Prince William and Kate Middleton Engaged! Royal Wedding Next Year!

OMG! Engagement announced! I just have to blog that! I don't know why I'm excited. He he. Watching BBC right now and they are showing news clips about the Kate who is the become the future QUEEN of England! And because I can barely remember Charles and Diana's royal wedding, (Hey I was kid!), and I like fairy tales, prince and princess, this royal wedding summer of 2011 must be watched soon!

A wedding on the internet age! Great!

Manny Pacquiao still the champ!

Woohoo! Manny wins over Antonio Margarito! As usual, we know the results even before the fight could start. Delayed free t.v showing here. It is live but.. super delayed and add to that, the commercials dominated the fight! Ha ha ha.

*edit.oh and Pacquiao may not need Mayweather anymore. Read comments from that yahoo link, one said of Mayweather, "he is irrelevant and he should retire!" Ha ha. Right on!

Something to read and think..

In case anybody wanders to this blog and if interested. There is an article in the New York Times- What Broke My Father's Heart by Kathy Butler.

It is a long 7 page narrative of their ordeal with pacemaker, medicare, doctors and hospital ethics, liability of patient and doctors, dementia, heart attack, modern medicines...I can go on. It's informative painful way of sharing what the family did and the risk and the decision making that comes into important situations.

I admit I don't know anything about these things but my grandma had dementia (I think It was) but she was sane. God bless her soul. Although in her case, it did not come to point the where we had to make decisions because of sickness.

The article is full of information for research for knowing what to do and what not and how to do so if put in such a situation. I don't know.. just figured it's interesting.

In connection to the previous blog..I think

This article asks.. Why Ignore the Obvious? Is that too much to ask?

Of Elian Gonzalez? Probably.

Freedom is Still Elusive

Photo was the Pulitzer prize winning shot of Alan Diaz

Ten years ago, 5 year old Elian Gonzalez was found was found floating off the coast of Florida in an inner tube after his mother and others fleeing Cuba drowned trying to reach the U.S.

Relatives refused to give him up. Federal agents raided his uncle with guns drawn and seized the boy from a closet to return him to his father. (A/P MiamiHerald)

Now 16, Cuba released photo of Teenager Elian attending a Young Communist Union congress.

From American Thinker. Re blogging some parts of the article. Click the link to read the whole thing including comments.

Instead of a Miami Dolphins Jersey, "Cuba released photos of one-time exile cause celeb Elian Gonzalez wearing an olive-green military school uniform." Elian Gonzalez is what youthful subjugation looks like when a boy, a heartbeat from freedom, is deprived the liberty Little Havana fought to hard, but failed to deliver

If Elian had been granted asylum, today he would be a teenager preparing to go to college with every opportunity for success ahead of him. Instead, on the cusp of adulthood, Elian poses for propaganda photos sandwiched between Cuban army soldiers attending the Union of Young Communists congress in Havana.

The youthful Gonzalez should have been wrapped in the America flag. Instead a boy who once represented the quest for the God given right to be free, waves a Cuban flag symbolizing poverty, oppression, authoritarianism and misinformation.

Free people should take a good, long look at Elian Gonzalez and observe what our nation has the potential to become ten years down the line if, instead of moving in the opposite direction, America's row boat continues to inch closer to Cuba's shores.

Somebody made a comment to this America Thinker article, saying it's one of the saddest among the news today. Just because a mother risked her life to give free to the little boy but it all went for naught.

Yes, quite sad. Elian just sits there with dazed look. A propaganda shot.

Catcher In the Rye Author passed away

I don't care if it's sad good- by or a bad good good-by, but when I leave place I'd like to know I'm leaving it. If you don't, you feel even worse~ Holden Caufield, Catcher In the Rye

J.D Salinger died yesterday, age 91 in N.H. He's the man who articulated so much in an intimate way the voice of the angst driven youth.

