Exploring and making red herrings real

It is so comical today, and everyday, to see people floating red herrings in the media, and you will have professionals trying so hard to make these red herrings look real, even experimenting with them, holding out trials to say, yes it can be done, it is the tooth. The sad part is that the more they try to prove the fallacy or incredibility, the more ridiculous they make themselves to look like one. The other sad part is that some section of the public would really be led or misled into believing them as the truth when they are obviously only the tooth. Guess the red herrings that we have read in the media? Unbelieveable to the point of insulting the intelligence of the public. I am also guilty of posting red herrings. But anyone reading my red herrings will know what they are, as they often came through with a big dosage of cynicism. My red herrings were never meant to convince the public that they were the truth, but to provoke thoughts of how ridiculous is the nature of things, unlike the commercial truth, the tooth that were fabricated to make the public believed. Thank god we have alternative media to separate the truth from the tooth.

More NMPs needed

In our open and inclusive society, when organisation of 200 members deserved to be represented in Parliament, we can look forward for more NMPs to be in Parliament to represent their little corners of interests. Now we have arts rep, sports rep, academic rep, medical profession rep, foreign talent or new citizen rep, it is time to open up Parliament to be more inclusive. The first rep or NMP I have in mind is the LGBT. There are definitely more than 200 members out there, maybe 20,000 or more. Surely they deserve to have a NMP to speak up for them. Then there are many other groups and professions that were not represented in Parliament. I could simply rattle off a few here, the silver hair, parents group, the retirees or jobless, pasar malam hawkers, motorworkshop, insurance agents, housing agents, stockbroking agents, loanshark association or moneylenders, newton food centre, the infamous shopowners of Lucky Plaza and Sim Lim Square, oh, the bloggers, and the small and smart children who are worldly and well read, thanks to internet and want to decide what is good for themselves without their parents or anyone imposing their values on them. Now who else should deserve a place in parliament? Charity organisations, yes, there are plenty of them and managing huge sums of money. Then CPF members. They have been victims all these while with people deciding for them on how to spend their money and they completely have no say, helpless, and no MPs or NMPs speaking for them or their interests. We need more NMPs in Parliament for it to be more representatives and for the people to be really represented, to speak out and protect their own interests. The MPs are too busy, with so many commitments and hats to wear that it is only natural that they could not give off their best, their full attention and devotion to their constituents. They are the most hardworking group of people, and the people must understand, that they only have 24 hours a day. They just cannot be anywhere and everywhere at the same time. They are advisers to so many grassroots, sports and community organisations. Poor chaps, truly supermen and superwomen. The NMP shall have a nice job cut out for them, to fill the gaps that MPs could not cover.

Sexual assault or tender loving care?

This guy hid in public toilets to wait for little boys to enter the toilet alone. When a lonely boy came, he would help the boy to remove his trousers and to pee. He would then fonder the boy and perform oral sex on the boy. Why is he charged for sexual assault? He was being nice to the boy, showing the boy some tender loving care. He didn't beat nor bit the boy. Isn't it unfair to him? He may be sentenced to imprisonment or given 12 strokes of the cane. Where is the inclusiveness? The guy was exercising his right to an alternative lifestyle.

The media tick off

After being unleashed for a few weeks to write partisan articles and comments on the Aware saga, Kan Seng has finally spoken to take the media to task for their less than proper reporting that were found wanting in some areas. It was so stark that the reporting was one sided, with journalists and reporters taking sides in the sorry and deplorable episode. Where was the professionalism to be impartial and objective? Why were they unleashed for so long to make those kinds of reports? Beats me. Someone behind the scene pushing some agenda? And no one knew that this was happening and everyone behaved like the 4 probervial monkeys! The impact was so fierce that the conservatives were in some way cowed to oblivion and afraid to make their stand on the issue of homosexuality. Or was it that the conservative views were not given a chance to be aired, not given any space in the media? Why was the media ending up like that, that it appeared to be serving the interests of some groups? I have read several letters of despair by the conservatives to the church and to Hsien Loong, calling for fairer and more objective reporting. And you can only read them in cyberspace, through emails and blogs. This highlighted how important cyberspace has become to provide a more balanced view of issues when TOM failed to do its job in impartiality. And look at the amount of postings on the NMP nominations! Again it is the netizens that are taking the lead to voice their concerns. This you cannot find in TOM. And TOM is now reporting the happenings and the numerous concerns of the netizens postings in blogs and in Reach. Why was there an absence of such letters of concerns in the TOM? The cyberspace and netizens are speaking out. Bloggers and netizens know that only in cyberspace can they expressed fully what their views were and be heard.

Motor Insurance - Must be the govt's fault.

In a discussion on the high motor insurance course the workshop, lawyers and insurance companies all denied that it was their fault. So if all of them are not at fault, so it must be the govt's fault lah. Logical right? Everyone is so innocent. The govt must come down hard on the culprits to clear its name and help motorists from being fleeced. The best part is to hear recommendation that motorists should negotiate with insurance companies or go shopping for the best rate. Really, can do such thing meh? In a cartel like industry, and without insurance one cannot renew road tax or drive, who is calling the shot? The motorists deserve a fairer system, reasonable premium and the govt to step him since no one is owning up. Would the govt come in to help the motorists or is it a buyers beware and free market system? Should we tell the motorists that it is there problem?