You’re deaf, not retarded.

So in England there is a debate about deaf embryos.  Essentially the government is saying that any embryos to be born using IVF (in vitro fertilization) should be genetically screened for defects such as deafness.  Some deaf people are up in arms about this, saying well what if we want deaf children?  Mr. famous deaf man, who I won’t name because I don’t want hordes of angry british deaf people pounding at my blog-gates, says that he doesn’t feel that deafness is a disability, and there is a rich deaf culture and that it’s tantamount to discrimination to force him to choose a non-deaf child, never mind the fact that most rational people would want their children to be better than they are.  To have all 5 senses instead of 4.

Let’s get this straight.  Deafness is a disability.  It is a physical handicap.  It’s not an imagined inferiority like being black or gay, it’s the fact that you can’t us one of your 5 basic senses and is entirely different from having a cock and wanting more cock and being a darker shade of brown. I don’t pity or condescend towards deaf people, nor do I openly evangelize the beauty of deafness.  It is good to integrate deaf people into society, it is good to treat them as regular people with regular jobs and regular lives.  I’ve heard that people with disabilities have better sex because their lack of one sense makes the other senses richer.  But you cannot impose deafness on an unborn child just because you feel that it’s your right to do so.  It’s the same as choosing a non-deaf child.  It’s discrimination to a higher degree because you’re selecting a specific trait, ie deafness, to impose on your child.

I mean seriously, if I was going to pick some shit to endow my child with, I’d go for long schlong or sculpted chin, not fucking deafness. In the end, couple going for IVF should have the same chances as a regular couple, just pick a random embryo and deal with the result, whatever it may be.  Shit I almost hope that deaf dude gets a blind kid, see how that works out for him.

No actually, you’re the ones who don’t seem to understand

This rant was brought about by my annoyance at some Israeli kid telling the BBC “What people don’t understand is that kids 14 years old, 15 years old, 16 years old, high school…kids…died here yesterday…very hard, I saw my friends die, yesterday evening…” after 8 students were shot in a Jerusalem school.   Afterwards, their headmistress lambasted the Islamic religion, saying their commandments are all about killing and killing everyone they can, while the torah encourages them to do good things for other people.

I guess someone needs to tell the Israeli military to go read their Torahs then, since their continuing attacks on Palestininans which kill men, women, and children as young as a year old indiscriminately make the body count of the school attack pale in comparison.  They say it is their right, because they are protecting the Israeli nation, to kill as many people as they can to get to a handful of terrorists.  And all the while they forget they are merely sowing the seeds of another terrorist cell, as children who watch their families die resolve to take up arms against the perpetrators of the crime visited upon them.

I’m not saying what that man did was right.  I understand the shock of an incident like this can cause people to say stupid things.  But if the Israeli nation refuses to acknowledge its sins, then there will never be a bridge towards reconciliation, and the war will never end.

On Language

Found this tidbit while reading Lee Kuan Yew’s entry in Wikipedia:

Designating official languages

Lee continued the colonial legacy of imposing English as the language of the workplace and the common language among the different races, while recognising Malay, Mandarin Chinese, and Tamil as the other three official languages. All state schools use English as the medium of instruction, although there are also lessons for their respective mother tongues.

Like I said before, that’s what we should do.  Have English as the language that bridges the communication gap.  Have it as the medium instruction and shore up the little advantage we have over other southeast asian nations.  At the same time cultural groups that speak a certain dialect can freely use it amongst themselves and keep it alive in their land.  It shouldn’t be the government’s fucking job to keep your language alive, it should be yours.

Guiltily Pleased

I’m sure this is something that every OFW or Filipino earning in dollars must have felt at least once.  That strange feeling when you see that the peso is weakening due to turmoil in the government.  On the one hand, you’re pleased because your dollars are worth more but on the other hand you’re saddened by the fact that this is only due to the fact that corruption is once again becoming rampant and obvious, and investors are being driven away, which will be worse for the country in the long run.

I’ve found myself watching the news and waiting to see if the Peso weakens further before selling my dollars, and while I know I’m simply being practical, a little part of me is disgusted with what I’m doing.

Our senators need to learn the art of brevity

It is frustrating to watch the senate hearings sometimes, or at least watch senators grilling Jun Lozada with novella-like questions that could very easily be said in a few words.  I feel almost as frustrated as Lozada looks when trying to comprehend why our senators choose to speak in long winded roundabout ways when simply coming straight to the point is much more efficient.  I’m looking at you, Dick Gordon and Loren Legarda.

