POLLS, FOCUS GROUP, and MY SCORE CARD: US First Presidential Debate

Polls and focus group are two different research methods of getting public opinions. Most polls are taken through telephone or online, while focus group are based on a small discussion group on a series of topics introduced by a discussion leader, which of course is a voter himself. Results in both polls and focus groups has the tendency to be biased based on how participants are selected. Basically, it should be randomized; however, if the selection doesn't consider the political leanings of the participants, results of both methods would be prejudicial against another. That is how I see why all the results of the polls and focus groups on last night's US Presidential Debate favored the score to Sen. Obama, while many expert political critics saw the debate differently. (see BBC Online News, "McCain and Obama Spar in First Debate", Sept. 17.) We also must remember that most TV networks have openly shelled out their money to the Obama campaign. Such overwhelming financial support to Obama by these TV networks could have contributed to the skewed results on the polls and focus groups.

Now, allow me to give my unsolicited criticism.

1) Economic & Financial Rescue - Although both Republican candidate John McCain and Democratic candidate Barack Obama positively addressed this issues on strict regulations and accountability, McCain has specifically satisfied me on how he would carry out his plans, particularly on Business Tax Cut. He got in-depth reasoning, contrasting Ireland's 11% business tax rate against US 35%. I see his point loud and clear. In economics, when investors are hit with a high tax rate, they'd bring their busines elsewhere to make more profit. That is why many US investors are bringing their businesses overseas were the business tax rate, the wage rate, and the raw materials are low, putting the US workers out of jobs. Obama, on the other hand, addressed it so specifics from US infrastructure, to energy, from education to health. However, he did not really hit the target well.

2) Change and Reform - I mentioned in my previous blog that Obama, being an innovator, has been vocally preaching a radical change in the US politics and economy. However, I haven't seen that from last night's debate. Despite his strong allegation that McCain would just be adopting the current president's agenda, he did not really prove any revolutionary changes,henceforth, saw his possible changes still not so different from the status quo. Remember what anthropologist Ruth Benedict wrote in her book, Patterns of Culture (1934,1959:24), which I quoted in my past blog? "...From the point of view of an outsider the most radical innovations in any culture amount to no more than a minor revision, and it is a commonplace that prophets have been put death for the difference between Tweedledum and Tweedledee."

3) Tactic and Strategy - I don't question Sen Obama's linguistics acumen. Of course, he knows the difference between tactic and strategy. Nevertheless, when talking about international relations and conflict, he did not address them well enough to show his ability in dealing with the issues. Sen. McCain's response was so deep, even mentioning the Battle of Normandy (and explained and connected it very well to today's problems). Very well done!

I just hope that McCain would not listen to the poll and focus groups results. Rather, McCain has to take it as a challenge to give better his already very good performance in yesterday's debate. I don't want to see the repeat of the presidential elections of 1980, where Carter conceded early to Ronald Reagan, when some people in the West Coast were still at work and had not have a chance to vote. Carter's early concession was affected by the Nov. 4 survey by a major TV networks who showed that Reagan was ahead of him in a landslide vote and projected Reagan's win.

And for Sen. Obama? I would like to hear him in the next debate to be more in-depth to effectively prove his platform.

This 2008 presidential election is a close fight, my friends. Let us tighten our seat belts. Let's watch the final result in November.

ON PUBLISHING #2: Copyright & Other Rights

My book contract for my manuscript, PRAISING ALL SEASONS LONG: Haiku Verses, was sent through UPS the other day. I went through the 7 pages thoroughly before I signed them. Then, with too much excitement, I shared the news with my online friends. Many congratulated me, from Namibia to the Philippines. Any friend from Down-Under? Hello, do I still have friends down there? (LOL) Some already told me that they are going to get their copies. (G.C., a history teacher-friend in Italy promised to get his copy even before I pitched the work to the publisher). Some told me that they'd mention the upcoming book to their friends. To all of you, thank you.

Anyway, B.K., a friend in U.K. asked me yesterday what I mean by exclusive right. She feels that it is unfair for the publisher to have total right to somebody else's work. One proviso of the book contract is a 7-year exclusive right to the publisher. So allow me to write something about copyright and rights.


A writer publishes his/her work, may it be a book or article, for the consumption of the public. While the work is in circulation, there is a tendency that somebody can plagiarize it(i.e. copy or publish it in his/her name). Copyright protects the writer for such suckers.

