hit05

They've already done the oil exploration almost a decade ago. Between 2005 and 2008, Arroyo entered into a joint exploration agreement with China and Vietnam within disputed areas that are 80% inside our EEZ. Since China decided to spend $1 billion to build an oil rig, it sounds to me like they found something. Loida Lewis was already protesting the oil rig in 2011 (see youtube).

Considering Chinese Government funds are heavily invested without return on equity, the desperate bureaucrats who created the poor decision need to buy more time by setting up this oil rig before they finally get the axe. Oil rigs are not really permanent structures since they can be towed in and out of service. We got a couple of them and they are like vehicles that need regular maintenance and scheduled service repairs interval.

The original claimant has drilled for oil already and found none. Marcos in his hey days had a very profitable oil interests too with PNOC and Petron, and this prospect cannot escape his web of influence had the potential been clear and promising. Perhaps if we assume that Marcos is a shrewd investor and leader, then let us trust his decision not to waste time in this area. Let us give it a few more weeks or even a couple of months of Chinese due diligence then we can finally rest this case.

I feel I have to play devil's advocate a little, what with all the "it depends on what you believe" nonsense being spouted here.

 

First off, a sin is a sin, regardless of your own personal beliefs or awareness/ignorance of the fact. I will not debate what constitutes a sin, or put a label on what's right and what's wrong: that's God's prerogative not mine. But what I will say is that your own personal sense of morality is meaningless when defining what is, or what is not, a sin. In theoligical terms a sin is an act that violates God's will. If abortion goes against God's will, then it's a sin, whether you believe it is or not.

 

Again, let me stress: I'm not saying that abortion is a sin. I'm merely fighting the notion that you can magically define what constitutes a sin based upon your own personal belief system. That's just ridiculous... unless of course you are God

 

And BTW, sinning is normal. Even the pope does it. Sins can always be forgiven. That's one of the most important things the Church teaches

I think the original case from the first post shows the trail of consequences of sin. From lust to adultery then the lack of love to abandonment - that takes the person to feel what she did to her husband who she had rejected. Finally the desire for abortion. Slowly but surely, her inner self is dying. It is like taking you to a point of no return. The power of sin just grew stronger and it ate up the morals of the person completely. Sin left a trail of destruction that harmed the lives of many.

Maybe we ought to call this GUILT and set it apart from sin. Once your are guilty, then you get to justify your wrong behavior. You are fast digging up your own grave - if the sin happens to be mortal like adultery is.

Religion can be a mess too and leaders may suffer from guilt as well. But the scriptures say that all sins can be forgiven, yet it is guilt that we really have to care about. Once you loss the sense of sin completely, then that makes you GUILTY.

The setup of a production oil rig in the disputed territory is the best thing for all concerned.

Finally, it would end all speculation of oil in the area. Once the Chinese realize they have been lured and tricked into believing that vast oil supply can be exploited there, then that is the start of Justice where the Chinese Government start going against its enemies from its own ranks and contacts in the country too. Purging these inutile contacts is mutually beneficial for both China and the Philippines so we ought to welcome the Chinese initiative.

in my opinion, wealth inequality in the Philippines is a different beast, the oligarchy having grown out of a history that never truly birthed an emancipated populace.

 

but to one of the points raised previously, it's not as if the wealthy do nothing with their resources. they are, after all, the job creators. now wealth gained via corruption is obviously a different matter, more so the use of this same ill-gotten wealth in ways that don't benefit the country in any way. that seems to be the troubling norm in Pinas but, corruption notwithstanding, the oligarchs don't seem to be invested in things that will make the nation stronger. wealth inequality may not be the problem here, a myopic oligarchy might be.

my fundamental discomfort with any sort of state-imposed equality is that it fosters dullards and drones. it does not reward the things we want to see in the world, such as innovation, enterprise, and the free market.

