August 5, 2006 - Saturday

The smell of wood smoke got me up about 3:30 a.m., and I realized it was the imu fire down on the corner for this afternoon's baby luau. So after feeding the cats I dug out the camera bag and headed over for the early preparations. It's now a little after 5:30 and I'm heading back to watch the food go in and the imu get covered up.

After yesterday's cat story, one reader replied: "You can actually get away with locking cats out of the bedroom? Mine alternately claw the door and hurl themselves at it, guaranteeing no sleep for the (human) occupant."

More later.

August 4, 2006 - Friday

The Star-Bulletin this morning touts its "readership" figures, claiming MidWeek has overtaken the Sunday Advertiser as the most read news product, if MidWeek qualifies as news. And, in a gutsy move, business writer Erika Engle assesses these data, including reporting of the Advertiser's counter-arguments that point to what they claim is the higher reliability of circulation data, which the Star-Bulletin does not report.

MidWeek claims a readership of 435,678 in 2006, compared to 413,731 for the Sunday Advertiser. But the Advertiser's daily readership is reported at 362,113, more than double the S-B's 168,014. These data indicate that the Star-Bulletin's readership bottomed in 2004 before getting a positive bounce, with the Advertiser showing a similar pattern although at a much higher level.

And Happy Coast Guard Day! Checking Google News, a lot of places that rely much less on the Coast Guard are reporting on the celebrations. CG folks here are heading for a picnic out at the water park. Hopefully a good time will be had by all.

Feline Friday and it's already been all cat, all morning. Only 5:20 a.m. and cats have been steering my day for hours. The problem is the weather, still humid and warm despite a bit more wind than earlier in the week. Sleeping without a/c requires open doors and windows to capture that edge of cross ventilation. It also means misbehaving cats can't be shut out of the bedroom without cutting off vital air. I don't think Leo figured it out, he just did what he often does. That means he woke up around 1 a.m., stretched, and took a test nibble on my finger. I close my fingers into a fist to hide the target, he reaches over, claws extended, and pushes the fist around to find a place to gnaw. I know this is a signal that Leo's hungry, so I crawl out of bed and stumble towards the kitchen in the dark to add a few cat kibbels to his dish, stumble back, fall asleep after some period of tossing around.

Mr. Leo in a better moment

Next wakeup, Leo again. This time he's not gnawing a finger, he's doing something on the bookshelf behind the bed. Nothing alarming...I'm trying to stay asleep, not let Leo know I'm paying any attention, but my brain is on full alert because he's positioned for one of two major "BAD BAD KITTY" acts. From that commanding position behind the bed, Leo has in the past either (a) slowly rubbed face and body on the lamp shade until shade and lamp slowly tip over and fall directly on the pillow below, my head unfortunately resting between lamp and said pillow, or (b) on a rare occasion (but it only takes one of these to be memorable) I've been awakened by a warm sprinkle and awakened to see a gray cats rear end, tail raised, pointing down at me from next to the lamp. Neither is a good way to start the day. So around 3:30 a.m. I was up again with Leo. This time I decided to abandon ship. Out of bed, down the hall where I grabbed a pillow case, then the keys, and out the door, down the stairs, and I let myself into our downstairs guest room and lock Leo outside. As I grab a pillow and lay down on the waiting futon, I'm greeted by happy purring as Silverman realizes I'm joining him. He's been spending his nights, and some days, down there as part of our "Tame Silverman" campaign, and human company is a big treat. And off to sleep we went, Silverman and I. If Leo was fussing outside the door to get in, I didn't even hear him. And so the day began.

Postscript...I was right. Leo didn't go back and harrass Meda. He rarely does, because he knows I'm the one who he can goad into some action. If he bothers her, she wakes me up to deal with it. So it goes.

August 3, 2006 - Thursday

From the great white north: The alternative weekly Anchorage Press is being scooped up by Arizona-based Wick Communications, which is following Star-Bulletin owner David Black's strategy of clustering with a second newspaper it already owns in the state. Robert Meyerowitz, who spent a brief period at the helm of Honolulu Weekly in 2004, will continue as editor under the new ownership, according to the announcement.

