How The Internet Has Changed And Affected Me As A Human Being

 

Because of the Internet, I was able to fulfill my dream of becoming a cause-oriented writer. Though I finished Marketing, my actual ambition was actually to become a writer. I’ve been writing poems, essays and political commentaries since high school and I’ve been aspiring to publish a book of poems since my college days. The Internet gave me the opportunity to publish and sell my own works. An ‘online publishing group’ made it possible for me to get my works published in year 2003.  I wrote about 8 booklets about my beliefs that human rights, democracy and freedom are natural and universal for all humanity. Those booklets got published by an ‘online publishing firm’ from 2003 to 2006. I also saw my short stories, essays and poems got published by such online publishing company in 2005. I’ve never thought that my written works will be printed and published at all in this lifetime of mine. The Internet made it possible for me to publish, promote and sell my written works. I’m happy that those works got printed and sold in the market. Since the Internet also gave me the chance to promote such books, people did buy such works of mine.

I'm Rummel Pinera from the Philippines. I’m a blogger, salesman, citizen-journalist, free-lance writer, entrepreneur, poet, human-rights advocate, and campaigner for social reforms. I started doing online campaigns for good and worthy causes in 2001. I wrote books about my own political beliefs from 2003 to 2006. I started my own advocacy called a 'political abrogationism' in year 2003. Political abrogationism is an advocacy which preaches that all dictatorships, monarchial reigns and despotic regimes all over the world should be abolished through peaceful and lawful means. Political abrogationism also advocates that every country, social organization and culture on Earth should peacefully and lawfully embrace democracy and secure human rights. I know that the ultimate objectives of such an advocacy are nearly-impossible to achieve. I didn't create such advocacy to really make democracy become absolute all over the world. We know that most countries in this world right now are already democratic republics. I know that there will be some situations that may occur on this planet that can give way to dictatorial rule in some places. I made such advocacy because I want the responsible citizens of this globe to be always vigilant in their lifetimes in defending the importance of human rights, democracy, civil liberties, constitutional processes and freedom. Such kind of vigilance should always guide humanity in the march for global stability and progress. I personally believe that human rights, civil liberties and freedom are natural and universal for all humanity. Hence, all humans deserve democracy and freedom.

I started doing online campaigns supporting Obama's bid to win the Democrats' primaries in year 2008. I organized fan-clubs for Obama during the same year and propagated the ‘Obama campaign’ all over the Internet. I was really impressed by Obama's intelligence, charm and sincerity that even though I'm not a US citizen, I campaigned for his presidential bid during that time.

It was about February of 2008 when I created 2 online fan clubs for Obama . I think those were the very first online fan clubs for Obama in a social networking site. I formed such fan-clubs on Friendster. As I've said, even though I'm not an American, I actively used the power of the Internet to champion the then presidential bid of Barack Obama in year 2008. I even went to the extent of chatting with my friends and relatives in the US to convince them to support and campaign for Obama. I actively joined several U.S.-based online forums to defend and promote Obama's presidential campaign. I used the Internet to campaign for Obama during the Democratic primaries in 2008 and during the actual campaign for the US presidential election. Because of such dedication, I got interviewed on two different occasions by a national TV network here in the Philippines for the 'online campaigning' that I did for Obama in year 2008. Such interviews happened after Obama won the 2008 US presidential election.

The Internet has become a common place, a huge and wide public space like any park, village, or province, except that it is the largest common area that has ever existed on Earth. I actually met my current girlfriend on the Internet. We started our romantic relationship by chatting on a social networking site. If my girlfriend and I can’t see each other in person due to busy schedules, we often turn to the Internet to actively communicate with each other. We‘ve been dating for 2 months now. The Internet is a place of diversity. The principle of diversity exists throughout the whole universe. Such principle is eternal in the whole universe. If you look closely at the Worldwide Web, anything that any person wishes to say can be heard by anyone else with access to the Internet, and this world-wide community is as gigantic, diverse and wide as humanity itself. Therefore, from an intelligent point of view, the Internet is a diverse place where one can find new information or idea and share such knowledge to anyone else who has access to such 'common place.' It’s no wonder that some people actually met their romantic partners on the Internet. The Internet is now the largest common place on Earth!

