Bridge to nowhere?

Bridge Investment Group LLC seems to have made a bad bet on its Tinian casino plan. Then again, it appears they were betting against the house-- PL 110-229.

The immigration provisions of that law called for federal restrictions on alien hiring and investment that are much stricter than the CNMI laws and regulations they replaced.

According to the Saipan Tribune two-thirds of BIG's planned units were condominiums. Chinese investors were prominent in previous stories about their plans.

From the comments of spokesman Phillip Mendiola-Long, it would appear the company is hoping that the Department of Homeland Security will include Chinese workers when it issues its 'CW' rules and also issue investment rules with "lowered thresholds".

Neither seems likely. As Mendiola-Long points out, Chinese nationals are not eligible for the H-2 visa program. This year's list of eligible countries* has just been issued. The factors used in designating countries include:

(1) The country's cooperation with respect to issuance of travel documents for citizens, subjects, nationals and residents of that country who are subject to a final order of removal; (2) the number of final and unexecuted orders of removal against citizens, subjects, nationals and residents of that country; (3) the number of orders of removal executed against citizens, subjects, nationals and residents of that country; and (4) such other factors as may serve the U.S. interest.

It seems likely the same factors would apply to 'CW' workers and investors, and 22 reminders are currently awaiting trial for allegedly trying to enter Guam illegally from the CNMI. In addition, only the employment rules were re-opened for further comment, the investment rules are final.

* Argentina, Australia, Belize, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, Chile, Costa Rica, Croatia, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Ethiopia, Guatemala, Honduras, Indonesia, Ireland, Israel, Jamaica, Japan, Lithuania, Mexico, Moldova, The Netherlands, Nicaragua, New Zealand, Norway, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, South Africa, South Korea, Turkey, Ukraine, United Kingdom, Uruguay.

Chinese take out, column B

The hearing on Gov. Benigno R. Fitial's massage by a woman accused of human trafficking has been postponed at the request of Attorney General Edward Buckingham, according to the Saipan Tribune.

Maybe that should be alleged massage; the article refers to the "alleged unauthorized release". Buckingham has his work cut out. Both Fitial and Corrections Commissioner Dolores M. Aldan told the Tribune in a statement that they knew the "unusual situation" could be a problem.

Serious enough that Aldan is quoted as saying "I made about seven calls to the number I have for Deputy Hall and about six calls to the cell phone of the attorney general." That's something like putting up a Beware of Dog sign and letting the beast roam free.

The U.S. Attorney holds all of the cards (if not the prisoners). We don't know where the feds are going with this, and it is possible they could file charges.

While the move is understandable, personally, I'm disappointed that the hearing was postponed. The information vacuum is being filled by scurrilous speculation on the street and on the internet. Almost all of the comments on the Thursday and Friday Marianas Variety stories are negative.

Newly-hired press secretary Angel Demapan is probably disappointed too. While his first days have been "really tough", media frenzies usually have a short life, depending as they do on new developments. In this case, just about the time attentions lag, the hearing will guarantee more Front Page coverage.

Still, it could be worse. National news has been dominated by the earthquake in Haiti. And, while the Associated Press story appeared in hundreds of newspapers, most of them ran a short, somewhat sanitized version like this Washington Post blurb. I couldn't find it on Reuters and only on blogs related to Saipan.

Angelo posted the KSPN video on The Saipan Blog and YouTube. There's another version on YouTube.

Samoa's Office of Immigration raided

Human Trafficking alleged

About 20 officers from several agencies closed American Samoa's Office of Immigration last week, removing a large file cabinet and more than 15 bins full of documents, according to the Samoa News. Photos of the raid are displayed on their home page, but there hasn't been a follow-up story.

Lt. John Cendrowski of the Office of Territorial and International Criminal Intelligence and Drug Enforcement (OTICIDE, says Samoa News) told the New York Times that "In our ongoing investigation into human trafficking, we have heard from different Asian races on how they were 'recruited' to come to American Samoa in order to earn a better living."

