We went for a walk around Burke Lake, just around the corner from our friends’ house in Northern Virginia. It was 36 degrees (F) when we left the house, but well over 40 by the time we returned. There are still some leaves in their brilliant colors, which made for quite a beautiful walk that was very different from Kaaawa.

Back at their house with a cup of coffee, I was just checking the APEC news.

Agence France-Presse seems to have a good read of the local reaction.

Hawaiian officials had embraced the summit as a chance to showcase the islands’s hospitality, but it has brought the heaviest security since the wake of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor nearly 70 years ago.

“This is totally not what Hawaii is about,” local resident Tino Fornas said, gesturing at a roadblock manned by grim-faced police. “Yeah, welcome to Hawaii. Now, please leave.”

Security was also ultra-tight behind the beaches, with some of the city’s busiest streets empty because of road closures, and police barking at cars or pedestrians going astray.

“It’s insane. It feels like Communist China,” said Marvin Schuster of Pennsylvania, who shelved plans to leave his hotel because of the difficulties getting around.

“It sort of ruins the vacation when you are forced to just stay in the room and watch TV,” he said.

Read more: http://www.calgaryherald.com/news/Hawaii+bristles+APEC+security/5703306/story.html#ixzz1db0X3fds

And the Moana Nui conference, held to give a people’s alternative to APEC, was picked up by Al Jazeera English in a video available on YouTube.

According to Google, the meetings are getting a little more attention in the countries represented as media report on the activities of their respective leaders, with articles about the Chinese, Russian, Philippine, Canadian, and Australian leaders.

Civil Beat’s coverage also gets prominent attention in Google’s listing of media coverage.

I wonder whether any city or state officials will admit that their advance purchase of large amounts of crowd control weaponry showed how out of touch they are with their own constituents? They apparently have so little sense of their own constituents that they assumed they had to be ready for the violent protests that have sometimes been seen elsewhere. I think they owe us an apology. Perhaps a refund for their excessive purchases. Do you suppose there’s resale market for unused pepper canisters and weapons?