Musings: On My Critics

It's been amusing to witness the efforts aimed at trying to make me stop dinging Councilmen Gary Hooser and Tim Bynum.

Like this Anonymous comment:

Joan. As a friend you should know people are talking. There are two stories going around. Sometimes they are intertwined and sometimes separate. Your fixation on Gary is attributed to either a jilted lover situation and/or your involvement with Jerry O. In any case, it is obvious to all that you [sic] entirely too obsessed with bringing Hooser down and it has to be personal. tc

Love affair with Gary? Gack. And while Jerry is one of my favorite people on the planet, we're not “involved" and I drew my conclusions about Gary without any influence from him.

Of course, I knew it was a fake because my real friends don't talk to me via anonymous comments. And anyway, they're pretty much all cheering me on to bring Hooser down. They know I've gone after Gary for legitimate reasons: he's a bullying liar who has seriously damaged Kauai County in his egomaniacal bid for political acclaim and national attention.

Still, it's odd that folks who consider themselves “progressives” resort to tired old stereotypical scenarios in trying to explain away a reality they refuse to see. Kind of like the commenter who attributed my disdain for Council candidate Felicia Cowden to us having “competed for the same guy.” WTF? It's like they can't imagine that a woman could possibly have the brains and discernment to identify disingenuous and dangerous politicians; it must be a bad romance.

But then, that's been my problem with many of the Bill 2491/Hooser/Bynum/Barca supporters. They fancy themselves progressives, but they've behaved so regressively that they've set progressive politics in Hawaii way, way back. And they don't even see it.

Which brings me to an email sent by a reader who urged me to stop “flogging” Gary and Tim:

Seems to me that the facts indicate these guys are sober and serious long-time public servants, with extensive histories of hard work and constructive legislation for the betterment of our island. With an election looming, it's also important to remember that both are progressive candidates: look at their whole track records, not just the issue on which you disagree with them.

Mmm, what's progressive about using lies and fears to spark a mob action, divide the island and pass legislation that is overturned while setting a legal precedent for state pre-emption?

As for track records, Tim's includes gutting the TVR bill to remove inspections and allowing TVRs on ag land, while Gary's includes dumping his Kauai Senate seat and powerful role as majority leader to make a doomed-from-the-start run for lieutenant governor, and then dumping his post at OEQC (after making all sorts of promises he couldn't deliver and leaving the staff there to clean up the mess) to get back on the Kauai County Council and issue his call for a “million little fists.”

Throw in Tim's lawsuit against the county, quavery victim voice and petty tantrums, Gary's penchant for deception and smug smarminess, and their current effort to remove 24,000 acres from ag dedication and it's a no brainer: those two faux progressives have got to go.

Then there was this Facebook message from a woman I know from yoga:

It's like you have a personal crusade going against Gary and Tim. Why not work it out with them and resolve it. Communicate with them personally.

To which I replied:

There is no way to "work it out" with Tim and Gary. I have communicated with them personally. They won't even acknowledge the wrongs they've done and the harm they've caused. One can't "work it out" with people who are in denial and who continue to do the same bad things, like lie. My interest now is in ensuring that as many people as possible know what they're really all about.

Which brings me to mayoral candidate Dustin Barca. It's apparent from this new “Fightland” video, which was also posted on the Surfer magazine site, that his candidacy isn't about serving Kauai, but getting exposure for himself and his anti-GMO message.

The video is filled with Dustin's bullshit — “Waimea Middle School, 50 kids falling down having seizures and bloody noses from pesticide exposure”; “We have the sickness, the cancers, the birth defects, but we can't prove the link because we don't know what they're spraying” — but fails to mention Bill 2491 was overturned by a federal judge. Instead, it claims “local politics have left it at a standstill.”

Most telling, however, was the revelation that as a “grom,” Dustin was taken in by the Northshore Oahu Wolfpack, a “notorious group that enforces the line up at Pipeline and other surf spots, sometimes through violence and intimidation.” Yeah, despite all of Dustin's rhetoric about love and respect, he just can't escape his thuggish roots. Dustin's the fist behind the “fistees,” folks.

The video, which curiously focuses on North Shore Kauai landscapes rather than the westside, features footage from the Haleiwa evict Monsanto march, where pro-surfer Kelly Slater weighs in with the comment, “Humans are kind of messing with science.”

It closes with a tagline that shows the wrong date for the general election, and then a shot of Dustin, front tooth missing, sitting on his board, wiping his nose. Classic.

Returning to my critics, there was also this Anonymous comment:

You really need to lighten up Joan and get back on track. Perhaps a long vacation is in order. People are talking and say you have gone way, way over the top and are "no longer the Joan we used to know and love". Truth - but am sure that is one thing you do not recognize any more. Sad.

Gosh. Abandoned by people who never knew me, and never loved me, but only liked me so long as I was writing what they wanted to hear. I can only take that as confirmation that I'm on the right track.

P.S. A real friend just emailed: "You forgot to mention that it's your head injury that led you to abandon the cause." 

Oh, yes, how could I have forgotten the theory advanced by dear Felicia, that I must have suffered a traumatic brain injury? Must've been the "GMO implants/GMO virus" that caused it to slip my mind.