But what if terrorists would rather choose death rather than reveal that crucial information to stop mass destruction? Here is the best way to save the world – inject those extremist basterds with sodium amytal instead.
The CIA should read The Brotherhood of The Rose by bestselling author David Morrel. They would, actually, but only if my favorite spy novel is stamped TOP SECRET.
Truth serum will set us free.
I Hope Nobody Rides Those "Floating Coffins" Again
The last major news headline in 2009 was a tragedy. It was a painful reminder of our culture of overcrowding, a custom that spawned what legislators call “Floating coffins” – inter-island ferries that sink under the weight of too many passengers, especially during the holidays.
The latest news on the M/V Catalyn B, now 221 feet underwater off Limbones Island in Cavite, is the Coast Guard’s continuing efforts to retrieve the bodies of the remaining 22 bodies still trapped inside. They died on the day before Christmas, on the way to be reunited with their families.
Chapter VII. 2009
Do You Have Peace Of Mind?
A profound change came upon my attitude in life–and by extension, my destiny–when I first ran across the “Serenity Prayer” traditionally attributed to St. Francis of Assisi: “Lord, grant me the courage to change the things I can, the patience to accept the things I cannot, and the wisdom to know the difference.”
I can achieve my dreams if I invest discipline and perseverance, but I can’t graduate from Harvard today at 3:00 PM. The difference is clear. Most things, alas, are not. That is why need wisdom.
“Wisdom is good,” some might say, “but we need cash.” So okay–wisdom and cash. That much is clear.
Profile Of A Hostage-Taker
The aftermath of the 2007 Lawton hostage drama brought the inevitable cries for stricter "screening" of teachers. Meaning, the government would make life even more complicated for applicants.
But remember that Armando Ducat is a licensed engineer, teacher, pre-school owner, building contractor, businessman, philanthropist, former congressional candidate and a close friend of a Senator of the Republic.
Does that sound like a guy who will fail a "screening"?
Like suicide bombers, hostage-takers fit no specific psychological profile. The most logical way to discourage such acts in the future is for the government to show that it will never give in to any demands whatsoever-including privileged speeches, ice cream and chamber pots on demand.
Why The Private Sector Can Be The Country's Secret Weapon
“If you want to, there’s way; if you don’t, there’s an excuse,” goes one of the slogans of the late great Senator Raul Roco.
We all want automated elections, which is actually something we should have had decades ago.
Here’s one idea: why not a Congressional Act that will deputize the private sector to take over public projects, instead of paying taxes?
The government has a list of projects, and those who want to participate (in lieu of accumulated taxes) can choose which ones to sponsor.
Examples: banks can pay the salaries of teachers, real estate developers can retrofit structures to make them earthquake-proof, a group of multinationals can pool funds for poll automation–not to mention computerizing the entire bureaucracy, like in Naga City.
The feasibility is proven by the success and public acceptance of the Adopt-A-School project. The BIR can still collect taxes from individuals and SMEs–but by this time, there will be no more need for E-VAT.
A more active role in governance would galvanize our objective of a First World status. This would streamline the bureaucracy, minimize opportunities for graft, prevent future tax hikes and foster a greater sense of national responsibility and pride.
This is people empowerment at its truest–and most glorious.
Why The World Needs People Power
Voltaire and Benjamin Franklin both warned that when people choose personal convenience above civil liberties, they are doomed to lose both. Those who equate People Power with “mob rule” don’t see it for what it really is: a vibrant manifestation of the citizens’ inalienable rights to free speech and assembly.
If Richard Nixon didn’t resign when the Watergate scandal broke out then he faced impeachment by bribing Congress, the people would have taken to the streets. Americans don’t understand our political situation because they never came to that point, and this is true as with the Japanese and South Koreans.
This is because public officials in nations with a tradition of honor step down on their own initiative when they have broken the law, abused their powers, tainted their office and lost their mandate.
There is nothing Unconstitutional about People Power. It’s just that we Filipinos are like stubborn mules: we need a solid whack in the head. It’s amusing since we don’t have mules in the Philippines, but it’s not a joke to realize that we are one of those countries without a tradition of honor, and that’s why the world needs People Power–to remind us that true democracy is, and always will be, the freedom of the people to uphold the rule of law.
This freedom should be defended, in the immortal words of Archibald McLeish, “by truth when it is attacked by lies; by democratic faith when it is attacked by authoritarian dogma. Always, and in the final act, by determination and faith.”
Why I Don't Believe The World Will End In 2012
Before we arrive at the End of Days, I want to ask, “Do you believe in the Priory of Sion?”
Oh, I have another question: “How good is your memory?”
Jesus Christ, I have a third question!
“Have you seen the Mel Gibson movie Apocalypto?” I haven’t, but if I remember right, it was set during the zenith of the Mayan civilization.
