June 17, 2006 - Saturday

We arrived home Friday afternoon to find Romeo, Duke, and Leo, the three largest male cats, arrayed across the front lawn, pinned in place by the screeching attacks of two determined mynah birds swooping down repeatedly with claws slashing in a so-far-successful attempt to protect a gangly young mynah sitting in the middle of the lawn while apparently trying out his wings for one of the first times.

For the next couple of hours I would herd the cats back to the house and then, within a short period, have to go screaming back into the yard to grab Duke, who for some reason was the most interested in getting up close and too personal with the test pilot. The bird would flutter up into the branches of a plumeria tree where the two adult mynahs were perched and I would think all was well, then the next minute it would crash back to the ground in a flutter of less than effective wings, and the cats' attention would again be riveted on that part of the yard.

Eventually, I think all survived until the sun set.

It appears there are changes coming in public access television. The State Procurement Office (SPO) this week rejected the State Cable Administrator's request for an exemption from the procurement code for its contracts with access providers in each county. These entities were created through an informal partnership between the cable operators and the state, with the state retaining behind the scenes control of the appointment of directors and officers of each access entity as well as control of the purse strings.

It has, I think, always been assumed that because the state essentially created these access entities to act in its place to provide access services, they had a natural exemption from bidding.

But the SPO has now directed the state to award these contracts through a competitive request for proposals process and to complete the transition within the 2006-07 fiscal year.

Looking ahead, there obviously aren't a large number of entities able to compete for these contracts. The danger is that the primary competition to the current at least nominally independent access providers will be schools and colleges, including UH and the community colleges which already have facilities and are already receiving substantial funds to produce programming for the educational component of overall PEG (Public-Education-Government) access.

I think an understandable and legitimate concern among producers of public access programming is that state educational system would be far less than sympathetic to the free speech aspects of the whole access system and less capable of carrying out that vital part of the access provider's mission. It was just such a conflict that has rocked Akaku, Maui's access provider, which does not bode well for the future.

Here's another photo I really like, leaves on a breadfruit tree just a couple of blocks from home. They caught my eye as we were walking past one morning and I snapped a quick picture. Now I wish I had taken more time to frame it properly. So it goes.

June 16, 2006 - Friday

The results of the Society of Professional Journalists' annual Hawaii competition were announced last weekend and got lost amid the chaos on our street. But this time around the Star-Bulletin more than matched its larger Gannett rival, taking home the most overall awards and the most first-place awards. As has become customary, the Star-Bulletin also printed the entire list of awards, including finalists in each category.

Ooops. Yesterday's news coverage of the Hanabusa campaign launch pointed to a different web site now up and running, www.HanabusaforHawaii.com, rather than the one I had checked out yesterday, www.ColleenHanabusa.com. So if you want to check out Hanabusa's campaign pitch, that is the link to use.

It would be very interesting to hear how each campaign assesses its own potential in the 2nd Congressional Democratic primary. There has to be quite a wide range of strategic visions. With so many candidates jumping into the race, there are already rivals to split major demographic groups. Women voters will be split among Hanabusa, Hirono. Menor and Garcia will be chasing the Filipino vote. Liberals, well, the Democrats are really all on the liberal end of the spectrum.

Clayton Hee may have an advantage with his pitch directly to Hawaiian voters, who have a significant presence in the 2nd District . He has had prior statewide visibility through his OHA experience, the campaign comes at a time with high interest in political events among Hawaiians, and he is in a position to make the strongest pitch to Hawaiians if he can raise enough money to run a viable campaign.

It's feline Friday again, and so here's a view of Wally and Kili taking up positions on our dining table one recent morning. I'm not sure if they were vying for handouts or just attention, as they are competitive on both fronts.

June 15, 2006 - Thursday

I see that the naming of the northwest Hawaiian Islands as a national monument with strict protections made the New York Times this morning.

If you've wondered what has happened to Randy Iwase's campaign for governor, stop by the campaign web site. You may not have heard about the 20-minute film about Iwase that begins airing on Olelo Channel 54 on June 24.

