Final thoughts on this election

People should vote for change. This administration has brought us Joc-joc, Garci, ZTE, Neri, Winston, Abalos, C5, ad nauseam. If we don't vote to change all that, they will not only go scot-free, we're bound to get more of that.

People should also vote for a vice president and senators who will help accomplish that change. Villar will lose but he will still be a senator with a chance to be senate president. Congress will still be controlled by GMA, who herself will be a congressman with a chance to be Speaker. In that scenario, President Noynoy can be impeached easily. That tack will be pursued by GMA and her minions much more so if the VP is on their side. That's why I think they're buttering up to Binay (Loren is so far behind). He will be easier for this admin to work on. So, to avoid all that possibility, the country will be better off if the whole team for change gets elected - the president, vice president, and the whole senate slate.
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People give more credence to self rated poverty surveys than to official government poverty statistics. After all, poverty can be argued as a just state of mind. So, despite the catchy jingle and all his proclamations of his poverty the big question is why don't people believe that Villar was poor?
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Gibo won handily in a mock election at a government office. This is far, far, off the nationwide survey results from the regular pollsters. Some say this is because the people in this office are technocrats and they go for technocrats like Gibo. Hmm, maybe. But many people here think like bureaucrats. I think that people in this office have found their comfort zone. They are very comfortable in their positions that they want the status quo to remain. Garci, Joc-joc, Abalos, GSIS fiasco, etc do not bother them at all.

As we comfort the disturbed, we should also disturb the comfortable.

My women's tennis album XXXI - Tamira Paszek

Back to the heat

After a hot week at the office, my family went to Baguio City. The city is busiest this time of the year. Popoy and Vito hate long travels but we convinced them to make this trip. Vito has been to Baguio before, he likes it but he hates the long journey. Popoy hasn't been there yet, and he hates being out of his comfort zone that is watching TV and playing with this cousins. They were initially cold to the idea, but the moment they felt the cold breeze, they immediately warmed up to the City of Pines.

I got the chance to watch Mayweather-Mosley too. The kids enjoyed Burnham Park and the Wright Park. The wife escaped from the searing Manila heat. In all, we had a good time. It's just bad we have to return to the heat today.

The bureaucracy for the bureaucracy is very-crazy!

Bureaucracy has been defined as the combined organizational structure, procedures, protocols, and set of regulations in place to manage  activity, usually in large organizations. It is often represented by standardized procedure (rule-following) that guides the execution of most or all processes within the body; formal division of powers; hierarchy; and relationships, intended to anticipate needs and improve efficiency (source: Wikipedia).

Has bureaucracy realized its intentions? Judging from the way the government sector is vilified by its public, the answer is an obvious no. Why so? The government bureaucrats get much obsessed with the rules, regulations, and procedures that they readily lost sight of what they were supposed to do in the first place.  The process becomes more important than the output supposed to be produced.

If bureaucracy is harsh on the public, it is much more so on the government employees themselves. Imagine a bureaucracy for the bureaucracy. It is very-crazy.
(images from http://www.powayusd.com and http://positivesharing.com/)

Mayweather beats Mosley, money shames sugar

I just watched Mayweather vs. Mosley at the SM Cinema in Baguio. It was an impressive unanimous decision win for Money. It was a sour performance by Sugar. Shane upped his attack in the second round. He caught Money with a good punch that almost sent him down. In the third round, Money stepped up his offense. Shame had no counter-attack for the rest of the way. In the judges' cards, Shane won only the second round. When Money was asked if he's willing to bend on his demand for blood tests so the Pacquiao fight can materialize. He basically said no. After his impressive win over someone of took blood tests, he is on a higher ground to demand such tests.

I think Money shoots up to number one in the pound for pound ranking, overtaking Pacquiao. I don't see Pacman giving in to the blood test demands. Even if he loses in the elections, I don't think he'll fight Money.