One election is barely over, and a new campaign already gets started.
In San Jose, the conclusion of the November general election is the signal for City Councilmember Madison Nguyen to start fighting the campaign to recall her, set for a special election on March 3.
She’s starting the campaign by a press conference in which she gives away DVDs touting her contributions to the community, as a Councilmember. Madison Nguyen’s fight against recall is benefiting from a war chest that’s several times the size of her nemesis’.
The first Vietnamese-American elected to public office in the Bay Area, Nguyen has been under attacks by certain segments of the community in the city because she did not support giving the name “Little Saigon” to a stretch of Story Road in San Jose. That portion of Story Road contains a good concentration of Viet businesses.
The reasons given for trying to recall Madison Nguyen vary greatly, depending on who’s doing the talking and to whom they’re talking. One version, stated on the Recall Madison Nguyen web site, is based on claims of favoritism. That claim is sometimes enhanced by an assertion, but no evidence at all, of bribery. Also stated on the web site, but somehow only on the Vietnamese text, is the accusation that Madison’s actions in the naming controversy went against the wishes of the majority. That accusation is apparently based on an online poll by the San Jose Mercury News that resulted in a whopping 90% of clicks voted for the “Little Saigon” name.
Outside of that web site, however, the passion lies with people who claim that Nguyen is a communist. The claim is often stated explicitly, but sometimes is suggested with a wink and nod, as in the Bolsavik’s interview with recall supporter Dr. Phu Le here.
That was what made Madison’s father, who had stayed out of the food fight, to step in.
At the DVD giveaway last Saturday, Nho Nguyen stood up and spoke briefly. He talked about his service in the South Vietnamese military. He told the story how, when he took his family on a boat to flee communist Vietnam, he also snuck a flag of South Vietnam with him. And he said seeing his daughter accused of being a communist is what hurt him the most.
The elder Nguyen then, in a very public act of symbolism, gave the flag that he had carried with him for almsot three decades, to his daughter.
That’s Madison and her father above, with the flag and her father’s certificate of honorable discharge from the Armed Forces of the Republic of Vietnam.
This photo is a Find Waldo game. Or rather, find Le Vu, the publisher of Viet Weekly, itself a former target of weekly protests and accused of being a communist publication.
how embarrassing!!!!!!!!!!!
Le Vu aka Viet Weekly “Publisher” is a communiyty sabateur whose sad piece of pulp includes unhealthy doses of lies, falsehoods, rumors and innuendoes.
VW is a worse piece of crap that has been going down hill since the community protested against it. The VW brings nothing good to the community other than division, gossip, rumors, and suspicion. If these people are not Communists, and I don’t believe that they are (they are too stupid), then they are opportunists who can’t get decent jobs or that they are stooges. Either way, the community knows them too well and stay away from them like the plague.
Bolsavik and his blog is also infected with a slightly milder case of the VW disease. Eventusally, it will also go the way of the VW …. slow painful, death.
commie detector, you need to point your “commie detector” in your direction and see what you see. there are plenty of communists in our community and you are one of them.
Jose s*it,
It’s you and your stupid, nonsense posts again. Go back to Santa Ana and play with your cholo friends. You are an idiot and not even a good idiot at that.
Everyone knows what your “S” stands for. Just wipe it clean from your ass every time you go to the toilet because you are passing tit around alot!!
Commie-Bui-Jung-Manh-detector-Kim-Cuong,
No matter what name you use, the smell of you language is always the same.
Do not defAME Mr. BMC. Jung Kim is Jung Kim. BMC is BMC. The two are different. You are an ass for trying to link the two. Stupid as an ass!
I am not Bui Manh Cuong.
No Joseph, you’re D.C.B.A ( Dirty Communist Bastard of America )
This blog has become completly boring. If I werer a first time visitor to this blog with no past experience and research into the Vietnamese Community in Orange County, I would have a very bleak perception of the community in OC. My condolences to the future generations who have to work that much harder to overcome that perception being fostered here.
Paul you are right here…….. we have pervert in loose ……calling himself a sister!
He she must be caged soon with other lunatics from the 5th Floor before posing real danger to our community.
@Paul Lucas
If you can not tell the difference between the postings of one crazed individual from the rest of society, best to refrain. As for your f word usage on this blog, your action carries the same weight as the person you are talking about.
Paul Lucas is good person.
Hey Paul,
“To Paul Lucas Says” is right, if you can’t even tell the obvious differences between Commie-Bui-Jung-Manh-detector-Kim-Cuong and the rest of the posters here, as well as the rest of the Viet community, you shouldn’t be reading this forum. One good news, it’s not too hard identify this Commie-Bui-Jung-Manh-detector-Kim-Cuong. The smell of his language will identify him for you.
