While others vote, he will fly

Enough said

Several have thrown their hat in the ring already, but none can hold the claim of being Saipan's Number One Bat Shit Crazy Haole. Bruce declared his candidacy last week with a central promise not to ever vote. Straight from the drunken face of evils' mouth, here it is: "I am planning to join the pack and run for the new Non Voting Delegate seat in November. I will run on a simple one-plank platform: I shall not vote! As your non-voting delegate it is my blood oath to you that “I-will-not-vote”. Come hell or high water, even if they hold me down and try to make me, I will abstain from voting."

Check back for more on the waving campaign in Tanapag.

Come together, right now

A great weekend full of talking, relaxing and diving

I had a very good weekend. Friday night I put together a group of five hyper-opinionated writers: Brad Ruszala, Zaldy Dandan, Ken Phillips, Angelo Villagomez and Bruce Bateman -- as well as one unabashed and equally opinionated Republican lawyer in Mike Ernest -- for a free wheeling four hour discussion over alcohol on all kinds of world matters from abortion to local politics to sports to Iraq and back again. Bruce pushed his bed time to almost 9. That is indeed p.m. Toward the end of the night there was one funny moment, one of many truly, when we realized that 3/4 of this remaining cabal had been called "racist" by Jane Mack and the fourth, Mike Ernest, had been called "a shit" by her. The overall discussion was open, honest, from all over the political spectrum, most decidedly not just small talk and I think everyone had a good time. I certainly hope and plan to do it again.

On Saturday, I spent the afternoon at the Mandi Spa with my very pregnant wife. We now have less than two months to go in this new baby production, though I really should say she, since Cynthia is most definitely the star of that show. I'm the assistant coach at best I suppose, but I will try to model myself on Winston Wolf and "fix problems." As I mentioned in my Best of Saipan post, Mandi Spa is the nicest, most underutilized location on the island. Drinking white wine in a hot tub with that view for the price I paid is pretty good living. I joined up again with the spa on the teacher's plan, and it has been a joy -- especially since I hadn't been doing any diving yet this year, which leads me to Sunday.

I hopped on the Saipan Aquajet with my buddy Brad Derksen and we dove the Shipwreck and Ice Cream. Conditions on the north side of the island are still a little rough and there are few if any trips available there until April, but this was a nice, easy relaxing morning dive, and one of the great things about living in Saipan. The joys of this kind of morning I tried to capture in this post.

I saw three Eagle Rays and one very active eel roaming around. I also saw a bunch of very large fish, as well as the usual bounty of small and colorful fish. The clearing of my head during these dives gave me two ideas for books I'm interested in writing. That idea circulating in my head may very well be my project for next year, and it will be another thing I've wanted to do for a while, but have put off. This play in two weeks, and the comedy show perhaps a month later being two others. I also even came up with a possible business to put up here. Every year I've been here there has been a big project. The first was just living on a tropical island and getting acquainted. Years two and three were working on my master's and getting married. Years four and five dealt with getting Cynthia's green card, adopting kids and having my own child. Every year has integrated travel, writing and meeting new and interesting people. It was a great day and a great weekend.

Hawaii Bar and Grill very good, very reasonable

I visited the Hawaii Bar and Grill in Garapan, which is specifically located across from the Hyatt on Hotel Street. Former Rep. Andrew Salas, as well as a partner I didn 't meet, recently opened the place. It is brightly lit, attractively decorated, the food is very tasty and it has extremely reasonable prices. The menu seems pretty Japanese to me. Cynthia and I had a grilled Mahi fillet, chicken terriyaki and a poki appetizer along with non-alcoholic drinks. Our bill was $24. I never even heard of Poki until several months ago, but it has become a favorite. The only downside to the place is that it was badly understaffed on the waitstaff front. Table service is pretty wretched across the board in Saipan, but this case just seemed to be a factor of being spread too thin, not incompetence. The place is also a little small and they're using take out boxes instead of plates. I'd change that, but I can't complain given the prices. I definitely expect to be back and very soon. Andrew was also a friendly and gracious host.

