perception, taste and people’s priorities

perception, taste and people’s priorities

In one morning of 2007, a man started playing his violin, standing in a railway station of Washington DC. Although about 2,000 people passed him by, nobody cared for this person. Some people threw an occasional coin into his hat, probably thinking him to be a beggar. When he stopped after 45 minutes, nobody applauded for his music.

Strangely, none could identify the violinist to be Joshua Bell, one of the greatest musicians in the world! He played one of the most elaborate pieces of music ever composed, with a violin worth 3.5 million dollars.  Two days before this incident, Joshua had sold out tickets for a rendition at a theatre in another city, where the seats averaged $100 each to sit and listen to him playing the same music! However, at the railway station, he could collect only $32! This scenario was part of a social experiment about perception, taste and people’s priorities.    

Why nobody could recognize such a gifted maestro and enjoy the music as they should? Because he was in a wrong place. 

HIGH PRIESTS OF MORALITY PROTECT THEIR OWN FOUL MOUTHED SPECIMEN

HIGH PRIESTS OF MORALITY PROTECT THEIR OWN FOUL MOUTHED SPECIMEN

A high priest of morals in the NGO that has no alternatives, has had a major problem on his hands with the man who runs the website, one Hatthotuwa, abusing in foul language a colleague in front of all other staff.

This man (the one who runs the website) known as a pompous, pretentious, holier than thou, bombastic pinhead at the best of times had dozens of complaints against him recently from colleagues as he had abused a Tamil colleague in the presence of other staff, bringing her ethnicity into the tirade in the bargain.

The NGO which makes a regular song and a dance about minority rights usually for ulterior motives, was to a man and a woman in favour of sacking the pipsqueak because this was not just a one word put down, but a sustained foul language attack in which the person at the receiving end was called Tamil w----, (note the pejorative stressing on the ethnicity of the victim.)

But the head of the organization then intervened, as the offender -- ethics and good taste apart -- had been a partner in promoting the NGO's pet hates which are the armed forces, essentially peace loving pro Sri Lankan citizens, etc.,

The man who is known to be an unethical rabble rouser, for example has been known to censor comments on his website except when they are ones that are written by like minded charlatans, in favour of his operation.

Generally the guy is on the make and in the shadow of the boss which makes him a cipher in the organization, not worth anybody's powder and shot.

However, we have to place on record his egregious conduct -- just imagine that a bleeding heart who swears by minority rights -- typically of course for these NGO charlatans -- abuses a colleague in unparliamentary language referring to her ethnicity showing his true colours as a bigot, though one that regularly pays lip service to so called human rights causes for the sake of the baksheesh...

What a fiasco -- boss and subordinate both playing high persists of morality and asking at the drop of a hat that people be removed for minor transgressions, now launching a foul language tirade bringing a subordinate's ethnicity into play as well.

Never mind what they want others to do - this holier-than-thou NGO once wanted the Defence Secretary removed for what they alleged, in an obvious cooked up story, was an intemperate phone call to a journalist. Why is the big man, Paki Saravanamuttu himself, not removing the offender in their staff but moving him laterally within the organization just to avoid the embarrassment?

Or are these high priests of morality preferring to live with the stink when their own partners in crime are concerned? 

- See more at: http://www.dailynews.lk/?q=local/high-priests-morality-protect-their-own-foul-mouthed-specimen#sthash.0VTddoi5.dpuf

US FUNDED BAR ASSOCIATION

SC JUDGES EVERYWHERE, APPOINTED BY PRESIDENTS

Having fattened himself on money received from the US Government, now the Bar Association President and others of his grossly partisan ilk are attacking the President's appointment of a new Supreme Court Judge.

Presidents have appointed SC judges in this country as long as anybody cares to remember, and this includes the UNP President who authored the Constitution, but abruptly, the sharks in the legal community now say everything needs to be turned on its head.

This of course is for the simple reason that they only want SC Judges that are partisan towards their cause.

On the subject of course of the US providing funding for Bar Association projects, in that country which these aforementioned worthies look up to for examples of good governance, Judges are routinely appointed by the President as his sole prerogative.

Not stopping at that, US Presidents go on to boast about their appointments, with Democrats holding forth on how many liberal judges they were able to appoint to the Supreme Court, and Republicans bragging about their appointments of conservative lawyers to the Bench.

We carry in the opposite page today an article by a known legal analyst in the US speculating on the Judges that President Obama can appoint before his second term is up.

There is hardly a country, for the information of these fulminating legal eagles, that does not have the Executive in the form of a President appointing Supreme Court judges.

This is for the simple reason that any other appointing authority will be vested with unreasonable powers if entrusted with the responsibility of appointing judges to superior courts.

The presidential system of appointments in the US for instance recognizes the fact that Judges can and should be expected to promote the general policy plank of the incumbent President, though of course always doing so within the limits of existing law.

It is a fact that the US President not only appoints the Supreme Court judges he wants, but also after the appointment poses for a photograph with the Judges concerned ... never failing to make a speech extolling each individual Judge's virtues.

There is however a Congressional Committee comprised entirely of politicians that whet the candidate for suitability before appointment, but such a body nevertheless will not be welcome here in Sri Lanka with the Bar Association types, as they have always maintained that politicians should play no part in investigating SC Judges, as was evidenced during last year's impeachment drama.

