Musings: Muddled

So today is the last day the Joint Fact Finding Group will accept public comments on its report. Then tomorrow the panel is supposed to review all the comments in one day and amend the report accordingly.

Gee, that sounds like a thoughtful and contemplative process.

Peter Adler, the consultant who managed the JFF process, is profiled in the Star-Advertiser today. He talks about a number of his projects, including this one, which he gives a favorable spin, though most of it would deem it a catastrophe. But what caught my eye was this statement:

We’ve had some early indications that the state is really interested in some of the studies we’ve proposed. We’re a little late for this Legislature, but I think the governor is paying attention to this. Certainly the Kauai legislators are very focused and attentive to this, as are others, because this is really a much larger issue than just Hawaii.

A little late for this session? So was that the intent of this process all along, to drive legislation? And since only the anti groups are seeking that, what does that say about the objectivity of this process? And what's with the "we proposed?" Shouldn't it be "the group?" I mean, since he's supposed to the impartial facilitator and all that.

Moving on to what is clearly another election year ploy, Councilmen Gary Hooser and Mason Chock have proposed an “affordable rental” bill that could turn Lihue into a rabbit warren at best, and a ghetto at worst.

Yes, Hooser and Chock think so highly of renters that they're proposing to let them live in 400-square-foot units in the back of somebody's house on 3,500-square-foot lots in Lihue.

Yeah, pack 'em in like rats.

Now how in the world do they think that kind of density can be achieved “without substantially altering existing neighborhood character?”

And how do they plan to enforce the “no vacation rental” clause when the county has yet to get a handle on the hundreds of illegal TVRs currently in operation?

And won't people in other parts of the island rightly complain that they are being denied an opportunity to increase property values and gain additional income with this gift of increased density being offered only to denizens of Lihue?

Still, it's such a brilliant approach to garnering political support in Lihue, where Chock and Hooser languished in the last election.

Come on, guys. You can do better than this. Put on your thinking caps and come up with some decent affordable rentals — especially on the North Shore — for citizens who have been displaced by the explosion of vacation rentals that you've failed to properly manage.

But at least now the county is trying to clean up the TVR mess, with the Council approving $40,000 to continue funding special counsel for the illegal TVR hearings. The county currently is handling the B&B/homestays appeals itself, and will pick up the TVR caseload in the future.

And yet another media source has weighed in on the conflict around GMOs in Hawaii. It's not the usual hatchet job we're accustomed to, though The Economist blew it when it sent cub reporter Miranda Johnson, who was in way over her head. As a result, she failed to grasp the crux of the story — the pesticide paranoia is the offspring of what is at heart an anti-GMO campaign — and turned out a muddled mess that was filled with errors.

When I see how badly this story has been reported, it really makes me despair about the integrity and credibility of any news source any more. I guess this is what happens when everyone wants free content, and there's no money to train reporters.

Musings: "Implausible, Irresponsible and Incomplete"

Dr. Graham Chelius, a Board Certified Family Medicine physician who practices in Waimea, and lives in Kekaha, submitted some insightful comments to the Joint Fact Finding Group on agricultural pesticides on Kauai.

As you may recall, Dr. Chelius previously published a letter to the editor soundly refuting Councilman Gary Hooser's oft-made — and unfortunately, oft-published — claim that the westside had a birth defect rate 10 times the national average.

Dr. Chelius' comments on the JFFG report are so thoughtful and informative, from both a common sense and public health perspective, that I thought they should be shared with the general public:

I appreciate the immense amount of work that went into the report; however, I found the report to be amateur, incomplete, biased and irresponsible.

Here are some areas that need to be rectified:

As stated in the AAP policy "Pesticide Exposure in Children" which you cite, the greatest source of pesticide exposure for most children is food. Your report completely ignores this. Where are the recommendations to test for pesticides in school meals which many Westside children eat twice a day during the week? Who is monitoring for pesticide residue at Big Save and Costco? Who is educating the public about the greatest risk of exposure? The report should clearly state this fact. The report found virtually all testing for pesticides on Kauai to be very low level if found at all, suggesting that while monitoring should continue, the exposure risk to humans from agricultural use is lower than from other sources.

Even mentioning a non-peer reviewed unpublished high school science project smacks of desperation. This pathetic level of biased disregard for scientific integrity pervades the entire report. Only high quality data should be included. Including the opinion of a retired EPA employee from Chicago who did no original research on the Waimea Canyon School events is another example of laughable lack of scientific rigor.

