Decisions made usually come from our individual self, done either hastily or thoughtfully. We follow through to figure out whether it\u2019s good or bad. Some are easy while others are harder to understand with confidence. In the process, we sometime sacrifice a better decision over instant gratification.<\/p>\n
For instance, in the last election we fell for free utility vouchers to the tune of $10 million. The instant deal blurred our vision struggling to understand what it all meant. Well, we fell for it. It granted real time influence to the donor to dictate any and all policy decisions it wishes from what has obviously become a servile administration. You toyed swinging to and fro on an issue that made you part of the larger problem.<\/p>\n
This relationship\u2014government and private firm\u2014is what\u2019s known as cronyism, the seat of corruption. You pick winners and losers willfully as to sacrifice the interest of other well-meaning investors. We said \u201cno\u201d to casino twice via a plebiscite but it changed instantly by a bilateral decision between the administration and the Legislature last year. You quiz what\u2019s the essence of the direct voice of \u201cwe the people\u201d in a plebiscite in this case? Isn\u2019t it because we can\u2019t trust legislators?<\/p>\n
Today I see the troubled expressions of our people struggling to free themselves from familial pain and mind-numbing hardship. It\u2019s good to revisit where it all started. It began with indecisions of Me, Myself, and I. You now pretend you weren\u2019t a part of the mess. You actively placed it right in your own living room. Now you\u2019re saying, \u201cNah, this isn\u2019t what I bargained for?\u201d Well, what did you bargain for last November when you changed your vote? Do you really think your indecision could help matters now?<\/p>\n
I could have hopped on the gravy train of instant gratification but opted otherwise. I honestly don\u2019t believe that the gambling industry is the future of our children. After table dealing, what other professional level jobs are there for generations of our children? Do we now do away with the scholarship program and funnel every high school graduate for training at BS?<\/p>\n
You may have felt good with \u201cbiba\u201d and \u201cbeeaaa\u201d satisfied half drunk. Sober, you find out that your expectation has gone the other way. Now you ask \u201chow come\u201d? Try to honestly answer it yourself!<\/p>\n
It matters to me that we turn our livelihood down the path of better economic opportunities over the Republican toxic-loaded ship that has sunk our quality of life. There\u2019s no leadership to turn the economic depression around. It feeds into poverty and finally, corruption. Nothing is going to change. It\u2019s too comfortable for Republicans now laying eggs in their nest. What about you and the future of your children?<\/p>\n
The economy is in shambles. It isn\u2019t a hard term. Bring it down to your family level, e.g., family income and wellbeing. You will instantly see where it has taken you. It\u2019s down the path of more hardship and misery. This is because the people you\u2019ve elected into office are at best, clueless. Confused, they have done a lot of \u201cnothing.\u201d<\/p>\n
In brief, we can\u2019t continue blaming others for decisions that came from the three people we know best of Me, Myself, and I. The whole issue begins and ends with the self! No intention to insult your intelligence but perhaps there\u2019s a dire need to jolt your senses into facing real reality.<\/p>\n
Growth: Fast and furious<\/strong><\/p>\n The Marpi land issue has its own upside: forced a slowdown approach to development. It ensures (at least for now) that \u201cwe the people\u201d filled with a truly unique cultural tradition aren\u2019t necessarily pulled off the umbilical cord of what made our way of life unique as a people.<\/p>\n Development is fine if it is done at our own pace based on thoughtfully reviewed issues meriting timely decisions. The casino industry includes what\u2019s known as \u201cintegrated resort,\u201d a huge project far larger in size and scope than what we\u2019ve seen here and Guam. Why does it matter that we domesticate the issue?<\/p>\n The size of the project would force what\u2019s known in development lingo as \u201cfast and furious.\u201d It means the local government must scramble to find millions of dollars for water, power, sewer and roads where the planned facility would be built. We don\u2019t have the money for it. Hell, we\u2019re now using CIP funds to pay CUC the more than $30 million government agencies owe on a cumulative basis.<\/p>\n The Republic of Belau is a good example of the displacement of its people that involve the Chinese buying up everything. They even bring in their own tourist buses, running local Palauans out of business. It isn\u2019t necessarily a healthy partnership.<\/p>\n Before we lose it all let\u2019s slam the brakes, now! No, we don\u2019t want to lose the light of our candle in the middle of a superstorm. This is our only chance to take back and retain what\u2019s ours!<\/p>\n Official snore:<\/strong> An elected official snoozes and hopes he could find something constructive to do after his long siesta. I like this group because their snore is usually an infectious thing\u2014if you\u2019re standing anywhere near them, you\u2019d snore too! You also get hit and begin your rendition of long yawns and finely tuned snooze. Boy, they even snore with unique musical melodies that could be scary too if there\u2019s an abrupt stop or break. Is it sleep apnea? Eh, wake up the guy before he denies his brain oxygen!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Decisions made usually come from our individual self, done either hastily or thoughtfully. We follow…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[256,21,67,244],"class_list":["post-215189","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-opinion","tag-casino","tag-life","tag-people","tag-utility"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/215189","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=215189"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/215189\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=215189"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=215189"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=215189"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}