Finally a suspect murderer arrested!

John Mark Karr, a 41 yar old American teacher was arrested in Thailand. He said that '" he loved Jonbenet" and that "death was accidental."He confessed to the killing.

What led to his arrest was the emails sent to journalism professor which became suspicious of him

Oh my God. I can't help but cringe and get scared. This man, who is now a very much suspect in that brutal murder of a child beauty queen had been living in Asia. A decade ago six year old Jonbenet Ramsey was brutally murdered. It became a high profiled case and for ten years the Boulder police didn't have any success finding out who killed the little gir (they suspected the parents). And now this breakthrough and the guy all along had been in Asia.

The little girl, would've been 16 years old right had she lived.

Sadness, Anger and Grief Took it's Toll on Him...

This is what Hurricane Katrina did to well known local photographer John McCusker.

He wanted to die.

“You have to understand the depth of the horror that the city was,”

This is from the New York Times article (NYTimes reg req'd)

NEW ORLEANS, Aug. 9 — On the morning after Hurricane Katrina, when members of The Times-Picayune’s staff found themselves marooned in its flooded building here, John McCusker refused to join most of his colleagues in relocating to a remote newsroom in Baton Rouge.
After the building was evacuated, Mr. McCusker, a photographer for the paper, swam through muck while managing to keep his equipment dry and, from a kayak, captured some of the most harrowing images of the storm’s immediate aftermath. Then, for months, he lived the misery he had been photographing, having lost his possessions, his family’s home and his entire neighborhood to the hurricane.

On Tuesday, nearly a year after the storm, he seemed to snap.....read more

Please... if you're interested. I wanted to post all but it's quite long. It's a reminder really that people still are dealing with the mental grief and trauma hurricane Katrina brought to them. New Orleans residence still suffering from the tragedy.

In many instances like in strife torn places and countries were poverty is rampant, people suffer from the trauma of what they're going through.

I'm not a photographer but seeing and snapping photos of tragedy can really take it's toll and then one just snaps. Pulitzer-prize winner Kevin Carter of South Africa is an example. After seeing the famine in Sudan and snapping that now famous photo of vulture waiting to eat a child, he committed suicide. (Click here to see the photo).

Emotions and tragedy are potent mix. For some it's hard to disassociate themselves from the subject of their profession. It's hard not to get affected. Snapshots of tragedy specially, can trigger despairing feelings and then one just wants to end it all and just die to block it all out.

It's all sad.

Amazing wonderful shots from Afghanistan

Saw this beautiful Flickr photo by violinsoldier a US flag flying and with a close up of the rainbow so vivid. The other similar photos with the rainbows are just as amazing. Click the link will ya. It's really lovely.

So who do you side with?

The innocent civilians of course and especially the children. They are really the victims in these tit for that bombings. Telly is on right now and Haifa hit by heaviest rocket attack by Hezbolla. Somebody please not glorify militias and extremist groups!

News link (AP/Yahoo)

Un hibernating, un hiatus for today now

I'm still sad about about last Thursday (7/27). But I will try again! Last week I thought I would be on cloud nine but turned out to be hell. Frustration turned into tears and silence soon followed and sadness never left. I hope to rectify everything. But for now...ciao.

Ganging up on Mel Gibson

Un hiatus for today. I am adding my own two cents worth of blahg! Not that it matters. And so....

Yes. He deserve all the hate and bigotry and for his drunken anti semitic slurs. But c'mon! He already said sorry! He apologized and I believe he is sincere and he meant it. Of course some would argue, he should have said the apology right then and there and not when he sobered up did he profusely apologized to the jewish community.

There are conservatives defending him. In defense of Mel Gibson, John Derbyshire in his NRO column said....

The guy was drunk, for heaven’s sake. We all say and do dumb things when we are drunk. If I were to be judged on my drunken escapades and follies, I should be utterly excluded from polite society, and so would you, unless you are some kind of saint.

But yet again people would argue, is it really the drunken state or there really is more deeper hatred against the jews hence anti semitic tirade?

Where is Hollywood and why wont they defend one of their own? They're nowhere to be found. They are silent. Hell, most of Hollywood bigwigs are Jews. Deep inside they are disappointed with Mel and his tirades. Would they Abandon him? It looks to be heading that way..for now it seems. Will he lose fans and his movies will tanked? Yes. He did make an ass of him out there. Getting drunk, and saying those slurs. He deserved it. No excuse for it.. except him being drunk and all. He is paying the price now for his actons. His image tarnished.

But... Mel Gibson is one powerful movie star you rarely hear anything from his family..his wife especially, his children had been shielded mostly and free from all the hollywood brouhaha. So Give the guy a break!

Celebrities and famous personalities have been charged with drunk driving too many times, and this time around, Mel Gibson arrested for misdemeanor DUI created a lot judgement because of his anti semitic slurs, truth is if it weren't for those remarks, it probably would made less of an impact. Of course it would be created a lot of publicity because he is a big star. Powerful hollywood player.

At the end of the day once sober, he apologized and made amends again and owned up to his very very stupid grave mistake (that will probably ruined him in hollywood and with friends as well though I doubt. Heck, hollywood is hollwyood if you know what I mean.). He should be getting help now and for his alcoholism problems.

Missing peace

Give war a chance? I've seen and heard that reference while watching the cable news and browsing sites. Israel has the right right to defend itself from those rockets raining on them. My thoughts exactly. [edit 24.06]

They say is a conflict but really it's like a war with bombs and rockets going off in Israel and Lebanon and people leaving in exodus. Innocent civilians(on both sides) caught in the fighting as they flee for safety and plea for peace.

The latest news is that Israel might launch a full scale invation to stop the Hezbollah.

Annan said Hezbollah's actions in launching rockets into Israel and abducting Israeli soldiers "hold an entire nation hostage" and set back prospects for Middle East peace.

Anyway, the fighting between Israel and Hezbollah continues as rockets fall inside Israel and bombs shower Lebanon. So many people fleeing the dangerous situation. The foreign nationals evacuating by the thousands and then there are the locals who's feeling the chaos thats happening in their homeland. Tough for all these people and children especially. I see the news and everybody looks tired and weary and scared. Who wouldn't be!

I wouldn't want to experience anything like that. I mean sirens blaring warning of rockets going off and bombing would be everywhere. Just the mere thought of bombs makes me shudder. What more if similar things happened here in Manila. But I seriously doubt anything like that would occur. Save for a coup d' eta t(we've had so many it's like yeah okay it's bloodless revolution..but you'll never know) or an all out war happens(knock on wood!) and Americans need allies to join (Philippines being one of them) then we would be forced to do something. I mean our soldiers. Yikes.

It's scary what's been going and seeing the news about rockets going off and bombs falling. Both Israel and Lebanon have had casualties. People are suffering with this crisis. The "Road Map to Peace" has been shelled and bomb.

It must be said though that Israel's fight is with the Hezbollah and not the Lebanon itself. Hezbolla (I think) is based inside Lebanon and the thing is the government isn't doing anything at all to stop Hezbolla from launching those rockets to Israel. I think everything started because two Israeli soldiers were kidnapped or captured by the Hezbollah and then everything escalated to what it is now.

As I sit here and do this blogs others are fearing for their safety. Lets all hope everything will be resolve.

Accused Marine Daniel Smith speaks out

Lance cpl Daniel smith, the U.S. Marine accused of raping a Filipina, is telling his side in response to questions submitted through his lawyer by The Associated Press.

What he said...

"I think it's horrible what I've been accused of"

"This place has taken a year off of my life that I can never get back and I just hope the lies will stop and the people will start to see the truth,"

"My career and my life in general has come to a screeching halt,"

Well..there's always two sides to the story. That's his side and the complainant, pretty well shielded has had her time in court testifyingto everything that has happened her the night of the alleged rape.

Btw, I hope I won't be condemned by saying this but..... Daniel Smith is a cutie!

Click for more blog related post (since obviously not using Word Press so can't do categories).

Billionaire Boys Club...

I'm just looking at the Forbes website and reading about and finding out who are the World Youngest Billionaires and America's Youngest CEOs. There's a bit of gossip there as well. Hehe.

