Musings: Shouts and Whispers

A downpour hit just as Koko and I were preparing to set out for our walk, so we snuggled on the bed, listening to water pour from the eaves, until it passed and we emerged in a world of puddles and glistening pavement.

Venus was low in the eastern sky and a ringed moon, still bright and round, though her lower right side had been nibbled away, was headed west, with Jupiter in tow. We were headed mauka, passing a banyan tree inhabited by dozens of birds twittering without need of a messaging utility, and passed by the squeak, squeak, squeak of a man walking in wet rubber slippers.

The sky brightened with shards of delicate pink that turned a silvery-gold and then the sun rose, a glowing orange sphere that pierced the mass of gray clouds above it with a bold ray of red light.

Far more difficult to pierce is the veneer that surrounds so many “military appreciation” efforts, which gloss over all the blood and guts and waste of the armed forces and focus instead on the God Bless America red, white and blue.

Such was the case with the ad — at least, I think, and hope, it was a paid advertisement — that appeared in the current issue of “Currents,” the useless publication of the Kauai Island Utility Cooperative.

It had a banner headline that read Military Appreciation and was signed with aloha by Dennis Esaki, the former KIUC board chairman. In it, Dennis detailed his recent “opportunity, courtesy of the Commander of the U.S. Pacific Fleet’s DV Program to fly to the nuclear aircraft carrier USS John C. Stennis, spend two days on it on an official tour, observing day and night flight and other operations, and was catapulted off its deck.”

In case you’re not familiar with the DV program, it’s a little perk offered — at taxpayer expense — to people like Dennis, who have the means to go out and promote the military after they’re given VIP treatment aboard a vessel.

You may remember that during one of the more ill-fated DV excursions, Commander Scott Waddle, captain of the USS Greeneville, was showing off for his guests (after revealing classified information about American sub capabilities) by performing an emergency surfacing maneuver. In the process, he managed to sink the Ehime Maru, a Japanese fishing training vessel, killing nine persons aboard, four of them high school kids.

So anyway, Dennis was out on a similar excursion and duly reported to all of Kauai’s electric users his gushing praise for the boys and girls who man our “multi-million dolar jets, bombs and nuclear reactors.”

They are our ambassadors to the world. They are prepared to protect us at the drop of a hat.

We sit at home complaining about nuclear power in our backyards, while we expect these men and women to live above nuclear reactors, bombs and millions of gallons of jet fuel.

You know, it’s pretty darn weird when you look at it like that. Why do we expect — heck, allow — kids to live like that? Surely we could find something less hazardous, and more meaningful, for them to do.

The piece jumped out at me not only because I found it annoying to see that bit of propaganda in the KIUC mag, which co-op members pay for, but because it made me think of a call I received from DWPS, a frequent commenter on this blog, when I was doing the recent KKCR show on the military’s impacts on Hawaii.

He wanted to know if I’d be just as willing to do a show featuring guests who appreciated the military, and in the interest of fairness, I said sure.

But seeing Dennis’ piece reminded me that the military does a bang-up job of tooting its own horn. Why should we take up valuable community radio time when the military spends millions on recruitment ads, PR staff and DV programs?

Meanwhile, the alternative point of view is expressed by nonprofits that find themselves up against government lawyers when they try to obtain information that affects us all and really should be public.

In other words, they’re a mere whisper in the wind that is so often drowned out by the military megaphone that we all pay for. And how fair is that?

Finally, if you’re interested in the issue of roadside herbicide spraying, I have a piece on that subject in the current Honolulu Weekly.

Musings: Power Struggles

The sun had not yet risen when Koko and I arrived at the beach this morning, and even when it did, it never fully showed itself, hiding instead behind the clouds it tinted first orange, then salmon-pink, then finally silver as it climbed higher over a sea that appeared steel gray, until I got in it and saw that it was clear green.

Boobies flew south overhead and Koko raced about on the sand, doing the 360-spins that characterize her joy at being free. Ahhh. I know the feeling.

Before we went down, I noticed a new pile of broken car window glass in the parking lot. The other evening, when a friend and I went to that same beach, I saw a car with a big puka in the passenger side window, a pile of broken glass on the seat and a glove box that had been opened and rifled.

We went in search of the owners, but saw no one, and when we returned from our swim, three adults and a couple of kids were giving a report to two cops. We told what we’d seen, with my friend adding that my glove box had been rifled there, too, not long ago, but since I leave my car unlocked, they hadn’t broken the window.

“That’s what the rental car companies say, leave your car unlocked,” one of the cops said. “But then, if you’ve got valuables in there, you want to lock it.”

Oh, really? Brilliant, officer. Now we know why you’re not a sergeant.

Meanwhile, in a land far away — Afghanistan — U.S. Predator drones keep up a steady pace of killing, with 45 reported dead yesterday. At least Democracy Now! is keeping count, while sharing the news that the U.S. is settling in for a nice, long, expensive occupation, awarding five-year contracts worth up to $7.5 BILLION to DynCorp and Fluor Corp for “support and logistics" at U.S. military bases in that unfortunate nation. KBR, accustomed to feeding heavily at the trough in Iraq, “says it may challenge its exclusion from the deal.”

While we pour billions down a rat hole, computer hackers are waging their own quiet, inexpensive, but nonetheless damaging, war on computer systems in South Korea and the U.S. — including the White House, Treasury and Transportation departments, Secret Service and Federal Trade Commission. The Globe and Mail reports that the usual suspects — China, Iran and North Korea — are, well, the usual suspects. And even though the attacks began on the Fourth of July and were still disrupting American systems four days later, the Department of Homeland Security downplayed their severity. The Globe notes:

Countries like Iran and North Korea, as well as terrorist groups, are devoting increasing amounts of resources to cyber and electronic warfare, said Andrew Brookes, a defence analyst with the International Institute for Strategic Studies in London.

“They can't take the West on with conventional tactics like big armies, big air forces or big navies. Instead, they are trying to look to cheaper activities – ballistic missiles, work in space or cyber attacks,” he said.

Well, that’s one way to even the playing field. It’s pretty obvious that the U.S. would be totally paralyzed and useless if its computers went down.

The blog USMilitary.com agrees:

I believe that this is where the future of battles will be conducted. Bringing down another nations computer networks could give the attacking nation intel and control. As we move forward, it is important that American continues to provide funds for the protection of our governmental computer networks. If we fail to do this, other nations will develop technologies and methods of infiltration that we will not be able to combat.

Oh joy. Now we can engage in not only an arms race, but an IT race.

Back at home, The Advertiser won the slow race with its front page report today on the Naue burials issue. Usurping even The Garden Island in the better late than never category, it finally gives some serious coverage to a story that’s, gee, only two years old.

Unfortunately, despite its length, it’s a rehash of stuff that I, at least, have already covered, and doesn’t manage to break any new ground. But perhaps it will bring the matter into the consciousness of Honolulu residents.

My favorite comment on the story was from Jonny Zahaby, who wrote:

Why do ANY houses need to be built on Kauai? There are plenty of new houses for sale.

He’s got a point. Of course, the construction industry thinks otherwise. But if you look in the Kauai Business Report, you’ll see that most of the building permits are for solar panels and small kine projects. Seems like the days of the multi-million-dollar mansions are pau. Meanwhile, the legal section is filled with foreclosure notices, something you never used to see on Kauai.

And Hawaiian-hater Ken Conklin apparently has some followers on this blog, judging from a comment he left on the Advertiser article that has oft been echoed here:

It’s very clear that most ethnic Hawaiians today do NOT believe that the spirit of the dead person continues to live in the bones... The fuss is being done for two main reasons: anti-development activism, and political demands for ethnic Hawaiian race-based sovereignty. Spirituality is merely being used as a pawn in their political power struggle.

Of course, Westerners, and Christian missionaries, would never resort to such a ploy…..

Musings: Can of Worms

Crimson streaks were shooting up out of the east and iwa were drifting south, riding the thermals, when Koko and I arrived at the beach this morning. The sun rose white-gold in a pearly sky and a monk seal popped up its head and looked around, lolling in the shimmering shallows of a receding tide.

Brisk trades whipped up a frothy white chop on the silvery sea and sent a band of horizon-hugging fleece scurrying north as stacks of towering cumulus marched west. And in the center of it all were the smoky-gray and scarlet wisps of cirrus clouds.

So, too, is agricultural land at the center of the current land use debate on Kauai, with an unsettling bill for ag worker housing set to be heard by the County Council this afternoon.

It seems like a great idea on first blush. Everybody wants to keep ag alive on Kauai and help farmers, right? And it’s kind of a no-brainer that small farms often don’t generate sufficient revenue to pay farm workers the kind of wages they need to rent houses in this pricey market.

