News Sharing: GMA's German Cut

Editorial
GMA’s German cut


Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 22:07:00 03/28/2010

Filed Under: Government

IT was when Philippine Ambassador to Germany and former foreign secretary Delia Albert received the “Most Outstanding Filipino Woman in Global Diplomacy” award from President Macapagal-Arroyo in ceremonies in Malacañang that she received confirmation, from the President herself, of the swirling rumors. She was being replaced.

The smile-while-I-stick-the-knife-in-your-back announcement was part of a wave of recent presidential appointments, all made despite the election-period ban. Justice Secretary Alberto Agra, himself a new appointee, said there was “nothing irregular” with the latest round of mass hirings and dismissals. In a sense, he was right. Albert’s sudden replacement, together with other secretive appointments such as those involving the National Historical Institute and the National Museum, are in fact characteristic of Ms Arroyo’s management style. The last-minute advice to affected parties, the general lack of transparency (the Senate and House representatives to the board of the National Museum, for instance, were not informed of a key meeting), the strained rationalizations offered after the fact and, above all, the plain lack of courtesy—this recent wave of appointments has the President’s signature down to the last flourish.

The rationalizing of her spokespersons was characteristic too. The Palace had violated the strict protocols that govern diplomatic appointments, in part by skipping certain necessary steps, but all deputy spokesman Gary Olivar could say was: “No, it wasn’t hasty.” And that was that; no elaboration or explanation.

If it wasn’t hasty, why wasn’t Albert told well beforehand, following the usual 60-day recall notice, so that she could prepare for her return and advise the German foreign ministry? If it wasn’t hasty, why did the announcement of her replacement by the 87-year-old taipan Alfonso Yuchengco catch the Department of Foreign Affairs flatfooted? A DFA spokesperson was left to say, awkwardly: “We have learned of Yuchengco’s appointment but we have not received official copy of his appointment. Ambassador Albert stays so far.”

More crucial is the fact of replacement. Why would the Philippines appoint a new ambassador to Germany who can, at most, and assuming all legal obstacles are hurdled, serve for only three months? Yuchengco, the man behind Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. and other business interests, served the country as ambassador, at various times, to Japan, China and the United Nations. But even a diplomat with his experience cannot hope to do anything substantial in a mere three months.

The president of the Union of Foreign Service Officers, Assistant Secretary Vicky Bataclan, expressed her peers’ main concern. “Our beef is that Mr. Alfonso Yuchengco’s appointment is void. There is no Commission on Appointments to confirm his nomination, which is [needed for] the necessary steps, like requesting his agrément from the German government. In any case, all political ambassadors are coterminous with [the President]. This is, thus, a useless nomination to a nonexistent CA, almost void ab initio, if not unconstitutional.”

Like we said, characteristic of the President’s management style.

There is also the matter of the election ban. In the Supreme Court’s most controversial ruling to date, it decided that the President could appoint the Chief Justice even during election season, when the Constitution expressly prohibits appointments except for urgent requirements in the Executive. The President’s latest wave of appointments crashes against the breakwater of this decision (it certainly makes the majority justices even more vulnerable to accusations of being used, whether willfully or naively, by a Machiavellian administration).

Belatedly, administration spokespersons have argued that the latest appointments were all done before March 10, the date the election ban started. But one of those dismissed, Clarence Paul Oaminal, until very recently vice chairman of the Dangerous Drugs Board, gave the lie to the Palace’s party line.

When he was informed of his misfortune, he said, he found out that his dismissal was made retroactive to March 5, or before the election ban took effect. Expect the same unkindest cut to be tried with Albert and the rest.

Good Neighborhood: Little Things Mean a Lot

There might not be any sun this weekend but my
dear neighbor Ursula S.was a shinning source of
joy when she knocked on our door and just handed me
this bunch of tulips saying "for simply being
a nice neighbor," and she meant me!

She declined to be my friend in Facebook as she wouldn't want
to have anything to do with any social networking. I also
prefer her that way...a friend, a thoughtful neighbor in person and
not just per clicking in virtual life.
Hmmmm, how do I return such simple gestures of niceness when
her husband got threatened when I knock on their door with
a plate of fingergoodies to taste. Would you care for a freshly
brewed gumamela (hibiscus) tea, dear Mr. S.?

Spring Again!

