Bill Richardson, former Clinton Secretary of Energy, now former friend and crony, has left the Clinton nest and flown straight to the Obama camp, endorsement in hand with visions of a Vice-President slot dancing in his head.
In an email sent to the Obama camp Richardson praised Hillary as "a distinguished leader with vast experience" while gushing about Obama who would be in Richardson's words, "a historic and great president who can bring us the change we so desperately need by bringing us together as a nation here at home and with our allies abroad".
According to the Brit newspaper, the Telegraph, foreign corespondent Toby Harden claims Richardson's importance as an endorsement force ranks third after Al Gore and John Edwards. He also writes that Richardson's decision was perhaps, a "sheer naked political calculation" as Richardson has "made it clear he desperately wants to be Vice President".
Read the rest of Richardson Flies From Clinton's Coop: Endorses Obama.
By LBG
Death by 1000 Papercuts Front Page.
In the slow season before the primaries, the only thing for pundits to write about are polls, fund-raising, scandals of anyone connected with a particular campaign and endorsements.
Dennis Kucinich, Democrat presidential candidate, received an endorsement of sorts on Friday.
Shirley MacLaine endorsed Kucinisch's UFO sighting. From the Today Show, as reported by the Cleveland Plain Dealer:Lauer: "You talk about presidents. A guy running for president, Dennis Kucinich, a couple of weeks ago in a debate was asked if he thinks UFOs exist, and he said 'Yes.' Let me mention as a disclaimer, you're the godmother of one of his children, correct? When he said 'Yes,' were you cheering from the sidelines?
If Bill Richardson's bid for president falls short, he can take consolation in remaining the governor of UFOs.
MacLaine: "I thought that was terrific that a presidential candidate admitted it. If they had asked Gov. Bill Richardson, he would have, too, because he is the governor of UFOs in New Mexico.
One hopes there's a good pension plan.
by Mondoreb
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It's something that's often heard by second-tier candidates and their followers. "If only we could get our message out, people would be flocking to us". Fair enough. In an effort to help get one man's message out, we took a look at New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson.
What is Richarson's message? What can we do to help disseminate it?
We looked at dozens of Bill Richardson fund-raising letters and articles and tried to boil down what it was that made Richardson different from the others in the Democrat field. What we came up with was: UFOs, drugs and Iraq 'N' Roll.
The Bill Richardson Fascination with UFOs
There's no denying it: this is one issue that Governor Richardson has completely to himself. There is no one else trying to crowd him on the UFO political spectrum, either from the Left or the Right. While he does strike a chord with a certain crowd of Americans here, is this really a Presidential issue? Richardson's camp certainly thinks it is. And it garnered him some coverage this past weekend.
A look at Bill Richardson's UFO background:
Governor Richardson also served in the Clinton administration after
spending 14 years in the House of Representatives. He served one year as
Ambassador to the United Nations and two years as Secretary of Energy. He
then became a successful governor and participated in numerous foreign
missions. In a foreword to "The Roswell Dig Diaries" published in 2006 by
Pocket Books Governor Richardson wrote:
".....the mystery surrounding this crash (at Roswell) has never been
adequately explained - not by independent investigators, and not by the
U.S. government."
"It would help everyone if the U.S. government disclosed everything it
knows. With full disclosure and our best scientific investigation, we
should be able to find out what happened on that fateful day in July of
1947. The American people can handle the truth no matter how bizarre or
mundane, and contrary to what you see in the movies."
[Above photo: Richardson gets all three of his issues in one sentence when he vows that 'Iraq is not worth the life of one more pot-smoking space alien?']
Richardson's Plan to End the War in Iraq
The Richardson plan to end the War in Iraq can't be faulted for its complexity. Bill would just pack up and leave. al-Qaeda be hanged. In place of the U.S. Army Corps, he'd insert the U.S. dipolmatic corps. Richardson on Richardson ending the War in Iraq:
There are seven components to my plan to end the war and stabilize Iraq, but the most important step, upon which all others depend, is to remove ALL of our troops quickly.So basically, the Richardson Plan for ending the War in Iraq boils down to: we leave, talk nice and everyone lives happily ever after. He should be in the thick of the fight for the Extreme Left portion of the Code Pink vote with this plank.
What we need to do:
1-Remove ALL Troops:
Only when the Iraqis know we are leaving will they start seeing us as partners, instead of occupiers.
[Ed. note-That al-Qaeda will also see us as more of a partner after this step is not mentioned here.
2-Withdraw as Quickly as Possible: We should start redeploying now. The longer we stay, the more people die, the further the situation deteriorates, and the more damage we do both to our military and to our reputation. Only when we are out of this quagmire can we refocus on the real war against Al Qaeda -- the terrorists who attacked us on 9-11, and who are still headquartered along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border -- not in Iraq.
[Apparently, Richardson is privy to info the U.S. Government can't secure.][Members of the Richardson Diplomatic Surge Team?]
3-A Diplomatic Surge: Iraq's crisis is a political crisis. It cannot be solved militarily. We need a surge of diplomacy to bring Iraq's factions together, to engage all of Iraq's neighbors in stabilization, and to put together a coalition of donor nations to aid reconstruction. [Note: As effectively diplomacy is a matter of carrots and sticks, what's the stick here? That the U.S. will re-invade?]
4-De-authorize the War and Fund Redeployment: Last November, the American people voted for the Democrats because they expected them to end the war.
