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Post by Owen Williams on Dec 5, 2005 23:26:38 GMT -5
On Chinese respecting US copyright:
"China is now a member of the WTO and therefore the United States expects it to abide by the rules and regulations of all other member nations.
I wish to publicly support the comments made by Secretary Kurtzner and will do all I can in ensuring that US ingenuity and creativity is protected and rewarded."
On Syria:
"The Syrian situation is one of the gravest concern. The United States cannot, indeed it should not stand by and allow these forays against our forces without reprisal and clear statement that it will not be tolerated.
That said I do not yet feel that the President' consideration of requesting a declaration of war is either sensible or vindicated. Their are numerous diplomatic and indeed military options between the impasse we are currently at and a declaration of war and I implore the President to consider and exercise each of those before committing our troops to a full scale deployment."
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Post by Owen Williams on Dec 6, 2005 5:55:04 GMT -5
Senator Williams in response to WaPo's report of a split in the GOP:
"I find it a humourous suggestion that because Senator Harding and myself have disagreed publicly on the issue of war with Syria that members of the GOP must be at each other's throats. Rather I take this as a confirmation of the GOP's status as the big tent party in this country. The party represents a broad political spectrum and that is one of the reasons I am so proud to be a member.
That said, I am not fundamentally against war with Syria, rather I am against war being the first option of response to Syria's indiscretions. I will lobby the President to exhaust all other avenues before we put American forces in harms way."
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Post by Owen Williams on Dec 6, 2005 16:15:54 GMT -5
Senator Williams on the air strikes in Syria
"It's the President's job as commander-in-chief to make these tough decisions and I respect and applaud President Warder for using a strategem short of full scale war. I stand by the President's call and will continue to support his efforts to quell Syrian incursions."
On the guest worker treaty:
"I agree wholeheartedly with the stance taken by Senator Harding. This treaty encourages the regulation and facilitation of legal immigration specifically from Mexico. The great state of California has been a recipient of a great deal of Mexican immigrants particularly in Los Angeles and I am well aware of the exemplary contribution so many Mexican-Americans have made to this state and this country. I will be giving this bill my most fervent support and urge my fellow Senators to encourage it's speedy passage."
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Post by Owen Williams on Dec 7, 2005 2:23:11 GMT -5
On the prospect of a strike by longshoremen in Los Angeles:
"I wish to first urge all sides to excercise restraint, and clear heads. A disruption of stevedore services at Los Angeles ports will cause cost problems throughout the nation.
I encourage both parties to the negotiating table and would offer myself as a moderator so as to calmly and reasonably discuss grievances, and find solutions and agreements to adress those grievances in a manner that is satisfactory to both parties."
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Post by Owen Williams on Dec 7, 2005 5:18:43 GMT -5
Senator Williams made a statement on his co-sponsorship of the Safe Games Act, in conjunction with executives from Rockstar Games, Carl Johnson and Tommy Vercetti:
"At first I was wary of this piece of legislation as at a quick glance it seemed like another attempt to shift problems and issues faced by our children away from parents and onto game designers. To discuss my concerns I felt it would be wise to listen to key players and so I got in touch with Rockstar Games who have come under consistent fire for their Grand Theft Auto series which has gone down in infamy for certain parts of it's content. To my surprise I was stunned to find that Rockstar games was fully behind the piece of legislation and so I have invited two it's executives here today to enunciate Rockstar games' position"
Carl Johnson:"Rockstar games as you all know makes games that have content that is clearly intended and directed at adults, not children. We support this legislation as we also support censorship laws for gaming. We do not make games with the intention of corrupting the young, rather for entertaining mature, intelligent adults who can seperate the fiction of the worlds of our games, from reality.
This is the official position of Rockstar games and I would like to thank Senator Williams for allowing me here today to clearly state my position"
Senator Williams: "Ladies and gentlemen it is for these reasons I have co-sponsored this legislation. It will place the responsibility for monitoring gaming content back where it should be, in the hands of parents."
