Who’s Afraid of a Parliamentary Form of Government?

About two years ago, I wrote a blog called, “Who’s Afraid of Cha-Cha?” With all this talk about Charter Change again, I feel I need to add in more thought about the topic, this time focusing the Parliamentary form of government, which is one of the main issues for Charter Change.

‘Term Limits’
The Opposition hates a Parliamentary form of government. They just absolutely hate it. This is for the simple reason that a Prime Minister has NO TERM LIMITS.

To them, they insist that becoming a Prime Minister is GMA’s ploy to stay in power indefinitely. Are they right, then?

No, they are wrong. Dead wrong.

It is true, that the most Senior Minister (and therefore head) of the Cabinet in a Parliamentary form of government, the Prime Minister, does not have a maximum term limit, allowing him or her to stay in power indefinitely, at least theoretically.

However, what the Opposition will NOT tell you, is that while it is true that a Prime Minister does not have a maximum term limit, it is also true, that it does NOT have a minimum term limit. A PM can theoretically be fired within a very short amount of time after assuming power. I’m not aware of the technicalities of whether it is a matter of hours, weeks, days or months before a PM can be fired, but it definitely be no more than in terms of months.

A Prime Minister is not like the Presiden in our current system wherein if elected, that person gets to lead the country for six years, no more, no less, whether we like it or not. In truth, a Prime Minister actually has less, much less, security of tenure than that of a President in our current form of government. That is because there is a mechanism to remove a Prime Minister relatively quickly, and that is thru a vote of no confidence in the Parliament.

‘Security of Tenure’
But, you ask, GMA controls the Parliament, how can she be voted out, then?
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Foreign Intervention in Philippine Basketball

The whole Philippine basketball community was rocked recently when the FIBA Central Board reinstated Graham Lim in the FIBA Youth Commission. To those not familiar with the background of Mr. Lim, and as to why this development would be such a big deal to Philippine basketball, well, let me just give a short background on the issue.

Mr. Lim was among those personalities that were involved in the banning of the Philippines from FIBA-sanctioned international competitions, and although his group, the Basketball Association of the Philippines (BAP) was subsequently eased out as the legitimate basketball body in the Philippines by the Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas (SBP), he, with the support of Traditional Politician (Trapo) and the GMA Administration crony Prospero Pichay, had continued to challenge the SBP’s authority.

I kept wondering why the hell would the BAP continue to insist in trying to get back into power, after causing so much trouble to Philippine basketball, and after being rebuffed repeatedly by Mr. FIBA Secretary Patrick Baumann?

‘FIBA-Asia Corrupt Politicians’
Then suddenly we learned that Mr. Lim’s return to the graces of FIBA was in no small part due to the support of Mr. CARL MENKY CHING, a former FIBA-Asia Secretary-General from Hong Kong and DATO YEOH CHOO HOCK, the current FIBA-Asia Secretary-General, from Malaysia. It turns out that those two clowns helped broker the meeting on behalf of Lim with Mr. Baumann.

With such “friends” in high places, no wonder Mr. Lim was brazen enough to continue to challenge the SBP’s authority.
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Star Trek (2009)

A generally unbelievable movie experience Star Trek 2009 turned out to be. Kudos to the Scriptwriters for coming up with a terrrific script, and for J.J. Abrams for putting it all together.

‘The Good News’
The first fifteen minutes of the movie involving the birth of James T. Kirk is I think one of the elite highlights of the film, and one which most people will remember. It is sort of wonderful, action-packed, tragic and emotion-filled all at the same time. From those first few minutes alone, you end up thinking, “Yes, this movie have, and is going to continue exceeding all of my expectations”.

‘Kirk’
Chris Pine made for a great young James T. Kirk. He is charismatic, and has that distinct, commanding presence, that confidence despite looking so young, of being a believable Captain of the Enterprise. I think one of the main differences between his version of Kirk and that of Shatner, though, is that Chris tends to be more intense or serious on screen than Shatner ever was.

If you look closely, though, you will see some subtle, but very distinct mannerisms of Shatner’s Kirk being incorporated into the character. One prime example: Chris walking down the stairs of the academy in a quick stepping manner, with his hands bent at the elbows. I had a good laugh at that one. Very “Shatneresque”. I’ve seen Shatner do that in previous films, and seeing Chris do it sort of enhanced the connection between the old and the new Kirk.

