Harold and Kumar

Of course, every good community activist knows that only whites are capable of racism, and that Africans and Asians are incapable of oppressing members of other, or even their own races. NOT. Just one more lesson that that they taught you in college about civil rights was actually wrong.

see In China English Teaching Is White Only Club

S.F. Assessor-Recorder Phil Ting

A new study just confirms what most of us in the API community already suspected, Asian and Pacific Islander voters are both highly motivated to vote and gaining greater significance in national American politics.

With the Asian and Pacific Islander community one of the fastest growing voting constituencies – and a key voting block in many swing states – our concerns will be closely examined by both Democratic and Republican candidates in the coming election.

The Broader Immigrant Vote

The national poll commissioned by the Asian American Justice Center, the Asian American Institute, members of the Asian American Center for Advancing Justice, and APIAVote is designed to help focus attention on the rising political power of Asian Americans.

As we look more closely at these numbers, they show not just the growing political power of the API vote, but how this growing community of voters will help focus policy discussions as well.

The poll of 1,100 Asian American voters found 54% of API voters in California were immigrants and 69% of those born in the U.S. were the sons and daughters of immigrants.

For those of us who want to see our government more focused on solutions rather than partisan bickering, this growing power of immigrant communities is a very good thing.

The very practical challenges facing immigrants help drive our politics towards a more solutions-oriented approach. Immigrant communities need great public schools, an economy that creates high-wage jobs and access to affordable colleges and universities. And these are not just issues faced by Asian Americans, but by all immigrant communities and, in fact, by almost all Americans.

But perhaps because these basic educational and economic challenges tend to be faced most acutely in immigrant communities – as immigrant voting power grows, so too does focus on these fundamental concerns.

Immigrant Communities Will Help Drive Policy Discussions

When my folks came to America – they came for a country where they could educate their children in great public schools and affordable colleges and universities. They were proud that they were able to send me to UC Berkeley and then to Harvard.

My parents are some of the hardest working people I have ever met, and they demanded their children work hard too. But in the 25 years since I went to Cal, the world has changed – no matter how hard you work, it is almost impossible to send children to college on middle class incomes. The cost of public education in California has skyrocketed even as access has become more limited and, as hard as it is to fathom, it is now less expensive for a middle-class family to send a child to an Ivy League school than it is to send them to a state college or university.

The main reason is that the Ivy League offers scholarships to middle-class families, and the UC system and California State Universities are so financially hard-pressed that they are unable to help middle-class students afford rising tuition rates.

Back to my point about the shared values of immigrant families – one son of immigrants I met while at UC Berkeley is now working on a solution to this challenge faced by middle-class families. His name is John Pérez, and he his now the Speaker of the State Assembly, giving him a pretty good position to advocate for a Middle Class Scholarship Act that is coming before the State Assembly this week.

It is very important to recognize the growing political power of Asian Americans and other immigrant groups, which this new poll does very well.

But what is even more important is to use this power to make our lives, and our nation, that much better. That’s why I am such a strong supporter of the Middle Class Scholarship Act – just one of the many quality of life changes we all have the responsibility to drive.

Phil Ting is the Assessor Recorder of San Francisco. He is the founder of a group called Reset San Francisco designed to drive practical solutions in government, and he is a candidate for State Assembly in the 19th Assembly District.

I’ve created a book-on-a-blog website on the Susan Powell case here at the link above. It has the most detailed biographies and timelines of events that I’ve seen, and the closest thing to a comprehensive reference book on the case. I believe it fills in just about every hole in explaining what happened and why.

This Asian dad (who has a soft spot for Mormon religion and culture, along with Jews as friendly rivals to Asians) is still horrified by the still unraveling story of the now presumed murder, not just disappearance of Susan Cox Powell and her family. For those still catching up, in 2009 Susan’s husband Josh gave the world’s worst cover story in the world that she ran off instead of being murdered and her body hidden during a midnight snowstorm camping trip with the kids in 2009. America didn’t pay attention again until Josh snatched his two boys from a social worker, put an ax to them and blew up himself and his house with gasoline, making it obvious that Josh was at least the murderer of his two boys and almost certainly his wife. There is an almost endless list of red flags and evidence and plausible timelines that provide just about everything but the body, including finding Susan’s blood on the floor, fans pointed at a recently cleaned sofa, lying about a phone, Susan leaving a note that she expected to be murdered by Josh, Josh and Steven obviously lying about absolutely impossible scenarios of Susan leaving without her phone, keys or purse or going to Brazil, refusing to tell police anything that really happened, and basically behaving exactly as a guilty man would be expected to behave up to murdering his boys. I believe that the fact that the local police decided to hide the evidence under seal from the public rather than even name Josh as a suspect leads me to believe that somebody in the city government going as high as the Mayor made a decision to give Josh a pass unless a 100% perfect case was handed to them with a bow on it.

It now turns out the Josh’s father Steven is the one who started a pattern of hating Mormons and controlling his family as posessions. He fell into porn soon after marriage and fell out of the LDS church, eventually being arrested in 2011 for taking photos and videos of his neighbor’s small girls doing things girls do in the bathroom, and found with inappropriate stalking pictures (really, really inappropriate, like naked fantasy inappropriate) of Susan as well who had to leave Washington to get away from Steve’s advances.

The Cox family and most netizen observers are convinced that Steve helped Josh plan the murder as they were on the phone up until the day of the disappearance. Steve was seen with Josh in the desert dressed in street clothes evidently looking for a good place to hide a body in the fall of 2009. A co-worker says that Steve took a vacation trip about the time Susan vanished, and Steve took sick days shortly after Susan was murdered about the same time Josh rented a car and drove it 800 miles, enough to meet Steve somewhere halfway on the path to Seattle through Idaho from Salt Lake.

The fact that Steven wove an incredibly over-detailed conspiracy theory of how Susan probably ran off to Brazil with another man says to me that such tales are only created lead you away from an obvious truth, and even more evidence of guilt, just as the 9/11 conspiracy theories is actually evidence that people who are against Israel and the US war against terrorists were behind the 9-11 attacks. I doubt Steve would come up with such a story just to protect Josh if he were not also involved. Yet Steven is only being charged for voyeurism for now, which only has a penalty of a few years in jail or less.

Home videos:

Alina Powell is still creeping us all out by covering up the crimes of her brother Josh and her father who all but certainly were involved together in the murder of Susan Powell. The Powell family needs to come clean and stop fighting a psychological disinformation war to paint Josh and Steven as victims of unjust persecution. Nearly all of the pro-Josh posts that sprinkle the Seattle and Utah / Mormon press story comments are obviously coming from Josh’s immediate siblings as they are his only supporters, whether public or otherwise. They should instead of defending Josh as an innocent victim, they should own up crimes of Josh and Steven and plead for forgiveness and mercy if they have any decency whatever.  

Law enforcement needs to focus on Steve as the only remaining person who likely knows what happened to Susan, and who evidence points to being a co-conspirator who should be charged and treated as a co-conspiritor in murder. The remaining Powell family needs to stop spreading lies and disinformation to cover up for Steve and Josh, or they should be treated as co-conspiritors as well for trying to mislead the public and authorities even if the law does not consider it a crime to do so. 

