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August 06, 2009 HYPA LOCAL
The comedy of errors that is the Kealia Pond National Wildlife Refuge boardwalk continues. The boardwalk, which has been hit with a cascading series of delays and snafus since it was first constructed more than a half-decade ago, sits idle, adorned with a large "closed" sign (and a few bits of graffiti). In May, officials said the end was in sight—and they're still saying that, even as the gates remain locked. On August 1, The Maui News reported that the culprit was a missing "no left turn" sign. On August 4, I spoke with wildlife biologist Mike Nishimoto, who said he believes the problem now is that "the [sign] material is not thick enough" to hold up in the wind, meaning new signs will have to be installed. We've hammered this project on multiple occasions, but to be clear: we want to see the thing opened. We're rooting for success. Whether we're optimistic is another matter… Nearly a year after a group of Native Hawaiian sovereignty advocates broke into the Iolani Palace on Oahu, their leader, Mauian James Akahi, was slapped with a $1,000 fine for trespassing. A Circuit Court judge dropped a felony burglary charge that could have led to jail time, but told Akahi, who claims to be the rightful monarch of the Kingdom of Hawaii, that his plan of action "couldn't have been more wrong," according to the Honolulu Advertiser. That may be true, especially on a practical level (reports at the time indicated the plot failed in part because the would-be king couldn't find his throne), but as Hawaii celebrates 50 years of statehood, the sovereignty debate is certainly a pertinent one…
LOCAL
The election is still more than a year away, but Hawaii's gubernatorial candidates are in full-on cash-acquisition mode. Campaign contribution and expenditure reports filed last week revealed robust totals for the three leading contenders, made even more impressive (if that's the right word) by the stormy economic climate. Between January 1 and June 30, dueling Democrats Rep. Neil Abercrombie ($486,272) and Honolulu Mayor Mufi Hanneman ($583,019) outpaced Republican Lt. Gov. Duke Aiona ($308,753). Don't worry about Duke, though—he's got $800,000-plus in his war chest, more than twice as much as Abercrombie (though that doesn't count the dough left in Neil's congressional coffers). Hanneman, meanwhile, leads the pack with almost $1.17 million. While each candidate naturally wants to spin his fundraising efforts as grassroots, all took money from corporate heavy hitters: Abercrombie got the maximum $6,000 from Royal Hawaiian Cruises, $2,000 from Alexander & Baldwin and $1,000 from defense contractor General Dynamics Corps.; Aiona received $1,000 and $700 from the presidents of Castle & Cooke and shipping company The Pasha Group, respectively; Hanneman, who received the max contribution from dozens of individual donors, reeled in $4,000 from Castle & Cooke and another $1,000 from Central Pacific Bank. (To scour the reports yourself, go to hawaii.gov/campaign.)… While others wrangle for the right to take her crown, on July 30 Gov. Lingle delivered her weekly radio address (all the obsolescence of Roosevelt's fireside chats, none of the candor or eloquence). Here's a snippet: "We know the economic downturn is causing a strain on families and businesses, and we're doing our best every day to change that downward trend. Despite unprecedented budget restrictions, my cabinet directors are working with their dedicated employees to find common-sense solutions to the real challenges facing our state." We've dedicated a regular column (Spin Cycle, pg. 9) to parsing PR doublespeak, but this one had too much euphemistic goodness to be contained there. How many instances of clichéd circumlocution can you spot? (I count at least six.)… Remember back in March when Saturday Night Live did that sketch about the two disgruntled locals making fun of tourists at a resort bar on Kauai? And how state officials—including Lt. Gov. Aiona—were all up in arms about it, with Hawaii Tourism Authority board chair Kelvin Bloom calling it "insulting" and "distasteful" in a Honolulu Advertiser article? Well if they hated that, they must really be pissed about the new thriller A Perfect Getaway, which depicts a group of honeymooning hikers being terrorized by a psychotic killer on the Na Pali coast. Take it away HTA chief executive Mike McCartney, quoted in a KHON report: "It's a movie…it's not reality and I think the visitors and movie goers understand the difference between fiction and reality." Oh. Never mind…
NOT LOCAL
They just won't go away. The "birthers" as they are now asking to be called (and I don't know why I'm obliging) are fired up about a new piece of "evidence" in the ongoing Obama citizenship (non)-controversy: an alleged (and by "alleged" I mean "fake") Kenyan birth certificate showing the President was indeed born on African soil. The document has been ripped to shreds (metaphorically speaking) by experts who have pointed out its many flaws and inconsistencies (even Karl Rove, via Twitter, said the thing "is likely a forgery"). But of course that hasn't stopped the birthers and their Queen crazy—some too-nuts-to-be real chick named Orly Taitz—from shouting their conspiracy nonsense to any cable news show that will listen (which is pretty much all of them). Then again, lest you dismiss this as a fringe movement, keep in mind: a recent Daily Kos poll showed 58 percent of Republicans either don't believe Obama is a U.S. citizen or aren't sure. OK, so the source is slanted left, but even if the numbers are only half that, it's still disturbing… If you doubt that we are a nation of drug addicts or that the pharmaceutical companies are the biggest pushers on the planet, turn your attention to a recent report published in the Archives of General Psychiatry, which found that between 1996 and 2005, the number of Americans using antidepressants rose from 7 million to 13 million. Not coincidentally, in 2005 the makers of antidepressants spent more than $1 billion on advertising, according to a Reuters report. Are you reaching for your Paxil yet? Maui Time Weekly, Jacob Shafer
Jacob Shafer is also available in Twitter form; visit www.twitter.com/jacobshafer
Tags: Maui News, Maui Politics
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 NewsSwimming With SharksShark tour ban raises questions about our complex relationship with the apex predatorAug 13 2009Given the chance to jump in a cage and swim with sharks, watching them approach from the ocean depths just below your pruning toes, would you? If you answered “yes,” you’ll have to go to Oahu, because ...
|  NewsPower Without Knowledge ReduxAug 13 2009The title of this week’s column is an homage to a December 2006 LC Watch. Why? Because the subject matter is almost identical; only the date and a few details have changed....
| Cover StoryRevisiting the Visitor Industry, Part TwoThe carousel of endless growth and luxury resorts has stopped. What comes next?Aug 13 2009We are all wondering where to go from here. Will Hawaii and Maui crawl out of this depression and go back to business as usual? Can more of the same save us? We staked everything on tourism (and the ...
|  NewsSpin CycleAug 13 2009 Discover the world n. A slogan used by large travel companies that, in reality, offer extremely insulated, limited experiences....
|  NewsBy the NumbersAug 13 2009 $2,101.98
Amount the average Hawaii resident spends annually on gasoline
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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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