Chinese and American leaders are tripping over a manner divide. Americans are direct and straightforward, not only in what they say and how they say it. When they come to see you they say their say in the most terse, concise and unambiguous manner.

Chinese never approach the subject utmost in their minds until polite courtesies are exchanged. These elaborate preludes and interludes may seem useless and superfluous to Americans but are considered essential to the Chinese who have raised correct deportment almost to the rank of religion.

Wu, who sits on the Energy Subcommittee of the House Science Committee, had been invited to address department employees Wednesday during Asian Pacific American Heritage Month. Wu said he was denied access even after showing his congressional identification.

Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham apologize to David Wu and that his agency would conduct an internal review, including a look at discrimination.

Wu deals regularly with issues of discrimination against Asian-Americans and has taken a special interest in concerns by DOE lab employees concerned about the federal government's handling of the Wen Ho Lee case.

Wu's letter to Abraham on Thursday to complain about the way he was treated and the signal that treatment sends to Asian-Americans. "The conduct of the DOE guards is both ironic and disturbing," he said. "Ironic because I was invited by DOE to speak about the progress Asian Pacific Americans have made in America. My citizenship has never been questioned at the White House, the Supreme Court or in the U.S. Capitol -- all locations with potentially sensitive information."

Wu said he is disturbed that the incident may represent "the tip of the iceberg" for Asian-Americans employees and potential employees at DOE.

"My understanding is some of the brightest graduate students in the country, who happen to be Asian-American, are refusing to go to work for the Department of Energy."

"I am going to encourage the Department of Energy to redouble its efforts and engage in a true process of soul searching," he said. " Do you really ask everyone their citizenship at the door? And if so, is that an effective way of enhancing national security?"

The Sacramento County Board of Supervisors voted 5-0 to spend $250,000 to buy the land under the clapboard houses and businesses built by Chinese immigrants who came to work the railroads, river levees, and area farms in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The land, in turn, will be sold at no profit to the people who live and work in Locke today. About 85 residents remain, fewer than a dozen of them Chinese-Americans.

The history of Locke, which lies along a levee about 30 miles south of Sacramento, is as rich as the soil that gives up asparagus and other vegetables in abundance. Listed as a National Historic Landmark since 1990, it is the nation's last remaining rural town built for the Chinese by the Chinese. Their hands reclaimed both the San Joaquin River delta and erected the two-story buildings with the now-sagging balconies along Main Street.

Settled in 1915 by a group of Chinese merchants after fire destroyed their old quarters in neighboring Walnut Grove, the 10-acre town of Locke grew to a population of about 500. In town, there was a Chinese school, a Chinese movie theater, a Chinese herbalist, and grocery stores and restaurants catering to Chinese tastes, not to mention a gambling parlor, brothel, and an opium den or two.

The Chinese immigrants and families were never able to own land, barred by the Alien Land Act of 1913 and a 1920. The laws were aimed at the turn-of-the-century influx of Japanese, but also served to stop ownership by immigrants forced to segregate themselves into so-called Chinatowns.

Homebound seniors, children, those left unemployed by the disaster and small business owners are among those most affected.

The full DOJ report is available online by clicking HERE

The study, "Prenatal Care Use Among Selected Asian American Groups," looked at all single live births among mothers of Chinese, Japanese, Korean and Vietnamese background by analyzing four years of U.S. vital records. It investigated three patterns of prenatal care - no care, late initiation of care and inadequate use of care after early initiation. It is the first national-level study of prenatal care use by the four major Asian American ethnic groups.

Study findings indicate that: