Borat 2

I saw Don't Mess with the Zohan because the people at home were watching it on pirated DVD. It's a movie I didn't plan to see because it's incredibly bastos and certainly not safe watching with the kids, but I agree that it's hysterically funny.

What makes it an otherwise amazing movie despite its cheapness is that it's able to poke fun at the Israeli-Palestine conflict without the threat of a jihad or a fatwa. As we all know, it's the one conflict that has been jumpstarting the end of the world for years. The comedy is incredibly low, but that's the whole point: it makes the joke even funnier while acquiring the license to poke guiltless fun at such a live-wire theme. There are equal-opportunity insults all around, but anyone who objects will only end up being outed as a narrow-minded soursop and crybaby. This movie is really only for those with a sophisticatedly gross sense of humor.

By daring to make fun of the whole thing, it becomes, in fact, the most vicious indictment of the Middle East conflict since the bitter and surreal Palestinian film Divine Intervention, and the folly of war in general since the blackly comic Bosnian film No Man's Land, and yet perhaps unintendedly the most hopeful of all.

Zohan is the triumph of cheap, absurdist humor as an unlikely savior of a world gone broke.

Loot bag

W00t! Finally, I got me a copy of the iconic sci-fi film by Ridley Scott, Blade Runner which stars Harrison Ford when he was still handsome; the Cannes version of The Big Red One, a Hollywood war movie that is respectable enough, preceding The Thin Red Line and Saving Ryan's Private by decades; The Majestic starring Jim Carrey; and one movie title I couldn't remember starring the odd-faced Giovanni Ribisi.

**

I've grown fond of reading model essays used by US teachers to model college-level essay writing because these are amost always rewarding to read for so many reasons. Here are titles I've read and about to read:

"It's Time I Shed My Ex-Convict Status" by Walter Scanlon. "Chili Cheese Dogs, My Father, and Me" by Pat Conroy --> Awww, I like. "Why are We So Angry?" by Dianne Hales --> An expertly funny style of writing. "Supersize It" by James Verini --> This too. "Discovery" by Liann Sumner --> A fresh look and a series of unexpected insights on India by a young American girl. "Creation Stories" by Barbara Kingsolver --> I heart novelist Barbara Kingsolver because she's also a biologist. :-) "A Homemade Education" by Malcom X --> It's amazing how I'm reading somebody who nearly became illiterate. "Beauty and the Beef" by Joey Green --> Food Styling 101 for TV commercial purposes is a hilarious lesson in how to make a hamburger look like a bold star in a magazine photoshoot (with a hundred contraptions to hide imperfections and flatter the assets). "The Ways We Lie" by Stephanie Ericsson --> I've read this before, and I was very much impressed, and sad because I thought I could've written it myself. "Some Ways to Prepare for the Absolute Worst" by Damon Darlin --> Like, whatever. "Passage into Manhood" by Michael Thompson --> Hmm, a male version of debut makes sense. "Spanglish" by Janice E. Castro, with Dan Cook and Cristina Garcia --> An essay about Taglish, which has been in existence for years, would've been a lot more interesting. "My Indian" by Adora Houghton --> An entertaining compare/contrast essay. "Gender Patterns Begin at the Beginning" by Deborah Tannen --> A rare, eminently readable psychology writer. "Uniforms Rule" by Pat Wingert. "Move Your Body, Feed Your Mind" by Daryn Eller. "Why Profiling Won't Work" by William Raspberry --> The guy has a point, but he's overly sensitive. "Everything Isn't Racial Profiling" by Linda Chavez --> Packs in a whole lotta common sense to an otherwise pretzel-tricky problem, and it's a view unexpectedly coming from a woamn too. "Sugar High" by Nancy Huehnergarth. "Obesity is not Just about Food" by Carol Glazer.

**

I discovered a new resto in Glorietta that I had not tried yet: Soup Kitchen. They have an array of decent soups that are not in 3-in-1 plastic packs, hehe. I had Italian sausage in tomato soup, and M. had clam chowder. The soup comes with a good bread and butter, of course. We finished our soups satisfied and full enough to forego dinner.

Badjao-ed

Took a jeep today to Magallanes, and was stunned to see two bleached-haired Badjaos suddenly squeezing themselves in and squatting on the floor. Christmas is still too far away (that's why the mall displays are mainly Halloween-themed), but these Badjaos are too enterprising. The girl lost no time distributing envelopes to us passengers and the boy began tapping his improvised drum set like a madman. His drums were hewn out of those cutoff PVC pipes and discarded Nido Milk tin cans. The two must have smelled stinky, judging from their unkempt clothes and lack of proper grooming. But her dance! And his beat! And their music!

I suddenly remembered a poem I've read about these Badjaos, who used to be strictly sea-bound, living in stilt houses (or is that some other tribe) in Sulu Sea, if they were not soliciting glinty coins in the major ports of the country as they rode the oil-tinged waves while balancing themselves on a ramshackle raft. The poet discovers, with not a little jubilation, how these skin-diving people were not really begging, but performing. They were not beggars, but givers. They were offering art, offering their very selves.

And what art! I've never seen or heard anything like their celebratory-sounding dance and music. They could give the bands of Manila a run for their money. I wonder if anyone is cataloguing the Badjaos' little cultural treasures? I would've interviewed the young boy-and-girl Badjao band if I were not pressed for time. Like them, I, too, am not among the lucky ones; I have a body to feed.

But I was heartened enough to dig deep in my pocket. I'm surprised I wasn't annoyed, given my prejudice against these local gypsies, these ocean nomads, suspecting them to be the descendants of Moro pirates of centuries ago who raided the churches, raped women, and pillaged entire towns. But so what, right? I found myself instead shedding an involuntary teardrop for them. And, no, not out of pity either, but a mix of gratitude (they could've held us up instead at knife-point) and sincere appreciation I didn't know I was capable of. I'm very much concerned about their safety, though.

Quake

It's a weak shakeup, thankfully, but it made me shaky just the same because I was in the fifth floor working at around 11AM and I witnessed how the rollup blinds in the glass windows swayed and all the buildings around me seemed to vibrate. Scary. Good thing I wasn't on the 41F of PBCom, with its ball bearings and all.

Fear of abandonment

This is N.'s agony, as told to me:

I have an abandonment issue. I seem to have been an abandoned child. The signs, in retrospect, are all there -- I only have to be cognizant of them. My feeling of being abandoned must have brought in me this bitter fruit of separation anxiety.

Any instance where I feel being separated and left out are powerful triggers, driving me to the depths of irrational fear, to feelings of insecurity and ultimately to a depressive state. I remember when I was in kindergarten. Every time my yaya (paid caretaker but considered as family member) brought me to school, and later left, I would cry uncontrolalbly, unduly worrying my teachers and the rest of my classmates. Other irked classmates would call me names such as "Crybaby!" They were right. It's an irrational reaction because the rest of the kids were brought to school every morning the same way: they are left soon after and, in the meantime, the teacher took care of everyone. Later on in the afternoon when classes are over, everybody was picked up by their respective family members. How come I reacted so differently? How come I consistently overreacted? Where was it all coming from?

Whenever I leave a place I frequented or lived in for years, I'd feel the same way. When someone close to me decides to leave and live abroad for good, I'd feel left out. Whenever my contemporaries achieve something or attain something I don't have, I feel very envious, very insecure, as though everybody is leaving me out. Imagine the fear I'd have at the mere thought of my parents or loved ones departing forever. I'd surely feel devastated I wouldn't know how to ever recover.

There's an obvious distortion in my worldview somewhere. I've believed that, for me to feel secure, someone who cares for me must be there for me constantly and forever.

When I graduated in high school and left home for college in Manila, I broke in melodramatic tears, with a song about leaving silently playing in my mind. When I left the first boarding house I lived in to move to another place more affordable, I was again reduced to uncertainty, a feeling that is always bathed in tears. I fear being abandoned by friends in favor of someone better and more interesting and more exciting. I fear being abandoned by my lover in favor of someone I assume to be better. I guess I've been anxious about separation since birth.

Then I remember somoene saying that the traumas of the mother are the traumas of the child when the child is still in the womb at the time the mother was traumatized. Could it be that my dad threatened my mother to leave her when he found out he got her pregnant? Could my mother have felt being threatened by abandonment when she was still carrying me inside her? These are too tough questions to ever burden my aging parents with. I figure these are best left unasked. It would be good, though, to ask to find the answer for certain. I wouldn't be surprised to find the answer is yes in both counts.

Quote

"The Ten Commandments are not in multiple choice."

- from a forwarded email

Quotes

"...life is the light, and we must hasten our death by dying first as living beings, so that real death will find us already corpses and will no longer frighten us."
...

"I want to reach the point of being with Him always, of no longer feeling any difference between being in church and being out of work: of adoring Him continually even in the midst of the bustle of the daily round."

- Carlo Carretto in Letters to Dolcidia

God is in our emotions

I got annoyed with Y. lately. One night, in a makeshift streetside bar along Roxas Blvd., Malate, he wondered aloud over San Miguel beer, "Why can't we just focus on our relationship with God?" He meant, why can't we just remain prayerful and all that, concentrating our energies on the spiritual; why do we have to go psychological? Irked, I said, "Bro, you're short-circuiting the process." I then explained with intent and, at length, the reasons why.

"Don't make the mistake of many, what I'd call the charismatic trap. Nothing wrong with pray-overs and praise and worship of God. That's our ultimate goal. That's the third phase of the healing process, as I understand it."

"But before reaching Phase 3, if you really want healing, here's the 'bad' news: there are no short-cuts. Everyone goes through the six or so stages of the grieving process. All the more is it necessary for those with hidden issues because they need to bring out to the surface what's been repressed and buried in the subconscious or unconscious. To quote Harry, "Don't underestimate the power of the subconscious." It has a way of giving us signals through our emotions. And if left unaddressed, it has a way of back-firing."

"At this point in our journey, it's perfectly okay to talk about emotions. God is in our emotions. Don't think that we are repudiating God or setting aside the power of God when we dwell on psychological stuff. God is there speaking right through the symptoms, the exposed tips of our psychological iceberg. We just have to be aware of them to be able to pinpoint what those symptoms are -- to be able to realize at all that those are mere symptoms and not the root of the problem -- and identify where they're coming from. It's a long, tiring process."

"Like Harry keeps on saying, and to switch metaphors, having a fever is a kind of blessing, because it's a signal that we have an infection to treat. Don't be too intimidated by our feelings. God will respect what we feel. After all, He made us that way: thinking, feeling individuals."

Apparently, I've launched into a privilege speech with an audience of one, or a conference lecture, if you will, without even meaning to. But Y. was not talking back. Not at all. Bad sign. Obviously he had tuned me out. "Anyway," I say in between gulps, "it's your life, it's your choice, it's up to you, good luck."

He said, "Thanks, that's the best thing you said tonight (that my life is up to me)," but he sighed. I sighed back.

"Only when we're aware of our hidden state can we really move on. Then we'll know what to tell God. Then we'll know which to pray for. Then we'll praise and worship God. It's a step-by-step thing, buddy."

I was talking to a wall, an impregnable wall watching its paint to dry. I was getting frustrated. He was getting a bit sarcastic. I was sounding more and more bitter. The night was still young.

Soon, A. butted in, "Don't throw pearls to swine." But I was fit to be tied. I insisted on repeating myself, expounding on what I spilled to the four corners of Manila wind. A few minutes later in between the pauses, A. said, "Now you know how Christ feels -- talking and talking, but isn't being listened to, or is being barely understood."

Whew, what a great consolation, A. Thanks much. But I pressed on with addressing Y. "Bro, don't get me wrong. I'm saying all this to you 'cause I care. Even people with no underlying issues have to go through the same process of being angry, of grieving, etc. We're not trying to be selfish here or anything, we're not trying to focus too much on ourselves or on our problems. We're not trying to be too negative. In fact, what we're trying is to solve our problems -- the right way."

What happens when we focus on God while wantonly disregarding our emotional/psychological life? We end up living a double life, trapped in our respective issues, held hostage by subconsciously (or even more accurately, unconsciously) powered inclinations to sin. You've really got to discover and name your demons for yourself. You're not necessarily abandoning God when you psychologize. Psychology is but the scientific side of things. It's all about facing facts. And feelings are also facts.

Pinoy terms of endearment and contempt, from dayong to demonyo

(New measurement scales)

Filipinos love addressing one another in various ways, depending on their "ego states*," mood, and position in the pecking order at a given moment. It's fascinating to watch how the Filipino constantly changes like a chameleon when establishing the slightest connection, be it by blood, ethnic background, religious affiliation, or even TV viewing patterns. What an amazingly complicated people!

Dayong - used affectionately by Panggalatoks to address a little kid, whether a relative or not; etymology mysterious; sounds close to "darling," though

Palanggâ - used very affectionately by Ilonggos to refer to a special loved one; var. Panggâ, Pagingging, 'Gâ; noticeably withdrawn or omitted during minor or major tiffs; etymology unknown

Mahal/Sinta/Lab/Labs/Hon/Bebe - used with romantic, if overly syrupy, connotation and reserved for really, really special someone/significant other; Sinta (originally a Malay word) is obsolete, used only in poems and songs

Papa (emphasis on the first syllable) - gay term used to refer to the male object of desire; may be an unconscious projection of longing for a loving father figure; not to be confused with the use of the Spanish Papa (emphasis on the second syllable) to refer to one's father

Nanay/Tatay/Mama/Papa/Mommy/Daddy - used respectfully or fondly (sometimes resentfully) to refer to parents; shorthard versions: 'Nay/'Tay/'Ma/'Pa; etymology allegedly Mexican/Nahuatl and Spanish/American; has many regional versions such as Inay, Itay, Inang, Amang, Nanang, Tatang, Nana, Tata

Iho/Iha - corruption of the Spanish hijo/hija, used often patronizingly or condescendingly to refer to one's kids; Tagalog version is the neutered term Anak

Lolo/Lola - used respectfully to refer to oldies; shorthand: 'Lo/'La; not to be confused with the gay term Lola/Lolo (see separate entry); sometimes, also used as an insult when directed at a young person acting like an old man/woman; an especially old patriarch may also be addressed as Ingkong in remote Tagalog barrios ridden with messianic superstitious beliefs

Apo - what Lolos and Lolas fondly call the gangly and frisky clones of their kids

Kuya/Ate - used by sibings to refer to elder siblings out of respect or in an affectionate manner, as when asking for PasaLoad; may be used by househelps to refer to their 'amo' (master), with slight variation in enunciation, as in Koya, Ati; Chinese in origin; have many regional variations, viz., Koya or Koyang among Kapampangans, Ateng among Bulakenos, etc.; also used in charismatic communities as a sign of respect for seniority

Insan/Tiyo/Tiya/Balae/Bilas/Ninong/Ninang/Tito/Tita/Etc. - used to establish or reaffirm one's kinship with a considerably distant blood relation or someone related via religious or legal rites

Manong/Manang - used respectfully by Ilocanos and other groups to refer to someone more senior; may also be used elsewhere to address an elderly help