The solution, as some ag boosters see it, is to allow farmers to construct housing for their workers on their land. The theory is that this will allow them to attract more workers, and so continue production, or even step it up, allowing small-scale, organic agriculture to flourish.

The material I’ve seen circulated in favor of the bill portrays a rather dire scenario, claiming that without the measure, “many [farmers] may have to stop farming altogether and leave the island.” Specifically, they’re talking about the organic farmers at Moloaa, who seem to be both the primary impetus behind this bill, as well as its primary benefactors.

Many of the affected farmers bought Moloaa land from Mike Strong, who divided a larger parcel into farm lots and sold them at relatively low prices because no houses could be built on them. This land has since turned into a productive pocket of primarily organic farming.

Now some of the farmers want to be able to build legal homes for themselves and their workers, claiming that without such provisions, they can’t attract the labor force they need to keep their farms going. With worker housing, they argue, Kauai can take a giant step toward food sustainability and the production of healthy, local food.

It’s a great vision that’s shared by many, myself included.

The problem, however, is that the bill before the Council is more likely to usher in a can of worms than an agricultural renaissance. Real estate agents, architects and ag land owners presently stymied by vacation rental restrictions are likely licking their chops as they look at all the exploitable loopholes that threaten to further undermine the integrity of our ag lands as places that actually produce food.

The county planning department, in reporting on the Planning Commission’s discussion on the bill and offering its own review, notes the “vague distinction between transient accommodations and/or activities (i.e. agro and eco-tourism) and genuine farm laboring (as done by either permanent or migrant labor), and the potential for the bill to be abused.”

It’s not like we haven’t seen that happen already. It seems to me that before the county opens the door to yet another ill-defined use of ag land, it should clear up the existing messes with vacation rentals, gentleman’s estates and faux barns that are increasing the density and price of ag lands, without contributing anything to agriculture.

It also needs to look carefully at the enforcement issue. The county either can’t, or won’t, enforce the farm dwelling agreement that requires homes on ag land to be associated with an agricultural venture. In its review of the worker housing bill, the planning department expresses reservations about worker housing enforcement, too, noting:

To allow landowners to build housing over and above the maximum allowable residential density allotted under the County Code is an advantageous provision for landowners that could very well open the door to misuse or abuse. Thorough scrutiny of all applications and operations will be required, a level of scrutiny for which the Department may not have the necessary resources or staffing.

In the event that misuse, abuse or noncompliance is discovered, bringing landowners and their respective uses into compliance — particularly concerning housing — is, historically, a contentious, and at times, calamitous, process that demands vast amounts of time and resources, and in may cases remains unresolved for several years.

It’s important to note that the proposed farm worker housing bill is not the only option. Farmers currently have the ability to seek a county use permit to construct worker housing, a process that requires a public hearing.

The Moloaa farmers, who appear to be committed to farming, could also dedicate their land under the state’s recently-adopted Important Ag Lands law, which would not only preserve the land in perpetuity, but allow them to build houses and give them other perks intended to support agriculture. This seems to me a really good option that would help to meet their particular needs without placing other farmlands at risk for speculation and non-ag development.

While this bill is being pushed with some sense of urgency, I hope the county will move slowly and plug all the holes that can be exploited by those who are looking to reap big bucks rather than an edible crop. Yes, let’s help the farmers at Moloaa, and elsewhere, get the labor they need to thrive. Let’s just make sure it isn’t done at the expense of ag land island-wide.

Musings: Coming Together

The moon — just hours short of fullness —was low and yellow, playing hide and seek with pearlescent clouds, when Koko and I went walking last evening. It remained bright through the night, peeking in my window, penetrating my dreams, shining even through a sudden downpour that left rain dripping from the eaves, while in the distance, the surf roared.

It was still up, causing the wet leaves to sparkle, lighting our way as headed mauka this morning, until it was swept into a mass of gray to the south of Waialeale and succumbed, finally, to the pink-streaked murkiness of a windswept dawn.

Through it all, my mind was on the radio show that Jimmy Trujillo and I hosted yesterday evening, and how it had revealed to me — yet again — the many ways that the state pits Hawaiians against one another and places them in the quandary of opting out completely or participating in a system that isn’t really intended to serve their interests.

And that’s particularly true with the Burial Council, as Presley Wann, who just completed two four-year terms on the Council, outlined in recounting his tenure on that panel.

He applied to serve because he’d encountered iwi a number of times during his 34 years in the construction industry. Back in the days before the burial laws were passed, he’d simply wrap the iwi in ti leaf, say a short pule, return them to where they’d been found, backfill and keep on going.

As a Hawaiian, Presley was always bothered by whether he’d handled the iwi appropriately, so when he was approached to serve on the Council, he agreed, in hopes of learning more and broadening his understanding.

And while Presley looks to the day when kanaka will have their nation back, he also wanted to know more about how the state functions, so that he could work effectively on behalf of his people in the meantime.

He’s emerging from his tenure convinced that the burial law must be radically altered. The Council, he said, needs to be consulted up front, rather than at the end of the process “when everybody’s all frustrated. That’s why we took a lot of the heat. We need to be involved way ahead of time. As Hawaiians, we know where our burials are.”

And laws governing real estate transactions in the Islands need to be revamped to include the caveat that “nobody’s guaranteeing you the right to build.” Because some places, like the Naue site where Joe Brescia is building a house atop more than 30 burials, simply aren’t suited to development, Presley said.

The Council also was advised that by law, “we couldn’t totally stop a building,” Presley said. “We didn’t have that kind of power.”

Instead, they were limited to preserving the burials in place, or reinterring them elsewhere. And many times, he said, neither was the option the Council would have chosen.

The extent to which the Council could change the design of a house or its placement on a site was always a gray area, he said, and Judge Kathleen Watanabe’s ruling that Brescia proceeded at his own risk by continuing to build without an approved Burial Treatment Plan (BTP) “made it even more gray.”

A caller read from a letter she’d received from Pua Aiu, director of the State Historic Preservation Division, stating that the agency won’t be investigating a revocation of Brescia’s building permit — even though the permit’s conditions require an approved BTP — “as we don’t have the legal authority to do so.”

Does it? Perhaps that’s a question, like the full extent of the Council’s power, that’s intentionally left gray, unanswered, because to do so would almost certainly hamper development.

And truth be told, the purpose of the burial law is not to fully protect and malama the iwi, but to create a process by which they can legitimately be disturbed so as to allow development.

Still, as Presley pointed out, until there’s a day of sovereignty or a Hawaiian nation, the Burial Council is the only means afforded kanaka by the state to have a say in what happens to their iwi kupuna.

While Presley’s first-hand experience was valuable, I was especially touched by the way it affected Nani Rogers and Andrew Cababe, both of whom have been deeply involved in the Naue burials issue. Nani, teary-eyed, said she finally understood what it was like to sit in the chair of a Council member, and she apologized to Presley for the ranting and raving that the panel had experienced.

Presley, too, was teary-eyed, as was Andrew, because it was clear they’re all on the same page and deeply troubled by what has happened at Naue. They all want to keep the iwi from being disturbed and desecrated. Building on burials or digging them up and moving them elsewhere is not something that they consider culturally appropriate.

But that's the process created by the state, which sucks them into a system that serves not to further their cultural interests but to turn them against one another, make them believe that they’re on opposing sides.

Afterwards, in the parking lot, the three of them exchanged ideas on how to work both within the system and outside it, and they parted as friends and allies.

So yes, as long as the state is running the show, it’s good for conscientious and caring kanaka to serve on the Burial Council and work for dramatic changes in the law.

And they also need to keep coming together, communicating with one another, breaking down the barriers to their unification erected by the state whose interests are best served by the old technique of divide and conquer.

Burials Radio Show

Jimmy Trujillo and I will be hosting the Monday Mixed Plate show on KKCR from 5 to 6 p.m. today, with guests Presley Wann, a former member of the Kauai-Niihau Island Burial Council; possibly John Kruse, also a former council member; and Puanani Rogers, who has been active in the Hawaiian burials issue, including Joe Brescia's house at Naue.

You can listen at 91.9 or 90.9 FM, or on-line at kkcr.org. We're going to take calls, too, and the number is 826-7771. If you're off-island, the toll-free number is 866-275-1112.

Musings: Toxic Shadows

The high-pitched whine of aerials last night and a couple of pre-dawn firecrackers this morning served as warning of the fireworks free-for-all in store tonight. Koko isn't keen on snap, crackle, ka-boom and pop, so we’ll dig out of here before things get too wild and she turns into a trembling, slinking, miserable little pup.

Then come tomorrow, we’ll see the remains of the frenzy in the red paper, pieces of wire and other debris littering the roads, yards and beaches, washing into the ocean, settling on the reef.

It seems that everything connected with the military, even the observance of our nation’s independence, has its toxic residue.

