Erap's poll ratings before Edsa Dos

cut and pasted from my old post back in 2006:

ERAP TRUST RATING STILL HIGHER THAN GMA (Dec. 23, 2000)

MORE PINOYS WANT ERAP TO STAY -- SURVEY (Dec. 18, 2000)

Believe it or not, most Filipinos still pin their hopes of a better life on President Joseph "Erap" Ejercito Estrada.

A nationwide Social Weather Station (SWS) survey commissioned by ABS-CBN showed that at least 47 percent of the respondents believed that President Estrada should set aside politics and focus on sustaining the social and economic gains the country has been achieving in recent months.

Despite a brewing political crisis, the Philippines achieved a significant 5.8-percent growth in its Gross National Product and a 4.8-percent upswing in its Gross Domestic Product.

ERAP’S POPULARITY STEADY - PHIL STAR SURVEY (Dec. 12, 2000)

ERAP TRUSTED BY MORE FILIPINOS THAN OPPOSITION, RELIGIOUS LEADERS - SURVEY Dec. 6, 2000

MORE FILIPINOS AGAINST ERAP RESIGNATION - PULSE ASIA SURVEY Dec. 2, 2000

MANILANS AGAINST ERAP'S RESIGNATION -- SURVEY Nov. 21, 2000

LAKAS SURVEY SHOWS ERAP SNAP POLL WIN -- PALACE Oct. 27, 2000

ERAP POPULARITY UP IN SURVEY Oct. 18, 2000

ERAP SHOULD NOT RESIGN -- SURVEY Oct. 16, 2000

Comment: Most of the surveys showed erap was more popular than the opposition at that time and most say that he shouldn't resign -- pero natanggal pa rin siya.

"I would dunk on his ass, break the rim, and shatter the glass."

Lebron James on George W. Bush. LOL.

"Genuine Opposition"

There is Manuel B. Villar, Jr., who started his political career as congressman of the lone district of Las Pinas, when his wife’s family alternatingly held the mayorship. That was in 1992, running as Monching Mitra’s LDP candidate. After FVR won, Villar turned to Lakas. In 1995, Angara’s LDP was suborned by Lakas, the banner Villar used in his first re-election, which he won handily. In 1998, he ran under Lakas, the flag of Jose de Venecia, who lost miserably to Lammp coalition’s Erap. As soon as night became day, hounded by the Asian recession that hit his fortunes badly, Villar led 49 other Lakas stalwarts and swore to Erap’s high haven in Greenhills. Through a hefty transaction, he became “speaker” by grace of Erap, who disgraced word of commitment to Joker Arroyo. In November of 2000, he promptly cut the niceties of committee hearings and floor debates, and by stroke of nimble double-cross, sent the impeachment complaint with the requisite endorsers to the Senate for trial.

Having been one of the principal sponsors of Gloria’s ascent to the presidency, he was amply rewarded with a slot in her People Power Coalition for the senatorial elections of 2001. He won, and served a full first term, getting the supra-powerful Finance Committee with influence over the budget, and later, through a term-sharing deal, Senate President after Franklin Drilon. In 2004, he fully supported his Gloria’s election. Right after, he “bought” the franchise to the Nacionalista Party name, hollowed out of members its history had. In 2005, when the revelations of Hello Garci ripped wide open the underbelly of a massive cheating conspiracy against the people, he kept his mouth shut. Franklin Drilon did not, and joined others in asking for Gloria’s resignation. Not Manny Villar. Thus did he retain the senate presidency until re-election time in 2007. But because the fall-out over Hello Garci extended till 2007, with his president burdened by abysmally low trust and approval ratings, Manny Villar thought it was time to switch…again.

And a motley band of oppositionists who wanted a shut-out, never mind defining principles or issues, welcomed him with open arms, with Erap mismo negotiating still another transaction with Villar. He was supposed to bring in other “sure” winners, Ralph Recto, Joker Arroyo, and Francis Pangilinan. The first two also deserted Erap in the critical days of 2000, while the last was never for Erap. The first two opted to still bed with Gloria; Francis ran as an independent. At the start of the campaign, Villar also styled himself as an “independent”, as if testing the waters. That was fine with Erap, for what curious reasons I have yet to fathom. When the so-called “Genuine Opposition” won handily, oh, Villar was now considered a born-again “oppositionist”. By the imprimatur of Erap, and the nihil obstat of Alan Peter Cayetano, Chiz Escudero, and of course, Jinggoy Estrada who got the lofty sinecure of pro-tempore. There went the “genuine opposition”. Even usually critical and perceptive media glossed over this, and sang the hossanas for Manny Villar, once more the Senate President, and soon, the “president” of their dreams … and wallets.

So, from LDP (1992) to Lakas (1995), to Erap’s Lammp (1998) to Gloria’s PPC (2001), to Nacionalista in support of Gloria (2004), to Nacionalista as part of an “opposition” coalition in 2007, to Nacionalista, with questionable allegiances at present. That is the adroit and nimble political odyssey of Manuel B. Villar Jr., much like a hopping kangaroo, the man who would be president of the benighted land.

NoyNoy should run

let's see how far he can go. Alam ko walang primaries sa LP, but if it's clear that he's not better than Mar as a candidate, then he should drop out before the Liberal Party makes their final decision on who should be the LP standard bearer.

I don't agree with de Quiros about his premature Noynoy-Mar ticket, but i'm willing to see Aquino and Roxas participate in debates and hear them out on the issues hanggang maaga pa to see whether Noynoy has what it takes. Then after a few months of observation we'll know if it's Mar-Noynoy, or Noynoy-Mar. Or Mar and another VP.

At least exploring a presidential run will be a good learning experience for Aquino if he decides to run again for higher office in the future.

Another reason why Noy should at least try: to see how far Cory Magic (and what they represent) resonate with voters and help Sen. Aquino during "unofficial primaries" before LP decides whether to commit to Mar or him.

Twittering Arroyo's $20K Dinnergate

JM: uhmm..why would martin romauldez spend $20,000 of his own money to host GMA's contingent for a 1 night dinner especially during bad economy?

CaffeineSparks: @johnmarzan asking myself the same thing. can we view the P1 million dinner as an 'investment' of sorts? hehehhee

JM:@caffeinesparks i think remonde is not telling the truth. Even by american standards, a $20,000 dinner is a lot for any individual to pay fr

JM:kaya nga napansin ng nypost eh. that $20,000 price tag is a staggering amount.

JM:i'm sure hinihintay ni romualdez ang reinbursement from the gov't once the issue dies down.

JM:i can see the conversation going like this: "hey bayaran mo muna, martin. don't worry, we'll take care it once we get home."

Chiz Escudero seeking GMA's support for 2010

Buking si Escudero. From the Tribune:

Reacting to the biting criticisms made by Sen. Francis "Chiz" Escudero on President Arroyo’s ninth State of the Nation Address (Sona) delivered last Monday, presidential son Pampanga Rep. Juan Miguel "Mikey" Arroyo, in a dzMM interview, slammed the senator, saying that while Escudero publicly criticizes his mother and her administration, he uses back channels to get his mother to support his presidential bid in 2010.

