[last-minute insertion] TaN (This week, from news titles only): (1) “Grace keeps public guessing” — [The Philippine STAR, Aug 30]; (2) “Laude camp wants P38 M, 6 US visas – defense lawyer” [The Philippine STAR, Aug 31]; (3) “Traffic woes: Back to you, MMDA chief” — [The Philippine STAR, Sept 1]; (4) “The moveable glut” — [Paul Krugman, New York Times, appeared in The Philippine STAR OPINION section Sep 1];
(5) in the September 4, 2015 (Friday) Netcast of InfoWars.com where the guest was the renowned Joseph M Mercola (a true doctor), they mentioned something that made a lot of sense, healthwise — [refer to: http://www.infowars.com/listen-to-the-radio-show-archive and scroll down the table matrix to entry 20150904_Fri_Alex.mp3] — which is skipping dinner/supper instead of breakfast.
(1) So, it would appear that the good Senator Poe is fast becoming a politician (tradpol), under the able tutelage and masterful indoctrination of colleague Sen Escudero. I doubt if the (voting) public believes that she has no plans to seek higher office when she is acting like any other aspiring politician and going around the country on “speaking tours” (read: premature campaigning, just like Binay and Roxas). It is both pitiful and embarrassing that she could not see through the veil of her distinguished colleague, unless she is even more cunning and sly that she is letting on and is simply using her colleague under the guise that she is inexperienced in such political matters and is a willing student. For all we know, she has her own agenda and using her colleague is just a stepping stone and will, without hesitation, discard him along the wayside when he has outlived his usefulness. But this is all but conjecture and my personal foolish and playful thinking.
(2) So, it would appear that the Laude is not really interested in justice for Jeffrey Laude but, like Muslim custom, will settle for “blood money”. Hey, Jeffrey’s dead anyway and nothing can bring him back so we might as well get something out of it, besides justice — assuming that it is of primary concern. But if justice is of the utmost, I, for one, would not demean or downgrade it by tainting it with financial and worldly concerns like visas and money and whatever. It is so disheartening and disillusioning to think that justice has a price.
(3) The seemingly perennial heavy traffic situation of Manila has three major culprits: (a) Too many (cheap) cars and poor mass transit system, (b) Poor traffic management and too many bad drivers, and (c) Deplorable land vehicular regulation policies and uncoordinated road maintenance projects of the government as well as the private sector (as in the utility companies et al).
(a) There are simply too many cars on the road and this is because of car companies offering affordable cars in pursuit of the almighty profit and requirement to sell more cars, plus the mass transit system (which includes rails and non-rail) are not only not up to standards but even poorly maintained.
(b) People should not be permitted to own or purchase cars, regardless of whether they can afford it/them or not, if they do or cannot show a permanent garage (not just a parking space like in parking lot unless the spot is leased). The traffic enforcers are not even familiar with the most fundamental and rudimentary traffic regulations and are often remiss in their duties and the improper use of side walks (used for parking, especially by establishments situated at intersections), plus the average driver can neither identify the most basic of road signs nor execute traffic rules and regulations properly (like proper use of turning signals and hazard lights and when vehicles suddenly and abruptly break down in the middle of the road or even just the procedure or routine before turning on the ignition).
(c) And the periodic “purging” of cars based on their model and age and not on the roadworthy condition (which results in penalizing or, at the very least, inconveniencing those who know how to take care of their vehicles), as if it is the cars and not the owners that are the sole basis of road-worthiness and accidents and breakdowns, plus the non-implementation of available old technology and proper coordinated scheduling on how to go about doing road repair and maintenance and private sector road projects (like tearing up newly or recently finished road work to install underground systems.
(4) This article of Paul Krugman is a must-read. It is interesting to note that, assuming that his arguments and observations are accurate and valid, he is so involve in the facts and circumstances that he appear to have failed to see the culprit behind it. Studying the series of seemingly unrelated financial cycle of boom and bust, if one is unbiased and courageous (to go against the conventional) enough, it can easily be seen that the main culprit is the bad behavior of most people, especially fund managers and handlers, to care only for profit and not how their activities affect an economy or even just a struggling business enterprise trying to find additional capitalization to expand and/or improve operations and services. In all the cited instances, it is crystal clear that people’s bad habit of greed and laziness (i.e., wanting to gain wealth without having to work for it). To avoid or break the boom-bust cycle, people (through or especially the fund managers and handlers and even individuals) should change their habit of going or investing (in the market) only for the money. With this greed-and-laziness-fueled attitude, economies (and the market) will always be at the mercy of the fickle-mindedness and disloyalty of fund managers and investors (i.e., going in only when the money is good and pulling out the moment the getting is no longer good). People must be concerned more with assisting capital-deficient businesses instead of just investing just for easy money. This reminds me of the book by John Perkins, “Confessions of an Economic Hitman“, 2004 — please read and reflect.
