 |
 |
| ON THE OTHER HAND |
| Iraq and Vietnam
By Antonio C. Abaya Written Nov. 05, 2006 For the Standard Today, November 07 issue It was New York Times Columnist Thomas Friedman who wrote that recent events in Iraq were beginning to look like the Tet Offensive in Vietnam in 1968. President Bush himself admitted in a televised interview that there were indeed parallels with Vietnam , although he did not spell out what those parallels were. Let me try. The biggest parallel between 1968 and 2006 is the effect of the War on US domestic politics. In 1968, the Tet Offensive � whose ferocity was totally unexpected by the American public who had been misled by their government to believe that there was �light at the end of the tunnel� � totally soured Americans on the War and made President Lyndon B. Johnson so unpopular that he was forced to abandon plans to run for re-election in the coming November presidential elections. . In 2006, the escalating violence in Iraq , with no discernible �light at the end of the tunnel� has made the War the number one issue in the Nov. 7 midterm elections. Bush� insistence on �staying the course� and that �we will not cut and run� and that �we are not looking for an exit strategy, we are looking for victory� has become counter-productive. The latest (Nov. 05) CNN poll has put the opposition Democrats 21 points (53-32) ahead of the Republicans on how the American public will vote on Nov. 07, up from 18 points just a week ago. Which is probably the reason why Bush has suddenly shifted his focus from the War to the economy in the last few days of the campaign. There is no doubt that the 2006 mid-term elections will be a referendum on the Iraq War, just as the 1968 presidential elections would have been a referendum on the Vietnam War if Johnson had chosen to run for re-election. (But it is not correct to conclude that the Republicans are more hawkish war-mongers than the Democrats. These are just the Tweedledum-Tweedledee fluctuations in American domestic politics. It was the Democrats � under Presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson � who got the Americans into Vietnam . It was the Republicans � under President Richard M. Nixon � who got them out of it.) Another parallel between Iraq and Vietnam is the repercussions both wars had at the highest echelons of the American military and defense organizations. In 1968, even before the Tet Offensive began, the focus of attention was on the besieged Marine fire base at Khe Sanh in the Central Highlands . Completely surrounded by the Vietnamese, Khe Sanh was pounded everyday by artillery and mortar fire and was in real danger of being overrun, despite total US control of the air. Like Dien Bien Phu was in 1954, when the Vietnamese defeated the French. Mindful of his place in history and unwilling to be associated with a second Dien Bien Phu-style debacle, President Johnson did something extraordinary: he extracted a written pledge from the Joint Chiefs of Staff � America �s highest military commanders � that Khe Sanh would not be allowed to fall to the Vietnamese. In 2006, several retired American generals, and even Gen. John Abizaid, chief of the US Central Command with overall responsibility for the US military in Iraq, have publicly admitted that the War was not going well (�disheartening�) and that Iraq was descending into civil war. The chief of the British Army, Gen. Richard Dannatt has called for the withdrawal of British troops from Iraq �sometime soon, because our presence there exacerbates the security problems.�. The extraordinary happened last week when four service-oriented publications � the Army Times, the Navy Times, the Air Force Times, and the Marine Times � in a joint editorial called for the sacking of Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, saying that �Rumsfeld has lost credibility with the troops, with Congress and with the public at large. His strategy has failed, and his ability to lead is compromised. And although the blame for our failures in Iraq rests with the Secretary, it will be the troops who bear its brunt. Donald Rumsfeld must go!� Bush is not likely to do that before the Nov. 7 elections as that would just further weaken the already weak position of the Republican Party. Only last week, Bush was praising Rumsfeld as doing a �fantastic job� in Iraq . Perhaps after the elections. But it would be an admission that the invasion and occupation of Iraq , the number one priority of the neo-conservatives, had been a mistake. To get back to the Tet Offensive, Khe Sanh did not fall to the Vietnamese in 1968. Instead the Viet Cong and the North Vietnamese Army simultaneously attacked 70 towns and cities throughout Vietnam , including Saigon and the US Embassy there. (A team of 12 Viet Cong sappers blasted a hole through the perimeter wall and fought their way to the Embassy�s upper floors until they were all killed in room-to-room fighting.) Throughout the Offensive, the Americans insisted that the real goal of the Viet Cong was to capture Khe Sanh, a la Dien Bien Phu , and based their defense plan on that premise. Instead the VC captured the old imperial capital of Hue , apparently for its symbolic value as the center of gravity of Vietnamese nationalism, and held it for 26 days. In the battle to recapture Hue the US Marines suffered 216 killed-in-action and more than a thousand wounded, while their South Vietnamese allies suffered another 384 dead.. In grudging admiration for the fighting qualities of the Viet Cong � Victor Charlie � the Marines started referring to him as �Mr. Charlie.