GETTIN' 'FACED

GETTIN' 'FACED: Admittedly we've been neglectful of our poor "blog"- a term we've finally stopped cringing at just in time for us to take this little pre-burnout semi-hiatus.

So where have we been? For those who haven't noticed, believe it or not we've been on Facebook.

No, not the "she burned my eggs again at breakfast, how's your mother's gout, what kind of wrinkle cream is Mich Jagger using," social network but the incredibly effective, grassroots political organizing tool Facebook.

Yes you heard right. We may be exaggerating or lacking some objectivity but, for instance, organizing the effort to get the state legislature to repeal the creation of the Public Land Development Corporation (PLDC) could not have been anywhere near as effective without the Abolish the PLDC working group as well as the just plain day-to-day political conversations that Facebook lends itself to.

As more and more sign up, Facebook has gathered together many of the "usual suspects"- political activists and organizers around the state that have seemingly in many ways been key to efforts to expose and publicize some of the more horrendous abuses by PLDC stalwarts State Senators Malama Solomon and Donovan Dela Cruz.

Solomon especially, has tried every dirty trick in the book and some we've never before seen attempted in almost 40 years of legislature observation (with attempted neighbor island participation)... from blocking hearings through verbal and even physical intimidation, to bursting into hearing rooms and going on screaming jags, to political intimidation as committee chair (threatening members with denial of hearings for "their" bills and essentially killing them) if members made any noise about her shenanigans. Said shenanigans include a "gut and replace" of a PLDC repeal bill introduced by Sen. Laura Thielen- who has been exposing Solomon's sh*t on her blog, for example, making signatures on the testimony of many who noted a specific repeal bill now appear to favor a bill that would keep the PLDC in place.

It was through Facebook that a petition with hundreds of signatures was organized to remove Solomon from her position as Chair. Some think that this petition helped convince Solomon that she was not going to keep her devious efforts surreptitious and away from the public eye.

There is even an effort well under way to, if not remove her from office, at least to organize for her defeat in the next election. No politician- even one as bold, brash and boisterous as Solomon- needs this, especially winning her first election (after having been appointed to the senate from her former house seat) in a squeaker to a popular former mayor of Hawai`i Island.

The Facebook petition- originated and organized by a Democratic Party leader on Maui and publicized by a blog post at Civil Beat- was thought by many observers to have, if nothing else, helped focus the attention of both members of the public and other legislators on Solomon's actions. Some long time legislative observers say that no one trusts Solomon at all at this point, and likewise no one wants to be seen to be "on her side."

All eyes, public and legislative, are on every single word of any PLDC related bills in and coming out of her committee.

"Staffers have their uku combs out" when it comes to Malama's PLDC bills said one.

The focus and petition have even spawned some real "out there" conspiracy theorists trying to find a "there there" when there actually wasn't any at all, showing the level of grassroots attention that is now being paid to making sure that a clean repeal bill comes out of the senate- preferably one identical to the one passed by the whole house last Monday (2/11) so it can go directly to the governor’s desk without passing "Go" and having to be "reconciled" in a conference committee--which would give Solomon and Dela Cruz one last bite at the abuse-of-process apple and delay passage possibly until May- something house members greatly fear.

"We (legislators) just want this to be over early in the session so we can move on to important things like the budget," said Kaua`i Rep Derek Kawakami (D 14th- North Shore) who, though he originally supported the PLDC said during a chance early January post office interview, that he was now resigned to repeal.

If you'd like to testify at this point, ask for a bill containing a "clean, full repeal of the PLDC, preferably one identical to one the house passed" without referring to a bill number- and email it to sens@capitol.hawaii.gov .

Of course that's not the only thing being organized through Facebook these days. Many activists are working against GMOs and for labeling as well as dozens of other efforts, sharing bill numbers, gathering testimony, getting the word out when hearings are set and performing many other essential tasks that, until now, were performed through email. But unlike email, Facebook allows anyone to peruse and latch on to, duck in and out of, and instantly participate in the effort(s) of their choice- or not- whether it's local, state or national, whether it's legislative or purely through outside the system efforts- or somewhere in between.

The best feature is that it's instantaneous and allows conversations between dozens or even hundreds of individuals, allowing hundreds if not thousands of interested parties to look over the shoulders of those discussing the best way to, say write testimony and/or lobby and/or organize events, rallies and/or meetings.

Many even feel satisfaction that they've been able to turn one of the most time-wasting symbols of American vacuousness into a heretofore unparalleled tool of truly grassroots activism.

Regarding Facebook itself, of course it's a clunky horrendous system controlled by a bunch of greedy little twerps, bent on control and profit using people's personal information so as to sell them more crap which they don't want or need, reaching new heights of consumerism.

The "staff" are apparently unable to stop tripping over their own feet every time they try to "monetize" the monstrosity they've created and the tradeoff is that everything you say is there forever in the public domain.

And the majority of the people there are still there to tell their "friends" what Hollywood movie didn't totally suck and post pictures of their assorted and sundry genitalia.

And, there are also pitfalls, not just for activists but for politicians- especially the phonies and jerk-wads- who dare to step into the fray.

Case in point, one of the most despicable human beings- not just politicians but people in general- it has ever been our displeasure to have met personally: Representative James "Can't Keep His Pants On" Tokioka (D- 15th District- Kapa`a; Lihu`e).

