From a reader, criticism & kudo:

The Star-Bulletin cheated its readers when it did not include the list of candidates in the primary election in Wednesday’s print editions. Putting the list on the Internet was not enough.

Kudos to the Bulletin for its excellent obituary last week by Helen Altonn of Terry Rodgers, whose forceful efforts led to the establishment of the University of Hawaii school of medicine. I’ve yet to see his obit in the Advertiser.

I should mention my recommendation that you download the candidate list now for future reference. It includes key information including the candidate’s address and telephone number. You never know when such things will come in handy.

Another reader commented:

The big problem with Kobayashi is now credibility. She put out a press release at 5 am Tuesday morning. Duke Bainum says on TV that he knew about the vacancy the night before and decided to run.

So that means Kobayashi told Bainum to run for her vacant seat before announcing it to the public. She conspired with Bainum to prevent anybody else to get the seat. Caldwell upset the cart, based on the urging of the Hanneman administration.

To me, Kobayashi should have announced last friday to give everybody a chance to look at the council race rather than try to hand it over to Bainum. Even if Caldwell drops out, I expect that a recall petition will be circulating against Bainum within a year. The voters are not stupid or willing to let this carpetbagger sit on the council.

I’m much more favorably inclined towards former councilman and mayoral candidate Duke Bainum, who has always support public interest issues like sunshine and ethics. I’ve had contacts with him dating back to his first run for the State house. But the reader is correct in observing that Caldwell probably did upset a smooth handoff at the urgings of the Hannemann administration.

The House majority blog hasn’t yet commented on majority leader Kirk Caldwell’s jump to a race for the city council. He’s been a key and positive part of Speaker Calvin Say’s leadership team. His departure could make a difference in Say’s ability to stave off the dissident minority.

I also noticed, according to the latest candidate list update, George Waialeale has withdrawn from the 5th district Honolulu council race, leaving Caldwell and Bainum in a head to head race, if Caldwell withstands any challenges to his filing, given the unusual circumstances.

From the Star-Bulletin’s account:

The afternoon was marked with confusion.

After 4 p.m., Trudi Saito, city deputy managing director and one of Hannemann’s closest advisers, started organizing city employees who live in Manoa to sign the petition for Caldwell to run for Kobayashi’s open seat.

At 4:29 p.m., one minute before the filing deadline, Caldwell submitted his petition with 18 signatures. Twenty minutes later, City Clerk Denise De Costa informed him that he had just enough signatures — 15 — but only 14 of the signatures he turned in were valid.

A Manoa resident working in the City Clerk’s Office signed the petition to ensure Caldwell had enough signatures. “We want everything to be legal,” De Costa told Caldwell.

Can that be legal? I like Caldwell and have not had a problem with his actions as House majority leader, but the Star-Bulletin’s version of what happened in the clerk’s office certainly raises questions about the legality of his candidacy for the council.

Here’s another reader comment, this one regarding the raid and arrests of 43 allegedly illegal Mexican workers:

How did they get past the TSA and airlines with phony ids?

As someone who flies now and then, that’s a very good question.

From Associated Press–traffic fatalities have dropped as gas prices have gone up. There are silver linings to this dark cloud.

From Rich Figel:

Hey, everyone –

Whether you live in Hawaii, Los Angeles, Seattle or New York, this post is for you! The Honolulu Advertiser, which is part of the Gannett newspaper chain, laid off 54 workers last week. All over the country news people are getting the ax, while the news itself is increasingly padded with fluff or entertainment plugs for the network’s TV shows…

In short, it’s become the very thing that Paddy Chayefsky satirized in his brilliant script for NETWORK, which came out in 1976. I’ve copied Howard Beale’s “Mad As Hell” speech in the Comments section of my blog for readers who haven’t seen the movie in awhile.

Thirty-two years later everything he wrote applies today (just replace “Russians” with “terrorists”). I wrote “Don’t Read This Blog!” because an Advertiser columnist called and asked me NOT to blog, as a protest against the firings. I said, excuse me — shouldn’t the staff writers be USING the blogs to tell people why the consolidation of the news business is bad for everyone!

If the staff stops blogging, readers will just go to other blogs and message boards. But here we have a chance to say something serious about the state of the lousy media coverage we’ve been getting the past eight years or more — and they want to stop writing? Yeah, that will bring Gannett to its knees. Sheesh.

The problem is our media has gotten so soft on covering real news, they’re not quite sure what to do when it actually hits home.

So please, if you still give a damn about what’s going on with our government and the press, skim my blog. Then read Paddy’s speech and add your own comment or a simple, “I’M MAD AS HELL AND I’M NOT GONNA TAKE IT ANYMORE!” from wherever your hometown is.

Here’s the link.

Do it before Fox News, the Wall Street Journal and the GOP mount another campaign to steal the next election. Thanks for letting me rant!