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March 8, 2003 - Saturday
Star-Bulletin newsroom staffers were informed late yesterday that president and publisher Don Kendall is out at the end of this month. Kendall was hand-picked by owner David Black to oversee the launch of the "new" Star-Bulletin two years ago. I can't assess his performance, but I heard many complaints that he didn't seem to understand the nature of a newspaper of this size and complexity.
The Advertiser posted the story on their web site shortly after midnight, blowing past the 8 a.m. embargo put on the press release distributed by the S-B.
Last night we stumbled onto coverage of the Iraq situation on MTV, which was much more substantive than much of the mainstream news media. They cited a poll showing that only 19 percent of young people support a war without UN sanction, a figure not heard elsewhere. And they featured a series of extremely articulate kids speaking of Bush and Iraq. Amazing.
| I suddenly realized that I let the whole month of February slip by without an update of the gallery of Kaaawa sunrise photos. So here's an overdue collection. Just click on this preview. |
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March 7, 2003 - Friday
The Star-Bulletin has been running full-page house ads all week announcing the "grand opening" of a customer service center at Ala Moana Center. The ad includes coupons for 50 percent off of a new 6-month subscription, or a free "for sale" ad in the classified section. Both coupons must be redeemed at Ala Moana, which gives some idea of what the routine function of the new service center will be. And if you've got a hankering to rub shoulders with S-B staffers, many will be on hand for tomorrow's festivities between 11-1, according to the ad. Is that overtime?
And speaking of the Star-Bulletin, there's a front page feature that's been introduced--a small box, about 1-1/2 column inches, pitching what is described as the "deal of the day" and a link to a coupon appearing on page A-3. This "deal of the day" occupies prime real estate at the top of the front page, on the far right alongside the daily news teasers. It's visible in both examples that appeared in Monday's entry, below.
The puzzling thing is that this prime space is being used for such inconsequential items. Do a free Twister sandwich from KFC, a $1 hot dog with a movie, or a Burger King breakfast sandwich really deserve either the "deal of the day" label or the top of the front page placement?
One reader commented on yesterday's entry about the latest case involving the SF attorney who represented UPW director Gary Rodrigues.
... he must have seen that episode of Hill Street Blues where a homeless man was trying his best to find a warm refuge from the cold weather. He flashed the officer played by Betty Thomas, saying "Arrest me officer, for indecent exposure!" Whereupon she glanced downward and dryly replied, "Insufficient evidence."
Imagine - the doctor in the case you mentioned is PAYING Mr. Weinberg for this "small equipment" defense. Yikes.
March 6, 2003 - Thursday
The state's recent decision to dump Hawaii Benefits, the company that has administered its deferred compensation program for two decades, reminded me that I wrote about this firm back in 1991. The story appeared in my newsletter, Hawaii Monitor, which I put out for three years or so. You can link to that old story--if you've got a fast cable or dsl connecton, click here to download a pdf version. Otherwise, click here for a somewhat faster loading version.
Doron Weinberg, the San Francisco attorney who defended former UPW leader during his recent trial on federal corruption charges, was in the news again this week. Weinberg was defending a doctor accused of sexually assaulting several female patients. News of Weinberg's creative argument spread across the Internet when he told jurors that an important part of the defendant's anatomy was just too small to accomplish the crimes he is accused of. "Size matters, " the favorite headline read.
Here's an interesting set of queries about our policy towards Iraq--bill as an Iraq IQ test-- that is making the rounds on the Internet.
March 5, 2003 - Wednesday
| After initially directing the Legislature's Public Access Room to stop accepting email testimony from the public, Senate President Bunda apparently softened his position. In a February 10th memo, which was sent to me recently in a plain white envelope with no return address, Bunda issued a new directive allowing email to be accepted, but telling the access room not to solicit such testimony. Bunda also gave individual committee chairs authority to ignore public testimony submitted via email for virtually any reason, including the nature of its content. Bunda's memo fails to state any substantive reason for rejecting or discouraging email testimony, while accepting the same testimony via fax.
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"March with Mufi to City Hall". That was the headline on an ad that appeared over the weekend. No, not a protest march. It's announcing a campaign fundraiser for Mufi Hannemann, presumably to replenish his bank account for another run for Honolulu mayor next year, although Hannemann reported a balance of $443,428.85 as of June 30, 2002. The actual office being sought is not stated, leaving us to presume that Mufi is still interested in being mayor.
I've got to tweak the Advertiser's head on a front page story this morning. The headline reads: "U.S. may bypass new vote on Iraq, Support for war still weak at U.N."
That seems to signal that there is support at the UN, although weak. The article, however, refers in the first sentence to "other nations' opposition hardening." That's the story, international opposition and not support, dissed by an inverted headline.
