March 5, 2005 - Saturday

A senior writer for the American Bar Association Journal was making calls yesterday for a story about the disbarment proceedings against former judge Richard Lee. Expect a story to appear in the weekly online version of the journal, which they call the eReport.

From an item in Editor & Publisher's weekly briefing:

The liberal Campus Progress group held a contest to name columnist Ann Coulter's next liberal-bashing book. The winning entry -- "Roosevelt: Wheelchair-riding, America-hating Terrorist" -- was submitted by Baltimore-based Ryan Sniatecki, who will receive a talking Ann Coulter action figure.

There were other outstanding entries as well. My favorite:

• Liars: “Charity,” “Tolerance,” and Seven Other Words Liberals Just Made Up to Confuse You

Another moment from the Star-Bulletin file. The Honolulu Advertiser's Bev Creamer wrote a fine obituary of island educator Rod McPhee last Sunday. The S-B obit followed a day later, but overlooked one of McPhee's key links with the newspaper. In November 1997, McPhee joined with four other educators in an essay billed by the Star-Bulletin as "Broken Trust II", which accused Kamehameha Schools Bishop Estate Trustee Lokelani Lindsey of "egregious abuse of power" and called for her ouster. The S-B gave it lots of play at the time as a follow-up to the original Broken Trust essay. I wanted to blame the absence of any reference to the essay in the obit on the lack of a news archive, but Broken Trust II is alive and well online. So it goes.

One reader had a simple comment on the Ka Leo report on a Navy investigation of UH grant administration cited here yesterday:
"Holy alphabet soup!"

(from Ka Leo)...
"Confusion over the separations between projects such as HTDV, organizations such as PICHTR, the University and RCUH raise questions about a possible UARC at UH and potential conflicts of interest since the organizations surrounding the university often partner with private industry and help them receive federal funding.
"The UARCs cannot partner with private industry, because the idea is that the UARC is a trusted agent of the government," Syrmos said. "As such, the government turns to the UARC for advice on programs. If these programs were to later go out for a BAA or an RFP where private industries come in and compete, then you have a conflict of interest. So there should be no collaboration between a center like that (UARC) and private industry."
...

Public access activist Jeff Garland passed along his personal "paint tips from a pro", which appear to be sound advice I could have used before launching on this week's adventure in latex. Hopefully

March 4, 2005 - Friday

"EPA fines Kauai Electric", a Pacific Business News story, was at the top of the page of Google's headline news when I checked a couple of minutes before 6 a.m.

I don't suppose that cheers up the folks on Kauai, although I can imagine some strutting in PBN's offices this morning.

With the soaring cost of season tickets for UH football, I wonder what's going to happen to the freebies formerly distributed to legislators, members of the Board of Regents, and other assorted friends of the Athletic Department now that the "gifts" have to be considered much more valuable? The Chicago Sun-Times asked the same question about University of Illinois basketball tickets and came up with some interesting answers.

The UH student newspaper, Ka Leo, got the scoop on an ongoing Navy investigation of university administration of certain contracts.

Why do critics like Michael Moore take their manuscripts to publishing companies owned by Rupert Murdoch? That's a question asked and answered by Jennifer Nix for AlterNet.

I'm just not a household fix-it kind of guy. "Do it yourself" in my lingo translates to pouring my own cup of coffee. I think "Lind" translates in German or something as "Klutz".

So spending two days this week with paint and supplies in hand, clearing one of our under-used bedrooms and applying a coat of fresh paint--this was an unusual experience. The "clearing" part was far from simple, as it meant moving all the accumulated "stuff" of rummage sales past, former treasures gone to dust, once or almost read books just waiting for that next spurt of interest that could come any day now, piles of thrift shop plates from that classic mid-20th century period of modern American pottery that have been sitting around as the seeds of possible future "sets", accessories of cameras that long ago fell victim to the inevitable march of technological progress. Other bits and pieces just too odd to publicly describe.

But it's done. The cat stains on those vulnerable first 18 inches of bare wall are gone, at least for a while. The paintings are ready to be placed back in favored spots. Before the computer can move from the living room into this new space, I'll have to sort the "stuff" into two piles--"can't bear to give it away", and "someone else's rummage score".

All in all, the paint it yourself experience wasn't as bad as I expected. Good thing, because the hallway is next.

March 3, 2005 - Thursday

I thought Star-Bulletin photographer Dennis Oda beat the competition with yesterday's front page photo of a mother hugging her son as he was being sentenced in Circuit Court. He captured an unusual and poignant moment filled with tension and emotion. A winner.

