April 17, 2004 - Saturday

Better late than never. It's just after 8 a.m., and I'm hours behind my regular schedule. After an evening with friends on the fringe of Waikiki where I perhaps had "a couple" of glasses of wine, we started the drive home. Luckily, my better judgement was still active and we just made the short drive to my office and stayed there for the night.

After a walk down through Ala Moana Park, then coffee and bagels here, we're ready for the trek back to Kaaawa. I'll try to get this posted before leaving.

Brian Daniel sent the aerial photo of Kaaawa (right-bottom) taken on a pass over our part of the island. And that's his bright yellow flying machine. I'm impressed. We've watched this tiny contraption buzzing (literally) over us.

Brian adds:

I ordered the kit and built the gyro about 10 years ago and have logged 650 hours in it in the eight years it has been flying. At 60 MPH that's about 40,000 miles, it has been to every civil airport in this State, all major islands. I have about 1000 aerial pics of Oahu and a few neighbor isle photos. I'm collecting more.

Hey, you publishers out there should act quickly and sign Brian and his photo collection. It sounds like quite a hidden gem.

April 16, 2004 - Friday

There are two interesting and related items on PRWatch.org, one on the company hired to do public relations for Blackwater USA, the private mercenary firm recently thrust into the headlines, and the second on the military's tight control on information during recent fighting.

The winds are kicking up in strong gusts at this early hour. You can hear the rumble off in the distance several seconds before they reach here. They aren't at the house rattling stage yet, but it sounds like our bananas are taking a beating.

This photo was taken a couple of days ago, and those clouds are now adding rain to the mix. It remains to be seen whether the bad weather keeps us from our sunrise walk. That's happened more often this year than we like to admit.

April 15, 2004 - Thursday

I'm finding it most difficult to get through an initial online sweep at this early hour.

There's another profoundly disturbing first-hand account from Fallujah by peace activist and journalist Jo Wilding, who has reported from Iraq since before the war started. It's a long, unedited, somewhat rambling but richly detailed account of conditions, people, interactions, devastation, fear and more. It reminds the reader how sanitized our mainstream press reports are, and how far most reporters are from the ground. The mainstream offers us the luxury of detachment. Wilding offers no such comfort, and the effect is devastating. Perhaps more so at this early hour.

The Christian Science Monitor warns that the siege of Fallujah has undermined support for U.S. policy among moderate Iraqis and created a wave of anti-Americanism

Then a report from The Independent that U.S. military officials and civilian head Paul Bremer are out of sync--well, it really reports that the military appears out of Bremer's control and pursuing its own policy objectives.

And an assessment of President Bush's press conference by former Clinton advisor Sidney Blumenthal which appears in The Guardian. Devastating. He reminds us that the president doesn't read--he is read to by others--and so Bush would not have read the now famous daily presidential briefing warning of the threat of terrorism within the U.S.

He contrasts this with Clinton, who insisted on personally reading and digesting such information without the interpretation being colored by his staff. If only Bill had kept it zipped.

Meanwhile, here in Kaaawa, there's the smell of rain and the background rumble of surf, and the sound of Mr. Leo knocking a small dish left on the dining table, threatening in his pleasant way to send it crashing to the ground unless I don't quickly leap into action and deposit a bit of fresh cat food into his favored dish. And, of course, I respond.

April 14, 2004 - Wednesday

A commentary appearing last week in the Los Angeles Times says the analogy between Iraq and Vietnam may not be the best.

"The news is actually much worse," writes Andrew Bacevich of Boston University. "Iraq may be shaping up to be America's Algeria."

A sobering read, as is much in the news these days.

Guests on the PBS Newshour last night were unanimous in calling a possible U.S. attack on the city of Najaf a huge mistake, the worst move that could be made. But in light of the "What? Me Worry?" stance of President Bush, we could be marching right down that path.

This from a reader who signs as "An anonymous fan":

An interesting juxtaposition in (Tuesday's) papers:
1. Dobelle's ethics
2. Lingle's ethics
3. Perceptions regarding Hawaii's business climate
Perhaps the fact that the people and press of this state fail to follow through on enforcing high ethical standards has something to do with people/businesses/entreprenuers from the continent and abroad decide to work and invest here. Or why many local people and malahini give up the ghost and head to other places to live, a partial explanation of the brain drain.
Speaking of the braindrain, good thing Dobelle has been working so hard lately to improve the sitch over there at UH, rumor has it he rarely shows up... carpetbagger.

I can't say whether or not Dobelle "rarely shows up" but he certainly has been far less visible in recent months than previously.

Another bottle washed up on the beach containing sand, sea water, and more. The varied creatures clinging onto its sides indicate a long ride. But there's more: the mystery. Where did it come from? What has it "seen"? And is there, along with the sand, a message? Walking at dawn along the beach in Kaaawa, I flirt with a moment of wonder.

April 13, 2004 - Tuesday

A Christian Science Monitor review of news about Iraq notes this disturbing report:

Meanwhile, The Telegraph reports that British commanders in Iraq are becoming increasingly critical about the US's "sledgehammer-to-crack-a-nut" military tactics. One senior British officer said part of the problem was that American troops viewed Iraqis as "untermenschen." (The phrase "untermenschen" was brought to prominence by Adolf Hitler in his book "Mein Kampf," published in 1925. Hitler used it to describe peoples and races he believed were inferior to Germans: Jews, Slavs, Roma, among others.)