The whole case seems to be a textbook example of how the justice system is rigged to protect the obviously guilty, as in the case of OJ Simpson, Murder of Robert Eric Wone, and Air India 182. The system systemically refuses to discrminate between good and evil. The case of Susan should have been treated as a murder from day one, yet West Valley still refuses to call Josh Powell a suspect or declare Susan to be presumed dead or a murder case. 

[Fukushima NukeBlog Index| Radiation On Children's Shoes]

This piece from the World Nuclear Association, which is a platform for apologists of the Nuclear Power Industry is unbelievable in the extent they present the opposite of the MASS NUCLEAR DEATH scenario, which is EVERYTHING IS COMPLETELY UNDER CONTROL scenario which isn’t exactly spot on either. I am reposting their piece with my comments. There is no mention of the massive damage to reactor buildings by explosions at units 1,3 and 4 which destroyed all of the cranes and platforms needed to remove intact radioactive fuel rods, or mention that there is no known procedure to remove melted corium fuel from the bottom of flooded containments. TEPCO’s 40 year schedule is based on decommissioning an intact reactor. It is probably impossible to safely dismantle Fukushima or restore the economy of the surrounding lands anytime in the forseeable future

Starting with the unbelievable conclusion: 

Conclusion

While by any measure the accident at Fukushima Daiichi has been severe and has negatively impacted the lives of a lot of people – particularly those who have had to evacuate {MORE LIKE RUINED THE LIVES OF 200,000 PEOPLE COMPLETELY AND LEFT A BIG HOLE IN THE GOVERNMENT WHICH IS PAYING FOR CLEANUP AND BAILOUT OF TEPCO}– the reactors are now properly under control (UNDER CONTROL? CRANES AND SYSTEMS TO REMOVE SPENT FUEL FROM POOLS WERE ALL DESTROYED AND NO KNOWN WAY TO REMOVE MELTED FUEL IN CONTAINMENT FLOOR??) and the situation at the site and in the surrounding areas is continuously improving due to the efforts of the site workers, decontamination experts and the Japanese people.

Fukushima Nuclear Accident: One Year On

 One year after an extreme natural disaster led to fuel melting at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant the situation is under control and the accident is officially over. {ARE YOU KIDDING?} Plant operator TEPCO is now focussed on decommissioning activities while the various levels of Japanese government are now concentrating on decontamination efforts, so that people evacuated in the early days of the accident can return home. {RETURN HOME TO AN ECONOMIC WASTELAND? YOU CAN’T SELL ANYTHING FROM 100 MILES FROM THE PLANT} This document summarises what has so far been accomplished in dealing with the accident, as well as listing the challenges that remain. {CHALLENGES? MORE LIKE IGNORING THE HUGE PROBLEMS}

How the accident developed

On the 11 March 2011 a powerful earthquake brought down power lines in the northeast of Japan. About an hour later a devastating tsunami flooded the coast, inundating the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant where it disabled backup generators at the site. {AND DESTROYED ALL OF THE CRITICAL COOLING SYSTEMS NEAR THE SHORE EVEN IF THE GENERATORS WERE NOT FLOODED} This started a chain of events that eventually caused fuel to melt at three of the six units (units 1-3) and caused serious structural damage to one more (unit 4). {PICTURE SHOWS THAT UNITS 5 AND 6 WHICH WERE HIEVEN HIGHER UP ON THE HILL WERE ALSO INUNDATED}This was the first time ever that a natural disaster has led to a serious nuclear accident {THAT WAS NEVER EVEN FORSEEN BY TEPCO OR INDUSTRY EXCEPT BY NUCLEAR ALARMISTS WHO HAPPENED TO BE RIGHT FOR ONCE}.  

Fig 1: Satellite picture with estimation of tsunami inundation at the Fukushima site Source: TEPCO

The accident developed frenetically over the course of about a week and reached its worst point when several major {MAJOR???} airborne radioactive releases occurred beginning 15 March. A more thorough description of the early stages of the accident progression can be found in the Fukushima Accident Info Paper.
Since then, thanks to the tireless efforts of recovery workers, conditions at the site have improved to the point where the damaged reactors are now stable {MEANS IT’S AWFUL BUT AT LEAST NOT GETTING MUCH WORSE} and radioactive emissions are no longer a concern {OTHER THAN THE FACT THAT REACTOR BUILDINGS 1 AND 3 ARE TOO HOT FOR WORKERS TO ENTER, AND CONTAINMENTS 1, 2, 3 ARE IMPOSSIBLE TO ENTER AND WILL KILL PEOPLE IN AN INSTANT AND SENDING OUT SO MUCH RADIATION IT MESSES WITH ELECTRONIC CAMERAS AND GROUNDWATER IS MIXING WITH CONTAMINATED WATER IN BASEMENTS EMITTING 100MSV / HR}.

continued Fukushima Crisis Over – NOT!

see Fukushima Nuclear Accident: One Year On (World-Nuclear.org) for original article

Awards were presented to distinguished APIAs during a special floor ceremony dedicated to honoring leaders who have demonstrated excellence in the areas of business, civil rights, labor, law, new media, and public service. Assemblywoman Ma selected Ted Fang, a community activist, media executive, businessman, and student of diversity for his work and advocacy on health issues like Hepatitis B.

“Ted is a prime example of how commitment, hard work and dedication can help improve the health and well-being of communities,” said Assemblywoman Ma. “Thanks to people like Ted, APIAs are now more frequently taking leadership roles which are helping to change the fields like science and media throughout the state and nation. I thank him for the example he is setting for the future generations of APIAs.”

A native San Franciscan and lifetime resident, Ted Fang is a graduate of UC Berkeley. He built San Francisco’s largest periodicals printing company and America’s largest non-daily newspaper. He became the first Asian American to run a major metropolitan daily newspaper. Mr. Fang is an organizer of the Asian Heritage Street Celebration (AHSC), the largest gathering of Asians in America. The AHSC serves as a platform to bring together the diversity of Asians and Pacific Islanders in assembling community and identity. He served as chairperson for Mobilization Against AIDS, and as director for the Chinese American Democratic Club and the Bay to Breakers Foundation.
Mr. Fang is a co-founder and currently serves as a steering committee representative to the San Francisco Hep B Free campaign, the largest collaborative effort ever in the API community. Hepatitis B disease is the greatest health disparity for Asian/Pacific Islanders and can be prevented with a simple vaccine.

Mr. Fang is a founding member of the Asian American Journalists Association, New American Media, California Free Press Association, and the National Association of Asian American Publishers. He has served on the Board of Directors and Executive Committee of the California Newspaper Publishers Association. He also has served as Editor and Publisher for AsianWeek, the San Francisco Examiner, and the Independent Newspaper Group. Mr. Fang is a frequent volunteer and adviser on projects both within and outside of the API community.

