6/30/05 Editor and Publisher: Asian American Journalists Angered by Mailer's Swipe at NYT's Kakutani.
    New York - The Asian American Journalist Association (AAJA) is up in arms over comments novelist Norman Mailer made against longtime New York Times book critic Michiko Kakutani.
     New York 's Daily News reported today that in an interview with Rolling Stone, Mailer called the Japanese-American reviewer "a one-woman kamikaze" and "a token" hire at the Times.
    AAJA president and Dallas Morning News reporter Esther Wu wrote in a letter to Rolling Stone publisher Jann Wenner, "We take greater offense at his reference to her as a 'two-fer' and 'token' because she's 'Asiatic, feminist,' which essentially diminishes the accomplishments of all women and journalists."
    The Daily News also reported that after trading remarks with Wu through media outlets, Mailer stood by his "token" accusation.
    The article stated that Wu responded, "But this has nothing to do with political correctness and everything to do with character assassination of two whole classes of people (women and minorities) by Mr. Mailer."
    Wu also criticized the author of the Rolling Stone article, Douglas Brinkley, who mentioned Mailer's two Pulitzer Prizes (for nonfiction and fiction) but did not cite Kakutani's for criticism.
    Through a spokesman for the Times, Kakutani declined to comment

6/17/05 English.chosun.com: "Korean-American to Oversee U.S. Civil Rights,"
    U.S. President George W. Bush on Thursday appointed Korean-American 
Wan J. Kim as assistant attorney general for civil rights. 
    Kim immigrated to the U.S. at the age of five. He majored in economics at Johns Hopkins University and graduated from University of Chicago Law School. 
    While serving as a trial attorney in the Justice Departments terrorism and violent crime section, he handled the case against Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh. Moving into private practice, he worked for Kellogg, Huber, Hansen, Todd & Evans but later returned to the public sector at the U.S. Attorneys Office for the District of Columbia . Since 2003 he has been serving as a deputy to the man whose post he is likely to take over.
    In his new position as the Justice Departments man responsible for civil rights, Kim will enforce laws against discrimination based on race, sex, religion and disabilities and ensuring the voting rights of racial minorities.

6/14/05 North Jersey Herald News
    Jun Choi won Edison 's Democratic mayoral nomination.
    On April 25, 2005, New Jersey 101.5 FM radio personalities Craig Carton and Ray Rossi eferred to Asian-Americans as damn Orientals and Indians.
    I dont care if the Chinese population in Edison has quadrupled in the last year, the Chinese should never dictate the outcome of an election, Americans should, Carton said during the broadcast. In Edison , this is just another example of us losing our own country. Ray and I represent the average guy in New Jersey , blue-collar white people.


6/9/05 Indian Country, MSNBC News: Ethnic media in America : The giant hidden in plain sight,
    This executive summary summarizes the findings of the first-ever comprehensive survey of ethnic American adults on their media usage. The poll surveyed 1,895 African-American, Hispanic, Asian-American, Arab-American and American Indian adults in the United States, representing some 64 million ethnics overall. The interviews were conducted in 10 languages: Arabic, Cantonese, English, Hindi, Japanese, Korean, Mandarin, Spanish, Tagalog and Vietnamese.
    Major findings:
    Twenty-nine million ethnic adults are ''primary consumers'' of ethnic media
    The study reveals the striking impact of ethnic media in the United States . Forty-five percent of all African-American, Hispanic, Asian-American, American Indian and Arab-American adults prefer ethnic television, radio or newspapers to their mainstream counterparts. These ''primary consumers'' also indicated that they access ethnic media frequently. This means that a staggering 29 million adults (45 percent of the 64 million ethnic adults studied), or a full 13 percent of the entire adult population of the United States , prefer ethnic media to mainstream television, radio or newspapers.
    A fourth of Asian-Americans and American Indians prefer ethnic media to mainstream media.
    Groups surveyed show different characteristics in ethnic media consumption
    Asian-Americans:
    Asian-American newspapers reach a substantial percentage of the nine million Asian-American adults in the United States . Approximately 80 percent of all Korean, Chinese and Vietnamese adults read an ethnic newspaper on a regular basis. The reach of Asian Indian, Filipino and Japanese newspapers is smaller but still impressive - more than half of the adults in these groups read an ethnic newspaper a few times a month or more. The poll also indicates that Korean and Chinese television stations are rapidly increasing in popularity - a quarter of those interviewed reported watching Korean- and Chinese-language television more often than English-language television. Access to the Internet is very high (67 percent) among all Asian-Americans and half of them prefer ethnic websites to mainstream websites. Asian Indian adults access the Internet more often than other Asians.
    Ethnic media audiences look to mainstream media for coverage of politics and government
    The survey finds that while the ethnic populations studied tend to rely on the ethnic media for information about their communities and countries of origin, when it comes to information about politics and the U. S. government most turn to the mainstream media.
    Methodology
    The findings of this report are based on a poll of 1895 African American, Hispanic, Asian American, Arab American and Native American adults in the United States . The total sample is comprised of 14 sub-samples, which break down as follows:
    Asian-American (Total) 601
    Asian Indian 100
    Chinese 100
    Filipino 100
    Japanese 100
    Korean 100
    Vietnamese 101
    Each of the samples is representative of that specific ethnic population in the United States. Interviews for the study were conducted in the following languages: Arabic, Cantonese, English, Hindi, Japanese, Korean, Mandarin, Spanish, Tagalog and Vietnamese. All of the interviews were conducted between April 26 and May 26 of 2005. The margin of error varies between +/-3.5 and +/-10 percentage points at the 95 percent level of confidence depending on the size of the sample.
    The polling project was commissioned by New California Media in partnership with The Center for American Progress and the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights Education Fund, and was organized and coordinated by Bendixen & Associates of Coral Gables , Fla.
    About NCM and poll co-sponsors:
    NCM, founded in 1996 by the nonprofit Pacific News Service to promote ethnic media, has been a pioneer of multilingual polling since 2002, with support from a broad range of foundations and organizations, including The California Endowment, The California Wellness Foundation, The Ford Foundation, The James Irvine Foundation, The Overbrook Foundation, The Evelyn and Walter Haas Jr. Fund, and Open Society Institute. NCM has partnered with the Institute for Justice and Journalism at USC Annenberg School for Communication and with the Chinese American Voter Education Committee in developing multilingual polling nationwide.
    The Center for American Progress is a nonpartisan research and educational institute dedicated to promoting a strong, just and free America that ensures opportunity for all. CAP believes that Americans are bound together by a common commitment to these values and they aspire to ensure that our national policies reflect these values.
    The Leadership Conference on Civil Rights Education Fund is the research, education and communications arm of the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights, the nation's oldest, largest and most diverse civil and human rights coalition.
    Bendixen & Associates is a public opinion research, management, and communications consulting firm based in Miami , Fla.  

6/905 Reuters: Turmeric fights breast cancer in mice study,
by Maggie Fox
    Washington - Turmeric, a yellow spice used widely in Indian cooking, may help stop the spread of cancer, U.S. researchers reported on Thursday.
    Tests in mice showed that curcumin, an active compound found in turmeric, helped stop the spread of breast cancer tumor cells to the lungs.
    Tests have already started in people, too, said Bharat Aggarwal of the Department of Experimental Therapeutics at the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston , who led the study.
    "Here you don't need to worry about safety. The only thing we have to worry about is efficacy," Aggarwal said in a telephone interview.
    "Curcumin, as you know, is very much an essential part of the Indian diet," he added.
    "What's exciting about this agent is that it seems to have both chemopreventive and therapeutic properties. If we can demonstrate that it is efficacious in humans, it could be of tremendous value, but we're a long way from being able to make any recommendations yet," Aggarwal said.
    Earlier research showed that curcumin, which acts as an antioxidant, can help prevent tumors from forming in the laboratory.
    For their study, Aggarwal and colleagues injected mice with human breast cancer cells -- a batch of cells grown from a patient whose cancer had spread to the lungs.
    The resulting tumors were allowed to grow, and then surgically removed, to simulate a mastectomy, Aggarwal said. Then the mice either got no additional treatment; curcumin alone; the cancer drug paclitaxel, which is sold under the brand name Taxol; or curcumin plus Taxol.
    Half the mice in the curcumin-only group and 22 percent of those in the curcumin plus Taxol group had evidence of breast cancer that had spread to the lungs, Aggarwal said in a study to be presented to a breast cancer research meeting in Philadelphia .
    But 75 percent of animals that got Taxol alone and 95 percent of those that got no treatment developed lung tumors.
    Aggarwal said earlier studies suggest that people who eat diets rich in turmeric have lower rates of breast cancer, prostate cancer, lung cancer and colon cancer.
    His team would like to try giving curcumin to women who know they have a high risk of breast cancer -- such as those who have a mother or sister with the disease.
    No drug company is likely to develop a natural product that cannot be patented, he said. "There are no companies behind it so our only source of funding is either the National Institutes of Health or the Department of Defense.

6/3/05: New Jersey Star Ledger: In the world of SATs, they're VIPs: Two Middlesex students earn perfect scores on the newly ramped-up tests, 
By Chandra Haysett
    Shuang Yang didn't do much to prepare for the college entrance exam. 
    "I just bought the study guide," the South Brunswick High School junior said. 
    Despite his lackadaisical approach, he scored a perfect 2400 on the test.
    Of the 304,000 students nationwide who took the SAT in March, just 107 -- including 15 from New Jersey -- aced it, according to the College Board, the nonprofit organization that oversees the exam. 
    The March SAT was the debut of the new version of the SAT, which included higher level math questions and a new writing section. The writing portion included multiple-choice questions and a 25-minute essay. 
    The College Board revamped the SAT in the face of mounting criticism -- led by California 's vaunted state university system -- that the exam did not emphasize enough of what is taught in high school and needed for college. The addition of the essay section was the most radical change. 
    Previously, the exam only had multiple-choice verbal and mathematics portions, each worth 800 points, with a perfect score of 1600. Other changes include shorter reading passages and new content from third-year college preparatory math. Quantitative comparisons and analogies were eliminated. 
    Last year, 2.96 million exams were administered, with some students taking the test multiple times. Of those, 969 students received a perfect score, or one in every 3,054 test takers. Slightly more, one in every 2,841, aced the new test given in March. 
    Unlike the multiple-choice sections of the test, which are graded by a computer, each essay is read and graded by two professional readers. Each gives the essay a score of 1 to 6, with six being the highest. 
    To account for the subjective bias of the readers, the College Board has a third reader grade the essay if the original two scores are more than one point apart. The professional readers are either high school teachers or college professors with at least a bachelor's degree and three years of teaching experience. They also have to have taught in an area that involves writing within the last three years. 
    Yang, 17, said he had taken the PSAT, the practice SAT, twice and did "pretty good." He took the SAT in seventh grade for a Johns Hopkins University talent search competition and scored 1330 out of 1600. He received an award for his accomplishment. 
    Lindy Mandy, Yang's guidance counselor at South Brunswick High, said Yang, who is captain of the boy's tennis team, is "extremely bright, well-liked and well- rounded." 
    "He has tremendous academic ability, but he fits in with other kids," she said, adding that Yang is "modest about his confidence and ability and never flaunts his accomplishments." 
    Yang, who is a member of the math team, Future Business Leaders of America and the Academic Team and participated in the chemistry olympics as a sophomore, is interested in a career in business. But he isn't sure what career path he will pursue. 
    Yang's favorite subject is math. He's currently taking Advanced Placement Probability and Statistics and said he's taken all of the AP math courses at South Brunswick . 
    Yang has taken three AP courses and scored a five, the highest, on each. He also received a perfect score of 800 on the math and chemistry versions of the SAT II subject tests, which some selective colleges and universities require in addition to the SAT.

6/2/05 Edison Sentinel: Jersey Guys apologize to Choi for remarks:
Mayor, challenger tell shock jocks they will debate on their station,
by Elaine Van Develde
    What started out as a public apology ended up being a debate challenge.
Edison Democratic mayoral hopeful Jun Choi, a Korean-American, got an apology from New Jersey 101.5 FM radio personalities Craig Carton and Ray Rossi last week for comments they made during an April 25 broadcast that slighted the Asian-American community. 
    Choi got his apology first. Then the three broke bread, had a drink, and made plans for a debate between the two mayoral candidates. 
    Mayor George A. Spadoro appeared the next day, also with a six-pack and a taste of Edison, as he called it, or samples of food representing all ethnic backgrounds in Edison . He accepted the invitation to debate Choi on the station. 
    The talk show hosts referred to Asian-Americans during the April 25 broadcast as damn Orientals and Indians.
    I dont care if the Chinese population in Edison has quadrupled in the last year, the Chinese should never dictate the outcome of an election, Americans should, Carton said during the broadcast. In Edison , this is just another example of us losing our own country. Ray and I represent the average guy in New Jersey , blue-collar white people. 
    Choi, a Korean-American, came back to the show on May 25 to get the apology and promote his platform before the June 7 primary election in which he has set his sights on beating three-term incumbent Democratic Mayor George A. Spadoro. 
    Choi showed up at the station May 25 for his apology and a chance to talk about his political platform. He brought with him a six-pack of beer and some Korean soju, a liquor similar to vodka. 
    Carton said that the few politicians that had a legitimate gripe with us always come in with booze.
    Not long after the beer talk, Carton started in with the apology.
All right, a lot of what we do the majority of what we do is satire, Carton said. We poke fun at ourselves. We poke fun at a lot of people, and the intent of that is to never hurt any one specific person or a specific group. So I will tell you man to man, if you were personally offended by the comments we made a month ago today, man to man Im sorry, and you have my apology for that, because the intent was to never to specifically hurt you personally, or hurt your political campaign in the upcoming mayoral election. 
    Choi accepted the apology and gave advice that the Korean soju liquor goes really well with Korean barbecued beef.
    Another apology appeared on the radio stations Web site after the appearance.
    Some of the humor from our show is satire and parody which, by its very nature, is occasionally cutting edge, it said. It is intended to entertain the listener. It is not and never will be at this station intended to play to our baser nature or to encourage or feed prejudices. 
    After reading and hearing both, Choi said, We broke bread, shared a drink and I accepted the apology, but I made it clear that the comments they made were very un-Jersey and un-American. Even for entertainment purposes, they really were unacceptable. 
    Spadoro, an Italian-American, who was raised in Jersey City before moving to Edison , brought a taste of his own cultural background to the Jersey Guys.  As a testament to Edison s diverse cultures, he shared his meatball recipe.
    Cultural tidbits and recipe-swapping aside, the two mayoral candidates ended up with another debate to schedule before the June 7 primary. 
    The date for the 101.5 debate was not scheduled as of press time on Tuesday.
While Chois real desire is to debate Spadoro on the townships cable television station Channel 22, the radio debate will give him a chance to debate Spadoro on a widely publicized radio station. 
    Its not quite Channel 22, but were moving in the right direction, said Choi. The Jersey Guys proposed it, and now both of us have accepted. 
    As of press time, the two were still slated to debate earlier this week on WCTC 1450 AM.

6/2/05 Associated Press/San Jose Mercury News: Chinese-American museum adds to a trend in Chicago,
by Anna Johnson
    Chicago - With $1,000 and a stubborn desire to build a museum for Chinese-Americans, Chuimei Ho and five others took their message to the streets, speaking at small gatherings about the rich history of Chicago's Chinatown.
    Monthly lectures led to donations of money, a building and antiques from local families.
    Three years and $1 million later, the Chinese-American Museum of Chicago (www.ccamuseum.org) opened its doors inside a former wholesale warehouse in mid-May.
    The museum's first exhibit, ``Paper Sons: Chinese in the Midwest, 1870-1945,'' introduces visitors to the history of Chinatown and the people who settled there. It tells their story through immigration papers, a sugar bowl from one of Chicago 's first Chinese restaurants, a replica of a Chinese laundry, inlaid rosewood chairs and about 150 photographs.
    It also tosses in personal stories of local Chinese-Americans such as Toy Gow, a farmer who lived in Benton Harbor , Mich. , and captured an owl that had killed several of his chickens in the 1940s. Instead of killing the owl, Gow tamed it. After it died, he stuffed it and brought it to area farmers markets to publicize his crops. Gow's grandchildren gave it to the museum.
    The museum is reaching out to its neighbors as it tells those stories: Along with Chinese and English, many of the exhibit's descriptions are in Spanish, a feature the museum hopes will attract visitors from the nearby largely Latino Pilsen neighborhood.
    Several cultural museums have opened in Chicago 's ethnic districts over the years, including the Polish Museum of America , the DuSable Museum of African-American History and the Ukrainian National Museum of Chicago.
    About 400 people showed up at the Chinese-American museum's opening in May. Though Ho said she was thrilled by the turnout, she knows the real work is just beginning.
    An all-volunteer museum may not be possible much longer. Ho said the workload is becoming so heavy that the museum must hire a director and begin plans to expand soon. The museum currently occupies only one floor of the five-story building. Tee said the board would like to open the second floor as another exhibition room, use the third floor as storage, the fourth floor as a library and renovate the basement into an activity room.
    The expansion will cost money, so the museum foundation is continuing its efforts to raise the $500,000 or more needed to open the rest of the building in two or three years.
    In the meantime, the museum will continue to accept donations, like the trunk Pat Moy's grandfather brought to the United States from China . The large chest with drawers inside is among dozens of items and photographs donated by local residents who feel their own history tells a larger story.

5/26/05 Philadelphia Inquirer: Radio hosts apologize for remarks about Asian-American candidate,
    Trenton, NJ - Two talk radio show hosts have apologized on-air for comments they made last month about a Korean-American man who is running for mayor of Edison, remarks that Asian-American groups took as racist.
    The controversy stemmed from statements Craig Carton and Ray Rossi made in their April 25 "Jersey Guys" show on NJ 101.5 WKXW-FM.
    The duo are known for their crude humor and earlier this year infuriated acting Gov. Richard J. Codey over disparaging comments they made about Codey's wife, Mary Jo, and her experience with postpartum depression.
    While discussing the candidate, Jun Choi, Carton repeated the man's name several times in a stereotypical Asian accent and criticized politicians that cater to minority voters.
    "Here's the bottom line," Carton said, according to a transcript of the show. "No specific minority group or foreign group should ever dictate the outcome of an American election. I don't care if the Chinese population in Edison has quadrupled in the last year, Chinese should never dictate the outcome of an American election, Americans should."
    Choi was in the station's Ewing Township studios on Wednesday to receive the apology in person.
    "Man to man, I'm sorry," Carton told Choi, adding that he also apologized to any listener who was offended by the remarks. "The intent was never to hurt you personally or hurt your mayoral campaign."
    Choi said he accepted their apology.
    "It wasn't that I was offended personally or found your comments hurtful, (but) I believe it crossed a line," he told the hosts. "By saying these groups were un-American, that was what hurt me."


