Thanksgiving by JOYCE KILMER

The roar of the world is in my ears.
Thank God for the roar of the world!
Thank God for the mighty tide of fears
Against me always hurled!

Thank God for the bitter and ceaseless strife,
And the sting of His chastening rod!
Thank God for the stress and the pain of life,
And Oh, thank God for God!

Read More

Eldorado by EDGAR ALLAN POE

Gaily bedight,
A gallant knight,
In sunshine and in shadow,
Had journeyed long,
Singing a song,
In search of Eldorado.

But he grew old-
This knight so bold-
And o'er his heart a shadow
Fell as he found
No spot of ground
That looked like Eldorado.

And, as his strength
Failed him at length,
He met a pilgrim shadow-
"Shadow," said he,
"Where can it be-
This land of Eldorado?"

"Over the Mountains
Of the Moon,
Down the Valley of the Shadow,
Ride, boldly ride,"
The shade replied-
"If you seek for Eldorado!"

Read More

The Road Not Taken by ROBERT FROST

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;
Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,
And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.
I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

Read More

A Noiseless Patient Spider by WALT WHITMAN

A noiseless, patient spider,
I mark'd, where, on a little promontory, it stood, isolated;
Mark'd how, to explore the vacant, vast surrounding,
It launch'd forth filament, filament, filament, out of itself;
Ever unreeling them--ever tirelessly speeding them.

And you, O my Soul, where you stand,
Surrounded, surrounded, in measureless oceans of space,
Ceaselessly musing, venturing, throwing,--seeking the spheres, to
connect them;
Till the bridge you will need, be form'd--till the ductile anchor
hold;
Till the gossamer thread you fling, catch somewhere, O my Soul.

Read More

Jolo bombing

Statement of the Mindanao PeaceWeavers:

A call for an impartial probe on Marines’ hand in killings, bombings in Sulu

On March 27, 2006, a bomb explosion wrecked the church-organized Sulu Consumers Cooperative Building now owned by teachers, employees, and communities in the province.

Reports reaching the Mindanao PeaceWeavers confirmed five fatalities and 15 others wounded, though some newspaper reports presented bigger figures. Expectedly, the incident was blamed on the terrorist Abu Sayyaf Group and so-called extortionists.

Ironically, however, like a number of incidents in the past that were blamed on law enforcers themselves, the local Police has arrested two suspect belonging to the Philippine Marines in the area. When accosted at the vicinity of the ruined Coop building minutes after the explosion, the suspects reportedly had handguns and radio transceivers but could not present proper identification to the arresting officers.

What saddened us was the report that the Marine-suspects were, hours later, released after a truck-load of fellow Marines came to rescue them, causing a near shoot-out between them (Marines) and the policemen and, thereby prejudicing a supposed investigation by the Police.

On January 28, 2006, at around 7:15 p.m., a group of innocent civilians who have just gone out from a mosque in Duhul Bato, Barangay Mauboh, Patikul, were fired upon, killing one and wounding 10 others. The suspect belonged to the Philippine Marines whom Gen. Alexander Aleo of the Task Force Comet said was already being investigated but until now the investigation result has yet to be known to public.

On the night of February 2, 2006, six other civilians were killed in a strafing incident that left six others wounded Palar, some 50 meters away from both the Marines and 104th Brigade headquarters in Busbus, Jolo. A child survivor said the brutal gunmen ran towards the Marines detachment after the horrendous bloodbath.

On February 10, 2006, a civilian-witness to a police investigation on the January 28, 2006 incident was beheaded and its severed body parts were strewn around the vicinity of the Jolo Police Station. The brother of the beheaded corpse, whom witnesses said were allegedly picked up by uniformed men on February 9, 2006, has since been missing.

These series of incidents implicating the Marines in Sulu is, indeed, very alarming and has caused more anxieties among the innocent victims of these tragedies who ought to be afforded justice.

