Tigers dead.

Thursday, May 21, 2009

In Sri Lanka, the president pursues all out war against the Tamil Tigers, got crticized by peace-nicks, lost an IMF loan, but eventually suceeded in ending South Asia’s longest running insurgency. Now, Colombo is talking of ways to reconcile with the Tamils and address their grievances to ensure lasting peace, without being distracted by armed rebels.

Why can’t the Philippines do the same?

 

Swine Flu.

Tuesday, May 19, 2009

During the communion at the church last Sunday, the priest refused to put the host on my tongue; he insisted that I take it by my hand. When I asked why, he smiled and said: “It’s the influenza, my child.”

That was the first time that I realized how real the threat of this “swine influenza” (or the H1N1 virus) actually is. And how the precautions that the government says it is taking is anything but reassuring.

The first reported case of the H1N1 virus infection here in Japan occured last week when Health officials confined infected Japanese students who arrived at the Narita Airport in Chiba from a field trip in Canada at a nearby hospital. The government claimed that the fact that they were spotted at the airport and treated immediately proved that the quarantine measures being implemented at different ports of entries are reliable.

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Ozawa quits, Aso in danger.

Tuesday, May 12, 2009

 So near yet so far. That’s how the Kantei seems to be for Ichiro Ozawa.

The notoriously brilliant backroom negotiator who have been instrumental for the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP)’s temporary ouster from power after decades of dominance in the early 1990s and who was, just months ago, seen as the next Prime Minister of Japan, has finally ended his political career. With tears in his eyes, Mr. Ozawa yesterday announced his intention to resign as president of the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) “in order to save his party’s reputation and to realize his goal of wrestling power from the LDP.”

“We definitely need to secure victory (in the election). . . . Forming solidarity is indispensable for that purpose,” he said. “If I’m posing any problem for that goal, that’s not what I want to do.”

His resignation comes weeks after his chief aide was arrested for accepting donations from a scandal-tainted construction company. Ozawa himself maintained his innocence, but members of the DPJ, which Ozawa had led to a resounding election victory in 2007 that made it the second largest party in Japan, have demanded his resignation.

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Legal language.

Wednesday, May 6, 2009

I have many Law school friends who whine about how hard their “English For Lawyers” course is so I always thought that lawyers’ English is completely different from our English. I thought their language is archaic and formal. Turns out I’m completely wrong.

Check out this court order penned by Judge Jorge Emmanuel Lorredo, the presiding judge on the high-profile perjury case filed by former presidential chief of staff Mike Defensor against ZTE Scandal witness Jun Lozada. It reads more like a political humor blog. No shit. These really are the exact words:

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