Flipping Channels

Here’s something I've just noticed about myself in the last few days: Unconsciously since the election, I've been tuning in to national news. For years, I flipped past CNN and MSNBC, and the other “news” channels. I didn't care and I don’t think I wanted to know what was happening in Washington. For the last eight years there has been nothing inspiring in any of the decision-making at the national level. I was resigned to being a citizen of a nation whose policies and priorities differed markedly from my own sensibilities. There was nothing I could do about it, and since I am not one to criticize from the sidelines, I just didn’t bother to stay tuned in.

I was determined to come to Micronesia ~ Pohnpei, Guam, Saipan ~ as much to get away from the States as to broaden my horizons and seek adventure. I was in Alabama before and after the Clinton years, and the antipathy toward him in particular and Democrats in general supersaturated my working environment in the Alabama Attorney General’s Office where my supervisors and many of my new colleagues were conservatives and neo-Republicans. People I had to work closely with seized on every opportunity to vent their animosity at Democrats, liberals and libertarians in visceral often venomous ways. Politics and national policy wasn’t business; it was personal. And there was rarely anything rational about it that I could ascertain. On May 1, 1992, Rodney King asked “Can we just get along?” and the answer from then until just recently appeared to be “No. Quit asking.” Living in the United States was worse than living in a dysfunctional family. It had become toxic.

I became an expatriate, an expat, not just in its sense as a noun, “one who has taken up residence in a foreign country,” but more in its verb sense, “to withdraw (oneself) from residence in one's native country,” or as an adjective, “voluntarily absent from home or country.” To be sure, Guam, a U.S. Territory, and Saipan, in a U.S. Commonwealth, are definitely part of the United States; but we are very far away, and since U.S. citizens who permanently reside in the Territory of Guam or the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands cannot vote for president, or any other national office except to send one non-voting delegate each to Congress, what happens in Washington is something over which we have very little influence, let alone control. For the most part, I didn’t have a voice in it, and frankly I couldn’t be happier that those who did were thousands and thousands of miles away.

I didn’t want to hear it. Even in local races, Guam, where I live, seemed entirely free of the kind of personal acrimony that attends the political campaigns and arguments I witnessed among friends and acquaintances in Alabama and elsewhere in the States. Not only did I not have to smile politely at people promoting this candidate or bad-mouthing that one, I didn’t have to deal with any of it. So I had no reason to keep up with it in the national news. When I counted my blessings, not living anywhere in the continental United States during an election year has been very near the top of my list these past five years.

But ever since the presidential election, I've been feeling … I don’t know … interested again, even, may I say, eagerly expectant to see what the president-elect will do to reverse the course of the last eight years with respect to the wars, the economy, education, tax equity, health care, the environment, and civil rights in the wake of 911. I almost dare to hope that America may someday be in a position to lead the world by example again in a way I can be proud of. I know it’s early. And I’m no Pollyanna. While I find the comparisons to past presidents interesting from an intellectual point of view, it is much too early to say that our next president is or will be the next Lincoln or Roosevelt or Kennedy. I know that.

I mentioned to a very special someone the other night that if I were ever asked to return to the States to serve in Washington, I might be hard-pressed to say “no.” A month ago, I would not have thought twice before declining an invitation to return to the States anywhere. Thankfully, I’m not looking for a job, and I am fully committed to my life here in Guam, Where America’s Day Begins. But nowadays without even thinking about it, I linger just a little longer on the news when flipping channels. Rodney King’s plea for us to all just get along may have been a bit ambitious before. Not so much today.

© Copyright 2008 Robert M. Weinberg. All Rights Reserved

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It's Been Five Years

It's been five years. Five years since I gave up permanent residence in the continental United States... A lot happens in five years....

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Friday, June 20, 2003 ~ Montgomery, Alabama to Austin, Texas

With very little sleep the night before - indeed, for many weeks, if not months, before - I awake before 4 a.m. to shower and wait for my Kuk Sool instructor and friend, Bill Page, to take me to the airport. My itinerary is thus: Montgomery to Memphis to Houston to Austin, where I'll spend the weekend with my sister, brother-in-law, and two nieces. It's a shame my flights were so early. Both Memphis and Houston airports have good places to eat lunch. I arrive at the Montgomery airport with plenty of time to spare. My bags were examined quite thoroughly. Quite a difference from the last time I was on a flight ~ to Washington, D.C. ~ March 20, 2003, the day we went to settle affairs with Iraq.

As the plane lifts off and I feel the wheels retract, I look at my watch. It is exactly 6:20 a.m. on 6/20/03. Interesting. I make my connections on time, and trust to the airlines that my checked bags will arrive at my final destination in Austin. They do.

