Friday, December 30, 2005

Happy New What

December 31, 2013 Dear Friends and Relatives: At the end of each year, we all greet each other: - HAPPY NEW YEAR! Never, do we ever, greet each other with:- HAPPY NEW IDEAS or HAPPY NEW THOUGHTS or HAPPY NEW VALUES and or HAPPY NEW BELIEFS! Thus, every new year, it is the same old corruption around us everywhere. The same old corruption in our government, and in our churches, and in our other institutions, and indeed the same old corruption via education in our schools, colleges, and universities yearly producing college-educated men and women proud of corruption as a way of life in the Philippines. To each of you, for 2014, I greet you: HAVE A HAPPY NEW PHILIPPINES! I love you all. Poch Suzara

Sunday, December 25, 2005

Our Asian Neighbors

The secret why other Asian countries are economically ahead of the Philippines is no secret at all. Our Asian neighbors have been substantiating to the fullest extent possible what Jose Rizal, the nation’s chief hero, was precisely saying to fellow-Filipinos more than a hundred years ago: “Wake up! Embrace science! Utilize the scientific way of thinking! Start to emulate the freethinkers! Knowledge is the heritage of mankind, but only the courageous inherit it! We can only serve our country by telling the naked truth. However bitter it may be!”
Indeed, in this center of Catholicism in Asia, we would rather have more beliefs in the power of prayer and theology than we should have more knowledge in the power of science and technology. Poch Suzara

Rizal’s Revolution of the Mind

Unlike the rest of our national heroes, Rizal was the first and only Filipino revolutionary of the mind. He was the first Filipino who thought that human dignity and intellectual integrity should be solid as the foundation of Filipino culture. Owing to the successful retraction lies, however, Filipinos today believe Rizal not as a great humanist or a great freethinker, not even as a great man of intellectual capacity, but only as a faithful silly servant of the priesthood industry. Poch Suzara

Rizal’s Biographer

Rizal’s biographer – Leon M. Guerrero, clearly notes that Rizal returned to the Church of his youth in extremes of self-abasement, frenziedly in childlike fashion, spending the remaining hours of earning indulgences from purgatory by confessing four times, and obsequiously attending to Fr. Balaguer and Villaclara’s wishes. In brief, according to this biographer, Rizal died as a timid coward. Indeed, according to this official government commissioned biographer, our national hero in the end turned out to be a turncoat.
But then again, four years before his death, Rizal in 1882 wrote a letter to Gregorio Aglipay: “In all parts of the world where an honest man tries to achieve reform he is crucified on Golgotha. Christ had nowhere to lay his head, when Pilate governed. It is probable that I will be executed – then they will try to bring along my moral death by covering my memory with slander.” Poch Suzara

The Shame in Rizal’s Life

The shame in Rizal’s life is not the retraction of his deeds, writings or personal conduct. Such retraction was only a frailocratic figment of the imagination. The real shame comes from the Filipino historians and other Catholic writers who believed not in Rizal’s power of intellect, but believed instead his enemies – the friars – who invented sacred lies about this great man. Via the control of the system of education in the Philippines, these friars have and still are blocking, expediently and consistently, Rizal’s qualified and legitimate entry into the world stage as one of mankind’s greatest thinkers. But then again how can the world learn of Rizal’s intellectual power if the Filipinos themselves know so little of the health and wealth of this great 19th century Filipino scientists and thinker and writer? Poch Suzara

Santo Thomas University and Ateneo

Rizal was a product of Ateneo and Santo Thomas; yet both Catholic universities continue to assassinate the character of this great humanist thinker. Rizal had learned on his own initiative, outside academic wall, to think deeply and to embrace intellectual honesty courageously. Indeed, to this day, all Catholic universities still teach that during his last day on this earth, just hours before he was executed for his principles, noble values, and rational beliefs, Rizal retracted and went back to have faith in the teachings of the Catholic Church. What brazen lies! It is no less than a tall story. Otherwise, after his death, he would have been given a Catholic burial and his bodily remains not just put inside a dirty old sack and then thrown in the Paco Cemetery in the corner where executed heretics are stashed away like dead animals. Poch Suzara