Arroyo also blasted Escudero for saying that his mother failed to give a categorical statement on her political plans, pointing out that if Escudero did not believe she is leaving Malacañang, why is he seeking his mother’s support for 2010?

Actually, matagal nang buking.

Still want to put your blind faith on Automated election machines?

Honduras' referendum results on Zelaya's consti amendment pre-loaded on computers.

the report got picked up by Slashdot.

"In Honduras, according to breaking Catalan newspaper reports (translations available, USA Today mention), authorities have seized 45 computers containing certified election results for a constitutional election that never happened. The election had been scheduled for June 28, but on that day the president, Manuel Zelaya, was ousted. The 'certified' and detailed electronic records of the non-existent election show Zelaya's side having won overwhelmingly."

Related: What happens if Automated voting system is run by the same Arroyo and Garci lieutenants?

What happens if Automated voting system is run by the same Arroyo and Garci lieutenants?

we are the only country where the elites think that automated is more "reliable and secure" than manual. if you ask all the other countries around the world, especially those with experience in computerized voting (particularly in the US)--they'd tell you the opposite, na mas safe and reliable ang manual because it is more difficult to fix the results (forge signatures, mess up the count) without getting caught thru verification.

sure, automated counts votes faster, but it is also easier/faster to fix elections from the inside. and AFAIK, chairman melo has not done anything to investigate or remove the 2004 operators who worked for garci inside the comelec. he did not clean house.

doing the automated system without credible election officials in charge is like building a swanky new henhouse while retaining the services of the fox to guard it.

Catching vote discrepancies and verifying the count would be almost impossible. NAMFREL and other watchdog groups from the CBCP becomes redundant/useless. Something like this will never ever happen again. if you did not catch it, it never happened. ignorance is bliss.

hindi kasalanan ng manual kung may dayaan sa 2004. manual made it harder for them and more risky to fix the results. kinaylangan ng administration ang sangkatutak na comelec at military operators para ayusin ang eleksyon. hindi pa maganda ang pagkakagawa, according to one general. alam nating may dayaan, sa 2004 canvassing pa lang halata na. pero walang nakulong. lusot ang mga mandaraya. dahil corrupt ang gobierno at accomplice ang CBCP.

UPDATE: Armida Siguion Reyna:

You ask a question about the transparency of the bidding process, of how the Comelec granted the bid to Total Information Management (TIM) and Smartmatic, and right away you get a defensive answer still in the form of another question: "Bakit, ayaw mo ba ng automation?"

Carlitos clarified that he was for automation, but not merely automation per se. Accuracy remained the highest value, as opposed to automated elections nga, automated din ang daya. He mentioned what IT experts in Princeton University had done to prove it was possible to put in, or pre-load, information into a computer that could alter results of a vote, and from there suggested it best for the Comelec to allow local IT experts to fully examine TIM-Smartmatic hardware to settle once and for all if hacking was possible.

When Rafanan reacted that wasn’t necessary as the Smartmatic process had been tested in other parts of the world, the soft-spoken Bahague countered the factors in, say, the US, would be different from here, iba raw ang testing sa US, dapat, iba rin dito. In other words, Carlitos exclaimed, walang Virgilio Garcillano sa America, so iba talaga ang testing doon, sa testing dito.

No reaction there, from Rafanan. I didn’t expect him to bowl over with laughter, a chuckle would have sufficed. Nothing doing, and that’s when I realized he must have been nervous. He then proceeded to insist the Comelec had been for the past few months working to weed out undesirables from its rank-and-file and that for me was cause to worry. I didn’t want to be unfair to him, but I couldn’t help but feel he wasn’t altogether being truthful.

Na-diyaryo na dapat ‘yon, na-bandera sa lahat ng media, kung tutoong naglilinis ang Comelec ng bakuran, with one year to go before the presidential elections of 2010.

I mean, where is lawyer Lintang Bedol, the election supervisor of Maguindanao linked to the alleged anomalous "win" of Miguel Zubiri over Koko Pimentel? What’s happened to Rey Sumalipao, lawyer Pebo, names attached to the fraud of 2004 and yet allowed to "operate" in 2007? Garci several times in his recorded conversation with "the voice of the President, but it is not she who is talking," as per Mike Defensor, made references to having to kidnap or salvage recalcitrant Comelec low-rank officials — has he even been made to at least clarify what he meant by those horrific statements?

And Benjamin Abalos Jr., the former chairman, who vowed to "clean his name," kaya na nga raw at nag-resign. He didn’t do anything to investigate Garcillano, and took a further plunge into degradation by getting involved in the NBN-ZTE deal. The last we’ve heard from him is that he’s flippin’ "borjers" at the Wack-Wack Golf and Country Club and in a stall somewhere in Boni Avenue.

The problem of the Comelec then was credibility, the problem of the Comelec today is still credibility.

It’s a credibility issue that has nothing to do with if indeed TIM was only "fronting" to be the local "60 percent" of a "60-40" investment requirement, or with how TIM and Smartmatic like lovers broke up and kissed and made up the next day, and refused to tell what exactly happened between them.

It’s a credibility matter that runs from Comelec top to bottom, in every possible way. We’ve heard of the abominable dagdag-bawas, there are still other tricks from within, designed to take advantage of the naïve candidate. Such as city-level Comelec officers brazenly refusing to release Comelec checker IDs shortly before an election, because "masakit ang braso, nangangalay, hindi makapirma ng ID." The candidate pays them, voila! Bigla na silang nakakapirma ulit. Or Comelec "brokers" who go around offering their own "protection" services to candidates.

If current Chairman Jose Melo, na former Supreme Court justice pa mandin, wants to send the message that under his leadership the Comelec has become aboveboard, the first thing he needs to do is go back to prosecuting past known "operators" from within and putting them in jail, Bedol, Sumalipao and Garci included.

When people like ComelecAKO's postigo luna and COMELEC spokesperson James Jimenez continue to claim that Garcillano did nothing wrong in 2004, you have to question their judgment and credibility.

MORE common sense from Raul Pangalangan:

The manual writing of the ballot—no different from the manual filling in of the boxes in the PCOS plan—is not the cause of the delay. The manual counting at the precinct level is usually completed within hours after the end of election day.The PCOS computers are infinitely faster but astronomically less transparent. But the greatest delay—and greatest opportunity for cheating—is in the transmittal, collection and final tally of the votes from precincts at every level. That is the stage that we must computerize—and we wouldn’t need fancy optical reading machines for that, just your basic wired PCs that will transmit and collate the precinct, municipal/city and provincial results. But by that stage, we already have the record of votes against which we can audit and counter-check what the central computers are doing.

"Since you can’t cook elections manually anymore and no one can cook electronically, spend your 80 percent kickbacks on vote-buying."

"That is still allowed, that’s my advice," Teddyboy Locsin (PDP-Laban) said.

