It feels like its meme season once again and I’ve got one as tagged by Señor Enrique. This time the number involved is not 6, but 3. So here’s the three’s in my life.

Some THREE’s in my life:

3 things that scare me: 1. Moving shadows at night 2. Standing on great heights, like atop a 20 story building 3. Dying young

3 people who can make me laugh: 1. Jerry Seinfeld of Seinfeld 2. David Schwimmer of Friends 3. Myself

3 things I love: 1. My wooden guitar 2. My Computer 3. The TV

(more…)

Sam over at Cogito Ergo Sam tagged me for this theme, “Six Weird Things About Myself”. This actually sounds like a gargantuan irony since I feel like most of myself is weird in the first place and I should have been tagged for the “Six Normal Things About Myself” kind of theme. When I was in college, I always hear my close companies uttering to me “Gee, you’re really weird” or “How weird you are!”. When she’s mad at me, my wife use to shout at me, “You’re not normal, you’re abnormal!!!”. Or “weird” for that matter.

But you know I had mostly felt good or just okay being “weird” because that implies that I am outside the ordinary, that I go against the grain, that I am aiming to buck the establishment, that I am radical and that essentially, I am a unique individual and there’s no one else like me. Einstein was weird. Van Gogh was weird. Even Bill Gates is weird…or maybe he is just trapped in that nerdy look.

But let’s get on with the tagging game.

Six Weird Things About Me:

1. I can go for hours without talking to somebody….like 24 hours if you ask me.

2. I listen to Metallica with the soundbox blasting so hard and in a moment I’d switch to Maria Callas.

3. I never drank softdrinks with plastic straws. I always gulp them straight from the bottle or pour them into a glass.

4. I always want to eat my meal in complete silence that I often ate after everybody had done their fill.

5. I work best when I am left alone.

6. I sing Italian love songs when I am in the shower.

For this, I had to see why these bloggers are sometimes weird:

1. Snglguy
2. Eric
3. Buffwings
4. Bing
5. RudyMan
6. Atticus

Please note that anyone who will bite this tag had to tag six other persons. See the complete rules at Cogito Ergo Sam.

I was thinking that I might just find this year’s State of The Nation’s Address by President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo as fairly eventful; now that ‘the impeachment season’ has just begun (13 retired generals had very recently joined the fray) and the charter change issue is coming to a boil. So I prepared myself a scalding mug of very black coffee this morning and turned on the television and found out that the President wasn’t “talking” till this afternoon and strangely enough, I felt a little bit relieved. Well, who says anyone desires to sit thru to what usually is a monotonous and droning stretch of policy talk and government speak—the economy that, the economy this; the education here, the education there, such and such thing. But you know, I’ve got this feeling that any Filipino individual has that duty to go through this torment…I mean presidential speech, like an obligation that is. And if you are a political blogger, or aiming to be one or even just pretending and trying hard to be one (like I do) , well the SONA is the place to be this afternoon.

So what ‘interesting’ things or new things could the President be possibly mumbling this afternoon (at 3:45 P.M. to be exact) that we have to suffer thru this? Oh, she can actually boast of a fairly growing economy (estimated to be just above 6% in GNP growth this year) and she should be expected to be making a big fuzz ‘bout this. This could actually dampen and cover-up for the not-so-nice things that have been happening in our country lately like the impeachment charges of mass election fraud that she had allegedly committed, the alarming rate of killings of radicals and activists in the country sides, the fertilizer scam, the Garcilliano caper, uncontrollable rise in fuel prices and of course, in the prices of basic commodities, and so on and so forth. The steep increase in OFW remittances (about 1.1 Billion pesos in April alone) could surely cover-up the kinks in her ministrations of our government and let us just hope we won’t be swamped over with numbers by the time she uttered the last word on what could be a speech also full of venomous and vile remarks targeted towards those who aim to bring her down.

And I bet my house (if I had any) that she’d be talking about these “super-regions” that she had envisioned our poor nation to have and to hold; harking about it like its some kind of a chasm that could turn this country into a First World country in 20 years. I wonder if these ’new regions’ need more governors and more and more congressmen; aren’t we so full of them already? But I guess we just have to sit tight and fasten our seat belts and find out for ourselves what super-regions mean and hope that it won’t be just hot-air because that could mean super-typhoons instead. That could be real bad. Super-regions by the way reminds me of such similar things or individuals like Superman, Super Girl, Super Friends and maybe perhaps we’d be better off reading DC Comics than daydreaming about Super Regions that could finally come and rescue us from our misery. Meanwhile, in the Hall of Justice…

BY THIS MOMENT, a fair number of Israeli troops are already striding into Lebanon’s territory, with aim of ridding the menace of Hezbollah entirely. With this kind of aim, it would be fairly reasonable to expect that there’d be more Israeli foot soldiers to be sent beyond the borders up north. With this new development, finally the conflict arising thereat had finally become full-blown or “open” (as Hezbollah had threatened it to be).

