All For A Pack Of Lies

These soldiers died as well as tens of thousands of Iraqi civilians, all for a pack of lies.

Pesky Born Again Christians

Once again, in a public forum, I found myself at odds with a born-again Christian who is so "sure" he holds The One Truth(tm). The discussion was for awhile about why the woodcarving industry of Paete has been on the decline while at the same time that of Betis (Pampanga) is slowly taking the title away from Paete. The first post was by a young priest commenting on the quality of religious carving from Paete in particular, based on a recent personal anecdote. Then out of the blue, this born again Christian, like a true disciple of his faith, started preaching on the Catholic "sin" of idolatry supposedly by commissioning graven images. While I would say the born again Christian have some small plus point on this issue (if the god of the bible exists of course) about what the bible say about graven images (of dead people also called saints by the Catholics) even if it's just for "veneration" (what does it really mean anyway), I find it funny only because I think both Catholics and born again Christians are arguing about something, in my view is completely worthless. At least some believers are honest to admit what is essentially very close to agnosticism. For example, one wrote

"sa pagkaka alam ko walang sinuman ang nkaka alam kung sino at saan ang daan para maligtas" [AFAIK, nobody knows who (will be saved) or which way is salvation].

And another replied:

"Base sa likas na kakulangan ng tao, ay totoo ang sinabi mo na walang sinuman na nakakaalam kung sino at kung saan ang “kaligtasan. Itong kaisipang ito ay “pinagtitibay” (?) ng seglar (secularist/humanistic/anthropological/rationalistic) na kabihasnan." [Based on the limitation of humans, what you said is true that nobody knows... This is reinforced by secular (humanistic/anthropological/rationalistic) civilization]

If only they can translate that "nobody knows" into something else altogether and stop arguing about it since if "nobody knows" about the topic, how do we suppose the discussion will be meaningful? You will find the rest of the postings here.

Affable Atheist

Affable atheist.

The Unholy Father Apologizes

Holy Cow! Mr. Pope apologized to the Muslims. It's a good sign or what? This pope guy is not "sinless" or "holy" - whatever those words mean. He is just as human as anybody else, prone to commit mistakes. Haha.

Anger with Pope Benedict XVI had intensified across the Muslim world Saturday, uniting Sunni Islam's leading authority, Malaysia's moderate premier, and Afghanistan's extremist Taliban militia.

Now, that's a potently dangerous mix of nutcases to get angry at the pope, don't you think? Is Mr. Pope afraid of going to heaven now courtesy of a fatwa?

OFWs as Export Commodities

Japan and the Philippines signed a free-trade agreement. Its most important feature is the provisions on the movement of labor. Rather than bringing the jobs home, this fake Arroyo administration sees OFWs like myself as export commodity. When I was to leave for Tokyo last June, the immigration officer held me until I produced a POEA permit. I don't usually get an OCW permit because of lack of time and to avoid the hassles of dealing with the bureaucracy. But if I didn't get the permit, I had to pay for travel tax and terminal fees for me and my family. Last June, I had to pay for three people, but still I had to go back to the POEA because the immigration officer wouldn't let me leave, which I could not afford. At the POEA desk, I had to argue with the guy on the desk because he was not very quick in processing my request, my flight was close to boarding and he was not in a hurry at all pausing to listen to his colleagues gossip. After getting my POEA permit, I went back to the desk where I earlier paid for my travel tax then terminal fees if I could get my money back (1,600 + 550 for three people or about 6,500 pesos). They said I can only get my refund from the main POEA office, which I suppose is the one in EDSA corner Ortigas avenue, and which is like saying: good luck dude. We always have to pay dearly for our government's inefficiencies. After going back to the immigration officer with the permit, she had to give me a lecture about the importance of getting the POEA for my own protection from my employer. I told her I work for a very good company, which is a fact. This company has done me more good than any of our government agencies, save the public school system. (I attended a public elementary school.) She insisted that I was making a mistake by not availing myself of the POEA permit, that if in case problems erupt in the country where I work, I will be helped by OWWA because I am registered. BIG DEAL. The war in Lebanon highlighted what kind of help I shall be expecting if and when that actually happens. The OWWA didn't have the funds nor the muscle for such a situation. Our govenrment is so weak and ineffective when dealing with events outside our country, and yet, one of the main push of this government is to continue to commoditize its citizen, to deploy to all corners of the world. If penguins hire househelps and nannies, we'd be in Antarctica.

