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April 02, 2009 WEDNESDAY, MARCH 25
According to an e-mailed press release that arrived in my inbox moments ago (nestled between an intriguing solicitation from a Nigerian prince and an offer to participate in something called a "webinar"), Gov. Lingle has joined a "bipartisan infrastructure coalition" modestly dubbed Building America's Future. Other prominent governors in the group include Michael Bloomberg of New York and Arnold Schwarzenegger of Cahleefohneeah. Great, wonderful, peachy. Gotta love those bipartisan coalitions and their puffy PR releases. (Also: yes, of course, infrastructure is important.) But here's the thing that caught my eye, a quote from Lingle near the end of the release: "The ability to move goods and people quickly and safely around the state helps keep our quality of life high and our cost of living low." Wow, our cost of living is low? Good news!
THURSDAY, MARCH 26
I parse the civil union vote elsewhere, but I'll use this space to recycle a rhetorical nugget from Lt. Gov. and 2010 gubernatorial candidate Duke Ainoa. Quoted in an AP story, Aiona said the vote was "a victory for traditional marriage." What are these people so afraid of? That "the gays" will exchange rings and start filing joint tax returns and suddenly Jesus will descend from the clouds and annul all heterosexual nuptials from here to Armageddon? Same-sex civil unions do not affect "traditional" marriage (whatever that means) in the slightest. They don't. Seriously.
FRIDAY, MARCH 27
Last week I weighed in on HR875, also known as the Food Safety and Modernization Act. For those just joining the conversation, it's a bill up for consideration in Washington that opponents say is tailored for ag giants like Monsanto and will hurt small and organic farms. The bill was introduced by Rep. Rosa DeLauro, a Democrat, and is supported by many other Democrats, including Hawaii's own Rep. Mazie Hirono. So naturally, the Dems have initiated a full-court press. I got a release from Rep. Hirono's office via Maui County Democratic Party Chairman Lance Holter today that outlined supposed myths about the bill. I'm not going to go through it point-by-point; if you care about this issue (and you should) you can find plenty of detailed info elsewhere. Suffice it to say: there does seem to be a bit of unwarranted hysteria surrounding the legislation, sparked by some exaggerated claims made in the blogosphere. The world will most likely not end if HR875 becomes law. Also, the connection between Rep. DeLauro's husband, Stanley Greenberg, and Monsanto looks to be weaker than was initially reported, though there's a weasely little sentence in the Hirono release that says Greenberg "has not conducted surveys for Monsanto in the past decade." Meaning, of course, he did at one time conduct surveys for Monsanto. All that aside, there's one undeniable fact about the bill: it adds another layer of federal bureaucracy, headed up by another "czar." (Seriously, when was the last time we appointed a czar of anything and it turned out to be good? Even the Russians ditched that outmoded title.) If you think piggybacking a second agency on top of the FDA is the answer to our nation's food safety concerns, maybe you should support this bill. If not, probably not.
SATURDAY, MARCH 28
Got an interesting tip yesterday from Brennan Purtzer, former publisher of the Molokai Times. Purtzer, who now lives on the Mainland, returned to the isles for a visit and got something less than a warm welcome. After trekking with his rolling suitcase from the airport to the Queen Kaahumanu Center in Kahului, he attempted to board a county bus for the final, uphill leg of his journey to Wailuku, but was told his bag was too big. Adding insult to injury, Purtzer says two young men behind him carrying boogie boards got to hop right on. I called Don Medeiros in the Department of Transportation to find out what was up, and he pointed me to a list of rules posted on the department's section of the county Web site (co.maui.hi.us). The pertinent rule allows passengers to bring on "one medium-sized suitcase, duffle bag, or carry-on bag…no larger than 22"H x 14"W x 9"L." Another rule allows "soft body boards without skegs." So we're not dealing with a case of capricious discrimination (though asking bus drivers to eyeball those exact dimensions at a glance seems a tad unrealistic). But here's the real question: with the visitor industry hurting, do we really want to be telling tourists looking to vacation on the cheap that they can't ride the bus with their bags? Of course, the counterargument is that it's no fun for locals to ride a crowded bus full of suitcases poking into the aisle, and that visitors can find alternate transportation from the airport to wherever they're staying, drop off their bulky luggage and ride the bus to their hearts' content. Honestly I see both sides; mostly I just wanted to give everyone a heads-up. If you ride the bus, it'd be a good idea to check out those rules. (Another example: you can only bring on one "band instrument" per person. So next time you find yourself holding two flutes and needing to get somewhere, call a cab.)
SUNDAY, MARCH 29
Today marks the one-year anniversary of Aloha Airlines' demise. Thankfully everything has been worked out during the past 12 months and now there are no more problems related to inter-island travel.
MONDAY, MARCH 30
Speaking of which: Hawaii Superferry announced that the Alakai left Honolulu Harbor over the weekend and began a nearly 8,000-mile journey that will take the vessel through the Panama Canal and up to Mobile, Alabama. A statement from the company said the move is to "position [the Alakai] for future employment." It'll be interesting to see what the nature of that employment is.
TUESDAY, MARCH 31
Five weeks after hearing oral arguments, the U.S. Supreme Court handed down a decision today in the ceded lands case. Their ruling in a nutshell: the Apology Resolution does not affect the right of the state to sell or transfer some 1.2 million acres of land owned by the Hawaiian monarchy at the time of the 1893 overthrow, land Native Hawaiians say is rightfully theirs. It's being painted as a big victory for state officials. And it is—sort of. Now the matter will head back to the Hawaii Supreme Court, which previously blocked the sale of any contested land until the dispute is settled. Native Hawaiian advocates are obviously hoping the state court will issue a similar ruling, but this time not cite the Apology Resolution, which is how this all became a federal question in the first place. So long story short: the battle is far from over. The only thing today's ruling tells us for sure is that the Apology Resolution was just that—an apology (some might say a hollow one) and nothing more. MTW
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