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At Pakatan thanksgiving rally, leaders give hope for change

admin — Fri, 24 May 2013 06:58:39 +0000

Meena Lakshana, fz.com

Amidst a crackdown on political dissent, Pakatan Rakyat leaders implored about 4,000 people gathered at the field opposite Amcorp Mall to keep their hopes for a better Malaysia alive.

Comments (3)

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written by Bryanwmc,
May 24, 2013 14:12:33

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written by ayamkokokharihari,
May 24, 2013 12:53:14

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written by Bryanwmc,
May 24, 2013 11:51:25
Liked this comment below from FMT For a better Malaysia..
.Healing the wounds. The 55 year old wounds were healed long time ago. The people of Malaysia have dropped racism. The PR parties are becoming increasingly multiracial, and have since long already based on race-agnostic ideology.
However, since 1988 the faux-UMNO, UMNO-baru or UMNO-palsu, whatever we wish to call them, have attempted to impose new wounds, most of which were unheard of before. Numerous infliction of damage on and tampering of the federal constitution has eroded people’s rights, destroyed independence of justice, demolished our democratic institutions, paving the way for a systematic looting of our countries resources, while creating massive structural weaknesses in our economy such as hugely oversized government dominated sector, dramatic drop in quality of education and a range of other issues in civil service, healthcare, and welfare. Neo-poverty is rapidly spreading while the UMNO-elite are annually filling billions of €, $, £ into their foreign private bank accounts. In total the UMNO-junta own more than 6000 high-end properties in London alone.
And now BN (UMNO)are still trying to
use slander, incite racism, abuse of Islam, thuggery and threats, the UMNO-junta in trying to drive a wedge in PR and the people.

Article source: http://www.malaysia-today.net/mtcolumns/newscommentaries/56976-at-pakatan-thanksgiving-rally-leaders-give-hope-for-change

Mayawati sends her men to dinner, Mulayam stays away

admin — Thu, 23 May 2013 18:42:33 +0000

If Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav holding the UPA government’s report card was the highlight of celebrations last year, the absence of DMK’s T R Baalu, Trinamool Congress’s Saugata Roy and Mulayam at the fourth anniversary dinner Wednesday exposed the coalition’s political plight.

The absence of these parties, which account for 58 Lok Sabha seats, exposed the vulnerability of the government and underlines its difficulties in taking bold decisions to revive the economy in the election year.

But BSP chief Mayawati, who has time and again reiterated her party’s outside support to the Manmohan Singh government till the next Lok Sabha elections, sent Rajya Sabha MPs Satish Misra and Brajesh Pathak to the dinner.

The two leaders, however, were not present when the report card was released. The BSP had not participated in the celebrations last year.

The outside support of the BSP, which has 21 MPs in Lok Sabha, is crucial to the stability of the Congress-led government after the Trinamool Congress and the DMK pulled out.

The absence of SP at the dinner was offset by the participation of the BSP and two other outside supporters, Lalu Prasad and Ram Vilas Paswan.

This is a clear indication of the SP distancing itself from the Congress as it enters the election year. SP leaders acknowledge it as a necessity for the party gearing up for polls with Mulayam harbouring prime ministerial ambitions and hoping for a fractured verdict.

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Article source: http://www.indianexpress.com/news/mayawati-sends-her-men-to-dinner-mulayam-stays-away/1119474/

Wisconsin’s Scott Walker: Anti-union governor comes to labor town

admin — Thu, 23 May 2013 05:58:12 +0000

The political right’s top event of the year in this corner of America’s “Left Coast” is the annual dinner of the Washington Policy Center, where guests have ranged from ex-Florida Gov. Jeb Bush to Fox News pundit (and onetime Jimmy Carter speechwriter) Charles Krauthammer to columnist George Will.

The dinner isn’t until Sept. 5 this year, but tickets go early and the guest of honor is certain to be greeted by a picket line outside the Seattle Sheraton. Seattle is still a labor town, about as much as any place in America.

That guest of honor is Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, who moved decisively in 2011 to strip bargaining powers from his state’s public employee unions, surviving mass protests and a recall election. Walker will be joined by Dr. Ben Carson, the Johns Hopkins University medical school professor who challenged President Obama at the last White House prayer breakfast.

The event features ticket prices reminiscent of 2012 campaign appearances by Obama, first lady Michelle Obama and Republican vice presidential nominee Paul Ryan.

The tab to be a “Dinner Champion” is $15,000, just $800 less than the tab for two at an Obama brunch in Medina. A “Dinner Benefactor” gives $10,000 to the “independent, non-partisan” think tank, which just turned out a paper suggesting that private concessionaires be retained to take over Washington’s state parks.

