The Daily Bluster

...(T)he only thing left to do is shout -- not moan, or complain, but yell out at the top of your voice whatever it was you had to say. What you've never said before. What perhaps you don't even know till now--Jean Anouilh Two news articles made me think of the quoted passage above. First—“ SC asked to declare cybercrime law illegal .”  This bill—the Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012—was passed in the Philippine Senate that Senator Guingona is trying to amend. The article quoted Senator Guingona as saying, “Without a clear definition of the crime of libel and the persons liable, virtually any person can now be charged with a crime—even if you just like, retweet or comment on an online update or blog post containing criticisms.” What is alarming is that the Presidential spokesperson Edwin Lacierda agrees with the bill. They find nothing wrong with it.  Seriously. Senator Tito Soto ( the unapologetic plagiarizer nonpareil ) apparently had a hand in the inclusio

              After the Sumerians and the Akkadians , another group of Semitic people from the deserts of Arabia arrived in Mesopotamia around 1900 BC and built the first Babylonian empire.               The new arrivals built upon the prevailing culture in the area, which was Sumerian. Led by Hammurabi, the Babylonians made the first collection of laws in history, the famous ‘Code of Hammurabi.” The "Code"on a clay tablet               The code had a stern sense of justice, and the principle of “eye for an eye” was advocated here. Punishment for criminals was usually death.  Hammurabi consolidated and united the Babylonians in building a mighty empire. He improved irrigation, and organized a well-trained army. Temples were repaired, and he promoted the chief Babylonian god Marduk over older Sumerian gods. The Babylonians also added to the knowledge of astronomy, advanced the knowledge of mathematics, and built the first great capital city, Babylon. Marduk

Image is from here . Funny, but unfortunately the joke's on the voters. But I guess it’s true what they say—we get the leaders we deserve.  After all, it’s the people who are responsible for putting men and women like these in power. Reminds me a little of Senator Tito Sotto, (incidentally also a TV comedian) who shamelessly copied parts of his privilege speech from bloggers and is apparently unapologetic about it. He seems to be oblivious of the ethics involve in such matters.  If he were a student who copied word-for-word some parts of his assignment from the internet, he might get in trouble with his teacher, but that's about it. But he’s a Senator, for Christ’s sake. So yes, we do have a bit of a situation. The trouble is, the Senator does not even realize the sordidness and the tackiness of his actions. In his mind, he should not even have to apologize--although his aide made an apology of a sort to the blogger, however lame the apology was. Th