As I watched the sunrise this morning, I recalled something my father used to say: “Red sky at morning, sailors take warning.” Given the crimson and purple streaks on the eastern horizon, it seems more unsettled weather is ahead.
The same can be said for the Superferry’s return to Kauai. An Advertiser article today includes more of the contradictions that have come to characterize official discussions about the vessel’s return.
It leads with this comment from Coast Guard Lt. John Titchen on preparations for a heightened response to enforce the federal “security zone” imposed at Nawiliwili Harbor:
"It is likely that we will use the best response platforms that we have. We may include small boats from assets on the Mainland," Titchen said. "We'll have to assess the situation, and our goal here is to mitigate any confrontation, to not exacerbate the situation."
And it ends with this comment from Superferry flack Brooke Wilson, of McNeil-Wilson Communications:
Superferry spokeswoman Wilson said company officials have plans for outreach efforts on Maui and Kaua'i, and "we're definitely open to ho'oponopono with some of the people who have opposed Superferry over the last few months."
So which will it be? Massing an army, or ho’oponopono? I’m not an expert on either, but it seems that if one is serious about reconciliation, then one does not go about preparing for war. And if one is serious about mitigating confrontations, one does not exaxcerbate the situation by bringing in more forces.
Sen. Gary Hooser caught on to that point, noting: "I don't believe healing rifts ... or repairing the community damage, I don't believe that's going to come from arresting people or increasing police presence. I don't think that's the answer."
Since the security zone was created solely for Superferry — perhaps even at its behest, via Gov. Lingle — it seems the corporation could ask for it to be eased. The question now is whether Superferry will push the situation, like it did in August, or take some time to resolve differences.
In other words, does the company really mean what it says about ho`oponopono, or is that just PR window dressing?
I have to head up to Hanalei for an interview soon, so I don’t have time to get into Lingle’s operating conditions for the ferry in today’s post.
However, one thing has me puzzled. According to the Advertiser, Lingle still hasn’t signed the Superferry bailout bill. Yet a Poinography! post says it was done on Friday. Which is it? And why the confusion?
Tuesday, November 6, 2007
Monday, November 5, 2007
Musings: Under Pressure
Brilliant Venus sidled up to a luminous slice of moon and Waialeale shrugged off a light shawl of clouds as Koko and I walked fast to stay warm in the chill of early morning. Drops from last night’s rain still clung to pasture gates, tree limbs, spider webs.
As I returned home, the sun struggled to emerge from a dense bank of clouds, briefly tinting it apricot, pink and gold, before fading to gray.
Ran into Andy and his pack of dogs, and we both expressed a bit of guilt about not attending yesterday’s Nawiliwili Ti Party demonstration against the Superferry.
But it sounds like they had a pretty good turnout, from the account in today’s Garden Island.
My hat is off to the folks who did gather in the water to show opposition to the federal security zone, which will prevent such access when the ferry starts running.
I wouldn’t ever want to swim at Nawiliwili Harbor, especially after a couple of days of heavy rain. Unfortunately, it’s yet another one of Kauai’s bays that all too often has unacceptably high levels of fecal bacteria, plus it’s also polluted with fuel from the boats and all kinds of crap that the steams — those that aren’t diverted to Waita Reservoir, anyway — pick up while winding their way through Grove Farm’s urbanization.
I was struck by one reported quote that had Timoteo Rysdale of Wailua saying: “The reason people live here is specifically to not be connected.”
While I’m sure his sentiment is not universal on Kauai, it does explain a lot of the opposition and point out the fallacy of Rep. Joe Souki’s claim that Supeferry will be “the glue” that binds the islands together.
Who ever said we want to be glued together, and why would that necessarily be a good thing?
I did get a giggle from a comment — “Hurry up, I want to unite the islands” — posted by “King Kamehameha” on an Advertiser story yesterday.
However, a report in today’s Star-Bulletin is no laughing matter:
“Asked why the Legislature returned to write a law especially designed to allow the ferry to sail, [Rep. Calvin] Say said it was public pressure and fears about the state's anti-business reputation.
‘There was a campaign by the media -- the surveys, the radio talk shows and also the negative statements that we are really so anti-business,’ Say said in an interview.
Also, Say said he and Senate President Colleen Hanabusa feared that the state would be liable if the Superferry sued because the state had given the ferry the needed approvals.”
So bogus surveys, coupled with hyperbolic, racist, inflammatory Oahu talk shows, Superferry’s own PR blitz and a bad decision by the Lingle Administration are all it took to turn our lawmakers into a bunch of cowering fools willing to throw the rule of law out the window?
Auwe! Things are much worse than I thought.
As I returned home, the sun struggled to emerge from a dense bank of clouds, briefly tinting it apricot, pink and gold, before fading to gray.
Ran into Andy and his pack of dogs, and we both expressed a bit of guilt about not attending yesterday’s Nawiliwili Ti Party demonstration against the Superferry.
But it sounds like they had a pretty good turnout, from the account in today’s Garden Island.
My hat is off to the folks who did gather in the water to show opposition to the federal security zone, which will prevent such access when the ferry starts running.
I wouldn’t ever want to swim at Nawiliwili Harbor, especially after a couple of days of heavy rain. Unfortunately, it’s yet another one of Kauai’s bays that all too often has unacceptably high levels of fecal bacteria, plus it’s also polluted with fuel from the boats and all kinds of crap that the steams — those that aren’t diverted to Waita Reservoir, anyway — pick up while winding their way through Grove Farm’s urbanization.
I was struck by one reported quote that had Timoteo Rysdale of Wailua saying: “The reason people live here is specifically to not be connected.”
While I’m sure his sentiment is not universal on Kauai, it does explain a lot of the opposition and point out the fallacy of Rep. Joe Souki’s claim that Supeferry will be “the glue” that binds the islands together.
Who ever said we want to be glued together, and why would that necessarily be a good thing?
I did get a giggle from a comment — “Hurry up, I want to unite the islands” — posted by “King Kamehameha” on an Advertiser story yesterday.
However, a report in today’s Star-Bulletin is no laughing matter:
“Asked why the Legislature returned to write a law especially designed to allow the ferry to sail, [Rep. Calvin] Say said it was public pressure and fears about the state's anti-business reputation.
‘There was a campaign by the media -- the surveys, the radio talk shows and also the negative statements that we are really so anti-business,’ Say said in an interview.
Also, Say said he and Senate President Colleen Hanabusa feared that the state would be liable if the Superferry sued because the state had given the ferry the needed approvals.”
So bogus surveys, coupled with hyperbolic, racist, inflammatory Oahu talk shows, Superferry’s own PR blitz and a bad decision by the Lingle Administration are all it took to turn our lawmakers into a bunch of cowering fools willing to throw the rule of law out the window?
Auwe! Things are much worse than I thought.
Sunday, November 4, 2007
Musings: Growthmania
It’s been wonderful to have this rain. I can literally see the plants rejoicing. Had the thrill of a little lightening show last night, too, as flashes illuminated clouds in both the eastern and northwest skies.
Spent several hours yesterday cleaning and cooking taro, then peeling and grinding it into poi in a Champion juicer. My friend Kaimi and I used to show kids how to pound poi the old fashioned way when we ran the educational program at a taro farm in Hanalei, but this was my first venture with a juicer. It worked really well, and now I’ve got fresh poi to share around.
As I processed the taro, listening to Country Comfort, Gabby, Olomana and the rain, I thought of how much our eating habits have changed since I was a kid. Cooking from scratch is almost an anomaly these days, as is cooking in a group, and so much of what we eat is heavily processed garbage imported from elsewhere.
I’ve been making a concerted effort to eat locally, as I think that is one cornerstone of sustainable living. I read the other day that Kauai cattlemen are shipping beef off-island because they don’t have a big enough market here on-island. Yet even locally-owned grocery stores like Big Save sell only mainland beef.
It seems to me that mainland and local beef is competitively priced, and the local meat, which is pasture fed rather than raised in those disgusting factory farm/feed lot set ups, has a far superior taste. It’s healthier, too, since it’s not so fatty.
Yesterday’s post about the fallacies of our endless growth approach to economics generated a comment from blogger Aaron Stene challenging me, and others who complain about over-development, “to look in mirror (sic) and come up with alternatives to the current unsustainable economic forces.”
OK, eating locally, and learning to like what can be grown easily in your own community, is one. But the most important first step is to change your consciousness, starting with the idea that growth is inevitable and good.
I became interested in ecology and environmental economics some 30 years ago when I was fortunate to have some akamai college professors. One of the most influential books I read is “Toward a Steady-State Economy,” edited by Herman Daly.
I pulled it off the shelf last night and found it’s just as cogent and applicable today as when I first read it. In future posts, I’ll share more from it, but let’s start with this, from an essay by Herman Daly:
“’Growthmania” is an insufficiently pejorative term for the paradigm or mind-set that always puts growth in first place — the attitude that there is no such thing as enough, that cannot conceive of too much of a good thing.
“Growthmania is the attitude in economic theory that begins with the theological assumption of infinite wants, and then with infinite hubris goes on to presume that the original sin of infinite wants has its redemption vouchsafed by the omnipotent savior of technology, and that the first commandment is to produce more and more goods for more and more people, world without end. And that this is not only possible, but desirable.
“The growth paradigm has outlived its usefulness. It is a senile ideology that should be unceremoniously retired into the history of economic doctrines…. What will the new paradigm be? This idea is that of the steady state economy.
“The world is finite, the ecosystem is a steady state. The human economy is a subsystem of the steady-state ecosystem. Therefore at some level and over some time period the subsystem must also become a steady state, at least in its physical dimensions of people and physical wealth.
“Such a policy is radical, but less radical than attempting the impossible, i.e., growing forever.”
Spent several hours yesterday cleaning and cooking taro, then peeling and grinding it into poi in a Champion juicer. My friend Kaimi and I used to show kids how to pound poi the old fashioned way when we ran the educational program at a taro farm in Hanalei, but this was my first venture with a juicer. It worked really well, and now I’ve got fresh poi to share around.
As I processed the taro, listening to Country Comfort, Gabby, Olomana and the rain, I thought of how much our eating habits have changed since I was a kid. Cooking from scratch is almost an anomaly these days, as is cooking in a group, and so much of what we eat is heavily processed garbage imported from elsewhere.
I’ve been making a concerted effort to eat locally, as I think that is one cornerstone of sustainable living. I read the other day that Kauai cattlemen are shipping beef off-island because they don’t have a big enough market here on-island. Yet even locally-owned grocery stores like Big Save sell only mainland beef.
It seems to me that mainland and local beef is competitively priced, and the local meat, which is pasture fed rather than raised in those disgusting factory farm/feed lot set ups, has a far superior taste. It’s healthier, too, since it’s not so fatty.
Yesterday’s post about the fallacies of our endless growth approach to economics generated a comment from blogger Aaron Stene challenging me, and others who complain about over-development, “to look in mirror (sic) and come up with alternatives to the current unsustainable economic forces.”
OK, eating locally, and learning to like what can be grown easily in your own community, is one. But the most important first step is to change your consciousness, starting with the idea that growth is inevitable and good.
I became interested in ecology and environmental economics some 30 years ago when I was fortunate to have some akamai college professors. One of the most influential books I read is “Toward a Steady-State Economy,” edited by Herman Daly.
I pulled it off the shelf last night and found it’s just as cogent and applicable today as when I first read it. In future posts, I’ll share more from it, but let’s start with this, from an essay by Herman Daly:
“’Growthmania” is an insufficiently pejorative term for the paradigm or mind-set that always puts growth in first place — the attitude that there is no such thing as enough, that cannot conceive of too much of a good thing.
“Growthmania is the attitude in economic theory that begins with the theological assumption of infinite wants, and then with infinite hubris goes on to presume that the original sin of infinite wants has its redemption vouchsafed by the omnipotent savior of technology, and that the first commandment is to produce more and more goods for more and more people, world without end. And that this is not only possible, but desirable.
“The growth paradigm has outlived its usefulness. It is a senile ideology that should be unceremoniously retired into the history of economic doctrines…. What will the new paradigm be? This idea is that of the steady state economy.
“The world is finite, the ecosystem is a steady state. The human economy is a subsystem of the steady-state ecosystem. Therefore at some level and over some time period the subsystem must also become a steady state, at least in its physical dimensions of people and physical wealth.
“Such a policy is radical, but less radical than attempting the impossible, i.e., growing forever.”
Saturday, November 3, 2007
Musings: Going, Going, Gone
It was hard to walk this morning because I kept looking up — at the waning moon, Orion, Makalii, Venus, Arcturus, the Big Dipper , a sky chock full of stars and constellations. The dew was thick and the air was downright cold. Winter, Kauai-style, is here.
Ever since I was on the HPR program the other day, I’ve been thinking of one Hawaiian woman who broke into tears during her call as she recounted the many places on Oahu lost to fences, development, other people.
