Author Archives: Abhi

About Abhi

Abhi lives in Los Angeles and works to put things into space.

The state of the U.S.-India nuclear deal

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After the election last week, in which Democrats took over control of both the House of Representatives and the Senate, many people (including much of the Indian press) were running around screaming “the sky is falling.” What would this mean for the precious India-U.S. nuclear deal? Let’s take a look at the reality behind the hype. Outlook India reports today:

The United States Senate is expected to debate and vote this week on a bill that would permit civilian nuclear cooperation with India.

Congressional and diplomatic sources told this correspondent the long-awaited vote could take place on Wednesday or Thursday. The United States Congress commenced its lame-duck session on Monday and the U.S.-India nuclear deal features prominently on the agenda…

On Monday, both Republicans as well as Democrats indicated their intention to take up the India nuclear deal in the lame duck session. But before that they will vote on a bill that makes permanent trade relations with Vietnam.

In his remarks Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, a Republican, said, “This week, the Senate agenda will focus on completing the remaining appropriations bills. And in the days and weeks ahead, we’ll also need to consider the nomination of Bob Gates as Secretary of Defence, Vietnam trade legislation, and the U.S.– India civilian nuclear technology bill, among others.”

Mr. Frist’s Democratic counterpart, Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, said, “We have our mind on concluding the appropriations bills and the very important nuclear agreement with the largest democracy in the world, India… [Link]

So the Democrat and Republican leadership are both on record as supporting this bill but both seem like they have a lot of domestic items on their plate they need to first take care of in the lame duck session, especially since Bush is fleeing going on a long trip to Asia in a few days. Not so fast though. Many arms control experts are recommending changes to the bill before it gets approved:

Arms control advocates urged changes in a U.S.-India nuclear cooperation agreement on Tuesday as the U.S. Senate prepared to resume action on the long-stalled deal…

…Meanwhile, a new report by the Congressional Research Service, which examines issues for Congress, found that while India does not want Iran to have nuclear weapons, New Delhi’s “views of the Iranian threat and appropriate responses (to that threat) differ significantly from U.S. views…” [Link]

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The Macaca Speaks

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The Washington Post carries an op-ed this morning by none other than the Macaca himself. Shekar Ramanuja (S.R.) Sidarth speaks:

So What’cha What’cha What’cha Want?

…on Aug. 11, my experience took a strange — and now famous — turn. On that day in Breaks Interstate Park, located on the Kentucky border, Allen acknowledged my presence for the first time in one of his stump speeches. I was singled out at a GOP picnic, identified as “macaca or whatever his name is” — despite the fact that Allen knew my name, as we had been traveling the same route for five days — and then “welcome[d] to America and the real world of Virginia.”

Allen’s actions that day stood out because they were not representative of how I was treated while traveling around the state. Everywhere I went, though I was identifiably working on behalf of Allen’s opponent, people treated me with dignity, respect and kindness. I cannot recall one event where food was served and I was not invited to join in the meal. In southwest Virginia, hospitality toward me was at a high point. [Link]

Heaping praise upon the state and people of Virginia? Hmmm. Sounds like something that a politician would do. Maybe he will run in 20 years. Also, at long last Sidarth reveals the one crucial piece of information that we’ve been waiting months to hear:

After Allen’s remarks, my heritage suddenly became a matter of widespread interest. I am proud to be a second-generation Indian American and a practicing Hindu. My parents were born and raised in India and immigrated here more than 25 years ago; I have known no home other than Northern Virginia. The hairstyle inflicted upon me by two friends late one night also became newsworthy; for the record, it was intended to be a mullet and has since grown out to nearly the appropriate length. [Link]

And finally, Sidarth notes something about the “Real Virginia:”

The politics of division just don’t work anymore. Nothing made me happier on election night than finding out the results from Dickenson County, where Allen and I had our encounter. Webb won there, in what I can only hope was a vote to deal the race card out of American politics once and for all. [Link]
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AALDEF’s exit polling efforts part II

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As I mentioned on Wednesday, AALDEF conducted an exit poll during Tuesday’s elections. They queried Asian American (including South Asian American) voters that they saw leaving the polls in the states of DC, MD, VA, PA, MA, MI, NY and NJ. Here is an example of a set of exit poll questions (this one from New York). Before taking a look at the results I want to stress two things:

  1. These are primarily “blue states”
  2. This is data from all groups of Asian voters. I don’t think they’ve released stats yet which break the data down by sub group (e.g., Chinese, Vietnamese, Indian, etc.)

