The rats woke me at 4, banging around by the pipes in the wall. Yes, they’re still on the scene, but I’m hopeful not for much longer. Since we were up already, Koko and I headed out and walked in the silent world of blackness, the looming hulks of mountains silhouetted against a backdrop of sparkling stars.
And then, because it was so cold, we went back to bed and awoke again to sunlight. I took advantage of that brief early morning period of minimal traffic to run errands in Kapaa. I never cease to be delighted by the beauty of the windward mountains when they’re free of clouds and revealed in all their glory, from Kalepa to Kalalea. Crystal clear days like this don’t happen all that often, and yesterday I took a mid-day break to enjoy a bit of beach time.
Despite the stellar weather, Hawaii Superferry continues to log dismal passenger counts. Yesterday, Brad Parsons reports from Maui, the ferry offloaded 140 to 150 people, one moped and 58 to 60 vehicles, including 15 to 20 military vehicles. (“The variation, he says, “was due to four vehicles loaded on top of other vehicles, counting all was less than 20.) Just 47 to 50 vehicles got on for the return trip to Oahu.
And Disappeared News yesterday posted a contribution from Life of the Land’s Henry Curtis gleaned from the PUC, which granted HSF’s request to extend its discount fares through June 5. To justify the request, HSF disclosed on Dec. 21, 2007 that it’s been carrying about 150 passengers per voyage, while the planned passenger load is about 410 passengers per trip.
It’s clear the ferry is doing poorly in terms of attracting passengers, even with discounted fares. What’s less clear is why a second run was added to Maui when the Superferry isn’t even covering its costs. Although such a move doesn’t make economic sense, it does make sense if the vessel is simply trying to log miles. And with yesterday’s National Guard transport, Superferry has demonstrated it can successfully move military vehicles and personnel. I’ll get into that more deeply in my next Lifting the Veil post, which unfortunately has been delayed by a heavy work load.
Clarity, it seems, is starting to slowly emerge in the KKCR dispute. The Garden Island reported today that programmer Kaiulani Huff wasn’t terminated from the station, but just put on 90 days suspension, at which time she can “reapply.”
That’s certainly a different message than the one originally sent to Kaiulani, but since it comes from station manager Gwen Palagi, who was on vacation when all the recent turmoil began, it seems official, and is good news to those of us who like to have her back on the air.
In the meantime, it does seem the recent events may be motivating folks to get more involved in working for significant changes at the station, including better community outreach. One oft-cited method of improving participation is moving the station out of Princeville to a more centralized, ethnically diverse location.
However, according to a memo from board member Sandy Brodie, such a relocation could take up to three years and would require a new FCC application approval.
In light of that, Brodie recommended the Board seek a long-term lease at the existing facility and work to improve reception through a microwave link system. No mention was made of using remote broadcast systems to allow programmers to participate elsewhere around the island, an idea that has been advocated by some for a number of years, without success.
Tuesday, January 8, 2008
Monday, January 7, 2008
Musings: Opening Doors
Stars! I saw them because they were out, and so was I, this nippy, clear morning, along with Venus, gleaming. The moon, new tomorrow, was nowhere to be seen, but Waialeale, and all the other mountains, showed face, and mist clung damply to the hollows in the pastures.
On my way to the beach yesterday afternoon I picked up an old uncle, hitchhiking, and we got to talking about the fine, sunny weather. “But don’t ever complain about the rain,” he said. “Rain is what keeps us alive. Always be thankful for it, and praise it.” Amen.
Last night, after listening to Willie Judah’s reggae show on KKCR, a couple of programmers came on and started praising the station, describing it as a gem, saying it does so much good for people.
That’s all true. It is an asset to the island, and a lot of folks, me included, do appreciate it and want to keep it alive. I’m sure those who work at the station and have shows take special pride and pleasure in it, and that’s to be expected — indeed, encouraged.
However, the inherent value of KKCR is not at the issue here. It’s about ways to make KKCR better, more inclusive, more reflective of and responsive to the broader community. In short, how can we open doors a little wider?
In response to a post on Disappeared News
about claims of racism at the station, blogger Doug White
posted this comment: “The latest Garden Island News story points out that there is presently no Native Hawaiian presence on the board, but the KKCR bylaws provide no method for dissidents to assume seats on the board except, according to the article, for applicants to win approval from the sitting board members. How likely is that? Well, we won't know until a dissident applies and is (or is not) seated, and remember, even if dissidents were to apply and be seated, it would take several years for the dissidents to become a majority on the board.”
So I did some checking around and found that Michael Locey, son of Auntie Angeline and part-Hawaiian, was an applicant in 2005 and completely rejected, even though he is very well known in the community and could have been an excellent connection with the Hawaiian community.
Musician Cindy Combs, who is also part Hawaiian was a Board member in the early 2000s but resigned. Tek Nickerson, Native American and very experienced in nonprofits, applied to the Board in 2006 and was not voted in.
Steve Thatcher, former chair of the Citizens’ Advisory Board, whom some might consider a dissident voice because he favors more community outreach and membership voting, applied in 2006 and was voted down. Steve did get elected in 2007 but received the one-year unexpired term of Robin Savage, rather than a three-year term.
It’s clear that one reason why the Board has been reluctant to allow station members to elect Board members is that they do not want dissidents of any ethnicity to serve. That's why even the Board's most recent action to allow the members to elect three Board members will be done on a trial basis only. If you want to know more, check out the article I wrote at Kauai People.
Amid talk of racism, I think it’s important to make the distinction between racism and racial prejudice. Katy Rose does a really good job of explaining the difference in an essay posted at Island Breath. It also provides background on what happened to prompt the racism charges against KKCR.
As she notes, and I agree, it’s important to look beyond individuals and at the institution. Still, individuals — whether it was staff members working autonomously or at the direction of the Board — did make the decision to lock the gates, a move that could bring down the station.
Ed Coll posted a well-done video, "KKCR Gated Community Radio," that he made of the Jan. 3 encounter with police on the road to the radio station that ended up with Hale Mawae on the ground in handcuffs. Coll notes: “It is in the old school cinéma vérité (direct cinema) tradition. Audio starts about 30 seconds in. Total time 8min 30 sec.”
The video does a good job of showing that the alleged threat to the station’s security was greatly exaggerated. It also raises questions about whether cops can legally stop someone from walking on Hanalei Plantation Road, which is owned by Princeville Corp., but a public right of way, with no private property signs posted.
The scene of the cops restraining Hale is extremely troubling. Fortunately, no taser was used. Note to self: find out if Kauai cops have tasers.
You might also want to check out some of the comments posted by Patrick Michaels on earlier KKCR posts, as he's provided some interesting information.
I’ll post part five of Lifting the Veil later today. Right now, I’ve got some work to do.
On my way to the beach yesterday afternoon I picked up an old uncle, hitchhiking, and we got to talking about the fine, sunny weather. “But don’t ever complain about the rain,” he said. “Rain is what keeps us alive. Always be thankful for it, and praise it.” Amen.
Last night, after listening to Willie Judah’s reggae show on KKCR, a couple of programmers came on and started praising the station, describing it as a gem, saying it does so much good for people.
That’s all true. It is an asset to the island, and a lot of folks, me included, do appreciate it and want to keep it alive. I’m sure those who work at the station and have shows take special pride and pleasure in it, and that’s to be expected — indeed, encouraged.
However, the inherent value of KKCR is not at the issue here. It’s about ways to make KKCR better, more inclusive, more reflective of and responsive to the broader community. In short, how can we open doors a little wider?
In response to a post on Disappeared News
about claims of racism at the station, blogger Doug White
posted this comment: “The latest Garden Island News story points out that there is presently no Native Hawaiian presence on the board, but the KKCR bylaws provide no method for dissidents to assume seats on the board except, according to the article, for applicants to win approval from the sitting board members. How likely is that? Well, we won't know until a dissident applies and is (or is not) seated, and remember, even if dissidents were to apply and be seated, it would take several years for the dissidents to become a majority on the board.”
So I did some checking around and found that Michael Locey, son of Auntie Angeline and part-Hawaiian, was an applicant in 2005 and completely rejected, even though he is very well known in the community and could have been an excellent connection with the Hawaiian community.
Musician Cindy Combs, who is also part Hawaiian was a Board member in the early 2000s but resigned. Tek Nickerson, Native American and very experienced in nonprofits, applied to the Board in 2006 and was not voted in.
Steve Thatcher, former chair of the Citizens’ Advisory Board, whom some might consider a dissident voice because he favors more community outreach and membership voting, applied in 2006 and was voted down. Steve did get elected in 2007 but received the one-year unexpired term of Robin Savage, rather than a three-year term.
It’s clear that one reason why the Board has been reluctant to allow station members to elect Board members is that they do not want dissidents of any ethnicity to serve. That's why even the Board's most recent action to allow the members to elect three Board members will be done on a trial basis only. If you want to know more, check out the article I wrote at Kauai People.
Amid talk of racism, I think it’s important to make the distinction between racism and racial prejudice. Katy Rose does a really good job of explaining the difference in an essay posted at Island Breath. It also provides background on what happened to prompt the racism charges against KKCR.
As she notes, and I agree, it’s important to look beyond individuals and at the institution. Still, individuals — whether it was staff members working autonomously or at the direction of the Board — did make the decision to lock the gates, a move that could bring down the station.
Ed Coll posted a well-done video, "KKCR Gated Community Radio," that he made of the Jan. 3 encounter with police on the road to the radio station that ended up with Hale Mawae on the ground in handcuffs. Coll notes: “It is in the old school cinéma vérité (direct cinema) tradition. Audio starts about 30 seconds in. Total time 8min 30 sec.”
The video does a good job of showing that the alleged threat to the station’s security was greatly exaggerated. It also raises questions about whether cops can legally stop someone from walking on Hanalei Plantation Road, which is owned by Princeville Corp., but a public right of way, with no private property signs posted.
The scene of the cops restraining Hale is extremely troubling. Fortunately, no taser was used. Note to self: find out if Kauai cops have tasers.
You might also want to check out some of the comments posted by Patrick Michaels on earlier KKCR posts, as he's provided some interesting information.
I’ll post part five of Lifting the Veil later today. Right now, I’ve got some work to do.
Sunday, January 6, 2008
Musings: Lifting the Veil: Part IV
The rain returned last night and departed before I rose, leaving muddy rivulets running along the road and all the vegetation drenched. The ironwood thicket produced its own after-shower, releasing drops with a loud plop on the glossy, flat leaves of shell ginger.
Ran into Andy and his two dogs, and he was excited over the headline in yesterday’s The Garden Island predicting Superferry service to Kauai was “likely on hold until ‘09.” Hawaii Superferry plans instead to offer a second voyage, in the afternoon, to Maui.
“As we have always stated, our business model is dependent on running two trips per day, and right now we’ve got to meet those needs,” The Garden Island quotes CEO John Garibaldi as saying.
Although the announcement was couched in terms of making service more convenient for commercial freight and passengers, questions remain about just how many people want to travel between Oahu and the Valley Island.
Yesterday’s voyage delivered “less than 25 cars and 2 motorcycles” to Maui, and just "35 cars and 1 large commercial vehicle" took the return trip to Oahu, according to counts provided by Brad Parsons.
Because the ferry arrived about 45 minutes early, Brad did not get to Kahului Harbor in time to count passengers, but said: “In most prior days the number of people has averaged 2 to 3 times the number of vehicles.” Now why would a company add a second run to the same island when the first run has such low rider ship?
While we're on the topic of unanswered questions, The Honolulu Advertiser today has a front page story on the old news (which I published in Honolulu Weekly back in October) that the state initially told HSF an Environmental Assessment would be needed, but then dropped that requirement.
The big question, which the Advertiser doesn’t answer, is why was that requirement dropped?
The Advertiser reports Superferry CEO John Garibaldi making his same, oft-repeated disingenuous claim that the company did not want to trigger an environmental review because it could take several months to a year or more to complete and could jeopardize the project's federal loan guarantee and private investments.
But as I reported in the Weekly, the feds already had determined when processing Superferry’s MARAD guaranteed loan application that such a review was needed under national environmental laws. The feds eased up only after the state gave Superferry the EA exemption.
So that leads us again to the question, why the big rush to get the boat in the water?
As I reported in the past three posts, the Navy is developing a new type of craft known as a Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) that is able to navigate both in the open sea and shallow near shore (littoral) waters, which makes it handy for fighting China, which military officials have determined is the current big threat to American interests.
From this process emerged the X-Craft, a prototype Littoral Surface Craft produced by San Diego-based Titan Corp. under a $59.9 million Navy contract. The experimental craft, whose design, size and operating capacity is akin to the Superferry’s, was pushed through the appropriations process by San Diego Rep. Duncan Hunter and endorsed by John Lehman, the principle investor in Hawaii Superferry.
The craft, christened Sea Fighter by Hunter’s wife, was launched in early February 2005. By July 6 of that year, according to Titan’s website the Sea Fighter “was formally accepted by the U.S. Navy after successfully completing the sea trials jointly required by the Navy and the American Bureau of Shipping (ABS).”
The website for Titan, which was purchased for $2.65 billion by L-3 Communications in 2005, goes on to state:
Sea Fighter's sea trials included, in part, extensive certification testing ranging from maneuvering, cruise performance, and propulsion trials -- where the ship achieved a continuous cruising speed in excess of 50 knots -- to vibration, sound, and stern ramp operation trials.
"We built Sea Fighter to commercial standards," said Gene Ray, Titan's president, chairman, and CEO. "These successful, independent certifications by the American Bureau of Shipping --one of the worlds largest ship classification societies administering rules for high-speed vessel design and construction -- underscore Sea Fighters efficient design and advanced hull geometry that allow it to travel with ease at speeds greater than 50 knots."
When operational with the U.S. Navy, this high-speed, experimental aluminum catamaran will be a prime, state-of-the art resource for testing a variety of technologies that will allow the Navy to operate more effectively in littoral, or near-shore, waters. The 262-foot long, 72-foot beam Sea Fighter will be used to evaluate the hydrodynamic performance, structural behavior, mission flexibility, and propulsion system efficiency of high-speed vessels, as well as serve as a test bed for developmental mission packages, according to Titan’s website.
The following year, Hunter added $25.7 million to the fiscal 2007 defense authorization bill to upgrade the Sea Fighter — over the objections of the Navy, according to a June 8, 2006 “Congress Daily” article published on GovernmentExecutive.com.
The article reports: "The [House Armed Services] committee believes that deployment of Sea Fighter can demonstrate and validate many of the Navy's operational concepts for littoral warfare," according to language in the Navy research and development section of the committee report, under "Items of Special Interest."
The article also reports: The catamaran, which is large enough to land two helicopters, does not have a place in the Navy's ambitious 313-ship plan, which the Congressional Budget Office already views as potentially unaffordable. And the vessel has spent two of the last four months dry-docked for major repairs to its propulsion and other systems.
"For a ship that's brand new, it has a lot of problems," said one Navy official, who added that the service plans to send the catamaran to Panama City, Fla., for testing at the Naval Surface Warfare Center, the article states.
The article also contained these intriguing little nuggets:
The Navy official said he fears that Hunter views Sea Fighter as a "suitable substitute" for LCS, which costs about $250 million a ship. General Dynamics and Lockheed Martin are competing for the LCS prime contract.
Regarding the two ship programs, [House Armed Services Projection Forces Subcommittee Chairman Roscoe] Bartlett, [R-Md.] stressed that the Sea Fighter would not replace -- or even reduce purchases of -- the LCS, the Navy's preferred coastal warfighter.
Rather, it would provide the Navy with a "bargain" ship that could "easily operate alongside the LCS and provide our fleet force structure with an increased complexity making our future . . . Navy less vulnerable to the enemy," he said.
Both Hunter and Bartlett would like to produce more Sea Fighters, but Hunter said further development and testing is needed to determine the exact numbers needed, the article states.
And on that note, I’ll close for today and continue the saga tomorrow.
Ran into Andy and his two dogs, and he was excited over the headline in yesterday’s The Garden Island predicting Superferry service to Kauai was “likely on hold until ‘09.” Hawaii Superferry plans instead to offer a second voyage, in the afternoon, to Maui.
“As we have always stated, our business model is dependent on running two trips per day, and right now we’ve got to meet those needs,” The Garden Island quotes CEO John Garibaldi as saying.
Although the announcement was couched in terms of making service more convenient for commercial freight and passengers, questions remain about just how many people want to travel between Oahu and the Valley Island.
Yesterday’s voyage delivered “less than 25 cars and 2 motorcycles” to Maui, and just "35 cars and 1 large commercial vehicle" took the return trip to Oahu, according to counts provided by Brad Parsons.
Because the ferry arrived about 45 minutes early, Brad did not get to Kahului Harbor in time to count passengers, but said: “In most prior days the number of people has averaged 2 to 3 times the number of vehicles.” Now why would a company add a second run to the same island when the first run has such low rider ship?
While we're on the topic of unanswered questions, The Honolulu Advertiser today has a front page story on the old news (which I published in Honolulu Weekly back in October) that the state initially told HSF an Environmental Assessment would be needed, but then dropped that requirement.
The big question, which the Advertiser doesn’t answer, is why was that requirement dropped?
