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June 25, 2009 WEDNESDAY, JUNE 17
The Great Furlough War of 2009 rages on: As various labor unions filed lawsuits, the head of the Hawaii Government Employees Association, Randy Perreira, released a statement calling Gov. Lingle's cost-cutting move "unfair" and "unconstitutional." Lingle's counterpunch? If you defeat the furloughs, I'll issue layoff notices—as many as 10,000 of them. The law is murky, meaning the governor's right to go unilateral and circumvent the collective bargaining process is open to interpretation. One thing is clear: Lingle may be a lame duck, but she's still quacking.
THURSDAY, JUNE 18
Yes, the bad lame duck jokes are gonna keep coming 'til 2010.
FRIDAY, JUNE 19
By now you've surely heard that, according to a widely disseminated report by Japan's Yomiuri newspaper, North Korea is planning to launch a missile in Hawaii's direction, possibly on July 4. Though it's believed the missile's range is insufficient to reach us, military officials and the Obama Administration say they're preparing contingencies just in case. And we're left to wonder: is North Korea really trying to instigate an armed conflict with the United States? Are they that crazy? The North's motives are shrouded in mystery, but ailing "Dear Leader" Kim Jong Il is reportedly planning to hand the reins to his youngest son, Kim Jong Un, in the near future. At a time when the country could appear weak and rudderless, the Kims (who have held onto power since the Democratic People's Republic of Korea was born) are trying to project an air of strength and defiance. So goes the theory. Anyway, whatever the impetus behind the North's posturing (and whatever the outcome) one thing is certain: there will be a lot of wild rumors and hysterical misinformation floating around. To be jittery is natural; to be alert is wise. But remember: verify reports—especially those from less-than-credible sources, aka a text message from your friend's sister or the mumblings of some dude at the bar—before you go scrambling into your makeshift bomb shelter, arms laden with canned goods… In other, related news: Seizing the opportunity to press the hot button and revive an evergreen Republican issue, Gov. Linge is making noise about ramping up missile defense spending. Never mind that more than $100 billion has already been spent on missile defense, and ground-based interceptors have been deployed to Hawaii and Alaska. Or that Secretary of Defense Robert Gates (a Bush era holdover who is certainly no dove) said, in a June 17 AP report, that "some of the program was wasteful or unrealistic." Hey, "wasteful and unrealistic"—wasn't that our foreign policy slogan for the last eight years?
SATURDAY, JUNE 20
Last week we told you about mounting tension between Democratic gubernatorial hopefuls Rep. Neil Abercrombie and Honolulu Mayor Mufi Hannemann. Well, the other side's got infighting of its own. That Lt. Gov. Duke Aiona is the odds-on favorite to earn his party's nomination is no secret, but his opponent, attorney John Carroll, says Aiona's front-runner status has translated into a near coronation, with little or no separation between the Hawaii Republican Party headquarters and Duke's campaign war room. Carroll's campaign manager, Eric Ryan, isn't pulling punches. "We're all supposed to be Republicans, playing fair and honest," Ryan told the AP. "But if they're going to cheat, they're going to pay." As a party stalwart and Lingle's boy, the smart money's on Aiona to get the nod. But it's always nice to see a politician bloodied early in the fight… In other news: The term "senseless killing" gets thrown around a lot, to the point where it's lost some of its meaning. Either all killing is senseless, in which case it goes without saying, or certain killings are especially senseless, in which case we should reserve the phrase only for those instances. Anyway—that bit of linguistic parsing was a set-up for one of the more disturbing stories of the year: according to the Honolulu Advertiser, someone shot two monk seals to death on Kauai; one of the seals had recently given birth to pups. Monk seals are, of course, extremely endangered (their population in the Hawaiian Islands hovers around 1,000, though they've been making a small comeback) and harming or killing one can land you a hefty fine and prison time. But forget that—what the hell is the point? Especially if you're just going to leave the poor beasts to rot (and serve as evidence)? Really, this is the sort of thing that saps my faith in humanity.
SUNDAY, JUNE 21
Yet another casualty of the recession: A program that helped current and former inmates put their lives back together through treatment, education and training (you know, that often-ignored "rehabilitation" part of the equation) is being gutted because of budget woes. The program, which goes under the acronym BEST and is an offshoot of Maui Economic Opportunity (MEO), will have to lay off more than half its employees and dramatically scale back services, according to a recent Maui News report. Finding victims in these lean times is easy; almost everyone has been impacted in some way. But it's always worse for those on the bottom of the heap—people who have, through bad luck, bad decisions or some combination of the two, found themselves teetering on the brink of the proverbial cracks. Nothing new, but still, as MEO chief Sandy Baz succinctly put it, "sad."
MONDAY, JUNE 22
Want to tell Gov. Lingle what to do? OK, it's more suggest what you'd like her to do—but still. It's participating, which is good. Here's what I'm blathering about: applications are being accepted through June 30 for positions on the Neighbor Island advisory councils, which are meant to bring non-Oahu perspectives to the table, especially on energy issues. Maui, Molokai and Lanai each have a council. For info, Maui folks should call 243-5796 or send an e-mail to mauigov@hawaii.gov c/o Governor's Liaison George Kaya; if you're on Molokai or Lanai, call 586-0034 or e-mail charen.ching@hawaii.gov.
TUESDAY, JUNE 23
According to a report in today's Honolulu Advertiser, state officials are fighting to bring liquidation proceedings in the Superferry case to Hawaii. Where are they being held, you ask? Delaware. That makes sense when you remember Delaware is a known corporate haven; more than half of publicly traded U.S. companies are headquartered there, including Hawaii Superferry. The First State (how's that for a nickname?) has lax usury laws (hello skyrocketing interest rates) and charges no income tax on companies that don't do business in the state. Under federal law, corporations are bound—for the most part—only by the laws of the state in which they're incorporated, even if they expand their reach to all the other 49 states. So basically, Delaware, which has about 100,000 less residents than Honolulu, gets to set the rules for the rest of us, and there's not a damn thing we can do about it, except, I guess, move to Delaware. Isn't democracy great? MTW
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| Entertainment and lifestyle news for Maui, Hawaii and the surrounding Islands. Maui Time Weekly is Mauis only independent and locally owned newspaper.
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