Welcome to Cebu: Leaders of Asean!

Finally, the 12th ASEAN Leaders' Summit officially begins today. This is success enough for us Cebuanos from all walks of life who've worked long and hard to prop up our beloved Cebu Metropolis. We had too many "monkey wrenches" thrown our way while preparing for this summit and that includes the numerous "Pinoy crabs" that inside their hearts wanted us to fail in our endeavors. But Cebuanos rallied behind our Governor Gwen Garcia who struggled through all the brickbats because failure was not an option. But even then, Mother Nature intervened and the Summit was postponed. But the rains we've had for the whole week will not dampen our spirits in opening our doors to our very welcomed foreign guests.

Today, we wish all the leaders of ASEAN the blessings of God almighty that their conferences would bear fruit as they are now in Cebu, where Christianity took root in Asia 486 years ago. While the Armada de Moluccas, the official name of the historic voyage of European explorer Ferdinand Magellan ended with his death on the shores of Mactan, he planted the seeds of Christianity, which has spread to the entire Philippine archipelago and many other Asian cities. Cebu was the soil, which the mustard seed of Christianity was planted. I'm sure that if the ASEAN planted the seeds of unity here it, too, would bear great fruit for the peoples of ASEAN.

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Did you hear that much-awaited news conference by US Pres. George W. Bush who declared his new Iraq policy by adding 20,000 additional US troops to the present complement now serving in that war torn country? Is that new? Whoa there Mr. Bush! When will you stop this cockamamie war? Pres. Bush seem to be in yo-yo land, oblivious to what the surveys says on what the American people want him to do with his bungling of the Iraq war and that's for the President to come up with an exit strategy or he faces another Vietnam style quagmire if they're not having one already.

Since last December some 3,000 American soldiers have gone to their senseless deaths fighting an Iraqi civil war a war that the American people no longer want to be part of. This is why today; the Democrats now have full control of both Houses in the US Congress because Pres. Bush refuses to lis-ten to the American people, so the Republicans lost miserably in the last elec-tions. If Pres. Bush commits those additional 20,000 soldiers, it makes you wonder how many more of them will be returning home in body bag?

If you ask me, it is more honorable for the Americans to quit Iraq while the quittin's good. While I agree that quitting now would mean that Iran would gain the upper hand. But who really knows what the outcome would be. I'm sure that the Iraqi Sunni's would never allow this to happen. But what will it take for Pres. Bush to listen to public opinion? From his fellow Americans and the world opinion? Perhaps a little boy ought to yell at his mom when the President passes "Mom, the President has no clothes!"

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I also have big news for gadget freaks like me that was featured in CNN when Apple's Chief Executive Steve Jobs unveiled its latest offering called "iPhone". After its great success with its "iPod" you'd think that Apple already got burned out and had nothing new to offer. Well, the iPhone has beat Nokia, the acknowledge leader in the cellphone industry, by a mile. That includes the other players in this industry, Motorola, Sony-Ericsson and Samsung as iPhone isn't just a cellphone, it is also a digital camera, music player and an Internet browser all rolled into one!

No doubt Apple has become the trailblazer in the electronics industry. Who would believe that some day, most of us who grew up using Sony Walkmans would shift to iPods? While the MP3 player has been around for sometime now, it was iPod who made it so popular that today, new cars offer direct MP3 or iPod connection on their stereos. That means throwing away your multi-disc player, which costs thousands of pesos as it has been rendered obsolete by the miniscule iPod.

But it doesn't mean that iPod is perfect. It has serious battery flaws, while Sony's MP3 lasts a lot longer. But I'm eagerly waiting for the coming of the iPhone, after all, my Nokia 9500, which is by high-tech standards starting to be obsolete all in just two years in service. But while my Nokia 9500 is basically a camera phone, a music player and can access the Internet, it's a bit cumbersome and slow. So let's see if the other players would now play catch to Apple's iPhone? Proof of the pudding is in the eating. Let iPhone prove itself to cellphone crazy Pinoys!

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For email responses to this article, write to [email protected]. Bobit's columns can also be accessed at www.shootinginsidecebu.blogspot.com