December 24, 2005 - Saturday

Christmas eve, and here's another bit of Kaaawa Christmas, spotted a few days ago just after sunrise. With night temperatures down into the 50s at least once, you can almost get into the mood. But this morning's scene was a Chrismas imu down the street. I walked over about 5 a.m. and invited myself in for photos as the fire started burning down.

At 8:25 a.m., just a few minutes ago, the meat was all in and the imu covered. Photos will hopefully follow tomorrow, if I've got some time to get them ready.

With all the grim faces around the newspaper industry, I enjoyed reading a little essay on Bob Baker's Newsthinking blog. Here's the nut graf:

I don't know about you but I'm tired of listening to our obituaries. I ACCEPT death: Everybody dies sometime. If newspapers are going to die, as most "smart" people seem to think, let's go down swinging. Let's go down like the Texans at the Alamo. Let's publish the best, most interesting, most audacious stories we can, on our own terms. Let's not be businessmen. Let's be artists. Let's put our art--the stories we love to write, edit and publish--on the market and see who buys it.

Have a great Saturday and Christmas eve.

December 23, 2005 - Friday

Another sign of the season appeared this week in the form of Ron, the Kaaawa School crossing guard, in full seasonal regalia. Bravo, Mr. Ron!

There are several more interesting nuggets in the report on the December board meeting of the UH faculty union, the University of Hawaii Professional Assembly.

• UHPA authorized a legal challenge to the state's new campaign spending law that prohibits direct campaign contributions by corporations and unions using general treasury funds. Attorney Tony Gill apparently told the board that the commission is "misinterpreting" the law and advised an immediate challenge, although the board's notes do not specify what provisions of the law are expected to be challenged.

• In the meantime, the union approved a new separate, segregated political action to conform with the state's new campaign spending law that takes effect on January 1, and to jump start it with $200,000 from a special union fund. That contribution must be made before the law's effective date.

• The board was told that the university will be joining the State's lawsuit against Plan Compliance Group, the company responsible for millions of dollars in missing retirement funds that were supposed to be invested on behalf of teachers and faculty here and in several other states. "There were 70 separate institutions served by this company," UHPA was told. The law suit was filed by the Attorney General on behalf of the Department of Education.

The latest news is that there hasn't been any news about the kidnapped members of the Christian Peacemaker Team in Iraq.

Two bits of good news. Our cats seem to have survived the shift to Science Diet CD cat food, supposedly formulated to reduce the kinds of urinary problems Leo has suffered from. Leo himself was one of the last to finally accept the new food.

And we learned yesterday that our efforts finally succeeded in getting a new and loving home for Ms. Lola, the puppy who had won the hearts of all the regulars who walked past her former house on the beach. We hadn't seen her for several days, and just learned yesterday that the proper connection had been made and she's now in her new home. What a great Christmas present.

December 22, 2005 - Thursday

Those pesky clouds blocked our view of the sun as it came up yesterday, although its arrival was announced by these stray rays of sunlight. Welcome to winter.

The University of Hawaii Professional Assembly board had some harsh comments about UH administrative salaries during their meeting last month. According to UHPA's Board Notes:

"A great deal of discussion ensued as Directors were totally outraged that administrators, who were already highly paid, were having salary increases. Former UH President Kenneth Mortimer had a $180,000 annual salary and in such a short time, the UH President's salary was up to $700,000. Salaries for administrators across the system increased as well. There are enormous discrepancies and the public needs to be informed."

In addition, "it was reported that two female administrators' salaries were around the 20th percentile of the College and University Personnel Association (CUPA) salary guidelines while their male counterparts had their salaries at the 80th percentile."

UHPA commented: ""So even at the managerial level, there are inequities."

Okay, okay, okay. The second complaint came in overnight about my mention last week of a news report concerning surveillance of a Dartmouth student. The reference obviously needed to be more specific than the linked news story.

Complaint #1:

not to be too pedantic about it but the Dartmouth student you mentioned does not attend the Ivy league school of that name but a branch of the University of Massachusetts in the town of Dartmouth, MA near New Bedford. The newspaper that you link to is one that I delivered 52 years ago in Wareham, MA some 20 miles away.

