Protecting Your Kidneys from Complications of Diabetes

By Jacqueline Marshall, Jun 23, 2014

Blood and waste products enter our kidneys to travel through millions of capillaries, or tiny blood vessels, which contain filters called glomeruli.

Things our body needs, such as red blood cells and proteins, are too big to fit through the glomeruli, but waste products pass through these filters and end up in our urine. Then, our detoxed blood continues its rounds.

This unglamorous but essential function of the kidneys can be damaged by having uncontrolled blood sugar. Although everyone needs to protect his or her kidneys with healthy habits, people with diabetes need to take extra precautions.

The Two Best Ways to Protect Your Kidneys

1. Blood glucose management: Tight blood glucose control is important for kidney health. Do what you already know to do: monitor your blood glucose regularly, take your medication or insulin as prescribed, make wise food choices, avoid high-protein diets,exercise regularly, and keep in contact with your diabetes care team.
   Having an A1C test two to four times per year will give you and your doctor a good overview of how well your treatment plan is controlling your blood sugar.
2. Blood pressure management: Keep your blood pressure as normal as possible. To protect the kidneys blood pressure should remain below 130/80, but your doctor can tell you what pressure range is ideal for you. A healthy diet and consistent exercise are the best blood pressure normalizers. If prescribed blood pressure medication be sure to take it regularly.

Five More Ways to Protect Your Kidneys

1. Get regular kidney screenings. Annual screenings for kidney problems are wise since early kidney damage may not produce warning symptoms. The first sign of kidney disease is typically elevated albumin, or protein, in the urine. This is easily detected by having a micro-albumin test.
   Urine should also be checked every year for creatinine, a waste product that damaged kidneys have difficulty removing. The doctor will use your creatinine level results to estimate your kidney GFR, or glomerular filtration rate, indicating how efficient the kidneys are at removing waste.
2. Take protective drugs. Even if your blood pressure if normal, your physician may recommend taking drugs designed to lower blood pressure. They sustain kidney function by protecting the blood vessels, and may also lower the risk of developing heart disease.
   The two types of drugs available are ACE inhibitors, and ARB (a receptor blocker). Diuretics, or water pills, are sometimes prescribed to aid in removing water and salt from the bloodstream.
3. Limit NSAIDs. Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, or NSAIDs, can trigger kidney damage if used regularly over time. Ask your doctor how often you can safely use NSAIDs such as ibuprofen or naproxen.
4. Stop smoking. People who smoke are more likely to get kidney disease. Smoking hinders blood flow to the kidneys, tends to elevate blood sugar, and interferes with the body’s use of insulin.
5. Know the signs of bladder/kidney infections. If you have a frequent urge to urinate, have urine that is reddish or cloudy, feel shaky or feverish, and/or experience pain below the ribs in your side or back, you may have an infection. Notify your physician right away.

Source: Family and Consumer Sciences
Photo credit: jennie-o (@flickr)

Sri Lanka: A Public Petition for Reforms To be Implemented Within 100 Days

24/10/2014

Ravaya, an alternative Sinhala language weekly, which has been campaigning for a democratic governance and minority rights for more than 25 years has now published a public appeal for signatures for what it calls a Public Petition for Reforms in the light of impending presidential election within few months time.

The petition is calling these reforms to be implemented within 3 months of a new President is elected.

The Alliance of the Opposition should ensure the general public that the Common Candidate it fields for the Presidential Election will carry out the reforms under mentioned within the first three months of his victory, says the preamble of the petition.
Petition covers a wide area of reforms as follows:
1. Right for Information
2. Law of Assets and Liabilities
3. Instructions Contrary to the Law
4. Causing Damage to National Harmony.
5. Independent Commissions
6. Reformations in the Electoral System
7. Media and Media Freedom
8. Auditing
9. Education
10. Public Health
11′ Security of the Pensioners
12. Enquiring into the Offences and Injustices Committed.
13. Settlement of Land Disputes
14. Setting up a New System of Governance
Read the petition as a PDF:Ravaya Public Petition for Reforms
Ravaya e mail:ravaya@gmail.com

Ravaya Public Petition for Reforms by Thavam Ratna

SRI LANKA’S SECRETS: New book exposes murderous Rajapaksa regime

ndependent Australia

Tess Lawrence 23 October 2014, 8:00am

SPECIAL BOOK OFFER FOR IA READERS

Trevor Grant's explosive new book, SRI LANKA’S SECRETS pulls no punches on

'How the Rajapaksa regime gets away with murder.'

