WASHINGTON — Illinois congressional candidate Tammy Duckworth, who lost both her legs when her helicopter was shot down in Iraq, delivered the democratic radio response to President Bush.

"I didn’t cut and run, Mr. President. Like so many others, I proudly fought and sacrificed," said Duckworth on the radio. "My helicopter was shot down long after [the president] proclaimed ‘mission accomplished.’"

"These [shallow] slogans are calculated to win an election. But they won’t help us accomplish our mission in Iraq," said Duckworth, who is Thai and Chinese American.

The president on the radio claimed, "Withdrawing from Iraq before the enemy is defeated would embolden the terrorists. … We will stand with the nearly 12 million Iraqis who voted for their freedom, and we will then fight and defeat the terrorists there."

Both gave different interpretations of the recently released classified National Intelligence Estimate on terrorism. Bush said it "confirms that we are up against a determined and capable enemy."

Duckworth said that the NIE’s "unhappy truth [was that] the war in Iraq has led to more terrorism, not less."

NaFFAA Elects New Leaders, Charts New Directions

HONOLULU — Alma Quintans Kern of Washington was elected as national chair of the National Federation of Filipino American Associations (NaFFAA). She replaces Loida Nicolas Lewis, who stepped down after four years.

Kern emphasized the need to refocus NaFFAA’s attention to issues affecting Filipino Americans, and highlighted programs aimed at active engagement in the U.S. political process, such as voter education and civil rights advocacy.

Kern stressed the need to get young people involved in NaFFAA’s leadership. "They need to be at the table with the adults so we can work together in addressing our community’s issues and concerns," she said.

Former Hawai‘i Governor Ben Cayetano also called Filipino Americans to "stand shoulder to shoulder with Hispanic Americans" in immigration reform. "Filipino Americans must do all they can to ensure that elected officials do what is just and fair in dealing with this complicated issue," he said.

One-Year Wonder Graduates With Double Major

Vietnamese American David Banh, 18, has already graduated from the University of Virginia in jut one year, with a double major in math and physics, and now plans to get his master’s in this coming academic year.

Banh carried his advanced studies over from high school with much Advanced Placement credit. He also doubled up on courses, and took more physics classes over the summer.

He was born and grew up in Virginia, the eldest son of immigrant parents who came to the U.S. in the 1980s.

"I don’t feel like I missed out," Banh said, of finishing college in such a short time. "Most of college was euphoria."

Waitress Accuses N.Y. Chef of Harassment

NEW YORK — Satomi Southward, 31, a waitress who filed a $20 million lawsuit against Megu, a high-end Japanese restaurant in one of the city’s trendiest areas, claimed its head cook groped her, molested her with kitchen utensils and sexually harassed her.

Southward, of Japan, and a divorced, single mother of a 2-year-old boy, says in court papers she was a waitress in Seattle when Megu’s head chef, Mitsuo Endo, invited her to work at his restaurant.

Management employees from Megu’s parent company, Food Scope America Inc., were always present at Megu, but did nothing to stop Endo’s harassment and she feared losing her job if she complained, she said.

Endo’s behavior also encouraged other male kitchen employees to sexually harass her, she said.

Food Scope America owns 26 restaurants that serve what they term a fusion of Japanese and French food.

Asian American Buying Power Up

Asian American consumer annual buying power in the U.S. has reached $427 billion, representing a 59% increase since the beginning of the decade, according to new statistics from the Selig Center for Economic Growth at the University of Georgia.

APA buying power has the second-fastest projected rate of growth, slightly behind Hispanic/Latino buying power. By 2011, APA buying power is projected to grow 46% over the current benchmark to reach $626 billion.

California and New York are in first and second place for annual APA buying power, with $140.5 billion and $41.5 billion respectively.

The data highlights the important characteristic that Asian American consumers wield a disproportionately large clout in terms of their purchasing power compared to the absolute size of the APA population. Asian buying power is growing three times faster than the Asian population growth in the U.S.

Immigration Hearings ‘Waste Of Time’

The summer republican immigration field hearings have been a waste of time and money, says Rep. Mike Honda.

"House republicans still refuse to face many of the larger problems in our immigration system, problems that most affect Asian Pacific Americans," said Honda, who also chairs the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus.

The issue of backlogs in the family immigration system was not addressed during the summer hearings. The wait for a U.S. citizen petitioning for a brother or sister from India is about 12 years. For the Philippines, it is about 22 years.

The House version of the immigration bill also does not create any guest worker programs for illegal immigrants already in the country.

"Congress needs to design an engine to drive a realistic national policy, but House republicans just want to play with the tailpipe because it makes the most noise," said Rep. Neil Abercrombie, chair of the Caucus’ Immigration Task Force.

Hawaiian Elders And Youth Gather At Conference

HONOLULU — The fifth annual Native Hawaiian Convention kicked off at the Hawaii Convention Center with the inaugural Aha Kupuna & Opio (Elders & Youth Conference).

"A conference of this sort is long overdue," Lilikala Kameeleihiwa, senior professor at the University of Hawaii’s Kamakakuokalani Center for Hawaiian Studies, said in her opening remarks. "We must meld the values of our kupuna with the brilliance of our opio."

"The kupuna brought up great issues that covered everything from local environment, public education and Hawaiian culture," she said.

"I attend a school for Hawaiians, but it is not necessarily ‘Hawaiian,’" said Keylan Sato, a junior at Kamehameha Schools. "I am proud to be Hawaiian, but I don’t know where to begin to live that way. The aha [conference] was a great start."

Rupert Murdoch’s Mission to China

Wendi Deng, wife of News Corp. (NWS) Chairman Rupert Murdoch, may be on an international diplomacy mission to pave the way for MySpace’s entry into China’s potentially enormous market.

Murdoch & Co. have long discussed breaking into the Chinese market. MySpace already operates social networking sites in Britain, Australia and Ireland, and it is testing sites in France and Germany. But China, with 1.31 billion people, would represent MySpace’s biggest market yet. Internet usage in China is at 1.8 billion hours online each week, compared with 129 million hours in the U.S.