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Post by Owen Williams on Dec 7, 2005 16:51:12 GMT -5
On election to position of Majority Leader:
"Earlier this morning I was elected to the position of Senate Majority Leader by my fellow Republicans Senators. I am honoured at having been given the chance to be a floor leader and look forward to working with both sides of the ailse and the Vice-President to ensure a productive session in the Senate."
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Post by Owen Williams on Dec 7, 2005 17:06:04 GMT -5
Senator Williams speaks on the Budget:
"From where I'm standing I see this budget as one that will go down in history, I like to think of this budget as 'Investment in America'. First of all I wish to address growing concerns with regards to the cutting of Medicare. As said by President Warder, the loss of Medicare will be, and indeed has been compensated with tax credits for private savings accounts. Furthermore the increase to non-Medicare healthcare is the first step towards a far more comprehensive system of healthcare that shall cover all Americans, not just seniors.
Now I wish to talk about other aspects, this budget also dramatically cuts funding for Agriculture and Transportation putting the responsibility for those areas back where it should be, in the hands of the private sector using old-fashioned American enterprise and ingenuity. In turn we have seen a massive investment in the future of this nation with a 100% increase in federal funding for education. This money will provide a massive boost for ailing schools plagued by crumbling facilities and ancient text books.
President Warder has also cut wasteful government bureacracy by cutting administrive spending by 20%, whilst at the same time increasing protection for our soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan with a 30% increase in funding for the wars currently being waged there.
Finally the President has been able to do all this whilst still reducing the government debt by over 80 billion dollars, confirming his status as one of this countries leading economic managers, and living up to his campaign promise of fiscal responsibility.
I say bravo Mr. President!"
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Post by Owen Williams on Dec 7, 2005 17:33:36 GMT -5
The Majority Leader leaps to the defence of the budget, in the face of attacks led my Democrat, Alexander Shackleton: "I think Senator Shackleton has missed the point with regards to Medicare. President Warder has simply shifted funding away from Medicare to non-Medicare healthcare programs. In addition to compensate seniors who rely on Medicare, he has provided imaginative tax cuts for personal savings accounts, which are generally the stock for of savings for seniors. In addition this President has unvailed his initiation of working towards a more comprehensive healthcare program that will cover more citizens and provide for things such as lower cost prescription medicine. Furthermore, Senator Shackleton's condemnation of family farms can only be described as baffling. His implication that American family farms need a "safety net" is highyl offensive, American farmers are perfectly capable of competing on the global market Senator Shackleton, and I am confident that they will appreciate the cutting of welfare for large agribusinesses that threaten to dominate the American agricultural landscape (OOC: Mind the pun ) In addition, I find the Senator's offense at a 50% cut in international affairs amusing. How many dinners do our Ambassadors really need to hold? Do our embassies need always serve Dom Perignon and black sturgeon caviar? I think not. This cut will force our diplomatic corps towards a much more businesslike, streamlined organization with no frills, just how it should be. This President has shown exemplary leadership by making hard decisions. Senator Shackleton claims the President is favouring pet projects? Well if increasing investment credits for small businesses, boosting education and providing our soldiers with more money are the President's pet projects, I have time to walk the President's pets anytime!"
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Post by Owen Williams on Dec 8, 2005 4:11:08 GMT -5
Responding to the continued attacks on the budget by Senator Alexander Shackleton:
"Senator Shackleton has again missed the point, the President has not simply cut off healthcare money for seniors, rather he has cut a bureaucratic, messy, overly-expensive program and moved all that money to non-Medicare healthcare providers. The result of this being a dramatic and immdiate fall in the cost of non-Medicare healthcare. The sky has not fallen, Armageddon is not upon us and America's seniors are not as senile as Senator Shackleton would have us all think, rather apart from some initial concerns they will soon come to see that moving away from the unflexible, wasteful medicare towards other providers will provide them with greater choice and a greater quality of life in their years of retirement.