For the first time ever, the 8th Annual Asian Heritage Street Celebration is offering the public a chance to learn how to cook delicious Asian dishes at the festival’s cooking demonstration booth located at Ellis and Larkin Streets. Appearing will be celebrity chef Martin Yan, The Slanted Door’s owner and executive chef Charles Phan, co-owner of Nombe Restaurant Mari Takahashi, cookbook author Andrea Nguyen, chef Steve Cortez, and BBC America’s Chef Kayne Raymond.

The fair will take place Saturday, May 19th at San Francisco’s Civic Center. The festival is produced by the AsianWeek Foundation and will also feature a scrumptious collection of pan Asian delights and sweets, along with the Bay Area’s favorite food trucks.

Martin Yan is “no different from any other chef”

Martin Yan

Having hosted more than 3,600 episodes, Martin Yan has become one of the most famous Asian Americans in the world, but he’s more than just a TV personality.

“I don’t think of myself as a TV chef,” he says. ‘I’m no different from any other chef. You just have to be passionate and have a love of cooking.”

Yan formally began cooking at the age of 13, when he left his native Guangzhou for a cooking apprenticeship in Hong Kong. He eventually moved to California and graduated from UC Davis with a master’s degree in food science. Today, most people know him as the enthusiastic chef with lightning-quick hands who starred on Yan Can Cook, but Yan’s life as a TV chef started by accident.

“I was helping out a friend on a cooking show in Alberta,” said Yan. “The radio station called me and said that the scheduled chef was sick. So I showed up, and they liked me.”

At the festival, Yan will not only be demonstrating his culinary skills. He will also be showing his intense pride of his heritage, a sense he wants to instill in every visitor.

“I hope that young people today are proud of their Asian heritage,” he said. “It’s important to understand your heritage. To know where you are going, you have to know where you came from.”

Andrea Nguyen, non-chef and great cook

Andrea Nguyen

As for Andrea Nguyen, she refuses to be called a chef.

“I’m a professional home cook,” she claims. Nguyen has had no formal culinary training, owing all her cooking experience to what she learned in cookbooks.

For years, Nguyen worked away from the kitchen, in positions as diverse as her cooking ingredients. She has been a university administrator, a bank examiner and a community consultant, among others. It all changed when she decided to give in to her culinary aspirations and worked at a restaurant in Los Angeles for one year.

“After that, I wanted to set my emphasis on other aspects of food.” she said.

After her year in the restaurant business, Nguyen decided to go back to her roots.

“I’ve always been fascinated by cookbooks,” said Nguyen, whose interest started at the age of 10. Today, she is the successful author of several cookbooks.

Her latest book is Asian Tofu: Discover the Best, Make Your Own, and Cook It At Home, which was released in February. Her debut cookbook, Into the Vietnamese Kitchen, was nominated for a James Beard Foundation Award and two International Association of Culinary Professionals awards. She writes a popular culinary blog at www.vietworldkitchen.com.

Steve Cortez, not just a chef

Steve Cortez

Unlike Nguyen, Steve Cortez welcomes the title “chef.” But he uses the titles “engineer” and “teacher” as well.

“As much as I enjoy this, there isn’t a lot of money in it,” said Cortez. “I’m doing this for the love, fun and experience.”

According to Cortez, in an industry where the average chef gets paid about $14 per hour, moonlighting is a necessity.

This hasn’t deterred the San Francisco native from spreading his knowledge of Asian cuisine across the Bay Area. Cortez has taught cooking classes and hosted numerous corporate culinary lessons.

“I like to do something elaborate but not too complex,” said Cortez. “My job as an instructor is to make it easy to replicate.”

Having traveled to 80 countries, Cortez has a wide knowledge of global cuisines. By communing with locals in Africa and eating on the streets of Asia, Cortez has discovered a craft that transcends all borders.

“Food is always a great passion anyone can enjoy,” said Cortez. “Not all of us drive sports cars, but all of us eat.”

Charles Phan

Charles Phan

Charles Phan, considered to be the inventor of modern Vietnamese cuisine in the United States, is Executive Chef and Owner of The Slanted Door Group of restaurants located in San Francisco, California, which includes: The Slanted Door, Heaven’s Dog, Wo Hing General Store and three locations of Out The Door as well as the California Academy of Sciences’ Academy Café and The Moss Room.

Born in Da Lat, Vietnam, in 1962, the Phan family relocated just before the fall of Saigon, they spent two years in Guam before settling in San Francisco in 1977.

Phan opened his first restaurant, The Slanted Door, on Valencia Street in San Francisco’s Mission District in 1995. The restaurant moved to its current location in the historic Ferry Building in 2004. A former architecture student at UC Berkeley, Charles’ vision for The Slanted Door as well as all the restaurants in The Slanted Door Group, has been to create a stylish atmosphere and ingredient-driven menu that figures prominently into the Bay Area’s sensibility for locally sourced products.

Winner of the James Beard Foundation award for Best Chef: California in 2004, The Slanted Door was also nominated in the Outstanding Restaurant category in 2008. In 2010 & 2011, Charles was nominated for an Outstanding Chef award by the Foundation. In 2011 he was inducted into the James Beard Foundation’s Who’s Who of Food & Beverage in America.

Mari Takahashi

Mari Takahashi

Mari, who grew up in Yokohama, Japan, worked for several multi-billion-dollar American bio-tech and high-tech companies traveling all over the world before changing her career.   She moved on to open her catering company, Mari’s Catering, Inc., which is specialized in Japanese and California cuisine in 2004 to satisfy the needs of on-site Sushi chef catering. With Gil, Mari opened Sozai Restaurant and Sake Lounge, voted Best Japanese Food San Francisco by Citysearch in 2008.

Chef Kayne Raymond 

Kayne Raymond

Chef Kayne Raymond brings his passion for cooking to BBC America’s all-new original adventure cooking competition “No Kitchen Required.” With appearances on Food Network’s “Chopped,” Raymond has served as the Private Executive Chef to a slew of exclusive clients, including the CEO of Oracle.

After extensive training in his hometown of Auckland, New Zealand, Raymond took his talents across the globe, cooking in kitchens throughout Australia, England and the US. Raymond worked with some of the culinary world’s best and brightest including: celebrated New Zealand chef Peter Gordon, Henry Harris & Simon Fawcett of Fifth Floor Harvey Nichols of London, OXO Tower at the River Thames and Hugo’s Bondi Beach.

Raymond currently resides in San Francisco, California with his wife and daughter.

Cooking Demo Schedule

10:50 a.m. - Kayne Raymond

11:30 a.m. – Andrea Nguyen

12:30 p.m. – Mari Takahashi

1:30 p.m. – Charles Phan

2:30 p.m. – Martin Yan

3:30 p.m. – Steve Cortez

Recipes from the Chefs

Martin Yan’s Phoenix & Dragon Longevity Noodles

This is a perfect dish to use freshly made noodles. The combination of rice noodles (fun) and hand pulled noodles (la-mein) makes it interesting.  Makes 4 servings.