I felt like crying myself, just listening to her, and I’m sure others did, too. There’s a lot of grieving going on in Hawaii, both for what has been lost, and what is still going, going, gone.
As a friend, born and raised in Kilauea and now deceased, once told me: everybody comes here with their ideas of what Hawaii could be, and the locals just mourn what was.
A recent post on the Poinography! blog included floor comments by Rep. Caldwell in favor of the Superferry bailout bill, in which he noted: “Whether you agree with him or not, Maui Council Chair Riki Hokama summed it up this way in Monday’s House hearing: “When are we saying enough is enough?” and “Who are we building for?”
On Kauai, aside from bit of affordable housing required under resort project approval, we’re primarily building for people who don’t live here.
In Princeville, a massive new hotel and rows of condos all alike are springing up to cater to the timeshare visitor trade, while in Koloa, some 3,000 units are underway, geared to the second home/vacation rental market.
Our agricultural lands are being consumed for lavish gentleman estates, and our coastal bluffs are crowned with mansions. Only two wild beaches — and by that I mean those unmarred by human development — remain on the North Shore, and I won’t name them here, because to use the words of writer Brian Doyle, whatever we look at, we destroy.
In nearly all these newly constructed dwellings, the lights are on — both inside the houses and illuminating the landscaping — but no one’s home, because the owners don’t live here. And many of them never will because they look at these houses as investments, spec properties they’ll spin when the market is right, not homes in a larger community.
Sure, these projects provide construction jobs now, which are often filled by imported workers because the local labor force is maxed out, and later they’ll generate more employment for those who clean the yards and homes.
But we don’t need more of this kind of employment, just like we don’t need more super-sized houses or folks who move here solely for the lifestyle and climate and are dismissive of the land and culture — people who contribute nothing to the community and indeed, often hold themselves apart.
And we definitely don’t need more Hawaiians crying and locals leaving because they no longer have or can afford a place in their own home.
What we do need is to ask, and answer with honesty: when are we going to say, enough is enough, and who are we building for?
Because it's a myth that the destruction is inevitable, and that we have to go on this way.
Ever since I was on the HPR program the other day, I’ve been thinking of one Hawaiian woman who broke into tears during her call as she recounted the many places on Oahu lost to fences, development, other people.
I felt like crying myself, just listening to her, and I’m sure others did, too. There’s a lot of grieving going on in Hawaii, both for what has been lost, and what is still going, going, gone.
As a friend, born and raised in Kilauea and now deceased, once told me: everybody comes here with their ideas of what Hawaii could be, and the locals just mourn what was.
A recent post on the Poinography! blog included floor comments by Rep. Caldwell in favor of the Superferry bailout bill, in which he noted: “Whether you agree with him or not, Maui Council Chair Riki Hokama summed it up this way in Monday’s House hearing: “When are we saying enough is enough?” and “Who are we building for?”
On Kauai, aside from bit of affordable housing required under resort project approval, we’re primarily building for people who don’t live here.
In Princeville, a massive new hotel and rows of condos all alike are springing up to cater to the timeshare visitor trade, while in Koloa, some 3,000 units are underway, geared to the second home/vacation rental market.
Our agricultural lands are being consumed for lavish gentleman estates, and our coastal bluffs are crowned with mansions. Only two wild beaches — and by that I mean those unmarred by human development — remain on the North Shore, and I won’t name them here, because to use the words of writer Brian Doyle, whatever we look at, we destroy.
In nearly all these newly constructed dwellings, the lights are on — both inside the houses and illuminating the landscaping — but no one’s home, because the owners don’t live here. And many of them never will because they look at these houses as investments, spec properties they’ll spin when the market is right, not homes in a larger community.
Sure, these projects provide construction jobs now, which are often filled by imported workers because the local labor force is maxed out, and later they’ll generate more employment for those who clean the yards and homes.
But we don’t need more of this kind of employment, just like we don’t need more super-sized houses or folks who move here solely for the lifestyle and climate and are dismissive of the land and culture — people who contribute nothing to the community and indeed, often hold themselves apart.
And we definitely don’t need more Hawaiians crying and locals leaving because they no longer have or can afford a place in their own home.
What we do need is to ask, and answer with honesty: when are we going to say, enough is enough, and who are we building for?
Because it's a myth that the destruction is inevitable, and that we have to go on this way.
Friday, November 2, 2007
Musings: Mending Fences
All the celestial bodies were obscured when Koko and I set out this morning, but still there was enough light to showcase flat-topped Waialeale, up to its neck in clouds.
By the end of our walk, which included pleasant exchanges with farmer Jerry, who stopped on his way to work with a tip for this blog, and my neighbor Andy, who was walking four dogs, the clouds had all piled up in the mountains, clearing the way for a pink and gold sunrise.
I’ve been thinking about whether it’s possible for Hawaii Superferry, Gov. Linda Lingle and folks here on Kauai to have more pleasant exchanges than we have in the past.
On last evening’s “Town Square” radio program, Sen. Gary Hooser noted he has urged HSF to engage in third-party dispute resolution with the people of Kauai, perhaps with the help of the Sen. Spark Matsunaga Peace Institute.
It’s a good idea, but Big Island journalist Hunter Bishop, another guest on the show, expressed some skepticism that Superferry would participate, asking what incentive it had for doing so.
The company could be motivated by economic concerns; after all, it’s not such great publicity to have your ship greeted with angry hordes and SWAT teams, and one Oahu caller wondered whether it was safe to travel on the vessel.
But even though Senate President Colleen Hanabusa also urged Superferry to mend fences with the Neighbor Islands, it’s difficult to know from the company’s public comments whether it will be motivated to take such steps now that it’s gotten the yellow light to go.
On the one hand, we have Tig Krekel, the vice chairman of J.F. Lehman & Co., the Superferry's main investor. When asked by the Advertiser how the company planned to handle resistance on the Neighbor Islands, he responded:
"Do not confuse a very loud minority with speaking for all the people of Kauai. We have received countless communications from Kauai residents about how embarrassed they are and that the loud minority of activists, not environmentalists — but activists — do not speak for them.
"So we're hopeful that that situation will calm down."
And on the other, we have this Advertiser report:
John Garibaldi, Superferry's president and chief executive officer, said executives would do community outreach on Maui and Kaua'i to address some of the intense feelings against the project that have surfaced in the two months since the state Supreme Court ruled an environmental review was necessary.
"I hope they would give us a chance," Garibaldi said of the critics. "I think it's something that if they look to all the work that has been done, the leadership we have done — and they take the time to understand that — that we are very, very caring about the environment.
"That's been a concern about us, but we're a group of individuals who started this company who live here in Hawai'i. So we care as much about the environment, about the way of life, about Hawai'i, as they do. And hopefully, together we can open communications, frank discussions, and come to an understanding that maybe not everyone is happy with but allows us to provide this service."
They haven’t asked my advice, but if they did, I’d tell Tig he’d best not hope things will calm down on their own, and it’s a mistake to underestimate the size and determination of the opposition on Kauai.
Then I’d tell John to drop the BS and the platitudes. If the company was truly “very, very caring about the environment,” it would have done the EIS from the get-go, rather than lobby hard to weasel out of it. And if it really wanted to have open communications and frank discussions, it would have sat down with the Neighbor Islanders and had that chat a long time ago.
The Advertiser also reports today:
Lingle said she believes she can help bring people together on Superferry but could use some help. She said she plans to be on Maui and Kaua'i — where protesters against Superferry have been organizing — in the coming month.
"I think I have a very important role to play, anytime there's a leadership issue for the community," she said.
But she added: "I think the faith-based community is also very important here."
Lingle also said she believes harbor security has been improved since protesters on Kaua'i blocked the ferry from Nawiliwili Harbor in August. "I'm certain that the Coast Guard will be properly prepared in both places," she said.
Again, Lingle didn’t seek my counsel, but I would tell her she is definitely NOT the one to bring people together on this issue, since she played such a prominent role in tearing them apart. And so long as she’s still talking about harbor security — aka “Unified Command” crackdown — she is not going to get a warm welcome from those who need soothing.
Perhaps she should time her visit to Kauai to coincide with the Superferry’s arrival, so she can assess the situation for herself — and call off her dogs if they start to get vicious.
Gary made another good point when he said Lingle and Superferry need to acknowledge that “things have gone wrong.”
Saying “I’m sorry” won’t mend all the rifts, but it could start the healing process. So far, however, Lingle has refused to acknowledge that she or her Administration made any mistakes in this debacle.
If she fancies herself a good leader, perhaps she could begin by showing some accountability and humility. Otherwise, I’m sorry to say, she’s likely to be met with more heckling and boos on Kauai — unless she carefully chooses her audience in the manner of President Bush.
By the end of our walk, which included pleasant exchanges with farmer Jerry, who stopped on his way to work with a tip for this blog, and my neighbor Andy, who was walking four dogs, the clouds had all piled up in the mountains, clearing the way for a pink and gold sunrise.
I’ve been thinking about whether it’s possible for Hawaii Superferry, Gov. Linda Lingle and folks here on Kauai to have more pleasant exchanges than we have in the past.
On last evening’s “Town Square” radio program, Sen. Gary Hooser noted he has urged HSF to engage in third-party dispute resolution with the people of Kauai, perhaps with the help of the Sen. Spark Matsunaga Peace Institute.
It’s a good idea, but Big Island journalist Hunter Bishop, another guest on the show, expressed some skepticism that Superferry would participate, asking what incentive it had for doing so.
The company could be motivated by economic concerns; after all, it’s not such great publicity to have your ship greeted with angry hordes and SWAT teams, and one Oahu caller wondered whether it was safe to travel on the vessel.
But even though Senate President Colleen Hanabusa also urged Superferry to mend fences with the Neighbor Islands, it’s difficult to know from the company’s public comments whether it will be motivated to take such steps now that it’s gotten the yellow light to go.
On the one hand, we have Tig Krekel, the vice chairman of J.F. Lehman & Co., the Superferry's main investor. When asked by the Advertiser how the company planned to handle resistance on the Neighbor Islands, he responded:
"Do not confuse a very loud minority with speaking for all the people of Kauai. We have received countless communications from Kauai residents about how embarrassed they are and that the loud minority of activists, not environmentalists — but activists — do not speak for them.
"So we're hopeful that that situation will calm down."
And on the other, we have this Advertiser report:
John Garibaldi, Superferry's president and chief executive officer, said executives would do community outreach on Maui and Kaua'i to address some of the intense feelings against the project that have surfaced in the two months since the state Supreme Court ruled an environmental review was necessary.
"I hope they would give us a chance," Garibaldi said of the critics. "I think it's something that if they look to all the work that has been done, the leadership we have done — and they take the time to understand that — that we are very, very caring about the environment.
"That's been a concern about us, but we're a group of individuals who started this company who live here in Hawai'i. So we care as much about the environment, about the way of life, about Hawai'i, as they do. And hopefully, together we can open communications, frank discussions, and come to an understanding that maybe not everyone is happy with but allows us to provide this service."
They haven’t asked my advice, but if they did, I’d tell Tig he’d best not hope things will calm down on their own, and it’s a mistake to underestimate the size and determination of the opposition on Kauai.
Then I’d tell John to drop the BS and the platitudes. If the company was truly “very, very caring about the environment,” it would have done the EIS from the get-go, rather than lobby hard to weasel out of it. And if it really wanted to have open communications and frank discussions, it would have sat down with the Neighbor Islanders and had that chat a long time ago.
The Advertiser also reports today:
Lingle said she believes she can help bring people together on Superferry but could use some help. She said she plans to be on Maui and Kaua'i — where protesters against Superferry have been organizing — in the coming month.
"I think I have a very important role to play, anytime there's a leadership issue for the community," she said.
But she added: "I think the faith-based community is also very important here."
Lingle also said she believes harbor security has been improved since protesters on Kaua'i blocked the ferry from Nawiliwili Harbor in August. "I'm certain that the Coast Guard will be properly prepared in both places," she said.
Again, Lingle didn’t seek my counsel, but I would tell her she is definitely NOT the one to bring people together on this issue, since she played such a prominent role in tearing them apart. And so long as she’s still talking about harbor security — aka “Unified Command” crackdown — she is not going to get a warm welcome from those who need soothing.
Perhaps she should time her visit to Kauai to coincide with the Superferry’s arrival, so she can assess the situation for herself — and call off her dogs if they start to get vicious.
Gary made another good point when he said Lingle and Superferry need to acknowledge that “things have gone wrong.”
Saying “I’m sorry” won’t mend all the rifts, but it could start the healing process. So far, however, Lingle has refused to acknowledge that she or her Administration made any mistakes in this debacle.