Google founders (Sergey Brin,32 Larry Page, 33) tops them all and a Prince as well.. with a very long name :). As for the Young CEOs.. Matthew McCauley(he's only 33) of Gymboree childrens clothing. Michael Rubin-GSI Commerce Michael Chaser-Nasdaq listed Blackboard and others as well so click the links to know who these richie richie dudes are.

Man, these billionaires are just wow. I need to think of an internet based idea with billion bucks potential that would propel me to be right there with the boys and also just because there aren't any women in the list. Ack. Boo hoo. I'll be the first.. yeah right! =)

War and Conflict in the M.E

Israel Attacks Beirut(AP/Yahoo]

Looks like Israel has a lot on their hands and armor fighting two wars- Palestinians and Hezbolla. With two of their Soldiers captured by Hezbolla and then one soldier still in the hands of Palestinian last week. Hmm...where's the road map to peace?

Rotoscoping drug paranoia movie

Blah. I feel lonely :(

Anyway...nothing to blog about so.... Pirates of the Caribbean 2 washing away all the competition. Hehe. It's a box office summer hit! I haven't seen the first one so I don't really care(besides, the only Johnny Depp films I liked were Donnie Brasco and Sleepy Hollow). The movie was shown same day as was A Scanner Darkly (it was only shown though in select cities). Now that's movie I wanna see.

It's a film directed by Richard Linklater (Dazed and Confused, Slackers, Waking life...etc) based on the 1977 sci-fi novel by Philip K. Dick. He used the rotoscope technique as he did with the Waking Life film several years ago. The effect really is like fluid dreamy like animation. That and the story itself about drug, called the Substance D and the paranoia that is induced by it. The movie had favorable good reviews from critics

It may seem odd in this context to talk about performances, but the actors, rotoscoped though they may be, are phenomenal -CSM

The brilliance of "A Scanner Darkly" is how it suggests, without bombast or fanfare, the ways in which the real world has come to resemble the dark world of comic books - LATimes

Rotoscoping makes certain sense for a film about cognitive dissonance and alternative realities, though both the vocal and gestural performances by Mr. Reeves, Mr. Harrelson and, in particular, the wonderful Mr. Downey make me wish that we were watching them in live action -NYTimes

I think the film is not for everybody. "Either you're on it, or you're not'' to quote(R.D Jr's ?) line in the film. Hehee. But but of course, ulitmately the moviegoer will be the ones to decide. Critics review is just there to help guide.....okay maybe influence(?) somewhat. Hehe.

Seeking answers about humanity

Yahoo answers, one of the many Yahoo services, tapped brilliant, genius physicist, theoretical Author (Brief History of Time, The Universe in a Nutshell) and Univ. Cambridge mathematics Professor Stephen Hawking as one of 10 celebrity questioners for their ask the planet campaign.

The question: In a world that is in chaos politically, socially and environmentally, how can the human race sustain another 100 years?"

Nearly 17,000 yahoo user responded. Some had brief answers others gave long ones offering resasons and explanations. Some were vague.

Check the website link. The answers and inputs of people are soo interesting. :)

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/?qid=20060704195516AAnrdOD

Officials at the University of Cambridge, where Hawking is a mathematics professor, confirmed that Hawking wrote the message but said he would have no further comment.

Link via SFChronicle

My own two cents worthless piece of answers. To sustain the human race for another one hundred years, well... get rid of all the bad ones (terrorist, muderers..) retain the good ones (hmmm...*thinks*). Find new planet to dwell, copulate, procreate(??? er, hehe). Cloning(?) the best and the brightest individuals (but cloning is bad!....tsk tsk. I'm catholic..sue me!). Get rid of nuclear weapons and missiles.

Yay. I'm not gonna act like I know anything about everything cos honestly I dont... hence my own crappy sentiments. Hehee. I just like to blog about things that interest me.

Missile reaction

Damn, it's scary! North Korea launching test missile. One of then landing somewhere off the Japan waters. They were furious. Of course who wouldn't be. It's very scary. China should do something... I think. According to Washington Post

The Taepodong-2 was the third of at least six missiles launched beginning at 2:33 p.m. EDT and ending four hours later. They included two short-range Scud missiles and three medium-range Nodongs, another type of Scud... "None posed a threat," a Pentagon spokesman said in an e-mail account of the incident, and "no action [was] required." The Taepodong-2 missile failed after about 35 seconds, he said

Right.. but remember the Nodong is a medium-range Scud missile. The Taepodong-2 is a multi-stage missile with a possible range of 2,175 to 2,672 miles, meaning it could hit parts of Alaska.

The thought is scary.

Interview with the accused

One of the accused in the Subic rape case..Marine Staff Seargeant Chad Carpentier interviewed by GMA news

Carpentier said it was painful to be branded a rapist and feared that his two children may find it hard to understand what has happened to him.

Admitting that the past eight months had been hard...Smith, who allegedly raped Nicole, was described by Carpentier as “very quiet” and “reserved.”

“He’s just a kid,” he added. “We’re humans, we’re not the monsters we’re made out to be and I think that’s starting to come to light as the trial moves on,” Carpentier said. Carpentier also said he was “not angry” with Nicole because “I know she’s attempted and tried to do what’s right.” He described the complainant as “a victim,” not “of us” but “of some of the people surrounding her.” Carpentier said he had “nothing to hide” and that, on the night of the alleged rape, there was “another person in the van” where the incident supposedly happened – “the Lord.”

Okay..... I'm not sure if that interview has the blessings of the of embassy officials or lawyers for that matter but at least he was able to say what he wanted to say.

Tomorrow the victim 'Nicole' will be testifying. That's gotta be so nerve wracking and scary. But if you got raped you should be prepared to testify and tell all exactly what happened no matter how much painful it is in recalling ugly meories of that rape crime.

Like I keep saying....if guilty...punish. If not ...let go.

Click for more blog related post (since obviously not using Wordpress so can't do categories).

*edit.. Marines attacked by accuser. (10 July). Venting anger so can't really blame her I guess.

For whom the Liberty bell tolls

Happy 4th of July fireworks day to all you Americans!

You have to love a nation that celebrates its independence every July 4, not with a parade of guns, tanks, and soldiers who file by the White House in a show of strength and muscle, but with family picnics where kids throw Frisbees, the potato salad gets iffy, and the flies die from happiness. You may think you have overeaten, but it is patriotism. ~Erma Bombeck

Here in my country, we celebrate independence day 12 June and no we don't feast on food nor have fireworks. We do that during Christmas and New Year celebration. Hehe.

The President and media

As usual President Bush angry at the media. NYTimes in particular for publishing secret tracking of terror funds. Link via Romenesko

I think most most Presidents have love- hate affair with media whether they're journalist, broadcasters or talk radio host, bloggers for that matter. If it's favoring the Commander-in-chief, media gets pat on the back but once the attacks about domestic policies or international issues gets negative reaction by the press, President get's mad. Even here in the Philippines it's thesame thing.

Grrrr! Don't you know blogging etiquette?!

Copy Cat! blogger lazy squash ztidytrish: http://bludrush207.blogspot.com/ whoever the shmuck you are...
Host Name: 210.213.147.52.pldt.net(Mydsl_professional)
IP Address: 210.213.147.52

If you're going to copy word for word one of my blogs at least give a link or acknowledge where you got it from. Doofus! I mean shit, even the typos were copied. That plagiarist blogger made it seemed like s/he made it Freaks me out!

Damnit. Plagiarism could land you in jail you know. Grrrrr!!!!

Holy Kettle Corn

My sister gave me a whole bag of popcorn. I ate it all. My tummy's gonna pop pretty soon. Ugh. I wish I had a slice of German cake Karl said he was eating yesterday. Yummmy.

I wonder why it's called Holy. Hehee.

The saga of that heartbroken MySpace romance

And so the story goes for a young Palestinian man meeting a western girl through MySpace.com (social networking craze of fad right now) and thepromise of love and romance cut short and left pain and anguish and heartbroken feelings.

Abdullah Jimzawi, a 20-year-old high school dropout who lives with his parents in Jericho and Katherine Lester, 16 years old were supposed to meet and have fun, get to know each and marry in the future but sadly....

Lester was en route to Tel Aviv airport when she was intercepted in Amman, Jordan, by U.S. authorities who seized her passport and put her on a flight back to the United States.

