It has been a wonderful summer for Team Miranda, starting off with Christian's 1st Birthday. Then the whole family accompanied Cooper and the Karilagan Dance Society during their tour of California making the all important stops in Las Vegas and Disneyland. The family returned only to have Cooper perform again during Mabuhay Pilipinas at Klondike Days and the Philippine Pavilion during Heritage Days. We definitely had a blast, WHAT A SUMMER! Below is a picture from Splash Mountain at Disneyland.
On July 9, 2001 at 4:31 PM Mountain Daylight Time, my son Christian Joel Jose Miranda
was born at Misericordia Hospital. He weighed a healthy 7 lbs and was 19 3/4 inches long.
Mom was released from the Hospital less than 24 hours later! Now that is what I call a quick
turnaround time. Both mom and son (and brother and dad for that matter) are doing well
Election 2000 - Choices for Canada?
October 22, 2000
It is now official, Jean Chretien has called a fall election for November 27, 2000. The Liberals will argue that the motive for the snap election, just 3 and ½ years into the current mandate is an ideological one, while their opponents contend that it is based on Chretien's arrogance as he believes this is his last and best chance to win another term in office. Many issues will surface during the election campaign, but undoubtably this election will mark a major turning point in the history. It may even decide whether the Canada as we know it, the nation that has evolved for over the past century will continue to exist. What kind of Canada do we want for the 21st Century?
In 1993, the Liberals were voted into government based on both the desire for change and the payback to a Mulroney government that had for so long ignored the outcries of its citizens. The Liberals promised to scrap the unpopular GST and abrogate from the controversial Free Trade Agreement with the US, and promised jobs, jobs, jobs to the electorate. On the first 2 promises, the Liberals reneged on their pleadge and their job creation program has turned into the HRDC billion dollar boondoogle that we see today. There has also been character issues and accountability problems with the crackdown of the APEC protest, the Hepatitis B compensation scandal, and the Information Act battle. The Chretien Liberals have demonstrated time and again their arrogance to the Canadian people, and a growing backlash against them is mounting.
On the Left, there are those dissatisfied with their inability to strengthen health care and social programs for Canadian families. On the right, significant tax reform are cried out for as well as debt repayment and scrapping gun registration. All sides are arguing for a more open and accountable government. The Liberals with their so-called 'mini-budget' have positioned themselves in the middle of the political spectrum, arguing that they represent the best choice for all Canadians. What are the alternatives?
The Alliance and their 'agenda of respect' relies and a platform of fiscal responsibility and champion the cause of tax/debt reduction, parliamentary reform and law and order issues. The CA has made major strides in coming out of the shadow known as the Reform Party, softening it's image in order to appeal to a broader cross section of Canadians, especially in vote rich Ontario. Leader Stockwell Day is doing his best to deflect concerns about his social conservatism and religious fundamentalism, but Canadians as a whole are not completely sold. The Alliance wants less central government and wants to transfer more powers to the provinces. If they were to make good on this pledge, then it would certainly be the death of universal, public health care as we know it. The Alliance does not subscribe to national standards of health care as they do not advocate and federal involvement in enforcing them. With their promised cuts and debt reduction plans, their would almost certainly be an erosion in social programs. Transfer payments to less fortunate provinces and economic diversification programs would eventually be a thing of the past. If left up to the Alliance, people would be left up to market forces and 'sink or swim' values.
The Progressive Conservatives have never fully recovered that the anti-Mulroney backlash from 7 years ago and is still in deep debt and disarray. The affable Joe Clark is making a concerted effort to position the PC's somewhere in between the Liberals and the Alliance, but there is very little room to get a foothold. Clark will have to rely on his all his experience, personal likeability, and his photogenic daughter, in order for the PC's to maintain the minimum 12 seats to remain an official party in Parliament.