Considering all of this, the current appointing authority, the President is the one person that the American sponsors of the Bar Association would endorse for the appointment of SC Judges in Sri Lanka.

The problem with the BASL sharks is that the legality of process is the last thing on their minds as they are dictated to exclusively by partisan considerations.

For example, some speak of the 17th Amendment which was repealed, which piece of legislation never worked however even under the former President who has now joined forces with the BASL and opposition types.

Why didn't the former President ensure that the Constitutional Council was properly constituted?

It was for the simple reason that the 17th Amendment took away her constitutional right to appoint judges of her choice.

There is no basis whatsoever on which the BASL or any other organization of lawyers can oppose the appointment of a known President's Counsel as a new Supreme Court Judge as there are no integrity questions that militate against the appointment of that worthy.

It is absurd to oppose the appointment of a Supreme Court Judge on the sole basis that he or she is being appointed by the President.

If this was a cause for opposing judicial appointments to the higher courts almost all SC and Appeal Court judges in most functioning democracies today will be unqualified for office!

drug mafia

Rs. 300mn yearly saving by changing lung cancer drug importer

May 7, 2014, 6:53 pm 

By Don Asoka Wijewardena

Health Secretary Dr.Nihal Jayathilaka said that the government would be able to save Rs.300 million per annum as a local drug agent had been duly issued the import licence to import a highly expensive drug (injection) meant for malignant lung cancer patients.

Jayathilaka pointed out that the Health Ministry’s Medical Supplies Division (MSD) had been purchasing the Pacliall (protine bound Paclitaxel) injection at Rs.78,000 per vial from a local agent. Meawhile, another local agent had come forward to compete with the monopolistic drug company. The latter had informed the ministry that his company would sell the pacliall injection at Rs.38,000 instead of Rs.78,000.

Jayathilaka added that he had some reservations about the latter’s offer. Because the efficacy, clinical trials, quality should be the same as the expensive one. The complete dossier of the local agent was sent to a three -member technical evaluation committee headed by Consultant Oncologist Dr.Mahendra Perera. The dossier included all the required information on the drug. The technical evaluation committee comprised three senior oncologists.

He said the Health Minister and he had held comprehensive discussions on the drug monopoly which had caused numerous problems in the drug trade. Some local companies were monopolistic in drug supply. The ministry encouraged another local drug agent to come to the scene to break the drug monopoly. Now the monopoly had been broken and the government would be able to save Rs.300 million annually in purchasing the drug pacliall at Rs. 38,000 per injection instead of Rs.78,000 for the same drug.

Cosmetic Devices and Drug Regulatory Authority Director Dr. Hemantha Beneragama when contacted said that many patients at the Maharagama Cancer Institute were unable to receive proper treatment for want of pacliall for a long time. The government was purchasing an injection of pacliall at Rs.78,000. Butthe other local agent would now sell the drug at Rs.38,000, which benefited the country.

When he received the approval of the evaluation committee he issued the import licence to the local agent to regularly supply the drug.

The local drug company Managing Director when contacted said that pacliall was being manufactured by Panacea Biotec Ltd, India’s third largest biotech company with WHO, European Union, Germany and US FDA certifications for manufacturing high quality pharmaceutical products. Pacliall had won the prestigious award for "The Best Pharmaceutical Product" at the 2011 Bio- Spectrum Global Forum held in Bangalore in India.

He pointed out that the company was discouraged by the lethargic attitude of the Cosmetic Devices and Drug Regulatory Authority (CDDRA) over the last eight months.

kangaroo courts UN Style

Transparency in  the UNHRC investigation of war crimes in Sri Lanka

May 8, 2014, 8:20 pm 

By Rebecca Wexler

Unfortunately, both the U.N. and the GoSL investigations contain obstacles to the reproducibility of methods and results. These obstacles result from procedural actions on the part of investigators, and as well from material limits imposed by some of the proprietary software used in the investigations. For instance, incomplete documentation regarding evidence preservation cast doubt on whether or not all of the investigators actually analyzed identical copies of the video evidence. Researchers may employ a cryptographic hash to verify their copy of a digital file. The hash algorithmically generates a number to uniquely identify the content of a digital file. Anyone who runs this algorithm and produces the same numeric identifier can determine that they have an unaltered copy of the file. Yet, none of the U.N. and GoSL forensic video reports includes a hash.

The United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) should demand that its investigation into possible war crimes in Sri Lanka deploy transparent, replicable forensic tools and methods that are open to scrutiny by all.

In a dispute of any consequence, parties deserve the opportunity to question the methods behind expert testimony against them. In a public dispute touching post-war stability, as will the UNHRC investigation, the need for open methods is all the more urgent. Investigative methods of reducing data to measurements, application of these measurements to a given case, and steps leading to conclusive opinions, should all be open for everyone to see.

