I should have taken a photo of the military cop asking me questions but I take that sort of inquiry much too seriously to fuck around.


It surely would have been a keeper.

We already have those here, Luisa. They're called "Nurse Practitioners", and they're the result of incredible increases in medical profiteering...um, I mean, expenses brought on by government regulation and unrestricted litigation. Insurance companies decided that anyone could give a shot or prescribe for the sniffles, and...voila! Nurse Practitioners.

Pretty soon you'll only see the doctor for brain surgery or if you happen to be their caddy.

Or service and wash their Caddy. ;)

Els, what's happening in the Philippines is completely different from the situation we have here. Filipino Education is a contradiction in terms. You buy your grades and diplomas. History, Geography, and Literature do not exist in their schools. (What more can you say about a country that has NO literature to study?) The only thing which they really pretend to teach is science: computer technology, medicine, biology, that sort of stuff. The problem is that with stone-age equipment and teachers who never practiced what they teach (Luisa was actually FORCED to teach a class in programming at a school where she was hired to teach Business English instead). Add to that: NO health insurance, NO malpractice liability, NO nursing staff in all but the luxury expat hospitals (if you are so unlucky to be hospitalized, your relatives have to feed, bathe, and turn you and empty the bedpans because the so-called nurses will refuse). If you check into a hospital there, you are more-or-less committing Suicide By Physician. Doctors do not use the drugs or equipment that we take for granted (but you can buy all except "hard narcotics" in any street corner "pharmacy" without prescription or regulation), and sanitation is very poor.

As a result, becoming a doctor in the Philippines does not qualify you to practice anywhere else. Even the Chinese peasants wouldn't have you. But it does not take long for Filipinos to figure out that the US, England, and Canada are desperate for bodies to fill the low-end nursing positions. Like you said, Els, profiteering hospitals here are cutting costs wherever they can so the CEOs can get their bonuses. As a result, ALL the supposed "nursing schools" are filled with people looking for a visa out. The US used to take them all, before 9/11, and allowed them to take classes in the USA to qualify them for positions here. Now it is another story. To get a visa for a nursing position now, they have to take 3 tests, including English language skills. To say the least, almost nobody can pass those tests due to the abyssmal quality of their education, and since those "nationalistic" Filipinos have decided that English need no longer be taught in the schools, most students could not even read a bed chart in English. The nursing students who DO get visas really must pull some strings, because of the crew of SIX Filipino nurses who were on my floor at UCSD Thornton Hospital this summer, two of them couldn't speak English well enough to talk to patients or understand them, and had to take instructions from other nurses.

THIS is how former Filipino doctors end up in the US or England as nurses -- nurses, not Physician's Assistants -- because THEY have just enough practical education to get through these nursing schools and pass the tests required to be hired abroad. They just want to get OUT, any way they can. But as nurses, not doctors, and that is what they can't get through their heads. They are used to ordering other people around and making often-erroneous decisions which can't be questioned back home. So they end up being disciplined for taking unauthorized actions in the hospitals where they have been hired. Filipino males have already been raised from birth to think they are omnipotent, they can't be challenged or contradicted, they are deferred to in everything and are waited on hand and foot by all the women in their families. They think their shit don't stink, and they don't follow other people's directions very well. As a result, an alarming number of these former physicians-turned-nurses are being charged with insubordination, having their credentials stripped, their visas revoked, and are being deported back to the Philippines. It has become such an embarassment that even the newspapers in Manila are writing editorials about it.

Cultural patriarchy plays in a very interesting manner here in the US. I mean, we are still largely a patriarchal society (God is a man, so men are the bosses, I believe is how the reasoning goes...go figure), but compared to Third World nations, we're a matriarchy. Chauvinism is probably not a job skill here in the US in most organizations...not overt chauvinism, anyway.

The state of Phillipino education does sound abysmal, and that being the case, I feel compelled to compliment Luisa's English writing skills and her overall command of the esoteric. She seems to have done very well indeed in the face of considerable odds. Or am I misunderstanding that she is a native Phillipino?

