tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-59771723669027977112012-01-25T17:09:16.210-05:00"I rebel, therefore we exist." Albert CamusJoe Riveranoreply@blogger.comBlogger1481100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5977172366902797711.post-36119801533143094232010-12-22T13:00:00.010-05:002011-06-27T22:44:07.751-04:00

This may come as a pleasant surprise to some members of the Filipino community in Toronto who have been repulsed by the critical observations I have often raised in this blog. Particularly those who had been averse to criticism as if no one is beyond reproach. The time has come, therefore, to say goodbye to this blog. All those elated to hear this news will surely feel a great sense of

Joe Riveranoreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5977172366902797711.post-82593003365587477522010-12-15T00:00:00.006-05:002010-12-15T00:06:14.256-05:00

Note: I am not posting my regular blog this week but instead would like to share with my readers some excerpts from the blog written by Michael Moore, Oscar and Emmy-winning director, regarding his take on WikiLeaks and the arrest of its c0-founder, Julian Assange.Why I’m Posting Bail Money for Julian AssangeBy Michael MooreYesterday, in the Westminster Magistrates Court in London, the lawyers

Joe Riveranoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5977172366902797711.post-4962307478240390532010-12-09T14:00:00.005-05:002010-12-09T17:32:48.561-05:00

Remember the 1980 movie, “The Gods Must Be Crazy?”A Sho native in the Kalahari Desert found a Coke bottle, his very first encounter with technology, and decided to return it to God because his people started fighting over it when he brought it home in his village.The most recent Pulse Asia survey gave President Noynoy Aquino with a very high 79 per cent approval rating, which means that nearly

Joe Riveranoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5977172366902797711.post-79988447117308227832010-12-02T20:45:00.004-05:002010-12-02T20:51:25.367-05:00

If you’re unhappy, blame the economy. Certainly for the Irish, it’s the economy, stupid. But if you are U.S. President Barack Obama, you may well add the Republicans and the Tea Party movement to your woes.As the gross domestic product of most nations, big and small, continues to dwindle, governments are now starting to ask if it’s time to rethink the measure of a country’s growth or decline and

Joe Riveranoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5977172366902797711.post-45635553153871103702010-11-22T10:00:00.009-05:002010-11-23T11:08:51.546-05:00

Sally Bowles’s powerful closing song, “Life is a cabaret,” sums up her choice to turn away from reality, taking the cabaret as a great escape from the burden of society’s troubles. But the actual message of the film Cabaret is exactly the opposite: escapism is dangerous for the individual and to society as a whole.The choice of a musical to highlight the dangers of escapism is quite ironic

Joe Riveranoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5977172366902797711.post-39622986423820725782010-11-17T00:00:00.004-05:002010-11-17T00:12:55.243-05:00

Many Filipino professionals in Toronto, at least those I know from my alumni association, lament some of the experiences told by Filipino newcomers to Canada about other people mistaking them for nannies. The newcomers recount how they had been asked if they could clean their co-workers’ homes after work or if their parents had also come to Canada as nannies. Somehow this gave the impression that

Joe Riveranoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5977172366902797711.post-21615054958159068232010-11-12T21:00:00.005-05:002010-11-12T21:11:36.038-05:00

Our insatiable thirst for tabloid fodder makes privacy a lost cause for the famous. No celebrity is safe from tabloid gossip anymore. The more famous you are, the more you are hounded by the paparazzi until everything about you is made public.But nothing compares to the advances of technology and how they have made our society a modern-day panopticon where everything and everyone are under

Joe Riveranoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5977172366902797711.post-38959436875870434552010-11-05T00:00:00.016-04:002010-11-05T10:44:06.216-04:00

In his first state of the nation address, President Benigno Aquino III bewailed the fact that his new government has only 6.5 per cent (or 100 billion pesos) left of the total government budget of 1.54 trillion pesos to spend for the remaining months of the year. He pointed to his predecessor’s wasteful use of government funds as one reason for this sorry state of the nation’s coffers.There was

Joe Riveranoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5977172366902797711.post-32319352549952735582010-10-28T17:30:00.009-04:002010-10-28T23:47:51.082-04:00

Is living on government dole-outs the way out of poverty?This is the underlying message behind the conditional cash transfer (CCT) programs initiated by the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in line with the United Nations Millennium Development Goals to reduce poverty by 2015. Mexico started the first CCT program in 1997 and it was copied by other countries. Brazil’s CCT

Joe Riveranoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5977172366902797711.post-59270496254542635732010-10-20T00:00:00.008-04:002010-10-20T01:01:47.806-04:00

In his presidential inaugural address, President Benigno Aquino III referred to the Filipino people as “you are my boss,” obviously in reference to the people who elected him to the highest office in the land. After one hundred days in office, the harsh reality of the Aquino government has started to sink in.The President’s words, however, seem to grow hollow and hollower as his calendar days go

Joe Riveranoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5977172366902797711.post-69121076839641089342010-10-13T01:00:00.007-04:002010-10-13T10:07:00.555-04:00

Migration of humans across continents has occurred since the dawn of human evolution. Most people generally leave for the same reason. Today’s migrants move to look for greener pastures, or for a better job or opportunity to support their families. Like their forebears who moved in search of food, shelter or a more hospitable climate. There are, of course, a few others who move for a different

Joe Riveranoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5977172366902797711.post-91575520323070585072010-10-07T00:00:00.004-04:002010-10-07T00:59:42.462-04:00

After a year of refuge in Baguio City from the first shock of martial law imposed by Ferdinand Marcos in 1972, our young family decided to leave the mountain retreat and return to the confines of old Manila. Actually, with another child coming, I needed to look for work to support my growing family. Two years later, I would find a job with the Population Centre Foundation, a private organization

Joe Riveranoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5977172366902797711.post-67929549479830029882010-10-01T00:00:00.006-04:002010-10-01T00:12:42.508-04:00