Ingredients
1/4 pound boneless, pork or chicken, cut into 2-inch juliennes
1/4 pound medium raw shrimp, peeled and deveined, halved
1 teaspoon cornstarch
Salt and pepper to taste

Sauce
1 cup soup stock
3 tablespoons oyster-flavored sauce
1 tablespoon chili sauce

1 tablespoon vegetable oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 fresh red jalapeño, thinly sliced
1 celery stalk, thinly sliced diagonally
2 cups rice noodles
1 1/2 cups cooked egg noodles
2 eggs, lightly beaten, made into a thin omelet, shredded
1 teaspoon sesame oil
1/4 cup sesame seed, toasted

Directions:
1. In a medium bowl, combine chicken, shrimp, cornstarch, salt and pepper stir to coat.
2. Combine sauce ingredients in a small bowl; mix well.
3. Heat a stir-fry pan over high heat until hot. Add oil, swirling to coat sides. Add garlic, shallot, and jalapeño; cook, stirring, until fragrant (about 30 seconds). Add chicken and shrimp; stir-frying until shrimp turn pink (about 2 minutes). Add celery and stir-fry for 1 minute.
4. Add noodles and sauce; cook, stirring gently until chicken is no longer pink and noodles are heated through, about 2 minutes. Sprinkle with sesame oil and toasted sesame seeds, then serve.

Copyright Yan Can Cook, Inc. 2012

Andrea Nguyen’s Cellophane Noodle and Tofu Roll
Cellophane Noodle and Tofu Rolls (Bi Cuon Chay)
Makes 12 rolls, to serve 4 to 6 as a snack

Ingredients
12 ounces firm or extra-firm tofu
1 small bundle (1.3 ounces) cellophane noodles
Salt
1 tablespoon plus 3/4 teaspoon light (regular) soy sauce
2 tablespoons raw long-grain rice
Canola oil for sautéing and shallow-frying
8 ounces jicama, peeled and cut into matchsticks
2 tablespoons packed light palm sugar or light brown sugar
2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
1 small Thai or Serrano chile, thinly sliced
1 small clove garlic, minced, optional
1/2 teaspoon granulated sugar
Generous 1/8 teaspoon white pepper
11/2 cups lightly packed thinly sliced iceberg lettuce
2 tablespoons coarsely chopped fresh mint leaves
12 rice paper rounds, about 8 inches in diameter

Directions
1. Halve the tofu crosswise, then cut each half crosswise into rectangular slices, each about 1/3 inch thick. Put into a bowl. Put the cellophane noodles in a different bowl. In a teakettle, bring a generous 4 cups of water to a boil. Turn off the heat. When the boiling has subsided, measure out 2 cups of water. Add 1 teaspoon of salt, stirring to dissolve. Pour the salted water over the tofu. Set aside to soak for 15 minutes.

Return the water to a boil, turn off the heat, then measure out 2 more cups. Add 1/2 teaspoon salt and 1 tablespoon of the soy sauce. Stir to dissolve, then pour over the noodles. Let sit for 6 to 8 minutes, until the noodles are clear, pliable, and al dente*. Drain well and set aside.

2. In a small skillet over medium heat, roast the rice for 7-8 minutes over medium heat, shaking the skillet frequently, until the grains are caramel in color. Set aside to cool for a few minutes. Working in 2 or 3 batches, transfer to a clean spice grinder (or coffee grinder dedicated to spices) and process to a powder. Transfer to a small bowl and set aside.

3. When the tofu is done soaking, pour off the water. Transfer it to a non-terry dishtowel or double layer of paper towels placed atop a plate. Drain for 10-15 minutes.

4. In a large nonstick skillet, heat 2 teaspoons of oil over high heat. Add the jicama, and cook for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally at the beginning and more often toward the end. Spread the jicama out after each stirring to allow it to cook evenly and dry out. When done, the jicama will be soft and translucent, with a little browning. It will be roughly one-third of its original volume. Transfer to a bowl and let cool to room temperature.

5. Lower the heat in the skillet to medium-high and add oil to a depth of 1/4 inch. Blot the tofu dry one last time. Working in 2 batches, shallow-fry the tofu for about 5 minutes, turning midway, until golden and crisp. Transfer to paper towels to drain and cool.

6. To make the sauce, in a small bowl, stir together a generous 1/4 teaspoon salt with the palm sugar and lime juice. Use the back of the spoon to mash the ingredients to dissolve the sugar. Add the remaining 3/4 teaspoon soy sauce and 1/3 cup water. Taste and adjust the flavors for a tangy-savory finish. Add the chile and garlic, then set aside.

7. Before assembling the rolls, make the “pork” filling. Cut the fried tofu into thin strips, then place in a bowl. Chop the drained noodles into 1- to 2-inch lengths and add to the tofu strips. Add the jicama to the bowl, too. Sprinkle on 1/2 teaspoon of salt along with the granulated sugar, white pepper, and toasted ground rice. Toss to combine well. Then season with 11/2 tablespoons of the sauce; try to leave out the chiles or your guests will get a whopping surprise. Combine the lettuce with the mint in bowl. Set near the filling.

8. For each roll, dip a rice paper round in warm water and then place it on your work surface. When the rice paper is pliable and tacky, position about 2 tablespoons of lettuce slightly below the midline of the round, arranging it into a 4-inch-wide rectangular bed. Top with 1/4 cup of the filling. Spread it out to cover the lettuce and neaten it up, making sure the tofu strips on top lay horizontally for a nicer presentation.

Lift the bottom edge up and over the filling, tucking the edge under it. Give the rice paper a full roll to secure things, then fold in the sides and continue rolling to close. The rice paper is self-sealing. Repeat to make a total of 12 rolls.

9. Serve the rolls whole or halve each one crosswise. Present the rolls with the sauce. Invite guests to drizzle a little sauce into the rolls to prevent the filling from falling out.

Note
Lighten your load by preparing the tofu, jicama, and roasted rice powder up to 2 days in advance; refrigerate the tofu and jicama and return them to room temperature before using. The noodles and sauce can be made up to 4 hours before serving. You can assemble the rolls at least 2 hours ahead and cover with plastic wrap; rolls made with rice paper brands such as Three Ladies can sit for as long as 4 hours. Do not refrigerate prepared rolls because they will stiffen and dry out.

*Italian for to the tooth. Means to cook noodles until firm, but not hard.

Steve Cortez’s Malaysian Plain Roti Canai (pronounced RO-tee CAN-eye)

Roti canai is a deep-fried, Indian-influenced flatbread found in Malaysia and Indonesia.

Ingredients

Directions
1. Mix the salt into the water.
2. Put the flour in a mixing bowl. Add the salted water gradually.
3. Mix the flour into a dough. Knead until smooth. Make sure the texture of the dough is not too sticky and gooey.
4. Oil your hands with cooking oil and then make the dough into palm sized balls.
5. In a bowl pour some oil so that the dough doesn’t stick to the bowl. Put in the balls, coating it with oil as you put one on top of another. After the balls are all in a bowl, immerse them completely in oil. Leave overnight.
6. Oil your kneading space. Take out one dough ball, flatten it out into with you palm until the size of a dinner plate.
7. Flip it like a pizza.
8. Flip the dough a couple of times and spread it out until paper-thin.
9. Take one edge and fold it to the middle. Do this three more times so that it will turn into a square.
10. Grease a flat pan or skillet with cooking oil and cook until golden brown. Repeat for the rest of the dough balls.