Luisa was born in Manila, 32 years ago. Although she has a birth certificate showing two Filipino parents, which having been redacted by Filipinos is inaccurate and gives her the wrong name as well, our theory is that she must have been switched at birth. Hospitals there are rather sloppy, after all, and there seems to be no other explanation why, of her entire extended family (a considerable number of people, as typical of all constantly reproducing Filipino families), she is the only one who seems to have a functioning brain. She certainly behaved like a changeling, all her relatives will testify to that. But due to her very small stature and facial features, it's obvious that she was the actual child of her parents. Much to her misfortune.

Her first word seems to have been "Why?" During her often unbearably stressful young life, that family has done everything in their power to beat the living daylights out of her and to crush any spirit of inquiry. They failed, but they nearly killed her trying. As I told everybody in another thread, your family is your worst and most dangerous enemy in the Philippines, and Luisa fully intents to crack the skull of her biological father if he ever tries to get near her again. She would gladly shoot him instead, but in the Philippines a woman is not allowed to lift her hand against a man, so SHE would be the one to go to prison instead of the scum who would have held her for ransom or sold her into slavery. The rest of her story will make a great book one of these days, maybe she will be the Filipino equivalent of Amy Tan ;)

Luisa is the only one who is truly fluent en English in her family, she passed the TOEFL on her first try with a nearly perfect score. Her education and upbringing was in English only, because her grandfather, apparently a very wise man for the times, decreed one day that his Spanish-speaking household would from that day forward learn English and speak it exclusively. In those days the Americans had just liberated the Philippines, transportation and schools actually functioned, there was an economy, and America was where it was happening. Unfortunately the Americans left, successive Filipino governments destroyed the economy, stole the entire treasury, let the school systems become a joke, rule by law as we know it ceased to exist, and the lowest common denominator of life forms there had a population explosion which swamped the cities and dragged under the last vestiges of public services. Grandfather died, and the rest of his household reverted to "traditional Filipino values" while managing to lose or spend any of the security and prestige that their branch of the family had in the 1950's. Poor Lu came into existance during the downward spiral at the end. A helpless girl-child had the resentment and stupidity of the entire family fall right on her head.

The fact that she is still existing can be credited to the internet. Without it, she would have never been able to maintain a window on sanity, education, and a degree of normalcy. We are going to get her out of that hellhole some day, soon I hope. She is worth saving.

just checking here here.

Drunk off my ass, once again or still...depending how you see things.

Went to Quezon city today. Nea4ly died from the pollution and from the traffic. Took lots of pics and clips. Rode the mrt again, without getting arrested this time :)

Saw a movi3 last night at market market. It was good and cost 80 pesos about 1.6 us.

I'
m going north on lfridayt to another procinvne, la union. Her relaitives there have property and businesses there with motoribikes that I camn ride.

More latyerrr. This keyboard sucks assneck.

There is a table in Makati that doesnt need shims and it's in an upscale bakery at Market Market.

We bought some cakes today and I nearly fainted as we placed our things on the table waiting for the cake. No shims or additional fabrication required. Simply amazing.

"Quick....someone find me a beer so I can experience the elegance and refinement of drinking while sitting at a table that doesnt rock and roll"

More photos to post today but without descriptions, sorry.

This is the church in "downtown" Pembo. Nice church but it was a bit strange seeing "no vendors" sign.

from our trip (almost) to the volcano

cute cute

The first is a proud father and cute child


The other is of the kids singing caroles at the resort. A bit freaky without cold weather and or snow.

Not complaining mind you, it's just a bit freaky. :)

In the rural area of LaUnion now. It's nice and not nearly as congested as Manila.

There are goats everywhere here. So many strange things here to see. We even saw a woman washing clothes in the river....not on a rock though, in a metal bowl.

The cafe here is also much nicer and the equipment actually works.

More later.

Washing clothes the old fashion way.

Cheap is nice but this is ridiculous.

nt

This is the china sea beach. The people living in these shacks use the fishing boats.

Not exactly a beach resort but a nice place to catch the cool breeze coming off the sea.

This is the wild lizard that was found in the house yesterday.

Me in LU drinking cheap gin at some tiny bar here in town.

1. Why is the lizard blurry but the mat in focus? That's a pretty damn fine focus distance, there big guy.

2. Were you even aware that you were drinking gin with orange soda, and are you alright?

Great pics, as usual. When are you coming home?

