What does it mean that the emergency outdoor warning siren at the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center is out of service? State Civil Defense is seeking a procurement exemption for a $95,000 contract to replace termite-damaged poles and warning sirens in three locations, including at the tsunami warning center.

At least by this account, reprinted yesterday, I still may be the first journalist to have lost his job due to blogging. Frankly, after 8 years, I still am not sure whether that was good or bad. I guess that’s a comment on both the industry and my own values.

Information is circulating through the Capitol at an rapid pace now that legislative committees are up and running, decisions being made, etc.

I was browsing around yesterday and found this list of miscellaneous communications, including reports on a variety of quite interesting topics. Some links take you straight to pdf copies of the reports, others provide information about where online versions can be found. There’s a multi-volume study of the cruise industry, reports by the county police departments on officers disciplined for misconduct, a report on University of Hawaii salaries, and an awful lot more.

Some are unfortunate dead ends. For example, there’s a notice about the latest annual report by the State Ombudsman which says the report can be found on the ombudsman web site.

But go the web site and the latest report listed is for 2005-2006. I’m sure that’s not the one provided to the current Legislature.

You might also want to browse packages of bills introduced by various interest caucuses. There’s a “Good Government” package, a package from the Women’s Legislative Caucus, the State Ethics Commission package, and many more.

Let’s see. Do I need to go on any more about the Grassroot Institute’s so-called “Pork Report“?

Look at some more of what they belittle and classify as “waste and corruption”. On page 9 of the report, they attack public spending to combat the varroa mite which has shown up in Hawaii for the first time. It’s a mite capable of wiping out bees in short order. Up until now, Hawaii’s bee and honey industry has been free of this hazard. No wonder the state has jumped on the problem.

But apparently the Grassroots folks aren’t worried about the consequences of the loss of bees, which are a key part not only of the honey industry but also of the broader world of agriculture. They don’t criticize any particular part of the spending as wasteful, but just dismiss the entire amount as a sting to the taxpayer.

Dead wrong. Again.

Reading the report, it turns out it isn’t really about waste or corruption at all. It is just about money. The Grassroot folks seem to be surprised and appalled that it takes money to do the public’s business.

Look at their take on the Honolulu Zoo (page 15). They cite capital improvements at the zoo, report that they were “well received”, but criticize them because “the fix-ups didn’t come cheap.” Nothing to show that money was wasted. No allegation of corruption. Just that it costs money to run a zoo and, in the case of Honolulu, complete a series of long-delayed improvements.

I have to conclude that the Grassroot folks would rather live in a city without a zoo, without golf courses, without bees and all they bring, without sewers (those cost a lot, too), without the Handi-Van and related services, without public art and a vibrant arts community, and so on.

Luckily, I don’t think many agree with that this would be a desirable future.

It’s Feline Friday again, but after the burglary that took my two main cameras, I’m short on new cat pictures. Yesterday I did retrieve my Panasonic LX-1 from my office. It had fallen to #3 on my “most used” list, but now will have to stand in as top camera for a while.

So this is Ms. Wally, who assigned herself the job of helping Meda belatedly open some birthday presents from her sister (Meda’s sister, not Wally’s sister, just to be clear). Wally quickly got into the spirit of the event.

The card was cute. It’s a picture in the kitchen of a house with what looks like around 20 cats on the floor, on chairs, the table, counter, just everywhere. Open the card and the message is: “After a while, you stop counting…”

It feels like that around here sometimes, and we’ve only got 9. Cats, that is.