Others noticed Juan Pan's contradictions, too

Sen. Pangelinan said the same thing I said about Juan Guerrero's testimony. Saipan Glen did as well. Today, Zaldy Dandan emphasized the contradictions as well in his column. His comments on Fitial's testimony were hilarious.

But like the chamber president’s testimony, the governor’s was bewildered
and bewildering. He said without local control over immigration “there is no
more reason for me to exist.” Akaka should have replied, “But governor, federal
immigration law applies to the 50 states, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands and
Guam — and the governors there still ‘exist’ and their local governments still
run their jurisdictions. So what the hey are you talking about?”At this point,
here’s what the governor should have said to make himself clear: “Senator,
without local control over immigration, investors would stop wining and dining
CNMI officials. Local politicians will lose a bottomless and reliable source of
campaign donations and, you know, other forms of ‘assistance.’ I myself can no
longer promise anything to fly-by-night investors — you know, the sort of
‘businessmen’ that feds would not even allow to step on the tarmac of Guam’s
airport. But with local control over immigration, investors have to be very
kind, very very kind, to the governor and key lawmakers. All we want is to have
our cake and eat it, too. Never mind the alien workers. They breed like rabbits.
When their kids are 21 years old they can ‘petition’ their parents anyway. Soon,
you’ll see local politicians speaking Tagalog with a ridiculous American accent,
like Guam’s Gov. Carl Gutierrez, in an election year, on MCV. So right now, let
me have immigration control because I still have a lot of Chinese and Korean
investors to talk to.”Hey batter batter.

It's amazing to me that the Chamber couldn't come up with logical testimony. For that matter, someone should ask whose dime Juan Pan flew and stayed in D.C. on -- was it the Chamber itself or the government. I hope it wasn't the latter? Ron Hodges , who is in the Chamber of Commerce, apparently is being hassled for his criticism of the Chamber's position. He noted there was never even a vote on federalization. Someone is apparently investigating whether he went to a meeting on government time. How about an investigation into how much government money has been spent on the Chamber. Something tells me the Chamber didn't pay for all these trips to D.C., but perhaps they can clear that up.
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This guy's "Unnamed Diatribe" was hilarious. I'm not the angriest person anymore on this island, I'm convinced. I might not even be close.
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Best line of last night's blogger meet up: E.J. discussing Bruce Bateman's blog. "One time he scared me." Only one time Bruce, can you raise the level a bit. Cmon. You have a reputation to protect. E.J. was referring to a pic of a scantily clad woman on Bruce's most sexist blogger post.
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PSS has apparently handed out a last minute directive to purge more payroll. Great thing to do a week before class starts. The principals don't seem too happy. There is apparently a big pow wow on this topic on Saturday at PIC. I don't know all the mechanics on this one, but I have wratched up my expectations for how ugly this year will be. People who were hired may find themselves not hired all of a sudden. Students will be packed into classrooms like sardines, demoralizing both them and the teachers. All the chickens are coming home to roost for years of mismanagement.

I'm back, the Chamber and the real Holani Smith

I'm back. My Monday vanished into a time warp. I left Sunday at noon, and all of a sudden it is Tuesday morning. This flight went smoother than last year's flight, and it is good, albeit humid, to be back home. Gas prices are up yet again, and the hideous political signs are out en masse. Lots of fired up rhetoric in the CNMI. I've never seen things this animated. There were lots of ridiculous arguments thrown about in Washington, DC. I loved this line from our governor regarding Jack Abramoff: “He did what he was paid to do — which was to prevent a federal takeover of immigration in the CNMI." At least Fitial was honest. The government hired Abramoff to rig the game with government money and the mission was accomplished.

I also love how the Chamber is on both sides of this immigration imbroglio. First, the workers are going to leave and deprive businesses of their God given right to cheap labor, but not if they stay and bring their IR's, which harms the CNMI.

“They could simply move to the continental United States in search of
higher-paying job opportunities, thereby depriving the vast majority of [CNMI]
employers of the qualified and experienced labor pool that they have, for years,
paid and treated fairly in accordance with CNMI law under the provisions of the
Covenant,” the Chamber official said.

