The Lonely Guy.
Iran has embarked on a big public-relations push to drive a wedge between the West and its trading partners in China and Russia this week. While warning the US that the West’s “last chance” for progress on talks had arrived, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad invited his friends to tour Iran’s nuclear facilities as a way to dodge […]
The Lonely Guy.
Iran has embarked on a big public-relations push to drive a wedge between the West and its trading partners in China and Russia this week. While warning the US that the West’s “last chance” for progress on talks had arrived, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad invited his friends to tour Iran’s nuclear facilities as a way to dodge […]
Sometimes, politicians in the US change party affiliation (e.g., Arlen Spector’s switch from the GOP to Dem), but this is not common. In Uganda, it seems to be happening more frequently as the elections approach. This report notes that three politicians associated with the Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) have either dropped out or changed parties.
President Museveni’s recent campaigns in parts of western Uganda herald doom for the opposition’s prospects of winning in an area that has previously overwhelmingly voted for the ruling party. The President last week campaigned in Bushenyi, Kisoro, Kabale, Kanungu, Buhweju, Mitooma, Rubirizi, Kiruhura and Mbarara, and while the IPC flag bearer, Dr Kizza Besigye, is yet to campaign here, the picture isn’t rosy for his coalition.
President Museveni has always convincingly won in western Uganda, but it was hoped that Besigye would make inroads in the area that is also his home.
During Museveni’s campaigns, at least three FDC parliamentary aspirants withdrew from the race, ensuring easy victory for Beatrice Rusaniya (Kiruhura district woman), Flavia Rwabuhoro (Kyegegwa woman), Atwaib Katooto (Katerera constituency), and David Bahati (Ndorwa West).
Citing concerns over his safety, Bahati’s rival, Serapio Biryaba, claimed he couldn’t continue in the race.
At a Museveni rally in Katerera, FDC’s Vereriano Tukahebwa withdrew in favour of Katooto, saying he had found it hard to canvass for Besigye’s support in the area.
“People were giving me support but I could not convince the masses to vote for Besigye. I realised that if I continued with FDC, all my programmes would not kick off,” he said.
Rusaniya also sailed through after FDC’s Dorcus Mpinda renounced her membership of the FDC at another rally in Kiruhura district.
It is not clear, nor have I heard through the grapevine why Bahati’s opponent was scared from the campaign.
Speaking of David Bahati, the author of the Anti-Homosexuality Bill, here is another report regarding Bahati’s business dealings.
He is known as the young vibrant Christian legislator who proposed tough laws against homosexuality in the Ugandan parliament and he is loathed by many international human rights groups for exactly those proposals. He is David Bahati, Member of Parliament for Ndorwa West county. Yet, famous as he is for the anti-homosexuality bill, not many people knew that Bahati is also an extremely rich man who does business worth millions of dollars. That is, until the troubles of the Ugandan businessmen in Southern Sudan surfaced.
Since 2008, many Ugandan businessmen have been supplying different types of produce – mainly grain – to the Government of Southern Sudan (GOSS), with the understanding that they would be paid back by the Southern Sudanese Ministry of Finance. But, so far, GOSS has defaulted on those obligations. Consequently, many Ugandan businessmen have been forced out of business. Their only recourse has been to appeal to the Ugandan government to apply diplomatic pressure to the GOSS to ensure that the businessmen are repaid for their investments. Documents show that Bahati is among these businessmen.
However, the whole affair grew more intriguing after the Ugandan Government got involved. Under an apparent agreement, the Ugandan government undertook to pay the traders and will collect the money from GOSS at a later date.
In total, record show that there are seventy-one companies and individuals owed money from GOSS, but of these, only 16 companies are said to have been paid by the Ugandan authorities. And of these 16 companies, three of them, Kalmart Enterprises, Jam Jang Company Limited and Nile Side Company Limited, belong to MP David Bahati. The three companies are reported to have been repaid $ 2.6 million for supplying grain to Southern Sudan by the Ugandan government.
The article then tells a story of unpaid grain transactions involving Southern Sudan and leaving some traders homeless as the result of lack of payment. To his credit, Bahati at least spoke to the Kampala Dispatch about the matter, whereas the others involved refused. Perhaps Mr. Bahati can leave his antigay efforts for awhile and help these homeless traders get their compensation.