In contrast, secret, closed, or proprietary investigative tools and methods hamper any possibility for external review and critique. I call this risk, "censorship through forensics." Obstacles to reproducibility produce a degraded form of authority for investigators. They construct a hierarchy of experts whose work is not subject to tracking and review. Instead, investigators achieve authority by virtue of elements other than the scientific rigor of their forensics work, such as power, prestige or financial advantage. As a result, obstructions to reproducibility of investigative tools and methods prevent others from challenging the accuracy of the results. Concealed methods and restricted technology act like censorship to suppress speech critical of the findings.

Prior UNHRC and Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL) investigations show the urgency of open tools and methods. On August 25, 2009, Channel 4 News in the United Kingdom (U.K.) broadcast a video depicting men in Sri Lankan military uniforms shooting naked, bound prisoners in the head. The unknown provenance of the video complicated efforts to authenticate it. Without an unbroken chain of custody from an original and identifiable producer, speculation flourished about the circumstances of the video’s creation. Some believed that a Sri Lankan military soldier recorded the video on a cell phone while witnessing a war crime. Others suggested that the video might be a fictional scene produced with actors by a commercial film crew intent on discrediting the GoSL.

Forensic analysts sought to resolve these speculations by examining the video file for traces of image manipulation. Forensic investigators working on request of UNHRC found evidence of authenticity strong enough to warrant investigation into possible war crimes. Yet forensic investigators working on request of the GoSL found evidence that the video is either inauthentic or unverifiable.

Unfortunately, both the U.N. and the GoSL investigations contain obstacles to the reproducibility of methods and results. These obstacles result from procedural actions on the part of investigators, and as well from material limits imposed by some of the proprietary software used in the investigations.

For instance, incomplete documentation regarding evidence preservation cast doubt on whether or not all of the investigators actually analyzed identical copies of the video evidence. Researchers may employ a cryptographic hash to verify their copy of a digital file. The hash algorithmically generates a number to uniquely identify the content of a digital file. Anyone who runs this algorithm and produces the same numeric identifier can determine that they have an unaltered copy of the file. Yet, none of the U.N. and GoSL forensic video reports includes a hash.

To be sure, because the original videographer is anonymous, a hash would not have established preservation of evidence from the first-generation source. Still, the unknown nature of the source does not excuse the omission. Rather, the opposite is true. Multiple second-generation sources for the videos under investigation mean a hash would have been particularly useful. A hash would have clarified whether or not all the investigators were analyzing the same video files, which is a prerequisite to reproducibility. Absent this foundational piece of information, none of the parties can challenge or accept the conclusions of the others. Skepticism as to whether all parties analyzed the same piece of evidence renders any consensus about its authenticity meaningless.

In fact, there are strong reasons to doubt that all the investigators did actually examine unaltered copies of the videos. U.N. and GoSL investigators each described analyzing videos from different sources and of different lengths, names, and formats. Some reported difficulty obtaining a copy of the video at all.Had a cryptographic hash been used, investigators would have known if they were analyzing fragments or the whole of the same piece of evidence or not, regardless of their source.

Instead, omission of the hash serves as a procedural obfuscation that allows inconsistencies to multiply in number and consequence. Doubt about whether the GoSL and U.N. analysts actually examined the same video files preempts meaningful consensus. Further, these discrepancies degrade the credibility of the forensic investigations as a whole. Weak forensic credibility leaves publics more likely to ignore or confuse any and all results, and to turn to alternative sources of authority such as their own personal experience.

Proprietary claims to investigative methods and tools also obstruct reproducibility of the forensic analyses. One GoSL investigator introduces his report by declaring, "The experimental procedures used in this analysis include techniques that have been developed … at the University… These techniques or their results may not be deployed … without appropriate permission." ( Annexes to LLRC REPORT, supra note 9, at 158). The implicit suggestion is that some investigators may obtain permission, but not all. Those denied would also be denied the opportunity to scrutinize the full methodology and data behind the findings of this GoSL investigator.

Subtler yet also problematic, one U.N. investigator deploys proprietary Cognitech Video Investigator software in his investigation in a manner that inhibits external review, whether or not permission is given to analyze his broader experimental techniques. As a result, the authority of his report is based in part on preclusion of counter-scrutiny rather than the accountability of scientific peer review. An additional concern is raised when the investigator appropriately discloses that he is a beta tester and technical representative for Cognitech, Inc., the company that produces and sells the software he uses in his investigation. Professional conflict of interest poses a risk of bias toward applying tools without clear benefit, and obscuring rather than illuminating evidence. Commercial interest may conflict with disclosure of methods and algorithms

Presentation of an experimental finding without explaining the mechanism by which it was achieved forces the audience into blind trust. Concealing investigative methods, and restricting access to investigative technologies, prevents others from challenging the accuracy of the results. It precludes reproducibility, and thus pre-emptively censors critique.

Opening the procedures and technologies of forensic analysis to scrutiny will help to counter this result.

The UNHRC should deploy investigative tools that use open methods, incorporating the opportunity to observe and analyze all levels of functionality. Open investigative methods would facilitate a minimum level of peer-review that could help to unmask subtle defects, provide newly efficient economies of scale, and further democratic legitimacy by reducing preemptive censorship of critique, and facilitating public debate.

Hopefully, open participation in the process of investigation and authentication will enable future consensus and truth in Sri Lanka and around the world.

