Chai's Analysis

What a Shock

2008-03-12T08:50:00.003-05:00

My goodness. This is the such a crazy political moment. With Governor Spitzer stepping down, and David Paterson stepping up, I am blown away on so many ways. What makes me really sad is that this man ran on a moral, ethics platform. Albany, one of the most undemocratic systems in the nation, was ready to be changed.

Stronger penalties against the "johns." Gov. Spitzer pushed one of the strongest bills in the nation against human sex trafficking. It is one of the pieces of legislation I helped with in lobbying and working with the interest groups to help pass. However, much help was not needed because we had our man, Gov. Spitzer in power. Why was the "our man"? When Spitzer worked as the NY Attorney General, he broke up and prosecuted several prostitution rings. It is so sad.
The financial risk software program. Ironically, Spitzer was destroyed by a program he urged, as the AG, that all big banks should have installed. He wanted to make sure that terrorists cannot lauder money in smaller chunks than $10,000 (the threshold for an IRS flag). This is what destroyed him.
A disabled governor. I have met Lt. Gov. Paterson and I can honestly say he is one of the most sincerest politicians I have ever been privy to meet. He is legally blind. But, the man ran the NYC marathon and you know how much I heart runners. I am excited for NY to have a different governor. A governor that will not disappoint and will bring in the changes they ran on. Yet, unlike Spitzer, he will do it in a different way.

Finally, I just want to note that prostitution is not a victimless crime. It is a crime to call it victimless. There are victims, just like there are victims in drug crimes. Although NYT has a great op-ed on this, I want to add that most women who are brought into the United States and do sex work are put through horrible situations that forces them into this life. And domestically, most females and males who work as sex workers are not doing it to pay off college loans. Most are doing it because they were pressured into the work at a young age. Too many people think that being a call girl or escort is like living Julia Roberts life in "Pretty Woman." Unfortunately, it is far from that.

Maureen Dowd

2008-03-06T10:50:00.002-05:00

In 2004, I was sitting in a car, waiting for the clock to display "2:00." I wanted to get back home since my anxiety with driving on the freeway was starting to take over my life. I sat in my car patiently, getting bored with the radio hip-hop and pop. I didn't bring any CDs and did not own an iPod (and still don't). And, very unlike me, I didn't have a book or magazine to read.

I finally found the NPR station on the radio dial. Diane Rehm was interviewing a woman I had never heard of- Maureen Dowd. Ms. Dowd had just released a book, Bushworld, and was out doing the publicity stunts for it. While being interviewed by Ms. Rehm, Ms. Dowd had such a soft demeanor, she was even asked if she was shy. Ms. Dowd answered in the positive. And, yet, she had this quick wit and often cynical view of the world that catered to my needs right then and there. I felt a strong connection to her work and her attitude about the people who rule this world, particularly the disgust of W.

After the interview, I wanted to read all of Ms. Dowd's columns. I didn't discover the joy of New York Times until that interview. I had been such a Washington Post lady, I wouldn't dare to venture to a new online site that gave me the same news, with different writers. From time to time, I would find Ms. Dowd's column and read it. And then NYT decided to go "Time Select" and I was cut off from reading her words. In some ways, that may have been a blessing.

In the past several months, I have found Ms. Dowd's attitude about our democratic process, the people running for president demeaning and juvenile. I miss her days of critically thinking through America's problems and writing in a manner that teased with our minds. And I also miss her writing that dealt with the actual Bush administration, along with the world events. It is as if NYT editors have pegged her to only write about the Hillary Clinton factor and how much Ms. Dowd hates her. Ah, a real "girl fight."

I don't think she is doing any justice to Barack Obama either. I don't find her support for him convincing, more than just the fact that she does not like Mrs. Clinton. Again, that type of support, which many people have towards Mr. Obama, is myopic. Shouldn't you like the candidate because they are the candidate and not because they are not THAT other candidate? The negative is so much more hollow than the positive.

And that is where Ms. Dowd is right now. Her words are meaningless and although her column is often in the "Top Emailed Articles", I think it is because her negativity about one candidate helps another.

I often miss the days where Ms. Dowd actually wrote columns that attacked a mutual enemy, the Bush Administration over concrete grounds, not simply because he was a Bush. Her arguments were logical and strengthened by her own proses and articles in the newspaper that lambasted Mr. Bush for lying to the public about the various programs he has initiated.

When 2:00 rolled around, I jumped out of the car to pick up my visa from the Indian Consulate. I felt an energy that only strong women can give me. I felt Ms. Dowd's words and believed that she was my light, our light in the newspaper industry. Unfortunately, I don't feel like that anymore.

the 21 day cure.

2008-01-16T13:56:00.001-05:00

I am brewing over the CBS' 60 minute segment on the war in Congo. So many thoughts are being processed on my word processing machine that will get published shortly on this blog. But, before I jump into rape and how that segment may have changed my life, I have to share another life altering event that happened to me last night.

Over the past week, through some Internet happenstance of clicking, I clicked my way to the raw food diet. It has been such an interesting dive into this world of eating raw, knowing raw, and becoming one with Mother Earth, that I am beginning to think of ways to incorporate into my partner's and my life.

Not really knowing much about the raw food diet, I signed up to attend a lecture by a doctor who just published a book called The 21 Day Cure. The book is designed for those who have Type 2 diabetes. T's father and all of my aunts and uncles/grandparents have diabetes, meaning we have a high risk of getting diabetes as well. I went in honor of T's dad, who is very special to T, to learn more about the doctor's claims that diabetes can be cured.

I learned so much about diabetes it's wild. Did you know that 1 out of 8 New Yorkers are diabetic? And that 1 in 5 people in East Harlem are diabetic? US is in the top three leading nations of diabetic patients. India is number one, followed by China. I learned about different genes and cell production, the doctor's notions as to why diabetes occurs, and how a raw green plant-based diet can bring down the blood sugar by 95%. He talked a bit about the raw food diet in general and how it helps anti-aging cells which also control diabetes and cancer (in lay person's terms). He showed us a movie that is in response to "Fast Food Nation," where the participants, all diabetic, go on the 21 day diet and how all of them succeeded (it brought me to tears). And, I got the book!

I strongly suggest any diabetic or person who is in risk of diabetes (which is most of us), to go to the 21 Day cure site and learn more about this program. I think T and i are going to invest in a dehydrator this weekend. We are going to discuss more, but I think both of us want to put nutrition as the primary facet in our living, which in turn means more raw foods.

i owe ya, i-o-wa.

2008-01-05T10:24:00.001-05:00

ah, the lovely state of iowa. doesn't all this attention to iowa make you want to visit the state? i want to see how this tiny state gets so much love from all these politicians who are running federal campaigns that, in the large scheme of things, don't affect the local citizen. it does from a military, foreign policy, globalization standpoint. but, what matters to your life is more local, like property tax, education, local farming, zoning, parking regulations, and noise statutes.

but, this post is not about local politics and re-energizing our country to think local. no, siree. this post is about what happened in iowa two days back. i'm sure you have read or heard every talking head mention the historical nature of the iowa caucus (sidenote- doesn't caucus sound so dirty?), what it means to the democratic establishment, and how crazy certain folks (*cough* evangelicals *cough*) truly are (dude, you HAVE to know where pakistan is or, as my friend noted, you are automatically disqualified from any elective position...ever.).

what i think obama and two buck huck's votes mean to me is that people are sick of the establishment. i can speak from the "progressive" side. obama symbolizes, to many of my friends, that we are ready for a change. many of my friends don't look at race, so his racial composition has never been a question for our many conversations on gmail chat or at a bar. most of my generation, from the time they became politically aware, started with Bush. then it went to Clinton. then came Bush junior. now another Clinton is trying to get into the house? it's a bit...i dunno..dynastic.

more importantly, our generation is sick of being told that we are too young. we are sick of being told that our voice doesn't matter. we are sick of the older establishment NOT taking time out of their schedules to MENTOR us, to NURTURE this younger crop, to HELP us out. and when we try to show leadership, this older establishment becomes threatened, vengeful, and ugly. it's sad to see this endemic in all the movements, from feminism, to labor, to political parties. the one movement that has seen an influx of younger folks is the environmental movement and that is solely due to watershed moments over the past years.

but, have the environmental big wigs ever thought that MAYBE if they gave in to certain ideas the younger generation was fighting for a few years back, these watershed moments would not have happened.

personally, i keep voicing my frustration with the feminism movement or lack thereof. lady clinton thought she had all the female votes on lock down. yes, it is really inspiring to see a woman, with such intellectual vigor, be a legitimate candidate for the white house. however, don't think like a first wave feminist that all women are the same, that we all care for the same issues, bouncing yourself on identity politics. third wave feminists are more nuanced, more splintered in their identities, more holistic in their approaches to female concerns and issues. post-modern feminism is raging.

ironically, all these movements that started in the early sixties and seventies were about breaking down walls. they were about the power of the people, the community, the family. and yet these leaders are now the people my generation wants to topple because power has corrupted the movements, the cause, the multiple visions. newer social justice activists know this and try to make a movement less hierarchical, which is why you don't see one leader. instead there are a sea of them, ready to create a tide for change.

