Food For Thought 7-11-08
Hi friends, this is Harry Blalock; General Manager for radio stations KZMI & KCNM. It’s that time once again to take a look at the issues of the week, and to offer some Food For Thought.
For several weeks now, I’ve been hearing from several different sources that our government, specifically the administration is slowly coming to the realization that the problems at Commonwealth Utilities Corporation are far beyond anything they can cope with or solve. They are realizing that for far too long we had political appointees running and managing the corporation that really didn’t have the required background, expertise or experience to do the job properly. And then we had the interference from politicians who had their own plans and designs on the future of the power plant and refused to spend any money on maintenance for the engines and generators because they were just going to privatize it anyway. The money kept in surplus to order spare parts and fuel was quickly squandered and wasted. Then we had a bunch of pandering politicians seeking desperately to hold onto their jobs artificially lower the rate that CUC had to charge to residential customers, charging far less even than the fuel costs to produce the electricity, not to mention all of the other associated costs. Then this administration learned that they had been led astray and told that the repairs would be completed much sooner than was feasible or realistic. So now they had engines and generators that were breaking down on a daily basis, parts that had not been ordered yet that were needed for overhauls of the engines, no end in sight of the rolling blackouts, and they were continually unable to pay for adequate fuel shipments to run the generators for the next month.
When you find yourself in the middle of a situation like this, it severely limits your options. You realize that continuing to depend on fossil fuels to produce your electricity will not be sustainable much longer, yet you have no money to invest in alternative energy sources. So do you continue throwing millions of dollars into the old, inefficient generators we have? Do you invest in new generators that will continue to burn expensive diesel fuel that you know you won’t be able to afford to pay for, and that will drive the cost of electricity so high that no one will be able to afford to live here any longer? Or do you eventually come to the realization that the problems have spiraled out of control to the point that there is no possible way you can begin to address all the issues and come up with a workable solution? Do you finally have to start discussing the “B” word? And can you discuss the “B” word since the utility is owned by the government, without admitting that the entire government is also teetering on the verge of the “B” word as well? The “B” word in case you are wondering, is Bankruptcy.
I have heard from several different people in the last few weeks that the administration is getting closer and closer to the conclusion that bankruptcy might be the only viable option they have left, and that it has been discussed extensively. Could that also be the reason that the administration placed an accountant in charge of the failing utility company instead of a power plant operations manager or engineer? Was his sole objective to get the financial books organized enough to be able to formally declare bankruptcy? When I had Tony Muna on my talk show last week, I came right out and asked him whether the administration has been considering declaring bankruptcy for CUC. He was reluctant to answer the question at first, and wanted to point out all the things the administration has tried to do to avoid this. He blamed the Retirement Fund for not being willing to give CUC the loan a couple years ago, then he blamed the legislature for lowering the rate the utility had to charge to residential customers. Yes, we all know there is plenty of blame to go around, but the question I asked was whether the administration has been discussing putting CUC into bankruptcy. After dancing around the issue for the better part of a half hour, Tony finally came out and said yes, the administration has been discussing the viability of declaring bankruptcy for CUC. He was careful to point out that it was not the course of action that had been definitely decided at this point yet, but it was certainly one of the options that were being considered.
But the mere fact that bankruptcy is even being considered for CUC brings up a whole host of other questions. If the administration, who is in effect running CUC at the moment, declares the utility is bankrupt, where does it go from there? Do they march into Judge Munson’s federal courtroom and say, here you go, we don’t know what to do with it anymore or how to solve the problems? Would Judge Munson have the authority to appoint a receiver to oversee the operations of CUC from that point forward? Who would then be responsible for paying for future fuel shipments? Would a receiver have the authority to take bids and privative the utility company? If the utility company were under the direction of a federally appointed receiver, would that mean that they could tap into federal funds to bring in alternative energy producing plants, whether wind, wave, solar or deep cold water ocean thermal energy conversion?
I think the administration has finally realized that just going to the federal government asking for financial help while continuing to have a dysfunctional, corrupt, inefficient and malfunctioning system in place to operate the utility company isn’t going to work. We’ve tried that before, and the federal government is tired of throwing good money after bad. I think they are going to want to see some real reforms and changes before they bail us out again. They are going to want to be sure we don’t find ourselves right back in the same position in another 10 years. And they should put some very strict demands on any help they wind up giving us, as we haven’t always been known to honor our previous agreements.
But should the receivership stop with just the utility company? What about Commonwealth Health Center? It has been swimming in a sea of red ink for more years than I can count. Their billing department there is a complete joke and they can’t seem to keep the staff or equipment they need. Could a federally appointed receiver straighten out their messes as well and get them on the path to being a professionally run and operated hospital?
And what about our Retirement Fund? Will they be financially solvent 10 years from now? Will retirees actually be receiving their checks? But is that really the Retirement Fund’s fault, or is it the fault of the government who isn’t paying the proper contributions to the Retirement Fund? And if the government isn’t paying all their obligations and doesn’t have enough money to meet all their financial obligations, should they be placed under receivership as well? After all, what is the definition of bankruptcy? Isn’t it when your liabilities exceed your income and your assets and you have no way of generating enough income to pay for all your liabilities? If that is the definition of bankruptcy, I’d say our local government has been operating in bankruptcy for several years now, or not operating as the case may be. It wouldn’t be the first time that a government was bankrupt and placed into receivership. It happened to Orange County, California several years ago. And while you may say, but wait, that was only a county government, not something like the Commonwealth government, you need to realize that the population of Orange county is far, far higher than that of the CNMI, and the scale of everything was that much bigger as well.
There are those that would say the federal government has no business intruding into our affairs, and they should only be there to give us money and nothing more. We have the right of self-governance and the right to choose our own leaders and then watch them run things straight into the ground. That may be true, but then the federal government also has the right to say no to our continued requests for funding to bail us out of whatever the current mess is. I’m sure they are getting tired of watching the same scenarios play out over and over out here, while we never seem to learn any lessons from it, or hold any of those who got us in these messes responsible. Honestly the federal government would have to be insane to offer us any financial assistance. The definition of insanity is doing the same thing, in the same situation over and over and expecting different results each time. The federal government knows our track record and has watched us repeat the same mistakes over and over again. If they were to give us money again without requiring some drastic changes, they would fit the definition of insanity.
We just keep electing the same ones who got us into these problems right back into office, which is why our last governor actually thinks he has a chance and is planning on running to be governor again in the next election. He’s counting on the fact that you’ll forget he kept claiming things were pretty darn good when he was in the process of destroying CUC and letting our economy quickly flush down the toilet. He’s hoping that you won’t put 2 and 2 together and realize that he’s a big part of the reason we are in the messes we are in right now. If insanity is doing the same thing over and over again expecting different results, then what would voting for any politician once again who you’ve already given a chance to and who has failed you be?
Yes, we have fewer and fewer options available to us these days, and maybe that’s what it’s going to take to finally effect any real and meaningful change. The “B” word may be closer than you think, or at least finally admitting that is where we are, and have been.
Food For Thought is now available online at www.fftsaipan.blogspot.com and if you want it by e-mail distribution please send me an e-mail at harryblalock@gmail.com
I’m Harry Blalock, thanking you once again for giving me a generous slice of your valuable time, and allowing me to share my Food For Thought.
Friday, July 11, 2008
Thursday, July 3, 2008
Sometimes A Little Extra Effort Is Required!
Food For Thought 7-4-08
Hi friends, this is Harry Blalock; General Manager for radio stations KZMI & KCNM. It’s that time once again to take a look at the issues of the week, and to offer some Food For Thought.
Happy Independence Day! I hope that somewhere during your time of celebrating and partying over the weekend you are able to reflect on what a privilege it is to be an American and to have all the freedoms that come along with that blue passport. And even though this holiday is not specifically about our soldiers and those who have served in the military, I hope that you will take this opportunity once again to thank all those who have served in the military to protect our freedoms and ensure our liberty and independence. Honestly, I don’t think we can ever thank them quite enough, especially for the things they have been willing to go through and endure for the rest of us.
I think that all of us who live in the CNMI, or who have spent any time here in the past, realize that we face some pretty unique challenges as a result of where we live. But how we respond to some of those challenges can be very important and can make a big difference. I ran into another one of these challenges the other day and learned a few lessons that I thought I’d share with you as they may apply to situations you run into as well.
I was setting up an online store to sell shirts, hats and assorted other merchandise with my Axe Murderer Tours logo on it. No, I don’t really have a company called Axe Murderer Tours, well not yet at least. But I have taken hundreds of military visitors and other guests to the island out diving over the past 12 years. I have never charged for it, I just like being able to share the underwater world here that I have come to love so much, so I let them go along as a dive buddy. Several years ago, a lady who was serving in the U.S. military and was stationed in Seoul, South Korea came here for a long weekend. I ran into her as she was trying to figure out how she could go out on a dive, since there didn’t seem to be many shops that were really interested in English speaking customers. My dive buddy and I offered to take her along with us the following day, and she jumped on the offer. When we went to the hotel to pick her up the next morning, she and her friend were sitting on the curb laughing. When they came up to the truck I asked what was so funny, she said they were just discussing that here they were going out with a couple guys who could be Axe Murderers for all they knew. To which I replied, yup, we could be, so are you going to take a chance on going diving with a couple axe murderers, or are you going to sit here at your hotel all day? They climbed into the truck & I wound up taking her on two dives, an island tour and out to dinner at Sunset Bar & Grill back when it was still open. As we were sitting there on the beach, drinking our daiquiris, watching the sunset and listening to the live band, she said, Axe Murderer Tours is the best tour company ever! And that was the official naming of Axe Murderer Tours; I mean how do you not use a name & story that cool?
I still wasn’t charging to take anyone diving, and was just doing it for fun, but people kept asking me if they could buy an Axe Murderer Tours shirt or hat as a memento of their dives with me. I always had to tell them it was just a make believe company and I didn’t have any hats or shirts. But after years and years of this, hearing people ask for hats & shirts over and over and over, I finally figured, why not? So I had my dive buddies Doug & Barry come up with a few different designs for me and we finally settled on one.
Then I found out about an online company called Cafepress, which prints your logo onto hats, shirts, and other merchandise that you select. You can find them online at www.cafepress.com. One of the things I really liked about this company was the fact that they let you set up your own store online, they let you design your own logo, they let you pick the merchandise to be sold in your store, and they don’t charge you a penny to do it. Then you can set your markup over what the base price for the various items is, and they will pay you the difference when people buy your merchandise. That meant I didn’t have any set up costs, website costs or inventory costs. They would print or stitch the merchandise as people ordered it. This sounded like the perfect solution for me, all I needed was the logo, I could choose the merchandise I wanted to offer, customize it, and then it would automatically pop up in my online store, but I didn’t have to spend a penny to make it happen.
I decided I wanted to order a bunch of the merchandise right away though so I would know the quality and feel good about recommending it to other people. As I got to the end of the ordering process and filled in my billing and shipping information, I noticed that it changed the amount of shipping from regular to international, and went from $11 to nearly $60. They did have Northern Mariana Islands in their pull down menu for country choices, but if you chose United States for your country choice, they didn’t have Northern Mariana Islands or MP available in their state pull down menu. I wanted the merchandise pretty bad, but not bad enough to pay that much of a difference in the price of shipping. So we decided to have it shipped to my wife’s sister in the states, and then have her mail it out to us. But I wanted them to get this obvious problem fixed so that any other potential customers who live in the Northern Mariana Islands wouldn’t have the same problems and hassles.
I clicked on their “contact us” button and wrote them an e-mail about my concerns and not having them recognize that we have the U.S. Postal system here and should have the same postal rates as any state, or Hawaii, which they did list in their state pull down menu. I got an e-mail back from one of their customer service representatives who said, “Dear Harry, I would be happy to help you with this. However, I am unable to change the shipping options once the destination address has been entered. It will only be able to ship with the corresponding shipping method. If there is anything else I can do for you, please let me know”.
I read that e-mail first thing Thursday morning, so I wondered if I hadn’t shaken all the cobwebs out of my head yet. I gave my head a good shake and read it again. Nope, same thing, she was basically telling me, yes – I’d like to help you, but I can’t so I won’t, but if there is something else I can do for you, let me know. That was a customer service representative? With the time difference, their office was now open so I could call their toll free assistance number. I figured I might have better luck talking to someone on the phone. It was just my luck to have the same girl who wrote me the lame e-mail answer the phone. I tried explaining to her once again that the Northern Mariana Islands are a U.S. Commonwealth, and we have the U.S. Postal system here, so they should be charging us the same or at least giving us the same options they would give any state. Her response was that she didn’t have the ability to change anything on the order form so therefore she couldn’t help me, was there anything else I needed? I said yes, I need to talk to someone who can actually help me then and will listen to what I’m telling them. She asked if I’d like to speak to someone in the head office, I said sure, so she transferred me. I wasn’t really surprised when she screwed that up too and just connected me back to the same customer service number I had called originally. But this time I got a guy who was much more helpful and on top of his game. After explaining the whole situation to him, he said, well that’s something that our IT guys should be able to fix very easily, and either add Northern Mariana Islands to the state pull down menu, or allow various shipping options if you list Northern Mariana Islands in the country pull down menu. He said he would happily pass it along to them and request that they fix and update their system. That is all I was asking for, someone who would listen to the situation, apply some logic and then find a way to fix the problem.
I was very tempted to just write back a disgusted e-mail when I got her first response thanking her for doing nothing. But that wouldn’t have accomplished anything besides possibly making me feel slightly better at the time. But by following up, and calling the company, I’m hopeful that they will actually recognize us as part of the U.S. Postal system now and give us more affordable shipping options. Not only will that be good for my little online Axe Murderer Tours merchandise store, but it will also be good for anyone who decides to buy one of my shirts, hats or other pieces of merchandise, and it will also be good for any other budding entrepreneur in the CNMI who wants to come up with their own logos and start their own online store too. I’m still waiting to hear back for sure whether they will actually follow through on this or not and offer various shipping options to us, but I’m hopeful that once they check into the situation, they’ll realize there is no reason not to update their system. And if they are a good business, they will do what it takes to attract more customers and to make it easier and more affordable for customers to use their service from out here.
But when we’re confronted with those situations, what do we usually do? Do we take the time to try explaining it and finding someone who will actually listen, or do we just write them a nasty gram thanking them for nothing? One gets results that will help not only you, but everybody else as well, and the other only makes you feel better temporarily. It may take a little more patience and determination to pursue these sorts of things, and you’re never guaranteed to get the results you’re going after, but if you don’t try, you’re almost guaranteed that nothing will change. Unfortunately not all employees that are in the Customer Service department really belong there or will go above and beyond to actually deliver customer service. But don’t let that stop you, ask to speak to another customer service representative or ask to speak to their supervisor, keep trying until you find out that they don’t understand the situation and don’t want to understand the situation, they refuse to do anything about it because they really don’t want your business that bad, or until you find someone who can actually do something about your problem and come up with a solution.
If you want to see my store and see just how easy it is to have your own online store without spending a penny of set up money, you can check it out at www.cafepress.com/saipandiver. What kind of logo or design ideas are just floating around in your head waiting for an opportunity? Good luck with your ideas and good luck to all of us in having Cafepress offer us all more affordable shipping options since we are indeed a part of the United States.
Food For Thought is now available online at www.fftsaipan.blogspot.com and if you want it by e-mail distribution please send me an e-mail at harryblalock@gmail.com
I’m Harry Blalock, thanking you once again for giving me a generous slice of your valuable time, and allowing me to share my Food For Thought.
Hi friends, this is Harry Blalock; General Manager for radio stations KZMI & KCNM. It’s that time once again to take a look at the issues of the week, and to offer some Food For Thought.
Happy Independence Day! I hope that somewhere during your time of celebrating and partying over the weekend you are able to reflect on what a privilege it is to be an American and to have all the freedoms that come along with that blue passport. And even though this holiday is not specifically about our soldiers and those who have served in the military, I hope that you will take this opportunity once again to thank all those who have served in the military to protect our freedoms and ensure our liberty and independence. Honestly, I don’t think we can ever thank them quite enough, especially for the things they have been willing to go through and endure for the rest of us.
I think that all of us who live in the CNMI, or who have spent any time here in the past, realize that we face some pretty unique challenges as a result of where we live. But how we respond to some of those challenges can be very important and can make a big difference. I ran into another one of these challenges the other day and learned a few lessons that I thought I’d share with you as they may apply to situations you run into as well.
