A Look Back at Soaring Healthcare Costs, Youth Climate Demands, a History of US Imperialism & an Inspiring Poem

Post also includes information on important climate actions on M and T and information on how, through The Pen is Mightier than the Sword, you can use your words to promote economic, social, racial and climate justice.

In brief:

New Mexico Oil & Gas Association (NMOGA) Annual Meeting. Tuesday, Oct. 8, 8:30am. Eldorado Hotel, 309 W. San Francisco, Santa Fe. Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham is the keynote speaker at the NMOGA breakfast meeting. YUCCA (Youth United for Climate Crisis Action) promised ongoing actions and they are keeping their word. Please arrive early and if you have a sign bring it. Click here to RSVP and for more info. Let the Governor know that we want her to work toward a just transition, not continue to curry favor with Gas & Oil.

Please share today’s post with five or more friends and to your Facebook feed.

Monday’s we reprise all the posts from the prior week and so it is an excellent introduction to Retake Our Democracy. Last week we covered: soaring health care costs and why they soar; Youth United for Climate Crisis Activism demands for NM’s just transition; the Governor speaking to gas & oil execs and the scale of her campaign donations from G&O; a scan of US history and its persistently imperialist policies; and yesterday’s post on how Trump’s daily histrionics are numbing us to just how awful this man has become. So, please share.

Show Up & Support Youth Climate Activists

TODAY! Monday, Oct. 7, 12:30 pm Working LunchInterim Legislative Committee on Science & Technology. New Mexico School for the Blind and Visually Impaired 801 Stephen Moody St. Proposals for State Action to Mitigate Climate Change

  • A. Create a Just Transition Fund from Oil and Gas Revenues to Build a Sustainable Carbon-Neutral Economy for All New Mexicans
  • B. Convert New Mexico to 100% Renewable Energy Use by 2030
  • C. Impose a Moratorium on Hydraulic Fracturing
  • D. Pass Community Solar Legislation in 2020 —

Testifying for the Interim Committee on Science & Technology will be: Emese Nagya, Student, Amy Biehl High School —Olivia Gonzales, Student, Public Academy for Performing Arts —Mariluz Lebkuechner, Student, Public Academy for Performing Arts —Andre Miller, Student, Central New Mexico Community College

A Look Back at Last Week’s Posts

Capitalism at its Finest: Healthcare Coverage Costs Skyrocket Causing Bankruptcies & Deaths

In a series of charts, the post illustrates how soaring healthcare coverage costs are leaving employers who offer their employees healthcare coverage facing impossible choices and consumers facing even more impossible false choices.

Premium increases have soared 300% while income gains have been erased by inflation. The post also outlines how with the strike of a pen and an executive order, Trump has allowed insurers to flood the market with bogus coverage plans that do reduce premiums, but include crippling co-pays that are bankrupting families or forcing hundreds of thousands to go without any coverage at all. A depressing tale, but one we can begin to address in 2021 in the US with Universal Healthcare and in NM with the Health Security Act.

Click here to read the full post describing unbridled greed.

Youth Activists Present Demands to Governor at Stirring Rotunda Press Conference Followed by a March Upstairs to the Governor’s Office

YUCCA presenting their demands at the Governor’s Office

Our youth are not being bashful; they have seen the equivocating at the UN and the glowing rhetoric from politicos who then curry favor with the gas and oil industry. They have run out of patience. This post provides the full Youth United for Climate Crisis Action (YUCCA) letter to the Governor which includes their four demands.

YUCCA has put the Governor on notice that they insist upon a response and a meeting by October 30. The post also includes speaking points and contact information so that you can write to the Governor and Speaker Egolf and Senate Floor Leader Wirth to insist that Community Solar and funding for a study to prepare a plan for a just transition are both on the call in 2020.

We applaud their effort. Click here to read the full post.

Governor Has Time to Speak with NM Gas & Oil, But Not with Youth Climate Activists, Plus California Public Banking is Now Law

Earth’s Lament: William Martin Kline the 3rd

This post included not just a call to action to protest the Governor’s Keynote Address to New Mexico Gas & Oil Association, but outlines the degree to which she benefited from campaign contributions from NMOGA and its members.

The post also included a new Saturday feature: The Pen is Mightier than the Sword. We offered two different topics with two opportunities to put your thoughts together, a letter to the editor and an email to a friend.

We also included excerpts from a tremendous article that outlined the history of US imperialism. Even if you think you have a solid understanding of this, this one article connects an awful lot of dots.

Finally, the post included a selection of a just closed youth activist art that was part of an excellent exhibit at ArtSmart in Santa Fe. Click here to review the full post.

Sunday at the Movies: Using Moral Language to Persuade + An Inspirational Four Minute Poem



In addition to a couple of action alerts related to the climate crisis, the post included a thoughtful Slate article on how Trump’s non-stop barrage of over-the-top behaviors has numbed us, leaving us with a sense that no matter how outrageous, it is just Trump being Trump. This new normal is not the least normal, and Dahlia Lithwick does an excellent job of outlining exactly how the saga that is Trump is massaging us to accept whatever comes next.

Wow. Talk about inspirational.

But the best reason to review this post is the Royce Mann’s powerful recitation of his poem Rise Up!. It is hard to believe a 16-year old youth could be this composed while reciting his poem in front of a packed African American church. It is still harder to believe he wrote this when he was just 15. The congregation leaps to their feet and roars their approval as he finishes.

The post also includes a very helpful video on how to bridge ideological divides by using moral language to be more persuasive in making a case for climate crisis action. While focused on climate crisis discussions, the tips apply equally to other political discussions.

Click here to read the full post and to view the moral language video and a truly remarkable three minute poem.



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2 replies

  1. The fact that our Gov. is speaking to NMOGA doesn’t bother me at all. That’s what governors are expected to do. What bothers me is what she is likely to say to the oil ang gas industry. We must obtain a complete copy of her remarks and hold her accountable for them.

    • We have a pretty good idea what she will say, based upon what she told them in Carlsbad five months ago. I am pretty sure the words, “We must move quickly to keep it in the ground,” will not be part of her prepared remarks.

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