By Kim Zetter
02:00 AM Feb. 24, 2004 PT

Viet Dinh has been called a "political pit bull" and "a foot soldier" for Attorney General John Ashcroft. But the 36-year-old author of the Patriot Act prefers to be called an "attendant of freedom."

In May 2001, the professor of law at Georgetown University was tapped by the Justice Department to work for two years as an assistant attorney general, working primarily on judicial nominations for the department. But three months later the World Trade Center towers collapsed, and Dinh was drafted to work on the USA Patriot Act, a bill that would give the government some of its most controversial surveillance powers. The bill, coupled with the government's subsequent treatment of immigrants and native-born citizens, prompted critics to charge the administration with overthrowing "800 years of democratic tradition."

Ironically, Dinh is an immigrant himself. The youngest of seven children born in Vietnam, he was 7 years old when communists took over the country and imprisoned his father, a city councilman, for "reeducation." Three years later, Dinh's mother escaped with him and five of his siblings to the United States. His father arrived eight years later.

The complete article is available at the following link: http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,62388,00.html

President Bush has announced his plan to select Dr. W. David Hager to head up the Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) Reproductive Health Drugs Advisory Committee. The committee has not met for more than two years, during which time its charter lapsed. As a result, the Bush Administration is tasked with filling all eleven positions with new members. This position does not require Congressional approval.

The FDA's Reproductive Health Drugs Advisory Committee makes crucial decisions on matters relating to drugs used in the practice of obstetrics, gynecology and related specialties, including hormone therapy, contraception, treatment for infertility, and medical alternatives to surgical procedures for sterilization and pregnancy termination.

Dr. Hager's views of reproductive health care are far outside the mainstream for reproductive technology. Dr. Hager is a practicing OB/GYN who describes himself as "pro-life" and refuses to prescribe contraceptives to unmarried women. Hager is the author of "As Jesus Cared for Women: Restoring WomenThen and Now." The book blends biblical accounts of Christ healing women with case studies from Hager's practice.

In the book Dr. Hager wrote with his wife, entitled "Stress and the Woman's Body," he suggests that women who suffer from premenstrual syndrome should seek help from reading the Bible and praying. As an editor and contributing author of "The Reproduction Revolution: A Christian Appraisal of Sexuality Reproductive Technologies and the Family," Dr. Hager appears to have endorsed the medically inaccurate assertion that the common birth control pill is an abortifacient.

Hager's mission is religiously motivated. He has an ardent interest in revoking approval for mifepristone (formerly known as RU-486) as a safe and early form of medical abortion. Hager recently assisted the Christian Medical Association in a "citizen's petition" which calls upon the FDA to revoke its approval of mifepristone in the name of women's health.

Hager's desire to overturn mifepristone's approval on religious grounds rather than scientific merit would halt the development of mifepristone as a treatment for numerous medical conditions disproportionately affecting women, including breast cancer, uterine cancer, uterine fibroid tumors, psychotic depression, bipolar depression and Cushing's syndrome.

Women rely on the FDA to ensure their access to safe and effectivedrugs for reproductive health care including products that prevent pregnancy. For some women, such as those with certain types of diabetes and those undergoing treatment for cancer, pregnancy can be a life-threatening condition. We are concerned that Dr. Hager's strong religious beliefs may color his assessment of technologies that are necessary to protect women's lives or to preserve and promote women's health.

Hager's track record of using religious beliefs to guide his medical decision-making makes him a dangerous and inappropriate candidate to serve as chair of this committee. Critical drug public policy and research must not be held hostage by antiabortion politics. Members of this important panel should be appointed on the basis of science and medicine, rather than politics and religion. American women deserve no less.

By Julie Patel and Cecilia Kang
Mercury News
Posted on Fri, Feb. 06, 2004

Tong Hoang Kim, a San Jose resident Kim Hoang Tong was crowned Miss Vietnam of Northern California last month for embodying traditional Vietnamese cultural values of beauty, domesticity and modesty.

That was before judges realized 21-year-old Tong had posed nude for an adult Web site.

The embarrassing revelation announced Friday forced pageant officials to consider revoking her title. And it sent shock waves rippling through a conservative Vietnamese community that often struggles to balance values of the homeland with the reality of life in America.

The complete article is available at the following link: http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/7897043.htm

Contact Julie Patel at jpatel@mercurynews.com or (408) 271-3679.

NBC News
3:15 p.m. ET Jan. 30, 2004

It's an exotic vacation destination, with ancient cities, bold colors, legendary temples, remarkable beauty — and horrendous crimes that go on behind closed doors. Children, some as young as 5 years old, are being sold as slaves for sex. It's a shameful secret that's now capturing the attention of the world and the White House, a secret that has been exposed by Dateline's hidden cameras. Dateline ventured into this dark place, where sexual predators can gain access to terrified children for a handful of cash. How could this be happening? And how can it be stopped?

Inside the world of child sex trafficking, each year, by some estimates, hundreds of thousands of girls and boys are bought, sold or kidnapped and then forced to have sex with grown men. Dateline’s investigation leads to the troubled and distant land of Cambodia. We reveal what “tourists,” like one American doctor, may be up to, and we'll take you inside a dramatic operation to rescue the children.

The complete article is available at the following link: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/4038249

There's a very nice piece in the Metro about our highest ranking Vietnamese American elected official, Madison Nguyen.

http://www.metroactive.com/papers/metro/08.28.03/nguyen-0335.html

Faced with questions about the fatal shooting of a woman in her kitchen, San Jose police took the extraordinary step Tuesday of displaying the weapon they say she used to threaten two officers moments before one of them fired his gun. It was a dao bao, which is commonly used to peel vegetables in Southeast Asian kitchens, but which police call a cleaver.

