If this be parody . . .

I just returned from a flyby over former Representative Cinta Kaipat's MyCNMI bog, and I find we are being parodied! Newly posted right under the turtle picture and right above her Worldtimeserver clock is this spiffy annimated banner:


They say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, but ....

Look carefully now. Notice how the CNMI is banned? And the written message is "No to Federalization." I guess they finally got it logically right (but why this is what they want is beyond me):

Ban (destroy) the CNMI, say no to federalization.

Of course, we have to admit that the message is a bit ambiguous. After all, it doesn't actually say what they mean by "federalization." We are just assuming the reference is to the extension of U.S. immigration and naturalization law to the CNMI "in the manner and to the extent" provided by the U.S. Congress pursuant to its express authority under Section 503 of the Covenant.

What a wonderful word for an oppositionist, "federalization" -- it serves to spook or rile anyone with something to fear or dislike about the federal government; it plays to parochialism, insular pride, hubris, interests vested in patronage politics, and ignorance.

She also wants us to visit her new CNMI Labor Forum, and tells us PL 15-108 is a good law!

CNMI Labor Forum ... now that sounds official. Is it? Is this an official CNMI government blog? Run by Cinta Kaipat?

UPDATE: The Monday, February 11, 2008, Saipan Tribune reports that Ms. Kaipat has been appointed Deputy Secretary of Labor. Wendy Doromal, who gives a voice to the islands' Nobodies, has supplied a trenchant overview of the implications of this appointment.

Official or unofficial, I am sure we can count on this new forum to be as clear, reliable, accurate, insightful, and helpful as Cinta, Howard, and company's recent pronouncements in the local media, and the statements of Governor Fitial, Charles Reyes, and the rest.

PL 15-108 is a good law. And ... the state of the commonwealth is "pretty darn good!" "Better times." Yes, indeed, "better times."

Remember now, if you are an alien and you exercise your right to free speech, you are "illegal." The Governor himself said so ... to a subcommittee of a standing committeee of the U.S. House of Representatives, no less.

PL 15-108 is carefully designed to limit the rights, benefits, and liberties of alien workers, make them more fully subject to the yoke, subject their every significant employment-related move to close administrative supervision and the imperspicuities of administrative personnel, and facilitate the removal from the CNMI of as many foreign nationals as possible, as quickly as possible.

PL 15-108 is indeed a good law. Despite Deanne Siemers's handiwork via the regulations to radically reconstruct it to make it appear less oppressive and make it less vulnerable to legal attack, it remains what it is: the strongest, most powerful proof the CNMI could possibly offer of the necessity and value of "federalization."

"Yes" -- to immigration federalization, the death of PL 15-108, and the dawning of the CNMI revival!

A Senate rebuke

If you are interested in the status of alien workers in the CNMI, you know Howard Willens has been at it again. It being promulgation in the media (specifically, publication in both local newspapers and posting to former representative Cinta Kapait's MyCNMI blog) of an absolutely specious argument that H.R. 3079, to extend U.S. immigration law to the CNMI, is designed to have all kinds of negative and destructive aefects on alien workers and the economy.

His first absurd interpretation -- intended to strike fear in the hearts of foreign workers and confuse at least one U.S. senator into thinking the bill is conroversial and should be held up for further deliberation -- was exposed for the nonsense it was by me and by a Senate staffer as reported in the local media.

So apparently Howard figured he needed to try again, with a more detailed, more public "analysis" that he hoped ... well, we can't get inside his head (like Harry with Voldemort), but he certainly had the same goals and wanted also to defend his ridiculed (and indefensible) first position.

I have been trying to find time to prepare a post on the real plain meaning of H.R. 3079, laying out clearly and systematically what the bill actually provides so people can easily see for themselves the truth in this matter. This is a task I will complete as soon as possible.

In the meantime, Bill Wicker, Communications Director for the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, has given Mr. Willens a finger-wagging. I expect it will be in the local newspapers tomorrow, but you can read about it now at Unheard No More.