Wednesday, March 18

"Nicole" and the Sandbagging of the Filipino People


Q: What is Sandbagging?

A. "Sandbagging" is a close cousin of the term "throwing under the bus". It usually refers to a series of events illustrated as follows:

A does something wrong.

A asks help from B to show that he didn't do anything wrong.

B, knowing that A did such wrong thing, sticks his neck out and pledges that A didn't do it.

A gets exonerated because of B's pledge.

A then admits that he did do it, leaving B with a red face and thereby "Sandbagging" B.

I will no longer go through the details of the case between Daniel Smith and Suzette S. Nicolas aka Nicole as we all have heard of it in the past. That's over with. What's more important is actually the things that transpired after.

Most of us know for a fact that Nicole was not raped. However, driven by the fact that we've been stepped on far too often by other countries including or especially by the US, we found this case to be a distinct chance for us to get back at them. Moreover, the supposed victim is a Filipino, a female. What kind of a family would we be if we didn't defend our women?

And so the rallies came. Flags were burned. Slogans chanted. All against Daniel Smith and the United States. Smith had this deer in the headlights look the entire time, not knowing exactly what was happening. Groups supported Nicole left and right (especially the left). Women cried on TV, bemoaning the raping of the Filipina.

All the while when people went home, when the rallies have broken up, when the studio lights have been shut off, when the write ups have been submitted, when the flags have turned into ashes, people thought of the same thing: "Nicole wasn't raped. But what can we do? We're her countrymen."

So we spend our days after the conviction, happy that we defended our country but likewise ashamed of what we did. In a few months we began rationalizing things, thinking that worse has happened to our brethren in other countries and therefore we are entitled to this one. We began to feel better, helped in no small terms by time and forgetfulness.

Two days ago, Nicole recanted, flew to the US(to the US! I wonder how the Visa interview went) with money and a fiancee. She left an affidavit stating that she was no longer sure if she was indeed raped.

One sure thing though:

The Filipino people are left with their faces as red as blood. Sandbagged.

Friday, March 6

FrancisM: The Icon


News trickled out today, March 6, 2009, about the passing of Francis Magalona, the man behind such phenomenal hits, "Mga Kababayan", "Kaleidoscope World", "Cold Summer Nights" and "Girl be Mine" among many others.

Many of us who grew up listening to his music are deeply saddened with what happened and we wish his family all the best.

Thank you FrancisM, for all the great songs you brought us. We are forever grateful.

Friday, February 20

Da Couch Tomato on Jam 88.3

Tomorrow, Saturday, the 9th of February 2009, Da Couch Tomato will be on the radio. That's right. Comin' at ya live.

The show is Flick of the Week hosted by DJ Patti and specifically from 2-3 pm, we will be giving our insights on the Oscar race. We're no experts so feel free to text in your comments and complaints.

If you tune in tomorrow and want to know which one's which, I'm the one with the ugly voice while Sting Lacson is the smooth operator ayt?

Thursday, January 29

Killer Burgers

Aside from skyrocketing gas prices, another noticeable effect of inflation here in the Philippines is smaller burgers. That's why many of us Pinoys have grown fond of those big killer ones - the McDonald's Double Quarterpounder and, my favorite, the Wendy's Baconator. For sure, these burgers over here are considerably small compared to their counterparts in the US. Still, there is one restaurant in Barack's backyard that offers even more suicidal junk:

Monday, January 19

Rudy Fernandez enters the Slam Dunk Contest

Fresh from the Press! Rudy Fernandez aka Da Man has won the polls and will be challenging Dwight "Superman" Howard for the Slam Dunk title in the coming All-Star Weekend in Phoenix on February 14. For those of you who forgot, Rudy dunked on Dwight during the last Olympics (click here for that story). Also in the contest are past winners Nate Robinson of the New York Knicks and Rudy Gay of the Memphis Grizzlies.
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