I was setting up an online store to sell shirts, hats and assorted other merchandise with my Axe Murderer Tours logo on it. No, I don’t really have a company called Axe Murderer Tours, well not yet at least. But I have taken hundreds of military visitors and other guests to the island out diving over the past 12 years. I have never charged for it, I just like being able to share the underwater world here that I have come to love so much, so I let them go along as a dive buddy. Several years ago, a lady who was serving in the U.S. military and was stationed in Seoul, South Korea came here for a long weekend. I ran into her as she was trying to figure out how she could go out on a dive, since there didn’t seem to be many shops that were really interested in English speaking customers. My dive buddy and I offered to take her along with us the following day, and she jumped on the offer. When we went to the hotel to pick her up the next morning, she and her friend were sitting on the curb laughing. When they came up to the truck I asked what was so funny, she said they were just discussing that here they were going out with a couple guys who could be Axe Murderers for all they knew. To which I replied, yup, we could be, so are you going to take a chance on going diving with a couple axe murderers, or are you going to sit here at your hotel all day? They climbed into the truck & I wound up taking her on two dives, an island tour and out to dinner at Sunset Bar & Grill back when it was still open. As we were sitting there on the beach, drinking our daiquiris, watching the sunset and listening to the live band, she said, Axe Murderer Tours is the best tour company ever! And that was the official naming of Axe Murderer Tours; I mean how do you not use a name & story that cool?
I still wasn’t charging to take anyone diving, and was just doing it for fun, but people kept asking me if they could buy an Axe Murderer Tours shirt or hat as a memento of their dives with me. I always had to tell them it was just a make believe company and I didn’t have any hats or shirts. But after years and years of this, hearing people ask for hats & shirts over and over and over, I finally figured, why not? So I had my dive buddies Doug & Barry come up with a few different designs for me and we finally settled on one.
Then I found out about an online company called Cafepress, which prints your logo onto hats, shirts, and other merchandise that you select. You can find them online at www.cafepress.com. One of the things I really liked about this company was the fact that they let you set up your own store online, they let you design your own logo, they let you pick the merchandise to be sold in your store, and they don’t charge you a penny to do it. Then you can set your markup over what the base price for the various items is, and they will pay you the difference when people buy your merchandise. That meant I didn’t have any set up costs, website costs or inventory costs. They would print or stitch the merchandise as people ordered it. This sounded like the perfect solution for me, all I needed was the logo, I could choose the merchandise I wanted to offer, customize it, and then it would automatically pop up in my online store, but I didn’t have to spend a penny to make it happen.
I decided I wanted to order a bunch of the merchandise right away though so I would know the quality and feel good about recommending it to other people. As I got to the end of the ordering process and filled in my billing and shipping information, I noticed that it changed the amount of shipping from regular to international, and went from $11 to nearly $60. They did have Northern Mariana Islands in their pull down menu for country choices, but if you chose United States for your country choice, they didn’t have Northern Mariana Islands or MP available in their state pull down menu. I wanted the merchandise pretty bad, but not bad enough to pay that much of a difference in the price of shipping. So we decided to have it shipped to my wife’s sister in the states, and then have her mail it out to us. But I wanted them to get this obvious problem fixed so that any other potential customers who live in the Northern Mariana Islands wouldn’t have the same problems and hassles.
I clicked on their “contact us” button and wrote them an e-mail about my concerns and not having them recognize that we have the U.S. Postal system here and should have the same postal rates as any state, or Hawaii, which they did list in their state pull down menu. I got an e-mail back from one of their customer service representatives who said, “Dear Harry, I would be happy to help you with this. However, I am unable to change the shipping options once the destination address has been entered. It will only be able to ship with the corresponding shipping method. If there is anything else I can do for you, please let me know”.
I read that e-mail first thing Thursday morning, so I wondered if I hadn’t shaken all the cobwebs out of my head yet. I gave my head a good shake and read it again. Nope, same thing, she was basically telling me, yes – I’d like to help you, but I can’t so I won’t, but if there is something else I can do for you, let me know. That was a customer service representative? With the time difference, their office was now open so I could call their toll free assistance number. I figured I might have better luck talking to someone on the phone. It was just my luck to have the same girl who wrote me the lame e-mail answer the phone. I tried explaining to her once again that the Northern Mariana Islands are a U.S. Commonwealth, and we have the U.S. Postal system here, so they should be charging us the same or at least giving us the same options they would give any state. Her response was that she didn’t have the ability to change anything on the order form so therefore she couldn’t help me, was there anything else I needed? I said yes, I need to talk to someone who can actually help me then and will listen to what I’m telling them. She asked if I’d like to speak to someone in the head office, I said sure, so she transferred me. I wasn’t really surprised when she screwed that up too and just connected me back to the same customer service number I had called originally. But this time I got a guy who was much more helpful and on top of his game. After explaining the whole situation to him, he said, well that’s something that our IT guys should be able to fix very easily, and either add Northern Mariana Islands to the state pull down menu, or allow various shipping options if you list Northern Mariana Islands in the country pull down menu. He said he would happily pass it along to them and request that they fix and update their system. That is all I was asking for, someone who would listen to the situation, apply some logic and then find a way to fix the problem.
I was very tempted to just write back a disgusted e-mail when I got her first response thanking her for doing nothing. But that wouldn’t have accomplished anything besides possibly making me feel slightly better at the time. But by following up, and calling the company, I’m hopeful that they will actually recognize us as part of the U.S. Postal system now and give us more affordable shipping options. Not only will that be good for my little online Axe Murderer Tours merchandise store, but it will also be good for anyone who decides to buy one of my shirts, hats or other pieces of merchandise, and it will also be good for any other budding entrepreneur in the CNMI who wants to come up with their own logos and start their own online store too. I’m still waiting to hear back for sure whether they will actually follow through on this or not and offer various shipping options to us, but I’m hopeful that once they check into the situation, they’ll realize there is no reason not to update their system. And if they are a good business, they will do what it takes to attract more customers and to make it easier and more affordable for customers to use their service from out here.
But when we’re confronted with those situations, what do we usually do? Do we take the time to try explaining it and finding someone who will actually listen, or do we just write them a nasty gram thanking them for nothing? One gets results that will help not only you, but everybody else as well, and the other only makes you feel better temporarily. It may take a little more patience and determination to pursue these sorts of things, and you’re never guaranteed to get the results you’re going after, but if you don’t try, you’re almost guaranteed that nothing will change. Unfortunately not all employees that are in the Customer Service department really belong there or will go above and beyond to actually deliver customer service. But don’t let that stop you, ask to speak to another customer service representative or ask to speak to their supervisor, keep trying until you find out that they don’t understand the situation and don’t want to understand the situation, they refuse to do anything about it because they really don’t want your business that bad, or until you find someone who can actually do something about your problem and come up with a solution.
If you want to see my store and see just how easy it is to have your own online store without spending a penny of set up money, you can check it out at www.cafepress.com/saipandiver. What kind of logo or design ideas are just floating around in your head waiting for an opportunity? Good luck with your ideas and good luck to all of us in having Cafepress offer us all more affordable shipping options since we are indeed a part of the United States.
Food For Thought is now available online at www.fftsaipan.blogspot.com and if you want it by e-mail distribution please send me an e-mail at harryblalock@gmail.com
I’m Harry Blalock, thanking you once again for giving me a generous slice of your valuable time, and allowing me to share my Food For Thought.
Friday, June 27, 2008
Handguns Soon In The CNMI
Hi friends, this is Harry Blalock; General Manager for radio stations KZMI & KCNM. It’s that time once again to take a look at the issues of the week, and to offer some Food For Thought.
With the passage of the minimum wage law which included the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands and the passage of the recent law which extends U.S. Federal Immigration control over the CNMI, we are quickly learning that we are a part of the United States. I don’t think a lot of people really believed that up until just recently. Oh sure, they were right there to get their blue passport, cash their economic stimulus check and take all the money the federal government wanted to throw our way, but I think a lot of people were under the mistaken impression that it was a one way street, only benefits for us with none of the duties or obligations to go along with it. They didn’t really think we had to abide by the U.S. Constitution or the federal laws; after all, we were the only U.S. area that was given the right to restrict land ownership to the indigenous Chamorros & Carolinians. And the U.S. let us control our own minimum wage and take care of our own Immigration, and we couldn’t vote for the president, so obviously they really didn’t care what we did out here, we could just do whatever we wanted, and nobody could do anything about it. I can understand why some people may have gotten the impression that the U.S. laws and constitution might not apply to them because of those other exceptions, but they were mistaken in that belief and are now learning that if you fly the U.S. flag, it means you’re a U.S. citizen and have all the rights, privileges, duties and obligations that go along with that as well.
Now we have one of our crackpot congressmen once again trying to look into changing our status and affiliation with the United States. He’s being a crybaby because he’s all the sudden being expected to follow the U.S. constitution and laws like all other U.S. citizens. I don’t think he’s thought ahead to just how this place would survive without all the federal handouts we get currently. I think he expects those would continue, but we just wouldn’t have to let the U.S. tell us what to do anymore. Frankly, I think he should renounce his U.S. citizenship and burn his blue passport, if he’s serious this time and not just shooting off his mouth once again, then let him prove it with his actions. Burning his passport and not getting another one and giving his economic stimulus check back would be a good place to start. If he doesn’t want to be a U.S. citizen, then let him try finding out what it is like in this world when you’re not a U.S. citizen. And to all those who agree with him, I think maybe they should all be sent to Farallon De Mendeniza and allowed to start their own banana republic up there. It would be taking Survivor to a whole new level; maybe they could even get their own TV series out of it.
And while most people don’t realize it yet and haven’t even heard the news, we are now in violation of the U.S. constitution in another area as well. The U.S. Supreme Court in a 5 to 4 ruling struck down the District of Columbia’s ban on handguns. The Supreme Court ruled Thursday that Americans can keep handguns at home for self-defense in their first-ever pronouncement on the meaning of gun rights under the second amendment. The Supreme Court has not conclusively interpreted the Second Amendment since it’s ratification in 1791. The amendment states “A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed”.
The main issues the Supreme Court was deciding on were whether the amendment protects an individual’s right to own guns no matter what, and whether that right is somehow tied to service in a state militia.
According to a story written by the Associated Press, “Writing for the majority, Justice Antonin Scalia said that an individual right to bear arms is supported by "the historical narrative" both before and after the Second Amendment was adopted.
The Constitution does not permit "the absolute prohibition of handguns held and used for self-defense in the home," Scalia said. The court also struck down Washington's requirement that firearms be equipped with trigger locks or kept disassembled, but left intact the licensing of guns.
Scalia noted that the handgun is Americans' preferred weapon of self-defense in part because "it can be pointed at a burglar with one hand while the other hand dials the police."
Scalia's opinion dealt almost exclusively with self-defense in the home, acknowledging only briefly in his lengthy historical analysis that early Americans also valued gun rights because of hunting.”
What this means is that the CNMI’s prohibition against handgun ownership by individuals is clearly violating the Second Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, and that we are now faced with a choice. We can either willingly follow U.S. law and this decision by the U.S. Supreme Court & change our laws so that we are in compliance with the U.S. Constitution, or we can wait until someone files a lawsuit against the CNMI for violating their basic rights under the constitution. And I can guarantee that our local law prohibiting handgun ownership will be challenged almost immediately. So the question is, will we realize that we need to step into compliance with U.S. Constitutional law and change our laws accordingly, or will we once again try asserting our independence and claim that those laws don’t apply to us?
I can already hear some of the liberals among us screaming that this will now put guns in the hands of the criminal element and it will make it that much more dangerous to live here. The truth of the matter is that any criminal here who wishes to have a handgun, probably already has one. In case they haven’t noticed, criminals don’t usually check whether the law gives them the right to have a handgun or not, that would kind of go against their whole criminal persona. But this will give U.S. citizens the right to bear arms and be prepared to protect themselves in their own homes. That was the original intent of the Second Amendment in the first place; it was one of the most elementary rights of citizenship. Over the years though, various locations have decided that they could restrict the ownership of handguns, ignoring or challenging the U.S. Constitution on the issue. This is a fight that has been many years in the making and just needed to be challenged all the way up to the U.S. Supreme Court to let them make a final decision on the issue once and for all. They made the decision and now it’s time for all locations that have laws which contradict the U.S. Constitution to come into compliance, places like Washington D.C., Chicago, San Francisco and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands.
I’m hoping that we will tackle this issue with intelligence and planning, rather than just try to avoid and ignore it until is it forced through legal action. Since we now know that we are legally entitled to own handguns, there will be the need of some accompanying legislation about who would be restricted from owning them, such as felons, about how you can legally transport them, where you can legally fire them, and whether they have to be registered or not. If we do this properly, we will be prepared and it won’t cause a lot of problems and confusion, but if we stick our heads in the sand and try to pretend it doesn’t apply to us, we will wind up losing the court challenge and then will be totally unprepared to deal with the issue.
I think it’s high time that we realize what being an American citizen is about. I believe that when many of our lawmakers were going to school, there was no such thing as a civics course and probably nothing about U.S. history, laws or responsibility, since at that point we were not even a U.S. Commonwealth. But whether we like it or not, we are learning those lessons now very quickly, and we need to realize that as long as we fly the U.S. flag, have blue passports and continue to accept federal dollars that we have to live under the U.S. Constitution and federal laws.
Food For Thought is now available online at www.fftsaipan.blogspot.com and if you want it by e-mail distribution please send me an e-mail at harryblalock@gmail.com
I’m Harry Blalock, thanking you once again for giving me a generous slice of your valuable time, and allowing me to share my Food For Thought.
With the passage of the minimum wage law which included the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands and the passage of the recent law which extends U.S. Federal Immigration control over the CNMI, we are quickly learning that we are a part of the United States. I don’t think a lot of people really believed that up until just recently. Oh sure, they were right there to get their blue passport, cash their economic stimulus check and take all the money the federal government wanted to throw our way, but I think a lot of people were under the mistaken impression that it was a one way street, only benefits for us with none of the duties or obligations to go along with it. They didn’t really think we had to abide by the U.S. Constitution or the federal laws; after all, we were the only U.S. area that was given the right to restrict land ownership to the indigenous Chamorros & Carolinians. And the U.S. let us control our own minimum wage and take care of our own Immigration, and we couldn’t vote for the president, so obviously they really didn’t care what we did out here, we could just do whatever we wanted, and nobody could do anything about it. I can understand why some people may have gotten the impression that the U.S. laws and constitution might not apply to them because of those other exceptions, but they were mistaken in that belief and are now learning that if you fly the U.S. flag, it means you’re a U.S. citizen and have all the rights, privileges, duties and obligations that go along with that as well.
Now we have one of our crackpot congressmen once again trying to look into changing our status and affiliation with the United States. He’s being a crybaby because he’s all the sudden being expected to follow the U.S. constitution and laws like all other U.S. citizens. I don’t think he’s thought ahead to just how this place would survive without all the federal handouts we get currently. I think he expects those would continue, but we just wouldn’t have to let the U.S. tell us what to do anymore. Frankly, I think he should renounce his U.S. citizenship and burn his blue passport, if he’s serious this time and not just shooting off his mouth once again, then let him prove it with his actions. Burning his passport and not getting another one and giving his economic stimulus check back would be a good place to start. If he doesn’t want to be a U.S. citizen, then let him try finding out what it is like in this world when you’re not a U.S. citizen. And to all those who agree with him, I think maybe they should all be sent to Farallon De Mendeniza and allowed to start their own banana republic up there. It would be taking Survivor to a whole new level; maybe they could even get their own TV series out of it.
And while most people don’t realize it yet and haven’t even heard the news, we are now in violation of the U.S. constitution in another area as well. The U.S. Supreme Court in a 5 to 4 ruling struck down the District of Columbia’s ban on handguns. The Supreme Court ruled Thursday that Americans can keep handguns at home for self-defense in their first-ever pronouncement on the meaning of gun rights under the second amendment. The Supreme Court has not conclusively interpreted the Second Amendment since it’s ratification in 1791. The amendment states “A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed”.
The main issues the Supreme Court was deciding on were whether the amendment protects an individual’s right to own guns no matter what, and whether that right is somehow tied to service in a state militia.
According to a story written by the Associated Press, “Writing for the majority, Justice Antonin Scalia said that an individual right to bear arms is supported by "the historical narrative" both before and after the Second Amendment was adopted.
The Constitution does not permit "the absolute prohibition of handguns held and used for self-defense in the home," Scalia said. The court also struck down Washington's requirement that firearms be equipped with trigger locks or kept disassembled, but left intact the licensing of guns.
Scalia noted that the handgun is Americans' preferred weapon of self-defense in part because "it can be pointed at a burglar with one hand while the other hand dials the police."
