Pasteurization of morals and scarcity of guilt

TRILLANES wants Senate probe. Live TV coverage is irresistible. True to form, he wants for himself an investigation in aid of grandstanding.

While there is an electoral protest going on, we did not know that Comelec purchased 97,000 Smartmatic PCOS machine as approved by the Comelec en banc last December 18, 2017. Buying the same machines in question with a P2.2 billion price tag? I will not wonder why this act will trigger a nationwide dandruff fallout after scratching our heads in amazement. Ripley’s is sure to survive forever.

*** Defective wheels force MRT 3 train to offload 300 passengers. The MRT wheels are now tagged after the TV show as the “Wheels of Fortune.”

Sanofi rejects request to refund used Dengvaxia.

- It is a sign that second- hand Dengvaxia cannot be traded for a new one.

Gordon: President should reconsider Faeldon’s appointment to Office of Civil Defense.

-- I agree with him. The appointing power should have waited for the outcome of the inquiry. It could be mistaken as signal to the courts that his reputation is lily- white.

PAO files civil case vs ex- DoH, Sanofi officials over Dengvaxia.

Government defense lawyers accuse former Health Secretary Janette Garin, former undersecretary Kenneth Uy, and other health officials of implementing the program in undue haste even if “the product has no proven safety and efficacy”.

-- Watching the Senate hearings, it seems that the voices of those accused of alleged wrongdoings are much louder and aggressive than those who want to lend their expertise.

*** Some critics are berating the profiles of netizens as just “warriors with keyboards.” Some even dared us to go to the war zone and experience combat firsthand. I beg to disagree. The so- called “silent majority” is fast disappearing nowadays with the advent of technology. Now armed with smartphones, tablets and laptops, they now have a voice. And they have started speaking, getting louder every minute. With these communication tools, they are given a spectrum of vast information as they surf the web and participate vigorously on any issue on the table.

Belief is their choice, notwithstanding true or trolls. I think of this development more on the positive side. Before, we were kept in the dark by limited access to news, information; labels and definitions forced us to capitulate to hearsay and gossip. Now, anybody can research, verify or validate, and confirm anything under the sun or even under a solar eclipse. We now have a freedom board to express what’s inside our minds and our hearts. With no fear but with self- imposed ethical responsibilities. We are “silent” no more, and we challenge the critics to use their keyboards as well in a respectful manner. And start learning not to shoot sideways.

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Peace process is doomed when demands from both parties are maximum and concessions are minimum.

It is useless to subject Dengvaxia perpetrators to lie detector tests. The machine is incapable of detecting “honest mistakes,” “unintentional lapses” and “acts done in good faith.”

Where is Gascon on Dengvaxia? It seems that those accused have human rights and the 830K victims have none.

*** Should we fear or envy China? The Chinese economy is growing exponentially; they dominate the world with their exports, and they have been around a lot longer than the United States. We think the best way to break down the positives and negatives of China is to address each unique difference between China and the United States and evaluate which aspects of each would make the citizen happier. Another way to organize this thought process is by starting with the past, and continuing the evaluation of China’s economy through its present and potential future.

In order to start this evaluation of China, we must compare the last 300 years of American history to the last 3,000 years of Chinese history. While this may initially seem like comparing apples to oranges, in doing so striking similarities emerge. Both China and the United States were inhabited by indigenous populations with completely unique economic goods that could be traded with the European explorers. More specifically, China had already invented gunpowder, parch-