June 5, 2004 - Saturday

No, contrary to popular belief, that wasn't Mr. Duke moonlighting in a Hawaiian Humane Society photo that appeared in the Star-Bulletin yesterday. And it wasn't his sister, either. But they obviously swim in the same gene pool.

Mr. Duke

Look-alike

It was interesting to see yesterday's Star-Bulletin story by reporter Craig Gima on questions raised by a UH Board of Regents about President Dobelle's use of his protocol fund. The smoking gun, if there is one, appears to be Dobelle's long delays in reimbursing the fund for expenditures for personal use.

The only problem is that the records of those deferred reimbursements were disclosed to Gima, and to the Advertiser's Bev Creamer, in December 2002, among other protocol fund files. But Gima's story at that time, like that of his Advertiser counterpart, was deflected by the studied spin by Paul Costello, then UH VP for External Affairs. The Star-Bulletin could have disclosed Dobelle's late payments at that time. Instead, readers had to wait until the same information was aired publicly at a regents' meeting a year and a half later.

I described the dynamics of that situation, Costello's spin, and the delayed repayments, in an entry here on July 9, 2003.

Christian Peacemaker Teams has posted the testimony of an Iraqi man describing his detainment and torture by American forces in several locations, including Abu Ghraib prison. CPT was able to confirm the basic facts of his confinement, offering some corroboration for the dismal story told.

June 4, 2004 - Friday

He was rescued from a parking lot, and now Harley needs a home. That was yesterday's urgent message from Elizabeth at Kamaaina Metals in Restaurant Row. "Harley is about 5-6 weeks old, very affectionate, muted gray tabby with grayish green eyes. He is a sweetheart and loves to play and be held." There's more (and more photos). Click here or on Harley's picture for Elizabeth's full message.

Harley needs a home

June 3, 2004 - Thursday

There was quite a rumble downtown yesterday as two top Gannett execs exited the Honolulu Advertiser and made the move down the street to top positions at the Star-Bulletin.

The first cryptic email about the raid arrived at my computer just after 9 a.m.

I heard with my little ear that someone left the Advertiser. Any word on that?

A couple of hours later, another message, this one with the suggestive subject, "the old in and out":

rumor over here is that tizer g.m. dennis francis was escorted off the property today after taking a gig as publisher of the star-bulletin

The Star-Bulletin posted word of the double raid on Gannet's administrative ranks in a "breaking news" brief at 2:53 p.m. Pacific Business News followed just a few minutes later with a story in their daily update, released at 3 p.m. The S-B is running a more complete account today.

Around the same time, I heard from someone in the S-B newsroom: "Francis met with the staff today but avoided most of the hard questions. And there were many of them."

I bet there were.

Here's a link to several reader comments on the local web forum, HawaiiThreads.com, started, I should note, by an email from S-B writer Erika Engle, which arrived about the same time as the "breaking news" item appeared. And Burl Burlingame's Check 6 Honolulu quotes part of a memo from Advertiser publisher Mike Fisch. Enjoy.

June 2, 2004 - Wednesday

Media watchers will appreciate this long and thoughtful assessment from the weekly Boston Phoenix of self-censorship by the news media in reporting on Iraq.

It's raining--again--in Kaaawa early this morning, although I can see signs of the morning twilight through the layer of clouds. Hopefully this rain will pass in time for us to do the dawn walk, but it seems you never know until the last minute.

My email served up another reminder yesterday afternoon that the Internet is making the world every smaller:

Bored one evening I just did a Google search for my
family name (Tanimura) and happened to come upon some
great old pictures of my father, Richard, on your
website.

He has told me and my sister many times about his
protesting the Vietnam war and escaping to Sweden but
I had never seen any old pictures of these days so I
thought it was great! I feel very proud of him for
doing what he did when I see the pictures. I don't
think he knows about the existance of these either, I
sent him a link. He has been living in Sweden all
these years (my sister and I were born and raised
here) and is doing well. He still goes back to visit
Hawaii about once a year.

Anyway I just thought I'd drop you a line about this.
It was such a surprise finding these old pics of my
dad.

Best regards,
Philip Tanimura

I was able to respond right away, noting for the recorrd that Philip's uncle Tom, Richard's brother, was my classmate at University High School (the famous class of 1965), along with Sen. Norman Sakamoto and 80-something others.

Speaking of politics, Senator Cal Kawamoto is already out campaigning door to door in his Pearl City-Waipahu district, way ahead of any potential opponents. So far, just one person has filed to run against him in the Democratic primary, and no one else had even taken out nomination papers as of a week ago. And Kawamoto, who chairs the Senate Committee on Transportation, Military Affairs and Government Operations, creates a bit of a buzz when he zooms up on his Segway Human Transporter. He doesn't have a good media image and he had a very rough legislative session, but he's no dummy when it comes to politics.

