Makati City, Philippines

[BigV]

welcome home, safe and sound.

[wolf]

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.

[slang]

Thank you, thank you.

It wasnt that kind of trip Wolf, really.

I have some small trinkets for you PM me.

[richlevy]

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

[slang]

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.

[wolf]

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.)

[slang]

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

[Elspode]

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

[wolf]

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.

[glatt]

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

[wolf]

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

[slang]

Originally Posted by wolf

Pennsylvania is about as geologically and meterologically stable as we get here in the U.S.

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

[Tonchi]

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.

[slang]

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.

[Tonchi]

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.