Free Republic

The following is wholly my opinion and may contain factual or historical inaccuracies, but I did try to weed out what I could. My blog, my rules. I am reminded of the saying, "Be careful what you wish for, because you just might get it." Citizenship is a weighty issue. With it comes responsibilities and benefits, many of which aren't clearly taught in civics classes these days. First and foremost though, with citizenship the flag and the U.S. Constitution will follow. In American Samoa we have had the US flag flying over our islands for the past 100+ years since...

Republican Results Mar. 13, 2012| Polls Close: 8:00 pm ET County Results » Exit Poll » 7of 1,889Precincts Reporting | ★ = Projected Winner | Delegates = Estimated Delegate Count Read more: http://www.cbsnews.com/primary-election-results-2012/state.shtml?state=MS#ixzz1p31az74e

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WASHINGTON - Incoming House Speaker Nancy Pelosi wants to fast-track efforts to boost the federal minimum wage and could seek to bring a bill directly to the House floor in January. The new Democrat-controlled 110th Congress convenes on Jan. 4 and Pelosi of California has made clear that raising the federal minimum wage is a top priority she wants the House to accomplish in its first 100 hours of legislative business. The legislation is likely to call for phased-in increase in the current federal minimum wage of $5.15 an hour to $7.25 an hour along the lines of a proposal...

Hidden inside the latest Democratic spending bill is an $18 million taxpayer handout to American Samoa. How did that get in there? Read on for another lesson in the uncreative jobs destruction of the minimum wage. When Democrats in Congress increased the minimum wage in 2007, the U.S. territory of 65,000 in the South Pacific pleaded for its traditional exemption from the wage law to prevent job losses. But Democrats followed union orders and said that if multinational companies like StarKist, one of Samoa's largest employers, could pay its CEO millions it could afford to pay workers $7.25 an hour....

Like many football fans around the country, I recently tuned into a heavily promoted 60 Minutes segment on the uncanny ability of tiny American Samoa to produce a steady stream of NFL players. Although it was certainly interesting to learn how Pacific island warrior culture translated seamlessly into the disciplines of American football, and how the island's players adapted to the hard-scrabble terrain and poorly funded athletic fields, the most interesting aspect of the piece concerned economics rather than sports. In passing, the narrator mentioned that American Samoa had recently experienced major setbacks, both natural and man-made. Earthquakes and tsunamis...

January 16, 2007 PELOSI'S TUNA SURPRISE Economists of every political stripe agree that a higher minimum wage will cost some low-skill workers their jobs, says the Wall Street Journal. Even Speaker Nancy Pelosi seems to understand this. Despite leading efforts to pass minimum wage increases, she granted a reprieve to American Samoa, which has a big fish and tuna canning industry, specifically operations run by StarKist and Chicken of the Sea. Both companies are headquartered in California, and StarKist's parent is located in none other than Speaker Pelosi's own San Francisco district. Democrats rediscovered the eternal economic truth that a...

House Republicans yesterday declared "something fishy" about the major tuna company in House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's San Francisco district being exempted from the minimum-wage increase that Democrats approved this week. "I am shocked," said Rep. Eric Cantor, Virginia Republican and his party's chief deputy whip, noting that Mrs. Pelosi campaigned heavily on promises of honest government. "Now we find out that she is exempting hometown companies from minimum wage. This is exactly the hypocrisy and double talk that we have come to expect from the Democrats."

PAGO PAGO, American Samoa (AP) -- American Samoa Gov. Togiola Tulafono says first lady Michelle Obama has informed him that the U.S. territory has been designated a Preserve America Community.

Here is security camera video from American Samoa that captures the Tsunami that came ashore there as the wave hits a parking lot area on September 29. You can see the tremendous power and force of the Tsunami as it sweeps into view, moving the cars in its path. This video was released by the FBI there. . . . (VIDEO)

HONOLULU — On a search-and-rescue mission in a tsunami-stricken American Samoa village, Capt. Nate Duff and his Hawaii Air National Guard troops waded through knee-deep swampland and under trucks hanging from trees in hopes of finding missing children. Duff's medical team was the first government relief agency to reach the fishing town of Leone following the tsunami, one of dozens of American rescue squads spread throughout the wrecked islands delivering personal help, food, tents and medical supplies. "The air stunk with ... hundreds of dead fish and animals, and rotting food and debris," Duff wrote in an e-mail to his...

WASHINGTON, Oct. 2, 2009 – The medical support situation in American Samoa has stabilized amid ongoing U.S. relief efforts after a massive tsunami devastated the area this week, a Defense Department official said today. Air Force Tech. Sgt. Kimo McKee, Hawaii Air National Guard loadmaster, directs the loading of humanitarian aid supplies into a C-17 Globemaster III bound for American Samoa to assist in relief efforts in the wake of tsunamis triggered by Sept. 29, 2009, undersea earthquake. U.S. Air Force photo by Staff Sgt. Mike Meares  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. Medical triage, casualty care, shelter and bedding...