Jimzawi, a shy soft-spoken young man with close-cropped hair and a two-day beard lives in Jericho, a town of 17,000 that is largely immune from the violence plaguing the rest of the West bank.

Katherine Lester is now in seclusion with her father after returning from Israel and hasn't spoke to reporterss yet.

Jimzawi was initially reluctant to talk to the media because of what he said was unfair treatment following Lester's ill-fated trip. However, he eventually agreed to be photographed in shorts and sandals, showing AP reporters the computer on which he said he met Lester eight months ago.

Read the whole article and be fascinated by their love story. I feel somewhat sorry for the young man. But I thnk he really should've been the one to go there in Michigan instead of the girl. But anyway he said his next step was to apply for visa so he could travel to the U.S. They should give him one.

About a mall and I'm not even mallrat

Blahg.

I haven't been to SM Mall of Asia. Too far from where I am right now (Quezon City) but hopefully my friends and I can go there next week(yeah if they're not tired of treating me.. yet again. Hehee. Such good friends they are). I wonder what's new with that mall. They do have the IMAX theater but I've been to one already in Darlinghurst. They say the Mall is really huge and four times the size of Megamall. Hmm. I'm not the type who enjoys long walks inside the mall.... unless of course I have money to shop. Hehe. But it's SM so maybe it'll look like thesame as all the other SM malls. My sister said it's really different from the others and she said design was good and it's beautiful. Well see then.

I'm done with my download.

Subic rape case hearing

According to US NCIS report- it was "consensual sex"

Naval Criminal Investigation Service agent Guy Papageorge, quoting from his investigation report dated Nov. 9, 2005, said Lance Corporal Daniel Smith "admitted he had sexual intercourse with the Filipino woman inside the van and that the other Marines cheered him on."

Actually the US embassy at first would not allow the other NCIS agents to testify citing something about diplomatic immunity thing.

"Consistent with our commitment to seeing that justice is served in a fair and impartial trial, the government of the United States has agreed to allow several US Government employees to testify at the trial of four US Marines accused of rape…. The US government has waived [the immunity] for the limited purpose of testifying at this trial," the US Embassy said.

Expect three more to testify for the prosecution.

And but so there you go. Daniel Smith had admitted to having had consensual sex with the victim..

But....I'll say it again and again. Going to a bar frequented by US servicemen, it's given thing already that one should expect that there would probably be some kind of sexual thing that would likely happen. She Should have avoided bars like that in the first place. I'm not chastizing the victim nor am I defending the servicemen.

Rape is something else and it's very grave and violates our worth as a human. One shouldn't get away with it..if found guilty.

By the way .... Carpentier, Smith, Silkwood, and Duplantis are members of the 31st Marine Expeditionary Force stationed on the southern Japanese island of Okinawa. They had finished counterterrorism maneuvers with Filipino troops when the alleged rape occurred in a van.

** Related blog topics
Subic rape case: four u.s marines charged with rape
Subic rape case may not be a case after all
Military tales, Military woes

Worm hits Yahoo e-mail

The most popular email service hit by virus.

The e-mail virus, or worm, has been dubbed Yamanner and landed in Yahoo mailboxes bearing the headline "New Graphic Site." Once opened, the message infects the computer and spreads to other users listed in Yahoo users' e-mail address books, security experts said. To protect your computer from the virus update firewall and virus protection and block any e-mail sent from the address "av3@yahoo.com." Good news though.. "The worm cannot run on the newest version of Yahoo Mail Beta," Symantec's site said. [Yahoo/Reuters]

And I don't know what to say, it's fine...

All is well it seems. I'm alright now.

Windows Vista anyone?

You can now download the public beta version of Microsoft's new OS. Be aware though it is just that! a beta version intended mostly for developers. At the risk of having your pc malfunction, hardrive and files gone because of incompatibility with systems, just wait for the Final release January of 2007 . Oh but heck you wanna try downloading it the beta version.. they're out of bandwidth!

Cellphone breakdown

I threw my cheap ass obselete cellphone against the wall just because I'm pissed! It keeps saying sim rejected or the numbers disappear or it would turn off on it's own and then I always have to keep holding it tight whenever I use it! End result....the battery came off but I was able to fix it.

Dangers of being a Journalist

It's tough being out there and covering the news especially in dangerous place like Iraq.

Correspondent Kimberly Dozier, cameraman Paul Douglas and soundman James Brolan - were reporting from outside their humvee and are believed to have been wearing their protective gear. Douglas and Brolan, both London-based, were killed. Dozier sustained serious injuries in the attack and underwent surgery at a U.S. military hospital in Baghdad. She is in critical condition, but doctors are cautiously optimistic about her prognosis. [CBS News]

Here in the Philippines, Journalist are getting killed one after the other and they didn't even have to cover any war.

The nanny PUK my cell

It's only small incident but I'm Pissed!

The nanny here (that looks after my niece) borrowed my cellphone last night. I didn't want to but I'm such a good one I said okay. But guess what? My phone got PUK! Shit! then she asked are you mad? Damn right I am! I was cursing. I didn't know what she did to my cellphone! obviously PUK it! Never gonna let that nanny use it again. It's a cheap ass cellphone but still it's mine and when somebody borrows something they better take care of it. I didn't wanna fix the cell so she couldnt use it but again out of the goodness of my heart I did. If I was in a good mood, I might've let it pass but was in a foul irritating mood!

Nutso hi tech products

According to PCWorld (via yahoo news] these are the 25 worst worst tech products you wish you never had!

1. AOL( how do we loathe AOL? let us count the ways)
2. Real Player (Real annoying) soooooooo true!
3. Windows ME (aka Mistake edition)
4. Internet Explorer 6 (Hoping IE7 springs fewer leaks)
5. Comet Cursor (curse you comet cursor!) gives my pc a headache! comet crap!
   
6. WEB. TV (excruciating)
7. ROKR ( not rockin)
8. IOMEGA Zip Drive (the sound of data dying)

No complete and they're not in order. I just put the ones that I'm familiar with it.

Heres the complete lists of losers

Having these products just makes you go bonkers and make you so fckingcrazynuts.

Six degrees of separation and nothingness

It's halfway through another weekend and I just finished a long journal entry. I had a lot to babble. Rant actually. I'mjust pissed it's making me sad. I know I don't have the right to but I couldn't help it. I know I should be happy and excited but...my phone's not ringing. I haven't heard anything at all. It sucks!

I don't care about about Da Vinci Code

There's still a question mark whether the movie will be shown here or not.

Censor here has yet to grant it a release permit despite a slated opening date of May 18. "We will decide on the permit based on whether the film attacks a religion, creed or doctrine, and if it defames a person living or dead," the censor, Consoliza Laguardia, told local radio on Monday.

Personally I could care less. I haven't read the book.

I know it's a best seller. Millions of people read it (hence the excitement over the movie, I guess). My sister has the book here. Karl even bought one as well. Even my friends (few that I have) who've read it says it's exciting and controversial. Still it doesn't interest me. Jesus having an affair with Mary Magdalene and siring a child and all that. Heh. Riiiight! it's a work of fiction you know.

Lets and wait and see if the movie will be shown here. I think SM cinemas will not show if it's 18 and above. SM has the most number of cinemas here. But their patrons are mostly C and D crowd.

You know what, I thinkI'm more interested about A Scanner Darkly. One of the most anticipated summer movies.

*Edit.. Censors here gave Da Vinci Code R-18 classification. SM cinemas not showing it.

Movie was shown to the press at Cannes Festival. Veridct:
Critics hate it. Majority of them!

Reactions ranged from halfhearted admiration to boredom to derision among journalists.

Ouch!

Wishing on another lucky star

The song really is poignant. JD Souther wrote it.

I like the movie Permanent Record (one of the earlier films of Keanu Reeves along with Rivers Edge..and who says he can't act?!?!.. a lot! haha) it's one of those obscure sleeper movies that hardly anybody paid attention back then. It deals with teen life and how one deals with suicide. I've seen it a number times already. I wanna have the dvd of the movie and also Rivers Edge.

I'm done. I'll just blog when I have something to blog.

I remember, I remember and I saw it

There's something I wanna blog so I'm back from not really wanting to blog cos I have nothing to blog really..but I have one now...

