Philippine Presidential Election, May 10, 2010

As a candidate for President of the Philippines...

These are my Platforms...
1. Simplify process to start a business. No government intrusion in all businessess.
2. Cut all taxes down to 10% - capital gains, personal income, business income, tariff.
3. Initiate jury system immediately.

that's all...

but I missed the deadline of submission...

Twitpic from Astronaut Soichi

View from outer space...

Click on picture for larger view and more Twitpic from Astronaut Soichi.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.