Tag Archives: DURIANBURGDAVAO

Bayan: GMA after Corona

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After a long and exhaustive impeachment trial, the Senate has no reason to acquit Chief Justice Renato Corona.  To go farther, the Senate should push for the prosecution of former president Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.
As one of the most influential limbs of former Pres. Gloria Arroyo who was installed for her protection, the Senate must convict CJ Corona. On the same length, evidence of Corona’s corruption also implicates GMA.
Once the chief justice has been convicted, the challenge on the Aquino government is to push for the prosecution of Arroyo, who despite crimes on plunder, political killings and other human rights abuses and electoral fraud remain comfortable in her hospital suite.

HALA KA, BOSING! YOU’ RE NEXT!!!

             rogerB.

As her pawn and crony, CJ Corona’s crimes clearly point to the gross extent of GMA’s plunder. Justice will remain wanting, without GMA, as the mastermind, convicted. And the test to Aquino’s political will is putting someone like Arroyo behind bars.
The public should not be baited with Corona’s appeal to emotions in his last stunt in the witness stand.

   The people do not owe anything to Corona despite his attempt to use the Hacienda Luisita issue to earn public support. The decision of the Supreme Court hence was primarily due to the strength of Hacienda Luisita farmers’ struggle — the key to reclaiming the land that is truly theirs.

SHEENA SUAZO, spokesperson, BAYAN – SMR

YES, JOURNALISTS HAVE PATRON SAINTS,TOO

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THEDURIANBEAT


BY ROGER M. BALANZA

Do journalists have a patron saint to pray to?
Yes. The Roman Catholic Church has annointed three of them for journalists to pray to when they are under threat from assassins or when confronted by the temptations of committing mortal sin by succumbing to media corruption; and to intercede with God to provide their family food on the table, the media profession/writing, being, according to Jules Renard, “the only profession where no one considers you ridiculous if you earn no money.”
This piece is being written May 20, 2012, as the Roman Catholic Church commemorates the 46th World Communication Days.
In Rome, Pope Benedict thanked the wordlwide media for ppromoting Christ’s teachings.

READ MORE: Roman Catholic Church commemorates 46th World Communications Day.
But he also warned against mis-use of media.
“One cannot ignore the danger and the damage which these means, however noble in themselves, can inflict upon individuals and society when they are not employed by man with a sense of responsibility, with an honest intent and in conformity with the objective moral order,” Pope Benedict said.
The patron saints of journalists are St.Francis de Sales, St.Maximillian Kolbe and St. Paul the Apostle.

ST. FRANCIS DE SALES

He is patron saint of journalists because of the tracts and books he wrote.
Francis de Sales, T.O.M., A.O.F.M. Cap., (French: François de Sales) (August 21, 1567 – December 28, 1622) was a Bishop of Geneva and is honored as a saint in the Roman Catholic Church. He became noted for his deep faith and his gentle approach to the religious divisions in his land resulting from the Protestant Reformation. He is known also for his writings on the topic of spiritual direction and spiritual formation, particularly the Introduction to the Devout Life and the Treatise on the Love of God.

READ MORE: Francis de Sales – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

ST. MAXIMILIAN KOLBE

Maximilian Kolbe was a Polish Conventual Franciscan friar most famous for volunteering to die in place of a stranger at the Auschwitz concentration camp.
Kolbe (born January 8, 1894; died August 14, 1941) was born as Rajmund Kolbe and was later also known as Maksymilian or Massimiliano Maria Kolbe and “Apostle of Consecration to Mary.”
He was canonized by the Catholic Church as Saint Maximilian Kolbe on October 10, 1982 by Pope John Paul II, and declared a martyr of charity. He is the patron saint of drug addicts, political prisoners, families, journalists, prisoners and the pro-life movement. Pope John Paul II declared him the “The Patron Saint of Our Difficult Century.”

READ MORE: Maximilian Kolbe – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

ST. PAUL

Paul, who was born Saul, was a Jewish Talmudic student and a tent-maker by trade. Saul saw the Chrstians as heretical and openly persecuted them. As he was on his way to arrest yet another group of Christians, he was struck down and blinded by a heavenly light and was given the message that by persecuting the Christians, he was persecuting Christ. This was the beginning of his conversion. He was baptized and changed his name to Paul. He began traveling and preaching Christianity to the masses. He and St. Peter are credited with co-founding the Church. It was his letters to the churches he helped found that form a large portion of the New Testament. He worked with many of the earliest saints and fathers of the Church. Paul was later martyred in Rome.

