The term for today is hung parliament. The Canadians call it a “minority parliament.” This is a concept proponents of parliamentary government will have to come to grips with. An entry at BuzzMachine focuses on this development as a result of parliamentary elections in Germany:
Schroeder’s SPD gained at the last minute to come close to the conservative CDU. But neither has enough votes with its preferred partners to form a government. The CDU and the FDP had planned to form a coalition but now can’t: The CDU got 35.3 percent and the FDP 10 percent. No cigar. The SPD got 34.2 percent and its present partner, the Greens, got 8.1 percent. Still no cigar. Schroeder’s present coalition could bring in the FDP but DW says they don’t want to join the left coalition. Also hanging out there are the new Left party (heavied up with former East German leftists) with 8.5 percent and the possibility of a grand coalition of the two opposing big parties.
My column for today is An Undeniable Bias. It speaks for itself, a comment I made to a comment gives the Reader’s Digest condensed version on what I think: Estrada is obviously sympatico, but he threw away his presidency. He didn’t fight to keep it, and only made noise after. The government did him a favor by giving him a second lease on life by arresting him the way it did -it helped propel his wife and son to the senate. By now his trial should have been over, with a verdict, but we all know the process was delayed by both sides. Finally, Estrada represents the appeal of a particular kind of person to the masse -the person, or leader, who reflects many of the values and behavior they prefer (gambler, drinker, womanizer, generous with friends) in this he was sincere, and he is sincerely adored by his supporters. This is also why the upper class always hated him, he came from their ranks, but refused to keep his sins private. And in the end, you have to think: despite his being such a bad president, why do people seem to like him more than a president ten times smarter, a hundred times more hardworking? Well, one reason is maybe the lazy guy didn’t have to steal an election.
Just remember, I do not regret being at Edsa Dos. And I stand by my view, that the targets of People Power yesterday, cannot be the beneficiaries of People Power tomorrow, which is perhaps one reason why we don’t have People Power today.
Fr. Joaquin Bernas has very strong words comparing the Venable deal to something close to treason. Billy Esposo has a revealing comparison of the President and Cory Aquino. Incidentally, courtesy of a mailing list, here’s an editorial by the Japan Times on the current political situation.
And since our time is limited today, here’s a bucket full of scuttlebutt from Newsboy. Read the part on who orchestrated the Garci Tapes release: Uncle Sam, ultimately to benefit Fidel Ramos and Speaker de Venecia (the plausibility I find in the rumor mill, as reported by Newsboy, is that it answers the puzzling political question of why the Speaker would kill the impeachment, removing all leverage over the President. Answer: because the Speaker has other leverage over the President, and that leverage seems to be kicking in with the actions of Uncle Sam). Speaking of cloak and dagger, Jove Francisco reveals he and some other journalists are still in the States awaiting the Spy vs. Spy revelations to come.
Fr. Joaquin Bernas has very strong words comparing the Venable deal to something close to treason.
And he probably wanted us to keep on killing the Muslims in mindao.
It was a good idea but maybe at the wrong time, when everyone wants to pick the crap out of everything her cabinet does..
Your a History buff check out what the past administrations have done to get us where we are now. Starting with your buddies the Marcos’s and Eraps term.. Look at the Peso Devaluation rate during his term vs Now days… Much much worse what he did..
sleeeping -uh, I’ve always been critical of Marcos and the Marcoses, and generally critical of Estrada. And the first President to devalue the peso was Diosdado Macapagal.
the german plebiscite was a close one and i guess what made the grey area shrink on the election was the effect of the smaller parties…i really liked the color coding scheme of the german parties…i was supposed to comment on somewhat the eventual (a big maybe perhaps) of angela merkel becoming the first woman chancellor (or would she be referred as chancellorete?)…kuya manolo i was intrigued about the politics of your grand pops (which was one of the 3 past strongmen i admire most – the others were mambo magsaysay and carlos garcia)…was he really a nacionalista or did he formed another breakaway party that was also nacionalista (para bang yung nangyari kay fpj ska kay ping?)
jay: MLQ was perpetually a rebel. he would break off and those he beat would then unite with him on his terms, He caused a split twice, in 1922 and 1933.
i was amused on the announcement of sec gonzales that after his impending resignation he would divulge information pointing out somewhat a secret “involvement” of the opposition (or some of them) on local espionage (or using thereof to gain leverage over the administration)…hindi ba parang wala nang punto yun? resign na nga dadaldal pa? i think it would be more damaging than constructive to the administration’s image or what remains of it…and on the sad note another blow to people seeking the truth…the planned request for reconsideration of the impeachment complaint was nullified by the majority of the congress on a technicality again…absences…sayang hindi ko nakita yung sinasabing SAN PABLO ni Cong. Suplico…dang!