Teenage Pregnancy Up...

2007-12-06T08:27:00.000-05:00

And we should be shocked? I'm not.

WASHINGTON, Dec. 5 — The birth rate among teenagers 15 to 19 in the United
States rose 3 percent in 2006, according to a report issued Wednesday, the
first such increase since 1991. The finding surprised scholars and fueled a
debate about whether the Bush administration’s abstinence-only sexual
education efforts are working. [link]

Come on! Educators, parents, social workers have been saying for years that the abstience programs that this Bush Administration pushes does and cannot work. You cannot tell teens, in age of information, not to have sex, regardless how much you push it down their throat that they are partaking in sin. Word to the wise, most teens enjoy partaking in sin.

President Bush noted the long decline in teenage pregnancy rates in his 2006 State of the Union address, saying, “Wise policies such as welfare reform, drug education and support for abstinence and adoption have made a difference in the character of our country.” The White House did not respond to requests for comment Wednesday.

I watched a really great documentary on abstience only programs taking place in Lubbock, Texas which has the highest level of teenage pregnancy in the nation. The Education of Shelby Knox shows the struggles of one teen trying to bring sex education to her school district after she witnesses the number of pregnant teens in her high school.

Why can't we go back to the days of sex education? I just don't see the harm in it.

cyclone victims

2007-11-20T08:15:00.000-05:00

natural disasters = natural human instincts to help.

to donate to the Bangla victims' please consider this organization:
http://blog4brac.blogspot.com/

i get scared about donating to charities and such when i don't know how much actually goes to overhead or the relief effort. so, i like smaller charities who have less overhead and are based on real humanitarianism, instead of bureaucracy.

so, think about this organization, wish for a quick recovery in Bangladesh and part of India affected by this flooding during this thanksgiving.

A letter from Pakistan

2007-11-19T08:52:00.000-05:00

Forwarded from a friend's friend:
-----------------------------
Dear Friend,

I believe my letter will find you in best of health. And I also once again hope that you remember your Oxford colleagues of International human Rights Law, Program 2004.

Due to the security reasons, I am writing you from my new email address.

You must be having an idea of Pakistan’s present situation. In Pakistan, Mr. President General Pervez Musharaf, due to his lust for Power, has brought a different sort of coup i.e. coup against Judiciary, Lawyers and Electronic Media. However at the pretext that its important for the progress of so called “War on terror”, whereas in fact this coup has nothing to do with the War on Terror but is helping the actual Terrorists to strengthen themselves.

As Mr. President General Pervez Musharaf expected a Judgment against him from the Supreme Court of Pakistan, barring him to be president of the country for another 5 years, hence he ironically insulted and removed all the Judges of Supreme Court , who were about to deliver Judgment against him. So much so that like minded Judges in the High Courts have also been removed by the same General. All the lawyers who were pleading cases against him in the courts have been arrested. And the Electronic Media, which used to show true picture to the nation has been banned. Besides others, thousands of Lawyers including office bearers of all the Pakistan court Bars Councils, have been sent behind the bars under different unfounded charges. Lawyers are being tortured and disgraced in public. Police while using force against the lawyers drag them from hairs and slap them. Just to humiliate them. Constitution of the Country has been suspended. This is in fact more than a Martial Law. But very cleverly has been given the name of Emergency.

However, it is very strange that US and other governments are not showing considerable interest in the restoration of Judiciary and are showing no resentment against confinement of Judges, Senior Lawyers and Human Right activists. The fact is being totally ignored that no country and no democracy can work, without free and fair judiciary. If the judiciary is allowed to be demoralized in this way, it would not be a good precedent even for the other developing countries. At present the president is collecting judges, who can only favour him. He is turning the courts to Mock Courts, JUST FOR HIS OWN VESTED INTERST.

I will request you to please come forwards and help the Judiciary & judicial System of this country. The only crime of this country Deposed Judiciary is this that, it tried to be fair and stand by the truth. Please play your pivotal role for restoration of free judiciary and release of Lawyers and true democracy in Pakistan. Please show your resentment in some way and motivate the other also, in the interest of justice. Amongst others, the lawyers of Pakistan direly need you. At least pass resolutions in this respect in your organizations/institute/bar council and refer the same to UN etc

Regards.

Ghulam Shoaib, Advocate

In order to examine certain rays of Emergency news and activities in Pakisitan Please log on to http://pakistanmartiallaw.blogspot.com or www.geo.tv
----

please write to your local congress people, including senators, informing them about the situation in pakistan and how they have the power to do something.

the pakistan and us connection

2007-11-14T08:00:00.000-05:00

There are so many connections between Pakistan and the United States. We literally have our fingers in every single country in this world, don't we? What is happening in Pakistan affects us, in the United States, more than I think we think it does. To boil it down, this is what I believe has happened:

U.S. support General Musharaff, who took power via a military coup, to help end terrorism.
Mushie writes a book and claims that Pakistan is a democratic state.
Mushie puts the Chief Judge of the Supreme Court in jail because he didn't like what he said.
Through increasing pressure, past exile leaders attempt to come back to Pakistan.
Bhutto successfully comes back and bombs kill her supporters and on-lookers.
Mushie calls for an emergency state and freezes the Pakistan Constitution.
Subsequently, Mushie forces judges and lawyers to support him; if not, see yourself go to prison.
Bhutto puts pressure on Mushie to end emergency rule. She wants to protest.
Mushie puts Bhutto on house arrest, with hundreds of police guarding one house.

Man, what a trip! And the psycho part is this- it could happen here and some people think it has happened here. Yes, we are a democratic country, but in real terms, we are a republic. We have a popular vote (the one that Al Gore won) and we have an electoral vote (the one that George W. won). Simplified, the electoral vote has more pull.

When George W. walked into office, he brought Cheney (an ex-officio of corporation). He also came in with notions of military power exceeding Constitutional powers. We have people, under the guise of the PATRIOT Act, arresting and detaining American citizens, without any Constitutional rights of an attorney, speedy trial, or being detained with a charge. We have judicial and legislative powers being trumped for executive privileges and power. At least in other countries, they have the integrity to call it what is (emergency rule). We still call ourselves the leaders in bringing democracy. It looks like we are teaching and leading examples of a military/coup like government rule.

Yesterday, lawyers from NYC rallied in support of the lawyers and judicial branch in Pakistan. Below are a few pictures from the rally. There were hundreds of people there, mostly non-South Asian, who listened to speeches by presidents of the various bars and the son of the Chief Justice of Pakistan, who is a NYC lawyer.

i'm going to begin analyzing again

2007-11-12T18:11:00.001-05:00

i am. there is much to be analyzed and much to be written about. i will start again. have no fear, my analyzing friends.

i'm pissed.

2007-04-19T07:33:00.000-05:00

i'm not going to cover my anger through words like "let's breathe" or "karma" or whatever. right now i am ANGRY. i am an ANGRY non-PMSy Woman for several reasons.

