Somebody should tell these folks not to make fools of themselves on the front page of a national daily.

Posted by Bulletproofvest at 03:47 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
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Imelda, reacting to the documentary screened in Sundance, among other things:

Our first trip to the United States we brought down the [U.S. military] bases agreement from 99 years to 25. Cuba has only one Guantanamo, and we had more than 20. The second [largest] number of bases outside of America was in the Philippines. Fidel Castro used to tell people, "I only drove for two women in my life. My mother and Mrs. Marcos." When I got there, he was so envious of Marcos and the Philippines.

It's great to have so much power.

The fact alone is that I am known just by saying Imelda... No need for my last name. What makes me controversial is I am whole. I laugh, I cry, I work. I have been ridiculed, vilified and persecuted because of my shoes. But in a way they saved me. Because when they went through my closets looking for skeletons, all they found were shoes.

I wonder if that's an original punchline. It's too funny to have just been punched out for this interview. Besides, no one was looking for skeletons in the Palace -- they had found enough in the countryside. What we did find were signs of your trademark regalia: the extra large family-sized bottles of Chanel, and, yes the shoes.

I didn't plan to be a Filipino. This country has it all. This is paradise. It is just that people don't realize it because Filipinos have been brainwashed for hundreds of years.

And in some ways, she's right, although not in the context of her madness.

They say the East and West will never meet. I have a project that will make it meet by putting a tunnel under the Pacific Ocean to the China Sea. We have a vision. It has been my project since I was First Lady.

Let's just put a tunnel now, shall we? Seriously, my mom would always say, you can demonize the Marcoses all you want, but all the roads, bridges and highways we have, they're all because of Marcos. When you look at Korea and Singapore, you really wonder how, some times, having an almighty dictator can get the job done fast. Too much democracy is after all, the cause of our many ills today.

Posted by Bulletproofvest at 03:44 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
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Listening to Sugar-Free's album "Sa Wakas" and their single "Telepono". As witness to influences from the genius of Rivermaya's Rico Blanco (runs the tracks and back up vox), Ebe Dancel and the rest of SF can rock, jazz and soar. His guitar and his vocals can whine, heckle, taunt and croon -- though tempered -- and can have enough self-respect to sing these lyrics:

"I could be all alone in this pathetic little world I have. I could be crying out, see if candies do exist in worlds I don't know."

While Dancel's words and singing in some of the tracks can easily be replaced by Cookie Chua (and sometimes Mike Hanapol), there is a sublime sense of pop here, most noticeable in the candid drumming, the drinking song that is "Taguan", and the slight overdose of D minor. In "Insomya" they add some big guitar droning and harmonics that tell you they were just as much into the Beatles and Pavement as much as they were listening to Skid Row. Then, there is the scary realization that this much talent in a debut album has not been seen last since The Eraserheads. In fact, if you didn't know better, you thought it was Ely Buendia fronting.

"Sa Wakas" revels in it's providence (thus the album title, and the grunting turtle on the cover), having taken 2 years to make, with Blanco producing about 70% of the album before having to step aside and take care of his own band. "Hintay" sounds like Blanco had strings on Sugar Free and wished Bamboo was back on the driver's seat. "Sa Wakas" turns out to be a surprising collage and the tracks are obviously plucked from a larger cache of original work. In fact, the album's age works out nicely, but someone would have had time to work on the lyrics, and didn't.

But perhaps most amazing is that Ebe Dancel is NOT a musician by training -- he is a dentist. I can however argue that his talent comes from his high school background, which he namechecks in the liner notes, somewhere below thanking Jesus Christ and the Mother Mary: UPRHS batch 93. Reprazent!

In "Los Banos" Dancel stumbles to capture emotions that I for one can relate to. It isn't easy to rewrite Buklod's "Kanlungan":

"But it's always you I run home to. Take me back, take me home away from here, back to where I am free."

Needless to say, Sugar Free can use a little Splenda. But that's quite fine. I can like that.

Posted by Bulletproofvest at 04:24 PM | Permalink | Comments (11)
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About U$ 45,000 and some nine years in jail -- that's the max for music or film piracy in the Philippines. GMA is said set to make it into law. Meanwhile, the folks at Virra Mall and Makati Cinema Square are scrambling to move their merchandise.

Poor web designers. How are they going to learn their trade if they can't afford the steep software prices? And, all those DVDs...

(Happy, do you really think they can actually clamp down on piracy by passing a new law?)

Posted by Bulletproofvest at 01:57 PM | Permalink
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I was going over a list of Senatorial candidates. Of course, it gives me pure joy.

FPJ's KNP party is a who's who of highly qualified candidates. Jinggoy, for one, who is his father's son. Jamby Madrigal, union-busting owner of Jam Transit, among other businesses. There's a Rasul (sino to?) and Enrile, who is about 96 years old. Add to the mix a Bagatsing (Marcos crony?) and Alfredo Lim, who violated many a civil right. Interestingly enough, they add Ernesto Maceda, who is about 103 I think.

Lakas CMD has it's fair share of strange bedfellows, Lito Lapid and Robert Jaworski among them. Tried and tested Orly Mercado is running again, and so is, for God's sake, Ramon Revilla. Jaworski and Revilla probably has about a 190 IQ, combined. Neither one, I believe, has successfully authored and passed a bill. I would say though that, in a drinking game, Lakas CMD would far outlast the other parties, except maybe for John Osmena.

Tatad is leading a bunch of unknowns, at least from where I am seated, under the PMP banner.