"It's spring again
and the birds on the wing again
start to sing again
the old melody"
Frank Sinatra

According to the calendar,it is the official
start of Spring, March 20.
Time to change the wardrobe, maybe get a new
haircut, new hair color,out of the greying zone,
get friends for brunch in street cafes, check
on the few potted tulips in the terrace. Emma B.,
a friend who has a green thumb even for cultivating
Alugbati* inside their
house suggested to loosen
the soil a bit so the tulips get out of their
wintry hiding. Nothing of that sort happens yet so one
buys ready to go tulips from the supermarket and
gets out with thick jacket and gloves not forgetting
the handy umbrella.
*Alugbati...I wrote the usual what is alugbati in
English, googled it and got this answer: Malabar Night Shade.
Other source said it is a kind of spinach. One more point
learned while waiting for spring.

A nook of your own

I love drinking coffee even if I am alone. Solo eating, no.
In Frankfurt, I found this place recommended by
friends who also frequent this cafe.

For this set of croissant with cappuccino rather caffe macchiato
you pay 4.90Euro.

Nice nook to read or just to observe.

City Tips

For those who are thinking of visiting some cities in Germany, here
are some photos I took while visiting Frankfurt.
Photos show the area near Dom/Roemer, the magnet for all
tourists.
Just to give you a rough idea how much fare costs:
With ICE train from Cologne to Frankfurt and back,
about 112 Euro. Check for cheaper tickets with
German trains. Trains could be b....expensive
in Germany.

Getting back to blogging...Lit Koeln

Sunday, March 14
Another rainy and grey Sunday this month of March.
Have to fight the addiction to click to my Farm
and talk to some avatars in this small network of buddies
I have created since I started virtual farming. You really
miss them and that's what this game is all about...you have
your own mini world of contacts, not just the thrill of getting
XP experience points and coins from virtual harvesting, plowing
and planting...you get wishes, greetings, small talks, weather
checks from countries of your buddies, their work situation.
I have one dancing partner every now and then, and one woman
who calls me Hun...or ends her sentence with that term. Funny,
but endearing somehow.So while waiting for my pineapples to
mature and hating the thought that I have to sort papers out again,
I'm getting back to blogging...adding spice to my own private
conversation.
I bumped into Manuel last Saturday while rushing to get my
train home. He said he had just returned from Lissabon the other
day but mentioned about a visiting Portuguese author who is
participating in this yearly LitCol,
http://litcolony.de/
said to be the biggest of its kind in Europe, a literary event.

What I have been missing by being a virtual farmer?
Read not reap the virtual fruits...the new slogan for me.

Colonia - Winter Wonderland January 2010

At the core of every religion is the belief that we take care of another.

So ein Mann, so ein Mann...a long night of showing compassion for
the victims of the earthquake in Haiti.
George Clooney opened the concert with the message that "at the
core of every religion is the belief that we take care of one
another."
Hmmmm, more glamoruous men like him but hopefully less
catastrophies in the world.

European Capital of Culture 2010

Not really residing there but it's not too far from
one of my homebases. Check the page and maybe you could
come for a visit.
http://www.essen.de/english/Aktuell_E/PortalAktuell_E.asp?navibereich=eeutd

First Photos on the First Day of the New Year, etc.

The much awaited blue moon on the eve of the new year...this one
I saw when woking up early morning of the first day of the new
year. Not so bluish but the same moon.

Symbols to welcome the new year...olie bollen, grapes, and
sticky rice cake "palitaw"...all things round to get luck
in the new year.

Our first film for the year...It's Complicated...and so with
the posting of the photo...pure entertainment...go see it
and have a good releasing laugh watching veteran actors
Meryl Streep, Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin act out complications
in human relationships i. e. marriage, family, divorce and falling
in love. It's complicated

Happy New Year!

My fortune cookie says:
"Let the power of love enrich your life."

Wishing you all a prosperous,healthy, love-filled 2010.
May this be a start of a new decade of tolerance, peace
and understanding among mankind.

December 16...starts of Misa de Gallo, 9th day before Christmas

Still no sign of snow be neighbors' chimneys are all giving out
smoke signals. A friend sent message that they have snowflakes
this morning somewhere in Bonn. It seems everyone is just waiting
for the first snowfall.
In Copenhagen, another friend is sending invites to friends to join
the big demonstration for climate protection and appeal to the UN
Climate Change Conference participants to make Copenhagen
conference a big breakthrough in keeping their responsibilities
for protecting our planet.
First of the 9th day before Christmas...Paul McCartney performs
tonight in Cologne. Cross-posting here the most famous song in our
planet earth...Yesterday...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2WqdAgl2cfM

Still waiting for the snow...