Our government negotiated the free trade agreement with Tokyo which includes the provision for the deployment of nurses and caregivers. The pact is about free trade. We get electronics, in exchange, the Japanese gets our nurses among other commodities. Fair trade?

Deja Vu

A few hours ago as I just stepped into the elevator at the train station, I had my book (The World Is Flat by Friedman) ready on this page with my index finger acting as bookmark. I had been reading the book in my commute and it was such a good read I could not close it even as I walk to the turnstiles. Just as I stepped into the lift, I opened the book to continue reading it, I had a deja vu. Not only that I thought it was queer coincidence but a few moments right before the deja vu happened, I thought I predicted that I would be having the deja vu. Afterwards, I kept on thinking how was that even possible? In the end, I thought when I first got hold of the book, I must have casually opened it in that exact page and read a paragraph or two, but which I already put deep in my subconscious for forgetting. Then since I take the elevator quite often, the memories of both events were combined to make the collage that is the deja vu. Plausible? Hhhmmm....

Book on Japanese Occupation in Ilo-ilo

I just finished reading this book by Jose Maria Lacambra, Rising Sun Blinking: A Young Boy's Memoirs Of The Japanese Occupation In The Philippines published by Sinag-Tala Publishers. The copyright says that it's published in 1994. I picked it up in one of those numberless visits to Powerbooks' Filipiniana section but I kept on putting it down after starting to read it a couple of times. A few days ago, I ran out of light and small books to read on my commutes to and from the office so I picked it up again and at last I was able to finish it. I found it a good book overall and at only PHP100.00, it's a steal. Google only managed to give me 2 links to it when I turned to the web to see if it has caught the fancy of somebody else and posted some more info about it or the author online. The book is a light read and is only 250 pages but it did manage to capture some of the characteristics and traits of the Pinoys. I give it a four out of five stars and recommend it to all Pinoys most specially to Ilonggos and Guimaras islanders.

Tommy's Story

This is about the story of Tommy on which I was commenting on in one of the forums I participate in.

-------------------
a wrote:

Dear ----:

I guess the story is really told from the perspective of the instructor, John Powell. And you are correct, there was no direct mention on why Tommy was looking for God. However, Tommy did say the following:

Oh, yes, very sick. I have cancer in both lungs. It's a matter of weeks....
Well, it could be worse.
Well, like being fifty and having no values or ideals, like being fifty and thinking that booze, seducing women, and making money are the real biggies' in life.

But of course! Thanks for pointing it out. Not believing and having no values nor ideals are two separate things. This makes the story suspect because it is associating atheism with *vices* when it's not really necessary. I searched for it in the net. Although Mr. Powell is still alive to confirm the story to be "true", unfortunately Tommy is no longer here to dispute it. For the sake of discussion, let's asume the story is true. But first, we must admit that one can be a believer, be fifty and think that booze, seducing women, and making money are the real biggies' in life. This is so obvious now even as we speak.

As for meaning, one can be a non-believer and still find meaning (think Sartre here). Meaning is not the monopoly of (Christian) believers.

