Issue 61 Vol III, April 15, 2008

T H I S  O U R  N O R T H  A M E R I C A

Clintons: Money Talk

WHO pays the already rich Clintons; former president bill Clinton and his presidential hopeful Hillary. There are at least two Indians, to fund the elections and the other expenses of the Clintons. All this must for some sound reasons. Former President Clinton also has been an adviser to InfoUSA, a data company whose chief executive, Vinod Gupta, has been a major donor to Democrats and gave at least $1 million to Bill Clinton's presidential library in Arkansas. Clinton received $400,000 in payments from the company in 2006 and 2007, according to the documents.

The Bill earns a lot from his books and lectures. Wonderful ideas for Asians who are available free for lectures and earn little from their books. Capitalist market has certainly different logic; only if your support it.

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton and former President Clinton made nearly $109 million since they left the White House, capitalizing on the world's interest in the former first couple and profitable business ventures.

The Clintons reported $20.4 million in income for 2007 as they gave the public the most detailed account of their finances in eight years. Amazingly almost half the former first couple's money came from Bill Clinton's speeches. The returns show the post-presidential success. The Clintons, who had lived in taxpayer-paid housing in the governor's mansion in Arkansas or the White House for years, left the presidency struggling with a legal defense fund stemming from a spate of investigations.

They now are wealthy enough that she could lend her presidential campaign $5 million earlier this year. The campaign released tax returns from 2000 through 2006 and gave highlights from their 2007 return. The Clintons have asked for an extension for filing their 2007 tax returns, citing the dissolution of a blind trust last year.

Both of them paid $33.8 million in taxes from 2000 through 2007. They listed $10.25 million in charitable contributions during that period. Clinton has been under pressure to release her tax returns, especially from rival Sen. Barack Obama, who posted his 2000 to 2006 returns on his campaign Web site last week. Neither Obama nor Republican Sen. John McCain has made their 2007 tax returns public, though both promised to so that.

The Clintons last made their returns public in 2000 when they reported an adjusted gross income of $416,039 for 1999. Since then, the former president has embarked on a number of business ventures and has made millions from speaking engagements and books. In the tax returns, the former president describes his occupation as "Speaking & Writing." Apart from speeches and books, his biggest single business income is from his partnership with Yucaipa Global Opportunities Fund, a Los Angeles-based investment firm founded by longtime Clinton fundraiser Ron Burkle. Between 2003 and 2006, the returns show total Yucaipa partnership income of $12.5 million. The 2007 summary provided by the campaign lists $2.75 million in partnership income.

According to a summary of the seven years provided by the campaign, the former president's speech income since he left the White House totals $51.85 million and his income from his two books — "My Life " and "Giving" — totals $29.6 million, including a $15 million advance for "My Life." Bill Clinton has traveled the world, giving paid speeches to multinational corporations, investment banks and motivational groups.

In 2006 and 2007, Bill Clinton earned fees from $100,000 to $450,000 speaking to such corporations as IBM, General Motors, and Cisco Systems, finance giants such as Goldman Sachs and Lehman Brothers, and trade groups such as the National Association of Realtors and the Mortgage Bankers Association. He also has been paid to speak to nonprofit or charity groups, including the TJ Martell Foundation, which finances leukemia research, Nelson Mandela's Children's Fund and, last March, to the Boys and Girls Club of Los Angeles.

The campaign claimed that Clinton typically donates millions of dollars worth of free speeches to charities. Hillary Clinton had $10.5 million in book income over the period from her book "Living History." She donated earnings from her other book, "It Takes a Village," to charity.

Clinton's tax returns show that of the remaining presidential candidates, she is the one most able to access large amounts of personal money. She lent her campaign $5 million in late February and could contribute more if she finds herself falling far behind Obama's proficient fundraising.

McCain's wife, Cindy, is heiress to her father's stake in Hensley & Co. of Phoenix, one of the largest beer distributorships in the country and her worth could exceed $100 million. But the couple has a prenuptial agreement that has kept most assets in her name. In his financial disclosures, McCain lists his major sources of income as his Senate salary of $169,300 and a Navy pension of about $56,000.