No one can cook electronically? I beg to differ.

About those secret foreign trips by Arroyo

there's been lots's of speculations on why she went to Colombia. But where there's smoke, there's fire.

Here's something that happened just today in the US, headlined in Drudge.

South Carolina governor admits affair, secret Argentina trip

The governor, who went missing since last week, finally admitted to an affair.

I Question the Timing of Mar Roxas-Korina Sanchez Wedding!

It's political!

Just kidding!

But I don't think there has ever been a presidential candidate na hindi married (and Cory is a widow of slain opposition leader Ninoy Aquino).

Anyway, napanood ko yung interview ni Kris Aquino kay Mar at Korina a few days ago. Tinanong ni Kris si Korina kung may prenup sila. Before Korina got to answer, sumingit si Mar at sabi nya: "What is hers is hers, and what is mine is hers."

Natawa si Korina and she shot back: "O sige nga, isulat mo yan sa papel."

Then Korina answered the question saying na dapat raw may prenup para hindi magulo, kasi may kanya kanyang na silang assets.

Tribune: Chiz-Jinggoy tandem shaping up in NPC’s 2010 plans

WTF:

The prospect of Sen. Jinggoy Estrada seeking the post of vice president in next year’s elections yesterday appeared on the political horizon following reports that the camp of Sen. Francis Escudero, a presidential hopeful, is already in the thick of negotiations tapping Estrada as his running mate under the Nationalist People’s Coalition (NPC) ticket.

“So far, the negotiation is going smoothly. They just have to iron out a few kinks,” said a lawmaker who requested the media not to identify him but to just describe him as a solon from the Visayas who has been openly supporting Escudero’s presidential bid.

Armida smacks the CBCP hard

First paragraph from Armida Siguion Reyna's latest:

Two outings ago, I narrated in this same space how the June 10 rally went at the corner of Ayala Avenue and Paseo de Roxas in Makati City: “Makati Mayor Jojo Binay had all the right to at least welcome the public to his city, but he gave up his slot when the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines’ admonished politicians to stay to the sidelines; an admonition, I must say in an aside, the CBCP has no right to issue, considering a good number of them either waltz with the Squatter in Malacañang or just safely sit on the fence like the three monkeys who see, say, and hear no evil.”

Read the whole thing.

Philippine Commentary now a Group Blog

i know it's been that way for a few days na.

but i think it's great because i don't have to monitor all the blogs i used to read. nandiyan na sila lahat (MB, Schumey) sa blog ni manong DJB.

No Surprise Here

UN Report: State use of torture under Arroyo government "routine"

Obama's Defining Moment

The lame statements the Obama admin gave re Iran is very discouraging. It is very similar to their initial reaction when Russia invaded Georgia last year.

Barack Obama thinks the Mullahs of iran and ahmadinejad can be negotiated with with regards to their nuclear ambitions ("talk without preconditions") and is afraid that any statement that can be seen as supporting the people's uprising in iran might anger the clerics. To think that anything substantial will come out of talks with ahmadinejad about halting their quest for Nukes or stopping their support for terror groups like Hezbollah and Hamas vs Israel is naive.

Instead of suggesting that he "wear a green tie" the next time around, why doesn't he grow a pair?

And don't think for a sec that the Iranian people will not remember this.

Michael Totten: "it’s frankly inconceivable that anti-Americans among the Iranian opposition will be angry at President Obama if he takes their side. It should and likely will anger them if he refuses and tacitly recognizes the legitimacy of the hated dictatorship they wish to replace."

Kidlat Tahimik's "Perfumed Nightmare"

wow, great masterpiece! weird funny wacky. Now i know who Werhner Von Braun is!

"Where is my their vote?"

I got this from Andrew Sullivan.

Oishi.com.ph website infected with JS.Kryptik virus

don't visit the site. arrgh!

Iran on Fire

massive demonstrations and clashes after the questionable results of the Iranian elections.

this could either turn into Tiananmen or Edsa 86.



Up to the minute updates from HuffPo.

David Brooks huge omission

nice defense of Sonia Sotomayor. But his arguments fall apart by failing to mention how Sotomayor handled the recent Ricci case, which is all about race.

Jennifer Rubin has more on Brooks' omissions.

Romeo Intengan vs MLQ3

the Ateneo Jesuit gets MLQ3 to recant.

Orlando Roncesvalles comments on the case.

How Erap can best help the Opposition

By staying neutral in the selection of Opposition presidential candidates.

Sabi ni Ellen Tordesillas:

Sana hindi na rin itutuloy ni dating Pangulong Estrada .Sana hindi na niya hintayin na i-disqualify siya ng Supreme Court. Tulungan na lang niya ang isa sa mga oposisyon na kandidato na siyang magsusulong na maayos na pamahalaan. Kasama doon ang pag-usig sa mga mandaraya at magnanakaw na katulad ni Gloria Arroyo at ang kanyang mga alagad.

I think Erap can be more useful to the opposition by telling his followers NOT to vote for any administration candidates.

Dick Cheney: Pro-Torture and Pro-Gay Marriage

Cheney's popularity is already on the rise because of his defense of "enhanced interrogation".

Will it rise even more after this?

Remember Miguel Estrada?

Sonia Sotomayor will become the first Hispanic nominee appointed to the US Supreme Court.

But Miguel Estrada could have been there "first".

Sen. Bong Revilla wants to smash Alec Baldwin's face

for making a joke about Filipina mail-order brides.

I saw that letterman clip when it first came out. i did not think much of it but i predicted somebody will make a big deal out of this.

Roger Ebert skewers Brillante Mendoza's "Kinatay"

The Philippine film representative for this year is called the worst film in the history of cannes by ebert.

There are few prospects more alarming than a director seized by an Idea. I don't mean an idea for a film, a story, a theme, a tone, any of those ideas. I'm thinking of a director whose Idea takes control of his film and pounds it into the ground and leaves the audience alienated and resentful. Such a director is Brillante Mendoza of the Philippines, and the victim of his Idea is his Official Selection at Cannes 2009, "Kinatay." Here is a film that forces me to apologize to Vincent Gallo for calling "The Brown Bunny" the worst film in the history of the Cannes Film Festival.

After extensive recutting, the Gallo film was redeemed. I don't think editing is going to do the trick for "Kinatay." If Mendoza wants to please any viewer except for the most tortured theorist (one of those careerists who thinks movies are about arcane academic debates and not people) he's going to have to remake his entire second half.

read the whole thing. i report, you decide.

Mike D'Angelo offers some nice words for Kinatay:

I admire Kinatay for its uncompromising rigor—the lengthy van ride, which constitutes nearly half the film, is a tour de force

yes, read the whole thing rin.

Wesley Morris wrote that unlike Lars Von Trier's "Antichrist," "Kinatay" had a lot of the viewers walking out.

UPDATE: Inquirer: ‘Kinatay’ draws raves, rants in Cannes

And roundups re the film.

Video excerpts of Kinatay.