Weird. Two days ago, I just felt like reading his famous book, Catcher in the Rye for the gazillion times already . So I read it past 12 midnight, then last night, I saw a news ticker that the author passed away. Well, the man who started the angst driven alienated teen, died a recluse and has never allowed his famous book to become a movie. Now that he's dead, I wonder if see we'll one.

If you haven't read Catcher in the Rye... you probably don't like to read or you weren't forced to read it or you've never had an English paper to submit. I guess. It's still my favorite book...along with so many others but.. Catcher n the Rye is the one I always read and read and read just re read it. Kinda like To Kill a Mocking Bird which I always read a lot too (but somebody borrowed it before from school some years ago and never returned it).

Back to J.D Salinger. I don't know anything about him. He is a literary icon. A recluse who guarded his privacy to the very end. He gave something to think about and ponder with the books he wrote. The characters in which we immersed ourselves. His books will always remind us what a great author he was.

Tiger Woods is only Human

Hmm...wife got mad, found about the women he's seeing, chased him around with wedge, he got distracted, hit a fire hydrant and crashed into a tree. Yep.. he's only human.

For the last two days Tiger Woods has been silent of what really happened to him the day after thanksgiving no less. Rumor mills abound with plenty of innuendo and gossip about mistress and alleged affairs. It's crazy. The least person you'd think who would be in this situation would be Tiger Woods.

Via NY Times: Each hour that passes without word from Tiger Woods about the details of his car crash early Friday morning may prove damaging to his image by filling an online rumor mill with conjecture, opinion and rumor, according to experts who advise high-profile athletes and celebrities on managing how they are viewed by others. Full report

I'm blogging about this because I like Golf. Well, I like S Garcia, A Scott and C Villegas. Yeah pretty boys of the club..so to speak. With pun. He he.

Of Life, Love and Living and Remembering

Today is the 40th Day of former President Cory Aquino- 40 days after she passed away.
I saw this article from INQ.net last month, and thought I'd blog it here. Just to remember Cory and her family and how well they have been an inspiration.

And this is why we love the Aquino Family. Because they're simple they're just like any other family (except they're not.. they're Aquinos and they have destiny to lead the country)

Read the whole article (by Fe Zamora ). Endearing.

MANILA, Philippines—Like most family that just lost a loved one, the children of the late President Corazon Aquino joked about the possibility of ghosts visiting the old home.

Inside the bus that followed their mother to her final resting place at Manila Memorial on Wednesday, there was plenty of time for catching up with family, horsing around and telling ghost stories. The Philippine Daily Inquirer was one of a handful of media organizations that joined the Aquinos in the bus.

Senator Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III, a bachelor and doting uncle to eight nephews and nieces, turned to 14-year-old Josh, his sister Kris’ son with actor Phillip Salvador.

“Josh, will you sleep with me over at Times Street?” he asked the boy. “Let’s go meet some ghosts there,” he added, with a wink. (Cory Aquino lived in an unpretentious bungalow on Times Street, West Triangle in Quezon City until the time of her death.)

Joshua nodded and replied: “Okay, I will sleep there.”

Then someone added: “But promise you won’t get married, ‘Tito ‘Noy!”

That set off a wave of laughter that rocked the bus.

A healthy dose of humor, Christian values, deep friendships, and the love of an entire nation helped the Aquino family cope in their hours of bereavement.

This was quite evident on the day of the funeral. If you didn’t know there was a funeral procession going on for a beloved President, you would think the passengers inside the bus were just on its way to a picnic or a family reunion.

For the second time in 26 years, the Aquinos were again together in a bus, following a flower-decked hearse that bore a coffin. In 1983, it was that of their father, Sen. Benigno Aquino Jr., who was shot dead shortly after arriving from the United States; on Wednesday, it was their mother’s, fondly called by many Filipinos as Tita Cory. Read the rest of it here

The End of Camelot?

Nothing warms the heart than seeing so many people paying their respect to see the last of the Camelot. People love the Kennedys.

Read the article ( link above) from Boston Globe. How the people are responding to this news is similar to that of President Cory. People lining up and waiting up to hours just to view Senator Kennedy.

