We learned something this morning. It was very clear, with almost no visible clouds. Seconds before this photo was taken, as the sun just began to clear the edge of Koko Crater, there was a clearly visible sliver of a green flash. For a fraction of a second, it clung to the visual edge of the crater before being overtaken by the emerging sunrise.
So we can see the green flash at dawn from Kahala Beach, even though the sun isn’t rising out of the ocean. It’s different from the situation in Kaaawa, where the flash came as the sun rose over the ocean.
A small thing, but it did provide us a moment of excitement.
And then a media comment. Here’s a story headline from the Star-Advertiser that got caught up in my “bad headline” filter.
The article describes a proposal by U.S. Rep. Mark Takai’s to utilize unspent federal highway funds to rebuilt Farrington and Kamehameha highways in Pearl City after construction of the city’s rail project is completed in the area.
It just struck me that the headline’s attribution of the idea to a “politician” was unnecessarily disrespectful to Takai, who represents Hawaii’s 1st Congressional District.
Yes, Takai is an elected official and, by definition, a politician. But he’s not any run of the mill politician. He’s our area’s elected representative in Congress.
Why not a headline that refers to his position, “Congressman,” or used his name, “Mark Takai,” or just last name, “Takai.”
Another story that caught my eye was Sophie Cocke’s investigative piece on overtime pay to several DOH accounting staff (“Several Department of Health workers have raked in overtime pay amid dubious circumstances“). It was a good piece of enterprise reporting, indicating that recruiting Cocke from Civil Beat will give the S-A a reporting boost.
It’s a solid story. Substantial overtime pay without adequate documentation of work done, hours spent, etc., etc.
But after reading the story, I did wonder whether this was one of those offices where budget and staffing was cut to the bone during the Lingle years and the rest of the 2008-2009 recession, leaving those remaining staff to somehow cover an increasing, and increasingly complex, workload, with millions of dollars at risk if the work didn’t somehow get done.
That would be a different story than the implied wrongdoing by DOH staff conveyed by Sunday’s piece.
Perhaps a follow-up is in order to fill in that piece of the puzzle.
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A politician is a politician, even if you live on an island and especially if you live on an island. Readers can be connected and personal but (good) newspapers should be cynical.
Moreover, changing that word “polician” changes nothing. Much ado, much ado.
* politician, politician …….
I agree with you. I was surprised by the description of Takai simply as “politicians.” He’s far more than that. Why do newspapers have to be cynical? I don’t understand that rationale at all.
Cynical is a bad word. Critical is better. Defensive is defensive. And a politician is a politician. Much ado over words. Welcome to America.
Quite often, ‘t,’ the word ‘politician’ is used to suggest scorn. It can diminish our relationship with the person we describe; it can be a great disservice.
Congressman Takai is hardly my favorite elected official. But he, and his office, deserve respect, whether implied or explicit.
“Politician” could be anyone from your local neighborhood board member to the president of the United States, so a more descriptive headline would have been better. That being said I don’t think “Congressman” would have fit within the column width (though Rep. Takai or just Takai probably would have), and immediately below the headline (and above the fold even!) it noted that Takai was the politician in question. So not a huge deal in print version. They probably should have changed it in the online version though.
If the article was about Dan Inouye, you can bet the headline would have said “Inouye,” not “politician.” That would have been true on a a paper or digital copy, and anyone who claims otherwise is a fool.
Being that Takai is a major political figure and no else else sharing his name is an elected official in this state, the editors should know better.
Hawaii statewide poll:
What are the names of Hawaii’s Congressional representatives?
Frequent Answer:
Uh……
anyone who claims otherwise is lying. we are not talking about Dan Inouye.
Headline was not even malicious. Just really dumb. No surprise.
This is the first I’ve heard that a green flash is possible other than purely over the ocean. I’ve never seen it at sunset unless it was over the ocean instead of behind ‘Ewa plain or Wai’anae. I wonder if it is because you were closer to Koko Head from Kahala, than the Honolulu to Wai’anae view?
I have seen several headlines recently that were actually funny, they were so bad. Wish I had recorded them to play back now.
no, the office where staff was getting OT did not have any cuts to people in that section. These workers are federally funded and not subject to the RIFs or budget cuts.
Mark Takai is no DKI. Not even close. At this very early point in his political career…..he’s a politician. Period.
Hmmm. Me thinks “t” doth protest too much on this one. Perhaps an axe to grind with Takai?
keep on guessing.