Italian Welfare Minister Elsa Fornero broke down in tears and was about to announce to the Italian people that they will put an end to inflation indexing on all but the lowest pension bands, a move that will mean an effective income cut for many pensioners.

She was unable to say the word “sacrifici” or sacrifice. In which the new Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti took over and said the word “sacrifici”.

Watch at InvestorMind.

President Noynoy Aquino lambasted the Supreme Court led by Chief Justice Renato Corona in a nationally televised public forum at the First National Criminal Justice Summit hosted by the Department of Justice at the Manila Hotel.

Full article at http://palaisip.blogspot.com

“WILLIE REVILLAME IS A GOLD MINE”
By: Rosauro M. Angeles
rossmangeles@hotmail.com
buddyandmind@yahoo.com

Wilfredo Buendia Revillame is a huge mine of gold.

Indeed, he is a gold mine. Yet mining the gold out of Willie entails a lot of controversy.

He is a formidable television host. On the side, he is an actor and a recording artist. Although supported by a few talented noon time co-hosts, he alone as a single personality consistently brought the house down and rakes a lot of money for ABS-CBN defunct noontime TV show “Wowowee”.

Some of the serious controversies where Willie has been involved include “The Ultra Stampede” resulting to deaths and injuries of “Wowowee” myriad of fans; the public disgust of his behavior during the funeral march of the late President Corazon Aquino shown in “Wowowee” episode of August 3, 2009; Willie’s on air call for the termination of one of the talk show host of ABS-CBN and the latest of which is centered on a 6 year old child who performed a live macho dancing on TV 5’s “Willing Willie” episode of March 12, 2011.

TV 5 management has already made a stand on the latest child macho dancing issue. TV 5 is willing to back Willie Revillame which they think was put on a bad light and was casted unfairly as a child abuser.

Casting Willie Revillame as a child abuser is totally unfair. Although anyone who would view an edited version of a video portraying a crying 6 year old child performing a macho dance will opine that the act was made in bad taste.

In a live performance, when emotion is high, the continuity of action is very fluid and things are happening without you knowing that it had reached already the level that needs an abrupt stop, a slow down or a change in course. The host and the show management must be discerning, action oriented and must not be carried away by the emotions that is running high particularly if the large live audience are very engaging and participative.

On the one hand, there are sectors of our society particularly in the entertainment, media and government sectors who loves controversy. Others simply make controversy as their principal business. Controversy draws attention and influence peoples’ opinion. It carries with it a continued media and TV coverage that can help some personality to gain popularity and a particular business to increase its revenue. It is also a way of arresting the growing popularity of competition.

Most often, due to pressure of public opinion, it sways some agencies or branch of government to act with haste thus resulting to investigations and unnecessary spending of tax payers’ money. This is true, not only in the case of Willie Revillame.

To read more, visit http://www.buddyandmind.com

“THE MAKING OF A PRESIDENT – 1ST of a Series”
By: Rosauro M. Angeles
rossmangeles@hotmail.com
buddyandmind@yahoo.com

http://www.buddyandmind.com/blogs/5/88/the-making-of-a-president-1st-of-a-series

Most ardent faith believers declared that becoming president of a certain country is a God given destiny.
Further, believers without hesitance will say that things are happening in accordance with His will and that If He wills things to happen, it will happen”.
Does being re-elected as a president also a God given destiny?
Does God meddle with the affairs of the people particularly in choosing who will and who will not become president of a certain country? Does He meddle on whom shall you marry? Does God meddle on what career you will pursue and how you will pursue your career?
I will not argue to the above contention or to any contention contrary to the above. What I would just say is that around the world, all day and in all hours or seconds, there are good things and bad things that are happening.
Good deeds like providing livelihood programs to poor communities or philanthropist allocating substantial funds for the eradications of some dreaded diseases. Bad deeds like the brutal killings of innocent children and helpless people who were caught during arm conflicts or the taking place of rapes of children and grandmother by people who were under the influence of drugs.
Now and then there are unimaginable calamities like earthquakes, tsunamis and fires that are taking place.
Hence, are we going to say that only good things are the wills of God, whereas, bad things are the wills of Evils?
What I would say is that God is witnessing what is happening around the world and those good things happening pleases Him and bad things happening displeases or saddened Him.
Again, I may ask. Does God meddle with the affairs of the people particularly in choosing who they shall vote to become their president?
The next series of articles will show a profiling of some presidents and rulers who have caught the attention of the world or their people. Some characterize a simple ascent to power. Others make use of complex set of preparations on how they became a president or how they extended their terms of office and or their plans on how to go about their re-elections.
The Making of a President – 2nd Series will feature President Barack Hussein Obama II, the earliest bird to announce his intention to run for re-election come US 2012 National Election.

