In the punditocracy and news, Amando Doronila and Melinda de Jesus both write on the question of whether the armed forces are being reined in or not, particularly in the case of the Central Luzon Command. The killing of people identified with the National Democrats and the Communist Party’s New People’s Army is developing into an issue of crisis proportions.
Peter Wallace on why we don’t have cheaper electricity.
Rasheed About-Alsamh on the President’s manipulation of statistics. Palace admits that there’s a classroom shortage. Also, Palace hints the acting Education Secretary may be on her way out. The country hasn’t had a permanent Education Secretary for something like 10 months.
Palace denies its planning martial law.
Mike Tan on how midwives are the front line in providing public health -and how they’re not planning to leave the country en masse.
BBC’s list of American presidentiables. The elections are in 2008, but the race is on! The reason? For the first time since 1928, neither the incumbent president or vice-president are in a position to contest the race.
Gymns as terrorist breeding grounds?
In the blogosphere today, there’s the Unlawyer on the minimum wage and its effects on business owners if it’s raised.
Philippine Commentary on education.
Expectorants dissects some -isms. Speaking of one of them (populism), Slate covers the Peruvian presidential election.
baratillo@cubao meditates on book burning.
Out of my mind has some interesting observations on popular TV shows and how the networks are handling -or mishandling- them. Viloria.com comments on telemarketers.
Bangketa Republique is unenthusiastic about nude protesters.
Gymns as terrorist breeding grounds?
I was a Spock baby. Babies today are apparently Ferber babies. Slate explains the difference.
New Economist on the humming German economy and the revving-up growth rate of India.
Human rights groups are looking at it all
wrong.
Sure there have been hundreds of
leftists and scores of journalists killed but what
they are missing, and my friends in Malacanan
are getting tired it of pointing it out, is that
there are thousands of leftists and journalists who
have not been killed.
That’s why Bunye said,”there is no climate of
impunity” . If there were a climate of
impunity , there wouldn’t be anyone
left to count the dead.
Another way of looking at the issue
is from a human rights perspective.
The Palace says that it respects all human
rights. So it respects every human’s right to
live and right to die.
That’s why the administration has adopted
what it calls a “Kevorkian policy” or
“AFP/PNP-assisted suicides”.
Let’s not automatically attribute all
those deaths to murder. GMA formed
Task Force Usig to investigate
how many of those deaths were actually AFP or
PNP – assisted suicides.
Now let’s see how we can spin martial law…hmmm…
If the Senate rejects the Anti-Terror Bill outright because of the Erap 5 incident, they will be cutting off their nose to spite their face. We may be cynical about America, but Ameria’s national security interests are real and legitimate. That I think is the message they just paid $500K in reward money advertising, to get out. (But for the serious bounty hunters…please go after DULMATIN – $10 million reward, the guy really behind the Bali Bombings who is supposed to be using Mindanao as his base now.)
To the Senators, I say instead: hit her with your purse!
Where it really hurts. And why stop at PCGG and the NPO? What’s this fractional fiscalizing. Heck P1.053 down to P1.027. When the CSAFP (the head security guard of the Republic) pisses in the soup of the Senate, we are all diminished by a pusillanimous response. If they blink at the bicameral committee level it’ll be curtains, and martial law for sure.
Only the Senate stands in the way of your prediction MLQ3 of a long, long winter in Narnia.
There is no real moral outrage from Civil Society or the Left over the Erap 5. So different than the response to the threats against the Batasan 5. That tells the Palace that it can count on what’s left of the anti-Erap Edsa Dos coalition of social forces to acquiesce even to martial law as long as it keeps their old enemies in Evil Society, “out,” while they are already “in.”
So far, I’ve seen more moral outrage directed by the middle forces at manuelbuencamino than against the summary killings of the members of the Left.
cvj,
hehehe
“Impunity. Perhaps no word defines the experiences of Latin America as well as this one. Lack of punishment, of investigation, of justice. The possiblity of committing crimes – from common robberies to rape, torture, murders – without having to face, much less suffer, any punishment. And therefore, the implicit aproval of the morality of these crimes. Forgiving and forgetting without remembering – or remembering too well, but not caring – that what is forgotten will be repeated. As thus what is done without any punishment, can be repeated without fear.†http://www.derechos.org/nizkor/impu/eng.html
Journalists at Risk
“This Website is a testament towards the commitment journalists have made to perserve the right to information.
