful people, and formed close friendships in San Francisco, Boston, Taiwan, and Peru; I thoroughly enjoyed living in the San Francisco Bay Area; but I realized that in large cities we knew people in a very limited way, even many friends. 
I realized that in Las Cruces I knew people what I called horizontally: that is, the same person I might play chess or tennis with, or see at the pool or an art show, I might also next week act in a play with or hear speaking at city council meetings.  In cities, mostly, you know only one or two dimensions of someone's life.  You work intensely with A and B, and maybe play some tennis over at A's house on weekends, but you don't spontaneously get together of an evening.  Whereas in Las Cruces anyone lives less than 15 minutes from anyone else, if I lived in Oakland, A in Lafayette, and B in Palo Alto, it might take us each an hour -- and an hour's drive home -- to meet in some common place. In Oakland and San Franciso, I had friends I played racquetball or basketball with, and friends I saw films or went to bookstores with, and friends who lived near me, but they were rarely the same friends.  Further, most of my team at work were indifferent to poetry, foreign films, and other interests of mine, and some mocked my progressive political views.
Here, I also knew people vertically, across generations.  Depending on people's ages, I knew not only the person and partner, but kids and grandkids, or parents and grandparents, and frequently siblings.  Knowing a friend's parents or kids deepens your understanding of that friend, and enriches the friendship.  In the Bay Area, my knowledge of most friends' families was sketchy at best, and usually non-existent.
We moved here for a lot of reasons; but those included both the many specific people we loved here and the abstract desire for the richer friendships of "the village."  Community. I'd found that, mostly by accident, in this county, and I wanted to recover a bit of it.]

[I guess for a variety of reasons Nessa's sometimes make me reflect on such things. (see Bicycling to the Gratitude Cafe)  It's delightful that so many really appealing coffeehouses and small eateries have sprung up, of late.  Nessa's, the Main Street Mercado Cafe, Beck's, and Cafecito Divino are all close to downtown -- and we still love Milagro!]

[Another aspect of community was yesterday afternoon's reading at the Las Cruces Museum of Nature and Science.  Eric Magrane, relatively new here, organized a project, celebrating the Chihuahuan Desert and specifically our Organ Mountains/Desert Peaks National Monument, in which a variety of poets and writers each wrote a poem (or brief prose piece) about, to, or from a specific species of plant or animal native to the Monument.  A bunch of us read yesterday -- and one enjoyable aspect of the thing was that many poets and writers came out of their caves or small groups and met one another for the first time.  At any rate, there's an Introduction to the project here  -- or, Eric has also written an "entry poem" (spiralorb.net/) made up of lines from the various poems; so another neat way of reading the overall work is to start with that poem, follow any link, read one of the poems, then follow a link in that poem to another . . . and another . . .]


[Meanwhile, a last reminder: support local community radio (KTAL, 101.5 FM, www.lccommunityradio.org) -- and have fun doing it at the Rio Grande Theater this evening 5-9 p.m., with some neat food from 5-6, some fun music from 6 to 9, and a chance to tell us "Que Tal" show-hosts what we're doing wrong.  If you can't make the event, please consider donating -- or becoming a member -- on the website.]

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KTAL - Las Cruces Community Radio - Is Worth a Listen, and Fun to Support

“¿Qué tal?” [What's up?] That casual greeting inspired the official call-letters “KTAL” for our Las Cruces community radio station.

Despite limited funds, KTAL-LP is a pretty neat radio station – due solely to volunteers. July 2019 marked two full years on the air. Before that, a small but dedicated group worked more than two years to get the station on the air. 

 

Las Cruces needed a community radio station, even though KRWG is an excellent public radio station of which I’m a member. I love the classical and jazz music and the NPR national news, and KRWG's dedication to covering local news despite limited budget, staff and available air time. 

 

KTAL plays an important role supplementing public and commercial radio. As newspapers shrink and local commercial stations abandon local talk, KTAL helps this community talk to itself. That’ll be even more true in the future, as newspapers disappear and right-wing national corporations buy up local radio stations.

Kari Bachman

Kari Bachman’s Thursday morning show, “Just Community,” is a great example of what only community radio can do. She interviews folks who have little say in our local politics: low-income folks, folks without homes, former convicts, people with disabilities, and other interesting fellow citizens. Her guests, often invisible to our leaders, have voices – and some have much to say. 

