Category Archives: Politics

First Lady Michelle Obama Gives Voice to Women

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Democratic political consultant Lena Kennedy announced today that First Lady Michelle Obama is attending a fundraising luncheon at the private home of Ann and Robert Hamilton in Pasadena on Monday, June 13. The fundraiser is being organized by Southern California Women For Obama, a local grassroots initiative headed by Kennedy to help women get engaged in the political process and ensure their voice is heard.

“We expect about 500 attendees, a turnout similar to earlier Obama fundraisers we’ve hosted in Pasadena during the presidential campaign,” adds Kennedy.

“We are honored to be one of only two fundraisers the First Lady will attend during her visit to Southern California,” explains Los Angeles business executive and Presidential Partner Teena Hostovich, who is co-chairing the event with Kennedy. “Attendees at our luncheon will be a good cross-section of President Obama’s constituents in Los Angeles, one that is diverse culturally, socially, and economically.”

More than 450 women attended a reception rally hosted at the home of Lesley and Rob Levy on May 15 to kick off President Obama’s re-election campaign and offer women meaning ways to get involved in the political process. Hostovich, who served as the evening’s emcee, introduced various speakers including Congresswoman Judy Chu, John Emerson & Ken Solomon, California Co-Chairs, President Obama National Finance Committee, Eric Bauman, Vice Chair California Democratic Party, Honorable Wendy Greuel, Los Angeles City Controller, and Los Angeles Councilwoman Jan Perry.

The luncheon will begin at 11 a.m. Individual tickets are $1,000. Special $10,000-a-couple tickets are also available, allowing a photo opportunity and private time with the First Lady. For more information, contact Lena Kennedy at 626-765-6206 or email at Lkennedy@LLKAssociates.com.

G8: Governments Move To Crack Down on Internet Freedoms but Zuckerberg Issues Warning

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It was the opening day of the G8 summit today and one of the main issues on the agenda will be the future of the internet. Governments will discuss how and whether it’s possible to regulate and censor the internet.

Governments have become increasingly worried. China now operates a huge firewall which blocks any internet site with an anti-government line. The power of the internet was evidenced during the Arab spring, where social media sites such as Twitter and Facebook, were major factors in causing uprisings and toppling regimes.

The talks also follow the super injunction scandal and British legal crisis. Thousands defied the law and defended the right to free speech using the websites twitter, including a many celebrities such as Dom Jolly, Piers Morgan and Boy George. Even now lawyers may seek to prosecute them. The situation has government’s worried and they may try and clamp down on internet freedoms in the future. This might start with certain regulations on companies such as Twitter, Google and Facebook.

Today Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg warned against any attempt to regulate the internet. He said any interference would damage the internet’s power to spread freedom.

Google leader Eric Schmidt said any regulation wouldn’t be able to keep up with the pace of technology, ‘Technology will move faster than governments, so don’t legislate until you understand the consequences.

J’s thoughts

Whatever the outcome, it is all our duty to defend the right to free speech. The internet is the defining feature of our generation. It is wonderful in many ways and it has done a great deal of good for democracy, knowledge and dare I say peace. It has its darker sides of course but so does any product of humanity.

At some point some our governments will try and control the internet. They will twist it, manipulate it and use it as means to control us. In some cases like China it is already too late. It is all our jobs to stop this from happening.

 

Hillary Clinton Launches "Muslim Civilization" Science Exhibition

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Opening May 27th at the California Science Center with a Special Message

Prof. Salim Al-Hassani, Hillary Clinton, launched an award-winning exhibition about scientific achievements from the Golden Age of Muslim Civilization, with a special video message at the California Science Center in Los Angeles. The 1001 Inventions exhibition, which has attracted more than 1 million visitors over the past year during an international tour, opened for a VIP launch day on May 25th attended by LA County Sheriff Lee Baca and Ambassadors from LA-based foreign consulates.

In her pre-recorded message, Secretary Clinton praised the work of the 1001 Inventions initiative for “celebrating a millennium of science and innovation in the Muslim world,” and described the launch of the exhibition as “an exciting day.”