Kyle Kajihiro, program director of the American Friends Service Committee and DMZ Hawaii, and Bob Nichols, a journalist in the San Francisco Bay Area, outlined the extent of the military’s dirty footprint on Hawaii on the recent KKCR show that Jimmy Trujillo and I hosted.

The U.S. has some 161 military facilities throughout the Hawaiian Islands, and as Kyle noted, they create “a toxic shadow that affects the surrounding communities.” Hawaii has 800 to 1,000 military-contaminated sites, many of them around Pearl Harbor.

While the contaminants at these sites all have environmental and human health implications — none of them good— what I found especially alarming was the revelation that the military also has introduced so-called “depleted uranium,” or DU, to the Islands.

For a more thorough understanding of just what this is all about, check out Bob’s article on the radioactive uranium that American weapons have unleashed in Iraq. The piece won a 2005 Project Censored award.

When weapons made with uranium components are shot or exploded, they create Uranium Oxide Dust (UOD). And as Bob explained on the radio show, the particles are so tiny, they can penetrate our skin and clothing, even protective gear that is intended to prevent radiation exposure.

Kyle said that documents obtained under the Freedom of Information Act and through litigation indicate the military engaged in classified weapons testing in Hawaii, including the Davy Crockett, one of the smallest nuclear weapons ever built.

These weapons were possibly used at the Army’s training facilities at Makua on Oahu, the island of Kahoolawe (which served as a bombing target for some 50 years) and the Big Island’s Pohakuloa, where “DU” has been detected. Additionally, Kyle said, evidence has come to light that the Army used weapons with uranium components at Schofield, also on Oahu.

“This goes against what the Army has said for many years,” he said. In other words, the military has consistently denied using these materials in Hawaii — until it got busted and the truth was revealed.

But just because the military’s dirty little secret is now public doesn’t mean that anything has changed. Kyle has attempted to learn more about the extent of radioactive contamination by filing numerous FOIA requests. They've all been ignored by the military, which is meanwhile seeking permits to avoid cleaning up its radioactive mess.

And that raises a key question: can microscopic particles that are easily blown about by the wind ever be cleaned up? And even if they could be, how much is being re-introduced by the troops and equipment returning from Iraq, where we know this stuff has been used?

That leads to another question: what is UOD doing to the health of American troops, the people of Iraq and the citizens and visitors of Hawaii? Bob said these particles cause cancer wherever they settle in the body, and other maladies as well.

But the military is using the same strategy of denial it followed when confronted with veterans sickened by Agent Orange — tested years ago in Wailua and used extensively in Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia — and suffering from Gulf War syndrome.

What’s more, Kyle said Hawaii’s Congressional delegation has expressed absolutely no interest in the DU issue, and a bill that would have called for DU monitoring in areas around military installations died quietly in the state Legislature.

Meanwhile, even though the military has made numerous messes in Hawaii, most of which have never been cleaned and likely never will, it is still seeking to expand its presence in the Islands, especially on Kauai, which I wrote about for the Honolulu Weekly.

And why? Who is the big enemy we’re facing? It’s not Russia any more, and China could bring us to our knees simply by refusing to buy any more of our bonds.

Our huge standing military, and the activities it’s carrying out all around the world, is costing taxpayers a fortune. It’s also taking a huge toll on human lives, both our own soldiers, who are killed and maimed in combat and committing suicide at unprecedented rates, and the civilian populations that are increasingly being targeted.

So on this, the day set aside to celebrate America’s freedom from the tyranny of the British colonial power, it seems appropriate to re-examine the true price we're paying for having the world's largest military and remember the words of John Quincy Adams:

“We are friends of freedom everywhere, defenders only of our own.”

Musings: A Little Finesse

I was up late last night, so the morning’s rain served as a welcome muffler to the raucous roosters, allowing me to catch a few extra winks until a 6 a.m. phone call got me up for good. Koko and I headed over to the beach, where a rainbow caressed the northern side of the Anahola mountains and the sun was in full-on shimmer on the sea.

For me, diving into the water anytime, especially in the shimmer, = joy.

While I was down there, I saw two fishermen, which reminded me that a reader once asked if I could share various things I’d learned about local culture, like the proper etiquette around throw net fishermen.

Unlike pole fishermen, who are waiting, throw net fishermen are stalking, which means stealth. So you don’t want to get between them and the water, or make a lot of noise that might scare the fish, or approach them, or jump into the water as they’re making their way along the beach, as they could be tracking fish.

When I see them, I tend to hang back by the tree line and keep Koko close until I figure out which way they’re going. If they’re headed my way, I wait until they’re well past before I enter the water.

I don’t claim to be an expert, and others may have different ideas, but I’m just conveying what I learned from my ex-husband, who sews and throws net. I don’t miss him, but I do miss that fresh limu smell of the reef that accompanied his catch, and I really miss the aholeahole.

My friend Kaimi dropped off some akule this morning on his way to the airport. He and Kaili are flying to Honolulu to help sail the Hokulea over to Kauai tomorrow. As we all agreed, that’s a good way for kanaka to spend Independence Day.

Or if you’re a Laysan albatross, fledging. (Photo by Hob Osterlund)

I’ll be working, as will, reportedly, the guv and her Cabinet, who must come up with Plan B now that the court has ruled she does not, as she claimed, have the power to furlough state workers.

It seems the guv could have started by assessing how many workers might want to reduce their hours. Farmer Jerry said he wouldn’t mind a furlough because it would give him more time on his farm. Surely others would feel the same way, while for some, a three-day monthly furlough could create an economic hardship.

But from the beginning, Lingle approached the issue in such a heavy-handed manner, boldly asserting her authority to order the furloughs. It’s not unlike her equally ill-fated "Unified Command" handling of the Superferry. While it’s evident she’s pretty much dead meat for the rest of her gubernatorial term, it might help her future political endeavors if she learned a bit more finesse.

You know, sort of how Councilmen Kaipo Asing and Jay Furfaro have co-opted the transparency revolution launched by Councilmembers Tim Bynum and Lani Kawahara with their announcement that “after a year of planning” council meeting minutes will be posted on line. As The Garden island reported:

The placement of public documents, including meeting minutes, on the county’s Web site is one of four matters to be addressed at an upcoming council meeting after a communication introduced by Lani Kawahara and Tim Bynum was approved by all seven council members last month.

The communication requested agenda time at either the July 8 or July 22 meeting to discuss council members’ access to the agenda, equitable and timely circulation of council service documents, general access to information by the public and council members, and putting documents online.

The agenda for the July 8 meeting was posted Thursday; it does not contain an item pertaining to the communication approved June 16. While some of Bynum and Kawahara’s requests remain unaddressed, it appears one major gripe has been rectified.

To co-opt the lyrics to a song: “Democracy is coming, to the Garden Island.”

Musings: Quick Stop

I'm in a rush today, but wanted to provide you with a link to a piece I just published on cultural and environmental concerns related to placing the bike path on Wailua Beach.

Then there's also the Star-Bulletin piece reporting that a federal judge has ruled Hawaii Superferry can abandon its two ferries to MARAD, the federal agency that provided the bulk of its funding. According to the article, we won't be seeing the ferry in Hawaii again:

"We're not going to be returning back to the state of Hawaii now that the estate has abandoned the ships," Leon Barson, a Hawaii Superferry attorney, told Walsh during a hearing in Wilmington, Del., where the Hawaii Superferry filed for bankruptcy on May 30.

The article also has Alex Harman, a partner in J.F. Lehman saying:

The private-equity firm lost its entire $85 million investment in Hawaii Superferry, Harman said.

And finally, I'll be co-hosting a KKCR show with Jimmy Trujillo from 4 to 5:30 p.m. today. The topic is the military's impact on Hawaii, including depleted uranium. The guests will be Kyle Kajihiro of American Friends Service Committee and freelance reporter Bob Nichols. You can tune in on line at www.kkcr.org or 91.9 FM. And please call in at 826-7771, especially if you're a military supporter. Always makes a discussion more interesting to get varying points of view.

Musings: Playing Rough

What a gorgeous day!

Jupiter and Venus were golden and Waialale — as first glimpsed through the looped barbed wire atop the lumber yard fence — was totally clear, as were Kalalea, Hokualele, Nounou, Haupu, Makaleha and all the other mountains, when Koko and I set out walking this morning.

Clouds started slowly drifting in as we cruised down Kawaihau Road, with me admiring the super cute architecture of some of the houses, and Koko endlessly fascinated with an array of scents, and by the time the eastern sky turned yellow, they were piling up mauka and shapeshifting into coral heads makai.

And then came the rosy light of dawn, casting everything in that soft, warm, glow that softens all the rough edges.

The attorneys for Joe Brescia are playing a little rough, subpoenaing the unpublished interviews and raw video footage of independent filmmaker Keoni Kealoha Alvarez, who is making a documentary on Hawaiian burial practices for PBS.

