miniZibaldone

Philippine Daily Inquirer's   " Costly traffic " Metro Manila’s traffic mess is one problem that is proving too difficult to untangle. A confluence of events since many administrations ago has led to this nightmare in the capital. Last week, the Japan International Cooperation Agency (Jica) estimated that the worsening traffic congestion in Metro Manila now costs at least P3.5 billion in lost opportunities a day — a jump from the estimated P2.4 billion a day in 2012. The future does not seem to present much promise either. According to the Jica study, Metro Manila’s population in 2015 was nearly 13 million while Bulacan, Rizal, Laguna and Cavite combined had almost 11 million. That puts Mega Manila’s population in 2015 at 24 million.   [link] Mindanao Times  " Missing the point " The stir that the Boracay controversy has created has resulted in concerned agencies scampering for solutions to the garbage problem. In the Davao Region for instanc...

Sun.Star Cebu's  Carvajal: "From the bottom up" PHILIPPINE democracy is hardly that because colonial masters handed it down on a people steeped in a comprehensively authoritarian culture. To this day, in fact, all  basic social institutions around a so-called democratic government are authoritarian in degrees ranging from mild to despotic. The Filipino family is authoritarian. Not-so-authoritarian parents simply do not bother to consult much less consider the opinion of children while despotic parents  impose their iron will on children, choosing professions and even spouses for them.  Schools are no less authoritarian. Most are run as business concerns by profit-oriented stockholders. More to the point, professors and teachers simply dole out  knowledge to their students and demand that such be regurgitated back to them at exam time. A good memory is all you need to get through an authoritarian school  system. Catholic Churches are even more authoritari...

L:cSub, H:aS2f, H:bS2f The Closing of the American Mind by Anthony Bloom Love and Friendship by Anthony Bloom Modern Liberty and Its Discontent by Pierre Manent Tocqueville and the Nature of Democracy by Pierre Manent

The Sacred Canopy by Peter Berger The Social Construction of Reality by Peter Berger  The Informed Heart by Bruno Bettelheim  Harvard Diary II by Robert Coles  Democracy in America Vol 1 by Alexis de Tocqueville  

Whose Justice? Which Rationality? by Alasdair MacIntyre Modern Liberty and Its Discontent by Pierre Manent Tocqueville and the Nature of Democracy by Pierre Manent Memory, History, and Forgetting by Paul Ricoeur Anamnesis by Eric Voegelin Autobiographical Reflections by Eric Voegelin Modernity Without Restraints: Collected Works 5 by Eric Voegelin What is History and Other Late Unpublished Writings: Collected Works 28 by Eric Voegelin Hitler and the Germans by Eric Voegelin