Mrs. Clinton remarked that “the Muslim world has a proud history of innovators” and highlighted the achievements of pioneers like Fatima Al-Fihri, who founded the world’s first modern university, and master engineer Al-Jazari, who created the crank mechanisms that drive every plane, train and automobile on the planet.

Prof. Salim Al-Hassani, Chairman of 1001 Inventions, commented, “We’re honored that Secretary Clinton agreed to launch our exhibition here at one of the most prestigious science museums in the world. California Science Center has an international reputation for excellence in providing engaging and entertaining science experiences for young and old alike.

“The goal of 1001 Inventions is to highlight the astounding contribution that Muslim civilization has made in the fields of science, technology, engineering and mathematics and how those advances still affect our lives today. More than a million people have already visited the 1001 Inventions exhibition during the first year of its global tour and that is the greatest endorsement we could ever hope for.”

The 1001 Inventions exhibition is currently on a five-year global tour, sponsored by ALJ Community Initiatives. Following blockbuster runs in London, Istanbul and New York, it will open to the public at the California Science Center, in Los Angeles, on May 27, 2011 for a seven-month run. The exhibition explores the scientific contributions made by men and women during the Golden Age of Muslim Civilization. Through interactive displays, guests will explore basic science principles that are often taken for granted, in such fields as optics, time-keeping, hydraulics, navigation, architecture and mathematics.

1001 Inventions highlights the contributions of scholars from a diverse region stretching from Spain through China during the 7th to 17th centuries. Visitors will discover how scholars from this region, of various faiths and cultures, preserved, nurtured, and advanced the world’s knowledge in science and technology.

The 1001 Inventions exhibition was recently crowned “Best Touring Exhibition” of the year at the annual Museums and Heritage Excellence Awards in London – considered by many to be the “Oscars” of the Museum world – fighting off stiff competition from some of the world’s biggest names in exhibitions.

Full Text of Secretary Clinton’s Speech

I’m delighted to send greetings to each of you at this year’s 1001 Inventions, celebrating a millennium of science and innovation in the Muslim world. This exhibition honors the remarkable accomplishments of Muslims throughout history. From a woman who founded a University in the ninth century, to a thirteenth century inventor and mechanical engineer, to a surgeon whose writings influenced European medicine for hundreds of years, and so many more.

And of course, we’re looking at the impact of technology in the Muslim world right now as young people throughout the Middle East and North Africa find new ways to use social networking to get organized and to express their aspirations. Connection technologies offer an unprecedented opportunity. A platform through which everyone, from farmers to students to entrepreneurs, can exchange ideas and hatch plans for the world’s next great invention.

But technology does not decide the future. People do. So as this exhibition shows, the Muslim world has a proud history of innovators. Now is the time to tap in to that legacy to harness the power of science and technology, and to create new pathways to prosperity. This is an exciting day and thank you for letting me share it with you.

Actress and model Danielle Lineker spearheads Four Paws campaign

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Actress and model Danielle Lineker spearheads Four Paws campaign to ban battery cages for farmed rabbits in the UK

Up to 1 million rabbits are often confined in tiny cages before being slaughtered

Danielle Lineker is spearheading a Four Paws animal charity campaign to ban battery cages for farmed rabbits in the UK.

Many people in Britain are completely unaware that so many rabbits are suffering in terrible conditions before they end up in a pet food tin or on a dinner plate. Farmed rabbits are being kept in barren cages in similar conditions to factory farmed battery hens. Hundreds of rabbits may be housed in rows of tiny wire cages in windowless sheds. They have little room to move, no daylight and usually nothing to chew or gnaw on except the bars of the cage. The boredom and stress can lead to the development of abnormal repetitive behaviours and the wire flooring can cause painful sores on the rabbits’ feet. This is the everyday life for some rabbits kept in battery cages across Britain. Barren cages for hens will be illegal from 2012 but there are currently no such plans to end their use for rabbits.

