Cranky Capital
So widespread public grumbling aided and abetted by class-conscious reporters, continues (the symbolism of things like the by-now-famous Rockwell photo made it irresistible). Jessica Zafra’s friend baptizes the metropolis as “The Big Queasy.”
Overseas, a backgrounder on the new Thai prime minister-designate. Bangkok Pundit says the story that the coup was meant to head off Thaksin-led violence is finally being challenged. It’s not an official lie, apparently, but a lie made up by people embarrassed over their support for the coup.
In the punditocracy, Fr. Joaquin Bernas, SJ has what seems to be the last word on the debate over how the Supreme Court will decide things -and what constitutes constitutional amendments versus revisions.
Filomeno Sta. Ana III on the scale of Philippine corruption.
Sylvia Mayuga and Bong Austero also take a look at the typhoon and the way people reacted to it.
The China Post editorial urges People Power to continue in Taiwan.
In the blogosphere, Tamabayan ni Paeng has a bone to pick with bosses who made their workers go to work during the typhoon -and docked the pay of those who stayed home. To the Tale kept working and working.
There was a sudden blossoming of blogs last night, as most homes that still hadn’t had power restored finally had their electricity restored. Some, like 404 No Find and The Idiot Board recounted their electricity-less days; others posted photos (including some of the damage in the University of Santo Tomas campus); quite a few young bloggers asked for prayers for those affected by the storm. Some, like Sanyata, felt Manila’s over-exposed in terms of sympathies:
The next day, my room mate (Carmel), my sister and I went home by bus. We passed by other barangays of Los Baños and Calamba and were met by mud, floods and traffic. We left at about 10:30am and got home by 3pm. Talk about cramps. I really felt sad because there were landslides and people whose homes and business were destroyed. I saw this lamp shop in LB where most of their lamps were damaged and the owners were just sitting around looking very dejected and helpless. We also passed a bus sandwiched by those big steel billboards. Seeing all these made me very annoyed with other people in Manila who made it seem that what they experienced was the end of the world – because I had seen worse.
fried neurons is shocked UP charges the same amount per unit, it was charging 17 years ago. And anyone wonders why the deterioration of education’s accelerating? We were contemporaries at UP and let me tell you, even then the full tuition was ridiculously low: I remember at the time my father (while signing the check for tuition) would grumble that if UP were really serious about socialized tuition, it would raise the full tuition to the same level as the private schools, so that the subsidy would really have an effect (considering my being a chronic absentee, I think he also wanted more of a justification for scolding me). The blog entry also suggests a collateral issue from the government’s redefining poverty -poor state scholar’s suddenly aren’t classified as poor, and thus, can’t continue their scholarships.
Comelec AKO reminds everyone to register to vote.
Foreign Service Insider suggests the elderly have permanently taken over the Department of Foreign Affairs.
A political hybrid individual is what Pajamas Media says of Sen. Joseph Lieberman (see the interview in video, podcast, and transcript form). William Bradlee writing for Politics Central, in a similar vein observes what he describes as the Autumn of the Partisans in California.
Meanwhile Slate looks at Bob Woodward’s new and devastating look at the Bush Administration. More from the New York Times and Washington Post. And there’s the startling story of Arial, the impostor-font!
Coconuter has a touching story with pictures. And this is such a pretty blog: kitchen cow.
Technorati Tags: constitution, milenyo, people power, people’s initiative, philippines, politics, Thailand
