June 18, 2009 6:27 PM

Bill Richardson Nominated For Nobel Prize

(AP)  Democrat Bill Richardson often touts his four Nobel Peace Prize nominations on the presidential campaign trail.

Now he has a fifth.

Democratic Rep. Bart Gordon of Tennessee said he has sent a nomination packet to the Nobel Committee in honor of Richardson's diplomatic efforts with countries like Sudan and North Korea.

"He's well deserving," said Gordon, who got to know Richardson when they served in Congress together. "It's just a continuation of his willingness to continue to go around the world, whether it's a matter of hostages or other tense situations, and work with all parties."

This year's Nobel prize winner also came from a background in presidential politics; former Vice President Al Gore shared the honor with six scientists for their work to raise awareness about global warming.

A nomination doesn't necessarily mean much. According to the Nobel Committee's database, previous nominees include dictators Joseph Stalin and Benito Mussolini. But Richardson's nomination is a recognition of his unofficial career in international diplomacy as he pursues the top elected office in the United States.

Between campaign stops this year and his job as governor of New Mexico, Richardson went to North Korea to recover the remains of missing U.S. troops from the Korean War and to Sudan to encourage a cease-fire in the Darfur conflict. Richardson often undertakes these efforts on his own, without an official imprimatur from the U.S. government, and he has negotiated with some of the world's most notorious dictators, from Iraq's Saddam Hussein to Cuba's Fidel Castro.

Richardson has touted his past Nobel Peace Prize nominations in at least two campaign commercials, but the Nobel Committee won't verify that since names of nominees are kept secret until 50 years later. Gordon spokeswoman Julie Eubank said her boss was involved in nominations in 2000 and 2001.

Eubank said 11 of Gordon's congressional colleagues signed the nomination letter, including one Republican - Jim Ramstad of Minnesota. Gordon said he's still staying out of the Democratic presidential primary, though.

In a response from his gubernatorial office, Richardson said he was touched by the effort.

"I'm profoundly humbled by this nomination, but I was just trying to do my part," Richardson said. "There are hundreds of dedicated advocates, nonprofits, humanitarian organizations and public servants who work each day to reduce tension in Korea and try to bring peace to Darfur."

Others who signed on to the nomination were Texas Democratic Reps. Charles Gonzalez, Solomon Ortiz, Silvestre Reyes and Ciro Rodriguez; California Democratic Reps. Joe Baca, Xavier Becerra, Bob Filner and Grace Napolitano; and Reps. Eliot Engel of New York, and John Tanner of Tennessee.