5/26/05 Los Angeles Times: Scams That Target Groups Gain Scrutiny: State regulators launch an effort to warn people bound by ethnic, racial, religious and other ties of financial schemes that are aimed at them,
by E. Scott Reckard, Times Staff Writer
   California Department of Corporations executives met with a dozen Korean American leaders Wednesday to spread the word about financial scams targeting ethnic, racial and religious groups.
    former Los Angeles investment advisor Won Charlie Yi had seemed a symbol of financial success to many Korean Americans. But federal authorities accused him last year of operating a $36-million Ponzi scheme. The Department of Corporations later revoked his advisor's license, but by then the alleged damage had been done.
    Yi later returned to the United States and was arrested by authorities after being stopped in Arizona for allegedly speeding. He has pleaded not guilty to federal fraud charges and is awaiting trial.
    Strumpfer and other regulators said investors could help protect themselves from con artists by taking such simple steps as checking whether someone pitching tempting investments is licensed as a broker-dealer or investment advisor. Such a check can be done at the Department of Corporations' website or by calling the department's toll-free number, they said.
    Regulators said they hoped to work with such community leaders as Sunny Kwon, president of a Korean American insurance and financial professional association, to schedule presentations for investors.
    Other groups that will be targeted in the education effort include church congregations and military-base personnel.  Those groups and many others bound together by religious, ethnic or social ties have frequently been victimized by "affinity frauds" that exploit bonds of friendship and trust.
    Investors often can determine whether promoters have previously run afoul of the law by simply running their name through an Internet search engine.
    Nia S. Cano already had been convicted of investment fraud in Utah when her company, Alternate Business Capital, allegedly was selling bogus investment contracts last year to Korean Americans, many of them in Orange County .
    A Web search would have warned investors by revealing a 1998 lawsuit in which the Federal Trade Commission accused Cano of operating a pyramid scheme.

5/24/05 Los Angeles Times: Spy Case Link Alleged: Court records suggest Denise K. Woo's defense may draw connections to the prosecutions of operatives James Smith and Katrina Leung.
by David Rosenzweig
    The case of a Los Angeles-based FBI agent accused of tipping off a suspected Chinese spy may be linked to the high-profile prosecution of veteran counterintelligence officer James J. Smith and his longtime lover, Katrina Leung, according to recently unsealed court records.
    In the most recent allegation of misconduct within the bureau's Chinese counterintelligence squad, Denise K. Woo has been charged with revealing the identify of an undercover operative and the existence of a wiretap and lying about it to her superiors.
    Woo's lawyers contend she acted to prevent a travesty of justice against a family friend who was wrongly suspected of passing defense secrets to China .
    They say she raised "substantial concerns" about the reliability of the undercover operative but that her warnings were ignored.
    No charges were ever brought against the suspect, but Woo was fired and subsequently indicted for her alleged misconduct.
    According to the newly released documents, Smith oversaw the 1999 investigation and vouched for the undercover operative's reliability.
    Smith, now retired, was indicted in 2003 on charges of covering up information that Leung might have been a double-agent employed by China . In a deal with prosecutors, he pleaded guilty to a reduced charge of lying about his extramarital affair and is awaiting sentencing.
    Leung, who denied any wrongdoing, was charged with illegally possessing classified materials with intent to harm U.S. interests. A federal judge later dismissed the case against her, citing alleged government misconduct.
    In court briefs now part of the public file, Woo's attorney, Mark Holscher, said his client's defense at trial "will relate directly to the facts, events and schemes at issue in the Leung and Smith cases."
    Those briefs and other documents filed by the defense and prosecution had been sealed at the government's request. Acting on a motion brought by the Los Angeles Times, the Los Angeles Daily Journal and the Riverside Press-Enterprise, U.S. District Judge R. Gary Klausner last week ordered the case file unsealed.
    In the unsealed file, Assistant U.S. Atty. Alicia Villarreal challenged Holscher's attempt to link the Woo case to Smith and Leung. She denied that Smith ever supervised Woo directly or that he had extensive contacts with her during the investigation.
    Smith's management of the China squad and his overall supervision of the case "is irrelevant to the issues in this prosecution," Villarreal added.
    If Woo questioned the investigation's legitimacy, Villarreal said, she should have pursued the matter through the FBI's chain of command.
    While Klausner unsealed most of the file, he kept under wraps the contents of a plea agreement that Woo allegedly signed last November and then withdrew in a dispute over the facts in the case.
    According to the now-unsealed records, federal prosecutors recently asked Klausner for permission to use the withdrawn plea agreement at trial. Klausner rejected the motion. The government has filed a notice of appeal.
    The defense, meanwhile, attempted unsuccessfully to have the case transferred from Klausner to U.S. District Judge Florence-Marie Cooper, who presided over the Smith and Leung cases.
    Ultimately, Cooper declined to take the case, saying the issues were not related to those contained in the Leung and Smith prosecutions.
    But in his attempt to show the three cases were related, defense attorney Holscher contended Smith directly oversaw the investigation to which Woo was assigned.
    Smith, he wrote in a brief, approved Woo's assignment, dealt directly with her on numerous occasions and vouched for the credibility of the undercover operative.

5/24/05 Associated Press: Angel Island bill wins House vote,
by Erica Werner
    Washington - The House passed legislation Monday to spend $15 million restoring the immigration station on Angel Island that was the first taste of America for more than 1 million Asian immigrants.
    Most famously used to detain thousands of Chinese immigrants from 1910-1940 under the Chinese Exclusion Act, the immigration facility in the San Francisco Bay has been falling into disrepair.
    Supporters are trying to raise $50 million to maintain it, create a museum and preserve dozens of poems that were carved by detainees into the barracks walls.
    "Millions of Asians and Asian descendants nationwide are eager to see their roots in this country honored in the same way we honor Ellis Island ," said Rep. Lynn Woolsey, D-Petaluma, who authored the legislation. "If these walls crumble we will lose this one-of-a-kind documentation forever."
    The bill passed on a voice vote.
    The Bush administration opposes the legislation, arguing federal money shouldn't be spent for a nonfederal purpose when there are many national parks that could use the money. Supporters say the site should be eligible for federal funds because it was run by the government while in use under the Chinese Exclusion Act.
    Identical legislation has been introduced in the Senate by Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif. The same bill passed the House last year but never got a vote in the Senate.
    The Angel Island Immigration Station processed more than 1 million immigrants while in operation between 1910 and 1940, including new arrivals from Japan , Russia , the Philippines and elsewhere.
    During the Chinese Exclusion Act, enacted in 1882 in response to political pressure to crack down on growing Chinese immigration, potential immigrants were kept at the station for months or even years for interrogations and medical exams. The act was repealed in 1943.

5/24/05 Artdaily.com: Chinese-American Museum of Chicago Opens,
     Chicago , IL - The Chinese-American Museum of Chicago opened this Saturday. Besides holding monthly lectures and working to set up a museum, the Chinatown Museum Foundation sponsors various special events aimed at fundraising, publicity, and increasing public awareness of the history of Chinese-Americans in the United States . Future and recent non-lecture events include: the opening exhibition, 21 May 2005; the first media showing of CAMOC's new exhibition space on 2 April 2005, a roundtable on Ethnic-Specific Museums at the AAS meetings in Chicago, also on 2 April 2005; the Annual CMF Banquet on 13 Nov 2004; a one-day Archaeology project on 6 Nov 2004; the Mid-Autumn Festival at Chinatown Square on 19 Sept 2004, with two Mid-Autumn Poems, and the fundraiser at the Dragonfly Mandarin Restaurant featuring Yuen Wai-Chee's Barbeque Talk, on 22 July 2004.
    The opening exhibition is the first exhibition anywhere to focus on the Chinese of the Midwest . It tells the stories of early Chinese immigrants to Chicago and neighboring areas. Many of the stories will seem familiar to members of other ethnic groups. A few are unique to the Chinese-American experience.
    The 150 photographs and 70 objects in the show have been assembled from a dozen private and public collections in the Midwest as well as the West Coast. Most are shown to the public for the very first time.
    The exhibition features a reconstructed hand laundry, historic furnishings, and magnificent traditional textiles. The laundry display recalls the several hundred Chinese laundries that once flourished in Chicago , of which not a single one has survived. Many of the furnishings are from the founding Chinese organizations that helped build Chinatown . The textiles were embroidered and used by Chinese-Americans for festival celebrations. Their fine design and flawless craftsmanship reflect the owners' pride in their heritage.

 

5/20/05 New York Daily News: Teary judge gives teenage killer 51 years,
By Warren Woodberry Jr.
    Yesterday, Judge Robert Hanophy of Queens Supreme Court sentenced teenage killer Charles Bryant to prison for 51 years for beating and stabbing to death on Feb. 13, 2004.18-year-old Huang Chen, a Chinese food delivery man.         "Huang Chen was so beaten up it was almost impossible to recognize him," said Hanophy, choking up and pausing several times after emotional statements from the dead teen's father and sister. "[Bryant] deserves every day of the time that I am going to give him."
    Bryant was sentenced to 51-1/3 years to life in prison for the senseless murder of Chen, who was making a delivery for his dad's takeout restaurant to the Rochdale Village housing complex. 
    Prosecutors said Bryant and his pal Nayquan Miller, both 16 at the time, had called in a food order to lure Chen and rob him to get money to buy sneakers. They pocketed $49 and killed him so he could not identify them. 
    The thugs used a baseball bat, hammer and knives to beat Cheng as he pleaded for his life. They later drove to Brookville Pond and dumped the body in the water. 
    "The crime was callous and vicious and the punishment imposed by the court ... is more than warranted," Queens District Attorney Richard Brown said. "I hope [Cheng's loved ones] find solace in the knowledge that justice has been done." 
    Speaking through an interpreter, the victim's father, Xing Shou Cheng, said: "My son Huang for no reason at all was killed by a couple of monsters."
    Prosecutor Brad Leventhal read a scathing statement from Cheng's sister Yvonne, 22, then reminded the judge: "This defendant never once demonstrated one ounce of remorse."
    Handcuffed and wearing a green bomber jacket, Bryant never looked back at his weeping mother or Cheng's family. 
    City Councilman John Liu (D-Flushing), who had counseled the Cheng family since the tragic nightmare began, said Bryant's sentence sends a message to anyone who would think of harming a food deliverer. 
    "Charles Bryant has been determined to be a cold-blooded killer," said Liu. "Today's verdict is the maximum verdict possible and the community is grateful for the verdict." 
    Miller is still awaiting trial.


5/18/05
COMING IN OCTOBER FROM PUBLICAFFAIRS
FOR GOD AND COUNTRY
by James Yee, former Muslim Chaplain at Guantanamo Bay
with Aimee Molloy
    In 2001, Captain James "Yusuf" Yee was commissioned as one of the first Muslim chaplains in the United States Army. After the tragic attacks of September 11, 2001, he became a frequent government spokesman, helping to educate soldiers about Islam and build understanding throughout the military. Subsequently, Chaplain Yee was selected to serve as the Muslim Chaplain at Guantanamo Bay , Cuba , where nearly 700 detainees captured in the war on terror were being held as "unlawful combatants." 
    In September 2003, after serving at Guantanamo for ten months in a role that gave him unrestricted access to the detainees--and after receiving numerous awards for his service there--Chaplain Yee was secretly arrested on his way to meet his wife and daughter for a routine two-week leave. He was locked away in a navy prison, subject to much of the same treatment that had been imposed on the  Guantanamo detainees. Wrongfully accused of spying, and aiding the Taliban and Al Qaeda, Yee spent 76 excruciating days in solitary confinement and was threatened with the death penalty. After the government determined they had made a grave mistake in their original allegations, they vindictively charged him with adultery and computer pornography.  In the end all criminal charges were dropped and Chaplain Yee's record wiped clean. But his reputation was tarnished, and what was a promising military career was left in ruins. 
    A third-generation Chinese-American and a 1990 graduate of West Point, Chaplain Yee served in the U.S. Army for 14 years, including a tour in Saudi Arabia during the aftermath of the first Gulf War.  His spiritual conversion to Islam in 1991 guided his travels to Damascus , Syria , where he studied for four years. He twice traveled to Mecca to make the Haj, the sacred Muslim pilgrimage.  
    Depicting a journey of faith and service, Chaplain Yee's FOR GOD AND COUNTRY is the story of a pioneering officer in the U.S. Army, who became a victim of the post-September 11 paranoia that gripped a starkly fearful nation. And it poses a fundamental question: If our country cannot be loyal to even the most patriotic Americans, can it remain loyal to itself?
Gene Taft
Director of Publicity
PublicAffairs
212-397-6666 ext. 234
http://www.publicaffairsbooks.com

5/17/05 San Francisco Chronicle: Ethnicity called tiny factor in admissions: Cal study finds only 2 small areas where race had effect,
by Charles Burress
    The most comprehensive review ever performed of UC Berkeley admissions found little support for criticisms that some students are accepted because of ethnicity or other nonacademic factors. 
    The independent study by UC Berkeley sociology Professor Michael Hout, commissioned by the Berkeley campus and released Monday, followed complaints by former UC Board of Regents Chairman John Moores that Cal was thwarting Proposition 209's ban on affirmative action in college admissions in California . 
    "Academic considerations predominated," said the 76-page report, which is the most thorough examination to date of Berkeley 's comprehensive review screening of applications adopted in the wake of Prop. 209, campus officials said. 
    Under comprehensive review, race is not disclosed. Admission criteria include academic factors, such as grades, SAT scores and classes taken, along with outside activities and obstacles faced. 
    Moores, who could not be reached for comment Monday, challenged Berkeley's admission of several hundred students with SAT I scores below 1,000 in 2002, while rejecting many other students with top scores near the maximum of 1,600. 
    He attacked the "fuzzy factors" of comprehensive review for not being transparent to the public and resulting in "an admissions system that is impossible to audit." The Board of Regents voted 8-6 to censure Moores for his attack. 
    Hout's analysis of 8,000 freshman applications for the current school year was lauded by education Professor David Stern, chairman of the Berkeley faculty Committee on Admissions, Enrollment and Academic Preparation. 
    "We've done more (with this report) to tell the public how we read and score applications than any other highly selective institution in this country. " 
    Hout said grades carried the most weight in admissions, and that high grades and Advanced Placement courses were responsible for some students with lower SAT scores being admitted over students with higher SATs. 
    His report found two areas where ethnicity appeared to make a small difference.
    Eighty-nine percent of admission decisions are based on a first-round score awarded by application readers. The study found a slightly higher probability that underrepresented minorities would be among the 11 percent referred for a further review, although the actual scoring in the second review showed no link to ethnicity. 
    In line with Hout's earlier internal recommendation, Cal faculty revised the guidelines for the second-round review for this fall's freshman class admissions. 
    Hout also found a very small scoring advantage for Latino and Native American applicants over Asian Americans among in-state applicants, but that the difference is the "statistical equivalent of getting a B instead of A in one or two courses over the whole three or four years of high school." 
    UC systemwide Provost M.R.C. Greenwood called the report a very thorough analysis and said it showed that ethnic identity played almost no role in assigning the scores for admission. 
    Cal admissions report is available at www.berkeley.edu/news/media/releases/2005/05/16_houtreport.pdf

 

5/17/05 The Korea Herald: L.A. s Koreatown rebuilds 13 years after riots,
by Ethen Lieser 
    Few can forget the devastating images of the 1992 Los Angeles riots. Caught in between much of the violence were Korean Americans. Many of their businesses and homes were destroyed. 
    But Koreatown is getting back on its feet. Koreatown's boom is being driven by new money from Korea and the return of older Korean American residents. 
    However, activists say that beneath the recovery is a widening economic divide between the rich and poor.
    According to a study conducted by the Korean Immigrant Workers Advocates of Southern California, a third of Koreatown residents still live below the federal poverty line. And nearly 70 percent of households are considered to be "working poor," earning less than $37,000 a year.
    Many of the district's poorest residents work low-wage jobs at stores, restaurants and supermarkets.
    "One apartment complex consists of two or three families sharing one-bedroom units, sitting literally next to another apartment complex with the latest luxurious amenities," Ed Park, a Loyola Marymount University professor, told The Associated Press. 
    The 1992 riots were sparked by the acquittal of four white police officers in the beating of a black motorist. The violence began in the mostly black and Hispanic areas of South Los Angeles . But it quickly spread to Koreatown and nearby neighborhoods. 
    Images of black youths destroying small Korean stores made national news.
    Los Angeles is home to the United States ' largest Koreatown. After 30 years of continuous development, the area now has more than 5,000 Korean stores and restaurants. Koreatown is also known as one of the city's busiest nightspots. According to the 2000 Census, about 700,000 ethnic Koreans live in the Los Angeles area.

5/12/05
DCCC Campaign Finance Training / Campaign Finance Jobs
    The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC)s next Campaign Finance Training will take place Friday-Saturday, June 17&18, at the Democratic National Headquarters in Washington , DC . Through intensive presentations and projects over the course of these two days, this training will cover all the elements of planning and executing a winning fundraising program for Democratic Congressional candidates, including identifying donors, developing fundraising messages, and organizing call time, events, direct mail and other components of a campaign finance plan. Learn the tools of the trade from veteran fundraisers, and network with fellow participants looking to acquire new skills or refresh their fundraising know-how!
    There is no cost to attend. Applicants should either have or seek campaign finance jobs this cycle, and must commit to attending the training in its entirety. Priority consideration will be given to individuals interested in relocating to work on a Congressional campaign this year. Subsequent training sessions will be offered throughout the year.

DCCC Campaign Finance Training

Friday-Saturday, June 17-18, 2005

Democratic National Headquarters

430 Capitol Street SE
Washington DC 20003

To apply for admission, please contact Bridget Gallagher at Gallagher@dccc.org and request an application form.