Prior to coming to Canada, I had never voted in any election, whether national or local. On second thought, I might have had—but in student elections. In fact, I voted for myself in one of those elections for a college student government. And if you’re wondering—yes, I won by a plurality of votes.The year I became eligible to vote, Ferdinand Marcos imposed martial law all over the Philippines and

Joe Riveranoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5977172366902797711.post-91221479100493928702010-09-28T00:00:00.001-04:002010-09-28T00:53:13.712-04:00

Each time I watch the TV series Mad Men, it reminds me of how the inner circle of advisers to President Benigno Aquino III crudely attempts to market their main man. First, they portrayed him as a crusader against corruption during the election campaign running on the empty mantra of “no corruption, no poverty.” And now, they catapulted him on the United Nations podium as the spokesperson for

Joe Riveranoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5977172366902797711.post-82108466876490690612010-09-20T00:00:00.003-04:002010-09-20T00:07:29.936-04:00

Thirty-eight years ago, Ferdinand Marcos stamped his foot on the dishonour roll of dangerous and invasive species of world dictators.With the proclamation of martial law on September 21, 1972, Marcos literally obliterated the freedoms the Filipinos fought hard to achieve from the 1896 Revolution against Spain to emancipation from the Japanese occupation after the Second World War.For almost two

Joe Riveranoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5977172366902797711.post-44417231314344350882010-09-15T00:00:00.007-04:002010-09-15T00:05:37.458-04:00

Recent events have unravelled a clear pattern that the Philippine Supreme Court is caving in to the hidden but powerful hand of the current occupant in Malacanang.Recall that last August 18, the Supreme Court convened to decide on the land reform issue at Hacienda Luisita. It was the first agrarian dispute to be heard by justices in open court and involved President Benigno Aquino III’s landlord

Joe Riveranoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5977172366902797711.post-24207830348578713402010-09-09T10:00:00.003-04:002010-09-09T10:01:25.832-04:00

The year 2010 is the bloodiest yet for the American military since they invaded Afghanistan in 2001. At least 321 American soldiers have been reported killed so far.In Gainsville, Florida, the Dove World Outreach Centre plans to burn Qurans on church grounds to mark the ninth anniversary of the September 11 terrorist attacks. This prompted General David Petraeus, commander of the U.S. forces in

Joe Riveranoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5977172366902797711.post-34080965097516785092010-09-05T21:00:00.002-04:002010-09-06T23:31:29.074-04:00

Before he was elected president, Barack Obama called the invasion of Iraq a “dumb war,” a position he took consistent to his opposition to the Iraq war even before being elected as a member of the U.S. Senate. During the presidential campaign, Obama said he would withdraw U.S. troops from Iraq within 16 months of his presidency. Not only did he fail to fulfill his pledge, but Obama also used his

Joe Riveranoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5977172366902797711.post-69514521252571313002010-08-25T00:00:00.009-04:002010-08-25T00:24:34.179-04:00

To many Filipino caregivers, Canada is heaven on earth compared with other countries of destination for overseas workers. Canada offers them a pathway to permanent resident status, and eventually, to citizenship rights. A future that is not available anywhere else. So who can ask for anything more?This is why many among their ranks want the government of Canada to continue the Live-in Caregiver

Joe Riveranoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5977172366902797711.post-42238322984028336212010-08-19T22:30:00.001-04:002010-08-19T22:49:03.286-04:00

More than fifty days to his presidency, Philippine President Benigno Aquino III appears to have stumbled on his path towards defining his presidency. Even his “no more wang-wang” directive (no blazing sirens and motorized cops to escort public officials) whenever he takes the road is looking more and more like a mere sound bite.After all, if he really wants to navigate Manila’s heavy traffic like

Joe Riveranoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5977172366902797711.post-61982902385748538412010-08-12T10:30:00.007-04:002010-08-12T11:13:48.474-04:00

Complaining is a behaviour we humans have almost perfected. There is no enigma to understand why we complain a lot. We even have established formal mechanisms to process and deal with complaints: the legal system, complaints department, the Ombudsman, conflict resolution, etc. We confess our most personal complaints to shrinks, priests, therapists, counsellors, close friends, among others, hoping

Joe Riveranoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5977172366902797711.post-31786683844675729012010-08-08T00:00:00.001-04:002010-08-08T10:16:29.079-04:00

A reader wrote to me complaining that I complain and criticize too much. Maybe so. When things are not as they ought to be, to complain seems the most natural thing to do. We cannot just be deeply unhappy with how things are and merely accept them. After all, all major social advances have started with a complaint. Martin Luther King Jr. and the civil rights campaign, or Nelson Mandela and the

Joe Riveranoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5977172366902797711.post-87361978328256620542010-08-03T00:00:00.001-04:002010-08-03T00:03:07.726-04:00

In his recent first-ever state of the nation address or SONA, President Noynoy Aquino ridiculed the leadership of the Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System (MWSS) for giving themselves fat salaries, bonuses, allowances and other incentives while MWSS gathers arrears in payments of pensions for their retired employees. This was happening, the President noticed, while the people lined up for

Joe Riveranoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5977172366902797711.post-63369905755073995122010-07-28T00:00:00.003-04:002010-07-28T00:07:54.069-04:00

During his maiden State of the Nation Address (SONA) last July 26, 2010 before the Philippine Congress, President Benigno Aquino III stumbled right away with a false vision of government. At the beginning of his speech, the new President talked about the two directions, which his government is going.“Our administration is facing a forked road,” he says. In very basic terms, the President referred

Joe Riveranoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5977172366902797711.post-21639687439274754262010-07-21T14:00:00.002-04:002010-07-22T19:14:57.312-04:00