Brescia’s attorneys apparently believe the material will be useful in the civil suit they’ve filed against those who have opposed the house Brescia is building atop burials at Naue, and even some who have not.

Fortunately, the ACLU and Honolulu attorney James Bickerton have agreed to represent Keoni, who received a 2005 commendation from Gov. Lingle for his accomplishments in preserving the Hawaiian culture, using Hawaii’s new “media shield law.”

According to a press release from the ACLU:

In preparing this documentary, Alvarez was unwittingly drawn into a legal battle over the construction of Joseph A. Brescia's home on Naue Point on Kauai.

Bickerton said: "Alvarez's unpublished documentary footage is clearly protected by law against disclosure under Hawaii's 'media shield.' The law restricts attorneys from using the subpoena power of the court to compel protected information from journalists. Just as we expect and protect doctor-patient confidentiality because it fosters trust and healthy outcomes, journalists have, under the law, the same right to protect the confidentiality of their sources and unpublished materials. This trust allows for a diverse, robust and independent media, which in turn gives us a more accountable and transparent system of government."

Alvarez explained, "As a journalist, I am trying to be as pono as I can in producing this film. I have promised everyone complete confidentiality, and I have promised everyone that the film and the interviews will not be released publicly until everyone in it has had a chance to review, comment, or object. Material that doesn't make it into the final published film is intended to remain confidential."

"The documentary deals with Hawaiian belief systems, burial practices, and issues that many people consider to be kapu," Alvarez continued to say: "If I'm forced to turn over these tapes we'll never be able to do a project like this again - lots of really important Hawaiian cultural preservation work simply won't happen because people will be too afraid to do it. The trust in the journalist will be destroyed."

Daniel Gluck, ACLU senior staff attorney, stated, "Hawaii's media shield law is designed to create an environment in which journalists like Alvarez can take on difficult and sensitive projects without having to fear court actions undermining their integrity. This case is about defending all media voices to make sure that attorneys cannot abuse the court's power - and cannot compromise journalistic integrity - just to 'fish' for information."

Attorney Bickerton was more direct: "Simply put, Brescia has no right to these materials. If he can't see that by reading the new law, we will ask the court to explain it to him."

I was a bit amused by one comment that followed the , Advertiser story:

And since when have film makers become journalists? The media shield law is suppose to protect journalists and film makers are not journalists.

Ummm, maybe that person should check out the documentary section at Blockbuster, instead of just the blockbusters.

While we’re on the subject of journalistic lawsuits, I gotta hand it to Charley Foster for blogging on something involving me that I didn’t even know about. Namely, that the Intermediate Court of Appeals upheld a lower court’s dismissal of a defamation suit filed by Wally Wilson against The Garden Island and past-reporter Dennis Wilkin, KPD, Honolulu Magazine and me.

Wilson wasn’t pleased that Dennis and I made references to him being a suspect in our coverage of the “serial killings” and sex assaults that occurred on Kauai’s Westside in 2000, and the lawsuit blamed the cops for divulging the info. It’s too bad “The Killing Year,” the piece I wrote for the August 2001 issue of Honolulu Magazine, isn’t archived on line, as I always thought it was one of the best stories I’ve ever written. It didn’t just cover the “serial killings,” but the six homicides and two near-homicides that were carried out on Kauai that year, and public attitudes about KPD.

At the time of the killings, Wilson was on parole for a rape, sex abuse and kidnapping conviction, which prompted an attorney friend, in reassuring me about the lawsuit, to remark: “It’s kind of hard to defame a convicted rapist.”

In regard to my coverage, the Intermediate Court found — and hat tip to Charley for the link — that:

The article did not state or infer that Wilson was in fact the Kauai serial killer or that he was very likely the Kauai serial killer. The plain meaning of the article is that Wilson was considered a subject in the attacks, a circumstance that Wilson readily concedes…. We conclude that the article could not rationally be understood as the author’s factual assertion that Wilson was the Kauai serial kiler or that he was very likely the Kauai serial killer.

We also reject Wilson’s claim that he was defamed by the article's statement that it was “widely accepted as fact” on Kauai that he was the suspected serial killer. The “widely accepted” characterization was a statement of the author’s opinion that was not susceptible of being proved true or false.

One thing I never did understand is why KHNL News 8 was never included in the suit, as the station was not only the first to name Wilson, it also ran his photo.

Wilson, who has denied any involvement in the Kauai attacks, has since served his time, and according to the sex offender registry, is now reportedly living on Oahu.

I wonder if we'll ever know for sure who committed those crimes.

Musings: Sucky Stuffs

Waialeale’s summit was sandwiched between a pink sky and pink clouds when Koko and I, after a restless night of roosters that wouldn’t stop crowing, headed to the beach this morning, arriving just in time to see the sun rise orange and vibrant out of the sparkling sea.

Mounds left by burrowing crabs created the tropical version of a prairie dog village on the sand, and Koko busied herself with furious digging and stick chewing as I dove into water inhabited by hundreds of tiny blue fishes.

And then we returned to the parking lot, where a few piles of broken car window glass served as silent reminders that some folks are just waiting for their chance to grab what’s not theirs — you know, sort of like colonialism. Only people don’t go to jail for that kind of grabbing.

A surfer friend said the weekend’s big south swell drew crowds and a few thieves to Lawai Beach Park, where two surfboards were stolen and someone’s “wallet was rifled.”

It seems that surfboard thefts are relatively rare on Kauai, so as my friend described it, “usually you put one board on top (of the car) and go out. That sucks if you have to be paranoid about that now.”

Here’s another thing that sucks: As of today, the Kauai-Niihau Burial Council is down two members, so it won’t be taking up the burial treatment plan for Joe Brescia’s house until those vacancies get filled. Meanwhile, the hammers and saws are busily vesting Brescia’s interest. If you want to apply — and one of the vacancies is for a landowner/developer rep — call 808-692-8015.

While we're on the subject of sucky stuff, it seems there’s a conveniently-timed bright spot on Hawaii Superferry's horizon:

U.S. Navy’s Military Sealift Command (MSC) has issued a Market Survey to ask about the cost and availability of U.S. ferry vessels. Anticipated delivery will occur on October 1, although the vessel owner may propose alternate delivery dates. The location of proposed usage will be Guam, Saipan, and adjacent Pacific Ocean waters. The time charter will be for 12 months, with the possibility for three additional year-long renewals.

How many other ferries, at least one of which is already equipped for military use — do you ‘spose are just hanging around in America? Never underestimate the strings that can be pulled by a former Secretary of the Navy....

And never underestimate the power of denial. In a New York Times op-ed piece, Paul Krugman rips (in genteel NYT fashion) into Congressional climate change deniers, whom he accuses of immorality, irresponsibility and “treason against the planet.”

Now there’s a case the World Court should take on….

Problem is, ain’t but a very few of us who aren’t guilty, at least as accomplices, in creating the conditions that threaten, as Krugman so vividly recounts, to change the world and life as we know it — and quite a bit faster than we might be expecting:

Thus researchers at M.I.T., who were previously predicting a temperature rise of a little more than 4 degrees by the end of this century, are now predicting a rise of more than 9 degrees. Why? Global greenhouse gas emissions are rising faster than expected; some mitigating factors, like absorption of carbon dioxide by the oceans, are turning out to be weaker than hoped; and there’s growing evidence that climate change is self-reinforcing — that, for example, rising temperatures will cause some arctic tundra to defrost, releasing even more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.

I’m not a scientist, but from what I know about nature, and how everything is interrelated, I always figured that climate change would occur at an exponential rate, and by the time we finally got on it, well, it would be just a little too late.

But heck, until then we’ll have four lanes of traffic crossing the Wailua River, and if that isn’t progress, I don’t know what is. It’ll only cost $30 million to employ up to 150 people for a year and allow motorists, after slogging through 14 months of construction, to zoom over the river — only to get bogged down at the next bottleneck heading north.

I figure the DOT will have the traffic on Kuhio Highway running smoothly just about the time the sea has submerged the bike path and is lapping at the road’s shoulders.

Musings: On Blogging

A big rain came through last night, giving the morning a fresh, clean feeling when Koko and I went walking as nene honked overhead and the fragrance of unseen citrus blossoms wafted through the air.

Venus and Jupiter were still visible, and for the first time in the two weeks since I moved, Waialeale revealed herself — initially just her notch, and then her flat, sloping summit, overscored by a long, thin, pink-gray cloud, and then, as the sun rose behind a gilt-edged puff, her full face, flushed delicate rose.

Now that made me happy. As for Koko, she was already dancing at the end of her leash, rarin’ to chase the hens that skittered across her trail. She might have been happier if I’d let her loose, but then, I would have been less happy, as would the people whose yards she dashed through and dogs she set off while in hot pursuit. So she stayed tethered.