The story itself is frightening, even if it weren't so close to home for me. The same stupidity that makes World Almanac readers suspects, but with power and follow thru that makes one feel violated.

merry xmas and thanks for another year of good reads.

Complaint #2:

Shame Shame Shame.

UMass Dartmouth is not Dartmouth

It is, sir, as I have said, a small school, but there are those who love it.

Some traditional Dartmouth songs....

Guilty as charged. Apologies.

December 21, 2005 - Wednesday

Today is the winter solstice, and we'll start as usual by walking down to watch the sunrise from the beach on the other end of Kaaawa. There's been a thick layer of haze obscuring the horizon for the past two days, but before it moved in we had this spectacular morning as the sun rose from behind Molokai.

click for larger photo

I was browsing through the public financial disclosures filed with the State Ethics Commission yesterday, and noticed that one UH officials' disclosure form was not available online. So I sent off a quick email to the commission asking why Hawaii Community College Chancellor Rockne Freitas was missing from their listing.

A quick note came back saying it had been filed in December 2004 but inadvertently omitted from the online list, an error that has now been promptly corrected.

So I took a quick look at the newly posted form and noted that Freitas simply checked the box for "None" under each of the categories of financial interests. Income for services rendered during the prior year? None. Business interests? None. Positions held? None. Real estate? None.

Hmmmm. Several things wrong here. The form was dated December 21, 2004, months after Freitas assumed his post at the beginning of August, although the ethics law requires the disclosure to be filed within 30 days of being appointed to a state post.

No income? But at the time of his appointment, Freitas was vice president and executive director of the Ke Ali‘i Pauahi Foundation. According to the foundation's tax return, he earned $165,901 during the tax year ending June 30, 2004.

No real estate? I've been around long enough to recall the large home Freitas built on East Manoa Road, now valued well in excess of $1 million, according to city property records.

The disclosure form contains this statement: "I understand that it is a violation of State law, chapter 84, HRS, if information is not disclosed as required by chapter 84, HRS."

A quick inquiry to the commission regarding their policy for following up on financial disclosures brought this reply from director Dan Mollway:

We review the forms we receive for accuracy and compliance. Sometimes they are not filed in a "timely" fashion because we are not given notice of the appointment in a timely manner a lot of the time, though we work hard at this and ask agencies to update us. When we learn of an appointment, we give the person 30 days to comply with the notice from us. As to what is on the form itself, we look for oddities, such as the lack of real estate and so forth. When we have checked into these things, most of the time we find that there is no issue. There are many good reasons why one might not have things others might think they do. Of course, if we get wind of anything, we pursue it. When we have done random audits, we find that almost all public filings are basically accurate. Most of the information is a matter of public record somewhere, and for most items, there is no reason to hide the item. Happy Holidays!

December 20, 2005 - Tuesday

This entry was delayed due to a server problem at HostRocket.com. Sorry for the inconvenience.

It's cold in Kaaawa this morning. The old thermometer in the living room pegs it at 60 degrees (F of course). Cold. I'm sitting in the living room wrapped in a towel, which is the only thing I could find easily without turning on a light and waking Meda up. The surf is a dull roar in the background, drowning out whatever morning traffic there might be down on the highway.

The Star-Bulletin was online this morning before 2 a.m., and well before its daily rival, Gannett's Advertiser.

But it wasn't a good day for the S-B in the corrections department:

» A couple dressed in Superman costumes was pictured on Page D5 Monday. The photo caption erroneously identified the man as the late actor Christopher Reeve.

» A baby who died after a tree branch fell on her as she and her father were hiking along the Maunawili Trail Sunday was a girl. A story on Page A1 in yesterday's early edition incorrectly said the baby was a boy.

Yesterday's error wasn't just on A1, it was an A1 headline. Ouch.

Yesterday's mention of the new organization, Community Links Hawaii, rattled in my head as we walked yesterday morning. By the time we got back, an interesting scenario occurred to me.

Was "Community Links Hawaii" designed along the lines of the Research Corporation of the University of Hawaii (RCUH), formerly headed by Masumoto, and intended as an alternative vehicle for handling the classified research administration associated with the proposed University Affiliated Research Center (UARC)?

