tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34410201172054339502024-03-13T07:29:43.118-10:00got windmills?Daily Op-Ed Tilt from Rabid Reporter Andy ParxAndy Parxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15398587036690312685noreply@blogger.comBlogger1180125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3441020117205433950.post-37301707295581867292018-12-06T11:32:00.001-10:002018-12-06T11:32:10.976-10:00DEATH IN PRINCEVILLE- HO HUM<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Today's <a href="http://www.thegardenisland.com/2018/12/06/hawaii-news/woman-swept-away-at-queens-bath/">death
</a>on the rocks of Queen's Bath could have been predicted for it's
regularity.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />Going down the trail and climbing
on the rocks, especially when the waves are massive, has killed many
tourists over the years- or should I say their own stupidity has done
them in for the ones who more recently purposely ignored signs and
videos and all. And as for books, like one called “Ultimate Kaua`i
Guide Book” many have continued to list it as a good place to go
leaving out weather warnings and, in years past, some, like the UKTB,
telling visitors to disregard the warnings.
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />In the 90's it got so bad the
County Engineer tried to close the access- the only one who has the
right, by law (county charter) to a close trail completely (partial
closings for safety are permitted) to do so. But apparently, it was
explained by Ray, there is also a state law that allows any one
citizen to reopen any trail that has been closed (it's a little more
complicated than that but that's the essence).
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
So enter the great Kaua`i activist Ray
Chuan who took members of his “Limu Coalition “ to the trail-head
and “reopened” it.
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Why, you might rightly ask? Well, if
you remember, beach access had been designated the top issue in a
poll prior to the 1998 election (or maybe '96- this is
“seat-of-the-pants”). <br /><br />Well, the county attorney wanted to
sue the UK tour book but came up against the 1<sup>st</sup> Amendment
so things stand where they are. I'm not sure of the various other
guide books and what they say but Kaua`i Visitors Bureau's Sue Kanoho
made it a priority to try to talk to them about it for quite a while
with pretty good success with most guide books (although the
“Ultimate” was still refusing to de-list it last I heard maybe
10+ years ago... I'm not sure about the “disregard the signs”
part)<br /><br />File under the “Darwin Awards,” a popular
designation here, where people forget to pack their brains when they
are “on vacation.”<br /></div>
<br />Andy Parxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15398587036690312685noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3441020117205433950.post-82737224582265644142018-11-29T12:21:00.004-10:002018-11-29T12:21:28.758-10:00LEADING FROM (ONE'S) BEHIND<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
I haven't seen so much naivety since
Little Red Riding Hood, in people's reactions to the Kaua`i County
Council preliminary leadership vote, including- or especially?- Luke
Evslin's on Facebook (best go to his page- there's a few).</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
The original Perot's fairy tale ends
after the infamous penultimate line, “Oh Grandma, what big teeth
you have,.” then unequivocally stating “And with that he opened
his mouth and A T E H E R U P.<br /><br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
No hunters with butcher knives
stumbling by outside to save the day by cutting open the wolf's belly
and removing The Notorious LRRH.<br /><br />In case there are some out
there that haven't heard the secret, policy IS politics, unlike
<a href="https://www.facebook.com/evslin/posts/10101341894175244">Luke's
Facebook essay last night</a> portended. If you care about policy you
will have to pay attention to those paying attention to politics
because otherwise you will find yourself like the guy standing in
front of the boss's desk readying himself to ask for a raise and
instead finding himself dropping precipitously through the trap
door.<br /><br />The Chairperson of most bodies- or whatever they're
calling the boss of your legislative “board,” sets the agenda,
I'll say that again.
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
The Chair of the Board sets the agenda.
The rest of the board may put up a fight to change that de facto rule
but it isn't likely to pass and you'll be playing more politics to
accomplish that than you would to have if you just sat down and shut
up and kept your powder dry for the battles to come over the next
2,4,6 or 8 years. <br /><br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Whether the Chair wins by one vote or
all but one vote he or she will be keeping a close eye on his or her
friends and a closer one on their enemies. You, as one of the rabble,
don't need to grab an inordinate share of the chair's attention while
you work on the politics that will allow you to execute the policy.
If you're worried about climate change there's no need to remind the
chair every day that he works for the most dispoiling business (Grove
Farm) on the island until you're ready- and have enough allies- to
execute a political shift, which is after all the only way to execute
that policy shift.
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Best not to get caught with you pants
down; if you go at the king, best not miss... and all that
Machiavellian clap trap. <br /><br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
I've watched the Kaua`i County Council
at work for 40 years and have never seen anyone go along and give
their vote and not get stabbed in the back for it unless they join
the right prison gang and then they'll support you with their
political life. It's really a simple- and simplistic way to play
politics but no one around here is any smarter than knight takes
pawn, bishop takes knight, etc. and they all figure they'll find out
when they get a year or so under their belts. And once they do,
they've been sucked in and there's no getting out.<br /><br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Maybe you're smarter than the av-er-age
bear. Luke You seem to be. Or maybe, as they say “you're goin'
places boy.”</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
I fear young Mr. Evslin will slip down
that slope if he doesn't have more of a plan than “forget about
politics, concentrate on policy and assume others will be doing the
same. Otherwise, gnaw, slurp, lick lips... yum-yum-yum.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Others have made the same mistake.</div>
<br />Andy Parxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15398587036690312685noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3441020117205433950.post-58940269718498237892018-11-28T12:12:00.003-10:002018-11-28T12:12:37.030-10:00MIDNIGHT AT THE HACIENDA<div style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px;">
I really lead a sheltered existence. Although I spend half my life reading about the current generation of FOX-News MAGA-heads and the kind of conspiratorial substitute news that has apparently taken hold across the country, it actually walked up my stairs in the form of a large middle-aged southern-accented appliance repairman yesterday about 6:45 p.m.</div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px;">
As Judy Woodruff began to introduce a PBS NewsHour piece on the American atrocities at the Mexican-<span class="text_exposed_show" style="display: inline; font-family: inherit;">American border I hear “They're all ISIS, you know.”</span></div>
<div class="text_exposed_show" style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; display: inline; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">
<div style="font-family: inherit; margin-bottom: 6px;">
“Excuse me?” I said. After all I have had trouble getting enough oxygen to the brain lately. Maybe it's the ears too.</div>
<div style="font-family: inherit; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px;">
But no. The deluge was about to begin. In shock, I caught maybe every third word or concept because I had apparently stumbled into the belly-of-the-beast- and that belly was my own living room.</div>
<div style="font-family: inherit; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px;">
“They're all young men- no women or children.... notice, they're all under 30. It's all paid for and staged.” he said, pointing at the refugees seeking asylum which he no doubt saw as the invading Caravan chock-full-of “bad hombres.”</div>
<div style="font-family: inherit; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px;">
Still not being quite ready to push my reporting brethren under the bus, I had to ask. “You mean they're all making it up? PBS, CBS. CNN, NY Ti...”</div>
<div style="font-family: inherit; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px;">
“Of course they are.”</div>
<div style="font-family: inherit; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px;">
I was unable to formulate the words quickly enough to ask if he, thought maybe there was some secret corner closet in the US Capitol where they and Adam Sorkin gather to write today's script- i.e. the mainstream media news.</div>
<div style="font-family: inherit; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px;">
The pundits say that the country is divided and tell stories about “unfriending” 25-year acquaintances. Funny- I've never had any actual “friends” I needed to ditch like that. Apparently we picked each other well at the time</div>
<div style="font-family: inherit; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px;">
And I'm not likely to come across one unless it's a friend of a friend, usually of someone I don't even really know. And I intend to keep it that way- by ignoring them.</div>
<div style="font-family: inherit; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px;">
I've apparently unconsciously- or maybe super-consciously, spent 66 years weeding these people out of my life as, not just traditional “friends” but new “social media friend” as well.</div>
<div style="font-family: inherit; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px;">
Something in the back of my click-clacking lizard brain I know I should have friends with differing political bents. And I have “true conservative” friends I've loved and still do.</div>
<div style="font-family: inherit; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px;">
But I've begun to realize this is not just another political view. This is a whole new brand of troglodyte and it's the job of his or her friends and family that helped them achieve such a stunning lack of media literacy in the first place to help ease them back to reality.</div>
<div style="font-family: inherit; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px;">
It's not mine if I want to maintain the bones in my nose in their current alignment .</div>
</div>
Andy Parxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15398587036690312685noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3441020117205433950.post-2239247721384540002018-10-13T23:36:00.003-10:002018-10-13T23:36:32.359-10:00SOMEBODY FLUSHED AND THEN THERE WERE NONE<br />
Well, well, well, apparently it's time to go out there and NOT
vote for a bunch of crooks, know-it-alls and folks who care
passionately about their showing in the next election.<br />
<br />The folks who have devoted themselves to making their
neighborhood and the world around them a better place are no longer
in office. And most aren't even running.<br />
<br />
<br />
As to the ones who used to be there, when I ask about their plans
each election cycle, they either give me one of those "hush
uppa yo' face 'fore I hush it up fo' you" looks or have, against
all odds, taken up the non-elective fight 27/7 after learning what I
learned decades ago- elective office is no place for politics.
<br />
<br />Or, in at least a couple of cases, because doing it killed
them.
<br />
<br />So let's start at the bottom since that's really the top when
it comes to the really important day-to-day officeholders- the local
ones.
<br />
<br />There's really no one among the 14 running for <b>KAUA`I
COUNTY COUNCIL</b> to vote "FOR." But those offices will
be filled no matter what we do so at this point it's a matter of harm
reduction.<br />
<br />The ones with the biggest potential for reducing harm are:<br />
<br />
<br />
1) MASON K CHOCK- Mason is the only incumbent worth returning to
office and should really be separated from others on this list. He's
a reliable progressive vote and somehow manages to deal with the
other council knuckleheads.
<br />
<br />
<br />
2) ADAM PROVERSI- Adam comes highly recommended as an
environmental attorney (now with the county attorney's office) and a
former organic farmer. On paper he's hard to beat. Don't include him
in the "harm reduction" crew. He sounds a whole lot better
than that. I've never met him but you couldn't ask for better
credentials.<br />
<br />
<br />
3) FELICIA COWDEN- Felicia hosts a public affairs radio program on
community radio and ran for council in 2016. She'd be a hell of a lot
better than any of the others and thinks and acts progressively. I am
enthusiastic about the potential for seeing her round out a council
majority along with<br />
<br />
<br />
4) LUKE EVESLIN-- HAHAHA- PSYCH- FAKED YOU OUT. Yeah, after much
consternation I'm gonna say "yes, you too Luke." And it
isn't even that I've known him since he was in swaddling clothes and
his dad for lo these 40 years. His failure to oppose the POISON
FARMS in Waimea is still a big matzoh ball out there between us and I
will do my best to figure out why Luke would support GM food since
he's so pragmatic- or at least studied- in so many other areas.