Rizal Versus Jesus

Rizal was involved not only with the cultivation of the mind but also with the development of the human knowledge. The exact opposite of what Jesus Christ stood for – infantile emotions, sentimental illusions, and proverbial delusions. Consider Jesus: he never uttered a word against slavery or against tyrannical oppression. Jesus appealed not to the intellectual power of man, only to his childish hopes and dreams. And to think that most Filipinos have more love and respect for Jesus who was born in a foreign country some 2000 years ago, than they care to study and learn seriously from a great Filipino thinker born in the Philippines some 150 year ago. Poch Suzara

Rizal and Education

Jose Rizal pointed out that evolution in education, ( not reliance on foreign investments ) is the best hope for our nation to enjoy the highest standard of living and thinking. The system of education for the Filipino must be based on science and technology, and not upon prayers and theology. Indeed, according to Rizal, a free nation can rise no higher than the standard of beliefs and values set in its schools, colleges, and universities. In there hope for the Philippines? Yes, there is! But first its system of education must be radically revamped. No more silly prayers to support a stupid theology. Only more science and more technology via more scientific method of thinking. Poch Suzara

Rizal – the Humanist

Rizal struggled not only against Spanish authority, but against superstition. He fought not in the battlefield, but in the minds of men and in the hearts of women. Rizal was Asia’s first scientific-humanist thinker put to death a century ago by musketry as imposed by theocracy. The same Catholic theocracy today that is keeping the Filipino youth via education to fear new and fresh ideas; indeed, to keep away from the free market of ideas, and to hate, at the same time, the freethinkers. “Blotting out their brains,” Rizal wrote, “in faith, prayers, masses, novenas, superimposed these onto native superstition.” Poch Suzara

A century after Rizal’s Death

After a hundred years, how influential has Jose Rizal been on the Filipino as a people? Millions today would readily give credence by listening to the words of a Mike Velarde of El Shaddai preaching pastoral nonsense derived from the bible – a book written not by Filipinos but by foreigners. Only a handful of scholars would care to read and understand the real Rizal and carry out his principles and ideals for the achievement of pride, dignity, intellectual and scientific honesty for the Filipino as a nation. And to think, the Jews, the Chosen People of God, never considered the bible as a holy book at any time in their history. In fact, the Jews live in a Jewish State. They do not live in a Christian country – the land where Jesus Christ was born. Poch Suzara

Rizal’s Enemies

Rizal’s enemies were the theologians who gave themselves fancy titles: soothsayers, seers, charmers, prophets, enchanters, sorcerers, wizards, astrologers – all more popularly known as the Spanish friars. In brief, Rizal’s enemies were fear, ignorance, and superstition as embodied in the Catholic Church that felt threatened by Rizal’s writings. Rizal indeed aimed first at redeeming the Filipino mind damaged by indoctrination, as well as redeeming the Filipino heart impoverished by revelation. Rizal was a heretic in the eyes of the theologians – the power behind the Spanish Catholic authority. It is said by millions of Filipinos today that it does not matter whether Rizal retracted or not. This is so stupid; for, if Rizal indeed had retracted why was he still executed and then not even given a Catholic burial? Poch Suzara

Rizal – a great Thinker

Rizal, indeed, was a great thinker. He clearly saw in his day what we vaguely see around us today: religion and diseases flourishing hand in hand under ignorance, filth, hate, and poverty. What irked the friars against Rizal was his refusal to continue to believe in Christianity; for, he learned to be on the side of humanity. For my part, if there’s life after death, it’s great thinkers like Rizal that I should wish to be with. Otherwise, if I will just find myself in the company of Filipino theologians, or among the Opus Dei gang – the kind of people who had Rizal put to death, please Lord spare me the sacred horror. I would rather be in hell. Poch Suzara

Rizal’s Spanish Friars

If the Spanish friars had only introduced the concept of humanism instead of establishing in the Philippines religious barbarism and other forms of supernaturalism, Filipino priests like Gomez, Burgos, and Zamora need not have been garroted to death for wanting reforms within the Catholic Church in their time. Moreover, great thinkers like Jose Rizal need not have been executed by firing squad for writing to promote common human decency amongst Filipino learning to enjoy throughout the land national pride and Asian dignity. Poch Suzara