Speaking from his base in southern Iraq, the officer said: "My view and the view of the British chain of command is that the Americans' use of violence is not proportionate and is over-responsive to the threat they are facing. They don't see the Iraqi people the way we see them. They view them as untermenschen. They are not concerned about the Iraqi loss of life in the way the British are."

The same concern was highlighted in an Australian Broadcasting Corporation report from Washington.

If you may think this site is eclectic, check out Behind the News and Infomaniac, sites maintained by Liz Donovan of the Miami Herald. Visiting these sites is like browsing the shelves of an interesting little bookstore. Something for every taste and interest. Have fun.

I'm supposed to be staying home today to finish our taxes so they can be mailed before Thursday's deadline. To get the job done, though, I'll have to wrestle with the urge to plunge back in to John Dunning's latest novel, "The Bookman's Promise". It's the third in his series featuring the character Cliff Janeway, a former Denver cop turned book dealer and rare book hound who solves crimes while treating the reader to an inside look at the business and art of book collecting. It's been several years since the first two volumes appeared, and this one is proving well worth the wait.

April 12, 2004 - Monday

Has it happened again? In the spate of news stories since the release of the arbitration panel's decision in the matter of the HGEA's contract, I haven't seen any that quoted directly from the arbitrator's decision and order. There have been selected quotes from the panel taken second-hand from Lingle administration press releases, and quotes from others about the panel, the but decision itself and its lengthy reasoning have again been ignored in the rush for sound bites from the other players. Everyone else is talking about the decision, and I would expect reporters to go directly to the primary source. But obviously I've got a different view of reporting than those making assignments or carrying them out these days, at least on this critical matter of fair reporting.

Rob Perez pursued the nagging questions and in yesterday's Star-Bulletin reported apparent ethics violations by Governor Lingle's pet education "reform" advocacy group known as "CARE". Good work, Rob!

Still on the education beat, I noticed with some dismay that the "90% of funds directly to the schools" claim is still being used by Gov. Lingle and referred to by reporters without challenge long after it was largely discredited.

For example, both Honolulu dailies reported a new "compromise" position put forward by Lingle last week that included the 90% figure. The Advertiser noted:

Lingle and her advisers had dismissed the Democrats' plans as "fake reform," and suggested that anything less than giving principals 90 percent control over spending was hollow. But only Edmonton, Alberta, the model Lingle has been using for reform, has reached that threshold, and several school districts on the Mainland have been able to make gains under similar spending formulas without giving principals that much control.

Although it reflects a bit of skepticism, it comes months after it was confirmed that even Edmonton does not shift this much budget authority to schools, according to House Education Committee chair Roy Takumi.

Takumi said earlier in the session that an Edmonton official had confirmed that the 90% claim is wrong, and that this had been explained to the governor's advisors. The 90% figure is only true if you ignore amounts taken "off the top" of Edmonton's education budget before the final allocations are made.

In addition, a study by the Hawaii Education Policy Center has questioned whether the 90% transfer is a feasible goal, based on categories of spending that are unlikely to be devolved to individual schools.

On other issues of the day...don't miss this New York Times book review which traces the origins of contemporary terrorism to the U.S. post-Vietnam policy of covert warfare using CIA-supported client armies to attack our enemies.

And you won't regret taking time for this interview by Democracy Now! with reporter Helen Thomas.

April 11, 2004 - Sunday

It's Easter on our calendar, for what its worth. You would think we would have a lot of strange eggs to hunt with all the wild chickens running around our end of Kaaawa, but, no. Mr. Toby does chase chickens, but that's a daily activity. In any case, have a good one.

Judy (in Honolulu) had this to say in reply to Juli (in Minnesota), who mused about Hawaii's housing crisis:

In my opinion, you should tell your reader/correspondent Juli that she was not the type of person to whom you were referring. And yes, the media does report almost totally from the perspective of the real estate industry. Just like they report on collective bargaining almost totally from the perspective of the employer. I mean, how many sad stories were there in the local newspapers about how going on strike was going to devastate the lives of workers involved in the recent strikes against the cement companies? That was so blatantly pro-employer. Now, all the stories about how the state just can’t possibly afford the collective bargaining raises for public employees. Of course, much of that springs from the lips of our Republican governor. The lack of good faith bargaining by her administration is unbelievable.

And I also received two other contributions to last week's linguistic debate.

From Hank in Honolulu: "When I was a Boy Scout, we occasionally said back-assward. I think it was mildly witty and a bit of a euphemism (like saying cheese and crackers instead of Jesus Crhist). It could be a linguisitic back formation. Ha! :-)  Ass backward is simply literal minded swearing."

And from William at UH: "Okay brah, in upper Midwestern vocab the proper term is bassackwards. A funny side note that may be relevant to larger, local men: a big gut is rationalized by saying "a man needs a shed over his tool". Bassackwards."

Honolulu multimedia artist Gaye Chan is calling attention to new entries on her Waikiki web site. This is a very cool sight worth checking on now and again.

Hawai'i Calling...
Announcing new additions to our Waikiki Website - stories, pictures, tours,... on topics as wide ranging as chicken, surfing, and poison.

Open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

Please visit.

You can start at the beginning or, if you wish, go directly to the new additions.

So what do you say when the dogs eat the morning Honolulu Advertiser before it's been read? Goooood dog! Okay, I'm sorry, but I just couldn't resist. Whether these Kaaawa dogs had a read before tearing into it remains one of life's mysteries.