A FOUR PAWS investigation has exposed the hidden truth behind farmed rabbit battery cages in the UK. Investigators visited several UK farms and were shocked by what they found – cramped, dark, inadequate housing systems where animals are kept hidden away.

It’s estimated that between 250 000 and one million rabbits are reared for meat in the UK each year. However, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) does not publish any statistics on rabbit farming, and there is no commercial body representing the UK rabbit farming industry, so accurate data is currently not available.

Danielle Lineker and Four Paws are calling on the Government to phase out the keeping of farmed rabbits in cages and to lift the veil of secrecy that surrounds the UK rabbit farming industry. Four Paws wants key statistics and information made publicly available. Four Paws is very concerned that rabbit factory farming is continuing to grow in the UK.

Actress and model Danielle Lineker says: “It’s Rabbit Awareness Week so let’s do all we can to help these beautiful and intelligent creatures by supporting a campaign that helps to protect them from suffering. It’s appalling that rabbits on UK farms are imprisoned in these barren wire cages that fail to meet even their most basic welfare needs. Rabbits need freedom of movement and opportunities to express natural behaviours such as foraging for food and digging in the earth. Rabbits are popular companion animals and most people would be horrified to learn that these gentle creatures are being kept in these conditions. I support a call to ban all battery cages for UK farmed rabbits.”

Angelique Davies, Head of Programs at Four Paws, said: “Many people would be shocked to learn that rabbits can legally be kept in tiny barren cages that severely restrict their movement and natural behaviour. Legal protection for farmed rabbits is woefully inadequate. British people feel strongly about animal welfare and we believe the majority of people would agree that keeping rabbits in cramped barren cages can no longer be tolerated. We must join together in calling on the Government to end the keeping of farmed rabbits in cages.”

www.four-paws.org.uk

AUNG SAN SUU KYI RECORDS MESSAGE FOR AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL’S 50TH BIRTHDAY

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The world’s best known political prisoner pays tribute to the world’s largest human rights organisation and looks forward to the day Amnesty no longer exists

Amnesty International, the world’s largest human rights organisation, is celebrating 50 years of work on Saturday 28 May 2011. In a message to Amnesty International, Aung San Suu Kyi, Burma’s iconic pro-democracy leader who was released last year after having spent 15 of the last 20 years under house arrest, paid tribute to the work that Amnesty had done over the last half a century and said how happy she will be when there is no longer any need for such an organisation.

Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, said:

“I wish, on this 50th anniversary of Amnesty International, that its work will continue to be so successful, that there will no longer be any need for such an organisation.

“So I hope that we shall be able to cooperate together to bring about this sad, this happy day when Amnesty International no longer needs to carry on its work. “

Aung San Suu Kyi went on to talk about her early awareness of the organisation, and how she became increasingly aware of its importance when she herself became the focus of Amnesty’s campaigning.

Aung San Suu Kyi, said:

“The work that Amnesty International has done for all those who are suffering as prisoners of conscience is great – all over the world.

“I was quite young when I first learned about Amnesty International and was struck by the fact that it had been founded simply because one thinking man had read about the arrest of two young students in Portugal. One man in the UK decided because of what had happened to two young men in Portugal, that there was a need for such an organisation as Amnesty International.

“From that day I have harboured great respect for the organisation and after I was placed under house arrest and many of my colleagues were imprisoned for their political beliefs, my appreciation for Amnesty International increased by the day.”

Amnesty was started in London, in 1961, when British barrister Peter Benenson read an article about two Portuguese students who had been arrested for raising a “toast to freedom”. In the 1960s, Portugal was one of the remaining European colonial powers in Africa, ruled by the authoritarian Estado Novo regime. Anti-regime conspiracies were vigorously repressed by the Portuguese state police and deemed anti-Portuguese. The simple toast was deemed insurgent and a challenge to the government and the two were sent to prison.