On Kant (so far I have only read his introduction to his philosophy Logic so I may be off the track here. This is how I'd put it using my own understanding.), if there must be an absolute code of morality - The Right Thing (tm) - then even a god must be governed by this absolute code. For example, if murder in any context is absolutely unjustifiable, then even god will have to abide by it. But if god is exempted, i.e., if a god sanctions murder (e.g., god of the Old Testament) and if this is justifiable simply because it's god (I have heard this often enough that even genocide is justified if it's god who is doing/ordering it) then there will be no absolute code of morality because god must be following a separate rule (murder is okay), while humans follow another set (murder is unjustifiable). But.... if there must be just one absolute set of values (e.g., murder is in any time and all cases is absolutely unjustifiable), then this absolute must be above both gods and humans alike. That god must abide by this same absolute code, it then follows that the same absolute code can and must be existing independently of the gods. Therefore you don't need a god in order to have absolute set of values. OTOH, if god is required in order to define this absolute moral code, again morality becomes arbitrary because god can say murder is a virtuous act and because it was god who said so, it becomes absolutely the right thing to do, magically. If, as you say, human minds can grasp these supposed absolute code of morality, why do we *have* cultural relativism? And why is morality evolving? Whereas slavery and race segregation used to be acceptable in the southern states, they are not now? And very recently, the Philippine congress moved to abolish capital punishment whereas it was re-instituted as lately as 1993?.

I personally believe that people do the right thing because they think it's the Right Thing to do given the context or circumstances. Man is capable of weighing the quality and consequences of his actions and act morally. Even if there is indeed an absolute code of morality, it still doesn't follow that there must be a god who put it there (Occam's Razor). It's just there. Now, Tommy could have been a better person than he already was without having to believe. This reminds me of this challenge made by one fundamentalist Christian website on whether turning to atheism could make an ex-believer a better person for example by making him stop beating his wife. The idea being, that there have been atheists who have lead sinful lives but who have stopped beating his wife after turning Christian. The question that should have been asked in the first (Christian) case was pointed out by one visitor is that, why despite being a Christian would one would lead *sinful* ways and want to beat his wife?

I apologize if I seem to be out of context. This being under the inspirational and spiritual. I just think that if a story should inspire us or uplift our "spirits", it must not come at the expense of other religion or in this case, non-belief. Just in case you are wondering, I do have very strong opinion against religion (not on belief itself) and its effects to our society but I put it somewhere else. For me, mere belief and non-belief are not ethical systems by themselves.

Silly Music Videos

I'm an 80s person. The hair, the Molly Ringwald movies, and the silly music videos.



Oh, would if I could go back to the time of less care and worries.

Catholic Education: Good or Evil?

My 3 1/2 year old daughter is attending a Catholic-run yochien since they came back last week. This morning, they had an activity for the Marian Festival. They had to bring flowers and offer them to, I presume to be, a graven image of Mary. My wife told me my daughter was asking her WHY do they have to offer flower to it. I couldn't remember if she told me what answer she gave her. I was alarmed because my daughter is just 3 1/2 years old. Even the coloring materials are pictures of Mary! My wife is Catholic. Because the yochien is near our place it is very convenient for us but I feel uncomfortable about the quick turn of events. My wife thinks it's okay because my daughter can always change her mind later just as *I* changed my mind on the matter. I am not worried about that. What I am worried and against is that why do they have to put the kids at such tender age to such activities centering to what I think is a LIE. I am afraid it's gonna make an impression on her and may confuse her later on. I plan to convince my wife to transfer our daughter to another non-religious yochien next year. It's gonna be a long argument about something that I had been avoiding for the longest time. I had given her many reasons why those activities are bad but since she is herself Catholic and a believer, she is quite irritated by my arguments and wont entertain anymore of it so I usually stop before if I see signs of breaking point. I will continue next opportunity to again argue my case but I would like to ask others who have been in the same situation before what have they done, by experience, given a similar situation and what have been the results.

I have many friends who are of different beliefs but at the same time were also Catholic-school educated since, they say, in their place the Catholic-run schools are simply the best in their country. This is of course debatable given that being religion-run, the world-view and frame of reference itself may exclude the teaching of more "radical" theories because the education policies are being decided by religious orders who have something to protect. This is exactly like in the high school I attended where sciences were deplorable. For example, biology should teach evolution as a science devoid of any references to religion but all I could remember being taught were taxonomy, cells, basic anatomy.