Hmmm... a 45-minute car ride in the film... parang ayaw ko na.

UPDATE: Brillante mendoza wins Cannes best director award.

Jeremy Tyler foregoes finishing highschool to play ball in Europe

if this becomes a trend, and europe starts producing nba ready U-19 american players (maturity-wise and skills wise), then there is a possibility that the nba board of governors might consider lowering the age restrictions on rookies to avail themselves of those young american talents ASAP.

in the past, it was tough for nba scouts to judge many of the young american talent because they're playing against inferior competition. if more guys like jeremy tyler go to europe earlier and play against 30 yr old pros in europe and ex college stars from america, scouts and observers will have an easier time assessing players--which means for nba teams, the risks of drafting a young player based on potential will significantly be lowered.

and if that risk of drafting a bust is lowered, then the nba may want to compete with europe for that young talent by lowering the age limit.

UPDATE: and the destination of these young players should not be limited to europe only. Asia can be a destination too--like China. he can be a trailblazer there.

Or if the young kid is an otaku, japan isn't that bad. he may not learn much basketball, but the pay is good, and his quality of living will improve over there.

"In dealing with the subject, take care to leave no blood on the face, no wounds on the body, and no people in the vicinity."

from the Chinese police manual on how to beat up street protestors.

Not Shocked

inabuso ng pulis si ted failon, and falsely accused him of killing his wife.

I'm not surprised by the kind of treatment ABS-CBN and it's people are getting from Malacanang and their minions.

MLQ3 sheds more details on the matter.

The 54 most beautiful politicians in the world revealed

Internet survey from Spain's 20 Minutos newspaper:

The most beautiful female politicians are:

1. Luciana Leon, Peru
2. Mercedes Aráoz, Peru
3. Mara Carfagna, Italy
4. Yuri Fujikawa, Japan
5. Sara Latife Ruiz Chavez, Mexico
6. Anna-Maria Galojan, Estonia
7. Toireasa Ferris, Ireland
8. Yuliya Tymoshenko, Ukraine
9. Eunice Olsen, Singapore
10. Alina Kabaeva, Russia
11. Orly Levy, Israel
12. Cayetana Álvarez, Spain
13. Vera Lischka, Austria
14. Tsepeli Nikoleta, Greece
15. Gabriela Cuevas, Mexico
16. Marianne Thieme, The Netherlands
17. Carme Chacón, Spain
18. Julia Anastasia Bonk, 23, Germany
19. Bibiana Aído, Spain
20. Cristina Diaz, Mexico
21. Pnina Rosenblum, srael
22. Tanja Karpel, Finland
23. Angelina Sondak, Indonesia
24. Stefania Prestigiacomo, Italy
25. Ruhama Avraham, Israel
26. Sarah Palin, United States
27. Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, Argentina
28. Freya Van den Bossche, Belgium
29. Anastasia Michael, Israel
30. Sofia Larsen, Sweden
31. Mónica Lorente Ramón, Spain
32. Katrín Gunnarsdótti, Iceland
33. Soraya Sáenz, Spain
34. Stephanie Herseth, United States
35. Melissa Park, Australia
36. Nebahat Albayrak, The Netherlands
37. Hillary Clinton, United States
38. Ségolène Royal, France
39. Delsa Solórzano, Venezuela
40. Isabel dos Santos, Angola
41. Jiang Yu, China
42. Kirsten Gillibrand, United States
43. Sabine Bätzin, Germany
44. Eva Glawischnig, Austria
45. Sabine Herold, France
46. Piia-Noora Kauppi, Finland
47. Hillevi Larsson, Sweden
48. Siv Frioleifsdottir, Iceland
49. Marcela Guerra Castillo, Mexico
50. Kate Ellis, Australia
51. Penny Wong, Australia
52. Melissa Lee, New Zealand
53. Natalie Rickli, Switzerland
54. Malalai Joya, Afghanistan
55. Sethrida Geagea, Lebanon
56. Ruby Dhalla, Canada
57. Malou Aamund, Denmark
58. Sophie Lohde, Denmark
59. Kirsten Brosbol, Denmark
60. Caroline Flint, United Kingdom

Their Photos.

Google Preferences won't save? One possible solution

if you found out that your google preferences won't save--like in my experience or this guy, here's what i did: Because I assigned Google.com.ph as a Trusted Site, I experimented by adjusting it back to normal internet setting.

I went to IE6's Tools>Internet Options>Security>Trusted Sites>Sites and removed google from the "Trusted Zone "list. Then I clicked "Internet Zone" and reset custom settings to default High security level.

Try changing your google preferences again, it might work again. Mine did.

Bruce Willis marries hot underwear model

Take that, Demi!

Omissions by ABS-CBN on the Alex Diloy/Jimmy Lopez "eyewitness" angle

From the ABS-CBN timeline of the Dacer/Corbito case.

26-Nov-00 Two farmers, Alex Diloy and Jimmy Lopez, come out as eyewitnesses to the Dacer-Corbito murder case. Both tell reporters that Dacer and his driver were strangled by policemen using electric cords before their corpses were set on fire.

Diloy and Lopez identify four Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Task Force (PAOCTF) members to be among more than 10 individuals who took part in the killing. Lopez is also reportedly a civilian agent of PAOCTF.

Both "eyewitnesses" are arrested by the NBI. Diloy was wearing Dacer’s white shoes when he was presented to the NBI. Lopez admits to helping build a pyre of wood and tires to set the victims on fire. Viña, head of PAOCTF Visayas, signed the permit of the seized .45 caliber pistol Lopez is carrying when seen by the NBI.

The "dacer shoes" were't white anymore nung nahuli yung mga "witnesses" ng NBI. Painted brown na siya. But That shoe angle is interesting. Ginamit ito ni Diloy para patunayan na nandoon raw siya sa "scene of the crime". Na ibinigay raw ito ng mga killers sa kanya. To give his story credibility.

The case of publicist Salvador "Bubby" Dacer is a strange one indeed.

First, the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) announces to the public that the case has been solved, as its officials presented before the media, two eyewitnesses and a bag of charred bones plus dentures that they claimed were Dacer's and his driver Emmanuel Corbito's but which still had to undergo DNA testing for positive verification.

Then one witness showed the media a pair of brown loafers which he claimed belonged to Dacer and which the killers gave him for his own use. He even went to the extent of claiming that the pair of shoes used to be white, but that they were brown today because he had dyed the pair brown.

Based on the eyewitness account, certain cops identified with former Philippine National Police chief Panfilo Lacson, were implicated in the "murder" of Dacer and Corbito.

It was later discovered that the pair of shoes shown by the witness could not have belonged to Dacer or Corbito. And forensics still had not determined whether the charred bones were human bones.

I'm pretty sure these two so-called "witnesses" were already busted in the past for making shit up.

Now comes Ampy Dacer Henson saying his father never wore Topsider type shoes. Diloy shifted to say it belonged to driver Corbito to which Corbito's wife retorted: "no, its too big, it's not my husband's shoes." This is just one of the holes pointed out in Diloy's story.