Much of the report focuses on RUPs, without addressing if they are a greater health and environmental risk than GUPs. Then GUPs, such as glyphosate, are discussed at length without any data regarding the use pattern on the island, which certainly includes significant home, golf course and governmental use.

The explanation of the difference between causation and correlation in the appendix apparently did not translate to the report. As the report shows there are high rates of smoking, obesity and diabetes on the Westside. These exposures are known to be causative regarding a number of cancers, birth defects and developmental problems in offspring. 

Using your own language in the appendix, it is implausible that the low levels of pesticide exposure that the numerous studies have demonstrated on the Westside are responsible for the burden of disease found here. That is the difference between causation and correlation, and it is irresponsible to confuse the public by creating the impression that pesticides have caused disease on the Westside. An epidemiologist should have sat on the panel and one is needed to rewrite the health section. Also it needs to reflect the reality that it is very unlikely that the low levels of pesticide exposure that have been measured are causing any health effects when compared to the known risks of high rates of smoking, obesity and diabetes.

There are a number of residents on the Westside who suffer with kidney failure, all of whom have a known causative exposure, mostly diabetes and hypertension. It is important to note in the report that the one study you cite did not show low level pesticide exposure to cause kidney disease, it is only a correlation, and can be explained by changes in modern lifestyle and agribusiness. More pesticides of certain types are being used and people are generally more sedentary and eat differently causing more obesity, diabetes and hypertension. This again shows a level of bias that is irresponsible. First off, one study doesn't mean anything. Second, there are obvious other causative factors at play. It is so unlikely that pesticide exposure has anything to do with kidney disease on the Westside that even including it without clearly stating that is ridiculous.

Finally, $3 million is a huge amount of money that could be spent on far greater threats to the health of our community. In the last few years, there has been three motor vehicle deaths with in a 1 mile radius of my house, but no pesticide related deaths. Where is the $3 million for traffic cameras and police patrols? There is a very busy dialysis unit and frequent early deaths caused by diabetes on the Westside, where is the $3 million for case management and prevention? The children on the Westside have high rates of poor dental health, obesity and diabetes, where is the 1000 foot buffer zone for sugar around the school? Not addressing that there are well documented causes of disease which are more common and threatening than the minuscule pesticide exposure you found is shameful. 

Wasting our limited resources on what has essentially become a witch hunt against Westside Agribusiness is disgusting.

Yes, monitor for continued compliance with the law but clearly state that you came up empty handed, all of the tests show low levels, often due to legacy agricultural use, there is absolutely no scientific evidence of actual harm to humans or the environment, and the most likely exposure most people will have is from the store through food or home use of pesticides. 

As a comparison, we soon will have Zika virus spreading to Hawaii. Zika very likely causes birth defects and is not some long shot correlation based on sketchy data like much of the JFF report. Are we going to be so overwhelmed with fear of pesticides that people will resist mosquito control efforts? It will be interesting to see if we come full circle and embrace vaccines and pesticides when we see what an actual threat looks like.

Musings: Good and Bad Things

I initially opposed the Green Energy Hawaii biomass plant, which officially opened yesterday.

It seemed archaic to burn wood chips, and I doubted whether it would work. Frankly, it seemed like a scam, with its hefty federal loan guarantee.

But my primary concern was its request to lease 2,000 acres of state ag lands at Kalepa, which I thought should be saved for small farmers who could help Kauai become self-sufficient. I believed, like many in the “anti-GMO/aloha aina” movement, that affordable land was the primary obstacle in the advancement of local ag.

If land was available, I believed, the farmers, and the food, would follow.

I was wrong.

In the decade since Green Energy sought its Kalepa lease, no new farmers have requested land there, even though plenty is still available. And it's good land, with water, roads and reasonable terms. What's missing are farmers.

Green Energy initially wanted a 2,000-acre contiguous parcel of irrigated land. But local ag advocates — guys who actually farm and don't just talk about it — pushed back. Two-thousand acres was too much for a non-food project, they argued, and the irrigated acreage should be retained for small farmers. In the end, the state Agricultural Development Corp. approved a 1,000 lease of non-irrigated land.

Green Energy fixed the roads because they don't want their trucks to take a beating, and that benefitted the ranchers and banana farmer who have Kalepa leases. But one of their biggest contributions has been clearing albizia, eucalpytus and other weedy trees from prime agricultural land, both at Kalepa and on other former sugar lands.