The Advertiser reports Superferry CEO John Garibaldi making his same, oft-repeated disingenuous claim that the company did not want to trigger an environmental review because it could take several months to a year or more to complete and could jeopardize the project's federal loan guarantee and private investments.
But as I reported in the Weekly, the feds already had determined when processing Superferry’s MARAD guaranteed loan application that such a review was needed under national environmental laws. The feds eased up only after the state gave Superferry the EA exemption.
So that leads us again to the question, why the big rush to get the boat in the water?
As I reported in the past three posts, the Navy is developing a new type of craft known as a Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) that is able to navigate both in the open sea and shallow near shore (littoral) waters, which makes it handy for fighting China, which military officials have determined is the current big threat to American interests.
From this process emerged the X-Craft, a prototype Littoral Surface Craft produced by San Diego-based Titan Corp. under a $59.9 million Navy contract. The experimental craft, whose design, size and operating capacity is akin to the Superferry’s, was pushed through the appropriations process by San Diego Rep. Duncan Hunter and endorsed by John Lehman, the principle investor in Hawaii Superferry.
The craft, christened Sea Fighter by Hunter’s wife, was launched in early February 2005. By July 6 of that year, according to Titan’s website the Sea Fighter “was formally accepted by the U.S. Navy after successfully completing the sea trials jointly required by the Navy and the American Bureau of Shipping (ABS).”
The website for Titan, which was purchased for $2.65 billion by L-3 Communications in 2005, goes on to state:
Sea Fighter's sea trials included, in part, extensive certification testing ranging from maneuvering, cruise performance, and propulsion trials -- where the ship achieved a continuous cruising speed in excess of 50 knots -- to vibration, sound, and stern ramp operation trials.
"We built Sea Fighter to commercial standards," said Gene Ray, Titan's president, chairman, and CEO. "These successful, independent certifications by the American Bureau of Shipping --one of the worlds largest ship classification societies administering rules for high-speed vessel design and construction -- underscore Sea Fighters efficient design and advanced hull geometry that allow it to travel with ease at speeds greater than 50 knots."
When operational with the U.S. Navy, this high-speed, experimental aluminum catamaran will be a prime, state-of-the art resource for testing a variety of technologies that will allow the Navy to operate more effectively in littoral, or near-shore, waters. The 262-foot long, 72-foot beam Sea Fighter will be used to evaluate the hydrodynamic performance, structural behavior, mission flexibility, and propulsion system efficiency of high-speed vessels, as well as serve as a test bed for developmental mission packages, according to Titan’s website.
The following year, Hunter added $25.7 million to the fiscal 2007 defense authorization bill to upgrade the Sea Fighter — over the objections of the Navy, according to a June 8, 2006 “Congress Daily” article published on GovernmentExecutive.com.
The article reports: "The [House Armed Services] committee believes that deployment of Sea Fighter can demonstrate and validate many of the Navy's operational concepts for littoral warfare," according to language in the Navy research and development section of the committee report, under "Items of Special Interest."
The article also reports: The catamaran, which is large enough to land two helicopters, does not have a place in the Navy's ambitious 313-ship plan, which the Congressional Budget Office already views as potentially unaffordable. And the vessel has spent two of the last four months dry-docked for major repairs to its propulsion and other systems.
"For a ship that's brand new, it has a lot of problems," said one Navy official, who added that the service plans to send the catamaran to Panama City, Fla., for testing at the Naval Surface Warfare Center, the article states.
The article also contained these intriguing little nuggets:
The Navy official said he fears that Hunter views Sea Fighter as a "suitable substitute" for LCS, which costs about $250 million a ship. General Dynamics and Lockheed Martin are competing for the LCS prime contract.
Regarding the two ship programs, [House Armed Services Projection Forces Subcommittee Chairman Roscoe] Bartlett, [R-Md.] stressed that the Sea Fighter would not replace -- or even reduce purchases of -- the LCS, the Navy's preferred coastal warfighter.
Rather, it would provide the Navy with a "bargain" ship that could "easily operate alongside the LCS and provide our fleet force structure with an increased complexity making our future . . . Navy less vulnerable to the enemy," he said.
Both Hunter and Bartlett would like to produce more Sea Fighters, but Hunter said further development and testing is needed to determine the exact numbers needed, the article states.
And on that note, I’ll close for today and continue the saga tomorrow.
Saturday, January 5, 2008
KKCR Update: Complaint Filed with FCC
Today I received an email from Patrick Michaels, who wrote about the action he has taken following the recent spate of events at KKCR that saw three programmers being taken off the air and the gates to the station locked on at least four occasions.
This is what the email said, and all of the words that follow in this post are his:
For the five years I've been back and forth to Kauai, from NY, where I come from a long family line of broadcasting professionals, I've often wondered about the 'community standards' claim of KKCR. This last, arbitrary approach, foisted on the community by the largely white, organic, and inclusive folks, headed by folks like 'Ann of Avalon' [Ann West] etc, pushed a major button for me.
So, without further adieu, I simply exercised my citizen's and community members rights, and requested, of the five commissioners of the FCC, that an investigation be launched into the business practices, the management approaches, and the wholesale disregard for FCC rules, that KKCR represents.
Now, let's see how many folks stay on the air, when a simple matter like a time and station check gets missed, which I understand from observation and listening, is considered an infringement on FREE speech and expression, by most of the 'players' at KKCR's amateur, volunteer group.
I've been professionally and personally shunned by the core group, mostly due to, in my view, having crossed paths, unfavorably with Ms. Anne of Avalon, who's power behind the scenes, and on microphone, are typical of the 'non community' focus approach. In fact, that person, among others, has a lock on the pursestrings of KKCR, and the direction of programming, whether it's admitted or not.
Hope that KKCR has their license suspended, and a core group of professionals, can reinstate what was stolen, from the original group that formed that entity in 1994.
I've sent the same information to Dove and Ken at KKCR. I'm no secret to them, as I was among the community activists that turned them in for FCC violations, which prompted the on air folks to grumble about freedom of expression, and some of them to be 'bridled'. I'm no fan of the management or Lady Anne of Avalon, since it's a shame that one group can dictate what 'community standards' represent. One reason I'm sure that Larry [LaSota] didn't last as GM, is that the organic tribe diluted his intentions, step by step.
btw, I'm a long time broadcasting professional, going back to being on air at the ripe age of 11 in NY Metro area.
This is what the email said, and all of the words that follow in this post are his:
For the five years I've been back and forth to Kauai, from NY, where I come from a long family line of broadcasting professionals, I've often wondered about the 'community standards' claim of KKCR. This last, arbitrary approach, foisted on the community by the largely white, organic, and inclusive folks, headed by folks like 'Ann of Avalon' [Ann West] etc, pushed a major button for me.
So, without further adieu, I simply exercised my citizen's and community members rights, and requested, of the five commissioners of the FCC, that an investigation be launched into the business practices, the management approaches, and the wholesale disregard for FCC rules, that KKCR represents.
Now, let's see how many folks stay on the air, when a simple matter like a time and station check gets missed, which I understand from observation and listening, is considered an infringement on FREE speech and expression, by most of the 'players' at KKCR's amateur, volunteer group.
I've been professionally and personally shunned by the core group, mostly due to, in my view, having crossed paths, unfavorably with Ms. Anne of Avalon, who's power behind the scenes, and on microphone, are typical of the 'non community' focus approach. In fact, that person, among others, has a lock on the pursestrings of KKCR, and the direction of programming, whether it's admitted or not.
Hope that KKCR has their license suspended, and a core group of professionals, can reinstate what was stolen, from the original group that formed that entity in 1994.
I've sent the same information to Dove and Ken at KKCR. I'm no secret to them, as I was among the community activists that turned them in for FCC violations, which prompted the on air folks to grumble about freedom of expression, and some of them to be 'bridled'. I'm no fan of the management or Lady Anne of Avalon, since it's a shame that one group can dictate what 'community standards' represent. One reason I'm sure that Larry [LaSota] didn't last as GM, is that the organic tribe diluted his intentions, step by step.
btw, I'm a long time broadcasting professional, going back to being on air at the ripe age of 11 in NY Metro area.
Musings: KKCR Outed and Lifting the Veil: Part III
The sky was filled with color this morning, and one of them was blue, and for the first time in weeks the pavement wasn’t wet when Koko and I went walking. I love the rain, but it’s nice to let things dry out a bit, although for how long it's uncertain, as the clouds have reappeared.
Visited the Kauai Costco with a friend yesterday — my first time in that store — and the best part were the samples, as I was hungry when I went in. I can see why people shop there, because the prices are definitely lower. But I was appalled at the quantities of plastic packaging used to hold bulk items together, and couldn’t help but wonder how much electricity it’s sucking down to keep it so cold and bright.
The strife at KKCR that I’ve been writing about for weeks is finally being dragged into the cold, bright spotlight of commercial radio and print media. Jimmy Torio hosted disgruntled KKCR programmers on his KQNG radio show yesterday morning, and today The Garden Island picked up the story.
It’s good to see the issue getting broader coverage. However, I was surprised to read KKCR staff member Donna Lewis discussing as yet unproven details of programmer Ka`iulani Huff’s suspension — even as the station manager, who was on vacation while all the action was going down, is attempting to schedule a meeting with Ka`iulani to discuss the issue.
Donna also delivered a little slap to Ka`iu with her comment that the station is seeking a “responsible Hawaiian DJ” to host the “Songs of Sovereignty” show that Ka`iu founded. If volunteer programmers are required to act professionally, certainly paid staff should be held to the same standards. It doesn’t seem to me that Donna should be making digs at programmers or discussing personnel issues in emails and print, especially when they’re still unresolved.
I also found it ironic that Donna, who in locking the gate and calling police to keep out suspended programmers also prevented the general public from accessing its own community radio station, was quoted as saying: “We prefer the open-door policy and look forward to resolving the security issues so we can return to our normal routine of serving our amazing community.”
If the station management prefers the “open door policy,” it shouldn’t be locking gates, period. Because in reality, there are no “security issues” at the station, just the management’s fear.
Fear of America's newest "enemy," China, is pushing the Navy to develop a new type of vessel known as Littoral Combat Ships (LCS), as I reported in my first "Lifting the Veil" post.
As I noted in part two, the Sea Fighter, formerly known as the X-Craft, is part of that initiative, and it has been endorsed by both Hawaii Superferry investor John Lehman and Rep. Duncan Hunter of San Diego, the former Chairman and now Ranking Republican on the House Armed Services Committee.
Hunter's support is not surprising, given that San Diego-based Titan Corp. built the prototype catamaran warship under an exclusive $59.9 million contract from the Navy's Office of Naval Research, with 40 percent of the construction done in San Diego and the rest in Washington state. What’s more surprising is that the Navy never asked for, and didn’t want, such a vessel.
According to an article in the San Diego County newspaper North County Times, “Hunter said sacred cows in both Congress and the Navy had to be slaughtered to develop the Sea Fighter. By finding funds outside the normal defense appropriations process, and by ignoring special interests such as traditional ship builders and Navy officials who ‘want to keep building big slow ships,’ Hunter said he, [Rep. Darrell] Issa [R-Vista] and Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham, R-Escondido, helped military and private industry visionaries ‘conspire to beat the bureaucracy. This is the wave of the future.’"
What exactly is the Sea Fighter?
Specifically, it’s a boxy, 262-foot-long aluminum catamaran with a maximum speed of 50 knots, or about 57 miles per hour. It drafts just 11 feet of water and can be operated by a crew of 26 officers and sailors.
According to the website globalsecurity.org: "The structure of the vessel is all aluminum with propulsion by waterjets driven by gas turbines for high speed operation and diesel engines for lower speed loitering. Sea Fighter is powered by a combined diesel or gas turbine (CODOG) engine plant outfitted with two MTU 595 diesel engines and two General Electric LM2500 gas turbines. The diesels will primarily power the ship during long-range cruising speeds, while the gas turbines will enable the sea fighter to travel at least 50 knots in calm seas and more than 40 knots in sea state four."
“The vessel has been designed for simplicity of construction and operation,” the website states. “Sea Fighter is the first vessel that the Navy has designed specifically as a ‘sea frame,’ decoupling hull, mechanical and electrical (HM&E) systems from the mission packages and allowing for a true ‘plug and fight’ mission module capability. Access to the main payload deck is via a large lift down from the flight deck or over folding ramps at the stern.”
And just where does it fit into the military’s plans?
As globalsecurity.org notes: “The X-Craft was designed to demonstrate to the US and other navies the versatility of a very high speed, high payload capability vessel which can cross oceans quickly, and operate in shallow coastal waters on missions which include mine counter measures and antisubmarine warfare.”
“Sea Fighter will conduct exercises in support of risk reduction for the Navy’s Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) as an ‘LCS surrogate.’ Following the exercises, Sea Fighter may be upgraded with weapons and additional electronic equipment. Ultimately, Sea Fighter may be commissioned as an operational Navy ship,” the website states.
According to the North County Times article: “The Sea Fighter's deck provides a platform for two helicopters, such as the Army's Black Hawk or the Navy's Sea Hawk. It also has a launch pad for an unmanned aerial vehicle and space below decks for launching and recovering the inflatable combat boats used by special operations forces such as the Navy's SEALs.”
When the Sea Fighter was launched in the summer of 2005, the North County Times reported that “Rear Admiral Jay Cohen, who heads the Office of Naval Research, said the Navy and Coast Guard team assigned to the ship will ‘run the pants off it’ to both weed out problems and find ways to make improvements to apply to the Navy's next class of coastal combat ships.”
In tomorrow’s post, I’ll delve into what happened to the Sea Fighter, and where it now stands.
Visited the Kauai Costco with a friend yesterday — my first time in that store — and the best part were the samples, as I was hungry when I went in. I can see why people shop there, because the prices are definitely lower. But I was appalled at the quantities of plastic packaging used to hold bulk items together, and couldn’t help but wonder how much electricity it’s sucking down to keep it so cold and bright.
The strife at KKCR that I’ve been writing about for weeks is finally being dragged into the cold, bright spotlight of commercial radio and print media. Jimmy Torio hosted disgruntled KKCR programmers on his KQNG radio show yesterday morning, and today The Garden Island picked up the story.
It’s good to see the issue getting broader coverage. However, I was surprised to read KKCR staff member Donna Lewis discussing as yet unproven details of programmer Ka`iulani Huff’s suspension — even as the station manager, who was on vacation while all the action was going down, is attempting to schedule a meeting with Ka`iulani to discuss the issue.
Donna also delivered a little slap to Ka`iu with her comment that the station is seeking a “responsible Hawaiian DJ” to host the “Songs of Sovereignty” show that Ka`iu founded. If volunteer programmers are required to act professionally, certainly paid staff should be held to the same standards. It doesn’t seem to me that Donna should be making digs at programmers or discussing personnel issues in emails and print, especially when they’re still unresolved.
I also found it ironic that Donna, who in locking the gate and calling police to keep out suspended programmers also prevented the general public from accessing its own community radio station, was quoted as saying: “We prefer the open-door policy and look forward to resolving the security issues so we can return to our normal routine of serving our amazing community.”
If the station management prefers the “open door policy,” it shouldn’t be locking gates, period. Because in reality, there are no “security issues” at the station, just the management’s fear.
Fear of America's newest "enemy," China, is pushing the Navy to develop a new type of vessel known as Littoral Combat Ships (LCS), as I reported in my first "Lifting the Veil" post.
As I noted in part two, the Sea Fighter, formerly known as the X-Craft, is part of that initiative, and it has been endorsed by both Hawaii Superferry investor John Lehman and Rep. Duncan Hunter of San Diego, the former Chairman and now Ranking Republican on the House Armed Services Committee.
Hunter's support is not surprising, given that San Diego-based Titan Corp. built the prototype catamaran warship under an exclusive $59.9 million contract from the Navy's Office of Naval Research, with 40 percent of the construction done in San Diego and the rest in Washington state. What’s more surprising is that the Navy never asked for, and didn’t want, such a vessel.
According to an article in the San Diego County newspaper North County Times, “Hunter said sacred cows in both Congress and the Navy had to be slaughtered to develop the Sea Fighter. By finding funds outside the normal defense appropriations process, and by ignoring special interests such as traditional ship builders and Navy officials who ‘want to keep building big slow ships,’ Hunter said he, [Rep. Darrell] Issa [R-Vista] and Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham, R-Escondido, helped military and private industry visionaries ‘conspire to beat the bureaucracy. This is the wave of the future.’"
What exactly is the Sea Fighter?
Specifically, it’s a boxy, 262-foot-long aluminum catamaran with a maximum speed of 50 knots, or about 57 miles per hour. It drafts just 11 feet of water and can be operated by a crew of 26 officers and sailors.
According to the website globalsecurity.org: "The structure of the vessel is all aluminum with propulsion by waterjets driven by gas turbines for high speed operation and diesel engines for lower speed loitering. Sea Fighter is powered by a combined diesel or gas turbine (CODOG) engine plant outfitted with two MTU 595 diesel engines and two General Electric LM2500 gas turbines. The diesels will primarily power the ship during long-range cruising speeds, while the gas turbines will enable the sea fighter to travel at least 50 knots in calm seas and more than 40 knots in sea state four."