Star-Bulletin photo

But I could feel my arteries shudder as I read Betty Shimabukuro's column in the same S-B describing a concoction of fried bacon-wrapped shrimp. This was another doozy of a dumpling that deserved its own health warning label.

Cut to the chase. According to the included nutritional information, one serving of Betty's tasty recipe includes about the same number of calories as that other nutritional landmark, the McDonald's Big Mac, but delivers 43 percent more total fat, 20 percent more saturated fat, and more than three times the cholesterol of the big burger. So go ahead and cook it, if you have to. Just don't tell your doctor.

Speaking of Freedom of Information day, week, or month (depending on whose activities calendar you rely on), I'll crib this description that appeared in the first Kaaawa News of my recent experience trying to get access to records of a project to build new public rest rooms at Kaaawa Beach Park.

City continuing tradition of secrecy

It took a month of repeated requests and follow-up calls before city officials reluctantly opened some of the project files for public inspection.

Parks officials directed this reporter's request for records to the Department of Design and Construction, where several key staffers said they could discuss the project but were not authorized to allow access to official records, including contracts and other documents recognized as public records.

Bill Brennan, Mayor Hannemann's press secretary, called the administrative secrecy "a holdover from the old administration," but his intervention failed to produce any appreciable results.

When documents in several file folders were made finally made available for inspection nearly a month after the initial request, [project manager] Obata said he was directed to remain in the room while the documents were being examined. Although he was helpful in answering questions from this reporter, this level of administrative intrusion would likely have a chilling impact on public requests for information.

I started out with totally innocently seeking information on that status of the project, but immediately ran into a wall. Everyone was willing to talk and answer questions, but providing a look at public documents was considered something totally different and outside of their power to approve.

This all despite the fact that state law is clear.

§92F-12 Disclosure required. (a) Any other law to the contrary notwithstanding, each agency shall make available for public inspection and duplication during regular business hours:...

(3) Government purchasing information, including all bid results, except to the extent prohibited by section 92F-13;...

(10) Regarding contract hires and consultants employed by agencies: the contract itself, the amount of compensation, the duration of the contract, and the objectives of the contract;

The city approach is interesting. It's the only level of government I've run into with an across the board policy of making it harder for reporters to obtain information than private citizens. It's been the standard procedure for so long, dating way back into Frank Fasi's administration, that it is second nature to city employees up and down the line. They are now almost genetically fearful of public disclosures. Whether Mayor Hannemann will change that is something only time will tell.

March 2, 2005 - Wednesday

I managed to launch a new project yesterday--Kaaawa News, found online at www.Kaaawa.net. It's a very modest effort community level communication. Now I have to discover the directions in which it is going to develop. I'm just following my nose on this one.

Attention student journalists: Don't do your investigations too close to home (or campus). At least that appears to the lesson taught by Rutgers University, according to a story in Inside Higher Ed, a new online publication about higher education.

More on Kaaawa's season of seals:

fyi, there is the one "regular" monk seal that is hanging in Kaaawa (lately by Kaaawa valley where all the surfers go-"the point"), her tags are "5AY" and "5AZ", her seal ID is R5AY. A week ago friday, there were 2 seals in Kaaawa! R5AY was down by the point, and there was another unknown adult female in front of the last beach house after the small park.

It may not seem like much on the world scale, but these endangered seals have Kaaawa talking.

The Advertiser is soliciting comments about problems encountered while trying to get government records or go to meetings. Hopefully they'll be publishing something for this year's March 16 Freedom of Information Day.

Documents from the ACLU's lawsuit over torture and abuse of military prisoners, which names Donald Rumsfeld directly, are available online. It looks like a lot of interesting reading.

Is this another example of freedom of the press, Rumsfeld style? Found on Professor Juan Cole's Informed Comment:

US mainstream media appears to have behind the scenes instructions not to mention unions if at all possible (older television actors remember this instruction being explicit back in the 1960s with regard to dramas.)

And found this a.m.--a great letter from California. Have I read this before? It doesn't really matter.

March 1, 2005 - Tuesday

This item was spotted by an alert mainland reader:

From today's USA Today:
Corrections & Clarifications
page 2A

A story Feb. 21 wrongly attributed a quote to Richard Nixon as saying Hunter S. Thompson was that dark, venal, and incurably violent side of the American character. It was Thompson who made the remark about Nixon.

Priceless!

Opposition appears to be building on the University of Hawaii Manoa campus to the proposed creation of a classified research center.