Mornings like these are part of the reason why I blog, a topic I’ve been thinking about ever since I read Ian Lind’s own musings on the subject and got my first request to run an ad.

Like Ian, it’s definitely not for the money, in part because there isn’t any, per se, although I have gotten paying work as a direct result of this blog. As Ian so aptly described it:

It’s not a business, that’s clear. But it’s more than a “hobby”, since I feel that need to publish daily and, at least now and then, produce original content and useful documents and information. It’s an expression of that journalistic impulse that hasn’t been either constrained, or supported by, any economic sense. In other words, somewhat unsustainable except in this crazy world of blogging.

Regular blogging does seem to fall into the realm of addiction. Some days I don’t plan to blog, or even especially want to, yet before I know it, I’m blogging, a habit that occasionally makes me late to early morning appointments (don’t tell the acupuncturist) and has prompted friends to leave telephone messages like, “you, step away from that blog,” and “Koko, is mommy blogging?”

Still, it makes me feel good to share nature’s beauty, as I hope it will encourage other people to appreciate it, or at least notice it, and so take better care of it, and also to pass on bits of information that I think people need to know, which leads to the other, undeniable aspect of blogging: ego.

Of course, ego is a part of any published writing, and perhaps even more so with blogging, because it’s all about what I want to write, and how I want to write it, with no pesky editor tossing in his two cents or worse, rewriting it into something he thinks is better, but usually isn't

Not to mention that I likely would have no other place to publish many of the things covered in this blog, especially in the current dismal market.

But aren’t you trying to educate people and change the world? asked an equally idealistic friend when i discussed this subject with her.

Most definitely, and that drive has earned me such nicknames as Messenjah, and intrepid reporter Joyce Babbage, and the less kind Terri, which is short for a frantically barking terrier. But when you get right down to it, even that lofty objective is ego-driven, based entirely on the premise that my ideas on how the world should be/could be are not only worth considering, but implementing, and while I really hate to admit otherwise, when I’m totally honest, I have to.

Besides, those leaving comments often force me into that realization, which leads to another reason I blog: spiritual practice. Noticing what’s going on in the world around me as I walk is a very pleasant way to live consciously, be present in the moment. And there’s nothing quite like the anonymous comment section of a blog to drive home the lessons of humility, patience, compassion, kindness and tolerance — and all the opposites of those virtues.

I’ve learned a lot about myself, and even more about people, by blogging. Several friends have remarked on the “really weird people” who seem to read my blog, but I don’t mind, because I like quirky people, although there have been times, fortunately in the more distant past, when I was almost afraid to look at my blog because of the unruly comment section.

But that, too, taught me valuable lessons about setting appropriate boundaries and not taking things personally and letting stuff go rather than stewing.

I’ve also learned a lot about writing. Like any craft, it gets better with practice, and practice is best when it’s fun, which blogging usually is, and it’s helped me free up my public writing from the constrictive forces of mainstream journalism that shaped it.

I figure the educational aspects alone are worth plenty, and would cost a good bit if one could even find such curriculum at a university, so I keep blogging, even though it takes a good bit of time and doesn’t earn me any money.

I also keep blogging because people keep reading, and commenting, and to all of you have participated with me in this venture, I say mahalo. I’m glad to have you along for the ride.

Musings: Desecration in the Hood II

It seems there was a bit of action yesterday at the house that Joe Brescia is building atop burials at Naue, what with kids coming to pray, sing and chant to the iwi — prompting contractor Joe Galante to call police — and all the tree-cutting that was going on for the second day in a row.

Since the police were there, anyway, taking Galante’s complaint, Caren Diamond took the opportunity to file a complaint of her own about Bresica et.al. fencing off the public beach.


Now this is an interesting issue, with statewide implications, and while it’s a bit convoluted, I’ll try to present a synopsis of it here. Essentially, Brescia’s shoreline certification survey, which defines the extent of the public beach for the purpose of determining the construction setback, was set in July 2005, at a time when the ocean there is at its calmest.

The state took some 16 months to approve the certification, during which time Caren won her state Supreme Court case that defined the public beach as extending to the seasonally highest wash of the waves. Caren and the North Shore Ohana appealed the certification, based on that ruling, and Bresica also appealed it, because he wanted to be closer to the water than the certification would allow.

The state didn’t grant either appeal, rejecting Caren’s “proferred evidence” of nine years of photographs showing waves washing up onto Brescia’s lot. Brescia put up orange plastic fences to mark the line, and Caren got more pictures of waves knocking them down.

That certification expired in 2008, but after Brescia began constructing his house, he erected new fences along the same boundary, posted with No Trespassing signs.

So the question now is, does the line used to determine the house setback become his private property line forever? Is the shoreline fixed at the time of development? It’s not supposed to be, under a new county ordinance that prohibits fences within 40 feet of the setback in recognition of the fact that the shoreline migrates.

Caren’s complaint to the police yesterday was based on the premise of “you can’t keep people off the beach based on an outdated shoreline.” And since the state approved the shoreline without using any historical data, “what happens when the owner wants to make it permanent? How does the public get the beach back?"

The issue is complicated by the fact that the county allows owners to irrigate and landscape up to the shoreline, so they cut down the beachfront shade trees and plant lawns and naupaka hedges and pretty soon they don’t need fences, because they’ve got a natural barrier to keep the public off land that, under the Supreme Court ruling, quite often is public beach.

In looking back at the article I wrote about Caren’s case, I found a quote from then DLNR director Peter Young:

‘If someone considers it the ownership line, we correct them and tell them it’s not.’

Problem is, the burden is on the public to prove it with photographs, which can lend to conflicts between residents and property owners. Joe Galante wasn’t too pleased to see Caren taking pictures at the site, and she said he approached her in a “menacing” and “threatening” way, demanding to know what she was doing and videotaping her as he stood on the land in question.


On this particular day, Caren was also acting as a community monitor because trees were being cut, and apparently some root balls were removed. Nancy McMahon of the State Historic Preservation Division said no ground-altering activities can be conducted without an archaeologist on site, and since she had received a number of complaints, she is reportedly going to check it out, as is county inspector Les Milnes.

As you can see in these two pictures, some of the trees that were cut are quite close to some of the iwi, which are surrounded by orange fencing. And since some of the burials are described as “scattered remains,” it’s possible that bones could be found in the adjacent area.



Meanwhile, even though the state still has not approved a Burial Treatment Plan for the property, you can see from this picture that the house is coming up rapidly. Kaiulani Huff's camp also is gone from the beach there.


And so goes the ongoing desecration in the hood.

Musings: Making a Difference

As "the world mourns Michael Jackson" — at least, according to Yahoo headlines — I wanted to take this opportunity to remind everyone that even we more ordinary human beings can make a difference in the lives of others. Mahalo to Richard Kinney, Hawaiian independence warrior, for sending this along.

Musings: Fortified

Bits of gray traded places in the sky, like jigsaw puzzle pieces that didn’t quite fit, when Koko and I went walking on the roadside path this morning. We passed the regulars, some with dogs, bikes, I-pods or all three, and exchanged the usual greetings, nods, smiles. A horse, silently communicating the command/desire “pet me,” stretched his head over the fence and then melted beneath my stroking hand and soft words. Some days we just need a hug, and today, apparently, was one of those for him.

The sun arrived, creating a column of dusky red that rose like a fiery smokestack in the east, just beyond Kalalea, and I was marveling at the way a far off rain shower was tinted pink as it floated across the sky until suddenly it wasn’t far off, but right there, and we took shelter under the roof of the Fuel Mart until the rain blew farther mauka, obliterating the mountains and leaving a rainbow in its wake.

I’m so glad I’m one of those people who naturally wakes up early and so am able to enjoy the dawn of each day. It fortifies me with a good feeling that persists even through exposure to the news — not that you could call The Garden Island’s article on a Poipu animal cruelty case that. Reporter Paul Curtis completely threw objectivity out the window in his coverage and allowed himself to become a propaganda machine for the Kauai Humane Society.

I’ve noticed this every single time the paper covers stories that obviously come from the Humane Society. The reporters let director Becky Rhoades say any kind, with nary a glimmer of any other point of view. She did the same thing last month in a piece on roosters confiscated from a chicken fight.

Now no one wants to learn of dogs starving and rotting in their kennels, but there’s also the issue of trying —heck, slandering — a person in the newspaper, especially when he’s awaiting trial. And I couldn’t help but wonder if the KHS offensive was an attempt to CYA. I mean, they reportedly found a dead dog in this guy’s kennels in March, and after seeing everything was hunky dory in April, the enforcement officer stopped following up.

Come on. People don’t go from having a dead dog in a kennel to being model pet owners in a month. Surely a tad more oversight was warranted.