If she fancies herself a good leader, perhaps she could begin by showing some accountability and humility. Otherwise, I’m sorry to say, she’s likely to be met with more heckling and boos on Kauai — unless she carefully chooses her audience in the manner of President Bush.
Thursday, November 1, 2007
Musings: What's Really at Stake
Awoke this morning to the lingering scent of burning pumpkin. Outside, the street was black and shiny with rain; the sky was black and shiny with stars, Orion’s belt among them. Overhead, a perfect half moon persisted, even as dawn brought light to the sky.
Ran into my neighbor Andy on my walk, but we couldn’t chat long because he was being pulled along by his daughter’s dog, which was rarin’ to go — much the same way the state Legislature was pulled along by Gov. Lingle and the Superferry, both rarin’ to go.
Now that the Legislature has passed the bill that allows the ferry to run, all that remains is for the governor to come up with some operating conditions. Within two weeks, the ferry could be ready to sail.
That’s worrisome enough for many Neighbor Islanders. But even more disturbing for the state as a whole is what will be left in Superferry’s wake.
I was troubled to read that a number of Senators had deep reservations about going into special session to pay off what is essentially a gambling debt incurred by Lingle and Superferry investors, but they went along with the bailout bill because so many people want the ferry.
And that’s precisely what’s so insidious and distressing about this whole Superferry scenario. Yes, politicians are supposed to be responsive to their constituents, but the reason we follow the rule of law is to avoid mob rule.
In the case of the Superferry, the Hawaii Supreme Court ruled an environmental assessment was needed before the vessel could operate. That’s the interpretation of state law handed down by an impartial panel of judges appointed to provide precisely that service.
The danger arises when someone like the governor decides she doesn’t like that ruling and then sets out to achieve a different outcome, supported by a crowd whose opinion has been formed by a slick, misleading, corporate-funded PR campaign and media coverage that is skewed and largely superficial.
The result is essentially mob rule, even if it’s executed under the seeming civility of legislative proceedings, and an emasculation of a court system whose purpose is to avoid precisely this sort of public hysteria and political favoritism.
I urge you to read this commentary by Chief Justice Ronald T.Y. Moon, which eloquently expresses the value of maintaining and respecting an independent judiciary, using the infamous “Massie Case” as an example.
A few lawmakers got it, and they voted no. Others apparently got it, but went ahead and voted ye with angst. A majority, however, appear to be clueless about what’s really at stake here.
While much has been made about the environmental implications of allowing the ferry to run without a legally mandated review, and the social divisions created by the controversy, the crux of the issue is the blatant disregard for the rule and process of law.
We’ve already seen this happening at the federal level, and now our Republican governor, with the support of a weak and malleable Legislature, has brought it home to Hawaii.
And that’s something that won’t be fixed by advisory task forces, incidental take permits, vehicle inspections or an EIS.
Ran into my neighbor Andy on my walk, but we couldn’t chat long because he was being pulled along by his daughter’s dog, which was rarin’ to go — much the same way the state Legislature was pulled along by Gov. Lingle and the Superferry, both rarin’ to go.
Now that the Legislature has passed the bill that allows the ferry to run, all that remains is for the governor to come up with some operating conditions. Within two weeks, the ferry could be ready to sail.
That’s worrisome enough for many Neighbor Islanders. But even more disturbing for the state as a whole is what will be left in Superferry’s wake.
I was troubled to read that a number of Senators had deep reservations about going into special session to pay off what is essentially a gambling debt incurred by Lingle and Superferry investors, but they went along with the bailout bill because so many people want the ferry.
And that’s precisely what’s so insidious and distressing about this whole Superferry scenario. Yes, politicians are supposed to be responsive to their constituents, but the reason we follow the rule of law is to avoid mob rule.
In the case of the Superferry, the Hawaii Supreme Court ruled an environmental assessment was needed before the vessel could operate. That’s the interpretation of state law handed down by an impartial panel of judges appointed to provide precisely that service.
The danger arises when someone like the governor decides she doesn’t like that ruling and then sets out to achieve a different outcome, supported by a crowd whose opinion has been formed by a slick, misleading, corporate-funded PR campaign and media coverage that is skewed and largely superficial.
The result is essentially mob rule, even if it’s executed under the seeming civility of legislative proceedings, and an emasculation of a court system whose purpose is to avoid precisely this sort of public hysteria and political favoritism.
I urge you to read this commentary by Chief Justice Ronald T.Y. Moon, which eloquently expresses the value of maintaining and respecting an independent judiciary, using the infamous “Massie Case” as an example.
A few lawmakers got it, and they voted no. Others apparently got it, but went ahead and voted ye with angst. A majority, however, appear to be clueless about what’s really at stake here.
While much has been made about the environmental implications of allowing the ferry to run without a legally mandated review, and the social divisions created by the controversy, the crux of the issue is the blatant disregard for the rule and process of law.
We’ve already seen this happening at the federal level, and now our Republican governor, with the support of a weak and malleable Legislature, has brought it home to Hawaii.
And that’s something that won’t be fixed by advisory task forces, incidental take permits, vehicle inspections or an EIS.
Meat of the Superferry Bill
The House has approved the Superferry bailout bill, which now moves on to the governor, who is charged with setting operating conditions for the vessel.
Kauai Reps. Mina Morita and Jimmy Tokioka voted against the bill. Rep. Roland Sagum voted yes.
The bill requires a state audit — due by March 1, 2008 — of the process by which the Lingle Administration exempted harbor construction done to accommodate the ferry, as well as its secondary impacts.
It also requires Superferry to apply for a federal “incidental take” permit, which would allow it to kill or injure a specified number of whales without facing fines or criminal charges. The process could impose additional operating conditions on the ferry, but will take more than a year to complete.
The bill further established an advisory task force, under the management of the DOT, to review ferry operations and make regular reports to the Legislature.
Here is an excerpt from Rep. Morita’s testimony on the House floor yesterday:
Mr. Speaker, I rise in opposition to this measure. The constitution of the State of Hawaii grants this body the power to enact legislation that is not inconsistent with the constitutions of the United States and Hawaii. We generally make laws to protect the health, safety and welfare of Hawaii's people and its environment. We should not be making laws to correct political fixes gone bad which is what Senate Bill 1, Senate Draft 1 attempts to do. I want to emphasize, in this bill this body is not making a new policy or protecting the public interest. Rather, Senate Bill 1, Senate Draft 1 establishes a process to circumvent existing laws to facilitate a permitting process.
Furthermore, our State Constitution, Article XI, Section 9 states:
Each person has the right to a clean and healthful environment, as defined by laws relating to environmental quality, including control of pollution and conservation, protection and enhancement of natural resources. Any person may enforce this right against any party, public or private, through appropriate legal proceedings, subject to reasonable limitations and regulation as provided by law.
In Sierra Club v. Department of Transportation, Civil No. 05-1-0114(3) (Declaratory Judgment), October 9, 2007, Judge Joseph Cardoza found and concluded "that the balance of irreparable damage favors the issuance of a permanent injunction in this case as Plaintiffs have demonstrated the possibility of irreparable injury with respect to the environmental impacts of Hawaii Superferry operations on natural resources, protected species, increased introduction of invasive species and causing social and cultural impacts." Furthermore, the Court also found and concluded that "the public interest in implementing the environmental review process supports the granting of a permanent injunction in this case."
There is no dispute that the legislative intent of Chapter 343, specifically HRS 343-5(b) requires that the "acceptance of the requested final statement shall be a condition precedent to the implementation of the proposed action." And, simply put, Senate Bill 1, Senate Draft 1 clearly abrogates the constitutional rights of the plaintiffs in Sierra Club v. Department of Transportation.
There is no effort in this measure to "strike a balance between the issues of public interest and concerns for the environment" by allowing the Hawaii Superferry to operate. The public interest is served only when the rule of law is followed, not by changing the law to serve the interests of one company, especially after a judicial ruling and injunction against said company.
This body's own committee report states "Your Committees believe that State officials should have been more vigilant in the interests of protecting the environment while seeking to enhance the economy of the State and that more due diligence is required when making decisions that may have significant environmental impacts for future generations." Well, will someone please explain to me how you all can pass this measure and honestly say we are acting in the public's interest when the committee report clearly states otherwise and that the Administration was clearly derelict in its responsibilities to follow the law and protect the public's interest.
Kauai Reps. Mina Morita and Jimmy Tokioka voted against the bill. Rep. Roland Sagum voted yes.
The bill requires a state audit — due by March 1, 2008 — of the process by which the Lingle Administration exempted harbor construction done to accommodate the ferry, as well as its secondary impacts.
It also requires Superferry to apply for a federal “incidental take” permit, which would allow it to kill or injure a specified number of whales without facing fines or criminal charges. The process could impose additional operating conditions on the ferry, but will take more than a year to complete.
The bill further established an advisory task force, under the management of the DOT, to review ferry operations and make regular reports to the Legislature.
Here is an excerpt from Rep. Morita’s testimony on the House floor yesterday:
Mr. Speaker, I rise in opposition to this measure. The constitution of the State of Hawaii grants this body the power to enact legislation that is not inconsistent with the constitutions of the United States and Hawaii. We generally make laws to protect the health, safety and welfare of Hawaii's people and its environment. We should not be making laws to correct political fixes gone bad which is what Senate Bill 1, Senate Draft 1 attempts to do. I want to emphasize, in this bill this body is not making a new policy or protecting the public interest. Rather, Senate Bill 1, Senate Draft 1 establishes a process to circumvent existing laws to facilitate a permitting process.
Furthermore, our State Constitution, Article XI, Section 9 states:
Each person has the right to a clean and healthful environment, as defined by laws relating to environmental quality, including control of pollution and conservation, protection and enhancement of natural resources. Any person may enforce this right against any party, public or private, through appropriate legal proceedings, subject to reasonable limitations and regulation as provided by law.
In Sierra Club v. Department of Transportation, Civil No. 05-1-0114(3) (Declaratory Judgment), October 9, 2007, Judge Joseph Cardoza found and concluded "that the balance of irreparable damage favors the issuance of a permanent injunction in this case as Plaintiffs have demonstrated the possibility of irreparable injury with respect to the environmental impacts of Hawaii Superferry operations on natural resources, protected species, increased introduction of invasive species and causing social and cultural impacts." Furthermore, the Court also found and concluded that "the public interest in implementing the environmental review process supports the granting of a permanent injunction in this case."
There is no dispute that the legislative intent of Chapter 343, specifically HRS 343-5(b) requires that the "acceptance of the requested final statement shall be a condition precedent to the implementation of the proposed action." And, simply put, Senate Bill 1, Senate Draft 1 clearly abrogates the constitutional rights of the plaintiffs in Sierra Club v. Department of Transportation.
There is no effort in this measure to "strike a balance between the issues of public interest and concerns for the environment" by allowing the Hawaii Superferry to operate. The public interest is served only when the rule of law is followed, not by changing the law to serve the interests of one company, especially after a judicial ruling and injunction against said company.
This body's own committee report states "Your Committees believe that State officials should have been more vigilant in the interests of protecting the environment while seeking to enhance the economy of the State and that more due diligence is required when making decisions that may have significant environmental impacts for future generations." Well, will someone please explain to me how you all can pass this measure and honestly say we are acting in the public's interest when the committee report clearly states otherwise and that the Administration was clearly derelict in its responsibilities to follow the law and protect the public's interest.
Wednesday, October 31, 2007
Musings: Tricks and Treats
There was a definite nip in the breeze when I went out walking this morning, which is appropriate for Halloween. When I was a kid, I loved being out at night without my parents and collecting a big bag of candy. As an adult, I still get a thrill out of lighting the candle and seeking the jack ‘o lantern’s face illuminated. It wouldn’t be Halloween without the smell of burning pumpkin.
It seems appropriate that the House will vote today on the Superferry bailout bill, which has been dressed up, but barely disguised, as legislation to support a generic high speed ferry operation.
At least we were treated to Rep. Marcus Oshiro articulating the crux of the special session while questioning Gov. Lingle, as reported by the Star-Bulletin: “We are asking for special legislation for one project. Do you understand the enormity of what you are asking us to do?”
The trick will be keeping Lingle in check now that she’s gained tremendous political power by successfully convincing the Legislature to do her bidding on behalf of a corporation that so far has done a great job of tearing Hawaii apart.
That divisiveness will be the topic of discussion on Hawaii Public Radio’s “Town Square” program, airing from 5 to 6 on Thursday night. Sen. Gary Hooser will be a guest, along with Big Island journalist Hunter Bishop and me. Hunter’s blog has some interesting comments on the subject. No doubt about it, the Superferry controversy has opened the eyes of many to some of the less savory aspects of “lucky you live Hawaii.”
You can tune in at KIPO 98.3 FM or on line.
It’s a call in show, too — 1-877-941-3689 — so a good chance for Neighbor Islanders to share their thoughts with Oahu. Mahalo to Larry Geller for setting it up.