Speaking of Honolulu Weekly, you'll want to pick up this week's edition to read editor Chris Haire's stream of impressive invective packaged in Kerouac-like fashion as he expresses surprise and betrayal at discovering the right-wing nut job side of Hawaii Reporter mainstay Malia Zimmerman. Apparently Zimmerman recently accused Congresman Neil Abercrombie of giving aid and comfort to terrorists, a wacky accusation that pushed Haire over the edge. Check it out in the Weekly's Media Watch section.

A reader in California who once spent a bit of time at the Star-Bulletin offered this comment yesterday:

Loved the item Tuesday about the "Berliner" format press Gannett's boasting about at its Lafayette Journal & Courier, the next level of newspaper "downsizing."

First you have a Gannett corporate VP, writing the press release, calling the new format "customer-friendly."  Then Craig Dubow, chairman, president and CEO of Gannett, says: Readers and advertisers love this new, handy size and ability to provide color.

Yeah, it's been around for a while. It's called a magazine.

But wait, there's more: Journal & Courier president and publisher Gary Suisman says: "In all our focus groups, readers of all ages said they preferred this size. And our advertisers couldn't be happier."

Sure they are, now that they'll be paying the same rates for reduced size display ads.

You gotta love those Gannett folks.

I don't know whether anyone will sleep better tonight knowing that the state has gotten approval to enter into a sole source contract with Roche Laboratories for purchase of 1,552,380 capsules of Tamiflu for use in the event of a flu pandemic. It sounds like enough to go around except that the normal dose is one tablet daily. According to the sole source request submitted to the State Procurement Office, "a ready supply of antiviral drugs must be available for timely distribution to pre-identified groups." The rest of us are left with aspirin and herbal remedies, I suppose.

My link to the PBN story on Kahala may have been a false promise. One reader said she tried the link and got a message that the story is available only to print subscribers, while a second reader said he was able to access the story on Monday although he doesn't subscribe. My computer remembers that I'm a PBN subscriber, so I can't tell whether the article is generally available or not. If you're among those shut out, I apologize.

August 2, 2006 - Wednesday

There have been several stories in recent weeks concerning Star-Bulletin owner David Black's purchase of the Akron (Ohio) Beacon Journal. In mid-July, Edward Moss, vice president of sales and marketing for the publishing division of Media General in Richmond, Va., was named publisher of the newspaper effective next week. Then, just a few days ago, Black announced that job cuts at the 135,000 circulation newspaper are likely in the months ahead.

Back at the Star-Bulletin, word is out that reporter Rod Antone is leaving the islands to live in Washington state, because of family reasons. That will be a big loss for their newsroom.

Television news got the jump on the Honolulu dailies yesterday in reporting the identity of the student pilot killed in a plane crash near Molokai, but this morning's story by Advertiser writer Rod Ohira, without comment, slipped in a bit of information that appears significant:

"When he didn't call or show up for work I thought that's kind of weird because he'd never do anything like that," Jacob's co-worker and friend, Jason Milan, said yesterday. "Then I heard his plane got stuck in Maui and was being repaired and that's why he didn't come in.

Ohira didn't pursue the point but, if true, it would seem to be relevant to the subsequent crash.

This week's Pacific Business News story that included comments by my parents on the changes in Kahala is now available online, although without the great photo of their house wedged in between the monsters being built on either side.

I got a question yesterday about the Google ads which still appear on this page, despite my earlier rant about extremely meager and steadily falling returns. No, there's been no improvement in the return on those ads, but I no longer place ads after recent entries, a step which required daily attention. Now there's no work involved. Content served up by Google changes but the ad placement is static. Now I'll just have to see whether even this low maintenance set-up is worth the visual clutter.

August 1, 2006 - Tuesday

This notice is posted among jobs listed on Hawaii Craigslist, with no hints about the identity of the newspaper or its backers.

Community newspaper launching soon requires experienced news reporters.

Emphasis on late breaking local news, island-wide events and personal stories from around Oahu.

This publication is a new format in news delivery. News gathering will focus on the community and individuals involved with local events.

Our primary philosophy is that journalism is a service to the community. This multi-media newspaper is focused on bringing citizen participation to local news and information.

