Tuesday, September 28, 2004

Readers Comments on How 80-20 fought ..

Comments poured in. Readers reacted to 80-20's decision to postpone its endorsement and 80-20's lawsuit against the Dept. of Labor. It seem that the stronger the attack against 80-20, the stronger 80-20 gets. Truth wins out under public scrutiny. We want to thank the ChAm GOP bigwigs for making the existence of EO 11246 well known among AsAms, and that 80-20 is fighting for them.

READER'S COMMENTS

1) I appreciate you and the work of 80-20. Both parties need to understand that they should not make assumptions about our community. Thank you for standing up for what is right. I will be sending in my membership dues today.
Carol Suzuki, Chair, Oregon Commission on Asian Affairs

2) God job. Keep it up! Pedro Chan

3) Go S.B. Ting W. Lee

4) You are an honorable and honest civil rights leader for Asian American communities, which is the way beyond any partisan or individual interest. This is the mission of 80-20. I regret that those Chinese Americans (who attacked you) may either have failed to understand you or misunderstood you. It does not matter whether he or she is democratic, republican, independent or whatever. One thing we must face and always remember is we are yellow--Chinese or Asian American identity. It is a sellout and betrayal if one does not know one ethnic and cultural identity or fail to fight for the civil rights of its own group.

We thank you for your wonderful work and services for the communities and for Asian Americans. We salute you!
Respectfully submitted
Y-T. Lee

P. S. Please feel free to forward this to other colleagues.


JOIN 80-20 NOW.

Your joining is what will get the American political establish-
ment to understand that the days of free lunch from the ASAm
community are OVER. Now the two parties must provide services.
Do your share. Join this noble & powerful AsAm movement.

Any US citizen or permanent resident can join using a credit
card, go http://www.80-20initiative.net/membership.html
or http://www.80-20.info/membership.html .
PERSONAL checks are payable to "80-20 PAC", mailed to:
Jing-Li Yu 80-20 special Assistant
P.O. Box 527340 Flushing, NY 11352-7340 .
Write down your E-MAIL address & PHONE no. on the BACK
of the check. Basic membership is $35; Family (2 voters) is
$50, Life Membership is $1,000. Sdt. membership is $15.

5) I certainly support you and 80-20. I really appreciate your effort and your spirit. Tell me some registration information, and I will consider what I can do for you. Qiang Liu

6) If Elaine Chao does not work to advance AsAm interests, then she does not deserve AsA support. I would vote for a Caucasian rather than an AsianAm if the Caucasian candidate does more to help AsAm causes than a look-alike AsA. Bill

7) I have been waiting for 80-20's suggestion of block voting for one candidate. Since I read your e-note today, I will be patiently waiting again. Thanks for all the hard work you did for us Asians.
Barbara Yang from Cupertino, Calif.

8) you must give stronger support to 80-20, the Asian-American organization founded by S.B. Woo, before i will give any more money.
Amy Han in her reply to Mary Beth Cahill, Kerry-Edwards 2004

9) Thank the e-mail, I think even both so call big party do not care our request, we can vote third party, we do not let them think we are cheap, they have to do something for our votes, I will pray for you.
Morgan Shen

10) Thanks for your response to the Republican attack. It makes the issue much more clearer. Also, thanks for the 2 week postponement of 80/20's endorsement for the presidential nominees. If no firmer & active response from them, why not postpone another 2 weeks if it can
be done practically? Actually, their job is on the hook. We should take the opportunity of the close contest between them.
Bob Chang

11) Your organization is making a loyal believer out of me! Keep up the good work! Mike Lim, Senior, Urban Studies, UC Berkeley

12) Nothing is free in this country. If those politicians want our votes, they have to pay. Elaine Chao may not consider herself an AsAm. Otherwise she will enforce the executive order when she took her post. If we want our voice to be heard, suing her is the best way. Let the court decide! G. Lu