“The vessel has been designed for simplicity of construction and operation,” the website states. “Sea Fighter is the first vessel that the Navy has designed specifically as a ‘sea frame,’ decoupling hull, mechanical and electrical (HM&E) systems from the mission packages and allowing for a true ‘plug and fight’ mission module capability. Access to the main payload deck is via a large lift down from the flight deck or over folding ramps at the stern.”
And just where does it fit into the military’s plans?
As globalsecurity.org notes: “The X-Craft was designed to demonstrate to the US and other navies the versatility of a very high speed, high payload capability vessel which can cross oceans quickly, and operate in shallow coastal waters on missions which include mine counter measures and antisubmarine warfare.”
“Sea Fighter will conduct exercises in support of risk reduction for the Navy’s Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) as an ‘LCS surrogate.’ Following the exercises, Sea Fighter may be upgraded with weapons and additional electronic equipment. Ultimately, Sea Fighter may be commissioned as an operational Navy ship,” the website states.
According to the North County Times article: “The Sea Fighter's deck provides a platform for two helicopters, such as the Army's Black Hawk or the Navy's Sea Hawk. It also has a launch pad for an unmanned aerial vehicle and space below decks for launching and recovering the inflatable combat boats used by special operations forces such as the Navy's SEALs.”
When the Sea Fighter was launched in the summer of 2005, the North County Times reported that “Rear Admiral Jay Cohen, who heads the Office of Naval Research, said the Navy and Coast Guard team assigned to the ship will ‘run the pants off it’ to both weed out problems and find ways to make improvements to apply to the Navy's next class of coastal combat ships.”
In tomorrow’s post, I’ll delve into what happened to the Sea Fighter, and where it now stands.
Friday, January 4, 2008
Musings: KKCR Snaps and Lifting the Veil: Part II
Felt the ocean calling me this morning, so I went, and got there while the moon, nearing new, was still silver, and Venus a sparkling gem. The sun struggled to rise, turning the inside of gray clouds first pink, then gold, before it gave up entirely and everything — sky, sea, clouds — went back to gray, with white shafts descending into water warmer than the air.
I always enjoy watching people interact with Koko, who exudes energetic joy. When she approaches them unbidden, or they successfully coax her to them, they invariably smile with delight and satisfaction: “She likes me!” It’s a different story with dogs.
“They’re friendly,” people always say as their pets mug Koko. Yeah, maybe, but when Koko’s got her tail between her legs or is being chased by a big mutt, she’s not having fun. My favorite was the woman who called out, as her four Dobermans swarmed little Koko, “now play nice!”
That same admonition certainly applied at KKCR yesterday, when five police officers wrestled Hale Mawae to the ground, in the mud, as he repeatedly yelled: “I’m not resisting!” Hale, who suffered scratches and a sprained wrist in the encounter, was arrested for trespassing, resisting arrest and obstructing government operations while walking down Hanalei Plantation Road — armed with a video camera — toward the gate that leads to KKCR.
Hale was with programmers Katy Rose and Jimmy Trujillo and two others; all were prevented by Princeville Security and Kauai police from entering the gate, which was once again locked, even though it was regular business hours.
A press release from Kauai County offers this account, “According to police, Mawae was among a group of people who had congregated outside radio station KKCR at around 4 pm yesterday reportedly in protest of the termination of two KKCR talk show hosts. A manager from KKCR contacted police and asked for assistance.”
The release states that Hale returned to the gate after police had directed the group to move to a public right of way; Katy says Hale went back to look for Jimmy, who had stayed to negotiate with police.
Meanwhile, another free for all was occurring on the air, when the “Out of the Box” program — whose regular hosts, Jimmy and Katy, were pre-empted pending a sit down with station manager Gwen Palagi (see the Rustling Rats post for more details) — aired with two stand-in programmers, Bill Rash and Dave Gerow.
The upheaval at the station was the main topic of discussion, but things went downhill fast after Andy Parx called in and voiced his opinion. That prompted another caller — a station underwriter — to denigrate Andy on-air and say he’d like three minutes with Andy in any parking lot on Kauai.
Andy called again, complaining about the caller’s threat, and host Bill Rash got into an altercation with him that ended with Bill essentially challenging Andy to a fight at the station gate. That gate sure is seeing a lot of action. Earlier in the show, Dave had said a mob was trying to swarm it to force their way on-air.
Good grief. Now instead of relying on fistfights and insults to resolve this situation, let’s take a more civilized approach, like dropping bombs and mounting incursions from a littoral combat ship (LCS) stationed offshore.
That is, as we saw in yesterday’s post, part of the Navy’s evolving strategy for dealing with new “threats,” like China.
On Sept. 13, 2007, The Washington Post reported: “The littoral combat ship program is a major element of the Navy's strategy to expand its fleet to 313 ships from about 275. General Dynamics of Falls Church and Lockheed Martin of Bethesda had had each won contracts to build two prototype littoral combat ships, but the Navy in April [2007] canceled one prototype from Lockheed. Under the legislation [approved by the Senate Appropriations Committee], General Dynamics and Lockheed Martin would still complete one prototype ship each, at a combined cost of more than $600 million.”
The article continues: “The littoral combat ship program should ultimately yield 55 small, fast-moving craft that would operate close to shore, hunting submarines and destroying underwater mines.”
It goes on to state: “The cancellation of the ship was part of a $459 billion defense appropriations measure that funds the Pentagon through 2008 -- not including the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.
"’The Navy's littoral combat ship has suffered from significant cost increases and has had to be restructured by the Secretary’" of the Navy, said Sen. Daniel K. Inouye (D-Hawaii), chairman of the Appropriations defense subcommittee, in explaining the decision.
“The Navy originally asked for six prototype combat ships, but it had not yet awarded contracts to build the last two," the article continues. "The Navy planned to select the best design and hold a new competition to decide who would build the rest of the fleet.
“The program has been plagued by frequent design changes, cost increases of more than 50 percent, delays and other issues," the article states. "Given those problems, lawmakers said it made sense for just one of each ship to be built first. The committee said it would result in a reduction of $911 million in spending on the program.
“Capt. John T. Schofield, a Navy spokesman, said that the littoral combat ship program is ‘needed to fill critical, urgent warfighting gaps’ and that the Navy stands by its original request.”
On Oct. 10, 2007, The Washington Post reported that littoral combat ships, “which will have the rare ability to operate close to shore but also on the open water, are a central part of the Navy's goal of expanding its fleet to 313 ships from 275. And key lawmakers and several outside experts agree the program is crucial.”
One of those key lawmakers is Rep. Duncan Hunter of San Diego, the former Chairman and now Ranking Republican on the House Armed Services Committee. He has a particular affinity for the Titan Sea Fighter prototype — formerly known as the X-Craft — a high speed, shallow draft vessel for littoral warfare. It was pictured in yesterday’s post.
In his announcement of FY 2008 Funding Initiatives, Hunter seeks $22 million “to add offensive and defensive armament, improve ship survivability systems, and complete command and control. Deployment of the Sea Fighter can demonstrate and validate many of the Navy’s operational concepts for littoral warfare, and more specifically reduce risk in the Littoral Combat Ship program.”
His list of 30 funding initiatives contains just one endorsement, and that is for the Sea Fighter. The endorsement states: “This kind of innovative ship, built with commercial off the shelf technology is the future of an affordable surface Navy.” And it was made by former Secretary of the Navy John Lehman, whose firm, as was noted in yesterday’s post, is the major investor in Hawaii Superferry.
Tomorrow, I’ll take a look at the Sea Fighter, and how it fits into the Navy’s LCS program.
I always enjoy watching people interact with Koko, who exudes energetic joy. When she approaches them unbidden, or they successfully coax her to them, they invariably smile with delight and satisfaction: “She likes me!” It’s a different story with dogs.
“They’re friendly,” people always say as their pets mug Koko. Yeah, maybe, but when Koko’s got her tail between her legs or is being chased by a big mutt, she’s not having fun. My favorite was the woman who called out, as her four Dobermans swarmed little Koko, “now play nice!”
That same admonition certainly applied at KKCR yesterday, when five police officers wrestled Hale Mawae to the ground, in the mud, as he repeatedly yelled: “I’m not resisting!” Hale, who suffered scratches and a sprained wrist in the encounter, was arrested for trespassing, resisting arrest and obstructing government operations while walking down Hanalei Plantation Road — armed with a video camera — toward the gate that leads to KKCR.
Hale was with programmers Katy Rose and Jimmy Trujillo and two others; all were prevented by Princeville Security and Kauai police from entering the gate, which was once again locked, even though it was regular business hours.
A press release from Kauai County offers this account, “According to police, Mawae was among a group of people who had congregated outside radio station KKCR at around 4 pm yesterday reportedly in protest of the termination of two KKCR talk show hosts. A manager from KKCR contacted police and asked for assistance.”
The release states that Hale returned to the gate after police had directed the group to move to a public right of way; Katy says Hale went back to look for Jimmy, who had stayed to negotiate with police.
Meanwhile, another free for all was occurring on the air, when the “Out of the Box” program — whose regular hosts, Jimmy and Katy, were pre-empted pending a sit down with station manager Gwen Palagi (see the Rustling Rats post for more details) — aired with two stand-in programmers, Bill Rash and Dave Gerow.
The upheaval at the station was the main topic of discussion, but things went downhill fast after Andy Parx called in and voiced his opinion. That prompted another caller — a station underwriter — to denigrate Andy on-air and say he’d like three minutes with Andy in any parking lot on Kauai.
Andy called again, complaining about the caller’s threat, and host Bill Rash got into an altercation with him that ended with Bill essentially challenging Andy to a fight at the station gate. That gate sure is seeing a lot of action. Earlier in the show, Dave had said a mob was trying to swarm it to force their way on-air.
Good grief. Now instead of relying on fistfights and insults to resolve this situation, let’s take a more civilized approach, like dropping bombs and mounting incursions from a littoral combat ship (LCS) stationed offshore.
That is, as we saw in yesterday’s post, part of the Navy’s evolving strategy for dealing with new “threats,” like China.
On Sept. 13, 2007, The Washington Post reported: “The littoral combat ship program is a major element of the Navy's strategy to expand its fleet to 313 ships from about 275. General Dynamics of Falls Church and Lockheed Martin of Bethesda had had each won contracts to build two prototype littoral combat ships, but the Navy in April [2007] canceled one prototype from Lockheed. Under the legislation [approved by the Senate Appropriations Committee], General Dynamics and Lockheed Martin would still complete one prototype ship each, at a combined cost of more than $600 million.”
The article continues: “The littoral combat ship program should ultimately yield 55 small, fast-moving craft that would operate close to shore, hunting submarines and destroying underwater mines.”
It goes on to state: “The cancellation of the ship was part of a $459 billion defense appropriations measure that funds the Pentagon through 2008 -- not including the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.
"’The Navy's littoral combat ship has suffered from significant cost increases and has had to be restructured by the Secretary’" of the Navy, said Sen. Daniel K. Inouye (D-Hawaii), chairman of the Appropriations defense subcommittee, in explaining the decision.
“The Navy originally asked for six prototype combat ships, but it had not yet awarded contracts to build the last two," the article continues. "The Navy planned to select the best design and hold a new competition to decide who would build the rest of the fleet.
“The program has been plagued by frequent design changes, cost increases of more than 50 percent, delays and other issues," the article states. "Given those problems, lawmakers said it made sense for just one of each ship to be built first. The committee said it would result in a reduction of $911 million in spending on the program.
“Capt. John T. Schofield, a Navy spokesman, said that the littoral combat ship program is ‘needed to fill critical, urgent warfighting gaps’ and that the Navy stands by its original request.”
On Oct. 10, 2007, The Washington Post reported that littoral combat ships, “which will have the rare ability to operate close to shore but also on the open water, are a central part of the Navy's goal of expanding its fleet to 313 ships from 275. And key lawmakers and several outside experts agree the program is crucial.”
One of those key lawmakers is Rep. Duncan Hunter of San Diego, the former Chairman and now Ranking Republican on the House Armed Services Committee. He has a particular affinity for the Titan Sea Fighter prototype — formerly known as the X-Craft — a high speed, shallow draft vessel for littoral warfare. It was pictured in yesterday’s post.
In his announcement of FY 2008 Funding Initiatives, Hunter seeks $22 million “to add offensive and defensive armament, improve ship survivability systems, and complete command and control. Deployment of the Sea Fighter can demonstrate and validate many of the Navy’s operational concepts for littoral warfare, and more specifically reduce risk in the Littoral Combat Ship program.”
His list of 30 funding initiatives contains just one endorsement, and that is for the Sea Fighter. The endorsement states: “This kind of innovative ship, built with commercial off the shelf technology is the future of an affordable surface Navy.” And it was made by former Secretary of the Navy John Lehman, whose firm, as was noted in yesterday’s post, is the major investor in Hawaii Superferry.
Tomorrow, I’ll take a look at the Sea Fighter, and how it fits into the Navy’s LCS program.
Thursday, January 3, 2008
Musings: Lifting the Veil
Koko was literally hopping when we set out this morning, because the chickens were up and about, and that urge to chase and kill always gets her excited. I wasn’t hopping, or experiencing any bloodlust, but I was excited, too, just from being out in the world.
A thin, white moon could be seen overhead, waterfalls coursed down mountains draped in pink mist and the sun was struggling valiantly to break free of the clouds.
It lost that battle, and a gentle shower accompanied us for the final half-mile, the kind of light rain that falls at a slant, each drop visible. I got to thinking about how the sun is such a strong, burning force, yet so often it’s hidden by flimsy, unsubstantial clouds.
And that got me thinking about how the deeper meaning, the fireball, of so many things remains hidden behind a veil that effectively obscures, but does not obliterate.
Such is the case with Hawaii Superferry. The veil, in this case, is the rhetoric that accompanied its arrival: all the talk about uniting the islands, providing an alternative form of transportation, helping farmers get their produce to market, bringing `ohana together.
But I felt the fireball, the true purpose, behind the ferry remained hidden.
Why, I so often wondered, had it come to Hawaii? And why did it stay, through lawsuits and protests, when its own principles admitted it could make money elsewhere?
Why was J.F. Lehman & Co., the private equity firm of a man who was formerly Secretary of the Navy and a member of the 9/11 Commission, a firm that invests almost solely in defense related industries, putting $58 million into a passenger ferry service?
Why was Gov. Linda Lingle expending such tremendous political capital to push the ferry forward without an environmental review? Why was she, a Republican, able to get the Democrat-controlled Legislature to do her bidding?
Why the big rush to get the ferry operating, even though its start date coincided with the season of rough waters that prompted widespread seasickness among its passengers and numerous days of cancelled service?
And how in the world was it going to make any money with such low passenger counts, no service to Kauai and fuel prices that just keep edging upwards?
I heard often that its true purpose was military in nature, that it was intended to transport the Styrker brigade between Oahu and the Big Island. While I didn’t doubt that explanation, it didn’t fully answer all my questions. If that was the case, why didn’t it start with service to the Big Island? And would the Strykers really be moving often enough to warrant such a service?
Then one day I got a phone call from a man who urged me to read a column by Bill Gertz published Dec. 28, 2007 in The Washington Times. Subtitled “Notes from the Pentagon,” it included this account:
Navy v. China The chief of naval operations told Congress yesterday that the U.S. Navy is building up its forces to be ready to challenge a future military threat from China.
Adm. Gary Roughead was asked by Rep. Duncan Hunter, California Republican, during a House Armed Services Committee hearing what steps were being taken by the Navy to address China's large-scale naval buildup.
"We look at the capabilities that navies have that are evolving, China being one of them," Adm. Roughead said. "And that has driven our advancements in certain capabilities, whether it be in anti-submarine warfare, ballistic missile defense, the command-and-control capabilities that we need on our ships as we operate globally as a global Navy."
Asked whether China's military buildup has prompted planning for more submarines, more missiles and more aircraft, Adm. Roughead said, "yes, sir."
The four-star admiral said one example is the Navy's Littoral Combat Ship that is made for fighting near coasts but also is "capable of running and providing enhanced [anti-submarine warfare] capability to our more traditional battle formations, our expeditionary strike groups and carrier strike groups."
The new ship is "a function of the need that we see for anti-submarine warfare, mine warfare and anti-surface warfare capability in areas where we see the threat evolving," he said, "to include China."
Hmmm, I thought, this is very interesting, so I began checking into the Navy's experimental x-hull craft, as the caller had suggested, saying its design and aluminum composition was “eerily similar” to the Superferry’s.
He was right, as you can see for yourself:
And so began many hours of investigation, the fruits of which I will be revealing in subsequent posts aimed at lifting the veil and exposing the multi-billion-dollar fireball beneath.
A thin, white moon could be seen overhead, waterfalls coursed down mountains draped in pink mist and the sun was struggling valiantly to break free of the clouds.
It lost that battle, and a gentle shower accompanied us for the final half-mile, the kind of light rain that falls at a slant, each drop visible. I got to thinking about how the sun is such a strong, burning force, yet so often it’s hidden by flimsy, unsubstantial clouds.
And that got me thinking about how the deeper meaning, the fireball, of so many things remains hidden behind a veil that effectively obscures, but does not obliterate.
Such is the case with Hawaii Superferry. The veil, in this case, is the rhetoric that accompanied its arrival: all the talk about uniting the islands, providing an alternative form of transportation, helping farmers get their produce to market, bringing `ohana together.
But I felt the fireball, the true purpose, behind the ferry remained hidden.