Another trick will be getting the Superferry into Nawiliwili Harbor without arrests, injuries, deaths — and more of that international bad publicity that worries Lingle and tourism officials — when the boat starts running again. Lingle is likely already prepping the costume she’ll don as the self-proclaimed head of the “Unified Command,” and Kauai folks are gearing up for the event with a totally legal “pre-protest” set for this Sunday.
Andrea Noelani Brower, who was among those in the water, keeping the ferry out of the harbor when it last came to visit on Aug. 27, sent out this email:
“Of course there will be massive
protest when the Superferry attempts to enter Kahalui
and Nawiliwili Harbors, but we need to voice our
outrage prior to its dreaded return.
How about a state-wide demonstration in protest of the
bill? Aunty Louise and Aunty Nani will lead a water
protest at Nawiliwili Harbor at 12:00 this Sunday.
Folks on Oahu, Maui and Hawai'i Island could plan
their own actions to take place simultaneously. Let's
send a loud and clear message to the Hawai'i
Superferry and corrupt politicians that we will not
back down--we still say A'OLE!!”
Superferry officials may think they scored all the treats in this special session, but from what I hear, opponents still have a few tricks up their sleeves.
It seems appropriate that the House will vote today on the Superferry bailout bill, which has been dressed up, but barely disguised, as legislation to support a generic high speed ferry operation.
At least we were treated to Rep. Marcus Oshiro articulating the crux of the special session while questioning Gov. Lingle, as reported by the Star-Bulletin: “We are asking for special legislation for one project. Do you understand the enormity of what you are asking us to do?”
The trick will be keeping Lingle in check now that she’s gained tremendous political power by successfully convincing the Legislature to do her bidding on behalf of a corporation that so far has done a great job of tearing Hawaii apart.
That divisiveness will be the topic of discussion on Hawaii Public Radio’s “Town Square” program, airing from 5 to 6 on Thursday night. Sen. Gary Hooser will be a guest, along with Big Island journalist Hunter Bishop and me. Hunter’s blog has some interesting comments on the subject. No doubt about it, the Superferry controversy has opened the eyes of many to some of the less savory aspects of “lucky you live Hawaii.”
You can tune in at KIPO 98.3 FM or on line.
It’s a call in show, too — 1-877-941-3689 — so a good chance for Neighbor Islanders to share their thoughts with Oahu. Mahalo to Larry Geller for setting it up.
Another trick will be getting the Superferry into Nawiliwili Harbor without arrests, injuries, deaths — and more of that international bad publicity that worries Lingle and tourism officials — when the boat starts running again. Lingle is likely already prepping the costume she’ll don as the self-proclaimed head of the “Unified Command,” and Kauai folks are gearing up for the event with a totally legal “pre-protest” set for this Sunday.
Andrea Noelani Brower, who was among those in the water, keeping the ferry out of the harbor when it last came to visit on Aug. 27, sent out this email:
“Of course there will be massive
protest when the Superferry attempts to enter Kahalui
and Nawiliwili Harbors, but we need to voice our
outrage prior to its dreaded return.
How about a state-wide demonstration in protest of the
bill? Aunty Louise and Aunty Nani will lead a water
protest at Nawiliwili Harbor at 12:00 this Sunday.
Folks on Oahu, Maui and Hawai'i Island could plan
their own actions to take place simultaneously. Let's
send a loud and clear message to the Hawai'i
Superferry and corrupt politicians that we will not
back down--we still say A'OLE!!”
Superferry officials may think they scored all the treats in this special session, but from what I hear, opponents still have a few tricks up their sleeves.
Tuesday, October 30, 2007
Musings: Rats and TV News
It’s gray, cool and windy, and usually, I don’t mind this sort of weather, but today it feels gloomy, perhaps because I’m confronted with the specter of the state Legislature approving the utterly disturbing bailout bill for Hawaii Superferry.
Or maybe it’s the lingering odor of a decaying rat, snuffed out under the house during the termite tenting, that has me slightly on edge and off kilter.
Either way, I smell a rat.
I don’t have a television, so I’m fortunately spared the banality of local TV news, but last night I happened to be near one, so I tuned in to see what was happening with the Superferry.
I got to see Rep. Joe Souki shut down Rep. Marcus Oshiro when his questioning of Gov. Lingle apparently got too hot to handle. Not only does the guv get her way on the Superferry, but she doesn’t have to answer any hard questions. I can’t wait to see how she stonewalls the state auditor charged with digging into how Lingle’s Administration got us into this mess.
Before he got cut off, Oshiro asked why lawmakers should pass a bill specifically to save the Superferry. The governor explained, according to a summary of the exchange in the House blog, that she doesn't believe that the purpose of the bill is to save one company; it's about saving the service that the Superferry provides for the people of Hawaii.
What kind of double-speak is that? And why didn’t the media interviewing Lingle afterward ask her to clarify that statement, press her for more details?
Instead, they let her cop out with a lame comment that Oshiro “just either has a different opinion or an ax to grind."
The blog goes on to report that Oshiro, chair of Finance, later recommended the committee vote aye with reservations, but also encouraged members to vote their conscience on the issue.
What is this aye with reservations? Some 14 senators took that mealy-mouthed position. What are they saying with such a stance? That it’s not such a good idea but they’re going to do it, anyway? In the end, it all comes out the same: an affirmative vote to benefit one corporation.
Flipping through the channels, I also got to see two stations covering the publicity stunt of Superferry employees selling tee-shirts to raise funds for “furloughed” workers. Do the employees know, or care, that they’re being used as PR pawns in this high stakes game?
And why do the TV stations play into that kind of shibai? That’s not news, any more than pro-EIS groups selling their own tee-shirts — and that certainly hasn’t gotten any coverage. Is it any wonder that the public, which gets most of its “news” from TV, has such a skewed view of the issue when it’s fed that sort of pablum?
A few nights before, again tuned in to the TV, I got to see a missile shot down over the water off Polihale, on Kauai’s Westside, during the latest war games, followed — coincidentally, I’m sure — by footage of the Superferry, whose role in furthering the militarization of the Neighbor Islands is pretty clear.
“Why do we need any of that?” my friend moaned in despair.
I couldn’t answer.
Or maybe it’s the lingering odor of a decaying rat, snuffed out under the house during the termite tenting, that has me slightly on edge and off kilter.
Either way, I smell a rat.
I don’t have a television, so I’m fortunately spared the banality of local TV news, but last night I happened to be near one, so I tuned in to see what was happening with the Superferry.
I got to see Rep. Joe Souki shut down Rep. Marcus Oshiro when his questioning of Gov. Lingle apparently got too hot to handle. Not only does the guv get her way on the Superferry, but she doesn’t have to answer any hard questions. I can’t wait to see how she stonewalls the state auditor charged with digging into how Lingle’s Administration got us into this mess.
Before he got cut off, Oshiro asked why lawmakers should pass a bill specifically to save the Superferry. The governor explained, according to a summary of the exchange in the House blog, that she doesn't believe that the purpose of the bill is to save one company; it's about saving the service that the Superferry provides for the people of Hawaii.
What kind of double-speak is that? And why didn’t the media interviewing Lingle afterward ask her to clarify that statement, press her for more details?
Instead, they let her cop out with a lame comment that Oshiro “just either has a different opinion or an ax to grind."
The blog goes on to report that Oshiro, chair of Finance, later recommended the committee vote aye with reservations, but also encouraged members to vote their conscience on the issue.
What is this aye with reservations? Some 14 senators took that mealy-mouthed position. What are they saying with such a stance? That it’s not such a good idea but they’re going to do it, anyway? In the end, it all comes out the same: an affirmative vote to benefit one corporation.
Flipping through the channels, I also got to see two stations covering the publicity stunt of Superferry employees selling tee-shirts to raise funds for “furloughed” workers. Do the employees know, or care, that they’re being used as PR pawns in this high stakes game?
And why do the TV stations play into that kind of shibai? That’s not news, any more than pro-EIS groups selling their own tee-shirts — and that certainly hasn’t gotten any coverage. Is it any wonder that the public, which gets most of its “news” from TV, has such a skewed view of the issue when it’s fed that sort of pablum?
A few nights before, again tuned in to the TV, I got to see a missile shot down over the water off Polihale, on Kauai’s Westside, during the latest war games, followed — coincidentally, I’m sure — by footage of the Superferry, whose role in furthering the militarization of the Neighbor Islands is pretty clear.
“Why do we need any of that?” my friend moaned in despair.
I couldn’t answer.
Monday, October 29, 2007
Musings: On the Attack
Rain fed the waterfalls on Hanalei's mountains last night, and four were visible in the half-light of pre-dawn when I stepped outside the house this morning.
It’s delightful to be within a block of a miles-long sandy beach, where little Koko frolicked and was mobbed by big dogs as a rainbow reached up to touch the shrinking white moon. Slowly the sun rose, preceded by a V of light, and the ocean shifted from gray to blue.
Went to Sen. Gary Hooser’s re-election campaign kick-off last night, and was pleased to see a sizable crowd. Some Kauai folks have told me they think Gary’s highly visible role on the losing side of the Superferry debate has hurt him politically, along with Councilwoman JoAnn Yukimura and Rep. Mina Morita.
Both women attended Gary’s fundraiser, along with Councilman Tim Bynum, who has been present at all the Kauai Superferry events, too.
I don’t think any of them have lost substantial votes for their views on the Superferry. If anything, they’ve gained credibility, and support from those who respect their willingness to speak their truth, even if it’s not universally popular.
Still, they’ve all taken some serious hits, and that can’t be easy. JoAnn has been attacked in at least one local blog and a few letters to the editor of the local paper, with folks falsely claiming she incited the crowd that booed Gov. Lingle during her Kauai visit. In reality, JoAnn was trying to calm people down.
The Advertiser yesterday had a front page story on Gary’s ability to weather the Superferry storm in his dual roles as Senate majority leader and Kauai’s sole representative in that body. The story started with a threatening phone call he received from a Superferry supporter — and they claim Kauai folks are lawless and rude. I doubt anyone on this island has made death threats, like those received by some Kauai and Maui activists.
Mina has been attacked ever since she came onto the political stage as a Kauai police commissioner years ago, and some of the comments made in the Advertiser’s on-line edition have been particularly nasty, contending she’s merely pandering to her constituents with her strong stance on Superferry.
In actuality, Mina has been one of the few intelligent and moral voices in the House throughout the debate, most recently pressing to have the Public Utilities Commission serve in the oversight role of Superferry operations, rather than the farcical Lingle-appointed advisory panel that lawmakers endorsed.
Both Mina and JoAnn also were targets of well-funded, well-organized hateful campaigns for their stance on the Hanalei boating issue — much like the one that has been launched against Superferry opponents.
“It's Hanalei boats again but thousands of times worse,” Mina told me last night.
In the Hanalei boating controversy, the tour boats were running illegally, without an EIS, and the state and county governments were loathe to assume responsibility for enforcing the law. Then, as now, people were clamoring that jobs and the economy were at stake, and the conflict caused a bitter split within families and the larger community that has never quite healed.
.
Former Gov. Ben Cayetano finally stepped in and made the boats move to a real harbor at Port Allen. And neither the tour boat industry not Hanalei’s economy collapsed, as some of the boaters predicted.
Now, however, tour boats are again launching from the Hanalei River, landowner Michael Sheehan is again proclaiming he has a right to use his boatyard for such purposes and the county is again declaring the operation illegal, but has not yet stopped it.
It’s much the same scenario as the one that played out before, except our governor is unlikely to step in and send the tour boats to a designated harbor. She’s too busy trying to help the Superferry circumvent legal channels.
Finally, the confirmation hearings for Laura Thielen are scheduled to resume this afternoon, and Big Island attorney Lanny Sinkin says she may be questioned about participating, as acting chairperson of the Department of Land and Natural Resouces, “in a conspiracy to illegally continue operations of the Hawaii Superferry after the Hawaii Supreme Court ruling.” He also wonders if Thielen, who attended the Kauai meeting where Lingle outlined the punishments for violating the security, committed terroristic threatening, a Class C felony.
It’s a good point, but somehow, I don’t think the lawmakers are going to press it.
It’s delightful to be within a block of a miles-long sandy beach, where little Koko frolicked and was mobbed by big dogs as a rainbow reached up to touch the shrinking white moon. Slowly the sun rose, preceded by a V of light, and the ocean shifted from gray to blue.
Went to Sen. Gary Hooser’s re-election campaign kick-off last night, and was pleased to see a sizable crowd. Some Kauai folks have told me they think Gary’s highly visible role on the losing side of the Superferry debate has hurt him politically, along with Councilwoman JoAnn Yukimura and Rep. Mina Morita.
Both women attended Gary’s fundraiser, along with Councilman Tim Bynum, who has been present at all the Kauai Superferry events, too.
