Supporters of the controversial provision said it would overturn a 60-year-old law and give 18,000 Filipino veterans of World War II who live abroad a roughly US$300-a-month pension.

Sadly, it’s a bit too late for the majority of Filipino Veterans who have passed on.

I was five when I learned of my grandfather’s story during World War II. A local San Francisco Bay Area news reporter, Wendy Tokuda, came to interview my grandfather about his experience. It was during this television interview that I learned of my grandfather’s bravery. My grandfather enlisted when he was 18 to fight against the Japanese in World War II. He was a cook in the Navy, because at that time most minorities were given these types of jobs. But it wasn’t the job that became so interesting for the news reporter. It was what the Navy asked my grandfather to do. In 1945, they ordered him and a number of other soldiers to stand on the bow of their ship and look at the water. They were told to look at the ocean along the horizon. A few minutes later, a bright light flashed and a mushroom cloud formed. The navy conducted tests on my grandfather to study the affects of nuclear blasts and radiation on their soldiers.

I understood why my grandfather wore thick glass-bottled lenses. I understood why he had trouble seeing his later years in life. But I never understood why he was still so proud to have served in the Navy, after what the military and government had done. To his last dying day he was proud to be a Filipino Veteran. He looked upon his duty with honor, without remorse or regret.

The bill’s passing is honorable, and it’s welcomed. But for most it’s a bit too late. But even if it came many years after, I’m sure if my grandfather was here today, he would still stand and salute and would have been ever so proud to have served.

It’s been some time since I’ve found time to write a post worthy of your time. A friend of mine sent this to me today, and I was rolling on the floor laughing. This video shows a caucasian male teaching you how to cook Chicken Adobo. To say that his pronunciation is a tad off is a bit of an understatement, but I do give him props for trying. His recipe for cooking adobe isn’t bad at all. I think I’ll give it a shot, without using the accent.

Thousands of Filipino immigrants work and study hard to become nurses in the United States, and most leave for the United States to earn more money. Some are doctors in the Philippines that leave to become nurses in search of better pay. There has been a nursing shortage in the US for a while now. And many Filipino nurses who come to the US help fill these important roles.

I’m not quite sure what to make of this story just yet. I understand and feel the difficulty for these nurses who came to work here, but I am somewhat perplexed at what they expected when they took the jobs. I’d probably like to learn more about their specific experiences at that hospital before I pass judgment. Being a nurse is an extremely difficult job, and I know that there are times when you have to do things beyond your pay grade or your duties, because it involves another person’s life. Is this a racial question? Were these nurses discriminated against because they were Filipino? Or is this something where the nurses expectations of a better life were diluted when they realized how difficult the actual job was. What do you think?

The Philippines is a nation that is 85 percent Catholic. Invaded by Spain hundreds of years ago, the indigenous people of the Philippines were converted to Christianity by Catholic missionaries. The missionaries used the parol as a symbol to distinguish Christian’s from Non-Christians, and as a means to convert non-believers. However this symbol was also taken by the resistance movement against Spanish colonization. The resistance movement or Katipunan, took the symbol as a fight for freedom against Spanish oppression and rule.

But there was also a resistance movement known as the Katipunan that fought to rid the Philippines of Spanish rule. Founded in 1892, this brotherhood inducted new members in a blindfolded, candle-lit, blood-signing ceremony that was held in a cave.

“When you opened your blindfold, you were blinded by the one light,” Canlas says. “You were committed to fighting for this light.”

The Bayanihan Community Center off of 6th and Mission in San Francisco, hosted their fifth annual Parol Lantern Festival. People from all walks of life joined the parade, creating their own stars. Some from recycled materials like aluminum cans, others creating stars as large as10 foot Christmas trees. I was able to take a few photos as they marched down Market St., sharing their holiday spirit with shoppers and onlookers.

