Obama’s Speech Good as Fiction

It’s party time for the Democrats for they have Barack Obama on the front seat that was given the honor in a Democratic Convention, to steer the wheel of presidential fight. On his side is Biden who once said that Obama is not yet ready to lead the US as president. But in the end they are singing the same song and riding in tandem hoping to outrun the Republicans for the coveted position in the White House.

Obama, in his well rehearsed speech delivered before his supporters and allies rev-up his charismatic leadership by hitting hard on Republicans especially John M. which draws applause and praise from the audience. The mesmerized audience approved Obama’s political punch-line and rhetoric, which, if studied carefully, has no definite answer on the issues he is trying to explain to the American people.

Barack Obama said that America needs new ideas. But what kind of new ideas he is about to offer? He ridiculed John M. about Osama Bin Ladin (sound like Obama Biden). But he did not made an answer on how to get Osama out of his lair. He did not mention what the best solution to fight or eradicate terrorism.

Maybe his new ideas are to appease the terrorists; allow Russia to re-conquer former Soviet territories; disengage in Iraq posthaste and leave the country in ethnic conflict; to relax immigration and homeland security to give leeway to terror groups to train and wreck havoc inside the US mainland;

To appoint Michel Moore and Sean Penn as State Secretary and Assistant Secretary respectively and to give Hollywood the status as the mouthpiece of Democratic Party concerning political, economic, social and moral issues. Cheers! Thanks, but no thanks. Obama’s speech is good as fiction. I am very sorry but he’s no great, to say the least.

Werming the Cat

Werming the cat is a lovely cat

When he plays he is like an acrobat,

Running in and out of the house is what he does

Until he stop and rest on the mat.

Looking for food Werming is fast to find a prey

Rats and mice hide when the cat approach their way,

When Werming is around the house pests just run away

Because the lovely cat holds sway the pests’ territory.

Boredom is the cat’s lazy hour

Sleeping on the mat like a dour,

Unnecessary noise and disruption force the cat to rise on the floor

And sound meow as he step out of the door.

His routine is the same all day and night long

Because he knows exactly where he belong,

A domestic cat that guard the house of his human family

From the annoying habit of rats and mice that disturb the house constantly.

The City Of Garbage

waste management

Two days before the 99^th founding anniversary and one year before the centennial celebration, the City of Baguio has yet to find a long term solution to the garbage problem. Added to the problem is the bickering among elected local officials on who should be given contract to haul the garbage and how much the estimate cost allocation to fund the said project which was initially proposed by the city mayor.

The mayor in his eagerness to solve the garbage crisis, unilaterally and may be with the recommendation of his inner circle, inked an agreement with Metro Waste to haul the garbage and transport it to Tarlac, a province in Central Luzon which is absolutely a distant far from Baguio City, a mountain resort north of the Philippines.

Thus the other city officials concerned questioned the agreement. They contend that the project is too costly because it will need more manpower and resources to fund the garbage hauling considering that its transportation to the lowland will cost the city government millions of pesos.

But despite of opposition, disagreement and brickbats, the city mayor won in his desire to resolve the garbage crisis which has been fouling the air of the Summer Capital of the Philippines for the past months. This short term solution of the mayor hopefully will sustain and continue until next year for the 100 years founding anniversary celebration of the former US R&R resort City of Baguio.

Underground Water Source Faces Natural Extinction

underground water source

“]

underground water source[gallery

Baguio City – An underground water source in one of the villages in this mountain resort city is threatened to become extinct if no action taken. The city government, village officials and the residents themselves had been remiss in their responsibility to protect this gift from nature which has been serving villagers in Irisan and Asin of potable water for a long time.

The underground water source is a strong current of water coming from the stone crevices or fissures which is located inside a cave of a rocky mountain of Irisan Barangay (Village) which is incidentally where the open dumpsite sit on top of it. On the lower part of the mountain (north side) is a newly constructed unfinished road and big houses alongside rock formation that hold pile of garbage from moving downward.