“Corruption, Poverty, Power Supply on Electricity and the Nigerian Presidency”
By: Rosauro M. Angeles
rossmangeles@hotmail.com
mybuddyandmind@gmail.com

http://www.buddyandmind.com/blogs/5/36/corruption-poverty-electricity-and-the-nigerian-presidency

There are a lot of political and national issues at hand that must be seriously and swiftly addressed.

The public deserves to know how a presidential candidate will tackle and solve the issues on corruptions, poverty, and the insufficient supply of electricity to name a few.
Recently, the incumbent president declared in his FB page that Nigeria has hit 4,000MW for the first time in 10 years. Exciting isn’t it. How it was reached was vague and has no clear answer.
In June 2003, Norton Rose Nigeria Energy Report stated that the country had installed electricity generation capacity of about 5,900 MW. Since then, Nigeria never experienced a generated capacity over and beyond 3,000MW. Moreover, other generation plants were put in place in 2005 with a capacity of 3,500 MW by the Obasanjo government giving us a total capacity of over 9,000 MW.
Hence, why then celebrate a 4,000 MW. Meanwhile, million of homes were suffering from chronic power outage or worst lack of electricity. The cost of electricity is quite skeptically high and or the lack of electricity is triggering continued escalating prices of all commodities in the market.
Hence, a presidential candidate must present a detailed and effective solution to the general public in this significant issue that negatively affects the lives of all Nigerians particularly the common masses.
Poverty triggers behaviors that are unacceptable to the norm of civil society. Poverty is the root cause of high incidence of criminalities, prostitutions, corruptions and high death rates.
It is a pity that nearly nine (9) out of ten (10) Nigerians have suffered hunger in the last six (6) months.
How can you send a hungry child in school? How can you maintain the health and strength of young and old if he is eating only one small meal a day? How can you prolong the life of a sick person if the medicines and hospital bills are not affordable? How can you prevent young women to become prostitute if they want to become self-supporting in their education in the absence of decent jobs for themselves, their siblings and their parents? How can a street children or an ambitiously talented child to continually hope for a bright future if all signs of stark poverty is at his hand.
Poverty and the dimming light of hope for an African dream needs credible answers from our presidential candidates.
All presidential candidates promised to fight and or eradicate corruption. Buhari courageously said to the government contractors, “If you perform well, you get a hand shake. If you perform badly, you get a handcuff” whereas, Ribadu realistically accepted and stated that “When you fight corruption, corruption fights back”
Corruption like a deadly cancer is already in an advance stage in Nigeria. Suffice it to say that corruption is being tagged and accepted as a norm for business as usual.
I can not and will not accept that corruption is already a way of life in Nigeria. In over 152 million people in Nigeria, there are still considerable huge numbers of Nigerians who are descent, honest and abhor corruption.
We must find a leader that will not compromise integrity.

We must vote for a leader who will become a role model for clean and honest governance. We must find a leader that will have the will to prosecute corrupt men and women in government including their civilian and businessmen cohorts.
Nigeria – you decides. The bright future of your children and the next generation lies on your collective choice. Go out, participate, vote and be heard. Your small voice will echo throughout the land. Nigeria needs you today not ‘morrow.

Climate Change is an international issue where every nation is a stakeholder. International cooperation is needed to face the creeping effect of climate change. Recognizing this, several international agreements and mechanisms have been put into place.

A Convention

In 1992, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change or UNFCCC was produced after the Earth Summit. The UNFCCC is a treaty with the main objective of stabilizing man-made greenhouse gases in the atmosphere at levels that it does not interfere with the climate. It states a “common but differentiated responsibilities” based on their “specific national and regional development priorities, objectives and circumstances”.

The treaty does not set target nor limits to greenhouse emissions for countries. It does require certain countries to provide financial aid and transfer of technologies to developing countries and those more vulnerable with the threat of climate change. It also, however, does not specify the amount nor the mechanism to how this aid shall take effect.