Miami Herald: Read several columnists' remembrances of Sen. Ted Kennedy, who died this week.

Washington Post: Post Kennedy Era. (long article by Howard Kurtz) worth to read.

Hurricane Katrina ..lest we forget

People are still emotional. New Orleans ( and other neighboring states) ravaged hard by Hurricane Katrina on August 29, 2005. We saw a different America. A state that looked like some 3rd world country reeking of garbage and floods and people cramped inside the dome. Who could forget that scene where people fighting for shelter to stay. Houses destroyed, buildings wrecked. everywhere you turned you saw the despair and helplessness of people. Floods covered the state. Tears fell at the sight of Americans clinging for help. But that was tback then.. today, they're trying to move on but there will always be that emotional anger. Lives are back to normal now.. but is it?

From The Times Picayune this article from Jarvis DeBerry

Life, we learned after Hurricane Katrina, is not the sum total of one's possessions.

Losing everything isn't fatal. Having nothing isn't terminal.

And yet, there is a pain that comes with losing it all, a pain that remains even after we have new things we can point to and say we own. Continue to read article.

View all Hurricane Katrina Post

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On Sept 11, 2009..another one to remember.. lest we forget

Family Legacy and the Destiny

If America has the Kennedys, here we have our own.. the Aquino/Cojuangco.

The heroism and martyrdom of Ninoy or the simplicity and integrity of Cory, made the country a proud one again. Rising from the ruins of of martial law and dictatorship. They have both given their lives to the the country that they love and people that love them in return.

Maeve Kennedy, grandchild of RFK, said in an interview.. to whom much is given much is expected in return. Same words that I heard from President Aquino's daughter, Kris. It is so true.

The legacy of Ninoy and Cory lies in the hands of the younger Aquinos-their children

And their legacy still will continue with the iPod/Facebook/Twitter generation of Aquino grandchildren.

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Kennedy Legacy and the Future Kennedys

It's sad as another Kennedy has died. Senator Edward Kennedy succumbed to brain cancer yesterday. A few weeks ago Eunice Kennedy passed away. It's just so poignant how so many love them. The Kennedys has given their whole lives to public service. I mean, what is American politics without the Kennedys? What would be the political arena without a Kennedy? It would be hollow. Empty of inspiration.

But for every sadness there is a silver lining of hope...the future Kennedy Generation.

There's the the 40's and 50's young Kennedys to continue legacy. They are John, Robert, Edward and Eunice's children as younger Kennedys continue service to the country

There's the this Facebook /iPod generation of Kennedys. The notion of service still deep in the blood (via newsbusters)

The grandchildren of the Kennedys: Tatiana and Rose, Caroline's daughters and JFK's granddaughters. Maeve is in law school too, another one, Kerry, a senior in High school.. they're RFK's grand daughters. Matt and Joe Kennedy... 3rd year Law students at Harvard. Other grandchildren... Maria Kennedy Shriver's kids.

Read more about them. They'e just regular kids like the many regular kids out there except they are Kennedys. There lies their destiny.

Remembering Ninoy and the Sacrifice for the Country the

I shall dedicated the last drop of my blood to the restoration of freedom and the dismantlement of your Martial Law- Benigno Aquino Jr.

I remember the day when Ninoy was assassinated. 26 years ago a hero was gunned down at the tarmac and 2 million walked a mile to bury the man who would have save the country from the cruel hands of the dictator.

One day before my Birthday, there was a Snap Election. Ninoy's wife, Cory Aquino- former President of our country who recently passed away, ran against Marcos. She won the election but Marcos declared himself a winner. By then people were dismayed. Revolution called People Power ousted the dictator.

Ninoy and Cory. We owe so much to them. Ninoy for sacrificing his life and Cory for making sure that the sacrifice was not wasted.

