MIRON

Full Version: Why I hate Hillary and can't live without her

It's hard to imagine Hillary conceding to Obama. It's hard to imagine Hillary conceding to anything. The woman's tenacity is legend. I watched her campaign not so much for her message but to see what she'll do next, how she'll bounce back, what new rationale she'll invoke as her reason for staying in what all clear-thinking people saw as a lost race.

In the end, she was painful to watch, computing her odds with her own math, unflinching and deep in denial. But like a car wreck, you just can't look away.

Obama made history, but all eyes are on Hillary. We can't help it — she's makes excellent TV.

Obama's soaring speeches caused generations to time travel back to the age of Camelot, where he and Michelle could be the young king and queen to a young and still dreamy America. Obama is the stuff of Life Magazine: oozing charisma in grainy black and white.

That charisma and the internet — it's powerful alchemy.

Hillary, on the other hand, is very much about today. Reality-TV today. Bill Clinton in a brawl with a college student in YouTube today. Chelsea: None-of-your-business today. Hillary in tears, why-don't-you-like-me today. Hillary in SNL, Live from New York It's Saturday Night today.

Today, the CNN panel post mortems the car wreck that was her campaign. There is a riveting flashback of what went horribly wrong. The lost message. The Bill factor. The sniper fire story that backfired. Like Anna Nicole's descent and Britney Spears' breakdown, the collapse now looks inevitable. And cruelly entertaining.

No wonder Hillary doesn't quit. We pundits just wouldn't know how to go on.

Television has always been about high contrasts. Heroes against villains. Pros versus Cons. The powerful versus the marginalized. Rich versus poor. Doves against Hawks.

And the Hillary-Obama match made in TV heaven. For a medium largely concerned with images and sound, it could only see black versus white, man against woman, the strong but tempered voice of Obama versus the near-shrill Hillary screaming Choose Me! Choose Me!

What is life without Hillary? In a word, McCain. A man who disappears in the glare of television and is either in the shadow of Bush, or worse, behind his wife Elvira. With the entire Republican machinery solidly behind him, and with a head start of several months, the best McCain could come up with was: "That's Not Change We Can Believe In."

Huh. Dude, are you sure you want to go with that? Do you need another couple of months to think of another line?

I don't know. He survived torture in enemy hands, but I wish he had gotten more out of it than the ability to walk like a hotdog. Obama's going to cream you.

Some good will come out of this. Jon Stewart will have a field day. David Letterman and Steven Colbert, too. What we will lose in depth and heft, we will make up for with jokes. But after months of nail-biting suspense and a shifting landscape only John King could navigate with his magic board, it's becoming increasingly clear that, yes, we will be bored.

I hate Hillary and I miss her already.

Hillary Show

It's hard to imagine Hillary conceding to Obama. It's hard to imagine Hillary conceding to anything. The woman's tenacity is legend. I watched her campaign not so much for her message but to see what she'll do next, how she'll bounce back, what new rationale she'll invoke as her reason for staying in what all clear-thinking people saw as a lost race.

In the end, she was painful to watch, computing her odds with her own math, unflinching and deep in denial. But like a car wreck, you just can't look away.

Obama made history, but all eyes are on Hillary. We can't help it -- she's makes excellent TV.

Obama's soaring speeches caused generations to time travel back to the age of Camelot, where he and Michelle could be the young king and queen to a young and still dreamy America. Obama is the stuff of Life Magazine: oozing charisma in grainy black and white.

That charisma and the internet -- it's powerful alchemy.

Hillary, on the other hand, is very much about today. Reality-TV today. Bill Clinton in a brawl with a college student in YouTube today. Chelsea: None-of-your-business today. Hillary in tears, why-don't-you-like-me today. Hillary in SNL, Live from New York It's Saturday Night today.

Today, the CNN panel post mortems the car wreck that was her campaign. There is a riveting flashback of what went horribly wrong. The lost message. The Bill factor. The sniper fire story that backfired. Like Anna Nicole's descent and Britney Spears' breakdown, the collapse now looks inevitable. And cruelly entertaining.

No wonder Hillary doesn't quit. We pundits just wouldn't know how to go on.

