Thursday, December 24, 2009

nihilistic means...

ni·hil·ism (n-lzm, n-) n. nihil·ist n., nihil·istic adj., nihil·isti·cal·ly adv.
1. Philosophy
a. An extreme form of skepticism that denies all existence.
b. A doctrine holding that all values are baseless and that nothing can be known or communicated.
2. Rejection of all distinctions in moral or religious value and a willingness to repudiate all previous theories of morality or religious belief.
3. The belief that destruction of existing political or social institutions is necessary for future improvement.
4. also Nihilism A diffuse, revolutionary movement of mid 19th-century Russia that scorned authority and tradition and believed in reason, materialism, and radical change in society and government through terrorism and assassination.
5. Psychiatry A delusion, experienced in some mental disorders, that the world or one's mind, body, or self does not exist.
[Latin nihil, nothing; see ne in Indo-European roots + -ism.]
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition copyright ©2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2009. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

ht: thefreedictionary.com

not a season to be merry...

Not merry but thankful to the Lord for all the blessings, mercies and graces bestowed on all of us.

Can not wait for 2009 to be over and done with!
A year when two of my younger siblings died, seven months apart!

Advice from a funeral home for Christmas blues...

ht: headlinebistro.com, cns blog

Thursday, November 12, 2009

What will Socialist democrats say to...

Sarah Palin's post on Facebook today...
If you want real job growth, cut taxes – including capital gains taxes and small business payroll taxes – and slay the death tax once and for all. If you want to stimulate the economy and help poor and middle class families, cut payroll taxes so that more Americans can keep and invest more of what they earn...
If you want lasting economic expansion and prosperity, get the federal government’s budget under control. Instead of more pork-laden stimulus plans, let the free market correct itself...

Friday, November 06, 2009

Ugly indeed!

This unemployment number is PI like...
The unemployment rate in the U.S. soared to a 26-year high of 10.2 percent in October and employers cut more jobs than forecast, underscoring why Federal Reserve policy makers say interest rates will remain near zero...
“The rise in the unemployment rate is very ugly,” Ethan Harris, chief U.S. economist at Bank of America Merrill Lynch, said in an interview with Bloomberg Television in New York. “This is a big backward step to get this high of an unemployment number this early in the recovery.”

Nurses, RN's in particular, in the past, are immune to unemployment. Not this time. My RN sister-n-law lost her job early this year and has not found a comparable one. Now, she's comfortable on unemployment pay and stop aggressively looking for a job. Ugly insidious head of welfare on the soul and body...
Lord God, have mercy on us.

Saturday, October 31, 2009

You can be Catholic and Tango...

Tango and the Theology of the Body by Katrina Zeno
As a single Catholic woman, this isn't always easy. Argentine tango can be danced close -- very close. Its intimacy and passion can sweep me into the romantic ozone layer, obscuring any sense of reality. It lures me into wanting more -- more intimacy, more connectedness, more transcendence.
So why do I tango? Because Argentine tango conceals many profound spiritual lessons. Our relationship with God is meant to be one of intimacy and passion. So it is with tango. In the spiritual life, God leads and we follow. So it is in tango. In the Eucharist, God gives Himself away to us. The same should be true in tango. Argentine tango takes the abstract concepts of our faith and makes them concrete. Let me explain.

apo #2 named after favorite daughter heard the name on Dancing With the Stars - Katrina.

Tuesday, October 27, 2009

Sarah Palin supports Chris Christie...

Sarah Palin today on Facebook...
Let's consider the governor's race in New Jersey. The state has the highest tax burden in the country and the incumbent Democrat governor has only added to the economic burden. He eliminated property tax rebates for middle class homeowners while the sales tax increased. Altogether, taxes on the people in the region have increased by billions of dollars. It’s no surprise that New Jersey has the highest unemployment rate in the region! Thankfully, there is an alternative. Residents there will be better off under an administration that understands the benefits that result when workers are allowed to keep more of what they earn. Watch New Jersey's economy come alive under new leadership that will put government back on the side of the people! Chris Christie promises this new leadership.
Fortunately, New Jersey's Democrat governor is being held accountable with the RGA spending $7 million in the New York and Philadelphia media markets telling the truth about a liberal administrative record while highlighting New Jersey's tax-hiking ways and reminding voters there is an alternative! The NY and Philly markets are the most expensive in the nation though, so the RGA is requesting help to stay on the air. Visit http://www.rga.org/initiatives/comeback-fund/.

will the power of Sarah Palin influence democrat controlled New Jersey? Chris Christie listening and watching?