It's the book that President Mahinda Rajapaksa and his corrupt and nepotistic cronies didn't want published.

When you read it, you will know why.

SRI LANKA’S SECRETS is a troubling dossier of the horrors and massacres perpetrated upon its own peoples by an absolute Government that masquerades as a democracy — a lie that is shamefully affirmed as truth by many expedient foreign governments, including Australia.

In his foreword, the fearless human rights advocate Geoffrey Robertson QC, writes:

When the Rajapaksa government forces moved in for the 'final solution' to the Tamil Tiger problem, they first banned all foreign journalists, human rights monitors and UN observers.

Thinking themselves safe from outside scrutiny, they mass murdered tens of thousands of innocent civilians through bombardment from land and sea ... But truth will out ...

And so it has. SRI LANKA’S SECRETS is a courageous book and Trevor Grant a courageous journalist and refugee advocate.

In partnership with Monash University Publishing, Independent Australia's growing family of readers will be able to purchase SRI LANKA’S SECRETS from our online shop for a substantially reduced rate of $5 off the RRP of $29.95 — for $24.95 (with FREE POSTAGE for Australian readers).

Fittingly, SRI LANKA’S SECRETS is the first book to be sold in our online shop — the first of many we hope to bring to our readers.

So don't miss Saturday's review of SRI LANKA’S SECRETS by contributing editor-at-large Tess Lawrence.

Also, don’t miss the next story on IA, in which brave refugee advocate Victoria Martin-Iverson writes about confronting Crown Casino owner James Packer about his business dealings with the Rajapaksa regime and what she made him agree to.

In fact, don't miss any of the thought provoking articles and cartoons published every day of the week on Independent Australia and do us both a favour and sign up here for our complimentary must-read newsletter.

And no, the special offer for SRI LANKA’S SECRETS doesn't include a free set of steak knives!

The Sydney launch of SRI LANKA’S SECRETS is on Saturday 25 October at 3.30pm (for 4pm) at Gleebooks, 49 Glebe Point Road, Glebe. You may RSVP here.

Buy an advance copy of SRI LANKA’S SECRETS from IA’s online store here. First seven orders receive an author signed copy.

SRI LANKA: So will the Executive stop treating the Judiciary as a lesser power?

by Basil Fernando
October 24, 2014
It must have been somebody’s idea that judicial independence in Sri Lanka must be destroyed. When the idea was first generated we do not know. It is possible that it arose more or less at the same time as the 1962 coup. Those were wild times for some people who had enjoyed privileges at the top. They were unanimous in their opinion that everything has gone wrong in Sri Lanka and that, therefore, some extraordinary intervention was needed. The idea behind the coup was that democracy should be replaced, or at least modified, to preserve the privileges enjoyed by the elite from the challenge of people claiming democracy as their own. The coup failed; but the ideas around the coup remained; and others, who wanted to achieve some of the ideals through other means, nursed these ideas. The opportunity came when one person considered by all to represent the epitome of reactionary ideas J.R. Jayawardena obtained 5/6^th of the seats in the 1977 parliamentary election. The year that followed was when a small “clique” of people put their heads together to come out with a political model within which democracy would be drastically modified, so the idea of people having a greater say through a democratic form of government could either be annihilated or, at least, pushed back for a long time.

This small “clique” of persons who designed the 1978 Constitution had their own reasons to oppose the Judiciary as an independent branch of government. Those who had a taste of the aftermath of the coup would have remembered that a strong Judiciary, protecting the investigative branch, was able to convict leaders of the 1962 coup. It was the Privy Council in England that finally saved these leaders. If such a power is to rest with the Judiciary, it may object to the realization of the ambitions that the makers of the new Constitution wanted to achieve. They formulated the idea that, for development and economic progress, a strong executive was necessary. A strong executive implied a weak judiciary and also a weak legislature. Thus, the equations that were found in the 1948 Constitution, based on the classical separation of power concept, needed to be changed in favour of a new equation in which the Executive was a higher power and the Judiciary and the Legislature were lesser powers.

