Wednesday, August 29, 2007

Fitial wants effective date of federalization changed to 2 years after enactment

GOVERNOR Benigno R. Fitial is asking the U.S. Congress to defer for two years the effective date of the pending federalization bills. He wants the nonimmigrant status proposal for long-term guest workers to cover only those who have been legally employed here for at least 15 years instead of just five as proposed in the bills.

TEACHER Jeffrey C. Turbitt is asking most any Porsche dealership on Planet Earth to hand over a Porsche 911 free of payments and financial obligations. He wants ideally a cherry red model and prefers not to be insulted with the non-convertible model. Turbitt insists he is too young for a midlife crisis, and notes he is happily married and won't be using the car for its usefulness in attracting women. He also promised not to loan the vehicle to Brad Ruszala, as the island is already overpopulated. Turbitt, like Fitial, has found his request to have fallen on deaf ears, as no one seems to care about either's wishes, and both are also not in a position to demand anything.

5 comments:

SteeleOnSaipan said...

Hilarious Jeff. Shooting for a Lambo would have been on more of a parallel.

Bruce A. Bateman said...

I find myself in agreement with our Governor on this one: except I'm thinking a delay of say 50 years by which time the CNMI might be as powerful as the USA in the Western Pacific region. (Which is to say, not very in either case).

I'd rather have a Lamborghini if these wishes are turning into horses.

Jeff said...

A lamborghini is too over the top. Even if I were Bill Gates, I'd go for the porsche over that.

Left to their own devices, in 50 years the CNMI would have been up to $4.00 bucks, Bruce, so that's probably fair, right. You should have been born in the nineteenth century. You'd have loved the Robber Barrons, at least if you were on the right side of that one.

Anonymous said...

Didn't the Feds ask for Local input? No way on earth could the "five fingered bureaucracy" (State, Homeland Security, Labor, Justice, and, uhh . . . Interior) be ready with all their regulations adopted and personnel on-site in one year. DHS can't even process a green card in that time.

Fifteen years seems more reasonable than five to qualify for habitual resident status; they'll probably bargain down to a "Dekada" eventually.

Although this "demand" is somewhat silly, in that those who have children here are eligible to be petitioned by the oldest when he turns 21. All they're really doing is advancing the clock a decade or so.

Jeff said...

No one here should care if it's five. How is that anyone's business here? This place doesn't own contract workers, despite the rhetoric about them leaving, and our poor businesses. The universal solution to keep or attract a worker is to offer him or her a wage and conditions that make them want to stay. Let's try that one, on an even playing field where workers have rights, and maybe these workers won't flee to Guam or elsewhere.