In the Presence of Vultures

Yesterday at about 9:00 am, marked a day that journalists the world over will never forget. An estimated 34 journalists died in the first incident of election related violence in Maguindanao in the Southern island of the Philippines. Allegedly perpetrated by the ruling clan, a convoy of journalists and family members of a rival clan were stopped on their way to file the certificate of candidacy by a force of paramilitary. They were brought to a hill and were summarily executed.

The ruling clan, the Ampatuan is closely connected to Pres. Gloria Arroyo. The Ampatuan clan was responsible for delivering votes for Arroyo in the presidential elections of 2004 and for the senatorial bets of her party in 2007. The Philippines ranks 2nd to Iraq as the most dangerous place for journalist considering the rising list of media practioners killed in the line of duty. The savagery of what happened yesterday was never seen in any part of the world.

Journalists live a life with one foot in the grave. The difference we have with Iraq is that the Philippines is not at war. The victims were not in a war zone, they were to report on a election related event. What infuriates me is how the government is addressing this. Instead of using the full force of the law, they treat the perpetrators as if they were heads of state. Law should be appleid equally regardless of political affiliation.

Clearly the journalists will once again be deprived of justice. You see, in the Philippines, journalists are considered pests as they expose the crimes of our officials. From harassment to outright assassination, every trick has been used to silence these people. I suppose these are the dangers the media has to face in a country like the Philippines. Fortunately, despite all the hazards of the trade, people still enter the field to keep us all informed.

I hope that justice will be served not only for the journalists in my country but to journalists all over the world.

I can’t help but wonder how the greatest nation in the world can have health care problems. Health care issues have been plaguing my third world country as well. We do have public health care here in the Philippines even though it is lacking. The problem with our country is corruption. But I think we have gained a small victory when the “Cheaper Medicines Bill” was finally passed. But in the US, it seems that greed and lobbyists are winning the war on health care.  In the Philippines, it’s a crime to reject a patiemt without insurance.

The problem lies in the greed that pervades in the magical free market system which the US is sticking to. The lack of control and oversight has made being sick a crime. Health care should not be about business. It’s an advocacy and a moral and social concern. The Republicans are up in arms about raising taxes on the rich and affluent. In my country, we are overtaxed as well but we try through different means to help those who cannot afford the cost of treatment.

aside from the income tax we pay which is the same percentage the rich pay, we also have the value added tax is is applied to all products and services.. I suppose those who oppose the idea of public health care refuses to see the bigger picture. A heallthy populace leads to a more progressive country. I don’t quite understand what is so wrong about social services. I guess they do not understand what progress is all about. They would rather stick to tradition, the tradition of a divided society. A society where there has to be rich and poor.

The economic crisis the US is in now has decimated the middle class. The social gap has widened. And the health care issue will now surely divide the people. But I guess those who oppose it couldn’t care less as long as they and their families have insurance. If they are afraid of being taxed, all consumers pay indirect taxes, that includes those without health care.

At the end of the day, instead of giving billions in aid to other countries, the US should help their countrymen who really need help. Don’t you think so?

Two decades have passed since the people of China tried to challenge the patience of their Communist leaders. To this day, the number of those murdered is yet to be known. Perhaps fearing that the people could once again rise up to try and democratize China, they have since instituted some changes. But still, power is in the hands of a few. Communist oligarchy is alive and well. These so-called reforms legalized the wealth of its leaders.

For the first time in dcades, the Chinese felt empowered. The politburo was on the defensive and those in the countryside were coming to Beijing to join the protesters. The simple clamor for better conditions of the students were about to reach revolution status. To save fave, the embattled leadership declared martial law. The army swept any opposition aside and the massacre that followed is testimony to the ruthlessness of the government.

Huge companies are owned by officials while the people are now allowed a taste of good life. A very good way to appease the people and to douse the simmering cauldron of change. Yet most of China remains unchanged. Life is harsh in the rest of the country. Only those who live in the major cities have an easier life. While progress is rapid, vital services are worse and the heavy hand of the party hangs over the entire country.

