Pardon if I write about my carnivorous self, but I just love a beef steak, medium rare. Its tender. It’s juicy. If you chew it, it’s like your average salty-flavored bubble gum.

Of course, a steak would not be complete without mash potatoes and some vegetable sidings.

And you know if you’re steak is as tender as the one you had the last time. Steak dinners should be perfect—one that would give you a big blurp in the end.

Ask Mrs. Arroyo and her husband—they had this fine steak when they dined at Le Cirque and went to Bobby Van’s steakhouse a day later. They know the difference between a French cooked steak and those of the greasy kind of American Bobby Van’s.

And apparently, this recent decision by the Office of the Ombusman to file graft charges against former Comelec chair Benjamin Abalos and ex-NEDA chief Romulo Neri can be likened to a steak eaten in some carinderia. They are being charged for the moth-balled ZTE-NBN deal. Yet if you looked closely, it seemed that the Office of the Ombusman did not cook this ZTE-NBN steak the way we know steaks are cooked.

This one is like some slab of meat put in the fire without those spices and steak sauces put into it. It’s bland.It’s tasteless. It’s immoral to eat it.

Imagine, only Abalos and Neri are being charged, showing how pitiful their states are and how lowly the power-that-be regard these comical creatures. Worst, they are being charged with just “circumstantial evidence”, an obvious way out for them in the end.

This is a poor steak sideshow, meant to appease perceived public outrage while clearing the main actors who conspired to muddle a very good telecomms deal.

It’s sending the message that the First Gentleman Mike Arroyo and his wife, Gloria Arroyo are not part of the dirty operation, despite photos of them visiting the ZTE-NBN headquarters and even played golf with ZTE officials. Of course, the Ombusman did not find anything wrong with how DOTC secretary Leandro Mendoza and his undersecretaries comforted themselves nor did the Office found anything wrong with the conduct of ZTE officials led by Yu Yong.

This decision is a stinking steak dinner.

First Gentleman Mike Arroyo is staying behind while his wife, Gloria flies back to Manila to attend President Cory Aquino’s wake. Malacanang offered no explanation why FG decided to stay behind.

According to some sources in the US, the First Gentleman daw will be giving his testimony in connection with the alleged money laundering charges filed against him by the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). Some monts back, news about the cases filed against FG circulated in coffee shops throughout the US and the Philippines. FG wanted to clear his name and see for himself the serious charge sheets, according to these sources. However, the FBI refused to validate or confirm this.

After this, FG will be visiting their properties in San Francisco California. The First Family’s properties, sources say, have encountered serious back taxes. The values of their real estate properties also went down. That’s why, FG has reportedly decided to divest these properties and use the money to buy more properties outside of the US. Reportedly, the First Family intends to retire in their luxurious villas in Portugal, instead of their initial plan to stay in the US to avoid possible prosecution from state authorities.

True to form, Malacanang is shrugging off the latest brouhaha that has put First Gentleman Mike Arroyo under a most unflattering light, to put it lightly.

It is correct for the Palace to say that as always the burden of proof is on the accuser, the FG’s old nemesis, Sen. Lacson.

That’s also correct: the worn out but valid premise that the accused  is accorded the presumption of innocence unless found guilty in a court of law.

But given how the presidential spouse has figured in not a few cases where the tongues wag feverishly and circumstantial evidence hang heavy, the already low public regard for ‘Big Mike’ is dropping a notch further.

To be fair,  Atty. Mike belongs to the ‘old rich’ segment of Philippine society and his own legion of loyal friends and admirers.

A question that  lingers quite disturbingly is just how much beating can his and this administration’s image take with public disgust simmering?

Senator Miriam Santiago was at her vitriolic best this morning at the just-concluding hearing into how three Filipino construction firms have been shamefully blacklisted by the World Bank for collusion in landing contracts for WB-funded projects.

Maid Miriam blasted the Department of Finance, the Department of Public Works and Highways, and the Office of the Ombudsman “for sitting on the World Bank Findings even as practically all of us know that these corrupt activities have been exposed.”

Santiago, usually perceived as an ally of the administration, was obviously flabbergasted by the revelation of Sen. Panfilo Lacson that one of the contractors, Eduardo C. De Luna had links with First Gentleman Jose Miguel Arroyo.

Lacson cited at least 17 occasions when De Luna allegedly met with Mr. Arroyo, accompanied by a former journalist, Resty De Quiros (who  sits in the board of the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office).

