Monday, June 30, 2008

Onomastico

Auguri! Auguri! Auguri!

If I were in Rome yesterday, I would have celebrated my onomastico (literally, name-day; but we would have celebrated it as Saint's Day), the Feast of Sts. Peter and Paul.

What makes this year's celebration extra special is that the Holy Father Pope Benedict XVI declared a Pauline Year from the Feast of Sts. Peter and Paul this year up to the next celebration of this feast on June 29, 2009.

More on this here.


Here's a another piece of good news, well, for me and then some.



¡ARRIBA ESPAÑA!

Missed the Germany-Spain Euro 2008 finals match.
Then the RSS feed came:
¡ARRIBA ESPAÑA!
I knew. I just knew.

Read on.


Sunday, June 29, 2008

Road trip


Road trip
Originally uploaded by asmillan3
The road trip I took from Polomolok, South Cotabato to Cagayan de Oro City end of May was a first for me. I thought I would be going to Davao and take the BUDA route to CdO. I realized, and the confirmation from my parents and some friends, that the Polomolok to CdO route via Cotabato could be a shorter trip. It took me through six provinces for a total of 11 hours from the time I took the Harly bus from Polomolok, to switching to Rural Tours bus in Tacurong, and eventually setting foot in Cagayan de Oro City.

The only regret is that I could have done the road trip in a span of many more days, instead of having a go at it for half a day only. Work beckoned, you see.

I have taken that route to Kabacan years ago, during martial law days, whenever we would go to Cotabato City for vacation. Most of the roads were unpaved. Those trips to Cotabato would take half a day also, until the concreting of the western route was completed and travel time was cut to about three hours.

Over the years though, the old route was developed and the roads now are very good.

Kabacan is a major stopover point. Buses from Davao Sur and Kidapawan on their way to Cotabato City, and vice versa; and people who wish to go to Bukidnon, Northern Mindanao, and Western Mindanao from Cotabato and the SOCSARKGEN area stop at Kabacan to catch another bus. In fact, my seatmate from Kabacan to CdO, got on the Rural Tours bus after getting off a Cotabato-Davao bus earlier.

I saw a lot of rice fields so I do not understand why people in the area were complaining of the high cost of rice. There was corn, lots of them, and some even being dried on the highways. Mindanao is rich.

Only once did military personnel board the bus for inspection -- when entering Carmen town.

There are many school buildings constructed through the help of USAID, as well as the Japanese and Spanish aid agencies.

Wednesday, June 25, 2008

Slippery Slope

David Mills on the slippery slope.

Excerpts:
You want contraception; someone else wants easy divorce. You want easy divorce; someone else wants homosexual marriages. You want homosexual marriages; someone else wants threesomes. You want threesomes; someone else wants children. You want children; someone else wants sheep. And his reason for wanting sheep will be just as good as yours for wanting contraception or easy divorce or homosexual marriages.

H/T: Dawn

Under her shadow


DoleTrip1019
Originally uploaded by dolekalsangi
Took this shot May 29, on a quick visit to Dolefil. Sixteen years I lived under the shadow of Mt. Matutum. On a clear day on Mt. Apo, one can see Mt. Matutum. Vice-versa is also true I guess.

Even as I grew up under Mt. Matutum's shadow for 16 years in my younger days, I can never stop being mesmerized.

Click on the photo to get to the flickr site and see other photos.


Tuesday, June 24, 2008

You're next

NASA's James Hansen, in a guest post diss at global warming skeptics, says that "CEOs of fossil energy companies know what they are doing and are aware of the long-term consequences of continued business as usual. In my opinion, these CEOs should be tried for high crimes against humanity and nature." (Highlights mine.)

Who's next?

Of course, this is the same James Hansen that was outsmarted by the now 16-yr old Kristen Byrnes. You can also read something about her here and here.

Monday, June 23, 2008

Vigilance

My friend Nono Montalvan writes in his column today in the Philippine Daily Inquirer about the recent move of current members of Congress, co-authors of a "reproductive health bill", to fast-track the passing of their bill.

The Honorable Edcel Lagman, Janette Garin, Narciso Santiago III, Mark Llandro Mendoza, Eleandro Jesus Madrona and Ana Theresa Hontiveros Baraquel would have us believe that their bill respects religious convictions and is not pro-abortion. If only they knew whereof they speak. It is an established fact that the connection between contraception and abortion is not only inseparable; there is a close identity between them.

