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November 8, 2003 - Saturday
Last night's PBS News Hour flagged an under reported aspect of the recent California fires--perhaps the hardest hit areas were on 11 separate Indian reservations. This certainly wasn't the impression given by the "all fire-all the time" reporting while the flames were out of control.
Unfortunately, the News Hour does not have an online transcript of this story, only a summary:
Some Native Americans who live on the dozen Indian reservations in eastern San Diego County have not received the same attention as other Californians for their suffering. Jeffrey Kaye of KCET-Los Angeles visited the devastated San Pasqual Reservation, where one third of the residents' homes were devoured by flames.
A quick search on the Los Angeles Times web site turned up a Nov. 2 story which notes the fire's impact on the reservations, although the short reference is buried deep in the story, where it remained without follow-up.
Although media attention has focused on Scripps Ranch, the small community of Crest and the threat to the mountain town of Julian, some of the most severe damage occurred on 11 Indian reservations, where 30,000 acres burned. The Barona Reservation lost 31 homes and the San Pasqual Reservation 67.
"Indian country has taken a devastating hit," said Ernie Stevens Jr., chairman of the National Indian Gaming Assn., after a tour of the reservations. "At Viejas, everything is burned. Everything."
I did find one long story in the L.A. Daily News describing the reservation fires. It reports: "Eleven people lost their lives on or near reservation land, but it was unclear whether any of those were tribal members."
Here's a late program note on upcoming Olelo programs:
Next week, in conjunction with the transfer of access from the Navy to the State, `Olelo is running a weeklong Retrospective of Kaho`olawe. It will be showing every film ever made, photos, a panel, etc. The November 12th ceremony will be run live on TV, and edited versions will be shown repeatedly throughout the rest of the week. `Olelo will be taping interviews that will be sprinkled throughout the weeklong programming, particularly during dead time during the live broadcast.
I learned about the project when I was asked to participate in an interview to talk about my recollection of the first Kahoolawe "occupation" in January 1976. I managed to get through that interview yesterday without succumbing to a coughing fit, but I can always blame that magic cough medicine if it turned out poorly. The interview will run next week along with the rest of the Kahoolawe programming.
November 7, 2003 - Friday
The Army's entire public hearing process conducted to solicit comment on the environmental impacts of the proposed Stryker deployment has been so hostile to dissenting opinion that it needs to be redone, Big Island activist Jim Albertini argued in testimony prepared for last night's hearing.
Albertini recites a series of chilling incidents of police and Army inquiries that certainly appear to have put a chill on the expression of critical views. He maintains that federal employees have said they are afraid to testify or even attend any of the hearings because of fear of retaliation by their employer.
There's an interesting story in today's Washington Post concerning so-called Congressional "earmarks", specific funding instructions written in to money bills at the request of individual members. It's a system that has been used so effectively by Sen. Inouye, but now bitter Washington politics is challenging business as usual.
Meda suggests that the persistent cough that I've been battling is really a hairball.
| We met a couple of "new" dogs earlier this week, and got a rare photo opportunity with Ms. Betty, who lives next door. Hence a new set of Kaaawa dog pics. |
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November 6, 2003 - Thursday
I received a copy of an email sent out to parents of Kamehameha Schools students regarding the current controversy on the heights. It appears to be the same statement released to the news media and reported yesterday. For the full statement, click here.
Information Clearing House has been receiving responses to its inquiry regarding unusual aircraft movements over Scotland. The site has now posted some of those responses which make quite interesting reading for Americans.
While our campaign finance scandal involves rather boring engineering firms, Seattle is dealing with "strippergate", which sounds like it could happen here as well.
Sticking with that theme for a minute, it appears that the Patriot Act has been used to attacked naked ladies in Las Vegas, one of the first documented uses of the law's extraordinary powers in a non-terrorism case. The Las Vegas Review-Journal has the story.
I can't help noticing that cats are very sensitive to dark nights. Well, dark nights on the one hand, and full moon nights on the other. When we hit these extremes of the month, ours becomes nearly a catless household. Almost all the cats head for the outdoors to do who-knows-what until the moon sets or the sun rises anew. I can't really figure out what they do out there, and they aren't talking. They aren't off on long walkabouts, because they'll respond when called. They aren't fighting, apart from "normal" squabbles with each other. And there doesn't seem to be an increase in hunting behavior. Are they out there conspiring to defeat our meager cat behavior control efforts? Basic training in avoiding the hated squirt bottle? Classes in identification of "soft targets" for cat pee protests, such as toasters and burners on stoves? Perhaps courses like "Basic begging for canned food 101"? Every once in a while one of the cats drifts through the house as if they're checking to make sure that we're still here and not skulking around in the dark checking up on their activities. Ah, cats.
