June 3, 2006 - Saturday

"First U.S. military officer poised to publicly refuse orders in support of the illegal Iraq War requires immediate support and assistance."

That's the message at a new web site, thankyoult.org. The officer involved in this very public act of civil disobedience is expected to be identified at news conferences next week. I have no details, although I understand he is from Hawaii, although his unit is not based here, and there will be a press conference in Honolulu as well as one on the mainland.

By the way, there is a link for news media inquiries at the web site. Click on the "add your name" and then choose "media inquiry" from the subject menu.

From former Hawaii Tribune-Herald reporter Hunter Bishop: "A scheduled June 13 hearing on the National Labor Relations Board charge against the Tribune-Herald, which alleges the company is stonewalling requests by the Guild for information about why exactly I was fired, has been postponed. After the company requested the hearing be moved from Honolulu to Hilo, the NLRB responded Wednesday saying the Regional Director may add several other unfair labor practice allegations to the existing complaint."

But the big news--we got word yesterday that we will have two tickets to the Antiques Roadshow in Honolulu, scheduled for August 26! Now comes the pressure...what will we take for appraisal?

Andrew Perala, newsletter editor for the Big Island Coin Club, complains that the state commission appointed to select the design for Hawaii's commemorative quarter cancelled its May 17 meeting because of lack of a quorum and, in the process, failed the public.

You agree to partake in a venture that will put the face and spirit of Hawaii on more than 500 million U.S. quarter-dollar coins – each with an average lifespan of 30 years and then fail to get to the first meeting with the falling guillotine of time about to sever your empty head from its neck?

What are you thinking?

Click here for Perala's full column.

June 2, 2006 - Friday

Whither the Weekly? One reader offered up this critical comment:

The Weekly seems to have decided to fill a nitch for the college-to-age-30 clubbers and the Mad Magazine set. That's my take. If that's the case, I wish publisher Laurie Carlson would say so.

My wish always was to have the Weekly be the paper that pinpricked the establishment. It did that for many years with writer Robert Rees. He was our greatest alternative-press writer, although we on the longer side of journalism credentials always found his articles flush with bad facts and personal invective. Remember: he wasn't writing a column of opinion. He was passing the material off as objective journalism. It seldom was. But boy, did we all want to see what he'd have to say the next week!

The Weekly's new editor, Chris Haire, is a bit of Toad of Toad Hall. It seems he writes most of the paper and edits the paper. I wonder what publisher Carlson thought of his "Island of the Dead" script in the current issue? I've always seen Carlson as wanting a paper high on respect, not something geared to the "Mad" crowd and drawing mostly bar, mystics and lonely hearts ads. She's a smart lady and has, on occasion, led the Weekly ahead of the dailies.

I don't know if this reader's impression is widely shared. The Weekly can fill an important role, but is it? Send your comment to ian(at)ilind.net.

Here's a bit more clarification of the whistleblower issue from the Supreme Court of Hawaii Blog.

And here's one to add to your favorites list: Muckraked!, a blog devoted to investigative journalism.

It's Friday again, and time for another Friday feline. For the second week in a row, Mr. Toby takes center stage. Last week he was in black & white, today in color (more or less). Just click on the photo for a larger version.

Toby & Me

June 1, 2006 - Thursday

Re the peacock, a reader submits:

"Probably people have profusely proffered that peacocks are prolific ... in Aikahi."

She explains: "I meant to e-mail you this morning ... but didn't. Then I came up with the alliteration and decided, aw, what the heck."

Guy Hagi was doing his weather thing a couple of nights ago, commenting on the continuing stretch of sunny, hot, dry days. Then he made a jump by referring to temperatures "eerily similar" to the day before. Eerily? Like we should get chicken skin if it hits 86 a couple of days in a row?

Nine people have entered guilty pleas to charges of reporting bogus circulation figures at Newsday and Hoy, a Spanish language newspaper. The fraudulent circulation figures were then reported to the Audit Bureau of Circulations over a period of years.

It's bad news, but I suppose we all need to read the Supreme Court's decision that ruled the First Amendment does not protect whistleblowers on the job. Does the decision also eliminate the First Amendment rights of all employees? That answer awaits a closer reading....By the way, the Supreme Court's web site also includes a transcript of the oral argument before the court on March 21, 2006, although not audio recordings like the 9th Circuit.

