Achieving Happiness

If Macapagal-Arroyo had any shame or any shred of decency left in her body, she would quit going abroad altogether. For all her and her handlers’ attempts to quash coverage of the worsening human rights situation in the Philippines, the international community and the media have picked up the story and are alarmed over the political killings and summary executions.

Macapagal-Arroyo still has the temerity to show her face in church and take communion; she still dares to declare herself a champion of the Filipino people; and she still has the gall to promote herself and her killer-government to leaders of other nations. It sometimes makes me wonder if she smokes dope and is constantly living out a drugged fantasy.

She surrounds herself with by monsters and morons the likes of Raul Gonzales, Norberto Gonzales and Jovito Palparan. Her own husband is a crook, and her eldest son thinks he’s a hotshot when in truth he’s only a well-dressed fool (and he’s also a crook like his dad).

It’s exhausting, I tell you — exhausting. Reading about Gloria and her doings is not amusing at all (unlike during the time of Erap Estrada when at least you could laugh in the midst of your exasperation). It makes your brain want to collapse like a dying star, a hypernova. But mostly it makes you want to scream at the top of your lungs: ‘Enough

already!!!’

This is why in the rallies, whenever the emcee of the program would say ‘Pahirap sa masa,’ the response of the audience is so heartfelt (and it’s an angry heart, even as it bleeds and cries out against the atrocities this government commits on a daily basis) ‘Patalsikin si Gloria!’

more tomorrow. am bushed.

——————–

EU, Finland to confront GMA on rights issue

By Michaela P. del Callar 09/05/2006

President Arroyo is not likely to breeze through her visit in Finland on the Asia-Europe meeting in Helsinki .

She will be confronted by the Finnish government on the alarming human rights abuses being committed under her government.

The current human rights situation in the Philippines is a source of concern for the European Union (EU) with the spate of extra-judicial killings and disappearances of civilians.

In a press briefing, Finland ’s Ambassador to the Philippines Riitta Resch, who is representing the EU presidency and Jan de Kok, head of the delegation of the European Commission, yesterday admitted that the unresolved killings in the country are worrying the EU.

"The EU is concerned about human rights in the Philippines . We have taken up this issue with Philippine authorities not only with the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA)," Resch said.

"From the mission’s point of view, yes it (human rights in the Philippines ) is an issue," De Kok said.

Both diplomats said the human rights issue will likely be taken up during the bilateral meetings of Mrs. Arroyo with Finland ’s President Tarja Halonen prior to the Asia-Europe Summit in Helsinki and with European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso in Brussels , Belgium , next week.

According to Resch, the EU has been engaged in continuous discussions with the Philippine government, particularly with the DFA, on the matter.

"We are concerned about certain issues pertaining to human rights in the Philippines . The European-based human rights organizations and media in Europe are interested in this issue," De Kok said.

"It is natural that this thing is discussed and both sides will explain what is being done and find sufficient common ground to move forward," he added.

The Philippines is being criticized by foreign governments and international groups on its poor human rights record.

International pressure on the Arroyo government has also increased, urging the President to give a clear message to the military to stop all political killings. Recently, however, instead of directing her military and police to put an end to these abuses and categorically stating that her authorities are not to engage in such violations, she even absolved them of any and all culpability, and blamed these on the political opposition and the communists, with her claiming that they had forged a partnership to bring her and her government down.

Killings of community activists, church workers, journalists, lawyers, and members of leftist political parties, which were allegedly perpetrated by the military, have increased under the Arroyo presidency.

The government is implementing a "total approach" in fighting insurgency as it vowed wipe out communist rebels in two to three years.

The government also warned protectors and supporters of the communist group from the political, business and civilian fronts, threatening them that charges would be filed against them for coddling and helping the communist armed group New People’s Army.

Last month, Mrs. Arroyo formed a high-level inquiry panel called the Melo Commission to probe the killings.

However, the commission has no power to summon witnesses or to deal with their non-compliance to their requests by way of contempt proceedings.

Just yesterday, another left-wing political activist belonging to the Bayan Muna was reportedly killed and became the 117th party member to be murdered since Mrs. Arroyo came to power, party officials said Monday.

Victor Candelario Ayuda, 42, an organizer with Bayan Muna in Mindanao was murdered late Sunday night in Valencia city, the party’s secretary-general Renato Reyes told reporters.

The identity of the killers and the motive of the attack were not known.

In another bout of dispensing absolutions, Malacañang yesterday cleared Department of Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez on criticisms for his failure in pursuing serious investigations on th spate of killings and disappearances of journalists, leftist activists and cause oriented groups advocates.

