OFFBEAT MAIL

Thousands of California-based Filipino-American veterans of the Second World War have expressed gratitude over the federal government's concerted action which granted them at least $15,000 each in equity compensation starting last week. In fact, many of those based in Carson, California, where a large number of these veterans are concentrated, have started receiving their notices from the US Veterans Administration (USVA), which are proof that the money that they are supposed to get for a long time had been finally approved for release. Jesus Belicano and Richard Ongsotto, Jr. , who belonged to the Philippine Scout during the war and now U.S. citizens, have expressed high hopes that they could finally go for a short vacation to the Philippines once they receive their equity compensation from the government. However, until now both are still waiting for those letter notices to become "cash". The same is through with Ildefonso Quibin, a native of Isabela province in norther...

Time and again, several commercial airplane crashes had been reported. They were not only caused by human errors but by the inevitable forces of nature. But one this is seriously alarming is the presence of high flying birds which was reportedly blamed for most of the accidents that resulted in the deaths of many people. Despite these negative developments, the federal government can only do so much by enforcing air transportation laws that are effective and practical. In fact, appropriate solutions to these problems had been made. But accidents are accidents and there's nothing we can do about them. Perhaps, the only best solution is to ensure that commercial planes are properly inspected and checked before flight. But accidents do happen in the most unexpected moments. Reports had it that some of the plane crashes were caused by birds which are sucked by the planes' engines in mid-air thus resulting in the failure of the plane's engine to conk out. I knew it sounds silly ...

Early next year, President Barack Obama is expected to tackle the hotly-debated immigration reform issue. But reviving the sensitive issue on the failed comprehensive immigration reform is already simmering into the atmosphere. In fact, some sectors are already going gaga by spewing with all types of negative reactions against the possibility of legalizing millions of illegal immigrants in this country. Some of the comments insisted that legalizing millions of illegal immigrants would snatch Americans of their present jobs, considering they already hurt labor markets brought about by the present economic recession. No question about that. However, I still believed that most of those doing those dirty jobs right now are being done by many illegal immigrants whose only intention is to survive the dog-eat-dog competition in the labor market, where many Americans don't want to do. To claim that these people are snatching jobs from Americans is not reasonable at all. Why be insecured i...