Royal Baby Watch + The SONA

Royal Baby Watch

While trouble shooting my laptop and internet connection and doing some work done, I tuned into the Royal Baby coverage. I was never an enthusiast for the royals, well the current ones, though I did read my share of books and watch several shows/movies about historical British royals.

I don’t know, Prince William never did it for me. Princess Diana thrived when I was too young to care. And, I think Kate Middleton seems too (gasp) boring. I don’t even like her fashion choices (though I get it, she needs to look respectable and squeaky clean).

I’ve read some regency (embarrassed smile) romance novels recently and all I can say is, Kate, you’ve really moved on up in the world, my dear.

From a pretty townie (which likely possess average smarts and talent – just because we’ve not heard anything about her intelligence, career prospects or anything…) to a duchess and mother to the future King, you’ve so made it.  

I don’t know, I probably wouldn’t be saying this, except the mini documentary I saw made it seemed like she somewhat sought to befriend him (then again, if we were enrolled there, wouldn’t we also try to?). The editorial slant just felt mildly predatory to me, that's all, but who really knows?

And... just when you think it's over... Now, the fuss is about the baby's name.... Any bets???

The SONA

So, ok, I confess, I wasn’t able to catch it. I heard it was long. And, I’ve no time to read the transcript or look into the issues in detail yet. 

photo from the Philippine Star website

I did catch a couple of programs discussing the SONA and caught some clips from the news.

I will skip commenting on the ridiculous glorified saya fashion show. (Normally, I am an enthusiast of fashion but not this time) 

Generally, everyone said it was good enough. It’s above average. Some critics even gave it high marks.

I, personally, still approve of the very Tagalog approach to it.

It has been said that the SONA was here and there. There was a lot of criticism of what was not mentioned or discussed: FOI bill, pork barrel, the South China Sea, and the sex for flight issue. Also, the Customs department got a lot of flak, Ruffy Biazon’s resignation was rejected. Hmm?

But, still, the country is on the up. From a 10 year or so decline from the previous administration, we are on the upward trend now just 2-3 years into Pnoy’s term. No matter how you look at it, it’s still an economic turnaround, even if you say that it hasn’t tricked down to the masses.  

Hey, an upward trend that still has not tricked down is still better than a downward trend that’s bringing everyone further down.   

AND I still stand by this, though I could name a few cynical people I know that would disagree, he is championing an anti-corrupt slogan and this is (you’d think it would be obvious): Good. 

Rape and Sexual Harassment in these countries

The recent stories of foreigners getting raped in India just brought these issues to the global spotlight. BUT, obviously, these things have been going on for years and years. The rape statistics in India, how the authorities treat women who report cases (allegedly they don’t react much), and how, in general, women are treated in these country, as evidenced by a long list of warnings in the country’s official website on how women who visit the country should behave and dress should attest, are all evidence of how blatantly rampant sexual harassment and rape happens in India.

Even the public outcry for that young local medical student who was gang raped in a bus, didn’t seem to do much difference. It is sad. That girl was a university student and she was with her boyfriend. It’s not like she was stupidly walking alone in the slums.

Now there is this new report, of this Norwegian woman who was raped by a guy at a hotel in Dubai and was arrested when she reported it to the police. She was charged with having sex outside of marriage. 

What?! You say. 

BUT this one isn’t particularly new either. A lot of our “sex for flight” OFW victims are also the products of such situations in the Middle East. According to a friend of mine who once worked in Saudi Arabia, that often these girls who end up taking the “sex for flight” deals are just desperate because they usually are either illegal contract workers who ran away (for whatever reason, including sexual harassment or rape) or even legal workers who also ran away (for reasons that include sexual harassment or rape as well) or OFWs who get into relationships with locals, who also end up in a similar situation (sexually harassed, raped or caught having consensual sex). Unmarried men and women are not allowed to meet up in the country, it is illegal.

My friend told me of an acquaintance of hers who accompanied a friend to go to her Arab boyfriend’s house, which was as mentioned illegal. Her friend and her boyfriend had consensual sex while she waited in the living room. Unfortunately, the guy's brother was also there. This brother saw the opportunity to brutally raped her. But though she was truly raped, she couldn’t go to the police because she knew that she would be arrested so she had no choice but to let the assault go. She had a legitimate contract job there and she had the means to go home, hence she didn’t have to go through the system or be lured into a “sex for flight” arrangement. Still, an injustice was done to her, and she still had live with it, and she had to let it go because of these barbaric, irrational and misogynistic laws in the country.  

Other OFWs aren’t so fortunate however. After suffering rape/harassment in these countries, they run to our embassy and will be further harassed by our officials and be sold, if they are desperate enough.