(5) It makes a lot of sense to skip the evening meal rather than the morning one because it is acknowledged that fasting is good for health — just make sure it is done correctly — and the longest period between meals is in the evening (because we have to sleep). So, by skipping the evening meal, one is actually doing a mini fast — which is also the reason for the term “breakfast”, that one is breaking one’s fast. And fasting is healthy because not only does it permit the body to recuperate and repair itself from all the food and digestion we do, it further provides the body the opportunity to release all the toxins accumulated during the day. It is known that toxins that enter the body are excreted as soon as possible (like diarrhea and vomiting) but persistent or hard-to-excrete toxins have to be dealth in another way. To ensure they the toxins do no or minimal damage during its stay in the body (awaiting excretion), they are stored or put in stasis in the fat cells. It is only when the body stops intake of food for a certain minimum period that the fat cells release their toxin load into the bloodstream to be carried to the excretory organs. It is also for this reason why most people who frequently experience hunger or (extended) periods of no food intake who appear to be healthier and relatively disease-free. Fasting is good, just make sure you do it correctly — and there are different fasting processes, varying in the intensity of impact on our body (complete fast, juice fast, water fast, day fast (like the Muslims during Ramadan), fruit fast, and veggie fast).
TaN: Contraceptives are amoral by themselves but become immoral and evil during application (only because they are deliberate) — both type (abortives and preventives). Abortifacients are blatantly and obviously evil because they kill what has already been conceived and conception is the beginning of life and anything living has (fundamental and natural) rights — and people who abuse or violate the rights of the weak and those who cannot defend themselves or their rights (including the right to exercise rights), especially the unborn, are just plain and simple COWARDS!
It is the intention that makes an act or behavior right or wrong, good or bad, for no act in itself is inherently right or wrong, good or bad — with some exceptions like the universal evils of taking of a life and stealing and telling of untruths.
In the case of pregnancy and maternity-related matters, a miscarriage is amoral since it is involuntary. It becomes immoral only when there is a deliberate act to cause a miscarriage and only the doer or actor can really determine whether it act was deliberate or not since people today are so devious and sly that they can find ways in which to make a miscarriage appear as unintentional or accidental. The same is true for any act that causes injury or death and a choice is involved or applicable.
Contraceptives are amoral because things can neither be good nor bad but in their application and the deliberation behind the application. Only man can be good or bad. Only those that have free will can be good or bad because free will provides the freedom to make choices and intention is what drives the choice.
TaN: Being a vegetarian or a vegan (as it is the trend to-date) does not necessarily mean a healthy (and a relatively disease-free) lifestyle because health, in truth, really depends on how food is prepared and consumed rather than what foods. It is rampantly and sadly incorrect to assume that the type of food is key to good nutrition and health because there are an abundance of instances where people are consuming the “right and healthy” foods who are not healthy — the ominous forewarning coined by a certain Steven Bratman in 1997 regarding an obsession with eating food that one considers healthy but is not.
It is dangerous not to do one’s own research because there are numerous so-called experts and nincompoop celebrities who try to be “smart” and instead of helping people put them in peril by advocating nonsense-based health and nutritional diets and (mis)information.
If one is sincere and diligent (and uses one’s common sense, plus being a wide reader helps), it would show that the predominant and conventional argument that eating vegetables are healthy is not always true, while the common notion that eating meat and fat are unhealthy is likewise not always true.
What is always true, however, is when food, even those considered and attested to be truly healthy, is exposed or subjected to temperatures above 120 degrees Celsius (or 248 degrees Fahrenheit), its nutrients are transformed into carcinogenic compounds or the nutrient properties become unhealthy even while remaining chemically identical or unchanged — i.e., the molecular structure changes or are re-arranged (see: chiral or stereochemistry).
