Botched coup bid in Philippines ends

Botched coup bid in Philippines ends
By Karen Lema and Raju Gopalakrishnan

MANILA (Reuters) - Philippine military and police teams stormed a luxury hotel in Manila on Thursday to end a short-lived coup attempt by a small group of soldiers and others who had called on the army to mutiny.

Government forces fired teargas into the lobby of the Manila Peninsula Hotel and used an armored personnel carrier (APC) to batter down its glass doors before storming in under cover of repeated bursts of fire in the air. There were no casualties.

The rebel soldiers, a senator and a handful of priests who had occupied the plush icon in the sprawling city of 12 million people surrendered and were arrested.

"We are going out for the sake of the safety of everybody," their leader Senator Antonio Trillanes earlier told reporters. "For your sake, because we will not live with our conscience if some of you get hurt or get killed in the crossfire. We cannot afford that."

It was the latest in a series of coup attempts to plague the Southeast Asian nation since dictator Ferdinand Marcos was ousted two decades ago.

Thursday's drama attracted hundreds of curious onlookers, but no one voiced any support for those inside the hotel, and there were no reports of unrest within the military.

Most of the guests had been evacuated before the assault, but over 100 people, including hotel staff and journalists, were caught in the midst of the action.

Trillanes, who led a failed mutiny in 2003 against President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo and was elected to the upper house in May, was hauled away in plastic wrist restraints.
Fellow mutineers, including around two dozen soldiers, a priest and a retired bishop, were also arrested along with scores of journalists.

Authorities said the journalists would be freed after identity checks.

"The wrong ways of some does not speak well for the nation or the armed forces and the police," Arroyo said in a brief television address. "Just like before, we will impose the full force of the law strictly and without favor."

LATEST COUP ATTEMPT
The drama started when Trillanes and some other soldiers walked out of their own trial for the 2003 mutiny, escorted by guards assigned to keep them from escaping.

They marched to the Peninsula Hotel in Manila's Makati financial district and took over the building, calling for the overthrow of Arroyo.

"We have been witness and victims of the kind of ruthlessness this administration is giving to the people. Now, like soldiers we are going to face this," Trillanes told reporters, when asked if he was ready to face fresh charges over this incident.

Journalists trying to do live phone-ins spluttered and covered their faces with handkerchiefs as the tear gas rose from the lobby to higher floors.

Government forces closed down virtually the entire Makati area, and surrounded the Peninsula with troops and trucks. Five armored personnel carriers were used in the assault on the hotel.
The rebel soldiers, who had earlier stopped people from leaving the hotel lobby as a 3 p.m. (0700 GMT) deadline for them to end their mutiny passed, later relented and let them go.
"I haven't been to bed yet," said Dave Anderson from Anchorage, Alaska, who had flown in overnight to Manila.

"They came and beat on my door and told me to leave by 3 p.m. They told me to take my bags, so here I am sitting in the lobby because I can't go out," he said before being allowed to leave.
Arroyo, deeply unpopular due to long-running corruption allegations, has survived at least two coup plots and three impeachment bids because the jaded middle class is sick of political instability, and she has a huge majority in the lower house.

She has also been buoyed by a strong economy.
The stock market and the peso currency pared earlier gains on the soldiers' actions but the main index still finished up 1.17 percent and has risen nearly 20 percent this year.
The peso is Asia's top performing currency, up 14.80 percent since the start of 2007.
"It hurts the whole country," said Vivian Yuchengco, a director of the Philippine Stock Exchange. "People like that should be thrown in jail."

The government imposed a curfew from midnight to 5 a.m. in Manila and two surrounding regions on Friday, a government holiday. Officials called it a precautionary measure.
Markets were unlikely to be much affected when they reopen on Monday, barring any further unrest, economic analysts said.

(Additional reporting by Rosemarie Francisco and Manny Mogato; Editing by Carmel Crimmins and Jerry Norton)

Steadfast & Immovable - Help Me!!!!

For those of you who don't know - I'm a young women's leader at our church. Our new theme this year comes from (Mosiah 5:15) which says, "Be steadfast and immovable, always abounding in good works."

I'm the one in charge of what we call "New Beginnings" this year. Basically, it's a night where we welcome the new young women and present the new theme. No big deal, right? But you guys know me... when asked to bake cupcakes, I take fully decorated ones. I'm a glutton for punishment maybe, but I like to call it being a perfectionist. (Man, I wish that part of perfection would visit my kitchen for a day!) So, I'm looking for what jumps into your head and is Steadfast and Immovable. I have some great ideas relating to the stars curtosy of JennyPhillips.com but just thought I'd see what else you guys thought.

For anyone that is familiar with the Book of Mormon, Mosiah 5:15 is during the King Benjamin address - which I LOVE LOVE LOVE. How possible do you think it would be to kinda re-make King Benjamin's address for our New Beginnings? We could have each family set up a tent in the cultural hall and get a really charismatic speaker to read King Benjamin's address (or parts of it). I'm not sure where I'm going with this... I'm brainstorming as I'm blogging - a dangerous combination? Maybe we could continue the 'camping' part of King Benjamin's address into a whole blown out theme for the night. We could make smores at the end... mmmm, smores. Hmmm, I'll have to think more about this idea. Right now I have no idea how I'd tie the rest of it (the Personal Progress, theme, etc) into the camping bit. Ideas?

Ok, this is the part where you email me or leave a comment and let me know what you're thinking. I'm in serious need of help! What besides the stars is steadfast and immovable? (and hopefully a way that we could tie in good works too) What about the camping idea? HELP!!

Things that Motherhood Changes

As I watched my daughter puke all over both of us and methodically tried to figure out how to keep her calm while also plotting how to get both of us to the bathroom, undressed, and de-pukified (yep, I'm saying it's a word) while NOT getting puke on anything else, I realized - this is definitely something that has changed since becoming a mother.

