It’s always dumbfounding to me how the pro-Akaka Bill crowd is always trying to place a clumsy thumb on the scale of public opinion. If you didn’t know where to look, you’d think that Hawaii was largely in favor of the bill (rather than sharply divided over it). Moreover, you’d be convinced that every single [...]
Jul 022010
Break out the champagne and the 12-pages of Hawaiiglish, it’s OHA grant application time! (What is Hawaiiglish? It’s the name I’ve come up with for the bizarre hybrid of English and Hawaiian that is especially popular in the field of obtaining Hawaiian grants or talking about Hawaii when you’re running for office. You know . [...]
How about a little round-up of Hawaii-type news? No? Too bad, here we go . . . Sadly, the bid to save the Honolulu Star-Bulletin (and the integrity of journalism in Hawaii) has failed. Though the proposal put forth by Sam Slom and Malia Zimmerman was the “last bid standing,” it didn’t meet the undisclosed [...]
Like many people in the islands, I have (for a long time) only had the vaguest notion of what OHA actually does. Other than pour huge amounts of money into various projects and promote Native Hawaiian culture. Those are all well and good as far as they go, but (especially where the huge amounts of [...]
Apr 212010
Ah, the “special interest.” It’s every politician’s favorite bogeyman. So convenient as a target for political diatribe–not least of all because it’s so vague. After all, what is a “special interest” really? When it comes right down to it, it’s a group with political currency that you don’t particularly care for. After all, the ones [...]
Apr 162010
I confess that I’ve always kind of liked the Honolulu Star-Bulletin the best. Nothing against the Advertiser, but I always felt like there was a little less editorial bias at the Bulletin. And also there’s just something about the name. “Star-Bulletin.” It sounds dreamy, but newsy. Just what I want out of a Hawaii newspaper. [...]
In his Honolulu Advertiserletter of April 15, OHA administrator Clyde Namuo talks about “reestablishing self-determination and self-governance for Native Hawaiian people.” But the Hawaiian Kingdom was not a “Native Hawaiian” government. Most cabinet ministers, nearly all department heads, and about 1/4 of the Legislature were Caucasians. Thousands of people with zero native blood, including Asians, [...]
Apr 072010
Like most everyone else, I have been feeling the mild irritation that comes with getting a long questionnaire from the government accompanied by vague threats and even vaguer promises about the importance of filling it out. Apparently, we should all be eager to take advantage of this chance to get “our fair share.” Has it [...]
Our Lt. Governor, Duke Aiona has stated his support for the Akaka bill and urged its passage despite the many reservations held by others in the administration and among the people of Hawaii. It’s not that we don’t understand the sentiment behind the support–we love Hawaii. We recognize the richness of Hawaiian culture and sympathize [...]
Not unsurprisingly, when you’re dealing with hundreds of grants and millions of dollars, the details of the grants start to blur. But if you’re paying attention, certain patterns begin to emerge. Like the tendency of some of the Native Hawaiian grants to be aimed at helping more that just the locals they’re claiming to care [...]
