The Ccarnival has evolved into just another excuse for GovGuam and a few select entrepreneurs to make a fast buck. Just how, I ask you, is a Liberation Day celebration consistent with Governor Calvo’s and others’ assertion that there was no liberation, but reoccupation and oppression under the yoke of American colonialism? What a bunch of hypocritical drones we elected who purport to run this government. Were they exposed to any kind of competitive environment they’d submerge without a ripple.
If any shred of integrity remains anywhere in GovGuam, those in which it resides should either abolish the entire Liberation Day concept or fully embrace it in the spirit in which it originated. Please respect and acknowledge the unconditional dedication and sacrifice rendered by young Americans during WWII. Anything else is nothing more than further confirmation of the two-faced nature of Guam politics, along the lines of the Governor’s recurrent tantrums over what he refers to as Washington’s “unilateral” domestic and foreign policy decisions that sometimes involve Guam.
There’s nothing new or startling about that. It happens regularly elsewhere across the nation without generating the kind of baseless whining embodied in the recent speech delivered on our governor’s behalf to the U.N. Decolonization Committee. His histrionic heartburn over such “unilateral” action again raises the specter of the “mutual consent” issue that so embarrassed Joe Ada, Carl Gutierrez and Paul Calvo at the commonwealth hearings in Hawaii. It appears that he’s gone off the deep end, probably irrecoverably, as far as any credibility with D.C. is concerned. I voted for him as the least damaging and dangerous choice, with no inkling that he’d go off the track in a direction like this.
On June 18, I forwarded copies of Governor Calvo’s U.N. speech to Senators McCain, Levin and Webb. I thought they should know the governor’s position on Guam/federal relationships as they met with Guam Chamber of Commerce representatives on or about that date.
It’s also time to directly appraise the U.S. Senate and House that Guam’s proposed political status “plebiscite” is anything but — a subject never mentioned by local politicians or our congressional delegate where it might be overheard. “Plebiscite” is defined as a vote by all the people. The GovGuam version of that would exclude some 60 percent of the population. There’ll quite possibly be more attention to that issue sometime soon, and it won’t all be local. Stay tuned.
DAVE DAVIS
Yigo, Guam