Such 'common place' called the Internet is a melting pot of cultures, ideas, expressions, hopes, dreams, innovations and visions. Hence, it's only normal for such a common place to have sub-areas wherein individuals can meet new friends, form organizations and promote ideas or causes. Now we have the various 'social networking sites' as sub-areas wherein people can create forums and groups as well as meet new friends. It's obvious that the Internet can be used as a medium to promote causes and advocacies since it is a diverse common place, and its scope is probably as wide as humanity itself. Activists like me are using the power of the Internet to advocate and popularize causes and ideals that would help make this world a better place to live in. I know that the Internet is a modern-day invention, but I can see the reality that it has become a huge and wide public space wherein I can freely express my ideas and opinions. I’m using the power of the Internet to promote racial equality, religious tolerance, humanitarianism, gender equality, human rights and other worthy causes all over the world.

After Friendster changed its 'format' in 2010, all the online groups there, including the online fan clubs that I made for Obama, suddenly disappeared. I continued being an active fan of Obama by establishing my own blog called as 'The Obama Fanatic's Blog' in year 2010 after all the online groups and forums located in Friendster disappeared. I went on defending Obama from his 'online critics' during that time.

I'm not that new in harnessing the power of the Internet to promote worthy causes and good advocacies all over the globe. I joined the Free Burma Coalition- Philippines through the Internet. I was able to suggest creative means of protesting for Burma's freedom through the Internet. Burma is now slowly but surely being democratized as news-reports had shown. I was able to join various solidarity-campaigns, which helped some countries that were once under despotic rule to gain democracy and freedom, via the Internet.
Early this year, in January, I established a new online fan club for Obama on Facebook. I called the online group as 'Barack Obama's Worldwide Fans'. The said group was established as a forum for US Pres. Obama's fans from all over the world. Most of its members are Filipinos and quite young. Other members of the said group hail from Europe, Japan, South Korea, Indonesia, Nigeria, Tunisia, US, etc,

The 'Barack Obama's Worldwide Fans' was established on January 18, 2012. The said online fan club is basically a cause-oriented group that is dedicated to the curtailing of modern-day slavery and human trafficking as well as championing democracy, human rights and freedom throughout the world. The group is opposed to child labor and wants an effective global approach that can really curtail global warming and stop all forms of pollution. Our fan club also advocates racial equality and religious freedom.

I became a citizen-journalist through the Internet. I think the Internet was a main factor in the development of citizen-journalism. The Internet made it possible for amateur photographers, bloggers, videographers, activists and concerned citizens to freely upload interesting pictures and videos that can be considered as news. As the communications landscape becomes more dynamic, more far-reaching, more secured, more fascinating, more complex, more gigantic, more accessible, and more participatory, the networked population is gaining greater and wider access to information, better opportunities to engage in public speech and debate, bigger chances of producing and sharing bright ideas and works, wider options to show creativity and an enhanced ability to make collective decisions and actions. The Internet is now the biggest common place on Earth, and it’s a place where people are free to express their ideas and opinions. Freedom of expression leads to creativity, reformation, invention, innovation and progress.

PLEASE CLCIK THIS LINK TO WATCH MY VIDEO-COMMENTARY ON THIS ISSUE:

 http://ireport.cnn.com/docs/DOC-813034

 

 

 

 

I’m an Avid Fan of Obama from the Philippines

 I'm Rummel Pinera from the Philippines. I’m a blogger, salesman, citizen-journalist, free-lance writer, entrepreneur, poet, human-rights advocate, and campaigner for social reforms. I was only 17 years old when I took part in the "1986 People Power Revolution" here in the Philippines. Such non-violent revolution toppled an authoritarian regime and restored democracy and freedom in the Philippines. My country is sometimes referred to as the 'Pearl of the Orient Seas'. I've personally witnessed how my countrymen struggled hard to regain democracy and freedom from 1983 to 1986. I have participated in the 1986 People Power Revolution that somehow influenced the pro-democracy movements in Taiwan, South Korea, the former Soviet Union, and Eastern Europe during the late 1980s. The 1986 People Power Revolution was a non-violent uprising that showed to the world the Filipinos' excellent spirituality and untiring love for freedom. After the success of such peaceful revolution, I later joined various solidarity-campaigns here in my country that somehow supported and promoted the championing of human rights and democratization throughout the world. I also took part in the peaceful rallies that led to the EDSA Revolution of 2001. The said revolution peacefully overthrew the administration of then Pres. Joseph Estrada. EDSA means Epifanio de los Santos Avenue. The EDSA Revolution of 2001 was also a peaceful uprising that somehow resembled a 'fiesta-like celebration' in the country.