In 2006, Obama reported income of nearly $1 million, with nearly half of it coming from the publication of his second book, "The Audacity of Hope." Last week, the campaign disclosed that Obama and his wife, Michelle, gave $240,000 to charity last year.

The returns also tell that interest free loans to unidentified "family members." This is based on the "imputed interest" listed in the 2006 return, interest that would have been paid; the loans total more than $300,000.  The loans to family members are personal; the Clintons are going to respect their family members' privacy." Clintons maintains.

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Olympic Torch - In Trouble
Khushwant Singh writes from Toronto

SINCE the start of its journey around the globe the Olympic Torch relay has been facing protest and has been extinguished a number of times. So much so that after dodging China foes in Europe and playing hide-and-seek with crowds in San Francisco, the Olympic committee had to request Argentinean state authorities to even keep its arrival and resting place secrete from the local security officials.

What is supposed to be a symbol of piece and unity is turning out to be the only weapon left in the hands of rest of the world against the hard liner Chinese Government. China is being blamed for its human rights record and in particular the ongoing unrest in Tibet. Protests after protests are hurdling the Olympic torch relay which began with a theme “Journey of Harmony”. However, it seems the Chinese Government does not care, and the question is what can they do about it?

After being lit in Olympia, Greece, the torch traveled to the Panathinaiko Stadium in Athens, and then arrived at Beijing on March 31. From Beijing, the torch is following a route covering all the continents. The torch will visit cities on the so called Silk Road symbolizing ancient links between China and the rest of the world. In different cities the original planed path of the torch has been changed on several occasions to escape the protesters.

On Sunday April 7, 2008, thousands of protesters waving Tibetan flags and shouting "Shame on China" protested in London during the relay.  Police repeatedly scuffled with protesters, including one who tried to grab the torch, while another tried to snuff out the flame with what appeared to be a fire extinguisher. Thirty-seven people were arrested.

In Paris on Monday April 7, 2008, the last segment of the Olympic torch run through Paris was cancelled after thousands of anti-China protesters repeatedly prompted officials to stop the procession, extinguish the flame and the organizers had to put the torch aboard a bus.

The relay encountered problems at the start from the Eiffel Tower, where several hundred people carrying Tibetan flags and signs reading "Save Tibet" gathered to demonstrate. About 3,000 French police were part of a security effort to protect the procession route through the city streets. Of them about 200 police officers were to accompany the torch run on inline skates and on foot. As well, 65 motorcycles with police riders were assigned to surround the torch with 200 to 300 riot police officers in 32 vans following. Three boats were patrolling the Seine River, and a helicopter was overhead,.

Despite beefed-up security, the relay had to be suspended at least five times as demonstrators threatened the torch. A vehicle carried the Olympic flame for the last part of the route but a runner was allowed to carry the torch for the final five metres into a sports stadium in the south of Paris. At least 28 people were arrested during the relay protests.

In San Francisco the protesters, climbed on suspension cables halfway up the famous San Francisco bridge, unfurled two giant banners reading "One World, One Dream" and "Free Tibet 'O8" — a mock up on the official slogan of the Beijing Games. One of the climbers also displayed a Tibetan flag. The climbers spent about three hours suspended more than 25 metres above traffic before descending to be taken into police custody.

In Argentina handlers let no one publicly view the arrival of the flame in Buenos Aires. Authorities deployed 1,300 federal police, 1,500 naval police and some 3,000 traffic police and volunteers, keeping in view the activists prepared for the protests holding “Free Tibet” banners.

The Olympic Torch has a long way to go before it reaches Beijing and what impact will it make on the Chinese authorities about revising their human right policies still remains to be seen.

International torch relay route

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Visible minorities in Canada pose new challenges

VISIBLE minorities now make up more than 16 percent of Canada’s population, according to 2006 census data released on April 2. South Asians are the largest such group for the first time. According to Statistics Canada Immigration helped increase the number of visible minorities from an estimated 13.4 percent of the population in 2001, with most living in the major urban areas of Toronto, Vancouver and Montreal.

