Full text: Arroyo's declaration of martial law in Maguindanao - Nation - GMANews.TV - Official Website of GMA News and Public Affairs - Latest Philippine News
Check out this website I found at gmanews.tv
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Arroyo declares Martial law in Maguindanao province - Nation - GMANews.TV - Official Website of GMA News and Public Affairs - Latest Philippine News
Check out this website I found at gmanews.tv
I hope this will restore peace and order to our province. (cross-fingers)
Friendster gets relaunched later today
via imageshack
Yup. And the new Friendster will be sporting a new layout, a new logo, a new color pallete (greens) and a new tagline ("Connecting smiles").
I am curious actually - to see how a social networking site left behind by its only remaining audience (in this case, the Filipino people) will try to reinvent itself to win that audience back. Facebook, that big monster of 350 million people, has long since bullied Friendster away from Philippine dominion: Facebook is now the most visited site in the Philippines, while Friendster has been relegated to the fifth spot (check Alexa out, it's really interesting).
One thing though: I am not digging the new Friendster logo. It reminds me of how I, as a kid, used to try to write words using a single, unbroken line. And looking at the new logo makes me wonder if I can write "Friendster" better than whoever did the logo. Also interesting is the promo video for the relaunch, shown below:
What I find interesting is how the new Friendster is specifically targeted at Asian teens. I mean, look at the video. All the people in it are Asians (I actually think they're all Filipinos). I don't get it - if Friendster still had a chance of turning its fate around, this is it - this is their last bullet. Yet it chooses to target just one demographic.
I don't see how a multi-racial campaign could hurt their chances in winning back the Asian audience. One last thing - Friendster sure is cocky to call out Facebook for being plain and boring, especially when the new layout (shown briefly in the video) sort of reminds me of Facebook's layout.
via rochellesychua
Well, better live up to the hype, Friendster, especially since all of it is coming from you. I really think that this is your last chance. As it is, I don't think there's any chance of winning me back, but you can certainly try other people.
And yeah, I will continue watching all this, I promise. Best of luck, old buddy.
The Setting Sun
via flickr.com
Took this photo today while driving to school to fetch my daughters. I just couldn't resist the beauty of the sun setting above the trees.
Gear: Canon EOS 7D
Lens: EFS 50mm 1.8 II
What it means to be Canadian
(I took these photos in the following cities: Banff, Elora, Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto, Vancouver, Victoria and Waterloo)
The question of what it means to be Canadian has always been intriguing to me, given my background as a person born in the Philippines to Filipino parents, raised in the UAE from the age of five to high school graduation at seventeen, and who decided to come to Canada by myself (with the financial help of parents of course) on the basis that tuition fees for international students was much cheaper in Canada compared to the United States.
That was a number of years ago, and I am glad to have obtained my Canadian citizenship earlier this year. Early in our relationship, I used to tell Monika that the only reason I was dating her was to expedite the process of getting my Canadian papers. Jokingly of course.
It certainly makes a difference having a Canadian passport especially when traveling. Even more so when going across the border into the US. I remember having to wait hours at the border to get my fingerprints taken and eyes scanned, simply by virtue of traveling on a Filipino passport and a 10 year multiple-entry US visa. When traveling elsewhere, the reaction has almost always been positive when I mention that I am from Canada.
Copenhagen 2009
That is why when it comes to the issue of the environment, it saddens me to see that Canada is now to climate change, what Japan is to whaling.
WIth the Copenhagen talks set to take place next week, the impression that the current Canadian government will do everything in its power to wreck the talks reflects very poorly on Canadians, especially since this is incongruent with the movement building and gaining momentum in Canada right now, especially among young people.
Although the minority Harper government has used stalling tactics to delay a vote on Bill C-311 (Climate Change Accountability Act), an act to ensure Canada assumes its responsibilities in preventing dangerous climate change, parliament passed a motion last week that was supported by all three opposition parties, that Canada adopt the first target from the delayed Bill C-311 as its position in Copenhagen.
That, in the opinion of the House, Canada should commit to propose at the Copenhagen conference on climate change
- reducing, through absolute reduction targets, greenhouse gas emissions in industrialized countries to 25% lower than 1990 levels, by 2020;
- the necessity of limiting the rise in global temperatures to less than 2oC higher than in the preindustrial era; and
- supporting the developing countries in their efforts to reduce greenhouse gases and adapt to climate change.
Unlike Bill C-311, this motion is not legally binding. However, this does send a powerful message to other countries and world leaders involved with the Copenhagen talks, that the current Canadian government's position on climate change does not represent the majority view of the Canadian people.
To end on a lighter note, below is an email forward that I received from a friend this morning, that helped to spark this blog post, along with the accompanying photos taken in various Canadian cities over the years, that I feel helps to capture the diversity of the Canadian landscape (or at least the places in Canada that I have visited). I am also looking forward to attending the Guelph Lecture on Being Canadian next week, featuring John Ralston Saul, considered to be one of Canada's foremost political and economic thinkers. This lecture will certainly help to put what it means to be Canadian into perspective.
An Australian’s Definition of a Canadian
You probably missed it in the local news, but there was a report that someone in Pakistan had advertised in a newspaper an offer of a reward to anyone who killed a Canadian - any Canadian.
