Musings: Thump Thump

It was all about orange this morning, save for the waning white moon that clung to a patch of blue, and that was even before the rising sun fired up the clouds like charcoal briquettes in a grill. The dogs and I saw it all on our pre-dawn walk-run, which began with a pig encounter that got all of our hearts thumping.

Poor Kauai is bound to take a thumping with the governor's appointment of developer Shawn Smith to the state Board of Land and Natural Resources. Smith and his buddy Larry Bowman are Falko Partners, which is currently trying to sell a big chunk of land at Koolau, just west of Larsen's Beach, for a cool $67.5 million. As the listing at ebillionairesclub.com gushes:

KAHUAINA PLANTATION 360 acres of pristine secluded Kauai coastline 80 luxury homesites [CPR lots] ranging from 1 to 7 acres Nearly a mile of coastline with 2,500 linear feet of white sand beach for all lot owners Ocean and mountain views from each intimate, private homesite Entitlements provide high barriers to entry.

Gag. There goes more good ag land into upscale gentleman's estates.  

Kealia's Valley House, now on the market for $25 million — “Of particular note, a vacation rental permit has been secured for the estate, and additional residences may be built if desired, adding to the future ownership options for the property.” — is another one of Falko's community-minded ventures.

Smith replaces architect Ron Agor, who replaced timeshare developer Lynn McCrory, on the board responsible for overseeing the state's most sensitive public lands. Are you starting to see an ugly pattern here? As a friend observed, “The state works in mysterious ways.”

Though no doubt Sen. Ron Kouchi put in a good word for his buddy Shawn. Their cozy relationship was revealed five years ago on this blog by a reader who happened to be reading Shawn's smart-phone over his shoulder when the Council was reviewing the ag subdivision moratorium bill:

“Shawn is so close to [then] councilman Ron Kouchi that he felt he could send him text messages DURING THE MEETING. For example, after Ron made a point against the bill, Shawn sent him the message "Kick ass! [I love it] when you get rolling." In the address book is almost as good as in the pocket.

“To another lucky text recipient, possibly Larry Bowman, he spilled the beans: "Here's my secret - I wrote that letter blasting Bynum." 

Sure enough, today's TGI has a criticism of Bynum attributed to one Brian Flournoy of Kapa'a. Previous letters by that alias have the same vitriol against ADU sunseting and ferry protestors.

What a stellar guy. I'm sure he'll represent our island admirably.

The Kauai Humane Society has taken to the newspaper to defend its proposal to hike dog licensing fees against the thumping it took from hunters at last week's Council meeting. KHS director Penny Cistaro admits they never consulted with the hunters before hatching this revenue-raising plan, even though hunters will be hit hardest.

I know she's new, but surely someone at KHS should have advised her that hunters are a well-organized voting constituency, as evidenced by the strong turnout at the Council meeting. But rather than say, OK, maybe we should sit down and talk, Cistaro takes the defensive pit bull stance:

“The community, with the exception of the feedback that was given at the council hearing, has all been positive,” said Cistaro, adding she has not received calls from hunters since the bill was introduced.

And why would they call you when you never call them? Besides, not all the community response has been positive. KHS is another organization that lives in an echo-chamber, as exemplified by the older haole lady from Lihue who testified that she didn't understand “why they need a huge pack of dogs for one hunter, one person.”

As one of my friends observed, “Well, she wouldn't now, would she?”

In case you haven't noticed, Kauai has big wild pig population, and the hunters are the only ones keeping it in check. Yes, some hunting dogs are treated poorly, but so are the house-yard dogs that are overfed, under-exercised and bored. KHS needs to move past the mindset that hunters = bad.

Speaking of bad, it really makes me want to give food manufacturers the thump-thump treatment when I hear them whine and cry about how they can't possibly label GMO foods because it's too expensive and difficult.

Well, not only are they labeling their GMO junk in Europe and elsewhere, they actually have entirely different formulations of their products for markets that have banned the preservatives, additives and other crap that the Food and Drug Administration sanctions in the U.S.  

For example, the Betty Crocker cream cheese frosting sold in Britain has none of the hydrogenated oil, corn syrup, yellow dyes and sodium benzoate of its American counterpart. (Though neither contains any cream cheese.)

And the fries sold at McDonald's in America are made with an anti-foaming agent, "natural beef flavor" and unhealthy transfats, whereas the UK fries are not.

So why do food manufacturers insist on selling Americans this crap? And why does our government allow it? 

Another good reason to grow your own, hunt your own, make your own food.