So too with the Alexa McDonough's New Democrats, with the political climate shift to the right, the NDP has come upon some tough times. Their pro-labour, tax and spend, socialist values do not reach most Canadians hearts anymore. With provincial support for NDP government waning, federal support is almost sure to follow suit. Even some labour leaders have expressed dissatisfaction with the current direction of the party, and their crucial support seems to be jeopardized. Healthcare is the main plank in their platform, but even this important may not be enough for them to strike a chord with voters.
For all the media attention on the major parties and the issues of the day, NONE of these parties is talking about what changes are need to preserve Canada. The debate about the Free Trade and NAFTA has waned in the eyes of the media, but concerns about those liberalized trade agreements are becoming more real. Canadian businesses are being bought by American corporations at record pace and increasingly entire sectors of our economy are dominated by foreign-based firms. The Liberal answer? More deregulation, privatization and greater foreign ownership. Agreements such as NAFTA are being used by US companies to sue our government under the national treatment clause when their profits are hampered by government regulations, even in the case of protection of our resources, environment or health reasons. The Canadian Action Party is the only party dedicated to the abrogation of NAFTA and is against any so-called trade agreement that give transnational corporations power over nations and leave governments powerless to intervene on behalf of its citizens. Canada's very sovereignty is vulnerable to such trade pact. Unless NAFTA is repealed, Canada might one find that it much cherished social programs and public health care challenged as an unfair subsidy by US firms.
CAP is the only also party committed to banking and monetary reform. Only when there are reforms in these areas can the government be able to reduce taxes, pay off the debt, and provide adequate funding for a variety of social programs, health care, education, the military, and culture. They advocates a return to the system of money creation through the Bank of Canada used from 1939 in order to fund our armed forces in World War II until 1974. Instead of fighting a war, we will use the Bank of Canada to stake our place as one of the most prosperous nations in the world.
This year's election will indeed signal a significant change in the direction of Canada for years to come in
terms of social and economic policy. It might also decide whether Canada will continue to exist as a
sovereign country. None of the parties, be it the Liberals or the Alliance or any of the other parties
are seriously looking at the threats to Canada's very existence as a independent state. When you go to
the polls next month, ask yourself one question, "Do I believe Canada is a unique and sovereign nation
with a culture and institutions that should be preserved?" If yes, then there is only choice this
November.
Please visit the Canadian Action Party Website for more details on our party platform.
May 2, 2000 - Who Will Stand Up for Canadians?
Who will stand up for Canada? For much of this century the Canadian political landscape has been dominated by Liberal and Progressive Conservative governments. For the past 30 years leading up to the early nineties, both parties have led Canada down the road of recurring deficits and huge debt loads, while at the same time arrogantly thumbing their noses at the Canadian public and were silent to their concerns. Liberal Pierre Trudeau shoved the National Energy Program down the throats of Albertans, while his PC counterpart Brian Mulroney rammed Free Trade and then the Goods and Services Tax through Parliament to outcries of a nation.
The Reform Party was essentially created as a populist party dedicated to the making the federal government more accountable to individual Canadians and giving them a greater voice in the political landscape. The formation of the Canadian Alliance drove a stake into the heart of many Western Canadians who voted for it's precursor the Reform Party. Now merging with Ontario provincial Tories, the new party's leadership race has attracted the likes of Tom Long, a former Mulroney backroom boy. His evasion of any question regarding his financial backing only solidifies speculation that he is Bay Street's choice for leader.
If these allegations are true, then the Reform movement is truly dead and we will see a return to PC politics of the Mulroney government. I personally, did not agree with much of the Reform platform, but their dedication to responsible and accountable government that all Canadians have a say in I do agree with. Now, their party has been hijacked but those who want to make government responsible and accountable again to corporations. Instead of empowering individual Canadians, I feel the Canadian Alliance will kowtow to the agenda of Bay Street and leave Canadians to the mercy of the market.
It is exactly this philosophy that will lead to the destruction of everything Canada has been built on. Our universal health care and education is in serious jeopardy and in need of serious reform, but the conservative mind set of the CA would only be to dismantle those programs. Lower taxes and shrink government is their mantra. They believe that lowering taxes and open up are the be all and end all of solutions to making Canada better and more competitive in the world market.