Monday, October 26, 2009

metanoia...

meta·noia (Merriam-Webster dictionary)
Pronunciation: \ˌme-tə-ˈnȯi-ə\
Function: noun. Etymology: Greek, from metanoiein to change one's mind, repent, from meta- + noein to think, from nous mind
Date: 1577: a transformative change of heart; especially : a spiritual conversion.
My deep spiritual conversion was at this site in 1995...
Cradle Catholic like 80% of Filipinos, I took my Catholic faith for granted. Received the sacraments - baptism, confirmation, confession now called reconciliation, Holy Communion and matrimony. I bought and gave out the New American Bible as gifts when it was available but never read it. I was satisfied at the scripture readings at Sunday masses. Until apo #1 at age 7 asked me how many Psalms are in the bible. Well she told me 'its 150, Lola, don't you have a bible?' I didn't knew how many Psalms there are in the Old Testament. I skimmed through my pristine clean, uncreased, white fake leather covered 'New American Bible' to check out if her answer was right.
September-October, 1995...
My friend, dangs, ask me to go with her to Rome motherhouse of her biological sister-nun, Sr. Feliciana, to represent her neice entering her perpetual vow at the convent. I've been to France in 1990 when my favorite daughter was an exchange student in a school south of France, way up in the Alps - Annecy. I worked regular 40 hr week at that time and did not have enough vacation times. I went from Paris to Annecy and back. That's another story in itself.,.
Back to dangs. I planned our trip to as many places in Europe as she want to go. I only want to go to Lourdes, France. Sr. Feliciana's order - Daughters of Mary de Leuca - has a thriving house in Lourdes...

Thursday, October 22, 2009

Fr. Gheddo wrote...

Fr. Piero Gheddo, director of Mondo e Missione and of Italia Missionaria, and is the founder of AsiaNew.
The radical causes of poverty are not colonization, or the multi-nationals or the egoism of rich countries...

The root of the problem is that first one must produce if one is to consume: One consumes if one produces, and in poor countries not enough is produced to maintain the rate of growth of the population...


ht: headlinebistro.com, zenit.org

Monday, October 19, 2009

Archbishop Chaput on...

Down Syndrome babies...
The real choice in accepting or rejecting a child with special needs is never between some imaginary perfection or imperfection. None of us is perfect. No child is perfect. The real choice in accepting or rejecting a child with special needs is between love and unlove; between courage and cowardice; between trust and fear. That's the choice we face when it happens in our personal experience. And that's the choice we face as a society in deciding which human lives we will treat as valuable, and which we will not.
Catholic public officials who take God seriously cannot support laws that attack human dignity without lying to themselves, misleading others and abusing the faith of their fellow Catholics. God will demand an accounting. Catholic doctors who take God seriously cannot do procedures, prescribe drugs or support health policies that attack the sanctity of unborn children or the elderly; or that undermine the dignity of human sexuality and the family. God will demand an accounting. And Catholic citizens who take God seriously cannot claim to love their Church, and then ignore her counsel on vital public issues that shape our nation's life. God will demand an accounting. As individuals, we can claim to be or believe whatever we want. We can posture, and rationalize our choices, and make alibis with each other all day long -- but no excuse for our lack of honesty and zeal will work with the God who made us. God knows our hearts better than we do. If we don't conform our hearts and actions to the faith we claim to believe, we're only fooling ourselves.