Technically, copyright is secured automatically when the work is set down for the first time in written form.(How to Write & Sell Your Life Experiences: 1993.148). The writer doesn't have to register it to a copyright office. However, by registering your copyright, you can bring suit against someone for infringing your copyright. In the USofA registering a copyright will allow the writer to recover attorney's fees and some damages from the defendant. (The Writer's Essential Desk Reference: 1991.38).

Further, there are other rights that a writer has to consider once his/her work is being negotiated for publication. These are what we call "All or exclusive right", First Right, Secondary Right, One-Time Right, and Subsidiary Right.

The signed contract to my manuscript, "PRAISING ALL SEASONS LONG: Haiku Verses", has a proviso for a 7-year exclusive contract. This means that the publisher have the ownership of my manuscript. I have to wait until the 7-year "all right" expires before I can sell or reproduce the manuscript again to another publisher. Again, one advantage to an "All Right" is that the writer does not have to spend (except time to proof-read galleys, etc.) any money from printing to marketing. Transaction of "All Rights" must be completed with a signing of written statement (contract). Without a written contract, the author only gives "One-Time Right" to the publisher, which is much like "First Right".

Wonder why you see some articles appear in several magazines? The reason is that the author has the First Right to his/her work. First Right means that the writer has the freedom to sell reprint or "second" right the work to another publisher, even before the work is published. Turning in or publishing the writer's article to a magazine publisher usually have this arrangement. It doesn't need any signed contract. The publisher notifies the writer and the readers by including the statement in all copies of the magazine.

Subsidiary Right usually is included as another proviso in a written contract. And, according to a Denver lawyer, David Weinstein, (Writer's Essential: 34) this is one of the most common book contract problems. An author has to pay attention to such proviso. Subsidiary right means the publisher has been given the right to make transaction for other income-generating businesses with another company with the intent to produce the work in another medium, such as movie, audio, etc. Some unscrupulous publisher would not spell this out in the contract. I am just thankful that the contract that I have with Comfort Publishing (CP) has a proviso that assures me that should a compensation received by CP for publication of extraction or for serial use, audio recordings,etc., it would be divided equally between the author and the publisher.

Again, thank you very much. I am counting for your all-out support in this literary odyssey.


NOTE: My book, KOILAWAN (KOI-lah-ONE), is still available in 21 countries. Also, watch for my other book, THE EXPERIMENTAL DASANG (Hey Poem) and 45 OTHER POETRY FORMS:An Anthology.

On Book Publishing

I'm deeply humbled by APinoy of U.K. when he told me, in my Great Pinoy profile page, that he is sending over his personal copy of my book, KOILAWAN: Letter and Poems of a Jungle Dad-Mom, for my signature. Then, another request from a Kababayan (a fellow Filipino), was posted seeking advice on how to go about publishing. Such requests make me feel a successful writer; hence, I thank you all for that.

Thursday, Sept. 18, was a big day for me. Comfort Publishing emailed me that it has officially accepted my manuscript, PRAISING ALL SEASONS LONG: Haiku Verses, for publication. This will be published as an illustrated gift book. Please join me in thanking God, and hope you will continue to support me in this endeavor.

Now, let me address the request on publishing. KOILAWAN was my first published book. I have no book published in the Philippines. The only publications I have in our country were social research articles published in academic journals, such as the Philippine Journal of Society and Culture of University of San Carlos. I also have some magazine articles which were published by AGLOW Magazine. I have no book publication credentials, while I was down there. Therefore, allow me to blog something on publishing based on my experience here in the U.S.

Nowadays, there are several avenues to publish a book.

1) Traditional Publishing- We all know this one. It is publishing a work upon the invitation or decision of a book company, who, after promoting or pitching the manuscript to them, decided to publish it. Pitching could be either done by you or your hired literary agent. For aspiring writers, this is very hard to come by. Publishers, being profit-oriented companies, usually offer this to writers, who already got a name and hundreds of thousand fans.

2) Self-Publishing- This is an avenue for a writer, who has the money to spend, time to promote and market, and room (in your house) to stock copies of your book. One advantage is that you don't want to convince anybody but yourself that your book should be published and you can have a total control of the publishing process (even the procurement of ISBN, the International Standard Book Number) and marketing (even the book price). If you feel that there's a demand or are able to create a demand for the book, this avenue is the way to go.

