OFFBEAT MAIL

Today, I read an article in the Opinion page of the L.A. Times, whereby a certain character (never had a chance to know his real profession), had ventured out into the nation's 50 states, doing some dishwashing work for various restaurants across the country. Indeed, it was feat that only few could muster enough courage and determination to do it. Unless, you want to survive, you are left without a choice but to do it, even if it is against your will. In the book review, he was identified as Pete Jordan, a San Francisco resident who earned the nickname as the King of the Dish Pit. But his feat was finally rewarded after he was able to publish a 358-page memoir out of his experiences from washing dishes in the different states. His book is entitled "Dishwasher" was published by HarperPerennial and it now out in the market. Why do some people have to suffer first before they could finally come up with a veritable topic to develop? In many instances, bad experience is always...

A sad reality, indeed, to know that some four million Iraqi refugees have yet to find a better place to migrate. And the question always boils down as to who caused these refugees to go astray? Isn't it the unrest and wars now going on in some countries in Africa and the Middle East? Most popular among them are the on-going chaos in Darfur, Iraq and Palestine, which already displaced millions of families and at most, killed tens of thousands more innocent people. These refugees are the victims of politics and greed. While the politicians in the U.S. Congress are debating as to whether to cut funding for the soldiers or not; and the illegal immigration issues, between 30,000 to 50,000 Iraqi refugees are driven out of their homes for fear of being killed, a Los Angeles Times editorial said in today's issue. Darfur, in south Sudan, is another place that was transformed from a lethargic to what is now a chaotic killing field caused by the in-fighting between the Janjaweed militias ...

Every weekend, the laminated table at the far end of the kitchen of an old bungalow along Moneta Avenue serves as a favorite rendezvous. They are not holding a closed door meeting, so they say. Instead, they are there to while away the time, not exercising but playing a card game, now becoming an inseparable part of their lives. The players, comprising mostly of veteran pensioners, wouldn't start until the table is complete by calling each of them to their favorite rendezvous. But the game doesn't start until after lunch time, when everybody has eaten their meals. That would free the host from preparing anything for them to eat anymore. To most of them, each session proves to be another way of learning from each other new tricks of the game, plus the sharing of the latest news developments at home. Here, they learn to trade jokes and share solutions to family-related problems. One of the couples, who happened to be witnessing the game, said that they are not in good terms with ...

Heavy dependence on costly imported oil and gas is fast draining the economic coffers of most developing economies. Yet, most Third World government continue to import fossil fuels to run their various industries. Officials said this is their only way to keep up with the rest of the world. Otherwise, the economic lifeblood of these nations will grind to a halt. But what is disgusting about the issue is that developing countries continue to ignore the importance of alternative energy resources, which are much cleaner and safe to use. In China, most heavy industries use coal-fired power plants to produce goods both for domestic use and exports. But the negative impacts on China and the rest of its neighboring environments are tremendous. Right now, air pollution in China is a topic that cannot be ignored. To the Chinese officials, using coal to run their manufacturing plants is much cheaper to use. Instead of exhausting their oil resources, China had to export them in exchange for much-n...

It is frustrating to see how some, if not many, of the immigration rallyists were subjected to harsh treatment by the members of the Los Angeles Police Department. The United States is a country that strictly subscribes to the tenets of international human rights. But last Tuesday's event, wherein thousands of people marched through the downtown L.A. to showcase their grievances over the snailpaced process by which the comprehensive immigration bill is being tackled, appeared to have gone out of control. As a result, LAPD chief William Bratton has ordered investigation as to how the situation got out of hand. For him, the TV footages that showed how his officers dispersed the immigration rallyists by using batons and some 240 less-than-lethal rounds to the demonstrators and mediamen. He called these tactics "inappropriate." What happened during that day was no different from any Third World country's demonstrations where the police oftentimes overreacted to uncalled c...