Tag Archives: Philippines

♫ Let It Be ♫ (Redux)

Posted on by under History, music, Social commentary

Yesterday when I played Bridge Over Troubled Water by Simon & Garfunkel, two readers mentioned this song in comments as being similarly comforting in trying times such as we are going through today.  I have played it only once before, in 2019, so I figured it’s time for a redux!

At the time of its release in 1970, this Beatles tune had the highest debut on the Billboard Hot 100, beginning its chart run at #6. It was written and sung by Paul McCartney and was their final single before McCartney announced his departure from the band.

McCartney said he had the idea of Let It Be after he had a dream about his mother during the tense period surrounding the sessions for The Beatles aka the White Album in 1968. According to McCartney, the song’s reference to “Mother Mary” was not biblical. McCartney explained that his mother – who died of cancer when he was fourteen – was the inspiration for the “Mother Mary” lyric. He later said: “It was great to visit with her again. I felt very blessed to have that dream. So that got me writing ‘Let It Be’.” He also said in a later interview about the dream that his mother had told him, “It will be all right, just let it be.”

Now here’s something I didn’t know. According to Songfacts …

The Beatles weren’t the first to release this song – Aretha Franklin was. The Queen of Soul recorded it in December 1969, and it was released on her album This Girl’s In Love With You in January 1970, two months before The Beatles released their version (she also covered The Beatles “Eleanor Rigby” on that album).

Aretha recorded it with the Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section, who were a group of musicians that owned their own studio in Alabama, but would travel to New York to record with Aretha. David Hood, who was their bass player, told us that Paul McCartney sent demos of the song to Atlantic Records (Franklin’s label) and to the Muscle Shoals musicians. Said Hood, “I kick myself for not grabbing that demo. Because I think they probably dropped it in the garbage. Our version was different. We changed it a little bit from his demo, where their version is different from that demo and from Aretha’s version, as well. Just slightly, but little things.”

A few other bits of trivia:

  • Sesame Street used this with the title changed to “Letter B.” The lyrics were changed to list words that begin with B.
  • The album had the largest initial sales in US record history up to that time: 3.7 million advance orders.
  • This was the first Beatles song released in The Soviet Union. The single made it there in 1972.
  • This song was played at Linda McCartney’s funeral.
  • John Legend and Alicia keys performed this song on the tribute special The Beatles: The Night That Changed America, which aired in 2014 exactly 50 years after the group made their famous appearance on Ed Sullivan Show. Legend introduced it as “a song that has comforted generations with its beauty and its message.”

Something else I didn’t know comes from The Vintage News site …

In July 1966 the Beatles toured the Philippines and unintentionally snubbed First Lady Imelda Marcos. Accustomed to high praise if not worship, she invited the group to attend a breakfast reception at the Presidential Palace in Manila, expecting the group to attend without hesitation. When the Beatles were presented with the invitation, however, they asked their manager, Brian Epstein, to politely decline it on behalf of the group, with an explanation that it had never been their policy to accept such “official” invitations.

Soon after, the band realized that the Marcos regime had rarely heard “no” from anyone–and there would be consequences. Imelda Marcos was infuriated when she found out that her grand planned party of 200 guests would not include the Beatles as special guests. Interestingly enough, the Philippine television and radio stations broadcast the snub. Shortly after, all of the Beatles security police suddenly disappeared. Epstein called for an interview, trying to make an apology on Chanel 5 at the Manila Hotel. But when his interview was about to be aired, the state-controlled channel blacked out.