One wonder why the Israeli government had not resorted to this method of attack at the initial part of its retaliatory move against Hezbollah and reneged on targeting civilian facilities like the Beirut airport, power plants and residential buildings. This way, it could rid itself of the Hezbollah menace in the southern part of Lebanon without hurting innocent civilians and jeopardizing the fledging democracy appertaining in that country at present. Let us not forget here that Lebanon itself is not the one at war with Israel, but with the guerilla units of Hezbolla, where the Lebanese army is keeping a safe distance from the ensuing conflict, even now that some Lebanese soldiers have already been killed by Israeli air raids. Selective attacks would have minimized the damage brought about by this surging military conflict.

It is clear by now that as a sovereign state, Israel has an undeniable right to defend itself and in the principle of “Hot Pursuit”, a country’s military or police can be justified to break into another country’s territory in order to pursue the attackers that had committed a grievous act in its own territory and had consequently fled towards another. In International Law, this principle is one rare exception where territorial integrity of a state can be set-aside without prior permission from the country intruded into by another country’s military or police force. In general, it could also help justify the breaking-in into enclosed premises without warrants of arrest in aim of cordoning a fleeing felon (Minnesota v. Olson 495 U.S. 91). I remember one instance where Malaysian boat patrols have pursued Filipino bank robbers all the way towards Philippine territory after the bank heist was committed in the eastern Malaysian city of Labuan. There is a strict requirement though for this doctrine of “Hot Pursuit” where this sort of chase should be done immediately after the commission of the crime and not a day after. It should be determined whether the chase is done instantaneously and continuously. This is similar to that mode of determination as to whether or not the crime of murder was committed. If the killing was done just some moments after a scuffle, it would most probably be homicide (a lesser charge than murder) but if already a day had passed after such and such scuffle—in retaliation of such—then it would already be murder since premeditation has already pervaded, where the assailant(s) already had ample time to be aware of the nature of his or her act. Did you know that when a man caught his wife while in the act of carnality, he could exert the fullest violent act—like killing his wife and the paramour— and escape any criminal responsibility for it, upon the justification that a man put in that situation would surely lose his head and suffer temporary insanity? (Where insanity becomes an exempting circumstance.) But if the man had killed already a day after witnessing the carnal act of his wife and the paramour, or even just hours after that, he won’t be justified anymore if he eventually killed any or both of them; for there would already be “ample time” for him to calm down and realize the nature of the act of killing. And that way, he couldn’t escape criminal liability anymore and should be charged with homicide or even murder.

In “Hot Pursuit”, the pursuit should be done immediately after the crime or malefaction and if a day had already passed, the intrusion of a country’s police or military into another country’s territory— in order to arrest the criminals who had committed a crime in their own country and had eventually fled towards another by crossing an immediate border—would be now tantamount to violation of that other country’s territorial integrity.

It is clear that Israel’s present intrusion into Lebanon’s southern territory could not be fully justified by the International Law doctrine of “Hot Pursuit” since the initial air raids launched by Israel were not really aimed at or targeted on pursuing the kidnappers of the two Israeli soldiers; where the attacks had happened already some days after the actual kidnappings were committed. Although generally, it would be in consonance with this principle.

See some resources on the doctrine of Hot Pursuit:

The Right Of Hot Pursuit In International Law

Searches With Exigent Circumstances

US Asserts Right To ‘Hot Pursuit’

My kids were all over me early last night while I was surfing for news on cable TV and they all got some stacks of school paper in their hands. As usual, they all want me to build them some small flying contraptions made out of paper, otherwise known as ‘paper planes’ and I thought, “Here we go again”. It’s pretty laborious since they just can get enough of these paper planes when they start to have one on their hands that they keep getting at me even if I had build them too many already. Geez, I had to let go of the television for the meantime when this kind of things happens.

Well, I started giving ideas to the kids some years ago bout what a simple sheet of paper can do because when I was as young as them, I used to make them myself; lots and lots of them in fact. I had folded each paper so carefully to create that perfect symmetry where each wing would have the same span; that way, its flight would be so ideal and sometimes superlatively graceful. They don’t always turn out right; some paper planes I’ve made just scuttled towards the open air and go spiraling downward the moment they lost steam. And yet there were some that felt so good to watch at in flight, their directions were straightforward and when they glide, they had moved like real airplanes does and had always gave me that momentary fulfillment that was both invigorating and unexplainable. There is something about paper planes that tells me how simple things can turn into something sublime and in my mind, paper planes had always symbolized freedom of flight and of movement and how human hands can mold things according to his or her own whims and desires; that we can do what we want to do or like we can be what we want to be, that we hold our destiny in our own hands, that we are the captain of our heart and master of our destinies, that we are pilots in great control, voyagers of our own adventure…such and such things.

