Mob Rule Makes It "More Fun in the Philippines"?

 Some stupid people like myself, pay rent, do not steal from the Meralco and Maynilad to make sure there is a roof over my head and that of my dogs. I do not live in San Juan City where for decades some people lived in houses (probably some bigger than mine) - for free in another person's lot/or government property lot but heck, it was FREE. It never occurred to me it was "okay" to do so. In short, I  must seek psychiatric help perhaps, because I probably have an inferiority complex because I lack that "self entitlement" thingy -- by the way, is that part of the Pinoy Yabang sub-culture?  Like, I wanna take this lot, build my house and f**ck if I'm building in the area of a historical monument. Our heroes are dead anyway, I must be alive at all cost without paying rent, of course.


I must be needing some serious psychiatric care because I don't get IT. I was just at a social network (not Facebook) and some musician put out a video in support of  poor people from some barangay in San Juan City called Maria Corazon de Jesus (see why I am NOT religious?). These purportedly poor people had a collection of pillboxes, gas bombs, rocks, petrol bombs creatively prepared to use on their police force. Nope, it wasn't as if they were spontaneously asked to leave -- hey -- this one took months of negotiations and three warnings. Thus 18 policemen who were vainly trying to do their duty were hurt and reports say some of these "squatters" who refuse to be called squatters because it's politically incorrect. Okay, urban poor then. Urban poor people are the elite that politicians have to cater to every elections -- that's why people like Mar Roxas have to ride the trycicle.


This incident saddens me. Not because people wanted to start some mob-rule and started a street war hurt others and themselves (I am selfish) but because damn! Imagine, I missed all those years of free rent plus the promise of relocation. I mean how stupid was I! And here am I slugging it out with the keyboard at this hour because I make some living at this hour. Wasn't that utterly stupid of me? I've been conned by my own sense of decency! Bayan isn't fighting for my rights, that stupid leftist band is not providing me with free music and I won;t even sleep because tomorrow I am having part of my roof fixed. Heck, and all I want is a house at Don Antonio Heights or Timog Ave or even here at Toro Hills -- and I am paying for it? That sucks. I also do not get the promise of relocation for me and my dogs. PLUS relocation where there is water and employment! Wow, I've missed out big time! Okay, Mayor Herbert Bautista (poor guy), I demand a house and I like it on the main highway near the People Power Monument! Yah hear me!!!! :)

Yep, it's in my head. Maybe it's the Catholic education that makes me loathe myself so much that makes me feel that collecting stones to bash some police head is wrong. Or that grouping with other people illogically with the intent to ransack other private houses is wrong. Or that creating petrol bombs to hurl at the municipal hall of a woman mayor along with drunk or stoned "hunk men" is immoral. It's wrong that I do not love violence, I do not want to kill anyone, I pay rent, I pay those fantastic Meralco bills and my cellphone is just MY PHONE (as in Made in the Philippines).

Maybe it's pride? Okay, I shall go to confession and confess my pride and then demand from Mayor Herbert Bautista the RIGHT to occupy anther's  property. Isn't it fun in the Philippines? My, my, my, then I shall be in the most "elitist" class in Philippine society called the urban poor lauded by BAYAN and Karl Ramirez' leftist band.

Watch out Herbert!

Weird Christmas Gifts You can give Your Friends and Pseudo-Friends

If you wish to take this seriously, fine. It's just that the season is beginning to BORE me and I've done my shopping last November to make dang sure that I do not get caught for five hours at EDSA (is it true they plan to re-name the road Cory Aquino Highway?? Lmao! )


Here are several gift suggestions anyway and they're NOT all expensive:


1. Wrap a bulb and give it to someone who needs to have more ideas. Oh, and make it the energy saving bulb - indicate in your gift card that you wish him/her better ideas for the season. Write something like: "every time you light this bulb, by some magic, you'll get to think of new ideas". Perfect for stagnant minds.