Read More…

MANILA, Philippines – The U.S. government said Sunday it made an “honest mistake” when it displayed an inverted Philippine flag — which wrongfully signified that the Southeast Asian nation was in a state of war — in a meeting hosted by President Barack Obama.

Two Cents…

It is ludicrous to say that this carelessness is a reflection of Obama or the US but you’d think in a convergence of political leaders among nations, with the US as host- someone would put in some attention to detail considering there are only ten, TEN flags to think about!! The ten-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) includes Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

CONTINUE READING HERE….

So you’ve got your PSP and you want to get Free PSP Games for it?  What do you do?

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Here’s the report of the Incident Investigation and Review Committee on the August, 23, 2010 Rizal Park Hostage-taking Incident: Sequence Of Events, Evaluation and Recommendations.

Read more at http://palaisip.blogspot.com

Here are five ideas or solutions that I believe will help ease out the worst-than-sardines-packed trains of the Blue Line train system. These will not eliminate the problem (I doubt it will happen – the number of passengers will just get bigger and bigger no matter what), but this will at least give us less headaches and minimize the time period that we have to endure the worst-than-sardines-packed trains of what we used to call MRT-3.

Please help in spreading this, let’s get these ideas noticed by the authorities and the Blue Line management.

Read it all here…

Noynoy Aquino and Jejomar Binay are leading the partial count. Surprisingly, Villar is not in second place but Joseph Estrada!

Watch at http://palaisip.blogspot.com

So yesterday we got news that Justice Secretary Alberto Agra has cleared Gov. Zaldy Ampatuan of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao and his uncle, Maguindanao Vice Gov. Akmad Ampatuan Sr., of the massacre of the 57 people in Maguindanao.

Read more at http://palaisip.blogspot.com

I guess now we know who the traitor in the Noynoy camp is.

Watch at http://palaisip.blogspot.com

Nice to see some candidates have a sense of humor.

Watch at http://palaisip.blogspot.com

Recent surveys show that Sen, Noynoy Aquino is going down in popularity as far as Filipino voters are concerned. If the trend continues, Sen. Manny Villar seems posed to win the May 2010 elections leaving the LP camp confused as to what could have hit them.

I think Aquino’s waning popularity is the result of major mistakes committed by his camp rather than on what the competition did. These major mistakes include

1. Their complete reliance on winnability/popularity, and
2. The negative tenor of their campaign.

Sen. Aquino ran for President on the basis of the popularity he gained from the extensive positive media coverage of his mother’s illness and subsequent death. The initial survey results understandably reflect such popularity but it does not mean the majority of voters are ready to embrace him no matter what. Everyone already recognizes the Aquino brand and the senator does not need to remind us about it. However, he still made sure we are reminded by invoking his parent’s legacy every time he is asked to speak. Perhaps he didn’t realize that voters are looking forward to know more what is behind the brand rather than have the brand merely repeated to them.

Obviously, Aquino will not get elected on the basis of what he did in the past. His performance in his three terms in congress and three years on the Senate did not produce any significant results. The fact that his home province of Tarlac, for which he could have wielded influence, has not shown any remarkable success, did not help to create the idea that at least he could have done something. His usual defense, “’fiscalization’ is what he did” simply does not hold water. The word “fiscalization” itself cannot be found in the dictionary, while more people, other senators, who produced more results, certainly has a better claim to it.

Because of lack of past performance to talk about, the Aquino camp banked on mere popularity to forward their cause. They used celebrities led by her controversial sister, popular actress and host Kris Aquino. They used surveys to create a bandwagon and to arrogantly turn the tables on the voters. Up to this day, Aquino ads are saying that it is the people who wanted him to run (obviously referring to the surveys), and not him wanting the Presidency. Now that the survey numbers are not favoring his argument, people would wonder: will he stop his run and go back to his slumber in the senate?

Aside from too much reliance on popularity, the other major blunder of Aquino is his negative campaign. First, his camp has shown their complete obsession or aversion of anything with Pres. Gloria Macapagal Arroyo in it. His platform says it all, he is just about anything but Arroyo. Meanwhile, his campaign says he will not steal, meaning everyone else are thieves. Also, they try to create the image that his main rival Sen. Manny Villar is the Arroyo reincarnate. While Aquino is not far behind in ad expenditures, his camp insists that Villar is using money to buy the Presidency and everyone on his way. The Aquino camp does all these while trying to create the illusion that their own campaign is a campaign of and by the people.

