Tuesday, August 31, 2010

2nd Request To Sign. CALL TO ACTION !

Call To Action

Please go sign the petition to Pres. Obama. Click
http://admin.80-20nj.info/cgi/dm/8/10p/f .

More than 550 has already signed. We must reach 1000 signatures today.
COUNTING ON YOU.

Political empowerment for YOU and YOUR CHILDREN, comes from each of
us doing his/her own part. Thank you.

SB

PS: If you've missed the first CALL TO ACTION which provides the
background information, go
http://80-20initiative.blogspot.com/2010/08/call-to-action.html .

Monday, August 30, 2010

CALL TO ACTION !

Call To Action -- sign a petition to President Obama
A. Background Info. - 2 Asian Am. judicial nominees, given the highest
rating - "unanimously well qualified"- by the Am. Bar Assoc. and approved
by the Senate Judiciary Comm., were "blocked" by Senate Republicans.
As you may know, 4 years ago, only 6 or 0.7% of the federal judges were
Asian Ams, all at the lowest rank of District Courts. 80-20 found it
outrageous. YOU and 80-20 made an effective issue of it getting Pres.
Obama's commitment to appoint more in writing.
By Aug. 1, we were well on our way to having 15 Asian Am. life-tenured
federal judges, two at the higher rank of Appeals Court Judges, one rank
below the Supreme Court Justices. However, the Senate Republicans
invoked a rarely used senate rule to "return to President" the nominations
of Goodwin Liu for Appeals Court and Edward Chen for the N. CA
District Court."
That means that these two nominations are DEAD, reducing the counted
from 15 to 13. 80-20 is puzzled. Do the senate Republicans want to
perpetuate the grossly unfair under-representation of AsAms on the
Federal bench?
B. The Petition to Pres. Obama -- please RE-NOMINATE them
Let's turn our anger into positive actions. Pls go sign a petition to
Pres. Obama
asking him to re-nominate those two Asian Ams. See below.
We need a fantastic response from you in order to achieve this goal.

"Dear Mr. President:

Please re-nominate Goodwin Liu and Edward Chen, when the
Senate comes back in session on Sept. 6. If you will kindly do so, I
(we) pledge to help find one Republican senator to give you the
60th vote for their senate confirmations.
You are the first president to publicly respond to expressed Asian
American concerns.
(1) You've increased the number of Asian Am. life-tenured federal
judges from 8, who were all at the lowest rank, when you took office,
to a potential 15, including 2 Appeals Court judges, and
(2) Your Labor Department has assured us, in writing, that Exec. Order
11246 will be enforced for Asian Ams. The Labor Dept. under Pres.
Bush had steadfastly refused to do so, resulting in Asian Ams having
not even half the national average odds to become managers/
administrators, i.e. glass ceiling.

We want to use this occasion to THANK YOU.
Sincerely,
The undersigned"

C. Seeking UNITY

Many other Asian Am. orgs, e.g. APAPA, AAJC, C-100, JACL, NAPABA,
OCA to name a few have also declared their support for the confirmation
of Goodwin Liu. 80-20 ha 269 s approached each to suggesting working
together as equals to secure the re-nominations. APAPA and JACL have
already responded positively. Being the smallest minority, UNITY is our
best salvation.

Go sign NOW !

Respectfully yours,

S. B. Woo
A volunteer Acting Exec. Director, 80-20 PAC, Inc.

Tuesday, August 24, 2010

For 80-20 Members only

Dear 80-20 Dues-paying Members:

80-20's Bylaws, similar to the US Constitution, need occasional
amendments to fit the changing needs and times.

The following amendments have been proposed by 80-20's Board. They
will need membership approval to become operative. In addition, YOU, as
a member, are entitled to a minimum of one month's advance notice,
before it is submitted to YOU for a vote.

The 3 amendments are shown below. They deal with "chapter
privileges" and the privileges of the Exec. Director, which 80-20 will soon
hire. 80-20 is tightening the Bylaws languages to offer the most cost-
effective service to the membership and the AsAm community.

