January 22, 2005 - Saturday

Happy Birthday, Ms. Meda, Happy Birthday to You!

Did I miss something, or did KITV reporter Keoki Kerr again get ahead of both dailies with a report yesterday on another FBI raid on the offices of the Honolulu Liquor Commission?

KITV reports the raid, apparently part of a new probe of possible corruption, took place on Tuesday, giving plenty of time for the news to filter out.

Knowing that the search engines of both papers are erratic, I did a manual search through the online story indexes and a run through Google News, which tends to be quite good at picking up local stories. So far, no sign of other reporting on the incident.

Get ahead of the news by browsing bills introduced at the Legislature so far. Senate bills are listed separately from House bills, with titles and short descriptions. To get the full text of bills that pique your curiosity, return to the Legislature's main documents page and enter the bill number(s) in the section at the upper left. Be sure to check the "Show text" box.

It may not be the best legislative tracking system, but anyone who recalls the old days of being cut off unless you could physically get downtown, find parking, and find your way to the printshop to pick up copies can certainly appreciate the wonders of technology.

And also from somewhere at the State Capitol, a new blog, Poinography.com, which was just brought to my attention.

For those who wonder, Mr. Wandering Cat is still downstairs. He's in a nice dog cage converted into a kitty condo, with several opportunities during the day to wander around the room. He's waiting for clearance from the vet to proceed into his life altering surgery, but in the meantime is feeling good enough to start late night yowling, apparently letting us know that nature is urging him to roam. Even with the windows closed in that room, it's enough to disrupt sleep upstairs in our bedroom.

But with one brief exception, he's been a very cooperative patient. He likes me, and turns into a boneless rag doll when I pick him up. At some point I had the fantasy that he had been declawed, since he has been so gentle, but a look at those big paws quickly found sharp evidence to the contrary. In any case, he's due for his next check late today. I'm hoping he'll be cleared for immediate takeoff.

Pun intended.

January 21, 2005 - Friday

More from the "How others see us" file: A little essay, "The Pros and Cons of Hawaii" appears today at www.Useless-knowledge.com.

Former reporter turned PR honcho Doug Carlson has now added "Blogger" to his resume with "Tsunami Lessons" blog. He explains:

Those of us whose communications backgrounds include crisis response have something to contribute in assessing what might have been done to save tens of thousands of lives in south Asia.  I’ve attempted since January 2 in my web log to fairly examine whether communications protocols that appear to have been missing at NOAA might have achieved a different response — i.e., one that includes immediate notification of the major news organizations and their globe-circling news networks.  

A short version of Doug's pitch appeared yesterday in a Star-Bulletin commentary.

Am I missing something? Politicians, bureaucrats, and the public all agree that there our school system isn't functioning as it should (is that a neutral enough phrasing?). Many believe it is almost irreparably screwed up. Then why should we applaud at the image of armed police and sheriffs fanning out in street sweeps aimed at re-incarcerating kids whose offense is being AWOL from the same screwed up educational experience? Those kids are taking off at least in part because the system is failing to provide the education they deserve. It's that failure, not their absence from campus, that should concern us the most.

I'm impressed by the concept of "presenteeism", which has been getting a lot of media exposure recently.

Makes me think it might be better to send those officers of the law to investigate presenteeism at the DOE. It certainly makes as much sense as these street sweeps for truants.

According to the Charleston Gazette, a project to repair West Virginia's capitol has covered the building's dome with a plastic cover that bears a certain similarity to, well, a condom. The Gazette reports: A Charleston gallery sold photos of it, with the caption: “Practice Safe Government.”

Our correspondent in WV writes that "scaffolding was built around the dome and then wrapped in plastic to protect workers from the wind and cold. Word is that it may be sheathed in its protective cover for two years."

January 20, 2005 - Thursday

This is not turning out to be a good week for Hawaii's national image. Yesterday it was the tour van hijacking making news on the mainland.

Today it's a story on the Big Island's rapidly growing population of shrieking frogs that's getting attention across the country, appearing in over 70 newspapers or newcasts thanks, again to Associated Press.

And I see four teachers who traveled from England at public expense to attend an international conference held "at the exclusive Waikiki resort of Honolulu" are under fire at home for their extravagance, another public relations headache for our convention honchos.

A couple of sharp-eyed readers made this observation:

Anyone notice that the Star Bulletin "scooped" the Advertiser by a day on the obit for one of the Advertiser's former all-star reporters?

The Scoops Casey obit ran in Monday's Star Bull but not until Tuesday in the Advertiser.

Don't forget that the Legislative Reference Bureau offers an electronic clipping service for keeping track of legislative and political news about Hawaii from a variety of sources.

January 19, 2005 - Wednesday

An Associated Press story on the tourist van hijacked at Kahe Point Beach Park is getting lots of mainland exposure, from the Seattle Post-Intelligencer to the Charlotte Observer and many points in between.