Scalia's opinion dealt almost exclusively with self-defense in the home, acknowledging only briefly in his lengthy historical analysis that early Americans also valued gun rights because of hunting.”
What this means is that the CNMI’s prohibition against handgun ownership by individuals is clearly violating the Second Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, and that we are now faced with a choice. We can either willingly follow U.S. law and this decision by the U.S. Supreme Court & change our laws so that we are in compliance with the U.S. Constitution, or we can wait until someone files a lawsuit against the CNMI for violating their basic rights under the constitution. And I can guarantee that our local law prohibiting handgun ownership will be challenged almost immediately. So the question is, will we realize that we need to step into compliance with U.S. Constitutional law and change our laws accordingly, or will we once again try asserting our independence and claim that those laws don’t apply to us?
I can already hear some of the liberals among us screaming that this will now put guns in the hands of the criminal element and it will make it that much more dangerous to live here. The truth of the matter is that any criminal here who wishes to have a handgun, probably already has one. In case they haven’t noticed, criminals don’t usually check whether the law gives them the right to have a handgun or not, that would kind of go against their whole criminal persona. But this will give U.S. citizens the right to bear arms and be prepared to protect themselves in their own homes. That was the original intent of the Second Amendment in the first place; it was one of the most elementary rights of citizenship. Over the years though, various locations have decided that they could restrict the ownership of handguns, ignoring or challenging the U.S. Constitution on the issue. This is a fight that has been many years in the making and just needed to be challenged all the way up to the U.S. Supreme Court to let them make a final decision on the issue once and for all. They made the decision and now it’s time for all locations that have laws which contradict the U.S. Constitution to come into compliance, places like Washington D.C., Chicago, San Francisco and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands.
I’m hoping that we will tackle this issue with intelligence and planning, rather than just try to avoid and ignore it until is it forced through legal action. Since we now know that we are legally entitled to own handguns, there will be the need of some accompanying legislation about who would be restricted from owning them, such as felons, about how you can legally transport them, where you can legally fire them, and whether they have to be registered or not. If we do this properly, we will be prepared and it won’t cause a lot of problems and confusion, but if we stick our heads in the sand and try to pretend it doesn’t apply to us, we will wind up losing the court challenge and then will be totally unprepared to deal with the issue.
I think it’s high time that we realize what being an American citizen is about. I believe that when many of our lawmakers were going to school, there was no such thing as a civics course and probably nothing about U.S. history, laws or responsibility, since at that point we were not even a U.S. Commonwealth. But whether we like it or not, we are learning those lessons now very quickly, and we need to realize that as long as we fly the U.S. flag, have blue passports and continue to accept federal dollars that we have to live under the U.S. Constitution and federal laws.
Food For Thought is now available online at www.fftsaipan.blogspot.com and if you want it by e-mail distribution please send me an e-mail at harryblalock@gmail.com
I’m Harry Blalock, thanking you once again for giving me a generous slice of your valuable time, and allowing me to share my Food For Thought.
Friday, June 20, 2008
State of Disaster at CUC
Food For Thought 6-20-08
Hi friends, this is Harry Blalock; General Manager for radio stations KZMI & KCNM. It’s that time once again to take a look at the issues of the week, and to offer some Food For Thought.
How much is too much? At what point will you finally be at your breaking point and admit that our system has failed us miserably and just continues to perpetuate itself? Our utility company is sinking to new all time lows, even though they keep trying to tell us that we’re almost at the end of rolling blackouts. I think it’s clearer than ever that they really just don’t have a clue. A group of over 200 people met this past week because they are sick and tired of what is going on at Commonwealth Utilities Corporation. They are demanding action, demanding that the legislature take their jobs seriously and provide real oversight over the government owned utility. They are also demanding that we finally break down and actually hire a professional who has the skills, education and experience to actually properly and effectively run a utility company. These seem like pretty reasonable demands to me.
And yet our Governor continues to beg the federal government for money to fix our worn out and poorly maintained generators. The real question is, why would anyone in the federal government want to listen to anything he has to say? After all, isn’t it our own fault that our generators were not maintained and were left to just fall apart believing that a sweetheart privatization deal was just around the corner? Isn’t it our fault that we continue to put political appointees in charge of running and charting the course for this very technical corporation? Isn’t it our fault that in spite of gross negligence, mismanagement and corruption we still haven’t seen any of the people ultimately responsible for the mess put behind bars or held responsible?
Is the federal government supposed to just ignore the fact that our Governor has done nothing but fight them at every turn recently with regards to the minimum wage increases and the federalization of our immigration system, and now that it has all passed and been signed into law, he is threatening to sue the federal government and drag the whole mess into court? Are they just supposed to pretend that none of that has happened and throw more money at our messes, believing that we will actually use the money properly this time and not squander and waste it? I’m afraid our track record wouldn’t give them much reason to trust us or believe that we would actually do it right this time.
Has our government given the federal government any reason to believe that we can really properly manage our own affairs and that we’ll be responsible this time around? Do you recall the whole mess with Marianas Public Lands Authority? Do you remember how much money was squandered through frivolous travel by their board members and the exorbitant per diem fees they voted to give themselves? Do you remember how a certain lawyer that was hired by MPLA wound up cashing checks that were supposed to go to MPLA, but somehow wound up going to him personally? Have you ever seen charges brought against any of them? It’s been 2 ½ years, does this administration really expect us to believe they can’t build a case in that much time? And now one of our senators is actually recommending that the Governor appoint this same lawyer with the questionable background at MPLA to serve as a judge?
Our leaders have made us the punch line to a bad joke; they have made us a laughingstock because of their rampant greed, corruption, mismanagement and nepotism. We have come to just think of this as the way things are; sadly we don’t expect anything else from them because it’s all we’ve ever experienced. But now the chickens are finally coming home to roost, each and every one of us are paying for their incompetence through outrageous electricity costs and frequent power outages. Families are getting sick of it and are leaving the islands for good. Businesses can no longer survive because of the double whammy from CUC, exorbitant utility costs and unreliable power.
If you added up the total amount of destroyed equipment as a result of the rolling blackouts and brownouts, I’m sure the figure would be astronomical. I have heard people talk about the possibility of a class action lawsuit against the government and CUC for all the losses they have incurred as a result of the failure to provide constant, reliable power. Frankly, it’s probably long overdue. Something has got to give and wake our leaders up, they need to realize that they are responsible for the mess we are in, and they need to do something about it. We either need to get serious about privatizing the utility company, but doing it right this time, or we need to hire experienced professionals with a proven track record to run and manage our utility company who can get it back on track and stop wasting over 60% of the fuel they put into the engines.
I’ve heard Tony Muna tell us over and over that he is only basing the rates CUC is charging us on “cost recovery”, but the problem is the costs are far higher than they need to be because of mismanagement within the power company. We are currently burning 60% more fuel than we need to be because our engines and generators are inefficient and not working properly. When you figure out how much all that wasted fuel is costing us, you all the sudden realize we could probably buy new generators and completely pay for them in a fairly short amount of time if you applied the money used to pay for all that wasted fuel. But instead of doing that, we just continue the band-aid approach and try repairing and patching up the old engines and just dealing with their inefficiencies. Hiring an experienced Executive Director and then having him come up with a cost effective plan would get us away from this never ending destructive cycle, but we keep avoiding that. Instead the Governor appoints an accountant as Executive Director of the utility company, someone with absolutely no experience or expertise in power management or systems. Sure he can crunch the numbers, but does he have the background and experience to show us how to stop wasting so much money on inefficient engines? What is he doing about the 25% line losses we continue to experience? That means that 25% of the electricity being produced is not being run through any meters, it’s just disappearing. But it is being paid for; you and I are being forced to pay for these losses. Our utility company isn’t just recovering costs, they are in squandering mode, and they’re turning it into an art form.
What if the federal government came in right now and said they would be willing to give us money to buy new generators which would be efficient, and would lower the cost we’re currently paying for electricity, but the catch was that they would hire and place the people here to run the corporation. Do you have more confidence in our own politicians to actually fix the mess properly, or do you think the federal government might be a little more reliable in this regard? I don’t know of any offers from the federal government in this regard, I was just wondering whether our leaders would still get your vote of confidence, or whether you’ve had about enough of their lies and empty promises.
While CUC continues with their load shedding schedule and frequent breakdown occurrences that aren’t scheduled, there may be some times that our radio stations will be off the air in the evening hours as a result. Because of the rolling blackouts and brownouts, we have had several automatic transfer switches burn out at our generator location on Mt. Tapochou. The cost to replace it is about $3,000, but since we can’t count on CUC to not repeat the same problem that burned the last switch out last time, we can’t afford to just keep replacing it. That means that every time there is a power outage on Mt. Tapochou, one of us has to drive up there and manually start the generator and switch power over. Then when CUC restores power we have to drive back up again, turn the generator off and switch power back. Some days recently we have had to make the trip up and down as many as 6 times in one day. We will continue making the trips during the day, but we cannot continue driving up at night, not knowing how long the outage will last or when CUC will finally bring island power back.
We are sorry for any inconvenience this might cause, however I believe you can understand that we also have to limit the amount of time we spend driving up and down Mt. Tapochou because of CUC. Many businesses have had to cut back on their hours, some have had to close periodically, and others are now assessing whether they can even afford to continue doing business in the CNMI as a result of our power situation. This situation could have been avoided if the administration and management of CUC had brought in auxiliary generators to help make up for the lack of capacity while repairs were ongoing, but they didn’t. They didn’t care about the effect it would have on you, on businesses or on the quality of life in general. And now they are telling us they are just recovering costs when they charge us the highest electricity rates around, even though they waste 60% of their fuel, and they lose 25% of their electricity through line losses. They may be recovering their costs, but the problem is their costs are absurd because of the waste and mismanagement taking place. Are you willing to keep buying the line of crap they’re feeding you, or have you had enough? Honestly I don’t know what the fix to this problem is going to be, but I do know that those responsible for this mess need to be held accountable and never given the chance to do it to us again.
Food For Thought is now available online at www.fftsaipan.blogspot.com and if you want it by e-mail distribution please send me an e-mail at harryblalock@gmail.com
I’m Harry Blalock, thanking you once again for giving me a generous slice of your valuable time, and allowing me to share my Food For Thought.
Hi friends, this is Harry Blalock; General Manager for radio stations KZMI & KCNM. It’s that time once again to take a look at the issues of the week, and to offer some Food For Thought.
How much is too much? At what point will you finally be at your breaking point and admit that our system has failed us miserably and just continues to perpetuate itself? Our utility company is sinking to new all time lows, even though they keep trying to tell us that we’re almost at the end of rolling blackouts. I think it’s clearer than ever that they really just don’t have a clue. A group of over 200 people met this past week because they are sick and tired of what is going on at Commonwealth Utilities Corporation. They are demanding action, demanding that the legislature take their jobs seriously and provide real oversight over the government owned utility. They are also demanding that we finally break down and actually hire a professional who has the skills, education and experience to actually properly and effectively run a utility company. These seem like pretty reasonable demands to me.
And yet our Governor continues to beg the federal government for money to fix our worn out and poorly maintained generators. The real question is, why would anyone in the federal government want to listen to anything he has to say? After all, isn’t it our own fault that our generators were not maintained and were left to just fall apart believing that a sweetheart privatization deal was just around the corner? Isn’t it our fault that we continue to put political appointees in charge of running and charting the course for this very technical corporation? Isn’t it our fault that in spite of gross negligence, mismanagement and corruption we still haven’t seen any of the people ultimately responsible for the mess put behind bars or held responsible?
Is the federal government supposed to just ignore the fact that our Governor has done nothing but fight them at every turn recently with regards to the minimum wage increases and the federalization of our immigration system, and now that it has all passed and been signed into law, he is threatening to sue the federal government and drag the whole mess into court? Are they just supposed to pretend that none of that has happened and throw more money at our messes, believing that we will actually use the money properly this time and not squander and waste it? I’m afraid our track record wouldn’t give them much reason to trust us or believe that we would actually do it right this time.
Has our government given the federal government any reason to believe that we can really properly manage our own affairs and that we’ll be responsible this time around? Do you recall the whole mess with Marianas Public Lands Authority? Do you remember how much money was squandered through frivolous travel by their board members and the exorbitant per diem fees they voted to give themselves? Do you remember how a certain lawyer that was hired by MPLA wound up cashing checks that were supposed to go to MPLA, but somehow wound up going to him personally? Have you ever seen charges brought against any of them? It’s been 2 ½ years, does this administration really expect us to believe they can’t build a case in that much time? And now one of our senators is actually recommending that the Governor appoint this same lawyer with the questionable background at MPLA to serve as a judge?
Our leaders have made us the punch line to a bad joke; they have made us a laughingstock because of their rampant greed, corruption, mismanagement and nepotism. We have come to just think of this as the way things are; sadly we don’t expect anything else from them because it’s all we’ve ever experienced. But now the chickens are finally coming home to roost, each and every one of us are paying for their incompetence through outrageous electricity costs and frequent power outages. Families are getting sick of it and are leaving the islands for good. Businesses can no longer survive because of the double whammy from CUC, exorbitant utility costs and unreliable power.
If you added up the total amount of destroyed equipment as a result of the rolling blackouts and brownouts, I’m sure the figure would be astronomical. I have heard people talk about the possibility of a class action lawsuit against the government and CUC for all the losses they have incurred as a result of the failure to provide constant, reliable power. Frankly, it’s probably long overdue. Something has got to give and wake our leaders up, they need to realize that they are responsible for the mess we are in, and they need to do something about it. We either need to get serious about privatizing the utility company, but doing it right this time, or we need to hire experienced professionals with a proven track record to run and manage our utility company who can get it back on track and stop wasting over 60% of the fuel they put into the engines.
I’ve heard Tony Muna tell us over and over that he is only basing the rates CUC is charging us on “cost recovery”, but the problem is the costs are far higher than they need to be because of mismanagement within the power company. We are currently burning 60% more fuel than we need to be because our engines and generators are inefficient and not working properly. When you figure out how much all that wasted fuel is costing us, you all the sudden realize we could probably buy new generators and completely pay for them in a fairly short amount of time if you applied the money used to pay for all that wasted fuel. But instead of doing that, we just continue the band-aid approach and try repairing and patching up the old engines and just dealing with their inefficiencies. Hiring an experienced Executive Director and then having him come up with a cost effective plan would get us away from this never ending destructive cycle, but we keep avoiding that. Instead the Governor appoints an accountant as Executive Director of the utility company, someone with absolutely no experience or expertise in power management or systems. Sure he can crunch the numbers, but does he have the background and experience to show us how to stop wasting so much money on inefficient engines? What is he doing about the 25% line losses we continue to experience? That means that 25% of the electricity being produced is not being run through any meters, it’s just disappearing. But it is being paid for; you and I are being forced to pay for these losses. Our utility company isn’t just recovering costs, they are in squandering mode, and they’re turning it into an art form.
What if the federal government came in right now and said they would be willing to give us money to buy new generators which would be efficient, and would lower the cost we’re currently paying for electricity, but the catch was that they would hire and place the people here to run the corporation. Do you have more confidence in our own politicians to actually fix the mess properly, or do you think the federal government might be a little more reliable in this regard? I don’t know of any offers from the federal government in this regard, I was just wondering whether our leaders would still get your vote of confidence, or whether you’ve had about enough of their lies and empty promises.
While CUC continues with their load shedding schedule and frequent breakdown occurrences that aren’t scheduled, there may be some times that our radio stations will be off the air in the evening hours as a result. Because of the rolling blackouts and brownouts, we have had several automatic transfer switches burn out at our generator location on Mt. Tapochou. The cost to replace it is about $3,000, but since we can’t count on CUC to not repeat the same problem that burned the last switch out last time, we can’t afford to just keep replacing it. That means that every time there is a power outage on Mt. Tapochou, one of us has to drive up there and manually start the generator and switch power over. Then when CUC restores power we have to drive back up again, turn the generator off and switch power back. Some days recently we have had to make the trip up and down as many as 6 times in one day. We will continue making the trips during the day, but we cannot continue driving up at night, not knowing how long the outage will last or when CUC will finally bring island power back.