Pogi/Ganda - used with considerable affection to refer to someone from which one wants to solicit a favor; the recipient may not necessarily be as described; cruel people use it with irony/sarcasm; or, used to signify the reverse -- otherwise the term Panget/Pangit is used; Pogi is also a common dog name; Guwapo is reserved for handsome men and even more handsome horses; var. Gandang Lalaki must refer to the metrosexual andGandang Babae; alternatively, Ganda may be used to flatter a gay guy; as expected, the opposite, Pangit (literally ugly) or Panget (really ugly) would be serviceable when the speaker is excessively annoyed

Brad/Sis/Kapatid - used with detached, respectful regard for a fellow human; used by charismatics to avoid using Kuya/Ate, which is associated with houselp use; also, used by frat and sorority members to address fellow members; for Philippine Military Academy students and alumni, Mistah is used; Ilocano term is Kabagis?; Tagalog var.: Utol, of 'Tol, from Kaputol (constant subject of sibling rivalry); lawyers call their colleagues Compañero(a) or mnemonically Pañero(a)/Panyero(a)

Ading - used by Ilocanos to refer to a sibling regardless of gender or used with reverential regard for a fellow human walking down the street

Pare/Mare - traditionally used by parties involved in a christening or marriage rite; now used to address an equal, whether a close friend or a total stranger, in a friendly way; Mare is waning in use and is considered too old-fashioned

Bay - Visayan version of Pare

Tsong - Tagalog equivalent of dude, buddy, or pal; used among close male friends

Dude - American version of Tsong

Tukayo - used to refer to someone close or not who has the same name as the speaker; from the Mexican/Nahuatl "tocayo"

Kosa, Kakosa - what fellow inmates call each other, in a twistedly fond way

Dear - often used by office people to refer to the glorified secretary, as in "Coffee na lang, dear."; English word

Ser/Ma'am/Boss/Bossing/Chief/(insert other lofty positions) - used subserviently to address a superior at the workplace, or to kowtow to anyone who has the power to wring one's neck the minute one makes a wrong move

Mamâ/Ale - used with a modicum of respect to refer to a male/female stranger

Ginoo/Ginang - used in a dignified way, i.e., in formal letters/documents and barong tagalog ocassions; formal versions of Mama and Ale

Inday/'Day/Dodong/'Dong - used by Vizayans as their versions of Nene and Totoy; may also be used (at least in Manila) to refer to househelps from the Vizayan region; Dodong is pronounced as Dudung, with the 'd' touching the tip of the palate

Lola - gay term used playfully to refer to a fellow gay guy or gay girl; Lolo is used to refer to straight males in the same manner

Kapuso - coined word; used to refer to anyone who works for (or suddenly shifts alliances to) or avidly watches GMA7 shows

Kapamilya - coined word; used to refer to anyone who works for (or suddenly shifts alliances to) or avidly watches ABS-CBN shows like "Wowowee"

Kaibigan/Friend - used as it means in Tagalog or English; old-fashioned versions in high-society circles: Amigo/Amiga

Klasmeyt - used to refer to any classmate in the past or present

Kabayan - used by anyone in Manila, abroad, or anywhere away from home to address someone from his/her native place (place of birth, mostly); also used as Kababayan; regional variations include Kasimanwa (Ilonggo), Kabaleyan (Pangasinan), etc.; related term: Ilocano word Kakabsat?

Mang - seems to be a shorthand for Mama, but used to refer to an older man fairly familiar to the speaker

Ka - a favorite among leftist/militant activists; used to refer to one another in their struggle towards realizing a people's democratic republic; originally a Tagalog term used to refer to anybody in a deferential manner

Bok - see Ka; etymology unfamiliar

Kasama - see Ka; might be the actual origin of Ka; synonymous to Katoto

Gat - used rarely for that rare bird: a highly accomplished man in a lofty position regarded universally as worthy of wordly honor and adulation; used mostly to refer to national hero Jose Rizal; the term seems extinct by now; etymology to be researched, hopefully in that Almario/UP dictionary (note to self: Mr. Pete Lacaba might be of help)

Apo - Ilocano version of Gat; synonym: Lakay; not to be confused with Apo, what grandparents call their grandkids; The two terms often used together as Apo Lakay maybe as an intensive (for emphatic purposes)

Baket - Ilocano word, the e pronounced as a schwa; what Lakay calls his wife when romantically inclined and vice-versa

Mother - used to address a grand matriarch, as in Mother Lily, the producer of Viva Films

Manoy/Manay - Bicolano versions of Manong and Manang; often used metonymically to refer to the gender-specific sex organ

Father/Padre - used reverentially to address a priest

Sister - used respectfully to address a nun

Kulokoy - used affectionately to refer to babies or young people when they're afflicted with "acute pa-cute" or being a bit challenging; etymology unknown so far

Nene/Totoy - used fondly or condescendingly to refer to young girls and boys, especially their state of virginity or naivete; also Boy (for boys) or Bata (for both genders)

Toto - Ilonggo version of Totoy

Mokong - used in a playful but slightly irritated way; used by guys to refer to fellow guys

Muymoy - used by Cebuanos to refer to a pet monkey

Pikoy (and all other linguistic translations/variations) - Bicolano word for the male genital organ; used jokingly and metonymically to refer to any boy; female versions also used; Burat is for the male Cebuano and Ilonggo version, while Puday is for the female version

Tukmol - used with feigned, often playful contempt; from a comic character, maybe Nonoy Marcelo's Ikabod series

Damulag - a mild putdown used to refer to anyone who tries to be unseemly childish for his/her size; from Tagalog word meaning "juvenile carabao"

Lekat - used mostly by mildly annoyed mothers to refer to wayward sons; etymology unknown

Kumag - used contemptibly to refer to anyone whom one mildly despises; etymology unknown; sounds like amag (fungus), though

Damuho - roughly the same as kumag; no idea what it literally means; maybe baboy-damo who's also a bruho (baboy-damo + bruho = damuho)?

Diyaske - I've heard this mildly irritated-sounding word a few times before, but I'm not sure what it means; sounds awful to me, though, so it belongs to the awful end of the spectrum

Epal - used by 'kanto' boys to refer to a peer who's shameless; from the word 'pumapapel,' meaning being a busybody, or minding someone else's business; vulgar usage; older version might be the word Asungot or artless and ugly kibitzer

Hitad - usually used maliciously and in conspiratorial whispers by a group of girls and/or gays to refer to another girl or gay guy who outbitches or outgays them all; var. Malandi, possibly also Talipandas, Dalahira, Harot, etc.; vulgar usage

Malandi - see Hitad; vulgar usage

Bruho/Bruha - used furiously to refer to unbearably difficult characters, as in someone practicing witchcraft or voodoo and tortures kids in a cauldron of boiling tar; from the Spanish brujo/bruja

Gago/Gaga - seems originally a curse, but may be used to refer to a person who crosses someone (i.e., you); var. Ogag is what my younger brother calls me with a mix of affection and disgust; slang to vulgar usage; etymology unknown; sounds like "crazy" or "fool."

Ungas – not sure what this means; maybe “unggoy na ahas,” don’t you think? Sounds synonymous to “tanga,” ("idiot") though.

Tanga - refers to someone with low IQ or who is dense or slow. See also Ungas.

Puta - same as Gago, only worse-sounding; literally means whore in Spanish, but is now applied carte blanche on anyone who seems worth cursing to hell; vulgar usage

Demonyo - used very angrily, to spite anyone with the slightest resemblance to a horned being; var. Animal or Hayup; also Hudas (Tagalog for Judas Iscariot); from the English demon or Spanish demoño; diminutive, gender-sensitive versions (demoñito, demoñita) oft-used

*from Eric Berne's transactional analysis theory

Washington SyCip slaps U.P. with lotsa questions

(No more comments pls; just notes to self)

"Questions for the future of U.P." - Spoken like a good accountant, Mr. SyCip. :p

**

Other news:

Zenit picks up news on RP Congress debate: "Philippines Threatened By a 2-Child Policy; Population Control Bill Enters Plenary Debate" by Genevieve Pollock

On controlling anger

In an expertly written essay titled "Why are We So Angry?," Dianne Hales offers "two steps in taming a toxic temper":

"The first step is to figure out what's really making you angry. ...

"Next, monitor yourself for early signs of exhaustion or overload. While stress alone doesn't cause a blow-up, it makes you more vulnerable to overreacting."

She goes on, "When you feel yourself getting angry, control your tongue and your brain." She quotes psychologist Brad Bushman: "'Many people think of anger as the psychological equivalent of the steam in a pressure cooker: It has to be released, or it will explode. That's not true. The people who react by hitting, kicking, screaming, and swearing just feel more angry.'"

She also points out that temper tantrums release stress hormones like adrenaline, which is not good for the health in terms of the associated cholesterol level and risk for stroke and heart attack.

While all these are sound advice, I think Wales oversimplifies that part about figuring out the reason that really makes one angry. Because in cases of repressed anger, the person most likely is not aware of the source because he/she has unknowingly buried it deep in the subconscious or even unconscious. Any psychologist will attest to this. The person will need professional help or at least a capable confidante to help unearth the hidden reason. Only when one has discovered the root cause (and there are so may false leads, so many red herrings) can one diagnose or discover the distorted worldview that prompted one to snap in the first place. I sound like a broken record already, but there are no short-cuts when dealing with our emotions. And I am just echoing what my counselor keeps on repeating, almost to no avail (because people listen and listen but never get it). And if you read the lives of the greatest saints, they essentially say the same thing, as though in unison: know thyself, ruthlessly know thyself.

Although she gives the very good tip of calming oneself down when angry (like avoiding the news and listening to soothing music instead), another thing Wales fails to point out is this: After the need to calm down, sometimes we are called to confront things. There is a need to vent our anger in a legitimate way. There is a need to re-channel our negative emotion to something positive. Often, there is a need to report our emotions as we experiece them if the situation involves people significant to us. This is when thinking is needed; instead of simply reacting, of giving in to our reflexes, we are supposed to respond. We might need to talk out the issue with our 'offender' in a calm manner. There's the necessity of hard work in a lot of situations that are actually irksome to almost everyone. The thing is we must be in control of our emotions, or more accurately, we must be able to manage our feelings.

Finally, it would be good if Wales reminded the reader that not all forms of wrath are bad. God can be provoked to become furious, and that doesn't make Him any less of a loving deity. As in the case of universally annoying and anger-inspiring situations, the anger may not necessarily come from a neurosis/dysfunction/hidden psychological issue, as Viktor Frankl notes in Man's Search for Meaning, but from something good and therefore must be put to good use. The keywords are excessive or irrational anger or behavior.

When dealing with anger, we need to distinguish between these things that Wales have missed.

On forgiving oneself

A lot of people make one crucial mistake when it comes to forgiveness: they seem to have forgiven everyone, but they can't forgive themselves. How does one forgive oneself?

Harry advises that one step back, retrace where one came from. "One solution is by feeling the pain, i.e., being aware of one's feelings, acknowledging that one feels this or that way. Expressing the feeling is healthy, provided the emotion is managed (not controlled, he cautions) at a legitimate (i.e., decent) level. Not acknowledging that one has been hurt will stress one out, possibly causing diseases." (But we're not about to jump to conclusion here: we're not saying all diseases are caused by suppressed or repressed feelings.)

What's worse is denial. "Denying one is hurt will lead to suppressed feelings, and suppressed feelings lead to repressed feelings, to burying of feelings in the subconscious, and ultimately to depression." This situation is oftentimes very hard to 'cure,' I imagine, because the 'sufferer' is no longer consciously aware of where the feelings are really coming from.

"Our emotions are the most neglected part of our self," Harry laments, quoting someone else from somewhere.

After being aware that one feels this way or that, the next step, Harry says, is to make a conscious decision to forgive one's offender -- and most especially, oneself. Someone butts in and correctly adds: "Nobody's perfect," and he is right. Acceptance of oneself, warts and all, is key. Like victims of child abuse are told to remind themselves, "I made a mistake, but I am not the mistake."

However, self-acceptance would be impossible without one crucial stumbling block: pride. It takes humility not to be too harsh or too hard on oneself.

Another key ingredient, says John Powell (in Fully Human, Fully Alive), is courage. Without courage, we won't have the strength to face whatever negative emotion is associated with confronting and forgiving ourselves. We need to first face the facts about ourselves, our feelings, before we are able to forgive. There has to be clarity so we'll know what we are forgiving and why.

Not going through this process will be doing a short-cut, which leads to a cul-de-sac, to nowhere. One cannot forgive something one is not consciously aware of.

"How does one know one has forgiven oneself?," I ask, a bit nervous that I'd be rebuffed.

"Has he or she already made a decision to forgive?," Harry asks back by way of an answer. "If yes, one can take a look at a possible indication: one is now able to look back on what happened and talk about it with others without bitterness."

"Confession leads to healing," another discussion participant adds, quoting James 5:16.

Then I remember what a priest once said: "Another strong sign that one has forgiven oneself is when one looks back and finds everything funny."

Of course, forgiving oneself presupposes that one desires change or have made the decision to change, to really move on.

Quote

The Present as a Gift

"So much suffering comes from disappointment. We wait for something which we believe will bring us happiness, and it does not arrive. We see only the negative things that have come our way - illness, a child with a handicap - and we close up in anger and rebellion. Human wisdom means coming back down to earth; not closing ourselves up in a beautiful ideal which we must attain, but welcoming reality just as it is; discovering God present in reality; not struggling against reality, but working with it; discovering the seed of life, the possibilities hidden in it. Of course we must have a vision for the future and focus on it, we must have a plan, and be aware of and responsible for the future, but our hope and vision must be rooted in the present. This is Buddhist wisdom, but also Christian - to discover God in the present moment, to be a friend of time and of reality."

- Jean Vanier, Our Journey Home, pp 165-166

Who is soci?

After noting what is bakya and what is cool, it's logical that we graducate to what is soci. So, what does it mean to be soci? For me, it means living life to the full but in a just, honorable way. It's living life driven by noble intentions, not by some questionable motives.

Inevitably, it specificaly means living life with joy because we recognize that life is short and fragile yet beautiful, we're each of us unique creatures, and we each have the right as much as the next person to breathe the air and to get a nice tan under the same sun.

A soci person desires what is elegant, i.e., what is beautiful and without the ostentation or the sick need to impress. A soci person distinguishes what is essential and functional from what is vacuous, shallow, unnecessary, and most likely suspect.

A soci person is respectful of others, concerned about the plight of the downtrodden, but knows how to rejoice over the good fortune of others. He/she is not resentful, envious of others' achievement, but instead grateful for the other's giftedness, thinking he/she is enriched by him/her, thinking life is worth living all the more because one person has realized his life's potential.

A soci person is mindful of beauty inside and out, in himself and in others.

Being wealthy doesn't automatically mean being soci. Being poor doesn't automatically mean being bakya.

With these 'parameters' laid out, what are some of the more specific indications that one is soci? Well, it depends upon the person and his unique worldview, the things he values the most. Here are some random and hopefully non-redundant shots from me.