A huuuuuuuuuuge slice of a woman's right to choose pie was handed to us (prochoicers) yesterday. What a blow man. And to hear what Kennedy had to write hurt. No joke. When an old, white man decides my fate in life, it really, really bothers me. Really, Kennedy, it's cool if women die for the sake of a pregnancy? Are we in the 1800s again? I am so angry. The silver lining: Ginsberg did something pretty rare and amazing- she gave an oral dissent from the bench. Go Ruthie! And I am praying to God that this mobilizes the pro-choice movement, the women's movement, the militia. Addendum: You know what fucking makes me sick? That NO abortion related article is in the "most emailed articles" box on the NYT. Fucking Delhi snacks move up off the street is getting more "street" cred. WTF?!!?!
After y-e-a-r-s, our president acknowledges that Darfur is the next holocaust. He talked about sanctions and peace keeping troops at the Holocaust Museum in Washington, DC. What we, as the public, have yet to recognize is that it doesn't matter if the United States pulls out our economic resources from Sudan. You wanna know why? Because countries with more capital expenditure are pouring their money into the Sudanese economy. These countries include: China, India, Saudi Arabia. After I barfed from listening to the report, I came to the conclusion that this world sucks. India? Seriously?! A country known for it's God-like figure, Gandhi, is supporting this shit? Fine, they are keeping a blind eye to it?! What the fuck? There is no damn silver lining to this anger.
He killed so many people. And for what? Let's see. At this point we have no "official" reason(s), but I am willing to speculate. He was found stalking two women in 2005. A clear sign of abusive behavior. He desperately sought out attention. Loved attention, evidenced clearly from his mailings. Which would make sense because he probably stalked women he wanted attention from. So, let's see if any of my rambling is making sense: wants attention from female- doesn't give it to her- finds a way to keep tabs on her (stalking and threatening emails)- police and mental health community get involved- don't take it too seriously, 'cause come on now, it's JUST stalking and love- needs more attention- has mental health issues- starts video taping himself and writing psycho thoughts- buys gun (because easier to buy guns than buy anti-depression medicine in this country)- decides how to shoot people to get the most carnage- kills two people- goes to the post office to mail off his psycho photos, videos, and letter- kills more people- kills himself. Now, WE are left to piece this all together. All I can say is gender based violence comes in different shapes and colours and we need to take it SERIOUSLY. the silver lining: mobilizing the Asian American community to admit and address mental health issues in our respective communities.

I can go on to discuss my disgust with the deaths in Iraq, the Nigerian presidential crisis, the looming United States deficit, the lies that Gonzales spews, the apathy in our generation of folks. I am not whining. I am seriously pissed.

is he right?

2007-03-08T07:56:00.000-05:00

I just finished listening to John Mayer on NPR's Morning Edition and something he said bothered me. John Inskeep asked Mayer why he didn't make the song action based, like the '60s anti-war songs. Mayer said that it wouldn't sound right and that this generation is not okay with people telling them what to do.

John Mayer has spent 33 weeks on the music charts with what sounds like an anti-war song.
Now if we had the power
to bring our neighbors home from war
they would have never missed a Christmas
no more ribbons on their door

But for the 29-year-old singer, "Waiting on the World to Change" (listen) turns into more of an explanation for why his generation seems so apathetic.

It's not that we don't care,
We just know that the fight ain't fair
So we keep on waiting
Waiting on the world to change

Rather than urging people to change the world, he seems to say, there's nothing we can do.

Nothing we can do? Is he for real? He can't possibly be taping into the human's inate strength of laziness and apathy. I mean it doesn't make any sense why we would wait for the world change when thousands of people are dying in Darfur, hundreds more each week in Iraq, and god only knows the atrocities occuring in North Korea (click on press release). Let's not even begin with the United States where our own people still don't have homes that were devastated from a hurricane and human failure over a year ago (she's a great NO blogger).

It's because we live in America, where we are sheltered and believe whole heartedly in the media, that we are sheltered from our own atrocities, as well as those across our borders.

No, Mayer, we can't WAIT. We must begin to ACT.

Skin

2007-02-08T07:58:00.000-05:00

i absolutely adore this movie.

[h/t feministing]

the meaning is simple, yet complex. the music enunciates the words, without overtaking them. the editing and filming captures you, yet keeps you at a far distance.

why do we judge each other based on the skin we were born with? it's as if we had a choice to be brown, darker brown, lighter brown. it's as if we had the choice to have blue, green, hazel eyes.

we judge each other on an individual/societal level on a choice we didn't have. amazing.

Remembering MLK

2007-01-15T09:11:00.000-05:00

I love reading biographies of great people and animals. I love learning about how other people lead their lives. One thing I have learned about great people is that they all had their faults, including MLK. However, he was aware of his weakness and often told people not to hold him out as an immortal. But we did and do.

MLK's words continue to inspire. He and his speech writers had a way with words. Back then, words actually inspired millions of people to do something, to make a change.

In college, I partook in the annual MLK speech contest. Although I love public speaking, when I signed up, I hadn't been in a speech contest since high school (oh the glory days of speech and debate!). I remember writing the speech at 2AM in the morning, three days before the contest. I was inspired by feminism and the women around me. We were supposed to incorporate MLK's statement, "Injustice anwhere, is a threat to justice everywhere." (cliche alert) As luck would have it, this morning I was clearing out another box of my crap and found the speech I gave. It's a militant speech about the injustices women have faced. I won't bore you with the entire speech, so here is a snippet of it:

...Women's bodies are still being lynched by people looking for power in their lives. Rather than typing people up by rope, we have limited them through money, through education, through opportunities. We have a history of oppression. Many groups have asked and continue to ask for reparations for the oppression their ancestors, and trickled down, what they are currently going through. What would it be like if women started to ask for monetary reparations for centuries of their pain and suffering?...

If injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere, than for everyone who treasures comfort and stability of their suburban lifestyle, beware because injustice ravages on. For all these people who sing the anthem at their favorite ballpark or knell graciously on their church pew, beware because injustice rages on. For all those individuals who claim to embrace diversity, yet spend their lives surrounded by those like them, beware because injustice continues, unwaveringly, onward. Our nation, our country's foundation, our very sense of being and identity is created upon the ideal of equality, yet we still don't have it.....

America has spent these past 225 years trying to define itself by embracing the first sentence of the Declaration of Independence to no avail. The question of gender inequality still looms in our society like a cancerous lump in a woman's breast, a lump that requires little recognition but much comprehension. On Novemeber 2, 1920, over eight million American women voted for the first time. Thomas Jefferson had proclaimed equality as the bedrock of America, but it took over 144 years for this to occur on paper...So long as America continues to believe that equality for all has been reached, our women get paid less, our laws repeal simple freedoms for a woman, our rapists continue to walk the streets freely, our sisters get kicked around by abusers with little or no protection. So long as we deny America a commitment to equality, and deny America the American creed, women who fight so hard for noble causes will continue to die unnoticed. ...

Man, He Smacks Me Wanna Smack Him!

2006-11-17T16:22:00.000-05:00

Trust me, I usually don't get violent tendencies towards others. Hey, I work in the violence against women field and that hitting other people would probably ban me from all the cool joints we anti-violent people hang out in. But, this just gets me so angry to the point of violence. OJ Simpson has written a book book semi-confessing to the killing of his ex-wife, Nicole Brown, and her friend, Ron Goldman. Seriously?

After a 12-year search, O.J. Simpson has found the true killer. Hypothetically. It turns out that Simpson murdered his ex-wife and her friend, hypothetically, and will get $3.5 million in blood money for a book titled ``If I Did It'' that gives all the gory details. This is one of those how-low-can-you-go moments. No one should fall for the Tripe of the Century.

In the book due out Nov. 30, Simpson describes his marriage and divorce and then switches into hypothetical mode to describe the 1994 murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman.

``There's little that would surprise me from this murdering SOB, but this does reach an all-time low, even for him,'' Ron Goldman's father, Fred Goldman, succinctly told the New York Post.