Senator Shackleton has said quite emphatically that Europe has been cheating in the international agricultural markets, way to alienate our European allies there Senator, the American people are now very much aware of why you don't want funding to international affairs cut, they would be responsible for clearing up your unprecedented outburst with foreign governments. That said if the Senator is referring to the subsidies and other forms of protectionism that pervade particular members of the European Union, is this not the pot calling the kettle black? Has not this nation itself provided farmers with large agricultural subsidies for many years? Furthermore how can you on one hand Senator come out against the cutting of farming subsidies when you yourself have proposed a bill to do just that! Now we all know the argument "the bill is just cutting subsidies for wealthy farms, earning over $75,000 a year". Well I'm sorry Senator but this just doesn't cut it, what about farms earning $80,000, are they therefore wealthy? What about farms earning $75,001? In addition your bill makes no allowances for the productivity of farms. In addition this makes no allowance for the efficiency of farmers, or for bumper crops or droughts.
Senator Shackleton your hypocrisy is to be derided and I assure you Americans everywhere, let alone farmers, will not tolerate it."
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Post by Owen Williams on Dec 10, 2005 1:43:30 GMT -5
Senate Majority Leader Owen Williams on his sponsorship of the balanced budget amendment:
"Fiscal responsibility has been and will continue to be a hallmark of Californian politics. I firmly believe in the reduction of government waste and cutting needless spending to lift the burden of massive debt off of our children and grandchildren and the Balanced Budget Amendment does just that. President Warder's budget has begun the long path towards debt reduction and I am confident that between the President's leadership and a fiscally responsible Congress this country can wipe it's government's debt within the forseeable future."
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Post by Owen Williams on Dec 10, 2005 21:12:58 GMT -5
Senator Williams discussed rising unemployment figures:
"This was in part, expected. The budget provided for significant trimming of government fat and this has led to job losses. This of course is no consolation to those recently unemployed but I feel confident of the economy's ability to properly correct and create new capacity with this freed up labour. In addition I expect the Senate to soon move money towards labour retraining programs to aid those formerly employed in the retailing and manufacturing sectors to find new jobs."
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Post by Owen Williams on Dec 11, 2005 21:33:40 GMT -5
At the end of the second last day of his gang-violence tour, Senator Williams held a minor fundraiser at the San Diego Chamber of Commerce with business leaders to discuss the Senators policies regarding commerce:
"As you all know I am a firm supporter of American businesses and believe it is my duty as a US Senator to work towards providing the best business environment possible. This includes the improving, wherever possible, state and national infrastructure to reduce transportation costs, cutting corporate taxes to allow corporations full use of their hard earned capital, and working with foreign governments to continue opening up overseas markets to American investment and American products."
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Post by Owen Williams on Dec 16, 2005 4:07:55 GMT -5
Senator Williams unveils Gang Prevention Act
"Moments ago I submitted to the Senate Clerk the Gang Prevention Act, which has come about as a result of my tour, along with Senator Shackleton to the gang-afflicted areas of Los Angeles.
This bill attacks gang-violence on a variety of different ways including providing greater funding for school activites in gang afflicted areas, increasing the funding available to police departments in gang afflicted areas, mandating the availability of non-lethal force to police officers so as to help foster police, community relations, and providing cash incentives for gang members to give up their weapons.
This bill is an important step towards the permanent and absolute eradication of gang-violence from our streets and I urge all Senators to support it, and aid it's speedy passage"
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Post by Owen Williams on Dec 19, 2005 20:15:08 GMT -5
Senator Williams support President Warder's foreign policy
"President Warder has shown that he has the mettle necessary to conduct this nation's foreign policy by taking a strong stance against the aggressive posturings of the Iranian government.
I believe strongly in an American commitment to the state of Israel and this is serves to confirm and manifest that belief.
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Post by Owen Williams on Dec 20, 2005 6:54:19 GMT -5
Senator Williams comments on gay marriage
"It continues to be an issue for the states, James Madison (OOC: I think? I'm Australian, cut me some slack) envisaged a 'free market' of states and this is what he is talking about. I continue to support the rights of the states and as such feel that this issue with specific regard to the debate in Washington, is best left to state legislators.
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