A little change of plans

Posted by JoeAm on January 5, 2015 · 63 Comments 

You know, I probably write smack better than most in the Philippines. “Smack: a disrespectful comment made to or about someone.” (One of 42 definitions cited in the Urban Dictionary. Don’t check out the others unless you have great tolerance for American street language.) But I have become increasingly uncomfortable doing smack. I’ve reached the … Continue reading →

Category Blogging/Journalism, Citizenship/Patriotism, Crime/Corruption, Culture and Arts, Economy, Laws and Ethics, Philippine Government, Philippine Politics

The Book of Allegory

Posted by JoeAm on December 30, 2014 · 34 Comments 

This blog has the echo of a prior writing, but we have a lot of new followers, so I’ll tread that ground once more. It may explain a few things. Let me first note how I came to the topic this time around. It is amusing, I think. Mariano Renato Pacifico did it, essentially, by leveling a blast … Continue reading →

Category Blogging/Journalism, Culture and Arts, Education, Humor/Satire, Literature

The Korina stone

Posted by JoeAm on December 20, 2014 · 232 Comments 

ABS-CBN news anchor Korina Sanchez is regularly mocked or criticized on social media. I’ve mocked the shallow, sensationalist “talking head” method of news reporting employed by ABS-CBN. She is one of three news anchors there. Her husband, prospective presidential candidate Mar Roxas, gets criticized for being married to her. They were married in 2009. The … Continue reading →

Category Blogging/Journalism, Citizenship/Patriotism, Philippine Politics

On the blacklisting of 9 Hong Kong protesters

Posted by JoeAm on November 27, 2014 · 18 Comments 

The Aquino Administration has dropped its ban on visits to the Philippines by nine Hong Kong protesters due to complaints from journalism groups and Hong Kong. Well, I’m writing this blog anyway because, from where I sit, those critics seem to be missing great chunks from the entire picture. The topic is most interesting because it … Continue reading →

Category Blogging/Journalism, China, Foreign Affairs and Defense, Laws and Ethics

Of division, diversity and an admiral

Posted by JoeAm on October 28, 2014 · 83 Comments 

One of the discoveries I have made in blogging is that it is extraordinarily difficult to find successful ways to bring people of different backgrounds and thinking into a common community that nurtures itself. Rather, the division caused by our diversity inherently wins out. And thus we find hostility in the blog threads, protests and violent complaints across the … Continue reading →

Category Blogging/Journalism, Citizenship/Patriotism, Foreign Affairs and Defense, USA/Americans