 

 

any critique of America must take into account the outstanding nature of its founding principles, exemplified by qualities posters like LC have seen firsthand. today, the US is most certainly on a path to becoming a more socialist state, with even the most basic freedoms losing to political correctness and a misguided sense of what equality truly means.

 

we often forget that their constitution protects its citizens' access to equal opportunities; it does not guarantee the equality of results. big difference.

Yes, the rise of the new Filipino oligarchs from dynastic politicians will never be compatible with the equality socialism wants to impose on paper. Let us not waste energy hoping government will change society for the better People Power helped topple oligarchs (like Romania's Nicolae Ceausescu) in former communist countries too so maybe we got to be more cautious of these political ideas, and learn from the lessons as they have been applied and experienced elsewhere.

I worked for uncle sam close to 10 years. I'm tempted to say that in the end, its all about using power to build wealth and wealth to build power, the proverbial vicious cycle. Sorry, am being cynical right now.

Americans are Bible conscious. Let us not disappoint them.

What Scriptural proverbs say is that man may plan but God has the last say; God set a time for everything.

Jesus, who claims to be greater than the Wisdom of Solomon (Proverbs) reiterates that true power is from God but authorities (wealth) in this life are "Powers that are losing their Powers"

Funny that the Great Depression happened in the last century. That incident alone would make the thread title weak and inappropriate since America was never dominant in that century that began economically uncertain and weak just like what we are experiencing today.

Bankers are killing themselves all over the place....brings to mind what happened during the market crash before the Great ...

 

The USA took a drastic move to pull out funds from Asian Markets early this year. The State of the Nation address of President Obama predicting better investment climate in the USA triggered the decision. This can be a protectionist or self preserving move that hopes to generate or save jobs in the US mainland.

Maybe there was pressure for bankers tasked to liquidate holdings in such a short period. Moving huge amounts of bank resources can destabilize the markets and lead to losses. Since bankers earn on margins, their operation may face bankruptcy. This is similar to suicide of Urban Bank founder who suffered a pullout of funds from a major depositor. This led to panic of the public and a serious bank run. At the time Urban Bank just moved to a new multi-story headquarters in Makati.

Maybe Larry realized a huge slip and posted a racial slur of a PICTURE LINK catastrophic to the pro American cause he want to project at MTC. You can't FAKE it 100% of the time I guess. Just think how the US President would react when the groupie pretending to be pro USA are publicly discriminating the skin color of majority of Filipinos.

If you can't say no, then switch to sniffing a milder solvent.

Dude hwag mo bantayan ang posts ko dahil wala akong barya pambayad. Public site eto and not paid parking.

http://i1.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/newsfeed/000/263/866/403.gif

Why are you answering what should have been another's reply?

The Americans will never come to the rescue in a way that entrapped them just like in Vietnam. They know the real enemies are in control of this government and the NPA is still high on the priority list in the war on terror.

This site is dumbly propagating the ascent of China for years, then all of a sudden your groupie make believes they are pro Americans overnight? Don't you read your posts? Even if the site administrators whitewash that issue and remove incriminatory posts, the site cannot be removed from the WWW that operates 24/7 under a redundant system where the MTC server disks get cloned a hundred times in other places of the world network.

Correct. The last remaining superpower wouldn't want to be perceived as a wimp.

If the NPA was a superpower that is probably the case. The ANTI-FILIPINO armed rebellion is busy creating an image of brutal and inhuman movement consistent with the original models of socialism it wants to imitate.

In contrast the US military sent teen superstar Justin Beaver to give a free show to Filipino victims of calamity. They gave vital food and water supples and even indirectly exposed the administration for neglect forcing top officials to offer a free show of charity and concern.

Increasingly, Filipinos are realizing who the real enemies are. The signs are written on the wall as the week long event of the Black Nazarene attracted tens of millions of devotees - the numbers of volunteers that the NPA would want to corner in the event they take over a non-performing government patterned in the fashion of Nationalist China walking out of Beijing and handing power to their communist partners under the leadership of Mao.