The wrongdoings of the past administration under former Philippine president Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo are almost public knowledge that a Truth Commission set up to ferret out the truth becomes totally unnecessary. Conversations in barbershops, chat groups and blogs on the Internet and even among people on the streets have been glued on the Arroyo corrupt government for a long time that the jokes

Joe Riveranoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5977172366902797711.post-66082244447270655942010-07-15T00:00:00.027-04:002010-07-21T12:11:23.854-04:00

The honest truth about our government and leaders is that they have never been truly honest at all.Since the First Republic, the Philippine government has been rocked by corruption, a dysfunctional political behaviour inherited from American tutelage during the colonial days and the Commonwealth era. Yet, no one has ever been prosecuted and sent to prison for government malfeasance, except for

Joe Riveranoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5977172366902797711.post-70219243458997752562010-07-10T00:00:00.003-04:002010-07-10T00:01:48.337-04:00

Oftentimes, people twist the truth to serve their own selfish purposes. This is very common in today’s politics. If politics were a game, maybe we can call it Truth or Consequence.One of the very first things the newly-minted Philippine President Noynoy Aquino did after being sworn to office was to establish a Truth Commission, which would look into allegations of corruption during the last

Joe Riveranoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5977172366902797711.post-52511037202024534642010-07-03T00:00:00.008-04:002010-07-03T10:17:34.747-04:00

One consolation for Philippine President Noynoy Aquino after making his inaugural speech is that most inaugurals are often forgotten almost as they are delivered, with only a few surviving the test of time and becoming part of history and literature. Even U.S. President Barack Obama, a highly accomplished orator and speaker, failed to set the tone of his administration during his inauguration

Joe Riveranoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5977172366902797711.post-63372357921137644572010-05-22T12:00:00.001-04:002010-05-22T12:21:39.234-04:00

President-elect Noynoy Aquino’s single-minded fixation on the elimination of graft and corruption in government is not surprising at all. His campaign slogan, “None Poor Without Corruption,” proved very effective and won him a plurality of votes over his closest opponents, former President Joseph “Erap” Estrada and Senator Manuel Villar, two candidates tainted by accusations of corruption.During

Joe Riveranoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5977172366902797711.post-49092055779747872982010-05-17T00:00:00.004-04:002010-05-17T00:30:26.963-04:00

A friend of mine from the Noynoy Aquino camp in Manila emailed me last week, right after the initial election returns came out, to request that I prepare a draft for the president-elect's inaugural address. He told me to write whatever I want, and he'll take care of bringing it up with the new president. Here's the draft I sent back. *******Mga kababayan, magandang araw po sa inyong lahat.Today

Joe Riveranoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5977172366902797711.post-28090054916528683072010-05-11T00:00:00.011-04:002010-05-11T15:59:00.939-04:00

After coming to Toronto sometime in 1987, I read a story published in one of the city’s major daily newspapers endorsing General Fidel Ramos as the most likely successor to President Cory Aquino, one who could continue the country’s arduous path toward a full-pledged democracy and stability. The story credited Cory Aquino for restoring democracy in the Philippines after almost 20 years of

Joe Riveranoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5977172366902797711.post-54490039337525468672010-05-03T15:00:00.006-04:002010-05-03T15:10:19.174-04:00

Many have condemned Arizona’s new immigration law for betraying America’s deeply held values of justice and compassion. The law is so draconian because it empowers police officers acting as border patrol agents to commit racial profiling. While the primary purpose of Arizona’s law is to identify, prosecute and deport illegal immigrants, it is obvious that it will only be enforced against brown

Joe Riveranoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5977172366902797711.post-52659557313680488172010-04-27T00:00:00.013-04:002010-04-27T10:28:57.499-04:00

The allegations that the present Pope knew about the sex abuses committed by some members of the Roman Catholic clergy and didn’t do anything about them have created a sense of outrage and moral panic among Catholic believers. It does not give the Church any consolation by continuing to choose between protecting the victims of sex abuse and protecting the Church. In the end, there is only one

Joe Riveranoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5977172366902797711.post-44557290819586364622010-04-21T00:00:00.004-04:002010-04-21T00:09:53.067-04:00

Every year, college graduates in the Philippines face the grim reality that only three of ten graduates have a real chance of landing a job. This means that seven out of ten new graduates would end up jobless.In absolute figures, the numbers of unemployed college graduates are staggering. The Philippines Commission on Higher Education estimates that 542,000 college students will graduate this

Joe Riveranoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5977172366902797711.post-86328178268397198872010-04-15T00:00:00.007-04:002010-04-15T11:39:25.001-04:00

Oftentimes, the words democracy and freedom are used interchangeably in political discussions as if they have the same meaning. Yet the true meanings of these two terms are very different. To the average person, however, they are identical, or at least, the belief that democracy would not survive without freedom. Thus to many people, they are complementary, which explains why the non-political

Joe Riveranoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5977172366902797711.post-85924045506192648472010-04-07T00:00:00.003-04:002010-04-07T09:18:53.185-04:00

One is never too old for the internet. Olive Riley, an Australian woman believed to have been the world’s oldest blogger, started her blog, The Life of Riley, in February 2007, at the age of 107.With a little help from a friend, Olive, who could not see well enough to type, posted over 70 entries and several video posts on You Tube. She made her final post on June 26, 2008, at her nursing home in

Joe Riveranoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5977172366902797711.post-71251473908402216282010-03-22T10:00:00.006-04:002010-03-24T22:17:44.723-04:00

Since its first mention in the Septuagint, the Koinie Greek version of the Hebrew Bible, the term diaspora has gone through various interpretations. While it originally referred to the exile of the Jews from Israel in 607 BCE, diaspora as it is popularly understood today denotes a sense of displacement from a homeland even though it may not exist in any meaningful sense. Thus, the migration or

Joe Riveranoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5977172366902797711.post-6364080399972352822010-03-10T00:00:00.003-05:002010-03-10T00:17:49.666-05:00

