Prop A

Every election has a Prop A. In Hawaii it's mass transit, nationally it's the economy, or the Iraq war, or Sarah Palin, anyway, on Guam there's this thing called Prop A. From what I understand, Proposition A: The Responsible Gaming Act, is a proposal to allow Guam Greyhound, a dog racing facility, not a pee pee smelling cross-island bus, to open a casino. When they build this casino they also have to build a convention center, hire 500 people (90% Guam residents), pay a bunch of taxes and dole out various sums of money to various social charities. My favorite part is that the casino will not, in theory, be open to Guam residents. Although this too is unacceptable (see above ad). Casino guests will have to show proof that they are leaving the island, I assume with all their gambling & alcohol addictions as well as pent up gambling rage and bankruptcies, within 30 days. (See: Article)


I try not to take sides on this particular issue when my teammates discuss the merits for or against Prop A at volleyball tournaments, however, it is hard not to see a little bit of humor in the various tactics of the dueling constituents. On the against side we have the Keep Guam Good coalition and what appear to be Catholic locals (again see advertisement) inherently opposed to gambling but trying to present it as a problem of corporate distrust and loopholey legislation because they can't just go and say it's against their religion. On the for side are the government and businesses who feel it is the only way to improve the tourism economy and are willing to unleash the horrors of worldly temptation, but only to visitors. Maybe it's not that funny. It's actually quite a bit serious, especially when folks start drawing lines in the sand on an island whose small girth makes it all too easy to draw a line across (it).