Barack Obama is Time Person of the Year 2008

Find out who are the runners up, go to

Time Magazine, Person of the Year 2008.

President George W. Bush's Funny Moments

This President is a born comedian. He always makes me laugh. Remember this one in China? I called this "George Bush, the (can't) escape artist" (My All Time Favorite).

And now this, last December 14 incident in Iraq. The President of the United States of America was forced to duck because an Iraqi journalist threw a shoe at him, twice! We must create a new sport or a game out of this and we shall call it, " The Shoe Dodging President". This is so hilarious! I hope there's more from him. There's still time you know.

Here is David Letterman's Top Ten George W. Bush Funny Moments.

The Top 10 Embarrassing Bush Video Moments.

A new game inspired by the shoe throwing incident in Iraq,

"Shock and Awe".

Juana Change: "Cha - Cha" (in Filipino)

CHA - CHA

This is a comedic satire, about Charter Change or in the Philippines , it's what we call, Cha-Cha. A lot of Filipinos believe that the current President of the Philippines Gloria Macapagal Arroyo and her allies are pushing very hard to change the constitution for them to be able to extend her term in office. This satire also tells about the common Filipinos' reactions or in this case "no actions". There are two main characters here, the first one is the lady with her dancing partner who just love to dance Cha - Cha, she symbolizes some of the Filipinos who stand for what is right and just and the woman in blue hair is the politician with her bodyguard, She is using Cha - Cha (the dance) to show their step by step plan to fool the people into changing the constitution (sound so familiar!).

What really gets me is when the woman in blue hair (The Politician) said (I translate in English), "Hey! the revolutions are over, all your protests have ended. The people now are all idiots! All the smart ones already went abroad. Only those that are left here are those people who do nothing but to join "Wowowee", play the Lotto or are waiting remittances from abroad." That's so powerful! And as if she said every word of it with a certain degree of anger and emotions that would make you think twice. It feels like a big slap on your face, especially when she said "TANGA" (IDIOT), Wow! I really felt that. But then again, I'm abroad, so I guess I'm one of the smart people. Funny huh!.

I've watched from a TV program called "Probe" (in TFC, The Filipino Channel) about this satire in You Tube. There's another one of this Juana Change series in You Tube Called, "The Fixer" , it's equally entertaining and such an eye opener too. The story goes like this, a man went to a government agency to get a license and the woman who works there said, for him to be able to get it immediately, he needs to pay extra amount so that she could process the papers "lightning fast" otherwise, it would take a long long time. It revolves around the theme of "corruption".

I myself am fed up with what is happening in my country. I was born in 1972 and referred to as "Martial Law Baby", because it was when the dictator, former president Ferdinand Edralin Marcos proclaimed Martial Law in the Philippines. Ever since i was a small boy I already knew that my country is corrupt, from the highest office of the government, down to the Barangay level. There was a time that I thought of leaving my country and never to return (Yah right!, as if I can do that) and in a way, that's what I've done. I've been here in Saudi Arabia (on and off) for almost 9 years now, working very hard to save money for my future and my family's future.

You know what, if only I could just turn back time, I would rather choose the Philippines to be a part of the Spanish Empire (Las Indias Orientales Espanolas), or be an American Territory, maybe in that way we Filipinos could all feel the prosperity, security and happiness that our rich neighbors feel. In a way, our government is the one that's slowly killing us, stripping away every layer that keeps us human. They (the people in government) are the only ones who are getting rich, while we are the ones who are suffering because of their insatiable greed. We want to have "Change" too. Wake up Filipinos!, That's the morale of this story.

RELATED ARTICLES AND BLOGS:

Inquirer.Net: 'Juana Change' Blast Charter Change

WordPress: Blogs about 'Juana Change'
To Juana Change: Bayani,

To 3 New Videos of Juana Change

I Support the [Philippine] Reproductive Health Bill

The population of the Philippines is getting bigger every year. As of this year 2008, our population is estimated at more than 92 million, according to the CIA World Fact book. And with this, the Catholic Church is more of a problem than part of the solution. The Church is against contraceptives and other artificial birth control methods. It doesn't make sense.

Let the Church Hierarchy be aware that we don't agree with their stand on the birth control issue. Contraception is not abortion. Prevent the true abortion from happening. Show your support, help pass the Reproductive Health Bill into law, sign the petition HERE or go to, I Support the Reproductive Health Bill in Facebook, administered by Mr.Carlos Celdran.

Related Link: Marie Claire's Ad Campaign on Reproductive Health Bill

The Road Trip to Yanbu

Today we went to Yanbu, here in Saudi Arabia, almost 350 km. north of Jeddah. We used our car and I thought we'll never get there and back again. Another one that I would like to thank God for. Last night we've rented a much bigger car, but we ended up using my small car because we've made a mistake renting an old car, and we can not return it back 'cause we already signed the papers and already gave the initial payment. Isn't that the dumbest thing to do? The reason why we wanted to rent a car in the first place was because I don't feel safe using a very small car to travel such a far destination, but we ended up driving it because the car that we rented was very old and i don't feel safe driving it either. At least my small car is new. Another thing was the meter, it runs so fast and we were scared that we might double our payment once we return the car back, we don't want to pay for the mileage we did not actually use, so this morning we decided not to use it and use our own car instead. stupid me!

Well any ways, we are here back in Jeddah and thank God we are safe and i think we made a very good decision not to use the rented car, at least we only paid sr.80. I forgot to tell yo!, we went to Yanbu because of work, we have a shop there. We finished our work there within almost 4hrs., that's around 2:30PM . I have never experienced long distance driving before, it was so tiring, i even felt sleepy at times but i said to myself "No Pepe, don't close your eyes or else you'll never open them ever again!". Here are some of the pictures from our road trip to Yanbu.

