Don't bore me with facts

I've been mildly supportive of the proposed Marine Monument surrounding the northern Northern Mariana Islands; thinking it was more appropriate for people like David Sablan, Ike Cabrera, Agnes McPhetres and Karl Reyes to comment. I don't want opponents like Gourley and Joyner to muddy the waters by twisting it into 'outsiders telling us what to do'. After all, I've only been here for 25 years.

Still, I was surprised when I was polled about my opinion. It was obviously a survey of attitudes toward the monument-- and toward the military's presence in the Marianas-- but in no way was it a "sales job thinly disguised as a “phone survey” with Saipan residents as the target." I don't know whether Stanley Torres actually participated in the telephone survey, but I totally disagree with his assertion that "By using leading questions, ambiguous questions, and questions skillfully designed to hype their proposal they want to infiltrate every home on Saipan and try to sell their fairytale version of what this Bush Monument will mean to the children of the Marianas."

His letter sounds like a pre-emptive strike to discount the results if they don't favor his side. Not satisfied, he quickly slips into active paranoia: "There are favors being traded at very high levels and huge sums are at stake in this takeover bid." Whew, take a deep breath. Who is going to gain huge sums from a marine monument?

For myself, the questions clarified how important the issue is to me: not a deal-breaker, but certainly something I'll consider when I vote. Then again, I guess he was talking about me when he earlier wrote that "It’s not their ‘public land’ that would be given away should this [marine monument] be enforced by [President] Bush." Oh, wait, the 'public land' is the islands that are already protected by the CNMI Constitution. I guess the monument would be in the surrounding waters so that nasty federal government will be grabbing control... from themselves.

"How dumb do they think we are?" he asks. Let me rephrase that: how dumb do you think we are?

No worry, Representative Torres, I supported you for years because you were opposed, albeit ineffectively, to a lot of the CNMI government's mis-steps. That stopped a couple of years ago because of your increasingly vitriolic personal attacks on people you disagree with. I take it very personally that you are continually setting up 'statesiders' and 'mainlanders' as bogeymen.

The Windmill Power Revolution

If the Commonwealth Utilities Corporation got some windmills up, maybe some of our leaders would stop attacking the federal government.

Hard on the heels of Oscar Rasa's impassioned (and shrill) appearance on the John Gonzales Show* Gov. Benigno R. Fitial paid for a special edition to announce he may sue the feds over the new labor law. The Saipan Tribune has the story; it must have been past the Marianas Variety's bedtime.

Acting Labor Secretary Cinta Kaipat and "Special" Legal Counsel Howard Willens rounded out the show, with a special guest appearance by Mel Gray of Immigration.

The Governor's not suing, mind you, just jetting off to ask a law firm if he should. I believe the stock answer is "Where's the check?" Gonzales, to his credit, did ask how much this was going to cost, but Willens didn't really answer. All of the 'panelists' sounded like they were lobbying against a proposed bill.

Suing to sue or suing to negotiate? Doesn't matter, does it? Just stop. The law has passed; deal with it. Have at amending it. Dig in when the regulations are being written.

(Cutting) In the same vein

Oh, we can't forget Rep. Stanley M. Torres and his resurrected proposal to "reexamine" the Covenant.

It's a good thing the Commonwealth is flush, otherwise it would be upsetting to see these gentlemen trying to flush money away.


* Two questions: Am I reading too much into the tone of his questions? It sounds like the Covenant Party has a Washington Delegate candidate after all; and, I haven't read the law in 20 years, but is it legal for Gonzales to hold down both jobs?