Hi, been gone for a while. Mind if I sit down? My dogs are killing me.

Living in a territory on the other side of the world brings a slightly different perspective to the whole immigration thing. The population of Guam is a true melting pot. The Chamorros were first on the island arriving about 6500 years ago. The Spanish arrived in 1521 with Magellan and subsequent 'visits'. They colonized the islands here in the 1600s. Over that period they brought in Philipinos, Chinese, Koreans, and Japanese. Then in 1898 the USA took the island from the Spanish. That brought in the overwhelming influence of the land of the 'free'. The Japanese took the island and held it for almost 4 years. Since 1944 it's been an American base and has been influenced by the USA to a great extent. However, it is also a vacation mecca for the Japanese and, to a smaller extent, the other Asian nations. Because Guam is so urbanized and so busy we get islanders from all over the Pacific living here. It is not unusual to hear 6 or 7 different languages as you walk around the mall.

So on this island people tend to be puzzled about the big deal back on the mainland. Of course, mainland politics don't get much attention here anyway. We cannot vote in national elections, our congressional representative has no power and can only make requests of congress, and our income taxes go out to the feds and then are returned to fund the island government. None of my taxes are being spent in Iraq.

Added to all that is the general tropical attitude of 'Chill out and enjoy life.' People are very good at planning parties. There are businesses set up here that kust support parties. The hotels down on Hotel Road are doing OK, could be better but then the Asian economies are a little wishy-washy right now. Life goes on in this tropical paradise...

I wonder what my point was when I started this thread? Oh well, guess I'm late for my hammock.