 

Wednesday mornings, Walt Rubel and I talk with mostly local guests about politics, climate-change, books, films, water, education, Alzheimer’s, ideas, international problems, economics, the arts, life-coaching, and alternative therapies. We try to arrange for folks who disagree to talk face-to-face on air. Walt’s new “Eye on Government” show (Friday mornings) covers local news and government in detail. Tuesday

mornings, Nan Rubin discusses our outer space and Las Cruces, then Ambassador Delano Lewis talks with noteworthy national figures such as Madeleine Albright. Monday mornings Randy Harris and Keith Whelply also host thought-provoking conversations about how we think; Fridays at 10, Lisa Lucca talks with callers about living the lives they want to live; and every other Friday at 12:30, Lynn Moorer interviews local authors. 

Delano Lewis (R)

Nan Rubin

 

KTAL has local music/variety shows too numerous to name here. They’re diverse and well-done – and wonderfully home-grown. 

 

KTAL has achieved all this on an absurdly small budget, without even a paid manager or sponsorship/underwriting salesperson. Volunteers host, produce, and archive all the shows – and download and organize the shows the station acquires from other sources.

Shows air on 101.5 FM, can be streamed at www.lccommunityradio.org/ and are stored on the Archives page on that same website. Check it out – and while there, please consider donating and/or becoming a member. At that website folks can also review the on-air schedule, volunteer, and propose shows – and buy tickets for the Roadrunner Revue.

The Roadrunner Revue, Sunday, 17 November, 5-9 p.m., at the Rio Grande Theater, will be a fundraiser, AND just plain fun. Musical artists performing will including KTAL's own Doug Adamz and Teresa Tudury, plus C.W. Ayon, and Gene Keller. We're fortunate that Doug, who grew up in El Paso, recently returned to Las Cruces with his wife, and lured Teresa here too. Their performances are a treat. Let's celebrate what KTAL has accomplished. 

 

As we watch what's happening around the nation (and globe), we need more of us, community coming together, to make good. We need the Mesilla Valley Co+Op and KTAL, because they are OURS. Join in the fun November 17^th and support our future.

                                                -30-

[The above column appeared Sunday, 10 November, in the Las Cruces Sun-News, and on the newspaper's website.   ]

[As mentioned, you can get tickets at www.lccommunityradio.org or Eventbrite. I also want to apologize for the fact that space didn't permit listing all locally-produced KTAL's shows.  That list appears below.  ]

[Feel free to call (575) 526-KTAL {5825} with questions or comments. We also have a facebook page.  With some shows, Dean Matson posts information there, the day before the show, regarding who the guests will be and what the discussion will concern.  We welcome comments, suggestions, AND CRITICISM.  You can also call in to some of the live shows, including, among others, "Speak Up, Las Cruces!" "Think Again," and "Take on Faith."]

This is current, but always changing.  At website, click on any program to learn when it airs.

This is NOT CURRENT! I'll try to replace this with a more current schedule shortly.

Doug Adamz

C.W. Ayon

Teresa Tudury

Voting Tuesday in Doña Ana County

There are some local election races many folks don't know much about.

The Doña Ana Soil and Water Conservation District (“DASWCD”) has been a rancher-dominated board, largely out of step with the county's views. When most people favored creating the Monument, DASWCD unanimously wrote President Obama opposing it. Fortunately, DASWCD is changing, and now includes both environmentalists and ranchers. 

Ranchers bring invaluable knowledge of the land, but represent only one interest. A conservative state commission annually appoints two of the seven board-members, most always ranchers. This election, three seats are in play. Everyone in the District can vote in all three races. 

Kurt Anderson challenges Board Chair Jerry Schickedanz. Both are good men. Both are retired NMSU professors. Anderson has become expert on water, and sits on a local water consumer association and the LRG Regional Water Planning Steering Committee. Schickedanz is expert in range management, and brings useful knowledge that somewhat duplicates that of ranchers. 

Anderson appears more wholly aware of the need to fight climate-change, and more fully focused on conservation.

Fernando Clemente challenges incumbent David Martinez. Clemente is a wildlife biologist who works with public and private landowners to foster responsible land stewardship. He's also a sportsman. He's also on the Wildlife Federation board. Martinez is part of the DASWCD old guard. 

 

Chris Cardenas challenges recent appointee Josh Smith are running. This race is a closer call. Both are lawyers. Smith has a ranching background. Cardenas owns a small pecan orchard. Smith seems more in tune with environmental concerns than other board-members. Cardenas is a committed conservationist who supports urban gardens and community projects that both educate and provide land stewardship opportunities. 

