It’s cold, just barely above 60 degrees in our living room. But it’s not raining, despite the threatening forecasts of the past couple of days.

And maybe I should just blame the cold for this morning’s outage. Yup, this site was down and unavailable early today (Hawaii time). Hopefully it’s going to stay up and running for the rest of the day.

So let’s see what’s up.

Is this the leading edge of something? In Washington State, labor groups have cut their support for Democratic candidates after conservative Democrats in the legislature failed to support key issues important to organized labor.

And the NY Times reported yesterday on changes in the membership base of organized labor. Hawaii has been part of this wave of change, with women and public employee unions now the backbone of our labor movement. We’re overdue for an analysis of what these trends mean for Hawaii politics.

Yes, I’m nagging, but our newspapers continue their failure to enrich their Internet presence with hard information, instead focusing on advertising and fluff.

Today’s examples. The Advertiser reports that the 9th Circuit Court rejected the appeal of an earlier dismissal in a case challenging the constitutionality of the Office of Hawaiian Affairs. It’s a pretty good story by reporter Gordon Pang. But once again, it would have been easy to provide a link to the court’s opinion, in this case an abbreviated memorandum opinion, and even to the oral arguments.

Similarly, another Advertiser story on a study of state finances could easily have provided a link back to the study.

Did you notice the headline on that story? It could have been written with a negative or positive spin, both supported by the substance of the story.

As published:

Study: Hawaii in worse fiscal shape than many states

But it could just as well have read:

Study: Hawaii in better fiscal shape than many states

At least that how it looks from a quick review of the 50-state list. Now I’ll have to read the full study and see how much that changes the picture.

The News Hour on PBS last night also discussed the study and the situation in the states, underscoring the point that the fiscal crisis is part economics and part politics, with the GOP’s “no taxes” mantra, echoed by Gov. Lingle, worsening at least the short-and-intermediate term outlook in many states, leaving few remaining alternatives on the table.

A reader notes:

I checked the state film office Web site, and they DO have a link to the furlough schedule for HGEA employees with a note indicating the office will not be open on November 20 and 27. There is no reference that I could find to the impending layoffs – which I believe are to happen this Friday?

There’s a new dog in town. Mr. Piko (right), one of our favorite morning dogs, is a Cockeranian, a Cocker Spaniel-Pomeranian mix. He how has a newly adopted “friend”, Mr. Murphy, described by his new people as a “5 month old cocker/springer spaniel mix from the Humane Society.”

They report:

Piko is not socialized to dogs, and is not too pleased with the new addition. Murphy is a puppy and wants to play, Piko wants him to go away. Hopefully they will reach a balance. Murphy seems like he will be a good dog – seems to know not to go over the sea wall, and where to go to the bathroom (so far). We are glad to be back to a two-dog family – it was almost three!