my deep knowledge of US politics

the US presidential election is all set for next week. that's on Nov 4, Tuesday. and most opinion polls has african-american Senator Obama leading in most states. if surveys are to be trusted, America will have its first black president come January 20, 2009 who wants to reform US's policy in Iraq and terrorism in general.

when that happens, a major change in its policy will be the shifting of its war on terror from the Iraqi front line back to Afghanistan and will now include the Pakistan region.

now, terrorists from that front have been following developments in the US and are enormously unhappy, in fact displeased, with McCain's performance in surveys as an Obama win in this election would mean an end to their break from clashes since the US war against the Taleban. and, boy! are they packing up. in their future attacks, they've decided to have McCain as their sole target.

Iraqi terrorist on the other hand are celebrating as they will be getting a break from the fighting and have vowed to protect Obama in appreciation of his reformist policies.

Obama, BTW, is not the first black to be nominated for US president, and had Hillary Clinton won the democratic nomination she would not have been the first woman either. if you check the history of US presidential elections, on the lines of third parties, you would find Lenora Fulani who ran in 1988 and 1992 under the New Alliance Party. She is African-American.

there are a number of "other nominees" or third parties and indepents in this US Pres'l elections. including those who failed to get a major nomination from either the republican or democratic parties. (yeah! if you can't join them, try to beat them! that's the spirit!)

do you know that even comedian stephen colbert (of "the colbert reports") sought the democratic nomination for this presidential elections? 'bet you don't know that, do you? gov. arnold actually conceded because of this guy, not because he was not natural-born second-to-stallone.
Colbert was just goofing around actually (and arnold took him seriously).

now, how's that for my deep understanding of the US elections?

hah!...

the colossal showdown

everybody in the US is so ocuppied with the upcoming gigantic confrontation of two of the most respected men to have ever committed to not dissappoint their followers and give each other a great battle up the global stage.

some argue that age could very well spell victory for either of the two as one is old hand while the other is a hot, topnotch charismatic. while others say it's racial heritage that's gonna weight in this face-off as both come from hard line cultures when it comes to these type of contentions.

with only a few weeks left, debates are raging on who's the better man and bets are even wagered. and in opinion polls, one is said to enjoy the support from most of the people and the other one is struggling to keep up, he works endlessly to narrow the gap.

anyway, who ever wins is, perhaps, truly deserving. if you ask me, i dont really follow these men lately, as all of these are happening half way around the globe, and i can't realy find time to read about them and besides there are a lot of other things that needs our attention, what with the economic recession that has been causing all our anxieties and all.

but, seriously, if i have to pick between the two, of course i would say...honestly, i would go for... the Filipino pride himself, manny pacquiao.

he's the underdog, but he's my man!

...you thought i was talking about the US election?
i was referring to the hoya-pacquiao fight. what the... i don't even know anything about US politics.

send in silva -the clown!

what a goof!

anderson silva playing around with cote? immediately, writers talk about silva's performance and mouthed off their dismay over the fight. they are not laughing at all with silva's clowning around. And UFC fans are not happy with the fight either. it's like you can almost make a parallel with the song (send in the clowns)...

Isn't it rich?
Are we a pair?(Silva and Cote)
(Cote:)Me here at last on the ground,
You in mid-air (or : you have no hair)..
aren't we some clown?

Isn't it bliss?
Don't you approve?
One who keeps tearing around (Silva running around),
One who can't move (Cote maimed)...
We are some clown?
Send in the clowns.

Just when I'd stopped opening doors,
Finally knowing the one that I wanted was yours (the middleweight belt).
Making my entrance again with my usual flair
Sure of my lines...
No one is there.

Don't you love farce?
My fault, I fear.
(Silva:)I thought that you'd want what I want...
Cote, my dear!
And we are no clowns
Send in the clowns
Don't bother, you're here.

Isn't it rich?
Isn't it queer?
Losing my timing this late in my career.
And where are the clowns?
There ought to be clowns...
Well, maybe next year.

well, no matter how funny it was, a win is still a win. i thought Silva was sort of mystifying. did you see how he steered clear of Cote's right hook in the first round. it was as if he knew it was coming. as if he saw it before and the whole fight was a replay to him so he knew what exactly to do with all of Cote's move and when to avoid Cote's attacks. having goosebumps?

why was he so carefree during the fight?perhaps because he knew Cote was going to succumb to a busted knee beforehand. why go through the trouble? why harm yourself?

silva is one eerie guy

ARE YOU NOT ENTERTAINED?!

just shrugging it off...

disappointing!

