April 24, 2004 - Saturday

Not quite final fantasy: The Advertiser and entertainment writerWayne Harada had a tough week. On Tuesday, the newspaper's Island Life section featured a large spread profiling a UH student whose 70-second video, Harada reported, was among a small group of finalists in a music video competition that is part of the American Idol extravaganza (although the online version has now been "corrected" to remove these "finalist" references).

Fast forward a couple of days. On Thursday, the Advertiser had to report that Harada had not verified the student's "finalist" claim which, it turns out, was false. The video was entered in the contest. It didn't make it any farther. And Tuesday's hype?

"Advertiser Editor Saundra Keyes said the newspaper should not have run the story until information was verified with the contest sponsors," the published correction stated. Duh!

It's only April, but there are more signs of summer. The sunrise today will be at 6:05 a.m., and its getting earlier daily. And a large south swell is forecast today, a sure sign of the change in seasons. As a result, I'm recognizing the changes by rotating to a more appropriate "title" photo at the top of this page. This one will last only a short while, then I'll switch again to the full summer look.

This was Friday morning in Kaaawa.

April 23, 2004 - Friday

I wonder how this flap over coffin photos is going to play out? The New York Times had to finally get into it today, after the Seattle Times broke things open on Sunday and has followed with further good reporting, and The Memory Hole has its online scoop of major proportions (and which has been overwhelmed as a result). The military "no photo" policy is increasingly being referred to as "censorship", although so far it has survived legal challenges. How will this play during this election season?

A memo from Mililani Trask currently making the rounds raises pointed concerns about the latest amendments to the so-called Akaka Bill pending in Congress. She writes:

Last week we all learned about a new version of the Akaka Bill S. 344. According to press releases the only major change is insertion of language that allows the U.S. to appoint a 9-member commission whose job it will be to verify Hawaiian blood on the roll. This is a lie.

Hawaii Claims Lost

What the press release did not say is that new sections were added to ensure that Hawaiian Claims for the overthrow and for economic development rights under our treaties will be lost. All historic claims relating to mismanagement or transfer of trust lands and assets will also not be allowed. These claims cannot be addressed under international law at the U.N. They must be litigated with the U.S. in Federal court.

Section 8(c)(2) provides that the U.S. Federal Court will have jurisdiction to hear existing claims against the U.S. arising under Federal law existing on the date of enactment of this Act. This means that all historic claims will not be allowed.

Global Settlement or No Recognition of the Nation

Another new addition to the Bill is the requirement that the U.S. and the State of Hawaii must obtain a global settlement for Hawaiian lands and revenues before the Hawaiian nation is recognized. In addition, the new Bill says that the U.S. congress and the State Legislature must pass laws approving the global settlement before the nation is recognized [See Sec. 8 (b) (13) and Sec. 7 (4) (a)]. Robin Danner and CNHA are quoted in the Washington Press Release supporting the Bill and lying about its content.

This one is going to remain controversial, and the nuances under reported, to the end.

Aren't they beautiful? It was very early yesterday morning when Ms. Kili came trotting through the cat door, driven inside by a brief but heavy rain. I dried her off, then she joined her sister, Ms. Wally, in lobbying for food. When the cat food hit the dishes, the cats were there. I had only a few seconds to grab the camera and get a quick shot before some sound out in the yard disrupted the symmetry of the moment. By the way, that's Wally on the left and Kili on the right. Kili has a lot more gold coloring lurking under her tiger stripes.

Sisters: Wally & Kili

April 22, 2004 - Thursday

The Star-Bulletin announced a promotion yesterday that will raise funds for school textbooks, but they had a little trouble getting the story straight. The story headline called it "Books for Bucks" while the story, and the promotional logo, appear to correctly refer to "Bucks for Books". A reader who emailed me wondered if it was just an online "cut & paste" error, but alas, no. The offending headline was in the print edition as well.

West Hawaii Today, which serves the Kona side of the Big Island, is reporrtedly switching to a broadsheet format as of June 1 and adding a Saturday edition beginning June 5. The newspaper is owned by the Stephens Media Group, which also owns the Hilo-based Hawaii Tribune Herald.

Star-Bulletin business columnist Erika Engle reported critical comments on media consolidation by former Hawaii Congressman, gubernatorial candidate, and broadcast owner Cec Heftel, who addressed the Honolulu Community-Media Council this week. Engle pointedly notes that no broadcast media covered Heftel's appearance.

Hey, according to this column from The Hill, the D.C. newspaper about Congress, it appears that Iraqis are figuring out how American Democracy works.

April 21, 2004 - Wednesday

Duke Kahanamoku returned to the waters of Waikiki for the last time on January 27, 1968, accompanied by a flotilla of canoes and small boats. I was there on the beach in the rain along with a huge standing-room-only crowd to see what had become an Event. I had my trusty old Pentax Spotmatic along for the ride. I recently unearthed and scanned the negatives, and here are the results. Just click on the photo for more.

I was just a kid wandering around with a camera. But I did get enough on film to catch a flavor of the day.

