Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke sees 2010 recovery "only if" markets and banks stabilize, says Bloomberg.com. I see prospects for cheap, aerial fertilizer delivery if pigs learn to fly.
Listening to songs that have "degrading lyrics" may cause teenagers to have more sex. So said Dr. Brian A. Primack, a pediatrician and co- author of a study released Tuesday. Yep and a billion or so years of evolution contribute to the tendency too, but thanks Brian -- I think I understand much better now. It's a bit like insisting that to grant veteran's benefits to Filipino soldiers who fought alongside General McArthur will hasten the financial collapse of the US economy or that unplugging your cell phone charger will "save the planet."
I feel lucky if I can save my sanity.
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The Philippines were a US Territory (like Hawaii before Statehood), and then a Commonwealth of the U.S. (like Puerto Rico today) in 1941. In other words, they had many of the rights & responsibilities of U.S. citizenship.
Filipinos are also largely Christian, unlike most of Asia, for what it's worth. And lots of them grow up speaking English, maybe more than any other non-Anglo country in the world. Also, their population is about to exceed that of Japan, if it hasn't already. And they're good with computers & the Internet. Oh, and they have a (disputed) claim to a (potential) lot of oil in the Spratley's. It might pay to be nice to them. Especially with their insurgent Muslim population.
As to what we owe them, and why, we ran their defense & foreign policy right up until the Japanese invaded, with large Army & Navy bases at Clarke & Subic Bay. This is what made PI such a big target for the Japanese.
The Filipinos suffered some of the worst fighting and human rights abuses of the war. Our failure to acknowledge this and make good on OUR PROMISES to their fighters helped get us kicked out of there, in the end. They are still our best friends in Asia. Large numbers of Filipinos and Filipino-Americans continue to serve in the U.S. military, and many have died in Iraq & Afghanistan.
Most of the WWII fighters are dead now. The amount going to each remaining individual is pretty small after sixty years. Despite advances, they are a poor country and a little money would help. Not to mention a little justice. But this is how the Repukes have always treated soldiers who fight for their cause. Although I think their cause was with Hitler, in that war.
Hawaii is going to be majority Filipino-American in a few years, like parts of California. Other Asians & Pacific Islanders are watching attentively to see how these most American of all Asians are treated. And a lot of our health-care systems nationwide depend upon Filipino man & woman-power, many of whom are union or unionizable. Political calculaters might want to figure all of this into their sums.
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