The Echo of Yam Laranas: Horror at its best

Ironically, it was Yam Laranas' horror movie The Echo that made waves in Cannes as an artistic and masterfully directed film. Fellow Filipino Brillante Mendoza's art movie Serbis, on the other hand, was generally described as horrible, achieving with its crude "boil popping scene" new levels of yuckiness.
Yam Laranas wasn't even in the running for awards. The Echo was screened in Cannes to snag more film distributors. Brillantes was gunning for top prize and was a much hyped entry to Director's Fortnight.
As I said, it's truly ironic.
But really not a surprise. The young Laranas is widely recognized as something of a boy genius in Philippine Cinema.
While The Echo was predictably promoted "from the producers of The Ring and The Grudge" causing many to dismiss it as yet another Asian horror remake, early reviews of The Echo promise it is anything but.  The normally snarky reviewers of highly influential horror blogs Twitchfilm.net and Bloody-Disgusting.com wax poetic about The Echo's "art-house" qualities, describing Yam Laranas almost reverentially as a "hugely accomplished cinematographer" who, despite having an outside director of photography on board The Echo, "had his fingerprints all over the visuals and the shooting style" in a movie that was "far more about building mood and tone than piling on shock after shock."
Obviously, the kid's got an almost cult-like following. Watchers of The Echo in film sites like IMDB hold vigil for news of distribution. Yam Laranas's masterful direction may have placed the film in the slim and rarified category occupied by deeply scary but artistically rendered ghost stories like The Others. Not a bad place to be.  And for fans of The Echo and Yam Laranas who probably can't make a mediocre film if his life depended on it, perhaps the only place to be.

Question Mark

As more and more is known about Cho Seung-Hui, the student gunman who mowed down 32 of his fellow students and professors, more and more of us allow ourselves to feel some sort of relief, as this event becomes less and less of a mystery:
He was a loner. He had been taking medication for depression and was becoming increasingly violent and erratic. He wrote bizarre and violent screenplays that featured fights resolved through the throwing of hammers and attacks with a chainsaw. He was South Korean, a foreigner implanted in American land who never quite felt at home. In his backpack, an 8 page rant against rich kids and religion. On the sign-in sheet where everyone else had written their names, Cho had written a question mark. "Is your name, Question mark?" the professor asked him. Cho did not respond.
He is no longer a question mark, but an exclamation point.
(with quotes from AP)

I'm back... Again!

Don't blame you if you dropped out on me. I, afterall, dropped out first. Having lost all interest in Gloria and been almost permanently stunned silent by God's constant surprises such the freak accident of Steve Irwin, the unceremonious firing of Pluto, and the daily reminder that life is a mystery:George W. Bush.
Why the comeback? Something equally mysterious and tantalizing and just (daily)life-affirming: the N93! My guys, they made mobile blogging as easy as texting. It is partners with typepad (my server), and the phone allows you to post text and photos with maybe three clicks of a button (maybe less if i read the manual).
For some reason, I think I'd take great photos with this thing... yet another of life's great mysteries.

Tom Cruise to eat Katie Holmes placenta

What's on my mind lately? I'm ashamed to say it's not the death penalty, Iran nuclear weapons, but this:

Cruise to eat nutritious placenta

Hollywood actor and Scientologist Tom Cruise is planning to eat Katie Holmes' placenta.

It is the latest in a series of strange revelations by the 43-year-old 'Mission: Impossible' star about the child he is expecting with fiancée Katie Holmes.

Cruise told GQ magazine: "I'm gonna eat the placenta. I thought that would be good. Very nutritious. I'm gonna eat the cord and the placenta right there."

Cruise has also claimed he knew that Katie Holmes was pregnant before she told him.

He has also defended the Scientology belief that women should give birth in silence.

"It's really about respecting the woman. It's not about her not screaming," he told GQ.

Cruise plans to marry 27-year-old Holmes in the summer. He said earlier this month that their baby was due "any day now".

(postcript: katie just gave birth to a girl that she's not allowed to talk to for 7 days and must have minimal contact with so that the baby doesn't associate the trauma of birth with her mother. (yeah right, whatever, but what about the father?)

Im Back...

to square one, that is, trying to restart, refresh, reboot my floundering career as compulsive note-taker. Not that there's anything noteworthy about what I say today. Just one helluva HELLO! and WHATS UP WITH WORLD, MAMA!? The frontpages show a snickering Gloria doing the Chacha. She's sucking my vital life force and making me .... too weak...too...lazy...to..go.. to the.. streets... or...even....blog.
Wake me up when its over.