5/11/05 NJ Star-Ledger: Radio station loses ads after racial slurs: Asians cheer Hyundai and Cingular for dropping NJ 101.5,
by Suleman Din
    Hyundai Motor America has suspended advertising on NJ 101.5 in response to complaints that a recent broadcast of "The Jersey Guys" afternoon drive-time show was offensive to Asian-Americans.
    Cingular Wireless has also pulled advertising from "The Jersey Guys" show after hosts Craig Carton and Ray Rossi ridiculed Edison mayoral candidate Jun Choi, who is a Korean-American. Carton also mimicked Asian accents, complained about too many Asians at Atlantic City 's gaming tables and said Americans should vote for Americans.
    Asian-American activists, who have been putting pressure on the station's advertisers, hailed the decisions to pull the advertising, saying it signals a newfound maturity and strength in the community.
    "Asian-Americans have always been seen as a passive group that won't speak up too loudly," said Veronica Jung, executive director of the Korean American League for Civic Action. "This flies in the face of that.
    The message is that we will no longer be the voiceless model minority. We represent significant buying power and a large consumer base, and we'll use that weight."
    Earlier this year, Asian groups pressured advertisers to pull ads from New York radio station Hot 97 FM after a show played a song that mocked the Asian victims of the December tsunami. A Philadelphia radio station was also pressured to suspend two hosts for racial slurs made on the air against Asian-Indians.
    Jung's group is one of 32 organizations that have formed a coalition to demand radio station WKXW-FM take a number of steps to address the matter, including personal apologies by Carton and Rossi, and to pressure the station's advertisers.
    Andrew Santoro, group vice president and general manager of Millennium Radio, the parent company of New Jersey 101.5, said company policy did not allow him to discuss the station's advertising losses.  He said those upset at the station "were taking things out of context."
    Santoro said the station has received hundreds of threats and has contacted local and state police and the FBI.
    The wave of protests caught the radio station off guard, Santoro said.
    The station has a meeting with Asian-American activists scheduled for May 19.
    "We have no option in this; they started their press releases and Web campaigns before we even sat down," he said. "I was really surprised that happened."
    Asian-American activists have also found support from elected officials.
    U.S. Rep. Steve Rothman (D-9th Dist.) fired off a letter yesterday to the Federal Communications Commission calling for the agency to examine the broadcast and "take any and all actions consistent with applicable rules and regulations."
    "It is my profound wish that those entrusted with the power to broadcast their speech to thousands of listeners earn that trust by policing themselves and by refraining from engaging in hate speech," Rothman said in the letter.
    Lora Fong, an Edison attorney and past president of the Asian Pacific American Lawyers Association of New Jersey, said the response from corporations and politicians shows the Asian-American community is organized and willing to speak out.
    "Twenty years ago, this wouldn't have happened," Fong said.
    Fong said Asians have also reached out to representatives of other historically persecuted minority groups, such as the NAACP and the Anti-Defamation League, both of which have denounced the broadcast. 
    Considering the Asian-American experience with the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, the internment of Japanese in World War II, and most recently with racial profiling after Sept. 11, there always has been "a feeling that you're not good enough to be an American," said Deepa Iyer, executive director of South Asian American Leaders of Tomorrow.
    "Asian-Americans have always been perceived as the perpetual foreigner," Iyer said. "No matter how long you have lived here, people still perceive you as the other, not Americans."
    Hyundai spokesman Chris Hosford said that as a result of Carton and Rossi's comments, the Korean automaker has indefinitely suspended advertising on the radio station.
    "Hyundai Motor America shares the outrage of many in the Asian and general communities about the racial slurs made on radio station WKXW on 'The Jersey Guys' show on April 25," the company said in a statement.
    "Because of those statements, Hyundai Motor America has suspended its advertising on WKXW. The company has communicated its extreme dissatisfaction to the radio station and asked for assurances these offensive comments not be repeated."
    Cingular Wireless pulled its advertising from "The Jersey Guys" immediately after the incident, company spokeswoman Ellen Webner said.
    The company still is maintaining its advertising on the radio station's other daytime broadcasts, but if there is no appropriate response to the concerns of community organizations, Webner said, Cingular will pull all its advertising.
    "Of course, we do not condone any disparaging remarks made about any segment of the population," Webner said.
    Neither Hyundai nor Cingular would say how much their decision to pull advertising would cost the station.
    Local Hyundai car dealers were trying to figure out what the automaker's decision meant for their businesses.
    Brad Benson, owner of Brad Benson Hyundai and Mitsubishi in South Brunswick, said his dealership depends on the radio advertisements to reach buyers, and wanted some clarification from the automaker.
    Benson said the motor car company hasn't asked him to stop advertising on the radio station. He said he disagreed with what Carton and Rossi said on the air.
    "I cannot condone what they said," Benson said. "If my children made those statements, they'd be severely reprimanded."  


5/6/05: New Jersey 101.5 FM is one of the most popular radio stations in New Jersey .  It's afternoon drive time DJs, Carton and Rossi, thought they were being funny when they did a bit last week mocking Asian-Americans, specifically Jun Choi, a candidate for mayor of Edison , NJ .  You can hear the piece at the following website and judge it for yourself: http://www.asianmediawatch.net/jerseyguys/

 
Breaking the Bamboo Ceiling: Career Strategies for Asians
By Jane Hyun
HarperBusiness $24.95
Jane Hyun is a human resources consultant, career coach and diversity strategist, a unique position to provide some insight on a paradox in contemporary American workplaces. She points out that for the past decade Asian-Americans have been both the fastest growing minority population in the United States and the largest college graduate population, but they continue to lag behind in the American workplace. Hyun maintains that too many Asians are unable to crash through the "bamboo ceiling" because they are unable to manage a conflict between their cultural influences and the competencies needed to succeed at work. Hyun offers strategies for overcoming that conflict, as well as advice for managers who wish to support Asian members of their teams.

5/6/05 Sacramento Bee: Lee hit with federal charges: The ex-Shelley fundraiser is accused of mail fraud and other offenses,
By Denny Walsh
    On Thursday, Julie Lee, a fundraiser for former Secretary of State Kevin Shelley, was charged by a federal grand jury in Sacramento with mail fraud and attempted witness tampering.
    A seven-count indictment alleges that the 58-year-old Lee, a San Francisco businesswoman, one-time city commissioner and political power broker in the Asian community, siphoned $125,000 out of a state grant in 2001 and 2002, then used the money for campaign contributions through intermediaries to Shelley, who was a candidate for secretary of state. Shelley, a San Francisco Democrat who resigned March 4, is not expected to be charged, according to sources familiar with the investigations.
    In the wake of the state charges, Gruel was quoted as saying, "She intends to plead not guilty to the charges, and we intend to fight the charges." 
    Lee entered a not-guilty plea to the state charges April 11. 
    She is expected to be arraigned on the federal charges today. 
    Thursday's indictment details the state's award of a $500,000 grant in June 2000 to the San Francisco Neighbors Resource Center , a nonprofit organization headed by Lee, to assist in the development and construction of a community center. 
    The organization ostensibly wanted to open a facility "that would provide child care and care for seniors," the indictment says. 
    "Over the course of a little over a year," Lee routed $125,000 of the funds through intermediaries to Shelley as campaign contributions, the indictment says. 
    In August, knowing law enforcement was on her trail, Lee tried to persuade three witnesses to pass on false information to federal agents, the indictment charges. The witnesses are not identified in the indictment. 
    A torrent of news stories touched off investigations that eventually led to Shelley's resignation from state office and Lee's resignation from her position as a commissioner on the San Francisco Housing Authority. 
    The community center, which was ostensibly to serve Asian Americans, was never built. 
    A San Francisco Superior Court judge granted the state's request in February to involuntarily dissolve the nonprofit group that received the grant.  

5/3/05 Los Angeles Times: TV study finds few Asian roles,
    A study of Asian Americans in prime-time television, released Monday, shows that Asians, who make up 5% of the U.S. population, play 2.7% of regular characters. It also shows virtually no Asian actors are on situation comedies, and the characters they play in dramas tend to have less depth than most regulars, with minimal on-screen time and few romantic roles. 
    The study, conducted by sociologists at UCLA for the National Asian Pacific American Legal Consortium, examined about seven weeks of prime-time programming on ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox, UPN and the WB. It looked at patterns based on gender, characters' occupations and relationships and whether an actor was a multiracial Asian or wholly Asian. 
    The study "focused on a small slice of the prime-time television landscape, overlooking recurring roles where CBS has made progress in diversifying casts," CBS spokesman Phil Gonzalez said, adding that "Clubhouse," a short-lived television show that aired last fall, featured Dean Cain, an actor whose father is partly Japanese. 
    [CSI has Archie, an Asian-American character, who appears occasionally.]

5/1/05: Hold NJ 101.5 FM radio accountable for racist propaganda targeting Asian Pacific Americans
    On April 25, 2005, radio hosts Craig Carton and Ray Rossi of NJ 101.5 FM stated that Asian Pacific Americans are "Damn Orientals and Indians," spoke in "ching chong ching chong" mock Asian gibberish, and made other defamatory statements towards the Asian Pacific American community and New Jersey mayoral candidate Jun Choi.  Please join our campaign to hold NJ 101.5 FM radio and its parent company Millennium Radio Group fully accountable for their on-air racist propaganda and for their past history of bigotry and hate speech in which they stated that people with mental illness "they must be crazy in the first place," and that they would burn down the homes of recovery patients, preferable with them in it, and shoot recovering patients in the head.
    To listen to the audio, read more about this incident, and use our easy online campaign form that will send a form letter or your own comments to NJ 101.5 FM and Millennium Radio Group, go to  http://www.asianmediawatch.net/jerseyguys/
    We also invite you to join Asian Media Watch and the Coalition Against Hate Media.  You may join us an active volunteer or simply sign up to support us in spirit.  Visit http://www.stophatemedia.org/lists/?p=preferences to register.  By registering, you may choose to receive special up-to-the-minute campaign information and have the opportunity to meet dedicated and passionate advocates.
    Asian Media Watch is proud to be a member and supporter of the Coalition Against Hate Media (CAHM) formed in directed response to the Hot 97 "Tsunami Song."  As a result of our efforts, and the efforts of many other elected officials, community leaders, and activists, we have achieved results in the Emmis Communications/Hot 97 incident:
    - Termination of producer Rick Del Gado and host Todd Lynn
    - Donation of $1 million to tsunami relief
    - Suspensions of employees
    - Public statements of apology
    - Lost advertisers and revenue
    However, these important accomplishments are not enough.  CAHM is working towards long-term solutions that include education; positive changes in business practices; additional terminations and more to ensure that media companies are held fully accountable for producing hate-based programming
    We hope you will join us in our latest campaign to hold media companies such as Hot 97 and NJ 101.5 fully accountable for promoting bigotry and hatred.
    Sincerely,
    Asian Media Watch ^SM
    A CAHM Member Organization
    Web: www.asianmediawatch.net
    E-mail: alerts@asianmediawatch.net
ABOUT
    Asian Media Watch is an independent non-profit grassroots organization dedicated to promoting a diverse, fair, and balanced portrayal of Asian and Pacific Islander Americans in the media and entertainment industry.
    Asian Media Watch is a member of the Coalition Against Hate Media (CAHM), a diverse coalition of national, community-based, student, and grassroots organizations whose mission is to promote equality and balanced representation. CAHM denounces messages of hate that discriminate against people based upon race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, disability, or religious background. We actively hold accountable media corporations that seek to benefit from the promotion of discrimination, violence and hate.
    Copyright 2005 Asian Media Watch ^SM webmaster and others.  All rights reserved. 

4/25/05 Los Angeles Times: What Moves Him? Cars, Trucks, Trains and Planes:
Cabinet member pledges allegiance to the nation's transportation. Party affiliation is secondary
by Johanna Neuman, Times Staff Writer
    Washington From one end of Pennsylvania Avenue to the other and on both sides of Capitol Hill, Republicans and Democrats are turning issue after issue into do-or-die tests of political loyalty.
    At the center of this partisan combat, seemingly oblivious to the tumult, sits a lifelong California Democrat, Norman Y. Mineta, eagerly playing for the other team.
    Why would a respected Silicon Valley politician who devoted much of his life to the Democratic Party lend his name and credibility to what many see as one of the most conservative and partisan administrations in recent history? Why is the former Democratic mayor of San Jose and longtime congressman cheerfully serving as secretary of Transportation for President Bush? 
    It's not that Mineta, 73, has changed his colors he still considers himself a liberal. It's that ideology is nothing compared to the chance to tinker with cars, trucks, trains and planes.
    "I guess I've just had a longtime passion about transportation, whether it's cars, trucks, trains or airplanes, whatever moves," he said in a recent interview.
    Some politicians are generalists. Mineta always was a specialist. Some crave the partisan joust. Mineta relishes arcane detail. In short, Mineta is a policy wonk.
    Who else sees fulfillment in the reauthorization of the Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century, known as TEA-21? 
    The $284-billion six-year transportation bill, on which the Senate could vote this week, bears the imprint of his underlying philosophy: that cities and states should decide what to spend on freeways or mass transit, bike paths or flight paths. 
    "I really want to get [the transportation bill] passed," Mineta said. So much so, he added, he's willing to become a salesman for an administration most of his former constituents despise.
    Mineta's perspective began forming more than 30 years ago when he was mayor of San Jose . Between 1972 and 1974, San Jose 's population shot from 350,000 to 580,000, with an accompanying surge in demand for public services. 
    In response, Mineta and other local officials focused on seven projects that would help answer that need. But the state had other ideas. And it was state, not local, officials who decided how San Jose 's share of state gasoline tax money would be spent. Mineta never forgot the experience.
    When he got to Congress 30 years ago, Mineta set about becoming an expert on transportation. And his years on the House Public Works and Transportation Committee only solidified his belief in the importance of giving local officials a voice in decisions.
    The Mineta model, in this bill and its predecessor, includes two pots of money, one controlled by federal and state highway officials, the other by local governments. It also directs attention to how transportation projects affect the environment and neighborhoods.
    Even though Mineta's reputation as a transportation expert was well established he was rumored to have been in line for Transportation secretary had Michael Dukakis won election in 1988 he said he was incredulous when Vice President-elect Dick Cheney called after the divisive 2000 presidential election to offer him the job.
    "You've got to be kidding," he told Cheney. Then he called President Clinton, Vice President Al Gore and nearly 100 other Democratic friends to ask their blessings.
    He later "jumped at" the chance to stay on for Bush's second term, he said. 
    Whether Mineta stays through the term's end or leaves earlier, as some expect, it has been a remarkable journey. 
    Mineta's father, Kay, immigrated to the United States from Japan in 1902, at 14.
    A few years later, he began corresponding with a friend back home about the need for a wife. 
    "Remember my little sister?" the friend wrote back, enclosing photographs. 
    "I'll marry your sister," Mineta's father replied, later describing for his son how he had stood at the foot of a crowded gangplank in San Francisco harbor straining to recognize the woman who would become Kane Mineta.
    The youngest of the couple's five children, Norman Yoshio Mineta was born on Nov. 12, 1931, in an era stained by discrimination against people of Asian descent.
    Under California law, immigrants were prohibited from owning or leasing land. 
    In San Jose, J.B. Peckham, "an honest attorney of high integrity," as Mineta describes him, took it upon himself to hold property in his own name for members of the Japanese community and deeded it to the family's first child to come of legal age. 
    Peckham held title to the house the elder Mineta had built for his family in 1928, surrendering it to the oldest Mineta child when she turned 21.
    After the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor , the Minetas were among some 122,000 Japanese Americans interned by the military. His father's insurance license was suspended. Mineta remembers how "hot tears came from his eyes" as his father talked of having his license revoked.
    "I still have the notice that he got with the red stamp across his license," Mineta said. 
    On May 31, 1942, Mineta left home wearing his Cub Scout uniform and carrying a baseball mitt and bat. His family was taken first to a hastily rigged holding facility at Santa Anita Park in Los Angeles , then to a camp in Wyoming . 
    Officials confiscated his baseball bat as a dangerous weapon. 
    Years later, visiting Santa Anita as a member of a congressional delegation, Mineta was asked by the owner whether he had ever visited the racetrack before. 
    "Yes," said Mineta. "I lived in the parking lot in 1942." 
    The owner looked horrified, Mineta recalled. 
    "His face blanched, his chin fell. He said he was sorry." 
    Mineta pointed to the paddocks, where the showers had stood, and suggested that there was a bright side to the experience: "Otherwise," he said, "I never would have taken a shower with Seabiscuit."
    Eventually, the family returned to San Jose , where Mineta entered UC Berkeley and joined the Army ROTC, which assigned him to the transportation corps.
    After graduation, he served in a military intelligence unit in Korea , then returned to join his father's business. 
    But the family's expectation that he would carry it on was soon challenged. 
    The Japanese American community in California had decided that its best protection against future persecution was to groom Japanese Americans to be politicians. 
    In 1962, Mineta was named to the San Jose Human Rights Commission; five years later, he was on the City Council. 
    He went on to win the mayor's office in 1971 and served in Congress from 1975 to 1995. 
    In 2000, he became the first Japanese American to serve in a presidential Cabinet as Commerce secretary in the final year of the Clinton administration.
    Mineta said that throughout his career, he never forgot what his father told him before he took that first step into politics:
    "I've always encouraged all of you to be active in the community," Mineta said his father told him, "But there's a big difference between community service and politics." 
    His father quoted an adage: In politics, you're like a nail sticking out from a board you get hammered. 
    Recalling the story recently, Mineta said, "I always look up to the sky and say, 'Pappa you were right.' " 
    (BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX) 
    A life's journey 
      A transportation junkie, Norman Mineta loves to drive. Sometimes when his wife joins him in Washington from their home in Annapolis , Md. , 38 miles away, he gets to drive home in her Mercedes. When she bought it, he told her to put it in her name. "I would buy American," he said.
      A fellow Scout, Alan Simpson, visited Mineta when he was imprisoned in a Japanese internment camp in Wyoming . Later, when Simpson was in the Senate, he co-sponsored Mineta's legislation giving reparations to interned Japanese Americans.
      Mineta's father moved to California from Japan at age 14 in 1902. The son said, "I remember my dad crying only three times in my life." The first: Pearl Harbor , Dec. 7, 1941. "He couldn't understand why the country of his birth would attack the country of his home." The second: May 31, 1942, when they were evacuated for imprisonment during the war. The third: June 1956, when Mineta's mother died.
    