Here’s a nuclear meltdown I’ll bet you never heard of.

Atomic Arnie mentioned on Infowars the Borax experiments which was a DELIBERATE nuclear meltdown and prompt-critical explosion. Yes that’s what is was. Man they did some crazy stuff in the 50s, like the Genie nuclear air-air missle they test fired once with a guy on the ground under the explosion to prove it was safe (I kid you not, these things used to based on fighters all over the USA). The film shows a dramatic, though smaller explosion than Fukushima Reactor 3, but like Chernobyl pushed the reaction so quickly to produce a “prompt critical” explosion which not only sloshed water out of the open reactor well, but blew the guts and molten uranium fuel all over the site, which was first picked clean by workers who wore no shielding, and then covered with 6 inches of gravel. Their idea of safety was to check the weather report to make sure that the wind would take the expected iodine and cesium-laden radiation plume away from the control van and any nearby towns, and their idea of a safe containment was big pot of water open to the air with no cover in the East Idaho desert

Unbelievably for today, the film concludes in its chilling punch line that Borax II proved that boiling water reactors were inherently “safe” because when you lose moderating water, it slows down the reaction, but also shows that if you deliberately speed up the reaction too quickly, you’ll get the Chernobyl explosion and a big radioactive mess and meltdown.

The book “How the Borax Reactor Came to Be” details how workers wearing no shielding would calmly work up to radiation exposure limits far higher than today and pull reactor plates into the open air with no shielding and bang on them to make them fit when warping would make them rub against control rods. They would wait a few hours for radiation to die down before starting to play with reactor parts in the open air, and they stepped on uranium fuel fragments on the ground but they didn’t run long enough to be “dangerous” enough to set of radiation detectors. The author (not identified in the story) who brags about getting 15 roentgens (150 millisieverts, just on the edge of what is supposed to make you sick) of exposure in a day with no ill effects evidently lived to die of old age. Make you wonder how the rest of us who grew up in the 50s and 60s before bicycle helmets, emissions controls, 1% milk, air bags, seat belts, car seats, political correctness, recyle bins or no smoking zones lived for so long.

Video

Links:

Wikipedia Borax Experiments
How the Borax Reactor Came to Be

The mainstream media continues to ignore the heroic efforts in Japan to control the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear accident site which remains a huge mess. Some of this smells like the usual “no White Americans Were Harmed So We Don’t Have to Report this” problem because they are actually doing an amazing amount of heroic stuff to try to fix or figure out how to fix the problem, because if these reactors were at Indian Point near New York City or San Ofre near Los Angeles or San Diego we certainly would be getting daily coverage as the Japan mainstream press is reporting

This unfortunately unfortunately leaves the “progressive alternative press” to cover the nuclear crisis in the West. So if you look through their lens, be sure to also not ignore their ties to the 9/11 truth movement and the rest of the conspiracy-sphere. My view of conspiracy theorists is that they are paid by enemies of the United States and its allies to convince Americans who are unable or unwilling to tell the difference between Good and Evil to believe the opposite of the truth. For some reason there is a rats-nest of stuff that is all promoted by a network of Putin-ist Russian, Ahmadinejad Iranian, Islamist and anti-Zionist conspiracy theory Ron-Paul-Supporter and neo-Nazi neo-Confederate white-nationalist media which heavily promotes the more panic-inducing stories.

Crisis Events in Ten Seconds

What has Japan done so far?

Nuclear Industry: ALL OF JAPAN’S REACTORS ARE SHUT DOWN due to maintenance and the small problem that nobody wants to risk starting any of them back up because they can’t prove they are 101% safe. And that’s because as Fukushima proved, you cannot design a plant or train people to handle everything Mother Nature might throw at you, no matter how much General Electric bragged about how it performed brilliantly up to “design basis”. If the combined tsunami and earthquake was beyond what it was designed to take, of course it was going to melt down and spread radiation all over the place turning the entire prefecture and fishing industry into an economic desert and no-man’s land with no possible way for any of the displaced residence to make a living there ever again, and be impossible to clean up until the end of time.

Unit 1:

This is the one the melted down first, and was soon leaking so much radiation that people sent to try to manually vent the steam had to go back because it was too high. Unit 1 also had the “white” hydrogen explosion that blew out the side walls of the top floor, and the roof collapsed onto the crane and fuel pool. The lower walls were all intact. They’ve built a huge shell over unit 1 to reduce radiation leakage from steam.

Unit 2:

This is the one whee the building did not blow up, but fuel also melted down completely after cooling system went kaput after a couple of days without electrical power. Only one small side panel on the east either blew out or people ran up and popped out that had some steam leaking out. It’s the only one where radiation is low enough they could send people into Unit 2 to send an endoscope (a camera on a cable) through a hole in the side of the containment bulb to look at the bottom of the containment pit that has just a couple feet of water covering the melted fuel there. The video showed showed flashing streaks due to high radiation. They were hoping that there was a lot of water, but instead, it was nearly dry as water drained down to the torus. They then sent a robot around the half-flooded torus basement to look for leak, but they didn’t find any visible leaks or damage. The water is emitting 100 msv which is mostly gamma radiation from cesium for which cloth protective clothing is useless and is enough to induce radiation sickness in hours.

While cameras showed metal coverings of ducts had fallen, Tepco thought it was due to the earthquake. Close ups of what _I_ saw looks a hell of a lot like there was some sort of moderate explosion that was violent enough to blow out layers of of insulation as no mere shaking would pop off the outer skin of a round duct that looked more like what a hydrogen explosion that violently expanded a duct could do, and explain the explosion that was heard.

Tepco hopes to flood the containment with water, but in my view it’s obvious that the torus and containment was never designed to cope with the enormous water pressure of flooding the containment rather than just the pressure cooker rpv, and the fact that the basement is flooded up to the torus deck (and wall stains show it may have flooded much higher) proves that there are small leaks. In my mind the only way to flood the containment is to somehow cut and seal off all of the “downcomers” which were meant to send steam to the basement.

Unit 3:

This unit had a more advanced steam-turbine driven cooling system which conked out after a few days, causing a meltdown and violently exploded sending debris sky high in a dark plume. This was the one where it is thought that uranium from the core was found miles away, and the largest amount of radioactive materials was spread by the steam plume. Even though the reactor cap remained in place even during the violent explosion, plumes of steam from the edges of the cap show that it obviously leaked contaminated steam for weeks which containinmated the countryside, and to much lesser extent even reached Tokyo though at levels that only created widely isolated hotspots and caused alarm in tea grown around Tokyo. Tepco thinks it was a hydrogen explosion, Atomic Arnie thought it was prompt critical heating of the fuel pond though new photos show the stored fuel rods did not show any damage. Ian Goddard thinks melted fuel hit water on the floor and caused a steam explosion which isn’t widely accepted either. The idea that it was Israeli nuclear charges sounds like a story promoted by the state of Iran along with 9/11 conspiracy theories.