Being courteous, punctual, discreet, considerate, fair, just; being a lady/gentleman, having refined manners, not presuming guilt in anyone but without being too naive either, etc. are good clues. A soci person knows the finer things in life, is into worthwhile and wholesome hobbies, loves flowers, plants, pets, good food, excellent music, fun activities. Knows how to appreciate and respect nature. Regards wildlife worth preserving, worth revering from a distance. Loves good books, music, tasteful fashion, creative design, original inspiring art, architecture with a fine statement, culture, literature, movies, plays. Has particular causes that seek the advancement of people, society, civilization. Is involved in good government and shuns dirty politics, illicit wealth, cheap intrigues, destructive gossip, bad company. Is well-educated (even if self-educated), has a high respect for the rigors of science and the academe, the different disciplines. Loves to travel and explore new horizons, open to other ideas that make sense. Is not loud, self-seeking, or attention-getting, secure and confident in his own unique giftedness. Doesn't seek special privilege, to the detriment of others', but will fight for his right and those of others, especially the weak. Knows what noblesse oblige means. Is a dutiful citizen, respectful of legitimate authority, but not too easily intimidated as to cower in canine subservience, in cowardly fear. Has the common touch yet can walk with kings/queens. Is truly happy, beautiful, rich (instead of being merely wealthy), and accomplished/fulfilled in his respective field. Is honest, humble (despite of his achievements), courageous, has integrity, doesn't hog the limelight, isn't hungry for approval or attention/affirmation because he's self-confident without being boastful about it. Is not a copycat; has a sense of personal style no matter the status. Has passion for excellence, elegance, and authenticity. Is fairly balanced: aware of his own limitations, so won't impose his weight then drag the whole world down with him and his delusions. Has a hopeful vision of the world despite the world. Has a great sense of humor. Has not just good breeding, but also good grooming: looks good, smells good, feels good. Has an aura that glows as a result of all the above.

Evidently, I love soci people. I hope I could be one like them. Well, at least I could try.

The end

I'm tired of expressing opinions on the burning issues of the day. It's so stressful and especially hurtful. Please delink this blog and stop going to this site. It shall be a Dear Diary type of blog from now on, I guess. I'll be changing my links soon, limiting them to those I know personally. I'll try to limit entries to the insects my fighting fish just ate.

**

Dear Diary,

I recently read: The Incorruptibles by Joan Carroll Cruz (Tan Books and Publishers Inc., 1977). It's about the strange and indeed disturbing phenomenon of corpus incorruptus (which I learned is neither mummification nor accidental preservation, but mysterious preservationn despite the dampness and other necrotizing factors present through hundred years of exposure).

Movies watched: Mrs. Dalloway - Ho-hum. Didn't get it. It's the British accent. Dear Brit fim-makers: please supply your films with English subtitles. Or please tell your actors to enunciate the words better. British English we don't understand. Coming Home - an anti-Vietnam War movie that's provocative, mature, melodramatic, with almost hysterical dramatics, which is a bit of a turnoff, but the film overall is nonetheless thought-provoking (because it exploits the psychology behind it), in case you ever found yourself supporting the war, even with the right, i.e., anti-communist, stance. The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou by the wonderfully theatrical and Woody Allenish Wes Andersen (I've seen his delightfully weirdo of a film, The Royal Tennenbaums). The movie, a parodic tribute to French pioneer explorer Jacques Costeau, is boring but you could watch it on mute and focus on the visuals. The soundtrack is great (including David Bowie music in Portuguese), though. Dead Man Walking - an intelligent examination of a nun's inner conflicts as she is caught in the maesltrom of events leading to a criminal's execution via lethal injection. I re-viewed El Crimen del Padre Amaro - it's a movie that makes a litany of the sins of some of the people in the Catholic Church: hypocrisy/double life; lack of compassion for the poor; gluttony, worldliness, being drunken by wealth; blackmailing/browbeating? media; abuse of power/authority (through political pressure and by being co-opted by corrupt politicians); liberation theology/leftist politics; and especially secretly cohabiting priests, leading to misplaced sensuality, blasphemy, and ultimately abortion. This movie effectively makes a case against celibacy (though I'm not biting). One thing I don't like about the movie is its glamorification of temptation. A better movie depicting fornication the right way (i.e., coldly, not in a peeping-tom way, between a priest and a nun at that) is something I watched in college and whose title I forgot. It's a film about 'illicit love.' I saw it instead as an unintended film about mistaken vocations -- for the priesthood and the contemplative life are not for everyone. I plodded through Blades of Glory, but I'm kinda disappointed, considering it stars two of my favorite comics: John Heder and Will Ferrell. After the funny peacock skating sequence, the movie goes downhill. The comedy is flat. I've also bought a video of the original B&W Wuthering Heights movie. Good luck to me.

I'm currently reading: I've run out of reading materials. I don't like reading long stuff online.

Intensive care secrets

Doctors and nurses and nursing aides are a great source of factual chismis. If I divulged everything I heard (or overheard by accident or by force), I'd be in trouble. I've been unwillingly informed of so many things: Who had breast augmentation using silicone implants (they inject distilled water in 'em and it's dangerous for the boobs to ride jetplanes all by themselves!) Who had breast cancer and mastectomy. Who got raped by XXX. Who had kids via IVF (in vitro fertilization, dummy). Whose fetus was saved via an expensive method (intensive extra-uterine care?). These secrets are secrets that should never be revealed even if you knew about or overheard them by mistake. It would be unfair to all the parties concerned. But these were spilled anyway, you might say. Yeah, but I didn't solicit these info. They just came to me, right? I thought they should be restricted to the medical community, by their very nature (i.e., ultra-delicate). Good thing media choose not to air these things. A hat tip to them, for a change. It's nobody's business anyway, whether you are sick, had surgery or not. It's just not... right.

Gratitude corner

M. forcibly bought me a new polo (for the office) and a shirt. N. treated me to a dinner at a spiffed-up Pizza Hut near Oakwood (now Ascott). The Neapolitan baked mussels was too salty, the fresh grape juice wasn't sweet and grapey enough, the arugula salad had no walnuts (except that extra olives made up for it), the paella was too oily, the T-bone steak was too strong, but the place was tasteful, the service tops, and the price not bad. My boss split the bill for the sumptuous lunch of Chinese chicken we had for our officemates. N. gave me a plastic box-ful of crunchy caramel popcorn and even insisted that I choose from the videos on sale (I declined out of prideful embarassment). E. sent me a nice card all the way from NJ. A lot of people texted in to greet, even those whose birthday I can't memorize. I know. My bad. M. made me a watercolor painting (not bad, bro. more!) which I immediately framed, plus a Max Lucado leather-bound journal. Appreciate it. J. treated me to a dinner at Max and lent me some cash, for I was broke. R. gave me cash because she said she had no time to buy me a gift. Great. Thanks. M., well, I can't thank M. enough for all those books and videos and the free ticket to West Side Story and the chats over coffee, lunch, dinner. My family greeted me too; most of them anyway. A few really close friends forgot me, though. Okay, I get it. They are equally bad at remembering anything with numbers. The thing to be said here, though, is that all my life I've been giving and giving, and I'm so tired. It feels so good to receive, for a change.

Dear China,

Dear China,

Did I just engulf melamine without even knowing? Because I drink yoghurt milk from time to time, that's why I'm asking. I almost choked over dinner when a friend mentioned milk scare and yoghurt milk in the same sentence. It's funny but he mentioned it while eating on a plate made of melamine.

Can you imagine ingesting a plastic plate/Tupperware for dinner? 'Cause that's what melamine is: a plastic component (no, not melanin -- that's a protein).

It's interesting to note how the Chinese milk scare is not much different from the same scare that recently shook Wall St. Now it's harming not just the world, but its very future. Is the principle of greatest-productivity-at-the-lowest-price-no-matter-what worth all that sacrifice?

Ah, China/unbridled capitalism.

______

Update: I've eaten China-made White Rabbit brand candies in the past. It's a comfort to know that Dutch Mill yoghurt milk is from Thailand. I hope the raw material is not from China.

Concordat

(Reading "Humanae vitae" in toto)

I've personally reviewed Pope Paul VI's 1968 statement, and I find it a sensible document. I declare it kosher and halal. Let me present the most striking points to help explain the current (because it could change) Catholic thinking and not to rile up the other camp but to promote the understanding of disparate world views. Besides, the popular view is winner by default, so there's no harm in presenting the other view.

- This encyclical may be dogmatic but it was not written in an opinionated vacuum. It considered the opinions of different consultants/pertinent experts, including married couples (#5, par 1).
- Sex is understood as not just for procreation but for unitive purposes as well. In other words, sex is for love (agape and filia), intimacy, and yes sensual pleasure (eros) enjoyed in that context) (#12, par. 1).
- Sex is private. Government has no right to legislate on it (#17, par. 2, sentence the last).
- Natural Family Planning (NFP) is allowable simply because it is in consonance with nature (#11, #16, par. 2).
- In contrast, artificial contraception is inherently selfish (because of its morally problematic motive: enjoying sex without the consequence, if I might add (#17, par. 1-2).
- The economic and social conditions may be undoubtedly difficult, but aren't bad government and social injustice the ones to blame and thus must be the ones questioned and corrected (#23, par. 2; #30, par. 2)?
- Man is not the owner of his body, so man must follow the owner's natural and moral laws (#13).

**

Meanwhile, here's somebody's explanation on NFP:

The following explanation is based on the Oct 1994 issue of
Documentation Service (Theological Centrum)

To make the differences clearer, let's review the 3 components of the
morality of human acts: 1) the moral object, 2) the intention, and 3)
the circumstances surrounding the act.

"The MORAL OBJECT of a human act is the volitional content of that act
- ie, the good toward which the will deliberately directs itself. It
is what is really willed in the act as such, in the context of its
congruence (or incongruence)with the nature of man (considered as a
whole) and his natural and supernatural last end, as understood by
reason in a judgment of conscience..."

"In contrast to the object, the INTENTION resides in the acting
subject and indicates the purpose he pursues in the action. It is a
movement of the will toward the end: it is concerned with the goal of
the activity as understood by reason. A good intention does not make a
behavior that is intrinsically disordered good or just. On the other
hand, a bad intention converts an act which is in and of itself could
be good into something evil, either partially or totally."

Ex. good intention of avoiding child at the moment due to valid and
serious reasons doesn't make contraception (intrinsically evil act)
good or just; a bad intention of vain glory turns almsgiving into
something evil

"The CIRCUMSTANCES - which include the foreseeable consequences - are
secondary elements of a moral act. They contribute to increasing or
diminishing the moral goodness or evil (ex. amount of theft) They can
also increase or diminish the agent's responsibility (ex. acting out
of fear). However, circumstances in themselves cannot change the moral
quality of the acts themselves: they cannot make good or right an act
which is of itself evil or wrong."

"A morally good act requires the goodness of the moral object, of the
intention, and the circumstances together. But the primary and
principal determinant of the moral goodness is the goodness of the act
itself; the intention and the circumstances just complete it... If the
moral object is bad in itself, neither a good intention nor favorable
circumstances can make it good."

"In the case of contraception, the act in question - the contraceptive
act - is not exactly the act of sexual intercourse but that act whihc
in prevision of the marital act (ex. tubal ligation or vasectomy,
taking pills or putting condoms or diaphragms), accompanying it (ex.
onanism or withdrawal), or following it (ex. douche) is ordained to
render such an act sterile. The moral object of the act is
contraception - ie, MAKING THE MARITAL ACT INFECUND)"

*personal note: emphasis mine... take note that there is a DELIBERATE
POSITIVE ACTION to render sex incapable of producing life or that
there is an attempt to TAKE AWAY the capacity of sex to produce life..

"The intrinsic malice of such an act stems from four seasons.

FIRST, because of the anti-life value, CUTTING-OFF the natural end of
the sexual act which is procreation of new life...

SECOND, because it violates the very nature of the sexual act as an
expression of conjugal love which is by itself ordained to the
procreation of new life...

THIRD, because it makes a lie of the sexual act, which is a natural
sign (what Pope JP II calls the language of the body) of the TOTAL and
MUTUAL SELF-GIVING of the spouses which of itself exhausts all the
potentiality of their maleness and femaleness, thus being of itself
ordained to their becoming mother and father.

And FINALLY, because the contracepting couple USURP the prerogative,
which by right only God has, of deciding whether or not a new life
should result from a given act of marital intercourse."

"Since the moral object of contraception is intrinsically evil,
neither a good intention (to avoid conception for the meantime FOR
SERIOUS REASONS) nor circumstances (medically safe means) can render
it good."

"In the case of periodic continence, the act in question is the
abstinence from the marital act during the fertile period of the wife.
In itself, such an act of abstinence is not morally evil, since
spouses are not obliged to engage in the marital act unless reasonably
asked for by their spouse (and in the case of NFP, it is assumed that
both spouses agree to abstain during the fertile period). Such
abstinence may even be meritorious, if one considers its moral object
- ie, an exercise of conjugal love, which sees in such abstention for
the moment the good of the spouse, the existing children and society
at large. If one adds to such a moral object the good intention
(responsible parenthood) and good circumstances (less carnal ways of
showing marital affection and tenderness), one can immediately see
that periodic continence is an altogether different thing from
contraception."

Personal comment: Take note that contraception refers to those
positive actions which seeks to make sex infecund.

On the other hand, the couple practicing NFP respects God's right in
naturally determining whether sex will bear fruit or not and only
exercises their right in agreeing when to have sex. They also give
themselves fully to one another in the marital act because they do not
try to diminish their fertility and do not use barrier methods.

It should also be noted that periodic abstinence becomes evil if there
are no valid/serious reasons for practicing it.

Volcanic

Didn't notice this before, but Korean noodles and Thai-flavor noodles have become mainstream lately. Proof? They're all over Mini-Stop. That means I've got to try 'em, even though I'm no fan of spicy food.

Last week, I tried what the Koreans call jjamppong, pronounced zahm-phong (according to Nen; go figure how jj and pp should sound like zh and f). Good thing it rained hard and the weather was wintry by Philippine standards, or I was doomed, or rather my armpits. Yup, hellish is what I'd describe the hotness level of this evil noodle. The chili concentrate (contained in a separate packet) must be the one responsible for inflicting all that unbearable sensory pain. It's like slurping lava. One wonders whether it's actually kimchi concentrate.

Then there's the Thai tom yum-flavor noodle soup. This is another interesting development. It's like slurping shrimp sinigang with lots of fiery siling labuyo (10,000 Scoville units). The smell is too overpowering for my Pinoy nose (you know the Thais: they love munching eucalyptus leaves and the like too much), but the noodle smelled and tasted okay. Not great, but okay. What I didn't like were the adverse events associated: profuse tears, snivelling, harrumphing, reddening, tinnitus, and other associated reactions. Tom yum noodle is equally hemorrhoidal.

As if those taste tests weren't enough, I had a dinner of yummy but equally hot and spicy burrito at Mexicali with a friend the other day. It's a wonder how this restaurant is able to thrive through the years when there are no Mexicans among the clientele. As I looked up the wall on my side of the restaurant, what would greet me but a nice poster of about 22 different chili varieties. I swear I could've stolen that poster. I want that poster.

