Mixed Bag Monday

Here's a compiled collection of stories that peaked my interest over the last week, with a little of my own comments on the significance of the stories.

By Staff Sgt. Teddy Wade, via Wikimedia Commons

Jessica Sanchez sings during the National Memorial Day concert in Washington D.C., 2012.

Jessica Sanchez Performs on American Idol Season Finale - Exposure is important for the Fil-Am community in the US, especially when it has been so easy for Fil-Am narratives to be written out of history and current events. Hardly anyone knows about the other half of the labor strikes of the UFW were Filipinos. While I may not agree with all of Jessica’s mannerisms, I believe any positive exposure that makes people go “Wow, where did this person come from?” And maybe ask a few questions about the person’s background, especially if they are Fil-Am, helps introduce a different perspective to people who otherwise may not know about the Fil-Am communities across the country. This, coupled with the growing exposure on television, help recover and incorporate the Fil-Am experience into the American experience.

By yeowatzup from Katlenburg-Lindau, Germany (Sunset, Bohol) via Wikimedia Commons

Sunset in Bohol

State of calamity declared in Bohol Due to Drought/ El Nino - The drought here in California has been quite disruptive to nearly all areas of life, from agriculture to commerce and the daily habits of its residents. While it seems like the new norm is water conservation (it’s not a bad thing!), I think it is important for people in the US to remember that global climate change is not limited to one or two nations, but is truly a GLOBAL condition that needs to be examined by all governments, collectively. At times, when agriculture sustains people with very tight margins for failure, it is all the more important for everyone to do what they can. While the California Drought may not have the same effect as it does for the people in PI, where “more than 40,000 farmers in 27 towns in Bohol, known as the rice bowl of Central Visayas, are facing hunger and loss of income,” its effects are seen in the reservoirs and lakes across the state.

Watch Policeman Teach A Homeless Girl To Play Hopscotch to Pass the Time - Sometimes it is too easy to see the negative in life, especially when those who are sworn to protect and serve display pockets of deplorable behavior, and outright murder, on specific ethnic populations. This is a short video about a non-violent experience with a police officer. These kinds of scenes are played out across the country all the time, but are rarely reported in mainstream media. This needs to change, and I watch videos like this and remember that, while not EVERYONE acts as they should, the police officers are, in general, positive presences that do the best they can seeing the roughest parts of our society everyday.

CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=865798

Chicken Adobo with Rice and Beans

Edible Cutlery - Conservation and light consumption has always been an important part of my outlook on life. This novel kind of solution to overconsumption and unthinking waste displays the ingenuity and value in finding plausible solutions for a growing global population. Particularly in places like the US, Japan and India, where utensils are used and disposed of heavily, these kinds of potential answers helps to reduce the burden on the environment and on production of these disposable products.

By Alexander Klimov at de.wikipedia (Own work) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

The Guy Fawkes Mask has become a common representation of the Anonymous group

Voter Data Breach - I sometimes forget that everything placed on the Internet, or transported through the Internet, has the potential for being stolen or accessed by unwanted parties. In this case, the hacker cooperative Anonymous broke into the Philippine Commission on Elections website and reported on just how easy it was to access sensitive information. It appeared that some voter information was saved in a simple text file. “The breach contains the records of 1.3m overseas Philippines voters, including their passport details; it also includes 15.8m fingerprints,” according to the article. On a wider scale, this points to the fact that whenever information is given freely to another entity, be it a private company or a public office, it has the potential to be stolen. We all have to be careful with the data we share, and demand stronger protections from businesses and organizations that legitimately access and use our information in conducting their affairs.

Gun Battle Against Extremists - The global community must realize that the threat of extremism is not isolated to countries in “the West.” The threat of extremist behavior is not an East-West dichotomy, but a global phenomenon that points to the problems of HUMAN civilization. Here, in the volatile southern region of Mindanao, Philippines, Western Mindanao Command soldiers clashed with Aby Sayyaf Group extremist soldiers, the results being 18 dead government troops and 5 casualties on Abu Sayyaf forces. While it has been popular among politicians in the US to claim that extremists like these are conducting a religious holy war against Christianity and “the West” because they hate our culture and our freedoms, I would argue it is far more a symptom of the great global disparity in access to economic and basic, fundamental needs, but also the ongoing negative impact of the United States’ involvement in other countries. These extremist activities are far more inspired by the political and economic interests of the leadership, who layer their rhetoric with religious absolution for the consumption of the undereducated soldiers who ACTUALLY fight their battles. I believe education and understanding would go a long way in lessening the appeal of extremism for many underrepresented populations. If the religious extremist groups are the only ones who seemingly offer their family a roof and regular meals, how could a soldier refuse?

