I recently noticed the exhibit attached to the Star-Advertiser’s lawsuit challenging Governor Abercrombie’s refusal to disclose the list of judicial nominees for the Supreme Court forwarded to him by the Judicial Selection Commission. Exhibit A is the series of correspondence from January through June as court reporter Ken Kobayashi pressed the governor’s office for the list. It’s worth reading as a good example of slogging through the system in search of a bit of sunshine.
And while you’re at it, don’t miss the transcript of the conversation when Civil Beat’s Adrienne LaFrance waylaid Mayor Carlisle and a city rail delegation in Washington. It’s at the bottom of the article (“Civil Beat Catches Rail Leaders Trying to Go ‘Deep Undercover’ in Washington“). Priceless!
I was out around noon yesterday and noticed that the Honolulu Weekly rack at the busy corner of Kalakaua and Kapiolani was empty. The new issue is generally delivered on Wednesday or perhaps Thursday morning, so I was worried that perhaps the end was here. But when I checked the online edition, all appeared to be well. Or as well as can be expected, under the circumstances. I certainly hope this was just an unusual situation and not a sign of things to come.
CBS had another story this week on the distribution of wealth in the U.S. The news isn’t good, as we all know. See “Left behind in America: Who’s to blame for the wealth divide?”
Americans were asked how they thought wealth was actually distributed; they estimated that the top 20 percent controlled about 59 percent of the nation’s wealth, while the bottom controlled about three percent.
That wasn’t even close: In reality, the top 20 percent controlled about 84 percent of the wealth, while the bottom quintile controlled just 0.1 percent. The combined net worth of the bottom 40 percent, in fact, accounted for just 0.3 percent of the nation’s wealth. (See chart below, where that bottom 40 percent doesn’t even show up.)
The article looks at a number of factors, but focuses on public policy.
A bias toward the desires of the wealthiest Americans has resulted in policies that critics say exacerbate the wealth and income divide – among them reduced capital gains tax rates, deregulation of the financial system and a reduction of tax rates on high earners. They say many politicians largely serve the wealthy and leave those on the bottom behind, pointing out that the minimum wage is currently lower than it was 30 years ago after accounting for inflation.
The growing wealth gap is “not an accident or a force of nature, it’s clearly the result of public policy,” says Schakowsky.
And so it is.
There was another computer system crash that fouled things up at UH Manoa yesterday, according to an email alert sent out mid-day.
Subject: Temporarily Unable to Produce UH IDs and Department Badges
Due to a system crash, we are TEMPORARILY unable to issue new UH identification cards and department badges until the system is restored. All other services at the Ticket, Information and ID Office is still available – including VALIDATION of the UH ID and ISSUANCE of the UPASS as long as students have a current UH ID with them.
It is a busy time of year, no doubt. But aren’t their systems designed to handle the peak load? Makes you wonder….
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Shame on UH for using bad grammar in their email.
The Weekly has been running large ads on their back page for over a year asking for witnesses who may have seen people removing tons of copies from their racks. The ad hasn’t run for the past couple of weeks though.
But there are two interesting display ads in this week’s edition. The first is almost 1/4 page on page 5, asking for people to donate goods for a silent auction sometime this fall to raise funds for the paper.
Then on page 7 is a full half-page display ad asking for money. Laurie says she still owes the “printers” (yes, plural) and she says “If we can’t pay our debts, the Weekly could shut down forever.”
There are notes, allegedly from three readers, one of whom says that what she sent in was a “loan”, not a donation. Good luck getting repaid, lady.
very interesting business model the Weekly is pursing. it use to be a 1/2 decent read back in the bob reese days. lately though, ah… not so much.
i absolutely laughed my butt off this morning at the rail delegation’s word-for-word dialog in LaFrance’s story. and I’m a major rail supporter! well done, LaFrance!
Yes, it was funny how the rail gang reacted when ambushed. But it’s very sad because the Mayor Peter Carlisle is again, very arrogant.
What also bothered me was the mystery man. Who is paying for this mystery man?
If the rail project is so good, how many lobbyists are needed?
Thank you CIVIL BEAT
Civil Beat (to Carlisle): Who is this gentleman with you?
Carlisle: He’s working with us on the project.
Civil Beat: Is he an attorney?
Carlisle: No.
Civil Beat: International man of mystery?
Carlisle: You have to ask him.
Civil Beat, catching up with man walking ahead of the group: Hi, sir. I’m Adrienne LaFrance with Civil Beat. What’s your name?
Dennis Dwyer: My name is Dennis Dwyer.
Civil Beat: Can you tell me about what your role is here?
Dwyer: I can’t because my contract says you have to talk to the city about it.
Civil Beat: Is it a lobbying thing?
Dwyer: Sort of. More advisory than that.
Civil Beat: What company do you work for?
Dwyer: Again, I can’t tell you that.
Civil Beat: OK, well, I have Google for that.
Dwyer: Thanks.
(And, yes, we found him online. Dwyer specializes in “federal funding accomplishments” in areas like infrastructure and transportation. Here’s the link to his bio with Washington lobbying firm Williams & Jensen.)
A spokesman for the FTA told Civil Beat earlier this week that officials would have no public comment to make about their meeting with Honolulu officials.
Uh, I think this really shows that Civil Beat still has a lot of growing up to do.
And what do you mean by that???
Uh, it’s the rail project that needs growing up to do. WE CANNOT AFFORD IT.
It’s time Hawaii politicians understand that not all news media will accept their BS. Politicians like Daniel Inouye, Peter Carlisle, and bureaucrats Carrie Okinaga should be fired. The BS is too obvious.
If Ken does not slog, who will?
There are few guys doing much digging these days (Ian and David Shapiro excluded). Most simply go with the flow sans depth or much understanding.
The only way we preserve sunshine is to have genuine, informed “watchdogs.” Fortunately, Ken seems among them.
Regarding “Left Behind in America”: Let’s be fair and balanced. On the side of the equation that discredits far-leftists, there’s a great book published in 1949 in which six famous writers explain how they were formerly Communists and why they broke away. The title is “The God That Failed” and the writers are Louis Fischer, André Gide, Arthur Koestler, Ignazio Silone, Stephen Spender, and Richard Wright. It helps to remember that 1949 was a time when the Cold War was getting going big-time, with a lot of American leftists trying to undermine the U.S. (sort of like nowadays), and taking sides in support of the Soviet Union (now in the dustbin of history thanks to President Reagan).
But I don’t know what on earth that has to do with the analysis of how skewed our income distribution has become.
It would certainly be grossly inaccurate to suggest any of those writers split from the Communist Party because they had come to believe that we needed more inequality.
Thanks, Ian, for the update on Governor Abercrombie’s “philosophical” refusal to reveal the names of judicial nominees. It’s good to see Ken Kobayashi, a journalist from an earlier era, applying his skills to bring us the story.
Like Ken Conklin, I have a high regard for “The God That Failed” and its brilliant contributors. But surely the god that failed today is not Marxism-Leninism but Norquistism.
Fresh from the New York Times this morning! Columnist Anand Giridharadas found this “devastating indictment of the entire U.S. political establishment – left, right and center” in Iowa this weekend, from the right of the wealth divide: http://anand.ly/articles/some-of-sarah-palins-ideas-cross-the-political-divide