My Blog

Erle Frayne Argonza

Hello Fellow Earthans! Hello world! Welcome 2009, the Year of the Ox!

This economist, sociologist and self-development guru has been hibernating for awhile as part of a year-starter contemplation period. I’m now formally ending this hibernation, and will resume sharing my thoughts about world events and wisdom.

The holiday season is surely a period of excitement and fast-moving events comprising of parties, reunions, and chows. Like everyone else, I was swept away by the enchantment of this unique period, and ended the year with over 10 pounds of extra weight.

In January 1-4 I took some time out to visit the Sabang Beach of Puerto Galera, Mindoro. An excellent place for scuba diving, this spot is just contiguous to two (2) other wonderful sites, the La Laguna Beach and Coco Beach. I spent the tour with my cousin Evadne Argonza-Bautista and her other half, Rudy Bautista, chief engineer and overseas seafarer, who brought along their two starseed kids Raissa and Randoll. I also had a reunion in the beach with my cousin Ricky Argonza, a master scuba diver, who manages the Garden of Edens resort (German-owned).

I was just about to begin orienting myself to the new year, by detailing my annual battle plan (goals) and burning the excess fats gained from the holidays, when my Dad’s 2^nd wife (Lorna Argonza) suddenly died last January 15 while travelling back by bus Manila. Being the only son of Dad (Steve Argonza) who’s here in Manila (all of my sibs are in the USA), I had to conduct my filial duties and be the burial event organizer-operator for my old man. The lady, Tita Lorna, was finally buried last 20^th of the month. The day after, the 21^st, saw me hit by allergic rhinitis, a recurring ailment, after all the stressful though preparations for the burial.

Still nursing my rhinitis, I finally am finding the time to catch up on my goal-refinements, fat burning gym sessions, and reflections about global events. The year opened up with Gaza (a spill over from late 2008), the pessimistic facet, and the installation of Barack Obama as US president, the optimistic facet. We will all be watching the aftermath of these two events for sure, as they contribute to the shape of 2009 as a whole.

We’re also preparing for the celebration of the start of the Year of the Ox, which is a legacy of the Chinese culture. I’ve already bought new crystal materials for balancing my home, and an ox figurine for my work room & study. A positive year this will be in terms of bountiness, as the underlying Tao philosophy of the celebrations so explain.

Well, Fellows, let’s hope for the better for 2009 in terms of moving out of the economic and politico-economy cul de sacs that our planet has been seemingly entrapped into. Welcome the Ox Year with a Big Bang!

[24 January 2009, Quezon City, MetroManila]

Bro. Erle Frayne Argonza

From my highland nest in Manila goes Big Kudos to Barack Obama & US Democrats!

My first elation has to do with the fact that Obama represents my generation of ‘post-industrial babies’, comprising of those aged 55 and younger. Obama represents a broader worldwide trend of leaders who are veering away from intolerant/polarized values towards one of ‘tolerance for difference’. My  generation is the first among the emerging ‘global citizens’, and I could hardly wait to see various sectors worldwide taken over by the most competent and enlightened ones among us, as exemplified by Obama’s take  of the US presidency.

Another source of elation is the fact that Obama is a Black man, the first one ever elected as president in America. His victory sends a clear signal to many countries across the globe—dominated by Whites as majority populace—that the time for change has come. Just across the border, in Mexico, the citizens are still accustomed to choosing a White Man as president: White, and Male. Quite a bit further, down south in Argentina, it’s still White country there, and I wish the minority Colored people or Colorados will get to be Chief Executive, whether they are male or female.

Finally, a source of euphoria over Obama’s victory is his being funded largely by the people’s purses. True, there were fund donations from the wealthy families, but to say that their pockets constituted the cutting edge funding would be to disregard those aggregates of monies that in-flowed to Obama’s campaign coffers from out of ‘couples of dollar bills’ donations from the workers & middle classes. I would dare say that the people’s purses comprised the cutting edge in funding, for the 1^st TIME, which has many governance implications for Obama’s Team.

There are certain sociopathic elements in America, represented by the perennial Democrat candidate Lyndon LaRouche, who have been peddling the allegation that George Soros, through his subaltern Felix Rohatyn, were behind the bulk of funds for Obama. In some other articles published early this year, LaRouche kept on peddling the noxious allegation that Mafia groups were behind Obama’s making as a politician, and that, ipso facto, his funding would come largely from the same criminal rings.