We are sorry for any inconvenience this might cause, however I believe you can understand that we also have to limit the amount of time we spend driving up and down Mt. Tapochou because of CUC. Many businesses have had to cut back on their hours, some have had to close periodically, and others are now assessing whether they can even afford to continue doing business in the CNMI as a result of our power situation. This situation could have been avoided if the administration and management of CUC had brought in auxiliary generators to help make up for the lack of capacity while repairs were ongoing, but they didn’t. They didn’t care about the effect it would have on you, on businesses or on the quality of life in general. And now they are telling us they are just recovering costs when they charge us the highest electricity rates around, even though they waste 60% of their fuel, and they lose 25% of their electricity through line losses. They may be recovering their costs, but the problem is their costs are absurd because of the waste and mismanagement taking place. Are you willing to keep buying the line of crap they’re feeding you, or have you had enough? Honestly I don’t know what the fix to this problem is going to be, but I do know that those responsible for this mess need to be held accountable and never given the chance to do it to us again.
Food For Thought is now available online at www.fftsaipan.blogspot.com and if you want it by e-mail distribution please send me an e-mail at harryblalock@gmail.com
I’m Harry Blalock, thanking you once again for giving me a generous slice of your valuable time, and allowing me to share my Food For Thought.
Friday, June 6, 2008
My State of the Commonwealth Assessment
Food For Thought 6-6-08
Hi friends, this is Harry Blalock; General Manager for radio stations KZMI & KCNM. It’s that time once again to take a look at the issues of the week, and to offer some Food For Thought.
For quite a while I took flack for my criticism of the government, their lack of efficiency, their utter lack of professionalism, the blatant nepotism, cronyism, mismanagement, illegal deeds, and the list just goes on and on and on. I have been warning about this “perfect storm” meltdown for the past 8 years. It really wasn’t hard to see it coming, it didn’t take a Wharton School of Business economist to predict it, and in fact it was pretty hard to imagine anything else happening actually. But I was called an alarmist, a meddling haole, an outspoken outsider, and a whole host of other names. I was accused of bashing the last Governor as a political favor to his opponents; I have been accused of going easy on this Governor, for whatever reason. But now I’m far from the only one who is outraged at what is going on and who is speaking out on it.
Just so everyone understands and we’re all on the same page here, yes, I believe this administration inherited a horrible mess, in almost every single aspect. And yes, I’m still shocked that no one from the previous administration is in jail right now for their misdeeds while in office. But this administration has had 2 ½ years to give us the “Better Times” they promised. They claimed they had a plan, they claimed they were going to end the fuel surcharge that the Commonwealth Utilities Corporation was charging us. At this point it is painfully obvious, they had no real plan, and they just flat out lied to us about what they were going to do with the CUC rates.
I realize that the engines and generators had not been properly maintained at all during the previous administration, but it’s been 2 ½ years. They knew the engines would be breaking down, and yet they didn’t come up with a contingency plan while they would be rehabbing the engines. A private company offered to bring one of their excess generators over to provide extra power so we wouldn’t have to go through rolling blackouts, but the government never entertained their offer. I guess they thought we would be happier having numerous rolling blackouts every day. They must have thought we had an endless supply of money to continue repairing and replacing our burned up air conditioners, computers, appliances and other electronic equipment, because they didn’t have the utility company own up to its responsibility for all the destruction and reimburse people for their damages. The government must have thought business would want to be forced to close because they didn’t have enough power to stay open. They must have thought that you didn’t care if you had to put up with numerous outages every day at home, which caused food to spoil in your refrigerator and freezer. They must have thought we wouldn’t care that a supplemental engine would be running at over 90% efficiency and not wasting over 60% of our fuel and lube oil as our current engines do. Yes, we might have had to pay a bit extra to have those engines brought in temporarily, but couldn’t they figure out that we would have easily saved that money several times over by running more efficient engines? It’s really not rocket science!
And then we’ve been lied to more times than I can count about the duration of the power outages and rolling blackouts. We’ve been given more false deadlines as to when the rolling blackouts would stop than we can count. Instead of publishing a power outage schedule that we can all depend on and follow, they have now started publishing what they call a contingency outage schedule. That means that is the schedule they will follow if they need to shut down certain feeders for whatever reason. So you really never know if they will be shutting off power or not. So if you run around your home or office shutting off all the electronics, you’re never really sure if they’re actually going to turn off the power or not. And then they seem to have trouble telling the time. If the schedule says 10 am, it means 9:30 or maybe 10:15, you really never know.
I haven’t talked to a single person that actually believes the government knows what it’s doing with CUC, or who thinks they are actually improving the situation. There is zero confidence in this administration’s ability to fix the problems at CUC or to actually move us toward renewable energy sources. People are disgusted, fed up and ready to revolt over the power situation. I don’t know what will be happening in the coming days, but I’m fairly certain that you will see more and more people completely losing any and all trust that this administration can or will make any positive difference whatsoever.
And then there is the mess involving the Federal economic stimulus checks. Some people got their full checks, others got nothing, and some seemed to get partial checks. The Department of Finance tells us that if there were deficiencies in your 2007 tax return that it will delay you receiving your economic stimulus checks. What they didn’t tell us is that even if the deficiency was their fault, it would still delay them giving you your economic stimulus check. I read an example this week about someone who received a letter from Revenue & Tax about a $10.50 discrepancy in their tax return, therefore they would not be receiving their check until the discrepancy was cleared up. They had their accountant go over their taxes again, and were told that the discrepancy was due to an error in calculation by the Division of Revenue & Tax. But of course they didn’t bother notifying them right away after they filed their taxes; they waited until now, when they could use it as an excuse to not give them their economic stimulus checks right away. So because of a $10.50 mistake, which was the fault of Revenue & Tax, they were withholding over $2,000 of economic stimulus money from this family. And that’s just one example; there are numerous people out there with similar stories.
Why would the government be doing this? Are they using some of the money from the federal government for the economic stimulus checks to help float them financially while they sort out their “messes”? Are they trying to hang onto some of it for as long as they can to earn interest on it? Or are they really just that inefficient and unorganized? I sent an e-mail to the Governor’s Press Secretary early this week telling him that it would be nice if they could have Eloy Inos or someone else from the Department of Finance come in and answer all the questions created by this mess. I told them I’d welcome them any day they could make it. I was told that was a great idea and they would welcome the opportunity to come in and clarify the situation, but yet they still have not contacted me with a day they would be willing to come in and answer questions. Why is that? Do they not have answers for the questions they know I will be asking? What happened to the promise of this administration to be open and accountable to the people, what happened to the transparency?
I said before the last gubernatorial election that whoever won was going to be inheriting the biggest mess the CNMI has ever seen, and it would be a thankless task. I said that there was going to have to be a lot of pain as corrective measures were taken and things rectified from the debacle left by the last administration. That was true then, and it’s still true today. And it’s one thing if you’re experiencing the pain as you see the light at the end of the tunnel and realize it’s being done for your own good. I don’t believe that’s the case right now. There is no light at the end of the tunnel, and we have learned we can’t believe anything we’re told. Things have continued on a very steep downward spiral and there are no signs that we will pull out of it anytime soon. Family after family is packing their bags and heading out in search of a new start and a new life somewhere else, anywhere else. They have come to the conclusion that things couldn’t possibly be any worse anywhere else.
2 ½ years into their term, this administration is looking like it will go down in history as the worst administration in the history of the CNMI. Yes, they inherited a huge mess, but instead of tackling the problems with a plan and minimizing the pain and problems, they disregarded the cost of their actions and just blindly plowed ahead, driving families and business out of the islands as a result. And then when presented with an opportunity to make a positive impact, distributing the federal economic stimulus checks, they couldn’t even get that one right, and made a lot of people very mad in the process. This was a chance to pump some much needed dollars into a starving local economy, but they only managed to get part of the money where it belonged, the rest of it is still sitting in their bank account, accruing interest for them, while they try to fix their own mistakes so they can finally give people what the federal government wanted them to have much earlier. And instead of coming in on the air and explaining what is going on and offering some answers to the questions, they are still tucked away in their offices, trying to avoid the angry masses out in the hallways.
If I had to give the present administration a midterm grade on their performance so far, I’m afraid it would have to be a D-. The only thing that keeps them from getting a failing grade is that they have slowed down the spending and slashed the budgets, which is something their predecessor was unwilling to do or admit there was a need for. However, the nepotism and cronyism has been as entrenched in this administration as any other, I detected no difference at all. They have utterly and miserably failed in their handling of the entire CUC situation. They have failed to attract the new investors they promised when running for office. They have failed in their relations with the U.S. government. And they have failed to give people hope or a reason to stay here, the most stinging indictment of all.
Food For Thought is now available online at www.fftsaipan.blogspot.com and if you want it by e-mail distribution please send me an e-mail at harryblalock@gmail.com
I’m Harry Blalock, thanking you once again for giving me a generous slice of your valuable time, and allowing me to share my Food For Thought.
Hi friends, this is Harry Blalock; General Manager for radio stations KZMI & KCNM. It’s that time once again to take a look at the issues of the week, and to offer some Food For Thought.
For quite a while I took flack for my criticism of the government, their lack of efficiency, their utter lack of professionalism, the blatant nepotism, cronyism, mismanagement, illegal deeds, and the list just goes on and on and on. I have been warning about this “perfect storm” meltdown for the past 8 years. It really wasn’t hard to see it coming, it didn’t take a Wharton School of Business economist to predict it, and in fact it was pretty hard to imagine anything else happening actually. But I was called an alarmist, a meddling haole, an outspoken outsider, and a whole host of other names. I was accused of bashing the last Governor as a political favor to his opponents; I have been accused of going easy on this Governor, for whatever reason. But now I’m far from the only one who is outraged at what is going on and who is speaking out on it.
Just so everyone understands and we’re all on the same page here, yes, I believe this administration inherited a horrible mess, in almost every single aspect. And yes, I’m still shocked that no one from the previous administration is in jail right now for their misdeeds while in office. But this administration has had 2 ½ years to give us the “Better Times” they promised. They claimed they had a plan, they claimed they were going to end the fuel surcharge that the Commonwealth Utilities Corporation was charging us. At this point it is painfully obvious, they had no real plan, and they just flat out lied to us about what they were going to do with the CUC rates.
I realize that the engines and generators had not been properly maintained at all during the previous administration, but it’s been 2 ½ years. They knew the engines would be breaking down, and yet they didn’t come up with a contingency plan while they would be rehabbing the engines. A private company offered to bring one of their excess generators over to provide extra power so we wouldn’t have to go through rolling blackouts, but the government never entertained their offer. I guess they thought we would be happier having numerous rolling blackouts every day. They must have thought we had an endless supply of money to continue repairing and replacing our burned up air conditioners, computers, appliances and other electronic equipment, because they didn’t have the utility company own up to its responsibility for all the destruction and reimburse people for their damages. The government must have thought business would want to be forced to close because they didn’t have enough power to stay open. They must have thought that you didn’t care if you had to put up with numerous outages every day at home, which caused food to spoil in your refrigerator and freezer. They must have thought we wouldn’t care that a supplemental engine would be running at over 90% efficiency and not wasting over 60% of our fuel and lube oil as our current engines do. Yes, we might have had to pay a bit extra to have those engines brought in temporarily, but couldn’t they figure out that we would have easily saved that money several times over by running more efficient engines? It’s really not rocket science!
And then we’ve been lied to more times than I can count about the duration of the power outages and rolling blackouts. We’ve been given more false deadlines as to when the rolling blackouts would stop than we can count. Instead of publishing a power outage schedule that we can all depend on and follow, they have now started publishing what they call a contingency outage schedule. That means that is the schedule they will follow if they need to shut down certain feeders for whatever reason. So you really never know if they will be shutting off power or not. So if you run around your home or office shutting off all the electronics, you’re never really sure if they’re actually going to turn off the power or not. And then they seem to have trouble telling the time. If the schedule says 10 am, it means 9:30 or maybe 10:15, you really never know.
I haven’t talked to a single person that actually believes the government knows what it’s doing with CUC, or who thinks they are actually improving the situation. There is zero confidence in this administration’s ability to fix the problems at CUC or to actually move us toward renewable energy sources. People are disgusted, fed up and ready to revolt over the power situation. I don’t know what will be happening in the coming days, but I’m fairly certain that you will see more and more people completely losing any and all trust that this administration can or will make any positive difference whatsoever.
And then there is the mess involving the Federal economic stimulus checks. Some people got their full checks, others got nothing, and some seemed to get partial checks. The Department of Finance tells us that if there were deficiencies in your 2007 tax return that it will delay you receiving your economic stimulus checks. What they didn’t tell us is that even if the deficiency was their fault, it would still delay them giving you your economic stimulus check. I read an example this week about someone who received a letter from Revenue & Tax about a $10.50 discrepancy in their tax return, therefore they would not be receiving their check until the discrepancy was cleared up. They had their accountant go over their taxes again, and were told that the discrepancy was due to an error in calculation by the Division of Revenue & Tax. But of course they didn’t bother notifying them right away after they filed their taxes; they waited until now, when they could use it as an excuse to not give them their economic stimulus checks right away. So because of a $10.50 mistake, which was the fault of Revenue & Tax, they were withholding over $2,000 of economic stimulus money from this family. And that’s just one example; there are numerous people out there with similar stories.
Why would the government be doing this? Are they using some of the money from the federal government for the economic stimulus checks to help float them financially while they sort out their “messes”? Are they trying to hang onto some of it for as long as they can to earn interest on it? Or are they really just that inefficient and unorganized? I sent an e-mail to the Governor’s Press Secretary early this week telling him that it would be nice if they could have Eloy Inos or someone else from the Department of Finance come in and answer all the questions created by this mess. I told them I’d welcome them any day they could make it. I was told that was a great idea and they would welcome the opportunity to come in and clarify the situation, but yet they still have not contacted me with a day they would be willing to come in and answer questions. Why is that? Do they not have answers for the questions they know I will be asking? What happened to the promise of this administration to be open and accountable to the people, what happened to the transparency?
I said before the last gubernatorial election that whoever won was going to be inheriting the biggest mess the CNMI has ever seen, and it would be a thankless task. I said that there was going to have to be a lot of pain as corrective measures were taken and things rectified from the debacle left by the last administration. That was true then, and it’s still true today. And it’s one thing if you’re experiencing the pain as you see the light at the end of the tunnel and realize it’s being done for your own good. I don’t believe that’s the case right now. There is no light at the end of the tunnel, and we have learned we can’t believe anything we’re told. Things have continued on a very steep downward spiral and there are no signs that we will pull out of it anytime soon. Family after family is packing their bags and heading out in search of a new start and a new life somewhere else, anywhere else. They have come to the conclusion that things couldn’t possibly be any worse anywhere else.
2 ½ years into their term, this administration is looking like it will go down in history as the worst administration in the history of the CNMI. Yes, they inherited a huge mess, but instead of tackling the problems with a plan and minimizing the pain and problems, they disregarded the cost of their actions and just blindly plowed ahead, driving families and business out of the islands as a result. And then when presented with an opportunity to make a positive impact, distributing the federal economic stimulus checks, they couldn’t even get that one right, and made a lot of people very mad in the process. This was a chance to pump some much needed dollars into a starving local economy, but they only managed to get part of the money where it belonged, the rest of it is still sitting in their bank account, accruing interest for them, while they try to fix their own mistakes so they can finally give people what the federal government wanted them to have much earlier. And instead of coming in on the air and explaining what is going on and offering some answers to the questions, they are still tucked away in their offices, trying to avoid the angry masses out in the hallways.
If I had to give the present administration a midterm grade on their performance so far, I’m afraid it would have to be a D-. The only thing that keeps them from getting a failing grade is that they have slowed down the spending and slashed the budgets, which is something their predecessor was unwilling to do or admit there was a need for. However, the nepotism and cronyism has been as entrenched in this administration as any other, I detected no difference at all. They have utterly and miserably failed in their handling of the entire CUC situation. They have failed to attract the new investors they promised when running for office. They have failed in their relations with the U.S. government. And they have failed to give people hope or a reason to stay here, the most stinging indictment of all.
Food For Thought is now available online at www.fftsaipan.blogspot.com and if you want it by e-mail distribution please send me an e-mail at harryblalock@gmail.com
I’m Harry Blalock, thanking you once again for giving me a generous slice of your valuable time, and allowing me to share my Food For Thought.
Friday, May 30, 2008
Lucky or Blessed?
Food For Thought 5-30-08
Hi friends, this is Harry Blalock; General Manager for radio stations KZMI & KCNM. It’s that time once again to take a look at the issues of the week, and to offer some Food For Thought.
I’ve been told many times and in many different ways over the years that I’m truly a lucky bum. My co-worker Lewie has commented many times on how lucky he thinks I am, and yet if you asked my daughter, she would tell you I’m one of the unluckiest people she knows. It’s all a matter of perspective, how you look at things and evaluate them.
