Last night there was a flurry of activity on the Sepia Mutiny tip line as two Desi candidates won victories in the their Democratic primary election.
Hansen Clarke, a fellow Bangladeshi-American (yay!) hailing from Detroit beat out incumbent U.S. Rep. Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick in a controversial bid for Michigan’s 13th Congressional District. We’ve written about Hansen in the past here, and it’s safe to say that his victory yesterday in a largely Democratic district has secured his Congressional seat on November 2nd’s Election Day.
Michigan Democratic Rep. Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick became the sixth incumbent to lose re-election in a primary fight this year when State Sen. Hansen Clarke ousted the seven-term congresswoman 47%-41% on Tuesday.
“The baggage we’re getting rid of is the old political culture in Detroit which is about the politician being entitled to the perks of the office rather than being committed to serving the people,” Clarke said, according to the Detroit News… [wsj]
Down to the South of Michigan in the great state of Kansas, Raj Goyle of Witchita won his Democratic primary for the 4th Congressional District.
Goyle, who easily handled underfunded challenger Robert Tillman, drew repeated applause from the standing-room only crowd at his victory party when he vowed to work to end tax subsidies that help corporations outsource American jobs overseas…He also drew loud applause when he promised to hold Wall Street bankers accountable for their actions that plunged the nation into recession. [witchitaeagles]
As a Democrat running for a seat in a predominantly conservative district, it’s easy to assume that Raj Goyle is an underdog. But amid increasingly-negative campaigns run by the Republican candidates, Goyle is in excellent shape ahead of an almost uncontested primary. [kansan]
Congratulations on well fought elections. Here’s to another three months of battle till November 2nd. I’m really looking forward to doing Congressional visits now.
very happy that the mother of the “hip hop mayor” lost.
btw, re: hansen clarke is a convert to roman catholicism just like bobby jindal
http://www.smirkingchimp.com/thread/jack-lessenberry/30211/fighting-the-power-hansen-clarke-vs-carolyn-cheeks-kilpatrick
I’m confused–Goyle won the Dem. primary, but there’s another Dem. primary in his district on Aug. 3? I’m missing something. Goyle is pandering to racism with his “anti-outsourcing” crapola.
YESTERDAY was August 3rd! You are missing a calendar, apparently.
Wow, brain lapse! My apologies, Taz.
why is it racism? it’s classism, “class warfare.” economic populism. economic nationalism. i disagree with it on economic grounds, just like i disagree with protectionism. of course i guess it’s “fire with fire” when it comes to the lefties throwing around the r-word with abandon now, so perhaps it’s a good tactical move.
Razib, You are, of course, correct 100%. I just like to cry “racism” when the opponent is a Dem, b/c I am so sick and tired of the analogous response vs. the right.
its not, in and off itself. but like clamping down on illegal immigration, it correlates with racism.
it is, but thats not mutually exclusive with racism…especially since racist policies result in class differences between the races…for example the effects of jim crow and colonialism. so opposition to policies that would bridge the gap created from racist domination, in this case opposition to globalization and freer markets, can be framed as racist.
yes. even if you don’t agree with the expansive definition, those who do should be asked to maintain consistency, and labled whatever they label opponants to policies they believe help poc.
its not, in and off itself. but like clamping down on illegal immigration, it correlates with racism.
the correlation is weak. that’s because most people want to clamp down on illegal immigration, and most people in the USA oppose outsourcing and free trade. operationally in this context it’s useless to talk about racism substantively when it encompasses most people.
it is, but thats not mutually exclusive with racism…especially since racist policies result in class differences between the races…for example the effects of jim crow and colonialism. so opposition to policies that would bridge the gap created from racist domination, in this case opposition to globalization and freer markets, can be framed as racist.
i didn’t say it was exclusive. a lot of the anti-trade and anti-immigration types have racial motives. but many do not. in fact, what bryan caplan terms “anti-foreign bias” is the dominant position among the american people. elites on both the left and the right, who are somewhat sympathetic to a transnational and globalist agenda, keep it under control, and the media presents it as a deviation. but it’s the norm in the public (of any nation in fact).
as for outsourcing and trade, i am of the position that globalization increase aggregate utility and is a positive non-zero sum dynamic. but, i believe that in the USA the gains to globalization go disproportionately to the better educated and more skilled. overall i think an economic dynamic which makes half of the developed world better off, and most of the developing world better off, is positive. but i don’t begrudge unskilled labor in developed nations their resentment. the wage gap between skilled and unskilled in first world nations has been increasing since 1970, after massive declines after 1800.
and just to be clear about my personal view, i regularly argue against a neo-mercantilist fear of the rise of a healthy and wealthy china. i think in the long run it is better for humanity for globalization to lift all boats. but the process is not without “friction,” and people like me, and frankly those who read this website by and large, are not going to bear the brunt of that friction (brown americans tend to be educated, and poor south asians will probably benefit from globalization). so i am do generally “pushback” against generalizing too much about the motives of the proletariat of the developed nations which are the core of left-parties. their agitation is rational, and race is probably well down the list when it comes to their reasonable economic anxieties.
