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The hope expressed here on Thursday morning for a bit of calm in the Kaaawa weather certainly appears to have backfired

The big news yesterday, of course, was the waves battering our coast. The Advertiser scored with their coverage. I'm not sure when the story was posted, but by early afternoon they had a long and detailed story online describing the impact of the heavy surf across the state, including details of little Kaaawa. It provided substantially more information than the Star-Bulletin's "breaking news" offering.

Yesterday's 'Tiser online story reappears as the main story in today's edition, updated and embellished with a photo gallery that has several shots of Kaaawa.

The 40th anniversary of the assassination of President Kennedy prompted former S-B writer Pat Bigold to offer up this memory of that day in history:

I was in my 7th grade classroom at Sacred Heart School in Lowell, Mass. I remember there was a knock on the door of the classroom. Sister Gonzaga was called into the hallway by Sister Superior who whispered the news to her.

No one knew JFK was dead at that moment.

Sister Gonzaga told us, "The president has been shot. Then she turned on our classroom's black and white portable TV, which sat on a high stand. We were told to "pray for President Kennedy." Before the bell ending school rang he was dead.

We were all stunned for the next few days. Kennedy was one of ours. He was from Massachusetts, he was Irish and he was Catholic. For people in an Irish Catholic parish in Massachusetts it didn't get any better.

I remember we spoke very little. We just watched TV for hours and hours and hours. We'd never had a reason to watch TV for such long periods.

You know it was like everything was over. There was no tomorrow. Johnson couldn't be president. He looked old and boring. He couldn't be replacing "our Jack," as many people in Massachusetts called JFK .

People these days have no idea what a spell that administration had over us. There was just so much hope and energy emanating from Washington D.C. The Kennedy administration was far from perfect in reality. But you'd have had a hard time convincing someone in Massachusetts of its imperfections on Nov. 22, 1963.

It's about time for me to drag the box of Kennedy assassination and conspiracy materials out of storage and see what's there. I know there's correspondence with Penn Jones, one of the fabled conspiracy researchers, and some other gems.

November 21, 2003 - Friday

According to a story in yesterday's Guardian newspaper, Pentagon hawk Richard Perle told a London audience that the invasion of Iraq was not consistent with international law. Now if the president would just face up to this admission.

A draft committee report prepared following last month's unusual Senate hearing on internal committee rules and procedures is now available for public review along with the full text of the draft bill to adopt changes.

Maui is facing water woes, the Maui News reports, along with the rest of the state. This could provide the limit on development that has eluded the political process, at least in the short run.

Denver, Colorado, has an interesting set of water use restrictions that include controls on hotels, which are prohibited from daily washing of guest sheets: "Hotels shall not change sheets more often than every four days for guests staying more than one night."

I can't help wondering, once again, what's happened to the UH search for a new vice-chancellor for academic affairs? The four candidates were presented months ago, and the whole search has now disappeared, apparently without a decision. And without much news follow-up. What's going on?

November 20, 2003 - Thursday

This is NOT a photo of yesterday's sunrise in Kaaawa, which was hit with heavy rain and winds along with much of the rest of the state. This photo, taken one day last week, provides a bit of calm which will hopefully return soon.

The AFL-CIO is urging supporters of labor to tell members of Congress: "Don't come home without protecting overtime pay."

Even though both houses of Congress responded to your appeals by voting to block President George W. Bush's overtime pay cuts, the president is refusing to withdraw his pay cuts and says he will veto final legislation protecting overtime pay. Back-room maneuvering by the Bush administration and House Republican leaders has made it increasingly likely that the overtime pay protections we won will not make it out of Congress this year. Bush's Labor Department could put the overtime pay cuts into effect as soon as January.

If you're so inclined, click here for one easy way to send your message on the issue.

The decision to scan and post my photos from the first protest landing on Kahoolawe back in 1976 has boosted traffic on this site considerably. The mention in the Advertiser (on Nov. 11) gave the first boost, sending the number of page views from an average of around 1,100 to over 6,300 the day that column first appeared. Olelo's broadcast coverage of Kahoolawe, a mention in a University High School alumni email list, even a mention in Ka Leo this week, have also brought additional visitors. As of yesterday, there have been some 40,247 page views so far this month, an average of just over 2,000 daily, a "record" pace for this site. It looks like the sites highest previous monthly total will be exceeded by the end of tomorrow, if this trend continues.

