East of Here and West of There

Now that some of the country's top politicians have been charged with graft, plunder and malversion raps, traditional media as well as new media is starting to feel the presence of spin doctors ready to "wag the dog." Will these dogs of spin be successful? Let's see. To 'wag the dog' means to purposely divert attention from what would otherwise be of greater importance, to something else of lesser significance. By doing so, the lesser-significant event is catapulted into the limelight, drowning proper attention to what was originally the more important issue. The expression comes from the saying that 'a dog is smarter than its tail', but if the tail were smarter, then the tail would 'wag the dog'. Digital illustration; 2013

Digital illustration; 2013 3 Philippine senators charged with plunder. Those charged with plunder before the Office of the Ombudsman Monday afternoon were Sens. Juan Ponce Enrile, Ramon Revilla Jr. and Jinggoy Estrada together with alleged P10 billion pork barrel scam mastermind Janet Lim Napoles, 5 former congressmen and 30 others. More here . Photo taken from official PNP mugshot. Copy can be found here. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Janet_Lim-Napoles_mugshot.jpg

Digital illustration; 2013 “There isn’t anyone to help you. Only me. And I’m the Beast. . . . Fancy thinking the Beast was something you could hunt and kill! . . . You knew, didn’t you? I’m part of you? Close, close, close! I’m the reason why it’s no go? Why things are the way they are?” As the drama of the pork scandal unfolds and the veneer of honor and respect is stripped slowly from our "leaders," we are reminded of the fact that each of us has the capacity to do evil. Are they testaments to the belief that achievement, ambition, the striving to reach the highest possible position in life -- the will to power as Friedrich Nietzsche describes it -- will ultimately triumph over innate good and moral conscience? I hope not. 

Digital illustration; 2013 For Brutus is an honorable man; So are they all, all honorable men, Julies Caesar by William Shakespeare

At least three senators instructed government agencies to release millions of pesos from their pork barrel funds to nongovernment organizations (NGOs) belonging to the Janet Lim-Napoles group. More here. Photo taken from official PNP mugshot. Copy can be found here. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Janet_Lim-Napoles_mugshot.jpg