I became active in doing online campaigns for the good causes that I believe in way back in 2001. I also wrote some online books about my political beliefs from 2003 to 2006. I started my personal cause which I called a 'political abrogationism' in year 2003. Political abrogationism is an advocacy which preaches that all dictatorships, monarchial reigns and despotic regimes all over this world should all be abolished through peaceful and lawful means. Political abrogationism also preaches that every country, social organization and culture in this world should peacefully and lawfully embrace democracy and protect human rights. I know that the ultimate objectives of such an advocacy are nearly-impossible to achieve. I didn't create such advocacy to really make democracy become absolute all over the world. We know that most countries in this world right now are already democracies. I know that there will be some situations that may occur on this planet that can give way to a dictatorial rule in some parts of the world. I created the advocacy of political abrogationism for the main purpose of making the citizens of this globe become always vigilant in their lifetimes in defending the importance of human rights, democracy, civil liberties, constitutional processes and freedom. Such form of vigilance should always guide humanity in the march for global stability and progress. I personally believe that human rights, civil liberties and freedom are natural and universal for all humanity. Hence, all humans deserve to have democracy and freedom.

I became involved with citizen-journalism way back in year 2005. I was then uploading certain pictures and videos of rallies here in the Philippines on my blogs and on other websites. I didn't know at that time that what I was doing is 'citizen-journalism.' I continued doing that until 2008 when I took a long break from 'uploading of pictures and videos of rallies' because I started doing online campaigns supporting Obama's bid to win the Democrats' primaries during that time. I believe in 2008 that an 'Obama victory' in the US presidential election will somehow push the peaceful and lawful struggle for racial equality in the whole world to greater heights and better frontiers. I've organized pro-Obama forums, groups and discussions all over the internet or e-web during that year. I was really impressed by Obama's intelligence, charm and high respect for global cooperation and harmony that even though I'm not a US citizen, I campaigned for his presidential bid in year 2008. I even recorded a 2-minute video about my 'fanaticism' to Obama in October 2008 and uploaded on CNN iReport. The said video was even shown on CNN International. I even got interviewed twice by a 'documentary show' here in the Philippines because of my fanaticism to Obama.

I went back to doing citizen-journalism in 2009. Though I became very active back then to citizen-journalism, I maintained the online fan clubs that I've organized for Obama. I defended Obama from online critics because I do believe that Obama is a sincere statesman who respects and upholds international law.
It was about February of 2008 when I established 2 online fan clubs for Obama on Friendster. I think those were the very first online fan clubs for Obama in a social networking site. As I've said, even though I'm not an American, I actively used the power of the internet to promote the then presidential bid of Barack Obama in 2008. I even went to the extent of chatting with my friends and relatives in the US to convince them to support and campaign for Obama during that time. I actively joined several online forums frequented by Democrats and Republicans from the US to defend and promote Obama's presidential campaign. I used the internet to campaign for Obama during the Democratic primaries in 2008 and ,also, during the actual campaign for the US presidential election. Because of such dedication, I got interviewed on two different occasions by a national TV network here in the Philippines for the 'online campaigning' that I did for Obama in year 2008. Such interviews happened after Obama won the US presidential election.

After Friendster changed its 'social format' in 2010, all the online groups there, including the online fan clubs for Obama, suddenly disappeared. I continued being an active fan of Obama by establishing my own blog called as 'The Obama Fanatic's Blog' in year 2010 after all the online groups and forums in and upon Friendster disappeared. I also continued defending Obama from his 'online critics' from 2009 onwards.
This year 2012, I established a new online fan club for Obama on Facebook. The group is called as 'Barack Obama's Worldwide Fans'. The said group was established as a forum for US Pres. Obama's fans from all over the world. Most of the members are Filipinos and quite young. Other members are from Europe, Japan, South Korea, Indonesia, Nigeria, Tunisia, US, etc. The group was established on Jan.18, 2012 at 7:15 pm. The said fan club is basically a cause-oriented group dedicated to the advocacies of curtailing modern-day slavery and human trafficking as well as campaigning for democracy, human rights and freedom throughout the world. The group opposes child labor and wants an effective worldwide system that can curtail global warming and all forms of pollution. Our fan club also champions racial equality and religious freedom on this planet.

US Pres. Obama today is an iconic symbol for racial equality, religious tolerance and global cooperation in solving worldwide problems. Since I believe that racial equality and religious freedom should be upheld by every country here on Earth, I do admire US Pres. Obama's support for movements that are peacefully struggling for racial equality and religious freedom anywhere in this globe of ours.

