Bro Eddie’s Chance

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When one thinks of TV evangelists running for president, most Americans probably think of Pat “Nuke the State Dept” Robertson, but it’s Bro. Eddie C. Villanueva who’s on Filipino Christians’ minds these days. ECV is no ordinary born-again televangelist. Check out this fairly dramatic bio.

Hailing from an entrepreneurial background, ECV studied economics, commerce, and law; then lived life as a labor leader and communist activist, from which he later converted, to become a born-again Christian and founder of “Jesus Is Lord,” one of the Philippines’ largest evangelical movements. He has family in politics, he knows how to manage, organize, speak, and fight, and he has the considerable backing of the JIL denomination. He has a principled yet non-theocratic platform, and I’m pretty sure we know where he would stand on justice where the Marcoses are concerned. This is a guy I could stand behind for the presidency — if only he had more political experience under his belt.

I don’t think Bro. Eddie can win the 2004 election without a miracle; not with the FPJ and GMA monsters overshadowing him. But miracles can happen, eh? Regardless, these first steps are good ones. If he were to try for Senator or even Veep, or something to get his political feet wet, that would give him an excellent fighting chance in 2010.

2010. How the years fly.

Wife vs Puppet

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Meanwhile, FPJ now has Marcos backing. Marcos! Yes, the family of the late kleptocratic dictator Ferdinand and his wife Imelda “3,000 pairs of shoes” Marcos! FPJ can now draw financial aid from the Philippines’ own Gold of Tolosa, along with moral support from his best friend, an ousted corrupt incompetent.

Welcome to the family, FPJ.

Small comfort that, at this moment, the only apparent hope of beating him is from the incumbent Gloria, who, with her husband, in a case of “meet the new leader, same as the old,” appears to be just as much a kleptocrat as those who went before her.

Perhaps another glimmer of hope (?) comes from the continuing “unity” talks between Lacson and FPJ. With his roots in the police, Lacson stands for tough, disciplined, harsh, uncompromising governance, which the Philippines needs, and FPJ’s popularity can only help. (Right?) But he is also a Marcos loyalist with a dubious human rights record. I sometimes rationalize that Ramos was one too, but Ramos, at least, stood on the right side EDSA in 1986. Where was Lacson?

Right now, the wife of a thief and a puppet of thieves are leading the electoral pack. Filipinos forgive their abusers far too easily.

Roco’s Denouement

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Just three weeks to May 2010 elections, and it looks like Raul Roco is out of the race, having left for the U.S. to seek treatment for what might be cancer. Back before May, he says, but the damage is done: already trailing in surveys, now he is unable to make campaign appearances or attend debate, and his good health is in doubt.

I remember seeing Roco in late ’97, photographing him up close when he came to Ateneo for a presidential election debate with then-administration candidate Joe de Venecia. Roco had no chance at the time, then: an upstart senator known mainly for championing women’s rights (he had been dubbed “honorary woman” by certain groups), who wore wild Hawaiian shirts and had a winking tick in his eye when he spoke; his giant stature was overshadowed by other “giants” in the election: Miriam, Erap, JoeDeV. But we students were starry-eyed about him, the “choice of the youth,” who stood for so much we could stand for: education, women’s rights, honest governance, dropping mandatory ROTC. Remember those days? In 2002, after the triple farce of Erap’s impeachment and ousting, GMA’s waffling flip-flop presidency (John Kerry has nothing on this lady), and the threat of FPJ’s candidacy, I’m sure many Filipinos were ecstatic that Roco came out on top of early opinion polls.

I don’t know what happened, whether he was resting on his laurels and failed to consolidate his political gains, or if he was simply eclipsed by FPJ’s overwhelming celebrity power, but for 2004, at least, this appears to be Roco’s untimely political denouement. How the mighty have fallen.

False Alarm

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Early Saturday morning, I was awakened by the noise of sirens, as firetrucks pulled up in front of the building. They had gotten the ladder up to the top of the building before being told it was a false alarm.

Photo taken with a Palm Zire 71.

Executive Graven Image

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Do you want a lithograph of President George W. Bush at a podium, head bowed in prayer, while the spirits of George Washington and Abraham Lincoln flank him, hats off and heads also bowed, their hands on Bush’s shoulders, with a shining white cross over the Presidential seal, adorning the chief executive’s head like a halo, all backdropped by the Statue of Liberty, Iwo Jima, and the American flag? For a suggested $35 donation, you got it:

Praying for Peace

Thanks, Presidential Prayer Team Store! GOD BLESS AMERICA! WOO!

Tax Haiku

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Hello, tax refund.

Goodbye, credit card balance.

Goodbye, tax refund.