Let It Be
The Beatles

When I find myself in times of trouble, Mother Mary comes to me
Speaking words of wisdom, let it be
And in my hour of darkness she is standing right in front of me
Speaking words of wisdom, let it be
Let it be, let it be, let it be, let it be
Whisper words of wisdom, let it be

And when the broken hearted people living in the world agree
There will be an answer, let it be
For though they may be parted, there is still a chance that they will see
There will be an answer, let it be
Let it be, let it be, let it be, let it be
There will be an answer, let it be
Let it be, let it be, let it be, let it be
Whisper words of wisdom, let it be
Let it be, let it be, let it be, let it be
Whisper words of wisdom, let it be

And when the night is cloudy there is still a light that shines on me
Shine until tomorrow, let it be
I wake up to the sound of music, Mother Mary comes to me
Speaking words of wisdom, let it be
Let it be, let it be, let it be, yeah, let it be
There will be an answer, let it be
Let it be, let it be, let it be, yeah, let it be
Whisper words of wisdom, let it be

Songwriters: John Lennon / Paul McCartney
Let It Be lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC

Good People Doing Good Things — Teresa Gray et al

Posted on by under Environmental Issues, Global Issues, Good people doing good things, Social commentary

I think everyone in the world is familiar with Médecins Sans Frontières, or Doctors Without Borders, a wonderful humanitarian group of doctors and other medical professionals that is best known for its projects in conflict zones and in countries affected by endemic diseases.  But last night, I came across another group, Mobile Medics International founded by Teresa Gray.  Mobile Medics International sends volunteer medical professionals to disaster areas and humanitarian crisis around the world, and the current crisis in Ukraine is what brought the organization to fame and Teresa Gray to the attention of CNN where she became the latest CNN Hero.

Ms. Gray and the group are based in Anchorage, Alaska, just a 4,500-mile hop, skip, and a jump from Ukraine, but that didn’t stop them.  When they deploy, it’s normally within 72 hours of a disaster to fill the gap before larger groups are fully operational. Their missions typically last seven to 10 days.

But the Ukraine crisis required a different type of response. Four days after the invasion, one of her volunteers from England began driving along the western border of Ukraine to assess where their help would be most needed. Eventually, they determined that Romania was overwhelmed by refugees but lacked infrastructure other countries, like Poland, had.

When her group members deploy, they’re prepared to be entirely self-sustaining. This ensures that they can work for days at a time without taxing the local infrastructure.

“We can bring our own food, our own water, our own sleeping accommodations. We try to take basically an ambulance in a backpack.  This is the most dangerous mission we’ve ever done. We’re taking the necessary medicine for chemical warfare, in case chemical weapons are deployed. But honestly, the heroes are my volunteers who were begging to go.”

Gray’s team was told about hundreds of refugees on a university campus who had very limited medical care. When they arrived at the campus in Galati on March 26, Gray was surprised …

But I think I’ll let Ms. Gray tell you her story and that of Mobile Medics International, for she does it so much better than I could, but be sure you have a box of tissues at hand …

What follows is a small portion of an interview between a CNN correspondent and Ms. Gray …

CNN: How did you find your way into the medical field?

Teresa Gray: Growing up in Michigan, my godmother was a paramedic instructor, and she would drag me down to the firehouse and make me be a mock victim. I would have to be bandaged and splinted and all sorts of things while they practiced their skills. I loved it. After high school, I stumbled across an ad for an EMT, and I thought, “I’ll go give it a shot,” and it all made sense to me. I knew in that moment I had found my career.

I started as an EMT, became a paramedic. Eventually I moved to Alaska and ended up being a critical-care flight paramedic. Our cities are hundreds of miles apart, so our ambulances are Lear jets. We fly to the villages, pick people up and bring them back to major cities. I’ve picked up patients in dogsleds, on snow machines — whatever we needed to do to make it happen, I’ve tried all the different avenues of paramedicine. I’ve loved them all. Now I’m a registered nurse, but I also still hold my paramedic license.

CNN: What led you to get involved in disaster response work?

Gray: In late 2015, I had semi-retired. I was a stay-at-home mom, and I was watching TV and I saw the 3-year-old Syrian child on the beach of Lesbos face down in the water. I had not really been aware of what was going on over in Greece or the Syrian refugee crisis. And so I just decided that I was going to go to Greece and see if I could help. It was life-changing. These people were stepping off the boats, soaking wet, hypothermic. It was heartbreaking. But I made a difference for people.

