The Yahoo Kid

DSWD Kept All the RELIEF GOODS.. SHAME ON YOU!

2009-10-25T03:42:00.000-07:00

this email has been circulating...and it really bothers not just me but all those people who made an effort to extend their help to our Kababayans...

nakakahiya din to other nations...

are those in DSWD waiting for another typhoon before they distribute those relief goods? or they want it for themselves?

(sorry guys d ko ma post ung pictures...try ko later)

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Pasing tabi n lng sa mga nag wo work s government but this should definitely hit their cores.
REPOSTING FROM: http://jenniepperson.com

According to Blog Ni Ella, these goods have not been distributed to the typhoon survivors. WHY?

Ella wrote on her (now blocked) blog: (her blog was ellaganda.com and it is now blocked)

Aanhin pa ang damo kung patay na ang kabayo? (A special report from a volunteer)
Oct 21st, 2009 by ella

Dear friends,

I’m asking your help to spread the word. Tulungan po ninyo akong ikalat ito. Beyond this, we should also demand action. I disabled a plugin so you can copy the photos ofrelief goods rotting in DSWD warehouses. You can link this post to your blogs, facebook, websites etc. You can also email the photos.

Philippine News (US based Philippine newspaper) will use this as its front page story this week. Every Filipino has the right to know where the tons of donations from the UN and other counties go. Kahit po nakakahiya samga nag-donate. Kung sa ganitong paraan, matutulungan natin ang mga nasalanta, then by all means, let’s do it.

For those who have the time, please try to volunteer sa DSWD warehouses. Getting in was not easy. A friend had to put in a word for us. Let’s see kung madali nang makapasok sa DSWD warehouse angmga volunteers.

Please read on and good luck to us.

Ella (This post was last edited Oct 22, 12:30 pm)

Kahapon, tinanong ng Philippine News si DSWD Secretary Esperanza Cabral:

Editor of Philippine News: Why are the relief goods in DSWD warehouses not moving?

DSWD Secretary Esperanza Cabral: Wala kasing volunteers.

This short interview was done over the phone. Philippine News wanted to hear her side pero ayaw niyang makipag-usap sa press. After four tries, pinasabi na lang niya ang maikling sagot na ito sa secretary niya - “Walang volunteers”.

I don’t want to accuse her of corruption but at the very least she is showing signs of being totally incompetent. We are in a state of calamity where every second counts. May namamatay araw-araw dahil sa sakit.

In my opinion, these deaths could have been prevented if Secretary Cabral had tried a little harder to do her job.

Deaths from Philippine storms nears 1,000
“Tropical Storm Ketsana left 420 dead and 37 missing when it flooded 80 percent of Manila on September 26, a disaster the government said affected 4.35 million people.

Some areas are still flooded three weeks later and 189,000 people remain in evacuation centres,

Typhoon Parma hit the northern Philippines on October 3 and lingered as a tropical storm for a week, triggering landslides that killed 438 people and leaving 51 missing mostly in mountain communities.

The government agency said Parma affected 4.16 million people, including more than 32,000 who remain at evacuation centres.”

During the first week after the storm, lumabas ang “bayanihan spirit” ng mga Pinoy. “Makatulong lang kahi’t konti,” katwiran nila.

kung walang volunteers, ano ‘to, komiks?

From Stella Arnaldo’s blog:

“At the offices of many civic groups and private organizations, hundreds of people showed up to volunteer in packing relief goods.

At the Tulong Bayan center at the Expo Centro in Cubao, Most of the volunteers were adolescents as young as 10 years old, along with their kuya or ate in high school and college.

They came in huge numbers, many of them barkadas, classmates or siblings, dressed just in their tees and shorts, wearing their Havaianas. All were just enthusiastic to do their share!

GMA asked world for donations

Our government begged the world for more donations. Sumagot ang buong mundo sa ating panawagan. In less than three weeks, dumaong angmga barko, ibinaba mula sa mga cargo planes, i-diniliver ng mga trak at container vans ang sandamakmak na relief goods. Cash donations were in the millions of dollars.

But these donations must be coursed through DSWD

Nagpalabas ng directive ang pangulo. Individuals, private companies and other nations were ENCOURAGED to send their donations to DSWD. I blogged about it here and the video of her announcement here.

This PGMA directive sounded suspicious to me then. Now I know why. Here’s the story.

A group of eight people, your ate Ella included, went to one of DSWD warehouses to help in repacking relief goods. We know they need volunteers pero hindi namin akalaing WALANG TAO TALAGA SA LOOB NG WAREHOUSE!

As in sa isang humongous warehouse (1000++ sq.m) NA PUNONG-PUNO NG RELIEF GOODS HANGGANG BUBONG, ISANG DSWD employee lang at ISANG SECURITY GUARD ang tao!!

Kailangang magpa-register at i-schedule ang volunteering

1) UNICEF Registration (as a volunteer)

The warehouse can only take as much as 50 volunteers at a time or per shift. Here you will find that there is a 4-hour shift, and an option for a 6-hour shift for the volunteers to indicate their availability.

What “volunteers”? Nasaan?

Aside from the 8 of us? Nope, there was nobody there. Bakit kailangan ang scheduling? Feeling hindi ba magkamayaw at nagu-unahan ang mga volunteers?

I know somebody who wanted to volunteer many times. She was always bumped off, laging nirere-schedule kasi “there were too many volunteers” daw. At tuwing Sunday lang daw puwede. What the hell is going on here?

Nakatambak ang donations ng UNICEF sa warehouse, local and international

Mga banig na dapat ay nahihigaan ng mga nasalanta. Mga imported camp beds na hindi na yata masisilayan ng mga biktima. Mga kumot na hindi naman nakabalot sa katawan nila. At mga pagkaing hindi sumasayad sa sikmura nila.

The relief goods are not going anywhere

We arrived at about 8 am and left by midafternoon and yes, you guessed it right. Kami pa rin ang tao bukod sa isang DSWD employee sa loob ng warehouse maghapon. Walang ibang dumating.

The relief goods are not moving. By the way things look, they are not going anywhere. Hindi maglalakad mag-isa ang mga donations na ito papunta sa mga evacuation centers.

YOU THINK?? WTF is the matter with these people? Mag-iisang buwan na mula nang masalanta ang mga kababayan natin. ISANG BUWAN!! Do you mean “do not delay ang dati nang delayed”?? Shet.

Anong ginagawa ng mga donations na ito sa warehouse?? APAT na warehouse ang nasa loob ng compound na ‘yon! APAT na warehouse na punong-puno ng inaalikabok na relief goods! Relief goods na ayaw yata ibigay sa mga nasalanta. Halatang-halata.

Marami pang pabubulukin

Wow! May bagong shipment na naman! At the rate DSWD is moving, next year na madi-discover kung ano ang laman ng mga kahong ito.

“The first of two of the largest high-energy food shipments from the United Nations World Food Program (WFP) arrived in the country two days ago for victims of storm “Ondoy” and typhoon “Pepeng.”

The biscuits were fortified with essential vitamins and minerals for supplementary feeding to children, pregnant women and the elderly in evacuation camps. Another 100 tons of biscuits will arrive on Oct. 24, in a continuing effort to provide food assistance to flood victims.

Sige, ideretso ‘nyo ulit ‘yan sa DSWD warehouse. Para AMAG naman ang abutin ng biskwit… at sapot ng gagamba.

Conclusion

Sa maghapon namin sa warehouse,nakagawa kami ng 150 sacks of relief goods. 150 bags of relief goods lang ang lumabas sa warehouse na ‘yon that day. At nandoon pa rin sa loob ang mga imported relief goods, safe, sound and packed as the day they arrived.

Nakisakay kami palabas sa isang DSWD delivery van. Gusto sana kaming ihatid ng driver hanggang Makati pero wala raw siyang sobrang gasolina. Ibinaba na lang niya kami sa gitna ng EDSA. Millions of dollars in donations, walang extrang pang-gasolina.

Susulpot din siguro ang laman ng mga mahiwagang kahon at mapapasakamay din ng mga tao…sa ARAW NG ELEKSYON. O mabibili na nila ang mga imported goods na ‘yon sa mga puwesto sa Quiapo at Divisoria.

Suggestions lang po sa DSWD:

· Alam ‘nyo palang walang mag-volunteer sa inyo, bakit hindi kayo mag-hire ng mga tao? Bayaran ‘nyo ng arawan para mag-repack. Ang daming walang trabaho, makakatulong pa kayo. Hindi naman malaking kabawasan ‘yon sa bilyong pisong donasyon na natanggap ninyo.

· Isa pa, gaano ba karami ang mga sundalo natin? Hindi ba puwedeng ipagawa sa kanila ‘yan? Baka isang araw lang, tapos na ang problema ‘nyo

· Bakit hindi ‘nyo ibigay ang trabaho sa mga NGO, churches, private charities, TV stations? I’m sure they are more than willing to help. Time is of the essence. Huwag kayong suwapang. Obvious ba, hindi ‘nyo naman kaya.

Kung talagang gugustuhin ninyong makarating agad sa mga kawawang biktima ang mga donasyong ‘yon, nagawa ‘nyo na ‘yan. Maraming paraan…kung talagang gusto ‘nyo lang.You are the government. You have the power, the resources and the money. You just have to really care.

You are the government. You have the power, the resources and the money. You just have to really care.

ORIGINAL POST BY: GANG BADOY

Billionaire among 6 nabbed in inside trading case

2009-10-16T20:12:00.000-07:00

Wall Street wake-up call: Hedge fund boss, 5 others charged in $25M-plus insider trading case

NEW YORK (AP) -- One of America's wealthiest men was among six hedge fund managers and corporate executives arrested Friday in a hedge fund insider trading case that authorities say generated more than $25 million in illegal profits and was a wake-up call for Wall Street

Raj Rajaratnam, a portfolio manager for Galleon Group, a hedge fund with up to $7 billion in assets under management, was accused of conspiring with others to use insider information to trade securities in several publicly traded companies, including Google Inc.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Douglas F. Eaton set bail at $100 million to be secured by $20 million in collateral despite a request by prosecutors to deny bail. He also ordered Rajaratnam, who has both U.S. and Sri Lankan citizenship, to stay within 110 miles of New York City.

U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara told a news conference it was the largest hedge fund case ever prosecuted and marked the first use of court-authorized wiretaps to capture conversations by suspects in an insider trading case.

He said the case should cause financial professionals considering insider trades in the future to wonder whether law enforcement is listening.

"Greed is not good," Bharara said. "This case should be a wake-up call for Wall Street."

Joseph Demarest Jr., the head of the New York FBI office, said it was clear that "the $20 million in illicit profits come at the expense of the average public investor."

The Securities and Exchange Commission, which brought separate civil charges, said the scheme generated more than $25 million in illegal profits.

Robert Khuzami, director of enforcement at the SEC, said the charges show Rajaratnam's "secret of success was not genius trading strategies."

"He is not the master of the universe. He is a master of the Rolodex," Khuzami said.

Galleon Group LLP said in a statement it was shocked to learn of Rajaratnam's arrest at his apartment. "We had no knowledge of the investigation before it was made public and we intend to cooperate fully with the relevant authorities," the statement said.

The firm added that Galleon "continues to operate and is highly liquid."

Rajaratnam, 52, was ranked No. 559 by Forbes magazine this year among the world's wealthiest billionaires, with a $1.3 billion net worth.

According to the Federal Election Commission, he is a generous contributor to Democratic candidates and causes. The FEC said he made over $87,000 in contributions to President Barack Obama's campaign, the Democratic National Committee and various campaigns on behalf of Hillary Rodham Clinton, U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer and New Jersey U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez in the past five years. The Center for Responsive Politics, a watchdog group, said he has given a total of $118,000 since 2004 -- all but one contribution, for $5,000, to Democrats.

The Associated Press has learned that even before his arrest, Rajaratnam was under scrutiny for helping bankroll Sri Lankan militants notorious for suicide bombings.

Papers filed in U.S. District Court in Brooklyn allege that Rajaratnam worked closely with a phony charity that channeled funds to the Tamil Tiger terrorist organization. Those papers refer to him only as "Individual B." But U.S. law enforcement and government officials familiar with the case have confirmed that the individual is Rajaratnam.

At an initial court appearance in U.S. District Court in Manhattan, Assistant U.S. Attorney Josh Klein sought detention for Rajaratnam, saying there was "a grave concern about flight risk" given Rajaratnam's wealth and his frequent travels around the world.

His lawyer, Jim Walden, called his client a "citizen of the world," who has made more than $20 million in charitable donations in the last five years and had risen from humble beginnings in the finance profession to oversee hedge funds responsible for nearly $8 billion.

Walden promised "there's a lot more to this case" and his client was ready to prepare for it from home. Rajaratnam lives in a $10 million condominium with his wife of 20 years, their three children and two elderly parents. Walden noted that many of his employees were in court ready to sign a bail package on his behalf.

Rajaratnam -- born in Sri Lanka and a graduate of University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School of Business -- has been described as a savvy manager of billions of dollars in technology and health care hedge funds at Galleon, which he started in 1996. The firm is based in New York City with offices in California, China, Taiwan and India. He lives in New York.

According to a criminal complaint filed in U.S. District Court in Manhattan, Rajaratnam obtained insider information and then caused the Galleon Technology Funds to execute trades that earned a profit of more than $12.7 million between January 2006 and July 2007. Other schemes garnered millions more and continued into this year, authorities said.

Bharara said the defendants benefited from tips about the earnings, earnings guidance and acquisition plans of various companies. Sometimes, those who provided tips received financial benefits and sometimes they just traded tips for more inside information, he added.

The timing of the arrests might be explained by a footnote in the complaint against Rajaratnam. In it, an FBI agent said he had learned that Rajaratnam had been warned to be careful and that Rajaratnam, in response, had said that a former employee of the Galleon Group was likely to be wearing a "wire."

The agent said he learned from federal authorities that Rajaratnam had a ticket to fly from Kennedy International Airport to London on Friday and to return to New York from Geneva, Switzerland next Thursday.

Also charged in the scheme are Rajiv Goel, 51, of Los Altos, Calif., a director of strategic investments at Intel Capital, the investment arm of Intel Corp., Anil Kumar, 51, of Santa Clara, Calif., a director at McKinsey & Co. Inc., a global management consulting firm, and Robert Moffat, 53, of Ridgefield, Conn., senior vice president and group executive at International Business Machines Corp.'s Systems and Technology Group.

The others charged in the case were identified as Danielle Chiesi, 43, of New York City, and Mark Kurland, 60, also of New York City.

According to court papers, Chiesi worked for New Castle, the equity hedge fund group of Bear Stearns Asset Management Inc. that had assets worth about $1 billion under management. Kurland is a top executive at New Castle.

Kumar's lawyer, Isabelle Kirshner, said of her client: "He's distraught." He was freed on $5 million bail, secured in part by his $2.5 million California home.

Kerry Lawrence, an attorney representing Moffat, said: "He's shocked by the charges."

Bail for Kurland was set at $3 million while bail for Moffat and Chiesi was set at $2 million each. Lawyers for Moffat and Chiesi said their clients will plead not guilty. The law firm representing Kurland did not immediately return a phone call for comment.

A message left at Goel's residence was not immediately returned. He was released on bail after an appearance in California.

A criminal complaint filed in the case shows that an unidentified person involved in the insider trading scheme began cooperating and authorities obtained wiretaps of conversations between the defendants.

In one conversation about a pending deal that was described in a criminal complaint, Chiesi is quoted as saying: "I'm dead if this leaks. I really am. ... and my career is over. I'll be like Martha (expletive) Stewart."

Stewart, the homemaking maven, was convicted in 2004 of lying to the government about the sale of her shares in a friend's company whose stock plummeted after a negative public announcement. She served five months in prison and five months of home confinement.

Prosecutors charged those arrested Friday with conspiracy and securities fraud.

A separate criminal complaint in the case said Chiesi and Moffat conspired to engage in insider trading in the securities of International Business Machines Corp.

According to another criminal complaint in the case, Chiesi and Rajaratnam were heard on a government wiretap of a Sept. 26, 2008, phone conversation discussing whether Chiesi's friend Moffat should move from IBM to a different technology company to aid the scheme.

"Put him in some company where we can trade well," Rajaratnam was quoted in the court papers as saying.

The complaint said Chiesi replied: "I know, I know. I'm thinking that too. Or just keep him at IBM, you know, because this guy is giving me more information. ... I'd like to keep him at IBM right now because that's a very powerful place for him. For us, too."

According to the court papers, Rajaratnam replied: "Only if he becomes CEO." And Chiesi was quoted as replying: "Well, not really. I mean, come on. ... you know, we nailed it."

