July 10, 2004 - Saturday

Aw shucks, isn't it a shame W's old military records were accidentally caught in the shredder, metaphorically speaking, of course. Talk about luck...except missing records, like an 18-1/2 minute gap in a recording, won't do much to quell the public questions.

Just so you know how these things work. That last thought led to to google for "18 minute gap", which got me to what turns out to be a great web site, 18minutegap.com. Scroll down that page just a tad and you'll find a dynamite cartoon by Daryl Cagle on the vices (Edwards and Cheney, that is). That then led me back to Cagle's own site, and bingo...there they are--"The cartoons that Midweek refused to run." Why haven't I seen those before?

Nothing like a short attention span to lead to new discoveries!

I did track down my dentist early yesterday--he was in an all day class. So it turned into a frantic run to get an emergency mid-day session with a happy endodontist, then something over an hour killing time while waiting for the two prescriptions to be filled at Long's. I'm usually picking up medicine for cats, and I had a vision of getting a gallon of that pink liquid antibiotic the cats love to hate. No such luck. I've got the pills with unsettling warnings (like this one, "Do not lie down for at least 30 minutes after taking this medication"). What in the world does that mean? It's sort of a Tom Ridge warning gone medical. But despite going prone well within the danger zone, I'm still around this a.m. Whew.

Aha, a lovely flower arrangement delivered to our door? No, casualties of cat play, I'm afraid. A flowering branch broken from a plumeria tree along the driveway, probably the result of a feline game of tab gone awry.

July 9, 2004 - Friday

It's Friday. Give yourself a treat. Although this has apparently been floating around the Internet for a while, I just saw it this week after a tip from Meda's sister. Some refer to him as the horney guy. Music by a French guy with horns strapped to his body? Yes, and it is hilarious. Just hit that link and sit back for some fun.

With Dave Donnelly gone, I don't even have an anti-cat foil to play off of when pushing ahead with a cat item. So I'll just say that Duke's photo yesterday brought several reactions, and here's the most interesting:

I noticed the picture today of Mr. Duke and realized how much in common he has with my Lynx Point Siamese, Sarah. We adopted her when she was about 9 months old. She has the same swirls and eyeliner, as well as coloring, of Mr. Duke, and the same Siamese blue eyes. They could be siblings, judging from the picture.

Sarah also sheds like there is no tomorrow, and no amount of brushing seems to ease the problem. My mom says we get enough hair to make another cat -- several of them -- every day.

I was wondering if Mr. Duke shares two other things with Sarah. When she was about 2, we had to have all of her teeth pulled. Apparently, it's not as uncommon as I thought. It's some sort of disease in which theyalmost seem to develop an allergy to their teeth. She's done fine since then and eats dry food. But the result has been that she is considerably overweight and has chronic irritated bowel syndrome. We tried giving her the low-fat food, but that aggravated her tummy problems; and the food for sensative stomaches causes her to retain her weight.

She may not be a pure-breed, but she's all Siamese personality-wise. She can't hurt us when she bites us, but her claws are like razors.

And we love cats why?

And a suggestion came in from Seattle:

we've also got a pet fur factory and we've found that there is a soft rubber flat brush thingy (technical term) called a "Zoom Groom" which our fuzzball looooooooooovvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvveeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeees to be rubbed with vigorously and which dislodges massive amounts of hair at each session.

Of course we then put the fuzz in the trees for the birds to make nests with....seems only fair considering that bird lunch is a fav around here.

But I'll follow that with a warning: I think that's the groomer I tried on Duke several months ago. It did dislodge massive amounts of hair, as the readers suggests. And when the fur cleared, poor Mr. Duke was left with a bald spot in the middle of his back. So I only use that one on a very limited and controlled basis. Just FYI.

No heavy thoughts this morning, since I'm dragging around with a sore tooth/mouth/face, not knowing yet if I can get in to see my dentist. One of life's unpleasant moments.

July 8, 2004 - Thursday

We were lucky enough to be home in time to catch Bill Clinton's interview on the PBS News Hour last night. Whatever your thoughts on his presidency, his grasp of a wide range of domestic and international issues and his ability to articulate them was impressive. Depressing, though, to realize that our current president is simply incapable of such a public dialog.

Our late friend George Steele would have been 58 years old today. Happy Birthday, George. You are sorely missed.

Cliff Slater offered up several "corrections" to the items earlier this week:

The year 1900 was not “a mythical past.” It was actual.
Life expectancy has increased by a greater percentage in Hong Kong and they have a fraction of our taxes.

Are you seriously disagreeing with me that the Founding Fathers were not concerned about tyranny in government?

To push for tax reduction does not mean, or imply, that you are for no taxes.

As for Portland, did you know a smaller percentage of people commute by public transit of any kind today than did in 1980, before they built their rail lines?

That only 1.9 percent of Portland’s commuters get to work by rail? Which means that 98 percent of their commuters have found betters ways to get to work.