READ MORE: Paul the Apostle – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Where’s your common sense?

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regardingHENRY

By Henry Tacio

Thomas Paine, in 1776, wrote a pamphlet entitled Common Sense.  When it was first published, there was no author; “Written by an Englishman” were the only words found.

Nonetheless, it became an immediate success.

Common sense is defined by Merriam-Webster as “sound and prudent judgment based on a simple perception of the situation or facts.”

As such, “common sense,” in this view, equates to the knowledge and experience which most people already have, or which the person using the term believes that they do or should have.

The Cambridge Dictionary defines it as “the basic level of practical knowledge and judgment that we all need to help us live in a reasonable and safe way.”

Whichever definition is used, identifying particular items of knowledge as “common sense” is difficult.

Common-sense ideas tend to relate to events within human experience (such as good will), and thus appear commensurate with human scale.

Humans lack any common-sense intuition of, for example, the behavior of the universe at subatomic distances, or of speeds approaching that of light.

Often ideas that may be considered to be true by common sense are in fact false.

Conversely, certain ideas that are subject to elaborate academic analysis are oftentimes yield superior outcomes via the application of common sense.

So, what’s the point?  Nothing, except that I received an e-mail from a friend about the Stella Awards.  The awards, if you care to know, are ranked lists of personal injury lawsuits that, on their face, are frivolous but resulted in large damage awards in the United States.

“If you think the court system is out of control and America has lost all common sense, be sure to pass this on,” said the end of the message.

The originators of these lists choose to remain anonymous. The reference to “Stella” comes from Stella Liebeck, now deceased, who, in 1992, ordered a cup of McDonald’s coffee at a drive thru, took off the lid and put it in between her knees while sitting in the passenger seat of her grandson’s car.

The 180 to 190°F (82 to 88°C) coffee spilled from the cup, causing third degree burns.  The lawsuits are documented by Colorado writer Randy Cassingham.

There are seven people listed but allow me to feature just four of them.  Kathleen Robertson of Austin, Texas was awarded $80,000 by a jury of her peer after breaking her ankle tripping over a toddler who was running inside a furniture store.

The store owners were understandably surprised by the verdict, considering the running toddler was her own son.

Terrence Dickson of Bristol, Pennsylvania, was leaving a house he had just burglarized by way of the garage.

Unfortunately for Dickson, the automatic garage door opener malfunctioned and he could not get the garage door to open.

Worse, he couldn’t re-enter the house because the door connecting the garage to the house locked when Dickson pulled it shut.

Forced to sit for eight, count them, 8 days and survive on a case of soft drinks and a large bag of dry dog food, he sued the homeowner’s insurance company claiming undue mental anguish. Amazingly, the jury said the insurance company must pay Dickson $500,000 for his anguish.

A jury ordered a Philadelphia restaurant to pay Amber Carson of Lancaster, Pennsylvania $113,500 after she slipped on a spilled soft drink and broke her tailbone.

The reason the soft drink was on the floor: Ms. Carson had thrown it at her boyfriend 30 seconds earlier during an argument. What ever happened to people being responsible for their own actions?

Kara Walton of Claymont, Delaware sued the owner of a night club in a nearby city because she fell from the bathroom window to the floor, knocking out her two front teeth.

Even though Ms. Walton was trying to sneak through the ladies room window to avoid paying the $3.50 cover charge.  The jury said the night club had to pay her $12,000 – plus dental expenses. Go figure.

“For the most part, the Stella awards lawsuits are a complete fiction,” wrote Jim Flynn, a private attorney, in an article which appeared in The Gazette of Colorado Springs.

“In circumstances where there actually was a lawsuit, the description of the lawsuit is incomplete and/or false in important ways.”

Flynn further wrote: “Although there is plenty of room for criticism as to how our legal system deals with injury-causing accidents, the reality is that frivolous lawsuits are rarely filed and almost never result in an irrational damage award.

