Press Releases

Link to Audio: http://my.democrats.org/page/-/audio/WS320008Edit.mp3

Politico Story on Conference: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1209/30190.html

WASHINGTON, Dec 5 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ --This is an excellent opportunity to just have some dialogue and I want to share with all of you some thoughts about politics being a good thing. And then talk about 2009, 2010, some of the things we're doing at the Democratic Party. We've got a lot of students here. So I thought what I might do, just very of quickly, is tell you how I got into this line of work because there are those of you out in the audience who are kind of wrestling with you know, "is politics really a good thing?" and is it something you might want to be engaged in. I was a civil rights lawyer for 17 years and when I came to Virginia, my wife arm twisted me here - I really thought that's what I would be doing for my whole career. I was a fair housing lawyer. And one day after I practiced law for a decade in Richmond, I got mad at my city council and I ran for city council. And then two terms later, was mayor. And then two terms later was lieutenant governor and now I am in my last two months as governor. I consider politics kind of a 16 year accidental side light to my civil rights career, but it's gonna be extended a little bit beyond the 16 years because of my work at the Democratic National Committee.

(Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20080519/DNCLOGO )

I've been a close confident of the President's since when I was running for Governor in 2005. If you're in Virginia, one of the great benefits you have is if you're running for office you can ask somebody from Washington to just drive across the Potomac to do a fundraiser for you. And so, I asked the new Senator Obama to do that. And the night that he was going to do a fundraiser, I stayed up the night before and read his first book Dreams OF My Father and then I was able to say to him when he walked in we've got a couple of things in common. We were both Harvard Law School graduates. Now it is true that President Obama was president of the Harvard Law Review and I went to a lot of Red Sox games when I was in law school but our diplomas look exactly the same. Second, we were both civil rights lawyers he did civil rights work in Chicago and I was fair housing lawyer in Richmond. Third we both spent formative time abroad: he in Indonesia and I was a missionary in Honduras for a year.

But the thing that cemented the relationship was when I was able to tell him, and you know when you say your dad's from Kenya and your mom's from a small farm town in Kansas, my mom's from the same town your mom is from - El Doredo, Kansas. And that kind of struck up this bond between us that has been a very strong one and I have been absolutely thrilled to be part of the campaign and now work with him in my capacity at the Democratic National Committee.

I haven't been a particularly political guy or a Washington guy. I kind of consider my political work as civil rights work by other means so I really focused in my public career on things like expanding pre-K, trying to keep the states business climate strong so that all will have opportunities, health care safety net and foster care reform. I'm really in to the serving people side of this not particularly being a Washington guy and I'm a little bit of an unusual choice to be chair of the party. I wrote the President a letter after his historic election and said Chairman Dean is stepping down and he was fantastic, here is someone who would be great to be party chair and I laid out in an incredibly persuasive way why this individual would be a wonderful party chair. The President and his team called me back and said we got your memo and we like that person but you have to do the job. As I talked to them and kind of figured it out and I think there is only one answer when the President asks and the answer is yes. But I also got kind of excited about it, I would normally have thought I would be going back into the civil rights work or work in the education sector, but I got very excited about it.

And let me before I talk about '09 and '10 talk about why I love my job. There is an amazing event that happens every year in Virginia in a little county called Wise County where my wife's family comes from and it's an event that happens in the last weekend in July. There's a woman there named Sister Bernie who is a Catholic nun who has a little thing called the St. Mary's health clinic. Sister Bernie, probably 15 years ago started driving a BW Beetle around the Appalachian handing out prescription medications to people who didn't have health insurance and couldn't get health care. And 10 years ago Sister Bernie said you know what, I'm going to try to recruit some doctors and dentists to the county fairgrounds and we'll just open up for the weekend and try to provide services. And so she did 10 years ago.

