Memorial Day

The view east of the north lookout site.

View south from the north lookout site.

View to the north, the island of Saipan, fromt the north lookout site.

Turtle Cove, where the new casino will be built.



Terri and I at the north lookout point.

On one of our morning walks, we came across this procession from the local Catholic church. We have no idea what it was for...

Our friend Ramon (a chef at the Dynasty) told us about a new website that shows one of the new casinos that will be built on Tinian--not the one just started by Bridge Corp, but a second, larger casino that will be built right next to Turtle Cove, and right above what we call Spider Beach. It is a gigantic project with an 18-hole golf course. They will use Tinian Beach and Spider Beach for their guests. For those interested in seeing a fantastic video of the new project, go to:

http://thepulan.com/ (pulan is 'moon' in Chamorro).

With the Bridge Casino (the Tinian Ocean View Resort and Condominiums), that has already started building, and the Pulan, which will start in a year or so (the Bridge casino will be open in 2010, the Pulan, which is much larger, is supposed to open in 2011, a year later). The Dyansty has about 800 workers (it would have about 1200 if it were running at capacity). The Bridge Casino would have about the same. The Pulan would have to have almost double due to its size--perhaps 2,000 workers. This means that within three years the population would go from about 3,500 to about 8,000 people! This does not include the tourists visiting the island, or the ancillary businesses and their workers that will grow up around these casinos to support them! Then, there are still reports that the Marines will be invading the island--from 1,500 to 5,000 men and support personnel that will be on the north end of the island. This might take the population to over 10,000 people...all within 3 to 5 years! Wow! With all the construction, Terri will probably be very busy in the hospital...

Terri and I took a trip to the area to see where the new casino would go--it will really take up a huge area on the southwest part of the island, right next to the airport. Then I took Terri to a couple of places Liz and I had discovered but she had not seen: the Japanese village and the mountain overlook north of the airport. On the way my entire muffler system fell off! Fortunately, I had some bungee cords that I used to hold the muffler on while we came back. We had to put our rain gear on, as we went through a couple of local downpours: two large green monsters on bikes...

Tonight we will celebrate Memorial day by going for pizza!

In closing, we send our love and prayers to any and all military that might read this (including our son serving in Germany...). Your sacrifice and service does honor to you and your families. As we live on an island that was liberated through the deaths of thousands of men (Saipan and Tinian cost more lives than almost any other islands during the war), it is hard not to ponder the selfless sacrifices that have been given by men to bring freedom and liberty to the world.

The US has been receiving a lot of bad press lately, but anyone who knows history at all must recognise the unique and honorable position that the United States holds in the history of the world. It is the only major world power that has ever gone to war to liberate rather than conquer.

Think of the Babylonians, the Assyrians, Greece, Rome, etc. They conquered the world, subdued, and taxed the lands conquered. Even liberated England, in its heyday as a world power, used its influence to subjugate the people it ruled--South Africa, India, Asia, etc., were all under its power. Look at Russia after WWII--did they liberate Europe? Of course not! Like all superpowers before them, they subjugated the people.

If anyone questions the honor the United States holds in history, just compare what Russia did after WWII and what the US did...

The United States, had it followed the pattern of these world powers, would have control over most of Europe, Japan, the Philippines, etc. We have been in devastating wars and lost thousands of our sons, and in the end, we rebuilt those lands, established democracy, and then left them to rule themselves. This history is not in dispute! Now these same countries may rail against the US policies and government decisions, but they do so using the very freedom given them by the blood of the sons of America!

Now, I don't say this to presume that the US is always right, or that we do not or have not made mistakes over the years in dealing with people and countries. But taken as a whole, and viewing the course of human events in a little wider view than that of just a few years, the United States of American stands alone among the nations of history as a beacon of justice, liberty, and freedom of the human spirit. I honor those men who died to make this legacy possible, and those men who currently serve to preserve this freedom for us, and in very fact, for the world.