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Tuesday, Oct 30, was our successful FilAms Rally for FilAm Candidates! We had a great turn out with over a hundred in attendance to rally for the candidates. Check out this photo from the rally:

Congratulations to Melissa Roxas (FWN100 '11) for being awarded at the 10th Biennial Phenomenal Woman Reception & Awards Fundraiser on November 3, 2012! For event info, visit: http://www.biddingforgood.com/auction/AuctionHome.action?vhost=gws

Jennifer Ong (FWN100 '09) is seeking an Assembly District 20 seat! Read the article on her featured in the San Jose Mercury News here: http://www.mercurynews.com/top-stories/ci_21846557/bill-quirk-and-jennifer-ong-vie-assembly-district

Jennifer Rosales (FWN100 nominee), a Filipina professional golfer, competed in the Sunrise LPGA Taiwan Championship and shot a two-over-par 74 in the first round. Read the full article: http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/story/279827/sports/othersports/golf-filipina-duo-shoot-over-par-after-round-one-of-taiwan-championship

 
Dr. Connie Mariano (FWN100 '07), former White House doctor, reveals that circumcision is more than "just a little snip." Watch the video posted by EmpowHER.com: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ncqje1eeNuQ


SF Firefighter Terry White made racists remarks against the FilAm community in response to our "FilAms Rally for FilAm Candidates," which took place Tuesday, October 30. You can read the article by clicking here. Since then, an investigation has begun regarding the firefighter's negative comments. Read the relating article posted by Sfnewsfeed.us here: www.facebook.com/pages/Sfnewsfeedus/171020735816

Pledge to Vote! H/T to Emerge America: "With 7 days left until the election we know that you are doing everything that you can to help women get elected up and down the ballot! But, are your friends?

People who pledge to vote on social media are FOUR TIMES more likely to actually vote on election day. Pledge below to make your voice heard on election day. Then, share it on your social media pages and invite your friends to do the same.

Election day is depending on us. Women can and will decide this election. Take a minute to invite your friends and make they turnout next Tuesday." Click here to pledge now!

Jessica O'Brien is running for Judge of the Circuit Court of Cook County in Chicago, Illinois. Visit her website to learn more about her campaign! http://www.jessicaobrienforjudge.com/

October is National Anti-Bullying Prevention Month. The San Francisco District Attorney's office is sponsoring "Bye Bye Bullying," a video contest for middle and high school students in San Francisco. Deadline to submit is Nov. 7, 2012. Know any kids who might be interested? Please forward this message. Visit: http://sfdistrictattorney.org.

Eve Ensler and Tony Stroebel's film "One Billion Rising" is gaining momentum. You can watch the trailer for the film here: http://onebillionrising.org/blog/entry/one-billion-rising-trailer.


Join V-Girls Emotional Creature Club, a global network of girl activists and advocates celebrating the voice inside of them. You can view the guide on how to bring Emotional Creature to your community here: http://www.v-girls.org/club/

Global Networking: FilAm Republicans Embrace the Tea Party
Rodel Rodis

The most disturbing news development in the 2012 US presidential elections is not the National Asian American Survey (NAAS) poll showing that more FilAms are registering as Republicans (27%) than as Democrats (24%) but that a large number of FilAm Republicans have embraced the views of the far right Tea Party.

An example of this trend is FilAm pediatrician Dr. Marisha Agana, the Tea Party member who is the Republican candidate running against long-time Democratic incumbent Rep. Tim Ryan in the 8th district of Ohio.  

Dr. Agana made news when she tweeted “History has a way of repeating itself: Stalin, Hitler, Mao Tse Tung and now Obama!!!” Her tweet drew this heated response from an irate reader: “You need to immediately apologize for comparing the President of the United States to Hitler. This is not how a person running for office behaves in this country. When you make these types of comments, you diminish the suffering of the Jewish people.”