The Mindanao PeaceWeavers, aside from strongly condemning the bombings and killings in Sulu, calls on the Armed Forces of the Philippines to let the Police investigation takes its due course with the AFP’s paramount cooperation, rather than coddle the Marine-suspects.

We call on Chief of Staff Maj. Gen. Generoso Senga and Task Force Comet Commander Gen. Alexander Aleo never to allow a cover up, but instead ensure a thorough, impartial and unhampered investigation on the alleged involvement of men in uniform in all the above mentioned incidents. We even suggest that the Army conduct a parallel court martial proceedings against the suspect, if indeed it is sincere in affording justice to the victims, rather than resorting to what appears to be a very convenient excuse of putting the blame on terrorist/extortionist groups.

We urge Police Director Gen. Arturo Lomibao to prop up the morale of his men and build up a strong support mechanism enough for the Police of Sulu to assert its supremacy over the military and perform its investigative function even if the subject of investigation are uniformed men.

We appeal on Sulu Gov. Ben Loong to stop acting like an Army marionette and be true to your avowed commitment to serve, protect and defend your policemen and constituents, rather than interceding for the release of the Marine-suspects.

We also call on Congress to immediately conduct a separate fact-finding mission to look into the reported involvement of government soldiers in these killings, including military food blockade that has been going on in interior barangays of Sulu since the past three years.

We appeal to all sectors of society, both from government and private organizations in Sulu, Mindanao and the entire country, to let our voices be heard and together strongly condemn the recent bombing and demand justice for all victims of ruthless killings in Sulu.

Lastly, we reiterate our earlier call for government to rally behind in strengthening local civilian authorities’ supremacy over the military in this island-province that has long been virtually ruled by the mighty gun-wielding soldiers.

Read More

Thailand pix

Read More

House Blues

Rodolfo Vicerra was one of the few speakers at an international conference on ICT held in Makati without a Powerpoint presentation. The director-general of the Congressional Planning and Budget Office at the Philippines' House of Representatives was unapologetic. It was, he said, a good way of illustrating the state of legislative services in the Philippines ICT-wise: little progress.

Sure, the country's 200-plus congressmen and their staff have their computers, but only a handful of these are linked to the chamber's ICT Services, Vicerra said. There is no decent local area network to speak of at the House, he added.

And to think it would require only P1 to P2 million to network all of the hundreds of computer units at this institution, which wields power over the government purse and whose members bring home to their respective congressional districts every year P65 million in pork barrel funds.

Sadly, the interest of majority of the congressmen whose offices are now wired to the ICT Services is primarily to gain access to the Internet rather than to "Legis," the Legislative Information Services, the chamber's attempt at e-legislation.

Not that Legis has much to offer at the moment. Because information is still manually fed, only priority bills find their way to Legis. As for the thousands of bills, mostly local, that are filed by congressmen, these still require manual tracking.

The result? "Very few bills are tracked," Vicerra said. That also explains the sparse information about legislation that the public gets from the House of Representatives website.

Vicerra can only rue the irony of the situation: A knowledge-intensive institution that has not bothered to invest in the infrastructure to access and disseminate knowledge and information. In the process, the public it serves is likewise deprived of access to knowledge. And, he said, "limited access to knowledge is tantamount to concentration of power in a few."

For this year, getting money to improve the House of Representatives' ICT Services, particularly Legis, tops Vicerra's wish list. He's hopeful the chamber can tap into the e-government fund in the annual national budget.

The CPBO has other ambitious project as well, including the creation of discussion boards for each House committee on the chamber's website, plus communication linkages with the public through SMS, among other means.

Read More

Tsunami whammy

My daughter lost a friend to the tsunamis that struck Phuket, Thailand. Her friend's family was on board a van leaving the resort when the waves engulfed them. Her dad was also among the casualties.Their cremated bodies have been brought home. The grief of family and friends is indescribable.

Read More