Radio New Zealand reports that "The Office of Criminal Intelligence, the FBI and the Department of Public Safety raided the Immigration Office last week searching for files of 750 Asians, including Chinese, Korean and Filipino citizens."

Samoa News says the Independent Prosecutor's Office obtained the search warrant.

This timing is particularly bad for American Samoa, with Radio New Zealand also reporting that "A four member team from the US General Accountability Office is due in American Samoa next week to study the territory’s customs and immigration systems."

It also complicates matters for Rep. Gregorio C. Sablan, who told the Saipan Chamber of Commerce Saturday he was working on legislation to amend the 'federalization' law.

Opponents of federal control often point to American Samoa's system as an argument for local control in the CNMI.

BE attitudes

Gov. Benigno R. Fitial and Lt. Gov. Eloy S. Inos deserve a little celebration: it's been a rough four years.

Monday's inauguration caps a first term that was all tunnel, with not much light at its end. But the problems can wait another day or two; it's bad form to squabble when there are guests in the house.

In a classy move, the Governor took the first drive towards rapprochement by going to the house of erstwhile opponent Rep. Heinz S. Hofschneider, meeting with him and House Speaker Arnold I. Palacios, according to the Saipan Tribune. Hofschneider and Palacios returned the gesture by going to Fitial's residence. The rest was nuance.

"We want the feds to know we are working together," Fitial is said to have said. "It's time to get over this," (the election) Hofschneider told the Tribune in a separate interview.

"The political season is over. This is a time for partnership for the people of the CNMI," Inos said. "We wish nothing but success for the Fitial administration as they face the challenges of the Commonwealth," Palacios said.

The Tribune was so impressed by Inos' 'partnership' idea that they attributed it to all four men in the main story's lead sentence.

On the other hand, the Marianas Variety chose not to publicize inauguration events, except for a nod to Palauan President Johnson Toribiong on page six. Maybe that's some form of of the saw 'if you can't say anything good, don't say anything at all'.

Unless it's in the editorial, though even there the ongoing soap opera at Northern Marianas College took top billing. There's more than a touch of irony in editorials headlined 'A house divided' that sound like the election never took place.

Fitial's Administration is chided for fanfare the CNMI can't afford, but warned about relying on "contributions" (the quotation marks were not added) from the private sector. In Friday's Tribune, Inauguration Committee co-chair Teresa Kim was quoted saying "No government funds have been expended."

On a very basic level, what's the difference between campaign contributions and contributions to inauguration events?

In any case, here's the gubernatorial inaugural schedule. Questions about separation of church and state make Red Masses controversial in some jurisdictions, not so much in the Commonwealth.

The RSVP black-tie VIP Ball at the Saipan World Resort and suit-and-tie People's Ball at Fiesta Resort should help keep the fanfare-- and expenses -- down.

The worldwide Jack Webb

There are so many mistakes, misunderstandings and outright lies on the internet that fact-checking has become a growth industry. It always makes me think of Joe Friday's phrase 'Just the facts ma'am' from television's Dragnet.

I love this development, even though it often spirals wildly out of control: Media Matters loves to hammer Fox News, for instance, leading to a website critical of them from the opposite end of the political spectrum, and so on. The back-and-forth buzzing wears thin quickly unless you're committed to the subject.

Most of the attention focuses, rightly, on the major media, but no one is safe. If you write it on the internet, even one little twitty tweet, don't be surprised if it comes back to bite you. The term 'crowdsourcing' was coined to describe the sharks that will school if there is a little blood in the webby waters.

I got hooked on The St. Petersburg Times' PolitiFact during the last presidential election, but I don't go there much any more. Like FactCheck.org and, to a lesser extent, the rumor debunkers at Snopes.com, they miss the lowlights that satisfy my perverse sense of humor.

Nah, give me the kind of errors Craig Silverman collects in his Regret the Error Columbia Journalism Review blog and like-named website: (Warning, close your eyes when you go over the next sentences if you are easily offended -- they're from Gawker -- 'nuff said.) "Earlier this week, we called congressman Jason Chaffetz a self-hating weirdo, an asshole, a probable closet case, and the son of Kitty Dukakis. He is not the son of Kitty Dukakis. We regret the error."