My opposition to rail transit is because it is a total waste of money. It does not do what it is supposed to do — ever. We have spent nationally between $160-200 BILLION subsidizing transit over just the last ten years and fewer people used it at the end of the period than at the beginning.

I'll invite others to go the next round with Cliff, if anyone wants to accept the burden.

Speaking of taxes, the latest announcement of an expected state deficit brings things into focus. First you cut taxes and predict little impact because of the supposed stimulative value of the cuts. You know, with more money in their pockets people will spend more which will result in growth which will magically produce more taxes, etc. Lingle didn't do that part, it was done by the Legislature with backing of Gov. Cayetano, but under pressure of the GOP-led anti-tax mantra.

So here we are today with a booming economy. The planes are flying full. The hotels are having the best year ever. Real estate is blowing away old records, federal spending it up and projected to grow, and we're well into a construction boom. But because of the lower tax rates, we still can't pay for our public services and are looking at more cuts. Isn't it time to ask what's wrong with this picture?

Here's today's cat photo--Mr. Duke as he enjoyed a warm afternoon over the long 4th of July weekend. His blue eyes show up well in the larger version (just click on the picture). His major problem now is fur. He is a walking hair ball factory, a living Laxatone advertisment. Pet him and clouds of cat fur float away. Don't pet him at meal time, though, unless you like fur in your food. Brush him and collect a golf-ball size wad every time. We should, I suppose, take up weaving and turn it into income.

Mr. Duke

July 7, 2004 - Wednesday

It turns out that yesterday's computer problems originated in Belgrade. As in Yugoslavia. Really. Tracked down via a site called dnsstuff.com. Apparently home to major spammers, or so I'm told. I'm again amazed at how small the world has become.

I was surprised and disappointed to see Honolulu Weekly (in the issue dated June 30-July 6) naively report the legislative ratings compiled by Citizens Against Government Waste without identifying the group's well known conservative bent. A quick web search shows many conservative or Republican web sites claim the group as part of their political kin. But based on the group's rankings and without further evaluation, the Weekly accused Hawaii's Congressional delegation of "shafting taxpayers". It was a bad call, and probably reflects the relative inexperience of the current editors rather than an informed editorial choice.

Thanks to the reader who pointed me to this item in the Anchorage Press a couple of months ago which tries to piece together the reasons for the arrival and rapid departure of Honolulu Weekly editor Robert Meyerowitz at the beginning of this year. It's the second item in the column (after the white supremacist).

The Smirking Chimp provided this link to a fine "fear of flying" story from the Houston Chronicle.

And the Star-Bulletin's Mark Coleman pointed me to a thoughtful and provocative essay about the military draft, a policy we seem to be inexorably drifting back towards.

Well, it's either good news or bad news...there's been no sign of yesterday's mouse.

July 6, 2004 - Tuesday

Wow. I think this site was attacked yesterday or early today, when there were suddenly over 10,000 hits an hour (and as many as 13,500) over a five hour period, and all coming from two addresses. I'm not sure what this was about or whether it had any impact on the site. I've notified HostRocket, and I guess I'll just see what their support people turn up.

I finally got around to selecting some images of June as experienced in Kaaawa. Just click on this photo of a June sunrise seen from Swanzy Beach Park to see this June collection.

Here's an alert for you cat people: Keep an eye on Zippy the Pinhead, a comic strip that has recently been following Dingy the cat. Click here for today's dose.

Now I've got to get to a serious job--finding the mouse. Or what's left of the mouse. At some point in the wee hours of the morning, Leo was out here in the living room have a great (and noisy) romp. I finally had to stumble out and flick on a light to check, and it turned out he had a cat toy of the natural variety. But now that I'm awake, I don't see it in any of the usual places. Oh oh. Finding the carcass is very important.

July 5, 2004 - Monday

A note from my old friend Chuck Smith, now in the San Francisco Bay Area:

Interesting link on Portland's light rail. I just finished a 3500 word piece on TODs (Transit Oriented Developments) in the Bay Area which appears Aug. 1. (I'll send you the link when it runs.) Honolulu is perfectly laid out for light rail and it truly is insane that Honolulu passed on all that Federal money 30 years ago and then again 15 years ago (that last date subject to memory). Maybe when gas is $4 people will finally grasp the value....

But Cliff Slater added another equally outrageous column in yesterday's Advertiser, this time equating taxes with tyranny and characterizing the "founding fathers" as most concerned with what he calls "freedom from the tyranny of government".

What is Cliff thinking these days? Let me see...founding fathers...July 4, 1776. They signed, as I recall, a declaration spelling out their grievances and forming...what? A new government! Not an anarchist group pushing for no government, Cliff. A new government.

And did they incorporate in their declaration, as Cliff would have us believe, a clear rejection of the right of the government to tax? Of course not. They objected, not to taxes, but to taxation "without our Consent." Without the participation of representatives of the people.