Hello Again Garci!

At long last, Garci appears in Congress. Chiz throws first questions and cuts to the chase.
Garci: "hindi ko ugali to throw allegations indiscriminately. Let me... (looks for his list)
Chiz:  Sa  mga tumawag sa inyo, mayroon bang nagsabi ng mangdaya kayo?
Garci: (Darth Vader type of breathing) That is already in my statement
Chiz: walang humiling sa inyo na mandaya sa lahat ng tumawag sa inyo
Garc: Loren Legarda. Juan Ponce Enrile. Jamby Madrigal
Hooting and howling in session hall.
Chairman: can we ask garcillano to continue please..
Garci: Lim. Gordon. Mar Roxas. Ping Lacson. Congr. Clavel Martinez, Alan Peter Cayetano. Escudero. Suarez. Fuentabella. Bungbravo. Villarosa. Sandova. Miranda. Roilo Golez. Zialcito. Falcon... (am missing names here unintentional on my  part dunno about Garci)....  Liwayway Chato, Eusebio of Pasig,   I think there are still others whose names I may remember in the future. (Ayos!)
Chairman: Order! ORDER! as much laughter and hooting in session hall.
Chiz: ito ang napansin ko sa listahan ninyo. Bakt kayo tinatawagan ng mga kandidato ng buong pilipinas. ano ba ang special na talento mo. Eh buong Pilipinas!
Garci: ... I was just answering concerns about their districts.

(pause for sip of Starbucks, much satisfied and entertained as motion for everyone in list to submit an affidavit. Teddy Locsin saying motion is not proper. Chiz says in that case, Gloria should be asked to make an affidativit as well if motion is approved. I make a motion for the bathroom...)

Session suspended. Garcillano laughing. Congressmen grinning, bear hugging, excessive chumminess all around. May as well be planning their Christmas party. Ricky Carandang who is there says "there's a sense of drama over there. Whether or not the opposition can trip him up. It can be compared to the boxing match with Garcillano giving the first blow by naming people...taking Round One."

With Garci already saying he won't discuss the Garci tapes, I wonder if viewers will stick around for Round Two.

Starbucks.

Round Two. Ah good, motion is withdrawn with congressman of course, naturally and as expected, asking for time to explain why he is withdrawing motion.

Chiz: Bakit binukod ang pangalan ni Arroyo?
Garci: these are the members of congress who personally contacted me..
Chiz: gano katagal noyo na kilala si Pangulong Arroyo
Chiz: kung sa matagal, talagang matagal na okay I will stop there
LAUGHTER.
Chiz: Is your nickname Garci?
Garci: di ko po kilala yung Garci! (galit talaga) If you will address me as Garci I will not answer you!
Chiz: nobody calls you Garci?
Garci: Some congressmen, jokingly and in jesture, they call me Garci.

IN JESTURE?!!! Your honor, let the record reflect that Garci said IN JESTURE!!! heeheeeheee

No time to laugh. Someone waves his time to Chiz

Chiz: ano ang ibig sabihin ng protektahan ninyo ang boto ko. pagpapataas ng boto? pagririgodon ng mga opisyal? pagsisiguro ng ang testigo hindi magtetestigo. kung hindi ito, ANO ANG MGA GAGAWIN NG ISANG ELECTION OFFICIAL KUNG
Garci: I cannot answer the questions because there were so many questions asked.
Chiz: Ito ang simpleng tanong. Ano ba ang nilalaman ang gawain pag an isang opisyal ay pinoprotektahan
Garci: Walang sinabi ang presidente na protektahan ang boto...

This guy can be made to mention the President. He can be tripped up.

Locsin: What will the use of these conversations and their value?
Garci: nothing wrong with asking for help in connection with behavior of those in the field.
Locsin: How will banning these conversations serve the public interest?
Garci: I dont know whats wrong...

Rep: what helps your memory of names
Garci: waiting for time to come out helped me recall but I still have no perfect recollection of all those who called me
Rep: what will aid you in helping you recall
Garci: in my office before I may have recorded those calls. I don't know if those records still there in the office.
Chairman: Congressman that is your last question (ay salamat)
Rep: yes, how will you prove you never left the country
Garci: my cousin..
Rep: you have never gone to singapore, hongkong
Garci I have not gone to Singapore.

