Pardons And Priorities

Governor Mulls Pardon for Billy the Kid
Jim Morrison got a pardon, so why not Billy the Kid? The legendary Wild West figure, who allegedly killed 21 men before being gunned down himself at age 21, is being considered for a pardon by New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson. The petition Richardson is reviewing is based on a claim New Mexico territorial Governor Lew Wallace promised the Billy a pardon in exchange for his Testimony in a Murder trial. "As someone who is fascinated with New Mexico's rich history, I've always been intrigued by...

Beyond Bars
Last week I received an email Press Release directing me to a new Public Policy website. On that website is a quote from Reagan Administration Attorney General Ed Meese, saying it's time to reconsider mandatory minimum sentences for drug offenders. There is also a quote from Texas Gov. Rick Perry, suggesting we consider rehabilitation as an alternative to Incarceration for nonviolent offenders. They have my attention. Welcome to Right on Crime, a project of the Texas Public Policy Foundation aim...

New Mexico Gov. Bill Richarson Leaves North Korea after Meeting with Leaders Raw Video 12/21/10
Here is raw video of New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson leaving North Korea after meeting with Government officials there. Richardson seems to have succeeded in getting North Korea to say they will allow inspectors back into the country to check on their Nuclear Weapons programs, and to calm their reaction to South Korea’s Military exercises. But that is likely to be short-lived as always with them: New York Times: . . . . . Political analysts could only speculate about the sudden change in...

Nork bluster fades after South Korea artillery exercise
Image via Wikipedia NY Times: Defying North Korean threats of violent retaliation and “brutal consequences beyond imagination,” South Korea on Monday staged live-fire artillery drills on an island shelled last month by the North. The immediate response from Pyongyang was surprisingly muted, however. A statement from the North’s official news agency Monday night said it was “not worth reacting” to the exercise. “Maybe we had a little impact,” said Gov....

Blitzer: Korean tensions 'eased significantly'
CNN’s Wolf Blitzer has been in Pyongyang, North Korea, covering New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson’s diplomatic talks with the North Koreans.  He was the only Journalist on Richardson’s trip to North Korea. He spoke via phone Monday evening to CNN's Senior Political Correspondent Candy Crowley. CROWLEY: Joining me now is Wolf Blitzer from Pyongyang. He's been over there covering New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson in these delicate, delicate times for North Korea. Give ...

Bill Richardson warns North Korea to deliver 'deeds not words'
Bill Richardson, the New Mexico Governor and former US ambassador to the United Nations, has said that North Korea had moved in the "right direction" toward easing tensions with the South but now needed to back up that movement with "deeds, not words"....

North Korea 'will not hit back' over Yeonpyeong drills
Source: BBC North Korea 'will not hit back' over Yeonpyeong drills The threat of a North Korean response has caused anxiety in the South North Korea says it will not retaliate despite "reckless provocations" from the South, which held live-fire drills on the flashpoint island of Yeonpyeong. The North shelled the island last month after similar drills and had threatened more retaliation this time. But state media quoted The Army as saying it was "not worth reacting". Meanwhile US politician Bill ...

Nuclear: Pyongyang agrees to let UN inspectors in
CNN reported today that North Korea accepted the return of US inspectors on its soil in charge of overseeing its Nuclear Program in order to ease tensions on the Korean Peninsula. This comes as a results of meetings held by New Mexico Governor  Bill Richardson, who was accompanied by CNN's Wolf Blitzer. 'The Democratic Republic of North Korea has agreed to authorize the IAEA's monitors to return to one of the country's nuclear sites, and has agreed to negotiate the sale of 12,000 new rods o...

New Mexico governor weighs pardon for Billy the Kid
Reporting from Albuquerque — Nearly 130 years after the death of Henry McCarty, alias William Bonney, but better known as Billy the Kid, New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson will take some of the final hours of his administration to decide whether to pardon the baby-faced gunslinger. Richardson will review evidence that in 1881, one of his predecessors promised to pardon Bonney for killing a sheriff in return for his Testimony in a Murder case. The record suggests that New Mexico territorial...

Richardson says NKorea trip is opening for talks
BEIJING - New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson said Tuesday he had a positive trip to North Korea that provided an opening for a resumption of multinational talks on disarming the country's Nuclear Program. Richardson had already announced before leaving Pyongyang that officials there said they would allow the return of U.N. inspectors to check that a major nuclear complex was not producing Enriched Uranium for a bomb. The North expelled the U.N. inspectors last year and recently showed a visit...

Bill Richardson: North Korea Trip Is Opening For Talks
Beijing — New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson praised North Korea on Tuesday for not retaliating against South Korean artillery drills, and said the current tensions offered an opening for new multinational talks on ending the North's Nuclear Program. Richardson had already announced before leaving Pyongyang on Tuesday following talks that officials there said they would allow the return of U.N. inspectors to check that a major nuclear complex was not producing Enriched Uranium for a bomb. N...

Seoul unswayed by N. Korea's overtures
Published: Dec. 21, 2010 at 9:25 AM New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson and his wife Vesta arrive for the State Dinner with U.S. President Barack Obama, First Lady Michelle Obama, Mexican President Felipe Calderon and his wife Margarita Zavala at the White House in Washington on May 19, 2010. UPI/Alexis C. Glenn Seoul, Dec. 21 (UPI) -- South Korean officials said they need a clearer intent from North Korea for its apparent calls to resume denuclearization talks. South Korean Foreign Minister Kim Sun...

Capital Punishment in U.S. Is Down Again
States are continuing a trend of executing fewer Prisoners and juries are wary of sentencing criminal defendants to die, according to year-end figures compiled by a group that opposes the death penalty. The 46 executions in 2010 constituted a nearly 12 percent drop from the previous year’s total of 52, according to the group, Death Penalty Information Center, which produces an annual report on execution trends. The overall trend shows a marked drop when compared with the 85 executions in ...