I tell you what , put a hammock on the porch of EATHER one of those shacks and I could hang there for a LONG TIME !!!!!!!

It never fails to amaze me how shitty one computer can be in some nice looking big city cafe and how reasonably well one way out fucking no where under a palm tree works better.

Anyway....

We went to Baguio yesterday and that trip was very interesting we both had a great time. Dont try to use the cafe at the SM mall though if you have the unreasonable expectation that your machine will work and that there wont be structural beams at about your nose height that you will nearly knock yourself unconscious with just trying to get in and out of the place.

1. The cheap cam has manual features and the focus distance and clarity is always hit or miss. Add to that the fact that if the camera is not perfectly still while the shot is made it will still come out blurry even if all other conditions are otherwise perfect.

This is my first trip here and I didnt want to bring an expensive camera not knowing all the situations that it might be vulnerable or too combersome.

We've got almost 6 gigs of clips and photos from here now with more than a week remaining. Honestly half are not of any interest but much of the clips from the winding mountainous busrides all over here many would find amusing.

As we enter any given mode of transport, I get a photo of the lic number and the driver in the event there are any problems we have something to supply to the police here. Whether or not even that info would be of any value is not known but it gives me just a bit of peace of mind.

2. Dont try this at home folks. Yes the orange seems to mix well with the cheap gin and at home we even have ready mixed Tang drink to add to the gin. It's pretty tastey but then again....who am I bullshitting....like it really matters, right?

Everything is fine though.

I wont be home for Christmas but will be coming back shortly before new years day.

There are still many photos that would be of interest for viewers there but there's no where to shrink the photos to postable size.

That would take all day at the palm tree net cafe.

More later.

There are some hammocks on those shacks with people sleeping in them as we pass sometimes.

For me, speaking as one who has been here for one month basically doing nothing productive, there is a limit to the liesure time that I can spend here.

There's not really much going on here, even in the city. Without booze, it's nearly as boring as watching C-span....with the sound down.

I'll see if I can sneak a photo of one of the hammock snoozers. Maybe someone can shop Zippy T into that image. :)

Don't bother. All the police want you to supply them with is a large payoff. They do not "investigate" traffic accidents, and there is no such thing as auto or liability insurance anyway so it wouldn't make any difference what the "investigation" turned up. Your only bet is to chase and collar the perp, beat the shit out of him or threaten to do so, and negotiate a payoff to "compensate you for your injuries". Then spend the next 10 years trying to collect it :mad:

The only time you want to count on the police is if/when you are an American who happens to get kidnapped or murdered. THAT they will do something about.

Well, if (Gods forbid) Slang gets killed or kidnapped by a hack driver, at least he's got that initial piece of evidence for the cops to go on, for all the good it will do him. :eek:

No he doesn't. That camera and any other possessions will disappear from the scene long before any police are notified. Wanna know how? I think "into thin air" just about describes what happens to anything of the most minute value in the Philippines the minute you blink. Wanna know how bad it gets? Luisa's family was having construction work done on the family mausoleum this summer, and while they went to lunch, all the metal attachments disappeared from the coffin of her uncle and the clothes were stripped from his corpse. All this within full view of the workers and "caretaker" and all the mob of squatters who live between the graves. Uncle Eddie spent the rest of the construction time in a plastic trash bag which was kindly provided by the "caretaker" while what was left of his worldly goods no doubt went straight to Market Market :mad:

The fact that Slang is still with us is due not so much to the fact that he is accompanied by a native as to the fact that, even drunk, he is capable of ripping the head off any Flips who mess with him. They are neither strong, nor large, nor brave. And as said before, they know Americans do not disappear unnoticed.

Okay...point taken. I then change my statement to, "At least pictures of the hack driver who last saw Slang before he was killed or kidnapped will probably end up on the Internet after the camera is stripped from his nude and bound body."

I don't think I'm going to visit the Phillipines anytime soon. It doesn't sound like much fun.

