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Richardson Grok

What Bill Richardson says he would do if elected President:

"On my first day in office, I'd end the war in Iraq.

On my second day, I'd announce a plan for achieving national energy independence."

Richardson made these remarks during a Q-and-A after a speech he gave at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies. During the speech, Richardson said the administration, consumed by the Iraq war, had lost focus of the real threat of a “nuclear 9-11.” “It took a Manhattan project to create the bomb," Richardson said. "We need a new Manhattan project to stop the bomb — a comprehensive program to secure all nuclear weapons and all weapons-usable material, worldwide."
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Museum Exhibit

On exhibit until April 29 at the Museum of International Folk Art in Santa Fe, "Village of Painters" showcases a varierty of narrative scrolls from West Bengal. Patuas, also known as chitrakars (picture makers) are an indigenous group of Bengalis who specialize in the production of painted narrative scrolls and the performance of songs to accompany the scrolls’ unrolling. The scrolls resemble elaborate storyboards, with frames painted to depict key scenes.

Frank Korom, a former curator at MOIFA, made four visits to West Bengal over five years to conduct research for the exhibit.

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A Spring Day in Albuquerque

Spring officially started last week but it made a formal appearance yesterday. Tuesday morning: My dog starts to grumble; the knock comes at the door; the dog is barking. Wearing ruffled pajamas, I open the house to a pair of young ladies dressed in the starched fabrics of the latest pious fashion. Jehova’s Witnesses. (In my neighborhood you can expect people to come by now and then wanting to paint your address number on the curb, pull weeds or push a little god before Palm Sunday.)
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Richardson Grok

In a recent column for right-wing media “watchdog” Accuracy in Media, Cliff Kincaid argues against the legitimacy of medical marijuana in a rant that reads in places like script for Reefer Madness. (Remember the kid who killed his family on Sam Donaldson’s ranch? “He was a marijuana user,” the author denounces conclusively.) Well, Kincaid also contends that billionaire activist George Soros used his clout to pull political strings here in New Mexico -- i.e. Bill Richardson’s support of the recently passed medical marijuana bill. “Richardson took $50,000 from Soros and one of his pro-marijuana front groups,” writes Buzzkill Squarepants, “and successfully pressured the New Mexico state legislature into passing a fraudulent ‘medical marijuana’ bill that offers false hope to sick people.”

Also on the Richardson beat this week: Tired legislators balk at special sessions; Don Imus flip flops; and Bill surmises tornado-ravaged Clovis. [more]