And despite the public launching of Colleen Hanabusa's campaign for the 2nd Congressional District seat, a visit to her web site found this "under construction" notice:

I didn't have much time yesterday to think about today's entry. Meda and I both had to spend time on separate medical errands, then at the end of the day boarded the fishing boat Maggie Joe at Kewalo Basin for a short cruise to the Diamond Head end of Waikiki, where cousin Malcolm McPherson scattered offerings of flowers along with the remains of his wife of 43+ years.

I did manage to scan another round of old photos, this time another batch from Waikiki. I love this unobstructed view of Diamond Head from the Hawaiian Village, and another view from the Queens Surf side looking back in which the Royal Hawaiian and Moana hotels are the dominant structures. Amazing, especially when we viewed that area from off shore and the same buildings are now dwarfed by their many high rise neighbors.

Diamond Head view 1957

June 14, 2006 - Wednesday

Yesterday's fire at the University Laboratory School came just a week after the anniversary of my graduation from the school which was then known as University High School. It's a pretty devastating blow to a school which has struggled with the transition to charter school status. The network of alums is going to be called on for help big time, I would presume.

A web site devoted to investigative business reporting? It sounds too good to be true, but it is. Now, if someone will just do the same to legitimate investigative sports reporting...

A quick scan of newspaper news...The Department of Justice has asked for more time to review the proposed sale of four former Knight Ridder newspapers, according to a story in the San Jose Mercury News....Newspaper Guild President Linda Foley on the Knight Ridder breakup....A Seattle Times story last month looks at the problems of the Committee for a Two Newspaper Town...And after a Philadelphia group bought that city's two daily newspapers, a group in Los Angeles talks about a bid for the L.A. Times.

Low tide has been in the mornings over the last week, offering some incredibly beautiful views along our little area of the windward coast. Here's one from over the weekend which I've included in the growing "Picture a Week" collection. Just click for the larger version.

Low tide

June 13, 2006 - Tuesday

It's hard not to be affected by fatal accidents like the one yesterday afternoon in Kahaluu. One second you're driving home from a day at the beach and the next second a tour bus swerves out of its lane and wipes you out. Sort of the human equivalent of Saturday's dog attack on Haahaa Street. No warning, no worries, just zap, you're gone. I suppose its another reminder not to get too tied up in careful planning and deferred gratification, as it can all be rendered moot through no fault of your own.

An email yesterday from MoveOn.org asked its supporters to thank Rep. Ed Case for his vote for internet neutrality.

Last week, the House of Representatives dealt a blow to Internet freedom—voting to gut Net Neutrality and give companies like AT&T and Verizon more control over what you see and do online.

But your representative, Ed Case, voted to protect Internet freedom and deserves our thanks.

Case and Rep. Neil Abercrombie both supported a net neutrality amendment, with failed to garner sufficient votes, but Abercrombie then voted in favor of the resulting bill while Case remained in the "no" column.

The web site, Nieman Watchdog, has a very interesting bit of criticism of election year coverage with suggestions by the current crop of Nieman Fellows on how to improve coverage during the current campaign season.

And comedian Will Ferrell has done it again, this time with a satirical look at President Bush and global warming.

June 12, 2006 - Monday

It was a traumatic weekend here in Kaaawa.

We were back from our walk and sitting down with our coffee on Saturday morning when we heard screaming from somewhere out towards the street. At first you look up, startled, wonder if it's for real or if there's some benign reason for all the ruckus. But then we could hear shouts and see motion, so out the door and up the driveway we went.

When I got to the top of the driveway, I saw one neighbor from one house over coming out with a cat carrier handy, and our neighbor from directly across the street walking back towards her house while carefully cradling her cat in her arms, wrapped in a towel. She looked over and asked me, "Do you know a good vet?" Luckily she is a nurse by training and was remarkably composed amid the chaos of converging neighbors, shouts, crying and unanswered questions.