Excellent story in yesterday's Hawaii Tribune-Herald by reporter Chris Loos describing the impact of low fees paid to court-appointed attorneys named to represent criminal defendants who can't afford their own lawyers. Turns out the lawyers can't afford these clients. [Note: You may have to complete a free registration process to read the story.]

Prolific webmaster Ryan Ozawa added this coda to yesterday's "interstate" highways in Hawaii link:

That DOH page is interesting, but out of date. It says: "It was assigned the temporary number H-1-A, but was numbered H-201 on December 8, 1990. The Hawaii Department of Transportation has chosen not to display the number on the route." This changed late last year.

Why are there interstate highways in Hawaii?

What is Interstate H-201?

See the links on the bottom of that second article for more information. Actually, H-201 is an interesting enough anomoly to have collected several web pages:

Ryan

If you haven't OD'd on tsunami stories, here's an unexpected one from a 2nd cousin who was vacationing in Thailand when the waves hit. The horrific and the mundane mix in this tale. Massive destruction and death all around and someone's out there getting the hotel's cable television back up and running.

I have to report that I got a call back early yesterday from folks at the city's Dept of Permitting & Planning, directing me to the building inspector responsible for our area. He was extremely helpful in explaining what is required to complete the final inspections and close out our permit.

January 18, 2005 - Tuesday

Whew. For a while, I imagined that I was the only person who thought Jenn & Brad didn't belong on the front page. Then I ran into this column from the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. Of course, I don't have any idea what route took me there, but perhaps it doesn't matter.

Coolgov.com, which always manages to find good conversation starters, linked last week to this federal Dept. of Transportation discussion of what "interstate" highways mean in Hawaii.

The Maui News notes that Valley Isle legislators will occupy some key slots during the session that begins tomorrow, reinforcing the influence that comes from having former Maui Mayor Linda Lingle in the governor's office.

Here's an interesting ongoing conversation on blogging. Be sure to read about the author, a self-described "recovering TV reporter-turned-blogger."

Meanwhile, today's post is late, and things could be erratic for several days as we deal with an unexpected family emergency. Hopefully it will be resolved relatively quickly and we'll get back to normal here in Kaaawa.

Kaaawa at dawn January 16, 2005

January 17, 2005 - Monday

The American Sociological Association has issued an Action Alert to members in response to plans by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics to stop collecting and publishing data on female workers for its Current Employment Statistics program.

ASA contends:

policymakers, economists, and scientists need these data in order to document progress and obstacles to female workers, but they also need it in order to formulate sound public policies and hold government- and private-sector entities accountable to laws, regulations, and basic principles of equity that are central to a strong democracy.

This is the latest instance in which the current administration has moved to stop collecting data about problems it simply would rather ignore.

An Advertiser story on entrepreneurs by Catherine Toth appears in today's Detroit News, another Gannett newspaper.

As promised, here's a photo of the wandering cat who is now recuperating in a room downstairs. Meda's sister recommended that we give him a name because learning to respond to the name will make him more adoptable later. I suppose it's good advice.

January 16, 2005 - Sunday

We took things out of order this Sunday morning. Walk first, then write. Sorry for the delay.

Questions about secrecy requirements are raising questions about university proposals to seek federal funds to build Regional Bio-containment Laboratories in Davis, California and Seattle, Washington, according to a story yesterday in the Seattle Times. The newspaper reports federal law would bar disclosure of information to the public even if a deadly pathogen were accidently released.

University of Hawaii administrators announced last month that they are applying for funds for the same kind of facility. The Advertiser reported on the announcement but did not flag any of the surrounding issues that are raising concerns elsewhere.

I enjoyed Advertiser reporter Sean Hao's story today on the state of wireless Internet access in Waikiki, which explains the problems of piecemeal development. But it was again short on context. Although bemoaning the lack of "roaming" agreements between local carriers, the story failed to note the emergence of such agreements between competing major carriers elsewhere, or the range of major national networks like T-Mobile's. It was still a good story, though, in my view.

The wandering cat saga continues. A quick stop yesterday at Koolau Pets in Windward Mall turned up a mid-size dog cage suitable for a cat (ka-ching!), and another stop at VCA added the cat after an overnight stay (ka-ching, ka-ching!). So the wanderer is now downstairs in a private suite and Meda says I'm playing the Cat Whisperer role.

As it turns out, the poor guy is real skinny and didn't fare too well in the turf battle under our house, and ended up more beat up than any of our cats. He's got an abscess behind his left ear and one back on the right rear leg. But he's tame, likes being petted generally, is especially fond of "food pet" (petting while eating), and has let me administer the antibiotics (ka-ching, ka-ching, ka-ching!) without a fuss.

I'll get a photo for tomorrow morning.