Washington Post kicks Guam tourism in the groin

The Washington Post has a few stories this week from Guam. They must have someone on staff who wanted a paid vacation.

This one from today takes the edge off of my desire to visit the Island.

Guam Braces for Peaceful Military Incursion
Buildup on U.S. Island Brings Fear of Change, Demand for Funds

By Blaine Harden Washington Post Foreign Service Friday, January 25, 2008

HAGATNA, Guam — People on this faraway island — a U.S. territory 7,824 miles west of Los Angeles — delight in calling Guam the “tip of the spear” for its role defending U.S. interests in the Far East.

Although the island is typhoon-plagued and earthquake-prone, cursed with bad traffic, unable to cope with its own garbage and overrun with invasive tree snakes that have eaten nearly all the birds, the Guamanians aren’t just blowing smoke.

The Pentagon has chosen Guam, a quirkily American place that marries the beauty of Bali with the banality of Kmart, as the prime location in the western Pacific for projecting U.S. military muscle.

It doesn't get any more rosy as the story continues, but it does throw a bit of light on a situation I have read about on some of the local blogs:

“We can’t help but boom,” said Jeff Pleadwell, who owns Jeff’s Pirates Cove, a beach hamburger joint, and expects his business to prosper. “But the island is going to change radically. Everyone is scared — of how the Marines will behave. We also worry that life inside the base will be first-world, while outside the fence it is going to be third-world.”

All in all, the Marine move is giving many Guamanians — an extraordinarily patriotic people who fight and die in U.S. wars at rates much higher than on the mainland — a serious case of the jitters.

The Washington Post has a log-in between you and the story, but I found a blogger who is not so careful about fair use copyright provisions as I am, so it is not my fault if you read the full story here.

Democrats Abroad

Making it a 'Global Primary', millions of Democrats abroad will have eight days (starting on Super Tuesday) to weigh in on who they want to send as a delegation of expatriots to the Convention.

If you want to vote as a Democrat abroad, you have to register by January 31st and you can't vote in your home state.

Yahoo News gives us the scale:

Democrats Abroad will send 22 delegates to the August Democratic Convention in Denver, 14 of whom will be elected through the global primary. The remaining eight members of the delegation are "superdelegates" – high-ranking members whose votes are not bound by primary or caucus results.

But with each of the expatriate delegates getting only half a vote, Democrats living abroad will have a convention delegation whose size is somewhere between those of Guam and Wyoming.

Hillary wants to seat MI and FL

Well, of course she does. Michigan, and most likely Florida will default to her.

Early on I asked Leah Daughtry about the possibility and she suggested they would follow the will of the nominee. Of course, that was when it looked like we would have a defacto nominee going in. We still might, but it may be uncertain enough that Hillary is starting the push to bring the renegade States in. Personally, I wouldn't be undermining Gov. Dean at this point who oversaw the difficult choice to punish the states, but that is easy to say from the sidelines. Despite my Michigan roots, I am not likely to be getting a lot of delegates myself.

From Hillary.com (with Guam emphasis added)

Statement by Senator Hillary Clinton on the Seating of Delegates at the Democratic National Convention

"I hear all the time from people in Florida and Michigan that they want their voices heard in selecting the Democratic nominee.

"I believe our nominee will need the enthusiastic support of Democrats in these states to win the general election, and so I will ask my Democratic convention delegates to support seating the delegations from Florida and Michigan. I know not all of my delegates will do so and I fully respect that decision. But I hope to be President of all 50 states and U.S. territories, and that we have all 50 states represented and counted at the Democratic convention.

"I hope my fellow potential nominees will join me in this.

"I will of course be following the no-campaigning pledge that I signed, and expect others will as well."

I am all for people having their voices heard. A nice start would be to give full voting rights to all of the Guam delegates before giving delegates to the people who broke with the party. While some Guam delegates are getting only fractional votes, it seems unfair to dilute their voice with those of delegates from Michigan who were chosen from a nearly empty ballot.

Quarter Update

Wendy Norris from ColoradoConfidential points me to this...

Numimaster

Overwhelming approval was then given by the House of Representatives on Sept. 18, 2000, to H.R. 5010. By a margin of 377-to-6, with 50 members absent and presumably campaigning in tough election fights, the House approved the legislation initiated by House coinage subcommittee chair Spencer Bacchus, Banking chair James Leach, former coinage subcommittee chair Michael Castle and representatives from each of the territories.

In the ensuing Presidential election battle, the proposal got lost in the Senate. It took a year to get it back on track.

Last time out, six GOP congressmen opposed the measure: John Boehner, Ohio.; Peter Goss, Fla.; Gary Miller, Calif.; Ron Paul, Texas; Edward Royce, Calif.; and Bob Schaffer, Colo.

Boehner commented, "None are states and they should not be treated as such," adding that the remedy he favored was to require them to apply for statehood.

Bob's running for the Senate here now. Mark Udall is his Democratic opponent.

Australia steals our Bandwidth

Jamie Lesouf gives me the heads up about Australia's gumming up the inter-tubes...

A new undersea internet cable would break open Australia’s broadband market, bringing faster download times and lower prices, Federal Communications Minister Stephen Conroy said today.

The $200 million Pipe Networks PPC-1 cable will rival Telstra and Optus pipelines, linking Sydney to the Pacific island of Guam to provide a third international broadband link to Australia’s east coast.

The 6900 kilometre pipe will run through government protected zones, sometimes up to nine kilometres under the sea surface and will connect to existing infrastructure in Guam, a US territory in the western Pacific Ocean which connects to the US and Asia.

If some jobs and money can stick to Guam from this it might not be a bad thing.

Running from Guam

Running from Guam

How is Jenn doing on that weight loss? How many miles has she racked up?
Luckily there is a blog out there dedicated to the adventures of a military wife running in Guam.

I thought maybe it was 'running' as in political office. No.

Hey when is the Denver Marathon?

...Oct. 15th, I guess she has time to train.

Empty Seats

It is remarkable to me that so many States that are practically in the neighborhood still have a dearth of applications for the state blogger corps.

This is the map with the white areas still awaiting applications.



You will notice that Guam doesn't appear. I checked it out, however, and Guam is indeed still awaiting an application. That just won't do.

GuamLovesJasonRosenberg.blogspot.com will apply for the credential it does not deserve this week, but I will also be stepping up the efforts to get someone who does deserve the credential to apply right away.