But the tweet accomplished its intended purpose as it drew national attention to her campaign earning her media coverage on the Huffington Post and on Balitang America which has 250,000 cable subscribers in the US.

Dr. Agana explained to the Huffington Post that because of “the position Mr. Barrack (sic) Hussain (sic) Obama has taken on abortion directly as well as the use of Obamacare to provide contraception and abortifacient drugs I feel it is proper and important to have included him on the list I tweeted about.”

The tweet made her the feature story on Balitang America’s October 25 telecast where she told reporter Nadia Trinidad that she was making “a comparative analogy of President Obama’s stand for pro abortion legislation and for me abortion is the murder of babies.”

The fact is that Pres. Obama has never backed one piece of “pro abortion legislation” although he does support Roe v. Wade, the landmark 1973 US Supreme Court ruling on the issue of abortion that was decided when Obama was only 12 years old.

The law of the land since 1973 is that a woman has the right to choose what is best for her body and health until the fetus is viable. Republican Tea Party senate candidates like Richard Mourdock from Indiana and Todd Akin from Missouri oppose Roe v. Wade and hold the view that the government should outlaw all abortions even in cases of “legitimate rape” or incest as they are “gifts from God”.

In her Balitang America live interview, Dr. Agana cited Obama’s support for the inclusion of free contraceptives as part of Obamacare as a basis for the comparison to Hitler. When I was asked by Balitang America to comment on Dr. Agana’s assertion, I said that it was obscenely extreme to compare the “killing” of sperm trapped in a condom - preventing them from penetrating the ovum of a woman - as similar to the extermination of six million Jews by Hitler.
 
I also commented that the Republican Party cleverly picks ethnic minority activists like Dr. Agana to run against unbeatable entrenched Democratic incumbents in order to draw coverage from the ethnic media to show that the Republican Party is inclusive even though there were hardly any minority delegates at the Republican National Convention last August.

In her Huffington Post interview, Dr. Agana described herself as being “compassionate” and as one who looks up to “Mother Teresa of Calcutta” as her role model. This response may come as a shock to those who watched the September 12, 2011 Republican presidential primary debate when Tea Party favorite Rep. Ron Paul said that a sick person should be responsible for himself. “That’s what freedom is all about, taking your own risk,” he said.

CNN moderator Wolf Blitzer followed up and asked Paul: “Are you saying that society should just let him die?” to which the Tea Party audience shouted “Yeah!” Mother Theresa would be horrified.

Eventually, the Tea Party will indoctrinate Dr. Agana to cite Ayn Rand as the more appropriate answer as Rand believes that all people should pursue their own rational self-interest, and not look after the good of others. Rand is the role model of Republican vice presidential candidate Rep. Paul Ryan who regularly gives out her book Atlas Shrugged as Christmas presents and who makes his interns read the book. 

Ayn Rand’s self-interest world view is rejected by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops which calls for the government to create a “circle of protection” around poor and vulnerable people and to create programs that meet their basic needs and protect their lives and dignity. The Catholic bishops have asked Congress to put the poor first in budget priorities and to oppose measures that reduce resources for essential safety net programs, a request the House ignored the bishops pleas and passed the Ryan Budget Plan last April.

Aside from Dr. Agana, another prominent FilAm supporter of the Tea Party is Nimfa Yamsuan Gamez who was the spokesperson for Gov. Mitt Romney in the Balitang America presidential debate held on October 18 (aired Nov. 1 & 2).

In her October 7 post on Facebook, Gamez repeated the Tea Party charge that Obama is "a devout Muslim” warning people “do not be fooled. Look at his czars... anti-business…anti-American.” So "anti business" that he brought the Dow Jones up from 6,000 in 2009 to over 13,000 now, dramatically increasing the wealth of American investors in Wall Street stock.

Gamez also criticized Obama’s support for comprehensive immigration reform. "Just giving these 12 million potential new citizens free healthcare alone could overwhelm the system and bankrupt America,” she wrote.

