February 11, 2006 - Saturday

The pace is picking up over at the capitol as one of the first significant deadlines approaches. House bills that have been referred to more than one committee have to get a favorable vote and moved out of the first committee by the end of next week, a deadline referred to as "first lateral". Bills that miss that deadline are dead, although there are always ways to beat the clock. But the deadline has lobbyists on all sides working harder and staff running to keep up with the increasingly hectic pace of committee hearings.

There are also whispers about a possible move to slip through a bill to bail out the developers of Hokulia on the Big Island, the luxury residential project blocked by a state court in 2003 for violating state laws aimed at protecting agricultural land.

I had a hard time locating a copy of Judge Ibarra's findings of fact, conclusions of law, and order in this important case, but finally found one oneline and will make it available here for those who want to read more than the one-sided propaganda put forward by the developers.

Despite the posturing of the developers and their supporters, I think Ibarra's decision is impressive, especially considering that it's by a circuit court judge in a neighbor island circuit suddenly faced with a lengthly and complex case. It's definitely on my recommended reading list.

Poor Harriet. Now that she's rehabilitated herself and sticks around the house more than at earlier times of her life, she's subject to harrassment by Mr. Leo. The day's first screaming encounter happened about 5:45 a.m., and by the time I reached the living room she had taken refuge under a chair and Leo was strutting towards the kitchen with that "I sure showed her" air about him.

Ms. Harry (a.k.a. Harriet)

And just in case your household is a kitten or two short, please click on this photo of Yoda, who is looking for a home. His brother, now known as Tequila, is also dreaming of life with a new family. Both were rescued and hand raised by the wonderful folks at Kamaaina Metals down in Restraurant Row. Check 'em out, cat people.

Please click on my picture for more information

February 10, 2006 - Friday

Capitol Hill Blue is reporting that current and former intelligence officers are disputing President Bush's claim that the U.S. blocked a planned terrorist attack in Los Angeles back in 2002.

"The President has cheapened the entire intelligence community by dragging us into his fantasy world," says a longtime field operative of the Central Intelligence Agency. "He is basing this absurd claim on the same discredited informant who told us Al Qaeda would attack selected financial institutions in New York and Washington."

A provocative blog called "Nanovirus" recently unearthed this quote from President Eisenhower:

"Should any political party attempt to abolish social security, unemployment insurance, and eliminate labor laws and farm programs, you would not hear of that party again in our political history. There is a tiny splinter group, of course, that believes that you can do these things. Among them are a few Texas oil millionaires, and an occasional politician or businessman from other areas. Their number is negligible and they are stupid."

~ President Dwight D. Eisenhower

Their numbers could be negligible, I suppose, but unfortunately they're all hiding out in the White House.

The Chronicle of Higher Education highlights the debate over the proposed Naval research center at UH in an article in this week's edition. Non-subscribers can use this link to read the story for several days, after which the link will no longer work.

A reader shared this vignette after a visit to Kauai:

example of the Star-Bulletin's circulation problems. I was in Hanalei over the weekend. At the Big Save supermarket in the Ching Young shopping plaza, Sunday Advertisers were piled six feet deep on open shelving by the cashiers. Star-Bulletin? Only in the news rack outside the store. You needed 5 quarters to buy one. But no amount of insertion could get the rack to open. Other racks nearby? Yep, on the far side of the Center, but only for the Advertiser.

This rainbow arched over Nuuanu Valley late yesterday afternoon as we were heading towards the Pali. Luckily Meda was driving, and I had time to dig under the seat and pull out a camera in time to get this shot.

February 9, 2006 - Thursday

The problems at the Hawaii Youth Correctional Facility were much in the news yesterday, when a federal court decision in a case brought by the ACLU coincided with the announcement of an agreement between the state and federal government over a plan to reform the institution. Still lacking, though, is a clear sense of how the state is going to turn around the facility after three years of what, at best, has been painfully slow progress despite instense outside scrutiny and pressure.

So far, the Lingle administration seems to be taking its cues from Texas, in most circles not considered a leader in the enlightened treatment of youth offenders.

In April 2005, the Office of Youth Services retained consultant Nancy Emmert, a former administrator with the Texas Youth Commission. In a written justification filed with the State Procurement Office, Emmert was described as having recently gone through a federal investigation in Texas and therefore was seen as experienced in responding to the Justice Department probe.