Why, I so often wondered, had it come to Hawaii? And why did it stay, through lawsuits and protests, when its own principles admitted it could make money elsewhere?
Why was J.F. Lehman & Co., the private equity firm of a man who was formerly Secretary of the Navy and a member of the 9/11 Commission, a firm that invests almost solely in defense related industries, putting $58 million into a passenger ferry service?
Why was Gov. Linda Lingle expending such tremendous political capital to push the ferry forward without an environmental review? Why was she, a Republican, able to get the Democrat-controlled Legislature to do her bidding?
Why the big rush to get the ferry operating, even though its start date coincided with the season of rough waters that prompted widespread seasickness among its passengers and numerous days of cancelled service?
And how in the world was it going to make any money with such low passenger counts, no service to Kauai and fuel prices that just keep edging upwards?
I heard often that its true purpose was military in nature, that it was intended to transport the Styrker brigade between Oahu and the Big Island. While I didn’t doubt that explanation, it didn’t fully answer all my questions. If that was the case, why didn’t it start with service to the Big Island? And would the Strykers really be moving often enough to warrant such a service?
Then one day I got a phone call from a man who urged me to read a column by Bill Gertz published Dec. 28, 2007 in The Washington Times. Subtitled “Notes from the Pentagon,” it included this account:
Navy v. China The chief of naval operations told Congress yesterday that the U.S. Navy is building up its forces to be ready to challenge a future military threat from China.
Adm. Gary Roughead was asked by Rep. Duncan Hunter, California Republican, during a House Armed Services Committee hearing what steps were being taken by the Navy to address China's large-scale naval buildup.
"We look at the capabilities that navies have that are evolving, China being one of them," Adm. Roughead said. "And that has driven our advancements in certain capabilities, whether it be in anti-submarine warfare, ballistic missile defense, the command-and-control capabilities that we need on our ships as we operate globally as a global Navy."
Asked whether China's military buildup has prompted planning for more submarines, more missiles and more aircraft, Adm. Roughead said, "yes, sir."
The four-star admiral said one example is the Navy's Littoral Combat Ship that is made for fighting near coasts but also is "capable of running and providing enhanced [anti-submarine warfare] capability to our more traditional battle formations, our expeditionary strike groups and carrier strike groups."
The new ship is "a function of the need that we see for anti-submarine warfare, mine warfare and anti-surface warfare capability in areas where we see the threat evolving," he said, "to include China."
Hmmm, I thought, this is very interesting, so I began checking into the Navy's experimental x-hull craft, as the caller had suggested, saying its design and aluminum composition was “eerily similar” to the Superferry’s.
He was right, as you can see for yourself:
And so began many hours of investigation, the fruits of which I will be revealing in subsequent posts aimed at lifting the veil and exposing the multi-billion-dollar fireball beneath.
Wednesday, January 2, 2008
Musings: Rustling Rats
The sky when we set out this morning reflected my own state of mind: gray, but some light around the edges. The sides of the street were soggy, but Koko and I didn’t have to walk there often because traffic was sparse.
By the time we headed home, the sky was slightly brighter and so was my mood. Perhaps I’d just been picking up on the collective consciousness in Hawaii, where Warriors mania turned into misery with their resounding defeat in the Sugar Bowl.
Got in the house and my pre-dawn suspicions were confirmed: there’s a rat, likely several, in the wall between the kitchen and the bathroom. Rodents make a racket, and I could hear them tumbling, even squeaking, as they raced up and down the interior walls. Yuck.
With all this wet weather, and my proximity to a heavy vegetated valley, I’m not surprised, but neither am I pleased. The next step is death, by any available means (except chocolate). I pounded on the wall to let them know I was home, and Koko started whining and sniffing, on hyper alert.
I smell a rat with the news that KKCR has “pre-empted” — to use the words of station staffer Donna Lewis — the show hosted on alternate Thursday afternoons by Katy Rose and Jimmy Trujillo.
“There are several issues regarding your 12-20 broadcast we'd like to discuss with you upon return of the General Manager,” Lewis wrote in an email to the two.
Aside from her use of the word aloha to open and close the message — I mean, how much aloha are you feeling when you’re canceling someone's show and stifling their freedom of speech? — I find it odd that the email was sent out yesterday, a full 11 days after the show.
If station staff had problems with the show, which focused on the termination/suspension (it’s still unclear which it is) of "Songs of Sovereignty" host Ka`iulani Huff, why didn’t they say something sooner? They certainly were aware of it, as staff member Dawn Jewell came into the studio and demanded that she be allowed to read on air a statement from the station management.
Perhaps the pre-emption stems not so much from the show, but from what happened after the show: Katy (I’m not sure about Jimmy) went to the station on the following two Mondays to support the reinstatement of “Songs of Sovereignty,” only to find the place locked up tight.
Or perhaps the station’s staff is afraid of what might happen on tomorrow’s show; you know, that people might actually talk about the issues related to the station itself.
Either way, the pre-emption is a major power play, a clear reminder, to use the words of a CS&N song (I don’t think Neil Young was with them yet): “Step outta line, the man come, and take you away.” Or at least cut off your microphone.
There’s a disclaimer that’s played on the station that goes something like this: the views expressed are those of the speaker and do not necessarily reflect those of the station’s management, board or underwriters.
Perhaps, in the interest of honesty, it should be changed to: the views expressed must reflect those of the station’s management. It’s unclear what the board and underwriters think about the little power plays that are going on. Do they know or do they care? (Ooops, now we’re moving into KONG lingo.)
Hale Mawae, who was on both of the “controversial” shows in question, goes into more depth about all this on on his own blog.
Well, the sky is getting darker, the room is getting colder and the hour of my deadline is getting nearer, so I’d better wrap this up and get to work. It seems like a good time to pull out this quote:
“The most revolutionary act one can commit in our world is to be happy." ~ Patch Adams
Hey, if you throw in a “don’t worry,” you might even have a hit song.
And if you want to get really perky, you can check out this NPR piece on conservation in Hawaii — always a cheery topic.
By the time we headed home, the sky was slightly brighter and so was my mood. Perhaps I’d just been picking up on the collective consciousness in Hawaii, where Warriors mania turned into misery with their resounding defeat in the Sugar Bowl.
Got in the house and my pre-dawn suspicions were confirmed: there’s a rat, likely several, in the wall between the kitchen and the bathroom. Rodents make a racket, and I could hear them tumbling, even squeaking, as they raced up and down the interior walls. Yuck.
With all this wet weather, and my proximity to a heavy vegetated valley, I’m not surprised, but neither am I pleased. The next step is death, by any available means (except chocolate). I pounded on the wall to let them know I was home, and Koko started whining and sniffing, on hyper alert.
I smell a rat with the news that KKCR has “pre-empted” — to use the words of station staffer Donna Lewis — the show hosted on alternate Thursday afternoons by Katy Rose and Jimmy Trujillo.
“There are several issues regarding your 12-20 broadcast we'd like to discuss with you upon return of the General Manager,” Lewis wrote in an email to the two.
Aside from her use of the word aloha to open and close the message — I mean, how much aloha are you feeling when you’re canceling someone's show and stifling their freedom of speech? — I find it odd that the email was sent out yesterday, a full 11 days after the show.
If station staff had problems with the show, which focused on the termination/suspension (it’s still unclear which it is) of "Songs of Sovereignty" host Ka`iulani Huff, why didn’t they say something sooner? They certainly were aware of it, as staff member Dawn Jewell came into the studio and demanded that she be allowed to read on air a statement from the station management.
Perhaps the pre-emption stems not so much from the show, but from what happened after the show: Katy (I’m not sure about Jimmy) went to the station on the following two Mondays to support the reinstatement of “Songs of Sovereignty,” only to find the place locked up tight.
Or perhaps the station’s staff is afraid of what might happen on tomorrow’s show; you know, that people might actually talk about the issues related to the station itself.
Either way, the pre-emption is a major power play, a clear reminder, to use the words of a CS&N song (I don’t think Neil Young was with them yet): “Step outta line, the man come, and take you away.” Or at least cut off your microphone.
There’s a disclaimer that’s played on the station that goes something like this: the views expressed are those of the speaker and do not necessarily reflect those of the station’s management, board or underwriters.
Perhaps, in the interest of honesty, it should be changed to: the views expressed must reflect those of the station’s management. It’s unclear what the board and underwriters think about the little power plays that are going on. Do they know or do they care? (Ooops, now we’re moving into KONG lingo.)
Hale Mawae, who was on both of the “controversial” shows in question, goes into more depth about all this on on his own blog.
Well, the sky is getting darker, the room is getting colder and the hour of my deadline is getting nearer, so I’d better wrap this up and get to work. It seems like a good time to pull out this quote:
“The most revolutionary act one can commit in our world is to be happy." ~ Patch Adams
Hey, if you throw in a “don’t worry,” you might even have a hit song.
And if you want to get really perky, you can check out this NPR piece on conservation in Hawaii — always a cheery topic.
Tuesday, January 1, 2008
Musings: In With a Bang
New Year’s came in with a snap, crackle, sizzle and pop in my neighborhood, with several hours of firecrackers leading up to the big show at midnight. And what a show it was! Some folks living about a quarter-mile down the street had a huge party, with an aerial show that lasted 20 minutes or so, followed by a good five minutes of solid firecrackers.
The rain, which had been intermittent through the evening, stopped just before midnight and my friend and I went out in the road to watch the display. As we were ooohing and ahhhing at the overhead show, my neighbors on the other side were setting off rockets and ‘crackers, while the rhythmic boom of the homemade cannons drifted up from the valley.
Koko sat calmly at the end of her leash and took it all in. Rustle a newspaper and she runs, smack a fly and she’s outta there, but thunder and firecrackers don’t faze her a bit. It makes me wonder about her life before I met her.
Before the fireworks went off I was watching Cate Blanchett in “Elizabeth,” so the battle scenes between Britain and the Spanish armada were a good lead up to watching people spend serious money to blow stuff up.
One good thing: my friend said a lot of the new fireworks fully disintegrate as they explode, so there isn’t all that rubbish left to clean up.
While last night’s show was the best aerial display I’d seen in many, many years, nothing has ever topped the New Year’s Eve I spent at Hugh Clark’s home on the Big Island. He was gone to visit his family, and I was staying at his house while filling in for him at the Advertiser and watching his dog.
I was talking to my sister on the phone when the fireworks started, and the roar was so deafening, we had to hang up because we couldn’t be heard. I went outside and the sky was ablaze with color, the air thick with smoke.
I was all alone, and I didn’t mind a bit, because I was tuned in to the exuberant energy all around me. It went on for a long time, too.
Last night, the excitement was again palpable, and the chilly air was highly charged, and the clouds parted and the stars sparkled overhead. And then the din slowly died, the clouds moved in, the rain resumed and 2008 had begun.
Wishing us all peace and love in the New Year.
The rain, which had been intermittent through the evening, stopped just before midnight and my friend and I went out in the road to watch the display. As we were ooohing and ahhhing at the overhead show, my neighbors on the other side were setting off rockets and ‘crackers, while the rhythmic boom of the homemade cannons drifted up from the valley.
Koko sat calmly at the end of her leash and took it all in. Rustle a newspaper and she runs, smack a fly and she’s outta there, but thunder and firecrackers don’t faze her a bit. It makes me wonder about her life before I met her.
Before the fireworks went off I was watching Cate Blanchett in “Elizabeth,” so the battle scenes between Britain and the Spanish armada were a good lead up to watching people spend serious money to blow stuff up.
One good thing: my friend said a lot of the new fireworks fully disintegrate as they explode, so there isn’t all that rubbish left to clean up.
While last night’s show was the best aerial display I’d seen in many, many years, nothing has ever topped the New Year’s Eve I spent at Hugh Clark’s home on the Big Island. He was gone to visit his family, and I was staying at his house while filling in for him at the Advertiser and watching his dog.
I was talking to my sister on the phone when the fireworks started, and the roar was so deafening, we had to hang up because we couldn’t be heard. I went outside and the sky was ablaze with color, the air thick with smoke.
I was all alone, and I didn’t mind a bit, because I was tuned in to the exuberant energy all around me. It went on for a long time, too.
Last night, the excitement was again palpable, and the chilly air was highly charged, and the clouds parted and the stars sparkled overhead. And then the din slowly died, the clouds moved in, the rain resumed and 2008 had begun.
Wishing us all peace and love in the New Year.
Monday, December 31, 2007
Musings: Ka-Boom
The air was filled with sound this morning: first the roar of the ocean, then the wind passing through the trees, and a chill wind it was, too. I spotted two thick waterfalls, but mostly the mountains were hidden, as was the sun, although it briefly peeked over the Sleeping Giant before being smothered by gray clouds.
My neighbor Andy, looking sleepy and cold when we passed on the road, predicted I’d get wet before I got home, but he was wrong, and the drops began to fall as Koko and I entered the house.
I always feel for those who have no home, especially this time of year, when it’s wet, cold and windy, the kind of conditions that make it tough to stay dry inside a tent or a rough lean-to in the bushes.
My young friend Kaimi, searching for a decent affordable rental on the North Shore, where he was born and raised, has encountered numerous landowners anxious to find someone to maintain and/or watch their property in exchange for housing. Problem is, the caretaker “houses” they’re offering are assorted shacks with no proper bathroom or kitchen facilities.
“How do they expect us to live like that?” he asks. Meanwhile, the owners are living in the lap of luxury. Needless to say, it’s a scenario that breeds more than a trace of resentment among locals desperately seeking housing.
A Maui reader commenting on Saturday’s post noted that multi-million-dollar spec homes are going on the market there daily — and not selling. Kaimi ran into one of those spec homes-turned-rentals in Moloaa, where the owner was renting out the five bedrooms separately, trying to make the mortgage on a $650,000 house built on seven acres of ag land. Unfortunately, it had no potable water, which didn’t deter the young men who were shelling out $300 to $400 each for a room and kitchen privileges.
A kind of quirky New York Times piece touches on how the “backlash against a decade of accelerated construction of vacation homes, condominiums and hotels, mostly in what are known as the Neighbor Islands,” has affected the Superferry.
The article quotes Kauai’s own Jimmy Trujillo of Hui-R, as well as Molokai’s Walter Ritte, who made this statement: “For us, tourism is just a way for outsiders to take our best places and then offer to pay us to change their sheets.”
While the story did a good job of expressing some of the sentiment against tourism-related and second-home development, I was struck by how even an issue story about Hawaii is relegated to the travel section. It’s a problem I continually run up against in trying to pitch stories to mainland editors. They don’t see the Islands as a real place, but a destination.
Still, it’s the kind of publicity that the Hawaii Tourism Authority doesn’t want, especially in the travel section of the New York Times.
While we’re on the subject of New York, I got an email from a guy who lives there and invented the “now watch” to help remind people to stay in the present. Apparently he gets a Google alert whenever the search engine finds something with the words “now” or “present moment,” and yesterday’s blog post did. Then he follows up with an email. Now that’s some dedicated marketing.
And before we move past the topic of the Superferry, check out Larry Geller’s clever “passenger satisfaction survey” on Disappeared News. I hear a “puke index” is also in the works, which will offer passengers an indication of how likely they are to vomit on the ferry given the day’s winds and ocean swell condition.
If you’re looking for some visual entertainment, Brad Parsons sent along links to a couple of youtube videos on the Maui demonstrations against the Superferry. And then there’s Bill Maher’s gritty take on the traditional year in review story.
Well, it’s the time when “Songs of Sovereignty” usually airs on KKCR, and I just got a report from Andy Parx that Hale Mawai went to the station to host Ka`iulani’s show only to find — you guessed it — the management pulled the same stunt as last week: locking the doors and playing canned Hawaiian music.
OK, now we’re moving into the realm of real chicken shit bizarro behavior. I mean, really, what is the station management afraid of? And why should we, the listening public, be again deprived of the regular programming?
Btw, I never did get a response to my polite request for a copy of the station’s policy on suspending/terminating volunteer programmers. However, a board member did fill me in on a few other policies, including all interview shows must be pre-approved by management, and neither programmers nor guests can make any disparaging remarks on air about the board, management, other volunteers or station policies.
So that effectively stymies any on-air discussion about problems at the station. And if a programmer does get kicked off his or her show, there’s no grievance procedure for appealing the dismissal.
As I said, the air was filled with sound this morning, but at my house, anyway, it won’t be what’s being broadcast on KKCR. I’d rather listen to the birds and the occasional KA-BOOM of a homemade cannon — a sound that will become much more common as the clock edges toward midnight and all hell breaks loose with firecrackers and rockets going off in my neighborhood.
My neighbor Andy, looking sleepy and cold when we passed on the road, predicted I’d get wet before I got home, but he was wrong, and the drops began to fall as Koko and I entered the house.
I always feel for those who have no home, especially this time of year, when it’s wet, cold and windy, the kind of conditions that make it tough to stay dry inside a tent or a rough lean-to in the bushes.
My young friend Kaimi, searching for a decent affordable rental on the North Shore, where he was born and raised, has encountered numerous landowners anxious to find someone to maintain and/or watch their property in exchange for housing. Problem is, the caretaker “houses” they’re offering are assorted shacks with no proper bathroom or kitchen facilities.