Obama has fans throughout the world because he's a truly-charismatic man who sincerely works for global cooperation in solving worldwide problems like global warming, human trafficking and environmental degradations. Our online group, the 'Barack Obama's Worldwide Fans', supports the Obama administration's efforts to work with the rest of the world in curtailing global warming, human trafficking and environmental degradations.

Our group supports Pres. Obama's reelection bid. I believe that Pres. Obama still has to accomplish his mission to cement the efforts of enforcing worldwide laws that will curtail carbon-emissions to the atmosphere. Pres. Obama can likewise motivate the United Nations to work out a global agreement that will truly-curtail modern-day slavery and human trafficking. I believe that Obama is a great inspiration to all of us who believe that all human beings on Earth deserve civil liberties, human rights and freedom.

 http://www.allvoices.com/contributed-news/12251611-im-an-avid-fan-of-obama-from-the-philippines

Investigation: Mitt Romney’s Offshore Accounts and Tax Loopholes

Investigation: Mitt Romney’s Offshore Accounts and Tax Loopholes

http://www.vanityfair.com/politics/2012/08/investigating-mitt-romney-offshore-accounts

Aug. 12, 2012

Where the Money Lives

For all Mitt Romney’s touting of his business record, when it comes to his own money the Republican nominee is remarkably shy about disclosing numbers and investments. Nicholas Shaxson delves into the murky world of offshore finance, revealing loopholes that allow the very wealthy to skirt tax laws, and investigating just how much of Romney’s fortune (with $30 million in Bain Capital funds in the Cayman Islands alone?) looks pretty strange for a presidential candidate.