Perhaps I just need to show him the real dangers of eating
genetically modified foods, "back-of-the-envelope" style.
Other than that I'll vote for Luke enthusiastically and I promise I
will do my best to change his mind on GMOs by the next election (or
die trying). Anyway, I could get used to hearing him in the
background every Wednesday. At least maybe he'd drown out Idiot Boy.<br />
<br />The next category is <b>The Truly Horrific</b> (vote for the
plague before these candidates)- aka the <b>DO NOT VOTE FOR</b>
council list, aka the <b>KAUA`I LEAST WANTED</b> list.
<br />
<br />1) I suppose it would have to start with SHAYLENE LEI MAILE
ISERI, (formerly SHAYLENE ISEI-CARVALHO), the person who has done so
much to disgrace her name that she has gone to great lengths to
disguise it on the ballot. If you don't remember "all of the
horrible things she's done" (off to see the wizard?) search her
name in the search box (just Shaylene is enough) on <a href="http://parxnewsdaily.blogspot.com/">my
"got windmills blog"</a> http://parxnewsdaily.blogspot.com/
. While I can't exactly accuse her of killing Tim Bynum because that
would be libelous, I sure can think it.<br />
<br />
<br />
2) ROSS KAGAWA, Mel Rapozo's Mini-me comes next but is really the
worst. Ross is known by many simply as "Idiot Boy" because,
among other things, it can be physically painful to listen to him
think. He's famous of late for trying to explain why he (and others
on the council) turned down a $100,000 grant to study what more we
can do locally to fight climate change. The video is floating around
Facebook. I can't even list all the stupid stuff he says and does.
<br />
<br />
<br />
3) ARTHUR BRUN is actually a Vice President of one of the west
side chemical companies and was the one overseeing the place the day
a national inspector just happened to be there on another matter when
they caught them not using standard procedures to keep workers a safe
time and distance from a super-poison being sprayed (yeah- I'm sooo
sure it was only that one day). Workers had to go to the hospital.
The company was originally fined millions.<br />
<br />
<br />
4) ARRYL KANESHIRO is a chip off the old Grove Farm block and
seems to be working for them in his council decision making.<br />
<br />
<br />
5) KIPUKAI KUALII- There's a reason why his name doesn't seem to
appear on any "who to vote for" lists. <a href="https://parxnewsdaily.blogspot.com/2012/09/separating-white-from-rice.html">This
article</a> (
https://parxnewsdaily.blogspot.com/2012/09/separating-white-from-rice.html
) would be a wonderful place to start reading about both Kipukai and
Shaylene. Don't forget to follow the links to read more about
"Rice-Cooker-Gate"... If you're new enough here to have
never heard about it there's no time like the present for education.<br /><br />
<br />
Oh- and there's that pesky Mayoral Race where Mel Rapozo is
running against Derek Kawakami.<br />
<br />And one of them will be mayor in December (hand me my vomit
bucket emoji- there must be one).<br />
<br />Rather than endorse/not endorse I am recommending people read
the first three chapters of a book called "KPD Blue" by
former Honolulu Star-Bulletin Kaua`i Bureau Chief Anthony "Tony"
Sommer to find out more about former KPD Sgt. Mel Rapozo who was the
only cop in uniform and on duty and in the fondling room at the
station house the night the "Lap Dancer" made her
infamous"personal appearance." (The juicy part is in the
first three chapters).<br />
<br />
<br />
You can order it from Amazon. Or let me know and I'll get you in
touch with Tony and you can buy it directly from him (he makes more
pennies that way). Or if you're cheap or in a hurry (even though
Amazon delivers, like, yesterday) you can find Chapter by Chapter
links to the book at the top of the "left rail" at my blog
(which covers my decades of journalism, covering politics and
government on Kaua`i. <a href="http://parxnewsdaily.blogspot.com/">got
windmills?</a> is at http://parxnewsdaily.blogspot.com/ Or try the
library for "KPD Blue."<br />
<br />
<br />
Voting starts Oct. 23 at the Kaua`i County Building Annex and you
DO NOT- let me repeat DO NOT- need to be registered. The legislature
passed a law this past May saying that you can register when you vote
(no matter what you hear from anyone including the elections website
itself). Election day is November 6.<br />
<br />Sometimes I feel like my life has been a political failure
local, state and national wise. So if you are on the mainland and
there's any chance people where you are might be electing a (play
spooky "screech, screech, screech" music) Republican, as a
<b>LIFE LONG GREEN</b> and former <b>GREEN NATIONAL COMMITTEE
DELEGATE</b>, I'm asking you (and/or giving you permission) to <b>PLEASE
VOTE FOR THE DEMOCRAT</b>- even one of those sucky ones. I've never
asked people to do that before. It's that bad.
<br />
<br />Andy Parxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15398587036690312685noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3441020117205433950.post-23665523955398486922018-07-23T13:35:00.003-10:002018-07-23T13:35:53.189-10:00WHO TO VOTE AGAINST ON KAUA`I- 2018<br />
No, it's not time to chose who
to vote FOR any more these days. It's 2018 and there are seemingly
only candidates to vote against... and a handful that we will vote
for by default.<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-weight: normal;">So here's my ill-considered and
uninformed list of what my- and I do hope your- ballot will look like
in the upcoming primary/special election, ending August 11. Ballots
are either in your mailbox now or, if you haven't signed up for
permanent mail-in ballots (please do- it's really convenient), early
voting will be available soon and you can now register and vote on
"primary" election day, August 11.</span>--------<br />
We'll start at home in our "non-partisan" Mayoral and
County Council races.<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-weight: normal;">The race for </span><b>KAUAI
MAYOR</b><span style="font-weight: normal;"> has four candidates with
a realistic shot and three are disgusting. Only </span><b>JOANN
YUKIMURA</b><span style="font-weight: normal;"> is worth voting for if
we ever want to get a grip on our current, horrendous
over-development. While she is not the same JoAnn she was back in the
'80's and '90's, when compared to the rest, she shines. I would
gladly vote FOR her even if the others were not so nauseating.</span><br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-weight: normal;">The other three are former KPD
Sgt. Mel Rapozo of "The Lap Dancer at the Station House"
fame and Derek "Mr Big Save" Kawakami, replete with silver
spoon still lodged in his mouth and Lenny Rapozo who spent the
Carvalho administration as Parks and Recreation head, which, if
you've seen our parks, speaks for itself.</span><br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-weight: normal;">With 24 </span><b>COUNTY COUNCIL</b><span style="font-weight: normal;">
candidates you'd think there would be more than three you might want
to vote for... but of course you'd think wrong if you did. You get
seven votes- DO NOT use them all. USE ONLY THREE</span><br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-weight: normal;">1) Vote for </span><b>MASON
CHOCK</b><span style="font-weight: normal;">, who, as an incumbent has
been the only fresh air blowing through the council chambers for the
last two years now. </span>
<br />
<span style="font-weight: normal;">2) While it's hard to really pin
down </span><b>FELICIA COWDEN</b><span style="font-weight: normal;">
on very much she can be probably be trusted to make the right
decisions. But if you make it, we'll be watching Felicia.</span><br />
<span style="font-weight: normal;">3) The third is </span><b>ADAM
ROVERSI</b><span style="font-weight: normal;"> who is a former farmer
from Kilauea who went back to school and studied environmental law.
He now works in the county attorney’s office. I've never met him
but people I know and trust tell me we can't go wrong in voting for
him. Google him and checkout his website.</span><br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-weight: normal;">Watch out though- there are some
real pigs running. Among them are disgraced former prosecuting
attorney Shaylene Iseri, Ross "Idiot Boy" Kagawa who causes
actual pain in those who attempt to watch him think and corrupt
former councilmember Kipukai Kualii. </span>
<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-weight: normal;">All three voted to continue to
allow the chemical companies to poison people, voting against "the
bill" back in the day- among other horrific actions/inactions.
Same goes for Grove Farm Vice President, former councilmember Arryl
Kaneshiro. Chemical company Vice President, council incumbent Arthur
Brun fills out the "basket of deplorables".</span><br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-weight: normal;">Which brings us to Luke Evslin.</span><br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-weight: normal;">I've known Luke since he was a
little boy. He is bright, articulate and inquisitive but has one
blind spot- he fully supports the chemical companies' experimental
genetic modification operations on the West side. I can't bring
myself to support someone who makes that kind of political decision
over the health of his potential constituents. It indicates the types
of votes he would cast in the future. Sorry Luke- no support from
this direction.</span><br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-weight: normal;">The rest aren't worth a second
look. Don't forget- you don't need to vote for seven and if you're
voting for a person based on some kind of "feeling," a
family tie or some other tenuous connection you could defeat the
candidate(s) you really do want to see with your vote. "Plunking,"
as it's called, is a long-time tradition on Kaua`i where we can vote
for all seven "at-large" candidates but usually don't.
It's not hard to see why. <br /><br />If anyone wants to research those
I've mentioned above- or at least those with a record- I've written
about many extensively in my "<a href="http://parxnewsdaily.blogspot.com/">Got
Windmills- the Daily Tilt</a>" blog at
http://parxnewsdaily.blogspot.com/ where you can enter their names in
the search box at the top of the page and you will get all the
articles I've written about them. The same goes for those below.</span><br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-weight: normal;">------------</span><br />
<span style="font-weight: normal;">Next, to the state legislature</span><br />
<br />
<br />
<b>STATE HOUSE DISTRICT 16 </b>
<br />
<div style="font-weight: normal;">
These could be the two biggest races
on Kaua`i ballots. On the West side <b>DEE MORIKAWA</b> stuck her
neck out to pass the pesticide bill in the legislature- it wouldn't
have happened without her. Stephanie Iona is a lobbyist for the
chemical companies, sent to defeat Dee. I'm sure you know how
important this race is. I wish I could vote for Dee.
</div>
<br />
<br />
<b>STATE HOUSE DISTRICT 15 </b>
<br />
<div style="font-weight: normal;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="font-weight: normal;">
Jimmy (James) Tokioka is THE wost
excuse for a human being- much less a legislator- that I've ever
seen. He is corrupt to the core. Yet he gets reelected every two
years. I wish I lived in the district. I don't know Elaine Daligdig
but she's GOT to be better than Jimmy. PLEASE vote for ELAINE
DALIGDIG.</div>
<br />
<br />
----------<br />
<br />
<br />
<b>CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT 1</b><br />
<div style="font-weight: normal;">
First let me say I don't live in
District 1. No one on Kaua`i does. But it's rare to find such a long
list of candidates to "vote against."