4/24/05 Los Angeles Times: Koreatown Revival Eludes Poor: Merchants who moved in after South L.A. riots prosper, but employees struggle, activists say.
by Ann M. Simmons, Times Staff Writer 
    Not long after Chang Park 's arrival from South Korea four years ago, the reality of his predicament became painfully clear: Life in the United States was going to be harder than expected.
    A lack of English frustrated his efforts to complete the simplest of tasks. He faced ill treatment, even from fellow Koreans. Worst of all, he couldn't find a decent paying job.
    "It did not take much time to figure out that my income is not even close to what it needs to be to cover the basic needs of my family," Park, 50, who has held a variety of unskilled jobs in Koreatown grocery stores and makes about $6.75 an hour, said Saturday. "It was impossible to make a living with this low hourly wage."
    Park related his experience to a community gathering of more than 150 residents, business leaders and representatives of elected officials called to focus on the economic plight of workers in Koreatown. 
    Thirteen years after riots in South Los Angeles ravaged scores of Korean-owned businesses, many entrepreneurs relocated to Koreatown, rebuilt and thrived. But Koreatown's residents and workers are still suffering, and are poorer than ever, according to community leaders, academicians and civil activists. Among the hardest hit are recently arrived emigrants from Southeast Asia and Latin America .
    "While the business sector of the community has been progressing, the residents and workers are living in poverty," said Danny Park, executive director of the Korean Immigrant Workers Advocates, a workers support group. "The gap between the haves and the have-nots is widening." 
    Although the city does not officially delineate specific boundaries for Koreatown, community leaders and residents generally view the neighborhood as being bound by Hoover Street to the east, Wilton Place to the west, Pico Boulevard on the south and Beverly Boulevard on the north.
    A report recently published by Park's group found that some 50% of residents in Koreatown are Latino, 20% are Korean, 25% white and 5% African American. The largely immigrant population is mainly employed in unskilled nonunion jobs, with virtually no benefits, in the service sector, retail trade and restaurant industry, the report concluded. 
    It also found that 70% of the population in Koreatown, where a typical family of four makes less than $36,800 a year, could be classified as working poor. The area's median household income is $20,000, compared with the national average of $42,000. Families are surviving on 83% of the income they had in 1990. And the average hourly pay in Korean supermarkets, the neighborhood's largest employers, is around $7. 
    "Jobs in Koreatown do not pay enough wages and benefits to avoid the cycle of poverty," said professor Edward J. Park, director of Asian American Studies at Loyola Marymount University , who collaborated on the Korean Immigrant Workers Advocates report.
    Skyrocketing home prices, which have caused overcrowding and public health concerns, add to the potent ingredients for social discontent, experts on urban social trends observed.
    "We are basically calling on the business community to give workers a living wage," said Danny Park, adding that the consensus among many workers here is that $11 an hour is reasonable. 
    Jong Min Kang, president of the Korean American Business Assn., which has some 5,000 members in the Los Angeles area, acknowledged that cultural differences, language barriers and different work ethics sometimes caused misunderstanding between Korean employers and their workers. 
    He noted, for example, that Korean employers were accustomed to paying their workers on a monthly basis. They needed to be better educated about federal pay obligations and tax regulations, he said. 
    "We are teaching [them] they must follow government laws," Kang said. "We are teaching them California labor law." 
    Chang Park , the grocery market worker, said at the town hall meeting that newcomers are particularly affected by culture shock and financial hardship because some employers "take advantage of new immigrants' problems of documentation status in order to abuse them."
    Danny Park, the workers advocacy group leader, noted that in the aftermath of the 1992 riots, Korean business owners were criticized for selling goods in South L.A. home to primarily African Americans and Latinos but living outside the community and not giving anything back.
    "A similar thing is happening now in Koreatown," said Park. "Many employers do not live here. What are they giving back to the community? Should it not be a living wage? Once workers get [that] it will increase their buying power and they will in turn reinvest back into the community."
    Isaies Perez, 22, said an increase in his hourly salary of $6.75 would help him build a better future for his wife and infant son. That's why he left Mexico five years ago.
    "Right now I cannot support my family," said Perez, who washes dishes and buses tables at Koreatown restaurants. He spoke through an interpreter. "I have to work 10 or 12 hours a day to be able to support them."

[Sorry, Erin: Harvard, Stanford and Yale perpetrate reverse discrimination against Asian Americans]
4/22/05 Dallas Morning News: Student has all the answers: Junior who conquered new SAT 'just has a history of being perfect'
by April Kinser
    Erin Yu had to look twice as she checked her SAT score online last week. 
    A perfect score 2400 beamed from the computer screen next to her name. 
    "I was like, 'Oh, my God!' " said Erin, a 17-year-old junior at Plano Senior High School . "I was in a good mood for the whole day." 
    Erin was the only student in North Texas to ace the new college entrance exam, one of just seven in the state and 107 in the nation. More than 300,000 students in the country took the expanded test March 12, the first time it was administered by the College Board. 
    The revamped SAT now includes three sections worth 800 points each. The most notable change is a new writing section that includes a 25-minute essay, said Caren Scoropanos, a spokeswoman for the College Board. 
    For the essay portion, students must take a stance on an issue and use reasoning skills to back up their thoughts. Erin wrote that the majority should not always rule and cited Galileo and his battles with religious scholars about whether the sun is the center of the solar system. 
    Erin sailed through the old SAT in 2003 when she earned a perfect 1600. She figured the new test would be tougher. 
    "I didn't really expect it this time," Erin said. 
    College Board officials would not release details on the overall performance of students who took the test on the first outing, saying it is too early for comparisons to previous years because students still have several opportunities to take the test this year. 
    Officials also would not release names or locations of the six other students in Texas , citing confidentiality. Schools were notified and encouraged to call local media. So far, local reports have revealed four students with perfect scores in the Houston area. 
    A self-described "band nerd," Erin said she prepared for the exam by studying at Karen Dillard's College Prep in Plano , a company that sells plans and programs to help students study for different exams. She works at the business part-time, helping others with study plans. 
    Erin said she did not cram for the test because she felt confident after taking the old version. She said her advanced placement classes helped prepare her for the challenge. In the weeks before the exam, she took a few practice tests. 
    Erin is at the top of her high school class, ranked No. 1 out of 1,245 students. She is a member of the National Honor Society with a 4.3 GPA and plays the flute in the marching band. She often volunteers her time with disabled children. 
    "If you were to meet Erin, you would never think 'Oh, she's so smart,' " said Sheri Wise, Erin 's school counselor. "She's so normal, humble, sweet and very personable. She just has a history of being perfect." 
    When Erin was 3, her parents moved to the United States from a poor, rural area of northern China . They wanted to provide better learning opportunities for the entire family. 
    Her father, Hua Ping Yu, earned a doctorate degree in math while at the University of Iowa and taught at Emory and Henry College in Virginia for three years before moving his family to Plano , where he works as a Web developer. 
    Her mother, Jianwei Yang, works as a lab monitor at Collin County Community College and earned a bachelor's degree in math. 
    Erin has an 11-year-old brother, Joe, whom she describes as "a normal kid who likes to ride his scooter." 
    Mr. Yu said his pride for his daughter is "beyond words." 
    "We feel so lucky," he said. 
    Erin said she wants to study humanities, business or law in college. She's considering universities in Texas , but she said her goal is to attend Harvard, Stanford or Yale. 
    BY THE NUMBERS 
    1 Student in North Texas to earn a perfect score of 2400 on the new SAT exam. 
    7 Students in Texas with a perfect score. 
    107 Students in the United States with a perfect score.
    More than 300,000 Students who took the test March 12, the first time it was administered. 
    Last year, 939 students made a perfect 1600. Totals for this year won't be available for several months.

4/21/05 Minneapolis Star Tribune: Hmong foundation facing inquiry likely to 
drop two ventures, 
By Paul McEnroe and Tony Kennedy
    The state attorney general's office is continuing to investigate a St. Paul-based Hmong nonprofit foundation that it is suing for what it describes as questionable spending, inadequate oversight and sparse record keeping, Solicitor General Lori Swanson said Wednesday.
    Swanson said that if the investigators find what they believe is criminal activity at the Vang Pao Foundation, the case would be referred "to the appropriate criminal authorities."
    The solicitor general said the initial hearing in the suit filed against the foundation Tuesday has been set for May 16 in front of Ramsey County District Judge John Finley. The suit seeks to temporarily shut down the foundation, win civil penalties and force foundation officials to give a full accounting of income and expenses.
    The Vang Pao Foundation is named after Vietnam War-era Hmong military leader Gen. Vang Pao.
    The foundation has operated since its inception in 2000 without a proper board of directors and has solicited donations for several years without registering as a legal charity, according to the suit. 
    Financial records
    Three insiders at the foundation, including Cha Vang, the general's son, have controlled two foundation bank accounts where more than $500,000 has flowed since 2001 "with little or no documentation," the suit alleges. Among other things, state investigators want to see copies of all checks written from the accounts.
    So far, according to the civil complaint filed Tuesday, investigators have connected transactions in the foundation's two bank accounts to two Twin Cities liquor stores, trips to Thailand , cell phone use and retail store purchases that have gone unexplained by foundation officials despite months of legal pressure from the attorney general's office.
    Cha Vang told investigators that checks and other records from the foundation bank account that he controlled were burned in an arson fire that destroyed his Maplewood home last year. He has not been available for comment and his defense attorney, B. Todd Jones, has declined to comment.
    Development role
    The Vang Pao Foundation was a key player in the city-aided development of a Hmong funeral home that is now under construction on St. Paul 's West Side Flats. It also has hosted a large annual Hmong soccer tournament and sports festival in Dakota County .
    On Wednesday, it appeared the foundation was getting out of both ventures.
    Under a deal arranged by the St. Paul Port Authority, which owned the funeral home site, the foundation has a 60-day option on whether to buy the funeral home after it is completed by the developer, JB Realty of St. Paul .
    But Lia Vang, president of the foundation, said Wednesday that "the foundation will not own or have a part of the operation at all."
    Lia Vang said he is trying to put together a coalition of other Hmong organizations to buy the funeral home.
    Kou Vang, president of JB Realty, has three options, said Doug Kelley, Kou Vang's attorney.
    "The foundation buys it, Kou decides to sell it to a third party if the foundation doesn't exercise its option, or Kou will operate it," Kelley said. "As it stands, the foundation has a valid option and Kou will wait to see if they exercise it."
    The project was assisted by St. Paul Mayor Randy Kelly to help ease a shortage of Hmong funeral services in the Twin Cities. In February, Kelly placed Sia Lo, one of his assistants, on paid administrative leave, after the Star Tribune reported that the FBI was investigating Lo for possible bribery in connection to the funeral home deal. Lo, a friend of Cha Vang, has denied any wrongdoing.
    The Port Authority cleaned up the polluted funeral home site with $450,000 of federal taxpayer money sent by the Metropolitan Council.
    Steve Hardie, who managed the funeral home project for the Port Authority, would not comment Wednesday on whether the foundation could legally take control of the taxpayer-subsidized funeral home development if allegations in the attorney general's lawsuit are proven true.
    "That really would be a question for an attorney to answer," Hardie said.
    Additional woes
    The suit alleges among other things that the foundation has been generating an undocumented amount of income from an annual Hmong soccer tournament and sports festival it hosts at the Dakota County Fairgrounds, just south of Farmington .
    Lia Vang has said the foundation is not hosting the tournament this year, and the general manager of the fairgrounds said Wednesday that he denied the foundation use of the facility in 2005 because it still owes the fairgrounds about $2,500 from last year.
    "I am not allowing them to come back," said Paul Burkel, general manager of the non-profit corporation that operates the fairgrounds.
    Burkel said it was a "major negotiation" in 2004 to get the foundation to pay its 2003 bill. The foundation has been hosting its annual soccer tournament on the grounds since 2001, drawing an estimated 10,000 participants and spectators last year, he said.
    The foundation's tournament is smaller than and separate from the annual Hmong soccer and sports extravaganza held annually in St. Paul over the July 4 weekend

3/31/05 Associated Press: Fred Korematsu Dies at Age 86,
by Josh Dubow
    San Francisco - Fred Korematsu, who became a symbol of civil rights for challenging the World War II internment orders that sent 120,000 Japanese Americans to government camps, has died. He was 86. 
    Korematsu died Wednesday of respiratory illness at his daughter's home in Larkspur, said his attorney Dale Minami.
    "He had a very strong will," Minami said. "He was like our Rosa Parks. He took an unpopular stand at a critical point in our history." 
    After finally getting his conviction overturned in the early 1980s for opposing internment orders during the war, Korematsu helped win a national apology and reparations for internment camp survivors and their families in 1988. 
    He was honored by President Clinton in1998 with the nation's highest civilian honor, the Presidential Medal of Freedom. 
    "In the long history of our country's constant search for justice, some names of ordinary citizens stand for millions of souls Plessy, Brown, Parks," Clinton said at the time. "To that distinguished list today we add the name of Fred Korematsu." 
    Korematsu, the son of Japanese immigrants, was a 23-year-old welder living in Oakland in 1942 when military officials ordered all Japanese-Americans on the West Coast including U.S. citizens like Korematsu to report to remote internment camps. 
    Nearly all complied, including Korematsu's family and friends, who urged him to go along. But he refused.
    "All of them turned their backs on me at that time because they thought I was a troublemaker," he recalled. "I thought what the military was doing was unconstitutional. I was really upset because I was branded as an enemy alien when I'm an American." 
    He was arrested, convicted of violating the order and sent to an internment camp in Utah . The Supreme Court upheld Korematsu's conviction in December 1944, agreeing with the government that it was justified by the need to combat sabotage and espionage. 
    Current legal scholars almost universally regard the ruling as one of the worst in the court's history. But it was not repudiated until the early 1980s, when Asian-American lawyers and civil rights advocates unearthed new evidence that undermined the internment order. Korematsu's conviction was overturned in 1983. 
    For almost 40 years, Korematsu did not talk about his experiences and even his daughter had to learn about it in a college textbook. 
    Korematsu remained active in civil rights issues in recent years, speaking out against parts of the Patriot Act that he felt violated the rights of Arab-Americans. 
    Korematsu is survived by his wife, Katherine, his daughter, Karen, and son, Ken.

3/30/05 Progressive Grocer: Wal-Mart Launches Asian-Language Advertising Campaign,
    Los Angeles -- On Friday Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. will become one of the first retailers in the country to target Asian Pacific Americans with an advertising campaign in their native languages.
    The campaign, unveiled yesterday by Wal-Mart, targets Chinese, Filipino, and Vietnamese consumers through TV, radio, and print advertisements in Cantonese, Mandarin, Vietnamese, and English. Wal-Mart said the ads offer first-hand testimonials of Asian-American families who have made Wal-Mart their "retailer of choice."
    "Wal-Mart is one of the first retailers in the country to develop television ads that take into account the varying perspectives of Asian-American consumers from all ethnic backgrounds," said Nita Song, president of IW Group, Inc., the Los Angeles-based advertising and marketing firm that helped develop the ads. "It's also one of few retailers to recognize the importance of reaching out to this fast-growing segment of the U.S. population. Asian-Americans in general are fiercely brand-loyal, have the highest median household income in the country, and have a combined purchasing power in excess of $360 billion."
    The ad campaign will run in select U.S. cities, including Los Angeles , Houston , San Diego , San Francisco , and San Jose , beginning April 1.
    "At Wal-Mart we understand that our customers come from communities with diverse languages, cultures, and beliefs. We also know that a large segment of our Asian-American customers prefer to receive information about our company in their own languages," said Bob Connolly, e.v.p. of marketing and consumer communications for Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. "Communicating in the languages and culture familiar to Asian-Americans reflects Wal-Mart's deep commitment to diversity and our respect for all of our customers."

3/6/05 New York Daily News: Asian community unites at trial: Rip attacks on deliverymen,
by Scott Shifrel
    The attack left Huang Chen's face nearly unrecognizable.
    The 18-year-old was viciously pummeled and then stabbed to death as he delivered a $10 order of Chinese food - allegedly so the assailants could get enough money for a pair of Nikes, cops said. 
    As the trial of one of Chen's accused murderers continues in Queens this week, the verdict will be closely watched by the city's Asian community. 
    "People worry about a perception that we are not real people, that we really aren't Americans," said City Councilman John Liu (D-Queens). 
    "It's like killing a dog. The notion that an Asian person is not human is what permits two or three 16-year-olds to commit a crime of such brutality." 
    Defendant Charles Bryant, 17, faces 25 years to life if found guilty of the Feb. 13, 2004, slaying. Co-defendant Nayquan Miller, also 17, is awaiting trial. 
    As the bloody details spilled out of the Kew Gardens courtroom last week, reporters from three Chinese newspapers and two cable stations covered the trial for the New York , Taiwan and Hong Kong markets. 
    Asian leaders from as far as Chicago have showed up to support the Chens and to protest a series of attacks in recent years on Asian food workers. Rallies outside the courthouse didn't stop even after Queens Supreme Court Justice Robert Hanophy warned against them. 
    "The community is very concerned because we feel like Asians are being targeted," said York Chan, who heads the Chinese Consolidated Benevolent Association, a Manhattan-based coalition of 60 groups. 
    "These workers mind their own business and work hard and try to make a living, and they get murdered for such nonsense. We want to see a heavy sentence to send a message." 
    Chen's killing in a Rochdale Village apartment in southeast Queens was the sixth high-profile assault of a Chinese food worker in the past five years. 
    "It's just another in a long series of attacks," Liu said. "In the past there has been a perception, rightly or wrongly, that the criminal justice system has not pursued the attackers enough. That's why we came out so quickly after this happened." 
    But many also are shocked at the sheer brutality of the crime. Chen was pounded in the head with a hammer and a baseball bat, stabbed in the chest with a knife and then tossed into a nearby pond. 
    "He was tortured to death," his sister, Summer Chen, 21, said before the start of the trial. "I don't know how could they do this to my brother." 
    The worst for Summer, her sister Yvonne and their parents - who all have attended each day of the trial - will come Tuesday as the prosecution closes its case with testimony from the medical examiner's office, including gruesome autopsy photos. 
    Even seasoned newspaper reporters with the Chinese press have been moved by the case.
    "A reporter is not supposed to get too involved, but this is such a tragedy," said Yu-Kwong Chan, who has covered the investigation, the trial and more than a dozen hearings for the Sing Tao Daily, the largest circulation Chinese daily in the United States. "It makes me angry." 
    Assaults vicious and deadly
    July 18, 2003: Li Zhen Lin, 25, a worker at the Beautiful Garden restaurant in Far Rockaway, Queens , was shot and killed during a robbery. 
    Oct. 15, 2002: Jian Chun Lin, 36, delivering for Happy House restaurant, was shot and killed in the lobby of a Brownsville building. 
    March 20, 2001: Wu-Ching Wang, 51, who worked at the New Cheung Hing Restaurant near Chinatown , was beaten with a baseball bat. He survived. 
    Sept. 1, 2000: Jin-Sheng Liu, 44, owner of Golden Wok Chinese Restaurant in St. Albans, Queens , was pummeled to death with bricks by five teens as he delivered food to a deserted house.

