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Author’s note: Weekends with my aiga (extended family) on Manono Island were excellent opportunities to practice my Samoan language skills. My hosts spoke no English, but were exceedingly patient and had a wonderful sense of humor – often roaring uncontrollably with laughter at my efforts to learn the language – which I eventually succeeded in doing.
Living in Samoa brings one close to life – and death. Babies are born at home. Chickens and pigs are raised, then slaughtered and eaten. Fish is caught from the sea and other delicacies are gathered daily from the reef at low tide.
Sunday mornings, we were up well before dawn to build the umu (rock oven), scrape coconuts and squeeze the shredded coconut meat through the husk into cream. I held the torch while my brother Malie knocked a pig out with a few well-aimed rocks to the head before finishing the job with a pipe pressed across its throat.
After singeing the hair off in the fire, we scrubbed and scraped it clean. I held the carcass steady as Malie slit the belly and then thrust his hand into the warm gut to rip out its contents, including the heart and liver, which we wrapped in banana leaves for the oven.
Stuffing the cavity with dry leaves, we covered it with hot rocks along with taro (starchy root), palusami (young taro leaves filled with coconut cream and fresh vegitables), bananas, and fish wrapped neatly in woven coconut leaves and covered with large green banana leaves to bake.
Manono Island is a prime example of tropical beauty and unspoiled Polynesian culture. For the most part, people here live as they have for thousands of years, with the addition of one significant influence – the Church. Since 1830, Christianity has become a central part of Samoan culture.
Each village has at least one church. Everyone goes to lotu (worship services) each evening and twice on Sundays. Women dress up in white hats and puletasi (full-length dresses). Men wear white shirts and lava lava (a skirt-like wrap-around).
Kids sit together in church under the watchful eye of an adult parishioner wielding a long switch poised to quiet a fidgety youngster. The faife’au (pastor) reads scripture and delivers a thundering “fire and brimstone” message in the tradition of the early missionaries. In full and perfect harmony, the congregation sings hymns accompanied by a small organ. Monetary offerings are announced in church – a real “keep up with the Jones” obligation to the church.
Lotu-a-Tamaiti (White Sunday or Children’s Sunday) falls on the second Sunday in October and is as big a day as Christmas for the children of Samoa. It is the only day of the year that the children get the best food, eat first, and enjoy tasty deserts at home. To’ona’i (mid-day feast) is prepared by the adult family members and served to the children – a complete role reversal. As usual, the best and largest portions are given to the faife’au (pastor) as a meaalofa (love gift).
The children lead both Sunday services (morning and evening) singing songs and performing skits. At lunch, women offer their breasts to the babies – so, as we feast on baked pig, taro and fish, the little ones get mother’s own freshness.
A Samoan fale (house) typically has very little furniture, or anything else for that matter – except a boom box, for news and music. Mats woven from locally grown flax cover the floor for sitting, eating, and sleeping – and although I brought gifts (soap, basic medicines, etc) whenever I visited my aiga, even special items like swim goggles and a fishing knife for my father Uila might be gone the next time I visited, having already been given away to someone else.
Apparently it is more honorable to give your possessions away than to accumulate things. On the other hand, sandals left unattended or clothing drying on the line might just walk away. Whenever I ran into someone wearing one of my shirts (or my sunglasses, etc), I would be politely assured they would be returned – and even laundered. Otherwise, they were gone.
Uila told me he had 14 children, but every time I visited there were new faces, others missing from the gathering, someone else pregnant, etc. It was not uncommon for family members – young children included – to move from one extended family household to another as circumstances dictate, including unmarried daughters to the pastor’s house – presumably for safe keeping.
An interesting phenomenon in many parts of Polynesia is mo’i totolo (sleep crawling) whereby secret rendezvous are managed by sneaking under the raised floor of your sweetheart’s fale and poking a stick through the floor slats, then sneaking down to the beach together – romance in the islands!
