NO REST FOR THE AWAKE - MINAGAHET CHAMORRO

Gi i mas homhom na patten i puengi I nana-ta yan I tata-ta siha, manmapuno' Man ma amot hit Sina un hungok i mililak i hagan-niha Gi guinaifin i manglo' Sina ta hungok i chalek-niha Gi i pineddong i ichan I mengmong i korason-niha Poddong taiguihi i estreyas ginnen i langhet I puengi yan i halom tano', sagan-niha pa'go Guihi gi i hale yan i hagon siha ni' muna'chochocho i anti-ta Ni' ma o'oppe I finaisen-ta siha put i tano' Kueston-ta put hayi hit? yan Ginnen manu hit magi? Si nana-ta yan tata-ta na gaige siha gi respuesta Siha umaladu i edda', ma tanom i trengko siha, mameska i tasi Siha muna'i hit ni' i haga' ni' malalgo kulang saddok siha gi halom i tahtaotao-ta siha Ginnen i mas homhom na patten i puenge yan i tano' Manonoghe siha, kesnuda yan manmana'atan gi entre i trengko siha Huyong giya Hita Manmannangga. Manmanhahasso. Sina un li'e i langun-niha gi i kinalamten i tasi I kinekuyong i tasi

Despensa na apmam desde pumost yu' guini. Estaba gaige yu' giya Hawaii para Krismas, ya put i bumabakashon-hu, sigi' ha' maleffa yu' pumost. Lao esta matto yu' ta'lo giya San Diego, pues bei tutuhun ta'lo. Lao para pa'go, este ha' sa' tumunok yu' ginnen i batkon aire gof taftaf gi i egga'an, ya mampos yayas yu'.

I was just surfing the net, and I googled "michael moore" and "Guam," and the first thing that popped up was a anti-Michael Moore website message board, which have this link, describing the places outside of Vietnam where Agent Orange was used. http://www.vetshome.com/agent_orange_use_outside_of_viet.htm

Rapa Nui and the Marianas: Approaches to a Comparative Analysis. Steve Pagel, Martin Luther Universitaat Abstract Clarence Darrow once said that history repeats itself, and that this is just one of its failings. Taking up this hypothesis, this paper will contrast the current language contact on Rapa Nui with a simliar historical situation at the opposite end of the Pacific: the Marianas. In 1898 an era of spanish hegemony came to an end on these islands that had lastet nearly three centuries, a timespan in which the intensive contact with the colonial power left its profound marks on both the islands' culture and language. Rogers (1995), for instance, states a hybrid culture for the major island Guam at the end of the 19th century which had entirely absorbed the indigenous population, the Chamoru, and thus it may not seem surprising that the language of these "Neo-Chamoru" has long become an essential part of the language-contact debate (cf. Albalá Hernández/Rodrígu

Miget: Hey, hafa lai. Mamaolek ha' todus giya Hamyo? Jose: Hunggan lai, maolek todu. Jesus: Hu'u nai. Miget: Hey, kao en egga' ayu na nuebu na mubi ginnen Si Shah Rukh Khan? Jose: Manu ayu? Jesus: Kao kumuekuentos hao put ayu yan Si Pretty Kinta? Hafa ma a'gang ayu? Jose: Veer Zaara lai. Jesus: Hunggan nai, kao ayu? Miget: Ahe' ahe'. Guaha ni' mas nuebu. Mafana'an gui' Swades. Jose: Hafa kumekeilek-na Swades? Miget: Gi fino' Chamorro, kumekeilek-na "Taotao." Jesus: Ke ya hafa? Esta un egga'? Kao ya-mu? Miget: Ahe' tribiha, agupa' para u mana'huyong giya San Diego, pues bei egga'. Jose: Pues sangani yu' hafa hinasso-mu put Guiya. Ya-hu Si Shah Rukh, gof fotte na petsona. Jesus: Ya bunitu lokkue. Hehehe. Fihu i famalao'an ma cheflayi gui', nai humalom gui' gi i screen. Miget: Magahet hamyo, lao para Guahu, esta o'sun yu' nu ayu na petsona ni' sigi

