Friday, August 31, 2012

End of Month Ramble

I like to ease up on the last day of the month. Take my rest. So kindly allow me a little gossip here.

  • I understand the bumble bees are after newly appointed Chief Justice Sereno, digging digging into history and some of her problems. Well, we can always condemn people, after all there is not a Jesus amongst us. But maybe we should apply a little Jesus-of-heart and let the Lady Chief Justice focus on her work rather than force her into a lot of bee-swatting. You know, for the good of the nation.

There is no benefit to beating her down and continuing the disruption that has characterized the Supreme Court for three years now. Leave that bloodletting stuff to ABS-CBN, the penetrating news that they do.


  • Senator Sotto is a piece of work, eh? What a sneaky legislative priest he makes. Because he plagiarized and got slapped down, he now wants vengeance.  He wants to pass a "Blogging Regulation Bill" that restrains the free speech rights of the people who stung him. Perhaps he does not grasp that the public is one of the key checks and balances of a vibrant democracy. Or he does, and he is just a scam artist and thug.

I don't think I've ever seen a man with less humility. He makes George Bush look positively sweet.

  • The Senate Ethics Committee is missing in action. You say you want to know why the Philippines is an undisciplined nation of lawbreakers and cheats and extrajudicial murderers? Just look for the trend-setters, the leaders without an evolved sense of right and wrong, or without the um . . . stamina . . . to act on it.

I love the clouds in the Philippines. If you have ever lived in Los Angeles, you understand. There the sky is usually a pasty shade of grey-brown, horizon to horizon. Here, you get those glorious cumulus monsters that pile high, dark gray at the bottom, crystal white on top. Grand puffy white islands floating in a sea of blue. The electrical charges from the monsters sparkle all night long, sometimes here, sometimes way over there.  The night skies in the Philippines are just huge.

The day is not bad, either.

Sunsets, rainbows. Silver off the sea. It is more colorful in the Philippines. No place does green better than the Philippines.

My wife has started talking about a trip to Hong Kong. She said "for Christmas." I said "No way." Travel during the Christmas break is a good way not to enjoy the holiday.

We'll yank the kid from school and go when every one else is not heading for the airport.

I was wondering what we would do in Hong Kong. Then I remembered all the jewelry stores with their shiny Chinese gold and I suspect my wife already has an agenda lined up. The kid and I will ride the ferry back and forth whilst the little lady applies her shopping skills.

  • Memo to self. Double the budget.

I am constantly amused by the stupidity of mankind. Such intelligent creatures, murdering each other with increasing technological prowess.

Mitt Romney. I wonder what kind of president he would make. His campaign is just a pack of accusations and lies, thoroughly sottofied. But Americans are stupid in their desires for a glory candidate who will take the burden of no jobs and underwater mortgages off their backs, so he is competing well. No matter that it is all illusion.

President Obama made the biggest mistake of his career in accepting full responsibility for the economy a couple of years ago. If he had kept that thing plastered onto Republicans, he'd be a shoe-in for re-election. Now he has to work hard for it. I get beggar memos from Democrats every day asking for a $3 donation, or more. The classy Michele Obama and loose lipped but loveable V.P. Joe Biden are among my best pen-pals, even though I never write back.

I enjoy the blog comments y'all offer up. They keep the old cranial gears cranking. Lots of good, incisive thinking. No bitter attacks on each other, striving for wins by trying to impose losses on someone else.  The way it should be.

Nary a Sotto amongst us.

Thanks.

21 comments:

  1. It's getting ugly in that campaign. I heard a lot of race code words at the GOP convention. And now there's an ad hitting Obama on welfare. (http://www.buzzfeed.com/bensmith/romney-camp-bets-welfare-attack)
    NOTE: "The welfare ad has been the center of intense dispute, with Democrats accusing Romney of unearthing old racial ghosts and Romney pointing out that the Obama Administration has offered states waivers that could, in fact, lighten work requirements in welfare, a central issue in Bill Clinton's 1996 revamping of public assistance.

    "The Washington Post's "Fact Checker" awarded Romney's ad "four Pinocchios," a measure Romney pollster Neil Newhouse dismissed.

    "Fact checkers come to this with their own sets of thoughts and beliefs, and we’re not going to let our campaign be dictated by fact checkers," he (Newhouse) said."

    This could explain it, why it is now a campaign between the Great White (1% and redneck) hope and the Other.