 

Anderson, Clemente, and Cardenas are smart and resourceful conservationists who'll focus on helping the DASWCD do more of the environmental protection work it should be doing. 

We'll also elect a new Las Cruces Presiding Municipal Judge. Judge Joy Goldbaum, after two years as the second municipal judge, wants to preside over significant improvements. Muni Court hears minor crimes, violations of city ordinances. With defendants who can't pay their fines, the court hasn't been fully utilizing community service opportunities with local non-profits. When people fail to show up and get socked with additional penalties they can't pay, jailing them wastes our money and screws up lives. Goldbaum has been trying to change that. Her opponent, former Magistrate Judge Richard Jacquez, is also a fine candidate who seems to favor the same improvements. I'd love to see Judge Goldbaum as Presiding Judge and Judge Jacquez appointed as second municipal judge. A good team.

Regarding the LCPS Board, I support Ed Frank and Teresa Tenofrio. I've been particularly impressed by Frank's handling of some recent tough situations, responding to attacks with candor and blunt speaking. 

Kasandra Gandara has been an able and energetic city councilor, who's shown she can fulfill all the duties of a city councilor. Her challenger has rightly advocated better accessibility and strict compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act. No one on the council disagrees. The city should fully comply. 

Johana Bencomo has my vote in District 4, with Antoinette Reyes is a close second. I wish we could combine the best of both. 

Tessa Abeyta Stuve (District 2) is another topnotch candidate. Philip Van Veen is a solid businessman. Each does much for our community and would be an able councilor. I'd likely vote for Tessa, but Philip would diversify the council.

Please vote!

                                           -30- 

[The above column appeared this morning, Sunday, 3 November, 2019, in the Las Cruces Sun-News, as well as on the newspaper's website and [presently] on KRWG's website.  A spoken version will air during the week on KRWG  and is also available at the KRWG website.  (I expressed my views on the Las Cruces mayoral election last week]

[I have space here to clarify one point: I'm definitely not against ranchers, or against their participation on the DASWCD.  Stephen Wilmeth and Dudley Williams are men who know and love the land, not merely whatever profits they make from it.  Each has impressed me at times, although certainly I'm appalled by their national political views, as expressed in numerous DASWCD resolutions.  (They're the two recently-reappointed non-elected members of the board.)  Neither fits the stereotype some folks have in mind regarding ranchers.  

I know that they feel their way of life, and their livelihood, are under attack and that they are in an embattled minority.  They know so much about the land, and do so much with it (including some good, I think) that I'd not want to see the soil and water conservation district not have ranchers on it.

Yeah, I understand the counter-arguments: that meat is an unnecessarily destructive food to bring to the table, and that  they get to use public land cheaply; but they're an important segment of our community here, and at least some of them are not as thoughtless about that land as some environmentalists assume.  What I have opposed is three things: focusing too wholly on needs of ranchers and farmers, when their charge under the statute is quite broader than that, and even includes preservation of wildlife; using the publicly-elected board to espouse sometimes far-out political views and saying or suggesting the people of this county share those views; and (formerly) having a voting system that didn't accord with the U.S. Constitution.)  I think the DASWCD is changing for the better, as ranchers and environmentalists work together.]

[Regarding these and other races, it strikes me that (for me, at least), it's harder to write about local races than national ones because you know the people.   You care about them.  Sometimes  you like people you don't agree with about much.]

[I did vote Saturday.  Yesterday.  At Corbett Center, with no line whatsoever.  Early-voting is sure convenient.  After saying last week that I'd vote only for Ken Miyagashima as my first choice plus Greg Smith and Alex Fresquez second and third, I did add a fourth choice.  And had mixed feelings about others, because I do have preferences among them.] 

[I should note that you can hear our radio panels with pretty much all the candidates in all the races (well, mayoral candidate Isabella Solis and David Martinez of the DASWCD said they were coming and then just didn't show, without even calling) by going to www.lccommunityradio.org and clicking on archives.  Speaking of community radio, you can also use that page to donate to KTAL, 101.5 FM, and/or buy a ticket to the Roadrunner Revue.  That's a big benefit for the station, 5-9 on November 17th at the Rio Grande Theater.] 

On November 17th, from 5 to 9 PM, The Roadrunner Revue will showcase the incredible talent connected to our community radio station, KTAL-LP! Enjoy great food during a reception that opens the evening while bidding on a wide variety of valuable goodies in our silent auction. Gracing the stage of our historic Rio Grande Theatre will be KTAL DJs, friends of the station and local luminaries.