———————

Rebecca Wexler is Fellow of the Information Society Project at Yale Law School, and a Fulbright-Sri Lanka alumna.  Her forthcoming book chapter, co-authored with a forensic scientist, offers an in-depth examination of forensic video analysis and censorship in the leaked Channel 4 video dispute.[ See Rebecca Wexler & Carey R. Murphey, "Video Forensics in Post-War Crisis," in Access to Knowledge in the Global South, Ed. C. de Souza (Bloomsbury Academic, forthcoming 2014)]

Life and Lives Outside Politics May 10, 2014, 12:00 pm

Life and Lives Outside Politics

May 10, 2014, 12:00 pm 

Solias Mendis

Ruwanweli Seya

Reviewed by Leelananda De Silva

Selected Writings of an Octogenarian by Upali K. Salgado, 132 pages, published by the author, 2014, price Rs. 500. (To be obtained from Upali K. Salgado, 29, Deal Place A, Colombo 3.)

Not many can write books on history. Many more have the capacity to place on record their memories of people and places and events, of which they have had some experience in their lifetime. This can be done in the form of brief articles to newspapers and journals. That would be an enormous contribution to the later, more organized writing of history. Among the largely ephemeral news and feature articles that appear in newspapers, there are selected writings which are of more lasting value. It is one of the important functions of newspapers to provide the space for recording these more lasting memories of its readers and writers. Then it is also possible to regular contributors to these newspapers, especially now when printing technology is so advanced, to bring their writings together in book form. Unlike long narrative historical writings, these collected works are more likely to be read or dipped into by ordinary men and women, creating an intellectual curiosity in a subject which might arouse their interest. Reading Upali Salgado’s book can create a more abiding interest in the people and the places he has described, and lead to further inquiry.

Salgado’s book consists of 25 articles which had appeared sometime or the other in daily newspapers. It is broadly classified into three categories – A Periscopic view of Buddhism, Portrait Gallery and Of People, Places and Events. They are a rich and varied selection. In the first section are articles on the revival of Buddhism in India, and more particularly, the archaeological findings in that country. There are also articles such as the restoration of Swarnamali Maha Seya. In the portrait gallery, are to be found brief discussions on notable figures of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries such as Anagarika Dharmapala, the well known philanthropist Sir Charles De Soysa and of artists like Solias Mendis and many others. In the section on places and events, there are, among others, two or three engaging articles on Colombo and of the Uva province. The book certainly has a pronounced slant on many issues relating to Buddhist activities.

A brief word on the author is appropriate at this point. Upali K. Salgado, after his education at St. Thomas’ College, Mt. Lavinia, and the University of Ceylon during the last days of Ivor Jennings, had a long career with the Lake House newspaper group, and was close to the Wijewardene family. He had been engaged in various Buddhist activities, and was the editor of an annual journal "Wesak Lipi" for 25 years. He has also been active in the Scouts movement. A man of varied experience and of great intellectual curiosity, he is a mine of information on the social history of the twentieth century. His writings in this volume are loaded with fascinating anecdotes, which are not generally known, and the book is valuable for these alone. The author quotes from Reverend Walpola Rahula, "The spirit of tolerance and understanding has been from the beginning one of the most cherished ideals of Buddhist culture, and civilization. That is why there is not a single example of persecution or of shedding of blood in converting people to Buddhism during the long history of over 2500 years." There is no doubt that it is this kind of Buddhism that the author believes in.

The articles on "Pathfinders of Buddhist Glory and Resurgence in India" and "The Kapilavasthu Buddha Relics and Sir Alexander Cunningham" describe the contributions of various Western and more particularly British colonial public servants in the re-discovery of Buddhism in India in the nineteenth and the early twentieth centuries. Several individuals like Cunningham and Archibald Carlyle, by their archaeological excavations brought to light the forgotten history of Buddhist sites and relics. Without that effort, Buddhism might have languished in the land of its birth. It is an intriguing question whether Buddhism would have flourished to the extent that it does now, without the British empire, as there were other forces in India at work to erase the traces of the Buddhist religion in that country. Today, the Buddhist pilgrimage to India is a highly popular religious activity, undertaken by both rich and poor. I wonder how many of these pilgrims are aware of the way in which these Buddhist centres of pilgrimage were re-discovered for them to see a hundred years later. Not many of them can read books such as Charles Allen’s "The Buddha and the Sahibs". It is worthwhile for Buddhist pilgrims to India, to be better informed about the events that led to the restoration of these places of worship.

The chapter on "Swarnamali Maha Seya and the Forgotten Monk" is a delightful evocation of the restoration of Ruwanweli Seya. It is a now forgotten monk – Venerable Naranvita Sumanasara Thera who started the work of restoration of the then dilapidated chaithya in 1873, and initially, he did the work all by himself.

He lived in the dense jungle, clearing it to the extent possible and lived for long years in an abandoned bullock cart with a lantern and mongrel for company. Thirty years later, in 1902, he founded the Ruwanweli Seya Restoration Society to take the work further after his death. (The year and date of his death is not known.) Ultimately, on 17th June 1940, the pinnacle laying ceremony of the Seya took place. By that time, many rich and well known people especially from Colombo and further south had contributed substantial sums of money for the restoration to be completed. The author notes one such donor – Situge Don Hendrick Silva (Henegama Appuhamy) from Ruhuna, who had donated 250,000 rupees, which was a handsome donation at that time.