If you want to be a “Dinner Patron,” it’ll set you back $5,000; being a “Table Sponsor” carries a $3,500 price tag; status as a “VIP Couple” goes for $1,000; and a plain old ticket of admission is priced at $350.

Article source: http://blog.seattlepi.com/seattlepolitics/2013/05/22/wisconsins-scott-walker-anti-labor-governor-comes-to-labor-town/

Danielle Smith slams Redford at Calgary leader's dinner

admin — Wed, 22 May 2013 17:48:36 +0000

Money topped the agenda Tuesday night as the Wildrose Party hosted its Calgary leader’s dinner at the BMO Centre.

More than 1,000 party supporters paid $400 to dine on beef and hear Danielle Smith criticize Premier Alison Redford’s handling of Alberta’s economy.

Smith said the Redford government has failed to deliver on its election promise of fiscal responsibility.

“There’s probably a few people here in the room tonight who voted for her because of that,” she said.

“But it’s never been more clear: she’s never believed in any of it. She made a cold political calculation that looking fiscally responsible would help her to win an election. And it did “

“And what’s our reward? The fastest unraveling of an election platform ever witnessed. No tax credits. None of the promised election goodies. But instead, vicious cuts to the front lines — in the very areas of health care and education she said were off limits,” Smith said.

According to Mount Royal University political scientist Lori Williams, Smith could cash in with voters on this issue in the next election.

“This current budget is an area where there’s a lot of room for criticism, but not just from the Wildrose but from the other parties and the population at large,” Williams said.

The evening was also a platform to launch the Wildrose Party’s newest fundraising plan.

The dinner ended with a pitch for supporters to join the Wildrose 2016 Club. Admission costs $20 and 16 cents every month until the next election.

Article source: http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/story/2013/05/22/calgary-smith-dinner-wildrose.html?cmp=rss

Haslam Urges Better GOP Campaign Skills Nationally

admin — Tue, 21 May 2013 17:08:13 +0000

There were no campaign stickers or push cards at the Shelby County Republican Party’s annual Lincoln Day dinner, but still plenty of hand-to-hand campaigning Friday, May 17, among the crowd of 350 at the University of Memphis Holiday Inn.

HASLAM

The stickers should be present a year from now when the political community is in the 2014 election year.

And Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam told the local Republicans not to get complacent about the party having super majorities in the Tennessee legislature, seven of the nine congressional seats, both U.S. Senate seats and the governor’s mansion.

“How do you not waste the opportunity?” he asked, recalling his conversations recently with other governors in similar situations. He told the Memphis crowd the key is “not to be cocky about it. Not to assume that we will always have it this way.”

“You get in trouble when you start thinking nothing will change and it doesn’t matter what we do,” Haslam said. “At the end of the day it’s about producing results.”

He also said Democrats are still better nationally at winning and Tennessee didn’t see the difference in the skill levels between the two parties because President Barack Obama wrote off the state early in the 2012 presidential election.

That meant a lot of the national activity that tends to animate and help state and local campaigns on a partisan level was missing.

“We have to get better at winning elections. … When both parties engage, you see a difference,” Haslam said. “I honestly think we haven’t gotten as technically skilled as they have at turning out the vote.”

Haslam also said the party can win over voters with the results that Republican governors achieve on a state-by-state level.

“We need to hone our message to say we understand the hopes and fears and dreams of Americans,” he said. “We think we have the right message.”

Shelby County Republican Party Chairman Justin Joy has warned local Republicans that while Democrats are not a force to be reckoned with in some parts of the state, that is not the case in Shelby County.

He and other party leaders point to the GOP’s sweep of countywide offices on the 2010 county general election ballot but then Democrats coming back in 2012 to win two of the three countywide offices on the smaller county general election ballot.

The 2014 county general ballot is the once-every-eight-years “big” ballot that includes nonpartisan judicial races for eight-year terms of office. On the state level, Haslam also will likely seek a second term as governor.

He made no mention of his recent veto of Republican-sponsored legislation that would have made it a crime to record conditions on farms and other agricultural sites without turning over the recording to authorities within 48 hours.

State Senate Republican leader Mark Norris of Collierville, in introducing Haslam, praised the governor for his integrity, admitting, “There have been times when I’ve questioned his timing.”

Norris carries the administration’s legislation in the Senate and in the session that ended last month, Norris was forced to withdraw Haslam’s bill to allow the use of school vouchers with limits on their use to students from low-income families attending failing schools.

He withdrew it in the face of a rival voucher bill from Republican state Sen. Brian Kelsey of Germantown that would have broadened the guidelines for using vouchers.