Since I've been Lieutenant Governor I've been going down to work the registrations. Let me tell you what this event has become. On Monday night, people start arriving in their cars often with kids in tow to camp out in this dusty county fairground parking lot. And they come by the tens, and then they come by the hundreds and then they come by the thousands. And on Friday morning they open the doors to the fairgrounds and then people come in and they get a number and then they wait with their number Friday, Saturday, Sunday eventually to see a doctor and maybe get a mammogram for the first time in their life, or to get their eyes tested at the age of 45 and find out they should have had eye glasses 15 years ago, or to see a dentist for the first time ever. If you're seeing a dentist for the first time ever as an adult there's only one thing the dentist is going to be able to do for you and that's pull out teeth to ease your pain. The first time that I went to this, it just struck me so vividly it reminded me so vividly of when I was a missionary in Honduras. When I worked in Honduras 25 years ago it was the second poorest country in the Western hemisphere and the missionaries I worked with would do health clinics in rural Honduras for people who didn't have health care. But I don't live in the second poorest country in the Western hemisphere, I live in the greatest nation in the history of the world and one of the wealthiest nations. And so when I saw this in Wise county, and these clinics happen all over the United States what I saw in Honduras it just strikes me every year and I go back to remind myself.

You walk through the parking lot at this health care clinic and you look at license plates, it's right on the border between Virginia and Kentucky so you would expect to see Virginia and Kentucky vehicles and maybe Tennessee, and North Carolina's not too far. But I saw a car from Oklahoma the first year, and I saw another vehicle from Florida. This year when my wife and I went down to work the registration booth we saw cars, there were people thousands of them from sixteen different states. And I tell you, that's why I love my job at the DNC. Because when we have the White House with a President like President Obama the opportunity to tackle the big tough issues is so exciting. And it really speaks to that civil rights lawyer in me.

We're engaged in this battle about health reform right now and I'll say a little more about it in a minute, but every other industrialized nation in the world has figured this out. They're not smarter than we are, they're not richer than we are, they're not more compassionate than we are. They're not more innovative or creative than we are but they've had a will that we haven't had. And so what we are doing and our primary motive at the DNC which is a little bit different, I have a different job than Howard Dean or Terry McCauliff, our primary motive is to promote the success of the presidency to make the change that people need so that we can lift the burden that's on citizens and that we can produce results that are spectacular including tackling tough issues like health care. So, the job, although it was a little bit of an unusual fit, has been something that I've found very very exciting and I'm really excited to tackle it in a major way as we're going through these elections.

Let me talk to you about 2009 and 2010. Obviously in 2009 from the national party standpoint we took some lumps that were painful and we won some races that made us feel very good. So I'm going to talk about the lumps -- state races, and the wins -- federal races. Virginia New Jersey Governorships this has more than a passing personal interest, trying to be successful in both of those. Governor Corzine in New Jersey, a great friend and obviously I wanted to put the keys to the executive mansion in the hands of a Democratic successor, but we recognized we were running against a headwind. For at least 24 years the party that wins the White House loses both of those governorships and in Virginia it had actually been 32 years, the party that wins the White House loses the governorship. We knew we were running against a headwind but still, even though those races largely revolved around local concerns we were disappointed.

On the federal side, we've actually had some pretty good news in 2009. Since President Obama was inaugurated, there have been five special elections in Congress and the Democrats have won all five. We've also added two Senators: the recount that produced the victory in Minnesota for Al Franken in June gave us another Senator, and early in the year the other side chased the Republican Senator Arlen Specter into our camp. So on the federal side, we have felt that all of the movement and all of the change this year has been in our direction.

In terms of the federal races, there's one factor that I think is really important going into 2010: GOP fighting and the tea party devouring the GOP. The year started with the Chairman of the RNC threatening to primary Republicans who voted for the Recovery Act. And Senator Arlen Specter said: Guess what? I'm not going to wait. I'll just become a Democrat right now.

The year ended in New York's Congressional District 23 with the race featuring Republican nominee Dede Scozzafava, a pretty well known member of the New York General Assembly, who was running in a district that hadn't gone Democratic since 1872.