On Valentines Day Cynthia and I availed ourselves of the $29 couple special at Bruce and Olive's place Porky's. For $29 we had a local pumpkin soup, caesar salad, a chicken in wine sauce with mushrooms main course for each of us and a delicious banana and ice cream dessert -- along with a glass of champagne. Given that Cynthia is with child, that meant I had two glasses of champagne. Parker provided the live music. The food was great and extremely reasonable in price, which is always the case there. Porky's has the Filpino and local based dishes that my wife likes, and things like poki, kelaguen, grilled fish, burgers and mojitos that I like. Olive and Bruce are also fantastic hosts.

Rota is a great place to chill out, MV 16

Seasoned travelers often cite a lack of other travelers as the standard of purity and desirability in a location. So talk like "Bali was great before all the tourists arrived" becomes typical travel boilerplate. If people really mean it when they cite unspoiled as a draw, then they'd do well to spend time in tranquil Rota as I recently did.
Rota felt calm and relaxing from a Saipan resident's chilled out mindset. For someone from Tokyo or Seoul, it must be an oasis of uniminaginable peacefulness. I've lived, worked or traveled in those bustling cities and firmly believe those overworked people would relish the opportunity to be somewhere without any pollution or traffic lights, and more importantly, few people and beaches all to themselves. To get to the East Coast Korean beaches from Seoul in summer involves hours of traffic to get to a wildly crowded beach where you have enough room to lay out and relax if you fit on a book of postage stamps. Korean beaches in high season are about as comfortable as a intercontinental flight in coach between two flatulent Sumo wrestlers. To our core travel market, Rota should feel like a VIP pass to the Playboy Mansion, not the 200 meter crawl over glass shards they’re used to undergoing in order to cool off and relax.

My friends and I pretty much had the whole Coconut Village to ourselves, which was a clean, nice and reasonably priced lodging site near the Rota swimming hole where I took a late night swim and saw a small meteor shower over a night sky that redefined spectacular.

My primary draw to Rota was the clear, pristine underwater environment, so I hauled my dive gear over and did a few dives and saw what sure looked like the world's largest moray eel. The Rota Hole, the best of the four dives, offered a spectacular backdrop of light and dark through underwater cracks in the earth. The reefs appeared healthy and lightly taxed given the small population and the water warm with its famous visibility indeed a reality. As a diving location, Rota offers three wrecks, as well as walls, drift dives and the aforementioned Rota Hole. If nearby Rota doesn't get some spillover from the lousy yet burgeoning Guam diving market, as well as general Guam tourism, there is a major marketing and advertising debacle going on in a place that seems to be extremely poorly marketed. The recently passed Rota Casino Initiative hopefully won't harm Rota’s prime virtue -- its calmness.

Sandra Atalig, an administrative specialist at the Rota branch of Marianas Visitors Administration, said that island serenity is still the main lure to the island. "We want to promote the tranquility. We want people to enjoy the relaxation. It's about coming here and just relaxing. Tourists are really into exploring the beach side and the friendliness of the people, as well as the peacefulness and lack of traffic. Tourists are not worried about being robbed -- they feel safe." Atalig noted that arrivals have been up slightly of late with the Rota fiesta and triathlon. However, it is hard not to notice that business in Rota is suffering terribly. Abandoned houses and businesses are prevalent. Downtown Songsong makes the Paseo de Marianas look like a Hong Kong shopping district.

I made one other trip to Rota a few years ago when the Attorney General's Cup was held there, and thought the place had a distinct cultural feel to it. All the public events were conducted in both Chamorro and English, which makes the place feel a lot different from Saipan. Rota probably isn't going to attract bacchanalian twentysomethings, but for older travelers who want a place to relax, read, swim, fish, golf and explore the underwater world, Rota is a wonder.

After sitting idle for nearly 18 years, the revolving 360 Restaurant at the Marianas Business Plaza is now operational. I visited Friday night and thought it pretty good. They are also now open for lunch. Associate Manager Rick Jones said the restaurant has gotten good support so far and jogged the memories of patrons who remember going there in the 80s. Jones described the food as "American style with an international flair" and said the investors thought it was a unique business opportunity, noting the 360 Saipan panorama offered to diners. "The view during the day is fantastic. At night you don't see the ocean, but the atmosphere is stylish,” Jones said.

***

This column, not necessarily this blog, will go on Christmas break for two weeks. I wish all my readers Happy Holidays.

Jeffrey C. Turbitt is the language arts department chairman at Saipan Southern High School, as well as an avid scuba diver and traveler. He offers more thoughts in his blog Hypercritical Thought at: www.turbittj.blogspot.com/ He welcomes feedback, tips and story ideas at turbittj@yahoo.com. His column appears regularly on Wednesdays.

