What am I getting at?

Did anyone else besides me object to a certain private school principal sharing accounts of his suffering during the absolute worst CUC power outages few weeks ago? What am I getting at? Well, this principal, whom I’ll refer to as “Mr. 77” because both his first and last name begin with the 7th letter of the alphabet, spoke at the recent rally against CUC at Garapan Fishing Base, passionately describing his suffering caused by the power outages.

What am I getting at? Well, this principal was and as far as I’m concerned still is a diehard BB (Babauta Benavente) supporter, maybe more so Babauta these days. Now it’s one thing to criticize CUC and the Fitial Administration for their obvious mismanagement of CUC that reached its bursting point couple weeks ago. But to criticize without examining one’s self is unacceptable. I also suffered from the power outages, and have written strongly against the Fitial Administration. In fact, I even encouraged the Fitial Administration to resign from office.

What am I getting at? To be clear, I am in no way endorsing any administration past or current as I strongly believe they all had an equal hand in destroying CUC. Just like the Fitial Administration, the Babauta-Benavente Administration had the opportunity to finally do the right thing with CUC, but did not. The Babauta administration ignored the dire need for the power plant engines to be overhauled, thus setting the stage for CUC’s eventual demise. And of course, the Fitial Administration’s band-aid solutions sped up the engines’ death sentence. Hmmm, I wonder if the idiotic, biggest waste of $200,000 for the Rose Bowl parade float that was the bright idea of the Babauta-Benavente Administration the reason for neglecting the engine overhaul plans? Makes me wonder. Was there a certain Babauta-Benavente Cabinet member in charge of the Rose Bowl parade idea? Could it be that Mr. 77 was the Rose Bowl brain child?

So what am I really getting at? Well you see, Mr. 77 unfortunately is targeted here because I find his actions at last week’s rally against CUC quite hypocritical. Also, with the upcoming 2009 elections, you can be assured that droves of the good ol’ boys will jockey for position to become Governor and Lt. Governor once again…kinda like the wildebeest of the African plains following the rain to greener pastures. For sure Juan Babuata and Diego Benavente will seek the Governor’s Office on opposing tickets.

So what am I getting at? How many Babauta-Benavente supporters, or better yet “BB Disciples” were at the rally against CUC last week? I’d say a fair assessment is better than half the people that showed up, give or take. So what am I getting at? Well Alexandro “Colonel” Sablan, who I recently developed enormous respect for, for his comeback letter on the betel nut spit issue I previously wrote about, said “no one can know who you voted for but yourself,” concerning the history of voting practices in the CNMI.

So just what exactly am I getting at? Well, I’d like to pose a question to Mr. 77 and the rest of the Babauta disciples and Benavente disciples. Babauta and Benavente failed just as miserably as Fitial and Villagomez are failing as Governor and Lt. Governor. So my point is actually a question. Why in the world would you even consider voting for Juan N. Babauta or Diego T. Benavente? Now we all know that Benigno Fitial and Timothy Villagomez are forever doomed and never will get re-elected into any political office. So what about Babauta and Benavente? Do they deserve any more salary from the taxpayers? They failed the CNMI as well. Mr. 77, will you be supporting Babauta or Benavente? Only you would know, right?

I hope your conscience gets the better of you while at the voting polls next November 2009, and same goes for all other BB Disciples. To be clear, I’m not endorsing the blue boys either (Heinz and Dave), although they sure have the advantage of a front row seat watching the pitfalls of the past and current administration unfold before their eyes. For sure they are taking good notes and planning their next move. I hope they learn from the mistakes of the previous administrations, including the Fitial Administration whom I consider “previous” as I think their re-election bid either together or on separate tickets is as promising as flying pigs or snow in hell.

What does the CNMI need? To answer my own question, “I don’t know.” I do, however, know what the CNMI does NOT need, which would be Babauta, Benavente, Fitial and Villagomez. I could go further and list members of the 16th Legislature, both upper and lower house, but I’ll leave it at that.