The Republicans put a million dollars into her campaign, but then they ended up abandoning her in favor of a candidate whose candidacy had basically been inflated by talk show radio hosts. After the Republicans abandoned Dede Scozzafava, she endorsed the Democratic candidate Bill Owens, who is the first Democrat to win that seat in over a hundred and thirty years.

This showed the divide that we're seeing on the GOP side. We've got various factions on the Democratic side, but they're not corrosive, and they're not deep chasms. They're just the standard feature of having a diverse party.

The divide we're seeing on the Republican side -- exemplified by Specter joining our team and by the Republican right wing chasing Dede Scozzafava out of that race -- this is something that we expect to see going forward into 2010. We are already seeing corrosive primaries in the Texas governor's race, the Florida Senate race, and other races on the Republican side. And I think we will see more of that.

In fact, what I think we are seeing coming out of these elections in both parties is that from the Democratic side, our party is broadening. We're broadening geographically, broadening ideologically, and broadening demographically. While on the Republican side we see a party that is narrowing geographically, narrowing ideologically, and narrowing demographically.

How are we going to do in 2010? Since 1900, the average first-term president in their first midterm loses 28 House seats, 4 U.S. Senate seats, and faces headwind with governor's races. So we're very mindful of that going into 2010. I remember talking to President Obama about it when he arm-twisted me into doing this job last December. We knew 2010 could be pretty tough: the President was being left with a tough national environment, two wars, and an economy in a free-fall. He was coming into office at a time more difficult than any since FDR's presidency beginning in March of 1933.

We could still be facing some major challenges in the midterm, and so we acknowledge the headwind is blowing against us. It's just the historic norm is, and it's blowing against us.

But we feel like we've got a couple of strong cards up our sleeve as we go into 2010. The first is what I described earlier, that corrosive and persistent battle on the GOP side between the tea bag party and talk show radio hosts and that dwindling bunch of Republican moderates. We think that this continuing battle will give us some real opportunity in a number of places.

The second thing we feel we've got going for us in 2010 is that we're going to sell results to the American people. We feel that if we sell the President's record of achievement and the results we've achieved in a very difficult time, these successes will be our strongest suit going into 2010.

SOURCE Democratic National Committee

HONG KONG, Dec. 5, 2009 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- SNT Cleaning Inc. (Pink Sheets: SNTI) today announced that it is changing its name to Orofino Gold Corp. This name change reflects the Company's planned focus on becoming a resource development company, with an emphasis on precious metals exploration and development.

Concurrent with this new business focus, the Company has accepted the appointment of John Martin, a resident of Hong Kong, as the Company's new director in place of Robert Denman. Mr. Martin will be responsible for guiding the Company's new business and building a resource development team. Mr. Martin brings a strong background of international business development to the Company.

Forward-Looking Statements

Cautionary Note to U.S. Investors -- We may use certain terms in our press releases and on our website such as "will," "anticipates," "believes," "plans," "goal," "expects," "future," "retained," "valuation," "potential," "interested," and similar expressions are used to identify these forward-looking statements. Actual results could differ materially from those anticipated in these forward-looking statements for many reasons, including the risks we face as described in this press release. You should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements in this press release. This press release contains forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. You can review and obtain copies of our filings from the SEC's website at http://www.sec.gov/edgar.shtml.

The OTC BB or Pink Sheets has not reviewed or does not accept responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. This news release may contain forward-looking statements including but not limited to comments regarding the timing and content of upcoming work programs, geological interpretations, receipt of property titles, potential mineral recovery processes, etc. Forward-looking statements address future events and conditions and, therefore, involve inherent risks and uncertainties. Actual results may differ materially from those currently anticipated in such statements.

CONTACT:  SNT Cleaning Inc.
          John Martin
          (+852) 3106 3103 or 3106 3332
          Fax: (+852) 3106 3262
          1702 Chinachem Tower
          34-37 Connaught Road Central
          Hong Kong, China

HONG KONG--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- The 5th East Asian Games (EAG) officially kicked off in Hong Kong today (December 5) with a dazzling 90-minute opening ceremony - including a magnificent fireworks display and special lighting effects which transformed world-renowned Victoria Harbour into a kaleidoscope of colour.