Which individual was more vocal in favour of this new equation none of us will ever know. Was it H.W. Jayawardena QC, who was the closest associate of President Jayawardena in making of this Constitution or was it someone else? We do not know. All that we may say with certainty is that it was J.R. Jayawardena, who was the then the Prime Minister, who approved this scheme. He had good reasons to do so; his own personal ambition to retain power for as long as possible could be better achieved under the new equation, where challenges to his authority could not ever be pursued in the Courts.

This overall scheme of the constitutional model, which altered the classical separation of power model in Sri Lanka, is what is at the heart of any real change into the 1978 Constitution. Now, an amendment, entitled the 19^th Amendment, has been proposed. The basic question in reviewing the 19^th Amendment is whether it meets with the requirement to re-establish the equations between the Executive, the Judiciary, and the Legislature as three separate branches that embody separate powers for each of the branches has really been guaranteed.

These days, President Mahinda Rajapaksa says he is the one who wants the Constitution to be changed more than anyone else. Does this mean that he wants the Judiciary and the Legislature to be brought to equal status, in terms of the classical separation of power doctrine? Does it mean that his ideas have changed about the Judiciary, from those consistently exhibited throughout the chain of actions that reduced the Judiciary to a position of a lesser power? If this is so, then he is expressing a willingness to undo all the measures he has taken to ensure that the Judiciary is in no position to challenge his decisions, even when these decisions have violated the basic protections for personal and property rights. It also means that he is willing to abandon the President’s arbitrary powers for appointment and dismissal of judges. This, in turn, implies that he wants to remove the possibilities of arbitrary removal of judges, as in the case of the removal of Chief Justice Shirani Bandaranayake, and of arbitrary appointments, as in the case of the appointment of Mr. Mohan Peiris as Chief Justice and several other judges.
In short, does he want the changes to the relationship between the three branches of government, introduced in the 1978 Constitution, to be removed altogether?

These questions are justified to weigh the credibility of his stated willingness to change the Constitution. These considerations would show that the question of changing or not changing the Constitution depends not on the question of some groups claiming a separate state. The real issue is whether the President wants to stop treating the Judiciary and the Legislature as lesser powers.

Sri Lanka hires up in Washington amid war crimes probe

By Megan R. Wilson - 10/23/14 05:42 PM EDT

The government of Sri Lanka has hired its eighth Washington firm this year as it awaits the results of a United Nations human rights investigation into alleged war crimes.

Levick is subcontracting through Liberty International Group, a government affairs firm owned by former Rep. Connie Mack (R-Fla.), to represent the semi-autonomous central bank of Sri Lanka.

“Levick’s mission is to utilize communications supported advocacy to tell Sri Lanka’s amazing story of recovery after a decades long civil war against a brutal terrorist organization, as well as to assist the Central Bank in communicating opportunities for trade and investment between our two nations,” Mark Irion, president of Levick, said in a statement to The Hill. 

The work by Levick will include “outreach to US media, opinion leaders and possibly US officials concerning issues of importance to the client, including assisting in establishing additional relations between the Central Bank of Sri Lanka and the United States Government,” according to disclosure documents posted on Thursday.

Mack, who now also works at Levick, originally signed up the central bank as a client in August.

Contract documents say the representation is needed because “the current international media focus on Sri Lanka is unbalanced,” according to disclosures by Liberty International Group to the Justice Department under the Foreign Agent Registration Act (FARA). 

The contract with Liberty International Group — set to last from August 2014 to the end of next July — is worth $760,000. Levick is charging a monthly retainer of $60,000, according to the subcontract.

The Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka has hired six Washington firms since May, including R&R Partners, Madison Group and Beltway Government Strategies. 

The United Nations Human Rights Council voted in March to investigate the Sri Lankan government and the opposing rebel group, the Tamil Tigers, for allegations of committing war crimes during a civil war that ended in 2009.

Leaders in Sri Lanka had strongly opposed the U.N. resolution, saying that it was “politically motivated.” 