Here are excerpts from AALDEF’s press release (thanks Deepa). I’ve highlighted the data that I found especially interesting and in some instances stripped AALDEF’s commentary/interpretation. Although I think they do great work I find them to sometimes sound “too enthusiastic” in their analysis and I’d rather you guys interpret the numbers (and any perceived biases) for yourselves:

Asian American voters in eight states continued a decade-long shift to support Democratic candidates, with 79% of those polled favoring Democrats in Tuesday’s congressional and state elections. According to preliminary results of a nonpartisan, multilingual exit poll of over 4,600 Asian American voters, released today by the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund (AALDEF), Democratic candidates in closely-watched races in Virginia, New Jersey and other states were consistently buoyed by Asian American voter turnout.

Most exit poll respondents (87%) said that they had voted in a previous election, while 13% told AALDEF volunteers that they were first-time voters. Over 625 pro bono attorneys, law students, and community activists monitored polling places and surveyed Asian American voters in New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Michigan, Illinois, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Maryland, and Washington, D.C…

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AALDEF’s exit polling efforts

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The Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund, with the aid of organizations like SAALT, were once again (they did this in 2004 as well) taking exit polling data on how Asian American voters voted in the mostly Blue States of DC, MD, VA, PA, MA, MI, NY and NJ. They haven’t realeased the data yet (although I am working on obtaining a sneak peek) but here are some of the incidents they logged at polling sites yesterday. Some of you told us about your own problems. You weren’t alone. From their press release:

More than 625 volunteers from the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund (AALDEF) and a coalition of Asian American advocacy groups monitored today’s elections in eight states–New York,New Jersey,Massachusetts, Michigan, Illinois, Pennsylvania,Virginia,and Maryland–and Washington, D.C. Amid high Asian American voter turnout, AALDEF volunteers documented and phoned in reports that polling places were understaffed, poll workers were hostile to Asian American voters and improperly asked for IDs, and translated voter assistance materials were not readily available to Asian-language voters.

Preliminary list of Asian American voting problems in 2006 Midterm Elections:

New York

Under Section 203 of the federal Voting Rights Act, jurisdictions with large Asian-language populations must provide Chinese- and Korean-language voting assistance, including interpreters at polling places and translated ballots, signs and materials. In New York City, three boroughs are required to provide Chinese-language assistance–Manhattan, Queens, and Brooklyn–and Queens is also required to provide Korean-language assistance.

* At P.S. 20 in Flushing, Queens , the poll site coordinator told an AALDEF monitor that “A lot of Chinese and Koreans don’t speak English. This is America –they should learn English.” Translated materials, including the voters’ bill of rights and voting machine instructions, were not posted at the beginning of the day.

* At P.S. 126 in Chinatown , a poll worker walked down a line of Asian American voters and improperly asked them to show identification in order to make the line would move faster. Another poll worker asked voters to show their voter registration cards, also not a voting prerequisite.

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Live Blogging the 2006 midterm election results

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11:50 p.m. PST: Last Update of the Night (to see updates in the proper sequential order see down below):

The DEMS WIN THE HOUSE. Control of the Senate has come down to a recount in Virginia (provided Montana doesn’t shift too much). MACACAS MADE A LOT OF DIFFERENCE IN THIS ELECTION!

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Hey SM folks, I am going to keep this post up and will be updating it through tomorrow. Feel free to leave comments regarding the results of ANY races and/or ballot measures you are interested in. I will mainly be reporting here on some of the races featuring (or of particular concern to) South Asian American candidates but most of us are interested in a whole lot more. I won’t be in front of a computer for the next several hours but when I get back in front of one later tonight I will go into Abhi Russert mode.

Let’s hope things turn out well!

Update 1: 5:17p.m. PST:

The latest #s [via Drudge]

VA SEN [35.28% IN]
ALLEN 392,816 49.39%
WEBB 392,854 49.39%

Update 2: 10:05 p.m. PST

I’m back! Here we go:

Raj Bhakta (R) loses:

Allyson Schwartz (DEM)* 143,031 66%
Raj Peter Bhakta (REP) 73,429 34%
99% of precincts reporting… [Link]

Raj Peter Bhakta, a former hopeful on Donald Trump’s television show “The Apprentice,” lost his long-shot bid Tuesday for a job as a GOP congressman.

Bhakta had sought to oust first-term Democratic Rep. Allyson Schwartz, two years after he occupied the posh Manhattan boardrooms of Trump’s show in which eager young men and women competed for a job with the real-estate mogul. He was fired from the program after a home renovation project went awry. [Link]

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It must be Election Day

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Senate candidate Jim Webb (D-Va), surrounded by macacas, makes a dosa.

SM reader Anup tips us off to the fact that Jim Webb (who is of course running against George Allen in Virginia) tried his hand at dosa-making in an obvious move to appeal to the macaca voting bloc.

In Richmond, Webb was also subdued, campaigning with Gov. Timothy M. Kaine, a fellow Democrat, at the Festival of India.

Webb sipped drinks indigenous to India and posed for photos, stopping at one booth to help pour the batter to make a masala dosa, a spicy South Indian crepe.

