New Daily Kos Diary by Michelle

Hi friends...

I recently posted a new diary on Daily Kos:
"Bill Richardson: You've got to be part of causes you believe in"

I will post the piece here as well, but I would also like to ask everyone to please forward it to their friends and family (or at least forward the address of this blog [www.Colorado4Richardson.blogspot.com] and the link for the below mentioned San Francisco Chronicle article [http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/05/01/BAGGQPIDK41.DTL&feed=rss.bayarea] )

If there is one Richardson article that everyone should read, that S.F. Chronicle article is the one.

Also, if you are registered at Daily Kos, please visit the the post with my diary and recommend it, so that it will pop up on the front page and everyone can find that great Chronicle article on the Governor.

Thanks so much!

-- Michelle

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Bill Richardson: You've got to be part of causes you believe in

The world won't become a better place unless we help make it so.

I'm a true believer in the Bill Richardson for President movement.

Call me a kool-aid drinker...because, well, I am. Every now and then there's some kool-aid that's actually worth drinking... Because every now and then, there's a special person with the character and vision that can change this country...and for the resolute better. Every now and then there's that special candidate worth believing in...and worth going to the front lines for. I've only found that candidate twice - John Kerry - and now Bill Richardson.

I don't need to sound off with superfluous platitudes about my candidate. He makes his best case himself - right here: "Richardson: 'You've got to be part of causes you believe in'."

(http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/05/01/BAGGQPIDK41.DTL&feed=rss.bayarea)

And it's not just his words that make the case, but rather his actions. When everyone else was glad handing and politicking, Richardson was speaking up for the cause he believes in....a cause not about himself, or about campaigns, or money, or votes, or flash bulbs...but a campaign about giving a voice to those without, and of making an effort to save their lives.

I was - and forever will be - a proud drinker of the Kerry Kool-Aid Club... And I'm now proud to drink and serve the Richardson Kool-Aid.

Bill Richardson believes in speaking - and acting - on behalf of the causes he believes in. An example worth noting, worth following...and worth believing in.

The world won't become a better place unless we help make it so.

Richardson for America ~ I Believe

Richardson: 'You've got to be part of causes you believe in'

San Francisco Chronicle

CAMPAIGN 2008

Richardson: 'You've got to be part of causes you believe in'

Tyche Hendricks, Chronicle Staff Writer

Tuesday, May 1, 2007

While well-funded presidential contenders Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton and Sen. Barack Obama were jockeying for center stage at the California Democratic Convention in San Diego over the weekend, another Democratic presidential candidate ducked out to appear at a San Francisco rally calling for an end to the genocide in Darfur.

New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson mounted the stage at Civic Center Plaza Sunday afternoon, cowboy boots livening up his standard-issue khakis and navy blazer, and exhorted an earnest crowd of about 600 to join the Save Darfur Coalition.

"It's not going to get votes," Richardson acknowledged in an interview with The Chronicle before his speech. "But you've got to be part of causes you believe in."

The former U.N. ambassador has made three trips to Sudan, visiting stricken refugees in makeshift camps, negotiating the release of kidnapped aid workers and pressing President Omar Hassan al-Bashir to accept U.N. peacekeepers.

Richardson, who has also represented New Mexico in Congress and served as President Bill Clinton's energy secretary, said he is not worried about getting blowback for controversial positions he has taken recently, including supporting New Mexico laws legalizing medical marijuana and creating concealed-weapon permits, and or for his endorsement last year by the National Rifle Association.

"I'm not your usual candidate," he said. "But I do believe I have the most experience. I'm the most electable."
One hot-button issue he has had to confront as governor of a border state is illegal immigration. He said he is unequivocally opposed to building a border fence, calling it "a terrible symbol" that sends the wrong message to a friendly neighbor.

"If I'm president, I'll tear it down myself," he said.

But he does favor tightening border security, calling for a doubling of the 12,000-strong U.S. Border Patrol and increasing surveillance technology such as motion sensors and night-vision cameras.

He also supports an "earned legalization plan" for illegal immigrants in the United States, stiffer enforcement of sanctions on employers who hire undocumented workers, expanded legal immigration and a relationship with Mexico that encourages its economic development.