Benenson wrote an article entitled ‘The Forgotten Prisoners’, in which he highlighted the plight of similar prisoners who had been jailed around the world for peacefully expressing their views. In an impassioned plea, he coined the term ‘prisoner of conscience’ and called for like-minded people across the world to unite in an appeal for amnesty on their behalf. The response was immense, and within weeks Amnesty International, a coordinated movement of ordinary people standing up for justice, had been born.

Today Amnesty has more than three million supporters, members and activists working at the forefront of human rights issues in more than 150 countries and territories across the globe. Amnesty’s purpose is to protect people when their human rights are denied, calling for an end to the discrimination, persecution and harassment that individuals face.

Aung San Suu Kyi, said:

“Basic to the strength of Amnesty International is the fact that so many ordinary people from so many countries in the world have been persuaded to take part in its work.

“The letters written by ordinary housewives, by school children, by retired people, by active young businessmen – all over the world – for the rights of those who have been imprisoned, makes a great difference.

“One single postcard means a lot, and it’s this kind of idea; that great things start from small beginnings – that has made Amnesty International such an unusual and such a globally relevant organisation.”

Speaking from Rangoon, wearing her trade-mark huge, bright flower in her hair, the political leader known simply as “The Lady” by her Burmese supporters, looked straight into the camera and smiled as she said what a happy, sad day the end of Amnesty would mark for the world. She acknowledged how vital Amnesty had been in conveying the dire situation of human rights in Burma, and asked that Burma is not neglected after the elections last November.

Aung San Suu Kyi, concluded:

“We should be sorry not to be in touch anymore with all those people who have made this such a very, very valuable organisation, but we should also be very happy when we know that there is no need for Amnesty International any more.”

For more information about Amnesty’s work; past, present and future, and to obtain a copy of the message from Aung San Suu Kyi, contact the press office.

Next IMF Head – Brown vs Lagarde: Why We Should Stop Feeling Sorry For Brown

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As I came home on the train today, I found the Evening Standard filled with articles questioning why Gordon Brown hasn’t been put forward by Britain to be head of the IMF. http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard/article-23952636-we-have-muffed-our-chance-to-lead-the-world.do

George Osborne has now backed the French favourite to secure the job, Christine Lagarde.

The paper’s tone suggests we should be being more patriotic. ‘The French know how to look after their own,” it says, referring to Lagarde. I’m disappointed with the paper’s view and the justification for it. Trying to raise nationalist feelings is a low blow, particularly in this time of crisis.

The Eurozone debt crisis is once again rearing its ugly head. We can’t afford such petty nationalist feelings. It is in fact very much in the UK’s interest that a European candidate takes the top job.

Lagarde is now the overwhelming favourite precisely because Europe has united behind her, putting common interest first. Other economic regions have failed to unite behind one candidate.

As the Standard itself even highlights, Brown has a host of failings.

Brown was heavily responsible for the recession (despite his continued efforts to blame world markets). It was he who oversaw the nation’s finances for over a decade as a chancellor. He who oversaw the colossal rise in government spending and it was he who failed to properly regulate the banking industry.

You can blame the global markets all you want, but countries such as Germany, Australia and Canada have coped perfectly well with the crisis. There’s no doubt Britain was not alone in its mistakes and many other countries have suffered as well, but in my mind that does not excuse Brown, who, we should also remember, inherited a budget surplus when he came to power.

When it was convenient, Brown ditched his famous, ‘golden rules’. Why? Because Brown was always a politician. He did it for political reasons. People forget his role in helping take the UK into the European Exchange Rate Mechanism. Is he partly responsible for the previous recession as well?

It’s simple really. Brown would never get the post even if Britain did back him because he has a record of failure. We should take the best and only viable European candidate we have and support her all we can.

 

Super Injunctions: People Unite to Defend Free Speech: Sunday Herald Names Accused Footballer

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The last few weeks have seen the start of the next stage in the most important battle of our lifetimes.  The battle for the free speech of the internet.  Today a well-known British journalist faced jail as the attorney general considered whether to prosecute him, after he named a British footballer on Twitter, who has allegedly had an affair. The footballer had taken out a super injunction preventing his name being published in the press.

