Thanks judge, the face off, zip line and cable cars

It was a good day of news when I read the three stories in the title of this letter. First and foremost, Honorable Judge Ramona V. Manglona’s decision to strike down a racist law and allow all citizens to vote on Article 12 is surely the tip of the spear that will kill all racism in CNMI laws. Being an African-American who was literally robbed of my culture and rights and had to fight to get them back, I can truly appreciate what the NMDs are trying to do but they are doing it in the wrong way by trying to construct a wall of social imperialism, which I have written about many times. “All men are created equal” is the philosophical spear that killed slavery, it killed segregation, it liberated blacks, women, and all people of color, giving them the right to vote and it guards the people against discrimination by their race, color, creed, religion, or sex! Thank God almighty we are all equal at last in the CNMI. Thank you from the center of my heart, Judge Manglona, on behalf of all the disenfranchised citizens who now have their rights to participate in every political process in the CNMI. God bless America and the federal court for saving equality again!

The face-off between Best Sunshine and Marianas Stars is on, even though it may not matter who will win the bout because there is a good possibility of the band-aid casino law being repealed and marijuana being legalized for a complete fix to our economy if voters can be one people one more time just like they were in the last election. Voters only got rid of the governor who caused the problem but we didn’t fix the problem—our economy.

As for Best Sunshine and Stars, citizens are already pulling for Stars because we know Stars. Stars has even made it known that they are willing to support a law that will require people to be a guest of the hotel or a guest of the hotel’s guest to enter the casino. The CNMI already has an established working relationship with Stars and their credibility is not in question. Best Sunshine is rightfully upset because Stars already looks more appealing and we haven’t even seen the proposals. It was supposed to be only Best Sunshine who seemingly thought the fix was in for them, especially when the governor was trying to get a Chinese group to do the background checks. I guess I helped to spoil that for Best Sunshine with my This is Not China letter to the governor. Anyway, best of wishes to Stars because if the casino does become a reality, at least there is a good possibility now that we will have an investor we already know who is willing to try and even lead in sheltering the local population from the illnesses of gambling, which is something that should play big in the commissioners’ final decision.

The other great news is that investors are now looking to brighten up the CNMI as a tourist destination with the zip lines and cable cars. Thank you, investors! Now if we can only legalize marijuana so they will have the costumers they need to really prosper because casinos are not going to bring tourists that will go on zip lines and ride cable cars but marijuana will! I can only pray that voters will have the fortitude and wisdom to fix our government and our economy in November.

P.S.: I would like to borrow a phrase from Gary Dubrall who said, “There are no clear-cut answers to some of life’s dilemmas anymore, only intelligent choices.” The choice between casino and marijuana to fix our economy is clear as a casino can never compete with marijuana in attracting tourists to the CNMI.

Ambrose M Bennett
Kagman, Saipan