3) Vanity or Subsidy Publishing- Some consider these as two separate things; however, they actually are just synonymous to each other. Again, money, time, and space are needed here. The writer has to pay to be published, time to spend in marketing, and space to stock the books. It differs from self-publishing, because the book company simply applies its ISBN to the writer's book. The author also receives a few copies of the book and is promised, which usually doesn't come true, royalties on those copies that might be sold by the subsidy press. Many vanity presses also require the writer to purchase, at least, a minimum number of copies as part of the contract. I don't recommend this to anybody. It's purely enriching the publisher, plain and simple.

4) Publish-on-Demand (POD)- In POD, the book is digitally set up and is only printed every time there are orders. This is the reason why, in contrast to vanity publishing, POD publishers do not require, but encourage, the writer to buy copies of the books. Some offer the writer 60% off the book selling price. But again, the author have to pay the publisher from $400-$2000, depending on the book printing quality and the package. Book inclusion in the company's book catalog, printing of posters or bookmarks to promote your book are some items that could be included in a package.

5) E-publish or Audio Publish - E-publish means your book is only available in the internet. People pay to listen to it. It started in the mid-90s, however, it seemed to fade, not until recently, when college students have started using the internet for their research. The problem, though, is that students cannot afford to subscribe to a book, which is not either their textbook or a one of the required readings of a course. This also is not the way to go in publishing, because very few readers would spend many hours in the internet to read a whole book.

In audio, you manuscript is in CD-format. You buy it just like your DVD or CD music.

My book, KOILAWAN, is a POD book. It is my first book. No marketable name yet, so the best way is to POD. I have to start somewhere. Before I decided to go POD, I pitched the book to a literary agent in New York. It was accepted, however, upon knowing that it would take many months, even years, to see it published, if ever the agent would be successful in pitching it to a publisher, I decided to go the POD way. As I mentioned in my social networking page, the book was included in the TOP 100 bestsellers in some online book outlets for several weeks.

My second book, The Experimental Dasang (Hey Poem)and 45 Other Poetry Forms: An Anthology, which would be in the market, hopefully, sometime in December, is also a POD book. Yes, I still have to shell out some "old presidents"(dollars)to the publisher.

This third book, Praising All Seasons Long: Haiku Verses, will be published without any expenses on my part. My royalty would be somewhere between 8% to 12% of the sale. Well, I actually still awaiting for the contract. If I am satisfied whatever is in the contract, then, I could sign it and Comfort Publishing(CP) would begin the printing process. CP will design the book cover and look for pictures to illustrate some of the verses.

I currently am pitching my other book project, Bedtime-Pastime: Collections of Short Stories and Bukidnon Folktales, to literary agents and book publishers. Hopefully, this also would be printed as a traditional book. Bedtime... is co-authored by Dr. Genoveva Melendez-Ablanque of Bukidnon State University. You could read the list of content and a few of the short stories and a folktale on Webook.com.

I also was one of the 20 Christian writers, who were invited to contribute 2 articles in a Webook book project, XPRESSION: On Saving Grace. My article and my blank poetry, "What Now...? Am a Polygamist?" and "A Love to Surrender", respectively, are still in first draft. To meet the deadline that I promised to our project leader, I also have posted them on Webook.com. They can be read-for-feedback. Please go and check them out. You'd know that most of my first draft need lots of polishing to do. This would give you an idea that writing is a challenging job.

NOTE: If someone would like me to address other issues on publishing through my blog, send me a message in my social network page or email me, edMindustan@gmail.com.

PROFITEERING IS TO BE BLAMED

Low-quality gadgets, Lead tainted children's toys, forced evacuation of ordinary citizens from their modest shelters for the sake of the Olympics, lavish spending to showcase wealth and progress, and today, I read in the Los Angeles Times (Sept. 17)that a tainted baby formula is now growing into a national crisis in China. The number of illnesses related to baby formula has been up to 6,244; three have died. The baby products from 22 companies have been tested positive of contamination with the industrial chemical melamine.

National crisis? Make that an international crisis soon, if other countries would not go strict on China! Everyone knows that food products, just like any other Chinese product, has been exported worldwide. And people from other countries have been buying them, because they have been sold cheaper than any other goods. Thank goodness, this latest scandal has sparked anger amongst Chinese.

