Food Crisis
Last night, I was fortunate enough to catch BBC’s World Debate on food crisis. The panelists were some of THE authority in finance, agriculture, economics, and politics plus a farmer who wanted his side to be heard. The debate was intense but substantiated what causes the world wide crisis in food and how to potentially solve it.
Essentially, agriculture is being neglected. Most countries tend to put huge amounts of money on everything else except on agriculture. There is but little investment or help given to the farmers and they end up losing. They practically put in more capital than what they could earn because as prices go up, so do farming equipments like fertilizers and seedlings and poultry needs like feeds etc. Plus, they are also in competition with huge commercial farmers and imported products. They are forced to sell their goods at a much lower price just so they could earn a living. Most of these farmers do not even own their lands. The government is much too focused on other issues like politics, technological advancement or even urbanization and globalization. There is too much emphasis on globalization that the most basic of needs is being side swept: food. As more and more people go to the city, the demands for meat, rice and vegetable are increasing more than the farmers could handle. Some farmers, because of meager earnings and neglect from the government, tend to go to the city and look for jobs instead.
English and Comic Relief c/o Dense Modesto
It would be imprudent to equate intelligence with broken English. Nowadays, people seem to think highly of themselves whenever they could speak straight English when in fact, these so-called PINOYS cannot even speak straight Tagalog and worse, they prefer to speak TAG-LISH instead. Most of the pa-sosyal people and kids do that most of the time and that’s more irritating. Have these people not been taught at school that you speak one language at a time if you want clarity and cohesion? If you want to speak in English, then speak in straight English and vice versa with Tagalog. You do not add and mix these two languages to make it seem like your cool and hip and smart. It makes you look cheap and maarte, actually. But of course, not all good English-speaking Pinoys are like that and it would be stupid of me to make such a generalization.
To be honest, to be able to speak in English is essential because as we seek to move towards globalization, this language will help us gain the upper hand in getting a job or a career basically. I think it would be safe to equate good education or sufficient education with good English skills instead. Because not all well-educated, good English speaking people are intelligent, right? Some receive good education because they can afford it. But intelligence is rarely developed as it is mostly based in your genes. So some who receive good education and speak perfect English may not necessarily have the brains to think beyond speaking perfect English. Some.
Holy, Holy, Holy
Weeks before the Holy Week, the church usually recommends getting a confession, observing fasting and abstinence, eating no pork or beef on Fridays, praying the rosary, and guarding yourself from sin.
At the St. Therese Chapel at UPLB, I usually attend the 5:30 pm mass as much as I can. The chapel is often packed with students, faculties and nuns at this hour. The slow setting of the sun provides warm hues of orange and yellow as the mass proceeds. The wooden altar, with the glass encased images of Mary and St. Therese, is bathed with natural light coming from the tall glass-stained windows from the banister. The sight is just awesome, and couple this with the outstanding choir (Lisieux), you’ll feel like something is possessing you to stay put and absorb the entire homily. It’s the sort of calm that keeps you sane despite voluminous projects, insane reports and deadly exams.
Lately, I’ve been going to the chapel because of an entirely different reason: a crush. He’s a classmate from Class X this semester and just last February, I’ve noticed that he sits at the outer benches to hear mass. At first, I didn’t care. Then came a sort of recitation in our class; the type that makes you do calculations on the board. I’m not so good at math. I can’t do quick mental claculations like other people can and I just hate these on-the-board-calculation-recitations because I tend to freeze and get my solutions wrong (I did fine with my problem by the way). Anyway, when he came to solve his assigned problem on the board, WOW!, he just stood there for about 10 seconds and he’s done! He did it so fast that even my prof was surprised. I have a weakness for guys who are math geniuses so forgive me, please, for being a tad shallow. After seeing that, I saw him in a different light (naks!).
The Messenger for Truth
After being tagged as the NBN-ZTE Star Witness and Pinoy Jedi Knight, Lozada is now regarded as THE MESSENGER OF TRUTH. At least to Sen. Pimentel that is.
Lozada’s crusade for the Truth has continued on to Cebu where he will do his usual routine of touring colleges and universities and other publicity stints. These days, I’m not sure exactly what Lozada is going around the country for: for Truth, for Justice, for People Power or for PGMA’s resignation. These may sound the same but actually they’re not.
When Lozada is for the TRUTH, to me that means calling for Neri et.al to come out and tell all. Never mind their fishy and muddy background, just tell all to convict the masterminds, we’ll worry about sending them to courts and forgiving them later. I mean, look at Lozada: he admitted he’s involvement and now, we’ve forgiven him. Well, not entirely because I still want to put him on trial for those anomalous deals he did while CEO for PhilForest. That’s fair right? Erap, who never admitted to anything except being played for by his enemies, has even been given a pardon. See? That’s how forgiving and forgetful we are.
How to recycle garbage
Tomorrow, another rally will be held at Makati by a mix of anti-PGMA people to sing for her resignation for the gargantuan heap of crap her administration had brought upon the people. I say only this: keep the trapos, ESPECIALLY ERAP, out of the stage and clear from holding a freaking microphone. I would feel thrice as bad if I ever see him up on that stage again; mourning and weeping and crying because he got jailed for corruption and PGMA has not.
What does ERAP mean in Pinoy Poly-ticks?
Right now, he’s the standard bearer of the opposition. Before, he was PUBLIC ENEMY NUMBER 1. He resigned because of People Power and later found guilty for accepting jueteng payola and was sent to prison. But PGMA gave him a pardon not too long ago which he accepted. So he basically licked the shoes of the b*tch for his freedom. And that sells him out as a classic trapo.
