In Washington, President Barack Obama says he de serves re-election, despite the nation’s economic troubles.
An AP report quoted Obama saying that his administration is creating more than 250,000 jobs a month, the most since 2005, and a reversal from the 750,000 jobs the economy was losing three years ago.
Republicans say the President should be reminded of his statement 3 years ago that if the economy hadn’t turned around by this time, his presidency would be “a one-term proposition.”
What do you say Sarah Palin fan Anthony Castelo?
******
After winning Florida, Mitt Romney has won Nevada’s Republican caucuses, getting the biggest chunk of the state’s 28 delegates in the race for the Republican presidential nomination.
My friend Fely Quiteves, a Republican leader in Pahrump, Nevada, must be smiling for the win.
Former Speaker Newt Gingrich came in second, Rep. Ron Paul third and Rick Santorum fourth. No one is dropping out of the race.
*****
Tokyo and Washington have finally agreed to move 4,700 Marines from the Japanese island of Okinawa to Guam.
The US Defense Department is now considering shifting the remaining 3,300 Marines to elsewhere in the Pacific, such as Hawaii, Australia and the Philippines.
Watch out for the return of the US bases in the Philippines soon!
*****
After likening his love life to a Coke Zero, Prez Pnoy looks like he has bitten the love bug again.
This time it’s Filipino-Korean Grace Lee.
This corner predicts this romance will be hot like Lee’s favorite in Seoul – kimchi.
*****
Grace is 29 and a television personality.
Pnoy is 51, the country’s most eligible President.
One Pinoy comics author likens them to his characters in the novel – Marso at Disyembre.
We object: It’s Pebrero at Disyembre.
*****
Reports have it that the Philippines is now importing even galunggong and dilis.
The Philippines has a new title – land of imports.
*****
We met Dan and Nancy Harrington of Concord and Walnut Creek in California in Apl.d.ap’s territory in Sapang Bato, the mountainous part of Angeles City.
The couple were looking after the Aetas with their library and feeding program.
They have shipped 14 million books to remote and impoverished areas in the Philippines as far as the Agusan Marsh, Tawi-tawi and Sulu to help the poor children.
They should be the next CNN Heroes.
*****
Scientists have found a potentially habitable planet in nearby star.
The super-Earth orbiting a nearby star, called GJ 667C, an M-class dwarf star, was discovered by international scientists, is about 22 light-years from Earth.
A USC professor who was one of the discoverers of the planet said: “The detection of this planet, this nearby and this soon, implies that our galaxy must be teeming with billions of potentially habitable rocky planets.”
Philippine Congress, instead of busying itself in impeachment trial, should enact a law requiring and planning the transfer of informal settlers teeming in big cities to the Super-Earth in the near future.
House-prosecutor Rep. Neil Tupas may object because he is just building a mansion at Xavierville in Quezon City.
*****
There are now 2 billion Internet users in the world out of a population of 6 billion.
Of the 2 billion, Facebook has captured 850 million.
It’s now clear Facebook is undertaking an IPO to be able to capture 1 billion more Internet users.
******
Mark Zuckerberg’s Facebook must have an eye on the big nations like China with a population of 1.4 billion and India with 1.2 billion people.
While there are 500 million people on the Internet in China, only a tenth are on Facebook.
Very promising market, indeed.
******
India is now home to the second-largest Facebook community in the world but less than 4 percent of Indians have a Facebook account.
The Facebook community is a high of 29 percent in the Philippines and 27 percent in Thailand.
That will be higher if the national and governments lift the ban on the use of Facebook accounts during office hours.
******
South Korea and Japan are big challenges to Facebook because both countries have their own social networks – Mixi with 23 million users in Japan and Cyworld with about 26 million members in South Korea.
Facebook has only an estimated 12 million Facebook users while Japan has seven million users on Facebook.
*****
My fellow journalist-friend Juanito “Jun” Velasco does not use Facebook.
The reason: he has his own magazine called Pacebook.
*****
If I could move to Australia, I’d like to have as boss Ken Grenda.
After selling his bus company, he stunned his 1,800 employees by handing out Aus$15 million (US$15.9 million) in thank you bonuses of $8,500 up to $100,000. The workers were simply overwhelmed by his generosity.
Ken said a business is only as good as its people, and his 66-years-old company had fantastic people, thus the bonuses.
Ken added: “This is to recognize that. We have had people here who are second generation, and one fellow in the same job for 52 years.”
According to the employees, Ken looked after his employees and he treated them like family.
The world should have more of the likes of Ken.
******
The owner of a Korean vessel, its crew, and the Indonesian missionaries are under fire in Davao City for dumping the remains green sea turtles in a garbage bin in a wharf in this city.
Hannah Parks, owner of MV Hannah II, apologized for incident, saying the the sea turtles were given to them by the president of Palau, slaughtered there and kept in a freezer and then dumped in Davao.
The mayor of Davao, known for punching a sheriff, asked the City Council to declare the vessel owner and her passengers persona non grata so they will be forever banned from the city and its waters.
Green sea turtles (Chelonia mydas) are listed as endangered by both the World Conservation Union and the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (Cites).
Banning the ship owner, crew and passengers will be enough, Madam Mayor. Don’t boxed them like your sheriff.
*****
There should be a deeper investigation of the incident, however.
The vessel owner and crew should not be taken hook, line and sinker.
For, there are millions of green turtles in Philippine waters.
In fact, the globally endangered green turtles are enjoying a baby boom on remote islands in the South like Turtle Islands chain after a 30-year protection program was enforced.
Conservationists revealed that in one of the nine islands, 1.44 million turtle eggs were laid last year, the highest number since records started in 1984.
With one percent of green turtles generally surviving until adulthood, last year’s baby boom will lead to roughly 13,000 green turtles living a long life as they swim the world’s oceans, the group said.
The green turtles can live up to 100 years, which means the 2011 baby turtle boom’s impacts will be felt into the 22nd century.
Turtles are also amusing because, like the salmon, they go back to the places of their birth to hatch. And the cycle continues.
Don’t eat the turtles, please!
******
Send comments to alfredgabot@aol.com or alfred_gabot@hotmail.com