More here.

Lacson pointed out that the NBI had earlier announced that they found the shoes of Dacer in the house of one of the suspects, only to be told that the shoes were not Dacer's. The BI then tried to pass the shoes as those of Corbito but his wife, in a television interview, also denied that the shoes were Corbito's. "This only shows that in their haste to solve the case, several lapses were being committed which in the final analysis do not help solve the case.

UPDATE: Dan Mariano in 2001:

Are Salvador “Bubby” Dacer and Manuel Corbito really dead? Have they really been reduced to the armful of bones and teeth that agents of the National Bureau of Investigation claim to have recovered from the boondocks of Indang, Cavite? Were the two yokels the NBI presented to the media really part of the liquidation squad that strangled the PR executive and his driver, then set fire to their bodies?

Despite the readiness of many quarters to believe that the NBI has finally cracked the case, many disturbing questions linger. One of them was raised by a respected clergyman who writes a weekly column for this paper. In his April 5 column, Bishop Teodoro Bacani quoted Fr. Gabriel Baldostamon, curate of the Parañaque parish where the Dacers live, expressing grave doubts about the official version of the fate that befell the controversial PR man and his hapless chauffeur.

Soon after the November 24, 2000, abduction of Dacer and Corbito, Father Baldostamon overheard former national security adviser Jose Almonte tell the PR man’s family that in case the kidnappers return Dacer to Almonte’s group, “they would try to sneak him out to the USA.” In any case, Almonte reportedly said on December 3, Dacer’s family should continue to mourn for him in public “until the opportune time.” Why would anyone make such a proposal unless he had some way of influencing the victims’ abductors?

In a radio interview after the bishop’s column saw print, Father Baldostamon said more doubt surfaced when the NBI presented a white shoe, which was allegedly recovered from the crime scene and which probers said belonged to Dacer, who took to wearing all-white outfits after his wife died several years ago.

When the shoe was presented to Dacer’s children, however, they said it was not their father’s, the priest recalled. They even noted that the footwear had merely been painted white, perhaps by parties desperate to produce evidence no matter how shoddily fabricated to reinforce their case against the presumed perpetrators. Given the unconvincing proof the authorities have dug up, Father Baldostamon said during the interview that he and his parishioners were not yet ready to give up on Dacer. “Which is why up to now, we have not held a Mass for the dead for Bubby Dacer,” the priest told his radio interviewer in the vernacular.

Reading between the lines, it shouldn’t take too much cerebral effort to imagine where the Dacer investigation is being made to go. Meanwhile, the Dacer children are still at a loss as to what has actually become of their paterfamilias.

UPDATED: Glad to be of service, HTL

UPDATE: at the bottom of the post

a Herman Tiu Laurel article digs deep into the Philippine Politics 2010 archives to shed more light into the now relevant (again!) Dacer Corbito case.

UPDATE: Isingit ko lang ito (from apr 2001)

A Ping on the political radar
By Herman Tiu Laurel

Senatorial candidate and KFR-buster (Kidnap-for-Ransom) Ping Lacson was in the crosshairs of the GMA-Ramos propaganda gun. Last week, two events pulled him out and moved him into the radar screen of unbeatable candidates. First was the open declaration of support by the group of kidnap victims led by Robina Gokongwei and, secondly, the explosive revelations from Fr. Gabriel Baldostamon, C.P., parish priest of the Dacer family. The tormentors of Ping have the tables turned on them. GMA, Ramos and Almonte should now be running scared.

The Dacer children, Ampy and Carina, have also come out to deny the alleged violent altercation between Estrada and Dacer at the latters visit to Malacañang. This demolishes the premise anti-Estrada propaganda and Ramos Dear Eddie letter from Dacer tried to establish. Dacer and Estrada reconciled in that Malacañang meeting, the Dacer children Ampy (who was at that meeting) and Carina insist. All these buttress my theory that Ramos knows more than he is saying about Dacer's abduction.

For those who have not read Fr. Baldostamon's revelations, here's a brief summary: Soon after the disappearance of Dacer, Fr. Baldostamon heard Ramos henchman Joe Almonte broach an idea to Dacer's children. Almonte proposed that Dacer's abductors could be negotiated with to return the PR man alive but would demand that he be spirited out to the U.S. The family would continue to mourn for him as if he had never been found. Fr. Baldostamon has no self-serving motive for coming out with this, an angle that sends a chill up our spine.

Bishop Teodora Bacani, one of the few trustworthy Catholic priests around, who helped Fr. Baldostamon break the story asks: why was Almonte interested in helping hush up a Dacer return. It would have made the opposition to Estrada quite heroic if they had shown Dacer was kidnapped by Estrada or Ping, as the GMA-Ramos propaganda machine wanted us to believe. We can only conclude from Fr. Baldostamon's story that Almonte wanted to protect some people not identified with Estrada and, most likely, identified with the anti-Estrada forces.

Hundreds of thousands of Inquirer and TV news watchers, Edsa II fans mostly, have been led to swallow the black lies dished out by the GMA-Ramos propaganda machine. There have been a few e-mails from bimpo journalists castigating me as an Estrada paid hack because I questioned the official Dacer story and propaganda against Ping Lacson. These bimpo journalists are the most pitiable of the ignoramuses in Manilas intelligentia, waging militant crusades for a free press but incapable of freeing their minds from propaganda.

Fr. Baldostamon's story implicates Almonte, and where Almonte is, Ramos cannot be far behind. This supports the theory we were first to bring out at the height of the controversy over Dacer's disappearance. My contention was that the January 20 Coup plotters had the most motive to shut up Dacer. Dacer was working with the coup plotters, but after the Estrada reconciliation and P 30 million paid (according to eye witness accounts) for changing sides, he became a hot potato for the plotters. He knew too much and had to be put in the freezer. Then, the disappearance would be blamed on Estrada.

GMA-Ramos had to keep distracting the public thereafter, holding up red herrings to throw off the scent. The People Power mob, led by the likes of Etta Rosales, Teddy Casiño and Bill Luz, like stupid bloodhounds that they are, just kept tracking the odor of the red herrings and not the real tracks of the culprits. But truth will out, as the saying goes. Truth cannot forever be smoke-screened out of the broader public vision. Not all are as stupid or deliberately self-blinded as the Edsa II mob. Fr. Baldostamon, Robina Gokongweis, Ampy and Carinas stories all finally came out.

More related dacer stuff from Ellen Tordesillas.

UPDATE on March 25, 2009: Bishop Ted Bacani's 2001 article revealing Almonte's statements to the dacer children.

4/5/01

BISHOP’S MOVE Teodoro Bacani Jr., DD

I WANT to share what two people have told me regarding the Bubby Dacer case in the hope that they may be of help toward its solution.