The mainland Chinese in the country is able to corrupt public officials and are in fact gaining a monopoly in the exploitation of our Natural Resources.

During the aftermath of typhoon Yolanda, the NPA was roaming in armed groups to confiscate vital supplies like water from the hard hit residents. Some of the commercial areas which were intact after the calamity were also looted. For two days, lawlessness spread while the national government and media failed to report what is happening. A TV program with first-hand narration by an EYEWITNESS declared that many lives were lost due to dehydration and the fact that the survivors had no food while EXPOSED to windy and wet conditions of the storm. Instead of helping save lives, the NPA struck the towns isolated by debris and lack of communications resulting to the death of unarmed survivors and scores of dying women and children in the streets deprived of food, water, dry clothes and shelter.

According to a controversial account of victims, it was only AFTER the US military was notified and asked to help that the national government made public appearance of concerned action. An announcement and OFFICIAL REPORT to the presidential team by the DPWH stated the resumption of normal road traffic to the affected zones. The longest bridge in the country, San Juanico was cleared as officially passable. The nationwide announcement encouraged people from other places to travel to the affected areas to check on friends, relatives or property.

However in a few short hours, the Agriculture Secretary over ride the previous clearance of safe passage via San Juanico. He warned that aid to the area is not advisable since there was a THREAT to life and an absolute chance of getting killed. This announcement disturbed the media staff who cannot believe what was happening. Many were preparing for transfer of vital relief goods say their efforts are undermined by the travel advisory.

The next day, media reported that the bridge has been blocked by at least 100 ABANDONED vehicles. They cannot explain what happened to the people who have been encouraged to use the bridge because it was officially cleared as passable. Slowly within a few days, unidentified bodies floating on the area were found. While officials in government were publicly condemning the presence of US military and were moving to treat them as outlaws, a Chinese medical ship set off to the calamity area. At least a week passed before this supposed Chinese medical mission reported the retrieval of at least 100 typhoon victims in waters close to San Juanico bridge.

All these facts are recorded. Some of the eyewitness accounts were even made into a video that was televised nationwide.

The question now is why did the administration know about the problem of NPAs massacre of civilians? The mere fact that they warned media of getting killed is enough proof that they know about the MURDERS. Moreover, why was the US Military presence a MAJOR threat to the area while the Chinese vessel had safe passage? The Chinese vessel was supposed to be a medical mission to help save lives but instead it was used to retrieve bodies of dead or missing which they AUTOMATICALLY claimed to be VICTIMS of the typhoon rather than MURDERED by the NPA. How can they play forensics team in the guise of medical relief for typhoon victims? Was the Chinese vessel there exactly to cover up the murders of these civilians? Moreover the top military official who estimated the number of victims approaching 5000 was made to resign while the NBI team suspended their tagging activity during the new year holidays as mass graves were formally televised to be temporary until the break is over.

Such scene is a repeat of what happened in Cagayan de Oro where the Chinese Ambassador personally supervised the retrieval of bodies. The cause of death in Cagayan de Oro was illegal logging where several huge logging tractors ploughed into whole barrios instantly killing hundreds if not thousands. Media reported 2 missing local policemen who reported for work AFTER the typhoon and on sunny conditions - later to be pronounced dead and OFFICIALLY among the victims of the typhoon. The huge tractors had DENR stickers and permits despite the total log ban in effect. They remain underwater as proof of the cause of deaths of many who were hurriedly put in mass graves without autopsy as to the cause of deaths.

Filipinos are living their own version of the Holocaust and are systematically being eliminated and buried in mass graves by their own government.

FYI, in Russia, the motivation of people was the emancipation of labor and workers from capitalists. But history etched the truth in the blood of Russians. In World War 2, Stalin forced Russians to fight the Germans leading to the greatest loss of lives for any country in that war. Some say that the combined total number of loss of non-Russians lives including civilians like the millions of Jews who died in the holocaust is even smaller than the Russian lives lost in World War 2.