Today’s article notes:

The case is a bit puzzling to Rhoades, she said, because KHS offers free food, owner educational assistance, spay and neuter services, and other services, no questions asked.

What Dr. Becky in her self-righteousness doesn’t seem to understand is that many people do not view the Humane Society as a helpful resource where they’re likely to get assistance “no questions asked” – especially if they’re hunters.

I’m wondering if folks at the federal level will start asking questions about the MARAD loan to Hawaii Superferry, now that the agency is moving to repossess the two catamarans, as I noted yesterday’s post.

As a friend observed in an email:

My bet, is that MARAD gets the boats and sells them to the military at reduced rate, that way the military got boat R&D and some really cheap ships without dipping into its military procurement budget, all engineered by Adm. Lehman. MARAD can't fund military ships building, but in fact it did. I saw this scenario spelled out WAY back. Navy couldn't get the bucks for R&D because they were spending so much on other things so they went around the system. I bet McCain could do an expose on this.

It’s all very interesting, because the agency lent the money under its Title XI program, which is intended to support U.S shipyards by reducing their dependence on military work. Yet in this case, the loan allowed an Australian company to establish itself precisely so it could get a lucrative military contract.

Andy Parx also touched on this in his blog post yesterday:

… the whole deal was a fraud.

And by fraud we don’t mean just some petty theft- we’re talking about defrauding the taxpayer out of $136.8 million.

Unfortunately, the State of Hawaii also got sucked into this scam, to the tune of tens of millions of dollars, not to mention the angst, divisiveness and trauma.

Speaking of which, I highly recommend the Democracy Now! interview with Pakistani opposition figure and cricketing legend Imran Khan, who discussed the escalation of the war in Afghanistan and U.S. drone attacks.

Here is just one compelling excerpt:

To go after 5,000 Taliban, they have displaced three-and-a-half million people. To use artillery, helicopter gunships, F-16s on civilian population, they’ve caused this massive human catastrophe. And so, yes, people wanted an operation, but they didn’t want this, because this now, if anything, is going to fan militancy. How are they going to rehabilitate these people? Their crops are destroyed. These are subsistence farmers, most of them. Their fruit orchards, their animals. So what are they going to go back to? This is another problem we face now.

Yup, good thing I'm fortified because it's just another problem in a world plagued by many, including Hawaii’s drought, with The Advertiser today reporting some 76 percent of the state is experiencing such conditions. It seems Waialeale got just 1.5 inches of rain in May — compared to its average of 36 inches for that month.

As a friend noted in sending along the link:

This is what climate change is about in the islands.

Musings: Scary Stuffs

Some of the kids in my neighborhood ran over as I was getting in my car last evening to warn me that night marchers not only live in the brushy area of a valley across from my house, they'd been seen by one of the boys.

“But if you’re mean and try to look for them, they’ll make you shrivel up and die,” one girl said.

“I’m getting scared already,” added another little girl.

I wonder if the state is getting scared — or just desperate — now that it’s looking increasingly unlikely it will ever see any of the $40 million it’s owed by Hawaii Superferry.
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While The Advertiser is reporting today that Hawaii Superferry wants to abandon its two catamarans to creditors, the Alabama Press-Register is one step ahead, reporting that the U.S. Maritime Administration (MARAD) plans to repossess and sell the two vessels.

HSF owes MARAD $136.8 million. The Press-Register reports that while the two vessels were purchased in 2004 for a combined price of $190 million, they’re now valued by Austal at about $87 million each, or $174 million together.

MARAD’s decision apparently scuttles plans to charter the two boats to the military. But even more interesting was Austal’s reaction to MARAD’s plans:

Austal Ltd. President Bob Browning said he was disappointed that MARAD decided to seize the ferries without involving Austal in a project to prepare them for military use.

Browning said that Austal approved lending $23 million to the ferry venture in part because the deal would help raise the profile of Austal's U.S. shipyard, which at the time had been operating in Mobile for only a few years. Although it succeeded in doing that — the Mobile shipyard in November won a potential $1.6 billion contract to build up to 10 high-speed fast ferries for the military — Browning said the company's lending days are over.

Remember when HSF said it would lease the vessels elsewhere, and perhaps return to the Islands when the EIS was pau? Does anyone still believe anything these people say?

Apparently some still do, with the Advertiser reporting:

A source close to Superferry said the two catamarans remain in excellent condition. The objective, the source said, is to charter the vessels for commercial or military use.

Hmmm. Maybe reporter Derrick DePledge needs a new source.

Meanwhile, even though just last week the Obama Administration was busy telling Americans they should be scared of how climate change will impact the nation, when it comes to actually doing something about it, well, that’s a different story.

As the Guardian reports today, Todd Stern, Obama’s climate change envoy, has rejected calls that America and other rich nations make radical cuts in carbon emissions:

Speaking at the end of a ministerial level meeting of the world's most polluting countries in Mexico yesterday, Todd Stern dismissed the idea that the US might comply with calls for industrialised nations to cut carbon emissions by 40% below 1990 levels by 2020.

"In our judgment [this kind of cut is] not necessary and not feasible given where we are starting from," he said. "So it is not on the cards."

The demands of developing countries and campaigners for a 40% minimum emissions cut by rich countries has been a constant theme in the run up to the crucial December summit in Copenhagen which is supposed to produce an agreement to replace the Kyoto protocol that runs out in 2012. Scientists have also recommended that averting catastrophic global warming requires industrialised countries to cut carbon emissions by 25% to 40%.

Gee, isn't it nice to know we're among the world's most polluting countries? According to the Guardian, “the US and China alone make up about 50% of emissions in roughly equal proportions.”

It seems that giving up even a bit of our comfy standard of living is an even scarier prospect than all the ills associated with climate change.

Musings: Wondering Why

The day started as a pink slit in a mass of gray that kept expanding until all the mountains were tinted rosy, then a silver-white sphere, still hidden by clouds, shot wide rays up into the heavens and set the sea to sparkling as flocks of boobies headed south.

Koko startled a pueo that was perched in the ironwoods lining the stretch of tawny sand and it flew away silently and slowly, circling back over my head. Our tracks were the only ones on a beach washed clean by the extreme tides of yesterday’s new moon, save for those left by sea turtles that had come ashore to nest. I’d noticed turtles bobbing very close to shore at sunset the past couple of nights, and now I know why.

Less clear is the reasoning behind the county’s ongoing unwillingness to be fully transparent and allow citizens and their representatives to participate in a meaningful way. It seems that department heads and elected officials don’t realize that when they withhold information, stymie access and in other ways blow off and obstruct the public, it fuels all those persistent, unkind rumors that they’re on the take, in the pockets of developers, incompetent, corrupt, uncaring and otherwise not acting in the public's best interest.

Take, for example, the ongoing controversy over putting matters on the Council agenda, a story that The Garden Island revisited today from the point of view of Councilman Jay Furfaro, who is “seeking some clarity" from the Office of Information Practices. Jay made some interesting revelations in the article:

Furfaro has encountered frustrations similar to [Councilman Tim] Bynum’s when trying to have the chair put an item related to government transparency on the agenda. Furfaro’s particular frustration has been further complicated by the council being advised by a succession of five different county attorneys over the last seven months.

In a Jan. 31, 2008 letter to Asing and a follow-up communication months later, Furfaro requested agenda time to discuss a policy concerning the release of opinions provided to the council from the Office of the County Attorney.

The item did not appear on the agenda until after Furfaro became interim council chair when Asing left to become interim mayor following Bryan Baptiste’s unexpected June death. There was some discussion on the policy last year, but the council never reached a consensus, and it has not returned to the agenda since Asing resumed his chairmanship.

Tim and Jay are painting themselves as the good guys in this power struggle, but a few questions still niggle. Given Kaipo’s history, why did the Council vote to again make Kaipo chair? Why doesn’t the Council act now to remove him from that position? And why didn’t the Council move to change some of its rules when Kaipo was briefly dethroned and warming the seat at the mayor’s office? Surely they would have found an ally in former Councilwoman JoAnn Yukimura.

Regardless of what the OIP or county attorneys say, the long and the short of it is that Kaipo can’t possibly justify, given adequate notice, keeping any bill or matter that any Council person wants to discuss off the agenda. And if the Council holds his feet to the fire, publicly and persistently, it can wear him down. So let’s stop hiding behind the attorneys and deal with the real logjam here: Kaipo.

Meanwhile, there’s another big logjam over at the Planning Department, which has been far from forthcoming in the matter of approving Transient Vacation Rental (TVR) applications.

