December 10, 2005 - Saturday

There's been good news and bad news for Kamehameha Schools. The good news, for Kamehameha at least, was the Hawaii Supreme Court's ruling that owners at the Kahala Beach condominium failed to get the minimum number of participants to force the sale of the underlying fee interest to the leasehold property. It was considered a big win for Kamehameha.

On the other side of the ledger was the news that Kamehameha's lead attorney in its defense of the Hawaiian-only admissions policy, former Stanford Law School Dean Kathleen Sullivan, was among those who failed to pass the California bar exam. The news has been getting wide play in mainland press.

Oceanic Cable had better be keeping an eye on Aloha Satellites, a Dish Network retailer and private cable operator. The small company is in the process of retrofitting its cable system into Waikiki's Century Center Condominium and will soon be delivering a custom package of 41 basic cable channels, with premium channels and high-speed Internet access available at additional cost. Oceanic said it couldn't offer the same services without extensive and unsightly wiring, and offered a set and inflexible channel lineup. Aloha Satellites, on the other hand, worked out a custom package and a more than competitive price. The same system is up and running in several other Honolulu buildings. Oceanic had better worry.

It's interesting how little attention Plan Compliance Group and the missing retirement millions are getting on the mainland. A search of Google News turns up the Hawaii stories and little else. But here's an article from MSN.com that mentions other cases of fraud involving the same kind of 403(b) investments.

Leo goes back to the vet for a recheck this afternoon. He's feeling good enough to fuss about the prescription diet, and he was a fussy about his food before all these medical woes. We may all need help to get through this phase of the recovery.

December 9, 2005 - Friday

Sorry, folks, it's a feline Friday.

We stopped the kitty Valium last night after being worried that he was pretty lethargic. This morning Leo is pacing around the house looking for trouble. Well, he's really looking for food that isn't his new prescription diet, but all that other food is put away whenever I let him out of the bedroom. It's all getting very complicated. It was a lot easier with the Valium.

One correspondent had this response to Leo's medical saga:

i admire all the time and money you guys put into your cats. i'm somewhat and reluctantly more practical and prefer to save our money for our own medical needs!

I don't know what to say about that. Taking care of the cats does cost money. Less than kids, that's for sure, but we're still talking real money. Somehow, though, it seems like part of the bargain. We made the decision to invite these animals to share their lives with us, and they rely on us to do what's best and that's what we try to do. Of course, that requires constant questioning when the health issues get serious. How far should medical intervention go? At what cost? The same questions we have to ask when dealing with our own health care.

So this year, our Christmas present to ourselves is Mr. Leo wandering around the house and knocking things onto the floor in straight forward attempts to extort fresh food from us. Irritating, for sure, but it's meant to be. And this year, it's better than Leo not being around at all.

December 8, 2005 - Thursday

It was just one of those little moments. We were walking on Kekio Road on our way back towards home when I looked over a fence and across a yard to spot this sign of the season. It was a long way off but unmistakable nonetheless.

click for larger photo

Star-Bulletin reporter Dan Martin followed-up yesterday on the losses claimed by mainland school districts resulting from their contracts with Plan Compliance Group. He advanced the story a bit, citing a lawsuit filed by the largest Texas school district involved in the case.

In addition to its primary contracts with Hawaii and mainland school districts, Plan Compliance Group does additional business as a subcontractor to Envoy Plan Services. It is not known whether any of Envoy's clients have been impacted by PCG's troubles.

Just a year ago, another company offering services similar to those of Plan Compliance Group admitted "a pattern of financial misappropriations" after the suicide death of its chief financial officer. California teachers were among those whose retirement investments were not made over a three month period in 1994 by National Employee Benefit Services, an Ohio-based company offering third party administration of 403(b) accounts, the nonprofit version of the popular 401(k).

Ohio authorities also shut down Horizon Benefit Administration Corporation and three related companies last year, alleging that the businessman who controlled the firms took $300,000 in pension funds for personal use.

One reader commented yesterday:

One wonders how the advertiser could have gone to bed last night (Tuesday) with its "Waimea Done Deal" headline when Denby Fawcett (KITV) had already reported that there was a NEW deal with the Audibon Society. Makes you wonder (i.e. the DOE investment company) who's doing any real reporting there, doesn't it?