13) I think both party are trying to get free lunch, but at least Kerry express support in first place against that mean guy in the White House. So we have to pick better one. I suggest to ensure Demac Party again about our concern then we make final decision. We can let the
East's Chinese leader know that we are not concern partisan and not against Ms. Chou personally, but she is just in unlucky position at the moment. We are suing Secretary of Labor only, that is all we care.(But should we consider not fight each other which being laughed by other races, or have another way to do it??)
Thomas Lee

14) You have my support. I realize what kind of efforts you have made to fight for the equal right that we ought to have for all of us. I admire you for your courage, and greatly appreciate what you have done and are doing for our society. I just want to say "THANK YOU VERY MUCH". Best Wishes Shu Liang (from Texas)

15) You are right. We appreciate what you have done for AsAm! You have our strong support! We believe that 80-20 should have a division in each state to expand and strengthen 80-20's influence on the US politics. I would appreciate your opinion.
Zhongjie Sun, MD, PhD Assistant Professor of Medicine &
Physiology & Functional Genomics, University of Florida

Thursday, September 23, 2004

How 80-20 fought for you; S. B. under attacks

Two topics.

[A] 80-20 Fighting For You

80-20's Endorsement Convention (EC) decided to POSTPONE ITS
ENDORSEMENT FOR UP TO 2 WEEKS. See our press release:
http://www.80-20initiative.net/pr040919.html

Why?

80-20 is neither fowl nor fish. Hence, both "fowl/fish," i.e.
politicians in both GOP/Dem, dislike 80-20. They were
accustomed to eating our lunch (votes and money) free, while 80- 20
wants them to pay with services to our community. They both
would love to make 80-20 look bad to get back to the days of the
"Free Lunch."

Such an occasion came in the 2004 election. Both GOP and
the Dems thought 80-20's strength was in CA only (they didn't
realize how much 80-20 has planned to be effective in the
contested states). Since Bush has given up winning CA, the Bush
camp didn't even bother to send a representative to 80-20's EC.
With that, the Dems probably thought that they've got us. That is,
they thought that 80-20 has no choice but to endorse Kerry. They
sent Congressman Michael Honda who was an hour and 15
minutes late but had warm embraces with many Delegates.

Through those interactions, the Delegates sensed that Kerry's
commitment to advance the rightful concerns of the Asian
American community was insufficient. The delegates voted
overwhelmingly to postpone their endorsement for a Presidential
candidate for up to two weeks. 80-20 shall NOT offer your votes
and money to Kerry/Nader/Bush as free lunch. We are willing to
sacrifice our own interests to fight for you!

[B} S. B. Woo Under attacks, and WHAT S. B. HAS TO SAY.

For those who read Chinese, just go read S. B's short press release: http://www.80-20initiative.net/pr040921.html . His release is in Chinese because the GOP AsAm "big wigs" had a national phone hookup with the Chinese media.



For those who don't read Chinese, here is a summary. On 9/19, 4 hours before 80-20's scheduled press conference to announce its endorsement decision, the GOP big wigs called a "national" phone conference to denounce Woo, saying :

(1) S. B. has manipulated 80-20 and its Endorsement Convention
to serve Kerry,
(2) 80-20 should not sue the Dept. of Labor, its hurts the
reputation of Elaine Chao.

Surprise! 80-20 didn't endorse Kerry although it didn't know about the attacks. The reporters were all laughing at those GOP big wigs who simply can't conceive that there could be AsAms who place the community interest above partisan interests. Many reporters were also saying why sacrifice the chance of erasing the glass ceiling above 12,000,000 AsAms in order to protect the interest of one person, Elaine Chao? Let the court decide. The
court will be fair! Is someone scared that the truth will come out?

Join 80-20. It needs your help.

####Announcements:
1. The Nader campaign sent Dr. Forrest Hill, a National
Campaign Coordinator to our EC, who did a good job. For
answers that he must check with Ralph Nader himself, Hill did
and gave us written answers within a few hours.

2. War Chest: Life members who donated the last week:
Kenneth Fong of CA: $2,000 Henry Lee of NY: $1,000
Tim Chen of CA: $100
Yu Shuan Yeh of NJ $1000, joined as a New Life Member.