© 2009 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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by bhappy2-2 November 18, 2007 1:45 AM EST
HEY CBS-
Why is there a comment section for this story:
Mexico Assails U.S. Pols On Immigration
If YOU aren''t going to SHOW the comments? Are you afraid the citizens of America might PISSOFF the president of mexico by telling him he can take his 20 million ILLEGAL ALIEN INVADERS home? Are you concerned we, the citizens of America, might tell him if his CRIMINALS don''t want to be harassed they should SELF DEPORT? Why don''t you show the comment about these ILLEGAL ALIEN INVADERS and their sorry excuse for a president? What makes him think he can dictate ANYTHING to OUR COUNTRY when his country is so bad HIS people are leaving in droves?
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by megaprophet November 17, 2007 12:32 AM EST
ARE WE A NATION OF LAWS?
Consider the Patriot Act. The Law is 342 pages long, or 57,000 words, making it a bit longer than Dostoevsky''s "Notes from Underground" or, if you''re partial to pigs, about twice the size of Orwell''s "Animal Farm." The Patriot Act is the reigning champion of our government''s recent un-American activities. When it was first paraded before Congress and the Senate following the 9/11 attacks, few Members, other than Congressman, Ron Paul dared to vote against it. Most in Congress simply gave it their rubber-stamp of approval, without ever reading it. Why bother? It was, after all, named the "USA Patriot Act." It must be a good thing. Right? Now in effect, the Law wrecks a generation''s worth of constitutional protections against government snooping, legalizing police-state tactics in searches and seizures, criminalizing certain forms of speech and political activity, and opening the way for the mistreatment of foreigners in government custody and wholesale expulsions and imprisonment. It is a repugnant, unnecessary Law that goes against the very principles its name wrongly implies. Yet, it remains unchecked and unbalanced by public opinion, Lawmakers or the Courts. So, yes, we''re a nation of Laws. But the Laws aren''t much to speak of when they''re designed to hoodwink the public to win its docility. Neither is public responsibility much to speak of these days when its docility is secured with nothing more than a ploy-riddled play on the word "patriot."
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by megaprophet November 17, 2007 12:30 AM EST
WILL THIS POST SOON BE A THOUGHT CRIME?
While CBS was busy pretending all other news didn''t exist during the California wildfires, our Constitution was burning on the floors of Congress. On Oct 23, the House overwhelmingly passed HR 1955, the Violent Radicalization and Homegrown Terrorism Prevention Act. This Bill is one of the most blatant attacks against our right to freedom of speech ever devised by Congress. The Bill actually defines different types of thought as "homegrown terrorism," and unlike previous anti-terror legislation, it specifically targets U.S. citizens. The Bill uses extremely vague language to define "terrorist propoganda" as any speech which promotes an agenda that the government considers an "extremist belief system." Since the bill doesn%u2019t specifically define what an "extremist belief system" is, it will be entirely up to the interpretation of government officials. Isn''t that comforting? Considering how much the government has done to desecrate our Constitution lately, they would surely have to define this post as promoting an "extremist belief" system, since it promotes the restoration of civil liberties--something not en vogue these days. As disturbing as this Bill is, so to is the additional requirement that there be a seperate, "public version." In other words, the Bill we see is different from what Congress is seeing. Why''s that necessary? Whatever the reason, I predict this Bill will become Law soon while CBS focuses the country''s attention elsewhere
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by megaprophet November 17, 2007 12:29 AM EST
DEMOCRATS HOODWINKED BY HILLARY
Sadly, even though Clinton voted for the war in Iraq, and a host of Laws aimed at removing civil liberties; and our country''s sovereignty, Democrats are so blinded by her cult of personality that I predict they will overwhelmingly vote to put her crime family back into office. While I''ve made some progress in educating Liberals as to the phony staged consensus of the left-right paradigm, the fact remains that a majority of Democrats still see the White House as some kind of political Super Bowl, where the success of their "team" is the be all and end all - to the expense of America as a whole. The Punch and Judy show theater that was the "troop surge" debate in the Senate characterizes Hillary''s role in hoodwinking Americans perfectly. The debate is framed as not whether the U.S. should get out of the Middle-East altogether, but the relative minutia of whether to feed thousands of more troops into the meat grinder or not. A Clinton presidency will mean more war, more dead Americans, and a further desecration of the tattered shreds of what''s left of our Constitution. Clinton is the ultimate global elitist and represents the Democrats supposed base: the poor and downtrodden, about as much as Lindsay Lohan represents grace and dignity. I''m sure she informed the likes of David Rockefeller and Queen Beatrix as to her presidential aspirations during her last visit to attend the Bilderberger conference. Vote for a REAL AMERICAN. Vote for Ron Paul.
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by megaprophet November 16, 2007 5:54 PM EST
RON PAUL WILL RESTORE U.S. SOVEREIGNTY