The Fox network is promoting the book through a two-part special, ``If I Did It, Here's How It Happened,'' featuring Simpson being interviewed by his book's publisher, Judith Regan. It's an inside job: News Corp. owns both Fox and HarperCollins, which owns ReganBooks.

I mean for real?

In college, I volunteered for the Clothesline Project and one of the shirts we received a shirt made by Nicole Brown's sister. That shirt was special because it was placed among thousands of other shirts, symbolizing the crimes against those due to their gender. While reading the editorial and the numerous articles spitting on O.J. Simpson, I thought about the publisher. Who would want to publish his crap?

Well, she did. And she did it, allegedly to get the killer to confess, just like she wanted her ex-husband to confess. Now, I hear that. I get what she is saying, but to give him (or allegedly his children) 3.5 million dollars is just crossing the line. And did he confess? No. And even if he did confess, what would that do to us? Just show us that our judicial system is biased? That our judicial system takes crimes against women lightly? That our judicial system erred, like humans do? I don't think we needed this scumbag to show us that. I get articles every.single.day. reporting how the judicial system fails to adequately protect survivors of (spousal, parental) abuse. Seriously, Judith Regan, you could have interviewed men who committed spousal abuse (even killed their partners) to get a real inside look at a wife-killer. But him?

Rupert, Rupert, Rupert. Shame on you and your croonies for doing this. Shame on your stupid FOX Network and all the media outlets you own. Shame on you.

Ugh. All of this just disgusts me. All of it.

georges all around

2006-11-14T00:01:00.000-05:00

wow...this video is probably the best thing i have seen in some time. (hat tip AB via email)

Da House.

2006-11-08T10:42:00.001-05:00

I'm very excited. The Dems took the House back. Unfortunately, I don't have time to delve into the election results right now because I am off to NYC, but I can't go without saying some thoughts.

How did Virginia voters vote for George Allen?
Wow, the cigarette companies actually convinced most of the California public not to increase the tax because of the anti-trust laws that were written in!
I'm really sad about Harold Ford, Jr. losing.
Ohio went BLUE.
Nancy Pelosi, 'nuff said.
Who says looks count in an election? Did you hear that Joe Lieberman won?
Did CNN have their blog meet-up at TRYST?!?!?!?!?
Also, did anyone see a Gael Garcia Bernal look-alike (or maybe it was him?) behind Jim Webb while he was delivering his speech last night?

I voted for the first time in person! It was quite the experience. More thoughts and pictures in a bit. Off to catch the plane!

Vote!!

2006-11-07T13:16:00.000-05:00

It is so strange that people don't vote. As an immigrant, I have always voted since the year I became a naturalized citizen. It's important, it makes you feel like you are part of society, it is also something different to do in your mundane schedule.

Today, I will be voting, for the first time, in an actual voting booth. I am *so* excited! Every single year, I have had to file an absentee vote. Although I am voting, absentee voting is such a joy kill for me. There is no scandal! No mispronunciation of my name by a senior citizen! I get no sticker that states, with colourful excitment, "I voted!" I am looking forward to all of that, followed by the gym.

After last week's request, I did some research and decided on my votes. Here they are in ballot particular order:

Governor: Phil Angelides
Lt. Governor: John Garamendi
Secretary of State: Debra Bowen
Controller: John Chiang
Treasurer: Bill Lockyer (although I thought for a split second to vote for Mehul Thakker, but thought that was silly; two party all the way!)
Attorney General: Jerry Brown (btw, when are hip hop artists gonna do a song with Jerry Brown's name in it?)
Insurance Commissioner: Cruz Bustamante (tough choices because they all suck)
State Board of Equalization: Betty T. Yee (APA pride)
U.S. Senator: Dianne Feinstein

For the judicial officers, I researched a few of their cases and ratings by other judicial members, and I voted:

Joyce L. Kennard: Yes
Carol A. Coorigan: Yes
Conrad L. Rushing: Yes
Nathan D. Mihara: No
Richard McAdams: Yes
Wendy Clark Duffy: No

Now here come the propositions:
1A-1E: Yes
83: No
84: Yes
85: No
86: Yes (although I hate Kaiser and anyone excusing themselves from anti-trust lawsuits)
87: No
88: No
89: Yes
90: No

I am going to definitely record my experience as a first time voter in person. Are we allowed to bring cameras inside a voting booth? And I am asking for a paper ballot, if possible.

A True Sign of Love

2006-11-03T12:29:00.000-05:00

Yesterday night, my dad and I hunkered down on the couch to watch "The Office." My dad has never been the television person, except when it comes to "Cheers," "Seinfeld", or the 10 o'clock news on KTVU. (Sidenote: Probably the earliest memory I have of television is one of Dennis Richmond, the KTVU anchor for the past thirty years. Yes, even before the Smurfs, I remember Dennis. He's like my long lost grandfather.)

All week, my dad has asked me with a tinge of excitement in his voice, "Is the it on tonight? The Office?" So, why The Office? Yesterday, the show was on Diwali, portrayed as the Hindu festival of lights (although, I will let you know that after going to the Sikh exhibit at the Smithsonian Natural History museum, I learned that Sikhs also practice Diwali). Written by Mindy Kaling, the actor who plays Kelly Kapoor, the episode was funny, played on various stereotypes (of course!), and a bit all over the place. I'm not a television critic; hell, I rarely watch the boob tube. However, I missed the first two minutes of the show, and I feel those two minutes would have helped me understand the rest of the 24 minutes.

What was more amazing than the actual episode were the proposition commercials. Each commercial was trying to be "real" so they used "real" people to get their position across. One commerical had an African American doctor not supporting the proposition dealing with cigarette taxes (although this site doesn't have the ad I saw last night, it has other scary ads). Another commercial was a firefighter who didn't support another proposition. Another was a teacher who said something about another proposition. And finally, the other was one of good ol' Bill Clinton who was putting faith in Californian's to change the course of America's dependence on foreign oil (watch a segment of the ad here). For the first time, I felt bad for California voters. They are pummelled with television and radio ads. Their phone rings off the hook with recorded messages. The local and national media writes in support of a proposition or urges you not to vote for it. It plain sucks.

My dad, an true immigrant voter (read: he takes voting very seriously), asked me, as genuinely as he could, "Chai, would you mind doing the research on these various propositions? The numbers are starting to drive me crazy." I started laughing. He then went on this one mintue rant (quite short for a person in his position) about how not only is there is state wide propositions, there are local measures with all these letters and that confuses him. "So, please, for your mom and I, do a summary of the propositions and recommendation. We will vote according to your recommendation."

Quelle power! Quelle amour! I get to assert which propositions two individuals should vote for. Wow. If this ain't love, I truly don't know what is. Hey, and maybe this will be my stepping stone to becoming a policy consultant?

The research is due on Monday. Who said unemployment means no work?

Cheerleaders are being discriminated against? Bring it On!

2006-10-27T13:14:00.000-05:00

Answer "yes" or "no" to the following questions:

In highschool, did you loathe the cheerleaders?
Did you try out for cheerleading? If yes, did you make it on the squad? If not, were you disappointed?
Did you try out for junior varsity or varsity athletic teams?
Did you party in highschool?
Were cigarettes and/or alcohol part of the party?
Did you take pictures of people at the party?
Did you post those pictures on a website?
If you were a cheerleader or athlete, whose pictures were sent around the school (or via website), did you get suspended?

Well, if you were Jaimee Bruno, a highschool cheerleader, attempting to party but never partook in the drinking and smoking, and still got suspended after pictures of you and your squad mates ended up on myspace.com, would you be angry?

I sure would.