The criminal complaints in the case also captured what authorities said were efforts by the defendants to hide their conversations from authorities.

In one conversation, Chiesi was heard telling Rajaratnam that she was "glad that we talk on a secure line, I appreciate that," to which Rajaratnam replied: "I never call you on my cell phone," the complaint said. It added that Chiesi said she was "nervous" about being investigated.

INC Executive Minister Died????

2009-08-31T19:28:00.000-07:00

A friend of mine texted me regarding the death of Brother Eraño G Manalo, the Iglesia ni Cristo Executive Minister... I still don't know the validity of this text..

please reply to this post if this is really true..

UPDATE:

THE NEWS WAS VERIFIED... MY FRIENDS WERE AT THE INC CENTRAL TEMPLE.. LET US ALL PRAY TO OUR FATHER IN HEAVEN AND TO OUR LORD JESSUS CHRIST THAT THEY WILL CONTINUE TO BLESS AND PROTECT THE IGLESIA NI CRISTO DESPITE THE DEATH OF THEIR HUMBLE SERVANT BRO. ERANO MANALO... BRO. EDUARDO MANALO THE DEPUTY EXECUTIVE MINISTER I THINK WOULD SUCCEED THE POSITION...

TO GOD BE THE GLORY!

Miss Venezuela wins the Miss Universe title 2009

2009-08-24T09:13:00.000-07:00

NASSAU, Bahamas (AP) — Miss Venezuela was the fairest of them all once again, winning the 2009 Miss Universe crown for the second year straight and the sixth time since the pageant's creation.

Dressed in a flowing red gown, 18-year-old Stefania Fernandez hugged the runner-up from the Dominican Republic and danced in joy as her victory was announced Sunday.

The crown briefly fell to the floor as it passed from one Venezuelan beauty to the next.

But Fernandez said there was time for outgoing Miss Universe Dayana Mendoza to whisper in her ear that she must have worked hard for Venezuela to win consecutive crowns.

"What do we Venezuelans have?" Fernandez, an international relations student, told reporters after the pageant. "That we are ourselves."

The other top-five finalists were runner-up Ada Aimee de la Cruz, followed by Miss Kosovo, Droga Ganusha; Miss Australia, Rachael Finch; and Miss Puerto Rico, Mayra Matos Perez.

During a question-and-answer segment with the five top finalists, Fernandez said she believed women have overcome obstacles such as hitting the proverbial glass ceiling.

"I feel we have reached the level that men are at," she said.

When asked later how she thought beauty contests promoted equality between men and women, Fernandez said they provided exposure.

"We have quite a following worldwide," she said. "We are models to follow."

The new Miss Universe is from the city of Merida in the west of a beauty-obsessed South American country where hard-fought pageants are something of a national sport, with contestants widely dissected by the public and the media.

Fernandez said she did not know whether Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez would receive her. He did not meet with Mendoza when she won and made no public statements at the time.

But Fernandez said he might change his mind.

"We'll see, because we are making history," she said.

The top 15 Miss Universe finalists appeared in bathing suits before the final 10 were chosen for the evening gown segment.

Pageant co-owner Donald Trump told reporters, "I think this is the most beautiful group of women I've ever seen."

The televised event included musical performances by Flo Rida, Heidi Montag, David Guetta and Kelly Rowland.

Montag gave her first live performance, singing "Body Language" from her debut album.

Fans cheered on the blond star of MTV's "The Hills," although NBC, which broadcast the event in the Bahamas live, blocked out more than half of her performance as they introduced the 15 finalists.

"It's my first performance live and it's in front of a billion eyes," Montag said.

The on-stage hosts were Billy Bush, co-anchor of "Access Hollywood," and Claudia Jordan, a former Miss Rhode Island USA who has appeared on several TV shows. Judges included actor Dean Cain and supermodel Valeria Mazza.

Miss China, Wang Jingyao, was named Miss Congeniality and Miss Thailand, Chutima Durongdej, won Miss Photogenic.

Many contestants have suffered from dehydration in recent weeks, and Jewel Selver, Miss Turks and Caicos, went home Saturday to recuperate, said Esther Swan, Miss Universe spokeswoman.

The Inglourious Basterds

2009-08-23T03:20:00.000-07:00

While it might be fair to say that Quentin Tarantino never met a genre he didn’t like, there are some he loves more than the others. Inglourious Basterds is kind of a hybrid of two genres: the World War II movie and, to use his phrase, “men on a mission” movies. While Basterds is only loosely based on the B-movie, Inglorious Bastards, it does play with the tone of that movie and takes the basic premise to outlandish and highly entertaining extremes.

One of Tarantino’s favorite devices to tell a story by creating a series of timelines that proceed at different paces and in different tones – each beginning at a different time – and then coming together at just the right moment to provide the biggest impact. This is true of Basterds, though the movements through time aren’t nearly as obvious, or puzzling as, say, Pulp Fiction, which almost literally explodes when that moment arrives.

The film opens with an interrogation, though the interrogator, SS Col. Hans Landa [Christophe Walz – remember that name] is the absolute epitome of decorum who makes even the politest request of a glass of milk, or asking permission to smoke, the height of menace. From there, we are introduced to Lt. Aldo Raine [Brad Pitt] as he drafts eight “Jewish-American” soldiers to kill Nazis in manners that will strike terrific terror into the hearts of every remaining German soldier.

In Tarantino’s fabulist/revisionist/alternate history take on WWII, things come to a head when it is learned that a German film featuring a German sniper, Frederick Zoller [David Bruhl], who plays himself in the movie [think a German version of Sgt. York] will premiere in a Parisian theater. The finale is not only grand, violent fun, it also ties together plot arcs involving the movie theater owner [Melanie Laurant] who has reason to hate Landa; the infatuated Zoller, who is smitten by the theater owner; Joseph Goebbels [Sylvester Groth], the Reich’s Minister of Propaganda and producer of the film; a new mission for the Basterds – in co-operation with the British, that gains an unexpected bonus when it is learned that Hitler, himself, will be in attendance.

Tarantino quotes/homages a number of his favorite movies – the music alone brings together enough quotes to give Basterds a feel that can only be described as “spaghetti war movie.” He uses his knowledge of film to great effect whether his camera is caressing the evil Landa during the opening interrogation, or zooming in to catch the violence of a German sergeant meeting the business end of a baseball bat at the hands of “the Bear Jew,” Sgt. Donnie Donowitz [Hostel director, Eli Roth].

And then there’s the surprise double agent, Bridget Von Hammersmark [Diane Kruger], who is as tough as she is beautiful and capable of improvisation when necessary – and the bar full of German soldiers that creates problems for a rendezvous with the German-speaking Basterds, and an unusual use of a library of films that’s kept in the theater.

Throughout, Tarantino’s glee is evident. He delights in creating almost Hitchcockian suspense as much as he delights in extravagant outbursts of violence – or equally extravagant outbursts of sharply honed dialogue. He gives us details that suggest the unknowable depths of his characters – the most obvious example being the scar around Raine’s neck. He and Brad Pitt know what it means, so even though we never find out what happened, it gives Pitt’s performance another layer.

In a sense, because of the timing of its release, Inglourious Basterds could almost be considered goofy summer fun [albeit a supremely evolved example]. After all, no matter the genre, the cast, or the style, if it’s by Tarantino, its primary function is to entertain. Basterds does – and not just because of its audacity. It is a whip smart film that looks at WWII and asks the most important question in fiction – what if?

The Jasmine Fiore Murder Case

2009-08-23T03:11:00.000-07:00

Murdered Playboy model Jasmine Fiore had been exchanging text messages with a former boyfriend saying she wanted to meet him in Las Vegas in the hours before she was killed

Miss Fiore's short-lived husband and reality TV contestant Ryan Alexander Jenkins is wanted in connection with her death after her mutilated body was found stuffed in a suitcase.

But the Hollywood gossip website TMZ reported that she'd been texting ex-boyfriend Robert Hasman several times on Thursday evening and early Friday morning of last week.

And, in an eerie twist, it says that Hasman received a text message last Friday night from her phone, which said simply "suck it". It appears that message was sent long after Miss Fiore was dead.

TMZ has also obtained video showing Miss Fiore and Mr Hasman in the holiday resort of Los Cabos, Mexico, last month - just four months after she married the man now charged with murdering her.

A guest at the pool area told TMZ that the the two used aliases -- he was "Hans" and she was "Ginger".

Miss Fiore was identified by her the serial number on her breast implants after her fingers and teeth were "forcibly removed", investigators in southern California said.

In a separate development, Canadian police boarded a plane at Toronto airport and arrested a man they believed may have been Mr Jenkins. They later released the man after confirming it was a case of mistaken identity.

Mr Jenkins, 32, apparently slipped into Canada after driving and power-boating more than 1,000 miles from southern California after the corpse of his 28-year-old girlfriend, Jasmine Fiore, was discovered.

Her naked body was found in a rubbish bin in Los Angeles on Saturday. "The victim had been badly beaten, all of her fingers had been cut off, and all of her teeth had been forcibly removed," said a statement from the California prosecutors.

Canada said its security forces were looking for Mr Jenkins, who is officially described as a "person of interest" in the investigation into Fiore's death. "Police forces are on the lookout with the potential that he might be in this country," said Peter Van Loan, the Canadian Public Safety Minister.

Police believe Mr Jenkins reported her missing on Saturday night – after her body had been found - and then disappeared when detectives said they wanted to talk to him.

Mr Jenkins was a contestant on the VH1 reality show "Megan Wants a Millionaire", a US television show in which men with a net worth of at least $1 million vie to win a woman seeking to become a "trophy wife". He is variously described as an architect, property developer and investment banker.

He appeared in three episodes of the TV series "Megan Wants a Millionaire", during which he had to complete such tasks as designing a marketing campaign for her pet chihuahua.

Mr Jenkins' disappearance has sparked a media frenzy. A white car police believe he was driving and an empty boat trailer were found at a marina in the US border town of Blaine, close to Vancouver.

A man matching Mr Jenkins' description arrived by boat at Point Roberts, US territory about 10 miles away, at the tip of a peninsula which is reachable by land only from Canada.

Mr Jenkins's mother reportedly lives in Point Roberts and a local television station quoted a family friend, who said Mr Jenkins' mother went met him in Seattle, Washington, on Wednesday, saying it was a family emergency.

A preliminary coroner's report indicated that Miss Fiore was strangled.

Mr Jenkins appears to have met her in a Las Vegas casino after recording the VH1 series. The two were married soon after.

According to Miss Fiore's mother, Lisa Lepore: "they had a big blowout" in May and Miss Fiore had the marriage annulled.

Court records show that Mr Jenkins was charged in June in Clark County, Nevada, with a misdemeanour count of "domestic violence" when he was accused of hitting Miss Fiore on her arm.

Mr Jenkins was also charged with assaulting his girlfriend in July 2005 in Calgary and given a conditional discharge with 15 months probation.

Juan Diaz won over Paul Malignaggi

2009-08-23T03:07:00.000-07:00

HOUSTON — Juan Diaz beat Paulie Malignaggi in a 12-round, unanimous decision on Saturday night to win the vacant NABO junior welterweight championship.

Diaz, a Houston native, fought the last 10 rounds with a bloody cut over his left eye. But the hometown crowd cheered every punch Diaz landed, and Malignaggi thought that swayed the judges.

The scorecards were 118-110, 116-112 and 115-113 in favor of Diaz. Malignaggi called the decision "ridiculous" and asked for a rematch in New York City, his hometown.

Diaz (35-2) ran to the four corners of the ring and saluted the cheering fans after the decision was announced, giving him a bounce-back win after he was knocked out by Juan Manuel Marquez at the Toyota Center in February.

"I don't like to see my fans see me getting hit like that and making my face swell up," Diaz said. "I know I'm better than that."

Marquez will fight Floyd Mayweather Jr. on Sept. 19 and Diaz hopes his victory on Saturday night puts him in line to face the winner of that one. He said he'd also welcome a rematch with Malignaggi.

"I'm ready for whoever they put in front of me next," Diaz said.

Malignaggi (27-2) said before the fight that he was worried about the judges, especially Gale Van Hoy and Raul Caiz. He pointed out that those two were judges when Houston native Rocky Juarez earned a draw with featherweight champion Chris John at the Toyota Center in February, a decision that Malignaggi thought was unfair. David Sutherland was the other judge on Saturday night.

"I had told you guys that I had to deal with the politics," Malignaggi said. "This state never gives a fair shake to anyone in a hometown fight. I thought I outboxed him (Diaz) and won."

Malignaggi landed 191 punches to Diaz's 178, according to the official statistics. Malignaggi controlled the hard-charging Diaz with sharp left jabs and quick combinations.

Diaz hit Malignaggi with a hard right in the last minute of the second round, but by the time the bell sounded, Diaz had blood trickling down his face.

Diaz was also cut over his right eye in the eighth round of the Marquez fight, and Marquez knocked him out in the ninth. Diaz fought through it this time, landing several hard shots in the later rounds.

Malignaggi, dressed in flourescent purple trunks with black and white tassles, kept attacking Diaz's eye and the cut started bleeding again in the 10th round.

The hometown crowd chanted "Diaz! Diaz!" in every round, but Malignaggi seemed to have more energy at the end. The two exchanged hard lefts in the final minute and embraced in the middle of the ring when the bell sounded.

Earlier Saturday night, Robert Guerrero stopped Malcolm Klassen in a 12-round, unanimous decision to take Klassen's IBF junior lightweight belt.

Klassen started landing hard right hands in the 5th round and opened a cut over Guerrero's left eye by the 7th. Guerrero also said he broke his left hand during the fight, but he used his significant height and reach advantage to keep Klassen at bay.

Also, Danny Jacobs earned the vacant NABO middleweight belt with a 10-round decision over Ishe Smith.

Catherine Zeta-Jones and Angela Lansbury

2009-08-23T03:01:00.000-07:00

The new Broadway production of Stephen Sondheim and Hugh Wheeler's A Little Night Music will open in December 2009 at a theatre to be announced, but who will be the leading lady who famously hopes that someone will "Send in the Clowns"?

No casting or production details for the revival of the 1973 Tony Award-winning musical comedy have been announced. This production comes by way of London, where Trevor Nunn directed an acclaimed revival for the Menier Chocolate Factory in 2008. It moved to the West End in spring 2009.

Industry sources told Playbill.com that, just as in London, the casting would be younger than the original Broadway production, which featured 50-year-old Glynis Johns as the rueful stage actress Desirée Armfeldt, who warbles "Send in the Clowns." (She won a Best Actress Tony for it.) Actresses in their thirties were auditioned in New York City in recent months. Desiree has a 13-year-old daughter in the Swedish-set musical that takes place at the turn-of-the-last-century.

The New York Post reported on Aug. 21 that 39-year-old Academy Award-winning Welsh movie star Catherine Zeta-Jones (who snagged her Oscar for playing Velma in "Chicago") will play Desiree, and that multiple Tony Award winner Angela Lansbury (Sweeney Todd, Mame, Blithe Spirit and more) will play her mother, Madame Armfeldt, whose country estate is the setting for romantic encounters, sexual clashes and a duel with pistols. The musical is based on the Ingmar Bergman film, "Smiles of a Summer Night."

A spokesman had no official announcement of production or casting details. An announcement is expected shortly; the aim of a December opening night was recently confirmed. Rehearsals begin in October.

Producers are David Babani for Chocolate Factory Productions; Andrew Fell; Frankel, Viertel, Baruch, Routh Group.

The production will also feature musical supervision by Carolyn Humphris, musical direction by Tom Murray and choreography by Lynne Page, the same team behind Nunn's London production of Night Music, which officially opened on the West End April 7, 2009, after previews from March 28. Prior to the West End, A Little Night Music was seen at Southwark's Menier Chocolate Factory Nov. 22, 2008-March 8, 2009, where it completely sold out.

A Little Night Music - featuring a score by Sondheim and a book by Wheeler - originally opened at Broadway's Shubert Theatre on Feb. 25, 1973, with a cast that included Glynis Johns as Desiree, Len Cariou as Fredrik and Hermione Gingold as Madame Armfeldt. The show, directed by Harold Prince, garnered five 1973 Tony Awards, including one for Best Musical. The Tony-winning Sondheim score features the composer's best-known tune, "Send in the Clowns," as well as "Every Day a Little Death," "The Miller's Son" and "A Weekend in the Country." Wheeler also won a Best Book Tony.

