Westminster City Recall Petitions Qualify

With the multimillionaire Hoang Kieu spending more than $500,000 to help the recall effort,  a political group called Westminster United headed by David Johnson has successfully submitted enough signatures to trigger a recall election of 3 out of the 5 members of the city council.   Three petitions were submitted last month to recall Mayor Ta Tri, Councilwoman Kimberly Ho and Councilman Charlie Nguyen.   The required signatures were verified last week by Orange County Registrar of Voters.

The city council will convene on January 8, 2020 to determine the date for the recall election.  The date has to be no less than 88 days or more than 125 days after the meeting.  It will likely fall in early May or at the end of April.  The ballot will allow voters to vote for or against the recall.  And if for the recall, they will have the opportunity to vote for a replacement.   All three elected officials sought to be recalled cannot be candidates on the recall ballot.  However, they are allowed to run for the general election in November if they lost in the recall.

It has been a bitter fight between two factions in the city council.  Councilmen Tai Do and Sergio Contreras want to remove their colleagues who always vote together as a majority bloc.  They are frustrated that they don't have the majority to control the agenda and the vote on issues that matter to them.   Westminster United gathered 11,285 signatures over the summer and 9,047 signatures were qualified.  They raised less than $10,000 while the rest of the money came from Hoang Kieu to hire signature collectors, consultant and advertisement.   Legally, they only require to submit 8,736 signatures to qualify for the recall election;  this number represents 20% of the city registered voters.  The grievances for the recall are mostly political in nature and have no substance.  But again, we are living in an era of great divisiveness where everything is blurred between the line.

Mayor Tri Ta

There are 43,680 registered voters in Westminster City and 41% are Vietnamese-American.  The city has over 91,000 residents and the majority is Asian.   Mayor Tri Ta was re-elected in 2018 for a fourth term.   Councilman Charlie Nguyen was first elected in 2018 after 3 attempts.  Councilwoman Kimberly Ho was first elected in 2016 and will have to run for re-election in November 2020.  In 2020,  the city will be redistricting and the election will be based on 5 new districts.  

Happy Holidays! Enjoy The Music of Christmas

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=spwIF5iRInk




https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tpdx_zdoa_Y


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h5RAAeTbmck


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-LHl0zf09pE

Millionaire (Not Billionaire) Hoang Kieu Holds Press Conference

Millionaire Hoang Kieu issues a press conference to announce his political supports of local OC candidate.  Note that even though there is no official result on whether the submitted signatures for the recall of 3 elected council members of Westminster are legitimate and meet the threshold required for a recall election, HK claims the petition to recall is a success.

Hoang Kieu Partying at White House Christmas Ball

Here are some pictures sent out by the famous multi-millionaire Hoang Kieu.  He can be seen enjoying himself at the White House with President Donald Trump, his son -in-law and other members of his cabinet including the Vice President.

Losing his title as billionaire this year as he was forced out of a Chinese health care company he co-founded (see LSI article) did not seem to dampen his spirit.  

LSI is wondering how can one be on the guest list of the White House Christmas Ball for next year.

Billionaire Hoang Kieu and Pride of San Jose First Recipient

Billionaire Hoang Kieu is well known for his flamboyance and his generosity in the Vietnamese-American community.   He donated $10 million total to flood victims in San Jose and Houston.  He gave over half a million dollars to fire victims in Northern California.

Hoang Kieu, a self-made Vietnamese-American billionaire who came to America in 1975 with nothing  but determination and hope.  He made his fortune in a company he founded called RAAS which focuses on providing blood plasma.  The 81 years old (as he declared his real age at a gala in San Jose 2 years ago) eccentric billionaire, now has diversified into wine, high-end restaurant and event catering, cosmetics, luxury handbags and nutritional supplements.  And just to have some fun, he even has his own musical show production.  

Recently, he became the first recipient of Pride of San Jose award given out by  San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo.  There is now a street named after him in San Jose.

But in Southern California where he lives, it is a different story.  HK is embroiled in a recall effort of three city councilmembers of Westminster, a city where almost 45% of the voters are Vietnamese-Americans.   There are 4 Vietnamese-American city councilmembers, out of five, in Westminster.  HK is personally funding the recall effort just because these three councilmembers slighted him last year.  He is angry because they did not cooperate with him in his extravagant funeral arrangement for Ly Tong, a folk hero to the anti-communist crowd for his hijacking of a passenger plane in Vietnam in 1992 to drop anti-government leaflets.  He paid the funeral expense at the cost of $400,000.  