Another article which is of great interest is the one on Solias Mendis, a painter of genius, who unlike George Keyt, has been relatively neglected. Walimuni Solias Mendis was born in 1896, and was educated at a pirivena. He had adorned many temples with his paintings. Solias Mendis came to fame when Mrs. Helena Wijewardene of Sedawatta Walauwa selected him to paint the walls of a new wing which she built at Kelaniya temple. Before he undertook the task, he was sent to India to see the paintings at Ajantha and Bhag. "Mendis introduced to the Kelaniya Vihare the style of Ravi Varma, which was associated with the Bengali renaissance of art. Much attention was given to detail of facial expressions. These inspired creations when clothed in a mixture of soft shades, giving flashes of a little orange and a mixture of lemon and red where necessary, provided life and contrast". However, Solias Mendis did not complete the work at Kelaniya temple, as he had some disagreement with the management. His patroness, Helena Wijewardene had passed away by that time. Solias Mendis retired into village life and never painted again. Later in 1948, at the request of D.S. Senanayake, he was brought to decorate the hall at Independence Square, to mark the freedom day celebrations. Solias Mendis passed away in 1975. The author has made an important contribution in keeping the memory of Solias Mendis, a truly great and indigenous artist, alive.

Two articles on Colombo and the Uva province are worth noting for the many snippets of information and anecdotes they contain. The author refers to over one thousand roadways in Colombo called lanes, places, avenues, gardens and passages apart from the main streets. The names they have been given enlightens us to the history of these roads, if only they are known now. To illustrate, there is Tickell road in Borella. R.H. Tickell was the engineer who commenced work on the municipal sewage scheme in 1902, and the road is named after him. Apparently, the expenditure on this scheme crippled the finances of the Colombo Municipal Council for many years. The article on the Uva province is of topical interest now that this area is opening up for tourism. There are various names connected with the province and one such was D.C. Kotelawela, a great philanthropist. He was the founder of Dharmadutha College, a leading boys school in Badulla, and his son, Sir Henry Kotelawela was a member of the Legislative and the State Councils for 27 years. He founded the Sujatha Vidyalaya for girls. The role of the Kotelawela family in Uva offers insights into other such philanthropic activities in the provinces of Sri Lanka by other families, and which are not widely known.

This relatively slim volume deserves to be widely read. It is written in simple language. It is this kind of book with a popular appeal which deserves to be translated into local languages. This book should also be an inspiration for ordinary men and women to write down their own experiences, not necessarily for publication, as many events which are personally experienced, and which have a wider relevance would be lost sight of once the person who had that experience is no longer there. The article on Uva province in particular brings up the relevance of more extensive writings on provincial life and experience of the past before our generation passes away from the scene.

-- 

Lobbying - “the three Bs – booze, blondes and bribes”US promoter of political interests

US promoter of political interests

By Jurek Martin

©Mark Meyer//Time Life Pictures/Getty Images

If there is a profession synonymous in the public eye with all that is wrong in Washington today, it isthat of lobbying, also known as the K Street mafia after the road where many of the best-heeled have offices.

Its practitioners work behind closed doors, draft laws for congressmen to propose, wander at will throughout government and generally ensure that their clients’ oxen are never gored, whatever the public interest may be. President Barack Obama came to office promising to curb their influence and even imposed a ban on their serving in government, but then quietly dropped it.

But he was much more than the smoothest gun for hire. His singular achievement was to combine in one house traditional public relations, hence the “first flack” honorific, and lobbying. This he did first at Hill+Knowlton, the established PR shop, for 20 years from 1961, then at his own Gray and Company for five years, and finally, until he retired to Florida in the early 1990s, as chairman of H+K after it bought his firm.It is hard to define exactly who a lobbyist is these days. Officially, about 12,000 are registered with the government as such, down a bit from five years ago because of a straitened economy, but the actual number is probably more than triple that. Many do not bother to register as lobbyists under rules tightened by the past two administrations; Newt Gingrich, the Republican former speaker of the House of Representatives, described himself as a “historian” when on the books of Fannie Mae, the mortgage facilitator. Tom Daschle, once Democratic Senate leader, is merely a “political adviser” to many of those for whom he works.

But for more than 30 years, from Dwight Eisenhower to George H W Bush, lobbying in the nation’s capital was embodied in one perfect persona. Bob Gray, who has died at the age of 92, was even known as “the first flack”, after his work on Ronald Reagan’s successful 1980 presidential campaign. He was silver-haired, socially ubiquitous – wearing out, he said, two dinner jackets a year – and his offices were in the appropriately named Power House in fashionable Georgetown, which is where the movers and shakers held soirées at which the real business of government was done. To his critics, Robert Keith Gray, born in Hastings, Nebraska, on September 2 1921 and with a bachelor’s degree from Carleton College in Minnesota and a Harvard MBA to his name, was all about the “Selling of Access and Influence in Washington”, to borrow from the subtitle of a 1992 book that so upset him he sued its author for defamation, though unsuccessfully.