More than 100 people marched in protest of S.J. shooting at first gathering at the home of a woman before marching to City Hall and police headquarters to protest the slaying.

The full article will be available on the Web for a limited time: http://www.bayarea.com/mld/mercurynews/6317799.htm

Ms. Trang Nguyen, COO of Talk America Radio Networks, is ranked top 10 Most Influential Woman In Radio.

To see the entire list, click here: http://www.radioink.com/HeadlineEntry.asp?hid=109071&pt=Ink+Headlines

ANNOUNCING THE RESULTS OF THE WOMEN'S WORLD CONTEST "Women's Voices in War Zones"

290 Writers from 45 countries respond; winners from US, Iran, Israel, Uganda

The Women's World Organization for Rights, Literature and Development, or Women's WORLD, a global free speech network of feminist writers, is pleased to announce the winners of its first annual international writing contest, "Women's Voices in War Zones." The contest was designed to bring forward voices not being heard in the current discussion of war and terrorism, particularly those of ordinary women trapped in military, political, economic and domestic war zones. Winning essays have been posted in the News section of the Women's WORLD website, http://www.wworld.org.

Hon. mention includes: Kathy L. Nguyen (Vietnam/US)

For more details contact:

Meredith Tax, President
Women's WORLD
208 W. 30th St., #901
New York NY 10001
Email: wworld@igc.org
http://www.wworld.org

There is a new video game called Vietcong. I believe developement is tied with companies that produced such popular games such as Grand Theft Auto: Vice City. I was writing to inform your staff of this game and hopefully spread the word to incite some kind of action against this games U.S. release. When I first read a review of this game I had to read it two or three times to make sure I wasn't losing my mind. I absolutely could not believe my eyes. The characters are of course American G.I.'s during the Vietnam conflict and the characters plus comrades say colorful statements such as "Fuck me, I gotta find where these GOOKS are coming from" whilst gunning down "Charlie."

I hope people will be as outraged as I am and see why this game has to die before the production line.

Here are some links to reviews of the game

Note that a search for the word "gook" on this enthusiast forum comes up with :censored: instead of "gook" in the actual text in this link. http://www.gathering.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=7347&highlight=gook

http://www.gamesdomain.com/gdreview/zones/reviews/pc/may03/vietcong.html

http://www.gamebunker.com/reviews2.php?id=122

The Open Meadows Foundation http://www.openmeadows.org is accepting applications for grants to support projects designed and carried out by women and girls, projects that promote the empowerment of women and girls while reflecting cultural and ethnic diversity, and projects for social change that have had difficulty obtaining support.

* Who is eligible: projects matching the above description. Individuals and providers of scholarships and fellowships are not eligible.
* Deadline for applications: August 15.
* Total amount to be awarded and number of awards: not specified.
* Amount of individual awards: up to $2,000.

View the full text of the announcement http://www.openmeadows.org on the foundation's Web.

The Vietnamese International Film Festival (VIFF) - October 2003

The Vietnamese-American Arts Letters Association (VAALA) in Orange County will produce the very first Vietnamese International Film Festival (VIFF) scheduled for 2 weekends this October. How to submit films details are in VWF Events/Festivals homepage.

For more information on how to sponsor this great initiative please contact:

Thuy Linh
The Vietnamese-American Arts Letters Association (VAALA)
Director of Development
714-839-1889
kylatl@yahoo.com

Blithe House Quarterly
http://www.blithe.com/

Blithe House Quarterly, the leading online journal of lesbian and gay literary fiction, is pleased to open submissions for its 2003 issues.

Now in its seventh year of online publication, BlitheHouse Quarterly features new short stories by lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgendered (LGBT) authors -- both emerging and established. With an average of over
24,000 readers per issue, Blithe House Quarterly is the most widely read of LGBT literary periodicals. OUT Magazine has called us "the central publishing arm of new queer fiction." A recipient of Encyclopaedia Britannica's
Internet Guide Award, we are also a featured site on Lycos, Excite, and several other
Internet hubs.

Suite101.com writes: "Blithe House Quarterly is an electronic magazine up to the standards of print." In fact, our literary standards our higher than those of many print media. We publish LGBT fiction not as a genre or ghetto, but as a literature that can stand by any other in its quality and innovation. A key guide to the gay and lesbian Internet said:

"Setting the quality bar [for gay and lesbian writing] is the phenomenal site Blithe House Quarterly. It's awash in awards and rightly so. Of all gay and lesbian sites, Blithe House is the golden child, the one to be entered in the  Literature Olympics. None of the stories needs special cosseting as our fiction. Be skeptical and go see the site!" - GAY & LESBIAN ON LINE, 3rd Edition

Agents and editors read BHQ, so appearing in BHQ can be a great way to be noticed. Stories first published in Blithe House Quarterly have been reprinted in MEN ON MEN, BEST AMERICAN GAY FICTION and in numerous short story collections.

For guidelines on submission, please see the site at http://www.blithe.com/.

Stories must be previously unpublished, fictional (as opposed to memoir), and usually 2500-7500 words in length. We recommend reading stories in recent issues.

If you have questions after reading the site's submission guidelines and Frequently Asked Questions, please direct them to Aldo Alvarez at adalvarez@aol.com