BuiMC the Fraud,
Idiot. You are an imposter and not a good one at that. Go play with your stupid Janet Nguyen and her Andrew the Do Do. Moron and idiots who assume other people’s names litter this blog. That includes you.
Commie-Bui-Jung-Manh-detector-Kim-Cuong-Fraud-detector,
As I just said, it’s not difficult at all to identify YOUR comments. And you just prove my point again. If you’re a real “Fraud detector” and have nothing to do with Commie-Bui-Jung-Manh-detector-Kim-Cuong, why you’re so upset?
You got it yet, Paul Lucas ?
Which condition would you consider better : Vietnam now with communist regime or Vietnam in 1960s ?
Answer :
President Bush and US State Department prefer and support the current communist regime in Vietnam as stated by the Deputy Secretary for South East Asia NEGROPONTE:
“the situation today is substantially changed and substantially improved over what it was in the 1960s”.
Commie Bush is there waiting for you ! ! !
http://www.state.gov/s/d/c21460.htm
We have to do something about Cindy McCain. She saluted the red flag every time she went to Hanoi. She has a commie visa, and those commies treat her like queen there, so she must be a commie.
* Did any one see John McCain saluting the red flag at the Mayflower Hotel in Washington DC, a few years ago ?
Where are those anti-communist ( communist ) groups when we really need them ?
New commie fighting old commie ! ! !
We have too many commies in Santa Ana
BigMac is ANOTHER under paid/un happy staffie from Janet’s office. …. emptying pho soup bowls(every day) on our tax money.
@Country First:
About your quote of Negroponte’s press conference from September: If you read Vietnamese, click here:
http://blog.360.yahoo.com/blog-uaEgArsyerQFoR0Esk4QWs2d?p=5561
@Bolsavik,
It was quite a surprise to see your reply. Thank you for your kind consideration.
Another question :
Which country is helping to train the current Vietnamese navy ?
The picture in the below website may provide the answer.
http://www.navy.mil/management/photodb/photos/080821-N-5822P-014.jpg
http://www.navy.mil/view_single.asp?id=63044
080821-N-5822P-014 SAN DIEGO (Aug. 21, 2008) Cmdr. Eileen M. Hoke presents ship ball caps to a group of Vietnamese delegates following a tour of medical department aboard the amphibious assault ship USS Bonhomme Richard (LHD 6). The delegates visited Bonhomme Richard to gain first hand knowledge of how medical department operates. (US Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Mark Patterson II/Released)
Answer :
* The United States is providing “International Military Education and Training to Vietnam” and using Economic Support Funds to help ethnic minorities in the Central Highlands.
We have also discussed the possibility for a Peace Corps agreement with Vietnam. The United States has engaged actively with the Vietnamese on various regional and global issues, particularly in light of its non-permanent UN Security Council seat in 2008-2009.
http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2008/jun/106220.htm
* The USS Guardian and the USS Patriot would stay in Haiphong port until Sunday to allow their crew to tour the city, visit schools and meet Vietnamese authorities, it said.
Their presence “reflects the growing cooperation between the two countries, including in the area of military-to-military relations,” the embassy added in a statement.
http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5gqUKJIf2PNzOE0fDnk5tOPvg8OKg
*The visit also included “military-to-military talks”, ship tours for Vietnamese military personnel, political leaders and local citizens and a special pier-side reception for a variety of invited Vietnamese guest
shttp://www.globalsecurity.org/military/library/news/2007/11/mil-071120-nns05.htm
US_Vietnam Military Cooperation in other areas, such as defense engagement, nonproliferation, and law enforcement :
* Vietnam plans to take part in peacekeeper training under the U.S.-funded, multinational Global Peace Operations Initiative (GPOI).
* In June 2008, Vietnam hosted a port call to Nha Trang by the hospital ship USNS Mercy, providing medical and dental treatment to over 11,000 Vietnamese patients.
* This followed Vietnam’s hosting of visits by five U.S. Navy vessels in 2007, including a port call to Danang by the humanitarian supply ship USS Peleliu, whose personnel carried out numerous medical and engineering projects.
* Also in June 2008, Vietnamese observers took part for the second successive year in the multinational naval exercise Cooperation Afloat Readiness and Training (CARAT), organized by the U.S. Pacific Fleet
*** Vietnamese politicians while chanting anti-communist slogans in Santa Ana, went to Washington only to timidly yield to President Bush’s pro-communist Vietnam policy.
Question :
What was the quid pro quo with President Bush that anti-communist Vietnamese politicians had to accept last year in order to push for an agenda of democracy in Vietnam ?