Performers include:
CW Ayon
Chris Sanders
Doug Adamz
Gene Keller
Teresa Tudury
The Cosmic Troubadours

I hope you come out to support our volunteer-run public radio station -- and enjoy the event!  Though I know and like the musicians, I hope to spend most of my time out front talking to folks who want to ask questions about KTAL or make suggestions. 

Voting for Mayor of Las Cruces

Voting in our mayoral election involves not only our preferences among the ten candidates but the new process of ranked-choice voting.

RCV, or instant run-off, lets a candidate reach the required fifty-percent-plus-one without wasting time or money on a runoff election. We vote for our preferred candidate by marking him/her as first choice; then there are circles to fill in for second, third, and even ninth choice. Sounds simple, but I've heard many misconceptions.

Indicating secondary choices is optional. If you vote for only one candidate, your vote counts. However, voting for secondary candidates cannot possibly hurt your top choice: no one even looks at your second choice unless your top choice has been eliminated. Each round of counting eliminates the last place candidate. Where a voter for that newly eliminated candidate has a next-choice marked, that next choice (if not already eliminated) gets another vote. 

Thus it's senseless to eschew secondary choices to protect your preferred candidate. Refusing to list secondary choices essentially says that if your candidate had chosen not to run, and the other nine were all running, you'd abstain. But it's your choice. One voter I know says Miyagishima is the only real candidate, and that she'll vote for him and be done with it. Others plan to rank their top nine. 

My approach is to (a) identify my top choice; (b) identify the people for whom I won't vote, for various reasons; then (c) determine my preferences among the candidates who aren't covered by (a) or (b). 

Ken Miyagishima is my choice. He's been a good mayor. He and the council have moved in some good directions; he has both experience and a willingness to listen and grow; and I'm not hearing allegations from his opponents of any big errors or even a hint of corruption. He cares about the city, has improved it, represents us well, and seems likely to continue on that course. 

Sadly, a majority of the ten candidates are people whom I wouldn't want as mayor and won't help by listing on my ballot. I like and respect several, while others sound good, but I'm unconvinced. Some I don't trust, for good reasons. One whom I consider a friend represents a small, extreme share of citizens and buys into some odd conspiracy theories. Several seem beholden to the wrong people, including one who says his campaign is being managed by a woman I recall worked for a Koch Brothers-related organization and favored the vicious, divisive, and dishonest city council recall effort a few years ago. Another is only 20, and would have had to articulate some special and compelling reason for us to ignore his inexperience. Although some of these people are capable folks, none matches Miyagishima; and most have some disqualifying factor. 

I'll mark Greg Smith as my second choice, although back when the council didn't follow the City Charter in dealing with the minimum wage initiative, I figured I'd never vote for him for anything. He's capable; he cares about the city; and as councilor he's been involved in good things the city has done, and took the lead on some.

My third choice is Alex Fresquez. He lacks the relevant experience some others have; but he's promising, and I'm aware of no major negatives.

That's my ballot, anyway. Whatever your preferences, please vote. (If you mark someone else first, please consider Ken as your second choice.)

It matters.

                                         -30-

[The above column appeared this morning, Sunday, 27 October, 2019, in the Las Cruces Sun-News, as well as on the newspaper's website and [presently] on KRWG's website.  A spoken version will air during the week on KRWG and on KTAL (101.5 FM -- www.lccommunityradio.org), and is also available at the KRWG website.]

[Sorry not to give more detail concerning my opinions on the full list of candidates.  That's partly a space consideration, but I'm also not wanting to be unduly negative.  I appreciate the dedication of all who run.  And I should mention that we discussed local races, including this one, with the candidates on KTAL, and undecided voters can listen to those on the archives at www.lccommunityradio.org]

[Next week I'll discuss several other local races, particularly the three Dona Ana Soil and Water Conservation District races, as many voters aren't following those.  The DASWCD is more important than most folks suppose, and this year's vote is part of an important change from a somewhat one-dimensional board (seven who saw their primary task as helping ranchers and farmers, and who also held somewhat right-wing general political views that didn't reflect their constituency) to a more varied and environmentally-conscious board.  I hope that board will continue to have a ranching presence, and am confident it will because two of the seven seats are appointed by the rather conservative New Mexico Soil and Water Conservation Commission.  Some of these ranchers bring important, first-hand, special knowledge of our county to the table.  However, they should not dominate the board, in my view.  Each race reflects strong differences of opinion, although that's a little less so in one of the races.]

 [I don't think I can post anything on 27 October without noting, with gratitude, that on that date in 1945, the folks in the picture below got married.  The marriage lasted until her death in 1994.]

