Lesbians on Lesbos

I wrote about the residents of Lesbos wanting to get their "Lesbian" tag from the lesbians. Now let's read the comments from the The Register:

As a British resident on Lesvos, I'm trying to get my male Greek friends to wear "Lesbian and Proud" badges. Not much success so far...

That depends on how exactly you define "male". It's not exactly easy to come up with a good, robust definition of "male" even in the strictly biological sense. Transsexuals make things even more confusing, though at least they know whether they're male or not. Still, apparently transsexual lesbians do exist. (There was even a fairly entertaining episode of Dark Angel based around this.) For male lesbians, though, you might be better off looking in Second Life - apparently some of the in-world lesbians are males in real life and it's caused huge amounts of e-drama in the past. (Probably still does - I don't really follow Second Life-related news anymore, and I'm not sure it'd really count as news either.)

What about the Samaritans, Philistines, Vandals, Huns, Goths, and Spartans? Which would you prefer to put up with, spartan accomodation vandalised by philistine goths, or some lesbians? I think the Lesbians have got their priorities mixed up.

Actually..... One of the few advantages of being transgendered is that you can happily ignore all labels such as 'straight' or 'gay' and have sex with whoever you like..

Surely the residents of the island are, erm, 'Greek'? This is like people on the island of Arran calling themselves Aryan; we all know what that lead to...

It won't be farmers, it'll be the Dutch. They've been using dykes for a long time. Think of the boy who stuck a finger in one...

So the island is not "Lesbos" nor "Lesvos" but Λέσβος What's the problem again?

What are the residents of Phuket called?

Ominous

petition online informed me that I just signed an online petition calling for the immediate resignation of PGMA and Noli de Castro. Much as I detest her administration, I have not willingly signed the petition. What if this is part of Martial Law and one way to arrest me?

Kapag ako si Chavez, Sagot ko sa Hari: Why Don't You Shut Up Also!

Read this essay by Rodolfo Hernandez and learn why Latin America and Philippines for that matter should not shut up.

The king of Spain’s “why don’t you shut up?” embodies the connection with former notions of “natural” subjection of Latin Americans to new class interests to control and exploit the continent as in the old days of the monarchy. Maybe that “insatiable greed and ambition” keeps trying to run in the once upon a time called “New World”. Possibly, behind the unexpected intervention of the King and Zapatero’s defense of former president Aznar, are the old imperial ambitions, this time represented by the Spaniard corporations, such as Repsol, the oil company that has been severely affected by ongoing nationalization programs in Latin American countries, such as Bolivia.

Petition Against Manila Mayor's Pontifical Stupidity

TRUE STORY- Lourdes Esplana-Osil has seven children, all born within a space of 12 years. Warned by her doctor of complications from repeated pregnancies, she started using injectable contraceptives provided free at a local government health centre.But in 1998, the centre stopped providing contraceptives. Since she could not afford to buy them--her husband, a pedicab (a bicycle rickshaw) driver, earns very little--and because natural family planning methods failed, she had several unwanted pregnancies before she found a non-government organisation (NGO) that gave her free contraceptives.

Osil is just one of the many women residents of Manila who were deprived of access to artificial contraceptive methods when Joselito Atienza became city mayor in 1998. In line with his Roman Catholic beliefs, Atienza issued an executive order promoting "responsible parenthood" and upholding natural family planning methods, while discouraging artificial contraceptive methods like condoms, pills, intrauterine devices and surgical sterilisation.

Atienza was mayor for nine consecutive years until he reached his term limit last June. His executive order, signed in 2000, is still in effect. According to a study, Atienza's order, which was adopted by all health centres and hospitals run by the city government, contributed to high rates of unplanned pregnancies, with their attendant socio-economic and health consequences. Its vague wording also led some health facilities and providers to withhold information on where women could get artificial contraceptives.

Some NGOs and private providers of family planning services "felt the chilling effects" of the policy and were even harassed, said the study "Imposing Misery: The Impact of Manila's Contraception Ban on Women and Families", released by the voluntary agencies Likhaan, ReproCen and the Centre for Reproductive Rights.

