what the heck is Jaime V smoking?

As an English communications major while I attended the University of Nebraska I believe I understand at least a little about writing, reading comprehension and the English language. My father was a newspaper general manager for decades. I worked for three newspapers myself. I usually am able to follow writer’s and speaker’s trains of thought, and pick up on subtleties of language- I have at times had basic understandings of at least 5 languages. All this leads me to ask- why does the Tribune publish the writings of Jaime Veragara? His “letters” are all over the map from one paragraph to the next- it appears either his elevator does not go all the way to the top or he is on some type of drugs.

As I wrote in my first posting people would misunderstand and mistake my writings and views. Mrs. Lynn now living in Texas did so and I wrote this to respond to her letter:
It appears you, as many others have done, misunderstand life and how people view it. Understanding how people view life is key in understanding life itself. Understanding something and approving of it is NOT the same thing, and you have jumped to a conclusion as many have. When a police detective understands the next moves of a thief or murderer is that the same as approving of the actions of the criminal? Understanding the underlying emotions and the causes in play here takes insight, wisdom and perception- which a 5 year old does not have. Was I unclear when I said “I do not condone the actions of Mr. Cepeda”? If so here is the definition:
“ to regard or treat (something bad or blameworthy) as acceptable, forgivable, or harmless "a government accused of condoning racism" "condone corruption in politics"“
I hope that makes it clear- but let me say again: I do not condone the actions of Mr Cepeda as explained in the letter. I understand your reaction also- when a person does not understand something they tend to get upset and jump to conclusions as you did. I don’t believe you really wish pain upon others when you do not like what they say as you did me- and I hope you don’t teach that to your 5 year old. Wishing pain upon others as you did to me- now that takes a cold heart- and I chose to believe you did not grasp my letter- not that you have a cold heart.

The free market economy of the USA relies on labor and business to drive it. Anyone in theory is free to start a company and see if it makes money for them. You might have an idea and believe others will buy your product or services, and that price they pay will be more than the product or services overall costs. Now of course the idea of a business is to make as much money as possible. If someone was giving away money would you take it? As a business owner you want to keep costs down and revenue up. Part of the cost of running a business is labor costs. If you could get five workers to work for a dollar an hour or one worker to work for 5 dollars and hour you would chose to have the five workers- unless the one could produce more than the 5. It's in a business owners interest to have very low labor costs. Now as a worker you would still take the money if someone is giving it away? If you have a job offer that pays 5 dollars an hour and one that offers 1 dollar an hour which would you chose? You would take the 5 dollar an hour unless the work is very hard or dangerous. Here is the key to the situation on Saipan- business owners want cheap labor, and they have it. Why would they give it up? They will not. Everything is subject to the laws of supply and demand- if there is alot of demand, then the price of an item goes up- if the supply is low and the demand is high, the price goes way up. If the supply is great, then the price goes down. If the supply is great and the demand is low then the price goes way down. Saipan's labor is limited by the amount of foreign workers- which is for all practical purposes unlimited. This means the wages of laborers is going to be low. This only benefits the business owners- not the laborers. It's not all good, because low wages means the workers have less money to spend on goods and services. Japan has high labor costs compared to Saipan, but that means the workers have money to spend- and that is good. Saipan will never improve it's economy in the long run with low labor wages. It creates a two tiered system that we see now- the owners and the workers. US citizens that get a job with the government sit a bit outside this system as the government is not subject to the laws in the short run. In the long run government cannot be the solution to this problem. The solution is to balance the amount of labor with the amount of business. Removing the cheap labor and and stopping the reliance on the government to provide a living for US citizens is the only long tern solution that will work. Why would a young man on Saipan learn a trade as a mechanic, carpenter, boat captain or fisherman when the wages of those trades is well below that it takes to raise a family on the island? You'd have to be raised in and used to third world conditions to realistically want a job like that- and that is why cheap labor is available. As letter writers in the past have shown- understanding this can be outside their grasp. However- understanding this is key to improving the lives of both the workers and owners. The CNMI will do just fine without the cheap labor in the long run. Will it take some time to wean the business owners from this? Yes. Will business owners and the politicians that depend on them try to stop this? Yes. Will it cause some pain in the transition? Yes. Will it remove the two tiered system that creates so many issues? Yes. Will is allow young citizens of the CNMI to thrive and build a life on the islands? Yes. Will the guest workers dislike this? Yes. Will it help the natives to retain control of their homeland, culture and language? Yes. Will it be easy? No. It must be done or the future of the islands will continue spiral downwards.

Gotta love Wendy's D's blog about sushi and the marine monument- she posts a pic of a french angelfish- which she claims to have taken. They are only found in the Atlantic.... She might want to learn a bit about the ocean before she preaches about it.

I had a great time over at my folks for the holidays. I hope everyone's holiday was as good. I read the "discrimination at church" letter. Not hard to imagine, really. Predictable in fact. When one group of people comes in and seems to "take over" a thing, a institution, a place, an island the first people will not like it. When Hawaii was made a state, outsiders were and still are disliked by Hawaiians. Palestinians dislike the Jews that came when Israel was created, and the Jews in turn dislike the non jews. In Africa, tribal wars are non stop. This is human nature and it's been going on since before we evolved into Homo Sapiens. It's something that will always be inside us as humans. Groups of people will associate with those that we feel are like us. We tend to stay away from those that are not like us. We will resent those that attempt to take things from "us". In your mind or in your yard, those things are what we imagine them to be- and the church is both. I don't think anyone wants a group to come into a place that was once the primary dominion of the first group and see it dominated by second group unless they have a vested interest in that second group. This is the primary problem in Saipan: guest workers want a better life, and the natives see that quest as a threat, and they are correct in thinking this is a threat. Anyone who thinks that the guest workers will not vote as a block that remove many powers of the natives is naive. I do not condone the actions of the Mr Cepeda, but I understand them. What is causing the actions is clear.

Happy Holidays to everyone. I'm hoping everyone has health (which cannot be over stated) and this coming year, and happiness.

Letter to editor

Ms Berueco's latest letter to the editor was not disrespectful in my opinion. She raised some good points: I am not on Saipan now so there are things happening I do not know about- and if a host offers you food with flies on it you can shoo them away. Please note that I wrote another letter in reference to the time lapse of when I wrote the letter and when it was printed.