Razib, it’s true that the gains of globalization go mainly to the better-skilled, but not just in the USA. I’m just back from China (which is why I was disoriented and missed the dates in my comment #3). I lost my job here in the US, and so went to China. If you are a Westernized Chinese, you can really make $$ today! But, for the great masses, life still sucks (by North American standards) (though, yeah, it’s better to be a Chinese factory-worker than a peasant, so in China the gains are broader-based). China is interesting, b/c of course it features lots of internal divisions, but they are not (unlike Desh) based on religion as a core identity. Related to Goyle, China is quickly upping the English skills of their young, so India is not going to be able to rely on their English-language skills advantage forever in terms of outsourcing! That said, I’d put my $$, in general, on India over China. Less crazy in terms of “bridges to nowhere” and the like. You can definitely make $$ in either place though, just by having the Western skill-set! Glad to be back, though! The Chinese are not particularly pro-Desi, which is exhausting after a while, to have to prove yourself against skepticism of what you “really” are as a non-white American.
But, for the great masses, life still sucks (by North American standards) (though, yeah, it’s better to be a Chinese factory-worker than a peasant, so in China the gains are broader-based).
right, i’m not talking north american standards. china has been the biggest poverty reduction success story in the history of the world in absolute terms. additionally, africa has been growing economically since 2003, and some chalk it up to chinese driven commodity booms + no-nonsense infrastructure investments. i know people in bangladesh are really happy about chinese investments (they’re building a road from south china through burma to the port of chittagong as an outlet to the indian ocean).
That said, I’d put my $$, in general, on India over China.
well, once you get a job again, perhaps you’ll put your $$$$ where you’re mouth is? 🙂 as it is, i’m skeptical that india, let alone south asia as a whole (excluding perhaps sri lanka, which has good literacy) can compete which china because of the much lower median human development index. e.g. Eight Indian states account for more poor people than in the 26 poorest African countries combined, a new measure of global poverty has found. south asia probably has most of the world’s cretins because of nutritional induced retardation. of course, it has a fat epidemic because the upper middle classes eating too much and being too lazy. such contrasts make brazil look like finland in terms of inequality!
i am suspicious of china’s suspicion of liberal democracy. and i am skeptical of the command top-down misallocation of capital. but they have results so far.
well, once you get a job again, perhaps you’ll put your $$$$ where you’re mouth is? 🙂
LOL-point well-taken, Razib! Probably not!
I would be skeptical of China, inasmuch as their growth so far is from a ridiculously low baseline, towards something, which is still well-below Latin America. Becoming Latin America-esque is–well, good for lots of peasants in China, and also presents lots of opportunities for making money (sigh, I’m going back in a couple of months–me and my need to prove to my parents that I can make $$ . . . .). But it’s not going to exactly re-align the world. Much-neglected Japan remains the world’s second-largest economy after all. That place is nice–Chins is a sh!thole in comparison, though I’m sure you would agree on that, Razib!
there are 1.3 billion chinese. 600 million latin americans. therein lay the difference 🙂 and barring catastrophe china will surpass japan soon (as in the next few years):
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_GDP_(nominal)
also, i believe that china will surpass most of latin america in per capita gdp. my confidence is only modest, but in 2000 i was very skeptical that china would be able to maintain its growth as it has up to this point. taiwan, south korea and japan are indications that east asian societies have the human capital to play catch-up very fast (and i’m sure you know that it is the overseas chinese who were the catalytic engines behind the southeast asian tiger economies). and i hope they do catch up. it will be nice to have other societies which are wealthy so that not everything rests on the shoulders of the white race 🙂
The human capital is there in China, just massively unsorted. 😉 India does a much better job, IMHO, of matching talents to openings, which is perverse, given the caste legacy, but still true, I’m claiming (and, the comparison is strictly relative–in absolute terms, both countries are way behind the Anglos). You have to see the crap in China to believe it! I’m not sure how well the Taiwan & S. Korea examples are analogous–does it scale that broadly?! That said, I do see your point. I can’t freaking stand the place, but, yeah–I’ll go back, for the $$. I am home economicus, I guess. 😉 At any rate, USA should remain #1 for a long time! Not much of a threat from declining Europe, or from rising but crappy China or India. India can’t even control Kashmir! Get a backbone, guys! Anyway, Razib, love your blog! I’ll try to comment there some.