His approach was nothing if not professional. Lobbying, he once recalled, used to be all about “the three Bs – booze, blondes and bribes”. But, to him, it was “a deep, challenging intellectual business. The challenge is to have the best argument and take that argument to the right place. And if I don’t have the most compelling argument, [even] my best friend in Congress will vote against me.”

Politically he was a life-long Republican, though a moderate by today’s standards, and it certainly helped his access that his party held the presidency for all but 12 of the 30-plus years he practised his trade – though Congress was mostly in Democratic hands.

But his client list was eclectic. It included big tobacco and big oil but also the Teamsters Union, the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, the Church of Scientology and several charities. He represented Jean-Claude “Baby Doc” Duvalier, the Haitian dictator, and the anti-Castro Cuban American Foundation, as well as the governments of Canada, Morocco and then Marxist Angola (though he said he turned down Muammar Gaddafi’s Libya).

The key to his success was that he knew so many of the Washington power players personally. He cut his political teeth as Ike’s appointments secretary and was in the Oval Office in November 1957, laying out the daily schedule when he noticed the president was slurring his responses. This later became known as “the secret stroke”, one of several attacks Eisenhower was to suffer in his second term, which Gray, the soul of discretion, helped keep under wraps.

He was well known in the Nixon White House too, frequently escorting about town Rose Mary Woods, the president’s secretary responsible, inadvertently or otherwise, for the 18-minute gap in the most incriminating of the Watergate tape recordings. He later sprang to the defence of Nancy Reagan when she came under fire for the cost of her designer wardrobe.

But Gray, who leaves behind his partner Efrain Machado, mostly plied his trade out of the spotlight, a visible man-about-town but unseen when doing what he did best.

The British made the World unliveable

The British made the World unliveable

 Throughout modern history Britain has created everlasting conflicts, just for their survival, in the so called developing regions of the world, particularly in Asia and Africa. A monumental example is the creation of rivalry, animosity and the hatred between India and Pakistan. It is a unanimous view of the Asians and the Africans that Britain has contributed to make the world a chaotic an unlivable place more than any other nation.In Sri Lanka  it is Sinhalese put against Tamils,In Malaysia it is Muslims against others,

They did they are still trying now with America.

missing -living

Executed’ director of Vanni project in Indian custody: SL seeks access to him

May 15, 2014, 12:00 pm 

By Shamindra Ferdinando

The chance arrest of Kathiravel Thayapararajah (33) by Indian authorities could help Sri Lankan security services to identify a network of human smugglers with possible connections to the overseas LTTE rump, official sources said.

Authorities would explore the possibility of having access to Thayapararajah, whose arrest during the first week of May this year could be one of the most important breakthroughs made in investigations into bogus disappearances since the conclusion of the conflict in May 2009.

The External Affairs Ministry was expected to examine the possibility of having access to the suspect, sources said adding that the former director of Vanni Tech funded by US based Tamil Diaspora had gone underground in September 2009. After the man’s disappearance his wife Uthayakala, foreign NGOs as well as a section of the media accused intelligence services of having executed Thayapararajah.

Uthayakala, too, was detained along with Thayapararajah soon after they had reached Tamil Nadu. They claimed they were fleeing government persecution in Sri Lanka.

A senior government official told The Island that Indian authorities would have to decide not only on Thayapararajah and his wife but eight others, including five children who had clandestinely entered India. Now that their false claims had been exposed, they would either have to be deported or given refugee status, the bureaucrat said.

The official said that Thayapararajah was among those who had been listed as missing following arrest by the security services. Responding to a question, the official pointed out that those who propagated lies accused the state of being behind systematic enforced disappearances during the conflict and post-conflict periods. Thayapararajah was categorised as missing since the conclusion of the conflict. The Tamilnet alleged that Thayapararajah was extra-judicially executed in Colombo in September 2009.

Meanwhile, a person duped by Uthayakala told The Island that she collected several millions of rupees from nine persons, including five women promising employment in the UK. Having made representations to the Indian High Commission in Colombo through the Indian Consulate in Jaffna, the group was now waiting for the Indian High Commission’s response, the spokesperson for the group said.

pic

Uthayakala and Thayapararajah

Top UN Envoy on Sexual Violence was never here

* Inclusion of Sri Lanka on list of shame

May 21, 2014, 10:06 pm 

By Shamindra Ferdinando

The Office of the Special Representative of the Secretary General on Sexual Violence in Conflict, Zainab Hawa Bangura, said that she hadn't been able to visit Sri Lanka before the recent release of a new UN report which placed Sri Lanka among 21 countries, where rape and other sexual violence were committed in current and recent conflicts.

Communications Officer Ms. La Neice Collins said that Bangura had called for the appointment of a special person to handle the situation when she met Sri Lanka's Permanent Representative to the UN, Dr. Palitha Kohona subsequent to the launch of the report. Ms. Collins was responding to a query by The Island whether the UN representative visited Colombo since the end of the conflict in May 2009. Collins was also asked whether Bangura had consulted the Office of the UN Resident Representative here regarding rape and sexual violence.

The Office of the UN Resident Representative in Colombo, having declined to respond to The Island queries regarding the UN report that dealt with Sri Lanka, directed the questions to Bangura's office.