it really had to happen, i guess. brandon vera losing to keith jardine via split decision, in so doing, disappointing the brittish crowd and his fans again. perhaps its the place that brough him bad luck. this is his second defeat in UK in spite of the supportive crowd. losing to fabricio werdum back in UFC 85-bedlam and now to jardine.

i thought vera was kinda' limping. he was so emaciated this time. you wonder was it part of the training. was it his gameplan to lose weight? he was a bit small fighting as a heavyweight, but he was even smaller now as a light-heavyweight. jardine was obviously heftier.

what was wrong with vera? i don't get it. he was more reactionary when he should have been the aggressor. sure he was able to throw some kicks and some strikes, but he look like he was analyzing more than attacking. he was waiting to counter-punch more instead of bringing it to jardine. he was not his usual form this time unlike when he beat frank mir or his earlier fights. he could take on bigger guys in the heavyweight division. but now... i don't know. 'he lost the flair? maybe. he just shrug off after the fight perhaps in dismay of his own performance. he usually dances after winning. we sure didn't see him hop this time.

poor guy.

anyway, i thought couture and lessnar would fight in this UFC. i was wrong. they were supposed to fight in UFC 91. this is just UFC 89. UFC 90 is coming up just a week from now. anderson silva meets Cote in the main event. anderson silva is like many pacquiao of MMA right now. unbeaten in UFC. he just gave Leben, who just fought in the main event of this UFC 89 against Bisping, some beating in their last meeting. but you can't underestimate Cote, he is on a five match winning streak and he sure doesnt wanna submit easily unless silva makes him. it is going to be an anticipated match.

but don't forget couture vs lessnar. that's UFC 91. after a year of hybernating and losing more hair, couture returns! wooo-hooo!

it's the bird, it's the plane, oh, it's the IMF!

gues who had just flip-flopped on a USD 10B issue?
malacañang announced on wednesday that the worldbank has set aside USD 10B as a standby fund to mitigate the effect of the global economic recession in the ASEAN. no less than our lady of factual speeches and honest statements proclaimed this information in two occasions. the same woman who said she will not run for president in 2004 and who assured us that there will be lasting peace, finally, in the troubled south with the designation of former AFP-Chief Gen. Esperon in the government negotiating panel last year.

her so-called economic team even tried to save her face by saying that it was the IMF and not the WB that had prepared the amount as a economic recession bail-out fund for the region as earlier reported to the president by secretary Teves.
it's like saying "no, it's not superman who's gonna save us. it's Hancock. sorry, our mistake!"

they confirmed it by adding that sec. Teves went over his notes again, double-checked and found out that it was IMF that was written there all along. like the letters weren't bold enough he had to underline it or highlighted it with a highlight pen and went back to teacher gloria and everybody in the class to correct himself and said "IMF pala...i thought it was bloodbank, err...worldbank", "oops!"

another secretary even blamed the world bank for denying the declaration of his well-loved boss. he even went further by saying "we're well coordinated here. we're well polished. they have communication problems".

well coordinated, indeed. see who's flip-flopping now. this is the philippines' economic team. the ones chosen to formulate economic policies for the nation. our hopes are pinned on these men to spare us from the global financial crisis. nice going, economic team!

here's another bad news for everyone, after our lady of factual speeches and honest statements made public the USD 10B standard facility, in the same speeches, she also said that the nation is going to withstand the global economic crisis; there's going to be a fare rollback in public transports; the whole MILF organization is surrendering; public and private sector employees will recieve 14th month pay in december; human rights abuses and killing of journalists will end; the latest imepeachment case will reach the senate; she will step down in 2010; and, as if that wasn't enough, that manny will TKO dela hoya in the 4th round.

manny is soo screwed up!

good luck, everybody! see you if we ever get there!

the WANTED! signs of times

im working on a new blog. it's going to be a photoblog for the photos i've taken since 2005. meantime here are some things that stuck in my mind for a long time already. these are things i noticed along the streets, infront of establishements and others. most are signs i saw as i passed by and one on a personal data sheet i spied on long time ago. it was comic relief for me.
hope you enjoy this.

MUST READ SIGNS:

1. at a restaurant/bar

Wanted: WAISTRESS!

imagine what kind of added service they could provide. probably, they'd tickle you on the waist as you eat or drink your beer.

2. at the same restaurant

Wanted: Waitress! (FEMALE)

they've corrected the spelling this time but look at the description. imagine how many desperate men in drags tried to hoodwink the management to compel it to indicate and spell out the qualification. they're making sure this time they're getting only the real girls. yeah! qualification: real females only! that's why it's called waitress! that's what it means!
management: "sorry, but you can't fool us with that beard you got, miss-terr!... next!"

