UMDA big shots asked for Cape Air and that’s what they got

This problem with Cape Air started in the ’80s and can be traced directly to arrogance on the part of the 50 Chamorros that control the CNMI and a couple of former Trust Territory big shots. In the ’80s UMDA owned 60 percent of Air Micronesia, remember? These egomaniacs, led by Larry Hillbloom, told Continental to shove it, we can do it ourselves, so Continental, tired of these crazies’ antics, moved to Guam where they are very happy. Happy to be free of the lunatics running UMDA. Many of the same lunatics are still in charge of the asylum known as the CNMI, and unless you kick all of them out and get fresh, qualified, educated and dedicated people in charge of the government, you are going to be stuck with these idiots for another two or four years.

Voters, you simply must go against your fathers, uncles and grandpas in this election, for the good of the other 50,000 residents of the CNMI. House Bill 18-12, passed by the do-nothing 18th Legislature, authorizes the government to issue another $300 million in bonds (we know it as debt) for the Retirement Fund. This is the kind of stupid laws that the Legislature has been passing for the past 36 years. We are all guilty of not taking an interest in our government and this is just another example of why our “leaders” are not leaders. We owe a billion dollars, well not us because we will all be dead before this is paid, but our great, great grandkids will inherit it, from us. Does that make you proud?

Suck it up now, folks, don’t let our government borrow any more. Retirees, stop being so selfish and self-centered. You elected the people that messed up your Retirement Fund and you have to share in the pain unless you feel good about passing on this debt to every person in the CNMI for the next 50 years or more.

Remember this, the 50 or so people sitting on top of the pyramid don’t care about you, even though some of you have the same last names as theirs. There is a difference between their last names that only they know about for some reason. They are spelled the same but, for some strange reason, they are not the same.

Hey! What is going on with the CNMI GOP
Here is the Preamble of the CNMI Republican Party: “We, the members of the CNMI Republican Party, firmly hold that individual freedom is paramount; that government should be efficient, productive, accountable, responsive, transparent, and limited; that our families are at the core of our combined achievements; and that our economy should be fundamentally centered on the people of the CNMI and their aspirations for life, liberty and the pursuit of individual happiness and higher achievements…”

When the GOP says “family” they mean the 50 people from the nine families in the House and the six families in the Senate that have controlled our lives since 1978. They have elected unqualified, untrained and, in some cases, uneducated family members to write our laws, recommend and appoint department heads and board members, and influence the public and island businesses. Nineteen months ago 29 Senate and House members started the 18th CNMI legislature. Their score card sucks. As of July 29, only 57 bills passed, authored by only 19 members and only six wrote more than two. Seven reduced revenues and only two raised them, one the hotel tax, the other parking meter fees (wow, there’s a money raiser). Seventeen were amendments, three were renaming buildings or something and the rest were things that could and should be taken cared or by department heads, if we had any.

That’s it folks. Only six out of 29 are doing any real work and 10 are just sitting on their butts all the time and 13 most of the time. This election, get informed about more than the candidates’ names. Do not vote for someone just because they have five names—it doesn’t mean they are better than one with four names or three names or whatever. Demand transparency. Demand accountability. Demand to see their qualification. Demand to know what they are going to do for us. 2014 is the year to take back our government. We just have to stop hiring unqualified people to the most important job in the CNMI. (Note: Four bills from the cnmileg.com site—HB 18-18, 26, 47, and 48—have been deleted for some reason and I can’t report on these)

What is wrong with PSS, part 2014
Well, just about everything, from an out of touch Board of Education, to the commissioner and most of the 565 teachers. Other than that, I guess things are fine, if you like your kids coming out brainwashed and brain dead. Enrollment in 2012-13 was 11,011. PSS received a total of $34.4 million in grants from federal agencies and $30 million from the CNMI, for a total of $64.4M. In 2013-14, enrollment was 10,638 and the local budget was $33 million. I can’t find the federal funding for 2013-14 but it is expected to be $35.6 million for 2014-15 so I assume it’s between these two figures, I’ll say $35 million, total $68 million. Enrollment down, money up and PSS can’t manage? Go figure.

What PSS needs is a good comptroller. Oh, I forgot, a good comptroller wouldn’t work for PSS because a good comptroller wouldn’t be given the authority needed to crush the politicos that control PSS, and the parents, teachers and most of the administrator don’t even know what a comptroller is or what they do. Good idea for a class project. Oops! Forgot, PSS doesn’t do class projects like that.

I keep running into people who remind me of the thousands of netbooks distributed a couple years ago and point to increased test scores and smarter students. BS, nothing will change at PSS until the curriculum is changed to let students use touch screen tablets and the Internet for learning. Stop teaching and let these young people learn what they are really interested in. A good start would be to make Galvin S. Deleon Guerrero PSS commissioner. He is tech-savvy and that is what PSS desperately needs in 2014-2015

Gary DuBrall
Chalan Piao, Saipan