These invasive trees quickly take over when active cultivation ends. Those who want to kick out the seed companies, and cheered the demise of HC&S on Maui, should keep that in mind. Once the jungle takes over, it's tough to knock it back.

I was up at Kalepa about a month ago, and was stunned at the massive piles of wood chips. That amount of clearing would have been prohibitively expensive for small farmers. Ultimately, the stumps will be removed so the land can be returned to production. And that — along with reducing the island's dependence on oil — is a good thing.

Just one of the massive chipped wood piles at Kalepa.

Not so good was The Garden Island's coverage of the Joint Fact-Finding Group's meeting. I don't know why the reporter failed to include more relevant comments from members, and instead gave space to such irrelevant players as Gary Hooser, Don Heacock — how, pray tell, is he still on the state payroll? — and the redshirt-clad, sign-holding Mahana Dunn, who sputtered, nonsensically: “We want a total ban on all of this until it has been proven safe.”

Well, girl, you ain't ever gonna get that, so you'd best start managing your expectations.

Dunn went on about how the JFFG report and “bureaucratic nonsense” was “getting us all riled up again.”

Actually, it's the repugnant rhetoric of people like Hooser and Earthjustice's Paul Achitoff that are getting the ignorant and gullible all riled up. Hooser recently took to his blog to claim credit for the reduction in seed cultivation locally — uh, sorry, Gary, but even you and your fistees are not as powerful as world commodity prices.

Both he and Achitoff are promising more lawsuits, which is great for groups like Earthjustice and Center for Food Safety, since that's how they make their dough and keep their propaganda-fundraising machine chugging — at the cost of our communities.

I was on HPR's “The Conversation” recently, responding to Achitoff's BS rhetoric and threats for more lawsuits. As I told the host:

“It's so sad for me to see the fear-mongering and divisiveness that's been created and people are suffering, local taxpayers are suffering, and really, it's just to promote the agenda of these special interest groups. I'm sad to see this continuing in my community. Until people really wise up, it's going to go on.”

Musings: 'Nuff Already

One thing became clear at last night's public meeting of the Joint Fact Finding Group: there is no unity among its members.

Nor was their unity among the 150 persons in attendance, at least half of whom were anti-antis.

The NBC “Dateline” crew was also there, chasing the “poisoning our keiki” bogeyman that had been pitched to them by anti-GMO activist Marghee Maupin. In running down that ghost, they've missed a truly compelling and tragic story: the ice epidemic that actually is ravaging “paradise.”

As the JFFG members spoke, it became apparent that the group did not function collaboratively, or harmoniously. But we won't see the solid proof of that until publication of the final document, which will contain a personal statement from each member. It's only too bad we weren't able to review the rationale behind their dissent and disagreement during the public comment period, rather than being led to believe that a majority endorse the words written by Accord 3.0 consultant Keith Mattson.

There was a lot of talk about what's being done in Europe and California, with Louisa Wooton holding up the Golden State as the golden example. I guess she doesn't realize that even there, where they apply some 200 million pounds of pesticides annually — more than anywhere else in the nation — restricted use pesticide data is published just once a year. Nobody is requiring real time, site-specific disclosure like the antis want and the JFFG report recommends.

Ironically, there was also a lot of talk about local rule. But it took Sarah Styan of DuPont-Pioneer to point out that only one panel member — Roy Yamakawa — was actually born and raised on Kauai, and he dropped out in disgust.

And who can blame him? Everybody's agenda was showing last night — including the facilitator's — making it obvious that a supposedly impartial fact-finding process was anything but.

Which is why we've got a report with a major disconnect between its findings — no evidence of any environmental or human harm due to agricultural pesticides in West Kauai — and its recommendations — extensive human and environmental testing, buffer zones, more detailed pesticide use disclosure.

Still, the Kauai Department of Water has already acted on one of those recommendations: testing the island's drinking water for chlorpyrifos. As you may recall, anti-GMO activist and Councilman Gary Hooser made a big fuss last fall, demanding that DOW test the water, even though DOW and the state Department of Health didn't think it was necessary. 

In March, DOW tested two sites on the westside — Kapilimao, which is located on the Mana plain where a lot of agricultural activity occurs, and Waimea Well B, the primary water source for the Waimea community. It also tested Kilohana Wells A&B, both located in an agricultural area near Lihue, and the Waiahi Water Treatment Plant at the Kapaia reservoir, which is the county's only surface water source and thus the most susceptible to contamination by drift.

