It’s a Pinto
Drug needle
I have heard several folks criticizing local and federal law enforcement for their failure to stop the importation of drugs found in a Chinese garment worker’s car recently. I do not agree. Trying to stop this kind of thing at the border seems almost impossible.

While 176 grams sounds like a lot (and is a lot if it is being used by a relative who is destroying his family with it) it is really a tiny amount size wise. About 6 ounces of anything, illegal drugs, shredded carrots or beach sand is a pretty small package and could be hidden most anywhere.

Before finding fault with DEA or FBI or CPA or DPS think about how difficult it would be to find that needle in a haystack. Interdiction of large quantities is probably possible because of the physical size of the contraband package. How on earth would you expect to find something that small on a regular basis? I’ve heard of drug smelling dogs but would that work on something sealed airtight and really tiny in size? My guess would be probably not. Any experts in the field willing to give an opinion?

So it seems that solving the problem by reducing demand or by curbing illegal usage would be a far more profitable use of DPS/FBI/CPA/DEA personnel time than trying to find that tiny needle in the haystack of incoming people, baggage, merchandise, ship and air cargo.

Congratulations are due to the patrol officers who were observant enough to catch this guy during a routine traffic stop and get him and the drugs off the street.
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Up the wrong tree
Recently a group of people assembled at fishing Base to vent their frustrations at the power outages that have plagued our island for the last few months. Why the leaders of the event waited to protest until after the problem was temporarily solved by the Aggreko generators is a mystery only they know the answer to.

What they want is reliable and affordable power. That is a laudable goal. The way they want to do it is a throwback to the failed mechanisms of yesteryear. Individually and collectively they are calling for and insisting that ‘affordable’ power is a right assured to everyone. It is not a right; electric power is a commodity and has a price like any other good or service.

They are asking for a regression to the old days that they themselves in the next breath call for an end to. Then as now the local government owned and operated the power plants. Here on Saipan there used to be relatively reliable power and it was affordable as well, it was cheap in fact based on what it actually cost to produce it. It was cheap because the rate paying customers were not charged as much as it cost to make the power. The difference was made up for by government subsidies. They took all the money paid by the ratepayers into the system and used it for operations, plus they took more funds wrested from other sources and threw them in on top to keep the lights on. Little or nothing was spent on a decaying infrastructure as we all know and now it has come home to roost. They kept rates artificially low and that was the problem, not the solution. So to call out now for artificially lowered rates is irresponsible and won’t work this time any better than it did last time.

We should look to someone other than our government’s Administration, this one or any other one, to come up with answers to the affordability question. Likewise we should look elsewhere to find a professional operations company if we don't want to see this emergency fiasco repeated endlessly into the future. Rate setting and reliable operations should be done by a responsible and professional third party company or co-op, not the government. Let’s leave upside pricing oversight to a well trained Public Utilities Commission and downside pricing to real costs and reasonable profits. We will all pay less and have the reliability we all want to boot.

Privatize CUC with a completely open, no strings attached bid process. Then we have a chance for reliable affordable power. Begging another government group to take the reins from this government group is begging for more of the same.
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Which color horse?
Last week’s Sour Grapes had a section about the importance of consistency of purpose between the local Administration and the new Officer we are about to elect called a Non Voting Delegate. As a side issue in that piece I wrote, “Our elected Washing Rep is still in office though he is running for another office and the Constitution says he should resign.” Pete, and a couple of other people have sent me emails offering a different interpretation and claiming that he need not resign. Pete had a copy of that email printed as a Letter to the Editor citing his reasoning. Hopefully you read it.

Pete claims that the new federal law that mandates the new NVD office was written so as to define his old job to be the same as the new job he hopes to be elected to even though they are completely different. Maybe that is true.

Note that Pete A. currently works for the CNMI and is paid by the CNMI treasury. His title is “Resident Representative to the United States”, he is an elected and paid lobbyist for the CNMI. The new position he hopes to be elected to is the “Delegate to the House of Representatives”, a different animal entirely. Whoever wins will be paid by the United States Treasury. This is clearly a different job with a different title, different responsibilities, different authority and a different paymaster. To say he is running for the same office is not factual and at best constitutes semantic pandering. Note also that the office term of Washington Rep does not even expire until 2010. Maybe the reason for the language calling an apple an orange is so there are not two representatives from the CNMI floating around Washington at the same time, and not so the current Rep does not have to resign before running for a different job.

