Author Archives: Stephen Spitz

If Governor Martinez’s past priorities are a guide, the call for the 2012 legislative session will again propose a repeal of driver’s licenses for undocumented immigrants and tighter restrictions on voting. Similar legislative initiatives have been successful in other states, such as Arizona and Alabama, but how are they being received in New Mexico where pluralities of voters are Hispanic.

To get the take of our Hispanic community, Ms. Elsa Lopez, a lead community organizer for Somos Un Pueblo Unido, joins host Stephen Spitz. We will discuss the big question raised by the Gov., namely, are New Mexico driver’s licenses for the undocumented a magnet for fraud?

To get a better understanding of the political realities of targeting “illegals”, a leading Latino political scientist, Dr. Gabriel Sanchez, will also join in the discussion. For a realistic picture of the consequences of this measure in the New Mexico electorate and on the ground in the Hispanic community please join host Stephen Spitz, Dr. Gabriel Sanchez and Community organizer Elsa Lopez.

Produced with the assistance of John Burgund.

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This month’s guest, V.B. Price, is a poet, human rights and environmental columnist, magazine and newspaper editor, architectural critic and, presently, a member of the faculty at UNM. In his just released book, The Orphaned Land: New Mexico’s Environment Since the Manhattan Project, Price assembles a compendium of the deterioration of the state’s environment in the last 50 years previously available only in scattered newspaper articles and government reports. Price includes research on hazardous wastes, munitions testing, radioactive emissions, and many other issues that affect the quality of New Mexico’s land, water, and air. So, please join host Stephen Spitz and author V.B. Price for a realistic, and eye-opening, perspective on the problems surrounding New Mexico’s environmental health and resources. Produced with the assistance of John Burgund and Joe Green.

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Republicans, along with many on the Left, continue to question the benefits of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) passed under President Obama. To address these questions, host Stephen Spitz is joined by Mark Moffett, PhD, a health care economist for the Inst. For Public Health and an Assistant Professor with the Dept. of Family & Community Medicine at UNM. We start with how the ACA will and will not affect health care services in New Mexico Among other subjects are: (a) the importance of universal coverage in a State where 27% of residents lack insurance coverage, (b) why the present “system” is truly broken, even for those with insurance, and (c) how reform will impact those who now have access only to the hospital emergency room. We then assess the accuracy of the three principal arguments against the ACA: (1) the ACA’s overall costs are not affordable and could bankrupt the US, (2) the ACA will cause per capita health care costs to increase at an even higher rate instead of restraining those increases, harming US competitiveness, and, (3) the Act will lower the quality of care and inevitably lead to rationing. So, if you are interested in health care reform, please join Stephen Spitz and Dr. Mark Moffett for a discussion about the economics of health care reform. Produced with assistance of John Burgund and Joe Green.

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The electric car along with wind, solar, and nuclear energy all face a common problem – power storage. Today’s guest, Abbas Akhil is the principal member of Sandia National Laboratories Battery Staff, and is one of the most knowledgeable people in the world when it comes to advanced battery technology. How and why did Japanese auto makers get the jump on the US “big three” on the electric car? Is the lithium-ion battery, the power source for your computer and cell phone, now the key to US electric car success and what are its prospects? How does the rest of the world store energy produced by power-plants during off-peak hours and how advanced is power plant battery storage? And, finally, how has our government, and governments around the world, supported the drive for advanced battery technology. Please join host Stephen Spitz as we explore this key impediment to the wide adoption of green energy. Produced with the assistance of John Burgund and Tristan Clum.

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When people ask author Jim Kristofic, who is blue-eyed and brown haired, where he is from, and learn that he grew up on an Indian Reservation, they usually ask, “So are you an Indian?” In his memoir, Navajos Wear Nikes, Kristofic writes that he tries to answer this question the way his Navajo friends would, not with a simple yes or no, but with stories. Kristofic’s stories reveal the complex world of the modern Navajo Nation, where Anglo and Navajo coexist in a tenuous truce, and Kristofic’s later struggles to adapt to the Anglo society that no longer feels like the one he left behind. So please join host Stephen Spitz, and author Jim Kristofic, as we explore what it is like for a White Boy to grow up in a Navajo Rez-town. Produced with the assistance of John Burgund and Joe Green.

