Michael Jackson the King of Pop died of cardiac arrest this week. He collapsed inside his plush rented apartment (rumored he was paying a lucractive rent of $100,000 a month, a rich lifestyle up to his death. He collapsed in his luxury palace and was rushed by ambulance to the UCLA Medical Center but never survived and was pronounced dead minutes later.

Jackson who ruled the musical world breaking records like Thriller, Beat it and a host of other records. His record Thriller was the top hit, his death was a financial loss to the organizers who would have restore his finances back to normal, at a projected earnings in three years at $500 million. Some 750,000 fans bought tickets for his London concert. Jackson sold a lifetime 750 million record and earned $650,000 in lifetime efforts.

Luck and misfortunes hit Michael Jackson. He was close to being convicted as a pedophile. But after he was cleared of child molestation charges his career took a turn for the worst. Rumors have it that he was deep in debt and was close to financial bankruptcy. He was a victim of child abuse perpetrated by his own father. He worked even when he was a child. He never enjoyed childhood.

His concert in London would have put him back to recovery but his death cut him short. Dead at 50.

With the death of pop star Michael Jackson, TMZ gave the most potent demonstration yet of its ability to stir the pot of entertainment news. The gossip site once again left TV networks and other traditional media outlets scrambling in its wake, even as they attempted to distance themselves from a source widely regarded as salacious, if not disreputable.

Just after noon on Thursday, paramedics responded to a 911 call at Jackson's Holmby Hills mansion. Less than an hour later, TMZ -- the same outlet that broke Mel Gibson's anti-Semitic tirade during a 2006 DUI arrest but that has also feasted on such fare as "upskirt" photos of stars -- landed the scoop that the multi -platinum pop singer had gone into cardiac arrest. At 2:44 p.m., it beat rivals by informing the world of his death, which occurred at 2:26 p.m.

On a day already consumed by the death of '70s TV star Farrah Fawcett, Jackson's death sent TMZ into overdrive. Yet the tabloid sensibilities of the site, which is owned and operated by divisions of Time Warner, and its accompanying syndicated TV show apparently made rivals queasy. Many outlets around the world instead credited the news to the Los Angeles Times, which bannered Jackson's death on its website at 2:51 p.m.

By 4 p.m., a huge crowd had gathered outside UCLA Medical Center, and celebrities and fans alike were submitting so many messages mourning his death on Twitter that the service intermittently crashed. CNN was still relying on "reports" from other media and telling viewers it could not independently verify the death. Only when the coroner's office confirmed Jackson's death did CNN relay it as outright fact to viewers, at 4:25 p.m.

The irony is that CNN is, like TMZ, owned by Time Warner. But Fox News and MSNBC also struggled with the sourcing issue.

If the lack of widespread credit bothered Harvey Levin, the managing editor of TMZ, he wasn't admitting it.

"That's typical," Levin said during a phone interview when asked about rivals' hesitation to credit the site. "No matter what they say, people know we broke the story. That's how competitors handle it. There's no issue about our credibility.

"Today I made 100 phone calls, and everyone else made 100 calls," Levin said of his staff. "Everyone blanketed the city. . . . We were getting calls from everyone under the sun, established news operations, asking, 'Are you sure?' That's such an odd question. We would not have published it if it were not true."

Asked about its Jackson coverage, CNN said: "Given the nature of this story we exercised caution." Nigel Pritchard, a CNN spokesman, declined to elaborate.

On Twitter, the volume of Jackson-related messages -- up to 5,000 per minute at its peak -- was so high that some users reported log-in trouble.

Twitter co-founder Biz Stone acknowledged the performance lag. "We saw an instant doubling of tweets per second rehearsing for a series of upcoming shows in London.

Michael Jackson, an incomparable figure in music, dance and culture whose ever-changing face graced the covers of albums that sold more than half a billion copies, died Thursday, shortly after going into cardiac arrest at his rented Holmby Hills mansion. He was 50. He spent much of his life as one of the most famous people on the planet, and to many, his untimely death felt both unthinkable and, oddly, inevitable.

Paramedics found Jackson in cardiac arrest when they arrived at his home shortly before 12:30 p.m., three minutes and 17 seconds after receiving a 911 call. His personal physician was already in the house performing CPR. Jackson was not breathing, and it appears he never regained consciousness. Paramedics treated Jackson at the house for 42 minutes, and he was declared dead at 2:26 p.m. at UCLA Medical Center, about two miles from his home above Sunset Boulevard.

"I got to kiss him and tell him goodbye," said Frank DiLeo, Jackson's manager and friend of 30 years, who was at the hospital. "I lost a very dear friend, someone who I admired, someone who was the greatest talent I ever met or worked with."

Los Angeles police said detectives would launch a thorough investigation of the death. They cautioned, however, that they did not believe Jackson was the victim of foul play and that the investigation was standard after the death of a person with his level of fame. Authorities said they would examine whether Jackson had been taking medications that contributed to his death; an autopsy is expected to be performed today.

rehearsing for a series of upcoming shows in London.

Michael Jackson, an incomparable figure in music, dance and culture whose ever-changing face graced the covers of albums that sold more than half a billion copies, died Thursday, shortly after going into cardiac arrest at his rented Holmby Hills mansion. He was 50. He spent much of his life as one of the most famous people on the planet, and to many, his untimely death felt both unthinkable and, oddly, inevitable.

Paramedics found Jackson in cardiac arrest when they arrived at his home shortly before 12:30 p.m., three minutes and 17 seconds after receiving a 911 call. His personal physician was already in the house performing CPR. Jackson was not breathing, and it appears he never regained consciousness. Paramedics treated Jackson at the house for 42 minutes, and he was declared dead at 2:26 p.m. at UCLA Medical Center, about two miles from his home above Sunset Boulevard.

"I got to kiss him and tell him goodbye," said Frank DiLeo, Jackson's manager and friend of 30 years, who was at the hospital. "I lost a very dear friend, someone who I admired, someone who was the greatest talent I ever met or worked with."

Los Angeles police said detectives would launch a thorough investigation of the death. They cautioned, however, that they did not believe Jackson was the victim of foul play and that the investigation was standard after the death of a person with his level of fame. Authorities said they would examine whether Jackson had been taking medications that contributed to his death; an autopsy is expected to be performed today.

Jackson's death was confirmed outside the hospital by his brother Jermaine, who once performed alongside Michael as a member of the Jackson 5, a family act that began in the steel mill town of Gary, Ind., before making it big in the music industry.

Jackson's death was confirmed outside the hospital by his brother Jermaine, who once performed alongside Michael as a member of the Jackson 5, a family act that began in the steel mill town of Gary, Ind., before making it big in the music industry.

US IMMIGRATION WOES

President Barack Obama Ralph Emmanuel readily admitted that there be no US immigration bill which will be passed this year 2009. But next year would be an election year in the USA and it is held most likely that there would not also be any immigration changes.

Too bad for the Filipino "tago nang tago" or overstaying aliens, there is no relief in sight to legalize their stay in the USA.