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Lancer
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Oregon Coast, USA! or Bohol, Philippines!
Apr 1999
time: 05:19
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"You're kidding, right?"
Rufus, actually the Phils has it pretty much together for a third world country with 5 million muslims.
"Turkey isn't much of a democracy."
Che, I have to agree with you here. :gulp: However it is a secular elected gov in a muslim country and isn't a big sourse of terrorists. That in itself is a ****ing miracle.
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Lancer
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Oregon Coast, USA! or Bohol, Philippines!
Apr 1999
time: 05:19
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"I don't pay attentiohn to such inconsequential issues, but wasn't there a unificaton proposal drafted by the UN that the Turkish side approved, but the Greek side shot down?"
Donno. paiktis? MarkG?
"Uhm, yes it is. Certainly more so than Italy at least."
Who cares? As long as we get out of Iraq and leave behind stability...
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Rufus T. Firefly
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is one way of saying it, though I prefer "mensch"
Sep 2000
time: 07:19
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quote:
Originally posted by Lancer
"You're kidding, right?"
Rufus, actually the Phils has it pretty much together for a third world country with 5 million muslims.
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Lancer, the Phils is now rated the second most corrupt country in Asia, after Indonesia. They've gone, over the course of my lifetime, from being the second-richest country in Asia to one of the poorest; in addition...
- Over half the population lives in poverty
- There have been successful or attempted military coups during every presidential administration except Ramos'
- 30% of their customs duties and 35% of their income taxes go uncollected
- 30% of their budget goes to foreign debt interest
- A full 20% of their pathetic GNP is sent home by overseas workers
- They have one of the world's worst rates of tuberculosis
And my two favorites...
- In a world where English has become everyone's second language and the defacto language of business and diplomacy, English-language fluency has actually declined here over the last 25 years
- In a country whose chief problem is, arguably, overpopulation, a recent survey showed that 30% of adult Filipinos cannot explain how pregnancy happens (thank you, Catholic Church)
Bohol is a great place to hang out. But if the Phils have it "pretty much together," then most of Africa is just peachy.
edit - BTW, I'm not sure what the 5,000,000 Muslims have to do with anything; predominantly-Muslim Malaysia is in much better shape than the Phils, and I'll bet that within the next 10 years Indonesia passes them by, too. Frankly, the Phils would probably be better off with more Muslims, since you can make the argument that what's really killing this place is its Catholicism. But that's an argument for a different thread.
Last edited by Rufus T. Firefly on 09-05-2005 at 09:40
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Rufus T. Firefly
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is one way of saying it, though I prefer "mensch"
Sep 2000
time: 07:19
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quote:
Originally posted by Lancer
Rufus, those things don't invite nation building imo. The country is free, maybe a little too free, I agree. Corruption is rampant, agreed. The prosperity can be regained. I believe it was Marcos who brought the country so low and he's gone. Still lots of problems but they're trying...
I didn't mean they don't have problems, I'm just not ready to turn the place over to the Japanese as Spif jokingly suggested.  |
Actually, I don't think they are trying, or trying very hard. That's no surprise; the wildly dysfunctional nature of this society actually serves well the handful of families that run the place -- labor is cheap, taxes are low (and the rich don't pay them anyway), white collar crime and corruption go unpunished, etc. The rich like it the way it is, because they are, effectively, feudal lords. The poor hate it, but do nothing because they are too conditioned by both the Filipino attitude of "bahala na" and the Church's urging people to just accept their lot in life. And the middle class? What middle class? There's a reason we run the second-busiest immigrant visa office in the world here; the Filipino middle class can't get off this sinking ship fast enough.
But no, that's not a reason to invade. Still, it's astonishing to me how many Filipinos will tell you, after a few drinks, that what they really want is for the US to take over the place again.
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09-05-2005 06:07
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