The Games are the biggest in EAG history, bringing together 2 300 elite athletes from nine countries or regions to compete for 262 gold medals in 22 sports. Among the athletes are Olympic gold medallists and world record holders from many sports.

Breaking with the tradition of holding such ceremonies in sports stadiums, the 2009 EAG opening took place on a floating stage in Victoria Harbour, and at the adjacent Hong Kong Cultural Centre Piazza on the Tsim Sha Tsui waterfront, with the city's stunning skyline as backdrop. Hundreds of thousands of spectators shared the occasion on both sides of the harbour.

The ceremony was produced by the same company responsible for the opening and closing ceremonies of the Beijing Olympics. Highlights included cultural performances, lighting of the EAG cauldron and a parade of beautifully adorned boats representing participating countries/regions.

Chinese State Councillor Madam Liu Yandong declared the Games open, with welcome speeches delivered by the Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, Donald Tsang, and an EAG official.

The countries/regions taking part are China; DPR Korea; Japan; Korea; Macao, China; Mongolia; Chinese Taipei; Guam and Hong Kong, China.

The Games will close on December 13.

For EAG schedule and ticketing information, visit www.2009eastasiangames.hk

For results of the competition events, visit http://results.2009eastasiangames.hk

Photos/Multimedia Gallery Available: http://www.businesswire.com/cgi-bin/mmg.cgi?eid=6112916&lang=en

    Source: Information Services Department

Free Rapid HIV Testing and Outreach Targets Local Community and 4,000 Plus Member Congregation of Popular Southland Church Sunday, December 6th from 6:00am to 4:00pm

Event is Key Part of World AIDS Day 'Testing Millions' Campaign, an AHF-led Global Effort to Test 3M People

LOS ANGELES--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- AIDS Healthcare Foundation:

What:          Marathon Day of Free Rapid HIV Testing at Inglewood, CA Church

               Testing effort includes

                     70 HIV testing technicians working on 5 mobile HIV testing
               --    units (including both Magic Johnson and Blair Underwood
                     Testing vans) and one large big-rig style testing truck.

                     15,000 people are expected to attend two different church
               --    services at Faithful Central that day; testing effort
                     targets both churchgoers and the surrounding community.

When:          Sunday, December 6th6:00amto 4:00pm

Where:         Faithful Central Bible Church, Inglewood

               321 Eucalyptus Ave. Inglewood, CA 90301 (cross street: Nectarine
               St.)

Contacts:      Ged Kenslea,

               AHF Director of Communications 323.308-1833 work; 323.791-5526
               mobile

               Lori Yeghiayan,

               AHF Associate Director of Communications 323.308.1834 work;
               323.377.4312 mobile

In observation of World AIDS Day 2009, AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF), the largest global AIDS group which currently provides more than 15,000 free HIV and STD tests annually in California via its community-based testing programs, is hosting a day of free rapid HIV testing in conjunction with Faithful Central Bible Church this Sunday December 6th starting at 6:00am going until 4:00pm at the congregation's church in Inglewood (321 Eucalyptus Street, Inglewood, 90301). The HIV testing marathon--which is expected to be Los Angeles County's largest ever single HIV testing event--is being held as part of AHF's 'Testing Millions' campaign, a worldwide initiative to test more than three million people in conjunction with the observance of this year's World AIDS Day, which officially fell on Tuesday, December 1st.

70 certified HIV testing technicians will work on five of AHF's mobile HIV testing units--including AHF's Magic Johnson and Blair Underwood Mobile Testing vans--as well as one large big-rig style specially outfitted testing truck. The testing units will be located in front of the church and in the parking lot.