An extreme example, but I liked it. More representative is the Washington Post's Correction (Crunk) of the Year after they mistakenly claimed Public Enemy's song was saying 9/11 was a joke instead of the 911 emergency system. Here's the Post ombudsman writing about the fiasco, just because I like the headline: A spotty record on counter-errorism.

The local media's errors are usually so prosaic by comparison: the Saipan Tribune dropping $10 million in its headline and story Senate supports $6M ship disposal program or a couple of stories in the Marianas Variety where charges were stated as facts instead of alleged. A problem there: I could cite them, but even a lowly blogger has to be careful about what he 'publishes', particularly if he has cause to think it's untrue.

I was happy to see Gov. Benigno R. Fitial's transparency in saying Jenner & Block still on NMI payroll for $50,000 a month. (In an interesting contrast of editorial emphasis, the Tribune headlined that Fitial won't block 'green card').

At this late date, particularly since it was one of the issues in the election, I'm not interested in arguing the merits of the contract. I would, however be interested in a little fact-checking on the total cost to-date. I really don't have a clue with all of the figures that have been tossed around, and some of them are so outrageous they should be debunked.

Not real fact-checking, but I've been bemused by some of the articles about the ongoing employment controversy at Northern Marianas College. President Carmen Fernandez seems to be staying in the background as much as possible: "Fernandez’s office stated"... and "The office added,".

Filler

Sorry, I haven't been posting lately about Saipan. I've been studying logic.

"[I]f it were so, it would be; but as it isn't, it ain't. That's logic." -- Lewis Carroll

Tomorrow, maybe.

Please release me

The Saipan Immigration Court will open Monday, according to a Media Advisory.

It will be one of 58 around the U.S. by my count, the nearest previously being in Honolulu. They must be expecting enough business to keep an office open.

To begin, Associate Judge David Wiseman said there were more than 200 cases pending when he closed down the CNMI immigration docket.

FALLS CHURCH, Va. – The Executive Office for Immigration Review will open the Saipan Immigration Court in Saipan, Northern Mariana Islands, on November 30, 2009. The Saipan Immigration Court will conduct immigration court proceedings for respondents in the Northern Mariana Islands. The Saipan Immigration Court will be an administrative control court and will receive filings and establish appropriate dockets.

The address for the Saipan Immigration Court is:

Marina Heights II Building, Suite 301
Marina Heights Business Park
Saipan, MP 96950
Hours of Operation:
8:00 a.m. - 4:30 p.m., Monday - Friday

The Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR) is an agency within the Department of Justice. Under delegated authority from the Attorney General, immigration judges and the Board of Immigration Appeals interpret and adjudicate immigration cases according to United States immigration laws. EOIR’s immigration judges conduct administrative court proceedings in immigration courts located throughout the nation. They determine whether foreign-born individuals—who are charged by the Department of Homeland Security with violating immigration law—should be ordered removed from the United States or should be granted relief from removal and be permitted to remain in this country. The Board of Immigration Appeals primarily reviews appeals of decisions by immigration judges. EOIR’s Office of the Chief Administrative Hearing Officer adjudicates immigration-related employment cases. EOIR is committed to ensuring fairness in all of the cases it adjudicates.

More on Saipan Shooting

I'm not in the mood to write today, but I've heard a lot of speculation about yesterday's murders.

The latest I've found is from the Pacific News Center, where Brad Ruszala is reporting the gunman's name as Lee Zhong Ren.

According to Ruszala, "Lee reportedly complained of a failed attempt to open another shooting range on the island."

Saipan shooting

KUAM is reporting that four people are dead and six injured in shootings on Saipan. I've been trying to get more information for several hours. Pacific Daily News says five dead and eight injured in their breaking news.

Jane Mack at Saipan Writer has pieced some details together.

Check those sites; I don't want to just compile them when there's still more information coming in.

4:00 p.m. The Saipan Tribune just posted five dead and eight injured.