December 10, Human Rights Day

"Recognition of human dignity of all people is the foundation of
justice and peace in the world."

I'm posting a copy of the open letter of the German Federation
of Journalists to the Ambassador of the Philippines to Germany
on the Ampatuan/Maguindanao massacre on November 23, 2009.

Letter of International Federation of Journalists (Germany)
to Philippine Ambassador
Share
Today at 02:55
9 December 2009

RE: Massacre in the Philippines

Your Excellency,

The German Journalists Union (DJU in ver.di) respectfully requests
your cooperation in ensuring the Government of the Philippines is
aware of the global outrage about the massacre of a confirmed
59 people in Maguindanao Province, Mindanao, on November 23.

We urge you to use your authority and position to impress upon
your Government that the global community is demanding immediate and
credible action to ensure that all parties responsible for this atrocity
are held accountable to the full limit of the law.

We are informed by the International Federation of Journalists and its
affiliate the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines that
at least 30 journalists and media workers were among those murdered.
At the time of writing, another four media personnel are unaccounted for.

This is the worst mass killing of journalists and media workers ever
recorded.

Journalists and the international media community are grieving and
distraught at the failure of the Government of the Philippines to
uphold its responsibility to protect our colleagues and to end
the long-running culture of impunity for the murders of journalists
in the Philippines.

During President Arroyo’s tenure, at least 75 journalists have been
killed in the Philippines. Almost all have been killed in relation
to their professional work. At last count, only four convictions had
been secured for these killings. Outside of Iraq, the Philippines has
become the most dangerous country for journalists this century.

The Government of the Philippines is obliged under United Nations
Security Council Resolution 1738 (2006) to actively protect
journalists and media workers reporting in conflict zones within
their national borders, in accordance with their status as
civilians under international law.

We call on you to ensure your Government and police and security
forces act on their responsibility to bring the perpetrators and
masterminds of the November 23 atrocity to account, without delay,
and to act now to end the culture of impunity that has plagued the
Philippines for so long.


Respectfully Yours,

Ulrike Maercks-Franzen
General Secretary of
German Journalists Union dju in ver.di

Just looking for songs to define this emptiness within

Still feeling so empty and sad since this Nov. 23 Ampatuan
massacre.
I started looking for songs and I found this link with
YouTube featuring this Italian song I heard when I was
in Italy this summer...domani. Tomorrow.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c4B5Yzh84xg



wondering if the site will accept the two posted sites.

Now the lyrics of the Italian song:

Originally Posted by bellacomeilsole

Tra le nuvole e i sassi passano i sogni di tutti
Between the clouds and the stones the dreams of everyone pass

passa il sole ogni giorno senza mai tardare. (Tiziano Ferro)
the sun passes every day without ever being late

Dove sarò domani? (Enrico Ruggeri)
Where will I be tomorrow?

Dove sarò? (Gianni Morandi)
Where will I be?

Tra le nuvole e il mare c’è una stazione di posta (Franco Battiato)
Between the clouds and the sea there is a coaching inn
(la stazione di posta is a place where wayfarers used to stop in
order to get some rest)

uno straccio di stella messa lì a consolare (Massimo Ranieri)
a tear of a star put there to comfort

sul sentiero infinito (Max Pezzali)
on the infinite path

del maestrale (Eugenio Finardi)
of the northwest wind

Day by day (Zucchero)
Day by day (Cesare Cremonini)
hold me shine on me. (Zucchero)
shine on me (Cesare Cremonini)
Day by day save me shine on me (Zucchero, Carmen Consoli,
Mauro Pagani, Cesare Cremonini, Eugenio Finardi)

Ma domani, domani, domani, lo so (Francesco Renga)
But tomorrow, tomorrow, tomorrow, I know

Lo so che si passa il confine, (Roberto Vecchioni)
I know that it passes through the confines
(lit. I know that the borders will be passed)

