They included passage of yet another obscene borrowing scheme, closely followed by another bill from the governor’s office to address “technical deficiencies” in the aforementioned obscene scheme designed to — once again — diddle the real property tax structure to — once again — artificially elevate our fictitious public debt ceiling to facilitate more thorough screwing of the Guam taxpayer; the Guam education board’s acknowledgment that they can’t find anyone locally who’s qualified or acceptable as the next director of the Guam Department of Education; and of special interest to me, the first meeting of the Guam Commission on Decolonization in more than a decade.
I wouldn’t have missed it for anything because, as with others present I’m sure, the political status issue is near and dear to my heart. Perhaps not in quite the same way, but then differences of opinion and the free expression of them are, after all, fundamental to our form of government.
As the first item of business, Governor Calvo read and signed an impassioned letter to Barak Hussein Obama, “declaring the people of Guam’s embarkation on its sacred inalienable right for political destiny.” What does that mean? Embarking on a right? I was puzzled also that despite the intense, transparently racial tenor of the meeting, the terms “Chamorro,” “Native Chamorro,” “Native Inhabitant of Guam” or reference to any other racial or political distinction appeared nowhere in that letter to the president. How come? Ashamed to show the true colors?
I was pleased to see in attendance at least two of those who in the past acknowledged my “Outsider” status, University of Guam’s Michael Bevacqua and Free Association Task Force Chairman Joe Garrido. Bevacqua, who once wrote about me as “that annoyingly retarded haole” (Could that be a racial slur? And doesn’t he know that “retarded” is insulting and politically incorrect?), was there taking lots of photos, maybe even some of me. It’s comforting to know that he finds me annoying and I hope the relationship can continue and prosper. Garrido, who once characterized me on local talk radio as “white trash” (definitely a racial slur), expressed his nit-picking displeasure at some agenda terminology.
Little difference of opinion emerged as the activist-dominated panel discussed several burning issues, feverishly intent upon setting the stage for all the good things to come: Chamorro self-determination/decolonization/enhanced political status, terms which, strangely, most of those present seemed to view as interchangeable and synonymous. A significant exception surfaced when Trini Torres, chairwoman of the Independence Task Force, voiced strong opposition to the implication that non-Chamorros might be allowed to participate in any way whatsoever in the political status process. No surprise there. Her strident objections to the proposal to include all of Guam’s resident citizens as interested parties obviously took the governor and Director Alvarez by surprise, highlighting rather embarrassing evidence of a fundamental philosophical disconnect. A bit of verbal stumbling and equivocation resulted, but I’m sure they’ll eventually come to a mutually agreeable solution to that thorny problem. Or not.
The panel discussed and tacitly approved public funding to send Director Alvarez and Speaker Won Pat to whine to the U.N. decolonization gang next month. I’m a bit concerned that they intend to use my taxes in support of a racially exclusive agenda, though nobody else at the meeting thought it unusual. Public funding for an educational process also surfaced.
There again, it seems somewhat unreasonable that my taxes are to be used to fund an elective process in which I may not participate. Maybe they’ll change their minds about that. I hope they don’t plan to use money from the Department of Interior or other federal funding to train 40 percent of the Guam population on how to exclude the other 60 percent. That might raise eyebrows at the federal level should it become known. Maybe I’ll just write another letter to Senator McCain.
He listens.
DAVE DAVIS
Yigo, Guam