6:00 p.m. KSPN-2 on cable television has more details (streaming video).

Holes in the umbrella

Okay, Over 80 percent of guest workers to get umbrella permit, according to the Marianas Variety.

How about 'almost 20 percent of guest workers won't get umbrella permits', instead? That's a lot of slippage.

Some of those presently in the system may have already departed the Commonwealth, Deanne Siemer is supposed to have explained to the reporter. Well, that certainly makes me feel better. They're in control.

Somebody is. Siemer is described as "Labor’s part-time hearing officer" in this story; it's usually "volunteer legal adviser". Why is this part-time volunteer so often the 'spokesperson'? (It's not the newspapers' fault. Has anyone seen her business card to clear this up?)

It bothers me that the percentage is that high. Are one-in-five guest workers here illegally? Are they going to try to hang on illegally for a few more years? Maybe that many people have given up on trying to find work and just want to go home. And, yes, I'm sure some have already left.

Urban legend visas

Or maybe they're the people Jaime R. Vergara was talking about in his opinion piece Stragglers under the Commonwealth umbrella. It's a must-read for anyone in denial about the very large group of exploited workers.

Yes, they're "incredibly gullible", he says, "a docile population of foreigners exploited by their own kind, oblivious of any political rights, and reliant on fortune tellers and fast-buck schemes..."

They're about to pay for their mistakes, or pay later if they go back underground for awhile. A lucky few might find an advocate and take their exploiters down with them. The people who gamed the system will move on, looking for another scam. The people who created the system will try to rewrite history: 'Not Our Fault.'

I've still been hearing about 'tourist' and 'sponsor' schemes this year. It hasn't stopped. Vergara says "I saw copies of identical pleadings for a waiver addressed to no less than Labor’s celebrated volunteer asking that the waiver be granted to an overstaying tourist and a jobless consort so that they may be allowed time to seek other partners, apply for an Immediate Relative status, and qualify for the umbrella permit!"

According to Vergara, "Shanty dwellings with their ubiquitous satellite dishes house many aliens who expect the feds to start handing out urban legend visas come December." Sad, but I have to agree with him.

I was pulling up to YCO Hardware this morning and saw a flyer for a Black Friday Sale on Nov. 27. Wow, I thought, they really don't like the feds. Oops, the day after Thanksgiving is supposed to be the start of the Christmas shopping season. My bad, I hadn't seen anybody use it out here

Eve of distraction

Jay Solly seems to know a bit about marketing.

His shamelessly self-promoting CNMI gubernatorial 'poll' landed him on the front page of the Friday Marianas Variety and the election-day Saipan Tribune.

Not bad for a young guy who seems to be looking for a job. Unintended consequences kick in, of course.

He reportedly used his 'significant other's' (gad I hate that term) phone to survey voters. Well, not hers exactly. According to the Tribune, it's a residential phone but it belongs to Bridge Capital LLC *. They fired her, "for improper use of company resources." A company whose unrelenting campaign for gambling on Saipan has been controversial doesn't need a pissed-off Governor.

And he was pissed, or at least his minions were. That's easy to understand. Who needs to get blind-sided the day before the election by a poll showing the incumbent is in third place? The obvious --and legitimate-- questions were asked: who is this guy and who does he work for?

So Solly

So they called Bridge Capital, who quickly cut their losses... and their payroll. Pressure from the Governor's Office? I have no idea, but there's no crying in Public Relations. It seems like a move they would make with or without pressure. But Jay and the SO (girlfriend) are victims now. Stay tuned. We need two jobs now.

Who does he work for? There's nothing obvious to go by. Personally I think he free-lanced this, but time will tell. Stay tuned. With due diligence, the Governor's people checked out Marianas Consulting on the internet, and only got marianasconsulting.com, evidently some consultants in Toronto. Nay, says Solly, it's marianasconsulting.biz, which is true enough. He bought that domain name on October 26, but it's not functioning yet. The Website Title is 404 Not Found. **

Haidee V. Eugenio writes that the Tribune got Solly's Press Release Friday. I suppose he was trying to maximize coverage in both papers. He puts a brave face on it, but I don't think this is the story he expected to read.

