An unacceptable apology

What is the proper response to a person who refers to the annual Peace Ceremony held in Hiroshima on the anniversary of the dropping of the atomic bomb as a “pity party”? Should we just laugh along with him, admiring his witty reference to an action that killed 155,200 children, women and men, and caused life-long injuries for many others?

How should one respond when, after Mr. James Mendiola justly called him on his racist and inflammatory remark, Ken Moore then attempts to discredit his critic by referring to Mr. Mendiola’s “Japanese lineage” and “ties to the Japanese mainland?”

What should we think of a man who says “I apologize fully,” and then proceeds to explain how the offensive words really weren’t his, that they belong to an acquaintance who used the phrase recently on the phone with him?

Are we supposed to buy his next argument that it is actually he himself who was wronged, because his outrageous, vitriolic and condescending comments were “made in private” and therefore acceptable? He fails to mention, of course, that when he wrote those comments in an email to Don Farrell that he copied in 57 other people as well.

And what are we to make of the fact that Ken Moore turned his so-called apology into an opportunity to attack and discredit those who oppose his attempts to strip-mine Pagan?Tai mamalao! Man dakun!

This man, who writes of his “love for all who advance the cause of human rights regardless of race and nationality,” wants to strip-mine Pagan without allowing the families who call Pagan home to have any say in the matter. When we stand up and fight for them and for the interests of the CNMI community, he calls us “vile and abhorrent” with “no semblance to any kind of human decency.” When his lies and distortions are caught and pointed out, he decries his critics as “wantonly casting stones at what one perceives to be an evil [that] is reminiscent of Europe’s Dark Ages”—a spin that attempts to cast himself as the poor victim of a witch-hunt.

Well, no matter how he tries to spin it, the obvious fact is that Ken Moore has as little respect for the people of the CNMI as he does for the people of Japan. He poses as an investor when in reality he has no money, no mining experience, no operation plan, no environmental impact studies, unrealistic time-lines, unsupported promises, and a deal that would leave the CNMI with just 7 percent of revenues—not even enough to clean up the mess he makes as he scrapes away a third of the total surface of Pagan.

When are senators Joaquin Adriano, Luis Crisostomo, and Joseph Mendiola going to wise up and stop supporting this so-called investor? They portray the community’s attempts to stop Ken Moore as “scaring away investors” when in reality, it is their support of his ridiculous offer that is blocking the way for serious investors. Hopefully this latest example of Ken Moore’s character will wake them up.

Ken Moore’s plans, like his insincere apologies, are simply unacceptable.

Peter J. Pangelinan Perez
for PaganWatch
http://www.chamorro.com/paganwatch