I have a lovely and relaxed, if short, weekend ahead with my sister and her family. Arriving in Austin, we head straight for the Ironworks BBQ. It is sacrilege to go to Austin and fail to do so. Beef ribs to brag about. Later, a very pleasant evening and dinner at home - salmon and scallops. I comment only because it's fish, which I anticipate eating a lot of in the next couple of years. But it's OK, because they're both cold water fish, and those are not tastes I anticipate encountering often in the next few years.

Saturday, June 21, 2003 ~ Austin

We spend the day on Lake Travis, where I have a chance to work up just a bit of a healthy looking tan. Another very pleasant dinner at home - filet mignon, big ones, and a leftover beef rib from the Ironworks. A lot of beef that weekend, but it's Texas, and I'm probably not going to eat a lot of good beef in the next couple of years. I'll deal with my cholesterol count later.

Sunday, June 22, 2003 ~ Austin, Texas to Honolulu, Hawaii

Another very early trip to the airport. Up at 4:45 a.m. This time, it's Austin to Houston to Honolulu. The flights consumed a large part of a day, but they were pretty uneventful. Actually pretty tiring. I slept what I could, caught a couple of movies on the plane, and wasn't too worried about arriving at my final destination too exhausted. I'd sleep when I slept. It's a five hour time difference from central time to Honolulu.

I arrive in Honolulu mid-afternoon Honolulu time and take a shuttle to the Hawaiian Monarch hotel, recommended by the shuttle staff. Already there's a different sense from the people here. Southerners smile, but there's more to it here in Hawaii. Something more genuine... a truly friendly, uncalculating sparkle in their eyes. And I've always felt Alabama was the most sincere of the Southern states when it came to hospitality....

The airport in Honolulu is very nice. I was halfway walking through the terminal before I realized I'd been walking in an open-air, but covered walkway. Constant temperatures in the low 80s, tropical breezes. Nice.

I'm tired, my body clock is messed up more from poor sleep over the preceding weeks and months than jet lag. The shuttle from the airport takes an hour to get me to my hotel finally, but that's OK. I'm two-thirds of the way on my way to the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM), and the view is pleasant and reminiscent of the last time I'd been through more than 20 years before. Having made it two-thirds of my journey, it's that much less to worry about. The hotels are all located on Waikiki, and I've been recommended a cheap one. It's not too far from the beach, and I intend to walk down there once I've got my bags in the room.

I'm really feeling tired at this point, but feel I'd be amiss if I didn't take a picture or two of the wahinis on Waikiki. Ultimately, from where my hotel is located, it's more of a walk than I'm up for, and I double back for a sushi bento box from a place called Aloha Sushi. (I know I'll be eating a lot of sushi and sashimi in the next couple of years, but I'd had enough beef. Besides, I wanted to see what it would taste like fresh. And it was decidedly good.)

I'd been told I need to be at the airport at 5 a.m. for a 7 a.m. flight on to Pohnpei in the Federated States of Micronesia, so I call the shuttle return service to confirm a 4 a.m. pickup, and then leave a wake-up call request for 3 a.m. (an hour to get ready and re-pack, an hour for the trip to the airport). Despite carrying four different watches, I had nothing to rely on to set an alarm, so I had to trust to the hotel.

Monday, June 23, 2003 / Tuesday June 24, 2003 ~ Honolulu, Hawaii, across the International Dateline, and on to Pohnpei, FSM

The wake-up call comes on time, and I'm showered and waiting for the return shuttle with plenty of time before 4 a.m. Waiting for shuttle, I see a group of Japanese youth, late teens, early twenties, apparently leaving the hotel bar. They don't appear intoxicated in the least. Just young party people. Attractive, well-mannered. Four o'clock in the morning? I can't help but wonder how long they'll be sleeping the next day. I observe one American approaching more than one female in the course of ten minutes telling them how beautiful they are. What he hoped to achieve, I have no idea.

Twenty minutes after 4 a.m., and my shuttle hasn't arrived. A taxi has been waiting for ten minutes and apparently his fare didn't show up either, so I ask him how much to go to the airport. I was told earlier a taxi to the airport would be $30, and was prepared to spend as much, but he said $20, and we were on our way. I arrive at the airport with time to spare and check in my bags. Another full luggage check, randomly selected I'm told, but I don't have to wait for it, and go back outside. There's no place to get coffee until 6 a.m., and the flight boards at 6:15 a.m. Well, I am able to grab a cup of Kona coffee and a hot dog as the boarding for the flight is called. (Hey, my body has no idea what time it is, and a hot dog is technically a sausage, right? And that's breakfast food, isn't it? Besides, I have no idea what I'll be fed on the flight.)