And the voters say

Solly claims that his methods are sound, but the numbers don't add up to me-- figuratively and literally. My "Pala-Pala Poll" shows the Governor ahead of Juan Guerrero, with more than 20 percent of the vote. I guess we'll know tonight.

I could comment on the poll's design if I knew more about it. I was looking for his Press Release or other information when I tried to track down the Marianas Consulting website. Big assumption here, but if they only called landlines they would get a skewed view of the population. A lot of people only have cell phones these days, particularly younger people. Also, in this political climate, I would expect some people to hold their cards pretty close when talking to an anonymous voice on the phone.

Survey questions have to be designed very carefully. For instance, 'Do you think the Commonwealth is headed in the wrong direction?' would be leading. 'In which direction is the Commonwealth headed?' with choices would get a better result.

Then again, at least he tried, and he's sure poked himself into the public eye.

* Mo' marketing: Bridge Capital got in its own public relations licks with the irrelevant "Since June this year, the company has donated nearly $25,000 to the CNMI community."

** The WHO IS pointed at http://www.marianasconsulting.biz instead of just http://marianasconsulting.biz There's a little more information at the site, but the Press Release he posted has less information than what was provided to the local papers. I got through once. The connection has 'timed out' every other time I tried.

Tracks of my tears

What a difference a day can make. This is National Weather Service Guam's new track forecast for Typhoon Melor as of 1 am. Since I'm checking I thought I'd share.

They say in a 5 am bulletin that "TYPHOON MELOR HAS WOBBLED TO THE SOUTHWEST OVER THE PAST FEW HOURS. MELOR IS EXPECTED TO RESUME MOVING WEST-NORTHWEST AT 6 MPH. THIS GENERAL MOTION IS EXPECTED TO CONTINUE WITH A SLIGHT INCREASE IN FORWARD SPEED OVER THE NEXT 24 TO 48 HOURS." Melor may become a supertyphoon within 24 hours, they add (IN CAPS).

The Joint Typhoon Warning Center tells us a subtropical ridge to the North is steering Melor so it moves "generally West-Northwestward".

That's close enough to make me nervous, though it looks (now) like we'll "just" get a lot of rain as it passes North of Saipan. Small comfort if we look at our neighbors in the Philippines: Katsana was "just" a tropical storm and they're still finding bodies. Typhoon Parma, by the way, has weakened a bit but is still expected to add to their misery as it passes over the Northern Philippines.

In a 3 am Local Statement the NWS reminds us not to focus on the exact forecast track.

This sure beats the old days, using a barometer to tell whether a storm was getting closer and the wind direction to guesstimate from which direction.

Your fed in the clouds

I just stumbled across the U.S. General Service Administration's Cloud Computing Initiative, complete with an applications website. It's nice to see our government entering the 21st Century.

Cloud what? The concept of 'Cloud Computing' has been around for awhile, but it's been general, fuzzy and/or, well, (sorry) cloudy.

Boring definition #1: “a model for enabling convenient, on-demand network access to a shared pool of configurable computing resources (e.g., networks, servers, storage, applications, and services) that can be rapidly provisioned and released with minimal management effort or service provider interaction". (National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) -- the definition seems to be version 15)

This will probably save a lot of money in the long run. Though... I wonder about some of the "Social Media Applications". If you visit a lot of government sites like I do, you've probably noticed they usually have blogs. Boring, and they repeat what you'll find in the "Press Releases" pages of the website. Somebody's being paid to do that. (Funny, I didn't see any comments on the Homeland Security blog.) Also, government Facebook or MySpace pages remind me of adults trying to be "hep" (heh) by aping Teen Talk.

This is another project pushed by Chief Information Officer Vivek Kundra, picked by Infoworld as one of the best Chief Technical Officers of 2008. One of his first projects after being appointed by President Barack Obama was data.gov a work-in-progress that puts raw government data on the web. Warning: it can be a gargantuan Time Trap if you start browsing through it.