Canada, which prides itself on its multicultural makeup, also continued to diversify along ethnic lines, with more than 200 different ethnic origins identified in the 2006 survey. That compares with only 25 recorded by census-takers at the beginning of the last century. The country has a total population of over 31 million, of which more than 5 million were considered members of a visible minority -- identified as anyone other than aboriginal Canada began tracking the number of visible minorities in 1981 when they were estimated to make up 4.7 percent of the population. More than 1.2 million people identified themselves in the 2006 survey as being South Asian, including East Indians and Statistics Canada estimated Pakistanis and Sri Lankans with an increase of nearly 38 percent from 2001 are surpassing Canada’s ethnic Chinese population. Blacks were Canada’s third largest visible minority. Toronto had the largest number of visible minorities in the country due to the large number of recent immigrants who settled in the country's most populous city between 2001 and 2006.

The South Asian population grew a lot faster in Toronto than the Chinese population comparing the 2006 census figures with those from 2001. Blacks and Arabs were the largest visible minority groups in the Montreal area, while Chinese and South Asians were the largest minority groups in the Vancouver area on the Pacific coast, according to the census takers.

The median age of Canada’s visible minorities was 33 years, compared with 39 for the population as a whole. The Canadian government has said previously that by 2012, immigration is expected to account for all net growth in the labor force. Currently, the country accepts more than 250,000 permanent residents annually.

New Immigration Bill

There is a fierce debate on Canadian Bill on Immigration is seen as a threat to immigration from India. It has rocked the south Asians. Parliament has voted in its favour despite opposition from the Liberals and the NDP. It gives sweeping powers to the government particularly to the minister for immigration to speed up or stop immigration from any part of the world.

It now goes to selection and then to the Senate for approval to be finally made into a law.

Deepak Obhrai, the topmost Indo-Canadian in the current Canadian government, has defended the new immigration bill, former Canadian revenue minister Herb Dhaliwal has asked the opposition to bring down the government on the issue.

Obhrai, who is parliament secretary to foreign affairs minister Maxime Bernier and international cooperation minister Bev Oda, said the opposition was spreading misinformation about the bill which was actually aimed at streamlining the immigration process. He claimed “The amendment bill is designed to clear up the immigration mess created by the previous Liberal party government.” He alleged that the Liberal government let the waiting list balloon from 50,000 to over 900,000 during their rule.

However, former Canadian revenue minister Herb Dhaliwal said the bill was “an attempt by the ruling Conservative party to change the immigration process in their favour.” Dhaliwal, who was the first Indian-origin person to become a minister anywhere in the western world when he joined the Liberal party-led Canadian cabinet in 1997, said: “The purpose of the bill was to destroy the regulatory process and put all powers in the hands of the immigration minister (Diane Finley) so that she can decide whom is let in and who is stopped.”

If Prime Minister Stephen Harper really believes his government's sweeping changes to the Immigration Act will be used in a "fair, open and transparent manner," then he should be prepared to put them in a separate bill and welcome debate on them in the public arena.

Instead, the changes, which would give Immigration Minister Diane Finley the power to issue orders as to how many and what kind of immigrants to process each year, are buried in the government's budget implementation bill, a confidence matter. Thus, the opposition Liberals are faced with an awkward decision: defeat the bill and force an election, which they don't want, or allow passage of the immigration measures, which they have criticized.

Meanwhile, a growing number of immigrant groups, the Canadian Bar Association and Toronto Mayor David Miller are all ringing alarm bells about the implications of the unprecedented arbitrary powers the reforms give to the government.

The proposals would allow the minister to tell immigration officers around the world which applications to process "by category or otherwise" and give discretion to the government to reject applicants it doesn't want here whether because they are from certain countries or they are dependent family members. The minister would also have the power to refuse a failed overseas refugee applicant an appeal on "humanitarian and compassionate grounds."