I don’t think any of them have lost substantial votes for their views on the Superferry. If anything, they’ve gained credibility, and support from those who respect their willingness to speak their truth, even if it’s not universally popular.
Still, they’ve all taken some serious hits, and that can’t be easy. JoAnn has been attacked in at least one local blog and a few letters to the editor of the local paper, with folks falsely claiming she incited the crowd that booed Gov. Lingle during her Kauai visit. In reality, JoAnn was trying to calm people down.
The Advertiser yesterday had a front page story on Gary’s ability to weather the Superferry storm in his dual roles as Senate majority leader and Kauai’s sole representative in that body. The story started with a threatening phone call he received from a Superferry supporter — and they claim Kauai folks are lawless and rude. I doubt anyone on this island has made death threats, like those received by some Kauai and Maui activists.
Mina has been attacked ever since she came onto the political stage as a Kauai police commissioner years ago, and some of the comments made in the Advertiser’s on-line edition have been particularly nasty, contending she’s merely pandering to her constituents with her strong stance on Superferry.
In actuality, Mina has been one of the few intelligent and moral voices in the House throughout the debate, most recently pressing to have the Public Utilities Commission serve in the oversight role of Superferry operations, rather than the farcical Lingle-appointed advisory panel that lawmakers endorsed.
Both Mina and JoAnn also were targets of well-funded, well-organized hateful campaigns for their stance on the Hanalei boating issue — much like the one that has been launched against Superferry opponents.
“It's Hanalei boats again but thousands of times worse,” Mina told me last night.
In the Hanalei boating controversy, the tour boats were running illegally, without an EIS, and the state and county governments were loathe to assume responsibility for enforcing the law. Then, as now, people were clamoring that jobs and the economy were at stake, and the conflict caused a bitter split within families and the larger community that has never quite healed.
.
Former Gov. Ben Cayetano finally stepped in and made the boats move to a real harbor at Port Allen. And neither the tour boat industry not Hanalei’s economy collapsed, as some of the boaters predicted.
Now, however, tour boats are again launching from the Hanalei River, landowner Michael Sheehan is again proclaiming he has a right to use his boatyard for such purposes and the county is again declaring the operation illegal, but has not yet stopped it.
It’s much the same scenario as the one that played out before, except our governor is unlikely to step in and send the tour boats to a designated harbor. She’s too busy trying to help the Superferry circumvent legal channels.
Finally, the confirmation hearings for Laura Thielen are scheduled to resume this afternoon, and Big Island attorney Lanny Sinkin says she may be questioned about participating, as acting chairperson of the Department of Land and Natural Resouces, “in a conspiracy to illegally continue operations of the Hawaii Superferry after the Hawaii Supreme Court ruling.” He also wonders if Thielen, who attended the Kauai meeting where Lingle outlined the punishments for violating the security, committed terroristic threatening, a Class C felony.
It’s a good point, but somehow, I don’t think the lawmakers are going to press it.
Sunday, October 28, 2007
Musings: Down in the Valley
Stopped by my house to check on things and connect to the wireless — the Hanalei shop where I got on line yesterday was closed this morning.
My house looks much the way I left it, in dirty disarray, with a few dead cockroaches and geckos thrown into the mix and that telltale stench of pesticide. Fortunately, my pass through today is brief, and I’ll tackle all that tomorrow, when the house is (hopefully) thoroughly aired.
I’m happy to report the laulau-making project — my first — came off successfully. I’d assembled all the ingredients — washed ti and taro leaves, a bowl of salted, cubed pork, and a ball of string — and begun to slowly wrap a few, following my friend’s directions, when his cousin fortunately dropped by.
They raise taro and hunt mountain pig, so no telling how many laulau she’s wrapped, but she handled those leaves with authority and speed and after a few tips on technique, I finished the job with confidence. I’ve been steaming them all morning, a few at a time in my small pot, and the Hanalei house was filled with yummy smells when I left.
I’d forgotten, since the last time I stayed in Hanalei, some 19 months ago, about the tour helicopters — scourge of Kauai. They swarm the interior of this little island, and are especially noticeable in Hanalei, where the mountains come so close to the sea, and they they’re louder than automobile traffic and nearly as incessant.
I remember years ago the statewide attempts to bring their numbers and flight patterns under control. But DOT chose to look the other way, and the FAA wouldn’t do anything unless you could provide them with an identification number and some proof of a chopper’s transgressions. Stonewalled by the state and the feds, residents here pretty much gave up the fight. Even regular crashes don’t seem to deter tourists determined to see the aerial sights.
It’s a story I’ve seen repeated continuously in Hawaii. Residents trying to protect the environment and quality of life speak out, object, beg and plead, but economic forces always prevail.
The result is towns like Hanalei — victim of its own natural beauty, mystique and human greed. Here, big houses on big, fenced and gated parcels line much of the bay, as locals, a vanishing breed in their small homes across the street, struggle to hang on amid escalating property taxes.
Kitschy shopping centers crowd the taro patches, and the bay is often polluted with the bacteria that comes from sewage. Quiet can be found only in the dead of night, and folks here do lock their doors because ice addiction has produced a number of petty thieves.
I heard church bells ringing twice this morning, and though I’m not religious, I was inclined to pray, that we all might be saved from this mad swirl of money, power and things that spawn sad human settlements in splendid valleys like Hanalei.
My house looks much the way I left it, in dirty disarray, with a few dead cockroaches and geckos thrown into the mix and that telltale stench of pesticide. Fortunately, my pass through today is brief, and I’ll tackle all that tomorrow, when the house is (hopefully) thoroughly aired.
I’m happy to report the laulau-making project — my first — came off successfully. I’d assembled all the ingredients — washed ti and taro leaves, a bowl of salted, cubed pork, and a ball of string — and begun to slowly wrap a few, following my friend’s directions, when his cousin fortunately dropped by.
They raise taro and hunt mountain pig, so no telling how many laulau she’s wrapped, but she handled those leaves with authority and speed and after a few tips on technique, I finished the job with confidence. I’ve been steaming them all morning, a few at a time in my small pot, and the Hanalei house was filled with yummy smells when I left.
I’d forgotten, since the last time I stayed in Hanalei, some 19 months ago, about the tour helicopters — scourge of Kauai. They swarm the interior of this little island, and are especially noticeable in Hanalei, where the mountains come so close to the sea, and they they’re louder than automobile traffic and nearly as incessant.
I remember years ago the statewide attempts to bring their numbers and flight patterns under control. But DOT chose to look the other way, and the FAA wouldn’t do anything unless you could provide them with an identification number and some proof of a chopper’s transgressions. Stonewalled by the state and the feds, residents here pretty much gave up the fight. Even regular crashes don’t seem to deter tourists determined to see the aerial sights.
It’s a story I’ve seen repeated continuously in Hawaii. Residents trying to protect the environment and quality of life speak out, object, beg and plead, but economic forces always prevail.
The result is towns like Hanalei — victim of its own natural beauty, mystique and human greed. Here, big houses on big, fenced and gated parcels line much of the bay, as locals, a vanishing breed in their small homes across the street, struggle to hang on amid escalating property taxes.
Kitschy shopping centers crowd the taro patches, and the bay is often polluted with the bacteria that comes from sewage. Quiet can be found only in the dead of night, and folks here do lock their doors because ice addiction has produced a number of petty thieves.
I heard church bells ringing twice this morning, and though I’m not religious, I was inclined to pray, that we all might be saved from this mad swirl of money, power and things that spawn sad human settlements in splendid valleys like Hanalei.
Saturday, October 27, 2007
Mina's Take
Kauai Rep. Mina Morita has been a powerful spokeswoman for the environment and upholding the rule of law. I thought you might be interested in her floor speeches and journal insert re: the Superferry House hearing.
Mr. Speaker:
Arrogance and speed were primary factors that led to the catastrophic disaster of the sinking of the Titanic. With the Hawaii SuperFerry situation we are headed in a fast ferry towards a metaphoric iceberg but this body may have a chance to sideswipe the iceberg rather than face a full impact with this floor amendment.
Let me make myself clear that I do not support this special session, I strongly support the rule of law and I offer this floor amendment reluctantly and only because I find so many shortcomings to the underlying bill if this body chooses this course to make a political fix to a political fix. And let me make it clear about the objective of this special session. We are not making policy. We are finding a way to circumvent the law to facilitate a permitting process.
First of all, too much focus is wrongly being put on an Environmental Impact Statement being conducted by the Department of Transportation to address the secondary impacts to the environment that may result from the use of the Hawaii SuperFerry in conjunction with the Kahului harbor improvements. The DOT exemption was the only avenue for a legal challenge in this debacle. The primary impact of the Hawaii SuperFerry operations should be associated with the granting of the Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity, the license for the Hawaii SuperFerry to operate as a water carrier within the Hawaiian Islands which is regulated by the Public Utilities Commission.
In the parlance of Chapter 343, I strongly believe that the responsibility for the preparation of an Environmental Impact Statement is the responsibility of the Hawaii SuperFerry because the operations of the Hawaii SuperFerry is the proposed action which triggers the need for an environmental review.
Again, in the parlance of Chapter 343, the Public Utilities Commission should be the reviewing and accepting agency as the regulator of the license, the Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity, that gives the Hawaii SuperFerry the privilege of operating as a water carrier within the Hawaiian Islands.
What this floor amendment attempts to do is to allow the immediate operations of the Hawaii SuperFerry under certain provisions set forth by this body through conditions to be incorporated as part of the Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity. Require the Hawaii SuperFerry to prepare an environmental impact statement under the guidance of the Office of Environmental Quality Control. Establish the Public Utilities Commission as the accepting agency. Require the Public Utilities Commission to open a docket upon completion and acceptance of an EIS to address conditions to be included in the certificate of public convenience and necessity to mitigate any negative impacts identified in the Environmental Impact Statement.
This floor amendment eliminates the need for the task force as each interested party can participate through the EIS preparation and review process with greater transparency.
As you all know the proceedings within the Public Utilities Commission is a quasi-judicial process. There are processes to file both informal and formal complaints as well as an appeal process. If we remove the political hamstrings, or even the appearance of it, upon this agency, I believe, this is the best avenue to protect all interests, be it the Hawaii SuperFerry, the consumer or Hawaii's environment. Setting aside the issue of circumventing the law in the first place, this may be the best route to re-establish and retain the balance of power between the administration, the legislature and the judiciary.
I ask for your support for this floor amendment.
Her journal comments on second reading:
Mr. Speaker, I rise in opposition to this measure. The constitution of the State of Hawaii grants us the power to enact legislation that is not inconsistent with the constitutions of the United States and Hawaii. We generally make laws to protect the health, safety and welfare of Hawaii's people and its environment. We should not be making laws to correct political fixes gone bad which is what House Bill 1 attempts to do. I want to emphasize, in House Bill 1 this body is not making a new policy. Rather, this body is establishing a process to circumvent existing laws to facilitate a permitting process.
No one should be fooled by the disguise of Hawaii SuperFerry under the term large capacity ferry vessel. This is a special interest bill to benefit one company from the blunders of the Lingle Administration to avoid disclosure under an environmental review process. This type of action shows no respect for the rule of law by this company or this administration and now, by this body. We jeopardize the integrity of this institution by our participation in this tragic comedy of errors.
Mr. Speaker:
Arrogance and speed were primary factors that led to the catastrophic disaster of the sinking of the Titanic. With the Hawaii SuperFerry situation we are headed in a fast ferry towards a metaphoric iceberg but this body may have a chance to sideswipe the iceberg rather than face a full impact with this floor amendment.
Let me make myself clear that I do not support this special session, I strongly support the rule of law and I offer this floor amendment reluctantly and only because I find so many shortcomings to the underlying bill if this body chooses this course to make a political fix to a political fix. And let me make it clear about the objective of this special session. We are not making policy. We are finding a way to circumvent the law to facilitate a permitting process.
First of all, too much focus is wrongly being put on an Environmental Impact Statement being conducted by the Department of Transportation to address the secondary impacts to the environment that may result from the use of the Hawaii SuperFerry in conjunction with the Kahului harbor improvements. The DOT exemption was the only avenue for a legal challenge in this debacle. The primary impact of the Hawaii SuperFerry operations should be associated with the granting of the Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity, the license for the Hawaii SuperFerry to operate as a water carrier within the Hawaiian Islands which is regulated by the Public Utilities Commission.
In the parlance of Chapter 343, I strongly believe that the responsibility for the preparation of an Environmental Impact Statement is the responsibility of the Hawaii SuperFerry because the operations of the Hawaii SuperFerry is the proposed action which triggers the need for an environmental review.
Again, in the parlance of Chapter 343, the Public Utilities Commission should be the reviewing and accepting agency as the regulator of the license, the Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity, that gives the Hawaii SuperFerry the privilege of operating as a water carrier within the Hawaiian Islands.