US Supreme Court: Strip Search Unconstitutional

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled, 8 to 1, this week that the strip search of a 13-year-old Arizona girl by school officials who were looking for prescription-strength drugs violated her constitutional rights. The court ruled that officials at Safford Middle School would have been justified had they limited their search to the girl's backpack and outer clothing. But in searching her undergarments, they went too far and violated her Fourth Amendment privacy rights, all the justices—except Clarence Thomas—said. Read the whole article from US News and World Report.

That strip search is clearly a violation especially to a 13 year old girl. The officials of the school should be held accountable for their actions. Yes, they have laws within their premises and confines of the school but they went to far in enforcing that. What they did to the girl was humiliating, demeaning! It's not even cocaine they were searching but an Ibuprofen- generic name for Advil.

Asking a 13 year old to shake her undies and training bras and taking them off to see if there were any illegal drugs and over the counter prescription is porny pedophilia in a way that really is degrading.

The school is like the second home of children. It's place where educators and officials teachers the whole academe should be guiding students.. teaching them importance of law and of rights and teaching them about values, morals and decency.. What happened at Safford Middle School reflects the nature of unconstitutional way they enforce discipline and laws.

Another Casualty of Economic Crisis

Once upon a time, General Motors stood strong and mighty, the world at its feet.

Today, the world prevails, and GM is on its knees.

We are dominoes in the shadow of a tumbling giant.

All fall down.

But falling is not dying.

And we are not dead yet.

Read the whole good article from June 2, 09 Mitch Albom column from the Detroit Free Press.

Of course by now everybody knows of GM bankruptcy. It's shocking ( to me anyway) because they are one of the biggest automakers and yet the company strapped for cash.


There is nothing fun here, nothing good about bankruptcy. But nothing shocking, either. History is full of this lesson. All fall down. What defines you is not how you fall, but how you get up.


Maybe because I am from a developing nation that's why I'm shocked... but such huge company and then all of a sudden bankrupt? Plants closing, workers laid off from their job, GM selling it's stake and government bailing them out.. these trying economic times doesn't really choose it's victims. Read everything and all about GM's fall via Detroit Free Press.

This is gonna sound silly and it really is.. but I'm sort of imagining what if it's a softdrink company that's bankrupt? I know that will never happen... but just think.. running out sodas in all fast food and stores all that dreadful scenario like doomsday .. well perhaps not to those who could care less about sodas. I did say it's silly thought.

Anyway, economy still bleeds.. more (band) aid is needed to stop the flow and end the suffering of the now many unemployed workers.

Love and Devotion

**edit/update.. Farrah Fawcett passed away Thursday morning 25 June. (AP/yahoo).
Remember the first scene and lines from Love Story and also the the last scene? Sad day for Ryan O'Neal.
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In a nutshell, loving someone is about giving, not receiving~ Nicholas Sparks

Enduring, Endearing, these words simply cannot describe the sacrifices partners of Farrah Fawcett and Patrick Swayze has had to endure.Both actors are now facing a battle with sickness both had been diagnosed with cancer. Lisa, Swayze's wife and Ryan, O'Neal, Farrah's long time love have been by their side throughout the ordeal and I think it's just worth mentioning.

We are often so jaded and cynical about relationships but there those whom we can admire the longevity of love and devotion for one another. In these trying times they're facing, we are being reminded about faith, hope and strenght

NBC recently showed video diary/ documentary of Farrah's battle with anal cancer and many have been touched but it also earned criticisim. It's been reported that she is nearing death and it must be heartbreaking for the loved ones. This post is mainly about the devotion of long time partner in the struggles faced by the ones they have devoted their life and love.

Economic Woes, Debts, Depression Triggered a Man to Kill His Family

Depressing news. It's graphic it's gory it's sad. The reality of life comes in to play here. Still I know it does not excuse what the man did.

This story from Washington Post

The man who killed his wife and three young children and then himself in a tiny town in northwest Maryland last week was at least $460,000 in debt and owned a Florida house that was in foreclosure, according to property records and police.

Christopher Wood, 34, described his financial hardships and his struggle with depression and anxiety -- factors that investigators believe contributed to the killings.