November 19, 2003 - Wednesday

Conservative "pro-family" groups are reportedly howling over an FCC ruling that utterance of the "f-word" on broadcast television during this year's Golden Globe awards didn't violate obscenity standards.

In all the flap about the admissions policy of Kamehameha Schools, I haven't seen mention of the impact of traditionally high outmarriage rates among Hawaiians. While on the mainland laws were drafted to deal with segregation in a setting where black/white boundaries are clear, the situation here is much different and far more fluid because Hawaiians have been marrying non-Hawaiians and having children at a dizzying rate far higher than on the mainland.

I haven't done a good search yet for outmarriage data, but found this online in the UH journal, Social Process in Hawaii:

The bridegroom outmarriage rate for Hawaiians remains very high, 57.1% in 1980, and 54.1% in 1990 (Barringer, 1994, Table 2.4). Moreover, "children of mixed households are being defined as largely Native Hawaiians." Thus, "although about 50% of spouses are non-Hawaiians, 86.2% of the children are defined as `Hawaiian' in the Census questionnaire, with only 5.6% defined as`white'" (Barringer, 1994:37).

All those Part-Hawaiians may identify themselves as Hawaiian but reflect a medley of ethnic backgrounds, as I do.

The point, as I see it, is that the intent of the laws being used to challenge Kamehameha Schools and other Hawaiian programs were designed to overcome barriers leading to the mainlands vicious ethnic divides. But these data show that here in Hawaii, at least in the case of Hawaiians, those ethnic divides were obliterated in practice long ago. And when it comes down to it, most of the Hawaiian programs aren't about "race", given these outmarriage data, but about a far more complex social category. Looking at the actual ethnic breakdown of Kamehameha studens, for example, it's pretty hard to make a case that this reflects "segregation" as anyone has thought of it. The intent of those laws, and the chain of court decisions, simply don't fit our situation at all.

Anybody have a ready source of outmarriage rates in Hawaii by ethnicity over time?

Mr. Duke is extraordinarily mellow, but having Annie chase his tail was just too much for the big guy. He popped up out of his favorite mid-day spot and let out a huge scream just in time to be caught by the camera.

A loud complaint (click for larger photo)

November 18, 2003 - Tuesday

There was excitement in Kaaawa last night as the power went out in spectacular fashion. It was shortly after 8 p.m., luckily we were just finishing eating, when the lights flickered and went out, then came back on, then flickered and dimmed again. Then a huge blue flash lit the sky and all was dark. Several minutes later, after we dug out the candles, cleared the table, and moved outside under the stars, that blue glowing flash lit half the sky again at least twice in rapid order. We could hear cheers and shouts from across the neighborhood. Someone several streets away could be hearing yelling "Happy New Year!"

But, luckily, by early a.m. the power and cable had been restored. Just another night in third world Kaaawa.

Is Howard Dean a 21st century George McGovern, as right wing pundits are trying to paint him? An op-ed in the Boston Globe has a good assessment.

At least one reader objected to my comments yesterday concerning volunteers for the Advertiser's "Community Editorial Board".

As someone who put his name in the pool for the Advertiser's editorial advice board, I find your comment rather annoying. I mean they put out a request and anybody, literally anybody, could send in their name--as I did.

So what are we supposed to--become less public spirited, younger, and change our ethnicity and gender? 

Here's my reply:

Sorry to annoy you that way. My comments had nothing to do with criticism of these volunteers. In my view, the Advertiser just shouldn't have thrown that term around.

I don't doubt that the group was public spirited, insightful, and experienced, and could have been described that way.

The issue I raised is the Advertiser's use of the word "diverse". With "diversity" being such a buzzword for the last decade as newsrooms have sought to reflect the complexity of the communities they write about, it was just surprising to me that the term would be used in this way under the circumstances in as splendidly a diverse community as Honolulu.

And so it goes on a Tuesday morning.