A recent Roundabout Theatre Company gala concert reading of the musical, directed by Scott Ellis, featured the late Natasha Richardson (Desirée Armfeldt) as well as Victor Garber (Frederick Egerman), Christine Baranski (Countess Charlotte Malcolm), Jill Paice (Anne Egerman), Marc Kudisch (Count Carl-Magnus Malcolm), Vanessa Redgrave (Madame Armfeldt), Steven Pasquale (Henrik Egerman), Kendra Kassebaum (Petra), Alexandra Socha (Fredrika), Maija Lisa Currie (Mrs. Nordstrom), Steven Goldstein (Mr. Erlandson), Leena Chopra (Mrs. Segestrom), Julianne Borg (Mrs. Anderssen) and Philip Cokorinos (Mr. Lindquist).

Nunn's dozens of directing credits include Gone With the Wind, Cats, Chess, Starlight Express, Not About Nightingales and Les Miserables. He has been the artistic director of both the Royal Shakespeare Society and the Royal National Theatre.

Here's the way Broadway producers are characterizing the show:

"Based on Ingmar Bergman's film 'Smiles of a Summer Night,' A Little Night Music is set in a weekend country house in turn of the century Sweden, bringing together surprising liaisons, long simmering passions and a taste of love's endless possibilities. Hailed as witty and wildly romantic, the story centers on the elegant actress Desirée Armfeldt and the spider's web of sensuality, intrigue and desire that surrounds her. The Sondheim score features one of the composer's best-known tunes, 'Send in the Clowns,' as well as 'Every Day a Little Death,' 'The Miller's Son' and 'A Weekend in the Country.'"

Miss Australia Rachael Finch to win Miss Universe 2009

2009-08-23T01:30:00.000-07:00

MISS Australia Rachael Finch has toppled close competitors to emerge as the firm favourite to win tonight's Miss Universe 2009 pageant.

Finch has not shined in earlier polls, but on the eve of the final, she has come out on top.

BetUS.com and Gambling911.com was offering Miss Australia 2009 at +500 or 5/1 odds.

FInch is followed by Miss Mexico at +800 odds and three are tied for +1000 odds: Miss Dominican Republic (an annual favorite), Miss Ireland and Miss Czech Republic.

Despite the odds, Rachael maintained it was difficult to pick who would be her biggest competition on the night.

"Any one of these women could easily walk away with the title," she said.

Miss Finch is the roommate of Miss USA who is ranked down at 14/1 .

Pageant experts on a beauty websites have consistently rated Rachael in the ranks of their top 10.

The last time Australia won Miss Universe was with Jennifer Hawkins in 2004.

Latinas and Asians Lead the Ms. Universe Polls

2009-08-23T01:27:00.000-07:00

NASSAU, Bahamas – Beauties from Latin America and Asia emerged as the crowd's favorites as the quest for the next Miss Universe neared.

An online poll sponsored by contest officials favored Miss Indonesia Zivanna Letisha Siregar, followed by Miss Brazil Larissa Costa and Miss Guatemala Lourdes Figueroa, on the eve of showdown among 15 Miss Universe finalists.

Observers cast tens of thousands of anonymous votes by Internet. Latin American contestants held 11 of the 15 top slots in the informal poll. Reigning Miss Universe Dayana Mendoza hails from Caracas, Venezuela.

Contest officials closed a comment section of the online poll because more than 50,000 submissions were recorded in the first couple of days.

"It was just so excessive," said Carl Althoff, a spokesman for the pageant. "We weren't able to monitor them."

Dozens of tourists milled about the media center at the Atlantis hotel on Saturday, trying to slip past security and get an unauthorized glimpse of the ballroom where the event would be held Sunday night.

They stopped chattering and stared as pageant co-owner Donald Trump strolled by with two bodyguards.

"Incredible!" proclaimed Frederic Battut, who flew in from Paris to watch the event. His companion, Fernando Alzate, wore a T-shirt emblazoned with Miss Colombia's name. But contest officials told him he would not be admitted unless he found a jacket for the event.

Tourism officials in the Bahamas hoped the pageant will stimulate an economy hard hit by the global economic crisis: The Four Seasons Resort Great Exuma hotel announced in May that it would close, and pageant host the Atlantis dismissed about 800 employees this season.

By Saturday night, about 2,700 tickets for the show were sold of the 3,100 available, said Glenda Johnson of the Bahamas Ministry of Tourism.

NBC will provide live coverage of the event, featuring musical talents Flo Rida, Heidi Montag, David Guetta and Kelly Rowland.

Ingrid Stuart from Pembroke Pines, Florida, bought tickets to celebrate her niece's 21st birthday.

"It's a historic event for the Bahamas," said the native islander.

Sorry

2009-08-21T22:09:00.001-07:00

Sorry to those who are frequent visitors of this blog.

I have not updated its post since August 10, 2009

I was so busy so some personal stuff which I have to settle first.

By Monday, August 24, I will continue the updates here, to include my other blogs..

http://yahookid.blogspot.com

http://dailypoundyen.blogspot.com

http://forexweeklyupdate.blogspot.com

http://superworldrecords.blogspot.com

http://imalawyer2015.blogspot.com

http://relihiyonko.blogspot.com

Plane and Chopper Collided Over Hudson River, 9 dead

2009-08-08T19:10:00.000-07:00

By VERENA DOBNIK, Associated Press Writer Verena Dobnik, Associated Press Writer – 2 hrs 15 mins ago

NEW YORK – A small plane collided with a sightseeing helicopter carrying Italian tourists over the Hudson River on Saturday, scattering debris in the water and forcing people on the New Jersey waterfront to scamper for cover. Authorities believe all nine people aboard the two aircraft were killed.

Another helicopter pilot on the ground at the heliport for Liberty Tours, which operated the doomed sightseeing craft, saw the plane approaching the helicopter and tried to radio an alert to the pilots, police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said. The warning wasn't heard or didn't happen in time.

The collision, which Mayor Michael Bloomberg said was "not survivable," happened just after noon and was seen by thousands of people enjoying a crystal-clear summer day from the New York and New Jersey sides of the river.

"First I saw a piece of something flying through the air. Then I saw the helicopter going down into the water," said Kelly Owen, a Florida tourist at a Manhattan park. "I thought it was my imagination."

The two aircraft went down just south of the stretch of river where a US Airways jet landed safely seven months ago. But this time, there was no miracle.

"This is not going to have a happy ending," Bloomberg said. Hours after the collision, he said he thought it fair to say "this has changed from a rescue to a recovery mission."

The National Transportation Safety Board was investigating the cause of the collision.

Two bodies were recovered in the water, one floating free and one in the wreckage, and other bodies were spotted in the debris in the river, the mayor said. The crash victims included five Italian tourists and a pilot on the helicopter and the three people on the plane, including a child, Bloomberg said.

Witnesses described seeing a low-flying plane smashing into the helicopter, and then wreckage scattering. One of the plane's wings was severed by the impact.

Buzz Nahas was walking along the Hoboken, N.J., waterfront when he heard the impact, then looked up to see the plane without one of its wings "fluttering" into the water.

"There was a loud pop, almost like a car backfire," he said. "The helicopter dropped like a rock."

The plane, headed for Ocean City, N.J., left Teterboro Airport in New Jersey at 11:54 a.m., the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey said in a statement. It had landed at the airport 25 minutes earlier with the pilot aboard to pick up two passengers.

The plane had started its journey in Pennsylvania, an official familiar with the plane's flight path told The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because he wasn't authorized to speak publicly.

The plane, a Piper PA-32, was registered to LCA Partnership in Fort Washington, Pa. The address is shared by a company run by Steven Altman, of Ambler, Pa. A woman who answered the telephone Saturday at Altman's home hung up, and police wouldn't let reporters enter a private driveway leading to the home.

The helicopter was a Eurocopter AS 350 owned by Liberty Tours, a sightseeing and charter company. It was struck by the plane shortly after lifting off from a heliport on Manhattan's West side.

On the Hoboken, N.J., waterfront, people scattered as pieces of debris fell from the sky. A wheel from one of the aircraft lay on Hoboken's Sinatra Drive.

"We saw the helicopter propellers fly all over," Hoboken resident Katie Tanski said.

Afterward, much of the wreckage sank quickly into the river.

The accident happened in a busy general aviation corridor over the river that is often filled with sightseeing craft on nice days.

Pilots have some freedom to pick their own route, as long as they stay under 1,000 feet and don't stray too close to Manhattan's skyscrapers. The skies over the river are often filled with pleasure craft, buzzing by for a view of the Statue of Liberty.

Steve Riethof, a volunteer at the Aviation Hall of Fame in Teterboro, said Saturday that pilots headed for the Jersey Shore from Teterboro generally fly through Manhattan.

Accidents happen every few years. New York Yankees pitcher Cory Lidle and his flight instructor died when their plane hit a skyscraper while flying a popular sightseeing route in 2006.

In January, the river was the scene of a spectacular aircraft landing that resulted in no loss of life after a US Airways flight taking off from LaGuardia Airport, in Queens, slammed into a flock of birds and lost power in both engines. The plane crash-landed in the river, and all 155 people on board were pulled to safety.

The identities of the victims of Saturday's crash were not immediately released. Italian Foreign Ministry spokesman Maurizio Massari confirmed there were Italians aboard the helicopter and said the ministry was working to find out further details through diplomats and authorities in New York.

Paolo Casali, from Rome, was scheduled to take a helicopter tour with Liberty after noon on Saturday, but her 13-year-old son, Lorenzo, was too scared to go.

"I feel very, really lucky," Casali said. "I think God was in our life. Today is the beginning of a new life, to catch every moment, every minute of this life."

A person who answered the phone at a Liberty Tours office said the company would be releasing a statement. The company runs sightseeing excursions around the Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island and Manhattan at costs ranging from $130 to about $1,000.

Two years ago, a Liberty helicopter fell 500 feet from the sky during a sightseeing trip. The pilot was credited with safely landing the chopper in the Hudson and helping evacuate her seven passengers.

In 1997, a rotor on one of its sightseeing helicopters clipped a Manhattan building, forcing an emergency landing. No one was hurt.

___

Associated Press writers David B. Caruso, Samantha Gross, Suzanne Ma and Amy Westfeldt in New York City, Beth DeFalco in Hoboken, N.J., Samantha Henry in Teterboro, N.J., and Kathy Matheson in Ambler, Pa., and AP News researcher Julie Reed contributed to this report.

I Have Fallen In Love (With the Same Woman Three Times)

2009-08-03T09:35:00.000-07:00

I Have Fallen In Love - Jose Mari Chan
I Have Fallen In Love
Lyrics by Ninoy Aquino
Music by Jose Mari Chan

I have fallen in love
With the same woman three times
In a day spanning nineteen years
Of tearful joys and joyful tears.
I loved her first when she was young
Enchanting and vibrant, eternally new
She was brilliant, fragrant and cool
As the morning dew.

I fell in love with her the second time
When first she bore her child and mine
Always by my side, the source of my strength
Helping to turn the tide.
But there were candles to bur
The world was my concern
While our home was her domain
And the people were mine

While the children were hers to maintain.
So it was in those eighteen years and a day
Till I was detained
Forced in prison to stay.
Suddenly she’s our sole support
Source of comfort
Our wellspring of hope
On her shoulders fell the burden of life.

I fell in love again
With the same woman the third time
Looming from the battle
Her courage will never fade.
Amidst the hardships she has remained
Undaunted and unafraid
She is calm, composed
She is God’s lovely maid.
————
This is a poem written by the late Ninoy Aquino for her wife, former President Corazon Aquino. So much love between them, we can see, and how tough Mrs. Aquino has been, throughout the years. She has survived a lot of trials, her life has been full, she loves just as much as she is loved –maybe even more. Hopefully, from this, more Filipinos will be made more away of sickness, and that there’d be an even better colonetix, to help all afflicted with it — especially the poor.
Prayers for the former President.

Former Philippine President Corazon Aquino dies at 76

2009-07-31T18:22:00.000-07:00

MANILA, Philippines – Former President Corazon Aquino, who swept away a dictator with a "people power" revolt and then sustained democracy by fighting off seven coup attempts in six years, died on Saturday, her son said. She was 76.

The uprising she led in 1986 ended the repressive 20-year regime of Ferdinand Marcos and inspired nonviolent protests across the globe, including those that ended Communist rule in eastern Europe.

But she struggled in office to meet high public expectations. Her land redistribution program fell short of ending economic domination by the landed elite, including her own family. Her leadership, especially in social and economic reform, was often indecisive, leaving many of her closest allies disillusioned by the end of her term.

Still, the bespectacled, smiling woman in her trademark yellow dress remained beloved in the Philippines, where she was affectionately referred to as "Tita (Auntie) Cory."

"She was headstrong and single-minded in one goal, and that was to remove all vestiges of an entrenched dictatorship," Raul C. Pangalangan, former dean of the Law School at the University of the Philippines, said earlier this month. "We all owe her in a big way."

Her son, Sen. Benigno "Noynoy" Aquino III, said she died at 3:18 a.m. Saturday (1918 GMT Friday).

Aquino was diagnosed with advanced colon cancer last year and confined to a Manila hospital for more than a month. Her son said the cancer had spread to other organs and she was too weak to continue her chemotherapy.

For the past month, supporters have been holding daily prayers for Aquino in churches in Manila and throughout the country. Requiem Masses were scheduled for later Saturday, and yellow ribbons were tied on trees around her neighborhood in Quezon city.

President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, who is on an official visit to the United States, remembered Aquino as a "national treasure" who helped lead "a revolution to restore democracy and the rule of law to our nation at a time of great peril.

"She picked up the standard from the fallen warrior Ninoy and helped lead our nation to a brighter day," Arroyo said, referring to Aquino' husband, opposition leader Benigno "Ninoy" Aquino Jr., who was assassinated in 1983.

She said the Philippines will observe 10 days of national mourning. The Armed Forces of the Philippines said it would accord full military honors during Aquino's wake, including gun salutes and lowering flags to half-staff.

TV stations on Saturday ran footage of Aquino's years in power together with prayers while her former aides and supporters offered condolences.

"Today our country has lost a mother," said former President Joseph Estrada, calling Aquino "a woman of both strength and graciousness."

Even the exiled Communist Party founder Jose Maria Sison, whom Aquino freed from jail in 1986, paid tribute from the Netherlands.

Aquino's unlikely rise began in 1983 after her husband was gunned down on the tarmac of Manila's international airport as he returned from exile in the United States to challenge Marcos, his longtime adversary.

The killing enraged many Filipinos and unleashed a broad-based opposition movement that thrust Aquino into the role of national leader.

"I don't know anything about the presidency," she declared in 1985, a year before she agreed to run against Marcos, uniting the fractious opposition, the business community, and later the armed forces to drive the dictator out.

Maria Corazon Cojuangco was born on Jan. 25, 1933, into a wealthy, politically powerful family in Paniqui, about 75 miles (120 kilometers) north of Manila.

She attended private school in Manila and earned a degree in French from the College of Mount St. Vincent in New York. In 1954 she married Ninoy Aquino, the fiercely ambitious scion of another political family. He rose from provincial governor to senator and finally opposition leader.

Marcos, elected president in 1965, declared martial law in 1972 to avoid term limits. He abolished the Congress and jailed Aquino's husband and thousands of opponents, journalists and activists without charges. Aquino became her husband's political stand-in, confidant, message carrier and spokeswoman.

A military tribunal sentenced her husband to death for alleged links to communist rebels but, under pressure from U.S. President Jimmy Carter, Marcos allowed him to leave in May 1980 for heart surgery in the U.S.

It was the start of a three-year exile. With her husband at Harvard University holding court with fellow exiles, academics, journalists and visitors from Manila, Aquino was the quiet homemaker, raising their five children and serving tea. Away from the hurly-burly of Philippine politics, she described the period as the best of their marriage.

The halcyon days ended when her husband decided to return to regroup the opposition. While she and the children remained in Boston, he flew to Manila, where he was shot as he descended the stairs from the plane.

The government blamed a suspected communist rebel, but subsequent investigations pointed to a soldier who was escorting him from the plane on Aug. 21, 1983.

Aquino heard of the assassination in a phone call from a Japanese journalist. She recalled gathering the children and, as a deeply religious woman, praying for strength.

"During Ninoy's incarceration and before my presidency, I used to ask why it had always to be us to make the sacrifice," she said in a 2007 interview with The Philippine Star newspaper. "And then, when Ninoy died, I would say, 'Why does it have to be me now?' It seemed like we were always the sacrificial lamb."

She returned to the Philippines three days later. One week after that, she led the largest funeral procession Manila had seen. Crowd estimates ranged as high as 2 million.

With public opposition mounting against Marcos, he stunned the nation in November 1985 by calling a snap election in a bid to shore up his mandate. The opposition, including then Manila Archbishop Cardinal Jaime L. Sin, urged Aquino to run.

