OFFBEAT MAIL

At least 50,000 people showed up Tuesday at the late pop singer Michael Jackson's memorial service held at the Los Angeles Staples Center. However, only 17,000 people with tickets would be allowed to attend the said event. The Los Angeles Police Department ( LAPD ) has warned that those who couldn't show any ticket and the access wristband at all will be barred from gaining entry at the memorial service. At this time, LAPD has already barricaded the Olympic Blvd., Flower Street, and Pico Street surrounding the Staples Center where the King of Pop's memorial service will take place. However, thousands of fans have expressed interest to attend the memorial service, despite the LAPD's warning. Many of them have come from far away places to pay their last respect to their singing idol who passed away 12 days ago by amassing around the Staples Center. At the same time, almost all media entities around the world have already positioned themselves close to the Staples Cent...

Today is the fourth of July, the celebration of American independence . Something inevitable goes with it as an inseparable part of commemorating this memorable day. Of course, public eyes can see how this transformation took place many decades ago until it was totally ingrained in the minds of most Americans as an integral part of their political history. In almost all parts of the country, all kinds of fireworks materials are displayed for sale at strategic points as allowed by the authorities. Not just anybody can sell fireworks without first getting a permit from the local government where it has jurisdiction over the business. I'm reminded of how we celebrate independence day in my own country.The only stark difference here is that while American got its independence from Britain many years back, my country got its independence from the United States, which liberated the country during the Japanese time and placed us as one of its trust territories in the Asia-Pacific Rim...

Public option on the health insurance issue is taking so much ride among the people. But nobody is sure if the US legislators, particularly the conservatives , will ever support it. However, what bogs most people right now is the way the issue on public option is being discussed. Everybody knows that more than 70 percent of the people, even those with private insurance, are convinced that the single payee system is most appropriate at this time when most Americans are hard up on how to make both ends meet. What is surprising, however, is how come even some democrats do not seem to listen to the call of President Obama to support the public option on health care. This leads to some nasty thinking that may be some mysterious things are taking place, which are beyond anyone's imagination. For example, some Republicans are saying that resorting to public option will result in the derailment of some private insurance companies, which will be expected to be out of business once the pub...

A new twist came through in the death of the late pop singer/entertainer Michael Jackson after the latter's personal doctor was taken into custody by the Los Angeles Police detectives for further questioning. Las Vegas-based Dr. Conrad Murray, however, wasn't considered as a suspect in the death of the pop singer, but a mere witness for him to shed light on the circumstances surrounding the fatal cardiac arrest that brought Jackson to the UCLA Medical Center in Los Angeles where doctors failed to revive him on Thursday. As news reports developed, thousands of fans have continued to flock without letup to bring fresh flowers at the singer's walk of fame section in Hollywood Blvd. and his Neverland property, now foreclosed by the banks. While others showed up to pay their last respect to their singing idol. Some of those who came cried, while others were filled with remorse. Jackson was expected to hold his last concert in London when he suffered his sad fate. As a show of su...

Many years back, I went to Bali as part of the Philippine media team that covered the ASEAN Economic Summit there. One of the agenda in that summit was an agreement that would allow ASEAN citizens, particularly professionals and other skilled workers to work in any of the ASEAN-member countries within the region. In the same summit, Japan had even agreed in principle to allow foreign workers from ASEAN to fill up its impending labor shortage. The willingness of Japan to soften its hardline stance to allow foreign workers to come in was a welcome move on the part of the ASEAN member countries. Perhaps, it was Japan's role to share in the ASEAN's program of strenthening its trades in goods and services within the region itself. The Philippines, for one, is expected to benefit from this latest development. In fact, President Arroyo already went to work it out with the Japanese government on the possibility of fulfilling its previous commitment that would pave the way for Filipino ...

The World Health Organization has released its latest statistics on countries that were affected by the swine flu virus. As of June 15, 2009, 76 countries have officially been reported to have contracted 35,928 cases of the H1N1 flu infection. This resulted in the deaths of at least 163 people. The breakdown of the number of laboratory-confirmed cases by country is given in cumulative total: Argentina-343 cases with 0 death; Australia-1823, with 0 death; Austria-7 and 0 death; Canada-2978 with 4 deaths; Chile-1694 with 2 deaths; China-318 with 0 death; Colombia-42 with 1 death; Costa Rica-104 with 1 death; Dominican Republic-93 with 1 death; Ecuador-80 with 0 death; El Salvador-95 with 0 death; France-80 with 0 death; Germany-170 with 0 death; Guatemala-119 with 1 death; Honduras-89 with 0 death; India-16 with 0 death; Ireland-12 with 0 death; Israel-117 with 0 death; Italy-67 with 0 death; Japan-605 with 0 death; Republic of Korea-65 with 0 death; Kuwait- 18 with 0 death; Mexico-6241 ...

In six weeks time, the US Congress is expected to deliberate on a serious problem that now haunts at least 48 millions Americans without health insurance. Already, President Obama personally wrote a letter addressed to Sen. Ted Kennedy to fix the problem, the MSNBC's Ed Show revealed today. President Obama's appeal to the healthcare committee in Congress came in the wake of reports that 62 percent of Americans had filed bankruptcy protection in various courts because of high medical expenses that they incurred during and after confinement in various hospitals across the country. This joint research study was undertaken by the Harvard Law School and the Harvard Medical School in February 2005, which involved some 1,771 individuals who filed for bankruptcy. According to Prof. Elizabeth Warren of Harvard Law School, "both doctors and lawyers care about how healthcare is financed, but it was only when we put our heads together that we could probe further. She went to say that...