Nevertheless, I still am a little worried. China is a communist ( well, make that as a socialist) country. (Technically, communism differs from socialism on the manner of bringing about the abolition of capitalism and all private profit. Communism does it by means of conflict and violent revolution, if necessary, and literally following Karl Marx and Friedrich Engel's "Manifest der Kommunistischen Partei". Socialism is one in which workers, albeit free from capitalist exploitation, receive the full product of their labor, but,of course, with the state control.) Maybe too much progress in a very short time incapacitate the Chinese government to rein strictly on his people, who are now highly knowledgeable on capitalism and also wanted to make huge profit and get rich for a short time.

China is developing its economy so fast. Look, it is a superpower. In order to achieve and superimpose such status to the world, it has to develop and showcase it fast. And the effect of development? Profit! As the Austro-Hungarian born US economist said, "Without development there is no profit, without profit no development..." (The Theory of Eco. Development, 1934:154).

The problem with a quick-rich mentality is that an economic man has the tendency to use a poor quality material in production so as to double or triple his profit. And, this doesn't only holds true to the Chinese people. It is a global trait of economic (greedy) and egoistic people. When I was still in the Philippines, I know some friends, who sold ice pop ( locally known as ice candy) by simply mixing food coloring and sugar to gallons of water just to make more profit. When I was in Pakistan, I was duped to pay exorbitantly for a "high-quality" shirt that faded right in my eyes during a wash. When I was in Kenya, I was forced to shell out wads of money for a "21-carat gold ring" just to realize later that it was only a 14-carat ring. When I was in China (more than a decade ago) I was forced to take all my unspent tourist yuan (yes, tourist are issued the tourist money not the renmimbi, the people's currency), which was not acceptable for economic exchange in Hongkong, because, with long line of tourists, there were no enough money-exchange windows at the departure area.

Certainly, profiteering is to be blamed. I just hope that the Chinese government (and the investors in the capitalist society) would start serving the ordinary people fairly.

ON HURRICANE IKE

Watching the weather forecast, when hurricane Ike was still battering the island of Cuba, I could see that the city of Port Arthur, Texas would be hard hit. And true enough, this Saturday morning, Channel 4 and the News and Weather Channel mentioned Sabine Pass and Port Arthur, the city very close to my heart.

Port Arthur was where I first taught in the early 90s. It’s a small refinery city in southeast Texas and a major deepwater port on Sabine Lake, near Lousiana. In 1901, oil was discovered in Spindletop and its population boomed to 58,724. However, oil supply underground tailed off, thousands of refinery workers were laid off, and, when I was teaching at W. Wilson Middle School, the population was just a little over 20,000 and downtown was literally a ghost town. But I learned to love the place and its people, even the strong foul fumes of the refinery. I miss those huge flames billowing in refineries day and night.

Now, I wonder what havoc hurricane Ike has brought to Port Arthur and its neighboring cities, like Port Neches and Nederland. I wonder what happened to W. Wilson Middle School and the extension campus of the University of Beaumont, which are located right by the wall of Sabine Pass. I wonder what happened to the beautiful Pleasure Island. I am deeply worried, especially that I still have lots of friends down there. I hope that everyone evacuated early. I hope that the casualties and damages, that I would hear later, would just be the properties that were left behind.

NOTE: Picture of me and my two kids was taken in 1994, right by the wall of Sabine Pass, just a little off W. Wilson Middle School. The background is Pleasure Island.

OBAMA vs. McCAIN: Who's Got Sound Judgment?

In my past blog, I mentioned that Democratic Presidential candidate Barack Obama should select Sen. Hillary Clinton as his vice-president to make his candidacy strongly supported by all Democrats. However, his ambition to etch a name in the American political history on his own effort, completely separating from any high-ranked official, in the like of former President William Jefferson Clinton, he unfortunately chose Sen. Biden. Now, he is scrambling for defense against his Republican rival John McCain, especially in the issue of sound judgment.

This is how I see the changing polling showdown where Sen. McCain now is slightly ahead of Sen. Obama. Just as many other countries, the good old USofA considers its president as the highest ranking government official. To tell the nation that Obama is choosing Biden for a vice president, because he has more experienced, particularly in foreign relations, has created a negative effect on Obama’s sound judgment. Rather than helping boost his candidacy, he not only turned away the millions of democrats, who cried for him to chose their “political idol” and the “voice of the women”, Sen. Clinton, but he also has told the nation that he is selecting the top-gun on foreign relation, because that is one of his inadequacy and the problem America is facing today. So, inadvertently history is repeating itself this early.