If I heard it correctly, SM (mall of Asia...Pasay which will open sometime this month) will have an IMAX theater(?) and the first movie they're going to show there is Everest. First of all if there's gonna be IMAX here it will be the first one for the country. Second....I've seen Everest(the movie) already back in Sydney summer of 98 inside IMAX theater as well. Just brings back memories.

The interest about Mt. Everest is getting more and more exciting There's this Filipino guy, Romy Garduce attempting to be the first Filipino to climb the summit of Mt. Everest. The very top. Oh yeah hail the pinoy!

Subic case: four US Marines charged with rape

Four U.S. Marines refused to answer rape charges against them Friday in the Philippines, prompting the judge to enter a not guilty plea for them

It seems the Judge for the case threw out the motion of the DOJ for the 3 (Silkwood, Carpentier and Duplantis) to be just an accessory to the crime and (Smith) be the only one charged.

Pozon said he could not allow a downgrade of charges against the three "on the basis of the evidence not yet presented."

Lance Cpl Daniel Smith was actually the supposed date of the rape victim then others joined the two of them in the disco then subsequently inside the van were the alleged rape took place.

The defendants belong to the 31st Marine Expeditionary Force stationed on the southern Japanese island of Okinawa. They had finished counterterrorism maneuvers with Filipino troops when the alleged rape occurred in a van at the former U.S. Subic Bay naval base near Olongapo city, west of Manila. U.S. officials have refused to disclose their hometowns.

Well, under the Visiting Forces Agreement, US authorities don't have to turn over the American servicemen facing criminal charges. And that's why there's been lots of protest here for the scraping of the VFA.

The court hearing was the first public appearance by Lance Cpl. Daniel Smith, Lance Cpl. Keith Silkwood, Lance Cpl. Dominic Duplantis and Staff Sgt. Chad Carpentier since the alleged Nov. 1 rape of a 22-year-old Philippine woman.

(By the way, the second and the third one looks cute.. hehehe. Yay).

Anyhow, there were actually six that was initially charged (Albert Lara and another one which I forgot the name). But due to lack of evidence, the prosecution dropped the charges against the two servicemen. I think they went back to Okinawa.

Rape is serious and if these men were guilty, they should be meted proper punishement but if they're not...let them go. They were here for some military exercise and then had some relaxation I guess. They probably shouldn't have gone out of the USS(whatever cos I dunno the name) or their quarters.

Many servicemen go to [war]torn places and they've had enough to deal with as it is. Not that I'm defending them over my own race but like I said if they're guilty punish them if not.. set them free (hehe, it's not like they're inside a jail though, but they've been inside the Embassy for the several months now I think).

The thing I don't get it is that, if you're a girl and then knowing that a lot of servicemen go to that bar you're going to wouldn't it be obvious that there's gonna be bad connotation about you(ie: bar girl), then you'd have avoided it. Not that I'm saying the girl is such..but of course even if..it's still not an excuse to commit rape.

Punish the guilty. If not..set free.

Okay enough, I know nobody reads my blogs thats why I bravely share my thoughts and opinions and I keep blabbing. Hehe.

How blogging is perceive in the Philippines

Blogging in RP still seen as an 'elitist' activity--blogger

BLOGGING is currently perceived as an “elitist” activity limited to people who are educated, have access to technology, and earn higher incomes, said Dr. Ronald Meinardus, blogger and resident representative of the Friedrich Naumann Foundation.

“In most countries, blogging is an activity done by higher-income and educated people,”

“In the Philippines, most political bloggers are from the opposition and are critical of the current administration. In short, political blogs in this country are mostly anti-Arroyo,” he added.

I do agree with that. Mostly the blogs (this one included) I read are the ones that has a lot to say about the Arroyo administration. But as far as blogging being an "elitist" activity..maybe somewhat it is. I mean to be able to blog you need a computer and majority of Filipinos doesn't have one and those who has access to a computer and do blog doesn't really blog about political scene or current events. They would rather spend their time playing pc games or going to sites like My Space or Friendster or surf porn. Yay. Things I don't really do online.

So am I an elitist? Hardly!

Happy Easter

Rejoice for Christ has risen.

Whats with eggs and bunnies during easter? I don't like bunnies. We had one several years ago but after a few days, he died. The poor thing was left inside a cage in the garden in a pouring rain. Somebody forgot to bring it inside the house. Aww.

The world through the eyes of a lensman

View everything here and know more about life and nature.

How do I love thee (cellphone) let me count the hits!

This Washington Post article cracks me up! Hahahaa.

To paraphrase the Marine Corps Rifleman's creed:

This is my cellphone. There are many like it, but this one is mine. My cellphone is my best friend. It is my life. My cellphone and myself know that what counts is not the calls we make or the cuteness of our ring tone. We know that it is the hits that count. We will hit.

Some people are so damn attached to their cellphone even making it their weapon of mass/ self destruction!

Hit: Rep. Cynthia McKinney (D-Ga.) is accused of "stabbing" or "jabbing" a Capitol Hill policeman with her cellphone.

Hit: Supermodel Naomi Campbell allegedly smashed Housekepeer with her cellphone

Hit: Actor Crowe, you recall, was arrested last June for assaulting a New York hotel staffer with a telephone.

Meanwhile, the "cellphone bandit," Candice Martinez, stuck up four Virginia banks last year while talking on a cellphone...

Read whole article :)

Oh boy, am I glad I have a very ancient cellphone that only thing I can do with it is to call and text. Hahaha. Ooop, actually I can freaking hit somebody as well.It's biggie! Yay!

To speak or no to speak...English

When Erap testified at his plunder case yesterday, he wanted the proceedings in tagalog but the laywers argued that it's going to be hard for them and the stenographer as well. They wanted to use the English language (easier for them to do their job). Both parties made a compromise. The lawyers will ask questions in English and Estrada will answer back in Tagalog.

And so the interchange was done in Taglish.. Yikes!

It's funny to think about how we are all Filipinos here and yet the court has to have an interpreter just so it can translate Estrada's answers into English. How silly. Hehehe.

Hell, what happens if you're defending somebody poor who can't even understand the English language? Lawyers will just continue their gibberish slangs and and lexicon blabs without them knowing and understanding what the fuck is going on! Just look what happened during Ultra stampede hearings. The victims (mostly poor ones) were so clueless as to whats going on cos prosecutors and and everybody else was talking in english!

The PC [political correctness] movement exists not in order to improve the well-being of those whose oppression it purports to combat. Rather, its purpose is to wrap its proponents in a kind of verbal comfort-blanket. Beneath its complacent cosiness and nauseating sanctimony, the intrepid shock-troops of 'populist authoritarianism' pretend that suppressing the language of prejudice is the same as eliminating prejudice itself. Smug and self-satisfied, having assuaged whatever guilt they may have felt through their attacks on the 'non-PC', they ignore the real inequalities, ignominies and powerlessness of those whom they pretend to champion. They are instead complacently content at their 'victory' in contorting the language of 'acceptable' discourse in the classroom, in the textbook and in the mass media. ~Erik Kowal, as posted on The Wordwizard Portal

Uhm

Maybe Lawyers should realize that if their clients cannot speak much less understand English, they ought to go down to their level of understanding and talk to them and explain things to them in Tagalog. If you're a Filipino though you should be able to speak and talk argue and defend in your mother tongue and rephrase words in the most effective way.

On the other hand.....

Many agree that when it comes to court cases and hearings, English language is best used for arguments and questions and everything else. They said that terminology and articulation is but hard and will be difficult for them to translate into Tagalog words. Okay maybe they are right about that. Also if you want to be successful in the corporate world and be a professional (Doctors, Lawyers...etc) and travel abroad of course you need to speak good English-correct grammar and the right pronounciation and enunciation. One doesn't need to be so fluent (although it helps a lot).

Communicating effectively is a must. Whether it's in your native tongue or different language.

And just so you know, I speak fluent Tagalog.

Anyhow...

If you can speak three languages you're trilingual. If you can speak two languages you're bilingual. If you can speak only one language you're an American.

Hmm. I have nothing more to say.