There is also a theory that there was a SECOND meltdown days later indicated by black smoke seen in photos which produced a second round of even more fission byproducts that were scattered across the nearby countryside and, to a lesser extent, Tokyo.

The press never did give a good description of the damage which completely blew out the walls and roof panels, and all of the roof girders north and south of the reactor core, collapsed the crane and top floor west wall, blew all of the concrete walls and some of the massive concrete pillars of the two floors below the fueling level. It completely collapsed the northwest corner of the refueling floor. The fueling pool was feared to be in danger of drying so helicopters tried to dump water on it before fire engines sprayed water onto it. Only in the past month have cameras shown that the fueling platform fell into the pool, and all of the fuel assemblies so far appear to be undamaged, though covered with debris. Both this pool and #4 are open to the air, filled with debris from explosions, and saltwater which can corrode the fuel and become radioactive from contact with spent fuel.

Unit 4:

2 workers were drowned in the turbine building when it was flooded by tsunami. The reactor was already dormant, filled with water but with fuel and hardware removed. Tepco believes that hydrogen travelled by ducts from unit 3 into unit 4 where it also exploded, blowing out the roof deck, and most of the walls of the top floor, along with many of the lower walls. This explosion was not caught on video, but was quite visible when a helicopter fly-by showed the damage, and the building just looks like hell. Some photos were believed to show the building to be leaning though TEPCO says it has reinforced the fuel pool with extra struts and concrete. A concrete pump was used to put water into the pool which was mistakenly believed to be dry by early American intelligence estimates

TEPCO has unveiled a plan by which they will build a new building over the pool, with a crane which will be able to pull the fuel out, and put it either in the reactor well or equipment pool, or put it into a water-filled container where it can be lifted out and down to ground level where it can be place presumably into the ground-level fuel pool which is safer. They’ve already removed much of the Unit 4 roof structure, though they did it so quietly American bloggers were wondering if pieces had collapsed when they first saw live video showing girders missing

The doomsday scenario being promoted by Alex Jones and the conspiracy-sphere is that an earthquake or tsunami could cause the damaged building to collapse, and once in open air, the fuel is hot enough that it would burn uncontrollably and require not only evacuating Tokyo but the entire US West Coast if not the entire northern hemisphere. Rod Adams, nuclear industry apologist on the other hand says these fuel rods aren’t nearly that hot and could be cooled by air, which is news to me, but if that’s right, that’s very reassuring.

Overall Lessons:

My view, as a former pro-nuclear guy is that I still believe that on a death per kilowatt basis, nuclear still produces the fewest deaths of any power source, and it’s fine when it works properly for the most part. However, all bets are off when there is damage to fuel rods or pipes, especially if there is a full melt down. Once that happens and radiation is released at Chernobyl or Fukushima levels, there is no safe way to operate, fix or dismantle the plant. Fukushima is not a safe worksite today and can never be operated or salvaged safely.

The only sure way to have prevented Fukushima would have been to not build a plant on that site in the first place next to the ocean in an earthquake zone. There’s lots of evidence that 50 ft tsunamis happen once in a long while all over the world. The Fukushima Daiichi was placed 30 ft up on a hill, so no seawall could have protected it, and all of the cooling apparatus that was at sea level was destroyed by the violence and flooding by the waves anyway. Arnie also points out that if happened on a weekend instead of Friday, there might have been a meltdown at the 2nd Daini plant as well for lack of workers. I’ve been the only observer so far to note that the waves only by mere luck went only up to the first floor – if they had gone up one more floor, they would have flooded the control rooms and killed the skilled nuclear operators who were in charge, and not just the two in the turbine building.

There is much evidence that the earthquake alone caused enough damage to pipes that radiation alarms were going off even before the tsunami drowned the diesel generators, and operators mistakenly turned off the Isolation Condensor IC system because wierd stuff was happening. Boiling Water Reactors were predicted to blow up as they did after a meltdown, but Pressurized Water Reactors are just a dependent on diesel power to power cooling systems. As to US-based BWR reactors such as the one at Hanford in Washington State, they may have zero chance of being hit by a tsunami, but it’s still a matter of a LESSER than than a zero liklihood that of some scenario that could cause a similar meltdown

The economy and public safety system is not designed to work with a disaster of this magnitude because the radiation gets into food, fish, wood, and even sewage and used cars, and once that happens everything in the economy has to factor in whether it is radiation-safe. US plants are just as bad, unless we are willing to put in place systems from food to fire departments and put a geiger counter into every home and food processing plant and fishing dock.

Running these reactors brew tons of nasty radioactive stuff that has to be disposed of safely effectively until the end of time. What is the cost of storing anything until the end of time? I would say the cost would have to be infinite, and if you can’t put a finite limit on it, that’s a price we should be wary of paying, especially since the US of all places still doesn’t have a permanent, much less even interim place to put spent nuclear fuel. My position on Yucca mountain is that it may have problems, but we should build SOMETHING for now until we can figure out a better place for beyond 1000 years later.

I’d say that compared to Chernobyl, fewer people died of direct radiation in the first year, but as many as small hundreds have died due to secondary causes by the panic of evacuation as medially fragile patients were essentially abandoned, and others have committed suicide to loss of livelihoods on the order of hundreds.

Some people have died under mysterious circumstances, such as perfectly healthy workers at the Fukushima plant who quickly developed symptoms remarkably like radiation poisoning (“acute lukemia” for example) and died within a day or so. The Japanese government and TEPCO official maintain none were caused by radiation, but even if those were radiation related they don’t sound like they amount to even a dozen cases.

I’d say for Japan and Germany, it’s probably time to shut down all of the reactors. In the US, where nuclear power is still much safer and opinion isn’t ready to shut down everything right away, I’d say we should start thinking some economical and practical way of eventually shutting them all down when we had plants in 2011 that were nearly inundated by river floods and had their earthquake design limits exceeded as it appears the low-probability of failures aren’t anywhere near as low as we thought as when these plants were designed.

Rod Adams The Anti-Arnie

So here is Rod Adams. He is much less popular than Uncle Arnie, but he is one of the nuclear industry apologists that I see a lot of in countering some of the alarmist stuff that is almost always only one or two links from some conspiracy theory or enemy disinformation website or author. Technically I like a lot of what Arnie says, but I’m much more comfortable with Rod’s lack of friends who are dedicated to the destruction of capitalism and Judeo-Christian western civilization.

Debunking Fukushima Fuel Fable

Exposing Robert Alvarez, Arnie Gundersen, Kevin Kamps and Paul Gunter as spinners of tall tales with regard to their predictions of catastrophe due to imaginary problems at the Fukushima Daiichi unit 4 spent fuel pool.