Poor Ms. Harriet. She's our black & white cat who somehow cut her tongue badly early this year. On Monday she came in as usual, but late in the morning she was having trouble opening her eyes, which were all runny and red. There appeared to be some swelling around her right eye.Checking through her fur, I also found a few scratches on her back and belly. I started her on some leftover antibiotics and she seemed to respond, but yesterday morning it was off again to the VCA animal hospital to see our favorite vet, Dr. Lee Loy. A thorough exam showed no scratches on her eyes, but Harry came home last night with another round of antibiotics as well as antibiotic goop for those eyes. Oh, she weighed in at 10 pounds 2 ounces, up from 8 pounds 13 oz's in January, confirming my impression that she's been plumping out.

Another sign of the times: We spotted this sign hanging on a plumeria tree along Kekio Road on the far side of Kaaawa. I guess it says a bit about what's important out here in the "country". Just click on the photo for a closer view.

June 1, 2004 - Tuesday

Bravo to Andy Rooney for his Memorial Day commentary which didn't settle for maudlin or crass jingoism or limp liberal. He went directly after the priority we put on the "idiocy" of war. This brief quote from the 60-Minutes web site captures the flavor:

On this Memorial Day, we should certainly honor those who have died at war, but we should dedicate this day, not so much to their memory, but to the search for a way to end the idiocy of the wars that killed them

After a long photo tribute to the more than 800 Americans who have died in this Iraq war, Rooney returned on camera for a brief moment. His message was punctuated at the end with the simplest of thoughts: "Dead...all dead."

KITV's Keoki Kerr also gets credit for turning a routine Memorial Day at the state veterans cemetery into a critical story on shifting soil and sinking graves, complete with a moment where he corners Gov. Lingle, obviously there for a ceremonial appearance, and gets a comment after pointing out the problem to her for the first time.

Associated Press writer Jaymes Song hit a home run with his story on ABC Stores' expansion plans, which was featured yesterday in both Honolulu dailies and one or more broadcast stations. Jaymes and ABC seemed to be everywhere. Give that guy a raise.

We received unexpected news late yesterday of the sudden death of our longtime friend and mentor, Janice Metros Johnston, at her home outside Chicago. Jan went back to school at UH about the same time that Meda and I entered graduate school, and it didn't take long for us to become good friends. Her husband, Robert "Gil" Johnston, had headed the local Legal Aid office and had just returned to private law practice where he represented several low income and Native Hawaiian groups and individual troublemakers. Jan later taught in the fledgling UH Women's Studies Program before moving back to Chicago, where Gil became dean of the John Marshall Law School, a post he only recently retired from. We've kept in touch over the years, and tried to visit whenever we were in the Chicago area.

Jan and Gil worked hard to teach us that the great wine bargain (Safeway's La Mesa for $3.99 a gallon) isn't necessarily the greatest wine. Other life lessons followed. Whenever we saw her, Jan had that ability to just immediately relate as if our conversation were continuing from the day before.

Jan was found yesterday in her rose garden outside their home, where she collapsed. Jan, we love you and will miss you.

May 31, 2004 - Monday

My brother-in-law, Ray Stevens, is a wood carver. He can find these faces in all kinds of wood and bring them to life. Now he's got a web site devoted to his Knotty Old Men, as he calls them. Check it out--you might see something you like.

Early morning isn't always like this here in Kaaawa. This morning, for example, it's been drizzling for the last half hour or so, only now beginning to clear enough for us to prepare to walk. There's a Shama Thrush singing somewhere very near the house, and I can hear at least a pair of cardinals in a pre-dawn song contest. Other bird songs sort of fade together into general sounds of morning. Oh, the roosters are doodling, of course. Luckily none of them roost right here in our yard.

Click for May morning photos

Whew. I got launched off there on the sounds of morning, but really just wanted to point you to the new batch of Kaaawa photos representing these early mornings in May.

A nice email arrived yesterday from former islander Karen Waygood, who is still with Turner Broadcasting in Atlanta. She said she unexpectedly stumbled across this site " last Sunday mid-ticker shift during a needy/conceited Google moment."

The highlight was her offer of a rummage tour of Atlanta whenever we get there next. "I'll give you a list of fabulous rummage run destinations. It's what I do every Friday to stock a shelf in an antique/junk store in Decatur."

Way to go, Waygood!

May 30, 2004 - Sunday

Oh oh. We made the New York Times again (that's the Royal 'We', of course, referring to all of us, Hawaii), this time with a photo by Cory Lum and a story about the ongoing battle with the "fetid and furry" pools surrounding the state capitol. It's even on the front page of the NYT web site, although I don't know where it appears in the print edition.

I friend sent me a link to columnist Mark Morford's latest in the San Francisco Chronicle. It demands to be read out loud, the writing a wonderful cross between those long run-on and oh so informative sentences favored by Robert Penn Warren and William S. Burroughs' stream of consciousness (or unconsciousness) style. Whatever. He's brilliant. Very very funny, but with a point. Reading back through several columns in the Morford archive gives one a new lease on life.

I'm lucky enough to be able to drop by and visit my parents at their home in Kahala. Both are not only alive but active. My dad wasn't there when Meda and I stopped in last week, but my mother took us out to pick some ripe corn from the garden he's been tending in the back yard. The late afternoon light just made for a nice quiet picture.

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