November 17, 2003 - Monday

Gannett has long trumpeted the virtues of diversity. But "diverse" isn't a word that would have occurred to me to describe the six participants in the Advertiser's latest "Community Editorial Board" meeting who were featured in yesterday's paper. No offense meant to these individuals who all sound like interesting folks but, at a glance, there simply wasn't much in the way of diversity. There were two women among the six, but the demographics of diversity definitely stopped there as the group appears homogeneous in terms of age, ethnicity and social class.

Don't miss this Washington Post story which uses six-man football to explore the decline of the Great Plains.

Chris Conybeare, attorney, television producer, and faculty member of the UH Center for Labor Education and Research, sent this report over the weekend from his current base in Turkey:

In the wake of the terrorist bombings of the two synagogues here in Istanbul, I thought I should get out a general mailing letting everyone know that I'm OK. Both attacks took place in neighborhoods where I live and work. One of them less than a block from my office and the other about a mile from my apartment. So far there are 16 known dead and more than 165 wounded. While I am unharmed physically, I must say that like my neighbors I am sobered and disgusted by these cowardly actions. It is true that 95% of the population here are Muslim, but I can assure you that 100% of my neighbors, co-workers and people I've met on the street share mutual outrage at these attacks. So if you encounter anyone who may wonder about my condition please pass the word that I'm fine.

Conybeare is spending the year in Istanbul on a Fulbright grant to work with the Press Council of Turkey on issues relating to freedom of the press.

There's something worse than being awakened at 3 a.m. by neurotic Mr. Leo. That's the conspicuous absence of the gray guy. He didn't wake me up this morning, which is unusual, and as I got up I realized that he hasn't made an appearance since we had to jump up from the dining table in the middle of dinner and run out onto the deck at the sounds of unseen cats yowling. Our strategy is to make noise and flash lights and it usually works to nudge would-be combatants out of their warrior postures. It seemed to do the trick last night, but now I'm worried about Leo. Until it gets light I can't even do a proper search, which is more frustrating. I think that I'll just cut this short and take a walk around the yard with my trusty flashlight, although I'll have to wait until this little light rain stops.

5:12 a.m. and Leo just walked in, apparently encouraged by that same bit of rain. Toby's on the roof crying for some assistance in getting down. Silverman's eating his way through all the available cat food. Just another morning in our little Kaaawa cattery.

November 16, 2003 - Sunday

I don't know what happened to yesterday's entry, which played hide-and-seek through much of the day. Whatever the reason, it wasn't available for at least parts of Saturday, but is back online now. Just click on "previous week" to go back to it.

So do I have this straight? According to a Star-Bulletin story yesterday, somebody contacted by a company claiming to be selling ads for the University of Hawaii basketball program called UH to check it out. UH officials disclaim any knowledge of the group and turned the case over to the police who then proceeded to issue a Crimestoppers fraud alert which was duly reported by both the Star-Bulletin and the Advertiser. The S-B story appeared on October 25. Then three weeks later somebody over at the Advertiser belatedly realizes that this is their own sub-contractor and legitimate after all? Hellooooo? Anybody home? I guess those Advertiser sales managers don't read their own paper, or they might have noticed the crime alert about their own sub-contractor.

According to a report in the weekly New York Observer, the U.S. is exporting the Bush version of spin control to the new administration in Iraq. "

"They’ve taken the Bush model and applied it to Baghdad," one correspondent said.

Read and weep.

And I enjoyed this Seattle Times report on the problems faced by former spies who have to admit that their known lives have been a sham. Lots of fascinating nuances here.

Ms. Annie is growing up into quite a beautiful gal. This photo was taken on Friday while she played solo in the cat tree. We've been slow in getting her set up with her shots, though. She was too small for shots when we first found her and took for to our vet for a checkup, and somehow with all the traveling since we haven't gotten back.	Ms. Annie
But she's got an appointment this afternoon for all the preliminaries.
She's been cultivating relationships with all the important beings--with Meda and I, of course, as well as with Ms. Wally. If she gets too personal, Wally swats her, but it seems to be in the nature of teaching rather than fighting. Here's Annie claiming a spot to nap right next to where Wally was firmly ensconced, and they both went happily to sleep after a brief negotiation.	If Ms. Wally is the Queen of the household, then we've now got Princess Annie.

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