So it is a matter of interpretation whether the current Resident Representative should resign to run for the Non Voting Delegates office. However, the time frame is so short now that I guess it doesn’t make much difference so I won’t continue to beat this different colored horse of an argument any longer.

One other point deserves mention. Some think I bring this up because I don’t like Pete A. Nothing could be further from the truth. I like and respect him. In fact I find him to be an engaging man with enough intelligence and diplomatic capability to do the job if he is elected by the people of the CNMI. I don't agree with his new philosophical position nor do I want to personally back someone who has 'flipped' positions, but he is certainly capable if elected which is also true for most of the other candidates.

Anyway Pete, good luck and thanks for reading Sour Grapes.
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Quote of the week: When you point your finger at the moon, you want others to look at the moon, not your finger. Zen Homily

Peace, Love, Flower Power
Some years ago there was a movie produced called Network. One of the characters, a TV newscaster, Howard Beale, said, “I’m as mad as hell and I’m not going to take this any more”. He called on his viewers to go outside and shout that slogan in unison, partly as protest, partly as catharsis. In due time he got millions of his viewers to stand outside and chant that slogan. It brought people together in a common cause and it announced their message to the powers that be. He claimed that getting mad was the only answer to their many problems.

In the spirit of that film we, the residents of Saipan, could do something similar. Now we could go outside and vent our anger and frustration about power outages but everyone is pretty much doing that already with no success. So I suggest we try something in a positive vein. We could go outside at noon tomorrow and shout out “Keep trying CUC, we know you can do it !!”. Why might we want to do that instead of continuing to carp? Because as individuals we are helpless to do anything about it short term except give moral support to those trying to get the job done. (Unless you are a billionaire philanthropist and want to donate a power plant). There are long term solutions we citizens can help with but shouting revolutionary slogans will not get the job done.

Several people have written or spoken recently about how CUCs woes have been caused by poor management, bad planning etc. and are not the fault of the day to day workers, the linemen or the plant workers or the secretaries in their offices all of whom simply take their orders and carry them out as best they can. They too go home to find they can’t cook dinner or finish their homework because the power is out. They too are in the middle of a shower or ready to flush about the time the lights dim and go out. I agree, and what’s worse it can’t be easy to keep up employee morale in a place where the prime mission, delivering reliable electric power and water, is not working too well (okay is failing miserably).

Lack of money, lack of a coherent plan, lack of leadership, skyrocketing petroleum costs, lack of training, engines and delivery infrastructure worn out from wear and neglect. This is the mantra we’ve all heard chanted repeatedly as the cause of the electric power emergency we find ourselves in today. Collectively, they are the reason you can’t watch TV tonight, or make toast tomorrow morning.

So how do we get out of the mess? Marching, suing or shouting in frustration isn’t going to help. The temporary solution they are trying now is to rent some reliable generators and use that power to try and tide us over until the main engines can be repaired. I’m sure they would rather just go down to the generator store and order up a new power plant but our credit card is maxed out and the cash in the till won’t even pay current expenses, not to mention make a major purchase.

Maybe we can get Uncle Sugar to help us out. Maybe we could get the US military to help us out. Maybe we could apply for a loan at the World Bank or the IMF or the Asia Development fund or Household Finance Company or from Sam the Shark. The thing is, if we had that help in hand right now, today, it would be two years down the line before we saw new engines or a new power plant or new alternative energy producers shining in the sun. Unless we can get the Electric Power Fairy to wave a wand over Lower Base and fix it all overnight, the strategy of using a temporary patch on the flat tire of power generation seems the best solution short term.

Once the temporary generators are in place we need to work like the dickens to fix those broken main engines so the power can stay on while other plans are made. Meanwhile we need to develop a long range plan of action and decide once and for all what direction to go in the future. Maybe we could order three of those new generation nuclear power plants, one for each island. Maybe we could convert to coal like most of the rest of the world uses. Maybe we should opt for more of the same and buy a new petroleum based power plant even in the face of rising fuel costs. There are other alternatives too, but the point is we need to look at the options and make a firm decision and then carry that plan out if we are ever to really solve the power problem that stares us in the face. To get there at all we need to go to the private sector to get the job done and not rely on the government anymore. The alternative to planning and execution is to get used to cooking over a wood fire and going to bed at sunset.