Oh taz, where did PC in you wander off too? Shouldn’t it be a fellow “South Asian American”….
Ain’t gonna lie – I got Bong pride on this one!
This is a perfect coup for the white etablishment. Get brown looking guys voted in on the back of an anti-outsourcing agenda so that the white establishment doesn’t have to do it and be accused of being racist. Of course, the fact that they convert to christianity/ catholicism just helps the whites along. Just like that guy being elected on an anti muslim ticket. Desis really need to wake up on this stuff, they don’t even see how they are being manipulated.
“I’d put my $$, in general, on India over China. “
Why are you are lying rob?
You are putting your $$ in China as you keep telling us, as if we should be impressed by your desperation to make it there even though you are made to feel unwelcome by the Chinese.
Why don’t you “India shining” guys put your money where your mouths are? That speaks volumes about your honesty…
“India can’t even control Kashmir! Get a backbone, guys! “
That’s because Pakistan can’t let it go – because then they might have to face the fact that their country is a failed state. Pakistan should take some time to get its affairs in order before trying to point fingers at India. Pakistan is a joke. My advice to Pakistan would be to let Kashmir go, get your own sh** together, stop financing terrorism and then worry about what to do. All they can do is fight because that’s all they have. Oh and a cricket team, sometimes.
LOL, Katie is holding no punches but she’s 100% accurate about Pakistan.
As for China and India, the former is still too much of a controlled economy for my taste and faces a serious demographic crunch in the next few decades. It’s entirely possible that China will become old before it can actually become rich as a nation, it’s fixable but it would require the gov’t to take the necessary actions (become more immigrant-friendly, get rid of the one-child policy, opening up its economy more and reducing size of central gov’t). India should continue on the path started in the early 1990s and just gradually reduce gov’t burearcracy(sp?) and regulations.
Hansen Clark — a African-American Bangladeshi, father dead and 8, mother dead at 19. Dropped out of Cornell, on food stamps, went back to school, defeated Ann Coulter in a student election (!), undergraduate degree in painting(!), law school. Then the usual political career (staffer, state senator, mayoral loss, etc).
Married to Choi Palmer-Cohen, a South korean orphan adopted by a Catholic-Jewish family.
I nominate this guy for America’s Most Interesting Desi.
(I’d also be interested in the story of how an East Pakistani arrived in Black Detroit in the mid-fifties. Pioneering days for Desis in America.)
Or Assam. Or Jharkhand. Or AP. Or MP. ET BLOODY CETERA. But it’s not a matter of backbone, just a matter of brains.
Slurs have entered the Goyle race: http://www.kansas.com/2010/08/12/1444816/gizes-to-goyle-for-link-to-slur.html
To: Local News Media
RE: Hypocritical Advertising by Raj Goyle AKA Rajeev Goyle
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kv7oCrClE84
Please take note of the letter that I e-mailed to Rajeev Goyle, AKA Raj Goyle, on 6 August 2010. As of today, 28 August, 2010, Mr. Goyle has not responded, directly, to my email. Mr. Goyle has also made no attempt to correct any of the information that I had presented, in that email. I am sure that Goyle received said e-mail, since his staff has subscribed me to about a dozen, different Left-Wing emails from President Obama, Nancy Pelosi, Moveon.org, etc., that I certainly never would never have requested or subscribed to, on my own.
In addition to my letter to Goyle, attached, please make note of this Web Page from the White and Case Law firm:
http://www.whitecase.com/outsourcing/
“White & Case has served as outsourcing counsel to some of the most prominent companies in the world, including financial services leaders, international food giants, multinational telecommunications companies, and media and technology leaders.
Global Resources and Expertise
We have the global capacity and experience to advise on every legal aspect of an outsourcing transaction, including employment, tax, insurance, privacy, data protection, regulatory, cross-border and intellectual property issues. Outsourcing reaches into every corner of the globe, including developing markets where White & Case has decades of professional experience helping its clients assess and overcome commercial, legal, regulatory and structural risks. Our global presence thus also enables us to support our clients on cross-border and multi-national outsourcing projects. Our team is multi-lingual and has US, EU, Latin American and Asia Pacific lawyers who can join forces to provide the highest quality services.”
Raj Goyle AKA Rajeev Goyle has received over $12,000.00 in campaign contributions from lawyers at White and Case law firm. Goyle has also received thousands of dollars in campaign contributions from international hedge fund managers and international investment experts.
