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Coconut Wireless
Advanced Technology Solar Telescope Moves Forward and Obama Flashes Back to Bush
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December 17, 2009 HYPER LOCAL
In June, I attended a meeting concerning the Advanced Technology Solar Telescope (ATST), a cutting-edge piece of equipment that scientists want to build on Haleakala. At the time, an opponent of the project suggested the $23 million that had been spent on design and planning and the additional $146 million in earmarked federal stimulus funds were putting pressure on officials to push the process forward, even in the face of environmental and Native Hawaiian opposition. We'll never know for sure if that was true—the government representatives who spoke at the meeting denied it—but last week National Science Foundation (NSF) Director Arden Bement made it official: pending approval from the state Board of Land and Natural Resources, the telescope will be built in the House of the Sun. Construction could begin as early as next year and NSF says the telescope could be operational by 2015. Naturally the decision won't sit well with those who see the ATST—like the other structures on the volcano—as a cultural affront. Quoted in The Maui News December 10, Kahu Charles Kauluwehi Maxwell Sr. said, "Native Hawaiians should gather with me, and we will all lay our bodies down in front of the tractors." In the end, this issue is probably irresolvable. For both sides, Haleakala is special, but for different—if distantly related—reasons. To scientists it's a prime, unparalleled location for solar observation; to Native Hawaiians it's a focal point of worship, a 10,000-foot tall church. That means there's no middle ground, no acceptable compromise. As several testifiers said at the June meeting: "You can't mitigate spirituality."… By the time you read this, the state Commission on Water Resource Management may have already rendered a decision in the tug-of-war between (familiar story alert) Native Hawaiian and environmental groups and the sugar plantation over restoration of East Maui stream flows. If the commission follows the recommendations of its staff—handed down last week—it will order water returned to only one of the 19 streams in question. Whatever the outcome, Hawaiian Commercial & Sugar (HC&S) will undoubtedly maintain its preferred negotiation tactic: holding up the potential loss of jobs to deflect lingering, important questions. Like: How much water does HC&S truly need? Of the water it currently draws, how much is wasted? And, perhaps most importantly, why can't parent company Alexander & Baldwin (which boasted in a December 11 press release that it "has realized sales of over $100 million for its commercial properties" this year and "continues to make advantageous dispositions within its commercial property portfolio") pick up the slack?…
LOCAL
Got a note from a reader asking how Rep. Neil Abercrombie's decision to quit his Congressional gig and focus full-time on his gubernatorial campaign is different than Sarah Palin's decision earlier this year to step down as Governor of Alaska to do, well, whatever it is she's doing. I had to stew on it, but here's what I came up with: the biggest difference is the entertainment value of the resignation speeches. While Abercrombie rolled out the predictable chestnuts about it being an "extremely difficult decision" and passing the torch to someone who will "carry on the work of this office," Palin, true to form, went rogue. Jumping from misty ruminations on "Abe" Lincoln to obligatory shots at the liberal gotcha media to tortured sports metaphors (about midway through her remarks, for no apparent reason, she likened herself to a "point guard [driving] through a full court press, protecting the ball, keeping her eye on the basket"), Palin's farewell address was a faux-folksy tour de force, a blizzard of non sequiturs and exaggerated winks that solidified her status as America's weirdest politician (quite an honor in light of the competition)…. It's always disheartening, if not surprising, to hear law enforcement officials fall back on the same, tired arguments in favor of marijuana prohibition. Exhibit Z: A December 14 Hawaii Tribune-Herald dispatch about a resolution being considered on the Big Island that would ask the state to ease pot prosecutions, in which First Deputy Prosecutor Charlene Iboshi implores decriminalization proponents to "realize that alcohol is bad for the youth, marijuana is bad for the youth." Agreed: kids and teenagers shouldn't smoke pot or drink alcohol. We should do what we can to discourage such behavior, like, say, instituting a minimum drinking (or smoking) age. But, and this the important bit so I'll add emphasis: that's not what we're talking about. We're talking about letting adults decide what to put in their bodies and not wasting resources on policing, prosecuting and incarcerating victimless offenders all while creating an unnecessary, dangerous black market. Care to join the conversation, Charlene? (As I take shots I should also give praise, specifically to Hawaii County Councilmember Kelly Greenwell, who introduced the resolution in question.)…
NOT LOCAL
Though I risk exceeding my monthly Sarah Palin quota by mentioning her again, it was disturbing on multiple levels to read that she listened to President Obama's Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech and "like[d] what he said." In fact, she told USA Today, she "thumbed through [her] book quickly this morning, saying, 'Wow, that really sounded familiar.'" The saddest part is, she's not completely wrong. Though he delivered it with his usual eloquence, to simply read the text of Obama's speech (or at least portions of it) is to experience a jarring flashback to the Bush years, when words like "evildoers" passed for cogent foreign policy analysis. Don't believe me? Scrunch your forehead, cock your eyebrows and read these lines aloud in a choppy Texas accent (for full effect, mispronounce at least one word): "There will be times when nations — acting individually or in concert — will find the use of force not only necessary but morally justified…. For make no mistake: Evil does exist in the world." Spooky, huh? Jacob Shafer, MauiTime
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