Lies about Rizal

Rizal never said or wrote: “It was my pride that ruined me.” Those words were put into the mouth of Rizal by his official prize-winning biographer Leon Maria Guerrero who believed, as a Catholic, the Rizal retraction story as concocted by the sciolistic friars. Moreover, Rizal never “got rid of his political appetite, moral perplexities, and intellectual pride.” On the contrary, Rizal chose to die proudly. After the friars stripped him of his dignity, it was no longer possible for Rizal to go on living as a decent man and as a thinking Filipino. Poch Suzara

Rizal’s Killers

What kind of men needed to see Rizal dead, discarded and forgotten? Were they men of reason, logic, science or philosophy? Were they avid readers, critical thinkers, or scientific investigators? Were they men at home with civilized humanity? No! On the contrary, Rizal’s enemies were the friends of blind faith: - the superstitious primitives, the sanctimonious hypocrites, and those indeed who were selfish, greedy, stupid, and insane. Rizal now dead more than a hundred years ago, still have the same enemies alive today. They are the ones insisting that it makes no difference whether Rizal retracted from his religious, political and philosophical principles or not. What a silly conclusion to bestow upon the greatest of Filipino seminal thinker who died for the liberation of the Filipino mind and heart, and indeed, for all mankind. Poch Suzara

Friday, December 23, 2005

JOSE RIZAL – THE FIRST FILIPINO HUMANIST

Before he died at the age of 98, mathematician-logician-philosopher- humanist Bertrand Russell said, “If we must die, let us die sober, and not drunk with lies.”

To me, in my simplicity, as a great admirer of Jose Rizal, I believe he died sober; but those in power who had him executed at the age of 30, and those who concocted his retraction story, were the ones drunk with brazen lies.

I defy anyone who believes Jose Rizal, the first great humanist the Philippines has ever produced, died a coward engrossed in childish fairy tales.

And why do I say Rizal was a great humanist? What else do you call a man who was committed to the application of reason and science and to solving human problems of the here and the now?

What else do you call a man who deplored efforts to denigrate human intelligence, who did not seek to explain the world in supernatural terms, and who did not look outside nature for salvation? A man who wanted to leave this world one day a better place than he found it.

What else do you call a man who valued scientific discoveries that have contributed to the betterment of human existence? Who was concerned with securing justice and fairness by eliminating discrimination and intolerance in society?

What else do you call a man who attempted to transcend divisive parochial loyalties based on race, religion, gender, nationality, creed, class, sexual orientation, ethnicity and who worked for the spread of common human decency?

What else do you call a man who believed that developing his creative talents to the fullest constituted the greatest happiness in life for the here and the now?

What else do you call a man who believed in the cultivation of moral excellence, respected the rights of others, believe in human integrity, and was open to critical and rational way of thinking?

What else do you call man who was concerned with the moral education of children? Who wanted to nourish them with the passion for reason, love, and compassion?

What else do you call a man who rejected the theologies of despair, the ideologies of violence, and the sacraments of mediocrity?

And finally, what do you call a man who believe in optimism rather than pessimism, hope rather than despair, learning in place of dogma, truth instead of sacred lies, joy rather than guilt and sin, tolerance in place of fear, love instead of hate, compassion over selfishness, beauty instead of ugliness, and reason rather than blind faith?

Jose Rizal, indeed, believed in the fullest realization of the best and noblest that anyone is capable of as a human being, He was the greatest of Filipino humanists. And he died intellectually sober, not drunk with religious lies.

To Jose Rizal, wherever you are, more than all the angels in heaven, I have the greatest love you as a fellow human being, and I have the highest respect for you as a fellow Filipino. Poch Suzara

Thursday, December 01, 2005

Sacred Absurdities

In his Science and Religion, Bertrand Russell wrote: “Now logical unity is at once a strength and a weakness. It is strength because it insures that whoever accepts one stage of the argument must accept all later stages; it is a weakness because whoever rejects any of the later stages must also reject some, at least, of the earliest stages. The Church, in its conflict with science, exhibited both the strength and weakness resulting from the logical coherence of its dogma.” The Church, however, got into deeper trouble not only with science, but with the opening remarks in her own silly bible. The first five words in the bible contain three supposition and a contradiction. Supposition one, there was a beginning. Supposition two, there was a creator. Supposition three, the creator was not created. Contradiction, there was a beginning, there was not a beginning. However the case may be, for the critical reader with a focused mind, the bible turned out to be nothing but a book for the superstitious primitives impressed with sacred absurdities. Poch Suzara