� (Columnist Friedman�s comparison of the recent up-tick in violence in Iraq with the Tet Offensive was therefore overdrawn. Only the town of al-Amarrah was attacked by the Mehdi militia of the Shia cleric Moqtada al-Sadr and it was held for less than two days, to recapture which cost less than a dozen Iraqi police lives and zero American and British casualties.) The Tet Offensive was strategized by the North Vietnamese General Vo Nguyen Giap, a former schoolteacher who was said to be very knowledgeable about Napoleon�s campaigns. Giap was also the victor at Dien Bien Phu , which led the Americans to believe that he was planning to do a reprise at Khe Sanh. Instead Giap did the opposite: he encouraged the Americans to focus defensively on Khe Sanh and its 6,000 beleaguered Marines, while he attacked dozens of other towns and cities . In 1953, Operation Castor was a plan of the French high command in Hanoi to draw the Vietnamese guerillas � then called the Viet Minh � into a set piece division-sized battle along European lines in which, they were confident, they could defeat and destroy the Viet Minh guerillas who had no experience in maneuvering large formations. To this end, the French flew in or parachuted in late 1953 more than 26,000 French, Foreign Legion (mostly German) and North African colonial troops, plus tanks and artillery, into the remote valley of Dien Bien Phu and, in effect, dared the Viet Minh to �come and get us.� The Viet Minh obliged. But because they had no trucks, transport planes or helicopters, they used thousands of bicycles to haul up tons and tons of supplies, equipment and munitions � including disassembled US-made 105mm howitzers, captured by Mao Zedung�s guerillas from Chiang Kaishek�s Kuomintang Nationalist army in China � into the mountains surrounding the valley of Dien Bien Phu .. What the lowly bicycle can do! By the time the showdown battle began in March, Viet Minh artillery outnumbered French artillery four-to-one. In addition, they occupied the high ground, while the French were sitting ducks in the valley below. Napoleon would never have allowed himself to fall into such a hole. In shame and despair, the French artillery commander, Col. Piroth, blew himself up with a grenade. As the tide of battle went against the French, US Admiral Arthur W.Radford, then chairman of the Joint Chiefs, offered to drop tactical nuclear bombs on the Viet Minh. To their credit, the French declined the offer. The French over-all commander, Col. (later Gen.). Christian de Castries, was a flamboyant aristocrat and womanizer who named all his outposts after his paramours: Luli, Gabrielle, Beatrice, Isabelle, Anne-Marie, etc. During the battle, other Viet Minh units simultaneously attacked other towns and cities in Indo-China (a precursor of Tet) to tie down French reinforcements, while the French perimeter in Dien Bien Phu progressively shrank as one outpost after another was overrun by the Viet Minh. On May 7 1954 , the Vietnamese launched their final assault on the French command bunker. This time, the French did not resist. They were drinking wine to celebrate their defeat. ***** Reactions to [email protected]. Other articles since 2001 in www.tapatt.org OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO |
| Reactions to � Iraq and Vietnam�
Mr. Abaya, It's the evening before Election Day. And I'm reminded of the following quote: "Carry the battle to them. Don't let them bring it to you. Put them on the defensive. And don't ever apologize for anything." - Harry S Truman (who was a Democrat. ACA) Tomorrow, after going to Mass and Communion, I will go to my designated voting place and will vote straight Republican. Pierre Tierra, [email protected], Nov. 07, 2006 wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww God willing, the Iraqis will succeed in shooing the Americans out of Iraq ala-Vietnam! It is just a matter of time. America has to pay for the more than 250,000 Iraqis whom the ,Americans have wiped off from the face of the earth for this penchant of the Bush Family for the Iraqi oil. Hopefully, too, the Butcher of Iraq (Dubya Bush) will be booted out before he shows his real fangs, ala- Hitler! I dread his threat of imposing Martial Law on the pretext of terrorism in America! Yuko