Caption Contest Three

I've had two caption contests, and I haven't been happy with the entries in either. For the last contest, I'm declaring Big Sox Fan the winner. I think my entries were the best, but what can I do. The previous entry should have gotten more abuse as well. I'm declaring Brad Ruszala the winner of Caption Contest One, but I think I trumped him as well. Today I offer the latest installment. Three bloggers and tempest in a teapot/diver/PAWS spokeswoman Rose Callier.

"Hey Angelo, did Bruce pee on his mesh bag before the picture?"

"These bags will be great for collecting all of Rose's lost at sea dive gear."

"Mike, we'll need bigger bags to store Bruce's hate mail."

Angelo Villagomez and Bruce Bateman, the Lennon/McCartney of the Saipan Tribune

According to Middle Road, Angelo Villagomez is about to become a Saipan Tribune columnist. First he joined a secret satanic pact with the world's most evil woman, Katherine Harris, see below, then he joined a Neo-Nazi fraternity, now he is going to team up with his co-worker Bruce Bateman, sometimes referred to as the drunken face of evil or the world's worst person, to prove Ronald Reagan's adage that trees cause pollution and ketchup is a vegetable. Congratulations Angelo, and in the immortal words of non-Academy Award winning actor Dolph Lundgren as Ivan Drago, "I must break you!"

Scenes from Halloween

Somewhere in that picture is an edgy young lady, we hope don't know yet, just dying to get out and ridicule the Right Wing.

Here is Rose in the clutches of Glen D having flashbacks to that triggerfish attack.

The Boycott of Porky's isn't going well with several bloggers out opposing the forces of douchebaggery, but Bruce Bateman says bring it on regarding something that women the world over have been boycotting since time immemorial.

Daniel LaRusso was hiding out from Kobra Kai at Porky's bar.

Angelo Villagomez, sans EJ, was out at Porky's last night. A little picture on picture action with the Saipan blogger doing a clean up of Porky's

A couple of pretty cute monsters in Alex and Carl.

One scary ass halloween costume

Caption Contest. Winner gets a beer on me at Porky's. Good natured ribbing only. Nothing too nasty will be posted. My entries:

"I'm 23, I have double D's, I love older guys and I don't lie to the people I chat with online I swear."

You won't lose your shirt in a Saipan casino.

The only one who should be boycotting this is Olive!

Stop the Presses

I almost fell out of my chair today. Bruce Bateman expressed genuine sympathy for the poor in his column. Olive, was Bruce typing after a few mojitos? Am I and Bree and others having some small influence on the big softy? It really didn't even merge into some anti-government statement, though he did segue into something that I think is sensible as a solution: a casino on Saipan. Good job Bruce. This is your first column I 100 percent agree with. Watch out for lightning.

"In a discussion with a candidate for public office recently, an amazing fact was revealed to me. The candidate has been canvassing door-to-door for some time and has entered and talked with more than 500 households representing more than 3000 CNMI residents. What he has found is astounding. He estimates that on average, one household in three in his election district is without electric power and by default, also without water because they cannot afford to pay. He said in some poorer neighborhoods the number is much higher, up to 90 percent without utilitiesPlease bear in mind this is not a controlled, scientific survey, but a dedicated house by house straw poll. Even though we can't deduce from these findings that all of Saipan or all of the CNMI is in such dire straights, we can and should be aghast that such deprivation exists anywhere in our Commonwealth."

This thrilla's not in Manila, but hopefully Porky's

I humbly request a debate, or at bare minimum a mixing up of ideas, between Glen Doutrich and Bruce Bateman on the CNMI becoming an independent state free of the U.S., which Bruce strongly favors, and Glen thinks is laughable. Both of these guys are cranky, old guys with political views that can't be easily categorized. Glen is pro-military, anti-corporate welfare and generally sympathetic to the contract workers. Glen cusses more and has lots of female asses, boobs and legs on his page, go Glen. Plus, that kind of display will keep Jane away. Bruce is kind of a libertarian anarchist who is against most everything governmental -- especially taxes. Bruce teeters on Social Darwinism, but as Bree once said, "he'd probably give you the shirt off his back." Both are irreverent and decidedly un-pc. Glen is an ex-Marine, and could definitely kick Bruce's ass in a fight, but this is all in fun, so that isn't a factor. I'm giving Bruce home bar advantage, assigning Glen a free drink, and one for me for being the promoter. Maybe another for being referee. Show up Friday at say 6:30 Glen, please. Let's get ready to RUMBLEEEEEE!

