The second International Verification and Fact-Finding Mission organized by the Dutch Lawyers for Lawyers Foundation ended today with a press conference where the eight mission members presented their initial findings on their probe into the attacks on Filipino lawyers and judges.

For lawyers, bloggers, journalists and those interested in human rights issues, below are the mission’s initial findings:

President-elect Barack Obama delivered the following on election tonight in front of thousands of supporters at Chicago’s Grant Park:

If there is anyone out there who still doubts that America is a place where all things are possible; who still wonders if the dream of our founders is alive in our time; who still questions the power of our democracy, tonight is your answer.

It’s the answer told by lines that stretched around schools and churches in numbers this nation has never seen; by people who waited three hours and four hours, many for the very first time in their lives, because they believed that this time must be different; that their voice could be that difference.

Senator John McCain delivered the following remarks on election night (Nov. 4, 2008) in Phoenix, Arizona soon after news broke that his rival Senator Barack Obama was proclaimed winner of the US presidential elections:

(Cheers, applause.)

SEN. MCCAIN: Thank you. Thank you, my friends. (Cheers, applause.) Thank you for coming here on this beautiful Arizona evening. (Cheers, applause.)

My friends, we have — we have come to the end of a long journey. The American people have spoken, and they have spoken clearly. A little while ago, I had the honor of calling Senator Barack Obama — (boos) — to congratulate him — (boos) — please — to congratulate him on being elected the next president of the country that we both love.

On Blog Action Day regarding poverty, forbes.com released its list of the top 40 richest Filipinos, headed by mall mogul Henry Sy with a net worth of $3.1 billion.

Lucio Tan is second in the list with $1.5 billion. Jaime Zobel de Ayala, last year’s richest, dropped to third place with $1.2 billion.

The total net worth of the Philippines 20 richest people is $12.670 billion or a whooping P594 billion!

The sobering news is a new United Nations report also came out the next day, pointing to a very problematic occurrence — income inequality is worsening worldwide, including the Philippines.

This weekend, several citizens and legislators will file and endorse a flurry of complaints against President Arroyo, seeking to remove her from office through the constitutional process of impeachment. The flurry is caused by the legal hocus-pocus of “legal eagles” and spin doctors belonging to the pro-Arroyo camp who conveniently change their mind about when to properly file and accept such complaints.

At least three identical complaints will be filed, according to news reports. But as of today, the complainants have failed to bring their complaint before the House of Representatives.

To guide you through the complaint, I am publishing below a summary of the new impeachment complaint against President Arroyo, which was prepared by Neri Javier Colmenares, general counsel of Bayan Muna and secretary-general of the National Union of People’s Lawyers:

Ian Bell of The Herald declared: Capitalism has proven Karl Marx right again.

With news continuously dominated by stock crashes and US government efforts to rescue AIG, we have yet to hear progressives view the US economic meltdown. Progressives are the leftists, national-democrats, socialists and even communists who have a stridently critical view of the world capitalist system and who aspire to replace it.

Parasitic capital took advantage of advances in information and communications technology not just to facilitate its global production networks but also to fashion complex financial instruments for creating profits outside of any actual productive activity.

The Supreme Court on Monday issued a temporary restraining order stopping the signing of an important agreement between government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front.

The court’s action is in response to a petition by North Cotabato local government officials who decried the lack of transparency and consultations in the process of drafting the agreement.

Full text of the TRO at the jump:

Following is the full text of de facto President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo’s state of the nation address dellivered earlier today at the Batasan Pambansa.

Enjoy!

STATE OF THE NATION ADDRESS OF
PRESIDENT GLORIA MACAPAGAL-ARROYO
DURING THE 2ND REGULAR SESSION OF
THE 14TH CONGRESS OF THE REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES
28 July 2008

Thank you, Speaker Nograles. Senate President Villar. Senators and Representatives. Vice President de Castro, President Ramos, Chief Justice Puno, members of the diplomatic corps, ladies and gentlemen:

I address you today at a crucial moment in world history.

Just a few months ago, we ended 2007 with the strongest economic growth in a generation. Inflation was low, the peso strong and a million new jobs were created. We were all looking to a better, brighter future.

Because tough choices were made, kumikilos na ang bayan sa wakas. Malapit na sana tayo sa pagbalanse ng budget. We were retiring debts in great amounts, reducing the drag on our country’s development, habang namumuhunan sa taong bayan.