Darlene yields to Chiz. yey.

Chiz: sa tawag niya sa inyo hindi hiniling ni Arroyo na protektahan niyo ang boto niya
Garci: kung maririnig niyo yung sinabi, na di ko tinatanggap...paki tingnan kung bakit yung abante ko naging (some figure) lang. that was already After the elections.
Chiz: sa kanyang I am sorry statement sinabi niya na kumausap siya ng isang opisyal ng comelec. Hindi ba kayo ang kinausap?
Garci: dapat si presidente ang tatanungin dyan.
Chiz: ayaw pong sumagot sa amin eh. Inakusahan niyo si Zuce at Mendoza--- na partners in crime sa pagmanipula ng halalan kahit di sila opisyal ng comelec. Eh ibig sabihin mas kaya pa ng opisyal ng comelec
Garci: di ko masasagot...
Chiz: pumunta ba kayo sa Mindanao.
Garci: you are putting words into the mouth
Chiz: for the record, kayo po ba ang tinutukoy ni gma na election official na kinausap niya?
Garci: I'm sorry. I was not --- I accept that I was the one who talked to the president. Di ko masiguro kung yan ang boses ko.
Chiz: he refuses to answer allegations pertaining to the tape. How can he say he wants the truth out when he doesnt want to talk about the tape
Garci: diba your honor napagusapan na natin na di na paguusapan yung tape...

Rep: meron bang kahit sino na humingi sa inyo na mandaya
Garci: hindi ko masasabi
Rep: meron ka bang kakayahan
Garci: magandang tanong yan. Ako ay hindi si Superman. Doing that is like a Superman. Kailangan mo ang provincial officials. City fiscal. (names people need to pull off fraud). How will you do it? Hindi kaya ng isang tao katulad ko... I never rigged the elections. I was never included although I was dubbed to be one of those involved in dagdag bawas before. Sana naman katotohanan lang...
Rep: Nung tumawag ba si Loren Legarda, iba rin ba ang issue?
Garci: walang ganon. as I said before, hindi ko kayang gawin

Zamora: What is the reason for your not answering questions about the tape. This is not a criminal procedings. You filed a case and used the case as a reason not to answer questions.
Garci: Let the Supreme Court first decide on this things.
Zamora: in interviews, you mentioned incidents. in your exclusive interview withe Henry Omaga Diaz, you said that the president called you, but only inquired by her lead was reduced to lead of less than a million votes. Do your remember that
Garci: I remember that but I will talk when the supreme court.
Zamora: can you tell us if you were the person in that tape, in that instance
Garci I will not accept that I was the one on the tape because we were never given the original of the tape. The law should protect me , the victim of the wiretapping
Zamora: So you are accepting that you are the one on the tape?
Garci: I am not accepting that. but I hope you can show us the original of the tape. and probably I will be willing.
Zamora: how can he say he is a victim of wiretapping at the same time say he is not the voice on the tape?

Zamora rocks!

Locsin points out that this issue bedevils the hearing. No one has filed a complaint against wiretapping. No one accepts he was a victim of wiretapping.

Round two goes to the opposition, wouldn't you say folks?

Noel yields to Zamora. Yey.

Zamora: if you are the victim of the wiretapping. then clearly you must be the one in the wiretapped conversations.
Garci: I cannot answer that because the prerequisite is the orihinal tapes...
Zamora: Are you denying that you are the one on the wiretapped tapes?
Garci: we are not denying.
Zamora: Just referring to the May 24 2004 when you said she merely inquired that her lead
Chair warns lawyers not to coach Garci. Hala ka Garci
Garci: there was no acceptance of bugging and who bug it? why dont we investigative
Zamora In short you are prepared to accept one conversation but not 14?
Garci: might be possible your honor. I cannot even accept that
Zamora: If they were splice altered, then at least one is authentic and 14 may have been
Garci: The whole tape was splice edited and corrected.
Zamora: you were in mindanao and you have witnesses..
Garci: you are saying that its not mine. i was here half the time
Zamora: in your affidavit there is no truth that I left the country
Garci: majority of times I was in Mindanao but majority of time I was in Luzon

Rep Solis asks for break for lunch.