Why bitch when it accomplishes nothing? Let’s get on the ‘we’re behind you’ bandwagon and give as much support to the hundreds of hardworking CUC employees as we can. These Worker Bees are all that stands between us and the real world of lives without electricity right now. We and our businesses and institutions have evolved too far and gotten too soft to live without it anymore.

Getting mad about it may have worked in the movie mentioned above but here in reality land we just need to help all we can, plan the best we can and then execute our plan without quitting. Divesting CUC from its government overlord is the first step in the healing process. As we have seen, you can’t legislate your way out of the problem and you can’t cure it by executive fiat. Let’s approach the problem like grown ups, responsible for our own actions.

In closing I will relate what my 4 year old said just after the power went off the other night. Standing in the yard shaking his fist at the sky he said “____ing CUC !! (expletive deleted). It seems that the outage interfered with Pooh while he was explaining math skills via DVD. When the power went off, so did my son. I can’t imagine where he heard such language.

Quote of the week: "Government never furthered any enterprise but by the alacrity with which it got out of its way." -- Henry David Thoreau (1817 – 1862)

Sensation Sells

What the heck is it?
Rydlime, like all chemicals in its category, uses powerful acids and other agents to dissolve ‘rocks’. When calcium or other hard water mineral deposits build up in cooling towers or system radiators they either have to be dismantled and ‘rodded out’, an expensive process, or they need to be ‘descaled’ chemically. Chemical descaling is usually cheaper and if done right can be very effective.

The use of purified water in these systems vastly reduces the buildup, but descaling or rodding still needs to be performed if the cooling system is to continue doing its job. Just like the engine in your car overheats and eventually stops if the radiator fails and the motor gets too hot, so a large engine in a power plant stops or even destroys itself if allowed to overheat. A utility with lots of cooling systems to treat and a high mineral content in its water source could use vast quantities of a descaling agent.

Rydlime, the chemical at the bottom of the current CUC/Lt. Governor flap, is a legitimate product with a good reputation for doing what it is designed to do. Many utilities and other companies around the world use it and other similar products to good effect.
Why would you buy so much?
Chemicals, like other commodities, are subject to price rises over time so companies, including utilities, often buy large quantities of a chemical and stockpile it to hedge against the coming price increases. As an example, if CUC bought 8000+ gallons of Rydlime as reported in the newspaper and used all but 1400 gallon over 10 years they saved a lot. The savings would amount to several times the original cost.
Or pay so much?
Sole sourcing to ones sister may not be the legal, but chemical pricing at 400% is not uncommon. Want to guess how much that three dollar bottle of Joy dishwashing liquid you bought last week actually cost to make? About 15 cents. Do your own math. That detergent bottle and most of the other bottles sitting under your sink and in your laundry have mark ups far greater. In fact, the plastic bottles and labels cost more than the chemical inside by far. You pay a much higher markup than 400% every time you go to the store.
Rumor or truth?
There is speculation that some of the product was actually disposed of rather than used. If true that is a terrible thing. I have even heard a rumor that CUC personnel were actually ordered to dispose of the product. But a rumor is just that. It is a story without proof. Stories like that are usually from a hidden source and often with a hidden agenda. It is easy for someone with a grudge against someone to make up a story. It is much harder to make that phony story hold up under the scrutiny of an open court trial. Let’s wait and see what actually comes out in court. If that unfounded rumor is true, heads should roll at CUC and above. If false, the rumormongers should be tracked down and their heads should roll instead.
Guilty or not?
My friend Harry Blalock reminds us on his radio show that ‘just because you are decreed not guilty in court does not mean you didn’t do it” because a good attorney can find a way to get you off. I would remind Harry, and you too, that just because a sharp prosecuting attorney accuses you of something does not mean that you did do it. Remember it is the job of the prosecuting attorney to ‘get you’ whether you did it or not and it is the job of the defense attorney to ‘get you off’ whether you did it or not. Again, let’s wait and see the real evidence as offered under oath in court.