Of course, there is the obvious - before becoming a mom I didn't normally have puke on me, let alone someone sitting on my lap puking directly onto my chest, stomach, and legs. Hmmm, yeah, I can't remember the last time that vomit actually touched me before Sophie was born. I was never one to drink and get sick, or for that matter have someone else drink and get sick around me. I very rarely vomit when I'm ill (although there was a food poisoning incident maybe two years back, but NEVER would it actually make contact with my skin! eeeewwwwww). But I think that I would need both hands (and perhaps feet) to count the number of times in the last 17 months that I have been puked on.

Secondly IF I were ever to come in contact with vomit BS (before Sophie) I very probably would have officially freaked out. Now, I'm thinking.... "hmmm, do I let it soak in a little so that it doesn't slide off my jeans and onto the couch when I get up? What can I use to soak it up? Oh yeah, my nice throw blanket, yeah, that'll do the trick." It must be that when you become a parent, auto pilot takes over during those really disgusting moments (vomit, poop, pee, blood, etc). I can't say that it's the most marketable skill (unless perhaps you're in Mallory's profession), but it sure comes in handy at home.

So it got my thinking, what else changes when you become a mom/dad? Well, besides the fact that my tummy resembles a silvery target courtesy of my sexy stretch marks, here are some of the first things that jumped into my head:

*I never had conversations about poo. No, seriously - never. Now, seriously all the time. Has she? How much? What kind? blah blah blah

*I am totally enraged by the news. If some of the people that they cover stories on were at my front door, I wouldn't hesitate to pull out my .38 Smith and Wesson 6 round revolver... what I did with it would depend on whether they decided to leave walking or running.

*I respect my parents so much more. I remember being young... How they allowed me to make my own path and decisions is beyond me. How I lived to get past my bratty stage is also beyond me.

*I love to be spontaneous - pick up and go do something fun, travel, explore. I still love to, as long as we're home by 7:30 so I can give S a bath and put her to bed.

*My house is no longer littered with Oprah's book club books and recently released movies. Now you have to find your way through the dolls and board books. My reading material has definitely changed. While I still enjoy good fiction reads, I read way more non-fiction stuff: 'Solve your child's sleep problems,' ' what to expect the first year,' 'sign with your baby,' etc.

Random Update

My random update - or should I say Sophie's....

Sophie's new favorite food lately is sundried tomatoe and mozzarella cheese crackers (store brand at Walmart). She loves them so much that anytime I put her in the highchair or booster seat (which is currently being used as a play toy and step onto the couch since coming home from Denver) she automatically says "cack-r".

She's also starting to get her k-9 teeth (is that the proper term? It makes it sound like she's actually sprouting dog teeth). Of course bone pushing through skin equals fussy baby. She does not like to use teethers, frozen washcloths or bagels, or anything else that people that recommended. She does like to chew on the Ambisol tube.

Sophie continues to learn signs pretty quickly. I have made a personalized sign book for her - pictures of the object (both cartoon and real) and a picture of mommy or daddy doing the sign - BUT they remain unprinted.... I should really get on that. Anyway, her more recent new signs are: bath, bear, cheese, bunny... I'm forgetting one.

She's also learned how to get up and down our small slide by herself. :) She's so big! She has trouble getting her second foot going forward down the slide, so most of the time she's got one leg in front of her, one behind her.



We have a considerable amount of leaves in the backyard so we went and played around in them. Sophie thought the sound was great. I'm waiting till this weekend to rake them so that daddy can be here (he's currently in KY, his old mission grounds) and watch her play in the pile of leaves - the best part of fall!!

We needed a new picture of mommy and Sophie. This one I took just in our hallway and it turned out pretty good. We're having family pictures done in a week or so, hopefully they turn out good too.

Conflict in Manila

SCARRRRYYYY

Any of you who have read my blog entries for a little bit now know that Aaron just got back from Manila and Cebu (Philippines). The southern portion of the country is highly muslim and the country has had it's share of trouble in the past and currently. While Aaron was there, there was talk of a coup to oust the current president by the military. However, president Arroyo brought in more forces from the rural areas into Manila and nothing really happened. (To read more about the previous coup attempt in 2006, see here: http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1167191,00.html)

But today it got worse. Just awhile ago, a bomb exploded at the House of Representatives, killing Wahab Akbar, a congressman who supported the War on Terror and his driver. They don't know for sure yet, but suspect that the bomb was placed by a muslim extremist group. Akbar had previously been a member of a muslim rebel group but then signed a peace accord with the government in 1996 and became a law-maker. He since has been targeted by the Abu Sayyaf Muslim extremist group. Here is a link to the story: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21767761/

I am SO grateful that Aaron was not in Manila when this happened! It scares me to let him go back (he has 4 trips to the Philippines planned for next year). I realize that it is probably a small percentage of a chance that anything would happen, but I can't imagine that if he did run across a muslim extremists, that they would be very happy to see an American businessman. Not to mention that his company, Sykes, is an American owned company. I am so greatful for my country, my religion, and my blessings!

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween! :) We hope that your holiday was full of fun! I think next year will be even more fun for us as Sophie will be old enough to go Trick-or-Treating. This year, she was the cutest little butterfly you ever saw :) (but I'm not biased or anything!)

Uncle Todd Came to Play :)

Last week my brother Todd came down from Denver. It was so nice to see him (I think the last time that I saw him was Dec last year) and Sophie loved playing with him! It takes her a bit to warm up to new people - especially men for some reason (I'm guessing it's b/c she's with me or Grandma all the time) - but it didn't take her too long and she was playing with Uncle Todd. He is so great with her!

GRRRRRRRRRRRRR!

Silly Uncle Todd! :)