April 20, 2004 - Tuesday

It's a continuing tragedy. Ulutunu Faumuina Jr., the prime suspect in the beating death of a man outside a club near Ala Moana Center, was at least partly responsible for a 1997 Palolo fire that took the lives of seven members of the Faumuina family. According to court records, that deadly fire was started by sparks from a short circuit in an old radio Ulu used in a small area under the house where he would hang out. A lawsuit by Ulu and his mother against the city, Board of Water Supply, the manufacturer of a defective fire hydrant near the fire, and their landlord was just settled late last year.

According to the Star-Bulletin's story this morning, Faumuina went back into the bar after the beating. When an officer arrived to talk to him, Faumuina apparently responded: "That guy pissed in my truck, man! What would you do if someone pissed in your car?" I'm just guessing at the word deleted from the S-B version, of course.

It isn't the first beating death in the same area. The bouncer at an adjoining club was killed in fight in 2001.

Has the war on terror become a war on public information? That what a story out of New Mexico seems to indicate. According to published reports, a public lecture by a CIA official at Eastern New Mexico University was cancelled after a local newspaper refused to censor the speaker's name. Never mind that the guy's name had been plastered on posters around campus and was included in a press release about the event.

Said the CIA:

“If the university wants to put posters up, we have no problem with that,” CIA Public Affairs Officer Tom Crispell said. “We do have a problem with a CIA agent’s name being gratuitously placed in the press. I think it’s absurd.”

Gratuitously placed? That is absurd.

April 19, 2004 - Monday

The bill that would create a layer of classified information about convention center bookings is up for a vote in the Senate today.

The University of Washington's new president will be paid $470,000 per year plus various perks and bonuses, according to a story last week in the Seattle Times. It's comparable to what President Dobelle receives at UH, although I'm sure UW is a bigger system.

The Mennonite Christian Peacemaker Teams have reluctantly pulled out of Iraq, citing the increased hostility to foreigners prompted by recent U.S. military actions. Just last week, CPT reported that women and children make up the majority of those killed during the attack on Fallujah. CPT's journal of their activity in Iraq during Lent also provides a very personal view of what's happening in that country.

I finally made a bit more progress on the photo archive. Here's a set of photos from the August 1974 trial for trespass following the protest against Hawaiian Homes leasing policies by Sonny Kaniho. I still haven't managed to track down information on all the other participants, but at least I finally found these negatives.

Sonny Kaniho August 1974

Just click on that photo, or hit the "Old Kine Pics" button to the right.

April 18, 2004 - Sunday

A couple of weeks ago I linked to a column suggesting the situation in Iraq was akin to the war in Algiera. Now a Frank Rich column suggests it's more like "Lawrence of Arabia".

Rich writes:

"Once liberators turn into pacifiers, they've lost," (former ambassador) Holbrooke said last week when we talked about "Lawrence of Arabia." Or, as Juan Cole, a professor of history and an Iraq specialist at the University of Michigan, has said, "A hated occupier is powerless even with all the firepower in the world."

Brian's photos from the air got quite a bit of interest. One reader commented: "We loved Brian’s pictures of Kaaawa….why don’t you print some more….does he have one of Portlock?"

I think Mr. Brian's got the makings of a killer web site.

There's just one last chance to defeat a bill that will essentially classify information about convention center bookings. It's a terrible idea but has been pushed through this legislature by Sen. Donna Kim and others. Senator Les Ihara forwarded this information on the last gasp effort to defeat the measure:

* * URGENT * * Action Alert * * forward liberally
Your support is needed NOW to stop the Senate from passing SB2395 on Mon-Apr. 19, at 11:30am session! Please email senators today ar <sens@capitol.hawaii.gov> asking them to vote "no" on SB2395 which would take away citizens right to know who is using the Hawaii convention center (until they leave town 10 days after their convention).

After Senate Judiciary Committee passed SB2395 on March 1, it reversed its position and voted down an identical bill (HB2731) on April 1. However, the House voted to support SB2395 with minor amendments; and today, the senate voted to schedule SB2395 for final vote on Monday -- with five senators voting to block this vote (Hemmings, Hogue, Ihara, Slom, Trimble), five others with reservations (Chun Oakland, Fukunaga, Hooser, Ige, Inouye), and the rest in favor.

Here are the reasons that senators should vote against SB2395 on Monday:

1. SB2395 would set a dangerous precedent by allowing, for the first time, an exemption to the open records law for purely economic reasons
2. SB2395 would require secrecy for any and all convention centers users who request it and the convention center must provide the secrecy.
3. SB2395 would require the convention center to keep users secret even if, and when, the need for secrecy is no longer necessary, eg if convention center is an economic success
4. SB2395 would deny citizens the right to protest controversial users, eg genetically modified food groups, abortion-related groups, world trade organization etc, and know when a convention may impact neighbors, eg traffic impacts, health/security risks

Here are links to the bill text and status:

If the senators with 'reservations' on this bill voted 'no', we will need a few more 'no' votes to defeat this bill. Please do what you can, and ask others for help, too. Thank you!

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