The right consistently compares Canada to the United States and talk of marginal tax rates 30% lower in the USA, and glorify the US position in the global economy. What they tend to ignore is that 40 million Americans are without any health insurance and a good portion of their after-tax income is devoted to health care. Many bankruptcies are due to health costs wiping out family finances. The ever increasing wealth gap and rampant crime rates in the US are rarely mentioned. There is much talk of the brain drain and that we are losing are best and brightest to the US. The fact is with the market size of the US, Canada will likely never be at parity with US and no matter how low our taxes are, those who choose to leave for 'greener pastures' will continue to do so. However, I do not believe that most Canadians would either want to move to the United States or want our great nation to be more like our neighbours to the South for any reason.
The question remains then who will stand up for Canadians? The Liberals have proved to the nation that: a) they cannot keep their promises (free trade and the GST) and b) cannot be trusted to spend our money wisely. The NDP want to burden Canada with higher taxes, while the Canadian Alliance wants to cut taxes and destroy social programs. None of these parties are aware of the dangers of NAFTA and the WTO. The only true alternative that will represent individual Canadians is the Canadian Action Party.
The Canadian Action Party has real, workable solutions for a new, stronger Canada. Our country was
built on strong social programs and this is part of what makes Canada one of the best places to live in
the world. We believe in preserving and enhancing or social programs while at the same time reducing
the tax burden on Canadians and paying down our huge debt. CAP would restore funding to
programs such as universal health care and post-secondary education that were gutted by unnecessary
cuts in the name deficit fighting. How? This can be achieved through monetary reform. For more
information please read About Money by CAP Leader, Paul Hellyer. We would return to the same
monetary system started in 1939, that helped Canada through the Second World War and brought
unprecedented prosperity for the next 35 years.
Another major tenet of our party is the protection of our sovereignty from multinational corporations. We believe in the solemn right of the nation-state to protect the rights and interests of its citizens from the influence of unelected mega-corporations. The ultimate result of corporatism is not more competition, but about concentrating wealth and the creation of monopolies and oligopolies. CAP is dedicated to the abrogation of the North American Free Trade Agreement and the World Trade Organization. These agreements are not much about trade between nations than they are about paralyzing governments and subjugating nation-states to the will of corporate interests and investments. Globalization if left to proceed without regulation, it will lead to the worst form of unchecked capitalism that has not been seen in a hundred years.
Finally, the Canadian Action Party is dedicated to electoral reform via such ideas as proportional representation, free-votes, recall, and citizen initiatives, to make government more accountable and individual Canadians more empowered.
The next election will indeed decide the course of Canada for the new millennium. As Paul Hellyer has
stated so succinctly, "... in the next election, you will have 2 choices... You can vote for your party or
you can vote for your country..." The Canadian Action Party is the only choice for Canada.
For more information please visit our website: http://www.canadianactionparty.ca
Editorial - February 19, 2000
Once again, NAFTA (North American Free-Trade Agreement) is being shoved down our collective Canadian throats by the United States. United Parcel Service, an American-based courier service is very concerned by what it considers is "preferential treatment" the Canadian government is seemingly giving to Canada Post and the courier companies that it currently holds majority shares in.
Considering the fact that Canada Post is a Crown Corporation, it should not come as a surprise to anyone that it enjoys some degree of government partiality. Since details of the suit have yet to be released to the public, it will be very interesting to find exactly what particular allegations they are bringing against the Federal government. UPS contends their $100 Million lawsuit is meant to provide an atmosphere of more equitable competition in the courier industry. What is it all about is money. UPS cannot attain the market share it feels it deserves vis-a-vis the competition, so it will try to level the playing field via NAFTA. It is interesting to note that other major foreign-based competitor, Federal Express, feels it unneccesary to pursue a similar strategy.