That’s the rub, you see. I’m writing this in a public park at two in the morning, away from Google and my library that was already destroyed by the flood anyway, so I’m relying on memory.
If you believe that Jesus was a divine bachelor, the Bible is enough. But if He wasn’t, there’s Holy Blood, Holy Grail and The Templar Legacy – not to mention The DaVinci Code–and that’s just for starters.
The point is: we believe what we want to believe, and we can cite references to back that belief.
This also applies to the idea that the Doomsday will come in 2012, three years from now.
If you believe it–or just open-minded about it–I think I know where you’re coming from, and that includes the book that decoded the Mayan calendar but whose title I forgot. And if you don’t, ditto. It would be so nice so everybody understands and respects each other’s viewpoints and senior moments.
I, for one, do not believe that the world as we know it will – poof!–vanish. I believe in Edgar Cayce’s revelations about everything–I give you my word that Seer Out Of Season is worth your hard-earned money – so this is how I see the future.
I believe that the earth’s “axis” will tilt, and the north and south “poles’ will change their map coordinates. This “Polar shift” will devastate–but not destroy–our planet. The upheaval will (chillingly) sink California, Japan, Northern Europe and lots of other places.
This polar shift has two phases:
Gradual–This is also the chief cause of climate change, much more powerful that global warming; and
Sudden–The last time we had this, it froze Greenland, dried Egypt and sunk Atlantis. This, I believe is what killed the dinosaurs, not an asteroid like in those movies where Elijah Wood survived but Bruce Willis did not.
I believe that earth will survive even after the year 3000 because Cayce is meant to reincarnate at that time. He saw the future with New York City still existing–but some of the western part of the United States wasn’t there anymore.
Does God REALLY Exist?
There are many faces of evil, and for every generation comes an event that seemed its incarnate: Nazism, communism, Islamic fundamentalism. It makes you wonder why God lets t
hese things happen.
There was even a book by a Jewish rabbi titled, Why Do Bad Things Happen To Good People? It is a question that has haunted humankind for millennia; and the answer has proven to be the most elusive in the history of human thought and reason.
It reminds me of the Arnold Schwarzegger film End of Days, where the Devil, played by Gabriel Byrne, said that God is the greatest underachiever, but He has the best publicist of all time–when something good happens, “It’s God’s will”; and if something bad happens, “God works in mysterious ways.”
It is precisely stuff like this this that quickens one’s prayers, and tests and affirms his faith, or shows its shallowness and hypocrisy.
Mary, Do You Take Jesus To Be Your Lawfully-Wedded Husband?
We now know that anyone can make a career just by slamming The DaVinci Code. Don’t be surprised if they’re so excited because the sequel Angels & Demons is on the way soon.
But because of that, Dan Brown has now more money than Opus Dei. It makes you wonder whose side the critics are on.
The truth is, Jesus died for us but He wasn't required to die a virgin. His purity, if you’ll pardon the pun, has been religiously defended throughout the centuries, and that’s okay because that’s freedom of religion.
It reminds me too of a scene in Genesis where the Almighty Creator was horrified to see naked people in Eden.
As a full-blooded young male, I find it unnerving that Jesus, you know, not once, even when He was a teenager, never?
But Jesus wasn’t gay either, no sir, and the reason why His young disciple John is His “Beloved” is purely platonic.
I don’t know why I say I know, but if people want to get kinky about His sexlife, that's fine, though I bet that Catholics would rather have Him sleep with His wife Mary Magdalene than His brother-in-law Lazarus.
The Moral Responsibility Of The International Community
As a citizen of a country that has been traumatized by dictatorship, cronyism and corruption, I believe history will vindicate the U.S. conquest of Saddam Hussein.
Although local politics should be left alone, the international community should intervene when there are cases of human rights violations or when the problem endangers the national security of other countries. This is called Moral Responsibility.
The Separation Of Church and State Ends Where Loyalty To The Country Begins
The Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines represents the Church. The Church is the Shepherd, and his Flock is the Catholic Filipinos–the vast majority of our 85 million+ populace. The Flock is crying for help from the wolves of tyranny, deceit and treachery.
But the Shepherd, his moral and spiritual obligations to his Flock notwithstanding, decides to remain neutral. Perhaps his independence was compromised by the unchristian attempts of a handful of aging ivory-towered technocrats in Rome to silence the moral force of the late Jaime Cardinal Sin.
Cardinal Sin united a culturally fractious and chronically apathetic country to depose a President who had dishonored his Office through a moral revolution, not once, but twice! He taught us that the separation of Church and State ends where loyalty to the country begins, and has inspired the whole world with the glory of true democracy in action.
Perhaps the present Shepherd consults the Scriptures because his conscience is bugging him, and he had overlooked Hebrews 12:1 – “Since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight.”
What If You Can"t Read?
Today is the day after International Literacy Day. Let us stop and think for a moment. Have you ever thought – really, deeply contemplated – just how lucky you are because you can, of all things, read?
