July 3, 2004 - Saturday

An alert reader noted the Advertiser's business section on Friday didn't have a single local story. Not one. It's not like they don't have business reporters. I wonder if they've got a theory on this, part of the Gannett plan?

Here's a long reply from former islander Matt Uiagalelei to the comments about the Advertiser's Leota reunion story.

The Advertiser's laconic, "revisionist" encapsulation
of Alema Leota's past was appropriate. If you were
Polynesian and in a position of power in the 1970's,
you were invariably a "crime boss" or from the
"underworld" or you had "ties," always with an
inscrutable menace attached to the power. But if you
were, say, Japanese and the governor, or haole and the
mayor, then the tremendous theft and graft and illegal
activity you were responsible for was at its harshest
labelled "corruption" or "scandal", and at its
mildest, dismissed as "the way we do business in
Hawaii." If you dispatched the AG to take care of
business it was called being in charge of the security
apparatus. But if you were Samoan, then your boys were
"thugs." A Hawaiian man transporting
pakalolo interisland was a "smuggler," but a Japanese
woman wearing tons of Shiseido carrying back rather
more than the $400 limit worth of undeclared jewelry
from Japan, was a "small business owner." If you were
haole and you stole millions in an investment scheme
then you were just an "embezzler." It was only ever
Polynesians who elicited fear. Good there are
outsiders working the city desk at the Advertsier who
don't retain a priori assumptions or an endemic fear
of Polynesians, which, by the way, was the source of
the power.

I have fond memories of Alema Leota from that period,
seeing him at the counter at Coco's drinking coffee.
My haole mother explained to me at age 9 why he was
running for governor (as if everyone else on the
ticket didn't have an ulterior motive--except for
possibly Jean King). Now, as an adult, I would add a
codicil: Mr. Leota was more of a political animal than
George Ariyoshi and Frank Fasi put together. If those
reporters in the 70's had taken a wee look at the
recondite political nature of everyday Samoan life,
rather than writing those patronizing features about
flag day and kava ceremonies that persist even now,
Mr. Leota's gubernatorial run wouldn't have seemed
far-fetched. However, if you believed that Hawaiians
and Samoans tended to be dangerous, criminal and of a
lower class, then a photo of Alema Leota on the front
page of the Advertiser would make you "spittin' mad"
rather than the obvious reaction: nostalgic.

--Matt Uiagalelei

But another reader weighed in:

Working overnights, I see the Advertiser online@ 03:00
each morning. When I saw Alema Leota on the front
page, I,too,sputtered all over my keyboard!!What's
next-a profile of Ronald Ching's family? Or Henry
Huihui's family?

While I always appreciate hearing Matt's viewpoint, I can't agree with him this time around. All of what he says about Polynesian stereotypes may be true, but it is also true that a violent power struggle for control of parts of organized crime took place during the early to mid-1970's, a period of upheaval and consolidation in the crime scene. At that time, Leota was identified in published reports as a key player at the center of a Samoan faction of organized crime, and his name appeared frequently in the uncorroborated reports gathered in the FBI's controversial "Firebird" investigation. I obviously have no personal knowledge of whether those reports were true, in whole or in part. But if he had a role in organized crime, it shouldn't be overlooked or excused on the basis that a man of similar stature but different ethnic background could have chosen a more socially acceptable form of corruption. That's a leap I can't make. I certainly can't look back on it with nostalgia.

The cats get equal time after those dog pics earlier in the week At least equal time, being a cat household and all. So here's a small batch featuring the brood at the end of Haahaa Street in Kaaawa. Just click on Ms. Miki's photo for the latest.

Ms. Miki

July 2, 2004 - Friday

I've been searching (so far in vain) for Evan Dobelle's statement not long after being fired that he looks forward to returning to teaching in what he described as his area of academic specialization, Asian mega-cities. That statement almost knocked me out of my chair at the time, and now I can't locate it.

The comment was quintessential Dobelle. Confident, matter of fact, impressive. But the other thing I can't find is any evidence that it is true.

He's been way too busy since arriving in Hawaii in 2001 to develop this kind of academic specialty, but maybe he had already become an expert, studying and publishing about this important topic. Well, here's a copy of Dobelle's resume provided by his office soon after his arrival in Hawaii, and I not only can't find any mention of this supposed specialty, I also can't see where or when it might have been quietly obtained.