After a fierce campaign, the vote was held on Feb. 7, 1986. The National Assembly declared Marcos the winner, but journalists, foreign observers and church leaders alleged massive fraud.

With the result in dispute, a group of military officers mutinied against Marcos on Feb. 22 and holed up with a small force in a military camp in Manila.

Over the following three days, hundreds of thousands of Filipinos responded to a call by the Roman Catholic Church to jam the broad highway in front of the camp to prevent an attack by Marcos forces.

On the third day, against the advice of her security detail, Aquino appeared at the rally alongside the mutineers, led by Defense Minister Juan Ponce Enrile and Lt. Gen. Fidel Ramos, the military vice chief of staff and Marcos' cousin.

From a makeshift platform, she declared: "For the first time in the history of the world, a civilian population has been called to defend the military."

The military chiefs pledged their loyalty to Aquino and charged that Marcos had won the election by fraud.

U.S. President Ronald Reagan, a longtime supporter of Marcos, called on him to resign. "Attempts to prolong the life of the present regime by violence are futile," the White House said. American officials offered to fly Marcos out of the Philippines.

On Feb. 25, Marcos and his family went to the U.S.-run Clark Air Base outside Manila and flew to Hawaii, where he died three years later.

The same day, Aquino was sworn in as the Philippines' first female leader.

Over time, the euphoria fizzled as the public became impatient and Aquino more defensive as she struggled to navigate treacherous political waters and build alliances to push her agenda.

"People used to compare me to the ideal president, but he doesn't exist and never existed. He has never lived," she said in the 2007 Philippine Star interview.

The right attacked her for making overtures to communist rebels and the left, for protecting the interests of wealthy landowners.

Aquino signed an agrarian reform bill that virtually exempted large plantations like her family's sugar plantation from being distributed to landless farmers.

When farmers protested outside the Malacanang Presidential Palace on Jan. 22, 1987, troops opened fire, killing 13 and wounding 100.

The bloodshed scuttled talks with communist rebels, who had galvanized opposition to Marcos but weren't satisfied with Aquino either.

As recently as 2004, at least seven workers were killed in clashes with police and soldiers at the family's plantation, Hacienda Luisita, over its refusal to distribute its land.

Aquino also attempted to negotiate with Muslim separatists in the southern Philippines, but made little progress.

Behind the public image of the frail, vulnerable widow, Aquino was an iron-willed woman who dismissed criticism as the carping of jealous rivals. She knew she had to act tough to earn respect in the Philippines' macho culture.

"When I am just with a few close friends, I tell them, 'OK, you don't like me? Look at the alternatives,' and that shuts them up," she told America's NBC television in a 1987 interview.

Her term was punctuated by repeated coup attempts — most staged by the same clique of officers who had risen up against Marcos and felt they had been denied their fair share of power. The most serious attempt came in December 1989 when only a flyover by U.S. jets prevented mutinous troops from toppling her.

Leery of damaging relations with the United States, Aquino tried in vain to block a historic Senate vote to force the U.S. out of its two major bases in the Philippines.

In the end, the U.S. Air Force pulled out of Clark Air Base in 1991 after the eruption of Mount Pinatubo forced its evacuation and left it heavily damaged. The last American vessel left Subic Bay Naval Base in November 1992.

After stepping down in 1992, Aquino remained active in social and political causes.

Until diagnosed with colon cancer in March 2008, she joined rallies calling for the resignation of President Arroyo over allegations of vote-rigging and corruption.

She kept her distance from another famous widow, flamboyant former first lady Imelda Marcos, who was allowed to return to the Philippines in 1991.

Marcos has called Aquino a usurper and dictator, though she later led prayers for Aquino in July 2009 when the latter was hospitalized. The two never made peace.

Nobody by WONDER GIRLS

2009-07-29T09:11:00.000-07:00

The Wonder Girls (Korean: 원더걸스) are a South Korean girl group. They are produced by singer-songwriter Park Jin-Young and are signed to his talent agency, JYP Entertainment. Each of the five original members were selected through auditions. Debuting in early 2007, they became popular in the fall of that year with the song "Tell Me."
They have scored three consecutive #1 hit singles: "Tell Me", "So Hot", and "Nobody". In 2008, they won two Daesangs ("Artist of the Year" Awards).

Yubin
• Birth name: Kim Yubin (Hangul: 김유빈; Hanja: 金瑜斌)
• Date of birth: October 4, 1988 (age 20)
• Additional Notes :
o Made a cameo in 2PM's 10 Points out of 10 music video and in MBC's sitcom, 'That Person Is Coming'.
o Featured in Chun G's song 'Weak Man' and Kim Bum Soo's song, 'Do You Know That'. Also featured on Andy's first album.
o Wrote the rap for her part in Kim Bum Soo's song.
Ye Eun (Yenny)
• Birth name: Park Ye Eun (Hangul: 박예은; Hanja:朴譽恩)
• Date of birth: May 26, 1989 (age 20)
• Additional Notes:
o Featured in H-eugene's song "Baby I Love You" and One Two's song "Bad Girl".
o Composed and wrote the lyrics for "Saying I Love You" and "For Wonderful"
Sun Ye (Sun)
• Birth name: Min Sunye (Hangul: 민선예; Hanja: 閔先藝)
• Date of birth: August 12, 1989 (age 19)
• Additional Notes:
o Featured in Mighty Mouth's song "Energy".
o Sang "일월지가" ("Sun and Moon") for "Han Sung Byul Gok".
o Composed the "Man Won" song.
o Featured in Lee Byul's music video 'Forever'.
o Featured in JYP's song 'Breakup In The Daylight'.
Sun Mi (Mimi)
• Birth name: Sun Mi (Hangul: 선미; Hanja: 宣美)
• Date of birth: May 2, 1992 (age 17)
• Additional Notes:
o Although all the other members are simply known by their first name, Sun Mi is actually her full name. Her first name is Mi and Sun is her last name.[31]
Sohee
• Birth name: Ahn Sohee (Hangul: 안소희; Hanja: 安昭熙)
• Date of birth: June 27, 1992 (age 17)
• Additional notes:
o Sohee was in the movie I Like It Hot.
o Featured as the lead actress in 8Eight's music video "Without a Heart".
o Made a cameo in MBC's sitcom, 'That Person Is Coming'.
o Has been rumored to have been dating G-Dragon from the korean band, Big Bang

NOBODY (English)
WONDER GIRLS

You Know I still Love You Baby.
And it will never change. (Saranghae)

I want nobody nobody But You, I want nobody nobody But You
How can I be with another, I don't want any other
I want nobody nobody nobody nobody

Why are you trying to, to make me leave ya
I know what you're thinking
Baby why aren't you listening
How can I just
Just love someone else and
Forget you completely
When I know you still love me

Telling me you're not good enough
My life with you is just too tough
You know it's not right so
Just stop and come back boy
How can this be
When we were meant to be

I want nobody nobody But You, I want nobody nobody But You
How can I be with another, I don't want any other
I want nobody nobody nobody nobody

I want nobody nobody But You, I want nobody nobody But You
How can I be with another, I don't want any other
I want nobody nobody nobody nobody

Why can't we just, just be like this
Cause it's you that I need and nothing else until the end
Who else can ever make me feel the way I
I feel when I'm with you, no one will ever do

Telling me you're not good enough
My life with you is just too tough
You know me enough so
You know what I need boy
Right next to you is where I need to be.

I want nobody nobody But You, I want nobody nobody But You
How can I be with another, I don't want any other
I want nobody nobody nobody nobody

I want nobody nobody But You, I want nobody nobody But You
How can I be with another, I don't want any other
I want nobody nobody nobody nobody

I don't want no body, body
I don't want no body, body

Honey you know it's you that I want, it's you that I need
Why can't you see~

I want nobody nobody But You, I want nobody nobody But You
How can I be with another, I don't want any other
I want nobody nobody nobody nobody

Back to the days when we were so young and wild and free
Nothing else matters other than you and me
So tell me why can't it be
Please let me live my life my way
Why do you push me away
I don't want nobody nobody nobody nobody but you.

NOBODY (Original)
WONDER GIRLS

You Know I still Love You Baby.
And it will never change.

I want nobody nobody But You, I want nobody nobody But You
Nandareun sarameun silheo nigaanimyeon silheo
I want nobody nobody nobody nobody

Nan silheunde wae nar mir eonaeryeogohani jakku naemareun deutji anhgo
Wae ireohge dareun namjaege narbonaeryeo hani eotteohge ireoni

Nar wihae geureoh dan geumar
Neonbujok hadaneun geumar
Ijen geuman haeneon nareur aljanha wae won hajido anhneun georgang yohae

I want nobody nobody But You I want nobody nobody But You
Nandareun sarameun silheo niga animyeon silheo
I want nobody nobody nobody nobody

I want nobody nobody But You I want nobody nobody But You
Nandareun sarameun silheo niga animyeon silheo
I want nobody nobody nobody nobody

Nan joheun de nan haengbok hande neoman isseu myeondwae deo baral geeopt neunde
Nugur mannaseo haengbok haran geoya nan neor tteonaseo haengbok harsueopseo

Nar wihae geureoh dan geumar
Neonbujok hadaneun geumar
Mari andoeneun mari ran georwae molla niga eopsi eotteohge haengbokhae

I want nobody nobody But You I want nobody nobody But You
Nandareun sarameun silheo niga animyeon silheo
I want nobody nobody nobody nobody

I want nobody nobody But You I want nobody nobody But You

Nandareun sarameun silheo niga animyeon silheo
I want nobody nobody nobody nobody

I don't want nobody body. I don't want nobody body
Naneun jeongmar niga animyeon niga animyeon silhdan maryaa~

I want nobody nobody But You I want nobody nobody But You
Nandareun sarameun silheo niga animyeon silheo
I want nobody nobody nobody nobody

I want nobody nobody But You I want nobody nobody But You
Nandareun sarameun silheo niga animyeon silheo
I want nobody nobody nobody nobody

RAP)
Back to the days when we were so young and wild and free
Modeunge neomuna kkumman gatatdeon geuttaero doragago sipeunde
Waejakku nareur mireo naeryeohae

Why do you push me away. I don't want nobody nobody

Nobody nobody but you.

SONA 2009

2009-07-28T19:45:00.000-07:00

The State of the Nation Address by the President of the Republic of the Philippines, Her Excellency Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, delivered at the Batasan Complex, House of the Representatives, Quezon City on July 27, 2009.

Thank you, ladies and gentlemen, good afternoon. Before I begin my report to the nation, please join me first in a moment of prayer for President Cory Aquino.

Thank you, Speaker Nograles, Senate President Enrile, Senators, Representatives, Vice President de Castro, President Ramos, Chief Justice Puno, Ambassadors, friends:

The past twelve months have been a year for the history books. Financial meltdown in the West spread throughout the world.

Tens of millions lost their jobs; billions across the globe have been hurt—the poor always harder than the rich. No one was spared..

It has affected us already. But the story of the Philippines in 2008 is that the country weathered a succession of global crises in fuel, in food, then in finance and finally the economy in a global recession, never losing focus and with economic fundamentals intact.

A few days ago, Moody’s has just announced the upgrade of our credit rating, citing the resilience of our economy. The state of our nation is a strong economy. Good news for our people, bad news for our critics.

I did not become President to be popular. To work, to lead, to protect and preserve our country, our people, that is why I became President. When my father left the Presidency, we were second to Japan. I want our Republic to be ready for the first world in 20 years.

Towards that vision, we made key reforms. Our economic plan centers on putting people first. Higit sa lahat ang layunin ng ating mga patakaran ay tulungan ang masipag na karaniwang Pilipino. New tax revenues were put in place to help pay for better healthcare, more roads, a strong education system. Housing policies were designed to lift up our poorest citizens so they can live and raise a family with dignity. Ang ating mga puhunan sa agrikultura ay naglalayong kilalanin ang ating mga magsasaka bilang backbone ng ating bansa, at bigyan sila ng mga modernong kagamitan to feed our nation and feed their own family..

Had we listened to the critics of those policies, had we not braced ourselves for the crisis that came, had we taken the easy road much preferred by politicians eyeing elections, this country would be flat on its back. It would take twice the effort just to get it back again on its feet—to where we are now because we took the responsibility and paid the political price of doing the right thing. For standing with me and doing the right thing, thank you, Congress.

The strong, bitter and unpopular revenue measures of the past few years have spared our country the worst of the global financial shocks. They gave us the resources to stimulate the economy. Nabigyan nila ang pinakamalaking pagtaas ng IRA ng mga LGU na P40 billion itong taon, imparting strength throughout the country and at every level of government.

Compared to the past, we have built more and better infrastructure, including those started by others but left unfinished. The Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway is a prime example of building better roads. It creates wealth as the flagship of the Subic-Clark corridor.

We have built airports of international standard, upgraded domestic airports, built seaports and the RORO system. I ask Congress for a Philippine Transport Security Authority Law..

Some say that after this SONA, it will be all politics. Sorry, but there’s more work..

Sa telecommunications naman, inatasan ko ang Telecommunications Commission na kumilos na tungkol sa mga sumbong na dropped calls at mga nawawalang load sa cellphone. We need to amend the Commonwealth-era Public Service Law. And we need to do it now..

Kung noong nakaraan, lumakas ang electronics, today we are creating wealth by developing the BPO and tourism sectors as additional engines of growth. Electronics and other manufactured exports rise and fall in accordance with the state of the world economy. But BPO remains resilient. With earnings of $6 billion and employment of 600,000, the BPO phenomenon speaks eloquently of our competitiveness and productivity. Let us have a Department of ICT..

In the last four years tourism almost doubled. It is now a $5 billion industry.

Our reforms gave us the resources to protect our people, our financial system and our economy from the worst of shocks that the best in the west failed to anticipate..

They gave us the resources to do reforms para palawakin ang suportang panlipunan and enhance spending power. For helping me raise salaries through joint resolution, thank you Congress.

Cash handouts give the most immediate relief and produce the widest stimulating effect. Nakikinabang ang 700,000 na pinakamahihirap na pamilya sa programang Pantawid Pamilya.

Our preference is to invest in projects with the same stimulus effects but also with long-term contributions to national progress..

Sa pagpapamahagi ng milyun-milyong ektaryang lupa, 700,000 na katutubo at mahigit isang milyong benepisyaryo ng CARP ay taas-noong may-ari na ng sariling lupa. Hinihiling ko sa Kongreso na ipasa agad ang pagpapalawig ng CARP, at dapat ma-condone ang P42 billion na land reform liabilities dahil 18% lamang ang nabayaran mula 1972. Napapanahon dahil it will unfreeze the rural property market. Ang mahal kong ama ang nag-emancipate ng mga magsasaka. Ii-mancipate naman natin ngayon ang titulo..

Nakinabang ang pitong milyong entrepreneurs sa P165 billion na microfinance. Nakinabang ang 1,000 sa economic resiliency plan. Kasama natin ngayon ang isa sa kanila, si Gigi Gabiola. Dating household service worker sa Dubai, ngayon siya ay nagtatrabaho sa DOLE. Good luck, Gigi.

Nakinabang ang isang milyong pamilya sa programang pabahay at palupa, mula sa PAG-IBIG, NHA, community mortgage program, certificates of lot awards, at saka yung inyong Loan Condonation and Restructuring Act..

Our average inflation is the lowest since 1966. Last June, it dropped to 1.5%. Paano nakamit ito? Proper policies lowered interest rates, which lowered costs to business and consumers.

Dahil sa ating mga reporma, nakaya nating ibenta ang bigas NFA sa P18.25 per kilo kahit tumaas ang presyo sa labas mula P17.50 hanggang P30 dahil sa kakulangan ng supply sa mundo. Habang, sa unang pagkakataon, naitaas ang pamimili ng palay sa mga magsasaka, P17 mula sa P11.

Dahil sa ating mga reporma, nakaya nating mamuhunan sa pagkain—anticipating an unexpected global food crisis. Nakagawa tayo ng libu-libong kilometro ng farm-to-market roads at kasama ng pribadong sector, natubigan ang dalawang milyong ektarya. Mga Badjao gaya ni Tarnati Dannawi ay tinuruan ng modernong mariculture. Umabot na sa P180,000 ang kinita niya mula noong nakaraang taon. Congratulations, Tarnati. We will help more fisherfolk shift to fish farming with a budget of P1 billion.

Dahi dumarami na naman daw ang pamilyang nagugutom, mamumuhunan tayo ng bago sa Hunger Mitgation program na nakitang mabisa. Tulungan nito ako dito Kongreso.