There are a couple more interesting names: Miriam is running as an independent. Roxas II is pretty much in the same boat, and deserves a lot more support. Same with ex-Solicitor General Frank Chavez. Jay Sonza, yes, of Mel and Jay, is also in the running, as well as Bong Coo (the bowler, right?) Cristy Ramos-Jalasco, daughter of ex-president Ramos, is running under the Aksyon Demokratiko ticket. I was hoping my favorite movie action star Ronnie Ricketts was going to run too, but, alas, there is only so much room for action stars in the Senate.

You can view Senate bills here by the author. Unfortunately, you only get bill titles and not the actual content, but at least you get a sense of where the Senator stands.

Posted by Bulletproofvest at 10:11 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)
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From CNN:

"There was no doubt in my mind that Saddam Hussein was a grave and gathering threat to America and the world," Bush said, speaking to reporters at the White House in an appearance with Polish President Alexander Kwasniewski, a U.S. ally in Iraq.

For what it's worth, the lack of jobs and the deficit is a greater gathering threat.

We know he was a dangerous man in a dangerous part of the world," Bush said. "We know that he defied the United Nations year after year after year. And given the offense of September 11, we know we could not trust the good intentions of Saddam Hussein because he didn't have any."

And who hasn't defied the United Nations?

Lies.

They clearly tried to gin up every piece of intelligence to try to get us to go into that war," Howard Dean said.

Rep. Dennis Kucinich of Ohio, a Democratic presidential candidate who voted against the congressional resolution authorizing Bush to go to war, said the United States could have avoided a costly and dangerous occupation if it had listened to U.N. inspectors.

"We cannot take the president off the hook for an illegal war that was based on lies," Kucinich said.

Yeaargh!!

Posted by Bulletproofvest at 12:11 AM | Permalink
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While everyone is trying to wean themselves away from eating KFC, I had to fight the urge to throw up while watching Gigli. I admit, curiosity got the best of me, but I wouldn't pay to see it. So, instead, I picked up a pirated copy, which despite being crystal clear, shed not a ray of hope to save this self-absorbed, flatulent movie about two hitmen-wannabe who cross paths. One a muscle-headed type-A attitude bozo with a house that looks like it just got Queer Eyed, another, a lesbian who looks just like Jennifer Lopez! Wow!

Really, if you were a JLo fan, then this movie would be dope. You get to see her do yoga, for instance, while struggling to strike metaphors between lips and the female reproductive organ. Take it or leave it, you gotta love the lyrcra.

Certainly this movie is not just for JLo fans, Ben (with those beautiful eyes) prances around in his bathrobe, preens topless and even gets his nipple sucked. From leather-clad in Daredevil to this, Ben Affleck has surely made the best career moves yet.

Even more annoying was the dialogue. "Turkey time," JLo says before asking Ben for some "oral" favors. "Gobble. Gobble!" Despicable. The supporting cast was horrible too, save for cameos from Al Pacino (being Al Pacino, shooting expletives and a .357) and Christopher Walken (being Christopher Walken, dazed, confused and dangerous).

But it is wonderful to know that, having wasted 2 hours on that movie, that I have indeed seen one of the worst ever made, if only to get a chance to blog about it. Now that JLo and Ben have officially called it quits, it's even better to know that they had a chance to do Gigli. The movie ends with JLo saying goodbye, Ben teary-eyed, and JLo coming back to change her mind. Flighty? Sounds like JLo to me.

Posted by Bulletproofvest at 03:33 PM | Permalink
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Here is a man who used to rule this country. He also happens to be FPJ's good friend, sending him and his cronies straight back into power should FPJ win.

"We suspect they are really going to disqualify him before the Supreme Court," he said. "I'm warning them not to do that, lest there will be civil war, revolution or massive civil disobedience," Estrada said.

He said he was praying this won't happen to the country. "I hope this will not come to pass. But there's no stopping FPJ from becoming President," he said.

This kind of chest-thumping flamboyance would normally cost a candidate his campaign, but it's exactly this kind of triumphalist machismo that got Erap into power, and so FPJ.

You see, that's the problem with the framers of our Constitution: they never saw FPJ running for president:

They cited Section 4, Article VII of the 1987 Constitution which states, "The Supreme Court, sitting en banc, shall be the sole judge of all contests relating to the election, returns and qualifications of the President or Vice President, and may promulgate its rule for the purpose."

"We will discuss how this will affect the case pending before us because that I do not want to happen -- I'm not preempting the position of the Comelec -- but I don't want that the Supreme Court and the Comelec will have different positions. It is practically the same issue," Abalos said.

Of course, no one thought the same about Erap too. And no one thought that the Comelec, not long ago a bastion of campaign chicanery, would be put in a position to actually determine who will win the elections (if FPJ is a sure winner). Angara and Sotto has part of the blame for this legal mess, but they know what they're doing. Good lawyers are on both sides:

Meanwhile, an official of the Freedom Peace and Justice (FPJ) movement yesterday said they will ask the SC this week to disbar lawyers Victorino and Andresito Fornier.

Julius Raboca said that under the law "any person who shall knowingly offer in evidence a false witness or testimony in any judicial or official proceeding" are liable for the offense.

It's inherently our problem: no one is afraid of the laws of the land anymore, partly because of the people who are not trustworthy enough to enforce them, and those that flaunt the fact that they are above it. Yet, this is a new breed. Not since Erap's trial has a consciousness of Philippine law and procedures been at such a high awareness among so many -- and how flimsy and flexible it can be made out to be.

Remember, Miriam is a lawyer too. Not to mention a member of the Y.

Posted by Bulletproofvest at 12:36 PM | Permalink
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I caught Dick Cheney talking to the World Economic Forum buffs at Davos, which btw can't be colder than it is here. Anyway, the other night, Bill Clinton gave quite a meaningful and impassioned speech to the group, egging them on with a closed fist (not a yeaaagh!) so I sat to see what Dick was talking about.

