Al was telling the story the other day about a man who sailed the islands down here exchanging the old silver coins people used for money for paper American dollars. Once he had a load he would sail for Hong Kong or Singapore and sell them for the weight of the silver. Apparently he made a lot of money doing that.

I haven't mentioned Guam politics much in this thread. basically it was because I didn't understand it but I was also uninterested. Now, with the election behind us Americans, I can look back and tell you about what I have seen.

First of all the government is led by the governor. He has an assistant. Then there is the legislature, a single body called the senate. There are 15 senators. The senators do not repreesent a region or area so the whole island votes for each one.

Villages have mayors and the mayors have a lot of power. It is the mayor who gets things done for his town, whether it is road repair or preventing landlslides. The mayor's office provides everything from canopies and chairs for parties to loads of coral gravel for repairing driveways.

Here in Guam the family ties are very strong. Every politician is careful to list which families he or she belongs to. The political signs include all three names as well as any nickname the politician has. For example, Tina Barnes ran under the name Tine Muna Barnes. She had to make sure people knew she was a member of the Muna family. The mayors take advantage of this by giving their family members jobs in the town government so the trick is to elect a mayor with a small family.

In the primary election the islanders vote straight ticket for each party. THis year the democrats had 16 people trying for the 15 seats. It wasn't much of a choice.

And, of course, you also have to have corruption. This is politics, after all. I think 3 of the last 4 governors are under investigation for some kind of corruption. One of them used territory materials and workmen to improve his ranch. Another used Guam money for personal trips abroad. Of course, the judges they appointed make sure that the casess move slowly or not at all. It makes for an interesting circus as long as you don't get involved.

And the parting shot from the election is that many of our TV programs come to us 2 weeks after they show on the mainland. That means we still get political ads for up to two weeks after you guys are done with them in the States. Ugh!