ED, BRING YOURSELF TO NMC YOU SOUND SO DESPERATE LATELY AND FYI! TAOTAO TANO RECOMMENDS THAT YOU READ THE E-MAIL YOU RECEIVED ATLEAST 10 TIMES. YOU MISSED SO MUCH.
Thursday February 7, 2008
Letters to the Editor
Friday, February 08, 2008
Stop the lies
I recently received an e-mail from Taotao Tano's Action Group, one which was as disturbing as it was contradictory. The e-mail states that HR 3079 “intends to deport ALL labor contract workers currently residing in the CNMI with no exceptions. This in itself is discriminatory. Our group here in the U.S. is working together with other advocacies that are opposing the bill. These groups will attack the bill specifically because it threatens the rights of immigrants’ rights.”
In the very next paragraph, Taotao Tano states “In the long term, the locals will eventually lose their voting powers and therefore the indigenous majority that control the government will lose it to the hands of non-indigenous U.S citizens.”
Hmmm, let me get this straight. According to Taotao Tano, we will have no contract workers in the CNMI, yet locals will lose their voting powers to non-U.S. indigenous citizens. Does this mean that the CNMI will be invaded and dominated by a foreign country in the near future? After all, Taotao Tano stated HR 3079 will “get rid of ALL labor contract workers.” If the CNMI no longer has any contract workers, how exactly will locals suddenly “lose their voting powers” and become a minority?
Sadly, the letter gets even more twisted. Taotao Tano goes on to say that once HR 3079 is signed into law, “We will eventually be forced to pay property tax.” The U.S. Federal Government is going to force us to pay property taxes? Taotao Tano, pot fabot, show me where HR 3079 affirms that we will eventually be forced to pay property taxes. This is either a boldfaced lie or a desperate attempt to build opposition to HR 3079, or a combination of both. The way I see it, if you are going to spread lies about HR 3079, why stop there? I say, go for the gold! Here are some other fabrications I would like to offer to Taotao Tano to use at their discretion:
- HR 3079 will cause cancer. Yes my friends, if HR 3079 is signed into law, the U.S. will put fluoridated water in our water supply! Forget the fact fluoride is considered to be one of the greatest inventions of the 20th century. Our Taotao Tano team of scientists have recently concluded that fluoride kills! Biba tooth decay!
- HR 3079 will take your land! Yes chelu, HR 3079 won't stop at enforcing local property taxes. The U.S. feds are bent on taking the very land you own and turning it into cotton farms! Our Taotao Tano covert ops that are entrenched deep in the CIA's headquarters have found conclusive evidence that the U.S. wants all locals to work on cotton farms. What is worse is that they will pay only $3.55 an hour! Biba cheap land and cheap property value!
- HR 3079 will destroy our economy! Yes kumaire, if our immigration and wages are federalized, our economy will collapse! Just look at our neighbor island of Guam! Their immigration is federalized, and Guam has no tourist or military industry and they can't find any investors! Guam is dirt poor compared to the CNMI! Just look at how underdeveloped Guam's Tumon Bay is. I'm sure Guam wishes they had our jewel of the Pacific, the enchanting Paseo de Marianas! Biba $3.55 an hour for the next 20 years!
Believe it or not, Taotao Tano's e-mail gets even more unsettling. Their e-mail had a bunch of attachment letters addressed to different U.S. senators opposing HR 3079. What made me cringe was that the letter was ripped off from a Guam indigenous rights group! It was originally written and addressed to “Friends of Guam's rights to water.” What Taotao Tano did was they took the letter and made a bunch of changes and dressed it up as their own. Sadly though, they forgot to do one very important function in Microsoft Word: accept changes. All the changes Taotao Tano made to this Guam-based letter appear on the right side of the letter because they were tracking changes in MS Word and failed to simply accept these changes. How embarrassing. Taotao Tano, Northern Marianas College offers community courses in MS Word. You might want to call them and enroll in one of their classes. I am sure U.S. Sen. Biden's staff had a good laugh. I didn't though. I actually felt sad-sad that some people are distorting facts and using guerrilla tactics to thwart the inevitable. With all the “thousands” of people in Taotao Tano, why couldn't they muster a decent proofreader who would have at least made sure that they accepted the changes in MS Word before sending the letters out? Here's the MS Word Tip of the Week: Click on F1 for Microsoft Help whenever you are in doubt. If you don't know what F1 is, you should probably take a computer class as soon as possible.
With all of the problems facing us today, I honestly believe the CNMI's greatest problem is not CUC, CHC, or HR 3079. Our greatest problem right now is ignorance. When I say ignorance, I am not referring those who lack a college degree or education. I have uncles and aunties here who didn't receive a college degree but have great wisdom. I speak of ignorance as being unaware of what is really going on, or a lack of knowledge on important issues affecting us today. Here are some issues where I feel ignorance affects better judgment here in the CNMI:
- Minimum wage. It is pure ignorance on the part of people who believe raising our minimum wage will destroy our economy, yet shut their pie holes when CUC's rates were doubled within the blink of an eye. Any owner who can't run a business because of a gradual (yes, it is gradual) increase of the minimum wage should not be in business in the first place. A higher minimum wage means less dependence on our sacred government for jobs and more money being circulated in our cash-deprived local economy. A person making $7 an hour will more likely spend more than a person who is making only $3.55 an hour. I still scratch my head and wonder how a person can support a family making $3.55 an hour. To all the business owners and government leaders wanting to keep the minimum wage, ask yourself this question: Could you support your family making $3.55 an hour? I don't think so. You cannot stimulate an economy on meager slave labor wages. If our government raises the minimum wage, reduces the number of government jobs, and creates a leaner, more efficient government, our economy will certainly rebound.