In a chance interview, Press Secretary and concurrent presidential spokesman Ignacio Bunye said the allegations of Senate Minority Leader Aquilino Pimentel Jr. has no basis and Mrs. Arroyo has strong trust and confidence on the leadership of Gonzalez.

The President’s aide said it was Mrs. Arroyo herself who had been keenly interested and in direct contact with Gonzalez who from time to time furnishes her the report.

Pimentel earlier cited a report of the CHR, an independent constitutional body, that it had submitted a total of 423 cases of human rights violations to government prosecutors or fiscals in various regions from January 2005 to June 2006 alone fro prosecution.

"But it seems the DoJ and its prosecutors are merely sitting on these cases. They are duty-bound to act expeditiously on these cases and to file the appropriate criminal charges against the perpetrators before the courts," he said.

Human rights group Karapatan estimates that more than 700 activists have been murdered since 2001 including lawyers, human rights workers, trade unionists and journalists. With Gina Peralta-Elorde, Sherwin C. Olaes and AFP

Parang litrato mula sa isang horror movie, ano? Isang pelikula kung saan may aswang na hayok sa dugo ng tao ang bumibiktikma ng mga inosente na walang kakayanang magtanggol sa sarili.

Tutoong litrato ito. Kuha ng grupong Karapatan. Larawan iyan ng ginawa sa aktibistang si Marilou Sanchez, binaril noong alas-dos y media ng madaling araw ng Abril 22 sa isang bahay sa Barangay Masikap, General Nakar, Quezon.

Para siyang hayup na ginapos sa poste. Wala kahit na katiting na awa ang tinaglay ng mga pumaslang sa kanya. Kinailangan pa nilang iposas si Marilou, paluhurin sa lupa, at malamang pinilit nilang magmakaawa para sa kanyang buhay bago nila kinalabit ang gatilyo at pinawalan ang bala na kumitil sa buhay ni Marilou.

Anong klaseng mga nilalang ang gumagawa nito? At anong klaseng gobyerno ang nagsasabing ‘necessary collateral damage’ ang gawin ang ganitong kalupitan sa kahit sinong tao?

Ito naman ay litrato ng kabaong ni Orlando Rivera, isang lider-mangingisda sa Bulacan. Pinatay din si Ka Orlan dahil sa kanyang pagtatangkang lumikha ng pagbabago sa ngalan ng mga katulad niya na pinagkaitan at pinahihirapan.

Gusto ko sanang magsulat tungkol sa mga bagay na masaya at nakakatawa. Mga pananaw ko tungkol sa huling dalawang librong binasa ko nitong huling dalawang araw (Fight Club ni Nick Palahniuk; You shall know our velocity ni Dave Eggers) dahil may mga nakuha akong mga nakakatawa pero kahit papaano’y may kabuluhang mga personal na katotohanan mulasa kanila.

Gusto ko din sanang ikwento kung ano ang ginawa ko kahapon (nag-empake ng balikbayan box na pulos libro ang laman; kumain ng tustadong bacon and tomato sandwich; halos mabaliw sa sakit ng katawan kakabuhat ng mabibigat na bag at kahon) dahil pinagtatawanan ko ang sarili ko habang kinakaawan (sa sobrang independence at katindihan ng pagnanais na hwag maka-abala ng kahit sino, hindi ako humingi ng tulong sa kahit sinong kaibigan dito).

Gusto ko sanang maglarawan ng mga pinakapaborito kong bagay dito sa Hong Kong (ang paglubog ng araw na tanaw mula sa Hong Kong Harbor; ang pagsayaw ng mga puno at halaman sa hangin ng maagang umagang hindi pa sinisilayan ng liwanang sa Lamma; ang katahimikan ng paligid sa madaling araw pag naglalakad ako mula Central patungong IFC; ang mahabang Midlevels escalator na nagdadala sa akin sa paborito kong second-hand bookstore na Flow).

Naisip ko ding isulat ang matindi kong inis sa sarili na hindi na naman ako nakasali sa Palanca Awards ngayong taon (hindi naman sinasabi kong mananalo agad ako; pero malay mo naman, baka swertehin); pero hay naku, paano ba makakapag-isip ng magaan at masayang bagay pag nabasa mo ang mga binasa ko ngayong umaga?

————

Quotes from Tyler Durden’s (Edward Norton’s Tyler, not Brad Pitt’s in the movie of the same title, Fight Club) doorman:

"A lot of young people try to impress the world and buy too many things."

"Young people, they think they want the whole world."

"If you don’t know what you want, you end up with a lot you don’t."

Jeez, I, for one know exactly what I want; and precisely it’s because that I don’t get what I want that I keep buying stuff that I don’t really, essentially need.