3. infront of a bakery

Wanted: sales ladies - apply inside - (with an added scribbling) or outside

inside, you'll be interviewed by the manager while ricky-the pimp will screen you outside.

4. at a dormitory

Wanted: bedspace for rent

the owner of the dorm can't decide whether he's offering it or looking for it while the client doesn't know whether he's applying for a job or renting a space.

5. yet, at another dormitory

Bedspacer
Avilable here!

well, you don't have to sleep alone anymore. not without our huggable, squeezable and snuggly tattooed nasty Bedspacer. get them on cash or installment. Hurry! limited supplies only. with discount on early customers!

6. in a personal data sheet

Position desired: Sales Screw

it's a new occupation where you get to be screwed around as much as the company wants. i checked other applicants' files and some wrote sales crew. this one kinda' went too far.

7. in a small, old vulcanizing shop

VULCANIZENG!

trying hard to stay true to the verb form. but, just can't tell whether it's future or present tense.

8. at the back of a van

(at the left side) passing side
(at the right side) suicide

you don't want to go to that side, buddy! believe me. that's su-sayt!
don't tell me i didn't warn you!

9. at a gate beside a doughnut shop

Pls. dont block on driveway

ok, i'll just... i'll just fold it under, buddy.


more to come. readers are free to add.

economic impotence; left out russia

philippine export grew by 6.5 percent compared to last year. yeehooo! seems like its only thing that's growing right now. the growth was noted despite the slump in exports to RP's no.1 trading partner US. exports to china and japan was said to have compensated for the decreased sales in the US.

also it was reported that south korea is set import 10000 metric tons of corn from the philippines. from now on we'll be watching run-of-the-mill korean dramas only as a sign of our appreciation. move aside all other primetime programs, we'll be grooving with sandara this time. weeheee!

G7 finance ministers met in washington to discuss probable solutions to the worsening global financial predicament. the group of the world's most industrialized countries meets about 4 times a year to thrash out economic policies that could very well set the course of all markets around the world. the meeting excluded russia which is a member of the G8...but is not a member of the G7...but is a member of the G8... but not of G7...

ever wonder how it feels to be abandoned by your friends. do you know how it feels when you're not invited to your friend's party? how dumb does it look when your outside looking in? or just looking and not being able to say something? and you overhear somebody say "hey look at the poor guy at the window", "look at the big man crying"

you can almost imagine how president medvedev or his finance minister waited by the phone. you can almost imagine how medvedev would have apologized for the south osettia and abkhazia boo-boo. "so sorry!","you had me at hello!","let us join meeting, comrrrade frrriend!"

and the g7 ministers say, "oh! we're just going to have drinks, it not really a meeting! it's nothing to be green with envy about!"."we'll only talk about south korea and albania, not south osettia and abkhazia!"

why are they singling out russia's mistakes, really? nobody even consoled it when chechnya waggled and asserted independence. but when it's another country that's involved, they all screech and blow their whistles in protest. why the discrimination, really?

again, "hey look at the big poor guy at the window"

our saging... err, sagging economy

our saging economy?...



today in the news, philipine peso now stands at Php 47.69 against USD 1. the lowest this year. this is most disappointing considering it went as high as 40.36 in february. even more dismaying is the fact that it was one of only two of the best performing currencies last year. the other being the renminbi.

is the peso having a case of a one hit wonder? one thing is for sure, i really can't help but wonder.
a currency's falling can't really be that bad. exporters earn more because they get greater conversions for each dollar they earn. this also works for the dollar remittances of overseas workers into the country, but one must understand that a strong currency reflects a stronger economy. or is it only the way i understand it? 'coz it has always been like this eversince. we have a robust economy when our peso rises. take the 1997 asian financial crisis, before that happened, we had a surge in economic activities and our economy was dubbed as the "tiger economy"; and we had our peso at around 25-26 against the dollar. when we got hit by the 1997 financial disater. the peso started to slide down.it eventually hit its lowest at 56.44 against the dollar in march, 2004.

last year, we had the best peso after a long while, and, if you believe what our government agencies say, our economy did well regardless it was felt by most of filipinos or not . so, i guess, that's one way you can determine if the country's economy is thriving. if the peso is up, then probably the economy is "doing well".

one of the reasons why the philippine peso was strong last year, i believe, was because of the enactment of the EVAT. it raised government revenues, hence, a lot of investors invested because of the positive outlook in the economy. the question now is... should we pass another EVAT law in order to prop up the peso? would it be proper?
of course it wouldn't be right. would it?