Takei, [email protected], Tokyo, Japan, Nov. 07, 2006 wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww (Copy furnished) Mr Abaya is speaking from his backside. The outposts were named after the chief nurses in service with the French military at the time. I suggest that Mr Abaya read Dien Bien Phu written by Colonel Pierre Langlais published in 1963. It is a faithful historic account of the battle and another one written by Jules Roy. Both are however written in French. He will learn about the battle of Dien Bien Phu . Vi Massart, [email protected], France , Nov. 07, 2006 MY REPLY. I have read the book by Jules Roy, as well as the book by Bernard Fall, both in English translation, and both about Dien Bien Phu . I also have the DVD documentary � Battle for Dien Bien Phu .� Furthermore, there is a reasonably good but short account of the battle in wikipedia.com. wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww Dear Tony: President Bush, once more, has made the mistake of declaring that there is a parallel between Iraq and Vietnam. But this is only one in a series of very "unpresidential" mistakes he has made. The worst mistake this American president has made was to invade Iraq because Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction, that he was pursuing a nuclear program, that he had ties to al-Qaeda, and was involved in September 11, and that therefore he posed an "imminent" threat to the U.S. All these justifications have been proven false. What's worse, there is reason to believe that the decision to invade Iraq preceded September 11, and that the intelligence underlying the justifications were "cooked. " In a major shift, President Bush subsequently tried to convince the American public, nay the whole world, that Saddam Hussein was a cruel and brutal dictator who brutalized his people and massacred thousands of them and that therefore, in effect, it was the moral imperative of the U.S. to get rid of him. Furthermore, he also rationalized the invasion of Iraq as a move to bring U.S.-style democracy to Iraq and, from there, then throughout the Middle East! After a bit more than three years, Iraq is a bloody and costly mess. Close to 3,000 U.S. soldiers have been killed. Thousands have been severely injured. One report says that around 650,000 Iraqi civilians, including women and chilkdren, have been killed. Tens of thousands of Iraqis belonging to Iraq's middle class have fled Iraq and sought refuge in neighbouring countries. Iraq is now torn by a civil war between Sunnis and Shiites; the daily toll in lives is quite appalling. Iraq has so far cost the U.S. Treasury around $300 billion, and counting. This gargantuan expenditure in Iraq is principally responsible for the unprecedented Federal budget deficits which the Bush administration continues to incur. A rubber-stamp Congress supinely agrees yearly to ratchet up the legal limit to the National Debt, which is now in the order of several trillions, and which represent a very heavy burden on future generations of American taxpayers. Iraq is right on top of the priority concerns of Americans who go to the polls today, November 7. It is very likely that American voters will allow Democratic candidates to regain control of the House--and possibly even of the Senate--as a clear signal to President Bush and his Republican administration that their Iraq policy of "staying the course" and "not cut and run" is not working, and that therefore they should be held fully accountable. Mariano Patalinjug, [email protected], Yonkers, New York, Nov. 07, 2006 wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww Mr. Abaya; I read your op-ed piece with some interest. I was a medical corpsman at the retaking of Hue City in 1968. Your description, as presented, is fairly accurate... but so incomplete as to create false impressions. Khe Sanh did not fall, because Giap was defeated in place. The use of constant pressure such that the perimeter of Khe Sanh steadily expanded, the devastating use of B-52 bombers, and the Army relief columns destroyed the major portion of Giaps army in the highlands. The Tet offensive was a disastrous military defeat for North VietNam. The VC/NVA forces lost 35,000 to 45,000 troops to 3,500 south Vietnamese and American troops. The communists murdered far more civilians than they killed soldiers. In no place did the NVA or Viet Cong win a battle or hold any ground. They acheived none of their tactical goals. The reference to 26 days in Hue is misleading as the last 2 weeks was a siege of a desperate and demoralized communist force that occupied a very small piece of ground. In 1965, there were over 500,000 Viet Cong troops in the field. By the end of Tet 1968, there were fewer that 50,000, with over 100,000 having changed sides and many more having simply gone home. Indeed there is a school of military thinking that suggests that the Hanoi Poliburo deliberately sacrificed the remaining