Erap even has the nerve to deny his guilt because ‘64% of the Filipinos believe that he’s innocent’. I don’t know where he got his stats but to bypass or belittle a high court’s final decision over some lousy survey is an indication of a rotting political and justice system.
Why does the Opposition have Erap?
Simmer
Whenever I see Lozada on t.v. these days, I cannot help but feel slightly annoyed at his pseudo superstar status. The hype surrounding him is just too crippling, too indulgent. I think it’s unnecessary to give him this much attention; I mean like giving him movie offers, touring colleges and universities and treating him like he’s the standard bearer of the opposition. It’s scares the hell out of me to think that this man is soaring too high for us to critically observe him.
I do not object to his testimony; for all we know, he’s helping heaps to pin PGMA and her cronies down for corruption. Personally, I believe him. Even if he and Joey lack the hard evidence to prove their claims, I would still believe them than the government’s smug-ass cover-ups. In our politics, it’s either your PRO or your ANTI PGMA. You cannot sit in between and be quiet: you have to decide which side your taking or else you’ll be caught dead and STUPID.
But unfortunately, politics in this country doesn’t have any distinct line between good and evil, right and wrong. The line isn’t even blurred; heck, there’s no line to speak of actually. It’s all about the classic cliche of LESSER EVIL and EVIL, of moderating evil and not eliminating it. The overall color scheme of politics in this country is gray, dirty gray to be exact. You cannot distinguish any side unless you tolerate and acknowledge that evil must co-exist with good in one freaking party.
The search for the next Pinoy President
If Pinoy producers are so keen on copying US reality shows e.g. America’s Next Top Model, American Idol, PBB etc, then why not pattern a new reality show entitled: The Next Philippine President? That is if PGMA would (1) resign, (2) get impeached, (3) get ousted through a coup d’etat, or (4) by People Power.
There are tons of politicians who would die just to get included in this show. I mean, there’s Noli de Castro, Ping Lacson, Loren Legarda, Chiz Escudero, Mar Roxas, Bayani Fernando, Jojo Binay and just to name a few. Then let’s throw in some of the panggulo like Bong Revilla, Miriam Santiago, JDV, Teofisto Guinggona and even Jinggoy Estrada. And let’s not forget to put in some more surprise by adding Erap and Jun Lozada in the mix and voila! You have yourself a certified hit.
They’ll have challenges ala Survivor and Amazing race plus, they’ll even have the boardroom feel of The Apprentice. They can form alliances and prey on the weak; the rules are not new to them considering they’ve been doing that their entire political careers, right? They have to outwit and outlast their opponents to be named The Next Philippine President.
Gloria needs help
I wouldn’t know what to make of this picture.
First, it’s scary and second, it’s confusingly erroneous. I personally object to PGMA’s wearing of super bright colored clothes, especially for red, amidst catcalls to her like ‘bitch‘ and ‘evil‘ because it further strengthens the adjectives. Not that her face cannot portray enough deceit as it is. Its just that her clothes make her more ugly and unbearable.
If I were to read and understand this picture ala Humanities 2 style, I’d say she’s calling for help. Not to mortals though but to the heavens. I figure she wants to stay longer in this world to finish her projects for the poor and stuff. Yes, that must be it. Could you count the number of clergy surrounding her in the picture? Goodness me, even that many holy men cannot cleanse such a vile woman.
PEOPLE POWER or POWER PLAY?
The 1986 EDSA People Power Revolution freed us from a dictator. The 2nd People Power put pressure on Erap to resign. And after that chaos; back to square one.
When the 2nd People Power (PP) was in place, I was still preoccupied with my college crush that I didn’t give a damn on what’s happening in the political arena of this country. At that time, current events were mainly used as bonus points in quizzes and long exams for my Social Science II (SocsciII) class. To me, things like that were boring.Â
Then came Machiavelli’s The Prince.
My SocsciII Prof would read excerpts from the book and ask us if we disagreed or not. He never explained anything, elaborated on any of the discourses because they were plain and easy to understand. The thing that interested me was that the book presented precise ways of maintaining, gaining and expanding power. Too interested in fact that I bought a copy for myself and thus launched my habit of rummaging through my sister’s Philo, Socsci, Polsci and Anthropology books from when she was a B.A. Philo from UPD.
Virtu. Fortuna. Necessita. The three essentials for a prince to govern lies in his ability to redirect others to his own advantage, to manipulate resources and to have the opportunity to access power. In our current situation, PGMA has these three in her sleeves and it sustains her in her seat. To be honest, I do not understand how she does it or why she has them but one thing’s for sure: she’s got great connections. And her dogs? I do not know whether to call them suckers or idiots or her equals for greed.
The next best move
The entire nation is now at the mercy of one ginormous, problematic scandal. And at the center of it, sits a man whom we now affectionately call J.Lo a.k.a. Jun Lozada. This man not only holds the ‘truth’ to unlock the ZTE-NBN scandal but he now stands as the ‘glue’ that keeps this nation from faltering deeper into a hopeless abyss.
Setting aside his ‘pa-showbiz‘ humor and guestings and speeches, Lozada is an undeniably strong contender which the Palace sees as a super major threat. He maybe telling some small inconsistencies, dates primarily, but what he tells the Senate and the public puts the government into constant panic; thus the release of all these black propaganda stuff about Lozada e.g. his youtube conversation with joey and those nasty text messages about him etc.
So why is the Palace in such a frenzied state of fright?