Worship

To worship the unknown is childish and to worship the unknowable is even more childish. In the Philippines, for the sake of our prayers and theology that’s based upon the unknown, we were taught in our schools to have faith in the supernatural that is based upon the unknowable. Poch Suzara

Function of a Teacher

Bertrand Russell wrote: “Men pass from birth to death, sometimes happy, sometimes unhappy; sometimes generous, sometimes grasping and petty; sometimes heroic, sometimes cowardly and servile. To the man who views the procession as a whole, certain things stands as worthy of admiration. Some men have been inspired by love of mankind; some by supreme intellect have helped us to understand the world in which we live; and some by exceptional sensitiveness have created beauty. These men have produced something of positive good to outweigh the long record of cruelty, oppression, and superstition. These men have done what lay in their power to make human life a better thing than the brief turbulence of savages. The civilized man, where he cannot admire, will aim rather at understanding than at reprobating. He will seek rather to discover and remove the impersonal causes of evil than hate the men who are in its grip. All this should be in the mind and heart of the teacher, and it if it in his mind and heart he will convey it in his teaching to the young who are in his care.”
For my part, if I had teachers like a Bertrand Russell at De La Salle University, I never would have been expelled out of high school. A teacher like Russell would never have taught me to believe in silly things under the threat of a silly damnation in hell-fire. Poch Suzara

Wednesday, November 30, 2005

Designed Intelligently

For: TIME magazine

Intelligent Design

The push to teach “intelligent Design” in America raises a question: Does God have a place in science class?

The Christians in charge of education in America apparently do not believe that God is everywhere. That God somehow is omni-absent during science class for American students.

In the bible, God admits: “For dust thou art and unto dust shalt thou return.” Well, if God made man in his own image and likeness, it follows that God must be made of dust too. What purpose is there to put God in science class if God, like dust, were already there as He is present everywhere?

As for the existence of monkeys, I think they are designed not only intelligently, but more so gracefully. Look how the monkeys live in peace on earth and goodwill to all monkeys. They do not terrorize each other in God’s name. Monkeys do not go to war to kill other monkeys in order to establish freedom and democracy.

For my part, I envy the life of monkeys. They have no system of salvation. They have no church, no synagogue, and no mosque to inspire amongst the faithful to become selfish, greedy, insane, and homicidal. Monkeys do not cut each other's throats because like the Christians, Jews, and Muslims do so because they cannot agree as to what will happen to them after their throats have been cut. Poch Suzara
Poch Suzara

Anti-Christ Movement in Europe

A great many Christians are bothered by the anti-Christ movement, especially in Europe. It does not seem to matter, however, if the anti-Christ movement in Israel have already been a tremendous success – the land where Christ was born. Indeed, due to the Jewish anti-Christ movement, Israel has never developed to be a Christian or a Catholic country. It is still pretty much a Jewish State. In the Philippines, however, JESUS IS LORD MOVEMENT is as active as ever. Not, however, with an advance, but by the Jesus followers attending “Retreats.” Poch Suzara

God’s Children

It is incredible to believe how a loving God created the human race – his children – to hate each other, specially in His name and for His glory. In fact, history shows countries under a theocracy have always been at war against each other. It is happening today in Iraq. America wants to replace Islam in that part of the Arab world with Christianity. As if both Christianity and Islam for that matter have ever been a peaceful grace for the whole human race. Poch Suzara

Jesus

If Jesus was born as a perfect child of a Holy Virgin Mother, why did Jesus have to go through circumcision?
If Jesus dead on the cross was not buried, but instead cremated, could he have resurrected? And to think that after He had resurrected, Jesus appeared secretly to his apostles in a remote mountain. He never visited his enemies – the believers who thought they had already gotten rid of Him dead and buried and gone. Poch Suzara

The Devil

As a prominent character, the devil played a major role both in the Old and in the new Testaments. To think that Jesus promised to destroy to devil centuries ago. But the promise was never delivered. The existence of the devil turned out to be the main and necessary ingredient in the Christian scheme of eternal salvation. Poch Suzara

Lies are more Damaging

The truth hurts, but lies are far more damaging and can last for a thousand but lies years. Poch Suzara