The amendments would probably be classified by most people as "house
cleaning amendments"; They intend to improve efficiency without
adversely affecting your rights and privileges.

The original Bylaws are shown below in black, the changes and/or
additions are in red. To see the entire Bylaws, go
http://www.80-20initiative.net/about/bylaws.asp

[A] Bylaws provision 6.2.1 "Requirement To Be a Chapter" is amended
as follows:

c. elect its officers at least once every two years between November 1
and December 31 and submit the names and addresses of the officers to
National by January 15 of the following year. All names of officers, board
members and members shall be current, updated and posted on chapter’s
webpage.

d. register as an independent Political Action Committee, if the chapter
intends to endorse political candidates other than federal candidates, and
is required by state laws to do so.

[B] Bylaws provision 5.6 "Executive Director" is amended as:

The Executive Director shall be given a discretionary fund that is (delete
"that is") up to 5% of the annual budget or $10,000 per annum whichever
is the larger, but subject to modifications of the employment contract
which may provide a gradual increase up to $10,000 per annum
."

Again, the above is just a notice to you that such proposed changes will
ask for your vote after a one month's notice.

The above exercise is the typical practice of a democratic institution. To
empower our community, 80-20 aims to be a model in following
democratic practices. Thank you.

Warmest regards,

S. B. Woo, a volunteer Acting Exec. Director of 80-20 PAC, INC.

A Special Request: Can you recruit a new member? There is a matching fund
which doubles' 80-20's financial intake. Go
http://www.80-20initiative.net/about/membership.asp

Monday, August 16, 2010

Calif. & OH AsAms ask their governors ….


Great News: AsAms. in Calif. and Ohio, under 80-20' leadership, shall send
a questionnaire to their respective gubernatorial candidates asking for
commitments to provide equal opportunity in STATE agencies and
universities,
BEFORE they'll decide which candidate to support using
their bloc vote.

Remember how effective 80-20's questionnaire in 2008 was with then
candidates Obama, Biden, Clinton and others that included the
appointment of federal judges? It's the SAME program expanded to
the state level!

NOTE: 1/3 of the states are re-electing their governors. That's the BEST
time to induce your gubernatorial candidates to do the right things for AsAms,
because they need your vote.

Why CA & OH but not the other states?
80-20 is strong in those 2 states.

(1) In CA, 80-20 has 8 of its 20 Board members; 700 dues-paying members,
and 5 affiliates, including CAPA & CBC -- both being big and effective
organizations. Many of the Asian Am. political leaders are also 80-20
members.

(2) In OH, 80-20 has established 3 chapters in 2 years. There are some
very capable AsAm leaders who are 80-20 chapter presidents/chairmen.
Hopefully a 4th chapter will be formed soon, centered about Columbus.

The stronger 80-20 is in a state, the earlier it can help AsAms in that state
achieve equal opportunity.

Can Your State Do The Same?

If there is a strong 80-20 presence in your state, yes. Only a Political
Action Committee (PAC), like the 80-20, may endorse candidates & organize
a bloc vote.
Any 501 c-3 orgs. doing the same will be gainst the law.

To join 80-20, go to http://www.80-20initiative.net/membership/payment.asp .
Or send a check to &nbsp 80-20 PAC &nbsp P.O. Box 603 &nbsp Osprey, FL 34229.
$35 for a Basic member, & $50 for a family (2 votes). Please place your
e-address(es) at the back of your check. For every NEW member, 80-20 gets
twice his/her dues, thanks to a $3,500 matching fund. Hurry! If you
select the auto-renewal option, your membership is good for a year from today.

Respectfully,

S. B. Woo
A volunteer Acting Exec. Director, 80-20 PAC,
http://www.80-20initiative.net

:-) :-) :-) Ce aa cilia Yu, Rolling Hills, CA became 80-20's newest Life member. THANX.

