08-24-07

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 was going to start off this commentary saying that a sure mark of an election season is the ridiculous, pandering legislation that seems to abound. But then as I thought about it for a minute, I realized it's not just this time of year, but we have been seeing it by the truckload all year long for the last decade at least. Somehow it does seem to get worse right before an election though. Some of our questionably "honorable" lawmakers all the sudden realize that people may want to know what they've done with themselves for the last 2 years, so they hurry to introduce some legislation that will pander to the local voters. I have come to expect such things as just the way the legislature works here, but what really ticks me off is when they go attaching huge sums of money to the legislation that you know is entirely for the purpose of lining their friends and cronies pockets.

One such piece of legislation has recently been introduced in the lower House. I assume that he's doing this as a reaction to the recent minimum wage increase legislation and the threat of a federal takeover of our Immigration system. Congressman Stanley Torres recently introduced House Bill 15-291, whose purpose is to create the Second Marianas Political Status Commission. He wants to give this Commission $200,000 in advance funding for the administrative, operations and activities of the Commission, and he wants to authorize the appropriation of additional funds sufficient to carry out the work of the Commission.

In Section 3 of this bill, entitled Purpose, it states that the purpose of this Act is to create a commission, representative of the Northern Marianas Descent people of the Northern Mariana Islands, which has broad authority to examine the provisions of the Covenant, the actions of the United States in interpreting and implementing the Covenant, the right of the Northern Marianas submerged lands and the right to secession, to examine alternative political and economic status options for the Northern Mariana Islands, and to make one or more recommendations to the people of the Northern Mariana Islands, for adoption in a plebiscite, regarding a desirable future political status.

Did you get all that? Let me break it down into easier to understand language. First of all, Congressman Torres is showing his racist and discriminatory roots by wanting this Commission to be formed entirely and exclusively by people of Northern Marianas Descent, in other words Chamorro or Carolinian only. I have noticed some new initials becoming more and more visible; they are NMD, which stands for Northern Marianas Descent. I think we could also use CCO, and it would be just as accurate, that stands for Chamorro & Carolinian Only. In other words, they don't think that any of us who have made this our home, poured our blood, sweat and tears into this place, but don't happen to be Chamorro or Carolinian should have any say in what happens to it. It's bad enough that we already can't own land here, but now a group of select politicians wants to take it to the next step as well, and further alienate those of us they consider outsiders. And actually, I guess I really don't have a problem with them doing that, as long as they give back their blue passports first, give back all the federal aid that is being poured into this place, and give back all the houses and property they have bought in the United States. If you really want to be racist and exclusionist, then carry it to it's ultimate conclusion, don't just give it a halfhearted effort. If you truly no longer want to be an American, then put your money where your mouth is, and you can start with all the things I just suggested.

He wants this Commission to determine whether the United States has properly interpreted and implemented the Covenant. He wants the right to submerged lands around the islands. He wants the right to secede from the United States, and to look into alternative political and economic options for the Northern Mariana Islands. In a nutshell, he wants to take $200,000 initially to look at declaring independence from the United States. If that's not what he's trying to accomplish with this legislation, then he's simply looking to give $200,000 to his Chamorro and Carolinian buddies who would happen to sit on this Commission.

I find the whole idea of this absolutely appalling. It tells me that I'm considered a non-person in the place I have chosen to make my home. It tells me that my opinions and vote really don't matter to them, and they want to go so far as not even giving me a vote on the issue. It tells me that there are still those here who consider themselves elitists because their grandparents were born here. Let's not go back too far though, or we may discover that some of our ancestors actually came from Germany, the Philippines, Spain or any number of other places. How many of them actually have a pure Chamorro or Carolinian bloodline? How far back do you have to go to discover that their ancestors were something other than Chamorro or Carolinian? Doesn't being an American mean you are part of a big melting pot of people who come from all over. By definition, the people of the islands would be excellent candidates to be Americans because they've been mixed so often in the past. But they have chosen to disregard this, and some of them are now trying to proclaim themselves to be something other than what they truly are. When you're an American, you're supposed to be on an even playing field with anyone else that has American citizenship, all the same rights and privileges. But I think some of our politicians have never had to have a Civics class to learn what being an American citizen is really all about.

This whole thing reminds me of the 4-year old who is continually told not to hit the family dog with a stick. After repeatedly hitting the dog with the stick, just because he can, he is then told he is no longer allowed to touch the dog, and has to stay away from him. In a fit of self-righteous indignation, the 4-year old tells his parents that he will then run away from home and he'll do whatever he wants, they can't tell him what to do. He tells them he didn't ever ask to live in their family anyway and he goes to gather his few toys he wants to take with him. He doesn't think about needing clothes, after all, he has some on. He doesn't think about what he will eat or drink, or where he will stay. He is just blinded by the anger of the moment and ignores all the truly important issues that will soon come into play. If he is successful in actually getting out of the house, he may wander a block or two away, before he gets hungry or thirsty and realizes he didn't bring anything with him. Then all the sudden he realizes he forgot his blanket, and he won't be able to sleep very well without it. He doesn't have anyone else to play with, and nobody to talk to or take care of him. The mouthy 4-year old then will wander back to his house, usually trying to sneak in the back door so no one sees him, and will try to go back to his routine just forgetting about his earlier outburst.

Maybe the U.S. should just go ahead and grant them their wish right now, forget about waiting for them to have their little political status commission. I think if the United States cut off all funding to the Northern Marianas Islands immediately, it would give them a good taste of just what they're contemplating. Take away all those blue passports and let's watch them go globetrotting then. Frankly, it's what they deserve for even suggesting such a thing, but the U.S. is more patient than that. And like the understanding parent, they will probably sit back with a smirk on their face watching the defiant toddler standing up declaring his independence, and just wait for him to realize he doesn't have what it takes to survive on his own at this point.

I thought you might want to know which politicians are actually in favor of such a thing, wanting to squander your precious money when you're having to cut back and suffer. As I mentioned earlier, the bill was written and introduced by Stanley Torres. Also signing onto the bill already are Representatives Arnold Palacios, Martin Ada, Ramon Tebuteb, Candido Taman, Jacinta Kaipat, Francisco Dela Cruz, Benjamin Seman and Speaker Oscar Babauta. In other words if they convince one more congressman to go along with them, they have enough votes to pass it already.

If you are not Chamorro or Carolinian but considers this place home, this bunch doesn't think you deserve a seat at the table to talk over our collective future. They either don't think you have a right to voice your opinion on the matter, or they just simply don't want you to have the opportunity to serve on the Commission just in case you have a different point of view. This group also is not thrilled with their status as Americans, and wants to start looking at severing those ties. If that's not the case, then why spend $200,000 to look into it? Do we have money just to burn right now? I certainly don't see it if we do.

If they are just introducing this legislation to try pandering to the "local" vote, I find that equally disgusting and will never support or vote for any of them for any reason again. This is the kind of thing our current crop of legislators comes up with while they're working on your dime. Do you think it is money well spent? Or do you think that maybe some of them have outlived their usefulness, and it's time to retire them permanently? That's a decision that you need to make and you'll have your chance to reward them accordingly on November 3rd.

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.

For more thoughts, pictures and observations, feel free to visit my personal blog at www.saipandiver.blogspot.com