Obama is definitely internet savvy -- I'm still on his email list after signing up during the campaign; I still get pleas for support (and money) for his initiative-of-the-day. (John McCain never got past just having a website with suggested 'talking points' for his supporters.)

The Whitehouse YouTube Channel (Joined January 20, 2009) has cranked out 454 videos as this is being written. It's one of 15 listed on the U.S. Government Channel. The agencies don't draw viewers like a piano-playing cat would (the FDIC?), but there's an audience out there.

I just think it's cool to have all of this stuff at my fingertips, even out on Saipan in the middle of the ocean.

A video on one of NOAA's sites:

Choi-wan's profile

This cross-section of Super Typhoon Choi-wan reminded me (again) that I love subscribing to NASA's Earth Observatory.

The top picture is neat, but I'd never seen anything like the blue profile below it. According to NASA, the Cloudsat satellite flew over Choi-wan about one minute after the photo was taken by NASA's Aqua satellite and took radar images of the clouds. The dark grey line in the photo shows Cloudsat's path. You can clearly see there are no clouds in the eye, which is surrounded by clouds climbing more than 15 kilometers.

Taken the morning of September 15, right after Choi-wan became a super typhoon. Saipan's probably about 200 km south of the eye.

Whew!

Mean ends

"The habitation of these people on the island will afford most valuable ecological radiation data on human beings," (Dr. Robert) Conard wrote in a 1957 confidential internal memo. He added that "various radioisotopes present can be traced from the soil, through the food chain, and into the human beings." (Newsday)

If the Japanese or Germans had done that a dozen years earlier, we would have tried them as war criminals.

Dr. Conard is talking about the residents of Rongelap in the Marshall Islands, who were dosed with radiation by the 1954 'Bravo' hydrogen bomb test (One of 67 tests) on Bikini atoll 110 miles away. Officials claim the wind shifted and the exposure was accidental. A little local perspective: that's about the distance between Guam and Saipan. (A grain of salt for seasoning: at that time troops were sometimes intentionally exposed to nuclear tests. Still, I believe them.)

The quote is from "Cold War fallout for Brookhaven National Lab", subtitled "No one lives here anymore.", a Newsday article that accompanies the 32-minute narrative documentary "Fallout". They say your endocrine system produces less adrenaline over time when it's overused, and adrenaline junkies need higher doses to get the same effects. My outrage gland is like that, but this one got me going.

"I just don't feel that the term 'guinea pigs' is appropriate anywhere in these discussions," Dr. Victor Bond told Newsday in 2007. I dunno, I didn't get that memo.

The contamination forced the American government to evacuate the islanders. Many experienced vomiting and diarrhea, and their white blood cell counts plummeted - signs of radioactive poisoning. Two U.S. military doctors - Bond and Eugene Cronkite - advised other U.S. officials right after the blast that the United States should keep Rongelap's residents away from any more radioactivity from future tests for at least 12 years, if not the rest of their lives, determining they had had enough exposure for a lifetime, documents show. Newsday

After years of suffering, the residents left on their own, boarding the Rainbow Warrior in 1985. According to Newsday, the BNL 'scientists' were "stunned".

"Unfortunately, they were never able to understand very much about radiation and its effects on them," Conard wrote in his memoir. "They were afraid of this unseen, unfelt 'poisonous powder' and its effects, and this became a strong psychological factor. They continued to believe that every ailment and every death was somehow related to radiation exposure."

Then again, German scientist Bernd Franke found BNL urine tests showing toxic levels of plutonium. "I was totally stunned to see Brookhaven's tests were exceeding the limits," recalled Franke. "But they never told the Rongelap people living on the island. They left everybody in the dark and they violated the precepts of good science."

This all came up again when the Marshall Islands Nuclear Claims Tribunal awarded the islanders one billion dollars in damages in 2007. It's hard to put a dollar figure on human suffering, like an insurance company giving you $1,000 for the loss of your big toe, but they're certainly owed big time. President Bush wouldn't pay, will President Obama?