Porky's, Rep. Waki and some good new blogs

I went to Porky's last night, which I have to admit is becoming my favorite bar. They have some pretty good mojitos, my favorite drink, I've gotten into Chicken Kelaguen and I like it there, and Bruce Bateman draws a bunch of hypercritical malcontents, and also normal people don't get scared away, that I can relate to.

Last night there was a group of island commentators such as Ron Hodges, Doc Murdoch, Bruce Bateman, Randy Steele, myself and others having an informal chat with Rep. Absalom Waki, who had a lot to say and virtually all of it I was in agreement with. Waki was very forthright about the problems with our government such as too many bills being introduced, too much good old boy network goings on, and not enough serious work being put in by a lot of people up there. There is going to be a candidate a week for these meet ups each Friday at Porky's, and I won't be there for all of them I'm sure, but last night was fun.
***
Angelo's Master List of CNMI blogs is up to 112 -- quite a few blogs. One of the best recent entrants is Steele on Saipan, which comes from Randy Steele. Randy gives his own take on things said by others, or provides his own original thoughts. He has something to say, which always helps to make a blog of broad interest. Richard Sikkel has a new blog as well that describes many of the dives in Saipan, Tinian and Rota. Richard is a real pro as a dive instructor, and he is the person I dove with when I visited Saipan as a tourist many moons ago. I have links to them both, which brings me to the topic of my links. There are so many blogs that I can't link to them all, so I'm going with the blogs that I read most regularly or that have something in common with mine. If those blogs don't get updated somewhat regularly, I'm going to remove the link. If you have one post every two weeks or less, you'll never draw any interest in your blog. If I took yours down, it is for one of those two reasons, and that includes my own relatives, it isn't anything personal.

The thinking award, my nominees

Angelo graciously awarded me the thinking award. Thanks Angelo. I have to nominate five people. I'm nominating two famous people, two local bloggers and a newspaper editor.

Noam Chomsky is probably the closest thing to a modern Aristotle that exists. His writing revolutionized how I view the world.

Matt Taibbi is who I would be if I stayed in journalism full time -- at least he's who I would aspire to be like. He hasn't been writing much lately, at least political stuff.

I befriended Zaldy Dandan because I really think he tells it like it is. I know he has his detractors, but I like his stuff and think he definitely inspires thought.

I nominate Harry Blalock's Food For Thought Blog, which does provide that.

While I seldom agree with him, I have to give props to Bruce Bateman for provoking thought and being intellectually consistent.

The rules are here on Angelo's page. I don't expect Noam or Matt to participate, but it would be cool if they did.

Guided by Harry Blalock's Ass

A bolt broke on the steering column on Bruce Bateman's boat. Bruce spent a lot of time trying to fix it, but the right part wasn't available, so Bruce's boat was navigated by Harry's ass. I mean this literally. The steering wheel was completely useless. It spun around without consequence. Our entire navigation system was Harry leaning his ass on the motors in one direction or another. So the two man operation was Bruce powering the motors from up front, Harry steering with his ass in the back (no pun intended), and me on the side making fun of them both. Before I commence the scorn and ridicule this situation begs for, it should be noted I knew this plan going in, and I still took this trip. I really like diving, but I love making fun of these guy even more. I'm going to offer my own best caption contest for the pics below. The winner for each gets a free drink at Porky's for the next blogger drinking session --hopefully on Bruce, aka Captain Useless. Here are my entries.

1. Q. How is your first night at Attica Prison and a trip on Bruce Bateman's boat similar? A. Both give your ass a workout?

2. And he said Gov. Babauta was the ass steering us in the wrong direction?

3. "I know I just admitted to ballroom dancing and I look like I'm really enjoying this, but I swear I'm not gay Bruce. Ask Kelli."

1. Q. What's more ineffective than the Saipan bureaucracy? A. Captain Useless and his spin wheel?

2. Harry likes it when we go full throttle. I didn't even give the order and I think he's "hard to starboard."

3. This wheel gives better spin than Richard A. Pierce.

Jeff Turbitt and the Temple of Doom

I went to the Grotto today, where I saw nudibranch Harry doing his thing that blows all of our blogs out to Yap, and then I made my first venture to the Grotto's Temple of Doom at 137 feet deep.