Another was Chris’ easygoing manner on the deck during the “Kobayashi Maru” test. Again, a lot like the Shatner of old, when he just sorts of plays around with the command of his ship. These subtle clues sort of left me feeling very good, like seeing something familiar that I enjoyed seeing in the past.
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2009-05-15 Smart Jelas Beats Al-Riyadi Lebanon, 91-86

* Favorite play early in the game: “Andi Mark” makes a steal off the Lebanese PG, and scores off him by a spinning, fade-away shot. Lebanese PG tries to take it back by going coast to coast …. only to have his shot blocked by Giles. Lebanese PG then fouls “Andi Mark” in the next play.

* Is this a Philippine team playing on the court? Then why are they playing like Europeans, making lots of passes during the half court setup? Seriously, its really different when you have a very competent, foreign coach at the helm. Its wonderful to see a Philippine team playing like this, which is how us as a short people should be playing basketball.

* “Smart Jelas” is again winning the game using its quickness [b]in all aspects[/b] of the game, not just on offense, but also on defense. I saw a couple of turnovers all throughout the game wherein our quicker guards end up making a couple of interceptions and/or steals. And then the team just runs … and runs … on offense off a turnover, and they score off those turnovers most of the time.

* And just terrific outside shooting for this team. I think if you count the shots the “Smart Jelas” team takes, it will mostly be in the perimeter. I saw on two occassions “Andi Mark” not going for a layup in crowded situation, and instead stopping and taking a close-range jumper. This is unusual, because normally you would see players driving hard in if the lane is open even if there are defenders, confident they might be fouled even if they do not make the shot. But in those cases, no, “Andi Mark” opted to take a pull up jumper in place of an outside shot. And I think its great, because they are playing against much taller players.
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2009-05-12 Smart Jelas Beats Sangmoo SK, 90-76

* Just saw the video thru “Justin TV”. It’s quite pixelated, hard to see who is doing what. Gotta start memorizing the jersey numbers, it seems thats the only way to identify the players.

* I think Barroca should change his name to “Andi Mark”. It actually sounds better. Same with “Kris-toper” Tiu and “Ebans” Casio. LOL

* “Smart Jelas” just looked so damn fast at times. Lots of fastbreak plays, especially off the opponent’s turnovers. Even at half court, we were catching the team even before they could settle down on defense. Toroman is truly helping this team maximize its speed potential. Once “Andi Mark” starts running off on offense with the ball, that’s it, nobody could keep in step with him.

* Sangmoo South Korea had a tall, sweet-shooting team, but unfortunately they were also slow. Speed killed them in the second half, they just couldn’t keep up with us in terms of hand (steals and interceptions) and foot speed (fastbreaks or drive in plays).

* “Kris-toper” was deadly with that mid-range shot, while CJ Giles was just a monster off the boards. “Ebans” Casio was spectacular for a stretch when we were leading a big margin, breaking the press, hitting the outside shot and creatings shots off drives.
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My Apple iPhone 3G 8GB Review Part Three

‘Wifi and 3G Connection’
I found the Wifi connection to be very steady once it is connected. However, I did notice that for some reason, it is a bit slower in terms of acquiring signals in an area. It usually takes about 2-3 minutes to it to find the signals in an area.

The software also allows it to automatically log on to Wifi signals that had been used before, so its just a question of turning the Wifi on, then the phone will connect automatically with any “familiar” signals it finds out there.

‘iTunes Software’
iTunes offer a lot of software, both free and paid, and I’ve tried a couple. I kept some for one reason or another, but I don’t really find the iTunes applications to be that useful, or interesting (the none game ones, anyway). So having a lot of apps from iTunes is not really for me a major attraction for owning an iPhone. Thank God for Cydia, I couldn’t imagine owning an iPhone without it.

Here are a short list of none-game applications that I have downloaded (and kept) from iTunes:

* iBeer - Software that showcases the iPhone’s “unique” abilities. It basically turns your iPhone into a glass of beer, wherein the liquid behaves almost very much like the real thing, thanks for the iPhone’s fast processor, and accelerometer. Not freeware, though, costs USD 1.99
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Jailbroken Apple iPhone 3G Part One

One of the main reasons I bought the iPhone, aside from its looks, was the ability to customize the unit. Based on my experience with customizing previous phones, this is always a very good thing, because users out there will always come up with customizations and softwares that the manufacturer could’ve never dreamed of. And based on accounts out there, the iPhone seems to have a lot of customization and software options out there.