Some of the reasons Lewie has come to this conclusion are because I've found a nearly new digital camera in an underwater housing while diving in the Grotto before, and yes, it still worked just fine. There have been several times that I was diving the Grotto picking up trash people had thrown in it and I've found $20 bills. Not just once or twice mind you, but several times now. I had someone come out to Saipan a little less than a year ago, who just happened to want something I had. It was something I hadn't spent any money on, but he wanted, and I wound up with a brand new Canon EOS Rebel XTi Digital camera with 5 lenses, a carrying case, tripods and a bunch of other gear in exchange for my item which I didn't really even want any longer. I had a health insurance company trying to tell me recently that I owed them $250 for items that weren't covered when I went to Hong Kong for a heart catheterization a couple years ago. In the end, instead of me having to pay them $250, they wound up sending me a check for nearly $1,000. And then last weekend while diving at Lau Lau, I jumped in the water right where you start your dive, and when I got to the bottom I found an Aladin Pro dive computer, which was still working just fine! So even though I've already got a dive computer, and I just ordered Kelli new dive gear, thanks to the check from that insurance company, now I've got a dive computer for other people I take diving to wear. Very cool! So am I just extraordinarily lucky? I don't think so, I mean when you figure how many hours I spend underwater every week, odds are good that I'm going to find some things that other divers have lost. Some people would still say that I’ve been very lucky.
But then if you asked my daughter about my luck, she would point out my lack of luck when it comes to buying Red Cross Club 200 tickets every year. There have only been a couple years in the last 12 that I have not bought a ticket and gone. I always tell her every year that I’m feeling lucky and I think this will be the one. She always laughs and scoffs at me and says, sure Dad, you say that every year. And it’s true, I do. I have probably gone 10 out of the past 12 years, I’m guessing they have given away well over 400 prizes during that time, and yet I still have never won anything, not even a one night stay at a hotel or a cell phone. Nada, Zip, Nothing! I have to admit, my record for the Club 200 has been perfect, but I’m feeling lucky this year. I can hear my daughter groaning and laughing at me already.
Since I’m a member of the Rotary Club of Saipan, I’m always tasked with selling $400 worth of tickets every time we hold a Las Vegas night. Typically I would sell most of the tickets and buy a few myself, in the hopes that I might strike it lucky and win one of the big prizes. I have won assorted raffle prizes over the years with my Las Vegas Night tickets, but I’ve never won one of the big cash prizes. But for several years I have watched as some of the Rotarians who have just bought their entire $400 allotment of tickets themselves have won vehicles and some of the top cash prizes. So last year I got a brainstorm, I decided I just needed to increase my odds, I decided to go into a pool with 3 other people for my allotment of tickets. We would each kick in $100 and we would equally share any prizes that were won with any of our tickets. I figured this increased my odds of winning something greatly. So somehow I managed to talk my daughter into buying $100 worth of the tickets with me, of course her boyfriend got pulled into the scheme as well, and a guy who happened to be renting a room from me also got in on the action. Except for Sarah, I think we were all kind of excited about our chances. I talked about my grand scheme to hit it big on my talk show the morning before the event. Some employees of another Rotarian who hadn’t sold any of his tickets yet were listening to my idea, and they decided they would do the same thing with their boss. Yup, you can almost guess where this is going, can’t you? We managed to win a few raffle prizes, but the other group who copied my plan hit it big, they won $5,000 I believe. You can just imagine the lecture I got from my daughter over that one.
And by the way, there is another Las Vegas night coming up, and I plan on doing the same thing with my tickets again this year. I’m thinking my daughter will be less than enthusiastic about entering into a partnership with her “unlucky” father, so that means there will be a couple open slots if you’re feeling “lucky”. First come, first serve!
But the reason I bring all this up is because I want to talk about what some people look at as luck, I look at as being blessed. This was kind of brought home to me the other day as I was reading some of the comments from people on Link Referral who have read my blog and looked at the pictures on my Smugmug site. Let me share their comments with you so you know what I mean.
-"Incredible. I'm not usually the the jealous type, but I have to honestly say that I envy you. What an awesome site. I loved watching that curious little turtle come up and bump your camera. You could almost see his mind working as he looked at you in curiosity. I've never went on a dive before but I would love to when I can save up enough. Thank you so much..."
-"Awesome awesome website. The photos are lovely. The map is beuatiful - i love maps. My Picks are great, actually everythng I clicked was stunning! I could lose myself in there for hours. You are one very lucky man! Fantabulous job!.."
Yes, I'll admit, I'm getting the chance to live most people's dream. Most people scrimp and save all year for the chance to go somewhere like this for a week or two on vacation, it's what keeps them going all year until the next vacation. But I'm living the vacation, I get to dive every weekend of the year and combine two of my passions, scuba diving and photography. It just doesn't get much better than that.
But again, getting back to the being "lucky" thing. I truly believe it's not just blind luck, I believe that God has for His own reasons decided to just bless me abundantly, far beyond anything I could have ever imagined or asked for, and certainly far beyond anything I deserve.He has blessed me with the most amazing wife I could have ever asked for. There is no doubt in my mind that Kelli loves me unconditionally and is completely and totally devoted to me. I know that she has spent thousands of hours praying for me and asking for God's blessings on us, I believe those prayers have been, and are continuing to be answered. I have seen the bible promise of "Seek and ye shall find, ask and it shall be given to you" answered over and over during our life together.
I will never be a rich man, as far as monetary wealth goes. I have too much fun giving it away to others. When I am blessed, I have fun passing those blessings on to others. When I found the underwater digital camera and housing, I gave it to a friend of mine who had just given her digital camera to her sister in the Philippines. I knew she would get much more use and enjoyment out of it than I possibly could. Yes, I had people offering to buy it from me, but that would have just given me some money which would have disappeared and I'd have forgotten what I bought with it. But this way I have the satisfaction of knowing that she has a camera she will use to capture memories and special moments while she's going to college that she will continue to share with her mother and family back in the Philippines. One option would add toward your monetary wealth, the other is absolutely priceless! I've tried to follow that principle throughout my life, and truly share with others what I have been given. You might say that I'm unbelievably lucky; I say that I am extraordinarily blessed. When my time on this earth is gone and it's time for those left behind to say goodbye, I won't have to worry about them fighting over my riches, there won't be any. But hopefully there will be an interesting assortment of people left behind who will all have their own little story of their brushes with this eccentric old dive bum, and hopefully they will incorporate the principle of sharing the wealth, and passing along what has been given to you to make a difference in someone else's life. It’s called the “Pay It Forward” principle, and there was actually a very cute and moving movie made about it a few years ago. If there was one principle I would impart to you it would be this, get out of the rat race and get into the giving race. It's a decision you'll never regret, and you will truly leave a lasting impression on those whose lives you've touched. Perspective can truly make all the difference in the world, and can turn someone who was feeling sorry for themselves over not striking it rich, to someone who is thankful and rejoicing over the many blessings that they have been given. I know I’m not the only one who has been extraordinarily blessed, have you taken the time to be thankful for your blessings lately? I don’t think you have to wait for Thanksgiving to do it, in fact I would hope that you would take the time to say thanks on a regular basis for the things you’ve been blessed with.
Food For Thought is now available online at http://www.fftsaipan.blogspot.com/ and if you want it by e-mail distribution please send me an e-mail at harryblalock@gmail.com
I’m Harry Blalock, thanking you once again for giving me a generous slice of your valuable time, and allowing me to share my Food For Thought.
Hi friends, this is Harry Blalock; General Manager for radio stations KZMI & KCNM. It’s that time once again to take a look at the issues of the week, and to offer some Food For Thought.
I’ve been told many times and in many different ways over the years that I’m truly a lucky bum. My co-worker Lewie has commented many times on how lucky he thinks I am, and yet if you asked my daughter, she would tell you I’m one of the unluckiest people she knows. It’s all a matter of perspective, how you look at things and evaluate them.
Some of the reasons Lewie has come to this conclusion are because I've found a nearly new digital camera in an underwater housing while diving in the Grotto before, and yes, it still worked just fine. There have been several times that I was diving the Grotto picking up trash people had thrown in it and I've found $20 bills. Not just once or twice mind you, but several times now. I had someone come out to Saipan a little less than a year ago, who just happened to want something I had. It was something I hadn't spent any money on, but he wanted, and I wound up with a brand new Canon EOS Rebel XTi Digital camera with 5 lenses, a carrying case, tripods and a bunch of other gear in exchange for my item which I didn't really even want any longer. I had a health insurance company trying to tell me recently that I owed them $250 for items that weren't covered when I went to Hong Kong for a heart catheterization a couple years ago. In the end, instead of me having to pay them $250, they wound up sending me a check for nearly $1,000. And then last weekend while diving at Lau Lau, I jumped in the water right where you start your dive, and when I got to the bottom I found an Aladin Pro dive computer, which was still working just fine! So even though I've already got a dive computer, and I just ordered Kelli new dive gear, thanks to the check from that insurance company, now I've got a dive computer for other people I take diving to wear. Very cool! So am I just extraordinarily lucky? I don't think so, I mean when you figure how many hours I spend underwater every week, odds are good that I'm going to find some things that other divers have lost. Some people would still say that I’ve been very lucky.
But then if you asked my daughter about my luck, she would point out my lack of luck when it comes to buying Red Cross Club 200 tickets every year. There have only been a couple years in the last 12 that I have not bought a ticket and gone. I always tell her every year that I’m feeling lucky and I think this will be the one. She always laughs and scoffs at me and says, sure Dad, you say that every year. And it’s true, I do. I have probably gone 10 out of the past 12 years, I’m guessing they have given away well over 400 prizes during that time, and yet I still have never won anything, not even a one night stay at a hotel or a cell phone. Nada, Zip, Nothing! I have to admit, my record for the Club 200 has been perfect, but I’m feeling lucky this year. I can hear my daughter groaning and laughing at me already.
Since I’m a member of the Rotary Club of Saipan, I’m always tasked with selling $400 worth of tickets every time we hold a Las Vegas night. Typically I would sell most of the tickets and buy a few myself, in the hopes that I might strike it lucky and win one of the big prizes. I have won assorted raffle prizes over the years with my Las Vegas Night tickets, but I’ve never won one of the big cash prizes. But for several years I have watched as some of the Rotarians who have just bought their entire $400 allotment of tickets themselves have won vehicles and some of the top cash prizes. So last year I got a brainstorm, I decided I just needed to increase my odds, I decided to go into a pool with 3 other people for my allotment of tickets. We would each kick in $100 and we would equally share any prizes that were won with any of our tickets. I figured this increased my odds of winning something greatly. So somehow I managed to talk my daughter into buying $100 worth of the tickets with me, of course her boyfriend got pulled into the scheme as well, and a guy who happened to be renting a room from me also got in on the action. Except for Sarah, I think we were all kind of excited about our chances. I talked about my grand scheme to hit it big on my talk show the morning before the event. Some employees of another Rotarian who hadn’t sold any of his tickets yet were listening to my idea, and they decided they would do the same thing with their boss. Yup, you can almost guess where this is going, can’t you? We managed to win a few raffle prizes, but the other group who copied my plan hit it big, they won $5,000 I believe. You can just imagine the lecture I got from my daughter over that one.
And by the way, there is another Las Vegas night coming up, and I plan on doing the same thing with my tickets again this year. I’m thinking my daughter will be less than enthusiastic about entering into a partnership with her “unlucky” father, so that means there will be a couple open slots if you’re feeling “lucky”. First come, first serve!
But the reason I bring all this up is because I want to talk about what some people look at as luck, I look at as being blessed. This was kind of brought home to me the other day as I was reading some of the comments from people on Link Referral who have read my blog and looked at the pictures on my Smugmug site. Let me share their comments with you so you know what I mean.
-"Incredible. I'm not usually the the jealous type, but I have to honestly say that I envy you. What an awesome site. I loved watching that curious little turtle come up and bump your camera. You could almost see his mind working as he looked at you in curiosity. I've never went on a dive before but I would love to when I can save up enough. Thank you so much..."
-"Awesome awesome website. The photos are lovely. The map is beuatiful - i love maps. My Picks are great, actually everythng I clicked was stunning! I could lose myself in there for hours. You are one very lucky man! Fantabulous job!.."
Yes, I'll admit, I'm getting the chance to live most people's dream. Most people scrimp and save all year for the chance to go somewhere like this for a week or two on vacation, it's what keeps them going all year until the next vacation. But I'm living the vacation, I get to dive every weekend of the year and combine two of my passions, scuba diving and photography. It just doesn't get much better than that.
But again, getting back to the being "lucky" thing. I truly believe it's not just blind luck, I believe that God has for His own reasons decided to just bless me abundantly, far beyond anything I could have ever imagined or asked for, and certainly far beyond anything I deserve.He has blessed me with the most amazing wife I could have ever asked for. There is no doubt in my mind that Kelli loves me unconditionally and is completely and totally devoted to me. I know that she has spent thousands of hours praying for me and asking for God's blessings on us, I believe those prayers have been, and are continuing to be answered. I have seen the bible promise of "Seek and ye shall find, ask and it shall be given to you" answered over and over during our life together.
I will never be a rich man, as far as monetary wealth goes. I have too much fun giving it away to others. When I am blessed, I have fun passing those blessings on to others. When I found the underwater digital camera and housing, I gave it to a friend of mine who had just given her digital camera to her sister in the Philippines. I knew she would get much more use and enjoyment out of it than I possibly could. Yes, I had people offering to buy it from me, but that would have just given me some money which would have disappeared and I'd have forgotten what I bought with it. But this way I have the satisfaction of knowing that she has a camera she will use to capture memories and special moments while she's going to college that she will continue to share with her mother and family back in the Philippines. One option would add toward your monetary wealth, the other is absolutely priceless! I've tried to follow that principle throughout my life, and truly share with others what I have been given. You might say that I'm unbelievably lucky; I say that I am extraordinarily blessed. When my time on this earth is gone and it's time for those left behind to say goodbye, I won't have to worry about them fighting over my riches, there won't be any. But hopefully there will be an interesting assortment of people left behind who will all have their own little story of their brushes with this eccentric old dive bum, and hopefully they will incorporate the principle of sharing the wealth, and passing along what has been given to you to make a difference in someone else's life. It’s called the “Pay It Forward” principle, and there was actually a very cute and moving movie made about it a few years ago. If there was one principle I would impart to you it would be this, get out of the rat race and get into the giving race. It's a decision you'll never regret, and you will truly leave a lasting impression on those whose lives you've touched. Perspective can truly make all the difference in the world, and can turn someone who was feeling sorry for themselves over not striking it rich, to someone who is thankful and rejoicing over the many blessings that they have been given. I know I’m not the only one who has been extraordinarily blessed, have you taken the time to be thankful for your blessings lately? I don’t think you have to wait for Thanksgiving to do it, in fact I would hope that you would take the time to say thanks on a regular basis for the things you’ve been blessed with.
Food For Thought is now available online at http://www.fftsaipan.blogspot.com/ and if you want it by e-mail distribution please send me an e-mail at harryblalock@gmail.com
I’m Harry Blalock, thanking you once again for giving me a generous slice of your valuable time, and allowing me to share my Food For Thought.
Friday, May 23, 2008
The Saipan Chamber of Commerce - Striving to Make A Difference!
Food For Thought 5-23-08
Hi friends, this is Harry Blalock; General Manager for radio stations KZMI & KCNM. It’s that time once again to take a look at the issues of the week, and to offer some Food For Thought.
For the last several years I’ve been a member of the Saipan Chamber of Commerce’s Education Committee that interviews college-bound high school seniors and then awards some of them scholarships. I’ve got to say that it’s one of the most rewarding things I’ve been involved in for a very long time. We get to meet and talk to the cream of the crop as far as that year’s high school seniors go. We get to find out what they think about things, and what issues are important to them. I’ve found it very interesting getting things from a different perspective.
You hear some amazing stories of determination and perseverance, and overcoming long odds to wind up where they are today. I also find it interesting to find out who the most influential person has been for some of them. Obviously in some cases it’s one of their parents, but then there are others who tell us about a certain teacher who really opened their eyes and their minds to a whole new world. I was truly impressed as one of our candidates told us that one of her teachers had the most profound impact on her. I was impressed that she acknowledged what a difference he had made in her life and was more than happy to share that with us, and I was also impressed that this teacher takes his job so seriously and really strives to make an impact in his student’s lives.
With the ways things are in the CNMI lately, it’s easy to get discouraged and only concentrate on the negative things that are happening, like the almost daily increases in the price of gasoline, and the ever upwardly spiraling cost of electricity. And I’m not saying that these are not important issues, or are not destroying many families quality of life, but in spite of all these things happening to us and around us, there are still some bright spots and things we can take encouragement from.