Why Cory doesn't like Gloria

I think I know why.. it's probably not a secret but here's my theory, it's because PGMA and Mrs. Marcos are talking. Meaning to say, that Mrs. Marcos thinks that with this present government of Arroyo she can get a deal to bury her late husband, and then at the same time, the government was willing to enter into an out-of-court settlement with Marcos over her tiaras, bracelets and necklaces in an attempt to speed up recovery of the assets.

As you know, if was the Marcoses who jailed Ninoy Aquino (Cory's husband) and thought to be the one who killed him which in turn sparked EDSA revolution.

And now, the government is entering a deal with Imelda Marcos ( about the ill gotten wealth cos PCCG said it has been so long.. already and nothing happening..to that effect) .

You get what I mean? Oh well, I know majority of Filipinos doesn't like PGMA. Heh!

The (Subic rape)case may not be a case after all

Accordng to this Reuters report: Manila may drop rape charges against US marine

Last year, Philippine prosecutors charged the four with raping a 22-year-old Filipino woman in early November but, following an appeal by defense lawyers, the government is reviewing the charges before the marines are formally arraigned.

"What I'm studying now is whether the culpability of all these people is the same," Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez told Reuters.

When asked about media reports that the Philippines will drop all charges against three of the four U.S servicemen, Gonzalez said "I do not think so."

The case is weak I think.

The girl who granted news interview (shown on t.v) several weeks ago said she's educated, she's college graduate( Ateneo de Davao.. If I'm not mistaken) and that she was only in Subic vacationing. But why go to a club frequented by marines? Hoes go there! Where there are U.S servicemen, naturally hoes would be there as well.

Gory Hostel Movie

Hot hot heat. Holy crap! It's practically summer already. Just couple of weeks more and it will be official. I wanna write something long and crappy and something quixotically boring about my life but my diary site is gone which is bummer cos that's where I blab about me, myself and my aesthetic crap. My journal of thoughts. My day by day existence(sp?). I hope they fix that site AS SOON AS POSSIBLE!

Saw the movie Hostel and that was so fucking gory! Blood gory body parts spilling all over-eye gouching arm breaking knee bending heel cracking finger cutting goriness! I sat throughout the duration of the movie covering my face not because it was scary but because of the blood and yucky cutting body parts thing. Eww.

Bush hit by cricket pitch ball.Yeeeouch!

Uh oh. Something for the late night talk shows monalogues. View photo slide here or watch the video from you tube. You know how they like to make fun one of the President Bush or anybody for that matter. I guess he should stick to baseball. Hehe.

Btw, was gonna post the embed vid but covered a bit of my sidebar.

End Presidential Proclamation 1017!

"I am tired of chasing the bully" she once said. But... isn't it the bully who chases the wimps?!

Enough warrantless arrest! Enough crackdown on media! Enough curtailing freedom of speech and the right to free assembly! Enough being stupidness and hungering for more presidential powers. Enough sucking up to her! End greed! End the so called Martial law like PP1017!

She's been the President since EDSA 2 and will continue to be that way untill 2011! Man, that's like almost 10 years of GMA. It's sickening already. Enough!

Edit* President Arroyo lifted state of national emergency the following day. As far as I'm concerned,....she should lift herself out the Malacanang palace throne!

Saving what I can, missing routinary d-x updates

Yippee. I finally was able to salvage several yearly archives(different months and all that) of my D-x journals through yahoo cache and internet archives. It's not everything but at least I got to save hundred or so from the combined 5 years of journal entries I had with Diary-x. I thought I wouldn't be able to retrieve my life online but..thank goodness for caches. I placed all archives saved in geocities accoount I have since forever.. but I gotta to fix them to make it fucken gruven archive site with custom layout and what not. :)

I'm waiting for d-x to resurrect from it's tomb, In the meantime, I will blahg a bit of my so called life here..until of call the new d-x is ready with it's spanking new life! Okay enough this!

Death of Diary-x: Requiem for my online journal

It;s just a journal.. a an online site to rant about life to and update angst and to mull over things mundane as they can be. But.. with so many words and thoughts gone.. it's kinda hard not to feel something. I use d-x to further improve my writing skills and share my thoughts.

Grieving for the loss of my journal. Five years of my online journal gone. Five years of my life gone. I spent five years sharing my depeest innermost thoughts and secrets to my online journal(especially about the death of my mom) and now I learned that it's dead! the site will be close due to unrecoverable drive failure.

Five years of thoughts and words and memories saved.... and it's all gone. I am sad. I invested my brains and writing skills, my emotional outburst, my happy thoughts, sad painful sorrows of life. Me, myself and I..my life basically since 2002 I shared everything in there. my wit and whining, candor and crappy thoughs about my everyday life. My crushes, my friends, stories of love and hate and melancholy musings. Everything's empty now. I'm gonna miss the long hours of confiding to my journal and updating it everyday. I feel bad that all the hours I spent laboring infront of the pc making layouts are gone (I have 14 layouts there). But mostly I just feel sad that five years of life love and tears and angst that was entrusted to my online journa gone down. All gone.

I'm not mad at Stephen but knwing that it's an online jounrnal, all measures should have been taken care off because hundreds of people uses his site to publish journals. It's easy, it's simple to use (just like blogger) and have good reviews that's why I picked it host my life online so.. why did it came to this? I should've back up my files before but..I didn't.. next time I'll know better.

Bye diary-x. It's not gonna be thesame. I have to start anew. Just glad I have this blog same time I started my online journal.

Crisis gone pffttt!

Argh. Standoff inside Fort Bonifacio left me hanging. I thought there would batallion of marines and throngs of people making a solid stance against government. I was looking for more action. More of the drama. I'm no war freak and I'm very peaceful loving individual. I wanted something significant to happen but in the end went pfffft. Shit! Bitin!

Btw, crisis was solve just before midnight. It was internal problem within the Marines. Military! Tsk tsk! :)

It is exactly like Martial Law!

I'm pissed! disturb actually. The turn of events here and the proclamation of national state of emergency is putting paranoia in my head.

CIDG raided offices of Daily Tribune! Arrested opposition personalities! It is like a pre martial law. And it's happening again. When she declared national state of emergency, she is trying so hard to hold on to her power and will do anything not to be overthrown via military coup or another people power (which nearly happened during the so called EDSA 3). Arroyo is so scared that she's doing these things and actually is the one inciting fear and causing alarm to every Filipino.

If events like what happened this morning continues-arresting people and rading a newspaper company, warning the reporters and journalist they will be next, scaring different media outlets, then martial law is slowly happening. The ghost of martial law is happening again. This time, people will not tolerate it. The first time it happened ithe Marcos era, everybody was helpless against the dictator. Not this time!

I'm putting my own two cents worth of blogging opinions here. I sometimes fear that I better be careful of what I blog and what I say regarding her. But this is the venue for me to rant about what I think of her and the political situation of our country. Freedom of speech, the right to speak should never be stopped. I know hardly anybody reads these blogs but still with what's happening now gotta be aware of what I input here. I remember looking at my tracker and seeing an IP add coming from office of the president Yay! That was surprising. Oh well, maybe somebody browsing there.

Smack Down!

Curtailing freedom of speech and even thinking of shutting down media outlets is damn fucking outrageous! Arroyo declared state of national emergency and with that comes powers that could put people in jail. The news media, television stations and other entities were warned by NTC(telecommunications body here).

National Telecommunications Commissioner Ronald Solis also warned media Friday not to broadcast calls for the forceful removal of Arroyo, urging television and radio networks to "cooperate" with the government for the duration of the state of national emergency. Solis asked for "balanced reporting" from broadcasters when covering events surrounding the alleged coup attempt foiled by the government on Friday morning.

Fuck. If you shut down media outlets..you are creating an even more fear and panic! People Power is being commemorated by thousands of Filipinos today and it's one of the reason why we have democracy right now!

Freedom to speak out and be heard should never ever be prevented! Does she even understand the word democracy and what it means! Goodness! Let the people know what the fuck is really going on! That there is (was) a revolt against her but it sorta of fizzled out cos some of the men in unform became wimps..I guess). It's gonna be her downfall if she shuts down media!

President Arroyo was lucky today for the coup and the revolt didn'tmaterialize. Pres. Arroyo is hanging by thread..again. Up to when can she hold on to the ropes of power? Only the "plotters" know.