VDH confessed...

from pajamasmedia.com...
I have some confessions to make, not because any of you readers are particularly interested in my views; but rather because I think some of you are in the same boat: Have you stopped reading, listening, watching, and paying attention to most of what now passes for establishment public or popular culture? I am not particularly proud of this quietism (many Athenians did it in the early 4th century BC and Romans by the late 3rd AD), but not really ashamed of it either.

me too, Victor Davis Hanson...since 1995-96...
2 movies I saw since... Passion of Christ (with eyes closed half of the time) and Bella (recommended by Knights of Columbus).
Only tv show I watch...Journey Home on EWTN, Monday 8-9pm. No more Tiger Woods on tv since his tirade at Pebble Beach...
Have not read a fiction book, a self help book, a psychology or psychiatry since...
Since 1995-96 read...New American Bible (NAB), first the liturgy of the week, then sequentially from Genesis to Revelation, back to liturgy of the day reading the references on the footnotes of NAB.
American Bishop, a biography of Bishop Fulton Sheen.
Treasure of Clay, Bishop Fulton Sheen autobiography.
The Story Mountain, autobiography of Thomas Merton.
The Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith, originally published in 1776.
Confessions, autobiography of St. Augustine of Hippo.
City of God by St. Augustine of Hippo.
Summa Vol 1- 5 by St. Thomas Aquinas.
Most of St. Therese of Lisieux published books.
All of Pope John Paul ll books.
All of Pope Benedict XVl books.
Free to Choose, Capitalism & Freedom by Milton Friedman.
Democracy in America by Alexis de Tocqueville.
Biographies of Washington, Franklin, Adams, Lincoln, LBJ, Kennedy,
latest book read...Liberty & Tyranny by Mark Levin.
Read a libertarian fiction this year...Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand which strengthened my resolve not to read any or another fiction book again even if it is recommended and read by many others. Not my kind of literature.
Waiting for Sarah Palin's 'Going Rogue'...

Saturday, October 17, 2009

Rest in Peace, my dear sister...


God you have called your daughter, Lourdes, from this life. Father of all mercy, fulfill her faith and hope in you, and lead her safely home to heaven, to be happy with you for ever. Amen.

Friday, October 16, 2009

Sarah Palin's book

'Going Rogue' now $9. at Amazon.com. Pre-ordered a copy at it's original discounted Amazon.com price.

Monday, October 12, 2009

My Review of Hoop Cherry/Beige Glider and Ottoman

Originally submitted at Every Rocking Chair

Prepare to experience ultimate comfort in this Hoop Glider. Perfect for feeding baby or just relaxing while in the nursery, the Hoop Glider is sure to become a favorite in any space. The perfect accompaniment to the Hoop glider, this matching ottoman is perfect for resting feet while sitting in you...


Price right for this rocking speed.

By ate mely from highland park, nj on 10/12/2009

 

4out of 5

Pros: Sturdy, Easy to Assemble, Smooth Rocking, Fits Anywhere, Roomy

Best Uses: Infants, Newborn

Describe Yourself: Grandparent

Price right.

(legalese)

Friday, October 02, 2009

Subsidiarity means...

What the Church teaches about (big) government by Valerie Schmalz
Our Sunday Visitor...
"Subsidiarity is that principle by which we respect the inherent dignity and freedom of the individual by never doing for others what they can do for themselves and thus enabling individuals to have the most possible discretion in the affairs of their lives," wrote Archbishop Naumann and Bishop Finn in their pastoral letter.

ht: headlinebistro.com

Wednesday, September 30, 2009

Sarah Palin to US Catholic Bishops...

Palin’s New Tack and the Catholic Bishops’ Old Game
By Frank Walker
Pewsitter.com
How Catholic Church Leaders Can Learn From Palin's "Common Sense."
The honesty and simple wisdom of Sarah Palin is rejuvenating. Many who lead the Catholic Church will hopefully take notice. Today there are bishops worldwide who will go to almost any lengths in the name of social justice. Often when they do, they reveal their allegiances and their worldliness. This week the social justice arm of the USCCB, the Catholic Campaign for Human Development, is under intense light again for its openly political, anti-Catholic, and corrupt beneficiaries. In Vienna Cardinal Schoenborn recently tried to squelch a pro-life rally and then forbad clergy to participate. Notre Dame, the pre-eminent American Catholic University, continues to prosecute eighty-eight pro-life demonstrators, including Norma McCorvey, following the Obama honors last spring. In August Boston's O'Malley scandalized the world with a funeral for anti-life pariah Ted Kennedy, and this past week Scotland's Cardinal O'Brien railed in the press about global catastrophes, millions of refugees, and the poor before a climate meeting at the UN.
America's most powerful Catholic hierarchy are so eager to socialize our medicine, that they act as though it were possible to protect the lives of the sick, elderly, and unborn by simply not mentioning them in a massive healthcare takeover bill.

