How to conquer the world

During the 1940s Japan conquered its Asian neighbors to fuel its desire to become an imperialist power. Even the casual students of world history know the end result of that. Japan was nuked. The country suffered under horrid conditions until it managed to recover 20 years later. Then in another 20 years it was set to conquer the world again via finance. Again people feared the loss of property and assets to a foreign power. Then its economy unraveled thanks to unconventional banking practices, collapsing asset prices and the Asian Crisis.

Despite all this Japan still managed to conquer the  world. Back in the 90s anime started landing on foreign shores. This cultural export captured the imagination of many people. There were others, technological marvels that they shared with the rest of the world. Interest in Japanese culture increased. Subsequent sympathy for Japan increased as well. Now when disaster strikes, people band together to help Japan. Even those it warred against. What they couldn't get by taking they got by giving. 

For aspiring conquerors, it's an easy lesson. Transmit culture. Give away part of your identity. Be inclusive because that builds sympathy and rapport. There is nothing more binding than a shared identity. Or to be more flippant: make anime not war.

End of Elections 2010

Despite setbacks, rumors and equipment malfunctions the elections managed to push through. On the second day nearly all precincts have been tabulated and it looks like a landslide win for Senator Noynoy Aquino. Pretty much everyone's conceded except for Erap and Nick Perlas. Erap is currently at second place and Nick is hoping for a miracle.

Thankfully this election was not as badly marred by irregularities and violence. Some Poll officials joke that this was a pretty boring year. I'm sure they and the poll watcher are just as relieved as the rest of us.

JC de los Reyes

JC de los Reyes is truly an alternative candidate. For starters he wants to alter current philippine culture. His model apparently is drawn from Catholic Teachings.

If there's anything I like its this statement from Ang Kapatiran's Passport to a New Philippines:

A post-evaluation of EDSA I and EDSA II shows that while we
have succeeded in throwing the undesirables out of power, we
have failed to give the successors a “list of our clear aspirations”
for them to achieve for us.

Despite all the People Power Revolutions, we've failed to create a consensus as to what we want for the country. If we don't know where to go we'll get nowhere fast.

The party proposes to change the Filipino as a means of changing the Philippines.

Ang Kapatiran openly declares their adherance to the social teachings of the catholic church. If you're allergic to religion, leave now.

Just as they've said they want to change the behavior of the people. Many of their platform items address this. They want to abolish gambling, create a gunless society, eschew the glorification of sex and violence. They plan on raising savings rates. Pretty lofty and admirable goals.

While their end goal is clear, the action plans are not mentioned in many crucial items. Take savings rate. How do they plan on increasing this when a lot of people have barely enough to survive? Are they imposing forced savings schemes on productive workers? Will OFWs get their remittances appropriated? We can come up with some scary scenarios simply because the plan is not articulated.

On the other hand, some other plans are actually fairly simple and should not pose problems. Prohibiting officials from writing regular columns or having their pictures plastered alongside government projects might only take an executive order.

If we've historically lacked a clear vision to guide action I think Ang Kapatiran suffers the reverse condition. There's a clear vision with no visible means of getting there.

You may  find it strange that I have yet to speak about their candidate. Given the methods, JC de los Reyes is peripheral to the party goal.  He is simply considered the most qualified member to run for the presidential post. If people find that strange its because that is how party politics operate. We are simply unaccustomed to this.

In any event he seems to be a capable leader having experience in local government and in business. I just wish he had used a different company name than Lego Brick. It gives off the wrong impression.

Nicanor Perlas III

Nick who?

It's unfortunate Nick Perlas remains obscure.

I call him Mr. Consistent. He's had a platform since 2009 and it has barely changed. Lets add emphasis.

Nick's platform has, so far, stood the test of time

Out of all the candidates, it seems he's the one who spent the most effort in crafting his plans. Not only that, he did extra work and actually outlined his whole ideology. How's that for A grade?