On Christmas Eve, my sister-in-law brought bamboo sticks with different colored tissue paper. We spent the time after dinner, creating our own stars. We laughed together as we cut and pasted tissue paper on bamboo sticks, creating our own personalized stars. A friendly competition emerged as to who could create the best looking star. Here are a few of them that we created as a family.

The parol is our symbol of Christmas. The star signifies the coming of the Christmas season and the birth of Christ. It was the symbol the three wisemen used to find Jesus Christ in Bethlehem. It was once a symbol used to mark those who were non-believers. It was also a symbol used to inspire people to freedom against their oppressors. It is a symbol that brings community together in song and march. It is a tradition of belief and faith, love and hope. But now it means more to me than paper and bamboo. It’s a symbol of how my Christmas was spent with my family, sharing, laughing and loving the holiday spirit, as we spent time making parols together. The parol is my symbol of Christmas.

The Servanos’ offense? They entered the United States in the early 1980s on visas that did not reflect the couple had married since their mothers had completed the pair’s visa applications.

The Servano’s applied for their visas as single when they first entered the U.S. in the early 80′s because they were not married yet. Then in 1987, the couple officially wed and a few years later applied for legal citizenship as a married couple. During the process, an immigration official accused them of having misrepresented their marital status.

The couple have done nothing wrong except that their visa applications wrongly stated they were single, which was true when the applications were submitted, their attorney said.

Dr. Pedro Servano and his wife, Salvacion, obeyed an order to meet with Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials in Philadelphia and were told to report back in 60 days, attorney Gregg Cotler said. No deportation date was set, he said.

The couple has attempted to follow all laws and rules by Immigration officials. And now they must wait it out till their fate is decided from a mistake that was made years ago. Support is brewing for the Sevrano’s. Stay tuned for more info…

“All we ask of customers, wherever they are on our aircraft, is to observe standards that don’t cause offence to other customers and crew.”

How disappointing. They’ll make the rooms romantic, and give you the privacy you pay for, but they should have either soundproofed the walls or given everyone else on the plane some nice Bose Quietcomfort Noise reduction headphones to deal with the new noises.

One of the key people involved in writing and enabling the new powers of the Executive office is a Korean born American lawyer by the name of John Yoo. John Yoo could be characterized as a hardworking almost stereotypical first generation Asian American. He emigrated from South Korea at a young age, grew up in Philadelphia, graduated from Harvard, and then law school at Yale. He was an Asian American poised for greatness, serving as clerk to both Laurence H. Silberman at the Court of Appeals and Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas. There is a great profile of the man written in the Washington Post But his infamy did not come about till he wrote several helpful memos, that brought Cheney’s ideas of expanding executive powers to the forefront.

In last week’s episode, Frontline interviews and documents John Yoo’s influence with the current Administration. His beliefs in a powerful executive office and his articles and memo’s which perfectly aligned with Cheney’s executive power grab became the basis to interpret the new powers which our current President deems appropriate to use. John Yoo’s influence has thereby led to the incidents of torture at Abu Ghraib and executive privileges afforded by the Patriot Act.

John Yoo is an influential Asian American, but one I cannot say I support. He stands by his beliefs, quoted by the Washington Post as saying, “I’m one of the few people who is willing to defend decisions I made in government.” But I believe his decisions have enabled a presidency which has abused powers far beyond any measure of good, allowing torture and illegal surveillance for a war that the majority of Americans no longer support. That is my opinion, and I’m sure there are others who believe in what he stands for. Yes, I say he is influential. He has the guts to stand by and defend his beliefs. But I wonder Mr. Yoo, will you stand by your beliefs as you watch your country you sought to protect and empower, abuse the rights and freedoms of human beings?

…this component is exactly the same but it would be difficult for people to accept it in food, given the recent rules of disclosing the origins of ingredients.

Well Mayu, thanks for the clarification. Next time I’m eating some vanilla ice cream, I’ll be glad to know that I’m not eating a bowl of bullshit. Now if there way a way to extract the bull shit from the Oval office, I’d truly be impressed.