But there is truth to the saying that when you point an accusing finger, your other fingers will surely point at yourself. Of course, Aquino has been hounded and hurt by his lack of leadership and transparency, to put it in its mildest, on the Hacienda Luisita issue – the issue that could even eventually tarnish the legacy of his mother.

Instead of correcting their mistakes though, the Aquino camp is now resorting to stoking fear to get votes. They now talk about different far fetched scenarios such as “failure of elections” and military junta as they regularly attack the integrity of the Supreme Court and the Commission on Elections. They are now talking about leading “People Power”, presumably in case they would not win.

I think the Aquino camp has got to stop its arrogance. Rather than bank on popularity while branding everyone else as “evil” to continue their negative campaign, Aquino should instead sit down and reflect on real solutions that he can offer the country. Instead of simply mouthing platitudes and meaningless generalities which Villar is similarly doing, the Aquino team should differentiate their candidate by really studying the problems and coming up with and presenting real solutions, with details down to the last centavo needed to implement them.

I am not sure if Sen. Benigno Simeon “Noynoy” Aquino III still has time to do this, but if he cannot explain his past, he should at least fully explain and show us the next six years of the country if we would have him as President. This I think is the only way now that he could win the May 2010 elections.

Gone are the days when you have to go some library and take from a shelf the latest edition of Supreme Court Reports Annotated (SCRA) to find jurisprudence on an issue which you cannot even describe as recent.

Taking advantage of all these and with the goal of being able to help all lawyers and law students alike, LawMonitor.Net is launching its Recent Philippine Supreme Court Decisions and Resolutions Search Tool which you will find on our right side bar.

Check it out at LawMonitor.Net.

Nitong mga nakaraang araw at linggo, parang sunod-sunod ang mga presidential forums na naganap. Kamakailan, meron pong FOCAP, nung minsan, may forum ng Inquirer sa UP, noong isang linggo sa Merriam College, tapos meron din sa La Salle at Ateneo. noong dati sa UST, meron din sa AIM at kung saan-saan pa. OK po ang mga forums, kaso parang medyo nakakasawa na kung pare-pareho lang ang style. Parang nawawalan po tuloy ng saysay.

Para po maging exciting at makabuluhan ang mga forums na ito, may mga suggestions po ang Sentro ng Katotohanan. Sana po ay makarating ang mga suggestions ko sa mga nag-o-organize ng forums para na rin makatulong sa kapakanan at kaalaman ng ating mga kababayan:

1. Sana po, imbis na forums, debate ang gawin. Kung ang forums po ay tatanungin lamang ang bawat isa sa mga kandidato, e para saan pa kung bakit inimbitahan sila ng sabay-sabay? Pwede naman po silang tanungin ng hiwa-hiwalay, hindi po ba? Ang mainam po sa debate, makikita ng mga tao ang pag-kakaiba ng mga kandidato. Hindi po kagaya kapag forums lang, parang pare-pareho lang ang kanilang sinasabi. Nalilito tuloy tayo lalo kung sino ang dapat iboto.

2. Dahil hindi naman po iisa lang ang gagawing debate, dapat po ay paghiwa-hiwalayin ang mga issues sa bawat debate. Isang araw po ng debate ay puro lamang sana sa ekonomiya. Isang araw po ay puro lamang tungkol sa OFWs. Isang araw po sana ay puro lamang sa paglaban sa graft and corruption. Isang araw po sana ay puro naman tungkol sa Reproductive Health at population. Ibang araw naman ay tungkol sa Charter Change. Ang nangyayari po kasi ngayon, bawat isang forum ay pilit na itinatanong lahat ng mga tanong. Tapos ganun din ang nangyayari sa susunod na forum. Hindi naman po nakukumpleto ang sagot ng mga kandidato dahil nauubos na ang oras. Parang hindi na tayo natatapos sa pare-parehong tanong, nasasayang tuloy ang panahon at pagkakataon.

3. Sana po sa mga debate ay isang tao lang ang magtatanong o magmomoderate. Sa mga forums po na nakikita ko, ang daming nagtatanong. Lahat po yata ng mga tumulong mag-organize ng forum ay gustong magtanong. Ang nangyayari tuloy, walang nagiging follow-up sa mga kasagutan at wala rin tayong natatapos. Wag na po sanang pumapel lahat ng organizers, hindi naman po tayo lahat mahusay mag-tanong o magmoderate ng forum o debate. Sana po ay humanap ng isang professional at patas na tao, na may expertise sa issue na pag-uusapan, para magtanong o magmoderate sa bawat isang debate.