'new energy in the struggle to advance the culture of life in our nation'...

Reflections on the Struggle to Advance the Culture of Life
by Archbishop Raymond Burke
InsideCatholic.com
When a person has publicly espoused and cooperated in gravely sinful acts, leading many into confusion and error about fundamental questions of respect for human life and the integrity of marriage and the family, his repentance of such actions must also be public. The person in question bears a heavy responsibility for the grave scandal which he has caused. The responsibility is especially heavy for political leaders. The repair of such scandal begins with the public acknowledgment of his own error and the public declaration of his adherence to the moral law. The soul which recognizes the gravity of what he has done will, in fact, understand immediately the need to make public reparation.

Tuesday, September 29, 2009

A pilgrim is one who embarks on a journey to find the sacred.

Spirit of pope's visit to Iowa lives on 30 years later
by Mike Kilen
Desmoine Register...
Pope John Paul II arrived in a helicopter called Angel One and the largest crowd in Iowa history — 340,000 pilgrims — waited for his sacred message.

Friday, September 25, 2009

Pope Benedict XVI Plans European Visits

(24 Sept 09 - RV) Pope Benedict XVI will travel to the Marian shrine at Fatima, in Portugal, in May of next year.
from Radio Vatican...
ht: headlinebistro.com

Liturgists call for more meaningful feasts, symbols

By UCA News, Faith & Parish
Makati City, Philippines
Southeast Asian liturgists say new church feasts need to be added to liturgical calendars while religious symbols that that have no meaning in their area need to be replaced.

Jesuit finds new vocation but doesn't abandon old one

By Mark Pattison Catholic News Service
WASHINGTON (CNS) -- Jesuit Brother Rick Curry has a new vocation. He's now Jesuit Father Rick Curry.

Committee on Divine Worship Introduces Roman Missal Formation Website

Office of Media Relations
USCCB.org

WASHINGTON—A new Website from the U.S. Conference of Catholic will educate Catholics about the forthcoming English translation of the new Roman Missal.

Update:
Message from Bishop Arthur J. Serratelli, Chairman, USCCB Committee on Divine Worship
New Words: A Deeper Meaning, but the Same Mass

Friday, September 18, 2009

NJ representatives who supports ACORN!

75 congressmen voted to preserve ACORN's stream of funding.

ACORN's defenders from the corrupt state of New Jersey, all democrats:

Rush Holt, D-N.J, 12th District,

Frank Pallone, D-N.J., 6th District

Bill Pascrell, D-N.J., 8th District

Donald Payne, D-N.J., 10th District

Albio Sires, D-N.J., 13th District

ht: lucianne.com, washington examiner

Sunday, September 13, 2009

Sarah Palin fan at Columbia University

This past week is apo #1's first few days of classes at CU. She mentioned a professor that uses Sarah Palin as an example in a positive way. Warm my Sarah Palin heart.

Saturday, August 29, 2009

First Annual Sarah Palin Day @ C4P

Celebrate by contributing $29 to SarahPac.com and a glass of your favorite beverage...Cheers...Jeeeeeeez...

Saturday, August 08, 2009

Sarah Palin on Obamacare: Death Panel!

ht: Joseph Russo at conservatives4palin.com
From Sarah Palins facebook...
“The America I know and love is not one in which my parents or my baby with Down Syndrome will have to stand in front of Obama’s ‘death panel’ so his bureaucrats can decide, based on a subjective judgment of their ‘level of productivity in society,’ whether they are worthy of health care,” she wrote in her statement. “Such a system is downright evil.”

