The Halo-Halo Bistro

by: Dr. Herm C. Valenzuela Lately, there has been much talk about a massive military build up. I was just wondering for whom does these mighty armada of steel and guns toll? The USSR is history and China’s regular military spending is about $160B a year (half of which the U.S. owes hence is “paying”) is far less than the Pentagon’s base budget of about $500B annually according to a recent 84-page Pentagon report. It has about 1,680 fighter jets compared to about 3,000 in the USAF and Navy and yet “China presently focuses on its desire for greater mobility to conduct operations at a greater distance from its mainland.” (Source: Air Force Times: Aug. 14, 2011). China is clearly “projecting” some kind of intention. Spratley Islands maybe with our potential $50B yearly revenue? India and South Korea are now becoming players in the neo-economic “war” without show-casting any modern military hardware! Our European allies are “limping” while the Middle East is a powder keg! The nation...

At the Cow Mountain Rifle Range, my wife Louise demonstrated her sharp skills with a 12-gauge tactical shotgun. We shot at paper targets at 25 yards with slugs, then with #00 buckshots at 1-gal water jugs. She is truly amazing with that weapon!

By Evelyn Manese We had just returned to San Diego, 2 days before 9/11 from a holiday trip to Greece and were still getting over our jet lag, when the phone rang and woke us up. Our son from La Jolla was on the phone and immediately asked us to turn on our T.V.. As Will and I fumbled and stumbled, searching for the remote control, our son continued to speak at a fast and nervous pace, describing what he was witnessing on his own T.V. When we finally got the T.V. turned on, Will exclaimed “Oh my God”, in a sullen, morose voice of distress, as he watched the 2 towers crumbled down into ashes. I felt aghast and huddled closer to grasp his hands for comfort and reassurance. New York was an old stomping ground for our family in the mid-70's to the 80's. Many memories of our young, family were rooted in the splendor and grandeur of the Big Apple. Will used to take the old, Erie Lackawanna line from New Jersey where we lived, to Hoboken. Then he catches the PATH train through the Hud...

By Myrna Ynares Celerian (chunsanit) Ten years is a long time but up to now, when I think about 9/11, I cannot help feel I was part of American history in the making, and I can vividly recall that day it happened as if it was only yesterday. I took an early retirement from the World Bank in 1998. By 2000, I decided I wanted to travel free so I worked for United Airlines (part time) from 2000 - 2003. On September 8, 9 and 10, there seems to be an endless exodus of customers, mostly arab looking or muslims as their women were all wearing the light blue burkas; whereas the Arab women were mostly covered except their eyes with black from head to foot. I remember asking one of the sales agents if there is a muslim holiday because most of those leaving Dulles International Airport in Virginia have no less than 6 largest size luggages and some even more. On Sept. 10, I was assigned to cover the economy class as they have the most number of passengers. One agent asked me to check the p...

By Loi Gillera "Courage is a contradiction in terms. It means a strong desire to live in the form of readiness to die" Leodegario Ymas Acosta is a native of Ormoc, Leyte. At 26 he was a little old to be drafted in the army. His outfit, the 24th Field Artillery Regiment, 12th Infantry Division was among the Philippine Army regulars incorporated into the United States Armed Forces Far East (USAFFE). He is a dentist. But in the battlefield of Bataan in the final week of March, 1942, Leodegario was a 1st Lieutenant doing no dentist or artillery work. He was a rifleman. The field hospital is gone. Their artilleries have no ammunition. There is only the Springfield rifle and a few cartridges of 30.06 ammo. In the nights of 28 and 29 March, 1942, Leodegario's company, fighting a rear guard action in the bounderies of Balanga and Pilar, was holding two battallions of Japanese troops. By daybreak of 30 March, all but Leodegario and his sergeant are dead or dying. Realizing the...

My first duty station after boot camp was the U.S. Coast Guard Air Station in St Petersburg, Florida. The year was 1960, before our heightened involvement in the Vietnam War. St. Pete was a beautiful city on the Florida West Coast, where the townspeople had a lot of love and respect for the military. I was proud to wear my uniform when going on liberty. The old folks at the chess club called me ‘son’ and were anxious to engage in conversations with me over a chess game, anxious to talk about their WW II or Korean War experiences. They were all pro military. My favorite stop on the way back to the base was at the Stick and Rudder , a small bar just outside the gate. It was quite common for one or more of the regulars at the bar to buy me and my buddies a round of beer and give a toast to the U.S. Coast Guard. After Vietnam and most recently Iraq, the public support for the military seems to have waned. The respect for the young soldiers, sailors and airmen prevalent in the old da...

Submitted by Herm Valenzuela An Immigrant's Prayer (Author anonymous) Lift every voice and sing -From those who landed here; Till earth and heaven's ring. Ring with the harmonies of liberty then cheer. Let our rejoicing rise high as the list'ning skies, Let it resound loud as the rolling sea. Sing a song full of faith that dark past has taught us. Sing a song full of hope that the present has brought us; Facing the rising sun of our new day begun, Let us march on till victory is won. Stony the road we trod, Bitter the chast'ning rod, Felt in the days when hope unborn had died; Yet with our steady beat, Have not our weary feet Come to the place for which our father's just dreamt. We have come, over a way that with tears have been watered, Out of our gloomy past. Till now we stand at last Where the white gleam of our bright stars is cast. God of our weary years, God of our silent tears Thou who hast brought us thus far on the way, Thou who hast by Thy might, ...

By Herm Valenzuela I was going thru my computer to delete most postings and clear-up my overloaded "bank" for the new year and came upon this commentary I thought you'd be interested to read. There are over 200,00 American women, including children & elderly, who are abused and mistreated in the U.S. yearly and over a million world-wide. This includes the clitorial castration of Africans before they reach menstruation, selling girls in the Indian sub-continent as boys are preferred, slavery in other poor countries including the harvesting of body parts for organ donors, suicide bombers from Al Queda or Talibans, stoning Muslim women who are seen with a male not her relative, incest or other physical abuse including demeaning verbal harangues that lead to lowered self-esteem that leads to prostitution. You don't have to be a psychologist to predict the long-term effects- mental dysfunction, depressions, alcoholism and/or drug abuse or a doomed future even if they c...