E di nuovo la vita (Mauro Pagani)
and again life

sembra fatta per te (Giuliano Palma)
seems [to be] made for you

e comincia (Elio)
and it begins

domani (Elio e Le Storie Tese, Vittorio Cosma )
tomorrow


domani è già qui (Jovanotti)
tomorrow is already here

rap 1 Estraggo un foglio nella risma, nascosto scrivo e non
riesco forse perché il sisma m’ha scosso (Caparezza)
I pull out a piece in the ream, [being] hidden I write and
don't succeed maybe because the earthquake shocked me

rap 2 Ogni vita che salvi, ogni pietra che poggi, fa pensare
a domani ma puoi farlo solo oggi (Frankie Hi Energy)
Every life that you save, every stone that you place, it makes
you think about tomorrow but you can only do (it) today

e la vita la vita si fa grande così (Gianluca Grignani)
and life, life is made big like this

e comincia domani (Giuliano Sangiorgi)
and it begins tomorrow

Tra le nuvole e il mare si può fare e rifare (Claudio Baglioni)
Between the clouds and the sea you can make and repair

con un pò di fortuna (Ron)
with a little luck

si può dimenticare. (Luca Carboni)
you can forget

Dove sarò (Baustelle)
Where will I be?

domani? Dove sarò? (Samuele Bersani e Baustelle)
tomorrow, where will I be?

oh oh oh (coro: Carmen Consoli, Antonella Ruggiero, Alioscia,
Pacifico, Mango, Massimo Ranieri, Bluvertigo, Nek, Giuliano Palma,
Antonello Venditti, Roberto Vecchioni, Albano)

rap 3 Dove sarò domani che ne sarà dei miei sogni infranti,
dei miei piani
Dove sarò domani, tendimi le mani, tendimi le mani (Marracash)
Where will I be tomorrow, what will become of my shattered dreams,
of my plans. Where will I be tomorrow, stretch out your hands to me,
stretch out your hands to me

Tra le nuvole e il mare si può andare e andare (Laura Pausini)
Between the clouds and the sea you can go and go

sulla scia delle navi di là del temporale (Carmen Consoli)
in the wake of the ships beyond the storm

e qualche volta si vede (Nek)
and sometimes you see

domani (Antonello Venditti)
tomorrow

una luce di prua (Nek)
a light of the prow

e qualcuno grida: Domani (Antonello Venditti)
and someone yells: tomorrow

rap 4 Come l’aquila che vola
Like an eagle that flies

libera tra il cielo e i sassi, siamo sempre diversi e siamo
sempre gli stessi,
free among the sky and the stones we are always different and
we are always the same

hai fatto il massimo e il massimo non è bastato e non sapevi
piangere e adesso
you did the maximum (you did your best) and the maximum wasn't
enough and you didn't know how to cry and now

che hai imparato non bastano le lacrime ad impastare il calcestruzzo
that you learned the tears aren't enough to blend the concrete

eccoci qua cittadini d’Abruzzo
here are the citizens of Abruzzo

e aumentano d’intensità le lampadine una frazione di
the intensity of the lamps grows a fraction of

secondo prima della finee la tua mamma,
of a second before the end your mother

la tua patria da ricostruire,
your love of the land to reconstruct

comu le scole, le case e specialmente lu core
as well as the schools, the houses but especially the heart
e puru nu postu cu facimu l’amore
eppure un posto dove facciamo l'amore (guessing)-
and a place to make love
(Jovanotti, J Ax, Fabri Fibra e in chiusura Sud Sound System)

non siamo così soli (Giuliano Sangiorgi)
we are not so alone

a fare castelli in aria (J Ax e Fabri Fibra)
in building castles in the sky (air)

non siamo così soli (Giuliano Sangiorgi)
we are not alone

sulla stessa barca (J Ax , Fabri Fibra)
on the same ship

non siamo così soli (Giorgia)
we are not alone

a fare castelli in aria (J Ax e Fabri Fibra)
in building castles in the sky

non siamo così soli (Giorgia)
we are not alone

a stare bene in Italia (J Ax e Fabri Fibra)
in being well in Italy

sulla stessa barca (J Ax)
on the same ship

a immaginare un nuovo giorno in Italia (Giorgia,
Giusy Ferreri, Dolcenera, Mario Venuti, Jovanotti, J Ax, Fabri Fibra)
in imagining a new day in Italy