View more photos at my other blog, CAMERA NI CABRERA.

"Blue Jay"

Blue Jay , Blue Jay

Fly away!

No one needs you here to stay!

Fly away, far, far away!

Take that melancholic song

of yours far away!

Blue Jay, Blue Jay

Fly away!

Find some other place to play

far away!

Fly away, fly away,

fly away!

I composed this very short poem, "Blue Jay" , on September 6, 2000 when i was still with my previous company in Riyadh, here in Saudi Arabia. I know this poem is not that good, but everything that i was feeling during that time is all conveyed here. This is also the name of my Barbershop in the Philippines.

(Photos shown below)

View more photos at my other blog, CAMERA NI CABRERA.

My Favorite Lines from My Favorite Songs

I really love Nebz' new topic on his blog, about his favorite lines from his favorite music, it made me think of doing my own version. It amazes me that we both share the same fondness of Tracy Chapman 's music. I even recommend him one of my favorites, Lauryn Hill and her album, "The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill".

I have a wide range of choices in music like Rock, Country, Jazz, Latin, Blues, even Classical but my true favorites are R&B/soul and Hip-hop. From Mariah Carey, Tevin Campbell, Mary J. Blige, Brian McKnight, Tracy Chapman, Sade, Erykah Badu, Babyface to Aretha Franklin and Groups like After 7 and Atlantic Stars. Anyway, here are some of my favorite lines from my favorite songs.

• "Beware the false motives of others/ Be careful of those who pretend to be brothers/ And you never suppose it's those who are closest to you/ They say all the right things to gain their position/ Then use your kindness as their ammunition/ To shoot you down in the name of ambition, they do" From the song, "Forgive them Father" by Lauryn Hill.


• "Demons'll charm you with a smile, for a while but in time.../ Nothing can harm you , not while I'm around."
From the song, "Not while I'm around" (From the Musical: Sweeney Todd, The Demon Barber of Fleet Street)


• "I am not my hair, I am not this skin/ I am not your expectations, no/ I am not my hair/I am not this skin/ I am the soul that lives within" From the song, "I am not my Hair" by India Arie.


• "Heaven help the heart that lets me inside/ Heaven help the one who comes in my life/ heaven help the fool that walks through my door/ 'cause i decided right now/ I'm ready for love" From the song, "Heaven Help" by Lenny Kravitz.


• "525,600 minutes!/ 525,000 journeys to plan./ 525,600 minutes/ How do you measure the life of a woman or a man?/ In truths that she learned/ Or in times that he cried./ In bridges he burned/Or the way that she died..." From the song, "seasons of Love" (From the Musical: "RENT")


• "I am walking on the bridge/ I am over the water/ And I'm scared as hell/ But I know there's something better/ Yes I know there's something better/ Yes I know, Yes I know, Yes I know/ That I love" From the song, "Me" by Paula Cole.
  
  
• "Time to eat all your words/ Swallow your pride/ Open your eyes..." From the song, "Sowing the seeds of Love" by Tears for Fears.


• "Take me now baby here as I am/ Hold me close and try to understand/ Desire is hunger is the fire I breathe/ Love is a banquet on which we feed..." From the song, "Because the Night" by Patti Smith / 10,000 Maniacs.


• "I know we've got to part.../It really doesn't hurt me that bad/ Because you're taking me with you/ And I'm keeping you right here in my heart/ It's all because I love you..." From the song, "Call Me" by Aretha Franklin.


• "I'm no angel, with my selfish pride, but I love you more everyday/ Love is an anger, that builds up inside/ As the tears of frustration roll down my face/ Why does love always have to turn out this way... " From the song, "I Wonder Why" by Curtis Stiger.

• "I only think of you on two occassions/ That's day and Night/ I'd go for broke if I could be with you/ Only you can make it right" From the song, "Two Occassions" by The Deele (Babyface)

• "I Love you in a place where there's no space or time/ I Love for my life you a friend of mine/ And when my life is over, remember when we were together/ We were alone and i was singing this song for you" From the song, "A Song for You" by The Carpenters, Donny Hathaway, Ray Charles.

• "When you're sure you've had enough with this life, well hang on./ Don't let yourself go, everybody cries and everybody hurts , sometimes." From the song "Everybody Hurts" by REM.

• "What you want might make you cry, What you need might pass you by, if you don't catch it/ And what you need ironically, will turn out what you want to be, if you just let it." From the song, "When it hurts so bad" by Lauryn Hill.

A Thunder Storm in the Desert

When it rain it pours, especially here in Jeddah , Saudi Arabia. Just the other night, when i was cleaning my car, I noticed that it was getting windy and from a distance i saw lightning accompanied by thunder. I didn't finish cleaning the car after seeing that incredible lightning, I was scared. It was a lighting that you only see on Television or Magazine, and I don't want to be headlined on the news paper the next day as "The man who was struck by lightning while cleaning his car", so I went inside. Then the rain start pouring down, I was exited at the same time though.

Unlike in the Philippines, it's not usual to see Thunder Storm here or any other storm except Sand storm. I really couldn't help it, I miss the rain so much, so I grab my camera and took a few minutes of video, but I was having a problem uploading it.

And when I saw the street the next morning, it was flooded, they don't usually have drainage system here , so flooding always occur whenever it was raining. And about my car, I have to do the cleaning all over again.

Aretha Franklin Covers Mariah Carey: "Touch my Body"

Watch Aretha Franklin sings Mariah Carey's 18th number 1 hit, "Touch my Body".