The United States had been a leading proponent of the resolutions, calling for accountability in the wake of the civil war that waged for nearly three decades, in which at least 100,000 people died and both sides are alleged to have committed atrocities. During the final months of the conflict, the government allegedly killed thousands of civilians — a charge it disputes.

“It is necessary to have a re-calibration of US policy, based on a wider and fairer information base, leading to a multi-dimensional and more balanced engagement with Sri Lanka,” according to FARA documents filed by Liberty International Group in August.

Sri Lanka’s central bank considers the media’s coverage of Sri Lanka “unfair, unwarranted, and overshadows the impressive post-war socio-economic achievements of Sri Lanka and also could undermine the long term US political geo-strategic and economic interests,” the disclosure says.

In addition to the main firms Sri Lanka has on retainer, Beltway Government Strategies has sub-contracts with three other firms: Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough, Vigilant Worldwide Communications and Burson-Marsteller.

In disclosure forms, those firms said they would be reaching out “to members of Congress and State Department officials with the purpose of raising situational awareness of Sri Lanka and its strategic importance to the United States” and “[laying] the groundwork to promote Sri Lanka as a business and travel destination.”

The Embassy of Sri Lanka also signed with the Majority Group, which was formed by Rob Ellsworth and former Rep. Walt Minnick (D-Idaho), last year. 

The government of Sri Lanka had been previously represented by Patton Boggs, Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck, Qorvis Communications and others. Thompson Advisory Group had previously represented Sri Lanka’s central bank. 

Mahinda And The Monk

By Kusal Perera -October 24, 2014

Kusal Perera

“There are people who now say, I cannot contest for the third time. They say it at different places. But why bother? It’s the people who decide. Let the people decide that. Otherwise they can go to Courts.”

President Rajapaksa was quoted so, at a meeting of health sector employees called to Temple Trees a week or so ago. The Court that he says the people can go to is not that in Bengaluru which delivered a verdict on TN CM Jeyalalithaa. The Court he says the people could go to is next to “Saanchi Arachchie Watte”. That’s where political stooges ruined the system. Over the past decade or two, nefarious men and women with personal greed for power and position, ruled the nest at Hultsdorp, went into deals with the ruling head and had ditched the same too. Also on deals, with the next in line. To this Court Rajapaksa says, anyone can go for a ruling.

This country, to be precise the part of the country politically called the “Sinhala South”, lives to accept Sinners from high posts as heroes and heroines. Sinners that in any decent and civilised society would have been indicted for saying, “Pardon me. I did a wrong. If not for me, he would have even been in prison”. A public acceptance, a ruling was knowingly and intentionally given that went against the people. Given on the strength of the position held that goes unquestioned. It’s plain abuse of a powerful position, against the people. Yet the Sinhala South is there to applaud him and treat him as a hero. The Sinhala Opposition is naive and frustrated. It is opportunistic too. It provides red carpets to these Sinners to have their dirty linen laundered publicly and with admiration. Here is a Sinhala Buddhist society any sinner, any dirty crook could swap characters overnight and move on as heroes by simply opposing the Rajapaksa regime.

UNP will have to address the nagging social insecurity instead, if they want to outflank this “Mahinda and the Monk” combination, publicly and rhetorically opposed to each other, but not so in real politics – Picture courtesy: Reuters/Andrew Caballero-Reynolds

The JVP does it, after installing the Rajapaksa regime and defending it right through war. It defended the Rajapaksa regime as patriotic and venomously labelled everyone who opposed the Rajapaksa regime as “traitors, LTTE informants” or as “NGO dollar crows”. For the JVP, there was no crime committed, no democracy curbed, for it was a necessary “humanitarian” war that was waged to eliminate “Eelam terrorists”. What then is wrong with this regime for the JVP to oppose it now? Only thing wrong in this regime for the JVP is that a single family takes home the whole booty.