(The kinder gentler Rabid Reporter we've referred to of late is finding out that the trick is to be benevolent to and considerate of the feelings of friends and lovers, but not necessarily so much for total sc*mbags like Tokioka who consciously and consistently prey on the public trust for fun and profit without one iota of true public service behind their efforts.)

This slimy little pr*ck has consistently been "for" one thing- Jimmy Tokioka- for a couple of decades, first as a Republican councilmember on Kaua`i who managed to lie, cheat and finagle his way to reelection every two years until he somehow cut a deal to "replace" our retiring original-good-old-boy machine-made-man Ezra Kanoho by switching parties and, somehow, managing to get elected- and reelected- without ever facing any opposition.

Although it's been said about many ever since- including about Tokioka himself- Kanoho was the first to have it be said about him that he was "the man who never met a hotel he didn't like."

Please- someone- run against this guy. Unless you're on the sex offender list or fail to bathe regularly or something, you're probably a shoo-in.

Until the last dog dies, Tokioka was a stalwart supporter of the defeated House Speaker Calvin Say and apparently remains bitter about the defeat and loss of his power that was derived from his support of Say. He remains staunchly pro-GMO and his list of contributors reflect a corporate debt.

As a long time corporate-bought-and-paid-for shill, he was a main force behind the PLDC on the house side and was on the house committee where various PLDC related bills were heard.

His list of campaign contributors indicates a man with a corporate indebtedness. His top ten PAC contributors include Monsanto, A&B and American Resort Development Association Resort Owners Coalition Pac (ARDA Roc-Pac) while his top ten individual contributors include lobbyist supreme John Radcliffe and infamous Republican resort honcho Lynn McCrory- a thick gruel of PLDC supporters indeed.

So this week when the repeal of the PLDC was up for a vote in the full house, even though he had been embarrassed into completing a unanimous vote for full repeal in committee he was apparently still fuming and beholden to his corporate backers.

Observers say Tokioka was apparently trapped and couldn't get out from behind the table and out of the room before the vote and would have made headlines had he tried- or, as an alternative, vote against the repeal bill. The acquiescence of those who had been blocking repeal in the house came literally as a last-minute surprise when those opposed to repeal saw the handwriting on the wall and, after verbally listing all the reasons they were against repeal suddenly turned on a dime to allow the full repeal to pass out of committee. Even the bill reads as if it were going to keep the PLDC, only to repeal it in the last couple of sentences.

So it was no surprise that Tokioka was notable for his absence from the "unanimous" vote of the full house to pass a "clean, full repeal" of the PLDC.

Well, starting a day or so after the vote the "Abolish the PLDC" Facebook group- which has apparently become one "source" for a few reporters in the state looking to "feel the pulse" of PLDC opponents- began discussing Tokioka's absence from the full house vote and the subject was seeming to threaten to make headlines in one publication or another.

So all of a sudden, in the middle of one the many conversation "threads" that were becoming more and more critical of Tokioka's action- or lack of it- there was a "comment" from none other than his vileness his own self.

After thanking one person for seemingly trying to make plausible excuses for Jimmy he wrote:

To respond to Xxxxxx's question about why I was absent at the time of the would like you to know it is my dad's 82nd birthday today. In May of 2012 my dad had a massive stroke and has been bed ridden since then. Who knows how many more times I'm gonna get to talk to him on his birthday and between my mom and I we were coordinating the phone call that could only be done at that time. If you look at the committee vote, I voted Yes to repeal. I hope that better clarifies my vote and my actions. (all sic)

Here we go again. This is quintessential Jimmy Tokioka. Jimmy has made a career out of grabbing at and yanking on some concocted heart-string (or is it heart-chain) whenever he is cornered by some act of his that there's no way to explain his way out of. It's a well worn tool in his obfuscation and dodge-ball playing toolbox- a tried and true (to turn the phrase around) "the best defense is a good offense" ploy.

If you don't read it carefully it might seems like he had been with his sick dad- who could drop dead tomorrow- on his 82nd birthday. And even if you do read it, you'd think there was some kind of reason why if he had stayed for the vote he would probably never see his dad again.

The gist seems to have been that only by skipping the vote would he be permitted to speak to his beloved mother or see his on-his-deathbed father again... or something like that.

But the fact is, as alleged by a few of those who were there for the vote and were discussing Tokioka's absence- and confirmed in a Civil Beat article by Chad Blair and Nathan Eagle:

Souki called the unanimous vote — featuring his supporters, acolytes of Speaker Emeritus Calvin Say and the Republicans — "very impressive." Only Democrats Sharon Har and Jimmy Tokioka — both Say supporters — did not vote, having been excused from the chamber, though both were at the Capitol (emphasis added).

So that's where we've been- in addition to organizing we've been posting a lot shorter pieces and sharing articles that we might otherwise weave into a column... had we not been so lazy of late.

So "friend" us under "Andy Parx" if you’re interested in seeing what we've been writing on Facebook. Or you can check in here now and again- usually daily or so- although we're not really sure if you have to sign up to see it (another BS feature- don't get us started...).

We're actually surprised that the chattering classes- especially those who directly cover the "social media" have not picked up on this "Facebook as a political tool" phenomena yet. We just stumbled upon it after family members and close friends (yes- we do still have some) got spammed-out and gave up on email and forced us to toss our very soul into Zuckerberg's zeitgeist

But although we might go back and forth between feeding this space and the social network cum organizing tool, Jimmy Tokioka will always be an unwavering slimeball.