I didn't see Denby's report, so can't really comment further. The Council's unanimous vote was quite surprising, though, considering the reporting prior to the vote.

And Leo continues to eat, use his litter box, and regain his fussy voice. Keeping his food separate from that of the other cats has been a serious chore. We're still trying to devise a longer term food flow that will make the separate eating possible.

December 7, 2005 - Wednesday

It's the anniversary of the Pearl Harbor attack and, as I note every year, my father's birthday. This is birthday number 92! He's recently back from several days of fishing. What more can you ask? Happy Birthday!

For those who skim everything else to get to news of Mr. Leo, there is very good news this morning: Leo is home and curled up in my lap as I'm writing this. He was released from the VCA hospital last night with antibiotics, several days worth of kitty Valium, and special "SD" food which is supposed to be dissolving remaining crystals that caused all of this.

First order of business was escaping from the collar which was supposed to keep him from licking various parts, which happened somewhere between Kaneohe and Kaaawa in a series of bumps, thumps, and meows. By the time we were home, it was clear that we were the ones needing the Valium. Leo's second order of business was losing the "Mr. Stoic" persona our vet had commented on and picking up the more familiar "Mr. Neurotic" guise. He wants constant attention and, if that falters, he starts yowling, quietly at first but with a quick crescendo. But his systems are working (I have been instructed to monitor his litter box) and, despite the inevitable sleep disruption, this is all very good news.

We listed to NPR's report this week on the 9/11 Commission's final report, which includes their relentless and apparently wrongheaded push for centralization of decision-making in disaster situations. As noted here back in October, it's exactly the wrong approach and would assure future paralysis as those in the field await orders or authorization. Military or corporate decision structures, according to relief experts, shouldn't be held up as the model to follow.

One additional thought for today on Plan Compliance Group and the missing investment funds. If the company was required to have errors and omissions insurance but never obtained it, how did they get the contract? Who in the state's system was responsible for checking to see that the certificate of insurance was there before signing off on the contract? So one issue deserving a deeper look is the failure of the procurement process at UH and the DOE to protect the public interest.

Finally, in Leo's absence, I followed Toby around the deck for a while after our walk one morning. The light was good and he was willing to pose. Please browse the results by clicking on this photo. Enjoy.

Exclusively Toby

December 6, 2005 - Tuesday

Plan Compliance Group, the company responsible for the missing investment funds disclosed last month by the UH and DOE, is in the news again. Both the Advertiser and Star-Bulletin are running similar stories today.

Apparently the primary reason the company is making news in the dailies again is because Attorney General Mark Bennett issued a press release yesterday. No press release, no reporting. Press release, presto, it's news.

Now we find out from the state's lawsuit that this may be another multimillion dollar case of fraud. And, as I reported last week in Honolulu Weekly, Hawaii isn't alone. The company also took off with funds from a string of school districts on the mainland.

But that wasn't in the AG's press release, so it's still not news as far as the dailies are concerned.

I wonder whether there's a blind spot among editors towards white collar crime. If these losses were the result of a string of bank robberies across at least three states and ending in Hawaii, it would have been headlines since first disclosed. But this is another business deal gone bad, and we don't know the whole story yet, although there are hints of fraud. In my view, that makes it a great story to pursue. Will the dailies patiently wait for the next press release?

I've got other quibbles. Bev Creamer's story in today's Advertiser notes the issue of insurance:

According to the lawsuit, PCG was required to carry an insurance policy of $2 million to cover errors and omissions. While the policy would not cover all the damages, if the lawsuit is settled in the DOE's favor, Bennett said his office is going to explore "whatever insurance options there are."

Somehow Creamer didn't pick up the most important part of the particular paragraph in the suit about errors and omissions insurance:

Under the Contract, PCG was required to maintain at least $2 million in errors and omissions coverage, in addition to general liability and employee dishonesty coverage. Plaintiff is informed and believes, and on that basis alleges, that defendants failed to procure errors and omissions coverage for the duration of the Contract, and that there currently is no errors and omissions coverage for defendants' acts and omissions alleged herein. [emphasis added]

As Jon Stewart would say, rubbing his eyes with both fists, "Whaaaaaat?"