Twenty years have passed and still figures of casualties remain unknown. China is now a legitimate super power. Will freedom for the people ever come? I doubt it. As long as the politburo paints a picture of good life, no one will ever think of freedom. Unless its leaders would allow their people to decide for themselves, democracy would remain an elusive dream. The vultures of the party will continue to enrich themselves at the expense of the people.

At the end of the day, what happened in Tiananmen in 1989will soon be forgotten, erased by the government who rules with an iron hand. The people would remain silent and simply accept the fact that their only option for now is subservience.

As I scanned the channels this morning, I chanced upo Bill O’Reilly  debating about the morality and immorality of torture and collateral damage. He seems to have been cornered by his adversary that he turned to absurdity in defending his views. What a pinhead this O’Reilly is! You don’t torture to extract information regardless of how guilty or innocent a prisoner is. This kind of mentaluty is what alienates the US from the rest of the world. You cannot condemn other countries of injustice and human rights violations when your own country does it as a matter of policy.

The issue stemmed from Pres. Obama’s directive to ban torture on prisoners of war(?). He went on to point out that bombing villages in Pakistan is immoral. War is hell and collateral damage is expected. I don’t remember him fuming over Israel’s indiscriminate bombing of Gaza? The bigotry in his demeanor speaks volumes of how convoluted this bozo’s mind is. Moral or not, Obama is the CiC of the US armed forces. He will decide on how best to annihilate Al Quaeda. History will judge him for his actions and I am sure Obama knows this.

The problem with people like O’Reilly is that they are never satisfied. They are the termites of society. Nothing is good in their eyes except those that would improve their ratings. These are the kinds of media practitioners that talk with their asses. They are on the way out and the only way for them to survive is to drum up the base and appear moral in their fans’ view. They speak of ethics when they themselves are unethical. They badger their guests to make it appear that they have the moral high ground.

If there is such a thing as a media dinosaur, Bill and his kind are it. So who is the pinhead this time, no it’s not Paris Hilton but a guy named Bill O’Reilly. A pinhead to me is someone who contradicts himself and blurts out inconsistent absurdities. Oh Mr. O’Reilly, your Dad helped save the world in World War II, do you mean he’s immoral because of the huge collateral damage the war caused? What a way to insult the heroes who defended the free world. War is impersonal Bill, torture is.

Twenty-three years ago, the Filipinos kicked out a conjugal dictatorship. Ferdinand Marcos and his wife Imelda were forced to flee Manila after a bloodless revolution that toppled the couple’s ruthless and corrupt rule. Now the Philippines is facign not just a conjugal dictatorship but it includes the entire family.

Rocked by corruptions and human rights violations, Gloria Arroyo and her family are trying to cement their hold on power. Arroyo is now the second longest sitting president since Marcos. From 2001 to present, she and her family had been implicated in corruption and kickback scandals. To prevent her removal demcratically or otherwise, she had been draining the country’s coffers to bribe legislators and security forces. Hundreds of political killings enforced disappearances has been recorded with the UNHRC confirming it. Media personnel, members of the judiciary have not been spared so she and cohorts can prevent the truth from coming out.

Her eldest son, a congressman has been tagged by witnesses to an illegal numbers game operation that extends to the the entire country. Her husband has been implicated in taking kickbacks amounting to several hundreds of millions of dollar.  Another son and her brother-in-law has also been implicated in illegal gambling operations.

In fact, the Asian Development Bank and the World Bank had exposed  corruption that end at the doorstep of the palace. Because of her appointive powers, she had gained control over every public office of the land. Those legislators in the opposition are deprived of their development faunds which has led to poverty and lack of progress in their districts. Now even the presidential elections of scheduled on 2010 hangs in the balance as her allies in the legislative are poised to amend the constitution to perpetuate themselves to power.

The Philippines has become the Zimbabwe of Asia. Our justice system has been mocked and her allies implicated in corruptions remain free. Even those imprisoned had been given executive clemency. Corruption here has been institutionalized. Thanks to her leadership by example, Gloria Arroyo has run the country to the ground. Investors shy away not because of our contitutional safeguards but because of the corruption in our bureaucracy.