After his Dream Act legislation failed to obtain the 60 votes needed to overcome a Republican filibuster, Pres. Obama issued an executive order allowing alien children who entered the US illegally to obtain legal status, which benefited millions of alien children - including hundreds of thousands of Filipino children in the US - whom Romney plans to deport if he gets elected.

When Gamez emailed me claiming that Gov. Romney showed his “executive ability” by his management of the 2002 Winter Olympics in Utah, I pointed out that Romney sought and obtained a $2.7 billion bailout from the US Congress to complete the winter games. Fellow Republican Senator John McCain deplored this taxpayer bailout of Romney’s olympics by pointing out that the amount was exorbitant compared to the $75 million that Congress spent on the L.A. Summer Olympics.

Gamez responded that regardless of the cost of the $2.7 billion congressional bailout, “what was important with what happened in the Salt Lake City Winter Olympics was that Romney came in, took charge and succeeded in making the prestigious event.”

Gamez then reiterated the Tea Party charge against Obama that "10.5 billions of Federal dollars (were) given to his green company friends" repeating the claim that Romney made during the presidential debate that Pres. Obama invested $90 billion in green energy businesses of which “about half” have failed.

As the Washington Post noted, this claim comes "nowhere near" the truth. The $90 billion was a part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act aimed at reducing US dependence on foreign oil and rebuilding the US economy in the short- and long-term. Most of the money went to the states with only $10 billion allocated to fund green energy projects.

As CNN pointed out, not even half of the Recovery Act funding for clean energy went directly to green businesses. “Most of the large projects that benefited from the Department of Energy loan program remain in operationundefinedcontrary to Romney’s assertion.” In fact, companies that filed for bankruptcy received just 4% (not "half" as Romney claimed) of the funding awarded to clean energy companies through the Energy Department’s loan program.

Regardless of whatever the facts may be, Tea Party Republicans like Dr. Agana and Gamez will still remain steadfast in their belief that Obama is the worst president in US history and they will not allow any facts to change their view. Romney can do no wrong, Obama can do no right.

While FilAm Republicans will not likely wear "Put the white back in the White House" t-shirts popular in Tea Party rallies, the fact that so many of them are now willing to wholeheartedly embrace the extremist views of the Tea Party is the most deplorable development of the 2012 US presidential elections.

(Send comments to Rodel50@gmail.com or mail them to the Law Offices of Rodel Rodis at 2429 Ocean Avenue, San Francisco, CA 94127 or call 4156.334.7800).

FilAms lack awareness on Itliong, 'manongs' of the farm worker movement:

Filipino-American leaders expressed excitement, but also a bit of disappointment during a celebration for one of the most historically important Filipino-American figures in the United States on October 18. - Asian Journal. Read more...

New York

Bring Your School to Emotional Creature!, November 2, 2012, Friday at 7:30 PM - The Romulus Linney Courtyard Theatre, 480 West 42nd St, New York. Click for more dates and times.

Waking the New Republic: Facebook Co-Founder Chris Hughes' Plan for Revival, November 13, 2012, Tuesday at 8:30 AM to 10:00 AM - CUNY Graduate Center Segal Theatre, 365 5th Avenue, New York. Click for info.

Asian American/Asian Research Institute 11th Annual Gala, November 15, 2012, Thursday at 6:30 PM to 10:00 PM - Jing Fong Restaurant, 20 Elizabeth St, New York. Click here for more info.


Oregon

APACC Advanced Content Marketing Workshop, November 14, 2012, Wednesday at 5:30 PM to 7:00 PM - APACC Office multi-purpose room, 520 SW  Yamhill  St, Portland. Click for info.


Illinois

Fire, Politics, and Fashion hosted by Jessica O'Brien for Judge Committee, November 5, 2012, Monday at 6:00 PM to 9:00 PM - The Chicago Firehouse Restaurant, 1401 S. Michigan Avenue, Chicago. Click for info.