Sunday, September 12, 2004

Great News On Three Battle Fronts

(A) Great News On the Legal Front: AsAm Legal Eagles Volunteer Pro Bono Service to 80-20 in its Suit against the Dept. of Labor:

(1) Anthony Ching, the first Solicitor General in Arizona, judge pro tem on the Arizona Court of Appeals (just below the Arizona Supreme Court) and who may also be the first Chinese American to argue cases in the US Supreme Court in Graham v Richardson and Perez v Campbell. He was initially very negative towards the merits of 80-20's suit. However, after finding out where the beef is, he volunteered his service for our community.

(2) Paul Igasaki, who for many years was a member of EEOC (Equal Employment Opportunity Commission) and briefly its Acting Head is interested in strategizing with 80-20. Pro bono?

(3) Thomas Tso, A third year Harvard law student with labor law experience is organizing a team of "AsAm LEGAL EAGLES" for 80-20 as a support team for the lead lawyer and Anthony Ching.

80-20 salutes these Legal Eagles.

(B) Great News On the War Chest Front: Life Members Who Donated Again This Week:

James Cheung of NY: $8,000 , Susan & James Wu of AL: $1,000
William Tao of MO: $500 , Stella M. Y. Yu of CO: $500
Helen Chou of MO: $250 , S. B. Woo of DE: $200
Wai-Yim Ching of KS: $100 , Philip Choong of CA: $100

(C) Great News On the Public Opinion Front: UNSOLICITED emails from AsAms Regarding Elaine Chao & Accountability. Apologies for not being able to accommodate all readers' submissions.

1) "Very good report -- This is the kind of in depth stuff the membership needs. Your polite but firm analysis is very helpful and may nudge Elaine, at this late date, to do some work (although, of course, it just may be possible that the Bush administration may well be telling her not to push the issue, in which case, she should resign and speak out, as have Richard Clarke and others. (hmmm, hey, WHY NOT SEND HER A NOTE TO THAT EFFECT?) " Anson

2) "Yes, you're absolutely right about the glass ceiling at universities and major corporations! " Yuko J. Nakanishi, Ph.D, MBA Polytechnic University

3) "How DO WE COMMUNICATE WITH HER on this issue as a private citizen? that the way to avoid such criticism is not to promulgate the unfair treatment of Asian-Americans? WHAT IS HER EMAIL? "
CL Sung, M.D.

4) " Finally, I think we as AsAms should have A LETTER WRITING CAMPAIGN to Ms. Chao regarding her inaction. Do you know how to contact her via email? " Christina Fong

5) "I forwarded your email to my friends & family yesterday. Got a positive response last night: What can we do as a citizen to help in this matter? Indeed, my question too. PLS ADVISE. Thanks. ."
Erica Liu

6) "I agree with you wholeheartedly on Elaine Chao. If we do not help our own people, who will." Lily

7) "I strongly agree with you. Excellent points."
Soliang (Ed) Huang, AIS, UCLA

Let's demand accountability from Elaine Chao. Many of you wanted to write her. However, we don't have her email address asianamericans@georgewbush.com and Lebens.Grant@dol.gov, in care of Secretary Elaine Chao.

Great News from three battle fronts! We are READY to win our equal opportunity in workplaces through the 2004 election. When 80-20's Endorsement Convention decides which presidential candidate to endorse this coming Sunday, WE'LL SOUND THE CLARION.

- - - - -
Any US citizen or permanent resident can be a member TODAY
using a credit card, visit
http://www.80-20initiative.net/membership.html or
http://www.80-20.info/membership.html.
PERSONAL checks are payable to "80-20 PAC", mailed to:
Jing-Li Yu 80-20 special Assistant
P.O. Box 527340 Flushing, NY 11352-7340 .
Write down your E-MAIL address & PHONE no. on the BACK of the check.

Basic membership is $35; Family (2 voters) is $50, Life
Membership is $1,000. Student membership is $15.