South Korean exercise completed without incident
SEOUL — Call them the shots heard round the world. South Korea fired live artillery into the Yellow Sea on Monday afternoon from Yeonpyeong Island as officials scrambled at the United Nations and behind the scenes to try to keep the 90-minute exercise from escalating already white-hot tensions on the Korean Peninsula. The exercise was designed to increase Military readiness, South Korean officials said, in the wake of a Nov. 23 North Korean attack on the island that left four people dead. ...

Analyst view: North Korea reportedly makes fresh nuclear offer
Mon Dec 20, 2010 8:42am EST n">(Reuters) - North Korea has told U.S. diplomatic troubleshooter Bill Richardson it is willing to allow nuclear inspectors to return to the country, CNN reported on Monday. The news came as the North backed off from a threat to strike back if South Korea went ahead with live-fire artillery exercises staged earlier in the day. CNN, which was accompanying New Mexico Governor Richardson on an unofficial trip to Pyongyang, said the North had "agreed to allow Internat...

S. Korea live-fire drill ends uneventfully
A statement from North Korea's official news agency said it was "not worth reacting" to the exercise, The New York Times reported. South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff spokesman Lee Bung-woo said the 94-minute drill included firing K-9 self-propelled howitzers and other weapons deployed on Yeonpyeong Island, which was shelled by North Korea in late November, the Yonhap News Agency reported. "Maybe we had a little impact," said New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson of New Mexico, who was in Pyongyang ac...

Talking to Kim Jong Il, Again
Hours ago, South Korea conducted a live-fire drill in the face of North Korean threats of retaliation — Pyongyang raised the prospect of, among other things, global Nuclear War in the event that Seoul fired rounds into the waters off Yeonpyeong Island. So, will the regime of Kim Jong Il carry through on its promises of complete devastation? Make that a “Yes.” The official Korean Central News Agency today announced that the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea “did ...

NKorea backs away from threat to attack South
(12-20) 09:26 PST Yeonpyeong Island, South Korea (AP) -- North Korea backed off threats to retaliate against South Korea for Military drills Monday and reportedly offered concessions on its Nuclear Program — signs it was looking to lower the temperature on the Korean Peninsula after weeks of soaring tensions. But Pyongyang has feinted toward conciliation before and failed to follow through. The North's gestures came after South Korea launched fighter jets, evacuated hundreds of residents...

John Feffer: South Korea: Seeking Reunification by Live Fire?
If you look closely at the AP photograph of the South Korean Marines conducting a drill on Yeonpyoeong island, you can see that their yellow headbands read tongil. That's the Korean word for reunification. With the South Korean government conducting another round of live-fire artillery drills in contested waters near North Korea, the message of the headband is unambiguous. Rather than waiting patiently for reunification to take place through negotiations, the Lee Myoung-bak administration want...

CNN Poll: North Korean threat imminent?
(CNN) -Most Americans say that North Korea does not pose an immediate threat to the United States, but a new national survey indicates that more than half say that the U.S. should use Troops to help defend South Korea if the country is attacked by its northern neighbors. According to a CNN/Opinion Research poll released Monday, support for using U.S. Troops to defend South Korea crosses political boundaries. More than half of Democrats, Republicans, and Independents believe the U.S. should...

N. Korea to let IAEA check uranium enrichment at nuclear facility+
BEIJING, Dec. 21 (AP) - (Kyodo)—North Korea is ready to allow International Atomic Energy Agency personnel back into its main nuclear complex in Yongbyon to ensure it is not processing highly Enriched Uranium for Nuclear Weapons, New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson said Tuesday after a six-day private mission to the county to defuse tensions on the Korean Peninsula. "The specifics are that they will allow IAEA personnel to go to Yongbyon to ensure that they are not processing highly enriched u...

A View From Inside a Bronx Courthouse
The dirty little secret of the American justice system is that its proceedings are mostly conducted in empty courtrooms that become the terrain of the functionaries of this system.  I made a minor dent in this wall of silence during my tour of a Bronx Courthouse this afternoon.  I was on a lunch break from jury duty and the prospect of spending two hours in the freezing cold outside was far from appealing.  So, I decided to observe some of the trials.  Little did I know I wou...

Weekly Address: Choose National Security Over Politics on START
President Obama used his most recent weekly address to urge opponents in the Senate to listen to the advice of Presidents George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton, former Republican Secretaries of State, our NATO allies, and our Military leaders and vote to ratify the New START Treaty with Russia before the end of the year. Paid for by the Democratic National Committee -- 430 South Capitol Street SE, Washington, DC, 20003. This communication is not authorized by any Candidate or candidate's committee. ...

Remember When Cap and Trade Was a GOP Idea?
— Photo courtesy the George Bush Presidential Library and Museum. It might have been hard to tell during the past few years, with Republican opponents branding all attempts to cut greenhouse Gas Emissions "cap and tax," but the idea of capping emmissions and trading emission permits was originally a GOP idea introduced to deal with acid rain. On Monday, the Environmental Protection Agency released a report celebrating the 15-year-old program to curb acid rain as an environmental...

Bush Deception Points
Former President George W. Bush’s book Decision Points is apparently selling quite well. The book includes a defense of the president’s fiscal record, and a table on page 447 compares Bush to prior presidents on spending and Debt (you can see the table on Amazon’s search inside feature). One problem with the table is that Bush claims credit for the low spending and debt of President Clinton’s last year, fiscal 2001. The first Budget Bush crafted was for fiscal 2002. ...