6 months

Atheist convention in the Philippines

xkcd: Science Mnemonics

Hitchens - free speech

Saw this from Dispatches from the Culture Wars with this terrific quote

"Now to this proud record they can add that they finally had the courage finally to face their past and lock up a British historian who’s committed no crime except that of thought and writing. And that’s a scandal. And I can’t find a seconder usually when I propose this, but I don’t care. I don’t need a seconder. My own opinion is enough for me and I claim the right to have it defended against any consensus, any majority, anywhere, any place, at any time. And anyone who disagrees with this can pick a number, get on line and kiss my ass."

In a better place

Cyanide & Happiness @ Explosm.net

Remembering Hitchens

I join a lot of people today who mourn the death of Christopher Hitchens,  he influenced a lot of people and like all good writers made me jealous of his gift.  Like a lot of people outside of the US and Britain, I only grew aware of Hitchens' existence with the advent of the internet,  before that, I did not have any means to read his writing.  Fittingly enough, I first became aware of him because of his pro-Iraq war writing.

As a Filipino,  I was against the 2nd Iraq war because my country has been subject to the US routinely running roughshod over the sovereignty of the Philippines.  So,  the protection of every nation's sovereignty is very important to me.  Hitchens' argument for the war though is different from those of Bush and co.,  he was arguing that if we as people want to protect the human rights of Iraqi's, the best method will be to remove Saddam. 

I liked that Hitchens presented a different framework for viewing the Iraq war.  I love people who challenges my perception of the world.  He did this and did it with such masterful use of words.

He will be missed.

Good luck to the ICC

Normally, I would like to see Sen. Santiago out as soon as possible, but right now, I would rather she exit the Senate after the RH bill is passed.

I don't understand lawyers

This PDI story quotes IBP general counsel Ramon Esguerra saying

"We still hear the call to oust the Chief Justice, and to a certain extent, the other appointees of the former President… We view the populist move for the ouster as mob-inspired and… with some reservations, as… extraconstitutional."

I can't understand how using verbal reproach and now impeachment which are both constitutional make the ouster call for the Chief Justice extraconstitutional.

On the Supreme Court

Mas gusto ko nga na harapan ang pagtuligsa ni Pangulong Noynoy sa supreme court kesa yung mga patagong pag-impluwensiya na hindi natin nalalaman kung ano ang kapalit.

Catholic hypocrisy

This comes from the same editorial from my previous post but is a different point so I wanted its own post.  The editorial states that

"The Church, in its understanding, is guarding persons with homosexual inclinations from “unjust discrimination” and from a lifestyle rife with psychological harm and a host of sexually-transmitted diseases; a lifestyle which wrecks families and marriages, and which, if followed unrepentantly, entails the forfeiture of eternal life."

They discriminate against gays because the gay lifestyle wrecks families and marriages.  Yet the catholic mass media award gave a lifetime achievement award to Ramon Revilla a self confessed Lothario who has sired an unknown number of children with an unknown number of women.  If the catholic church was really serious about this supposed campaign against lifestyles that wreck families and marriages, they would have shunned Ramon Revilla and everybody from Philippine showbiz who behaves like he does.  But they don't, they give them awards.