November 26, 2005 - Saturday

It was not a happy morning in Kaaawa when we found a dead turtle on the beach. It's position had already been marked by someone passing by earlier. Most likely the turtle was a victim of local fishermen, as we've witnessed several incidents of turtles being hooked by accident with an ensuing race to release them. Finding a dead turtle is rare, though it has happened before in our nearly 10 years of walking the beach.

This turtle's final resting spot

This note in overnight from a reader in Manoa:

I have been unable to find any copies of the SB at the regular spot at Manoa Safeway for more than a week. No paper last Sunday and none today at 9:00

Kind of hard to support you when I can't conveniently buy your product.

Safeway officials confirm no and or late deliveries for some weeks.

So what's the story? Has anyone else noticed Star-Bulletin's missing from their favorite racks?

According to a recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Maui Land & Pine has amended it's Code of Ethics:

- Incorporate recent revisions to the Company's Whistle Blower Policy;
- Incorporate the Company's new Insider Trading Policy;
- Incorporate the Company's new Political Contributions Policy;
- Add clarification and specificity to certain sections; and
- Add a provision to deal with possible waivers of the Code of Ethics.

Unfortunately, although the amendments are noted, the text of the revised ethics code is not included. Insider trading? A new provision on "waivers" of the ethics code? You've got to wonder whether these changes bear any relationship to Steve Case's increased stake in the company, also just announced.

I've been remiss--the whole week has gone by without a cat making an appropriate appearance. So to cure this deficiency here's a shot of Romeo and Kili quietly sparring over prime nap real estate. Just click for a larger view.

November 25, 2005 - Friday

With the news this week of controversy over those large parking lot ads at city hall, will the similar ads in the UH Manoa parking structure get a second look? Those have been in place for several years, with the fees earned going to support the campus parking operation, which is required to be self-sufficient.

I've been told there was an official inquiry and statement of concern from the Outdoor Circle when the ads first appeared on campus, but the group backed off after some discussion, apparently satisfied that this “corporate support signage” didn’t meet the criteria that define billboards.

I was struck by this short essay posted yesterday by a member of the Christian Peacemaker Team in Hebron. It invites self-reflection, I suppose, and reflection on the similar hatred that seems to fuel much of our own political debate, especially in this online world.

HEBRON REFLECTION: On hatred

by Maureen Jack

I'd not met him before. He was perhaps slightly older than I, and he was wearing a green cap, not unlike my red CPT one. By his accent I could clearly tell he was clearly originally from London, though he now lives in a settlement. I said hello. "Fuck you. Screw you," he said.

We were standing across the street from an entrance to the Israeli settlement of Beit Hadassah in Hebron. I was there with Anne and John (both in their late seventies) and some other internationals on school patrol at the foot of steps leading up to Qurtuba School, a school for Palestinian girls. We were waiting for the girls to come down on their way home. He was there with a group from Women in Green, an organization that supports Israeli settlements. They were also there waiting for the schoolgirls.

The girls and female teachers started to make their way nervously down the crumbled steps. The Israeli visitors pushed forward taking photos. We got between them as best we could. I didn't document at all. I took no photos. I had no idea of what went on around me. All I could see was the fear on the faces of the women and girls. All I could feel was the tremor in their hands as I helped them down. All I could hear was my faltering Arabic as I tried to find something reassuring to say.

And then it was over. The girls and the teachers were all on their way home. But the Israeli ex Londoner was not finished. "Have you got cancer yet? I hope so," he said to me.

"Please don't say that. My husband died of cancer six years ago," I replied.

"I am happy about that," he said.

What has this man's life been like that he has such hatred? How is he feeling now? Is he thinking of me, as I am thinking of him? Is he weeping now, as I am? And am I weeping for myself, or for him?

November 24, 2005 - Thursday

I managed to get to the Kaaawa School "Turkey Trot" yesterday, an all-school competition featuring a race around the field with stops for pushups, a math test, silly clothes, and "jumping jacks". My camera had a wonderful time and, as a result, I've posted far too many photos. Just click on this one to see more.