The Saipan Chamber of Commerce has come under a lot of fire this past year for their perceived positions on some of the issues, and for their stands on others. Some of the criticism was even coming from members of the Chamber at the time, who for their own reasons didn’t appreciate the stand the Chamber was taking at the time. The Chamber has also come under criticism in the past for charging admission to go to the Senate and Gubernatorial debates it has sponsored in the past. However, this criticism almost always comes from those who have never gotten involved, and have never participated. The money raised from those debates and the various fundraisers is where the money comes from that we give out to the scholarship recipients. It is also where the money comes from to put on the workshops the Chamber did for the schools recently.
The title of the workshops was, “I’m about to graduate from high school, now what?” The purpose of the workshops was to prepare our students for life after high school and give them some advice and tips that will hopefully help them to be more successful in their interviews and jobs. The workshops were the brainchild of Chamber President Jim Arenovski and Education Committee Chair Kathryn Barry. They came up with a 4 hour program that taught the students everything from how to conduct themselves in an interview, and what the interviewers would be looking for, to how to balance a checkbook, how to make a budget to help you live within your income, how to balance family expectations and work obligations, and how to effectively communicate. Various Chamber of Commerce members donated 5 hours each Saturday morning for a month to put on these workshops for any interested students in both the public and private schools. Jay Santos of Triple J Enterprises & Hertz Rent a Car, Steve Jang of Rainbow Color and Kanae Quinn of PIC were all part of the team that shared their knowledge and experience with the students to help them to be better prepared for what lies ahead for them. Nobody was forcing them to do this and to volunteer their time, nobody was paying them for it, and they weren’t getting anything out of it other than the satisfaction of investing in the youth of today, and the leaders of tomorrow.
You may not always understand or agree with all the positions or stands taken by the Chamber of Commerce, but that’s ok, not all the members always agree, and there are even disagreements in direction at the board level from time to time. But like with any other organization, you do the best you can, try to get the majority consensus and then proceed accordingly. But one thing I don’t think anyone can disagree with is the importance of helping our students financially by offering these scholarships, and the importance of putting on the workshops to help prepare our students for the next step in life. Detractors are always very vocal and usually very biased in their point of view and perspective. And unfortunately sometimes they are the only points of view you ever hear, because they are always demanding to be heard and writing letters to the editor. But I thought you needed to hear a little bit about the other side of the story, the one that doesn’t always get that much press or coverage. The other side that is striving to make a tangible difference in our students lives. I would encourage you to ask some of the students who attended those seminars what they thought of them. Ask them what they learned, whether they thought they were beneficial or not. And I would also encourage you to attend the next Saipan Chamber of Commerce General Membership meeting that will be held Wednesday, June 4th at the World Resort. That is when the Chamber will be awarding scholarships to 6 of the 33 applicants they had this year. You will meet some of the best and brightest students our schools have produced. Not all of them, because unfortunately we didn’t have enough money to reward all the deserving students a scholarship, and trying to make some of those decisions is gut wrenching. But you will hear a little about them and from them, and you will also hear from some of the past recipients of the Chamber of Commerce scholarships. You’ll hear how the money they received helped them to pursue their college degree, where they are now in their education, and what their next step is. I hope to see many of you there!
Food For Thought is now available online at www.fftsaipan.blogspot.com and if you want it by e-mail distribution please send me an e-mail at harryblalock@gmail.com
I’m Harry Blalock, thanking you once again for giving me a generous slice of your valuable time, and allowing me to share my Food For Thought.
Hi friends, this is Harry Blalock; General Manager for radio stations KZMI & KCNM. It’s that time once again to take a look at the issues of the week, and to offer some Food For Thought.
For the last several years I’ve been a member of the Saipan Chamber of Commerce’s Education Committee that interviews college-bound high school seniors and then awards some of them scholarships. I’ve got to say that it’s one of the most rewarding things I’ve been involved in for a very long time. We get to meet and talk to the cream of the crop as far as that year’s high school seniors go. We get to find out what they think about things, and what issues are important to them. I’ve found it very interesting getting things from a different perspective.
You hear some amazing stories of determination and perseverance, and overcoming long odds to wind up where they are today. I also find it interesting to find out who the most influential person has been for some of them. Obviously in some cases it’s one of their parents, but then there are others who tell us about a certain teacher who really opened their eyes and their minds to a whole new world. I was truly impressed as one of our candidates told us that one of her teachers had the most profound impact on her. I was impressed that she acknowledged what a difference he had made in her life and was more than happy to share that with us, and I was also impressed that this teacher takes his job so seriously and really strives to make an impact in his student’s lives.
With the ways things are in the CNMI lately, it’s easy to get discouraged and only concentrate on the negative things that are happening, like the almost daily increases in the price of gasoline, and the ever upwardly spiraling cost of electricity. And I’m not saying that these are not important issues, or are not destroying many families quality of life, but in spite of all these things happening to us and around us, there are still some bright spots and things we can take encouragement from.
The Saipan Chamber of Commerce has come under a lot of fire this past year for their perceived positions on some of the issues, and for their stands on others. Some of the criticism was even coming from members of the Chamber at the time, who for their own reasons didn’t appreciate the stand the Chamber was taking at the time. The Chamber has also come under criticism in the past for charging admission to go to the Senate and Gubernatorial debates it has sponsored in the past. However, this criticism almost always comes from those who have never gotten involved, and have never participated. The money raised from those debates and the various fundraisers is where the money comes from that we give out to the scholarship recipients. It is also where the money comes from to put on the workshops the Chamber did for the schools recently.
The title of the workshops was, “I’m about to graduate from high school, now what?” The purpose of the workshops was to prepare our students for life after high school and give them some advice and tips that will hopefully help them to be more successful in their interviews and jobs. The workshops were the brainchild of Chamber President Jim Arenovski and Education Committee Chair Kathryn Barry. They came up with a 4 hour program that taught the students everything from how to conduct themselves in an interview, and what the interviewers would be looking for, to how to balance a checkbook, how to make a budget to help you live within your income, how to balance family expectations and work obligations, and how to effectively communicate. Various Chamber of Commerce members donated 5 hours each Saturday morning for a month to put on these workshops for any interested students in both the public and private schools. Jay Santos of Triple J Enterprises & Hertz Rent a Car, Steve Jang of Rainbow Color and Kanae Quinn of PIC were all part of the team that shared their knowledge and experience with the students to help them to be better prepared for what lies ahead for them. Nobody was forcing them to do this and to volunteer their time, nobody was paying them for it, and they weren’t getting anything out of it other than the satisfaction of investing in the youth of today, and the leaders of tomorrow.
You may not always understand or agree with all the positions or stands taken by the Chamber of Commerce, but that’s ok, not all the members always agree, and there are even disagreements in direction at the board level from time to time. But like with any other organization, you do the best you can, try to get the majority consensus and then proceed accordingly. But one thing I don’t think anyone can disagree with is the importance of helping our students financially by offering these scholarships, and the importance of putting on the workshops to help prepare our students for the next step in life. Detractors are always very vocal and usually very biased in their point of view and perspective. And unfortunately sometimes they are the only points of view you ever hear, because they are always demanding to be heard and writing letters to the editor. But I thought you needed to hear a little bit about the other side of the story, the one that doesn’t always get that much press or coverage. The other side that is striving to make a tangible difference in our students lives. I would encourage you to ask some of the students who attended those seminars what they thought of them. Ask them what they learned, whether they thought they were beneficial or not. And I would also encourage you to attend the next Saipan Chamber of Commerce General Membership meeting that will be held Wednesday, June 4th at the World Resort. That is when the Chamber will be awarding scholarships to 6 of the 33 applicants they had this year. You will meet some of the best and brightest students our schools have produced. Not all of them, because unfortunately we didn’t have enough money to reward all the deserving students a scholarship, and trying to make some of those decisions is gut wrenching. But you will hear a little about them and from them, and you will also hear from some of the past recipients of the Chamber of Commerce scholarships. You’ll hear how the money they received helped them to pursue their college degree, where they are now in their education, and what their next step is. I hope to see many of you there!
Food For Thought is now available online at www.fftsaipan.blogspot.com and if you want it by e-mail distribution please send me an e-mail at harryblalock@gmail.com
I’m Harry Blalock, thanking you once again for giving me a generous slice of your valuable time, and allowing me to share my Food For Thought.
Friday, May 16, 2008
Punishment for Illegal Fishing
Food For Thought 5-16-08
Hi friends, this is Harry Blalock; General Manager for radio stations KZMI & KCNM. It’s that time once again to take a look at the issues of the week, and to offer some Food For Thought.
Today I want to talk about an issue that has been on my mind for some time now, that’s the illegal fishing that has been going on at the Grotto. I have been diving the Grotto for the past 12 years and have logged in close to 1,000 dives in the Grotto during that time. During the last year I have noticed a big increase in the amount of fishing line that is tangled in the coral outside of the Grotto and stretched across the openings to the Grotto. I typically spend a couple hours every weekend of my diving time untangling the fishing line and collecting it, trying to make the Grotto a pristine and attractive dive location for the hundreds of tourists who dive there every week. There are some dives that I have so much cut up rebar, spark plugs, and homemade molded weights in my pockets that it’s tough to keep my swimsuit on. The Grotto is supposed to be a sanctuary, which means that it’s illegal to fish there; however, it has been fished very heavily for the past year. Obviously with all the fishing going on, the fish aren’t being protected there at all, but my concern is more about all the fishing line they leave behind, and what it may mean to the tourists who come there to dive. Not only is it ugly to see the fishing line tangled in all the coral, but it is also a safety hazard when you have heavy duty monofilament line stretched across the openings that are used to come in and go out of the Grotto. If a tourist gets tangled in one of those lines and panics, it could easily lead to a drowning and a very bad situation.
A few months ago, Fish & Wildlife officers caught two Chinese contract workers illegally fishing at the Grotto. They were arrested and charged with violating a sanctuary. They spent a few days in jail while waiting to be processed and post their bail. Before the case went to trial, the Attorney General’s Office offered them a plea bargain, if they would plead guilty to the lesser of the charges; they would recommend only that they be given probation and a minimal fine. So when the case came before Judge Mona Manglona, she accepted the plea agreement and gave them 6 months in jail, all suspended except for the few days already served, and a $25 fine. I was outraged when I heard about it; I thought what a mockery of justice. Why bother even having these laws in the first place if that’s all we’re going to do to those who are caught? It was my understanding that the judge said something about it being a rarely committed offense when she handed down the light sentence. She obviously hasn’t been diving in the Grotto for the past year or she’d know better.
Then I had a discussion with a friend of mine, who happens to be a lawyer about the situation. He told me I shouldn’t be so hard on Judge Manglona, because if it was a plea agreement, she really could only go on the evidence and facts as provided by the Attorney General’s Office, and if they didn’t bring in expert testimony or present facts about the frequency of the problem or the magnitude of it, then the Judge wouldn’t have that information to base her decision on. He also told me that the Judge only has two options at that point, to either accept or reject the plea bargain as presented by the Attorney General’s Office. He said the bulk of the blame should be placed on the Attorney General’s Office for not recommending a stiffer penalty, and doing a better job of researching the facts in the case about the problem of illegal fishing in the Grotto.
A few days after that conversation, I happened to run into Matt Gregory, the Attorney General, so I had a discussion with him about it. He said he had just learned about the situation a couple days before, but planned on looking into it. He did say though that his office has to make decisions about where to allocate their time and funds though. Should they assign prosecutors to the more serious crimes like white collar crime, sex abuse cases and domestic violence, or should they make crimes like this one the priority and assign the personnel to them to be able to actually take them to trial and prosecute them? He said it is very expensive and time consuming to take a case to trial, and like every other agency, his agency is short on personnel and funds, so they have to make judgment calls about which cases to take to trial and which ones to offer plea bargains in. And sometimes in the big scheme of things, crimes like this one aren’t looked at as being serious enough to merit the time and expense required to properly prosecute it. And the defense attorneys know that the Attorney General’s Office doesn’t have the money or personnel to take cases like that to court, so they insist on ridiculously low plea bargains which let their clients off scott free basically. I had to admit, as much as I didn’t like it, I could understand where he was coming from and his logic. And yes, I’d hate to think that a child molester got a plea bargain instead of an illegal fisherman. But that wasn’t going to help the problem at hand, stopping the illegal fishing taking place at the Grotto. For a $25 fine, I’m thinking that most of the people who are fishing there aren’t going to think twice about whether it’s worth the risk or not, they could easily sell a couple fish to make up the cost of the fine and still have plenty left in their pocket.
So then the only logical place to find a solution to the problem would be the legislature. They have the ability to change the law. They could make it a felony instead of a misdemeanor, which would make it an immediately deportable offense if committed by a contract worker. That way you wouldn’t have to worry about repeat offenders. Or they could change the minimum penalty guidelines for violating that particular law. In most states, if you violate their hunting and fishing laws, you not only face a several thousand dollar fine, but you also forfeit all equipment in your possession at the time, which would include all fishing equipment, and would even include the vehicle you drove to get there. The state takes possession of those things and can then sell them at auction. If we don’t have the resources to properly prosecute our laws when they are broken, we can change the minimum sentencing and fine guidelines to make it extremely prohibitive and risky to violate the laws.
But if we don’t have the will or the stomach to impose serious minimum fines to deter these types of crimes, then why have the laws in the first place? That really has to be the question you ask yourself at this point. Because it’s not worth Fish & Wildlife’s time or effort to go to the Grotto and conduct a stake out, having to pay overtime if the offender is only going to get a $25 fine in the end anyway. So if we’re not going to raise the minimum penalty and really hit the offenders hard by imposing staggering fines and confiscating all their equipment, including vehicles, then what are we really accomplishing by setting these areas aside as sanctuaries? Are we just turning it into a private fishing club for those who don’t care about our laws? Because the law abiding citizens will actually pay attention to the signs and the laws and won’t fish there, but those who don’t care about our laws and who just want the biggest fish because they are in a sanctuary will be the only ones really benefitting from having these laws. Is that what we really want to accomplish? Rewarding those who don’t care about our laws and giving them the biggest fish because the rest of us honor the laws? Does that make sense on any planet?
I was diving at the Grotto last Saturday night, and there was an old 20 passenger mini bus there, it looked like one of the old ones that used to be used by the garment factories. The registration had expired a couple years ago and had never been renewed. I knew it meant that we had some illegal fishermen at the Grotto again. During the dive, I went outside of the Grotto and while I was out there I had a chunk of rebar tied to fishing line go floating past my mask, they were fishing right above me. After the dive we called Fish & Wildlife and reported the situation to them. They responded promptly and thanked us for the call and had someone come out to check out the situation. I understand they finally found the fisherman hiding behind the pavilion. He claimed he spoke no English, so they followed him home to get his information, but they did confiscate all of his fishing line and chunks of rebar he used for sinkers. Again, if we were serious about enforcing our laws, we would have given Fish & Wildlife the authority to seize his vehicle right then and there. But that’s not their fault – that would be the legislature’s fault.
As I see it, the legislature at this point really has two choices, unless they just want to keep making a mockery of the system and rewarding those who flagrantly abuse our laws. They can either do away with the sanctuary laws saying we can’t really afford to enforce or prosecute them anyway, and let everybody fish there instead of just the criminals, or they can raise the minimum fines to make a real impact when someone violates the laws. But if they think anything is being accomplished or that justice is being served the way things are set up and operating right now, they are fooling themselves. This is a system that is broken down and completely malfunctioning at every level, and yet we continue to pretend that it’s working and accomplishing something. I do believe that we have some lawmakers who want to do the right thing and enact laws that actually protect our natural resources and our people. Here is a chance for them to fix and improve a system that according to everyone in the loop, is simply not working. I can’t imagine why they would want to make it easy on those who disregard our laws and let them get away with plundering our natural resources, can you?
Food For Thought is now available online at http://www.fftsaipan.blogspot.com/ and if you want it by e-mail distribution please send me an e-mail at harryblalock@gmail.com
I’m Harry Blalock, thanking you once again for giving me a generous slice of your valuable time, and allowing me to share my Food For Thought.
Hi friends, this is Harry Blalock; General Manager for radio stations KZMI & KCNM. It’s that time once again to take a look at the issues of the week, and to offer some Food For Thought.