The Advertiser added a clue yesterday:

Bennett said the state has retained a national expert on youth facilities to help the staff with operational improvements. This person currently serves as the juvenile services administrator with the Federal Bureau of Prisons under the Justice Department, he said.

Although this contract has been rumored for some time, this is the most information I've seen about it.

From the description, the "expert" appears to be Alex Escarcega, Juvenile Services Administrator for the Federal Bureau of Prisons. Prior to moving to Washington in 1998, Escarcega was also an administrator with the Texas Youth Commission.

A quick Google search for either of these consultants turns up virtually nothing regarding their experience in this kind of situation, especially in a setting such as Hawaii.

Another national expert in juvenile corrections policy who has consulted here in the past offered this informal comment, noting the vast differences between Texas and Hawaii.

...having someone from the Texas Youth Commission consult with HYCF is almost nonsensical. Texas is a massive institutional system that has no interest or reliance on alternatives to incarceration. The Hawaii system was built on that premise.

And there's the problem. Hawaii has had an excellent plan on the books for handling juvenile offenders, but at every critical stage has failed to implement it, either through lack of funding or absence of political will and administrative policy. And state officials apparently changed their minds and went to the Texas crew after an initial move to bring in a team of experienced and well-regarded consultants who have reshaped youth systems in Utah and elsewhere. That Utah team was abruptly dropped in favor of those with Texas links, or so I've been told.

What's so great about Texas? Could we be talking ties to the Bush administration?

This could be another case of lost or squandered opportunities for real change in the corrections system.

Febuary 8, 2006 - Wednesday

It is suddenly windy. Very windy. Loud, scary, doors slamming, cats crazy, chairs scattered across the deck, tree branches cracking, check the windows, batten down the hatches kind of wind. And did I mention the rain that's blowing in the wind? It sounds like we won't be walking this morning. We go out in almost all kinds of weather, but there's no way to protect from this kind of wind-driven rain.

The mystery of the frozen WWII-era airman found in the California mountains last year has been solved, but Diana Leone's story in the Star-Bulletin on Sunday raises another question. Buried deep in her account is this disclosure:

Investigators were able to read a name on a faded badge on the serviceman's clothing, but declined to reveal it until the identity was confirmed through DNA.

What? So now we learn that all this drama and hype was just for show because the man's identity was actually discovered right away from the ID badge he was wearing when his plane went down? Why didn't they say that in the first place? Certainly it would have been kinder to the other families to have given out the "preliminary" identification based on that badge, subject to confirmation by other testing.

According to a Colorado lawsuit written up in The Aspen Times, five mainland construction workers hired last year to work on a project at the Mauna Lani Resort were forced to leave before the job was finished because of threats from Hawaiian workers at the job site.

Native Hawaiian workers on the site began harassing the out-of-towners for taking jobs that could have gone to other Hawaiians, said 2 Framers' lawyer, Tim Whitsitt.

"Here are guys taking food off the table [of Hawaiians]," he said. "There were specific threats of physical violence."

The subcontractor that employed the men is now suing the general contractor, Resort Builders, based in Aspen.

I would hope that we'll hear more about this incident and the underlying tensions it reveals.

How I'd better get this uploaded before a power line goes down and we're without electricity.

February 7, 2006 - Tuesday

I'm in a bit of a time bind this morning, having overslept my normal pop-out-of-bed time by an hour. It's going to be a bit rushed.

San Francisco Chronicle columnist CW Nevius has a follow-up today on Plan Complianced Group and its owner, Francis "Bill" Reimers. That's the company that disappeared with millions belonging to Hawaii teachers and professors, leaving the DOE and UH trying to figure out how to cover the losses.

The story has been getting a lot more attention on the mainland, despite the fact that Hawaii was the first state to take legal action. It still makes me wonder about why significant white collar crimes like this are so under reported compared to the petty crime that regularly fills our news.

The goings on at KHON have been getting a lot of play at a relatively new web site, Oregon Media Insiders, because Portland's KOIN was also among the package of stations taken over by Montecito Broadcast Group. The KOIN web site says they're also looking for a morning anchor and a general sales manager, among others. So it goes in the new world of broadcasting.

Lynn Siprelle, who writes Oregon Media Insiders, describes her site this way:

The site motto is "News, commentary and rank gossip." It's been "live" since November, taking over from an anonymously authored blog that got too hot for the person running it. KHON in Honolulu is a sister station to KOIN here in Portland; both have been sold, as you've probably heard, to a "flip" operation that calls itself Montecito Broadcast Group. Both are being gutted, with more sturm und drang in Honolulu than in Portland and far better coverage there. OMI has been following events at both KHON and KSN in Wichita as well as at KOIN so that folks can get a broader picture of how these guys operate. (Picture so far: Ewww.)