“Jim just made the best dosa anybody has ever made,” Kaine told hundreds of festival visitors. Webb did not address the crowd.

Webb’s presence left the festival co-chairman, Ranjit Sen, to reflect on remarks Allen had made in August that belittled a 20-year-old Webb volunteer of Indian descent at an Allen campaign stop. [Link]

But the question is did he have have a bowl of sambar on the side? Failure to have sambar with his dosa may cost him many desi votes. It is the same way that John Kerry lost a bunch of Pennsylvania voters when he stupidly ordered Swiss cheese on his Philly cheesesteak. If I ever run for office I will never be seen eating dosas. If word got out that I don’t like sambar and that I spread equal parts ketchup, sour cream, and green chutney on my dosa I’d be finished.

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Finally, Indian Christmas carols

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On our News Tab SM reader Pallavi introduces us to the music of “Boymongoose.” They’ll be dropping their album, Christmas in Asia Minor, just in time for the Holidays:

1. Thanking You
2. 12 Days Of Christmas
3. Single Girls
4. Internet Dating (Radio Saffron)
5. Once In Rahul Dravid’s City
6. Oh Therapy
7. No More Brown
8. It Had To Be Said (Radio Saffron)
9. Hark the Herald, Angel Singh
10. The Worst Motel
11. Miss India (Radio Saffron)
12. We Are Wishing You A Merry Christmas
13. Think Of The Children

Here is a video of their version of 12 Days of Christmas. It’s an outstanding 4 minute waste of time (and the animation is solid):

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Something to get your Election Day juices flowing…

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SM reader Bindu from Illinois informs us about a truly ugly campaign in the 101st Illinois House District between incumbent Bob Flider (D) and his challenger Dick Cain (R):

Bob Flider and Dick Cain should be ashamed of themselves.

In fact, we hope that when the dust settles after Tuesday, both men apologize to the residents of the 101st Legislative District for their behavior during this campaign.

Flider, the Democratic incumbent, and Cain, a Republican challenger, have managed to take this campaign right into the gutter.

At the beginning, we had high hopes for this race. We think it’s healthy when incumbents have legitimate challengers. We looked forward to a spirited debate about the direction the state should take and the role the representative of the 101st District would play in setting that direction. [Link]

Want to know just how pathetic it has become? Take a look at this blatantly xenophobic attack ad by the Flider campaign:

The macaca in front of the blue screen is the evil Indian out to steal your job. Bindu tells us that both candidates are using such tactics. Go forth and vote, and make sure to vote for a write-in candidate in a case like this.

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South Asian "icebergs" as king makers?

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A while back in the comment section of this post about the power of the “Desi voting bloc,” I introduced the term “iceberg” as an alternative to “bloc.” Some people argue, correctly, that you can’t have a “South Asian/desi voting bloc” because on certain issues Indian, Pakistani, Sri Lankan, Bangladeshi-Americans etc. simply won’t agree. True. However, I believe that living in America there is far more that we agree on than disagree on. So why not icebergs? They float around and clump together and then float apart again. Nothing forces them to stay together all the time. When they do clump together they can bring down a ship with ease (and drown DiCaprio as a bonus).

In this election cycle SM has been asked to help in a number of political campaigns. People know that we have a diverse South Asian audience that is pretty knowledgeable. We turned all such requests down of course since SM is a non-partisan blog that does not have a political agenda other than to inform our readers of South Asian American politics and politicians. All previous requests came from South Asian candidates. Now we have non-South Asian candidates vying for the attention of this audience (YOU GUYS) as well. You want an example? Tammy Duckworth (D) is running for U.S. Congress in Illinois’s 6th Congressional District (open seat). She is Thai American, and she is also a veteran:

Tammy Duckworth of Hoffman Estates has built her life and career upon serving her country, her community and those in need around the world. She is a dedicated, tireless leader and an inspirational example of what can be achieved through hard work, determination, compassion for others and a positive outlook. Having recently recovered from serious injuries sustained while serving on active duty in Iraq, Tammy’s next goal – in addition to flying helicopters again for the Illinois Army National Guard – is to fight for the interests of the people of Illinois’ Sixth District in the United States Congress…

On November 12, 2004, Tammy was co-piloting a Black Hawk helicopter north of Baghdad when a rocket-propelled grenade struck the cockpit of her aircraft and exploded. Focused on the safety of her crew, Tammy was determined to land the helicopter not realizing she had been severely injured and that the other pilot was already at the controls. It wasn’t until the helicopter landed that she passed out. Ten days later, when she woke up at Walter Reed Memorial Hospital in Maryland, she learned that the explosion would cost her both legs and had shattered her right arm. It has been a long road to recovery, but Tammy is optimistic and determined to serve her country in a new way. [Link]

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