For anyone who wants to bust out some Hindi on an unsuspecting someone... after describing how something sucks, but you've gotta do it, or it must be done, repeat the following phrase. Sab Ganda hai Par Sab Danda hai Here is an example of how its used in conversation: Jose: Lana prim, kao un hongge' i taimamahlao-na este na maga'lahi pa'go? Jesus: Ahe' lai, baba este. Batbarias todu. Jose: Lao hafa sina ta cho'gue? Taya'... sab ganda hai, par sab danda hai

There are two parts of our consciousness on Guam which must be gotten rid of. 1. That we are isolated. 2. That we are too small. While most people will state this things as if they are detatched unquestionable facts, the acceptance of these things feeds forcefully into the limiting ways we see ourselves on Guam. These two points come from centuries of colonization by at least three imperial powers, Spain, Japan and the United States. The by product of most colonial missions, is the indoctrination of the colonized with not just feelings of inferiority, but crucial needs and desires to depend on the colonizer. So on Guam, we see ourselves as being very very small, very very far away, therefore the only real way that we see ourselves connected with the rest of the world, is through the United States. But because this relationship, this connection isn't innocent, but instead part of our colonial and colonizing relationship, it helps us see this connectedness in very specifi

I just had a moment of cultural clarity the other day. While trying on some new pants that my ex-girlfriend had bought me, I tucked my shirt in to see what it would look like. Normally unless someone demands that I tuck it in, I never tuck my shirt it. When I was modelling it, my ex remarked, "how whoa, nice pants. Now you look Chamorro." Guana? Hu hasso na'ya put i sinangan-na. Kao magahet este? Pues hu hasso put fihu i trihin i Chamorro lahi, ya hu realisa na magahet, hunggan! Sesso ma tuck in i franelan-niha. So, sporting my new "Chamorro" look I realized one of the many reasons why Chamorro girls never hit on me. I don't do tucked it, which means I'm hip hop, but then I don't dress hip hop and I don't act hip hop, so therefore, this combined with my painted clothes, that fact that I speak Chamorro and speak English weird means that I slip through all sorts of categories of attraction. Will this epiphany lead me to para mo'na t

When Europeans created modernity, a centerpiece to its development was the doing away with the primitive and premodern idea that everything is and should be interrelated. The natural world and the human world must be isolated from each other, and only through their vigorous separate investigations can we find true "modern" knowledge. We can see the effects of this is an infinite number of ways in which our lives and our existences become dependent upon keeping certain parts of ourselves separate from other parts. Powerful interests are also at work in these demarcations. The development of the atomic bomb and other powerfully nasty and dangerous weapons depended on people only thinking that these things were being created for "scientific" purposes only, therefore not needing to question their human consequences. On Guam today we see ourselves connected to the rest of the world in very narrow and specific ways. The most obvious and dominating connection is o

This was published last month in the Guam Federation of Teachers magazine. Just thought I'd share it. Water privatization is something everyone on this planet should know more about, as it means turning over the basic needs of life, to an institution whose desire is to make money. Just think about health care, and then think about privatizing water. Na'ma'a'nao no? Hunggan gof na'ma'a'nao... The goal of capitalism has always been to sustain profits, the purpose and goal of water has been to sustain life. If some of our political and business leaders have their way and privatize our island’s water utilities, the purpose of water on Guam will soon be to sustain profits. In 2002 the United Nations finally got around to formalizing what every indigenous culture has known since ever since, when it consecrated water and access to water as a sacred right, a human right. But while the nations of the world met to designate water as something which must be used