With some time to spare yesterday, I expanded the collection of photos of the 1982 demolition of the Kaimuki Theater, once a neighborhood landmark which formerly stood on the corner of Waialae Avenue and Wilhelmina Rise. I rescanned a couple of the photos and added several more that I ran across recently. Just click on the photo for more.

May 31, 2006 - Wednesday

First came the email from Paula which was waiting when we got back from our walk to the beach yesterday morning--"Sounds like a peacock!" She was, of course, referring to the new cry I described in the last entry. Then, after a cup of coffee, I looked up the driveway and say...yes, a peacock. Strolling slowing down our little street.

Kaaawa peacock

A bit later, Neighbor David sent a few photos of the regal bird making itself at home on the deck at his place. And another neighbor said it had been around for several weeks. Why we didn't hear it until the last couple of days remains a mystery, as is the origin of this fine bird. Is someone out there missing their peacock?

Annual financial disclosures by public officials, including all elected officials, are due today. A quick check at the Ethics Commission web site shows that a number of the 2006 updates have not yet been filed.

One item of interest. Back on December 21, 2005, I questioned why the disclosure filed by UH Hilo Chancellor Rockne Freitas failed to list real property or other interests. Freitas filed an amended disclosure form on May 1, 2006, which adds significant information, including several properties and previous sources of income. The amended form is a bit confusing, since at the bottom it bears the date 12/21/04.

But on closer inspection it appears Freitas has simply added the previously omitted info onto a copy of the disclosure filed in December 2004, which now bears two time stamps from the Ethics Commission.

Why this information was not disclosed the first time around is not explained.

Finally, here's another one found in my stacks. I actually don't know the origin of this photo. I found the negative in a faded envelope among my other old negatives. But this is a medium format film that appears to date from the 1940s. Click on the photo for a larger version.

Now I've got to run...uh, walk. And there goes that peacock again!

May 30, 2006 - Tuesday

Kauai's Kristafer Pinkerton (as spelled in court records, although Pinkerton himself spells it "Krstafer") says he has rejected the plea agreement proposed by prosecutors (see yesterday's entry below).

In an email received soon after posting yesterday morning's entry, Pinkerton wrote:

My site will NEVER come down until justice is SERVED.

"Tell Bubba in cell no 42 that I'm moving in, I don't make deals with crooked politicians, prosecutors or police."

"My keyboard hits harder than their baton"

Although, based on the photographs of injuries Pinkerton allegedly sustained at the hands of police (posted at www.kpinkerton.com), those batons can be pretty hard hitting.

The word from Restaurant Row is that Star-Bulletin reporter and former Ka Leo editor-in-chief Mary Vorsino is taking a job up the street at the Advertiser. Her last day at the S-B was over the weekend.

Idle curiosity...I took a few minutes yesterday to check on contributions to some of the 2nd Congressional District candidates as reported by the Federal Election Commission. Here are links to the individual contributors reported by candidates (this listing does not include PAC contributions, if any):

Brian Schatz (58 contributors)

Colleen Hanabusa (71 contributors)

Mazie Hirono (188 contributors)

Gary Hooser (32 contributors)

According to the FEC, "No Individuals Gave To: MENOR, RON"

Ulu Mau Village, 1967. The creation of Herman and Malia Solomon, Ulu Mau Village at that time was located on the Diamond Head end of Ala Moana Park. My girlfriend at the time had been a classmate of one of the Solomon's daughters, and so as I recall we just dropped by one day when we were over at Ala Moana. I just found these negatives and thought they would be an interesting addition to the collection. Click on the photo for more.

Finally, there's something new in Kaaawa. We heard its loud cry for the first time late yesterday afternoon as the sun was setting, then again this morning, still 20 minutes from dawn. Presumably a bird of some kind with a loud, extended cry. It's something you would hear at the zoo or a jungle movie, not something "normal" for Oahu, at least. The cats are freaked out. With the first loud cry this morning, they came crashing inside, and now are sitting at the door staring into the emerging light. I'm right there with them.

May 29, 2006 - Monday

It's already clear that this new camera and I are going to become good friends as we get to know each other. I still have to learn its basics, and then its tricks, but I can see where we're going. Here's one of yesterday's photos of Ms. Harry sitting in the living room. Oh, if you haven't read yesterday's entry yet, it's a new Panasonic Lumix LX-1, the result of a collaboration with the legendary manufactuer of Leica lenses and cameras.

