I’ve lived in Southern California for the last 20 years and believe it or not, last month was the first time I’ve been to Catalina. My wife and I went on the Catalina Flyer off Newport Beach and it took us an hour to get to Avalon. Avalon is the main town in Catalina. It has your normal tourist souvenir shops and restaurants. As we were browsing around town, we chanced upon a Catalina Tourism booth and chatted with the friendly reps.
The loss of Manny “Pacman” Pacquiao to Timothy Bradley would most likely become one of the most controversial fights in boxing history and could become the catalyst for reforms in the way fights are judged.
It was a beautiful quiet weekend after several months of whirlwind events and what better way to cap it off than by a simple but delicious dinner in a charming restored grand old house.
Whether a long drive or out of the country food trip no tailgate is complete without a sausage pit stop. For thousand of years, man has been making sausages– originally to preserve meat. It has continuously evolved adapting as the human need changes. Today, sausage has become an art and a good source of fortune!
“This looks amazing” says my husband as he sees the plate of arranged vegetables in a block of tofu.
The recent impeachment and removal of Renato Corona as the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the Philippines was without precedence in the annals of Philippine jurisprudence. However, the impeachment trial was fraught with uncertainty and high drama, which up to the very end could have gone for conviction or acquittal. But the final verdict of 20-3 for conviction was meted out based on Corona’s own admission or “confession” — on the last hour of the last day of his testimony — that he owns dollar and peso deposits amounting to $2.4 million and P80.7 million, respectively, which he did not report in his Statement of Assets, Liabilities, and Net Worth (SALN). It was an act of “hara-kiri” knowing full well that by his admission his fate was sealed. But did he have a choice?
The U.S. has eleven aircraft carriers with attached strike group. The world now has super aircraft carriers and all but one of its twelve nuclear-powered carriers. (France has the other.) The eleven American sophisticated supercarriers are the largest warships ever built.
There is little more to say about Baguio nowadays. It remains the summer’s best target destination in a country sweltering in the summer heat, when even the rainshowers felt warm.
The much-anticipated vote on the impeachment case against Chief Justice Renato Corona finally came to pass last May 29, 2012. It was supposed to be suspenseful to the very end with either side winning by a razor-thin margin. But as it turned out it was a massacre! Twenty senator-judges voted for conviction leaving the three die-hard Coronistas – Senators Joker Arroyo, Miriam Defensor-Santiago, and Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. — circling the wagons in a desperate attempt to defend the beleaguered Corona.
Despite four months of trial and 44 days of hearing, many kababayans are still groping for answers as to why Chief Justice Renato Corona had to be impeached.
Even by Filipino standards, Jen Furer’s immigration journey is one colossal heartache: Her entire family, meaning her parents and five brothers, were deported after living in the U.S. for several years. The worst episode came when a brother in California and another in New Jersey got their “knock on the door” on the same day.
The world thought that the “war on terror” days of former President George Dubya Bush has ended as he finished his second term as US 43rd President. Unfortunately, the Obama administration has continued what Dubya started.
SEEN IN THE CITY
The airport arrival scene when the TV5 team landed at LAX is chaotic, yet happy. TV President was there early, together with his VP for International Creative & Programming Jeffrey Remigio, to welcome with warm arms Derek Ramsay, Mariel Rodriguez, Talentadong Pinoy Grand Champion Astroboy, Willie Revillame & his whole Wil Time BigTime group, TV5 Production, Marketing & Executive crew. Dra Vicki Belo with her PR Consultant from Belo Medical Group (who watched the American Idol finals, in person, last Tuesday) were also at the airport to say ‘Hi’ to the arriving group. The group proceeded to the nearby The Hyatt House in El Segundo, CA where they were treated with a warm dinner reception. I was informed that Superstar Nora Aunor arrived in LA a day earlier while Aga Muhlach, Ruffa Gutierrez, Perci Intalan et al, will follow the next day.
It was a historic moment in the Philippines. Chief Justice Renato Corona was convicted for failing to fully disclose his multi-million peso accounts in his statements of assets, liabilities and net worth (SALNs).
She may be at number four on Billboard’s list of top moneymakers of 2011, five Grammy Awards and 13 MTV Video Awards as testaments to her talent, but Lady Gaga was met with protests when she came to Manila for performances last Monday and Tuesday.
Threatening to seek Supreme Court intervention should the Senate impeachment court convict Chief Justice Renato Corona later today or tomorrow, Corona’s lead defense counsel, retired Justice Serafin Cuevas, is sowing fear among the senator-judges hoping that it would influence at least eight of them to vote for acquittal.
Let us leave out the debate on whether same sex marriage should be legalized or not for now, and focus on what probably started as a candid and sincere response from Manny Pacquiao that has now turned into a public relations challenge for our Pambansang Kamao.
On November 17, 1973, the embattled U.S. President Richard Nixon faced media editors and defended his record in the Watergate scandal in June 1972, saying that he never profited from his public service. “People have got to know whether or not their President is a crook. Well, I’m not a crook. I’ve earned everything I’ve got,” he said.
From the beginning, it was a matter of character. In the end, it is about character. And Rene Corona affirmed that the character that he has is the one that is capable of destroying a society’s sense of decency, sense of justice, and sense of morality. While he tried to hide behind the legal acrobatics of seasoned lawyers, he must have sensed that he would be hanged after details about his dollar accounts began to surface. He did not take the stand to be transparent; it was the only way to squirt black ink on a truth that was finding its way to the light.
It is quite alarming to know how the world sees us through the internet by some known writers and bloggers together with the different comments posted in news articles from various media outfit here and abroad.
Let us leave out the debate on whether same sex marriage should be legalized or not for now, and focus on what probably started as a candid and sincere response from Manny Pacquiao that has now turned into a public relations challenge for our Pambansang Kamao.
SEEN IN THE CITY
It’s all about Jessica Sanchez these days. As the American Idol Season 11 Grand Finale reaches fever pitch madness with the Top 2 Idols’ final performances scheduled on Tuesday, May 22 and the announcement of the NEW American Idol Winner on Wednesday, May 23, both scheduled at the Nokia Theater LA LIVE, all the major TV networks from the Philippines (TV5, TFC & GMA-7) flew in Manila-based TV crews to cover her final week performances & activities. Interscope, that huge record label wanted her badly. Jessica goes on AI record books as the youngest candidate ever to reach Top 2. Her YouTube AI performance videos are the most watched with no other singer coming second close.
Oh how peaceful. We all need our little oasis where we could sit, relax and be still until we hear our heart murmur. Until we can feel our breathe under our nostrils and the stillness around us whisper into our ear like soothing music. It’s calming, almost magical… we feel renewed, and the best thing is that it’s free.
Maintaining peace in the most contested area in the world is not an easy task. Being one of the claimants in the disputed area of the South China Sea, our country has always been on the lookout for a possible regional conflict if things will go out of hand.
I was literally stuck. I was staring at my laptop, not knowing what to write for my next post. Until I saw this post on the page of The Breakfast Store.