Video showing a walk-through from the scene on American Samoa.

I live here. Our own home was untouched but many were far less fortunate. I'm posting photographs of the devastated areas, homes, and businesses. Taputimu CoastlineLeone ChurchLeone Post OfficeRescue Workers Evacuating Injured Over Broken Bridge93KHJ VW Bug overturned and quite a ways away from where it had been parkedPago Pago Park was completely leveledA "bus"...The bathroom is all that is left of this home.Another home completely washed away.Debris where houses used to be.Another foundation is all that remains of a structure.The Gogosina perched on land where the tsunami deposited it.The Gogosina againSite of the old Soli's Restaurant, more recently Bay...

M7.9 - Samoa Islands region - 2009 September 29 17:48:19

PAGO PAGO, American Samoa – A powerful Pacific Ocean earthquake spawned towering tsunami waves that swept ashore on Samoa and American Samoa early Tuesday, flattening villages, killing at least 34 people and leaving dozens of workers missing at devastated National Park Service facilities. Cars and people were swept out to sea by the fast-churning water as survivors fled to high ground, where they remained huddled hours later. Hampered by power and communications outages, officials struggled to assess the casualties and damage. The quake, with a magnitude between 8.0 and 8.3, struck around dawn about 20 miles below the ocean floor,...

Magnitude 7.9 Date-Time * Tuesday, September 29, 2009 at 17:48:14 UTC * Tuesday, September 29, 2009 at 06:48:14 AM at epicenter Location 15.554°S, 172.141°W Depth 35 km (21.7 miles) set by location program Region SAMOA ISLANDS REGION Distances * 199 km (124 miles) SSW (192°) from APIA, Samoa * 211 km (131 miles) SW (227°) from PAGO PAGO, American Samoa * 396 km (246 miles) NNE (30°) from Neiafu, Tonga * 2415 km (1501 miles) W (272°) from PAPEETE, Tahiti, French Polynesia Location Uncertainty horizontal +/- 11.9 km (7.4 miles); depth fixed by location program Parameters NST= 59, Nph= 59,...

Michael Steele owes his dramatic victory in the race for Republican National Committee chairman to votes from island territories outside the 50 United States. Now, the question is what else he owes them. The residents of the five territories, from Puerto Rico in the Caribbean Sea to the tiny Northern Marianas in the Pacific Ocean, provided Steele with a bloc of 15 votes - one more than his margin of victory - when they swung into his camp late in the balloting last week. Now, a leading committee member from the Virgin Islands, former shadow Senator Holland Redfield, said they...

Democrats tasteless at inauguration Letter to the Editor Posted: 01/31/2009 12:00:00 AM PST How utterly tasteless for Democrats to boo President Bush at the inauguration. The entire world leaned backwards to make this day one of triumphs for them. Have Republicans ever done this?The least Democrats could have done was to remain silent, as those who wished to cheer President Bush for seven years with no terrorist attacks upon us did so. They showed no respect for the Bush family either.Obama has promised transparency. Let's start with Nancy Pelosi, one of Bush's most caustic critics.Her district includes San Francisco. Star Kist...

In an article entitled "A Forgotten Cause", Peter Tatchell sheds light on the plight of the West Papuans, many of whom are Christians and have suffered under Indonesia's brutal policy of ethnic and religious persecution. The untold story though is how the Obama campaign would sell out the West Papuans in a desperate attempt to protect Obama's presidential bid. On the 3rd of July 2007, U.S. Congressman Eni Faleomavaega would touch down in Jakarta, Indonesia. A staunch outspoken critic of Jakarta's rule over West Papua, New Guinea and a crusader for West Papua’s right to self-determination, the chairman of the...

There is a story circulating around the blogosphere that American Samoa Delegate to the U.S. Congress, Eni Faleomavaega, undertook a secret mission to Indonesia last year to get Barack Obama’s school records sealed.

The Senate Finance Committee has published a summary of some of the additions to the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act. There are many provisions in the bill that will directly benefit millions of Americans -- what's called the "AMT patch," for instance, which will protect 20 million middle class Americans from seeing a tax increase in 2009. Or tax deductions for tuition, and for teacher expenses. Corporations will see extensions of popular tax cuts -- for research and development, or renewable energies. But there's also some other stuff. My colleague Z. Bryon Wolf points out that it bears mentioning that all...

FBI arrests Lt. Gov. Ipulasi Aitofele Sunia Lt. Gov. Ipulasi Aitofele Sunia was taken into custody over the weekend by the FBI based on a federal arrest warrant and was then transported to Honolulu on board a military plane.