And how damn right I was.

‘Jailbreaking the iPhone’
iTunes offer a lot of applications out there, but they are mainly superficial types of application that does not really allow you to customize the phone at a deeper level.

If you want to have more customizations that are not only cooler, but also free, then you will need to “jailbreak” the phone. Fortunately, jailbreaking the iPhone these days is relatively simple. It’s just a matter of checking what firmware you have, downloading or installing the required necessary applications, and then using a software called “QuickPawn” to jailbreak the phone.

First, you need to check your iPhone’s firmware and moderm firmware versions. This can be easily done by going thru SETTINGS >> GENERAL >> ABOUT.
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My Apple iPhone 3G 8GB Review Part Two

‘Excellent Screen’
The iPhone’s screen not only is bigger, but I feel much better than that of the 5800. Kinda subjective, but I did notice outright that avatar pics of friends I took on the 5800 and transferred to the iPhone just looked so much better. Not only were they larger, but looked sharper, and the colors more defined. This is true especially with cartoon images, they just look so much better on the unit.

‘Lack of Celphone Connectivity’
I think everyone knows by now the iPhone’s problem with MMS and Bluetooth. Here’s a conversation I had recently that illustrates the problem:

A friend of mine wanted to send a picture to my from her celphone. I told her, ‘Sorry, alang MMS ang celphone ko’ (sorry, my celphone has no MMS).

‘Ganun? Sige, Bluetooth na lang’ (Really? Okay, let’s just use Bluetooth instead)

‘Um, er …..’
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My Apple iPhone 3G 8GB Review Part One

I finally jumped into the bandwagon and and bought an Apple iPhone 3G 8GB at Greenhills. My main reason for buying the unit, was that my boss owned one, and everytime I saw it on his desk, I couldn’t help but start drooling. Each and every time.

‘First Impressions’
The first thing I noticed about the phone, was how good it feels on your hands. It is wide and long, but very thin, and with all the edges rounded, and all the surfaces shiny and slippery, it all results in a very nice tactile feel.

The second thing I noticed, was the ingenius way of unlocking the keypad. To unlock the keypad, you need to press either the “Home” or top button, and then slide a bar on the screen to the right. It is a nice touch, as it will be almost impossible to accidentally unlock the unit. It also maximizes the use of the touchscreen, and at the same time is a “cool” way of unlocking the keypads.

The menu structure is different from the usual celphone menu structure. Most celphone menus tend to be similar regardless of brand, in that you enter a function, than you have a back button to bring you to the previous menu. This one is different in that it gives you the impression that you are scrolling horizontally as you go deeper into the menus. It is also not a very “deep” menu, probably going thru only three or four submenus deep. Instead of a “Back” button, you have an icon that points you to the left, named after the previous menu name. I find it very refreshing, something new and different than usual, but just as effective.

One of the things that impressed me the most of the unit, was how fast the user interface generally is. Its like everything happens so fast: You click on one button, and a blink of an eye later, its done. It is lightning quick, you get none of the delays I found on my previous units like the Nokia 5800 or Samsung SGH-F480.
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Samsung SGH-F480 Firmware Flashing

I was able to flash my Samsung SGH-F480 to a firmware used for the Hugo Boss version recently, and here is sort of a guide on how to flash the unit.

‘Why Flash to Another Firmware’
Some might wonder why it is necessary to flash to another firmware, and there are a couple of good reasons for this. First would be to get rid of bugs found on earlier firmware versions, enabling the phone to function better.

Another would be to get new features in the latest firmware versions. The firmware on my phone, for example, was a version released July 2008. The newest firmware has more features to the ones I have, like five more widgets, including one that will allow getting of additional widgets; Three more standby wallpapers; Newer built in applications like Accuweather, etc.

And yet another reason, like in my case, is to get the firmware with better aesthetics, like a cooler startup screen and sound, option for black or white menu icons and backgrounds, etc.

Custom firmwares also have started to come up, which combines the best features from other features. Not that many yet, but am sure even better ones will come up that will have customized startup screens / sounds, and more features.
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