Viet Cong forces so as to reduce the risk of an independent communist regime in the south in the future. Thereafter, most of fighting was conducted by an invading army, the Peoples Army of VietNam (NVA). The victory so often attributed to the communists was largely in the minds of op-ed writers and TV newsmen... and as such, it was a political disaster for Johnson. Yet, in the long run, VietNam played a major role in the downfall of the Soviet Empire. The Soviets, we now know, were very alarmed by military events in VietNam. The capacity of the United States military to sustain such a long campaign and inflict hugely disproportinate casualties without using the most destructive weapons systems available, and not using those systems there were applied to their full capacity convinced the Soviet Politburo that a major and aggressive military-industrial complex buildup was an absolute requirement if the Marxist-Leninist ideology was to reign supreme. The consequence was the collapse of the Soviet economy. Comparing VietNam to Iraq is like comparing kiwifruit to durian except that the terrorists greatest hope is the left wing press. I can only wonder the result of a return to the draftee army and sending a half million troops to the mid-east. Comparing the French Army to the US Marine Corps is like comparing a hyena to a tiger. The problem faced by the coalition military in Iraq is very different from that faced in VietNam. The current military is more highly leveraged, that is, it takes far fewer troops to achieve any particular tactical goal than it did in VietNam, yet the cost of any loss is therefore much higher John Long, [email protected], Nov. 07, 2006 Semper Fi MY REPLY. I did not compare Vietnam and Iraq militarily; President Bush and Columnist Friedman did. I compared the impact of both conflicts on American domestic politics. Without denigrating your contribution as a medical corpsman in Hue, I would agree with the judgment of Henry Kissinger (National Security Adviser, later Secretary of State) that �For the Americans not to win is equivalent to losing. For the Vietnamese not to lose is equivalent to winning.� wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww (The following article was emailed to us) Watching the Couples Go By by Herbert Stein Undated Herbert Stein, a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, was chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers under Presidents Nixon and Ford. He is a member of the board of contributors at the Wall Street Journal. One of my persistent fantasies used to be of sitting at a sidewalk table at a cafe in Paris. I would be writing with my pen (la plume de matante) in a notebook (un cahier) while smoking a Gauloise. I would not be writing economics. One cannot write economics while sitting at a sidewalk cafe. Maybe that is why there have been so few distinguished French economists. I would be writing a novel, or perhaps poetry, or even a philosophical treatise. But I would frequently raise my eyes to watch the girls (les filles) go by. I no longer have that fantasy. I do, however, eat from time to time at an outdoor table in front of a small restaurant on the street leading to the Kennedy Center. I don't try to write there. I can't write with la plume de ma tante. I am addicted to the word processor. I suppose I could use a laptop computer. But that mechanism would destroy the romantic illusion. Instead, I watch the passers-by. I am not concentrating on the girls. I am concentrating on the married couples. How do I know that those men and women walking two-by-two up to the Kennedy Center are married to each other? Well, 75 percent of all men between the ages of 30 and 75 are married, so if you see a man in that age group walking with a woman to the Kennedy Center? which is not exactly Club Med? it�s a good bet that the two are married, and almost certainly to each other. I look particularly at the women in those couples. They are not glamorous. There are no Marlene Dietrichs, Marilyn Monroes, or Vivien Leighs< BR>among them. (It is a sign of my age that I can't think of the name of a single living glamorous movie actress.) Some of them are pretty, but many would be considered plain. Since they are on their way to the Kennedy Center, presumably to attend a play, an opera, or a concert, one may assume that they are somewhat above average in cultural literacy. But in other respects one must assume that they are, like most people, average. But to the man whose hand or arm she is holding, she is not "average." She is the whole world to him. They may argue occasionally, or even frequently. He may have an eye for the cute intern in his office. But that is superficial. Fundamentally, she is the most valuable thing in his life. Genesis says, "And the Lord God said: 'It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a help meet for him.'" And so, "made He a woman." It doesn't say that He made