The media quoted Bangura as having said at the launch of the report: "Covering 21 countries of concern in Europe, Asia, Africa, South America and the Middle East, the report shows that rape is a global crime."Responding to a query as regards the situation in Sri Lanka, Bangura said that she was concerned and spoke with Dr. Kohona about the situation, urging him that Sri Lanka designates a focal person on the issue.

The report, covering 2013, dealt with sexual violence in the 21 countries including Angola, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Cambodia, Colombia, Guinea, Liberia, Libya, Nepal, Sierra Leone, Somalia, Sri Lanka, Sudan and Yemen.

Responding to UN allegations, military spokesman Brigadier Ruwan Wanigasooriya said that the Sri Lankan military had never been accused of systematic rape during the conflict or post-conflict period, although various interested parties propagated lies. The Brigadier said that police headquarters as well as hospital authorities could provide data pertaining to rape in every district. Commenting on the latest UN report, the Brigadier pointed out that the Office of the UN Resident Representative was aware of the ground situation. The military spokesman insisted that the army had expeditiously dealt with anyone found guilty of sexual violence in former conflict zones or outside. The UN should reveal the circumstances as well as the basis under which Sri Lanka ended up among countries named in the report.

Sri Lanka's Deputy Permanent Representative at the UN, Maj. Gen. Shavendra Silva asserted that allegations of rape during the conflict as well as port-war period were meant to justify demands for withdrawal of the army from the Northern Province. The international community could examine the situation on the ground as all Northern and Eastern districts were accessible, the former General Officer Commanding (GOC) of the celebrated 58 Division told The Island. The Maj. Gen said that anti-Sri Lanka propagandists hadn't been able to sway northern opinion.

 

Independence day was achieved without much effort while republic day was achieved with much effort

Today is the Republic Day of Sri Lanka

May 21, 2014, 8:01 pm 
Independence day  was achieved  without much effort while republic day was achieved with much effort

by Walter Wijenayake

Today, May 22, is the Republic Day of Sri Lanka, which is as important a day as February 4, which is Independence Day.

It was on May 22, 1972, exactly 42 years ago today, that the Republic of Sri Lanka was born. It was the day that our country became truly free and independent.

The British, who got hold of the Kandyan provinces on March 2, 1815, helped by dissension among the Kandyan chieftains who were divided in their loyalty to the King, simultaneously sold off the whole country.

The Governor who represented the British Monarch was all powerful. even when the Legislative Council had unofficial members, he had a dominant voice.

When Sri Lanka gained independence on February 4, 1948, the State Council had been replaced by a Parliament consisting of a Upper House (Senate) and a Lower House (House of Representatives). At the time, our Monarch was King George VI. After he expired, his daughter, Elizabeth II succeeded him on February 6,1952. Since then, until May 22, 1972, British Monarchs were our Heads of State.

As soon as the Coalition Government headed by Mrs. Sirimavo Ratwatte Dias Bandaranaike which came into power at the 1970 General Election, decided to set up a Constituent Assembly in order to draft a new Constitution that accorded with the wishes and aspirations of the people of the country at the election.

Dr. Colvin R. de Silva – the Minister in charge of Constitutional Affairs and Plantation Industry was the architect of this new Constitution. Stanley Thilekaratne was the Speaker of the House of Representatives.

Mahinda Rajapaksa, the existing President of Sri Lanka was a member of this Assembly, Dr. Colvin R. de Silva – constitutional expert, made a significant contribution to the drafting process.

This new constitution came into force on May 22, 1972. The umbilical cord that tied us to the British Government was severed once and for all, and Sri Lanka became a fully independent country, free of British rule.

With the adoption of the new Republican Constitution, the connection with the Privy Council was severed. The Supreme Court was now supreme - the highest judicial body, in the country. The official name of the country - Ceylon since 1815 - was dropped and the old name Sri Lanka was adopted.

William Gopallawa, the outgoing Governor General took his oaths of allegiance to the Republic of Sri Lanka as her first President. All the members of the new assembly and ministers took their oath of allegiance. Mrs. Bandaranaike was the first Prime Minister of the Republic of Sri Lanka and she was also the the world’s first woman Prime Minister.

When J. R. Jayewardene, leading the United National Party came into power at the 1977 General Election with a five – sixth majority in Parliament, he needed to change the constitution, creating the Executive Presidency.

He, as the new Prime Minister, promulgated the new constitution, providing for the incumbent Prime Minister to become the first Executive President. Accordingly, he took his oaths at Galle Face Green before the Chief Justice on February 4, 1978.

With the taking of oaths, he became the Head of the State, Head of the Executive and of the Government and the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces.

Now, our Head of State – the President is Mr. Mahinda Rajapaksa, since the Presidential Election held on November 17, 2005. He engages in his second term.

A closer look at generosity

A closer look at generosity

Dr Kamal Wickremasinghe

The gesture by Nisha Biswal, Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs of the neocon empire, that the US is "looking forward to the resumption of a more comprehensive military relationship" with Sri Lanka is curious.

No doubt, Biswal's announcement came following a friendly meeting with a certain Sri Lankan political non-leader, currently in Boston, receiving instructions on winning the presidency from an absolutely hopeless situation, and formed part of the neocon assistance he is being promised.