Were it not for LaRouche’s sociopathic and fascistic tendencies, I should really find many of the facts and thoughts that he generated as worth our reflections. Let us challenge the likes of LaRouche to come out with evidences, and file criminal charges in proper channels such as the US Senate, and they better desist from further slanderous and libelous accusations against a political team that is outside of their poll choices.

The people’s purse option, let me repeat, has deep governance implications. It is indicative, first of all, of the immense constituency participation during the polls, which clearly created for them (people) a status as co-partner of the Obama Team. Second, the people’s purse option gave the clear mandate to the Obama Team, comprising largely of noblesse technocrats, that it can exercise a ‘relative autonomy’ from diverse interest groups particularly the financier-technocratic-military elites.

I would prefer to see the Obama victory as a ‘14^th Brumaire of the US Technocracy’, which is a very laudable feat, precisely as a result of that people purse option. 14^th Brumaire refers to that moment in history when Louis Bonaparte declared a coup d’etat in France, a grand act of defiance against the oligarchy that enabled him to exercise ‘relative autonomy’ from the latter. The governance implication of such an act is that the Strong Man was able craft and enforced policy initiatives, unhampered by the pestering demands of ensconced elites.

Obama won his coup equivalent by way of the electoral path, with aid from a vibrant electoral constituency and allied politicians who also buttressed his victory with additional seats in both houses of the US Congress. With solid grounds of support from both the people and the legislative allies, Obama has been practically offered the policy initiative on a golden platter by the electoral heaven of social contract. And the good image exuded by this Team was that of a change-directing Technocracy rather than that of a rambunctious Pedagogue of dangerously perverse hoi polloi.     

With such a grand opportunity of mandate, the Obama Team is enabled to re-engineer the policy environment of America on its initiatives. Lobby groups and ‘whispering mafias’ representing the elites do not have a business making demands on this Team, and must be kept at bay, in practice more than in words as promised by Obama.

The Obama Team should also use this ‘14^th Brumaire’ mandate to begin a long process of healing. The healing work is quite complex, as it entails tasks both on the domestic and international fronts. This healing can begin by the shift in tact from that of the previous hawkishness of the neo-conservatives to the dovish aura of Wilson-Roosevelt-Kennedy greats.

For my own country, Obama should not forget the 1 Million+ Filipinos who died during America’s invasion of the nascent republic, many of whom died as ‘collateral damage’ of a genocidal campaign. White House and Congress should better release their respective statements of apology to my nation, dubbed as populated by “brown monkeys with no tails” by the White combatants (T. Agoncillo, History of the Filipino People). Coupled with this is the return of the Balangiga Bells that were  looted by the US Army after leveling the town of Balangiga in Samar province, with all town folks butchered and all visible structures burned to the ground (ibid).

Obama must also remember the 1 Million+ Filipinos who died during World War II, or who died defending the interest of America in the Far East. Many of the living veterans of that war are waiting for their additional just subsidies, their bones now almost disabled from mobility. World War II was never our war, but was one among the world powers’, and look at what the cruelties and genocidal butchers our people got from defending America here.

Authentic healing will take several decades to undertake. But there is no harm involved by beginning the process now. The Native Americans and Colorados of the USA are expectant, and so are those peoples who suffered from America’s imperialistic adventurisms overseas. Begin the healing now, and put a final end to the USA as Empire.

The Obama electoral coup is total, his technocratic Team’s autonomy ensured. He cannot fail to deliver results as expected, and he must translate that ‘relative autonomy’ into more solid healing and prosperity feats. His massive constituencies must help the Team in this colossal task, to ensure galvanization par excellence, rather than just wait passively for results.

Cheers! Kudos to the Obama Team! Mabuhay!

[Writ 06 November 2008, Quezon City, MetroManila]

Bro. Erle Argonza / Guru Ra

[Healing Meditations 08-01. Writ 02 November 2008, Manila, Philippines.]

Citizens of Terra, Peace & Love!

Within a few days from now, on November the 6^th, the USA electorate will choose  a new set of federal leaders. As observed in all quarters, this giant pillar of the global economy is currently on a downspin in both the domestic and international fronts. Being Fellows of this planet, we cannot just stand by and show indifference to the eventualities forthcoming, but should, I think, exude one of concern and love for the people of America.