What is happening in the Philippines is the totally predictable result of massive corruption, frightening overpopulation, poverty and ignorance, added to Nationalism whose only base is "everybody has victimized us". Stir into this lovely brew an Islamic insurgency - not really much more than South Seas pirates on drugs but with real ties to Al Quaeda - which controls a lot of the boondocks and which wants to take the entire country back to the 16th Century where men were men and women were trade goods, before the Catholic Spanish conquerors came. The situation is unfixable, you would have to completely wipe the slate and start over. And it is being repeated all over the world right now, as tribal wars can rage unchecked due to the easy availabilty of weapons and corrupt rulers control the only resources and siphon off all the money. Eventually, all the infrastructure remaining from "the conquerors who oppressed us" will have disintegrated and nobody will remember that it was ever different from "the way things just are".

The breakdown of government and traditional cultures is often a result of the "vacuum of power" which results from the withdrawal of a strong force which kept the center together and inforced the laws, in the Philippine's case it was the USA, but it also happened in Bosnia, Rhodesia, Iraq, and much of Equatorial Africa. The next phase is the total breakdown of the ability to govern, which also has its up-side because without interference the people can create very original ways to rise to the top, and eventually another "strong man" or conquering presence will take over and restore order. HIS version, that is. Since very few non-expat Filipinos take vacations in the Philippines, most of the world will not notice that this country is self-destructing since there is no oil and we no longer need their ports and military bases. We will only notice if the Muslim insurgency overthrows the government and starts exporting terrorists. China and Korea will soon own anything that passes for an economy there, and the massive outpouring of Filipinos will continue to any countries who will accept menial laborers (Kuwait and the Emirates have more Filipino servants than they have native residents, and treat them like dirt because they know the people are desperate for work under any conditions).

Fun place to just lounge around in a hammac on a tropical beach and stay drunk? Sure, if that's your thing. If you have money and don't have to work, you can be God until your money runs out, or until you need a toilet, hot water, uncontaminated food, or a policeman or doctor. No responsibilities, no timetable, great environment. Nobody there has a job either, they'll understand perfectly ;)

Just for the record....


Not one time (have I noticed) that someone was trying to chop my head off. :D


More later, I'm out of time here.

I'm not going to argue with a native about their perspective of life here. They obviously have much more experience here than I do.


It's not paradise nor hell here from my experience though. Many interesting things, some sickening, some horrifying....but most certainly real life.

So is Uganda :(

If you haven't noticed, I am a "cultural relativist". I believe strongly that all native peoples should be left alone by the rest of the world, and specially the misguided super-powers and their missionaries, so they can do what they do the way they have learned over millenia that they are best served. But that only goes as far as the point where one of them comes after ME, or somebody I care about. At that point, I will majorly kick their ass so that I can escape and get as far away as possible. That's the way I feel about the Philippines right now. I can neither fix anything there or convince the people that there is anything THEY might do to prevent the misery and ignorance which they accept as normal. Nor is it my right or duty to do so. As soon as we get Luisa out of there, that whole place can get on with their self-destruction and they won't hear another word from me.

sarcasm We can leave 'em all alone, as soon as they've accepted Jesus as their personal savior, or died in the effort. /sarcasm :mg:

I'm sorry for your troubles there in manila tonchi. Life for me is certainly different.

Best wishes to both of you.

[sarcasm] but things might be easier if you accepted Jesus as your personal saviour [/sarcasm]

I have more photos from La Union but not prepped for posting.


More later.

I just went back and looked at all the pics from this thread. It makes me wonder what in gods' name made me decide to visit central Europe in WINTER instead of somewhere warm like the Phillipines.

Gin and orange soda are one of life's great pleasure. It's good to know that it's also a world-wide sentiment.

You bet it is. And the best part for you is, YOU are going to walk away from it. Gates do not slam in the American faces. You have that all-precious visa and a bank account so you are GOD. They will worship you, be delighted with anything you say or do and fall all over themselves to provide anything that will please you. That is the #1 fact of life in the Orient. For as long as you have more money than those around you, you will be able to glide over the heads submerged in the cesspool. But the minute nature takes its course and the events around you succeed in removing the money from your wallet and absorbing it into the surrounding environment, Life would be VERY different for you indeed. You'll never have to find out, though, how nobody over 30 is allowed to even apply for a job in the Philippines, because you do not HAVE to work there. You have everything all set and secure and your plane reservations confirmed, your escape is guaranteed.