After Republicans won control of the New Hampshire House and Senate with enough votes to override a veto by Democratic Gov. John Lynch, LGBT groups became concerned that conservatives may overturn the states’ same-sex marriage law, which was enacted in 2009. But yesterday, House Republican Leader D.J. Bettencourt confirmed to The Associated Press that “jobs and the economy will be the top priorities on an agenda” and said that “there’s widespread agreement that social issues will have to take a back seat.” The party is expected to introduce its priorities later today. The Advocate has more details:
“The social issues must take a backseat,” said Bettencourt.
Bettencourt did say an abortion issue will be on the agenda, but declined to elaborate. […]
Republicans declined to say whether they plan to delay a bill to repeal marriage equality until next year. Under the rules, committees cannot kill bills but can hold them for the first year of a two-year session.
“We hope press accounts are accurate that House Republicans have decided not to pursue a repeal of New Hampshire’s gay marriage law this year,” New Hampshire Freedom To Marry, the state-wide LGBT advocacy organization, said in a statement. “If so, we applaud the Republican leadership for listening to the people of New Hampshire.” An April 2009 poll by the Rockefeller Center at Dartmouth College found that 44.8 percent opposed same-sex marriage, while 40.8 percent supported it, but a more recent survey from 2010 put support for same-sex marriage at 55 percent in the state
Republicans have filed at least four anti-marriage bills, including two to “return the marriage law to exactly what it was four years ago.” The right-wing ‘Let New Hampshire Vote‘ group is also pushing for “a constitutional amendment to take up a vote on the law in 2012.”
This just seems odd to me:
Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) turned down an offer by President Barack Obama to travel on Air Force One to Arizona for a memorial service on behalf of the victims of Saturday’s shooting, a decision that has upset some Democrats.
Boehner is instead scheduled to attend a reception on Wednesday night on behalf of Maria Cino, a former top House GOP aide who is seeking the Republican National Committee chairmanship. Boehner is backing Cino’s challenge to current RNC Chairman Michael Steele.
(…)
Senior Democrats – who to date had been impressed with Boehner’s response to the Arizona tragedy – expressed surprise at what they saw as an unmistakable misstep by the new speaker: appearing at a partisan political event on the same night as the the president, first lady Michelle Obama, Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and the Arizona congressional delegation come together at the memorial service for the victims of an attack that nearly took the life of a member of the House. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.) was critically wounded in Saturday’s attack, while six other people died and a dozen more were wounded.
“It is disrespectful for Speaker Boehner to skip joining the President’s and bipartisan congressional delegation to the Tucson Memorial so he could host a Washington D.C. cocktail party for RNC members,” said a Democratic leadership aide, speaking on the condition of anonymity.
Frankly, I’d assumed all week that Boehner, as Speaker, would be present at the service for an event that was, we now know, a planned assassination attempt against a member of the House of Representatives. I think it was a mis-step for him not to go.
This just seems odd to me:
Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) turned down an offer by President Barack Obama to travel on Air Force One to Arizona for a memorial service on behalf of the victims of Saturday’s shooting, a decision that has upset some Democrats.
Boehner is instead scheduled to attend a reception on Wednesday night on behalf of Maria Cino, a former top House GOP aide who is seeking the Republican National Committee chairmanship. Boehner is backing Cino’s challenge to current RNC Chairman Michael Steele.
(…)
Senior Democrats – who to date had been impressed with Boehner’s response to the Arizona tragedy – expressed surprise at what they saw as an unmistakable misstep by the new speaker: appearing at a partisan political event on the same night as the the president, first lady Michelle Obama, Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and the Arizona congressional delegation come together at the memorial service for the victims of an attack that nearly took the life of a member of the House. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.) was critically wounded in Saturday’s attack, while six other people died and a dozen more were wounded.
“It is disrespectful for Speaker Boehner to skip joining the President’s and bipartisan congressional delegation to the Tucson Memorial so he could host a Washington D.C. cocktail party for RNC members,” said a Democratic leadership aide, speaking on the condition of anonymity.