there is a story about a family that eats boiled sab-ah (banana) in every meal as they can't afford rice. one day, when the children ask the mother for a different meal when the family earned a little more than they used to, the mother promptly obliged. so everyone looked forward to their next meal. when dinner came, everyone eagerly awaited the mother's cooking. when dinner was served, everyone was dismayed for instead of boiled bananas, they were having banana cake for dinner. a little upscale, but still bananas...

readers are free to derive any significant connection from the story to the previous subject of national economy?
(if there's any at all. haha! )

lightning photography, anyone?

this are photos taken with a mobile phone. i call this lightning photos. this is a diversion for me when i'm with a phone that's with a cam.




















i call this one sombrero, for obvious reasons that it looks like a cap. it kinda' looks like charlie brown's cap actually.





















this one is called fladnag.


no, this is not computer modified. yes, i did cropped the frame but did not do anything on the figures in the frames. how i came up with this pictures is a secret. well, at least to those who hasn't figured it out yet. anyways, i'm gonna' open a tutorial clinic to teach those who are interested in acquiring the skills of lightning photography. registration is only at P500 per head. enlist for the clinic now if interested.


naah! there's really no clinic. but i'll be posting more photos here soon.

thailand and the philippines, what striking similarities

thailand is, again, in turmoil. bangkok streets is, again, witness to another conflict between police and activists protesting the election of their new PM somchai wongsawat. just last month, the country was in another political crisis when groups loyal and hostile to PM sundaravej's administration collided in the streets of bangkok. just two years ago, also, thailand was in the news when its military chief sonthi boonyaratgalin (yes, i googled this up) siezed power and ousted thaksin shinawatra through a coup.

thailand is known to have an unstable government. they undergo periods of change of governments rather frequently. its like they change administrations as much as they change their hairdo, and replace their heads of government as much as they replace their underwears.

but the remarkable thing is how they are able to keep their economy up better than some of their neighbors in ASEAN. despite the political state, they were able to attract tourists. tourism in thailand is an enormous industry. just think about the tsunami tragedy, a horde of those caught in the tragedy in the thai borders were foreigners vacationing in thai resorts.

the point of the protesters is that PM somchai has standing shares in a firm doing business with the government- that's seen as an opening for corruption to take place; and that he is very much connected with thaksin who is viewed as a corrupt leader by the thais. sundaravej, the PM/cooking show host, was also viewed as an associate of thaksin.

the philippines is not too different from thailand. we also had our own share of coup' de etats and uprisings; and for the same reasons i.e. corruption by our heads of government. marcos was, IMHO, corrupt; estrada was charged and convicted with plunder; and the one who replaced estrada is herself has tons of skeletons hidden inside her closet which are now stacked with tons of money stashed from the numerous government projects since the start of her rule e.g. the festilizer scam which until now hasn't been resolved. all this time, not one has been charged for that scam. the perpetrator, usec. bolante, is still in the US- and had the nerve to ask for asylum from the US government. the US should be wise not to grant that asylum as he is just making a big fool out of them with his bogus reasons.

one of those who are planning to succeed the present occupant in malacanang is also engaged in his own business of making the most money out of his position. think about this, he's selling his properties to the government around 200 times as much as he accquired it. how's that for a public official? what if he becomes the president? he will extract 200 percent from each project he delivers and every service he renders. now, how's that?

and his allies even had the audacity to defend him saying it was simply an error in the encoding of the bill. who are they fooling? of course it was just a mistake!

in a very important, key body like the senate, can you expect a simple encoding error that results to double insertion in a very important bill that concerns that whole nation? do they expect us to believe that? yeah, right!

why dont they just appropriate the senate's budget for the whole year to that project? let's see how'd they feel about that?

Couture vs. Lesnar. LET'S GET IT ON!

October 19. cant wait to watch UFC 91. The must see match- randy “the natural” couture vs. brock lesnar for the heavyweight title. Who’s gonna’ win? Can’t tell who. But I got to side with randy couture. He’s been in the UFC like all his life, of course he’s a legend already, but you can’t put down lesnar though. He’s huge and really fast. So the fight is really all about experience vs. size with speed.

Couture should watch lesnar for some take down. That has always been lesnar’s gameplan like what he did to frank mir, only frank mir was more clever than he was when grabbed and twisted lesnar’s leg to get him to tap out. So lesnar will go more on shooting for a take down. He may try to do some striking, but in the end he might most likely go for a takedown.

