NO REST FOR THE AWAKE - MINAGAHET CHAMORRO

I've been wanting to write up some of my thoughts on i manggana' yan i manmapedde' in Election 2012 for Guam, but haven't gotten around to it yet. In the meantime, check out some of Ron McNinch's thoughts. He makes some good points, especially in terms of why certain candidates lost. I'm hoping to find some time this weekend since I also need to finalize my Guam Political Sign Awards for 2012.  ************** "Exit Poll and Additional Notes on the 2012 'Sniper' Election"  Dr. Ron McNinch Letter to the Editor Marianas Variety 11/08/12 OUR STUDENT exit poll showed 13 out of the 15 elected and had an overall placement rank of +/- 3.15 ranks for the top 20 places and a +/- 2.5 rank for the top 15. In general, both senators named Judi dropped nine places due to limiting voting effects. Judi Won Pat dropped from 1st to 10th and Judi Guthertz dropped from 10th to 19th. Exit polls are samples of voting behavior and are unlikely to ...

2012 Guam Election Results (courtesy of KUAM) Congressional 1 BORDALLO, Madeleine * Democrat 20,174 2 BLAS, Frank Jr. Republican 13,160 * Designates incumbent Senatorial 1 RODRIGUEZ, Dennis Jr. * Democrat 20,408 2 AGUON, Frank Jr. Democrat 19,820 3 ADA, Tom * Democrat 18,462 4 MORRISON, Tommy Republican 17,307 5 SAN NICOLAS, Michael Democrat 16,963 6 ADA, Tony * Republican 16,188 7 LIMTIACO, Mike Republican 16,150 8 DUENAS, Chris * Republican 16,022 9 CRUZ, Benjamin J. * Democrat 15,446 10 WON PAT, Judith * Democrat 15,333 11 MUNA BARNES, Tina * Democrat 15,084 12 PANGELINAN, Vicente 'Ben' * Democrat 15,031 13 YAMAS...

Obama, Tearful, Finishes Campaign In Iowa, Where It Started By Sam Stein, The Huffington Post Posted: 11/06/2012 12:50 am EST Updated: 11/06/2012 9:00 am EST   WASHINGTON -- As sentimentality goes, President Barack Obama hosting the last campaign event of his political career in Des Moines, Iowa, is hard to top. The Hawkeye State launched the then-junior senator from Illinois to national prominence. And there is a movie script-like quality to having such a historic political trajectory emerge out of the frosty cornfields. Speaking just steps from h...

I gayu-hu siha para i botasion 2012, hu pega i na'an-niha siha guini magi gi este na post. Tailugat yu' pa'go ya ti sina hu tuge' sa' hafa hu ayek siha, lao siempre bai hu na'klaru ayu gi otro diha. Gi i Democrat na patida na banda: Ben Pangelinan Judi Won Pat Tom Ada BJ Cruz Rory Respicio Tina Muna Barnes Frank Aguon Jr. Joe San Augustin Gi i Republican na patida na banda Aline Yamashita Michelle Taitano Roland Blas Este nas dos, buente bai hu bota, lao ti siguru yu'. Michael San Nicolas Judith Guthertz Anggen esta maregister hao, na'siguru na mambota hao pa'go. Anggen ti maregister hao, sa' hafa? Sa' hafa un yuyute' i direcho-mu?

  In my continuing efforts to ensure that I destroy myself I have started up yet another blog. This blog on the website Team Liquid, which is the largest community site for things related to the game Starcraft, will be naturally dedicated to things dealing with the limited amount of time I get to spend gaming every week. This blog will join the scattered and rag tag band of social online media that I try to run. I have this blog that I do not update as frequently as I used to. I have 3 tumblrs. A Twitter account I don't use much anymore. I have a Chamorro email sentence list I send out every day or so. I also have a weekly column in the Marianas Variety. In addition to all of this I am also doing National Novel Writing Month this month and although I already have 3000 words, I feel like I am behind. The title of my Starcraft blog is " The Bamboo Spear. " I love writing about nerd-related things because I like to combine that aspect of my life, with my love fo...