Harriet, a.k.a. Ms. Harry click for larger photo

Everyone in the blog world is poring over the decision in the case of Apple v. Does, in which an appeal court upheld the journalistic rights of bloggers and other internet publications, including the right to protect confidential sources. Here's the whole set of court records and related documents collected by the Electronic Frontier Foundation. Lots to browse through.

Thanks to Jeff Garland for linking me to the somewhat strange "plea agreement" in the case of State v. Pinkerton, a case on Kauai involving a man who says he has been hounded by corrupt Kauai police for years. The strange thing is that the prosecutors agree to drop all charges (and I'm not even sure what all the charges are) if the defendant, Kristafer Pinkerton, agrees to take down his web site focusing on Kauai police corruption (www.kpinkerton.com), to drop all civil claims against the county, and to "get out of Dodge" within 60 days and never return.

Even knowing nothing about the underlying cases, that seems like quite a strange plea for prosecutors to negotiate. I wonder if we'll be hearing more about this one?

Time for a few more Kaaawa morning dogs. This is Mr. Buster. I think he's made the morning dogs' gallery once before. He lives over at the end of Hauhele Road, across the street from the scene of the power line incident last week. Just click on his photo for more.

Buster

May 28, 2006 - Sunday

I'm sorry, Blaine! After checking his web site several weeks ago and learning the big news, I forgot to share it here. S-B webmeister Blaine Fergerstrom has gone and gotten himself what he refers to as an "old fut college degree". After two years of work, he's earned a Bachelor of Science in Computer Information Systems from the Western Governors University.

Congratulations, Blaine! Do you get to march in a virtual graduation ceremony?

Speaking of the Star-Bulletin, there was an announcement several days ago that reporter Nina Wu will be moving over from Pacific Business News to take a new position with the S-B business desk. According to an email sent out by business editor Ken Andrade, "she has previous reporting experience that includes the San Francisco Examiner and the China News in Taipei. She has a BA in English from UC-Davis and a master's in journalism from UC-Berkeley."

A reader offered up some pointed comments on last week's discussion of Honolulu's rental housing market:

First, rents may be down temporarily due to miiltary families move back to the mainland. That is, however, clearly a temporary state as force structure plans in Hawaii, if anything, call for MORE warm military bodies in the islands and not less. Ergo, the big military housing renovation project.

Second, a funny thing happens when people stop renting and start buying. Initially, as more renters leave the market because they have purchased homes, that may depress some rents, particularly in multi-unit dwellings. However, as the state population continues to grow, the fact that these renters have purchased homes and, in many cases, taken them off the rental market, means there may end up being something of a decline in available rental units. That is a far longer term and stronger trend than military famlies. Because once you've bought a house, you generally don't go back to renting and you generally don't rent out your house (not a lot of families here can afford to both own a house and rent another).

Another demographic trend should also drive up rental prices. The number of singles living in Honolulu has been steadily increasing. I don't know this for sure but I would imagine those single people are less likely to occupy traditional family houses and will, instead, occupy apartments. This will be somewhat counterbalanced by the slowing organic population growth, although the influx of others I predict will significant increase as more and more people want to live here for obvious reason, particularly as the world is awash in income with the Baby Boomers checking out to retire. That said, I would imagine the growing number of singles plus the influx of retirees and others will continue to put pressure on rents.

In a nutshell, its an island, we can't build that fast, lots of people want to live here and many have to live here (military). The days of truly affordable housing are long, long gone..

Meda says I bought myself a new "toy". I say that I just upgraded one of life's basic tools, the small carry-around camera. Yesterday was it's introduction to the walk down to the beach at dawn, and this was one of the first photos (just click for a larger version).

A Kaaawa morning

After searching the web, reading many reviews, and deciphering specifications, I have adopted a Panasonic LX-1, the result of the company's collaboration with Leica to produce a small digital camera. It's my first venture out of Canon family of cameras in a while, and a step taken with some nervousness. But Canon is not currently producing a small digital camera capable of recording in RAW format, an important aspect in my view. And this little camera also offers full manual control as well as a wide angle perspective, both at the top of my shopping list. Now I have long weekend to figure out how to use it.