My thoughts while washing my hands

has it ever occured to you while you were liberally covering both your hands with all that gooey liquid soap in your favorite fast food restaurant's wash room, that there would be no water from the faucet to wash it? nope, it didn't happen to me, the lack of water i mean, but the thought did cross my mind while my hands were drowned in so much of that slimy soap. i was on the verge of considering what to do if water failed to flow forth from the faucet. but it was good that there was water after all, i was relieved and turned to contemplate on other things.

Some foreigners are starting a new fad:

short-sleeved barongs with shorts.

this came after a friend and i were discussing that, unlike with filipino sensibilities, it was fine for westerners to mix-match clothes, like a formal jacket with an old t-shirt and other street clothes. but i never expected to see one who actually did with it with the barong.

for those who don't know what i'm talking about, the barong is the traditional formal wear of the filipino. it takes on many forms, including the one below, which, though not very formal,is commonly worn as an office attire. more formal barongs, worn during significant occasions like weddings, usually have long sleeves, elaborate designs and embroidery, and made with expensive pina(pineapple) or jusi cloth.



for more info, go here.

Random thoughts...

soon, repeated often, means never.

The Theory of Wages

Wages, succinctly defined, is payment received by an employee in exchange for the labor he/she supplies. It may be paid in goods or services but is customarily in money. The term in a broad sense refers to what is received in any way for labor, but wages usually refer to payments to workers who are paid by the hour, in contrast to a salary, which implies a more fixed and permanent form of income (e.g., payment by the month rather than by the hour). In economic theory, wages reckoned in money are called nominal wages, as distinguished from real wages, i.e., the amount of goods and services that the money will buy. Real wages depend on the price level, as well as on the nominal or money wages.

There is a school of thought that claims that the system of wages as we know it today developed as a direct consequence of capitalism's origins in the medieval ages. From medieval serfs and artisans who specialized in trades, wages marked the transition to free enterprise where the workers themselves "supplied" the capitalist labor without the limits imposed by their status.

But I have to disagree. I believe that the concept of wages is rather more ancient than merely a medieval innovation rising together with capitalism from the feudal system. In fact, the idea of a payment given for some act is an image clearly utilized in the bible (cf. Matt 20:8, Luke 10:7, Rom 6:23, etc.). Indeed the parable of the vineyard laborers in the 20th chapter of the gospel of Matthew clearly captures the free labor system of which wages originated, but with a paradoxically twist that often characterizes Christ's parables, paradoxes which will certainly attract the ire of labor unions.

Thus the paradox "So the last will be first, and the first last" may also refer to the confusion of which came first, the medieval system of feudal serfdom or the capitalist system. The insistence that capitalism developed from medieval society is I believe a flawed notion. A careful perusal of the gospel text shows a fairly modern framework of capitalism for we find an interaction between first, an entrepreneur, the vineyard owner, who put together the necessary factors of production, and second, the workers, acting as free agents who supplies the labor for the vineyard owner for a fixed wage. The idea of free agency is further strengthened in the text when it seems to allude to an absence of a prior, formal relationship between the vineyard owner and the workers.

Many theories have been advanced to explain the nature of wages. The first of them was the subsistence theory of wages, also called the "iron law of wages," which maintains that wages cluster around the bare subsistence level of workers. A wage rate much above the subsistence level causes an increase in the number of workers; competition will then lead to a depression of wages back toward the cost of subsistence. Wages that are below subsistence reduce the size of the working population; in that case competition will raise wages, but only up to the subsistence level again.

In the surplus-value theory as propounded by Karl Marx, the value produced by the worker in excess of what is paid in wages is called surplus value. The surplus value, exacted from the worker, constitutes the capitalist's profit. The wage-fund theory is that wages are advanced out of a fixed fund of capital, from which an excess withdrawal, either through legislation or through union pressure, will ultimately reduce the amount available for other workers. Any increase in wages would also have to be taken out of profits, and their reduction would cause a decline in savings, which provide the capital from which the wage fund is derived.

The marginal-productivity theory maintains that employers will only pay a wage that is, at most, equal to the amount of extra value added to the total product by one additional worker.

The bargaining theory modifies the marginal-productivity theory by taking into consideration other factors (e.g., laws and social and political changes) that might affect the determination of wage levels and by acknowledging that certain basic assumptions (equal bargaining power of employer and employee, free competition between the two, and mobility of labor) that characterize the marginal-productivity theory do not hold in our present economic system.

King Arthur in Fifteen Minutes

(via julie's blog)

Simpsons to reveal gay character

A character from The Simpsons is to be revealed as gay, sparking a mystery among fans over who it will be... Speculation is already running rife across fan websites about who will be the mystery gay character, ranging from Mr Burns' devoted sidekick Waylon Smithers to one or both of Homer's sisters-in-law.

i haven't seen the series for a long time but i'm pretty sure that the matter's settled already. smither would be the best candidate because of his 1) weird attraction for mr. burns, and 2) his collection of dolls. so there's a strong precedent on this already. but i could be wrong. the producers might have ned flanders as the queer character or even his children, since they are the most unlikely candidates.

Belief in hell boosts economic growth

(via the curt jester)

"Economists searching for reasons why some nations are richer than others have found that those with a wide belief in hell are less corrupt and more prosperous, according to a report by the Federal Reserve Bank of St Louis..."

hhhmmm... it sounds dubious especially if you consider the study in terms of the filipino who simply doesn't fit the pattern. it could mean either two cases, that religosity and poverty can't co-exist, or filipinos don't really believe in hell. maybe i'm just confusing belief in hell with religiosity. but if that's the case, then the second case is true. are we then looking at a case when powerful filipinos willfully downplay their religious beliefs, i.e. belief in hell, in favor of a bigger piece of the corruption pie? that certainly is not a new phenomenon in human history. so if such is the case, we ought to give 'em hell then....

De Venecia pushes two-child policy

"Our resources can only afford a small population and the two-child policy is part of my strategy to save the nation because overpopulation will kill the nation," de Venecia told dzMM.

the overpopulation myth remains strong and popular among our societal elites because of its easy and uncomplicated message: get rid of the starving rather than feed them.

although it seems that de venecia's proposal doesn't approximate the extremeness of the "one child policy" of china, it is nonetheless a terrible sign. it surely marks a phase where the philippines is slowly sliding down that slippery slope. even if our descent has been slower than the rest and in a different direction, the mere fact that myths are seriously entertained as possible origins of government policies should be something worth babbling publicly about, especially if it entails destroying myths!

the nation needs to be saved indeed, but not from the very people who make it up, but the policies which keep them in squalor and poverty. in fact, for this 2-child policy alone, the nation should be saved from de venecia.

i prefer that the philippines undergo a renaissance, a rebirth of self-discovery and freedom from the mind-numbing tutelage of the rich and powerful. together with the rest of the world we have been in fact experiencing this phenomenon through the internet. new industries, businesses and services are growing because of it. what the filipino needs is creativity and the risk-seeking drive to grab every little opportunity that will come. the poor will benefit eventually and they will be needed, for they will make up the future market economy of the philippines. in this sense, we actually need them to be more and not less. but we also need them to be more economically relevant, that is, they should have more purchasing power. this is what everybody should be concerned about, not the number of poor people we have, for if we address this properly, we would have created for ourselves assets out of liabilities.

Now I see...

the problem is indeed in my pc at home. right now, i'm at my server doing some maintenance work. the edit options are indeed here. perhaps my browser at home doesn't support the edit thingies. it doesn't really matter anyhow, i'm familiar with enough html codes to survive, but i would've loved it to be easier though.

Papal envoy demands action on Darfur

perhaps he should talk with the spaniards first and knock some holy sense into those morons' little brains.

the spaniards, it seems, find terrorism a horrible thing if it is committed against them. they will try to stamp out anti-spanish terrorism and those that support it. they however find that it's ok to support terrorists who are killing people other than them.

The Media's new game

on ANC this afternoon, a headline read: "Iraqi officials, businessmen blame RP for incease in abductions" or something to that effect.

meanwhile, at TV Patrol, a different angle was presented and the preceding headline was never mentioned. what was this angle? that the philippines was justified in saving its sorry little ass, and that the australians, who rightly condemned that act of stupidity, were not in the position to criticize us, since in WWII we were sacrificed to save them.

i don't know how relevant that little bit of history is, but i know that for certain that filipino politicians feel that they made a huge boo-boo for supporting the pullout, for it has caused the rise in the kidnappings. the only way to soothe the pain the guilt brings, is to rattle on and on about the supposed righteousness of the deed. they're brainwashing themselves to believe their own words.

as always, in the same piece, we see Leftist militants protesting at the australian embassy, further proving my point that they are truly the jihadist's best friends.

anyway, nbc news reports that up to 70 people have been abducted since our little act of cowardice. dammit, 70! filipinos have to learn about queer little statistic and try to realize how much our insignificant acts can impact the world, but the filipino media isn't doing it, it won't allow that to happen, they're happy with their favorite side of the story, the simple and happy lie. after all, who wants the complicated and nasty truth that obliges us to act and feel some pain?

Nobody should take the Left seriously

especially if they come from spain:

(Spanish PM Zapatero and Mr. Bean, separated at birth?)

after all, they're the jihadist's bestfriends

Spain condemned for selling arms to Sudan

The Sudanese government is said to be implicit in what the US has called "genocide" by supporting the Janjaweed.