What this floor amendment attempts to do is to allow the immediate operations of the Hawaii SuperFerry under certain provisions set forth by this body through conditions to be incorporated as part of the Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity. Require the Hawaii SuperFerry to prepare an environmental impact statement under the guidance of the Office of Environmental Quality Control. Establish the Public Utilities Commission as the accepting agency. Require the Public Utilities Commission to open a docket upon completion and acceptance of an EIS to address conditions to be included in the certificate of public convenience and necessity to mitigate any negative impacts identified in the Environmental Impact Statement.
This floor amendment eliminates the need for the task force as each interested party can participate through the EIS preparation and review process with greater transparency.
As you all know the proceedings within the Public Utilities Commission is a quasi-judicial process. There are processes to file both informal and formal complaints as well as an appeal process. If we remove the political hamstrings, or even the appearance of it, upon this agency, I believe, this is the best avenue to protect all interests, be it the Hawaii SuperFerry, the consumer or Hawaii's environment. Setting aside the issue of circumventing the law in the first place, this may be the best route to re-establish and retain the balance of power between the administration, the legislature and the judiciary.
I ask for your support for this floor amendment.
Her journal comments on second reading:
Mr. Speaker, I rise in opposition to this measure. The constitution of the State of Hawaii grants us the power to enact legislation that is not inconsistent with the constitutions of the United States and Hawaii. We generally make laws to protect the health, safety and welfare of Hawaii's people and its environment. We should not be making laws to correct political fixes gone bad which is what House Bill 1 attempts to do. I want to emphasize, in House Bill 1 this body is not making a new policy. Rather, this body is establishing a process to circumvent existing laws to facilitate a permitting process.
No one should be fooled by the disguise of Hawaii SuperFerry under the term large capacity ferry vessel. This is a special interest bill to benefit one company from the blunders of the Lingle Administration to avoid disclosure under an environmental review process. This type of action shows no respect for the rule of law by this company or this administration and now, by this body. We jeopardize the integrity of this institution by our participation in this tragic comedy of errors.
Musings: Hanalei Life
While my house is being tented for termites, I’m staying at a friend’s place in Hanalei, land of the beautiful mountains and plentiful vacation rentals.
About half the structures up here are rented out to tourists, and the town has become much more commercialized to meet their needs, or more accurately, their desires. And, of course, with people comes traffic, which is unceasing during the day. Last night, however, it was quiet and the moon shone brightly as we walked across the grass at Waioli Park.
It's definitely different to be in a little town, with street lights, houses close together and stores within walking distance. I finally found a place this morning where I could get on line, as I had to admit it: I was jonesing and needed an internet fix.
Hanalei has fewer roosters than my neighborhood, although Koko and I startled a hen and her five chicks feeding on a fallen mango as we cut through the baseyard on our way to the beach shortly after sunrise. We walked the length of the bay and out onto the pier, where a guy was fishing. The water was glassy, with a few waves at Pine Trees, and a perfect rainbow bridged land and sea.
On the way up here yesterday, I stopped at Anahola store. While waiting in line, I felt compelled to reassure a young local woman audibly distraught over the Advertiser’s rather misleading banner headline — Superferry bill passes — that it wasn’t quite over yet.
“Oh, good, we’re on the same side,” the woman said, giving me a high five.
Turns out she's a student at Kauai Community College, where she had collected about 600 signatures — 10 percent of the 6,000 gathered on a petition calling for an EIS for the Superferry. “And I bet the people who signed it were the kind of people who care what’s going on and vote, too” she said.
Gov. Lingle, however, showed her disdain for our island’s sentiments by refusing to accept the petition until it was presented to her again at her ill-fated meeting on Kauai. She probably knew she risked provoking a riot if she blew it off then.
Despite my explanation that the bill still had to pass the full Senate and be reconciled with legislation moving through the House — which passed, without the environmental conditions proposed by Kauai's Rep. Mina Morita, who so often is a voice in the wildnerness — and then be endorsed by both Lingle and Superferry, the woman’s boyfriend was convinced it was already a done deal.
“They’ve already paid off all the politicians,” he said flatly.
The woman went on to tell me that she wasn’t against the ferry itself. “Sure, I like drive my car for go visit Oahu,” she said. “But the whole way it went down, you know, it’s just wrong.”
“It’s going to affect us in ways we don’t even know yet,” her boyfriend asserted. “I just hope we don’t come like Oahu, where we have to start locking our doors.”
We all nodded in agreement and went our separate ways, but I thought of them as I recalled a comment from a Supeferry investor reported in the Advertiser yesterday. When asked how he planned to deal with resistance on Kauai, he arrogantly dismissed the opposition as a “vocal minority.”
It’s impossible to know how widespread the Kauai opposition is, but if Superferry officials think it’s just a “vocal minority” that can be easily dismissed, they’ve greatly underestimated the smoldering resentment on this island.
About half the structures up here are rented out to tourists, and the town has become much more commercialized to meet their needs, or more accurately, their desires. And, of course, with people comes traffic, which is unceasing during the day. Last night, however, it was quiet and the moon shone brightly as we walked across the grass at Waioli Park.
It's definitely different to be in a little town, with street lights, houses close together and stores within walking distance. I finally found a place this morning where I could get on line, as I had to admit it: I was jonesing and needed an internet fix.
Hanalei has fewer roosters than my neighborhood, although Koko and I startled a hen and her five chicks feeding on a fallen mango as we cut through the baseyard on our way to the beach shortly after sunrise. We walked the length of the bay and out onto the pier, where a guy was fishing. The water was glassy, with a few waves at Pine Trees, and a perfect rainbow bridged land and sea.
On the way up here yesterday, I stopped at Anahola store. While waiting in line, I felt compelled to reassure a young local woman audibly distraught over the Advertiser’s rather misleading banner headline — Superferry bill passes — that it wasn’t quite over yet.
“Oh, good, we’re on the same side,” the woman said, giving me a high five.
Turns out she's a student at Kauai Community College, where she had collected about 600 signatures — 10 percent of the 6,000 gathered on a petition calling for an EIS for the Superferry. “And I bet the people who signed it were the kind of people who care what’s going on and vote, too” she said.
Gov. Lingle, however, showed her disdain for our island’s sentiments by refusing to accept the petition until it was presented to her again at her ill-fated meeting on Kauai. She probably knew she risked provoking a riot if she blew it off then.
Despite my explanation that the bill still had to pass the full Senate and be reconciled with legislation moving through the House — which passed, without the environmental conditions proposed by Kauai's Rep. Mina Morita, who so often is a voice in the wildnerness — and then be endorsed by both Lingle and Superferry, the woman’s boyfriend was convinced it was already a done deal.
“They’ve already paid off all the politicians,” he said flatly.
The woman went on to tell me that she wasn’t against the ferry itself. “Sure, I like drive my car for go visit Oahu,” she said. “But the whole way it went down, you know, it’s just wrong.”
“It’s going to affect us in ways we don’t even know yet,” her boyfriend asserted. “I just hope we don’t come like Oahu, where we have to start locking our doors.”
We all nodded in agreement and went our separate ways, but I thought of them as I recalled a comment from a Supeferry investor reported in the Advertiser yesterday. When asked how he planned to deal with resistance on Kauai, he arrogantly dismissed the opposition as a “vocal minority.”
It’s impossible to know how widespread the Kauai opposition is, but if Superferry officials think it’s just a “vocal minority” that can be easily dismissed, they’ve greatly underestimated the smoldering resentment on this island.
Friday, October 26, 2007
Musings: Making a Shift
I got a good dose of that big bright moon, lying on the grass last night, bathed in her silvery light, and again during my walk this morning, watching her play hide and seek with racing clouds. I love seeing night shift into day.
My little rental cottage is going through a major shift as I prepare for the termite tenting team today. It’s an unpleasant mix of packing for a trip, moving and taking precautions against a poisonous gas that soon will permeate everything within a two-foot radius of the house.
With the help of two friends, the landscaping around the house has been shifted out of the ground and into pots, or holding areas in the garden, so it can be replanted after the termite tent comes down. We also harvested at least 30 pounds of taro from a 20-foot row along the north side of the house. It’s a mix of four varieties, and even though it’s dryland, it’s gummy and sweet.
It’s all been extremely inconvenient and disruptive, but I’m trying to look on the bright side, figuring it’ll be a chance to do a deep cleaning in the house and shift things around a little in the yard.
The Superferry bills haven’t gone through much of a shift as they make their way through the House and Senate. On one hand, it’s positive that legislators grilled state Attorney General Mark Bennett, DOT director Barry Fukunaga and Ted Liu, director of the Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism, at length.
I don’t have a TV, so I haven’t been able to watch any of the proceedings, but Ian Lind notes in his blog today that Bennett did reveal that Bob Awana, Gov. Lingle’s former chief of staff, negotiated the harbor agreement with the Superferry, making it difficult for the guv to keeping claiming it was a DOT deal.
Still, the questioning didn’t lead to any substantive changes in the proposed bills, which continue to grant control over environmental conditions to Lingle, and what does she know about such things? Her administration didn’t think an EA was needed in the first place.
And nothing in either the House or Senate bill looks at the social impacts of allowing the ferry to run while the EIS is under way. That’s as much an issue to many, especially on the Neighbor Islands, as protecting whales and preventing invasive species.
Some of the media reports refer to it as a compromise bill, but I don’t see how they came up with that assessment. Somehow I don’t think they’re referring to the state environmental law and Supreme Court decision that’s being compromised.
It’s unclear whether the Senate and House bills will be able to merge into one that also passes muster with Superferry and Lingle. Since so much of the discussion around this legislation took place behind closed doors, before the special session started, it’s difficult for us outsiders — the public — to know exactly what might be the sticking points.
But on the bright side, I’ve got sticky poi and laulau in my immediate future.
My little rental cottage is going through a major shift as I prepare for the termite tenting team today. It’s an unpleasant mix of packing for a trip, moving and taking precautions against a poisonous gas that soon will permeate everything within a two-foot radius of the house.
With the help of two friends, the landscaping around the house has been shifted out of the ground and into pots, or holding areas in the garden, so it can be replanted after the termite tent comes down. We also harvested at least 30 pounds of taro from a 20-foot row along the north side of the house. It’s a mix of four varieties, and even though it’s dryland, it’s gummy and sweet.
It’s all been extremely inconvenient and disruptive, but I’m trying to look on the bright side, figuring it’ll be a chance to do a deep cleaning in the house and shift things around a little in the yard.
The Superferry bills haven’t gone through much of a shift as they make their way through the House and Senate. On one hand, it’s positive that legislators grilled state Attorney General Mark Bennett, DOT director Barry Fukunaga and Ted Liu, director of the Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism, at length.
I don’t have a TV, so I haven’t been able to watch any of the proceedings, but Ian Lind notes in his blog today that Bennett did reveal that Bob Awana, Gov. Lingle’s former chief of staff, negotiated the harbor agreement with the Superferry, making it difficult for the guv to keeping claiming it was a DOT deal.
Still, the questioning didn’t lead to any substantive changes in the proposed bills, which continue to grant control over environmental conditions to Lingle, and what does she know about such things? Her administration didn’t think an EA was needed in the first place.
And nothing in either the House or Senate bill looks at the social impacts of allowing the ferry to run while the EIS is under way. That’s as much an issue to many, especially on the Neighbor Islands, as protecting whales and preventing invasive species.
Some of the media reports refer to it as a compromise bill, but I don’t see how they came up with that assessment. Somehow I don’t think they’re referring to the state environmental law and Supreme Court decision that’s being compromised.
It’s unclear whether the Senate and House bills will be able to merge into one that also passes muster with Superferry and Lingle. Since so much of the discussion around this legislation took place behind closed doors, before the special session started, it’s difficult for us outsiders — the public — to know exactly what might be the sticking points.
But on the bright side, I’ve got sticky poi and laulau in my immediate future.
Thursday, October 25, 2007
Kingdom Crackdown
I wondered how long it would take for the law to crack down on the Kingdom of Atooi, and sure enough, cops arrested leaders Dayne Aipoalani and Rob Pa on Tuesday, according to a report in today’s Garden Island. And more arrests are reportedly planned of other Kingdom members.
It seems Rob and Dayne were busted on charges of obstructing government operations, disorderly conduct and simple trespass stemming from the Superferry demonstration at Nawiliwili Harbor on Aug. 26, as well as allegedly impersonating a police officer because they flashed their Kingdom credentials.
How fascinating that the shakedown occurred at a planning commission hearing, allowing KPD to not only make the arrests, but a very public statement that any attempts to assert Hawaiian independence will not be tolerated.
I can see why the cops and county might be worried. After all, the Kingdom of Atooi wants to get rid of ice, encourage more citizen participation in decision-making and follow sensible land use planning.