By Nicholas Shaxson

A person who worked for Mitt Romney at the consulting firm Bain and Co. in 1977 remembers him with mixed feelings. “Mitt was … a really wonderful boss,” the former employee says. “He was nice, he was fair, he was logical, he said what he wanted … he was really encouraging.” But Bain and Co., the person recalls, pushed employees to find out secret revenue and sales data on its clients’ competitors. Romney, the person says, suggested “falsifying” who they were to get such information, by pretending to be a graduate student working on a proj­ect at Harvard. (The person, in fact, was a Harvard student, at Bain for the summer, but not working on any such proj­ects.) “Mitt said to me something like ‘We won’t ask you to lie. I am not going to tell you to do this, but [it is] a really good way to get the information.’ … I would not have had anything in my analysis if I had not pretended.
“It was a strange atmosphere. It did leave a bad taste in your mouth,” the former employee recalls.
This unsettling account suggests the young Romney—at that point only two years out of Harvard Business School—was willing to push into gray areas when it came to business. More than three dec­ades later, as he tried to nail down the Republican nomination for president of the United States, Romney’s gray areas were again an issue when he repeatedly resisted calls to release more details of his net worth, his tax returns, and the large investments and assets held by him and his wife, Ann. Finally the other Republican candidates forced him to do so, but only highly selective disclosures were forthcoming.
Even so, these provided a lavish smorgasbord for Romney’s critics. Particularly jarring were the Romneys’ many offshore accounts. As Newt Gingrich put it during the primary season, “I don’t know of any American president who has had a Swiss bank account.” But Romney has, as well as other interests in such tax havens as Bermuda and the Cayman Islands.
To give but one example, there is a Bermuda-based entity called Sankaty High Yield Asset Investors Ltd., which has been described in securities filings as “a Bermuda corporation wholly owned by W. Mitt Romney.” It could be that Sankaty is an old vehicle with little importance, but Romney appears to have treated it rather carefully. He set it up in 1997, then transferred it to his wife’s newly created blind trust on January 1, 2003, the day before he was inaugurated as Massachusetts’s governor. The director and president of this entity is R. Bradford Malt, the trustee of the blind trust and Romney’s personal lawyer. Romney failed to list this entity on several financial disclosures, even though such a closely held entity would not qualify as an “excepted investment fund” that would not need to be on his disclosure forms. He finally included it on his 2010 tax return. Even after examining that return, we have no idea what is in this company, but it could be valuable, meaning that it is possible Romney’s wealth is even greater than previous estimates. While the Romneys’ spokespeople insist that the couple has paid all the taxes required by law, investments in tax havens such as Bermuda raise many questions, because they are in “jurisdictions where there is virtually no tax and virtually no compliance,” as one Miami-based offshore lawyer put it.
That’s not the only money Romney has in tax havens. Because of his retirement deal with Bain Capital, his finances are still deeply entangled with the private-equity firm that he founded and spun off from Bain and Co. in 1984. Though he left the firm in 1999, Romney has continued to receive large payments from it—in early June he revealed more than $2 million in new Bain income. The firm today has at least 138 funds organized in the Cayman Islands, and Romney himself has personal interests in at least 12, worth as much as $30 million, hidden behind controversial confidentiality disclaimers. Again, the Romney campaign insists he saves no tax by using them, but there is no way to check this.
Bain Capital is the heart of Romney’s fortune: it was the financial engine that created it. The mantra of his campaign is that he was a businessman who created tens of thousands of jobs, and Bain certainly did bring useful operational skills to many companies it bought. But his critics point to several cases where Bain bought companies, loaded them with debt, and paid itself extravagant fees, thereby bankrupting the companies and destroying tens of thousands of jobs.
Come August, Romney, with an estimated net worth as high as $250 million (he won’t reveal the exact amount), will be one of the richest people ever to be nominated for president. Given his reticence to discuss his wealth, it’s only natural to wonder how he got it, how he invests it, and if he pays all his taxes on it.
Ironically, it was Mitt’s father, George Romney, who released 12 years of tax returns, in November 1967, just ahead of his presidential campaign, thereby setting a precedent that nearly every presidential candidate since has either willingly or unwillingly been subject to. George, then the governor of Michigan, explained why he was releasing so many years’ worth, saying, “One year could be a fluke, perhaps done for show.”
But his son declined to release any returns through one unsuccessful race for the U.S. Senate, in 1994, one successful run for Massachusetts governor, in 2002, and an aborted bid for the Republican Party presidential nomination, in 2008. Just before the Iowa caucus last December, Mitt told MSNBC, “I don’t intend to release the tax returns. I don’t,” but finally, on January 24, 2012—after intense goading by fellow Republican candidates Newt Gingrich and Rick Perry—he released his 2010 tax return and an estimate for 2011.
These, plus the mandatory financial disclosures filed with the Office of Government Ethics and released last August, raise many questions. A full 55 pages in his 2010 return are devoted to reporting his transactions with foreign entities. “What Romney does not get,” says Jack Blum, a veteran Washington lawyer and offshore expert, “is that this stuff is weird.”
The media soon noticed Romney’s familiarity with foreign tax havens. A $3 million Swiss bank account appeared in the 2010 returns, then winked out of existence in 2011 after the trustee closed it, as if to remind us of George Romney’s warning that one or two tax returns can provide a misleading picture. Ed Kleinbard, a professor of tax law at the University of Southern California, says the Swiss account “has political but not tax-policy resonance,” since it—like many other Romney investments—constituted a bet against the U.S. dollar, an odd thing for a presidential candidate to do. The Obama campaign provided a helpful world map pointing to the tax havens Bermuda, Luxembourg, and the Cayman Islands, where Romney and his family have assets, each with the tagline “Value: not disclosed in tax returns.”
Romney’s personal tax rate is a particular point of interest. In 2010 and 2011, Mitt and Ann paid $6.2 million in federal tax on $42.5 million in income, for an average tax rate just shy of 15 percent, substantially less than what most middle-income Americans pay. Romney manages this low rate because he takes his payments from Bain Capital as investment income, which is taxed at a maximum 15 percent, instead of the 35 percent he would pay on “ordinary” income, such as salaries and wages. Many tax experts argue that the form of remuneration he receives, known as carried interest, is really just a fee charged by investment managers, so it should instead be taxed at the 35 percent rate. Lee Sheppard, a contributing editor at the trade publication Tax Notes, whose often controversial articles are read widely by tax professionals, is nonplussed that the Obama campaign has been so listless on the issue of carried interest. “Romney is the poster boy, the best argument, for taxing this profit share as ordinary income,” says Sheppard.

In the face of such arguments, Romney’s defense is that he never broke the rules: if there is a problem, it is in the laws, not in his behavior. “I pay all the taxes that are legally required, not a dollar more,” he said. Even so. “When you are running for president, you might want to err on the side of overpaying your taxes, and not chase every tax gimmick that comes down the pike,” says Sheppard. “It kind of looks tacky.”

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 MY COMMENTARY:

A British Facebook pal of mine said, “Romney’s offshore accounts and his tax loopholes will devastate his already tenuous support from Tea Partisans. It is doubtful that he will gain any new support because of this and the Bain ads that the Obama campaign and the pro-Obama superpacs had put up, unless there really is some sort of "fix" in, Romneys poll numbers will stagnate or sink down. But no doubt, the media per se will not report it that way, since they are still looking forward to that Big Citizens’ United payback.”  ROMNEY IS ACTUALLY MYTH ROMNEY! He will surely be defeated in the coming US presidential election.