CNN: In addition to natural and humanitarian disasters, your group also does medical sustainability missions.

Gray: We will find communities that are chronically medically underserved, and we ask them to commit five years to building their own medical infrastructure, and we support them during that time. We’ve done that with the Philippines very successfully. We normally go in twice a year and we give them the equipment, the supplies, the medications they need, and the ongoing training. And then we also mentor them and support them through telemedicine.

When we first started going to a remote island in the Philippines, they had a huge population of cleft-palate babies being born, just simply because their nutrition wasn’t good. Within three years, we eliminated cleft-palate babies on that island by giving out prenatal vitamins. That’s all it took — but that’s what it took. So that’s what we do. It doesn’t matter what you need, if we can provide that for you, we will.

My hat is off to this wonderful woman who came out of retirement and to her wonderful team of volunteers who put their lives on hold in order to help people, to save lives.

♫ Let It Be ♫

Posted on by under music

At the time of its release in 1970, this Beatles tune had the highest debut on the Billboard Hot 100, beginning its chart run at number 6. It was written and sung by Paul McCartney and was their final single before McCartney announced his departure from the band.

McCartney said he had the idea of Let It Be after he had a dream about his mother during the tense period surrounding the sessions for The Beatles aka the White Album in 1968. According to McCartney, the song’s reference to “Mother Mary” was not biblical. McCartney explained that his mother – who died of cancer when he was fourteen – was the inspiration for the “Mother Mary” lyric. He later said: “It was great to visit with her again. I felt very blessed to have that dream. So that got me writing ‘Let It Be’.” He also said in a later interview about the dream that his mother had told him, “It will be all right, just let it be.”

Now here’s something I didn’t know. According to Songfacts …

The Beatles weren’t the first to release this song – Aretha Franklin was. The Queen of Soul recorded it in December 1969, and it was released on her album This Girl’s In Love With You in January 1970, two months before The Beatles released their version (she also covered The Beatles “Eleanor Rigby” on that album).

Aretha recorded it with the Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section, who were a group of musicians that owned their own studio in Alabama, but would travel to New York to record with Aretha. David Hood, who was their bass player, told us that Paul McCartney sent demos of the song to Atlantic Records (Franklin’s label) and to the Muscle Shoals musicians. Said Hood, “I kick myself for not grabbing that demo. Because I think they probably dropped it in the garbage. Our version was different. We changed it a little bit from his demo, where their version is different from that demo and from Aretha’s version, as well. Just slightly, but little things.”

A few other bits of trivia:

  • Sesame Street used this with the title changed to “Letter B.” The lyrics were changed to list words that begin with B.
  • The album had the largest initial sales in US record history up to that time: 3.7 million advance orders.
  • This was the first Beatles song released in The Soviet Union. The single made it there in 1972.
  • This song was played at Linda McCartney’s funeral.
  • This was the first Beatles song released in the Soviet Union. The single made it there in 1972.
  • John Legend and Alicia keys performed this song on the tribute special The Beatles: The Night That Changed America, which aired in 2014 exactly 50 years after the group made their famous appearance on Ed Sullivan Show. Legend introduced it as “a song that has comforted generations with its beauty and its message.”

Something else I didn’t know comes from The Vintage News site …

In July 1966 the Beatles toured the Philippines and unintentionally snubbed First Lady Imelda Marcos. Accustomed to high praise if not worship, she invited the group to attend a breakfast reception at the Presidential Palace in Manila, expecting the group to attend without hesitation. When the Beatles were presented with the invitation, however, they asked their manager, Brian Epstein, to politely decline it on behalf of the group, with an explanation that it had never been their policy to accept such “official” invitations.