Wednesday, November 23, 2005

6 Billion People

The majority of the 6 Billion people struggling to survive on this earth - love, worship, and adore God. And to think that God continues to carry on with that “I don’t give a hoot” attitude. And to think further that the politicians and the theologians in the Philippines believe that God has never ceased to provide for them wealth, power, and glory. Poch Suzara

Monday, November 21, 2005

The danger from Hatred

In his Expanding Mental Universe, written in 1959, Bertrand Russell explained the danger generated by hatred: … “Although we have been told on Sundays to love our neighbor, we have been told on weekdays to hate him, and there are six times as many weekdays as Sundays. Hitherto, the harm that we could do to our neighbor by hating him was limited by our incompetence, but in the new world upon which we are entering there will be no such limit, and the indulgence of hatred can lead only to disaster.”
And to think that in the Philippines, we would rather love God up there with hatred for one
another down here. Poch Suzara

Sunday, November 20, 2005

Happiness for the Atheists

Happiness for the atheists? Please read Bertrand Russell’s Conquest of Happiness: “A man who has once perceived, however, temporarily and however briefly, what makes greatness of spirit, can no longer be happy if he allows himself to be petty, self-seeking, troubled by trivial misfortunes, dreading what fate may have in store for him. A man capable of greatness of spirit will open wide the windows of his mind, letting the winds blow freely upon it from every portion of the universe. He will see himself and life and the world as truly as our human limitations will permit; realizing the brevity and minuteness of human life, he will realize also that in individual minds is concentrated whatever of value the known universe contains. And he will see that the man whose mind mirrors the world becomes in a sense as great as the world. In emancipation from the fears that beset the slave of circumstance he will experience a profound joy, and through all the vicissitudes of his outward life he will remain in the depths of being a happy man.” Poch Suzara

God’s Commands

If the Christians were mentally efficient at anything, it is at obeying God’s commands. Each can be summarized into one very easy command to follow: thou shalt not think. Poch Suzara

Organized Religions

Twisting reason before offering faith. Distorting the joys and pleasures in life before offering of salvation. These are among the fundamental ways to organize a religion. The capital to start with is fear: fear of the mysteries, fear of the unknown, and fear of death. Sales, marketing, advertising, accounting and bookkeeping are needless. The business is tax-free. The goal: destroy the minds and hearts of children to grow up mindless and heartless for the glory of divinity. This lucrative commercial enterprise is also known as “organized religion” in general. In particular, however, they are called Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Each, by the way, still embracing a 14th century mentality now happy and proud to be in possession of 21st century weapons of mass destruction for war to destroy each other including atheists, agnostics, and heretics like me.
In the meantime, all the great religions of the world - Judaism, Islam, and Christianity – have their roots in fear and barbarism on the one hand, and on the other, ignorance and superstition. Otherwise, if only the revealed truths have already been revealed, the God behind these great religions should have been the creative and healthy impact on global history, and not just the destructive and sick faith of a local mystery. Poch Suzara

Theology

More than a hundred billion people already lived and died on this earth. So long as the theologians do not know how many souls are already saved in heaven; and, how many souls are already condemned in hell, theology will only continue to be the study of the unknowable. In the meantime, shouldn’t it be part of the revealed truth for the theologians to know God as a great success in winning souls for heaven, or the devil a great failure in winning souls for hell? Perhaps, it’s the other way round. Poch Suzara

Mediocrity

To the mediocre, mediocrity is not only an achievement; it is a respectable way of life, especially if one were a church dignitary or a high government official, or if one were connected with the Central Intelligence Agency protecting nobody except the homicidal maniacs in charge of the United States government. Poch Suzara

The Issue with God

The issue with God was that he created both man and the devil gifted not with good will, but with free will. And to think that sometime ago, God promised the world a Redeemer to destroy the devil. The mission, however, has yet been impossible.
In the meantime, the nature of God’s existence is a deep mystery. The nature of the devil’s existence is a deeper mystery. The nature of man’s existence is the deepest of mysteries. How are we to understand the nature of God’s existence and the nature of the devil’s existence, when we do not even understand the nature of human existence? Poch Suzara

Philippine Democracy

Philippine Democracy is all about the corrupt majority electing into office the few chosen from the corrupt minority to manage the corrupt government under the blessings of an equally corrupt theocracy. Poch Suzara

The Simple versus the Great Life

The simple life is achieving the higher standard of living. The great life, however, is achieving the higher standard of thinking. In a religious country, like in the Philippines, neither the simple life nor the great life is possible to achieve. Filipinos would rather be escaping daily away from human responsibility by trying, instead, to achieve the higher standard of praying. Poch Suzara

So What?

