Valentine's for Zarathustra

A student forwarded a message for me today. It goes something like, Everytime I see my mother prepare breakfast, etc. I know there is love. Whenever I see my cousin fetch her son from school, etc. thereby saying that love is not merely for sweethearts. Further, that this kind of love is the one being depicted during Valentine's Day.

Wherefore, I reply - in the manner of Hume -

Love is merely sophistry and illusion. It is an abstraction by commerce in order to sell flowers 500x more than their real value.

Oh no, it is a mere result of man's insistence to be completed, looking at the depths of his existence and yearning for his place in eternity. But let him define eternity and he does not have the words for it. He will perchance reply with St. Thomas, in the negative, as in the absence of before and after. But when we ask him, in eternity, there will be no motion then? He would say - forced by the existence of motion - there is. Our mind still thinks, and since Plato describes that as a sort of motion, then there is. But then, we ask, Plato is your authority? No, he would say. Augustine said something like that too. He has an imprimatur. And motion carries a before and after? Well yes. Hence, there is a before and after? Yes. Okay, so there is time then. Ah, well... let us start again.

Love is nothing but the impulses of the material brain. Wherefore, as a proof, people who were not loved when they were young, behaved more or less like a brigand. So, being good, loving another, though part of human nature, cannot be described apart from the materiality of man. And in the end, when this matter succumb to corruption, and all that is left is a cosmic egg in a big crunch, or a dead universe, then love does not remain.


"When he awakes from his dream, he will be the first to join in the laugh against himself and to confess that all his objections are mere amusement, and can have no other tendency than to show the whimsical condition of mankind, who must act and reason and believe though they are not able, by their most diligent inquiry, to satisfy themselves concerning the foundation of these operations or to remove objections which may be raised against them."

- An Inquiry Concerning Human Understanding (David Hume)

Clinton dips into pocket to keep up with Obama (Reuters)

Reuters - Democrats Barack Obama and Hillary
Clinton looked ahead on Wednesday to a long and bruising
presidential battle, and Clinton said she loaned $5 million of
her own money to the costly fight to keep pace.

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5 - 1 for the Philippines in the Filipino-Mexico Boxing World Cup

Sacramento, California. Arco Arena is laid to waste as Filipino fighters trounced their Mexican counterparts 5-1. 6-0 would've been heaven for Filipino boxing fans. However, fate sealed hopes of Rey Boom-Boom Bautista, who lost via first round KO against Daniel Ponce De Leon for the WBO Super Bantam Crown.

Here are our heroes:

Z Gorres defeated Eric Ortiz.

AJ Banal floored Jorge Cardenas at 115 lb.

Michael Domingo vanquished Miguel Roman at 122 lb

and Diosdado Gabi made Jose Beranza look like an amateur at 115 lb.

And like magic - sort of a jin-worked miracle - Gerry Peñalosa is champion again. 35 years old and close to the cliff of forgetfulness, he managed to comeback a la Rocky Balboa - with a cinematic liver punch knocking the lights out of his Mexican opponent, Johnny Gonzales. Peñalosa marched in his version of a Swan Song, emerging as the WBO bantamweight champion.

Philippines now takes possession of the World Cup, a gem-studded trophy estimated to cost $500,000.

Yeah! We trashed 'em real hard. It's a pity Bautista lost. Probably better though for the long term. Boxers have to lose in the beginning of a career. Makes 'em better champions.

Mabuhay ang Pilipinas!

Japan quake

Three dead, 300 hurt in Japan quake (AFP)

AFP - At least three people were killed and about 300 others injured in the powerful earthquake that struck central Japan on Monday, hospital officials said.

NATO airstrikes, clashes kill 25 Afghans

NATO airstrikes, clashes kill 25 Afghans (AP)

AP - Taliban militants attacked police posts in southern Afghanistan, triggering NATO airstrikes that left 25 civilians dead, including three infants and the local mullah, a senior police officer said Friday.