If you have any doubts government-mandated minimum-wage laws kill jobs for the poor rather than lift them out of poverty, just take a look at what is happening right now in American Samoa. The latest minimum-wage law passed by Congress calls specifically for hikes in the U.S. territory – 50 cents a year annually until the continental rate of $7.25 is reached. This Washington-knows-best, one-size-fits-all approach is killing jobs in Samoa already – just days after it was signed into law by President Bush last Friday. StarKist had planned to expand its tuna production next month by hiring some 200-300...

So, the House of Representatives has passed its Federal Minimum Wage Act as one of its “first 100 hours priorities,” per the new Speaker, Nancy Pelosi. But it turns out that the “raise” for all Americans contains two exemptions. One is for the Northern Mariana Islands and one for American Samoa. The Mariana Islands have a special low minimum wage. They have a Republican “representative” to Congress, who is not a “Congressman.” Their interests have, until recently, had the disgraced Jack Abramoff as their spokesman and operative. American Samoa has a better deal. They are totally exempt from the minimum...

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), dogged by Republican charges of a double standard, said yesterday that American Samoa may join the Northern Mariana Islands as U.S. territories that would have to comply with a higher federal minimum wage. Under the minimum-wage increase approved by the House this week, employers on the Northern Marianas would for the first time have to pay their workers the minimum wage, which would rise from $5.15 to $7.25 an hour. For years, Republicans -- with the help of convicted lobbyist Jack A. Abramoff -- have fended off efforts to bring the islands under federal labor...

The government's case against two Chinese nationals accused of numerous criminal charges in connection with an alleged prostitution operation that was uncovered in Pago Pago late last month has been bound over to the High Court. The Chinese nationals, Fu Shen Kuo and Ju Sheng Wang, will appear in High Court this morning for their arraignment where they are expected to enter not guilty pleas. After hearing sole testimony from police Det. John Cendrowski yesterday afternoon District Court Judge John L. Ward II ruled he found probable cause that the crimes for which the government charged Kuo and Wang may...

By Fili Sagapolutele Samoa News Correspondent American Samoa's "high risk" designation by the U.S. Department of Interior will not be lifted anytime soon even though the FY2005 audit was submitted on time. "One of the conditions for lifting the high-risk designations is that the ASG have two consecutive years of timely, clean single audit reports," DOI's deputy director for Insular Areas, Papali'i David B. Cohen told Samoa News by e-mail from Washington late last week. "The fiscal year 2005 audit was timely, but not clean. It therefore cannot be counted towards the lifting of the high-risk designation." "That does not...

Hawaiian Air seeking the federal government's intervention to respond to American Samoa's concerns was anticipated by his administration Governor Togiola said on his weekend radio program. Togiola said it is his personal opinion that Hawaiian does not want to respond directly to local concerns, especially on the issue of reducing air fares for the Pago Pago route, because the airline does not want to reduce the current high fares. So instead of addressing the high fares and excessive charges imposed on American Samoa's passengers, Hawaiian Air is dragging the issue around by asking DOT for a ruling on the executive...

Tours of the canneries and part of the National Park of American Samoa in Vatia is being planned for members of the U.S. House Committee on International Relations that are arriving on Wednesday. Their actual time of arrival has not yet been confirmed. The delegation, headed by committee chairman Henry Hyde (R-Ill.), includes Congressman Faleomavaega Eni, Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.), Melvin Watt (D-N.C.) and Dana Rohrabacher (R-Calif.) and support staff, will be on island for five to six hours. They have already visited the Philippines and South Korea. The governor said on his weekend radio program the delegation will be hosted...

The American Samoa Government (ASG) still needs to improve the way it accounts for its monies. An off-island firm contracted to audit ASG's financial statements for the year ended Sept. 30, 2004, said the system of financial accounting and reporting used by the local government is inadequate. RC Holsinger Associates, which issued their independent auditors' report in June, said the ASG audit reports show "significant failures in internal control structure related to general accounting and grants administration." The independent auditors also noted that there is "evidence of a failure of identified controls in preventing or detecting misstatements of accounting information...

Senate President Lolo M. Moliga is urging Governor Togiola to take immediate steps to protect the security of local birth certificates and other documents issued by the Office of Vital Statistics, which comes under jurisdiction of the governor's office. Lolo's request, outlined in a July 25 letter to the governor, followed a meeting last week Tuesday with Nancy K. "Sam" Finn, the regional director of the U.S. Department of State's Passport Office in Honolulu. During the meeting, Lolo said Finn raised with him "very worrisome issues that ought to be addressed immediately." "The bottom line is the security system connected...