"Mexico needs to not view this as a cash cow of remittances. It's got to step up," said Richardson, the first major Latino candidate for president. "President Calderon, I like his words. He agrees Mexico bears responsibility. "
On Iraq, Richardson said the war is "a disaster" and he wants to see all U.S. troops withdrawn by the end of 2007.

"But accompany that with diplomacy," he said. "I want an international donor conference, including Japan and the European Union, to deal with Iraq's reconstruction; a security conference, with Iran, Syria and other Middle East countries to create an all-Muslim peacekeeping force; and a reconciliation conference led by the United States forcing the three groups, Sunni, Shia and Kurd, to come together in a coalition government."

On energy, Richardson said he would work aggressively to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and make America independent of foreign oil.

Richardson has raised just over $6 million so far for his presidential bid compared with the $36 million amassed by Clinton, $26 million by Obama and $14 million by former Sen. John Edwards.

But in the online world, Richardson seems to have eclipsed Clinton and holds third place after Edwards and Obama in unscientific straw polls conducted by Democratic-leaning Web sites such as MoveOn and Daily Kos.

Richardson said his experience at the United Nations during the Clinton administration, where he worked extensively on Iraq, and leading a variety of international missions, including a trip earlier this month to North Korea, make him the candidate with the greatest foreign policy expertise.

"My skill is to bring people together," he said as Sudanese musicians warmed up nearby. "I'm a great believer in diplomacy."

Presidential candidate Richardson talks of need for diplomacy

From Iowa:

Presidential candidate Richardson talks of need for diplomacy

By EMILY CHRISTENSEN, Courier Staff Writer

CEDAR FALLS --- Bad guys like Gov. Bill Richardson.The New Mexico governor has worked with Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir to broker a fragile 60-day cease fire agreement in Darfur. He has helped a scared wife rescue her journalist husband from a Sudanese prison thanks to his relationship with the African leader.More recently Richardson was in North Korea, collecting the remains of six soldiers lost during the Korean War, from a country that has been less-than-friendly with the United States in recent history.Richardson, a Democratic presidential hopeful, said it is his commitment to diplomacy that has afforded him the opportunity to arrange such meetings.
It is that same diplomacy Richardson said is needed in Washington to begin moving this country in the right direction. "We should have a foreign policy that we do things not just for our own interest, but because it is right," Richardson told a group of about 150 on the University of Northern Iowa campus Friday. "... We have forgotten that element in our foreign policy. ... I think that buys us goodwill and eventually that translates into something that advances our issues." He was in Cedar Falls as part of a larger program sponsored by the Center for International Peace and Security Studies that focused on conflict and conflict resolution in Africa. "What you do here, mediation and conflict resolution, that's the reason I am running for president," Richardson said. If elected, Richardson said he will make Africa and the Darfur region and other third-world countries that he said have been neglected under the current administration a top priority of his international agenda.
But, Richardson said he isn't interested in starting another war on the behalf of these countries. Instead he wants to use United Nations peace-keeping envoys, economic sanctions and diplomacy to end the wars now raging in many third-world countries. He also would divert funds currently being used in Iraq --- his first order of business would be to remove troops from that area --- to fund additional foreign aid and refocus our military efforts at U.S. ports and in Afghanistan." America also has to protect its own interests. ... The war in Iraq is taking away from the real threats to America," he said.
Richardson, who is in his second term as the New Mexico governor, served as the Secretary of Energy under President Bill Clinton, was a Congressman and an Ambassador to the United Nations. His work has earned him four nominations for the Nobel Peace Prize.

GOVERNOR RICHARDSON BROKERS CEASE FIRE IN SUDAN

More to follow on this extraordinary story - but for starters, here is the transcript from Daily Kos and Gov Bill Richardsons Online Ops Team's diary :


This morning at 6:55 MST, Governor Bill Richardson and members of the Save Darfur coalition delegation arrived in Albuquerque after their trip to Sudan. We held a press conference where Governor Richardson spoke about what he saw first-hand the human toll taken by the ongoing conflict in the Darfur region of Sudan as he toured a relocation camp and spoke with citizens forced from their homes and villages by war. The Governor visited the As Salaam IDP (internally displaced persons) Camp in El Fasher, home to more than 43,000 people, mostly women and children.