Film Review: "House of Saddam," directed by Alex Holmes and Jim O'Hanlon, 2014.

House of Saddam. Directed by Alex Holmes and Jim O'Hanlon, writer, Stephen Butchard, featuring Igal Naor, Shohreh Aghdashloo, Amr Waked (HBO Films in association with BBC, HBO, 2008), Streaming (Amazon Prime Streaming, 2014).


House of Saddam provides the viewer a docudrama with a healthy mix of suspense, action, and emotional turmoil that surrounds the near 25 year regime of Saddam Hussein in Iraq. The total series is split into four parts, each focusing on a specific year in his life.

Part One: 1979 showcases his coup over then Iraqi President Ahmed Hassan al-Bakr and his rise to president.

Part Two: 1988-1991 reveals a few of the origins of Iraq's war with Iran, as well as Saddam's eldest son Uday's increasingly erratic behavior as the son of a dictator. We also see Saddam meet personally with US ambassador April Glaspie, whose carefully diplomatic statement of "no opinion" on the regional conflicts between Kuwait and Iraq provides Saddam with an opening to initiate hot war for economic disagreements.

Part Three: 1995 sees Iraq's economy in disarray, between the disastrous Gulf War and UN sanctions, as Saddam's attention focuses on establishing a familial tie to the Prophet Muhammad. Even as his eldest son's behavior becomes increasingly troubled and UN Inspector Rolf Ekeus takes a hardline approach to his work, Saddam's own inner circle of trusted advisors begin questioning his ability to lead.

Part Four: 2003 Charts the US-led invasion of Iraq under President George W. Bush. Saddam's hold on power continues to decline as the economy and military abilities of Iraq cripple under the superior resources of the coalition forces. Saddam is forced to go into hiding as his sons face an American siege. The film ends with Saddam's 2006 trial for crimes against humanity.

Overall, this series of films provides a satisfying look into the Machiavellian ideology Saddam Hussein brings with him as he gains and holds power in Iraq. Any film with a controversial figure as its subject demands a team that carefully balances the political with the economic and the human. These films do not adequately showcase the political interplay between the international community and Saddam's Iraq, particularly the various cooperative agreements between the West and Iraq when it suited the former. The human aspects of the regime are displayed well, however it might have strengthened the film to explore what little is known of Saddam's upbringing.

Saddam's adherence to gaining and maintaining power through intimidation and fear shows what happens under such regimes. The sheer ignorance of what his people experienced under his control, either through blindness or a lack of care, is displayed alongside his other brutal ways of maintaining power. This film is a testiment to the lead actor Yigal Naor's abilities, as he captures the dictator's mannerisms and emotional displays well. The supporting cast also provide a strong accompaniment to bringing this interesting story to life.

Historians will cringe at the lack of depth, but viewers would be well suited to see this series as a new glimpse into the lives of a thoroughly propagandized figure. The team focused on research and accuracy to the best degree they could. Alex Holmes states:

"We set out to talk to as many people as we could who had known Saddam first-hand in order to piece together a picture of what life was like inside Saddam's ever-shrinking inner circle. We spoke to his allies and to his adversaries; to politicians, exiles, palace insiders, his cooks, his menservants, friends of the Hussein family and government ministers. We interviewed people inside and outside Iraq.

"We cross-referenced these interviews with pictures and home movies left behind by the Hussein family, some produced for propaganda purposes, but others more candid, salvaged from the regime's destroyed palaces. And we accessed the partial trail of documents that emerged following the fall of the secretive and obsessively bureaucratic regime. The process took three years and involved a team of three researchers, all Arabic speakers. What emerges is a distinct and independent portrait of a dictator and his center of power."

The paper trail is impressive, and provides strong support for what is displayed. It is a welcome addition to the variety of films seeking insight into shadowy, controversial figures that impacted nations.

Recommended Films: W.; The Hurricane, Man on the Moon; Ray; Ali