Before, the water is crystal clear, clean, and drinkable. But as time passes by and as the human settlements keep on increasing in the area, coincided with the decades of dumpsite operation, the once potable underground water source is now only good for washing linens and for other purposes except for cooking and drinking.

Rainy season makes the water brown in color caused by water canal coming from the dumping area that goes directly down the cave. As picture shows, the underground water source is a great help to the villagers. Different sizes and makes of water pipes snakes through in and outside of the cave.

Most of the water pipe connection services the Asin Barangay (Village) kilometer away from the main water source. Good for the villagers because water flows down easily to their village. But the serviceability ends there. The water is already contaminated and worst; it could no longer serve its purpose and die naturally. Unless the government and the community save it from deterioration, the cave with its pure water will live for generations or if not for life.

Talking English

For people who are familiar with the English language, speaking and writing are peanuts for they know for sure about the correct grammar usage, terminologies, sentence construction, etc. The people considered as good speakers and writers are identified as the native English speakers (i.e. North America & Great Britain) and people from around the world who took formal education in college and studied the English language as required.

book of knowledge

However, there is a demarcation line that delineates native English speakers from the people who studied English as their second language. And we can see them in blog sites lording in the internet. Conspicuously, non-native English speakers and writers are more than critical or tending to find fault on certain articles which they consider as grammatically erroneous.

Ultimately, the non-native English speakers and writers, acting like English Gurus, are unforgiving in their criticism to others. They act like as if the bragging right of being a good English speaker and writer belongs to them. They flaunt their English knowledge as if they are the aces of jokers joking around with derision.

As a blogger and consider writing and reading as vocation, I don’t mind if my English is correct or not. The most important thing is that I send the message across through my articles. And I don’t mind if I have no formal education in college and bereft of any bragging right as good English speaker and writer.

Détente

The recent incident in Georgia where it was nearly occupied by the marauding Russian army had sent chilling effect to the other former Soviet Republics that the old Russia is back. The former “Evil Empire” ultimately relayed a message to the world that they mean business and they are ready to protect their interests within its borders.

For Medvedev and Putin, Russia is intolerable to the West’s close ties on its neighbors and former Soviet territories. The Russians sees it as destabilizing the region. Russia sounds the alarm bells and warned the West not to make plans that would complicate the already volatile situation in the area.

For kibitzer like me who followed the Soviet infamous saga by reading news stories, the world is facing yet another crisis developing in the horizon. I am thinking what would be the reaction of the famous Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists which is based in Chicago if they already adjusted their Doomsday Clock.

This is scary because Russia and the West especially the US possess war arsenal that could unleash massive death and destruction to the rest of the world. The Russians have their Mother of all Bombs, SS missiles, MiG jets, nuclear bombs and other advanced weaponry.

To avoid the Doomsday Clock from moving its minute hand to few minutes to doomsday, the West and the US should not match Russia with bellicose rhetoric. The West must maintain its arsenal of diplomacy to aptly support détente as the core of its dealing with Russia.

But the West and the US should not be prevented by Russia to deliver its message of peace. For, peace as the core of the message, is not mean to say that democracy to Georgia and to other former Soviet Republics must be stopped by “Russian Roulette.” Russia must learn how to maintain and accept détente.

Ailing Dog Slaughtered In the Neighborhood

dog meat

Baguio City – I thought it was just a simple leisurely walk in the neighborhood between the handler and his pet dog. The young man, whom I know personally, is trying to force his dog to walk by pulling the leash which is almost choking the dog by its neck. I was prompted to ask the man what’s happening to his dog, and he said that the dog is sick and it needs to undergo euthanasia or to be slaughtered for its meat rather than let the animal die naturally.

Moments later a sharp knife sunk into the animal’s throat and blow-torched its body until the skin was scorched of its hairs. The dog’s partially burned flesh was then sliced; its neck was cut first followed by the feet and so on. Normally, for my neighbor and his dog-eating buddies, killing dogs for food is a tradition unchanged by the test of times.