An Australian dentist wrote the following editorial to help define what a Canadian is, so they would know one when they found one:
“A Canadian can be English, or French, or Italian, Irish, German, Spanish, Polish, Russian or Greek. A Canadian can be Mexican, African, Indian, Chinese, Filipino, Japanese, Korean, Australian, Iranian, Arab, Pakistani or Afghan.
A Canadian may also be a Cree, Métis, Mohawk, Blackfoot, Sioux, or one of the many other tribes known as native Canadians.
A Canadian’s religious beliefs range from Christian, Jewish, Buddhist, Muslim, Hindu or none. In fact, there are more Muslims in Canada than in Afghanistan. The key difference is that in Canada they are free to worship as each of them chooses. Whether they have a religion or no religion, each Canadian ultimately answers only to God, not to the government, or to armed thugs claiming to speak for the government and for God.
A Canadian lives in one of the most prosperous lands in the history of the world. The root of that prosperity can be found in the Charter of Rights and Freedoms which recognize the right of each person to the pursuit of happiness.
A Canadian is generous and Canadians have helped out just about every other nation in the world in their time of need, never asking a thing in return.
Canadians welcome the best of everything: the best products, the best books, the best music, the best food, the best services and the best minds. But they also welcome the least - the oppressed, the outcast and the rejected.
These are the people who built Canada .
You can try to kill a Canadian if you must as other blood-thirsty tyrants in the world have tried, but in doing so you could just be killing a relative or a neighbor. This is because Canadians are not a particular people from a particular place. They are the embodiment of the human spirit of freedom. Everyone who holds to that spirit, everywhere, can be a Canadian.”
Untitled
MAGUINDANAO MASSACRE PHOTOS!!!The murderers are heartless http://ow.ly/HJPU Philippines
via Ping.fm
Filipino Voices: The Clear and Present Danger of Congresswoman Arroyo by @cocoy
The nation stands at awe. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has done it again. She has turned the contest of 2010 into a third term.
If you had asked me yesterday if the Presidential contest of 2010 was vitally important to move this country forward, then I would say, “Yes, it is”. With Randy David pulling out of the race for the 2nd district of Pampanga, I sit here, pounding on my keyboard to tell you that it doesn’t matter who wins as President in 2010. It doesn’t matter if it is Noynoy Aquino or Manny Villar. It doesn’t matter if it is Estrada or Teodoro. The real race to watch is who wins the 2nd District of Pampanga.
With Randy David pulling out of the race then Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo is poised to take on the House. She will have leverage to block the budget, stall bills, and the weapon of impeachment at her disposal.
I tell you this: let her win the 2nd district of Pampanga and it doesn’t matter if Aquino becomes President and has the guts to come hard on corruption. The good old days will be back. An Aquino in power will be faced with political storm left and right and his opposition will be Gloria Arroyo.
It matters even less if Villar becomes president or Estrada. Teodoro being of the same party as Arroyo and no matter his intelligence, will continue to maintain the status quo and the Putin Scenario becomes even more real.
The Warrior Lawyer believes the reason why David pulled out is because the latter thinks he can not win. That David believes he stands alone against the entirety of the Arroyo Machinery.
That may be the case. When good men stand down and do nothing, evil wins. When good men do not band together to oppose a common foe, we permit evil. So where is the Liberal Party in that race? Where is the Nationalista Party in the race?
Let Arroyo win and every measure of the new President will be challenged by Arroyo’s camp from day one. Political instability will persist. We can not move forward to enact the proper solutions— even if granted Aquino or Villar are themselves willing.
If the Liberals and the Nationalistas, Civil Society, and you, dear reader believe just an inch in the Filipino, do not let Arroyo run unopposed. Let Arroyo win as representative of the 2nd district of Pampanga and you give her quarter, and she will use it to her advantage. The warlords win. The traditionalists and the conservatives win. Forget your dreams, liberals. It will be the same as saying, “Pack your bags and go somewhere else. There is no future in the Philippines. Abandon ship.”
Tags: 2010 philippine elections, Gloria Macapagal Arroyo
http://filipinovoices.com/the-clear-and-present-danger-of-congresswoman-arroyo
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Efren Peñaflorida named CNN Hero of the Year
Efren Peñaflorida of the Philippines was named CNN Hero of the Year 2009 last night, at a gala event taped before an audience of 3,000 people at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood.
In his acceptance speech, Peñaflorida acknowledged the work that his co-volunteers put into the Dynamic Teen Company, an organization that provides Filipino youth in slum areas an alternative to gang membership, through education programs. Peñaflorida will receive a $100,000 grant to continue his work with the Dynamic Teen Company.
"Serve, serve well, serve others above yourself and be happy to serve. As I always tell to my co-volunteers ... you are the change that you dream, as I am the change that I dream, and collectively we are the change that this world needs to be. Mabuhay."
Sincere congratulations to Peñaflorida, as well as to everyone who made it to the CNN Heroes top 10 from an initial pool of more than 9,000 viewer nominations.
Unique carriage
I may call this a unique carriage from the Philippines. It is called the "Philippine caretela". It must have been from the Spanish era.
Seen at an exhibit in SMX, Mall of Asia, Manila, 22 November 2009.
(Photo taken using a Blackberry Bold 9700)