Jaimee Bruno, 17, one of the five cheerleaders suspended from the Leland High School squad, and her mother, Denise Bruno, allege that educators selectively suspended the female cheerleaders for attending the 2005 party, but took no action against the male athletes. The Santa Clara County Superior Court lawsuit says the San Jose Unified School District violated the Unruh Civil Rights Act and seeks an unspecified amount in damages and reimbursement for attorney fees and other costs. [link]

There are two reasons why I think this lawsuit is interesting. First, Leland allegedly never suspended the male athletes who were at the same party. I don't understand how school districts can make, in my eyes, blatant mistakes like this. Granted, I know the counsel for the District has arguments to justify the administration's stance on why only the five female athletes were suspended, however, it just doesn't seem right. Let's look at the law the plantiff cited that the defendants allegedly violated: the Unruh Civil Rights Act. This Act states,

"All persons within the jurisdiction of this state are free and equal, and no matter what their sex, race, color, religion, ancestry, national origin, disability, or medical condition are entitled to the full and equal accommodations, advantages facilities, privileges, or services in all business establishments of every kind whatsoever." Civil Code section 51(b)

And, yes, accomodations covers public agencies, which means the District cannot (intentionally) violate this Act.

The second interesting point of the article and the lawsuit is the alleged contract that the cheerleaders and athletes had to sign. I find this interesting on so many levels which I can't help but bullet point.

A minor signing a contract is probably not valid. Depending on the age of majority in California, these athletes may have been younger than that age. Well, maybe the parents signed for their child, but still, quite fishy.
The contract allegedly states that athletes cannot be drinking and smoking. Okay, fair enough. But shouldn't they be promoting that to all the kids in their school, not just athletes?
Finally, if there was a contract that stated the above provision, wouldn't the male athletes be in as much of a violation as the suspended cheerleaders?

And, on a last note, Bruno's mom sounds like quite the saavy parent. According to this article, it sounds like she exhausted her administrative relief and is now, prior to the statute of limitations for the Act, she filed a lawsuit on behalf of her daughter. It is so rare that you meet a parent who doesn't want to jump into the lawsuit circuit before exhausting administrative remedies. I guess I shouldn't be that surprised. We are talking about Leland here, a really well-to-do area, with many resources. Anyway, I got my popcorn ready to watch the drama unfold. As we (non-cheerleaders say about anything cheerleading) say, "Bring it ON!"

p.s. Hot damn! The poor girl doing the bridge!

Update. Thanks Wonkette for linking to this site. Also, the Mercury News did an editorial piece on this story.

why?

2006-10-24T18:35:00.000-05:00

why is it that when i am at home i analyze more about my life than about the world? why is it when i am at my own home, i analyze more about the world than about my life?

One Anniversary That Shook

2006-10-17T21:23:00.000-05:00

Loma Prieta. Doesn't that name sound beautiful? "Loma" means hill in Spanish. "Prieta" means [insert lack of Spanish knowledge here]. To me, those two words means earthquake. A big, bad earthquake. Today marks the seventeen (17) year anniversary of the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake. Really? Seventeen years? Wow. Seems like yesterday.

I remember, on that fateful day, that I just finished eating my afternoon snack with my grandparents, mom, and little brother. My mom told me to go to my room to start my homework. I remember opening up my "Hello Kitty" pencil box to look for my favoritest pencil to start my fifth grade math homework. A few minutes after I started my homework, my desk started to shake. My first thought was that my brother was running around. While the shaking got stronger, I realized that it wasn't my brother, it was an earthquake. Earthquake in California elementary schools means "drop, cover, and hold on." I dropped what I was doing (homework) and found cover underneath my desk. I held on to the desk and in a few seconds, my hutch came crashing over me. I was a stunned.

After the earth shook, my mom yelled my name and when she could barely hear me, she ran into my room and almost fainted. So much of our rooms had shifted, but my desk area looked like a disaster zone. She thought I was in that mess. She thought correctly, but I wasn't hurt. Luckily, I listened to my teacher and did the routine successfully. That didn't stop my mom from yelling and praying to God while rescuing me.

Fortunately, all of us in the house were safe. We did not want to risk it again, so every year we updated our earthquake kits and had safety brackets on all our furniture. Ah, October 17, 1989, a date that I will never forget.

The GAP + AIDS

2006-10-17T12:59:00.000-05:00

I hate to be writing this because I hate GAP t. h. i. s. m. u. c. h. I have to give it up to their social conscious, we need more money team in coming up with this idea of GapRed.

All the word inspi(red) tee shirts are sold out online. I really wanted to get the shirt that says DESI(RED). It took me a few seconds to see that it was actually "desired" and not "desi-red." Which would honestly be funny if it was desi-red, because I am Indian (or desi) and Native Americans have historically been called Red (see Redskins). So it would be a coalition of the Indians from India and the Indians from America on one tee-shirt. Of course, my imagination took the best of me. ;)
So, if you can spare some of your disgust for a few minutes to walk into a sweatshop chain only to support AIDS causes in Africa, then do it. You have been told.

Sad Day

2006-09-14T07:45:00.000-05:00

One of my favorite political figures passed away. Her wit, her humour, and her ability to connect with her state's citizens.

Thank you Ann Richards for paving a way for future Democratic women who want to run for public office.

What Would Gandhi Do?

2006-07-17T19:29:00.000-05:00

I'm sure everyone has thought the following thought, "Where is Gandhi of our generation?" Or maybe you substituted Gandhi with Martin Luther King, Jr. Regardless of who you chose to fill in the Gandhi (but s/he must be a non-violent preacher), it is now more than ever I feel the need to find him/her. I am so disappointed at people with power hurting innocent people. I am so disenchanted with the world as of late, that it makes me want to give up everything and just become a traveler. I am trying to find justice in a world filled with injustice. And these thoughts question my morals- what are they? why do I want peace? is peace something of an optical illusion?

I went to the DC public library few weeks back and found the book India: From Midnight to the Millennium by Shashi Tharoor. I've only finished chapter one and so far he has dazzled me. Tharoor speaks my mind, but in a much more intellectual way. He writes things I have thought about it and I love people who make me feel sane. He writes the following about Gandhian philosophy:

Internationally, Gandhi expressed ideals few can reject: he could virtually written the United Nations Charter. But the decades after his death have confirmed that there is no escape from the conflicting sovereignties of states. Some 20 million more lives have been lost in wars and insurrections since his passing. In a dismaying number of countries, governments spend more for military purposes than for education and health combined. The current stockpile of nuclear weapons represents over a million times the explosive power of the atom bomb whose destruction of Hiroshima so grieved him. Universal peace, which Gandhi considered so central to Truth, seems as illusionary as ever.

How true is the last statement in today's world? I know that Gandhi today would not be upheld as this revolutionary man. His ideals, his way of life, doesn't fit into today's society of need/power/destruction. Instead, he would be cast away as a "loner" or something far more insulting. He would probably be ignored. Much like how we deal with peace today.

Reason #649

2006-05-04T21:56:00.000-05:00

Everyone under the sun has asked me, "Chai, why domestic violence? Why not immigration or civil rights or...corporate law?" I do domestic violence work because when I hear stories like this, it makes me angry. It makes me sad. It makes me feel like justice was NOT served. It makes me feel like we can do more. It also makes me see how our souls are not static, but flowing.

Cade was set ablaze by her estranged husband Oct. 10 at the T-Mobile store in Clinton where she was working. Roger B. Hargrave was convicted last week of attempted murder

Winfrey told her audience that several weeks before Hargrave's attack, a Prince George's District Court judge dismissed a protective order Cade had obtained against Hargrave. The audience gasped.

The judge later said the dismissal was the result of a clerical error, Winfrey said in disbelief. "Shame, shame -- that's a shame," she added.

Although protective orders are designed to keep abusers away, there is no consensus on whether they are effective.

Winfrey played the audiotape of a court hearing in which the judge, Richard A. Palumbo, is sarcastic, talks over Cade and dismisses her protective order.

"I think that's awful, don't you?" Winfrey asked audience members, who responded, "Yes!"

"We invited Judge Palumbo to be here or provide a statement, and you can see he ain't here," Winfrey said, prompting a big laugh from the crowd.

And Cade described what she remembered from that morning: Hargrave came into the store, and when she saw him, she told him she'd be with him in a minute. He then walked up to her and poured gasoline on her from a Sprite bottle. Then she felt something on her back. It was Hargrave, using a lighter to ignite her.