Dr. Junice Melgar of Likhaan (Linangan ng Kababaihan Inc or Centre for Women's Development) said a group of at least 10 women like Osil is contemplating filing a civil case against Atienza for emotional and health damages inflicted on them through the executive order. Melgar said there is also a plan to challenge the legality of the order. She explained that efforts to file a legal case started as early as 2004, but the complainants were hesitant to come forward because they were "awfully scared" of the consequences. She said the women were afraid Atienza might take away their housing.

She said the incumbent mayor, Alfredo Lim, has indicated his willingness to make available artificial family planning methods in city-run health centres and hospitals. She said that in a dialogue last August reproductive health advocates also asked Lim to revoke Atienza's executive order. The problem, however, is that while Lim is more open-minded to artificial contraceptive methods, it will take some time before the city can actually provide the services. Melgar said there are no contraceptives in health centres in the city because no budget had been provided for them when Atienza was mayor. There is also a need to train health workers again who have not practiced family planning counselling and advocacy for nine years.

Dr. Jonathan Flavier of the Cooperative Movement for Encouraging NSV (no-scalpel vasectomy) estimated that it would cost the city about one million pesos (22,000 US dollars) per quarter to restore the supply of contraceptives and to train service providers. He said the funds could be sourced from NGOs in the meantime while the city government sorts out the necessary changes in its budget. Flavier did a comparative study of live births and maternal deaths in Manila and Quezon City to see the effects of Atienza's ban on artificial contraception. The two cities are quite similar economically, but both artificial and natural family planning methods are allowed in Quezon City.

Flavier compared data from 1996 to 2006 and found that there was an increase in maternal deaths in Manila. This backs the observation in the "Imposing Misery" study that women in Manila are at an increased risk of maternal mortality because they have limited access to affordable reproductive health services, and thus have unintended pregnancies and are also susceptible to induced illegal and unsafe abortions. Flavier also looked at admissions at local government-run hospitals in Manila and Quezon City and, based on anecdotal reports, found that there seemed to be an increase in abortion cases in Manila.

The Philippine population -- 84 million, according to government figures -- is one of the fastest growing in the world. About 70 percent of the people rely on the government for family planning services, but some public officials like President Gloria Arroyo and Atienza have made it clear that their priority is the promotion of natural family planning methods acceptable to the Roman Catholic Church.

For the women of Manila, many of whom live in poverty, going to a private family planning service provider or buying their own contraceptives to fill the gap is out of the question. "The financial burden would just be too much," said Melgar of the women who were affected by Atienza's policy. "It's like asking them to sacrifice the rice their family has to eat for the contraceptives they have to buy."

One woman who was interviewed for the Imposing Misery study said she could barely afford to fork out 35 pesos (77 cents) for her monthly pack of contraceptive pills. "I try to save whenever I have extra money. Sometimes when I don?t have extra money, I would go around and borrow 10 pesos from each neighbour until I come up with the amount needed to buy the pills," she said.

Dr. Alberto Romualdez, a former health secretary, finds the situation unacceptable. "This is something that should not happen again," he said, pointing out that it was the women who suffered the most. "Withholding (family planning) services is not only neglect, it is criminal," said Romualdez. "The failure to give (family planning) advice and service is a form of coercion."


END THE MISERY. END THE COERCION. GIVE BACK TO THE COUPLES OF MANILA THE RIGHT AND THE MEANS TO DECIDE THE NUMBER OF CHILDREN THROUGH INFORMED CHOICES.

Sign the PETITION TO REPEAL MANILA EXECUTIVE ORDER 003. Log on to
www.powerfulpilipino.com and click 'Guestbook.' Sign NOW and SPREAD THE WORD.

