Wednesday, November 28, 2007

THE MYSTERIOUS RICHARDSON PETITIONS (and more)

My story about those weird Richardson-for-Senate petitions can be found HERE.

Basically nobody believes they are real and speculation consensus is that it's some kind of political mischief.

One person I spoke to said it might be an attempt to discourage Richardson fans who might want to contribute to Tom Udall's Senate campaign. Of course -- assuming people would believe Richardson is soliciting petition signatures with unsigned letters on plain white paper -- that would discourage Richardson backers from contributing to Marty Chavez's campaign too.

So could it be a Republican plot? I don't see it. It doesn't matter to the GOP if contributions to Democrats in the primary is slowed down. Everyone realizes that no matter who the candidates are, both parties' general election Senate campaigns are going to be ridiculously well funded next year.

One Dem I talked to yesterday said the petitions could be from "some college student" supporting a presidential candidate other than Richardson in an effort to make Richardson look less serious in the presidential race.

Or indeed, could it be from the Richardson camp afterall -- sending out plain-white generic letters as a head-start on petition gathering as part of "Plan B" if the presidential race isn't successful? Not too likely. As one Democrat said, the number of signatures that could be gathered in such a fashion would be minimal.

So who knows? I'm just surprised that whoever did it couldn't come up with a fake letterhead with some cheesy campaign logo to at least make the thing look a little more believabe.

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Also in today's paper I wrote an obit for the late Stretch Boles, who headed the state Highway Department back in the days they were coping with that newfangled Interstate system thing. You can find it HERE.

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For a good, basic description of the arcane ritual known as the Iowa Caucuses, check out Carter Bundy's column today over at Heath's blog.

A WORD FROM A FORMER COLLEAGUE

Jackie came across an interesting book -- American Carnival: Journalism Under Siege in an Age of New Media by Neil Henry that quotes a former Capitol Bureau partner of mine, Mark Hummels. (Read her post HERE) Mark is cited as an example of a young journalist who got frustrated with "the game" and "the mediocre standards of the newspapers he worked for."

`I came to realize,’ he explained, `that government officials are so well-trained in obfuscation and spin that it’s next to impossible to get a real answer to most questions you ask them. This continues to drive me absolutely nuts with people in general, and with people in positions of trust especially. I came to think of reporting `both sides of the story’ as either 1) reporting `both’ sides of the octagon, or 2) giving `equal time’ for the Republicans and Democrats to tell their lies...’
Jackie also quotes Henry talking about the governor "luring some of the state’s best news reporters by offering better-paying work as public relations officers for the Richardson administration."

But, she notes that "a whole lot of `the state’s best news reporters' stayed at their jobs and kept chipping away tirelessly at the dreck coughed out by the administration in the guise of news."

Bless you, Jackie. Indeed some of the state's best reporters are still reporters. And so am I!

Monday, November 26, 2007

RICHARDSON ON IRAQ, ETC.

RICHARDSON IN CONCORD, NEW HAMPSHIRE
My article about Bill Richardson's changing view on the Iraq view can be found HERE.

Here are some links to some sources cited in the story

* Paula Zahn 2/18/03 (I got the date wrong in the article. There will be a correction in tomorrow's paper.)

* Candy Crowley 3/11/03

* Freedom House 3/20/03

* Larry King 4/13/04

* Meet the Press 5/27/07

A sidebar on fact-checking some of Richardson's campaign claims is HERE.

Below are links to the various sources challenging those claims.

* Jobs

* Driver’s licenses for undocumented workers (and HERE )

* Kyoto Treaty

* Yucca Mountain (and HERE )

* Education

* Roswell UFO “cover-up”

TERRELL'S SOUND WORLD PLAYLIST

Sunday, November 25, 2007
KSFR, Santa Fe, N.M.
Webcasting!
10 p.m. to midnight Sundays Mountain Time
Host: Steve Terrell

Now Simulcasting 90.7 FM, and our new, stronger signal, 101.1 FM
email me during the show! terrell@ksfr.org

OPENING THEME: Let it Out (Let it All Hang Out) by The Hombres
Froggy by The A Bones
I Saw a Ghost by The Black Lips
Fuzz Gun 2001 by Mudhoney
Well All Right by The Hives
A Little Bit of Love by The Mooney Suzuki
The Weirdness by The Stooges
Lonesome Cowboy Bill by The Velvet Underground
Die by The Rockin' Guys
Dirty Old Man by Neil Young
Give Me Back My Wig by Hound Dog Taylor

Wonderful Witches by Thurston Moore
Almost Ready by Dinosaur Jr
Hubcap by Sleater-Kinney
Get it On by Grinderman
Six Strings That Drew Blood by The Birthday Party
Imaginary Diseases by Frank Zappa
My Babe by The Righteous Brothers

JOHNETTE NAPOLITANO SET
Save me by Johnette Napolitano
The Sky Is a Poisonous Garden by Concrete Blonde
It'll Chew You Up and Spit You Out by Concrete Blonde
Poem For the Native by Johnete Napolitano
La Llorona by Concrete Blonde y Los Illegals
Ghost Riders in the Sky by Concrete Blonde
Death of a Sufer by Vowel Movement

The Assassination by The Dixie Nightingales
Rollin' & Tumblin' by Bob Dylan
Pressing On by Chicago Mass Choir
She Sang Angels to Rest by Richard Thompson
Johnny Mathis' Feet by American Music Club
CLOSING THEME: Over the Rainbow by Jerry Lee Lewis

Sunday, November 25, 2007

MORE SUNDAY POLITICS: COMPLETE WEIRDNESS DEPT.

Politics in New Mexico has been fun lately, but not this much fun.

I wonder which one of our potential CD 3 candidates is most likely to have been brainwashed and abducted by a Satan cult?



And here's a little musical interlude:

UPDATE 7-7-08: I got rid of the lousy eSnips player because the jerks at eSnips kept eliminating the song without asking me. (I own all the rights to it. I wrote it, recorded it, etc.) But this should work.

















TERRELL'S SOUND WORLD PLAYLIST

  Sunday, March 24, 2024 KSFR, Santa Fe, NM, 101.1 FM  Webcasting! 10 p.m. to midnight Sundays Mountain Time Host: Steve Terrell E...