Tra le nuvole e il mare si può andare, andare
Sulla scia delle navi di là dal temporale (Piero Pelù)
Qualche volta si vede una luce di prua e qualcuno grida,
domani (Morgan)
Non siamo così soli (Giorgia, Mario Venuti, Giusy Ferreri, Dolcenera,
Giuliano Sangiorgi)
(tromba solo di Roy Paci)
Domani è già qui
Domani è già qui (Jovanotti, Marracash, FabriFibra, J Ax)
(Assolo violino Mauro Pagani)
Ma domani domani, domani lo so, lo so, che si passa il
confine (Gianna Nannini)
E di nuovo la vita sembra fatta per te e comincia (Elisa)
domani (Sud Sound System)
Tra le nuvole e il mare, si può fare e rifare
Con un pò di fortuna si può dimenticare (Manuel Agnelli Afterhours)
E di nuovo la vita, sembra fatta per te (Mango)
E comincia (Niccolò Fabi)
(coro finale)
domani
E domani domani, domani lo so
Lo so che si passa il confine
E di nuovo la vita sembra fatta per te
E comincia domani

http://www.allthelyrics.com/forum/italian-lyrics-translation/66636-domani-21-aprile.html

NO TO VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN

(Photo: Liza Tripoli. FaceBook:Justice for Ampatuan Massacre Victims)

Statement of the Mindanao Commission on Women
24 November 2009


Mindanao women outraged over Maguindanao carnage


No words can describe the bestial acts perpetrated yesterday in
Maguindanao Against civilians, mostly women. Together with the
group were two sisters and the wife of Esmael Mangudadatu,
Vice Mayor of Buluan town, who were on their way to file his
certificate of candidacy as provincial governor of Maguindanao
when they were attacked in broad daylight. They were murdered in
cold blood and there were reports that some of the women were
also sexually violated, in a senseless massacre that will go down
in the annals of this country’s history as the worst election-related
violence.
If unarmed women,lawyers and journalists are not safe, who is safe?


From news reports, the Vice Mayor was quoted to have said that
he purposely sent his wife, sisters and female relatives to file
his candidacy without military escorts as he believed that they
would not be harmed being women and unarmed. But to his shock,
the perpetrators precisely took advantage of this position of
vulnerability and succeeded in committing those barbaric acts.


We, the Mindanao Commission on Women and the Mothers for
Peace, express our outrage at this new low in bestiality
perpetrated by men on civilians but most specially on women.
If the reports that the women were violated are found true,
we condemn it. Sexual violence is an issue
of power, domination and control wielded by men over women.
In times of conflict, it is used by men to ensure utter humiliation
of the enemy.This latest incident by men, who are widely-believed
to belong to a private army, makes us shudder at what will happen
in the days ahead if these criminals and their principals are
not brought to justice.


We
would like to extend our deepest condolences to the Mangudadatu
family. Eden Mangudadatu, sister of Buluan Vice Mayor Esmael
Mangudadatu, and a Vice Mayor herself had attended activities
of the Mindanao Commission on Women. It is ironic that early
this year Eden participated in discussions of our project,
“Women Healing Communities:Preventing and Reducing Rido
(clan feuds)”.
During the session, she shared her thoughts about rido and
how women played an important role in settling cases of clan
violence.


The barbaric and brutal massacre in Maguindanao shows the
total breakdown of security in parts of Mindanao
where many women and their families live in dehumanizing
poverty and violent conflict. We call on President Gloria
Macapagal-Arroyo – as President and as a woman - to do the right
thing:disband and disarm the private armies, bring down the full
force of the law on the perpetrators, and rid Maguindanao
and other parts of Mindanao of the scourge of warlordism.
We also call on our colleagues and partners in the development
community to stand unafraid to denounce this crime loud and clear.
Let us continue to work for the end of conflicts that divide us,
so that our children will grow up imbibing not anger, hatred and
violence, but love,justice and peace.

As Mothers for Peace, we commit to continue our work for peace
in the ways of peace.



The
Mindanao Commission on Women and Mothers for Peace Movement

121 University Avenue, Juna Subdivision, Matina, Davao City

www.mindanaowomen.org


Telefax: (082) 298-40-31


About MCW

The Mindanao Commission on Women was established in 2001 as
an NGO by Mindanao women leaders. Its mission is to influence
public policy and public opinion. It advocates for a Mindanao
peace and development agenda from a women’s perspective.
Area Core Groups across Mindanao give MCW the ability to
influence local, Mindanao and national issues.
The Mothers for Peace movement is its grassroots base.

