Category: Politics & government
The ACA seems to be active nowadays after being dormant for years. I wonder why?
When I read the NYT today, I said, wow:
NEW ORLEANS, Oct. 21 — The first words from Bobby Jindal to his supporters after he won the Louisiana governor’s race on Saturday night were not about his victory, but L.S.U.’s triumph over Auburn the same day.
The message could not have been clearer: I’m one of you, a normal, red-blooded football-loving Louisiana guy. It is a theme that seems to have informed the youthful Republican congressman’s every step, from his decision at age 4 to jettison his given name of Piyush for that of a character in the television series “The Brady Bunch” to the attentive faith-infused courting of conservatives that led to his victory on Saturday with 54 percent of the vote.
Mr. Jindal’s efforts only highlight, though, what is glaringly obvious to anyone who sees and hears the slight 36-year-old son of immigrants from India. He is a highly unusual politician, having become the nation’s first Indian-American governor in a Southern state where race is inseparable from politics. [In a Southern State, Immigrants’ Son Takes Over. Adam Nossiter. NYT. October 22 2007]
And a Republican no less.
“You’ve got more vacancies now than a hotel in hurricane season,” said Paul C. Light, a professor of public service at New York University and one of the nation’s best-known specialists on the federal bureaucracy. “In my 25 years of studying these issues, I’ve never seen a vacancy rate like this.”Michael J. Gerhardt, a law professor at the University of North Carolina who studies the federal appointment process, said that he believed the large number of vacancies reflected a widespread fear by Republicans that the next president, whoever it is, will be a Democrat, and that there is no job security at the top ranks of the executive branch.
“Republicans don’t have as much incentive to give up lucrative jobs in the private sector right now,” Professor Gerhardt said. [White House Is Leaning on Interim Appointments. NYT. October 15 2007]
So okay. Right after I had my first real outing my new best friend, the Nikon D40, I gave an Institute for Policy Research-organized (Institut Kajian Dasar; IKD) forum a visit. I do not think I would like to write too much about it since one of the panels talked about what I wanted to blog in the first place; I am a little bit disheartened when somebody made the point public first. Anyway, he mentioned how trust is important and to some extent, the impact of lack of public trust to state institution. It is a little bit blurry whom spoke of that — it could only be either Mr. Cumaraswamy or Tunku Abdul Aziz — but that point is the most important lesson for many to take note from the big picture-kind of thinking.
On general however, the forum was about how, allegedly, rotten the judiciary is. From there on, the panel tried to convince the audience on why a royal commission is required to not just investigate the authenticity of the scandalous video made public earlier by PKR but the state of the judiciary as a whole. The sentiment of the panel was that it has been a downhill for judiciary independence in the spirit of separation of powers since 1988, the year when former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad orchestrated the removal Salleh Abbas from the office of the Lord President of the Supreme Court.
About the video itself, the footage released to the public is just first part of the video. According to Mr. Sivarasa Rasiah and Mr. Anwar Ibrahim, there is another approximately 6 minutes of unreleased clip. In unreleased clip according to Anwar Ibrahim further, Judge Ahmad Fairuz’s name can be clearly heard and more names were mentioned.
That asides, some of the usual suspects were there. By suspects, I meant bloggers! I think, if one attends too many public forums, sooner or later, the most of the faces would be recognizable.
Finally, pictures:
The banner.
I apologize for the quality of the photo: I am still exploring the features of Nikon D40 but from the left, Tunku Abdul Aziz of Transparency International, Mr. Param Cumaraswamy formerly of the United Nations, the chairperson Mr. Sivarasa Rasiah, former Deputy Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim and Secretary to the Bar Council Lim Chee Wee.
And that is Din Merican.
p/s — Howsy has more.