Wondering how to take down Bush? (metaphorically) One important point to attack is the commonplace notion amongst those within the military and outside of it that Republicans support the troops more, or that Bush, because he is manly and talks like he was lobotomized by a broomstick, is the man who really loves our troops in a manly, ass pat, gang rape kind of way. This and using 9/11 are big parts of what gives Bush power. Note that he may not actually have any affection for the troops or they may have no real loyalty towards him, but the perception is more important than actually loyalty in this instance. This is why I am very excited to hear more and more about soldiers resisting indoctrination, and soldiers resisting being sent to war. CBS news recently reported that more than 5,000 troops have deserted since the war in Iraq began. Several months ago, a group from Mississippi, just flat out refused a mission because they weren't properly supplied and were certain that

I wrote this last year in Minagahet to commemorate the 62nd year since the United States started a world war and ended up killing hundreds of Chamorros because of it. The issues haven't really changed, so I thought I'd reprint it here. You can find the original here, http://www.geocities.com/minagahet/hacha.htm . Happy US Imperialism Day! Rethinking the Chamorro Place in the American Empire by Michael Lujan Bevacqua This December 8th will be the 62nd anniversary of the Japanese invasion of Guam, and coming next year in July, will be the 60th anniversary of the “liberation” of Guam. But before we unpack our American flags, or start practicing Uncle Sam won’t you please come back to Guam again, it is time for Chamorros to really rethink about what they are celebrating, which is far from a liberation, or reoccupation, or patriotism, but in actuality war, imperialism and militarism. But how could this not be expected, really? Considering that our, and therefore Guam

Time to once again celebrate how important U.S. Imperialism is to us on Guam! While so many on Guam are celebrating the feast day of Santa Maria Kamalen, let's not forget that 63 years ago, the Chamorro people of Guam were abandoned by the United States military, left to fight against the Japanese, in a war the United States helped to start. Thinking back to that day, we should remember that we, as a people weren't of any value to the US military then, and we shouldn't feel that we are any more valuable now. This is what drives me nuts everyday. Why do Chamorros have so much love for the military? Liberation Day is the usual answer (as well as 'we can't survive without them!'), But my answer to that is, US Imperialism Day. When will we have a parade to celebrate our abandonment or our being treated as expendable? When will the ghosts of those tortured or killed during the war on Guam ever rest? Don't we see how we dance across their deaths keep

This week the Center for Health and the Global Environment at Harvard Medical School presented its fourth annual Global Environment Citizen Award to Bill Moyers. In presenting the award, Meryl Streep, a member of the Center board, said, "Through resourceful, intrepid reportage and perceptive voices from the forward edge of the debate, Moyers has examined an environment under siege with the aim of engaging citizens." Here is the text of his response to Ms. Streep's presentation of the award: I accept this award on behalf of all the people behind the camera whom you never see. And for all those scientists, advocates, activists, and just plain citizens whose stories we have covered in reporting on how environmental change affects our daily lives. We journalists are simply beachcombers on the shores of other people's knowledge, other people's experience, and other people's wisdom. We tell their stories. The journalist who truly deserves this award is my fr

I'm sitting in the library at UCSD pouring through the entire run of Pacific History. Lana, ti hu hongge este na manapa'ka siha. The things they write about us! Did they think we would never learn how to read? Or never see it? But I should be careful though, and not make it seem like you can only find this stuff in dusty, cob webbed, graduate student filled libraries. You can find it on the pages of the PDN, or in press releases from the Department of Interior, or from just talking to a politicians in Washington D.C. about the future of Guam. If we don't start talking about ourselves, then we are gonna end up being ruled by the ways others see us. One can already see this happened in how decolonization is discussed or how the govermnet of Guam is discussed. Think about what we take to be common sense on Guam, chances are if we were to step back from it, we can see ourselves just parroting Joe Murphy.

Chatsaga' yu' gi i finakpo'n i quarter-hu pues mappot para bei post esta ki munhayan todu. Despensa yu'...lao mungga chathinasso, bulala' ha' na malago yu' sumangan...hehehehe.