A June 22 letter to Director ian Costa and Deputy Director Imai Aiu outlines the runaround that Protect Our Neighborhood `Ohana (PONO) has encountered in trying to review and comment on the many permits to legitimize the illegal vacation rentals in Wainiha and Haena. Some of the concerns noted include:

Under Chapter 9 of the Planning Commission Rules of Practice and Procedure, PONO submitted an appeal of the Planning Directors approval(s) of NUC’s [nonconforming use certificates] on April 20, 2009. Over two months have passed, and we have not received any acknowledgment or response. We wonder if our request had been submitted by an attorney rather than the public, would they have received the same treatment, i.e., no acknowledgment?

An official “Request to Access a Government Record” was faxed to the Planning Department on April 14, 2009 to review TVR application files. Now, two months later, only 27 of the requested application files have been made available to PONO. We request all of the remaining requested TVR files for Wainiha and Haena be made available for review by June 30. Non-conforming use certificates, if approved, were to be issued by March 30, 2009, so the 90 days between March 30 and June 30 should be more than adequate time to make available the application files requested by PONO.

Because the majority of requested application/files have not been made available to PONO (list was included), we are still unable to review the documents submitted which were used to grant “Approvals” and nonconforming use certificates. As the approvals of TVR NUC’s legitimize commercial uses in our neighborhoods, it is imperative our community representatives are granted timely access to the records to review the consistency of the approvals with the TVR ordinance. The inspection of documents relating to the grandfathering of TVR’s in formerly residential neighborhoods needs to be granted with transparency and openness in government.

The letter, signed by Barbara Robeson and Caren Diamond, also notes that all but one of the files reviewed lacked critical documentation, including details about whether the premises were inspected, the date and time of approvals or denials, copies of letters to owners stating approval or denial, general checklist on whether applicants had provided all the required information, and more.

Without the above missing information in the files provided, it is impossible to ascertain when or if an applicant received approval, nor the basis for granting such approval. There simply is nothing in the record to indicate the basis for approval or denial of the applications.

Finally, we note that on the County’s website that 24 applications in the Wainiha – Ha'ena area which were listed as “Incomplete” were changed to “Approved” sometime between Friday, June 12, 2009 and Friday, June 19, 2009. This is very alarming since the final date for obtaining a nonconforming use certificate was March 30, 2009. Was the posting a computer error? Were the applications previously approved, but lacking public notice, with the status on the website never changed? Approvals granted after March 30, 2009 are in violation of the CZO and should be immediately corrected.

It’s this sort of thing that makes folks feel like public participation is all a charade and sets them to wondering just why it is that they're being shut out of the process.

Musings: Fallout

Haupu and the Giant could be clearly seen, but Makaleha and Waialeale were totally absent, hidden by the thick clouds that caused light rain to drift across Kalalea and dampen Koko and me as we went walking this morning.

The gusts and intermittent rain prompted me to cut off a few of Koko’s sniffing expeditions, setting a pace that had us heading for home before the sun rose. I’d been missing the songs of the shama thrushes since moving, and wishing one would come to join me, so was bummed to see one lying dead in a driveway not far from my house.

On a brighter note, it turned out to be a weekend of food gifts, what with a friend dropping off the sweetest yellow pineapple I’ve ever had, and a cluster of juicy lychee, followed by another friend bringing over a plate lunch purchased at the chicken fight that was being held next door to his house, and more lychee, then two groups of neighborhood kids came bearing banana and papaya.

Kindnesses like these make me glad to live on Kauai. The Kuhio Highway death corridor, which Saturday was the scene of two fatalities in a major crash that tied up traffic for hours, does not. As “kauailocal1” noted in the comments section of the Advertiser’s coverage:

This stretch of Kuhio Highway has been a deathtrap since Lehua Fernandes-Salling - then Senator from Kauai - had the DOT enlarge it from 2 to 3 lanes in the early 1980s. The lanes are too narrow, the shoulders are a joke (I ride a bicycle out there numerous times each week) and there's simply nowhere to go when something goes wrong! I've urged that the speed limit be reduced to 40 or 45 mph from its current 50 - and the average speed is well above the posted limit.

It’s unlikely DOT is going to change the road, so how many more people have to die there before the cops start aggressively enforcing the speed limit?

In following the coverage of the deadly protests in Iran over ”voting irregularities” in the presidential election, I couldn’t help but recall how Americans barely let a out a whimper, much less took to the streets in droves, when “voting irregularities” twice put W in the White House. And we’re supposedly the defenders of democracy.

Now we have Obama threatening to nuke North Korea if it nukes South Korea. What’s up with that? Weren’t we all taught in elementary school not to engage in tit for tat? So why is it OK when it involves the use of weapons whose radioactive fallout affects the entire planet?

It brings to mind a quote by the late Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.:

It is no longer a choice between violence and non-violence in the world today, but non-violence or non-existence. That is where we are at today.

Meanwhile, as the situation in Pakistan demonstrates, it’s so much easier to find the money to wage war than deal with its consequences. Some 2 million people have been displaced by the offensives against the Taliban, yet although the UN issued an appeal for $543 million in international aid, only about 35 percent of that amount has been funded. Perhaps a surcharge could be assessed on weapons sales to create a fund for cleaning up their human fallout.

Speaking of which, Obama displayed great insensitivity in joking about the Uyghurs, who were recently resettled in Bermuda and Palau after being wrongly detained at Gitmo — along with who knows how many others — for seven long, ugly years after they were picked up bounty hunters. I don’t think any of us can even begin to comprehend the harm that our nation caused those men. Yet there’s Obama, yukking it up at the Radio TV Correspondents’ Dinner:

President Obama: “Nick at Nite has a new take on an old classic: Leave It to Uyghurs. I thought that was pretty good.”

Obama also joked about the refusal of other countries to accept prisoners held at Guantanamo.

President Obama: “As I have traveled to all these countries, I saw firsthand how much people truly have in common with one another, because no matter where I went there is one thing I heard over and over again from every world leader: ‘No thanks, but have you considered Palau?’”

It didn’t get much (if any) coverage, but the Kauai Alliance for Peace and Social Justice urged Lingle, the Lege and Hawaii’s Congressional delegation to accept the Uyghurs in the Islands, saying the $200 million in federal resettlement money would help the state’s budget shortfall and the aloha spirit would help heal the lives of these shattered men.

And just think of the money we could have saved on tourism promotions with all the free publicity it would have generated. Heck, it worked for Palau.

Musings: Solstice Short

After waking several times in the night to the patter of welcome rain, Koko and I spent a glorious morning swimming in the Solstice sun shimmer. Well, I did, anyway. She doesn’t like to go in much above her knees.

On the way over to the beach, I was behind a car that had a sticker on the back bumper that read COUNTRY, and the “O” was the shape of Kauai. Made me think of the little boy visiting from Sacramento who struck up a conversation with me at the beach late yesterday afternoon. He was struck by the absence of emergency sirens and “robbers. It’s very peaceful here,” he said.

Tis true. At least, on the surface. Beneath it, there’s a sort of roiling energy whose source isn’t easy to define.

I’ve got to focus on putting the house in order, so I’m going to direct you to work done by writers other than me.

For starters, Ian Lind had an interesting post yesterday on Lingle’s hard line approach to the state worker furloughs that explores the deeper political motivations.

Dick Mayer sent a link to two articles about Austal writing off the bad Superferry loan. The Star Bulletin touched on it briefly, while The Western Australian offered a bit more depth.

When you think about it, $20+ million is a small price to pay for Austal establishing itself in America, where it was able to win a lucrative JHSV contract potentially worth billions in large part because it proved itself with the Superferry construction.

And finally, the New York Times has a piece today that portrays so well the very skewed idea that mainlanders have about Hawaii, right down to its well-intentioned, but totally misguided, call to action:

“Maybe by telling your representatives in Congress to support the Akaka bill, to give Native Hawaiians a measure of lost sovereignty, and right some old injustices.

Righting old injustices is the right idea. Unfortunately, the Akaka Bill just perpetuates more injustice by forever eliminating the opportunity for kanaka maoli to achieve true justice

Happy Solstice!

Musings: Theoretically

The trade winds gusted at the back of my legs, prompting the ironwood boughs to sigh and palm fronds to clatter when Koko and I went walking under a thin slice of moon that hung below Venus.

The streets were glistening and the lightest little rain blew through, creating floating rainbows under the amber streetlights. Makaleha at first seemed smothered in a mass of black, but as the sun rose in streaks, smears and swirls of cool orange and hot pink, I saw that it was draped in floating sheets of white and grey. And so its appearance changed from ominous to magical.

Walking on the Kawaihau Road path makes me think of all the ridiculous fuss and hoopla associated with the concrete coastal ribbon known as “The Path.” I’ve only noticed one pile of dog doo on Kawaihau’s narrow strip of well-used asphalt, yet I’m quite certain no one is doing doo doo patrol.

And somehow the kids, motor scooters, bicycles, pit bulls and lap dogs, horses, old people with canes, skateboards, wheelchairs, joggers and baby strollers manage to co-exist harmoniously without an enforcement presence.

