May 23, 2013

Transcript: President Barack Obama Speech on Middle East and North Africa, State Department, May 19, 2011

12:15 P.M. EDT

THE PRESIDENT:  Thank you.  Thank you.  (Applause.)  Thank you very much.  Thank you.  Please, have a seat.  Thank you very much.  I want to begin by thanking Hillary Clinton, who has traveled so much these last six months that she is approaching a new landmark — one million frequent flyer miles.  (Laughter.)  I count on Hillary every single day, and I believe that she will go down as one of the finest Secretaries of State in our nation’s history.

The State Department is a fitting venue to mark a new chapter in American diplomacy.  For six months, we have witnessed an extraordinary change taking place in the Middle East and North Africa.  Square by square, town by town, country by country, the people have risen up to demand their basic human rights.  Two leaders have stepped aside.  More may follow.  And though these countries may be a great distance from our shores, we know that our own future is bound to this region by the forces of economics and security, by history and by faith.

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Transcript: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu Speech to Joint Session of Congress, May 24, 2011

(Source: Congressional Record)

The SPEAKER. Members of Congress, I have the high privilege and the distinct honor of presenting to you His Excellency Binyamin Netanyahu, Prime Minister of Israel.

(Applause, the Members rising.)

Prime Minister NETANYAHU. Vice President Biden, Speaker Boehner, distinguished Senators, Members of the House, honored guests, I am deeply moved by this warm welcome, and I am deeply honored that you’ve given me the opportunity to address Congress a second time.

Mr. Vice President, do you remember the time that we

were the new kids in town? And I do see a lot of old friends here, and I see a lot of new friends of Israel here as well, Democrats and Republicans alike.

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Transcript: Gov. John Kasich State of the State Speech – March 8, 2011

Source: Ohio Office of the Governor
2011 State of the State Address
Governor John Kasich
March 8, 2011
Ohio Statehouse
Columbus, Ohio 43215

SPEAKER BATCHELDER: It is my privilege today to introduce to this group someone who needs no
introduction, the President of the Ohio Senate.

(Applause)

PRESIDENT NIEHAUS: Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thank you for inviting us to your
House. The members of the House and Senate will now assemble and take their seats. Is there a
quorum of the Senate present? The Chair recognizes the leader of the Senate, Senator Cates.

SENATOR CATES: Mr. President, a quorum of the Senate is present.

PRESIDENT NIEHAUS: Is there a quorum of the House present? The Chair recognizes Speaker
Pro Tem, Representative Blessing.

REPRESENTATIVE BLESSING: Mr. President, a quorum of the House is present.

PRESIDENT NIEHAUS: With a quorum of the 129th General Assembly being present, the joint
convention will come to order. Please stand for the presentation of the colors by the Air Force ROTC
Detachment No. 643 from Wright State University and the surrounding Dayton colleges and
universities and remain standing for the Pledge of Allegiance to the flag.

Pledge of allegiance.

PRESIDENT NIEHAUS: Please be seated. Ladies and gentlemen, it is my distinct pleasure to
introduce the Governor of the State of Ohio, Governor John Kasich.

(Applause)

PRESIDENT NIEHAUS: Ladies and gentlemen, I am pleased to present Governor John Kasich.

(Applause)

GOVERNOR KASICH: Well, first of all, I don’t want to screw this up, my wife Karen Kasich is in the
gallery. Could you recognize her, please?

(Applause)

I know you all wonder how I caught her. I wonder about it sometimes also.

You know, the other thing is the days have kind of ticked along. Some of the early — some of the
early wanderlust was kind of disappearing, but walking down this aisle today and seeing my old
buddy Paul Pfeifer — he sat right behind me when I was a member of the Ohio Senate — just takes
me back so many years ago. 1975 was the first time I ever walked into this State Capital. I worked
over in the State Senate as an aide. I see Karen Gillmor, I worked for her husband. And, you know,
to just come here today and walk and be standing up here, I’ve got a message for you, for every one
of you, anything’s possible.

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Transcript: WI Gov. Scott Walker Interviewed on Meet the Press – February 27, 2011

Source: NBC’s Meet the Press

Announcer:  From NBC News in Washington, MEET THE PRESS with David Gregory.

MR. GREGORY:  Good morning.  Protests grew in Madison, Wisconsin, Saturday after days of demonstrations there by pro-labor supporters.  The standoff started two weeks ago after Wisconsin Republican Governor Scott Walker proposed a budget-balancing bill that would severely limit the rights of most public workers to collectively bargain.  The bill would also require them to pay for 12.6 percent of the total cost of their healthcare premiums, and contribute almost 6 percent of their pay toward their pension benefits. Walker’s proposal is an attempt to close the $137 million deficit in this year’s state budget, a shortfall that is projected to grow to $3.6 billion in the next two years.  And here with us now from Madison, the man in the middle of all this, Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker.

Governor, welcome to MEET THE PRESS.

GOV. WALKER:  Good morning.  Good to be with you, David.

MR. GREGORY:  So that context is important because there’s collective bargaining, which you’d like to limit, and there are those–the specific contributions that you asked the unions.  They said they would do that, they would meet those demands.  So the question that comes up again and again is, if you want to deal with the budget and the deficit, why not take yes for an answer?