Emphasis mine.
I am one of the target of these 'death panel' - the first group of baby boomers on social security. Scary, very scary. Thank you, LORD, for clear thinking advocate like Sarah Palin and others. Liar-in-Chief will continue lying about his 'death panel'.
God bless and protect Sarah Palin and family.

Saturday, July 18, 2009

Wednesday, July 15, 2009

Editorial of Investor's Business Daily

Love this smack down of John 'why the long face' Kerry by Investor's Business Daily:
From Palin's front porch, senator, she can see "the largest private-sector energy project in history" — her "3,000-mile natural gas pipeline (that) will transport hundreds of trillions of cubic feet of our clean natural gas to hungry markets across America."
From Palin's front porch you can also see the 2,000-acre part of ANWR's frozen tundra that contains 10.4 billion barrels of recoverable oil (such estimates often underestimate actual yields) and that could supply all the oil needs of Kerry's Massachusetts for 75 years.
And from her front porch, Palin can see the Chukchi Sea northwest of Alaska's landmass. Awaiting development there, according to the U.S. Geological Survey, are 1.6 trillion cubic feet of natural gas, or 30% of the world's supply, and 83 billion barrels of oil, 4% of global conventional resources.

Monday, July 13, 2009

Sarah Palin

Hallelujah! Amen! Lord God, thank you for your blessings. Thank you for Governor Sarah Palin!

Thursday, July 02, 2009

Third World country numbers, almost!

Today's unemployment numbers are almost Third World country stats. From FoxNews.com.
ht: lucianne.com
14.7 million people were unemployed in June. If laid-off workers who have given up looking for new jobs or have settled for part-time work are included, the unemployment rate would have been 16.5 percent in June, the highest on records dating to 1994.

Wednesday, June 17, 2009

more, more IG Gerald Walpin, please

"I would never say President Obama doesn't have the capacity to continue to serve because of his (statement) that there are 56 states," Walpin said, adding that the same holds for Vice President Biden and his "many express confusions that have been highlighted by the media." Obama mistakenly said once on the campaign trail that he had traveled to 57 states.

Inspector General Walpin

Thursday, June 04, 2009

Pres. Reagan’s “Economic Bill of Rights”

Reagan’s “Economic Bill of Rights” was built around four fundamental freedoms:
Freedom to work.
Freedom to enjoy the fruits of one’s labor.
Freedom to own and control one’s personal property.
Freedom to participate in a free market.
ht: C4P

Wednesday, June 03, 2009

Philippines too...

Next to Mexico in dollar amount, Philippine economy depend on remittances from the US and other countries. Difference is Filipinos go to other countries besided USA.
From Investors Business Daily: ht: lucianne.com
Worse still, there's the remittance economy, which the government itself has encouraged to excuse itself from the kind of reform Ortiz urges. For the government, taking in some $2 billion in hard currency each month and getting rid of potential malcontents is a benefit. But for the economy itself, and the workers who need jobs, it's a bane. Legal workers in both countries are shed at lower rates than those who live outside the law, hence the drop in remittances. Dumping illegals on a dime always happens in a downturn. It not only leaves Mexicans more vulnerable in a downturn, it also deprives Mexico of its most enterprising base of talent. People who work illegally abroad cannot fully utilize their potential because only the invisible architecture of legalization can extract capital, as Hernando de Soto has noted. It's as true of illegals as it is of their money. The higher negative data on both oil and remittances suggest that whatever else may be going on, Mexico should reduce dependency on them. Mexico's central bank governor sees what is happening. It's about time Mexico's politicians took note too.

Sunday, April 26, 2009

In God We Trust

Best article to read to commemorate zero's 100 days of incompetency...
We live by trust. We drive the roads, labor, raise children, pay taxes all in trust that others are operating by the same rules. Rules of the road and laws of the land apply to rich, poor, powerful or powerless equally according to the Constitution.
Such trust for hundreds of thousands of Americans has been destroyed by Barack H. Obama within his first 100 days in office. Beyond any specific policy, lack of trust could damn to failure the Obama Administration so why are they not more forthcoming?
Never have so many individual Americans publicly protested as they did in the TEA (Taxed Enough Already) Parties April 15 ... so early into a new presidential administration. Never have so many Americans rushed to buy guns despite Obama’s repeated promises not to seize or restrict gun sales. Apparently, huge numbers of Americans don’t believe Obama is a man of his word.

