“scalia, i happen to admire ellen, she’s a good person. and her readers are our countrymen and know the underpinnings of democracy and good citizenship better than most.”

no, most of her readers are ex-pinoys who still practice nationalism by convenience.

oh yes they know the underpinnings of democracy and good citizenship, they are fully enjoying it. a good citizen exercises his/her constitutional freedom and rights to the hilt!

they are not called mob bloggers for nothing

“scalia, what really gets my goat is that people like you do not grant an iota of patriotism or even good sense to critics of the president, while i try to make an effort to see all sides and the sincerity and good points in the defenders (implicit or explicit) of cruella. it’s enough to make anyone see red.”

its because the critics of the president are only up to that, being critics. nothing good for the country. just good for being anti gloria.

patriotism? my goodness, light years away from it are the anti gloria school!

if there is even one iota of patriotism in them, they would come to their senses that the country has more pressing needs than gloria’s removal!

“thnat being said, since my getting over the flu may be contributing to my ill-humor with your style of argumentation (a moving target in the style of that american commenter, geo i think his name was, who’s stopped visiting), maybe i should return to your comment in a couple of days when my health and humor are both better and i can respond to your arguments with the good faith and open-mindedness you had when you made them.”

i agree. may the Almighty restore you to good health.

thank you my fri…ooops. thank you!!!!!

you and your blog are really great compared to the mindless bloggers at ellenville!

don’t you feel tarnished whenever this blog is placed in the same category as ellenville? I would!

thnat being said, since my getting over the flu may be contributing to my ill-humor with your style of argumentation (a moving target in the style of that american commenter, geo i think his name was, who’s stopped visiting), maybe i should return to your comment in a couple of days when my health and humor are both better and i can respond to your arguments with the good faith and open-mindedness you had when you made them.

“…there will always be discord regardless of WHO is the president. the only path to peace is for the LOSERS to respect the WINNERS and to wait for their turn, if ever, in peace.”

why can’t the anti gloria school realize that?!

“scalia, you aren’t sorry, don’t even pretend to be, and don’t feign ignorance. it does neither of us any good.”

no, manolo, i am truly sorry.

of the thousand times i used “my friend” to many others (like cvj) here its is very surprising you’d react that way! since it rubbed you the wrong way i apologize. you’re the only one who reacted to my use of “my friend” didn’t you know that?!

why don’t you admit that i touched a raw nerve? it will do you good.

“it’s all or nothing. give credit to all or slice and dice down the line. your fixation with the 7.3 ignores two possibilities, among others:

1. it could be wrong, and with good reason: there happen to be some pretty good reasons why the 7.3 is being disputed, which is a long way from saying no improvement economically took place at all; or that even partially it may have been due to the president’s policies but also, quite possibly, due to a streak of luck on her part.

2. if true, it could possibly have been even better. conversely, you had your 7.3, now that things look less sparkly, you still don’t have what any government needs at this point, which is some sort of reservoir of good will from the public.

oh you’re singing a much different tune now eh? in your previous comment, you are hinting that the anti gloria people should also share in the 7.3.

which is which, manolo? ano ba talaga kuya?

“your hyperbole about the antis being prepared to drop an atom bomb ignores the reality of what the admin has proven itself fully capable of resorting to, to keep itself in the gravy.”"

an implied admission that the anti gloria school will indeed drop the bomb!

the motto of the anti gloria school – the hell with the economy, kick out gloria first. worry about the economy later

“re: south korea, perhaps you’d like to have a word with the tens even hundreds of thousands of south koreans who risked life and limb to bring down the military dictatorship? or the parade of officials and businessmen who keep ending up in jail? the corrupt military obstacle was most definitely an obstacle -and was removed.”

perhaps you should realize that the efforts to remove the dictatorship arose when prosperity was achieved already.

gaya gaya ang South Korea sa ‘Pinas sa people power. pero by the time they did that in 1987, mayaman na sila! (or at least at a level the Philippines has yet to reach)

and maybe you have not realized, the “parade of officials and businessmen who keep ending up in jail” still continues to this day! even if a country has reached a level of prosperity, corruption still exists!

so zero corruption, a sine qua non to progress?

there must be some wisdom in prioritizing economic progress ahead of political progress, don’t you think?

“and what has gawad kalinga and outsourcing have to do, with the issue at hand? gk predates gma, and i’ve put forward my view that it is skirting dangerously close to a bad kind of tokenism. outsourcing is a bright spot and will continue to be so, but other bright spots have to be cultivated. as you put it yourself, if they flourished despite her, imagine how much better they could have flourished in an atmosphere of greater cooperation and goodwill among the public and between the public and its leaders.”

you still don’t see it, or refuse to see it! don’t wait on the government to do something. private initiative can do good, not waiting for gloria to be booted out.

how many jobs have the anti gloria help create? how many houses for the poor have the anti gloria people help build? if one house for the homeless is built every time “patalsikin na now na” or “people power” is uttered the housing problem will be solved!

you really can’t see it because for you its all about gloria.

