Category Archives: blog

Come on Straight Face America: Is it so hard to resist the incredible Mr. Weiner? We were great with Fukushima…

In the “new toys, new sins” department, we find Rep. Anthony Weiner of New York, who

doesn’t quite understand why people want him kicked out of the sandbox that is politics.

I mean sexless sex? Who cares?

Arrogant, confident, self-deluded guys tend to think that way.

Is that the kind of guy you want as a public servant?

It is public servant, last time I checked, not “Public Master.” Yet, once you get a bit of power and some of the limelight, you can begin to believe that you are untouchable. Especially if it’s just pix on a phone.

So where’s the line between public and private here?

We don’t need a saint. We just need people who can display good judgment, who we can trust, and who we can admire for the things they do in life.

What now would recommend Mr. Weiner?

If he’s not good enough for public office, private life awaits. Hey, there’s the spot next to Spitzer on CNN. The Public Deviants Hour would be great fun.

Weiner’s press conference, which I suppose was his acceptance of his weinerness, is a start for a way back to something.

That he doesn’t want to resign shows he’s not exactly remorseful for the things he perhaps needs to be remorseful about. So maybe it’s private life for him, then no one would care about his sexting.

He’s really left it up to the people of New York to decide whether to forgive the him. And if they want a guy who would sell them out for a hot sexting session, that is their business. 

It’s not for us to decide.

We are left to giggle about Mr. Weiner.  He’s not our rep.  Just think. We wouldn’t have a problem if he had a name like Johhnson…OK maybe not Johnson. But what if it were a Reid, as in Harry. (A Harry Weiner would be funny). Or Priebus as in Reince the GOP chair who insists he doesn’t find any joy in deriding Weiner.

I’d leave this alone, but even here in Intestinal, California, the reddest part of the bluest state, there’s Weiner talk.  

Come on, straight face, America.  Is it that hard …to resist? We didn’t go crazy when we were all saying Fukushima, now did we?

The biggest perpetrator of an Asian American slur just retired: Shaquille O’Neal

When the sports shows did their retrospectives this week, bet you didn’t see this on his highlight reel?

But can you name a bigger perp of an Asian American slur than Shaquille O’Neal?

No amount of Yao Ming posterizations can make up for what he did. But it is undeniably a  piece of Asian American pop culture history.

Get the story of the incident Shaq would love to forget. 

Check out the blog at the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund: www.aaldef.org/blog

AAPI Heritage Month wrap-up: Aside from Goodwin Liu, not bad this year

This year, the White House has used its blog to get out the word about Asian Pacific American Heritage Month, which they call by the updated inclusive AAPI. It would have been nice to use more high profile media to get out the word, TV spots, PSAs, but the cyber media is cost-effective and viral. And at least we’re not invisible.

So here’s the  final installment, a reflection as the Month ends from inside the beltway

From my perspective, it’s definitely a positive and upbeat spin. That’s great.

But you can’t be happy with what happened with Goodwin Liu. That remains a travesty.

I still wish Liu had fought on. But you can’t lose taking the high road. The Ninth Circuit has such a back log that delaying the nomination any more would have made a bad situation worse. Liu’s supporters could have used that to pressure the GOP, but in the end, there was no political will to move on. Better to use the situation as a graceful way to exit, and then let the community seek its revenge on the GOP in the next election.

So, aside from the Liu affair,  this year’s heritage month was for the most part,  a positive one for all Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders. But let’s not  stop here. Every month is heritage month, right?

http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2011/05/31/reflecting-month-may

Reflecting on the Month of May
Posted by Kiran Ahuja on May 31, 2011 at 12:49 PM EDT
What an incredible month of celebration it has been. As Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) Heritage Month draws to a close, we are honored and humbled by the many great strides our Federal agency colleagues have made on behalf of the AAPI community, by our dynamic and tenacious staff and community partners, and by the principled and visionary leadership of our President.
In one short month, we have engaged in a flurry of activity, bringing Federal agencies together with the AAPI community. Administration leaders on the economy, immigration, healthcare, education and civil rights kicked off the month by briefing over 400 AAPI community members on these critical issues in Washington, DC. We then joined with the Council on Women and Girls and the Department of Labor to hold two nationwide conference calls on AAPI women and immigration.
In response to the AAPI community’s rapid population growth between 2000 and 2010, we partnered with Census Bureau officials to hold an in-person briefing and webinar with a complete analysis of the rapid growth of Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders throughout the country over the last decade.
We worked with the National Healthy Nail Salon Alliance to hold the first Federal interagency roundtable at the Environmental Protection Agency focused on nail salon workers and the cosmetics industry, one of the fastest growing industries in the country and predominantly comprised of Asian immigrant women. Women workers and salon owners spoke directly about their daily experiences handling toxic chemicals to a room full of Federal officials and provided concrete recommendations on how to improve working conditions.
We convened a gathering at the White House with lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) AAPI youth and Federal agency representatives. The National Queer Asian Pacific Islander Alliance and the Asian Americans/Pacific Islanders in Philanthropy, Queer Justice Fund brought 19 youth from diverse communities across the country to speak about their journeys, challenges and triumphs growing up in this country. Federal officials from across the Administration listened and committed to incorporating the needs of this community into bullying prevention, comprehensive sex education, and HIV preventions programs.
We also connected with AAPI communities in Los Angeles, New Orleans, New York and Seattle. For example, we met with students, teachers and administrators of the Asian American and Native American Pacific Islander-Serving Institution (AANAPISI) program at South Seattle Community College. The AANAPISI team shared lessons on how we can more effectively reach AAPI students in community colleges especially since almost have of all AAPI students attend community colleges and struggle to balance financial burdens, family obligations and school responsibilities. In fact, AANAPISIs are now included on the Department of Education’s website listing of postsecondary institutions enrolling populations with significant percentages of minority students.
And we published blogs by Administration colleagues, highlighting the motivation behind their work and impact on the AAPI community. From a personal story about a father inspiring his son to become a primary care doctor for poor communities and go on to become a Chief Medical Officer in the Health Resources and Services Administration; to a celebration of AAPI veterans and service members. These blogs provide a glimpse of the individuals diligently working in the Federal government to improve the lives of all Americans.
For the Initiative, AAPI Heritage Month is every month. Though May gives us a special reason to celebrate and acknowledge both the AAPI communities’ contributions and challenges, these are issues and concerns we seek to address every day. We know that our ability to do our job well rests on the great partnerships we have with community, philanthropic and business leaders and Federal agencies, but also on the dedicated staff who work tirelessly to live up to the guiding principle the President set when he signed the Executive Order establishing the White House Initiative on AAPIs that, no community should be invisible to its government.

Kiran Ahuja is the Executive Director of the White House Initiative on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders.

Tammy Duckworth’s history lesson: AAPI Vets’ rich history of service

Every day in May, the White House has had Asian Americans in government post something relating to APA Heritage Month. This being Memorial Day, it was set up perfectly for Tammy Duckworth, the Asst. Secretary for Public and Intergovernmental Affairs within the Department of Veterans Affairs.

Here is her blog entry on the contributions of Asian Americans in service to our country.

Posted by Tammy Duckworth on May 30, 2011 at 11:17 AM EDT
It’s an understatement to say that the United States benefits from its diverse citizenry.  The very nature of our country is one where Americans of different races and ethnicities come together to contribute to the rich blend of American culture.  Asian American and Pacific Islanders (AAPIs) are one of the many populations to contribute to the patchwork quilt of America—even though many of these contributions are not widely known.  Even as AAPIs have been part of American history, we are also an important part of America’s future as a global economic and innovation leader.
One hundred and fifty years ago, it was Asian laborers who literally moved mountains with their bare hands and bent backs, uniting the nation from East to West by laying the rail line of the first transcontinental railroads.  During the Civil War, Chinese Americans fought in white units mostly in the North, while some united under the Confederate banner.  Edward Day Cohota, a Chinese immigrant, served in the Union Army during the Civil War and remained in the United States Army for more than twenty years.  Unlike other soldiers who were granted US citizenship under the 1862 Alien Veteran Citizenship act upon their honorable discharge, he was never granted citizenship because of the later 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act which made it illegal for Chinese to become U.S. citizens.  And of course we are all familiar with the heroism of the 442nd Regimental Combat Team and the 100th battalion of Japanese Americans during World War II.  Even while their families were herded into internment camps and stripped of their constitutional rights and liberties, these brave Americans fought with a ferocity seldom seen before or since.
What hasn’t changed throughout American history has been the undivided love that AAPIs have for our nation.  The story repeats itself throughout American history of AAPIs serving honorably.  Today, our Pacific Islander Veterans, along with Native American Veterans, serve in the U.S. military at the highest per capita rates of any population in the nation.  There are currently only two Asian Americans in the United States Senate, Senators Inouye and Akaka, and both are Veterans.  There is no question of our AAPI service members’ ability to excel in the military, something clearly demonstrated by the military service of people like Secretary Shinseki, Brigadier General Coral Wong Pietsch (1st female AAPI Army general officer) and the 32 Congressional Medal of Honor recipients from the first, José B. Nísperos, to the 22 who were recognized decades after their service on the battlefield such as Senator Daniel Inouye and onto the most recently named Private First Class Anthony T. Kaho’ohanohano.
Today, as other nations develop and become more globally competitive, the United States must draw on the skills of all our citizens in order to win the technological, innovation and production race for the future. So as we celebrate the contributions of AAPIs to our nation’s rich heritage, we should also look forward to where AAPI’s varied contributions will add to the toolkit our nation will use to win the future.

Tammy Duckworth is the Assistant Secretary for Public and Intergovernmental Affairs in the United States Department of Veterans Affairs.