Wednesday, September 08, 2004

Elaine Chao & AsAm officials' ACCOUNTABILITY to us

One reason the AsAm community is politically weak is that we've
NOT asked for ACCOUNTABILITY from AsAm elected or appointed officials.

Here is what you CAN and CAN'T EXPECT from AsAm officials.

# # # # # # # # # # #
CAN'T EXPECT: To do things that will lead to the DESTRUCTION of
his/her political career, e.g. advocating benefits for AsAms only,
when less than 5% of his/her voters are AsAms or when he/she is an appointed official.
CAN EXPECT: To fight for a project that benefits AsAms ONLY when more than 65% of the votes he/she got in the last election came from AsAms. That is, re-election will not be a problem.

CAN'T EXPECT: To speak out on foreign policy issues, when he/she is not a federal official or a federal official whose duties are domestic.
CAN EXPECT: To speak up on foreign policy that YOU favor, if
he/she is a federal official whose duties include the foreign
policies.

CAN'T EXPECT: To hire exclusively AsAm employees in his/her office.
CAN EXPECT: To hire AsAms that is commensurate to the amount of campaign help (votes & money) received from our community.

CAN'T EXPECT: To serve our community AFTER retirement or defeat. He/She deserves a private life too.
CAN EXPECT: To contribute his/her political know-how once in a while, especially if he/she raised a lot of $$ from us to run a big
race & lost. He/She has some obligation to repay our community.

CAN'T EXPECT: To do favors for YOU.
CAN EXPECT: To stand up for the entire AsAm community,
whenever there is a fight for equal justice & opportunity.

CAN'T EXPECT: To exercise his/her authority to favor AsAms.
CAN EXPECT: To treat AsAms NO WORSE than other Americans.

&nb sp; # # # # # # # # #

In that last item, ELAINE CHAO HAS BEEN VERY DISAPPOINTING.

The Labor Department was charged with enforcing EO 11246, a law
that has been used to break the glass ceiling for all Americans except AsAms. She is the Labor Secretary. She is an AsAm. She doesn't risk her political career if she quietly or noisily enforces an EXISTING law in an equitable manner for AsAms. No one in America would expect her to do less. She could NEVER be charged with favoring AsAms ONLY since it has been enforced first for blacks, then for women and then for Hispanics. She must stand up for us. We need to hold her ACCOUNTABLE.

On 9/2 in New York City, Elaine Chao cried before Chinese reporters saying that she has received unfair criticism bur preferred not to answer back. 80-20 shall fight for Elaine Chao against unfair criticism. However, 80-20 wants her to answer 80-20's charge that she, as the Labor Secretary, has NOT enforced EO 11246 for AsAms. Instead of crying and saying that she was proud of her roots, she needs to prove that she treats AsAms NO WORSE than any other Americans.

80-20 has gathered a lot of evidence that AsAms face a glass ceiling. See http://www.80-20initiative.net/glassc.html. Elaine Chao needs to speak to her enforcement of EO 11246 for Asian Americans by addressing such evidence.


Friday, September 03, 2004

Suing DOL/Be An Undecided/Big War Chest/ Delegates

1) Filing A Law Suit Against The Department of Labor, DOL:

80-20 is actively preparing to sue The Department of Labor for non-enforcement of Exec. Order 11246 on behalf of AsAms. EO 11246 is a comprehensive and powerful law that broke the glass ceilings for other minorities including the blacks, the women and the Hispanics. It was never enforced for AsAm. See
http://www.imdiversity.com/villages/asian/politics_law/8020_surprise_chao_0804.asp

Such a suit has a legal precedent. The 9th Circuit court, the second highest level of courts of the land, ruled on 12/4/1979 in favor of an almost identical case. The Legal Aid Society of Alameda County filed a suit against then Labor Secretary Peter Brennan for non-enforce of EO 11246 in a number of agricultural companies. The Secretary was ordered by the court to enforce the law, and the federal contracts held by offending companies were terminated. For those of you with law training, see 608 F.2d 1319, West Law.