</div>
<div style="font-weight: normal;">
<br />But one stands out as one of the
worst turds Hawai`i has ever sent to DC, Ed Case. He managed to slip
into a seat in a plurality election where the two popular candidates
split the vote and he slipped into an the "interim" seat
when the Sainted Patsy Mink passed away just before an election. Get
a history book- it hurts too much to have to remember that fiasco.</div>
<div style="font-weight: normal;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="font-weight: normal;">
One problem is that Kaniela Ing is a
great candidate, according to those on Maui that know him. But he
also got into some trouble over "misreporting" campaign
contributions and was severely fined for it. If I lived there I'd
vote for him. Bu he might not have a shot to stop Case because he's
really outspoken- in a good way. <br /><br />Doug Chin needs to beat Case
because the rest of the field is just that disgusting. Making it
easier is that Chin hates Trump and, when he was our attorney
general, he led the national effort to block the infamous "Muslim
Ban" in court.</div>
<div style="font-weight: normal;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="font-weight: normal;">
I'm glad I don't have to vote in this
one.</div>
<div style="font-weight: normal;">
<br />
</div>
<b>CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT 2</b><br />
<div style="font-weight: normal;">
I do have to vote in this one. And I
feel kind of queasy over having to vote for Tulsi Gabbard and so will
be voting for Sherry Alu Campagna who, some say, has really good
progressive credentials (Her web site is kind of wishy-washy).
Gabbard will win no matter what I do.
</div>
<div style="font-weight: normal;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="font-weight: normal;">
Gabbard kind of gets all "Stepford
Wives" when you ask her about her childhood- and apparently
current- guru Cris Butler and while I don't care what religion/cult
someone might be/join unless it gets in the way of governing, there's
something about Tulsi's reaction to being asked about it that's
really really creepy (and I don't often use two "reallys."
Really.</div>
<div style="font-weight: normal;">
But she's also an early Bernie
supporter and says and does some great stuff in congress and that's
probably what counts.</div>
<div style="font-weight: normal;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="font-weight: normal;">
--------------</div>
<b>LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR</b><br />
<div style="font-weight: normal;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="font-weight: normal;">
Oh Goodie, goodie. We get to vote FOR
someone.
</div>
<div style="font-weight: normal;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="font-weight: normal;">
<b>KIM COCO IWAMOTO </b>is a "true
progressive" (I'd say democratic socialist but my Democratic
Party friends would have a conniption fit) and, although I've never
met her she appears to be the real deal. It's too bad Josh Green is
running for Lt. Governor also. <br /><br />If you play all those
tic-tac-toe political games you're probably, to mix a metaphor, still
twiddling your thumbs. But if you like voting with integrity like I
do and you'll be voting for "Kim Coco."
</div>
<div style="font-weight: normal;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="font-weight: normal;">
--------------</div>
<div style="font-weight: normal;">
<br />
</div>
<i><b>GOVERNOR</b></i><br />
We'd run out of arm before we run out of candidates on the list
for governor. But since everyone I know will be "pulling" a
Democratic ballot we are told that "if you want your vote to
count" you'd better choose between former Chief Cook and Bottle
Washer (along with every other political position imaginable) Colleen
Hanabusa and David "Wow, how the heck did I get here" Ige
(D).<br />
<br />
<br />
The problem is choosing which one nauseates us more- or less as
the case may be. Many had already tentatively made up our minds not
to vote for Ige, based on four years of getting our faces slapped by
him- especially through his Dept of Ag lackey Scott Enright who has
allowed multi-national chemical companies to engage in school, home
and road-side poisonings under the "jobs, jobs, jobs"
banner for those who survive the daily toxic deluge.<br /><br />But just
as we were about to accept anybody- repeat ANYBODY- to get rid of him
and Enright we looked up and saw- ARRGGGH, the ghost of elections
past- the Hanabusa machine.<br /><br />Who makes us sicker, who makes us
sicker... all summer was gonna be spent measuring who made us sicker.<br />
<br />But a last minute a "here's your damn bill-choke on it"
effort on the part of Ige and his Legislative 76 Stooges gave us a
watered down but acceptable law, banning one of the worst of the
restricted use chemicals, stopping poison spraying within 7
millimeters of a school, oh let's say 150 years from now (something
like that) and, the one substantive measures, a complete list of
"What the Heck Are They Spraying?" which was how this who
thing got started in the first place.
<br />
<br />
<br />
<div style="font-weight: normal;">
So, although I've promised myself I'm
too old to vote for this worst evil crap and I should be choosing a
Green Party ballot to vote for candidate Jim Brewer since there's a
Green on the ballot. But he'll be there in November. So you have my
permission to make sure we don't have to look at Colleen on the news
every night but rather listen to the nasal stylings of Ige and the
Indecisive-tones.</div>
<div style="font-weight: normal;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="font-weight: normal;">
Vote Early- And Often.</div>
<br />Andy Parxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15398587036690312685noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3441020117205433950.post-20050986185818173612018-07-01T23:44:00.000-10:002018-07-01T23:44:02.621-10:00BE ON MY SIDE I'LL BE ON YOUR SIDE<span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">There're no "sides." There is a continuum of critical thinking skills and many who either don't want to learn how to use them or even do the work to obtain them. Many of those who were never taught those skills certainly weren't taught media literacy either. </span><br />
<br style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">People have a hard time knowing when they are being lied to, because they lack a background in using the scientific method to test the statements they hear beyond applying some nebulous</span><span class="text_exposed_show" style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; display: inline; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"> "belief" in the statement or the person or organization making it. But belief has nothing to do with actual information. They are from different worlds.</span><br />
<span class="text_exposed_show" style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; display: inline; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"><br />The vast majority of what we hear can be tested using rational thought and critical thinking and discarded immediately. A "packet" of real information is precious.</span><br />
<span class="text_exposed_show" style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; display: inline; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"><br />It's okay to "not know"- it's not okay to claim to know when you don't.</span>Andy Parxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15398587036690312685noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3441020117205433950.post-40209588578070122142018-05-29T14:29:00.001-10:002018-05-29T14:29:18.978-10:00WHO- ME TOO?<span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">This morning I get up to brush my teeth, come back, and find "Rosanne" has gone from being the cat's-meow to a cat-turd.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"> </span><br style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">Yes, I'm shocked- SHOCKED- to once again find racism, race-bias and race-privilege in America... and from such an icon of propriety no less.</span><br />
<br style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">And I'm shocked, shocked, SHOCKED to find it happening in Hollywood of all places!</span><br />
<br style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">And finally, I'm shocked, shocked, shocked SHOCKED to find a celebrity has spoken aloud one such lizard-brained men</span><span class="text_exposed_show" style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; display: inline; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">tation as scurries across everyone's brain from time to time. </span><br />
<span class="text_exposed_show" style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; display: inline; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"><br />But I'm NOT shocked, shocked, shocked, shocked, SHOCKED that there are people who deny having such cognitive content, whether predominantly, preeminently or simply fleeting. Otherwise we wouldn't be ugly, phony-ass Americans.</span><br />
<span class="text_exposed_show" style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; display: inline; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"><br />Got denial?</span>Andy Parxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15398587036690312685noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3441020117205433950.post-72747510766193914792017-10-28T13:53:00.000-10:002017-10-28T13:53:01.670-10:00FAHK DA DADGAHS
After the October 1954 New York Giants World Series victory
,drilling on the proper playground fan etiquette for the winners
began in earnest- especially for we two-year-olds. The assumption
was that this of course would be a yearly occurrence.
<br />
<br />Schooling came from my best friend Barry Dubin's much older
four-year-old brother who sat on the side of the bed deeply crowing
"Fahk da dahgahs." in his four-year-old basso-profundo
which rattled the walls and scared the neighbors as I remember it.<br /><br />
<br />
Barry and I, while Jew and a Gentile, seated on the floor at his
feet, were united in squeaking out our response- "Fahk da
dahgahs"
<br />
<br />
<br />
Each of Barry's brother's "Fahk da dahgahs" brought a
"Fahk da dahgahs" from the peanut gallery.
<br />
"Fahk da dahgahs." begat "Fahk da dahgahs."
begat "Fahk da dahgahs." beget "Fahk da dahgahs."...
back and forth, call and response until we were fully indoctrinated
life-long Giants fans.
<br />
<br />
<br />
Raspy throats took occasioanl breaks for some girl scout cookies
and milk and, all right in the Giants' world, we proudly carried on
the black and orange on high, high, high, high...<br />
<br />
<br />
Over and over, all night, the cadence shook the plastered walls of
the lower east side of Manhattan apartment, our colors matching those
of our borough. The Trolley Dahgahs meanwhile were denizens of some
other crazy hell hole called, among all things, Brooklyn, where
they'd sell your liver for the price of an egg cream, where they
played Ring-A-Leav-i-o instead of Johnny-On-The-Pony... oh the
incivility of it all. I knew this because Donny Jackson, who would go
on to Columbia University Quarterback Ignominy had visited his
grandma in Brooklyn for three weeks that very summer and saw it all.<br />
<br />
<br />
Who's a thunk it but the my Giants didn't win the World Series
again until 2010, years after they had moved away to San Francisco.
And the Dahgahs, now in LA, haven't won since 1988.<br /><br />
<br />
So once more for old time sake: Fahk Da Dahgahs Fahk Da Dahgahs
Fahk Da Dahgahs Fahk Da Dahgahs... eternally....<br />
<br />Andy Parxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15398587036690312685noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3441020117205433950.post-70424472791869321432017-10-27T14:35:00.003-10:002017-10-27T15:41:55.598-10:00Keeping Up With The Kealohas<br />
Yes it's local TV's Latest Hit Show HNN's "Keeping Up With
The Kealohas." Last night's special featured a blast of foul
smelling stinkerino from the past in the name of Jake Delaplane. For
newbies or those with short memories he was disgraced former Kaua`i
Prosecutor Shaylene Iseri's
second-alcoholic-and-respondent-in-command who is now apparently,
they say, representing a couple of the "co-conspirators" in
HPD's spin-off "Pimp My Mail Box." <br />
Does sleaze know no bottom rung?
We'll see.<br />
But do read up on Jake's involvement in the Kaua`i
"Rice-Cooker-Gate" in <a href="http://parxnewsdaily.blogspot.com/search?q=Jake+Delaplane">a
few investigative pieces</a> I penned in 2012 and thereabouts... and
look for Judge Watenabe's from-the-bench chiding of self same
Delaplane.
Andy Parxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15398587036690312685noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3441020117205433950.post-9144382344416526932017-08-15T12:59:00.000-10:002017-08-15T13:11:52.603-10:00A HITLER MOMENT<br />
<br />
Last November after the 2016
election many questioned<a href="http://www.civilbeat.org/2016/11/luke-evslin-trump-hitler-came-to-power-in-similar-ways/"> those
of us who drew the obvious parallels</a> between the rise of Trumpism in America to that of Naziism in
Hitler's Germany in 1933.<br />
<br />
After hearing Trump double-down on white supremacy <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YA8M13AEYr0">today</a>
as the guiding policy lynchpin he established Saturday, it's time to
abandon this aversion to <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Godwin's_law">Godwin's
law</a> and dare to routinely refer to Hitler and Nazi Germany in
rhetorical argument when it's appropriate.