Amnesty and Greenpeace said Spain was breaking a weapons embargo imposed by the EU in 1994 and renewed in January last year.

the darn spaniards are out of their minds!

first, they get bombed, and so what do they do? they appease the damn jihadists by pulling their troops out of iraq. and then what happens? more bombs blow up in madrid!

of course, they're all for battling terrorism, whatever that means in their weird little heads, battling it by withdrawing troops from the war in iraq, and then, as we discover here, suppling arms to jihadists in sudan!

somebody should knock some sense into these idiots!

no wait, the country's being run by Leftists! but then again, what's the difference?

Light blogging ahead

i might be scarce for the next few days. i've come up with another busines venture which, to my surprise and satisfaction, my uncle liked and agreed to fund.

like my prior attempt at business, i will once again make the impossible possible. no, it isn't a typo, i wil indeed do such a miracle, hopefully. one friend commented that it's an ambitious project. it could be, but then, she doesn't know what i know. the paradox is that it's the unremarkably possible common thing that often eludes me, and it makes the impossible look so easy.

i've done such twisting of the limits of "possibilities" so many times already, so i hope to make this one work as well. hopefully, it'll be better since it's a local project, not an international one. i will finally have full control over every aspect of the business, and will not resort to delegating a necessary aspect of the venture.

right now i'm exhausted. i like the feeling though, i've missed it for so long. i'm happy and i look forward to more nights of pure exhaustion ahead.

Queer thoughts

lemme rank the queer dudes according to their impact on their "straight guys":

1) Thom (interior design)
2) Carson (fashion)
3) Kyan (grooming)
4) Ted (food and wine)
5) Jai (culture)

jai, sad to say, seems to be the most useless of the 5. i could be wrong though.

Update: It wasn't "Neat" after all!

here's my original post:

"blogger has new stuff for composing and editing posts here! too bad i have nothing interesting to post yet..."

i think it was a premature declaration. i posted it when i was at my uncle's office, and now everything about the edit page has changed: they're gone! i wonder if they appear only if i use another pc.

i wouldn't have bothered with the original post were it not for the fact that there was a huge (as in huge!) gap between it and the post next to it. hopefully this intervention will rectify that. but i do miss the edit buttons and the convenience that came with them.

Iraq kidnappers 'seeking money'

no they're not, they'e obviously patriotic freedom fighters leading the war against the americans... [vomit!!]

Americans seem to have councils or committees for everything

including extreme hair problems: the American Hair Loss Council

Egyptian diplomat in Iraq kidnapped

nope, there's no connection with his kidnapping and our pullout, it is simply impossible. these militants after all are fighting for their homeland and they're doing the right thing and we have no business in iraq.

translation: we're pathetic, selfish little cowards. we expect people to help us, but we can't be trusted to stand our ground to help others.

Shorter is better

for women's hair, that is.

i heard a hair stylist on tv say that for hair, shorter is better. i definitely agree, even with women's hair. i find that women with short hair, or at least long hair fashioned that it would appear short, more attractive.

on the other hand, i find it creepy if they keep their hair long enough to reach their waists and beyond. i usually associate such people with weird cults from banahaw who frown upon women with short hair!

More "overpopulation" news

"Chamie also noted the some governments, especially in the developed world, may be concerned about appearing hypocritical if they seek to increase their own fertility rates, while at the same time working to decrease fertility in the developing world. According to Chamie, 'Understandably, governments are reluctant to be seen as encouraging citizens to breed for the sake of the country. This is especially true for governments providing international assistance to family planning programs in countries aiming to reduce their comparatively higher rates of fertility and population.'"

what? no mention of contraception and abortion? i wonder why.

"Chamie investigated the effectiveness of a number of governmental responses to fertility decline, including promoting marriage and childbearing, reducing the costs of child rearing, and adapting work schedules to family life. He was not optimistic concerning these policies, concluding that, "the current and foreseeable efforts of most governments to raise their current low fertility rates to replacement levels seem highly unlikely."

why don't they just let some people, like say filipinos, take up the void? i mean filipinos share so much with europeans. they're catholics, mostly conservative at that; they have a westernized culture, earning for themselves the label brown americans (although some europeans might actually oppose them for this reason alone); they're highly educated and literate, they value education and really respect those with good education; they're gregarious and more sociable, which allows them to integrate themselves to the host's society; and more importantly, they don't blow up people to bits.

so why not migration? why not filipinos? after all, we're "overpopulated" down here, our enlightened media said so.

It is the Filipino's extreme shortsightedness

nothing else.

we may have saved one man's life, but we've condemned countless others to the fate he was saved from.

the filipino's attitude in this war has been, so far, narrow and selfish. instead of putting this war into perspective, a war which will ultimately decide our civilization's survival in the face of islamic aggression, we have consistently asked how it will serve our own little selfish interest as a nation.

the average filipino condemns the politician for using his office for his own gain and selfish interests. but the same filipino never asked himself if his appeasement of the jihadists was for his country's own selfish interest or the common good of all nations.

In Manila, a building needs no earthquake or anything...

when it decides to collapse.

fortunately nobody was hurt. but how bad would it have been if there had been a tremor?

The Ivy League Myth

from jimmy akin's blog

i agree, graduating from an ivy league institute doesn't guarantee a bright future ahead of you.

i know of a product of the philippine equivalent of ivy league schools who, for almost 2 years, still remain unemployed, although he's currently dabbling in a web based service that he developed a few months ago. so anyway, he still carries on with his job hunting, which up to now, produced no successful results.

i'm not sure if it's caused by his personal inadequacies (since he has been employed when he was still studying), or if there are indeed "problems" with the recruitment system we have in the country. biased as it may sound, i believe the latter is more evident.

i've been to many employment tests and interviews where the applicant is "ill-treated" by the HR staff. politeness and punctuality doesn't cross the mind of these people, but they do expect it from their applicants. i don't know, perhaps i'm just too punctual and sensitive.

i've also encountered people who, although coming from ivy league schools, don't even know how to make a decent MS Word document, yet manages to get a good job. and there are people i know who are frighteningly intelligent yet doing menial jobs.

thus, the element of luck occurs to me as the central deciding point in this issue. one can't just be good at what he/she could or can do, one has to be in the right place at the right time.

Thanks to Filipino courage in the dela Cruz abduction:

iraqi militants have adopted a new tactic, one that would win them small but significant victories: kidnapping truck drivers.

but of course, we were right and it was a person's life at stake after all, and we had no business supporting the americans in iraq.

translation: we're spineless little cowards.

our little show of cowardice has emboldened more abductions by islamic terrorists. we should remember that there are hundreds if not thousands of filipinos working in iraq either as truck drivers or other similar roles. i wouldn't be surprised if another filipino is victimized either by an ambush or hostage taking.

just take a look at the current crop of victims. none of their countries participated in the war, yet they were taken because these jihadists don't want the companies they work for to do business in iraq. war is no longer the issue here but they're ingenious enough in using the excuse that americans are in iraq (trying to rebuild it!) to commit these atrocities.

the pullout isn't the solution to a problem, it is the trigger that will worsen it.

Ageing Europe

"The government there is waking up to the prospect of its greying population putting an unbearable strain on public finances.

if you read the article, note how the article manages to conceal the root of this phenomenon of ageing people. this highly sophisticated culture which has little affinity for children, which sees children as essentially economic burden, and which embraces contraception and abortion has contributed much to the decline of young people. it is this same outlook which governs the BBC, as it sees itself the guardian of the enlightened elites who carry on preaching the old news of overpopulation around the world but blind to the obvious depopulation in their own. thus we see no word on this in the piece about how it came about, something an inquisitive reader would ask while reading this article for he is aware that such phenomena do not occur on their own.

bush's "old europe" tirade against france and germany isn't far off after all. they are indeed old. these countries, if the trend continues, will surely be irrelevant not particularly because of their snottiness, but because of their dwindling population of senile, old people. their economies are already feeling the strain and, in fact, they've been in trouble with the EU since they failed to keep their deficits in check. while they bore themselves with their anti-war position, their political power will follow this diminishing trend as well. and without people, their culture and influence will soon evaporate into oblivion. eventually there will be no france or germany to speak of, they will be muslim countries in the heart of europe. my only concern is that these muslims will inherit the vast arsenals post-modern france and germany will leave.

this same fallacy is being circulated by our own elite. they feed it to our unsuspecting people who by and large wish to be as informed and sophisticated as they are. i, for one, once subscribed to a personal philosophy having little regard for children, but it is good that i've never really put it into practice. however, the rest of us will swallow the values the elite and the media sells simply because there's no alternative view that matches the publicity the media gives on the malthusian myth. the media nourishes it in our culture, and soon every filipino will think like the soon-to-be extinct german.

Iraqi Prelate Tells of the Good Going On

"The Press Has Been Backward-looking," Says Chaldean Bishop. "Something new is sprouting here, a democracy, young, but real, and in need of help," he said. "Now there is no excuse not to help us. Before it could be argued that everything was under U.S. control. Now there is a U.N. resolution and power is in the hands of the Iraqi government."

too bad we can no longer relish the distinction of being one of the few nations who have contributed for the good of another in need, of the few who acted instead of criticizing, or of the few who had the guts to do the right thing instead of caving in to the demands of the wicked.

Two opinions

one from an american (a priest maybe?) and one from a filipino bishop

i find the american's views more realistic and fresh. the bishop's, however, is just a rehash of the same hogwash i've been reading from the same site.