Click here for more

A press conference is planned Tuesday morning by the Draft Tony Gill for Governor Committee, co-chairs Herbert Ikazaki & Marion Heen Shim.

The announcement was sent out yesterday as an alert from the Oahu County Democratic Party via publicist Scott Foster, who is also listed on the web site as a member of the Draft Tony Gill Committee.

I would have a very hard time working up enthusiasm for Gill as a candidate. We confronted each other in the early 1990s after I noted that his client, the University of Hawaii Professional Assembly, had failed to disclose the cost of full page political ads paid for by the UPHA political action committee which endorsed Gov. John Waihee.

I filed a complaint concerning the hidden spending with the Campaign Spending Commission and wrote about it in my newsletter, Hawaii Monitor.

Gill represented UHPA and went beyond the call of duty, not only vigorously defending the union but also urging the commission to bring felony charges against me for publicly disclosing the complaint. At the time, the state's campaign spending law included a broadly worded confidentiality clause prohibiting anyone from disclosing a complaint until the commission made its ruling, but it had never previously been applied to reporters.

When the commission, under pressure from Gill and UPHA, agreed to pursue the matter, I filed suit in federal court seeking to declare the law unconstitutional and block any possible prosecution.

Honolulu attorney Clayton Ikei represented me pro bono. We won in the U.S. District Court, where Judge Alan Kay produced a long written decision striking down the statute. The state appealed and the decision was affirmed by the 9th Circuit. The Supreme Court declined to hear the case.

The decision, Lind v. Grimmer, is now quite widely cited in the legal world, as a quick dip into the Google pond will show.

To be fair, I should say that I haven't had any dealings with Gill in a dozen years. But the experience didn't leave me feeling warm and fuzzy about him, his politics, and especially his unwillingness to tolerate dissent or criticism. But it's Thanksgiving morning, so I'll save those further thoughts for another time. In any case, although I see some old friends listed as members of the committee, I frankly don't see their candidate benefiting the Democratic Party or the voters as a whole.

November 23, 2005 - Wednesday

Thanks to the Advertiser's Robbie Dingeman for an interesting piece today about a flap over large parking lot advertising. This has been around in private parking garages for years, but slipping into public space at the city has raised additional issues.

This was forwarded to me this a.m. and is well worth sharing.

Subject: Nightline/Koppel closing thoughts

There's this quiz I give to some of our young interns when they first arrive at "Nightline."I didn't do it with the last batch. It's a little too close to home.

How many of you, I'll ask, can tell me anything about Eric Severeid?

Blank stares.

How about Howard K. Smith or Frank Reynolds?

Not a twitch of recognition.

Chet Huntley? Jack Chancellor? Still nothing.

David Brinkley sometimes causes a hand or two to be raised.

And Walter Cronkite may be glad to learn that a lot of young people have a vague recollection that he once worked in television news.

What none of these young men and women in their late teens and early 20s appreciates until I point it out to them, is they have just heard the names of seven anchormen or commentators who were once so famous that everyone in the country knew their names. Everybody.

Trust me, the transition from one anchor to another is not that big a deal.

Cronkite, begat Rather. Chancellor, begat Brokaw. Reynolds begat Jennings.

And each of them did a pretty fair job in his own right.

You've always been very nice to me. So, give this new anchor team for "Nightline" a fair break. If you don't, I promise you the network will just put another comedy show in this time slot.

And then, you'll be sorry.

That's our report for tonight. I'm Ted Koppel in Washington. For all of us here at ABC News, good night.

And that is a class act, whatever other bloggers may think about the news media.

It was more than a little soggy in Kaaawa yesterday, and it looks like more of the same this morning. But it was still beautiful down on the beach--just click on the photo for a larger version of Tuesday's wet and cloudy dawn.