5-Lead a Regional and Global Diplomacy: The hard political work begins as our troops start to leave. We must use the leverage of our withdrawal to bring the factions to the negotiating table.
[Something akin to saying "I'm going to leverage my nose against that bully's fist to get him to quit hitting me".]
6-The United States must lead this effort and involve all of Iraq's neighbors, including Syria and Iran, in a regional conference modeled on the Dayton conference which ended the war in Bosnia. Key objectives of the conference should be assurances of non-interference and the creation of a multilateral, UN-led Muslim peacekeeping force.
7-We must also convene a donor conference of wealthy Arab states to fund Iraqi reconstruction. All of Iraq's neighbors have an interest in preventing Iraq's civil war from spiraling even further out of control, and they should all play a part in stopping the violence.
It's easy to sit on the sidelines and snipe at the proposals of others, but this hodge-podge of Iraqi points, makes one wonder: Who's writing Richardson's material? He better get some help in that department--and fast.
Richardson And (Medical) Marijuana
This is the Richardson issue that DBKP can cheer. Save the money, save the human cost of one portion of the inane War on Drugs? We're not objective on this issue. So, we present a view from a disinterested observer.
More on Richardson's and medicinal marijuana from Washington Post:
SANTA FE, N.M. -- Democratic Gov. Bill Richardson, poised to sign a bill making New Mexico the 12th state to legalize medical marijuana, said Thursday he realizes his action could become an issue in the presidential race.So this is Bill Richardson's message in the nutshell. Is this an unfair portrayal? Not if one listens to the candidate's own words.
"So what if it's risky? It's the right thing to do," said Richardson, one of the candidates in the crowded 2008 field. "What we're talking about is 160 people in deep pain. It only affects them."
Richardson has supported the proposal since he first ran in 2002. But he pushed especially hard for it this year, leaning on some Democrats to change their votes after the bill initially failed.
"Give him credit. It's not something you do because you're going to garner great political support for it. It is a bit controversial," said Thomas Mann, a political analyst at the Brookings Institution in Washington. By the same token, Mann says, it is not likely to hurt him in the Democratic contests.
"If he were to surprise us all and actually win the Democratic nomination, he's got an interesting mix of positions" that would not be undercut by his support of medical marijuana, Mann said.
Bill Richardson's message seems to be a collection of niche messages to niche groups. That's enough to snag the 2-4% support that many polls give him. The mainstream finds his issues wanting.
Some candidates are second-tier for a reason. The problem is not that their message isn't getting out: it's that it is. We said at the beginning of this piece.
"Bill Richarson: UFOs, Drugs and Iraq 'N' Roll."
by Mondoreb
& Little Baby Ginn
[images: file photos and e-graphics]
Back to Front Page.
This weekend, the news was that Presidential candidate Bill Richardson was demanding answers about the Roswell incident of decades past. Now a judge wants information released about an incident that happened outside of Pittsburgh. First, the lowdown on Richardson from Weasel Zippers:
ROUND ROCK, Texas — If he wins his bid for the White House, Democratic presidential candidate Bill Richardson may be just the man to get to the bottom of the 60-year-old Roswell UFO mystery.WZ comments: A Richardson-Kucinich ticket would lock up the tinfoil hat vote...
Answering questions at a townhall meeting Friday, a Dell employee asked Richardson about the 1947 incident in which many people still believe a flying saucer landed near the eastern New Mexico town.
"I've been in government a long time, I've been in the cabinet, I've been in the Congress and I've always felt that the government doesn't tell the truth as much as it should on a lot of issues," said Richardson, who is governor of New Mexico.
"When I was in Congress I said (to the) Department of Defense ... 'What is the data? What is the data you have?' "
He was told that the records were classified.
"That ticked me off," he said, as the crowd laughed.
Now, there's news that about a UFO incident outside of Pittsburgh in the 1960s. It's back in the news as a journalist gets involved to get to the bottom of a curious event that happened over 40 years ago. More on the Pennsylvania UFO matter, as it now stands, from Penn Live:
NASA has agreed to search its archives once again for documents on a 1965 UFO incident in Pennsylvania, a step the space agency fought in federal court.The locals know what they saw.
The government has refused to open its files about what, if anything, moved across the sky and crashed in the woods near Kecksburg, Pa., 40 miles southeast of Pittsburgh.
Traffic was tied up in the area as curiosity seekers drove to the area, only to be kept away from the crash site by soldiers.
Eyewitnesses said a flatbed truck drove away a large object shaped like an acorn and about the size of a Volkswagen bus. A mock-up based on the descriptions of local residents sits behind the Kecksburg Volunteer Fire Department.A judge entered the fray on the side of Kean and the public's right to know.
UFO enthusiasts refused to let the matter die and journalist Leslie Kean of New York City sued NASA four years ago for information.
"This is about the public's right to know," Kean said. "We would be doing this lawsuit regardless of whether UFO groups were interested in it or not. It's a freeodm of information issue."So maybe Bill Richardson is right: we may not be alone. And the U.S. Government may or may not know that.
The agency has turned over several stacks of documents which Kean says are not responsive to the request, an argument that U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan agreed with.
In March, Sullivan rejected NASA's request to throw the case out of court, resulting in negotiations that led to the agency promising last week that it will conduct a more comprehensive search.
We may all soon know what they know.
by Mondoreb
[image:physics4u]
[image:weaselzippers]
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