Worst disaster for firefighters since 9/11

S.C. warehouse fire kills 9 firefighters (AP)

AP - Fire swept through a furniture warehouse, collapsing the building's roof and claiming the lives of nine firefighters in a disaster the mayor described Tuesday as "difficult to fathom or quantify."

NoKor fires missile - Sokor

South Korea: North Korea fires missile (AP)

AP - North Korea fired a short-range missile toward waters between the Korean Peninsula and Japan, a South Korean intelligence official said Tuesday, amid signs of progress in ending North Korea's nuclear weapons program.

Olmert begins US visit to bolster Abbas

Israel's Olmert begins U.S. visit to bolster Abbas (Reuters)

Reuters - Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert began a U.S. visit on Sunday saying he considered a new emergency Palestinian government shorn of Islamist Hamas a partner for peace negotiations.

New cabinet

Abbas swears in new Palestinian cabinet (AFP)

AFP - Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas swore in his new cabinet on Sunday, further sealing the divide sparked by Hamas's bloody takover of the Gaza Strip, where fears of a humanitarian crisis are mounting.

35 killed in Kabul bus bomb

35 killed in Kabul bus bomb attack (AP)

AP - An enormous bomb ripped through a police academy bus at Kabul's busiest transportation hub Sunday, killing at least 35 people in the deadliest insurgent attack in Afghanistan since the U.S.-led invasion in 2001. The Taliban claimed responsibility.

Hundreds flee Hamas-run Gaza

Hundreds flee Hamas-run Gaza (Reuters)

Reuters - Hundreds of Palestinians fled Hamas-controlled Gaza by land and sea on Saturday to the West Bank where President Mahmoud Abbas prepared to swear in a new government that will bring an end to a U.S.-led aid embargo.

Bush to veto big spenders

Bush: Will veto big spenders (AP)

AP - President Bush warned Congress on Saturday that he will use his veto power to stop runaway government spending.

In control

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Palestinian militants from Hamas stand at the desk of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas inside Abbas' personal office after it was taken over by Hamas in fighting in Gaza City, early Friday, June 15, 2007. Fatah forces collapsed under the...

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Hamas fighters and looters control Gaza

Hamas fighters and looters control Gaza (Reuters)

Reuters - Islamist Hamas fighters and looters ransacked the blood-spattered Palestinian presidential compound in Gaza on Friday as their leader ordered an end to reprisals against their routed, Western-backed Fatah rivals.

Hamas takes offense

Hamas on offensive as Palestinians battle in Gaza (Reuters)

Reuters - Hamas Islamist gunmen pressed on with their Gaza offensive on Wednesday, killing eight fighters loyal to Western-backed President Mahmoud Abbas in a Palestinian supremacy struggle escalating steadily into civil war.

Gaza close to civil war

Deadly fighting drives Gaza closer to civil war (AFP)

AFP - Gunmen from rival Palestinian factions fought street battles on Tuesday in a new surge of deadly violence that threatens to topple the government and drive the territory closer to civil war.

Grenade fired at home of Palestinian PM

Grenade fired at home of Palestinian PM (AP)

AP - A rocket-propelled grenade hit the home of the Hamas prime minister Tuesday, while his fighters captured several positions from the rival Fatah movement and threatened to step up the offensive. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas accused his Hamas rivals of staging a coup and called for a cease-fire.

Bush to push Immigration bill

Bush to push immigration bill at Capitol (AP)

AP - President Bush, wading deeper into an issue that bitterly divides his party, hopes a personal appeal to fellow Republicans at lunch Tuesday can save his immigration bill.

Palestinian infighting flares in Gaza

Palestinian infighting flares in Gaza (AP)

AP - Gunmen fired at the house of Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas early Monday and warring factions threw militants to their deaths from high-rise buildings, in a dangerous escalation of infighting in Gaza.

Iran upbeat on more talks with US on Iraq

Iran upbeat on more talks with US on Iraq (AFP)

AFP - Iran said on Sunday it was prepared to "view positively" the prospect of new talks with the United States over Iraq, if the Baghdad government believes it is necessary.