Welcome USS Columbus and Ingraham

Last week we welcomed the USS Curts to our fair shores and this week it is the US Navy fast attack Submarine USS Columbus SSN 776 and the Frigate USS Ingraham FFG61 that are stopping by for a few days’ rest and recreation for their hardworking officers and crew. U.S. military personnel like to come here to enjoy our beautiful weather, fine beaches, great food, friendly people, historic sights and many fun things to see and do. Plus it is a safe place to take liberty and it is a very “military friendly” place to spend some quality time ashore.

Once again we should thank the crew of the USNS Safeguard for working to remove those impediments in our shipping channel, which were keeping large deep draft ships from entering our port. Now that the channel is clear, many more U.S. Navy and other large ships will be calling on Saipan for much deserved liberty calls.

We welcome you all to Saipan and hope you enjoy your stay in the enchanting CNMI!
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[B]Human lottery[/B]

There was a Reuters article in the paper some days ago relating the story of how within hours of the opening of the application period for workers H visas, the U.S. Immigration Department was “flooded” with more than three times the number of applicants for the available slots to be filled.

Manufacturing associations in the U.S. point out that the system currently in place is woefully inadequate to keep the U.S. competitive with the rest of the world because it allows too few skilled foreign workers to he hired. The U.S. system allows for only 65,000 worker slots in a country of 300 million people and millions of private businesses. They actually hold a random drawing, a lottery, to choose who will have a job and who will not be allowed in.

This has been a problem in the U.S. for a long while and appears to have no solution in sight even though it is in their best interest to correct it. The political will to change the system is just not there. Congressmen fear for their re-election hopes if they allow more foreign workers to come into the country.

It makes me wonder just how receptive this same group of U.S. politicians and bureaucratic agency staffers will be to carefully balancing our labor needs here in the CNMI if they take over the system. According to some sources, we need about 20,000 workers here, many skilled, many not. Do you think the politicians 10,000 miles away and far out of sight will really care how we fare out here? Do you think that any three or four of the 91 senators that just voted to have the U.S. system take over out here could even find Saipan on a map, much less be bothered to see that Immigration regulations to be drafted by the Homeland Security folks will really address our needs? When they don’t care enough to solve the same problem in their own backyard do you think they will go out of their way to see to it that the problem is solved here in the CNMI 10,000 miles over the lonely horizon? I seriously doubt it.

I would not want to be a foreign national guest worker under contract here if the crazed Senate committee staffer (Stayman) and two obsessed US congresspersons (Miller and Pelosi) finally get their way and the CNMI’s labor and immigration laws are superceded by the uncaring cadre over in Washington D.C. It looks to me like most will be going back to their home countries whether they want to or not. With about 19,000 guest workers remaining here and 15 or 20 thousand already gone back home, that means that once the U.S. system is put into place some 3,800 workers will have to leave the CNMI each year in order to reach the goal of zero workers remaining that U.S. immigration wants to achieve five years after they take over. Will you be one of the ones “chosen” to leave next year? Will they do it by “lottery”? Will you draw or be issued a number and have your fate determined by blind luck the way they do it in the U.S. right now? Homeland Security and U.S. Immigration will have to come up with some way of removing all those workers. What is your best guess about how they will do it?

Maybe we don’t really need 20,000 contract workers here; I can’t say one way or another. It appears we are about to find out as they begin to be sent home by the thousands by the U.S. Immigration system they themselves have marched in “unity” to see put into place. If that is not ironic, I don’t know what is.

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[B]Veterans clinic on Saipan?[/B]

A friend of mine who, like me, is a veteran of the U.S. military has suggested something that would be of great help to all military veterans and other military personnel here. He learned that by registering ourselves, one and all, with the VA Office up on Capital Hill we might reach that critical tipping point of having sufficient numbers of potential users to have a veterans medical clinic be installed right here in the CNMI. That would remove some pressure from CHC and vets would not have to travel to Guam for simple check ups and other procedures.

Ruth Coleman, our Military and Veterans Affairs Office director, thinks that there may be as many as 1,000 U.S. military veterans here on the island. No one knows for sure because many, like me, have not registered themselves as resident veterans.

Ruth will welcome the opportunity to help you register with the VA and with the local M&VAO. I understand it is a simple procedure and one that does not require a lot of time. Veterans need to drag out a copy of that DD214 and bring it along to the Saipan office up on the Hill in building number 1362 on Anatahan Drive, phone 664-2650.

Please note that Memorial Day is just around the corner and there is a meeting each Tuesday morning at 9am at the M&VA office to organized and prepare for the events that will take place on that important holiday. If you have some time on your hands and can be of help, please volunteer. Because of government cut backs, Ruth has many responsibilities and no one on staff to assist her. Please contact her as above. Any assistance will be gratefully accepted.

One last scheduling note: on Thursday, April 24, at 1pm, representatives from the Guam Veterans Center will arrive on island to provide private counseling for any and all combat veterans and their spouses. These sessions will be held at the Army Reserve Center in Puerto Rico and are, of course, free of charge.

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Instead of a Quote of the Week this week, I will give you a reminder instead: The 4th Annual Mahi Mahi Fishing Derby will be held this weekend. Sign up to participate or just come out to enjoy the daily weigh-ins and the family-style gathering that takes place. Registration is Friday evening at Smiling Cove Marina. The Derby is on Saturday, all day. Bring beer and a chair. You might get to taste some fresh mahi sashimi.

[I](Bruce A. Bateman writes Sour Grapes when the moon is full and the mood strikes. Stay tuned for each exciting episode. “Yes, he is opinionated.” Email: bbateman@pticom.com; Blog: http://saipanuvian.blogspot.com/)[/I]