Cade ran outside, then back into the store. "I just went to the sink and I began to hose my face," she said. "And I remember thinking to myself that my face was melting."

Honestly, I must give WaPo credit for keeping this story in the news. Beyond the fact that it is so egregious, WaPo has been updating us on Cade's story since it happened.

I didn't watch the show, but a few of my co-workers did. They were infuriated with Oprah's questioning and victim blaming. I am watching it at work, so I'll put in my two cents later. Did you watch the show? What did you think?

Welcome back, Chai. Abortion rights? What are you talking about?

2006-02-22T22:57:00.000-05:00

Man, I think Mango is a Republican operative. I wrote this long and angry post about the South Dakota ban on abortion and when I was looking to link to more eloquent bloggers who wrote about this issue, my computer just froze on me. Mango! What the hell? I think it's mad at me cause I ate a green mango today and it was YUMMY, you heard me Mango, YUMMY.

Anyway, come over here and step away from that above paragraph madness. I need to tell you a story. Come here baby. Sit down right next to me. No no, I'm fine with my chai. Thank you baby. Come here. Ah yes. I wanted to share with you some stories of my childhood. Something that I wanted to you know. You may not appreciate this story now, but you will when you are a bit older.

Back when I was growing up, ohhh baby, we walked to school. No, my amma never dropped us off. She couldn't. You see, back then, people drove to work in their petroleum powered cars. We were well-off, baby, not poor. But, it didn't matter. My mom couldn't drive me to junior high and then to work. It would take too long. Great grandpa? Well, he couldn't either cause he was the vice president of a company. So, I took the public bus. Yeah, baby. Hey, did I see you rolling your eyes? No, this isn't a lecture of how you should walk to school instead of using your jet-pack. This is just to share with you different times.

And it is also to show you how many similarities we have. For example, I know you are in ninth grade right now. And even though you don't go to public school cause the state doesn't pay for it anymore, I went to public school. And I know ninth grade is when everyone starts dating everyone. Did I? Haha, no, your grandma didn't. But your grandpa started noticing me when he was in ninth grade. Why are you laughing? Oh stop it child!

Hand me that napkin. You are making me sweat with your giddiness. Thank you baby. So, I know in ninth grade, people start doing things.....you know physical things. What do you mean "what do you I mean," child? You know what I am talking about. Don't make your grandma say it. Fine, they start having sex. Stop giggling! You are making my blood pressure go up. No, no, it's okay...just listen.

So, my close friend in high school was raped. Yeah, it was pretty scary cause she was unsure what happened, but she blamed herself for it. Luckily she didn't get pregnant. But, you know, if she did get pregnant, she could have gotten an abortion. Unlike now, we were allowed to get abortions without telling our parents cause the legal people knew that teens don't like to talk to parents about this stuff. And then my senior year, a close friend got pregnant. No, this was another friend. And she ended up getting an abortion. It was probably the biggest event in her life up to that point. However, she was 18 and she went to a local Planned Parenthood to get a free abortion. Of course she was sad, baby, what do you think? But, she realized that she was not ready to have a child. And she hasn't regretted that decision since. Yeah, even now.

Oh child, please stop asking me these incessant questions about my friends. Its none of your business what their names are and if I talk to them. Come on, I don't want you to lose focus on the moral of my story.

Remember that times were different when I was growing up. We, females, women, ladies, girls, had rights when it came to our body. We had choice and I am sorry that you and your girlfriends don't. I hope you know what this means. Yes. Exactly. You must change the law and make it written in blood that your life is more valuable than anyone else's "life." And also, never forget to use protection. It is your responsibility too.

NPR makes me SMART

2006-02-16T18:22:00.000-05:00

The public broadcasting radio station in my area recently had a membership drive. I wanted to give but really (unfortunately) couldn't afford it. But the announcer said, "Every time you hear something interesting on public radio, it's worth at least a dime. By the end of the year you will have so many dimes, that you might as well donate now." Well, I took him up on his challenge and am going to donate 10cents in my 'Support Public Broadcasting" jar (used to contain salsa), and donate it at the end of the year.

Here are a few stories that got me thinking:

::Small businesses are LOST:: I know that this is true just from looking at my neighborhood shops that are closing down. In the world of internet, scheduling play dates for kids, and weddings two years in advance, going to a local corner shop just aint going to happen. Going to a local bookstore won't happen either. So, what can we do? I suggest supporting these shops in any way possible. Whether it's purchasing their merchandise, informing other people (via blogs!), talking to city council members about tax breaks and property issues, I think anything can help. Plus, getting to know your grocer really helps build a community.

::Need more dough, yo!:: Yeah, we all need more money. Even though Biggie warns us "Mo Money, Mo Problems, " I still want to make more money to donate, to buy sustainable clothes, greener cars, and sweatfree baby clothes for my cutie neice and BFF's son. This story tells us how to ask for a raise! RAISE up. (Hey, if it works, donate some to ME. HA.)

::Putting a price on life:: Now, this is what pisses me off with anti-choicers. They berate pro-choicers about chosing CHOICE over a innocent "person's" life. YET, I never hear conservative, religious groups going after companies who find cures to AIDS (fine, it's cause those who have it are sinful) or cancer? Why aren't they going and sending those people anthrax? Why aren't they having vigils in front of the corporate headquarters and yelling at those who go in and out of the headquarter's doors? WHY? Aren't innocent lives being hurt because of greed?

Wait, there is a freakin' cure to cancer? Yeah, that was a shock to me. Genentech, earlier this week, released reports that they have found a drug that can fight cancer. Not just fight cancer, but kick the living crap out of it. That's awesome, but guess what? Genetech wants the price tag to be $100,000/year for the drug. No, not to generic companies who buy the formula. That is what a person w/cancer must pay to use the drug. The story does a really good job (much better than me) in summarizing my feelings towards this issue.

If you don't hate corporate America and you are an anti-choicer because of innocent lives are being lost, then aren't you choosing between the two?

[~~Marketplace has not published the link yet because the day ain't over in other parts of this beautiful country.~~]

Price= $0.30

Ayotte

2006-01-18T18:55:00.000-05:00

Wow, can the court not side step an abortion case, AGAIN? Oh wait, they did? Get OUT (channeling Elaine from Seinfeld)!

Grr, why can't Sandra just make her test clear and leave an ever lasting impression on our abortion/reproductive rights jurisprudence. Damn her!

Check out the opinion.

Disclosure: I worked on this case, in writing a friend to the court brief.

World Women's Wrap Up

2006-01-10T09:00:00.000-05:00

In 2005, several women's issues were on the forefront of global news. With the disaster in Southeast Asia due to the tsunami, the South Asian earthquake relief efforts, and New Orleans flood, women's issues at these sites may not have reached the headlines, but that doesn't mean that issues did not arise.

Women's eNews did a wrap up of 2005 in their, simple, yet powerful column called "Cheers and Jeers."

(WOMENSENEWS)--Gender issues colored many of the top news stories of 2005. Behind the headlines of tsunami, earthquake and hurricane, the suffering of women displaced by disaster was hidden in plain sight. Abortion politics lurked behind every maneuver in the confirmation battles of Supreme Court justices. And women's issues became increasingly important in the elections of Asian and African countries emerging from conflicts as well as in the international focus on poverty and health.
Gender-Based Violence

Cheers

A benchmark study from the Geneva-based World Health Organization documented the levels of violence against women worldwide in November after surveying more than 24,000 women in 10 countries. Among them was Thailand, where data on gender-based violence was collected for the first time. The study added to data collected in previous years and established a framework for addressing violence as a public health issue.

The conclusions of the report were that violence against women is widespread, common and preventable. The November report, however, went further by recommending changes to laws and implementing prevention strategies in reproductive health and HIV-AIDS programs.

"Domestic violence can be prevented," said the study's coordinator, Dr. Claudia Garcia Moreno. "WHO will continue to raise awareness about violence and the important role that public health can play to address its causes and consequences."

