10 signs that you are a pervert

Are you a pervert? You might be one and not even know it. This top 10 list clears it up for you.



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The Makati Tragedy

Atty. Teddy Te on Mayor Binay's Suspension

"The tragedy of this all is that Emperor Binay (and his successors in waiting: his wife, his son and his daughter; if Teddy Boy Locsin didn't still have one term left, Binay's other daughter might have run for the 2d congressional seat) now milks his 'underdog' status for all that it is worth and any real issue of corruption against Binay is now swept under the rug, so to speak--waiting to be resurrected during the next election."

A Black Mark on UP

I was reading the PCIJ story on Mayor Robredo and I came upon this

"Two of the commissioners who ruled against against him in the quo warranto case, he says, have close ties to Luis Villafuerte — Brawner, a law classmate at the University of the Philippines, and Ferrer, a former law office partner."

A COMELEC Commissioner and a graduate of the University of the Philippines ruled that a person who has lived all his life in the Philippines, whose parents lived all their lives in the Philippines, is not a Filipino. Wow!

Conspiracy Theories

from xkcd via denialism blog


The Moon Landing Conspiracy, in case you have not read it before. From Bad Astronomy

PZ Myers on morons

Pharyngula: There are no marching morons

I watched Idiocracy and enjoyed it. But I was uncomfortable with the premise though I didn't really know why. Now Dr. PZ Myers wrote a post that made me realize why I was so uncomfortable with the premise of the movie.

...the primary plot point of the movie Idiocracy. It's also the premise behind eugenics and behind a lot of right-wing phony elitism. It's wrong. It was a very popular story, but the reason isn't complimentary: it fed into a strain of self-serving smugness in science-fiction fandom, the idea that people who read SF are special and brilliant and superior, we are the technological geniuses and far-seeing futurists, while the mundanes leech off our vision. The eugenics movement built on the same us-vs.-them mentality, that there are superiors and inferiors, and the inferiors breed like cockroaches.

Of course in the Philippines, there's evidence that the morons have become a breeding population and running/ruining the country. :)

Joker Arroyo for Senator

2004 Ad

David Halberstam (In Memoriam)

Yahoo! News reports that one of my favorite authors died in a car accident.

I've only read five of his books (The Powers that Be, The Best and the Brightest, The Amateurs, Summer of '49 and Playing for Keeps: Michael Jordan and the World He Made) But I cannot forget his prose. Nor my awe in reading them.

If I could write like he did, I would die happy. His writing seemed to flow effortlessly, all the sentences are beautifully crafted. He makes reality seem more real. His death is a great loss.

Sonia Roco for Senator

Abstinence

From Positive Liberty via Dispatches from the Culture Wars

I object to the notion that marriage is or should be a government license to have sex. Yet that’s precisely what teaching abstinence-until-marriage entails that we teach to our kids: It’s wrong to have sex, unless you get a permission slip from the government.

There's more. Read the complete post

The Philippines in Slashdot

samzenpus submitted to Slashdot the COMELEC's challenge to hackers to test the proposed internet voting system.

among the comments from the slashdot crowd, I want to quote this from goldcd responding to a post by circletimessquare (444983) that said:

"the philippines is famous for handing out wads of cash to the poor to get them to vote a certain way come elections 200 peso notes famously become scarce before elections no need to hack the system to alter the vote, just keep buying the votes the philippines is a beautiful land, with beautiful people... and a corrupt political establishment, it's a sad commentary on corruption the philippines, the vote buying"

goldcd responded:

"But surely all elections are bought to some degree as people vote in their own self-interest.

Whether that self-interest is 200 Pesos thrust into their hand as they walk into the booth, or 200 Pesos less tax paid due to new tax system voted in doesn't make much difference.

Actually the more I think about it - In the Phillippines the cash seems to be given to you by the politician if you promise to vote for them. In the 'democratic West',we get nothing for our vote apart from the promise from the politician. Personally I'd prefer to see the cash in my hand, rather than a promise."

I can see goldcd's point, and actually agree with him in theory. But as a Filipino, I have seen what actual vote buying can lead to:

1. Dehumanization, because you are literally bought by the politician
2. Violence, because of the competition for votes by different faction leads to friction
3. Apathy, because as politicians buy votes, people get the feeling that they cannot change society as they can never win
4. Blaming the victims, where middle class Filipinos blame the "masa" or poor Filipinos who sell their votes. This also let the middle class Filipinos feel superior to the masa
5. Entitlement, the politicians who buy votes get the feeling that they are entitled to do anything they want while in office
6. Sloth, the politicians, because they actually know that they did not deserve the position they got does not exert any effort to actually do their jobs

All elections may be "bought" but buying into promises is better than buying into cash.