a pretty wo man, or a witty woman, or an any-kind-of-adjective woman. He made the basic woman. Why is this basic woman so valuable to the man whose hand or arm she is holding as I see them making their way up to the Kennedy Center? I think there are three simple things. First, she is a warm body in bed. I don't refer to their sexual activity. That is important but too varied for me to generalize about. I refer to something that is, if possible, even more primitive. It is human contact. A baby crying in its crib doesn't want conversation or a gold ring. He wants to be picked up, held, and patted. Adults need that physical contact also. They need to cuddle together for warmth and comfort in an indifferent or cold world. At least, they need to be able to do that. The plain woman and plain man I am watching do that for each other. But conversation is also important. These couples may have been talking to each other for 30 years or more. You might think they have nothing left to say. But still they can talk to each other in ways that they cannot talk to anyone else. He can tell her of something good he has done, or something good that has happened to him, without fearing that she will think he is bragging. He can tell her of something bad that has happened without fearing that she will think he is complaining. He can tell her of the most trivial thing without fearing that she will think he is bothering her. He can count on her interest and understanding. The primary purpose of this conversation is not to convey any specific information. Its primary purpose is to say, "I am here and I know that you are here." Third, the woman serves the man's need to be needed. If no one needs you, what good are you, and what are you here for? Other people? employers, students, readers? may say that they need you. But it isn't true. In all such relationships you are replaceable at some price. But to this woman you are not replaceable at any price. And that gives you the self-esteem to go out and meet the world every day. So, this "ordinary " woman, one like about 50 million others in America, has this great value to this man she is going to the theater with. He surely does not make a calculation? Doesn�t mark her to market. He probably never says how much he values her, to himself or to her. But he acts as if he knows it. I see that I have written these views entirely from the point of view of the man. That is only natural for me. But I don't for a minute think that the relationship I have been trying to describe is one-sided. On the contrary, I am sure it is reciprocal. I can hear you saying: "How do you know all this? You are only an economist, practitioner of the dismal science. You aren't Ann Landers." That is all true. But my wife and I walked up that hill to the Kennedy Center many times. ***** wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww Why Gold? By Antonio Anciano October 26, 2006 This is the explanation of the suggested investment position. There are two general reasons: a) historical trend and b) financial and economic fundamentals HISTORICAL TREND The last gold secular bull market took place between 1968 and 1980 when gold trended higher from $35 per troy ounce to $850 spot basis. Secular means generational or a long period of time from the Latin word saeculum. From 1981 to 2001, gold languished in a secular bear market where the bottom was hit at around $250/oz. From 2001 to 2006, gold is now regarded as in a new secular bull market having risen from $250 to a high of $730. To summarize: 1) 1968 to 1980 -- bullish phase of secular cycle.-- 13 years 2) 1981 to 2001 -- bearish phase of secular cycle.--20 years 3) 1968 to 2001 -- complete secular cycle from trough to trough --33 years From 2001 to 2006, gold had been advancing trendwise; this is in all probability an early phase of a new secular bull market. The Opposite Trend --Wall Street Wall Street also has an approximate 30-year secular cycle which has ranged from 28 to 33 years in the last 100 years or so. That is evident in the linked chart: http://www.scidocs.org/trends.htm (Note: Just because Dow and S&P PE ratios have declined from 45 to around 16 to 20, does not mean that stocks are a good long-term buy. That would be foolish. These PE or price to earnings ratios are headed downwards, towards 5 to 7 times , around 2012 to 2016.) Look at the chart again. That is exactly what it says. The process is called "regression to the mean". Wall Street's secular cycles were about 30 years in duration: 1920 to 1949, and 1950 to 1982. The current secular cycle 1982 to 2012? has already peaked in year 2000 after an 18-year bullish phase, the greatest bull market in all history. It is now on its bearish phase heading for bottom between 2012 to 2016. The most "brilliant" observation therefore is that: gold becomes a secular bear when Wall Street becomes a secular bull and vice-versa. It's very simple isn't it? Gold could