Then I looked back to the street, and saw one of our regular morning dogs standing quietly, blood dripping from his jaws, while his person stood holding the leash, obviously in shock and weeping hysterically. The contrast was striking. Dog calm, owner sobbing uncontrollably. "Reduced to tears" would be an accurate description. There didn't seem to be much awareness beyond that realm of tears.

It took a few seconds to get the sketchy details. Dog and person were out for a walk, came up our street to say "hi" to their friends across the way, and instead the dog apparently happened onto the friends' cat in the bushes and locked his substantial jaws onto the Siamese cat and wouldn't let loose. It must have all happened in an instant.

Oh, no, where's Toby? He also frequents that particular stretch of hedge. No one mentioned another cat being involved, so I pushed those fears into the background and tried to deal with the immediate crisis.

At the time, none of us knew whether cat would survive. I first took the dog's person in hand and walked her towards the far end of the street, trying to calm her enough that she could get the dog away from the scene. I think she was only moving by instinct because she barely responded to my urgings to just take him directly home. Then I ran back to our house and called ahead to VCA in Kaneohe to alert them to an incoming emergency, while cat and family took off in that direction, leaving neighbors standing outside to contemplate the tragedy and feeling guilty for taking time right them to account for all of our various cats. All others, by the way, were quickly accounted for, including Toby.

Then Sunday morning on the beach we saw dog's other person, walking alone. "(Name omitted) is now in doggie heaven," he said, his eyes red and tearing. They had made the decision to put him down after the attack. We offered our condolences, and then he broke down sobbing. "I've lost my friend," he sobbed, tears flowing freely until he fought for a semblance of composure.

The latest word that we've heard is that cat has survived but now faces surgery. She's going to lose the leg, which was shattered. If she survives the surgery, she has a good chance of recovery. We wait and hope for the best.

It has all been a terrible tragedy. He was a good dog, one of those who we enjoyed seeing in the mornings, both on the beach and when we walked past his house. And she's a wonderful cat. Both have paid a big price for this brief and painful interaction.

It was also a harsh and thoroughly unpleasant reminder of the risks we take every day by letting our cats go outside unsupervised, something we have to think about carefully.

To get the week back on track, here are a couple of more pleasant items. First, Mr. Larry. No, he's not really a pet, but a reader made a special plea to include him in the gallery of readers' pets after spending a couple of weeks in South Africa with Larry and his associates. I decided to bend the boundaries a bit and give Larry a bit of the spotlight.

Larry the Leopard

Finally, a new round of our Kaaawa cats, always an antidote for what ails you.. Here's Mr. Duke showing off his beautiful tabby design repackaged in his Siamese coloring. Just click on his photo for more.

Mr. Duke

June 11, 2006 - Sunday

A Star-Bulletin analysis today by B.J. Reyes estimates drivers would have saved 10 cents per gallon over the past month if the state's gas cap had still been in effect. Good info to have.

What I want to know is what happened to that drumbeat of media concern over gas prices? During the period that the news media had officially declared the gas cap as the enemy, every mention of gas prices included the obligatory reference blaming it for the continued high prices. Now that the gas cap is no longer there to blame, it seems that the amount of coverage of gas prices has plummeted.

We noticed it most in the evening newscasts by KHON's Joe Moore, who seemed to go out of his way to blame the gas cap for each penny paid. Is Joe going to now admit that perhaps he had been wrong in that exaggerated blame game?

And there's an interesting chart that uses the average commuting distance to calculate average amounts spent per 2-driver family in each of 80 urban areas, along with the percentage this represents of average family income. Hawaii's commuting costs rank near the bottom on this list, coming in at 74 out of the 80 cities.

On a totally different subject, don't miss the Los Angeles Times' long investigative story about a Nevada judge's rise to power.

I've been having fun with my "new" picture-a-week project, which has been pushing me to learn more of the techniques for sharpening and presenting photos. Here's the latest that I have just posted, a portrait taken just a couple of blocks away during one of our regular morning walks. It's not my typical subject matter, but I really like the way this photo turned out. Just click for a larger version.