Read More

India’s Imperatives In Sri Lanka – Analysis

By Neelam Deo and Karan Pradhan-23/10/2014

”India has tried to address the concerns of Sri Lankan Tamils through projects such as the recently-inaugurated railway between Jaffna and Colombo. But their aspirations for autonomy in the North and East remain unfulfilled, and New Delhi faces a dilemma—pushing Colombo on political issues can drive it closer to Beijing.’
India’s Imperatives in Sri Lanka – Analysis by Thavam Ratna

MaRa going for third term triggers pandemonium at SLFP district conventions- chaos in Polonnaruwa over non appointment of Maithri as PM

(Lanka-e-News- 23.Oct.2014, 11.55PM) After Basil Rajapakse summoning the electoral organizers of the SLFP to Temple Trees and announcing officially that the Presidential election is in the offing , and Medamulana MaRa is going to contest for the third time , monumental conflicts and controversies have erupted within the SLFP party. Although a huge applause was expected immediately following the announcement , not one SLFP er present cared even to clap hands. The methods and measures to be adopted to win the election was also not discussed by anyone.

In this connection something important happened at the SLFP Polonnaruwa district convention yesterday, that is the resolution adopted at the convention.

On this occasion , the name of Health Minister Maithripala Sirisena, the SLFP gen. secretary was proposed as the next Prime Minister to be appointed prior to the Presidential elections ,by Thamankaduwa local body chairman , and was seconded by another .When the proposer explained that without that appointment , the victory at Presidential elections is impossible , the entire crowd present concurred in it.

Meanwhile at the Kandy district SLFP convention held on the 18 th , because of the stormy situation that prevailed the meeting had to be abruptly terminated. The convention was organized by the chief Minister Sarath Ekanayake , a blindfolded pro MaRa stooge in a tuition classroom. The chief guest on that occasion was DiMu Jayaratne the Prime Minister (PM). The first objection raised by the invitees was the summoning of the PM to a tuition class room, and the criticisms were directly leveled against Ekanayake who was responsible.

The already existing displeasure against the appointment of pro maRa lickspittle Ekanayake as the chief Minister in preference over and above the Prime Minister’s son who polled the highest number of preferential votes exploded when this meeting was held in a tuition classroom where the invitees could hardly breathe. When the crowd present began screaming and shouting immediately after Ekanayake’s speech , the latter vanished from the scene secretly without anybody’s notice. With pandemonium breaking out , the PM began addressing the small crowd that remained.

yesterday (22), when the SLFP Matale district convention was held at Dambulla chaired by Janaka Bandara Tennekoon ,the latter openly lamented that his father was also axed by the party , like how he is being axed now. However , Tennekoon stressed no matter the turmoil he faces and the harm inflicted on him by the party , he will not pole vault to the UNP.

Senior Minister Nawinna who spoke next , said he too faced the same axing and throat cutting . ‘It is being said that my name is also there in the UNP list of those seeking to cross over to the UNP. This is being rumored because I am given a senior Minister post that is utterly worthless. He and Janaka are working jointly,’ he pointed out. Meanwhile deputy Minister Lakshman Vasantha Perera alias ‘Mr. Ethanol’, a lickspittle of MaRa who was present with a group of about ten members , walked out with his group when it was being revealed , Janaka and Nawinna are working together 

A Comment on the Campaign to Abolish the

Presidential System

by G. H. Peiris-October 23, 2014

This comment is being written with the objective of highlighting certain considerations that have not received adequate attention in the ongoing campaign for abolishing the Executive Presidency in Sri Lanka. Participants of this campaign including certain writers whose views receive well-deserved respect often tend to overlook the circumstances that culminated in the promulgation of a new constitution in 1978 the main innovative element of which was the introduction of a system of government headed by an executive president elected directly on the basis of an all-island poll.

There was at that time extraordinarily widespread acceptance of the case for an executive presidential system in Sri Lanka – the opposition to the reform being largely confined to the stalwarts of the ‘old left’ who had been routed at the polls in 1977. The most persuasive arguments in support of the reform converged on the theme of rampant abuses under the earlier ‘Prime Minister-Cabinet’ system constitutionally founded on a ‘first past the post’ system of elections to the legislature. People who do not have excessively short memories on such abuses – for example, the establishment of government monopoly over the mainstream media; the two-year extension of the tenure of parliament employing its two-thirds majority; attempted "legalised murder" (this was the phrase used by oft cited Colvin R de Silva whose condemnation, however, had no impact) through retroactive legislation; the sledgehammer retaliation to the insurrection of 1971 which entailed, among other atrocities, innumerable extrajudicial executions; the Criminal Justice Commissions that violated all civilised norms of ‘admissible evidence’; political interferences in judicial appointments; excessive political control of public administration; the proliferation of ‘statutory corporations’ that had a debilitating impact on financial accountability in public affairs; the rejection of the principle of academic autonomy in university governance – are likely to recall that the malpractices were by no means outcomes of the establishment of an executive presidency.