Of course, I have this inevitable question: Why are exotic hot-and-spicy foods becoming popular in this country when the weather and the fashion of the day (everything tight-fitting) don't favor such a diet? (I haven't even ticked off those shawarma stalls everywhere (hotness grade: Mt. Vesuvius) and the Hong Kong-style noodle booths (hotness grade: Mt Krakatoa)and chili sauce (hotness grade: Mauna Loa) and wasabe (hotness grade: Mt. Fuji) and situ (the Senegalese hot spice; hotness grade: Mt. St. Helens) and Jamaican beef patty (hotness grade: Mt. Pinatubo; there actually is such a flavor by that name!).) My brother said those who have money are lucky because they can afford to eat spicy foods without sweating in the underarm. All they have to do is seek the service of a dermatologist like Manny Calayan, who can snip or detach (or what) a certain nerve(s) that causes the excess sweating. Cool.

In any case, I'm glad Indian cuisine has yet to become mainstream (though it's slowly gaining ground; Swagat is just around the corner). Now that would be the bomb -- or to be more accurate, the major eruption.

**

I recently enjoyed reading these model essays on stereotypes. Hope these are all Googleable:

"Bernice" by Firoozeh Dumas - about being Iranian-American who's mistaken for a Peruvian/Scandinavian; okay, but this article misses a larger, more important point: So most Americans (and most people, for that matter) are prejudiced, but will Americans ever be allowed to become Iranians in Iran, hmmm?
"We're Not all Drunken Party Animals" - about college students; from an uncredited blog (why? because it's just a blog?)
"Just Walk on By: Black Men and Public Space" by Brent Staples
"Why Does the Media Make Men Look Stupid" by Austin Silver (AskMen.com)

(Will get back to your comments next week. Happy weekend, everyone.)

ALL CAPS: Capitalists criticize capitalism

Haha! Great news! Great news! There's hope for the world.

This is another (Wall Street's) version of the story: "It's the housing, stupid."

Update: Read this funny take on the story: Comrades Bush, Paulson and Bernanke Welcome You to the USSRA (United
Socialist State Republic of America)

To Caffeine Sparks: Will take a look at the rebuttals next week. Am on leave today until Sunday. Computeritis.

Latest SEO tags

Lehman Brothers. Suicide of +David Foster Wallace, writer/novelist. AIG.

Manuel Villar. Insertion. Ping Lacson. Bro. Mike Velarde. Controversy.

No, of course not

We are against pornography, but not censorship. We believe in freedom of expression. Impurity lies in the hearts of men and women. No to the Anti-Obcenity and Pornography Senate Bill 2464. We're not as dumb as the bill's authors think and not as "backward" and "medieval" as the usual set of detractors allege. What made the authors think this bill will ever be passed? Not in the Philippines. We want morals/morality/moralism -- nothing wrong with it, and everything wrong with shameless immorality. But we don't espouse religious rigidity and religious tunnel vision.

Today's time-wasters

Jenga house, the next-generation house by Sou Fujimoto Architects, is a weekend house overlooking the River Kuma in Kumakura, Japan. Approximately a 13'x13'x13' cube.

**

New-word watch: Yummy

It used to be that this word is associated with food. I used to associate the word purely with a foreign magazine title I must have browsed at least once. Now, the word "yummy" is used to refer to men and women.

I've recently heard TV host Ogie Alcasid address Dennis Trillo (latest show biz male heartthrob) this way: "Papa Dennis, ang yummy mo."

It was a disorienting word, to say the least. Instead of visions of milk, cheese, and cream, the hearer is transposed to a different...say, field of interpretation. The same transposition has been done on the word "delicious." Profoundly damaging reinterpretations, I must say. Human beings are now food.

**

Spammed still

It's already 2008 and my mails are still afflicted with spams. I hate it the most when valid mails are sorted as spams and I lose the emails without even opening them.

**

Turning serious: On dysfunctional spirituality, 2

I wasn't dissing spirituality or religiosity earlier, but nonetheless, I could be easily misinterpreted thus. I am therefore thankful for this delicate qualifier: "Religiosity and spirituality can be used as an 'opium' (in the Karl Marx sense) to cover up one's issues, to numb ourselves away from the pain involved in self-examination. But religion can also inspire us to be honest with ourselves, to dig deep within ourselves, to face our issues."

G. also added something I thought must put things in the right perspective. There's this interesting story about the cracked pot that he quotes: "Our 'cracks' (i.e., problems in life/crosses/issues) have a purpose and meaning in our lives. I believe we can turn them into something beautiful one day. We just need to keep on going. May I also add that although we recognize our faults, we also have something beautiful that is unique in each and everyone of us. We need to focus on that too."

I agree with that. I wish to add, though, that all of the good things in us are from God, not from us. What can only come from us, what we can only 'boast' about are our weaknesses and sins. The rest, all the good things, only come from God's grace, from our openness to receive it. It is in this context that our honest self-examination must take place. We need not constantly pull our own selves down. We just have to keep our feet on the ground while being mindful of our own gifts, including whatever 'strengths' given us.

**

Meanwhile...

Stumbled into what I'd call the barnacle's motto: "Chance favors those who persist." Look at the barnacles indeed. They're still around after a jillion years of evolution.

Latest SEO terms

- Samak Sundaravej of Thailand, people-powered out of office.

- I should've posted this earlier (via Aline): "have you seen this? (Charice Pempengco on Oprah) am proud and happy for charice. pero di ba ang dime in a dozen ang mga katulad nya sa pinas? ;-) she will be singing duet with celine dionne in NY madison square garden on sept 16 and composer david foster is going to write her a song! lucky girl!"

- Pope finally launches crackdown on world's largest illicit Catholic shrine and suspends 'dubious' priest

- British poet censored because of use of bread knife. Her poem is about education. (Which reminds me: Google recently asked me to edit this post of mine: "Da Kinki Code." I complied, although I thought that the humor all-too-obviously justifies the use of text lifted from an illegal site. I was, in fact, mocking the idea of resorting to extreme ways of using the number of clicks as basis for making a site pornographically hot. But I agree that I violated Google's letter of the law, so I complied. Besides, they said they'd make my account inactive or even delete my blog.)

Eve Ansler on Sarah Palin

I've temporarily lost interest in American politics. I don't like both sides. I'd love for Obama to win, for a change. But neither party strikes me as a good role model for the world, in my own definition of 'good.' Nevertheless, it remains interesting to know what the bleeding heart libertarian playwright Eve Ansler has to say about the rigidly conservative Palin, both of whom have something in them that contains the seeds of extremism. Both stances -- truth-laden yet diametrical opposites and thus easy targets for black-and-white labeling -- are exactly the reasons I am afraid for America and by extension the world. Anyway, here's Eve Ansler's "Drill, drill, drill." (via PP)

Unaffordable

(Making mountains out of molehills)

As it turns out, BPI is owned by the Ayalas. Haha. Good luck on my one-man quest for a nationwide boycott. It's doomed from the start.

I don't know what kind of people the Ayalas are (they're not part of my circle, you know), but they must be very decent (unless I find out they're sending all of that money back to Spain). Thing is it's hard to hate them, not with someone like Jaime Zobel de.

Alright, if shove comes to push, you could say I could resent their being extra-extra rich despite not knowing a word of Tagalog (do they?), despite owning the best parts of the Philippines. But from what I've seen and read, they're the type who know how to give back. The causes they back seem worthy of respect (though I wonder what they do to fight poverty in concrete). I refuse to write a bad word against them just because of the sign "Preferred Banking Clients" in BPI.

As their ex-rep Amadeo of Tracy, CA says, the term has something to do with sex orientation or something. And as BW of Toronto, Canada insists, that's the way business goes. Oh well. But the social opprobrium I think it deserves is universal as well; Ms Anna de Brux of France finds the term discriminatory.

But granting, for the sake of argument, that I stage a massive boycott on account of a bank teller sign, will I be able to afford it? In the ugly lingo of buinessmen, is it doable? Let's see the possible worst-case scenarios:

I won't be able to use their giant treadmills in Ayala Ave.
I won't be able to use their elegantly designed walkways, thus exposing me to the rain, sun, and cars whizzing by.
I won't be able to work anywhere in Makati CBD.
I won't be able to visit the Ayala Museum, which I intend to do despite the Php300+ entrance fee.
I won't be able to go malling in Glorietta and Greenbelt.
I won't be able to hear Mass at Greenbelt chapel, for which I'm sure they donated the land out of charity. (I think they own even the land where the Don Bosco chapel sits. They love owning and developing lands.)
I won't be able to drink San Miguel beer. (No, that's Danding Cojuangco.)
I will have to avoid looking at the nice botanical-themed photographs by one of the Ayalas (the arty one).
I won't be able to avail of Ayala Life insurance plan. (Oops, do I have one?)
I won't be able to watch movies in their cozy though expensive cinemas.

What else? I'm afraid I can't take this anymore.

And what new "awfulization" this is: The Ayalas are 'unboycottable'! Who knows, they might even have a stake in the company I work for. (I heard they're into BPO too.) Boy, they practically own 90% of my life right now. I guess I will have to make do with complaining about bad word choice and wrong grammar.

More LHC-related readings

"Brave New Age for Physics?" by By Giovanni Tapang, Ph.D.

**

Here's an even more interesting thought (in fact, the most interesting so far) on the matter, from the poet Marne Kilates:

"...I am a great admirer of science, physics, and the new concepts of the "Elegant Universe." When these new great scientists write or explain their abstruse but fascinating contemplations, they are almost literary, poetic even. How else can one conceive of the infinitesimal "string" that twists and turns among, and across, the minutest particles to the planets and cosmic gases and static left after big bang? Science is really advancing and accelerating like its subject, the universe. But I still remain a bit disappointed about its oh so pure materialism. No, I'm not talking about money (not even funding for great efforts like the LHC or SETI). Sure, that's why they're called the physical sciences, so that even cosmology is concerned mainly with cosmic dust. What I'd like to see, when the Grand Unified Theory comes along or is "discovered," is how it will integrate matter with "spirit," when it is finally able to relate or join energy and its "strings" with biological "matter"—that point where energy becomes consciousness, where particles become soul. Why does the map or grid of the strong and the weak forces, electromagnetism and gravity still end only in black holes and supernovas (or even the atom bomb)? Where does reflective human consciousness come in? Is it still only another form of electricity? When or where do chemical reactions and electrical impulses become tissue and thought? Shouldn't a science that is able to trace the physical processes and forces of the Big Bang to the generation of human thought become the ultimate Supersymmetry? Just thinking."

Condominiumized, 3

(I'm just talking to myself here, out loud.)

Okay, I don't really mind the so-called Reproductive Health bill being passed into law. My stand is clearer now. I said that we should respect society's legal choices if those are what's popular as long as religious rights are not violated. (It's just a matter of time. This country is bound to follow the American-European model anyway: pro-artificial contraception, pro-divorce, pro-gay marriage, pro-euthanasia, pro-abortion. John Paul's "culture of d.e.a.t.h." is inevitable, which will most likely persecute, jail, and violently murder many devout Catholics (hope not) while angering devout Muslims and urging extremists to nuke the world in bits and pieces.) That's what's democracy is all about, right? But since we prefer a democracy that respects the rights of the minority, we wouldn't want a law that doesn't respect our religious belief, even if it becomes the minority, right? That's what puts me in a bind. If the bill is passed, like CBCP legal adviser Atty. Jo Imbong (or is that Francisco Tatad) pointed out, that means tax money from Catholics who don't believe in mandatory artificial contraception will be used to buy poor people artificial contraceptives. That's not fair. What's the other camp's answer to this? I wonder. They must present a solution to this Gordian knot.

**

And since we're on the subject, here's a host of rebuttals that the pro-RH Bill needs to rebut point by point. I now turn your attention to Fr. Gregory D. Gaston's primer.

____________________________

"Misconceptions and Clarifications on Issues Related to Humanae Vitae and the Reproductive "Health" Bill in Philippine Congress."

by Rev. Fr. Gregory D. Gaston, STD

(This primer was written for Avenues, the Journal of San Carlos Seminary Graduate School of Theology. Copyright © 2008 by the author, a priest of the Archdiocese of Manila, assigned since January 2008 at the Holy Apostles Senior Seminary, Makati City, Philippines, and was previously an Official of the Pontifical Council for the Family, Vatican, for five years. For consults and resources on related topics, please visit Safe.ph.)

MISCONCEPTIONS/CLARIFICATIONS

(underlined texts (bolded texts here - R.O.) come from the Reproductive Bill currently [August 2008] filed in Congress; emphasis in bold letters added)

The world is overpopulated. Global population will soar to 11.9 billion by 2050. "Yet this is not the full story. To the contrary, in fact. Across the globe, people are having fewer and fewer children. Fertility rates have dropped by half since 1972, from six children per woman to 2.9. And demographers say they're still falling, faster than ever. The world's population will continue to grow—from today's 6.4 billion to around 9 billion in 2050. But after that, it will go sharply into decline. Indeed, a phenomenon that we're destined to learn much more about—depopulation—has already begun in a number of countries. Welcome to the New Demography. It will change everything about our world, from the absolute size and power of nations to global economic growth to the quality of our lives." [Michael Meyer, "Birth Dearth," in Newsweek, September 27, 2004, p. 58. Since the 1970's, several demographers, economists, and other experts have been informing the public of these trends.]

Overpopulation is a scientific fact. Not overpopulation, but population ageing and underpopulation, as seen in these sample article titles:
* European Pension Systems Set to Collapse. Low Fertility Blamed, in Friday Fax, May 4, 2000.
* Underpopulation, Not Overpopulation, the Real Global Problem, in Washington Post, March 18, 2001.
* Developed Nations Warned on Aging Crisis Time Bomb, in Manila Bulletin, Aug 30, 2001.
* Have Three Babies to Sustain the Population, in Daily Telegraph, Dec. 12, 2003.
* Asian Economies Desperate for Babies, in Daily News Express, Feb. 2, 2004.
* Have More Babies, Say the Tories, in Daily Mail, September 22, 2003: "Women should have more babies to stave off the looming crisis of an ageing population, the Tories will say today. The call to 'go forth and multiply' comes from work and pensions spokesman David Willetts, who wants couples to send birth rates soaring."
* In address to Estonians, President Calls on Citizens to Make More Babies, in New York Times, January 2, 2003: "Worried about a declining population, Estonia's president has urged the country's 1.4 million residents to make more babies. 'Let us remember that in just a couple of decades the number of Estonians seeing the New Year will be one-fifth less than today,' President Arnold Ruutel said in a speech broadcast live on national television Wednesday."

Our population growth rate of 2.04% is extremely high. The CIA gives a much lower estimate of 1.728% (World Factbook Country Listing of 2008, available on the internet).

We should aim for a Zero Population Growth Rate. Zero Population Growth Rate will make the Filipino race at first extremely old, and then rare, and finally extinct.

Filipino families have too many children. "The UN Population Division figures indicate that it is not an exaggeration to say that as early as now the Philippine Total Fertility Rate [children per woman] is already dangerously low. Whereas in the early 1970's the average Filipina had six children, today she has around three, and in another 20 years, only two. Shortly after 2020, or just fifteen years from now, the Philippine TFR will sink below its replacement level of around 2.29." [Rev. Fr. Gregory D. Gaston, STD, World Population Collapse: Lessons for the Philippines, in Familia et Vita, vol. XII (2007) no. 2, pp. 84-113, paragraph no. 22. Henceforth referred to as WPC and paragraph number.]

Having two children should be the ideal family size. SEC. 16. Ideal Family Size. – The State shall assist couples, parents and individuals to achieve their desired family size within the context of responsible parenthood for sustainable development and encourage them to have two children as the ideal family size.