from TulsaToday.com by David Arnett

Thursday, March 05, 2009

Obama buyer's remorse 1,000,002

Jim Cramer of TheStreet.com, CNBC...
If that makes me an enemy of the White House, then call me a general of an army that Obama may not even know exists -- tens of millions of people who live in fear of having no money saved when they need it and who get poorer by the day.

ht: lucianne.com

Saturday, February 21, 2009

Happy Birthday, Jess



Love you,
lola & lolo

Obama Buyer's Remorse! #1,000,001

This WSJ diary says it all. HT: lucianne.com
That may please the pitchfork brigade, but what about the people who make, sell and service corporate jets? "The Maytag repairman is busy compared to me," complains Bill Woods, president of Western Wings in Roseburg, Oregon. The company refurbishes and resells a range of private aircraft models, but "there is no market today," he says. Mr. Woods reports that the stigma around private jets has become so strong that not only have banks stopped buying them; in some cases banks won't even provide financing for others to buy them. Textron, the world's largest maker of corporate jets, saw its shares pounded after customers cancelled orders on 23 planes in the fourth quarter. General Dynamics, maker of Gulfstream jets, and Canada's Bombardier have also issued grim forecasts for 2009. Airplane manufacturers didn't create Fannie Mae or the Community Reinvestment Act or the AAA-rated CDO. And not all passengers on private planes are as deserving of scorn as the directors of Citigroup. Mr. Woods says many of his customers are crusty, hard-working entrepreneurs who need to be able to travel quickly to cattle auctions or to oversee far-flung timber operations. Mr. Woods says he wishes the White House, which has criticized airplane use by TARP recipients, would stop demonizing his product. He and his wife voted for President Obama last fall but now he admits they wonder if they made a mistake.

Millions of Catholics who voted for Obama also 'wonder if they made a mistake' days after inauguration.

Monday, February 16, 2009

Holy Mary of Guadalupe


blessed Image, the ever-virgin Holy Mary of Guadalupe...

Friday, February 13, 2009

Mexico City


We are in Mexico City, Mexico, as pilgrims of Our Lady of Guadalupe to personally thank her, her Son, our Lord, Jesus Christ the many blessings He gave us for the past 40 years of our marriage.
Mexico City on first look from the airport taxi ride to Holiday Inn Trade Center at Revolucion Ave remind us of metro Manila of 1969 except the spicy food. Even the salad dressing that look like Thousand Island was spicy. A waiter overheard me that it's spicy hot brought me a saucer full of unspiced Thousand Island dressing.

Tuesday, January 27, 2009

Sister Dede, MD, soldier, missionary

Sister Dede, someone I envision apo#1 will become...
"I'm not just a pro-life doctor, I'm pro-eternal life," she says. "God makes it very clear that he is working through me. … God gave me the opportunity to be a physician, and he creates the miracles."


ht: headlinebistro.com & washingtontimes.com

Monday, January 26, 2009

winter outfit

Apo #2 like any 2 yr old like to dress herself to assert their independence.

Tuesday, January 20, 2009

Tiger Woods & the circus in DC

ht: lucianne.com
Tiger Woods Inaugural Celebration Speech:
"You'll Never Walk Alone
"
I grew up in a military family - and my role models in life were my Mom and Dad, Lt. Colonel Earl Woods. My dad was a Special Forces operator and many nights friends would visit our home. They represented every branch of the service, and every rank. In my Dad, and in those guests, I saw first hand the dedication and commitment of those who serve. They come from every walk of life.

Original Article by Big Hollywood.com, posted by: heyboom

Sunday, January 18, 2009

cooking dinner for Vegas & Penny, bulldogs

Vonage Fax Service

I love my Vonage phone but the fax line bundled with small business plan does not work most of the time. I have change fax machine three times since I had the service in 2005, thinking it was the machines until this email today of 'NOTICE OF CLASS ACTION AND PROPOSED SETTLEMENT' shed some light. The settlement website to submit claim is: www.bustosfaxsettlement.com.