Lesnar, on the other hand should watch for everything. Couture is going to bring all kinds of beating in this match. Though couture would be wiser if he fight the way mir fought lesnar. By being patient and wait for that opportunity to submit lesnar. But, of course, couture has his own way of fighting.

Early in the fight, I expect both to do some stand-up. Lesnar might pretend to strike all the way just to cover up his gameplan. But I really expect him to wrestle and do pounding on the ground if he can get couture down, but that will be tough to do since I expect couture also to prepare for lesnar’s attempts to take him down. It’s a sure thing couture knows lesnar will shoot for a takedown.

You can never be sure lesnar, however. He might pull off an upset. Couture can be beaten and he has been beaten before. Lesnar is one enormous juggernaut. I can’t imagine Brandon “truth” vera staying in the heavyweight division cause I can’t see him fighting lesnar anytime soon. Lesnar’s speed and size will most likely overwhelm vera.

I believe vera should stay in the light-heavyweights. He’s set to lock horns with keith hardine in the next UFC –that’s UFC 92. I would like to see brock lesnar fight tim Sylvia. Let’s see if Sylvia can stand lesnar.

UFC 91. this octagon October 19. let’s get it on!

US's nuclear policy of convenience

it is dismaying to learn that the US has reach an agreement with india on nuclear trade. secretary of state condoleeza rice even hailed it as a "historic agreement" and looks forward to "improved US-India ties".

the agreement comes even as the US, until this day, openly opposes nuclear exploration by Iran and warns China and Russia from testing their warheads while duping NoKor with aid packages in exchange for Nokor to discard its nuclear program-to which NoKor is grumbling US has not met its part of the deal.

india, compared to iran and the other nuclear capabled nations, has had the most pleasing record when it comes to cooperation to the policies of the US. although pakistan was like america's no. 1 lapdog in asia, it didn't get enough fervor from the US due to political instability and its failure to stomp out terrorism in its borders. india on the other hand, had lesser negative attributes.

india however, is still a sovereign nation. and nothing can stop it if it decides to upgrade its own nuclear arms program using the nuclear deal with the US. it can be pressured against pursuing nuclear arms program, but beyond that, india is not bound by any treaty prohibiting it from developing nuclear warheads, it not being a signatory to nuclear non-proliferation treaty- which is the reason why US has banned nuclear trade with the south asian nation for more than 30 years, in the first place. now it made a complete u-turn on a very busy highway. and of course they're going to say that its not for military purpose. yeah, sure!

it is clear the US changed their mind because of the prospects of losing one huge account in india after it earlier signed a similar deal with france.

now that the deal is consummated, who is to stop pakistan from pursuing their own nuclear agenda? now that pakistan has reached the highest levels of insecurity and/or envy with its southern neighbor. there have been reports in the past of chinese covert delivery of nuclear material to pakistan. what if they're going to do it openly this time? who's to stop them when the US openly trades nuclear materials and components to india and other US allies?

this agreement between US and India clearly shows how self-serving US foreign policy is. why ever can't the US be disciplined for this? it's only india and the US that stand to benefit from this while the rest of the world engulfs from fear.

the deal had just made this planet a more dangerous place to live in.

the intro!...

...and i started blogging.

i believe there's no need for introductions. let's get straight to the matter at thand.
last friday, BFAD, the main agency task to test the safetiness of the food, medicine and all goods meant for human consumption, realeased its findings on a number of brands they tested for melamine content.

Finally! after 17 years!?...

weeks after our more fortunate asian neighbors declared their ban on china made dairy brands. finally, bfad (bureau of food assessment-delayed), made public their long-awaited and pleaded-for analyses disclosing two brands did contain the chemical ingredient melamine.
in effect it validates the ban on the sale of these brands on our chaste soil.

we really have to look with envy on how fast our neighbors were able to determine the contamination of chinese made milk products and wonder why our venerated bfad cant do the same in such swift manner. DOH even lectured one private testing firm based here because it was able to produce test results in a shorter span. now, how's that for a government agency?

the firm did the job for them and gets sermonized for doing it.

why did it had to take that long?
do they have to wait until the public has gone drained from waiting?

is it how they conduct their test? perhaps, they had to consume the products themselves and waited to see if something happen to them. if they got ill that means the brand they had taken was tainted. if nothing happened, the brand was all right. perhaps some of them had some really tough gastro thus it added to the delay.

now, there were only about 30 brands named in the last results, two were found tainted. assuming there were two who were downed from the two brands found contaminated. so there are 28 bfad personnel left. now, there are still less than 200 more to be tested...our sympathies for those poor souls who put their lives on the line for all of us.

bfad has some use, afterall...