• AsianWeek, that maven of the twice-told tale, also thinks that Obama will be our first Asian American president, because he eats spam musubi. Well, that's an argument Jeff Yang hadn't thought of. Nor I. Yes, I did not promise you no holiday cheer, bad fusion food, or east-meets-west human interest stories here.

• Nooshin Meshkaty became the first Iranian American school board president in Beverly Hills. I think starting at the top is a good strategy.

• An Indian American has made a breakthrough in ovarian cancer research, identifying two proteins whose presence dramatically increases survival rate. Yay docs! Good on you!

• Gardena has a brand spanking new Korean American man po-lice captain. Meanwhile, San Francisco loses its first Chinese American woman po-lice captain. When God opens a door, Buddha closes a window. Or something.

• New America Media reports that the unemployment rate among Asian Americans
  has reached 4.8 percent. While the rate among As Ams is lower than
  among whites or African Americans, the increase in recent months has
  been much higher. Which means the most recent round of economic
  collapse has impacted us more strongly than these other groups. Batten
  down the hatches, sailorettes, it doesn't get better for at least
  another year.

• DC police left a Korean American immigrant shackled in jail for 4.5 days
  because he had the same name as a dude who knocked over a liquor store.
  He didn't speak enough English to understand the charges and no
  translator was fetched. He was finally released after speaking to a
  Korean American guard. There's definitely a law, and he might sue. Durn tootin'!

• Obama transition bigwig Sonal Shah caved to pressure from Indian American groups and denounced an organization she was affiliated with years earlier, which contributed to the violence in Gujarat in 2002. Her critics were not mollified.

• More on the Chinese real estate crash tours I wrote about last week. Gory details, yee haw.

• The LA Times has a brief article (with reading recs) about Asians in English language crime fiction and what you maybe should be reading. Fun!

• The British Times Online weighs in intelligently about the idiot Ford dealer in Georgia who kicked off the latest round of Japanese-auto-industry-bashing. "You cannot officially declare a recession in the United States until the
  Japan-bashing begins. Gentlemen, start your engines." And if your name starts with "Vincent" or ends with "Chin," you might want to start wearing a helmet.

• And last, but not least, Ylan Q. Mui publishes a terrific piece in the WaPo about how Anh
  "Joseph" Cao's recent Louisiana electoral victory, which made him the
  first Vietnamese American in Congress, arose directly out of the
  politicization of Vietnamese Americans after Katrina. There are a thousand ironies -- and counter-stereotype points -- in this article. Do check it out. And for a more detailed story about the Vietnamese American community in NOLA, check out our article on same in Issue 8, "Remodeling the Minority."

Aaaaand that's it for the holiday news o' cheer, my poultry, so
have a good week! Drink responsibly, drive safe, love like you're
wearing a full body condom, and dance like nobody's watching, cuz
nobody is, except sarcastic people.