Eleven U.S. firms - ranging from telecommunication to a major hotel operator - have signed up to participate in next month's business mission to American Samoa, sponsored by the U.S. Department of Interior. ASG and DOI's Office of Insular Affairs are banking on this business conference to attract new industries that would help diversify the local economy instead of only one major industry, the canneries. "ASG is prepared to work with anyone interested in setting up operations in American Samoa," a government official said early this week. DOI's deputy assistant secretary for Insular Area, Papali'i David B. Cohen cautioned American...

Hawaiian Airlines has asked the U.S. Department of Transportation to officially declare whether the governor's executive order forcing Hawaiian to withdraw from the Honolulu-Pago route is enforceable. The carrier, which has operated its flights in this market for more than 20 years, filed a petition for declaratory relief with DOT yesterday. A copy of their petition was cc'ed to Governor Togiola. Samoa News asked Togiola to comment on Hawaiian Air's petition to DOT and asked the governor's press officer Vince Iuli for an official statement. None was forthcoming as of press time yesterday evening. "We believe that the executive order...

American Samoa's governor wants it out of the territory Citing predatory acts against Samoans, the governor of American Samoa issued an edict ordering Hawaiian Airlines to get out of the U.S. territory. Gov. Togiola T.A. Tulafono gave Hawaiian Airlines 90 more days to operate in the territory while the American Samoa government seeks another carrier. In an executive order issued Wednesday, Tulafono declared that Hawaiian used its monopoly position to force American Samoans to pay twice the fare of other passengers traveling identical distances within the United States. The three-page order also accuses Hawaiian Airlines personnel of "discourteous and disrespectful"...

My wife, Kemberly, has left. That’s ordinary enough. It happens a few million times a year, assuming that half of all American divorces are the wife’s idea. But this is about the why, not the what, of that decision. The why is unique, and extraordinary. If I were she, and she were I, I would do the same thing. (Work on it. That sentence is grammatically correct.) My wife has been offered the job of Head Chef of a new restaurant out of town, to be built and run to her specifications. To that you say, well, some commuter marriages...

  From Ms.Nooseman: One of my coworkers first Cousins was killed in Iraq on Sunday and I would like to honor this brave man.    R.I.P.   Staff Sergeant  Frank Tiai   ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ American Samoa reservist killed in IraqRead the story here.See also:  http://www.militarycity.com/valor/984068.html ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  Please post your concolences and appreciation to this thread so that they may be delivered to his family.  And don't forget to pray for this fallen hero and his family, as well as all our military men and women!   Thanks!

PAGO PAGO, American Samoa (AP) - Hurricane Olaf passed within 60 miles of the U.S. territory's main island of Tutuila early Wednesday and then blew directly over a nearby group of smaller islands. Telephone service to the Manua Islands of Ta`u, Ofu and Olosega was interrupted and officials were waiting for reports of damage after the storm crossed the area at about noon EST. The National Weather Service had warned that the Manua Islands, which also are part of American Samoa, could be devastated by wind up to 140 mph, with higher gusts. The Manua Islands are home to about...

SYDNEY (AFP) - Twin cyclones began battering three south Pacific nations and weather experts warned they could combine into one giant, destructive storm center that would create havoc in the region. Cyclone Olaf, a powerful Category 4 storm packing winds of up to 250 kilometers per hour (155 miles per hour), was bearing down on Samoa and American Samoa and was expected to reach "super cyclone" status by the time it strikes the two territories' main islands around 0000 GMT Wednesday. Olaf has intensified steadily in the past 24 hours and was forecast to reach Category 4/5 out of a...

SYDNEY, Feb 15 (Reuters) - Two tropical cyclones are bearing down on three South Pacific island nations creating a "critically dangerous situation", weather officials said on Tuesday. Cyclones Olaf and Nancy, which are expected to hit Samoa, American Samoa and the Cook islands, could cross paths creating one giant, destructive storm centre where the two cyclones spin around each other until one is flung off. "For the South Pacific it is unusual to have two cyclones this close together," said Kevin Vang at the Australian-Pacific Centre for Emergency and Disaster Information. "This has the making of an absolute mess,"...

Sunday, December 28, 2003 Honor for son is teary surprise for command sergeant major By Ward Sanderson, Stars and StripesEuropean edition, Friday, December 26, 2003 Ward Sanderson / S&S Command Sgt. Major Ioakimo Falaniko of the 1st Armored Division Engineer Brigade, left, listens Tuesday as a section of the Freedom Rest soldier relaxation compound is named after his son. A soldier, center, and Brig. Gen. Mark Hertling, assistant commander of the 1st Armored Division, look on. Falaniko's son, Jonathan, was killed by a rocket-propelled grenade in Iraq on Oct. 27. BAGHDAD, Iraq — At the memorial service, the command sergeant...

Hi all I am moving to American Samoa next week and was wondering whether any of you friendly freepers have lived there and know what its like. I have read up on the net as well as various books but would like to hear from anyone who can supply me with the view of life in Am.Sam. as an ex-pat.