As of now the Philippines' total fertility rate, or children per woman, is projected to go below replacement (2.29 children per woman) by 2025. After that we will experience the population ageing and collapse taking place today in rich countries, and like them, we will also wish to pay parents to have more children--but unlike them, we will have no money to do so.

Pushing for only two children per family will make all this occur even earlier.

(Note that two children per family would give a total fertility rate of much lower than two, since women without children would have to be included in the computation of "children per woman," or total fertility rate.)

Intensified population control programs will slow down population growth, improve the economy soon, and thus solve poverty. "The effect desired by population controllers, the slowing of population growth, will not immediately take place, due to population momentum, decreased mortality and longer lifespan. By the time population growth will have slowed down, the Total Fertility Rate will be way below the replacement level, and the average population age will be extremely high. In other words, the solution proposed to solve poverty, that is, population control programs, will just create more economic difficulties in the long run.

Nor may one say that we should limit population growth now, hope for rapid economic development, and finally try to solve whatever problem might come up in the future. It will simply be too late by then. Countries that were already rich 30 to 40 years ago when their TFR's started to decline, and are now ageing, encounter extreme difficulty in solving their economic problems today. Their efforts to encourage their citizens to produce more children have not yielded acceptable results after a decade. They depend on immigration to maintain their population growth. The Philippines is not a rich country today, and may or may not be rich within 50 years. How will it support its ageing population? Will it also invite workers from other countries to replace its dwindling workforce? How will it attract immigrants if it has no jobs to offer to its people in the first place? Even if it becomes rich by then, it will have to face the same problems rich countries face now, and will have to tell the people to raise more children. We simply cannot afford to fall into the trap rich countries have fallen into 30-40 years ago, and from which they desperately try to escape today. Graphically speaking, we cannot afford to have in the future a population pyramid like theirs now, and then, like them today, wish to regain the population pyramid we have now." [WPC 26]

In ruling out population control as a solution to poverty, the Catholic Church teaches that the people should beget as many children as they can, following God's command, to "go forth and multiply." "'Ruling out population control' simply means not encouraging people to have few children, which is entirely different from telling them to have all the children they can possibly produce. Parents should instead be guided and supported to attain the number of children they can generously and responsibly raise and educate. For some spouses, this means having one child or two; for others, five, ten, twelve, fifteen or even more. Neither the government nor the Catholic Church may compel, instruct, or encourage spouses to raise a specified number of children, as what population control programs definitely try to do, either through massive propaganda, or through deceptive and coercive policies. Rather, the government and the Catholic Church should form and guide the people to reflect on their actual circumstances, and to freely, generously and responsibly decide whether to have another child now, or not to have another child for the time being or indefinitely. This is one aspect of responsible parenthood, which the Catholic Church has always taught, and which takes into account both the real capacities of individual spouses and the national demographic situation." [WPC 27]

The Catholic Church has always recognized the existence of a "population problem," and the government's intervention in the decision-making of spouses as to the number of children they beget. In recognizing that it is legitimate for the state "to intervene to orient the demography of the population," it immediately adds that, "This can be done by means of objective and respectful information, but certainly not by authoritarian, coercive measures. The state may not legitimately usurp the initiative of spouses, who have the primary responsibility for the procreation and education of their children. In this area, it is not authorized to employ means contrary to the moral law" (Catechism of the Catholic Church, no. 2372).

Humanae Vitae (no. 2) describes some changes taking place in 1968. "In the first place there is the rapid increase in population which has made many fear that world population is going to grow faster than available resources, with the consequence that many families and developing countries would be faced with greater hardships."

Note that while Humanae Vitae in this point observes that there is the rapid increase in world population, it merely expresses the fear of many, without owning that fear, that world population is going to grow faster than available resources. Today, forty years later, we can see for a fact that while population has grown, food production has grown even more.

"Since 1965 to 1994 the population of the world has nearly doubled, but food production has kept well ahead... United Nations figures show there has been a rise of over 30% in the period 1951-92 in food production per capita, that is to say the amount of food which would be available to each person in the world if it were divided equally. This has occurred in spite of the fact that Western farmers are paid millions of dollars a year to keep land out of production. If these European and American farmers were to produce to their capacity, food prices would collapse as a result of the glut (Population Facts and Myths, published on the Internet in 1994 by the National Association of Catholic Families in the UK). The problem then is not food production but proper distribution. Hence the solution should not be to reduce the number of consumers, but social justice.

In recent years, Church documents have focused greatly on the fall of fertility, which, "very significant in almost all parts of the world, is irrefutable and evident from the facts published by specialized organizations. It is, nontheless, frequently disregarded (Pontifical Council for the Family, The Ethical and Pastoral Dimensions of Population Trends, March 25, 1994). Such fall in fertility is the real "population problem" today.

The Catholic Church is not concerned with the plight of the poor in the country. The Catholic Church dedicates a huge part of its efforts at the service of the poor, helping the government: education, microlending, presence in slum areas and garbage, orphanages, feeding programs, social action projects, calamities, opposition to destructive mining and destructive logging, Pondo ng Pinoy, Caritas, environmental ecology concerns, human ecology, family empowerment.

Whenever the Church talks against graft and corruption, she does so also out of concern for the poor. Poverty will be very quickly eradicated if graft and corruption are eradicated, so that taxpayers' money will go to the poor (especially in terms of education, which is the long-term solution to poverty, and livelihood programs) and not to those rich who steal from the poor.

"Each time poverty is blamed on the 'population problem,' its real and root causes are conveniently tolerated or covered up: graft and corruption in the public and private sectors, burden of foreign debt servicing, and bad governance, resulting in failed development programs" (A Manifesto of Filipino Families on July 25, 2008).

Contraceptives should be listed as essential drugs. They should not be listed as essential drugs, but as dangerous drugs and devices. Pills have been shown to cause abortion of a 5-day old baby, cancer, premature hypertension, heart disease, etc. IUD's are abortifacient and may cause intrauterine trauma, pelvic infections and ectopic pregnancy. Condoms have high failure rate even against pregnancy and thus do not guarantee protection against AIDS and other STD's. Tubal ligation and vasectomy (especially targeting the poor) leave couples without the chance to have more children (for example, in case of improved economic situation, or death of their present children) and little or no support in their old age.

Hence, it is the right of the citizens to be forewarned of these, even in the form of government warnings, as in the case of cigarette smoking ("is dangerous for your health"), alcohol ("drink moderately"), and infant milk formulae ("mother's milk is best for babies under two years old")—not out of religious concerns, but as part of consumers' rights.

Possible warnings could state: "CONDOMS DO NOT GUARANTEE PROTECTION FROM AIDS AND OTHER STD'S", "PILLS HAVE BEEN SHOWN TO CAUSE CANCER AND ABORTION OF 5-DAY OLD BABIES," and, "IUD'S MAY CAUSE TRAUMA OF THE UTERUS AND ABORTION OF 5-DAY OLD BABIES," etc.

(For the medical data on these dangerous drugs and devices, see also John Wilks, A Consumer's Guide to the Pill and Other Drugs, 3rd Ed., National Bookstore, Inc., Manila 2000.)

Pope Paul VI and Pope John Paul II, in denouncing sustematic anti-childbearing campaigns, described posoning the lives of defenseless human beings as similar to a form of "chemical warfare" (Paul VI, Address to the participants of the World Food Conference, Nov. 4, 1974. Pope John Paul II, Centessimus Annus, no. 39).

Condoms have no holes. They provide truly safe sex, as advertised. "'Condom manufacturers in the United States electronically test all condoms for holes and weak spots. In addition, FDA requires manufacturers to use a water test to examine samples from each batch of condoms for leakage. If the test detects a defect rate of more than 4 per 1,000, the entire lot is discarded. The agency also encourages manufacturers to test samples of their products for breakage by using an air burst test in accordance with specifications of the International Standards Organization.' [Mike Kubic, New Ways to Prevent and Treat AIDS, in FDA Consumer, Jan-Feb 1997 (revised May 1997 and Jan 1998; available at http://www.fda.gov/fdac/features/1997/197_aids.html).]

"If four leaking condoms are allowed in every batch of 1,000, there could be hundreds of thousands or even millions of leaking condoms circulating all over the world, either sold or distributed for free, and most probably contributing to the spread of HIV/AIDS and STD's. Does the public know this? Does the public know that the risks increase the more often and the more promiscuously one is exposed, considering the cumulative risk factor, as explained earlier?"

[from Family Values Versus Safe Sex. A Reflection by His Eminence, Alfonso Cardinal López Trujillo (then President of the Pontifical Council for the Family), December 1, 2003. Note that the first paragraph above came from the US Food and Drug Administration website.]

Condoms are effective in preventing the spread of HIV/AIDS in a country. "In Thailand and in the Philippines, the first HIV/AIDS cases were reported in 1984; by 1987, Thailand had 112 cases, while the Philippines had more, with 135 cases. Today, in the year 2003, there are around 750,000 cases in Thailand, where the 100% Condom Use Program had relatively great success. On the other hand, there are only 1,935 cases in the Philippines - and this, considering that the Philippines' population is around 30% greater than Thailand's! Relatively low rates of condom use by the people in general, and staunch opposition from the Church and a good number of government leaders against the condom program and sexual promiscuity, are well-known facts in the Philippines."

[from Cardinal Alfonso López Trujillo (then President of the Pontifical Council for the Family, Vatican), Family Values Versus Safe Sex, December 1, 2003. The quoted text cites the following references: Rene Josef Bullecer (Director of AIDS-Free Philippines), Telling the Truth: AIDS Rates for Thailand and the Philippines; Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines, Pastoral Letter on AIDS: In the Compassion of Jesus, January 23, 1993; and Jaime L. Cardinal Sin, Pastoral Letter on Subtle Attacks against Family and Life, July 9, 2001.]

The Catholic Church teaches that contraceptives, including condoms, cause abortion. Abortion is the termination (killing) of life, not simply of pregnancy. Life begins at conception when the sperm and the egg meet. Killing the new life at any moment after this, and before it is born, is considered abortion. The new life develops as it goes down the fallopian tube, and implants onto the mother's womb when the tiny baby is around five days old.

Condoms do not directly cause abortion because they prevent conception—if there is no conception, there is nothing to kill in the first place. But they can lead to abortion if, because of high condom failure a woman gets pregnant, she decides to kill the baby in her womb.

Pills and IUD's make the womb's lining unhabitable for the new baby. ; hence, in case they fail in their contraceptive actions, the five-day old baby will be unable to attach to his or her mother's womb. This has to be called "abortion," for the five-day old baby dies in the process, and such action of pills and IUD's is called "abortifacient."

Natural methods are not effective. The modern natural methods (e.g., Billings, Sympto-Thermal, Basal Body Temperature) can be more effective than contraceptives, if they are learned and practiced as a way of life and not as "natural contraceptives." Hence, communication, love, respect, self-discipline, and formation in the values are necessary for the natural methods to work—values that are not exclusively religious, but very human and natural as well, and values that are not necessary in the use of contraceptives.

The obsolete calendar and the rhythm methods, and their modern repackagings, should not be taught (including by the DOH) because of their high failure rates. Withdrawal is not a natural method, and has extremely high failure rates. It is sad that many doctors (including Ob-Gyn's) are not even familiar with many of the facts regarding benefits of the natural methods and the medical ills of contraceptives.

The Catholic Church teaches that in each sexual act, the couple should aim for a new child. No. Rather, the Catholic Church teaches no action, whether before, during or after the sexual act, should close the possibility of new life or kill the new life that arises.

Hence, in the woman's infertile periods, or if one of the spouses is sterile, the couple may still perform the sexual act since they do not do anything to prevent the possibility of, or kill, new life.

The Reproductive Health bill does not promote or pave the way to abortion, since it even states that abortion remains illegal in the Philippines. The bill does not legalize surgical abortion, but it does PROMOTE all types of abortion, and DOES LEGALIZE abortion of 5-day old babies.

SEC. 4. Definition of Terms.

h. Reproductive Health Education – is the process of acquiring complete, accurate and relevant information on all matters relating to the reproductive system, its functions and processes and human sexuality; and forming attitudes and beliefs about sex, sexual identity, interpersonal relationships, affection, intimacy and gender roles. It also includes developing the necessary skills to be able to distinguish between facts and myths on sex and sexuality; and critically evaluate and discuss the moral, religious, social and cultural dimensions of related sensitive issues such as contraception and abortion.

To "critically evaluate and discuss the moral, religious, social and cultural dimensions of related sensitive issues such as contraception and abortion" paves the way to abortion because it will present abortion as a hypothetical (hypothetical as of now in the Philippines, while practical in other countries) solution to an unplanned pregnancy. The next step will be to push for safe and legal abortion.

This reflects the mentality presented in some sex education modules, which could very well go this way:

"Ang pagkontrol sa kakayahang mag-anak ay isang karapatang makabago para sa kababaihan... May dalawang uri ng batas na nagkakaroon ng impluwensiya sa gawaing ito. Ang una ay may kinalaman sa paggamit ng kontraseptibo, kusang-loob na pag-papa-opera upang hindi magkaanak at paglalaglag ng sanggol. Ang ilegal na paglalaglag ng sanggol ay ipinagbabawal ng batas sapagkat hindi makabubuti sa kalusugan ng ina. Ang pangalawa ay nagbibigay ng karapatan sa kababaihan sa pagpaplano ng pamilya."

Note than in such a formulation, illegal abortion is considered wrong because it is bad for the woman's health. The child being killed is insignificant. The solution insinuated is to legalize abortion so that it could become "safe"--safe for the mother (they claim, though abortion is always traumatic for her), but not for the baby.

Some candidly say that if legislators and teachers insist on asking their student to discuss the pros and cons of abortion, then parents should also insist on discussing the pros and cons of killing legislators and teachers (for example, if they are inefficient, involved in graft and corruption, etc.).

The Reproductive Health bill does not promote sexual promiscuity. SEC. 4. Definition of Terms
c. Reproductive Health – the state of physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity, in all matters relating to the reproductive system and to its functions and processes. This implies that people are able to have a satisfying and safe sex life, that they have the capability to reproduce and the freedom to decide if, when and how often to do so, provided that these are not against the law.

The law will guarantee children and teenagers (since they are "people") the right to have a satisfying and safe sex life with anyone, and to decide if, when and how often to reproduce. Hence children have the right to have information and access to contraceptives, and to learn all possible options in case they get pregnant--including abortion, which "unfortunately" (as they will be made to feel), is still illegal.

Parents who object to this "right" act against the law, a law which of course goes against the parents' inherent right to educate their children.

The Reproductive Health bill will strengthen parental rights in forming and educating their children. SEC. 3. Guiding Principles.
L. Respect for, protection and fulfillment of reproductive health rights seek to promote not only the rights and welfare of adult individuals and couples but those of adolescents' and children's as well...

SEC. 4. Definition of Terms

d. Reproductive Health Rights – the rights of individuals and couples to decide freely and responsibly the number, spacing and timing of their children; to make other decisions concerning reproduction free of discrimination, coercion and violence; to have the information and means to carry out their decisions; and to attain the highest standard of sexual and reproductive health.