Thanksgiving

(Photo taken in Germany)
Iroquois Thanksgiving Prayer (adapted)
"We return thanks to our Mother, the Earth, which sustains us.
We return thanks to the rivers and streams, which supply us with water.
We return thanks to all herbs, which furnish medicines for the cure of our diseases.
We return thanks to the moon and stars, which have given to us their light when the sun was gone.
We return thanks to the sun, that has looked upon the earth with a beneficent eye.
Lastly, we return thanks to the Great Spirit, in Whom is embodied all goodness, and Who directs all things for the good of Her children."
-- Iroquois Prayer, adapted Sisters of St. Joseph of Peace

"A Matter of Giving Thanks"

I hate boxing!

The first entry I saw this morning in my FB was the posting of my
niece about the winning of Manny Pacquiao alias Pac Man...another
honour for our suffering country, another entry in our history
book, she wrote with such a pride.
Wrote her, "thanks for the sharing but I'm not keen on
boxing. I believe this is one of those sports which should be
deleted from the world of sports..." Too much use of the same
words I realized later.
Sorry Pacquiao but I just hate that scene when people
are screaming and rejoicing for more punches, infliction of
pains. How could one enjoy this kind of entertainment?

In between posting,hubby called me asking me if I would
like to see the video of the fight as posted in the daily
inquirer. You bet, I did. They were talking about their
sizes...rather their heights. Cotto seems to be taller than
this raging Pinoy. Some punches here and there and after
those brief moments, I left hubby who waited for the
posted video to finish then asked me again to see another video
entry showing Hilary Clinton talking about civil society and
protection of human rights in the Philippines.

Civil Society and Boxing...
Pacquiao as our new hero
Blog: Manny Pacquiao wins WBO welterweight title fight
Source: www.vancouversun.com
Pacquiao for President!

Remembering the Fall of the Wall...20 years after

The Wall in the Mind
Easterners Still Feel like Second-Class Citizens
A new study confirms that Germans living in the former East Germany feel disadvantaged and resentful of the West. The study also finds higher levels of racism and Islamophobia in the East, while sexism remains stronger in the West.
Nearly twenty years after the fall of the Berlin wall, what Germans refer to as the "wall in the mind" remains in place.
The results of a long-term study released on Thursday by a team of 17 sociologists at the University of Bielefeld shows that resentments linger in part of the country that used to be communist East Germany. Some fear these resentments may drive rising levels of racism, anti-Semitism, and homophobia.


AP
A new study shows that Germans living in the eastern part of the country resent the West.
Fully 64 percent of eastern Germans feel treated as second-class citizens, while almost 75 percent feel disadvantaged in comparison with Germans in the west. Some 77 percent of easterners feel they are treated less fairly than those in the west, and 59 percent believe that the two halves of Germany have not yet grown together into a common society.
Researchers worry these resentments bear a direct link to hostility towards minorities, which tends to be higher in the east and is rising in certain categories -- even as prejudice falls in the western part of the country.
Across Germany as a whole, according to the Bielefeld study, the prejudice indices that rose this year from last year were racism, hostility toward entrenched privilege, and hostility toward the unemployed. But measures of Islamophobia, anti-Semitism, and hostility toward the homeless all shot up in the East, while sinking in the West.
The only index of prejudice that was clearly higher in the west was sexism -- although a different study released last week showed higher levels of anti-Semitism in western states, especially in Bavaria.
"Prisoners of Their Own Self-Image"
Wolfgang Thierse, vice-president of the German parliament and a native of the eastern German state of Thuringia, warned in an interview with the Berlin-based daily Tageszeitung that the results of the study were complex and shouldn't be ascribed to simple demographics. He said Islamophobia was higher in eastern Germany, for instance, even though fewer Muslims live there than in the west. And homelessness is viewed with special bitterness in the east even though long-term unemployment would seem to be a more menacing problem.
"And here we always thought we east Germans were great ones for solidarity and justice!" Thierse joked. In his view, "socio-economic or socio-pyschological explanations" cannot fully account for the study's findings. "We also have to talk about the cultural, intellectual, and moral history of eastern Germany -- including the lingering impact of the GDR."
He suggested that eastern Germans "feel like second-class citizens because they are caught in a prison of their own self-image." Even when presented with data showing that reunification had been good for eastern Germany, Thierse said, many continue to nurse resentments. "This self-image cliché that 'we are second-class citizens,'" he said, is such a strong a mental crutch "that facts which might attenuate this feeling are no longer taken into account."
National Pride, Good or Bad?
One potentially encouraging sign of the report was that levels of national pride and identification with Germany were up across all regions of the country, suggesting that residents of the former GDR are increasingly comfortable associating themselves with the new unified state.
But Ulrich Wagner, a social psychologist who worked on the study, warned that growing affection for Germany could come at the cost of stoking xenophobia. Wagner told Tageszeitung "the rising identification with one's own country and the rising national pride also have negative consequences worth considering ... We should be cautious about all forms of national identification, if Germany and the Germans want to behave in a cosmopolitan way."
Thierse added that the ongoing financial crisis posed the greatest political and moral challenge, "not to permit tough economic conditions to brutalize human relations."
cpg -- with wire reports
http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/0,1518,594656,00.html