Some books and magazine articles have become indelible part of our lives, stamped in our hearts and woven into our souls. Just like songs in Bread’s “The Guitar Man”: “You find yourself some message and some words to call your own and take them home…”
Folks who can’t read nor write – like Robert De Niro’s character in Stanley & Iris – are trapped in the dark, and while the journey may not be as easy as ABC, the first step to the light is our understanding, and a helping hand, in our own way, one word at a time.
The World's Perfect Cone Can Be A Cornucopia of Destruction
I am concerned about the alarming developments around Mayon Volcano. But really, the first thing to enter my mind when I think about it is – How can such breath-taking beauty summon such awesome destruction? I guess that’s why volcanoes are referred to as She.
How Do You Judge A Person?
Our experiences made us who we are, right? Of course there are other factors, like environment, but I have a feeling you’ll agree that how we reacted to the various circumstances in our lives is our more defining measure as effective human beings.
I believe that a person’s worth is internal – character.
Everything else is secondary. Everything in his resume – including his photo (physical appearance) – is external.
Why do I believe that?
It is because I have encountered college graduates without good manners and professionals without right conduct.
There are kids from decent families who become parasites, and religious people who take advantage of others and stab them in the back.
There are those bred in luxury but wallow in self-pity, and there are intelligent folks who only think about self-destruction.
What Kind Of Idiot Would Legalize Abortion?
Those who oppose the Reproductive Health Bill are making a career out of implying that it’s pro-abortion.
But Party-List Representative Risa Hontiveros emphatically says that the abortion-related clauses in the Revised Penal Code will remain untouched even if the bill become law.
Come to think of it, reproduction is, if you’ll excuse the pun, beside the point.
It’s sort of more like about…condoms, if anything.
That’s the great thing about democracy: you get to hear both sides of an issue. You also get some really snarky comments sometimes and they make things spicier and twice as interesting, don’t you agree?
Trav'ling Boy Quo Vadis?
I have the highest regard for people who give wise counsels. They are the salt of the earth, so to speak (whatever that means), giving much-needed insights to those in pain, a healing balm to hearts that grieve. We need wake-up calls for introspection from time to time.
I believe, as articulated by Dr. Johnson, that “Only a well-examined life is worth living.”
Have you thought about your life lately? “Do you know where you’re going to?” sings Diana Ross. “Do you like the things that life is showing you?”
You Don't Talk About The Death Penalty During New Year
I’m not sure I remember talking about my stand on the death penalty here on 2Rivers, but I’ll say it now.
I want the death penalty per se for scum – terrorists, drug dealers, arm smugglers and such–but not in the Philippines because the justice system here makes you want to live in America.
I was upset while I was watching the CNN breaking reports on the aborted terrorist attack in Detroit–by a Nigerian bomber who flew in from Amsterdam with a bomb made in Yemen. It’s not what I have in mind when I think of the phrase “World-class.”
I was also proud of the heroic passengers who foiled that evil plan, and I believe they all deserve commendations from no less than the President of the United States.
Having said all that, I hope the bomber dies.
The Greenbelt Rolex Robbery: An Inside Job?
Here’s irony in spades. One of the most daring heists in recent memory happened in broad daylight. Six armed men nonchalantly strolled into one of the country’s most prestigious malls, the plan was derailed by two policeman while they were serving as bodyguards of a politician who didn’t even invite them for lunch.
The target was Rolex watches, but instead they got Tudor watches, but they worth 8 millio
n pesos ($164K+). One robber died from the shoot-out but the rest have escaped smoothly, as if there’s no security.
This happened just last Sunday at the Greenbelt 5 mall. Apparently the robbers told the security guards that they’re the Bomb Squad; they turned out to be the Alvin Flores hold-up syndicate.
Taguig City Mayor Freddie Tinga was having lunch while his bodyguards, SPO1 Cesar Tiglao and PO1 Efren Ceniza, waited outside the restaurant. The two cops saw the thieves breaking the display cases and they opened fire.
Where are the security guards? Or more precisely, why did they seem to vanish? Are they in cahoots?
Here’s another irony: The NCRPO (National Capital Regional Police Office) had issued a directive a few weeks back that armed men wearing uniforms – Police, SWAT, Bomb Squad – should not be allowed to enter private establishments unless they arrive in mobile patrols or any official vehicle.
The Rolex robbers came in private cars, and the security guards probably even saluted them.
Last September 29, armed goons wearing SWAT uniforms entered and raided Harrison Plaza in Malate in Manila, just a few meters from a police outpost. They were there for over an hour, but no one checked their identities.
Also last month, another establishment in Pasig City was visited by criminals wearing police uniforms – I wouldn’t be surprised if they’re the real McCoy – and they bound and gagged the security men while they ransacked the place.
A Wonderful World Page 7