It seems Rob and Dayne were busted on charges of obstructing government operations, disorderly conduct and simple trespass stemming from the Superferry demonstration at Nawiliwili Harbor on Aug. 26, as well as allegedly impersonating a police officer because they flashed their Kingdom credentials.
How fascinating that the shakedown occurred at a planning commission hearing, allowing KPD to not only make the arrests, but a very public statement that any attempts to assert Hawaiian independence will not be tolerated.
I can see why the cops and county might be worried. After all, the Kingdom of Atooi wants to get rid of ice, encourage more citizen participation in decision-making and follow sensible land use planning.
Musings: Gimme Some Truth
The big moon — full at 6:51 tonight — proved elusive during my walk this morning, hiding behind thick clouds mauka. Orion, Venus and other celestial objects lit my way until dawn broke, bringing with it the lightest shimmer of rain.
It seems that Gov. Linda Lingle is a bit elusive, too, in the truth department, anyway, as evidenced by her most recent attempt to undermine the Supreme Court's integrity.
But her last jab at the justices backfired yesterday when Thomas R. Keller, administrative director of the courts, issued a statement refuting Lingle’s assertion in an Oct. 13 Advertiser article that “The Supreme Court, for whatever their reason was, decided to wait over a year-and-a-half to reach a decision and to do it two days before this service was set to begin.”
In fact, as Lingle well knows and the statement points out, it was Superferry that shortened the time frame by advancing its start date by five days and announcing $5 promotional fares. That was the same stunt that irked so many people on Kauai, who saw it as Superferry deliberately thumbing its nose at the court.
"Furthermore, the resultant decision in the Superferry case was delayed due to a request from the Superferry's attorneys to postpone oral argument….citing scheduled vacations to the mainland as the reason,” according to the statement. “Although the attorney for the Sierra Club objected to the Superferry's request to delay the hearing, the request was partially granted in that oral argument was postponed to Aug. 23. The Supreme Court issued its decision that same day.
"The implication that the Hawaii Supreme Court deliberately timed its decision to occur 'two days before' the Superferry was scheduled to start is wrong and does a disservice to the people of Hawaii by undermining their trust in the justice system,” the statement says.
A judiciary spokeswoman had earlier responded to Lingle’s criticism that it took the court nearly 18 months to act, explaining that “when court deadlines were extended, it was at the request of a party,” the statement says, noting as well that “while the Superferry appeal was pending, the supreme court decided many cases."
When confronted with the statement, the Lingle administration reportedly said it wanted to clarify the concerns expressed in Keller's statement before commenting, according to an Advertiser article this morning.
Come on, Linda, just admit you were being deliberately misleading in an underhanded attempt to sway public opinion your way.
Of course, Lingle’s not the only disingenuous one in this scenario. Superferry head John Garibaldi yesterday testified before the Senate that "there was never a communication from them [the state] to us that an environmental assessment was needed," according to another Advertiser article.
Records obtained for Rep. Morita’s complaint to the PUC show that Superferry officials were engaged in meetings with high-ranking administration officials to discuss precisely that issue. Superferry likes to pretend it was the victim in all this, when in fact Superferry officials were actively lobbying state and federal officials for an exemption to an environmental review.
Sen. Gary Hooser also notes in his blog: “Since 2004, I have found that many of the things told to me initially by the Hawaii Superferry proponents have turned out not to be true.”
And that leads me to my final point. Why isn’t the Legislature conducting its probe into the Lingle Administration’s mishandling of this affair BEFORE it allows Superferry to operate?
What if Marion Higa’s audit finds malfeasance, corruption, bribery or other illegalities? Why compound the mistakes of the Lingle Administration with a legislative stamp of approval?
This rush-rush special session is based on Superferry’s claim that it can’t remain in Hawaii without operating during the EIS. But at this point, it seems neither the Lingle nor Superferry officials have sufficient credibility to be taken at their word on much of anything.
It seems that Gov. Linda Lingle is a bit elusive, too, in the truth department, anyway, as evidenced by her most recent attempt to undermine the Supreme Court's integrity.
But her last jab at the justices backfired yesterday when Thomas R. Keller, administrative director of the courts, issued a statement refuting Lingle’s assertion in an Oct. 13 Advertiser article that “The Supreme Court, for whatever their reason was, decided to wait over a year-and-a-half to reach a decision and to do it two days before this service was set to begin.”
In fact, as Lingle well knows and the statement points out, it was Superferry that shortened the time frame by advancing its start date by five days and announcing $5 promotional fares. That was the same stunt that irked so many people on Kauai, who saw it as Superferry deliberately thumbing its nose at the court.
"Furthermore, the resultant decision in the Superferry case was delayed due to a request from the Superferry's attorneys to postpone oral argument….citing scheduled vacations to the mainland as the reason,” according to the statement. “Although the attorney for the Sierra Club objected to the Superferry's request to delay the hearing, the request was partially granted in that oral argument was postponed to Aug. 23. The Supreme Court issued its decision that same day.
"The implication that the Hawaii Supreme Court deliberately timed its decision to occur 'two days before' the Superferry was scheduled to start is wrong and does a disservice to the people of Hawaii by undermining their trust in the justice system,” the statement says.
A judiciary spokeswoman had earlier responded to Lingle’s criticism that it took the court nearly 18 months to act, explaining that “when court deadlines were extended, it was at the request of a party,” the statement says, noting as well that “while the Superferry appeal was pending, the supreme court decided many cases."
When confronted with the statement, the Lingle administration reportedly said it wanted to clarify the concerns expressed in Keller's statement before commenting, according to an Advertiser article this morning.
Come on, Linda, just admit you were being deliberately misleading in an underhanded attempt to sway public opinion your way.
Of course, Lingle’s not the only disingenuous one in this scenario. Superferry head John Garibaldi yesterday testified before the Senate that "there was never a communication from them [the state] to us that an environmental assessment was needed," according to another Advertiser article.
Records obtained for Rep. Morita’s complaint to the PUC show that Superferry officials were engaged in meetings with high-ranking administration officials to discuss precisely that issue. Superferry likes to pretend it was the victim in all this, when in fact Superferry officials were actively lobbying state and federal officials for an exemption to an environmental review.
Sen. Gary Hooser also notes in his blog: “Since 2004, I have found that many of the things told to me initially by the Hawaii Superferry proponents have turned out not to be true.”
And that leads me to my final point. Why isn’t the Legislature conducting its probe into the Lingle Administration’s mishandling of this affair BEFORE it allows Superferry to operate?
What if Marion Higa’s audit finds malfeasance, corruption, bribery or other illegalities? Why compound the mistakes of the Lingle Administration with a legislative stamp of approval?
This rush-rush special session is based on Superferry’s claim that it can’t remain in Hawaii without operating during the EIS. But at this point, it seems neither the Lingle nor Superferry officials have sufficient credibility to be taken at their word on much of anything.
Wednesday, October 24, 2007
Musings: Firestorm
Just as I was about to get up for my walk, a strong, chill wind blew in and deposited heavy rain that gave way to a blue- and pink-striped sunrise through the clouds.
Made me think about the hot, dry Santa Ana winds that are spreading the blazes through some of the most beautiful, and expensive, parts of Southern California.
There’s something about fire — especially big, uncontrollable fire — that gives rise to apocalyptic thoughts and talk. It’s a common theme in reggae music, where more than one artist warns: “He’s coming with fire this time.”
Compared to uncontained fires breathing down your neck, the Superferry special session that starts today seems fairly irrelevant, although it’s also potentially disastrous for our state, and I’m not just talking about the environment.
For one, there’s the whole perception of "politics overriding the legal process," to borrow a quote from Big Island Mayor Harry Kim’s statement that was read at yesterday’s Senate hearing at Kona.
Of course, it’s now moving well beyond perception to actual reality.
And then there’s the political and social divisiveness that will inevitably follow adoption of any Superferry bailout bill.
As Maui County Council Chairman Riki Hokama predicted in the Senate hearings on his island, passage of such legislation will spark "a social and political revolution" unlike any seen since the movement that brought Democrats to power in Hawai'i during the 1950s.
Fortunately, there’s still a possibility all that backroom wheeling and dealing just might fall apart.
"It may unravel what all parties have agreed upon — meaning the Senate, the administration and the House," said House Speaker Calvin Say, according to this morning’s Advertiser.
Interesting, how the public is not included in that consensus.
Gov. Lingle, meanwhile, continues to ramp up the rhetoric, claiming in her proclamation: "This special session is not just about one company or one vessel, it is about the long-term economic well-being of our state, and about giving our residents, farmers and civil defense agencies options when traveling between the islands.
"Allowing this transportation alternative to resume will also restore the reputation of our state as a fair place to do business."
Sure it’s fair, if you’ve got a fat bank account and friends in high places.
I think the thing that bothers me the most about this whole Superferry scenario is the prospect of Lingle and her cronies getting away with their dirty deeds.
But then, as the reggae artists say, “He’s coming with fire this time.”
Finally, the Garden Island carried an article this morning on tests of the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense system that will be carried out at PMRF tonight, and more specifically, on the blessing bestowed by “spiritual leader” Tom Takahashi, who named the missiles “Ku‘uipo, or sweetheart, and Kekai o ke kai, boy from the sea.”
There’s something scary and sick about a world where missiles are blessed and given sweet Hawaiian names. Are we really that craven?
But then, as the reggae artists say, “He’s coming with fire this time.”
Made me think about the hot, dry Santa Ana winds that are spreading the blazes through some of the most beautiful, and expensive, parts of Southern California.
There’s something about fire — especially big, uncontrollable fire — that gives rise to apocalyptic thoughts and talk. It’s a common theme in reggae music, where more than one artist warns: “He’s coming with fire this time.”
Compared to uncontained fires breathing down your neck, the Superferry special session that starts today seems fairly irrelevant, although it’s also potentially disastrous for our state, and I’m not just talking about the environment.
For one, there’s the whole perception of "politics overriding the legal process," to borrow a quote from Big Island Mayor Harry Kim’s statement that was read at yesterday’s Senate hearing at Kona.
Of course, it’s now moving well beyond perception to actual reality.
And then there’s the political and social divisiveness that will inevitably follow adoption of any Superferry bailout bill.
As Maui County Council Chairman Riki Hokama predicted in the Senate hearings on his island, passage of such legislation will spark "a social and political revolution" unlike any seen since the movement that brought Democrats to power in Hawai'i during the 1950s.
Fortunately, there’s still a possibility all that backroom wheeling and dealing just might fall apart.
"It may unravel what all parties have agreed upon — meaning the Senate, the administration and the House," said House Speaker Calvin Say, according to this morning’s Advertiser.
Interesting, how the public is not included in that consensus.
Gov. Lingle, meanwhile, continues to ramp up the rhetoric, claiming in her proclamation: "This special session is not just about one company or one vessel, it is about the long-term economic well-being of our state, and about giving our residents, farmers and civil defense agencies options when traveling between the islands.
"Allowing this transportation alternative to resume will also restore the reputation of our state as a fair place to do business."
Sure it’s fair, if you’ve got a fat bank account and friends in high places.
I think the thing that bothers me the most about this whole Superferry scenario is the prospect of Lingle and her cronies getting away with their dirty deeds.
But then, as the reggae artists say, “He’s coming with fire this time.”
Finally, the Garden Island carried an article this morning on tests of the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense system that will be carried out at PMRF tonight, and more specifically, on the blessing bestowed by “spiritual leader” Tom Takahashi, who named the missiles “Ku‘uipo, or sweetheart, and Kekai o ke kai, boy from the sea.”
There’s something scary and sick about a world where missiles are blessed and given sweet Hawaiian names. Are we really that craven?
But then, as the reggae artists say, “He’s coming with fire this time.”
Tuesday, October 23, 2007
Musings: Just Say No
The day started with the noise and lights of the garbage truck, and the lingering odors from overturned cans lining the road. Koko was happy, and my own mood improved when I spotted the mist lying at the base of Kalepa ridge as the sky turned baby blue.
There is one secondary impact that I fear a Superferry EIS will not be able to address, and that’s the malady known as Superferry obsession. A friend confessed at the hearing on Sunday that he’s turning into a blog addict because of the issue. Apparently his wife came home at noon recently to find him eating a sandwich and pecking out a comment — the breakfast dishes unwashed and his own professional work undone.
I’m not sure what the cure is, except the Superferry's demise, but if it drags out much longer, we may need to start 12-step based support groups.
While we’re on the subject, forgot to mention that during Sunday’s meeting in the King Kaumualii school cafeteria, the Senators sat beneath hand-lettered signs with such headings as: "What is bullying?" and "You will have more friends if...." While the posters were obviously there for the school kids, a number of us did think Gov. Lingle would benefit from studying them, too.