None of my business of course, but how many Filipinos have already been working on you to get them a visa to get out? By the "cultural norms" I'm familiar with, every member of her family will now consider you their "ticket" ;)

Jeasus Fucking Christ !!!!

Tonchi, If you hate the fucking place SOOOOOO God Damn bad , then FUCKING LEAVE Any way you have to , legal or illegal !!! And take ANY body else that you feel you have to with you !!!!!!!
But i get the feeling that Any where you go you would be missrible ,
pissed off that there is NO gold in the streets for you to pick up !!!

Slang is trying to have an adventure !!!!

He seems to be experencing the difference in the cultures quite WELL if you ask me .

Third world countrys can SUCK , we GET IT !!!!!!!!


Just my 2 cents .

I think that Tonchi's focus is on getting Luisa to leave.

Zip, you have not been reading this in any other sense than a WHITE sahib who likes/liked to go to the "exotic" Orient, where by means of your money (and to no small extent your maleness) you fondly remember how you could stay drunk and lazy and dirty and nobody cared, and where women would wait on you or sleep with you without the hang-ups of the civilized world. In other words, the Shore Leave mentality. Well good for you and all your male acquaintances, because you were contributing to the Third World economy in one of the few ways they have one. And like I have said, you make the mistake of thinking that because Orientals smile and bow that means they respect you or are enjoying your company. You are drunk and on "an adventure" or just trying to block out the way your life is elsewhere, so it pleases you to think that because the women are so friendly and easy that means you are a really cool dude, life is good, and these kind of women adore you. King for a Day. King for a DOLLAR.

I'm talking about YOU now, not Slang. Although I don't believe he is telling us everything he is seeing or doing because he can't, Slang is on a mission, he has a job to do which he chooses to make into a series of adventures. I admire him for that, he obviously does it well. But YOU, my dear, have chosen to attack me on a personal level because I do not swoon over the Sailor in Paradise fantasy. Well, you have already told us elsewhere what your life was like in "those days" and also what the extent of your substance abuse was. I did not attack you for that, nor make personal slurs nor tell you to get a life. I did not curse at you or make assumptions about your personality or background. So knock it off, OK? Illusions are a way of life and an industry in the Orient. The Sailor in Paradise fantasy is just that - a fantasy. Glad you enjoyed your fantasy, you were supposed to, but you could just as easily have ended up rolled in some alley depending on the opportunity you gave somebody.

I have no illusions about these fantasies, because I am too well aware of their cost. My best friend could have been sold as a bar girl in Manila, her aunt got a very good offer for her. After all, what else can you do with a worthless girl when nobody is around to marry her and you would rather save the money it takes to feed her? You see, WOMEN are not allowed to have "adventures", in NONE of the places Slang has told us about. They are only permitted, culturally and legally, to have "profitable acquaintenances" and if they don't turn out profitable the woman is labled a whore - even to her face on the street - and that definitely limits her chances in the future. No, I never lived in the Philippines, something else you missed in translation, and for very good reasons I never intend to visit it. Why would I want to? I will not be going to India, San Salvador, or Africa either. That is called smart, not prejudiced. People who DO live there are giving even their lives to get out, "any way you have to, legal or illegal". And one way or another I WILL get my friend of 8 years out of that place. Like everything else in the Third World, all it requires is money and time.

And please don't make any further assumptions about whether I would not be happy anywhere, because you don't have a clue about all the places I have lived and worked and studied and the hundreds of people from countries all around the world who I am in touch with because of my job as a monitor elsewhere. If any of those places HAD been mentioned here I would have been glad to tell you about them. I'll even start a thread about FRESNO, at least I have some great memories of how it was in the '70s.

Point taken , I appoligize for my ASSumptions , I was out of line .

Best of luck getting your friend out and safe .

I'm drunk off my ass again......


Just thojhght that I';d check in ....


Merry Christmass to all ......

Dont decide on another vacation without us talking about whether or not you might like visiting the Philippines.

I could help you stay safe, sound, entertained and drunk (if that is your desire) with all the good contacts that I've made here.

This has been a very good trip for me. The people here are very good....and many understand English enough to be very, very funny.

I will surely be back. Hopefully you would seriously consider visiting too.

This is a fair question and deserves a reply, though I'm truly sorry that you are so unhappy here.