Garci: can we reset for another day?

Chair: I have not recognized you Mr. Garcillano

Remulla: Did you have conversations before and after the election period?
Garci: I can remember talking to the President only once. We never talked after the elections.
Remulla: Are you saying the government of Singapore was wrong when it said you were in Singapore
Garci: Already answered that
Remulla: You are invoking your rights under article 4200? So you made the case subjudice so that you wont answer questions
Garci: I did not make it subjudice.
Remulla: you are invoking his right under 4200 at the same time he is saying not the voice on the tape
Garci getting confused: I did not say I am invoking because of 4200.

Locsin: he may invoke subjudice but you can ignore it. you can keep asking questions. he can keep refusing. We just received notice from the Supreme Court! (Cool. breaking news) Congress being asked to answer in 10 days.

Congressman: LUNCH FOR HUMANITARIAN REASONS!

Galing! Suspended.

BREAKING NEWS BREAKING NEWS BREAKING NEWS: SAMUEL ONG APPEARING IN CONGRESS TOMORROW. "A few days ago, I was surprised to see Garcillano, giving interviews. My God! I thought he is coming clean! But by God, here he is again, peddling lies. Nagngingit po ako. Akala ko lalabas siya para magsabi ng totoo. Yun pala he's coming out to peddle more lies. Kaya tinawagan ko mga kamag-anak ko na lalabas. Gusto mo bang mamatay paano na kami. Pero sabi ko sa mga anak ko I have to come out to rebut what Garcillano is saying. They  reluctantly agreed that I come out. After they agreed, I called by lawywers to make representation to the House and the Senate for my appearance today and tomorrow. I also gathered all the tapes from the persons I entrusted. I now have 4 master tapes. I have already given you a background on the two. It was given to me by technical sgt vidal Doble of Isapf. Handa na po ako na lalantad sa Kongreso ngayon at Senado bukas. The other tapes are equally as damning. gusto ko parining sa Senado.

ZUCE insists it was Garcillano on the tape and that he was beside Garci when he made some of those conversations.

No News is Bad News

Still no time to write but must help in effort to knock some sense into President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo. (Has she gone mad?! ). So will let Neal Cruz do the talking:

Neal Cruz's column today

Let me educate these officials, as simply as possible, about the basic principles of journalism. Let's call it Journalism 101.

Newspapers exist to report news. They were born out of a need by the people to know what is going on in their government and society. And what is news? It is defined as "anything unusual." The classic example is that if a dog bites a man, it is not news; but if a man bites a dog, then that is news. Cases of dogs biting humans are common, so it is not interesting to readers, but humans biting dogs are indeed rare and readers would be eager to know why he did it and how the dog reacted.

So why does the press play down or ignore something good that a public official does and play up anything bad that he does?

Of course. Because public officials are expected to do good -- that's their job; that's nothing unusual. But when they do something bad, that's unusual and they're not supposed to do that. So that is news.

When the time comes when the situation is reversed, when doing good is so rare it becomes news and doing bad so common that it is no longer news, then we would be in a very sorry state indeed. We are already slowly going into that. Stories of honest cab drivers and janitors returning money they found now make the front pages. Is that an indication that honesty has now become so rare that it is now front-page news?

Aren't we all expected to be honest at all times, from the President (and especially the President) down to the janitor? That is why when a president cheats in an election, it is big news. That is why when a president lies, it is big news. That is why when a president steals, it is big news. That is why when presidential relatives accept bribes from gambling lords, it is big news. They are not supposed to do those things.

As for those stories Ate Glue complained about, they were not invented by the press. These are facts-they actually happened. All the press did was report them, which its duty. It was just the messenger. But Ate Glue wants to shoot the messenger for bringing the message.

Ate Glue has nobody to blame but herself for all the bad press she is getting. There is one surefire way to always get a good press: Always do good, and don't do anything bad.