And what did the testing find? No detectable levels of chlorpyrifos. Nada. Zip.

But DOW went even further. It asked the lab to review samples collected in November 2015 to determine whether there were indications of some 525 pesticides, including chlorpyrifos, in the four water sources that serve Waimea and Kekaha residents.

The results? Once again, “no detectable levels of any of the 525 pesticides/herbicides, including chlorpyrifos.”

This information was sent to Hooser on March 29. But though he's been relentless in sounding the alarm about the island's “contamination,” he has yet to spread the good news that the water is really clean.

Which is why the JFFG recommendations are essentially useless, in terms of diffusing the conflict. Even when evidence is presented that everything's OK, the antis refuse to accept it.

Gary and his “fistee” followers have repeatedly claimed that westsiders are being harmed by chlorpyrifos. But it's not in the water and it's not in the air. So how are they possibly being exposed?

In this case, it cost DOW $800 and six employee hours to conduct the tests. The other testing recommendations are conservatively estimated to cost taxpayers some $3 million annually.

How much more and time and energy should be expended to ease fears that have been wildly fanned by the anti-GMO groups, to appease people who will never be satisfied, even (or especially) when the news is good?

'Nuff already.

We've been letting a small, but loud, group of people hold sway.  Now it's time, in this election year, to hold people accountable for what they've done and said.

Musings: Unbelievable. Literally

The last thing Kauai needs is more foolish fear-mongering.

But that's what The Garden Island gave us yesterday when it reported that radar from the Pacific Missile Range Facility is killing Kauai's reefs.

Proving once again that it will repeat every idiotic thing that Terry Lilley utters, TGI devoted extensive front page coverage to the crackpot theory that an electrical current generated by the Navy's radar towers is corroding coral and electrocuting sea life.

Reporter Jessica Else regurgitated, without question, this gem from Lilley:

“If we could see the radiation like we can see light, the entire island would be lit up 24/7. That’s now much we’re exposed to every day.”

Except we aren't. It takes a lot of expensive electricity to run the radar towers, so the Navy turns them on only when there's an exercise. They aren't on round-the-clock. Furthermore, most of the towers are more than 40 years old, so they're frequently down for repairs.

Lilley's sidekick, a self-described chemical engineer from Atlanta named Stewart Simonson, marveled at finding “hundreds of tons of calcium carbonate” dissolved in the sea around reefs, before noting:

In the industry, if someone asked me to do that, I’d need tanker trucks of hydrochloric acid in concentrated form to get that much to dissolve.

Yo, Stu. Ever heard of the well-documented process known as ocean acidification? It compromises coral's ability to recolonize and grow sturdy structures, making it more vulnerable to diseases and damage caused by other threats, such as warming water temperature and chemical and nutrient pollution.

In fact, Slate recently had an article on how “Ocean waters are turning corrosive, and it’s happening so quickly scientists say there may not be any oysters left to eat in coming decades.”

And as a friend noted, folks use hydrochloridic acid by the five-gallon-bucket full to keep many of the outdated wastewater systems working in Haena. Now that can't be good for the reefs.

Undeterred by reality, Simonson extrapolates his mad theorizing to sea creatues, bolstering Lilley's claim that Navy radar is blinding turtles and blowing off their fins, and otherwise electrocuting sharks, whales and other marine life:

The turtle “is poking his head up and floating around a bit near the surface and getting juiced a bit near the surface,” Simonson said.

Lilley said it’s much more difficult to show a connection between electromagnetic radiation and human disease than it is to document the effect on marine life because of the secrecy of medical records.

Medical records be damned, I'm pretty sure we'd hear about it if a snorkeler went blind or a surfer's ears were shredded. 

As any good scientist knows, you check out your theories before presenting them authoritatively to a gullible, scientifically illiterate reporter. The scenario presented by Lilley and Simonson lacks credible methodology, much less adherence to the basic scientific principles of data collection, repeatability or verification. What's more, the suggested effects would manifest anywhere there is land/water interface with radars, which is clearly not the case.

Is it any wonder that PMRF commander Capt. Bruce Hay didn't respond to TGI's inquiries about those claims? Where would you even start?

And as any good reporter knows, you check things out before you go to press. Because once it's out there, people believe it, even if it's utter nonsense. TGI needs to stop giving Lilley a platform and develop a broader network of credible sources who aren't publicity hounds.

As a journalist friend observed after reading the story:

I've come to the conclusion that TGI can't really help the community but it sure can damage it. Unbelievable.

