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From Kathay Feng of California Common Cause:

Still trying to decide how you’ll be voting on February 5th? California Common Cause can help!

Election Questions or Problems? We are helping with the Election Protection Hotline to answer voters’ questions and collect information about voting problems, trying to resolve them before the end of the day. If you observe any problems at your poll site or in any other aspect of voting, please call 1-866-OUR-VOTE (1-866-687-8683).  There will be a team of volunteers to help address problems and answer questions on Feb. 5th from 6:00am to 8:30pm.

Check out our February 5th Election Info website: We’ve put a range voting information online – including election hotline numbers and the big spenders trying to influence your vote! Go to www.commoncause.org/caFeb5Info for more information.

More Web Resources: The League of Women Voters sponsors two nonpartisan election information websites. Smart Voter has a wealth of elections information from the state propositions all the way down to local city measures. Easy Voter Guide concentrates more on the statewide issues on the ballot. And click here for UC Berkeley’s Institute for Governmental Studies breakdown of major endorsements for and against the state propositions.

We hope these resources help you to cast an informed vote. And of course, don’t forget to vote on Tuesday, February 5th!

On March 21, 2008, you are invited to attend the Asian Chefs Foundation’s Annual “Chefs Without Borders” Gala Event targeting the problem of human trafficking in Asia. Come and taste the exquisite cuisine of 30 of the Bay Area’s top chefs and enjoy a memorable evening to support this important cause.

Human trafficking affects unimaginable numbers of women and children in Asia every year.  In their impoverishment, parents are tricked into giving their children into child labor and sexual slavery.  Children and women may be reunited with families, then sold again in hopes of providing better economic opportunities.  American companies unknowingly participate in human trafficking by purchasing products produced by child labor slaves.

Your ticket to the Gala will help fund outreach programs to promote awareness and prevention of human trafficking and to support education and housing for victims in countries such as Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, and India.  For more information please log onto www.acasf.com.  Tickets can be purchased at give2asia.org.

Asian Chefs Foundation
“Chefs Without Borders” Gala Event
Date: March 21, 2008
Time: 6:30 p.m.
Location: The San Francisco Hilton Hotel, 333 O’Farrell Street @ Mason

I stumbled upon the voice of Ben Fong-Torres on the radio. First thing I thought of was “now, this is what a radio personality is supposed to sound like.” Went to his site to get an update on what he’s up to.

I’ve always dug doing radio on the side, and it’s back at my side again. Sundays, I’ve got a show, “Backstage,” on KFRC here in San Francisco-and it streams live at www.KFRC.com. It airs twice, at 7 a.m. and 7 p.m., runs two hours, and it’s mostly music & memories from the ’60s and ’70s. KFRC is a “Classic Hits” station, but I get to inject older and newer sounds-it’s that bridging of music thing again. And there are plenty of rarities, interview snippets, and surprises.

And, finally, I’ve been writing a music blog at www.TVLand.com since July 2007, and it’ll run through the end of the year, and maybe beyond. It began as an all-Elvis project, building up to the 30th anniversary of his death. Now, it’s about…whatever.

Of course, my main columns continue at Asian Connections, at www.AsianConnections.com, and in the San Francisco Chronicle, where my radio column runs every other Sunday and can be found, with aggressive digging, via www.sfgate.com [his column from yesterday is here].

The Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund (AALDEF), a national 34-year old civil rights organization, announced details of its Asian American Election Protection Project for the 2008 Presidential Primary Elections. Attorneys, law students, and community volunteers will cover one hundred poll sites in four states where Asian language voter assistance is provided and where Asian Americans reported voting barriers or intimidation in recent elections.

AALDEF will monitor elections in New York and New Jersey on Super Tuesday, February 5, and in Virginia and Maryland on February 12 for language assistance (ballots, interpreters, signs and voting materials) and non-discriminatory implementation of voter identification requirements.

Volunteers speaking Chinese, Korean, and Vietnamese will be at poll sites to take complaints from voters about election irregularities and other obstacles. Voters can also report Election Day problems to AALDEF’s toll-free Election Day Hotline at 800.966.5946, or by e-mail to votingcomplaints@aaldef.org.

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Singing has been the light of Zhang Jiahuan’s life. She has given over 100 concerts in 10 countries and cities to shed light on Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA). But at 17 years old, Zhang Jiahuan’s congenital SMA became so severe that she needed surgery in order to survive. SMA causes the spine to become more and more curved and eventually causes respiratory distress for patients.

On January 7, 2008, Stanford doctors performed the life saving surgery for Zhang Jiahuan. Hopefully, the surgery will extend her life for 8 more years. But the surgery costs $200,000. Zhang Jiahuan is selling CDs of her favorite songs in order to defray costs.

*If you would like to learn more about SMA or Zhang Jiahuan*, see: www.sunnysinger.com. A clip of her music is also available on the website.

*If you wish to make a donation,* please make your check payable to:

Stanford Hospital and Clinic
Memo: For Zhang Jiahuan, Acc#20563953
Send to: Attn: Christina Li
International Medical Services
300 Pasteur Drive, Room H1111
Stanford, CA 94305

The Asian Pacific American Law Student Association (APALSA) at the University of California, Berkeley’s Boalt Hall School of Law will Friday, Jan. 25, hold a fundraiser for their inaugural Dale Minami Boalt Alumni Fellowship, named after the prominent attorney and Boalt Hall alumnus.

Speakers at the event include Boalt Hall’s Dean Christopher Edley, Jr. and Assistant Dean for Student Services Victoria Ortiz, Asian American Bar Association president Edwin Prather, San Francisco school board member Jane Kim and Bingham McCutchen partner Charlene “Chuck” Shimada. The 7 p.m. sold-out dinner will be at the Empress of China, 838 Grant Avenue, in San Francisco’s Chinatown.

The Minami Fellowship (www.apalsa-boalt.org/Fellowship) will support outstanding Asian American students who commit to working in the public interest sector after graduation.  Boalt Hall’s APALSA is the largest student-run organization at the school and largest APALSA chapter in the nation, has been funding public interest fellowships since the 1990s. The group is expanding its fundraising efforts to achieve the goals of endowing the fellowship and increasing the award amount.

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California outreach follows successful ‘get-out-the-caucus’ effort in Nevada

APA for Progress, a national organization of Asian American Pacific Islander progressives, today announced a series of video public service announcements that will air on YouTube.com in an effort to raise awareness of the February 5 primary election among AAPIs in California.

The videos, directed by film directors and activists Eric Byler (“Charlotte Sometimes” and “Tre”) and Annabel Park, will debut in late-January. Byler and Park are members of APA for Progress’s national board of directors.

The California outreach follows the organization’s successful efforts to promote AAPI participation in Las Vegas the weekend of that Nevada’s primary caucuses.

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The awesome Jet Li is looking for a new personal assistant.

“As you know, I’m have left my current position with Jet, however, I am helping him through the transition until we find a new assistant,” said Jason Lin in an email that reached me through a listserv. “It’s a very unique time to be working with Jet not only because his films keep getting bigger (with Forbidden Kingdom and Mummy 3 releasing later this year) but also he is deeply involved in philanthropy. … I will continue to work with Jet on his foundation but we need someone to carry on the full-time job in the role of the assistant.”

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