He also received a briefing from top United Nations officials in Sudan and met with the Commander of the African Union peacekeeping forces, Major General Luke Aprezi. General Aprezi expressed his frustration that the relatively small numbers of AU troops cannot provide adequate security for the 65 IDP camps as well as serving as observers and running patrols to protect civilian activities such as gathering firewood.
In addition, the Governor urged several field commanders from different rebel Sudanese forces to do their part to reduce violence against women and humanitarian workers and to undertake efforts to restore peace and stability to their region and throughout Sudan.

But the most successful part of trip came when he secured a commitment from Sudanese President Omar Hassan Al Bashir to agree to a 60-day cease fire in the Darfur region to allow for a new political process under the Darfur Peace Agreement and the auspices of the African Union and the United Nations.

There's still a long road ahead for the people in the Darfur region but this cease fire is definitely a step in the right direction.

Accompanying Governor Richardson on the trip were 5 members of the Save Darfur Coalition delegation. They were:
David Rubenstien, Coordinator, Save Darfur Coalition
Michael Bergman, Dep. Chair of Mitigating Religious and Ethnic Conflict, Clinton Global Initiative
Ambassador (ret) Lawrence G. Rossin, Senior International Coordinator, Save Darfur Coalition
Kenneth H. Bacon, President of Refugees International
Amjad Atallah, President of Strategic Assessments

********************

Governor Richardson's remarks:

Thank you for being here so early.

I will try to summarize what we have been able to accomplish over the past several days, and then I’d like to ask each member of our delegation to introduce themselves and say a few words as well. Then we’d be happy to take your questions.

First, I would like to thank the members of the Save Darfur Coalition for the important work that they do. For joining my delegation and for paying for this trip.

Usually when I am asked to take on a mission like this it is to help get one or two or a few people out of a dangerous situation. In this case we are talking about millions of people in the Darfur region of Sudan who are victims of a brutal, seemingly endless conflict. They are facing the loss of family members, their homes, and their lives.

During our trip we saw with our own eyes just how desperate the situation is. We met twice with President Omar Al-Bashir and spoke with top officials of his government. We spent a day in Darfur hearing from representatives of the United Nations and African Union, as well as rebel commanders who are fighting this war. We visited one of the camps for those left homeless by the war, and met some of the courageous Sudanese people caught up in this human tragedy.

I believe we made important progress on this trip, and took some critical steps toward finding a solution that will provide a lasting peace for the people of Darfur, and all of Sudan.

Most importantly, we got a commitment from President Bashir and the leaders of the rebel factions for a 60-day cessation of hostilities. This is critical. Before more African Union and UN troops can provide effective protection for the people of Darfur, there must be a cease-fire. You can’t have peacekeepers if there is no peace to keep.

The cease-fire will give the African Union and the United Nations an opportunity to build a framework for the political process to address the remaining differences between those who signed the Darfur Peace Agreement, or D-P-A, and those who did not.

President Bashir reaffirmed his commitment, as he had agreed with the UN Secretary General, under the DPA, to allow the deployment of UN personnel and equipment into Darfur.

We reiterated that sexual violence must be condemned and prosecuted no matter which party or organization is responsible, and the government agreed to extend existing efforts to support Sudanese women against all gender-based violence.

We got an agreement from the government not to paint their military aircraft white, the same as the aircraft of the UN and other relief agencies, and we underscored the need to disarm all armed groups, in particular the government-supported janjaweed militia.

The President agreed to have government forces improve security conditions in all areas of Darfur and provide protection for humanitarian convoys and workers.

President Bashir also agreed to cut the red tape for humanitarian workers in Sudan, and he agreed to allow and facilitate the travel of journalists from around the world to report on the situation in Darfur.

And, importantly, President Bashir has opened a dialogue with the Save Darfur Coalition and committed to building that relationship, toward the goal of ending the violence in Darfur and achieving a lasting political solution to the crisis.

I believe we have opened the door for the peace process to take hold and move forward. It is now up to the leaders of the UN and AU to monitor and ensure implementation by the Sudanese government and rebels, and to use this opening to pursue the durable political solution that will end the tragedy afflicting the people of Darfur.

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Please visit: :: :: Gov Bill Richardsons Online Ops Team's diary :: :: on Daily Kos

Special thanks to the marvelous Joaquin Guerra for fielding questions today on the Kos Diary and for taking his time to chat with readers -- muchas gracias, Joaquin!