I guess I was supposed to be saying, “Welcome, Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) delegates and the $120 million you’re contributing to the Hawaii economy.” Instead, I’m wishing I had booked plane reservations to Tasmania, and I suspect we’ve long ago spent that $120 million on street and sidewalk work, medial strip treeand grass-planting and [...]
I think it’s fair to say that we have the least inspirational president, Congress, District 1 and 2 U.S. representatives, Legislature, local union leaders and Hawaii governor in recent history. We are dangling over the fires of recession and revenue shortfall that cannot easily be quenched. We could be inspired to tighten our belts and [...]
Last week I wrote about serious problems inside the old Kaua’i Food Bank (KFB), which was dumped-forcause by the statewide Hawaii Foodbank but continues to operate at Nawiliwili as “Kaua’i Independent Food Bank.” The volumes of documents I’ve reviewed for that piece and for this follow-up story make me wonder how KIFB continues to exist, [...]
This past Thursday, the Hawaii Foodbank held a blessing ceremony for its warehouse in the Puhi Industrial Park. But wait, the Garden Island already has the Kaua’i Independent Food Bank near Nawilili Harbor, about a mile away! What’s up? Therein is a story of intrigue, misspent funds, allegations of food going to unqualified people, and [...]
Be very careful what you wish for. California has mandated that gay rights be taught in all public schools. Besides the horror of politicians rather than educators deciding what needs to be taught, how do you close the door if lawmakers should want creationism taught rather than evolution, or only Christian studies rather than all [...]
Here we are, back at the old light bulb story. In 2007, Congress voted a future ban on the standard, low-efficiency light bulb. Last week the GOP House launched an effort to overturn that ban, and radio blatherer Rush Limbaugh lit up the airwaves by shouting “the government ought not have a damn thing to [...]
I guess I’m as puzzled as many of you about how an American president can bomb Libya and demand that its leader step down without consulting Congress or being held to the letter of the 1973 War Powers Act. Basically, that law passed by two-thirds of Congress gives a president 60 days grace in initiating [...]
Eight years ago I wrote in MidWeek that Hawaii’s dry-wood termites could be killed with sodium borate, basically Borax in spray-on-the-walls form. That column drew the wrath of a tenting company’s honchos, and even some scientific people who had their doubts because microwaves and hot air hadn’t been living up to their early billings as [...]
I recently traveled to north Laos and saw the damage done by U.S. bombing there from 1964 to 1973. If we bombed Laos, you may be thinking, why is this the first you’ve heard about it? Well, nobody told us when it was happening and we didn’t know how bad it was afterward. Until now. [...]
There’s something to be said in a free society for making those 911 emergency-call recordings available to the public. They made us aware of how very badly Big Island ambulance dispatchers screwed up in that 1991 Dana Ireland rape-and-murder case. There’s also something very troubling to me about another aspect. People reporting fires, murders and [...]
