"Sometimes you want to go where everybody knows you're Nguyen. . ."

Submitted by Zebra24601 on Thu, 02/01/2007 - 11:57

(Sung to the "Cheers" theme song)

Amusing story in the January 30 LA Times:

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-me-photoshop30jan30,1,1117916.story

A candidate for Orange County Board of Supervisors recently attended an event with Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger.  A photo showing the candidate, Trung Nguyen, standing next Schwarzenegger, was circulated, and it appeared in several Vietnamese-language newspapers in the area.

Well, it turns out the photo was faked. Nguyen WAS at the political event, but he was not standing behind the governor, as the photo illustrated. Instead, Trung Nguyen’s face was pasted on to the body of community activist Peter Chau Nguyen.

The doctored photo was identified by a campaign worker for Garden Grove Councilwoman Janet Nguyen, a political opponent of Trung Nguyen. Regarding Janet Nguyen and Trung Nguyen, the Times writes, "The Nguyens are not related." Further, the story continues, "Peter Nguyen is not related to either of the other two Nguyens."

Somehow, this struck me as a modern-day equivalent of "Who's on first?"

Tim Binh

Submitted by night reader on Sat, 02/03/2007 - 03:41.

There was another (kinda creepy) thing that happened in the far-right anti-immigrant / anti-illegal-immigrant movement. A guy named "Tim Binh" started a group that was against illegal immigration, but favored increasing Vietnamese immigration. Okay, fine, right? Do what you like, right?

Well, eventually, it got out that "Tim Binh" was actually named Tim Brummer, and he's not Vietnamese at all. He was faking it! What was this guy thinking?

Then there was that embarrassing fiasco with Tan Nguyen and the "scare the Hispanics away" letter.

I hope these nutcases keep doing their thing, because the Democrats need all the help they can get.

Nguyen Tops Nguyen

Submitted by Zebra24601 on Fri, 02/09/2007 - 15:54.

Trung Nguyen finished seven votes ahead of Janet Nguyen in the race for OC Board of Supervisors.  The two Nguyens finished at the top of a ten-candidate field, about 1,200 votes ahead of the third place candidate.

There'll presumably be a recount.  But, for now, the photo-shopper looks to be the winner.

Re:  John's comment--I had forgotten that it was another Nguyen that was involved in the "scare the Hispanics" letter in the race against Loretta Sanchez for Congress.

I hadn't heard about the Tim Binh thing before.

Nguyen Passes Nguyen in Recount; Seat Still Vacant

Submitted by Zebra24601 on Wed, 02/28/2007 - 12:05.

Today's (Feb 28) LA Times reports that the recount of ballots now places Janet Nguyen seven votes ahead of Trung Nguyen.  The OC County Board of Supervisors, however, has delayed the official filling of the seat for one week, while court challenges by Trung Nguyen continue.

http://www.latimes.com/news/la-me-nguyen28feb28,1,3845801.story

An interesting aspect of this recount is what to do about the "paper trail" of electronic ballots.  Apparently, this recount only re-examined paper ballots.  Electronic votes were assumed to be properly recorded.  However, if it turns out the paper record of the electronic ballots swings even four votes from Janet to Trung, that could shift the outcome.