Apparently, he had to cast some light on the message on his Christmas card, sent apparently to folks like those in Davos. It quoted Benjamin Franklin's views on God: "And if a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without his notice, is it probably that an empire can arise without his aid?"

Emphasis on empire. So it goes, and Newsweek has this:

The U.S. vice president took the question with his trademark equanimity. America was probably unique in history for not having taken opportunities for territorial aggrandizement, he said, and the Franklin quote shouldn’t be taken as some kind of indication that the United States saw itself as an empire. “If we were a true empire we would currently preside over a much greater piece of the earth’s surface than we do. That is not the way we operate.”

Emphasis on "not the way we operate" and "true empire". So, exactly what kind of "empire" are you, Mr. Cheney, and exactly how do you operate, presumably without the aid of and outside of a god's omniscience?

And exactly how does this not come across as "arrogance"? Dick comes up with an excuse:

Asked on Saturday whether he considered the United States to be an empire, Vice President Dick Cheney had the perfect dodge: Ask my wife.

Still:

The quote reflects Franklin's musing over the importance of God in the affairs of men, the vice president said. "It did not refer, or should not be taken as some kind of indication, that the United States today sees itself as an empire."

The United States has deployed its military might to depose dictators and empires, Cheney said. But then America withdraws its forces to U.S. shores "without any aggrandizement, in terms of territory, or any of the other trappings of empire," he said.

Posted by Bulletproofvest at 04:37 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
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Very very funny well-edited (and obviously copyright-infringing) Peanuts Vs. Outkast video. You must see this. Wait a while, they have a slow connection speed. Needs Quicktime.

Posted by Bulletproofvest at 01:59 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
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One of the most recognizable, and perhaps the most relevant, fashion photographer is dead. His book, resting on a Philippe Starck "device" contains 480 pages of his photography, and is the biggest and most expensive book production in publishing history.

Posted by Bulletproofvest at 08:59 PM | Permalink
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I had wanted to do a list like this for a while. And, while I work on some copy for a friend's food business, I found it fit to churn it out. There are no rules here (you'll see what I mean), so here goes:

10. Pandesal Nothing like sweet, freshly baked pandesal in the morning. Nothing like having to get up early because it's your turn to go to the bakeshop and buy pandesal. Drawback: never tastes as good a day after.

9. Sisig The best is served in Pilo, with chicaron and gata. Oh boy! I'd rank this dish higher but it's so bad for your arteries that you'll get dizzy after eating it.

8. Kesong Puti The ones made in Los Banos (DTRI) are soft and chewy, like young soft-ripened cheese. In fact, it is exactly that. I like this best fried with #10.

7. San Miguel Beer Super Dry The best friggin beer. Not too strong and bitter. No aftertaste, and, because you get it in the Philippines, it's cheap as piss.

6. Champorado with Tapa I could be wrong (not to mention chichi) here, but the best champorado I've ever had was at the old Fashion Cafe in Makati. Dark, bitter and warm. The tapa was just the right tenderness and no cartilage sticking to the teeth. Invigorating!

5. Biko Stick-to-the-teeth rice cake. I keep confusing this with kalamay, or cassava cake, but the former uses ground rice and the latter uses, er, cassave. Best warm with coffee. They should serve this in Starbucks. Never said no to it on the buffet table.

4. Ensaymada If you have not had Cunanan Ensaymada, you have not lived. You have to have to try it. They only sell it by phone (orders) and you have to pick it up yourself in their secret little bakeshop in Valle Verde (5 I think). I don't have their number now, but this stuff is soooooo good, it costs almost U$ 2.00 each. It's a bit crunchy outside, sticky and melting inside, with lots of queso de bola sprinkled on top. Yummie!!

3. Green Mango with Bagoong I don't eat green mangoes unless they're in a shake, or with bagoong. It's the chips and dip for the Filipino TV viewer. And, if you're lucky, you have someone else to peel it for you. The crunch, and the transformation from sour to salty is just unbelievably scrumptious.

2. Balut With salt, nothing beats the many-textured symphony that is crammed in one little egg. There's the "fetus juice": savory! There's the hard, calcinated part. I eat that. There's the yoke, soft and nourishing. And the chick, with soft bones and feathers, occasionally with an eye staring back at you. Dead as fred. Pinch of salt and it tastes like nothing else on earth.

1. Chicken Adobo For so many reasons, this is tops for me. It's got all the tastes that I love about Filipino food and, if you take the skin off, it's really low fat. Read more about adobo here.

Posted by Bulletproofvest at 05:31 PM | Permalink | Comments (6)
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I want one! I want one! I want one! (Hey, it's a Benjamin Bratt episode!) Yummy!

Posted by Bulletproofvest at 04:55 PM | Permalink
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Sharonians Unite!! She's 2 weeks pregnant according to the All-Knowing Showbiz Oracle German Moreno. And JLo and Ben call it quits, just in case you don't know yet.

Posted by Bulletproofvest at 12:50 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)
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Well I guess they've heard enough, but the SC should really handle this legal matter in my opinion. Actually, maybe they shouldn't. Do a damn test on the archive papers, dammit, instead of serving up one accusation after another.

If the Comelec has it in its hands the capacity to decide on the matter of citizenship, and its domain in the Constitutional right to become President, then it must wait to know without doubt the legitimacy of the candidate. It's not a mere violation of Comelec rules (which is grave indeed) but also of the Constitution. And since it's a matter of Constitutionality, then the SC should hear the case.

On the other hand, the candidate must have burden of proof to prove that he/she is legitimate (that is, meets the condition of being a natural-born Filipino). And this "meeting of conditions" is done solely at the level of the Comelec. Should the Comelec find the candidate fit -- meaning the would-be candidate has met the burden of proof -- then he is fit to run.