It started with a surface snorkel swim outside the Grotto to get to the right spot. It was said to be calm by normal standards, but it still wasn't too much fun -- choppy and rough to my senses. The most exciting thing about this disappointing dive was that this was the first time I was narced. The buzz didn't last too long, and it wasn't too hard to handle. I kind of liked the buzz to be honest. Being aware that you were narced helped. There were very few fish there today -- I mean shockingly few. Fewer than I've ever seen. I love the Grotto, but I have to say, it's too taxing between the steps and getting across, I really fret a lot about getting in and out of there, and then there is the fear of having a hose bust scraping something in those little caves you go explore. To me, it is dangerous and I seriously thought I was going to die there once when I got knocked into the wash machine. My dive buddy Marty Dalsaso, who took the picture below, helps with that considerably, as he knows the place like the back of his hand, so I'm very confident in his guidance. The guy is Aquaman for real. I have three days of leg pain after every trip from climbing up those steps at the end. This pic below tells you why people do it and put themselves through that effort. Fan corals are cool.

I've had a few unpleasant experiences with shore dives here. I had one difficult experience at Wing Beach, with someone who didn't quite explain to me what I was getting into with that current pulling you out, nothing bad happened but it was taxing as hell, and I got coral scraped a bit at Lau Lau once as well. Unlike most everyone on the island, I would much rather pay and do a boat dive, which I find much more fun and relaxing, and where I've never had any of the unpleasantness I just described.

I like Bruce Bateman's boat in particular. I'm learning about boating from Bruce. I didn't know anything about it before, and it is always cool to learn something new. I've got the anchoring down pat now I think. Bruce and I went to the B-29 Saturday and that was pretty damn cool. Bruce is now claiming on his blog it is not a B-29. See what he says. I don't have a clue myself on that one. That propeller under the water is quite a site, as is the whole plane. These pictures are courtesy of Mike Tripp, who has a great DVD out on Saipan Diving. The plane looks way bigger underwater. I should make the investment in an underwater camera. Not only could I get some great pics, I could make some headway on Harry.

Bruce and I talked about going out to Naftan Sunday the 12th, which sounds great to me. Mike Tripp talked about how great Naftan is yesterday.

***
I've gotten into podcasts, not making them, but downloading them. I was over at the Itunes site and there is a lot of cool stuff for free. It is great to have while traveling, or when I do my walk on the Oleai path. Speaking of Itunes, I can't set up an account there because the NMI isn't a credit card address option, and we aren't a "country" either. Many places aren't countries, either. Very annoying.
***
I read in a book full of culinary tips that cloves will keep ants away. I've tested that claim, and it's true. They won't go near them, and I have no shortage of extremely annoying ants in the house to test this out.
***
On Saturday the 11th at 1:30 pm I am planning to paint my classroom at SSHS if I can get some helpers. I'm funding this project, not PSS of course, but I need help in the form of painters. I won't be so glib as to call painting a party, but if you want to help the school with this project, it would be deeply appreciated by me and I'm sure a few hundred students. I'm dropping well over $100 to Beautify A-102 at SSHS, and these things get thrust upon the teachers financially. I just dropped $50 on blinds so we can use the powerpoint technology without massive glare. I can deal with that, I'm fortunate enough to be doing ok compared to a lot of people on this island, but I really need painters, and please bring rollers and trays. I have some, but will need more. I need the classroom to look right to set the right learning mood. I painted this room three years ago, but it needs it again. I had the floors professionally waxed this weekend, and painting is what needs to happen next. I've spent more time dealing with the rat droppings and classroom cleaning than lesson planning this week, but this needs to be taken care of first. We don't have custodians for the classrooms. Cleaning and maintenance is a teacher and student activity. Leave a comment if you can help, please.

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.
***
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.
***
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.
***
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.

Federalization, Noam Chomsky and Bruce Bateman

I know there are scads of people on these islands opposed to Dekada, opposed to federalization of immigration, and just generally concerned with the idea of contract workers getting green cards because they think it harms them. I personally have this gene that just always associates with the underdog. It is always personally beneficial to service the interests of the rich and powerful. Dengre describes how doing so was pretty good for our governor. The governor is hardly the only example. I'd probably have more money in the bank if I just kissed the ass of the rich and powerful. I just can't and still respect myself.