The platform of Pangmasa promotes several measures which are derived from current scientific research or implements current technology. Nick Perlas cites the use Gardner's Multiple Intelligence framework in education. He espouses environmentally conscious practices. He wants to create measures to safeguard us against rising sea levels. He's the only one promoting household energy production. He recognizes the importance of online journalism.

If Brother Eddie has the "Wrath of God" platform, Nick Perlas has the "Discovery Channel + Nat Geo" platform. It even starts with the entymology of the word Democracy. Pure geek heaven. For me, that is positively a good thing.

If there's any problem with his approach is that it may be difficult to grasp for the Regular Juans and Marias. His use of language is unusual. There are terms like Promote Holistic Education and Inner Change, bio-geographical equity, and societal threefolding partnerships. Come on man, get a marketing consultant! Heck, get an English professor to edit! This is practically specialist jargon. It gives off the image of an unapproachable intellectual. You want people to relate to you through your words, immediately. Approachability helps in politics, no really, it does. I find it ironic given that the party calls itself Pangmasa.

It's sad because the parts that I do understand without resorting to Google make sense like:

Irrigate all rice lands using both large-scale irrigation infrastructure and artesian wells for small farms

or this:

Advocate for the removal of pork barrel from the national budget to ensure that tax pesos are used, not to promote transactional politics that worsen the condition of the poor, but to eradicate poverty 

It's sad for another reason. While I find Nick Perlas intelligent and capable, I get the impression that he lacks empathy. Perhaps other people feel this way and will look for their president elsewhere. Who would follow a leader that can't be understood? How can you? That platform with the great ideas will  be so much wasted brain juice.

I have one appeal. In case Mr. Perlas loses the election, can the new president at least get him as a consultant?







  

Gilberto Teodoro

Speaking of Kamaganak, Inc. I stopped over at DND Secretary Gilberto Teodoro's site to check it out again. Last time I visited, it had two separate areas dealing with his plans for the country: a detailed strategy for each region of the country and a list of issues he deems important. (urls were http://gibo.ph/strategy.aspx and http://gibo.ph/issue.aspx)


Well, those are now GONE! Go ahead and check the 404.


Sec. Teodoro has a brand spanking new platform which is the Lakas Kampi CMD party platform.


And so we have a winner for the Most Improved in Platform Authoring!


Unlike the previous incarnations which were too disjointed, this one actually makes more sense and appears more consistent. Here's one example from the previous format: He identifies innovation as a key economic issue yet none of his strategies addresses this. Instead there are a lot of infrastructure development ideas without an overarching rationale. It's a grocery list. Where's the innovation in that? To further confuse the message, the site had Sec. Teodoro declaring the age of copying previous trends passe. My impression was that the strategies and issues were written by a band of consultants who did not consult the candidate or each other.

The newer platform is a quantum improvement. For the issue of infrastructure it notes the need for the integration and convergence of all transport modalities. It calls for the expansion of inter-island transportation and communication. The infrastructure agenda coincides with and supports the thrust for rural and agricultural development (which are separate platform items). Things work together.

If the party hired a multitude of consultants to write this script, I'm glad they're now talking to each other and to their candidate! So team Gibo gets an A for effort instead of cousin Noynoy.

Too bad there's still that stigma associated with the old regime. In previous statements he openly admitted favoritism for Gloria Arroyo and even professed a debt of gratitude to her for giving him his break in government. In a TV interview he expressed his hesitance in pursuing graft charges because of these reasons. Disturbing statements indeed. Who else will he let off the hook because of a debt of gratitude? What if these people were guilty of severe crimes?

Those troubling statements have also disappeared from his website. I think it's part of the move to sanitize his image. If I monitor elections again, I will be shamelessly copying the interesting statements from political sites. That way I can keep a better record of a campaign's development.

I doubt the recent move to create distance from PGMA will do much good in the middle of the game. Something more dramatic needs to happen before people completely dissociate the Secretary from the passing administration.