Musings: Dear Dateline

Is the Hawaii Center for Food Safety suffering an attack of conscience? Or is it just worried about being sued?

Yesterday, it sent out an email breathlessly — and brazenly — claiming:

Did you know that in the 1980’s autism prevalence in the US was reported as 1 in 10,000 but as of 2014 it is 1 in 45? Here in Hawaiʻi, this could be due to the heavy commercial pesticide use near schools and other sensitive areas.

Dr. Ryan Lee, a Pediatrician and Director of the Neurodevelopmental Clinic at Shriners Hospital, testified in strong support of buffer zones around schools after he read the overwhelming literature linking autism and pesticides exposure in children.

A few hours later, they sent out another email, this one supposedly “corrected by our staff scientist,” that contained none of the alarmist, inflammatory language — and no reference to Dr. Lee. Perhaps he wisely recoiled at the prospect of his good name being associated with that blatant fear-mongering.

As I noted in an email that I sent to CFS director Ashley Lukens, the issue of autism causation is not nearly so cut and dried as she is trying to pretend. But then, why let facts get in the way of good fear-fest?

Meanwhile, I'm hearing NBC's Dateline is on-island to do a story — at the behest of anti-GMO activists — about the “poisoning of paradise.” If Dateline is anything like the other media that have come here at the invitation of the antis, it will include only the perspectives of the true believers.

So I thought I'd pen this open letter.

Dear Dateline,

Please don't believe everything you hear from the red shirts. They've got a serious ax to grind, and they don't represent a majority view on Kauai.

I'm sharing two recent comments, both left by the same person, in hopes they will help your team understand the views of westsiders who typically keep their thoughts to themselves. The comments were left in response to another commenter, in reference to a conversation about the overturned anti-GMO/pesticide regulatory Bill 2491/Ordinance 960, and the resulting Joint Fact Finding Group:

The silent majority said from the start. Show the facts first before the bill. Now the JFFG wants to start the process, which is great. The JFFG also said no evidence to the claim.

The silent majority still waiting for data to back up the original 2491 claims.

We back to square 1, getting the data.

We are silent and make a difference when we voted. We silent because we live n work around ground zero.

We silent because we know pesticides not killing us. Drugs, diet, and prolonged abuse of our bodies shorten our lives. When the good Lord wants to take us he will.

For me! I'm not afraid of dying, I've been close a bunch of times. I'm ready if its my time.

We silent because when you look at the big picture of how this island functions and what we have, we know pesticides is the least of our worries.

FREAKING DRUGS IS! The zombies fucking up themselves n their families is at the tipping point. But you wouldn't know. You don't see or pay attention to that world.

Yea we silent. Drugs abuse is what we protecting ourselves from. And other things more important than pesticides.

When you were gone, we the silent majority was working our asses off to take care what was important to our communities. You not here long enough to FEEL the hurt of this freaking division.

I can only hope that Dateline doesn't come up with another hit piece — like the one done by Chris Pala — that serves only to spread lies that further the "freaking division."

Aloha,
Me

Musings: False Claims

So the state Department of Health says Hawaii Dairy Farms didn't cause the high enterococci bacteria counts at Waiopili ditch in Mahaulepu:

Currently, there is no significant impact to the Waiopili Ditch from any activity that can be attributed to the proposed dairy.

But we've heard no apology from Bridget Hammerquist or Carl Berg for smearing the dairy all these months with false accusations, or intentionally mischaracterizing a ditch as a natural stream:

What some call Waiopili Stream is actually a man-made drainage ditch at the terminus of the Mahaulepu Valley irrigation system which was constructed to drain the former Kapunakea Pond and connects to the Mahaulepu Drain. No sewer lines, injection wells or cesspools discharge directly into Waiopili Ditch; however, a healthy population of feral pigs, chickens, ducks, and sheep were observed in the area. Waiopili Ditch is on private land with limited public access and there was no evidence of recreational activity occurring within the Waiopili Ditch.

In other words, no keiki are playing there, as Bridget and Carl have claimed. The DOH report also pisses on Carl's contention that Kauai waters are constantly polluted with sewage, offering a very interesting review of the problems associated with using enterococci alone as an indicator (see page 9). 

But then, there's no money or publicity to be had in rational discussions, only hysterical fear-mongering.