<br />
<br />
It seems to be some kind of "exception that proves the
rule" allowing for one bizarre corner of dialectic where
ignorance of history doesn't doom one to repeat it.
<br />
<br />
<br />
Act as if Hitler and the Nazis never happened and they'll never
happen again? No- it's time to treat events like they actually
happened and stop whistling in the genocidal graveyard.<br />
<br />
Let's remember that it was less than 100 years ago that
privileged European white supremacists elected and politically
nurtured a man and government that used xenophobia and general fear
and hate-mongering to perpetrate the mass murder of millions while
the rest stood back and remained silent because they benefited from
that privilege.
<br />
<br />
It's time to reopen the dialogue and examine the relationship
between our current political milieu and what happened less than 85
years ago.<br />
<br />
<br />
Hint: As much as we'd like to think it's a whole new world,
nothing has changed. The maxim about turning our heads in horror and
simply going about our business causing us to be doomed to repeat
that horror applies in all cases, not just the ones we choose to
acknowledge.Andy Parxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15398587036690312685noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3441020117205433950.post-49481721538126671812017-01-02T22:05:00.000-10:002017-01-02T22:05:14.116-10:00SOOOOLD, AMERICAN
<br />
"Since minimum wage is so low I think I'll hire more people
than I absolutely need to run my business," said NO BUSINESS
OWNER EVER.<br />
<br />
Yet the predicable crocodile tears shed by employers large and
small over the $15/hr minimum wage State Senator Josh Green will
introduce during the upcoming Hawai`i legislative session are already
flooding over the rail at the Capitol.<br />
<br />
The truth is that all business owners hire not one more nor one
less worker than they need, because, as you can hear even the most
curmudgeonly sarcastic among them routinely remind their workers, "I
ain't runnin' no charity here, ya know."<br />
<br />
So where is this magical world they seem to be living in, where a
hike to the minimum wage – or even a living remuneration – will
cause them to lay off some of their staff? Probably shouting from the
same post-truth delusional universe where they alone are the "job
creators" who "pay way too much in taxes" because "I
built this business without any government help," while standing
on a public sidewalk beside a public highway, all of which were built
with taxpayers’ money and are patrolled by municipal police and
fire departments.
<br />
And I guess they must use some kind of barter system or maybe
Bit-coin so as not to have to depend on the government to print the
money they grub.<br />
<br />
The worst ones even have the temerity to complain about "the
bums" who sit on the pavement outside their establishments –
you know, the ones we, at best, call "homeless" so we don't
have to acknowledge that they work full time but, at the current
minimum wage level, can't afford both rent and food.<br />
<br />
As you might have guessed by now, I don't have much respect for
western capitalism, although there's nothing wrong with "cottage
industry." The problem comes not when you make and sell those
cute little $20 hand-made hats that are oh-so popular and take you an
hour to make. Rather, it's when you can't keep up with the demand for
them, so you hire staff at $10 an hour to make more hats than you and
your family can make, and keep the other $10 a piece so you can live
in your penthouse and send your kids to private school while your
employees live not just down the street but on the street, and their
kids have to drop out of school so maybe all of them together can
afford to rent a one-room tenement apartment – that's when we've
got a problem.<br />
<br />
Sen. Green's bill would make a $15-an-hour minimum the law by 2018
and $22 over time. And, no matter what kind of faulty reasoning –
or faulty economic system – the Chamber of Commerce wants to sell
you, once you have a taste of it, it's not hard to recognize that
it's just another turd sandwich they want you to chew on.<br />
<br />
Just don't swallow.<br />
Andy Parxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15398587036690312685noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3441020117205433950.post-30541324562667040432016-12-16T14:55:00.004-10:002016-12-16T14:55:38.814-10:00HOW SHOULD I KNOW? JUST MAKE SOMETHING UP.
<br />
<br />
I've been obsessed with the story of "fake news"- the
actual made-up-of-whole-cloth stuff that dominated Facebook and
Twitter during this election season.
<br />
<br />
<br />
But perhaps even worse has been the stilted corporate press
coverage of this supposed "Russian hacking the elections"
story which, while not actually counterfeit has been presented as
factual despite the fact that it is almost almost 100% conjecture
<a href="https://theintercept.com/2016/12/14/heres-the-public-evidence-russia-hacked-the-dnc-its-not-enough/">without
any real evidence</a> produced by the so-called US "intelligence
community."<br />
<br />
<br />
I've spent weeks trying to blow a hole in reactions to- to re-coin
a term- "faux-info" by, shall we say, the less astute among
us who have been insisting that it's the traditional media that's
"the real fake news." And that's led to a dispute about the
very definition of fake news.
<br />
<br />
<br />
But after watching the morning news I feel like giving up.
<br />
<br />
<br />
First up on CBS' a.m. news today was the pounding of the Russian
hacking story with pronouncements of various degrees of
evidence-free, speculative certitude. The use of the terms
"possible," "maybe," and other such qualifiers is
routinely and progressively abandoned by each successive
pontificating pundit and definitive statements about what one
partisan or another is saying about the matter becoming more
important that any actual evidence for it.
<br />
<br />
<br />
The next story was Facebook's promise to rid peoples' "newsfeeds"
of "fake" or completely fabricated news while remaining an
information distributor instead of a media company (a very important
legal distinction) by using some convoluted filter through which
other media outlets will tag these kinds of posts without much
attention to the issue of what is fake and what is just opinionated
or slanted.<br />
<br />
<br />
"What is reality?" we ask. The question of who can we we
trust seems to have become more important that what.
<br />
<br />
<br />
So after varying degrees of fakeness we got to the third story
this morning- the cold weather.<br />
Ah... time for some accurate- if useless to us in Hawai`i-
non-fake, accuracy.<br />
<br />
<br />
And there stood the weather guy in front of his map of the
continental US with what appeared to be the latest measurable
numbers- the temperatures from around the nation. Can't fake that-
the mercury (or at least your iPhone) never lies.<br />
<br />
<br />
But there, on the top of the map, are the words telling us that
these are simply "Feels Like" temperatures- not the actual
thermometer readings but something someone made up to tell us, as the
overly-sensationalized, mainstream media is wont to do, it's worse
than it actually is.<br />
<br />
<br />
Yes- that's right- IT'S THE FAKE WEATHER.
<br />
<br />
<br />
What's next? "This snow is so deep that, even though it's six
inches, when you step in it it "feels like" it's a foot
deep."<br />
<br />
<br />
Wait- what? Did I hear right?: "Alien Dolphins Have Taken
Over Congress." Film at 10.<br />
Andy Parxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15398587036690312685noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3441020117205433950.post-19192596709207106222016-12-10T23:08:00.000-10:002016-12-10T23:08:19.180-10:00ANOTHER TOUR TO "SECRET (ULUWEHI) FALLS" IN BAD WEATHER REQUIRES AIR RESCUE.
<br />
<br />
<br />
(PNN) -- Kaua`i-- Although a <a href="http://www.kauai.gov/Portals/0/Mayor/PIO/NR12-10-16KFD.pdf?ver=2016-12-10-104941-393">county
press release </a>doesn't say which tour company took tourists to
Secret Falls in bad weather when rain was apparently so bad that a
woman required air rescue.<br />
<br />
<br />
Last week <a href="http://parxnewsdaily.blogspot.com/2016/12/pnn-kayak-kauai-owner-fisher-says-he.html">a
woman died </a>and nine others had to be rescued when Kayak Wailua
took a tour to the same falls during a flash flood warning prompting
owner Peter Fisher to sya that in the future he would not run tours
during flash flood watches or warnings.
<br />
<br />
<br />
According to the Kaua`i Fire Department release "(r)escuers
were prepared to hike the woman out of the area using a Stokes
litter, but requested Air 1 assistance due to the hazardous
condition of the trail."<br />
Andy Parxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15398587036690312685noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3441020117205433950.post-19399720416408108032016-12-08T00:15:00.000-10:002016-12-08T21:52:41.033-10:00(PNN) KAYAK WAILUA OWNER FISHER SAYS HE WILL 'CLOSE BARN DOOR'; LOOSE HORSES SAY 'LOL'<br />
[PNN] (Kaua`i) -- Kayak Wailua owner Peter Fisher reportedly says
he will no longer conduct kayak tours of Wailua River when a flash
flood watch or warning is in effect after a tourist drowned in a
flash flood Sunday while taking one of his kayak tours.<br />
<br />
A flash flood warning was in effect for all of Kaua`i at the time
and had been, on and off, for three days .Fisher has <a href="http://khon2.com/2016/12/03/nine-kayakers-rescued-on-kauais-wailua-river-one-remains-missing/">reportedly</a>
claimed it was a "calm... sunny day" on Sunday.<br />
<br />
Flooding had been occurring on the North and East sides of Kaua`i
all weekend.<br />
<br />
During a flash flood, flooding happens suddenly and during a
"warning" flooding is imminent or currently occurring.<br />
<br />
Another of Fisher's customers died in 2010 when one of Fisher's
tour guides <a href="http://www.courthousenews.com/2011/08/26/39299.htm">reportedly</a>
told a man it was okay to swing from some long vines "like
Tarzan," according to a lawsuit filed in Utah where the tourist
was from. He apparently fell and hit his head on a rock and wandered
off after first landing on hos mother-in-law and braking her leg His
body was found six days later.<br />
<br />
Calls for Fisher's arrest and prosecution have permeated social
media this week. So far there has been no comment from the Kaua`i PD
on possible charges. There have also been numerous, but thus far
unverified, claims on social media saying that his employees had told
people before the incident that they are pressured never to cancel
tours no matter what the weather.Andy Parxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15398587036690312685noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3441020117205433950.post-8365489896986791462016-10-12T14:17:00.001-10:002016-10-12T14:17:21.461-10:00(PNN) BECK'S HYBRIDS TO TAKE OVER BASF;S GMO, PESTICIDE EXPERIMENT FACILITIES
<br />
<br />
<br />
<b>by Andy Parx</b><br />
<br />
<br />
(Parx News Net- PNN) Oct. 12,2016 --- (Kapa`a) <a href="http://www.beckshybrids.com/">Beck's
Hybrids</a> has purchased and will be taking over BASF's GMO corn
seed pesticide experimental facilities in Kekaha, although a Beck's
<a href="http://www.beckshybrids.com/Home/Current-Events/Article-Detail/ArticleID/170/Beck%E2%80%99s-Purchases-Former-BASF-Seed-Research-Facility-in-Kauai-Hawaii">press
release</a> and web site attempt to downplay if not coverup their
intent beyond "hybrid seed production."<br />
<br />
<br />
Although the terms GMO. genetically modified seeds and in fact
pesticides are absent from the release and apparently impossible to
find at Indiana-based Beck's web site a spokesperson from <a href="https://www.facebook.com/KauaiFarmCoalition/?fref=nf">Kauai
Farming & Jobs Coalition (KFJC)</a> who refused to be identified
did confirm the nature of Beck's intentions for their purchase of the
former "BASF Seed Research Facility" on the Westside of the
island of Kaua`i.
