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| Listen up, cat people!
It's a cat emergency! Everybody else can skip down to the next dated entry.
Special notice--Kea needs a new home.
This is Mr. Kea, a 3-year old male who's been neutered, has all his shots, and also has an identification microchip. And he's real handsome as well.
He's been living happily with his family on St. Louis Heights, but their landlord has sold the house and they have to move--and their new location can't accommodate Kea.
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Kea (click for larger photo) |
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He's an inside-outside cat, but judging from past behavior will not be happy being totally inside. He's lived in a two-cat household and knows how to play well with others. His family has offered a cat food subsidy.
If you've got a bit of room in your cat household, please consider adopting Kea. Just let me know (email ian@ilind.net or phone 237-7036) and I'll put you in touch with Kea's people.
November 15, 2003 - Saturday
| I had mixed feelings about the small demonstration outside the gates of Iolani Palace before the ceremony marking the return of Kahoolawe to civilian control.
Those who took part rightly pointed to the rest of the story--the continued military use and destruction of thousands of acres in Makua, Pohakuloa, Schofield, and elsewhere across the state.
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But the demonstration also reflected continued deep rifts between factions within the Native Hawaiian movement, and sent a critical message to those participating in the ceremony. Some outside said, "There is no celebration," no reason for celebrating, seeming to dismiss those preparing for the event inside as mistaken or misguided. While few would disagree with the overt message ("Return Makua", etc), I doubt the underlying criticism was appreciated by those who have worked so hard to end the Navy's control of Kahoolawe.
It was windy and wet in Kaaawa overnight. All the cats came in where it was dry and warm except for Harriet and Silverman. Harry has a spot where she apparently takes refuge in tunnels under a thick matting of tall California grass, and I'm always surprised that she's rarely wet when she emerges, even after a healthy rain.
Saturday. Garbage pickup in Kaaawa, so I have to watch the clock and get our can out early. I could take it out the night before, but those that do take the risk of being trashed by a neighborhood dog. It happens many mornings, and the city garbage guys have no sympathy. If your trash is knocked over and spread out by a prowling dog, that's where it stays until you get out there and clean the muck up. So I wait.
November 14, 2003 - Friday
There's a whisper going 'round that Advertiser Executive Editor Jim Kelly is off in California (Fresno?) interviewing for a job.
Former S-B writer Pat Bigold must be handling more media inquiries over at the Honolulu Marathon after Thursday's indictment of a man charged with posing as agent for Van Morrison in order to scam the marathon out of nearly $50,000.
The United Public Workers is about to mail out ballots in the first post-Gary Rodrigues election. One slate of candidates includes Keith Faufata and Angel Santiago, two members who had openly questioned Rodrigues several years ago. They say that while Rodrigues is gone, the executive board that allowed him to defraud the union has remained and now needs to be replaced. They'll need some good luck and hard work to pull this off.
It's interesting to see this editorial from tiny Papua New Guinea looking back at the U.S. Thanks to the daily Pacific Islands Report and editor Peter Wagner, another S-B refugee, for this bit of Pacific insight.
Mr. Toby is picking up where Ms. Hiwa left us several years ago--on the roof. He goes up the mango tree next to our front deck and leaps several feet from the end of the nearest branch onto the roof. After getting tired of whatever it is he likes to do up there, he slinks down to the outer edge and starts crying. Well, he squeaks and whines, and continues this until I break and go outside, move a chair over and climb up on it, and either pick Toby up or let him scramble down onto my back. Then I dismount and let him jump the rest of the way down. I know that he can do it on his own, because he's done it before, although I'm not sure via what route. In the meantime, though, I tend to break before he does. And it is rewarding because Mr. Toby is so very happy to get down. For a while Wally was going up there too, and there would be the occasional loud THUMP as she took the plunge down from roof to deck. But she's gotten out of the habit. Thank goodness.
November 13, 2003 - Thursday
Please take another look at Mr. Kea, the handsome cat pictured above, and try to imagine him joining your household. He really does need a home, folks, and would arrive with a food subsidy.
The Advertiser reported yesterday on the arrival of crates containing its new presses, which will be installed in their new printing plant now under construction. The current Honolulu newspaper competition is expected to turn even more deadly when those expensive presses go into operation.
Also at the Advertiser, Gannett is apparently moving ahead with a plan to eliminate compensatory time, the practice of trading overtime worked for future time off. The company has said it will no longer allow comp time and will buy out any remaining time at the end of the year. Some fear there will be increased pressure to put in additional time without compensation, and the Newspaper Guild will be discussing its response.