Further, the plain truth which most critics seem to forget is that the strength of the elected executive president in Sri Lanka has tended to depend critically on the parliamentary support he/she could muster. This was made abundantly clear by the power arrangements that prevailed over the brief spell from December 2001 to April 2003 when the Prime Minister Wickramasinghe (despite his slender parliamentary majority) bypassed the impotent President Kumaratunga on matters of vital importance to the country, not averse to adopting "gentlemanly" tactics to make it difficult for the president even to preside over cabinet meetings.

When pontificating on democratic governance for Sri Lanka, whoever does it should not forget that it was under the present system that: (a) the press was liberated from its earlier shackles (even making allowance for the alleged victimisation of journalist accorded excessive publicity be an unfettered press), (b) the near monopolistic government controls over key segments of the economy were relaxed, (c) it is not possible for any person or party aspiring to gain control over the legislative and executive branches of government to depend solely or largely on the electoral support of the majority community, and (d) Sri Lanka acquired sufficient strength to defeat one of the most powerful and ruthless terrorist groups, despite almost insurmountable obstacles that were placed in the way of its military and diplomatic efforts.

Although I am no supporter of any political party (and I have never had a personal stake on the fortunes of any politician or party), I am convinced that it is not the executive presidential system that constitutes the root cause for the prevailing ills – lack of transparency in financial affairs of the government (the irony is that this phenomenon is being highlighted by certain NGOs and segments of the media that are far more secretive of their own affairs than the government); ham-handed decision-making in certain prioritising investment (illustrated by the lavish but under-utilised infrastructure at Mattala, Weerawila and Ranminitenna, ostensibly meant for developing an economically retarded area), and the vestiges of criminalisation of politics (a global phenomenon the exemplifications of which is far more pronounced among our neighbours). Needless to stress, these must be curtailed. But surely, abolishing the presidential system cannot be thought of as an effective remedy except in an amnesic fixation on our collective experiences of the past.

A presidential election that results in the victory of a common opposition candidate with a platform pledge to abolish the presidential system could, in a serious post-election attempt to redeem the pledge, result in a constitutional crisis, except in an improbably scenario of the winner also securing a two-thirds (plus) majority in parliament through either defections of MPs from other parties or fresh parliamentary polls. With a TNA leadership now more or less fully committed to a resumption of the secessionist campaign, there is every probability that the ‘Regime Change’ would lead the country into total chaos, probably featured civil war, which, of course, would pave the way for the NATO to get into its democratisation act in a partitioned island of Sri Lanka.

Mahinda’s Blitzkreig And Ranil’s Snailkreig

By P.Bertie Ranaweerage - 

Bertie Ranaweerage

All good hearted people were longing to see an emergence of a powerfulcommon candidate acceptable to all the ethnic groups who can defeat the incumbent President at the next Presidential election. It is tragic that all their hopes are fading away because of Mr. Ranil Wicramasinghe’s desire to sit in President’s chair. The UNP has unofficially confirmed that Ranil would contest the next Presidential election.

The UNP was boasting many a time that it was ready to face any election at any time. But as we are aware it miserably failed at every election held during the last few years. The only occasion they were able to win was the Badulla district largely thanks to the sky rocketing cost of living. My conclusion is the unbearable price of rice made people to vote for the UNP. It is true that Harin Fernando’s charisma made a difference but the price of rice was the decisive factor.

Though Mr. Harin Fernando was able to translate voters’ anger into UNP votes due to his hard work and charismatic leadersahip now the million dollar question is will Ranil be able to do at the Presidential election what Harin managed to do in Badulla.

