A recent Star-Advertiser editorial called for “repairing the reputation” of the University of Hawaii. The writer said the main problem is that UH may not deserve the autonomy it seeks. Good point. I’m just not persuaded that the way to fix that is by spending $4 million a year on public relations projects and paying [...]
The Economist, the best English-language news magazine still publishing, has declared hell and heaven to be dead issues in Western culture. Very few people still believe hell to be a physical place. It would have to be deep in the earth, and therefore those sent there would be squished and incinerated, not in eternal torment. [...]
I’m not sure how seriously we Americans take the North Koreans. I think our general attitude is, “They can huff and puff, but in the end we’ll blow their house down.” I’m not sure how seriously we should take North Korea’s intermittent threats to “nuke” the United States or whether it even has the ability [...]
San Francisco has banned nudity on city property. I’m good with that. Our society isn’t comfortable with exhibitionists letting it all hang out in public view. Barack Obama said during his Occidental College days that human beings would be better off if they didn’t wear clothes. His biographer David Maraniss writes, “It’s possible he was [...]
Somebody at the Merrie Monarch Festival in Hilo is paying attention to you fans – and even to me, as a yearly attendee and writer of Hawaii’s biggest artistic event. They have invited Mark Ho’omalu’s halau from the West Coast to participate in the 50th anniversary competition in April. Yes, the same Mark-with-glove-and-sunglasses Ho’omalu, the [...]
I had a short but very special overseas assignment with the U.S. Air Force in 1956, but I wasn’t allowed to tell anyone about it upon penalty of a long prison term. I was a U-2 man. No, not with the Dublin rock band of Bono and company. The other U-2 – the espionage-plane kind [...]
Here’s something BIG we’ve missed out on. It’s called “medical tourism.” A million-and-a-half Americans will travel somewhere this year for bone, heart or cosmetic surgery — where their convalescence includes sun or fun plus a tax break. Yes, the IRS lets you deduct airfare and $50-a-night lodging expense if your primary travel reason is medical. [...]
I’ve wrestled mightily with the too-frequent school killings matter, come up with some ideas, chucked them, written potential columns about it and tossed those out – except for this one. Nothing meets all the tests of practicality and the objections many of you would have. This isn’t about outlawing handguns, assault weapons and large ammo [...]
First things first. I have nothing against Brian Schatz. Young, energetic, liberal, did some small time in the State House, has been the obedient, second-office man as lieutenant governor. No mis-steps. But also no track record of promoting or shepherding legislation. Your basic nice guy waiting to be discovered. And now he will be our [...]
Editor’s note: Soon after Bob Jones filed this column, Hawaii public worker unions, miffed at state House Speaker Calvin Say for not agreeing to raise taxes to fund their benefits, worked with dissidents to remove him and install more pro-union Rep. Joe Souki of Maui. A non-union cargo airline crewman to another: “We land in [...]
