Personalities

Wetback labor?
I’ve noticed that Mr. Delano from Camacho, California has found his typewriter while rooting through the attic. It seems we are to be blessed with some of his 14 page diatribes once again during this election season. He seems to appear as if by magic when the charming candidacy signs sprout by the roadside. I’m wondering if it is the campaign fertilizer (BS) that gets him going. I can’t help but be impressed with a guy that doesn’t live here and has no stake in the place caring so much and having so much profound advice to offer. Will he swim over from California to visit us?

Now where is Holani Smith when we need him?
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Bored with education
Now that Board of Education has unanimously chosen Rita Sablan as the new Commissioner, will Ambrose Bennett, the competing candidate for the spot, sue the Board to keep the entertainment factor going? Ms Sablan has agreed to drop her suit alleging injustice in choosing Mr. Borja as the last leader. That suit has kept headlines going for the last couple of years so it seems the least Mr. Bennett could do to help keep the reading populace amused is to hie on down to the nearest attorney and sue claiming discrimination.

All kidding aside (and I was kidding above) the parents of the CNMI have high hopes and high expectations of competent action from the new Commissioner. School systems throughout America have funding woes. They always have and they always will. Some manage to win through to victory and provide excellent educations to their students even in the face of insufficient funding. Other systems seem content to complain that the money is not enough. It is a key function of leadership in any school system to see that educational opportunities are there for students whether the coffers are full or not. It can be done and it is the responsibility of leadership to see that it is done.

Ms Sablan has opted to come out of retirement and take on a very tough job. While we applaud her spirit and energy, parents will also be watching closely to see the results she brings to the system. Welcome aboard, now get to it please.
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As the world turns
Tina Sablan has recently accused Cinta Kaipat of being biased against foreign workers and implies she should not hold a position of responsibility at the Department of Labor. Could Cinta turn that around and accuse Tina of being biased toward foreign workers and favoring them over her own local constituents in Precinct 1? Should Tina Sablan be recalled and lose her seat in the House of Representatives? Should Cinta Kaipat be fired from the Department of Labor? If personal bias is bad for the goose is it also bad for the gander?

Both these women feel strongly about particular causes and how the people of the Commonwealth are affected by labor and immigration laws whether enacted from within or imposed from outside. These two former allies now find themselves at loggerheads as they each try to champion a different group of working people. Does it have to boil down to local residents against foreign contract workers with their respective adherents jousting for a win? No it does not. Accommodation is possible. I think they are both seeking justice, not bias.

Many believe that the current Labor law tries to balance the forces of worker abuse with the forces of the workers themselves abusing or ‘playing’ the system. Others think that the law goes too far, or not far enough depending on their viewpoint or their own self-interest. Treading the fine line between maximizing opportunities for citizen employment while providing a foreign workforce large enough to sustain a country’s economy is a task faced by Countries all over the world. The CNMI is not alone in trying to balance the needs and aspirations of these two groups. Across Europe, the Middle East and back in the USA the quest for fairness and firmness goes on. While it may not be possible to make everyone happy it probably is possible to reach reasonable compromises. One thing is for sure. Having people who are here and really care about what is going on make those regulations is a lot better than having some bureaucrat’s assistant from Washington do it without knowing what is really happening here.
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Judging the traffic
Several folks have offered up their opinions on how traffic fares at controlled intersections when the power is out. Recently a couple of letters complained of unsafe conditions and possible fatal consequences. I find those views to be held by very few individuals I’ve talked to and I would question the driving skills of those complainers.

My own experience is just the opposite. First, traffic seems to flow more smoothly with few or no cars backed up when the power is off and the traffic signals are not functioning. Not only does traffic flow more quickly and smoothly, there seems to be a great deal more consideration shown to other drivers than when the power is on and a machine is controlling traffic as opposed to when human drivers are in charge. Since traffic actually flows better and the situation is safer with the stoplights off I would suggest that we leave them off all the time and save the electricity.

I would recommend taking a driver’s education course for the nervous nellies, the worriers and those not comfortable with their own decision making skills while behind the wheel. If you are not comfortable, you are probably not competent either.
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14 hour blackouots
Well, it finally happened. On Saturday, August 9th. we had more hours without power than with it in our Village. By our count we had 10 hours of electric power and 14 hours without.

While this may be good for our power bill as it promotes conservation (okay forces conservation) it is doubtful that the benefits outweigh the penalties. Sweating one’s way through another sweltering evening while trying to sleep or having any gainful work be constantly interrupted when the power goes out for the 6th or 7th time makes it seem a doubtful advantage. It sort of reminds me of being drug through a sand burr patch in order to get rid of the weeds by making them stick to your skin and clothes. There are probably more pleasant ways of getting the job done.

Happily, Sunday came and went without a single outage. Someone may have been asleep at the “OFF” switch all day. As I pen this, there have been two more outages causing a couple of expletives to escape my lips and a delay in getting this and other projects done. You? A while back one of the local vocal bloggers posed the question, ‘when will the power go off for 24 hours straight for the first time?’ The answers ranged from immediately to next year sometime while the consensus seemed to think it would occur sometime during 2008. We are not there yet, but we are not far off either. We seem to be on the downhill slide, and gaining speed.I’m glad I have a magnesium fuel cell to generate a little electricity.
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Quote of the week: Be not too hasty to trust or admire the teachers of morality; they discourse like angels but they live like men. -Samuel Johnson, lexicographer
(1709-1784)