 [Of course, a not entirely surprising result of that event was this:]

So if you don't like my columns, complain to these folks -- though I doubt they'll be much help to you.  (If you like these Sunday columns, thank these folks -- or think about them for a moment, or say a prayer for 'em or light a candle or something.)

 

Y Basta, Senor Trump!

Will Donald Trump's bizarre betrayal of the Kurds and our country's security interests wake anyone up?

Imagine for a moment that Barack Obama, against repeated advice by military and defense experts and his own aides, suddenly went wacky on a call with the Turkish President and said, “Yeah, I know you want to get the Kurds, so we'll get out of there.”

Suppose that when grownups from both parties screamed, Obama gave no coherent explanation, but said the Kurds had “nothing to do with us” and weren't necessarily nice people. When reporters noted that his former security advisor, General Mattis, thought the move unwise, Obama said Mattis was a lousy general, and that he, Obama, had beaten ISIS in a month. Yeah, sounds kind of like a playground spat outside an elementary school.

Suppose that when Republicans in Congress criticized him, he called them names; and when his own party called his mistake dangerous, Obama's lame excuse was that we needed to extricate ourselves from endless wars. (But we're talking just 1,000 troops here; and they aren't coming home, but being reassigned in neighboring Iraq.) 

I use Obama's name rather than Trump's to highlight the absurdity here. No one can imagine Clinton, either Bush, Obama, or Eisenhower behaving this way – or responding to criticism with schoolyard insults, not reason. Trump brags he conquered ISIS. That's a laugh line. However, when the military captured Osama bin Laden, Obama actually kept apprised of the plans, in detail, throughout; and he even made a practical suggestion that turned out to be critical to the mission's success. 

Whether Kurds are nice or not isn't the point. They fought alongside us, playing a crucial role against ISIS. In the future, anyone calculating whether to help a Green Beret on the run in enemy territory sure won't factor in any hope the U.S. is capable of stability, let alone loyalty. Our president kisses Putin's ass and thinks Kim is a dear fellow but demeans allies at every opportunity. 

Adding insult to injury, Trump and Pence have “negotiated a cease-fire” under which Turkey will give the Kurds five days to evacuate their homeland. That's not a cease-fire, that's a surrender, or an invitation to one. If Russia were menacing Sitka, Alaska, would Trump ask for five days to evacuate and call that a victory?

Meanwhile, Trump's off-script request that Ukraine re-open its investigation of Joe Biden remains problematic. Trump claims he never said “quid pro quo”; but in gangster films, when Capone says you have a nice candy store and it'd be a shame if some disappointed customer fire-bombed the place, and offers protection money, the store-owner gets the idea. Or else. Trump claims he was upset about corruption; but he runs the most corrupt administration since Warren Harding. Further, he asked Ukraine to deal with corruption by re-appointing a prosecutor generally believed to be extraordinarily corrupt. 

Fortunately, Trump's effort to stonewall Congressional oversight by discouraging witnesses from testifying is failing. Seasoned diplomatic experts have called Trump's extortion effort “crazy,” and even John Bolton – a professional, despite his fatuous politics – quickly had an aide tell the DOJ Bolton wasn't involved in “this drug deal.” 

Trump's destroying our State Department – and junking credibility and alliances that U.S. actions and reliability built over time. 

This guy ain't a leader, but the bull-in-a-china-shop some disaffected voters wanted; but it's our china shop, and some broken stuff is irreplaceable.

                                            -30-

[The above column appeared this morning, Sunday, 20 October 2019, in the Las Cruces Sun-News, as well as on the newspaper's website ("What Will our Betrayer-in-Chief" Break Next? ) and KRWG's website.  A spoken version will soon be available on KRWG's website and will air during the week on both KRWG and KTAL (101.5FM - www.lccommunityradio.org)  Comments -- particularly criticism or questions -- are encouraged, here or on the newspaper's and KRWG's  websites!] 

[By the way, if Mattis is "the most overrated general" we have, what does that say of Trump's judgment of character in hiring Mattis and retaining him for rather awhile?]