Na'tufok i kannai-ta Faniente na sumiha Na'lahihot Na'lamafnot Na'dana i kannai-ta Na'unu i mengmong-ta Na'lahihot Na'lamafnot Mungga Mapula' Na'inos i kannai-ta Na'fitme na humita Taihinekok Guinaiya-ta Mungga Mapula'

The seperations in our lives have to be re-thought. I'm currently in a Ph.D. program, and nearly everyone in my group thinks and acts based on assumptions that our lives must be divided, most specifically whatever is learned in school or from books, must stay in that context and not seep into their "real" lives. For me personally, I don't see how anyone can really believe this. The ways our lives are divided up aren't natural, but rather constructed based on specific histories and elevation of certain ideas about how humans are supposed to live. This division between our "work" and our "play" is one clear example, and although to most people it might seem like a very "real" division, in what ways are we limited if we subscribe to this idea? First of all, it allows us to see how stuff created in universities, probably just stays there. This might be true in some ways, but it keeps us from seeing the powerful role universities

A few ways the Democrats in the US can be saved, courtesy of Joe Trippi, Howard Dean's former campaign manager. Democrats can't keep ignoring their base. Running to the middle and then asking our base to make sure to vote isn't a plan. And to those who say talking to your base doesn't work -- Read the Rove 2004 playbook! Democrats must reconnect with the energy of our grass roots. One of the failures of the DLC was that its ideas never helped us build a grass-roots donor base. As a result, Democrats held a lead over Republicans in only one fundraising category before this election cycle: contributions over one million dollars. That shows how far the party had strayed from grassroots fundraising before the Dean campaign. We must build a base of at least seven million small donors by 2006. With the Internet it's possible. But it can't just be about the money, it also has to be about ideas. The one thing we learned in the Dean campaign was that the 30 pe

Hekkua' hafa bei post pa'go. Taya' gi hinasso-ku fuera di na gof mahalang yu' nu i tano'-hu. Ai adai, ti ya-hu i lina'la' guini. I kistumbre, ti ya-hu. Sa' debi di bai individual guini, ya ga'na'-ku an gi linahayan. Mankinenne' todu guini ni' inindividual, lao ti magahet yan ti anggokuyon. Gi este na lina'la' debi di ta na'chilong i sinienten ininu yan linahayan. Yanggen un aguguiyi unu ni' i etro, siempre pon na'basnak todu.

Un otro na tinige' Si Naomi Klein... Kerry and the Gift of Impunity by Naomi Klein Iconic images inspire love and hate, and so it is with the photograph of James Blake Miller, the 20-year-old Marine from Appalachia who has been christened "the face of Falluja" by prowar pundits and "The Marlboro Man" by pretty much everyone else. Reprinted in more than a hundred newspapers, the Los Angeles Times photograph shows Miller "after more than twelve hours of nearly nonstop deadly combat" in Falluja, his face coated in war paint, a bloody scratch on his nose, and a freshly lit cigarette hanging from his lips. Gazing lovingly at Miller, Dan Rather confessed that, "for me, this is personal.... This is a warrior with his eyes on the far horizon, scanning for danger. See it, study it, absorb it. Think about it. Then take a deep breath of pride. And if your eyes don't dampen, you're a better man or woman than I." A few days later, the LA

Chamorro jokes and jokes from other islanders/peoples in the Pacific. Some of them are messed up, others of them are hysterical. http://pacifictimes.tripod.com/jokes.htm

from the Pacific Daily News Thursday, November 9, 2000 Status change lacks legs to stand on. by Charles Troutman I am not surprised that our political leadership is not leading the way toward status change. There is nothing to which they, or any other group, can lead us. No one seems to have a publicly accepted philosophy of government sufficient to support a status change and certainly none that is internal to Guam. The right to self-determination is generated by the United Nations Charter, to which the United States adheres when it is convenient. Our discussions over commonwealth status have made it abundantly clear that the United States, despite Guam's problems, finds it inconvenient to recognize anything but the status quo. No one has suggested, apart from commonwealth and statehood, just what our new government would look like. Compare that to the 13 colonies before and during the American Revolution. They possessed the three pillars -- or stool legs -- necess