Jeers

Gender-based violence is increasing in wars and conflicts around the world. In Sudan and in the Ivory Coast, reports of sexual and ethnic violence have increased as civil conflicts have raged. In the Darfur region of Sudan, United Nations observers have reported incidents of rapes by soldiers. Amnesty International in July cited increasing violence and kidnappings of girls and women by soldiers in Uganda. In Guatemala, the London-based human rights organization reported that the brutal killings of women continue there unabated, with 531 murders documented in the first 10 months of 2005.

In Burma, too, sanctioned rapes of women by the military regime in power continue to harm female refugees of the ongoing civil crisis. Activist groups are hoping to draw attention to mass rapes by documenting those crimes and lobbying for change. "Unless there is genuine political reform, this suffering of women will not end," Burmese activist Thin Thin Aung told Women's eNews in September. "So that's what we ask for."

So much to do in 2006. I hope that we continue to fight for the the struggle of gender equality, both on an individual and societal level. Here is to 2006!

2005-09-30T08:51:00.000-05:00

In my last post, I said I wanted to run for a political seat. Knowing that that thought is a far fetched idea, I think about it constantly. And why not? One of my childhood heros (before I realized that she may not have been the most ideal person) was Indira Gandhi. All the books I read in fourth grade indicated to me that a woman can lead a nation--even a nation that has held on to stereotypical gender roles. Or has India? India has many female politicians. Yeah, some are corrupt, but who ever said women were pure, angelic beings (unless you are like me!)

This Fall, Geena Davis took the airwaves by storm through a show called "Commander In Chief." I saw Geena on "Good Morning America" and Charlie Gibson (who I adore) asked questions that dealt with gender and politics. Like, "Do you ever see a woman as President? Why do you think it has not happened?" etc, etc. For some reason, it felt weird hearing those questions. Like the show was a fantasy.

And Joel Stein, a reporter to LA Times, writes a great op-ed on this new show.

The network has also taken out newspaper ads with political cartoons suggesting that the notion of a female president is ridiculous. In one, Davis wears a military helmet, high heels and a sash across her chest that reads "Commander in Chief." In another, a bunch of fat cats try to bribe Madame President with flowers, jewelry and a fur coat. I was surprised they didn't have one with Davis at the G-8 summit, squealing: "Can you believe it? Shoes from eight different countries!"

Imagine how offensive this all would be if the premise were: "This fall, a black man will be president."There'd be cartoons of him appointing Lil' Jon the Secretary of Crunkitude and resolving tariff issues with France by giving Jacques Chirac a blunt, teaching him to dance and getting him laid. I think I just figured out how to get a lot of money from UPN.

Gender is never thought of as highly as race. It's just women bitching, being a feminist, a liberal, a freak. Yet, when we discuss race, it is taboo. There is outrage, like William J. Bennet's comment about aborting black babies to reduce crime rates. Yeah, it was a hypothetical and he has a philosophy background, but come on! You think that is how to resolve crime in this country? I get off track.

My point is, why is it impossible to see people of my gender in power? Why are we afraid to think beyond our stupid boxes and gender roles? If other "othodox" countries can do it (i.e., Israel, India, England), then why not the leader of the "free world"? And why don't organizations that support my gender do something about this?

2005-09-16T09:36:00.000-05:00

MINORITY. Let's analyze Bush's statements yesterday.

First off, he said that word so many times. I wonder if anyone counted and then analyzed his past speeches. I would put money on the fact that he said "minority" more times last night than he has in any other speeches.

Second, how many times could he reference the Bible? I respect the Bible but I'm not a Christian. I know more about the Bible than I ever hoped I did, but that is okay with me. Though this country was based on FREEDOM.OF.RELIGION. it doesn't stop some people from prothesilizing about theirs. Even if that person is our president who is supposed to be supporting the Constitution. As this article explains, his speech writer wanted Bush to connect with the African American population and their strong hold on religion.

Third, where are we getting all this money? Does this mean that the tax breaks he gave to his friends and himself is now over? Does this mean that people like me, who make a little over a little are going to get taxed up the whazzoo? Does this mean that the trillion dollar budget we have for our DEFENSE will be cut to pay for this since our defense should have been at NO and the Gulf the day Katrina hit? I mean, how is this all going to happen!??!?!

I want to run for politics. I want to tell it how it is. I'm a straight talker. I am a believer in representing people, in helping people, and not pushing around money. Dude, if I would lose because the lobby group who represents gas withdrew it's support because of a tax I levied on them (since they make MILLIONS PER DAY), I would be fine with that. It's not about ego. Government is about responsibilities, regulations, and respect for the people you represent.

Mr. Bush, I've had enough. The federal government needs to be paying for this. Oh, wait, tell much how much YOU donated to the Red Cross?

2005-09-03T23:57:00.000-05:00

It's the end of the world as we know it. It's the end of the world as we know it. Gosh, a list of bad things that have been happening lately. The return of W, the tsunami, the Iraq war, the million plane crashes, Hurricane Katrina, and now, let's add one more: Chief Justice William Rehnquist's passing away. This is a terrible, terrible thing.

Seriously, it's over. Game over. Not only am I shitting in my pants (literally) right now, but I am losing faith for the first time. Really losing faith. I don't know what to say but curse words. Real f-ing CURSE WORDS.

I know, not much analysis, but I can't even big to fathom what I will think about when the curse words start departing my brain. Till then, may peace be with you.

2005-08-10T17:24:00.000-05:00

Wow. Maureen Dowd's column in the NYT was amazingly written and poignant. Though registration in free, here is the article:

August 10, 2005
Why No Tea and Sympathy?

By MAUREEN DOWD
WASHINGTON

W. can't get no satisfaction on Iraq.

There's an angry mother of a dead soldier camping outside his Crawford ranch, demanding to see a president who prefers his sympathy to be carefully choreographed.

A new CNN-USA Today-Gallup poll shows that a majority of Americans now think that going to war was a mistake and that the war has made the U.S. more vulnerable to terrorism. So fighting them there means it's more likely we'll have to fight them here?

Donald Rumsfeld acknowledged yesterday that sophisticated bombs were streaming over the border from Iran to Iraq.

And the Rolling Stones have taken a rare break from sex odes to record an antiwar song called "Sweet Neo Con," chiding Condi Rice and Mr. Bush. "You call yourself a Christian; I call you a hypocrite," Mick Jagger sings.

The N.F.L. put out a press release on Monday announcing that it's teaming up with the Stones and ABC to promote "Monday Night Football." The flag-waving N.F.L. could still back out if there's pressure, but the mood seems to have shifted since Madonna chickened out of showing an antiwar music video in 2003. The White House used to be able to tamp down criticism by saying it hurt our troops, but more people are asking the White House to explain how it plans to stop our troops from getting hurt.

Cindy Sheehan, a 48-year-old Californian with a knack for P.R., says she will camp out in the dusty heat near the ranch until she gets to tell Mr. Bush face to face that he must pull all U.S. troops out of Iraq. Her son, Casey, a 24-year-old Army specialist, was killed in a Sadr City ambush last year.

The president met with her family two months after Casey's death. Capturing W.'s awkwardness in traversing the line between somber and joking, and his love of generic labels, Ms. Sheehan said that W. had referred to her as "Mom" throughout the meeting, and given her the sense that he did not know who her son was.

The Bush team tried to discredit "Mom" by pointing reporters to an old article in which she sounded kinder to W. If only her husband were an undercover C.I.A. operative, the Bushies could out him. But even if they send out a squad of Swift Boat Moms for Truth, there will be a countering Falluja Moms for Truth.

It's amazing that the White House does not have the elementary shrewdness to have Mr. Bush simply walk down the driveway and hear the woman out, or invite her in for a cup of tea. But W., who has spent nearly 20 percent of his presidency at his ranch, is burrowed into his five-week vacation and two-hour daily workouts. He may be in great shape, but Iraq sure isn't.