[Trump responded to the impeachment inquiry like a frightened six-year-old, crossing his arms and screaming "No more witnesses for a totally compromised kangaroo court."
But witnesses are coming to testify; and they are career diplomats and administration officials.  Wednesday a top aide to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo testified concerning a demoralized State Department in which Trump's clique has sidelined career diplomats and pressing others to abuse their positions to advance dome3stic political objectives."  The witness said he quit his job as Pompeo's senior advisor out of frustration over Trump's treatment of diplomats and failure to support them.
Next Tuesday the House committees will hear from William B. Taylor, Jr., a top U.S. diplomat in Ukraine, whose text messages show he was deeply uneasy over the apparent attempt by Trump's aides to use a security-related $391 million package of aid as leverage to force Ukraine to do them a political favor.  Taylor termed the effort "crazy."]

[By the way, one of Trump's dumber efforts to vilify Biden -- which folks on the Internet keep repeating as if it were gospel -- was claiming that Biden bragged about sidelining a prosecutor to keep him from going after Hunter Biden.  Truth -- always inconvenient but rarely noticed by Trumpists -- is inconvenient.  Biden did tell Ukraine to get rid of a prosecutor as part of qualifying for certain aid.  He did so based on a bipartisan letter to that effect from Republicans and Democrats in Congress, because the prosecutor was generally believed to be so corrupt.  Further, that prosecutor had apparently closed his investigation into the company employing Hunter Biden, prior to the effort to get the prosecutor fired.  So on at least two counts, this particular fiction fails to persuade.

Trumpists also evade facts about Trump by pointing to actual or imaginary bad acts by Hillary and Joe.  For the record, although Hunter Biden apparently broke no laws, I'm uncomfortable with Hunter getting foreign employment at what looks like an outlandishly high salary while his father holds high office.  I was uncomfortable with it when George H.V. Bush's son, George, was in a similar position -- getting his failing oil company bailed out by friends of the family like Bahrain.  Can't say any laws were broken, but looked bad.  Same with Hunter.  Same with Trump's kids getting favors from China.  So, yeah.  Sorry, guys, but just because I think Biden would be a much better president than Trump doesn't require me to twist myself into knots trying to justify everything he or his family might do.  I agree that politics is a dirty business, and undermines the character of anyone who gets deeply involved in it.  I never claimed Hillary or Bill was pure as the driven snow; but Trump is in a whole different category none of those folks even approach.

Maybe Republican unity behind Trump is cracking now.  Certainly Republicans were at least as appalled by the betrayal of the Kurds as Democrats; and a few are beginning to acknowledge that although they do not currently favor impeachment, they don't yet know what more may be coming in the way of disgusting facts about Trump's conduct.]

[Regarding Syria, conservative Nicholas Kristof notes that just five years ago Obama (although generally Syria was likely his worst foreign-policy failure) acted very differently toward a crisis on Syria's border.  As many Christians might remember, ISIS started genocide against the Yazidi sect, killing men and raping women and girls.  Obama responded with airstrikes and a rescue operation -- and KURDISH FIGHTERS, in what Kristof calls "a heroic intervention" saved tens of thousands of Yasidi lives. But the Kurds mean nothing to us, and aren't nice.  Kristof also quotes a former U.N. official who emailed Kristof, comparing Trump's conduct to the Munich appeasement of Hitler in 1938.] 

[When I went to put a link to this on Facebook, I saw Donald Gagner's reposting of a story about the Navy Seal who headed the Ossama Bin Laden raid says the U.S. is under attack from its own President.  (https://www.businessinsider.com/william-mcraven-navy-seal-us-is-under-attack-from-trump-2019-10?utm_content=bufferdfa53&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook.com&utm_campaign=buffer-bi&fbclid=IwAR08HS04mzeZ-QJQ60FX9ThvMnzgtjg9LIrUIRy2BZcvM5L27EoEkOqJaMI).

Churches

One recent Sunday afternoon I left the garden to go to Peace Lutheran for the Installation of Xolani Kacera as Minister of the Unitarian Universalist Church.

I met Xolani when he first arrived in Cruces, and feel a connection to him.

Churches were never my favorite places in youth. Jesus's words resonated; but churchgoing didn't. As a civil rights worker, I learned that despite Jesus's concern for the poor and oppressed, white churches were fine with discrimination; then as I came to oppose the Viet Nam War, I noticed churches weren't very tolerant of dissenters urging peace. (I didn't yet know Christianity had been used to justify slavery.)

In the '60's, had you shown me a film of Xolani's installation ceremony, I'd have asked what the film-maker had been smoking.

The church itself felt pleasant: a few modernistic stained-glass windows, a wooden cross, and people dressed informally. 