They were 96?

this article in time magazine, assuming that it was accurate, said that the philippine contingent was composed of 96 members: soldiers, policemen and aid workers. but only 51 were pulled out. are there still remaining filipino personnel in iraq or did their number fall to 51 when the hostage crisis took place? the article was published in february 2004. hhmmm...

it's a nice article though. reading it made me proud to be a filipino. despite our own impoverished condition, we still go out of our way to help:

"When the Filipinos work one area, Iraqis from other locations show up complaining that they're being neglected. That the Philippines is itself impoverished does not register here. The Filipinos are part of the coalition, so they are expected to have the answers and the cures."

and we deliver....

This morning, I saw a van bearing this name:

"St. Therese Educational Private School of Mandaluyong, Inc."

i don't know but would you ever consider putting your child in a school with such a name?

Here in the Philippines

...we have the feast of st. john the baptist. every town who has him as patron saint hold the tradition of dousing everybody with water to commemorate the baptist's ministry.

it seems christians in iraq have a similar tradition. but in lieu of john the baptist's feast day, they commemorate mass baptisms by Jesus and the apostles.

"Iraq's approximately 180,000 Assyrians and a large number of their Muslim neighbors celebrate the festival, called Nusardil, by splashing, if not dousing, each other with water. Many children and young adults use the occasion to mount high-spirited water wars."

at least it's better than hurling explosives at each other.

(via Katolik Shinja)

De la Cruz freed

now, let's go back!

the media here has turned this abduction into an emotional rollercoaster. the tv networks frequently air emotion-driven ads about dela cruz's fate. it is no wonder why many filipinos supported this move.

Exploitation and Abuse of Migrant Workers in Saudi Arabia

In 1962, then-King Faisal abolished slavery in Saudi Arabia by royal decree. Over forty years later, migrant workers in the purportedly modern society that the kingdom has become continue to suffer extreme forms of labor exploitation that sometimes rise to slavery-like conditions. Their lives are further complicated by deeply rooted gender, religious, and racial discrimination. This provides the foundation for prejudicial public policy and government regulations, shameful practices of private employers, and unfair legal proceedings that yield judicial sentences of the death penalty.

unfortunately, this deeply rooted discrimination is still preserved and propragated by the very authorities who are supposedly obliged to stop it. i therefore think that our fellow filipinos in saudi have a lot more to suffer from, especially with the way we have handled the hostage crisis recently.

Schwarzenegger Calls Democrats 'Girlie Men'

you fairies!!!!

The Knowledge Channel says:

A.D. = After Death of Christ

darn! what the hell are they teaching kids these days??

Research shows that being clever is good for your health

interesting, but here's the catch:

"They would be more likely to monitor their health better and so would be able to get earlier warnings about problems. People who can't get decent jobs may be very stressed; they may behave in a particular way, such as smoking more, taking drugs and eating more chips than broccoli"

so as i've suspected, the intervening factors were more of the direct cause of "good health" rather than intelligence itself. being smart helps but it has no direct bearing on one's health, so it's not really remarkable. but then again, i wish the findings were true...

Foreigners interested in Philippine's hybrid rice

"The hybrid rice developed by Filipino scientists is aromatic, glutinous and retains its softness even if it has become cold. Japan, for instance, wants to buy Philippine hybrid rice because it taste better than the Jasmine rice of Thailand."

are we going to repeat our old mistakes again? will we let other nations prosper with our solutions, while we wallow again in despair for we have not put our own to good use and then beg for scraps from those nations who did? i hope not. surely we have learned our lesson, but then again, history is filled with examples of people who remember but never learn.

Bigornia sparks trouble again

why am i not surprised

"Apolinario, Bigornia said, raided ("ginapang") her guests who hours before they committed to appear in the show but moved to the rival channel's show.

Asked why many of the De la Cruz's relatives agreed to appear on GMA-7's show, Apolinario said: "They did not like (Bigornia) because they sensed her to be mataray (snooty)."

But Bigornia suspected that money was involved in the decision of De la Cruz's relatives to appear on Debate. "Tatapatan ko. Magsabi lang kayo (I would match the amount they paid you. Just tell me)," she told the relatives."

of course the views above came from GMA7 and would obviously be tainted by the bias against their rivals. but in any case, i'm mystified as to how and why such people get on tv. but then again, if you understand abs-cbn ang gma's standards (or sub-standards), it shouldn't be a surprise at all.

NPAs in Bicol using Iraqi tack in hostage demands

gee, i wonder why. the Left: truly the jihadists' bestfriend!

Rebels gouge out eyes of Jordanian driver in Iraq

of course these guys are no thugs or armed bandits, they're obviously legitimate freedom frighters just like the guys who abducted dela cruz. just take the word of the philippines. our pullout said so, since it legitimized their little banditry into a real "diplomtic" move for them.

Why you shouldn't take the Left seriously

hhhmmmm... it's ok to publicly burn the US's flag in front of their embassy and chant provocatively anti-US slogans, but it's NOT ok if jay leno makes a silly joke about the philippine's cowardice in the sight of terrorism. this is rather interesting, especially when you realize that it comes from the very kind of people who complain that their freedom of speech is always threatened. but here's more:

"Mr. Jay Leno, the undisputed king of late-night shows in the United States, is nothing but a swashbuckling apologist…who will do everything and anything for the US' immoral invasion and occupation of Iraq," the group's spokesperson, Gerry Albert Corpuz, said in a statement.

does mr. corpuz actually watch leno? leno is as much as bush's apologist as dilangalen to pres. arroyo. he should watch more tv and discover that both sides of the political spectrum in the US see our pullout as mere cowardice. it has nothing to do with leno's politics, which if i could infer, actually leans more towards opposition to bush. talk about being an apologist for your enemy!

"Mr. Leno should apologize and atone for his irresponsible comments against the Filipino people's decision to pull out the country's troops in Iraq. He is in no moral and political position to make statements like that," Corpuz said

even more hillarious! corpuz should consider doing stand up comedy. he's really funny! perhaps he could appear in leno's show and do some of his acts there. he would be an instant hit.

Gaza kidnappings trigger crisis

more kidnappings? this time in palestine? who would've thought that such things could happen there? what could possibly inspire these people to follow that course of action? gee, i guess i was too busy with the angelo dela cruz abduction and its ramifications that i've completely ignored other events in the planet. obviously the events in gaza have no relation to that of iraq. obviously militants there don't pay any attention to the success of their brother jihadists in iraq who kidnapped dela cruz. i mean, how could a band of thugs who successfully coerced an entire country to give in to their demands be in any position to give any ideas to other jihadists who are also fighting their own jihads?

Another Democrat at Conan O'Brien's show

this time, he had al sharpton. not long ago he had one of clinton's cabinet members who launched his new book on the show as well. the guy shocked me when he explicitly said that abortion should be made available to all, whilst conan's audience cheered. and conan also had michael moore once, bush's archcritic, to promote his movie that lambasted the president.

is it me, or are there just too many democrats appearing in conan's show? sure, they're there to promote a new moview, a new show or something, but are those things exclusive to democrats and republicans have nothing new to offer?

now, why am i fretting about such things when they're obviously irrelevant to me? i am, after all, a filipino, having no real business with american politics. well, the time i've spent in st. blog's parish has exposed me to how average americans view the democratic party being, as mark shea puts it, the "evil party" for their overwhelming support for abortion. i've taken this view for myself too, and i'm appalled at the good publicity they get on shows that mostly cater to young people who're also being malformed by the popularity of such a party.

Hawking Changes His Mind on Black Holes

the problem with the article is that it fails to define what the "information" is, i mean its nature and the way it is detected. anyway, this little anomaly shouldn't distract me from allowing me to see one of the many steps science has to take before it gets things right.

the paradox here is that science may not be a perfect science after all. scientific development will never deny that progress in understanding the universe usually demands scientists to make clean break from what has been previously accepted and embrace something totally previously considered unbelievable and absurd.

once such case was the number of blackholes in the universe. many scientists held onto the common notion that they were rare phenomena in the universe, but eventually they had to accept the observed fact that blackholes are in fact the cause of a galaxy's birth and the ones keeping them animated.

if we consider the long train of scientific history and the number of "hard science" discarded along the way, we should perhaps contemplate whether the accepted science we have now is any closer to the truth.

The significance of Decapitations in Islam

Syed Kamran Mirza says:

Obviously, had it not been the sacred custom of ancient Islam, beheading would be quite unnecessary method to kill enemies by those Islamic terrorists in Iraq. Those Islamic terrorists could easily kill their infidel enemies (such as Daniel Pearl, Nich berg, Kim Sun II, Paul Johnson etc.) by a simple bullet. But those militants actually wanted to give an Islamic veneer to the infidel slayings - because killing by beheading is considered most brutal and utterly degrading, and only western infidels deserve this type of brutal killing. In fact they only tried to follow the footsteps Prophet Muhammad and devoutly followed the Allah’s order in the Qur’an. Holy Quran is replete with the harsh verses which directly order Muslims to behead Kaffirs/infidels.

darn blog's becoming like jihad watch...

a work entitled "Qustion Authority: The Quran mentions beheading. Why does the U.S. press claim otherwise?" by Lee Smith appears at the references section. i could answer that: the US press is largely controlled by the media elite who are significantly letfists, not unlike here in the philippines. as i have mentioned in previous posts, leftists are the natural friends of jihadists, it is thus natural for them to never attack their friends. they simply don't want to demonize their friendly neighborhood crazy jihadists and will make all the excuses they can make for them.