--
Since I wasn't able to blog yesterday and dx still dead site...

Friday morning. Had breakfast outside then went to the booktsore and came back here. Watched most of whats going on via the telly. I kinda grew tired of it. So while people were out marching/protesting/rallying/ commemorating people power anniversary, I went Cubao. No I did not watch WWE silly gross action slam bang. Went to Gateway instead and watched Final Destination at the Cineplex. The movie was entertaningly suspensefully funny( shrugs.. most people inside the theater were laughing...er, "gaysters."). Wanna see it again. Hehe.

So where were you when it happened?

People Power in EDSA. Do people still care about that historic moment? I hope they do. After reading and seeing(news and documentaries) what it was like during the Martial Law years and the sufferings of people back then-those who were fighting for freedom of everything!, I think taking out the tyrannical ruler through that historical event, should always be remembered. The world was looking in awe as we deposed and and took out Ferdinand Marcos from his high pedestal throne from Malacanang Palace.

Tomorrow will be the 20th year anniversary of the revolution. Do people still care about it. I dunno. I'm blogging about it just because...it's an event. A moment in our nation's history to be proud of and feel good.

The time is ripe for a new People Power revolt but I think most are tired of it. Then again....if it's a way to change and have a better government..why not. Make sure it's bloodless!

Ahh, the Jetson life once more

In the future....

Trash cans will be Touchless!

When you move something about 6 inches from the lid, a magical AI Smart Chip II opens the lid and closes thanks to patented SilenX silent lid closing thing.

Uh huh. Comes in handy for carrying tons of crap. Order it here if you like.





We can now test water right in the comfort of our own hands! Ugh. Am I drinking shitty water full of bacteria? Lemme get my Water Qaulity Tester. Place a single drop of water from any source onto the device then it will display either a happy face or a sad face depending on the quality of water.

Oooh Happy face.. it's safe to drink! *Chug chug*.. Ahhh.



Being lazy or just cost cutting ? Bye bye fastfood crew hello Touch Screen Ordering. This is just a large touch screen where all of the ordering and paying happens. Yeah but what if the customer is blind!? Hello? Anybody here?!

No more work for people who can't find work! Awww!

Links via Gizmodo

Buried in landslide

A village in southern part of Leyte is now buried in mudslides 1,500 feared hurt or dead

I was watching the news earlier and and saw people covered in mud and others digging through and trying to find the missing. Couple of days back floodings in Leyte in was reported in the news even though there weren't any rainstorm and now this tragedy. It's horrible.

Music to my ears

Yey. John Legend won at the grammys for Best Male R and B performance and Best New Artist. I really like his song Ordinary People.

We're just ordinary people
We don't know which way to go
Cuz we're ordinary people
Maybe we should take it slow (Take it slow oh oh ohh)
This time we'll take it slow (Take it slow oh oh ohh)
This time we'll take it slow

Take it slow
Maybe we'll live and learn
Maybe we'll crash and burn
Maybe you'll stay, maybe you'll leave,
maybe you'll return
Maybe you'll never find
Maybe we won't survive
But maybe we'll grow
You never know baby youuuu and  I

Oh yeah I'm singing it now!

Freedom of speech and clash of culture

Poor Denmark and Danish people. They hardly ever figure in any international issues and events and now all because of local newspaper (Jyllands-Posten) cartoon drawing of Prophet Muhammud in a turban depicting that of a bomb, the muslims are now burning their flags and storming their embassy and protesting. What was supposed to be a cartoon aimed to be humorous (I guess they thought it would be that way) turned out differently.

According to the LA Times

It's not the decision by Jyllands-Posten and other European newspapers to publish the cartoons that is appalling, it's the response from the Muslim world. If the Muslim outrage is really about demanding respect for others' beliefs (a valid argument), Arabs should be insisting that their own media stop the almost-daily depictions of Jews and Christians as bloodthirsty cannibals and murderers of children. One tasteless act does not excuse another. Tolerance is a two-way street.

And what of the cartoons? The real issue is not that some of the cartoons portrayed Islam unflatteringly but that the prophet's image was drawn at all. While Muslims are prohibited from depicting Muhammad, and doing so is considered blasphemy, this prohibition should not apply to non-Muslims. Demanding that non-Muslims abide by such a religious edict is tantamount to ordering them to follow an Islamic halal diet or cover their women's hair. In a world with more than a dozen major religions, no faith can prescribe such behaviors to others.

Where does one draw the line for freedom of speech and expression and the respect for other religion? There's an identity crisis happening. Remember what happened in France last year. The riots by Muslims? A clash of culture once again happening.

Btw, Iran said they're gonna boycott Danish products...well...there goes the yummy Danish cookies!

Philippine stampede reflects poverty

It's just a game show giving away prizes (money, car, house and lot) for their first anniversary but more than 70 people were killed in the stampede trying to get inside stadium in the hopes of their names would be called and they might win something.

The stampede just shows how poor we Filipinos are

To the poverty-stricken, such tempting prizes are worth dying for. To many of them, the program is the only way to get hold of some money that, perhaps, could finally set them free from the clutches of poverty.

I don't watch the said show (I watch the rival one..cos it's much better..hehe) but sometimes I catch glimpses of it when channel surfing. The show has many poor contestants and for many it's a way for them to get meager sum of money to augment and alleviate their poverty needs.

The solution would for people to have jobs. Game shows and the prizes won will only bring relief for time being. In the end money will run out and it's back to scraping for food and joining contests instead of getting a job or looking for one. Goverment should provide jobs to the many unemployed.

I salute them

Media people who write the news, report the news. cover the news. They who often becomes a pawn or the ace to create fear and to bargain in exchange for something by the terrorist, has been targeted by these militia men. Ruthtless and no mercy. It's tough job. It's hard and one's life is put to danger telling and reporting the atrocities and and committed by these terrorists. They risk a lot by doing so.

Reporter for the CSM Jill Caroll weeps as she pleads for her life in a video

ABC co-news anchor Bob Woodruff and camera man were seriously injured when they hit roadside bomb.

So many others as well. Not just in Iraq but Afghanistan, Somalia, Pakistan, Philippines and a lot more countries. Many journalist had been killed and/or kidnapped already.

For being what they are and knowing how very dangerous it can be yet not stoppping to bring the news and letting that fear get in the way of what people really ought to kno. Their life put in to peril because of the war on terror and just by reporting the truth and doing so, I salute them

This blog's a bitch!

Haha. Sarcasm saves you from telling someone what you really think about them! I can't help but be a meanie. Plus the movie Jarhead was corny!

It's so like valley girl talk English. Ugh.

According to this report

"Valley Girl has gone beyond a fad and is now rooted in different forms of English around the world," Ms Tagliamonte said. "Girls are the single most powerful force in the English language today." The research was among work discussed at the annual meeting of the American Dialect Society in New Mexico over the weekend.

Sali Tagliamonte, associate professor of linguistics at the University of Toronto, believes the strongest recent shift has been the spread of Californian "Valley Girl" style, promoted around the globe by television shows such as Buffy the Vampire Slayer and The OC (which I don't watch..just cos it's not my type of show..thank you very much).

This style of speech is characterised by inserting drawled words such as "like" and "so" to add emphasis to a sentence, which rises in pitch at the end.

Damn. It's so like annoying. Like it's so duh and so irritating. Ugh. Just shut the fuck up!

What one gets for being honest

Cristina Bugayon, the 12 year old girl who found a bagful of money amounting to more than $3000 (140,000 pesos) and returning it to it's rightful owner, continues to get more rewards from different sectors of society for her honesty. The company who owned the money, Techpoint computer, gave her..whatelse.. a computer! Geez. She should at least get some monetary reward. I think when the news broke out and she was interviewed, she and the mother as well was hoping for a reward..a cash reward! Well, a councilor gave her close to $100 (5000 pesos). She should get more just to compensate for her honesty.

Man, if it was me who had found that huge amount..hmm..haha! I dunno. I would've gotten some bills! haha but..I do have conscience though so go figure!