In a recent issue of Foreign Policy magazine (funded by the Carnegie Endowment Fund) The Philippines is listed in the Index of Failing States. What is interesting is the fact that Cuba, Iran and Russia are all rated very very close to the rating of the Philippines. When you talk about the removal of President Estrada to put it methaporically, Humpty Dumpty had a great fall and you cannot put Humpty Dumpty back together again. The weak dysfunctional system of self-government through representation in the Philippines has been further weakened and exposed to be shallow for all to see. What you have now is simply political sociopaths who operate beyond rationales, principles or basic ideas of self government. Anarchy looms.
Teddyboy Locsin agrees with you on the double standards re Erap. He now says Erap got a raw deal and was impeached on “a pack of lies”. This is surprising, coming from a Congressman who voted to impeach Erap.
But I still think Erap was a hypocrite. He pretended to be one of the “masa”, though he wasn’t. Actually his public behaviour was pure lumpen rather than working proletariat. He was more the neighborhood toughie, the rogue cop or the local ganglord. And he enjoyed flaunting his excesses, as if to provoke the middle class. He was the opposite of a Horatio Alger character. He came from a family of means, was a poor student, didn’t work hard and indulged in vices. Yet, thanks to the magic of cinema, became rich and famous in his own right. It was easy street for the man, all the way. Not exactly what the middle class admires. And he stuck that into their faces.
yep thats class bias. been shouting all along about double standards. Erap was successful of instilling on the minds of “masa” that they can be like him too. He made the masa hoped that they will benefit from him. He showed them entertainment. He showed them he cared and dared to mingle with them ( remember those days he is eating with squatters )
As I said before he can bomb and kill all those protester in edsa2 but didint. He can just give the finger to those who mutineed against him but didint. He could just had implemented martial law or some sort but didint. He made a letter of absense and was boated out of malacanang. He thought he can give the country some rest and get back but couldnt na. Erap was more a man than the rest of us.
manolo, have you been following a thread at sassy’s blog? its gets interesting. 😀
yep thats class bias. been shouting all along about double standards. Erap was successful of instilling on the minds of “masa” that they can be like him too. He made the masa hoped that they will benefit from him. He showed them entertainment. He showed them he cared and dared to mingle with them (remember those days he is eating with squatters)
As I said before he can bomb and kill all those protester in edsa2 but didint. He can just give the finger to those who mutineed against him but didint. He could just had implemented martial law or some sort but didint. He made a letter of absense and was boated out of malacanang. He thought he can give the country some rest and get back but couldnt na. Erap was more a man than the rest of us.
manolo, have you been following a thread at sassy’s blog? its gets interesting. 😀
I think we are in a dilema.No simple black & white answers.
The facts are erap has to answer serious charges against him.
We must understand that no amount of erap charm or “masa power” must compramise the rule of law.
We must make choices if we want to continue w/ the present syetem that is screwing us all.
But honestly, we really have to look to the future.
Personaly, i would like to tell the “trying hard” opposition to shut up and get down to real work!!!
It’s clear PGMA is not trusted but the opposition is worst!!!!!!
The skill of a person is knowing to make the best w/ whatever resources there are and not giving 1 million excucses.
a reflection into a past of mistakes, judgement calls, indecision very informative, mlq3
im sure GMA and her gang are/is learning from this as the strangle hold is tightening to really make sure GMA lasts on to 2010 and beyond….
updates: this past several days tha NBI is making its presence felt in panay island, there is a crack down on commercial internet cafe’s,schools and colleges(private and gov’t),private citizens(their homes searched), local and prov’l govt units/offices with registered websites.
the NBI as claimed is investigating whether the internet cafe’s, gov’t offices with websites who are using microsoft programs must have the necessary permit/liscence from microsoft, those without a liscence are fined P15,000.00
the effect: almost if not all commercial internet cafe’s, schools and colleges and whoever else without the so called liscence/permit are in a mad rush in pulling out their computers and closing shop.
observers here think otherwise as to the actions of the NBI, the actions of the NBI is viewed as something to do with the recent spying issue in the u.s.a., others look at it as the governments excuse simply to keep tabs on internet users in particular, blogging.
i find the NBI action highly questionable especially this suddenly happens after GMA arrives from the u.s.a. claiming protection to intellectual property rights, strange indeed, when out of the blue the NBI decides to help add/ collect a few more pesos for and in behalf of bill gates.
as of the moment im in one of the internet cafe that decided to open and awaiting the arrival of the NBI accompanied by a tv network(the more intriguing and amusing) to add color plus syempre pogi points…really stupid.
Does the index of failed states include the US?
Si eres cualquier cosa como mÃÂ, odias el pensamiento del gasto cuarenta horas a la semana en un trabajo del punto muerto. Las luces fluorescentes de zumbido, la gerencia idiota, el hecho de que necesitas despertar doloroso temprano – el único alto punto son que viene viernes cada semana. Dije tan a me, allàme consigo ser una manera mejor. ¡Una cierta manera de hacer el dinero que me deja fijar mis propias horas y hacer una cantidad cómoda del dinero!
I always have terrible trouble with comment-related plugins that require me to put some line in the comment loop; I can never seem to find the right spot. Can anyone tell me where I should put the php line in my comments loop? I haven not modified anything much, and I would be very grateful. Thanks!