Mula noong 2001, Nanawagan tayo ng mas murang gamot. Nagbebenta na tayo ng mga gamot na kalahating presyo sa libu-libong Botika ng Bayan at Botika ng Barangay sa maraming dako ng bansa. Our efforts prodded the pharmaceutical companies to come up with low-cost generics and brands like RiteMed. I supported the tough version of the House of the Cheaper Medicine Law. I supported it over the weak version of my critics. The result: the drug companies volunteered to bring down drug prices, slashing by half the prices of 16 drugs. Thank you, Congressman Cua, Alvarez, Biron and Locsin..

Pursuant to law, I am placing other drugs under a maximum retail price. To those who want to be President, this advice: If you want something done, do it hard, do it well. Don’t pussyfoot. Just do it. Don't say bad words in public.

Sa health insurance, sakop na ang 86% ng ating populasyon.

Sa Rent Control Law ng 2005 hanggang 2008, hanggang sampung porsyento lang maaaring itaas taon-taon ang upa. Iyong kakapirma nating batas naglagay ng isang taong moratorium, tapos pitong porsyento lang ang maaaring itaas. Salamat, Kongreso..

Noong isang taon, nabiyayaan ng tig-P500 ang mahigit pitong milyong tahanan bilang Katas ng Pantawid Koryente para sa mga small electricity users..
Iyong power rates, ang EPIRA natin ang pangmatagalang sagot. EPIRA dismantled monopoly. But minana natin iyong power purchase agreements under preceding administrations, so hindi pa natin makuha iyong buong intended effect. Pero happy na rin tayo, dahil isang taon na lamang iyan. The next generation will benefit from low prices from our EPIRA. Thank you.

Samantala, umabot na sa halos lahat ng barangay ang elektrisidad. We increased indigenous energy from 48% to 58%. Nakatipid tayo sa dollars tapos malaki pa ang na-reduce pa iyong oil consumption. The huge reduction in fossil fuel is the biggest proof of energy independence and environmental responsibility. Further reduction will come with the implementation of the Renewable Energy Act.and the Biofuels Act..again, thank you.

The next generation will also benefit from our lower public debt to GDP ratio. It declined from 78% in 2000 to 55% in 2008. We cut in half the debt of government corporations from 15% to 7. Likewise foreign debt from 73% to 32%. Kung meron man tayong malaking kaaway na tinalo, walang iba kundi ang utang, iyong foreign debt. Past administrations conjured the demon of foreign debt. We exorcised it..

The market grows economies. A free market, not a free-for-all.

To that end, we improved our banking system to complement its inherent conservatism. The Bangko Sentral has been prudent. Thank you, Governor Tetangco, for being so effective. The BSP will be even more effective if Congress will amend its Charter..

We worked on the Special Purpose Vehicle Act, reducing non-performing loans from 18% to 4% and improving loan-deposit ratios..

Our new Securitization Law did not encourage the recklessness that brought down giant banks and insurance companies elsewhere and laid their economies to waste. In fact, it monitors and regulates the new-fangled financial schemes. Thank you, Congress..

We will work to increase tax effort through improved collections and new sin taxes to further our capacity to reduce poverty and pursue growth. Revenue enhancement must come from the Department of Finance plugging leaks and catching tax and customs cheats. I call on tax-paying citizens and tax-paying businesses: help the BIR and Customs spot those cheats…

Taxes should come from alcohol and tobacco and not from books. Tax hazards to lungs and livers, do not tax minds. Ang kita mula sa buwis sa alak at sigarilyo ay dapat pumunta sa kalusugan at edukasyon. Sa kalusugan, pondohan ang Philhealth premiums ng pinakamahihirap. Ponhodhan ang mas maraming classroom at computers...

Pardon my partiality for the teaching profession. I was a teacher..

Kaya namuhunan tayo ng malaki sa edukasyon at skills training..

Ang magandang edukasyon ay susi sa mas mabuting buhay, the great equalizer that allows every young Filipino a chance to realize their dreams.

Nagtayo tayo ng 95,000 na silid-aralan, nagdagdag ng 60,000 na guro, naglaan ng P1.5 billion para sa teacher training, especially for 100,000 English teachers. Isa sa pinakamahirap na Millennium Development Goals ay iyong Edukasyon para sa Lahat pagdating ng 2015, na nangunguhulugang lahat ng nasa edad ay nasa grade school. Halos walang bansang nakakatupad nito. Ngunit nagsisikap tayo. Binaba natin ang gastos ng pagpasok. Nagtayo tayo ng mga eskwela sa higit isang libong barangay na dati walang eskwelahan, upang makatipid ng gastos ng pasahe ang mga bata. Tinanggal natin ang miscellaneous fees para sa primary school.

Hindi na kailangan ang uniporme sa mga estudyante sa public schools.

We assist financially half of all students in private high schools..

We have provided 600,000 college and post-graduate scholarships. One of them Mylene Amerol-Macumbal, finished Accounting at MSU-IIT, went to law school, and placed second in the last bar exams--the first Muslim woman bar topnotcher. Congratulations.

In technical education and skills training, we have invested three times that of three previous administrations combined. Narito si Jennifer Silbor, isa sa sampung milyong trainee. Natuto siya ng medical transcription. Now, as an independent contractor and lecturer for transcriptions in Davao, kumikita siya ng P18,000 bawat buwan. Good job.

The Presidential Task Force on Education headed by Jesuit educator Father Bienvenido Nebres has come out with the Main Education Highway towards a Knowledge-Based Economy. It envisions seamless education from basic to vocational school or college..

It seeks to mainstream early childhood development in basic education. Our children are our most cherished possession. In their early years we must make sure they get a healthy start in life. They must receive the right food for a healthy body, the right education for a bright and inquiring mind—and the equal opportunity for a meaningful job..

For college admission, the Task Force recommends mandatory Scholastic Aptitude Tests. It also recommends that private higher education institutions and state universities and colleges should be harmonized. It also recommends that CHED will oversee of local universities and colleges. For professions seeking international recognition—engineering, architecture, accountancy, pharmacy and physical therapy—it recommends radical reform: 10 years of basic education, two years of pre-university, three years of university.

Our educational system should make the Filipino fit not just for whatever jobs happen to be on offer today, but also for whatever economic challenge life will throw in their way..

Sa hirap at ginhawa, ang ating overseas Filipinos ay pinapatatag ang ating bansa. Iyong padala nilang $16 billion noong isang taon ay record. Itong taon, mas mataas pa..

I know that this is not a sacrifice joyfully borne. This is work where it can be found—in faraway places, among strangers with different cultures. It is lonely work, it is very hard work..

Kaya nagsisikap tayong lumikha ng mga trabahong maganda ang bayad dito sa atin so that overseas work will just be a career choice, not the only option for a hardworking Filipino in search of a better life.

Meanwhile, we should make their sacrifices worthwhile. Dapat gumawa tayo ng mga mas malakas na paraan upang proteksyonan at palawak ang halaga ng kanilang pinagsikapang sweldo. That means stronger consumer protection for OFWs investing in property and products back home. Para sa kanila, pinapakilos natin ang Investors Protection Task Force.

Hindi ako nag-aatubiling bisitahin ang ating taong bayan at ang kanilang mga hosts sa buong mundo – mula Hapon.hanggang Brazil, mula Europa at Middle East hanggang sa American Midwest, nakikinig sa kanilang mga problema at pangangailangan, inaalam kung paano matulungan sila n gating pamahalaan—-by working out better policies on migrant labor, or by saving lives and restoring liberty.

Pagpunta ko sa Saudi, pinatawad ni Haring Abdullah ang pitong daang OFW na nasa preso. Pinuno nila ang isang buong eroplano at umuwi kasama ko.

Mula sa ating State Visit to Spain, it has become our biggest European donor. At si Haring Juan Carlos ay nakikipag-usap sa ibang mga bansa para sa ating mga namomoblemang OFW. Ganoon di si Sheikh Khalifa, ang Prime Minister ng Bahrain.

Pagpunta ko sa Kuwait, Emir al-Sabah commuted death sentences.

We thank all the world leaders who have shown compassion to our OFWs, Maraming salamat po.

Our vigorous international engagement has helped bring in foreign investment. Net foreign direct investments multiplied 15 times during our administration.

Our vigorous international engagement has helped bring in foreign investment. Net foreign direct investments multiplied 15 times during our administration. Kasama ng ating mga OFWs, they more than doubled our foreign exchange reserves. Pinalakas ang ating piso at naiwasan ang lubhang pagtaas ng presyo. They upgraded our credit because while the reserves of our peers shrunk our reserves grew by $3 billion.

Our international engagement has also corrected historical injustice. The day we visited Washington, Senator Daniel Inouye successfully sponsored benefits for our veterans as part of America’s fiscal stimulus package.

I have accepted the invitation of President Obama to be the first Southeast Asian leader to meet him at the White House, this week.

That he sought us the Philippines testifies to our strong and deep ties.

High on our agenda will be peace and security issues. Terrorism: how to meet it, how to end it, how to address its roots in injustice and prejudice—and most and always how to protect lives.

We will also discuss nuclear non-proliferation. The Philippines will chair the review of the nuclear weapons non-proliferation Treaty in New York in May 2010. The success of the talks will be a major diplomatic achievement for us.

There is a range of other issues we will discuss, including the global challenge of climate change, especially the threat to countries with long coastlines. And there is the global recession, its worse impact on poor people, and the options that can spare them from the worst.

In 2008 up to the first quarter of 2009 we stood among only a few economies in Asia-Pacific that did not shrink. Compare this in 2001, when some of my current critics were driven out by people power, Asia was then surging but our country was on the brink of bankruptcy.

Since then, our economy has posted uninterrupted growth for 33 quarters; more than doubled its size from $76 billion to $186 billion. The average GDP growth from 2001 to the first quarter of 2009 is the highest in 43 years.

Bumaba ang bilang ng nagsasabing mahihirap sila, mula 59% sa 47%. Kahit na lumaki ang ating populasyon, nabawasan ng dalawang milyon ang bilang ng mahihirap. GNP per capita rose from a Third World $967 to $2,051. Lumikha tayo ng walong milyong trabaho, an average of a million per year, much, much more than at any other time.

In sum:

1. We have a strong economy in a strong fiscal position to withstand political shocks.
2. We built new modern infrastructure and completed unfinished ones.
3. The economy is more fair to the poor than ever before.
4. We are building a sound base for the next generation.
5. International authorities have taken notice that we are safer from environmental degradation and man-made disasters.

As a country in the path of typhoons and in the Pacific Rim of Fire, we must be as prepared as the latest technology permits to anticipate natural calamities when that is possible; to extend immediate and effective relief when it is not….The mapping of flood- and landslide-prone areas is almost complete. Early warning, forecasting and monitoring systems have been improved, with weather tracking facilities in Subic, Tagaytay, Mactan, Mindanao, Pampanga.

We have worked on flood control infrastructure like those for Pinatubo, Agno, Laoag, and Abucay, which will pump the run off waters from Quezon City and Tondo flooding Sampaloc. This will help relieve hundreds of hectares in this old city of its age-old woe.

Patuloy naman iyong sa Camanava, dagdag sa Pinatubo, Iloilo, Pasig-Marikina, Bicol River Basin, at mga river basin ng Mindanao.

The victims of typhoon Frank in Panay should receive their long-overdue assistance package. I ask Congress to pass the SNITS Law.

Namana natin ang pinakamatagal ng rebelyon ng Komunista sa buong mundo.

Si Leah de la Cruz isa sa labindalawang libong rebel returnee. Sixteen pa lang siya nang sumali sa NPA. Naging kasapi sa regional White Area Committee, napromote sa Leyte Party Committee Secretary. Nahuli noong 2006. She is now involved in an LGU-supported handicraft livelihood training of former rebels. We love you, Leah!

There is now a good prospect for peace talks both with both the Communist Party of the Philippines and the MILF, with whom we are now on ceasefire.

We inherited an age-old conflict in Mindanao, exacerbated by a politically popular but near-sighted policy of massive retaliation. This only provoked the other side to continue the war.

In these two internal conflicts, ang tanong ay hindi, “Sino ang mananalo?” kundi, bakit ba kailangang mag-away ang kapwa Pilipino tungkol sa mga isyu na alam ng dalawang panig over issues na malulutas naman sa paraang demokratiko.

There is nothing more that I would wish for than peace in Mindanao. It will be a blessing for all its people, Muslim, Christian and lumads. It will show other religiously divided communities that there can be common ground on which to live together in peace, harmony and cooperation that respects each other’s religious beliefs.

At sa lahat ng dako ng bansa, kailangan nating protektahan an gating mamamayan kontra sa krimen -- in their homes, in their neighborhoods, in their communities. How shall crime be fought? Through the five pillars of justice. We call on Congress to fund more policemen on the streets.

Real government is about looking beyond the vested to the national interest, setting up the necessary conditions to enable the next, more enabled and more empowered generation to achieve a country as prosperous, a people as content, as ours deserve to be.

The noisiest critics of constitutional reform tirelessly and shamelessly attempted Cha-Cha when they thought they could take advantage of a shift in the form of government. Now that they feel they cannot benefit from it, they oppose it.

As the process of fundamental political reform begins, let us address the highest exercise of democracy.voting!

In 2001, I said we would finance fully automated elections. We got it, thanks to Congress.

At the end of this speech I shall step down from this stage, but not from the Presidency. My term does not end until next year. Until then, I will fight for the ordinary Filipino. The nation comes first. There is much to do as head of state—to the very last day.

A year is a long time. Patuloy ang pamumuhunan sa tinatawag na three E’s ng ekonomiya, environment at edukasyon. There are many perils that we must still guard against.

A man-made calamity is already upon us, global in scale. As I said earlier, so far we have been spared its worst effects but we cannot be complacent. We only know that we have generated more resources on which to draw, and thereby created options we could take. Thank God we did not let our critics stop us.

As the campaign unfolds and the candidates take to the airwaves, I ask them to talk more about how they will build up the nation rather than tear down their opponents. Our candidates must understand the complexities of our government and what it takes to move the country forward. Give the electorate real choices and not just sweet talk.

Meanwhile, I will keep a steady hand on the tiller, keeping the ship of state away from the shallows some prefer, and steering it straight on the course I set in 2001.

Ang ating taong bayan ay masipag at maka-Diyos. These qualities are epitomized in someone like Manny Pacquiao.Manny trained tirelessly, by the book, with iron discipline, with the certain knowledge that he had to fight himself, his weaknesses first, before he could beat his opponent. That was the way to clinch his victories and his ultimate title: ang pinakadakilang boksingero sa kasaysayan.Mabuhay ka, Manny!

However much a President wishes it, a national problem cannot be knocked out with a single punch. A president must work with the problem as much as against it, and turn it into a solution if I can.

There isn’t a day I do not work at my job or a waking moment when I do not think through a work-related problem. Even my critics cannot begrudge the long hours I put in. Our people deserve-a-government that works just as hard as they do.

A President must be on the job 24/7, ready for any contingency, any crisis, anywhere, anytime.

Everything right can be undone by even a single wrong. Every step forward must be taken in the teeth of political pressures and economic constraints that could push you two steps back-if-you flinch and falter. I have not flinched, I have not faltered. Hindi ako umaatras sa hamon.

And I have never done any of the things that have scared my worst critics so much. They are frightened by their own shadows.

In the face of attempted coups, I issued emergency proclamations just in case. But I was able to resolve these military crises with the ordinary powers of my office. My critics call it dictatorship. I call it determination. We know it as strong government.

But I never declared martial law, though they are running scared as if I did. In truth, what they are really afraid of is their weakness in the face of this self-imagined threat.

I say to them: do not tell us what we all know, that democracy can be threatened. Tell us what you will do when it is attacked.

I know what to do.

I know what to do, as I have shown, I will defend democracy with arms when it is threatened by violence; with firmness when it is weakened by division; with law and order where it is subverted by anarchy; and always, I will try to sustain it by wise policies of economic progress, so that a democracy means not just an empty liberty but a full life for all.

I never expressed the desire to extend myself beyond my term. Many of those who accuse me of it tried to cling like nails to their posts.

I am accused of misgovernance. Many of those who accuse me of it left me the problem of their misgovernance to solve. And we did it.

I am falsely accused, without proof, of using my office for personal profit. Many of those who accuse me of it have lifestyles and spending habits that make them walking proofs of that crime.

We can read their frustrations. They had the chance to serve this good country and they blew it by serving themselves.

Those who live in glass houses should cast no stones. Those who should be in jail should not threaten it, especially if they have been there.

Our administration, with the highest average rate of growth, recording multiple increases in investments, with the largest job creation in history, and which gets a credit upgrade at the height of a world recession, must be doing something right, even if some of those cocooned in corporate privilege refuse to recognize it.

Governance, however, is not about looking back and getting even. It is about looking forward and giving more—to the people who gave us the greatest, hardest gift of all: the care of a country.