The Problem With America's History Books Posted: 11/01/2012 1:30 pm By Oliver Stone and Peter Kuznick Oliver Stone and Peter Kuznick are co-authors of The Untold History of the United States (Gallery Books, $30) It has become commonplace to deplore U.S. students' dismal performance in math and science when their test results are compared to those of students in other advanced and not-so-advanced industrial countries. But, it turns out, according to the Nation's Report Card, or National Assessment of Educational Progress, the federally administered test results released in June 2011, the area in which U.S. students perform most poorly is actually U.S. history. According to the results, only 12 percent of high school students were proficient in U.S. history. And only a scant 2 percent could identify the social problem addressed in Brown v. Board of...

The past few months have been difficult in terms of writing. I still write quite a bit, but I just don't find as much time as usual. I am currently the program coordinator for the Chamorro Studies program at UOG and in addition to this I have two kids and teach five classes and so down time where I can type or scratch out my thoughts feels about as rare as seeing a sihek in my backyard. But since November is National Novel Writing Month, I've decided to set aside time each day to work on a novel. Gof magof yu' put este, ya gof excited yu' para i mamaila na mes. My idea is one I've been thinking about for years and I've written about a few times on this blog. I call it "The Legend of the Chamurai." It is a story about how prior to the Spanish colonization of Guam in 1668, an event took place that has almost been completely lost in Guam History. This is the period where the Spanish interacted with Chamorros and visited Guam, but did not settle ther...

The conservative echo chamber on Guam isn’t very large but it is very persistent. Guam doesn’t really have a Fox News that can pound into our heads everyday a consistent, hateful terrifying public ideology. Some Chamorros say that K57 News and talk radio plays that role, but this isn’t really true. K57 has the interesting role of being fairly liberal in a national context, but fairly conservative in a local context. K57, like most media on Guam is pretty inconsistent in its messaging.  Even though there is no mecca for this conservative echo chamber it still exists. This network exists through the collection of certain events, figures and signifiers. Over time this collection gains strength and loses strength. These signifiers can at certain moments achieve a potent and undeniable aura, and other times bleed insignificance. This collection doesn’t exist for the same reason that conservative networks exist in the states. In Guam what pumps life into this network, what ma...

From Maya Angelou: ***************** Dear Michael, I am not writing to you as a black voter, or a woman voter, or as a voter who is over 70 years old and six feet tall. I am writing to you as a representative of this great country -- as an American. It is your job to vote. It is your responsibility, your right, and your privilege. You may be pretty or plain, heavy or thin, gay or straight, poor or rich. But remember this: In an election, every voice is equally powerful -- don't underestimate your vote. Voting is the great equalizer. Voting has already begun in some states that President Obama needs to win. So please use this handy tool to make sure your friends in those key states know where to cast their ballot. You will be doing them a great favor. As a country, we can scarcely perceive the magnitude of our progress. My grandmother and my uncle experienced circumstances that would break your heart. When they went to vote, they were asked impossible ...

“Get Out the Vote” Michael Lujan Bevacqua  October 24, 2012 The Marianas Variety Daniel Ellsberg was infamous during the Vietnam War era for his releasing of documents that later became known as “The Pentagon Papers.” Ellsberg was working as an analyst for the RAND Corporation at that time and had access to numerous top-secret documents dealing with the ways in which the United States was prosecuting the war in Vietnam. Through his work Ellsberg was privy to the fact that the White House under President Johnson had systematically lied to Congress and to the American people about the war in Vietnam. It was an important moment in given some credibility to the sometimes instinctive feeling that people have that their government cannot be trusted. The Pentagon Papers proved that we often times dismiss things that have a conspiratorial quality to them precisely so we can never find out if they are true or not. Ellsberg is a hero for many progressive...