Personal injury lawyers know better than to take on cases that require lots of work but offer little chance of reward. Furthermore, juries are not easily fooled and, if a jury does run amuck, trial court judges and appellate courts have authority to set aside or modify a verdict.”

I rest my case, your honor.

HOLY WEEK: Are you a Judas?

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THEDURIANBEAT

BY ROGER M.BALANZA

    Holy Week is the week when the Passion—the suffering and death of Jesus Christ is remembered.
On PalmSunday Our Lord Jesus Christ entered Jerusalem, the holy city, mounted on a donkey. This event had been prophesied centuries before.     The people who loved and revered him made the journey a procession. Some laid their cloaks on the road to serve as carpets. Others waved palm branches, in the way great men were honored in those days.
The people knew they were in the presence of a great preacher. But the more meditative ones had come to recognize Him as the Messiah, when He taught them doctrine lessons about the Scriptures and when He multiplied bread so hungry multitudes could eat. They chanted hymns, and shouted, “Hosanna! Blessed is He Who comes in the name of the Lord. Hosanna in the highest.”
The noise scandalized some of the Pharisees, or made them envious of the homage He was getting from the people. They scolded the people so they would stop their songs of joy and love of God. But He said to the Pharisees, “If these are silenced, the very stones would cry out.”
How joyful we should be knowing that God has made Himself a man so we can be like Him. Do we allow Christ to enter our being so that we can be His temple? Or are we, like the Pharisees, blocking his entry into our lives?
The Gospel today tells us of Jesus’s visit, six days before the Passover, to the house of Lazarus and his sisters Martha and Mary. This is the Lazarus whom Jesus had raised from the dead. They made Him supper, Martha served and Lazarus was among those at table with Jesus. Mary took a pound of costly ointment of pure nard and anointed the feet of Jesus and wiped His feet with her hair; and the house was filled with the fragrance of the ointment.
But Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples (he who was to betray Him), said, “Why was this ointment not sold for three hundred denarii and given to the poor?” He said this not because he cared for the poor but because he was a thief and took whatever he wanted for himself from the money box. Jesus said, “Let her alone, let her keep the ointment for the day of my burial. The poor you always have with you, but you do not always have me.”
Are you one of those Catholics who complain about the Church for spending money on beautiful altars and shining sanctuaries for the Blessed Sacrament? Would you make the living God in the form of the consecrated wafer to dwell in just any box. If you truly believed that Christ—His Body, Blood and Divinity—is truly alive in the Blessed Sacrament would you begrudge him the best lodging place in the church?
Or are you just claiming, like Judas, to love the poor? MTeditorial