Never mind if for past decades this hegemonic power from up North had manifested excessive force in dealing with other nations of the planet, for both political and economic purposes. Never mind if multitudes of our own compatriots who were caught up in the military and trade offensives were sacrificed in the process: their lives snuffed, bodies injured, and livelihoods irreparably wrecked. Never mind the 36 Millions of peoples who died due to the military adventurisms of America since after World War II. Mind only that we all move forward ahead, that we continue to forge a new world of peace and prosperity in a global regime of ‘dialogue of civilizations’.  

American society is now very sick. There is no way that we would ever desire to see this country fall, or fragment into the abyss of chaos, as partisan groups would seize the opportunity offered before them, go the way of violent adventurisms and slug each other out in the terrain of Old Wild West of blazing guns. Just witnessing this federal titan beset with political and economic instabilities over the next ten (10) years, would already spell trouble for the entire global community that will experience the catastrophic impact of the uncertainties caused by the consequent anarchies thereafter.

America is very sick, and if there is anything that we Peace Advocates must demonstrate now, it is the collective might of forgiveness, understanding, compassion, and brotherhood/sisterhood. Let us show the power of Oneness, precisely by commiserating with our brothers and sisters in America who are equally beset with enormous pains from the miserable descent of their beloved country to the hovels of the Damned and the Fallen Ones. Look Fellows, the Americans are leveling down mountains of evils by the normative pathways of accepted institutions, inspired as they are by their founding patriots and guided by the Constitution of the Union, and not by excessive violence and force that befit only those agents of the Dark Path. Let us all attune ourselves to their hearts in their herculean but sublime efforts, be with them in their painful sojourn.

The forthcoming election is therefore an occasion both for national healing in the domestic front of America, and for global healing as well. Recognizing this sublime import of the forthcoming popular feat, let me state succinctly the petitions:

I call upon our Fellows across the globe, to show our fellowship with the simple folks and mainstream middle class urbanites of the USA, by praying and meditating for peace and progress in the electoral contest. Furthermore, let us all pray and meditate that finally the road back to the Light will begin as a new set of leaders will commence with their noble mandates in a few weeks’ time.

On the day of the polls itself, please sit down even just for a few minutes, burn a White candle for purity of purpose, combine it with Pink candle for love and healing, and pray & meditate for the petition so stipulated above.  

Let there be healing and peace on the forthcoming USA electoral exercise, followed by consequent stability and prosperity. So be it.

[Prof. Erle Frayne Argonza, economist, sociologist, and development consultant from Manila, is also a yogi-Mystic. He is an initiated Fellow of the spiritual Brotherhood and is a Guru of self-realization. He is currently in touch with the souls of Abraham Lincoln and Mahatma Gandhi, both of whom are Evolved souls, who urged him to do some focused peace concerns for America and encourage a reversal of disastrous economic policies of Reaganomics.]

Erle Frayne D. Argonza

Religious fundamentalism is among the mega-waves of the moment. Secularism, which was a 19^th century wave yet, had reached its full circle around the 3^rd quarter of the 20^th century. From 1980 onwards, with the advent of Islamic Fundamentalism and Religious Right (Christian Right, Hindu Right), secularism has been taking the backseat as fundamentalism’s seductive new dogma delivered their devastating blows on erstwhile ‘enemies of God’.

Catholic fundamentalism has been riding along this mighty wave since then, and had already dealt its own devastating blows on perceived God’s enemies: (a) Irish Republic Army partisans killing thousands of children-women-aged ‘collateral damage’ folks; (b) Croatian Army, armed by the Opus Dei, storming the Serbian bastion, killing thousands of ‘collateral damage’ folks, and declaring a separate republic, along a largely contorted notion of ‘nation’ (ethno-nation); and (c) Christian militias armed to the teeth in many parts of the globe, causing enormous damages and misery on the affected folks.  

More such violent genocidal campaigns will be fomented by Catholic crypto-fascists in the months and years to come yet. This is not to count those hundreds of millions of deaths caused by the Crusades, Inquisition, imperial conquests of Catholic powers (Spain, Portugal, Bavaria, Hapsburg, etc). During the Philippine Revolutionary War against Catholic Imperial Spain, no less than half a million Filipinos died, while millions died more due to the forced labor, population resettlements, and abominable cruelties by the Catholic Spaniards.