Fr. Gabriel Baldostamon, C.P., parish priest of Holy Rosary Parish in Parañaque City, where Bubby lived, shared the following with me on Tuesday. He said that soon after the kidnapping of Dacer, he heard Joe Almonte tell Dacer’s family that in case the kidnappers should return him to Almonte’s group, they would try to sneak him out to the USA. In such an eventuality, he told Dacer’s family to keep on mourning for him in public (as though he had not been found. Father Gabriel explained) until the opportune time.

Obama's teleprompter started a new blog

it's here. The Prompter also has a twitter account.

My Wishlist for the Cine Europa 2009 at the Shang

UPDATE: Here's the official schedule of Cine Europa 12

I hope the EU will screen these movies for their 12th Cine Europa at the Shangri-la Plaza:

France: Entre Les Murs (The Class)

Sweden: Let the Right One In (2008) OR Fyra nyanser av brunt (2004) both films by Tomas Alfredson

Germany: The Edge of Heaven

Austria: Revanche (trailer)

Belgium: Ben X (trailer)

Denmark: The Art of Crying

Italy: Gomorra or La sconosciuta

Netherlands: Dunya and Desi

Norway: O'Horten

Portugal: Aquele Querido Mês de Agosto

Czech Republic: I Served the King of England (trailer)

Finland: A Man's Work (trailer) (images)

Iceland: Jar City

Hungary: Taxidermia

Romania: 4 Months, 3 Weeks, 2 Days

Spain: The Orphanage

Ross Douthat is the new columnist for the NYT

He replaces Bill Kristol. He's in his late twenties, just a kid. Is he the youngest to ever become a New York Times columnist?

Kaus: First Time The MSM Has Ever Ignored Warren Buffett

Mickey Kaus: The press accounts I've read have wildly underplayed Obama supporter Warren Buffet's criticism of the President on CNBC today. It's fairly pointed, and Buffett comes back to it, suggesting he has a message he's trying to deliver. [E.A.]:

BUFFETT: ...And, Joe, it--if you're in a war, and we really are on an economic war, there's a obligation to the majority to behave in ways that don't go around inflaming the minority. If on December 8th when--maybe it's December 7th, when Roosevelt convened Congress to have a vote on the war, he didn't say, `I'm throwing in about 10 of my pet projects ... [snip] ...

JOE: Yeah, but you might--might not have fixed...

BUFFETT: But I say...

JOE: You might not--you might not have fixed global warming the day after--the day after D-Day, Warren.

BUFFETT: Absolutely. And I think that the--I think that the Republicans have an obligation to regard this as an economic war and to realize you need one leader and, in general, support of that. But I think that the--I think that the Democrats--and I voted for Obama and I strongly support him, and I think he's the right guy--but I think they should not use this--when they're calling for unity on a question this important, they should not use it to roll the Republicans all.

JOE: Hm.

BUFFETT: I think--I think a lot of things should be--job one is to win the war, job--the economic war, job two is to win the economic war, and job three. And you can't expect people to unite behind you if you're trying to jam a whole bunch of things down their throat. So I would--I would absolutely say for the--for the interim, till we get this one solved, I would not be pushing a lot of things that are--you know are contentious, and I also--I also would do no finger-pointing whatsoever. I would--you know, I would not say, you know, `George'--`the previous administration got us into this.' Forget it. I mean, you know, the Navy made a mistake at Pearl Harbor and had too many ships there. But the idea that we'd spend our time after that, you know, pointing fingers at the Navy, we needed the Navy. So I would--I would--I would--no finger-pointing, no vengeance, none of that stuff. Just look forward. ..[snip] ...

BUFFETT: Well, I was going to mention to Joe that you've heard this comment recently from some Democrats recently that a `crisis is a terrible thing to waste.'

BECKY: Yeah.

BUFFETT: Now, just rephrase that and since it's, in my view, it's an economic war, and--I don't think anybody on December 7th would have said a `war is a terrible thing to waste, and therefore we're going to try and ram through a whole bunch of things and--but we expect to--expect the other party to unite behind us on the--on the big problem.' It's just a mistake, I think, when you've got one overriding objective, to try and muddle it up with a bunch of other things.

P.S.: He's against "card check." ("I think the secret ballot's pretty important in the country.") ... 7:19 P.M.

New Website

ni Ping Lacson.

A box of Dibidis for you, Prime Minister

Obama's gift to Gordon Brown.

RP Kidnapping in the 90s

I was reading Lito Banayo at naalala ko yung malalang kidnappings of Chinese-Filipinos noong 1990s under the Ramos administration.

Let's give credit for Ping Lacson (under the Erap admin) and Angelo Reyes (under the Arroyo administration) for cracking down on this criminal "growth industry" after kidnappings spiked during FVRs time and for a short period after Edsa Dos under Larry Mendoza's time.

Pero wala talagang masyadong nagawa si Ramos ano?

DEMOCRACY?

*Posted by Enteng Romano at eLagda – 06 March 2009*

This year’s EDSA anniversaries (both I and II) will best be remembered for
its non-celebration. Thanks to GMA who not only downplayed it, but
trivialized it.

I agree with FVR, who was visibly irked with the non-appearance of GMA and
vanishing trick of VP Noli, when he said, “What appointment could be more
important on this day (February 25) than the commemoration of the
restoration of democracy?”

But then, you have to ask, “What democracy?”

Is there any Filipino who still doubts that GMA spoke to Garci? Even GMA
herself tacitly admitted it when she said, “I am sorry.” The Garci tapes
contained damning pieces of wiretapped phone conversations. In one, GMA
asked Garci to guarantee a 1 million winning margin. In another, they talked
about the abduction of a teacher to silence her. The most natural thing to
resolve this was for Congress to go through impeachment to either clear or
find GMA culpable. But they found the complaint insufficient in substance
and dismissed it. They have reduced the issue to a numbers game. In
succeeding years, a Malacanang stooge would file a bogus impeachment
complaint to immunize her for at least a year. *They have prostituted the
process and reduced it to power play.*

* *

Is there any Filipino who still doubts that COMELEC officials colluded with
suppliers to defraud the government of billions of pesos in the election
automation project? The Supreme Court itself declared so and directed the
Ombudsman to run after the culprits. But the Ombudsman exonerated them
leading to a situation where you have a crime without criminals. *They
defied the Supreme Court and got away with it.*

Is there any Filipino who still doubts that Abalos, FG, and GMA are involved
in the NBN-ZTE scandal? A picture is worth a thousand words, and a picture
with the three of them golfing at the ZTE headquarters in China says a lot,
especially since the ZTE project was quickly changed from a BOT to a
government-to- government contract soon after the game. Besides, how do you
explain GMA’s trip to China, “coming and going like a thief in the night”
(Malacanang Press Office’s own words) to seal the ZTE contract as witness,
doing the signing at the airport, breaking all diplomatic protocols? And
yet, no charges have been filed against any of the principal players, even
after GMA admitted that she belatedly knew of the irregularity. In contrast,
Jun Lozada and his wife Violet have 10 live court cases against them. *They
have perverted the justice system, using the agencies of justice to
persecute anyone who dare go against them.* **