3/7/05 Tufts Daily: "Need-blind admissions: Setting the record straight,"
by Lee Coffin and Lawrence S. Bacow
    Recent coverage in the Tufts Daily ("University's admissions policy leads to under-representation of Asian-Americans," March 3) seriously misrepresented Tufts' admissions policies and the impact of the University's "need- sensitive" admission practices on our diversity efforts. We write to correct the public record.
    Everyone in the Tufts community would agree on the importance of achieving a "need-blind" admissions policy - the ability to evaluate applicants without any consideration as to their ability to shoulder the cost of a Tufts education. Achieving that goal requires substantial funding - resources that cannot be raised overnight or even in the course of a year or two. We are hard at work on that goal. In fact, at last Wednesday's faculty meeting in Arts, Science & Engineering we announced an anonymous gift to the University of $10 million, $4 million of which will provide endowment resources for undergraduate financial aid. This is an important and exciting gift, and more like it will follow in the months and years ahead.
    In the meantime, Tufts maintains a "need-sensitive" admission policy, as has been the case for many years. It is our clear goal to enroll the very best students we can, and our recent admission outcomes and selectivity reflect our success. Applications for the Class of 2009 are at an all-time high of 15,540, a 5.5 percent increase over last year's record pool and the University's fifth record pool in the last six years. Of equal note, Tufts meets 100 percent of the demonstrated need of each student offered admission to the University. That is a critical and essential element of our admissions and financial aid practices as well as our clear commitment to access for students from all economic backgrounds. 
    The facts of our financial aid budget support this objective. Tufts provided nearly $33 million for undergraduate financial aid during the current fiscal year, a five percent increase over the previous year. Nearly $8 million was awarded to our first-year class. There is no "funding crisis" in financial aid, and this level of funding does not represent "a new low," as was reported in the March 3 article; it is consistent with previous levels. Nor was $10 million "the usual" level of funding. The $10 million mentioned in this week's faculty meeting reflects the approximate amount of grant aid required for the Class of '08 if Tufts had been need-blind this year. That figure was introduced at the faculty meeting as a way of documenting the fundraising challenge before us. The March 3 article cites our Admission Office's "inability to make the leap from need-sensitive to need-blind admissions." Such a "leap" was never planned or feasible at this moment.
    Of special concern to us is the assertion that our need-sensitive admission practices discriminated against specific groups of students. The article incorrectly alleged that Asian-Americans "bore the brunt" of last year's need-sensitive decision-making. This is simply untrue. Contrary to what was reported, 59 percent of the aid "pullbacks" (potential acceptances whose financial need was deemed "too high" during the budget balancing exercise) were, in fact, Caucasian applicants. Asian-Americans represented 24 percent of last year's need-sensitive admission decisions and the remaining 17 percent were African-American or Hispanic. Since Caucasian applicants represent the largest applicant group, they represent the clear majority of need sensitive cases. Asian-Americans are the second largest racial group in Tufts' applicant pool and sustained the second-highest level of pullbacks. 
    These difficult decisions are made each year and do not reflect a lack of sensitivity to or support for socio-economically disadvantaged Caucasian and Asian-American candidates. Clearly, many first-year students from these racial and ethnic backgrounds enrolled at Tufts this year with significant support in financial aid. Unfortunately, our aid resources did not allow us to enroll as many of them as we would have liked. The presentation at the recent faculty meeting illustrated that fact to document the opportunity cost of need sensitive admissions and the opportunity we will have when need blind practices are implemented.
    In addition, the article incorrectly reported that Asian-Americans demonstrated "significantly more financial need than the neediest of other minorities." That is also a false assertion. As we worked to balance financial aid expenditures for the freshman class, all students with significant financial need, regardless of race, were reevaluated. Those students removed from the class under our need sensitive admission practices had comparable levels of need, usually at the high end of the aid spectrum. No one group can fairly be classified as "needier."
    It is correct that Asian-American enrollment in the freshman class declined last year - from 178 in the Class of 2007 to 121 in the Class of '08. This was an unexpected downward shift, and the Office of Undergraduate Admissions has taken appropriate steps to address it as we recruit and enroll our next class. The decline represents enrollment decisions by an unusually high-powered accepted student group and a drop in Asian-American yield (the number of students who accept our offer of admission) from 28 to 22 percent. 
    A secondary cause was, as reported, the removal of the 46 "high-need" Asian-Americans from last year's accepted student cohort. To suggest that need-sensitive admissions policies alone created this situation overstates the impact of need-sensitive decision-making and ignores the aforementioned enrollment decisions. Assuming a yield of 40 percent (aid recipients have a higher yield than non-aid recipients) on the 46 pullbacks, the class would have included an additional 18 Asian-American students. Clearly, this would have been a welcome outcome but these 18 students do not represent the full extent of our decline in Asian-American enrollment. Given the unexpectedly low yield rate, the number of Asian-Americans in the incoming freshman class would have declined even if we had not removed any Asian-Americans due to financial constraints. 
    It is also important to note that the University does not use, nor can we legally use, a quota system for accepting and enrolling students by race. In the 2003 case regarding admission practices at the University of Michigan , the Supreme Court explicitly prohibited such a practice. Accordingly, the exact number of freshmen of color at Tufts, in each racial category, will shift from year to year. The admissions staff works to maintain a comparable enrollment from class to class but that outcome is never a guarantee. Admission officers are committed to the ideals of an academically talented and socio-economically diverse class of students of all races. Our recruitment and selection practices advance that goal. 
    It went unreported that Tufts received a record number of applications to the Class of 2009 from students of color - including a five percent increase in Asian-American applications. This pool is deep and accomplished. Early Decision (ED) outcomes for next year's class are also promising: 18 percent of the class is made up of students of color. This figure is up from 14 percent of last year's ED class and 12 percent two years ago. Specifically, Asian-Americans represent 11 percent of the ED class as opposed to eight percent last year and six percent for the Class of '07. The admissions staff is vigorously addressing the University's diversity goals and these outcomes reflect that commitment.
    Clearly, Tufts' commitment to access and equity is a key tenet of our institutional values as well as our admissions practices. A need-blind admission policy will enhance those values and practices, and we are committed to accomplishing this important objective.
    Lee Coffin is the Dean of Undergraduate Admissions and Lawrence Bacow is the President of the University. Susan Ernst, Dean of Arts and Sciences, and Linda Abriola, Dean of Engineering, also endorse this Viewpoint.

3/3/05 Los Angeles Times: FDA Advisory Targets Asian Patients: Doctors are warned that a full dose of cholesterol drug Crestor could raise the risk of side effects.
by Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar, Times Staff Writer
    Washington The Food and Drug Administration urged doctors Wednesday to use caution in prescribing the cholesterol drug Crestor to patients of Asian heritage, but said that overall the medication carried no higher risk of serious side effects than its competitors.
    Issuing a public health advisory and changes to prescribing information for doctors, the agency said that Asian patients should be started at the lowest approved dose, 5 milligrams a day.
    Because Asians appear to process the drug differently, half the standard dose can have the same cholesterol-lowering benefit in those patients, though a full dose could increase the risk of side effects, a study by the drug's manufacturer, AstraZeneca, indicated.
    The FDA also strengthened a warning for patients in the general population that high doses of the drug 40 milligrams daily could increase risks of life-threatening muscle damage.
    But it rejected assertions by an FDA whistle-blower, Dr. David J. Graham, and by consumer advocates that Crestor was a dangerous drug and should not be marketed in the U.S.
    The agency said Crestor posed no greater risk of severe muscle damage or kidney failure than other drugs in its class of cholesterol-reducing statins, which includes Lipitor and Zocor. Statins work by blocking the body's production of cholesterol.
    More than 4 million patients have taken Crestor since it was approved in August 2003, but analysts have lately scaled back their estimates of its future prospects, citing safety concerns. Global sales of the heavily advertised drug reached $908 million last year. In the U.S. , a month's supply typically costs about $89, according to the seniors' organization AARP.
    The FDA action may ease worries among some doctors and patients, said Dr. Benjamin Ansell, a cholesterol expert at UCLA. Crestor was flagged by Graham as one of five dangerous drugs on the market in Senate testimony last fall.
    "The FDA has been under fire, and it is taking a more proactive approach by being very specific with its language," Ansell said, pointing to the focus on Asian patients as an example.
    Clinical trials in Asian countries previously showed that patients reacted differently to Crestor than patients in U.S. trials, most of whom were white. But the medical community was uncertain if these differences also applied to Asians in the U.S. So the FDA requested more studies by the manufacturer, which led to the finding.
    "As someone who takes care of a lot of patients who are Asian Americans, I didn't know whether to assume they were 'Asian' or 'American,' " Ansell said. "This gives us a guide to the good practices we should be using."
    The FDA said it was unclear why people of Asian heritage reacted differently to Crestor.
    "We wanted to make sure it was not some environmental effect of living in Asia , such as diet, as opposed to genetics," said an agency spokeswoman who spoke on condition of anonymity.
    "I don't believe the FDA has ever issued anything specific to Asian patients before," she added.
    A leading critic of the drug said the FDA's claim that the drug had a similar safety profile to its competitors was misleading and showed "dangerous cowardice."
    "These changes are so minimal and misleading that they can hardly be viewed as anything but what the company was willing to accept," said Dr. Sidney Wolfe of the advocacy group Public Citizen, which has petitioned the FDA to withdraw Crestor.
    Wolfe said the agency was ignoring reports of muscle damage and kidney failure. The FDA said it was preparing a full response to Public Citizen's petition.
    "The FDA stands by our analysis of the risks and benefits of Crestor," said the agency spokeswoman.
    AstraZeneca, a British-Swedish pharmaceutical company with U.S. headquarters in Wilmington , Del. , said it was pleased with the FDA's action. Spokeswoman Kellie Caldwell said the company had suggested making changes to the prescribing information for doctors.
    "They were initially submitted by AstraZeneca," she said. "We initiated the process." 

2/25/05 CBS 5 San Francisco (www2.cbs5.com): State Lawmaker Threated for Video Game Stance,
    (CBS 5) A state lawmaker says he is the target of violent threats over his bill to restrict the sale of violent video games to kids.
    San Francisco Assemblyman Leland Yee says he got a total of three threats of violence in the last week. Police are investigating the possibility that at least one of the threats may have been associated with a racist hate group.
    Yee says he's taking the threats very seriously. He says the first two were phone calls he received last week just before a news conference to propose tougher restrictions on violent video games.
    "We received two threats already -- basically that they're going to shoot us, just as they shoot individuals in video games," Yee said.
    Yee said there was also a text-message threat Thursday, which arrived on the cell phone of Yee's press aide Adam Keigwin. The message read in part, "Kill 'em all. Kill 'em all. 20 pts.," followed by a racial epithet. Yee's staff points out that the "20 pts." may be a reference to some of the more vile games that give points for killing people of color.
    "We are taking this threat a lot more seriously than the previous threats because it's so brazen -- so direct and specific," said Yee.
    Meanwhile, Yee says the threats drive home the point as to why he's trying to ban the sale of these video games to children.
    "What happens is that individuals play these games at night, and they act out the behavior during the day," said Yee. "They don't think twice that this is something wrong and rather odd. And you don't do that."
    Yee has reported the threats to the Sergeant at Arms of the Assembly. That office and the CHP have opened formal investigations and they say they are also taking the threats seriously.

2/16/05 Oakland Tribune: Chan has Big Plans for 2006 Election,
    It's not supposed to be like this, but term limits seem to offer Oakland Assemblywoman Wilma Chan a limitless political future. 
    Her deft navigation through the system imposed by state voters makes it look as easy as table-hopping at a Democratic political dinner. First you sit in one seat, then another, then back to the first one. If there are no empty chairs, you shove someone out temporarily. 
    In 2006, when Chan is termed out of her state Assembly seat, she wants to reclaim her supervisorial seat now held by Alice Lai-Bitker, her former chief of staff. Lai-Bitker was appointed (thanks to Chan) after Chan left mid-term for the Assembly in 2000. 
    Chan began her political career as an Oakland school board member in 1990, became a county supervisor in 1994 and then an Assembly member in 2000. 
    It's generally believed she'll run for the state Senate when incumbent Don Perata is termed out in 2008. She's mysterious about her intentions, saying she isn't looking at 2008 yet. 
    Sacramento sources say Chan wants the visibility of being a county supervisor, and sitting on the sidelines for two years makes it hard to raise campaign money for the Senate race.Term limits do not limit Chan's plans 
    This campaign should be the most watched political race in 2006, as Chan already has two formidable opponents, Lai-Bitker and San Leandro Mayor Shelia Young. District 3 includes parts of East Oakland, San Leandro and Alameda , so it wouldn't be surprising to see the field get crowded. 
    Young is expected to make a good showing because voter turnout in San Leandro and Alameda ,   where she is best known, is high, 40 percent to 50 percent, compared to customary low turnouts in East Oakland . 
    If Chan wins the supervisor race, then runs for state Senate and wins, she would vacate the supervisorial seat for the second time. 
    But she would face a tough Senate race, possibly against Oakland City Council President Ignacio De La Fuente or City Attorney John Russo. Both have Sacramento fever. Russo is now a declared candidate for the 16th Assembly district Chan is leaving, and De La Fuente wants to be Oakland mayor. 
    When I asked the Assembly member why she wanted Lai-Bitker out of the job, Chan said, " Alice hasn't done a thing" for the county since she took office ... Alice is a nice person, but she hasn't been able to get anything done. She's really just a staff person and can't do the politics." 
    But that isn't what we heard from Chan when Lai-Bitker was running for office and completing unfinished business left behind by Chan. 
    Lai-Bitker says she has worked closely with legislators Chan and Perata on expanding health care coverage for children and families, developing early intervention programs for children and youth, enhancing services for seniors, creating a better transit system for disabled seniors and providing more services for unincorporated areas of District 3. 
    She intends to fight hard to keep the job, although she respects her former boss and is upset Chan would choose to run against her. 
    What kind of supervisor has Lai-Bitker been? Supervisor Gail Steele says Lai-Bitker has been a hard worker, especially on domestic   violence and health insurance problems. 
    " Alice is low-key politically and has never thrown a temper tantrum," Steele quipped. 
    While not endorsing any candidate (she never has), Steele says whoever is elected should be committed to serving a full term, which would end in 2010. 
    I caught the third candidate on a typically busy day in San Leandro where Young was up to her neck in mayoral duties. Young, who will be termed out of office in 2006, said she wants to continue working in government and likes nonpartisan more than Democratic Party politics. 
    Having lived in Oakland , where she also had a paralegal business for years, and also in Alameda , Young says she knows the issues of District 3, which covers the three cities. 
    Young said if Chan had not made a move on Lai-Bitker, she would not have entered the race.
    "But I don't think anyone should walk in and tell someone they want their job so get out, and that's what she did to Alice," Young told me. 
    Now you know why the supervisorial District 3 contest will be the hottest political race of 2006.

2/16/05 Washington Post: Political Fundraiser Admits Embezzling,
By Henri E. Cauvin
    A fundraiser for the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee admitted yesterday to embezzling more than $360,000 donated to the organization. 
    Roger Chiang, 33, who was the outreach director for the committee, pleaded guilty in federal court to one count of mail fraud and faces as much as 20 years in prison.
    From August to early October, Chiang pocketed $360,475 in checks made out to the committee, according to prosecutors. The checks were then deposited by mail into an account he had set up at an Internet bank in the name of a nonexistent company with the same initials as the committee, DSCC. 
    Once a promising young figure in the Democratic Party, Chiang suffered through the death of his sister, and his attorney said yesterday that the very public loss of Chiang's sibling might have played a role in his downfall. 
    Joyce Chiang, 28, a government immigration lawyer, disappeared in January 1999 after being dropped off near her Dupont Circle apartment. Her body washed up along the Potomac three months later, too decomposed to determine a cause of death, and her brother waged a campaign to pressure police to figure out what had happened to her. 
    Defense attorney William R. Martin said after yesterday's guilty plea that the death of Joyce Chiang was among the troubles that might have led Roger Chiang to engage in a scheme so obvious that he was bound to be caught. 
    Chiang is scheduled to be sentenced June 2 by Judge Richard J. Leon, and Chiang's attorneys said they want to show what was going on in Chiang's mind when he carried out the fraud. 
    "We're hoping the judge will give him a second chance," Martin said outside U.S. District Court.
    Answering a standard pre-plea inquiry about alcohol and drug use, Chiang told the court that he is taking antidepressants. 
    Chiang, who was released ahead of his sentencing, did not immediately emerge from the courthouse with Martin and co-counsel Mark Rothenberg, who said Chiang was being processed by the court. 
    Though Chiang faces a maximum of 20 years, the federal sentencing guidelines recommend a sentence of two to three years, the U.S. attorney's office said. 
    Both Martin and the prosecutor, Assistant U.S. Attorney Sarah T. Chasson, said they will prepare extensively to fashion their sentencing recommendations to the court. 
    To the judge and to reporters afterward, Martin emphasized that the committee had recouped almost all of the stolen money. Chiang had withdrawn about $11,000 from the account; the rest of the donations were readily recovered. 
    The scheme was uncovered when a donor who had not received an acknowledgement of his contribution contacted the committee to inquire about the donation, according to prosecutors. A copy of the canceled check showed that it had been deposited at First Internet Bank of Indiana , the online bank where Chiang had set up the account. 
    The account was in Chiang's name, and investigators had no trouble tracking him down.

