No rat race in 2008?

A psychic says the year of the rat (2008) will see more economic growth in RP. So life won't be a rat race?

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We survived the year of the pig. The year of the rat is now upon us. This refers to the four-legged rat whose year comes every l2 years. There are also two-legged rats whose year is every year.

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   All four-legged rats live in dark holes. The two-legged rats live in well-lighted mansions. And many of them are called honorable.

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This may be a mere coincidence. A researcher friend of mine said the number of people with high cholesterolevel rose in the year of the pig.

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The government, nay, Malacañang says Erap can't run in 2010. So what if he can run. Let him run. And so what if he wins? Let him win. Anyway, this country is already going to the dogs.

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E-mail from Ernesto Duremdes: "Thank you, Freeman, for giving space to Sen. Nene Pimentel's gripe against the slur made on  Visayans in a scene in the Tagalog movie 'Sakal, Sakali, Saklolo'; Thank you, too, Senator Pimentel for standing up for the Visayans. Here is one more proof of the very low regard of Visayans by Tagalogs. Visayans should boycott that movie."

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It's actually not the first time that a slur against Visayans is made by Tagalogs. For many years Visayans are looked down by Tagalogs. Many families refer to their housemaids as Bisaya ("Ang Bisaya namin ay Ilocano") and the derogatory phrase "Bisaya saling pusa" is still being heard among Manilans.

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"Correct me if I'm wrong," says Nick-Nick my friend. "There has not yet been a native Tagalog who has become President of this country while the Visayas has already produced three Presidents in Sergio Osmeña Sr., Manuel Roxas and Carlos Garcia."

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And yet, observes Nick-Nick, whenever an actor is made to play the role of a house servant in a movie he is trained to speak with the Visayan accent with a smattering of Visayan words (usually Cebuano or Ilonggo). "Anha ra gyud ta kanunay kutob sa pagka ulipon or sulogoon," laments Nick-Nick.

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