Christmas greetings from the Obamas

I just thought I'd share with all of you this message I received by email from the Obama campaign:

Dear Friend,

This is the season where many of us get to leave the pressures of daily life behind and focus on what keeps us grounded -- being together with our families.

For our family, it's been so important for us to maintain our traditions no matter how hectic life gets. Just a few weeks ago, Barack left the frenzy of the campaign trail to come home to get the Christmas tree with the girls and me.

Today, I'd like to share a special holiday greeting from our family to yours:



This is also the season to remember that we're all in this together by helping those in need in our own communities and around the world.

You can find a way to help here:

http://www.charitynavigator.org

Thank you for welcoming us into your lives and believing in what we are trying to do.

Wishing you a very Happy Holiday,

Michelle

Bovine

I published this in one of my other blogs, Sai-Treking Web Adventure, but it really calls for posting here as well, so here it is.

Just came across an interesting site out of Australia called bovination.com. It's dedicated to discussions of . . . those things we all learned are not discussed in polite company . . . sex . . . religion . . . politics. According to their masthead, they have been "provoking the herd since 2002" and warn, "Your sacred cow is in mortal danger."

Amazing what serendipitous stuff one encounters via a Google search. Anyway, here's a tidbit about the travails of a schoolteacher in Sudan who allowed her students to name a teddy bear "Mohammed." Seems she was supposed to be publicly flogged and jailed for a year but they are letting her off with 15 days and deportation.

Its all about the morals being taught to the children, you understand. As a Sudanese local said, "She is a teacher and should be teaching her pupils to be respectful and have morals but instead she is doing the opposite."

Brings to mind Ron Hodges, Rep. Stanley Torres, and the members of the House of Representatives who supported the resolution. See! This is actually important. It is imperative keep our standards up to those of the Sudan!

Obama's Movement

This is why Barrack Obama will be the next President of the United States. This ad is presently running in Iowa, consisting principally of excerpts from his speech at the Iowa Democratic Party's Jefferson-Jackson Dinner last month.



Here's the Washington Post's current fix on the U.S. Presidential race.

3. Deceptive campaigning

Certain deceptive tactics of proponents of the Saipan Casino initiative have come to my attention. It appears that multiple "identities" from a single computer have been used in Tina Sablan's forum to create a false impression of large numbers of outspoken supporters of the casino initiative. Here's what Tina has to say about it.

Similarly, there is this letter to the editor in the Saipan Tribune in which the author asserts that he has changed his mind and will be voting "YES" on the initiative. Yet it is fairly plain from the argument and style of the letter that the writer never had any such change of mind -- he clearly has been a supporter and advocate from the get-go. The substance of the reasons for allegedly changing his mind are all the standard pro-casino arguments used for the longest time to try to sell casinos for Saipan.

2. Time Flying . . . .

Given that there are just 15 days to go until the election, which is on Saturday, November 3, it is unlikely this neophyte blog will be of much service to the public this time around. But at least I'm learning something about how to do this.

Kilili is doing a great job at the Commonwealth Election Commission, and he certainly doesn't get the political support he should (our legislators have been more than happy to change the law to relax CEC duties, such as in public education, instead of doing what they should: supply CEC with the resources to do a bang-up job). Still, there are some basic improvements that could be made.

For example, the Commission website does not even indicate the date for this year's general election. It really ought to be on the front (home) page, but I don't see it anywhere. Kudos go to the Saipan Tribune for their front page countdown to the election, which I think is a real public service, alterting voters and focusing attention.

Neither is there on the CEC website a list of candidates with party affiliation, ballot position, etc. Copies of sample ballots also would be nice. So far the best source I've seen for this sort of information is Joe Camacho's website. It is my understanding that the information in his polls is accurate right down to even having the names appear in the same order they will on the actual ballot.

If you are looking for the text of the proposed Saipan Casino Act initiative, you can find it here on Google Docs. The Election Commission also has all the initatives now on their website in PDF. There is also an excellent discussion of the subject thriving on Tina Sablan's website.

1. Beginnings . . . .

I am creating this blog as public service to give the voting public of the CNMI a place to find information on the candidates and issues for the 2007 election. Here I hope we can assemble reference information on all candidates, links to candidate and issue web sites, and provide an opportunity for public and candidate comment and debate. Questions? Want answers? Have a message you want to get out? Put it all here!

So . . . to get the ball rolling, I'm calling on all candidates to either post here or email to me for posting: 1) a picture, 2) a short description of their candidacy (the main reason for running), and 3) any links to their web sites or other web sites recommended for citizen perusal.