A side order of Hamas

The December 2004 tsunami brought together Bill Clinton and George Bush Sr. Theyre pals now, 2 people on opposite sides of the political fence. The Hamas situation is also bringing together Jimmy Carter and conservative columnist and one-time Republican presidential candidate Pat Buchanan, at least on their positions on Hamas. Both are urging the US not to stop foreign aid to the Palestinians; Carter for bleeding-heart reasons and Buchanan for practical reasons. In the meantime, the Israelis are still nervous. This is one time their nuclear deterrent won't work because the Palestinians are right next door.

Hamas is still classified as a terrorist organization by the US and the EU. But the Israelis weren't so pristine in its early days when they were fighting for a country they can call their own. The Irgun Svai Leumi and the Stern Group, which nurtured the future Israeli leaders, were known terrorist organizations. Irgun, under their leader Menachem Begin, planned bombings of hotels in Jerusalem and other terrorist acts, and with the Stern Group (one time member, Yitshak Shamir) were guilty of the massacre at Deir Yassin where 260 people were killed, including women and children. Later, Menachem Begin became prime minister of Israel and Nobel Peace Prize laureate. I'm not saying that Hamas would choose the path of peace, now that the Palestinians have entrusted them with their government, but it is possible. Not likely, but possible. I mean, who woulda thunk a thug like Begin would win a Nobel Peace Prize?

Will work for Winx Club stickers, too. 

I have the best model

She'll work for food.

Glass half full

As if the Iraqis didn't have enough trouble already, UN health officials report that a 15-yr old Iraqi girl died of bird flu. Iraq shares a border with the strangely appropriately named Turkey, which already has an outbreak of the disease. For crying out loud, what next? These Iraqis deserve a break.

A break from the western media would do them good, too. Despite the bleak picture of the Iraqi situation being painted by the Western press, Iraqis remain optimistic about their future. In a poll conducted by the BBC, 65% of Iraqi respondents believe their personal life is getting better, and 56% are optimistic about their economy. (In Afghanistan, it's 70% and 57%.) This reminds me of our very own Mindanao situation when the Manila media portray the place as the wild, wild west with shootouts and bombs going off everywhere, and Muslim Filipinos as violence prone, hair-triggered bandits. I've been to Zamboanga city, Pagadian, Malangas, Zamboanga del Sur, and other places there, and I've met Muslims and worked with them. They're just like the rest of us. Manila is just as 'dangerous' as Zamboanga city. Granted, in some isolated barangays, weird, violent stuff happen. But they happen in isolated barangays in Christian Luzon, too. I'm just afraid that because media portray Muslim Filipinos as hardly civilized barbarians, this reinforces some of them to behave this way; as swaggering siga-siga. "Hey, that FPJ movie portrays Muslims like that. Maybe that's how we ought to behave." Television especially is a powerful force in telling people how they should behave, how they should look, how they should speak, in order to reinforce a certain self-image. So you've got models on 'coolness' or 'bitchiness' as the case may be, and take that as a model on how you yourself should behave based on your own image of yourself. Media's excuse is that they just mirror life the way they see it. This is of course bunk. Their mirror is filtered by marketing consultants; by what sells. They're not mirroring; they're suggesting; they're dictating. And the people are buying it. Scary.
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[A friend of mine called my attention to my recent posts and noticed that Ive been ranting a lot. I read back and, yes, I do sound like a very angry and very bad stand-up comic. Which just means I've practically broken almost all New Year's resolutions I made, and it isnt even February yet. Aside from the rants, I resolved not to begin a sentence with 'Ok', 'Well', 'Heck', 'Actually', or 'Basically.' I'm pretty sure Ive done that several times. Except for 'Basically'. Well, heck, ok? Basically Im just doing the best I can. Who follows resolutions anyway?]