Apparently lacking in supply of firearms and ammunition, the Russians were eliminated by the superior weaponry of the Germans and also by Stalin's military command to shoot those who abandon their posts and refuse to fight the NAZI. Socialism did this to the Russians - both the NAZI socialists from Germany and Stalin who is Georgian and head of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. The error of socialism led Russians to a fate far worse than ordinary workers suffering from capitalism. What happened was worse than slavery since they became like a worthless dummy shot and killed by their fellow socialists.

God's Laws are different from man made constructs, although human laws have been patterned to follow divine laws.

When socialism was born in Russia, the Laws of God were ignored. There was a reign of terror that attracted natural calamities leading to God's punishment which is pestilence, famine and war. In no time human plans were demolished due to lack of God's blessings. Russia not only suffered extreme weather conditions but had food shortage leading to starvation. A part of the territory - Alaska was sold to neighbor USA to pay for the cost of grain - and secure their national survival.

Today that socialism put on the Emperor's New Clothes and has been called the Environmental Movement. Likewise, it ignores the divine laws too. It has hijacked science and politically charged the propagation of knowledge in schools and in tech driven information society. Problem is there is no longer truth in science and even the best countries are powerless over the calamities that come to them. This is despite the fact that the environmental movement is focused on creating a better world free from pollution and man made technology detrimental to the well being of Earthlings. God's Laws in nature has been twisted and packaged as KNOWLEDGE of the environment INSTANTLY creating fear of destruction unless human politics become relentless and absolute over each and every person in the planet.

However this call for complete human control over the environment lead us to witness the wrath of nature instead. What is happening is a dramatic shout out and wake up call for mankind saying that it is never man but God who is in control.

And that Lady Liberty, in your view, is a false God/false religion of freedom designed to take the Catholic Church out of the equation?

 

Chill. This is a wonder for me also when I watched a video documentary (History Channel) about the French Revolution. Such things really happened with Lady Liberty becoming a PAGAN object of worship. But what do you expect? Wasn't the French reeling from starving poverty and ignorance of the commoner? The commoner overpowered the monarchs and eliminated the intelligentsia too.

The French may have given Americans the statue of Liberty but you need to understand that while the USA was successful, French democracy was a disaster. After a bloody reign of terror, a non-French Napoleon became military leader of the new nation that ended up in a counter revolution when Napoleon crowned himself emperor.

While the USA boasts of a PROVIDENTIAL constitution, there is paranoia of the French that countries loyal to the cross would eventually put them lining up the guillotine haunted them. Maybe what you want to dispute is the thought that while the USA saw God as key, the French confused religion with God and strike him out of nationalism.

I think the problem here is that China is not thinking but borrowing foreign ideas and producing a cheap version of the original. Its surrogates in MTC are pretending to be Filipinos or maybe they are Filipinos make believing to be Chinese - are presenting defective and out of touch information.

Again it is no use citing sources here since it seems your INTERNET is bugged and can no longer access 80% of what is available to the rest of the world. Even the propaganda office is crippled this way because they cannot use the best information before making important decisions.

I think I'll try to give this one a shot. What you're saying is the disenchantment of the French people with the Monarchy culminated with the French Revolution which began in 1789. You're also saying that the dictatorship of the French Jacobins, under the leadership of Maximilien Robespierre, put a muzzle on the Church to prevent it from criticizing the Revolution, particularly the period between September, 1793 and July, 1794, better known as the Reign of Terror in which tens of thousands of perceived enemies were executed, many by guillotine. Hence your reference to this era in French history as "bloody." And the "mythical Lady Liberty" which you refer to is the symbol we all know today as the Statue of Liberty which the French presented to the American people in view their own American Revolution. Is this what you meant to say? And that Lady Liberty, in your view, is a false God/false religion of freedom designed to take the Catholic Church out of the equation?