The San Francisco Examiner's web site hasn't been updated for a week, leaving readers worried that the paper might be folding up for good. This notice is posted on the site: "We are experiencing technical difficulties. We apologize for any inconvenience. We hope to fix the problem shortly." But the last stories are dated November 7. Not a good sign.
| Yesterday's ceremony marking return of Kahoolawe to state control gave me a chance to finally meet my "cousin", John Lind, from Hana. He was here representing Sen. Kalani English at the ceremony. I wandered the grounds looking for John and his wife, and finally found them. It was a brief meeting that has been a long time coming, and recorded with one of my arms length self-portraits. Click on the photo for more. |
Meeting Cousin John
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November 12, 2003 - Wednesday
I couldn't believe my eyes and ears. During the news yesterday just before 6 p.m., along came a Wal-Mart ad with a Veterans Day theme--a series of vignettes of Wal-Mart employees who are vets of previous conflicts, and an American flag waving while an older man in a wheelchair speaks. "Fly the colors," trumpets the Wal-Mart spin doctors. All this while in reality Wal-Mart is viciously putting American companies out of business and throwing American workers out of their jobs by forcing their suppliers to buy parts and components produced in China instead of comparable but better made parts produced in the U.S.A. I still can't shake the NPR interview with the small American company which lost a majority of its business because Wal-Mart gave a toaster manufacturer two options--buy its parts in China or take its products off the Wal-Mart shelves. As the world's largest retailer, Wal-Mart is in a position to make such demands. Think what would happen if they really did "fly the colors" and insist on buying American!
The P.R. professionals who worked on this puppy should be ashamed of themselves.
While on the Veterans Day topic, a reader pointed me to a series of interviews with homeless vets in San Francisco published over the past several weeks by the San Francisco Chronicle, which offer a glimpse at the lives they live on the streets of SF.
| Yesterday was one of those funny mornings. The sky lacked any color beyond gray, at least right up until the sun actually hit the horizon. Then there was first a small glow, then rapidly colors that spread across that section of the sky. From dull gray to this in just a few minutes, compared to other mornings where the colors play for nearly an hour before dawn. |
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November 11, 2003 - Tuesday
My collection of photographs from the January 1976 landing on Kahoolawe are getting a bit of attention this week. A few of them will accompany my interview on Olelo, and they're mentioned in the Byte Marks column by Burt Lum in today's Honolulu Advertiser.
UH's Paul Costello is scheduled to meet a jury of his peers when he appears before the local chapter of the Public Relations Society of America at noon on November 19 at the Sheraton Waikiki Ewa Room. It's a bit pricey, $35 for non members for lunch. His topic:"PR Lessons Learned This Year at the University of Hawaii." RSVP by November 17 to prsa@hawaii.rr.com. Or call Karla Timon for more info, 396-9099.
The Advertiser reports today that Verizon split from the other major local telephone companies and lobbied in favor of an FCC move allowing people to cut the cord and shift their home phone numbers to mobile phone service. The 'Tiser story doesn't explain how this is in Verizon's interest. Is it simply because they expect to take a larger share of folks going wireless? The story leaves the reader hanging.
| Food is finally starting to sound good again. It's about time. According to my doctor's charts, I've lost nearly nine pounds while waiting for this cold to pass. But with food entering the equation again, I'll have to make up for meals missed. Here's one step on the return path. Just click on the photo for more on this simple meal. |
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November 10, 2003 - Monday
Did you catch the latest bid by the Hawaii Tourism Authority for yet more layers of secrecy? The Advertiser caught it in a story on Saturday:
In what may prove a controversial move, the authority intends to propose that groups meeting at the convention center remain anonymous. The authority said the secrecy is needed to better compete with other convention cities.
It's unclear whether the idea requires legislation, said Gov. Linda Lingle's tourism liaison Marsha Wienert. She said anonymity is being requested more often, especially by technology and pharmaceutical groups and automobile companies that are launching new products and are wary of competition.
I hope that HTA gets burned on this proposal, but it's not clear who's going to hold their feet to the fire.
The New York Times has a story today on the move to reassess laws requiring extended prison terms in light of today's fiscal realities. Hawaii legislators are going to have to face this sooner or later as well.
I'm not sure if I've read anything recently as disturbing as this account from Counterpunch of police state tactics by our "democratic" government.
| And I finally got around to selecting my favorite Kaaawa sunrise photos taken during October. Just click on the photo for the full set. |
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November 9, 2003 - Sunday
I notice that Governing Magazine did a review of the camera surveillance systems designed to catch drivers running red lights. Interesting reading, since this is still potentially in our future.
And here's a new approach to getting the public involved in the issue of media ownership. It seems that the labor movement is creating new communications tools.
Beginning next week, a national concert tour, "Tell us the
Truth," will be sweeping the US focusing attention on the
dangers of media consolidation and the need globally for fair trade. The tour will be featuring some top name performers, including Billy Bragg, Steve Earle, and the Nightwatchman. Tour sponsors include the AFL-CIO, Unite, the Teamsters, Communication Workers of America, and Jobs with Justice, among many others. The tour is stopping at 13 cities, including Boston, New York, Washington DC, Nashville, Tampa, and Miami.
For more about the tour, including concert cities and dates, visit http://www.tellusthetruth.org/index_home.html
If you've got friends in these cities, just forward the notice to them.
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