Musings: Past and Present

The sky was filled with a smattering of stars that soon gave way to quilted wisps stained pink when Koko and I went walking this morning. The air was heavily perfumed with the fragrance of mock orange and bird song was punctuated by the humming drone of buzzing bees and oversized truck tires on pavement.

The clouds were on the move, flying briskly east to west, and as the sun rose, casting the verdant folds of Makaleha in a golden glow, they gathered briefly on the summit of Waialeale, then blew on past.

A couple of past posts continue to elicit comments, which always interests me, as it adds to the puzzle of who is reading this blog, and where it goes. A humorous thread was launched by a comment I almost deleted from Saturday’s Quick Fixes post, and included a link to an amusing video clip and debate between capitalism and socialism. But what I found most funny was that some folks seemed to actually take the exchange seriously.

Not so funny are the comments that continued to be posted on last Wednesday’s Seeking Solutions post by people who take the issue of building atop Hawaiian burials, and the screw you attitude that so often accompanies such actions, very seriously.

That comment thread included a full on curse, frustrations over Western imperialism and an account from a teacher who, with other teachers and students, tried to leave hookupu (offering) at Brescia’s construction site but were denied access by his contractor, Joe Gallante. The teacher goes on to say that Gallante wouldnʻt tolerate our oli and pule we said from outside the gate saying we were trying to incite them by "calling them names."

The comment sheds further light on an incident I reported on June 27, after Caren Diamond arrived at the Naue burial site and found police there.

It’s too bad Hollywood doesn’t make a movie about the real horrors that abound here, in the form of rampant cultural insensitivity, land rape and asinine planning, such as the county’s approval of the two Waipouli resorts without an environmental review. That case is currently in court, with 1000 Friends of Kauai seeking donations for legal fees.

Instead, it has to make up some bullshit about a murder on the Kalalau Trail for a horror/thriller flick that wasn’t even filmed here.

While I applaud the unwillingness of Kauai Visitor Bureau chief Sue Kanoho to go along with the charade of pretending like the movie was set here, when it was filmed in Puerto Rico, I did cringe at her use of the phrase “the Kaua‘i brand.” The only reason to brand something is to claim ownership and sell it.

Hollywood has done more than any other industry to perpetuate a totally skewed image of Hawaii, and especially Kauai. Think Bali Hai, Jurassic Park and other such nonsense. So I applaud the way Lingle put the state film commissioner Donne Dawson and her staff on the layoff list. Yeah, the movie crowd brings in money, but so does the ice trade. The bigger question is, is it really good for Hawaii?

Meanwhile, if we follow the premise that publicity is good for tourism, the continuing hoohaw over Obama’s birth certificate is keeping the Islands in the news at no cost to the Hawaii Visitors Bureau.

I was especially amused that the debate, if it can be called that, briefly held up Rep. Neil Abercrombie’s resolution commemorating the 50th anniversary of Island statehood:

The line "Whereas the 44th President of the United States, Barack Obama, was born in Hawaii on August 4, 1961;" has been construed by some who believe Obama is not a U.S.-born citizen as a thinly veiled attempt to get Congress to affirm Obama's U.S. citizenship.

Interesting, how that hung some folks up, but no one seemed bothered by the idea that Hawaii itself is an illegal fake state.