According to an article in the Star-Bulletin, President Bush is coming out against the Akaka bill, saying he “strongly opposes any bill that would formally divide sovereign United States power along suspect lines of race and ethnicity.”
His policies show, however, that he is entirely comfortable with dividing the nation along socioeconomic lines.
So far as I’m concerned, it would be a good thing if the Akaka bill dies, as it requires the kanaka maoli to relinquish all claims to sovereignty in return for whatever pittance the federal government wants to toss their way.
Independence — restoration of the Hawaiian nation separate and apart from the United States — seems to me the only way to right the wrongs of the 1893 illegal overthrow. If you’re confused about the issue, my article on the Reinstated Hawaiian Nation might prove helpful.
When Molokai activist Walter Ritte was on Kauai last week, he talked about the Akaka bill, ongoing attempts to undermine Kamehameha Schools and programs that benefit Native Hawaiians, and bioprospecting and other efforts to patent Hawaii's resources.
He described it as “mana mahale.” The first mahele divided the land, and the Hawaiians lost out. Now, he said, the government, universities, corporations and folks who want to keep Hawaiians in colonial status are taking actions to try and grab the mana, the spiritual essence of the land and indigenous people, which is all that’s left.
“Aole — no,” he said. “That’s the word we’ve all got to use.”
That goes for the Superferry, too, as Nani Rogers noted at the hearing when she asked the Senators: "What part of aole don't you understand?"
There is one secondary impact that I fear a Superferry EIS will not be able to address, and that’s the malady known as Superferry obsession. A friend confessed at the hearing on Sunday that he’s turning into a blog addict because of the issue. Apparently his wife came home at noon recently to find him eating a sandwich and pecking out a comment — the breakfast dishes unwashed and his own professional work undone.
I’m not sure what the cure is, except the Superferry's demise, but if it drags out much longer, we may need to start 12-step based support groups.
While we’re on the subject, forgot to mention that during Sunday’s meeting in the King Kaumualii school cafeteria, the Senators sat beneath hand-lettered signs with such headings as: "What is bullying?" and "You will have more friends if...." While the posters were obviously there for the school kids, a number of us did think Gov. Lingle would benefit from studying them, too.
According to an article in the Star-Bulletin, President Bush is coming out against the Akaka bill, saying he “strongly opposes any bill that would formally divide sovereign United States power along suspect lines of race and ethnicity.”
His policies show, however, that he is entirely comfortable with dividing the nation along socioeconomic lines.
So far as I’m concerned, it would be a good thing if the Akaka bill dies, as it requires the kanaka maoli to relinquish all claims to sovereignty in return for whatever pittance the federal government wants to toss their way.
Independence — restoration of the Hawaiian nation separate and apart from the United States — seems to me the only way to right the wrongs of the 1893 illegal overthrow. If you’re confused about the issue, my article on the Reinstated Hawaiian Nation might prove helpful.
When Molokai activist Walter Ritte was on Kauai last week, he talked about the Akaka bill, ongoing attempts to undermine Kamehameha Schools and programs that benefit Native Hawaiians, and bioprospecting and other efforts to patent Hawaii's resources.
He described it as “mana mahale.” The first mahele divided the land, and the Hawaiians lost out. Now, he said, the government, universities, corporations and folks who want to keep Hawaiians in colonial status are taking actions to try and grab the mana, the spiritual essence of the land and indigenous people, which is all that’s left.
“Aole — no,” he said. “That’s the word we’ve all got to use.”
That goes for the Superferry, too, as Nani Rogers noted at the hearing when she asked the Senators: "What part of aole don't you understand?"
Monday, October 22, 2007
Musings: A Chance to be Heard
All the mountains were crystal clear, and the sky was, too, and dense with stars, as I pulled on a sweatshirt before my morning walk to ward off the chill. The darkness didn’t last long, changing first to pink-gold, and then a frosty pink-blue.
My head was swiveling, taking it all in, not wanting to miss a bit of the absolute splendor around me. This is what I cherish about Kauai. This, and her people.
Nani Rogers, who walks the talk with strength and aloha, expressed it well when I ran into her yesterday at the Senate hearing on the Superferry bill.
“I love Kauai people,” she said. “They’re smart, they’re funny, they’re thoughtful and they really care about the island.”
Yup, for the most part, that’s true, and we presented ourselves well before the Senators. Nobody heckled, nobody cussed, nobody booed. We may be kua aina, but we do have good manners.
One big difference between yesterday’s hearing and the raucous session with Gov. Lingle is she came to lay down the law, and the lawmakers said they came to listen. All we’ve wanted is to be heard — not lectured, scolded and told what’s going down, whether we like it or not.
The listening bit may have been shibai on the Senators’ part, but they did sit there attentively, without a break, through nearly six hours of impassioned testimony. Even then, not all 200-plus people who signed up to speak got a chance to say their piece before the Senators had to catch the plane back to Oahu.
By the way, all the media accounts I read underestimated the crowd at about 300 at its peak. As I counted, the King K school cafeteria had 20 tables, each holding about 20 people, so that makes 400, and another 100 or so were gathered outside. (I want to correct this to 10 tables, each holding about 40 people, 20 on each side.)
Also, the Advertiser identified those who attended and spoke as “environmentalists,” although I think only a small number would classify themselves as such. It was just plain folks at the meeting — doctors, lawyers, teachers, farmers, students, carpenters, business owners, whatever.
Sen. President Colleen Hanabusa, who arrived a couple hours late and stopped first to talk to the TV cameras, reassured the crowd that the bill was not a “done deal.” She even went so far as to say the draft bill was merely a vehicle to solicit public comment.
And the comments people made were overwhelmingly against the bill, and against Superferry.
Hanabusa made two other noteworthy comments. She said she personally would never ride the Superferry because of seasickness, and that the Legislature, if called into special session by the guv, could meet and then adjourn, without taking any action.
Needless to say, that met with loud applause.
It was also interesting to note the strong applause that greeted those who identified themselves as having been in the water to keep the ferry out of Nawiliwili Harbor. They’ve become folk heroes on Kauai, including young firebrand Andrea Brower, who said her generation wasn’t well represented at the meeting because they’re “fed up with corrupt government.”
She and others vowed that if the ferry returns to Kauai, it will be met with resistance, including people in the water, outside the Coast Guard Security zone. (BTW, we do have a chance to ask for a public hearing on that scary security zone. Visit Larry Geller’s blog and scroll down a bit for details on how to make that request. The deadline is Wed., Oct. 24.)
I think it’s quite clear that many people who were not part of the original demonstrations against the ferry will be at the harbor next time to protest if it returns. Opposition is strong, and growing, and a bill exempting the ferry will add fuel to the fire.
But yesterday, despite some fiery words, people were pretty mellow. I enjoyed chatting with a lot of folks I hadn’t seen in a long time; it reminded me of the old days, when public hearings were social events on Kauai.
It was good to see locals who were calling for planned, slow growth 20 years ago at the meeting, along with a lot of newcomers who are equally ardent.
And while many of us probably believe, in our heart of hearts, that Lingle is going to pull out all the stops to make the ferry run, we also have our fingers crossed that something will happen to unravel the deal.
Hope, it seems, springs eternal.
My head was swiveling, taking it all in, not wanting to miss a bit of the absolute splendor around me. This is what I cherish about Kauai. This, and her people.
Nani Rogers, who walks the talk with strength and aloha, expressed it well when I ran into her yesterday at the Senate hearing on the Superferry bill.
“I love Kauai people,” she said. “They’re smart, they’re funny, they’re thoughtful and they really care about the island.”
Yup, for the most part, that’s true, and we presented ourselves well before the Senators. Nobody heckled, nobody cussed, nobody booed. We may be kua aina, but we do have good manners.
One big difference between yesterday’s hearing and the raucous session with Gov. Lingle is she came to lay down the law, and the lawmakers said they came to listen. All we’ve wanted is to be heard — not lectured, scolded and told what’s going down, whether we like it or not.
The listening bit may have been shibai on the Senators’ part, but they did sit there attentively, without a break, through nearly six hours of impassioned testimony. Even then, not all 200-plus people who signed up to speak got a chance to say their piece before the Senators had to catch the plane back to Oahu.
By the way, all the media accounts I read underestimated the crowd at about 300 at its peak. As I counted, the King K school cafeteria had 20 tables, each holding about 20 people, so that makes 400, and another 100 or so were gathered outside. (I want to correct this to 10 tables, each holding about 40 people, 20 on each side.)
Also, the Advertiser identified those who attended and spoke as “environmentalists,” although I think only a small number would classify themselves as such. It was just plain folks at the meeting — doctors, lawyers, teachers, farmers, students, carpenters, business owners, whatever.
Sen. President Colleen Hanabusa, who arrived a couple hours late and stopped first to talk to the TV cameras, reassured the crowd that the bill was not a “done deal.” She even went so far as to say the draft bill was merely a vehicle to solicit public comment.
And the comments people made were overwhelmingly against the bill, and against Superferry.
Hanabusa made two other noteworthy comments. She said she personally would never ride the Superferry because of seasickness, and that the Legislature, if called into special session by the guv, could meet and then adjourn, without taking any action.
Needless to say, that met with loud applause.
It was also interesting to note the strong applause that greeted those who identified themselves as having been in the water to keep the ferry out of Nawiliwili Harbor. They’ve become folk heroes on Kauai, including young firebrand Andrea Brower, who said her generation wasn’t well represented at the meeting because they’re “fed up with corrupt government.”
She and others vowed that if the ferry returns to Kauai, it will be met with resistance, including people in the water, outside the Coast Guard Security zone. (BTW, we do have a chance to ask for a public hearing on that scary security zone. Visit Larry Geller’s blog and scroll down a bit for details on how to make that request. The deadline is Wed., Oct. 24.)
I think it’s quite clear that many people who were not part of the original demonstrations against the ferry will be at the harbor next time to protest if it returns. Opposition is strong, and growing, and a bill exempting the ferry will add fuel to the fire.
But yesterday, despite some fiery words, people were pretty mellow. I enjoyed chatting with a lot of folks I hadn’t seen in a long time; it reminded me of the old days, when public hearings were social events on Kauai.
It was good to see locals who were calling for planned, slow growth 20 years ago at the meeting, along with a lot of newcomers who are equally ardent.
And while many of us probably believe, in our heart of hearts, that Lingle is going to pull out all the stops to make the ferry run, we also have our fingers crossed that something will happen to unravel the deal.
Hope, it seems, springs eternal.
Sunday, October 21, 2007
Musings: Rise
It’s the kind of day that makes you glad to be alive, and I am.
Had a hard time choosing between mauka and makai this morning, but chose mauka, walking along the trail facing Waialeale, gloriously clear, and all the other mountains, too.
The only sounds were bird songs, buzzing bumblebees and flies, Koko’s small feet thundering up and down the trail, the gurgling of a stream in the valley below.
At the top of the hill I watched the sun, a full red sphere, rise from a placid blue sea. For a moment I wanted to be there, too, in the water, on the beach, but in a sense I was, and I had no regrets about my choice to be in the mountains.
After all, I’d been to the beach just 13 hours before, in late afternoon, luxuriating in its salty embrace, collecting noni from the hillside for medicinal use, and I’d likely be back before this day was through.
In the back of my mind, though, was a small knot of dread at the thought of today’s meeting with the Legislature, which I will, of course, attend, although I’d prefer to spend those hours in so many different ways and have grown weary of my decades-long struggle to protect our Mother, to convince people to care.
But as I walked back home, into the sun, through a corridor of dew drenched fern, the Sleeping Giant before me, I heard the words of a song come into my mind: “Rise, my people rise,” and I knew I had no choice but to go on.
Imua! Forward. Always forward.
Had a hard time choosing between mauka and makai this morning, but chose mauka, walking along the trail facing Waialeale, gloriously clear, and all the other mountains, too.
The only sounds were bird songs, buzzing bumblebees and flies, Koko’s small feet thundering up and down the trail, the gurgling of a stream in the valley below.
At the top of the hill I watched the sun, a full red sphere, rise from a placid blue sea. For a moment I wanted to be there, too, in the water, on the beach, but in a sense I was, and I had no regrets about my choice to be in the mountains.
After all, I’d been to the beach just 13 hours before, in late afternoon, luxuriating in its salty embrace, collecting noni from the hillside for medicinal use, and I’d likely be back before this day was through.
In the back of my mind, though, was a small knot of dread at the thought of today’s meeting with the Legislature, which I will, of course, attend, although I’d prefer to spend those hours in so many different ways and have grown weary of my decades-long struggle to protect our Mother, to convince people to care.
But as I walked back home, into the sun, through a corridor of dew drenched fern, the Sleeping Giant before me, I heard the words of a song come into my mind: “Rise, my people rise,” and I knew I had no choice but to go on.
Imua! Forward. Always forward.
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