Another quick check yesterday found hints of trouble with Plan Compliance Group just months after the company landed Hawaii's business. The DOE contract went into effect in March 2002, and by December 2002 the company was hit with two liens by the California Department of Employment Development, according to records filed in Contra Costa County. Release of liens were filed several months later, but then in November 2003 a notice of lien was filed by the IRS, which was released just over four months later.

But other liens followed, records show. Another California lien was filed on July 19, 2004, followed by another IRS lien on June 20, 2005.

And so it goes.

Here's today's medical update on Mr. Leo. I visited yesterday morning and he seemed pretty much the same as the day before, perhaps a bit more fussy and wanting to escape from the medical devices. But late in the day I got a call from Dr. Sakamoto at VCA. The phone rings and I worry, but this time it was good news. She said Leo's temperature is back down in normal range, his urine is clearing, his appetite is good, and his attitude is good. She had shifted him from IV to oral medication, and if another check today confirms all of the above, he could be coming home. We will be holding our breath today for word from his primary vet, Dr. Nagata, who was off duty yesterday.

December 5, 2005 - Monday

The week begins. Mr. Leo is still hospitalized at VCA in Kaneohe. We visited yesterday and there it was several steps forward and one step back. His temperature was down, an ultrasound exam didn't find abnormalities in the endangered kidney, his affect was good, and he ate as soon as we removed the "collar" that keeps him from pulling at the various medical bits and pieces. But there was a bit more blood in his urine. The vets are still guarded because of the seriousness of his condition but allowing some optimism to exist because he has responded well. So we continue to wait and worry.

Here's an inquiry from a North Shore reader of the Advertiser:

Interesting that you are getting you inserts in your Sunday paper.  Since the summer we get the inserts plus the comics and USA Today magazine in our Saturday paper! We live on the North Shore and I thought it had to do with generating shopping interest for Sunday.  Just really curious have you heard anything about this practice and is it only in selected areas?

Any other areas getting Sunday's inserts on Saturday? What's the scoop?

The Hawaii Tribune-Herald's firing of veteran journalist and Guild rep Hunter Bishop (mentioned here last Tuesday) isn't the first time the newspaper tried to disrupt union organizing by firing a Guild activist. Back in 1997, Frankie Stapleton was suspended indefinitely from the Tribune-Herald under similar circumstances. Stapleton, with Guild backing, eventually won a substantial cash settlement, although the specific terms remain confidential.

For some Hilo labor history, check out these extended excerpts from a 1979 interview with Louis Goldblatt, longtime ILWU International Secretary-Treasurer. The original interview was done by then-UH history professor Ed Beechert, part of a much larger collection of oral histories collected by Beechert and recently transferred to CDs by the ILWU. [Sorry, the link didn't work at first, but should be okay now.]

December 4, 2005 - Sunday

I haven't seen today's Star-Bulletin, which didn't appear in our driveway until around 8 a.m., but I could have sprained my wrist picking up Gannett's Advertiser. It's jammed with advertising and stuffed with those glossy pre-printed inserts. A profitable day for the Gannett, I'm sure. Somebody's out there spending money.

Washington Post writer Dana Priest today reports on a "rendition by mistake", one of perhaps dozens of cases where the CIA threw an innocent person into its secret network of torture and prisons, a case which shows "how complicated it can be to correct errors in a system built and operated in secret."

Such continuing news prompted this from my friend Chuck in the SF area:

There's a bumper sticker out reading "Cheney/Satan '08" which raises the question: can one individual run for *both* Prez and VP?

And you shouldn't miss Frank Rich's column in the New York Times, "all the president's flacks", a scathing criticism of the media's handling of the lead-in to the invasion of Iraq. This alone is worth the price of the Times Select annual subscription.

We were cheered up by a visit with Mr. Leo yesterday. Even our vet is now guardedly optimistic, although lots of risks remain. We expected the worst, and were surprised to find Leo very much himself, except of course for the various tubes and catheters moving fluids in and out. He purred and kneaded through the visit. So keep those good vibes coming.

Here's a collection of my favorite photos from our morning walks during November. It was, as the photos show, wet and cloudy through much of the month, and the season delivers many more colorful dawns. Just click on the photo for more. [I apparently failed to get the link done before posting this entry, so a lot of you were left wondering why the photos didn't appear. My error!]

November's favorites