Soon after, the band realized that the Marcos regime had rarely heard “no” from anyone–and there would be consequences. Imelda Marcos was infuriated when she found out that her grand planned party of 200 guests would not include the Beatles as special guests. Interestingly enough, the Philippine television and radio stations broadcast the snub. Shortly after, all of the Beatles security police suddenly disappeared. Epstein called for an interview, trying to make an apology on Chanel 5 at the Manila Hotel. But when his interview was about to be aired, the state-controlled channel blacked out.

Let It Be
The Beatles

When I find myself in times of trouble, Mother Mary comes to me
Speaking words of wisdom, let it be
And in my hour of darkness she is standing right in front of me
Speaking words of wisdom, let it be
Let it be, let it be, let it be, let it be
Whisper words of wisdom, let it be

And when the broken hearted people living in the world agree
There will be an answer, let it be
For though they may be parted, there is still a chance that they will see
There will be an answer, let it be
Let it be, let it be, let it be, let it be
There will be an answer, let it be
Let it be, let it be, let it be, let it be
Whisper words of wisdom, let it be
Let it be, let it be, let it be, let it be
Whisper words of wisdom, let it be

And when the night is cloudy there is still a light that shines on me
Shine until tomorrow, let it be
I wake up to the sound of music, Mother Mary comes to me
Speaking words of wisdom, let it be
Let it be, let it be, let it be, yeah, let it be
There will be an answer, let it be
Let it be, let it be, let it be, yeah, let it be
Whisper words of wisdom, let it be

Songwriters: John Lennon / Paul McCartney
Let It Be lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC

Guess Who’s Coming To Dinner?

Posted on by under Global Issues, Political commentary, Social commentary

“My order is shoot to kill you. I don’t care about human rights, you better believe me.” – Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte

Last October I wrote a post about Philippine President Rodrigo Roa Duterte. At that time, he had been in office just over three months, and already across the globe, human rights groups, world leaders, and the United Nations had concerns about him and his presidency.  He had sanctioned the killing of thousands in his country by vigilante groups, supposedly as a means of eradicating drug dealers, but those killed were only suspected or reported to have ties to the drug world.  There was no documented evidence in most cases, and none were given the benefit of a trial.  Duterte was offering medals and rewards for citizens who killed a person suspected of dealing in drugs, saying, “Do your duty, and if in the process you kill 1,000 persons because you were doing your duty, I will protect you. If you know of any addicts, go ahead and kill them yourself as getting their parents to do it would be too painful. I don’t care about human rights, believe me.”

Back in December, when the death toll by police and vigilantes had risen to at least 4,500, Trump praised Duterte in a telephone call, telling him he was “ … doing it the right way. I could sense a good rapport, an animated President-elect Trump. And he was wishing me success in my campaign against the drug problem,” claimed Duterte.

Last Saturday, Donald Trump once again called Duterte and they had what Trump described as a “very friendly conversation”. It is reported that the two discussed topics including North Korea and “the fact that the Philippine government is fighting very hard to rid its country of drugs.” And then Trump invited Duterte for an official state visit to the White House. Human Rights Watch  is urging the United Nations to open an independent investigation into the massive deaths of mostly poor citizens in the Philippines.  They are more than a little concerned over Trump’s praise and invitation.

“Countries with bilateral ties to the Philippines, particularly the United States, have an obligation to urge accountability for the victims of Duterte’s abusive drug war, rather than offer to roll out the red carpet for official state visits by its mastermind,” said Phelim Kine, deputy director of Human Rights Watch’s Asia division.

John Sifton, Human Rights Watch’s Asia advocacy director, said that “speaking glowingly” of a president who has bragged about the deaths of his own citizens while remaining silent about concerns over human rights violations sends a “terrifying message.” “It says to the world that illegal violence is legitimate and that the rule of law and human rights can be ignored. This is a message in the language of thugs and criminals, not government servants who take an oath to protect their citizens and laws.”