Their cronies are having a field day. Every form of tax is being imposed to cover the losses incurred because of corruption. When public funds end up in their pockets, social service suffers. This the reality of life every Filipino must face. Unless we find a way to kick this corrupt family out, my country will never have a future.

Watching history in the making  as Pres. Barack Obama takes his oath of office left me inspired and so full of hope. I’m not an American but I can feel how proud Americans must be. With Pres. Obama’s election, America has been freed from the shackles of discrimination. Once again, the United  States of America proved to the international community why the US is the leader of the world.

His speech was awe-inspiring and anyone who heard it will be left with so much hope. My country, the Philippines has experienced and is experiencing oppression. We kicked out a dictator 22 years ago only to put into office another oppressor who has been sitting in office for the last 8 years.

What gave me hope is when Pres. Obama said, “To those who cling to power through corruption and deceit, to the silencing of dissent, you are on the wrong side of history.” These words struck deep and touched me. Our current illegal sitting president stole the presidency twice. First was when she hoodwinked civil society into kicking a president out of office, and the second was when she rigged the presidential election of 2004. George Bush cuddled her because she supported Bush’s war on terror.

She is now trying to perpetuate herself into eternal reign by trying to change our system of government from presidential to parliamentary. Her term is set to end in June of 2010 and she had been pushing for charter change to legitimize her hold on power.

Her administration has been rocked by scandal after scandal. Every indignation by the people was met with force. During her term, killings and enforced disappearances has been continuously rising. Journalists, judges, student activists and members of the opposition has been either harassed or killed. Whistle blowers were slapped with spurious charges while her allies who stole the people’s money remain to be free. Her son’s are both congressmen and have been controlling  congress through bribery.

Pres. Obama started out as a lowly community organizer. Community organizers in my country who educate the people of their rights are branded enemies of the state. With Pres. Obama’s election and with the words he uttered during his speech, I am hoping that US policy with regards to my country will finally change. The UN special rapporteur found Gloria Arroyo’s administration guilty of human rights violations. I hope that Pres. Obama will be instrumental in helping my people be freed from her oppression. Not by force but making it difficult for her to further suppress and oppress my people.

After the state of California banned same sex marriage, the proponents of Prop. 8 now wnats same sex marriages be nullified. So the bigots now want religion to dictate what rights a human being can exercise. They claim that same sex marriage the foundations of what a family consitutes. Ah yes, there is no mention of gays and lesbians being created by God. I forgot that God created only man and woman. But does anyone know what God’s sex is? Last I heard that he created us in His image. Then I suppose He can either be a woman or a man. And if this is the case, He could be gay or a lesbian as well.

Ok, this post is not supposed question what God is. It’s about how narrow-minded, pea-brained some cults can be. I call them cults because they interpret the Holy Bible literally. Just like how “Go forth and multiply” to these fanatics mean that they can marry as many wives as they want. Just imagine how their children must feel, confused that they have so many mothers and so many siblings as well. Would polygamy mean that theirs is a NORMAL family? It’s stupid isn’t it?

Times are changing and whether we like it or not, gays and lesbians are humans too, with right to decide for themselves how to run their lives. Who are we to say that they will not be good parents? We’ve witnessed how men of the faith rape young boys and father children out of wedlock. We’ve seen how pastors steal the money of heir churches. I know of several orphans adopted and raised by these so-call abominations of society and they have been raised very well. They’re normal heterosexuals with happy, normal families.

Now isn’t it pure bigotry to discriminate or take away the rights of others because they don’t share the same lifestyles we have? Or have we forgotten that we are judged by the Lord based on how we lived our lives? I think this issue has to do more with ego than a moral one. Just imagine how a man would feel if he is outdone by a lesbian or a woman who loses her husband to a gay. Hahahaha! It sure looks more like this to me than calling it a sin.

Never judge lest you be judged. We cannot dictate upon others what they should be nor could we tell them that they cannot be good parents. If you’re not secured with your sexuality then please deal with it yourself and not put the blame of society’s decay on some man or woman who chose to be different.

Tags: Prop. 8