2. Buy a coconut and drink the coconut water and finish the "white meat" too. Now, gift wrap this one in a newspaper and give it to your annoying environmentalist friend. Write: "I know you can recycle anything, so I have you this to figure out.. please, no more "bunot" (foor scrub), I expect better from you... ".


3. Buy a meter of steel matting for your annoying roomate, classmate, gym mate... write "Here, please hang this on your wall and that's where you can hang all your keys, your clothes, your dirty stinky gym outfit and that's a space saver.. heck, you can hang all your amulets, beads, religious stuff there too along withh your dangling Korean bling blings and fake jewelries... " 


4. A huge Styrofoam bloc is also a great gift idea. Write: "Happy Holidays.. I decided to give you this to save your life. IN case of floods in your area, you can use this as your life saver. Just hang on to it and when the floods start to come in do not worry.. helps you float... "


5. A gift for your fanatic pet lover friend ? Do it yourself, bake some chicken liver biscuits , use whole wheat flour and wrap it as attractive as possible. Write: " know you love your pets, so I am giving you these... your dogs would love these cookies... I know you want them happier than you are this season and I understand". (NOTE: your dog lover friend may actually LOVE you for that).


6. Your twisted co-worker needs a gift and she thinks she knows everything? Aside from rope (in deference to Judas whom some historical people feel wasn't really a "BAD" guy) and arsenic (that would be murder) you can try something more creative! Get the prettiest box you can find. Wrap it with picturesque lace (if possible) and hire some fiverr member for 5 bucks to print out a really great logo with her name on it. Then, place NOTHING inside the box. Send it with this note :" I thought of you this Christmas even if you are a twisted old braggart who pretends to know everything... still, I thought of you. This gift is YOU... it is empty inside much like YOU are, but hey, isn't it the thought that counts?". 

7. For your friend who talks too much about home renovation, buy some duct tape (it's great for insulation) and wrap and send, " I know you love home insulation stuff  and you keep talking about it, so I am sending you this present with hopes that no one finds the need to use it...."

Call USA FROM ANYWHEREE FREE UNLIMITED this Thanksgiving

My best friend Diane and I chatted like forever using THIS. Yes, Click that and you get unlimited calls to the USA for Thanksgiving Day and the next.


Mechanics is super easy. Register your email and state your landline or mobile number. They give you a call back and make sure that your phone is really yours. Then you have the option of downloading their virtual phone and they also give you your virtual phone number. Anyone that you dial virtually is FREE (as long as they're also registered in this so-called LOCAL PHONE programme).


This is cheap (almost free)  and sounds BETTER than Skype. More so, you get to use your real land line and yet it's just like a local call. Like calling someone in the next room:)

GO FOR IT!


By the way, do not be impressed by talks about DID (means only Direct Inward Dialing btw) and all that stuff. We did the best research on that and ANYONE can come up with a name like Superior Techsexlogy and get an office address and RESELL voip. It goes this way :

Okay, so NO ONE can claim to have invented DID or DIDx unless she is INSANE. If anyone did, I invented air and the electric fan... GET MY POINT? If you need more info (so you don;t get conned, scammed by al these technological terms go HERE so you KNOW what other people are taking about :)

If you are into android try FRING.com!

(written by  podblogging )

Hillary Clinton - Conversations in Manila

 
 Was fortunate to have seen it LIVE.... now, looking for the feed. Have a LOT of notes but it's better with the LIVE feed replay (redundancy?) WHERE is IT GMA Network??? Maybe someone had to edit the "feed" to remove this pic of a lone woman protestor who was shouting as the questions and answers were going on at the National Museum.



I promised adorable Maxine Magalona who asked the US Secretary of State the FIRST question that I "almost had the important portions" of the interview verbatim. Maxine is 24, smart and beautiful and asked what advice can Clinton give people her age who are in digital technology. Clinton replied, "Think of the role you can play for your country..." Hillary brought to mind the case of young girl like Maxine who felt it was unfair for her credit card to add a 5% (or was it 5 bucks?) rebate and she took on to Facebook and Twitter and ultimately, millions joined her cause and she "won".