How typical of NASA to publish new set of Earth photos with the Philippines under Cloudcover

So those who signed the resolution against Teri Hatcher, please sign a new one on this perceived discrimination of your hometown (or half-hometown). We are trying very hard to project the Philippines as a sunny beach destination and this is what they give us??? We are smiling people, di ba? But no sense of ironic humor. He he he.
On a serious note, SimCity has incorporated global warming in their virtual communities. Something most of our politicians have failed to do.

Florcruz

A famous Filipino broadcast journalist who chose to seek asylum in China in 1971 during his activist days plans to be one of the eight expatriates who would be chosen to carry the Olympic torch. Jaime FlorCruz, the bureau chief of CNN Beijing, and his 17-year-old daughter Stephanie are asking Filipinos to vote for them in the online contest set to choose the torch bearers in the Beijing Olympics set on August 2008.
FlorCruz, then the editor-in-chief of the Polytechnic University of the Philippines, was one of 15 Filipino youths invited by the China Friendship Association in August 1971 for a three-week tour. It was at that time that the late President Ferdinand Marcos suspended the writ of habeas corpus and detained many of the oppositionists. FlorCruz, a staunch anti-Marcos activist, chose to stay until the declaration of martial law a year later, found him stranded in China.
"Through the years, I have experienced China in unusual ways. In 1972, I planted rice, picked tea leaves and fed pigs in a farm in Hunan Province. A year later, I worked in a trawler of a Shandongfishing company, navigating ships and shoveling fish," FlorCruz said in his introduction at the Olympic contest sponsored by China Daily and Lenovo.
He soon became an English teacher in Beijing.
"Beijing has brought me countless blessings. I met my Filipino wife and raised my two children here. It was also here where, 25 years ago, I started my career as an international journalist: first as reporter for Newsweek and later as correspondent and Beijing bureau chief of TIME Magazine," he said.
During his stint in Time, he co-wrote a book about the Tiananmen incident in the summer of 1989 entitled, Massacre at Beijing.
"I covered the 1988 Seoul Olympics for TIME Magazine and Sports Illustrated. Now I am looking forward to covering the Beijing Games as well, this time as CNN's Beijing Bureau Chief. It would be fun not just to report on it but to actually participate as one of the torch bearers during the relay," FlorCruz added.
He is married to Ana Segovia and they have two children: son Johai and daughter Michelle.
His daughter also decided to join the contest.
"I was "Made in China", born in the Philippines, and bred in Beijing. I guess that makes me a top-quality product, a fusion of different cultures," Michelle wrote.
"I'm turning 17 soon and am very much at home here. I am keenly learning Mandarin, Chinese history and culture. I'm now a senior in high school at the International School of Beijing, where over 1,000 students are enrolled from different parts of the world. In school I play rugby and softball," she added.
You can vote for Jaime through this link: http://pub1.chinadaily.com.cn/olympics/torch/members.shtml?mid=204 and Michelle through this: http://pub1.chinadaily.com.cn/olympics/torch/members.shtml?mid=205

And Now There's a Counter Petition

I told you it's a circus. Somebody came out with a counter petition

Selection from the Circus

Hey, about 80,000 now signed the petition against Desperate Housewives. What I did was made a Russian Roulette and clicked on any bunch of numbers and picked the more interesting comments. Most did not comment. Most of those who commented either used the words "ban," "stupid," "boycott," "careless," "racist," "stupid" and "I am a nurse/doctor..." or "My parents are nurses/doctor..."
But these are the ones that caught my clicker:

you know what? wrong grammar in english will not make you less a man,,so for florante at laura,,shut your mouth,,what's more important is the freedom of one's self,,we are mocked so what do you expect? of course an outrage,,don't you understand that it is not our native tongue, so you can't really expect all of us to speak english eloquently, my God filipino ka pa naman,hinahamak mo ang kapwa mo, so what if they can't construct a sentence correctly, does it make them less a man? filipinos deserve respect, as far as i know we are one of the most hospitable country so why degrade our education if we are superior in values? just because we are much influenced by america and bow down to the almighty dollar doesn't mean we aren't in the position to complain THAT PART is NOT EVEN FUNNy 100\% so why DiD They have to say that. AMERICANS are feeling too high off their feet. Remember, THERE ARE MANY ENEMIES LURKING. Do not wait for unexpected JOINING of hands to happen... I don't really care much about what goes on on TV, I don't even watch this programme... Perhaps the ignorant woman was right and she obviously has not been to the Philippines as I would like to think that the very best of Filipino doctors still work in the PHILIPPINES, not in the US of A. I can be pompous too. REMIND HER, THAT HER AMERICAN DOCTOR WAS SENT TO AFGANISTAN AND IRAQ!the apollogy of ABC network isn't enough, Hatcher should also make her public apology to the Filipinos because i know that she has the option whether to accept or reject the script. has anybody seen the "the daily show" segment "is america ready for a women president"? they insulted Ms. Cory Aquino. Please edit the pettition. Some typo errors. It is upsetting to be stereotyped but we are still foreigners. However, the real Americans are the American Indians. We Filipinos banded together can make a big difference in American politics. We can use this advantage.As a Filipino-American, I am disappointed at how angry my fellow pinoys are. It's just an ignorant line from a stupid show. When it comes to the point where the Philippine government asks for an apology, it's gone too far. I mean doesn't the government back home have more pressing matters to address? Like the rampant poverty and government corruption? Or does the Philippine government just settle for becoming the pinoy equivalent of the NAACP? Is that what we really want for our people? The producers of the show already apologized, and some people are saying it isn't enough? What the heck do they want??? Just leave this situation be before we embarrass ourselves and our home country.To Paul M. 66900: Then, what the hell are you signing this petition for? You must be plain stupid. Who told you to come to the philippines anyway? People like you should just shut up than make such comments and erase all doubts that you are in fact an ignoramus!!!!!I Recommend also to BAND that show in the Philippines Lahat ng Cast ng Desperate Housewives Makakantot lahat kayo ng pinoy!!Yes i love there show in 23, but they need to apologized and respects us.Filipino Doctors are Philippine Intellectual Propertiesfrom now on I will no longer watch that movie!!! Y.O.Y. ratings decline. Pathetic attempt to stoke up interest. Not biting. I have never seen that show and I never will. I'd rather watch C-SPAN's showing of Al Gore's new movie about golf - "An Inconvenient Putt".low blow Marc Cherrrrrryyyyyyy.... magkatropa pala tayo!!!! bading ka rin pala!!! eto lang ang masasabi ko sayo.... BABANGON AKO AT DUDURUGIN KITA!!!! R.E.S.P.E.C.T...???let us be heard and stop watching Desperate housewife defenately offensive & reflect bad on any filipino medical practitioner such as myself.REALITY CHECK - (1) Blaming Teri Hatcher, an over-the-hill actress who is a no-talent, for this comment is stupid when she only recited lines and didn't write the episode or the joke in question. (2) Getting all worked up over this dumb show makes you guys look even dumber. (3) All the show did was make a joke about Phillipino medical schools, which are, in fact, inferior to American medical schools. (4) You need to calm