In addition to what's intended through the offer of a military relationship, the rest of the content of Biswal's speech shows a degree of naivety on her part about the image of the US in the region; Biswal's "assurance" to the region that President Obama and Secretary Kerry are keen to play a larger and long-term role in "shaping" the region and its future is based either on extreme naivety or is a charade - the US shaping of the region is a prospect they are as keen to secure as a hole in its collective head!

Biswal "urged" the upcoming Indian government to follow economic policies that would facilitate investment, to enable America's dream of increasing bilateral trade to $500 billion a year. In short, she asked India to do what is good for the US rather than pursuing India's own economic and strategic interests.

In a speech loaded with condescending remarks aimed at promoting the US agenda, Biswal noted that India had the potential to "exceed all expectations" economically.

She linked that prospect however, to the adoption of investment and tax policies designed to "lure" capital flows by tweaking the Indian legal system to meet American demands.

Nisha Biswal

Biswal spoke for the entire population of Indian voters by declaring that "those are the questions that India's voters are asking as they cast their ballots" and more importantly, by insisting that "those are the questions that we (the US) wants to see answered".

What's emanating from Biswal's speech is typical of the current approach to foreign policy based on attempts to aggressively create and modify the political, economic and social situations the world over to suit their self interest.

US State Department deploys...

The offer of a comprehensive military relationship needs to be rebuked as another dangerous manoeuvre by an untrustworthy neocon administration of America. Sri Lanka needs to show that it is not prepared to play the global diplomatic game.

John Kerry took it upon himself to perform the sensitive task of pointing the finger at India's alleged "significant human rights problems", (after sending Biswal away to Kyrgyzstan to meet with "businessmen and civil society leaders" there to discuss what is described as regional and bilateral issues). In the meantime Kerry produced another of the so-called Human Rights "reports" that contained a long list of "problems" in India including alleged extrajudicial killings, torture, and rape by the police and security forces, widespread corruption at all levels of government, denial of justice.

Many more were thrown in to the mix. Incredibly, Kerry blamed the Indian government for the "separatist, insurgent, and societal violence" it is confronted with.

While consistently failing to look under his own lectern for the types of financial and official corruption that led to the financial crisis of 1998, and crimes such as the ongoing drone-killings, Kerry went on to pontificate about "corruption" in India and the Indian "authorities continuing to infringe on citizens' privacy rights" including the right to religious conversion.

He produced an endless list of human rights complaints about India, based on alleged incidents of rape, domestic violence, sexual harassment, and discrimination against women - apparently issues unknown or unheard of in the US!

It is clear from the inconsistencies between what is preached to the rest of the world and their own conduct in the area of human rights, that the bogus commitment to imposing a contrived human rights regime the world over is the foundation of the move towards regaining global hegemony.

Biswal is simply reading a template

The offer of a military relationship to Sri Lanka is aimed at "chipping-away" at the unity between the armed forces and the elected government of Sri Lanka.

The offer of increased contact with the armed forces is driven by their reliance on the tried and tested means of creating division among 'centres of power' in developing countries, as was unsuccessfully tried through the promotion of the 2010 presidential candidacy of Sarath Fonseka.

The neocons' objective in offering increased military contact is to "cultivate" future leaders of the armed forces through training opportunities and joint combat opportunities enabled through military agreements.

US fighter jets at Clark air base in the Philippines

Such opportunities to plant "seeds of dissension" within the power structures of Sri Lanka are additional to the benefits they anticipate through military pacts and agreements in terms of securing a military foothold in the region. The links between the role of US training of high ranking army officers and subsequent destabilisation of developing countries came in to sharp focus following the March 2012 coup in Mali, instigated by General Amadou Haya Sanogo, hand-picked by the US Embassy to receive military counter-terrorism training, and had travelled several times to America for "special training".

The extraordinary interest Robert O. Blake took in developing military contacts with the Maldives, including the aborted signing of the Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) - during his stint in Colombo, and subsequently - shows the prominence attached to this approach.

There are other reasons why Sri Lanka should reject the offer

In addition to the obvious risks of destabilisation, Sri Lanka also needs to consider the future of military relationships carefully in the light of emerging international trends.

Sri Lanka's defence and strategic needs will necessarily be linked with the regional power India, and to those of Pakistan, and to a lesser extent with those of China.

Neocons are working hard to "pick a quarrel" with China as the next "Cold War" tactic for dividing the world and increasing arms sales on trumped-up fears of a Chinese invasion.

Upon the grand design of a US "Pivot to Asia" becoming a forlorn hope - due to India's unpreparedness to play ball - they are now attempting to interfere in China's minor territorial disputes in the South China Sea with small countries such as the Philippines and Vietnam, and with the major power Japan in the East China Sea.

Developing closer military relationships with US under these scenarios can help further escalate international tensions through obligations to allow Sri Lankan harbours and airports during times of potential instability.

The need from Sri Lanka's national interest point of view is less, rather than more US military involvement in the region.

The urgent need in this regard is to form regional alliances to expedite the handover of Diego Garcia Island to its customary owners, the Chagossians. 

 - See more at: http://dailynews.lk/?q=features/closer-look-generosity#sthash.X3nt4TjK.dpuf