If we carefully look at what Mahinda did and Ranil did or what the SLFP did and theUNP did during the last week or so it is not difficult to guess who is going to win in the propaganda campaign in the coming weeks if not in the coming couple of months.Read More

Constitutional amendment : MaRa says ‘No’-Rathane Thera says will defeat MaRa somehow-discussion lasts 20 mins. only

(Lanka-e-News- 23.Oct.2014, 11.55PM) The discussions held by the JHU with Medamulana MaRa day before yesterday (21) evening regarding the proposal of the JHU that the constitution should be amended prior to the Presidential elections lasted only 20 minutes. ( though one Sinhalese newspaper stated it lasted 3 hours and another English newspaper reported it lasted one hour which are absolutely false. Of course no better reporting can be expected from these sordid media coolies)

MaRa who opened the discussion with a grumpy face had said , this is not the time to amend the constitution, and if the need be , it can be incorporated in the election manifesto. Saying this, MaRa had immediately walked out. MaRa had only spent a mere 20 minutes towards the discussion.

Subsequently , it is only the representatives of MaRa who continued with the discussion .Basil Rajapakse, Dallas Alahaperuma and UPFA gen. secretary Susil Premachandra who were the representatives have also not gone beyond the decision of MaRa , and stated a committee can be appointed to have discussions.

Dr. Omalpe Sobhitha the leader of the JHU, Athureliya Rathane Thera, Minister Champika Ranawake , Provincial council member Udaya Gammanpila and Nishantha Sri Warnasinghe were the JHU representatives who partook in the discussion. Interestingly , Rathane Thera recently stated , if the Presidentail election is held without giving effect to this amendment to the constitution , the JHU will do everything possible to defeat Medamulana MaRa.

The pompous talks of bumptious JHU notwithstanding, it is not sure whether this great hue and cry made by JHU against MaRa is similar to that of Wimal Weerawansa alias Modawansa earlier which was full of flatulence but without substance , and finally ended in smoke after worshipping MaRa in his backyard secretly among MaRa’s stinking spittoons . Inside sources of the JHU say this JHU din will also finally end in the garbage bin of MaRa most silently and secretly . This is just another of the hypocritical histrionics of the JHU , the same sources pointed out. In the end the JHU will join with Medamulana Rajapakse , they added.

The reason for this is ,Gotabaya Rajapakse has all the evidence and details of the credit card frauds perpetrated by Champika Ranawake. In the circumstances the JHU has no alternative but to silently release their gas , and hold back tightly the substance in their stinking alimentary canals .

Mahinda sets snare to trap Patali

FRIDAY, 24 OCTOBER 2014

The CID is carrying out an investigation regarding 143,932 metric tons of coal imported while Mr. Patali Champika Ranawaka was the Minister of Power and Energy said the current Minister of Power and Energy Pavithra Wanniarachchi tabling a record in  Parliament yesterday (23rd).

According to this record coal imported to Sri Lanka in two ships in September, 2012 could not be unloaded due to unfavourable weather conditions. As an alternative tenders had been issued to sell the 85,891 tons of coal that could not be unloaded, supply coal to that value and to supply 5 more ships of coal to compensate for the loss the supplier had to undergo.

As there were reports that the laboratory reports issued regarding three ships of coal at the loading port in Indonesia were fake, the CID has been asked to carry out an investigation on advice by the Department of Attorney General and an investigation is being carried out states the record.

On the agreement reached between Lanka Coal Company and Ceylon Shipping Corporation on 29th April, 2012 the urgent load of coal had been supplied by Tanraian Iron and Steel Pvt Ltd. The importer had been selected by Ceylon Shipping Corporation. Ceylon Electricity Board had reported on 29th July, 2012 there had been a loss of Rs. 852,768,000 due to the use of this load of coal.

Also, a loss of Rs.654,276,116.25 has been allotted after the importer had supplied 29,896 metric tons less than originally agreed to. Accordingly, the total loss is Rs. 1,507,044,116.25.

Although documents pertaining to the deal arrived at between the Lanka Coal Company (Private) Limited and the Ceylon Shipping Corporation Ltd. on June 29, 2012, as well as lab tests obtained when loading and unloading the shipments have not shown any apparent inferior quality in the stocks, the CEB had reported that the Calorific Value emitted during electric power generation using this coal stock is lower than that in standard labs. Lanka Coal Company (Private) Limited is taking measures according to the advice of the Attorney General to reclaim the losses incurred.