“How do they expect us to live like that?” he asks. Meanwhile, the owners are living in the lap of luxury. Needless to say, it’s a scenario that breeds more than a trace of resentment among locals desperately seeking housing.
A Maui reader commenting on Saturday’s post noted that multi-million-dollar spec homes are going on the market there daily — and not selling. Kaimi ran into one of those spec homes-turned-rentals in Moloaa, where the owner was renting out the five bedrooms separately, trying to make the mortgage on a $650,000 house built on seven acres of ag land. Unfortunately, it had no potable water, which didn’t deter the young men who were shelling out $300 to $400 each for a room and kitchen privileges.
A kind of quirky New York Times piece touches on how the “backlash against a decade of accelerated construction of vacation homes, condominiums and hotels, mostly in what are known as the Neighbor Islands,” has affected the Superferry.
The article quotes Kauai’s own Jimmy Trujillo of Hui-R, as well as Molokai’s Walter Ritte, who made this statement: “For us, tourism is just a way for outsiders to take our best places and then offer to pay us to change their sheets.”
While the story did a good job of expressing some of the sentiment against tourism-related and second-home development, I was struck by how even an issue story about Hawaii is relegated to the travel section. It’s a problem I continually run up against in trying to pitch stories to mainland editors. They don’t see the Islands as a real place, but a destination.
Still, it’s the kind of publicity that the Hawaii Tourism Authority doesn’t want, especially in the travel section of the New York Times.
While we’re on the subject of New York, I got an email from a guy who lives there and invented the “now watch” to help remind people to stay in the present. Apparently he gets a Google alert whenever the search engine finds something with the words “now” or “present moment,” and yesterday’s blog post did. Then he follows up with an email. Now that’s some dedicated marketing.
And before we move past the topic of the Superferry, check out Larry Geller’s clever “passenger satisfaction survey” on Disappeared News. I hear a “puke index” is also in the works, which will offer passengers an indication of how likely they are to vomit on the ferry given the day’s winds and ocean swell condition.
If you’re looking for some visual entertainment, Brad Parsons sent along links to a couple of youtube videos on the Maui demonstrations against the Superferry. And then there’s Bill Maher’s gritty take on the traditional year in review story.
Well, it’s the time when “Songs of Sovereignty” usually airs on KKCR, and I just got a report from Andy Parx that Hale Mawai went to the station to host Ka`iulani’s show only to find — you guessed it — the management pulled the same stunt as last week: locking the doors and playing canned Hawaiian music.
OK, now we’re moving into the realm of real chicken shit bizarro behavior. I mean, really, what is the station management afraid of? And why should we, the listening public, be again deprived of the regular programming?
Btw, I never did get a response to my polite request for a copy of the station’s policy on suspending/terminating volunteer programmers. However, a board member did fill me in on a few other policies, including all interview shows must be pre-approved by management, and neither programmers nor guests can make any disparaging remarks on air about the board, management, other volunteers or station policies.
So that effectively stymies any on-air discussion about problems at the station. And if a programmer does get kicked off his or her show, there’s no grievance procedure for appealing the dismissal.
As I said, the air was filled with sound this morning, but at my house, anyway, it won’t be what’s being broadcast on KKCR. I’d rather listen to the birds and the occasional KA-BOOM of a homemade cannon — a sound that will become much more common as the clock edges toward midnight and all hell breaks loose with firecrackers and rockets going off in my neighborhood.
Sunday, December 30, 2007
Musings: Having it All
This morning had it all: a perfect half-moon, clear mountains, rolling mist, which enveloped me as I walked along a road that was drenched in the night, though I slept through the rain. The air smelled fresh, sweet, and by the sign that reads “road narrows,” I breathed in the pungent, slightly medicinal smell of camphor trees.
But how quickly a scene can change! Before I even returned home, the mist had retreated from the pasture to the base of a distant cinder cone, the moon had been consumed by daylight and clouds spilled over the flat summit of Wailaleale.
Ran into Andy, and as Koko romped with his daughter’s dog, Shyla, he and I talked, as we have the last several times our paths crossed, of how to bring people on Kauai together. It’s a challenge made more difficult by the fact that, as Andy phrased it, we are so often turned off by each other.
Still, we both agreed, it must be possible to find ways to help people understand that we do have certain values, desires, objectives in common, and those are the elements upon which we can build.
It just so happened, as it so often does, that information came to me quite quickly that offered greater insights into precisely that discussion, and in this case, it was Dr. Richard Moss, speaking on the New Dimensions radio program.
I was driving home from the Laundromat when the show came on, and I pulled out a piece of paper and took notes because I recognized immediately that he was talking about what Andy and I had been talking about less than two hours before.
We look out in the world and see so much conflict, Dr. Moss said. The stories we identify with — gender, race, nationality, occupation, beliefs — continually put us in conflict with others who identify with their own stories.
That conflict exists, he said, because we do not understand how our minds really work — and that the power of awareness can change how our minds think.
If we are not in the present moment, there are only four places our minds can be: in the past or in the future; telling stories about ourselves or telling stories about others. And the only way to create harmony in our lives, and the world, is to continually come back to the now of ourselves, and stop telling and identifying with our stories, he said.
So much of what we’re doing in the world comes from a place of insecurity and fear within ourselves, Dr. Moss said, and just as we pollute the planet, we pollute the physiology of ourselves with messages like “I should do that,,” or “I’m not good enough,” or “I need to try harder” or “I’ll never be/have/do enough.”
Our false sense of inadequacy drives much of our “consumer medication,” he said, pushing us always to find the product, house, car, relationship, career that will somehow make it all better. But inevitably it fails to satisfy because our discontent comes from our false stories.
So how to shift into a state of consciousness? Practice mental awareness: notice your stories, tune in when you’re telling them, question their truth, let them go.
Gradually, as we stop being so caught up in our stories, and the stories of others, we drop the judgment that is ultimately what keeps us all apart. Dr. Moss said. And then more and more our lives are spent in a sense of wonderment and gratitude, instead of anger, fear, doubt and worry.
We do have the answers, and the power to change. It all lies within.
Like I said, this morning had it all. Mahalo ke Akua.
But how quickly a scene can change! Before I even returned home, the mist had retreated from the pasture to the base of a distant cinder cone, the moon had been consumed by daylight and clouds spilled over the flat summit of Wailaleale.
Ran into Andy, and as Koko romped with his daughter’s dog, Shyla, he and I talked, as we have the last several times our paths crossed, of how to bring people on Kauai together. It’s a challenge made more difficult by the fact that, as Andy phrased it, we are so often turned off by each other.
Still, we both agreed, it must be possible to find ways to help people understand that we do have certain values, desires, objectives in common, and those are the elements upon which we can build.
It just so happened, as it so often does, that information came to me quite quickly that offered greater insights into precisely that discussion, and in this case, it was Dr. Richard Moss, speaking on the New Dimensions radio program.
I was driving home from the Laundromat when the show came on, and I pulled out a piece of paper and took notes because I recognized immediately that he was talking about what Andy and I had been talking about less than two hours before.
We look out in the world and see so much conflict, Dr. Moss said. The stories we identify with — gender, race, nationality, occupation, beliefs — continually put us in conflict with others who identify with their own stories.
That conflict exists, he said, because we do not understand how our minds really work — and that the power of awareness can change how our minds think.
If we are not in the present moment, there are only four places our minds can be: in the past or in the future; telling stories about ourselves or telling stories about others. And the only way to create harmony in our lives, and the world, is to continually come back to the now of ourselves, and stop telling and identifying with our stories, he said.
So much of what we’re doing in the world comes from a place of insecurity and fear within ourselves, Dr. Moss said, and just as we pollute the planet, we pollute the physiology of ourselves with messages like “I should do that,,” or “I’m not good enough,” or “I need to try harder” or “I’ll never be/have/do enough.”
Our false sense of inadequacy drives much of our “consumer medication,” he said, pushing us always to find the product, house, car, relationship, career that will somehow make it all better. But inevitably it fails to satisfy because our discontent comes from our false stories.
So how to shift into a state of consciousness? Practice mental awareness: notice your stories, tune in when you’re telling them, question their truth, let them go.
Gradually, as we stop being so caught up in our stories, and the stories of others, we drop the judgment that is ultimately what keeps us all apart. Dr. Moss said. And then more and more our lives are spent in a sense of wonderment and gratitude, instead of anger, fear, doubt and worry.
We do have the answers, and the power to change. It all lies within.
Like I said, this morning had it all. Mahalo ke Akua.
Saturday, December 29, 2007
Musings: Juggling Numbers
The half-moon shone feebly through the clouds when Koko and I set out this morning, and no stars were visible at all. It’s been a while since I’ve seen either them, or Waialeale.
Aside from the hunting dogs that were going off somewhere in the valley, it was a quiet Saturday morning, ideal for lounging in bed. But I dragged myself up and out because I’ve got an early interview in Lihue today, followed by an official break from work until Jan. 2, 2008. Yippee!
Superferry part-timers are also getting a break from work, although possibly not a dsired one, as high winds and seas idle the boat for yet another day, the Star-Bulletin reports.
Once again, the accounts of passenger numbers are screwy, with the Bulletin reporting today: [Superferry business development director Terry] O'Halloran estimated that ridership for today [Saturday] was "significantly lower" than normal. About 95 people and 40 vehicles were scheduled for the Oahu-Maui passage. About 20 people and 20 cars were booked for the Maui-Oahu trip.
The article continues: Yesterday's [Friday’s] cancellation affected about 240 passengers and 80 vehicles each way. O'Halloran said today's [Saturday’s] numbers reflect the response of passengers noticing the travel alerts on the company's Web site and changing their travel dates.
Meanwhile, today’s Advertiser story reports: Company officials said fewer than 100 passengers were booked for travel yesterday [Friday] and today [Saturday].
But yesterday, in a news brief updated at 3:59 p.m., the Advertiser reported: Approximately 160 passengers were booked for yesterday's [Thursday’s] sailings and 480 had reservations for today [Friday], according to Terry O'Halloran, director of business development for Hawaii Superferry.
It all gets me wondering, what's da scoop? And don't newspapers notice the discrepancies in their own pubished reports?
More sobering to the state as a whole than squirrely Superferry stats is another report in today’s Star-Bulletin on the growing number of bankruptcies in Hawaii.
It seems the high cost of living the American dream in Hawaii — coupled with outrageous housing prices, rising energy costs and a slowing real estate-dependent economy — is catching up with Islanders. I pumped gas in Kilauea yesterday, and it was a whopping $3.74 a gallon. Wow. Makes me glad for my fuel-efficient Hyundai.
Bankruptcies are up 44 percent over last year, the article reports, and 2008 is expected to see even more filings.
The article continues:
“Hawaii attorneys are beginning to file more cases related to properties in foreclosure, though consumer bankruptcy attorney Greg Dunn said the worst is yet to come next year and in 2009, as the state begins to feel the effects of the credit crunch.
“Honolulu bankruptcy attorney Bradley Tamm, who has seen calls to his office double in recent months compared with last year, expects bankruptcy cases to climb to the historical norm of about 3,000 cases per year by the end of 2008 and increase even more in 2009, as the mortgage crisis hits Hawaii.
"’The only thing keeping Hawaii from being hit right now is the fact that Hawaii still has positive employment’ he said. ‘People are not doing well. They're hanging on, but 2008 is going to be a busy year.’
“Many of the weaker players in the market such as small retailers, mom-and-pop restaurants and underfinanced developers will likely close in the next few years, therefore driving up the number of bankruptcies, he said.
"’These are the harbingers of bad times,’ Tamm said. ‘It's not light at the end of the tunnel; it's the headlights of a freight train coming. We're going to get hit.’"
But apparently nobody’s told consumers it's time to get off the tracks. Instead, the news has been full of stories about folks buying up a storm in the post-Christmas sales.
Aside from the hunting dogs that were going off somewhere in the valley, it was a quiet Saturday morning, ideal for lounging in bed. But I dragged myself up and out because I’ve got an early interview in Lihue today, followed by an official break from work until Jan. 2, 2008. Yippee!
Superferry part-timers are also getting a break from work, although possibly not a dsired one, as high winds and seas idle the boat for yet another day, the Star-Bulletin reports.
Once again, the accounts of passenger numbers are screwy, with the Bulletin reporting today: [Superferry business development director Terry] O'Halloran estimated that ridership for today [Saturday] was "significantly lower" than normal. About 95 people and 40 vehicles were scheduled for the Oahu-Maui passage. About 20 people and 20 cars were booked for the Maui-Oahu trip.
The article continues: Yesterday's [Friday’s] cancellation affected about 240 passengers and 80 vehicles each way. O'Halloran said today's [Saturday’s] numbers reflect the response of passengers noticing the travel alerts on the company's Web site and changing their travel dates.
Meanwhile, today’s Advertiser story reports: Company officials said fewer than 100 passengers were booked for travel yesterday [Friday] and today [Saturday].
But yesterday, in a news brief updated at 3:59 p.m., the Advertiser reported: Approximately 160 passengers were booked for yesterday's [Thursday’s] sailings and 480 had reservations for today [Friday], according to Terry O'Halloran, director of business development for Hawaii Superferry.
It all gets me wondering, what's da scoop? And don't newspapers notice the discrepancies in their own pubished reports?
More sobering to the state as a whole than squirrely Superferry stats is another report in today’s Star-Bulletin on the growing number of bankruptcies in Hawaii.
It seems the high cost of living the American dream in Hawaii — coupled with outrageous housing prices, rising energy costs and a slowing real estate-dependent economy — is catching up with Islanders. I pumped gas in Kilauea yesterday, and it was a whopping $3.74 a gallon. Wow. Makes me glad for my fuel-efficient Hyundai.
Bankruptcies are up 44 percent over last year, the article reports, and 2008 is expected to see even more filings.
The article continues:
“Hawaii attorneys are beginning to file more cases related to properties in foreclosure, though consumer bankruptcy attorney Greg Dunn said the worst is yet to come next year and in 2009, as the state begins to feel the effects of the credit crunch.
“Honolulu bankruptcy attorney Bradley Tamm, who has seen calls to his office double in recent months compared with last year, expects bankruptcy cases to climb to the historical norm of about 3,000 cases per year by the end of 2008 and increase even more in 2009, as the mortgage crisis hits Hawaii.
"’The only thing keeping Hawaii from being hit right now is the fact that Hawaii still has positive employment’ he said. ‘People are not doing well. They're hanging on, but 2008 is going to be a busy year.’
“Many of the weaker players in the market such as small retailers, mom-and-pop restaurants and underfinanced developers will likely close in the next few years, therefore driving up the number of bankruptcies, he said.
"’These are the harbingers of bad times,’ Tamm said. ‘It's not light at the end of the tunnel; it's the headlights of a freight train coming. We're going to get hit.’"
But apparently nobody’s told consumers it's time to get off the tracks. Instead, the news has been full of stories about folks buying up a storm in the post-Christmas sales.
Friday, December 28, 2007
Musings: Sorry Situations
It was hard to tell the dark clouds from the dark sky this morning, but Koko and I set out anyway, trusting we wouldn’t get wet, and we didn’t.
The wind had Koko all amped up and she was 12 pounds of pure muscle pulling hard at the leash. Ran into Andy and although he was in a hurry to take house guests house-bound by the rain for a week to the airport, he stopped long enough to give Koko a new collar as a Christmas gift. There was a red one he fancied, but it was made for a cat, and he didn’t want to risk causing a species identity crisis. The royal blue one he chose instead looks smashing with her dark brown coat.
Bear, aka Dufus, a lumbering, slobbery brown dog whose back end doesn’t quite match the front, joined our walk. But he soon wore out his welcome after beefing with a three-legged dog along the road, chasing a couple of trucks and then tripping me from behind, sending me sprawling onto the street. Aside from some muddiness, no harm was done, but I was glad to drop him at his house and say bye-bye.
That’s sort of like what the Superferry did when it dropped passengers and motorists off at Kahului Harbor on Tuesday, and it hasn’t been back since. Problem is, most of those folks don’t live on Maui, so they’re left trying to figure out how to get themselves and their cars back to Oahu, while the ferry remains idled in Honolulu.
Superferry officials say service has been cancelled for three days running, and Saturday looks sketchy, too, because of high seas. But others speculate that low passenger loads — so low it’s not worth burning the fuel to run the thing — are the real reason. Brad Parsons noted in a comment on yesterday’s post that the Advertiser was reporting passenger figures for a day the ferry didn’t even run.
“The approximate number of passengers and vehicles each way for yesterday's [Wednesday’s] trips was 250 passengers and 57 vehicles for the O'ahu-to-Maui trip, and 200 passengers and 50 vehicles for the Maui-to-O'ahu trip.” the article reports.
But even if there was an error, and they were really reporting Tuesday’s figures, there’s a huge disparity between those numbers and the count Brad reported for that day: “18 cars and 55 people got off the ferry at Maui, and 48 cars and two motorcycles boarded for the return trip to Oahu.” He also noted the article’s use of “approximate” figures. It seems if the ferry’s selling tickets, they ought to have an exact count, but since the article doesn’t attribute the numbers to any source, we don’t know where they came from.
All I can say is the Superferry is a PR person’s nightmare. Sick, stranded and non-existent passengers are tough to spin. Not that I’m feeling sorry for Lori Abe or anything. I’m sure she’s well compensated for her misery.
