Hafa adai ginen i hagan Guahan

Ka oha Taibo Hafa adai Ráán ánnim Bula vi naka Jinisa Aloha Naimbag a bigatyo Maayo nga adlaw Halo Nagapuam Mayap ayabak Malia goe Mauri Lwen wo Ena koe Kia ora Kaoha nui Yokwe yokwe Fakaalofa atu Etowi Danuaa Alii Kauangerang Maabig ya kabuasán Kaselehlia ‘Iorana Noa ‘ ia ‘e mauri Talofa Mabuhay Ia ora na Taloha ni Malo e lelei Maqayu Mogethin Wis wei

Monday, February 21, 2011

The birth of collective bargaining, AFSME, progressive labor movement.....

Republicans seek to strike a dagger in the heart of the labor movement:

The Progressive's Rothschild: Russ Feingold Will be WI Gov.

The Progressive's Matt Rothschild is interviewed by the UpTake.

Sunday, February 20, 2011

Saturday, February 12, 2011

We Are Guahan Takes on the Rotary Crowd

There is a new leadership emerging on our island. A leadership that speaks for the people of Guahan and is not afraid to call out the truth when twisted words are used to strike at us and keep us from being whole.



We Are Guahan: DoD Broke Law and Promises

Tuesday, February 8, 2011

Ralph Nader Tags Obama Cowtowing to Chamber of Commerce

My presidential candidates never win...




Once again, one of my favorite bloggers, Bruce Gagnon of Organizing Notes posting & commenting:http://space4peace.blogspot.com/

Thursday, February 3, 2011

Pågat Is A Misconception

"Route 15 Lands, umbe."



The moneychangers have placed their bets and are now salivating over the proported half-a-billion-dollars dangling from the DoD stick. We must disregard cultural significance. We must cast aside Chamoru identity. We must capitulate to the sway of the dead chorus and their souless glare.

But there is something worth fighting for. Something worth standing up to those who can no longer see. It is they who have no worth. And it is they that we must fight to keep our culture, our people and our Oceania whole. For it is "the good fight."

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

KUAM News

JGPO Chief Tries to Debunk Buildup Myths

Lannie Walker
February 3, 2011

A half-billion dollars in projects on hold

Guam - As one senator reaches out, asking help from the President of the United States in negotiating the military buildup on Guam, an official from the Joint Guam Program Office reaches out to the business community in an effort to clear up what he calls "misconceptions" about the upcoming buildup.

"I've come to the conclusion that the message is being sent, but it's just not being received," said Senator Frank Blas, Jr. He says the federal government is just not listening to local officials in regards to their concerns over the military buildup. Going straight to the top, Blas wrote to President Barack Obama asking for help.

"So I have asked the president to please appoint with in his administration to who we can sit down and actually talk to and these are the individuals who are actually the decision makers," he explained of his actions. But today at a rotary club meeting the Joint Guam Program Office John Jackson said that's not true and the Department of Defense has been listening."

"The comment was 'You don't listen well, DoD has listened,'" he said.

Jackson told the audience he wants to dispel misconceptions regarding the buildup. For one, Jackson say there will be no shooting into waters from any firing ranges, explaining, "We are not going to be shooting sea turtles, we are not going to be subject to SCUBA divers and how deep they have to dive, etc. That's not part of what we are looking at."

As for a firing range at Pagat, he said, "We are not putting any facilities in the vicinity of Pagat Cave, in the vicinity of the site of Pagat Village."

Because of an ongoing lawsuit brought against the DoD because of the preferred location selected for the firing range, Jackson said he could not go into more detail, but did say the Programmatic Agreement remaining unsigned is a "roadblock" that is holding up a half-billion. "So there is a half-billion dollars in programs waiting and basically some of it will go off island to major contractors, but a lot of the subcontractors small businesses their employees and then of course the companies that support them.

They all have to eat, they have to get clothes, all those things that's money spent here on Guam," said Jackson.

As for land ownership Jackson stressed and reiterated a promise made by Assistant Secretary of the Navy Robert Work during his visit last month that the military would control less land after the buildup - from owning 27% of the island's total land mass to 20%. "There are a lot of misconceptions about the buildup about the relocation efforts - the federal government, the Department of the Navy, we recognize there is opposition and we fully respect people to voice that opposition," he said.

And Speaker Judi Won Pat, who was present for Jackson's briefing did just that, saying she found it insulting that he chose the Rotary Club as an audience and not the members of the Guam Legislature.She said, "Don't just throw dollars over the people. They do that everywhere in the world, they throw money at the government for the infrastructure but never do they stop to see how socially and culturally it has impacted them and it has made many times the people worse off than they were before."

But while the senator criticized the federal governments handling of the buildup, during the rotary meeting part of the business community expressed a very different sentiment -saying they want the buildup to hurry up and get underway because they've made investments in expectation of the economic changes and where holding on by their fingernails waiting to see a payoff.

As for Senator Blas, he's still waiting to see an improvement in the communication between local and federal officials. "The dialogue does not seem to be going anywhere as many times as we bring up the issues there is never any resolution," he said.

http://www.kuam.com/story/13960923/2011/02/03/jackson-tries-to-debunk-buildup-myths