March 4, 2003 - Tuesday
Yesterday's New York Times has a story about the giant shrimp recently found in the Ala Wai Canal, and prominently credits the Advertiser for first reporting the story.
The reader who pointed me to the story comments:
Makes the Ala Wai sound like a swamp backwater (far worse than the somewhat relaxing looking waterway we see) and Waikiki by proximity sound like a concrete jungle where any minute you might get attacked by one of the flesh tearing crustaceans while holding your breath to keep the stink out.
It's a bit tricky to read between the lines in local reporting on the terrorist threat against Pearl Harbor first raised yesterday by the Washington Times.
The Advertiser says local officials "dismissed" the report by the Washington Times. At first read, it sounds like there was no threat. Closer reading indicates there was, but it wasn't considered credible, at last by state officials. The military position is less clear. In an online update yesterday, a spokesman for the Pacific Command was quoted with a classic non-denial, something approximately like: "I have no information" about the matter reported by the Washington Times. Unfortunately, the quote was dropped from the story as it appears in the Advertiser today.
The Star-Bulletin p.m. edition yesterday reported: "U.S. Sen. Daniel Inouye said he was told about the alleged threat about two weeks ago."
What to believe? Hard to tell.
And for more perspective on the international "support" for the U.S. war against Iraq, check this story about American "dirty tricks" aimed at members of the UN Security Council.
March 3, 2003 - Monday
Last week, Gov. Lingle said during a national television interview that Hawaii is one of the safest places in the country to live or visit. Today the Washington Times reports terrorists "linked to Al Qaeda" have been pursuing plans to attack Pearl Harbor and Hickam, military bases adjacent to Honolulu Airport.
Credit where credit is due: Star-Bulletin columnist Dave Donnelly made prominent mention of tonight's reading of Lysistrata in his February 7th column, complete with its message of opposition to the US war in Iraq, as did the S-B's "On Stage" calendar in last Friday's Weekend section.
I was seeing double at the end of the week, and no wonder. The Star-Bulletin and Advertiser both featured almost identical front page feature (read "fluff") photos on Friday, and again on Saturday, at least in their a.m. editions. Here's a rough side-by-side comparison. Click on either photo for a larger version.
Friday
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Saturday
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But Sunday's editions did bring diversity.
Star-Bulletin: "Expert says war with Iraq may lower isle gas prices"
Advertiser: "War would cost Islands dearly. Fuel price hikes, shipping disruption likely."
March 2,2003 - Sunday
Several Star-Bulletin newsroom staffers helped to clarify the upcoming merger. As presented by management, the existing corporate setup is confusing to advertisers who buy space in the Star-Bulletin but get billed by MidWeek Printing. What they plan is to first merge Oahu Publications, which was the corporate entity set up for the S-B purchase, into MidWeek Printing, the publisher of MidWeek. Then MidWeek Printing will be renamed Oahu Publications. At that point it will be one corporate parent with multiple print products.
Staffers say that after a flurry of questions and paranoia in some quarters, the merger plan got an OK on Friday from lawyers representing the Newspaper Guild.
The 2% salary increment called for in the Star-Bulletin contract is actually a one-time bonus that will cost the company an estimated $85,000. Management asked the union to voluntarily forego the payment, but the staff voted not to give up this bonus, pointing to hundreds of thousands the company paid to anti-union lawyers in an unsuccessful attempt to block the MidWeek pressmen from organizing.
For those who didn't have a chance to pick up my story in last week's Honolulu Weekly, it is now available at the Weekly's site and is reprinted here.
Friend and writer Alex Salkever had this reaction, as did at least one other person who wrote to the Weekly:
Twas a good story. I have to admit that I would have liked it if you had made it more clear that the fire most likely started because the tenants were using a defective electronic device and running an illegal and possibly dangerous extension chord. I did not see that point made anywhere in the story. We are a litigation happy society where anyone is to blame for our problems but ourselves. My heart goes out to the family but it makes me very angry to see these kind of lawsuits proliferate b/c what that means is the decent landlords like Ted Li (45 out of 50 people are probably not wrong) will leave the business and you will end up with the real scum who just fold their corporation and declare bankruptcy at the first sign of trouble, just like New York taxicab companies. In the end, the "blame-anybody" legal culture hurts us all.
Actually, the story does refer to the fire investigator's finding that the fire started with a short-circuit in the radio. And a jury will be the ones to assign blame after looking at the "totality" of the evidence. Without the space to go into all the legal issues presented in the case to date, I felt it made more sense to include the facts (including the faulty radio, long extension cords, propane tanks and under the house storage) and convey the sense of the competing interests without the attendant legal arguments.
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