Frankly, I’d assumed all week that Boehner, as Speaker, would be present at the service for an event that was, we now know, a planned assassination attempt against a member of the House of Representatives. I think it was a mis-step for him not to go.
So … House Speaker John Boehner said “thanks, but no thanks” to a ride on Air Force One to the Arizona victims’ memorial. But he did have a really good reason for skipping the event… From ThinkProgress earlier tonight came news that while the rest of the nation was watching or participating in the healing […]
The Reid Report
In March 2010, Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-AZ) warned that the rhetoric from the tea parties and Sarah Palin was potentially dangerous. “I can say that in the years that some of my colleagues have served — 20, 30 years — they’ve never seen it like this…when people do that, they’ve gotta realize there’s consequences to that action,” she said on MSNBC. Tuscon Tea Party co-founder Trent Humphries called Giffords’ previous concerns about violent rhetoric “political gamesmenship,” claiming that if Giffords was so concerned, then she is to blame for Saturday’s shootings because she “had no security whatsoever”:
“It’s political gamesmanship. The real case is that she [Giffords] had no security whatsoever at this event. So if she lived under a constant fear of being targeted, if she lived under this constant fear of this rhetoric and hatred that was seething, why would she attend an event in full view of the public with no security whatsoever?” he said. “For all the stuff they accuse her [Palin] of, that gun poster has not done a tenth of the damage to the political discourse as what we’re hearing right now.”
Humphries also told the Guardian that Saturday’s shootings in Tuscon are “evolving into a conspiracy to destroy his organisation and silence criticism of the government.” Watch excerpts of interview here:
Incidentally, the same Tea Party rhetoric Humphries is so quick to defend is keeping him from attending the memorial service with President Obama tonight. Humphries told TPM that he received an anonymous phone call saying, “we’re going to stand against you and we’re going to use our First and Second Amendment rights to stop you” will keep him “out of public view for a while.” (HT: Reader MM)
Tonight, President Obama will deliver a “healing message,” in Tucson, AZ at a memorial service for those who died in the tragic shooting there this weekend. The somber service, which is expected to attract up to 14,000 people, will feature prayers, the playing of the National Anthem, as well as reverent remarks from various officials from both sides of the aisle.
At around the same time, House Speaker John Boehner (R-OK) will be slinging back cocktails with members of the Republican National Committee at a political party he’s hosting at the swanky National Harbor resort in suburban D.C., Roll Call reports:
The Ohio Republican is holding a 7 p.m. cocktail reception Wednesday night for 168 RNC members, who are in the Washington area for an annual meeting. The event is sponsored by Boehner’s political action committee and will take place at Maryland’s National Harbor resort. […]
A Boehner aide said the Speaker plans to leave the RNC party before Obama begins his remarks.
“Speaker Boehner will attend an organizational meeting with RNC members this evening, but will leave before the president’s speech begins,” Boehner spokesman Cory Fritz said.
Boehner delivered heartfelt remarks on the shooting on the House floor this morning, tearing up on several occasions, but the timing of Boehner’s party tonight is awkward, to say the least. House Armed Services Chairman Buck McKeon (R-CA) canceled an event today “because it would not be appropriate in light of the tragedy.”
But Boehner enjoys his parties. In July of 2009, Boehner interrupted House proceedings so Republican lawmakers could attend his annual “Boehner Beach Party” fundraiser with corporate lobbyists. “It’s just lobbyists and lawmakers getting drunk” on “Boehner’s ‘famous’ margaritas,” a “spy” told Fishbowl DC at the time.
Former Republican congressman Joe Scarborough, who served with Boehner in the 90s before getting a show on MSNBC, said in July that “[e]very Republican I talk to says John Boehner, by 5 or 6 o’clock at night, you can see him at bars.” “John Boehner is known as a guy that likes to golf, likes to have a good time, and is not known as a hard worker,” Scarborough said the next day, defending his original comments.
How did the Pope supposedly insult every Muslim man, woman, and child on Allah’s green earth? Did he open an ancient codex of “Yo Mamma” jokes? No, he called for the repeal of Pakistan’s blasphemy laws.
But Farid Paracha of Jamaat-i-Islami is not just being overly dramatic. He is trying to broaden the conflict and make it an issue for Muslims outside of Pakistan.