therefore be expected to attain its secular peak in the vicinity of also 2012 to 2016, which is the opposite extrapolated bottom of Wall Street. And at what price should we expect gold to peak? I have no idea. If we assume the magnitude of the 1968-1980 bull run, gold should reach about 7,000 per oz. Who knows? ECONOMIC AND FINANCIAL FUNDAMENTALS Am not going to discuss this much further. The information and opinions are scattered all over the "alternative media websites". Don't trust mainstream US financial media. It is a scam and a con job. http://www.safehaven.com/ The US dollar is gravely overvalued and the US is indebted to almost every country in the world with some financial surplus. Only the cooperation of Europe , prosperous Asia ( China , Japan , South Korea ), and the wealthy Arab countries are holding the dollar up. Also US diplomatic and military power help to keep the dollar put up a Potemkin front. Most countries with financial clout have seen their economic well-being tied to the fortunes of the dollar. If the dollar sinks, they all sink. It's a form of blackmail. This greatly unbalanced structure cannot last. Many things can disrupt it and produce that unstoppable hole in the dike. Gold would be the main beneficiary. There would be nowhere else to run. Gold is real money and real wealth. It cannot be forged or printed endlessly like dollars and all fiat currencies.***** wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww Why Gold? (Part 2) By Antonio Anciaco October 30, 2006 The spot price of gold broke through the downtrending resistance line at $601-$602 last night in New York Comex trading. The price reached an intra-day high of $611 and absorbed profit taking to close at $603-$604.You can refer to the charts of physical gold and the gold stock indices HUI and XAU in the link below: An important detail is that the HUI index of unhedged gold stocks has broken resistance earlier than the metal which is the customary event that heralds a new rally in the metal itself. What does one who is interested to ride the gold train do? 1) Be patient and see where the rally goes. I would expect he price to hit resistance at $640 and fall back. What is important is that the price does not fall below $600 again. 2) If gold holds above $600 and starts to rise again after the retreat from $640 or any price up there, that would be the virtual confirmation of a new longer-term upleg. If anyone wants to board the train, this would be the time. http://www.safehaven.com/article-6200.htm What does one do with gold coins or small ingots? That's not my expertise. Presumably he would want to bury it in his backyard and tell no one.***** wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww (The following was article was emailed to us) George Carlin on Ageing Do you realize that the only time in our lives when we like to get old is when we're kids? If you're less than 10 years old, you're so excited about aging that you think in fractions. "How old are you?" "I'm four and a half!" You're never thirty-six and a half. You're four and a half, going on five! That's the key. You get into your teens, now they can't hold you back. You jump to the next number ... or even a few ahead. "How old are you?" "I'm gonna be 16!" You could be 13, but hey, you're gonna be 16! And then the greatest day of your life you become 21. Even the words sound like a ceremony . . . YOU BECOME 21. YESSSS!!! But then you turn 30. Oooohh what happened there? Makes you sound like bad milk. He TURNED ; we had to throw him out. There's no fun now. You're just a sour-dumpling. What's wrong? What's changed? You BECOME 21, you TURN 30, then you're PUSHING 40. Whoa! Put on the brakes .. it's all slipping away. Before you know it, you REACH 50 and your dreams are gone. But wait!!! You MAKE IT to 60. You didn't think you would! So you BECOME 21, TURN 30, PUSH 40, REACH 50 and MAKE IT to 60. You've built up so much speed that you HIT 70! After that it's a day-by-day thing; you HIT Wednesday! You get into your 80s and every day is a complete cycle; you HIT lunch; you TURN 4:30 ; you REACH bedtime. And it doesn't end there Into the 90s, you start going backwards ... "I Was JUST 92." Then a strange thing happens. If you make it over 100, you become a little kid again. "I'm 100 and a half!" May you all make it to a healthy 100 and a half!! . HOW TO STAY YOUNG 1. Throw out nonessential numbers. This includes age, weight and height. Let the doctors worry about them. That is why you pay "them!" 2. Keep only cheerful friends. The grouches pull you down. 3. Keep learning. Learn more about the computer, crafts, gardening, whatever. Never let the brain idle. "An idle mind is the devil's workshop." And the devil's name is Alzheimer's . . 4. Enjoy the simple things. .5. Laugh often ... long and loud. Laugh until you gasp for breath. . 6. The tears happen. Endure, grieve, and move on. The only person who is with us our entire life, is ourselves. Be ALIVE while you are alive. . 