I-O-U
With the economy hanging by a thread, everyone is trying to make ends meet. You don’t even own your salary. By the time it hits your bank account, it belongs to people you owe. You owe CUC, CHC, grandma, and even your next door neighbor. So it’s I OWE YOU or I-O-U paydays. Does living paycheck to paycheck worth living for? You see yourself spending more than what you actually earned. You are so depressed that you are sick and tired of being sick and tired.
As a people, we must adjust to our lifestyle. That means letting go of so many things to fit your budget and lifestyle. Remember how you used to get five to seven slices from a can of Spam? Now you cut them so thin it looks like bologna so it’s enough to go around. Or how you add water to your bottle of soy sauce because it’s running low. Sound funny? Do we have to go as far as marking paper tissue so we could limit what we use?
You’re not alone as everyone, including me, is damned by how things are going. Stay optimistic as this election is the most exciting, interesting, bone-crushing election ever. If we all don’t vote for the right people in then we just have to blame ourselves. It’s not the governor’s or a lawmaker’s fault. It’s our fault collectively as we are voters of what is to become. I’m for change this election. Are you? Stand strong. Be strong, because you are strong. We are living in the test of times and united we can make this dream a reality. I’m Vince Cabrera and I approve this message!
Vince G. Cabrera
Chalan Piao, Saipan
I’ve tried listening to all the other candidates and only change has empressed me so far. One candidate is trying so hard to lie his way back to his seat. The other candidate is just waiting to use his voters as a fall-back in case he doesn’t make it and there’s a run-off. As for the last candidate, well, good luck to you. Voters, if you feel the same way I do, then let’s make a change and vote for change. Lets vote so hard that we don’t need a run-off this election! Send that message that we are SICK & TIRED!! I’m theheckler14 and I too approve Mr. Cabrera’s message!!
Buenas Mr. Cabrera,
One thing you forgot to mention is each pay some people have the habit of feeding the machines throughout our island chain. I had seen people gamble their whole pay check in one sitting and I end up lending them a couple of hundreds of dollars to the next pay day. I knew that next pay day will never come and like other business entity, I always write it off as losses.
As long as we have the same dynamic of our legislative body, we as a society will continue to suffer. We need to start electing different ethnicity to our legislature, it will at least minimize corruptions in the form of check and balance. Money corrupts honest people and a position at the legislature equates to money. Many of us wants change in our government, lets look at other states for guidance and the State of California can be one example that diversity of their state level elected officials benefits their community as a whole. The way our legislature function is I scratch your back and you do the same to me. Just a thought.
Si Yu’us Ma’se
Mr. Cabrera, the problem is that most if not all of the individuals who chose to run are incompetent and self-interested. I’m all for change, but “change” doesn’t “start with me.” I truly believe that with the choices we are facing for Gov / LT Gov we would be better off letting the office sit dark and idle. There are one or two running for the House that will do no harm. I can’t say the same about the rest.
Buenas Bananarepublic670,
We strongly agree with your assessment above, but the problem is when ever we elected individuals into office, they will try their best to keep such position. One good example is the write in candidates, back then we can elect an individual via the write in candidates, but some elected officials don’t like the idea of more competition via the write in candidates and they put a stop to such practice. Also, the requirement to be eligible to vote in the CNMI, an individual has to be physically in the CNMI for 45 days back then, but a senator amended such law and extended the requirement to 90 days, because he doesn’t want the newly arrived United States Citizens at his senatorial district to participate to vote at that point in time. I was there when he was advocating for other elected officials to support his bill. The reason behind such bill was not to allow United States from voting right away upon arrival in the CNMI. I had spoken to many of my law professors, lawyer friends who studied constitutional law and such Public Law in the CNMI is unconstitutional. Someone needs to challenge such law, because it was created to deprive other United States Citizens from voting right away in our island chain. In the state of California, you only need to be in the state for fifteen days in order for you to register to vote.
We were researching on a bill relating to drug testing who were running for public office in the CNMI. There was a United States Supreme Court ruling that such practices is unconstitutional [unreasonable search and seizure-Chandler v. Miller, US SupCt, No. 96-126, 61CrL2010, (April 15, 1997)] and we put a stop to such bill. But the house duplicate such bill a year later and their legal counsels gave them the go ahead to pass such bill. We were trying to let the senates know that such bill was unconstitutional and it did pass in the senate, but the governor veto it and to our understanding the legislature override such veto. We were told that if a bill is unconstitutional let someone else challenge it in the judicial process and keep our opinion to ourselves.
Our question was why the legal counsels for the house and senate turn a blind eye on such bill and many other bills that were unconstitutional. We are not lawyers, but it is evident that the legislature’s legal counsels would do anything what they were told to do and it is not on the best interest of our community.
Si Yu’us Ma’ase
We all need to analyze and adjust our budget accordingly. If you can’t afford it now you can’t afford it later. Live with in your means not others. Once my kids are in college, am going to live at my farm with 50% cut back of just about everything 6 pack beer on week ends, water at chow time, and one big shopping trip on a monthly basis. Oh raise chickens, and plant my own vegetables because the new market is in trouble.