If we reflect on all of those past genocidal campaigns done by the Catholics, and add the death tolls inflicted by contemporary terroristic adventurisms of Church partisans, we may wonder what ‘pre-emptive right’ do Catholic cryto-fascists possess that render them as indubitably clean, spotless, pure souls who cry wolf whenever issues concerning population control and/or reproductive health are raised, in the name of a new distorted moron one-liner ‘pro-life’.

The same puritanical quacks, none of whom lives a life that is unblemished and sagely worth our emulation, are again in the heat of raising the same fear-based ‘pro-life’ in the electoral campaign in America. Here in Manila, the same puritanical  quacks have been on the rampage over the legislative victory of the long-awaited Reproductive Health Bill, using the same pathetically bankrupt one-liner ‘pro-life’ spiced with highly nauseating lies about “the destruction of Philippine way of life” by the noblesse legislators. Nay, the same quackery has been raised by the fear-mongers to convince Filipino-Americans not to vote for Obama next week, for Christ’s sake!  

Come to think of it, if we examine the underlying logic of the puritanical quackery, we can see the fear of Church Hierarchs & lay leaders in a rapid diminution of church devotees across the coming decades. The political economy of church operations clearly reveals thus: the more people participating in church life, the greater the power of the purse of the Bishops, priests, religious orders, and lay organizations. This reality of political economy explains why the Church today remains very powerful, because it is the world’s wealthiest corporate entity taken in the aggregates, whose wealth no nation or corporate group can ever surpass.

To restate the thesis in another manner: loin power means purse power. Following from that logic, purse power means greater prestige and political power by the Church. A diminished loin power, due to the meteoric ascent of ‘reproductive health’ and/or ‘pro-choice’ discourse in the realms of legislation and administration also means the consequent decline of the purses of the Church operators.

As the issues and defenses are raised across partisan lines, Islamic partisans are mobilizing their forces of engagement, ready to start a World War III in their region, a war that could embroil the entire planet in another 30 Years War and see the eventual erasure of nations in a Post-Westphalia regime. Catholic militias and terrorists are increasing by the numbers across the globe, evidenced in my own country by the return of the infamous Tadtad and Ilaga groups that have regrouped and mobilized to engaged marauding Jihadist terrorists in their Mindanao backyards.

Since the Church is awash with cash, gold bullions, estates, and hedge funds anyway, every Catholic diocese may as well begin arming militias and related partisans who would be tasked to run after Catholic infidels or those who do not follow the faith in the manner so dictated by Paleolithic fogey dogma. In order to defend the ‘pro-life’ line, kill more, bomb more, cause miseries on more people, in the name of God! Praise be to God!

Urbanization is another mega-wave in our planet today, a wave that brings with it the ever-widening individuation of the human psyche. Herd discourse such as those peddled by the Pied Piper puritanical quacks, which induces a retreat to the folk spirit or folkgeist and is tantamount to retrogression of the species, has no place in an increasingly individuating psyche. Spirituality may also increase with time, but this spirituality will be of the ‘seeker’ or ‘freethinker’ type, a spirituality that is not susceptible to mind-bending manipulation by the folk spirit Pied Pipers. 

This could be the reason why, in the Philippines, amid the much ballyhooed 86% membership of Filipinos in the Vatican church or corporation, the devotees have voiced a predominantly pro-reproductive health inclination according to official nationwide surveys. Obama has got nothing to do with this inclination, the legislators’ pro-active measure on population & development has been in Congress for nigh two (2) decades now, but we do see the increasing individuation among an increasingly sophisticated urban habitué led by the urban boheme & intelligentsia.

The same Catholic puritanical quacks are joined by Christian Right groups in the USA in waging a last-ditch attempt to derail the popular gains of Obama versus his contender McCain as per latest survey. The same sickening discourse, characteristic of mental bankruptcy and mediocre “understanding” (sic!) of the human condition, is being mass-disseminated by a loose alliance of cryto-fascists, all working to subtly use loin power to keep their groups in hegemonic positions in the private sphere.

What nauseating, pathetic buffoons these folkgeist progenitors are! If they have nothing worth talking about, nothing worth their ilk, they better wrap up and mobilize for armed partisans and face their infidels in the Middle East. While the same puritanical quacks, both Islam and Christian, would be busy slaughtering each other, as they did hundreds of years back, the true peace-loving, life-loving,  dialogue-wielding, universal love-driven citizens of Earth would be collaborating in their efforts for lasting peace and development worldwide.

[Writ 27 October 2008, Quezon City, MetroManila.]

Erle Frayne Argonza

Good morning from Manila!