2/12/05 San Gabriel Valley Tribune: "Disparity in the courtroom: Asian-American attorneys remain few in numbers,"
By Jason Kosareff, Staff Writer
    When attorney Daniel Deng goes to court to defend a client, it is not uncommon for other lawyers, bailiffs and judges to assume he is a Mandarin translator. 
    "In a courthouse, Asians are either a defendant or a translator," Deng said. "There are very few attorneys." 
    Lawyers like Deng, whose Rosemead practice is a smashing success among Asians in Los Angeles County , are few and far between in the national picture of the justice system. 
    Asian Americans make up 2.3 percent of the nation's 871,115 lawyers, according to the American Bar Association's Commission on Racial and Ethnic Diversity in the Profession. They comprise 4.4 percent of the national population and 13 percent of the California population, according to the Census. 
    Attorney Sandra Yamate, director of the ABA commission, said young Asian Americans would have to look hard to find role models in the legal profession -- even on the abundant legal dramas on television. 
    "They're so invisible that the one time one of those programs had an Asian character, it was just burning up the Internet," Yamate said. The Asian American community became excited when one of its own had a small role as a lawyer on "JAG" and it was the subject of much Internet chatter. 
    "Otherwise, we're so invisible," Yamate said. "But then, we're invisible in so many professions portrayed on television." 
    Asian-American lawyers still face some discrimination in real courtrooms, too, Deng said. 
    "One time a judge even dared to ask, Can I see your Bar card?"' Deng said. "If you asked every lawyer to show their Bar card, I would do so," Deng told the judge. "But you only ask me, because I'm Asian, because I have an accent." 
    Stewart Kwoh, executive director of Los Angeles-based Asian Pacific American Legal Center , said years of discrimination mainly caused the lack of Asian-American lawyers. 
    "Historically, Asian Americans essentially weren't allowed to become lawyers," Kwoh said. 
    Monty Manibog, 75, of Monterey Park , has had a hand in nearly every type of legal case over a career spanning 44 years. 
    Manibog's father, Gonzalo Manibog, was the first Filipino American lawyer in the country, graduating in 1917 from a school in Indiana . The younger Manibog was the first Filipino lawyer on the West Coast, he said. 
    California is 1 percent Pacific Islander, according to the most recent census. 
    Manibog said Filipino and Pacific Islander lawyers have traditionally been lacking from the legal profession, although they typically come to this country highly educated and speaking the language. 
    "Unless we can go into the leadership areas, we really don't have our share of the apple pie," Manibog said. 
    After 44 years in the legal profession, Manibog encourages young Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders to not only study law and become lawyers, but also go into politics. Manibog recently handed stewardship of the Philippine American Bar Association to his son, Darren, with the long-standing charge of raising scholarship money for Filipino American law students. 
    "I tell them what my dad told me, go into a position of leadership, and law is a position of leadership," Manibog said. "The income is good, but the satisfaction of helping people is even greater."

2/15/05 The Sunfire Group:
    On February 9, 2005, the Asian Pacific American Legal Center (APALC)
received a large manila envelope addressed to Chinese Murderers and
APALCs downtown building that contained four Xerox-copied pages of
anti-Chinese, anti-Korean and anti-Muslim statements and pictures.  The
statements and pictures, pieced together in collage format, depicted Koreans,
Chinese and Muslims as murderers, spies, an axis of evil, and proliferators of
weapons of mass destruction.  Handwritten statements on the envelope also
threatened in red ink, KPFK SEZ: KILL CHINESE!! and CHINESE POISON + CANCER IN YOUR BODY N-O-W!  A week prior, similar envelopes were sent
to downtown Los Angeles and Monterey Park offices of the Chinatown Service
Center ,  another non-profit organization serving the Asian Pacific Islander and
other diverse communities of Los Angeles .  Both APALC and the Chinatown
Service   Center have contacted local law enforcement regarding these packages.
    If you have any information regarding these packages or have previously received a similar package, please contact Daniel Hu ang, APALC Hate Crime Project Coordinator at 213-977-7500 ext. 237 or dhuang@apalc.org.

2/15/05: Davis Wright Tremaine LLP Announces Addition of Former Washington State Governor Gary Locke to Firm
    Seattle -- Davis Wright Tremaine LLP, an international law firm with more than 420 lawyers, announced today that former Washington State Governor Gary Locke has agreed to join the firm.  Gov. Locke, the first Chinese-American governor in the country, joins the firm as a partner with its China and governmental relations practice groups and will be based in the Seattle office.
   "We are delighted with Gary 's decision to join us as a leader in our China and governmental relations practice groups," said Norm Page, chairman of the firm's executive committee and co-chair of Davis Wright Tremaine's China Practice Group. "Gov. Locke understands how business and government in the U.S. can cooperate to produce jobs and prosperity.  He is also well-known and deeply respected throughout China , at all levels of government and business.  As governor, he opened doors in China for many Washington state companies.  Now, he can help companies throughout the Pacific Northwest and the United States that want to participate in the explosive growth of the China market."
    "Davis Wright Tremaine's outstanding reputation, distinctive culture, and impressive and varied practices attracted me," said Gov. Locke.  "I'm excited to be joining such a talented group of professionals and look forward to building upon my experience to represent the firm's clients in this new venture."
   "Gov. Locke understands the complexity of national, state, and local government.  While governor, he forged many successful relationships between the public and private sectors, benefiting both.  Companies and governments looking for ways to get things done together will find his knowledge and experience invaluable," said Craig Gannett, co-chair of the firm's governmental relations group.
   During his administration Gov. Locke was lauded for keeping Washington competitive in an economically challenging business climate, especially his efforts in developing a package of incentives that kept production of the Boeing 7E7 (now renamed the 787) in the Seattle area.  He assisted the state's businesses in capitalizing on international trade by helping them sell their products and services to some of the world's most promising markets, domestically and internationally.
     "Gov. Locke has been a strong advocate for businesses in Washington State , and will bring this advocacy--and his commitment to the civic life of our region--to his practice at Davis Wright Tremaine.  His contributions will add immeasurably to the depth and breadth of our client service capabilities," said Susan Duffy, partner-in-charge of the firm's Seattle office.  
    "Gov. Locke's national stature and broad array of expertise and interests: public-private partnerships, issues concerning local, state, and national government and, of course, trade with China , will benefit our clients nationally," said Rick Ellingsen, firm-wide managing partner.
    Gov. Locke brings with him a nationally recognized record of public service during a distinguished career that saw him rise from King County Deputy Prosecutor to become one of the country's most respected state leaders.  His understanding of Chinese-American business dynamics has made him a sought-after resource for companies throughout the world.    
   In addition to his two terms as governor, Gov. Locke served as King County Deputy Prosecutor for seven years before being elected to a seat in the State House of Representatives.  He was then elected as King County Executive in 1993, which he held until 1997 when he was sworn in as Washington State 's 21^st governor. 
   Gov. Locke and his wife, Mona Locke, live with their three children in Seattle, Wash.
   ABOUT DAVIS WRIGHT TREMAINE LLP
    Davis Wright Tremaine is a full service business and litigation firm with more than 420 attorneys in its nine offices located in Anchorage; Bellevue, Wash.; Seattle; Portland, Ore.; Los Angeles; San Francisco; New York; Washington D.C.; and Shanghai, China. The firm's Shanghai office celebrated its 10^th year anniversary in 2004 - Davis Wright Tremaine was the first U.S. firm with legal authority to open and maintain a law office in Shanghai .

2/13/05 San Gabriel Valley Tribune: " Chu to run for tax board,"
By Gary Scott, Staff Writer  
    Monterey Park -- Assemblywoman Judy Chu has announced she will run for the state Board of Equalization in 2006, and the leading candidate to succeed her in the Assembly is Monterey Park Mayor Mike Eng, her husband. 
    Chu, D-Monterey Park , has been laying the groundwork for her run for months. She has succeeded in lining up several key endorsements that may prove pivotal in fending off challenges from within her own party. 
    Among those who have signed on to her campaign are John Chiang, the current Board of Equalization representative for the area who is in his final term; Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez, and state Sen. Gloria Romero, D-Rosemead. 
    Having Romero's endorsement could be particularly helpful, since it will shunt any potential challenges from the labor wing of the party. 
    "Judy is developing an incredible network within the Democratic Party,' said Chiang, who is also a close friend. 
    Chiang said he was approached by other elected officials interested in running to replace him, including Assemblyman Jerome Horton, D-Inglewood. 
    Horton, like Chu , will be termed out of the office in 2006. 
    "There is going to be, I'm sure, a strong competitive battle. Any time you have an open seat for a constitutional office, very rarely do you move everybody aside,' added Chiang, who plans to run for state treasurer in 2006. "I will do everything I can for Judy.' 
    Eng, meanwhile, has yet to publicly declare himself a candidate for the 49th Assembly District. He has, however, confided to his friends that he is likely to throw his hat in the ring. 
    Eng has opened a campaign committee and is in talks with Chu 's political consultant, SG&A Companies. Chiang has offered to endorse his campaign, and he would gain a distinct advantage having his wife working to build support for his candidacy in Sacramento . 
    "I have been urged to consider running for the 49th Assembly District in 2006,' Eng said in an e-mail. "A public announcement on the assembly race will be made within the next six weeks.' 
    If both Chu and Eng succeed in their respective races, it would enhance Chu 's already substantial influence in the state's Asian- American community, giving her a stronger hand in selecting political candidates and drawing political boundaries in 2010. 
    "Clearly to the Asian- American community her career symbolizes the rise of Asian Americans in politics,' said Leland Saito, associate professor of sociology at USC. A seat on the Board of Equalization "would broaden her base, broaden her exposure to the electorate.' 
    A hallmark of Chu's success, Saito continued, has been her ability to create multiethnic alliances, an important factor in getting Asian Americans elected anywhere in California . 
    "I just feel that Asian Americans deserve to be in all kinds of positions and, for many years, we were not,' Chu said. "It is exciting for me to see the growth of Asian Americans at least trying to run for positions, all the way from local government to statewide office.' 
    Chu has been weighing her run for the Board of Equalization for quite some time, but she refused to confirm whether she had made a final decision until recently. 
    A look at her record in the last term shows she's been taking steps to prepare herself for the race. 
    In 2004, she was appointed the chair of the Assembly Appropriation Committee, which oversees all fiscal-minded bills in the Legislature. 
    And though she has a strong legislative record on social issues, from health care and hate crime to immigrant protection and domestic violence, she has recently shifted focus onto business and tax matters. 
    The most visible piece of legislation was a tax-amnesty bill, which she worked on with Chiang, aimed at capturing billions in payments from tax evaders. 
    Chu has raised nearly $500,000 for her campaign thus far, with an ultimate goal of $2.5 million for both the primary and general election, according to her campaign consultant, Parke Skelton. 
    The Board of Equalization district encompasses most of Los Angeles County with more than 3.5 million registered voters. The district leans heavily Democratic. 
    A somewhat obscure body, it administers the state's sales, alcohol, tobacco and fuel taxes with the general charge to apply uniform standards in their collection. It also oversees the state's 58 county assessors and reviews all franchise and personal income-tax appeals. 
    Last year, the Board of Equalization collected $41.9 billion, or one third of the state's total tax revenues. 
    The Board of Equalization has become a way station of sorts for elected officials facing term limits but without anywhere else to go. Former Senate Minority Leader Jim Brulte, for instance, is seeking a seat in the board's third district. 
    "In the era of term limits, you can look at anything as a way station for something else,' Skelton said. "No one makes a career in any office anymore.' 
    Chu would be a natural choice to run for the state Senate after leaving the Assembly, but Sen. Romero will not be termed out until 2010. While there are rumors Romero might run for a seat on the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors, her spokeswoman says no such decision has been made. 
    If Chu wins the Democratic primary battle, she could be facing state Sen. Bob Margett, R-Diamond Bar, in the general election. Margett said this week that he is still weighing his options. 
    Margett will be termed out of office in 2008, meaning that even if he ran and lost, he would still hold on to his seat in the Senate.

2/10/05 The Sunfire Group  
Retired Col. Young O. Kim Receives French Legion of Honor Award from Government of France
    Los Angeles (February 8, 2005) - The Consul General of France Los Angeles presented the highly decorated World War II and Korean War veteran Colonel Young O. Kim (Ret.) with the National Order of The Legion of Honor award ("Lgion d'honneur") from the government of France on Friday, February 4.

2/7/05 Houston Chronicle: Heflin withdraws challenge to Vo after investigative finding,
By Kristen Mack and Clay Robison
    Austin - Former Republican state Rep. Talmadge Heflin withdrew his election challenge today after a fellow Republican who investigated the matter concluded that Heflin narrowly lost to Democrat Hubert Vo. 
    Vo joined Heflin after an afternoon news conference at which Heflin announced his decision. The two shook hands, and Vo said he would seek counsel from the veteran lawmaker on issues in the southwest Houston district.
    Heflin's challenge is still scheduled to go to a special House committee Tuesday, but the proceedings will be a formality with the outcome certain.
    Heflin conceded hours after state Rep. Will Hartnett, R-Dallas, issued a report to the committee saying Vo won the election by at least 16 votes. Hartnett served as "master of discovery" to investigate the election contest.
    Hartnett concluded that Heflin had produced "no evidence of any intentional voter fraud" that would have affected his Nov. 2 loss to Vo in District 149. Vo won then by 52 votes, a margin that narrowed to 33 with an official recount including mail-in ballots.
    "It became obvious that we didn't have the data to meet the hurdle," Heflin said of his effort to convince Hartnett and the House that the participation of ineligible voters put the result of the election in doubt. "When you see that you can't meet a criteria that is thrust upon you, it makes no sense to move ahead."
    Had Heflin pursued his challenge, the House could have upheld Vo's election, seated Heflin or required Gov. Rick Perry to call another election.
    Heflin, who served 11 terms in the House and was chairman of the powerful House Appropriations Committee, said it was "highly likely" that he would run again to regain the House seat or another public office.
    Vo said he looks forward to serving, and that the residents of the district will "have a say again in two years."
    During the campaign, Vo said Heflin had lost touch with the increasingly diverse district.
    Heflin wouldn't address tha today, saying he was not going to dwell on the past and that in the election challenge, he only wanted to seek the truth.
    "It's not something I was in because I couldn't let go of (the seat)," he said.
    Heflin alleged that illegal votes were counted and legal votes were discarded, costing him the election.
    To overturn an election, Heflin would have had to prove, by clear and convincing evidence, that voting irregularities affected the election results.
    Heflin failed to meet that burden of proof, Hartnett said.
    Heflin produced no evidence of any intentional voter fraud "which affected the final vote tally to his detriment. (Heflin's) challenge to the vast bulk of the votes in question is based on technical, and apparently unintentional, violations of election law," said Hartnett, who examined each of 259 questionable votes.
    Hartnett said illegal votes were cast in the election, as they are in most elections. They included ballots by voters who did not live in the district or were not registered. In some cases election judges gave them incorrect information about their eligibility.
    He had said, however, that he only would discount ballots from voters who were ineligible, voted in the Heflin-Vo race and would say how they voted. That process reduced Vo's margin of victory, but didn't change the outcome, he said.
    Hartnett was praised by partisans on both sides of the aisle for being even-handed and meticulous .
    After reviewing Hartnett's report, Heflin decided it was time to move on, said his lawyer, Andy Taylor.
    "We made a political decision not to ask for the select committee to overrule Rep. Hartnett," Taylor said. "I didn't think that would be in the best interest of the parties or the House."
    He added that Heflin did not want to put House members in the "uncomfortable position" of having to weigh in on the race.
    Heflin and Taylor said they still believe that the race was decided by ineligible voters, and said they wish they had had more time to collect evidence.
    "Even under the most critical review of our evidence, a new election should have been ordered," Taylor said. "How can anyone say with any confidence whatsoever that the outcome the election was such that one candidate prevailed over another?"
    Heflin said he respected Hartnett's report but doesn't regret his challenge.
    "Any time you seek the truth it's worth it," Heflin said. "The integrity of the election process is what's at risk."
    Rep. Dan Flynn, R-Canton, who attended Heflin's news conference, said Heflin set a standard for House members and that Texas taxpayers owe him a debt of gratitude.
    House Speaker Tom Craddick said Heflin has been an asset to the Legislature.
    "On behalf of my colleagues, I want to thank him for his commitment to the people of House District 149 and of Texas ," Craddick said in a statement. "These election contests have brought to light a number of issues with regard to the election process, and we will be exploring these concerns during this Legislature and possibly into the interim."
    The nine-member Select House Committee on Election Contest, which includes five Republicans and four Democrats, will meet Tuesday morning.
    "The proceedings will now become formal, as opposed to substantive," said Terry Keel, R-Austin, who is chairing the committee.
    The committee will vote, then forward its report to the full Texas House, which will officially put the matter to rest. That is scheduled for Thursday.

2/3/05 New York Times: Tsunami Jokers Fired,
    Under intense pressure from protests, Hot 97 (WQHT-FM) has fired its morning-show producer, Rick Delgado, and a cast member, Todd Lynn, over a tsunami parody song. Referring to the station's parent company, Emmis Communications, a statement on Hot 97's Web site, www.Hot97.com, reads, "An internal investigation by Hot 97 and Emmis determined that the singularly egregious actions of Lynn and Delgado warranted termination from their employment at the station." Mr. Delgado wrote and produced "The Tsunami Song," which included racial epithets and lyrics that mocked the victims of the Asian tsunami. On the air Mr. Lynn threatened to begin "shooting Asians." Miss Jones, star of the morning show, as well as DJ Envy and a production assistant, have been suspended without pay for two weeks. 
    City Councilman John C. Liu, a Queens Democrat, is not satisfied. He is calling for Miss Jones's dismissal. Mr. Liu is also asking that the $1 million pledge made by Emmis to Give2Asia, a Tsunami aid organization, be increased to $10 million. Mr. Delgado is no stranger to controversy. He was a producer for the Opie & Anthony show, which ended on WNEW-FM after a 2002 scandal created when a couple called the show to say they were having sex in St. Patrick's Cathedral. LOLA OGUNNAIKE

2/3/05 San Gabriel Valley Tribune: Asians lacking in areas of report: Health insurance, home buying cited, 
by Ivy Dai
    Korean Americans have the lowest percentage of health-insurance coverage in the state, despite a median income on par with Chinese and Japanese residents, according to a report released Thursday on Asian Americans in California .
    Koreans also have the lowest percentage of home ownership, falling below African Americans, Latinos and whites, according to the Asian Pacific American Legal Center report.
    "In contrast to popular opinions that Asians are doing well, the reality is that we're facing many challenges in different areas,' said Kimiko Kelly, an analyst with the center and co-author of the report. "Health-care coverage for the Asian population as a whole is average, but 40 percent of Koreans don't have insurance.'
    Legislators, educators, business representatives and nonprofit groups gathered in Los Angeles on Thursday at the Cathedral Plaza Center for the release of the report analyzing the fastest- growing minority in California .
    Despite the myth that Asians and Pacific Islanders are a "model minority,' the report found they fell below the mark for per capita income, home ownership and college graduates.
    The 4.5 million Asians in California also have a higher percentage of crowded households, with three or more family members working and receiving public assistance.
    The disparities are more sharply evident in Pacific Islanders. Cambodian, Hmong, Laotian, Samoan and Tongan residents have the highest poverty rates statewide.
    "I think the biggest issue is to get the Hmong, Cambodian and other Pacific Islander groups together,' Monterey Park Mayor Mike Eng said. "They really need to bring them to the table they lack funding, visibility and nonprofit groups.'
    Monterey Park has the highest Asian concentration in Southern California at 64 percent, and is one of six cities in the San Gabriel Valley with an Asian majority.
    Thirty-nine percent of Asians in the state have limited English proficiency, according to the report.
    The language barrier is the biggest challenge educators, legislators and healthcare officials face in helping the Asian-American community, said the center's Executive Director Stewart Kwoh.
    "People need to be able to communicate, so they can go to hospitals and other places for help. We need to train more people to engage in the community,' Kwoh said. "It's also a two-sided responsibility. More Asian Americans need to get involved.'
    Monterey Park has developed linguistic and cultural outreach programs for new immigrants and seniors, Eng said.
    The Alhambra Unified School District also employs multilingual home school coordinators, said Quoc Tran, the district's English language development coordinator.
    "We have 20,000 students in the district, and about 40 percent have limited- English proficiency,' Tran said. "We have 26 different languages other than English.'
    The report is based on 2000 U.S. Census data, and includes San Francisco Bay Area figures for the first time. The Legal Center plans to release a national report on Asian Americans next year with projections for 2010.

