15 Janji Duet SBY-Boediono

Walau sudah menyatakan tidak akan banyak berjanji, Capres SBY-Boediono punya prioritas pekerjaannnya jika kelak terpilih. Ada 15 'janji' SBY-Boediono yang disampaikan SBY dalam kampanye pamungkasnya di Gelora Bung Karno, Senayan.
 
1. Pertumbuhan ekonomi minimal 7 persen sehingga kesejahteraan rakyat meningkat
2. Kemiskinan harus turun 8-10 persen dengan meningkatkan pembangunan pertaniian, perdesaan dan program pro rakyat
3. Pengangguran turun 5-6 persen dengan cara meningkatkan peluang lapangan pekerjaan dan peningkatan penyaluran modal usaha
4. Pendidikan harus ditingkatkan lagi. Mutu infrastruktur dan kesejahteraan guru dan dosen ditingkatkan. Persamaan perlakuan sekolah negeri-swasta-agama. Tetap melanjutkan sekolah gratis bagi yang tidak mampu
5. Masalah kesehatan dengan terus melakukan pemberantasan penyakit menular dan melanjutkan pengobatan gratis bagi yang tidak mampu
6. Swasembada Beras dipertahanakan. Ke depannya Indonesia akan menuju swasembada daging sapi dan kedelai
7. Penambahan Energi daya listrik secara nasional. Kecukupan BBM dan pengembangan energi terbarukan
8. Pembangunan infrastruktur di seluruh wilayah Indonesia. Mulai dari perhubunganm, pekerjaan umum, air bersih, TI, maupun pertanian
9. Peningkatan pembangunan rumah rakyat seperti proyek rusun murah untuk buruh, TNI/ Polri, dan rakyat kecil
10. Pemeliharaan lingkungan terus ditingkatkan seperti dengan reboisasi lahan.
11. Kemampuan pertahanan dan keamanan terus ditingkatkan seperti pengadaan dan modernisasi alustsista TNI/ Polri
12. Reformasi birokrasi, pemberatsan korupsi terus ditingkatkan
13. Otonomi daerah dan pemerataan daerah ditingkatkan 
14. Demokrasi dan penghormatan terhadap HAM makin ditingkatkan. Jangan terjadi lagi pelanggaran HAM berat di negeri ini
15. Peran Indonesia makin ditingkatkan di dunia internasional. Berperan aktif dalam menciptakan perdamaaian dunia.

Government for the Government

If Abraham Lincoln were delivering his Gettysburg Address today, he might feel compelled to conclude, “... that government for the government shall not perish from this earth.” He was “Honest Abe” after all.

Let’s take a look at how Sacramento really operates.

Those in power in the Capitol — as well as many local politicians — make skillful use of those who rely on government services to advance their spending agenda. They use children, the disabled, the elderly, and others who appear vulnerable, to justify increasing taxes. When reasonable arguments are made that higher taxes in an already high-tax state could lead to fiscal ruin and less for everyone, politicians and bureaucrats use these dependent classes as human shields.

But who really is at risk if spending is curtailed modestly or if the rate of increase is limited? A number of years ago, David Doerr, who is probably California’s foremost expert on tax policy, observed that during budget negotiations, 90 percent of those testifying in support of greater spending are the providers, not the recipients, of state services. If the ratio has changed at all, it is surely higher.

According to the US Census Bureau, California has the highest paid public employees in the nation. Additionally, our state has the highest paid Legislature. And it is not an exaggeration to say that, for these folks, the number one priority of governing is taking care of state employees, lawmakers and their friends. In short, they look after themselves.

Eighteen years ago, Californians, tired of the arrogance of career politicians, approved term limits. Term limits remain popular as evidenced by the recent rejection of Prop 93 which would have substantially weakened the original limits. While no panacea, term limits have resulted in several modest but important improvements.

For example, our Legislature now looks more like a cross section of the California population and no longer can a single entrenched lawmaker exert a stranglehold over legislative affairs for years on end. But despite these improvements, politicians still find ways to take care of their own after they are forced from office.

The November election, helped by term limits, has resulted in the flushing out of 34 Assemblymembers and Senators out of a total of 120. Will the displaced representatives return to the private sector and live under the laws they have passed? When pigs fly! The existing legislative leadership has already begun the bi-annual process of providing welfare to their outgoing colleagues. Assembly Speaker Karen Bass has just appointed termed out Assemblyman John Laird to the Integrated Waste Management Board. 

The job pays $132,178 per year. On the Senate side, President Pro Tempore Don Perata has selected the soon-to-be-jobless Sen. Sheila Kuehl to replace former Sen. Wes Chesbro, who was appointed to the panel after he left office in 2006, but who no longer needs the cushy job because he has just been elected to the Assembly. Other members of the Waste Management board include the wife of another former lawmaker, and a former scheduler for Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger — and this is just one board out of many.

For those who may have wondered why the state spends millions each year on scores of little-used and often worthless boards and commissions that pay handsomely for only a few hours of work each month, these appointments may provide clarification.

So as our political class shrieks and bellows that without major tax increases there will not be enough to support the needy, remember, on their list of the truly needy, they rank number one.

Troops oust Honduran president in feared coup

Honduran troops arrested President Manuel Zelaya in a dawn raid on his home Sunday and flew him out of the country in an apparent military coup just hours before a controversial referendum.

"Troops have taken the president from his home to the air force," the president's personal secretary, Enrique Reina, told reporters, just hours before Zelaya had sought to hold a referendum on extending his four-term term.