<br />
<br />
<br />
In a "sponsored" <a href="https://www.facebook.com/KauaiFarmCoalition/posts/1793121420901735">post</a>
from their Facebook page, the spokesperson refused to be identified
because "each of our admins have been personally attacked by
activists in the past." (S)he accused PNN of engaging in
"haphazard activist reporting."
<br />
<br />
<br />
"We're used to you spreading misinformation," we were
told.<br />
<br />
<br />
KFJC is a pro-GMO/pesticide group that bills itself as "an
issue-based organization (that) seeks out and presents answers on
issues raised in our public discourse (and) represents a wide range
of individuals and organizations in our community.
<br />
<br />
<br />
The soft-sell approach continued as the spokesperson deflected and
misrepresented Beck's intentions until persistent questioning by PNN
and others forced an admission that Beck's produced more than
"traditional hybrids" and in fact did intend to continue
BASF's pesticide experiments on genetically modified seed corn.<br />
<br />
<br />
Despite a thorough search of the <a href="http://www.beckshybrids.com/">Beck's
web site</a> the term "genetic modification" or references
to either pesticide use (RUP or otherwise) specifically or generally
could not be found. The closest we found to a disclosure of GMOs was
the use of the term "trait introgression" under the
<a href="http://www.beckshybrids.com/research/research-development">research
and development section </a>
<br />
<br />
<br />
According to <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Introgression">Wikipedia</a>
"Natural introgression does not have human direct interference
while the exotic introgression is induced intentionally (as for
instance genetically modified organism)."<br />
<br />
<br />
Beck's web site does not differentiate between natural and
"exotic" introgression. It does say that they "practice
genome-wide selection with a state-of-the-art molecular marker
laboratory," although they do not further expand on that
statement.
<br />
<br />
<br />
Apparently due to these deceptive tactics many who have been
active in opposing the chemical companies' genetic
modification/pesticide experiments on Kaua`i actually "liked"
the KFJC Facebook post linking to the Beck's press release.
<br />
<br />
<br />
In 2013 up to 4.000 people on Kaua`i (population appx. 60,000)
marched in support of Ordinance 960 which required disclosure of
pesticide and GMO use and required buffer zones.
<br />
<br />
<br />
"(N)obody is claiming that Beck's won't be growing any GE
corn" the spokesperson finally disclosed following a series of
evasive answers to both our and others' directed questions in the
comments section of KFJC's Facebook post . "Beck's carries
hybrid corn both in conventional and GE varieties.
<br />
<br />
<br />
"Beck's will be using some of the approved pesticides that
you listed," (s)he said referring to questions regarding use of
glycophosate (Roundup) and restricted use pesticides (RUPs)
atrazine, 2-4D (part of "Agent Orange") and others.
<br />
<br />
<br />
"(I)t is likely that they will participate in the Good
Neighbor Program on Kauai." (s)he said referring to a voluntary
unverifiable project sponsored by the governor and mayors of the
neighbor islands in response to the Kaua`i legislation and a
temporary ban of GMOs on Maui and a permanent ban (except for
papayas) Hawai`i Island.
<br />
<br />
<br />
The Good Neighbor Program falls well short of the disclosures and
buffer zones required in Kaua`i Ordinance 960.<br />
<br />
<br />
The three laws are currently before the 9th Circuit Federal
Appellate court awaiting a decision after being blocked from
implementation by local federal magistrates.
<br />
<br />
<br />
Though, as usual, invitations to "tour the facilit(ies)"
were extended we were, as usual, refused permission to bring a camera
crew to record questions and answers. The spokesperson questioned
whether "you could pay attention to what someone is saying or be
genuinely interested when you're just trying to catch something on
film."<br />
<br />
<br />
What we might "catch" was not further defined.<br />
<br />
<br />
For the record PNN has done dozens of TV interviews in producing
"The Parxist Conspiracy" newsmagazine during the 90's, as
do all professional video journalists- even while "touring"
facilities.<br />
<br />
<br />
Despite repeated requests from PNN and many other national and
international news organizations all requests for formal interviews
from a Kaua`i-based chemical company spokesperson have been refused.
<br />
<br />
<br />
The industry, through spokespersons, paid bloggers, PR companies
and trade organizations has insisted that there is no difference
between traditional cross-breeding that has been creating hybrid
seeds for millenia and modern "gene-splicing" genetic
modification technology which has been producing commercial products
for less than a quarter century.
<br />
<br />
<br />
Caution flags have been raised by many predominant independent
geneticists who say that the industry engages in bad science and
produces stilted studies that presume the absence of evidence is the
same as evidence of absence when it comes to health concerns over but
genetically modified foods and moreover the use of restricted use
pesticides such as atrazine which has been found to be probable
carcinogens by the World Health Organization.<br />
<br />
<br />
Genetically modified foods have been banned across the globe but
not in the USA where the presumption of safety until harm is proved
defies the science-based "precautionary principle" and the
logically fallaciousness of "proving a negative" which
cannot, by definition, be done.<br />
<br />
<br />
Evidence of RUPs have been found in Westside Kaua`i waterways
outside the boundaries of the chemical company experimental
facilities - a violation of federal law.
<br />
Andy Parxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15398587036690312685noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3441020117205433950.post-48230275841862778492016-07-27T14:39:00.003-10:002016-07-27T14:39:45.185-10:00ROSENSTIEL'S N. SHORE STATE HOUSE CAMPAIGN GETS BOOST AS NAKAMURA'S LTE FLIES IN FACE OF HER RECORD ON LOCAL FOOD PRODUCTION; ATTEMPTS TO SABOTAGE BILL 2491 COMES BACK TO HAUNT NAKAMURA.
Environmental activist <a href="http://www.fernrosenstiel.com/">Fern
Anuenue Rosenstiel</a>'s campaign for the North Shore (14th district)
State House of Representatives seat got an unintentional boost last
Saturday when her opponent, former Councilmember and assistant to
Mayor Bernard Carvalho, Nadine K. Nakamura published an inexplicable
<a href="http://thegardenisland.com/news/opinion/mailbag/letters-for-july/article_44892336-5091-11e6-a212-d7639827239a.html">letter
to the editor</a> asking voters to "be sure and get the facts"
regarding her supposed "longstanding support for small farms
and local food sustainability," revealing what she claims was "a
telephone campaign from a Mainland group that is misrepresenting my
position."<br />
<br />
<br />
The facts are that, as a councilmember, Nakamura was instrumental
in "watering down" and trying to indefinitely defer Bill
2491 (Ordinance 960) during what was known as "Text-gate"
and later, as Mayor Bernard Carvalho's top lieutenant, supporting and
engineering his veto of the bill as <a href="http://parxnewsdaily.blogspot.com/2013/11/mayors-political-advisor-tokioka-caught.html">reported</a>
in 2013 by PNN.<br />
<br />
<br />
In her LTE Nakamura didn't identify the supposed "mainland
group" and didn't address her support for the chemical
companies, nor did she discuss actual local food production
agriculture or small, "healthy food" or organic farms,
referring instead to her support for the corporate "Value Added"
and "Kaua`i Grown" programs.<br />
<br />
<br />
Rosenstiel is an environmental scientist who was one of the
leaders in creation and passage the Ordinance 960 requiring chemical
companies on Kaua`i to disclose specifics regarding the types,
locations and amounts of Restricted Use Pesticides (RUPs) and
experimental genetically modified organism (GMO) crops used and the
maintenance of modest buffer zones, especially around schools,
hospitals, waterways and residences. Rosenstiel's testimony on the
bill can be seen <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KS5icS0rwpo">here</a>.<br />
<br />
<br />
Rosenstiel, who was born and raised on Kaua`i, has been a staunch
supporter of the healthy food/sustainability movement. Her <a href="http://www.fernrosenstiel.com/platform/">platform</a>
calls for "Food Production Agriculture" saying "(i)t's
important to our entire community and our ongoing survival that we
put our attention to supporting food production agriculture, farmers
and food security. We must support food production agriculture
parcels and programs and projects to get farmers initiated and
self-sustaining."<br />
<br />
<br />
The divisive use of the "dog whistle" term "
Mainland group" has been at the heart of an often divisive
split in the community between the Chamber of Commerce crowd and
employees of chemical giants like Syngenta, BASF and Dow on one side
and members of the community who have battled for years for
disclosure of and protections against the use of RUPs and GMOs on the
other.
<br />
<br />
<br />
The term is actually a misnomer because many of the families
affected are multi-generational former plantation families, some of
whom sued and won a settlement against Pioneer for damages to their
homes due to wind-blown "drift."<br />
<br />
<br />
The story behind Nakamura's attempt to parse and re-write her
record was <a href="http://parxnewsdaily.blogspot.com/2013/11/mayors-political-advisor-tokioka-caught.html">reported</a>
by PNN shortly after the Oct 16, 2013 <a href="http://thegardenisland.com/news/local/govt-and-politics/amended/article_6421cc64-288c-11e3-8593-0019bb2963f4.html">marathon
county council committee ,meeting</a> (see newspaper report) and
poat-3 a.m. vote on the bill. As a councilmember Nakamura was been
observed discussing strategy with and taking directions from
Carvalho's then chief political advisor, Beth Tokioka, with whom
Nakamura- along with Councilmember JoAnn Yukimura- had been texting
all day on the 15th and into the night of the 16th during the
meeting.
<br />
<br />
<br />
Following the passage of the bill Tokioka quit her long-time
county job as confidant to three different mayors and went to work
doing PR for Syngenta and right after the bill passed Nakamura was
appointed County Manager, Carvalho's "deputy mayor," where
she backed his eventually overridden veto of the bill. Tokioka was
recently appointed to the county Board of Water supply<br />
<br />
<br />
Syngenta has sued the county over the bill and the matter is
awaiting a decision by the Federal 9th Circuit Appellate court.