down and gain some perspective over this trivial issue. And (5) You guys look ridiculous making statements like "proud to be Philipino" or "sue ABC" or whining about how hurt you are over some stupid line or other nonsense like that.My desperate wife will now watch Sunday Night Football with me instead!!!I work in a call center so you'd know how ignorant whites are ...well, if not all... MOST...apology not only to the filipino americans but for all filipinos. half or full blooded Hell has no fury than Filipinos scorned! writer's pic at: www.philippinepressclub.comused to work in a call center specifically US credit card and almost everyday I received insults and degrading remarks from these white monkeys specially when they are aware that you are a Filipino.I swear to the Lord that I still can't see why DEMOCRACY means everybody but me. -- Langston HughesunhumanShe better not show up at my clinic, or else))))really..come on..timbuktu is a real place..they filled a blank..HOY ELMER, ASA NAKA? AKO KINI SI TERI HATCHER!!!!!This "Superman," which infuses its action with poetry, soars as a love story filled with epic yearnings, thwarted desires and breathtaking imagery: Lois, spied on with her lover's X-ray vision, ascending in a skyscraper's elevator; Superman, zapped with kryptonite, descending silently and helplessly through space. (If Jean Cocteau had directed $200 million action movies, they might have looked a little like this.) Next to Singer's champagne, most recent superhero adventure movies are barely sparkling cider.LETS BOYCOTT DISNEY PRODUCTS AND STOP WATCHING DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES.... WHAT AN INSULTING LINE Why not boycott Disney amusement parks Humor must be done with taste Don't call this a leftist act. Marc Cherry, the writer/producer is a conservative Republican!!! YYou dumb Flips are making the rest of us Asians look bad. You don't see Koreans or Japanese or Chinese or Indians or Vietnamese or any other Southeast Asian behaving like wussy whiners. Stop this stupid petition, and stop your incessant whining. You feminine Filipino men especially have got to stop acting like the women you sell off to slavery. ATTENTION FILIPINOS - SHUT UP! YOU SOUND LIKE PANSIES AND CRYBABIES! WAAAAAH!!!! WAAAAH! I’M HURT! WAAAAAH!!!! I WANT MY MOMMY!!!!! please do more research. Next time pick a non-english -speaking country You owe us an apology! as my alma matter says, Im a Bedan, need i say more? i can also and proud to say that Im a Filipino, need i say more?teri hatcher pwede naman i refuse yung script eh tinuloy pa rin please don't be ignorant. filipinos are generally more educated than the average american. we strive to go to school and finish a college degree. americans go to high school and become nurses who pretend to know it all. fact is, you will NEVER know everything in 4 years of nursing school. how much more the 10 months practical nursing course? please just be blondes. not dumb. peace!How dare you EVA LONGORIA! Were not sensitive. We are just angry because we are discriminated! a filipino doctor saved my life. filipino docs are more caring and compassionate, our family loves you flips rule Check out asianbabecams.com for awesome filipino babes!filipinos are tht best care givers in the world Fight The Power! DESPERATE SHOW FOR DESPERATE PEOPLE!!!!!!!!!!! Come on fellow filipinos! Make up more names!!!WTF are they talking about!!!! Pinoys are the BEST in the West!!!!the producers and actress really know what to do with the show when it comes to rating....no doubt about it....just utter one word.."Philippines" and ...woot! there goes the ratings...
The one who wrote "Flips are making the rest of us..." surfaced maybe a dozen times and so did "Hoy, Elmer..." and that pathetic guy who wants you to see his face at philippinepressclub.com. But all in all, it was a mob. You feel the heat, the indignation and you feel the hate. I feel sad for Teri because she, too, was sexually molested by an uncle. I don't think she needs to bear the burden although at her stature, she could have refused. So now, we have this circus.

