Opinion

Magic Wand Needed!
I am fully and painfully aware of the fact that very little that I write here has impact for more than a fleeting moment in this beautiful place full of beautiful people.  In a good number of ways that makes perfect sense to me and perhaps that is as it should be. I’m not a Pacific Islander.  As a child I rarely saw the ocean and I was in my mid 20’s before I saw the Pacific Ocean for the first time.  My childhood experiences were with another colder ocean that washes onto the eastern shores of the United States.  I understand that in more ways than I can enumerate, the fact of my heritage disqualifies me from arrogantly pontificating on high from my tiny little editor’s chair at The Kaselehlie Press and I try to avoid it though I sometimes fail in that endeavor. When I think too long or too hard about these things I find myself in a battle to restore the withering tenacity I must have to keep speaking or writing anyway.  There is one indisputable fact that keeps my fingers moving across my computer’s keyboard when they would rather caress a guitar or do some other less dangerous thing.  The one fact that get me back on track is that we are all a part of the human race.  That’s it.  The only one. When I speak about pollution in Pohnpei’s beautiful life giving rivers I feel reasonably certain that what I say will have little to no impact.  Trash will still go into the rivers.  I get it but the message should still go out anyway I think. Do I sometimes wish that I had a magic wand that I could wave that would make problems go away, especially my own?  You bet your life I do! I don’t have a magic wand but if I did I would wave it with all my might right now if only to make one pervasive problem go away for ever and ever—VIOLENCE. I have never understood violence.  I certainly understand anger and even rage but I just can’t swallow violence. I don’t know if Ron Kersey would have called me a friend.  I’d like to think so.  We didn’t always see eye to eye.  As a matter of fact we disagreed more often than we agreed. 
Those of us who knew Ron knew that he was a complex man of many emotions.  He could be gentle and kind, even sentimental.  As I write I am focusing on that face and the bashful little smile he would flash when he was in that state of mind.  It was that rare softness in the man that I will choose to remember about Ron when I remember him in the future. He wasn’t always in that state of mind.  A storm could blow up in Ron faster and more furiously than a Pacific squall.  Those of us who knew him well knew that was the time to let the storm blow itself out which it always eventually did do. He wasn’t perfect.  No one is, but he was a father and a husband and there was love in the man but it is all gone except for the memory of it; wiped away by one senseless act of violence.  No one deserves that.  His friends and family did not deserve that.
I don’t know exactly what happened at his house in Nanpohnmal on Thursday night, June 18; accounts vary.  This senseless act smacks of bottled rage held and nurtured by someone who could think of no other release for it but violent vengeance. It is completely senseless.  I can think of no other adjective to describe the situation and it is so common throughout the world that it seems the only thing that could possibly solve the problem of bottled rage and violence would be a magic wand. I’ve seen it so many times.  Anyone who has walked the face of this earth for any time at all has seen it too.  I’ve felt rage and I understand it well.  If I had found the man who attacked my wife in Pohnpei before the police did that miserable night my story, as well as his would likely have turned out completely differently.  It’s nearly understandable and not too many people would have blamed me for taking my vengeance out on him that night.  Many people told me so afterward.  It wouldn’t have been at all right and that kind of rage should be completely eliminated too, but it might have been understandable.  Because I didn’t find him, the rage passed.  Yes, a smoldering anger continues even to this day but not a rage. Many people are entirely too quick to pick up a rock or a 2 x 4 or a machete and lash out.  Why?  Does it make you feel good?  Look at it closely and honestly, does it really make you feel good, and for how long?  Honestly, how do you suppose his killer feels right now? When it comes right down to it violence is a selfish act that a smarter person would find a way to avoid. The life of Ron’s family has completely changed.  It happened in a moment or two.  My deepest heartfelt sympathies go out to his family. Where’s my magic wand?  I need it right now!
Bill Jaynes
Managing Editor
 

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Pohnpei “foreign investors” take their case to the United States
Written by Bill Jaynes   
Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI) – June 10, 2009  – The “big names” included as defendants in a complaint filed on June 10, 2009 in the US District Court in Saipan by Robert and Patti Arthur, US citizens residing in Pohnpei, and FSM citizens Bethwel and Marihne Henry have attracted headlines in newspapers in the Pacific.The plaintiffs named as defendants: The State of Pohnpei; the Federated States of Micronesia Development Bank (FSMDB); US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in her official capacity, and US Secretary of the Department of the Interior Ken Salazar, also in his official capacity.In the 15 page complaint, the “big names” were mentioned in only one paragraph.  The plaintiffs asked the US court to order the Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and the Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar to stop releasing any funds “to Pohnpei or to the FSM for the benefit of Pohnpei, for any purpose whatsoever.”The plaintiffs, through counsel Douglas F. Cushnie, sued the defendants for breach of contract, breach of Compact, and unjust enrichment.The dispute centers on a $620,000 loan given to AHPW, Incorporated that was administered by the FSM Development Bank in 1993 at the instruction of an FSM entity which no longer exists that was named the Federated Development Authority (FDA).  According to Robert Arthur the FDA consisted of the President of the Federated States of Micronesia and the four State Governors.
Read more...
 