Hundreds of thousands of people everyday die of starvation in India. Tens of thousands of people everyday are murdered in the Congo. Millions of Filipino children are malnourished trying to survive on street diet in the Philippines. What is our attitude towards such horrors? Silently, we say: So what? When a princess die in a car accident, however, about 2 billion people of the earth’s 6 billion people falls prostrate with grief, tears and sadness. Indeed, so what? Famous dead personalities are often revived. Never mind those who have no celebrity status trying so hard to survive. Poch Suzara

For This Christmas

For this Christmas I urge my friends and relatives to please give not your kids and grandkids toys that are destructive. Instead, give them ideas that are constructive. In this way, we will grow up celebrating yearly the birth of religious sanity, and celebrate no more the birth anniversary of a Jewish baby some two years thousand ago in Israel that today is not even Christian country. Poch Suzara

Most Married Men

Most married men are not faithful husbands. They cheat on their wives. And to think that such unfaithful husbands are more afraid of their wives than they are afraid of God. After all, God is always there to forgive them of the sins against divinity and to forgive them of their crimes against the family. The Sick Man of Asia, indeed, in thought and in action as victims of a stupid system of education.
For my part, I never was unfaithful to my wife. Instead of murder, however, I chose the lesser evil. With much pain and regret, I was constrained to divorce her legally. Poch Suzara

My Stupid Teachers

A stupid man is a happy man specially as he believes that everyone else is just as stupid as he is. And to think that a stupid man is happy not finding the light at the end of the tunnel. He does not even bother to look for the tunnel. I should know. Quite a few of such stupid men were my teachers in grade school and high school at De La Salle University. They conspired together to expel out me out as I was a rare student always questioning what we were always being threatened to believe. For Christ's sake, this was some 60 years ago. It is still a great part of the system of education in the more than 1,000 Catholic schools, colleges, and Universities owned by the Catholic church today in the Philippines. Poch Suzara

Oldest Profession

The world's oldest profession is not prostitution; it is creation. Creation has been ongoing even long before the days of prostitution of the Immaculate Misconception. Poch Suzara

The Scientific Method of Thinking

Perhaps, if we look closer at its aim, we might grasp what the scientific method of thinking is all about. To begin with, science does not open the door to perpetual sagacity; on the contrary, it sets a limit to everlasting stupidity. In fact, the whole purpose of science is to make sure that we are not misled into thinking that we know something when, in truth, we really know nothing. There is nothing permanent as everything is temporary in science. Nothing is sacred in science, especially as it is about the never-ending search of the truth. Poch Suzara

Free from Ignorance

I pursue knowledge. The search of the truth is the most precious of activities. I cannot pretend to be free from ignorance. I am not gifted with talents nor with abilities. I just enjoy taking full advantage of my free will to question everything. It is the only way I can be genuinely spiritual, if not be truly intellectual. In the meantime, I am not interested with life after death. I do not care to go to heaven to be with God. I do not waste time worrying that I might end up in hell with the devil. I am only interested with this life in this world. Our world. The next life, if any, matters not a pin to me. Poch Suzara

Monday, November 14, 2005

Open Letter to Kofi Annan

SECOND REQUEST PLEASE

Nov. 6, 2004
Kofi Annan
Secretary General
UNITED NATIONS
New York

OPEN LETTER TO KOFI ANNAN

Dear Mr. Kofi Annan,

I am most proud of you serving as the Secretary General of the United Nations that just celebrated its 59th year of existence. Congratulations. I sincerely thank you for your leadership and moral integrity through what continues to be a critical era of world history.

Indeed, the United Nations was founded as an instrument of peace, human rights and development. I would like to suggest that in order for the UN to attain its goals: - a world without poverty, without industry for hostility, without crimes against humanity - it should be able to reach out over and above governments and be rightfully supported by ordinary men and women from all over the world. I am suggesting that we all become citizens of the United Nations. The much needed resources for the U.N. can be willingly provided by the citizens of the U.N. I believe the General Assembly can empower you as Secretary General to appoint a small committee to explore this possibility.