Then Cliff extols the virtues of a mythical past. "In 1900 there was no income tax," Slater says, apparently implying that we would be better off returning to those days.

Of course, it isn't just the tax structure that was different in 1900. Under the "tyranny" of taxes and government services, life expectancy in the U.S. has increased 50 percent since 1900, from must under 50 years in 1900 to 76.9 years in 2000. There were lots of other things different back then. Back in 1900, with most Americans still living in rural areas or in towns of less than 2,500 population, there were no highways, few roads, little in the way of public health, sanitation, public education, no airports, fire protection or fire departments, much less in the way of police and law enforcement, no "safety net" for the poor and elderly, and this list could go on and on.

I don't have anything against Cliff and my direct dealings with him in the past were always pleasant, but I'm sick of the outspoken anti-tax rhetoric that spreads the fairy tale that we can get the benefits of modern life without paying for them. There's plenty of room to argue about priorities and efficiencies, needs versus desires, different approaches to justice, no problem. But if you buy the simple "taxation is tyranny" line, then I've got a great Nigerian investment I'd like to talk to you about.

I was ready to link to the Declaration of Independence from yesterday's Advertiser, but noted that both the print and online versions were abbreviated without notice unless you happen to pay attention to those strategically placed little dots.... Sort of an appropriate Gannett approach to a complex topic, I guess. Don't sweat those details which reflect too much of the actual process. The public's right to know may not extend to a need to know about the nitty gritty. In my opinion, it was a bad call.

Here are two images of our 4th of July. We were just back from our walk yesterday morning (the 4th) when Meda surprised me by pulling out the red, white & blue: Tobasco, V8 Juice, and a Sahara Tahoe Hotel & Casino bicentennial glass. Her insulated Igloo cut was a bonus. Note Ms. Harriet in the background in her current favorite spot by the window.	The red, white & blue in Kaaawa
And last night we had dinner around the corner, a feast prepared by Carol & John, who live with Daisy & Maleke, two Rottweilers. I grabbed a quick photo of Daisy out the window, and was later surprised to see her reflecting the timely colors of the tablecloth.	-click for larger version-

July 4, 2004 - Sunday

Saturday evening, 7:10 p.m. I'm sitting on our deck looking down towards the ocean as the clouds bloom with subtle colors reflected from the setting sun on the other side of the Koolau mountains. There's a moderate breeze blowing off the ocean. Birds are flying to their nightly roosts, and there are quite a few elaborate bird songs to be heard. It's been a hot afternoon, and the cats are only now starting to stir from their chosen sleeping positions. Luckily there have been very few early fireworks to be heard, although I'm dreading tomorrow's fireworks because of a high school graduation party planned just down the street.

There's Leo. Something's up. He's flattened down at the top of the stairs, peeking down towards the yard, rear end twitching, preparing to pounce. I can't see what's coming until Silverman comes flying up the stairs and races towards the cat door, now with Leo in pursuit.

But despite the harassment, Silverman stayed around for several hours, alternately eating and flopping down on the new catnip toy, which he has given his drool of approval.

So it goes on a warm Saturday night in Kaaawa....

A letter to the editor in today's Advertiser about Portland's light rail system sent me scrambling back to a commentary by Cliff Slater on June 7 and reply by Roger Morton on June 29.

Having just returned from Portland, I have to say that Slater is just out of touch. The transit system is a dream, giving access to downtown Portland from most outlying areas, integrating buses and rail. You can easily buy tickets and multi-day passes at automated kiosks, making it easy even for visitors unfamiliar with the system. In downtown, the rail shares roads with cars and pedestrians without much hassle. And the appeal of living near the rail line is obvious. Drop islanders in Portland and they're going to wonder why we failed to build a system like that years ago.

Do you recall the images of Saddam's statue being toppled in downtown Baghdad? Then don't miss the Los Angeles Times story about the whole incident as the work of an Army psychological operations team.

I'm experimenting with blocking so-called "hotlinks" to my photographs from other web sites. A hotlink displays my photo on the other person's web page while using my hosting service to do the heavy lifting of storing and serving up the photo on request.

There are several problems with these hotlinks. They involve use of the photographs without permission or credit. There are copyright issues involved here, for sure. And the links use the server resources that I pay for, so the practice is a double form of theft. I didn't know anything about this problem until recently, when I noticed quite an increase hits on certain photos from outside sites.. It started with several photos of the Hawaii cans of Spam, which began showing up all over, and has spread to include several others.

If people ask, I'll usually give permission to use my photos with proper attribution and credit, but I finally decided to cut off unauthorized hotlinks. Luckily, as I discovered, the hosting service I use (HostRocket.com) has a simple way to enable hotlink protection, which will hopefully eliminate the problem. In some ways I feel bad, since the diffusion of information via the Internet is something I support, but some rules still seem necessary.

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