Monica Arora is married to Rajeev Goyle AKA Raj Goyle. Monica Arora is an attorney at the White and Case law firm. Arora-Goyle specializes in tax shelters for Americans who wish to invest in foreign companies.
I believe that Goyle might well decide to quit running this, particular TV Advertising spot, which he calls “Mailroom”. However, a “FACT CHECK” segment, on this blatant hypocrisy, seems warranted by all local news outlets.
Thank you in advance for your attention to this matter.
Sincerely;
Paul F. Rosell Wichita, KS
Rajeev Goyle Democrat Candidate for Congress
Mr. Goyle;
I have serious questions about your rather hypocritical campaign advertising, most notably the commercial at this link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kv7oCrClE84
How can you keep a straight face, when you attack the “outsourcing of American Jobs” and “tax breaks” for outsourcing jobs, when so many people, who are very close to you, make their living doing EXACTLY that?
Let us begin with Rajiv Shah, the director of USAID or the United States Agency for International Development. Mr. Shah did more than just give “tax breaks” for outsourcing jobs — Mr. Shah actually gave TAX DOLLARS, DIRECTLY, to a firm in Sri Lanka who’s PURPOSE is to OUTSOURCE AMERICAN “I.T.” JOBS!:
http://www.informationweek.com/news/software/integration/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=226500202
Rajiv Shah was appointed to his current position by President Barrack Hussein Obama. You endorsed Obama, in many Hindu and Asian-American newsletters, long before Obama had defeated Hillary Clinton, in the Democrat Primary. You even campaigned, personally, for President Obama, in Texas and other states, during the Primary and General elections.
Mr. Goyle, if you truly object to tax breaks given to domestic companies, for “outsourcing jobs’ — should you not be even more vocal, in your opposition, to American tax dollars being sent DIRECTLY to foreign countries, for the purpose of outsourcing jobs?
Then we come to the White and Case law firm. Mr. Brian Miller, at White and Case, is the former senior legal adviser for USAID:
http://www.whitecase.com/bmiller/
Of course, Monica K. Arora also works at the White and Case law firm:
http://www.whitecase.com/marora/
Monica Arora’s expertise is in the area of INTERNATIONAL investments, and in “carried interest”. “Carried interest” is a kind of tax shelter, which converts ordinary income into capital gains:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carried_interest
It certainly appears that Monica Arora is involved, directly, in raising money from wealthy Americans. She then uses that investment capital to fund FOREIGN industries. Monica Arora designs methods to convert the interest, or ordinary income, from these investments, into tax advantaged capital gains.
Of course, Monica K. Arora is married to Rajeev Goyle:
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/07/25/style/weddings-celebrations-monica-arora-rajeev-goyle.html
I have presented several issues for you to deal with, of course. If I have made a mistake, in the identities or facts involved, please let me know. I will correct the record, as far as my statements are concerned, immediately, if you can prove that I am in error in any way.
Beyond the fact that Monica K. Arora appears to live in Maryland, and she appears to work in New York, for a Wall Street, hedge fund, law office, (which raises questions about YOUR actual residence) —
I have honest, sincere questions about your hypocrisy, and your obvious conflicts of interest. What will you do when the subject of taxation on international hedge fund investments comes up in Congress? (Should you win the election.)
Let us not forget that Democrat Congresswoman Maxine Waters is currently under investigation, by the House Ethics Committee, for seeking favors for a Bank, on behalf of her husband:
“CNN) — California Rep. Maxine Waters is pressing the House ethics panel to set her trial date before the midterm elections in November. —The 10-term congresswoman is accused of violating House rules by seeking federal assistance for a bank with financial ties to her husband.”
http://www.cnn.com/2010/POLITICS/08/06/maxine.waters/index.html
There are several purposes, to this emailed letter.
First, I would like you to correct this letter, if any portion of it is not true. I want specific, line-by-line corrections, with facts and evidence to support your requested changes, to the honest effort that I have made in presenting the facts, as I see them.
Second, I would respectfully ask you to stop running your misleading advertising, concerning the “outsourcing of jobs” and “tax breaks.”
Third, I would further request that you promise the voters, immediately, that you will not use any current or future elective office to directly assist your friends, or your wife, Monica Arora, in their international investment activities.
Fourth, I would ask that you publicly object to the deal just announced by Rajiv Shah, and the USAID, under the direction of the Obama Administration. That deal will outsource American jobs.
Thank you in advance for your prompt attention to this matter.
Sincerely;
Paul F. Rosell Wichita, KS