Stay tuned for more stories, coming soon!
BY FRANK SALVATO
One of the things that Fabian Socialists – the modern day version of Progressives – understood was that perception is reality to the mass of humanity. This is the reason the two most coveted institutions captured by Progressives in their quest to “control the narrative” were the education system and the media. In controlling both they are able to install the “truth” from the beginning and counter any challenge to their truth in the immediate. We are witnessing the latter with the faux Russian-Trump scandals.
With absolutely no evidence unearthed by any federal investigative entity – be it the CIA, FBI, NSA or any other, Progressive forces in elected office and the usual suspects in the mainstream media are advancing the narrative that there is evidence – not yet found – that confirms collusion and/or criminal activity on the part of the Trump campaign where the Russians influencing the 2016 General Election is concerned.
We are also witnessing the advancement of a false-narrative in the issue of President Trump’s conversation with former FBI Director James Comey, in which he expressed his desire – not an order, but a hope – for the investigation into former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn’s private sector activities with Russian officials to come to a conclusion. To listen to Progressive operatives like US Rep. Maxine Waters (P-CA), Trump has committed high crimes and misdemeanors and is worthy of impeachment. Of course, nothing illegal – or even unethical – took place. Again, it is all about advancing a politically opportune narrative for the Left.
An effectively advanced narrative is, in our modern day political climate, “truth.”
To the issue of Russian-Trump collusion to affect the 2016 General Election: There is no evidence or any reports of foreign national interference with any ballot box in any county in any state. To think that this could have occurred without the Clinton campaign spotlighting the exact instance is to be delusional. It would have been on the front page of every newspaper and the lead story on every news program, and it would have affected the results of the Electoral College in a truly historic way.
In the issue of “Flynngate” – and to use a phrase coined by former President Barack Obama, words matter. Stating a desire – which does not, even in the most bizarre quarters of any alter-universe, equate to an order – is not an attempt to obstruct justice, nor does it translate into high crimes and misdemeanors, the requirement for impeachment. There is no “there” there. Yet, the Progressive Left is advancing that false-narrative to the detriment of President Trump’s promised reform agenda.
Which leads me to my point.
The danger of engaging in narrative politics; of getting sucked into narrative politics is that it sucks time, energy and political capital away from a pronounced purpose. In the case of the Trump administration, they – and congressional Republicans – are now so focused on combatting the false allegations of a Russian boogieman; on countering the false narratives advanced in the media, that Democrats are able to run out the clock on the enactment of reforms promised by President Trump during the election.
Progressives and Democrats in Congress – and in their allied Super PACs and non-profit advocacy groups – have effectively duped Republicans (and many in the Trump administration) into useless political shadow boxing instead of using their majority in Congress to move agenda items. It’s classic Alinsky and Republicans – and the senior members of the Trump administration – are falling for it.
If Republicans were bright – and quite honestly, with every year I spend in political reality the jury is increasingly out on that, they would use the media’s “scandal attention span” to their advantage. Imagine Republicans in Congress and the Trump administration engaging vivaciously in a narrative battle with Democrats so as to occupy the mainstream media’s attention while – at the very same time – moving reform legislation to law. Which do you believe the media would focus on in the immediate? Which do you believe the public would be drawn to in the daily news cycle?
To that end ask yourself this question. Did Bill Clinton’s agenda stop dead in its tracks during the Lewinski scandal, or did he move legislation – perhaps legislation not popular with his party, the people or both – under the cover of the scandal?
This is the fundamental difference between Progressives and Republicans. Progressives understand how to take advantage of a crisis…and to their advantage.
By Tom Yamachika – On April 26, the Trump Administration released a document that contained a roadmap of sorts for an overhaul of the federal tax code. His proposals included a consolidation of the current individual income tax brackets going up to 39.6% to three brackets, namely 10%, 25%, and 35%. The standard deduction would be doubled, to $12,700 for single filers and $25,400 for married filing jointly. Business income would be taxed at a maximum rate of 15%. The Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT) and the 3.8% Social Security tax on net investment income would be axed. And most of the deductions we now know would be eliminated, leaving individuals able to write off only mortgage interest, charitable contributions, and some child care expenses.