How often does one run into a bigger-than-life seasoned Hollywood actor, and of all places, in Toronto’s Chinatown? The Toronto Film Festival fever hasn’t hit the city yet. But it happened, on a gorgeously sunny Saturday afternoon in winter, without a speck of snow on the ground, and with temperatures soaring to 9 degrees Celsius.My wife and I were sipping our obligatory cup of tea last Saturday

Joe Riveranoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5977172366902797711.post-65895087440890031762010-03-07T00:00:00.003-05:002010-03-07T00:16:41.625-05:00

A few nights ago while working on our 2009 income tax returns, I noticed that my wife has paid to Revenue Canada close to 20 per cent of her salary as income taxes which were deducted at source. This is much more than I earn annually from my part-time teaching job and my small retirement pension. Aside from her salary, my wife also earned additional income from royalties (mostly from the Public

Joe Riveranoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5977172366902797711.post-58937516378031719132010-03-01T00:00:00.012-05:002010-03-01T15:34:03.985-05:00

Bashing is a prejudicial or unkind attack on a person, group or even a subject matter. Originally understood as a form of physical assault, bashing now includes verbal or critical assault. It is worse when aimed towards your own group and perpetrated by one of your own, which we may classify as a form of masochistic bashing.Take the following three examples.Someone wrote to his chat group the

Joe Riveranoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5977172366902797711.post-35291296618914944262010-02-19T10:00:00.002-05:002010-02-19T10:26:15.410-05:00

Nothing is more mind-boggling than the rationale of outgoing Philippine president Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo in running for Congress to represent her district in Pampanga. Everyone should be thankful that she has listened to the wishes of her constituents. According to her, she filed her candidacy “in order to serve the hardworking people of my province.”“I am not ready to step down completely from

Joe Riveranoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5977172366902797711.post-50098633289060768102010-02-15T13:25:00.004-05:002010-02-15T15:16:52.920-05:00

For someone usually quite dispassionate or levelheaded about a lot of things, movies in the likes of Dr. Strangelove or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb seem to me very timely for a post-Valentine’s Day story. No, I’m only exaggerating; they`re really far from the truth.In the movie Crazy Heart, Jean, a young divorced freelance writer (played by Maggie Gyllenhaal), says to the

Joe Riveranoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5977172366902797711.post-50723491258460255412010-02-10T07:00:00.002-05:002010-02-10T23:23:16.343-05:00

This could be an appropriate sequel to my earlier blog entitled “Recognizing ourselves.” In that blog, I wrote that as a people we tend to downplay and forget the contributions of others to the advocacy of certain causes because either we find them unworthy of our adulation or they happen to be espousing some radical perspectives that some of us could not take.Thus, it is much easier for us to

Joe Riveranoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5977172366902797711.post-3625583388187129892010-02-05T00:00:00.003-05:002010-02-10T10:24:10.024-05:00

Hot exchanges in two chat groups where I am a member threw me off-kilter recently. I thought of their significance in light of the current historic moment that transplanted Filipinos face in their lives, or in the onset of their lives as émigrés in a foreign country. I am referring to the two worlds we live in now: the homeland we left where the locals are now preparing to elect a new leader of

Joe Riveranoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5977172366902797711.post-35222094080869076592010-01-29T00:00:00.006-05:002010-02-10T10:25:43.885-05:00

Trapo is the familiar word Filipinos have come to use in describing the country’s traditional politicians. Literally translated from Spanish, trapo means “dishrag,” quite an appropriate term for our local politicians, who, by any stretch of imagination, are perceived to be corrupt.Today, our understanding of trapo has very little to do with being traditional but more with being dirty and immoral.

Joe Riveranoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5977172366902797711.post-10951701707622692602010-01-22T00:00:00.002-05:002010-02-10T10:26:43.286-05:00

This coming national election in the Philippines will not be an ordinary one.While a successor to incumbent president Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo will be crowned, the election can also be a prelude to a possible shift to a parliamentary system of government if Arroyo wins her congressional seat in Pampanga and becomes the new Speaker of the House of Representatives. Everyone knows that Arroyo wants

Joe Riveranoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5977172366902797711.post-411277615045830922010-01-15T22:40:00.006-05:002010-02-10T23:43:36.865-05:00

According to psychologists, misattribution is one of the seven fundamental “sins” of memory’s transgressions. Misattribution is usually associated with false recognition, and oftentimes, Filipinos are culpable of this sin.In November 2008, I wrote a story a friend told me regarding a group of Filipino nannies recruited by a Toronto employment agency to work as live-in caregivers in Toronto. Most

Joe Riveranoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5977172366902797711.post-64271792654031504482010-01-09T20:15:00.002-05:002010-02-10T23:44:42.126-05:00

Canada’s federal minister for immigration, citizenship and multiculturalism Jason Kenny recently re-ignited the debate on whether multiculturalism has brought Canadians together or kept various cultures separate in Canada. This is a not a new conundrum. For many doubting Canadians, multiculturalism is still an enigma and Canadians continue to grapple with the effective utility of such policy that

Joe Riveranoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5977172366902797711.post-19740763451928279452009-12-21T00:00:00.011-05:002009-12-21T00:04:14.840-05:00

Why do I blog? A question I should have answered or at least explained at the outset. So, on this 100th blog, let me submit the following.An old adage says that small minds spend their time talking about people, average minds talk about events, and great minds debate ideas. It was the latter that drove me to start a blog about ideas and to challenge my readers to engage in an intellectual

Joe Riveranoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5977172366902797711.post-36719178111059797622009-12-13T00:00:00.004-05:002009-12-13T00:20:13.087-05:00

In accepting the Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo last December 10, President Barack Obama argued that sending more US troops to Afghanistan was justified to protect the world from terrorism and extremism.This is what Obama actually said during his acceptance speech. “We will not eradicate violent conflict in our lifetimes. There will be times when nations – acting individually or in concert – will find