<br />
<br />
<br />
The oddest part of this is Nakamura's decision to publicly repeat
allegations about her lukewarm- or even lack of- support for small
farms and sustainable or organic local food production, countering it
the claim by citing her promotion of things like "value-added
products" and the "Kaua`i Made" programs when most see
the real issue as centering around promoting actual food production
for local use vs experimental "seed" production which
supplies no food whatsoever- a subject that has, due to the LTE, now
been raised to the forefront in District 14 which has thus-far
avoided having experimental pesticides and GMOs grown there.<br />
<br />
<br />
For the full details of the <a href="http://parxnewsdaily.blogspot.com/2013/11/mayors-political-advisor-tokioka-caught.html">"Text-gate"
story</a> go to
http://parxnewsdaily.blogspot.com/2013/11/mayors-political-advisor-tokioka-caught.html<br />
<br />
<br />
The primary election is on August 13 and walk-in voting begins on
Aug. 1 while absentee mail-in ballots are currently being delivered
to voters' mailboxes.
<br />
Andy Parxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15398587036690312685noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3441020117205433950.post-8566636630019554812016-07-21T14:09:00.002-10:002016-07-21T14:09:27.843-10:00ACCOUNT-A-BULL-ITY
<br />
"Stop us before we appropriate again?"
<br />
<br />
<br />
The <a href="http://thegardenisland.com/news/local/govt-and-politics/road-repair-plan-won-t-go-to-voters/article_774d0b30-d310-5e12-aa1b-2cf04a2dfa0f.html">now-defeated
proposed Kaua`i charter amendment</a> to put 1% of real property tax
revenue was an incredibly blatant political move to protect the
Kaua`i County Council from itself and allow them to shirk their
decision-making responsibilities so they can't be held accountable.<br />
<br />
The whole problem is that visitors do not pay their fair share of
taxes and vehicle fees especially without our fair share of the
Transient Accommodation Tax (TAT) from the legislature.
<br />
<br />
<br />
So why not raise property taxes on resort-zoned properties and
other visitor accommodations? Gee- you don't think it's because the
tourism industry sector is the biggest campaign contributor do ya?.
Or the fact that we couldn't even pass a decent lobbyist law (such as
the one Councilmember Hooser proposed before the rest of the council
watered it down to irrelevancy).
<br />
<br />
<br />
We are being robbed blind by the visitor industry. Not only does
that keep real property taxes on homeowner-occupants high but keeps
residents' fees unfairly high for instance when car rental companies
register their vehicles in Honolulu.
<br />
<br />
<br />
And those "jobs jobs jobs" they create are predominantly
low (if not minimum) wage putting even more financial stress on
residents and the system in general.
<br />
<br />
<br />
God forbid, since the state legislature won't do it, we pass a $15
minimum wage at the county level- something not forbidden under the
state's $10,10 minimum wage law. An island like this is the perfect
place for a $15/hr minimum wage because people can't just go to a
neighboring county for goods and services negating the business'
usual (fallacious to being with) arguments against it.
<br />
It seems like the concept of progressive taxation has never
occurred to the council’s Tea Party majority who want to raise
vehicle registration and weight taxes... much less real property
taxation where resort and speculative visitor accommodation don't pay
their fair share when compared to what they are costing us all.<br />
<br />
<br />
There's your $100 million in road repairs- a figure that was
seemingly plucked out of thin (hot) air - in the first place.
<br />
Andy Parxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15398587036690312685noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3441020117205433950.post-81909082839951960922016-05-18T12:36:00.003-10:002016-05-18T12:42:22.129-10:00VOLUNTEERS FOR AMERICA<br />
<br />
No matter what Chuck Todd says there actually are staunch Bernie
Sanders supporters who say that, in comparison, Hillary Clinton may
not not <i>that</i> bad.<br />
<br />
<br />
A fellow "Berner of a certain age" posted on Facebook
today that she "won't be devastated if (Clinton is) the nominee.
She'll be an effective executive. Besides, she has made some platform
changes that were inspired by Bernie. She's not exactly progressive,
especially in foreign affairs. But she's far to the left of the
Republicans on social and environmental issues, and her SCOTUS
appointees will never overturn Roe v. Wade. Of course, if she
resurrects Glass-Steagall I'll plotz. Bernie's supporters can do
worse. "<br />
<br />
<br />
She may be right in some ways but that's not going to convince the
burned baby Berners.
<br />
<br />
<br />
Expanding on the Zenish theme I <a href="http://parxnewsdaily.blogspot.com/2016/05/stealin-it-fair-and-square.html">pondered</a>
on Monday, even if Clinton has more votes and delegates in the end, it is also
true at the same time that she and the party conspired to create
rules and processes that essentially made that point moot... and
moreover its veracity indeterminable.<br />
<br />
<br />
Should she win the nomination Hillary's downfall in the General
will be in not having told the Democratic Party bosses- and in fact
her own advisers- early on to back off and create a transparent,
fully democratic process and let the chips fall where they may.
Instead of standing up to them (as if) she has, at best, allowed them
to embrace the traditional crooked procedures to the point where no
one will ever be able to even tell if she would have won without
setting up a system to assure she got the lions' share of delegates
or whether she earned them democratically or not.
<br />
<br />
<br />
While the threats of misogynous trolls among the Bernie or Bust
crowd are not just wrong but stupid and unproductive they are just
the ugly side of a frustration with the corporate corruption of the
country that has created a generation of revolutionaries who simply
cannot wait for another generation or two to magically correct itself
incrementally.<br />
<br />
<br />
Look what's happening out in the street- Got a Revolution?Andy Parxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15398587036690312685noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3441020117205433950.post-75722799358386844382016-05-16T12:47:00.000-10:002016-05-16T12:47:01.336-10:00STEALIN' IT FAIR AND SQUARE
<br />
<br />
<br />
No one doubts the fix is in if you ask Bernie Sanders' supporters.
In a <a href="http://www.politico.com/story/2016/05/bernie-sanders-dnc-rules-committee-222978#ixzz48iIq8LBK">Politico
piece</a> this week describes just some of the Democratic Party's
shenanigans at the national and state level.
<br />
<br />
<br />
This weeknd Sanders delegates to the Nevada Party convention
reportedly stormed the stage in protest of the way the "party
bosses" have shut out the millennial Berners. unable to
comprehend that the election if not the future of their party itself
depends on keeping the newbies engaged.<br />
<br />
<br />
But at the same time, there's a distinct possibility that Hillary
Clinton may go into the national convention with more elected
delegates and, if we can suspend disbelief for a moment and assume
republican democracy is actual democracy, she should get the
nomination.
<br />
<br />
<br />
So which is it? Have the Clintonians set up and knocked down the
bowling pins by appointing cronies to the position of pin boy or
presuming she wins some sort of "fair" electoral process,
should she win the nomination?<br />
<br />
<br />
The truth is that both are true- even if Hillary wins by a few
votes on the up and up at the same time it's true that that the fix
is in.<br />
<br />
<br />
Admittedly it's hard for people to hold two opposing thoughts in
their heads at the same time. But think of it like the OJ trial.
While it appears the cops framed him, at the same time, it appears he
did it.<br />
<br />
<br />
The Democrats' problem is more existential than who wins or even
how they actually win. It's future depends on the perception of these
two factors.<br />
<br />
<br />
How could the Berners not see it as a "vast right wing
conspiracy" to deny Sanders the nomination. The young Berners
see it as a "the fix is in" situation because, well, it is.
<br />
<br />Here's the bottom like: Most Sandernistas don't really give
two tweets about the Democratic Party. And every time they catch
another whiff of "the fix" it confirms what they already
think they know- Party politics is a dirty, corrupt,
circular-firing-squad process from the get go.
<br />
<br />
<br />
And you can't just say "well, it's politics" because
what it is is inside-baseball, office politics, not politics as in
"electoral politics."
<br />
<br />That's what the Democrats are dealing with because even if
Clinton has the majority of the total of "elected"
delegates, the perception will be that DNC "fixed" the
whole process.
<br />
<br />
<br />
The young idealistic Berners don't really care. They have nothing
invested in the Party. And the Hillary campaign- and more so her
supporters- have dissed the kids at every step of the process.
<br />
<br />
<br />
The Berners may be a lot of things but they aren't stupid. They
"get" the fundamental difference between Sanders and
Clinton. They see her as a corporate militarist who believes in
American Exceptionalism. Bernie, not so much.
<br />
<br />
<br />
Almost half a century ago many Baby Boomers felt the exact same
way about the Liberal Lion of the day, Hubert H. Humphrey and peace
candidate Eugene McCarthy. And when Hubert was nominated amidst a
police riot in the streets of Chicago, the party lost slews of
potential Democrats for these 50 years... so far. (and don't
nit-pick with us about about McCarthy).<br />
<br />Once again youth is feeling ignored and they hear and they see
it in the booming media echo chamber- as Hillary amplifies it and
they her with everyone eager to "turn to the general" so
they can continue to lead every newscast with the word "Donald
Trump."<br />
<br />Democratic Party stalwarts have a bigger problem than getting
youth to support Clinton. They have the opportunity to turn them into
lifelong Democrats. But if Hillary's campaign and supporters keep it
up they'll lose them for 70 years.
<br />
<br />
<br />
We used to say that Humphrey stole the nomination fair and square.
Is history repeating itself?
<br />
<br />
<br />
See you in Philadelphia .<br />
Andy Parxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15398587036690312685noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3441020117205433950.post-57124581413388065462016-03-08T03:10:00.002-10:002016-03-08T03:12:15.028-10:00Death of a lobbying bill LOBBYING REGULATION BILL WEAKENED, GUTTED; MOVES TO FINAL COUNCIL VOTE WEDNESDAY GIFT BAN LIFTED AT BEHEST OF LOBBYISTS DESPITE MASSIVE WRITTEN PUBLIC TESTIMONY<i><u>Death of a lobbying bill</u></i><u> </u>
<br />
<b>LOBBYING REGULATION BILL WEAKENED, GUTTED; MOVES TO FINAL
COUNCIL VOTE WEDNESDAY</b><br />
<b>GIFT BAN LIFTED AT BEHEST OF LOBBYISTS DESPITE MASSIVE WRITTEN
PUBLIC TESTIMONY</b><br />
<br />
(PNN)-- Tues., March 8 -- The corporate takeover of our American
republican democracy has been pegged to the sway of "K Street"
lobbyists who have more than just the ears of congress. While the
final "decision-making" may rest with elected
representatives massive influxes of campaign contributions and gifts
often produces laws actually written by the lobbyists.<br />
<br />
<br />
At the state level groups lobbying groups like the American
Legislative Exchange Council or <a href="https://www.alec.org/">ALEC</a>
pass around sample bills which are passed verbatim by Republican
legislatures across the nation. And local jurisdictions often have no
lobbying or lobbyist gift-giving laws at all.
<br />
<br />
<br />
Kaua`i County is one of them despite the fact that the Hawai`i
state constitution requires that counties have lobbyist regulation
ordinances. There had been one,on Kaua`i, passed in 1975 but for some
mysterious reason that remains unclear, it was repealed in 1987.