It's hard to think of another president who lived in such meta-insulation. His rigidly controlled environment allows no chance encounters with anyone who disagrees. He never has to defend himself to anyone, and that is cognitively injurious. He's a populist who never meets people - an ordinary guy who clears brush, and brush is the only thing he talks to. Mr. Bush hails Texas as a place where he can return to his roots. But is he mixing it up there with anyone besides Vulcans, Pioneers and Rangers?

W.'s idea of consolation was to dispatch Stephen Hadley, the national security adviser, to talk to Ms. Sheehan, underscoring the inhumane humanitarianism of his foreign policy. Mr. Hadley is just a suit, one of the hard-line Unsweet Neo Cons who helped hype America into this war.

It's getting harder for the president to hide from the human consequences of his actions and to control human sentiment about the war by pulling a curtain over the 1,835 troops killed in Iraq; the more than 13,000 wounded, many shorn of limbs; and the number of slain Iraqi civilians - perhaps 25,000, or perhaps double or triple that. More people with impeccable credentials are coming forward to serve as a countervailing moral authority to challenge Mr. Bush.

Paul Hackett, a Marine major who served in Iraq and criticized the president on his conduct of the war, narrowly lost last week when he ran for Congress as a Democrat in a Republican stronghold in Cincinnati. Newt Gingrich warned that the race should "serve as a wake-up call to Republicans" about 2006.

Selectively humane, Mr. Bush justified his Iraq war by stressing the 9/11 losses. He emphasized the humanity of the Iraqis who desire freedom when his W.M.D. rationale vaporized.

But his humanitarianism will remain inhumane as long as he fails to understand that the moral authority of parents who bury children killed in Iraq is absolute.

I completely agree with her characterization of Bush. And I am flabbergasted at the way he is dealing with this woman's situation.

2005-08-05T13:19:00.000-05:00

I'm watching "Black in the '80s" and a commentator said something that...I don't know..want to discuss. Do black social music only come about when their backs are against the wall? Like Grandmaster Flash's "Message" was created because no one was talking about the things that were happening in the cities. So does music, particularly black music represent the struggle and that if you do become "pop" you are abandoning the black culture and society? Is Kanye trying to bring it back to social causes with "Diamonds (from Sierra Leone)" as a blend between pop and global social culture (though the video is powerful, his lyrics don't make any sense with the video)?

Please comment. Let the masses hear.

2005-08-05T12:41:00.000-05:00

The million dollar question: Who is John Roberts? Besides his two year stint on D.C. Circuit, we don't know much about him. And why is it important that we know who Mr. Roberts is? His opinions, life views, and ideas are going to influence the way our lives, views, and ideas of our nation and world. His employment record includes being a Solicitator General office. The SG office is the office that whispers sweet nothing into the Supreme Court justices' ears. Really. Their opinions about their client, the United States, is too important to just dismiss. The Los Angeles Times have uncovered some of his work.

Together, Starr and Roberts pressed a strongly conservative legal agenda for 3 1/2 years. They argued for limiting the scope of civil rights laws, ending race-based affirmative action, restoring some prayers to public schools and overruling Roe vs. Wade, the case that established a woman's right to abortion.

Hmmm...well, I am all about civil rights, for affirmative action, not a big fan of state establishing religion in public schools, and Roe v. Wade is good. So, Mr. Roberts, you and I have different views on many, many things.

In 1991, Roberts personally argued a case along with lawyers for Operation Rescue. The protesters had been sued in Virginia over their abortion clinic blockades. The women who sued relied on the Ku Klux Klan Act of 1871, which made it illegal for a group to conspire to deprive individuals of their rights.

Roberts began by saying that he was not defending the actions of the protesters. Rather, he argued, the 19th century civil rights law did not apply to their conduct. The law only applied when people were singled out for discrimination, as blacks were by the Klan, Roberts said.
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(The Supreme Court is set to hear a similar case this fall involving blockades at abortion clinics. Lawyers for the National Organization for Women won a suit against leaders of Operation Rescue for using violence and threats against doctors and patients. The court will hear an appeal from the antiabortion advocates, who say a federal extortion law does not apply to such protests.)

Wow. Though he is young, and he can change his views from his appointment president, I do think this man may not be the right choice. Yeah, he helped out a prisoner who was beat up even though the prisoner was shackled and handcuffed. That is probably only thing I have seen as a glimmer of hope. But, it makes me really uneasy that he is very close to Starr.

2005-08-03T11:59:00.000-05:00

Close your eyes for a moment. Now imagine yourself back in elementary school. Remember how you looked, what you weighed, and what mattered to you the most. You didn't want to be different. You wanted to be the same. You didn't want to be teased. And when you are teased, what did you do? Did you fight back? Did you say mean things to the bully? Did you hurt the bully sometimes? When you look back, do you see childhood events in your life that you are apologetic for? Open your eyes.

After you thought of your childhood events, did you ever do something that may have gotten you arrested? Oh, I don't know, like hit a person for hitting you. Or doing something that was so irrational, but you never got in trouble? In Fresno, there is a child who is facing felony charges because she threw a rock at another kid, reacting to his taunts and after he threw a water filled balloon.

In April, police arrested the Fresno girl on suspicion of felony assault after Elijah Vang was hit with a rock. She spent five days in Juvenile Hall, then was placed under house arrest and forced to wear a monitoring anklet for 30 days. She is expected to stand trial in Juvenile Court today. If the allegation is found true, the fourth-grader could spend the next four years incarcerated. LA Times

Four years in jail because she threw a rock back at the kid? Yeah, probably not the smartest thing to do, but again, remember how old she is: ELEVEN. The prison industrial complex has taken over our country and we need to stop it. Charging kids with felony assault because of this is one example, but there are hundreds of these cases as of late. And it is a shame that our country can and will do this. I agree with her attorney.

"What we have here is just kids being kids," said Richard A. Beshwate Jr., the girl's lawyer. "Somebody got hurt and it's unfortunate, but this behavior does not rise to the level of criminal activity."

But, following my mantra, I am try to find a silver lining in every negative action. The silver lining:

Last Friday evening, a multiracial coalition that included Muslim and Christian leaders, immigrant groups and civil rights organizations held a vigil at Juvenile Hall in support of Maribel. Carrying placards that read "Stop Police Brutality," the group said Maribel's treatment was typical of how authorities police minority neighborhoods in Fresno.

And neither another example of why there needs to be coalition building among all groups of color: Elijah is Hmong, Maribel is Latina. They live in a working-class neighborhood of Lations and Asians. Like Rev. Al Sharpton said yesterday, having a coalition among these groups can ease the possibility of racial, cultural bias and crimes. At the very least, having a coalition can educate the communities of various differences. I will continue to keep track of this case and I'm sure you will too.

2005-08-02T17:04:00.000-05:00

Haloscan commenting and trackback have been added to this blog.

2005-08-02T16:41:00.000-05:00

I'm frustrated. When you think about diversity, do you think solely of the African-American and Latino/a groups? Why is it that Asian groups, leaders, individuals, issues are not included when we discuss diversity?

LOS ANGELES (AP) - The Rev. Al Sharpton announced Monday he was forming a coalition to promote racial unity between blacks and Hispanics in the city, hoping to ease a long-running rivalry over jobs, housing and schools.

I understand that Asian Americans, (stereo) typically, are viewed as having jobs, going to successful public or private school (sans le voucher), and own houses in nice parts of Los Angeles. Yet, these are all stereotypes we hold against Asian American. During the Rodney King riots, who were the most affected groups? Korean Americans. I don't understand why these stereotypes persist in other minority communities. Is it because the Asian American community fails to reach out with other groups of color? Is it because Asian Americans are still considered "others" or "foreigners" or "less American" and therefore other groups of color have no desire to make a connections?

Isn't it interesting that if we continue to believe in fighting for the small piece of the pie, we will go no where? Or was this new coalition a political move by both communities to buy each other's votes?

Franklin D. Gilliam Jr., a political scientist at the University of California, Los Angeles, said the formation of the group was another sign of growing alliances between blacks and Latinos. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, the son of a Mexican immigrant, was elected in May after stripping significant black support from incumbent James Hahn.