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- Emil Guillermo
The Diversity Deficit in Iowa and New Hampshire, Gingrich’s Pearl Harbor, and Danny Chen
I’ve always thought it strange that the two bellwether states that really begin the political season are Iowa and New Hampshire. Bellwether for what? Certainly not diversity. In Iowa and New…
Yearning for a North Korean Spring?
With the death of Kim Jong-il comes a sliver of hope. Will the family franchise of famine and daredevil nuclear gamesmanship continue? Or, for the sake of its people, is there any chance of real…
Lowe’s hits new lows in corporate responsibility
As of this week, I’m not buying my screws from Lowe’s anymore, though there must be a surplus of loose screws back at the home office. The home improvement chain sure has a strange way of celebrating…
Mayor Ed Lee flexes his muscle with useless crackdown on Occupy SF
December 7th will live in infamy for a different reason in the history of the Occupy movement. In San Francisco, Mayor Ed Lee gave the OK for a brutal pre-dawn raid of the OccupySF encampment, with…
Newt Gingrich and his grand immigration ploy
Who would have thought the person to jumpstart an all-but-dead national immigration debate would be none other than the gringo’s gringo, Newt Gingrich? Gingrich, the ethically challenged politico,…
UC Davis pepper spray incident boosts Occupy, restores faith in student protests
It was the spritz heard round the world. Or rather, make that spritzes, unfortunately. There were way too many of them. But I think it couldn’t have come at a better time. I had just been yearning for…
Ed Lee and Jerry Sandusky: one winner, one loser
Before we get on to juicier matters, it’s still worth trumpeting Ed Lee’s victory as the first elected Asian American mayor in San Francisco and what it means to our country, isn’t it? I admit, it…
Ed Lee’s Ranked Choice High in San Francisco
If it weren’t for Ranked Choice Voting, we’d have a runoff in San Francisco between the top two vote getters, interim Mayor Ed Lee and Supervisor John Avalos. How conventional. Instead, Lee gets to…
Does it really matter if San Francisco gets its first elected Asian American mayor?
If you are one of the 17.3 million Asian Americans living in the U.S. with even a slight interest in any kind of politics, besides the Herman Cain sexual harassment allegations, it’s hard to imagine…
Oakland on display: City pays price to occupy the First Amendment
For nearly 24 hours, Occupy Oakland had contributed another chapter to the ongoing national Occupy Wall Street movement with mostly peaceful demonstrations on Wednesday, powered by a general strike,…
Voting rights violations in San Francisco Mayoral election?
San Francisco’s mayoral election was supposed to be a showcase of Asian American political empowerment never before seen in the continental U.S. A bevy of Asian American politicians to choose from may…
It happened in Vegas: When Mitt puts his mitts on Perry
While watching this week’s Western Republican Debate in Las Vegas via CNN, I kept looking for Asian American faces, if not content. After all, Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders are the fastest…
When Democracy Meets Diversity
Sometimes I think the biggest barrier to democracy is the franchise itself, voting. I mean everything from the physical act of casting a ballot (whether it be using a black marker, an old fashioned…
Occupied or self-occupied? Thoughts on America’s anti-corporate protest
Watching on TV this weekend, I saw a video clip of the 700 arrests made on the Brooklyn Bridge. In a quick five-second shot, I saw at least one Asian American face among the protestors. Was it yours?…
The Republicans’ Perry problem and a new trend-Conservatives embrace illegal immigration
Texas Governor Rick Perry’s blessing and curse is he’s George W. Bush’s protege. If you liked the cowboy boots on W., you’ll love them on Perry. He’s got real dung on those Tony Llamas. On the other…
“Don’t ask, don’t tell” bad for the military, but good enough for civilian life-and “Anderson”
Any time government-sanctioned discrimination ends in America is cause for celebration. That’s the real reason for the big hurrah over the official death of the military’s “Don’t ask, don’t tell”…
Emergency chute needed, even for Asian Americans
Where’s the Flip Cam when you need it? Imagine this scene: 78-year-old Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg sliding down an emergency chute as she evacuates a troubled jet at D.C.’s Dulles…
Taking the leap: the horror and the love of 9/11
I had dinner there a number of times. I’d seen the view. I just can’t imagine people leaping from the World Trade Center towers. For me, that’s the lingering and most horrific image of 9/11. A…
With Goodwin Liu, Asian Americans now the majority on California’s highest court-but is diversity the winner?
There’s a hard way and an easy way. And in the end Goodwin Liu took the easy way. Who could blame him after the nearly two years of being a political football in Washington? Today, Liu, the embattled…
Is America ready for its next revolution? Grace Lee Boggs thinks so
This week began with rebels taking Tripoli. From the sound of it, President Obama loves a revolution: “Your courage and character have been unbreakable in the face of a tyrant,” Obama said to the…
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