day2, corona impeachment

Gentlemen of the prosecution team.

We were under the impression that when the articles of impeachment, ALL 8 OF THEM, were filed and delivered to the Senate, you were prepared to show that ALL THESE 8 ALLEGATIONS hold ground, and that you can show that ALL 8 OF THEM can be proven. Your team is composed of eleven (11!) lawyers/prosecutors, 11 lawyers for 8 articles of impeachment. We don’t even want to know how many staff each lawyer has working for them in this case. You are using taxpayers money, our money! Least you can do is come to class with your assignments, yes? Ok, we had our laugh, thank you, now can we get serious please?

Ok, now to OTHER things that happened on day 2 before they decided to humor us.

– Presiding Officer JP Enrile delivered the longest NO in the history of NO, when he denied the motion to subpoena CJ Corona and his family members. It was so long and confusing, the prosecution team merely said “YES” and did not object anymore.

– Sen. Alan Cayetano argued against it, so it was put to vote. 14-6, the Senator-judges voted to uphold the original ruling of NO subpoenas. I think Sen. Lapid raised his hand on both AYEs and NAYs.

– After that was settled, Tupas took the floor to state his objection to Enrile’s comment that the impeachment was “akin to a criminal case.” Why Tupas ever thought he can successfully argue with Enrile will remain a mystery, but he did, and so Manong Johnny delivered another lecture.

– But Tupas was not done yet. He felt that he has not been humiliated enough, and so asked Enrile what is the source of the material he just discussed. To which, brilliant as he is, Enrile replied without missing a beat: “This is the product of my own mind.”

– Cavite Rep. Pidi Barzaga then started presenting evidences for Article 2, and this is when the excrement hit the ventilation. Atty. Cuevas of the defense team insisted that they were not informed that they would start with Article 2, and said the prosecution should follow the order that the Articles were presented. Barzaga, deciding that he can up the ante on self-humiliation, admitted they were not prepared for Article 1, and was convinced by Enrile into admitting that they would prefer a postponement. To which, the taxpayer expressed their collective feeling, as exemplified below:

Corona impeachment, day 1

This is history in the making kids, watch and be informed. When the day comes when your kids ask you about this part of our history, you would be thankful you were paying attention as it happened.

Ok, day 1 …
– The robes! They are much better looking than the one they wore when the impeachment court was convened.

– Appearances of the lawyers … wow, bigatin ang parada ng mga abugado, including private prosecutors of the House Of Representatives (“under the control and direction of the House of Representatives”).

– Prosecution had a small victory when the request for a preliminary hearing was denied, but man, Atty. Cuevas wins!

– Opening statements: Defense, by Atty Cuevas, again, I am surprised how sharp he is (81 yrs old), and gives you an initial impression on how mature and ‘heavy’ the representation of CJ Corona is. Then for the prosecution, Rep. Niel Tupas, who, following Atty Cuevas, looked like a schoolboy. Prosecution initially wanted private prosecutor Mario Bautista to do opening, but Enrile already ruled that only House Representatives can speak for prosecution. Which I think really threw Tupas off, and added to his nervousness. And was he reciting a poem towards the end? Sounds like he was.

– Tupas was so weak on this day, Corona seems to be so worry-free and was in fact shown several times with his eyes closed, appearing to be taking a nap.

– Then that was it. No fireworks on the first day, probably because Sen. Miriam was absent.

– Next: on day2, the presentation of evidence will start.

Superstar!

No celebrities. No politicians. No live bands. No prizes. No give-aways.
Simply unbelievable.

*All images sourced from Yahoo! News

Happy New Year!

The most awesomest, biggest, hugest, 48-inchest, omg-look-at-that firework!

.. and for those who have more time, some more spectacular fireworks display.

Go on, jejemon

A man was found inside a sack with a bullet wound on his head, and GMA7 news reported he is a victim of summary execution.
TV5 news, reporting about a raging fire in Pasay, said the fire quickly spread because the houses of the informal settlers were made of light materials.