Today I want to talk about an issue that has been on my mind for some time now, that’s the illegal fishing that has been going on at the Grotto. I have been diving the Grotto for the past 12 years and have logged in close to 1,000 dives in the Grotto during that time. During the last year I have noticed a big increase in the amount of fishing line that is tangled in the coral outside of the Grotto and stretched across the openings to the Grotto. I typically spend a couple hours every weekend of my diving time untangling the fishing line and collecting it, trying to make the Grotto a pristine and attractive dive location for the hundreds of tourists who dive there every week. There are some dives that I have so much cut up rebar, spark plugs, and homemade molded weights in my pockets that it’s tough to keep my swimsuit on. The Grotto is supposed to be a sanctuary, which means that it’s illegal to fish there; however, it has been fished very heavily for the past year. Obviously with all the fishing going on, the fish aren’t being protected there at all, but my concern is more about all the fishing line they leave behind, and what it may mean to the tourists who come there to dive. Not only is it ugly to see the fishing line tangled in all the coral, but it is also a safety hazard when you have heavy duty monofilament line stretched across the openings that are used to come in and go out of the Grotto. If a tourist gets tangled in one of those lines and panics, it could easily lead to a drowning and a very bad situation.
A few months ago, Fish & Wildlife officers caught two Chinese contract workers illegally fishing at the Grotto. They were arrested and charged with violating a sanctuary. They spent a few days in jail while waiting to be processed and post their bail. Before the case went to trial, the Attorney General’s Office offered them a plea bargain, if they would plead guilty to the lesser of the charges; they would recommend only that they be given probation and a minimal fine. So when the case came before Judge Mona Manglona, she accepted the plea agreement and gave them 6 months in jail, all suspended except for the few days already served, and a $25 fine. I was outraged when I heard about it; I thought what a mockery of justice. Why bother even having these laws in the first place if that’s all we’re going to do to those who are caught? It was my understanding that the judge said something about it being a rarely committed offense when she handed down the light sentence. She obviously hasn’t been diving in the Grotto for the past year or she’d know better.
Then I had a discussion with a friend of mine, who happens to be a lawyer about the situation. He told me I shouldn’t be so hard on Judge Manglona, because if it was a plea agreement, she really could only go on the evidence and facts as provided by the Attorney General’s Office, and if they didn’t bring in expert testimony or present facts about the frequency of the problem or the magnitude of it, then the Judge wouldn’t have that information to base her decision on. He also told me that the Judge only has two options at that point, to either accept or reject the plea bargain as presented by the Attorney General’s Office. He said the bulk of the blame should be placed on the Attorney General’s Office for not recommending a stiffer penalty, and doing a better job of researching the facts in the case about the problem of illegal fishing in the Grotto.
A few days after that conversation, I happened to run into Matt Gregory, the Attorney General, so I had a discussion with him about it. He said he had just learned about the situation a couple days before, but planned on looking into it. He did say though that his office has to make decisions about where to allocate their time and funds though. Should they assign prosecutors to the more serious crimes like white collar crime, sex abuse cases and domestic violence, or should they make crimes like this one the priority and assign the personnel to them to be able to actually take them to trial and prosecute them? He said it is very expensive and time consuming to take a case to trial, and like every other agency, his agency is short on personnel and funds, so they have to make judgment calls about which cases to take to trial and which ones to offer plea bargains in. And sometimes in the big scheme of things, crimes like this one aren’t looked at as being serious enough to merit the time and expense required to properly prosecute it. And the defense attorneys know that the Attorney General’s Office doesn’t have the money or personnel to take cases like that to court, so they insist on ridiculously low plea bargains which let their clients off scott free basically. I had to admit, as much as I didn’t like it, I could understand where he was coming from and his logic. And yes, I’d hate to think that a child molester got a plea bargain instead of an illegal fisherman. But that wasn’t going to help the problem at hand, stopping the illegal fishing taking place at the Grotto. For a $25 fine, I’m thinking that most of the people who are fishing there aren’t going to think twice about whether it’s worth the risk or not, they could easily sell a couple fish to make up the cost of the fine and still have plenty left in their pocket.
So then the only logical place to find a solution to the problem would be the legislature. They have the ability to change the law. They could make it a felony instead of a misdemeanor, which would make it an immediately deportable offense if committed by a contract worker. That way you wouldn’t have to worry about repeat offenders. Or they could change the minimum penalty guidelines for violating that particular law. In most states, if you violate their hunting and fishing laws, you not only face a several thousand dollar fine, but you also forfeit all equipment in your possession at the time, which would include all fishing equipment, and would even include the vehicle you drove to get there. The state takes possession of those things and can then sell them at auction. If we don’t have the resources to properly prosecute our laws when they are broken, we can change the minimum sentencing and fine guidelines to make it extremely prohibitive and risky to violate the laws.
But if we don’t have the will or the stomach to impose serious minimum fines to deter these types of crimes, then why have the laws in the first place? That really has to be the question you ask yourself at this point. Because it’s not worth Fish & Wildlife’s time or effort to go to the Grotto and conduct a stake out, having to pay overtime if the offender is only going to get a $25 fine in the end anyway. So if we’re not going to raise the minimum penalty and really hit the offenders hard by imposing staggering fines and confiscating all their equipment, including vehicles, then what are we really accomplishing by setting these areas aside as sanctuaries? Are we just turning it into a private fishing club for those who don’t care about our laws? Because the law abiding citizens will actually pay attention to the signs and the laws and won’t fish there, but those who don’t care about our laws and who just want the biggest fish because they are in a sanctuary will be the only ones really benefitting from having these laws. Is that what we really want to accomplish? Rewarding those who don’t care about our laws and giving them the biggest fish because the rest of us honor the laws? Does that make sense on any planet?
I was diving at the Grotto last Saturday night, and there was an old 20 passenger mini bus there, it looked like one of the old ones that used to be used by the garment factories. The registration had expired a couple years ago and had never been renewed. I knew it meant that we had some illegal fishermen at the Grotto again. During the dive, I went outside of the Grotto and while I was out there I had a chunk of rebar tied to fishing line go floating past my mask, they were fishing right above me. After the dive we called Fish & Wildlife and reported the situation to them. They responded promptly and thanked us for the call and had someone come out to check out the situation. I understand they finally found the fisherman hiding behind the pavilion. He claimed he spoke no English, so they followed him home to get his information, but they did confiscate all of his fishing line and chunks of rebar he used for sinkers. Again, if we were serious about enforcing our laws, we would have given Fish & Wildlife the authority to seize his vehicle right then and there. But that’s not their fault – that would be the legislature’s fault.
As I see it, the legislature at this point really has two choices, unless they just want to keep making a mockery of the system and rewarding those who flagrantly abuse our laws. They can either do away with the sanctuary laws saying we can’t really afford to enforce or prosecute them anyway, and let everybody fish there instead of just the criminals, or they can raise the minimum fines to make a real impact when someone violates the laws. But if they think anything is being accomplished or that justice is being served the way things are set up and operating right now, they are fooling themselves. This is a system that is broken down and completely malfunctioning at every level, and yet we continue to pretend that it’s working and accomplishing something. I do believe that we have some lawmakers who want to do the right thing and enact laws that actually protect our natural resources and our people. Here is a chance for them to fix and improve a system that according to everyone in the loop, is simply not working. I can’t imagine why they would want to make it easy on those who disregard our laws and let them get away with plundering our natural resources, can you?
Food For Thought is now available online at http://www.fftsaipan.blogspot.com/ and if you want it by e-mail distribution please send me an e-mail at harryblalock@gmail.com
I’m Harry Blalock, thanking you once again for giving me a generous slice of your valuable time, and allowing me to share my Food For Thought.
Friday, May 9, 2008
Mandatory Driver's Training - Finally!
Food For Thought 5-9-08
Hi friends, this is Harry Blalock; General Manager for radio stations KZMI & KCNM. It’s that time once again to take a look at the issues of the week, and to offer some Food For Thought.
Progress tends to come very slowly in the islands, there are many contributing factors, but today I am happy to report on some progress that I’ve been fighting for for the last 10 years. When I first moved out here 12 years ago I was shocked to learn that there was no drivers education program and no laws requiring one. When our children turned 16 years old, you would just take them in to the Bureau of Motor Vehicles, have them take the written and road test, pay their fee and they would then walk away with a driver’s license that allowed them to drive on the roads by themselves. If the parent gave them some instruction and practice, that would be the extent of their formal drivers training and education. We didn’t mandate that they took a course teaching them the laws, or require that they spent so many hours driving with a parent or guardian before being allowed to drive by themselves. And we also didn’t require anyone coming here from another country to take a course teaching them about our laws, they just had to take a test, which they could easily buy the answers from and get their license. It was absolute insanity and was no wonder why we had the kind of drivers on our roads we did.
I’ve been talking about the need for a Driver’s Training school for the past 10 years. Everyone always said, yes, that’s a great idea, someone should do something about that, but for years nothing ever happened. About 4 years ago, Representative Heinz Hofschneider introduced a bill that would have made driver’s training mandatory for anyone turning 16 or for anyone coming in from another country. The governor at the time vetoed it because he knew I was behind the bill and had been pushing it, and because it was being introduced by Heinz Hofschneider, who the governor didn’t like at all either. So politics got in the way of moving forward with a good idea and a good bill, and that was the end of it for a while.
In the next legislature, Congressman Arnold Palacios agreed to sponsor the bill and introduce it once again. We had a different governor this time around, and he had promised to support the bill if it passed both houses and got to his desk. The senate decided to sit on the bill for quite a while, as they have a habit of doing, but they did eventually pass it, and the Governor, true to his word, signed it into law. The law gave the Department of Public Safety 6 months to implement rules & regulations for the new law, and set up standards which would govern Driver’s Training schools. It was evidently not a priority for the Commissioner of the Department of Public Safety at the time, and she just ignored the mandate in the law to promulgate rules and regulations within 6 months.
In the meantime, a local teacher, who had been a driving instructor back in the states, decided he would open a Driver’s Training school, since the law had mandated drivers education now. But the 6 months came and went, then it was over a year and still no rules or regulations from the Department of Public Safety. Obviously he wasn’t getting many students since the Bureau of Motor Vehicles wasn’t forcing people to take the mandatory drivers training class before getting their license. They weren’t forcing people to take the course because the Department of Public Safety still had not come out with any rules & regulations yet. So we finally had a law on the books mandating drivers training, and now we even had a school, but we still weren’t getting anywhere and very few students were actually being trained.
Recently the Governor appointed former congressman and former police officer Clyde Norita as the new Commissioner of the Department of Public Safety. Clyde came in for the morning talk show, Island Issues, just a day or two after being appointed. I asked him what he planned on doing about the drivers training law that had never been implemented. He assured me that he would be looking into it immediately and would be meeting with the gentleman who had started the Driver’s Training school to see if everything was ready. Clyde honored that promise and started digging into it immediately. The result is that we now have rules and regulations promulgated for the drivers training program, and it is set to take effect on June 2, 2008. From that point forward all first time drivers license applicants will have to take a certified drivers training course and log in a certain number of hours driving with a parent or guardian in the vehicle. Also anyone coming from any country other than the U.S. or Canada will also have to take the drivers training course. If someone applies for a license before June 2, 2008, they will not have to take the course, but if they are applying for their first CNMI driver’s license after that date, they will be required to take the course before getting their license.
So finally, after years and years of talking about the need for a driver’s training program, it is about to become a reality. I’m hoping that this will greatly improve the safety on our roads, and that it will cut down on some of the needless traffic related deaths we have witnessed in the last couple decades. I realize there are those who will not like this law and grumble because the government is forcing them to spend more money in order to get a driver’s license for their children. But if you talk to any parent who has lost a child in a traffic accident out here, I’m sure they would tell you it would be money well spent if it makes them better and more defensive drivers. Drivers who have gotten a certain number of driving citations will also be required to take this course in order to keep their license. So even though there are a lot of people who have slipped through the cracks and never had any drivers training or education, if the police department starts cracking down, they may be required to take the course after all.
I would like to thank and congratulate those who had a hand in making this a reality, Representative Heinz Hofschneider for drafting and sponsoring the bill in the first place, Representative Arnold Palacios for sponsoring it in the next legislature, Governor Fitial for signing the bill into law, and to DPS Commissioner Clyde Norita for taking control of the situation and promulgating rules and regulations so that it could finally be implemented. Yes, sometimes progress here can be painfully slow, but that doesn’t mean that you should give up and stop trying or that you should throw up your hands and quit after the first setback or obstacle.
For those wondering just what exactly this will mean and how it will work, DPS Commissioner Clyde Norita will be in my studio Tuesday morning at 7 am to talk about the law, the rules and regulations and about what you would have to do if you wanted to open another driver’s training school. This will also open up new business opportunities, job opportunities, and it will bring in additional revenues to the government through taxes and permit fees. So while there may be some students out there not happy about the prospect of having to take a driver’s training course now, I am thrilled that they will be equipped to be better and safer drivers now as a result. Of course we will still have accidents, but I’ve got to believe that it can only help to educate our students before letting them loose behind the wheel, and by having them log in so many hours driving under the watchful eye of a parent or guardian first.
Food For Thought is now available online at www.fftsaipan.blogspot.com and if you want it by e-mail distribution please send me an e-mail at harryblalock@gmail.com
I’m Harry Blalock, thanking you once again for giving me a generous slice of your valuable time, and allowing me to share my Food For Thought.
Hi friends, this is Harry Blalock; General Manager for radio stations KZMI & KCNM. It’s that time once again to take a look at the issues of the week, and to offer some Food For Thought.
Progress tends to come very slowly in the islands, there are many contributing factors, but today I am happy to report on some progress that I’ve been fighting for for the last 10 years. When I first moved out here 12 years ago I was shocked to learn that there was no drivers education program and no laws requiring one. When our children turned 16 years old, you would just take them in to the Bureau of Motor Vehicles, have them take the written and road test, pay their fee and they would then walk away with a driver’s license that allowed them to drive on the roads by themselves. If the parent gave them some instruction and practice, that would be the extent of their formal drivers training and education. We didn’t mandate that they took a course teaching them the laws, or require that they spent so many hours driving with a parent or guardian before being allowed to drive by themselves. And we also didn’t require anyone coming here from another country to take a course teaching them about our laws, they just had to take a test, which they could easily buy the answers from and get their license. It was absolute insanity and was no wonder why we had the kind of drivers on our roads we did.
I’ve been talking about the need for a Driver’s Training school for the past 10 years. Everyone always said, yes, that’s a great idea, someone should do something about that, but for years nothing ever happened. About 4 years ago, Representative Heinz Hofschneider introduced a bill that would have made driver’s training mandatory for anyone turning 16 or for anyone coming in from another country. The governor at the time vetoed it because he knew I was behind the bill and had been pushing it, and because it was being introduced by Heinz Hofschneider, who the governor didn’t like at all either. So politics got in the way of moving forward with a good idea and a good bill, and that was the end of it for a while.
In the next legislature, Congressman Arnold Palacios agreed to sponsor the bill and introduce it once again. We had a different governor this time around, and he had promised to support the bill if it passed both houses and got to his desk. The senate decided to sit on the bill for quite a while, as they have a habit of doing, but they did eventually pass it, and the Governor, true to his word, signed it into law. The law gave the Department of Public Safety 6 months to implement rules & regulations for the new law, and set up standards which would govern Driver’s Training schools. It was evidently not a priority for the Commissioner of the Department of Public Safety at the time, and she just ignored the mandate in the law to promulgate rules and regulations within 6 months.
In the meantime, a local teacher, who had been a driving instructor back in the states, decided he would open a Driver’s Training school, since the law had mandated drivers education now. But the 6 months came and went, then it was over a year and still no rules or regulations from the Department of Public Safety. Obviously he wasn’t getting many students since the Bureau of Motor Vehicles wasn’t forcing people to take the mandatory drivers training class before getting their license. They weren’t forcing people to take the course because the Department of Public Safety still had not come out with any rules & regulations yet. So we finally had a law on the books mandating drivers training, and now we even had a school, but we still weren’t getting anywhere and very few students were actually being trained.
Recently the Governor appointed former congressman and former police officer Clyde Norita as the new Commissioner of the Department of Public Safety. Clyde came in for the morning talk show, Island Issues, just a day or two after being appointed. I asked him what he planned on doing about the drivers training law that had never been implemented. He assured me that he would be looking into it immediately and would be meeting with the gentleman who had started the Driver’s Training school to see if everything was ready. Clyde honored that promise and started digging into it immediately. The result is that we now have rules and regulations promulgated for the drivers training program, and it is set to take effect on June 2, 2008. From that point forward all first time drivers license applicants will have to take a certified drivers training course and log in a certain number of hours driving with a parent or guardian in the vehicle. Also anyone coming from any country other than the U.S. or Canada will also have to take the drivers training course. If someone applies for a license before June 2, 2008, they will not have to take the course, but if they are applying for their first CNMI driver’s license after that date, they will be required to take the course before getting their license.
