I’m told that arbitrator Mario Ramil ruled in favor of the University of Hawaii Professional Assembly in interpreting a contract clause which extends the terms of the recently expired faculty contract while negotiations continue.

The decision maintains contractual rights and procedures that limit the administration’s ability to unilaterally impose cuts in programs, benefits, or positions, or institute furloughs, etc.

I haven’t yet seen any news stories or a copy of the arbitrator’s decision.

With hunters pushing to include Palolo as an approved pig hunting area, one reader believes their actions encourage the pig population rather than seek to reduce it. In her view, more hunters does not translate into fewer pigs.

I may be the only one who sees a real connection between the increased number of pig hunters ( 50 new DLNR licenses every month ) and the increased number of feral pigs on this island but there is one. The more hunters we allow the more pigs we will have too.

People forget that pig hunting on Oahu is a sport. It has nothing to do with saving the aina and ” DLNR ” hunters have no real interest in reducing the feral pig population. The more pigs the better as far as they are concerned.

That’s how they have their fun !

In fact, in Kailua some hunters are openly breeding feral pigs right under everyone’s noses and people don’t get it. But if you know what to look for pigs are being marked so that the females are not killed and because adult male pigs cull their young, some of the male piglets are being caught and castrated.

Those pigs are also being marked by the removal of one ear and the tail.

The purpose of the castration, as far as I can figure out, is to let the pigs grow to full size for sport hunting while taking them out of the competion for the females thus reducing the desires of other male pigs to cull some of their young.

The relocation of feral piglets to safer areas is also a common practice on Oahu and it seems to me that when you take all these hunting methods and mix them together you can’t help but see – like I do – that the hunters are creating – not solving – the problem of feral pig over population.

From the “where are they now?” file: Former Republican House Minority Leader Galen Fox recently defended Sarah Palin in his blog, “Capitalism + Democracy = Peace“.

If you’ve already forgotten the former Representative from Waikiki, here’s how he describes himself:

Former Hawaii State House Republican Leader, State and City economic development executive, and U.S. Foreign Service Officer stationed in East Asia and Washington D.C. Holds Ph.D. in Public Affairs (Princeton).

He adds that he’s a Pisces, born in the year of the sheep.

But he forgot to mention that other detail: “convicted sex offender”.

And then there’s Sharron Mirikitani, wife of former Honolulu City Council member Andy Mirikitani, who can be found online at her Collectible Treasures Emporium, Twitter, Facebook, and Flickr (some nice photos!).

Mirikitani and her husband are apparently living in Texas after completing prison terms resulting from their conviction on charges of theft, bribery, etc., stemming from alleged kickbacks by Andy’s council staff.

Sharron tells her version of events in this brief essay written after her release from prison in 2003.

Finally, worth reading, Robert Parry’s essay, “Cronkite’s Unintended Legacy“. His point:

It was the failure of CBS and other mainstream news outlets to live up to Cronkite’s standards that enabled the Right to take the United States down this destructive path.

And so it goes on Tuesday morning.