4. Dapat po ang mga tanong ay puro tungkol sa policies. Wag na po sana yung mga personal o yung mga iba’t-ibang issues laban sa kandidato. Kasi po yung mga tanong na iyon ay dapat sa individual interviews ginagawa, hindi na po sa debate o forum. Nakakadagdag lamang po sa paghihintay ng ibang kandidato, hindi naman din po nasasagot ng husto dahil nagmamadali na sa oras.

5. Sana po ay gawing televised sa primetime sa gabi ang mga debate sa maraming channels. Sana ay may replay din kinabukasan ng tanghali. Sana po ay i-sponsor na lang ng COMELEC ang mga forums o kaya ay i-air sa mga government stations. Kasi po, may mga ibang channels na parang may kinikilingan o may nilalabanan. Kung walang channel na may exclusive sponsor ng debate, mas mainam po at parang mas patas ang usapan. Hindi naman po dapat exclusive ang mga debate at forums sa isang channel, dapat po ito ay open sa lahat ng mass media.

6. Sa parte naman po ng iba sa mass media, sana po, ang lahat ng TV, radio at dyaryo ay mag-cover sa mga debate. Ang mali pong nangyayari, parang kanya-kanya ang mga media stations. Yung forum sa ABS-CBN, hindi konocover ng GMA, yung sa GMA hindi naman kinocover ng kabila. Kahit po iyong sa Inquirer hindi gaano kinover ng mga TV station. Para pong may kumpetensya pa. Public service na lang po sana ito, hindi na competition sa business. Kasi ang eleksyon po ay para rin naman po sa ating lahat, kasama na ang atin mismong business interests.

Ito po ang anim kong suggestions, ulitin ko lang po:
1. Debate po sana at hindi lamang forum, para makita natin ang pagkakaiba ng mga kandidato
2. Hiwa-hiwalayin po sana ang mga issues, iba-ibang araw ng debate po sana bawat issue para makita natin talaga ang mga solusyong ibibigay ng mga kandidato
3. Isang moderator po lamang sana bawat debate, hindi po kailangang lahat tayo ay magtanong.
4. Policy debates po sana ang gawin, wala na po sanang mga personal questions at mga issues na pwede namang gawin sa individual interviews.
5. I-televise sana ng live ang mga debate, sa prime time TV at open sa lahat ng mga channels, hindi exclusive.
6. I-cover po sana ng lahat ng mass media ang mga forums, para po mas marami ang makaalam sa lahat ng issues, Itigil na po muna sana ang kumpetensya sa mga media outlets.

Kami po sa Sentro ng Katotohanan (DWBL 1242KHz 8.30-9.30PM T-Th), ay umaasa na sana ay makita natin itong mga improvements na ito tungkol sa debate at forums. Maraming salamat po!

Sentro ng Katotohanan (8.30-9.30PM, T-Th, DWBL 1242KHz) seeks and is open to interview and feature all senatorial candidates in the coming May 2010 elections. If you are a national candidate, or works for a campaign or knew someone who does, or just plainly want us to invite someone, please comment here or email us at lead.philippines(at)yahoo.com (or send an SMS to 0929-799-8308) and provide us information how to get in touch with the candidates.

Sentro is a fresh new program on AM radio that centers on topics related to the coming elections. In the past, Sentro has interviewed JC Delos Reyes, Nic Perlas, Bayani Fernando, Jun Chipeco, Alex Lacson, Sonia Roco and other national candidates. The Sentro interview touches on many topics of interest to voters, including the candidates’ personal lives and past achievements. Of course Sentro also asks about platforms (and legislative agenda for senatoriables) of the candidates, as well as their reaction to different national issues. It may be noted that Sentro interviews does not shy away from asking direct, even controversial questions, and as such has in the past elicited candid responses from featured guests.

Sentro ng Katotohanan is co-anchored by Arnel Endrinal and Ms. Iya-J.

www.leadphil.blogspot.com

Want to know who really are running? Here is a quick run down of Presidential, Vice-Presidential and Senatorial Candidates for the May 10, 2010 Elections based on the official certified list from the Law Department of the Commission on Elections (Comelec). Read the full post at Pinoy Seminars.