I'm experiencing technical problems with Blogger

i wonder if they're upgrading their system or something. as i'm writing this post, i find that the preview option is missing and so are the other buttons in that level. the other buttons remain but the other options thingy were you could change the date and time has grown monstrously huge.

anyway, i decided to post on how i've managed to finish two books yesterday. one from chesterton and one from the author of "one hundred years of solitude," which happens to be a short 143-page book anyway.

later, i might decide to read another of chesterton's books, but i'm also thinking of taking an alternative course and have a perusal of his detective stories. but whilst i was taking a break from chesterton, i also finished the belloc's essay on mohammed's enduring and lasting heresy the day before yesterday.

all this furious reading activity reminds me of rizal's sojourn in europe. he, and his friends who would later on comprise the propaganda movement in europe, would inform each other of the stuff they were reading, as well as their adventures and misadventures. i didn't throw away the photocopies of the english translation episolario rizalino that i used for the paper i did on rizal earlier this year.

rizal, especially, kept himself busy all day by reading and writing. he seldom went out, and he did so only to save money and save face. ambeth ocampo, in his book Rizal Without the Overcoat, mentioned how rizal would often leave his boarding house during meal times so that he would avoid the predicament of being invited for a meal by his landlord or landlady since he didn't have the money to pay for them. he instead went about the city we was living in and went back to the boarding house an hour or so later and pretended that he had a good meal elsewhere.

ok, i don't have to pay for my meals in my own house, but this stuff on food did remind me that i haven't had my dinner. as often is the case with me, i've overslept, and my dinner was already in the ref. anyway, as rizal probably would have done, i decided to go back to my reading and writing, eerrrr, blogging.

The Great and Enduring Heresy of Mohammed

just read it. its accounts are as frightening and contemporary as the stuff in jihad watch, but do note that it was written in 1938!

More violence in Palestine

muslim youth learns to be creative with his cellphone cam:

According to some witnesses, a young Muslim man using a cellphone with camera took picture of a Christian woman in a clothing store. It is not clear, as some maintain, whether the photographed woman was just looking at clothes or actually trying them on in one of the store’s changing rooms.

The woman accused the young man of taking her picture without her consent. The store owner tried to stop the man who in turn tried to run away in a taxi cab. His flight was short-lived for he was eventually stopped by the woman’s brothers who had rushed to the scene. The taxi was smashed and the young man beaten.

Having fled to a nearby mosque, the would-be “photographer” called in brothers and friends. In the open area in front of the mosque hundreds of people gathered, Christians on one side, Muslims on the other, first facing each other, then clashing with sticks and metal rods. The giant brawl was eventually quelled by the police. Some people were slightly hurt, but no one was seriously injured.

but of course, what muslim would believe that one of their own was guilty of such things? they're all saints after all, destined for paradise and the 72 virgins. unfortunately for him, the brothers of one of those virgins didn't care about their superior status... hehehehe...

Sex, sex, sex, sex, sex, then AIDS

The United States' insistence on abstinence rather than condoms as a primary way of keeping out HIV, its trade policies and funding methods have drawn furious criticism at the conference, the biggest gathering ever of AIDS scientists, activists, policy makers and HIV-infected people.

Critics say a vow of abstinence is difficult to maintain and, when broken, can lead to unprotected sex, raising the risk of HIV infection that could effectively be blocked by a condom.

Tobias was jeered by protesters chanting "he's lying," "people dying," when he was about to defend U.S. policies in a speech at the conference Wednesday.

would any of these people seriously, i mean seriously, consider having sex with someone who's HIV-positive, even with a condom? would you consider it if you knew that condoms are effective 87% of the time? with that rate, one would assume that the condom is highly effective. it is, if you only have sex with a condom once.

but what if you have sex frequently, let's say 20 times a month, perhaps as a male with multiple partners. a failure rate of 13% multiplied by 20 would mean that there's a possibilty that in those 20 sexual encounters, you would have been infected 2.6 times. small chances, yes; big consequences, definitely, even if the chances are small.

the conference is in thailand, if they need proof about the success of an abstinence program, they should look no further but cross the sea and head to the philippines. for we we're a mystery for most of these morons. while AIDS is spreading throughout the world, especially where condoms have been regularly supplied, our country has not catched up with the trend, perhaps a good side of our "backwardness."

that's why our example is usually ignored by most pro-condom lobbyists. we're an aberration sticking out like a sore thumb since we have a surprisingly tiny number of AIDS cases relative to our large population in spite of the fact that we don't have a condom policy. for a population nearing 80 million, we have less than a thousand cases! why? because our population is not as sexually promiscuous as they are and most of our young men do not really visit prostitutes. we may not have a structured abstinence program or policy set in place by the government, but it is nonetheless ingrained in our culture and morality.

i believe the US is right on this one. feeding condoms into the AIDS problems will be like putting out a fire with petrol.

Chesterton said it better:

"It will not be necessary for any one to fight again against the proposal of a censorship of the press. We do not need a censorship of the press. We have a censorship by the press."

I love it when Filipino journalists lie

they're too easy to spot!

why? because they simply parrot lies made by people elsewhere. filipino journalists don't exactly have the talent for coming up with fresh, original ideas, but given the chance, they can squeeze in as much lies as they can put in one sentence and hope that they can get away with it. here's some of the more obviuos ones:

"So it is one thing for the U.S. to send its brave but invariably poorest sons and daughters to die in the battle in droves, for the control of Iraqi oil for the lion’s share of Iraqi reconstruction; it is quite another for the Philippines to sacrifice one of its most precious economic resources for the sake of the U.S.."

again, the basic lie: the coalition went in for oil. riigggghhttt... it's absurd really. first, the US could've easily gotten more oil if it left saddam alone and removed its sanctions. once iraq returns to normal oil production, prices of oil would've fallen drastically because more oil would've been available in the market. that would've been the simplest and cheapest route. but did the US take that? it didn't of course. it had to spend hundreds of billions of dollars to fund the war and its reconstruction but did it get the lion's share of the money alloted for it? ask the french and german subcontractors who have benefitted. plus oil prices hiked because of the war, did it help them at all? all the evidence points clearly that if oil was the US's prime motive, they could've taken hundreds of cheaper, more sensible alternatives than war.

but wait, what's this sudden talk of the OFW being our greatest resource? really? the fearless journalist has finally shifted from his materialist stand and actually embraced the concept that an individual is actually an economic resource rather than a burden? hardly. he's still seeing it from the fact that they're raking in foreign currencies while the rest of our compatriots in the philippines are leeches burdening the economy. the only difference is that guy made it abroad and the rest haven't. he's rooting for the guy with the dough, i mean the one who's been helping the economy. rrriiiggghttt...

"But when a Filipino hostage is killed because the Philippine government submits to U.S. pressure and refuses to negotiate with the terrorists, the message is that the terrorists can go on abducting and killing Filipinos, if only to teach the Philippines and not just its government the price we will have to pay to stay slavish to the United States because we can never get back at the terrorists -- certainly not with the 51-man “humanitarian” mission we sent to Iraq.... Not to give in to the demands of the terrorists would only give a passing pleasure to the U.S. government and a sense of vindication to some western reporters whose work is typified by the delighted coverage of the target shooting by superb Israeli marksmen of a Palestinian child cowering behind his father’s back. For that casual pat on the back from a big brother and a fleeting tribute from CNN, think of the price: the death of de la Cruz may send the wrong message to Filipinos out there in the Middle East that we Filipinos back here in Manila are prepared to see every last one of them killed so long as we keep America happy."

i don't know, poor proofreading? or just poor logic? i'll take the latter. first, he should be honest enough to admit that these people are fanatics on the verge of insanity, not unlike our journalist here. jihadists will abduct, kill and terrorize filipinos even if the nearest american is a billion miles away. we've seen it before with the abu sayyaf. negotiations or not, these people will kill simply for the pleasure and honor of killing an infidel. they have no reason for negotiations, they have nothing to give in return, even a person's life, for these people have no honor and and they're proud about their murderous deeds. just take a look at the attack at saudi last month. filipinos were killed, but was it for a cause of liberation or just the cause of jihad? did the OFWs made any reactions that they were placed there by the government in harm's way? filipinos, like americans, are everywhere. it's easy to get one and have him paraded on tv for various islamic causes. to portray one man's death as a betrayal on the government's part is bullshit.

i could've been kidnapped in the manila and the government would'nt earn the extraordinary responsibility of paying a ransom for me. why? because it would encourage more thugs to do the same. similarly the US wouldn't care less if the government refused to give in to my abductors' demands. whether the US is involved or not, giving in to these fine examples of humanity would be in itself scandalous.

our wise opinion maker says that US engaged in aggression against a sovereign country. here's news, those jihadist have also engaged in aggression against the very sovereignity of the philippines itself. the difference is that we've allowed a small band of thugs to dictate us and they don't even represent sovereign iraq! isn't this more degrading than being called the US's puppy? the happiness of the US is no longer the issue here, it is our stand against the very terrorism that we've experienced so far.

journalists are fine examples of terrorism so far. they may have not abducted someone and threaten his life, but they have held hostage truth itself.