The Star-Bulletin's Mary Vorsino did a great job with yesterday's story on state-initiated evictions from public housing. The only thing not said is that this is the local face of the Bush budgets. And it's not pretty.

That's it for today. I'm heading out into the darkness for that 3 miles to the other end of the beach and back.

February 6, 2006 - Monday

Former Star-Bulletin editor Chuck Frankel shared this observation on the coverage of breaking news:

On the ending of Del Monte's pineapple planting, it should be noted that the news was announced on Wednesday, Feb. 1, but the Star-Bulletin did not play it on Page One, nor was there a reference to it on that page in Wednesday's afternoon edition. It was relegated to the lead in the business section. The Star-Bulletin put it on Page One the following day.

It is not the first time that the Star-Bulletin put a breaking story inside, to be followed by Page One placement the following day.

I don't know whether this if this is (1) a lack of news judgment, (2) an inability to remake Page One with a breaking story or (3) the unwillingness to remake a prettily designed page with something important.

Interesting observation and good questions. We'll see if there are any answers available.

And the search for replacements for my favorite Rosti cooking spoons continues to attract comment even after several years. I received this email on Friday:

I came across your ancient posting about melamine spoons while trying to track them down myself recently.
I absolutely love these things and cannot for the life of me figure out why all the good stuff disappears.

Anyway, I found 2 sources for different brands. Since you seemed to be quite serious in your search I thought I'd share my findings with you.

I can vouch for these. Very high quality nice finishing.

3524 is my favorite tool. but the one you were looking for is next to it. They also have an assortment of mini's, I find the little spreader great for removing and applying mustard etc. The colors don't pop as much as the Rosti spoons that follow.

Golda's Kitchen is Canadian cookshop (ships everywhere I think) that has a selection of Rosti melamine in delicious colors, but not the right shape. Do a search for Rosti, maybe you'll see something you like.

It seems melamine tools are now considered collectible and sometimes show up on eBay as well. Let me know if you find this information useful or have any other sources.

Anita

A little history, variations have been made by many different manufacturers but I think it all started in Denmark. Rosti, Copco, Mepal, Ecko and Melmac were other manufacturers. I found some really poorly made Chinese melamine utensils at a 99 cent store a few years ago.

PS. Melamine is not plastic.

It's always good to get more info, although I finally found my Rosti replacement locally, a perfect copy of the original, produced in Thailand under the Hutzler brand.

But I'm just not sure about that last "melamine is not plastic" comment. Merriam-Webster's Online Dictionary offers these definitions of Melamine:

1 : a white crystalline organic base C3H6N6 with a high melting point that is used especially in melamine resins
2 : a melamine resin or a plastic made from such a resin.

So is a melamine spoon plastic or not?

We walked in the dark a lot more often in January than any recent month, but still managed to capture enough good images to fill a new photo gallery. So just click on this photo for my January selections.

February 5, 2006 - Sunday

The headline story from the Houston Chronicle caught my eye: "Bush seeking to improve U.S. standing in sciences" Actually, it was more like a poke in the eye.

The spectacle of Bush grandstanding by posing as a backer of science is insulting, as his administration has spent considerable effort for the past five years doing just the opposite, in case after case putting extraordinary effort into hobbling the federal scientific establishment. In a series of major policy moves, they've tried to suppress science, muzzled scientists and prevent them from discussing their findings, restricted access to scientific information, skewed scientific results for political purposes, simply eliminating the collection or publication of government statistics in areas where they might raise pesky policy issues. The list could go on and on.

I missed the story last week on the emails missing from the White House computer archive that could related to the CIA leak case and the resulting questions over media coverage of the matter. Very interesting.

It's blustery, cool but not as cold as yesterday, when temperatures remained down below 70 degrees well into the morning. Today's set aside for making turkey soup, always a rewarding activity.

I spent an hour yesterday morning in Kaneohe watching our favorite twins and their soccer team, the renamed "Pink Fireballs", formerly known as the "Pink Angels". Besides being a lot of fun, it's given me a lot of respect for sports photographers. It's much harder than I would have thought to capture great images in the midst of all the on-field confusion. I'm trying, but obviously have a lot of learning to do.

And so it goes on this Sunday morning.