He did, it appears, hire a mega-cities expert while president of Trinity College, and did a bit of globe trotting with an entourage under the banner of her program, but that's a far cry from building his own academic expertise.

I guess I'm just a stubborn sceptic. Show me the publications, the peer reviewed journal articles. Maybe they exist and I just haven't found them, but we'll see.

And a reader provided this aside:

Evan Dobelle's belief in diversity is demonstrated in his choice of lawyers -- all men, all haole. (Star-Bulletin, June 29).

July 1, 2004 - Thursday

The Advertiser had lots of people choking on their coffee yesterday morning with the front page story on the Leota family reunion and large photo of the grandfatherly Alema Leota.

Those with long memories will recall the major series some three decades ago by the Advertiser's investigative ace, Gene Hunter, that placed Alema Leota among the leaders competing for control of Hawaii's organized crime.

That significant history was reduced in the story to this brief aside:

Alema Leota ran for governor of Hawai'i in the 1970s at a time when law enforcement agencies tried to link him to organized crime. During that race he called the allegation "ridiculous."

One reader had this comment by 9 a.m.:

I hear people are SPITTIN’ MAD about the Advertiser’s center piece story on the Leota reunion, mostly because “can’t-put-your-finger-on-him but-everyone-knows-he-was-a-crime-boss” Alema is in the photo. Nothing like working that element of community sensitivity into your newspaper’s mission. Talk about Fear Factor. I bet there are more than a few people whose blood ran cold seeing that photo.

Imagine how well things are going to get with 2 new malihini running the city desk when they arrive from Tennessee and California?  Good-bye institutional memory!

When I checked later in the day, the lead photo of Leota had been removed from the version of the story appearing in the Advertiser's web edition--without comment.

Here's another reader's addition to the exchange on story placement:

I think the online journalist you referenced is largely on target. While the story is immense and (IMHO) a great victory for human rights, major national new is usually old by the time we print it. Sometimes not, but usually it is.

However, we cannot just assume that all of our readers got on line that day watched TV News (death and destruction brought you by Tide). Maybe it's time to go back to an old front page design with a "chimney" or summary column down the left side of the page. In that, you refer to the important national news inside but you still lead with local - the heart and soul of community newspapers.

I don't think the NY Times is the paper most locals want to emulate. I love the Times but it's closer to a national or at least regional paper. How many copies does it sell in Honolulu?

Always a pleasure reading your site!

Here's a cat story for the day Monday's Oregonian newspaper. It seems some of the employees of their downtown stadium are paid in cat food. Read on.

Today I'm trying something completely different--a somewhat random collection of photos of some of the people we meet during our daily early morning walks on the beach. Just click on the photo for more....

June 30, 2004 Wednesday

Back home safely after two very full flights on United. I think the flight from San Francisco to Honolulu was filled to the very last seat. It seemed quite different from an airline having trouble getting out of bankruptcy. Given our dependence on this airline, some in depth and critical reporting on United's problems seems overdue.

There's always a bit of anxiety about the cats when we get home after a trip. How will they have fared? Will they all be here? Have there been fights? Will there be injuries? Etc, etc, etc. Harry and Kili, who tend to spend more of their time outside, are the objects of the most worrying, along with Ms. Miki, who's so frail. But within an hour all had showed up with the exception of Mr. Silverman, so I'm finally calming down.

By the way, our cats have given the highest approval ratings to the Portland catnip toy we brought back, so here's a recommendation: www.kittyhooch.com. Cat tested. Available by mail.

An experienced online journalist took issue with yesterday's reader comment about the Star-Bulletin's decision on handling the story the important Supreme Court decision:

No, I think they got it right. In today's world that news was old by the time it hit the SB pages. They rightly recognize more and more that their future lies in first and foremost being a purveyor of local news, something that both dailies actually do a pretty poor job of fulfilling. If people didn't hear it on CNN, they read it on the Internet. Times have changed. No need to put something like that on the Front Page to service the very few readers who haven't heard about it already.

It is a very interesting debate, one that is at the center of the industry's current struggles.

On the flight back I spent a few minutes with more of our morning dogs, including Tiki II (or perhaps Tiki2), shown here. Just click on her picture for the latest round.

June 29, 2004 - Tuesday

One reader comments:

I weep when I see the Star-Bulletin's news judgment. In Monday afternoon's edition, the Supreme Court's important decision on "enemy combatants" is on an inside page, without any Page One reference. It could have easily been on Page One, replacing two secondary local story. If you go to nytimes.com and click on the Front Page image, you can see how the Times played this significant story.