Yeah, I've been reading too...

i've always wanted to once more explore the literary world hidden away in my cabinet. but i could never force myself to do it. i've read, in one way or another, all the books found therein but experience has shown me that i could only read a piece of literature twice. case in point, hemingway's "old man and the sea." i've read that short piece back in high school and read it once more in college. then one summer, i found myself cleaning my room and i found it lying between some of my "professional" books. i wanted to read it again, partly for leisure and partly to finally understand what it was all about. i tried to, but i think i covered only a quarter of the book.

you see, the first perusal of the book for me is a bit of an introductory phase, testing the waters if you will, getting the initial ideas and emotions of the book, learning what it is generally about, that sort of thing. then my second attempt on the same book would usually involve a deeper appreciation of the contents, i try to be slow, i try not to skip details as i would do in my first encounter with the book, and basically approach with a more "scholarly" sensitivity. the second attempts don't always work, partly because i'm too impatient to finish a huge book, if it happens to be long, and partly because of a subconsciuos pressure for me to finallly learn it since there wouldn't be a third try.

thus, i've found myself having to plan for that same situation just a few moments ago. i've finally finished a chesterton form each genre, non-fiction, fiction, essay and poetry. and i'm also in the middle of another book he wrote. i'm planning to at least read all his works once, and then reread the more interesting ones again. i must admit that i like his style, although there are moments when he simply loses me, but he isn't a bore, just "heavy."

Semantics?

verlaine retorts:

is teaching not a means of promoting?

yes verlaine, to a certain extent it is. i admit, teaching a doctrine could be taken as a "promotion." but a teaching on sin doesn't necessarily mean that one promotes sin, does it? if i teach someone how to survive in the ocean if their ship sinks, would it also mean that i taught them how to drown themselves properly so that their deaths would be frighteningly quick? i wonder what survival training would include that. a teaching or doctrine taken in a negative or prohibitive sense would mean a whole new world completely alien to that which you've been musing about. and that's the stuff i wanted to know earlier. after all, islam prohibits a lot of things as well as promotes right?

It's official!:

we're the newest nation of spineless cowards.

the pull out may have been for a noble cause, a human being's life is at stake after all, but we may have only invited upon ourselves more wrath from our friendly neighborhood jihadists in mindanao. showing off such lack of determination and conviction in our cause will embolden more crazy fanatics to get be more daring in their fancy revelry in evil. we have finally taken the path the spaniards have taken, but as deadly events that took place after their withdrawal have shown, they have not freed themselves of the threat of the islamists even as they have tried to appease them. such will be our fate as well.

we have chosen for ourselves a trap-laden path, God help us all.

The Philippines: Once again the world's laughing stock

Congratulations to the brave Mujihadeen of the Islamic Army in Iraq for this glorious victory over the oppressors of the Muslims. Have you people noted what I have written here previously about courage and will? The Philippines are Muslim land and soon will be returned to Muslim rule. Truely the unbelivers have bowed deeply in submission and know the humiliation of their defeat.

Do you people yet begin to understand what Sheikh Osama bin Ladin meant when he spoke of the strong horse and the weak horse?

Do you not yet see the futility of warring against Almighty Allah (swt)?

Your grandchildren will be Muslim.

Allahu akbar

Posted by: Reza at July 12, 2004 09:09 PM

i would love to wring that guy's neck. sadly, though, i'm not a muslim.

Confessions of a Former Journalist

his isn't one of the blogs i regularly visit, but i could learn to like him.

It could happen:

the bad side of flirting..

A couple were invited to a swanky family masked fancy dress Halloween party. The wife got a terrible headache and told her husband to go to the party alone. He, being a devoted husband, protested, but she argued and said she was going to take some aspirin and go to bed and there was no need for his good time to be spoiled by not going.

So he took his costume and away he went. The wife, after sleeping soundly for about an hour, woke without pain and as it was still early, decided to go to the party. As her husband didn't know what her costume was, she thought she would have some fun by watching her husband to see how he acted when she was not with him.

So she joined the party and soon spotted her husband in his costume, cavorting around on the dance floor, dancing with every nice "chick" he could and copping a little feel here and a little kiss there. His wife went up to him and being a rather seductive babe herself, he left his new partner high and dry and devoted his time to her. She let him go as far as he wished, naturally, since he was her husband.

After more drinks he finally he whispered a little proposition in her ear and she agreed, so off they went to one of the cars and had passionate intercourse in the back seat. Just before unmasking at midnight, she slipped away and went home and put the costume away and got into bed, wondering what kind of explanation he would make up for his outrageous behavior. She was sitting up reading when he came in, so she asked what kind of time he had.

"Oh, the same old thing. You know I never have a good time when you're not there." Then she asked, "Did you dance much?" He replied, "I'll tell you, I never even danced one dance. When I got there, I met Pete, Bill Brown and some other guys, so we went into the spare room and played poker all evening."

"You must have looked really silly wearing that costume playing poker all night!" she said with unashamed sarcasm.

To which the husband replied, "Actually, I gave my costume to your Dad, apparently he had the time of his life."

from an email a friend sent me.

One of those things

reading the various ruminations of our enlightened elite, i somehow get the perception that our munificent jihadists have already gained victory even if the philippines has not formally withdrawn from iraq. the predictable reaction of our patriotic opinion makers only show that we are powerless in the face of such a threat to our civilization, and their beloved jihadists are probably enjoying such a spectacle. it is the same spineless predictableness of our media elites that will probably encourage more of our heroic jihadists to do more savagery and barbarity because they know they could get away with it while the media will hail them as heroes fighthing for a lawful cause, even if their tactics are viciously aimed at defenseless people trying to make a meager living from scraps. instead of putting the people's outrage in its proper place, our fearless columnists divert the anger at the people who're trying to do the right thing in iraq, our troops and the aid-workers. they shouldn't be there in the first place, they all sing in chorus. when should they go there? when everything's peaceful, when the militants have ended their war, or in other words, when they're no longer needed? this is precisely the moment they are most needed there, the jihadits know this, but i guess our brave arm chair strategists in the local newspapers are too enlightened to notice it.

Wait a minute...

verlaine says:

"i don't remember despair being promoted in the islam faith. but if that's the case, no wonder i turned out to be a happy-go-lucky kinda person."

here's my original entry where i posted on question on wheter islam has anything to say about despair:

"does islam have any teaching on despair? i know, suicide is not all exclusive to muslims, but i do wonder. despair is actually considered a sin in christianity, but i doubt if most christians know that."

where in the that quote did i mention, implied or otherwise, that islam promoted despair? i merely wanted to know its views on despair. (sigh) it's another misunderstanding i guess...

Ignorant editorial somehow gets it

radical islam is hell bent on killing filipinos simply because they are christians, just read the jihadists' accounts of their heroic exploits in saudi last month. the connection with the US is actually relatively irrelevant. huh? i mean that these guys are still suffering from the hangover from their defeat in the crusades, which by the way culminated in the battle of lepanto in 1571, centuries after the first crusades in the holy land. it didn't end the growth of islam, but it did end their aggression. anyway, contemporary jihadists only see in the US a new crusading country out to get islam. why? perhaps because the US is a christian country, and one that isn't afraid to kick them in the arse. but even if the US is nowhere in the scene, they would be just as happy beheading poor, defenseless kafir slaves.

their rationale, after all, is that kafirs shouldn't be in power, allah forbids it! it is therefore a pious act for rightheous muslims to rid their lands of infidels who are there to subvert the power of allah, even if they are practically playing subservient roles in the islamic world in the first place.

am i then addicted to harrassing to islam and its followers? i am not, but they are in the news. i care not for them, in fact a news blackout should be imposed upon their publicity stunts. media attention is merely driving them to commit even graver atrocities to outdo those that have gone before them. but then again, i would love al jazeera to air the savagery of their heroic jihadist every hour so that arabs would eventually rid themselves of their notion that muslims could do no evil. remember how muslims denied that a pious muslim like osama bin laden could have perpetrated the 9/11 attacks? i wonder if they still believe that osama's still innocent. better still, perhaps we could see a movement where a greater number of muslims would be so disgusted at their co-religionists that they would just leave islam. greater in the sense that such a phenomena has already been observed by former muslims.

no, i wouldn't and couldn't care less about jihadists, but when they're capable of bombing the train i'm taking (which almost happened to me), or the bus i'm about to board, or the mall where i've been killing time, or the plane i've taken, or the office building where i simply found myself in, then they'll get my full attention, even if i don't like it. heck their awful music videos of islamic chants with vignettes of their training camps or their suicide operations don't really appeal to me at all. their grotesque souvenir photos of chopped hands and heads don't interest me either. but when suicidal morons are close enough to kill you or those whom you love, one must be alert.

Could he still be alive?

he's probably dead.

those people, after all, are fond of killing innocent people, as long as they are kafirs. they don't distinguish between combatants and civilians when kafirs are involved, since they are sub-humans according to their creed. they probably would love slitting the throat of a filipino or blowing his brains up just like their jihadist comrades in saudi last month, invasion or none. after all, the filipino truck driver was part of an invading force and defiling a holy islamic land.

this is what you get when your creed perfectly fits a completely logically circle. it doesn't transcend arabia but rather centers itself to it. eventually this circle will grow smaller than it is now, it will eat itself until it destroys itself. meanwhile, it is up to us to help it along that path to self-destruction.

Suicide again

it's frighteningly insane!

The number of people committing suicide is increasing in Pakistan

does islam have any teaching on despair? i know, suicide is not all exclusive to muslims, but i do wonder. despair is actually considered a sin in christianity, but i doubt if most christians know that.