7. Surround yourself with what you love .. whether it's .. family, pets, keepsakes, music, plants, hobbies, whatever. Your home is your refuge. . 8. Cherish your health. If it is good, preserve it. If it is unstable, improve it. If it is beyond what you can improve, get help. . 9. Don't take guilt trips. Take a trip to the mall ... even to the next county . to a foreign country, but NOT to where the guilt is. 10. Tell the people you love that you love them . at every opportunity. AND ALWAYS REMEMBER: Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away. And if you don't send this to at least 8 people .. Who Cares! But do share this with someone. We all need to live life to its fullest each day. 8888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888 Who is George Carlin? Comedian George Carlin is a stand-up comedian and sometime actor who is most famous for his early 1970s routine known as "The Seven Dirty Words You Can Never Say on Radio and TV." A reject of the U.S. Air Force in the 1950s, Carlin began his comedy career on the radio and in nightclubs in Los Angeles in the early '60s. Throughout the '60s he made occasional appearances on television sit-coms and talk shows. He emerged in the '70s as a Grammy-winning comic known for his wordplay and social commentary on albums such as FM & AM and Class Clown (both 1972). Since 1977 he has appeared in TV specials, recorded albums, done stand-up comedy, written books and guest-starred in feature films, most notably as Rufus in 1989's Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure (starring Keanu Reeves). His records include A Place for My Stuff (1981) and Parental Advisory: Explicit Lyrics (1990); his books include Braindroppings (1997) and Napalm and Silly Putty (2001); and his movies include Outrageous Fortune (1987, with Bette Midler) and several Kevin Smith comedies, including Dogma (1999) and Jersey Girl (2004, with Ben Affleck). Extra credit: Carlin hosted the first episode of NBC's Saturday Night Live in October of 1975... He was "Mr. Conductor" in the '90s on the children's TV shows Thomas the Tank Engine and Friends and Shining Time Station. wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww |
| Hi! Tony I've caught a portion of a BBC interview in which the guest has reiterated an observation made in a book by a respected author that the US is now the most dangerous state in the world. The observation is based on a chronicle of US interventions in the affairs of other states since after the American revolution. I fully agree with this observation based on our own experience here in Davao City.
Shortly after the bombing of a crowded waiting shed at the airport and another crowded waiting shed at a pier here in Davao City, an American was injured by a mysterious explosion in his own room at a downtown hotel. Subsequent investigation by the police has discovered that the explosion had been caused by a dynamite that the American had been tinkering with. More dynamite was found stashed in his room. The injured American was brought to a hospital and confined for treatment. Two policemen were placed on guard outside the room. Shortly, thereafter, late in the evening, official-looking Americans appeared at the hospital and demanded custody of the injured American. The official-looking Americans were accompanied by women claiming to be relatives of the injured American. Intimidated and perhaps harboring a colonial mentality, the two policemen on guard and hospital officials relented without seeking clarification from their bosses. The injured American was hastily whisked into a car and brought to the airport. There an executive jet was waiting to fly everyone out. Up to this date, the car and the executive jet could not be traced. Mayor Rody Duterte has sought an explanation from US embassy officials who've claimed no knowledge of the incident. They've simply reiterated the theory that the injured American may have simply been smuggled out by relatives. Considering the circumstances of the escape, could anyone believe this? The Incident occurred at the time when the US government was seeking permission to conduct Balikatan exercises in Davao City. Mayor Duterte was reluctant to allow it. It might invite terrorist acts and disturb the peace that he has painstakingly maintained in the city. Perhaps US officials wanted to scare the Mayor into allowing the Balikatan exercise. If this has been the motive, it has certainly backfired. No one scares Mayor Rody Duterte, especially, in his own turf. In a fit of anger, the Mayor has immediately declared that no Balikatan exercise will be allowed in the city for as long as he is Mayor and for as long as the injured American is not brought back to the city to face trial for illegal possession of explosives. Because of the incident, Mayor Duterte and all Dabawenyos are convinced that the US government