So finally, after years and years of talking about the need for a driver’s training program, it is about to become a reality. I’m hoping that this will greatly improve the safety on our roads, and that it will cut down on some of the needless traffic related deaths we have witnessed in the last couple decades. I realize there are those who will not like this law and grumble because the government is forcing them to spend more money in order to get a driver’s license for their children. But if you talk to any parent who has lost a child in a traffic accident out here, I’m sure they would tell you it would be money well spent if it makes them better and more defensive drivers. Drivers who have gotten a certain number of driving citations will also be required to take this course in order to keep their license. So even though there are a lot of people who have slipped through the cracks and never had any drivers training or education, if the police department starts cracking down, they may be required to take the course after all.
I would like to thank and congratulate those who had a hand in making this a reality, Representative Heinz Hofschneider for drafting and sponsoring the bill in the first place, Representative Arnold Palacios for sponsoring it in the next legislature, Governor Fitial for signing the bill into law, and to DPS Commissioner Clyde Norita for taking control of the situation and promulgating rules and regulations so that it could finally be implemented. Yes, sometimes progress here can be painfully slow, but that doesn’t mean that you should give up and stop trying or that you should throw up your hands and quit after the first setback or obstacle.
For those wondering just what exactly this will mean and how it will work, DPS Commissioner Clyde Norita will be in my studio Tuesday morning at 7 am to talk about the law, the rules and regulations and about what you would have to do if you wanted to open another driver’s training school. This will also open up new business opportunities, job opportunities, and it will bring in additional revenues to the government through taxes and permit fees. So while there may be some students out there not happy about the prospect of having to take a driver’s training course now, I am thrilled that they will be equipped to be better and safer drivers now as a result. Of course we will still have accidents, but I’ve got to believe that it can only help to educate our students before letting them loose behind the wheel, and by having them log in so many hours driving under the watchful eye of a parent or guardian first.
Food For Thought is now available online at www.fftsaipan.blogspot.com and if you want it by e-mail distribution please send me an e-mail at harryblalock@gmail.com
I’m Harry Blalock, thanking you once again for giving me a generous slice of your valuable time, and allowing me to share my Food For Thought.
Friday, May 2, 2008
The State of the Commonwealth
Food For Thought 5-2-08
Hi friends, this is Harry Blalock; General Manager for radio stations KZMI & KCNM. It’s that time once again to take a look at the issues of the week, and to offer some Food For Thought.
I guess I’ll start this week with a few of my thoughts from the Governor’s State of the Commonwealth speech and the address by the Washington Representative. Yes, I did go and sit through both of the addresses. I was actually there at 8:30 because I thought it started at 9 am for some reason, but when there were only 3 of us in the audience at 9 am, one of us got the bright idea to go and find out what was up (I wasn’t the bright one, just in case you were wondering). That’s when we found out it didn’t start until 10, but by that point, we had frostbite in most of our limbs because of the ridiculously cold air conditioning, so we just sat tight and waited.
There were no surprises in the Governor’s address; he was touting the fact that the Kumho investment at Lau Lau, the increased flights from Asiana and Northwest, and the new casino developments on Tinian were all signs that there is hope. He did not indicate that he thought things would be improving anytime soon, and indicated that more cuts needed to be made in the government so that we can live within our means. He did announce that the CNMI government has reached an agreement with the U.S. government over the release of $16.1 million dollars for the federal stimulus program. He said we should be receiving that money within the next couple of weeks and the government would then start the distribution of it toward the end of the month. It is $600 per person, or $1,200 for a couple and an additional $300 per child living at home. It’s certainly not the answer to all of our problems, but it may pay for one month’s CUC bill, or 2 months of your gasoline bill. I know that I’m personally happy to hear about it, and think I can probably find a good use for at least a little bit of my $600 allotment.
The Governor also talked a bit about the impending federalization of our immigration system, and the fact that he isn’t hopeful that we will be able to avoid the next .50 cent per hour minimum wage increase set to take effect later this month. While talking about the federalization of our immigration system, he went out of his way to say that many of the congressmen and congressional staffers they had talked to in Washington had never heard of the CNMI or our situation. He said that we have not been effectively represented in Washington DC, and hoped that situation would be changing in the future. It has been no secret that the Governor and Pete A. Tenorio, the Washington Representative have been polar opposites on most of the issues revolving around the federalization of our minimum wage and immigration, and the Governor was using this opportunity to bash the Washington Rep. for it.
The Governor did show a slide that indicated the progress of the repair work on the CUC engines. He said that within 6 months we would be at 90% of our operating capacity at CUC, our megawatt capacity would go from roughly 28 to over 80 megawatts. He didn’t say whether our generators would be improved from operating at 40% efficiency to over 90% where they should be operating though. If that were to happen, we would be using half as much fuel and lube oil, and obviously we could lower prices accordingly. Because he didn’t mention it, I’m guessing that the efficiency of the engines isn’t being worked on, we’re just simply getting them up and running, but it’s probably still at about 40%.
The Governor did come out and criticize the legislature rather harshly for their bill lowering the rate that CUC can charge to residential customers, and I’m not saying they didn’t deserve it. He said that the utility is experiencing a huge cash shortage as a result, and that the government can no longer afford to subsidize the utility. It was rather obvious that the Governor was more than a little frustrated with the actions of the legislature, and didn’t mind pointing fingers and laying the blame where he believed it belonged. You could see legislators rolling their eyes and looking at each other, which makes me question whether anybody will really be trying to work together or cooperate to address our problems, or whether they’ll just be too busy pointing fingers and playing political games.
For his part of the address, Pete A. Tenorio told how he had testified in favor of the minimum wage increase up to $4.05 an hour and how he was supporting the federalization of our immigration system. He said he wasn’t happy about the fact that they put the non-voting delegate in congress in the same bill as the immigration federalization, but that he felt as long as they were federalizing our immigration, it was vitally important that we have representation in Congress. He also seemed intent on convincing the audience that he has indeed been busy in Washington working with the powers that be on the federalization bill, getting concessions for us. He started off definitely on the defensive from the lambasting he took from the Governor, but he didn’t seem to deviate from his speech much to respond to any of the accusations or to make any accusations of his own.
The reaction of the crowd was the thing that I think was the biggest difference this year. A couple times you could hear one person start to clap in the middle of the speech, but then when they realized no one else was going to join them, they quickly stopped. There was no applause or encouragement whatsoever during the body of either of the speeches, and the response afterward could only be described as lukewarm at best. Even though at least half of the crowd seemed to be various cabinet secretaries, department heads and government employees, none of them seemed to be leading the cheering section or to be that enthusiastic in their applause. To me, the reaction of the crowd seemed to speak volumes and was probably more of an indicator of the state of the Commonwealth than the speech itself.
I think one of the biggest challenges we currently face is that our people are losing hope. They are losing hope that our leaders are capable of doing anything about the myriad of problems we are currently facing. They are losing hope that anyone has a plan that will actually make any difference. They are losing hope that our leaders will finally put politics behind them and just all roll up their sleeves together to get serious about planning where we want to head as a Commonwealth, and then implementing that plan without all looking for their own reward or kickback. They are losing hope that anyone we elect as Governor will truly be any different from all the rest. They are losing hope that they will be able to provide an adequate standard of living for their families if they continue living in the islands.
I have talked to numerous people recently, who are either in the process of moving away or are taking a very hard look at whether the time has come for them to leave as well. None of the ones I’ve talked to have only been here a year or two, most of them have been here for at least a decade, and some of them have lived here their entire lives. None of the people I’ve talked to want to leave, this has become their home and they had planned on staying here for a very long time. But if your quality of life erodes to the point where you’re having to make major sacrifices just to stay, you have to ask yourself whether it is really worth it or not.
Some of the problems that we are currently facing are global and not specific to just us. We can’t do anything about the cost of gasoline, and the point may be coming very quickly where it simply is no longer economically viable to drive our cars to work. That will mean that a public transportation system will be a necessity for many people’s survival. However, we don’t have a public transportation system, and to my knowledge no one is looking into the feasibility of creating one.
With the price of oil, renewable energy has become more important than ever to our long term survival and to the ability of businesses to remain profitable. But what are we doing about it? Sure we passed a law mandating that we have to have a certain percentage of renewable energy each year, but we really aren’t doing anything about making that happen. Our government has said that it’s not in the business of research and development and our utility can’t even afford to pay for fuel, not to mention invest in alternative energy. So where does that leave us? Can we really expect a business to want to just come in and invest tens of millions of dollars into renewable energy plants and have to hope for the best when dealing with our government? Our track record would scare away even the most adventurous and risk taking companies.
Is it any reason that more and more people are losing hope and are moving away? When will enough finally be enough for you? What will your breaking point be? When will your quality of life have slipped to an intolerable level that you’re no longer willing to put up with? Are you willing to live in a cave with no power or running water, and to eat fish and drink coconut milk every day? I was really hoping that there might be a splinter of hope in the Governor’s State of the Commonwealth address for people who need something to help them hang on for just a little longer, but if it was there, I totally missed it. There is plenty of blame to go around, but sadly no solutions anywhere in sight.
Food For Thought is now available online at www.fftsaipan.blogspot.com and if you want it by e-mail distribution please send me an e-mail at harryblalock@gmail.com
I’m Harry Blalock, thanking you once again for giving me a generous slice of your valuable time, and allowing me to share my Food For Thought.
Hi friends, this is Harry Blalock; General Manager for radio stations KZMI & KCNM. It’s that time once again to take a look at the issues of the week, and to offer some Food For Thought.
I guess I’ll start this week with a few of my thoughts from the Governor’s State of the Commonwealth speech and the address by the Washington Representative. Yes, I did go and sit through both of the addresses. I was actually there at 8:30 because I thought it started at 9 am for some reason, but when there were only 3 of us in the audience at 9 am, one of us got the bright idea to go and find out what was up (I wasn’t the bright one, just in case you were wondering). That’s when we found out it didn’t start until 10, but by that point, we had frostbite in most of our limbs because of the ridiculously cold air conditioning, so we just sat tight and waited.
There were no surprises in the Governor’s address; he was touting the fact that the Kumho investment at Lau Lau, the increased flights from Asiana and Northwest, and the new casino developments on Tinian were all signs that there is hope. He did not indicate that he thought things would be improving anytime soon, and indicated that more cuts needed to be made in the government so that we can live within our means. He did announce that the CNMI government has reached an agreement with the U.S. government over the release of $16.1 million dollars for the federal stimulus program. He said we should be receiving that money within the next couple of weeks and the government would then start the distribution of it toward the end of the month. It is $600 per person, or $1,200 for a couple and an additional $300 per child living at home. It’s certainly not the answer to all of our problems, but it may pay for one month’s CUC bill, or 2 months of your gasoline bill. I know that I’m personally happy to hear about it, and think I can probably find a good use for at least a little bit of my $600 allotment.
The Governor also talked a bit about the impending federalization of our immigration system, and the fact that he isn’t hopeful that we will be able to avoid the next .50 cent per hour minimum wage increase set to take effect later this month. While talking about the federalization of our immigration system, he went out of his way to say that many of the congressmen and congressional staffers they had talked to in Washington had never heard of the CNMI or our situation. He said that we have not been effectively represented in Washington DC, and hoped that situation would be changing in the future. It has been no secret that the Governor and Pete A. Tenorio, the Washington Representative have been polar opposites on most of the issues revolving around the federalization of our minimum wage and immigration, and the Governor was using this opportunity to bash the Washington Rep. for it.
The Governor did show a slide that indicated the progress of the repair work on the CUC engines. He said that within 6 months we would be at 90% of our operating capacity at CUC, our megawatt capacity would go from roughly 28 to over 80 megawatts. He didn’t say whether our generators would be improved from operating at 40% efficiency to over 90% where they should be operating though. If that were to happen, we would be using half as much fuel and lube oil, and obviously we could lower prices accordingly. Because he didn’t mention it, I’m guessing that the efficiency of the engines isn’t being worked on, we’re just simply getting them up and running, but it’s probably still at about 40%.
The Governor did come out and criticize the legislature rather harshly for their bill lowering the rate that CUC can charge to residential customers, and I’m not saying they didn’t deserve it. He said that the utility is experiencing a huge cash shortage as a result, and that the government can no longer afford to subsidize the utility. It was rather obvious that the Governor was more than a little frustrated with the actions of the legislature, and didn’t mind pointing fingers and laying the blame where he believed it belonged. You could see legislators rolling their eyes and looking at each other, which makes me question whether anybody will really be trying to work together or cooperate to address our problems, or whether they’ll just be too busy pointing fingers and playing political games.
For his part of the address, Pete A. Tenorio told how he had testified in favor of the minimum wage increase up to $4.05 an hour and how he was supporting the federalization of our immigration system. He said he wasn’t happy about the fact that they put the non-voting delegate in congress in the same bill as the immigration federalization, but that he felt as long as they were federalizing our immigration, it was vitally important that we have representation in Congress. He also seemed intent on convincing the audience that he has indeed been busy in Washington working with the powers that be on the federalization bill, getting concessions for us. He started off definitely on the defensive from the lambasting he took from the Governor, but he didn’t seem to deviate from his speech much to respond to any of the accusations or to make any accusations of his own.
The reaction of the crowd was the thing that I think was the biggest difference this year. A couple times you could hear one person start to clap in the middle of the speech, but then when they realized no one else was going to join them, they quickly stopped. There was no applause or encouragement whatsoever during the body of either of the speeches, and the response afterward could only be described as lukewarm at best. Even though at least half of the crowd seemed to be various cabinet secretaries, department heads and government employees, none of them seemed to be leading the cheering section or to be that enthusiastic in their applause. To me, the reaction of the crowd seemed to speak volumes and was probably more of an indicator of the state of the Commonwealth than the speech itself.
I think one of the biggest challenges we currently face is that our people are losing hope. They are losing hope that our leaders are capable of doing anything about the myriad of problems we are currently facing. They are losing hope that anyone has a plan that will actually make any difference. They are losing hope that our leaders will finally put politics behind them and just all roll up their sleeves together to get serious about planning where we want to head as a Commonwealth, and then implementing that plan without all looking for their own reward or kickback. They are losing hope that anyone we elect as Governor will truly be any different from all the rest. They are losing hope that they will be able to provide an adequate standard of living for their families if they continue living in the islands.
I have talked to numerous people recently, who are either in the process of moving away or are taking a very hard look at whether the time has come for them to leave as well. None of the ones I’ve talked to have only been here a year or two, most of them have been here for at least a decade, and some of them have lived here their entire lives. None of the people I’ve talked to want to leave, this has become their home and they had planned on staying here for a very long time. But if your quality of life erodes to the point where you’re having to make major sacrifices just to stay, you have to ask yourself whether it is really worth it or not.
Some of the problems that we are currently facing are global and not specific to just us. We can’t do anything about the cost of gasoline, and the point may be coming very quickly where it simply is no longer economically viable to drive our cars to work. That will mean that a public transportation system will be a necessity for many people’s survival. However, we don’t have a public transportation system, and to my knowledge no one is looking into the feasibility of creating one.
With the price of oil, renewable energy has become more important than ever to our long term survival and to the ability of businesses to remain profitable. But what are we doing about it? Sure we passed a law mandating that we have to have a certain percentage of renewable energy each year, but we really aren’t doing anything about making that happen. Our government has said that it’s not in the business of research and development and our utility can’t even afford to pay for fuel, not to mention invest in alternative energy. So where does that leave us? Can we really expect a business to want to just come in and invest tens of millions of dollars into renewable energy plants and have to hope for the best when dealing with our government? Our track record would scare away even the most adventurous and risk taking companies.
Is it any reason that more and more people are losing hope and are moving away? When will enough finally be enough for you? What will your breaking point be? When will your quality of life have slipped to an intolerable level that you’re no longer willing to put up with? Are you willing to live in a cave with no power or running water, and to eat fish and drink coconut milk every day? I was really hoping that there might be a splinter of hope in the Governor’s State of the Commonwealth address for people who need something to help them hang on for just a little longer, but if it was there, I totally missed it. There is plenty of blame to go around, but sadly no solutions anywhere in sight.
Food For Thought is now available online at www.fftsaipan.blogspot.com and if you want it by e-mail distribution please send me an e-mail at harryblalock@gmail.com
I’m Harry Blalock, thanking you once again for giving me a generous slice of your valuable time, and allowing me to share my Food For Thought.
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