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English Transcript: Wael Ghonim’s Interview with Dream TV Egypt

C2 Note: h/t to @SultanAlQassemi who is a journalist and active on Twitter for providing this english translation. Wael Ghonim is the Google exec who was held for several days by Egyptian authorities because of his technical support to the protest movement against President Hosni Mubarak’s government.

Wael Ghonim:

“I am not a hero. I only used the keyboard, the real heroes are the ones on the ground. Those I can’t name. This is the season where people use the word traitor against each other. I wasn’t abused, I was jailed, kidnapped.

“I met some really intellectual people in jail, they actually thought that we were traitors, working for others. If I was a traitor I would have stayed by the swimming pool in my house in the UAE. What are called the “Facebook youth” went out in their tens of thousands on January 25th, talk to them. This is the era where people who have good intentions are considered traitors.

“I tricked my employer so I could attend the protests in Egypt. I am not a traitor. I don’t need anything from anyone.

“I am not a hero. I  only used the keyboard; the real heroes are the ones on the ground. Those I can’t name. This is the season where people use the word traitor against each other. I wasn’t abused, I was jailed, kidnapped. I met some really intellectual people in jail, they actually thought that we were traitors, working for others.

“If I was a traitor I would have stayed by the swimming pool in my house in the UAE.

“What are called the “facebook youth” went out in their tens of thousands on January 25th, talk to them. This is the era where people who have good intentions are considered traitors.

“My wife was going to divorce me because I didn’t spend time with her, and now they call me a traitor. I spent all my time on the computer working for my country.

I wasn’t optimistic on the 25th but now I can’t believe it. Thanks to everyone who tried to get me out of jail. It’s haram [sinful, not right] for my father to lose his sight in one eye and now is at risk of losing it in the other. I kept thinking “are people thinking of me?” I was wondering if my family knew where I was, my wife, dad, mother.

“I am proud of what I did. This is not the time to settle scores. Although I have people I want to settle scores with myself. This is not the time to split the pie and enforce ideologies. The secret to the success of the facebook page was use of surveys.

“I met with the minister of interior today. He sat like any other citizen. He spoke to me like an equal. I respected that. The youth on the streets made Dr Hossam Badrawi [General Secretary of NDP] drive me to my house today.

“They transfered me to state security; it’s a kidnapping. On Thursday night, at 1am I was with a friend, a colleague from work. I was taking a taxi, suddenly four people surrounded the car, I yelled “Help me, help me”. I was blindfolded then taken away. I will say this as it is: nothing justifies kidnapping, you can arrest me by the law, I am not a drug dealer or terrorist.

“Inside I met people who loved Egypt [State Security people] but their methods and mine are not the same. I pay these guys’ salaries from my taxes, I have the right to ask the ministers where my money is going, this is our country.

“I believe that if things get better those (good state security people he met) will serve Egypt well. Don’t stand in our way, we are going to serve Egypt. I saw a film director get slapped, they told him “You will die here”. Why?

“Now they want to have an agreement with me when they are in a position of weakness. I am not a hero, I am a normal person. What happened to me was a crime but I still thank those who tried to got me out. I am an educated person, I have a family. Badrawi told me we took all the bad people out from the NDP. I told him I don’t want to see the logo of the NDP ever again.

“The NDP got this country to where it is. You can create a new party. It looks like I might be kidnapped again after this.

“There were 300 fake registrations on my facebook page, all negative comments, about how we were allegedly being paid. I was the admin of the page but others paid for it. We are dreamers.

“There was no Muslim Brotherhood presence in organising these protests, it was all spontaneous, voluntary. Even when the Muslim Brotherhood decided to take part it was their choice to do so. This belongs to the Egyptian youth.

“Please everyone, enough rumours. Enough.

“I told the interior minister – I was upset – I told him I will go in the car with Hossam Badrawi but without an NDP logo. I told them we don’t want any NDP logo on the streets. I cried when I heard that there are people who died, officers and protesters, this is my country.

“I was chatting with Ahmad Maher of the 6th of April Youth Movement about the January 25 protests but he didn’t know who I was. My wife is an American, I can apply for US citizenship but I didn’t, not even the lottery. Many people want to leave though. We have to restore dignity to all Egyptians. We have to end corruption. No more theft. Egyptians are good people. We are a beautiful people. Please everybody, this is not a time to settle scores, this is a time to build our country.

“I can’t claim I know what happened when I was inside. I didn’t know anything until one day before I left. The interrogators wanted to know if outsiders were involved. I convinced them this was a purely Egyptian movement.

“The treatment was very good, they knew I was a good Egyptian. I was blindfolded for 12 days, I didn’t see their faces. They wanted details, information. ‘Are the people who planned this outsiders?’ We didn’t do anything wrong, this was an appeal.

“I wrote an appeal to the president of Egypt on Jan 25. I told the minister of interior we have two problems: 1- We don’t talk to each other, this must be solved, 2- There is no trust. I told the interior minister if I stripped naked and told people that I was beaten even without marks they would believe me. The Egyptian State TV channels didn’t portray the truth, that is why people watch the private channels now.

“There were several men in the room with me and the minister of interior. I asked him if I can speak about this, he said as you wish. Everyone asked me ‘How did you do this?’ The interior minister told me he was only a minister for eight days. I was told that people died, one day before I was released,” Ghonim said.

“I want to say to every mother and every father that lost his child, I am sorry, but this is not our fault. I swear to God, this is not our fault. It is the fault of everyone who was holding on to power greedily and would not let it go. I want to leave.”