Saturday, January 17, 2009

after school activity

no mess, no Barney, no tv, between bathtime and bedtime.

Jan. 18, 2009, Sun., National Sanctity of Human Life Day

Proclamation by Pres. George W. Bush...
All human life is a gift from our Creator that is sacred, unique, and worthy of protection. On National Sanctity of Human Life Day, our country recognizes that each person, including every person waiting to be born, has a special place and purpose in this world.

Friday, January 16, 2009

Attn:Swiffer Sweeper

This video of apo #2 is perfect for an ad campaign:
Even a two year old can clean with a Swiffer Sweeper...

Monday, January 12, 2009

Sunday, January 11, 2009

the sound of music

interpretation there of by apo #2 with a lot of background by apo #1 and an indifferent audience of one, Vegas...

Wednesday, January 07, 2009

Our Lady of Guadalupe


Pope John Paul II entrusted the cause of life to her loving protection, and placed under her motherly care the innocent lives of children, especially those who are in danger of not being born.

Sunday, January 04, 2009

Duchenne smile

There's a 'social smile' and a Duchenne smile...
FACIAL expressions of emotion are innate...
A genuine - or Duchenne - smile uses more muscles and cause the eyes to twinkle and narrow and the cheeks to rise. The Duchenne smile is named after the 19th-century French neurologist Guillaume Benjamin Amand Duchenne, who discovered that a smile resulting from happiness involved the eyes and the mouth.

Friday, January 02, 2009

Yes, Raul, socialism failed Cuba or

Cuba failed because of socialism, same thing.
As Cuba prepared to officially commemorate 50 years of socialism later Thursday, President Raul Castro declared that socialism had "not failed in any way."

In 1957, Cuban GDP was estimated at $2.8 billion with a population of 7 million. 52 years ago, Philippines estimated GDP was $94,729 with a population of 22 million.
In 2007, Philippines GDP estimate is $300 billion with 7.3% growth rate, a population of 90 million. Meanwhile Cuba's claim of 7.5% GDP growth rate in 2007 is unverifiable. No GDP numbers are available for the population of 11 million. In 50 years span, Cubans increase 60% while Filipinos populate exponentially. That's excluding Filipinos who immigrated and became citizens of other countries like United States, Canada and Australia and numerous religious sojourners all over the world.
Socialism in general and Castro in particular forgets that the source of the nation's wealth and strength are the 'masses'. Without the 'masses', there would be no 'People Power' to overthrow Marcos and Estrada. Pro-life Philippines saved the country from prolong grips of dictators.

Thursday, January 01, 2009

Cuba in 1898...

In 1898, Puerto Rico, Cuba and Philippines were mentioned in the same sentence. Cuba was given independence, Philippines and Puerto Rico were tethered to then 45 states of United States of America.
Cuba and independent minded Cubans would have been a good fit as another state of the United States of America, by geography and sentiment at the beginning of 20th century. Industrious, self-reliant and entrepreneurial Cubans.
Same year of Castro's revolution, Alaska and Hawaii joined as states of America. Alaskan and Hawaiian golden anniversary celebration as US citizens will be markedly different as the citizens of socialist Cuba.
Instead Cuba has headlines like this…
Fifty years later, Cubans still are fleeing the revolution
The revolution never met their hopeful expectations, the island they love has slipped into decay, and for many, this week's golden anniversary provides little more than a flashback to traumas, old and new.

Communist Cuba: 50 Years Of Failure
New Year's Day marks 50 years of communist rule in Cuba. The Castro oligarchy will trumpet its survival and celebrate. But the reality, up close, is that it's the longest-running failure in the New World.

Today, Puerto Rico is still tethered to the US not a state. Philippines, wobbly democratic since 1946, had an estimated GDP of $300B in 2007, real growth rate of 7.3%, overly liberal press, overly critical of themselves 90 million strong masses, whose biggest import are dollar remittances and balikbayan boxes from family oriented and charitable Filipino immigrants in the US.
Alaska nurtured a conservative darling, Governor Sarah Palin and Hawaii, an ultra-liberal President–elect. Never would have happen if powers that be in the past did not join US of A.