This all sounds well and good to ease the tax burden but one very popular deduction proposed for elimination is the deduction for state and local taxes. Under current law, an individual may deduct either state individual income taxes or general sales taxes, but not both, and may also deduct any real or personal property taxes.
The deduction has two major limits. First, there is a provision called the Pease Limitation that eats away at itemized deductions for higher income taxpayers. Second, there is the AMT, which becomes a factor because state and local taxes are “tax preferences” taxable under the AMT, so taxpayers who have large deductions for state and local taxes may have liability under AMT and would need to pay back a good portion of the benefit they thought they were getting from the state tax deduction.
Nationwide, wealthier taxpayers benefit the most from the deduction. More than 88 percent of its benefits go to Americans who earn more than $100,000 a year, according to the national Tax Foundation. About 28 percent of tax filers claim the state and local deduction each year. Of those, 77 percent deduct income taxes and the rest deduct sales taxes.
The state and local tax deduction is more significant in states where taxes and incomes are high. In New York and California, the Tax Foundation study shows that the state and local tax deduction represents 9.1% and 7.9% of federal adjusted gross income. Here in Hawaii, the deduction represents 4.5% of AGI, which places us at the median of states. Although our tax rate is above the national average, only 29% of Hawaii filers itemize deductions, meaning that 71% derive no benefit from specific deductions. Because the Trump plan significantly boosts the standard deduction, fewer people will need to itemize. That would increase the percentage of Hawaii taxpayers deriving no benefit from the state and local tax deduction. These taxpayers, which represents most of the population, would not be hurt if the deduction is eliminated. The other, wealthier taxpayers would have exposure if the deduction is eliminated, but may ultimately pay less tax because of the lower tax rates contained in the Trump plan.
Hawaii income tax follows federal law for the most part, but there are two major differences: Hawaii doesn’t have an AMT, and Hawaii does not allow a deduction for state taxes for individuals making more than $100,000 (single), $150,000 (head of household), or $200,000 (joint) in federal adjusted gross income. The more affluent taxpayers for whom the deduction is disallowed anyway would not be affected by Hawaii adopting this part of the Trump plan, nor would the taxpayers on the other end of the spectrum who take the standard deduction (although Hawaii’s standard deduction is much lower than the federal one). Any impact from adopting this part of the Trump plan would fall most heavily on those in the middle. Ouch!
Look forward to more as the Trump tax plan starts to take shape.
Author’s Note: As a YMCA volunteer from 1983-1986 in Samoa (formerly Western Samoa), I enjoyed weekends with my adopted Samoan aiga (extended family) on the tiny island of Manono, one of the four inhabited islands of Samoa known also as “The Cradle of Polynesia” in the middle of the South Pacific. While some things have changed since then – notably electricity – otherwise, much remains the same. Here is a taste of what life was like in those heady days on my favorite South Seas Island Paradise.
The trip from the larger island Upolu took 30 minutes and cost 50 sene (25 US cents). The small, extremely weathered wooden boat was overloaded with people and food – including a sacked pig or two. There was barely enough free-board to repel the swelling seas.
Rain was coming down in buckets. Someone calmly bailed while the boat threatened to nose-dive in the next trough. Amazingly, we did not go under. It was comforting to reflect that these waters were within the protection of the reef – which reduced our chances of meeting a shark.
As the boat approached the tiny island, half of the passengers hopped overboard to haul the soggy vessel through the shallows to a rock jetty. Palangi, palangi (name given to white people) came the excited cries of half-naked children gathering around – some brave enough to venture a quick touch of white skin or golden hair.