The candidacy of Barak Obama had generated a lot of surprises and raised hopes about reversing the trends of economic decay and neo-conservative (fascist) aggression by the USA, henceforth catapulting the USA back to its role as a world leader and friend of the world’s nations. Not only in the USA but also overseas, did Obama capture wide audiences and sympathies, and his image is still moving up the ladder of meteoric ascent as of the moment.

Indubitably, the standard banner candidate of the Democrat Party for the 2008 Presidential Election, Barak Obama, is the Man of the Hour. Intelligent, charismatic, competent, and young, he exudes the aura of a Man of Destiny, and is the man to watch across the globe this decade till next.

Already, a personality cult has been spontaneously rising and interwoven with his personal character, all over the world. Putting this cult aside, I am declaring my sympathy for this candidate, and honestly say that he is an ally to many causes that I advocate. To repeat: Obama is an ally, and a leading ally, not an object of my cult worship. Let those superstitious cult worshippers hold Obama in the highest esteem as their messiah, I have no qualms about their superstition provided that they do not hurt other people whose reverence for Obama isn’t identical to theirs’.

I shall no more dwell on the means for catapulting him to meteoric ascent, as this is better done in some mass communications and political science classes or opinion pages. I would prefer to dwell on Obama’s savvy for public policy, he being a legislator for some considerable numbers of terms now. This to me is the most important feature of his competencies, as public policy will be the cutting edge of his presidency if ever. That includes both domestic policies (economics, welfare & social sectors, growth for the states) and foreign policy.

To sum up my preliminary observations about the man, Obama has what it takes to re-chart the USA towards a new life, as far as public policy is concerned. He knows what policies destroyed America’s economic base, what policy architectures and politico-military actions destroyed America overseas, and he knows what policy options to install in order to reverse the trends. And he has the constituencies to embark on bold policy initiatives, rest assured, even if those policies are unpopular to the elites of his country.

Based on his grasp of public policy, Obama can in fact boldly undertake a revolution in America and across the globe. Obamanomics can be crafted to replace the Reaganomics of the last quarter of a century that resulted to catastrophes in both the USA and across the continents. The thematic directions could very well integrate the state interventionist frames crafted by George Washington, Alexander Hamilton, Abraham Lincoln, Friedrich von List, and Franklin Delano Roosevelt, all aimed at promoting the general welfare, effecting prosperity and equity, and galvanizing national unity under the aegis of the US Constitution.  

‘Obama Doctrine’ can be introduced in foreign policy, that can reverse the equally catastrophic neo-conservative (fascistic) unilateralism, global police aggressor deodorant, and anti-terror campaigns that destroyed nations and yet paradoxically led to the broadening and strengthening of terrorist forces worldwide. ‘Obama Doctrine’ may need to recast both the (a) Wilsonian civil rights advocacy and (b) Roosevelt’s New Deal advocacy of engaging America in the development of backward nations, (c) integrate both doctrines, and then use the new doctrine to foster lasting peace, international cooperation and prosperity in the entire planet.

The man has the sophistication to craft the core principles and concepts of his Revolution, I have no doubt about this. No matter how brilliant his core staff may be, he’s got the competence that enables him to exercise ‘relative autonomy’ from his technical team who can, in the end, add the flesh and tissues into the Obama core concepts. At the same time, Obama has the savvy to listen to his brilliant team people and the mass leaders that supported his candidacy, as listening is among his strengths that must have been tempered by his youth upbringing and grassroots work early in his life.

The last ingredient to his success, which should never be underestimated, is his coffers tactics. His candidacy having been funded largely by people’s donations rather than the elite’s purses, Obama is enabled to exercise a ‘relative autonomy’ from the patrimonial interests of America. This fact allows for a ‘14^th Brumaire’ of American leadership, a direly needed element to strengthen the institution of both the presidency and the US Constitution. The ‘relative autonomy’, reinforced by a massive constituency, enables the presidency to use sticks against erring elites and emancipate state institutions from the enslaving claws of the Military Industrial Elites.  

Obama brings hope not only to his fellow Americans but also to peoples across the globe who are so sick and tired of imperialistic wars, deaths, and the catastrophic effects of Reaganomics liberalization-privatization-deregulation oligarchic policies. Being an Asian observer, I’d urge my fellow Asians to give the trust to this great leader in the making, give him at least four (4) years to exhibit his performance level, and pray that peace and prosperity can be had globally under Obama’s reign over his federation.