Joe Riveranoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5977172366902797711.post-32666528842814006352009-12-05T00:00:00.001-05:002009-12-05T00:50:23.125-05:00

In The Philosophy of History, Hegel describes “history as the slaughter-bench at which the happiness of peoples, the wisdom of states, and the virtue of individuals have been victimized.”The recent massacre of 57 innocent civilians in Shariff Aguak, Maguindanao, along with the two major world conflicts of the last century and numerous violent incidents from Somalia to Iraq show how fragile human

Joe Riveranoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5977172366902797711.post-86844656653028275552009-12-02T21:00:00.003-05:002009-12-03T11:32:06.174-05:00

One would think that everything is rosy and promising for immigrants to come and work in Canada. It is almost as good as true if one relies on government reports and documents alone. But the reality is starkly the opposite.We still hear stories of well-educated immigrants driving taxis, working as hospital orderlies, or temping as building maintenance and factory workers. Some of them even have

Joe Riveranoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5977172366902797711.post-53805255432093067912009-11-25T20:00:00.001-05:002009-11-25T20:26:24.030-05:00

In Eating Crow, the novelist Jay Rayner cooked up an Office of Apology in the United Nations, which is responsible for the task of “penitential engagement.” It was the hottest trend in international relations in dealing with the baggage from wars, genocides and persecutions of the past. The novel’s main protagonist, Marc Basset, is hired as Chief Apologist because of his innate ability to deliver

Joe Riveranoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5977172366902797711.post-77373644714815451742009-11-18T19:00:00.003-05:002009-11-20T15:29:59.712-05:00

What if our world is a place where people only tell the truth? Where no one can tell a lie or even knows what a lie is. A place where no one can just imagine saying something that isn’t true.Well, this has happened, except it’s only in a movie called “The Invention of Lying.” Ricky Gervais, the principal actor in the original “Office” has a created a world where people will just swallow anything:

Joe Riveranoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5977172366902797711.post-69300301998176590122009-11-13T20:00:00.002-05:002009-11-13T21:09:48.149-05:00

The flu bug got me before I could take the annual visit to my doctor for my inoculation, grounding me for almost a week of bed rest. Lying listlessly on bed while enduring the dull pain that was shooting every bone in my body, I was just thankful it wasn’t the H1N1 flu virus.It was there on the bed in the middle of a crazy afternoon as I was trying to get some sleep, that another bug, not related

Joe Riveranoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5977172366902797711.post-53984083619147078282009-11-05T01:00:00.002-05:002009-11-05T01:16:40.752-05:00

In just a few years, Canada brought in under its temporary foreign workers program an army of low-skilled migrant workers for jobs that Canadians are not willing to take under prevailing wage levels and working conditions. Jobs like vegetable and fruit-picking, work in the oil sands, bait worm collectors, cleaners, packers and people who dismember pigs for meat packaging plants.When temporary

Joe Riveranoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5977172366902797711.post-54749842497207274862009-10-29T00:00:00.001-04:002009-10-29T01:23:45.519-04:00

In the recent past I have written about things that generated some reactions we could describe as rife with anger, disrespect and contempt. Although I am not unused to criticism, sometimes this kind of derisive commentary on what you have said or written could be disempowering, not as mere attempts to belittle or ridicule. It is tempting to think whether those who respond in scathing language

Joe Riveranoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5977172366902797711.post-56068270265953634772009-10-25T00:00:00.002-04:002009-10-25T00:08:54.191-04:00

Super typhoons Ondoy and Pepeng have wrought havoc in the Philippines, as natural disasters around the globe have gone up due to climate change. Relief and rehabilitation efforts become doubly difficult (or will be even much more problematic when planning responses to future natural disasters) because of the enormity of the damage caused to both human life and the country’s economy. Right now,

Joe Riveranoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5977172366902797711.post-42676942922040247162009-10-19T01:59:00.003-04:002009-10-19T02:10:58.571-04:00

Amidst all the troubles we have as a nation or simply as a group of people, whether at home or in a foreign land, one thing is certain. We can always celebrate. No super typhoons can even stop us. This was vividly on display a few nights ago when we were invited to a dinner gala of a local organization of Filipinos in Toronto who were celebrating their 4o years of existence in the city.And it

Joe Riveranoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5977172366902797711.post-81863097461719106482009-10-09T00:00:00.003-04:002009-10-09T13:12:26.303-04:00

More than a year of writing a blog, mostly taking the unpopular and risky side of an argument, has pushed me further towards the fringe of public opinion. My first blog about contrary opinion set the tone and the lonely path of the critical dissenter and became almost the only road one could take to discover the truth. But what is a year of vigorous intellectual engagement compared to centuries

Joe Riveranoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5977172366902797711.post-90543952889831606702009-09-25T10:00:00.000-04:002009-09-25T10:55:34.363-04:00

Very recently, the moderators of the chat group of my university alumni association in Toronto censured me by blocking an email I posted in the e-group. Our alumni president reasoned that my email violated the group’s terms of use as it refers to profanity, obscenity, personal attacks or insults, and malicious and disruptive behaviour.This present blog that I usually share with my alumni e-group

Joe Riveranoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5977172366902797711.post-45237547901354523932009-09-20T00:00:00.000-04:002009-09-20T00:20:44.176-04:00

Martial law was imposed in the Philippines twice, proclaimed on the same day of the month but 28 years apart by two presidents whose lives, by a stroke of fate, would seem intertwined by an eerie similarity of intervening events in their respective lives.Jose P. Laurel, president of the Second Philippine Republic, puppet-government under Japan, proclaimed martial law on September 21, 1944, on

Joe Riveranoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5977172366902797711.post-3239930113996384042009-09-16T00:27:00.007-04:002009-09-18T10:01:47.438-04:00