The Bad News about Good News

There's been a lot of pressure on news organizations to come up with more positive news and highlight the good over the bad and the ugly. In ABS CBN, the search for at least one good news a day is practically mandatory. Inquirer makes it a point to publish a positive Sunday story. Great, I say, for as long as they are newsworthy and for as long as there is no attempt to perfume reality.
Nothing should get in the way of our job of telling the truth. And the need for more truth telling has never been greater.
Inquirer's editorial serves as a reminder to all journalists:

To understand why more bad news than good news is published in the papers, we have to know the nature of news. A popular definition of news is this: "When a dog bites a man, that is not news. When a man bites a dog, that is news." This definition stresses the "oddity" aspect of the news.

Another definition says that news is a story about an aberration or a sensational exception to the norm. Thus, journalists like to point out that every day all over the world, tens of thousands of airplanes land safely at airports, but that is not news because it is normal--a safe landing is always expected. But when an airplane crashes, that is not normal and that is news.

Second, when it comes to political, social and economic news, in a liberal democracy like ours, the media are expected to be adversarial. They act as watchdogs, exposing irregularities in government and in society as a whole. And the media expose these irregularities not only for the sake of digging up dirt. They expose wrongdoings and wrong practices so that they will not be repeated, the erring people punished and the wrong procedures corrected.

Jose Rizal, in dedicating "Noli Me Tangere" to his "Motherland," said: "Desiring your well-being, which is our own, and searching for the best cure, I will do with you as the ancients of old did with their afflicted: expose them on the steps of the temple so that each one who would come to invoke the Divine, would propose a cure for them.

"And to this end, I will attempt to faithfully reproduce your condition without much ado. I will lift part of the shroud that conceals your illness, sacrificing to the truth everything."

We would like to think that present-day Filipino journalists are spiritual and moral heirs of Rizal and the Propagandists who exposed what was wrong in Philippine society during their time so that these wrongs could be remedied.

Third, the negative stories being written by journalists are not products of their imagination; they are based on facts, on observation, on records and reports, on statistics and interviews. In reporting negative news, journalists are, like the actors who received an exhortation from Hamlet, only holding "the mirror up to nature; to show virtue her own features, scorn her own image, and the very age and body of the time his form and pressure."

But journalists all over the world are becoming more concerned about the media's "negative bias." And they are doing something to correct the imbalance. To cite our own practice, the Inquirer has long been publishing "positive Sunday issues" where most of the stories on the front page are positive, heart-warming and inspiring. Everyday, Inquirer editors try to include at least one positive story on Page 1. ABS-CBN and GMA 7 always have at least one positive story in their newscasts.

Geneva Oberholser, former ombudsman of The Washington Post, has a good piece of advice for her colleagues: "[P]resenting an accurate picture means showing the courage and joy and victory that surrounds us, too. Avoid framing everything as conflict. Emphasize substance over process. Don't exaggerate problems and pathologies. Behave as a citizen and a journalist: Report, write and edit as if you care about where you live.''

This is good advice that all socially responsible journalists should take to heart and practice.

The not so innocent bystanders

This excellent question raised by Edwin Lacierda has landed me in quite a few fights in the newsroom, but what's one more, ey? I think any journalist who doesn't put down his or her camera or lay down his mic for a person in dire need of help is a piece of shit human being unfit for journalism and any other trade that require some degree of human decency and love for life. (Now you see why I get into fights?)

Believe it or not, for this I am sometimes called a radical. The traditional role of journalist as detached observer obviously still rules. But try as I might, I truly don't see the dilemma here. I think there is something wrong when you actually have to weigh an "ethical" question like this:

Human being getting bashed in the head by police needs my help now VERSUS Exclusive live frontal shot of human being getting bashed in the head by police. Man could die but maybe just injured. Shot must be seen by public so that they'll know of human being bashed in the head by police.

I'm still haunted by actual video of a reporter interviewing a dying girl as she lay pinned down by tons of cement in the Baguio earthquake. I think we all died a little there.

We should adopt Good Samaritan laws legally requiring citizens to assist people in distress.  The photogs caught shooting away at the scene of Princess Diana's fatal car wreck were investigated for violation of the French good samaritan law. We should have the same laws!

Edwin Lacierda on Role of Media
ANC has brought the rallies to the living room. Watching all the ANC footages, one sees the many montage of policemen dispersing the rallyists. You see them pulling and dragging the rallyists by force, grabbing their shirts, hitting them with truncheons. These are live shots with camera men right there where the violence is occurring.

And so, we ask: What is the role of media? Is its sole role to bring the news to our salas?

