i L i n d . n e t

[Something strange happened this morning. I posted an entry, and it later disappeared. I didn't learn about it until I checked my email and had an inquiry from Aaron Stene in Kona wondering what had happened. I don't know what happened, but I'm trying to recreate the entry, which might take a few minutes or more....2:39 p.m.]

It certainly didn’t take long for a reader to “out” the location of our weekend getaway. The morning wasn’t even over when the comment was posted: “Welcome to Maui and Lower main Street Wailuku”. No, we didn’t ride the Superferry, although we’re able to look out our window at the Maui Seaside and watch the vessel as it glides into Kahului Harbor. And I can attest to the traffic crunch when it hits the dock and disgorges vehicles and passengers, since we were caught up in it on Friday.

In any case, I’m online this morning from Maui.

A reader commented on Friday that the Advertiser seemed to really want us to know about Hoku’s hot water deal.

The first “Breaking News” was posted at 1:35 p.m., Friday, June 20, 2008: “Hoku Scientific to recycle hot water from Idaho polysilicon plant”. What followed was a staff rewrite of a story about Hoku Scientific’s hot water deal.

Then just six minutes later, another Breaking News/Update, this time an AP story datelined Pocatello, Idaho, with the same news.

It’s hard to tell if this is the product of the Advertiser using a fully automated system for feeding headlines or simply rote processing of stories and press releases that come in.

Another reader complained about the Hawaii Tribune Herald headline and story. The headline:

Union money taints Takamine campaign
Iron workers face fine, legislator faces finance violation

The reader emailed the newspaper.

How is it that the story that this reporter did on Dwight Takamine can be printed when it was so inaccurate? No retraction or printing of Takamine’s side of the story? Is the TH that bad a newspaper?

The response:

What, specifically, about the original story was inaccurate? Read last line of story: “Neither Takamine nor his campaign treasurer, Curtis Takai, returned calls Tuesday for comment.”
Also, see the follow up story published June 13, “Union is fined over Takamine donation.”
Richard Palmer, associate editor
Hawaii Tribune-Herald

I’m not sure the story was terribly inaccurate, but it did fail to clarify that the Campaign Spending Commission was not taking any action against Takamine’s campaign. The headline, however, was both inaccurate, since it reported separate actions against the union donor and the campaign, and conveying an anti-union bias, a “taint”, perhaps?

Of course, the Tribune-Herald is battling battling the Newspaper Guild, and it seems its bias is creeping into its presentation of news.

Some wonder about the same bias back at the Advertiser, pointing to a PBN column by a former Aloha pilot about factors in the demise of Aloha Airlines.

The local media has never been kind to Aloha and was always casting it as second best. Most coverage of the shutdown was unsurprisingly sensational and had no basis in credible research.

The president and publisher of The Honolulu Advertiser, Lee Webber, gave a speech to military officers at the U.S. Pacific Command in May. During his exchange with the officers, he stated the biggest problem in Hawaii is unions. The publisher cited the Aloha shutdown as an example.

It would be hard to blame Advertiser staffers for concluding that this management attitude (that unions are the biggest problem in Hawaii) could be responsible for the failure of the current contract negotiations.

The Political Realm blog took a look at the future of the U.S. Senate, and had this to say about the seat held by Dan Inouye.

Hawaii: Daniel Inouye
Democrat Daniel Inouye will be 86 in 2010, making him a prime candidate for retirement. Inouye insists he’ll seek a whopping ninth term and with sky high approval numbers and a history of landslide victories, that decision effectively takes this seat off the boards for Republicans. If Inouye chances his mind, however, Republican Governor Linda Lingle would make a strong challenger in an open seat race. Democrats have historically dominated the state’s political offices, but Lingle has very high approval ratings and cruised to reelection in 2006. She’ll be forced from office by term limits in 2010, so a Senate run may be in the cards even if Inouye doesn’t retire. On the Democratic side, former Congressman Ed Case has clear ambitions for higher office. He ran for governor in 2002 and lost a primary challenge to the state’s other senator in 2006. House Democrats Neil Abercrombie and Mazie Hirono could also run in an open seat race.
Verdict: Safe Retention

Another interesting political conversation regarding Democratic Party financing is noted by the Progressive Democrats of Hawaii blog, which describes the debate over a proposal for mandatory party dues.

The PDHblog says:

People tend to donate to political candidates and have a vague idea that their money is, at least in part, going to help the Party. There also seems to be a general impression that the Democratic Party of Hawai‘i is rich and powerful, simply because Democrats have dominated Hawai‘i politics for so long. In reality, Senator Inouye (and others) have a lot of money and have a lot of power in the Democratic Party because the Party depends on them for money. If people are cynical about how the Party operates in Hawai‘i, I challenge them to be a part of the change. That is what I am trying to do. The Party is us. The Party is what we make it. Sounds corny, I know, but there really is truth to it.

And, while still on political matters, here’s what I think is the full list of blogs that will be getting credentials for the Democratic National Convention in Denver along with the press release describing the convention set-up.