- CUC. It is ignorance that reigns supreme when people believe cutting CUC employees' salaries will put a dent in the CUC crisis. I beg this administration and all our leaders to spare CUC's employees. If you want to cut costs, eliminate CUC's special consultants who obviously haven't done much for our power problems. Why would you penalize a frontline person at CUC who makes a small salary and has to put up with verbal abuse from irate customers on a daily basis? Are our CUC linesmen and cashiers to blame for CUC's problems? What would happen if every employee at CUC decided to go on strike? Let's avert this from happening and make sure that no regular employee of CUC gets a salary cut. CUC's frontline employees are no more to blame for our utility crisis than we are. They are just regular employees doing their jobs, working day in and day out so they can pay their bills and put food on the table for their kids. Cutting a person's salary by 20 percent when some of them are making only $11,000 a year does nothing but hurt families.
- Federalization. It is ignorance on the part of those who spew radical, anti-U.S. rhetoric and blame everything on America. Ignorant leaders will curse the United States and accuse Uncle Sam of trying to turn our beloved CNMI into a banana republic, yet gladly accept hundreds of millions of dollars in U.S. aid in building our great Commonwealth. I was flabbergasted when I overheard a person say that things were better under the Japanese administration. Excuse me? Was there a Chamorro or Carolinian Governor in charge during the Japanese occupation? Were the indigenous people in charge of the government during the Japanese occupation, or were they mostly farmhands and hard laborers? About a year ago, my grandfather, the late Henry Sablan Pangelinan, spoke to me extensively about some of the atrocities committed by the Japanese. He witnessed this firsthand on numerous occasions on Saipan and Guam. He was thankful that the United States liberated the CNMI. He was a wise man, one whom I respected and loved dearly, and he was also an American patriot. While I believe we should embrace and hold on to the important aspects of our indigenous cultures, we cannot forget that we are more than U.S. passport holders-we are Americans! We talk about the importance of respect all the time, but are we paying any homage to the United States? Do we honestly believe the United States would want to decimate our economy? Would it really be in the best interests of the United States to have everyone in the CNMI on welfare? Only fools and conspiracy theorists would believe such anti-American propaganda. One argument that HR 3079 opponents have trouble explaining is why other U.S. territories have a stronger, more robust economy than the CNMI does, in spite of their federal immigration and wages. Why does Guam continue to attract more tourists and investors than the CNMI? Perhaps federalization of immigration isn't so bad after all. Perhaps federalization will bring a sense of stability, which in turn will attract more investors, who will work on bringing in more tourists-a possible domino effect of great things to come!
- CHC and Health. Sadly, ignorance can also cause health problems. When people with health problems continue to eat the sweetest or saltiest, fattiest foods, smoke two packs a day, drink a six-pack of beer after work, and fail to get any exercise other than the brisk run they take into a convenient mart to buy more cigarettes while leaving the car running, they are putting a strain not only on their bodies, but also on CHC and our medical referral program. While we can't avoid all diseases, such as some forms of cancer and certain hereditary diseases, we can certainly work at making better decisions regarding our health. If we all listen to our good doctors and health professionals and eat healthy more often, quit smoking, stop drinking excessively, and exercise a few days a week, we can easily reduce the number of visits to CHC. To gain more funding for CHC, why don't we impose a higher cigarette tax? Wait, scratch that. Too many of our government leaders smoke, and we wouldn't want to hurt their pocketbook. How about a higher alcohol tax? Scratch that. That would make it hard to hold huge campaign rallies. So I guess the only thing we can really do is to take action and work toward achieving optimal health. By the way, I want to thank the hard-working doctors, nurses, and staff at CHC. They are grossly under-staffed, not under-qualified. One thing we must all remember is that our doctors at CHC are not miracle workers and they do the very best they can, given the circumstances. Thank you CHC for taking care of my daughter when she had a febrile seizure and for calming me when I thought she was dying. Thank you for treating my nephew when he had a collapsed lung and for nursing him back to good health. Thank you for working double shifts and long hours, yet still managing to be comforting and kind, even managing to smile. To our ER doctors and Dr. Braig and the rest of the CHC family, Dangkulu na si yu'us ma'ase, yan Olomwaay!
I want Taotao Tatao to know that I have no ill feelings toward them, but I do disagree with many of the hurtful things they have been saying. Furthermore, I have no axe to grind with Greg Cruz, as I called him on Christmas Day to wish him and his family a Merry Christmas. I also asked him if we could have lunch or get together to discuss our differences. The invitation remains open.
I sincerely hope that we all take some time to educate ourselves on the current problems affecting the CNMI. Perhaps then will we start to see some light at the end of this long, dark tunnel. We have beautiful islands, kind and loving people, and an economy that can prosper if the right decisions are made and government laws and regulations are actually enforced. We have some great leaders in office right now, and I expect great change to take place in the near future. But change begins with each and every one of us. We can hold on to the status quo, or we can stand tall and speak out against corruption and poor decision-making that has so often benefited the elite few instead of the overall majority. I can never be Taotao Tano, because unfortunately my blood is not from this land I have called home for 33 years. But my heart and soul belong to this land and to its people, and that is far more important than any actual bloodline. While only a select group of people may become Taotao Tano, every one of us living in the CNMI is entitled to become a part of Taotao Marianas. Biba Taotao Marianas!
May God bless the CNMI.
Ed Propst
Familian Haolepino
Garapan, Saipan
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