Lacson detailed how De  Luna himself allegedly hand-carried PhP-70-M in cash to the known office in Makati of Mr. Arroyo with the money accidentally spilling from its container as De Luna was goiing up the stairs of the LTA (Lourdes T. Arroyo) Building on Perea Street.

Senator Santiago was almost shouting at the top of her voice as she subjected DPWH Secretary Hermogenes Ebdane (a retired police general and one-time national security adviser) to a tongue-lashing .

She angrily adjourned the hearing saying she already knew what punitive recommendations to make, not least of them leveling contempt charges against the Ombudsman and Finance officials who snubbed the proceedings.

We need to see just how far Santiago will push the envelope and if anything really comes out of this absolutely scandalous episode that has reached Malacanang’s doorstep yet again.

Michigan’s First Gentleman, Mr. Daniel Granholm Mulhern published an article recently about the challenges we face econmically and otherwise, and he shared his thoughts on how we should approach the tasks.  He calls out Ojamas Sleepwear as a case study.  Very interesting perspective.

Michigan's First Gentleman

Number One Observatory Circle in Washington, D.C. is the official residence of the Vice President of the United States.

Today in the Washington Post Opinions section Colbert King considers the REAL possibility of a Vice President Sarah Palin.  Given what we know of Gov. Palin’s governing style in Alaska, imagine what she and her husband Todd Palin could do with access to the Internal Revenue Service, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Central Intelligence Agency and the Pentagon at her (and his!) beck and call?

It’s time to start taking Sarah Palin seriously.

Though the latest polls show the Obama-Biden ticket ahead, the Alaska governor is still uncomfortably close to becoming vice president of the United States. The thought should concentrate the mind of every American who remembers the abuse of executive power by the administration of Richard Nixon. Just look at what Palin has done, in a short time, with the authority delegated to her by Alaskans.

The “Troopergate” report, conducted by an independent investigator and released Friday by a bipartisan legislative committee, tells the tale. It documents the campaign that Palin and her husband Todd waged to get her former brother-in-law fired from the Alaska state troopers.

Palin did, indeed, have the authority to dismiss the state’s public safety commissioner, the report says. But she violated a state law, the Alaska Executive Branch Ethics Act, which prohibits state officials from taking actions that benefit personal interest. According to the report: Palin abused her power as governor when she “knowingly permitted a situation to continue where impermissible pressure was placed on several subordinates in order to advance a personal agenda, to wit: to get Trooper Michael Wooten fired.”

I shudder to think of the Internal Revenue Service, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Central Intelligence Agency and the Pentagon at her beck and call.

The role played by Todd in carrying out his wife’s vendetta was highly unusual. He had no official duties in government. He acknowledged, however, that he made numerous calls to state officials to press his case against the governor’s ex-brother-in-law.

It’s been well reported that Todd Palin’s involvement in his wife’s official business unsettled some Alaskans. He has been known to sit in on the governor’s meetings, use her office for his own meetings and intervene in state business using his status as “First Gentleman.” Clearly, he’s a man with a lot of time on his hands.

What if he assumed the same role in Washington? Imagine Todd in a town that has no use for snow machines (which he loves to ride) or work for commercial fishermen (of which he is one, during the summer months). What would he do? Would he follow the vice president to her White House office? Join her meetings in the Situation Room? Sit in on her daily national security briefings?

Where does Todd Palin stand on America anyway? Neither he nor Sarah Palin ever explained his seven-year membership in the Alaska Independence Party, a group that seeks a vote on secession from America. “I’m an Alaskan, not an American” was the slogan of the party’s founder, Joe Vogler, who also said “I’ve got no use for America or her damned institutions” and “I won’t be buried under their damned flag.” What made Todd Palin hitch his wagon to that anti-American train when Alaska offered the Democratic and Republican parties?

Troopergate shows the Palins to be small-bore people unable to distinguish selfish personal interests from official responsibilities. Imagine the power of the U.S. government at their disposal.

The prospect of Vice President Sarah Palin is no laughing matter.

Palin Too Close for Comfort

Forbes’ Most Powerful Women
According to the newly-released ranking of Forbes Magazine, President Arroyo is the 41st most powerful woman in the world today. Mrs. Arroyo was cited for having survived three impeachment attempts, three coup plots, and three bouts with upset stomach and diarrhea.

President Arroyo is the 41st most powerful woman in the world today. That’s 10 places higher than her previous position. The ranking was based on press mentions, economic growth, wealth, and in Mrs. Arroyo’s case, the ability to create a new nation within a nation.