From http://www.commondreams.org Why is this assertion ridiculous? Why is it insane that we hold US troops and leaders to the legal standards which others such as Saddam Hussein, Milosovich, Agusto Pinochet are being held? If the United States is truly interested in spreading democracy and equality before the law and before humanity, then shouldn't it begin by signing international law treaties? Which would make all nations the same before the law? Ask someone who disagrees with this to explain why, and they won't have much to say except that its "ridiculous." Wednesday, November 17, 2004 - 12:30pm by Russell Mokhiber Mokhiber: Kofi Annan in September said that the Iraq war is an illegal war. If it is an illegal war, then the 100,000 who have died there – according to the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health – are victims of war crimes. Now, the President is going to Canada later this year. And the largest circulation newspaper in Canada (the Toronto Sta

Ai gof fotte este na kachido', lao ti siguru' yu' na bai hu hulat umeksplika gui' gi fino' Chamorro. Egga' i kachido' "love me if you dare," (mismo gi fino' Frances). Pau fina'nu'i hao na gof tahdong yan gof kaduku guinaiya. Meggai i manera na sina humuyong, lao todu dipotsi tahdong. Impottante na ta espiha i tinahdong na siniente, enlugat di i inannok na sinangan. Mungga ma hongge ha' an guaha ni' sumangan "hu guaiya hao," atan para i kinalamten ni' sumangan "guinaiya" pat muna'siente hao i tinahdong-na nu Hagu. Impottante i tinahdong, sa' gof piligro guinaiya. An un bense hao na mangguaiya hao, debi di un baba hao todu, yan babayi gui' (nu i taotao ni' un guaiya) ni' Hinagu (todu ni' Hagu). Gof piligro este, sa' achokka' sina un siente na gof tahdong ni' inasinienten-miyu, taya' siniguru esta ki umatoktok hamyo yan umunu i hinasson-miyu.

Kao linemlem hamyo ni' i matulaika-na Guahan? Estaba mangof banidosu hit put i minangge' i kutturan Chamorro giya Guahan, sa' gof geftao, ya pues taya' ni' taiguma'. Lao sigun i PDN, matulaika todu, ya sigi ha' mamta i manaiguma' giya Guahan. Hayi ta sukne put este? Hita? Sa' ti ta dalalalaki yan o'osge i kistimbren i manaina-ta? Achokka' hunggan matulaika i Chamorro pa'go, sa' manggof geftaotao siha kalang i antes na tiempo, isaon i United States este. Desde ma na'dokko i sisteman gubetnamento yan lina'la' guini, manninahulo'guan todu este na problema siha. Achokka' dipotsi na manchilong (manequal) todu gi i sisteman US hun, ti magahet ayu. Mas maolek siempre nai i hinasson Chamorro i sisteman hinasso-ta. Lao desde ta aksepta i nina'in i US, manmatulaika hit taiguini, ya pa'go bula mannaiguma' yan manmasa'pet giya Guahan. Yanggen malago hit ta fa'maolek este, debi di ta na'la'l

I just finished watching "The United States of Leland" a pretty good movie, but not in the conventional sense. Its not a feel good movie, if you are looking for pre-packaged morality. This film explores how the way we traditionally think about things being right/wrong, or what can be considered an acceptable or believable cause for something are so limiting, and can't really explain things, both large and small. When we search for a specific cause for something which has happened, how does that prevent us from understanding anything at all? When looking for something which will align itself with our existing beliefs and proofs, what do we miss? We can we not see in that blind spot that is ourselves? Anyways, here are the lyrics from a song from the film titled "Undone" by Imperial Teen. When you hear the song, and listen to the lyrics you can definitely feel as though the artists and the filmakers have stumbled across something they probably didn't mea