In the defense of the media

From Editor and Publisher.com

In perspective, the media did not create the rumor that the miners were safe. Miscommunication, misheard phone exchanges, and optimistic gossip probably lay at the root of the bad information. Officials, too, were at fault for not immediately clarifying what they knew and what they did not. But the fact is, most Americans, including probably people who knew the miners, believed the three hours of saturation news reports on television and the Internet that the miners were "rescued.It's not really their fault. They just wanted to tell the story as it is.

I dont think the media should get all the blame from the erroneous reporting. I know they should've at least check and re check and confirm the accuracy of the reports and hearsay that indeed miners are alive. The mining officials should share the blame for not really saying anything...not until all the erroneous reporting came about.. and yeah after 3 hours at that. It's their job to give information. Correct one.

Media bashing

So now most media outlets like wire services, network television and most especially newspaper are under the radar of scrutiny because of the false and erroneous report saying 12 miners alive and survived the blast there by giving false hope to many of the miners relatives when in reality they were dead already! Whose to blame of all these bad reporting?

Mike Fetters, a spokesman for The Newseum, a Washington, D.C.-based museum about the media, says that slightly more than half of the 250 U.S. newspapers examined Wednesday by the staff at the museum published front-page stories that said the miners were alive.

Few of those stories raised doubts about the report's credibility. Most did not make clear to readers, for instance, that the news was based on secondhand accounts from family members of the trapped miners just before midnight ET Tuesday. Officials from the company that owned the mine had not confirmed that the men were alive.

Greg Mitchell, editor of the trade magazine Editor & Publisher, called the media's performance "disturbing and disgraceful" in an online column Wednesday morning.

"The job of reporters and editors is to stop and say 'we've got some possible good news, but it's not confirmed yet,' " Mitchell said later Wednesday in an interview. "That really didn't happen."

Read complete article here

Changing lanes

More like changing networks. Ted Koppel has joined Discovery Channel and left ABC network and his long running Nightline show. I used to watch that show back when cable here was still cable with good channels. Hehe. One of the best documentaries I've seen was from Nightline and it was about Sarajevo after the war.

I wonder why he left the network though. Shrugs.. just blogging some media news

Erroneous report turned joy into to sorrow for miners relatives

Miscommunication!

It's sad for those relatives of the miners hearing that only 1 has survived that mining tragedy instead of the reported 12. Erroneous reporting is blamed for the confusion.

Ben Hatfield, president of the International Coal Group said the erroneous information spread rapidly when people overheard cell phone calls between rescuers and the rescue command center.

Several relatives fainted when they were informed of the miner's death by company officials and West Virginia Gov. Joe Manchin during an early evening briefing inside the Sago Baptist Church. Others rushed ashen-faced from the scene, uncertain of the identity of the dead miner, each fearing he was a loved one.

Link via LATimes

The erroneous report only added to the rage felt by tired, angry and devastated relatives of those miners who are now feared dead.

Bashing big hairy creature

Watched King Kong last night. Upon the demise of Kong, one of the caharacters(played by Jack Black) said it's beauty who killed the beast.. I say...it's more of the sappy love scenes by the gorilla and the lengthy slow pace that killed the movie! Hehe. Read more

See evil, hear evil, stop evil AKA spying!

President Bush in a controversy again about domestic spying. He admitted such spying had taken place. From USA Today report

In this latest case, the administration authorized the National Security Agency to eavesdrop on international phone calls and e-mails of people within the USA without court approval. It defends the practice by saying post-9/11 plots have been broken up

Yikes..I wouldn't want my calls screened! Don't want snoop dogs out there listening to my conversations and screening my emails.. that's privacy violation. It's kinda like wiretapping..American way. Ugh.

While it is essential that the government take action to stop such attacks before they happen, the administration has yet to explain why it needs to act without a warrant to accomplish this

Sure, it's nice to capture and know what the heck terrorists are up to...but may be they need to do something pratical and important like.. don't let anybody enter airports with guns! Check thoroughly for weapons of hijackand terrorists destructions.

Just incase one flew over the White House nest

Well, it's not yet there but just incase it hits the U.S., a flu pandemic readiness test was done at the White House..minus the President and the Vice. Bush went for a bike ride in suburban Maryland on a cold winter morning. Vice President Dick Cheney also stayed away. I think they should've at least been there. According to the news report

Fears of a pandemic have increased in recent months as a virus infecting millions of birds has spread throughout Asia and parts of Europe. While the virus has not yet appeared in the United States, or spread from person to person, officials worry the bird flu could eventually mutate and become as contagious globally as the annual flu.

The administration is working under the worst-case assumption that as many as 90 million Americans would become sick and 2 million would die during a worldwide flu pandemic.

Scary to to think. Is it exaggerated? I dunno. There's no bird flu case there but yet. but better be prepared than sorry.

If you're tired and owerworked....

Listen up read and click 6 signs you're boss is killing you- and 6 ways to fight back

Haha..revenge.

All about chocolates

Chocolate has been linked to chemicals which cause happiness in humans, as well as with making children smile--Happy news

Who can't resist a good heavenly chocolates huh? I have sweet tooth.I love chocolates and the sinful guilty pleasures it brings whenever I put one in my mouth, swirl and bite it. Happynews happy living section has many articles on just about anything to do with chocolates like recipes for hot choco or all about Ghirardelli chocolates (which is one of my favorite! So yummy!) or about Lindt chocolates. If you're a chocoholic...go to site and enjoy!

I'm craving for chcolate right now. Waah...no more Hersheys symphony!

Boob-tube booboos

Courtesy of Nestor Torre's Viewfinder.

HOST: WERE YOU AT THE SCENE of the shootout when it happened?

Guest: No, we arrived right after, in time to see the died persons all over the place!

(Ay, the died persons!)

* * *
Host: So, you did not see the exchange of fire between the police and the (criminals?)

Guest: No, but one of our group says he saw one of the coup disgrace.

(Coup disgrace?—Oh, coup de grâce!)

* * *
Quizmaster: If red wine is made from grapes, what is white wine made from?

Contestant: Coconut!

(Wrong! The answer is still grapes.)

* * *

Host: What’s the secret of a long and happy marriage?

Guest: You have to agree first in the beginning, dapat it’s a give in take relationship!

(Ay, give in take relationship!)

* * *
Host: What about the raid do you object to?

Guest: Before you raid, you have to get a church warrant. They did not have a church warrant, so they should not have raided.

(Church warrant?—Oh, search warrant!)

Hahahahaaa..I wanna laugh... hahahaa

Military tales, military woes

6 US servicemen charged with rape as US military investigates the case

THE United States military is conducting a parallel investigation into the alleged rape of a 22-year-old Filipina by its servicemen last week at the Subic Bay Freeport

Hard to be in the military.....you either get killed by roadside bombing, suicide attack or by accident.. and to think, they're just doing they're jobs or you go to court. Not all are rapist.

Lets hope there's good news for them like troops coming home for Thanksgiving or Christmas.

There are good guys and heroes. Of course the ones that are bad needs to be punished.

Catcher in the Rye moment

Today is All Souls Day (or Saints day.. I'm not really sure..but it's a holiday) and people go to cemeteries to visit grave of loved ones. Remember their dead and bring flowers and all that.

According to Holden Caulfied....

Boy, when you're dead, they really fix you up. I hope to hell when I do die somebody has sense enough to just dump me in the river or something. Anything except sticking me in a goddam cemetery. People coming and putting a bunch of flowers on your stomach on Sunday, and all that crap. Who wants flowers when you're dead? Nobody. - The Catcher in the Rye, 1945

Since it's been raining the past few days and for two days people will flock to the cemeteries to bring flowers, this line from the JD Salinger book came into my blogging mind.

High end technology fashion

If you want to be hip and be a fashionista geek you gotta spend big bucks.

Louis Vuitton sells a $305 "international telephone case." Dior sells a $315 case for iPod Minis, as well as a $295 travel case for all of iPod's accessories.

Geesh, I can't even afford a new phone!

Link via Washington Post

Happy News

Browsing Cyber Journalist and I saw news item about a site that features good news. If you're tired of reading and seeing negative news why not try Happy News.com. This site brings all the good news. The positive ones. Finally a wesbite that lets us know all the good things that are happening ins tead of the bad ones.

If you want to start your day right....read some positive news.

Slippery opinion, it's the slippers stupid!

Oh man, here's a question. Why do people wear slippers inside the malls and practically eveywhere?

Ugh, I think it's stupid! Here's an observation. Some people are just so "Slippered!" Dunno if there's such a word but I've noticed everywhere I go, the malls especially, people everywhere are wearing damn slippers! I mean most girls I see wear them. Seems to be the trend right now. But sheehs, I wouldn't be caught dead wearing a damn slippers inside a mall! Christ! I mean, I see them girls, wearing good clothes then when it comes to the their feet, they're wearing spartan like slippers. Heck, it doesn't matter wether you're wearing Havaianas or whatever kind of flip flops it's still a damn fucking slippers! Hehehe. I don't mean to sound like some damn elitist( cos I'm not!). Ugh. People! Fashion emergency please! Read more?

Easy does it

Pride of the Philippines Manny Paquiao recorded TKO on the sixth round earlier (Saturday night, LA time). I was waching the fight and it was exciting although the news that he had won was broadcast by ANC prior to seeing the bout. Solar Sports aired it on delayed basis hence the news of "Pacman's" win had been announced already. I'm no boxing fan. I don' like the sport but it's cool when one of your own brings pride to the country

Btw, There were so many commercials of the broadcast that it was soo annoying!

Well, doggone me!

I'll be damned! A stuffed dog webcam!

New design to put something different on top of your PC/notebook. The Look 312P is in the shape of a stuffed animal but has all the features you normally find in a web cam. We put the web camera in the nose because we believe that “high technology” should be more than just a product. You still get the same results.

Arf arf!! Talk about voyerism! Yikes.

And to quote gizmodo... "pay no attention to the vast collection of plush stuffed dogs scattered around my apartment." He he.

No wonder I don't like dogs oh and stuffed toys. Ha ha ha. Btw, now you know why it's called stuffed toys! Nyahahaha.

Hooray For Andre

This good news from AP via yahoo.

NEW YORK (AP) -- Andre Agassi bounded onto the court with the joyful grin of a child, his eyes wide as he soaked in the adoring cheers of the U.S. Open crowd.

At 35, he is ageless, his tennis a timeless classic.

When the match finally ended at 1:09 Thursday morning, Arthur Ashe Stadium was still full and fans at home were mesmerized, knowing they'd been treated to something rare.

Andre Agassi won his match against James Blake at the US open. He still has the magic and just the sheer energy to come up with unbelievable shots and like everyone was cheering for him. Classic Andre. Vintage moves. Man, I hope he wins the open.

Cheese for President!

Cheese is the name politics is his game. Seeking the truth is his mission and people are supporting that vision! Ha ha. I'm soooooo "cheese..y." Hehe. What a speech, what a mind! Aye!

Eloquence of his speech last nigh at the congress just emphasized how smart he is. I'm talking about, Minority Floor Leader Francis "cheese" Escudero. He spoke with candor and passion and the truth about impeachment and the consequence for everyone involved. His speech done in Tagalog and English was just so stately, dignified. Firm yet ably understood in explaining to everyone, to the majority members of the house, why there's an impeachment. Why the need for it to proceed. Uhmm, cos Arroyo cheated.. that's why. But Minority failed to gather 79 signatures for the impeachment to proceed.

And as I blog right now, congress still in session this wee hours of the morning interpellating (?) Justice Committee report.

Reporters plea

Judith Miller, the NYT jailed reporter wants federal shield law for journalists.

Former Senator Bob Dole, who said he had visited Miller in jail, commented, "For the life of me, I don't know why she is there," he said. "She never published anything."

Most Powerful Richest Country Suffering

Just to see those images on the net, tv, different photo blogs of what's actually happening in New Orleans. Looting, rape, fire, explsions, lawlessness. Man, it's a terrible tragedy and just imagine it's in the US not Sri Lanka nor any other 3rd world country hit by tsunamis last year. And also, the Americans are now being called "refugees." right in their very own backyard.

They've been concerned with other nations but looks at the US now reduced to anarchy. Well, just in one state. NOT the whole country.

And with this horrible natural disaster, a lot of other major news in the world has been left back pages of the paper and broadcast. Iraq..well, not in the headlines anymore.

Hurricane news source via WashPost Yahoo news

US planes in Zamboanga

Here they come..hunting down the Abusayyaf!

US Globemaster military transport plane unload soldiers and equipment inside the tightly guarded Edwin Andrews Air Base (EAAB). The second plane was smaller and believed to have also come from the US Air Force.

Link via Sunstar

Edit-- Ugh. 6 comments came from a comment spam.. From now on comment verification is on!

People have no mercy..esp..looters!

Americans are experiencing their own kind of tsunami and it's disheartening to see the distraught faces of people affected by the hurricane. But what's sickening is to see some jack ass people taking advantage of others miseries and tragedies by looting and stealing other peoples belongings.

Right now New Orleans is a city gripped by chaos as looters ran wild, food and water supplies dwindled, and bodies floated in the flood waters.

Looters brazenly ripped open gates and ransacked stores for food, clothing, television sets, computers, jewelry and guns, often in full view of helpless law-enforcement officials. Dozens of carjackings, apparently by survivors desperate to escape, were reported, as were a number of shootings.

People are mad, people have nowhere to go, the streets flooded, no electricity,some lay dead on the streets... inside the hotels, underneath collapsed house. It's chaos.. and Those looters have no fucking mercy at all. How sad the situation is.

News source via NYT

Looks similar but it's not thesame

Hah. No doubt hurricane Katrina devastated Lousiana, New Orleans, Mississippi and Alabama and left utter destruction (duh!). I was gonna compare it to Asian tsunamis but after seeing quite bit of the news videos of the hurricane, I changed my mind. What happened here in Asia with the tsunamis back in December brought a much catastrophic effect to lives of people.

But tragedy is tragedy not matter which part of the world you are, people are the ones who suffer. Oh, and also the reporters. I noticed, watching CNN couple of their reporters were crying and voices breaking while trying t to report. Well, they're only human. Seeing utter loss of others can get to them and their emotions. Just like it gets to me.

By the way, here in the Philippines, we don't really have any hurricanes. The worst would be a storm signal number 4 (a sort of category 1 or 2 hurrincane, I think). We have severe flooding though because people dump trashes everywhere and loggers kill trees!

What exactly is an American Accent?

People who can't get a job of their choice mostly end up in "sunshine industry" meaning call center. Outsourcing has become the "in" thing for the past several years and working for a call center seems to be the option to take when one can't really find a work. It's a highpaying job which requires long hours of sitting infront of the computer and blah blah to whatever the customer needs. They said one has to have an "American accent" but what is exactly an "American accent?." I heard somebody talking and it is audible in my bionic ears but the person speaking was veryirritating and doing it a garbled messed up accent, I wonder how the hell could someone understand him? Cos I didn't.

"American accent" shouldn't be slang. Not all Americans speak with a twang. In each state, they talk and enunciate words different from that of another state.

Okay enough said. I'm just doing some blahgging time.

ABC News Anchor Peter Jennings passes away.

Peter Jennings died of lung cancer. From the New York Times ...

Mr. Jennings had disclosed that he was suffering from lung cancer on April 5, first in a written statement released by ABC and later that night on "World News Tonight," the evening news broadcast that he had led since September 1983. In brief remarks at the end of that night's program, Mr. Jennings, his voice scratchy, told viewers that he hoped to return to the anchor desk as his health and strength permitted. But he never did. As an anchor, Mr. Jennings presented himself as a worldly alternative to Mr. Brokaw's plain-spoken Midwestern manner and Mr. Rather's folksy, if at times offbeat, Southern charm. Read more about Peter Jennings death and his life via this NYTimes article

I remember how my mom (bless her soul) used to tell me that she had a crush (fondness I should say) on Peter Jennings and thinks that he's soo good looking. Yeah, hes's dapper and suave alright. Add to the fact he's one the best anchor and journalist. I remember watching a documentary special about Sarajevo(or Bosnia) after the war and genocide and it was one of the best I've seen.

Read tributes, remembrance and perspective

Finally, Deep Throat Revealed

No. 2 official at the FBI was Watergate's "Deep Throat" and that is former deputy FBI Director Mark Felt.

President Bush is anxious to learn more about deep Throat...err, the identity that is.