November 22, 2005 - Tuesday

It's here again, the anniversary of the assassination of John Kennedy. Whether the act was the result of a right-wing conspiracy or not (although that's the theory that seems the best fit), what's remarkable is that the same complex of interests are even more entrenched today. The oil industry, corporate power, the military-industrial complex, the shadowy world of CIA spooks and their private covers, organized crime, Texas politicians and their northeastern opponents, all playing out against the backdrop of bitter partisan politics and a protracted foreign war. It's useful to pause and recall the past in order to better understand the present.

I'm surprised that there hasn't been some follow-up on Plan Compliance Group, the financial firm that mishandled retirement funds and failed to make designated investments on behalf of university and school employees in Hawaii. A Google search doesn't turn up any news from other places where the company has similar contracts, and there's no word whether Hawaii's problems are isolated or part of a larger pattern.

OMB Watch reports on a California church that is facing an IRS audit because of an anti-war sermon before last year's election and on Bush administration efforts to reduce corporate reporting of toxic discharges into the environment.

I got a note yesterday from Peter Serafin, who introduced himself as the new editor of the Hawaii Island Journal, Honolulu Weekly's sister publication.

Here's his self-description: "Prior to moving to Hawaii I lived in Tokyo & wrote for the Japan Times, and later covering the Japanese music industry for the Tokyo desk of Billboard mag."

November 21, 2005 - Monday

Our flight from Chicago to Honolulu was better than on time, cutting about 50 minutes off the scheduled arrival time.

According to a new index of charitable giving, Hawaii ranks 42 among the 50 states in overall charitable contributions, not a prime spot to be in. This study says it takes into account income as well as absolute levels of giving.

But the study, which uses data on itemized charitable contributions claimed on tax returns, could underestimate the generosity of islanders if fewer Hawaii residents claim those itemized deductions. I'm not sure whether delving into the description of the methodology used will yield any clues this kind of possible bias, but it's probably worth taking a look at the full report.

KHON's Friday story about an Aiea gang that seems to be taking its cues from the popular video game Grand Theft Auto turned up in an interesting place--The Scotsman, local reading for the Edinburgh-based company that designed the game.

And the Advertiser has an AP story this morning on a new union web site tracking companies that export jobs and violate labor rights.

But the Advertiser didn't take readers through to the listing of companies in Hawaii, which is probably what they'll be most interested in. Hawaii Concrete Products tops the list with the most health and safety violations (44), but five hotel companies are among the top ten violators listed. Aloha Airlines has the dubious distinction of reporting the highest rate of injuries and illnesses with 25.47 per 100 employees, nine times the national average.

November 20, 2005 - Sunday

Congratulations and "good luck" to Chris Haire, incoming editor at Honolulu Weekly. He's been a prolific and imaginative columnist and reporter in the alternative weekly world, editor of Metrobeat, a 20,000 circulation weekly in Greenville, South Carolina, and has probably done a bunch of stuff I didn't notice in my quick Google search. Beyond that, it's quite an adventure to prowl his web site, Free the Seed.

Meda was invited to do a column which appears on the op-ed pages of the Boston Globe today.

Yesterday's stories about funds missing from a state financial consultant, Plan Compliance Group, also raises questions about local reporting. The stories in both dailies followed Friday press releases by the Attorney General, UH, and the DOE, although missing funds were reportedly first noticed two months ago.

Missing this story for two months is certainly related to both daily newspapers relying on AP to cover last week's UH faculty senate vote on the Navy research plan, and both dailies getting beaten by little PBN with its story of the Board of Regents search for a permanent president. The dailies just aren't paying much attention to UH, at least not enought to get a jump on issues as they arise rather than when they are finally publicized.

If you're reading this on Sunday, we're hopefully on a plane somewhere between Toronto, Chicago, and Honolulu, but I managed to finish this entry before we fled the hotel very early this morning. With an 8 a.m. flight out of Toronto, U.S. Customs to clear, and our normal insistence on erring on the side of more time rather than closer connections, you can imagine how early we got underway.