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Last month we looked into the largest pre-natal to 3 home visiting program in the United Sates. In that St Joseph program, based in Albuquerque and headed by Allen Sanchez, first time pregnant women receive weekly home visits by a trained health educator. The visits are an opportunity for new parents to learn about encouraging infant growth and development, selecting books & toys that teach, and nurturing positive relationships. At least six similar 0 to 3 “first born” home visitation programs have now begun in New Mexico and our Legislature is being asked to approve additional distributions from the Permanent Fund which could lead to almost $200 million per year in additional investments early childhood (0 – 5 years) programs. This month host Stephen Spitz sits down with one of the leading authorities in the US, Dr. M. Rebecca Kilburn, director of Child Policy for the Rand Corporation, and asks whether such huge expenditure in early childhood programs makes scientific and economic sense. The discussion will focus on research into the effectiveness of early childhood programs and whether any state-wide programs, such as those envisioned, have been tried, much less succeeded, elsewhere. We will also learn about the “models” for the Albuquerque home visiting program, the randomized trial evaluation now under-way for a “sister” program in Santa Fe, and how “first born” home visitation programs compare in effectiveness to other early childhood programs such as pre-K programs for 4 and 5 year olds. Produced with the assistance of Joe Green.

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One of the largest and most comprehensive home-visiting programs in the country is being carried out right here in Albuquerque, New Mexico by St. Joseph Community Health. St. Joseph has taken the $80 million earned from the sale of the former St. Joseph Healthcare System in Albuquerque and is investing the profits into early childhood programs. As CEO Allen Sanchez will explain, the goal is to make sure our children reach kindergarten with the health and family support necessary to support learning. The program focuses on a child’s health & development during the most important period of early brain development – from prenatal to three years of age. First time pregnant women and parents receive weekly home visits by a trained health educator. The visits are an opportunity for new parents to learn about encouraging infant growth and development, selecting books & toys that teach, creating stimulating environments, and nurturing positive relationships.  Double-blind social science research shows that this type of program has lasting benefits into adulthood. So please join host Stephen Spitz and Allen Sanchez, to learn much more about why St. Joseph’s early childhood program works. Produced with the assistance of Joe Green.

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Although known as the vacation home for many movie and media stars, New Mexico’s climate has also pulled in many other amazing transplants such as our guest this month, Dr. Laurence H. Lattman. Dr. Lattman, who, among other things, is the Past President and Professor Emeritus of Geology of New Mexico Tech, will sketch for us the development of Western science. Starting with the Greeks and Archimedes, continuing with Newton, and ending with Einstein and then string theory, today we will all be able to audit a very short course about the history of mathematics and physics.

So please join host Stephen Spitz for a journey with a fascinating New Mexican into how and why Western science evolved.

Produced with the assistance of Joe Green.

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New Mexico author Max Evans is best known for The Rounders, which along with a later book, Hi Lo Country, were turned into popular Hollywood movies. Evans is also the recipient of numerous writing awards, including the 1990 Levi Strauss Saddle man Award for lifetime achievement in Western literature. However, Max Evans has been much more than “just” an author including stints as a working cowboy, artist, miner, mine operator, and, above all, a wonderful storyteller.

His latest book, and he swears his last work of fiction, War and Music: A Medley of Love, stems from WWII when he was one of the “doughboys” who stormed the beach at Normandy, France, and, unlike many of his comrades, lived to tell about it.

Please join host Stephen Spitz for what promises to be a very entertaining half-hour with one of our premier writers.

Produced with the assistance of John Burgund

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Not many of us know much about Navajo (Diné) spiritual practices or have ever spoken with a real medicine man. Larry Tyler grew up in a family of Diné spiritual healers and spends his life restoring health, balance, and harmony to the lives of others. Sometimes his help is sought for healing a disease, sometimes for healing the psyche, and sometimes the goal is to promote harmony between groups of people or between humans and nature. So while the term “medicine man” is not entirely inappropriate, it greatly oversimplifies the leading role that real medicine men have played in the Diné culture. 

To learn more about the wisdom of  Diné spiritual healers, please join host Stephen Spitz with his special guest, Larry Tyler.

Produced with the assistance of John Burgund

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