But for the animal right activists armed with R.A 8485, the law that protects animals against cruelty and which strictly prohibit the killing of dog for consumption, the tradition, according to them, should be buried altogether in deference to the law’s equal treatment of animals most especially dog, man’s best friend.

Number 8 Rules RP’s Society with Impunity

The single digit number 8 means authority and power. But to many Filipinos, the number means otherwise. For the average observers, the common interpretation or definition of number 8 could exactly be termed as repugnant. It is so because number 8, in layman’s term denotes wickedness.

In the Philippines where every number counts, from fat commissions etc, the number 8 is a privilege which could be identified on car plates of SUVs and luxury vehicles of all congressmen/women of the lower house of representatives. For most congressmen/women, especially administration solons, the number 8 is a tool to brag or flaunt their authority and power.

These congressmen/women are road-monsters when they are traveling anywhere else in the country. They disregard road courtesy by ignoring traffic rules and regulations. They travel in long convoys with siren and forced other vehicles ahead of them to slow down. Often their bodyguards berate and threaten motorists to back-off.

They respect no traffic enforcers when pulled-over for traffic infractions. Instead, the poor road safety officers get reprimand from abusive solons. These abhorrent acts of solons continue down to their family line and paramours. The number 8 privilege serves well the family’s affairs and various personal activities with impunity.

In areas where ordinary people are submissive, the number 8 of solons commands fear and respect. When passing by the unpaved roads in the countryside, the peoples’ heads are down to show their meekness and weak-kneedness. This is what the number 8 makes Philippine society unequal and will remain indefinitely.

If the number 8 is a sign of good fortune for feng shui experts, the number 8 is a plague or a bad omen for the majority of the Filipinos living in despair and absolute neglect.

Health Care Providers Continue To Leave RP for High Paying Jobs Abroad

hospital in limbo

Health care providers in the Philippines continue to leave the country for a promising future abroad. The common sentiments of people in the medical and nursing profession reflects on the country’s low salary which is way below the salary being offered overseas like the US, Canada, Australia and some European countries.

The increase in demand of Filipino nurses abroad remains unchanged for years. That is why many Filipino doctors are taking up nursing course to grab big opportunity abroad. And for the past years, thousands of doctors left the Philippines to work as nurses in the US, Canada and other Western destinations. But there are also big numbers of Filipino doctors working overseas and practicing their profession at par with their foreign counterparts.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the Philippines is the number 1 exporter of nurses in the world and number 2 in doctor deployment. India is the number 1 exporter of doctors, mostly to the US, Canada, Europe and other countries.

Compared to India, the Philippines is more susceptible to health care crisis given the fact that the doctor to patient ratio has a wide margin, a gaping hole which could lead to a serious health care crisis in the next eight years, says experts.

Olympic Glory

Every Olympians vie for it really hard and so for them Olympic glory means greatness and national pride and of course celebrity status beyond compare. Athletes who are world breakers and victors in the action packed Olympics fights not only for their selves but for their country. For them Olympics means sports superiority and medals.

Olympics Powerhouse like USA shines in every competition and as usual they rules with authority. Unexpectedly, new players in the powerhouse club like China and Korea are doing their best performance ever. Both countries are proudly represented by their Olympians.

Unfortunately for other countries who had been participating in the Olympics for a long time, it is shameful to note that their Olympians remains underachieving and always struggling going up the rocky road of Olympic Glory. Surely, underachieving athletes eats the dust because their competitive ability is below par, emotionally and physically unprepared and worst of all underachieving athletes lacks full support from their government.

And to add insult to injury, underachieving countries send their contingent to Olympics where sports officials with their families in tow and staffs outnumber their official list of athletes. Obviously, they go with their athletes not to cheer on them but to visit the host country’s premier sites and important places at the expense of tax payers’ money.