Summary execution instead of “salvaging.” Informal settlers instead of “squatters.” Very nice, a little political correctness won’t hurt.

Meanwhile, DepEd is waging war against jeje-speak.

“What’s alarming is these misspelled words have found their way into academic requirements like essays,” according to DepEd spokesperson Jonathan Malaya.
“We got reports from teachers that even high school students use these spellings in their compositions,” he said.
This has resulted in students getting failing marks in reading, writing and comprehension skills, the DepEd said.

Really? Really really? Wow. I was into the whole “it doesn’t hurt anyone, kids are just creating their own form of expression” argument, but if this is true, IF the report is true, then it changes everything.

I don’t believe it though. If a student indeed used it for a report, I think it was meant as a joke. Malakas lang ang loob siguro talaga nung bata. Which is not entirely a bad thing. Having their own identity is supposed to be a good thing, right?

Hippies had their own thing going in the 60’s. (“Dude,” kung wala masyado “happening” dito, “split” na tayo ha?) Black people speak to each other in ways only they can comprehend. “That was sick!” turned out to be good, and being called “Dog” (or “Dawg”) is “cool” and “chill”, and these expressions have become mainstream and acceptable. Our parents were “jeproks” then, adapting it from the western “projects”, and they inverted syllables (re-pa, erap, to-dits, nosi ba lasi, dehins), and corrupted word meanings (how peeing came to be known as “jingle” or “dyingel” is beyond me), and yet they turned out OK and these words are now part of everyday conversations, we do not even notice it anymore.

I am not saying that “jejespeak” and “jejemons” are here to stay, or will form part of the future of our dialect. What I am putting out is that it is just a fad, another way for our kids to feel they belong to a group or a clique. And fads go either of two routes … it fades away naturally, or it transcends time and goes mainstream. I am betting (and hoping) this will just go away in time. But by giving “jejespeak” the attention we are giving it now, we are just extending its lifespan.

I say let kids be kids. Relax, chill.

Weekly links

A thunderous hail storm hit Oklahoma, and here are a couple of nicely filmed hail pelting a swimming pool, and another video where the owner watches as hail ruins his truck. In the Philippines, recent (and rare) hail storms were in Baguio 2007, and in Batangas just this June 2009. Meanwhile, current times, Metro Manila and the rest of the country is having a fever, with temperatures peaking at 37.3 last week. Nilalagnat ang Pilipinas.

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Have fun trying to find out how to say words the proper way, with HowJSay, and here is another one complete with talking heads . So now I know that affidavit is pronounced with a long ‘A’ (not affidaahvit), respite with long ‘I’ in Europe and short ‘I’ in US, and sonofabitch is best said by an angry congressman.

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For those who travel, here is a luggage that turns into a sturdy chair. Is that Christine Jacob modeling the luggage transformer?

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World’s worst jobs. You think your job sucks? How does smelling armpits or getting infected with malaria appeal to you?

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Thank you Pacman, for 30 years of never-ending fun! Speaking of “pixel” video games, here is a game/video that reflects real life. Dan the Man!

Bull-1 Matador-0

Sucks to be the guy. That is going to leave a mark.
I hate bullfighting, and I feel bad for the guy, but I am happy for the bull. The bull later got killed by the way.

WARNING: not for the faint of heart.

Hi-res image after the jump. Be sure you have an empty stomach.

Gooooaaaaalllllll!!!

I watch soccer once in a while, I enjoy it, but I am not really a fan. However, this 3-minute video ad from Nike for the World Cup makes me want to be a fan. It even has Homer Simpson in it. Epic win.

Move over, Beiber!

He is going to be famous. The girls in the background are in awe, and wants to be his girlfriend.

It Tweets!

The PCOS Machine not only counts and tallies votes, it tweets!

http://twitter.com/PCOSmachine