Gibo Teodoro redeems himself on Platform but his past life leaves a big question mark on character. Admittedly, he's well trained and capable. The question is: capable of what?

Benigno Aquino III

Noynoy has a platform. In fact he had it up before December 2009. Sadly for him, it won't silence the critics. Just like Richard Gordon's platform, this one is long on vision and short on solution. I'm tempted to cut and paste bits of the previous Dick Gordon post. The observations are about the same.

There is a difference though. Noynoy attempts to get at the root of the problems instead of just recognizing inadequacies. Look at health care:

Noynoy: From treating health as just another area for political patronage to recognizing the advancement and protection of public health, which includes responsible parenthood, as key measures of good governance.


Dick: we must provide adequate access to HEALTH CARE for all our people, especially the needy


Check that one out. Senator Aquino thinks politics is a reason for the poor state of health care. Senator Gordon is merely telling us health care is poor. I'm surprised. No actually I'm a bit shocked. It seems Senator Aquino is making some effort to actually create solutions. By identifying the cause he now has a target. I did not expect it from him. And if he didn't write his platform, at least he got someone who is trying to think.
 
Still, an A for effort will hardly cut it given our immense problems.And stopping without offering concrete plans hardly merits an A.
 
And what of capability and character? Honestly, I can't pin anything on him except for the old Kamaganak, Inc. accusations that emerged during his mother's administration and the Hacienda Luisita situation. While the accusations sound grave, I've always wondered why it's taking everyone so long to resolve it. If the critics have any solid evidence against the clan then let them present it in the proper forum. Its been decades already and these two issues conveniently crop up during elections. Once those are over, the issues conveniently vanish without resolution. It's my impression that many of these critics actually profit from their periodic silence. How convenient....

As it is I'm getting weary of all this anonymous mudslinging via text or internet. Like the boy who cried wolf, these agents will likely find the public disbelieving their claims, true or not. Who will suffer then? I bet it's not the text brigades.

Usually you start getting black propaganda when you earn the ire of rivals. That occurs when you do something they don't like. If you don't do anything, they won't react. In this case, Sen. Aquino attracts attacks because of sheer popularity. You can check the bills filed during his tenure. He's not exactly a paragon of hard work. Nothing there to earn the enemy's ire.
 
So this is what the LP selling: an upstanding guy with a spotty plan and indeterminate ability. It's apparent why no one stands out among the aspirants. They are all lacking in one way or another.

Pascal's Wager for Philippine Elections

What if you had to choose between a politician who's been around and an unknown candidate?

If you vote the traditional politician he will run the country as it has always been run... into the ground. If he wanted to do anything different he would have done so already. Besides, what are the chances the old politico will have a change of heart? Right. Moving on now...

If you vote an outsider two things can happen:

• He will run things as it has always been run... into the ground.
• He will have actually change things because he doesn't know how to run things the old way or is wise enough to know better.

So the likelihood of going to hell are pretty high, but with a non-traditional candidate you get a slim chance for change.

Save the Nation, Garden Today!

I landed on this page after following a trail of informational links that began with an outdoor grill ad. Strange? That's the internet for you.

Its about gardening. Specifically, It's about a Rain garden Project in Minnesota, USA. The community uses these gardens to reduce run-offs into their scenic lake and river. While this project focuses on preventing contamination from sediments and pollutants, it did indicate a reduction in the volume of water. The test results show that run-offs diminished by 90%. That's a lot of water that does not need to go into the drain system. In short, its water that will not contribute to the kind of flooding we had recently.

You'd think that such a simple solution would have found its way here. No suck luck. We've been concentrating on plastering the land with concrete and asphalt. Even the decorative plants along the roads are encased in concrete boxes. And I'm not wondering. I've said it before - public works has a nasty reputation. Big contracts = big player = big money. From the looks of it, the rain garden project favors small independent contractors with a cheaper organic approach.

This one makes it into my list for "Nice to have, unlikely to get".