Musings: Suck-Ups and Scary Stuffs

The sky was just turning yellowish pink around the edges when Koko and I set out walking this morning on soil that had been quenched and replenished by the recent heavy rains. After two days of near lock down, Koko was frisky and rarin’ to go, lunging at trucks and whining at the yards of her dog friends in an attempt to entice them out for a sniff fest.

But we encountered only a shama thrush engaged in the high-risk behavior of pecking at something in the street, which was already littered with the blood, guts, feathers and flesh of numerous chickens, toads and other unidentifiable creatures. Rainy days take a heavy toll on wildlife.

Folks are thinking the bell may soon be tolling for Hawaii Superferry, now that the state Supreme Court has scheduled oral arguments for 9 a.m. Dec. 18 on whether Act 2 — adopted in a special session of the Lege so the boat could run prior to conducting an environmental assessment — is unconstitutional special legislation.

My own guess is that the Alakai, sinking under the weight of low ridership and high expenses, won’t be long for Hawaii. HSF and Austal have done what they intended to do — prove the boat can run in rough waters, albeit with a high puke factor — so I’m betting that as they negotiate a contract with Uncle Sam for the recently completed second ferry, they’ll make it a two-fer deal.

Meanwhile, other folks are wagering that the next job held by Gov. Lingle — still on the road for McCain, where she’s blaming Dems for the economic problems — will be at JF Lehman Co., the big bucks behind the HSF (aside from taxpayers). That would give her two years in the board room of a high profile company to raise the outside money she needs to run a Senate campaign in 2012. That scenario sure explains her major suck-up to Superferry.

In national elections, I got an email from a friend in the swing state of Colorado who has been campaigning hard for Obama. She wrote:

I'll be glad when it's over; I've been way too anxious the last few weeks. I've heard the same thing from a lot of my volunteers. The thought of McCain/Palin winning is too scary to contemplate and no one trusts the GOP not to pull some shit! I must think positively!!!

I think a lot of people are wondering what dirty tricks the GOP has up its sleeve, aside from the ongoing legal challenges of voter registration and vote flipping on electronic voting machines.

In local elections, The Garden Island is running another one of its meaningless on-line polls that shows JoAnn beating Bernard, with 52 percent of the vote. Let's hope this is one time when it's accurate, because the thought of Ian Costa continuing as planning director is too loathsome to imagine.

In an effort to be a well-informed voter, I finally got around to reading all the proposed county charter amendments. While some sound good in principle, the way they’re likely to play out on Kauai is a different story.

Take the idea of creating a new position of county auditor. Yeah, it would be great to have more oversight of county funds and functions. But in reality, it would just turn out to be another high-paying county job given out as a political favor to someone who doesn’t do anything.

You know, sort of like the County Attorney, who doesn't bother to attend county meetings. I thought of that when reading a story about the planning commission’s decision this week to reauthorize permits for those two controversial, unneeded and unwanted resort projects that would add 547 new units to the already maxed-out Waipouli area. The article stated:

Still, Chair Steven Weinstein, who voted against the permit when it was originally approved by the commission, said he believed it was too late to revoke the permit and instead encouraged fellow commissioners, including troubled neophyte Herman Texeira, to consider only the amendments before them.

Now, we have members of the public and an attorney for Native Hawaiian Legal Corp. telling the commissioners they have more options than they realized, yet Weinstein is going by what he believes. Where was the county attorney assigned to the commission? Why not ask him or her for legal advice instead of relying on Weinstein’s opinion?

Anyway, since it’s Halloween, I’ll leave you with this graphic, created by a friend of KauaiEclectic. Oh, and guess what the most popular mask is this year? Sarah Palin. Yes, who is behind that carefully constructed façade?