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.