Category Archives: Law Enforcement

Business, Economy, International, Law Enforcement

CANADA TO PHILIPPINES: RETURNS NOT ACCEPTED ON GARBAGE EXPORT

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trashOntario, Canada (The Adobo Chronicles) – A total of fifty 40-foot container vans of garbage recently arrived in Manila’s International Container Port.  It was supposed to be an export of scrap plastic materials for recycling, consigned to a Metro Manila trading firm by a Canadian company identified as Chronic Plastics.

It turns out that the shipment contained mostly toxic garbage, and was in violation of the Philippines’ Tariff and Customs Code, better known as the “Toxic Substances and Hazardous Wastes Control Act of 1990.”

Alerts were promptly issued on the shipment because the consignee had submitted incorrect documents for the importation, which has a declared value of over $220,000.

Ariel Nepomuceno, customs deputy commissioner for enforcement, warned “this junk dumped in the Philippines could pose biohazard risks to our people.”

Both the Bureau of Customs and the consignee firm have asked the Canadian shipper to take back the garbage.  However, Chronic Plastics laughed the request off, saying that it has a policy of “No return, no exchange.”

A spokesperson for Chronic Plastics said that all sales are final, especially for garbage waste.  “The only way we can accept a return is if the Philippines can assure us that the return shipment will be in the exact same condition as when it first left the Canadian port,” he said.

That doesn’t seem to be possible, as it was reported that garbage juice is now leaking from the container vans.  It’s been sitting for almost a year now at the Customs container yard and shipping it back to Canada will take another 3 months.

Food, Law Enforcement

OKRA IS NOW ILLEGAL IN THE U.S.

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imageAtlanta, Georgia (The Adobo Chronicles) – Okra, that bright green and slimy vegetable which is a main ingredient in the Filipino dish pinakbet and that popular fried delicacy in many U.S. southern states, has just been declared illegal by the American government.

Georgia police raided a retired Atlanta man’s garden last Wednesday after a helicopter crew with the Governor’s Task Force for Drug Suppression spotted suspicious-looking plants on the man’s property. A heavily-armed K9 unit arrived and discovered that the plants were, in fact, okra bushes.

“Okra looks a lot like marijuana (cannabis) plants so they have to be confiscated or destroyed and their owners prosecuted,” a spokesperson for the Georgia police told reporters.

Okra growers in California and other states were shocked at the new government policy and are planning a million march in Washington, D.C. sometime this month which happens to be Filipino American Heritage Month.

“No one can take away my pinakbet from me,” said Juan dela Cruz, an 88 year-old World War II Filipino veteran who lives in Delano, California.

Law Enforcement, Politics, The Media

FCC TO BAN THE TERM ‘REDNECKS’ FROM THE AIRWAVES

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Grammy Award-winner Gretchen Wilson, 'Redneck Woman'
Grammy Award-winner Gretchen Wilson, ‘Redneck Woman’

Washington, D.C. (The Adobo Chronicles) – Just hours after the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) announced it will consider banning the term ‘Redskins’ from the airwaves, Commissioner Tom Wheeler said  it will do the same for the term ‘Rednecks.’

Redskins, of course, is the name of the NFL football team which Native Americans and other advocacy groups consider to be offensive and derogatory.  There has been extensive debate in the media as well as in the sports and political arenas about the continued use of the name by the Washington, D.C. team.

The term Redneck is often used to describe a rural poor white person of the Southern United States. It can be a derogatory slang term similar in meaning to ‘cracker,’  ‘hillbilly,’ and ‘white trash.’ In the mid-1970’s, the term had expanded in meaning to refer to ‘a bigoted and conventional person, a loutish ultra-conservative.’ It is often used to attack white Southern conservatives. At the same time, some white Southerners have reclaimed the word, using it with pride and defiance as a self-identifier.

The FCC said it will soon conduct public hearings in America’s heartland, to determine whether to ban the term ‘Rednecks’ from all broadcasts. “The FCC is certainly sensitive to populations that are offended by any and all terms used in the broadcast industry,” said Wheeler.

One person that is sure to attend the public hearings to oppose the ban is Grammy Award-winner Gretchen Wilson whose 2004 debut song  ‘Redneck Woman’ won the ‘Best Female Country Vocal Performance in 2005.

Meanwhile, the Asian American Journalists Association is reportedly preparing a petition for the FCC to ban all terms and references that are offensive to Asians and Asian Americans, including ‘Jap,’ ‘Chink’ and ‘Gook.’