Guam and Federal Money

Just some light posting through the holiday season. I didn't want you to think I had forgotten about you. Enjoy 2008!

And here are the 2006 numbers for federal assistance to programs in Guam to mull over as we get ready to compare it to 2007.

That is $519 Million in grants.
The city of Denver received $6 BILLION that year.

Guam runs on 1/12 the funding that Denver does.

Denver will be getting $50,000,000 from the Feds for security for the one week Convention.
Housing and Urban Development spent $32,479,085 on housing last year in Guam.

Guam Quarter

The Treasury Department is extending the State Quarter program an extra year to include DC and the territories.

Here is the story via Guam blogger, M. G. Ryan:

It was with great interest that I listened to the discussion in the House of Representatives, recently, relating to 1997's 50 States Commemorative Coin Program Act (Public Law 105-204). I am quite familiar with this program, as I am an active collector of the state quarters. The US Mint began releasing the quarters in 1999. The designs on each quarter were to reflect the history and spirit of each state. Each quarter was released in the order of the date each state was admitted into the Union. It is a ten-year program, with five quarters released each year, ending with Hawaii, our 50th and last admitted state, having its quarter released in late 2008.

I have to admit, I was a little sad with the prospect of this program ending next year. However, due to the previously mentioned discussions in the House of Representatives, there is a possibility of an extension of this program. How? With the proposal of HR 392 - The District of Columbia and United States Territories Circulating Quarter Dollar Program Act - the "collecting" can continue for another year by including the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, Guam, American Samoa, the United States Virgin Islands, and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI).

Good news, Ms. Ryan, the proposal passed.
Start thinking of designs; the territorial quarters will start in 2009.

Energy Emergency Preparedness

Like me, you have probably wondering why the Dept. of Homeland Security has delayed reporting the Energy Emergency Preparedness plan. If the power goes out in Guam, what is proposed for the safety of the island? Wasn't the plan supposed to be done around now.

I checked into it...

Hafa Adai Mr. Silverstein:

This is in response to your inquiry regarding the above caption.

To date, the Energy Emergeny Preparedness Plan is at its final draft. Unfortunately, due to the Guam Administrative Rules relating to "Procurement Control, Distribution, and Sale of Petroleum Products During Fuel Shortage", a draft was forwarded to Senator Espaldon's office for reveiw andimplementation under the Guam Administrative Rules for Guam Energy Office.

The Senator's office is now working on it and will get back to me as soon as possible. After this process, the final Energy Emergency Preparedness Plan will be forwarded to Homeland Security Office of Civil Defense for the final publication to be incorporated into the Territory Emergency Disaster Preparedness Plan. We will be communicating with Homeland Security Office of Civil Defense regarding the distribution to the general public. I'm almost sure that you might be able to access this manual electronically on the Homeland Security Office of Civil Defense website as it becomes available.

If you have any further information regarding this matter, please do not hesitate to contact me.

PAT A. FLORIG
Program Coordinator
Guam Energy Office
548 North Marine Corps Drive
Tamuning, Guam 96913

"THINK GLOBALLY, ACT LOCALLY"

Guam-Guam-Guam

I have been reading Guam-Guam-Guam, a good news aggregator blog that covers Pacific issues.

This week they pointed at a story about the massive US military build-up on Guam, and the story has a name in it that might be familiar to readers of this blog.

antiwar.com

Activists believe the redeployment will result in a total influx of approximately 35,000 people, a number they say will overwhelm their small island, which has a population of just 168,000 people. The southernmost island in the Western Pacific Mariana chain, Guam has been a U.S. territory since the United States won the Spanish-American War in 1898.

"Guam has basically no say," said writer Michael Lujan Bevacqua, a graduate student at the University of California, San Diego. "So the U.S. has the right to bring in whatever they want, and there is no framework that Guam can make demands or negotiate with the U.S. military. The Pentagon and the United States Congress are the sovereign owners, and they act like that. There is no relationship that says we have to listen to your feedback or we have to listen to your demands."

GUAHAN Project

Since 2003, the Guam HIV/AIDS Network Project (Gua. H/A N. Project) has been providing trainings and resources on HIV, AIDS, Tuberculosis, STDs, women's reproductive health, quitting smoking, diabetes, etc., but it was just this month that they launched their new outreach website.

It is looking great, and I welcome them to the Guamroots!

Next month, I will be sure to remind everyone about their local-cast production of the musical RENT, but for those who can't wait that long, I will give you an update on their event for this weekend:

December 22: Saturday
GUAHAN Project Film Festival
HIV/AIDS themed films and local productions for AIDS awareness
6:00 PM to 10:00 PM
GUAHAN Project Resource Center located directly across Tamuning Elementary School, Chalan San Antonio, Tamuning, Core Pacific Building, Third Floor, Suite 301
Refreshments will be served

Gov. Dean in Guam : the Video

click to be taken to video page

Howard Dean:

One of the first things that I did when I was elected Chair of the Democratic National Committee was made sure that territories had the same voting power as states. The idea that a delegate from Guam... [applause] The idea that a delegate to the Democratic National Committee from Guam was going to have a quarter of a vote, and the people from the states who has exactly the same job was going to have a full vote... that is not what we do in the Democratic Party, and we don't do it anymore.

DNCC Blogger Credentialing Problems

UPDATE: Problem fixed.


The online form didn't hit the page until this afternoon.
Right now, it looks like they are having problems.

When you submit the form it tells you:

ADODB.Recordset error '800a0cc1'

Item cannot be found in the collection corresponding to the requested name or ordinal.

/blog/success.asp, line 54