At the time Community Links was formed in December 2004, Masumoto had a contract to "coordinate and follow up on University of Hawaii efforts to be designated as a University Affiliated Research Center (UARC)" and to "advise and participate in setting up the infrastructure within UH/RCUH for operating a UARC." (Thanks to Kyle Kajihiro at the American Friends Service Committee for pushing an information request for the Masumoto contract.)

And, by that time, the long behind the scenes planning process had been forced into the open and run into strong opposition within the UH community.

Was Community Links Hawaii being set up as part of a contingency plan to handle administration of a UARC outside of normal UH channels? And pushing another state contract its way will allow it to hire staff and get up and running while the UARC proposal is being sorted out. Given the involvement of Masumoto and BOR Secretary David Iha, it certainly appears to be a plausible scenario.

The Kaaawa Fire Station has joined in the Christmas spirit with it's own mini version of what's going on at public buildings around town. Oh, there was a little incident in New Zealand over the weekend, a rather unusual sign of the season.

click for larger photo

December 19, 2005 - Monday

I ran across a notice buried several layers down in the public records section of the State Ethics Commission web site concerning a non-bid contract for "as required" surveying services for the Department of Transportation. The contract is going to a company headed by the chairman of DOT's Commission on Transportation. The notice, required by state law, was dated November 21, 2005 with a deadline for objections of December 1.

Interestingly, the notice provides no reason why this contract, with it's appearance of an insider deal, is nonetheless in the public interest. It may be, but shouldn't DOT at least have to defend it? In the absence of some reasonable rationale, wouldn't it be better for the Commission on Transportation to retain a bit of independence from the officials it is supposed to advise and who also control such perks?

And another contract listed by the State Procurement Office caught my eye, a $50,000 contract with a group called "Community Links Hawaii".

A quick check of state business registration records shows it is a new nonprofit formed at the end of last year. Officers are former state planning director and RCUH exec Harold Masumoto (ch/p/d), Hawaiian Electric exec Robert Alm (vc/v/d) and UH Board of Regents executive secretary David Iha (s/t/d).

The accompanying rationale cites a plan by the Hawaii Community Foundation to turn over fiscal and administrative control of small or "limited" projects to the new organization. The backgrounds of the officers is supposed to provide confidence that the new organization can do the job. Some, though, might wonder whether this tight group of political insiders, however well intentioned, is the right bunch to exert such control over fledgling or innovative community initiatives. It sounds like a recipe for limiting rather than encouraging new and potentially challenging ideas. But, of course, nobody asked me.

And, to start the week, a few more poses by some of our favorite cats. This is Ms. Harry, a.k.a. Harriet, who was wandering around the roof of our house and garage the other afternoon. She cried when she saw me in the yard, and continued to talk while I retrieved the camera. It was quite a conversation, although I'm still not sure what we were talking about.

Click for more

December 18, 2005 - Sunday

I enjoyed reading the Advertiser's story today by Derrick DePledge on the confidential FBI files compiled on the late Paty Mink based on documents turned up via a freedom of information request after Mink's death. It is an excellent piece of history on its own, but takes on added meaning in the context of this weeks disclosures of political surveillance authorized by the Bush administration. But why did the accompanying file contain only about 10 percent of the documents obtained from the FBI? Why not let the public see the range of serious-to-trivial information that we paid to collect and store away in government files? I just don't understand these sorts of decisions.

For the curious, my own small stash of FBI files is also available for viewing.

Governor Lingle doesn't flaunt her support for President Bush here in Hawaii, but she remains an active and public backer of the president's Iraq policy. This week she was among those signing a full-page "we support the president" ad scheduled for publication in the New York Times, according to a story in the Kansas City Jewish Chronicle. The ad, backed by the Republican Jewish Coalition, attacks the Union for Reform Judaism for its resolution critical of the war in Iraq.

We met another new dog on the beach this week, Ms. Zenja, just Zen for short. And we were there for the special moment when Zenja met Alvi, the little black and white Shih Tzu. Just click on the photo for a quick peek at the moment.