So there is nothing wrong with buying Rydlime if you need it and there is nothing wrong with buying lots of it and stockpiling it for future use. In fact it is the smart way to do it. There is also nothing unusual about large markups over cost of chemicals or most other products. There is definitely something wrong with declaring an emergency purchase and then buying enough of a commodity to last a decade. There is definitely something wrong with sole sourcing a contract to close family members and depriving the agency of a chance to source the same or similar product at a lower cost benefit ratio. But are these accusations true? One last time I will call for us to wait and let the court system do its job before a man and his reputation are sullied by gossip and allegation. There is plenty of time to vilify him if proven guilty in court…or to apologize if the accusations prove untrue.
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Temples – not Shirley
Ruth Tighe , in talking about the new Buddhist Temple to be built along the roadway in previously unspoiled Marpi says we need to ‘hoard our public lands’ as one our most important natural resources. I agree. Don’t build on it she says. Keep it forever she says. She then goes on to say in the same article that we should give away the northernmost three islands in our terribly scarce land resource by ceding them to the US Federal government for all time. I point out this inconsistency not to be mean, but just to say that supporters and advocates of one project or another sometimes can’t see the Forest for the trees (or the Temple in the trees). Sometimes the horrible details outweigh the puppies and babies feel-good rhetoric about saving the planet. Sometimes not.

The Temple might just improve the looks of the tagan tagan bramble thickets up there…and maybe not. Lets see the plan. Then we can approve it or not based on real evidence. Sort of like we should first see the plan for the PEW proposed Northern Islands Monument. Why on earth would we want to approve it first, (or allow the federal government to force approval of it on us) and only then bother to look at the actual plan. Does that sound like putting the cart before the horse? Yes it does. Worse, it sounds like having the cart, horse and all shoved down your throat, then a guy comes along and says, hey, your throat sure looks sore, if you are a good little boy I’ll give you some salt water to gargle. Then it will be all better. Maybe it will be better and maybe it will be a lot worse. Shirley (sorry - groan) we can do better than that. Let’s negotiate the details first, then decide whether to declare a monument and give land and ocean to the US national parks system for all time. It may be a wonderful plan, it may suck.
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Quotes of the week: Human beings are perhaps never more frightening than when they are convinced beyond doubt that they are right. -Laurens van der Post, explorer and writer (1906-1996)

The sky is not less blue because the blind man does not see it – Danish Proverb.

Sour Grapes for Wednesday, April 9th, 2008

Welcome USS Curts
Supremes say figure it out yourselves
Well the day was appropriate; April 1st marked the day the Supreme Court declined to answer teacher representative succession questions posed by Bennett (ex rep and wanna be new temporary Rep) and Benevente (ex board chair). The Supreme Court ruled their request did not meet the constitutional requirements for answering official questions, as they were both on the same side of the issue.

After all this bickering and interference back and forth from several sides, maybe the teachers can go back to deciding for themselves who they want to represent them. Maybe they already have. Maybe not. If not, one would think a ballot sent around to each teacher to be marked and returned sealed when they pick up their pay checks, or by such and such a date certain, would solve the issue once and for all. The newly elected rep could then begin attending School Board meetings to make sure PSS teachers have some input there.
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Glowing report
On a positive note, a CUC line crew working in the area, when asked to, replaced the light sensitive switch on the street light near my house. Now it shuts off during daylight hours as it is supposed to. Before it was lit all the time. This is one small step toward saving some power currently being paid by all of us CUC customers as ‘line losses’ or ‘public use’.

I'm sure that light burning 24/7 chewed up a lot of kilowatt hours. A reader told me “if it's the typical 175 watt street light, @ 24/7 would be 126kWh per month. at .41/kWh, that’s $51/month, or $1.72/day.” I’m not sure of those figures but it sounds reasonable.

$612 per year for just one street light burning means we should all keep our eyes peeled for lights burning in the daytime and report them when seen. We can save half that amount by having them fixed to light up only at night. The CUC crews are happy to repair them, as long as they have the parts and are close by.

I'm betting there are lots more of them out there. Now that I am looking, I have noticed several already.

Thanks CUC crew!!
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More equal than others
A few days ago in the Philippines the elected President of Palau was asked to submit to a standard pre-boarding security check along with his fellow passengers. He was flying on a public flight back to Palau along with some tourists and his fellow countrymen. He reportedly took umbrage and left the airport in a huff rather than be security screened and have his baggage scrutinized.

It brings up some interesting questions. For one, many cultures including many from Micronesia, Asia and SE Asia are rooted in showing respect to elders, hereditary leaders and key family members. This respect is as integrated as breathing or eating and most would not think of ignoring it. But does that unquestioning respect extend to elected political leaders? Good ones, bad ones, indifferent ones? Would that respect extend to all political leaders from all countries no matter how bloodthirsty or avaricial? Should that universal respect be shown by everyone from any other country for any leader of any other country? Hardly.