Looking at it further:

On the issue of Poe being an illegitimate child of Allan by American Bessy Kelley, the commission said the 1935 Constitution states that one’s citizenship is based on the father’s nationality and does not distinguish between legitimate and illegitimate children.

But in the petition filed by Tecson and Desiderio at the High Court, they argued that assuming his father is a Filipino, the marriage of Poe Sr. to American Bessie Kelly “was bigamous and void” since Allan F. Poe was previously married to Paulita Gomes. “Thus, respondent Poe being illegitimate, he assumed the American citizenship of his mother.”

Tecson and Desiderio noted that based on the mariage contract of his parents that Poe presented to the Comelec, his parents were married on September 16, 1940, then: “This only means that because he was born prior to his parents’ marriage, Poe is an illegitimate child contrary to the declaration of legitimacy in his certificate of birth.”

Still, the Comelec says that they are...

not the venue to establish one’s nationality. “We feel we are not at liberty to finally declare whether or not the respondent is a natural-born Filipino. The Comelec is not the proper forum. But we are called upon to decide the question of whether or not the [COC] filed by the respondent should be denied due course or canceled.”

So is it the Comelec's decision or what?!?! At the end of the day, isn't there a deadline for filing for candidacy that has since passed? Certainly, Poe should be pumping hands by now.

Posted by Bulletproofvest at 12:46 PM | Permalink
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Says they are a "potential haven for prostitution, underage drinking, fights and robberies". Well, hell, 7-11's are too, but you're not closing them down are you?

They argue that it's hard to "enforce the law in private rooms". Tell me now it's not the bad singing, tell me.

Some opponents of the ban who testified before the vote argued that the private rooms offered poor singers a chance to sing a love song without fear of embarrassment.

"My voice is terrible," Walter Lei, a San Francisco bus driver, told the San Francisco Chronicle . "If I was singing here, everybody would run off."

Posted by Bulletproofvest at 05:41 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)
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Silence of the Spirit is heartbreaking, I know. But then theres, um this. First, I found it funny, but then I realized that the similarities were too much that it scared me. See for yourself.

Posted by Bulletproofvest at 05:12 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
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Blaming ISPs for giving these hardened criminals the bandwidth for perpetrating their heinous file-sharing acts is akin to blaming the highway department for creating roads that are used by dope smugglers," said security consultant Robert Ferrell . "It just doesn't make sense."

This, following the announcement that the RIAA has set its sights on suing ISPs for providing would-be music pirates with the means to do their monkey business.

Um, okay, so Hilary Rosen might not have had a happy childhood, but you can't blame your mother for everything. Still, some judges agree with her when they ordered Verizon to turnover the name of one subscriber who allegedly downloaded 600 tunes from Kazaa in one day. Dude, that'll put you on the radar, stupid, what were you thinking?

Posted by Bulletproofvest at 04:58 PM | Permalink
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The man who runs the National Archives and is now in the middle of a forgery controversy over FPJ's candidacy (his "qualifications") has been fired by GMA. His replacement is a former National Commission on Culture and the Arts Board Member.

Senator John Osmena believes that FVR had something to do with the forgeries.

Among those who demanded the axing of Manapat were Sen. Manuel Villar Jr. and Sen. Loren Legarda.

Villar said the National Archives must “be run by honest and incorruptible public servants who would not allow themselves to be used by any party for political purposes.”

Interesting to note that Manapat, as steward of the archives, has been instrumental in providing evidence against Danding in his coconut levy fiasco -- where he stands to lose P 130 billion. Danding and Ka Ronnie (FPJ) are good pals, together with Erap, of course. Smell any dead fish?

Bottomline, it throws off the validity of everything in the Archives, possibly including telltale leads that could solve this mystery.

Posted by Bulletproofvest at 03:05 PM | Permalink
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With the rash of RIAA lawsuits, and news of more to come, here's one way to find out if you (specifically, your computer) are about to get one yourself. The Electronic Frontier Foundation, working to protect rights in the internet, now has a way for everyone to check to see if their IP address is on one of the subpeonas filed with the D.C. District Court.

And, don't worry, they DON'T log you IP address either, so this isn't like a bait and switch trick.

Posted by Bulletproofvest at 04:02 PM | Permalink
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Melanie posts this nugget inside this weblog:

Kris deserves to get beat up because she is a manipulative b*tch. Niloloko lang niya ang publiko. di pa iyak iyak pa kuno siya sa T.V. patrol tapos ngayon nakipagbalikan din kay Joey. Hay naku, maloloka ako sa babaeng mahilig sumabit sa lalaking may sabit. Anyway, I really don't care about the issue anymore and if its true that she is going to run for the senate, well, good for her, sana matalo siya.

Gabby_cuttie goes the other route:

Kris has a credibility on saying the truth! So for sure totoo sinsabi nya, khit madaldal sya totoo ang lumalabas! Punyeta c joey!!! mamatay sya! demonya k joey!

Either way, the public is now terribly skeptical of both of them. But don't let that get in the way of hit game shows or senatorial bids!