Curiously, it turns out the real problem may be the doo doo produced by Bridget, the Hyatt and its guests and other anti-ag agitators on the southshore:

DOH is concerned that the large number of injection wells and cesspools in the adjacent Poipu/Koloa watershed may adversely impact the waters of the Waiopili Ditch. The geological and hydrological composition of the watershed indicate that these facilities may contribute to the high levels of enterococci detected in the Waiopili Ditch via the groundwater.

A portion of the injection wells and cesspools in the Poipu/Koloa watershed are located very close to the ocean, further leading to concerns that the beach fronting the Mahaulepu watershed may also be adversely impacted by the adjacent watershed.

In other words, tourists themselves may be polluting what Councilman Gary Hooser termed the “crown jewel of our visitor industry” while blasting the dairy. Oh, the irony. But hey, let's blame the dairy, even though it has yet to bring in a single cow.

Moving on to other news (and resisting the snarky segue), anti-GMO activist Fern Anuenue Rosenstiel pulled papers to run for the 14th District House seat now held by Derek Kawakami.

Fern's legislative experience is thus far limited to holding a SHAME banner at the state Capitol. But she's boning up as a student in the supposedly non-partisan Kuleana Academy candidate training program sponsored by Hooser's anti-GMO group, HAPA. Oh, what a surprise, that they're graduating one of their own.

Fern, a bartender and waitress at Tahiti Nui in Hanalei, also boasts that she directs the anti-GMO 'Ohana O Kaua'i, along with Dustin Barca, who two years ago made a failed bid for mayor. Hey, maybe he can connect her with the New York developers and Hawaii Life Realtors who financed his campaign. He might even have some surf swag left for handouts.

I'm hearing reports that Council Chair Mel Rapozo and mayoral assistant Nadine Nakamura may also be eying the 14^th District seat, since Derek plans to run for Council instead. 

Now let's see, who should we vote for? Nadine, a thoughtful, intelligent, experienced lawmaker who seeks to bring people together, or Fern, a loudmouthed bully and serial liar who has ripped our community apart?

No contest. Literally and figuratively.

Musings: Kooky

Ever get the feeling the Islands have gotten kinda kooky?

Over on the Big Island, telescope technician Tony Sylvester posted this Facebook account of a frightening incident that occurred yesterday morning at the Very Long Baseline Array, just below the Mauna Kea summit:

Attacked and assaulted today just because we work at one of the telescopes on Mauna Kea. The suspect gained entry by ramming our gates then used his vehicle to ram our outer steel doors multiple times and proceed to beat on our inner doors so much that we had to barricade the doors with desks and chairs till the police arrived.

The suspect was so full of hate as he peered through the crack between the doors. What a horrible and terrifying experience. Tomorrow is a special event held at the Mauna Kea visitors center to celebrate the one year anniversary of the TMT protest. It is so sad to see what Hawaii has become.

Here is the vehicle used to break down our doors. Lucky, we were able to get out of the way before getting crushed by this action. We were terrorized for one and a half hours before help arrived. The suspect destroyed our communications box so we were trapped and lost contact with the police dispatch. Our vehicles were also damaged by the suspect."

James Coleman — a haole guy from Kona — was arrested on suspicion of criminal property damage. He may also face charges of burglary and terroristic threatening, according to the Hawaii Tribune-Herald.

Meanwhile, it's nothing but “love and collaboration” over on Maui, where they're plotting the seizure of the HC&S sugar cane land.

“This is something we're doing out of love, not out of anger,” said Bruce Douglas, co-founder of SHAKA, the group that pushed the Maui anti-GMO moratorium that got thrown out of court. 

Now he's peddling an initiative that would condemn the sugar lands so they could be turned into “regenerative agriculture,” instead of gentleman's estates. You know, like the ones sold by SHAKA co-founder and Realtor Mark Sheehan.

Lorin Pang, the anti-GMO activist who moonlights as the Maui state health officer, admitted the idea came about because the antis ran out of ammo when their enduring enemy, HC&S, announced its closure:

“Now we're a little bit stuck, yeah. We can't say, stop those bad things. They say, we did.”

So instead of just being against everything, they had to find something they could be for. 

Their solution: Condemn A&B's sugar cane land, using money from general revenue bonds, so it can be turned over to all the wanna-bee farmers who are currently being denied, according to Douglas, their constitutional right to “agriculturally suitable lands.”

“It's for the public good,” Pang said. “It's not for profit.”

Meanwhile, Douglas was promising “full employment” for the island with this profit-less venture, which no doubt will be embraced by all the altruistic farmers who want to toil in the fields solely for the love of the aina and their fellow human beings.