Desperate

Take it into perspective, almost 40,000 already signed the petition condemning Desperate Housewives for denigrating Philippine medical schools or PMS-educated doctors. On the other hand, only 850 signed the petition calling for the return of the Balangiga bells to the Philippines.

Kanthoughts

Fellow Baguio blogger Nashman (ngem adda London) is starting a campaign to include the famous Filipino word "kanthought" in the OED. Not as dirty as you think, it comes from Immanuel Kant and thought. It was the great Kant who thought that we process perceptions otherwise all the things we sense just flow past us like water. Now, I'm lost in my Kantian thoughts because there was this woman who passed by. Hmm nice. What was I saying? Kant thoughts. Hmmm. Sex. Kant is a very unsexy person (he thinks that masturbation is worse that suicide) but it was him who thought that the test of morality for any form of conduct is whether it could be universalized. We seem to philosophize about our thoughts of sex all the time. That's universal. So kanthoughts should be in the OED.

Stealing Beauty: The 3rd Martin Masadao Poll

Heeeeeeeeere's Mahtin:

Hey All! :-)

Last Thursday dearest Susan Tagle sent me a txt message which read:

"If today is WORLD STEALING DAY, what would you steal from me? Reply is a must! Send this to others. You'll get surprising answers...:-)"

And so, I did... here are those that bothered to text back. In their original text message including emoticons. Those in parentheses are my asides. Enjoy! :-)

Benjie Franzuela: Straightforwardness and panache! Uy :-)
Frank Cimatu: Ur secret recipes of afro disiacs (meron ako nun?)
Felina Adefuin : I would steal your wit (wit wat will u steal it wit? hehe)
Becca Padilla: Oh Dear! I wil definitely steal dt shirt u were wearing d first tym i met u at aureaus haus! Hahaha! (I don't remember what I was wearing then... hmmm. ukay yun am sure)
Eew-Eew: ur...being friendly part! :-) Charng...hahaha... (I have friendly parts? Do tell me which they are, and which parts are unfriendly)
Grace Murillo: Why would I steal, mahihingi ko naman. (Tama ka dyan, sister!)
Raymond Oribio: D nude painting felina gave u! (sorry, that was my sis' xmas gift to me)
Jordan Jorda: Girlfriends? You have lots right? (yes I do, but, sorry, they like girlfriends too!)
Nina Ledesma: Your little black book. Hmmm... kapakipakinabang pa ba? (I dont have a little black book. Never did. I have a little black dress I wore once last Gay Pride, might fit you)
Grace Subido: I wd steal ur libido. Think comparative lit has rendrd me 2 cerebral! I'm 4getting my gonads! (I'd share my libido girl, but you'd probably grow facial hair. it's all hormonal you know!)
Ice: Il steal ur brain. para lalo ako tumalino...ehehe.corny! (Corny nga!)
Padma Perez: One of your exquisite leather bags from wagwag. I know you've got a Bree stashed away somewhere!!! What would you steal from me? (Re: the bag, you have to contact Felina for that -- she's got a whole room of leather bags, she could start her own specialty ukay shop. I would steal you air miles, sweetie! :-) hahaha)
Oca Campomanes: Ur mahika blanca, ur umph & sense of style, ur french langue fluency! Opps kapatid, was dat 2 greedy? hehe :-) (wat d first one? Huh?!)
RR Rovillos: I'll steal your wit, brilliance and humur honey (You might as well steal my knack for spelling too)
Reji Regalado: everything... everything you'd steal from me. hahaha (Solian ng gamit?!)
Murphy Red: your future (that really creeped me out, man!)
Nadine Navarro: Your wit! (walang originality)
Sam Lee: sis, alam ko na itong joke, hehe di ako magnanakaw lalo sa mga friends ko, and ur my friend, hehe (walang sense of humor/irony)
Lee Meily: Your coolness! Yahaha! (Miss Lee, my coolness is actually laidback-ness in disguise.:-) hehehe)
Nina Tesoro Poblador: Depends on who you are. Your no not registering. Who is this PLS :-) (Puhleeze, nagkita lang tayo sa CCP last week at pina misscall mo ako sa phone mo tapos sabi mo, "ayan I saved it na!" -- echosera kang bakla ka! :-)
Elmar Ingles: Hmm, your boys perhaps. Especially the ones willing to be stolen, Hihihi. (Elmar, re: the boys... I stole them too!!! Hahahaha)
Willy Alangui: Ur beauty:-) (Willy, sa lahat ng mga taong na-meet ko sa buong buhay ko, ikaw lang ang nagsabing may 'beauty' akoh! Salamat kapatid, and for that, nope, you're not stealing my 'beauty')
John Abul: Your two big rings=) (Okay, in exchange for your beautiful table in your shop)

AND THE BEST REPLY OF THEM ALL GOES TO...
BETSY MULLER: YOUR BALLS YOU DONT NEED THEM ANYWAY... BUT I DO HEHE (wala akong ma-say)

My answer to Susan Tagle: Your Husband!!!

Cheers!