Posted by Bulletproofvest at 01:05 PM | Permalink
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This one's been going around other blogs, but that's no reason not to post it here. Highlights:

War:

0: Number of American combat deaths in Germany after the Nazi surrender to the Allies in May 1945

0: Number of coffins of dead soldiers returning home from Iraq that the Bush administration has allowed to be photographed

0: Number of funerals or memorials that President Bush has attended for soldiers killed in Iraq

100: Number of fund-raisers attended by Bush or Vice-President Dick Cheney in 2003

Budget:

45%: Percentage of Americans who believed in early March 2003 that Saddam Hussein was involved in the 11 September attacks on the US

$127 billion: Amount of US budget surplus in the year that Bush became President in 2001

$374 billion: Amount of US budget deficit in the fiscal year for 2003

Others:

1st: The record for the most bankruptcies filed in a single year (1.57 million) was set in 2002

10: Number of solo press conferences that Bush has held since beginning his term. His father had managed 61 at this point in his administration, and Bill Clinton 33

1st: Rank of the US worldwide in terms of greenhouse gas emissions per capita

$113 million: Total sum raised by the Bush-Cheney 2000 campaign, setting a record in American electoral history

$130 million: Amount raised for Bush's re-election campaign so far

$200m: Amount that the Bush-Cheney campaign is expected to raise in 2004

$40m: Amount that Howard Dean, the top fund-raiser among the nine Democratic presidential hopefuls, amassed in 2003

28: Number of days holiday that Bush took last August, the second longest holiday of any president in US history (Recordholder: Richard Nixon)

Also, George W. Bush became the first American president to ignore the Geneva Conventions by refusing to allow inspectors access to US-held prisoners of war.

Posted by Bulletproofvest at 10:14 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
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I'd like to weigh in a bit on this issue. What it is doing is that it's exposing just how stupid our senators, party leaders and those lawyers and spokespeople that surround them are.

In the age of Fil-Ams legitimacy to play in the Philippine Basketball Association, and Asi Taulava's I'm-Filipino-No-I'm-Not carousel with the sport's board of elders, how unlikely is it that Poe, the son of an American and a Spaniard, is not a Filipino citizen? It doesn't matter WHAT he's done in his lifetime (buying property, owning businesses, heck, being a Filipino film superstar), but this goes back to that moment he was born. Are his parents Filipino citizens? Because FPJ is a bastard son (low, I know) he automatically takes the citizenship of his mother, so says those bringing the case forward. She is said to be an American citizen who never became Filipino. The issue is that whether FPJ was indeed born out of wedlock.

Sotto is immeasurably dumb in his defense, at least from what I've read. First, he doesn't counter with proof, and insteads accuses the documents (proving FPJ was born out of wedlock) as forgeries and that there should be a senate inquiry. If there were forgeries, why call on the senate to inquire? So that the investigation can be in YOUR court and you can grease your way out of this one?

Of course, he means to bring it into a venue where it can be investigated properly and with conduct becoming. Meanwhile, they accuse GMA of "masterminding" the disqualification petition. Sure, that's okay. They're doing their friggin job as the opposition. And the public deserves to know whether FPJ has been lying since his very genesis on whether he is indeed qualified to run for president.

We forget that he is Erap's good buddy. And that he has never held a government position, and that he has never had more than a high school education. But that's beside the point now is it?

But perhaps the most dumbfounding comment of them all:

This, as Poe’s supporters, led by Boots Cadsawan, president of the FPJ for President Movement (FPJPM), threatened to launch mass protests equaling that of the so-called EDSA 3, when a mob attacked and almost captured Malacañang.

“The people might hold an uprising [because] no one will believe that [FPJ] is not a Filipino. If he is not a Filipino, who else is?” asked Cadsawan.

We don't even know who has the right to rule over these matters. Comelec, SC or the Presidential Electoral Tribunal.

Dean Jorge Bocobo examines at length. There are now witnesses saying they were asked to falsify these documents.

Posted by Bulletproofvest at 04:54 PM | Permalink
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Everyone I know knows I am proud to have gone to UPRHS. Not only the friends I have made and kept all these years, but the images of long unfinished cement corridors, wobbly ceiling fans, antique sewing machines, rusted out bannisters, foul urinals and creaking floorboards make me feel I am a proud graduate from that adolescent petri dish: hardened, willing, and far-sighted.

But there was a time when, remembering Peter's denial, I would be somewhat ashamed to say "Rural" as part of my school's name, except maybe if I were back in Los Banos.

The deal is that most people in the Philippines would think of "Rural" as, well, "rural". That is, backward and agricultural. "Classless philistines" would be the superlative. In fact, taking into account how I've come into contact with graduates of more "prestigious" schools, like Ateneo High or Xavier, this would be their honest impression. Even if it did have "UP", which is the state school's prestigious monogram, as a prefix.

This "stigma" also has one other side: that there is another school, UPIS, which is in Diliman (the largest of the state campuses). There is no such thing as a UPIS-UPRHS rivalry when I was in high school, because they always had the best facilities, the best students, the best basketball team. We were, well, sun-burnt castaways from the farthest regions in the Philippines. We were smart, articulate and intelligent, but sometimes with bad hygiene. Most of all, I believed we suffered from the notion that because we go to a "Rural" high school, we lacked sophistication. In laymen's terms, we were simply not cool.

Then when I left for graduate school, everything about how I felt about being a UPRHS graduate changed. First, you realize that high school in an agricultural setting was hella good. Sure, we don't have band practice, and none of us were jocks or cheerleaders, but how many have seriously -- at the ripe age of 13 -- artificially inseminated a full-grown cow? What about taking part in the foreplay of a 1,200 lb carabao? Nostalgia aside, when compared with other schools, I would never exchange those memories for anything. And these are unique to UPRHS, and, most of all, a direct result of it being "rural". And that's way cool.

Now what mattered most, and what continues to be forthright is this: UPRHS, set in idyllic Los Banos, and surrounded by a community with the highest PhDs per capita than anywhere else in the Philippines, cultured unique values of self-worth, academic achievement (among 10 very good friends I made in that school, 5 have all gone to take graduate degrees in the United States, 3 of whom now have PhDs), and humility. Along with the usual virtues one picks up in a good high school (like coming home on time and never bringing booze to a school party), there is a small sense of paradise that came with going to a school where the nearest mall is 3 hours away and the best place to hang out is in the field under the stars.