<br />
<br />
<br />
Kaua`i Councilmember Gary Hooser noted this discrepancy and
drafted the "best bill" he could- a "model law"
that takes the strongest measures from other counties and states in
order to give Kaua`i a strict regulatory lobbyist bill- one that
island could be proud of.
<br />
<br />
<br />
But guess what? If you've lived on Kaua`i for five minutes you
won't be surprised that the other six councilmembers managed to amend
the bill to the point where it has become a mish-mosh of weak-kneed
provisions, all at the behest of- unnecessary drum roll please- the
lobbyists themselves.<br />
<br />
<br />
The new and degraded bill is up for passage at this Wednesday's
(March 9 at 8:30 a.m., @ the Historic County Building on Rice St.)
County Council meeting- a bill that, despite over 80 written
testimonies in favor of passage of the original bill, was changed
after a couple of lobbyists showed up to the Feb. 17 Committee of the
Whole meeting and whined and sniveled until they got their way.<br />
<br />
<br />
(The committee meeting can be seen at
http://kauai.granicus.com/MetaViewer.php?view_id=2&clip_id=1756&meta_id=98630
beginning at the 2 hour 8 minute mark and picks up again again at
the 6:30 mark or so.)
<br />
<br />
<br />
Nancy Kana, a lobbyist for the Board of Realtors was the first to
testify and tried to conflate paid lobbyists with members of the
public saying the council is lobbied every day when they go out to
dinner and that lobbyists are just "regular people" like
anyone else that have "good intentions for the island."
<br />
<br />
<br />
She made lobbyists sound like god's own gift to legislators who
would be lost without the "information" she provides.<br />
<br />
<br />
Then came former newspaper reporter Jan TenBruggencate who now
runs his own "consulting" and PR firm. He was even more
demanding of changes in the bill, using often outlandish and many
times fallacious and unrelated "what if" scenarios to infer
that anything beyond the "old way" of just letting
lobbyists "sign in" at meetings before they give testimony
was superfluous.
<br />
<br />
<br />
TenBruggencate has played fast and loose with his lobbying
activities refusing to release a full list of his clients and how
much he is paid by, among others, chemical industry giants like Dow
and Monsanto who have been "growing seeds" while
experimenting with Restricted Use Pesticides primarily on the West
Side of Kaua`i.
<br />
<br />
<br />
The original bill could have been written for him. But now it
looks more like a bill that could have been written BY him.<br />
<br />
<br />
The final draft of the bill was changed from a strict prohibition
on any gifts from lobbyists to councilmembers to the well-known
mushy, mumbo-jumbo that the US Supreme Court used to justify
Citizens' United and other decisions striking down limitations on
campaign contributions, known as the "quid pro quo" test.
It basically says that unless you can prove that an actual bribe took
place, anything goes.
<br />
<br />
<br />
The original bill put the onus on both the lobbyist and the
official not to give or receive gifts of any kind although Hooser was
willing to accept amending the bill to exempt flower leis and
"educational materials."
<br />
<br />
<br />
But the final draft amends the bill to ban only the receiving of
gifts and then only if the councilmember decides that the gift
constitutes a bribe, using the standard "intent to influence"
language contained in other ethics and anti-bribery laws... something
that makes the prohibition superfluous.
<br />
<br />
<br />
Somehow Council Chair Mel Rapozo claimed that this made the bill
stronger, not weaker, admonishing the public not to use this change
to say he was weakening the law.
<br />
<br />
<br />
Other major changes included eliminating a measure that prohibited
registered lobbyists from serving on the Ethics and Charter Review
Commission or on any commission where the subject matter on which the
lobbyist focused was the focus of the commission.
<br />
<br />
<br />
The council deleted this and kept the ban only on lobbyists
serving on the Board of Ethics (BOE), although some opposed even this
prohibition. The BOE often rules on whether councilmembers have
conflicts of interest or are violating gift-giving laws as well as in
other matters.<br />
<br />
<br />
Grove Farm Vice President and Councilmember Aaryl Kaneshiro was
the most adamant about allowing lobbyists to serve anywhere and
everywhere, to no one's surprise since he often denies he has any
conflict of interest when discussing and voting on issues that
directly effect Grove Farm, one of the biggest land owners on the
island of Kaua`i.
<br />
<br />
<br />
Some critics go as far as calling Kaneshiro "Grove Farm's
representative on the council" however he has never voluntarily
recused himself from any matter involving Grove Farm. The county
charter requires those with a conflicts-of-interest to recuse
themselves from both discussion of and voting on measures that cause
the conflict.
<br />
<br />
<br />
But perhaps the most surprising support for the amendment came
from councilmember JoAnn Yukimura. She described as an example, when
she sat on a task force representing the council to draft shoreline
setback legislation along with an attorney paid to represent
developers and described how she actually allowed him to help draft
legislation, saying it was an important part of the process to
include all "stakeholders" and claiming it didn't matter
because she and the council were the "final decision-makers."<br />
<br />
<br />
Sound familiar?<br />
<br />
<br />
For those who want to understand the way the other six council
members rationalized stripping the bill of these and other provisions
go to the 7 hour 11 minute mark of the <a href="http://kauai.granicus.com/MetaViewer.php?view_id=2&clip_id=1756&meta_id=98630">February
17 committee meeting,</a> especially the debate between Hooser and
the rest of the council on the subject of gift-giving and receiving.
<br />
<br />
<br />
"I'm not trying to be facetious but why would a lobbyist be
giving us a gift (if not) to influence us" Hooser asked over and
over in many ways. Citing the many "gift baskets" with
nuts, honey, coffee and all sorts of "goodies" that
councilmembers receive every Christmas Hooser asked "They're not
giving them to the public. They're giving it to us because we're
councilmembers. Why are they giving it to us (if not to) influence or
reward us?"<br />
<br />
<br />
But it was to no avail and the council resorted to the quid pro
quo- literally "something for something" rule established
in opinions by the late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia in
Citizens' United and other campaign finance law rulings saying that
corruption can only occur when an actual bribe takes place.
<br />
<br />
<br />
The pervasive influence of money is politics isn't corrupting and
is, in fact "free speech" the doctrine claims.<br />
<br />
<br />
Some polls show that upwards of 80% of the public disagrees-
including apparently six pf seven members of the Kaua`i County
Council.
<br />
<br />
<br />
The discussion about having lobbyists serve on boards, commissions
and most importantly task forces- such as the joint Fact-finding
group on Pesticides formed last year- featured a plea from Yukimura
as she described the task force on the shoreline setback bill (at
the 7:28 mark) with community activist (and volunteer) Caren Diamond
and uber land-use attorney Max Graham who would certainly be
forbidden from serving under the original definition of a lobbyist
and service provisions.
<br />
<br />
<br />
The original didn't forbid having diverse people serving, it just
said that they should not fall under the definition of lobbyist.<br />
<br />
<br />
"I made decisions and council did the final decision-making"
Yukimura said but admitted that Graham was being paid to be there and
actually helped write some of the bill. Mason Chock, usually a member
of the three person progressive faction of the council along with
Yukimura agreed.
<br />
<br />
<br />
But Hooser, the third member and sponsor of the bill, didn't
saying there was an "inherent imbalance" between having an
attorney who is being paid to be there lobbying on one side and a
volunteer community member on the other.
<br />
<br />
<br />
One of the unfathomable discussions on gifts is one not unique to
Kaua`i regarding the value of a gift and how much should be allowed-
as if it's not a matter of IF an elected official can be bought but
how much it takes to do it.
<br />
<br />
<br />
Predictably this was the case with the council discussion. Again
Hooser kept essentially asking why else would they be giving them
gifts if not to influence them while the rest- especially Rapozo-
took offense at the notion, not that he could be bought at all but
that they could be bought for as little as $25 or say the price of a
meal.<br />
<br />
<br />
In the end they just threw out any restrictions and relied on the
ethic provisions in the ethics law that essentially requires a bribe
take place to be covered.
<br />
<br />
<br />
There's a really old joke- sorry if you've heard or are offended
by it- about a guy who asks a woman if she'd have sex with him for a
million dollars. She's about to say no but then she think of her
family and kids and how she lives from hand-to-mouth,
paycheck-to-paycheck and how much a million dollars would do to pay
off her deep debts and make life bearable.<br />
<br />
<br />
"Well, a million dollars is a lot of money. I guess the
answer is 'yes'" she tells the guy.<br />
<br />
<br />
"Well, how about ten dollars?" he says.<br />
<br />
<br />
"Ten dollars! What kind of girl do you think I am?" she
gasped.<br />
<br />
<br />
"Well," the guys says "we've established what kind
of girl you are, Now we're just haggling over price."<br />
<br />
<br />
The physical presence of two lobbyists and the physical absence of
the over 80 people who submitted written testimony supporting the
original bill says a lot about how important "showing up"
is.<br />
<br />
<br />
We'll see whether it's too late for those motivated to show up and
sit there all day on Wednesday (it will probably be taken up in the
afternoon but don't count on it) waiting for their six minutes of
testimony to try to get the council to revert to the original bill by
shaming them into it after 80 people call them crooks.
<br />
<br />
<br />
Or not. As they say half of life is showing up.Andy Parxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15398587036690312685noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3441020117205433950.post-12183706061121487692016-03-03T11:51:00.003-10:002016-03-03T11:51:22.441-10:00WANT TO VOTE FOR BOTH TRUMP AND SANDERS? OR RUBIO AND CLINTON? YOU CAN IN HAWAI`I CAUCUSES
Apparently anyone in Hawai`i who wants to can vote in both the
Democratic and Republican Presidential Caucuses according to the
rules of each party.<br />
<br />
<br />
The Republicans will caucus next Tuesday, March 8, and the
Democratic caucus is on Saturday March 26th and the rules for each
party say that anyone can register to vote, join the party and vote-
all at the election site on the day of the party's caucus.
<br />
<br />
<br />
In other words someone can join the Republican party and vote this
coming Tuesday in the Republican caucus and then turn around and join
the Democratic party and vote again in the Democratic caucus 18 days
later.
<br />
<br />
<br />
Hawai`i is a "no party registration" state where joining
a political party is a matter under the control of the parties, not
the state. You cannot be a "registered" anything- not a
Democrat, a Green, a Republican, a Libertarian or any other party.
The "tradition" has been that anyone who wants to join a
party must sign a party's "card" to become a member and
then remains a member until they sign a different party's "card."
<br />
<br />
<br />
But each party determines who, how and when members vote in their
presidential caucuses which are run by the parties with no regulation
by the state.