According to investigators, Francie Billotti-Wood, 33, and the couple's 5-year-old son, Chandler, were each shot twice in the head with a .25-caliber handgun. Chandler's younger brother, 4-year-old Gavin, was shot three times; daughter Fiona, 2, was shot once. After they were shot, their throats were slashed almost to the point of decapitation, officials said. Wood killed himself with a shotgun.

Several experts said slayings of entire families by fathers and husbands are often associated with economic hardship. Some men get to the point where it becomes impossible to tell family members that they're going to lose the house or that the kids can't go to college, said Richard J. Gelles, dean of the University of Pennsylvania School of Social Policy and Practice and an expert on family violence.

"If you have built your identity around that you're the breadwinner, you're the backbone, and that becomes unglued, it undermines your sense of self," Gelles said.

A tragic and story and especially knowing the reason that the husband did it because of economic hard times. I once blogged about 12 year old girl who committed suicide because of poverty and what drives people to to things like that.

We always say that money is nothing and family is everything but. Money is causing all these anxiety and depression and and driving people to kill others, commit suicide and end lives to spare one's self or the others of the hardships. It's wrong. It shouldn't be like that. But that is reality.

The harsh realities of life is drives people in the brink of madness. Financial problems and the difficulty of where to get money, how to raise kids and put them to through school and then losing a job. All this adds up the pressures of providing the daily needs for the family in this economic hardships we're facing. Meanwhile the situation becomes a constant reminder and in turn depression sets in and it becomes too much. The end result is to eliminate the problem and not fix the cause. It's not right. Not right all.

Susan Boyle Showed Us What Human Grace is All About

If you're a news junkie..pop culture or otherwise, chances are you've probably read or seen or heard about Susan Boyle. Already 50 million views on You Tube, she appeared in Britain's Got Talent and made everyone cry and take a long good look at themselves.

From BBC article .. (long one so click the link to read everything)

Last Saturday, viewers saw Boyle, with double chin, unkempt hair, frumpy appearance and eccentric demeanour, step onto the talent show stage and proclaim her dream of being a professional singer.

The judges rolled their eyes and the audience pulled incredulous faces. Onlookers, on set and at home, were rubbing their hands at the prospect of another hopeless, deluded loser being crushed by a withering Simon Cowell insult.

Then she opened her mouth and sang I Dreamed A Dream from Les Miserables.
Her voice confounded all expectations - the judges' eyes bulged, the crowd went wild and Boyle became an instant star.

Boyle has shattered prejudices about the connection between age, appearance and talent. She has proved that you don't have to be young and glamorous to be talented, and recognised as such

Lisa Schwarzbaum, writer for US celebrity magazine Entertainment Weekly, said the performance was a powerful reality check.

She wrote: "In our pop-minded culture so slavishly obsessed with packaging - the right face, the right clothes, the right attitudes, the right Facebook posts - the unpackaged artistic power of the unstyled, un-hip, un-kissed Ms Boyle let me feel, for the duration of one blazing showstopping ballad, the meaning of human grace.

"She pierced my defences. She reordered the measure of beauty. And I had no idea until tears sprang how desperately I need that corrective."

It is such a fairytale story for a spinster who from the physical appearance outside one would never think that she she would have the beauty and grace from the inside. Her voice carried the inner beauty that the outside look belied.

This is the story where we should all just pause and think why we should never ever think that we are far more better than the others. That we look much superior, that we have that pretty face face, dressed in fancy clothes and no can make fun us. Susan Boyle showed us all that when you have that inner grace and beauty inside, it will show on the outside.

Death penalty for child rapist?

Link via Washington Post. Because Louisiana wants a review of the eight amendment.

There have been interpretations of society's "evolving standards of decency" to remove juvenile and mentally retarded killers from death row. In 1977 the court also concluded that a state could not execute a man who raped an adult woman. But on Wednesday the court will consider whether a person who rapes a child is different.

The state's Supreme Court held that children require special protection from society and that the "the degradation and devastation of child rape, and the permeation of harm resulting to victims of rape in this age category" justify the death penalty.