There are no roads, cars or dogs here. A sandy path lined with flowers and tall, sweeping coconut palms follows the coastline, and it takes just under an hour to stroll leisurely around this tranquil island. The place is Manono Island, one of the four inhabited islands of Samoa – the legendary birthplace of Polynesian culture and language – in the middle of the South Pacific.
There is a battery operated telephone box on the island, but it hasn’t worked for some time. One of the four villages that dot the coastline has electricity generated by a petrol generator. Power cuts off at 10:00 PM nightly.
Frequent rains provide fresh water for the approximately 600 inhabitants of this lush, tropical island. Messages broadcast on local radio alert the islanders whenever someone is coming for a visit.
Fales (houses) are traditional Polynesian open construction, round or oval and have high peaked roofs of woven leaves or tin, and have no walls. Food is cooked in an umu (rock oven). Toilets (faleuila) are outhouses perched on stilts over the beautiful white sand beaches. As the tides come and go, these ‘toilets’ flush twice daily.
In one village, a winning fautasi (longboat) is enshrined in a special fale along with its trophy until next year’s races. Nearby, children play kilikiti, a Samoan version of cricket.
In the evening, the fishermen take their outrigger canoes out to the reef. The women in the open fales – seated cross-legged on the floor – are weaving mats from dried flax, preparing food, or just chatting. Gravestones in front of many fales are reminders of family members who have gone before.
Presenting our customary oso (food gift), we are invited to malolo (take a rest) after our journey from the capital city Apia, before being fed our own food plus heaps of taro (starchy root) boiled bananas, coconut cream, palusami (coconut cream and fresh vegetables baked in young taro leaves), breadfruit, baked fish, pork, chicken, eel, octopus, sea cucumbers, sea urchins, and Samoan cocoa. Seated cross-legged on the floor, we eat with both hands, as is customary in Samoa.
Seated in front of us, the kids fan the flies away and will eat after the adults are finished. Pleasantly stuffed, we are each given a pillow and a woven mat, and join everyone for an afternoon nap, a sheet hanging down the middle of the fale – men on one side, women on the other.
Lounging in the main fale by the water’s edge, gazing out to sea, the cool breezes are soothing as light rain falls on the tropical greenery all around.
Samoan life revolves around the aiga, and the enduring tradition of Fa’a Samoa (the Samoan way of life) is the dominant social force. Strong obligation to the aiga under the patronage of the matai (elected head of the family) ensures security for its members in return.
Uila, the pulenu’u’ (village mayor), asked me to be his son, along with Gary, a US Peace Corps volunteer. Our friend Emi, a young Samoan police woman, was also adopted into the family.
Stay tuned for Part Two, coming soon!
You can read more about Jim’s backstory, here and here.
As of 11 a.m. today, Wednesday, May 10, over 15,500 voters have cast a ballot for the 2017 Neighborhood Board elections.
Voters may use their unique passcodes to cast ballots online at www2.honolulu.gov/nbe via their computers or mobile devices through 11:59 p.m. on Friday, May 19.
Those who have voted in the 2016 general or primary elections and live in a contested seat area are eligible to vote in the 2017 Neighborhood Board elections. To find out if your board is contested, visithttps://bit.ly/2qUlbZO.
During this voting period, the city and its partners will also make computers available to the public at these locations:
The NCO strongly encourages voting online as it saves paper and keeps costs down. However, you may request a paper ballot if you are unable to vote online. To request a ballot by mail, voters may call the Ballot Request Hotline at 768-3763 no later than Monday, May 15, 2017, by 4:30 p.m. with your full name, residential address, and last four digits of your Social Security Number. Returned ballots must be postmarked by Friday, May 19, 2017 and received by the NCO no later than Friday, May 26, 2017.
Online voting closes at 11:59 p.m. on Friday, May 19, 2017. Election results will be announced no later than June 1, 2017. Newly elected board members will assume office on July 1, 2017.
Candidate profiles and photos are posted online at:
https://www2.honolulu.gov/nbe/candidateprofiles.php.