From Bonifacio at Balintawak to Cory Aquino at EDSA and up to today, we have struggled to bring power to the people, and this country to the eminence it deserves.

Today the Philippines is weathering well the storm that is raging around the world. It is growing stronger with the challenge. When the weather clears, as it will, there is no telling how much farther forward it can go. Believe in it. I believe.

We can and we must-march-forward-with-hope, optimism and determination.

We must come together, work together and walk together toward the future.

Bagamat malaking hamon ang nasa ating harapan, nasa kamay natin ang malaking kakayahan. Halina’t pagtulungan nating tiyakin ang karapat-dapat na kinabukasan ng ating Inang Bayan.

And to the people of our good country, for allowing me to serve as your President, maraming salamat.

Mabuhay ang Pilipinas.

Massive quake moves NZealand closer to Australia

2009-07-22T09:07:00.000-07:00

WELLINGTON (AFP) – A massive 7.8 magnitude earthquake last week has moved the south of New Zealand closer to Australia, scientists said Wednesday.

With the countries separated by the 2,250-kilometre-wide (1,400-mile-wide) Tasman Sea, the 30 centimetre (12 inch) closing of the gap in New Zealand's southwest won't make much difference.

But earthquake scientist Ken Gledhill of GNS Science said the shift illustrated the huge force of the tremor, the biggest in the world so far this year.

"Basically, New Zealand just got a little bit bigger is another way to think about it," he told AFP.

While the southwest of the South Island moved about 30 centimetres closer to Australia, the east coast of the island moved only one centimetre westwards, he said.

The biggest quake in New Zealand in 78 years caused only slight damage to buildings and property when it struck the remote southwest Fiordland region of the South Island last Thursday.

A small tsunami was generated by the earthquake, with a tide gauge on the West Coast of New Zealand recording a wave of one metre.

"For a very large earthquake, although it was very widely felt, there were very few areas that were severely shaken," Gledhill said.

Aerial inspection of the forested fiords near the quake's epicentre showed few land slips or other signs of damage.

This was partly because the type of rupture at the boundaries of the Australian and Pacific plates meant the energy from the quake was largely directed westwards towards the sea rather than inland towards the nearest towns.

The type of quake, known as a subduction thrust rupture, also meant the quake produced lower frequency shaking, felt as a rolling motion, rather than sharp jolts which would have caused more damage.

New Zealand frequently suffers earthquakes because it marks the meeting point of the Australian and Pacific continental plates.

Gledhill said the latest quake may have brought forward a major quake on the offshore section of the Alpine fault, off the coast of Fiordland in the Tasman Sea.

"There could easily be another large earthquake in another part of that region. We can't predict that obviously."

The latest quake was the biggest since February 2, 1931 when a 7.8 quake killed at least 256 people in the North Island city of Napier.

The biggest quake recorded here measured 8.2 and caused major damage in 1855 in the fledgling European settlement that later became the capital Wellington.

The latest quake was unusual in striking right on the boundary of the Australian and Pacific plates and will be important in researching earthquake hazards, Gledhill said.

Join Me at the Bar

2009-07-18T05:34:00.000-07:00

Hello Everybody Come and....

Join Me at The Bar

British girl with two hearts

2009-07-14T07:59:00.000-07:00

By MARIA CHENG, AP Medical Writer Maria Cheng, Ap Medical Writer

LONDON – British doctors designed a radical solution to save a girl with major heart problems in 1995: they implanted a donor heart directly onto her own failing heart.

After 10 years with two blood pumping organs, Hannah Clark's faulty one did what many experts had thought impossible: it healed itself enough so that doctors could remove the donated heart.

But she also had a price to pay: the drugs Clark took to prevent her body from rejecting the donated heart led to malignant cancer that required chemotherapy.

Details of Clark's revolutionary transplant and follow-up care were published online Tuesday in the medical journal Lancet.

"This shows that the heart can indeed repair itself if given the opportunity," said Dr. Douglas Zipes, a past president of the American College of Cardiology. Zipes was not linked to Clark's treatment or to the Lancet paper. "The heart apparently has major regenerative powers, and it is now key to find out how they work."

In 1994, when Clark was eight months old, she developed severe heart failure and doctors put her on a waiting list to get a new heart. But Clark's heart difficulties caused problems with her lungs, meaning she also needed a lung transplant.

To avoid doing a risky heart and lung transplant, doctors decided to try something completely different.

Sir Magdi Yacoub of Imperial College London, one of the world's top heart surgeons, said that if Clark's heart was given a time-out, it might be able to recover on its own. So in 1995 Yacoub and others grafted a donor heart from a 5-month-old directly onto Clark's own heart.

After four and a half years, both hearts were working fine, so Yacoub and colleagues decided not to take out the extra heart.

The powerful drugs Clark was taking to prevent her from rejecting the donor heart then caused cancer, which led to chemotherapy. Even when doctors lowered the doses of drugs to suppress Clark's immune system, the cancer spread, and Clark's body eventually rejected the donor heart.

Luckily, by that time, Clark's own heart seemed to have fully recovered. In February 2006, Dr. Victor Tsang of Great Ormond Street Hospital in London, Yacoub and other doctors removed Clark's donor heart.

Since then, Clark — now 16 years old — has started playing sports, gotten a part-time job, and plans to go back to school in September.

"Thanks to this operation, I've now got a normal life just like all of my friends," said Clark, who lives near Cardiff.

Her parents marveled at her recovery, and said that at one point during Clark's illness, they were told she would be dead within 12 hours.

Miguel Uva, chairman of the European Society of Cardiology's group on cardiovascular surgery, called Clark's case "a miracle," adding that it was rare for patients' hearts to simply get better on their own.

"We have no way of knowing which patients will recover and which ones won't," Uva said.

Still, transplants like Clark's won't be widely available to others due to a shortage of donor hearts and because the necessary surgeries are very complicated. In the last few years, artificial hearts also have been developed that can buy patients the time needed to get a transplant or even for their own heart to recover.

Zipes said if doctors can figure out how Clark's heart healed itself and develop a treatment from that mechanism, many other cardiac patients could benefit.

At the moment, doctors aren't sure how that regeneration happens. Some think there are a small number of stem cells in the heart, which may somehow be triggered in crisis situations to heal damaged tissue.

Experts said Clark's example is encouraging both to doctors and patients.

"It reminds us that not all heart failure is lethal," said Dr. Ileana Pina, a heart failure expert at Case Western Reserve University and spokeswoman for the American Heart Association. "Some heart failure patients have a greater chance of recovery than we thought."

PHIVOLCS watches Mayon closely

2009-07-13T00:35:00.000-07:00

LEGAZPI CITY, Philippines - Mayon Volcano in Albay may proceed to a hazardous eruption, or an explosion that would be dominated by pyroclastic flows rather then the less life-threatening lava flows, scientists told the first meeting of the Provincial Disaster Coordinating Council (PDCC) here today.

Ed Laguerta, resident volcanologist for Bicol of the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs), said unlike the 2006 eruption that was characterized by slow-paced lava flow, the present condition of Mayon could lead to a hazardous eruption and it would be dominated by pyroclastic flow, a very hot gaseous volcano material ranging from 300- to 1000- degrees celcius in temperature and travels faster than lava.

Laguerta said Mayon’s present activity resembles that of its 1993 behavior which eventually led to pyroclastic explosion, that cascaded down its slopes very fast and killed at least 77 farmers tilling their land at the area facing Legazpi City.

The scientist said their instruments detected low degassing activity, which means that more volume of gaseous materials are trapped inside the volcano.

UFC 100: The Lesnar " villain" show

2009-07-12T20:46:00.000-07:00

LAS VEGAS – So Brock Lesnar, in the parlance of pro wrestling, had gone straight heel.

After bludgeoning Frank Mir to retain the Ultimate Fighting Championship heavyweight championship at the hyped UFC 100, the former pro wrestling star decided to put on a real show.

Lesnar ran around the octagon flipping off the Mandalay Bay Events Center crowd with both middle fingers. He shouted at Mir as the challenger sat on a stool trying to regain his equilibrium. Mir stood up and they went sort of nose-to-broken nose before Lesnar cackled with laughter.

In the post-fight interview, Lesnar encouraged the booing fans to “keep going” before continuing to taunt Mir.

No one and nothing was spared. Lesnar even turned his attention to the UFC itself, which paid him an estimated $3 million for the fight, pointing at the giant Bud Light advertisement in the middle of the octagon.

“I’m drinking a cooler full of Coors Light, Coors Light because Bud Light won’t pay me anything.”

Anything for the children at home, big guy?

“Hell, I might even get on top of my wife tonight.”

With his clown-show antics, Brock Lesnar just became the greatest villain in modern fighting. From refusing to tap gloves prefight in a sportsmanlike ritual to this over-the-top rant that came right out of the silly wrestling circus.

“Straight WWE,” said a stunned Dana White, the president of the UFC. “Brock went so far over the top tonight I can’t even describe it. I don’t think in the history of the UFC we’ve ever done anything like that.”

Postfight, White pushed his way into Lesnar’s crowded locker room and took the big guy into the bathroom for a private “discussion.” Lesnar himself described it as “a whip-the-dog session.”

“With women in here you don’t want to know what I said,” White said. It worked, Brock showed up at the press conference smiling, supposedly contrite and even drinking a Bud Light.

“First and foremost I want to apologize,” Lesnar said. “I acted very unprofessionally after the fight. I screwed up and I apologize. I apologize to Bud Light. I’m not biased, I drink any beer.”

It was mostly a chance for laugh lines, but it was still an apology. Lesnar said the pent-up energy of avenging a loss to Mir caused him to go crazy. “I’m a sore loser,” he said. “I don’t like to get beat. I believe I gave that fight to him. So there was a lot of emotion in this fight for me.

“Man, I was so jacked up. I’m used to selling pay-per-view tickets. I come from a business that is purely the entertainment business.”

And so that was the excuse. Lesnar didn’t flip, he just flipped the switch back into Vince McMahon’s operation where nothing is too over the top. The UFC, however, is real and it has tried to position itself not as a blood sport but one based on sportsmanship and mutual respect.

Lesnar did the UFC no favors in that regard. And neither did veteran Dan Henderson, who dropped a vicious forearm smash on an already knocked out and prone Michael Bisping on the undercard. Henderson then admitted he did it on purpose to avenge prefight trash talk. The UFC even went on to award him its $100,000 “knockout of the night” bonus. White also gave Henderson a talking to, but Henderson still said it “felt good.”

The damage done to the UFC’s mainstream momentum remains to be seen. While some will be repulsed, others will be drawn in. It’s cage fighting, after all. Things get out of hand.

That this occurred on the promotion’s biggest night, when the numerical significance of the card was expected to bring in a large first-time audience, wasn’t appreciated by the UFC. The night was electric and highly entertaining. And while it is likely to most offend people who weren’t disposed to giving mixed martial arts a chance in the first place, White was aghast at Lesnar’s act. This isn’t what he built. This isn’t what he wanted.

“What he’s doing out there tonight is not real,” White said. “You don’t have to act like something you’re not. This isn’t the WWE. I don’t ask these guys to act crazy so we get more pay per views. That’s not the business I’m in.”

In the meantime, the cementing of Lesnar’s reputation as the promotion’s most hated man is done.

“Brock hasn’t made himself very loveable,” White said. “They hate Brock.” For the UFC, a classic villain is business gold. He’s the ultimate leading man for the organization. Some loathe him. Some love him. No one can ignore him. For those seeking his comeuppance however, there isn’t a WWE storyline that can be written to stop him.

Lost in the antics was Lesnar’s performance, a brilliant effort that showed both his growth as a mixed martial artist and the immense potential. The question becomes, who the heck can tame this mountain of a man from the Minnesota woods?

Shane Carwin? Cain Velasquez? Mir in a final chapter of a trilogy of fights? No doubt they’ll get a chance, and no doubt they stand a chance.

The greatest beneficiary of each Lesnar snarl, however, lives in Stary Oskol, Russia, a man named Fedor Emelianenko who is considered the No. 1 heavyweight (if not pound-for-pound fighter) in the world. If anyone has the knockout power to stop the 6-3, 265-pound Lesnar, it’s Emelianenko.

Fedor doesn’t fight in the UFC though. He’s with its rival promotion, Affliction. He’ll fight Aug. 1 in Anaheim, Calif., in what is the last match of his contract. Affliction is hoping to re-sign him until 2012, but the UFC will come hard after him. More now then ever. And that means money, big money.

“Eventually Fedor is going to be here,” White said. “I want Fedor. We’ll end up getting that deal done and then we’ll do Brock vs. Fedor and we’ll do a huge fight.”

Time will tell, but the pressure to sign the elusive Russian has been ratcheted up. A villain was born and there isn’t an obvious superhero in sight. The UFC brought Brock Lesnar over from the WWE for just this kind of a sensation. And the big man has delivered – the good, the bad and the embarrassing.

Only Dana White has no scriptwriters that can contain him.

Philippines to witness solar eclipse on July 22

2009-07-11T22:38:00.000-07:00

MANILA - The Philippines will witness a partial solar eclipse on July 22, the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) said Thursday. The state weather bureau said the path of the moon's umbral shadow will begin in India and is expected to cross Nepal, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Myanmar, Central China, the Pacific Ocean, Ryukyu Island, Marshal Island and Kiribati. It said a partial eclipse will be witnessed in several parts of the Philippines including Metro Manila, Calayan Island, Laoag City, Tuguegarao City, Baguio City, Angeles City in Pampanga, Puerto Princesa in Palawan, Lucena City, Naga City, Iloilo, Cebu, Zamboanga, Sulu, Davao and General Santos City. PAGASA said the eclipse will start in Metro Manila at exactly 8:33:01 a.m. The eclipse's full visibility will be seen at 9:43 a.m. and will end at 11:01:51 a.m. Other areas in the globe that will witness partial solar eclipse are those in eastern Asia and the Pacific Ocean. The weather bureau, meanwhile, cautioned spectators to avoid directly looking at the eclipse without safety eye devices. It said people can cover their eyes with X-ray films, sun glasses, smoked glass and photographic films and negatives. It said the safest method to view the eclipse is by indirect viewing "like projecting the image with a pinhole camera."

Michael Jackson Memorial Tickets Popping Up On eBay, Craigslist

2009-07-07T18:22:00.000-07:00

Though show producers AEG Live have gone out of their way to protect against scalping and counterfeiting of the show tickets, people are finding loopholes. Each winner will receive two wristbands to the event, and while the person picking up the pass needs to put the band on themselves upon receiving it, the second one could easily be flipped.

Though eBay has been aggressive about stamping down auctions, that hasn't stopped people from bidding upward of $15,000 for passes to Tuesday's event. AEG have warned people to be on the lookout for counterfeiters and have reminded people that anybody claiming to sell their e-mail confirmation code (which allows them to claim their tickets Monday at Dodger Stadium) are frauds, as the e-mail code is non-transferable and requires the ticket claimer to have proper matching ID. Even that hasn't slowed the secondary market, as there are a handful of auctions open for the rejection e-mails sent to people who did not get tickets. The opening price for the rejection e-mail? $2.99.

Over on Craigslist (which doesn't offer the same sort of transaction protection as eBay), sellers are offering up their passes (or their second pass) for "make me an offer" deals, starting at $500. Other people have been offering up exchanges and barters. One ticket holder who lives in the Northeast offered up his second ticket in exchange for a flight to Los Angeles so he could attend. Another poster is looking for romantic accompaniment to the event, saying, "Date can respond with pic and reason why she deserves to go." But there are also a strong number of people on the online classified site who are encouraging viewers to flag people attempting to sell tickets, and writing long, opinionated missives about exploiting a funeral.

A total of 1.6 million people registered for the 17,500 available tickets (11,000 in Staples Center proper and another 6,500 for the adjoining Nokia Theater, which will have a closed-circuit broadcast of the proceedings). Police are expecting as many as 700,000 people to swarm the area, despite the fact that the memorial will not be shown on the screens outside the venue.

NBI probes leak on PGMA's hospitalization RE: Breast implant

2009-07-06T20:36:00.000-07:00

MANILA - The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) began Monday a probe into the leaked information on President Arroyo's hospital stay at the Asian Hospital last week.

The NBI has already taken statements from three individuals at the hospital regarding the possible violation of the rule on doctor-patient confidentiality.

Meanwhile, all Monday appointments of the President were cancelled, with Palace officials saying it is still in connection with her self-imposed quarantine and her recent hospital stay.

Press Secretary Cerge Remonde earlier denied that Malacañang ordered the Asian Hospital and Medical Center in Alabang, Muntinlupa City to find out who told media about medical procedures done to the President while she was on self-imposed quarantine at the hospital last week.

"It is not true [that we ordered it]. If Asian Hospital is doing an investigation, they are doing it on their own and we did not request it," Remonde told radio dzMM.

The press secretary said the President will continue to visit the medical facility because her gynecologist works there. Mrs. Arroyo also undergoes medical check-ups at the St. Luke's Medical Center in Quezon City.

He also refused to comment on Mrs. Arroyo's failure to attend a scheduled visit to the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) in Makati City for a signing ceremony. A statement on the PSE website read: "Please be notified that Her Excellency President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo’s visit to PSE Ayala on Monday, July 6, 2009, is canceled."

Remonde has been under fire since last week after he denied and then later clarified news reports that Mrs. Arroyo had checked in at the prestigious hospital to have her breast implants removed. "Si Presidente ba mukha na iyong tipo ng babae na magpapaganun (Is the President the type of woman who would do that [breast augmentation])?" the press secretary told reporters.

He later made an about-face about the breast implants, saying that she had them done 20 years ago. He denied, however, that these were the reason why she was hospitalized.

Palace officials earlier said Mrs. Arroyo volunteered to quarantine herself after a two-week trip despite relaxed Influenza A (H1N1) quarantine guidelines from the Department of Health. It was later learned that Mrs. Arroyo attended the golden wedding anniversary of a top foreign affairs official before going to hospital.

Remonde insisted that Mrs. Arroyo checked in at the hospital for self-quarantine, "and at the same time, to take the opportunity to get complete medical check-ups."

She said the President was declared in good health after biopsies were conducted on lumps found on her breast and groin.

"The result of the biopsy is negative. The President is in good health. That's the best proof of her health," he said, adding that she is scheduled to meet her Cabinet on Tuesday,

He said Mrs. Arroyo will again be leaving the country to attend a meeting of foreign leaders at th 15th Non-Aligned Movement Meeting from July 15 to 16 in the Egyptian Red Sea resort of Sharm-el-Sheikh.

Police Chief and his Police Officer Caught on Cam

2009-07-04T23:15:00.000-07:00

Who loves monkey business on the job? Here is a video of Police Chief Timothy Escola and Deputy Janine England kissing and caressing in a police car. Perry County, Ohio Township Police Chief Timothy Escola, had a long drive from Cincinnati, back to Perry, with a suspect in the backseat...but wait, along for the ride was a female officer under his command Janine England. And somehow the two forgot there was a dash cam recording their every intimate detail. Because Chief Escola is a married man however Janine is not his wife. Some are saying it was a set up to leak the video from the start to get the chief and some believe his lady friend was in on it. But that is doubtful because she is also married but not to the chief.

The video showing Janine England leaning across the car to snuggle and kiss her police superior as they drive in suburban Cincinnati. In the back of the squad car a suspected criminal and Janine England is seen looking over her shoulder in the video. Escola and off duty England drove to the Cincinnati area to pick up a burglary suspect.

An attorney for the former chief suggested the cruiser camera may have been rigged to set him up, but township officials dispute that claim. I think the suspect in the backseat the night the video was recorded tip off the department. But I don't know why that camera would be on if it wasn't some kind of set up. The video has created a full blown scandal in small town Perry, Ohio.

Timothy Escola’s days as Perry Township, Ohio Police Chief are officially over. The veteran police officer with 36 years experience resigned abruptly on Monday.

The resignation came shortly after a police dash cam video tape showed Escola getting intimate with a young female police officer in the front seat of a Perry Township police cruiser.

“He’s a moron,” said Larry Merrill. “I’m a resident here and that just blows my mind that two police officers didn’t know the dash camera was rolling.”

Virginia Kloha said, “don’t you think he should have known better? If they wanted to mess around, why didn’t he go some place off duty?”

Kate Smith lives near Perry Township Hall and stopped walking her dog to say, “you know, it takes two to tango. You can’t blame one without blaming the other.“

Perry Township Trustee, Charles Hall, said he was still in shock over the incident. “Chief Escola had been doing a great job for us,“ said Hall. “I just can’t believe he would make such a terrible mistake. It’s terrible for him and the entire township.“

Last night, township trustees accepted Escola’s decision to retire, effective immediately. Township Trustee Craig Chessler said the police department’s four sergeants will co-manage the police force until a new chief is hired to replace Escola.

The dash cam video shows part-time officer Janine D. England kissing her boss and massaging his body. The officer and Chief Escola were in the cruiser escorting a prisoner from Cincinnati during the five hour ride back to Stark County.

The video shows Officer England checking to see if the prisoner was sleeping in the back seat before she continued her intimate relations with Chief Escola. England is facing no sanctions from the Police Department or the Township.

Since the bizarre squad car dash camera video of 30 year-old female police officer named Janine England kissing much older married Police Chief Timothy Escola was leaked, the Chief resigned, and England is no longer on the job. Timothy Escola was forced to retired Tuesday night after four years with the Perry Township police department near Cleveland, Ohia. Law Director Charles Hall says Escola's retirement closes an internal investigation. Hall says no charges are being considered against part-time officer Janine England, who was with Escola in the cruiser on June 2. Chief Escola hired Janine England back in 2005, said local media. Records also show Janine England is a married woman.

An anonymous tip prompted an investigation last week and a review of the cruiser's dashboard camera. Even more bizarrely, it appears both officers were clearly aware of the camera, with Janine England seen pointing to the camera and telling the burglary suspect that everything is being recorded.

The chief suggested the cruiser camera may have been rigged, a claim township officials dispute. Charles Hall said Escola or officer Janine England accidentally may have switched the camera system into a "covert mode," which recorded their behavior without the screen or lights coming on. Officers familiar with the equipment in Perry Township didn't know the feature existed until Thursday after a review of the owner's manual, Hall said. Because the system is less than a year old. "If you go to turn the device off and hold the power button, the camera goes into covert mode," said Hall.

More likely explanation, someone other than Chief Escola or Officer Janine England put the system into covert mode. And planned on reviewing the video on their return. They need to check if Officer Janine had any other love interested at the department.

In total 8 hours of video were recorded in the Janine England and Tim Escola incident. Emails between the pair discussing their apparent love affair were also released added to this scandal. So it appear the police pair are involved in a full blow extramarital love affair and this was not just an innocent few kisses from Janine England on her commanding officer.

And because of the leaked email, there might be additional parties involved in this extramarital Perry Township Police Department Sex Scandal.

The Gary Ng Sex Scandals

2009-06-29T09:08:00.000-07:00

WHO IS GARY NG?

Gary Ng a.k.a. 'Edison Chen of Singapore' a.k.a. 'garyng174' a.ka. 'Hayden Kho of Singapore' is on a one man mission: to HAVE sex to everything in Singapore in a skirt that moves. He created and posted several dozen videos of himself having sex with various women on websites, blogs and forums. A contributor sent the 30 something videos to (identity disclosed) a week before they became big news but the blog was having trouble at the time. Over the next few days all the videos was posted.

He give his videos very interesting titles like "Cosmetic Girl Scandal" and "A Mother Worth f***ing" and many more. So he likes to create characters for the ladies he made sex in each video but I am thinking all the girls are freelance prostitutes in Singapore. I am not sure of this but it was the first thing I thought when the videos were first received. Some of the videos seem like it was a hidden cam thing but in others the women are clearly aware of the camera.

And here some pictures of his Video No. 1: A Mother Worth f***ing

Running time: 7:13 minutes

There are 7 more videos/pictures like this.

Another Bill Clinton Scandal

2009-06-28T03:30:00.000-07:00

There are reports from a local newspaper in Argentina as well as the Washington Post that Bill Clinton, after a fundraiser, had a little "private" party at a strip club. Just because his wife is Secretary of State, that doesn't mean Bill Clinton can't visit an Argentine stripper and pay off bouncers at the strip club so he can have a completely private strip show before dining with the country's president.

The place that he enjoyed the festivies is called El Cocodrilo, and apparently he had a decent time and got a table dance from Andrea Rincón ( see picture below) and probably some herpes. Can't really blame the former president after all he has been through? The least he can do is get a little dance from a local South American stripper. His wife is a busy lady as Secretary of State and all. Not to mention that I don't think Hillary has giving him any since 1996. The report, printed in mainstream newsoutlets The Washington Post and The Daily Mail, is all the talk in South and Latin America:

Bill Clinton allegedly paid $1000 to close the VIP areas to have a private "baile hot" (strip show) by Andrea Rincon. The chick in question reported to the Argentine Press that she received US$1000, which converts to roughly 3700 Argentine pesos...

Bill Clinton was on a private visit to Argentina on behalf of his non-profit, Clinton Global Initiative. After an event, Clinton along with some of his buddies, to the city’s “red zone,” where they ended up at the Crocodile Night Club, a popular strip joint.

It was there where Bill Clinton took a liking to a dancer named Andrea Rincón, who is a pop culture sex bomb in Argentina. Clinton became entranced and asked for a “private” performance from the Latin firecracker.

Clinton later dined with President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner and her husband, former president Néstor Kirchner.Which country will he hit next?! Strippers, prostitutes & high end escorts anxiously await the news!

I have to be honest, the stripper is not all that hot but she is a huge step up from Monica Lewinsky. Clinton really needs to step his game up after Monica Lewinsky. I mean, for Christ sake, he was the most powerful man in the world for 8 years. Why is he choosing to settle for a half-rate stripper? He need to get one of those young hot starlets from Hollywood. Things sure have changed since the good old days of JFK and Marilyn Monroe. Anyway, much like the other woman in the Mark Sanford scandal, Clinton's stripper friend ran straight to the media. Thus leaving me with one question: Why can't Argentinean women keep their damn mouths shut when not in use by their lovers? LOL

And to celebrate her new International fame she just posed holding a picture of Bill Clinton: According to the Washington Post story a Clinton spokesman in New York said the story "is completely false. They were at the hotel playing cards with the former and current presidents" and "a small group of staff and friends."

The former Big Brother Argentina (or Gran Hermano, if you prefer) star Andrea Rincón had, at first, said she and Bill Clinton shared a harmless night of dancing at the Crocodilo cabaret in Argentina, and that, yes, she was paid for her services, but not by Clinton himself.

She has now modified her story to include the fact that the former president offered her $1,000 in return for sex. The way she tells it, she was just hangin’ out, being a famewhore, when someone from Clinton’s entourage came up to her and said that Clinton wanted her to perform a strip tease for him and his buddies in a private room.

Michaels Jackson's Pictures Before His Death.

2009-06-28T03:16:00.000-07:00

Michael Jackson died without his nose on! These are the last ever photos of the late Michael Jackson before he was declare dead as he was brought to the hospital. Jackson was officially pronounced dead at the emergency room at the UCLA Medical Center, and there were no signs of foul play or external trauma to his body. Jackson's body was then flown in a Sheriff's Department helicopter from UCLA Medical Center to downtown Los Angeles for examination by the Los Angeles County Coroner's Office. Michael Jackson was rushed to the hospital on Thursday, June 25, implying the pop star was perhaps still alive at that point, EMT workers are claiming he was not. The medics wanted to pronounce him dead on the scene but Michael's personal doctor refused to let them.

Michael Joseph Jackson (August 29, 1958 – June 25, 2009) was an American recording artist, entertainer, and businessman. The seventh child of the Jackson family, he debuted on the professional music scene at the age of 11 as a member of The Jackson 5 and began a solo career in 1971 while still a member of the group. Referred to as the "King of Pop" in subsequent years, five of his solo studio albums are among the world's best-selling records: Off the Wall (1979), Thriller (1982), Bad (1987), Dangerous (1991) and HIStory (1995).

In the early 1980s, he became a dominant figure in popular music and the first African-American entertainer to amass a strong crossover following on MTV. The popularity of his music videos airing on MTV, such as "Beat It", "Billie Jean" and Thriller—credited for transforming the music video into an art form and a promotional tool—helped bring the relatively new channel to fame. Videos such as "Black or White" and "Scream" made Jackson an enduring staple on MTV in the 1990s. With stage performances and music videos, Jackson popularized a number of physically complicated dance techniques, such as the robot and the moonwalk. His distinctive musical sound and vocal style influenced many hip hop, pop and contemporary R&B artists.

One of the few artists to have been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame twice, his other achievements include multiple Guinness World Records—including one for "Most Successful Entertainer of All Time"—13 Grammy Awards, 13 number one singles in his solo career—more than any other male artist in the Hot 100 era—and the sales of over 750 million albums worldwide. Cited as one of the world's most famous men, Jackson's highly publicized personal life, coupled with his successful career, made him a part of popular culture for almost four decades.

Michael Jackson dies at 50

2009-06-25T17:26:00.000-07:00

LOS ANGELES – Michael Jackson, the sensationally gifted child star who rose to become the "King of Pop" and the biggest celebrity in the world only to fall from his throne in a freakish series of scandals, died Thursday. He was 50. Jackson died at UCLA Medical Center in Los Angeles. Ed Winter, the assistant chief coroner for Los Angeles County, confirmed his office had been notified of the death and would handle the investigation.

The circumstances of Jackson's death were not immediately clear. Jackson was not breathing when Los Angeles Fire Department paramedics responded to a call at his Los Angeles home about 12:30 p.m., Capt. Steve Ruda told the Los Angeles Times. The paramedics performed CPR and took him to UCLA Medical Center, Ruda told the newspaper.

Jackson's death brought a tragic end to a long, bizarre, sometimes farcical decline from his peak in the 1980s, when he was popular music's premier all-around performer, a uniter of black and white music who shattered the race barrier on MTV, dominated the charts and dazzled even more on stage.

His 1982 album "Thriller" — which included the blockbuster hits "Beat It," "Billie Jean" and "Thriller" — remains the biggest-selling album of all time, with more than 100 million copies worldwide.

The public first knew him in the late 1960s, when as a boy he was the precocious, spinning lead singer of the Jackson 5, the music group he formed with his four older brothers. Among their No. 1 hits were "I Want You Back," "ABC," and "I'll Be There."

He was perhaps the most exciting performer of his generation, known for his feverish, crotch-grabbing dance moves and his high-pitched voice punctuated with squeals and titters. His single sequined glove, tight, military-style jacket and aviator sunglasses were trademarks second only to his ever-changing, surgically altered appearance.

"For Michael to be taken away from us so suddenly at such a young age, I just don't have the words," said Quincy Jones, who produced "Thriller." "He was the consummate entertainer and his contributions and legacy will be felt upon the world forever. I've lost my little brother today, and part of my soul has gone with him."

Jackson ranked alongside Elvis Presley and the Beatles as the biggest pop sensations of all time. In fact, he united two of music's biggest names when he was briefly married to Presley's daughter, Lisa Marie.

But as years went by, Jackson became an increasingly freakish figure — a middle-aged man-child weirdly out of touch with grown-up life. His skin became lighter, his nose narrower, and he spoke in a breathy, girlish voice. He surrounded himself with children at his Neverland ranch, often wore a germ mask while traveling and kept a pet chimpanzee named Bubbles as one of his closest companions.

In 2005, he was cleared of charges he molested a 13-year-old cancer survivor at Neverland in 2003. He had been accused of plying the boy with alcohol and groping him. The case took a fearsome toll on his career and image, and he fell into serious financial trouble.

Jackson was preparing for what was to be his greatest comeback: He was scheduled for an unprecedented 50 shows at a London arena, with the first set for July 13. He was in rehearsals in Los Angeles for the concert, an extravaganza that was to capture the classic Jackson magic: showstopping dance moves, elaborate staging and throbbing dance beats.

Singer Dionne Warwick said: "Michael was a friend and undoubtedly one of the world's greatest entertainers that I fortunately had the pleasure of working with........we have lost an icon in our industry."

Hundreds of people gathered outside the hospital as word of his death spread. The emergency entrance at the UCLA Medical Center, which is near Jackson's rented home, was roped off with police tape.

"Ladies and gentlemen, Michael Jackson has just died," a woman boarding a Manhattan bus called out, shortly after the news was announced. Immediately many riders reached for their cell phones.

In New York's Times Square, a low groan went up in the crowd when a screen flashed that Jackson had died, and people began relaying the news to friends by cell phone.

"No joke. King of Pop is no more. Wow," Michael Harris, 36, of New York City, read from a text message a friend sent to his telephone. "It's like when Kennedy was assassinated. I will always remember being in Times Square when Michael Jackson died."

Miley Cyrus: Nick Jonas and I Have "Reconnected"

2009-06-12T19:21:00.000-07:00

Miley Cyrus -- who split from beau Justin Gaston earlier this week -- says it's nice to be back on friendly terms with ex Nick Jonas.