    "Obama Needs 80% of Minority Vote to Win 2012 Presidential Election
    Analysis: The incumbent's formula is 80/40. Romney’s is 61/74. Here’s a look at the color of the calculations."

    (http://www.nationaljournal.com/thenextamerica/politics/obama-needs-80-of-minority-vote-to-win-2012-presidential-election-20120824)

    Both articles are worth a read. It will do for your BP what a pot of barako coffee won't.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Then I shall refrain from reading them. Sometimes my ignorance is bliss.

      The campaign is a confluence of forces. A bitter divide on ideologies fueled by huge piles of corporate money, previously banned, and the recognition from reading polls that Americans are suckers for emotional arguments. All the pinoccios in the world don't matter.

      Delete
    2. Common Joe, I know you support the party of the sane :) donate $3 for the cause, every penny counts :D

      Delete
    3. Your vote is more important than your party donation so don't forget to cast your absentee ballot sir Joe. Liberal Seattle and the reliably blue State of Washington would appreciate your vote for Obama!

      Boeing Engr

      Delete
    4. Got it covered, Boeing. No dollars. One vote for Obama.

      Delete
  2. American politicians are liars and poster boys of hypocrisy.. Worst than Sotto. Watch them accuse each other, belittle the agenda of their opponents during party primaries. On the week of party conventions they start praising the platforms of their elected candidates.

    Romney badly damaged by his GOP colleagues during primary. Conservative religious groups are eerily silent. Tea party advocates are great dividers among them. Romney does not have much time courting voters from his own party and convincing the nation his competence at the same time. Did his own people endorse Obama unintentionally or intentionally because he is a Mormon?

    Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan are in opposite spectrum on Medicare, SS, entitlements, health insurance. Mitt defense is he is running for president, not Ryan. Yo! If your VP would not agree with your ideas, who are you fooling?

    Obama understands mathematics. Those in need outnumbered the rich. Elementary arithmetic. Politics is a game of numbers. His policies stink, not different from Romney. Romney gets the wealthy donations but that don't count as votes. Obama defies the rich for they count less in polls.
    Example:
    Fil-Am Physicians are for Mitt but Pilipino TNTs are for Obama. Which has greater number influence including families in US?

    Johnny Lin

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes, I agree, it is worse than Sotto because the deceits are funded by millions and millions of dollars, each donor trying to "game" the system. Intelligent debate of issues has disappeared.

      I don't wholly agree on Obama's policies. I guess we'd have to get into specifics to debate that. Health care, Iraq, saving auto companies, Syria, Libya, taxation, spending . . . some good policies there, some debatable.

      Delete
    2. Really? i think obama rescued the giant monopolies from bankruptcy so their highly-paid executives can have their junkets in the bahamas.. that is pro-rich policy if you ask me.

      Delete
    3. joeam, that reply was meant for johnny lin.

      Delete
    4. Jcc

      My point on numbers is still valid if the giant monopolies you refer to are the auto industries. Count the number of rich executives and the number of assembly line auto workers. It must be at least 10-1 in favor of laborers. The money is government so in this case Obama favored both sectors, rich and poor.

      Delete
    5. jcc, and a fine reply it was. Succinct. Pithy.

      Delete
  3. Joe
    Your next blog, Philippines a gem with tattered clothes"
    Whatever is the content, would it not be more accurate,
    "Philippines pockmarked glamorou skin wrapped in designer clothes" you know how Filipinos love designer items. Ask your wife. Don't go to Hongkong anymore. Just bring her to 168, items from China too. Area also populated by Chinese with many well known designer goods and brilliant jewelries. Cheaper too!
    He he he!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Please, please, stop suggesting EASIER ways for my wife to shop for those designer items!

      Delete
  4. My another comment disappeared like magic
    Johnny lin

    ReplyDelete
  5. Joe every time I post a new comment previous comment disappears
    Why?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. My system is randomly dumping comments into the spam file, so if I'm not on top of things they rest there for awhile. Yours rested overnight, so they can be full of energy today. I'll complain to Blogger about it.

      Delete
  6. Hi, Joe

    heard about the earthquake, I hope you and your family are fine.

    -Angel

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. We shook for what seemed like a long, long, long time, but we're fine. Thanks, Angel.

      Delete
    2. Glad to hear.

      Take it easy on our politicians though. You do not see faces of our senators or representatives on ambulances or relief goods here.

      Delete
    3. Ha, true! My preference is to hound Filipino politicians instead of American. I'll leave the Americans to you!

      Delete

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