Is there any Filipino who still doubts that GMA distributed money to
congressmen, mayors and governors at Malacanang in November 2007 to buy
their support? Among Ed Panlilio himself showed the money and an ABS-CBN
news footage showed Congressmen leaving the meeting with loot bags similar
to the one given to Among Ed. If it is true that GMA was truly unaware of
the dole-outs, then you would expect that the Taray Queen would unleash her
wrath on whoever was behind it for doing it right under her nose and making
her look like a fool. Nothing of that sort happened. KAMPI – the president’s
own party, owned up to the cash bonanza, and no one was ever charged,
reprimanded, or even slapped in the wrist. *They think all Filipinos are
dumb to accept such a tall tale.*

Is there any Filipino who still doubts that Jocjoc Bolante architected the
fertilizer scam, with the blessings of his patrons? Two independent Senate
investigations concluded so and recommended the filing of plunder against
him. But the Ombudsman is taking its sweet time in filing the charges. Under
public pressure to catch a big fish, the Ombudsman hurriedly filed graft
charges against Neric Acosta of Bukidnon – a known critic of GMA. Ooooppps.
Wrong aquarium. What the public wanted was a big fish from the Palace
aquarium where there are plenty of sharks. *They must think plunder is a
joke. That explains why they pardoned Erap so soon.*

* *

Is there any Filipino who still doubts that FG is involved in the rigging of
road projects? The World Bank Department of Institutional Integrity
concluded so, and they had two witnesses who attested to it. But FG could
not attend the Senate hearings. He has a heart condition and to testify
would be too stressful. (And a round of golf with millions of pesos at stake
is not?) They have just set a precedent in jurisprudence. Henceforth, all
accused with heart conditions cannot be compelled to testify. They can
either check in or get a certificate of exemption from St. Luke’s Hospital.
*They must think they’re above the law.*

* *

Of course, they invoke due process and rule of law as their refuge. For such
are the ways of democracy. Well... they have succeeded in perverting
democracy to a point where you can hardly recognize it.

I think this nation is long overdue for a change. Even the administration
agrees. But the kind of change they espouse – charter change, is really just
a ruse to extend their terms and perpetuate themselves in power.

No, more than change, this nation is long overdue for a revolution. And I
think it will happen soon, through the ballot or by the bullet.

The signs are clear.

The judiciary was designed to play a passive role in governance, acting only
on pleadings presented before it. But when you see a Chief Justice
proactively initiating reforms on human rights and leading a Moral Force
movement, you know something is wrong with the system.

When you have the two chambers of Congress competing with each other in
leading investigations of never-ending scandals – the lower chamber to
insulate its patron at the palace, and the upper chamber to provide a stage
for its presidential aspirants… you know that they will come to a head
sooner or later.

When you read a full page ad by associations of retired and active officers
declaring that they are united behind an incarcerated comrade, you know that
something more than just a senatorial bid is brewing.

When you view all of these against a backdrop of hundreds of thousands of
Filipinos losing their jobs, and hundreds of thousands of families moving
below the poverty line… the old palace line that they are working hard on
the economy supported with their fudged numbers simply will no longer cut.

And when you factor in the people’s sentiment about their president – 46%
disapproval and 45% distrust ratings, you know you have a powder keg just
waiting for the fuse to be lit.

The political equilibrium is precariously unstable brought about mostly by
the abuses and excesses of the ruling class. The inviolable law of physics
is finally catching up with them… for every action, there is an equal and
opposite reaction.

The Americans bought into Obama’s promise of “change we can believe in.” I
think the Filipinos will buy into anybody’s promise of “change we can live
with.” I still remember how people rushed to the side of government to
defend democracy during the Oakwood mutiny. Is there any Filipino who still
doubts which side people will rush to, this time around?

Are there Filipinos who still care about democracy? Many. But not the farce
that we see today. We all yearn for the one that is *of the people, by the
people, and for the people*.

*Panahon na para sa pagbabago. Now na!*

Imagine if Erap was adept at the teleprompter

Imagine if he was as good as O.

UPDATE: nah... probably wouldn't have helped in the end.

What I'm currently reading/listening to right now

The Forgotten Man: A New History of the Great Depression

Saul Alinsky's Rule for Radicals #12

RULE 12: Pick the target, freeze it, personalize it, and polarize it." Cut off the support network and isolate the target from sympathy. Go after people and not institutions; people hurt faster than institutions. (This is cruel, but very effective. Direct, personalized criticism and ridicule works.)

The Stupidity of the "Right to Reply" law

Neal Cruz explains it:

The "Right of Reply" bill, both the senate and House versions, were obviously crafted and, in the case of the Senate bill authored by Sen. Aquilino Pimentel Jr., already passed, with total ignorance of the workings of news organizations. They were done without undergoing committee hearings where journalists were invited as resource persons. If they had, they would have known that the bill is unnecessary and a waste of time. Persons and organizations that are the subject of news stories are already given the right to reply-in fact, asked for their comments-which are published at the same time as the first story. No need to wait one or three days.

When the reply or comment is not published at the same time as the story, it means one of two things: the subject is not available or withholds comment until he or she reads the story in the newspaper and/or he/she wants to consult his/her lawyer. In any case, the story says why there is no comment from the subject in spite of efforts to contact him. A third reason is that the subject is guilty or does not want to incriminate himself further or does not know what to say and would rather not say anything. You know, no talk, no mistake.

Read the whole article. GMA Arroyo and Manny Villar were cited as examples of stonewalling.

More from Ellen Tordesillas and Dean Bocobo.

Gov. Bobby Jindal's creationism problem

Randy Barnett:

This is Not Good: From Little Green Footballs:

Everything the media tried to pin on Sarah Palin, [Bobby] Jindal actually did: he promoted and signed a creationism bill (with help from the Discovery Institute), he took part in an amateur exorcism and claimed it cured a woman of cancer, and possibly worst of all, he pals around with people on the extreme edges of fundamentalist Christianity, and at least one person who has associated with outright neo-Nazis.

You can read the dirty details here. The LGF prediction:

My take: the MSM and the left would love it if Jindal is the GOP nominee in 2012, because he will lose. So they’re going to ignore all the damaging issues until then, preemptively sabotaging any effort to find a more viable GOP candidate.

While at it, you can read about GOP Governors Mark Sanford and Tim Pawlenty's creationist sympathies here. Republicans be warned: No demonstrably creationist politician will be elected President of the United States.

Follow up post by Randy re Jindal.

I think the only way for jindal to deal with the problem if he wants to run for president is for the issue to come out during the primaries. let it come out early and let the voters and the national media scrutinize and rake jindal over the coals with this (ala obama's jeremiah wright issue). this will allow jindal to address the issue early on on whether he wants to disown his previous statements and positions, and whether the public, polls and MSM are willing to let him off the hook.

if he STILL wins the primaries despite the revelation and make a good job of reassuring the public early on (determined by credible internal and national polls) that the creationism issue will be in the past and and that it won't affect the way he governs the country, then that issue will become old news and less potent against him come october.

