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Ahmed Shah Masood (c. 1953–September 9, 2001) (variant transliterations include Ahmad, Massoud, etc.) was a Kabul University engineering student turned Afghan military leader who played a leading role in driving the Soviet army out of Afghanistan, earning him the nickname Lion of Panjshir. Various transliterations include: Ahmad / Ahmed / Akhmad / Achmad, Shah / Schah / Chah, Massoud / Massud / Massood / Mas’ud. Ahmad Shah Massoud was born 10.06.1332 (01.09.1953)[2] in Jangalak[3]/ Panjsher[5]as son of police commander Dost Mohammad Khan. At the age of five, he started grammar school at Bazarak and stayed there until second grade....

This chapter looks at the Spanish company Abengoa that received more than $2.8 billion in loans and grants—making them the second largest recipient of the $16 billion doled out through the DOE 1705 loan guarantee program. From the introduction of this serialized book, the thumbnail says: Abengoa has two solar projects: Solana and Mojave Solar. Solana’s Fitch rating is BB+. Just before Christmas, 2010, the company received $1.45 billion from the DOE for a solar thermal plant, to use parabolic trough technology in Gila Bend, AZ. Mojave Solar’s rating was BB. Yet the company received $1.2 billion in September 2011...

The House Ethics Committee has found Rep. Laura Richardson guilty of violating rules that prohibit pressuring her staff to perform campaign work and personal errands and is recommending that the House issue a reprimand and fine her $10,000. The panel also found that Ms. Richardson, a Democrat from California, obstructed the Ethics panel’s investigation by altering or destroying evidence and a deliberately failed to respond to a subpoena for documents. The committee also said she attempted to influence the testimony of witnesses. Ethics Committee Chairman Jo Bonner, a Republican from Alabama, and ranking member Linda Sanchez, a Democrat from California,...

The video says it all. Texas is Rising for Newt Grinrich.

Ex-Gov. Bill Richardson is one of several former top U.S. government officials pocketing large fees to speak in support of an Iranian group that is listed by the United States as a foreign terrorist organization. Richardson, a former energy secretary and U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, was in Washington, D.C., in January and in Paris in February to call on the State Department to remove the Mojahedin-e Khalq, or MEK, from the terror list. During the ’70s, the MEK killed U.S. military personnel and U.S. civilians working on defense projects in Tehran and supported the takeover in 1979 of...

You may remember how, last year, the New Progressive Alliance burst upon the scene, with the goal of promoting a liberal candidate to challenge Barack Obama in the Democratic Party primaries. This month, they found that candidate. This week, the New Progressive Alliance endorsed the presidential campaign of Democrat Darcy Richardson. Darcy Richardson campaign button “Darcy Richardson is the best way for Democrats sick of the past three – and 30 – years’ needless compromises to register their dissent,” says the New Progressive Alliance. Unlike Stephen Colbert, Darcy Richardson is actually on the ballot – in Texas, Missouri, Oklahoma and...

This is the fourth federal investigation of former Gov. Bill Richardson or his administration ... One ended with no charges but a strongly worded letter that the state’s procurement system had been corrupted. It did cost Richardson a position as commerce secretary under President Barack Obama. A second investigation ended with two heavily redacted federal appeals court decisions and no charges. A third, involving state investments, entered the federal investigation equivalent of interdimensional space where we may never hear of it again. And now we are on No. 4, which centers on how Richardson and friends paid off a threatened...

New probe into another failed 2008 presidential bid -- of New Mexico governor BILL RICHARDSON has a decidedly JOHN EDWARDS flavor du jour. He allegedly ponied up campaign funds to silence a woman’s affair claims.

A federal grand jury is investigating former New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson over possible campaign-finance violations stemming from his 2008 presidential run, including allegations that he arranged for supporters to pay off a woman who planned to say they had engaged in an extramarital affair... Several of Mr. Richardson's close associates have been granted immunity from prosecution in exchange for their testimony

A federal grand jury in Albuquerque is investigating former Gov. Bill Richardson’s presidential campaign for possible financial irregularities. The grand jury has been hearing testimony in secret since at least September, and a number of witnesses have been granted immunity, according to defense attorneys familiar with the general outlines of the investigation. Neither the U.S. Attorney’s Office nor the FBI would confirm or deny the existence of the latest investigation. But the Journal has learned that one area under scrutiny is whether money from campaign supporters was used to settle a threatened lawsuit against Richardson in the fall of 2007...

As of mid-day, October 21, only two individuals have filed to be on the New Hampshire Democratic presidential primary, Barack Obama and Darcy G. Richardson. However, filing doesn’t close until October 28. Darcy Richardson is the author of six books, all non-fiction books involving U.S. political history. He lives in Jacksonville, Florida, and has recently worked in the financial services industry. He has extensive political experience, and he frequently blogs at UncoveredPolitics.