I don't recall different denominations being quite so cooperative – except maybe about cleaning out red-light districts and gambling joints. This Unitarian event at a Lutheran church drew a rainbow of clergy, all in their finery: Rabbi Larry Karol, Pastor Jared Carson, at least one Methodist, and an AME minister from Alamogordo joined a dozen UU ministers from around the country. Unlike the church gatherings of the mid-20^th Century, there were both black and white, and both men and women. 

The message was all-inclusive love. Which had always seemed to me Jesus's message. (A white minister from South Carolina addressed “the elephant in the room” by noting that Xolani is black – adding that this fact was not why he had been hired, but was meaningful. )

Rev. Pratima Dharm gave the sermon. She started by saying she was nervous, and her PTSD was kicking in, and asked if others present were veterans. (Xolani was a military chaplain.) 

She talked about Gandhi, and how a friend of Martin Luther King, Sr. had met with Gandhi and then told the Kings about Gandhi's message. That message – of peace and inclusivity – our country deeply needed to hear. Gandhi's message had affected her own family, which was of the top caste in India, and thus wealthy landowners. Influenced by Gandhi, Rev. Dharm's grandfather and father (then 10 years old) gave up their land. They gave up 17 villages. Jesus and Gandhi both called on us to give up our wealth and start fresh. (Wealthy Christians don't always mention that.) For Pratima, it meant a life without the privileges she otherwise would have grown up with. Was she angry as a kid? “Who gives up 17 villages?” she asked, wonderingly.

She said plenty that I'd have loved to hear from a pulpit decades ago. She said churches were often comfortable places where people caught up with their friends or met new ones; but that as a [Unitarian] minister her job was to make parishioners uncomfortable. In a world of such economic inequality and ethnic tensions, we should all be uncomfortable. Not satisfied, and proud of our good jobs, nice houses, and smart children. 

Jesus made people uncomfortable. So did Gandhi, and MLK.

As I was musing on all the changes, Rev. Dharm said, “Humanity is following a new heart, forging a new world.” I hope so. We need new hearts, to help us join together to soften the consequences of our excesses and those of our ancestors, and improve our world. 

Here in Cruces, I think Xolani will help. 

                                             -30- 

[The above column appeared this morning, Sunday, 13 October 2019, in the Las Cruces Sun-News, as well as on the newspaper's website and on KRWG's website.  A spoken version will be up on KRWG's site later today, and will air during the week both on KRWG Radio and on KTAL, 101.5 FM, Las Cruces Community Radio.] 

New Mexico State Bank ? It Could Help our Economy

Suppose, in 1919, New Mexico, a cattle-raising state being taken advantage of by large cattle-dealers and big eastern banks, had formed its own state bank? 

In agricultural North Dakota, a populist wave established the Bank of North Dakota (BND) to protect farmers from powerful out-of-state grain brokers, railroad tycoons, and private bankers. Through changing times, BND has fulfilled its mission to "promote agriculture, commerce, and industry," by plowing state funds back into local economic development.

 

BND works with private institutions to help North Dakota's students, entrepreneurs, and farmers and ranchers. In 1967 BND made the nation's first federally-insured student loan. BND has been in the black every year since 1971. In 2017 BND's income was close to $150 million. It's loan portfolio was just under $5 billion. More than half of the profit goes back into North Dakota's general fund, offsetting residents' taxes. The rest goes toward more loans. 

 

You'd think other states might have noticed. Until recently, they didn't; but since 2010, twenty states, nine of them in the West, have seen legislative attempts to start public banks. Proposals have gained grassroots support from small businesses, farmers, and labor unions. Often progressives and far-right small-government folks agree on this one. Some advocates are disgusted by how Wall Street greed affects local economies. They see BND as a model. A public bank can pay the state higher interest on deposits than currently paid by national or global banks, because a public bank doesn’t return profits to individual stockholders, or pay top executives huge salaries and bonuses.

In this year's Legislative Session, State Sen. Jeff Steinborn proposed we study the possibility of a New Mexico state bank. Just study it. His memorial died in the Rules Committee on a tie vote.

Thursday, California approved the nation's second state bank. A century after the first (modern) state bank. Rhode Island, Washington, and Oregon are looking at the idea. New Mexico certainly should.

New Mexico and New Mexican businesses borrow money and pay plenty of interest to lenders. New Mexico government agencies, counties and cities, and businesses have accounts in a variety of banks, which are delighted to use our deposits to make other loans – paying us 1-2% interest and charging 5% or more. Some of that difference compensates the bank for risk, or helps pay its rent and employees. But some is profit. Why shouldn't that stay in New Mexico, to be used in ways that help New Mexicans, rather than fund yachts and Aspen ski houses bank owners and executives? 