I mentioned this to Farmer Jerry when we were talking after yesterday’s radio show, and he said, “That’s because that’s the kind of community it is.”

Now “The Path” is getting ready to encroach on lovely Wailua Beach, that broad stretch of sand that borders Kuhio Highway where there’s a perfectly good roadside shoulder that people could use. It’s going to be a 14-foot wide boardwalk secured by posts driven 8 feet into the sand, creating a structure that county workers can supposedly pull up and out of harm’s way when natural forces threaten.

Um hmmm. I imagine that will be their top priority in a tsunami watch, or while a big storm is raging.

And why, pray tell, are we building anything on the beach, especially without doing an archaeological survey first? Do Nancy McMahon and the State Historic Preservation Division actually believe there are no burials in that sand? Or would the county just prefer to find the iwi inadvertently, so it doesn’t have to deal with the Burial Council?

Perhaps it’s time for Koko and me to take Councilman Tim Bynum up on his request to join us for a walk so I can ask him some of these questions, seeing as how he’s a major Path proponent. And while we’re strolling, maybe we could also discuss his concerns that County Clerk Peter Nakamura is deliberately blocking his receipt of Council communications. I’ve spoken with various members of the public who regularly seek county documents, and they concur that Peter is extremely cooperative and forthcoming. So something’s not adding up here.

Getting back to Farmer Jerry, I was quite interested to hear some of the comments he made on the radio show that Jimmy Trujillo and I hosted yesterday. He showed me a photograph of the area around the Wailua reservoir taken back in the days when pineapple was still being grown, and then a current photo. “That’s all state land,” he said. “It’s still there, and the water’s still there. But where are the farmers?”

I was also intrigued to learn that even during the decades when Kauai was dominated by monocrops like sugar cane and pineapple, ag overall was far more diversified than it is today. And much of the pineapple was grown not by a large plantation, but individual farmers who sold their crops to the cannery, which is just a couple of blocks from where I now live, paying their mortgages once a year with the proceeds from their harvests.

And rather than buy their food in giant air-conditioned super stores, they frequented individual shops to purchase fish, pork, meat, bread — all of it locally produced. Barter was more common, too, with people trading fish or a cow or vegetables for items they wanted.

So it seems that when we talk about sustainability and feeding Kauai, we need to look beyond the sheer mechanics of producing more food to the social and community structures that would support and facilitate such a shift.

In other news, Kauai’s school board rep, Maggie Cox, proved she’s no friend of civil liberties when she cast her vote to waste precious Department of Education resources teaching kids that the Constitution doesn’t apply to them. As the Advertiser reported:

But Kaua'i member Maggie Cox, a former public school principal, said allowing for suspicionless searches would "give (principals) the tools to be able to deal with the small group that are causing the problems."

Yes, Maggie, and the same applies for holding detainees without charge and torturing them at Gitmo, too.

Too bad the BOE wasn’t akamai enough to take this approach:

Jeanne Ohta, director of the Drug Policy Forum of Hawaii, suggested that the board put money into programs that prevent drug abuse rather than spending money on a drug sniffing dog program.

"It sounds like ... drug-sniffing dogs are going to help the drug problem, but it really doesn't help. ... It doesn't address usage, it doesn't decrease usage. Isn't that the end result of what we want?" Ohta said.

Good question.

And finally, how interesting that as the 50th anniversary of “the fake state” nears, the U.S. is going all gangbusters to protect “American territory” from the very dubious threat of a North Korean missile launch, with Kauai’s own PMRF playing a pivotal role.

I liked this paragraph in the Advertiser’s story on how Defense Secretary Robert Gates has ordered with the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense system at PMRF to team up with Pearl Harbor’s sea-based X-Brand [correx: X-Band] Radar:

Together, the systems theoretically could detect and shoot down a North Korean missile if it came to that.

Aha. A theoretical defense for a theoretical threat to a theoretical state. Perfect.

Musings: Fighting Faux Farmers

Koko and I greeted the day on the mountain trail, where the ohia lehua — the orange-colored blossoms are really coming on now — and beautiful cloud formations stole the show from a rather muted sunrise.

I noticed similar dramatic cloud patterns – cumulus, cirrocumulus and contrails, which some people apparently mistake for ”chemtrails,” could all be seen, moving in different directions across the sky — late yesterday afternoon at the beach.

On the way down from the trail, which crosses state lands leased for pasture, I got to thinking about agriculture, especially since I’ll be joining Jimmy Trujillo to host a show on that topic at 4 p.m. today on KKCR. You can listen at 91.9 FM or live on line.

Our guest will be Jerry Ornellas — aka Farmer Jerry — and he’ll be talking about all the hot ag topics currently under discussion on Kauai: farm worker housing, vacation rentals on ag land, water availability, obstacles to farming, the challenge of feeding our island, important ag lands and whatever else folks who call in (826-7771) want to discuss.

They’re all topics of interest to me, but I’ve been especially tuned in to the transient vacation rental (TVR) issue, which The Garden Island touched on in an article last weekend.

It discussed a proposed amendment to county zoning laws that would “temporarily” allow TVRs on ag land until the important ag lands are designated. Deputy Planning Director Imai Aiu recommended the planning commission oppose the bill and defer action; the matter will be back on the commission’s agenda June 23.

Instead, the planning department wants applicants to use the special permitting process that has been set up to legitimize TVRs in neighborhoods outside the Visitor Destination Area. A whopping 500 such applications have already been received, and 41 of them were for TVRs on ag lands, although I’m quite certain that doesn’t reflect the full count.

Now here’s where things get squirrely, which pretty much sums up the entire TVR issue. The proposed ordinance, Bill 2298, would allow TVRs on ag lands through “enforcement agreements.” But as TGI reported:

Such agreements would actually be non-enforcement agreements contrary to state law, which mandates county government to enforce state Land Use Commission approved uses within state Land Use Districts, said Deputy County Attorney Ian Jung.

TVRs are not specifically allowed on state Land Use District agricultural lands according to state law — Hawai‘i Revised Statutes chapter 205.

And as I reported in a Honolulu Weekly article last year:

Kauai’s (TVR) measure was created when Tony Ching, then-director of the state Land Use Commission, issued the opinion that such accommodations were not allowed based on his reading of the law.

That opinion does not mesh with the view taken by the attorneys who represent the real estate industry, Lorna Nishimitsu and former state Senator Jonathan Chun among them.

At the planning commission meeting, Lorna first whined, then threatened:

TVR owners outside the VDA are being “targeted,” said Lorna Nishimitsu, an attorney representing several owners of land within the state agricultural Land Use District operating TVR and a member of the county’s Cost Control Commission.

Nishimitsu predicted that litigation will result if her clients’ and others’ non-conforming-use applications are denied.

“Unless it’s prohibited, it’s permitted,” she said.

Here’s what Chapter 205 actually says:

The law defines farm dwelling as “a single-family dwelling located on and used in connection with a farm, including clusters of single-family farm dwellings permitted within agricultural parks developed by the State, or where agricultural activity provides income to the family occupying the dwelling.”

The law also allows for agricultural tourism on working farms or as part of a farming operation, but prohibits such tourism in the absence of a bonafide farming operation. It further directs the counties to establish ordinances for overseeing and enforcing activities on ag land, including “requirements and restrictions for accessory facilities connected with farming operations, including gift shops and restaurants; provided that overnight accommodations shall not be permitted.”

As Jonathan noted in the article I wrote:

“Neither my clients nor us [the law firm of Belles, Graham, Proudfoot, Wilson & Chun] have taken the position you don’t have to do any ag use,” he says. “The question is how much ag do you have to do? Nobody has ever taken that bull by the horns and said, under state law, this is how much ag use is required to satisfy the law.”

And that’s one of the key issues that’s hanging up the worker housing bill, because the law has to be drafted not just to meet the needs of the real farmers, but to prevent abuses by the faux farmers. You know, the folks who plant a few trees and claim they’re farming, but in fact want to advantage of the lucrative side businesses — ag tours, TVRs, healing retreats.

Heck, I even noticed Michele Rundgren (Todd’s wife) is staging an event at the “Wailapa Road amphitheater,” which I know is on ag land. What I don’t know is whether the county issued a permit for such a use.

A source told me that the planning department is going to allow TVRs on ag land, but they're going to push hard to make the applicants prove there's a legitimate farming operation. And that's great, because that's as it should be. But how, exactly, are they going to do that in the absence of a clear policy on what constitutes farming?

We can continue to approach this issue through the back and side doors, but until the county and state get serious about defining a bonafide farm — and are willing to stand up to the real estate industry — we’re not going to be giving the real farmers any relief. Instead, we’ll just be letting the faux farmers slide in as we keep spinning our wheels on Kauai’s slick red clay.