For those of you interesting in the massive evidence that there was fraud in this election, there are several liberal sites out there which are dilligently keeping track of what the mainstream media has decided to ignore. These investigations might not change the election, but they might yield some damaging indictments or cases against certain Republicans, such as the Secretary of States in Florida or Ohio, who were obviously making partisan moves prior to the election. Sties which can tell you more are: http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com http://www.democraticunderground.com http://www.boboharris.com http://www.commondreams.org http://www.alternet.org http://www.dailykos.com Also, we should all be grateful to the Green Party for forcing a recount of the votes in Ohio. It seems nowadays that only people like Ralph Nader, John Anderson, the Greens and others know what democracy is supposed to be about.

American dreams...that seems to the be most significant problem of consciousness and identity in our people right now. This emphasis on attaining the American dream, which of course ends up Americanizing their own dreams. "If you are caught in the dream of another, then you are lost." Our people have become obsessed with American dreams, and actively work to trap and tangle themselves in them. The problems with these dreams is that they dictate the ways in which we think and act, and believe about ourselves. I attended a presentation by a lady who has collected three volumes of interviews with Pacific Islanders, titled "Pacific Islanders Talk Story." It is all about the ways in which Pacific Islanders deal with being invisible or tiny in big bad America. She discussed how we as Pacific Islanders need to work harder to achieve the American dream. How we need to figure out what in our culture is holding us back, or what doesn't let us succeed in America. My que

There is a Pacific Islander Education conference this weekend at CSU Long Beach, I'll presenting there about Pacific Islanders in higher education with i kayu-hu Si Mike Perez from CSU Fullerton and Soledad Santos from Evergreen College in San Jose. If you can make it, please try, its a great opprotunity to discuss issues and make plans for the future.

Ai adai, guaha na hu post guini, lao ma'pos nai hu "load" gui' gi halom i computer. Ya apmam na tiempo maloffan desde hu post este, pues esta maleffa yu' hafa mismo i pinest-hu! Despensa yu'...

I'm looking for any Chamorus or Chamorros out there with blogs who want to link to mine. As you can see down on the right, I have a section for blogs I feel people should check out. So far there's only one there from Guam, but I'd like to find more out there, especially from people who are as concerned about the future of the Chamorro people as I am.

For those needing a little pick me up/ cheer me up, here's 9 reasons why we Chamorros, as a colonized people should be happy that Bush won! (na'on fan iyo-mu sense of humor antes di un tutuhun tumaitai este, sa' gi minagahet mampos tinemba yan triniste yu' put i manggana-na Si Bush. Lao hinasso-ku na maolekna an hu hatme gui' ni' nina'chalek enlugat di fino' chatli'e. Gi este bai hu fa'nu'i i binaba yan i dimalas ni' mamaila ni' nina'chalek.) 1. Whenever Bush speaks about Chamorros or Guam, we'll have new lexical identifiers! Get ready! Liberation Day 2005, we'll be the Guamorro people! Liberation Day 2006, we'll be the Chaumerican people! And who knows what Bush's badly damaged brain has in store for us in 2007? Guaminese? Chamorrainian? MINAGOF SIEMPRE! 2. George Bush in 2000 said that he against status changes for any of the US colonies. Well that's good, because think of all the money we'll save by not

For those with some extra money on them, please notice the donation button to the right of this post. Feel free to donate any amount, and take comfort in knowing that your money will go to help this struggling, starving college student buy food, books or gas. Put fabot fan, na'i yu' fan ni' limosna. Ti gefsaga' yu' desde matto yu' gi lagu, yan todu manguaguan guini, sa' taya' familia-ku, pues Guahu ha' fumahani yu' ni' gas! Ai na'ma'ase todu, yanggen gefli'e hao na taotao, na'i ha', siempre magofna hao, sa' un ayuda un gof na'ma'ase na patgon.