Two shockers

The first of course is the victory by Hamas in the Palestinian elections. In a development that surprised even them, Hamas has won a decisive majority in the Palestinian Parliament, soundly defeating the ruling Fatah party. This of course is heralded as a triumph for democracy in the troubled region, but as can be expected, the self-proclaimed champion of democracy in the Middle East, G.W. Bush, isn't exactly excited to offer Hamas his congratulations. Their victory is probably perplexing Hamas leaders. "Holy Dome of the Rock, Mahmoud; we won! What the heck are we going to do now?" Now that they have to wear suits and attend Parliament, this might force them to take a more moderate stance. This was probably the direction they were looking at when their supporters marched without weapons towards the Parliament building to celebrate, where they were met by fully armed Fatah supporters. Maybe Hamas would tone down their "Death to Israel" act. After all, if they want to qualify for foreign aid, they have to show themselves to be good citizens in the world community. But I'm not betting that they give up their weapons anytime soon.

In another shocker, former NBA rebounding machine and sometime movie actor Dennis Rodman has signed up to play for the Brighton Bears in the British Basketball League. Wha-?? At first I didn't believe it, and had to do a double take. I was indeed shocked. I re-read the article again. And it's true! The British have a basketball league!

One that got away

This morning while waiting for a ride, I saw a gnarled old lady with a walking stick, wearing one of those brown dresses with a stampita round the waist you often see devotees of the Black Nazarene or the Sacred Heart, wear. She was walking hunched and slowly on the service road of the South Super Highway. On the road, not on the sidewalk. I took out the camera and lined up a shot, set depth of field, focus, exposure--I was ready to go. But in the shot was a Jollibee sign, so I waited for her to pass so I could get her as she was walking away from me. It was perfect. South-bound road was surprisingly empty, she was still on the sidewalk, the road rising in front of her, the lamposts providing a great one-point perspective to infinity. The clouds were gray, and the pollution added some mist; great atmosphere. (Sure, there was a Metrobank sign in the shot, but you can't have it all.) It was like she was walking in the gray mist to eternity. I readjusted focus, aperture, exposure. I was ready to take the shot, waiting, waiting for just the right moment. Then a car parked right next to the shuttle and ruined everything. Meanwhile, the old lady moved to the sidewalk. If I had a digital camera, I wouldve just taken pictures, click-click-click, and see if anything came out right, readjust, then click-click-click. No such luxury with the film camera since you have to spend time thinking about it. At least I do. I expect as I get the hang of it, lining up a shot would be second nature.

I'm no film snob. I think digital photography is real photography in a different medium and eventually I'll be getting a digital camera. But Ijust love my new, old, clunky Olympus OM2n. It makes the sweetest sound when you press that shutter button. Action's so smooth unlike the old Russian Zenit I used once. That camera released the shutter with a jolt, so it's practically useless for long exposures unless you had a really steady tripod. I shot the first roll of film with the OM2n the moment I got it, and as expected, most of the pictures looked like crap since I kept trying to experiment with it. The second roll was better. That's the thing with film photography; you learn as you go since you'll have to wait for the prints to see if you got it right. It's pretty exciting, the anticipation. Taking pictures with film forces me to think about my shots now--there's no turning back when you press that shutter release--so whereas my first 2 rolls were gone in an instant, I'm still on my third roll (36 shots) which is a week old and has about 16 more shots to go. Developing these babies aint cheap.

The kids are showing an interest in photography, too. They want a camera of their own seeing how much fun Im having with mine. Should provide for a great father-daughter activity.

Live long and prosper

That Picto-Personality Test thing I blogged about a couple of days ago had this to say about me:

You are romantic, and when you are with your partner you like to woo them with your imagination.

Romantic eh? I hereby submit a snippet of conversation between myself and a female pal. I invite you, dear readers, to guess who is saying what.

Person A: What I'm after is a romantic relationship.
Person B: Hm. I graduated high school a long time ago so I no longer believe in that myth. A relationship should be based on logic and reason.
Person A: But there are issues in a relationship that only the heart can understand.
Person B: Then such issues are irrelevant.