In HAS MAN A FUTURE, Bertrand Russell wrote: “Law is a farce unless there is power to enforce it, and power to enforce international law against great states is impossible while each possess vast armaments. Great states have, at present, the privilege of killing members of other States whenever they feel so disposed, though this liberty is disguised as the heroic privilege of dying in defense of what is right and just. Patriots always talk of dying for their country, and never of killing for their country.”

Imagine 2 billion people supporting the UN with $10.00 each as annual citizenship dues of the UN. This would amount to $20 billion dollars a year. Enough I think for the UN to maintain not only its own Peace-Keeping Force, but to gradually expand to the point where the United Nations is in total control of all major weapons of war. It is hard to see any other way by which the human race can survive the weapons of mass extermination owned by an ever increasing number of countries. In the near future add another 2 billion people to make it 4 billion UN citizens, - $40 billions dollars a year. The UN would become the respected and effective enforcer of international law and an irresistible global force for peace and goodwill to all men and women and children. The protection of our natural world from unsustainable population growth could also be addressed. It is dramatic but true - The future of humankind is at stake.

We are in a new era of global community. We need a United Nations which has both the involvement and support of peoples throughout the world. We can make it come true if we, the ordinary men and women in our respective countries, can be made a legal part of the UN’s ultimate goals. We have sufficient resources to provide our fellow citizens with adequate food, education and health care. We have the will to treat our brothers and sisters with dignity and self-respect. But this cannot be accomplished by, or entrusted to, a small group of nations representing the interests and prejudices of a small percentage of the human race; it can only be achieved by the super citizens of the United Nations functioning as a world government.

Yours Faithfully,

POCH SUZARA
BERTRAND RUSSELL SOCIETY, PHIL.
8 Zipper Street, SLV,
Makati City, Philippines

Friday, November 11, 2005

What If

What if, after death, it will turn out that there is a God after all to judge my terrible sins, what will I say in my defense? “Oh God, please forgive me for having totally wasted the first 18 years of my precious life as a devout Catholic in the Philippines.” Poch Suzara

The Philippines

The most unique country in Asia today is the Republic of the Philippines. Its citizens are always enjoying the vows often made by its duly elected government officials. The problem, however, is that while the country is getting rich with vows, the government officials are getting richer by not delivering such vows. Poch Suzara

The Religious Inventors

The religious saviors who promised to save souls from going to hell are the same religious saviors who invented souls, invented hell, and invented the “wrath of God.” And to think that these are the same religious clowns who are the owners not only of schools, colleges, universities, and hospitals, but are also owners of churches and cathedrals, not to mention other commercial entities legally operating under Philippine laws. Poch Suzara

Live Jesus in our Hearts, forever

All my school-mates and class-mates must have uttered together more than a billion times these words: “St. John Baptist De La Salle, pray for us sinners, and live Jesus in our hearts, forever.” Indeed, before class, after class, before recess, after recess, at the end of class of each day, we repeated those words with much solemnity. Look at my classmates and schoolmates today: - they have neither love for each other, nor love for country, nor even love for mankind; except love only for Jesus. In the meantime, it is truly sad to see college educated men in the Philippines still stuck with infantile desires to win divine reward and avoid divine punishment. Indeed, the Sick Man of Asia in thought and in action. Poch Suzara

Public Libraries

If we Filipinos were learned as a people and educated as a nation, how come churches and cathedrals have been established throughout the Philippines than public libraries? True, we do have a national library. It is the most unique in the world. Books there are not being read by readers, researchers, and other scholars, but are only eaten and digested by termites. Poch Suzara

Civilized Nations

Civilized nations produce children as needed and loved for the growth of country and development of humanity. In the Philippines, however, we beget children for the growth of poverty and development of social insanity for the glory of divinity. Poch Suzara

Terrorism

Terrorism does not only come from terrorists. The most deadly kind comes from teachers in school teaching such horrors like: “Natural life came by God’s breath; eternal life comes by Christ’s death.” See Philippine Star, Nov. 4, 2005. In the meantime, God must be doing a lot of heavy breathing these days. Three (3) babies are born every single minute of the day or about 1,500,000 babies arrive in the Philippines every year. By the year 2010 our population will reach 100,000,000 Filipinos all to be terrorized at home, in school, and in church to believe in the eternal life that comes from Christ’s death. Poch Suzara