The unnumbered house bill of these honorable representatives that goes under the lengthy title of “An Act Providing for a National Policy on Reproductive Health, Responsible Parenthood and Population Development, and for other purposes,” and referred to in brevity as the Consolidated Reproductive Health Bill, quietly passed the House Health Committee in an unprecedented two minutes without any decent discussion or appearance of meeting the requirements of the legislative process. With a seeming inclination to do away with lengthy processes simply to rush its approval, the bill is expected to proceed to plenary without dragging along public controversy.


We have to be more vigilant! We are at war. We know the enemy: those who speak the "language of war".

But there was a time when that cheesy phrase, “making love”, actually meant something significant because it pointed to the reality of what sex was, or at least, was supposed to be. Sex was about love. And love meant sacrifice. In contemporary society today, of course, sex is not about love. Sex is about using another person for orgasmic gratification apart from sacrifice.

In our times, sex is not about “making love” but rather “making war”.

H/T: Some have hats.

Another from SHH:




Friday, June 20, 2008

Deception 101

One thing you do not read in the MSM much. Although it was ABCNews that got to it first. Was that deception, ei, Al?

Wednesday, June 18, 2008

California June 17

June 17 marks the day when same-sex marriages will be legal in California. Despite the move to include a vote in the November polls, California will start doing what its State Supreme Court deemed as, well, uhm, ok.

In October 2004, Ed Vitagliano wrote in the American Family Association Journal a piece entitled School's Out. The first three paragraphs below.

Transvestite teachers. Boys kissing boys in restrooms. Teens taught about anal sex. "Gay" fairy tales for children.

Could these things actually become a reality in our public schools? The speed of change in our society thus far, driven by resolute homosexual activists, indicates that the answer is most assuredly yes.

In case some people think such projections about the future are a hunk of homophobic hooey, they might want to consider the fact that, in some parts of the country, these things are already happening.

Ed is a visionary, or a good reader of the times. And he has not been the only one. Reminds me of the visionary Pope Paul VI when he wrote his encyclical Humanae Vitae, promulgated on July 25, almost 40 years ago (1968). They both called what's happening now correctly.

Here are excerpts of Humanae Vitae, that could help us understand what is happening not only in California and in many parts of the world (Greece being the newest to pass a law allowing SSM):

8. Conjugal love reveals its true nature and nobility when it is considered in its supreme origin, God, who is love,6 "the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named."7

Marriage is not, then, the effect of chance or the product of evolution of unconscious natural forces; it is the wise institution of the Creator to realize in mankind His design of love. By means of the reciprocal personal gift of self, proper and exclusive to them, husband and wife tend towards the communion of their beings in view of mutual personal perfection, to collaborate with God in the generation and education of new lives.

For baptized persons, moreover, marriage invests the dignity of a sacramental sign of grace, inasmuch as it represents the union of Christ and of the Church.

9. Under this light, there clearly appear the characteristic marks and demands of conjugal love, and it is of supreme importance to have an exact idea of these.

This love is first of all fully human, that is to say, of the senses and of the spirit at the same time. It is not, then, a simple transport of instinct and sentiment, but also, and principally, an act of the free will, intended to endure and to grow by means of the joys and sorrows of daily life, in such a way that husband and wife become one only heart and one only soul, and together attain their human perfection.

Then, this love is total, that is to say, it is a very special form of personal friendship, in which husband and wife generously share everything, without undue reservations or selfish calculations. Whoever truly loves his marriage partner loves not only for what he receives, but for the partner's self, rejoicing that he can enrich his partner with the gift of himself.

Again, this love is faithful and exclusive until death. Thus in fact do bride and groom conceive it to be on the day when they freely and in full awareness assume the duty of the marriage bond. A fidelity, this, which can sometimes be difficult, but is always possible, always noble and meritorious, as no one can deny. The example of so many married persons down through the centuries shows, not only that fidelity is according to the nature of marriage, but also that it is a source of profound and lasting happiness.

