I grew up on “Peanuts”, the much beloved comic strip by Charles M. Schulz, arguably the most influential and successful American cartoonist of all time. Thus, I look forward to a new authorized biography of Schulz by David Michaelis, “Schulz and Peanuts,” to be released HarperCollins.

I identified with the main character, Charlie Brown (as did millions of others, including U.S. President Ronald Regan), who was later to be eclipsed by his swashbuckling and debonair dog, Snoopy. To a jaded MTV generation used to the admittedly visually stunning SFX of today’s multimedia, it may be hard to fathom the impact a simple, daily black-and-white (except for Sundays) comic strip had on our generation.

As explained by Charles McGrath in a review published in the New York Times :

“He transformed the newspaper cartoon strip, busy and cluttered by the time he turned up in the late ’40s, by flooding it with white space, and by reducing his childish characters to near abstraction — huge circular heads balanced on tiny bodies — he rendered them far more expressive than their cartoon peers. The strip was able to register grown-up emotions, like anxiety, depression, yearning, disillusionment, that had never been in cartoons before. Instead of the “Slam!” “Bam!” “Pow!” sound effects that were the lingua franca of the comics, it employed a quieter, more eloquent vocabulary: “Aaugh!” and “Sigh.”

“Peanuts” was beloved by everyone: by hipsters and college kids (in the ’60s especially); by presidents (Ronald Reagan once wrote Schulz a fan note, saying he identified with Charlie Brown); by the Apollo 10 astronauts, who named their orbiter and landing vehicle after Charlie and Snoopy; by ministers and pastors, who read moral and theological lessons into the strip; by the suits in Detroit, who paid Charlie and the gang a small fortune to shill for the Ford Falcon. At its peak the strip reached 300 million readers in 75 countries; 2,600 papers and 21 languages every day.” Read the rest of this entry »

The Inquirer headline for today reads “Antipoverty Post for Erap ?”. It seems the Arroyo administration is dangling the possibility of a government appointment for the just-pardoned former President, a convicted plunderer.

“Why not?”, Serge Remonde, chief of the Presidential Management Staff asks. Why not, indeed ? After being convicted of enriching himself himself in office ,why not give him another chance to do more of the same ? Once again, OIP.

Arroyo believes in the old adage that a person in her position must keep one’s friends close, but one’s enemies closer.

Although much diminished in stature, Erap’s political clout cannot be underestimated. Proof of this is that he managed to have his wife and son elected to the Senate while behind bars. His buddy, the late FPJ, would have been President if only the 2004 elections were honest. Erap retains his mass appeal and has shown himself to be a fearsome adversary. Perhaps by himself, he can’t topple Gloria. But in alliance with a united opposition, he can still spell trouble for Arroyo. While professing gratitude for his release, he can still work behind the scenes. So getting him on board makes sense. But will he bite ?

The Inquirer editorial also points out that both Erap and President Arroyo have remained true to their essential nature- both are cold-blooded opportunists who will always look after themselves first. But in doing so, they sow the seeds of their own destruction. Thus, the oft-told tale of the scorpion and the frog, which goes like this:

“The scorpion begged for a ride across a river on the frog’s back; and against its better judgment, the frog decided to give the scorpion a lift. Only for the scorpion to end up stinging the frog. As they both sank to their death, the scorpion philosophically explained why he bit the frog: “It’s in my nature.”

But what if both are scorpions ? Read the rest of this entry »

Once again, a collective, despairing sigh of OIP. Only in the Philippines.

President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo granted convicted felon and plunderer par excellence former President Estrada “executive clemency” for gross offenses committed against the People of the Philippines.

Executive clemency means pardoning Estrada and expunging all his criminal transgressions. By giving him an absolute pardon, she restored all his civil and political rights, which were automatically removed by his conviction of atrocious crimes involving illegally amassing billions of pesos by virtue of his public office. Not only that. A deal was worked out in that he can keep some, if not most, of the money he got during his years as a so-called public servant. This was openly admitted by Estrada’s lawyers and Malacanang and is reportedly included in the document giving him executive clemency.

Read the rest of this entry »

A lethal explosion of still undetermined origin rocked the Glorietta Mall at the Makati central business district, killing at least eight, by last count, and wounding scores of others. The blast, which appeared to have originated from the ground floor of the Glorietta 2 wing of the mall complex, was strong enough to blow a hole through the third-floor roof. Authorities have been guarded about the actual source and nature of the explosion, but has has admitted that the most likely cause was a bomb of high explosives. The damage was too extensive to have been made by a leaking liquid petroleum gas line, the initial theory.

One angle is that it was a terrorist attack, although no group has owned up to it. The Palace was quick to issue blanket warnings against those who would seek to undermine the government. Metro Manila has been placed on red alert.

A more sinister explanation has quickly gained currency among those following the latest series of scandals hounding the Arroyo administration. This may be a case of the tail wagging the dog, as Malacanang operatives are supposedly looking for ways to redirect public attention away from the latest shenanigans involving President Arroyo and her immediate circle. The Makati Business Club has labeled the incident a possible “diversionary tactic”. Sen. Trillanes warns against Arroyo’s setting the stage for a declaration of emergency rule. These reactions were prompted by the obvious question: Who has most to gain in the immediate term by fomenting an atmosphere of fear and uncertainty ?

The popular uprising in Myanmar, in which the revered community of Buddhist monks played a leading role, has been brutally crushed by the ruling military junta, led by the 74-year old Senior Gen. Than Shwe. Reports say several thousand people have been taken into detention since troops and armed police cracked down on the protests for the past two weeks. A number have died in detention, amid charges of routine ill-treatment and torture. Those who die are immediately cremated, like activist leader Win Shwe, with nary an explanation to grieving friends and relatives.

Global condemnation, while widespread, has failed to sway the increasingly isolated Burmese military. One reason is that there is little unanimity in the international response to the crisis.

The White House’s official stance is that “[T]he United States strongly condemns the atrocities committed by the junta”. The U.N. Security Council has yet to agree to a statement condemning the military crackdown and calling for prisoners to be released, mainly because of opposition from China, Myanmar’s major trading partner and patron. Russia argues that the violence in Burma is an internal issue that does not threaten regional peace.

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations, of which Myanmar is part, had a particularly pallid reaction, saying that it is reviewing a new charter that obliges member countries to “strengthen democracy.”

What are the immediate lessons to be learned and what lies in store for the Burmese pro-democracy movement ? Read the rest of this entry »