Remember what has happened to the outgoing president? One reason why he chose Richard Chenney was because he also was a top-gun in national security and defense. He has more experienced in national and international politics than the governor turned president. Result? People looked at his decision making lame, heavily dictated by those top-guns around him. People lost confidence; popularity went tumbling down.

Should Sen. Obama had chosen Sen. Hillary Clinton, the decision could have catapulted his candidacy, because he could have said that they have fought tooth and nail all the way to the end during the primaries, it is just fair and unifying for her to be the vice president. Such statement could have placed him at equal footing with his vice president; it couldn’t have placed his ability in foreign relation in question.

Look at the case of Sen. John McCain! He is very wise to select a woman, hoping to tap many of those Clinton supporters and undecided voters to his side. He is very wise to select a not-so-well-known governor to showcase his ability to lead and experience in both national and international issues. Unlike Biden, Governor Palin is an active and experienced cheerleader, who can never out-shadow Sen. McCain’s political prowess. McCain, if ever he’d get elected, would be the commander-in-chief; she would just be a captain of a company, ready and willing to serve anytime, and… a “football mom” (whatever that is).

To contrast his platform of change against McCain’s, Sen. Obama jokingly said in Lebanon, Virginia the other day, “You can put lipstick on a pig, but it’s still a pig. You can wrap an old fish in a piece of paper called change, but it still going to stink.”

Nevertheless, what kind of change does not stink in the long-run? Many programs smelled so good when they were implemented, however, with the social, economic, and cultural changes going as fast as a “bullet train”, they soon stink over time. No matter how you identify yourself as an innovator and a radical change agent, you cannot have a change evolve from nothing. As Ruth Benedict’s in her book, Pattern of Culture (1934; 1959:84) wrote, “…men are never inventive enough to make more than minute change. From the point of view of an outsider, the most radical innovation (change) in any culture amount to no more than a minor revision, and it is a common place that prophets have been put to death for the difference between Tweedledum and Tweedledee.”

ON DEPRESSION and SUICIDE

Suicide rate in some countries are on the rise that it causes a real concern to many people. BBC News reported on Sept. 4th that an average of about 195 people take their lives in Northern Ireland, while 4,500 are hospitalized after attempting suicide. Further, it also reported on February 20th that the same thing is happening in South Korea. Suicide cases have doubled in about 5 years. In fact, VOA News on Aug. 21st reported that suicide is the fourth leading causes of death in that country.

According to French sociologist Emile Durkheim, one of the pioneers of modern sociology, suicide can either be egoistic, altruistic, or anomic. Egoistic suicide happens because a person feels that he/she is inadequate to respond to the norms of his/her society. Altruistic is opposite to egoistic suicide in that the structure of society is over-indulging an individual to its custom and habit to the point of even expecting the individual to commit suicide. Anomic suicide exists because the individual feels that society has a lack of regulation with what he/she is experiencing. Such is the case of committing suicide soon after winning the lottery or when a divorce case gone wrong. (Suicide: 1897; 1951)

Why is there a rise of suicide rate? Besides, the human bomb, which is commonly used by terrorists and obviously a case of altruistic suicide, the increasing number of people committing suicide is due to the following: they are slow to adapt change, particularly those who already have mental health issues along with those experiencing depression. Teenagers are encountering emotional and physical crises associated with body changes and their desire for independence. Older people have issues on social isolation and bereavement. The South Koreans are specifically blaming the cause on the economic downturn and rapid social change.

So what could we, as social institution or members of society, do to offset the problem?

Protect Life (Health) committee in Northern Ireland believes that closer cooperation within government departments will prevent suicide and self-harm. Involving churches, local authority and sports groups in the delivery of the strategy will be significant.

South Korean government considered stepping up in establishing more counseling centers, removal of internet sites that might encourage suicide, and putting up high fences on bridges and tall buildings and making farm chemicals less toxic have been applied, too.

Dr. Hicks, on BBC health news, commented that people have to get the person to talk about their feeling, their reason why they want to die, and just to listen, because a person considering suicide needs support, understanding, and to let them know that there’s professional help available for them.

I agree in all the strategies mentioned above; however, I cannot help but think about those people, who feel that they know all that nobody could talk to them about anything or members of societies who are timid. Yes, there are, what we call, “shame society” that talking to somebody, especially those who are not included in the person’s circle of friends, and is unlikely to happen. What could we do about them?

I just hope these people are like me.

