i L i n d . n e t

It’s been wet this morning in Kaaawa, with 15 minutes of heavy rain around 4 a.m. followed by off and on drizzle in the hour since then. Kili came in a bit soggy after a night catting around, although I think all the others except Silverman were already accounted for.

Yesterday’s entry drew several comments, so scroll down and click on the comments line to catch up on readers’ opinions (or just click here).

Hawaii Public Television’s Island Insights on Monday featured a discussion of the issue of whether the limited journalists’ privilege recognized by courts in this state will be extended to cover Internet journalist Malia Zimmerman. The only surprising thing to me is that when things started getting serious, Zimmerman didn’t turn to the stable of right-wing lawyers usually featured by her Hawaii Reporter, and instead went right to Jeff Portnoy, experienced in representing the First Amendment rights of the corporate media. I suppose it’s easier to go the ideological route when the personal stakes aren’t as high.

Now that former island exec Tom Leppert took a runoff to be elected mayor of Dallas, reported to be the nation’s 9th largest city, I have to wonder whether his candidacy was reporter previously by our local media? PBN appears to have scooped the dailies on Leppert’s election, but I don’t recall reading about the campaign while it was underway, although it should have been news given his years as a prominent exec in Hawaii.

It was disturbing, though, to see that Leppert’s campaign benefited from anonymous attacks on his openly gay opponent. According to a story in The Advocate:

On the morning of the initial May 12 election, involving 11 candidates, many residents received an anonymous call claiming, “Ed Oakley has a radical gay agenda for Dallas,” and adding, “Dallas needs a strong conservative leadership.”

The call ignited outrage in the blogosphere, with many claiming that it was a violation of Texas Ethics Commission rules.

Speaking of how the islands can inspire, the Christian Science Monitor reports on how floating trash littering Hawaii beaches has inspired a movement against the use of plastic bags in England.

It was watching sea creatures choke on plastic bags in the Pacific Ocean that finally persuaded Rebecca Hosking that enough was enough.

The British filmmaker had already recoiled in disgust at deserted Hawaiian beaches piled up with four feet of rubbish, the jetsam of Western consumerism washed up by an ocean teeming with plastic. Now, filming off the coast, she looked on aghast as sea turtles eagerly mistook bobbing translucent shapes in the water for jellyfish.

“Sea turtles can’t read Wal-mart or Tesco signs on plastic bags,” fumes Ms. Hosking, who returned to Britain in March. “They will home in on it and feed on it. Dolphins mistake them for seaweed and quite often they’ll eat them and it causes huge damage.”

Within a few weeks of coming back, Hosking persuaded her hometown to ban plastic bags outright and found herself in the vanguard of a sudden British revulsion for that most disposable convenience of the throwaway society.

It’s only too bad that we’ve apparently become so accustomed to the sea of trash that we’re not moved to similar action.