Let’s give peace and prosperity a chance, and here is a man who can demonstrate that building our cherished dreams of peace and end to poverty are viable ones.

[Writ 22 October 2008, Quezon City, MetroManila]

Erle Frayne Argonza

Magandang hapon! Good afternoon!

In just a couple of weeks’ time, the US voters and electorate will make their decisions about who should be the next American chief exec and vice-president. As a US observer (from Manila), I can now advance my own forecast, based on survey polls and the emerging ethos in the USA, that Barak Obama is the man of the hour, the next president of the USA.

I would now wish to bring the matter of US aggression and its toll to the American voters and the Obama camp, this being a most urgent agenda for international peace and cooperation. As per latest count, since after World War II, when the USA was transformed into a World Power status politico-militarily, over 36 Millions of peoples worldwide already died as aggregate casualties of all the US offensives and related military initiatives. What sayeth Obama and his team about the matter?

For an outside observer, it hardly matters what foreign policy architecture were periodically installed by the US administration to justify aggression of every type. The much hyped ‘global cop’ cliché no longer bites the dust, nobody believes today in the rationale for any further US aggression across the oceans save for fascistic elements that profess sympathies for US imperialistic violence and conflicts. What matters is that (a) the aggressions were committed by (b) an imperialistic power, (c) under the guise of performing a global police role, (d) resulting to a staggering 36+ Million deaths!

Will the Obama leadership finally put a reversal to the policies of global carnage and infernal destruction of nation-states by the US military juggernaut machine? Will the new presidency at least put a break to the pedals of the unstoppable destructive deus ex machina within the next four (4) years?

Will there be no more US aggressions of whatever type beginning in January 2009, when the new president takes his oath of office? Will the unilateralism that was shamelessly and arrogantly exhibited—that alienated the USA from the entire world community for the past eight (8) years—be finally put to rest, and that the USA thereafter go back to multilateralism whereby all military initiatives will be concurred within the framework of the United Nations at least?

How about those victims of all the US aggressions, those men, children, women, disabled, blind, deaf, and humble folks-–will they be indemnified by the United State if ever? Isn’t it time that those demonic aggressors within the US Establishment, who were responsible for those carnages, be brought to international justice to answer for their war crimes?

How about those 1,000,000+ Filipinos who died during America’s invasion of my beloved Philippines in the years 1898-1900, during that war of US imperialistic expansionism in East Asia, will their families and descendants ever get to be indemnified if ever? Or maybe it hardly pays to consider those Filipinos as humans, because anyway they aren’t homo sapiens but were rather “brown monkeys with no tails”?

While the Philippine-American War was going on, American soldiers were quick to compose and popularize songs that condescendingly denigrated the islanders to the level of animals. One particular song says “monkeys have no tail in Zamboanga” which captures the American campaign in the Mindanao island that was then predominantly Muslim. The genocidal campaign there was among the most horrific of destructive events, surpassed only by the Batangas and Samar campaigns where entire towns were leveled and razed down the ground, bringing their populations down to zero.

The song summarizes the intent and content of US aggression a full century ago. Invaded populations were no human populations anyway, so it hardly matters to observe civility or protocols of war on the subjected peoples. The explicit order is: do anything necessary to neutralize and destroy them, including razing entire towns and cities to the ground, and do the tasks without compunction. For those warm bodies are not of humans’ but of “monkeys with no tails.”

Did US aggression (in the generic sense) ever change its underlying theme and tone from a century ago to the present? That all those conquered lands outside the US borders, whatever names and cultures they represent, are not of humans’ but of Things other than human? “Take them at all cost pronto!”

Does the more human face exuded by American troops today suffice to conceal what could be an insidious, evil, demonic theme behind every imperialistic-fascistic aggression? When will true civility and ‘rule of reason’ ever govern the use of instruments of aggression by the US military juggernaut, now that such a juggernaut had grown to a complexity unparalleled anywhere in human history?

Like many members of the world community, I am sympathetic to the Man of the Hour, Barak Obama. Like everybody else, my expectations are very high that his regime would deliver the goods and reverse the trends of imperialistic aggressions and carnages. I hope this regime won’t let me down, as my exasperation over American doublespeak had already reached its limits.

I’ve raised my questions, and I’ll assign myself four (4) years to watch. What sayeth you, Fellows out there?

[Writ 21 October 2008, Quezon City, MetroManila]