Sentence first, verdict later!
In the May 31, 2006 issue of Business Mirror, Manuel Buencamino writes about the abduction of 5 Estrada supporters by AFP intelligence agents.
“Mrs. Arroyo can avoid answering for arbitrary arrests, illegal detentions and extra-judicial killings by simply proclaiming the Philippines the Enchanted Kingdom and crowning herself Queen. ”
Queen Taray walks out of Enchanted Kingdom cabinet meeting
It was a scene straight out of Lewis Caroll’s adventures of Alice.
Gloria, Queen Taray of the Enchanted Kingdom, berated her education secretary for not knowing her addition and subtraction. Compare an excerpt from chapter nine of Caroll’s fantasy with the dialogue between Taray and her education secretary.
The US-JAPAN MILITARY ALLIANCE
The Gadfly says the Philippines must not play into the growing military alliance between Japan and the US. It cannot ignore other emerging powers.
“The least the Philippines needs is to be perceived as a country inextricably linked to a U.S.-Japanese alliance that seeks to contain or deter China. Much less should our country be considered as a rabid supporter of a Land of the Rising Sun seen by some nations as flexing its diplomatic and military muscle.”
Globalization’s Watchdogs
In Foreign Policy in Focus, Mark Engler writes about the role of media as a watchdog for the forces of neo-liberalism
Globalization’s Watchdogs
by Mark Engler
When Bolivian President Evo Morales announced plans to nationalize his country’s oil and natural gas resources in early May, he did more than lay out a promising path for development. He also provided an ideal opportunity to illustrate how large segments of the U.S. and British press have adopted roles as watchdogs for corporate globalization. Since Bolivia’s energy exports go to Brazil and Argentina rather than the United States, and since the nationalization is unlikely to significantly alter the price of natural gas on international markets, the direct impact on our country is minimal. Yet in the weeks since Morales took action, we have been treated to a wealth of hysterical commentary.
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Angels and Demons
In Business Mirror, Manuel Buencamino writes about one newspaper’s crusade to topple a fallen president.
‘Angels and Demons’
By Manuel Buencamino
PEOPLE who liked the The Da Vinci Code will enjoy Angels and Demons by the same author. Those who can’t get a copy can settle for the version serialized in a local newspaper.
“Pinoy Angels and Demons” is a newspaper’s tale about a former beauty contestant who was used by a group of businessmen to launder money.
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More on Oil Politics
From Greg Palast comes another story about oil politics.
THE MISSION WAS INDEED ACCOMPLISHED
The Guardian
by Greg Palast
Get off it. All the carping, belly-aching and complaining about George Bush’s incompetence in Iraq, from both the Left and now the Right, is just dead wrong.
On the third anniversary of the tanks rolling over Iraq’s border, most of the 59 million Homer Simpsons who voted for Bush are beginning to doubt if his mission was accomplished.
But don’t kid yourself — Bush and his co-conspirator, Dick Cheney, accomplished exactly what they set out to do.
The Politics of Oil
From the Guardian comes this story about the politics of oil.
When two poor countries reclaimed oilfields, why did just one spark uproar?
The outcry over Bolivia’s renationalisation and the silence over Chad’s betrays the hypocrisy of the critics
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AXIS OF FEEBLE?
The Gadfly’s latest contribution is on the Blair-Bush partnership.
AXIS OF FEEBLE?
Entitled “Axis of Feeble,” the editorial of the latest issue of The Economist describes President George Bush and Prime Minister Tony Blair as “soul-mates” whose partnership has shaped world events in the last five years. But due to the debacle in Iraq and domestic problems, both leaders have been transformed “from soaring hawks into the lamest of ducks.”
The editorial opines that Mr. Blair’s contribution to the partnership has been significant because in him Mr. Bush “found a supreme political salesman and a dependable ally with a respected voice inside the UN Security Council and the European Union” as well as “a true believer, exuding conviction.”
The Tar Baby
Manuel Quezon III has this great story on Pangit’s cha-cha machinations.
The tar baby
By Manuel L. Quezon III
WHAT was orchestrated along the lines of Lenei Reifenstahl’s propaganda masterpiece “Triumph of the Will” (her film of the 1934 Nuremberg rally of the Nazis) has turned into a scene straight out of Walt Disney’s “Song of the South,” in particular, the fable of Brer Rabbit and the Tar Baby, in which a fox gets the goat of a rootin’ tootin’ but rather vain rabbit by setting up a baby made of tar along the side of the road. The rabbit, spotting the tar baby, tries to strike up a conversation, and gets frustrated over the tar baby’s silence. The rabbit tries to beat up the tar baby, but with every kick and punch, he gets more and more stuck until the fox comes out and taunts the rabbit. The lesson, of course, is that you shouldn’t mess with something you have no business with in the first place.
If the shoe fits
Manuel Buencamino’s article in Business Mirror, May 17, 2006, pokes fun at Chief Justice Panganiban and everyone else. As usual.
“You mean Chief Justice Panganiban’s line about, ‘They have lost sight of the fact that their duty, first and foremost, is to serve the ends of justice; and that their primary fidelity is to the courts and secondarily only to their clients,’ was a soliloquy?”