"Not only is suicide a sin, it is the sin. It is the ultimate and absolute evil, the refusal to take an interest in existence; the refusal to take the oath of loyalty to life. The man who kills a man, kills a man. The man who kills himself, kills all men; as far as he is concerned he wipes out the world. His act is worse (symbolically considered) than any rape or dynamite outrage.
For it destroys all buildings: it insults all women. The thief is
satisfied with diamonds; but the suicide is not: that is his crime.
He cannot be bribed, even by the blazing stones of the Celestial City. The thief compliments the things he steals, if not the owner of them. But the suicide insults everything on earth by not stealing it. He defiles every flower by refusing to live for its sake. There is not a tiny creature in the cosmos at whom his death is not a sneer. When a man hangs himself on a tree, the leaves might fall off in anger and the birds fly away in fury: for each has received a personal affront. Of course there may be pathetic emotional excuses for the act. There often are for rape, and there almost always are for dynamite.But if it comes to clear ideas and the intelligent meaning of things, then there is much more rational and philosophic truth in the burial at the cross-roads and the stake driven through the body, than in Mr. Archer's suicidal automatic machines. There is a meaning in burying the suicide apart. The man's crime is different from other crimes--for it makes even crimes impossible."

(GK Chesterton, Orthodoxy)

might i add that suicide is the final act of despair, for despair has made the man made for hope insane.

Pollution 'changes sex of fish'

could it be? pollution: an alternative to sex change surgery for humans

The BBC still doesn't get it

it midly critizes president bush for advocating abstinence to fight the AIDS epidemic, implying therefore that the method is entirely futile. but it isn't. the BBC still plays the old lie that condoms are still the best weapon against AIDS. perhaps it should investigate how proponents of bush's global aids initiative are "pushing abstinence [as] the only way to tackle the disease in a continent like Africa where" since the "campaigns promoting the use of condoms have failed to halt the disease." exactly! the US is right to shift to another strategy to combat the virus since the method the BBC loves has been an utter failure. but it chooses to ignore this by seeing "this provision as thinly disguised Christian moralism which is at best paternalistic, and at worst a sure-fire way of endangering lives by failing to place sufficient emphasis on condoms." riiiggghhttt...

Journalist betrays his complete lack of balls

oh gee we're scared...

to pull out not only means giving in to the demands of the militants, it also legitimizes their acts. it made a small group of people push around the sovereign republic. these are evil people. war or no war, they would have done the same inhumane crimes they've committed. the war only gave them the excuse to do freely and overtly what they were brainwashed to do, that is, do jihad. a greater majority of iraqis need the coalition to stablize the situation in their country for they know that if they pull out, these monsters will be taking over the country and turn it into afghanistan. again, like other idiots writing for our newspapers, this guy wants a short-term solution for what would be a long-term war. and like the predictable lot that they are, they have forgotten that the real enemy here is not the coalition, but militant islam. i think that their tirades against the US and her allies serve nothing but to mask and justify the evil that is radical islam, by shifting the public's outrage from the jihadists to the people fighting against them. stupid.

I found another literary gold mine

check it out

Random thoughts...

utter simplicity is complex, as complexity mere simplicity articulated in words. the contradiction between them exists only in the mind, for the difficulty of expressing the simple things lies in the fact that utter simplicity cannot be rendered into something overwhelmingly complex as simple words.

Leftist intellectual wants troops back home

Filipino contingent reacts: nah, we'd rather stay here and do our job, thank you very much.

see how the Left knows exactly what everybody needs. they're oh so sophisticated.

Population Myth 8: Overpopulation is the chief cause of poverty.

"In reality, problems commonly blamed on "overpopulation" are the result of bad economic policy. For example, Western journalists blamed the Ethiopian famine on "overpopulation," but that was simply not true. The Ethiopian government caused it by confiscating the food stocks of traders and farmers and exporting them to buy arms. That country's leftist regime, not its population, caused the tragedy.

In fact, Africa, beset with problems often blamed on "overpopulation," has only one-fifth the population density of Europe, and has an unexploited food-raising potential that could feed twice the present population of the world, according to estimates by Roger Revelle of Harvard and the University of San Diego.

Economists writing for the International Monetary Fund in 1994 said that African economic problems result from excessive government spending, high taxes on farmers, inflation, restrictions on trade, too much government ownership, and overregulation of private economic activity. There was no mention of overpopulation.

The government of the Philippines relies on foreign aid to control population growth, but protects monopolies which buy farmers' outputs at artificially low prices, and sell them inputs at artificially high prices, causing widespread poverty.

Advocates of population control blame "overpopulation" for poverty in Bangladesh. But the government dominates the buying and processing of jute, the major cash crop, so that farmers receive less for their efforts than they would in a free market. Impoverished farmers flee to the city, but the government owns 40 percent of industry and regulates the rest with price controls, high taxes and unpublished rules administered by a huge, corrupt, foreign-aid dependent bureaucracy. Jobs are hard to find and poverty is rampant. This crowding leads to problems such as sporadic or inefficient food distribution, but this problem is caused — as in Ethiopia — by that country's flawed domestic policies.

It is often claimed that poverty in China is the result of "overpopulation." But Taiwan, with a population density five times as great as mainland China's, produces many times as much per capita. The Republic of Korea, with a population density 3.6 times as great as China's, has a per capita output almost 16 times as great.

The Malaysian government abandoned population control in 1984, ushering in remarkable economic growth under free market reforms, while Ecuador, Uruguay, Bulgaria and other countries complained at the International Conference on Population and Development in Cairo that though they had reduced their population growth, they still had deteriorating economies."

err, what she said.

Italian weirdness

why do i have the feeling that everybody that share or use to share the christian heritage are deliberately trying their very best to promote and sustain being onion-skinned instead of the opposite? it is no wonder then that jihadists have the best weapon in their hands: terror. so do not be surprised how a handful of mentally instable men committed enough to pursue their lunacy even unto suicidal depravity could easily put such societies in their grips. we need REAL martyrs...

To stay

or not to stay

that is the confusion provided by the media. take note that both articles had the same source: associated press.

i don't know how keeping the scheduled pull out of our troops by august is tantamount to giving in to the insurgents' demands, but hey, let's spin it that way, perhaps those militants will believe it. i do sure hope that it works though.

but then again, there's something back in my mind wishing that this filipino hostage would be different from the rest. one italian hostage did try to make his death heroic. if the worst comes, the filipino should at least try to do the same. after all, he didn't come from the same race and creed of cowards who kidnap defenseless people and proclaim their great courage for doing so but hide behind masks when they go on tv. he may be the least worthy of all martyrs, but this is his own shining moment.

This could happen to us:

"The ceremony marking the 25th anniversary of the revolution was led by Bishop Bismark Carballo, one of the bishops who was humiliated by the Sandinista regime by being exposed naked on television."

one should look forward to the same things if the Left is allowed to come into power. often enough, you see them squealing for their rights, their freedom of expression, as if theirs were truly being violated and trampled upon. but once they reach the heights of power, would they offer the same rights to those who dissent againts their psuedo pro-proletariat policies? to answer that, one need only to look at their brethren in power elsewhere.

Vatican's budget deficit fell by 29%

i wonder if we could hire these guys to balance our budget.

The Left: the jihadists' bestfriends

they would rather appease terrorists rather than kick their asses. it's a good thing they're not running the government. but i do fear the day when they will. the possibility of a leftist government will soon come when the parliamentary form of government is introduced. they already have some popular grassroots support as indicated by their performance in the last elections. the parliamentary system encourages such things and i am quite certain that the left will take full advantage of their strength in this respect. i hope we do not let the leftists triumph on this issue here as they have done in spain.

Jose Rizal's Ultimo Adios

1
Farewell, dear fatherland, clime of the sun caress'd,
Pearl of the Orient seas, our Eden lost!
Gladly now I go to give thee this faded life's best,
And were it brighte, fresh(er), or more blest,
Still would I give it thee, nor count the cost.
2
On the field of battle, 'mid the frenzy of fight
Others have given their lives, without doubt or heed;
The place matters not, cypress or laurel or lily white,
Scaffold or open plain, combat or martyrdom's plight,
'Tis ever the same, to serve our home and country's need.
3
I die just when I see the dawn break,
Through the gloom of night, to herald the day;
And if color is lacking, my blood thou shalt take,
Pour'd out at need for thy dear sake,
To dye with its crimson the waking ray.
4
My dreams, when life first opened to me,
My dreams, when the hopes of youth beat high,
Were to see thy lov'd face, O gem of the Orient sea,
No gloom and grief, from care and sorrow free;
No blush on thy brow, no tear in thine eye.
5
Dream of my life, my living and burning desire;
All hail! cries the soul that is now to take flight;
All hail! And sweet it is for thee to expire;
To die for thy sake, that thou may'st aspire;
And sleep in thy bosom eternity's long night.
6
If over my grave some day thou seest grow,
In the grassy sod, a humble flower,
Draw it to thy lips and kiss my soul so,
While I feel on my brow in the cold tomb below
The touch of thy tenderness, thy breath's warm power.
7
Let the moon beam over me soft and serene,
Let the dawn shed over me its radiant flashes,
Let the wind with sad lament over me keen;
And if on my cross a bird should be seen,
Let it trill there its hymn of peace to my ashes.
8
Let the sun draw vapors up to the sky,
And heavenward in purity bear my tardy protest;
Let some kind soul o'er my untimely fate sigh,
And in the still evening a prayer be lifted on high
From thee, o my country, that in God I may rest.
9
Pray for all those that hapless have died,
For all who have suffered the unmeasur'd pain;
For our mothers that bitterly their woes have cried;
For widows and orphans, for captives by torture tried,
And then for thyself that redemption thou mayst gain.
10
And when the dark night wraps the graveyard around,
With only the dead in their vigil to see;
Break not my repose or the mystery profound,
And perchance thou mayst hear a sad hymn resound;
'Tis I, O my country, raising a song unto thee.
11
When even my grave is remembered no more,
Unmark'd by never a coss naor a stone;
Le the plow sweep through it, the spade turn it o'er.
That my ashes may carpet thy earthly floor,
Before into nothingness at last they are blown.
12
Then will oblivion bring me no care,
As over thy vales and plains I sweep,
Throbbing and cleansed in thy space and air,
With color and light, with song and lament I fare,
Ever repeating the faith that I keep.
13
My Fatherland adored, that sadness to my sorrow lends,
Beloved Filipinas, hear now my last good-bye!
I give thee all, parents and kindred and friends;
For I go whee no slave before the oppressor bends,
Where faith can never kill,and God reigns e'er on high!
14
Farewell to you all, from my soul torn away,
Friends of my childhood in the home dispossessed!
Give thanks that I rest from the wearisome day!
Farewell to thee, too, sweet friend that lightened my way;
Beloved creatures all, farewell! In death there is rest!