masterminded the two bombings in Davao City. The injured American could've been the operator. His family name, I think, is Meiring, which I'm sure is a convenient alias. Reports have it that he has been roaming the conflict areas of Mindanao claiming to be a treasure hunter. In a recent ASEAN tourism summit, Mayor Duterte chastised the US government for their travel advisories which always includes Davao City. Citing statistics, the Mayor pointed out that there's a much greater chance for a traveler to get hurt on US streets than in Davao City. Americans attending the summit could only squirm in their seats. After a brief and guarded rejoinder to the press, the Americans have left town in a huf, fearing a lynch mob. Foreign visitors, including Americans, have of course been ignoring these US travel advisories. They've been coming to Davao City in droves, not only to visit, but to spend their retirement. They can walk the city streets without fear for their safety day or night. Their pensions go a long way because of the low cost of living. Retirement villages for Europeans, Koreans, and Japanese nationals are now being established. Davao City is safe, as in really safe. In addition to the ubiquitous PNP and Task Force Davao foot and mobile patrols, every barangay has its own foot and tricycle patrols. They volunteer to take you home if you can't find a ride at night. There's a 911 emergency response service that's guaranteed to be on site anywhere in the city proper within eight minutes of a call to a computerized control center. Overall, it's a highly coordinated security blanket over the city. Prospective muggers, juvenile delinquents, and other petty criminals, such as cellphone snatchers and those who break into cars, are carted off to the police stations even before they can make trouble. The crime solution rate is 97%. There's no feeling of a police state. The patrols are highly trained and they go out of their way to be friendly. The people of Davao City and foreign and local visitors appreciate them. As a result, not only foreigners but also families from other provinces in Mindanao, especially in conflict areas, are migrating to the city. They're establishing homes and putting their children to school here. Housing projects, shopping malls, restaurants, and entertainment places are sprouting up everywhere for these quality internal refugees with a lot of money to spend. It's not only security. You see government at work everyday: filling potholes, clearing garbage, unclogging drainage, relocating the homeless, putting ambulant vendors in designated places, sweeping the streets, and managing traffic with an innovative UP-designed traffic routing scheme and an army of traffic enforcers. It's governance that's really seen and felt on a daily basis. Taxi drivers are polite and honest, especially, those servicing the airport. There's a hotline for reporting abusive ones. But the Mayor's method of disciplining abusive taxi drivers is rather unconventional. He presents and humiliates them on his Sunday morning TV show. As a consequence, there's no need to report abusive taxi drivers. Just mention the Mayor's name and an abusive taxi driver will be begging to drive you to your destination for free. I've personally experienced this. Kidnappers, druglords, and pushers avoid the city. Those who don't, disappear without a trace. There's a barangay level intelligence network that reports the presence of unsavory characters in the barangay. They're promptly tailed and their origins traced. Once established that they're either a kidnapper, a drug lord, or a pusher, motorcycle riding men go to work. The Catholic Church has campaigned against the "elimination" of kidnappers, drug lords, and pushers but to no avail. The people of Davao City are well aware that the justice system is terribly flawed. They're putting their trust in Mayor Duterte and he has yet to fail them. No innocent victim has yet been "dispatched" by these hardworking motorcycle riding men. I understand that there's a multi-layered verification system that ensures that the target is really hot. I've also heard that the system has been borrowed from the Sparrow units of old of the NPA and improved. I don't know if this is right, but it's certainly working. Kidnapping is a thing of the past in Davao City. Drug lords and pushers have become really scarce. Anyway, setting aside these debatable methods of disciplining taxi drivers and putting away kidnappers, drug lords, and pushers, Asiaweek has ranked the city as the most livable in the country for four consecutive years. Mayor Duterte has also recently been named by Newsbreak to be among the six outstanding local executives in the country. Investments have grown from P62 billion in 2002 to P118.5 billion in 2004. Eat your heart ou,t Americans! Gico Dayanghirang, [email protected], Davao City, Nov 17, 2006 OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO |