Connect the dots: Obama, Planned Parenthood, and the RH Law

Obama on protecting children: Gun Control and Planned Parenthood speeches

A Summary of past events:

• Obama did not support a bill banning partial birth abortion.
• Obama meets with Aquino and gives development package.
• Aquino supports the RH Bill.
• Planned Parenthood lobbied for the passage of the RH Bill.
• Planned Parenthood is the largest abortion provider in the US.
• Obama speaks at a Planned Parenthood gathering.

Connect the dots.

Planned Parenthood knows what the elite of our country refuses to acknowledge: promote contraception and demand for abortion will rise. If a condom has 1% failure rate then 1 in 100 intercourse will fail and may lead to pregnancy. If intercourse is once a week, then within 100 weeks a condom will fail, which is about 2 years. If intercourse is once a day, then a condom will fail 1 in 100 days which is 3 months and 10 days. Even if you make condoms 0.1% failure rate, 1 in 1,000 intercourse will fail: that’s within 1,000 days or 3 years if you use condoms everyday or within 21 years if once a week. If you don’t want babies in the first place (that’s why you use condoms), then the baby once conceived becomes for you a nuisance that must be removed through abortion. In other words, contraception will ultimately lead to abortion because contraceptives fail. Indeed, as Fr. Hardon, SJ said:

I’m saying much more than meets the ears. What I am saying is that through the widespread, all but universal, practice of contraception, certainly in the once-Christian Western world, the very norms of morality have been changed. Instead of God determining what is right or wrong, it is now each person’s own will which is sovereign! So that, once contraception has been morally justified, and become even laudable and praiseworthy — hear it and weep — there is now no crime, no crime, that the same human mind cannot justify and that the civil laws created by human beings cannot legalize.

This is not difficult to imagine.  After the RH Bill was railroaded in the Congress and the Senate upon the orders of President Noynoy Aquino, the RH Bill supporters became more brazen: they are now openly pushing for divorce and same-sex marriage in mocking defiance of the Catholic Church, confidently saying, “There is no Catholic Vote!”  Once  Pro-RH Bill legislators can destroy the natural family–the family where each baby is welcomed with joy and each old parent is taken cared of until death–as what happened in France, then there is nothing anymore preventing them from passing laws for the legalization of abortion and euthanasia as well.

Planned Parenthood knows the numbers. It has a good business model–by good meaning it churns out profits in millions of dollars. Planned Parenthood knows that if it gets men and women accept contraceptives, then they will soon accept abortion as well, as the experience in US, Europe, and other countries has shown. And for Planned Parenthood, abortion–the killing of the unborn–means money and each pregnant is a potential client. That is why Planned Parenthood is always on the lookout for babies or for countries with many babies, such as the Philippines.  And all these with US Government’s financial support.

Planned Parenthood is like the Aswang of Filipino Folklore. The aswang awaits in the night, sniffing the air for the smell of ripe jackfruit–the smell of a pregnant woman. When it smells one, it becomes giddy with the scent, and flies to the house where the scent comes from. And there perched on the nipa roof, the aswang lowers its syringe-like tongue, sucking the amniotic fluid in the womb until the baby is delivered dead, stillborn–much like what happens in abortion clinics where they use syringe to insert salt solution to the amniotic fluid which burns the baby’s lungs and skin. If abortion fails, the baby can be partially delivered with its head still inside the woman’s body, then the baby’s brains are sucked out through a syringe–a procedure called partial birth abortion that Obama supports. And if by chance it happens that the baby is born alive, since the baby is not wanted, he will just be left to die in cold and hunger. If the abortionist is kind like Gosnell, he can simply break the babies spine by puncturing the neck–something short of decapitation–the form of mercy killing in the days of the Samurai code of honor, though this time it is the woman’s code of honor, with the baby as the badge of dishonor that must be removed from the face of the earth, though not from the memory where there it shall forever haunt until confessed.