I was feeling kind of sorry for the arborist who called in to KKCR yesterday afternoon and said he’d been asked quite some time ago to do a full assessment of the infamous Koloa monkeypod trees, some of which apparently have a New Year’s date with the chainsaw.
He said he checked every tree on the site where the shopping center is planned and recommended seven be removed because they were “structurally unsound” and “beyond an acceptable limit of liability.” At least one, if he recalled correctly, was among the 20 that are due to be cut down or relocated to make way for construction, prompting several demonstrations and plans for a potluck block party and candlelight vigil tomorrow night.
Although his recommendation was made well before the issue became so controversial, the seven trees were never removed. He, and his young children, were worried about what might happen to him if the land owner now asked him to go down and take out the seven trees in question.
It was a good question, a good point, and a good reminder that every issue does have many sides and angles.
Free Speech Radio News last night broadcast a report “On Being Hawaiian and Homeless” that covered the homeless problem on Oahu from a number of angles that rarely surface in the mainstream media.
In less than 30 minutes, reporter Anne Keala Kelly linked homelessness to the increase in militarism and real estate speculation that followed 9-11, the Superferry to militarism, and the ice epidemic to Operation Green Harvest, which made “da crip” (locally grown marijuana) expensive and scarce.
She interviewed Chad Taniguchi, who used to run the housing agency and Hawaiian Homes on Kauai, but has since “moved up” to managing the state housing agency.
Chad recounted meeting with residents of state housing on Maui who were demanding new refrigerators because the ones they had didn’t keep food cold. But he told them that there was no money for fridges because so many of the state housing tenants don’t pay their rent.
So what, the tenants who do pay don’t get fridges that work? Is the state now going to be a slumlord because it hasn’t been diligent about collecting the rent?
Chad went on to say the state was going to start evicting those who don’t pay, so those with money and jobs can move in.
Yeah, maybe those who pay should get first crack at the state’s low-income housing, but what’s going to happen to all those who don’t, especially because they can’t?
Chad said they’d be sent to the homeless shelters, but there obviously isn’t enough room there for all the people who need housing, so it looks like they’ll be out on the beaches and streets. End result: no net change in homelessness.
To me, it’s a sordid and sorry situation when Hawaiians comprise just 20 percent of the state’s population, but account for 50 percent of the homeless, and people are living in the bushes while hundreds — perhaps thousands — of lavish homes and hotel rooms stand empty most of the year.
What's happened to our humanity?
The wind had Koko all amped up and she was 12 pounds of pure muscle pulling hard at the leash. Ran into Andy and although he was in a hurry to take house guests house-bound by the rain for a week to the airport, he stopped long enough to give Koko a new collar as a Christmas gift. There was a red one he fancied, but it was made for a cat, and he didn’t want to risk causing a species identity crisis. The royal blue one he chose instead looks smashing with her dark brown coat.
Bear, aka Dufus, a lumbering, slobbery brown dog whose back end doesn’t quite match the front, joined our walk. But he soon wore out his welcome after beefing with a three-legged dog along the road, chasing a couple of trucks and then tripping me from behind, sending me sprawling onto the street. Aside from some muddiness, no harm was done, but I was glad to drop him at his house and say bye-bye.
That’s sort of like what the Superferry did when it dropped passengers and motorists off at Kahului Harbor on Tuesday, and it hasn’t been back since. Problem is, most of those folks don’t live on Maui, so they’re left trying to figure out how to get themselves and their cars back to Oahu, while the ferry remains idled in Honolulu.
Superferry officials say service has been cancelled for three days running, and Saturday looks sketchy, too, because of high seas. But others speculate that low passenger loads — so low it’s not worth burning the fuel to run the thing — are the real reason. Brad Parsons noted in a comment on yesterday’s post that the Advertiser was reporting passenger figures for a day the ferry didn’t even run.
“The approximate number of passengers and vehicles each way for yesterday's [Wednesday’s] trips was 250 passengers and 57 vehicles for the O'ahu-to-Maui trip, and 200 passengers and 50 vehicles for the Maui-to-O'ahu trip.” the article reports.
But even if there was an error, and they were really reporting Tuesday’s figures, there’s a huge disparity between those numbers and the count Brad reported for that day: “18 cars and 55 people got off the ferry at Maui, and 48 cars and two motorcycles boarded for the return trip to Oahu.” He also noted the article’s use of “approximate” figures. It seems if the ferry’s selling tickets, they ought to have an exact count, but since the article doesn’t attribute the numbers to any source, we don’t know where they came from.
All I can say is the Superferry is a PR person’s nightmare. Sick, stranded and non-existent passengers are tough to spin. Not that I’m feeling sorry for Lori Abe or anything. I’m sure she’s well compensated for her misery.
I was feeling kind of sorry for the arborist who called in to KKCR yesterday afternoon and said he’d been asked quite some time ago to do a full assessment of the infamous Koloa monkeypod trees, some of which apparently have a New Year’s date with the chainsaw.
He said he checked every tree on the site where the shopping center is planned and recommended seven be removed because they were “structurally unsound” and “beyond an acceptable limit of liability.” At least one, if he recalled correctly, was among the 20 that are due to be cut down or relocated to make way for construction, prompting several demonstrations and plans for a potluck block party and candlelight vigil tomorrow night.
Although his recommendation was made well before the issue became so controversial, the seven trees were never removed. He, and his young children, were worried about what might happen to him if the land owner now asked him to go down and take out the seven trees in question.
It was a good question, a good point, and a good reminder that every issue does have many sides and angles.
Free Speech Radio News last night broadcast a report “On Being Hawaiian and Homeless” that covered the homeless problem on Oahu from a number of angles that rarely surface in the mainstream media.
In less than 30 minutes, reporter Anne Keala Kelly linked homelessness to the increase in militarism and real estate speculation that followed 9-11, the Superferry to militarism, and the ice epidemic to Operation Green Harvest, which made “da crip” (locally grown marijuana) expensive and scarce.
She interviewed Chad Taniguchi, who used to run the housing agency and Hawaiian Homes on Kauai, but has since “moved up” to managing the state housing agency.
Chad recounted meeting with residents of state housing on Maui who were demanding new refrigerators because the ones they had didn’t keep food cold. But he told them that there was no money for fridges because so many of the state housing tenants don’t pay their rent.
So what, the tenants who do pay don’t get fridges that work? Is the state now going to be a slumlord because it hasn’t been diligent about collecting the rent?
Chad went on to say the state was going to start evicting those who don’t pay, so those with money and jobs can move in.
Yeah, maybe those who pay should get first crack at the state’s low-income housing, but what’s going to happen to all those who don’t, especially because they can’t?
Chad said they’d be sent to the homeless shelters, but there obviously isn’t enough room there for all the people who need housing, so it looks like they’ll be out on the beaches and streets. End result: no net change in homelessness.
To me, it’s a sordid and sorry situation when Hawaiians comprise just 20 percent of the state’s population, but account for 50 percent of the homeless, and people are living in the bushes while hundreds — perhaps thousands — of lavish homes and hotel rooms stand empty most of the year.
What's happened to our humanity?
Thursday, December 27, 2007
Musings: The Big Lie
It’s easy to sleep in on these days when the sun itself is late to rise, in this dead/lost week between Christmas and New Year’s, and so it was light, if not bright, when Koko and I set out this morning.
We dodged puddles and cars, the road made more narrow by the wide brown river that alongside it, remnants of a dawn downpour that kept me snuggled in bed. The ironwoods were busy sighing in the wind, and raindrops adorned both their needles and a spider web spun in the shell ginger.
I love making that transition from dream to nature; both are realms I often seek to restore myself while living in the harsh — I was going to say reality, but I don’t believe that it is an accurate description— of American life in the 21st Century. In truth, we are not living a reality here, but instead a big lie.
It’s the lie of we don’t have enough resources to take care of people and the earth; the lie that if only you work long and hard enough you can have your big wedge of pie, too; the lie that those who are down and out have somehow failed to make the most of the endless opportunities available to all in this great abundant land.
I’m usually pretty tuned in to those lies, but I was vividly reminded of them again while watching Michael Moore’s movie “Sicko.” Yes, I know it’s been out for a long time, but I’m always way behind on movies and totally out of it with TV, so I only just borrowed it from a friend and viewed it last night.
It wasn’t about all the millions who don’t have health insurance, but the millions who do, and still get screwed out of benefits by some craven reason dreamed up by insurance companies looking to maximize their profits.
But Moore didn’t just rant on that injustice and disclose the origins of vampirish health management organizations: Nixon and Kaiser. He also showed his viewers that it is different everywhere else in Europe and Canada.
In Britain, doctors are paid more when their patients are healthier. In France, doctors make house calls and new mothers get a helper. A prescription that costs $120 in the US sells for just five cents in Cuba. And people in all those places, in fact, in every Western natio, pay little or nothing for health care. It’s not slack care, either. They all have longer life expectancy and lower infant mortality rates than the U.S.
So what’s the difference, aside from the fact that insurance and drug companies make massive campaign donations and maintain an intense lobbying pressure in Washington, and the AMA is a powerful force against change?
It’s that Americans believe the big lie that our government can’t afford to pay day care, health care, six months paid maternity leave, five weeks of vacation, a college education. Instead, we shoulder these costs ourselves, or do without, and pay astronomical amounts to support the other big lie: the giant “defense” budget we’re told is needed to maintain our skewed way of life.
Burdened by debt, working our asses off but barely, if ever, getting ahead, worried about the past, present and future, consumed by stress and anxiety, we meekly live our lives, fearful of losing our jobs, speaking out against injustice, reclaiming a nation — our nation — founded on the premise of “we the people.”
As one American woman living in France said, “Here, the government is afraid of the people. In America, people are afraid of the government.”
And through the “Patriot Act,” Homeland Security, illegal wire-tapping and citizen surveillance, security zones to protect a corporate interest at Hawaii’s harbors, top federal officials who condone torture, our government is trying to scare us even more.
Don’t buy it! No fear! Wake yourself up from this nightmarish “American dream.” Educate yourself about what’s really going on. And if you haven’t seen it yet, watch “Sicko,” or any one of Michael Moore’s films. Because it really doesn’t have to be like this.
We dodged puddles and cars, the road made more narrow by the wide brown river that alongside it, remnants of a dawn downpour that kept me snuggled in bed. The ironwoods were busy sighing in the wind, and raindrops adorned both their needles and a spider web spun in the shell ginger.
I love making that transition from dream to nature; both are realms I often seek to restore myself while living in the harsh — I was going to say reality, but I don’t believe that it is an accurate description— of American life in the 21st Century. In truth, we are not living a reality here, but instead a big lie.
It’s the lie of we don’t have enough resources to take care of people and the earth; the lie that if only you work long and hard enough you can have your big wedge of pie, too; the lie that those who are down and out have somehow failed to make the most of the endless opportunities available to all in this great abundant land.
I’m usually pretty tuned in to those lies, but I was vividly reminded of them again while watching Michael Moore’s movie “Sicko.” Yes, I know it’s been out for a long time, but I’m always way behind on movies and totally out of it with TV, so I only just borrowed it from a friend and viewed it last night.
It wasn’t about all the millions who don’t have health insurance, but the millions who do, and still get screwed out of benefits by some craven reason dreamed up by insurance companies looking to maximize their profits.
But Moore didn’t just rant on that injustice and disclose the origins of vampirish health management organizations: Nixon and Kaiser. He also showed his viewers that it is different everywhere else in Europe and Canada.
In Britain, doctors are paid more when their patients are healthier. In France, doctors make house calls and new mothers get a helper. A prescription that costs $120 in the US sells for just five cents in Cuba. And people in all those places, in fact, in every Western natio, pay little or nothing for health care. It’s not slack care, either. They all have longer life expectancy and lower infant mortality rates than the U.S.
So what’s the difference, aside from the fact that insurance and drug companies make massive campaign donations and maintain an intense lobbying pressure in Washington, and the AMA is a powerful force against change?
It’s that Americans believe the big lie that our government can’t afford to pay day care, health care, six months paid maternity leave, five weeks of vacation, a college education. Instead, we shoulder these costs ourselves, or do without, and pay astronomical amounts to support the other big lie: the giant “defense” budget we’re told is needed to maintain our skewed way of life.
Burdened by debt, working our asses off but barely, if ever, getting ahead, worried about the past, present and future, consumed by stress and anxiety, we meekly live our lives, fearful of losing our jobs, speaking out against injustice, reclaiming a nation — our nation — founded on the premise of “we the people.”
As one American woman living in France said, “Here, the government is afraid of the people. In America, people are afraid of the government.”
And through the “Patriot Act,” Homeland Security, illegal wire-tapping and citizen surveillance, security zones to protect a corporate interest at Hawaii’s harbors, top federal officials who condone torture, our government is trying to scare us even more.
Don’t buy it! No fear! Wake yourself up from this nightmarish “American dream.” Educate yourself about what’s really going on. And if you haven’t seen it yet, watch “Sicko,” or any one of Michael Moore’s films. Because it really doesn’t have to be like this.
Wednesday, December 26, 2007
Musings: Superferry Stats, KKCR Spats
Woke to a dark, cool, wet morning, but Koko and I braved the elements and took a short walk anyway, as the eastern sky offered up streaks of pink beneath the gray.
I could tell the surf was up because I could hear its roar while lying in bed, which is not usually the case, then later discovered there’s a rare high surf advisory for the east side because of the brisk trades. Great Superferry weather, if you’re Dramamine double-dosed.
Brad Parsons, that inveterate Superferry sleuth, went out to log the Christmas Day traffic and it was pretty darn dismal: just 18 cars and 55 people got off the ferry at Maui, and 48 cars and two motorcycles boarded for the return trip to Oahu.
Gee, you’d think the holidays would be popular travel times, given the Superferry’s supposed purpose of uniting Hawaii’s `ohana.
Brad also reports: “Very little security anywhere in the harbor. Another observer went up to the gate and talked with those offloading in their cars. They told him it was a ‘rough’ ride.”
Speaking of rough rides, KKCR is back on the air with its regular programming this morning. Yesterday’s post generated a number of comments, and while readers are free to voice their personal opinions (within reason: I don't like slashing and trashing), I don’t want to get into whether Ka`iulani was right or wrong, since I have no first-hand knowledge of the incident.
What is of greater concern to me is how the situation was handled, and the larger issue of our community radio station’s lack of ethnic diversity as reflected in its Board of Directors, paid staff and volunteer disc jockeys.
First, some background:
Ka`iulani forwarded to an LA Times reporter and me an email that KKCR staff member Donna Lewis had sent her on Dec. 17 stating: “I hope you're having a great holiday season.
“We recognize your contributions to KKCR, and appreciate the value and passion of your program. However, we are fundamentally committed to providing a safe, supportive and healthy environment for every volunteer and visitor to KKCR.
“Due to your verbal abuse of a fellow DJ this morning (both off and on-air), as well as your disregard for equipment (throwing headphones), your DJ privileges at KKCR have been terminated, effective immediately.
“It’s never OK to attack another DJ, volunteer or staff member, and it’s not OK to be careless with or damage station equipment. [The headphones reportedly were Ka`iulani's, and not the station's.]
“For your information, this action was generated and supported solely by the staff, independent of input from volunteers.”
Donna then sent me an email on Dec. 19 stating that “there is a no-tolerance policy against violent / abusive behavior - whether directed against other volunteers, visitors, or station equipment.”
I replied that it seemed from Ka`iulani’s email and another circulated by Hale Mawae, who was in the studio, that there was a difference of opinion about whether the incident constituted abuse and it seemed only fair to hear both sides of the story before terminating Ka`iu.
Donna replied: “We do have eyewitness accounts of last week's incident. The people were afraid Ka`iulani would blame them & retaliate - so they didn't want their names used. I told them I would be clear - the decision was the staff's. We also have at least 4 other incidents documented from the past several months.”
This left me wondering, if the station has a “no-tolerance policy,” why wasn’t any action taken against any of the four alleged previous incidents?
Her email also stated: “If she chooses, Ka`iulani can reapply to become a volunteer after a waiting period.”
Again, I was left wondering why this information wasn’t provided to Ka`iulani. The email sent to her spoke only of termination, with no information about reinstatement.
In response to a statement on the station’s website — “Anyone interested should contact KKCR to learn more about volunteer training and station policies, including codes of conduct and federal FCC guidelines.” — I have contacted Donna and asked her to provide me with a copy of the station’s policy for terminating/suspending and reinstating volunteer DJs.
I’ll be curious to see what the policy is, and whether it was followed in this case. One reason for having, and following, policies is to counter assertions that actions are taken in an arbitrary, capricious manner that could be founded in racism, favoritism, etc.
In the meantime, I think it’s important not to get too caught up in the personalities of those involved and instead look at the larger picture. Is KKCR adequately representing the full community? Are allegations of racism legitimate? Is the station making efforts to encourage participation by a broad range of ethnic groups? Was Ka`iulani axed because of her show's controversial content?
I like and appreciate KKCR and listen to it often. But that doesn’t mean it can’t be improved, or that its critics should be shut out of discussions about the station’s management and policies.
If KKCR truly is an `ohana, as it so often portrays itself, let’s strive to make it a healthy family, and not a dysfunctional one.