Some 117 people did get $25,000 apiece for having their thyroid glands removed. Talk about blood money. And BNL plays dumb:

At BNL, the lab's history in the Marshall Islands is one that officials say they can't address because all the main participants are dead and no records remain there. They also say they cannot find tissue samples - including thyroids - removed from Marshall Islands residents in exchange for large cash payments.Newsday

The article compares the Cold War fears that drove the research to some of the rampant paranoia after 9/11, a point that occurred to me rather quickly in reading the story. The ends justify the means? Not.

A sign prepared by BNL welcomed the islanders' home: "Greetings Rongelap People. We hope that your return to your atoll is a thing of joy and your hearts are happy."

Yes, we have no banana typhoons

Saipan just doesn't seem to get typhoons any more. I'm leery of making that statement; maybe I should knock on wood (or plastic, as Isaac Asimov once suggested).

Obviously, the Mariana Islands are still in the typhoon belt. We have storms that form North and South of us. In recent years a lot of them seem to start up just after they have passed us.

But, really, I'm trying to remember the last time I saw satellite photos of storms lined up approaching us one after another in progressive stages of development.

Uh, oh

Soon-to-be supertyphoon Choi-wan started me thinking, and I really don't have much else to do today until it goes away. You're probably going to lose your bananas, I commiserated with my landlord.

Nope, the winds weren't even strong enough to affect those pushovers, and that's probably not a good thing. In past years the weak blows 'pruned' the weak limbs and generally made the island safer when coconuts really start flying.

If Choi-wan had done one of those crazy turns and hit head-on my neighborhood would have looked like the tornado scene from the Wizard of Oz. I checked the pieces of plywood, tin and various plastic containers scattered about as a quick-check when the sun came up. Almost nothing had moved. The decrepit wood-and-tin barracks next door hadn't even creaked much in the night.

Have people gotten lax, or is it just recent arrivals who haven't huddled in a doorway watching the entire roof at the other end of a room complain as it is raised a foot above the wall that's supposed to support it. That one almost sent me fleeing into the night.

It reminds me of my brother's neighbor. He had to put up with constant ribbing because he boarded up everytime a depression popped up in this end of the Pacific Ocean. Until Supertyphoon Kim, that is. It was tracking safely well South of us when, like an 800 pound gorilla, it did what it wanted to and veered North. He retreated to his bedroom, only putting in an appearance next door when the beer ran out. The entire downstairs was trashed.

That's one reason to brave the storm, I suppose. My grand stupidity was later, when I was working for KCNM-KZMI. I used to drive up to the Emergency Management Office on Capitol Hill in the teeth of the storm to get the latest bulletins. Not smart, but I had a mental picture of people huddled around a radio in a dark room while the wind howled outside. That makes for a long night, and you just want to know 'when is this going to end?'

Not that I'm any different. We didn't put boards up, just made sure everything was secure. I didn't top off the gas tank, buy a bunch of canned food, fill the bathtub, or otherwise prepare to play Boy Scout for a few days. Just a few candles, batteries, drinking water and butane.

Gimme Shelter

In a lot of ways, I'm like the kids. They love typhoons like I used to love snow days when I was in school. No school, the folks stay home and something out of the ordinary. Well, unless the cable goes out, the internet, the power the water. Then it's 'When's the ____ coming back?'

But there's at least one solid day when the schools are still closed because of the people who got flooded out, even if the wind didn't blow. That's good practice, because we're overdue for a real storm

The rhetorical cafe

I probably know the answer, but I'm wondering if Saipan's dozens of internet cafes are using pirated software.

Ah, well, we're a small island and nobody cares locally. Reading that a Chinese City Requires Net Cafes to Use Legitimate Software made me think of the hole-in-the-wall cybercafes that seem to be everywhere, and reminded me of at least one shop that was caught buying stolen computers.

My son is devoted to these places so I know their prices, leading me to wonder how they survive.

Storm clouds: the week that was

The Marianas Variety implies that less than 1,000 "out of status" workers isn't much.