1/28/05 The Austin Chronicle: The Election, The Baby, and the Bathwater - Heflin Challenge could Reverberate Statewide,
by Amy Smith
    By the time the Lunar New Year rolls in early next month, the state's Asian-American community may well have a whole new perspective on Texas politics.
    Perhaps it's a long shot, but the Year of the Rooster could bring about a dramatic shift in the voting patterns of Asian Americans, who typically vote conservatively but not necessarily as a one-party bloc.
    Now, thanks to the Republican Party's obstreperous efforts to oust the first Vietnamese-American ever elected to the Texas legislature, the Asian vote could become the Democrats' secret weapon.
    The GOP's problem with Houston Rep. Hubert Vo is not his ethnic heritage
    Amy Wong Mok, and Austin Businesswoman and community activist, says Asians here and abroad are closely following this case.  The outcome, she believes, could have long-lasting effects on the overall political landscape of Texas - home to the 4th largest Asian population in the country.  "If they take away Hubert Vo", said Mok, "Asian-Americans are going to be very angry for the next two generations.  It would be a  slop in the face."  Mok, a former candidate for Austin City Council who leans Democratic, says the state GOP will have a hard time justifying itself to those Asians who traditionally vote Republican.  "Many different Asian organizations are united behind Hubert Vo," she said.  "As we see it, this is about arrogance...it's about not accepting defeat gracefully."

1/22/05 Associated Press: Tipster Possibly Lied About Immigrant Terrorists,
By Denise Lavoie
    Boston (AP) -- Gov. Mitt Romney said he has become "less concerned, not more concerned" about a potential terrorist threat against the city of Boston . The FBI, meanwhile, is exploring possible theories for the reports - including a possible revenge motive.
    FBI agents have been looking into an uncorroborated tip that 16 people might be planning an attack on the city. Those allegedly involved in the plot include 13 Chinese nationals, two Iraqis and a man identified on the FBI's Web site as Jose Ernesto Beltran Quinones, whose nationality was not given.
    But the tipster who told federal officials about the alleged conspiracy may have fabricated the story out of revenge, a federal law enforcement official said Friday. The law enforcement official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the tipster may have been angry because a group of illegal immigrants had failed to pay for smuggling them into the country.
    That scenario is one of many being examined in the case, said the official in Washington , who declined to describe other theories being explored.
    The original tip was received by the California Highway Patrol, according to another federal law enforcement official in Washington who also spoke on condition of anonymity.
    The tipster claimed four of the Chinese - two men and two women - entered the United States from Mexico and were awaiting a shipment of "nuclear oxide" that would follow them to Boston .
    Several radioactive compounds take form as oxides and could be used in a dirty bomb, said Charles Ferguson, a science and technology fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations in Washington. Plutonium and americium oxides, in the right amounts, would be dangerous to human health, while uranium oxide would be less so, Ferguson said.
    Security was increased in Boston , where two of the planes were hijacked for the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.  

1/21/05 AsianWeek.com: Tse on the Victory Tour at Bush Inaugural,
By Sam Chu Lin
    Security was very tight, and the weather was extremely cold as huge crowds converged on Washington , D.C. , this week for the 55th presidential inauguration ceremonies and the swearing in of President Bush for his second term of office.
    Despite the less-than-perfect conditions, Marina Tse, an associate assistant deputy secretary in the Department of Education and a Los Angeles resident, was very enthusiastic. She noted this was the third inauguration she had attended.
    She enjoyed witnessing history in the making. That included watching the swearing-in ceremonies and the inaugural parade, attending a reception hosted by Secretary of Labor Elaine Chao for Asian Pacific American visitors, and dancing and networking with other Bush supporters at one of the inaugural balls. During the week, Tse said there were many receptions and dances taking place every night.
    I have three evening gowns that I wore, she revealed. I love pink. One has gold trim and a little ruffle in the back. I bought silver shoes with beads on them. For the inaugural I purchased a special evening gown. I wore a red Chinese chee pao (cheung sam Chinese Mandarin dress) with black trim and slits on the side. It was made for me in Shanghai .
    On the eve of the inauguration ceremonies, Tse said that the White House invited political appointees like herself to attend an event on the Eclipse called A Celebration of Freedom. It featured remarks by both the president and the vice president, entertainment provided by a diverse group of musical artists, and a fireworks display.
    I received a lot of e-mails from Asian Pacific Americans telling me they would be there, Tse stated. They told me they had bought a lot of tickets to go to the events, like $15 to $125 for bleacher seats for the parade and $150 for the inaugural ball. We were not just celebrating George W. Bushs victory but the Republican Partys.
    Tse is a member of the Republican Team 100 Club, a VIP group of political supporters, and she has actively campaigned for Bush in California and in communities where there are large concentrations of APAs. As a Team 100 member, she was invited to many other social events.
    Im proud Im a Chinese American, and Im proud to be part of this administration, Tse stated. Attending the inauguration, I also got together with many of my friends.
    Tse has served in the Department of Education for three years, and with Bush re-elected and sworn in, she says shes looking forward to continuing her work in alerting APAs about the educational benefits of which they can take advantage. She quickly added that theres much more work to be completed. She was extremely proud that this latest inauguration paid special tribute to people like herself in the event Saluting Those Who Serve.
    Its been very rewarding and an exciting experience helping people, she stated. For example, I have had the opportunity to tell a lot of people about the No Child Left Behind Program. It is very different. Instead of the bureaucrats running the education system, the law gives parents a lot of rights for their kids. They can go to their school district and request specific programs for their kids, including asking for extra help for them.
    Ive also discovered there are many Asian Pacific Americans in cities I never knew were there before, like Baton Rouge , Louisiana , where there are a lot of Vietnamese and the Hmong in North Carolina .
    Tse, who is bicoastal in terms of her residency, says she plans to return to the West Coast soon. Instead of politics, she and her Oscar-winning sound editor husband Richard Anderson (Raiders of the Lost Ark) are preparing to attend the Academy Award ceremonies in Hollywood on Jan. 28.
    Its a great show, she commented. I wouldnt miss it.

1/17/05 Quorum Report: Little Saigon Radio Station Focuses Asian Attention on Vo-Heflin Contest,
    One of the keys to an increasingly organized community
    Supporters of state Rep. Hubert Vo (D-Houston) say they cannot overestimate the impact Little Saigon Radio is having in getting their message out about the House District 149 election contest.
    The news, talk and entertainment radio station took two busloads of supporters to Austin for Vo's swearing in last Tuesday. It is helping get 5,000 signatures for a petition in support of the freshman Democrat and will assist Vietnamese Americans from Houston who want to attend an election contest hearing taking place at the Capitol a week on Thursday.
    "The Vietnamese community in Houston gets so much of its information from radio and everybody knows Little Saigon Radio," said Anna Kong, coordinator for Communities United for Hubert Vo. "The station has taken the lead in getting the word out and building support. It has been incredibly helpful."
    Harris County is second only to Orange County , Ca., in its Vietnamese American population. Little Saigon Radio has been on the air for 11 years in California and ten years in Houston . Calvert said her group sends out questionnaires to candidates and follows up with face-to-face interviews. Once they have endorsed a candidate, they send out targeted postcards in as many four languages.  That is followed by block walking and paid newspaper interviews. She said the group also connects to voters through e-mails because Internet use is high in the Asian American community.
    Calvert said Vo was not endorsed solely because he was a minority. "We interviewed Heflin and when we asked why we never saw him in the community.  He said you've got to come and ask me," Calvert said. "We thought that was a little patronizing, given the way the district was changing."
    Calvert has no doubt there are flaws in the election process in Harris and Fort Bend counties but said she does not believe there was widespread intentional voter fraud in the HD 149 election.

1/15/04 DiversityBusiness.com: Top 100 Asian Owned Businesses in the United States Announced,
Southport , CT
    DiversityBusiness.com, the nations leading multicultural B2B online portal, today announced the Div100, the 5^th annual listing of the nations top 100 Asian-owned businesses. Ranging in revenue size from $20 million to over $1 billion, the companies listed on the Div100 represent the nations top multicultural earners and challenge the long-held notion that diversity-owned businesses are small or insignificant. 
    At the top of 2004s Div100 are Software House International, Inc., headquartered in Somerset, NJ, with $2.1 billion in 2003 revenues,  The top companies will be honored at a special awards ceremony at DiversityBusiness.coms 5th Annual Multicultural Business Conference, taking place March 30 - April 1, 2005 at the Foxwoods Resort Casino in Mashantucket , Connecticut .
    Diversity-owned businesses contribute over $1.4 trillion in sales to the U.S. economy, said  Kenton Clarke, CEO of Computer Consulting Associates International, the company that built DiversityBusiness.com.  It is no longer just `the right thing to do business with diversity suppliers. Because of recent economic and demographic trends and changes, major corporations are realizing that having a diverse supplier list positively impacts their business.
    The Div100
    The Div100 is a classification that represents the top 100 diversity-owned (women, Blacks, Hispanics, Asians, Native Indian and other minority groups) businesses in the U.S., in sectors such as technology, manufacturing, food service and professional services. Major corporations, government agencies and college/universities throughout the country that do business with multicultural and women-owned businesses use the list The Div100 is produced annually by DiversityBusiness.com, the nation's leading multicultural B2B Internet portal that links large organizational buyers to multicultural product and service businesses.
The Div100 companies are the heroes of diversity-owned business in America , said Kenton Clarke. These are the people that have conquered the hurdles and made the sacrifices, building and strengthening their communities, providing jobs and helping to keep the fabric of the U.S. economy together.
    For the complete list of winning companies, please visit: www.DiversityBusiness.com 
    About DiversityBusiness.com
    Launched in 1999, DiversityBusiness.com with over 26,000 members is the largest organization of diversity-owned businesses throughout the United States that provide goods and services to Fortune 1000 companies, government agencies and colleges and universities. The site has gained national recognition and has won numerous awards for its content and design. It is a membership-based exchange platform that facilitates contacts and communication, streamlines business processes and provides vital business news and information. DiversityBusiness.com is produced by Computer Consulting Associates International Inc. (CCAii.com) of Southport , CT. Founded in 1980 by CEO Kenton Clarke; CCAii is the one of the countrys most successful African-American owned computer-consulting and diversity specialist firms.
    Press Contact: Odetta Rogers, Director of Communications, DiversityBusiness.com

1/13/05 San Francisco Chronicle: U.S. poll finds more view China approvingly,
by Vanessa Hua
    American attitudes toward China have improved in the last decade, although China is viewed as a serious economic threat, and human rights is a key concern, according to a national poll released today. 
    Approximately 59 percent of Americans view China favorably, compared with 46 percent in a 1994 survey.
    The Committee of 100, a national organization composed of prominent Chinese Americans, announced the results of the study conducted by Zogby International, a national polling organization. 
    The study interviewed 203 opinion leaders -- executives in business, media, government and academia familiar with U.S.-China relations -- and 1, 202 members of the general public nationwide. 
    Opinion leaders rated China 's business and market-based economy as the top reason for improved relations. Those who believed the relationship was worsening cited the trade deficit and China 's economic threat and international human rights violations. 
    About 48 percent of the American public, according to the survey, views China as an ally, compared with just 25 percent a decade ago. But fewer than 20 percent saw China as a dependable ally in the war on terror. 
    Less than a quarter of respondents said the U.S military should defend the island of Taiwan , which China regards as a renegade province. 
    Almost three-quarters of the respondents agreed that access to U.S. markets should be linked to China 's human rights record, though approximately half believed that the situation had improved in the last decade. 
    A large majority of both opinion leaders and the general public agreed that low-cost Chinese imports benefit American consumers. 
    Other factors also have influenced attitudes: About 23 percent of those surveyed said they had a friend or family that adopted a Chinese baby.

 
1/12/05 Houston Chronicle: Freshmen get a dose of reality: 
3 Houstonians join 15 other first timers,
By Kristen Mack
    State Representative Hubert Vo, who is still battling an election 
challenge, took his seat in the House on Tuesday.
    Austin - Houston 's freshman legislators got a dose of excitement and 
reality as they took office Tuesday. 
    The excitement: Alma Allen, Hubert Vo and Melissa Noriega joined 15 
other newcomers in the House of Representatives, who were surrounded 
by family and friends during the ceremonial swearing-in.
    The reality: Vo still faces an election challenge for his seat, and Noriega
learned that she will have to relinquish her job with the Houston  
Independent School District while she fills in for her husband, state Rep. 
Rick Noriega, D-Houston.
    Vo, a Democrat, alluded to the election contest in a speech on the 
Capitol steps before hundreds of supporters who came to rally on his 
behalf. "This inauguration is not as much a victory as it is a challenge," 
Vo said.
    Talmadge Heflin, the veteran Republican legislator whom Vo defeated 
by 33 votes, is contesting the election. After hearings later this month, the
House can uphold Vo's election, seat Heflin or require Gov. Rick Perry
to schedule another election in southwest Houston 's District 149.
    Three busloads of Vo supporters left Houston shortly after 6 a.m. and
arrived at the Capitol around 9:30 a.m. to rally for Vo, sporting buttons 
that read "Heflin just can't take Vo for an answer."
    "We are not just going to allow anyone to manipulate the process or 
take his seat away from him," said Houston City Councilman Gordon Quan.
    Several groups, including the Houston 80-20, an Asian-American 
political action committee, have gathered more than 3,000 petition 
signatures asking the House to uphold the election.

1/12/05 Harvard Crimson: Book Confronts Model Minority Myth,
By Lulu Zhou
    A recently published book by Vivian S. Louie, assistant professor at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, suggests that, contrary to what many believe, socioeconomic background and racial discrimination has a strong influence on the educational opportunities of Chinese-American college students. 
    Louies book, Compelled to Excel: Immigration, Education, and Opportunity Among Chinese Americans, rests on the argument that race and class do matter: not always a popular view. 
    Post-civil rights America likes to think of itself as rising up by its bootstraps, Louie said in a recent interview. And the model-minority myth - the idea that Asian Americans can succeed in the United States regardless of their background - only propagates the idea that class and race doesnt matter. 
    Asian Americans are held up as an example to other groups, both immigrant- and native-born, she said. Louie interviewed 68 second-generation Chinese Americans attending Hunter College and Columbia University and compared the experiences of students from suburban, middle-class America to those who grew up in ethnic enclaves like Chinatown or Flushing , New York . 
    Even though the parents of both groups expressed high hopes for their childrens success in the United States , Louie argued that the road to college is ultimately shaped by social class. 
    Suburban families can afford to pay for good educational opportunities, while parents in enclaves have to depend on ethnic networks, she said. 
    Edward H. Thai 07, political chair of the Harvard-Radcliffe Chinese Students Association (HRCSA), said his personal experience supports the thesis of Louies new book. 
    I grew up in suburban America , and I havent suffered any difficulties per se, said Thai, who is a second-generation Chinese-Vietnamese-American, whereas I have family in poorer Philadelphia who dont have the same opportunities and have a harder time doing well. 
    Assistant Professor of Sociology Prudence L. Carter has not read Louies book yet but is familiar with its thesis. 
    What I like about this book is it shows how heterogenous even a group like Chinese Americans can be, she said. 
    But Louie said that while her respondents acknowledged a racial hierarchy and class inequality, they subscribed to the idea that their ethnic culture was more important for success than financial and educational resources. 
    Even kids who havent done well in enclaves and feel stigmatized say `Were the exception, she said. 
    Kate Wang 07, vice-president of HRCSA, describes a self-fulfilling prophecy among Chinese Americans. 
    Growing up and being exposed to Chinese people being perfect academics, you sort of follow that path subconsciously, she remembers. 
    In her book, Louie also suggests that the perception of racial discrimination - the source of what she calls immigrant pessimism - looms large. 
    Parents feel that being Asian and Chinese wouldnt help their kids, she explained. Thats why they encourage higher education. 
    Louie said she was surprised that a lot of her respondents felt they would always be considered outsiders. 
    But some students, like Thai, are optimistic about being embraced as true Americans, citing the influx of immigrants and growing multi-culturalism as good portents. 

1/11/05 New York Newsday: Spitzer says civil rights unit will study minority representation on boards
By Deepti Hajela, Associated Press Writer
    New York -- State Attorney General Eliot Spitzer, speaking at a conference on economic equality, said Tuesday that his civil rights unit will study minority representation on corporate boards and whether state law governs how those boards are put together. 
    "We're just going to take a look and see how the state laws might or might not apply," Spitzer said at a breakfast opening the 2005 Wall Street Project, organized by the Rev. Jesse Jackson and his Rainbow/PUSH civil rights organization. 
    The conference advocates for increasing economic opportunity for communities of color, from getting access to loans to being named to seats on corporate boards and having decision-making power over investments. 
    Jackson put forth data showing that minorities are only a small percentage of board members, and manage only tiny fractions of the vast amounts of money flowing through the financial world. He also criticized predatory lending in communities of color. 
    Spitzer, who gained international attention with investigations of Wall Street brokers, mutual fund executives and the insurance industry, announced in December that he will seek the Democratic nomination for governor. 
    He said there were effective laws against predatory lending, but "there is a genuine effort underfoot right now to undercut the enforcement of those laws." He criticized federal efforts to have national banks exempted from state consumer protection laws. 
    The three-day conference is the eighth Jackson has held. Along with a job fair, panels will include discussions on the businesses of hip-hop and sports, as well as media images of minorities. Other guests expected through Thursday include Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton and hip-hop mogul Russell Simmons.  

