Tom McEnery recently returned from a visit to Vietnam. This is the second in a three-part series.

Beyond the Continental Hotel and the Cathedral of Notre Dame—we just missed a wedding there—is a place I was both anxious and nervous to see. It was once called the Museum of Chinese and American War Crimes. But in slight bow to political expediency,  it has a new name: The War Remnants Museum.

By Colleen Watson
Starting at Story Road and King Street at 4:30pm. Wednesday, about 200 marchers protesting US immigration policy worked their way to City Hall, chanting “Yes We Can.” The largely Hispanic group reached a mostly empty City Hall at 6:30pm.

Is San Jose’s nonpolitical mayor in a position to attract federal clean-tech dollars?

Silicon Valley business leaders will be keeping an eye on what happens immediately following inauguration day, when, analysts predict, President Barack Obama may address his plan to shift the nation toward clean technology—an emerging local business sector.

“My father insists that I call it Saigon—you see, he was in the Southern Army,”  was the simple, direct way our guide informed us why he used the city’s old name.  The comment was made in near perfect English. “Sometimes we say Ho Chi Minh City,” he conceded, “but I prefer Saigon.”  This was our introduction to a place so much in American minds for the last forty years, just recently a significant factor in San Jose politics.

“It’s not what you know, it’s who you know,” a father tells his son while standing outside the cyclone fences being erected for the inaugural. He was, of course, talking about tickets. And if you know a congressperson, you had a chance of getting the Ticket of the Century.

Last week, Mayor Reed held his State of the City Address. And I think the mayor was forthright by clearing stating that the City of San Jose has a large deficit, and that cuts to services and layoffs are before us. In fact, I believe that the current $60-65 million budget deficit will worsen and grow to $70-75 million.

A San Jose police officer tased a woman and shot her husband following an altercation that occurred as they left a downtown restaurant and nightclub around 1am Sunday morning, according to witness reports. San Jose Police Department spokesman Jermaine Thomas confirmed that a weapon was discharged, that a man was “taken to a local hospital with non-life threatening injuries,” and that the call came in a few minutes before 1am. He declined to provide other details as of 4am Sunday.

Watch Dog Silicon Valley reported yesterday that Tesla Motors faces new competition in the world of cool electric roadsters, and speculates that the company is unlikely to come to turn San Jose into the green Detroit that some have imagined.

Schwarzenegger skips State of the State address.

Citing a “state of emergency” resulting from the state’s dire economic situation and the legislature’s failure to produce a solution, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger delivered a truncated State of the State address this morning. While he clearly put responsibility for the crisis on the legislators he was addressing—even suggesting that pay should be withheld from Assembly members, state Senators and the himself until a solution is found—his tone was mostly upbeat and conciliatory. He congratulated lawmakers for working toward a compromise, and said he is optimistic that they will succeed.

This past week, the San Jose City Council gave its preliminary approval for a $300 million expansion of the San Jose Convention Center. The cost-benefit analysis upon which the council leaned to make its decision raises more questions than answers about the utility of the project. Is the convention center expansion designed to meet the needs of the people of San Jose, or the needs of the San Jose Redevelopment Agency?

Mayor Chuck Reed latched onto President-elect Barack Obama’s mantra of Hope as he delivered his State of the City Speech this morning. His Obama-esque message of optimism may have been an effort to cushion the blow of new austerity measures as he outlined the city’s $60 million shortfall and plans for imminent layoffs.

Silicon Valley citizens will now be able to crawl out of wrecked train cars in a calm, organized fashion with the recent installment of large safety signs inside all of VTA’s Light Rail cars and buses. Posted in the last few weeks, the new signs give detailed instructions on what passengers should do in case of an emergency, including how to press a button to talk to the vehicle operator, and how to exit a train in a tunnel (Fly’s head’s hurting already).

Can we reduce the drop-out rate, and increase character while reducing the risky behaviors of teens, one service learning project at a time? I think we can.

It was a little surprising to learn that City Councilwoman Madison Nguyen was recommending Pat Waite for an open seat on the planning commission. Considering the fact that Waite, who lost the District 8 council race to Democrat Rose Herrera in November, had stood in front of a group of Vietnamese Americans before the election and told them he was looking forward to helping them with their effort to recall Ngyuen.

It was somewhat ironic that Councilwoman Nora Campos couldn’t make it to the Rules Committee meeting Wednesday because she was stuck in a meeting regarding the proposed San Pedro Urban Square Market. Ironic because while Campos was talking with the Elections Commission, her colleagues were refusing to help her in her lonely effort to defeat that plan. Updated 3:45

Cell Phones and YouTube Usher in a New Era of Accountability

Through the eye of a cell phone camera, an outraged and shocked public witnessed the shooting death of 22-year-old Oscar Grant at a BART station in Oakland in the early morning hours of the first day of 2009. And now, as a result, a tragically common American story—young black male killed by a police officer—may be headed toward an uncommon ending: justice being served.