Gloria Should Learn Honesty From Singapore's PM Lee

Letter I sent to INQ7.net just now. Please refer to this link for further reference.

---------------------

Dear Editor,

That the Philippines is truly the basket case of Asia is no longer disputable. Why we are a long way to go in the Asian Politician Honesty survey. Take for example the recent elections in Singapore where PM Lee said:

"What is the opposition's job? It's not to help the PAP do a better job ... because if they help the PAP do a better job, you're going to vote for me again and they're going to be out of a job for a long time. So their job is to make life miserable for me... Suppose you had 10, 15, 20 opposition members in Parliament. Instead of spending my time thinking what is the right policy for Singapore, I'm going to spend all my time thinking what's the right way to fix them, to *buy my supporters votes*, how can I solve this week's problem and forget about next year's challenges?"

On fixing the votes, it seems that Gloria needs to learn a lesson or two from PM Lee about honesty. Why say "I'm sorry" when you can just brag about it?

Sincerely,


CC: INQ7.net feedback
PDI feedback
blog

She Is Not My President

I have been listening to the voice recordings including the "Hello, Garci" and the "I'm Sorry" speech by Gloria. There are many things wrong with it. This president is making us look like fools. She is not my president.

Numbing Pain

For the past six hours I have been feeling a slight discomfort. My chest muscles and neck seems to be numbed I have to exert some effort to really ignore it. Must be caused by my erratic schedule the past few days, being holidays here - oversleeping and eating unhealthy food at the wrong hours and intervals. I will try to go sleep now.

The Doctor Is Out: A Reaction

There is this tragic story in the INQ7.net today (4/29/06) about a doctor studying to become a nurse so she can leave for the US. I am not a nurse but I can sympathize with the author being an "OFW" myself. I spent six years trying to "resist assimilation" by rejecting the invitations of my college friends who had shipped out to the US, Europe, and Singapore within the first three years of their IT careers. I can say, I was not in financial want but eventually, me too had to fly out. I would have stayed longer were it not for more reasons not entirely everything economic. Now, I am not sure if I can ever go back because to do so, will mean having to give up the small conveniences you can enjoy by living in a more egalitarian society. Every time I come back for a vacation, I get frustrated and distressed by what I see. I would like our nation, our people, to change for the better, to progress in terms of human spirit, to mature intellectually and economically, for our government and society to address the current gross inequity amongst our people and be the latest Middle Class Economy, so that our doctor neighbors like Czarinah Pagay will no longer find a reason or the need to fly-out, to make a forced-move career-change midstream. Our society need not aspire to be an economic powerhouse like Japan, or a military powerhouse like the US, all she needs is to provide equal opportunity for everyone to choose the kind of life they want to live, with no second class citizens. To let everybody be in control of one's fate provided he/she respects the rights of others to be equal to his/her own. I'd bet that what most would want are just the bare minimum, the basic things like health, food, shelter, literacy, security, peace and quiet, and the small savings that will help us get through our retirement in simple comfort. I am sure many of us - a minority - have already achieved some or all of those wants I mentioned - our bottom-line - but I am also sure that we wish the same bottom-line to be available for the big majority as well as this reduces our anxiety on a day to day basis not having to trouble ourselves with the thought that our neighbors are practically starving or even dying of diseases that could have been prevented were it not for the cure not forthcoming because the doctors are out.

Sincerely,



CC: PDI Feedback
INQ7.net Feedback
Pinoy Atheists, off-topic
Joseph
Eric
Max
blog

CHEd To Investigate Pangilinan

The news item today about CHEd ordering the investigation on the recent heckling of PGMA in Cavite State University by graduating students led by Maria Teresa Pangilinan for purposes of imposing sanctions to the protesters, is truly nauseating. What should be investigated is the vote stealing by PGMA which is the root cause of all these. These people - Arroyo and her lapdogs - are really shameless. If there is somebody or something that warrants immediate, thorough, and impartial investigation, it's the biggest theft of all - the presidency itself.