From the first moment I meet everyone here I make it chrystal clear that I am " a very very small man in the US", without wealth or influence. This is believable not only because it's completely true but also because it's obvious.

What American would ride a Jeepny or a tricycle that's rich and famous in the US? What American would stay in a hotel without hot water if he were truly rich or looking to be "God"?

It's bordering on insulting that people would even assume that I'm here to give Filipinos crap for their having been born in a third world country and that somehow I'm just here to have my ass licked becuase I have a handful of pesos.

From the beggining of this trip and my trip to Pak it has been my goal to make contacts, friends and to open the possibility of doing some kind of business in the growing Asia.

I make it clear that no one is coming back home with me and that I dont have power, money or influence to get someone a visa. Period.

What I might be able to do though, that would be mutually beneficial to me and the locals is to look for small business opportunities that we might be able to work at through the net.

This is not a small job though, as I am reasonably good at designing things but completely suck at business.

There are people here that I believe would be able to help me with my "fantasy project" of making computer animations. There isnt time for me to put into doing all that's required to make them.

Many of the locals here though, have all the time and skill to do such things without the money to buy the software to do that specific work.

There are still many details to be worked out and I honestly dont know if this project will ever be a reality but it seems most logical that non- americans would appreciate having regular work (making computer models), be completely satisfied, even grateful for small wages as opposed to none, and be willing to grow a small production company with me over time into something great.

That's my mission.

It's working with the trends of today. Asia is emerging. The US is in decline.That doesnt mean that I'm going to sit back and bitch and moan that there is no longer opportunity in this world....just that it looks different now and there are different challenges.

(steps off soapbox )

Slang, I always thought of you as a knight in shining armor and admired the fact that you even TRY to learn about other countries and cultures. Most Americans have a sense of cultural and personal superiority when they are abroad that is truly depressing, as well as dangerous. You have been able to do in person what I can only do on the internet. I never doubt your sincerity and good will, I just have been wondering why you couldn't see the obvious in the place where you are now.

Yes, Asia is emerging, but the Philippines is sinking. Education as you know it does not exist, English is no longer taught in the schools, grades are purchased, there are no textbooks. Anybody with true abilities or experience has left the country. "Business" is defined as what the rich do to siphon off all the money and opportunities. Software like we get everywhere is not purchased in the Phils, they get counterfeited copies from China. People who are graduated (or buy a diploma) in computer/software subjects can't pass even the simplest qualifying exams and are never considered for positions which Korean, Chinese, or Singapore nationals so completely outclass them for. If you are 30 or older, no company may hire you and training institutes will not accept your application. Multinational companies will not keep branches in the Phils anymore because they can't get educated and reliable employees and the taxes and extortion and kidnappings have driven them to safer countries. The taxes were just raised again by 15% and a plebecite is scheduled for next year which is expected to further consolidate the power of the government against the people.

The Filipino people are NOT stupid, they are not inferior, it's the country which has the problem. People have to start their own businesses because there are no jobs, and they have endless imagination as to extracting gain from any situation, any object, any person. It is deeply ingrained in the Oriental cultures, quick wits and quick hands. They live in an impossible situation and they make the best of it in any way they can. Unfortunately, too many of them accept deception, counterfeiting, cheating, and using other people as part of these necessities of life. They are also torn between being grateful for assistance and being suspicious of the motives of the assistor. In other words, they don't know if they should use you or avoid you when you try to "help" them. I have seen both of these faces in my dealings with this group of people.

I wish you luck, Slang. Your heart is in the right place. Just one more word of caution: Don't simply write a check. Accountancy does not exist there, and money evaporates into the pockets of every person in the extended family because what you would consider a whim is considered an "emergency" to them.

Thank you, but a young man from Pakistan has already taught me that lesson. I'm sure there are some good teachers of that class here in the Philippines but I took that class last year. Passed with flying dollars too. ;)

I'm going back soon and may not be online for a few weeks. I'll have about 5 million more photos and movie clips that will be posted on my own site for people to see the wonder and excitement of the Philippines. :)

trip officially complete and I'm back home in the US (and exhausted from the flight).

welcome home, safe and sound.

Welcome back. Make sure you go to your doctor and get the extra strength penacillin shots. You don't know where those girls have been.