<br />
<br />
<br />
This year, according to each party, as in the past if you show up
and are a registered voter- or register to vote at the caucus- you
can simply "sign the card" for that party and vote in the
caucus. There are no limits on how long you have to have been- or
remain- a member.<br />
<br />
<br />
The Democratic Party will send 34 delegates to the national
convention in July, 25 of whom will be determined at the caucus and
nine of whom who are "Superdelegates" who can vote for any
candidate. Superdelegates include Gov. David Ige, US Senator Brian
Schatz, US Senator Mazie Hirono, US Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, US Rep. Mark
Takai and four party leaders.<br />
Andy Parxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15398587036690312685noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3441020117205433950.post-55684639494853559622016-02-14T11:53:00.005-10:002016-02-14T11:53:31.825-10:00FREEING THE MUNCHKINS I've taken some flack in the last 24 hours due to some celebratory
words on the death of former Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia.
<br />
<br />
<br />
But this "do not speak ill of the dead" business is the
ultimate in hypocrisy. Are people saying that we need to observe some
kind of revisionist history as soon as someone dies?
<br />
<br />It's important to not just remember but remind people of the
suffering Scalia caused and the irreversible damage to the country
and even the world he has wrought.
<br />
<br />
<br />
As a matter of fact, Scalia's legacy is one of hypocrisy, his
so-called "originalism" being a convenient myth to be
turned on and off to justify predesignated results that supported
his vision of American fascism.
<br />
<br />
<br />
Brilliant? Yes... brilliantly diabolical. He is the father of the
very corporatism many of us seek to reverse this elections season.
What better time to discuss that legacy than upon his death and the
death of the Scalia era of constitutional abuse?<br />
<br />
<br />
You'll get no apologies from me. I'm deliriously happy one of, if
not the most murderous figures of our time is dead. People claim that
every life is precious. But there's a unique irony here in welcoming
the death of someone who has made so many lives so cheap.<br />
<br />How many women have died- or worse lived lives of poverty and
misery- due to lack of abortion services?.. How many guns are on the
streets killing our kids? How many state-sanctioned murders- often of
people too poor to buy their way out or even of the wrong person- has
he caused? How many died in Bush's wars after Scalia appointed him?
Now is not the time to be silent.<br />
<br />In a way we're really debating the old canard regarding
whether one would go back in time to "kill baby Hitler" but
with the "twist" of asking whether we should be happy if
someone else did.
<br />
<br />
<br />
By law, death was the only way Scalia's reign of terror was going
to end. And it couldn't have come a day too soon.<br />
<br />Personally I'm long beyond the youthful folly of blanket
pacifism in the face of powerful- for lack of a better word- evil.
That doesn't indicate any less of an adherence to the principles of
non-violence, just a recognition that the death of an active
oppressor can be time for celebration.
<br />
<br />
<br />
Frankly, I'm still kind of apprehensive of the flying monkeys.<br />
Andy Parxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15398587036690312685noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3441020117205433950.post-45832014602257479022016-02-05T14:35:00.003-10:002016-02-05T14:35:20.701-10:00CORPORATE CASH? NEVER HEARD OF IT.
It may in the future be looked upon as the worst political blunder
in presidential campaign history when Hillary Clinton in last night's
debate tried to deny that the millions flowing to her from Wall St,
Big Pharma and the like in speaking fees and SuperPac contribution
might just effect her position on issues that concern her donors
<br />
<br />
Though Republicans and Democrats may disagree as to whether "it's
the government" or "it's the corporations" that have
run amok and essentially "wrecked the economy" ended
republican democracy in America you'd be hard pressed to find one
that doesn't think politicians listen to those who give them lots of
money.<br />
<br />
<br />
Calling it an "artful smear" on Bernie Sanders' part to
dare to intimate she's in the pockets of those who have given her
millions of dollars will no doubt have the affect of causing people
of all political stripes to wonder if she's just grasping at straws
looking for a response to those charges or if she's really that out
of step with the thoughts on the issue- thoughts held by 99% or more
of the electorate<br />
<br />
<br />
You hear it from every "retired" member of congress- the
ones who don't immediately go into the lobbyist profession- regarding
how they had to spend all their time raising money for reelection
and were therefore under pressure to do the bidding of their biggest
contributors, even allowing lobbyist to write legislation.
<br />
<br />
<br />
All Hillary did was play right into Bernie's wheelhouse, allowing
him to simply restate his populist stump speech about money in
politics- a message that appeals to just about everyone and at the
same time makes clear that the shaky ground upon which she is
standing is giving way like a sink hole.<br />
<br />
<br />
Time will tell. But you've gotta think that HRC has assembled the
worst political advisers ever as she slides down the razor blade to
the nomination of someone else... once again.<br />
Andy Parxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15398587036690312685noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3441020117205433950.post-26199703525246200842016-01-25T13:53:00.003-10:002016-01-25T13:53:28.913-10:00(PNN) QUESTIONS STILL ABOUND REGARDING TREATMENT OF POISONED SYNGENTA WORKERS
<br />
<br />
<br />
(PNN) Jan 25-- Syngenta spokespersons have refused to dispute
accounts that say that the 10-12 Syngenta workers who were poisoned
by the chlorpyrifos pesticide Lorsban last Wednesday were not just
"treated and released" but were actually admitted to the
hospital and that two were confined in the intensive care unit (ICU).
<br />
<br />
<br />
The claims were made in social media and in comments on a Civil
Beat article, one of three articles that merely reported carefully
worded public relations statements from Josh Uyehara, Syngenta
station manager and Beth Tokioka, Community Outreach Manager at
Syngenta.
<br />
<br />
<br />
Both Uyehara and Tokioka have refused to release any information
on the injuries and/or treatment of the workers citing "HIPAA
privacy rules" even though the law pertains only to information
regarding individual patients, not general details of industrial
accidents provided by employers, according to multiple health care
sources and any reading of the HIPAA itself.<br />
<br />
<br />
PNN has spoken to reliable sources who have spoken to eyewitnesses
that said that, although, according to a statement from Tokioka that
"(t)he workers were offered the opportunity for a medical
evaluation if they wanted (and t)en (10) requested this and Syngenta
provided transportation," an ambulance showed up to transport
the workers and their services were refused, potentially exacerbating
injuries by delaying medical treatment.
<br />
<br />
<br />
More importantly although both Uyehara and Tokioka stressed how
some workers had their evaluation completed the same day and that
three stayed overnight, none of the three media stories- in the
<a href="http://www.staradvertiser.com/hawaii-news/kauai-farmworkers-hospitalized-after-being-exposed-to-pesticide/">Honolulu
Star-Advertiser</a> (S-A), <a href="http://www.civilbeat.com/2016/01/syngenta-workers-seek-medical-aid-after-pesticide-use-on-kauai/">Honolulu
Civil Beat</a> and <a href="http://thegardenisland.com/news/local/syngenta-workers-taken-to-hospital/article_504463ae-7685-5f4e-af37-773fa18a1817.html">The
Garden Island</a> (TGI)- specifically pressed them to answer the
questions regarding admission to the hospital, which would indicate
serious injury, and/or admittance to the intensive case unit (ICU),
which would indicate a life-threatening condition.
<br />
<br />
<br />
None of what can only be called Uyehara's "spin" on what
occurred indicated how the workers- supposedly skilled and
knowledgeable about safety- all wound up in the field that had been
sprayed 20 hours previously instead of the required 24 hours, making
it sound as if the workers sort of wandered into the field on their
own.
<br />
<br />
<br />
None of the articles indicated whether they all collectively
decided on their own to do so or whether higher-ups at Syngenta
ordered them into the toxic field.<br />
<br />
<br />
In the S-A Uyehara is characterized as having said that "within
a few minutes of being on site, a manager informed the farmworkers
that they should not have entered the area, ushered them out and
offered immediate access to medical care."<br />
<br />
<br />
Civil Beat said that the workers simply "walked onto a corn
field only 20 hours after the application of chlorpyrifos"
adding that "i)t’s unclear how many workers entered the field
(and that) the incident is still under internal investigation."
<br />
<br />
<br />
The Kaua`i newspaper reported much of Uyehara's phone conversation
with Editor Bill Buley as factual without attribution, but quoting
Uyehara as saying the workers "strayed into" the field.
<br />
<br />
<br />
Buley also quoted Uyehara as saying the workers were there to
"plant some identification tags" indicating that someone
sent them there to do the work.
<br />
<br />
<br />
Buley further quoted Uyehara: “Unfortunately, some of the
workers strayed into a field they were not scheduled to work and they
were not supposed to be there. A field supervisor noticed they were
there within a few minutes — perhaps 10 or 15 — and the employees
were quickly told to leave the area."<br />
<br />
<br />
Buley told a caller on Friday that he was fully unaware of the
event at that point in time.<br />
<br />
<br />
Many of the field workers are reportedly foreign, usually on three
month contracts to avoid providing them with health insurance and
most do not speak English. Many reports contend that most field
workers have never read "the label"- which lists the laws
regarding application of restricted use pesticides as well as safety
information. Witnesses have seen some leave work wearing the same
clothes they worked in, some greeting their children at the gates.
<br />
<br />
<br />
HIPAA privacy rules provide that the right to privacy is an
individual one and restricts health care workers who treat
individuals or have access to their records from releasing medical
information specifically about that patient. When challenged on this
by PNN Tokioka simply said, in a comment on the Civil Beat article,
"My understanding of HIPAA is different from yours."
<br />
<br />
<br />
After 48 hours she still has not responded to the followup
question: "Can you confirm or deny that up to 10 of the injured
workers were actually admitted to the hospital and two were admitted
to ICU?"<br />
<br />
<br />
Because of the sensitivity of the information provided, PNN has
chosen to protect the identities of those who provided information
for this article.<br />
Andy Parxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15398587036690312685noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3441020117205433950.post-85047639144644698852016-01-22T14:01:00.002-10:002016-01-22T14:01:50.882-10:00IF A LOCAL KAUA`I NEWSPAPER REPORTER MISSED J-SCHOOL WOULD ANYONE NOTICE?<br />
The butchering of the English language in our local Kaua`i
newspaper aside, the actual reporting is atrocious.
<br />
<br />
<br />
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="blox-asset-title"></a>An article headlined "Judge
OKs suspect’s statements to KPD" in today's edition goes on
and on for 518 words about how the judge rules a defendant's
statements admissible, only to reveal 37 words before the end of the
article that one of his statements was ruled INadmissable,
<br />
<br />
<br />
You would think that the fact that there were statements that were
"thrown out"- usually indicating that the police goofed-up
in providing a suspect's his or her Miranda rights- would be
contained in the "lede" where the rules of the "inverted
triangle" call for the most important facts to appear... at the
beginning, not buried at the end of an article.
<br />
<br />
<br />
This is basic "dog bites man" vs "man bites dog"
type stuff here... Guess which one is "news" and which is
not. If you can't. don't worry- a job in newspaper reporting awaits
you on Kaua`i.
<br />
<br />
<br />
At the risk of being called the Journalism Nazi, let me say "Back
to J-School. No Pulitzer for you. Come back four years."<br />
Andy Parxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15398587036690312685noreply@blogger.com0