NO REST FOR THE AWAKE - MINAGAHET CHAMORRO

The Long and the Short of It: As the World Turns: Merry Christmas from Guam: Where America's Day Begins December 2007 By Tony Artero (realtor) Historically, men and women in our country’s military services sacrificed their life in defense of our freedoms. Yet many of our military veterans are overwhelmed by political and bureaucratic problems. There are numerous examples of such mistreatment. On Guam, a U.S. soil, it has always been, “never mind the law.” The indigenous people were and still are treated as criminals by edict of the government. It is a tragedy which has befallen a friendly, patriotic, and peace-loving people who are needed by no one. Foreign powers has always wanted only the island for its strategic location and, after World War II, its people were evicted from their fertile lands. The U.S. forcefully took two-thirds of the land on Guam under the guise of national defense. The taking was excessively more than needed, massively reducing the property tax roll, and the...

David Gregory shows why he's the perfect replacement for Tim Russert by Glen Greenwald Monday Dec. 29, 2008 08:07 EST (updated below - Update II - Update III) Several months before he was named as moderator of Meet the Press, David Gregory went on MSNBC to categorically reject Scott McClellan's accusations that the American media failed to scrutinize the Bush administration's pre-war claims. Gregory vigorously praised the job which he and his "journalistic" colleagues did in the run-up to the Iraq War -- the period which Salon's Gary Kamiya called "one of the greatest collapses in the history of the American media." Proclaimed Gregory, with a straight face: "Questions were asked. I think we pushed. I think we prodded. I think we challenged the President. Not only those of us in the White House Press Corps did that, but others in the media landscape did that." Most revealingly of all, Gregory said: I think there are a lot of critics who t...

I've dreamed for years about a Chamorro Studies program or department at the University of Guam. This possibility was one of the things which helped push me through graduate school and compelled me to return to Guam and work at UOG. A Chamorro studies program could be an incredible force in assisting with various potential processes of decolonization. It could be a central force in the publication of historical, cultural, critical or consciousness building texts. It could be a key player in helping build social social for different movements or help in the securing of funding and other resources. It could also be a site for the grooming and educating of future Chamorro/Guam leaders. It could, on the other hand be none of the these things and end up as a conservative department, and maybe just existing as an arm of the Guam Visitor's Bureau, where kosas Chamorro are just things to pretty the island up for tourists. But the possibilities that it represents are worth those sorts o...

Si Justin Raimondo i mas ya-hu na "conservative." Ya-hu gui' put i hinasso-na put gera yan gumegera. Guiya i ma'gas i website Antiwar.com . Ya gi todu i internet yan i telebishon, todu ma sasangan put i nuebu na hinatmen Israel kontra i Taotao Palestine, ya Israel la'mon yan gaihustisia este na pinino' siha. Taimanu taiguini? Gi Ethnic Studies, siempe para bei in alok na este na isaon Amerikanu yan Israel, todu put "national security" yan "ina'paka." Lao yanggen humalom hao gi Antiwar.com, sina un taitai mas magahet mas minagahet na tinige' put este na gera yan todus i geran pa'go na tiempo siha. Fihu hu gof chatli'e i Nasion Israel put este na chine'gue. Tufong gi unu na kannai-mu kuantos na taotao Israel mampinino' ni' i taotao Palestine? Sina un na'omlat i numero gi unu na kannai-mu. Lao "no way palau" na un hulat tumufong todu i manmatai gi i bandan Palestine gi i kalulot-mu gi unu na kannai-mu....

There are a handful of promising signs in both the United States and Guam that those who care about labor or class issues from a "progressive" or "liberal" slant, will have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. There are plenty of labor activists out there who are praising Obama's selection of California Congresswoman Hilda Solis as Secretary of Labor. In 2000 she received a Profiles in Courage Award, click here to read a statement from Senator Ted Kennedy on her work. There is also hope that the Democrats and Obama will be good on their promise to pass a " Union Bill " next year, which will be aimed at revitalizing unions in the United States and making it easier for employees to become unionized. This will be an incredibly important bill, especially in the context of the recent debate over whether or not to bail out the big American auto-makers. Whereas the government was more than eager to bail out massive corporations without unions, for some r...

Gaige yu' ta'lo giya San Diego. Gi este yan i otro na simana para bei in asodda' yan iyo-ku "department" put i dissertation-hu. Magof-hu na gaige gui' guini, sa' esta kana' maleleffa i "fino' academic" put i gaige-ku giya Guahan. My department at UCSD, Ethnic Studies is in the midst of rebuilding itself after losing several faculty over the past few years. So last week and this week the department is being visited by several candidates, each of whom is meeting with faculty, students and giving jobs talks. I went to the one this morning, and also got to have lunch with the job candidate with other students. It was a good chance to catch up with other students, find out what is going on with their work, whether it be a thesis, a qualifying exam or a dissertation. At the lunch, I heard updates from one student whose thesis and soon her dissertation will be on Agent Orange use in the Vietnam War. I'm not sure yet what approach she's g...

Published on Thursday, December 18, 2008 by The Capital Times (Wisconsin) Workers Laid Off, Execs Paid Off by Amy Goodman The global financial crisis deepens, with more than 10 million in the U.S. out of work, according to the Department of Labor. Unemployment hit 6.7 percent in November. Add the 7.3 million "involuntary part-time workers," who want to work full time but can't find a position. Jobless claims have reached a 26-year high, while 30 states reportedly face potential shortfalls in their unemployment insurance pools. The stunning failure of regulators like the Securities and Exchange Commission was again highlighted, as former NASDAQ head Bernard Madoff (you got it, pronounced "made off") was arrested for allegedly running the world's largest criminal pyramid scheme, with losses expected at $50 billion, dwarfing those from the Enron scandal. The picture is grim - unless, that is, you are a corporate executive. The $700 billion financial bailout pac...

Gof mahalang yu' nu Cricket gi este na sakkan! I was starved for international cricket for most of this year. Despite a handful of exciting tours or conflicts, such as India winning a 4 match Test series against Australia 2-0 and Zimbabwe almost beating Sri Lanki in an ODI match, there were huge gaps with not much going on, and several tours cancelled. "Turmoil" in India, Zimbabwe and Pakistan have caused several tours and one tournament to be cancelled. Kada na ogga'an, anai humalom yu' gi i internet, i fine'nina na website na hu bisita "Cricinfo." Mo'na kinu " KUAM " pat " Guampdn " pat "Hotmail." Desde i ma'pos na sakkan gof impottante kosas Cricket gi lina'la'-hu, sa' fihu hu egga' yan taitai put Guiya para i minagof-hu pat iyo-ku "tiempon taiche'cho'." Bai hu admite na ti geftungo' yu' put kosas Cricket. Achokka' ya-hu gui' pa'go, taya' tiningo'-h...

This week in an AP interview, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, when asked about the postwar reconstruction efforts in Iraq, and the waste and corruption that had taken place, attempted to make a clear (yet untenable) distinction in what monies had been lost or wasted. Q: But the cost in terms of lives and in terms of the money and the abuse of money – (inaudible) was money wasted, there was money that was siphoned off, corruption and that kind of thing, you’re — RICE: Not of American money. Not American money. I don’t think that you will find that anybody is arguing that there was corruption in the American programs. Think Progress and reality beg to differ with this assessment, and listed on their website a half dozen ways in which American money and American programs and firms have been at the center of the transformationg of Iraq into one of the most corrupt nations in the world. If Secretary Rice and other Bush officials need more evidence of American corruption in Iraq, I g...