"He's my best friend, and we still hang out all the time," she said Friday on 107.5 The River's Woody and Jim morning show in Nashville. "We've definitely reconnected. We don't know what's going to happen in the future, but right now we're just kind of kicking it and hanging out as much as we can."

See photos of stars who make up and break up

Cyrus split with Jonas at the end of 2007. She told Seventeen last year that she "bawled for a month straight" and dyed her hair black after calling it quits.

The two -- who sing a duet on the Jonas Brothers' new song, "Before The Storm -- have since patched things up.

"We both just kind of saw each other and kind of decided this whole thing is kind of stupid," Cyrus said. "We were all over the separation."

"I'm really happy to be back in their lives," she went on. "And our families are super happy we're hanging out again."

Look back at Miley's most scandalous moments

Jonas even took a trip to Georgia to visit Cyrus, who is now shooting the drama The Last Song. On Wednesday, they went jet-skiing near Tybee Island.

"No comment," she said when asked about the outing, though she did admit, "I am a jet ski demon!"

See what the Jonas Bros looked like as babies

As for her new nose piercing, she said she is not ready to get "slammed" for the body art.

"I'll let people think what they will," she said. "I hope no one is upset at me for doing it. I think it's lame for it to be such a big deal because ... it's just temporary. You can take it out."

See weird celeb body art

What prompted the piercing?

"I am a huge Kelly Clarkson fan," she said. "And I loved when she had her nose pierced."

Miley Cyrus & Justin Gaston Call It Quits

2009-06-10T04:54:00.000-07:00

LOS ANGELES, Calif. — Miley Cyrus has reportedly broken up with boyfriend Justin Gaston, according to E! News. The 16-year-old pop star and the 20-year-old model had been dating for nearly nine months.

The “Hannah Montana” star reportedly called things off last week, as she was preparing to head to Georgia to film her new movie, “The Last Song.” A source also confirmed the split to Us Weekly.

“They have been having trouble for a while,” the source told Us Weekly. “It’s been hard for a long time since Miley has been working so much and traveling a lot.” However, distance may not have been the only factor behind the breakup. Miley has recently been spending time with her ex, Nick Jonas, which a friend of Justin’s said put some strain on the relationship.

“She obviously has been hanging out with Nick again a lot and Justin was cool with it at first – as long as it was just a cool friendly thing,” a friend of Justin’s told E! News. “She didn’t cheat, but I guess Nick was trying to get her back the whole time.” Over the weekend, Miley hit up her Twitter page to Tweet about spending time with Nick. “i’m in a dark theater ‘writing’ a song with nick j who is rockin a faded egg plant [sic] shirt!” she wrote. In a new interview with teen magazine Twist, Nick confirmed a duet with his ex-girlfriend on the Jonas Brother’s new song, “Before The Storm.”

“There’s two versions of the song basically, one that was written just for our record that we sang originally. And then I played it for Miley and we realized that if we just changed the lyrics a bit, we could make it more of our story, kind of share that side of us, and it could be great. So, we did,” Nick told Twist. “She came in and she and I sat down at the piano and just worked on lyrics a bit, tweaked it up, and it turned out great!”

Since leaving for Georgia, Miley has posted several Tweets referencing the distance between herself and her loved ones. “why does saying good-bye hurt so much?” she wrote on June 7.

“I’m just to [sic] far from where you are, i wanna go home.”

Joey de Leon's own 'scandal'

2009-06-10T04:50:00.000-07:00

The doctor is in and out… in and out… – by Joey de Leon

Nobel prize-winning pharmacologist Robert Furchgott, whose work with the gas nitric oxide helped develop the anti-impotency drug Viagra, died in Seattle at the age of 92. He “furchgott” to breathe? Nope. Basta NANIGAS na lang s’ya!

* * *

And speaking of tigas, ASTIG pa rin sa news hanggang ngayon and people are still talking about the “plight of KAT-HAY” — ooops, sounds like an airline service. No again. This one’s about the “secret service” which, accidentally or by some other reason, became open to public viewing which involved a doctor and a “doctored” celebrity.

The others in this “shooting incident” were not “doctored”, but they were definitely thoroughly checked up physically by the doctor. All the ladies underwent a complete “sexecutive” check up — including a triple X-ray!

Here is one doctor who is always in and out!

Better if we just call it HAY-KAT — at least tunog sapatos lang. KAT-HAY sounds “abattoirish” — parang slaughter. Could it be that for this doctor, slaughter is the best medicine?

But actually, this is how most men call these secret places in their macho lingo — KATAYAN—where they INTER-tain their lady guests — also their BEDquarters (pwede ring HEADquarters pala) or their ORIFICIAL residence! Ngek!

* * *

Here are the basic requirements of a simple but okey lang na Pokpok Arts Theater ( “theater” inasmuch as some of the performances are open to the public): Bed, air-con and refrigerator.

Other needs: Lots of towels, mouthwash, chewing gum and candies and of course, other toiletries.

Not so important things (pwedeng wala): Television and telephone.

This “aircontroversy” (ang dami kasing shots ng air-con sa sex video na pinag-uusapan) cut short the popularity in the news of the Pacman Flu and the alleged Martin Nievera Fluff in singing our National Anthem — the Department of Health’s failure to quarantine Team Pacquiao and the National Historical Institute’s order to quaran-TUNE Martin!

Aling Dionisia’s ballroom dancing was suddenly overshadowed by HAY-KAT dancing — with balls — in a room!

* * *

When asked if they learned a lesson from this recent sex video scandal, a young woman even furnished this writer with the following sure-fire tips for girls in case they encounter a doctor of medi-CINE — now you know why a doctor like Dr. No Pants loves to make movies — the word “medicine” ends with CINE.

One: If you finally decide to have sex with your boyfriend, just be sure you do it with the lights out.

Two: In case you are afraid of the dark, do a “Sadako” like in the horror movie The Ring. Let your hair down all the time. Para hindi kayo masyadong makilala.

And Three: Request your lover to call you by another name.

* * *

Basilio: Bakit ba sa Camara (House of Representatives/Congress) inilalapit ang kasong ito tungkol sa sex videos?

Crispin: Eh kasi, ang pinag-uusapan dito ay KAMA at CAMERA!

* * *

Kat: “Binaboy n’ya ako!”

Foreign Correspondent: Excuse me, please translate that in English.

Kat: “Ah… he SWINED me!”

* * *

The actress-victim’s name speaks and carries the message of what took place in that one-set shooting — HALI-HALILI SILA SA KATRE!

* * *

Doctor Zhivago: Si Doc ba talaga ang nasa video?

Doctor Kildare: KHO MISMO!

* * *

Padre Salvi: Manny Pacman is the Pound for Pound King.

Padre Damaso: Hayden F…man is the Pound NANG Pound King.

* * *

A great deal of those who watched the sex videos of the “Medical Director” find the acts swift and short; medyo bitin daw sila. Doctor Do Little?

* * *

Lap dancing is now outmoded. After the coming out of these HAY-KAT videos, a new dance craze was introduced — LAPTOP DANCING!

* * *

Said one indie movie supporter, “Nawalan ng ingay ang pagbabalik ni Brillante Mendoza, ang nanalong director sa Cannes Film Festival sa France sa pelikulang Kinatay — tinalo kasi ng ingay ng KAT-HAY.”

* * *

Hoy! Tigilan n’yo muna ‘yang mga sex videos. Manuod muna kayo ng Joey’s Quicky, este Quirky pala… World before S.O.P on GMA 7. And Wow, Mali tonight at 6 p.m. on TV5.

May the force be video.

Twilight Author Doesn’t Need So Much Space

2009-06-10T04:44:00.000-07:00

Stephenie Meyer won't be using MySpace to clear up Twilight rumors any time soon.

The author of the best-selling, four-part vampire love series announced on her official website that she is kicking her social networking page to the curb.

"It was a lot of fun while it lasted, and I really miss the early days when I could hang out with people online," Meyer wrote. "Many of you are hilarious and insightful, and I wish it was easier for me to talk to everyone the way I used to."

Meyer warned against being duped by impostors...

"With MySpace no longer in existence, I can now clearly state that...there is no other outlet where I communicate with people online," Meyer continued. "I do not have a Facebook page, and I have never had one. I don't do Twitter. So if you're communicating with someone online that you think is me, it's not."

Meanwhile, Meyer gave a shout-out to Rick Riordan's best-selling tween book series, Percy Jackson & the Olympians.

"If you're looking for some beach reading, you may want to try [the series] if you haven't already," she wrote. "My son finally finished book five yesterday so I could read it today. It was a fantastic end to a fantastic series. I tip my hat to you, Mr. Riordan!"

Kelly Clarkson: I'm Tired of Hearing "the Fat Joke"

2009-06-05T21:34:00.000-07:00

Kelly Clarkson says she's tired of being bullied over her weight.

"For seven years it's been happening. It's like, 'OK cool, the fat joke,'" she said during an interview with 2Day FM's Kyle and Jackie O Show in Australia.

Look back at the weight ups and downs of your favorite Idol stars!

Despite the taunts, the American Idol champ says, "I love my body. I'm very much OK with it. I don't think artists are ever the ones who have the problem with their weight, it is other people."

See stars who underwent dramatic weight losses

Clarkson has also come under scrutiny over her sexuality. She says she doesn't care if people think she is gay.

Look back at the most controversial Idol contestants of all time

Her only gripe?

"The rumors are not helping me on the dating front!" she said. "I prefer the boys. I'm extremely flattered when I do get hit on by girls, and I think it's hot, but I'm not into it. I like boys."

Check out 20 unforgettable moments from this year's American Idol finale

She said she's in no rush to find Mr. Right.

"I'm only 27, not 40 and still single!" she said. "I enjoy being single, I love work and I think people are so passive with relationships and I'm not that person."

See which Idol stars have gotten married or had babies.

Added Clarkson, "I'm an extremist, I'm either in a relationship or I'm not. I'm honest about it and I'll tell people, it's just there's nothing to tell. I have a very good life."

David Carradine's manager suspects foul play in actor's death

2009-06-05T07:56:00.000-07:00

LOS ANGELES, California (CNN) -- David Carradine's wife and his manager disputed suggestions that the actor's death was a suicide, while rescue workers and police in Bangkok, Thailand, said the actor's neck and genitals were found bound with rope.

Carradine, 72, became famous in the 1970s, when he portrayed the traveling Shaolin monk Kwai Chang Caine in the television series "Kung Fu."

Bangkok police said Carradine was found hanging by a nylon rope in a Bangkok hotel room closet Thursday morning.

A member of the emergency crew who was called to the hotel after a maid found Carradine told CNN that a yellow nylon rope was tied around the actor's neck and a black rope was around his genitals. Police later confirmed that information.

"I do not know if you want to call it accidental," Chuck Binder, Carradine's manager, told CNN's Larry King on Thursday. He said Carradine's career was on a roll.

Binder said a producer of the movie, "Stretch," which Carradine was to act in, called him from Thailand to tell him what was happening there.

"I do not want to get in the middle of this whole investigation, but this guy said to me for sure there was foul play," Binder said. Watch Carradine's friends discuss loss »

Actor Michael Madsen told King that the one thing Carradine's wife, Annie Bierman, wanted everyone to know is, "David was not suicidal."

Investigators found no sign of a forced entry into Carradine's room, Bangkok Police Lt. Colonel Pirom Chanpirom said.

An autopsy was being conducted at a Bangkok hospital, but no results would be available for another day, Chanpirom said.

Modern audiences may best know Carradine as "Bill" in Quentin Tarantino's "Kill Bill" films. He earned a 2005 Golden Globe nomination for his role in the second movie in the two-part saga.

Tarantino, also appearing on "Larry King Live," called Carradine one of "Hollywood's great mad geniuses."

"He was a rock star at the time 'Kung Fu' came out," Tarantino said, holding up a vintage metal lunch box with an image from the popular show. Watch Carradine discuss "Kung Fu" role »

"I'm in shock," he said.

Carradine's career included more than 100 feature films, two dozen television movies, and theater work, according to the Internet Movie Database.

"He was clearly an actor who followed his own path," said Leah Rozen, movie critic for People magazine. See photos of some of his notable roles »

"He was never a guy who talked a whole lot. You knew, as an actor, the characters he played, you knew they had a past, you knew there was probably some unhappiness there, but he wasn't going to talk about it."

Carradine was nominated for a Golden Globe for his role as folk music legend Woody Guthrie in the 1976 movie "Bound for Glory," according to a biography on his official Web site.

He also made appearances in television series such as "Gunsmoke" and "Alfred Hitchcock Presents." His first starring role in a series was as the title character in "Shane" in 1966. iReport: Share memories of David Carradine

Carradine was married five times and divorced four, according to People magazine.

He was the son of John Carradine, a character actor who appeared in hundreds of films, plays and television episodes.

"David's career as an artist did not begin on the stage, though some of his early career was on and off Broadway. His earliest work was as a sculptor and painter," Carradine's official Web site says.

The site also includes an "Art Bio," in which the actor opened up about his life.

"I've always had an especially hard time with everything I've tried to do," Carradine wrote.

"I've made it pretty big as an actor in spite of being terminally shy. ... Invariably, I had huge obstacles to overcome in anything I tried. Had to work against my genes to achieve my dreams."

Joe Jonas odd Beyonce dance

2009-06-05T07:47:00.000-07:00

Beyonce’s “Single Ladies” video has been the subject of many viral-video parodies, most notably in a Saturday Night Live skit starring Justin Timberlake, Andy Samburg, and Beyonce herself. But the latest attempt at the diva’s unitarded dance fad may be the strangest yet, and it is–to quote the always quotable Jonas Brothers–totally burnin’ up on the Interweb.

This new lampoon comes courtesy of Joe Jonas–yes, that Joe Jonas, the middle and arguably cutest Jonas Brother–and yes, he is wearing high heels AND a onesie even more revealing than Beyonce’s one-sleeved leotard:

Apparently Joe lost some kind of bet here, or he’s just never one to pass up a dare from the brotherly trio’s fans. Either that, or this famously purity-ring-wearing pop star has taken Beyonce’s “Put A Ring On It” line way too much to heart.

But whatever the reason for Joe’s bizarre Beyonce tribute, we do have to say this is kind of awesome. Awesomely weird, but awesome nonetheless. And even the JoBros’ purity-ring-eschewing nemesis, Russell Brand, must be impressed with how nicely Joe fills out a catsuit.

Angelina Jolie Tops Forbes Celebrity 'Power List'

2009-06-05T07:04:00.000-07:00

Superstar actress and humanitarian advocate Angelina Jolie has unseated talkshow diva Oprah Winfrey as the world's most powerful celebrity in a new survey published by Forbes magazine Wednesday.

The top ranking is based on income over the past 12 months as well as web references, press clippings, broadcast mentions and major magazine covers devoted to the celebrity, Forbes said.

Oscar winner Jolie, 33, one half of the Hollywood golden couple dubbed "Brangelina" with Brad Pitt, earned 27 million dollars between June 2008 and June 2009.

Her earnings and "famous face," Forbes said, were enough to dethrone media maven Winfrey, who earned 275 million dollars.

Jolie, who came in third last year, is known for balancing her movie career and work as a goodwill ambassador for the UN refugee agency with her ever-growing six-child family with Pitt.

In third place was pop legend Madonna -- absent from last year's top ten -- whose tabloid antics and hit world tour "Hard Candy" boosted her profile and earned her 110 million dollar, the magazine said.

In fourth place was singer and actress Beyonce Knowles with earnings of 87 million dollars, who was lauded by Forbes for her "multi-platform empire."

The top male power-player Tiger Woods came in fifth with 110 million dollars in earnings. Despite a year beset by injury, the star golfer remained the world's highest paid athlete.

A lucrative touring schedule was enough to catapult rock legend Bruce Springsteen to the sixth spot with 70 million dollars in earnings, and bump director Steven Spielberg to seventh, whose work on the Indiana Jones sequel earned him 150 million dollars.

Actress Jennifer Aniston took the next spot, a cut above her former husband Pitt, with movie hits and tabloid splashes earning her the eighth spot.

With earnings of 28 million dollar, Pitt came in at ninth with his headline-making family life with partner Jolie and a blockbuster turn in "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button."

Rounding out the top ten was basketball wizard Kobe Bryant, whose first appearance in the upper echelons of celebrity power came thanks to big-bucks endorsement deals after the Beijing Olympics.

Anthemic, soul-searching band Coldplay were the most powerful Brits on the list this year with a debut at the 15th spot, following a sold-out world tour and a smash hit album, "Viva la Vida."

Also debuting, at number 49, was Barack Obama -- the first head of state to hit the Forbes's Celebrity 100.

With his historic election to the US presidency in November 2008, the former Illinois senator and bestselling author became "the most famous person in the world," Forbes said.