In the face of endless violence that happen in front of the cameras, should the camera person continue shooting the scenes and watch haplessly while a human person is being dragged against his will or while being beaten to the pulp? Does the media person have the obligation to stop and help the poor fellow and tell the law enforcement officials to stand down?

This has been the classic dilemma of media. Are they passive observers to an event or can they shape and influence events as they are happening?

I do not know if there is ever going to be a solution to this endless debate about the role of media. I do not even know what hierarchy of values a media person has to wrestle with in the very face of the events.

Maybe, we should ask our media-bloggers and shed light on the role of media in the light of violence and fluvial “cannonization” ceremonies. I am sure there is no dearth of opinion on this matter. But we still await for some enlightenment.

Desperate for a Job? Al-Qaida's Hiring

It boggles the mind how a super power like the United States can't shut down the Al-Qaida when there they are publicly announcing job openings --- not for Osama bin Laden cave sweeper, cave guard, and official beard trimmer --- but for cushy first world jobs like video producers and editors. Jobs that possibly require broadband and Final Cut Pro.

I mean check this out!

London-based Asharq al-Awsat said on its website this week that al-Qaida had "vacant positions" for video production and for editing statements, footage and international media coverage about militants in Iraq, the Palestinian territories, Chechnya and other conflict zones where militants are active.

The paper said the Global Islamic Media Front, an al-Qaida-linked, web-based organization, would "follow up with members interested in joining and contact them via e-mail."

If you're wondering what this job would entail, it might help you to know that

Last month it issued an English-language video on the internet called Jihad Hidden Camera which showed sniping and bombing attacks against U.S. forces in Iraq, and carried comical sound effects as well as laugh tracks.

As for salaries and perks:

The advert does not specify salary amounts, but added: "Every Muslim knows his life is not his, since it belongs to this violated Islamic nation whose blood is being spilled. Nothing should take precedence over this."

Yikes.

Those Red Smurfs

I was in a deep Rip Van Winkle like slumber when Manolo woke me up with this: Smurfs were communists?
Dammit, I always suspected they were so ---  and lo and behold, they were so! I've always wondered about those mushrooms and deep inside I've always known them by their Papa Smurf's choice of hat. Who wears matching red shorts and hats? Never mind that the smurfs were uniformly blue... I think that's literally just their cover! but that red hat...
Anyway thanks Manolo. You're always a surprise, my man.
Thanks for referring me to your favorite communist blogger also. Post on penguins waddling about with eggs between their legs in life and death struggle to keep eggs from freezing in sub zero antartic temperatures absolutely delightful.
In my dreams, I will dress Joe de Veneica as a Penguin and Gloria as a Smurf, toiling the fields to bring mushrooms --- mushrooms for everyone! Told you -- it's a dream.

Bully the bully

It's a dangerous delusion: Gloria actually feels she's being bullied when she has in fact bullied and beaten everyone into silence, with people like Gonzales speechless at the Senate, and direct witnesses like Garci choked and possibly muted forever.

Today there's talk of Gonzales's coronary angioplasty. A procedure involving pumping tiny balloons into a coronary artery to widen a blocked area that prevents the heart from functioning properly.

Well, something's blocked, that's for sure. And it's not just Gonzales's heart that's not functioning properly. Something someone somewhere has definitely got to be removed.

              PCIJ: Arroyo’s wrath?

DECLARING that she is tired of "chasing the bully around the schoolyard," Pres. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s tough-talking days are back and could actually signal a role reversal, with Malaca�ang hereon taking the offensive and the president seemingly acting the bully herself.

First, the "maximum tolerance" policy in dealing with street demonstrations has now been replaced with a "calibrated preemptive response" (echoes of U.S. Pres. George Bush’s preemptive strike policy?) meant to disperse rallies without permits and arrest "illegal" protesters.

Second, known vocal critics and those perceived to be anti-Arroyo are also now beginning to feel the brunt of what is viewed as Malaca�ang’s "vindictiveness" following Arroyo’s impeachment escape act two weeks ago that was masterfully performed by the pro-Arroyo House of Representatives.

Speaking of Leaks

Bush Source of Leak at the UN Summit? You've got to be kidding?!!