"We are honored to be working with Faithful Central Bible Church on this marathon testing event, which is likely to be the largest single HIV testing event ever in the history of Los Angeles County," said Whitney Engeran-Cordova, Director of AHF's Public Health Division. "There are currently as many as 15,000 HIV positive individuals in Los Angeles County who do not know their HIV status because they have never been tested for the virus. Through this testing event, we hope to normalize and de-stigmatize the entire process of HIV testing so that people look at HIV testing as a routine part of their health care, as recent CDC guidelines now advise. We know that knowledge of one's HIV status really helps us break the chain of new infections, as people take steps to reduce the risk of passing on their infection to others once they know their own status. I strongly urge people with any questions about their own HIV status to come out and join us and get tested this weekend."

The 'Testing Millions' World AIDS Day 2009 global testing campaign has been organized by AIDS Healthcare Foundation in coalition with hundreds of global partners mobilizing non-governmental organizations (NGOs), local and national governments, international relief agencies, faith-based organizations, civil society, the media for a collaborative effort to conduct more than three million tests during an extended week of testing surrounding the observation of World AIDS Day 2009.

About AHF

AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF) the largest global AIDS organization, is also the operator of California's largest alternative, community-based HIV testing program, which administers over 15,000 tests per year in California. AHF currently provides treatment, care and support services to more than 120,000 individuals in 23 countries worldwide in the US, Africa, Latin America/Caribbean, the Asia Pacific Region and Eastern Europe. Additional information is available at www.aidshealth.org and www.freehivtest.net.

    Source: AIDS Healthcare Foundation

Behind-the-Scenes Documentary of Summer's Hottest Music Festival, Virgin Mobile USA's FreeFest, Debuts at Variety's "Power of Youth" Event at Paramount Studios, Followed by Airings on Independent Film Channel, On Demand and Online at www.allaccessdocs.com

LOS ANGELES--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Blink-182, Weezer, Public Enemy, Franz Ferdinand and Taking Back Sunday have lent their voices to empowering the next generation of youth through Kyocera's ALL Access rock documentary. Families and celebrities attending Variety's "Power of Youth" event today at Paramount Studios will enjoy the world premier of the film from the young "rockumentarians" who earned the chance to follow the bands from the tour busses to the stages and capture the excitement of 35,000 music lovers at the summer's hottest free music festival, Virgin Mobile USA's FreeFest. After the premiere event, ALL Access vignettes and the full-length feature will reach millions through IFC, ON Demand and online at www.allaccessdocs.com.

Variety's "Power of Youth" event, now in its third year, is an invitation-only afternoon of fun, festivities and live performances. Guests include the children and families from Starlight Children's Foundation and LA's BEST, along with more than 200 celebrity supporters. This year, Variety is honoring five young stars who are making a difference to their chosen charities including Corbin Bleu, Miranda Cosgrove, Jesse McCartney, Annalynne McCord and Keke Palmer.

"Our goal for the ALL Access program was to showcase the talents of young people so the 'Power of Youth' event is the ideal venue for the world premiere of their work," said Gary Peterson, director of marketing, brand and advertising at Kyocera Communications Inc. "We set out to give a voice to a talented crew of young adults as they chronicled some of the world's most popular bands at the year's hottest free music festival. How fitting to do it at an event honoring a group of high-profile young celebrities who have dedicated themselves to helping so many important charity organizations."

According to Matt Rubano, bass and vocals for Taking Back Sunday, "As a band we owe a lot to young people who've always been some of our most loyal fans. They buy tickets to our shows from coast to coast and come out and have a good time and sing along with us and they support our records. Kyocera's ALL Access is one way we can give back to young people and show them we support them just as much as they support us."

In addition to the world-premier screening of the ALL Access rockumentary, Kyocera's lounge at the Power of Youth event will offer photo opportunities and giveaways. Kyocera, which purchased the wireless phone division of Sanyo in 2008 and today markets both Kyocera- and Sanyo-branded wireless devices, will be giving away Sanyo Incognito, Sanyo SCP-3810 and Kyocera X-tc M2000 mobile handsets with free wireless service.

