What I'm Listening To Right Now: 99.5's Program With No Name

FM Royalties King DJ Logan and Tina Ryan are back on the airwaves. I'm a big fan of the two. Tina Ryan blazed the trail for the current generation of female DJs. King DJ Logan likewise pioneered the shock jock format in the Philippines with the Boogie Nights program together with Slick Rick.

The two have a program together over at 99.5 RT, Mondays to Fridays, from 6-9 in the evening.

It's worth listening to especially if you want a few laughs. Over the past few days, King DJ Logan's favorite topic has been the coño-speak of people down south (Southrn Manila, that is). Funny as hell.

And since we're already on the topic of coño-speak, I found this post about the 10 Coñomandments. If you want to be coño, maybe this will give you a few pointers.

Of Dwarves and Ghouls

I used to remember when I was a kid, our family would huddle in front of the TV at this time of the year. The reason? Magandang Gabi Bayan's halloween feature.

MGB's halloween episodes were scary, especially for a kid. One week after the watching it, I would still be haunted by white ladies, black ladies, lost souls, kapre, tikbalang and floating coffins.

Fast forward to present day - MGB is no more, and the kid that used to be scared of halloween specials has become jaded through the years. Yes, I occasionally get afraid of the dark, but otherwordly creatures do not scare me as much anymore. I'm actually more scared now of real life dwarves and ghouls running our country. ¡Que horror!

I can't find a vintage MGB halloween special, maybe this will do. I miss the old ones, with Noli's baritone voice, spooky sound effects, cheesy visual effects and all.

Birthday Shoutout!

Happy birthday ate Novs! May you have many more to come!

Productive/Reproductive

Despite my misgivings about Rep. Edcel Lagman, I have to commend him for spearheading the Reproductive Health Bill despite strong opposition from various groups.

What is the reproductive health bill? It is important to know what it is and what it is not. It is not a mandate to limit the number of children a married couple can have (e.g. China's one-child policy). Neither is it a bill which allows abortion. It is a bill which gives a choice as to the means of family planning.

The dissent against the bill comes mainly from pro-life and Catholic groups. They argue that based on Catholic teachings, artificial methods of family planning are against the natural law.

But in passing a law, the lawmaker does not merely look at the interest of a particular group alone. More so if the bill will benefit the majority, especially those in the lower strata of our society.

And even if we go by the church's teaching, Humanae Vitae tells us that marital sexual activity possesses both unitive and procreative purposes. This implies that a married couple does not have sex solely to procreate. Sex can also be an activity which can bond the husband and wife - a sort of a high point (dare I say climax?) for the couple. In other words, sexual intimacy is a way for husband and wife to express their love for one another. To argue that sex and procreation are inseparable would lead to an absurd situation wherein a sterile couple should not have sex since no offspring will result anyway.

It is also sort of hypocritical to favor natural methods over artificial methods since their purpose is the same, which is to defer child-bearing. So the issue for spouses is not what method to choose in family planning, but what the motivation behind the family planning is. Here is an example:

Suppose there are two married couples. With couple #1, the wife is as regular as clockwork. The husband and wife can thus time their sexual act in order to avoid pregnancy. But the reason for the use of natural methods is because they do not want to have children at all, since kids would impede their careers and their social lives. With couple #2, the wife has highly irregular cycles. The spouses are not closed to the idea of having another kid, but they want to space out the childbirth, in order to give due care to each child.

Looking at the scenarios above, can couple #2 be faulted for resorting to the artificial method? Should couple #1 be lauded for choosing the natural method?

Note: To avoid confusion (and to avoid being accused of selective quoting), Humane Vitae says that the unitive significance and procreative significance are both "inherent to the marriage act." As to the issue of artificial methods, Humanae Vitae has this to say:

Others ask on the same point whether it is not reasonable in so many cases to use artificial birth control if by so doing the harmony and peace of a family are better served and more suitable conditions are provided for the education of children already born. To this question We must give a clear reply. The Church is the first to praise and commend the application of human intelligence to an activity in which a rational creature such as man is so closely associated with his Creator. But she affirms that this must be done within the limits of the order of reality established by God.

Photo: Martin Pettitt, Flickr., Creative Commons

Foiled Assassination Attempt Against Obama

US domestic terrorist wannabes Daniel Cowart, 20, and Paul Schlesselman, 18, were arrested yesterday for allegedly planning a murder spree that would begin with an assault on a predominably black elementary school and end in a suicide attack on Barack Obama.

These dimwitted skinheads can't bear the thought of seeing USA's first black president that they're stupid enough to hatch an assassination attempt on Obama? Dumbass bigots...

CBCP's Call for Reform

The conservative Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) has finally released a statement calling for radical reforms against government corruption.

The Inquirer reports that CBCP President Angel Lagdameo said the following in a press statement:

In response to the global economic crisis that we are facing today which everybody knows about and in response to the pitiful state of our country, the time to rebuild our country economically, socially, politically, minus corruption is now.

The time to start radical reforms is not later but now. The time for moral regeneration which has been long delayed, the time for moral regeneration is now.

It's about time CBCP says its piece on the matter. This is way long overdue. As a concrete measure, might I suggest that purging be made starting from the top?

<---CBCP's tool for wholesale purge

No Peace for de la Paz

I feel kind of sorry for PNP comptroller Eliseo de la Paz. More than a month ago he was set to retire and lead a private life. But days before his retirement, this Russia incident exploded in his face, blowing his credibility up with it. Worse, he might be held liable for administrative and criminal charges.

The presumption of innocence is still on his side. However, there are just some things working against his favor.

He was a comptroller - a person who supervises accounting and financial reporting within an organization. In other words, he was a person who handled PNP money. He was held by Russian authorities in Russia because he was caught carrying oodles of money. The oodles of money - P6.9 million to be exact - were apparently not disclosed to both Russian and Philippine customs. As to why de la Paz was carrying so much money - or where he got it from - is not yet clear. The numerous versions of what transpired doesn't help de la Paz's cause, either.

So yes, de la Paz is still presumed innocent until proven guilty. But he was caught with his hand in the cookie jar, so to speak. He thus has a lot of explaining to do, and a mere "I am sorry, I had a lapse" will just not cut it.