The sky was gray-blue and the air thick, hot and still when Koko and I went out walking this morning. Cars were pleasantly few and far between, allowing Koko to stretch to the end of her long leash in pursuit of intriguing smells. As for me, I got a few heady whiffs of mock orange and deeply inhaled the fragrance of an angel’s trumpet and fresh-mown grass.
It’s the kind of muggy weather that usually prompts complaints, but after talking to a friend in the Midwest yesterday, where high humidity pushed the heat index up to a soggy, miserable 110 degrees, I knew to count my blessings.
She told of a bit of action around her house, with cops and dogs hunting an escaped inmate in the adjacent corn fields, where the temperature was a good 20 degrees hotter.
“Now who would run into a corn field on a day like this?” asked her brother, a farmer. “Must’ve been a city person.”
Since we on Kauai aren't city folk, the entire social fabric of the island is in danger of disintegrating now that late season high school football games have been moved from Friday nights to Saturday afternoons. At least, that’s the opinion offered by Rep. Jimmy Tokioka in response to KIF’s decision to shift some of the games rather than risk hefty fines if the super bright stadium lights kill endangered Newell’s shearwaters and native petrels.
According to a comment first reported by a hybrid Honolulu TV “news” station and then picked up by an AP report in today’s Star-Advertiser:
"This is all the people have, we don't have the Ala Moana Shopping Centers, we don't have some of the things the other counties have for these kids and the entire community, to just go without having football games at night is really going to hurt the social fabric of our community," State Representative from Kauai, Jimmy Tokioka said.
What's he talking about? We've got plenty of entertainment: cock fighting, night hunting, tweaking, boozing, pill-popping, wife beating, gay bashing, beach raves, bleach fishing. Oh, and don't forget adultery. wink, wink
So tell us, Jimmy, how many Saturday afternoon games are you and your homophobic friends going to attend to keep the social fabric of the island intact?
With one notable exception — Rep. Mina Morita — Kauai’s state representatives are an embarrassment. And now that Gary Hooser has resigned his Senate seat to run for Lieutenant Governor, things are even bleaker. It looks like Ron Kouchi will slide in there, even though he hasn’t officially filed papers yet. It's kind of amazing to think that someone who couldn’t even get re-elected to the County Council will end up as our one and only Senator.
Because it’s highly unlikely that Integrity Locksmith owner Dave Hamman, whose deceptive actions belie his company name, will prevail against Ron, whose yard signs inexplicably preceded his filing.
It’s also unlikely that Republican Harry Williams, who was questionably allowed to file after the deadline because of Hamman’s smarmy shenanigans, can unseat Mina, even though her district includes the Republican bastion of Princeville. As The Garden Island reported:
Hamman admitted Thursday he did the paperwork shuffle to give his party time to find a replacement for him against Morita.
“Bottom line is Gary Hooser waited so damn long to decide what he was going to do,” said Hamman, who’s now running to fill Hooser’s vacancy after originally filing to run for Morita’s state House seat.
What? Gary’s been gearing up for the LG run for two years now.
Anyway, if you want to see who is running for office in Hawaii, check out this website. The crop of County Council candidates — big yawn — is on page 27. With incumbents Darryl Kaneshiro and Lani Kawahara deciding not to return, at least we’ll have two open seat. The only question is whether they’ll be filled by Mel Rapozo and JoAnn Yukimura, who want back on since they didn’t win the mayor’s race last time around.
And that seat will, of course, go once again to Bernard Carvalho/Beth Tokioka.
I saw on TV that HNL airport is finally going to get full body scanners, after testing them on us first, There was a picture of Bernard smiling as he was going thru one. Wonder if it caught how small and damaged his brain is from Friday night football? Shouldn't he be afraid of invasion of privacy (i.e. brain size)?
ReplyDeleteI wonder what the attendance is at Friday night football at Vindinha? 800 people out of 60,000 residents? So we should charge those 800 for the cost of electricity for keeping the lights on and for the fines for the killed birds. Don't charge everyone, just the users. Make it part of the ticket price. See the spectacle of ritualized male aggression and killing of endangered species all at once!
ReplyDeleteIt is unfortunate that the level of some comments have fallen to such a LOW level that censorship has been imposed. But both of the first two comments serve no real purpose unless personal disparagement of an individual or simple local traditions is somehow enlightening, informative or entertaining. Personally I think NOT!
ReplyDeleteI think Iʻd be willing to take a try with Diana LaBetz.
ReplyDeleteThere are a few non-Hawaiians that I believe will and want to do what is needed for the Hawaiians moreso than their Hawaiian counterparts.
For instance, Carvalho couldnʻt comprehend the damage the HSF would have done to natural resources...even the DLNR agents were opposed to this boat!
Basically Iʻm tired of fakes.
So basically she's whining about having to run against an opponent. Choice is good. She's not prejudiced in any way. She should suck it up and let the people at least have a real choice. Her whining is a bit unseemly.
ReplyDeletedon't you think diane lebedz has a chance? she seems on target w/ gmo, hemp and plastic water bottle ban. seems like a lot folks have grown disgruntled(or disgusted) w/mayor BC.
ReplyDeleteGet the proof then the tee shirts!!!
ReplyDeleteNY Times:
BELL, Calif. (AP) -- Hundreds of angry residents of a modest blue-collar Los Angeles suburb marched to the homes and businesses of city officials in a protest sparked by the sky-high salaries of three recently departed administrators.
More than 200 residents of Bell, where one in six lives in poverty, walked Sunday to a market owned by Mayor Oscar Hernandez, then his home as they called for his resignation.
They then did the same with some members of the City Council, with many marchers wearing T-shirts that read ''My city is more corrupt than your city.''
The protest was organized by Bell Association to Stop the Abuse, a group founded after the Los Angeles Times reported that Bell's city manager, police chief and assistant city manager were all being paid hundreds of thousands of dollars a year.
The other question is who among the incumbent Kaua'i County Council candidates might be unseated?
ReplyDeleteI propose to you that Tim Bynum and Dickie Chang are on the bubble to lose their seats and that Nadine and KipuKai could unseat them.
Otherwise, the rest of the incumbents win and Mel and JoAnn make it back onto the Council.
"The only question is whether they’ll be filled by Mel Rapozo and JoAnn Yukimura"
ReplyDeleteIf that's the only question you have a bleak and limited vision of the future!
Everyone, including TVR owners, knows damn well that vacation rentals are and have always been illegal on ag. land. It's all we've ever known, and all we've ever heard. Trying to find a loophole, or an exception is ridiculous. But lo and behold, there's a couple of sympathetic ears on the council, which is downright embarrassing.
ReplyDeleteBut what's kinda funny though, is how tvr owners are playing dumb, like they never knew they were doing anything illegal.
It's funny alright. Real frickin' funny.