Although the martyr puts himself into the arms of death freely, he nevertheless transforms the gruesomeness of his death into beauty, a canvass painted red with his blood. And though death is prominent in the painting, it is not the victor, for even if it acts supremely, it actually perpetuates the beauty of life, that of the martyr's and those for whom he died for. This is what typifies a real martyrdom: death serving the cause of life, supporting and nourishing it, giving breath to renewed hope. When death however plays the leading role, the false martyrdom of fear and darkness supplants the authentic expression of sacrifice, for in it beauty is lost and in its stead are revulsion, panic and the disfigurement of humanity itself.

In the age of radical fanaticism that demands the world to hearken back to an age of darkness and ignorance, of cruelty and blind faith, the only relief and true witness of the world lies in the hands of true martyrs whose faithful witness attests to the decency and strength of resisting evil, by resisting not its attempts to take that which the martyr would offer joyfully, his life.

The martyr seeks life not death, yet he willingly offers his own life rather than cower before death. He offers a powerful and supernatural witness that opposes and diminishes the martyrdom inspired by hatred and lust for blood. True martyrdom inspires and arouses hope and faith and courage among those to who would witness such a brief yet rich testimony of faith and complete abandonment to the martyr's cause and mission. The false martyr however brings despair, fear and doubt to all, for his victims and for those whom he had mercilessly ambushed.

The death of a true martyr is an oblation that seeks not retribution or fear but hope for the satisfaction of a debt, a redemption that builds upon hope and dispels the dreariness of blind faith and ignorance. The martyr offers himself up to a cause, one that is greater, more beautiful and truly beyond the limits of his own consciousness. And in the midst of the martyrdom itself, he does not seek himself, but the greater good, the salvation of all that took part in his death.

The imagery of such martyrdom belongs to all who understand, seek and long the prize of the purest and rarest of its form. Rizal's poem has masterfully captured the unforgettable beauty that such a violent and painful act would elicit from its heroes. It paints the martyr as he sees himself in his final moments, awaiting the act that will forever encapsulate his love for the cause for which he would offer his life. It carries none of the things that incite hate against those that have persecuted him, whilst tearfully reminding the martyr of his obligations to himself and his cause, to those for whom his life will be offered, and even his enemies, for the sublimity of a real martyrdom arouses the conversion even among the most hate-filled and stone-hearted adversaries.

His poetry, though the words and the style differ, is the same song all authentic martyrs sang as they faced their cruel death and embraced it ever so gleefully for the cause they have offered themselves and for those who have persecuted them so harshly. Not so for those who pretend that their martyrdom truly matters, for their mouths chant the mantra of illogical hate, of selfish bigotry and pride that leads to death that reconciles none and that binds the false martyr into the narrowness of himself.

It finally happened:

filipinos. abducted. kidnapped.

the gov't it seems is contemplating to give in to the jihadists' demands to pull out our troops from iraq. i wonder if they're just planning to take out the troops and leave our cops and aid workers there. the jihadists did demand for our "troops" to leave, but as far as the news reports i have here say, they did not mention our policemen and aid workers. plus with the relatively small number of the philippine contingent, i think it would be easy to have them leave iraq, after all, they do need the break. perhaps fresh troops could be sent in after the crisis is over. but i would strongly oppose any plan to have all our people leave iraq permanently because of these loonies. those guys are no different from the abu sayyaf, so why should we give in to their demands?

I want more of this

preferably with bigger wheels.

A Muslim scholar said:

"It is allowed to jeopardise your soul and cross the path of the enemy and be killed, if this act of jeopardy affects the enemy, even if it only generates fear in their hearts, shaking their morale, making them fear Muslims."

but the muslim council in the UK calls this guy:

"a consistent opponent of the extremism espoused by al-Qaeda and similar groups, and has regularly denounced the killing of innocent people in the 11 September attacks."

so this is what they call moderation. i wonder what radicalism is for them.

"Separated in Saudi hospital, Filipino twins back"

a highly equivocal statement

P600 million spent well

i hope they get some attack helicopters rather than just more UH1H's.

Why you should NOT trust the media

usually they muddle the story by inserting something irrelevant or erroneous, or simply by omitting a vital element of the story. but often the item is too obscure for the average reader to know and understand. perhaps it is the same for the media themselves. in this case however, the error has been too obvious and self-evident to ignore.

More pictures

of the tridentine rite celebrated so beautifully.

Real Martyrs [TM]

Would this ever scare the head-chopping jihadists?:

"the three beheaded, Felix, Regula and Exuperantius miraculously rose, carried their heads on their own hands, walked to the top of a hill, where they knelt, prayed and at last lay down."

Overpopulated? -- part 2

recently i came across an article in an online archive of a magazine. i was totally surprised when i read it since it fully supported my thesis that reducing a country's population will, in the long term, destroy its economy, rather than help it grow. the article itself presented the findings of a study, The Changing Workforce: Immigrants and the New Economy in Massachusetts. the study showed that Massachusetts actually suffered when its dwindling population wasn't able to support the economy because its "population growth rate is too low to sustain its current rate of economic growth, which will in turn increasingly affect its competitiveness on the world market." some of the other features of depopulation appears here.

the article appeared in a catholic magazine. i didn't want my post to be reeking of bias towards the catholic view, although i think catholics are the most visible in these circumstances, often looking more radical since the convention is to accept the views that i'm about to repudiate. so i searched for one from a secular source. and indeed i found one: Depopulation and Ageing in Europe and Japan:
The Hazardous Transition to a Labor Shortage Economy by Paul S. Hewitt. The article basically agrees with my thesis and elaborates further on how the depopulation trend will eventually lead to a crisis affecting those countries.

lately, we've heard that france and germany have been unable to sustain their economies, thus they got into trouble with the EU when they were also unable to fix their budget deficit. and to cap them off, their pension systems needed to be overhauled, because they couldn't handle the ageing workforce who are increasing every year. what you wouldn't learn from the press is that these are all related to the fact that they have been suffering from depopulation. i was right, therefore, to tie them all up and show that the problem lies in their population growth, or more precisely, the lack of it. the article, by the way, was published in 2002, before any of the symptoms of the depopulation have actually made headlines in the news.

considering this, i believe that that in the philippine context, the falsehood lies in equating depopulation with progress (lower population = development). this myth should be forcefully supressed with the light of the facts. the media has for years peddling this concept that their fellow filipinos are like bacteria infecting the country and that must be contained by reducing their population. i don't think it ever truly occured to them that their compatriots can become our nation's greatest resource, both in creating wealth and to creating markets. the real challenge lies not in reducing our greatest resource but in developing that resource. development does not equal reduction, for common sense forces us to want to increase our resources rather than let them diminish.

in fact the same article noted that the coming crisis in those ageing and depopulated countries will signal opportunity for the filipinos. indeed, we have seen the tip of the iceberg lately as the demand for filipinos abroad has increased. as filipinos, we have a lot to offer them, and they recognize these. filipinos are highly skilled, they speak english, they are more sociable compared to others, and culturally share many aspects with western culture. an additional challenge for us is to make ourselves more attractive to "needy" western countries and make them more aware of their need and the fact that we can satisfy them. we ought to be better than the competition, especially when they find themselves choosing between filipinos and muslim immigrants who could potentially be radicallized and then blowing up everyone the next day.

Ironic...

i saw commercial of a local optical shop, vision express, on tv. they showed their guarantee for eyeglasses available within an hour, but the thing is, the note was blurry and out of focus. would their products be the same?

Ely Pamatong and Eddie Gil:

the new Don Quixotes?

i for one believe that, just like learned pundits, fools have contributed much to the advancement of humanity. the fools from galilee and assisi are some i can abruptly identify. then again there are fools, especially those who came from austria and georgia, who have made humanity suffer.

interesting thought though.

Dump MS Internet Explorer?

The team, which advises the US government and is a senior authority on Net weaknesses, said that flaws in the software expose users to criminals who can spy on their activities, steal their personal details or send junk e-mail from their computers without them knowing. It said internet users should consider dumping the Microsoft software - which comes as standard installed on PCs - and switching to another web browser, such as the free Mozilla or commercial Opera products.

VULNERABILITIES IN EXPLORER

• Pop-up ads can silently download software that will use your computer to send out spam or install "Trojans" that watch your typing.