Meanwhile, U.S. Rep. Stephen Fincher said despite the Republican victories in Tennessee in 2012, including his own re-election and presidential challenger Mitt Romney carrying the state, he was “devastated” by the national results.

“We’ve got to unite and take this country back,” Fincher added after saying he plans to open a new district office in Arlington soon to go with the one he opened recently in East Memphis.

Both areas are part of new Shelby County territory Fincher picked up in the 8th Congressional district with the 2012 redrawing of congressional district lines by the Tennessee legislature.

He also took a jab at U.S. Rep. Steve Cohen, a Democrat who represents the 9th District and most of Shelby County but lost the eastern territory to Fincher in redistricting.

“You’re going to love this,” he told the Republican crowd. “Since redistricting Steve Cohen won’t speak to me. … It’s true.”

Article source: http://www.memphisdailynews.com/news/2013/may/21/haslam-urges-better-gop-campaign-skills-nationally/

Obama Praises Burma Reforms, Calls For End to Attacks on Muslims

admin — Tue, 21 May 2013 05:04:43 +0000

May 21, 2013

Article source: http://www.voanews.com/content/obama-praises-burma-reforms-calls-for-end-to-attacks-on-muslims/1665023.html

Secretary of State Scott Gessler: Gov. John Hickenlooper is a partisan rubberstamp

admin — Mon, 20 May 2013 04:43:51 +0000

“I thought Hickenlooper started out well when he promised to be a moderate, but during this session he was anything but. He was a partisan rubberstamp for a partisan legislature. It was a ruthless display of political power.”

— Secretary of State Scott Gessler about a number of bills passed by the Colorado legislature and signed by Gov. John Hickenlooper.

Craig Depending on political affiliation, the first session of the 69th Colorado General Assembly could be summed up as monumentally historic or woefully un-American.

In just 120 days, state lawmakers passed some 440 bills out of more than 650 introduced in the House of Representatives and the Senate. Although many of those bills were customary pieces of legislation or largely symbolic in nature, the Democrat-controlled Legislature passed a number of laws that will result in sweeping changes to gun control, health care, education and energy.

For Colorado Secretary of State Scott Gessler, there was no more blatant example of partisan political power than House Bill 13-1303, a 128-page rewrite of Colorado’s voting laws.

Gessler, a native Chicagoan and former lawyer specializing in elections law, was elected to office in 2010 as a Republican. As secretary of state, Gessler serves as the chief elections supervisor, among other roles.

On Saturday, Gessler was the featured speaker during the annual Moffat County Republican Party Lincoln Day Dinner at the Holiday Inn of Craig. During his 20-minute address, Gessler outlined for about 40 local residents the flaws he sees in the new law and criticized Gov. John Hickenlooper as being a rubber-stamp governor for a partisan state Legislature.

Gessler has been rumored to be a potential Republican candidate for governor next year. The Denver Post reported last week that Gessler could forgo seeking re-election for his secretary of state post in order to vie for Hickenlooper’s office.

“As secretary of state and chief elections supervisor, it is my office’s responsibility to make it easy to vote but hard to cheat,” Gessler said. “I thought Hickenlooper started out well when he promised to be a moderate, but during this session, he was anything but.

“He was a partisan rubberstamp for a partisan Legislature. It was a ruthless display of political power.”

Specifically, Gessler disagrees with two key changes in the law, including allowing same-day voter registration and mandatory mail-in ballots for all Colorado residents regardless of voter registration status.

Gessler compared the bill to similar same-day voter registration systems in Oregon and Milwaukee, Wis., that were proven in the past to encourage voter fraud.

He said that during the 2000 and 2004 presidential elections, George W. Bush lost in Milwaukee to Al Gore and to John Kerry by a slim margin of about 5,000 and 8,000 votes, respectively. He said the number of ballots cast in those elections was about 4,000 votes higher than Milwaukee’s population.

“I love to see high voter turnout, but when it’s above 100 percent there’s a problem,” Gessler said.

Gessler acknowledged that Colorado has had its elections problems in the past and noted there still are 10 Colorado counties that have more names on the registered voter rolls than there are people.

But since taking office two years ago, the Secretary of State’s Office has identified and removed 1,000 noncitizens from Colorado’s voter rolls, Gessler said. In addition, 2012 Colorado voter turnout was the third highest in the nation, exceeding its previous record in 2008.

Colorado also saw a 65 percent increase in military and overseas voters in 2012 over the previous presidential election, Gessler said.

“We outperform almost every other state in terms of voter turnout and we outperform the eight same-day voter registration states,” Gessler said. “This wasn’t a problem that needed to be solved. Not one Republican amendment was accepted and not one person from my office was consulted on this bill.”