I could tell the surf was up because I could hear its roar while lying in bed, which is not usually the case, then later discovered there’s a rare high surf advisory for the east side because of the brisk trades. Great Superferry weather, if you’re Dramamine double-dosed.
Brad Parsons, that inveterate Superferry sleuth, went out to log the Christmas Day traffic and it was pretty darn dismal: just 18 cars and 55 people got off the ferry at Maui, and 48 cars and two motorcycles boarded for the return trip to Oahu.
Gee, you’d think the holidays would be popular travel times, given the Superferry’s supposed purpose of uniting Hawaii’s `ohana.
Brad also reports: “Very little security anywhere in the harbor. Another observer went up to the gate and talked with those offloading in their cars. They told him it was a ‘rough’ ride.”
Speaking of rough rides, KKCR is back on the air with its regular programming this morning. Yesterday’s post generated a number of comments, and while readers are free to voice their personal opinions (within reason: I don't like slashing and trashing), I don’t want to get into whether Ka`iulani was right or wrong, since I have no first-hand knowledge of the incident.
What is of greater concern to me is how the situation was handled, and the larger issue of our community radio station’s lack of ethnic diversity as reflected in its Board of Directors, paid staff and volunteer disc jockeys.
First, some background:
Ka`iulani forwarded to an LA Times reporter and me an email that KKCR staff member Donna Lewis had sent her on Dec. 17 stating: “I hope you're having a great holiday season.
“We recognize your contributions to KKCR, and appreciate the value and passion of your program. However, we are fundamentally committed to providing a safe, supportive and healthy environment for every volunteer and visitor to KKCR.
“Due to your verbal abuse of a fellow DJ this morning (both off and on-air), as well as your disregard for equipment (throwing headphones), your DJ privileges at KKCR have been terminated, effective immediately.
“It’s never OK to attack another DJ, volunteer or staff member, and it’s not OK to be careless with or damage station equipment. [The headphones reportedly were Ka`iulani's, and not the station's.]
“For your information, this action was generated and supported solely by the staff, independent of input from volunteers.”
Donna then sent me an email on Dec. 19 stating that “there is a no-tolerance policy against violent / abusive behavior - whether directed against other volunteers, visitors, or station equipment.”
I replied that it seemed from Ka`iulani’s email and another circulated by Hale Mawae, who was in the studio, that there was a difference of opinion about whether the incident constituted abuse and it seemed only fair to hear both sides of the story before terminating Ka`iu.
Donna replied: “We do have eyewitness accounts of last week's incident. The people were afraid Ka`iulani would blame them & retaliate - so they didn't want their names used. I told them I would be clear - the decision was the staff's. We also have at least 4 other incidents documented from the past several months.”
This left me wondering, if the station has a “no-tolerance policy,” why wasn’t any action taken against any of the four alleged previous incidents?
Her email also stated: “If she chooses, Ka`iulani can reapply to become a volunteer after a waiting period.”
Again, I was left wondering why this information wasn’t provided to Ka`iulani. The email sent to her spoke only of termination, with no information about reinstatement.
In response to a statement on the station’s website — “Anyone interested should contact KKCR to learn more about volunteer training and station policies, including codes of conduct and federal FCC guidelines.” — I have contacted Donna and asked her to provide me with a copy of the station’s policy for terminating/suspending and reinstating volunteer DJs.
I’ll be curious to see what the policy is, and whether it was followed in this case. One reason for having, and following, policies is to counter assertions that actions are taken in an arbitrary, capricious manner that could be founded in racism, favoritism, etc.
In the meantime, I think it’s important not to get too caught up in the personalities of those involved and instead look at the larger picture. Is KKCR adequately representing the full community? Are allegations of racism legitimate? Is the station making efforts to encourage participation by a broad range of ethnic groups? Was Ka`iulani axed because of her show's controversial content?
I like and appreciate KKCR and listen to it often. But that doesn’t mean it can’t be improved, or that its critics should be shut out of discussions about the station’s management and policies.
If KKCR truly is an `ohana, as it so often portrays itself, let’s strive to make it a healthy family, and not a dysfunctional one.
Tuesday, December 25, 2007
Musings: Squalls and Hafiz
This Christmas got off to a very good start. Slept in till 9:30, then asked Koko if she wanted to take a walk, and from the way she wiggled and squirmed, I knew that meant yes. So we headed down the hill and walked from Lydgate to Nukolii. Then I jumped in the water while Koko raced madly along the water’s edge, like she always does when I’m swimming.
Little squalls were hanging out all along the horizon, but none of them blew in, and while it was windy, it was sunny, and entirely delightful. Yesterday, driving home with bags of organic veggies from John and Nandie Wooten’s Aliomanu farm, I was thinking of how lucky and grateful I am when I looked out over the ocean and saw a small, very dark squall headed for land, carrying a rainbow with it. Mahalo ke Akua.
Then, as today, KKCR was broadcasting Hawaiian music on automatic pilot. It seems station management responded to the prospect of a Christmas Eve confrontation with Ka`iulani and her supporters by simply closing up shop and locking the gate.
That may have spared them a conflict temporarily, but they’re going to have to open up sometime. I wonder how all the DJs felt who had their shows cancelled yesterday and today.
Meanwhile, station managers posted a note on the KKCR website that makes like the shut down and canned programming is “our special holiday gift of aloha, A Celebration of Hawaiian Music! Mele Kalikimaka & Ha`ouli [sic] Makahiki Hou!”
Aside from the fact that they really should keep a Hawaiian dictionary handy, I think it would have been so much easier if station managers had just sat down with Kaiulani and Noel, the other DJ involved in the dispute, and dealt with it face to face, immediately. But by putting it off, and then closing up the station, they’re simply allowing the bad blood to keep boiling, and raising questions — at least in my mind — about whether their preferred method of dealing with tough issues is simply denial and avoidance, neither of which are ideal management styles.
The website also includes this new posting: “KKCR supports the preservation, perpetuation and celebration of the Hawaiian culture and encourages members of the Hawaiian community to get involved by becoming part of the KKCR `ohana. The station actively seeks volunteers to enhance and diversify its Hawaiian programming, including social, political, musical and cultural affairs.”
That’s all very well, and a good intention, but anyone with even the slightest understanding of local culture knows that you don’t get people to become part of your `ohana via email. It’s going to take some major outreach to get locals involved in the station, and quite possibly a relocation of the studio to a more convenient location for the majority of the island's residents than Princeville.
Anyway, if you want to watch a short video on the demonstration at the station, check out this You Tube offering by Koohan “Camera” Paik, the same woman who brought you the popular Discover Kauai video.
Finally, since it is Christmas, that time of peace on Earth, goodwill to all, I’ll close with one of my favorite poems from Hafiz:
STOP BEING SO RELIGIOUS
What
Do sad people have in
Common?
It seems
They have all built a shrine
To the past
And often go there
And do a strange wail and
Worship.
What is the beginning of
Happiness?
It is to stop being
So religious
Like
That.
Little squalls were hanging out all along the horizon, but none of them blew in, and while it was windy, it was sunny, and entirely delightful. Yesterday, driving home with bags of organic veggies from John and Nandie Wooten’s Aliomanu farm, I was thinking of how lucky and grateful I am when I looked out over the ocean and saw a small, very dark squall headed for land, carrying a rainbow with it. Mahalo ke Akua.
Then, as today, KKCR was broadcasting Hawaiian music on automatic pilot. It seems station management responded to the prospect of a Christmas Eve confrontation with Ka`iulani and her supporters by simply closing up shop and locking the gate.
That may have spared them a conflict temporarily, but they’re going to have to open up sometime. I wonder how all the DJs felt who had their shows cancelled yesterday and today.
Meanwhile, station managers posted a note on the KKCR website that makes like the shut down and canned programming is “our special holiday gift of aloha, A Celebration of Hawaiian Music! Mele Kalikimaka & Ha`ouli [sic] Makahiki Hou!”
Aside from the fact that they really should keep a Hawaiian dictionary handy, I think it would have been so much easier if station managers had just sat down with Kaiulani and Noel, the other DJ involved in the dispute, and dealt with it face to face, immediately. But by putting it off, and then closing up the station, they’re simply allowing the bad blood to keep boiling, and raising questions — at least in my mind — about whether their preferred method of dealing with tough issues is simply denial and avoidance, neither of which are ideal management styles.
The website also includes this new posting: “KKCR supports the preservation, perpetuation and celebration of the Hawaiian culture and encourages members of the Hawaiian community to get involved by becoming part of the KKCR `ohana. The station actively seeks volunteers to enhance and diversify its Hawaiian programming, including social, political, musical and cultural affairs.”
That’s all very well, and a good intention, but anyone with even the slightest understanding of local culture knows that you don’t get people to become part of your `ohana via email. It’s going to take some major outreach to get locals involved in the station, and quite possibly a relocation of the studio to a more convenient location for the majority of the island's residents than Princeville.
Anyway, if you want to watch a short video on the demonstration at the station, check out this You Tube offering by Koohan “Camera” Paik, the same woman who brought you the popular Discover Kauai video.
Finally, since it is Christmas, that time of peace on Earth, goodwill to all, I’ll close with one of my favorite poems from Hafiz:
STOP BEING SO RELIGIOUS
What
Do sad people have in
Common?
It seems
They have all built a shrine
To the past
And often go there
And do a strange wail and
Worship.
What is the beginning of
Happiness?
It is to stop being
So religious
Like
That.
Monday, December 24, 2007
Musings: Catch Fire
That gorgeous full moon had either set or slipped behind the dense clouds that shrouded Waialeale when Koko and I set out for our walk, but I basked in its light last night, first lying on the freshly mowed grass and then doing yoga. It was so gorgeous out — almost balmy.
Made an early run to the post office and saw a couple of ladies dropping off goodies for the postal clerks. Everybody was smiling. Seeing interactions like that, which are fairly common here on Kauai, give me hope for the human race.
As I write this, I’m listening to KKCR, and what is supposed to be the “Songs of Sovereignty” show. KKCR management said in an email to me that the program “will continue to be broadcast by an informed, responsible DJ,” following Ka`iulani Huff’s dismissal/suspension last week. But that obviously ain’t happening. A group of people did plan to go to the station today to press for her reinstatement, so maybe they’re all hashing it out right now. All I can say is I miss Ka`iulani.
I kept missing whales that other people spotted, but finally saw some the other day, spouting off Anahola. But they were seen well before that, most notably by folks from the different activist groups who gathered at a condo near Lihue to discuss strategies for dealing with Hawaii Superferry. Just as they convened the meeting, a whale began breaching close to shore, and kept up its show for a little while. Folks in the room had chicken skin and viewed it as a hoailona — a sign that those opposed to the Superferry are on the right track. Why? Fast boats kill more marine life than slow boats.
Yes, tis the season for whales in Hawaii, especially around Maui, and that’s what makes the Superferry’s high-speed operations so dangerous.
The Star-Bulletin today ran a piece that reports posting fulltime lookouts does reduce collisions, followed by comments from Superferry spokesman Terry O’Halloran that the boat has so far been able to change course to avoid the whales spotted by its lookouts.
But the article also notes “most of the 10,000 humpbacks expected in Hawaiian waters this winter are not here yet.”
In general, ships are striking more whales in Hawaii, the article states. “Seven whales were struck in 2006 and six in 2007, according to sanctuary records. That compares with 33 strikes involving all types of vessels in 1975-2005, with no more than three strikes in any single year.”
I’m sure some of it is due to the increase in whale watching tours and other non-essential recreational activities, and I’ve got no problem with the state and feds clamping down on all boaters if it can help save whales’ lives.
Still, there’s simply no getting around the fact that boats traveling fast are more likely to hit whales, and “Superferry officials have said they will not go slower than 29 mph unless they spot a whale,” the article reports.
To me, Superferry speed is just not an acceptable trade off for a whale. We’ve got to get our priorities straight, and move away from the blind pursuit of profits to a path with heart.
And that leads me to a really inspiring story circulated yesterday by LightLine. It’s a good reminder that we need not sacrifice our humanity in order to achieve economic gain.
I also loved the article because it made it so clear that we all have so many gifts to share with one another. We need only to be ignited to make our fires blaze bright.
Got matches?
Made an early run to the post office and saw a couple of ladies dropping off goodies for the postal clerks. Everybody was smiling. Seeing interactions like that, which are fairly common here on Kauai, give me hope for the human race.
As I write this, I’m listening to KKCR, and what is supposed to be the “Songs of Sovereignty” show. KKCR management said in an email to me that the program “will continue to be broadcast by an informed, responsible DJ,” following Ka`iulani Huff’s dismissal/suspension last week. But that obviously ain’t happening. A group of people did plan to go to the station today to press for her reinstatement, so maybe they’re all hashing it out right now. All I can say is I miss Ka`iulani.
I kept missing whales that other people spotted, but finally saw some the other day, spouting off Anahola. But they were seen well before that, most notably by folks from the different activist groups who gathered at a condo near Lihue to discuss strategies for dealing with Hawaii Superferry. Just as they convened the meeting, a whale began breaching close to shore, and kept up its show for a little while. Folks in the room had chicken skin and viewed it as a hoailona — a sign that those opposed to the Superferry are on the right track. Why? Fast boats kill more marine life than slow boats.
Yes, tis the season for whales in Hawaii, especially around Maui, and that’s what makes the Superferry’s high-speed operations so dangerous.
The Star-Bulletin today ran a piece that reports posting fulltime lookouts does reduce collisions, followed by comments from Superferry spokesman Terry O’Halloran that the boat has so far been able to change course to avoid the whales spotted by its lookouts.
But the article also notes “most of the 10,000 humpbacks expected in Hawaiian waters this winter are not here yet.”
In general, ships are striking more whales in Hawaii, the article states. “Seven whales were struck in 2006 and six in 2007, according to sanctuary records. That compares with 33 strikes involving all types of vessels in 1975-2005, with no more than three strikes in any single year.”
I’m sure some of it is due to the increase in whale watching tours and other non-essential recreational activities, and I’ve got no problem with the state and feds clamping down on all boaters if it can help save whales’ lives.
Still, there’s simply no getting around the fact that boats traveling fast are more likely to hit whales, and “Superferry officials have said they will not go slower than 29 mph unless they spot a whale,” the article reports.
To me, Superferry speed is just not an acceptable trade off for a whale. We’ve got to get our priorities straight, and move away from the blind pursuit of profits to a path with heart.
And that leads me to a really inspiring story circulated yesterday by LightLine. It’s a good reminder that we need not sacrifice our humanity in order to achieve economic gain.
I also loved the article because it made it so clear that we all have so many gifts to share with one another. We need only to be ignited to make our fires blaze bright.
Got matches?
Sunday, December 23, 2007
Musings: Remember the Dream
Went down to the beach yesterday in the very late afternoon and washed my crystals in the salt water, beneath that bright, full tonight moon. The air was scented with limu exposed by the low tide, and overhead, in a lavender sky, a few straggling boobies headed north to sleep on the cliffs below the Kilauea lighthouse.
My journey to the ocean with a bag full of minerals was all part of that year-end deep clean that started on Friday and likely will continue through today. It’s not a fun process, but I like the end result, and it’s a good use of this rainy weather.
While wiping and sorting and listening to Hawaiian songs about sovereignty and reggae songs about love, I got to thinking about the many issues that are facing us, the best way to use my gifts, that process of guiding my life toward its highest purpose.
Last Sunday I called my friend Camille Copeland on her intuitive guidance KKCR call-in show (it airs noon to 1 p.m.) and posed that very same question. She urged me to first remember the source of my gifts, and reminded me that when those gifts are activated “you don’t have to worry, because what comes from that high place will take you in the right direction.”
She went on to say, “There is nothing else you’re going to be doing except moving to your totality. You can’t get off track. You can get caught up in the excitement that comes from releasing that gift, but constantly come back to the source. You can’t second-guess the gift and its utilization. Just notice if the energy is shifting, and be ready to move in that direction.”
Her words came back to me as I cleaned and listened to the poignant messages of the songs that were playing, and I was reminded that many others feel as I do. Many others do share the same dream/vision of social justice, peace, living in respectful harmony with our Mother, and they desire to align with those of similar hearts and minds.
I took great comfort in that realization, the recognition of that deep connection, and as I knelt at the water's edge, washing stones, it became clear to me that my particular role is to forge links, foster associations. People want, and need, to know that they’re not alone, especially when they’re blazing a trail, treading a faint path, so far out in front that they often walk alone.
If the Superferry controversy had any value, it was to remind those of who seek a different way that we are definitely not alone, and the need now is to keep reinforcing that in every possible way. Everyone doesn’t have to agree, or do everything together. Each of us just needs to do our part and keep reaching out to others, offering support and encouragement, while remembering the dream.
And since there’s always someone out there who can express my sentiments more succinctly, I leave you with this quote, which seems especially apropos in this time of trying to capitalize on the energy sparked by the stance against Superferry:
”If you want to build a ship don't herd people together to collect wood and don't assign them tasks and work, but rather teach them to long for the endless immensity of the sea.” -Antoine-Marie-Roger de Saint-Exupery
My journey to the ocean with a bag full of minerals was all part of that year-end deep clean that started on Friday and likely will continue through today. It’s not a fun process, but I like the end result, and it’s a good use of this rainy weather.