Rep. Laura Richardson tries to head off ethics probeBy JOHN BRESNAHAN | 11/2/11 11:42 PM EDT Rep. Laura Richardson is lobbying members of the House Ethics Committee in a last-ditch bid to avoid a formal investigation into allegations that she pressured her staff to engage in banned political activities while on her congressional payroll. The California Democrat sent a private letter to all 10 members of the secretive panel Tuesday, stating that she would agree to a minor sanction such as a public reprimand over the alleged violations. But Richardson urged her House colleagues not to move forward with a...

Gov. Susana Martinez’s push to repeal the 2003 law that allows illegal immigrants to obtain New Mexico driver’s licenses is generating opposition from the state’s Roman Catholic hierarchy. The state’s Catholic bishops, an active voice in many hot-button political issues in recent years, are urging Martinez and state lawmakers not to scrap the controversial law, contending it benefits public safety and the economy. A statement released this week and signed by Archbishop Michael Sheehan, Bishop Ricardo Ramirez of Las Cruces and Bishop James S. Wall of Gallup, asserts the law leads to more drivers having auto insurance and allows immigrant...

How does a company bidding on a $38 million state road contract end up with confidential documents regarding the job? Taxpayers deserve an answer if New Mexico wants its public procurement process to have any credibility. It is undisputed that FNF Construction, the second-lowest bidder and the company the Richardson administration tried to give the job of rebuilding 18 miles of Interstate 10 south of Las Cruces, got the internal documents. And, according to the story in Sunday’s Journal by investigative reporter Colleen Heild, they would have succeeded except that federal officials who held the purse strings balked at the...

An ethics watchdog group is calling for the FBI to conduct a criminal investigation into Rep. Laura Richardson (D-Calif.)Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington announced Tuesday that it has obtained internal e-mails from Richardson’s office that the group says shows the California Democrat forced her congressional staff to work on and contribute to her campaign. Richardson denies the allegations.“Internal emails regarding a fundraising event dubbed ‘Democratic Idol’ show Richardson Chief of Staff Shirley Cooks told employees they were required to attend the event, wearing staff shirts embroidered with the phrase ‘37th Congressional District,’” CREW said in a statement Tuesday....

Allegations of ethics violations within the office of Rep. Laura Richardson (D-Calif.) are worthy of a criminal investigation, a leading ethics watchdog group charged Tuesday. Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington has asked the FBI to probe allegations that Richardson habitually threatened her congressional staff with their jobs if they didn't work on her campaign. “Rep. Richardson presented staffers with an odious choice: work on her campaign, or lose their jobs,” Melanie Sloan, CREW's executive director, said in a statement. CREW says it also has evidence – based on internal emails – that Richardson's staff was asked to do...

New documents disclosed in a complaint from the watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) appear to show California Democrat Rep. Laura Richardson and her staff clearly violating congressional ethics rules and potentially federal law. The documents show Richardson using official taxpayer resources for political events, including fundraisers. “Rep. Richardson didn’t just violate House rules, she likely committed crimes,” said Melanie Sloan, CREW’s executive director. In one instance, Richardson’s chief of staff, Shirley Cooks, told all of Richardson’s aides in an email from her official House account, “All staff are required to attend” a fundraiser held Sept....

SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) - The whiff of scandal cost Democrat Bill Richardson a job in President Barack Obama's administration. Now, the former New Mexico governor's political legacy are threatened again because of investigations into separate pay-to-play schemes, including allegations that campaign contributions influenced his appointment of judges. Richardson denies wrongdoing, as he did two years ago when he withdrew his commerce secretary nomination because of a federal grand jury investigation.

NM judge booked, fingerprinted in political bribery scandal tied to Democrats, RichardsonArticle by: Associated Press Updated: May 20, 2011 - 3:35 PM LAS CRUCES, N.M. - A New Mexico judge charged with bribery in a scandal tied to former Gov. Bill Richardson pleaded not guilty Friday, then was booked, fingerprinted and ordered to hand over his passport. State District Judge Michael Murphy is accused of telling a potential judicial candidate that if she wanted a seat on the bench she needed to donate to the Democratic Party through a political activist linked to Richardson. Allegations in a special prosecutor's report...

Just when Bill Richardson appeared to be in the clear on corruption charges in New Mexico, new allegations of pay-for-play during his administration may envelop the former Governor again. A grand jury indicted a sitting district judge on charges of corruption for buying his appointment from Richardson in 2006, and a whistleblowing judge believes the rot went all the way to the top: Third Judicial District Judge Mike Murphy allegedly said he gave $4,000 to get appointed to the bench by then-Gov. Bill Richardson in 2006, and told several people that other judicial appointees had to give money as well....