About Kyocera's ALL Access

Kyocera's ALL Access was created in conjunction with Dreaming Tree Films, which specializes in creating hands-on, interactive programs for youth interested in filmmaking. Kyocera's ALL Access conducted a nationwide search open to anyone between the ages of 16-22 with a passion for music and film. Entrants were asked a few questions and program producers selected young people who hailed from various cities coast to coast, represented all ages and experience levels. Winning documentarians included: Kristen Ablamsky, 20, Port Washington, NY; Heather Allison, 21, New York, NY; Maria Garcia, 16, West Palm Beach, FL; Neal Heatherly, 20, Palatine, IL; Mark Helenowski , 18, Glenview, IL; Austin Hughes, 18, Yorba Linda, CA; Marlee Kamis, 17, Leesburg, VA; Desiree McMahon, 20, Lynn, MA; Marisa Mezs, 21, Lakewood, WA; Brendan Nahmias, 19, Orange, CA; Travis Ratcliff, 18, Plano, TX; Joshua Romero, 22, Des Plaines, IL; Sarah Soltan, 17, Winthrop, ME; and Lindsey Underwood, 21, Naperville, IL.

About KYOCERA

Kyocera Communications Inc. (KCI) is the sales, marketing, customer engineering and service headquarters for Kyocera- and Sanyo-branded wireless products and Accessories in the Americas. The company's devices are driving the convergence of telecommunications, broadband and multimedia. KCI was formed in April 2009 through the combination of Kyocera Wireless Corp. and Kyocera Sanyo Telecommunications Inc., two wholly owned subsidiaries of Kyocera International Inc. The former was created when Kyocera purchased QUALCOMM Incorporated's consumer wireless phone business in 2000, while the latter was formed when Kyocera purchased the wireless phone business of Sanyo Electric Co., Ltd. in 2008. Based in San Diego, KCI leverages Japan's history of creating advanced consumer technologies around humanism and respect for the environment and blending them with a Western entrepreneurialism and style, resulting in a unique design language and a natural, user-friendly interface. For more information, please visit www.kyocera-wireless.com.

Kyocera Corporation (NYSE: KYO) (TOKYO: 6971) (http://global.kyocera.com/), the parent and global headquarters of the Kyocera Group, was founded in 1959 as a producer of fine ceramics (also known as "advanced ceramics"). By combining these engineered materials with metals and plastics, and integrating them with other technologies, Kyocera has become a leading supplier of telecommunications equipment, office-document imaging equipment, solar power generating systems, semiconductor packages, electronic components, cutting tools and industrial ceramics. During the year ended March 31, 2009, the company's net sales totaled 1.13 trillion yen (approximately US$11.5 billion). Kyocera marks its 50th anniversary in 2009, and the 40th anniversary of its U.S. operations. It is ranked #418 on Forbes magazine's 2009 "Global 2000" listing of the world's largest publicly traded companies.

ABOUT DREAMING TREE FILMS

Dreaming Tree Films specializes in creating national youth creative programs that provide teens with hands-on experiences and allows them to interact with and explore the creative process of filmmaking. Dreaming Tree Films' mission is to nurture creativity, encourage teens to believe in themselves and provide the career insight that will help them grow both as artists and individuals. Our programs break through the Hollywood glam and allow teens to explore different creative mediums such as writing, design, photography, acting, directing, producing, cinematography and film editing. Dreaming Tree Films proudly produces Kyocera ALL Access along with Fresh Films, the nation's top filmmaking competition for teens, NG Docs, a youth documentary film program, and Body by Milk's got noise?, a music video competition where teens produce music videos for R&B superstar Usher. For more information on Dreaming Tree Films please visit http://www.dreamingtreefilms.com

(C) 2009 Kyocera. All rights reserved. Kyocera is a registered trademark of Kyocera Corporation. All other marks are properties of their respective owners.

    Source: Kyocera Communications Inc.