I've traveled the Philippines enough to see how hard those people work for very little money. My mother in law has five children. Four of them live and work outside the Philippines. The employment pages there are all about jobs outside of the PI. There is wealth there, but the system is unbelievably corrupt, so the people suffer. There is a growing gap between rich and poor in this country and throughout the world. People accept it because they think they'll be rich, too.

Right now there are many people who have lived here for years as guest workers. Many support families back home out of their $3.05 per hour paycheck. They are often separated from their children. Some have American citizen children and they are a family divided. I can relate. I have two American children and a Filipino wife. She still has not met my parents, and we've been married two and a half years. She can't get into the states -- at least yet. Her paperwork is in process, and it should be done soon enough, but the fact is, we are kind of a stateless family right now. We obviously aren't going to leave her. We can't go to the Philippines free and clear, and she can't go to the states. There are many people in this situation. I've seen how hard these people have worked. Many have suffered abuses. How many stories do we see in the paper about people who still haven't gotten their wages. I know some of these people, and they are model employees -- Cal Ripken like in showing up to work every day. I think they deserve a break, and if this harms the CNMI in the short term, that's life, we don't own these people. They are not indentured servants tied here to our meager minimum wage that we paid Jack Abramoff millions to bribe Tom Delay to keep.
***
The corporate influence on global policy is enormous. If you haven't spent some time reviewing and examining the thoughts of Noam Chomsky, you are doing yourself a serious disservice. His opinions on American foreign and domestic policy aren't flattering, and neither are his thoughts on the media. Many just can't handle what he says, can't think about it, can't even consider it. That is a shame. His work is well documented with countless footnotes, and he is in many ways a living Aristotle.
***
According to Angelo's Blog and Middle Road, the call is out to boycott Chamber President Juan Guerrero's places Herman's Bakery, Western Union and Mita Travel because of his stance on federalization. If you ask me, it is about time the contract workers stood up for themselves. Danny Aquino has a stick up his ass about white people and Filipinos, the exact makeup of my family. I appreciate the fact that he is open in his racism. I'm also not sending another nickel to his daycare center Little Darlings. I would hope Brady Barrineau's family would do the same there, but that is their call. Juan T is free to do his thing, and Dekada is free to do their thing. I will say this, if Filipinos can stay away from Jolibee, as they did with the Yumul bill, Herman's Bakery and the others will be a walk in the park.
***
I've been out of blogging circles until the last day or so, and I've gone around, and basically argued with Bruce Bateman on many a post. I have to admit, there was a time I only knew Bruce from his column, and I didn't like him based on that. Things have changed. I really like Bruce a lot and I'm glad to have him as a foil. He's funny, not PC, a genuinely nice guy and a good writer. We see the world very differently, but we are out there arguing with each other with respect and without personal animosity. We are strangely alike, yet different, a blogging paradox. We are both hyper-opinionated, non-pc, hypercritical, distrustful of government (albeit for different reasons), we both like mojitos, diving and the Blue Ridge Mountains. We both have Filipina wives and children. If I didn't know him personally, I might have gone off on him like Dengre did. I kind of did once. I'm really glad to have gotten to know him better.

Harry mentioned this the other day:

"I am not who most people think I am. They have a preconceived idea of who I am
and what I'm like from my radio presence. I do have some definite thoughts and
opinions about things, but if you think you know me from the radio, you're
mistaken."

The same goes for Bruce, Angelo, me, lots of us. When we offer our opinions, sometimes we misspeak and sometimes we are misinterpreted. I feel like my words were mangled here and here. My wife's office workers had a debate on whether I was saying all Chamorros were racist in my criticism of the Taotao Tano protest. The word Chamorro wasn't even in the piece, and all my comments were directed at the signholders. I wasn't even saying they were racist people, just that it was a racist display. There is a difference there. I found Mr. Cruz's defense to be pretty weak and lame. He'd have been better to have apologized and gotten back to the work he was doing before that revolting protest.

I have, to my great shock, not encountered much hostility to my critical public comments. Some doubtlessly don't like me because I'm critical of our system and our government, and I wasn't born here and I'm not "local," yet I have a lot to say. I respect people like Cindy Sheehan and Michael Moore, Harry Blalock and even Dennis Green who often times suffer personal attacks for expressing their opinions. I think everyone should be respectful of the risks they take if the speaker is honest.