Trick or Treat Guinatan

The other day, I was reading an entry in Facebook. It says
Halloween is fast approaching and if anyone could share something
about Aswangs in the Philippines. Aswangs? I prompted a short
response writing that these Aswangs
have nothing to do with this Americanized version of a tradition
we have in the Philippines...not that we have a tradition of
remembering the Aswangs
but what I meant was the celebration when we remember all
the saints and souls on the 1st and 2nd of November and we call
this tradition Undras.

Aswangs, Halloween, Undras and Guinatan.

This is also the time of the year when sticky delicacies like rice
cakes Kakanins, sumans and coconut
milk-based dessert, Guinatan are prepared as food for the
wandering souls but enjoyed of course by hungry mortals.
The sticky finger goodies are given to kids who come in the evening
singing "kaluluwa'y dumaratang, sa tapat
ng durungawan etc... we are lost souls in front of your windows,
bells are ringing to wake you up, and if you want to give us alms,
please make it fast before the door of heaven closes on us."
I think a more dramatic interpretation than the globalized Trick or
Treat Halloween fun for kids.

But back to my original blog entry which is the recipe for this
typical Filipino merienda. Preparing guinatan has become one of
my keeping up with the tradition stuffs either to appease the
hungry spirits or my own cravings.

Recipe:

Sweet Potatoes
Bananas
Ube (violet yams)
Shreds of Bottled Sweet Langka (Jackfruit)
Sticky rice Bilo-bilo
Coconut Milk ( I used three cans of 400 ml each)
Sugar
Drizzle of salt
Pandan leaves for aromatic effect

(Violet yams while cooking in coconut milk with pandan leaves)

Place the yams, taro in a saucepan, pour in coconut
milk with the pandan leaves. Bring to boil and later add the
sliced bananas, langka, bilo-bilo and cook further for
ten minutes, adding sugar to your taste.
Note: You have to watch it while cooking. Mine
turned like a cream yellowish pumpkin soup but the taste
was sweet enough to cure my nostalgia.



I texted my sister to ask on the exact date the kids do this
pangangaluluwa.
She texted back that it is on the night of Nov. 1 to Nov. 2 but
it is no longer practised in our village...the cost of malagkit rice
has gone so expensive, around 80 Pesos per kilo. People could no
longer afford to give away Sumans
and sticky rice delicacies to keep up with the tradition.
Poor hungry, wandering souls.

Poor me, eating my guinatan alone. Hubby said when he saw
the bowl of guinatan for our brunch...
"hmmmmmmmmmm, you can have my share."

Solidarity with the Philippines

During the Ecumenical Solidarity Conference on the Philippines,
participants in this gathering honoured Frau Dorothea Seeliger for
her untiring engagement for solidarity work for the Philippines.
She is one of the awardees of the Bundesverdienstkreuz this year
for her solidarity work for the Filipinos. Frau Dorothea Seeliger
has been one of the pillars in keeping up this yearly Ecumenical
Conference which started 25 years ago. This year's theme: Mission,
Entwicklung und Oekumene-Solidaritaet im Wandel der Zeit.
Mission, Entwicklung and Ecumenical Movement - Solidarity in
Changing Times.

Our best wishes to her!

"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful committed
citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing
that ever has."
M.Mead