In reality, if UPS is successful in its suit, the result will further continue the erosion of Canada's sovereignty to foreign corporations. Article 1102, under Chapter 11 of NAFTA grants "National Treatment" to US and Mexican investors in Canada, essentially giving them equal footing with domestic businesses. However, within the provision to ensure 'national treatment', foreign investors have a power that even Canadian citizens do not have. That is the right to sue the Canadian government if they believe they have not been afforded the same treatment as domestic investors. This is a power that on the surface may seem to be a check and balance tool, but the real effects might eventually prove more far reaching than desired. In recent years, there have been moves to give such rights to the other 28 countries of Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) under MAI (Multi-Lateral Agreement on Investment). MAI-NOT outlines the dangers of entering into such an agreement.
Globalization is a movement that has been used in recent years that many argue is inevitable and will be beneficial to all nations. What globalization is really about is the slow dissolution of the nation-state to the interests of huge transnational corporations. One of the great myths of creating a free market is that it creates competition which benefits the consumer. The effects of globalization however, will not be greater competition, but just the opposite. Corporations are merging and taking each other over to become larger and more powerful to better compete in the world market, so the end result is less competition on a larger scale.
In the Philippines, the Retail Trade Liberalization Bill was passed last year that would see the near complete removal of restrictions of foreign investment in the retail sector. This bill comes after 45 years of completely banning foreign ownership. Philippine President Joseph Estrada is very keen on opening up the country to foreign investment in order to strengthen a lagging economy, but I fervently believe that completely opening up a once protected domestic market is a formula for disaster. Estrada is trying to do too much too quickly to save his own political hide and it may only hurt the country in the long run. Unfortunately, the Philippines finds itself dealing from a position of weakness rather than strength and it is falling into the "we must look outward" trap that many Third World nations have slipped into, instead of trying to correct the long history of corruption that prevents any real change and long-lasting progess from happening.
Is it in Canada's best interest to grant rights US companies in Canada that their domestic counterparts
do not have. Do we as a nation want to have any say over foreign-based companies that decide to
invest in Canada? The basic issue is whether any nation has the right to regulate, protect, and control
its own economy in the interest of its own citizens. I say, without any doubt, YES!
NEWS - January 4, 2000
Read: PENALOSA "ROBBED" OF TITLE? (ABS-CBN NEWS)
My Commentary:
Sorry to say that boxing in general has had a long history of questionable decisions. Sometimes it was the hometown crowd influencing the judges, sometimes the judges were bribed, sometimes the results were "fixed" by federations in order to create future, more lucrative bouts. This is something that with the IBF bribery scandal, pro-boxing is finally beginning to clean-up.
After the absolute disgrace at the Seoul (Korea? Hmmm) Olympics in 88. I can distinctly remember
Roy Jones completely dominating a Korean boxer, and never really even got hit, but he still lost!
Amateur scoring came up with their computer scoring system where 3 judges out of 5 must
electronically score a legal punch for a boxer to get a point. Now pro-boxing and amateur boxing are
very different animals, and I'd doubt that the amateur system would fly, but there is no doubt that
something more has to be done to curb outrageous decisions.
December 21, 1999
PANCHO VILLA NAMED AP FLYWEIGHT OF THE CENTURY (ABS-CBN)
The Associated Press has named Pancho Villa the Best Flyweight of the Century. Villa, nee Francisco Guilledo of Iloilo, won the World Flyweight Title in 1923 over legend Jimmy Wilde. Being the first Filipino World title holder, he also brought the first World title fight to the Philippines, held in Manila in 1925. His career was cut short in 1925 following a loss to Jimmy McLarnin, after which Villa died as a direct result of blood poisoning after neglecting to care for his infected teeth. Pancho was a tenacious fighter who was never knocked out during his career even against opponents who were much larger than he was.
Pancho Villa was the first in a long list of outstanding Filipino pugilists and his example serves a legacy to Pinoy boxers now and for generations to come.