A great day of diving

To echo what Harry wrote, yesterday was a fantastic day. Boni, Angelo and I went on Harry's show early in the morning to discuss blogging. This was the earliest I've been up since school ended, but that is ok. The audio will surface soon since Angelo has the disc Harry burned. I went off to Bobby Cadillac's later on and had pizza with Harry, Bruce, Ej and Angelo. Then we headed out to Ice Cream and Shipwreck on Bruce Bateman's boat. Bruce proves that you can be friends with people you don't agree with on anything politically. He is a good guy who really enjoys Saipan life like a lot of us.

I never dove shipwreck before, and it is one mangled ship with a lot of fish. It is so shallow, that it was probably the longest dive I've ever done at nearly 80 minutes. It could have been longer, but that was enough. Harry lugged along the largest tank in the world, and could have been out there until my hair grows back. Yesterday was one of those great Saipan days that make you appreciate what you have here, and forget about what you don't. The day wasn't even completely ruined by the brief site of Angelo on the deck of Bruce's boat wearing a Speedo -- the memory of which I will be attempting to delete from my neural hard drive. I just want to know how that Japanese tourist missing his Speedo is going to swim today.

Exploring Ice Cream and looking Kind of Blue like Miles.
I was getting splashed like crazy, so I had to put my mask on in the boat while cruising out to Shipwreck.

I did something I rarely do, and touched something underwater, and Nemo over here bit my finger like a protective mother. I get it, I deserved it.

This shipwreck is one mangled bunch of metal with a lot of fish. Photos courtesy of Eagle Eye Harry, who spotted the Eagle Rays off in the distance. See his blog for more.

Bruce Almighty and a proposal on Boni's Prize

Bruce Bateman amplified the rhetoric telling the CNMI masses about Dengre, the premiere CNMI critic. Bruce was openly campaigning for votes for Worst Person in the World. Tell us your entire platform, Bruce. The cyber equivalant of a lawn sign won't get my vote. Will you be kicking puppies, telling small children, or Brad, there is no Santa Clause, banning betelnut at Porky's, displaying the non health benefits of Spam or processed noodles? I'm going to follow you around and throw out the tough questions like Sam Donaldson would do to Reagan.

Bruce questioned why some of us link to Dengre. First, I linked to Bruce and his Right Wing sidekicks before that site died, so agreement isn't necessary. I linked to Sarah Miel, the Ann Coulter of Saipan, crusading to keep immigrant workers poor, and urging everyone to fight the evil efforts of liberals to pay immigrant workers, and locals, more than the U.S. minimum wage from 1980. What evil lurks in the mind of those trying to assist the poor. That site basically died as well. She might have the best crusade since the Middle Ages.

Dengre might be a little extreme in his statements, but his essential argument, that our system here stinks, is spot on. His blog isn't a full blown, across the board indictment of everyone and everything here, like Saipan sucks. Dengre thinks the CNMI government sucks, and its economic model, too. He's right.
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Poor Boni feels a bit slighted by her lack of a prize for her triumphant victory. I propose all the male bloggers adept at swimming take Boni to World Resort for a swimming lesson and day of general waterpark revelry. Any day next week is good for me. I'll cover Boni's entrance, but I'll urge other sponsors to cover the rest of her crew, most definitely including Tony Senior since I don't want him getting the wrong impression and using his military training on any of us. I can get a Splash Card for a $10 admission. Sponsors anyone for crew, Angelo. Brad can deliver Yum burgers to Boni.
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Normally a minimum wage increase is viewed as a popular thing to support the poorest workers, and is something that is applauded. That would especially seem to be the case when the CNMI wage is equal to the Federal minimum wage from 1980, almost 30 years ago. Sure enough, this administration feels no concern about everyone not in the bureaucracy since they are so unhappy these people are getting their first raise in more than 10 years. It is obvious and expected they don't give a bleep about Filipinos and Chinese et al, but there are a lot of their own people in the $3.05 hole as well. These tend to be the less educated and less likely to speak up or vote, so they are completely blown off. Harry Blalock talked about how our government officials lambasted David Cohen on the Interior Secretary's visit for not doing enough to keep the poor, poor. Good job on seeing reality and not giving in Mr. Cohen. You seem pretty human for a reasonably high ranking Republican.