While wiping and sorting and listening to Hawaiian songs about sovereignty and reggae songs about love, I got to thinking about the many issues that are facing us, the best way to use my gifts, that process of guiding my life toward its highest purpose.
Last Sunday I called my friend Camille Copeland on her intuitive guidance KKCR call-in show (it airs noon to 1 p.m.) and posed that very same question. She urged me to first remember the source of my gifts, and reminded me that when those gifts are activated “you don’t have to worry, because what comes from that high place will take you in the right direction.”
She went on to say, “There is nothing else you’re going to be doing except moving to your totality. You can’t get off track. You can get caught up in the excitement that comes from releasing that gift, but constantly come back to the source. You can’t second-guess the gift and its utilization. Just notice if the energy is shifting, and be ready to move in that direction.”
Her words came back to me as I cleaned and listened to the poignant messages of the songs that were playing, and I was reminded that many others feel as I do. Many others do share the same dream/vision of social justice, peace, living in respectful harmony with our Mother, and they desire to align with those of similar hearts and minds.
I took great comfort in that realization, the recognition of that deep connection, and as I knelt at the water's edge, washing stones, it became clear to me that my particular role is to forge links, foster associations. People want, and need, to know that they’re not alone, especially when they’re blazing a trail, treading a faint path, so far out in front that they often walk alone.
If the Superferry controversy had any value, it was to remind those of who seek a different way that we are definitely not alone, and the need now is to keep reinforcing that in every possible way. Everyone doesn’t have to agree, or do everything together. Each of us just needs to do our part and keep reaching out to others, offering support and encouragement, while remembering the dream.
And since there’s always someone out there who can express my sentiments more succinctly, I leave you with this quote, which seems especially apropos in this time of trying to capitalize on the energy sparked by the stance against Superferry:
”If you want to build a ship don't herd people together to collect wood and don't assign them tasks and work, but rather teach them to long for the endless immensity of the sea.” -Antoine-Marie-Roger de Saint-Exupery
Saturday, December 22, 2007
Musings: Superferry Shenanigans
Ended up at my favorite beach in the late afternoon yesterday, and discovered a super ebb tide — the lowest I’d seen there — prompted by the solstice and pending full moon. It made me think of how the ocean, in this bountiful Makahiki time, pulls back her water and allows a big harvest from the reef.
I didn’t grab any opihi, squid or sea cucumber, but my friend found three great pieces of glass from Japanese fishing floats, including one with a rare double nipple, all of which he gave to me for my collection. The moon, already up, turned brighter as the sky faded to charcoal and dusky pink. I could have stayed forever, but I was wet from swimming and shaking from the cold, despite a thick sweatshirt.
On the way home I got a call from the owner of the dog, whose name is Daisy, and it turns out she was a former hunting dog, adopted from the shelter, and lost while hiking on the trail near my house. So they’re going to pick her up from the shelter today. We’re all pleased that story had a happy ending.
While we're on the topic of endings, it’s typical for newspapers in late December to do articles that capture the events of the past year, and so we have the Star-Bulletin today launching its “10 Who Made a Difference” line up with a piece on Superferry CEO John Garibaldi.
Besides the usual fluff that Garibaldi is prone to utter — "Now that we've started up our service to Kahului, and after seeing how that community has reacted to it and the support that we've seen from the various customers that have taken advantage of the Superferry in the first week, I'm very excited and looking forward to the future." — the article contained information about the substantial losses the company reportedly has suffered.
I thought this bit was interesting, seeing as how the Legislature’s bail-out bill supposedly was not aimed at Superferry: “Garibaldi estimates that lost revenue and fees for various legal and legislative proceedings during the 3 1/2 months the Superferry was shut down cost the company in excess of $10 million.”
I can’t help but wonder what kind of fees — and for exactly what services — Superferry was paying out during legislative proceedings that were intended not to benefit their company, but a generic high capacity ferry service. Ho! Magnanimous, dem.
The article also reported:
“Another daily round trip to Kauai has been postponed indefinitely due to the volatile situation there. ‘We're hoping to return there as soon as we can be assured it will be a safe environment for our passengers and the community,’ he said.
Hmmm, so if they can’t be assured of that, they won’t come? Awright!
The article continues:
“Garibaldi said one of the advantages in having the Maui service in operation now is that it can clear up a lot of the misunderstandings and misconceptions in how the ferry operates. ‘We can look to that example as the actual experience of what happens with the operation of the ferry,’ he said. ‘We're hopeful that will answer or address some of the concerns of the people within the state.”"
Yes, running the "Pukerferry" to Maui has made it clear that those on board can expect a sickening ride, (thanks to Disappeared News for posting the link to Pritchett’s carton) which looks like it will continue to get worse with the trades expected to pick up a couple of notches through next week.
Meanwhile, Gov. Lingle and her “Unified Command” are continuing to promote Superferry, this time by sending over National Guard troops to help clean up Maui’s storm damage.
This is such an obvious ploy to try out Superferry’s military transport abilities under the sugar-coated PR ploy of “community service.” I mean, come on! First, the storm was two weeks ago. And second, was Maui the only island that suffered such damage it warrants that sort of assistance?
Of course, it’s the kind of story that the TV stations lap up like kittens do cream, while the real objective of planting such stories is to have other folks in positions of authority hyping Superferry. The KGMB report includes this plug, er, I mean, statement from Director of Civil Defense Adjutant General Robert Lee:
“'Our National Guard and Civil Defense will pay the $55 fare per heavy equipment to bring it over,’ said Adjutant General Lee. ‘I can bring it in on C-17 but the cost is so much more.’
The report continues: "He says the Superferry is the best and fastest way to transport its vehicles to Maui, despite all the controversy that's surrounded the ship. ‘I think the community of Maui would want us to bring the heavy equipment to help neighbors out in the case of this emergency. We're not bringing in any kind of invasive species from Oahu to Maui.’”
That’s the kind of advertisement that money can’t buy — but slick PR firms can. And what a clever way to discourage demonstrations! People are bound to look like bad guys if they protest a ferry carrying Guardsman on a supposed humanitarian mission.
Oh, btw, KGMB also reported that the Guardsmen “will be on Maui until all the storm damage is cleaned up.”
Now isn’t that convenient. If Maui folks do decide to act up over the holidays, when people have more time to get out and demonstrate, the cops and Coast Guard will have back up handy.
Lingle is one smart cookie. Must be why she's da leader of da "Unified Command."
I didn’t grab any opihi, squid or sea cucumber, but my friend found three great pieces of glass from Japanese fishing floats, including one with a rare double nipple, all of which he gave to me for my collection. The moon, already up, turned brighter as the sky faded to charcoal and dusky pink. I could have stayed forever, but I was wet from swimming and shaking from the cold, despite a thick sweatshirt.
On the way home I got a call from the owner of the dog, whose name is Daisy, and it turns out she was a former hunting dog, adopted from the shelter, and lost while hiking on the trail near my house. So they’re going to pick her up from the shelter today. We’re all pleased that story had a happy ending.
While we're on the topic of endings, it’s typical for newspapers in late December to do articles that capture the events of the past year, and so we have the Star-Bulletin today launching its “10 Who Made a Difference” line up with a piece on Superferry CEO John Garibaldi.
Besides the usual fluff that Garibaldi is prone to utter — "Now that we've started up our service to Kahului, and after seeing how that community has reacted to it and the support that we've seen from the various customers that have taken advantage of the Superferry in the first week, I'm very excited and looking forward to the future." — the article contained information about the substantial losses the company reportedly has suffered.
I thought this bit was interesting, seeing as how the Legislature’s bail-out bill supposedly was not aimed at Superferry: “Garibaldi estimates that lost revenue and fees for various legal and legislative proceedings during the 3 1/2 months the Superferry was shut down cost the company in excess of $10 million.”
I can’t help but wonder what kind of fees — and for exactly what services — Superferry was paying out during legislative proceedings that were intended not to benefit their company, but a generic high capacity ferry service. Ho! Magnanimous, dem.
The article also reported:
“Another daily round trip to Kauai has been postponed indefinitely due to the volatile situation there. ‘We're hoping to return there as soon as we can be assured it will be a safe environment for our passengers and the community,’ he said.
Hmmm, so if they can’t be assured of that, they won’t come? Awright!
The article continues:
“Garibaldi said one of the advantages in having the Maui service in operation now is that it can clear up a lot of the misunderstandings and misconceptions in how the ferry operates. ‘We can look to that example as the actual experience of what happens with the operation of the ferry,’ he said. ‘We're hopeful that will answer or address some of the concerns of the people within the state.”"
Yes, running the "Pukerferry" to Maui has made it clear that those on board can expect a sickening ride, (thanks to Disappeared News for posting the link to Pritchett’s carton) which looks like it will continue to get worse with the trades expected to pick up a couple of notches through next week.
Meanwhile, Gov. Lingle and her “Unified Command” are continuing to promote Superferry, this time by sending over National Guard troops to help clean up Maui’s storm damage.
This is such an obvious ploy to try out Superferry’s military transport abilities under the sugar-coated PR ploy of “community service.” I mean, come on! First, the storm was two weeks ago. And second, was Maui the only island that suffered such damage it warrants that sort of assistance?
Of course, it’s the kind of story that the TV stations lap up like kittens do cream, while the real objective of planting such stories is to have other folks in positions of authority hyping Superferry. The KGMB report includes this plug, er, I mean, statement from Director of Civil Defense Adjutant General Robert Lee:
“'Our National Guard and Civil Defense will pay the $55 fare per heavy equipment to bring it over,’ said Adjutant General Lee. ‘I can bring it in on C-17 but the cost is so much more.’
The report continues: "He says the Superferry is the best and fastest way to transport its vehicles to Maui, despite all the controversy that's surrounded the ship. ‘I think the community of Maui would want us to bring the heavy equipment to help neighbors out in the case of this emergency. We're not bringing in any kind of invasive species from Oahu to Maui.’”
That’s the kind of advertisement that money can’t buy — but slick PR firms can. And what a clever way to discourage demonstrations! People are bound to look like bad guys if they protest a ferry carrying Guardsman on a supposed humanitarian mission.
Oh, btw, KGMB also reported that the Guardsmen “will be on Maui until all the storm damage is cleaned up.”
Now isn’t that convenient. If Maui folks do decide to act up over the holidays, when people have more time to get out and demonstrate, the cops and Coast Guard will have back up handy.
Lingle is one smart cookie. Must be why she's da leader of da "Unified Command."
Friday, December 21, 2007
Musings: Dirty Laundry and Light
Heavy nighttime showers departed this morning, leaving behind a brown river that ran down the low side of the street. The sun rose as Koko and I walked, treating us to such visual delights as sunlight on the pastures, sparkling raindrops in the trees, a patch of rainbow in the clouds over Waialeale.
It felt good to get out and connect, and that’s the sense I got from people who attended the Superferry community meeting the other night. I didn’t go, but two friends called with reports, the nifty website savekauai.org posted an account and I received a few emails about it, too. Overall, the sentiment seemed to be it’s important to continue connecting as an empowered community to support efforts to malama Kauai.
Speaking of connecting, I just got an email from my Mom — a daily reader — wondering if I’m all right because I didn’t blog yesterday. It was the first time I didn’t post since I started Kauai Eclectic. But my body simply rebelled against extended computer time yesterday, and it turned into a rather busy day with visits from friends, as well as the Humane Society.
Yes, the hunting dog went to the shelter in hopes she will be found by her owner. My friend Kaimi, who stopped by after looking at the shelter for his own missing dog, encouraged it. Then my neighbor, who shares my yard, called KHS to pick up a dog harassing her cats, and so the paddy wagon was right there in my driveway. It seemed like all signs were pointing in that direction.
It also seems like signs are pointing toward the need for KKCR to look more closely at its community radio mandate. I listened to the call-in show about Kailualani’s dismissal yesterday, and the action ignited a lot of the long-standing resentment about the coup that turned KKCR from a forum for discussing community issues into primarily a music station. At the same time, the bylaws were altered so the board elects itself. The board recently voted to allow the membership to elect a few members, but that’s only a trial basis. I wrote about it in Kauai People. I also wrote a piece about the coup a while back for Honolulu Magazine, which I will try and scare up.
It’s definitely a divisive issue at the station, and it’s good to see it getting aired. One caller, who has a show of his own, said he was surprised that “our dirty laundry” was being discussed. Well, when you have a listener-supported community radio station, the dirty laundry belongs to all of us, not just those who are station insiders.
It seems Kauai’s albezia to energy project, which I wrote about in Honolulu Weekly, is also becoming a divisive issue among the alternative energy sector. While my article addressed primarily the concerns of growing albeizia, a highly invasive species, on prime ag land, there’s another aspect to the issue, and that’s the Green Energy Team’s power plant, which will burn the wood chips to produce 6.4 megawatts of energy for Kauai Island Utility Cooperative. That’s one-tenth of the utility’s supply. This project, slated for land near Koloa, 1.5 miles northeast of Knudsen Gap, is a joint effort of Bill Cowern and Eric Knutzen (the county's IT director, who is not related to the Knudsen Trust, which is why his name is spelled differently).
Apparently some within Apollo Kauai and Life of the Land feel it is inappropriate that the power plant’s Environmental Assessment (it’s a big document, so it loads slowly) was given a Finding of No Significant Impact (FONSI), and they believe a full EIS should be conducted.
I happen to agree. It seems impossible to me that building a facility that would burn “approximately 195 tons of agriculture biomass per day,” according to the EA, and use an unspecified amount of water from Koloa ditch for cooling purposes would have no environmental impacts. Additionally, it appears from the EA that Green Energy Team LLC has applied for a Covered Source Permit (CSP) from the Department of Health, in regard to air quality, but that permit has not yet been approved.
As Ken Taylor of Apollo Kauai argued in some email correspondence I was copied on, it’s important for conservation groups to be consistent in their calls for full environmental reviews — even for “green” biofuel projects. The deadline for comment on the EA Dec. 24, Christmas Eve.
Today is the solstice, the longest night, and from here on out, the light returns. It’s a good metaphoric message for all of us working toward change.
It felt good to get out and connect, and that’s the sense I got from people who attended the Superferry community meeting the other night. I didn’t go, but two friends called with reports, the nifty website savekauai.org posted an account and I received a few emails about it, too. Overall, the sentiment seemed to be it’s important to continue connecting as an empowered community to support efforts to malama Kauai.
Speaking of connecting, I just got an email from my Mom — a daily reader — wondering if I’m all right because I didn’t blog yesterday. It was the first time I didn’t post since I started Kauai Eclectic. But my body simply rebelled against extended computer time yesterday, and it turned into a rather busy day with visits from friends, as well as the Humane Society.
Yes, the hunting dog went to the shelter in hopes she will be found by her owner. My friend Kaimi, who stopped by after looking at the shelter for his own missing dog, encouraged it. Then my neighbor, who shares my yard, called KHS to pick up a dog harassing her cats, and so the paddy wagon was right there in my driveway. It seemed like all signs were pointing in that direction.
It also seems like signs are pointing toward the need for KKCR to look more closely at its community radio mandate. I listened to the call-in show about Kailualani’s dismissal yesterday, and the action ignited a lot of the long-standing resentment about the coup that turned KKCR from a forum for discussing community issues into primarily a music station. At the same time, the bylaws were altered so the board elects itself. The board recently voted to allow the membership to elect a few members, but that’s only a trial basis. I wrote about it in Kauai People. I also wrote a piece about the coup a while back for Honolulu Magazine, which I will try and scare up.
It’s definitely a divisive issue at the station, and it’s good to see it getting aired. One caller, who has a show of his own, said he was surprised that “our dirty laundry” was being discussed. Well, when you have a listener-supported community radio station, the dirty laundry belongs to all of us, not just those who are station insiders.
It seems Kauai’s albezia to energy project, which I wrote about in Honolulu Weekly, is also becoming a divisive issue among the alternative energy sector. While my article addressed primarily the concerns of growing albeizia, a highly invasive species, on prime ag land, there’s another aspect to the issue, and that’s the Green Energy Team’s power plant, which will burn the wood chips to produce 6.4 megawatts of energy for Kauai Island Utility Cooperative. That’s one-tenth of the utility’s supply. This project, slated for land near Koloa, 1.5 miles northeast of Knudsen Gap, is a joint effort of Bill Cowern and Eric Knutzen (the county's IT director, who is not related to the Knudsen Trust, which is why his name is spelled differently).
Apparently some within Apollo Kauai and Life of the Land feel it is inappropriate that the power plant’s Environmental Assessment (it’s a big document, so it loads slowly) was given a Finding of No Significant Impact (FONSI), and they believe a full EIS should be conducted.
I happen to agree. It seems impossible to me that building a facility that would burn “approximately 195 tons of agriculture biomass per day,” according to the EA, and use an unspecified amount of water from Koloa ditch for cooling purposes would have no environmental impacts. Additionally, it appears from the EA that Green Energy Team LLC has applied for a Covered Source Permit (CSP) from the Department of Health, in regard to air quality, but that permit has not yet been approved.
As Ken Taylor of Apollo Kauai argued in some email correspondence I was copied on, it’s important for conservation groups to be consistent in their calls for full environmental reviews — even for “green” biofuel projects. The deadline for comment on the EA Dec. 24, Christmas Eve.
Today is the solstice, the longest night, and from here on out, the light returns. It’s a good metaphoric message for all of us working toward change.
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