There’s no official proclamation that would say that Summer is “officially” here. Malacanang Palace will not announce on TV that summer has arrived. If you’re old enough, that is if you’ve passed forty (plus) summers in your life, you know how to read the signs and can easily feel it. One barometer for summer is the weather. But the weather lately is freaking out. It’s already the month of March but you can still feel the chills at night. This might be what PAG-ASA had warned about earlier, that we will be having a wet/cold summer this year.
Ah, but there are other signs that will tell you that summer is here. For one, Congressmen are already gearing up for summer vacation to who knows where. Congress had scheduled an early recess on March 14th, so by next week, it’s going to be quiet in the House of Representatives.
Also, another sign is our neighbor’s star apple tree begins to become abundant and its branches bow down by the weight of its fruits. A certain portion of that tree’s branches find our backyard a suitable place to bow to the will of gravity. This never escaped Maia and Ate Bebing’s attention. And so they had their first taste of summer by harvesting the starapples that gracefully offers itself for their taking.
The other signs that Summer has come? Observe the political climate and you’ll know its summer. The political upheaval brought about by the NBN-ZTE Deal that took its peak during the massive rally in Makati weeks ago, will now be hushed again in silence, as if nothing happened. Everyone, from the Senators to the protesters, will then be busy preparing for their next summer vacation. After all its summer, and you are in the Philippines. Like there’s Siesta. Like it has become an accepted reality that nothing happens in our country during weekends – have you notice that there are no news programs in the primetime during weekends?
So if you’re in the Philippines, enjoy the summer… nothing bad will happen in the Philippines when its vacation time.
(CBS) When students at our famous English Universities expose their knees and bare their chests it usually means exuberant party time and it is almost certain to end in tears. For centuries, our young scholars – many of whom go on to run the country – have been overindulging themselves, semi-clothed, in the name of classical education.
Undergraduates at Oxford and Cambridge still dive half naked and fully drunk into their local rivers. It is regarded as the vital rite of passage – closely followed by the Mother of All Hangovers. But times are changing. Soon the sight of a bare leg and an exposed male left breast may mean something completely different. And chances are these students will be stone cold sober.
It’s all because they are being recruited, in large numbers, by that traditionally secretive and totally male-dominated society, the Freemasons. Masonic lodges in the famous cities of Oxford, Cambridge, Bristol, Durham, Exeter, Manchester, Bath and Birmingham have been told to get fervent with the local student community and sign them up.
The UK’s Brotherhood of Masons is acutely conscious of its somewhat elderly image. There are a quarter of a million members but fewer than one in a hundred is less than 25 years old – the other 99 are much nearer to 100! The most senior and influential Masonic organization in England is the United Grand Lodge. Today they even employ a Media Relations Manager – which is quite a neat touch for a secret society – and he is already extremely busy giving Masonic membership the hard sell.
If you join today you get all the benefits at half price. And they’re even cutting the minimum entry age from 21 down to 18 to attract the young ‘uns. They’ll teach you the funny handshake, how to roll up your trouser leg, and you’ll get a nice little apron too. Don’t ask me what it’s for, I wouldn’t be allowed to tell you even if I knew.
by Ed Boyle ©MMVII, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Interesting. While the naked breasts and exposed knees might have some basis…i don’t know about the rest. After all the ancient rule is that we don’t recruit or invite men to become Freemasons, one should Ask1 2b1.
Just when we thought the ZTE-NBN deal was the only thing … read this…
Far Eastern Economic Review
January/February 2008
Manila’s Bungle in The South China Sea
by Barry Wain
When Vietnamese students gathered outside the Chinese Embassy in Hanoi last December to protest against China’s perceived bullying over disputed territory in the South China Sea, it signaled Hanoi’s intention to turn up the heat a bit.
And Beijing reacted in kind; instead of downplaying the incident, a foreign ministry spokesman complained, “China has indisputable sovereignty over the South China Sea islands.” The bluster on both sides, while just a blip in this long-running feud, is a timely reminder that the South China Sea remains one of the region’s flashpoints. What most observers don’t realize is that in the last few years, regional cooperative efforts to coax Beijing into a more measured stance have been set back by one of the rival claimants to the islands.
Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo’s hurried trip to China in late 2004 produced a major surprise. Among the raft of agreements ceremoniously signed by the two countries was one providing for their national oil companies to conduct a joint seismic study in the contentious South China Sea, a prospect that caused consternation in parts of Southeast Asia. Within six months, however, Vietnam, the harshest critic, dropped its objections and joined the venture, which went ahead on a tripartite basis and shrouded in secrecy.
In the absence of any progress towards solving complex territorial and jurisdictional disputes in the South China Sea, the concept of joint development is resonating stronger than ever. The idea is fairly simple: Shelve sovereignty claims temporarily and establish joint development zones to share the ocean’s fish, hydrocarbon and other resources. The agreement between China, the Philippines and Vietnam, three of the six governments that have conflicting claims, is seen as a step in the right direction and a possible model for the future.
Read more…
So that others may know.
Here’s a primer about the ZTE-NBN Deal made and published by the Freedom from Debt Coalition (FDC). Download and copy this primer by clicking here or on the image below.:
I am not a religious person, I communicate with my God directly, up close and spiritual. As a consequence, I seldom go to Church, that is if I ever choose to go. Reading the CBCP’s Pastoral Letter about the present political upheaval, just affirmed my notions about the institutional church. Amidst the wide clamor for the ouster and resignation of
GMA because of plunder and corruption, the CBCP instead is asking Gloria Macapagal Arroyo (GMA) to lead the campaign against corruption in Government. This position betrays the CBCP’s real existence of being out in the cold distance and not in touch with reality.
Asking GMA to lead the campaign against corruption in Government is like asking the Abu Sayyaf to lead the campaign against kidnapping, Jovito Palparan to lead the campaign against Human Rights violations, Virgillo “Garci” Garcillano to lead the campaign for a free and honest elections, Jose Pidal to lead the campaign against money laundering, or simply put, asking the wolf to watch over the flock. By this single act, the iota of credibility still left of the CBCP for me is now completely washed down the drains. The CBCP sees no evil, hears no evil and speaks no evil and got the pResident evil smiling and congratulating them for their position. The CBCP as an institution has now shown the people its worthlessness and has proven its irrelevance.
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