If you are interested in a newsroom that allows freedom to publish hard-hitting stories without hierarchical constraints and a publication dedicated to honest interaction with the community, send your contact information. Let's talk.

This is not a tourist guide, bla-la MLM or content factory.

Honest, professional journalists and collaborative editors welcome.

I guess that we'll just have to wait and see about that.

Gannett announced yesterday that it has installed the first small "Berliner" press in the U.S. at its Lafayette (Indiana) Journal & Courier. It prints a page that is just 12 x 18 inches, apparently used widely in Europe but making its debut in the U.S. industry.

And Gannett was reportedly among the large media companies that landed "small business" contracts from the federal government, according to an AP story, "inflating the Bush administration's record of help to small companies."

Finally, I found and scanned the clipping files from my first two years as director of Common Cause/Hawaii back in 1983 and 1984. It's a slice of Hawaii political history. It appears that there was more news coverage of legislative matters during that period, but that could be my own perception.

I apologize for the rather large files. They are in pdf format. The first year, 1983, is split into two parts, each about 2 MB, while 1984 is in one huge 4 MB file. Here are the links: 1983 (part 1), 1983 (part 2) and 1984. The next batch, 1985, includes the judiciary shake-up and "Fat Boy" scandal. Stay tuned.

July 31, 2006 - Monday

If you missed it, Bob Jones' MidWeek column on the Art Academy jewel theft is really a direct critique of the standards for daily reporting at Honolulu newspapers. He might have a conflict, with his wife, Denby, a central player in the drama, but he does have a reasonably good point that's hard to argue with.

Here's an informative little story on U.S. arms sales to Israel, which puts a little perspective on our role in the current conflict.

The Miami Herald took a hard look at one local housing agency, perhaps suggesting what kind of reporting could pay off here in Hawaii.

I just did a small update on the small project to replace the rest room building at Kaaawa Beach Park, which still promises to begin construction "soon".

And if you have time to read it, here's a long complex investigation with all the bells and whistles from the Times Herald-Record of Middletown, NY, a fine example of local reporting. What a read!

You never know what you're going to run into in Kaaawa. I went out early Saturday morning looking for photos of people fishing at the beach and came back with an unexpected portrait of a treo of guard geese on Kekio Road. I liked this photo enough to select it for this week's PAW ("picture a week") entry.

click for larger photo

July 30, 2006 - Sunday

Just another thing to worry about--shortages of jet fuel at Hawaii airports. According to an Associated Press story, Hawaii is considered one of the "trouble spots" by airline officials.

Ted Kennedy has some strong words of support for Dan Akaka and has also publicly solicited contributions for the Akaka campaign:

I've worked with Dan Akaka in the Senate for 16 years. I trust his instincts, but even more than that, I admire his ability and his hard work for Hawaiians and all Americans.

From the first drumbeat of the president's march to war, Dan warned about the shaky evidence for the Republican case for war. He joined me, and 21 others, in refusing to give President Bush a blank check in Iraq. He clearly foresaw that President Bush had no strategy to win the peace -- a prediction that has sadly come true with the mounting casualties and danger of all-out civil war.

Speaking of campaigns and money, I'm still shaking my head at the casual announcement made earlier this year by the Campaign Spending Commission that it will not implement its part of a law passed in 2005. Among other things, Act 203 requires all candidates for the state house, senate, and OHA to file their campaign reports in electronic form. Various reasons are cited, but none seem compelling to me.

For an agency that has been such a stickler for details in its own enforcement actions, it's odd that the commission has gotten away with simply blowing off inconvenient parts of the law. I doubt the commission would show much sympathy for candidates making the same kinds of excuses for their own violations of law.

There have been changes in our Kaaawa morning dogs this year. Axel and Maile are no longer daily regulars, at least not at the times we walk the beach. In fact, we don't meet any dogs regularly on the beach these days. And Lucy is the only regular along one stretch of beach houses where we used to be greeted by five or six other dogs. Perhaps we're there too early and things will change over the next month or so. But, in the meantime, here's another photo gallery of some of the current regulars along the route of our walk, including Ms. Girlie, shown here.