Congressional Copy-Pasta

Either Pampanga Rep. Juan Miguel Arroyo has been a Leftist sympathizer all along, or he just doesn’t give a damn anymore because when you’re the President’s son, victory is pretty much a sure thing.

The Makabayan Coalition, composed of eight progressive people’s organizations, has accused Arroyo and the party-list group of tricycle drivers and security guards that he claims to represent of plagiarism.

Allegedly, Arroyo’s Ang Galing Pinoy party-list copied militant party-list Bayan Muna’s constitution and by-laws pretty much to the letter. According to Bayan Muna Rep. Neri Colmenares, the basic documents that Ang Galing Pinoy submitted to the Commission on Elections were very lazily copy-pasted.

A statement on the Makabayan web sitesums it up thus:

Ang Galing Pinoy was found to have plagiarized the following from the Bayan Muna Constitution even copying the exact number of articles and sections:

(i) Bayan Muna’s 10 point program in its Constitution, including its vision of establishing a nationalist and democratic government.
(ii) A word for word copying of Bayan Muna’s organizational structure and membership principles, even copying Bayan Muna’s provisions on Intermediate Leading Bodies and Barangay chapters.
(iii) Ang Galing Pinoy also copied Bayan Muna’s Special Provisions on the formation of alliances and regional parties and even how to generate funding and resources.

“Rep. Arroyo’s group is so completely detached from the marginalized sectors that it doesn’t even know the issues and condition of the poor they have to copy Bayan Muna’s declaration of principles and even organizational structures,” says Colmenares.

While probably true, a more simple explanation presents itself: Mikey is an asshole.

(Thanks, FreeSince09)

Oh, electorate: Revilla tops SWS survey

Despite years of voters’ education and politicians’ claims about how much smarter the electorate has become, it still boils down to some 53% of respondents on a Social Weather Stations survey inclined to re-elect Senator Ramon Revilla Jr., scourge of pervy doctors and the Metro Manila Film Fest.

Senator Manuel Lapid, harbinger of doom, also got 26% of the votes of 2,100 respondents, whose main criterion for choosing senators is apparently that they do nothing. If elections were held today, Lapid could get the 10th of 12 contested Senate seats.

On the other hand, if elections were held today, there would be a failure of elections since the polling machines aren’t up yet. So, there’s that, at least.

UP community ‘apologizes’ for paint bombing Regent

In this week of student protests, University of the Philippines (not to be confused with the Polytechnic University of the Philippines) threw paint bombs at a member of the university’s Board of Regents.

From gmanews.tv

While some sectors may call the protest action ‘awesome shit,’ there may have been less ecstatic reactions from some of UP’s more moderate students.

And so, we have this ‘apology’ being passed around on facebook:

Given people’s propensity to not read to the very end of things, facebook users (and you) probably stopped reading at “Contrary to what the whole nation witnessed on March 24, 2010, not all members of the University are rude, uncouth and disrespectful.” And, really, that’s one facebook statement I’d append my signature to without hesitation. I mean, the people have to know that we don’t all throw paint bombs at officials, right? I mean, a lot of us just get high and/or drunk at the Sunken Garden not bothering anyone. Right?

Except when you read it till the end and you realize that this isn’t an apology at all. The ‘community’ “will not apologize, however, for our militant actions (like throwing paint bombs)” because, as they say, the UP administration left them with no choice but to disrespect a university official with some sort of doctorate or whatever. The statement circulating on facebook is an apology, that’s true enough. But it’s an apology on behalf of the UP administration for forcing students to throw paint at them.

I wonder whether the more than 100 people who appended their signatures to the apology know that they were endorsing the incident that they may have been trying to distance themselves from.

On the other hand, this is a brilliant piece of work. I almost signed it myself.

How to protest tuition fee hike: destroy school property, justify increase

Raise high the red banner of militancy at the Polytechnic University of the Philippines! Onward the proletariat! Or whatever.

Christ Jesus, PUP student leaders, doesn’t wrecking school equipment sort of, I don’t know, suddenly justify the tuition fee increase you guys are protesting?

Sort of like shooting yourself in the foot there, guys.

And then, of course, next year, there’ll be protests against the lack of desks and chairs because of the state’s abandonment of its responsibility to provide quality education. Which is probably true, but you won’t have chairs chiefly because you guys broke them. The 1,700-percent tuition fee increase from 12 pesos per unit to 200 pesos per unit won’t even buy one desk, I’m thinking. So, onward, onward. I guess.

Photo by Kabataan Partylist

To rebel is justified...somehow

One student leader, to show his solidarity with the students, has this to say:

“Actually, I have final exams today. But I was thinking, ‘what if next year I can’t take finals anymore because the tuition fee is so high?’ So we decided to protest instead.”

News flash for you, scholar: if, for some reason, you aren’t able to take your exams next year, that could be because you failed your finals this year by, I don’t know, not taking them.  A-plus.

(Thanks, mouse)

Greenpeace anti-coal video says nothing at all

This Greenpeace video teaches us about the evils of coal-fired power plants by telling us nothing at all.

Listen, Greenpeace, we know that saving the Earth is important. But surely you can send that message without resorting to the environmentalist version of  “or face the wrath of God.”

I’m just saying.