Chaff from the Grain

Chaff from the Grain

Chaff from the Grain

Chaff from the Grain

Chaff off the Grain

Finality is not the language of politics.” — Disraeli

Agriculture Secretary, Atty. Arthur C. Yap, who is running for Congress in Bohol, is a product of the Ateneo College of Law and a member of the American Society of International Law, and earlier a Dean’s List in management and economics from the same university.

“All the world’s a stage, And all the men and women merely players: They have their exits and their entrances.” — Shakespeare’s “As You Like It”

“He didn’t suffer, did he? Please tell me he didn’t suffer.”

“The world is quickly bored by the recital of misfortune, and avoids the sight of distress.” — W. Somerset Maugham

“Emissions from burning fossil fuels-coal, oil, natural gas and deforestation – must be cut deeply in the coming decades if the world is to control the risks of dangerous climate change.” — Michael Levi

“Apres nous le deluge” — Madame de Pompadour

“Boldness, and again boldness, and always boldness.” — Georges Jacques Danton

“A pretty girl is like a melody that haunts you night and day.” — Irving Berlin

“Variety is the very spice of life, that gives it all its flavor.” — William Cowper

The coming national election in 2010 will be vintage Philippine politics.

“Do you pray for the senators, Dr. Hale?” “No, I look at the senators and I pray for the country.” — Edward Everett Hale

“It is better to be a has-been than a never-was.” — Cecil Parkinson

“And nothing to look backward to with pride, and nothing to look forward to with hope.” — Robert Frost

“Nothing in all the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity.” — Martin Luther King

II is not only during Ramadan that domestic help working in Arab lands go hungry with only one meal a day for 40 days, or so-called “cultural” dancers and entertainers who are being brutalized by their managers and custodians.

“God changeth not that which is in people unless they change that which is in themselves .” — The Koran

“An open foe may prove a curse, but a pretended friend is worse.” — John Gay

“Sometimes your senses are so trampled that another appalling piece of news is just one more tiresome detail.” — John Le Carree

“War is the greatest plague that can afflict humanity, it destroys religion, it destroys states, it destroys families. — Martin Luther

So far, there are 14 presidential aspirants who have made their intentions known but their final decisions have yet to be announced.

“Will you walk into my parlor?” said the Spider to the Fly. “Tis the prettiest little parlor that ever you did spy.” — Mary Howitt

“Great necessities call out great virtues.” — Abigail Adams

“No hero is mortal till he dies.” — W. H. Auden

“Since a politician never believes what he says, he is surprised when others believe him.” — Charles de Gaulle

“Nothing in life is so exhilarating as to be shot at without result.” — Winston Churchill

“We had the experience but missed the meaning.” — T.S. ELIOT

“Everybody has a plan until they get punched in the face.” — Mike Tyson

“One-fifth of the people are against everything all the time.” — Robert Kennedy

“After each war there is a little less democracy to save.” — Brooks Atkinson

Renewed rumors of coup attempts are a waste of time and distracting to serious efforts at economic recovery.

The Philippines is blessed. It is rich. It is poor.

It will be more of the same unless a catharsis happens.

That is, the election will be expensive, fraudulent – with or without automation – and controversial.

With the Con-Ass dead in the water, and with the administration floating the rumor that President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo will opt for a congressional seat when her term of office formally ends in June 2010, the nation is now assured that there will be general elections in 2010.

“Justice delayed is justice denied” is a universal cliché that the courts in this country hardly ever remember or take to heart.

For a small developing nation, a House of Representatives with 250 congressional districts, and a 24-seat Senate, is more than enough!

Is Congress already irrelevant?

What this country has long been denied is continuity of administration and long-term sustainable growth.

In a manner of speaking, Shanghai epitomizes and symbolizes not only China’s glorious past but also the present, and its vision of the future.

After all that praying, introspection, and holidaying during the Easter weekend of Lent, the nation should now brace up to the challenges of the global financial crisis that is spreading throughout the world.

It would be a fitting and happy 62nd birthday gift on April 5 for President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo should the three abducted Red Cross workers be released unharmed by the Abu Sayyaf after nearly 80 days of captivity and hardship.

While the Western economies are in a frenzied state of damage control and resuscitation of their devastated financial systems never experienced in 75 years, the Philippines remains insular and parochial.

The ultimate worth of a country lies in the efficacy, non-negotiability, and implementation of good governance.

