The Long View Department of Finance debunks Rizal By Manuel L. Quezon III Philippine Daily Inquirer First Posted 01:04:00 05/14/2009 The “Great Filipino novel” – What is it? Does it exist? Can it be written? – is a question that often absorbs literary circles. But all of us, at one point or another, have had [...]
(Above: scans of AAQ’s and MLQ’s bookplates; though rarely used today, bookplates used to be a highly-developed form of personal expression) I’ve been meaning to start a series on we, the people, as the political strategists and advertising people understand us, and the ongoing controversy about the Book Tax has helped kick-start the process. This [...]
The Long View A conspiracy of officials By Manuel L. Quezon III Philippine Daily Inquirer First Posted 02:30:00 05/11/2009 In the year 1950, an international agreement was concluded in Florence, Italy, under the auspices of UNESCO. The world was still recovering from World War II, and nations recently liberated from Fascism, with its censorship and [...]
Why the incedeniary video above? It goes to the heart of the Florence Agreement, and the lessons of history it aimed to propagate: that after the Dark Age of Fascism, and its book burnings and lists of forbidden titles, and after the destruction of libraries and schools during the War, there oughtn’t to be artificial [...]
Ellen Tordesillas published it in full first, over at Vera Files, and people have been rolling in the aisles ever since. Just in case you have any doubt that really wrote what he did, here’s the facsimile of it: Judge Lorredo Order 4 May 09 Publish at Scribd or explore others: Humor Creative Writing bible [...]
Something bothers me about the opposition in some quarters, to the idea of champion pugilist Manny Pacquiao throwing his hat in the electoral ring. Which is a greater indictment of democracy -that Pacquiao has the nerve to consider himself fit for public office, or that some of his fellow citizens consider it unthinkable that a [...]
The Long View The great book blockade of 2009 By Manuel L. Quezon III Philippine Daily Inquirer First Posted 04:15:00 05/04/2009 According to Malaysian blogger-turned-parliamentarian Jeff Ooi, if you buy books or computers, the government will allow you to deduct your purchase costs from your income tax. The Malaysian government seems to be of the [...]
My column tomorrow will be on Robin Hemley’s latest Dispatch from Manila, as published in Timothy McSweeny’s Internet Tendency. It details the months-long embargo on book importations that resulted from the Bureau of Internal Revenue’s discovering it could reinterpret international treaties with impunity, until booksellers, faced with escalating storage costs, cried uncle and surrendered to [...]