And that was just the tip of the bullshit iceberg. Among Douglas' other wrong claims: Maui is the only county that elects Council members at large (hello, what about Kauai?); HC&S brought in and burned coal so its sugar ships didn't have to return empty from the mainland (uh, those ships came back empty 80% of the time); Maui sea turtle tumors are caused by “pesticides and nutrients from chemical fertilizers” (last I heard, sewage injection wells were to blame; Correx: there is no documented cause ); “Oahu has already developed all their prime ag land (well, except for the acreage that's growing more food than anywhere in the state); the Important Ag Land designation can be “changed with the stroke of a pen” (no, a two-thirds vote is required.)

Then there was that big whopper, where Douglas lied to HPR on Monday and claimed they weren't targeting the HC&S land, which he said is "dead and lifeless" — though somehow growing cane — and will require several years of remediation. No word on who is going to pay for that.

I'm sure there were more fibs, but I have to admit I kind of zoned out while listening when I Googled Bruce Douglas and learned he's a big chem trail activist, which may be how he and Pang got together.

My ears pricked, though, when I heard Pang say the Maui activists are different than A&B because “we're transparent.”

Oh, so that explains the email thread I saw on the activists' political strategy to end A&B's Maui water rights, where Sandra Ann Kauionalani Pratt says:

“We don't want to tell the community too much or we will confuse them.”

Yes, God forbid people should actually start thinking for themselves. And if they ask any questions, borrow a move from the awesomely transparent anti-GMO movement and attack, ostracize and silence them immediately. 

Musings: Magical and Not

In timing that couldn't be better for the Bernie-Donald campaigns, we learn that unicorns actually did once exist. Magical thinkers of America unite!

Ye unicorn of olde actually looked more like a wooly mammoth-sized rhinoceros than the oft-depicted white horse, and it's unlikely to have possessed special powers. But hey, don't let reality impinge on a good fantasy.

Until it slaps you upside the head.

Now that they've found unicorns, scientists are turning their attention to Mahaulepu, where they're busily hunting for shit. Literally. Actually, they're searching for a smoking gun, some proof that Hawaii Diary Farms forever fouled the aina with Enterococcus when it widened a ditch back in 2014. Not sure how, exactly, that would happen, unless they dug up an ancient kukae deposit. But ya never know.

So how much do you suppose it cost to fly in these “independent scientists from around the nation,” and who is footing the bill. There sure is a lot of dough floating around for activist causes. Maybe the council could slap a tax on agitation. At any rate, I hope the Hyatt was kind enough to comp rooms, since it's suing to stop the dairy.

Of course, they don't actually know nuttin' fer shure yet, but that's no reason why Councilman Gary Hooser shouldn't try, convict and execute the dairy in the press. After all, that strategy worked so well with the seed farms:

Hooser said water contamination is just the tip of the iceberg. He said the proposed dairy puts water aquifers at risk, jeopardizes coastal resources, and risks “serious negative impacts to the crown jewel of our visitor industry.”

Hell, yeah! Who needs local food production? Let them eat tourists. Or chickens. Or cats.

Actually, I find it rather amusing that the dairy — funded by Pierre Omidyar — is getting so much heat from the anti-ag activists he has helped to fund. Yes, Pierre, they will bite the hand that feeds them, so long as it's organic. And you are, right?

Speaking of Pierre, his publication, Civil Beat, has a column today lecturing KHON about its lapse of journalistic ethics in re-hiring Nestor Garcia. I couldn't resist leaving a comment asking whether the columnist planned to also examine Civil Beat's lapses, such as allowing Pierre to provide editorial direction when he's also bankrolling CB and numerous “nonprofit” advocacy groups, including some that are favorably covered in CB.

See, I'm prone to my own magical thinking.

Getting back to that elusive kukae, it really is serious stuff, especially when it comes from cats. As an article in Scientific American points out:

Uncontrollable, explosive bouts of anger such as road rage might be the result of an earlier brain infection from the toxoplasmosis parasite, an organism found in cat feces, a new study finds.

The study adds to a growing body of evidence suggesting that toxoplasmosis — usually a mild or nonsymptomatic infection from a protozoan parasite called Toxoplasma gondii — may somehow alter people's brain chemistry to cause long-term behavior problems. Previous studies have linked toxoplasmosis to schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, impulsivity and suicidal behavior.

OK. So Kauai has tens of thousands of defecating wild cats. Is it a stretch to think that their doo-doo is making people here all wild and pissed off and nuts? Suicide is the number one cause of death among the island's young people. Surely there has to be just one thing we can blame.

