i’m on vacation berry-picking, getting tattooed; will come back after the holidays; i’ll be rambling on, gimme a break, the artist wanted to sign his name on the tattoo; i’ll just write a silly song, since i’ve gone on vacation this blog has become a “song hits”; what’s that? remember that? In the olden times, there were such things as “song hits” (they were song books); now you can just download lyrics.
The Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs and the U.S. Embassy signed an agreement a couple of days ago that provided that convicted Lance Corporal Daniel Smith be detained at the first floor of the Rowe Building of the US Embassy “in a room approximately 10 x 12 square feet and guarded round the clock”. That’s outside the long arm of the law , it’s outside the jurisdiction of the court. The negotiations (and bullying therefore) have begun, have started even long before this week, when George Bush gave the Philippine ambassador a piece of his mind. Who’s negotiating on behalf of the Philippines? Not the Philippine officials.
Counter-offer.
What about, say, in a room even bigger than that, 30 x 20, beside Bayview hotel with a view of the famous Manila sunset, but outside the U.S. Gate. What about it? That’s reasonable, it’s within the agreements and the law. (We’ll throw in a masseuse, male, er, masseur, a Michael V.(of Bubble Gang)-look-alike).
(Sung to the tune of Sting’s “Epilogue” from Ten Summoner’s Tales, with apologies)
Wheel in a cool, quiet air-con
Deck him a salad bar, a mini bar
Install soft lights, pipe in jazz music
Chill him some wine
But he should be within
Philippine jurisdiction.
Give him a web cam, a digicam, unlimited load
A website, a blogsite, his own film-bio
Live channel streaming, video streaming
game downloads
But he should be within
Philippine jurisdiction.
Ten meters away
from the U.S. fence
One block away
from the U.S. Embassy
Across the boulevard
with a view of the bay
Build a covered walk, build him a covered pool,
a covered court
But he should be
he should be
within jurisdiction
of the Court.
(improv)
marichulambino.com 