Wednesday, August 04, 2010

Shocking statistics on Asian American employment

Dear fellow Asian Americans,

Martin Luther King, Jr. said "Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice
everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied
in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all
indirectly."

How true that is. Our nation's prosperity and strength is undermined
when any of her people is held back or obstructed from achieving their
full potential.

Asian Americans (AsAms) comprise one of the fastest growing ethnic
groups in America, and represent over 5% of the US population. Yet in
2008, before President Obama took office, only 8 - a measly 0.93%
of the 864 US federal judges - were Asian American (AsAm)! And
not a single judge on the appellate (circuit) court is AsAm. All
of the 8 Asian American judges served at the lowest federal
district court level.

Could such a pathetic under-representation reflect a lack of qualified
AsAm candidates to be appointed for federal judgeships? Heck NO! Dept
of Labor statistics shows AsAms have an above-average representation in
the legal profession, at over 5.5%. Many distinguished AsAm legal
scholars serve as law professors and even deans at renowned law schools.
If AsAm were equitably represented in the federal judiciary,
we’d have around 45 federal judges instead of only 8!

It was not until 2006, when 80-20 Initiative took on the challenge to
reverse the gross underrepresentation of AsAms in the federal courts and
in upper management of the American workplace, that the tide finally
began to turn.

In 2008, 80-20 secured the landmark written commitment (see
http://www.80-20initiative.net/news/preselect2008_obama.jpg ) from
then-Presidential candidate Obama to remedy the inequity faced by
AsAms. Since President Obama took office, he has taken concrete steps to
nominate more AsAm judges. If all of President Obama’s AsAm nominees
were confirmed by the Senate, we’d have nearly doubled the number of
AsAm judges to 15, with 2 at the appellate level. Judge Denny Chin of
New York became the first Chinese American appellate court judge earlier
this year. Viet-Am and Korean Am are among the judges and nominees.

The inequity AsAms face is not limited to the federal
judiciary. Dept of Labor statistics also confirm that compared
to national average, we have only 25% to 45% chance of rising to
management ranks in private industry and academia!!
Yes, you
read the horrendous numbers correctly! Did you ever think that the glass
ceiling was THAT low and that the odds against us were THAT awful?

We have a LONG ways to go before equal opportunity and
justice is enjoyed by AsAm.

Fed up? Outraged? Then do your part by becoming a dues-
paying member of 80-20 Initiative TODAY.
And get your fellow
AsAm to do the same. Together, we can fight more effectively
for equal opportunity.
Isn’t your future and that of your children
worth much more $35 or $50/yr to insure?

You cannot find cheaper or more effective equality insurance
than the $35-individual $50-family annual membership
fee. Please join now at
http://www.80-20initiative.net

I have been waiting for a long time to see more of my friends’ names
on the 80-20 membership roster. You and I both know whether you
are a dues paying member or not. I check that list regularly. Those of you
who are dues-paying members, I salute and thank you. If you are not
sure, check here:
http://www.80-20initiative.net/about/membership.asp

80-20 dues paying members are a special breed who know it takes
more than lip service and moral support to get the tough job done.
They know that paying their dues is only the first step towards
enabling the far more difficult task of getting the government to
deliver on the promises. It is sad and a terrible shame that only
about 2,000 AsAm out of 700,000 actually pay their dues that are
essential to fund the challenging landmark progress that 80-20 is
achieving on behalf of AsAms. Remember to feed your
workhorse so it can keep working for you.
Pay your dues NOW!

Thank you for doing your part in our collective fight for equal
opportunity and justice for all AsAm. Do it for yourself, your
children and your country. Do it NOW.

Thank you.

Ed

Dr. Edward Lin
Director
80-20 Initiative (http://www.80-20initiative.net)
Equal Opportunity and Justice for ALL Asian Americans
e-mail: elin at ingenious dot com

Encourage Inspire Empower

"The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of
others." "You must be the change you wish to see in the world."

Mahatma Gandhi