Thank you, thank you.

It wasnt that kind of trip Wolf, really.

I have some small trinkets for you PM me.

Welcome back. Please make sure all international warrants on you have expired before the next GTG.

When the guys in black jump out and start shooting at me, hit the deck Rich.

There are 20 CDs of photos that I'm still f**king around with from the trip. The vast majority will have zero appeal for you all. Just pics of common places and things that are different from here.

That whole effort is still in the works though. Dont have any idea when it'll be ready though.

Given that after you left Pakistan there was a massive earthquake, and your departure from the Philipines preceded the mudslides, you may have trouble going to any other foreign lands for a while ... ;)

(Can't wait to see the pictures, but I'll wait anyway.)

Maybe a trip to Philly would be in order. Just to visit though.

It *has* been quite awhile since Philly had a major natural disaster... :worried:

You think I chose this area for the historical importance? Pennsylvania is about as geologically and meterologically stable as we get here in the U.S.

And it's been a while since any cops there dropped bombs on row houses...

I'm near Philadelphia, not in it. There's a reason for that, too.

But mentally stable......(ba-doom, pish)

Well, Slang, the Philippines is on lockdown today because of the latest coup attempt. Brought you these links so you can follow the ballgame, you can't really tell what is happening by reading the politicians' speaches but it will give you a pretty good idea of who's on top right now.

http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/storypage.aspx?StoryID=30832
http://news.inq7.net/breaking/index....story_id=67303
http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/storypage.aspx?StoryID=30832
http://news.inq7.net/breaking/index....story_id=67278

Constitutional issues aside, President Aroyo could put an end to this constant plotting if they would just shoot a few of the people who want to shoot her and be done with it. But Noooooo. That's not the way they handle things there. Because the backers of the plotters are always very well placed, from prominent families or with lots of money stashed outside the country, the government rounds up a few army officers and just sweep them under the rug and so nothing ever comes to an end. The deposed president, a former action-movies star and notorious drunk, who stole practically the entire Treasury and wrecked the economy before he was removed by a coup, has never even been brought to trial and remains in his mansion, enjoying his booze and women, while his supporters in the Senate prevent any judgment from happening. So the Philippines is always in a state of limbo, neither the "good guys" or the "bad guys" actually win and the citizens lose instead.

Anytime the Philippines is in the news now there is a constant stream of people stopping by my desk to talk about it.

Several people have said that they have seen something on the news about the coup. We dont understand the whole situation and generally dont have a great interest here.

It seemed to me while I was there that these anti-Arroyo people sound a lot like the anti-Bush people here and I tuned them out after asking more than a few people about their thoughts on the subject.

There were some that were sympathetic to the ouster movement but most had little interest or thought that these people had little influence.

The most disturbing thoughts expressed was by a man lamenting the "good ol' days of Marcos".

He was serious too. At that point I just accepted the fact that I dont understand their politics and stuck to wandering around (drunk) in wild fascination there.

Not that I dont care but it's just not my fight and I dont understand the history.

Some of the photos from Quezon city were interesting to see in the net news but only because that setting looks so familiar.

Hopefully things iron out there. That's unlikely though.

Thanks for the links.

SOME people in the Philippines actually were better off under Marcos. That is why they would welcome a return of that family to power. Of course, Ferdinand is now dead and buried, but Imelda is still rabble-rousing around the country and there are plenty of people willing to support a take-over similar to the old Marcos regime. The common people, i.e. 99% of the inhabitants, forget that the reason things were so great during the Marcos days was the USA was still in charge of security and OUR money was the engine which drove the economy there. At this point our "occupation" is a distant memory and they could bring back 500 Marcoses and nothing would change. But Filipinos are not strong on logic, unfortunately, the great unwashed electorate there is not capable of figuring that out. They just want ANY change, they are easily influenced by promises and to this day have not been able to figure out that the last person who promised them a Cadillac in every hovel (deposed president Estrada) never gave them anything and instead stole the entire Treasury and sent it abroad with his buddy crooks. President Arroyo is a disgrace but she is the best of the worst and she is our firm ally. She will continue to see attempted coups for as long as she remains in the Philippines, simply because others there want to sit in her chair and pocket the money that SHE is pocketing now.