Last year, when President Obama expressed concern about the high number of deaths early in September, Duterte lashed out, calling Obama a “son of a whore”, leading President Obama to cancel a scheduled meeting between the two leaders. In October, Mr. Duterte called for a “separation” between the Philippines and the United States. “America has lost now. I’ve realigned myself in your ideological flow.” A spokesperson for the White House says that Trump is merely trying to mend fences between the two nations.

trump-duterteOn Sunday, Trump’s aides were scrambling in an effort to justify Trump’s invitation.  Chief of Staff Reince Priebus defended Trump’s praise of Duterte on Sunday, saying the president’s top priority is addressing the threat of North Korea and partnering with countries in Southeast Asia:

“There is nothing right now facing this country and facing the region that is a bigger threat than what’s happening in North Korea. If we don’t have all of our folks together — whether they’re good folks, bad folks, people we wish would do better in their country, doesn’t matter, we’ve got to be on the same page”

And then on Monday morning, there was Sean Spicer, in his usual stumbling, bumbling manner, had this to say:

spicer-air-quotes“I mean, the president gets fully briefed on the leaders that he’s speaking to, obviously, but the No. 1 concern of this president is to make sure that we do everything we can to protect our people — and specifically to economically and diplomatically isolate North Korea. And I think when you look at what he is doing in terms of building that coalition of countries in that region to do it, I think this is hopefully gonna have — I mean, I’m not gonna tell you every single thing that’s in his brief, but he’s well aware of when he speaks with a leader, he gets briefed on a lot about what they’re doing, what they’ve done. That’s all part of the brief.”

Some days I really feel sorry for Sean.

According to the New York Times (30 April), “The State Department and National Security Council were “caught off guard” by Trump’s controversial invitation to Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte,” though an administration spokesperson later denied this.

duterteAs of April, Philippines police had killed 2,500 people, and vigilantes had killed 3,600 people. These were not murderers, were not convicted of any crime.  Some may have actually been drug users or dealers, most were likely merely innocent civilians.  None were given the benefit of a trial, merely murdered.  The situation in the Philippines is being monitored by human rights groups, the United Nations, and the Interenational Criminal Court (ICC).

Trump’s praise and the invitation are disturbing, to say the least.  One must wonder if Trump plans to get some ‘tips and pointers’ from Duterte.  It is disconcerting and not a move I would have advised, nor one that I like to see.  Thinking about the leaders that Trump has praised, we have the following partial list:

  • Trump has repeatedly praised Putin, a dictator, and as has been discussed at length on this blog, has numerous ties to Putin and the Russian government.
  • Last month, Trump called Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan to congratulate him on the passing of the referendum that greatly increases Erdoğan’s power and jeopardizes the democracy of Turkey.
  • Trump complimented Chinese President Xi Jinping, who has curtailed free speech and locked up political dissidents.
  • Trump has spoken warmly of the Egyptian leader, Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, who seized power in a military coup.

Yet he has disparaged and insulted our allies and friends, saying he neither needs nor wants friends abroad. Among those he has offended:

  • Angela Merkel, Chancellor of Germany
  • Malcolm Turnbull, Prime Minister of Australia
  • Justin Trudeau, Prime Minister of Canada
  • Hassan Rouhani, President of Iran
  • Enrique Peña Nieto, President of Mexico
  • Stefan Löfven, Prime Minister of Sweden
  • Erna Solberg, Prime Minister of Norway

duterte-companyTrump’s propensity to embrace more autocratic, despotic leaders while offending allies is gravely concerning.  In addition to the above lists, Trump threw his support behind such recent populist candidates as Norbert Hofer (Austria), Geert Wilders (the Netherlands), and is now supportive of the candidacy of populist French candidate Marine Le Pen.

“Be wary of the company you keep for they are a reflection of who you are, or who you want to be.” – Kenneth G. Ortiz