NO. 102, APRIL2-8,2012

The Seven Last Words

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SWITCHBOARD


By Roldan Gorgonio

The last words of a person are his “exit lines” in this world when death, the inevitable is impending. A person’s body and soul can be bolting in struggle upon sensing the final ticking seconds of such looming extinction.     Death may come in so many forms but these last words are always expressed in “extremis” especially when recovery is already regarded as nil and hopeless. In that dreary sunset of life, those closest can only sigh but should take a good grip of the very precious parting words, in order to make them a living memory of the passing loved one.
To recall, the whole world mourned for the death of Pope John Paul II in 2005. His final words were uttered in his native tongue. He said: “Let me go to the house of the Father.” Six hours later, the well-loved pope died. The dying St. Louis or Louis IX, King of France (in 1270) similarly expressed: “I will enter now into the house of the Lord”. However, Vincent Van Gogh, an artist who committed suicide in 1890 had mentioned home in a different fashion. His final words were: “I want to go home. Don’t weep. What I have done was best for all of us. No use. I shall never get rid of this depression”.
In his book: Famous Last Words, Jonathon Green was able to compile 2,300 entries of deathbed parting words from the time of Confucius, Mohammed, Buddha, or Archimedes up to 1979. I took the pain of reading each of these farewells of famous dead people, the kings, presidents, saints, murderers, lawyers, poets, philosophers, and even magicians. Harry Houdini who died in 1926 being the greatest escapologist of his time was quoted to have said just before he died: “I am tired of fighting. I guess this thing is going to get me”. One thing he failed to escape thus was death. Green mentioned at the very least two Filipinos in that book, namely: Manuel Quezon and Jose P. Rizal.
May I highlight some of these farewells just in time for the Season of Lent which all Christians are bound to observe. The dying Rene Descartes, a French mathematician and philosopher who died in 1650 said: “My soul, thou has long been held captive. The hour has come for thee to quit thy prison, to leave the trammels of this body. Then to this separation with joy and courage!”
John Locke, a Philosopher expressed such final words: “Oh, the depths of the riches and the goodness of the knowledge of God”; Blaise Pascal, a French mathematician, “May God never forsake me”; Ludwig van Beethoven a composer who had lost his sense of hearing, “I will hear in heaven!”; or Edgar Allan Poe, a famous American writer, “Lord help my poor soul”.
Jean Jacques Rousseau, a French political theorist who died in 1778 muttered these last words: “See the sun, whose smiling face calls me, see that immeasurable light. There is God! Yes, God Himself, who is opening His arms and inviting me to taste at last that eternal and unchanging joy that I had so long desired”.
It was said, when Sir Walter Scott, a great novelist, lawyer and one of the most prominent figures in English romanticism was dying, he sat alone in the warm sunlight that streamed through his library window. A friend entered. “Read to me,”‘ Sir Walter sighed heavily. “Gladly,” his friend responded. “What will it be, Sir Walter? What book shall I read?” Sir Walter looked up. “What book? Need you ask? There’s only one book, the book, the BIBLE!”
Daniel Webster who was also then a leading lawyer in his country was quoted to have said moments before his final hour: “I have read the Bible through many times and now make it a practice to read it through once every year. It is a book of all others for lawyers as well as divines; and I pity the man who cannot find in it a rich supply of thought and of rules of conduct”.
Let us therefore review those famous last words found in the Bible uttered on the cross by no less than the God of Sir Walter Scott and Daniel Webster, and the rest of us, the dying Jesus of Nazareth who died in 33 A.D.
“Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do.” “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise, then Jesus said to his mother: “Woman, this is your son”. Then He said to the disciple: “This is your mother.” “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”, then He moaned, “I thirst”. When Jesus had received the wine, he said with that voice so weak, “It is finished”; and he bowed his head and handed over the spirit. Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “Father, into your hands I commend my spirit.”

no. 120, April 2-8, 2012

Budding journalists – Ateneo de Davao University with durianburgdavao

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DURIANBURGDAVAO blogmaster and Durian Post publisher/editor ROGER M. BALANZA with Mass Communication students from the Ateneo de Davao University. The budding journalists interviewed Balanza, a 30-year veteran in community print journalism,  as central figure for a term paper on libel and media ethics

Crocodiles in BIR driving Manny Pacquiao to retirement

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BY ROGER THE HECKLER

  There are two other major reasons, other than the Lord,  why Philippine boxing hero Manny Pacquiaois planning to retire from boxing.
One, he wants to pursue a poliitical career and is running for Governor in his province of Sarangani, which he currently represents in the Philippine Congress,  in the 2013 elections.
Two, crooked taxmen from the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) are running after his billions.


Manny said he had been told by God in a dream to retire soon.
He has publicly mapped out his political plans for the future, and may throw away his boxing gloves to dedicate part of his life to serve his Sarangani constituents as their governor.
But his biggest reason for retiring from boxing could be the BIR, which is accusing him of evading tax payments.
Pacquiao, regarded as the world’s best pound-for-pound fighter, said that he had decided to give up all his vices after the dream about the Lord telling him to replace his gloves with a Bible.
“I will not stay long in boxing because he said: ‘You have done enough. You have made yourself famous but this is harmful,’” said a serious-looking Pacquiao, who has won eight titles in as many weight divisions.
Pacquiao, 33, said he had the dream earlier this year but declined to reveal how many more fights he would contest before stepping down.
But when asked if his new-found religious fervour would hurt his boxing, Pacquiao replied: “I will do my work inside the ring.”
The boxer, who has translated his sports fame into huge riches, a showbiz career and election to parliament, said he believed he had been chosen by God to use his fame to spread the Christian message.
“When I speak, a lot of people listen,” he said.
He said he would make a major announcement on a religious note soon.