What's inside Secretary Clinton's purse? She said has a huge purse. "Aside from make up and Blackberry and (all kinds of) papers, my Ipod..where I confess most are newsite.. I am a child of the 60's, the Beatles, the Who and the Rolling stones plus I like classical music when I 'm relaxing... "

Pulitzer winner Antonio Vargas was there and asked Mrs. Clinton about the issue of immigration. (Vargas is the Filipino who won the Pulitzer and was an illegal alien in the USA and subsequently confessed) Hillary said : "America is a dream as much as a place.. and so i think it's important that even if someone is in the US illegally should be treated as those who are not..I illegally disagree with some decisions in my country ..so immigration is a hot issue... those who play by the rules have certain rights... we are still a nation of immigrants attracting people and proud to do so."

(On Gloria Macapagal Arroyo : frankly, I didn't quite get it. But she did say that she has received NO request from the former President and should the United States receive any request then they shall decide whether or not they would act on it (or grant it) or otherwise. She was very careful it seemed about this question. Nice thing though, is that she did NOT deny that GMA was their friend.)

Would she want to be President or Veep again? Her reply : "No. I am looking forward
to the next phase of my life.. I told President Obama I will be moving after he gets reelected, well, I think he will get reelected anyway and Vice President Joe  Biden is doing a great job... " About Bill Clinton: " we really support each other in whatever we do, I think that my work as a housewife is consequential to The Clinton Initiative.."

This is your second visit to the Philippines, why do you come here so often? "I like coming to the Philippines, i think I have come two or three times and I don;t remember (how many times) when Bill was president...I have found it a little bit bad that people in your country have to leave home..we signed today something (unclear) ...we really are betting on you. Its much broader than the issue of strategic (unclear) .... this has to be the Philippines time, we're betting on you.. I really believe inn the future of the Philippines as passionately as I can. We'll help you meet the challenges in whatever has to be done to grow this country... "

She hears the lone protestor shout (lol!) she says "I strongly disagree about what the young woman  was shouting but that was very nice of her to sit down and express herself...." (she has a sense of humor! I love her!)

Given three days vacation what would you do? " If I had three days, I would go home and go to bed."

More, "Think of the role you can play in helping your country. You have to make sure your government is responsible, responsive.. my hope is I'll come back again in ten years and really see some positive changes."

Okay Tweeps.. did I basically get it all right? By the way, the lone protestor was the editor-in-chief of the UP Collegian. @Philippinebeat says : The woman who screamed earlier had a folded piece of cloth with "Junk VFA" on it which went undetected by security.



Pic above taken by @Momblogger (Noem Lardizabal-Dado)

Book Review, Chrystallia and the Source of Light

Very seldom do we come out with a book review and this is one of those moments." Chystallia and the Source of Light" by PM Glaser is supposed to be book for children from ages 10-13 much as Exupery's "The Little Prince" is a book also meant for kids. Both talk about feelings like love, fear, sadness and mortality. (In the case of  "The Little Prince", remember that the ending was rather "uncertain" -- I mean, what happened to the Little Prince remains a mystery except that when the Pilot (presumably the author) saw the stars, he "heard" his friend, the Little Prince to be laughing, or it was something that he felt (possibly imagined) in his heart. PM Glaser's story also has the "somewhat" ending but leaves the reader with a feeling of hope. Even optimism.

Like "The Little Prince", PM Glaser's book "Chrystallia and the Source of Light" is both simple and meaningful. It is about a 13 year old girl who utterly disliked her brother because she felt that since he was born her life began to suck, so to speak. She is the more pragmatic type who can only measure and believe what she can see, hold and actually call reality. Her younger brother however is the more hopeful type who believes that not everything one can measure or logically explain is the only reality. (Much like what is essential really is invisible to the eye). One can't blame Maggie, her older sister, because she knew that everything was going wrong -- her mother is dying and their house which was built by her own father is about to be foreclosed by the bank. Maggie saw these "problems" as FACT and REALITY and could not appreciate why the heck her younger brother was so obsessed by rocks and crystals when everything was falling apart. 

