Unequal application of federal policy
Not only did the US Senate renege on the Covenant Agreement, it simultaneously subscribes to discriminatory federal policy, i.e., granting American Samoa an industry wage system while attempting to force federally mandated wage against the NMI.
It’s a mindless scrapping of our livelihood versus the special interest of textile labor unions, the lord of soft money who have bankrolled political careers of our detractors.
The measure would also trash all that we have sacrificed as indigenous people of these isles in favor of guest workers who would instantly change the political landscape upon acquiring their green cards via federal statutory mandates.
The Senate action reminds me of an elderly Indian looking down on tribal land telling his grandson: “They made us many promises, more than I can remember. They promised to take our land and they took it”.
No one can take land away from us, but they would eventually do so if given the chance via federal statutory mandate, to share what is rightfully the sole preserve of the indigenous people, carving a dim future for posterity.
It is too obvious that our detractors no longer wish to listen to the sentiment of governance, a sentiment that seeks to protect the very sanctity of the Covenant Agreement now being mutilated by a group of senators whose character comes into question for they are no better (please excuse the term) than Indian givers.
The recent US Senate action escapes reality in its blatant disregard of the more egregious conditions in sweatshops between Manhattan and LA where federal labor officials can’t handle the thousands of serious violations being committed by the apparel manufacturing industry across the country.
Obviously, the textile labor unions have succeeded in getting their pet tigers to forcibly change the rules of the game against a fragile island economy so it could rest and breath easier by forcibly annihilating the $1.2 billion apparel industry here. What I find most despicable is the attitude of making a mockery of “American
Values” just to sound politically correct. Is the forced economic annihilation against the livelihood of this group of US Citizens an integral part of the “American Value” system? Obviously not but detractors have turned pawns of big labor union bosses as to disregard reality as it exit in these isles today.
It is really very unsettling what the future holds for the NMI if political stampeding (as was recently displayed by the US Senate) becomes the norm of dealing with the NMI over realistic recognition of our rights to economic freedom so abundantly given the rest of the American Community throughout our country.
Must we now tacitly agree that investment instability–as wrought by the proposed federal takeover–the trend of the future for these isles? Do we take it henceforth that any industry that evolved into success will be stampeded to death by federal mandates?
It is really very disgusting how the perpetuation of grand injustice can be forced upon a helpless group of US Citizens from national lawmakers upon whom we have placed our trust for fairness and reasoned analysis in empathizing efforts by this group of unrepresented US Citizens to fend for themselves. The Senate’s recent action has drained and dashed our hopes of brighter tomorrows under the “Stars and Stripes Forever”.
Prostitution, mind you, exist in every metropolitan city throughout the global village. It is a thriving business along Waikiki, LA and San Francisco, Las Vegas, Atlantic City, New York, London, Manila and elsewhere. I mean, there was an AP story about Filipinos protesting the joint US-RP military exercise for legitimate fear of the flesh industry taking to new heights in Manila. For our detractors, it’s highly irresponsible to accuse the NMI of prostitution when it is a permanent fixture in any metropolitan city the world over, US cities included.