-------------------------

Above, modified slightly and sent to INQ7.net feedback section:

The news item today (PDI, 4/27/06) about CHEd ordering the investigation on the recent heckling of PGMA in Cavite State University by graduating students led by Maria Teresa Pangilinan for purposes of imposing sanctions to the protesters, is truly nauseating. Arroyo should not be surprised by the heckling at all. As the cliche goes, "respect is earned." These people - Arroyo and her lapdogs - are really shameless. If there is something that warrants immediate, thorough, and impartial investigation, it's the biggest theft of all - stealing the presidency itself. It is the root cause of all the mess our nation now finds itself in.

Incoherent Article in INQ7.net

This is a letter I sent today to INQ7.net. The article is a confused one about secularization or so it seems. Click on the link and go judge for yourself.

----------
Dear Editor,

This is about the article titled "Gullibility" (PDI 04/17/06) by Antonio Montalvan II. I don't quite understand why a paper of your stature allows articles of such low quality to be printed in its pages. This must be one if not the most incoherent article your paper ever allowed to see print. I understand that the amount or articles that the editors have to sift through on a daily basis is just enormous but this one at least should not have been allowed to pass even an assistant proofreader's eyes if only to correct the atrocious sentences.

I originally set out to rebut the assertions he made against secularization but the gist of his message escaped me completely.

Please take this constructively.

Thank you.

Refreshing Lenten Season Article

Dear Editor,

I would like to congratulate Neal H Cruz on his article about the origin of the bible which appeared in Inq7.net (4/12/2006) titled "Where did the Bible come from?" As our country celebrated the Lenten Season, it's refreshing to read somebody who tries to
shed light on the origins of the bible under the light of historical facts. It comes as a respite for irreligious people like me when the whole week newspapers are filled with tiring articles about faith and religion.

Sincerely,

Letter sent to INQ7.net feedback and cc'ed a couple of friends.

Holy Week in Paete, Laguna

If you have visited the Philippine Atheists web recently, I posted two pictures of the traditional afternoon procession of the dead Christ in Paete, Laguna. This procession is called locally as Dapit. In my whole life, I have been only a spectator of the Friday events, except one time when my college friends came over for a visit. But I used to participate in the Wednesday events way back before then. Dapit starts at around 2 or 3 o'clock in the afternoon so the sun is still blazing and hot. The poon is brought to the Catholic church for the mass later in the evening followed by the evening procession. Here are more pictures that came with those I posted in the website.

In the first set of pictures, the figure is taken from the Catholic church and brought to the house of the family who owns it. Then on Friday afternoon, it's taken out for Dapit (the pictures I took) going back to the church for mass. The Friday evening procession is the "main event" of the Holy Week celebration in this town of about 23,000 people. I hope others will post more pictures later. It's only today I learned that there are more ceremonies/rituals with the same poon.

These Holy Week events have become a popular tourist attraction for some time now. It's also the time where townfolks who have settled elsewhere come back and visit their remaining relatives which is one good reason to go home on these days as the town comes alive with plenty of out-of-towners. It's also the perfect opportunity to catch up with old friends who take their vacation during this time of year to come home.

On Good Friday, no marching bands will accompany the processions, neither will the bells be knelt. Instead, pieces of metals attached to small planks of wood will be used like clappers (forgot what its called) together with split bamboos are used throughout the procession for sound effects. The bells will not be knelt until early morning of Easter, when another procession traces its way across town with the poon Risen Christ.

PhilStar Quote of the Day

From PhilStar.com today:

"There would be no crown-wearers in heaven had Christ not been the cross-bearer on earth."

I wonder what this means? I wonder what's going on inside the head of whoever is responsible for these quotes appearing in a respectable nationwide broadsheet?

Waiting For A Week Or Two

...for your letter to the editor to be published may be a good idea. I sent an an email about the main editorial (3/21) and it got published just today. I sent that a few days earlier than the one I sent about Orbos' column. (See previous post.) I should watch out for the change of title though because it looks like they do that fairly common. Or maybe I have been choosing bad titles. :)