election update

NO, I didn't watch either of the US presidential  debates on TV, nor did I go to Manila for the Democrat overseas meeting (2hour drive to Manila if no traffic: Five hour drive with traffic. The only time there is no traffic is between 2:30 and 3:30 am).

But for political junkies, Dave Barry has the latest.

the bad news is that their political coverage is almost as absurd as Dave's humor column...

of course, here in the Philippines, we also have an election, between a guy who wants to shoot all the bad guys, a lady who is probably not a citizen, a lady who tweets all the time and is the darling of the students who walk around with their cellphones texting and tweeting full time, and a guy who married the present President's old flame.

The bad news is that although shooting presidential candidates is rare (it's been 30 yrs), shooting up one's rival for mayor or governor is not...

we're on the "watch list" for violence this cycle again... this Oct2105 article notes:

from May 2013 to October this year, 21 politically motivated executions have been carried out by guns-for-hire, or the now popular “riding-in-tandem killers,” causing the death of 14 individuals and serious wounding of seven others.
The victims are all local politicians ranging from city and town councilors to barangay officials and plain local government employees.

and one of the major sources of unhappiness: corruption, corruption, corruption.
And also cheap onions smuggled in from China that destroys the income of local veggie farmers.

sigh