In the Bill, children and adolescents have the right to have a "satisfying and safe sex life," and "to decide freely and responsibly the number, spacing and timing of their children." In such a case parents (and teachers, public authorities, priests, etc.) who do not want children to have sex with classmates will be going against the children's rights, and hence they can be considered as "coercing" the children to stay away from sex. Earlier bills have even proposed fines and/or imprisonment for similar acts; this is indicative of their real intentions.

In some countries, school clinics are prohibited from informing parents if their child seeks or has undergone abortion, whereas they are required to do so for treatment of a minor wound.

Reproductive health rights will therefore weaken parental authority and rights over the upbringing of their children. Children are brainwashed into this promiscuous, anti- parent, and anti-authority mentality through Value-free sex education modules.

The Reproductive Health bill is an original idea of Filipino Congressmen. Reproductive Health bills are pushed by the PLCPD (Philippine Legislators' Committee for Population and Development), a foreign funded NGO with offices questionably located in Congress, precisely where our laws are made. This is in complete violation of our national sovereignty and our pro-family and pro-life Constitution. PLCPD has access to formidable financial resources (including the P2 billion budget this year), and is backed by a powerful conglomerate of NGO's (see A Manifesto of Filipino Families on July 25, 2008).

The Reproductive Health bill promotes health. "We would rather call them the 'reproductive death' bills. They are totally silent on the aforementioned ills which will bring DEATH not only to the body, but to the person, family and society as well: D-ivorce E-uthanasia A-bortion T-yrannical population control H-omosexual unions" (A Manifesto of Filipino Families on July 25, 2008).
Filipino families cannot do anything to stop the Reproductive Death bills. "A Call to Defend the Filipino Family against the Reproductive 'Health' Bills

We call on all Filipino Families to defend ourselves by defending life. We have so far succeeded in foiling many of the attempts of our lawmakers to enact reproductive health statutes. We believe they are being enticed by monetary and other compensations, but we hope that they will see the grim reality behind reproductive 'health'. But now could be our last chance. Many countries have fallen into the subtle and the blatant attacks against their families. It is time to organize ourselves better and pressure our leaders to come up with pro-family and pro-life legislation and programs.

We call on all men and women of good will, of all creeds, social standing, and political affiliations, to further promote the family. Let us patronize family-safe establishments, and complain to our civil authorities against those offering drugs, gambling, pornography and prostitution, especially those surrounding our homes and our children's schools. Let us boycott products and services that degrade sex and women in their advertisements. Let us review the textbooks used by our children for promiscuous and anti-parental content. Let us make the TV stations know that we want wholesome family entertainment.

Recovering the Family's True Nature.

We hope that in the end, children may see their parents as role models of family warmth and citizenship, and that parents and grandparents may experience the appreciation and respect of their children whom they have truly loved and guided. Humanae Vitae prophetically warned that we could lose our values if we go against God's design on the responsible transmission of life within the family.

May the Filipino Family, which is the sanctuary of life and love, rediscover and reclaim the peace and joy that rightly belong to us."

(A Manifesto of Filipino Families on July 25, 2008).

Large Hadron Collider: preliminary readings

Am currently reading Newsweek: Top physicist forecasts from Hawking, Greene and more. Am excited to know what they'd find out.

Santorini sex scandal

(Panglalait sa mga sobrang pangit)

Eh, di niyaya ako nung friend ko kahapon. "Uuy, ang ganda-ganda ng Santoriniiiiiii!!! Nuod tayo nung movie ni KC!!!"

Ako naman si gago: "Santorini?!? Yun ba yung sa Greece?!? Maganda dun!" kako. "Chige. Tara."

Sus, patay. My friend must have secretly said, "Ha-ha, gotcha!" Pero sa loob-loob ko, "Ay, ati, Discovery Channel ba ito?" Pero, naisip ko rin: "Nako, segorado may lalaet-laeten na naman me."

Kinagabihang iyon... "Susmaryosef, ang ganda nga!" Byuti na lang hindi tangengot itong mga Griyego noh? Marunong mag-appreciate ng sariling culture, architecture, at nature. Isipin mo na lang kung sa Santorini itinayo yung PBCom Tower. Eh di wala sanang mga Torres dun ngayon. Hindi sana Torres spot and Santorini ngayon.

Pero teka muna, sino ba tlg ang bida rito? Yung lugar ba o yung mga artista? To use The Buzz lingo, in fairness, ang ganda-ganda talaga ni KC, kasing-ganda ng Santorini. Effortless star. Incandescent light bulb. Kaso si Gabby Concepcion lagi ang nakikita ko tuwing siya'y ngumingiti.

Okay din naman itong si Richard, midju hindi nga lang marunong umarte ang mokong. Kainis.

At teka ulit, ba't puro ata panay ang labas ni KC ng cleavage nya? Eh di ba prude supposedly yung role nya? Mukhang yun talaga ang bida eh, yung boobs nya. Na-eclipse lahat ang scenery at ang lahat ng masasarap na detalye (olive oil, ouzo, tatziki, baclava, Greek coffee, Greek salad, feta cheese, Mediterranean blue waters). Siguro plunging cleavage ang uso sa Paris (kung saan siya nag-aral) ngayon ano, kahit malamig ang panahon?

Wala tuloy akong naintindihan sa script at istorya. Sabagay, same difference. Halos wala namang istorya eh. Sa title pa lang malaki na ang tama ng pelikulang ito eh. Sinong matinong moviemaker naman ang gagawa ng pelikulang ang title eh For the First Time? Dapat ang title ng pelikula Ang Nagmumurang Cleavage ni KC Concepcion, pramis.

At saka kawawa naman da Philip Salvador. Ginawang cardboard character ang talent. Nasira yung humorous tone ng pelikula. Kung cardboard character sa isang light comedy ang intention, eh di dapat gawing OA talaga yung character, hindi ganun na realistic drama ang dating. Sayang, kwela pa naman sana si Candy Pangilinan as the soci atsay na parang si Inday da Nosebleed character sa mga forwarded text jokes.

Saka sino ba yung karimarimarim na Greek character sa pelikula na animo'y si Plato, Socrates, and Aristotle rolled into one kung maka-deliver ng lines? ...Na most likely minisinterpret lang naman ni Richard as coming from Pindar, the Greek lyric poet.

Ito ba yung pelikulang ikinagalit daw ni Annabelle Rama dahil sinabutahe raw ng pagsabay ng pelikula ni Dingdong or John Lloyd ba yun? Susmaryosef, nakagagalit nga, tulad ng pagngingitngit dati ni Susan Roces kay Ate Glow. Siguro ito rin yung pelikula na kung saan pang-punerarya raw ang isinuot ng writer (Olivia Lamangan ba yun?) sa premier night kasi raw "mangled" ang script nya. Kawawa naman sya. Para namang kinapon ang writer na yan. Sana producer na lang ang nagsulat ng pelikula.

Haaay. Star Cinema. Pwede ba ha, isara nyo na lang movie outfit nyo. Ipaubaya nyo na lang ang lahat sa marunong at may respeto sa art, sa medium, sa writer, sa sarile, sa manonood.

Since I'm sure gagawa kayo ulet, next time sa Istanbul naman, please. Starring Ilmaz Bektas, Ropa Gutierrez, at Annabelle Rama. In a love triangle. Sigurado tatabo yun sa takilya sa choice of setting pa lang. At sigurado, may lalaitin na naman kami.

Today's SEO terms

Grace Padaca's Ramon Magsaysay Award. Among Ed, persecuted priest-turned-politician of Pampanga. UAAP Cheerleading competition, UP vs. UST. Bar exams at La Salle.

Landslide in Mindanao.

Palin. Large Hadron Collider.

**

Wish list: Fearfully and Wonderfully Made by Dr. Paul Grand and Philip Yancey. Medicine/biology and spirituality (Protestant)

About to read: Fully Human, Fully Alive by John Powell

Notes on West Side Story

I happen to have watched the 1961 film version of West Side Story, so I wasn't particularly excited to see the stage play. I wasn't sure I'd get fresh insights or perspectives. Good thing the come-ons were good enough: the ticket was a birthday gift, the production casts a curious local import named Joanna Ampil, and whether someone, a local balladeer like Christian Bautista, can hack it. Quick reactions? Well, read on.

The modern Romeo-and-Juliet story set in 1950s New Yawk, plus its inescapable subplots of racism and prejudice, going Stateside/coming to America, and the violent life of street punks, remain worthy of a Best Whatever (if we must give an award in this Age of Awards Obsession). The Leonard Bernstein-Stephen Sondheim score and songs ("Maria," "Somewhere," etc.) remain emotionally resonant. The props/production value was nearly on a level with Miss Saigon.

I couldn't help laughing at most of the male dance steps, though. I tortured my friend throughout with teases because she's got a crush on Christian Bautista, so this production couldn't go wrong for her. My only point is: How can you make violence dance? You just can't. The effect is like dancing the tango in a funeral, (which I think the Argentines do, to my consternation). I know it's just being old devilish me, but what can I do, that's how I see the choreo, and you can't edit me.

But, Joanna Ampil! Boy, is she a revelation (to me, at least, 'cause I don't 'know' her). How come she's not a superstar in her own country? She makes a good case for those who leave. (All of you brilliant people, leave! Right now! 'Cause there's nothing for you here but fondness for mediocrity, leading to lack of opportunity. (Just remember to come back, once successful.)) Her voice is even better than the Lea Salonga's, AFAIC, if contrast and compare we must (something I dislike doing 'cause everyone is unique, everyone is differently lovable, blah blah blah). Ampil's performance was so awesome she eclipsed the male lead.

Now, on to C.B. I like the songs of this guy. I'm a fan of those songs that made him quite famous here, even abroad. But I don't think he fits the role of Tony in the first place, if fitting a stage role is something you'd expect to be done "to a T." It wasn't very fair to make him play the role 'cause his voice is not exactly suited to the center stage. Let him do a concert, but not lead a production as this. The performance wasn't very bad (his notes are wonderfully correct despite the crazy demands of the compositions), and I've got to give it to C.B. if I am pushed to discussing him in the charm/-isma department. But we have seen others could do male leads even better. Wait, all of them now are most probably performing as part of the Seven Dwarfs (Dwarves?) in the blandness of Hong Kong Disneyland, so the correct attitude right now is perhaps to be patient and understanding. The dearth in local talent must be the culprit, as Stages Productions' Audie Gemora himself lamented that night after the show.

Nevertheless, it remains refreshing to see new faces capable of doing the lead and even the support roles, although the boys certainly need more tough-cookie-ness in their street ruffian/thug underworld roles. I like the one who did the Anita role, too, whoever she is. She stole the scene now and then - admittedly at appropriate moments.

Notes on Kinsey

Finally, the zodiac signs of the so-called cosmos conspired to make me view Kinsey, the movie. Did you hear me shout "Yahoo!"? Now, on to the review.

I must say Kinsey, the movie, was carried well through its course by Liam Neeson as Prof. Alfred Kinsey, Laura Linney as his wife, and Peter Saarsgard as his assistant and experimental lover. I wonder why this movie was snubbed by the local entertainment press. Then again, I shouldn't be surprised because of the caustic nature of the subject. Thankfully, my personal circumstances can grant me the untramelled freedom to discuss the subject objectively, I hope, without intending one bit to hurt.

The movie, I thought, seems a fair look at the life Kinsey lived: his brashness in venturing into taboo territories partly because of his intellectual curiosity and the vigor of his mind, but also partly due to his emotionally and sometimes sexually troubled self. The movie strives to be non-judgmental to the point of being sympathetic, never canonizing Kinsey as a secular saint, at least, but just as faithfully looking at the motivations (the video's liner notes say "demons") driving his search, which was really as scientific as it was personal. It's good the movie points out the important flaws in Kinsey's character and circumstances out front: his inability to observe boundaries between his pursuit of pure science and learned/conventional morality; and his missionary zeal (to the point of giddiness) about his eye-opening discoveries in the face of a deep personal hurt, no thanks to his pastor-father's religious rigidity. This lethal combination, of course, spelled disaster for him. Nonetheless, he is rightly credited for being a pioneer of sorts, the jumpstarter of the sexual revolution in America and beyond.

Much of the "sexologist's" work now is discredited by questions on his methodology and choice of subjects, which the movie helps point out. Fiercely (even bitterly) amoral directly because of his father issue (and by extension God issue; the movie even sheds light on Kinsey's father's disordered motivation), Kinsey couldn't help but arrive at biased conclusions with no one to dispute him at the time. Understandably, the naturist/entomologist/professor ended up believing in the 100% veracity of his findings, which were about as helpful (because liberating) to those who were equally mesmerized by the sudden open-house exposure of America's bedrooms, including those who thought they were either abnormal, alone, or inherently wicked. With almost 100% restraint-free attitude, he could only be intransigent with regard to his favorite obsession, which was heretofore unmentionable: s-e-x. This would lead him to believe that everything under the sun is normal, including all the aberrations in nature that he erstwhile observed ('same-sex attraction occurs in nature, ergo, it is natural for human beings to be homosexual, ergo homosexuality is normal,' never mind that not a single species practices homosexuality as the norm, even though the errant behavior may be present every now and then). The profound damage his 'data' has done to society is yet to be undone up to this point, yet it is equally notable that no one is demanding his 'hanging' or 'crucifixion.'

To be fair, certain psychological concepts have yet to be arrived at at the time, particularly those concepts that cut across the rigid borders of academia. Nevertheless,

- his professional errors (the intellectual dishonesty behind the ironically ruthless honesty he needed -- and had -- in his eventual career as sex consultant;

- his personal mission to normalize abnormality;

- his extreme self-experimentation; and

- his concluding from tainted and nonrepresentational sets of subjects (i.e., gay club members (curiously, the one about his using sex offender-prisoners was reportedly omitted))

...led him to some age-defining truths that remain quite incontrovertible up to this time (e.g., Kinsey's scale of sex orientation). For that, his life work deserves some measure of deference, as this movie seems to imply.

The movie is a respectable-enough study of the life and times of the once-"churchy" science professor turned non-squeamish, extra-liberal, non-caped crusader against society's sexual mores and conventions, the bulk of which is to be eventually labeled as "blatant hypocrisy" in postmodern discourse (although we who beg to separately opine would rather argue against it, crying oversimplification on something so delicate as to be tiptoed upon -- I simply mean: like a forwarded Hindu prayer I have received says, not all forms of restraint, whether self- or institutional, are meant to strangle human freedom but to protect the individual from pain).

Quick reaction paper: Cabiria

Saw Cabiria with a friend last night. Cabiria is a 1914 Italian silent film about the second Punic wars. It is among the films shown during the Second International Silent Film Festival at the Shangri-La Mall.

Nope, this is not Fellini's The Nights of Cabiria, which I was hoping would be the one we'd see. Nonetheless, the pioneering B&W film spells "spectacular! spectacular!" The production number -- chiefly, the colorful and I must say wild and queer Carthaginian pagan/pre-Christian/pre-Muslim culture (wailing and squirming child-offerings to the god Molech! temples with monstrous faces!) -- is clearly the star of the show. The long, dizzying (i.e., wild twists and turns) narrative focuses on the loss of a little girl named Cabiria, who was repeatedly hijacked by the hands of history -- that is, world history from Italy's perspective.