Why would they leave if you paid and treated them fairly? Is it perhaps because you are lying? And what makes you think you own these people, that you're entitled to their labor? Pay them a globally competitive rate and they'd stay. What audacity is in that sentence.

"Besides, nonresident workers are treated fairly in general in the Commonwealth and that their work here is only temporary."

If it's temporary, then why are you concerned they'll leave. This should be expected. Beyond that, maybe the workers want something more than to be your "temporary" solution.

He said allowing almost 8,000 individuals “to remain-and to immigrate immediate
relatives to join them, for the long-term-are profoundly negative for the
Commonwealth.”

Do you want them to stay or go? You're all over the map. First you're worried they'll leave, now that they'll stay and bring workers you so desperately need it's "profoundly negative."

“These tens of thousands of lawful non immigrants would be given the same
preference for local jobs that this Senate has repeatedly claimed to be
attempting to protect for United States citizens. These lawful non immigrants and
their families would prove an immense burden on the local infrastructure in a
way, and to a degree, that was never contemplated by-nor allowed-under the
Commonwealth's existing guest worker program,” he said.

First off, we all know with the "who you know" policies of this island, no Filipino is getting the do nothing government job, they'll get the jobs that require actual work. Secondly, first you say they'll leave, and now you are worried they'll stay. Your real worry is that they, like the locals, won't be interested in working for a mere $3.55 with a blue passport.

"The Chamber wants U.S. Congress to do a comprehensive impact study before it
legislates federal control over the islands."

In English, put this off a couple years until we come up with some other excuse. By the way, not everyone in the Chamber feels that way. Read what Ron Hodges wrote. According to him, the Chamber never even voted on this issue, and he's not for oppression of contract workers. More from Juan Guerrero:

"These workers have, for the most part, elected to remain in the Commonwealth
and work for wages, and under conditions superior to other alternatives they
have."

And here you are actively trying to limit their options to work elsewhere for better wages. If you paid one of those starving kids you see on tv from some third world slum 50 cents an hour, they'd take it, it would be their choice and it would be even better than their other options, but it would still be exploitation. So everyone please stop with the "they want to stay here, it's their choice" for people who come from a seriously messed up, corrupt country and have no real choice by virtue of where they were born. Yes, $3.05 is better than some of these other places, but it still sucks. Stop rationalizing that point. Beyond that, the system is so bad that the locals not in the bureaucracy are left without an option of a living wage. Half the people here live in poverty, but the government wants cheap labor for businesses to pay taxes to create make work, inefficient government jobs for the politically connected. It is a model that is immoral, unsustainable and inefficient.
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This isn't a question debated intently as who was Deep Throat and all, but I've been told by a very good source that the fictitious Holani Smith is actually someone named Lou Piliwale, a Hawaiian and longtime CNMI resident. If someone named Lou Piliwale gets a contract for $4,000 per month to "consult" like Jesus Camacho, you'll know why. Lou Piliwale, aka, Holani Smith, writes letter after letter suggesting Governor Fitial practically walks on water. Why the Tribune lets this happen is a good question. Angelo wrote a good post on these letters a few weeks ago.

On Article XII, the Chamber and Tina Sablan

Ricky Delgado in his recent letter mentioned the absurdity of Article XII, the law that limits who can own land here, and noted land prices in Hawaii are through the roof and how Saipan would benefit from fee simple real estate. I just read Frank say on Angelo's blog, there's "nothing wrong" with it, which I know is the prevailing view here on that issue. People think they'll get a free house, free land, free sounds good, so keep it. If I didn't have land, and was indigenous, I'd probably like it. If I owned land already, I wouldn't. As someone who generally believes in economic freedom and treating adults as adults, not children who can't handle their own economic affairs, I think it has to go.

There is something very wrong with Article XII. I've heard from multiple good sources that the few local families with money are buying all the land up now on the cheap from the economically desperate. I'll make the prediction that they'll use their political influence to end Article XII and they just created their own personal money machine. It makes good business sense to do this. I'd buy land now, too. It makes sense to buy things when they're cheap. The problem is land is cheap because of Article XII and the lousy economy, so it is practically being given away. Wall Street couldn't create a scheme as good as this one since Wall Street hasn't created a law that upends the first principle of economics: Supply and Demand.

