Monthly Archives: July 2014
Gaza Now and Later
As I watched and read about, with mounting concern, the massive flare up in violence in Gaza and the West Bank the past month, some awkward, unanswered questions kept coming to mind. To be sure, the kidnap and murder of three Israeli teenagers, followed soon after by the kidnap and burning alive of a Palestinian youth, were utterly horrific and barbaric. Continue reading
The Forgotten History of Filipinos in America
Virtually every American child of Mexican descent grows up knowing about the great Cesar Chavez and about how he organized the oppressed farmworkers into a farm labor movement which led to the vast improvement in the working conditions of farmworkers. This image was supported recently by the nationwide release of the Hollywood movie, Chavez. Continue reading
Smoking is slow-suicide
Smoking kills. It is that plain and simple. There is no more doubt today that tobacco (cigarette smoking) is the predominant cause of lung cancer, besides other malignancies and cardiovascular diseases that maim, kill men and women and hurt our society, especially our children. Continue reading
Pilipino sa Kolehiyo
Hangga’t maaari ay ayoko sanang sumawsaw pa sa “pang-intelligentsia” na isyu hinggil sa pagtuturo ng wikang “Pilipino” sa mga kolehiyo na nasa ilalim ng Commission on Higher Education (CHED). Hindi lang isang beses nating babanggitin: ang soberanya ay nasa taumbayan. Continue reading
SEARCHING FOR ET The Seti@home Project Part One
“Our sun is one of 100 billion stars in our galaxy. Our galaxy is one of billions of galaxies populating the universe. It would be the height of presumption to think that we are the only living things in that enormous immensity.”
-Dr. Werner Von Braun- Continue reading
Desiderata Dissected (Part IV – The bitter better and wicked worse of coarse comparisons)
“If you compare yourself with others, you may become bitter or vain, for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself”
As social beings, it is almost impossible to avoid comparing ourselves with others. We need bench marks, averages, and starting lines for anything involved with growth and human improvement. Normalcy is determined through comparable parameters. We cannot set up standards without comparing. Continue reading
Rest in Peace, Rio
It started in 2005 with a tiny lump on her back — the size of a grain of corn. By 2010, the tiny lump had grown as big as a medium-sized mango fruit. Cita, the eldest child in the family, had been busy and mostly absent from her hometown. Her appointment as NEDA Regional Director of the Caraga Region in Mindanao had kept her away. When Cita realized that Rio needed urgent medical attention, she took the driver’s seat and never abandoned Rio no matter how turbulent the journey had been. Continue reading
Is Abad P-Noy’s Rasputin?
One of the most — if not the most — despised royal advisors in history was Grigori Yefimovich Rasputin. Known as the “Mad Monk,” Rasputin was a Russian mystic who was an advisor to Tsar Nicholas II and Tsarina Alexandra during the tumultuous years of Imperial Russia under the Romanovs. Rasputin became close to the Tsarina because he was said to possess healing powers, which the Tsar and Tsarina believed gave relief to their only son and heir to the throne, Tsarevich Alexei, who was suffering from hemophilia, an incurable disease. Continue reading
NAFFAA: The Dream and the Dreamers (Looking back and moving forward)
Every even year after its first 3 consecutive national conferences, the National Federation of Filipino American Associations (NaFFAA) holds a National Empowerment Conference (NEC). One is scheduled to take place in San Diego, CA on August 7-10 at the Town & Country Resort and Convention Center in Mission Valley. It will be its 11th national conference since its founding by the late Alex Esclamado, former Editor/Publisher of California’s weekly broadsheet, the Philippine News. Continue reading
U.S. Senate’s praiseworthy stand on disputed waters
In its biggest show of support yet, the United States Senate has adopted a resolution supporting the Philippines and other countries in their stand for the peaceful settlement of the territorial and maritime disputes over the West Philippine Sea and the South China Sea. The measure, US Senate Resolution No. 412, is entitled “Reaffirming the strong support of the United States Government Continue reading