The time will come when the Philippines must assert its principles and rise to the occasion not from a position of weakness but based on firm resolve, sovereignty and economic viability.

Greetings: “Kia Ora” is the Maori term for “Welcome.” The Maoris call New Zealand the “Land of the long White Clouds.”

Contrary to a few dissenting opinions, the American people, like the rest of the world, still look up to America for deliverance from the catastrophic financial meltdown of their own making.

WE believe that President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo did the right thing by granting pardon to the remaining convicts sentenced for the assassination of Sen. Ninoy Aquino after nearly 20 years in incarceration for a dastardly act which they have steadfastedly denied they were guilty of .

WE believe that President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo did the right thing by granting pardon to the remaining convicts sentenced for the assassination of Sen. Ninoy Aquino after nearly 20 years in incarceration for a dastardly act which they have steadfastedly denied they were guilty of .

THIS global economic depression, no longer a recession, is not only a wake-up call for all nations but is also an opportune time for all countries, big and small, to recreate a new world economic order, introduce radical policy approaches, novel ideas, and more importantly, reform the capitalist system that had gone overboard due to greed, corruption, and lax governance.

“Between the idea and the reality,
Between the motion and the act, falls the shadow.”
— T.S. Eliot

CONGRESSIONAL investigations going nowhere, and public hearings in aid of publicity have effectively eclipsed and sidelined the 23rd anniversary of the EDSA I revolution of February 22-25, 1986.

UNDER the current political system, the probability of an unconstitutional putsch and illegal power grab will continue to be attractive and will badger the next president till 2016.

ONE of the reasons why President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo has survived and triumphed over many destabilization attempts and one political crisis after another is that the people, to maintain political stability and democracy, opted to retain a known factor, albeit hardworking, determined, and dedicated, than gamble on any of the current crop of politicians, and risked further instability….So, it had been perceived then.

DESPITE the recently approved US$ 787 billion Stimulus Bill passed by the US Congress, and signed by President Barack Obama, plus the $ 750 billion previously asked by, and granted to, the George W. Bush administration, plus hundreds of millions of British pound and Euros being doled out by various European governments, the consensus, among European heads of state, central bank governors, and major commercial bank CEDs, is that the global financial crisis is "not yet under control."

IN a manner of speaking, this American – and European – triggered global economic recession, a wake-up call of sorts, will usher in a chastened world order that will bring in sobering changes in financial engineering, tastes, outlook towards global poverty and hunger, governmental regulations, and migration, for better or for worse.

HISTORY, to paraphrase Santayana, will repeat itself as in the 1997 Asian financial crisis if Congress and the Executive Department cannot get their act together in view of the worsening global economic recession never been experienced since the 1930s.

UNLIKE in a parliamentary form of government where elections, since there are no fixed term limits, can be called at anytime and at short notice whenever a government in power falls into disrepute, and suffers defeat and disgrace from "a vote of no confidence," we here in the Philippines have been preparing for the 2010 presidential elections since 2008 to an obsessive degree, and unmindful of the enveloping global economic crisis.

IT seems that the adverse effects of the global recession have not yet sunk into the subconscious of the people, or the hangover of the Yuletide season spending and festivities, and Chinese lunar New Year have not yet affected the family budget.

THE greatness of the American people is their ability to rise to the occasion when a fundamental issue of national interest is at stake.

IN the Koran, the Holy Book of the Islamic faith, a crime committed against a person is called "Qisas" which allows the victim or the victim’s family to retaliate against the one convicted of such a crime. This is a culture alien to the West.

“The United States will have to recover or reinvent the culture of hope – with its unique blend of dynamism, flexibility, and openness – that characterizes the American dream.” <br> – Dominique Moisi, <br> “The Geopolitics of EMOTION”

"At Christmas play and make good cheer; For Christmas comes but once a year." <br> – Thomas Tusser

"And nothing to look backward to with pride; And nothing to look forward to with hope." <br> – Robert Frost

AT this moment, the whole world is looking for men of action, decisiveness, and imagination to combat the negative economic and political predictions for 2009 as the global recession reaches its peak of impact next year.

"The issue is not about whether their inconvenient findings were correct. It is about individual conscience in conflict with greed." <br> – John Le Carre, The Constant Gardener

"The strongest is never strong enough to be master, unless he(she) transforms strength into right, and obedience into duty." — Jean Jacques Rousseau