He claims to spend over $500,000 to help a recall group, Westminster United, to get 8,700 signatures required for recall.   He hires a political consultant responsible for the recall of former Governor Al Davis to help with strategy.  Almost every week for the last 3 months, he is on radio and Youtube live to make his case for the recalling of Mayor Tri Ta, Vice Mayor Kimberly Ho and councilmember Charlie Nguyen.

Running out of things to say, he recently dressed up as a king and demanded the castration of elected officials so that they can become his eunuchs.  Suddenly, he realized that Kimberly Ho is a woman, he laughed and said, "It does not matter, she is already an eunuch."

Just this week, he went overboard and declared he will castrate and break the teeth of Luong Ngo, a community activist opposing the recall.  Ngo promptly filed a complain with the FCC and the Garden Grove police.

In the Youtube video, he also disclosed that he is being  forced out of Shanghai RAAS, the company he co-founded over 27 years ago and the main source of his wealth.  They offer him a buyout of $380 million.   

HK was worth $3.8 billion in 2015 according Forbes based on the market value of Shanghai RAAS of $17.7 billion at that time.   He blames that people opposing the recall with their smear campaign against him cause this predicament of him being ousted.  He promises to sue them for his financial loss.   He claims to have file lawsuits against the city of Westminster and other members of the Vietnamese media.  

It is difficult to follow his rambling reasons on why and what, but he is certainly creating a buzz in community.  Also, when you are an octogenarian with hundreds of millions at your disposal, you can pretty much say and do whatever you want (within legal limit of course).

The History of Pho

I try to find " Phở " whenever I travel.  This humble Vietnamese beef noodle soup first started out as a street food, a quick and cheap meal for the common laborers at ports along the Red River in North Vietnam more than 100 years ago. Yet now it is an international symbol of Vietnamese cuisine just like hamburgers to American food culture and symbolism worldwide.

I found phở in Dubai with one restaurant serving in a 5-liter bowl.  One can have phở in exotic Casablanca and of all the places, New Delhi where cows are still sacred.  In the old quarter of Athen, the cradle of Western civilization and birthplace of democracy, a bowl of phở is as authentic as the one you can get in Saigon.  

It is fashionable in Shanghai where the waitresses serving phở are dressed up in ao dai and the conical hat. In Tel Aviv, there is a small group of Vietnamese expatriates, and some make a living by opening phở restaurants.  ere a dozen phở restaurants in New Zealand which is far down under.  I even had phở far up north close to the Arctic Circle in Finland.  And from the land where Homo sapiens took their first upright walk and spread their genes across the globe, you can find phở in Johannesburg.

La Ganh Restaurant in Pudong, Shanghai.  This is Pu Chi's pho culinary venture in China.  Her real name is Thuy Chi Nguyen. 

Phở reflects the diaspora identity of the Vietnamese as they dispersed throughout the world after the Vietnam War ended in 1975.

The History of Phở and Its Origin

We know that phở started as street food in Ha Noi, the ancient capital city, and Nam Dinh (90 km SE of Ha Noi). The noodle soup was served as breakfast or a late-night snack. Both cities claim to be the birthplace of phở. In the Vân Cù village (Nam Dinh County), the Cồ family was famous for their phở in the early 20th century and helped popularize this Vietnamese beef soup.

https://daidoanket.vn/nam-dinh-voi-pho-pho-voi-nam-dinh-10238940.html

The first mention of the word "Phở" was noted in a letter sent back from Paris to his family in Ha Noi by a businessman named Vinh van Nguyen in 1906.  He lamented how he missed Vietnam every time he heard street vendors peddling their goods in Paris, for they reminded him of the phở street vendors and their unique holler calling attention to their steamy hot noodle soup.  In 1913, the novelist Hoan cong Nguyen wrote about eating phở late in the night and how it cost him 2 pennies for a bowl of phở.

Phở must have been popular enough to catch the eyes of the Frenchman Henri Oger.  In his oversize illustrated book titled Technique du Peuple Anamite 1908-1909,  it has an illustration of a phở street vendor carrying on a pole two cabinets containing soup pot, noodles and condiments.  However, the Chinese characters indicated that the food in the picture is "ngưu nhục phấn" (Chinese: 牛肉粉)  which literally means beef meat noodles.  We will elaborate more about this dish since it is closely related to phở.