Mr. Patali Champika Ranawaka has convened a special media meeting today (24th) to respond to Ms. Pavithradevi Wanniarachchi’s report.

Rajapaksas have shown a haste to investigate a loss that is said to have occurred in July, 2012 only after Ven. Athuraliye Rathana Thero declared that the JHU would do everything possible to defeat Mahinda Rajapaksa point out political analysts.

Rajapaksa Seen Boosting Handouts Before Sri Lanka Vote

By Anusha Ondaatjie  Oct 24, 2014

(Corrects to say deficit estimate is for this year in fifth paragraph.)
South Asia’s fastest growth rate will allow Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa to boost spending on pre-election handouts without halting the country’s record improvement in public finances.
Rajapaksa Seen Boosting Handouts Before Sri Lanka Vote by Thavam Ratna

Cricket Aravinda’s Stolen Cash Belongs To Black Money Dealer BBC Journo Aravinda

October 24, 2014

Colombo Telegraph reliably learns the cash including foreign currency worth Rs. 5.1 million that was stolen from former cricketer Aravinda De Silva’s home belongs to black money dealer who is presently attached to the BBC Sinhala Service – Thisara Aravinda Rathuwithana.

Thisara Aravinda Rathuwithana

According to media reports that covered the theft, Aravinda and his wife had been out of the country when the incident took place. They had returned to find out the cash missing from the safe in his house. Aravinda has told media that the money belonged to a ‘friend’ and he held it for safekeeping but had not revealed the identity. Several other media outlets however reported the ‘friend’ is a son of a famous astrologer. “The person’s name is Thisara Aravinda Rathuwithana” a highly placed police source told Colombo Telegraph.

Colombo Telegraph made an expose on Thisara’s dealings and his black money. He is the son of President Rajapaksa‘s adviser and astrologer Piyasena Rathuwithana. Black money investor, Thisara Rathuvithana at the time he was recruited to the BBC, had no journalistic experience whatsoever. Even following the disclosure on Colombo Telegraph, BBC continued to provide him a five-day work contract without even launching a probe into the allegations.

He invested millions of his money in Lalith Kotelawala’s disgraced company Golden Key that collapsed in 2008. Meanwhile he has provided extensive media coverage to Aravinda De Silva last August without disclosing the obvious conflict of interest to the BBC authorities.

Colombo Telegraph has been unable to reach Rathuwithana for comment. According sources within the BBC Sinhala Service Rathuwithana is currently in Sri Lanka and even the BBC Colombo correspondent is unable to contact him.

Few Would Forgive Premadasa For Appointing Mossad Commission

By Rajan Hoole -October 24, 2014

Dr. Rajan Hoole

Border Aggression and Civilian Massacres – Part 6

This ongoing process was given unwanted publicity by the fiasco at Maduru Oya during September. The JOSSOP was set up in late September or early October as a military arm of this process. In mid-October, Dissanayake and the Sun orchestrated scare stories of Tamil hordes and of a Tamil Eelam with a ‘human boundary’. What the Government needed badly more than expertise was money.

A very relevant point missed out by the Mossad Commission is that two days before the signing of the agreement for two Israeli experts, there was a far more important signing event. General Vernon Walters arrived in Colombo on 7th November. He had a meeting and lunch with President Jayewardene on the 8th. To the Press, he was evasive on what he had discussed. He expressed confidence that Sri Lanka can solve its own problems and that Jayewardene had all cylinders firing. Saying that he would not go anywhere near Trincomalee to avoid controversy, he added that he would visit Kandy the next day, as he was a ‘history buff’.

It subsequently became well known that Jayewardene had in fact signed an agreement allowing the Voice of America facilities in Sri Lanka – it is now tucked away unostentatiously in the Chilaw District. Jayewardene’s delicate game is indicated by the fact that the previous day (7th) he had met the Indian Prime Minister’s Special Envoy Gopalasamy Parthasarathy. This was with a view to hammering out a political solution that was being negated by the meeting with Walters.

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