In the case of starch or carbohydrates, the carcinogenic compound is acrylamide, whereas in the case of protein, it is nitrosamines that are formed. Both acrylamides and nitrosamines are carcinogenic. Subjecting food — no matter how organic or nutritious it may be — to high temperatures (i.e., beyond the safe upper threshold or ceiling) changes nutrients and their properties and it is always for the worse…carcinogenic.
My take on this curious but dangerous misconception and mis-information is that people must be more vigilant and take matters (of health) into their own hands — all the while being aware and alert and cautious of supposed “reliable” health and nutritional information just because it comes from a reputable source (like mass media or professional/technical journals). Many of the so-called reputable journals and publications have recently been revealed to be victims — witting or not — of fraudulent and manipulated studies and research (even when they have been subjected to peer-review), and the embarrassed publications were forced to withdraw or retract the published works and, in the case academic institutions, some even when further as to cancel or take back the (post-graduate) degrees conferred on to them.
Be wise and be discerning of what information is being peddled to you.
TaN: In labor-intensive economies, only the capitalist make money, while the rest or at least a very great majority, say 99%, of the population are or will be wallowing in misery and poverty…hardly making ends meet even when holding down two jobs and perhaps even a side line. It is typical of such economies because labor is cheap and commodities are not.
It is either labor- or capital-intensive. The latter is characteristic of industrialized or First World economies and wages are, on average, substantially higher than those in/of the former.
In the case of labor-intensive economies, it has a tendency to be immoral because labor is or will be made to compete with each other or among themselves for who can provide the lower wage cost. This causes a race to the bottom and labor is frequently seen or considered a liability (something to be eliminated or reduced, if possible, to lower cost of production and increase profits) instead of an asset (something that is valuable to the progress and development of a business enterprise). And when it is coupled with high prices of commodities, especially of prime or essential goods, this becomes undeniably and unjustifiably oppressive and evil — creating misery and poverty among the rank-and-file and daily wage earners. Whereas in the case of capital-intensive economies, labor tend to have higher wages which means there is a larger share of disposable income and this leads to greater consumption of goods. in this scenario, it is the capitalist or businesses that compete for the patronage of the consumer.
Moreover, the existence of both types is the primary reason for the inequality and disparity between foreign or migrant workers and those in the workers’ own countries. And this, more often than not, triggers an “exodus” of workers to seek employment in foreign (capital-intensive) economies where they are able to receive (comparatively) higher wages than their counterparts back home and this now creates a situation where people working on the same job receive different compensations. Moreover, it is likewise true when foreign workers, say from First World or industrialized countries, come to or are hired from a foreign country, they will have to receive a compensation equivalent or better than in their native country and the compensation would often be higher than the local counterparts who may be occupying the same position or doing the same job.
This likewise tends to eventually develop into a class war where either the gullible 99% will be led into a fight among themselves or the 99% will eventually wise and rise up against the 1%. And this is not totally unknown nor unanticipated by the 1%, which is why it has been making plans and setting them covertly but efficiently implementing them to ensure their safety and security, like the secret laws and decrees made by Obama and the ingeniously vague and double-edged laws enacted that can be enforced and brought down to bear on any and all potential and future untoward actions that threaten their stranglehold and domination (not dominion) over everything.
It is sad that few (and getting fewer) people know and realize the full impact of the forewarnings and wisdom of previous generations, like:
(1) “Capital is only the fruit of labor, and could never have existed if labor had not first existed. Labor is superior to capital, and deserves much the higher consideration.” — attributed to Abraham Lincoln, First Annual Message to Congress, Dec 3, 1861;
(2) “Capital is a result of labor, and is used by labor to assist it in further production. Labor is the active and initial force, and labor is therefore the employer of capital.” — attributed to Henry George, Progress and Poverty, from http://www.notable-quotes.com/;
(3) “There can be no general prosperity where labor has small reward.” — attributed to Lewis F Korns, Thoughts, from http://www.notable-quotes.com/;
(4) “Labor is still, and ever will be, the inevitable price set upon everything which is valuable.” — attributed to Samuel Smiles, Self-Help, from http://www.notable-quotes.com/;
(5) “The only real riches are labor; everything else is but the sign or abuse of it.” — attributed to LEMONTEY, A Concise Exposition of the Doctrine of Association from http://www.notable-quotes.com/; and more.
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