Food for Thought: Corruption.

“Whoever fights monsters should see to it that in the process he does not become a monster. And if you gaze long enough into an abyss, the abyss will gaze back into you.”

~ Friedrich Nietzsche

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“Power does not corrupt men; fools, however, if they get into a position of power, corrupt power.”

~ George Bernard Shaw

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"The surest way to corrupt a youth is to instruct him to hold in higher esteem those who think alike than those who think differently.”

~ Friedrich Nietzsche

Food for Thought: Bamboozled.

“One of the saddest lessons of history is this: If we’ve been bamboozled long enough, we tend to reject any evidence of the bamboozle. We’re no longer interested in finding out the truth. The bamboozle has captured us. It’s simply too painful to acknowledge, even to ourselves, that we’ve been taken. Once you give a charlatan power over you, you almost never get it back."

~ Carl Sagan, The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark

Why the State ask people to mind their own business..

Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?

Quotes The Straits Times on 04 Febuary 2012: "One PAP member who stayed [as party member] when he became NMP [Nominated Member of Paliarment] in 1997 was Gerald Ee, chairman of the National Kidney Foundation.

Mr Ee, who is no longer in the PAP, said then that being an NMP was an advantage over being a party MP, as he would not be subject to the party whip. The whip ensures MPs vote according to party line."

Is this an official notice or a commercial brochure?

Notice of Repair

Once upon a time in a far, far away Land...

At first there was a champion of people who was interested to be the Top Head.
Upon seeing fellow people embroiled in Ponzi schemes and losing loads of money, he stood up for them when the establishment was adamant to act.

While he may not be the most eloquent speaker and paints a white sheet black, he felt he can represent the people on the ground and bridge the gap between the establishment and the people.

The establishment had growing concern when the day to select the Top Head was near. Knowing a duel was not a safe bet, it called upon one contrarian among its ranks to rise to the challenge. The ruse was to divide the support for the champion.

At the mean time, the rivals to the establishment had acquired their own challenger, hoping to pip the Top Head at the post. This make the Selection more complicated while unwittingly played into the establishment's hands.

The champion hoped to do a re-group but was in vain. He had to go ahead against bigger odds for the Selection.

Will he succeed?

Polling Day 2011

Dear fellow citizens,

Today is a special day.
We will reflect on what were going on for the past 5 years, decide which box shall we mark a cross over and project our expectations for the next 5 years.

I have set a few benchmarks while considering the judgement.

1. Cost of taking public transport.
2. Presidential and Cabinet's pay.
3. Town councils' investments in structured products.
4. Cost of public housing for first time buyer.
5. Utility bills.
6. Taxes on possession and usage of private vehicle.

Please use your vote wisely.
May the force be with us.

A few curious points about Sembawang chief's words.

"To reach out to 140,000 voters, when they've never been here (Sembawang GRC), it's difficult. So we know they'll be just using rallies and of course they hope to have a debate with my team, then they're on national TV - straightaway, they reach out. So I can understand why they prefer this tactic."

~~ Khaw Boon Wan explained why a public debate with opposition party is unlikely to happen. 24-Apr-2011.

1. Isn't public debate a good opportunity to prove the credibility of the opposition, or rather the lack of it, once and for all?

Why the concern over the opposition reaching out to the voters?
The opposition only indulged in hifalutin talks and baseless accusations, don't they?
Can they strike a chord with the common voters?

As one deceased US President said, "You can fool all the people some of the time, and some of the people all the time, but you cannot fool all the people all the time."

2. Will a debate undo one's ground work of over 6 years?

3. Could it be futile to engage in public debate as you believe the election as a forgone conclusion?


One question shot to mind when hearing some said the opposition is rarely seen on the ground during normal times: Does the opposition require police permit to walk the ground so to not infringe illegal gathering rule or whatever laws applies?