forward march!

hey sis :)

we've been quiet and i shall blame it on the christmas rush.

but anyway, managed to steal some shots of the new burgos circle at the fort... (although just using my phone)...

what a new, perty area. it's where our fave cafe juanita is, and it's really such a beautiful addition to the city.

little pockets of development like this one really makes me happy, and affirms my belief that we are, slowly but surely, moving forward as a country.

which is why i agree with carlos whose FB status was:

Haynako. Negastar Jim Paredes thinks we're doomed. He's really a good guy for sure but why is he SUCH a turn off lately? I wonder if I'm alone in thinking this.

carlos is not alone. i'm with him.

jim wrote this nega article about our country.

after reading it, i (although outside of my character) responded to carlos by saying:

carlos, i think the reason why we don't get this article is because people like you (!) and me (?) are already doing (in our own ways) what he "calls" us to do in the last paragraph -- dreaming, acting, engaging, inspiring. "being a passive player in gma's dream" is a silly thought, and perhaps almost equal to bickering and whining about the country.

sometimes, i feel like it's OUTLOOK that divides our political landscape.

one side looks at our country with despair, and believes that the logical way to go is to vote the cleanest albeit not-the-sharpest-tool-in-the-toolbox.

another side looks at it with crazy optimism -- and recognizes that we, despite all the crap, are moving forward, hence choosing the smartest believing that we need not kill too many fires but instead plant seeds.

watjatink of my theory?

president flower

times like these, the messianic complex in me overthinks about what can be done for our country...

so here's my little rant...  if i were president, i would:

1.  switch our political multi-party system to a bi-party system.  just have 1 side leaning towards the left, 1 side leaning towards the right.  i mean really, what do our many parties stand for?  nothing.  right now, our politics is all about personalities.   so, so silly.

2.  switch to parliamentary system -- whichever party wins the election will just choose who will lead the party, and that leader will be our president.  there are too many uneducated swayed-by-money voters here... so let's vote for our ideologies rather than people.

3.  appoint nicky perlas or some other super environmentalist as denr secretary.  in light of our many natural calamities, it's really time we take our eco-responsibility seriously.  let's address pollution, garbage, mining, logging, etc etc etc...

4.  BAN sachets.  i will sanction these uber-profitable multi-nationals to come up with hygienic refilling stations to replace these garbage monsters.

5.  mandate everyone earning above xx amount of income to do xx amount of volunteer work -- whether it's through teaching, professional service, manual labor, managerial service, etc. etc.

6.  hire urban planners (to report directly to me) to redesign and restructure all our cities and city's facilities... oh and to regulate our architecture (hehe).

7.  mandate organic farming.

8.  kill all redundant government offices (there are MANY), and all redundant positions within each office (there are MANY).

9.  mandate all barangays to have their own self-run farms -- if not on land then on their roofs (read:  container gardening... google it).

10.  promote family planning.  condoms, pills, etc...

11.  have only ONE number for emergencies.  so silly when the stations would flash so many numbers during Ondoy.  to think we're the call center capital of the world!

12.  BAN empty-calorie snacks and noodles.  malnutrition makes kids perform poorly in school.  so let's stop allowing big companies to make msg-ridden zero-nutrition snacks.  at least fortify them with the good stuff.

13.  hire industrial engineers to FIX our systems in sec, bir, sss, etc.  do you remember how hard it was to start a company of your own?  do you know in the states it takes half a day to put up your own company?  most of the forms you just fill up online??  and to maintain the businesses... so tough. to think these sme's make up the back bone of our economy.

14.  FIX our public transport system -- color code the buses, make maps, times.  only allow the optimal # of buses, jeeps, etc.
 
that's it for now... sorry this is a bit of a boring post...

but anyway, it's good to get it out of my chest.  i have more to say... but this should be enough... for now...  so will you vote for me?  hehe.

bye-bye, bush!

In a few hours, many will be cheering for the new US president.

Many, still, will say that the hype is too much, and the expectations too high...  Perhaps...

I still want to say this, though... 

Bye-bye to the careless, crazy and highly divisive idea of the "axis of evil".  

(The speech when this concept was introduced in the 2002 state-of-the-union-address, is regarded by many critics as one of the WORST US-presidential speeches of ALL time)

Bye-bye to wars that were not only unsanctioned by the U.N., but also carelessly executed... 

(enough to prolooooong an UNFOUNDED war that has led to:

over 68,000 deaths... and counting.... 

590 TRILLION dollars in war-spending... and counting.... 

and to the looting or destruction of ancient cradle-of-civilization archives and objects from libraries & museums!!!)

Bye-bye to the passe pro-laissez faire economic policies that affects us all.

There are more (not signing Kyoto protocol, the oil-y allies, etc etc.), but these 3 top my list.

yun lang :)

yes we can!

yes!  this deserves two posts...

i love it that america is finally color-blind (well, sort of  -- less than half of white american voters voted for obama... but then again, the white americans don't define america).

i love it how love will know no gender (gay marriage).

i love it how so many feel so hopeful, optimistic and inspired despite the times.

i love it that america, for the next 4 years, will not label any country as 'evil', and won't ever see war as a key primary solution to terrorism or anything else.

i love it that the ultra-conservative, church-is-state-thinking, divisive right was told, even just for a while, that the majority's thoughts are not with theirs.

haaaaaaay.  i am so happy.

lemme end this with one of my favorite campaign vids -- this showed early on how poetic the PRESIDENT is.

thank you, america!!!