If a business could only legally sell M&M's to people 6'4'' and above with nine toes, would they sell more M&M's? Would there be demand to drive the price up? Do you think the land owners, once they get as much land as they can on the cheap in this cataclysmically poor economy with 46 percent plus in poverty, will leave all that free money just sitting out there uncollected? Do you think these people won't have the influence to change this stupid law? Post Article XII, which will happen, are they going to say to the average Sablan, Villagomez or Babauta, you're Chamorro, I'll give it to you for a discount from the market rate. Haven't the garment factories proven over the last twenty years that it isn't that hard to buy off this government to do the bidding of the few connected people versus the interests of the majority, who live in poverty according to the legal definition. The last count in the U.S. census was 46 percent in 2000, and you can bet the rent that number hasn't gotten better. Someone has to wake up here.

When Article XII ends, the price of land will go up a lot overnight. One of the reasons the U.S. economy hasn't imploded from war, massive budget and trade deficits, income disparities and a Neanderthal in office, is the fact that homes have increased in value dramatically over the last few years, which is now cooling off. People have borrowed against that value via home equity loans to go out and buy ipods, dinners, vacations and whatever else they want, an invaluable economic tool that is non-existent here. Spending money moves an economy, and to spend money you need to have money. How do we get it: Wages (often lousy here), borrowing (virtually impossible and if so, expensive) and spending less on other necessities like gas and power (through the roof here, especially in the last few years).

This lack of a credit market is perhaps the primary reason our economy stinks. A twenty nine percent loan from Tony Soprano, I mean Wells Fargo or the neighborhood loan shark doesn't lead to much borrowing and much spending and much economic activity. But people hold on to those dreams of a free house, so let's just keep Article XII, seemingly oblivious to the fact that it severely limits the value of land, not to mention the racism that discriminates against those even born here. It is a blatant violation to the 14th Amendment and its equal protection clause. I'm not enough of a CNMI constitutional scholar to know how they get away with that. Plus valuable members of the community might actually stay here, where they have a home, instead of leaving as frequently as they do. Dr. Sawer and Dr. George, the two top surgeons at the hospital, just flew the coop. That is an enormous loss for this island. I don't know how many good teachers I've seen leave in the past couple years. They might stay if they had a home here. On top of that, people treat things they own a lot better than things they rent. People care more about their hometown, not their "apartment town." Remember your last rental car?

It would be amazing if something as prone to screw ups as the federal government actually fixes the three things most messed up here: wages, immigration and Article XII. They've finally started to fix one.
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I've heard and talked to some Chamber members about the wage issue, and I don't think they'll meet and come up with this position, at least I hope, but here is what their president said. Granted there is the caveat, "who spoke as an individual business."

Following this argument, Guerrero said he doubts the increase in the paychecks
of minimum wage earners will be significant enough to spur economic
activity.“Those who will get a raise will continue to save their money for
more important things. They will still be cautious about spending. Besides,
with the increased cost of doing business, prices will go up everywhere
definitely,” he said.

First the prices retailers charge are scandalous. The wages they've been paying are equally scandalous. The implications of those wages are the demoralization of most people in the CNMI and a bloated, unsustainable bureaucracy. The price of most everything has gone up in the last eleven years, especially gas and power, are you telling me businesses can't adjust to paying .50 cents more after a government paid lobbyist earned millions in government money for this free ride all this time. Plus your telling me it destroys businesses, but won't help workers. Cmon.

“The wage increase is good for the employees, but bad for the employers. The
timing, everything is against us. Fifty cents at 80 hours is $40. Not many
businesses will be able to sustain this additional cost. You can expect layoffs,
reduction in work hours to take place,” said Guerrero, who spoke as an
individual business.

People will still buy food and tires and fix their cars and so on and so forth. I'm sure someone can make it work and pay a meager $3.55.
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A quick thought on Tina Sablan. I loved her letter, and agreed with most all of it, and supported it publicly on multiple occasions. She is not, however, the only, or even the leading voice of protest on this island, as many letter writers would make people believe. Some people have been doing it a lot longer, a lot more regularly and before it was so trendy. I've also heard that she has not exactly played nice with Beautify CNMI.