We can report that Fahrenheit 9/11 was selling out at the Regal Fox Tower 10 theaters in downtown Portland on Monday. We stood in line for the first showing of the day which started at 11:45 a.m.. Virtually all the seats were filled by show time. As we left, we heard the next showing was also sold out, and tickets were being sold for a later screening, with a line still stretching down the block.

Meanwhile, the Vietnam Veterans Against the War had this to say in their organization's newspaper: "As an organization, Vietnam Veterans Against the War cannot support candidates for public office. BUT IF VVAW COULD ENDORSE A CANDIDATE, THE LAST CANDIDATE FOR PUBLIC OFFICE THAT WE WOULD EVER ENDORSE WOULD BE GEORGE W. BUSH."

We're on a plane in a couple of hours. Kaaawa, here we come.

June 28, 2004 - Monday

Here's an insight from photographer George Lepp, quoted in PhotoMedia (Spring 2004), a free photography zine published in Seattle:

"Some photographers call it serendipity," he says. "I call it being at the right place enough times to give the right time a chance of happening."

I like his wonderful phrasing for the process that also works for digging out stories as well.

Okay. I have to report that former UH journalist turned corporate marketer, Jahan Byrne, identified our location almost as soon as the first photos were posted on Saturday. Seems that he's been at Portland, Oregon's World Trade Center previously on business. And a few hours after Jahan's email, Kahaluu's own Jeff Garland also had the answer based on a web search for WTC's, where he found a map showing the location in downtown near the river.

Other guesses included Minneapolis, Vancouver, and Seattle, among others. If I had left the bridges in the river photos that would have been a giveaway.

So what are we doing in Portland? Actually, Meda was booked as one of the lead speakers for a conference at Western Oregon University, but the conference was abruptly cancelled just a few weeks ago. We were stuck with airline tickets and decided to just shift to a short vacation instead.

Since getting here, honestly, sleeping has been a big thing. At least a full eight hours a night, something that never happens at home, where cat schedules and human schedules just never seem to coincide properly and, of course, cats rule and sleep is the first casualty.

We spend the days wandering the city, checking this and that. We've had long interludes in both Powell's and Borders, the dueling bookstores. Yesterday we picked up day passes for the transit system and rode the light rail in both directions. Out one way, we got off at Gateway Center, where Meda spent time while living here in high school. The only problem was that she found nothing familiar. The stores have all changed, and no landmarks remained. Then we headed the other way, getting off for lunch in Beaverton just to see what was there.

We quickly located a good Thai restaurant and have been back twice for dinner, and found a source of reasonably priced wine, and have been back several times.

Now it's our last day, and we're preparing for an early showing of Fahrenheit 9-11. We watched some of the movie's fallout last night over dinner at the India House restaurant, just a couple of blocks over on Morrison. There a young man and his wife/girlfriend argued with his father over the movie, Iraq, Bush, etc. It was quite a verbal battle, which is probably being repeated across the land. Bravo!

If you've wondered what's been happening to Iraq's oil revenues, you'll find this story from the Financial Times of interest.

And if you need something to do with a bit of your own money, visit the Smirking Chimp store. It supports the daily compilation of news at SmirkingChimp.com.

June 27, 2004 - Sunday

Most of us have been horrified by the string of beheadings, which hit us as unusually barbaric. But while visiting the art museum here (using our reciprocal privileges that come with membership in Honolulu's Academy of Arts), I came face to face with the depiction of a biblical beheading, Judith's beheading of Holofernes (although a slightly different version than the one depicted here). And, of course, David severed Goliath's head at the end of their battle. That led to a brief search for background on beheadings. It seems that beheading was, at one point, considered a more humane form of execution reserved for the favored, and was widely used as state-sanctioned punishment up until the 20th century. Now, though, it is used in only a handful of countries, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Yemen and Iran. Wait, aren't some of those now U.S. allies? According to that little review, Saudi Arabia had 53 public beheadings last year alone. So the insurgents aren't alone in their choice of sanction. There's a factoid I'm not sure I wanted to know.

It has been great weather here since we arrived. Somehow the rain forecast earlier never materialized, and we've carried our umbrellas for nothing (so far at least). But here are a few more clues towards our whereabouts. Just click the photo...

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