Alleba Politics

contributed by Ryan Maboloc

President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo should be happy that the most insensitive and the most stupid government in the world exists not in the Philippines but in Myanmar.

The decision of the military junta in a country of 47 million impoverished people defies all laws of logic. It renders the meaning of human dignity useless and buries the hope of the Burmese people more than a thousand miles beneath the core of the earth.

While tens of thousands are dead and a million people are homeless and are at-risk of losing their lives from diseases, the junta chose to continue with holding a constitutional referendum, which reports say guarantees a quarter of parliamentary seats to the military. “It is not important”, claims one man, who says that he is more concerned about where he will get his next meal.

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Al Qaeda leader Bin Laden has issued a warning that there will be a “reckoning” as a reaction to the publication of cartoons featuring Mohammad on a Danish newspaper.

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All human beings deserve to be free.

Keith Olberman of NBC comments on Bill Clinton’s Fox News interview:

Bill Clinton did what almost none of us have done in five years.

He has spoken the truth about 9/11, and the current presidential administration.

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According to an article in Sunstar Davao (September 3, 2006), the Philippines has abstained from signing the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) Resolution which condemns Israel’s attacks on Lebanon. After all that the Filipinos in Lebanon went through, the country chooses not to take sides??? Is our government not willing to stand up for its citizens? Not willing to stand up for humanity? A great injustice has happened to countless people in Lebanon, including Filipinos, and yet we choose not to condemn what has happened? What do we stand for?

Dean Jorge Bacobo of the The Philippine Commentary Blog has published a statement from Lebanese Consul General in Manila Joseph F. Assad. The statement reveals the lie being used by Israel to justify their indiscriminate and deliberate attacks on Lebanon which has caused the death and injury of countless innocent civilians.

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I have kept my mouth shut on the Israel - Hezbollah war because I felt like what I know about it is not enough to make a significant opinion about it.

But after learning that Israel bombed a UN Office which killed four UN Observers, I started getting more involved in the issue. I might not know much about Israel, their wars, their intentions, or anything about the Hezbollah, the Lebanon political situation… but this I know, killing innocents is never right, and can never be justified. And for that, Israel should be made to face the consequences of their actions.

Now that oil prices are going up, Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has done the laudable move of pushing for alternative energy resources. Currently, the Philippines, as is most of the world, is highly dependent on fossil fuels. Unfortunately, fossil fuels are exhaustible, expensive and cause much pollution.

Fossil fuels are so popular simply because it is easiest to use and most are accustomed to it. Alternative energy sources have been suffering from bad publicity. Solar, wave and wind energy sources are perceived to be expensive and insuficient. Nuclear energy sources are feared to be dangerous. Biomass is yet untapped and underdeveloped for mass usage.

Personally, I do not push for the use of nuclear energy. However, I am for clean, renewable alternative energy sources, such as solar, wind, wave and biomass. Our environment gives us virtually unlimited energy sources which are cheap and and very much accessible. If only we are not too lazy to explore these sources.

These alternative resources, if fully developed and PROPERLY utilized, can solve more than just the problem with rising oil prices. The use of these energy sources will certainly boost our economy, clean up our air and water, and lessen our dependence on the world economy.

We might be a bit late in realizing that we do need these energy sources. But I believe, that we are not too late YET. Now is the best time to fully explore the possibilities of these sources. Hopefully, current efforts will be sustained long enough for it to yield the very much needed results.

Much uproar, violence and debate has been caused by the publication of 12 cartoon depictions of Muhammad in the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten.

I have seen the cartoons and I must say I totally empathize with the cries of protest.

First, Muhammad is a sacred and very much revered prophet of the Muslims. And part of their reverence is their condemnation of idolatry including the visual depiction of Muhammad and Allah. Christians might see this as an extreme form of reverence but to the Muslims it is what they believe in. And it should be respected. If Muhammad’s followers themselves are prohibited from visually depicting him, we should respect that no ifs, no buts.

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