“imagine how much better they could have flourished in an atmosphere of greater cooperation and goodwill among the public and between the public and its leaders.”

how much time is wasted just waiting for that. its like waiting for godot.

it’s all or nothing. give credit to all or slice and dice down the line. your fixation with the 7.3 ignores two possibilities, among others:

1. it could be wrong, and with good reason: there happen to be some pretty good reasons why the 7.3 is being disputed, which is a long way from saying no improvement economically took place at all; or that even partially it may have been due to the president’s policies but also, quite possibly, due to a streak of luck on her part.

2. if true, it could possibly have been even better. conversely, you had your 7.3, now that things look less sparkly, you still don’t have what any government needs at this point, which is some sort of reservoir of good will from the public.

your hyperbole about the antis being prepared to drop an atom bomb ignores the reality of what the admin has proven itself fully capable of resorting to, to keep itself in the gravy.

re: south korea, perhaps you’d like to have a word with the tens even hundreds of thousands of south koreans who risked life and limb to bring down the military dictatorship? or the parade of officials and businessmen who keep ending up in jail? the corrupt military obstacle was most definitely an obstacle -and was removed.

and what has gawad kalinga and outsourcing have to do, with the issue at hand? gk predates gma, and i’ve put forward my view that it is skirting dangerously close to a bad kind of tokenism. outsourcing is a bright spot and will continue to be so, but other bright spots have to be cultivated. as you put it yourself, if they flourished despite her, imagine how much better they could have flourished in an atmosphere of greater cooperation and goodwill among the public and between the public and its leaders.

“scalia, while i appreciate your visiting this blog, you most certainly are not my friend. so don’t patronize me.”

yikes! manolo, i am completely surprised to say the least! you consider the use of ‘my friend’ patronizing????!!!!! oh my! i must have touched a nerve! sorry.

“in which case the credit should be shared by all, but then immediately contradict yourself.”

my goodness????? how do i contradict myself?????? i give the credit to the whole Pinoy nation, and not one bit to gloria!!!!!!!

“you deny any credit for a collective achievement, to those from the collective who are collectively opposed to your president.”

two things:

1. those who are opposed to gloria dismiss the 7.3, so they dont even purport to be part of that. if they did, their only beef vs gloria should be that the 7.3 is the entire nation’s credit, not hers.

the anti gloria school isn’t excited over the 7.3, right?

2. the best of those who oppose gloria never goes beyond ‘patalsikin na now na’

by the way, since gloria is not your president, i think you don’t have any right to expect her to do things only a president can do. like be here at the height of ‘Frank’s power

“to those against the president who worked at their jobs, paid their taxes, even endured a hostile environment from the government, you think that what they were doing as they exercised their citizenship was undermining the hardworking anti anti gloria pro glorias like you.”

may i remind you, my friend, that the complaint of the anti gloria school on the 7.3 is that its a sham. never did i hear anything which says in effect that gloria should not grab the credit for the 7.3

oh yes, the ‘exercise of a constitutional right’ undermines the hardworking ‘anti anti gloria pro glorias like you’. very much. the anti gloria school will drop an atomic bomb in Manila if that is what it takes to remove gloria

“well they did not, and they have every right to point to you and enumerate every instance of officially winked at smuggling, selective red tape, and so on, that you not only made possible, but encouraged and excused, on your premise that objecting to it and the whole madcap alliance propping up the president are unimportant to wealth-creation, which happily promotes wealth-creation indeed for those putting stitching together a golden parachute for 2010 and beyond.”

go ask your friend cvj, and get pointers on how South Korea reached its lofty status. the corrupt military dictatorship was never an obstacle.

if policies were the key, then all discussions should be on putting in place effective policies. not ‘patalsikin na now na’ ad nauseam

nobody’s denying the “smuggling, selective red tape, and so on…”

“but for the many who may be divided on what to do, and so have found themselves held at bay by those who would rather do nothing, you not only make it even harder to improve things long-term, but have turned trying to do something into some sort of moral defect.”

harder to improve things long term? because gloria still sits in malacañang? don’t underestimate the efforts of NGOs like Gawad kalinga who chose not to wait for gloria to be kicked out before acting. of industry groups striving to bring in foreign direct investment here. outsourcing is now a US$5B industry here, employing hundreds of thousands of people and producing a spillover effect on other industries like telecom, real estate and food. despite gloria’s continued presence in malacañang