I mean, if we're going to accept that agricultural pesticides are poisoning the water, why not kitty poo?

In the meantime, you know something's going on when the mainland lawyers start circlin' and a-lickin' their chops:

I love how TGI labels it "paid advertisement." Because it is kind of hard to tell it apart from its usual sensationalistic news coverage.

Musings: Improper Influence

Though the Joint Fact Finding Group was supposed to be independent as it evaluated agricultural pesticide use on Kauai, its final report and recommendations were unduly influenced by anti-GMO/anti-pesticide activists.

Their influence includes reviewing scientific reports, serving as consultants to the JFFG, providing the JFFG with unpublished studies and even crafting language for the report. To wit:

Three of the four persons selected to serve as “Liaisons and Resources” to the JFFG are anti-GMO/anti-pesticide activists, yet they are never identified in the report as such. 

They include: Carl Berg, who is president of Surfrider, one of the groups that is appealing the judge's decision on Bill 2491/Ordinance 960; Milt Clark, a part-time Princeville resident who penned letters to the editor opposing pesticides and supporting Ordinance 960; and Malia Nobriga-Olivera, who signed on to an anti-GMO seafood campaign run by Friends of the Earth.

Berg also provided the JFFG with Surfrider water sampling reports and data on gylphosate in honey, which the group accepted and cited, even though none of that work has been written up for the rest of us to read, much less published and peer-reviewed.

Clark, meanwhile, was asked to review the state's air sampling study, which concluded the odiferous stinkweed was to blame for sickening students at Waimea Canyon Middle School. Clark claimed the symptoms were “far more likely related to pesticide exposures than from exposure to stinkweed organics,” which is not surprising, given his anti-pesticide bias. Yet despite that bias, his review is listed in the JFFG report appendix as “Independent Commentary on Pesticide Analysis Study.” Indeed, he specifically asked that it be appended to the JFFG report, and they obliged.

Really? They couldn't find any “liaisons and resources” who didn't have dogs in the fight? Who chose these people for these roles? And what other influence did they exert that isn't specifically outlined in the report?

The JFFG report also noted: “Several local residents on the Westside have reported what they believe may be an unusual number of dead or sick owls but no samples of blood or tissues for pesticide residues appear to have been taken to date.” It then cited a “Map of Dead or Injured Owls found on the Westside” for this unsubstantiated, anecdotal finding, with no mention that the man who provided it, Howard Hurst, is one of the WCMS teachers who has been actively fighting the seed companies.

Similarly, the group accepted data from pesticide “drift catcher” samples collected by the anti-GMO/anti-pesticide groups Hawaii SEED and Pesticide Action Network. Again, these findings have not been written up for public review, much less published. Yet the JFFG not only accepted a verbal account of the sampling, it cited one result of this totally unscientific effort as “indicat[ing] the need for additional monitoring to determine the status of drift from agricultural operations in the Westside.”

And as I've previously reported, the JFFG report references the honey in glyphosate study, which again we can't review because it hasn't been written up or published, without mentioning it was funded by Surfrider.

Meanwhile, language taken nearly verbatim from a June 18, 2015 intent to sue letter filed by the Center for Food Safety — one of the groups appealing the ruling on Ordinance 960 — and the Center for Biological Diversity is included in the appendix to bolster the report's findings on atrazine. It presents as fact conclusions drawn by these two anti-GMO groups, and never references the letter as the source:

2. Surface Waters and Aquatic Ecosystems

Atrazine is now known to be a highly potent endocrine disruptor and persists in the environment after its use. Extensive scientific research has demonstrated that atrazine causes substantial negative reproductive effects in a variety of taxa when exposure occurs, even at concentrations as low as 0.1 ppb. Impairing reproduction through endocrine disruption, lowering reproductive output, chemical castration, disrupting development and immunosuppresion are among the types of harms that atrazine causes, all of which represent significant sublethal effects not considered by the EPA.

If the shoe were on the other foot, and seed company supporters had similarly influenced the report and its recommendations, the activists would be screaming bloody murder. But since it's them doing the manipulating, it's no problem. Indeed, they're using the dirty data to bolster their claim that the report vindicates all their fear-mongering.

We were all waiting for the JFFG report to shed some light on the true situation regarding agricultural pesticides on Kauai. Instead, we've gotten a document that is long on bias and speculation and short on impartiality and facts.