There is ample proof in the airwaves that the United States has turned into nothing more than an on-going episode of the Jerry Springer show.Last week as I was glued on watching television, one of those little and idle indulgences I can easily afford now that all the children have left the house, three incidents of impolite and boorish behaviour stood out from the rest of the week’s TV menu.It

Joe Riveranoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5977172366902797711.post-55145288738405897442009-09-13T00:00:00.006-04:002009-09-13T00:13:06.942-04:00

Recent studies show that even among dogs and monkeys, aversion to unfair treatment is a natural or an evolved behaviour. So, it is not only human beings who have a sense of fair play, this fact which has intrigued many scientists: the query on whether our dislike for unfairness is a product of evolution or the result of the cultural influence of large institutions like religion, government,

Joe Riveranoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5977172366902797711.post-37296015033982831282009-09-07T00:00:00.000-04:002009-09-07T00:28:54.366-04:00

During the recent launching of the Moral Force Movement, a mere ten months away from the 2010 Philippine presidential elections, Supreme Court Chief Justice Reynato Puno stressed that moral transformation is necessary to solve the country’s moral decay.The Chief Justice called for “transformational leaders” who don’t bribe, cheat, and lie or even tolerate those who do. “We’re focusing on the

Joe Riveranoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5977172366902797711.post-16825028679303347212009-08-31T00:00:00.003-04:002009-08-31T00:33:13.855-04:00

A tribute posted on the Internet to American soldiers fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan praising the sacrifices they have made to preserve and protect democracy has this line written about them:“You criticize your government, and say that war never solves anything. He sees the innocent tortured and killed by their own people and remembers why he is fighting.”This is obviously a very one-sided

Joe Riveranoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5977172366902797711.post-40705786959828205132009-08-28T01:41:00.005-04:002009-08-28T11:23:13.051-04:00

We are truly a nation that prides itself in giving awards or titles for any reason. The present controversy regarding the selection of our country’s National Artists for 2009 is just one of these awards that have become almost as meaningless as Miss Philippines or Miss Manila.At least for Manny Pacquiao, to be regarded as the best pound-for-pound boxer in the world is more significant because he

Joe Riveranoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5977172366902797711.post-11454333780553994472009-08-25T15:30:00.002-04:002009-08-26T16:54:19.231-04:00

Palm readers and fortune tellers (in addition to genuine medical/neuro practitioners) have been grappling with the problem of depression for centuries. New psychiatric drugs and therapies have come out of the market like mushrooms, including non-drug placebos that promise to provide relief from depression and anxiety without the unpleasant side effects of the most commonly prescribed

Joe Riveranoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5977172366902797711.post-24944089069847316912009-08-20T00:00:00.001-04:002009-08-21T13:51:02.370-04:00

Socrates was condemned to death by his accusers during his trial. The charges were so severe – failure to worship the city’s gods, introducing religious novelties and corrupting the minds of the young men of Athens.Human civilization has gone past the barbaric notion of convicting to death those who espouse contrary opinions. On second thought, maybe not.Although today one does not get the

Joe Riveranoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5977172366902797711.post-38267851820381748582009-08-15T16:35:00.002-04:002009-08-15T17:39:59.679-04:00

To be unpopular is quite easier than being its opposite. This is true for people who may offend the status quo by posing upsetting questions or expressing opinions that are contrary to more popularly-held beliefs. When someone persistently challenges people who are in power, the status quo, or a popular opinion, he or she attracts an avalanche of hate from the majority or most of the people who

Joe Riveranoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5977172366902797711.post-45387521958771325282009-08-01T00:00:00.004-04:002009-08-01T14:18:33.853-04:00

Sometime ago, I received a letter in my inbox here in Toronto saying that “the new Filipino can compete very well with citizens of even first class countries who’ve had first class education in Ivy League schools.” The letter-writer was quoting from an earlier report published by a Philippine business advisory firm who interviewed the CEO’s of top companies in the Philippines about their

Joe Riveranoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5977172366902797711.post-11077281844879275762009-07-24T00:00:00.003-04:002009-07-24T00:13:38.723-04:00

Filipinos have oftentimes been portrayed as “bakya” or tasteless or kitsch for their fondness for things others would consider tacky such as movie idols who don’t know how to act but can sing and dance. Generally, we are also blamed for our “crab mentality,” i.e., the instinctive urge to pull down someone on the rise. Also for our selective display of loyalty or clinging steadfastly to our own

Joe Riveranoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5977172366902797711.post-63103389296436677862009-07-19T02:30:00.002-04:002009-07-19T09:56:11.792-04:00

The English dictionary gives us three meanings of the word “earnest” and they all seem related: serious in intention, purpose or effort, showing depth and sincerity of feeling, and seriously important. These are three very important adjectives sorely missing today in public life and in our personal relations with others.We could, for instance, say that it was for lack of earnest intention or

Joe Riveranoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5977172366902797711.post-21577882885233338252009-07-14T00:00:00.009-04:002009-07-14T00:50:10.447-04:00

The significance of racial discrimination in the labour market has grown with the increase in the visible minority population, a trend that seems only likely to escalate. This was the finding of the Joint Centre of Excellence for Research on Immigration and Settlement – Toronto (CERIS) in a study conducted in 2005 which also concluded that racial discrimination is evident in the experience of

Joe Riveranoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5977172366902797711.post-54091949999369074852009-07-09T00:00:00.000-04:002009-07-09T00:18:58.240-04:00

Where else do you see roasted suckling pigs, better known as lechons, paraded during a cultural event in North America but in the City of Toronto? This year, about 30 lechons were marched in a parada ng lechon at Nathan Phillips Square in downtown Toronto to celebrate Philippine Independence Day last June 12.A Hispanic-style cuisine, lechon originated from the Spanish term, which means roasted

Joe Riveranoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5977172366902797711.post-23793428433130880252009-07-05T00:00:00.003-04:002009-07-05T00:10:40.172-04:00

