Musings: I'm (Not) With Stupid

Though major Hawaii issues are routinely ignored, the Zuckerberg wall has caught international media attention. Both CNN and the New York Times contacted me, with the NYT reporter astutely noting, “This mostly seems overblown.”

Ya think? Cause nobody's said nothing about all the walls built by the non-billionaires — including the ones illegally erected along public beach accesses:

Dang. Where are the whining, complaining cranks — like the Chantaras — when you really need 'em?

One of the silliest reports was in — no surprise —Huffington Post:

However, since all beaches in Hawaii are public, Zuckerberg won’t be able to extend his wall all the way to the beach, thus eliminating any chance he had of making his stretch of sand exclusive.

Well, that would have been pretty much impossible, anyway, since the wall runs parallel to the coast, on the mauka side of the property. Stupid.

Others were dinging Zuckerberg because he'd quite rightly criticized Trump's proposal for a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border. Really? People can't see any difference between using taxpayer money to block off an entire country, and building a wall fronting a road on your own land? Super stupid.

Speaking of which, the anti-GMO crowd is now using Putin as its poster boy:

So says the tyrannical leader of a nation with one of the world's highest alcohol-related death rates. Triple shot of stupid.

Still speaking of which, our own Dustin Barca weighed in on Gov. Ige signing Bill 2501, which gives the state more time to work out the revocable permit process for water leases, against the wishes of some East Maui taro farmers:

Gee, wouldn't he have made a fine and thoughtful mayor? We dodged a bullet on that one, folks.

In another post, Barca rails against a number of things (except, sadly, his own illiteracy):

Then he runs a proud Daddy picture of his kid holding these giant Palau taro hybrids they're cultivating. I wonder if he even knows it's a hybrid, which means — and I'll spell it out, in case he's reading — that it's not “God-sown.”

I wish that were the limit of Kauai stupidity. But alas, we've still got Terry Lilley, and with the Rimpac war games starting today, he's been cranking up the volume:

Billions of watts of electromagnetic energy beamed 24/7? So what electrical source is powering this alleged beam bombardment? Consider that 1 gigawatt (GW) = 1 billion watts, and just 2.3 gigawatts of electricity are produced statewide. So if Lilley's assertion were true, Hawaii's entire electrical output would have to be diverted to the production of military electromagnetic energy. Yet, the power's still on, so it can't be that.

Sonar is powered by shipboard generators, which have a maximum rating of about 6 MW. And they're powering the entire ship, not just sonar. Again, the numbers don’t add up — can't add up. Because it's all bullshit. And it keeps on coming:

Oh, now we're up to 900 billion watts of microwaves being generated on Kauai alone. That's quite a feat, considering the entire island of Kauai, including PMRF, uses about 50 megawatts. Come on, Capt. Hay. Where are you hiding all those secret power plants? Let me guess: You're using cloaking technology to render them invisible. Actually, I shouldn't even joke, as some doofus will take it as Gospel.

As for the “cancer clusters,” how many more times are folks gonna trot that one out? Once again, Kauai doesn't have any. Not only that, our overall cancer rates are significantly lower than the rest of the state. All we've got is a slightly elevated rate of melanoma on the North Shore, where the population is predominantly haole.

There's been lots of crap published about how we're “ground zero for GMOs, ground zero for experimental pesticides, ground zero for military microwaves.” But all those claims are lacking meaningful context: we're ground zero for ignoramuses on soap boxes.

Not to be outdone is Kauai landowner Joe Brescia, who has dropped the price on his oceanfront Wainiha house — the one built atop burials. Yeah, it's marked down from $5.5 million to $5.25 million. Or to use the verbiage in the listing, “PRICED FOR A QUICK SALE.”

Before.

After.

As you may recall, it first went on the market in October 2014. But then it was pulled, and now it's back on, advertising a “private beach trail” — uh, do you mean the public access next door? — and its “private and secluded feel.” Yup. Just you and the obake. Oh, yeah, and all the tourists staying at the adjacent vacation rentals.

I love these closing lines from the ad:

  

Years of planning went into this newer, well-maintained home.

Now that's a cute spin on the protracted agony of the shoreline disputes, Burial Council deliberations, litigation, protests and prayers, Brescia's SLAPP suit against activists, Planning Commission appeals — all of which resulted in the State Historic Preservation Division setting the precedent of overriding a Burial Council decision and permitting construction on a previously identified burial site. Ah, yes. So much thoughtful planning. So many good vibes.

Years of enjoyment can be yours today at Kaonohi Point.

Sure, if you don't mind stink eye, hauntings and that sickening feeling of participating in cultural desecration. 

But no doubt he'll find some sucker to buy it. Because get lots of stupid people in this world, a disproportionate number of which seem to end up on Kauai.