An Udvar-Hazy Day

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Bus ticketsIn the post about Seagulls On Ice, I mentioned that Amy and I were off to the NASM Udvar-Hazy Center in Dulles, but I never got down to writing about how that went, did I? Well, It was great, well worth the 45-minute bus ride from DC out to VA.

udvarhazy14The annex is a huge hangar containing artifacts from almost every era of aviation history — those that would not fit in the main Air and Space Building. Smaller planes were hung from the cavernous ceiling, arranged as though in an airshow, while larger aircraft — which I was far more interested in — sat on the hangar floor. Right at the entrance was the SR-71 Blackbird, sitting before the Space Shuttle Enterprise. Near that was the restored and reassembled B-29 Enola Gay, its label ominously playing down Hiroshima and Nagasaki in favor of more technical aviation info. (Protestors had splashed the bomber with red paint, but it appears to have been cleaned off.) Further down, the world’s only remaining Stratoliner (recent crash survivor) glinted silver beside the Dash 80 prototype. At the food court side of the hangar, a newly retired Concorde dominated the view.

udvarhazy18A few drawbacks: disappointingly, none of the aircraft interiors were open to tourists. Also, while the Space Hangar is still being constructed, most of the Space Shuttle is cordoned off so you can only view it from the front or from afar and above. And one tip for visitors going to the annex, there are practically no food options at the Udvar-Hazy Center, so eat first. There’s only one tiny Subway sandwich stand in the “food court.” Their supply of personnel and box lunches is severely limited, the line stretches halfway across the hangar at the peak of lunch rush, and seating may not always be available. It doesn’t look like they’ll have a proper food court till summer of this year. Also, if you want to get up to the viewing tower to see planes landing at Dulles Airport, you’ll need to come earlier in the day to get tickets, which are in high demand and low supply.

Otherwise, the place is great: a flight-nerd’s dream. I highly recommend it, just as long as you start with a full stomach. Photos here.

Ustinov as Friedrich

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Hearing of Peter Ustinov’s death last month made me think of the last film I saw him in, Luther. Amy and I watched that last August with Valerie. The film itself was pretty ordinary, not too daring, more like an exceptionally well-made docu-drama. Joseph Fiennes as Martin Luther was simply not a reconcilable image. I prefer Valerie’s idea of casting Sean Astin in the Great Reformer’s role: he has the face and the build for it.

As for Sir Peter, he was Friedrich the Wise, and he played it perfectly, as an endearing old monarch whose hapless childlikeness belied shrewd political wiles. But other than that, it was a mostly unengaging film. And that singing scene. Cringe.

Dance of the Simple Gifts

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So I mentioned last night that I have a bit of a problem with Sydney Carter’s Lord of the Dance. It’s a petty problem. But first, the positive: Dance can go hand in hand with song as an art form and an expression of worship, and it’s an interesting symbolism. (Myself, I don’t dance, but I’m not some fundie anti-dancer.) So the use of the “dance” as a unique allegory for Christ is perfectly okay with me.

The melody, though, the melody! I’m no Shaker and I’m no Copland fan, but I like Simple Gifts. I’ve always associated that melody with “‘Tis a gift to be simple, ’tis a gift to be free…” and it’s a jarring thing to hear it being applied to a song about dancing. Dancing? To “Simple Gifts?”

Later on, the song reaches the crucifixion and death: “I danced on a Friday when the sky turned black, it’s hard to dance with the devil on your back…” The dance imagery falls flat here, and the composer’s feeble attempt to add drama to the scene by simply shifting the song to a minor key is a major source of discomfort. Is it just me, or is Christ’s Passion trivialized by this effort to stuff the shame and gore of his sacrifice into what should be a lighthearted tune? It rubs me exactly the wrong way.

The First Baptist DC choir sang Lord of the Dance last Sunday as a well-arranged Offertory interlude, but I worry that, in attempting to come off as liberal and fun-loving, some church out there might try to stick this into the congregational singing lineup, and some newcomer will be freaked out at having to sing about a dancing Christ in the first person, with mention of devils dancing on backs, to the tune of “Simple Gifts.” Never mind that Sydney Carter (may he rest in peace), already known for writing controversial religious music, held to what appears to be a rather loose, dubiously pluralistic view of Christ and faith. Well, it was the 1960s.

Amy Welborn cringes at it too. What do you think? I’m open to feedback about the song, especially if you have an insightful biblical reference on this whole issue of dance and tasteful song composition.

Easter Weekend Retrospective

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Capitol TulipsAmy came over to DC for Easter, and we spent the sunny part of the weekend hopping about Washington, looking at medieval Italian works and Dutch landscapes and portraits at the National Gallery, hiking up and down a half-mile of the Melvin Hazen Trail in Rock Creek Park, and browsing through PetCo for catnip and a brine shrimp net.

Easter Sunday itself dawned gray and rainy. I came to church an hour early for choir practice, and glided through two excerpts from Handel’s Messiah: “Since By Man Came Death” and the Hallelujah Chorus (natch), and Sydney Carter’s Lord of the Dance. (Ugh — that is an “ugh” I will explain some other time, no offense intended to the recently deceased composer.)

After worship, we joined the young adults for a smorgasbord brunch hosted by Rob. Not long after, Amy and I joined my aunt and uncle for Easter dinner with relatives in Arlington, where we feasted on bacalao and rice as my 89-year-old great-aunt regaled us with stories of my ancestors.

A great Easter weekend, despite the wet weather. The rain continues even tonight, as I see to a host of web chores and get things in order for the possible birth of a teeny-tiny business venture.

Meanwhile, I see that Joel has whipped out a spiffy new design, and TA-TA-TARATA-TAAA, TA-TA-TARATA-TAAAAAA!!!