Here are some pertinent info and the official synopsis:

Director: Giovanni Pastrone
Cast: Umberto Mozzato, Lydia Quaranta, Bartolomeo Pagano, Italia Almirante Manzini
Production: Italy, 1914
Running Time: 123 min.
Intertitles: Gabriele D'Annunzio

(Context +) Synopsis: "Inspired by grand opera and Italy's imperialist victory in the Libyan War (1911-12), the Italian movie industry produced dozens of historical epics in the period just before WWI. The most influential and successful of these was Cabiria.

"The film is the story of a girl, Cabiria, who is separated from her parents during the Punic Wars in the Third Century B.C. In her odyssey through the world of ancient Rome, she observes the eruption of Mt. Etna, endures capture by pirates, views the barbaric splendor of Carthage, and witnesses both human sacrifice and Hannibal crossing the Alps.

"In addition to the meticulous care given to costume and set design, Cabiria was also filmed (on) location in North Africa, Sicily, and the Italian Alps."

**

At the end of the movie, I realized that we had just sat through a grand celebration of Italian imperialism. ...Which confronted me about my existing thoughts on imperialism in general. Dueling in my mind were the usual left-field mantras of "Ibagsak ang Imperyalistang US-Marcos/Aquino/Ramos/Arroyo/Fill-in-the-Blanks" sloganeering and the autosuggestion of authors like John Steinbeck (e.g., "The Pearl"): "Imperialism is pure eevil!" ...Then there's, of course, the inescapable thought of the things we (you and me) owe big-time to the imperialists past and present: Western civilization, i.e., Christianity, certain foods, many practices, way of life, language, and so on. Without imperialism, would the world have thrived like this? (I recall snatches of Alexander, or is that another recent movie?) Would we, for example, have remained head-hunting pagans and primitives like other 'untouched' peoples and cultures? Which one would I choose, if push comes to shove, i.e., granting I had a choice at all? Hmm, let me think first, okay? Life is not a quiz bee.

What I can say for now is: I am not ashamed to say I am thankful to King Philip II of Spain for sending missionaries to these islands. I really am. One major consideration in this matter is the historical context: much of the imperialist muscling occurred at a time when the concepts of nation-state, citizenship, human rights, freedom and liberty, national sovereignty, independence, public education, etc. have yet to be established.

But I don't close off my mind to the monstrous sins the conquistadores committed. Imperialism in this post-Cold War age is utterly passe it stinks like rotten durian. But a big but: had imperialists not done their thing, would the world be a better place? Or would it be even more divided, fighting even more little and big wars?

Repeat the same line of thought for the American and Japanese imperialists, and all other imperialists in world history (ie., the British, French, Dutch, Belgians, Germans, Portuguese, Russians), and you get the picture in my mind: a mixed bag. Though I am still waiting for real repentance and a word asking official forgiveness from the respective thrones of Spain and most especially Japan if they haven't done so yet (even Britain and the Netherlands for their botched attempt) and the government of America, I strive not to be blind either about what I/we have gained from contact with them, no matter how painful it had been. I am certainly grateful for all the good things Spanish, American, and Japanese (add Chinese) in me that I enjoy now. I think that's the best revenge for whatever wrong was committed by history to me and to my people of long ago. Of course, I don't mean we gloss over the faults of history; I only mean we forgive (not the least ourselves), accept that we've been hurt and damaged, and move on by working on our issues from there. I only mean we don't have to discard all the good things we have 'inherited' down the centuries.

Now, one wishes there's a movie that examines these conflicting thoughts. Or better yet, a book, from the colonized person's perspective.

**

I need to emphasize, though, that the silent film (worth Php75 a ticket) was scored live by the local band Caliph8. The screening was also an evening of great electronic music (plus, was that a bass cello?). Wow. I'm at a loss for words for the sheer variety of sounds invented by Caliph8 for this movie.

This is how Caliph8 describes himself/his musical vision, from this site:

"Caliph8 - Soothesayer, Visual Bomber, DJ/Beat Author"

"Current project: Conscious Postulate Chamber of Rudiments, is an amalgamation of different genres in a consortium of visual trajectories, head bobbing beats, ill basslines, vocal studies & rare grooves that represent the Hip-hop culture. The whole essence of this undertaking is to celebrate Hip-hop’s culture / tradition and create the audio aesthetics that we want through our creative influences. Abstract, Spoken word, Surreal, talkin’ drums, Jazz, Cubism, Funk, Latin, Afro-Cuban, Bossa Nova, Rock and other forms of sound and visual art will all be fused with Hiphop to achieve something that represents my concept."

Me: Uh-okay (nosebleed!) While watching the movie, though, I noticed my head subconsciously bobbing to the beat. I'm a Caliph8 fan now.

Weather report

After the rains come the extra-humid days -- too hot and humid, in fact, that you'd rather be at the beach. While elsewhere in the world people are screaming for help from their rooftops, we in R.P. are stewing in our own fat.

The weather is a good test of one's resolve, though. Here you are trying to embrace suffering like the mystics do, and the smallest shift in the temperature drives you complaining, "Ang iniiiiit!"

**

In other weather-related news, it's hard to believe that this kind of primitivism still exists: Bare-breasted virgins compete for Swaziland king.

Also, do you want to visualize yourself as running for president of America? Go to this page: _________ for President. Press the Play button. Then figure out how to customize the video with your own name.

Quote

(Readings)

"Many mentally handicapped people experience themselves as a disappointment to their parents, a burden for their families, and a nuisance to their friends."

Paraphrased: "But the mentally ill have a lot of teach us. For example, the meaning of total freedom (freedom from many desires and perceived needs to protect ourselves)..."

- Jean Vanier via HJMN (Road to Daybreak)

Quote

(Readings)

Communism and capitalism: Both Darwinian, i.e., hate-driven

"Christianity is elitist in the sense that....it demands real and total commitment to a cross and to death....

"...Communism is also elitist in its demands on the lives of the elect -- the party members. Communism also is a faith, a secular faith, which [like Christianity] can never be made fully reasonable to its followers. Committed communists in Russia or China today do not believe because they see the ideal embodied in the existing soceity but because of their faith that, despite the evidence of corruption and venality and "backsliding" which abounds, the ideal society will evolve by the inexorable laws of history. And yet communism and Christianity are diametrically opposed because Christianity has another side. The real conflict, I believe, is not God vs. no God, but rather love vs. hate. Communism is grounded in a deterministic view of history, where persons are sacrificed to the ideal state (the "god") and where progress is achieved by conflict between opposing social classes. It is the Darwinian idea of "the survival of the fittest," transposed to human society. The competition, the struggle between persons and social classes is simply nature's way of evolving toward the ideal communist society. Progress is achieved by struggle and destruction.

{Footnote: "Ironically, the competing ideology, capitalist imperialism, also found its theoretical justification in social Darwinism. It is simply a question of which class we consider "fittest," and what ultimate "heaven" we place our faith in.)

"This kind of "progress by hate" has no place in genuine Christianity. The fundamental demand of Christ is that we love one another, that we love the weak, the crippled, the poor, the rich, that we love even our enemies...." (pp. 59-61)

Thomas H. Green, S.J. (When the Well Runs Dry; Ave Maria Press, 1979)

Dysfunctional spirituality, 2

Going back...

In attempting to understand dysfunctional spirituality (my original phrase, which I am suer will offend a lo of people), it is important to understand the dynamics of temptation.

As that Cardinal Manning article explains, there are two kinds of temptations because there are basically two ways that we sin: via outside temptation (through Satan/the world) and via temptation from within (through our own personal weaknesses). The first kind of temptation, I guess, should be something obvious to us that we must run away from. The tricky one is the second one because it involves the problem of overcoming self-deception. And [the dysfunctional individual] oftentimes have complex ways of denying what's obvious to the outsider. Because of the dysfunction and the resulting defense mechanism in the form of overcompensation, the person is prone to all sorts of denial. It's especially painful for him to confront reality, particularly his own self. That's one inherent nature of his "dynamics."

Now, as I understand it, the person wouldn't even know these things to be weaknesses until he knows himselfself, until he gets intimately familiar with himself. I think that's what somebody in the discussion group means by "befriending our temptation," (although to be honest, I didn't like the term myself) is to know oneself ruthlessly honestly. For what are human beings but corrupt to the core (thanks to our fallen nature) if not for the love and mercy of God?

There is no shame in admitting that one is weak in this and that area. There is only profit in acknowledging where one is weak, so that one is aware and one knows what to do when faced with his weaknesses and temptations (which can be legion in the case of those who have certain compulsions). That's the kind of temptation one must study, because it comes from within the person yet one is oftentimes deceived by himself or in denial. The reality can be too close that he cannot see it.

Only when one becomes aware of his weaknesses (hidden beneath the defense mechanisms) will he be able to begin to understand where these are coming from. Only then can he begin to manage his inner conflicts and then find ways and means to concretely deal with his needs in legitimate ways. Only then will his spirituality become genuine and not proceeding from some neuroses.

And, if one is concerned with serving God through a ministry or apostolate, only then can he be ready to look outward -- instead of dwelling on his own issues (out of necessity, not really out of selfishness) -- and serve God by serving others. One can't give what he doesn't have. It's as simple as that.

**

Now, if I sound like I have given religiosity or even spritiuality a bad name, no, I haven't. I just want to end with this brief post with the corrective clarification that I received because it's much too precious. Again, I wasn't 'dissing' spirituality or religiosity, but nonetheless, since I could be misinterpreted thus, I am only thankful to repeat this delicate qualifier: "Religiosity and spirituality can be used as an "opium" (in the Karl Marx sense) to cover up one's issues. But religion can also inspire us to be honest with ourselves, to dig deep within ourselves, to face our issues squarely."

F. Sionil Jose walks out on Imeldific

(Forwarded email)

Reaction: Bravo! Forgiving the Marcoses doesn't mean forgetting the Marcoses and their world-class crimes. It doesn't mean having to sit through the inanitions of Ms. Marcos (or any of her children and relatives). It's a wonder how she remains physically beautiful with all that garbage shooting off her lovely mouth, all that putrid gunk magically arising from her memory whenever it is summoned in speech over dinner in honor of someone important to high-society types (who, out of human respect, decline to do what they consider disgraceful, like walking out in protest over a foul speech). It's a distorted worldview in her mind that Ms. Marcos has been impugning upon us all, arrogating upon us all, as though we have the intelligence quotient of one-day old chicks. This high-class insult she makes now and then must be exposed and held up to her face. She is obviously too much in denial, with her gargantuan dysfunction never waning one bit, ever desirous of ruling the world and damaging it anew in a spring of dictatorial lies.

P.S. And what's this thing we heard about a Palanca controversy involving the self-censorship of a Floy Quintos play, with Quintos giving up without a fight??
_______________________

Why Sionil Jose walked out of the CCP during King’s necrology.

Why would National Artist for Literature F. Sionil Jose walk out of the CCP during its tribute to the late National Artist for Music Lucrecia Kasilag whom he dearly loved and respected? The follwoing letter was written by Jose last Aug. 22 and sent to Emely Abrera, chairperson of the CCP (cc: Nestor Jardin, President and Chris Millado, Performing Arts Department Head)

**

Permit me to tell you my regret and anger the day when I was at the CCP for King Kasilag’s necrology. Before the start of the service, I was ushered to the backstage- a departure from the usual manner by which we honored our departed National Artist. After I offered my bouquet to King, I walked to my assigned seat and was surprised to see Imelda Marcos before me. Had I known that she would be there, I would not have attended the necrology anymore. But in deference to King, who I loved dearly, I decided to suffer my presence. Then she mounted the podium and started bragging about herself, how Chairman Mao welcomed her in China . That was too much, so I decided to leave.

I have known King since 1948, when she was the piano teacher of the girl I married. I regret that I had to leave her last presence with us.

Enclosed is the article I wrote years ago on Imelda (for Philippine Star). I hope that you will remember. May I beg of you this one I favor. In the future, please do not honor Imelda in any of the CCP activities. In ostracizing her and denying her honor, you honor the memory of Ninoy Aquino and the thousands upon thousands who were unjustly jailed, tortured, killed or salvaged by the Marcos dictatorship.

In honoring the plunderers of this nation and letting them easy without any punishment (like Erap) we not only condone their infamy; other rapist of this nation will also feel redeemed, convinced, that they did no wrong. Then, they pave the way for future criminals to do the same, sure that, like Imelda and her gang, they will no be punished and that after their foul deeds, they can even preen in the limelight before a people without memory.

The Marcoses were in power for more than 20 years – they gave patronage with the people’s money to many. There recipients, of their patronage are grateful. I can very well understand that, but keep in mind that the evil that they did far outweighs the miniscule good that they achieved, the CCP is one and the appointment of King is another.

The CCP and King helped deodorize a little a murderous dictatorship. And don’t you ever forget, it was your money, my money, OUR money that built the CCP - not Imelda’s.


Sincerely yours,

F. Sionil Jose

Full plate

It's funny how I'm trying not just to love the poor (thanks to Caretto, Nouwen, Mr. Francis, et al.), but to "embrace being poor," and here I am ending up having a rich dessert for dinner. The problem of "loving the poor" and "embracing poverty" is problematic for me, really. For someone who considers himself also poor (okay, relatively), being from a poor family (relatively) and a poor country (relatively), what I wish for is to be rich, to escape poverty. Maybe I'll get around to embracing poverty after I've tasted being rich. For now, my goal is to be rich.

But that thought made me even sadder. So I dragged a friend after work last Monday to dig into this ginormous cheesecake we saw at Bo's Cafe. It was so creamy...and so rich. It made us happy. In the right amount (i.e., when you don't have that much means), being rich = being happy.

Yeah, I know. I get depressed so easily. There are days like that, especially when I just ate pasta or fastfood. I can be such a negative person. No need to tell me that. What I welcome is help or solution. Freebies would be great.

Idiot's Guide to More Idiocy... Not!

One way to cure the deadly disease of depression -- no sweat, says Rod -- is to make a litany of your little and big blessings. So here goes.

- Stumbled into a uniformed marching band playing the Spiderman theme at the MOA.

- Read new old short stories (each uniquely wonderful) from an American anthology: "Eve in Darkness" by Kaatje Hurlbut, "The Two Bottles of Relish" by Lord Dunsany, "Footfalls" by Wilbur Daniel Steele (actually I've read this in high school), "Hook" by Walter van Tilburg Clark, "Wine on the Desert" by Max Brand, "The Lady or the Tiger?" by Frank Stockton, "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge" by Ambrose Bierce, "The Tell-Tale Heart" by Edgar Allan Poe of "The Cask of Amontillado" fame, "Eveline" by James Joyce, "What Stumped the Bluejays" by Mark Twain. (What, no O. Henry? Not even "The Last Leaf"? No Anton Checkov? Etc. Guy de Maupassant and Saki were represented, but I've read those before.) Will read the ff. later on: "So Much Unfaithfulness of Things" by C.D.B. Bryan, "The Adventure of the Speckled Band" by Arthur Donan Coyle, "To Build a Fire" by Jack London.