Recently, I experienced depression. The sweet taste of my first published book, KOILAWAN…, when it was posted online by Amazon.com, Borders.com, and Amazon.de (Germany) to be one of their Top 100 best sellers in inspirational books, missions, and most requested English books, respectively, for many weeks, turned bitter when I got the report from the publisher. My feelings of success turned into disbelief and distrust. Make that worse! The publisher advertised itself as the best CHRISTIAN publisher, so imagine me spiritually in turmoil, completely disgusted with those who uses Christianity to prey on others. For a couple of weeks, I cannot do anything: loss of appetite, loss of mental and physical motivation to continue with my writing and do some running. I was devastated that even my wife’s consoling words were welcomed with complete silence. And you know what brought me back? It was not those people around me and who loved me. I was a complete brick wall. Not even my wife can reach me. I even wanted her to just stop talking for once. Nevertheless, as I lay all alone, my inner self dealt with me, leading me to address the emotional battle with what I have left, whom I cannot drive away from my presence, because it is intangible, down right in my core: my faith in God. It was only God that brought me back. I started to get spiritual healing by pouring my mind into Him, and ultimately, expressing the feeling of God’s love into praises. I began writing 3-line, 17-syllable haiku verses. God guided me all the way, thinking how God was good to me all seasons long, and how He made me wonderful and special. I overcome my depression after I wrote more than a hundred haiku verses, which I now have posted, in its entirety entitled, PRAISING ALL SEASONS LONG: Haiku Verses, on Webook.com.

And this is what I could tell every society out there, who, many of them have or tend to turn their back away from spirituality. Those societies, who believe that every problem in this world can be solved through science, and spirituality have no place in the educational system and progress are outright wrong. Take that from me: A living example.

On Philippine Food and Kababayan L.A.

With an advanced education in sociology and anthropology, I commend Channel 18’s Kababayan LA, the only live Filipino TV program in California, for talking about the issues on ethnicity, particularly on the identity as perceived by three young Filipino-American guests, who are offspring of interracial couples. Unfortunately, I also have to spurn the statement of the host that the Filipino food is not healthy.

Excuse me? That’s an ostensible label of negative stereotype and outright over-generalization; henceforth, prejudicial. To hear such comment from a host of a TV program that’s supposed to promote the Filipino culture & identity to the young ones and to the world is tantamount to discouraging the public to experience the Filipino culture.
How the public would think of the Filipino food when they hear such comment? Certainly, they would turn their back away from Filipino dishes. To use US journalist Walter Lippman statement on Public Opinion (1965), the public have now been told about the food (world) before they see it. They now imagine more things before they experience them. And those preconceptions, unless education has made them acutely aware, govern deeply the whole process of perception.

Food is part of every society’s culture. Since no culture is perfect (that’s why it is dynamic, adaptive, and integrative); ergo food in every society is not perfectly healthy. Chinese dishes aren’t; Italian dishes aren’t; French dishes aren’t; and so as the Filipino food. Every society has healthy friendly food, as well as scary ones.

Definitely, some Filipino food is not beneficial to the heart or even to the women’s body figure. However, what about salabat (gingered tea) for a beverage? It has 0 calorie. What about a quarter cup of atsara (papaya pickles) or a piece of lumpyang sariwa (fresh egg roll) with 2 tbs. of brown sauce as appetizers? They only have 45 and 180 calories, respectively. What about half a cup of bulanglang (sautéed vegetables)? It only has 75 calories. What about a 2 oz. beef cubes (not goat) with half a cup vegetables calderetta? It only has 17 calories, and a 3 oz. of lean pork and a cup of vegetables in sinigang na baboy (stewed pork in acid medium) only has 190 calories. And for dessert! Well, a piece of puto or palitaw only has 85 and 80 calories, respectively.

Filipinos have lots of healthy friendly food, which they can be proud of. Nevertheless, we have to be reminded, so as those members of other societies, to abstain from gluttony and eat moderately.

I am a regular viewer of Kababayan LA. I hope that this would be my last time to hear negative comment from the program. If ever the host could say something not palatable about the Filipino culture, she should, at least, explain it why and offset it by mentioning the better side of it. I am proud to be a Filipino. I hope Kababayan LA is, too.


(Note: The nutritional analysis of all dishes were taken from the Filipino-American Cookbook for Calorie-Controlled Diets, published in 1993 by the Filipino-American Dietetics Association.)