Steve Jobs and Jose Ramos Horta: separated at birth?

One is a nobel laureate for fought for the independence of his country and recently survived an assassination attempt, and the other is the leader of a cult the CEO of a consumer electronics company that has a rabid worldwide fanbase. Can you tell who’s who?

1. Glamour shot

2. Smiling while holding up voting ballot/Ipod

3. Pensive mood

4. Looking up and smirking

What do you guys think?

Jun Lozada’s a funny guy

Jun Lozada, star witness against the First Gentleman Mike Arroyo and former comelec chairman Benjamin Abalos, apparently has a sense of humor. He looked tired, weak, and genuinely exhausted but managed a joke while being grilled by senator Pia Cayetano. When questioned about his talent to “mitigate greed” and his knowledge of the government’s procurement system (with which anyone who knew it well could abuse it for improper gain), he had this to say:

“ah, idadagdag ko lang na talentado ako, hehe.”

In English “I’d just like to add that I’m talented.” Talentado’s also a pun on the Filipino word tarantado which roughly translates to “jerk”,”prick”, or “cockmuncher” in english. The fact that he has such self awareness in acknowledging that his knowledge of the government’s procurement system made him an accomplice in the aforementioned “greed”, makes him a little more genuine in my eyes. At the very least a lot more genuine that say, Chavit Singson, who whistleblew Erap into house arrest.

As an aside, this might be strange but I find Pia Cayetano attractive. She has very good fashion sense.

Love and Hate : Make English the national language again and get it over with

Love

Tipidpc.com. Because you find great deals like this Gears of War for Windows at less than 40 percent retail value. Gotta love the underground economy.

Hate

Filipinos. Why? Because Pinoys are sensitive, racist motherfuckers that’s why. They look down on people with dark skin and at the same time are overly sensitive when someone makes a bisaya joke. Then they go up in arms about how Filipino isn’t really Filipino but just a dialect of Tagalog. Granted, their arguments are probably valid, but the answer isn’t to give equal importance to other dialects and thus further erode any sense of national unity we have. As much as the Bisayas claim that Tagalogs look down on them, I’ve heard of Bisayas threatening to kill people who speak Tagalog while on their home turf. It isn’t a joke and it’s not funny and it’s this kind of clannishness that fucks up the country. If you gave equal prominence to other dialects you’d end up with certain areas becoming strongholds of a dialect, and when you go there you wouldn’t understand jack shit. That shit’s not funny, I tried it in Shanghai. Charades can only take you so far. I mean, have you ever tried charading to a taxi driver that you wanna go to the zoo? I digress.

Just have English as the national language, seriously. That way everyone’s happy, you can all go write your local broadsheets in your own dialects and make snide remarks to each other that no one will understand, and there won’t be a barrier of communication and people would stop bitching about this nonsense.

Trillanes and company were lucky

Senator Inmate Trillanes is a fan of hyperbole:

“now we see just how far this government is willing to go to stay in power”

Well thank god, if that’s all they’re willing to do. I mean really, as much as I hate to admit it, the government was pretty efficient in handling this particular crisis (course they had practice a few years ago with the same bunch of guys, so that must help some). They managed a show of force without any casualties whatsoever. Of course one might call their show of force overkill since Trillanes and his buddies didn’t have the balls to fight back anyway, but I assure you that had this happened in Russia (hello Chechen separatists) or Pakistan we’d be reading about a Magdalo massacre right now.

Make fags, not war

In a world where every military action taken by a lone superpower is coming under increasing scrutiny, military researchers have searched high and low for nonlethal means of attacking their enemies. Such as gay bombs for instance. Gay bombs, you say? Whatever do they do? Well I’ll tell you dear readers, because I feel it is my duty to inform you of the most hilariously absurd things I find on the intarwebs. Gay bombs are supposed to release an aphrodisiac that turns your most hardened Taliban frontliner into an aroused homosexual just waiting to pounce on his fellow militant. You can imagine the kinds of problems this would cause for said militants, especially when they have explosives strapped around their waists.

There was also talk of bombs that would simulate the smell of flatulence, but they were passed on because “people in many areas of the world do not find faecal odour offensive, since they smell it on a regular basis”. It’s amazing how these guys manage to turn their noses up at developing countries while discussing fartbombs.