An interesting quote from Simila's Sense of Snow... "The number system is like human life. First you have the natural numbers. The ones that are whole and positive. Like the numbers of a small child. But human consciousness expands. The child discovers longing. Do you know the mathematical expression for longing? The negative numbers. The formalization of the feeling that you’re missing something. Then the child discovers the in-between spaces, between stones, between people, between them and that produces fractions."

You know you're doing the right thing when you make the haolified or deeply colonized Chamorros uncomfortable. I happened to type "minagahet" into Google and came across a lovely message thread where someone was trashing my websites as "brown trash" calling those who write on it or post on our message boards as "racists." The fact that someone actually typed this down, and actually spelled the words properly means that I am having some sort of impact. Check out this exchange I came across. Some guy... I just wanted to say I surfed through the webring at the member sites and want to ask why you let members in that detract from the good spirit of the island? have you looked at the Kopbla Amerika page and their forum as well as minagahet zine? boy what a bunch of brown trash. So some other cool guy responds... What part of "anything and everything Chamorro" did you not understand? We are Chamorro's by birth and Americans by

Letter sent out November 13, 2004 about the Draft and Guam's Balate' Population Hafa Adai todus i manaina-hu yan mane'lu-hu siha, Si Yu'us Ma'ase Sinot Dabit Herrera para i gefli'e na fino'-mu put i tinige'-hu. Annok na ti manchilong hit yan i taotaogues giya Amerika, pues sa' hafa na sigi ha' i Chamorro manaonao setbisisu yan tekuni i banderan US, mas ki ma respetu i banderan Guahan? Debi di ta kulu (estudia) este na hinasso mas, sa' yanggen sina ta komprende i hinasson i "mampatriotik na Chamorro siha" sina ta komprende lokkue taimanu mannina'colonized i hinasso-ta siha ni' kosas Amerika yan lina'la Amerika. Yanggen ma fa'draft ta'lo guenao giya Guahan, debi di ta mumu ayu. Sa' yanggen maloffan ayu ta'lo, maloffan lokkue i atdet na mafa'ga'ga'n i Chamorro. Dimalas este, sa' yanggen i taotao-ta sigi ha' ma dimu pappa' gi me'nan i Amerikanu siha, kalang Si Yu'us, t

From http://www.NoLogo.org "Rocket the Vote" by Naomi Klein > November 9 2004 P. Diddy announced on the weekend that his “Vote or Die” campaign will live on. The hip-hop mogul's voter-registration drive during the U.S. presidential elections was, he said, merely “phase one, step one for us to get people engaged.” Fantastic. I have a suggestion for phase two: P. Diddy, Ben Affleck, Leonardo DiCaprio and the rest of the self-described “Coalition of the Willing” should take their chartered jet and fly to Fallujah, where their efforts are desperately needed. But first they are going to need to flip the slogan from “Vote or Die!” to “Die, Then Vote!” Because that is what is happening there. Escape routes have been sealed off,homes are being demolished, and an emergency health clinic has been razed—all in the name of preparing the city for January elections. In a letter to United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan, U.S.-appointed Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Alla

Bright Spots By Evan Derkacz , AlterNet . Posted November 10, 2004 . Asking people to look on the bright side of Election 2004 is, to quote Kristina Wilfore of the Ballot Initiative Strategy Center, "a little like asking Mrs. Lincoln how the show was." Progressives are reeling and grasping for bearings after a confusing and upsetting loss on Nov. 2. And why shouldn't they be? For millions, it was the first time they'd dared to hope in a long, long time. But there are reasons to remain hopeful. Despite the high-profile electoral losses and the passage of 11 anti-gay measures, there were dozens of successes and encouraging trends for the progressive cause – most of which came at the local level. Poor Dr. King; he's always turned to when things look bleakest – and now is no different. The latest of his inspiring words making the rounds in post-election e-mails: "The arc of history is long, but it bends toward justice." This story is about focusing for a mom