- Currently reading: The Road to Daybreak by Henri J.M. Nouwen (Doubleday, 1988) and When the Well Runs Dry by Thomas H. Green, S.J. (Ave Maria Press/St. Pauls, 1979). Wish list: Dark Night of the Soul by John of the Cross and Autobiography by Teresa of Avila

- A video shop had anniversary sale. I was able to buy a DVD of GoodFellas for only P149. M. grabbed a VCD of Brother Sun, Sister Moon for P75. Must-haves finally have-hads.

Superior products

- McVities Digestives that my sister gave me. Someone should make this available in local stores. It's my favorite cookie. Made of wheat and oats. Contains no hydraulic acid, so no adverse events.

- Katinko, a Hong Kong-made liniment that I learned to use (via Ian) like an old man for every imaginable and imagined ache and pain. New inhalable addiction! Joke. (Second place: Tru'ong San brand of medicated oil from Vietnam.)

- Been burping too much lately for some reason. Could eating be the culprit? Guess so. Thank God I didn't have to quit eating. The solution? Eat more. Or more accurately, drink yoghurt milk, like M. advised. So I drank and drowned myself in blueberry- and strawberry-tainted yoghurt milk with lactobacilli shirota strain. It works.

- A friend forced me to discover a delicious soy chicken meal (for Php70) at Steaming Chinois at the Landmark food court. Great cheap food.

Aba, batucada yun ah!

Got sidetracked by a bunch of barefoot guys and girls in all-white playing ear-pleasing batucada somewhere in Glorietta, with the dancers doing graceful, contorting Brazilian choreos (capoeira? capybara?). I had to convince myself I wasn't somewhere else like Rio joining a wild parade lamenting the start of the Lenten season. The whole thing turned out to be a promotional for Havaianas. It was a fine weapon of mass distraction.

Show me the Monay!

Rod, a vegan, says there's a gourmet bread sale at the Mandarin after office hours.

***

Review: Good Italians, Bad Italians

For some twist of fate called the videoshop promo sale, I found myself last Sunday watching two extreme '70s vidz involving Italians: Franco Zefferilli's Brother Sun, Sister Moon and Martin Scorsese's GoodFellas (starring Robert de Niro, Ray Liotta, and Joe Pesci). The extreme, conflicted nature of the experience gave me a headache, but I was delighted as Dante's inferno.

A Francis and Clare movie? Not really

BSSM is not as beautiful and engaging as the other Zeferelli I find memorable: Romeo and Juliet. BSSM proceeds in a languid (??) pace befitting the theme but with scenes that are too quiet you'd miss their point. No, that was one review I read says, and I happen to agree. Maybe the video quality is what did it. The virtue of this story about one the greatest saints of the Catholic Church is its having focus: the reformation of a church and society corrupted by worldly attachment, i.e., attachment to wealth, and injustice to/oppression of the weak; the conversion of the rich kid Francesco into a seemingly crazy contemplative monk; the birth of a new contemplative spirituality that confounded the Church at first. Having read the Little Flowers of St. Francis beforehand, however, has preconditioned me to have high expectations for the movie. I was waiting for the levitations, the sermon he gave to the forest birds which were more receptive to him than men, the miraculous healing of lepers, the taming of an especialy bad wolf, the many conversions of people and conversations with God, and how this band of brown-robed begging bros would become the "most angelic people to ever have walked the earth" and how St. Francis would become sort of a new Christ and St. Clare a new Mary for the Church of that century (Middle Ages?) or even today, if you want, assuaging God's rage over man's sinfulness.

But the other key things about the life of St. Francis of Assissi were there, to be fair: the scene where Francis strips off totally naked as he literally renounces everything he owed to his earthly father (who had him arrested or something), the rebuilding of the San Damiano church ruins, the recruiting of fellow young men, including caped crusaders and one lovely girl friend named Clare, the willingness to withstand derision from the people for God's sake, the momentous meeting with and approval of the Pope in the Vatican.

I didn't get it, though, how exactly he became a friar, why monks shaved their heads in that funny, partial way (to court further embarrassment perhaps), etc.

Serious sidebar: Dysfunctional spirituality?

Going back to The Little Flowers of St. Francis, I couldn't help noticing the striking parallels and contrasts with modern man, who is troubled with the psychological dysfunctions of the age. Those wonderful saints went out of their way to seek rejection and shame, to lose the respect of men, apart from seeking lowly labor and extreme penance and fasting (bread and water for one day), just to express their love and devotion to God. Whereas we people of today...you know what I mean. We who are in some kind of trouble may easily identify with the suffering part, especially the feelings of deprivation, rejection, shame, etc. that it's no wonder it's also very easy -- and attractive -- for us to be highly spiritual. So where does the big difference lie?

The big difference seems to be that the brother-friars/saints were willing victims, while we are unwilling victims.

We probably could say those saints were whole, to begin with. They didn't have to struggle with the idea of a loving God. They were already full themselves, so they couldn't help but go out of themselves and give what they couldn't contain. ...Whereas we...we have to constantly struggle with it, constantly reconciling what we think or what we have been thought about a loving God with what we actually go through (i.e., the constant temptation to feel low about ourselves and thus to feel as though we are being rejected by everyone and by God) because there has been a failure by society to model an unconditionally loving kind of God for us, resulting in the conception of a God (supposedly of love) out of fear.

It is just so ironic that, here we are, struggling to attain what we don't have, only to find that those who were 'lucky' to have them go the extra mile to find what we've been having unwillingly all along. In effect, there is the strong temptation in us to just let things be and continue to suffer, thinking our present suffering to be worthy of offering to God. ...When what we should be doing is finding healing first, finding wholeness first, so that we can say our service and spirituality are not coming from neurosis or brokenness (and its associated defense mechanisms and overcompensations) but from a healthier direction: that of a genuine, that is say willing, 'victimhood,' like the willing victimhood of the "greatest saints to ever have walked the earth" (i.e. the Franciscans; hope the Benedictines and other products of Aristotelian-Thomistic thought (i.e., Western philosophy) won't stage a people power protest).

I think it's really good to seek healing of ourselves first, "to let God minister to us first," to quote an ex-novice quoting Fr. Thomas Green, S.J. "and see what God is planning for us to do next" (as in having a sort of a ministry (or care group) or something).

These are just my humble thoughts that came to me and are in no way meant to be a rabble-rousing something. I do hope it provokes thought and sober discussion.

**

Italians in Dante's inferno

I'm not a big fan of Mobster/Mafia movies but I watch them anyway (The Godfather series, Untouchables, etc.) The action genre is, of course, entertaining anytime. It's all about movies as cheap visual entertainment. And it's admittedly fascinating to examine why some people go into organized crime.

But I always end up offended by how Hollywood makes everything look glamorous, how it revels on the grisliness of murder, how it glams up maiming and blood spurting, and how it makes criminals and the criminal life look likeable, even charming. You don't watch, for instance, Robert de Niro and hate him (or even Marlon Brando and the young Al Pacino). You sympathize with these movie stars somewhat. (Even the overly ambitious and scheming Evita Peron was almost canonized in one movie version. What's next? A shimmering Imelda and Ferdinand Marcos movie?) You get confused until you realize you are somewhat lured into the terrorist mind and its twisted causes, crimes, corruption.

Which is why, for me, movies like this are sick, sick, sick, and a society that approves of them and even gives them Academy Awards even more sicko. Hollywood's secret admiration for the Mafia is a dead giveaway.

...Unlike, say, the Brit film Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels, which mocks criminals and the Scottish work Trainspotting, which regards drug addicts and their crimes more correctly, and Spike Lee's Summer of Sam, a mob-mentality film with the right tone starring John Leguizamo and the brooding-faced Adrien Brody. Having spewed all that necessary bile, though, I must concede that Ray Liotta and Joe Pesci are awesome, the first especially for the way he laughed like a "varmint" and looked like a real cokehead and the other for looking the part down pat: every inch an oily, volatile gangster.

I thought it's fitting that GoodFellas closes with a punk'd version of "I Did It My Way." (...Incidentally, the original version of which is made popular by someone accused of belonging to the Mob. Is it true?) That only reinforces what I think about the movie: it's more of a celebration of the violent criminal life than an examination of it.

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Gender-based truisms

(Forwarded joke)

Man vs Woman

Men:

1. All men are extremely busy.
2. Although they are so busy, they still have time for women.
3. Although they have time for women, they don't really care for them.
4. Although they don't really care for them, they always have one around.
5. Although they always have one around them, they always try their luck with others.
6. Although they try their luck with others, they get really pissed off if the women leaves them.
7. Although the women leaves them they still don't learn from their mistakes and still try their luck with others.

Women:

1. The most important thing for a woman is financial security.
2. Although this is so important, they still go out and buy expensive clothes.
3. Although they always buy expensive clothes, they never have something to wear.
4. Although they never have something to wear, they always dress beautifully.
5. Although they always dress beautifully, their clothes are always just "An old rag".
6. Although their clothes are always "just an old rag", they still expect you to compliment them.
7. Although they expect you to compliment them, when you do, they don't believe you.

Today's alerts in bullet points

- Vatican warns of growing "Christianophobia"

- Wha? Eraserheads' much-anticipated reunion concert cut short?!? Jaydj was there (wish I was, but no tickets) and this is his report.

- Know all men by these presents: Inday is not always a maid

- "Amazingly unique bridges you may not have seen"

Reaction to legalization of gay marriage

(Forwarded mail from Andrew Comiskey of Desert Stream Ministries, an evangelical group)

"Let us consider our responsibility"

I had just arrived with my son Sam in Argentina. We were inspired, having just finished talking with our friends in Buenos Aires; they had successfully worked with some government officials to block the formation of a civic gay pride day. While serving those with same-sex attraction who seek healing, they are doing all that they can to halt the advance of gay rights in their land.

Then Annette phoned unexpectedly. Usually not a good sign; she brought the news I had been dreading. The CA Supreme Court just voted 4 to 3 to overturn a voter-based initiative that declared marriage as solely heterosexual. Gay marriage is now legal in arguably the most powerful state in the USA.

What does that mean? It means a radical and dangerous redefinition of the most basic and stabilizing relationship on earth. In the USA, marriage used to mean one man and one woman pledged to permanence and fidelity and committed to caring for the children that resulted from their union.

Marriage used to convey the essence of 'the imago dei': God's design for commitment and complementarity in human sexual relationships.

Now marriage has been reconfigured by human hands. The creature has asserted his independence from the Creator in the most brazen way possible. We have asserted how we will image ourselves. The Court has made a way for generations to come to validate rebellion; in our neighborhoods, in our schools, in our churches. 'Family' will now be defined as much by same-sex lovers as by man and woman.

Children will grow up under that state-mandated idolatry: what God defines as evil has now become just and true.

The Court has undermined God's best for the whole of a culture. The decision will resound throughout the nation and the world. Unlike Massachusetts where a gay couple must establish residence in order to marry, CA welcomes all from throughout the nation to marry there. That means that gays will marry in CA, then return to their states and insist that any laws there that define marriage as heterosexual be overturned by the courts. Just as CA did!

What can we do? Wake up. This decision impacts you as nearly as it does the gay couple in San Francisco. You are a citizen in the land. You have a voice. In light of a people coming out of great darkness in the area of sexual brokenness, Paul implored: 'Wake up, O sleeper, and rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you. Be careful how you live, making the most of every opportunity.' (Eph. 5:14, 15)

He implores us to rise and shine and make known His way for marriage. Gather to pray with others on the basis of Joel 3: 13-17: "Declare a holy fast, call a sacred assembly" (v.15). Ask God for mercy on behalf of our land. Get rid of any residual idolatry you still cling to.

If you are considering doing a healing group for the sexually broken, now is the time to go forward. Declare to the community: here is the refuge for those most caught in the crossfire between idolatry and God's will. As we gather together as male and female, we declare: this is God's image for humanity!

Speak up in your churches. Assert at once God's compassion for the broken ones who choose His way and holy fear for those who refuse it for the law of an idolatrous land.

Do everything in your power to overturn the court's decision in CA. CA citizens are now mobilizing to put on the ballot in November a heterosexual only marriage initiative. (For the second time!) Such a bill could overturn the court decision.

Pray that the people will overturn the court's decision. Here in Argentina I am aware that all eyes are on the USA and its decisions concerning gay rights and the definition of marriage. Will we set a precedent of idolatry for our children, in our nation and in every nation on earth? Or will it be one of righteousness and compassion?

Let us consider our responsibility soberly in light of what is happening right now in the land. Let us pray and act now while we have opportunity. Let us not say in 10 years when gay marriage has become the norm: "How did that happen? We are witnessing it happening now, the biggest door opening yet for the reconfiguring of the image of God in the USA.

God have mercy. God give us the greater power to seek to overcome the evil of idolatry with good: man for woman, woman for man.

Andy Comiskey
Desert Stream Ministries

"Heritage is mainstream"

(Update from HCS)

1. Last Wednesday, I bumped into Chairman Ambeth Ocampo of the National Historical Institute who said he will call a meeting of the Board which includes NGOs like the Heritage Conservation Society. I told him it is about time; I don't even remember when he last called such a meeting, in 2004, I think.

2. When Mayor Alfredo S. Lim passed by Intramuros last Thursday, he was alarmed to see that the trees at Plaza Roma had been cut. How could Mrs. Harper do such a thing?--he exclaimed. Mrs. Harper was not answering her cell phone so the Chief of Staff called the police station nearest to the "scene of the crime". To make a long story short, Bambi plans to plant about 22 fire trees at said Plaza so she had 10 trees balled (mostly narra, to be transfered elsewhere) and 17 ( neem, mango, langka, etc). She should have at least informed the Mayor.

3. There are pending requests for Architectural Documentation (ARDOC) workshops as well as Heritage Identification and Documentation Training (HIDT) training workshops in Taal, San Miguel de Mayumo, Laguna, Iloilo, Isabela--what to do? What to do?

4. In the past week, I saw Gov. Grace Padacaa twice ( at her lecture at the RM Center and at Pres. R. Magsaysay's tomb ) and on both occasions, she reminded me about the pending HCS trip to Isabela.

5. The "Let a Hundred Flowers Bloom and Thousand Thoughts Contend" meetings will be resumed on the 2nd and 4th Wednesdays of September, at 7 p.m. Upon request, the venue has been changed. We shall now meet at the EBUN restaurant at Greenbelt 3 ( across Cafe Breton, street level). Let us see if this place works out.

6. Thank you arch. Manolo Noche for submitting lamp post designs. I will meet with Mrs. Totoy Uy , the lamp post supplier of City Hall, this coming week. Apparently, he also makes the street signs so I shall give him a copy of the HCS"Task Force" list of missing signs submitted by Jeff Yap. Thanks, Jeffrey.

7. The HCS has to make sure that the final version of the Heritage Bill, the one we worked on for two years with Angara's Technical Working Group, gets calendared by the Senate Ways & Means committee .

8. The NCCA approved the funding for "3rd Philippine Towns and Cities" seminar which will be hosted by Zamboanga City. (Do you think we should have a Plan B, in case things get out of hand in the "BJE'?)

9. A "Pride of Place" heritage lecture for the youth was held at St. Scholastica's College. Archs. Augusto Villalon and Melvin Patawaran gave presentations of the importance of heritage and HCS restoration projects. I represented Mayor Alfredo S. Lim and spoke about the heritage programs included in his 11- point agenda. This took place last 28 August.

That's all folks.
Gemma (Cruz Araneta)