November 5, 2003 - Wednesday
The Kamehameha sex story finally broke into Honolulu's daily papers today, nearly a week after allegations first surfaced. But neither of today's stories are products of the respective newspapers' sports writers, and they appeared only after filing of a lawsuit stemming from an unrelated incident that also involved a football player. This speaks volumes about the self-restraint so prevalent in coverage of local sports.
A disquieting report from the Information Clearing House, forwarded by a reader in Washington State:
The following is from Information Clearing House today.
"Note: Unconfirmed Report"
Can any of our Scottish readers verify the following report:
Since Saturday, people in the Highlands of Scotland have been witnessing large movements of US warplanes overhead. Experienced observers say the large numbers are reminiscent of those that preceded the bombing of Iraq in 1998 and military strikes against Libya in the 1980's, as well as the first Gulf War.
It is thought that the planes have flown on a route over the North Pole to bases in Europe and the Mediterranean. The size and scale of the movement suggests that the US may be preparing to strike against a country in the Middle East in the next week to ten days. I have been getting a lot of email referring to this report. If you have information in relation to the above, please email me at email@cox.net"
In case you've wondered what ever happened to former KGMB-TV news director Terry Heaton, he's now president of Donata Communications, a Tennessee-based "new media" consultling company. Heaton also has a daily blog, and writes a column, one of which features a story from his KGMB days that begins with an anecdote about Leslie Wilcox.
November 4, 2003 - Tuesday
Warning: Hostrocket.com, the host for this web site, is doing major maintenance early this afternoon (Hawaii time) and warns that there may be periods where this site is unavailable. The maintenance will probably take at least two hours.
Election day in many places on the mainland. It's going to be interesting to see what trends may emerge in this round of off-year voting.
Speaking of elections, former Massachusetts governor and presidential candidate Mike Dukakis took some of the blame for this Bush presidency in a Boston Globe story last week:
"Well, I'm living under the worst national administration of my lifetime," Dukakis barks in his trademark staccato, his caterpillar eyebrows arched to signal a punchline is coming. "If I'd beat his old man, you'd never have heard of this guy, so blame me."
And elsewhere in the Globe, check this story about former S-B reporter Pat Bigold's nephew and his girlfriend, both just back from duty in Iraq.
On the situation in Iraq, a long story in the New York Times examines the failure to plan for what could have been predicted in post-war Iraq. David Rieff writes:
What went wrong was not that no one could know or that no one spoke out. What went wrong is that the voices of Iraq experts, of the State Department almost in its entirety and, indeed, of important segments of the uniformed military were ignored.
Worth reading.
November 3, 2003 - Monday
KGMB-TV reported on Friday night that six Kamehameha football players were suspended as a result of a videotape showing at least two players "engaging in sexual acts" with one or more female students.
The daily newspapers don't seem to be paying much attention. Interestingly, Associated Press moved a story over the weekend about three California high school students expelled in a similar video scandal.
But competition between the dailies does bring results. Both papers report this morning on the controversy over the Haiku stairs. The Advertiser story by Windward writer Eloise Aguiar is much richer in detail and background, while the Star-Bulletin's Diane Leone reports new details of a long discussed land swap that could solve access issues.
For a dose of university politics elsewhere, check out the Seattle Times' follow-up report on the departure of the University of Washington's president last year which appeared in the Sunday edition. The Times provides a fascinating behind the scenes look at politics at the highest levels with the university system.
We've already had one yowling cat confrontation out in the yard this morning. I think that it's Leo picking on Harriet, although it could also be Ms. Kili and Harriet. Harry is a suspect because she's been having "relational issues". Leo's on the suspect list because I found him close to the scene. At 5:20 a.m., though, all is quiet again. Except for this blasted cough, which lingers on.
November 2, 2003 - Sunday
A contingency fund personally controlled by New Mexico's governor was put in the spotlight this week by the Santa Fe New Mexican. The public review prompted the governor to announce that he would reimburse the $90,000 slush fund for certain expenditures like coffee and newspapers. Compare this to the UH president's "protocol" fund, apparently around $300,000 annually, and you've got to wonder why there hasn't been more public reaction to Prez Dobelle's spending.
| Another week, another batch of Kaaawa's morning dogs. No, that's not a double exposure--it's George and Lucy. Just click on their photo to see the whole set. |
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October ended with a total of 14,833 visits to this site and 41,125 pages viewed. That's an average of 478 visitors and 1,326 page views daily, down slightly from the month before.
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