Robert Alvarez Exposed on No Agenda Show

So with proper introduction, here is the “time to panic” side of the story:

Atomic Arnie on 9/11 Truther Alex Jones Internet TV show

Mike Adams presents a Fukushima mega-meltdown special on the Friday, May 11 edition of the Alex Jones Show. Adams talks with Arnie Gundersen, the chief engineer of energy consulting company Fairewinds Associates and a former nuclear power industry executive. Mr. Gundersen continues to warn about the cataclysmic potential of the damaged Fukushima nuclear plant and is now warning about serious problems at the San Onofre nuclear plant in San Diego. This segment includes Alex Jones hawking water filters for the coming apocalypse

Arnie’s Errors

• Photo of reactor 3 shows fuel pool damage The shot was looking at the northeast corner, which was indeed a collapsed mess, but he fuel pool was NOT VISIBLE in the opposite corner, photos available long before showed an intact fuel pool from above
• Prompt critical explosion blew fuel bits a mile away: Photos inside the pool showed the explosion blew the fueling platform INTO the pool, and the fuel assemblies are intact, not twisted wreckage.
• Borax II explosion was like unit 3: Borax II was a deliberate increase in power which blew the fuel and reactor guts sky high. This is exactly what happened at Chernobyl (by accident), but not at Unit 3 where the reactor had already melted down due to lack of cooling, not taking out control rods.
• “tents [Unit 1]– increase the dispersion of radioactive gases…pump radiation out through stacks, which will push radiation up to a higher elevation, dispersing it even further around the world. link but Nancy
  Foust of SimplyInfo found that Unit 1 air handling system filters the air before sending it out by the stacks

Pvt. Danny Chen

Question: What Do Jeremy Lin, Vincent Chin, and Danny Chen Have In Common?

Answer: All three were called anti-Asian names by racists who didn’t like the color of their skin.

For Jeremy Lin, the recent name-calling on ESPN was by no means his first. From Time magazine, Jan. 25, 2010, an article entitled “Postcard: Cambridge”: “Though he hails from Division 1’s top academic conference – and plays in front of fans purported to be among the U.S.’s future leaders – Lin is the target of cruel taunts everywhere he goes. ‘It’s everything you can imagine’ he says. ‘Racial slurs, racial jokes, all having to do with being Asian.”

Now, go back to 1982, when Vincent Chin was attacked with a baseball bat by ex-auto workers in Detroit, MI, who mistook him for being Japanese. The killers were angry at losing their jobs and blamed the Japanese auto industry for plant closures here in the US. They used ugly and derogatory anti-Asian slurs as they were beating Vincent to death. And should you ask about justice for Asians in America: the two murderers got off with 3 years’ probation and a $3000 fine. Not a single day in jail!

And then late last year, Pvt. Danny Chen, a young Army soldier from New York Chinatown, died while serving his country in Afghanistan after being tormented by his fellow soldiers. They too had used ugly and derogatory slurs, as well as physical abuse, in torturing Danny to the extent that he was unable to take it anymore and shot himself in the head.

Asian Americans need to look at the suicide of Danny Chen as a call to action. His case reveals the pervasiveness and persistency of racist attacks that have been perpetuated upon Asians ever since our ancestors arrived here back in the 1800’s. Even though the Civil Rights Movement appears to have brought much social progress to minorities, for Asians, it seems we still have a long, long way to go.

When is it ever going to end? How long must we endure the racist name calling and slurs that take place so frequently? Whatever happened to the so-called “inclusive and ethnically diverse country” that America has supposed to become? And why is it that the life of an Asian American male seems to be of much lesser value than others?

If Danny Chen was of another minority skin color, you can bet that the uproar from the media, politicians, civil rights leaders, etc., would have been overwhelming. President Obama himself, along with members of Congress and other leaders would have jumped on the military and ordered a complete and thorough investigation, as well as called for the punishment of those who may have been involved. Danny Chen’s name would have been in the national news for weeks on end. But it wasn’t.

In the tragedy of Pvt. Danny Chen, there have been few, if any, demands for action from those folks. Where are the cries of outrage and condemnation by these prominent leaders in the hour of need? Why have they not sought out fairness and justice for our brother Danny? Indeed, their silence is deafening, and sadly indicative of how little American society regards Asian Americans, especially us Asian men.

As it happened, it took an Asian community organization, the Organization of Chinese Americans (OCA-NY)), along with New York Asian leaders and residents of the Chinese community, to push the US Army to get off their behinds and pursue a thorough and complete investigation of the facts behind his death.

The lesson is clear and obvious: we Asian Americans have to stand up and speak out against these racist acts, when and wherever they occur. No one else will do it for us. We must do so in order to honor the memory of Danny Chen and to support his parents, who have suffered so much in losing their only child.

And we must do it for ourselves and for our country. America must be brought back to the cherished and basic fundamental values which made her great: equality, justice, and freedom from persecution due to race, religion, or creed. We can do no less.

For more information about the current status of the Danny Chen case and to send a card, go to: www.oca-ny.org. Or look for the Birthday Card Campaign at the 8th Annual Asian Heritage Street Celebration, Saturday, May 19th.

Terry Lee
San Francisco, CA

MC Hammer meets Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa in San Francisco in January

TOO LEGIT TO QUIT: His day job that is. Obviously MC Hammer’s no longer on campaign video payroll as more than 500 Herbst Theater attendees watched his Honor Ed Lee’s uncoordinated un-choreographed moves during a belated 60th birthday celebration orchestrated by Claudine Cheng’s May 7 APA Heritage Awards fete….CINCO DE MAYO-R: Talk about lucky stars. Alcalde Ed Lee filed for office on 8th of 8th month, won election on 8th of November and inaugurated on 8th of January. While 8’s are lucky in Chinese numerology, Lee was born on Cinco de Mayo (last Saturday, May 5) – a significant holiday for Mexican Latino Americans and a coveted voting bloc for any mayor…

HERE COMES DUH JUDGE’S SON: Michael Breyer’s Monday appearance at APA Heritage Awards Green Room Reception sent a signal that he’s not conceding APA votes to 19th Assembly candidate Phil Ting in state’s third largest APA Assembly District (46%) repped by Assembly Speaker pro Tempore Fiona Ma, who’s along with California Democratic Party is endorsing Ting as her successor. Although outside district, at least one disgruntled Chinatown domo earlier this year failed to sniff out an alternative to Phil…

19th Assembly District candidate Phil Ting

WHO’S YOUR DADDY?: That same Monday, Breyer introduced himself to vote-by-mail residents as a political outsider “rooted” with a family legacy – four generations of Breyers sitting on SF Board of Supervisors, School Board (as counsel), SF federal bench while downplaying father Stephen as a former “law professor and federal judge”…Pop is that US Supreme Court justice…Democrat Breyer needs to overtake Democrat and Real Property Assessor James Pan, Republican and businessman Matt DeCarlo to get into a November Democratic one-on-one with Ting…EARLY KNOCK OUT: Favored Ting needs to knock out his June challengers and then get to business of raising money for other Assembly Democratic candidates to attain supermajority for budget and revenue measures without any Republican support. That could earn him political chits to contend for Speakership, lead Democratic caucus (like Fiona) or chair juice committee…