That aspect too is unique to "rural".

I went to visit the old school, now gone the way of weeds and disrepair. And even in that state, I no longer think about "rural" as a stigma, but, among many ways, as a nice little "did you know?" aspect that I take with me everywhere I go. I don't know anyone who went to that school and regret having gone there. Because maybe they too now understand what "rural" means.

(Photo from UP Horticultural Society)

Posted by Bulletproofvest at 02:04 PM | Permalink | Comments (11)
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This site is currently under beta, and for some reason, we can get into their beta! Wait, so, everything is in HTML with that first link, huh? Well, feeling duped? Here's the beta link, choose your location (I chose Philly, will work for sure) and you will see one ground-breaking jaw-dropping accomplishment (ie. the envelope of Flash and XML). Wow. Just wow.

Posted by Bulletproofvest at 12:16 AM | Permalink
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Geez, these guys smoke it.

Posted by Bulletproofvest at 12:06 AM | Permalink
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I've been looking for the official DNH (Drop N Harmony) website. Couldn't find it. But I did run into Pinoymall.com, which sells lots of stuff, including this phat tee. Then, there's this place to go if you're getting married in a jiff. They also sell a really nice cap and some ripped deltoids.

Posted by Bulletproofvest at 05:45 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)
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Documents submitted as evidence that FPJ is not a natural-born Filipino were taken straight from National Archives.

THE CHIEF keeper of the country's records Monday bolstered the disqualification case against movie star Fernando Poe Jr., testifying before the Commission on Elections (Comelec) that some of the documents earlier submitted were copies taken from microfilm records of the National Archives.

National Archives Director Ricardo Manapat identified some of the documents as a bigamy case petition filed by a Paulita Gomez against Poe's father, Allan Fernando Poe, on July 16, 1939; a marriage contract between the two, supposedly signed on July 5, 1936; a birth certificate of Allan F. Poe's; and verification that Lorenzo Poe or Lorenzo Pou did not reside in the Philippines before 1907.

The documents in the government's Records Management and Archives Office show Poe's mother, Bessie Kelly, was an American and his father was a Spanish citizen. If Allan Poe did marry Gomez in 1936, that would make Fernando Poe Jr. an illegitimate child, who would take the citizenship of his mother.

All Sotto can do is hurl back accusations of his own. Other that, or sing a song about homophobia or hirsute women. What a gyp.

More here.

Posted by Bulletproofvest at 03:43 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)
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Surfing again. Getting sleepy over my video training courses. And I found Raul Roco's website. Pretty vast, if you compare it to FPJ, who doesn't have one (correct me if I'm wrong). So Roco, a career politician, is running as a corruption-buster. It's really difficult to get the multitude of votes -- most of them with less than a keen sense of how government works -- to understand how corruption affects the individual voter. This is Roco's main problem: he's a middle-class educated voter's candidate, and the poor, which represents the large majority of voters, have consistently shown that presidential elections are a popularity contest. However, anecdotes I hear on the street and whispers from local polling and research agencies suggest that it is more than mere name-recall: it's a disconnect from reality and a misunderstanding of the role of government that makes less-than-educated voters vote for candidate. It's been said that they are often not looking for a president, but a hero.

Back to Roco, sorry. It really is too bad that most people won't read a candidate's bio and platform before voting. Roco has done a heck of a lot in government.

So, along comes Roco, who has been noted as a graft-buster (about as tough as Ernesto Maceda, who *can* be tough despite all that's been rumored about him) and has done an excellent mop up of DECS. No one likes a straight guy in government, so the wagons circle him all the time. Hence, he's left to run alone, without a party machinery to back him up and make sure his votes get counted.

Roco did go to UPenn, where I am right now. Not that that means anything, but it was an interesting surprise. Most unique is that he *does* have a local film industry connection (and is not unlike FPJ): he produced Lino Brocka’s movie Tinimbang Ka Ngunit Kulang. How's that for character?

Anyway, the real reason why I started this entry (as I babble on) is this little nugget from one of Roco's speeches:

For Filipinos abroad who have achieved success and recognition, we must bring them home. Retirement homes near the beachfront or in the mountain resorts, shall be encouraged. Successful Filipino doctors, nurses and other professionals must come home to bridge the gap created by the outward migration.

Pretty ambitious. But when you have a platform that reads like a tech industry business model (with words like "networking", "value creation", "disseminators" and "intellectual property rights"), I think it can do two things. Either it turns you on or off. If you get it, you'll like this guy. In fact people I know who support Roco are simply fanatical about his candidacy. The rest, the very large rest, just don't get him. That probably includes FPJ.

Posted by Bulletproofvest at 05:21 PM | Permalink | Comments (5)
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Now, how serendipitous is this? I was lurking around someone's blog when I caught highfiber.org and chanced upon an image splashed on index page. I used to work with this company (nice logo!), which I was just thinking about the other day, and lo and behold this was my very view. Creepy.

Posted by Bulletproofvest at 02:28 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
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I saw bits of Next Level Na! Game KNB? on the local cable channel that carries foreign shows, and I saw someone in the game who I know before her boob job, but that's another story.

The MTRCB chair is not amused with this show, and has called for decency as the show airs "when most families are having supper". Of course, the show owes a lot to Fear Factor and Survivor but, in ABS-CBN's twisted and perverted TV Show Copy Machine, out comes a maniacal twist. Look at the anecdotes:

She said that on Tuesday, two "Game KNB?" contestants, sexy stars Belinda Bright and Maricar de Mesa, were made to eat -- without using their hands -- the banana split off the stomachs of two men in bikini trunks who were floating in a swimming pool.