Whether at home or abroad, only Filipinos can claim that their love of beauty pageants and singing contests is a significant part of their culture.Here in Greater Toronto, where close to 200,000 Filipinos have settled in this affluent metropolis in the Dominion of Canada, that’s exactly what the spokesperson of one of Toronto's prominent Filipino community organizations claims. And that is

Joe Riveranoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5977172366902797711.post-49250569718036944592009-07-01T00:00:00.006-04:002009-07-01T00:09:36.326-04:00

A Domestic Workers Bill of Rights is expected to be passed by the New York State Legislature and signed into law by Governor Alexander Paterson soon. The first of its kind in the United States, the proposed bill would amend New York state labour law and guarantee the over-200,000 nannies and housekeepers in New York a living wage, overtime pay, sick leave, severance and health benefits, and

Joe Riveranoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5977172366902797711.post-85056526095490543872009-06-25T00:37:00.005-04:002009-06-25T01:37:26.479-04:00

Only in the Philippines do we talk of presidentiables, a term Filipinos often use to refer to individuals who are either potential candidates for the presidency or who may look like a president. Drawing the line between the two is not easy. In almost all instances, someone who may be a potential president by virtue of his résumé should also look like one in stature, demeanour and manner of

Joe Riveranoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5977172366902797711.post-82225393970836329862009-06-18T22:30:00.000-04:002009-06-18T22:40:59.140-04:00

“Stop titillating the nation,” former Philippine President Fidel V. Ramos admonished President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.It was like telling her to make up her mind whether she intends to push through with the Charter Change initiative in Congress as a constituent assembly or run in the 2010 elections for her son’s congressional seat in Pampanga.But in fairness to Gloria Arroyo, whatever last

Joe Riveranoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5977172366902797711.post-42587849993380992342009-06-14T00:00:00.002-04:002009-06-14T00:23:10.380-04:00

It’s a grave misfortune that Filipinos think of their Constitution as no more than a convenient tool to acquire political power. Every time an opportunity arises, revising the Constitution becomes the ultimate objective of those who wish to pursue selfish interests such as staying in power beyond a term limit.For one, the current initiative by members of Congress to amend the Constitution,

Joe Riveranoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5977172366902797711.post-35050246929882309492009-06-08T00:00:00.002-04:002009-06-08T01:04:09.276-04:00

We, Filipinos, seem to love and hate our Constitution.The Philippine Constitution has been rewritten seven times starting from the Biak-na-Bato Constitution to the present day 1987 Constitution. Each time, a significant event precipitated the change.The Biak-na-Bato Constitution was inspired by the Filipino revolution and independence from Spain. Two years later, the Malolos Constitution was

Joe Riveranoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5977172366902797711.post-46405961284804805032009-06-05T00:30:00.000-04:002009-06-05T09:48:35.777-04:00

Good morning, Honourable Jovito Palparan, Member of Congress of the Philippines.From a major general in the army, linked by no less than the Supreme Court of the Philippines in the kidnapping and torture of two suspected New People’s Army sympathizers, to a person of honourable standing in the legislature of the land.That’s how easy one can pervert the present party-list system of the Philippines

Joe Riveranoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5977172366902797711.post-37251581132879726902009-05-28T12:00:00.007-04:002009-05-28T15:42:49.864-04:00

“Oo, kaya rin natin ito!”One of two Filipinos in Canada now calls the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) home. There are about 200,000 Filipinos living in the GTA, the fourth largest visible minority group behind the Chinese, Indian and Black communities. Tagalog is the seventh most-spoken language in the city of Toronto.Yet, we don’t have a single Filipino elected in the halls of political power in the

Joe Riveranoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5977172366902797711.post-84327747123374766462009-05-23T22:00:00.005-04:002009-05-23T23:17:32.904-04:00

In Democracy and America, the great French observer Alexis de Tocqueville marvelled at the vigour of the new American democracy. Writing about the American people and their institutions in two volumes published in the mid-1800s, Tocqueville found that American citizens were not just into occasional elections but were also willing to actively participate in the civic affairs of the nation.Almost

Joe Riveranoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5977172366902797711.post-84865679335073526952009-05-18T00:00:00.001-04:002009-05-18T00:09:03.519-04:00

The recent street protests by Tamil supporters in Toronto show their passion about their politics. Young children marched together with their parents like one big family affair, their thoughts and fears foremost for relatives in Sri Lanka who were caught in the crossfire between the Sri Lankan government forces and the rebel Tamil Tigers.A few months back, Canadians of Tibetan descent marched on

Joe Riveranoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5977172366902797711.post-79061590656009566432009-05-13T00:00:00.002-04:002009-05-13T00:01:43.471-04:00

It was a balmy Sunday afternoon. A perfect time to clean the backyard although there was a hint of frost in the forecast.My wife left the house an hour earlier to meet with our youngest daughter for their Mother’s Day dinner date, and later, to watch a documentary film, Poetry in Motion, at the Royal Theatre on College Street. Halfway to the venue, the 506 streetcar she was riding got stuck

Joe Riveranoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5977172366902797711.post-35623117893505962922009-05-08T00:00:00.006-04:002009-05-09T14:59:34.089-04:00

Toronto’s nanny controversy was first exposed by the Toronto Star when it reported last March 14, 2009, that caregivers from the Philippines were being lured to come to Canada for at least $5,000 per head for jobs which turned out to be bogus. One nanny recalled joining 16 other unemployed nannies in the cramped basement of a nanny recruiter’s house where they were detained and incarcerated

Joe Riveranoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5977172366902797711.post-71683141344814576192009-05-05T00:00:00.003-04:002009-05-05T11:21:54.022-04:00