Story begins when again his brother gets his way and gets the Christmas tree he wants which she isn;t her choice. It's a Christmas story, but it may well be a story for every day because it is a story of hope, love, fear and every emotion that can make living so frustrating. It's also an adventure story because somehow (was it a dream?) both are transported into a world of Crystals where they get involved with a couple of ridiculous and sensible Crystal characters (yes the Crystals talk and are like humans). For instance, there's Princess Amethyst who strikes me as rather profound even if she's a talking and feeling crystal. There is also The Holy Clear which is much symbolic I think of religion and it's unreasonable demands. The Red Price, obviously is the "bad" guy in this story and the two siblings have to battle him and his minions -- which may mean simply fighting the negative emotions within ones self. I enjoyed the language in the book particularly the dialogue of these Crystal/Rock characters because it comes out so natural and even amusing. It's visual description (in words) is fantastic if you like wonderlands, magic, and Oz or something like that. You can actually SEE the words if you're a certain type of reader and it comes across as exciting, even if you are not a kid.

I also like the short journals before the next adventure is told. The best way to enjoy this book is to READ it without thinking of the life of the author in my humble opinion and simply READ and ENJOY it without trying to "connect" it with anything profound. It's when you don't frenetically LOOK for the "hidden meaning" when you really get to enjoy it and really THINK.... Questions like when does a dream and reality "meet" also comes to mind. Or even simple questions like what is a dream? Is is reality in disguise? The ending may seem vague.. even rambling.. but the HOPE is obvious and the LOVE is there. I guess, that is all that matters because it is what makes people both human and "immortal".

I extremely enjoyed this FUN book and yet-it has somehow touched my heart. The author is a fantastic writer.

Even Poliical Karma Can Be a Bitch

Even political karma can be a bitch. This is the YOU TUBE video that seems to have hit the million mark and no one in the Palace is saying ANYTHING sensible about it, except naturally, to deny it as political propaganda against President Aquino. One does not dismiss anything like this as "propaganda" and pretend that this video does not exist. Neither has anyone denied that what this video is showing is entirely false, well except for Presidential Deputy Spokesperson  Abigail Valte said there were some inaccuracies in the video.
  
“Nakita na ho namin ito nung kampanya, natawa pa nga ako dahil ang isa sa naisip ko baka naman po nong 2010 election [pa] ito, ngayon lang natapos kaya ngayon lang inilabas. Nalate ho ang delivery siguro,” was all she said. But she failed to point out what the truth and the "inaccuracies" were. Notice the term "inaccuracies", she never denounced it as a total lie -- and that is what is wrong with this President's Communication group. It seems they are too confident of the President's "popularity" that they can afford to perfunctorily dismiss such a video. Or perhaps someone may have advised the President that talking about it in public would only get to make the video "more popular", and mind you, in a sense that may be true.

But that would probably have been true 25 years ago. This is the age of E-politics and when a video damaging to the President can reach a million then he has a problem. Add the latest brouhaha over the "peace process" that obviously working and those new YOU TUBE videos of the latest gruesome beheading of innocent HUMAN BEINGS and I can understand why most people are appalled by this "type" of peace Process. As if those 19 lives of our soldiers were not enough of a sacrifice to "attain peace". What else must happen to convince the President that these people DO NOT WANT peace? And so do THESE PEOPLE - they do not want peace either. Go ahead,. click it. (it is too gruesome to display) 

Maybe the MILF are more reasonable or I still hope so even AFTER killing 19 young members of our Armed Forces. Then follows the Abu Sayyaf who do something as warped as PRAYING before beheading. Does the President know the people are angry, very mad, in fact, because EVERYTHING seems going "wrong". We wonder if we are even dealing with the RIGHT people or thugs who have not the slightest respect for LIFE - human or otherwise.

