Musings: I Spy with My Little Eye

I spy a homeless guy, holding a sign that reads: Looking for investment capital.

Hmmm. As in beg enough to buy an eight-ball of junk/ice/coke and split it up for smaller sales? No, thanks.

I spy an article in Beach Grit about Dustin Barca, Lucifer and guns — a creepy combo, to be sure.

As Rory Parker writes:

I may not love all his rhetoric, but I’m on board with most of his goals. I believe he truly cares, that his activism springs from a place of selfless regard for his fellow man.

I have no idea what Dustin's goals really are — other than to promote Dustin. And it's pretty much impossible for a full-blown narcissist to have selfless regard for anyone. Still, I do believe that Dustin truly does care, as do many of his followers.

Problem is, their activism is so often grounded in entrenched ignorance, smug self-righteousness, short-term thinking and an inability to see the big picture that it becomes a caricature.

As I've said before, it doesn't matter if your heart is in the right place if you're talking out of your ass.

And in the case of Dustin and others, it's exacerbated by the aforementioned narcissism, pathological levels of grandiosity and a messianic complex.

Those 644 “likes” may think they're being cool, and getting down with Dustin, but they're just pushing him closer to the edge. It's harmful, not helpful, to feed a person's delusions, especially when they're teetering on the brink of sanity.

Also on Beach Grit, I spy a video of dumb asses — apparently filmed (by Terry Lilley) because they're young shapely asses — frolicking in killer shorebreak at Lumahai, even as the jet ski rescues a guy who got washed out.

And they wonder why so many people drown. Truly, there's no regulating stupid.

I spy yet another crybaby going to The Garden Island — waa, I was in Mahaulepu after the gate closed and I had to pay the fine, waa — and getting a write up followed by the usual crybaby entitlement comments — “I never understood why Grove Farm installed the gate.  How many yeas [sic] did we all use that road. It was fine when they were growing sugar and had no choice but to leave it open. Trash or parties on the beach is no excuse. If it's in need of cleaning make the state or county come clean it up." — that show no grasp of reality.

Yeah, a lot of things were fine when they growing sugar, but in case you hadn't noticed, it's a different world now. If the gate was open all night, that place would be tweaker central and a homeless haven. And how, pray tell, is a private landowner going to “make the state or county come clean it up”? 

I spy Councilman Gary Hooser — a narcissist on the order of Barca — once again doing the wild spin, using his fourth-grade writing skills to present his lobbyist registration bill as a boon for Kauai even as he uses his own piddling little office to lobby for HAPA.

And — get this — blasting Jan TenBruggencate for "significantly misrepresenting both the facts and the intent" of the lobbying bill. Yup, that bit of projection is coming from Gary, the master of misrepresentation and mischaracterization.

Then Gary, proving he's also mastered the art of hypocrisy, goes on to pontificate:

It is the “after hours” lobbying, the lunches, the dinners, the trips, the first-class travel upgrades and the one-on-one meetings behind closed doors that are for the most part invisible to the public eye that deserve full transparency.

Yeah, so why are you hiding the funding sources for HAPA, Gary? Why are you running a candidate training program with similarly undisclosed funds? Why don't you disclose how HAPA, Center for Food Safety and Earthjustice co-mingle monies to make it seem like these groups have more clout than they do? Why won't you reveal who paid for your trip to Switzerland?  

Come on, Gary. Go ahead and model that full transparency. Lead by example, instead of ignorance and fear-mongering. I dare you. 

I spy a Civil Beat editorial promoting a citizen's initiative bill. Which is great, in concept. But seriously suspect when it's introduced by anti-GMO legislators like Sen. Ruderman and Thielen. And fucking dangerous you have people like Hooser and Barca and their cult-like followers eager to manipulate the political process for their own narrow, perverse ends.