The hidden brand in the cabinet

"Shamans Witches Magic" by Hidden in plain view

And there's villians in their closets and theives beneath their beds
And business men in mirrors with guns against their heads
Stepstools beneath their ankles nooses tied around their throats
Sharpening their switchblades and sighting in our scopes
Singing no one sleeps tonight till everything is burned and everyone is sacrificed
No one sleeps tonight till everything is burned and everyone is
Maxing out their credit cards on ammuntion
They're polishing their rifles and they're polishing their guns
cause the church is drenched in fire Town hall's under attack
They put the hostages the mayor and councilmen they got knives against their backs
No one sleeps tonight till everything is burned and everyone is sacrificed
No one sleeps tonight till everything is burned and everyone is sacrificed
And to saves our souls or what's left of them
Who we are is all we are
Desperation shows our pain
And so they sing And they sing it loud and they sing it
Clearly For their faith Whats left of the dreams we have?
Whats left of the hope we have?Nothing, nothing at all

And its been set. 2 houses of evil (innocently disguised as integrated resorts) to be built; one in the heart of Singapore and another in Sentosa. The "experimental" fever is spreading across the board. First it started with a revision of the education system; the see-saw drama of tweaking the Chinese syllabus (it ensues with this latest addition: PSLE students being able to bring in chinese dictionaries), then to redundant categorisation of movie types, followed by Sentosa's misguided future (so will it be a place for living--Sentosa Cove OR a Sailing hub OR a Casino paradise OR a resort OR a sunbathing mecca OR a historical landmark OR a .....) The list goes on and on.

Sentosa is just an island or a "sub-island" considering Singapore is an island itself and it seems somewhat ridiculous that a country's future and hopes lies in the soil of a "sub-island". So many ideas and development mounted on Pulau-Singapura-Kecil. Even if it manages to attract a large volume of tourists, would the island sink under the weight of all the tourists, gamblers, yatcht lovers, beach lovers, residents,etc ? Reclaimation isn't a solution in the long-run no doubt. So much for dissing.

However, being a patriot and a law-abiding citizen, I do not doubt the great minds of the people's party but i can only hate myself for being so short-sighted. Perhaps I've really failed to see the benefits of all these but it simply doesn't jusitfy the construction of 2 x IRs. Whatever social costs, moral-value-at-risk concerns that we can all cough out, we can never fight "35 000 jobs". Even tears were shed at the crossroads of decision. Singapore is too small and the only way to sustain is to improve and come up with ways of tackling the modern global market untill the day we dig deep enough to discover gold/oil?

Its so so heart-warming to learn about the various measures SO meticulously thought up such as having a "ministry" to curb compulsive gambling habits amongst citizens, educating our people the ills of gambling(albeit the fact that casinos may just draw all the 4-D/lottery sweep fanatics into the pits),imposing a $100 entry fee for each local gambling enthusiast. Sometimes i wonder if the 35 000 jobs include that of police officers so that the job of nabbing loansharks wouldn't be too overwhleming.(Oh and Crime Watch will soon be on telecast from monthly to weekly and then to a daily basis; revolving around the same theme over n over again--"LOANSHARKS") Hmmm...so does it also mean that the local Soccer scene will soon fade out and left in the doldrums since all the gamblers might have spent all their bucks paying the entry fees and gambling in the prestigious IRs. One thing for sure, thankfully, Charity foundations will continue to benefit and maybe much more than now. Ok, this adds on to the "35 000 jobs" but still....im doubtful about the IRs.

One moment they are talking about endangering social values and the next, 2 IRs are in the pipeline. One moment it was Chinese Syllabus B and the next, Chinese is out. One moment Sentosa is a posh sailing hub and the next, it is a casino.

Regardless of all these doubts and questions, one thing for sure...we all know the favourite brand of mist in the cabinet ("Contradiction" by Calvin Klein).