In 1913, the artist Mauric Salge painted a picture of a phở street vendor peddling the food late at night in Ha Noi.   

Back then, a phở street vendor must have a fine sense of balance to be able to carry on his shoulder a long wooden pole with one end dangling a cabinet with a boiling pot of soup sitting on top of a coal burning cauldron,  and the other end with a cabinet full of noodle, beef, fish sauce, bowls and chopsticks.  Here are some more pictures of the street vendors and their customers in the early 1900s.

What is the Phở ?

Phở's main spice ingredient usually derived from the Chinese Five Spice mix (cloves, fennel, star anise, cinnamon and Szechuan peppercorns), charred onions and ginger.   The clear broth is the result of slow cooked beef bones and oxtail. The seasoning is done with fish sauce of course.  The soup is poured over rice noodle with thin cuts of beef flank or brisket, and garnished with chili peppers, green and white onions. 

From limited available information, it seems that phở has been around at least before 1906,  but after 1895 since well known Vietnamese dictionary by Cua tinh Huynh published in 1895, and Vietnamese-French dictionary by Genibrel, J.F.M., published in 1898,  did not have the word "Phở".  

The origin of the word "phở" has a number of theories.   We know the word for rice noodle in Chinese is pronounced "phấn".  During the same period, Chinese immigrant in Ha Noi sold a dish called "ngưu nhục phấn" (Chinese: 牛肉粉)  which lieterally means beef meat noodles.  In his "Vietnamese, Chinese &; French Dictionary",  Eugène  Gouin (1957) defined the word phở as the corruption of the word phấn. 

 In 1931, a Vietnamese association of language and cultural studies called Hội Khai Trí Tiến Đức or its French name  l'Association pour la Formation Intellectuelle et Morale des Annamites, published  at that time the most comprehensive Vietnamese dictionary - Việt Nam Tự Điển.  On page 443 of the dictionary, the word Phở is defined:  Originally derived from the word phấn.  Food made by rice noodle cooked with beef....

A Reception with Governor General Varenne at Hội Khai Trí Tiến Đức Headquarters (April, 1926)

According to wikipedia, Phở might evolve from a dish called xáo trâu:

Originally eaten by commoners near the Red River, it consisted of stir-fried strips of water buffalo meat served in broth atop rice vermicelli. Around 1908–1909, the shipping industry brought an influx of laborers. Vietnamese and Chinese cooks set up gánh to serve them xáo trâu but later switched to inexpensive scraps of beef set aside by butchers who sold to the French.  Chinese vendors advertised this xáo bò by crying out, "Beef and noodles!" or "ngưu nhục phấn". Eventually the street cry became "Meat and noodles!"  or "nhục phấn" , with the last syllable elongated.  The author Nguyễn Ngọc Bích suggests that the final "n" was eventually dropped because of the similar-sounding phân or "excrement".   This is likely what the Vietnamese poet Tản Đà calls "nhục-phở" in "Đánh bạc" ("Gambling"), written around 1915–1917.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pho#cite_note-Vuong_Trung_Hieu-9

Chinese Beef Meat Noodles - Ngưu nhục phấn

There is a minority opinion that favors the idea that phở evolved from the French beef stew pot-au-feu.  And the word "phở" is the Vietnamese pronunciation of feu.

Pot-au-feu is is a thick stew often composes of beef, potatoes, carrots, onions, other vegetables and usually eat with bread.  There is a stark difference between the two soups, one is clear broth serves over rice noodle, the other one is a heavy stew serves with bread. 

Whatever is the origin of phở, it became popular in Saigon as the result of  the large migration of people from the north in 1954 to escape the communist regime.   Here, in adoption to the Mekong delta flavor,  the dish is garnished additionally with Thai basil, culandro (saw tooth herb), bean sprout, black soy bean sauce and red chili paste.  

And then came the mass exodus after the Fall of Saigon in 1975 ,  Vietnamese refugees escaped Vietnam seeking freedom with only clothes on their backs and memories of their homeland to start a new life in whichever country that would welcome them.  They also took with them their cuisine. Phở now becomes a common lexicon in many languages and universally recognized as a popular but unique Vietnamese dish.