Laguardia also cited the show's December 30 episode, where members of the rap group Salbakuta were asked to remove their clothes, run around and choose between shaving their eyelashes and taking off their underwear.

On January 7, members of the male pop group Masculados were each asked to retrieve a dead frog, a snake, a rat, and a piece of false teeth from an aquarium filled with taho.

Taho is soybean curd. Gross is okay, but men in bikini trunks?!? That's just plain wrong. And, in defense of Willie Revillame, you know what, he could teach my Sunday School class any time.

Ratings for the show, with men in bikini trunks with banana splits on their stomachs, are very high. Yes, TV dinner for everyone!

Posted by Bulletproofvest at 03:47 PM | Permalink
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So, FPJ never went to school. Lito Lapid either. The latter has hired a few "mentors" to school him on "current affairs" and, gasp, the Constitution, which is being spoonfed to him in Tagalog -- so he can "better comprehend it" he says in a phone interview.

He says that he wants to push a bill that will give free computer education to deserving but poor students, and mentions food security for farmers. Btw, his eldest son, Mark, 25, is running for governor of Pampanga.

God Bless America? No, God Bless the Philippines. We are in deep.

Posted by Bulletproofvest at 03:38 PM | Permalink
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Ahh, 1.3 billion pesos of taxpayers money fleeced away once more. It's nothing irregular, it's just the way our government officials run the country.

So now Comelec is meeting in Tagaytay (god, any friggin excuse to go out-of-town) to ready themselves for manual vote-counting.

The Comelec was forced to use the manual mode of counting and canvassing of votes, which they described as "Jurassic type", after the Supreme Court nullified the contract on automated counting machines (ACMs).

I dare ask: can we get our money back? Can we punish Mega Pacific Consortium? Can we dig out whose pockets have been lined by this apparently bogus deal?

"I believe we have recovered from our initial blow. With or without the counting machines, a clean and credible elections remain to be our goal. Whatever it takes, and whatever the odds, I must overcome, I shall make sure that this is attained," Abalos said.

Posted by Bulletproofvest at 03:34 PM | Permalink
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Previously unbeknownst, now the ire of many a moneymaker, Photoshop CS will not allow you to open or import images of certain currencies. Pretty cool, and pretty paranoid too. (All right, it's pretty normal with this government.)

I wonder if it will eventually recognized pirated stock.

Posted by Bulletproofvest at 05:28 PM | Permalink
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Just a bunch of trees and some Holiday Fare.

Posted by Bulletproofvest at 08:54 PM | Permalink | Comments (6)
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Unconstitutional, schmunconstitutional, here's the real show-stopper:

The SC today scrapped (invalidated in lawspeak) the gazillion peso deal to shady Mega Pacific Consortium, citing bidding irregularities. It throws the entire system awry, I presume, since these are the folks (along with the Comelec) who will be counting the country's votes, which will be cast about 100 days from now.

The SC even wants to know whether criminal charges will be filed. Now who wants tainted hands to be counting our holy ballots? Better yet, who believes the SC anyway, flipflopping on Erap and all.

Posted by Bulletproofvest at 11:23 AM | Permalink
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A 40 billion peso shabu raid yields an unexpected delight: flavored lambanod step aside, here's flavored shabu.

On a separate note, I'm curious to know why the Inquirer would publish the ingredients and the cookware needed to stew up some shabu. There's a line to be drawn here somewhere.

Posted by Bulletproofvest at 11:17 AM | Permalink
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22,000 residents homeless. See this entry for answers.

Posted by Bulletproofvest at 05:49 AM | Permalink
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By way of my brother, I've come across these covers that have left me dumbfounded (he asked me to Gnutella them). Here is Tony Hadley, former lead singer of Spandau Ballet (warning, you will be greeted with infectious sighing from the band's biggest hit "True"), doing a cover of Tom Petty's "Free Fallin'" and Tears for Fears' "Woman in Chains". Apparently, he also has a cover of Duran Duran's "Save a Prayer"!!!

Posting it here instead of FTP-ing it was my brother's excellent idea. Hey, this way, everyone will enjoy.

Download here by right-clicking and choosing "Download Link to Disk" in the contextual menu.

11 Woman In Chains.mp3
10 Free Fallin'.mp3

P.S. In his official website, Tony Hadley has a section of photos from his "Philippines trip". Alas, it seems to be missing. Damn frames!

Posted by Bulletproofvest at 10:04 PM | Permalink
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That was what me and my high school friends (and some times featuring my brother) called our little raggedy high school band. We played straight out of school in our uniforms, amping two guitars in my mom's stereo, and bumming a snare and a bass drum from the school music room. We'd just tear through stuff together for hours (or until our voices were coarse). Dyno's drum kit was a few cymbals hanging from the ceiling and a bass drum resting on a pile of pillows.

My brother, in at least one recording, sang a blood-curdling version of Lupang Hinirang. That version, captured on mono playback, still exists.

Our first stint was the Junior-Senior prom, and we did Seona Dancing's "More to Lose" What can I say? It was the 80's and we were listening to XB and NU. It was either that, or "Inside Out" by The Mighty Lemondrops. Seona Dancing (or "Fade" by Medium if you listened to RT) won out because it had an "extended version"

If memory serves me right, we killed that night.

Well, maybe not. But we lived to play a second time (yes, no violent protests) and we scored pretty well with The Cure's "Just Like Heaven". I got a stitch on my brow from the ensuing party. And the words "strange as angels" are three of the most unforgettable string of letters that have ever left my mouth.

I wore a tie that night. A clip-on. Since we were about to embarass ourselves, I guess you might as well stoop as low as you can.

Now, why do I bring this up? Because those certainly were the days. And, had we this little gem, we would have gotten somewhere with our Fra Lippo Lippi covers.