 

Is this the gist of what you were trying to say? If so, what does all this have to do with China? Are you suggesting that the Chinese people will follow the French model and take out the Chinese dictatorship if they're not happy with the way the Chinese government is performing? If so, where are the parallels?

 

I'm really trying my darned best, hit05, to understand your mindset. It's not easy and I apologize for taking pot shots at you. I was out of line and I admit it. But it's just so hard for me to understand where you're coming from and this frustration has made me say things that may be hurtful. But you must admit that you've said a couple of hurtful words yourself, not only to me but others in this thread.

 

Let's call it even. I don't hold anything against you but I just wish you could convey what you want to say in a more concise, straight to the point manner.

 

Peace bro....

Point is nationalism was nowhere before the French Revolution. Sovereignty rested with the monarchs or individuals. In the USA, it was not nationalism but democracy since the New World was subdivided into regions of smaller European countries of origin. Forcing nationalism in the USA will cause it to self destruct.

Whatever claims China got today is weak since it relies on issues of ancient sovereignty that Communism and Nationalism demolished or eradicated. Moreover, the Mongols who hold the world record for the largest empire ever did not even treat the local Chinese as their equal. They were discriminated or treated with contempt and banned from taking any public office. The Mongol conquerors established their rule by marriage with local chieftains in Europe where it spread.

Propaganda or not, China's expansion of territories are definitely going to affect our way of life.

It works both ways and the billions of Chinese will probably get pissed by government wishing to risk warfare and disturb the economic transformation to modernity.

It has already been pointed out that nationalism is incompatible with democracy. Nationalism can be traced to the rise of Napoleon when the French eliminated their monarchs and then fought without a crown but with a flag instead. In fact the French subdued religion due to the paranoia that the Church will destroy their political gains and stop the bloody Reign of Terror using moral issues. Instead of God, the French turned to a mythical Lady Liberty - which is a false God or false Religion of Freedom.

Any pick-up can wade thru 800 mm deep of water. But unless you are driving an amphibian, I don't advise going thru floodwaters that would reach your brake drums.

Because the time and cash you might spend 2 weeks after that adventure would tell you that it's not worth it.

I used to do off road a lot. The trick is to run the vehicle lightly stepping on the brakes while lightly stepping on the accelerator pedal as well. This will dry the brake casing and if it is drum brakes, allow traction or dry the contact surface since this suffers from low friction when the drum is wet. Do this trick after submerging your wheels in water or you may get into an accident due to weak or uneven brake. But nowadays, even the rear wheel is disc brake so that keeping it dry will not be a problem.

I find that a service truck that ply wet routes daily will develop less problems and stay lubricated longer than a weekend or special holiday vehicle. Just make sure you do PREVENTIVE wheel maintenance before storing your car and not using it for weeks. The long term issue is if the insides of the drum stays wet, the glued brake pad may eventually peel off the shoe. Moreover, some vehicles may use poor or easy to rust steel that can eventually cause metal to metal squeaks or even lock up or freeze bearings. A good idea is to have the wheel bearings lubricated by grease repacking - or by removing the old and placing fresh grease paste before prolonged storage.

Just like Hitler wanted to take over Europe in the 1930s.

In a way you are correct, China is still trapped in time. It does not understand how the world is evolving and what direction it is taking.

China today is attempting to accomplish something that has been proven to fail, just like the gullible decision to follow communist doctrines - which incidentally remains their great stumbling block towards progress.

I'm not surprised in the least. Your patience is admirable bro Larry. I don't know how much more of that I could take.

Come on, you really cannot take much. Why even post in this thread?

Yes, I don't understand because your post is incoherent. The last time I checked, Manchuria is a part of China. Huh? Why would I tell you of the Nationalists or Communists consider Manchus as locals? I am not from there so I have no idea. Your posts are getting farther and farther from the topic at hand.

 

 

What's the connection of this question to the thread topic?