On a personal level, thirty years ago,  I introduced phở to a young and ambitious Chinese student who came to US fresh out of China's most prestigious university - University of Beijing.  She thought it was one of best food she ever had.  She is now  a successful executive legal counsel for a major high tech company.  Occasionally,  I still receive email from her asking for suggestion of a phở restaurant as her travel taking her to different parts of the country and the world.

I guess as far as friendship goes, phở can be the soup that binds.

Read Admiral Huan Nguyen's Historical Day

Today,  Huan Nguyen, age 60, became the first Vietnamese-born  US Navy Rear Admiral.  He is the fourth Vietnamese-born general and flag officers.  US Army Major General Viet Xuan Luong, age 54, was promoted in 2014 and soon to be US Army Major General Lap The Chau Flora, age 57, was promoted in 2016.  Not in picture is US Marine Corps Brigadier General Bill Seely III (promoted in 2016).   

According to the official Naval Sea Systems Command Webiste:

Rear Adm. Huan Nguyen, age 60, will serve as the Deputy Commander for Cyber Engineering at the Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA) on the Washington Navy Yard.  NAVSEA commander, Vice Adm. Tom Moore, served as the presiding officer.

“Today we will welcome the first Vietnamese-born U.S. Navy officer to achieve flag rank, and that is a significant event,” said Moore.

Nguyen after being promoted addressed the audience.

“It is a great honor to attain the rank of admiral. I am tremendously humbled to become the first Vietnamese American to wear the flag’s rank in the U.S. Navy. The honor actually belongs to the Vietnamese American community, which instilled in us a sense of patriotism, duty, honor, courage and commitment to our adopted country, the United States of America,” said Nguyen. “This is our America. A country built on service, kindness and generosity…opportunity…the freedom to hope and dream. These values are what inspired me to serve.  And what a great honor and privilege it is to serve our Navy…to serve our country…to support and defend our Constitution.”

Nguyen was born in Hue Vietnam, the son of an armor officer in the Army of the Republic of Vietnam. During the 1968 Tet Offensive, Nguyen’s mother and father, along with his five brothers and sister were killed by Viet Cong Communist guerillas in their family home outside Saigon. Nine-year-old Nguyen was shot in the arm and thigh, with another bullet piercing his skull. He stayed with his mother for two hours, until she bled out and died. Amazingly, Nguyen survived and escaped after dark.

Nguyen was taken in by his uncle, a Colonel in the Republic of Vietnam Air Force. In 1975, at age 16, they fled Vietnam, seeking refuge in the United States following the fall of Saigon.

Transported through Guam, U.S. Navy and Marine Corps personnel took care of Nguyen and his family. The U.S. 7th Fleet helped to evacuate thousands of Vietnamese refugees and transport them to safety in Guam. Seeing the U.S. Navy take care of his family would later inspire Nguyen to serve in the Navy. 

“I was one of those refugees, apprehensive about an uncertain future, yet feeling extremely grateful that I was here at all.  The images that I remember vividly when I arrived at Camp Asan, Guam, now Asan Beach Park, were of American sailors and Marines toiling in the hot sun, setting up tents and chow hall, distributing water and hot food, helping and caring for the people with dignity and respect. I thought to myself how lucky I am to be in a place like America. Those sailors inspired me to later serve in the United States Navy,” said Nguyen.

Later that year, U.S. Air Force Colonel Ed Veiluva and his wife Dorothy sponsored his uncle’s family, allowing them to officially come to the United States as political refugees. Nguyen moved with his uncle’s family to Midwest City, Oklahoma, just outside of Tinker Air Force Base.

Nguyen graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering from Oklahoma State University in 1981. He holds Master’s degrees in Electrical Engineering from Southern Methodist University, Engineering (Manufacturing Concentration) from Purdue University, and Information Technology with Highest Distinction from Carnegie Mellon University.  He received a Navy direct commission through the Reserve Engineering Duty Officer program in 1993.

“America is the beacon of hope for all of us. There is no other place in the world where a person can go for such opportunity,” said Nguyen.

Over 300 people, mostly family members, friends, naval officers and supporters came and attended the ceremony held at Navy Memorial in Washington DC.  
Along his side to celebrate his promotion were his wife, Huong Nguyen, his three children, his uncle (former Vietnamese Air Force Colonel Tu Nguyen) and aunt who raised him, his father-in-law (with black cane), Khoa Xuan Le, a former faculty at John Hopkins University and founder of SEARAC, a refugee and immigrant action center advocating for South East Asians.