Before you move, Know this....

Goalusvi's question made me curious so I did a little googling.

American Indians and Alaskan Eskimos have special rights. (Casinos, land, fishing, whaling, education grants, health care and housing, etc). granted under the Indian Reorganization Act of 1934. These peoples are recognized because they are/were indigenous to the country, live in tribal 'communities' , have a governing body of their own within the tribe, they have their own language, customs, etc. All major factors in their special status.

Native Hawaiians have been trying to get a bill passed through Congress to give them special rights similar to the Indians and Eskimos. The Akaka Bill. This bill would give Native Hawaiian special voting, educational, land ownership rights, their own governing body. What I've read indicates this bill will be voted on in August and will likely pass. Interesting. This bill has been before congress in various forms since 2005 and there is a lot of dicussion on it as to whether it violates civil rights, is race based and discriminatory... yada yada.

It seems there would be an argument for natives virgin islanders if there were Taino or Caribe Indian descendants here, as they would likely be like American Indians and Eskimos.

Interesting...

Speaking of racism. Now the Senate has invited Louis Farrakhan to speak to them. Maybe they should invite the head of the KKK to balance out the platform.

lol he's he guy that says you are supposed to beat your wife and kids, lol and i suppose Usie invited him, Usie needs to put the crack pipe down and get real

Does noone remember that Adelbert, who was an expert marksman, shot his son to death after he got into a fight with him? As I recall, the son supposedly was chasing him with a machete. Always wondered why he didn't shoot him in the knee, but not our Adelbert. He got off. Before that he was caught looting after Hugo, I think it was. He got off & was allowed to keep what he stole. I also think it was Adelbrain, uh Adelbert who really got into it with Sen. Lorraine Berry & made really vicious, nasty remarks about her dead son . At that same time his grave was vandalized. And this jerk is supposed to help define a Virgin Islander? In my opinion, no matter what his ancestry is, he's NO Virgin Islander, he's a thug.

Pure evil. Why does anyone even converse with a monster like that?

converse? try waiting on him, i could get a job in the diplomatic corps

I want to attend Farrakhan's speech on Thursday morning but everyone I know is afraid to go. I have repeatedly heard Farrakhan referred to as a leader of the black KKK, and I would like to gauge precisely how enthusiastic my neighbors are when Farrakhan proselytizes against people with melanin deficient skin. It's unfortunate that Farrakhan is perceived to be an appropriate speaker for African Liberation Day celebrations because in the eyes of white Americans, he has spent his life as a role model for every negative stereotype of black Americans. I'm disappointed that Farrakhan will have a platform for his hate speech in the USVI but I suppose it's expecting too much of those who fill the local Christians churches every weekend to practice what their Bible preaches.

Just to let my wonderful island neighbors know....our "not so" glorious mall will be losing 3 business over the next 2 months. Again, the choices for the locals are shrinking. Get up, stand up....

Thanks to all of you who have been PMing me and giving me your support. I've got about 5 people that are going to be able to start forming a group that will help lobby for the rights of all islanders regardless of the description of "native" or not. If any of you are interested in beginning a lobby group, please PM me and let's put our heads together to return St Thomas, St Croix, and St John back to the jewels we know they could be. I don't know how this group will be formed or how toeffectively lobby our particular government, but someone must start the process, so I'm going to give it a fair effort and I challenge each of you to join me in organizing, participating, and assisting those fellow islanders who want the VI to be the paradise we see on the commercials.

Anytime you hear of anything negative that "shrinks" our choices and infrastructure services, we should proactively fight to make certain that the VI isn't left behind while the other Caribbean nations take our opportunities.

Argh,

T.

It seems to me that part of the trouble of this committee is that they are doing this mainly as a way to make money. When the money allocated runs out, they quit meeting.
Where would the United States be if the original framers of the constitution felt that way? They not only did their magnificent job for no pay, but they put their fortunes and LIVES at stake.
This committee is like a lot of the government, only looking for way to pad their pockets!

What does the money go to? Are the delegates paid per session that they meet to discuss the constitution?

Delegates to the 5th Constititional Convention are paid $50 per session meeting.

Hmm . . . that doesn't sound like a lot of motivation to get things resolved quickly. Are their any requirements as to how much they have to get done in a certain time frame?

The delegates will have until 1 October 2008 to deliberate on a constitution proposal, which will then (after review periods by the Governor of the United States Virgin Islands, the President of the United States and the United States Congress) be put to a referendum, possibly in November 2008.

If you haven't already read it, I think this is a great response to the current happenings in the convention:

http://www.onepaper.com/stcroixvi/?v=d&i=&s=Commentary:Open+Forum&p=1212898037

We made the national news!

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,356894,00.html

Taxation WITH representation isn't so hot either.