College Board candidate Hanna Leung (left) and Board of Supervisor President David Chiu

MISSION ACCOMPLISHED: At Steven Lee’s Lucky Strike birthday party, Chinese Newcomer Service Center’s Carlos Serrano-Quan celebrated year as Mr. Fix-It rescuing the non-profit…Also making debut, CNSC Board of Directors chair Hanna Leung, City College Board candidate facing four incumbents including her mentor Natalie Berg, first VietAm trustee Steve Ngo (also finalist for APA Heritage Award for Community Leadership), Chris Jackson and President Milton Marks III who’s healthy enuff to stump after last year stamping out a brain tumor…

Steven Lee (left) being sworn in as Entertainment Commissioner by Board of Supervisor President David Chiu last January (right)

CARBON DATING: Steven says his age is a state secret– especially to the “girls.” He did hint once placing 20th century AsianWeek print ads with John Fang – patriarch of scion James, Ted and Doug…

JANE FOR PRES: Also at Steven’s birthday, Supervisor Jane Kim. She kept Lee’s nomination to SF Entertainment Commission on committee life support until a full board majority would seat Steven… If they survive an election year of the woman, male-dominated progressive Supervisors like David Campos, Eric Mar and John Avalos may need to rehab their image for not ousting ally and suspended Sheriff Ross Mirkarimi for alleged domestic violence against wife Eliana Lopez. Assuming SF Ethics Commission checks off on Mirkarimi’s suspension, only 3 of 11 supervisors need to get Ross off the hook and back collecting his Sheriff’s paycheck. Time may be ripe for woman Board President like Jane Kim or Christine Olague, especially if David Chiu steps down as board pres after four years. If Kim votes for herself and snags Campos, Mar, Avalos and Olague then Chiu could once again be swing vote and turn reins to former roommate Kim who could land him a plum committee chair assignment like Rules or Land Use…SUPES FOR ROSS: Only supes to support Mirkarimi for sheriff in 2011 – Campos, Avalos and Olague with Mar and Kim endorsing later in election season…

POT-TY MOUTH: District 11 supervisor candidate Leon Chow led day after counterdemonstration to April 20 unofficial light-a-bong-holiday. Following the gusto of the union leader, 100 mostly Chinese Americans chanted Ocean Avenue refrain “Nail salons yes, pot clubs no” and “Fast food yes, pot clubs no.” That differentiates Chow from this November’s incumbent John Avalos who supports pots clubs and lost his own heavily APA and labor district to Ed Lee for mayor last November. Chow’s progressive but made union-business inroads as co-chair of Alliance for Jobs and Sustainable Growth, including SF Small Business Network. Likewise, Chow could broaden his appeal to District 11 merchant and neighborhood groups sketchy about medical marijuana clubs. Wider appeal strengthens Chow as ranked choice option for voter first, second and third selections….

Mayor Ed Lee dances during API Heritage Month and his belated birthday celebrations last Monday

NO PEACE, NO JUSTICE, NO SUPERVISOR: Although, progressive online BeyondChron casts Avalos-Chow race as divisive “labor civil war.” Highly negative campaigns between Avalos and Chow could polarize electorate and deny both second and third place votes – and boost a third candidate like moderate and former Planning Commissioner Myrna Lim who’s had three strong finishes for supervisor… Fuel for “civil war” scenario could materialize since Chow a health care workers organizer, co-chairs the Alliance, which supports building California Pacific Medical Center at Cathedral Hill as do buildings and trades unions. However, they’re at odds with nurses, other unions and potentially with Avalos and SF Board of Supervisors if they delay or shoot down CPMC’s project…

REEFER RESONANCE: Chow’s medical marijuana stance illustrates APA community drug divide. A year after calling dispensaries a “nuisance” Mayor Lee reluctantly issued April supportive statement on medical marijuana while not publicly standing with pro-club elected officials like APAs David Chiu and Jane Kim. Lee walked a fine line between more liberal Chiu and Kim and moderate District 4 (Sunset) Supervisor Carmen Chu a leading opponent to Taraval Street dispensary in one of densest Chinese American neighborhoods outside of Chinatown…

MR. POPULAR: Local supervisor candidate surprised by neighbors wanting to throw him fundraising klatches. Even though he doesn’t know them, they know him… TENN HUTT!: SF War Memorial and Performing Arts Center has sanctioned Chinatown leader for misusing government building space for commercial purposes…NON-PROFIT FUTURE: One non-profit exec whispers the politically incorrect. With APAs holding major elective San Francisco offices including Mayor, foundations and public will have less pity for APA non-profits. For example, APAs and affirmative action becomes more anachronistic…

SILENCE OF THE LAMB: Longtime activist parents can’t get scoop from their kid interning at government press office. Munchkin’s vow of silence includes not ratting out the big boss…

SCENE OF THE CRIME: Kicking off May 19, David Lee campaign headquarters are near Richmond Police Station where Lee and a police advisory committee resigned en masse over SFPD removal of committee member and attorney Chris Rillo tagged with alleged charges of “intimidation” by Supervisor Eric Mar. Rillo’s demanding apology from police chief Greg Suhr in whodunit as to whether Mar crossed advisory committee and City Charter by meddling in police business over Jack in Box open hours. Fast food restaurant has drawn many wee hour complaints, including many over assault of firefighter now in permanent coma…

MR. SUNSHINE CLEANING: Assemblyman Paul Fong (see “Potstickers,” 5/3/12) wasn’t quite sure about State Senator Leland Yee’s credentials for California Secretary of State that administers elections and serves as government and business filing clearinghouse. As Yee’s office happily pointed out, the senator and ex-assemblyman has authored SOS-related election laws (SB 397 in 2011) on 2012 online voter registration and enhancing “Code of Fair Campaign Practices” (AB 1207 in 2006) to prevent use of anti-LGBT baiting political tactics. Further, Yee’s office underscored his sunshine legislation and public pronouncements are also apt for SOS, including forcing CSU-Stanislaus Foundation to disclose Sarah Palin’s $100,000 speaking fee. Yee’s work has been validated by SF Bay Guardian endorsement for mayor last year and awards from Newspaper Publishers Association, First Amendment Coalition and others…

ABUSE IS NEVER M.Y.O.B.: Sheriff Mirkarimi – also Japantown’s former supervisor rep – will have to rule out asking for asylum in SF Japanese consulate after San Mateo County charged vice counsel Yoshiaki Nagaya with spousal abuse of wife Yuka Nagaya according to sfgate.com story. Notably, Deputy Counsel General Michio Harada and San Mateo County DA Steve Wagstaffe replied that the matter was “private”… the same plea that got Mirkarimi into hot water, when victim rights activists ratcheted up the heat thru highly public billboards and protests that domestic violence was no private matter…

MISS ME?: Follow me on Twitter at @SFPotstickers and email Samson Wong at potsticker@prodigy.net.