All of the trade deals and world government organizations, which all of the presidential candidates support (except Ron Paul), such as the ICC, NAFTA, GATT, WTO, and CAFTA, are all a major threat to our nation''s sovereignty. They transfer power from our government to unelected foreign elites. The ICC wants to try our soldiers as war criminals. Both the WTO and CAFTA could force Americans to get a prescription to take herbs and vitamins. The WTO has forced Congress to change our laws to meet their needs, and not our own. If anything, the WTO makes trade relations worse by giving foreign competitors a new way to attack U.S. jobs. The NAFTA superhighway, being built by a Spanish company, is just one part of a plan to erase our borders and create the North American Union, a single nation State like the EU, out of Canada, the U.S. and Mexico, with a new, unelected bureaucracy and money system. Forget about controlling immigration under the NAU scheme. There won''t be any borders anymore, or a free America. Our limited, constitutional government will be gone forever. Let''s not forget the UN either. It wants to impose a direct Carbon Tax on us. Ron Paul successfully fought this move in Congress last year, but if we are going to stop ongoing attempts of this world government body to rule over us, we need someone in the White House who knows how to say "No." We must withdraw from any organizations or treaty that infringes upon our nation''s sovereignty.
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by glaswolf November 16, 2007 4:14 PM EST
Bill Richardson''s work with North Korea warrants the Noble Peace Prize, his North Korean counterparts should recieve it also. He is humble to recognize many do community work for itself, not for anything more than a sense that citizenship is more than tossing coins into donation baskets or paying taxes at a distant. Someone has got to just walk into the fray and deal with it, Governor Richardson walks into the fray and is recognized as a fair and honest dealer, a man willing to help others balance their differences and intents. Too often war results from ambiguity and misunderstanding. Too many of those who cause such ambiguity run from the fray, fleeing to leave resolution to other more honorable and funtional souls like the good Governor. Presidential Candidate Richardson brings honor and trust to the United States. If I could sign his nomination, I would.
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by mediapreachr November 16, 2007 3:18 PM EST
Gore called and offered to buy the Nobel prize-he wants to see if he can wear two at the same time.
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by jairod November 16, 2007 12:22 PM EST
megaprophet: aka, megamouth. Get a life, take a prozac, heck, take a nap. you''ll feel better. Or, put a gun to your head and blow your brains out. I mean, after all, what have you got to live for?
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by megaprophet November 16, 2007 3:58 AM EST
CLINTON PLANTS GLOBAL WARMING QUESTIONS
The Clinton campaign has admitted to planting questions at a college speaking engagement in Iowa. They have confirmed that a campaign staffer approached a student to ask Senator Clinton a question about global warming during a campaign stop in Newton, Iowa, on Nov. 6. The story was first reported by Patrick Caldwell, a junior at Grinnell College and the features editor of The Scarlet and Black college newspaper. He reported that student Muriel Gallo-Chasanoff was approached by the Clinton campaign to ask certain question about global warming and about the need for a global Carbon Tax. Gallo-Chasanoff also said that she "noted that staffers prompted Clinton to call on her and another student who had been approached before the event. Some of the questions asked were confusing and clearly off-message." Clinton Campaign spokesperson Mo Elleithee told ABC News that "on this occasion, a member of our staff did discuss a possible question about Sen. Clinton''s global warming plan at a forum. This is not standard policy and will not be repeated again." The staffer still remains with the Clinton campaign, but they would not reveal the person''s name. The Clinton campaign refused to comment on whether this was the only time they have planted questions among audience members about the issue of global warming.
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by megaprophet November 16, 2007 1:27 AM EST
YOU''RE A FROG IN A POT
My fellow Americans need to open their eyes to the fact that our Republic, along with The Constitution upon which it was founded, is being flushed-down the toilet by our nations'' bought and paid for politicians and media. While the Oligarchs warn and incite fear in the sheeple about the prospect of terrorism, they at the same time leave our borders wide open, and then conduct illegal wars overseas that do nothing but incite the terrorism which their Orwellian Laws like the Patriot Act and the John Warner Defense Authorization Act pretend to protect us from. Wake up America! It''s not about protecting you from terrorism, or Global Warming, or any of that other fear-mongering garbage the sold-out, mainstream media feeds you 24/7. It''s about feeding the bankers and the military industrial complex, and facilitating the global elite''s ability to ratchet-down control over the American people, placing us into a total control grid where they can surveille, track and control everywhere we go and everything we do. It''s the groundwork for tyranny. It''s the New World Order plan of Bush, Clinton, Edwards, McCain, Giuliani, et.al., being executed quite beautifully. You''re a frog in a pot: In order to cook a frog, you don''t throw him into a pot of boiling water. If you do, he''ll resist and jump-out. What you do instead is, you turn the heat-up REAL SLOW, and by the time the water is boiling, he won''t be able to jump out anymore, because it''s too late--he''s already doomed.
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