Many have died in this effort. To make sure that their deaths were not in vain, this Website was made to honor their memories and struggle and to prevent crimes like this from happening again.†http://www.impunidad.com/atrisk/mainE.html
I took the liberty of stealing this from the uniffors blog.
Everybody in the Palace denies there’s a plan to declare martial law.
They say, “In the first place, there’s no reason for us to consider it. The President’s action is always based on the current situation.†(Ermita)
“There are no bombings and anarchy in the streets to justify its declaration†(AFP)
Okay but what if there’s an uprising led by an Arroyo puppet?
Raul Lambino, the Sigaw ng Bayan barker , said, “What we are seeing now is an initiative from the people who are proposing Charter change. If we suppress their effort they might resort to (an) extra-constitutional way to attain their political objective.â€Â
So if that little twit Lambino leads an uprising, never mind if it’s only singaw ng bayan, the Palace will have a reason to declare martial law.
Reminds me that Manolo has been warning everyone to expect an ‘auto-golpe’.
Well one thing for sure. When two assholes like Norberto Gonzales and Raul Lambino get together, there’s going to be a mountain of shit.
Martial Law? By the Outlaws? The lawless and the conscienceless?
GMA defines IMPUNITY !!!
I thought Peter Wallace’s article on Cheaper Electricity was somewhat muddled and discuss some clarifications here for general understanding.
I hope we don’t forget in this discussion the scores of Chinese who were kidnapped, killed, and raped (sometimes)? Chinese Filipinos are Filipinos too. They contribute immensely to our country.
Why does Peter Wallace continue to deceive people on behalf of his advocay for his multinational clients? Firstly he is a theologian for free market absolutism for his own ends. Recently events tend to belie his claims. I believe he is either from Australia or New Zealand. Just last week one of the largest hydro electric companies (Snowy Hydro) in Australia withdrew their plans to privatize their company due to public uproar. Last April in the Christian Science Monitor an atrticle that completly belied the effects of deregulation of electricity in parts of the U.S. Please note they have strong regularoty institutions and people are starting to complain of higher prices.
The Philippines productive capacities in the power industry is almost entirely import dependent. We continue to be a technologically challenged economy in the most basic of basic industires – Energy. If Australia continues to have government ownership participation in the most strategic industries – power Why is the Philippines only interested in the gambling industry. Somehow this is so screwy. That is why we have carpetbaggers like Wallace surviving in the country by peddling untruths.
Excerpts
From the Financial Times
Australia scraps A$3bn privatisation of Snowy HydroBy Virginia Marsh in Sydney Published: June 2 2006 02:34 | Last updated: June 2 2006 03:00 Australia has scrapped the A$3bn ($2.2bn) privatisation of Snowy Hydro, its dominant renewable energy supplier, after a groundswell of popular and political opposition to the sale of the strategically sensitive business.”There is an overwhelming feeling in the community the Snowy is an icon,” John Howard, prime minister, said on Friday. “The [federal] government will withdraw from the sale.”
Excerpts from the CSM
USA > Economy
from the April 25, 2006 edition
In deregulation of electric markets, a consumer pinch
Competition was supposed to lower prices in deregulated states. But faster-rising rates there are spurring a backlash.
By Mark Clayton | Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor It’s the slow season for the laundromat in tiny Milford, Pa., yet owner Darryl Wood has raised the price of a wash by 50 cents this year, to $2.50. The reason? Electric rates have more than doubled since January, threatening to close the lid on a business his family has run for decades. “I’ve already seen an electric bill higher than anything that I’ve ever gotten,” he says. “I thought deregulation would bring rates down. Now, I’m just hoping we can hang on.”
His ordeal reflects the fresh dismay many consumers are feeling about the deregulation of the electric utility industry. When deregulation was implemented in the 1990s, supporters said it would drive rates down through competition.But data so far suggest that rates in deregulated states are rising faster than those in regulated states. That trend could expand as caps on retail electric rates, which have held prices down, are lifted in at least six deregulated states this year.The issue is heating up:
Readers may get copies of both articles if they are subscribers to the FT or by going directly to the CSM site and buying copies of the article.
In Snowy Hydro you may simply type the name on Google and link up with the company website.
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