Association of Pacific Island Legislators meets in Pohnpei
Written by Bill Jaynes   
meeting.jpgPeilapalap, Pohnpei – The 28th General Assembly of the Association of Pacific Island Legislators met at the Pohnpei Legislative Session Hall.  The meetings which attracted members from nine Pacific Island nations and the four State of the Federated States of Micronesia opened on June 9, 2009. The primary topic of the 28th General Assembly APIL centered on the US military build up in Guam and its effect on the Pacific Islands.  The legislators from American Samoa, the Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas Islands, the FSM State of Chuuk, Kosrae, Pohnpei, and Yap, the Island of Guam, the Republic of Kiribati, the Republic of the Marshall Islands, the Republic of Nauru, the Republic of Palau, and the State of Hawaii heard presentations from a diverse group of speakers.  The speakers delivered messages regarding the military buildup in Guam in terms of educational preparedness, infrastructure needs, regional opportunities, and economic outlooks expected as a result of the buildup.  Legislators also heard presentations on the efforts of Reach Out Pacific and their charitable efforts on behalf of the Pacific Islands.  They also discussed grant writing and web technology that could benefit the islands. Before the 28th General Assembly adjourned members passed 14 resolutions.  Not all of the resolutions were provided to the Kaselehlie Press.  APIL staff member Walden Weilbacher said that those resolutions were congratulatory in nature but didn’t elaborate further: 28-GA-01 - “Urging the Association of Pacific Island Legislatures Regional Governments to request that the spouses, children, and immediate relatives of COFA Migrants be allowed to enter, engage in occupations, and establish residence as non-immigrants in the United States and its territories.”
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Chief Executive Council meets in Pohnpei to discuss FSM PetroCorp proposal
Written by FSM Information Services   
 Palikir, Pohnpei - FSM PetroCorp (FSMPC) facilitated the bringing together of the Chief Executive Council (CEC) last week on Wednesday, June 10th, to give them an update on the business operations during the first year of operation, the current financial status of the Corporation, and to present to them a proposal on utilizing the $2 million Japan Non-Project Grant Aid (JNPGA) that former Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori was instrumental in securing for the FSM after he witnessed power outages in both Pohnpei and Chuuk States. The Chief Executive Council is made up of the four FSM Governors and the FSM President.  (Note: this CEC is different from the CEC, Chief Executive Conference, which has the same Principals)  Each Governor was present, minus Governor Robert Weilbacher from Kosrae State, who was off-island on a prior engagement.  Representing Kosrae State was their Attorney General, Ms. JD Lee.  The reason the CEC was called in for this FSMPC report is because they are the tertiary level of oversight of the public corporation, preceded by the FSMPC Board of Directors, who were also present, and the FSMPC management team, which has the primary level of oversight.  
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How Big of a Problem is E-Waste?
Written by Robert Spegal   
 ewaste.jpg“E-waste” is a term that is used to describe a type of waste consisting of broken or unwanted electronic or electrical devices.  Although some of the products that become e-waste have been imported and into the FSM for the last 20 or 30 years, the quantity has been relatively small until the late 1980s.  Since that time, the number of imported computers, fax machines, televisions, various types of telephones, printers, large and small household appliances, entertainment systems, electric tools, and batteries has increased dramatically.  As a result, in the FSM there has also been an increase in the amount of e-waste that must be properly managed. The e-waste problem is not a new one in some parts of the world.  Many European countries banned e-wastes from being disposed in landfills in the 1990s.  Many of the components of e-waste type of products are considered toxic and are not biodegradable.  Thus, there is the potential for environmental damage, and this has occurred in the past.  Switzerland was the first nation to implement an e-waste recycling system in 1991, beginning with the collections of old refrigerators.  Other items were added during the following years.  The key to the system is that most e-waste items are recyclable by re-using the parts, or by processing the materials back into raw materials for recycling.  
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Welcome to Kaselehlie Press
Written by Bill Jaynes   

Administrator's note

 28 June, Sorry, but we haven't yet been able to update the latest 24 June issue in time.
Anyway, here it is...

On top of the page next to the main banner you will find a small icon linked to videos which appeal as a global warning to the human intellect and environmental awareness. This one is part of our European campaign against Climate Change.

As you might have noticed I have split up the news section into NEWS and LATEST NEWS, so you will find the latest issue's articles in the latter category and older news in the NEWS category before they are stored in the archive. There is also the section LIFESTYLE with the new FOOD & DRINK category.
Bernd Riebe

Welcome to the website of The Kaselehlie Press,
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  front_jun_24.jpg 24 JUNE 2009  - Dear Supporters and Subscribers, here is the latest issue.
 
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Bill Jaynes
Managing Editor 

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