Imagine yourself in a conversation. You open your mouth and they say. “Oh, you have a ‘beautiful’ accent.” What they’re saying is: “You don’t know how to speak English.”If you speak English with an American or British accent, then you have mastered the language without an accent. But if you happen to interchange your vowels and consonants such as f and v or e and i, as they are frequently

Joe Riveranoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5977172366902797711.post-39760283454566165502009-05-01T00:05:00.001-04:002009-05-01T00:14:41.553-04:00

An activist judge is no longer a rarity nowadays. The United States’ Supreme Court is a clear example of the push-and-pull tussle between judges who favour judicial activism on one hand, and judicial restraint on the other. While some judges are for sustaining the concept of a “living Constitution,” others see it as contrary to a judge’s sworn allegiance to uphold the Constitution because it

Joe Riveranoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5977172366902797711.post-25404503744726942622009-04-24T00:00:00.000-04:002009-04-24T00:28:21.257-04:00

A long time ago, a Filipino client asked me to represent her on a claim she wanted to pursue against a car rental company for charging her credit card, in addition to the rental fee, the cost to fix the damages to the car which had been dented while it was parked on the street outside her apartment. My client came to Canada to work as a nanny and she was waiting at that time for her permanent

Joe Riveranoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5977172366902797711.post-88656283664986919292009-04-17T12:00:00.001-04:002009-04-17T12:19:45.891-04:00

Filipinos in Canada, perhaps also in the United States, are often conflicted about their allegiances. They seem ambivalent between two solitudes, the motherland they left behind and the new country they’ve chosen to live in. Those who have difficulty adjusting to the foreign culture and the way of life in their new country simply have stuck to their roots. This is obvious in the food they eat,

Joe Riveranoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5977172366902797711.post-16468041223772588012009-04-12T00:00:00.007-04:002009-04-12T00:04:59.773-04:00

Should President Gloria Arroyo finally come to her senses and accept that she has no other choice but to respect and obey the Constitution of the Philippines, then by June 30, 2010, a new president will take the oath of office as the fifteenth president of the Republic. But if she succeeds in the waning months of her presidency in changing the current presidential form of government to a

Joe Riveranoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5977172366902797711.post-44515115489901301262009-04-06T00:00:00.006-04:002009-04-06T19:08:43.189-04:00

To most Filipinos recently, Suzette Nicolas, aka “Nicole,” personifies what it means to recant one’s story. In 2006, a Philippine trial court convicted Lance Cpl. Daniel Smith, a U.S. marine, of raping Nicole. Why Nicole should change her claim that she was raped by the accused after three years have passed befuddles many. Most rape victims don’t change their stories after the accused is

Joe Riveranoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5977172366902797711.post-31322348729383461872009-04-01T00:00:00.005-04:002009-04-01T16:57:47.113-04:00

At least the U.S. economic recession appears to have done something good for consumers. Or not. With auto sales plunging to their lowest levels in 27 years, Ford Motor Co. and General Motors are giving their car buyers payment protection plans if they lose their jobs or they are torn between buying a new car or keeping the old cranker.Ford will cover payments up to $700 each month if consumers

Joe Riveranoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5977172366902797711.post-4829333176380740642009-03-25T00:00:00.006-04:002009-03-25T22:29:13.166-04:00

One gorgeous Sunday afternoon while meandering around Kensington market after a hearty lunch of beef noodles at Swatow’s, we found ourselves standing in front of a corner store selling newly-arrived arts and crafts from Latin America. Beside it was a closed booth but the signs inside were obvious to the onlooker. Looking through the dust-covered glass wall of the store, one of the signs read, “

Joe Riveranoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5977172366902797711.post-63063796386631938052009-03-22T00:00:00.004-04:002009-03-22T00:07:55.430-04:00

One languorous afternoon, while browsing through new and old magazines in our cramped reading room upstairs, I recalled Felix Feneon’s Nouvelles en trios lignes, which can either mean “the news in three lines” or “novellas in three lines.” It was very tempting to impersonate Feneon, but duplicity can be an elusive ambition, the work of the master fictionist was not only original in form but also

Joe Riveranoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5977172366902797711.post-27517951824138507862009-03-15T00:00:00.011-04:002009-03-15T00:08:56.958-04:00

Last Sunday after hearing Mass at our local church in Toronto, my wife and I decided to buy some groceries we needed for the week, mostly vegetables, condiments, and a few pieces of chicken. We passed by a Filipino store where we used to pick up copies of Filipino community newspapers. The store is aptly named in Tagalog for the shock and awe one gets from either dining on the store’s home-cooked

Joe Riveranoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5977172366902797711.post-35444656718397733782009-03-08T00:00:00.011-05:002009-03-10T23:15:49.038-04:00

A great mark usually has six universal attributes. It must be distinctive, not necessarily unique. It’s practical and works in every colour. Must be graphic, can communicate purely in visual terms. Simple in form, has only one idea, one gimmick. Has one message, expresses no more than one attribute. And it must be appropriate; its content ought to be right.If we can only reduce one’s identity to

Joe Riveranoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5977172366902797711.post-23692051474814229202009-03-02T00:00:00.000-05:002009-03-02T08:36:03.106-05:00

Our notion of human rights oftentimes is so fragile. Partly because of the persistent fascination of most people with human rights as a Western construct, that its core values and norms are instinctively rooted in the way of life as it is known in the developed world.Two incidents involving the way food is consumed and how humans clean after it is excreted from the body illustrate this feebleness

Joe Riveranoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5977172366902797711.post-87160158477390598462009-02-23T00:00:00.000-05:002009-02-23T00:17:23.079-05:00

It’s open season against Filipino lawyers and judges who are critical of the human rights record of the Philippine government. In a short span of seven years, 37 lawyers and judges have been brutally murdered, making the Philippines one of the most dangerous places for lawyers and judges on the planet.This seems like a scene in Hamlet VI where Shakespeare wrote, “The first thing we do let’s kill

Joe Riveranoreply@blogger.com0