Coupled with the Cojuangco video and the frustration over high electric bills, more taxes, and the unavailability of even the most basic services in some parts of the archipelago, it becomes apparent that Pnoy has and keeps squandering his political capital (some call it popularity). Today, what picture do most have of President Aquino? A weakling who mumbles about Santa Claus at You Tube unable to reply directly  to a kid's question. C'mon... A non-working President who is fond of video games? A President whose government has no clear policy except to disallow ex-President Gloria Arroyo to get her treatment in the United States. I mean, c'mon, even Marcos allowed Ninoy Aquino to go to the US for humanitarian reasons. Sure, he promised Imelda he would not talk against the Marcoses then, but he broke his promise anyway after he managed to get his heart bypass inone of the best hospitals in the world and Ninoy Aquino was NOT an ex-President. Ninoy even was quoted to have said that he broke his promise because a deal with a devil doesn't hold yet the "devil" was more human it seems.

Then we wonder what has become of people now crying out that Ferdinand Marcos was better and that they are so sad and sorry that EDSA 86 ever happened. Probably,  we were all collectively scammed -- what have we become today as a nation with a penchant for telenovelas and heroes? Let Gloria Arroyo leave (there is no clear criminal charges against her as I type this unless you believe ANS-CBN ) for humanitarian reasons and bury Marcos (who was elected twice incidentally) with the dignity that every ex-President deserves.After Marcos, who was any better President anyway. They all stole too, didn't they?

There is a God...... and karma, even political karma, can be a bitch.
Uhuh.. and we brag that this is the only Christian country in Southeast Asia....my, God bless East Timor!

The Livestream Replay - Manila and NYC Radio Pinoy (Taglish)

Click (make sure you have windows media player 9)
pinoy-3.wpl

Thank you , as I said, it was such a privilege to have been able to interview Don Lino Celle of Radio Pinoy USA. Here is a portion of that global interview. Later, we continued the interview along with ITT and Journalist Jonathan Sowah. The interview lasted for about almost 2 hours! Yes, Don Lino was that interesting. 

It was a no holds barred interview and even Jonathan was amazed that this guy was REAL. Jonathan managed to join us when we got to continue the NYC interview. Don Lino talked about practically everything he could -- from the Middle East Crisis to the state of the Phil-American Community in the USA , Canada and The Middle East. Don Lino also told us about his meeting with Larry King and how even Donald Trump managed to notice him. We also talked about what was terribly wrong in Philippine culture. 

Don Lino has been in the USA for a bit more than 20 years. He is THE MAINSTREAM as far as the Philippine Global US community is concerned. He has been featured in the Wall Street Journal and New York Times. He also explains why some people think that "he is friends to most Americans and some Phil-Americans some Filipinos feel... " His point : he judiciously helps EVERYONE - of an nationality, thus, he is also close to the Italian Community.  WHY? Because he feels that it is the "obligation" of Radio Pinoy USA (RMN) to help EVERYONE. 

The case of Nicole Diamagke is one. She was a baby who would not LIVE without treatment in the help of Columbia Hospital in New York. The Philippine community also contributed and the US government heard of the case and granted them immigrant status. But that is only ONE story.... among many other cases, some not involving Filipinos but any nationality. 

For people of Pinoy Kubo dot com members and people who wish to get in touch with him, listen to his webcast. The final question I asked him is "What do you really want to accomplish?". Hear his reply on this interview. And yes, we also talked of the CIA, FBI and the Italian Community and other US Senators and ex-Senators of the USA.


We ran out of time during the Manila interview. Thus we decided to continue the interview in NYC where there was a really HOT exchange of ideas and political commentary. WE switched to NYC (you can hear that second part on this podcast also). WRMN New York gave us a "commentary fiesta" that no one who can understand Taglish (Tagalog-English) should miss. He zeroes in on the need of the priority of Filipinos helping others, especially within the Filipino Community instead of fashion hows, dancing, and parades. He also candidly admits that the so-called "crab mentality" is not helping the international image of Filipinos abroad particularly those in the United States. Notice our political commentary... yes, it was bold but real.

MORE HERE and it gets more interesting as Jonathan Sowah manages to join us. Hear the kind of wisdom we ALL can learn from this man.