Auntie Charo's Soapbox

What a handsome man he was, walking down the aisle, his cabinet standing in attention, waiting for the words that would make them all look good, all feel good. After all, if they all did what they were supposed to do, it meant that he could stand up there and tell the world that all was good, that Guam, his island was in good shape....and today, at least for a half hour, he said that it was good. He told about how many more buses we had for our precious children to ride to and from school in, how many more ambulances our precious people could be transported to and from the hospital in (he didn't say anything about what kind of care they would get once they got to the hospital, but then that could be another speech, some other time, maybe). He spoke of more vehicles, more police officers. He spoke of more jobs and he spoke of more tourists and a better economy and the smile never left his face and oddly, that beautiful, purple, orchid lei never slipped from his shoulder, almost as if it was glued in place. It was surreal watching the camera pan the crowd. The cabinet clapped on cue, about thirty times I heard some radio talk show host saying....but, my favorite pet peeve was alive and well in the hallowed hall....every other attendee was either chewing 'pugua' or chewing gum. People really never think how rediculous they look when they're in public chewing away, some with their mouths open as they pop their gum....anyway, I digress....for good reason...because after the 30 minute feel good workout, reality set in....no one called the reporters of the news and told them to hold off and not report that the power bills were probably going to be increased by almost 5% in April and that the street lights were in the process of being disconnected and somewhere down the way, the water was probably going to be increased as well, never mind that we haven't paid out the tax refunds for 2003/4 and 5, the EITC or fixed the retirement fund problem. And there's that crazy problem at Tiyan that's costing bucks in legal fees because we're going to have to figure out what we're going to do to win-win the problem with the people and the Feds so that we don't lose the money from the Feds and keeping peace within the home front.
Yeah, we have more vehicles, but it isn't because we planted our own version of money trees....Compact Impact money trees bloomed those dollars.....the very dollars that could have bloomed schools instead of vehicles....but who am I to say that we need schools more than buses and police cars? The writer of a speech had better be on the side of reality because it's always there to hit you in the face after the speech is over and if you don't believe me, catch ABC 14's Macaluso's package. Mr. Robert Underwood was quite exacting with his remarks on the speech, perhaps you'd like to hear him as well.