• E-mails by "phishers" can grab bank details by using malicious internet addresses preceded by a real one. If you open it with IE, you will only be shown the first part of the address, with the rest hidden. Users may trust the address and give the criminals their details.

• Another "phishing" attack uses the "fake address" method above and puts a pop-up window with an image of a padlock on top of the window. This looks like a "secure" website. IE has no built-in means to block pop-up windows.

• Some pornography websites use IE to silently download software that changes the computer's internet settings to dial a premium-rate number.

• One pop-up ad installs software that monitors whether you visit any of 50 banking sites, including Barclays and Citibank. When you do, it monitors your keystrokes and sends them to a website in San Diego.

(via jimmy akin's blog)

Evil lurking everywhere

an abu sayyaf member was arrested in makati:

Ibno Alih Ordoñez who was arrested July 1 at the vicinity of the Integrated Montessori, an exclusive school in Makati City. Initial investigation showed that upon arriving in Manila in 2001 Ordoñez engaged himself in the school bus service, owning one unit. It is still being determined if his coming to Manila was to lay low from the rebel atrocities or to serve as a "spotter" of the extremist group for potential targets in Metro Manila.

imagine that: an abu sayyaf that close to children, trusted with their care and safety. he gets to bring them to school and back home. they all come aboard his service vehicle, blissfully unaware that he has been involved in the kidnapping of dozens of children like them and the death of their teachers.

Nepali women ploughing fields in the nude to please rain god

would they be pleasing to human eyes as well? they're no models or porn stars after all...

Pimentel: KNP, kaput

he's weird. just a couple of weeks ago, he made many of us believe that he's delaying the canvassing proceedings for a legitimate cause, one for justice and the benefit of all filipinos. if that were true and that his allegations were in fact true, even if the president has been sworn into power and everything done, then his crusade for the "truth," which he and his colleagues in the opposition have been eager to uncover, should not end. thus, this sudden change in pimentel is suspicious on the ground that such abandonment of a cause happens only when the cause itself is worthless and baseless. should we then infer that pimentel and the opposition pursued a worthless cause and in fact wasted much of the public's time and patience? one may say that being a lawyer, pimentel merely played his part and "defended" his "client" even if all the odds, including perhaps the truth, are against them. i guess this could be a plausible reason, having marketed himself as a "man of principle" and being so, he should not back down on his principles. but then again this recent statement of his undermines that very principle. anyway, principles are good and people who stand up for theirs tend to be respected and admired, but shouldn't they consider first the greater good, the public before their little, narrow principles, especially when their principles happen to be about the common good? wouldn't it have been better if he surrendered his so-called principles beforehand for the common good of all filipinos, especially considering the fact that their claims were baseless and their actions petty?

Best I've seen so far

of pictures of the tridentine rite celebrated.

Some eye-opening stuff

(via Nihil Obstat)

In the message broadcast by Al-Jazeera television on 14 February 2003, Osama Bin Laden said: "The interests of Muslims coincide with the interests of the socialists in the war against the crusaders." After the bomb attack in Spain (14 March 2004), these words seemed almost prophetic.

a similar relationship exists in the philippines. the NPA has often called for a tactical alliance between them and the MILF, and i think this has actually taken place since i've heard some reports that npa rebels in mindanao already have access to rocket-propelled grenades, which are often associated with the muslim group. leftist groups in manila have also aligned themselves to the cause of "oppressed" muslims and the groups that represent them. they, after all, have a common enemy, it shouldn't be such a big surprise.

but here's another quote that i should highlight:

WRM: Is there a community of moderate Muslims in the Middle East that can help fight anti-Americanism?

MIG: They needn't fight anti-Americanism because they are fighting it by their way of life. Many of them appreciate the American movies or fashion. Even in Lebanon, several activists of Hamas go to MacDonald’s to eat.

Demoralized gov't techies resign from Supreme Court

it didn't surprise me at all. what surprised me was the fact that were actually "techies" working for the supreme court. the problem really lies in the fact that many institutions in the government are still highly resistant to technology simply because they are not "aware" of or initiated in them. plus toss in the clear lack of sense in priorities, they'll have the most hostile place for techies.

it will take time before digital and computer technology will be an integral part of our government. there are signs around obviously but since nobody really takes it seriously in the judiciary, the slow pace of development will merely drag on.

GMA on the proposed shift to a parliamentary form of gov't

"Ang problema sa presidential form hiwalay and independent ang legislative at executive. So magkatunggali by nature. Sa parliamentary form of government, they are one, so therefore, a decision of the executive presumes already that the legislative was part of the decision making." [the problem with the presidential form is that the legislative and executive are separate and independent. so they are adversarial by nature. in the parliamentary form of government, they are one, so therefore, a decision of the executive presumes already that the legislative was part of the decision making.]

i believe that the "adversarial" relationship between the executive and legislative branches of government were put in place so that neither branch could have and accumulate excessive powers. the presidential system we follow was designed by men who were fearful and suspicious of tyrants and potential tyrants, so they made sure that the separation creates a safeguard that will allow none of the branches of government to abuse the power given them and be despots, whether they be individuals or groups. the apparent slowness of the development of laws and their execution is what they wanted as a guarantee that nobody would be "railroading" any agenda that would be advancing the interests of those in power, and if such railroading happened, then there would enough time for concerned people to set up their opposition to the agenda in the usually manner or otherwise.

apparently, the motive behind the shift to parliamentary system is to remove the slowness of the process and the difficulty of creating concensus to get things done, especially in matters pertaining to the development of the country's economy. i believe the need to somehow ease and quicken policy making and execution in order to hasten the greater good is an acceptable and legitimate reason for pursuing such a change in the charter. but since i am not fully immersed into the various considerations and nuances of the parliamentary system, i am worried about how check and balances will be implemented to curb potential abuses, especially when both legislative and executive powers are exercised by a single body. but, in the same vein, my ignorance should not lead me to condemn the system altogether.

i have not formed a strong opinion on the matter. i am rather ambivalent at this point. anyway, i have noticed that those that have adopted the presidential form of government have a common historical development: they were former colonies, including the US. whereas those that have a parliamentary system emerged from a monarchial system, and in fact in many cases, their head of state is their constitutional monarch, if they had a historic monarchy to begin with. i don't know, this observation could be flawed in many ways. but i do think that given this, the parliamentary system would be, somehow, alien to the filipino. or i could be wrong, and they would instead be ambivalent as well.

Marlon Brando, 80

MTRCB to crack down on an ABS-CBN show

apparently, the purported practical joke show went too far and actually aired lewd scenes. it is, after all, an abs-cbn show. hardly any surprise there. like i said before, the country's leading media network is dumbing down its programming to reach the masses. i don't think it ever crossed their mind that people could actually be interested in edifying shows for a change.

perhaps the mtrcb should also take a look at their news programs as well. they ought to subject "journalists" like korina sancheza, doris bigornia and others to closer scrutiny. if they want to clean up abs-cbn, they should begin with bigornia's mouth.

but then again, in this "battle" i have no doubt that abs-cbn will eventually gain the upper hand. they have the influence, the money and most importantly, access to every home in the country through radio and television. they can easily twist the entire episode to fit their spin, and most people would accept it without question.

Watching Iron Chefs

the commentators keep on referring to the "sweetness of the carrots." i don't know what kind of carrot they were using, but i have never experienced carrots that way. are carrots supposed to be sweet?

Thai Rice Growers Are Getting Rich at China's Expense

i wonder where they got the technology to grow so much rice... but here we are, importing rice from them as well!

Feeling like going to the spa today?

take a look at this first:

More than half the hot tubs and spas in U.S. hotels, campgrounds, gyms and other areas open to inspection violate local or state health regulations, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said on Thursday. Inspectors found at least one problem with water chemistry, filtration and circulation or basic spa management on 56.8 percent of their 5,209 visits to sites in Florida and four other states in the summer of 2002... Poor hot tub maintenance can create a perfect environment for the spread of the bacteria that cause skin rashes and respiratory infections. There were 13 reported outbreaks linked to hot tubs between 1999 and 2000, affecting 183 people.

if it could happen in the states, it could perfectly happen here.

Canon Lawyers sue Kerry

On 14 June 2004 DE FIDE filed its first Libellus Litis (Bill of Complaint) in the Ecclesiastical Court of the Archdiocese of Boston. The Criminal Complaint alleges that United States Senator JOHN F. KERRY, as a baptized Catholic, has committed a court-martial offense under Canon Law by professing the Right-to-Murder heresy, commonly known as the "Right to Choose" doctrine.

Bravo! kerry, being an ardent supporter of abortion, ought not to win as president of the US. this lawsuit ought to do some damage in kerry's campaign but since i see no way the ecclesiasical court could "sentence" the defendant if he's found guilty in a manner similar to the courts of the state, the suit would, at most, be only instructive as to how erroneous his beliefs and "pro-choice" advocacy are.

on a larger perspective, this case is very relevant for filipinos since US policy affect us just as any other american, though not always in a manner completely visible to us. who knows how many millions more unborn human beings will die because of his policy?

however, i do consider that a backlash is possible in taking this approach. the US media, often controlled by leftist elements, could spin this off as "persecution" againts the "benevolent" kerry. so instead of instructing american catholics to vote against him, the suit could be used by the secular media to portray him as a martyr.

anyway, i'm surprised to discover that heresy is referred to as "Haeresis Criminatio."

so i guess it is possible to sue erring catholic politicians in an ecclesiastical court. i wonder if such a time would happen in the philippines.