More on this story. “Pope insults Muslims, say MPs,” from The Times, January 12 (thanks to Sr. Soph):
Pakistani politicians have accused the Pope of interfering in state matters after he called for controversial blasphemy laws to be scrapped.
Benedict XVI urged the Islamic nation to repeal the legislation — which carries the death penalty for insulting Islam — a week after the shooting of the governor of Punjab, who had criticised the laws.
“I once more encourage the leaders of that country to take the necessary steps to abrogate that law,” the Pope said.
“The tragic murder of the governor of Punjab shows the urgent need to make progress in this direction.”
He added that the legislation had been used as a pretext for violence against non-Muslims.
The laws have come under scrutiny after the sentencing to death of Aasia Bibi, a Christian, for insulting Islam, in a case that has divided the country further.
Islamic party leaders condemned the Pope’s comments.
“Pakistan is an Islamic ideological state and the Pope cannot tell us to change our laws, which are in conformity to our belief,” said Hafiz Hussain Ahmed, a senior leader of Jamiat-e-Ulema Islam, one of the country’s largest Islamic groups supporting the blasphemy laws.
Farid Paracha, the leader of Jamaat-i-Islami, the most powerful Islamic party in the nation, said: “The Pope’s statement is an insult to Muslims across the world.” […]
The governor’s shooting outside an Islamabad coffee shop was the most high-profile assassination in Pakistan since ex-PPP prime minister Benazir Bhutto was killed in December 2007.
Her son, and the son of President Asif Ali Zardari, condemned Qadri’s supporters yesterday, saying they were “the real blasphemers”.
“Because of you (who praise Qadri), the message of Islam is distorted in the eyes of the world,” Bilawal Bhutto Zardari said, speaking to mourners yesterday at the Pakistan high commission in London.
“Those who attack my religion, especially those who corrupt its peaceful message, you are what I call covert blasphemers and you will be defeated. This will be our jihad.”
Mr Bhutto Zardari further pledged to defend Christians and other minorities in the country.
“We will defend you. For those who wish to harm you for a crime you did not commit, they will have to go through me first,” he said….
Note that he stops short of criticizing the actual laws.
Will 2011 be the year when Rafael Nadal’s stock rises even further? Or will it be the year when Roger Federer will leave Australia with a lighter suitcase? Or will it be the year when someone finally gatecrashes the Roger-Rafa party?
There will be 126 players looking to stop the all-or-nothing battle royale between Nadal and Federer when the Australian Open kicks off in 18 days.
While Nadal will be in pursuit of becoming the first man in over four decades to hold all four grand slam titles at once – a feat last achieved by Rod Laver in 1969 – Federer will be heading to Melbourne Park with a pounding heart as one slip up would mean that for the first time since 2003 he will not be a reigning champion at any of the four majors.
It is a situation that seemed unthinkable in January 2010.
Many pundits were busy penning Nadal’s tennis obituary when he followed up his injury-ravaged 2009 season by quitting mid-match in the Aussie Open quarter-final against Andy Murray. While Nadal headed home to nurse his dodgy knees, an unstoppable Federer looked like he was ready to monopolise the men’s game for a few more years when he pocketed a record 16th grand slam title on Rod Laver Arena.
But a monopoly of any kind rarely excites the masses and thankfully for the men’s game, rumours of Nadal’s demise were greatly exaggerated. After the Spaniard roared back to win the French Open, Wimbledon and U.S.
Open crowns, the Roger-Rafa rivalry was once again reignited at the season-ending Tour finals.
Since the Wimbledon 2004, the two European rivals have bagged 23 of the 26 grand slam trophies on offer and with Federer winning the O2 event, it will be game on in Australia.
“To put it into context what Roger and Rafa have achieved for the past five years I would hope that people appreciate it because I guarantee people will be writing in 15 years time that these were the good old days,” Andy Roddick said in London last month.
Nothing in tennis today matches the sight of a fully fit Nadal trading eye-popping shots with Federer. But no matter how compelling their rivalry has been, the likes of Murray or 2008 Australian Open champion Novak Djokovic must feel that they have now served their apprenticeship on the men’s tour and are should get their hands on some of the bigger prizes.