On the other hand why would it be disrespectful to be checked just like all the other passengers he was about to ride with? How so? Should he, or any other elected leader be above the law? Are they saying “Sorry citizens, we dignitaries don’t have to put up with the rude and mostly useless security screening WE bureaucrats put in place. That stuff is designed to give you citizens a feel-good sense of security but is beneath the dignity of us higher up politicos.” I don’t think they would want to put it that way. I don’t think most of them feel that way, including the President of Palau.

If security exceptions are to be made, where do they stop? What about the President of Continental Airlines? When he flies public instead on his own corporate jet should he be exempted from security checks? What about the President of Exxon, or Enron or Ed’s Barber shop? The former two are, or were, much bigger deals than the Republic of Palau (or Brazil or most other countries for that matter) the latter one differs only in degree. Should the President of Ed’s Barber Shop not be security screened because he is a President? Huge multinational companies have more workers and represent far more wealth and power than a lot of independent countries. Should their Presidents all be exempt?

Perhaps perceived disrespect is not why he elected to leave the airport instead of having his baggage inspected. He had just met with the President of the Philippines (not exactly universally respected by her constituents) who, with her family, is currently accused of some pretty shady cash-under-the-table business dealings. Maybe it had less to do with disrespect than with not wanting his carry on baggage checked. Maybe he was just having a bad day. Maybe he would rather ride on the later proffered private jet back home with a nice bottle of free champagne. Maybe he forgot his toothbrush.

Truthfully, I don’t see any disrespect in Continental’s actions at the Manila airport. I don’t think it is any different to perform security checks on a President, or a Governor than on a Mr. or a Mrs. or anybody else, or even a nobody else. What about you?

Now if they want to exempt me from further checks the next time I fly, well then I’m all for it! (J)

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Make mine neat, no rocks
Thanks to a survey done earlier and reported back to maritime authorities and thanks to recent additional work accomplished in our shipping channel by the Officers and Crew of the USNS Safeguard, US Navy ships and other large vessels can once again enter our harbor safely.

Most recently docked and still in port today is the US Navy Frigate Curts. Welcome to Saipan to her Officers and Crew!

Each of these R&R visits gives our military men and women a much needed rest and introduces them to the wonders of Saipan and the CNMI. Much need revenue comes to our shores but more importantly, we send out ambassadors who tell friends family, neighbors and fellow personnel on other ships and shore stations what a great place the CNMI is for liberty, rest and relaxation. All who come here for liberty enjoy the diverse culture, friendly residents, great food and world class sporting activities found here. US military personnel are always welcomed with open arms here and they appreciate that. They like the diving, the golf, the entertainment and the weather. We like them. Please come again.
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Quote of the week: The long unmeasured pulse of time moves everything. There is nothing hidden that it cannot bring to light, nothing once known that may not become unknown. Sophocles (496 - 406 BC)

Photo above stolen shamelessly from the Saipan Tribune. Credit to Jacqueline Hernandez.

CUC Out of Fuel

They need 2 Million to pay the credit card bill.

Help me with the math on this one. They go short on residential income 1 month late last year (November election time- conveniently) to the tune of about a nickel/kWh. Then they collect full tilt for a few months. Now this month it goes back to under collection (the temp emergency ban expired) but they increased commercial rates more than enough to make up for it. So why are we still 2 Million in the hole? They aren’t even collecting the shorted amounts yet. They are still collecting from full charge months.

Should we be asking/demanding a full audit to see what the real costs are and the real expenditures? Without that piece of data how can they hope to charge at least the true cost of production? Could a privatized CUC guess any better? I don’t think so. Real hard data is needed. If it is already there, why not share it with the public? If it is not in hand, when will it be available?

I'm back on line

Okay, I am back on line. We got it figured out. I had to buy a new battery back up as the one I had fried causing other CPU component problems all thanks to the fluctuating voltage and on-again-off-again nature of CUC generated power . Wahh.

Thanks a lot CUC!!

Okay so can someone tell me how to place photos where the cursor is placed, rather than at the top of the darned page all the time. Or do you just have to put all photos in reverse order and not be able to compose as you go? And what is up with this paraagraph spacing? It sometimes shows as one thing in the editing window, then as something else in the final product on the blog site?

All right, enough bitching. There follows some actual blog postings and the MUCH AWAITED link additions. (Sorry for the delay...lets go down to the CUC office and hold a sit in. Sit in THEIR air-conditioning for a change...if only they had wifi).

END