But the photo taken by Reuters (left) that many thought was a joke turned out to be true: Bush did indeed write this note to Condoleeza Rice in the middle of the UN Summit, to say: "I THINK I MAY NEED A BATHROOM BREAK? IS THIS POSSIBLE."

Yes, it's possible. It's possible for even the most powerful nation in the world to elect a (what is a kind word for idiot) to the highest office. Hey people make mistakes.

As expected, once official confirmation came out, the story and matching photo have been leaking like anything. There's just no holding it back (hehehe!).  It's bound to come out sooner or later (harharhar!)  There's no keeping a lid on this (hahahahaaa!) This article from Editor & Publisher covered how this leak was, well, uncovered by all: 

Reuters Says Bush Photo Not 'Malicious,' Reports Wide Interest at Home and Abroad: "NEW YORK With confirmation that an accidental photo of President Bush at the United Nations on Wednesday, writing a note to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice about a ‘bathroom break,’ was indeed real, newspapers around the U.S. and abroad are now planning to run it widely. But many, it seems, will treat it as something more than a joke.
A source at the Washington Post tells E&P that the paper is considering it for prominent play, in the context that, at least in some minds, it raises questions about overall perception of the U.S. at the United Nations, right or wrong. Reuters reports extremely strong interest in the photo today. The fact is, according to Reuters -- and this has not been widely reported -- President Bush did indeed take a bathroom break after passing the note to Rice.
This apparently raised some eyebrows around the room, because American representatives (among others) have a reputation for suddenly bolting, though normally for a far different reason than this latest one. Fair or not, the European press has already had a field day with the photo, often centering on the notion that Bush had to ask Rice for permission, or warning of a 'leak at the U.N.'
The Times of London, for example, ran no less than three separate articles about it on its Web site, one at the top of its front page. (It's a Murdoch paper.) One headline reads: 'Excuse me Condi, can I go to the bathroom?'
Another story, believe it or not, opens: 'The need to relieve oneself diplomatically has on occasion determined the fate of nations.' The third discusses the sordid history of the particulatar lavatory in question, and contains this passage: 'Medical experts said that the 59-year-old President was wise not to wait any longer.' The headline at the BBC news site suggested that Bush had been 'caught short' at the U.N. summit. From The Sun: 'I fear a leak, Condi.' The Irish Examiner headline? 'To Pee or Not to Pee, That is the Question.' Der Spiegel in Germany translated 'a bathroom break' as 'eine Toiletten-Pause.' And, of course, it made The Daily Show back in the U.S. late Thursday night. On Friday morning, Newsday chortled: 'Photographer leaks Bush potty idea.' The Minneapolis Star-Tribune headlined: 'Bush note inspires bathroom humor.' Gary Hershorn, news editor-photos for the Americas at Reuters, told E&P today that the photographer, Rick Wilking, informed him yesterday afternoon that he had observed Bush pass the note to Rice, and a little later, rise from his seat, leave the room, and then return. And while some have suggested that Wilking, a well-known photographer just back from taking some of the most gripping images in New Orleans, was out to embarrass the president, Hershorn said that the photojournalist had no idea what Bush was writing on the paper. Wilking assumed the president was taking notes on what some other official was saying. ‘Rick had no idea what he was shooting, or what Bush was writing,’ Hershorn said. ‘If Rick knew what he was writing we'd have 25 pictures of this, not two.’ The photo was taken at 12:08 p.m. and it was Hershorn, about three hours later, who took the trouble to examine the photo closely. It was only then that he noticed the writing and decided to put it on the wire after 4:00.
The photo, as E&P observed Wednesday night in the first story about the incident, shows Bush scribbling in pencil on a note that already holds the words: 'I think I may need a bathroom break? Is this possible.' Wilking is a veteran Washington photographer who has long covered Bush campaigns and the White House. As for transmitting the photo, Hershorn says, 'There was no malicious intent. That's not what we do.'
There's a simple explanation, even a serious one, for all of this, he adds. Bush, he points out, is not used to attending meetings at the U.N. and probably did not know what the protocol was for exiting a room and returning. His question to Rice was ‘proper’ and not all that surprising, ‘asking someone with more experience there about protocol,’ he said. Wilking told Gelf magazine today that he has not yet heard from the president—whom he says he knows very well—about the note. ‘I’m curious to know what the White House thinks,’ Wilking said. "