Pathetic...

poor doggie

You must be seriously messed up if you've been reduced to stealing a disabled man's wheelchair and dog. I mean, really how pathetic is this thief? Couldn't he find something else to steal? I hope the police gets him and as punishment, he should be made to use a wheelchair in jail. That might activate some compassion in him.

 Philadelphia Police are searching for the heartless thief who stole a wheelchair and a dog from a man who suffers from cerebral palsy.

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Oh, to be the President's manicurist...

international headlines

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo recently appointed her personal manicurist and stylist Anita Carpon to the board of the Pag-IBIG Housing Fund. I have nothing against manicurists--I have many fond memories hanging around my auntie Poying's beauty salon--but this is just odd.

I'm all for having ordinary people represented in government agencies, but being "officer-in-charge of Madame President's ingrown toenails and cuticles" is not enough qualification for this job.

The president also tapped her gardener Armando Macapagal as deputy of the Luneta Park Administration, without any administrative experience. Goodness, nothing screams "banana republic" more than these examples of blatant political patronage.

from AFP:

MANILA — Philippine President Gloria Arroyo has named her manicurist to the board of a major government agency, her spokesman said Thursday. The appointment of Anita Carpon to the board of a body responsible for lending tens of millions of dollars for the housing needs of government employees has drawn sharp criticism.

Arroyo's spokesman Gary Olivar defended Carpon's new posting and confirmed her other job as the president's stylist... Local media reports say Carpon will receive a monthly salary of about 130,000 pesos (about 2,900 dollars), double that of the president herself. 

Update: Anita Carpon declines appointment. Good for her.

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Condolences to the People of Poland

unimaginable  loss

 Poland's President  Lech Kaczynski, his wife Maria and 95 others were killed in a plane crash  in Russia last Saturday. This is a terrible loss and my heart goes out to the Polish people.

from the UK Times:

 Lech Kaczynski, the late President of Poland, returned home yesterday to a country struck dumb with grief and confusion. The air crash that wiped out the head of state, the chief of the general staff, the chairman of the security services, the central bank governor and Solidarity heroes has left Poland reeling, unsteady and uncertain.

...The crash occurred on Saturday morning at Smolensk in western Russia. The President had taken with him the cream of Polish society to pay tribute at the 70th anniversary of the Katyn massacres: 22,000 officers and intellectuals, slaughtered in 1940, by Soviet NKVD troops.

As much as I relish sniping about how corrupt and useless most of our politicians are--I can't imagine this thing happening here. Losing a President in such a tragic way is unthinkable for me. It doesn't matter if I disagree with what she's doing... I do pray for President Macapagal-Arroyo's safety and hope for the best for her family.

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A 15% E-VAT is crazy

pay 3% more?

Finance Secretary Margarito Teves is proposing to increase to 15% the 12% expanded value added tax (E-VAT) we currently have today. It's absolutely maddening that bureaucrats like Teves, don't seem to care that a 12% consumption tax is enough of a burden on consumers already.

The government has been spending (and stealing) our money like drunken sailors without a thought to our budget deficit and now that it's in a "fragile fiscal position" it wants us to bail it out again through this confiscatory tax increase on everything we buy (like that chocolate sundae I've been enjoying in this heat).

Sen. Noynoy Aquino opposes this plan and instead wants to improve revenue collection. I may just have found the reason to vote for him this May election, somehow voting for him because of his parents' heroics is kind of lame to me. Now I could say I like his stand on taxes and Manny Villar honestly is sounding more and more desperate these days which is a big turn-off for me.

Update:  from WSJ - Europe's VAT Lessons: Rates start low and increase, while income tax rates stay high.

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Bro. Mike Velarde "requested" to move C5 road and earned ₱1.2 billion?!

Oh, so even Bro. Mike Velarde made money off the controversial C5 road extension project, eh? I was surprised for a bit when I read this at first, but when I took the time to really think about it, it's not that surprising.

from Philstar:

MANILA, Philippines - Bro. Mariano “Mike” Velarde has admitted requesting the government to move the position of the C-5 Road so that it would only cause minimal damage to his property. Velarde was said to have earned P1.2 billion for road right-of-way on his 14-hectare Amvel property. 