 

 

What does cheap labor have to do with the topic?

 

 

What does labor have to do with the topic at hand? Perhaps, you can start a new topic regarding Chinese labor because you are obviously way off topic.

Communism is all about labor and capital. Communists got an idea that they are exploited by Capitalists, reason for the EMPHASIS. But in the case of modern China, it was foreign CAPITAL that provided the opportunities to employ and make productive the majority of otherwise idle Chinese. Thus, the communist ideas were abandoned in pursuit of development and progress.

Manchuria is not Chinese but Japanese now. IT was given as payment for war reparations when China attempted to invade Japan unsuccessfully. Isn't that what the Chinese are asking Japan to return to them?

You see the ROOT of the problem is the RE-EDUCATION of mainland Chinese that programs them to make believe a lot, among which is the claim that the Philippines is a part of China.

What's your point? This post is convoluted and incoherent.

If you CANNOT understand then go by the facts.

Firstly, who are the Manchus? Wasn't that the last Dynasty to rule China? Where did the Manchus come from? It was not from mainland China at all. Tell us if communists or nationalists consider the Manchus as locals.

Next, ask why did Mao institute the CULTURAL Revolution? If indeed culture was so successful for 5000 long years, then why even try to tamper with it?

Finally, what made modern China is the supply of Cheap labor. No where in the world can claim to be cheaper. Isn't that a FACT, even today almost 30 years after China opened up?

Labor is only one of the many factors of PRODUCTION. Labor is needed in a production line for manufactured Goods. At first, China offered factories and invited management from other countries to set up production systems. Had China known ahead of time what to do, then foreign CAPITAL in the form of proprietary ideas, markets, and technological know how will never be needed for the ECONOMIC MIRACLE. Yet in the scheme of things, it was foreign capital that worked for the economic uplift of China.

If still you cannot swallow the TRUTH, then I am sorry but that is no longer my problem. Maybe you can ask a favor from the mods to teach you how to use search engines.

 

 

If a country matures in the same fashion after 5,000 years of History and Culture, then i'm damn glad that The Philippines is only 115 years old...

I have thought of this innocently until I read the history of how China was COLONIZED by a smaller country - Manchuria. Basically the weakness of the mainlander was his culture. It easily succumbed to the superior ways of the Manchus who introduced fashion sense like pig tails. The normal Chinese just looked awful and the captivating looks of the Manchus made them admire and trust the foreigners. Yes, China was not overcome by weapons but by cultural admiration FOR its neighbor, Manchuria - a land where the population are more close resembling the Japanese than Chinese.

Thus repair of the damaged CULTURE of China was what the Cultural Revolution was about. Yet in the scheme of things, the outcome of this artificially crafted cultureby RE-EDUCATION was an out of touch people who cannot work without supervision and management, making the mainland the largest and cheapest labor force in the world.

What's a bit worrying is the fact that the Chinese find "saving face" an extremely important value. China definitely lost face in this incident and may resort to some crazy/irrational response to regain lost face.

Wrong, what China has been doing and by claiming that the Philippines is a part of China is already CRAZY and IRRATIONAL.

90+ units! Wow America is really loaded....courtesy of treasury bills purchased by China. He he he. The irony of it all....

China paid for the massive losses in the financial crash that left huge investment houses to fall or close down. In a way China's thirst to dominate the markets crashed the system since it forced the closure of many businesses and sent a lot of wage earners to join the ranks of the unemployed.

In both WW1 and WW2, it was special bonds that financed the military buildup to end the war. What I mean is the defense contractors cannot be financed by Chinese investments since they normally accept payment in special priority bonds too. Even Germany used secret war bonds to finance the military buildup in WW2.

Of course the crash of the government system that promised payment for that bond issue may also mean no payment upon maturity - making such securities worthless. Thus if China were to declare war against the US and aims for its downfall, the US will have no choice but to cancel its debt obligations or nullify any claims of China.