Federer and Nadal are likely to disagree.
PHOTO: Federer (L) and Nadal shake hands after Nadal won their charity tennis match in Madrid. REUTERS/Susana Vera
Jared Loughner may not have attended a Tea Party rally or registered with any Tea Party groups, but he shares several similarities with the Tea Party movement.
1. Anger Against The Government
The first obviously is his anger against the government. His violent act reflected the anger against government for health care, and immigration symbolized by Sarah Palin’s placement of Rep. Gifford in the crosshairs of gun.
While Loughner’s rants may seem like those of a madmen, so do most rants from Tea Party members. Several elements from Loughner’s rants directly tie him the Patriot Movement, anti-New World Order crowd, that is prominent in the Tea Party.
2. Obsessed With The Constitution
Like many in the Tea Party, Loughner was
3. Major “New World Order” Conspiracy Theorist
Also like many people in the Tea Party, Loughner was a conspiracy theorist. He believed in a
4. Connected To White Supremacist Organization
According to Fox News, the Department Of Homeland Security has tied
5. Ayn Rand Fan
Loughner listed Ayn Rand’s “We Are Living” as one of his favorite books. Ayn Rand is Tea Party hero credited with inspiring its philosophy.
In a signed editorial in Cuba’s state-owned Granma, Castro writes:
“As is known, the state of Arizona, a territory that was snatched from Mexico by the United States together with many other expanses of land, has been the scene of painful events for the hundreds of Latin Americans who die trying to immigrate to the United States in search of work or to join parents, spouses or other close family members who are there.
In that country, it is they who do the hardest jobs and live under the constant fear of arrest and forced deportation. Despite drastic measures, the number of people dying in the attempt is growing every year and those expelled to their countries of origin annually are in the hundreds of thousands.
The number of U.S. citizens opposed to that abuse is also growing, like those who supported and, for the third time, elected the young Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords…
On the other side, the Tea Party, constituted by the most reactionary and politically backward elements of society, is trying to drag the Republican Party into extremist and warmongering positions which, in the midst of the crisis and disappointment over the promises that Obama has not wanted or has been unable to fulfill, would take the country into the abyss. The relevant conclusions can de drawn from the debate that will obligatorily have to take place.”
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Today on Coffee and Markets we’re talking to Melissa Clouthier of LibertyPundits who shares her views on the political fallout from the Arizona shooting. We also discuss whether Congressional staff should be armed, and how the right should respond to the smears of old media.
We’re brought to you as always by Stephen Clouse and Associates. You can find our iTunes feed at CoffeeandMarkets.com. If you’d like to email us, you can do so at coffee[at]newledger.com. We hope you enjoy the show.
Related Links:
DC Examiner: Should Congressional Staff be Armed?
Marc Thiessen on the Outrage From the Left
Glenn Reynolds on the Politics of Blood Libel
Halperin: Pointing Out Smear Only Makes Things Worse
Poll: Americans Reject Democrat Spin on Rhetoric
Yousefzadeh: Short Memories Ignore Left’s Calls for Violence
Washington (CNN) – Rick Santorum’s presidential warm-up act will take him Tuesday to a house in New Hampshire that’s certain to be a frequent stopover for Republican contenders ahead of the state’s pivotal 2012 primary.
The former Pennsylvania Senator will visit the Manchester home of Ovide LaMontagne, the Jim DeMint-backed conservative attorney who lost last year’s Republican Senate nomination to Kelly Ayotte by just 1,500 votes.
But LaMontagne plans to remain a player in New Hampshire politics by hosting a series of house parties with Republican presidential hopefuls under the banner of his “Granite Oath” political action committee.
LaMontagne has said his PAC will throw its support behind a candidate before New Hampshire’s first-in-the-nation primary – an endorsement that any White House contender wanting to shore up his or her conservative bona fides would be eager to have.
Santorum, who is making his eighth visit to New Hampshire as a potential candidate, will be the first of the 2012 field to attend one of the house parties this evening. The dark horse candidate will also visit with Republicans in Bedford on Tuesday and Wednesday.
LaMontagne backed former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney in the 2008 primary but told NHJournal.com last week that the 2012 cycle will be a clean slate.