The first such major political unrest in several decades in the impoverished Central American nation came amid a bitter power struggle between Zelaya, elected to a non-renewal term in 2005, and the country's military and legal institutions.

Zelaya was swiftly flown to neighbouring Costa Rica as the Honduran Supreme Court said it had in fact ordered his ouster to preserve law and order.

"I am the victim of a kidnapping by Honduran soldiers... I was deceived by the military elite," Zelaya told Venezuelan-based Telesur television.

A neighbour told Radiocadena Voces television about 200 troops swooped on Zelaya's home just as dawn was breaking around 6:00 am and his house remained surrounded by heavily armed troops, an AFP photographer saw.

A leading government official, Armando Sarmiento, told AFP that at least eight cabinet members were also detained including Foreign Minister Patricia Rodas who had urged Zelaya's supporters to protest his ouster.

"Our president has been kidnapped. It is by taking to the streets that we can succeed in obtaining his release," she told Telesur earlier.

As planes and helicopters overflew the capital, several hundred Zelaya supporters ignored warnings to stay home and flooded onto the streets of Tegucigalpa shouting out, "We want Mel," the president's nickname.

The protestors were members of groups which had backed Zelaya's moves to revise the constitution to allow him to stand for a second term.

But the demonstration was halted in front of the presidential palace when the way was barred by a cordon of troops and armored vehicles.

"One officer threatened to throw grenades," said protestor Isidro Portillo."

Other protesters, some with their faces covered, lay down in the streets to prevent the passage of military vehicles.

Zelaya, who took up office in 2006, had planned a vote Sunday asking Hondurans to sanction a future referendum to allow him to run for reelection after his term ends in January.

The planned referendum had been ruled illegal by the country's top court and was opposed by the military, but the president said he planned to press ahead with it anyway and ballot boxes had already been distributed.

US President Barack Obama said he was deeply concerned about the unfolding events in Honduras, as the European Union also called for Zelaya's release.

"I call on all political and social actors in Honduras to respect democratic norms, the rule of law and the tenets of the Inter-American Democratic Charter," Obama said in a statement.

"Any existing tensions and disputes must be resolved peacefully through dialogue free from any outside interference."

The apparent coup is the latest dramatic event in a tense political standoff over the past several days.

Last week Zelaya sacked the country's top military chief, General Romeo Vasquez and also accepted the resignation of Defense Minister Edmundo Orellana, after military commanders refused to distribute ballot boxes for Sunday's vote.

The heads of the army, marines and air force also resigned.

The Honduran Supreme Court then unanimously voted Thursday to reinstate Vasquez and hundreds of troops massed late last week in the capital Tegucigalpa.

Zelaya, who was elected as a conservative, has shifted dramatically to the left during his presidency.

He is the latest in a long list of Latin American leaders, including Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, to seek constitutional changes to expand presidential powers and also ease term limits.

Chavez also denounced Sunday's arrest as a "coup d'etat" and alleged that the United States had a hand in Zelaya's overthrow.

And he warned that if Venezuela's envoys to Honduras were harmed he would be prepared to intervene militarily.

IRAN RULES OUT VOTE ANNULMENT

Photos taken during clashes in Iran following the presidential election are held up by Iranians during a demonstration near the Iranian embassy in Paris, Monday June 22, 2009 to protest the outcome of the presidential election in Iran

TEHRAN, Iran - Iran's top electoral body, the Guardian Council, found "no major fraud" in the disputed June 12 election and ruled out annulling the the results, Iran's state TV Tuesday quoted a spokesman for the council as saying. 
Opposition supporters, who allege systematic fraud, have demanded a new election and have staged near-daily protests challenging the claim that hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad won re-election by a landslide. 
With Tuesday's announcement, Iran's regime appeared to be closing another door to compromise. Iran's supreme leader had already praised Ahmadinejad as the winner and ordered post-election protesters off the streets. On Monday, the feared Revolutionary Guard threatened a crackdown if protests persist. 
Such threats and the deaths of at least 17 people since the start of the protests have prompted growing concern by the international community about the fate of opposition supporters. In New York, U.N. Secretary Ban Ki-moon urged an "immediate stop to the arrests, threats and use of force," U.N. spokeswoman Michele Montas said at U.N. headquarters Monday. 
The announcement by the Guardian Council came a day after it said - in a rare acknowledgment - that there had been voting irregularities in 50 districts, including local vote counts that exceeded the number of eligible voters. However, the council said the discrepancies were not widespread enough to affect the result. The council agreed last week to investigate opposition complaints of problems in the voting. 
The council found "no major fraud or breach in the election," a spokesman, Abbas Ali Kadkhodaei, was quoted by Iran's state-run English language Press  
TV as saying.  
"Therefore, there is no possibility of an annulment taking place," he said. 
Ahmadinejad's main challenger, Mir Hossein Mousavi, has charged the election was a fraud and insists he is the true winner. 
In a sign of a growing crackdown, Tehran riot police fired tear gas and live bullets Monday to break up about 200 protesters paying tribute to a young woman whose apparent shooting death was captured on video and circulated worldwide. 
A man identifying himself as the woman's boyfriend later said he had tried to dissuade her from attending the protests because of the risk, but that she told him she wanted democracy and freedom for the people of Iran. 
Severe restrictions on reporters have made it almost impossible to independently verify reports on demonstrations, clashes and casualties. Iran has ordered reporters for international news agencies to stay in their offices, barring them from reporting on the streets.