Obama's teleprompter

man, they guy even used it during his first national press conference as president, even during the Q and A portion... for his handlers to pass along talking points, statistics etc on the screen without being to obvious to the folks watching on tv.

Obama does crazy things with his voice

I did not make this up. Three examples.

"Most of the pundits, historians and economists who debate the Great Depression agree about one thing..."

"...Whatever may have caused the crisis, protectionism, trade barriers and, yes, the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act, helped to ensure that it lasted as long as it did. So uncontroversial is this view that it is virtually U.S. government policy. "To this day," intones a State Department Web site, "the phrase 'Smoot-Hawley' remains a watchword for the perils of protectionism."

The Philippines was briefly mentioned too in that Anne Applebaum column.

Chiz Escudero = the second coming of Marcos?

Nagtataka ako sa sinabi ni MLQ3. Is he really that bad? O hyperbole lang yan? Personal ba ito?

Look, I'm not a big fan of Escudero, especially after he made these comments na parang gusto nyang tumakbo para sa third term ni Arroyo.

Legarda and Escudero belong to the Nationalist People’s Coalition (NPC), although at the Senate, Legarda is with the minority and Escudero, with the majority. Legarda was number one in 2007, having won the most number of votes among all the senatorial bets. Escudero was number two.

… Escudero predicted that there would be no one-on-one contest between the opposition and the administration in the 2010 presidential election, “since no incumbent is running, and there is the question on who is really an opposition.”

“GMA is not running in 2010, and it would be unfair to the people if presidential candidates should still use her as an issue,” he explained.

Indeed, candidates would be like shadowboxing if they will be punching at a non-opponent. Chiz said that instead of raising the GMA bogy, candidates should talk about their platform of government.

“Any candidate who runs on an anti-GMA platform is insulting the intelligence of the people. The people will vote for a presidential candidate because of what he or she intends to do if victorious, not because he or she is against GMA,” Chiz stressed.

Yes, medyo suspicious na ako kay Chiz. But it's still too early to compare him to Marcos. (i'm thinking of Godwin's Law)

Previous: Damning with faint praise.

GOPs favorite wedge issue makes a comeback

"Welfare." From Mickey Kaus:

Shouldn't Republicans be making more of a fuss about the provision in the stimulus bill--both House and Senate versions, apparently--that spends $2-3 billion to the states for "temporary welfare payments"? I initially thought Charles Hurt of the N.Y. Post was being alarmist when he suggested the provision would "drastically undo two decades of welfare reforms." The essence of the 1996 reform was ending the individual legal entitlement to AFDC (cash aid to single mothers, basically) and replacing it with state-run programs that, in theory, require recipients to enter the work force. The stimulus bill doesn't rip up that basic deal, as I understand it. But it is part of a larger liberal campaign** to use the recession to weaken work requirements and let millions of non-working single mothers back on the welfare rolls. Specifically, it would apparently reward states that expand their welfare caseloads--even if the increase is only the product of loosened work requirements rather than a worsening local economy.

Nothing wrong with helping states avoid anti-stimulating cuts in a recession. Nothing wrong with targeting money to the poorest, who are most likely to spend it quickly. But why use the aid specifically to encourage expansion of welfare? This isn't "welfare" as only conservative Republicans would define it--i.e. any means-tested assistance. This is welfare as everyone would define it--cash assistance to able-bodied single mothers (or fathers) who may or may not be working, as in the old, despised AFDC program. Better to use the money (and more) to create public jobs*** for these would-be recipients if private sector jobs have dried up, even if that upsets municipal employee unions (which don't want welfare recipients doing jobs their members might do)? Don't revive the old AFDC principle that if you have a child, you can count on the government to take care of you with cash aid even if you don't work.

At the very least the extra aid to the states shouldn't be triggered by caseload expansion. (You could, for example, give states aid in proportion to their local unemployment rate.)

You would think this would be a potential killer issue for the GOPs--"See, the Democrats already want to undo welfare reform"--and Obama, being sensitive to the charge, might quickly back down. It's easiest to whack the camel when only its nose is in the tent, no?

Read the whole thing.

A tough day for Obama

these are the headlines from Drudge today:

Obama backs down on 'Buy American' after EU trade war threat...
Tax problems torpedo two big nominations...
Departures tarnish ethics drive...
AP: 'The new president, seen by some as arrogant'...
India warns Obama over Kashmir: 'Obama is barking up the wrong tree'...
Paris rejects 'Obama-style' economic program...
EU attacks 'Buy American' clause, seeks removal from stimulus...
On a tough day, Obamas escape for a while...

Playing the Beatles Backwards: The Ultimate Countdown

All the beatles song listed, from worst to best.

Ya can listen to some of it by typing the name of the song here.

Obama Fatigue

is there such a thing?

Two opposing views on the Israeli-Palestinian Quagmire

One from Tom Friedman: "The 5-State Solution"

The other from Michael Totten, who recently returned from Israel. The Mother of All Quagmires.

My pick for NBA All-Star reserves (East-West)

East Reserves:
devin harris - pg
joe johnson - sg
jameer nelson - pg
paul pierce - sf
danny granger - sf
boris diaw - c/pf
chris bosh - pf

West reserves
Shaquille O Neal - C
Tony Parker - pg
chauncey Billups - pg
dirk nowitzki - pf
pau gasol - pf
brandon roy - sg/sf
al jefferson - C

Alec Baldwin's "rude, thoughtless, little pig" of a daughter

is beautiful pala.

she's the 13-year old daughter who received papa alec's infamous phone message. (ht althouse)

UPDATE: alec baldwin is 5'11. so do the math.

Speaker Pelosi: Birth Control will help the Economy

tell that to the CBCP bishops and Maam Arroyo, Speaker Pelosi.

"People in a democratic country wouldn't let their government restrict family size ... would they?"

Yes the would.

Key point by Will Saletan:

What a mess. On one side, we have the Catholic bishops, who are so adamantly opposed to contraception that they're blocking the provision of birth control for voluntary use. On the other side, we have an emerging near-majority of the population that now favors coercive limits on family size. Do the math: The Church claims to represent 80 percent of the population, yet more than 80 percent reject its teachings on contraception, and 44 percent think the government should impose laws in precisely the opposite direction. It looks as though the bishops' anti-contraceptive absolutism is driving their own flock into the arms of a totalitarian remedy.

If Global Warming is real, then why is it cold?

The Website.

Child Abuse in Gaza

(ht michael totten)

Marc Lamont Hill vs Margaret Hoover

I'd rather see two young, good liking liberal and republican debate the issues than see the red hot maggie paired with another blonde conservative (Monica Crowley).

"Spread the Wealth Around"

Hah!

Big Hollywood

this is a new website that i have included in my blogroll. A site that features Hollywood conservatives and libertarians (actors, producers, directors). It is being run by former Drudge associate Andrew Breitbart.

...And the sun also rises in the East

Arroyo Administration caught lying again.

More here from Tongue-Twisted.