The lesson here is ” there is no free lunch”
President Bush’s pro-communist Vietnam policy :
US Secretary of Commerce Carlos M. Gutierrez believes in stronger ties between US and Vietnam (November 2008) WITH NO MENTION OF HUMAN RIGHT ISSUES.
US Secretary of Commerce Carlos M. Gutierrez has expressed belief that the relationship between the US and Vietnam will continue to grow and get even stronger, especially in the economic front.
“We can help grow both economies and we can contribute to the tremendous changes and the improvements that are happening in the economy of Vietnam,” Gutierrez told a Vietnam News Agency correspondent on November 2 before leading a delegation of more than 20 US companies to Vietnam.
“This is a relationship between two sovereign, independent countries that see a mutual benefit in having a partnership and doing more commerce together and improving the life of citizens in both countries,” the US Secretary of Commerce added.
Secretary of Commerce Gutierrez said the purpose of his visit to Vietnam from November 4-8 is to develop the relationship between companies from both countries, adding that “this is a perfect time because it is the important transition that Vietnam is undertaking in its economy”.
“Vietnam is a very fast growing economy. And we believe that more investment these companies will be exploring can help this economy continue to grow,” the US Secretary of Commerce noted.
http://www.buyusa.gov/vietnam/en/vietnam_highlights.html#_section1
President Bush’s pro communist Vietnam policy :
Goli Ameri, Assistant Secretary of State.
The U.S.–Vietnam Education Task Force Meeting
September 22, 2008
Hanoi, Vietnam
Good morning. It’s a real pleasure to be with you here today for this important Task Force Meeting.
Working closely with Ambassador Michalak and the U.S. Embassy, the Bureau of Education and Cultural Affairs (ECA) is committed to moving the Task Force process forward.
We believe that a practical, utilitarian approach is the best way to address the massive and exciting higher education challenges that are emerging in Vietnam. We are pleased with the Task Force (and Advisory Group) approach and believe it is the right one to advance our common goals.
We congratulate the Government of Vietnam in recognizing the utility of this approach to not only develop a road map on the way ahead, but to help agree on key principles and objectives, such as transparency, accountability and academic freedom.
This exciting challenge presented by the Vietnamese Government and its peoples’ desire to build a first rate higher education system CANNOT, in our opinion, be met with government planning and resources alone.
Coming as I do from the private sector, I recognize the for-profit and not-for-profit private sectors’:
• commitment to developing talent through education,
• wealth of expertise and knowledge
• and contribution of human and financial resources to address the challenge.
This is the first time the U.S. Government is working in this format with the government of another country to map out a plan for higher education development. But we understand that development of higher education is important to every country and have a commitment to the advancement of higher education around the world.
For instance, in Brazil and in India, both nations with talented populations and world class higher education systems, we are working on a collaborative approach that draws on the expertise and resources of the business and higher education sectors in Higher Education Councils we created first in Brazil in 2007 and in India in 2008.
ECA has a strong and broad commitment to higher education in Vietnam:
Through the Fulbright Program, we have enabled over 700 Vietnamese students and scholars to study and research in the United States since the Program’s inception in Vietnam in 1992, and have enabled over 300 American students, scholars and teachers to conduct research and to teach in Vietnam.
This in addition to the 270 Fellows who have been placed in Ph.D. research programs at U.S. universities since the Vietnam Education Foundation’s inception in 2003.
The Fulbright Program is about human capacity development and shaping future leaders who will go on to help build the institutions supporting a strong higher education system. To prove that point, you need look no further than the Task Force members – Robert Berdahl, President of the Association of American Universities; Craig Barrett, CEO of Intel; Kristina Johnson, Senior Vice President Johns Hopkins University; and our own Tom Farrell from the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs – all Fulbrighters. Another Fulbrighter, of course, is Vietnam’s Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Education and Training Nhan.
ECA also offers academic advising to the increasingly large number of Vietnamese interested in studying in the United States – I look forward to launching the official opening of a new Study USA Center supported by ECA in Ho Chi Minh City during my visit on Wednesday.
We are bringing English language teaching professionals and teaching assistants to Vietnam to strengthen English teaching.
And we are offering new opportunities for Vietnamese undergraduate students to interact with American students through summer, semester and academic year study in the United States.
So as we move forward in our work today, know that we intend to continue our strong educational commitment to Vietnam, while looking to capitalize on the resources and talent of the private sector to broaden and deepen our cooperation to take it to the level needed to match the ambitious challenge ahead.
What a bitter role reversion! Things have changed. The jungle uneducated communists are becoming educated scholars and the anti-communists are now becoming the uneducated morons running around on the streets!
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