I don’t know why the western world is just crying out about this now? It’s long overdue and it’s not even enough. I suppose, it’s better late than never.  


Good for this Norwegian woman, she’s white and a European so she is able to get this magical pardon. For that matter, I don’t know why she’s idiotically so smiley in her news video feeds. I get it, she’s happy to be able to go home instead of being locked up in prison but CNN’s Hola Gorani verbalized what I was thinking as I watched her on TV. She was given a pardon, which means the Dubai government still deemed her guilty of a crime. She was raped yet her assailant is just as free as she is. He was, apparently, also pardoned. There was no justice done here. She was the victim yet it seems she has forgotten that. So, she’s just so smiley and full of glee on TV. Her rapist remains free as a bird, like nothing happened, except he was not convicted of rape. Hmm? 

Norwegian Victim: SMILEY

I mean, she’s got the international media attention now, perhaps the least she could do is speak out against these unjust laws. If she can’t put her rapist behind bars, she should use her bad experience to bring about international attention to the issue. Instead, she just smiles like an silly woman on TV.

Apparently, rape prosecutions in the UAE, as is the case in similar Islamic countries, to get a conviction a confession or a testimony from an adult male witness is required.

What?! If it was just you and the rapist, would he really say anything? If you were attacked while with a female friend (as is the case in the story mentioned above), your friend - she can't be a witness? When she saw the whole thing? What if you were with 10 female friends who all saw it? All of their testimonies are still invalid? Is a female's testimony that much more insignificant as a male's testimony? How does this spell logic? It does not, of course. 

Again, I say, a trip to any of these countries or even comparatively lesser conservative or close minded countries such as Egypt, where sexual harassment is likewise very common, or even Turkey, should tell any female visitor that in these countries, they are still not treating women with respect or giving them the means to get justice when they are assaulted like this, sexually harassed and raped. 

What is supposed to be thought of as common decency, common sense and simply logical for us, remains archaic, brutal, barbaric and just disgusting in a lot of parts of the world.

For all the women who lived in these places, I wish the world would do more.   

Wimbledon, a series of bizarre incidents

Mercury is in retrograde. I blame that.

Something's in the air and logic cannot explain it.

It was Nadal's defeat in round 1. Though I said, he looked injured. And, he was out in round 2 last year... so maybe that's ok. 

And then like a weird epidemic: Lots of others slipped and fall, withdrew and got unexpectedly knocked out. Azarenka, Sharapova, Tsonga, Isner.... among the many seeds that were out barely into week 1. 

And THEN: Roger was out. He was not saved from all the madness. He wasn't even injured. He didn't even play badly.

To me, it was just sheer bad luck. That is, the other guy suddenly played extraordinarily well on the day, yes, (only to be beaten badly on the next round) but based on total points, he actually just scored 1 point more than Roger on total points.

A 1 point lead in the total points?! Hardly anything that should make people cry out (again) that Roger's deteriorating nor should it mean that Roger played so badly that day - because he didn't.

Oh, Roger, to me, you're still a winner...
(photo from the official website)

Certainly, it made me feel so very sad for Roger's quarterfinal grand slam streak to be broken at his most favorite tournament, Wimbledon. AND, by 1 point only!

I still am feeling blue about it to be honest. I didn't even want to continue watching after day 3. 

As it is, everyone seems to be out now. More seeds were out soon after (like Serena, though I'm not particularly upset about that). I half expected Murray or Djokovic to bow out just to go with the trend.  

So, who are my bets now? 

I don’t feel too much about those who are left so I don't care all that much on who wins. 

But if you force me to choose... For the women's, maybe, Radwanska or Lisicki or Sloane Stevens and for the men's, maybe, someone who has never won a grand slam, someone totally new or some old timer who would make a good story out of the win. 

Must say, I am now somewhat apathetic about Wimbledon 2013. That’s all I've to say.

Ho Hum.

The Break

Actually, I did write a bunch of things that I was intending to post here about local politics, other musings, and a bunch of other opinions that no one in particular might care about.

But they’re old news now and so they're not going to get posted... 

So pardon me, I haven’t been posting. I suppose I haven’t been feeling much like posting anything lately.

Wasn't in the mood. Nothing much to say. Feelings about things went and passed by... 

Today, in between watching the news (the "Egypt Crisis") and Wimbledon (ok, maybe, I'm still too bitter to continue watching what with all the weird injuries and upsets), I was also browsing pinterest. 

Why? Well, because I like looking at bright colors, cute pictures and pretty interiors. Also, I like looking at those pinterest quotes. 

Anyway, today... I am trying to will myself to be cheery so I say... 

from pinterest