He reportedly said that it was his right to receive the money because he is the owner of the 14-hectare property. The El Shaddai leader said that this information was only being released now “because it is only now that I am being asked.”

It's quite sad that even religious leaders are now dabbling in politics(Velarde is currently running as a party-list representative)... using their considerable influence to sway their members to vote for whoever they endorse. Naturally, the politicians would try to be on these religious leaders' good side, pandering shamelessly to them.

Personally, I find this disgusting... what does influence peddling have to do with the gospel of Jesus Christ? I hope Bro. Mike Velarde and his ilk remember the bible's admonishment in 1 Timothy 6:10 that "the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil".

More here.
 

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Wife wins $9 million from "other woman"

wife vs. mistress

 Wow. This is a wake-up call to skanky home-wreckers everywhere. Jilted wife Cynthia Shackleford, sued her husband's mistress Anne Lundquist for "alienation of affections" and won a $9 million judgment. Shackleford said she did this in hopes that other women will stop and think first before they shack up with married men.

Some people think this alienation of affections law is archaic, but I think it's great that there's a way for wives to go after their husbands' mistresses. I know marriage is most often complicated, but if a spouse is unhappy and the marriage is not working out... why not be honest and leave first before finding another? Good for Cynthia Shackleford for standing up for herself.

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Baby boys, nannies and serial womanizing

This is a troubling story from the UK Telegraph: Baby boys who have a nanny 'turn into womanisers'.

In the book The Unsolicited Gift, Dr Dennis Friedman said delegating child-rearing responsibilities too soon risks equipping your son with life-long double standards when it comes to women. This means that even though he could go on to be married he will always have the feeling that another women could cater for all his basic needs. "It introduces him to the concept of The Other Woman," said Dr Friedman who is 85.

"It creates a division in his mind between the woman he knows to be his natural mother and the woman with whom he has real hands-on relationship: the woman who bathes him and takes him to the park, and with whom he feels completely at one.

More here.

Just another thing to make working moms feel guilty, huh? I think this is bogus. I came from generations(grandpa, uncles, cousins) of proud--and stupid--womanizers and believe me, there weren't any nannies in my late grandpa's day and he still cheated on his wife and managed to father dozens of children from different women outside his marriage. Some in the family believed his serial infidelity drove my poor grandma to an early grave.

But anyway, I believe cheating on your spouse is the lowest of the low no matter who does it... having a nanny while young doesn't cut it because each of us have the power to choose between right and wrong. I saw firsthand the effects of womanizing (abandoned wives and kids, poverty etc.) and anecdotal though this is, I know nannies/caregivers weren't the cause.

My much loved but exasperatingly good-time loving grandpa, uncles, brother,cousins etc. just did not say "no"... and their families suffered for it. And for those Lotharios I'm related to who read this, I love you guys but saying "it runs in the family or "lahi kasi" doesn't cut it either.

*** photo by Getty

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About condoms and bishops...

"Condom debate brought to bishops’ doorstep", this headline from the Inquirer cracked me up for some reason. I don't understand why the Catholic Church and its bishops are so dead set on denying people access to condoms. Don't get me wrong, I'm strongly pro-life, but I believe couples should have a choice on what contraceptions to use. It's better to use something than to have children you can't feed or worse, have an abortion.

I don't want anyone to compromise their faith, but we have to consider what's been happening in this country for years. When I was at med school--though abortion was not legal here (it still isn't)), I saw lots of patients who had induced abortions for very selfish reasons (too young, too drunk, too busy, too many kids already etc.). For me, these women could have avoided killing their unborn children if only they cared enough to use protection or exercised some self-control.

Teaching about faith and morality starts at home. I'm sure most of us have been warned about sex and its rewards/risks... but people are people. I've seen women who have been raised in the church--from good families, pick  men who were just total losers. None of them ever had abortions, but the consequences from their decisions to have unprotected sex with jerks are still with them. I heard someone say that "there's no condom for heartbreak", and it's so true. The Catholic Church and others should not be derided for holding on to their faith, but I think seeking to ban condom advertisements is not the way to go. We have to be realistic and practical and let people decide.

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