President Arroyo is one of the most powerful women in the world today… to which the First Gentleman said, “Of course I know. ‘Coz she’s always on top!”

Tax Evader?
The Supreme Court junked actress Judy Ann Santos’ motion to review the tax evasion case filed against her by the Bureau of Internal Revenue in 2005. Sought for a reaction, Juday told the Philippine Daily Inquirer, “Ipapasa-Diyos ko na lang ito,” to which the Lord said, “Ipapasa na naman? Ano ka Meralco?”

Anti-Corruption Center
Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez says the first ever institution in Asia that will focus on the study of corruption will be built here in the Philippines… mainly because we can supply the most number of experts on the subject.

Meralco Refund
The Manila Electric Company will start giving meter deposit refund plus interest to an estimated 1.8 million Meralco residential customers in November. To complement Meralco’s pa-pogi and pa-underdog campaign, Judy Ann Santos will be asked to shoot another infomercial… in jail.

MUDGE’s Musings

Stop me if you’ve heard this one.

A funny thing happened on the way to Barack Obama’s coronation as the Democratic presidential candidate.

That’s if you consider Hillary Clinton funny.

She just keeps winning large elections in important states, the latest, Pennsylvania, the other day. It’s Hillaryus, to borrow an oft-coined a phrase.

Gail Collins in today’s NYTimes has the correctly humorous perspective:

Hillary’s Smackdown

By GAIL COLLINS | Published: April 24, 2008

The clamor for Hillary Clinton to drop out of the presidential race has reached new levels of intensity since the Pennsylvania primary. Of all the things Hillary has done, Obama supporters find her tendency to win large elections in swing states as by far the most irritating. If she beats him in Indiana, they’ll be surrounding her house with torches.

“Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton is back!” cried Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter to the cheering crowd at the victory bash on Tuesday.

The smoothly oiled money-raising high-momentum phenomenon that has been the Obama campaign for the past several months keeps running into reality. Her name is Hillary.

Despite organizational dysfunction, in spite of difficulties raising funds, in spite of the prospective First Gentleman, Senator Clinton seems to be more electable in the large population states than her charismatic opponent.

How absolutely galling for Senator Obama and his idealistic supporters!

[Please click the link below for the complete article -- but then please come on back!]

Hillary’s Smackdown – New York Times

Technically, Obama has more delegates pledged, but this stubborn issue of electability is likely to keep the pot boiling until the convention. Ms. Clinton has every right to keep jabbing away, and it’s probably an excellent character revealing exercise for those who’ve been starry-eyed when viewing the junior Senator from Illinois.

It is this observer’s prediction that the superdelegates will realize their collective dreams to become, for the first time in more than –what?– 75 years, the sovereign-makers in their (politically correctly smokeless) smoke-filled rooms in Denver this summer.

All this while elderly (and showing it in some unexpected ways) Senator McCain can sit on the sidelines basking in the glow of a once insurmountable Democratic lead brought down to earth. And both of his potential foes are providing him his general election ammunition, free of charge.

But, it’s okay. If the Democratic Party finds a way to lose a historically can’t-lose election to a morally bankrupt Republican party that has chewed up our nation’s present and endangered the globe’s future, then that should be the wake up call that those of us of the liberal persuasion need to finally make the changes that need to be made.

As the Federalists and Whigs could tell us if they were still with us, political parties can look around and suddenly find themselves obsolete. This may be that time for the Democrats, if friendly fire causes the party to lose this can’t lose election.

In the meantime, Barry, if I may be so bold as to call you Barry, please remember a hoary (political) adage, originally uttered by Friedrich Nietzsche:

That which doesn’t kill us makes us stronger.

Here’s some no-charge (and worth every penny) advice for all three candidates.

Probably the most critical personal requirement any potential leader of the free world (as opposed to this era’s two pernicious attributes: to raise $zillions by promising everything to every Daddy Warbucks; and look marvelous on television):

Show us some grace under fire.

Rise above the mud-wrestling. Be a visionary leader. Win this election on merit, rather than simply being the least worst choice.

Right about now, yr (justifiably) humble svt can’t see who would exactly be that least worse choice, much less the most meritorious one. And that’s a most unexpected place to be on April 24th in this confounding election season.

It’s it for now. Thanks,

–MUDGE

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When Mike Arroyo is no longer the First Gentleman,

he’s planning to turn

into a professional boxer…

His ring name will be…

“MONEY PAKYAW!”