Already governments worldwide have been clamping down on free speech. Most notably China, where the great firewall constantly watches and monitors what people can see. Anything which goes against the government line is mercilessly blocked. This article will certainly not make it through. We have also seen in Egypt how the internet was switched off when its people went against the government.

Today saw people and journalists unite against the tyrannical super injunctions which seek to silence us. The day we start locking people up for telling the truth will be the end of our democracy. Thousands of people on Twitter named or re-tweeted the footballer who took out a super injunction to prevent his name being reported in the press.

Today his efforts failed. The Sunday Herald named the footballer and its front page printed his picture with a black bar across his eyes with the words censored.

Twitter users relentlessly used their accounts to put out as much information on the footballer as they could.The Herald hit out at what it called, ‘restrictive privacy laws’. They said this was an ‘issue of freedom of information’ and they expected no legal ramifications. Have these actions left the British judicial system in crisis?

The accused footballer is already seeking to sue reality TV star Imogen Thomas (the women he is accused of having the affair with), accusing her of blackmail. The footballer is also trying to sue the Sun newspaper. How many more can he sue though?

Free speech is the life blood of democracy. Without a free press there is no democracy. It was no surprise to me that the internet was nominated for the Nobel peace prize this year. I hope it wins the award in the future.

The internet allows the world to communicate. Wars happen when we’re afraid of people and things we don’t understand. The internet prevents that.

It is the greatest tool of freedom we have and we must preserve it.

 

President Barack Obama Comes Home to Ireland

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U.S. President Barack Obama will receive the warmest of Irish welcomes when he visits the Emerald Isle this week. Hundreds of thousands of well wishers will line the streets as the President makes his first visit to Ireland – home to some of his ancestors. Mr. Obama’s heritage has been traced to the village of Monegall in Co, Offaly. There is a great sense of pride in this tiny picturesque village located at the very center of the island, where preparations are in full swing.

Canon Stephen Neill, Local Church of Ireland Vicar, “Since St. Patrick’s Day when the announcement was made that he was actually coming to Moneygall, since then it has literally been a media storm. My phone never stops ringing. But it is a good story, we are happy to share a good news story with the world. This is something very positive and it’s positive for Ireland too. I think it’s very good that the president has indicated his confidence and interest in Ireland by coming to visit us here and I think it is the kind of boost we need.”

President Obama will become one of eight hundred thousand Americans expected to travel to Ireland this year and his visit is being seen as a great opportunity to encourage more U.S. vacationers to make the trip in 2011.

Niall Gibbons, CEO Tourism Ireland, “We have huge connections with America and we look forward to deepening those in years to come and giving a warm Irish welcome to all the Americans that come here. There are 40 million people of Irish decent in America and we think they are going to be thrilled that President Obama is coming here and the genealogical connection is an indelible one and we are delighted that president Obama is coming here to discover his roots with us in Ireland.”

Fiona Fitzsimons, Genealogist, Eneclann, “Well, we traced back nine generations from the president, so we took Megan Smolenyak’s work and we took it back another four generations again, tracing it back to the late 1600s and that’s a real achievement in Irish Genealogy because so many of the records have been destroyed over the previous 300 years. The thing to remember as well, is that the president’s family, they weren’t rich, they weren’t anglo Irish, they were simply a regular family and to be able to trace them back was really quite something.”

President’s Obama direct descendents are looking forward to welcoming home their famous family member.

Henry Healy, distant relative of the president, “We hope he will come and visit the school house behind me where his ancestors were educated. The ancestral home still stands in the village, that’s another important site, also Templeharry church. So there are three important sites within the area for anyone to come and visit, and of course it wouldn’t be a presidential visit to Ireland without a traditional stop off in the local pub for a pint of Guinness.”

During his stay President Obama will also visit the capital city of Dublin where a huge celebration rally is planned.

For more info on visiting the island of Ireland check out – www.discoverireland.com