To this day, when I am not a kid no more and when I have already my own kids to tend to myself, I still have lots of inclination to build those small flying contraptions and let each of them rocketing towards low air and watch each of them fly away and see for myself how they perform. Its one small joy that have kept me busy when I was so much younger and even up to now. It’s one small joy I think I have imparted to my kids now that I have become a grown man. And its never small a joy to see them launch each paper planes that I have made for them and observed how gleeful they become. Some flew high and mighty while some did not. But such is just how the way things work.

This reminds me now starkly of one particular paper plane that I have made when I was a kid of about seven. I was in school at that time as recess time gave me and my classmates lots of time to play and mingle in the school’s wide-open field. I perhaps have crafted that paper plane so well that when I launched it towards the air, some vigorous wind had propelled it so strongly and its flight was so full and high. Some gush of strong wind had suddenly appeared and my paper plane went higher and higher and farther and farther away that I went running after it so strenuously. One classmate of mine saw how my paper plane performed on air that he also went chasing after it and I had to remind him incessantly that it was my plane and he’d better have his hands off it. I was huffing and puffing as I struggled to keep pace with the flying contraption that went gliding towards higher and higher altitude and my how I remember how gleeful I was to have ever seen a paper plane like that. I finally recovered the plane a good distance away from where I had launched it and as I held it in my hands, I remember to have thought so deep and was a little dumbfounded. What a plane, I had thought then. It was such a memorable flight for a memorable paper plane that in fact, to this day, that sort of thing was never replicated. Every now and then, even until now, I still could not forget about that one windy morning and I always try to replicate that flight but I just couldn’t anymore. Once in a while, I always try to build that perfect symmetrical paper plane and go out in the open yard and watch out for some sudden gush of wind and try to redo that “magic” once more. But till now, that “historic” flight is yet to be repeated. Maybe, I’d be lucky one of these days. Maybe I should try and try again.

ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER Ehud Olmert is one big surprise to most international observers, similar perhaps to what comes out from a Pandora Box. Or maybe, to the right-wing Likud Part to which he once was a member of, he is one big pleasant surprise. By the time Olmert had abandoned his Likud party-mates in order to join the former Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon in the newly-formed Kadima Party in early part of this year, it was deemed that he was to become another liberal Israeli politician that had started to gain control of the Knesset at that time, a new group of leaders that is openly agreeable to come into one huge compromise with the Palestinian Authority however costly it was, approving unilateral disengagements of Jewish settlements from occupied regions in Gaza Strip and West Bank area. For months, the U.S.-sponsored road map to peace seem to be on course as Ehud Olmert suited willingly to become Ariel Sharon’s most fitting successor. He was a liberal. He had supported Ariel Sharon’s groundbreaking policies on the conflict with Palestine. He had seemed to be meek as a lamb; as he was expected to be.

But yesterday, the Israeli Defense Force rained Lebanon with air strikes, destroying and rendering ineffectual Beirut’s airport runaways and demolishing buildings where Hezbollah members are alleged to be holding office or residing at. Now, Israel is caught up with heavy military clashes at two sides, down near the Gaza border and with Lebanon up north. And there’s a great possibility of further escalation towards Syria as Israel is harking and blaming the government there for actively supporting Hezbollah and Hamas in Palestine. It is general knowledge that while America and Israel consider Hezbollah and Hamas as terrorists groups, both organizations are receiving funding support from Syria and Iran. This present eruption of conflict in the Middle East is most serious in years, or decades for that matter, ever since the very unforgettable Israeli-Arab wars in the 1960’s. Something must be done here in order to diffuse the overheated situation there. America should not just sit down and watch from the sidelines; it got to tell Israel to tone down the attacks as well as advise Lebabnon and Palestine Authority to effectively control if not decimate Hezbollah and Hamas violent activities in the concerned borders.

Now there lies a question on whether or not Israel’s latest action against Lebanon may be justifying or not? We must of course take in consideration the fact that Ehud Olmert may be too tired and full already of nonstop and incessant rocket attacks from militants across Palestinian borders that targets civilian areas in Israel. The rocket attacks comes whole-year round and militants easily do this with make-shift and crude rocket apparatus. Maybe they’ve (the Israeli Defense Force) got to do what they got to do. When Israeli soldiers were kidnapped by Hezbollah militants two days ago, attacking from southern Lebanon, maybe it was “the buck stops here” moment”; that Israel could take it no more. Kidnappings of Israeli soldiers and frequent rocket attacks from the militants are provocations that may justify Israel’s present bombardment of targets in Gaza and now Lebanon.

But I question the fact why such public installations such as airports and power plants need to be attacked. It becomes a punishment to the civilians who will be greatly affected by the nonuse of these utilities. The Fourth Geneva Convention (consider reading this) disallows civilian targets as well as properties that could harm non-combatants in an international conflict.

In my mind, Israel may have been gravely provoked by the militants but it needs to tone down its attack on noncombatant targets for it tends to escalate the present conflict toawards unimaginable level of tension and such conduct is highly disagreeable to the international community.