|
August 23, 2003 - Saturday
The first helicopter flew over our house and back up the valley at about 7 a.m. yesterday, beginning the difficult process of retrieving the body of a hiker who apparently fell to his death several days ago. It took several hours to accomplish the task, with the noise of the helicopter's engine a somber backdrop to our daily coffee and newspapers.
Just days after former Kamehameha CEO Hamilton McCubbin sued a University of Wisconsin lawyer over public comments made about a sexual harassment complaint, McCubbin showed up on the short list for the position of vice chancellor of academic affairs for UH-Manoa. This is another one where there's got to be more to the story.
Star-Bulletin writer Russ Lynch sat through the breakfast presentation on the competition's new print shop, and reported the details in yesterday's S-B.
Erika Engle's TheBuzz column yesterday provides information on Monday's hearing by the state cable office seeking public comment on plans for public, education, and government programming. She notes:
A raft of potential changes will be discussed, from the make-up of the boards of directors to the boards' share of fees paid by cable subscribers.
The DCCA's discussion document, outlining cable access plans, may be viewed on the Web at www.hawaii.gov/dcca . Public testimony will be accepted from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m. at the Queen Liliuokalani Building, 1390 Miller St., Room 404.
August 22, 2003 - Friday
The Washington Post today reports that political analysts are now thinking the formerly unthinkable:
Both Republican and Democratic strategists have begun adjusting their plans for what they once viewed as unthinkable: that Bush's handling of national security in general, and the war in Iraq in particular, could become a vulnerability rather than an asset in his reelection race.
Despite Rumsfeld's recent "I don't do quagmires" quip, folks on both sides of the party divide now recognize the potential for just that. Very interesting.
On the other hand, a local reader reacted to my comments yesterday:
Hello, I had to return to your column and read again the agitated comments of someone about the photographer who was killed by US troops. It was indeed an unfortunate death, but certainly not the first in Iraq of a member of the press this year. From what I read about it, it wasn’t done by hysterical, demoralized troops. Rather, this cameraman bravely or foolhardily ventured into a dangerous area (and all of Iraq seems dangerous), holding his camera in such a way that it appeared to be a grenade launcher or something. As for American troops having to stay in Iraq for a year, one only has to look back at history to realize we’ve had troops in even more dangerous situations for far longer (WW II—all theaters of war). Today’s Army seems to be a professional Army, with most of the people knowing why they are there. Granted, some National Guards troops may have thought they were only weekend warriors, but even then… When it gets down to a philosophical exchange about whether or not we should be in Iraq, that’s another subject altogether. But if you sign up for military service, you have to expect to be sent anywhere. And we have been at war since Sept. 11, 2001. That’s one thing I agree with our President about, although there are a lot of things I don’t agree with him about! I think the way the terrorists (Al Queda or Saddam’s henchmen?) blew up a cement mixer full of explosives next to the UN headquarters in Baghdad shows what we are dealing with and why our troops have to be literally on the front lines. The brave press people who go into the middle of this do put their lives on the line.
Here's a good analysis of the political battle brewing in the communications arena that could have broad repercussions, including here in Hawaii. It involves a challenge by Comcast, the nation's largest cable provider, to requirements that it provide specific public facilities and benefits in order to renew it's franchise. The public in Hawaii has benefited mightily from similar franchise requirements in the past, and so should be watching the Comcast case closely. The case catches the attention of Bill Moyer's NOW scheduled on PBS Hawaii tonight.
August 21, 2003 - Thursday
Journal Newspapers, owned by former Star-Bulletin owner Rupert Phillips, is expanding its experiment with free distribution. Next month, the company will start free home delivery of its Northern Virginia edition to homes selected for desirable demographics, according to a story in the Washington Post.
As the case of Fox News v. Al Franken heads to court, the Authors Guild has been collecting examples of trademarks that appear in book titles and would be illegal under the interpretation of the law being pushed by Fox. It is not a short list.
A reader shared this comment following the death of Reuters cameraman Mazen Dana:
This is an incredible tragedy and one that will be repeated. The longer we keep demoralized troops in Iraq with weapons in their hands, the likelier this scenario will be repeated. With temperatures soaring to 120 and these soldiers missing or losing their wives, feeling abandoned by their government, feeling threatened by everyone around them in a culturally foreign environment, they will be more likely to pull a trigger. You don't leave weapons in the hands of unhappy, agitated and frustrated men. But that's what our government is doing. These troops should be home! I shudder really to think of the mentalities that are being shaped over there right now. Mentalities that will be returned to our own society. They were recently told that they'll all have to spend a year in Iraq, and that was after being left for months on tenterhooks about when they would be sent home. Bush has created circumstances that will forever brand us as brutal occupiers, and it does not have to be that way. Even a rotation of troops would help. I've never seen such insensitivity to the nation's armed forces.
He's not alone in these sentiments. An organization calling itself Bring Them Home Now is attempting to focus the efforts of military families and their supporters who want to see our troops home. Their web site reports problems due to the amount of interest they've already generated.