And finally this love is fecund for it is not exhausted by the communion between husband and wife, but is destined to continue, raising up new lives. "Marriage and conjugal love are by their nature ordained toward the begetting and educating of children. Children are really the supreme gift of marriage and contribute very substantially to the welfare of their parents."8

10. Hence conjugal love requires in husband and wife an awareness of their mission of "responsible parenthood," which today is rightly much insisted upon, and which also must be exactly understood. Consequently it is to be considered under different aspects which are legitimate and connected with one another.

In relation to the biological processes, responsible parenthood means the knowledge and respect of their functions; human intellect discovers in the power of giving life biological laws which are part of the human person.9

In relation to the tendencies of instinct or passion, responsible parenthood means that necessary dominion which reason and will must exercise over them.

In relation to physical, economic, psychological and social conditions, responsible parenthood is exercised, either by the deliberate and generous decision to raise a numerous family, or by the decision, made for grave motives and with due respect for the moral law, to avoid for the time being, or even for an indeterminate period, a new birth.

Responsible parenthood also and above all implies a more profound relationship to the objective moral order established by God, of which a right conscience is the faithful interpreter. The responsible exercise of parenthood implies, therefore, that husband and wife recognize fully their own duties towards God, towards themselves, towards the family and towards society, in a correct hierarchy of values.

In the task of transmitting life, therefore, they are not free to proceed completely at will, as if they could determine in a wholly autonomous way the honest path to follow; but they must conform their activity to the creative intention of God, expressed in the very nature of marriage and of its acts, and manifested by the constant teaching of the Church. 10


Moderate the green

Since taking steps to make his home more environmentally-friendly last June, Gore devours an average of 17,768 kWh per month –1,638 kWh more energy per month than before the renovations – at a cost of $16,533. By comparison, the average American household consumes 11,040 kWh in an entire year, according to the Energy Information Administration.
So says the Tennessee Center for Policy Research June 17. We have always known that Al had problems doing for himself what he tells others to do.

Then again,
In the wake of becoming the most well-known global warming alarmist, Gore won an Oscar, a Grammy and the Nobel Peace Prize. In addition, Gore saw his personal wealth increase by an estimated $100 million thanks largely to speaking fees and investments related to global warming hysteria.
He can afford it.



17, 22, and Green

This blog is turning green, not because of any environmental message, but to celebrate the Boston Celtics, who won probably the most lop-sided Game 6's in NBA Finals history (39 point spread) against that team from the west, to win their 17th NBA Championship, and the first in 22 years at Boston Garden. Yep, the long wait is over.

Here's what I wrote in August of last year. The answer is obvious (as it has always been): to help win a Championship.

Update June 30: I reverted back to the original colors.


Monday, June 16, 2008

Road trip

A quick trip to visit my parents in Polomolok, South Cotabato ended with a road trip that took me through six provinces to Cagayan de Oro City. A few days later I was one of the staff on a one-week seminar held at Mountain Pines Place, a conference center owned by Dr. Walter Brown on the foothills of Mt. Kitanglad in Kalugmanan, Monolo Fortich, Bukidnon. The one-week seminar allowed me to recover from that road trip.

Wednesday, June 11, 2008

The Beasts and the Children

Anything for the money? Is this how UNICEF does its work now? UNICEF entered into a memorandum of agreement with the International Islamic Relief Organization "in-line with UNICEF's policy that encourages the exchange of expertise and experiences regionally and internationally; and to collaborate and join forces as part of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGS) ... It's also one of UNICEF's strategic goals to provide what is in the best interest of children. Building partnerships with leading organizations like the International Relief organization is the result of our trust in their continuous and effective efforts to protect and secure a better future for children."

It would seem that there is nothing wrong with it. Until you get to know that two branches of the IIRO in the Philippines and Indonesia have been listed as "terrorist organizations for providing money and support to Al Qaida-linked groups, notably Abu Sayyaf (ASG) in the Philippines and Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) in Indonesia." UN herself says so too.

Then again, it would not be surprising as UNICEF has been doing the dance of death with groups like Planned Parenthood. And to think that some UNICEF branches in the past did not accept donations from a biscuit company whose mother company was also involved in the manufacture of tobacco (dangerous to children), nor from a company that produces adhesives, one of which is glue used as adhesives for some parts of landmines (many victims of landmines have been children), nor from someone who owns a diversified group of companies, one of which is a leading liquor manufacturing company (how safe is this stuff for children?).