I spent a couple of hours yesterday (my birthday) at a matinee showing of “Tropic Thunder”, the new Ben Stiller movie. Short take: Galaxy Quest in meets Kauai disguised as SE Asia. Funny? Yes, indeed

Well, I hope it doesn’t rain during the Democratic Convention in Denver, because umbrellas apparently will be banned from the main convention venues due to security concerns. If you’re carrying an umbrella, you’ll be turned away at the security perimeter. Same thing for Obama’s big Thursday speech at Invesco Field, where either lots of sun or rain could make the long wait a less than stellar experience. Gates open at 1 p.m., and I shudder to think of when the speech itself will begin.

Maybe you can tell that I’m already struggling with my own personal aversion to and distrust of these stage-managed public spectacles, which is certainly going to make surviving this convention a trying experience.

The Obama campaign announced a new lineup at the the Asian American and Pacific Islanders (AAPI) for Obama Leadership Council, including several islanders. Konrad Ng, Obama’s brother in law, is a member of the organization’s executive committee. Serving on the Steering Committee are Honolulu attorney Bill Kaneko, Jadine Nielsen (former local campaign chair for John Edwards), and public relations pro Keith Kamisugi (a former islander who worked in the gov’s office for both John Waihee and Ben Cayetano).

I also noted this New York Times story about the difficulties facing Obama’s campaign in Arkansas. It caught my eye because delegates from Arkansas and Delaware will be staying at the same hotel in Denver as the delegation from Hawaii.

I also see that not everyone was thrilled by Obama’s Hawaii visit (and I’m not talking about McCain backers here). I ran across a different reaction to the Keehi Lagoon welcoming rally:

Several points – it must be reiterated that Barack Obama is not a “keiki o ka ‘aina”, he is not Kanaka ‘Oiwi. He did not even utter the word “Hawaiian” once in his speech. Nevermind that he kept saying Hawai’i’s greatest contribution to “this great nation” is the “spirit of aloha” – as the crowd roared, they articulated their identification with this imaginary spirit that is now somehow of the islands themselves, totally removed from the real ka po’e o ka ‘aina. Again, there is never any question of what aloha is and under what political conditions ‘the aloha spirit’ entered the discourse in Hawai’i. So, the bullshit continued. As settler-colonialism reverberated throughout the lagoon, special attention was paid to reminding supporters that he was here on vacation (because that’s what people come here for), that he was going to eat plate lunch (because plate lunch erases all cultural conflicts), and that he understood Hawai’i is paying for the energy crisis as a result of its reliance on imported goods (because for some reason, no one wants to buy locally produced things). Looking at the crowd, everyone was totally on-board and when he said the beauty of Hawai’i is that people take you as you are, that whatever your background — Black, White, Japanese American, Korean, Filipino …. and he was so close, I thought he was almost going to say Hawaiian (not that I wanted or expected him to), but he just couldn’t. He could barely say Hawai’i correctly. He continued “We are all just Americans!” and isn’t it such a pity, I could hear Haunani in my head “We are not Americans, we will never be Americans. We are Hawaiians!”

I don’t agree, but it’s probably useful to know what’s been said in some circles.

This little essay tackles the related sense among some that no mainstream party candidate comes close enough on the key issues to deserve support. Check the comments and you’ll see that left some readers unsatisfied while others found it refeshingly honest.

I guess this is all evidence of how divided we are, locally and nationally, on some fundamental issues.

On another issue of the day, I found this Washington Post story (“We Are All Georgians”? Not So Fast) useful in providing a better sense of the complexity of the situation in Georgia (the other one, not the one down there next to Texas and Oklalhoma). And I hate to say it, but I also found this recent Pat Buchanan column to be worth reading.

Just click on the photo for a few somewhat rushed photos from our long weekend when the fun never stopped. Well, it might have slowed from time to time, but…Anyway, between our anniversary (#39) and my birthday (#39), a good time was had by all.