Posted by Bulletproofvest at 05:54 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
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I've had a bit to say about water levels in Metro Manila, and as record low weather sweeps through Pennsylvania and the rest of New England, the DENR is saying that dry weather and, believe it or not, fewer typhoons have left water supplies low. The solution? Save water, shower with a friend.

Posted by Bulletproofvest at 05:27 PM | Permalink
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There's something wrong with this tank that, according to the Manila Times, is being used by the Philippine Army to repel NPA attacks in Southern Luzon.

Posted by Bulletproofvest at 04:00 PM | Permalink
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31 today. I *feel* younger.

Posted by Bulletproofvest at 02:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)
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Daniel Machanik also claimed to be buddies with a top Cebu official upon his arrest.

Seized in the raid were 14 computer monitors, 14 CPUs (central processing units), seven Web cameras, 14 halogen lights with stand, 14 keyboards, a laptop, 13 audio-visual regulators, 23 mice, a camera tripod, four wire extensions, six switches, a UPS (uninterrupted power supply), a hub, a printer, 38 compact disks containing pictures, 25 folders of employees’ data, two logbooks and a television set.

Police also found two empty sachets with residues, which were submitted to the police crime laboratory for examination.

That's "automatic voltage regulators" of course, but I wonder if those are "fire wire extensions"?

Posted by Bulletproofvest at 10:30 AM | Permalink
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Clay or Ruben? Meatballs and spaghetti that was separated by the smallest of margins in last year's American Idol. Well, in the spirit of colonial facsimiles, lo and behold, ABS-CBN's own Star in a Million is befuddled, no, betwixt, by it's own controversial by-the-nose win. Bring in the Supreme Court.

Posted by Bulletproofvest at 02:42 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)
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But they did launch one. It'll carry roughly 1,000 songs in it's 4 GB disk for the same battery life. Comes in 5 colors.

UPDATE: Alpine is set to release a car stereo unit that allows you to connect your iPod and control it.

Once you connect your iPod to the stereo with a single cable, you can operate it with the receiver's buttons and view playlists, album, artist, and songs on the unit's display. The solution simultaneously charges the iPod's battery so that it's ready to go when you reach your destination.

And, if you snap one of these on, hey, you're all set (read: content distribution).

Posted by Bulletproofvest at 03:36 PM | Permalink
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The Philippine Star reports:

Starting in April, all visa applicants to the United States will be required to undergo a biometric data collecting process as part of the new measures implemented by the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the US Embassy announced yesterday.

Rowan said applicants will initially be required to have their two index fingers scanned by an inkless digital finger scanner but the embassy will eventually scan eight fingers.

He said the new security measure will not entail additional costs to applicants aside from the $100 visa application fee that the embassy already charges.

Posted by Bulletproofvest at 03:32 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)
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Although I've been waiting for the dust to settle on the ballots (it doesn't look like it will be soon, with the elections so near), somebody might see this and do something.

Posted by Bulletproofvest at 03:25 PM | Permalink
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Lame soldiers and spending sprees: due to obesity and alcohol, on both counts?

Posted by Bulletproofvest at 09:58 AM | Permalink
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I haven't downloaded anything since last year! Here's the article via Slashdot.org.

The percentage of online Americans downloading music files on the Internet has dropped by half and the numbers who are downloading files on any given day have plunged since the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) began filing suits in September against those suspected of copyright infringement. Furthermore, a fifth of those who say they continue to download or share files online say they are doing so less often because of the suits.

It's possible that people are still downloading, but they are less likely now to admit they do.

The groups that recorded the steepest plunges in the percentage of downloaders were women (58% decrease in the size of the downloading population), those with some college education (61% decrease) and parents with children living at home (58% decrease).

Posted by Bulletproofvest at 04:42 PM | Permalink
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Country Waffles and Hard Rock Cafe in Manila is in trouble. And so are the Nieveras who left the country recently allegedly turning their backs on many creditors. A Quezon City court has frozen their assets. Martin has to book more shows in Las Vegas to help his old man.

Posted by Bulletproofvest at 03:48 PM | Permalink
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Wow!

Over at Metrobank, the flagship concern of George SK Ty, the taipan and his five top executives received 67.57 million pesos in 2002 after generating 2.508 billion pesos in net income for the banking, automotive, plastics and real estate group.

That's an average of 11.26 million pesos each for Ty and his men.

But the real kicker:

Lucio Tan Jr. and five other top MacroAsia executives reported receiving in 2002 an aggregate 9.36 million pesos in compensation, or an average of about 1.58 million pesos each, after squeaking in a three-million-peso net income for the company.

And:

PLDT has also awarded its chairman Antonio Cojuangco and his partner, lobbyist Jose Manuel "Babe" Romualdez, 52.7 million pesos to cover two years of "consultancy and advisory services."

Posted by Bulletproofvest at 01:54 PM | Permalink
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This excludes the heist from Citibank NA last August. The bank declined to give an amount.

Posted by Bulletproofvest at 01:49 PM | Permalink
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I've been talking to a friend about getting an iBook and have brought on a conversation about power and reliability. Serendipitously, a movement threatening to sue Apple on bad logic boards (which coincidentally seems to go awry right after the warranty ends) installed on most iBooks came to my centerscreen.

It's tougher for Apple: with the fierce loyalty from its users comes a greater-than-usual demand for quality that one seldom sees among PC users. There are reports of the iPod battery dying on users too (again, right after the warranty expires) -- with no hope of under warranty replacements.

At least the software is running smoothly.

Posted by Bulletproofvest at 04:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)
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Can you take me higher? To a place where blind men see. Let's make our escape, let's go there.

Posted by Bulletproofvest at 11:51 AM | Permalink
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