The Secretary of State’s Office currently is compiling a database of registered voters in Colorado that likely will have to be live and electronic to prevent residents from voting in multiple districts or counties.

Although the Secretary of State’s Office receives no taxpayer funding, Gessler estimates it will cost his office $1.5 million to prepare for November’s election and another $300,000 for each future election.

“You have to look at the numbers,” Gessler said. “I’m not ignoring the fact that we’ve (Colorado) had our problems in the past, but why would we want to go to a system that is a proven failure?”

Supporters of the recent election legislation say it actually will reduce the chance of voter fraud, and they criticized the previous registration deadline of 29 days before an election as dating to an era in which most things were done on paper and by mail.

Gessler hasn’t steered clear of controversy himself. He’s being investigated for a possible ethics violation relating to his use of discretionary office funds to attend national Republican events in Florida last year. Gessler has said the allegations are frivolous and politically motivated.

Joe Moylan can be reached at 970-875-1794 or jmoylan@CraigDailyPress.com

Article source: http://www2.craigdailypress.com/news/2013/may/19/easy-vote-hard-cheat/

Republican cites IRS scandal in close Virginia governor's race

admin — Sun, 19 May 2013 16:31:07 +0000

By Gary Robertson

RICHMOND, Virginia (Reuters) – Virginia Republicans on Saturday formally nominated Ken Cuccinelli for governor in the nation’s marquee 2013 political race, and the conservative attorney general wasted no time reminding voters of the scandals facing President Barack Obama.

“I am not a true conservative because I have not been investigated by the IRS,” joked Cuccinelli, referring to the controversy that has engulfed the federal tax collection agency over its targeting of conservative Tea Party groups.

Cuccinelli has strong support from Tea Party activists, who are incensed by the Internal Revenue Service’s actions, which Obama has called “outrageous” and vowed to investigate.

Northern Virginia, just across the Potomac River from Washington, is home to thousands of government workers who helped swing the state to Obama in the November election.

But Republicans hope the troubles of the president – which also include the handling of the attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya, and the Justice Department secretly obtaining the phone records of some Associated Press reporters – will rub off on Cuccinelli’s opponent, Terry McAuliffe, a former Democratic Party chairman and fundraiser.

Cuccinelli took a swipe at McAuliffe on Saturday for his long political service in the nation’s capital, saying his opponent knew Washington, but “I know Virginia.”

Virginia has twice voted for Obama but has a Republican governor. In addition to the Washington suburbs, which tend to vote Democratic, Virginia has large rural areas that are more conservative and Republican, making it a swing state.

This is a quiet year for U.S. voters and Virginia’s election in November is the only competitive governor’s race. In New Jersey, polls show Republican Governor Chris Christie holds a comfortable lead over his Democratic opponent, state Senator Barbara Buono.

Cuccinelli faces his own political headwind from a growing political scandal involving Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell.

Both the attorney general and the governor have acknowledged taking gifts from Jonnie Williams Sr., the chief executive of Star-Scientific, a Richmond area company that makes dietary supplements. The gifts included $15,000 in catering expenses for the wedding of the governor’s daughter.

The FBI is looking into whether the governor’s office helped advance Williams’ business interests in return for the gifts.

Cuccinelli has reported $18,000 in gifts from Williams, including a $1,500 catered Thanksgiving dinner and stays at the same lake vacation home that McDonnell and his family visited. But Cuccinelli said he reported the gifts, as required by law.

Cuccinelli also has held stock in Star Scientific valued at one time at about $20,000. He has since sold the stock at a loss.

In his acceptance speech on Saturday, Cuccinelli did not mention the scandal. Instead, he stressed the familiar Republican themes of tax cuts, jobs, small government and opposition to abortion.

Views of Obama could play a significant role in the outcome of the race, said Stephen Farnsworth, a political science professor at the University of Mary Washington in Fredericksburg, Virginia.

“All eyes will be on Virginia to read and misread the impact of President Obama’s popularity or lack of popularity,” he said.

The race between Cuccinelli and McAuliffe is shaping up to be close and costly.

Already more than $11 million has poured in to the candidates, and this could easily be the most expensive gubernatorial election in Virginia history.

A Quinnipiac University poll released Thursday gave McAuliffe a 43 percent to 38 percent lead over Cuccinelli in a survey of 1,286 registered voters.

In contrast, a Washington Post poll published on May 4 gave Cuccinelli a lead among registered voters of 46 percent to 41 percent.

(Writing by Greg McCune; Editing by Jackie Frank)

Article source: http://ca.news.yahoo.com/republican-cites-irs-scandal-close-virginia-governors-race-220825443.html

Republican cites IRS scandal in close Virginia governor's race

admin — Sun, 19 May 2013 16:31:06 +0000