Today's itinerary is this: Honolulu to Majuro in the Marshall Islands; Majuro to Kwajalein (where I lived in 1969-1971 and 1975-1977, my fifth and sixth, 11th and 12th grade years); Kwajalein to Kosrae in the FSM; and Kosrae to Pohnpei, my final destination.

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Micronesia now comprises three separate sovereign nations ~ the Republic of the Marshall Islands (which include Majuro and Kwajalein); the Republic of Palau; the Federated States of Micronesia ~ and three U.S. possessions: the Commowealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (which include Saipan, Tinian and Rota); the Territory of Guam; and American Samoa. That covers a lot of acreage in the Pacific, all above the Equator. The island I'm headed for is 400 miles north of the Equator, about halfway between Hawaii and Manilla, in the Philippines.

The Federated States of Micronesia, my future employer, consist of 607 islands carved into four states. Headed east to west, those states are Kosrae, Pohnpei (formerly Ponape), Chuuk (formerly Truk), and Yap. They've been ruled or governed in some fashion by the Spanish, the Germans, the Japanese, and, since World War II until the late 70's, the United States. From the time of Magellan to the end of the Spanish-American War in 1898, the Spanish controlled most of the islands. And there remains quite a bit of Spanish influence in Micronesia - surnames and first names of certain islanders, Catholicsm, even the remains of Spanish construction of forts and churches. You'll also find occassional Irish and German influences from whaling days. Spain annexed most of its possession to Germany after losing the Spanish-American War (the U.S. kept Guam and for a little while the Philippines). Germany controlled what is now FSM until WWI, when Japan took over with a League of Nations mandate. Japan lost all the islands after WWII when the islands became United Nations trusteeships administered by the United States.

The political history of the transition from Spanish and German control to League of Nation and United Nations trustee territories to independent sovereign nations and a commwealth is too detailed to go into here, but here's something interesting about the names of two of them: Chuuk (pronounced to rhyme with nuke) was formerly called Truk (as in the vehicle), because when it was controlled by Germany, the Germans could not pronounce its proper name. Truk is known to scuba divers as a mecca for wreck diving on sunken ships from WWII. In 1944, the U.S. pulled its own "Pearl Harbor" on a Japanese fleet in Truk Lagoon, and the results are reputedly spectacular. I hope to dive there soon, but there are political complications that may prevent that due to the job I'm about to take on.

Yap is not the state's actual name. Yap translates to paddle. When early sailors first arrived, they asked greeting islanders what the name was, pointing toward the islands. The locals thought the sailors were referring to the paddles they were holding up in the air, and said "yap." Yap is another diver's paradise, known for a place where large number of huge Manta Rays gather to be cleaned by other fish on a regular basis. It is also the most culturally traditional of the island states ~ the home of bare-breasted women, stick dances, and large round stone money, carved and transported from other islands. Those are all stories for another day.

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Continuing...The flight from Honolulu to Majuro, Kwajalein, Kosrae, and Pohnpei ~ Monday, 6/23/03

The further west I went, the more relaxed I became. You can't help it.

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Alabama A.G. Days (repost)

My muse must be on vacation, or visiting someone else this month. Here's something I dug up that I posted a couple of months ago on MySpace:

I have served under four different Attorneys General in Alabama; two different AG's in the Federated States of Micronesia; one in Guam and one in the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands. I have fond, and not-so-fond, memories of them all. More fond than not.

My first boss in Alabama was Don Siegleman (D) back in 1988. He made his political bones in the Democratic Party, served as a very popular Secretary of State, served one term as AG, lost a bid for Governor, became Lieutenant Governor, then eventually became Governor. As an AG, he was terrible, awful. Didn't know the first thing about the court system, couldn't litigate his way out of a paper bag if he had to. In the other elected positions before and after, he was darn good, actually. But AG? Forget it.

Shortly after being defeated for a second term as Governor, Siegelman was indicted by a federal grand jury on racketeering and other charges, political corruption, that kind of thing. He's just been freed on bond pending appeal to the Eleventh Circuit U.S. Court of appeals. Of the four Alabama AG's I've worked for, the first, Don Siegelman, made it to Governor then was indicted and convicted by the federal courts. He served from 1987 - 1991. Accused and convicted of political cronyism, he claims his prosecution was politically motivated. If that upsets you, feel free to contribute to the Free Governor Siegelman Legal Defense Fund.