So let us rethink again our support for the RH law and why we shall vote the politicians who supported such law. What are our real reasons? Is it because I am a big fan of Noynoy Aquino and he is the face of good governance and anti-corruption, so that whatever he says is good? Is it because my teachers in Ateneo and La Salle say so and I really admire them so I will believe anything they say? Is it because the Catholic Church is against the RH Law and anything that the Catholic Church stands for is what I shall embrace to show my rebellion as a true free thinker unbounded by dogmas of a medieval institution? Is it because Lagman is a Bicolano and I am also a Bicolano, so I must also support the RH law like Lagman? Is it because Risa Hontiveros is pretty and well-educated and she supports the RH law, so that’s why I also want to be like Risa Hontiveros and support the RH law? There are many underlying reasons to our support for the RH law. We have to uncover them, unearth them from our subconscious, and put them under the light of day by writing them down. So I suggest we use the Toyota’s 5 Why process by filling in the blanks:

I support the RH law.  (Why?)

1. because _______________________. (Why?)
2. because _______________________. (Why?)
3. because _______________________. (Why?)
4. because _______________________. (Why?)
5. because _______________________.

The last answer is the real reason. Try this exercise. It may be cathartic.

“Tiktik: The Aswang Chronicles” movie review

Tiktik: The Aswang Chronicles

For those who wish for a good laugh, watch Tiktik: The Aswang Chronicles. For those looking to be terrified, watch another movie.  Over-all the movie has good pro-life values, especially the defense of the unborn.  The Filipino aswang mythology is standard, except for some parts. The movie touches on the importance of marriage and family.   The Catholic worldview, however, is absent, because there is no mention holy water, crucifix, blessed palms, and churches.

Characters

The three characters that stand-out are Joey Marquez (Nestor), Janice de Belen (Fely), and Dingdong Dantes (Makoy) in that order. Lovi Poe (Sonia) is weak and so are most of the villains.  Remove Joey Marquez and the movie would fall flat.  Joey’s character is the most dynamic: from docile to  decisive, from sane to lunatic, from  coward to fearless.  And his characterization is believable.  Janice de Belen is static but perfect: her change of character is only when she is being gnawed–not enough time to show off.  Dingdong gives a good characterization of a proud and rich Manila Boy, but I would wish to see a shift to a sober mood, even for a moment, such as when Sonia drops the bomb that he doesn’t have a regular job.  Lovi has a weak characterization of her role, except for two brief shining moments: when she shut the door against Dingdong at the beginning of the story and when her face is focused on the camera during the climax of the battle–she’s a woman to die for.  The human pig is memorable and so is the aswang girl whose two arms were chopped off.  Roi Vinzon as the head aswang community conveys strength and power, but he loses his aura when he turned into a flying monster–that big bird by the way is not canonical in aswang lore, though the chick inside him is.

Plot

The plot is a travel to four separate places: Sonia’s home, the marketplace, the military checkpoint, and the sari-sari store.  There are three waves of assaults: the crazed teenagers at the marketplace stopping a jeep, the attack of the family of the human-turned-pig at Sonia’s home, the race to the checkpoint and back to the home, the assault of the aswang head at Sonia’s home, the slow-mo action at the sari-sari-store, and the last battle at the salt sands.

What could have been done is to divide the story into two movies: 1) the assault of the first family and 2) the assault of the aswang community. In this way, there would be continuity in the story line.  The discovery of the assault the following day would make the aswang community lay low and the villagers would try to guess who the aswangs are.

The movie could have benefited from a lore-master character(s) who shall explain what to avoid being eaten–salt, garlic, stingray’s tail.  These things should have different levels of potency before, during, and after the shape-change.  If all aswangs simply burns to ashes, even with Boy Bawang, it becomes boring.  Aswangs are flesh and blood: they should burn like sprayed with hot lead under salt, they should be hit like a bullet if with a large garlic, and the stingray tail should curl around muscles and bones.  There should be different levels of pain, and this is best exemplified by the classic Herbert Bautista’s aswang in Shake, Rattle, and Roll: the pain of salt is more tolerable than the blessed palm.  The loremaster shall also explain whether a normal human being can be an aswang–saliva, scratch, bite, or transfer of chick.  And the transformation may not be at will but depends on the full moon.  Also, the time span need not be a day and a night.  Some quests have to be involved to acquire salt or garlic or stingray’s tail and each quest must have its own dangers.

The aswangs are one dimensional: they are just there to be killed.  There is no anguish.  No moral decisions to make.  So their deaths do not mean anything.  Rivalry for the love of Sonia could have been exploited for the tension if an aswang was in love with Sonia.   The turning of Makoy into an aswang because of his bite and scratch would could also be a source of tension and healing him requires a quest or a self-sacrifice. Had their family friend turned into an aswang after being bitten, there would be a true dilemma there when his joke on being an aswang becomes a reality.  That could have been the climax and the assault of the entire aswang community should be part of another movie. According to Aristotle in his Poetics, the main actor and the villain must be former friends, family members, or lovers for the climax to unfold.  Otherwise, the plot fails and the movie leaves you with nothing but the sound of a good laugh that soon dies away.

Special Effects

The second part could have benefited from good CGI.  The landscape is good: I barely notice that it is CGI.  The aswang graphics, which has similarity with the vampires in the Priest movie, are not smooth.  Jumping requires knowledge of parabolic motion in physics: you slow down as you reach the highest point and gain speed faster as you go down.  But the jumping dogs in the movie tend to float and the movements of their four legs needs to be properly coordinated.  The landing in the roof should also make a sound and dent on the roof.  There could also be close-ups of the aswang faces.  Not all aswangs should have the same powers.  Even if they are all dog-beasts, some should be weaker and some should be stronger, and they must be clearly distinguishable.  Resident evil, for example, has different classes of creatures with different powers and weaknesses.  In the movie, there is not much distinction.

An aerial view of the house and the neighboring houses (especially the sari-sari store) prior to the assault could have been useful, especially during the attack itself.  It would give the viewers the context of the creeping doom, and whether escape is really possible.  The transfer from Sonia’s house to the sari-sari store is a drama by itself.  Can they really run fast enough while Dingdong is carrying his pregnant wife?  Halfway he could have tripped and their escape could have been discovered.  The aerial view of the houses would provide the basis for the feasibility of the escape.  Or at least a debate among the family members whether such escape is possible: the path to take and the plan to avoid detection.  But the movie cleverly tried to hide it by the characters agreed not to make noises and only one made shouted at last to summon the aswangs to destroy them in a self-sacrifice.  Somewhat believable, but not quite.

Pro-Life and Catholic Reading

The movie has a strong pro-life message: the man must have the courage to defend the woman and the child within her womb.  The most memorable words are when Makoy calls Nestor, “Tatay” or “Father”.  A bond has been formed between Makoy and his father-in-law because a bond has been formed between Makoy and Sonia: a child.  The last image of the movie is a baby falling in the air.  To “fall” in Filipino is “laglag”.  If the baby was aborted, the term is “nalaglag ang bata” or “the baby fell”.  But Sonia was able to catch her falling baby.  Figuratively, she did not abort the child.  This is what the Catechism says regarding abortion:

2271 Since the first century the Church has affirmed the moral evil of every procured abortion. This teaching has not changed and remains unchangeable. Direct abortion, that is to say, abortion willed either as an end or a means, is gravely contrary to the moral law…

2272 Formal cooperation in an abortion constitutes a grave offense. The Church attaches the canonical penalty of excommunication to this crime against human life. “A person who procures a completed abortion incurs excommunication latae sententiae,”⁷⁷ ”by the very commission of the offense,”⁷⁸ and subject to the conditions provided by Canon Law.⁷⁹ The Church does not thereby intend to restrict the scope of mercy. Rather, she makes clear the gravity of the crime committed, the irreparable harm done to the innocent who is put to death, as well as to the parents and the whole of society.

The aswangs, which are drawn to the smell of a pregnant woman and who loves the taste of babies flesh especially just after birth, reminds us of the pro-abortion groups like Likhaan and Akbayan in the Philippines or the Planned Parenthood in the US.  We can even liken Pres. Obama as the head aswang because of his long continuous track record for promoting abortion and Planned Parenthood, even allowing a baby to die in partial-birth abortion, where the baby’s brain is sucked out before the head leaves the womb, even though the baby’s body was already out.

There was a point in the movie when Sonia declared that if her child was killed by the aswangs, it is also fitting that she should also be killed.  But Makoy rebuked her.  Despair, in Catholic Theology, is a sin against the First Commandment:

2091….By despair, man ceases to hope for his personal salvation from God, for help in attaining it or for the forgiveness of his sins. Despair is contrary to God’s goodness, to his justice – for the Lord is faithful to his promises – and to his mercy.

The night may bring out dog-demons, carrion birds, and pig-like orcs,  but each day brings new hope with the breaking of the dawn.

Skyline movie review: Christian rapture and the war for human brains

My father and I watched the movie Skyline few Sundays ago. We came about 15 minutes late, but we made it to the Day One of the Alien Invasion. The film ran for about an hour and a half. Rotten Tomatoes gave the movie a 14% rating, i.e. bad movie. But I disagree.

First, there are no movie stars like Tom Cruise. I think this is a positive aspect of the movie. The characters are plain and boring–just like you and me. They represent many of people we know who spend the night away in parties and orgies. A casual sex made a girl pregnant and the man is not ready to be a father. The setting is a condominium and there is no family to speak of. An old man lives alone with a dog.

And second, the story was not well told because it has a hanging ending. When the movie ended and the cast of characters went up, the people still remained in their seats, wondering if the movie has really ended. I felt cheated that the movie did not end properly unlike Independence Day–a virus was delivered and the spaceships were destroyed. Or in Transformers: the Autobots defeated the Decepticons. A glorious morning shines after a terrible storm. But this is not how it ended in Skyline: in the face of an alien invasion, the humans–with all their jet fighters and nuclear missiles–are powerless. And the thought of powerlessness lingered long hours or days for me after watching the film.

Let us turn to some theological elements in the film:

1. Captivating Light and Beatific Vision

According to the Catholic Encyclopedia, as quoted by Wikipedia, beatific vision is defined as follows:

The immediate knowledge of God which the angelic spirits and the souls of the just enjoy in Heaven. It is called “vision” to distinguish it from the mediate knowledge of God which the human mind may attain in the present life. And since in beholding God face to face the created intelligence finds perfect happiness, the vision is termed “beatific.”

The light seen by the human characters in the movie may also be called beatific in the superficial sense, because they find it wonderful to see.  Such a wonderful light pulls them towards the heavens, similar to what St. Paul described during the coming of Christ:

Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. (1 Thes 4:17)

But in the movie there was no heaven to speak of, but a deep pit of dark slime where humans are piled on top of each other.  This is Sheol, the abode of the dead.

Such an alien light reminds me of the shining darkness of sin (e.g. pornography): it captivates your vision, drawing you closer to read or see more, until your soul is plunged in the darkness of sin.  Not to look is difficult for the will, unless another person immediately pulls you out from the captivating light.  This reminds me of the palantir of Orthanc that Pippin looked into and the Dark Lord Sauron caught hold of his mind; Pippin only recovered when he confessed his sin to Gandalf.

2.  War for the human brain

The alien creatures may be classified as octopi and behemoths.  Octopi creatures capable of flight.  No, they do not scan for electromagnetic radiation like that in the Matrix and zoom in for the kill.  Instead, they seek human and draws them out either by lure or by force.  Behemoths, on the other, have nothing else to do but to crush everything in its path.  

These alien creatures remind me of the modern-day headhunters: multinationals, governments, and non-government organizations.  They get the best minds to join them and the persons they get became imbued with the organization’s culture and values.  I am thinking countries like China, companies like Planned Parenthood, and the many organizations which promote the homosexual lobby.  What the movie’s ending may be saying is that it is possible to be part of these organizations while keeping your own mind.  Tyranny is terrified by the human free will and tyrants will try to keep human mind in control either by brainwashing the adults in universities or by sucking the brains of infants in partial birth abortion.

The movie ends with utter hopelessness: no US nuke missiles can destroy the alien ships. The US tried all their military hardware and software against Vietnam; US lost the war.  The US also tried their military might against Iraq; the US is now recalling back its forces.  The US has not learned its lesson well: a war of the mind cannot be fought with guns and nukes.  The religion of peace called Islam can only be converted by the peace of Christ, the Lion from the Tribe of Judah.  The Great Red Dragon that is communist Russia and China can only be defeated by the Woman Clothed With the Sun, Our Lady of Fatima.  And the multi-tentacled behemoth that is Planned Parenthood can only be destroyed by She Who Crushed the Head of the Serpent, Tequaxalupeaux, Our Lady of Guadalupe whose feast we now celebrate.  In the end, this is what we can be sure: the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary shall triumph.