While prior protests against the move have been led by Hawaiian and anti-war students and faculty, the emerging opposition is more broadly representative of the broader faculty community. An open letter against the proposed classified research center is now being widely circulated and is drawing significant faculty support. The letter, addressed to Pat Lee, chair of the Board of Regents, places faculty opposition clearly in the context of the long tradition of an open academic community as the basis for the expansion of knowledge and learning, the antithesis of the closed, secretive system required for classified defense research. [Disclosure: My wife, Professor Meda Chesney-Lind, joined with former interim vice chancellor for academic affairs, authored the letter now being circulated]

Senator Clayton Hee is reportedly drafting a resolution on the classified research issue that will be heard at a public hearing to be scheduled soon.

Still off the radar screen is the parallel move to establish a regional biocontainment laboratory at UH, which has slipped by without notice. A similar proposal is the center of a major controversy as it is now being debated at the University of Washington in Seattle.

This issue, it appears, is far from over.

I started the week with a successful visit to the new Micks outlet at Ala Moana Center. It was easy to find--the cart is located on the mall level just outside the entrance to the Disney store. All our favorite hot pepper jellies are there plus a few more. I left a happy camper after buying an assortment of 12 jars and getting an additional free jar as a gift. No more waiting for the Micks hot box to arrive in the mail!

By the way, the photo was taken with my new gizmo, a Treo 650 phone that also incorporates a Palm organizer and camera. After taking the picture, I could then email it to others. Now I just have to figure out how to post these pics on this page directly from the phone. Ryan? Are you reading this?

February 28, 2005 - Monday

Meda bought a little four outlet surge protector to use in the home office that she's been organizing in one of our spare bedrooms. This thing came with four pages of instructions repeated in several languages. Do we need this stuff?

Here are the "Quick Installation" instructions:

1. Plug surge suppressor into a three-wire, grounded 120V electrical outlet.

2. Flip surge suppressor's ON-OFF switch ON.

3. Plug the power cords of your electrical equipment into your surge suppressor's outlets.

Seriously.

I wonder what the full installation instructions are like? Her documentation only included the quick version.

And then Meda wondered if she should have read the instructions before installing....

The Chicago Tribune has a long profile of Pat Fitzgerald, the federal prosecutor handling the probe that has resulted in the clash over reporters' rights. An interesting read.

And more on the tensions between bloggers and the mainstream media, this time from Barrons Online, which I suppose is about as mainstream as you get.

And Philadelphia Inquirer analyst Dick Polman takes on the Jeff Gannon controversy in a story syndicated by Knight Ridder.

Okay. The vet asked the question yesterday: How many cats do you have? My quick answer: One less than crazy. Well, maybe two. More than 10 is an open invitation to the small club of nuts who grow old in households totally given over to a growing horde of felines. I admit it. And nine is creeping up on crazy. We're trying to be good and hold the line. We were doing pretty good until Romeo showed up and shattered our defenses.

Ms. Harry

Anyway, here's another round of cat photos. Just click on Mr. Harry for more.

February 27, 2005 - Sunday

I'm sitting on the floor on an old Army blanket at 5:30 a.m. with a large gray cat, in this case Mr. Romeo, sitting in my lap purring extremely loudly while his front paws knead on my unprotected leg. Periodically he interrupts his purring to attempt to bite the hand that pets. There's evidence on his head and shoulders that the week has not been a model of nonviolence, and poor Duke still hides out whenever Romeo on roaming. But Silverman is back on his regular visiting schedule and, for the most part, accommodations are being worked out between and among all the cats.

Interesting to see how a business writer in New Orleans compares film production incentives in Louisiana, Los Angeles, Hawaii and beyond. Hawaii's Act 221 tax credits are described as "extraordinary".

Paul Theroux writes about Hunter Thompson in today's Guardian newspaper.

It's Sunday, so you've got time to enjoy "The 12th Annual Will Durst Thank God For These Liquid Squeezebags Because I'm a Comic Awards."

Yesterday was greeted by cold and cloudy weather. Sub-70 degrees (earlier claim of sub-60 was just the frozen feeling talking). We're reduced to bundling up for our dawn walk, or at least taking some measures to stave off the cold. I wear a sweatshirt, Meda a light silk jacket. By the time the sun makes its appearance, we've warmed up.

Click for larger photo

And now it's raining again. We're just hoping it stops within the next 15 or 20 minutes so we don't have to spend an hour walking in the rain. We'll see.

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