Opponents – often bank associations – play up the risks of political influence and lack of oversight. For both political and practical reasons, a public bank shouldn't mean the end of private banks. BND works closely with private banks on most loans, enabling private banks to make loans they otherwise might not be able to make, and/or extending repayment times. 

 

Naysayers also point to the “state bank” era in the early 19^th Century – particularly after Andrew Jackson's opposition killed the Second Bank of the United States in 1836. None of those state banks survived.

We shouldn't ignore bankers' objections; but a careful study would consider those objections fully; so when they fight even studying a state bank, I wonder how much faith they really have in their own arguments.  

 

BND's century-long record of job creation suggests a second look at a state bank here.

                                           -30-

[The above column appeared this morning, Sunday, 6 October 2019, in the Las Cruces Sun-News, as well as on the newspaper's website and on KRWG's website.  A spoken version will air during the week on KRWG (and will shortly be available on the website) and on KTAL Community Radio, 101.5 FM (www.lccommunityradio.org).]

This publication by or about BND tells the Bank's story more fully, starting with its early years. There's also a recent Banking Journal piece on BND

. ; and this is a much more scholarly study of the public-banking concept.  I also googled "arguments against public banks" with BND or North Dakota.  I found a lot more material favorable to the concept, but this piece sparked by the California discussion  suggests that proponents' arguments are "well-intentioned but misguided and unnecessary." This Los Angeles Times Editorial

says "A public bank would be risky, expensive and a potential waste of tax dollars." And this libertarian site also argues against the concept.  On the other hand, the majority of on-line articles I found were favorable, including "The Case for State-owned Banks" (2012); this American Banker piece is entitled What's Driving the Push for More Public Banks; and this 2013 New York Times "Room for Debate" feature ("Should States Operate Public Banks)  collects contrasting expert opinions.  I should confess that I haven't yet read all of these; but I hope to do so soon.

[I want to thank Sun-News columnist Madeleine Sanchez.  This morning I read her column urging Greta Thunberg to read some British anti-climate-change lobbying group's arguments.  I immediately agreed with Ms. Sanchez's statement that people should read more and pontificate less.  That's great advice for most of us, certainly including me.  However, I was disappointed that she steered readers only to a dissenting view of what's going on around us.  Particularly on this subject, and particularly with younger readers, that's a great disservice.  Unlike Ms. Sanchez and me, those readers and their children will have to live with extreme consequences of climate-change.  We're starting to see some of that, but nothing like what their diminished quality of life will be like if we follow the "head-in-the-sand" approach she and Donald Trump advocate.  However, in the process I felt more inclined than usual to include a variety of reading on the subject of my own column.  I normally try to read arguments for and against whatever I'm writing about; but I want to make more of an effort to include as links on some issues not only the relevant material I tend to agree with but some that I don't.

In any case, I do strongly favor studying the state bank possibility.  There are a lot of good arguments for such a bank; but, as always, we should give fair consideration to opposing views.]  

A friend emailed me this morning:

Good morning Peter!  Thanks for the good column on public banking.

The comments about the failure of public banks in the 1800s needs a bit of background to be properly understood..  Thousands of banks failed in the 1800s.  Banking was a primary weapon of the Robber Barons to sabotage anyone else in the economy and facilitated theft on a grand scale:  This, tied with the voting laws that totally rejected the Declaration of Independence: We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. That to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.  The right to vote is the only practical way to obtain "consent of the governed", made it very difficult to maintain an honest system of government or commerce.  The private banksters in fact controlled the so called public banks of the 1800s.

The voting part was immensely helped by the 19th amendment.  The reaction of the voters to the 1929 crash instituted some temporary reforms that made commerce a bit more honest.  Today we have a major counter offensive by the billionaire class against both democracy (voting rights) and honest commerce (deregulation). 

The Bank of North Dakota's board of directors are all elected by the public : the governor, agricultural commissioner and attorney general.  The executive committee is chosen by these people and answers to the state industrial commission as far as compliance with the charter purposes and daily management performance.  That is why the officers are paid reasonably, not lavishly.  It is also why the bank has survived for 100 years without a crash.  Around the world public banks performed much better in the 2008 crash than private banks did.  Credit unions also outperformed banks in the crash.

Other than making sure the private banksters don't infiltrate any public bank we create, we must make sure it is democratically controlled.  That will make it very unlikely that it won't perform very well.

Thanks very much for the very nice support of public banking!  Once again I appreciate the civility of your comments.  Take care.