I want to live in a country where I don’t have to fear for my life and the lives of other people who  also want a country where peace doesn’t mean dead silence or agonized shock. I want silly news reports, or if there are real news stories of the sensational kind, they’re only of genuine accidents– results of a greasy pavement; spoiled food; weakened scaffoldings; natural disasters: occurances that are non-human in nature, unmixed and untainted with  evil intent and  objectives.

I’m sitting here staring at the walls to which a friend has stuck his Chinese ink paintings. Stuck, as in pasted. With glue. From a glue stick.

I look at his small, postcard-sized renderings of mountains and valleys and forests, and I wish I could just walk right into one of them and feel soft, green grass under my feet. How great it would be to just walk away from everything that causes you pain and anguish; to be able to embrace beauty and grace every possible moment, and to be oblivious to the dark shadows that even the most beautiful things cast!

Gad, am whining again. I hate hate hate myself when I’m like this.

Dan Savage is pretty funny guy. That is, if you can take him.

Dan is funny exactly like his surname: savage.

Dan Savage is an openly gay columnist. He writes for an indie Seattle newspaper, but his columns are also syndicated; he also writes essays for the Village Voice, and occasionally, his rants come out in the New York Times or the Washington Post.

He is brutal. He writes about sex and people; how people need sex, manipulate sex, react to sex, suffer from the lack of it or the surfeit of it. He writes about society,too — and how sex (and culture and beliefs and political stands and biases) is viewed from different perspectives depending on where you’re coming from.

For the most part, his readers ask him sex-related questions (how to get sex, where to get it, how to make sure sex is always good or at least never mediocre and boring); but often Dan answers these questions in a way that makes the letter sender and all the other readers realize something else about themselves and their limitations and biases when it comes to dealing with others and the rest of society. He challenges your beliefs, and he can be — no other word for it– be such a bitch about it. Major brutality and insults, like you’re on the Jerry Springer Show only you’re reading.

He is often in-your-face when he writes. He holds no punches, and I think while many conservatives (and there are literally millions out there) who are most likely offended to death by him (he uses words that the likes of Manoling Morato and the incumbent prudes in the MTRCB scream bloody heck), when I read him I laugh, and I think. The way he answers questions in often contextualized in the specificities of American society and the conflicts when it comes to norms and values related to sex, relationships, and religious belief on gender.

He himself explains that when he writes, he aims to upset (and many are upset, the way many were clueless but all the same freaked upset by ‘The Fight Club’ and its nihilist, supposedly disturbing content); but for the most part, he just wants to tell it like it is, without prettifying terms or mincing about the strawberry bush.

I first read him in a column in HK Mag, the free weekly magazine here in Hong Kong which targets Gweilos. It’s a social calendar — all the schedules for the cultural events in the next two weeks are laid out there, museum exhibits, plays, movies, band gigs, heck, even shopping expeditions are included.

Anyways, Dan’s column is in the back pages, but often it’s the first thing I read. He sounds sane in his anger (in his savageness) because his is an intelligent rant(although often obscene and vicious) . I like him best when he’s blasting out against the Bush administration and how anti-women and anti-gay it is. He launched a website called Impeach the Mother Fucker Already, and the his reasons for calling for Bush’s impeachment were right on target, only they were phrased in a Savage way.

But generally, Dan dishes out advice to readers about sex and relationships. He isn’t kind at all, and he doesn’t tolerate stupidity. He tells a reader — who’s thinking  of entering into an affair and tries to justify it by saying that the man she’s eyeing is someone she has so many important things in common with only she’s torn because she also loves his husband– to take her ‘brain out of her twat and quit being such a hypocrite: if she loved her husband, she wouldn’t be making wacko fantasies of playing hide-the-salami-with some guy she’s in karate class with.’

In an interview with the Village Voice, he said that he first envisioned his column as one where he blasts away at straights (Straight as in heterosexual) and their sex problems because, he says, Straight people have the dumbassed problems like they don’t where the prick goes and what the vagina does.

His words, not not mine. I don’t understand why soooo many people write him when all he ever deals out is mostly abuse and brutality (but he makes sense, too; you just have to get pass the abuse).

He amuses me for the most part; but sometimes he has little gems of insight into human nature and weaknesses that I sit up and ruminate over his words. He can surprise you.

——

Right now am reading up on Charles Baudelaire and Gustav Flaubert and why they never wanted to be where they were and always wanted to be elsewhere. Despair over the countries and societies they were born into, and the agonizing need to situate themselves in other places where they believed they could find themselves, and understand themselves better.

Nietzsche says that when we travel, we must always look for the things that will improve and touch our lives. It doesn’t matter that we discover knowledge or insight that has been discovered before by other people; what’s important is that we discover these things for ourselves and are improved for the better.

Travel as philosophy.