NO REST FOR THE AWAKE - MINAGAHET CHAMORRO

Guam’s relationship to the United States begins in 1898 when the island is take as part of the Spanish American War. The Spanish had ruled for 230 years and during that time economic development had been nil. The Spanish governor of the island controlled the economy, severely restricting private enterprise, and many used their power to ensure what little money on the island ended up in their hands through their personal ventures. The arrival of the United States represented the chance for new economic openness and so many Chamorros applauded their new colonizers. Although the United States represented itself as a nation of liberty, freedom and democracy, none of these things were allowed to exist on Guam for the first 50 years of American rule. In 1899 a Naval government was established. A single Naval governor held control over both civilians and military on the island, and was tasked with benevolently civilizing the Chamorro population. Chamorros at th

30 Years Ago Today: The Middle Class Died Saturday 6 August 2011 by: Michael Moore MichaelMoore.com Op-Ed From time to time, someone under 30 will ask me, "When did this all begin, America's downward slide?" They say they've heard of a time when working people could raise a family and send the kids to college on just one parent's income (and that college in states like California and New York was almost free). That anyone who wanted a decent paying job could get one. That people only worked five days a week, eight hours a day, got the whole weekend off and had a paid vacation every summer. That many jobs were union jobs, from baggers at the grocery store to the guy painting your house. And this meant that no matter how "lowly" your job was you had guarantees of a pension, occasional raises, health insurance and someone to stick up for you if you were unfairly treated. Young people have heard of this mythical time -- but it was no myth, it was

Two things are filling up my inbox this morning and my Twitter timeline: the protests taking place in Madison, WI and the aftermath (especially the dangers from affected nuclear power facilities) of the tsunami and earthquake in Japan. I was torn over which to write about this morning, and found myself wasting an hour just reading through articles on both events. Since I don't have enough time this morning to write up my overall thoughts on what is happening in Wisconsin right now in terms of the labor movement, protests with over 100,000 people from around the country showing up, and even Tony Shaloub, formerly from TV's Monk has flown in to show solidarity. Instead, I'll turn to Michael Moore and his thoughts last week in terms of arguing the importance of what is happening in Wisconsin. A speech he gave last week is below, as well as a blog post about how he came to Madison to give that speech. *********************** "America Is NOT Broke" By Michael Mo

In my Guam History class this week we’re getting to one of my favorite periods of Guam’s history, but one which my students usually don’t like hearing about. It’s the pre-war American period, from 1898-1941, where the United States controlled Guam and ran it like a Navy base, with Chamorros forced to go along for the ride. The government of Guam during this period was an autocratic Naval regime where a single man, the Naval Governor, had complete control over the island, and whatever he said, went. Most of these Naval Governors didn’t give a crap about Guam and were only here for a year or two and so didn’t do much. Lao despite that caveat, this is still a very screwed up and racist period of Guam history. One where, the racism of the United States is not some abstract thing we hear about as being conquered by Martin Luther King Jr. and Barack Obama, but something that was literally scrubbing the tongues and policing the fields and gardens of Chamorros who are still alive today. For

It is very easy to go through life and see so many things that tower above you as invincible, as constant, as eternal, as something which once had a beginning, but cannot seem to possibly have an end. If you ever wonder why despite the geographic and political distance between Guam and the United States, why people here are so desperately loyal to America, it has alot to do with the idea that what is American is permanent or that what is American comes with some sort of guarantee. Whatever is American can bring stability and order, anything else, whether it comes from Guam or from another island or another country cannot really be trusted. Ti anggokuyon hafa ti Inamerikanu. That is of course one of the main reasons why in most people's minds in Guam there are two very simple equations to understanding the military buildup. 1. More military = more money. 2. More military = more security. The first one is debatable, but leans towards being true. More military on island does provi

Desde ma anunsia na Si Sarah Palin inayek as John McCain para u VP gi i banda Republican, hu gof nanangga para i ineppe i Campaign Obama. Taimanu para u ma chonnek tatte kontra i dinagin McCain yan i inayek Palin? Put fin gi este na simana, ma na'publiko hafa iyo-niha strategy. Pau ma na'dana' gi i mensahi-niha, manasunto Famalao'an yan Ikonomia. Ya bei sangani hamyo, ti desganao yu'. Ti nina'desganao yu'. Put ma ayek este na tactic, ma apreba nu Guahu na magahet i fino' Obama yan Biden. I inetnon Democratic, ma ofrefresi "ideas" yan "policies" gi este na botashon, yan i inetnon Republicans, ma ofrefresi "personalities." Pau ma kena'hasso i taotao Amerika hayi mismo umofrefresi "solutions" para i prubleman-niha, ya hayi umofrefresi "tinaya'." Manmiresi i taotao Amerika gi maseha manu na ma bota. In recent weeks, given the glowing coverage that the Republicans have received as Sarah Palin shows

Several weeks ago on C-SPAN, I watched a sort of debate/forum for the Democratic Candidates on the issue of health care in the United States. Other than making me frustrated at the fact that I was watching with rapt attention close to a year before the primary seasons will even begin , I do enjoy the fact that certain issues are being debated and talked about in semi-sane ways, one of them being health care. The forum was fairly predictable and didn’t interest me that much. Most candidates seemed to take the position of evoking the language of health care equality and universal care and concern, or the debatable “American trait” of wanting to take care of all and make sure that they are okay, and taking cheap, weak, abstract and eventually meaningless shots at the health care industry, while pulling softly back from any real universal heath care system. Dennis Kucinich , stood out amongst a few candidates who is actively and openly pushing for universal health care. Not posing to be r