Of Falcons and H2O lilies

Especially coming from someone who, to be frank about it, got his job not so much by way of years of substantive policy work or solid political acumen, as by the sudden wave of sympathetic popularity that accrued to his person after the death of his beloved mother. 

PDI, June 25

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Who said BSA was not a keen strategist? He was the best, he knows which battles to fight and what wars to wage. Convincingly, he will lead the war vs. the water lilies of Cotabato. seriously.

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Thursday, June 23: I braved the stormy weather and ended up soaked. Answered a 30 minute fill-in-the-blank-parrot-me-quiz, then sat for 2 hours to confirm my unluck in a raffle. No doubt, i'm jinxed. All the roads were turned into parking lot, reported by KL. With nowhere to go and nothing to do, off we went to kfc; I had a kungpao meal. Finally, off to home despite the warnings of floodings in the metro.

There were no jeeps -- my preferred transpo, so I got into a bus, which is logical as it can ram into the flooded streets. No more traffic, I supposed there were some OA reporting. Lo and behold, the busy avenue was turned into a river where the buses became barges, and the taxis boat. Then I looked outside, people in suits, people in shorts, some rich, some poor soaked in an awful mixture of rainwater, rat urine, essences of garbage and gadknows-what-awful parasite infested flood-water. 

I sat on the bus and was surprised I have the virtue of patience. I rather sat there until my arse ache than brave the floods and risk myself to leptospirosis. 

Again, I looked outside. It wasn't bad at all. In fact, it was amusing to see how the movement of the trapped bus-barges created ripples, and made a wave effect lounging harshly on the skins of the unwary and brave city creatures.

@ 3 am. I was finally home. Changed my clothes and splashed 70% isopropyl alcohol on my feet. Slept and smiled at falcon for I knew he will still be there overcasting the sky with hopes of postponed friday fracas.

Mabuhay ka Rizal @ 150

Navy dispatches war relic as China deploys 14 boats 

by Bloomberg
THE Navy is sending its biggest warship, a World War II vessel, to a disputed part of the South China Sea after China said it was deploying one of its new coastal patrol vessels in the waters.

Dear Mr. Carandang

Sabi mo, “The fairness is in the eye of the beholder, but we are going to make decisions, we are going to do the process based on what we feel is going to be for the good of the public.”

Talaga sir/ma'am? Since when?

Kaya po pala, napaka fair nang pagtanggal niyo sa dating PAGASA chief na si Dr.Prisco Nilo. Kayo na po ang standard ng fairness-in-the-eye-of-the-beholder drama!

Contra-vida

Kanikanina lang nung pauwi na ako at habang nakasakay sa bus, nakasalang sa dibidi player ang pelikula ni Eddie Garcia. Nakaka-aliw lang isipin na noong mga panahong iyon (90s) eh hitik ang pelikulang Pilipino sa mga nagbabagang aksiyon, suntukan, at pasabog.

Naalala ko ang mga kontrabidang sina Rez Cortes at Paquito Diaz. Tama, sila ang mga hari ng mga kontrabida, balbas at bigote pa lang asbag na.

Ngayon, puro love story ang mainstream na palabas na mga pelikulang pinoy, ni walang mga ST films. Kaya wala ng kontrabidang astig. Ang meron, artistang laging malas dahil namamatay. Or artistang laging iniiwan ng kasintahan. Sa aking sapantaha, si Selina na ata pinaka-masamang karakter ang umuukilkil sa henerasyong ito. At saka si Crabbe, Goyle, at Draco. Hahaha...

Joke Time

Q: Why didn't Lebron go to college?
A: Because he didn't want to show up for the finals.
* * *
Q: Why did Lebron James only gave me 75 cents when asked for a dollar? 
A: Because he doesn't have a 4th quarter.


+ Funny jokes circulating the cyberworld

West Philippine Sea

I hope Mr.Lacierda of the tri-mouthpiece of the Malacanang Palace was just reading a script or something prepared by the notorious Mai Mislang. WTF, naming South China Sea as West Philippine Sea?! They should have at least offered a neutral name to that sea knowing that other ASEAN countries are claiming ownership, too. Sadly, they talk and make these press releases which are supposed to make them look tough. Fantastically, they have successfully made it, tough brainless maniacs.

Enough of the posturing. Please messrs, think and deliberate before opening your pandora's mouth.

The Tale of the Lazy Pile of Papers

Written by: Mr. Jojo Robles, Manila Standard Today (June 09,2011)

Somewhere in Malacañang Palace, there is an entire room filled with appointment papers awaiting the signature of President Noynoy Aquino. But no significant headway has been made in reducing the volume of the papers lining the walls and the floor of the room in recent months.

Contrary to popular belief, many of the papers appointing people to various vacated government positions that need to be filled up by the new administration have long been vetted and cleared by other offices, particularly that of Executive Secretary Paquito Ochoa Jr. While Ochoa himself has been known to indulge in the occasional night out for a drink (or many), he’s not really to blame for the delays; the holdup really takes place in Aquino’s own office.

At one point, we’ve been told, the President agreed to set aside a specific time of day to sign the various appointment papers, just so they don’t lie there unmoved until the end of Aquino’s term. But on the very first day that he started signing them, he quickly got irritated and refused to affix any more of his signatures, claiming he had more important things to do.

Since then, the papers have returned to their original untouched condition. And no one knows when Aquino will get around to signing – or even seeing – them again.

halimaw na lazy

Kill them fishes

The LGUs and fishcage operators should read Professor Diokno's succinct take on the recent fishkill in hundreds of fishcages in Batangas and Pangasinan. He wrote: "It reminds us of the classic dilemma called the ‘tragedy of the commons’ first described in an article written by Garret Hardin in Science (1968) titled: 'The Tragedy of Commons.' The dilemma arises from the situation in which many individuals, acting independently and rationally guided only by their own self interest, will ultimately deplete a common-pool resource, even when it’s clear that it is not in any individual’s own long-term interest for this to happen."

complete article here.

Arundhati Roy's small god

 "We're not children all wanting to come first in class and win prizes. It's the pleasure of doing it. I don't know whether it will be a good book, but I'm curious about how and what I will write after these journeys."

~ Arundhati Roy  on question of 

pressure  in writing  a second novel

Erik M. Lehnsherr v. C.F. Xavier

Vamos Rafa!

microscopic

From: http://www.cocoponics.co/

Aren't they cute? Not when you contacted them, and eventually die from kidney failure. These little red sausage-like small chains are a new strain of E coli isolated in Germany which has caused the death of scores of people.

crazy big thing

Sorry Nam to spoil your moment.

I hope this is not true Mr. Zobel; Manila Standard Today columnist Mr. Jojo Robles wrote that a curious letter from Mr. JAZA was directly addressed to Pnoy zooming past NTC.

Call it powerplay, I say whatever...

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x  x  x

And it’s not only the friends and cronies who are seeking repayment for services rendered. If one published report is true, then the deep-pocketed donors to the Aquino campaign now also want their share of the spoils.

A newspaper has reported that Ayala Corp. head honcho Jaime Augusto Zobel de Ayala recently wrote President Noynoy Aquino a letter recently seeking concessions for his family’s Globe Telecoms. If genuine, the letter, co-signed by Globe president Ernest Cu, shows how some business interests close to this administration are now seeking payback.

As the report noted, Ayala and Globe should have coursed their request to the National Telecommunications Commission, the government agency that gives out the 3G bandwidth that the company seeks. Why the request was sent directly to Aquino was not explained.

The disclosure of Ayala’s letter is the latest wrinkle in the long-running controversy surrounding the buy-in of tycoon Manuel V. Pangilinan’s PLDT of a majority stake in the Gokongwei family’s Digitel. Globe, after initially expressing approval for the purchase, is now protesting the deal, on the grounds that it puts the Ayala telco at a disadvantage.

Globe has claimed that the PLDT-Digitel merger would kill competition in the telco industry, raise prices and lead to poor service for subscribers. It asked the government for numerous concessions, including the transfer of 22 megahertz of the valuable 3G spectrum from PLDT to Globe to create a “level playing field.”

Not surprisingly, PLDT has a different view. The Pangilinan group has accused the Ayala telco of “regulatory blackmail” because Globe is raising false charges to extract special privileges from government.

***

The Globe-PLDT controversy is really a technical matter which is best left to regulators and even the courts to unravel. But the letter of Ayala and Cu to Aquino gives credence to Pangilinan’s contention that the Makati-based family —a long-time Aquino supporter—is using its muscle with Malacañang to get concessions in business.

The Globe letter is unusual since 3G frequencies are not assigned to anyone (not even by the President) but bid out by NTC. But here was Ayala seeking the assignment of “additional 3G frequencies-particularly the currently unassigned blocks referred to as 3G UMTS Channels 10, 11, and 12 that total 15 megahertz (MHz) for its use in service to the consuming public.”

“We earnestly hope for your favorable consideration for this request. . . You can always count on our support as engaged and committed long term investors and service providers,” the letter supposedly said, in closing.

The Ayalas and Globe will have to explain why they went over the heads of the officials of NTC and directly asked Aquino himself to intervene in a business dispute. Or they will lay themselves open to the charge that they are merely out for payback, just like all of Aquino’s favored friends and political supporters.

Complete article here.
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crazy little thing

:)