1/10/05 Sacramento Bee: Matsui's widow planning to run: Advisers urge her to head off potential rivals to replace her husband in Congress,
by Steve Gibson and Sam Stanton
    Moving to fend off any potential competition, Doris Matsui began calling Sacramento friends and political figures Sunday to tell them she plans to run for the seat her husband held for 26 years before he died Jan. 1.
    Matsui, 60, widow of Rep. Robert Matsui, D-Sacramento, plans to make a formal announcement early this week, said numerous people who spoke to her Sunday, one day after her husband was buried.
    She had hoped to wait longer before making the move, but political advisers convinced her that she needed to make it clear she plans to run before any other candidates emerge.
    "She let me know that she was going to run," said Rep. Mike Thompson, D-St. Helena. "She wanted to put it off for a while, but unfortunately there are some people out there who are rustling the bushes, trying to see if they should run. That required her to go a little sooner than she would have preferred."
    Matsui's aides said she would not comment Sunday on her plans, but numerous other political advisers said she had made the decision and that she would be a formidable candidate.
    Potential opponents include state Sen. Deborah Ortiz, D-Sacramento, and former Assemblyman Darrell Steinberg, D-Sacramento; neither would rule out a run Sunday.
    "I still think it's early," Ortiz said. "My God, Bob was just buried (Saturday). There are a lot of strong emotions. I'm not prepared to make a decision."
    Steinberg acknowledged that Matsui had called him Sunday but would not comment on his plans.
    "I have great respect for the entire Matsui family and look forward to talking further with Doris in the days ahead," Steinberg said.
    But at least one other potential candidate, Democratic county Supervisor Roger Dickinson, said he had spoken to Matsui on Sunday and that he would endorse her.
    "I think that there will be a very strong groundswell of support for Doris," Dickinson said. "It will be widespread and deep, and I think Doris will be a very strong candidate."
    It is not unusual for surviving spouses to seek election to replace a deceased husband or wife, but many people said Sunday that they consider Matsui to be more than just the congressman's widow.
    "All through the week she was encouraged by a great many people to run and carry on Bob's legacy," state Treasurer Phil Angelides, a Democrat, said Sunday. "She and Bob have always been very much a team.
    "I have a high regard for Doris and her capabilities. She is held in very high esteem and is a civic leader in her own right and is widely respected in this community."
    Phil Isenberg, former Sacramento mayor and assemblyman, said it would be difficult for anyone to mount a serious challenge to Matsui.
    "If Doris runs, she'll certainly be the odds-on favorite and clear the field in the Democratic primary," Isenberg said.
    One prominent Sacramento political consultant said it would be extremely difficult for a challenger to prevail over Matsui, both because of public sympathy for her and because of her own background in Washington politics.
    "I think it would be politically untenable for anyone else to challenge her," said Jeff Raimundo, who is close to the Matsui family and said such a challenge could be seen by voters as "unseemly."
    "I think she's going to be popular, the public sympathy is going to be with her and she's earned it by being a very significant political star in her own right," he added.
    Matsui served as an adviser in the White House during the Clinton administration and works for a Washington law firm that does lobbying work, although she is not a lawyer.
    Like her late husband, Doris Matsui's family spent part of World War II in an internment camp for Japanese Americans. She graduated from Dinuba Union High School after being selected as class valedictorian and spring queen.
    She later attended the University of California , Berkeley , where she graduated with a bachelor's degree in psychology.
    After marrying, she became active in Sacramento organizations, including the Sacramento Symphony League, and served as board chairwoman of KVIE public television in the mid-1970s.
    That work exposed her to numerous public figures, including some who spoke out on her behalf Sunday.
    "She can do this job," said former Sacramento County Supervisor Muriel Johnson, a Republican.
    "She understands politics, she knows the issues in Sacramento and she certainly knows Washington , D.C.
    "She can stand up to the pressures and work both sides of the aisle."
Johnson said she had not talked to anyone who would consider opposing Matsui for the seat, and added, "I can't imagine anyone doing it."
    Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger still has not announced the date of the special election to fill Robert Matsui's seat, although a primary is expected to be held in early March, possibly March 8.
    Under California law, a primary will be held with all candidates facing off against each other regardless of party. If one candidate wins more than 50 percent of the vote, that person wins.
    If there is no clear winner, the top two vote-getters will face off in a general election that could be held in May.
    Robert Matsui's district, Congressional District 5, is heavily Democratic, and the congressman won his last bid for re-election with more than 70 percent of the vote, leaving many observers to believe there is little chance of a Republican mounting a serious challenge. 
Doris Matsui
Age: 60
* Early years: Grew up in Dinuba, graduated from Dinuba Union High School .
* Education: Bachelor's degree in psychology, University of California , Berkeley .
* 1992: Part of President Clinton's transition team.
* 1993-1998: Deputy assistant to the president and deputy director of public liaison.
* 1998 to present: Director of government relations for a Washington law firm.
* Family: Son Brian, daughter-in-law Amy, granddaughter Anna.

1/7/05 Los Angeles Times: Spying Case Tossed Out: Federal judge scolds prosecutors in her dismissal of criminal charges against a woman accused of working as a Chinese double agent,
By David Rosenzweig, Times Staff Writer
    Charging prosecutors with willful and deliberate misconduct, a federal judge on Thursday dismissed all criminal charges against a former FBI informant accused of serving as a Chinese double agent.
    In a sharply worded ruling, U.S. District Judge Florence-Marie Cooper blasted the U.S. attorney's office for "conduct unbecoming a prosecutorial agency."
    Attorneys for Chinese American businesswoman Katrina Leung had accused the government of illegally and unethically exacting a commitment from her former FBI handler that barred him from talking to the defense.
    The pledge was contained in an agreement that retired agent James J. Smith reached with the government last year, allowing him to plead guilty to a reduced charge of failing to report his 20-year-long sexual affair with Leung.
    Under long-established rules, prosecutors are prohibited from obstructing a defendant's access to witnesses.
    At a hearing before Cooper last month, Assistant U.S. Atty. Michael Emmick disavowed any intent to prevent Smith from speaking to Leung's defense team. He blamed "inartful" language in Smith's plea agreement.
    But Cooper cited a Nov. 18 e-mail message to Emmick from Robert Wallace, senior trial counsel in the Justice Department's counterintelligence section in Washington, saying that the wording was aimed at "preventing Smith from being interviewed by Leung's counsel because he is a repository of classified information."
    "In the face of that e-mail," Cooper wrote, "anything short of an admission and apology on the part of the government is hard to imagine. Mr. Emmick did neither. Rather, he chose to ignore the e-mail."
    The plea agreement clause in dispute specified that Smith would engage in "no further sharing of information relating to this case with Leung, counsel for Leung or the employees of counsel for Leung."
    Cooper said the evidence was abundantly clear that the clause was intentionally placed in the agreement to prevent Smith from talking to the defense. And to make matters worse, she said, the prosecution subsequently engaged in a series of explanations and denials that "compounds the problem by undermining the court's confidence in the integrity of the process."
    She accused the prosecution of misrepresenting to the court its true intentions in drafting the "no-further-sharing" clause.
    "While a certain amount of shading of the truth may be tolerated, even in judicial proceedings, prosecutors are subject to constraints and responsibilities beyond those which apply to other lawyers," the judge wrote.
    "In this case, the government decided to make sure that Leung and her lawyers would not have access to Smith. When confronted with what they had done, they engaged in a pattern of stonewalling entirely unbecoming a prosecutorial agency."
    U.S. Atty. Debra W. Yang issued a statement denying any prosecutorial misconduct. "I stand behind the work of the prosecutors of this case and I know that they have conducted themselves ethically," she said.
    Yang said her staff was analyzing the ruling and would consider an appeal.
    Leung's lawyers, John D. Vandevelde and Janet I. Levine, said in a statement that they were gratified by the dismissal.
    "Katrina Leung's nightmare is over," they said. "The courts have again made sure that truth and justice are not mere platitudes."
    They described their client as a loyal American who dedicated her life to serving her adopted country for 20 years. "She looks forward to moving on with her life as a loyal and patriotic citizen."
    Leung, a naturalized citizen, was recruited by Smith during the early 1980s to gather intelligence for the FBI during her frequent business trips to China , where she ingratiated herself with high-ranking government officials.
    But starting about 1990, prosecutors said, she began working for the Chinese as well, feeding sensitive, unauthorized information about the FBI to her handler at the Chinese Ministry of State Security.
    Smith, who had an extramarital affair with Leung for two decades, learned about her activities but covered it up and continued to vouch for her reliability, he admitted in his plea deal.
    Leung was not charged with espionage but with illegally copying and possessing classified documents that she could have used to harm the interests of the U.S. government. The documents were seized during a search of Leung's San Marino home.
    According to an FBI affidavit, Leung allegedly lifted the papers from Smith's briefcase during his many visits to her house.
    Through her attorneys, Leung denied any wrongdoing and insisted she had acted at all times at the direction of Smith and other members of the FBI's counterintelligence squad.
    An FBI spokesperson declined to comment on the ruling Thursday.
    Smith, who retired from the FBI in 2000, was initially charged with gross negligence in handling classified documents and faced a possible 10-year prison term. Under terms of his plea agreement, the prosecution could recommend that he receive no time in jail.
    In her ruling Thursday, Cooper said that Smith still has "everything to lose" by talking to the defense.
    "Suspended over his head, like the proverbial Sword of Damocles, is the sure knowledge that if he violates any of the terms of his plea agreement, the deal is canceled and his future returns to its former bleak state."
    Consequently, the judge said, Leung has suffered substantial prejudice as a result of the prosecution's due-process violation.
    Reaction to the dismissal among leaders in the Chinese American community was marked by a mixture of relief and continuing concern.
    Assemblywoman Judy Chu ( D-Monterey Park ), who knew Leung well and had worked with her, said: "I am glad for Katrina, certainly. But I am terribly disturbed by the prosecutorial misconduct involved in the case. Katrina's life has been turned upside down. And I fear that the outcome was anticlimactic, compared to the charges that were leveled against her."
    "The community asked for a fair trial and restrained its judgment when this case first broke," Chu said. "I am glad that the justice system worked in responding to that request."
    David Ma, chairman of the Chinese American Rights Organization in Monterey Park and a sometime critic of Leung, said the case had damaged the image of Chinese Americans regardless of the dismissal.
    "The legal part is one thing, because you need to prove 100% that she is guilty," he said. "From the point of the view of a loyal Chinese American, I feel very painful about this incident, because people like Katrina are taking advantage of this country."
    Stewart Kwoh, president of the Asian Pacific American Legal Center of Southern California, said: "This is a very unfortunate matter that really required a fair trial to find out the truth." With the dismissal, he said, "we may never know what really happened."
    Lily Lee Chen, former mayor of Monterey Park , said: "It would have been better if we knew exactly what had happened. The damage has been done not only to herself, in terms of her reputation, but for the Asian American community."
    Loyola University law professor Laurie Levenson said Cooper's decision contained a clear message for prosecutors: "Candor to the court is Job 1."
    Levenson, a former federal prosecutor, noted that Cooper dismissed the case on two grounds that there was a constitutional violation, and under the court's inherent supervisory powers.
    Given that, she said, the government will face "an uphill battle" if it appeals.

1/7/05 The Boston Globe: Asian Americans Slow to Embrace Politics,
By Yvonne Abraham
    Sam Yoon, the first Asian-American to run for Boston City Council, can tick off Asian-Americans who have ventured onto the political stage in Massachusetts on just one hand: a Newton alderman, a Lowell city councilor, a Randolph selectman, a couple of others who took a stab at office and didn't succeed.
    Though Asian-American communities across the state are growing, they are not making themselves heard in the political arena. Voter registration levels among Asian-Americans lag, and relatively few Asian-Americans run for office, which further depresses political participation, Yoon and others said.
    "There's a kind of chicken-vs.-egg problem," said Yoon, director of housing at the Asian Community Development Corporation, in Boston 's Chinatown . "A lot of Asians don't participate in politics because they don't see themselves reflected in political or governmental institutions."
    A report released this week suggests the extent of the problem. In the

 
1/2/05 Associated Press: "Democratic Rep. Bob Matsui Dies at Age 63,"
    Bethesda, Md. - Democratic Rep. Robert T. Matsui of California, who spent time in an internment camp for Japanese-Americans as an infant during World War II and went on to serve 26 years in Congress, has died of complications from a rare disease, his family said Sunday.
    Matsui, 63, died Saturday night at the National Naval Medical Center in this Washington suburb. 
    Matsui juggled political and policy roles during more than a quarter-century in Congress. He was the chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee for the past two years, in charge of the unsuccessful effort to regain control of the House. 
    He also was the third-ranking Democrat on the powerful House Ways and Means Committee, where he was his party's point man on Social Security legislation.
    In a statement announcing Matsui's death, his office disclosed that the congressman was diagnosed several months ago with Milo Dysplastic Disorder, a rare stem cell disorder that reduces the body's ability to produce red blood cells, white blood cells and platelets. Victims of the disease are left more susceptible to other illnesses, with less ability to fight them off.
    The statement said Matsui entered the hospital on Dec. 24 with pneumonia.
    Matsui was recently re-elected with ease to his 14th term in Congress. His death will trigger a special election for a new representative in his Sacramento-area district.
    Matsui was born in 1941. The following year, his family was among the Japanese-Americans forced into internment camps during World War II. 
Decades later, he helped pass legislation which apologized for the internment policy and provided compensation for the survivors.
    Matsui won his seat in Congress in 1978. He generally supported Democratic legislation, but his support for global trade legislation put him at odds with members of his party on some high-profile measures.
    As senior Democrat on the subcommittee on Social Security, Matsui gave every impression during the final few weeks of his life of being eager to lead the opposition to President Bush (news - web sites)'s plans to establish personal retirement accounts as part of a general overhaul of the program.
    "With the passing of Bob Matsui, our country has lost a great leader and America 's seniors have lost their best friend in Congress," House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi, a fellow Californian, said in a statement.  


1/2/05 Associated Press: "Vo makes unlikely journey from Saigon chaos to 
Texas House."
By Michael Graczyk
    Houston - Planes crashed to earth, rockets screamed across the sky and bombs exploded as 19-year-old Hubert Vo began his long journey. Three decades later, he's preparing to take the floor of the Texas House of Representatives as the state's first Vietnamese-born lawmaker. 
    "I remember my father gave each one of us a gun and said: 'Use it if you have to,'" said Vo, recalling how he, his five siblings and his parents fled Saigon in 1975 as their country collapsed. "It was chaos. The day I left, I stood on the boat, looked at horizon, seen airplanes falling from the sky." 
    That far exceeds any turmoil Vo has experienced following his election to the Houston-area District 149 seat he captured by a mere 33 votes over longtime Republican incumbent Talmadge Heflin. 
    Vo, 48, insists the election uncertainty and recount that confirmed his victory are behind him, even though a House committee is investigating and the full House could declare Vo a winner or declare the election void and ask the governor to order a new one. 
    "I've been mainly focusing on how to be a good member of the House," he said. "It's just looking forward now." 
    That has long been Vo's philosophy as he became the classic American immigrant success, building one of the most diverse resumes of any Texas legislator. 
    "I think I have quite a bit of experiences," he understated. 
    Vo worked as a busboy and a cook. He assembled digital watches and video games. He was robbed more times than he cares to remember as a convenience store clerk. He went door to door updating listings for telephone books. He's been a steelworker and a goldsmith, built computers and formed a computer company. He earned a degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Houston , where he met his wife. And they're raising three children. 
    He got into real estate, built shopping centers, manages apartment complexes and even earned a license as an air-conditioning technician. 
    "I worked at different places, getting understanding of a worker, of a manager, of a supervisor," Vo said. "From the ground up, I have that hands-on knowledge, different classes of society. Hopefully I can understand the people of my district better than anybody else, because I've been through all those things myself." 
    In war-ravaged Vietnam , where his father worked for the Vietnamese navy and coast guard and had ties to the CIA, Vo was a freshman in college studying economics and politics when their world imploded. 
    His father brought home word they'd have to leave. 
    They boarded a boat to the Philippines , then went to a resettlement camp in Little Rock , Ark. , which they chose over California (too expensive) and Pennsylvania (too cold). He and his family were adopted by a church congregation in Palestine in East Texas, moved to Lubbock in 1976 and to Houston a year later. His father had learned through a friend that Houston would be a good place to settle, crowded like Saigon and full of opportunity. 
    Vo laughs now about how in Vietnam he admired U.S. President Richard Nixon, who would leave office in disgrace. 
    "I wanted to be a politician," he said, dressed like the Nixon we normally remember _ formal dark suit, tie, white shirt. "Since I was young, I wanted to get involved in legislation, with making laws." 
    Now, 30 years later, he's fulfilling that goal. 
    Unlike Republican Nixon, Vo decided the Democratic Party was more in line with his thinking, though he prefers to shun such designations. 
    "To me, if you put labels on a person, you're not going to go nowhere at all," he said. 
    It was the success of Asian candidates in recent years in Houston _ like Gordon Quan, a China native who serves on city council _ that "kind of opened the door for me again to be curious about politics," Vo said. 
    Quan said Vo brings an immigrant's perspective to office. 
    "They have a different work ethic, have had different struggles," Quan said. "When you have had to start over, don't speak the language, you can really relate. ... These types of backgrounds and experiences will help him to be an advocate for policies that will better serve a changing Texas ." 
    Vo approached the House effort methodically, the same way he learned Spanish _ his fourth language. 
    "He's disciplined to work at it," said Mustafa Tameez, Vo's political consultant. "He won't give it up. He will stay at it until he gets it, to feel he masters at it. In the Legislature, that quality brings a lot to the table. He listens more than he talks." 
    Outside of work, one of Vo's hobbies is target shooting with a .45-caliber pistol. It's a link to his teenage years in Vietnam , where weapons and self-defense training were a high school requirement. 
    "It was chaos in Vietnam , so you'd had to fight to survive," he said. 
    As for being the first Vietnamese-born legislator in the state, Vo disagrees with those who wish to put him on a pedestal. 
    "It never crossed my mind about being an important person," he said. "I'm thinking more to the future than how proud I am or what a big shot I am. With me, I count myself as just another Texan working in the Texas Legislature."