More big shakeups in island labor. Yesterday's indictment of labor leader Tony Rutledge will remove another major player from the scene. And the announcement that Peter Trask has resigned from the post-Rodrigues administration of the United Public Workers should have sparked some interest, but the Star-Bulletin relied on an AP story, and I didn't see it mentioned in the Advertiser. There must be some mean politics in UPW and AFSCME to account for this move.
August 20, 2003 - Wednesday
I thought this was "obvious" satire, but apparently it's a bit of wild commercialism--the George W. Bush Naval Aviator action figure, obviously NOT a doll. It has prompted many reactions, such as the Awol Bush action figure. A lot of this has been gathered at www.awolbush.com.
A reader called my attention to this item. Sounds interesting.
Just in case you missed it, Monday's Advertiser (Coming Events in the Business section) listed an interesting Thursday morning breakfast forum.
It's put on by the National Association of Industrial and Office Properties, and the speaker will be Bill Bogert, the Honolulu Advertiser's vice-president of newspaper production, who will be giving an update on the Advertiser's new $82 million printing facility in Kapolei, whose construction he oversees.
At Pacific Club; 7:30 - 9:00 am; fee; NON-MEMBERS welcome; reservations by Tuesday - Barbie Rosario at 845-4994.
Speaking of the Advertiser, I ran across this interesting tale. It seems that local writer/self-publisher Rich Budnick went off on his last vacation after making all the appropriate preparations, including requesting that the Advertiser suspend delivery while he was gone. No such luck. Newspapers kept coming, started piling up and, he says, were like a big sign saying "nobody's home." And it happened--the house was hit by burglars. Insurance covered most of his losses, but the policy's $500 deductable left him short by that amount. So he called the Advertiser and asked them to cover the $500. They refused. So he sued them in Small Claims Court and the Advertiser quickly settled before the scheduled court hearing, coughing up the $500 as well as Budnick's court costs.
August 19, 2003 - Tuesday
| We spotted this bit of Kaaawa humor a few blocks from here, and grabbed a quick photo. A chuckle. But when it happens in a newspaper, not funny. |
|
A reader caught several recently.
Lately, I've been finding grammatical errors in the Features section of the Star-Bulletin: "Michael Perry holds up a picture of HE and Larry Price..." and "Anime series ADDICTING..." "He" should be "him," and "addicting" should be "addictive."
I'm not an English major, but even I know that.
Then yesterday:
Yikes! The S-B editorial headline (on Monday) calls it a "DIRECTORS' suspension" but only one director was invovled. Shouldn't it read a "DIRECTOR'S suspension"?
Remember the president swaggering across the deck of that carrier for his grand photo op? Well, here's something of interest--records of his stint in the National Guard back in the Vietnam era. There are links to stories based on the records, as well as links to the records themselves. That must have been one heck of a well written Freedom of Information request.
August 18, 2003 - Monday
Yesterday's best birthday news was that I didn't blow up the computer, despite my paranoia and some electronic gremlins.
| I ended the day by making a great homemade pizza with fresh dough, complete with Foodland's low fat chicken sausage, green peppers, hot peppers, anchovies, olives, and bits of cheese. I need to do this more often. |
|
While being lazy yesterday I ran across the Corporte Crme Reporter, an interesting resource that reminds us that running government "like a business" may not be the best of ideas. Jim Romenesko's column provided a link to The Smoking Gun, another source of juicy info, great for browsing.
And then there's Thismodernworld.com, a blog by cartoonist Tom Tomorrow. It's interesting to see what's behind those cartoons.
August 17, 2003 - Sunday
It's my birthday, and it's already off to a rocky start.
| Not at all like Friday, our 34th anniversary, which unfolded smoothly into a fine day. If you want to see how we spent the day, just click on this photo or the "anniversary '03" banner to the right and follow along on that less than wild ride. |
|
But today is something else, and it's not even 8 a.m. yet.
This entry is several hours late because our primary home computer is "down", probably related to the flashing clocks throughout the house that greeted me early this morning. Then when I got the laptop out, Roadrunner was down for a couple of additional hours. I've still got the computer troubleshooting to look forward to later in the day. Happy Birthday!
I've got all of Mr. Duke's 13 pounds in my lap purring, and there's a hen outside with what sounds like another batch of chicks that the neighborhood doesn't need. Harry's asleep on a little towel after a night outside doing whatever cats do in the moonlight. Just another Sunday morning in Kaaawa.
Mahalo again to the Advertiser for successfully challenging another round of University of Hawaii secrecy, this time involving the construction contracts for the new Kakaako medical school. Johnny Brannon reports in today's Advertiser that the contract information has now been released following another favorable OIP opinion.
It seems to me that the Advertiser is well on its way to winning a public service award for its freedom of information efforts this year.
Previous week • Other
Search this site,
courtesy of the folks at
|
 Online Store
More choices
|
