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Now that Thailand Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra has been ousted by a military coup, Philippine President Gloria Arroyo’s critics must be wondering if the same will happen to her. Arroyo has been very vocal about his admiration for Thaksin’s style of leadership, and the latter has also been generous with praises for the de facto Philippine President. But aside from their friendship, the two leaders have more in common.

Thepchai Yong, group editor of Bangkok-based independent Newspaper The Nation, enumerated them in an opinion piece entitled Continue reading “Arroyo and Thaksin”

Below is the full text of Pope Benedict XVI’s “Faith, Reason and the University Memories and Reflections” –a lecture which caused the anger of many Moslems all over the world. (The text was lifted from the Vatican website.)

The specific part of the lecture that offended Moslems is a quotation from Byzantine emperor Manuel II Paleologus uttered six centuries ago: “Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached”.

Pope Benedict said the emperor that he quoted addressed “his interlocutor with a startling brusqueness, a brusqueness which leaves us astounded…” However, it is unfortunate that he chose those words to express his point–that “not to act in accordance with reason is contrary to God’s nature.” In a personal apology the pope later issued, he said:

“At this time, I wish also to add that I am deeply sorry for the reactions in some countries to a few passages of my address at the University of Regensburg, which were considered offensive to the sensibility of Muslims. These in fact were a quotation from a medieval text, which do not in any way express my personal thought.

Bakekang is GMA-7’s latest telenovela. It is the story of Bakekang, described as “a loving heart trapped beneath an ugly facade, ignored and unappreciated by those who fail to see beyond what is skin-deep.”

Bakekang’s only desire, iGMA.tv says, “is to feel a little affection from the world that has deprived her of everything she has always longed for.” The latest Carlo Caparas character to jump from komiks to television, Bakekang will rise from a sorry state of ridicule to the pedestal of triumph and coveted fame.”

Just a thought–a very shallow one, though–when Bakekang finally become successful, will she do something that this day’s modern celebrities do? Plastic surgery procedures or a cosmetic makeover, perhaps? Hmm, maybe not.

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Army Major General Jovito Palparan, Jr. — whom activists call the ‘bucher of Central Luzon’– retired from military service yesterday. Wherever he was assigned, he left a trail of alleged human rights violations. Earlier news reports said he was designated as deputy security adviser, but Malacañang officials later denied this.

Anti-death penalty advocates like me must have cringed at Palparan’s statement that “some of them,” referring to the communists, should really be killed. On the other hand, the NPA’s planned assassination against him would also be unacceptable to the pro-life block since it would only perpetuate the culture of violence, as Conrado de Quiros wrote.

How then, should we solve a problem like Palparan? Fullman, who insists he has a cedula, came across a better way. It is called Oplan PPP, or Patayin sa Puyat si Palparan. A movie of the same title is in the Professional Heckler’s “Top 5 Movie Remakes Starring Maj. Gen. Jovito Palparan as Produced by Bayan Muna Films.”

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) Asia-Pacific will be launching the movie Wake Up Screaming on Saturday, September 9, at the Social Science AVR of Ateneo de Manila University. The movie will start at exactly 4:30 p.m., but please be there at 4 to buy tickets.

Tickets will be available for only 50 pesos.

Wake Up Screaming is a one-of-a-kind, behind-the-scenes look at the Vans Warped Tour—the longest-running traveling music festival in the world.