Feel free to contact 80-20, if your law firm is interested in representing 80-20, or your organization is interested in joining 80-20 in filing such a law suit. Email S. B. Woo: sbw@udel.edu .

80-20 AIMS TO WIN EQUAL OPPORTUNITY IN WORKPLACES FOR AsAms, WHATEVER IT MAY TAKE!!!


(2) How YOU personally may Improve AsAm Political Clout

When polled about which presidential candidate YOU are supporting,, please say “UNDECIDED” before 80-20's endorsement is known. Soon pollsters will tell Bush, Kerry and Nader campaigns that there are a lot of UNDECIDED AsAms voters. Soon, these campaigns will court us with urgency.

Only 5% of the nation's voters are still UNDECIDED today. If all of the AsAms voters, representing 2.5% of the nations’ voter, are UNDECIDED, then AsAms will represent 50% of the remaining UNDECIDED voters. Can you image how much both parties will be willing to do to get our vote?

Be UNDECIDED, until 80-20 endorses! You hold your line, and collectively we'll get our EQUAL OPPORTUNITY IN WORKPLACES.

(3) Record High Membership & A Bigger & Bigger War Chest

1800 members have already joined. By December, we are certain to break the old record of 2010 members!

In the last 4 days, $8,000 rolled in. The following are Life Members who donated again.

Steven Ko of NJ: $1,000 Victor Wu of CA: $1,000
Larry & Sophia Ho of MA: $1,000 James Y. M. Woo of CA: $1,000
Tom and Laura Hsu of TX: $1,000 Savior Woo of NY: $500
C. H. Woo of MD: $250 Ray Wu of NY: $250
Lois Chi of CA: $100,
S. B. & Katy Woo of DE: $2,000 (committing to give more)


(4) Delegates to Endorsement Convention Selected:

48 distinguished candidates competed for 36 Delegates positions, 1/3 of the 36 are Republicans, 1/3 Dems, and 1/3 Independents. They all solemnly promised to abide by the majority decision of the Endorsement Convention regardless of their personal preference for a presidential candidate. They will all pay for their own travel and lodging. We salute them for their dedication to community welfare.

REPUBLICAN Delegates: Kenneth Fong, Steven Ko, Hsiao-Mei Wiedmeyer,
Jack Chen, David T. Chai, Gareth Chang, Timothy Chen, William Uy,
Giga Andreyev, Eva Wu, Arthur Cheung, and Leo Chu.
FIRST ALTERNATE: Jing-Li Yu


DEMOCRATIC DELEGATES: Ivy Lee, Albert Wang, Tong Soo
Chung, John Fong, Fel Amistad, Albert Y. M. Huang, Virginia K. Sung,
Inan Ma Feng, Dongzi Liu, Peter Luh, Paul Ma and Ashok (Rocky) Madam.
ALTERNATES in the order of advancement to become a Full Delegate:
Joel Wong, Katy Woo, Roy Liu, Anthony C. Hsieh, Benjamin S. H. Wang.


INDEPENDENT DELEGATES: S. B. Woo, Laura Hsu, David D. Yang,
Kathleen To, Oliver Hsu, Tom Hsu, May Chen, Henry J. Lee, Kam Liu,
Hong Tang, Ching-Liu Wu, Doris Huang.
ALTERNATES in the order of advancement to become a full Delegate:
Jon Wu, Lihong Cai, James Uy, and Jin Qian.


Any US citizen or permanent resident can be a member
TODAY, using a credit card, visit
http://www.80-20initiative.net/membership.html or
http://www.80-20.info/membership.html .
PERSONAL checks are payable to "80-20 PAC", mailed to:
Jing-Li Yu 80-20 special Assistant
P.O. Box 527340 Flushing, NY 11352-7340 .
Write down your E-MAIL address & PHONE no. on the BACK of the check.

Basic membership is $35; Family (2 voters) is $50, Life Membership is
$1,000. Student membership is $15.