Read the whole article because it's interesting and I can't really articulate about the law. What do I know anyhow? I'm not American. I do wanna say something about the death penalty.

Here where I'm from, if you rape a child, I believe you deserve to die. Well, no matter where your from. No questions ask. I will [not] agree with death penalty. I'm half and half actually. But I'm pretty sure that raping a child is like killing a child. No mercy. One has to pay for committing a brutal crime.. If death penalty is the answer, then so be it. But if you let that animal rapist rot in jail and slowly watch him deteriorate forever is like killing him slowly. Death penalty all thesame.

It's only funny when people laugh....

I guess. But nobody did...and so the repercussion.

The"Asians hate us" piece of student and opinion writer Max Karson for the CU campus press If it's war the Asians want.. it's war they'll get ignite furor among Asian Americans and spark protest within the CU community mainly because they say it's discriminating and stereotyping people from the Far East.

But c'mon, it''s a damn opinion of a student. It wasn't a serious take on racism because it did not tackle anything that's worth debating about. It's more like one of those thoughts that someone writes [publicly or not] through online journal or blog and rants whatever bugging the hell out that person when it comes to understanding cultural difference and diversity within the school community or just amongst peers. Reading the piece, it's like an attempt to be funny that didn't succeed. Lame parody, somehow.

Captured Asians will be dragged to my apartment on the Hill and hog-tied.

The Asians' reformation will begin with a 100-round beer pong tournament.

They will listen to "It's a Small World" on repeat while they play. When the tournament is finished, the Asians will then be forced to eat bad sushi from Hapa-with forks. When all the sushi is gone, they will be permitted to sleep for four hours, but the entire time I will shout through a megaphone, over and over, "Why didn't you make enough Wiis?!"

In the morning, the Asians will arrange themselves in rows, if they haven't naturally done so already. I will stand in front of them and hold up a card with the name of an emotion on it such as, "sad," or "surprised." The Asians must then make a facial expression to match the word on the card. Any Asian who remains deadpan or makes the wrong face will be tickled until they pee. When all Asians make the correct face at the same time, the game will end, but then they will be yelled at for being conformists.

The Asians will then be allowed to play "Dance Dance Revolution." However, the game will be rigged so that the Asians will receive no points, regardless of how robotically they dance.

Any Asian who tries to escape will be butterfly-netted and sent back to my apartment for another "Phase 2." Anyone caught speaking any language other than English will be kissed on the lips.

Once the Asian spirit has been broken, "Phase 3" will begin. Before we let the Asians go, we will go to their homes and redecorate them in a traditional American style. We will replace their rice cookers with George Foreman Grills, their green tea mochi with fried Snickers bars, and their rice rockets with Hummers. And booster seats.

When "Phase 3" is complete, the Asians will be released.

I actually felt that it's mostly directed towards the Japanese, Chinese and Koreans students. It's his opinions and whatever he wrote wasn't serious. Not good journalism if the opinions expressed is meant to initiate constructive approach to the problem of racism within the CU community. I don't know. Maybe there's an underlying tone to what he's trying to say. The Editor-in-chief at fault somehow for not checking enough the article before they published it. Author of the opinion column has been suspended though.

Maybe he should have just ranted his opinions via personal blog. Ha.

News links-> Romenesko, Rocky Mountain News

What public display of attention will get you

A YouTube hits of 15,0000 in just two days because some asshole employee of the subway decided to display it online for the world to see.

Chinese couple was caught kissing and hugging on a subway platform and was uploaded via You Tube and other sites. Next time that'll teach couples not to be overtly entwined and clingy to their partner(kissing too...yay) especially public places when you know there a close circuit camera around. There's nothing wrong with holding hands or an arm around the shoulder or a peck on cheeks but kissing ( passionately? liplocking? wonder what kind) is...well.. that's something else though. The couple is planning to sue whoever leaked the video. Rightly so, that's invasion of privacy.




Via yahoo news