Marianas Variety On-Line Edition

Short and not-so short takes
IT is misleading — I’m probably in a good mood; otherwise I would have said moronic — to say that the proposed federalization of local immigration would “eliminate the nonresident ....(See details)

Term limits for BOE members
THE chairman of the Board of Education just made the most powerful argument for term limits when he put forward yet another argument for the Public School System to be exempt from the law requiring that the ...(See details)

Green light
THESE organizational problems probably hold true at the Department of Public Safety as well, where officials gave the copper thieves a green light when they announced recently that all investigative resources ...(See details)

Worth cultivating
INCREASES in the number of Russian tourists seem to be the one bright spot on the horizon. These visitors are independent travelers, renting cars, frequenting restaurants and stores, and they stay...(See details)

Hold your horses Dekada
FIRST, the Ben and Tim administration is not to be blamed for the minimum wage issue. The governor publicly announced that he supports the increase on the minimum wage for the CNMI. And while he feels ...(See details)

On the proposed wage hike
DAVID Cohen urges the people of the CNMI to speak with one voice. I wish that were possible, I hope it is, but I fear that it is not. Our governor is not hearing the voices of the people who disagree with his opinion...(See details)

Equal rights
IT’S amazing what implications has brought about to our little island with the talk of increased minimum wage and the possibility of federal takeover to the 400 plus Dekada members or roughly 10 ...(See details)

Veteran for ‘federal takeover’
AS a retired, disabled veteran, who has made his home here for more than a generation, I feel compelled to speak out and voice my SUPPORT for the COMPLETE federalization of CNMI minimum wage and immigration....(See details)

Careful now
THERE is the adage that we must be careful for what we wish for, for we may just get it. There is no denying that businesses in the NMI are not doing well and while we all hope to see a resurgence of our economy...(See details)

Sinking the boat
MANY small businesses in the CNMI are already dead, having long ago, even before the hike in CUC rates, died of natural causes — the recent hike in oil prices in the global market which led to increased...(See details)

How did we get here?
AS the U.S. Senate ponders the future of the CNMI, by contemplating actions on the minimum wage and other issues, it is worthwhile for everyone in the CNMI to think about the state of our economy, and how we got here. ...(See details)

No response
I HAVE been trying to call for an appointment with a doctor at the Women’s Clinic since Jan. 4, 2007. I have been spending about an hour a day doing this. At first, I dialed 236-8371. It was busy. I tried 236-8372 and let it rang for 30 times....(See details)

All the way
WITH all the political, economic and the federal impact on the minimum wage increase and immigration takeover issues that we are faced with, I am sure that everyone’s New Year’s resolution is undoubtedly ...(See details)

On the casino petition
THIS is an open letter to encourage everyone and in particular women to come out on Saturday, Jan. 13, beginning at 8 o’clock in the morning at the Civic Center Basketball Court to support the launching....(See details)

The lawmaking process
I AM not sure how this Legislature and the previous ones had managed to engage the public in the lawmaking process. Is it that difficult to see that we have a truck-load of issues facing the CNMI and our elected officials in the House of ...(See details)

Very simple
HOPEFULLY the morons that are stealing copper wire will soon receive a self-administered 240-volt lobotomy and the problem will take care of itself. However, if this continues what are we going to do about it? ...(See details)