More than implies actually: "THE Department of Labor says there are less than 1,000 foreign nationals who may be overstaying in the CNMI since they arrived here over the past six years, allaying fears that the commonwealth may be harboring many illegal migrants."

Seems like a lot to me, and how are they getting by without being part of the underground economy?

Fair enough

Will there be a 'bubble' of unneeded employees because of the transition to federal control of immigration? They may be chasing ambulances a bit, but it's good advice for employers "to extend their employment contracts to buy them more time amid ambiguities and uncertainties regarding regulations that are still being drafted."

It could be a rocky transition.

CUC in a nutshell

"When you're looking at financials it tells you (you're) insolvent," Antonio Muna said. "It's difficult in accounting terms to project if it will be a growing concern, because of all of this burden of liability where debt exceeds assets. How do you cope with that?"

Shellgame in a nutshell

(Eloy Inos) added that the projected decrease in personnel outlays due to reduction in employer contribution to the NMI Retirement Fund was not achieved because the anticipated savings were "plowed back into the system and expensed by way of fuel subsidy to [the Commonwealth Utilities Corp.]."

"If that subsidy was in fact treated as payment of government utilities, [the] $2.1 million over-expenditure in utilities expense could and would have been averted," he said.

Just plain nuts

Key provisions of the budget include...

11-percent employer contribution rate to the NMI Retirement Fund;

Prohibition against reprogramming of appropriations for utility expenses;

Flight fright

It's no surprise, really, but Asiana Airlines is losing money on its Saipan route. Hmm, so is it a bad time to sue over Kumho's Laolao lease?

From the comments, there seem to be some unhappy taxpayers, but CDA proposes changes to qualifying certificate program" tells us the government is still working to provide a better deal.

The Flame Sako Resort & Spa proposal for the beach north of the Palms Resort in As Matuis seems to be getting some opposition too. There seems to be a vocal group that's questioning new development. The Dec. 9 hearing at GTC Elementary School should be particularly interesting.

Yes, but

Rep. Diego Benavente's proposal to hold CNMI elections in even years makes sense, but isn't it a little late?

Local elections have historically been held in odd years, while the newly-created Washington Delegate is elected in the federal even-year cycle.

Maybe I need a lawyer's help here, but it seems that the Governor, Lt. Governor, Senators and Mayors will be elected in 2009 with the current four-year term provided under the Constitution. Can a Constitutional Amendment during the same election change that term to three years?

Let the legal scholars decide, but it sure would have been cleaner for the amendment to be on the ballot last month. Of course, the Legislature got tied up deciding whether it was a regular election. Not so coincidentally, dangerous ideas (to incumbents) like a part-time legislature and elected Attorney General couldn't take effect until 2012. That AG initiative has been kicking around for years, but it always gets buried in committees.

There's still some question about Mayors and Municipal Councils, too. Especially on Saipan, where frequent flyer and Mayor Juan Tudela is doing his best to prove he's not needed.

At least the Mayor of the Northern Islands has a productive marriage mill going, though I'm always amused that an acting Mayor is appointed when he makes a trip up north.

Passing the buck and passing the budget

The Saipan Tribune has a counter on its front page: xx days without a government budget for FY 2009. (Click on the picture of the front page in the online edition.)

Does anyone care any more?

I've enjoyed the online Marianas Variety more since they added a 'comments' feature, though there are only a dozen or so regular users. One thing I've noticed in the last 60 days is no one comments on the budget stories; okay Friday has an exception, just to prove the rule.

Is the budget too complicated? Are people burned out because the budget is never passed on time?

People complain about crime, and about soft sentencing, but not about the Attorney General's inability to attract enough prosecutors to avoid plea bargains. Should there be enough textbooks for all of the schoolkids? How about money to keep skilled medical professionals? The list is long.

How about jobs? That should get someone's attention. There's no way departments can take a ten percent cut without reducing employment. This is an election year, of course, so the actual decisions (and blame) will apparently be foisted on the Governor-- and the Legislature will only take an 8.7 percent cut.