And by changing the wording of certain sections of the act, the minister could refuse many applicants for any reason whatsoever and deny them an appeal.

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Obituary
Pioneering Indian editor Gopal Raju is no more

HERMAN Gopal Raju, the pioneer of ethnic Indian media in the United States, and founder of the well known India Abroad newspaper as well as IANS died in New York on April 10 after a brief illness. He was 80. A bachelor, Raju died of complications arising from a sudden bout of jaundice.

The soft-spoken shy publisher, who became an institution in the South Asian community in the US, was conferred the Pravasi Bharatiya Samman for his contributions to India and its diasporas by then president A.P.J. Abdul Kalam in 2007.

Till his death, he was editor and publisher of the New York-based News-India Times, Desi Talk and Gujarat Times.

The Bangalore-born Raju was also the founder of the Indian American Centre for Political Awareness (IACPA), a well-known non-profit organisation in Washington that sought to empower Indian Americans, especially the younger generation, and helped create a distinct Indian voice on Capitol Hill.

Gopal Raju, who was a bridge between India and the United States in the fields of media, politics and philanthropy for over half-a-century, died here early Thursday after a brief illness. He was 80.

Raju's death was announced by his long-time colleague and friend Veena Merchant.

An institution builder, he founded the India Abroad newspaper, the Indo-Asian News Service (IANS), the Indian American Foundation (IAF) and the Indian American Center for Political Action (IACPA). At the time of his death, he was the publisher of the weekly newspapers News India-Times, Desi Talk and Gujarat Times.

A pioneering advocate of the two-million Indian diaspora in the US, becoming involved first in the life of their adopted country, and then being a link to their homeland, he made India Abroad his passion for serving as an information bridge between the community and their native country.

Later, he founded the IACPA in 1993, which extended this community involvement to US politics from Washington to state and local levels. Under the Center's tutelage he placed about 200 Indian American interns with Congressional and Senate lawmakers in Washington, D.C.

The IAF, which he launched in the 1970s, mobilised millions of dollars in contributions for education, health, social development and disaster relief projects in India, also helping rebuild many homes left devastated by the earthquake in Latur in Maharashtra and Kutch in Gujarat.

Former Prime Minister I.K. Gujral, who knew him well, said: "He was a institution and also the most significant bridge between India and America. His contribution in setting up India Abroad and a number of other Indian papers in North America speaks a lot about his initiatives. The foundation that he set up and the response he was getting made us feel proud of him and his work." True to his shy and self-effacing nature, Raju left instructions shortly before he died for a private funeral "without any fuss".

Raju, who arrived here in 1950, tried his hand at several businesses, running a travel agency and a restaurant, before settling on publishing.

The often reticent Raju had the mental make-up of an old world publisher who did not enjoy a high public profile. "My job is to publish a quality newspaper and not to project myself," was one of his favourite refrains.

It was because of that philosophy that India Abroad went on to become the most credible Indian American publication, which The Economist of London once described as a weekly of "unusually high quality".

One of his unfulfilled dreams was to create an overarching diasporic Indian publication worldwide that would watch over the 25 million strong expatriate Indian communities around the globe.

H.K. Dua, editor of The Tribune said: "Gopal Raju was a remarkable journalist, always eager to do something more than he had already done and achieved. He was an institution builder. Single-handed, he built India Abroad newspaper and IANS. For most NRIs in the US, the two institutions were windows for knowing about India. "He loved press freedom. I met him often when he would visit India and a couple of times in New York. He was a well aware man and worked a lot for the people of India."

Sreenath Sreenivasan, dean of students at Columbia Journalism School mourning his death said, "Raju paved the way for every Indian journalist working in the US today. He was also tremendously supportive of SAJA (South Asian Journalists Association) and my own work.” Raju ran the India Abroad Fellowship Programme for several years at Columbia University.

Although he knew many powerful political figures both in India and the US he never made it a habit to leverage his contacts, nor bothered to be seen with them.

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