The second AG I worked for was Jimmy Evans (D), a long-time yellow dog Democrat and D.A. for Montgomery County, who indicted and convicted the first Republican Governor since Reconstruction, Guy Hunt. He served from 1991 - 1995. After being soundly defeated for a second term because he ran the office into the ground financially (though he was a good boss otherwise), Jimmy Evans faded into obscurity and hasn't been heard from since.

The third Ala. AG I worked for, Jeff Sessions (R), swept Jimmy Evans out of office and didn't even finish his first term before running for the U.S. Senate, where he took the seat vacated by long-time U.S. Senator Howell Heflin in an ironic twist of fate as it was Heflin who served on the Judiciary Committee that kept Sessions from a coveted U.S. District Judgeship for the Southern District of Alabma. Sessions served only from 1995 - 1997 and left early to run for Heflin's seat when Heflin retired. Sessions is now a key figure on the Judiciary Committee.

The fourth and last Alabama AG I worked for was William (Bill) H. Pryor (R), who is now a judge on the Eleventh Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals. He served as Ala. AG from 1997 - 2004 (I left in 1999) when he was nominated by George Bush in a very politically acrimonious confirmation proceeding that resulted in Bush appointing him in what is called a "recess appointment," which actually bypassed the U.S. Senate confirmation process while they were in recess. Pryor had been brought on board at the AG's office by Jeff Sessions as a special projects deputy attorney general.

Though a staunch Republican and conservative, a young Reagan-ite and Federalist (which I somewhat agree with), I happen to think Pryor was a damn fine lawyer and AG who put the law before and above politics. And he's a damn fine judge too, despite the fact that all of my best friends in the ACLU, Americans United for Separation of Church and State, GLBA, NOW, People for the American Way, and all the other liberal organizations to which I would politically subscribe if I were a political subscriber view him as the judiciary's answer to the anti-Christ. Here's a 2003 article in the National Review by Quinn Hilyer, that pretty much sums it up.

Regardless of what my friends think about his politics and narrow view of the Constitution, they have to give Pryor credit for obeying the "rule of law" by his prosecution when he was AG of the "Ten Commandments Judge" Roy Moore before the Court of the Judiciary, which removed Moore from office as Chief Justice of the Alabama Supreme Court for his defiance of a federal court order to remove the ten commandments monolith he designed specially and brought to the rotunda of the Alabama Judicial Building. Pryor was the best AG I ever worked for; and I'm sorry I didn't have a chance to argue in front of him as a judge on the Eleventh Circuit before I left Alabama.

Little known facts in the "six degrees of separation" department:

In my younger days and in the early days of the World Wide Web, before it became de rigeur for political campaigns to do so, I designed the web pages for Jeff Sessions' run for U.S. Senate (very cheesy by today's standards), and for Bill Pryor's run for AG. I also designed web pages for two Republican candidates for Alabama Supreme Court. (For some reason, Republicans like my work).

I coined the phrase "auto-eroticism for its own sake" for use by lawyers in the Alabama AG's Office defending Alabama's ridiculous sex toys ban in Alabama (you know, vibrators, dildoes, the usual) which went up and down and up and down in the federal courts for years after I left. The case is called Williams v. Pryor. You won't find my name in any of the reported decisions, but thanks a little bit to yours truly, you can own a dildo or a vibrator in Alabama, you just can't sell them at a tupperware party To be honest, I took the case voluntarily, because lawyers are supposed to defend their clients regardless of what they personally feel about the issue or the person they're defending, and I wanted to challenge myself. (You know, like lawyers representing criminal defendants they know are guilty.) But it really is a silly law, and the sponsor of the bill was just a little to preoccupied with matters sexual. But that's a story for another day, maybe.

I also have a direct connection to Roy Moore, the Ten Commandments Judge, that I am proud of. I was on the trial team that sued Moore and won the federal court decision ordering him to remove his 5,280 lb. monolith and monstrosity of (the Protestant version of) the ten commandments. I was with the ACLU of Alabama at the time. It was my last litigation in Alabama before heading out to the Pacific.

I'm actually proud of alot of the work I did in the Alabama AG's Office. I represented some fine people - judges, court clerks, governors, directors of agencies, licensing and regulatory boards. You name a public official from 1988 - 1999 and I probably represented him, her or their office. Contrary to popular opinion, most of them are pretty hard-working, dedicated public servants.

And, for being the office liberal toward the end there, I think I made some law on some issues that were pretty important in their day, that was good for government as a whole. And my experience in Alabama has served me well in Micronesia, as I'm usually able to predict the outcome of political movements and litigation here, because the governments out here are going through the same growing pains that Alabama and other states experienced ten and 15 years ago. And the freedom to grow, and make mistakes, and keep trying to get it right, is really what good government is all about.