Wednesday, March 10, 2010
A question of staying employed in the news biz in Honolulu
by Larry Geller
I just want to pose a question now, and let’s think about it for a few days.
Suppose you were a reporter working for either the Advertiser or the Star-Bulletin right now. What would you do to increase your chances of having a job after the Advertiser changes hands and the Star-Bulletin is either sold or is shut down?
If you’re a sports writer, your job is critical to the success of a newspaper. Otherwise… does the quality of political reporting or court reporting, for example matter to the paper? Probably not.
So do you work extra hard to produce dynamite coverage, hoping that quality work will count? Do you move to the left or the right, or just report the facts as you see them?
Does the new owner want a more conservative slant? Should you tweak the stories to suit?
And what of the editors. Should they (in fact, are they?) taking more conservative or right-wing stances in hopes of keeping their jobs? After all, there will be a surplus of editors if the number of papers is cut in half.
Have our papers already changed since the sale was announced?
Although newspapers claim to work for their readers, do they really do that, or are the advertisers the real customers? Or are the shareholders/owners the ones who have to be pleased? Or the executives?
One could describe the former Bishop Estate (current Kam Schools) as a real estate company that happens to run a school, or to describe HMSA with its huge reserves as an investment company that has to fund health care as well. And so a newspaper could be just an advertising vehicle that needs to carry some news in order to exist. TV is like that. It exists to get you to watch the ads. Between ads they have to provide something for you, or you’d tune away.
As I said, this is just a question. I’ve been saving up my newspapers and one day soon will sit down and review the editorials and news coverage. It could be a peek into the future of journalism in Hawaii.
Marjah, the screenplay
by Larry Geller
Yesterday I wrote about the controversy over whether Marjjah is a town or not. It’s clear that there is a big battle there, and one that the US military wants well-publicized.
The controversy is not trivial. If Marjah is not a town of 80,000 people, what is it, and what of the military propaganda can we believe?
Curiosity lead me to read again the stories that I had clipped from the Advertiser’s billboard coverage of the battle. I was curious why the AP stories in particular (and they are not the only ones) seemed to quote only military sources. Was the reporter really in Marjah at all? The statements could equally well have been obtained on the phone.
Googling around for more, I’m sure he really is there. And not all his articles are based on exclusively military sources, just the ones the Advertiser selected. For example, from another story references "Walid Akbar, a spokesman for the Afghan Red Crescent Society.”
Still, the overwhelming body of AP reporting from Marjah simply acts as a military megaphone. Now, I know it is a dangerous place, and that reporters are increasingly targeted by one side or the other. So I don’t expect the guy to go out into the poppy fields for local reaction. Anyone could get killed there, and if it were me, I wouldn’t have the guts to do what ought to be done.
Still… check out this Al Jazeera story, which just happens to be the first one I hit with Google. The reporter is in Lashkar Gah, which would be just off to the right of the Google Earth video I posted yesterday. It might be on the edge of the fighting. Note the concern for the civilian population, and the inclusion of Taliban sources. For the US Marine statement, the reporter quotes the AP. A snip:
But as the civilian population remains trapped by the fighting, there are fears of a humanitarian disaster.
Doctors and aid workers have warned that supplies of food and medicine are running low.
"People who are ill cannot get to hospitals and others cannot bring them medicines," Ajmal Samadi, the head of the Afghan Rights Monitor group, said.
"They cannot get food or even go outside to look after their farms."
The Marjah operation is a major test of a new US and Nato strategy that stresses protecting civilians over routing Taliban fighters as quickly as possible.
Other reports have included both US military and local sources, for example this AFP story.
In general, I think it is wise to read widely on the Web. We should also be critical of military-generated news. Independent journalism is an ideal in a war zone, but a critical goal if we are to understand what our government is doing in our name.
John Pritchett’s rail cartoon packs a wallop
I often feel that a Pritchett cartoon can be worth much more than a thousand words. Today’s Honolulu Weekly features an impressive statement about Honolulu politics and rail. I won’t give it away. Click here to visit John’s website to view the cartoon yourself.
Tuesday, March 09, 2010
Interested in the rail controversy? Check out Ian Lind’s article today
by Larry Geller
Rail fans, anti-rail fans, and I suppose even anti rail-fans: don’t miss Ian Lind’s post today. The one under the cat video.
Especially read about HB2434, coming up for a hearing on Friday. You may want to submit testimony on it. These days, it’s very easy to do so from the Capitol website. The instructions are on the hearing notice.
Ian is doing an excellent job following the rail controversy.
More on Marjah soon
by Larry Geller
The quick interactivity of the Internet continually impresses me. No sooner than I hit the Enter key on my Marjah post than AP reporter Mark Niesse emailed a compendium of AP coverage from Marjah that his computer gathered quickly for him.
So more later. Right now, off to V-Lounge for an early dinner of real pizza.
Congressional candidate has experience in the trenches of health care reform
by Larry Geller
Hawaii Kai resident and attorney Rafael del Castillo has filed as a Democrat for the 1st Congressional District seat formerly held by Neil Abercrombie.
Del is no stranger to health care advocates. The cases he has brought on behalf of patients against denials by Hawaii’s powerful monopoly health insurers have often been life-saving. In Washington, he would be the one person who knows the health insurance industry from a position of personal combat.
In a press release issued today, del Castillo wrote: “Health care must top our list of concerns until we make it affordable and accessible to all, especially our kupuna.” He noted that he understands Hawaii law and can work to protect it should Congress pass a health care reform bill.
Far from a one-issue candidate, del Castillo commented also on other issues including global climate change:
“We need to wean ourselves from fossil fuels and develop other sources of energy. I will drive federal dollars to Hawai`i for solar, wind, wave, biofuel, and geothermal projects. I will push for the United States to join the rest of the world in solving the problem of potentially catastrophic global climate change.”
A website under construction at www.we-are1.com will support his campaign.
[Disclosure: I was briefly Executive Director of the Hawaii Coalition for Health, of which Rafael del Castillo is an officer and director]
Marjah, a town of 80,000 people or just poppies? Let’s go have a look
HONOLULU HAWAII— What’s in a dateline? It’s a claim by the reporter that they were there when the reporting took place. So a dateline on the Feb. 20 AP story (Feb. 21 in Advertiser) MARJAH, Afghanistan, implies that the reporter was there. Perhaps he was. Yet the story is a string of quotes from military commanders and others, with little indication of first-hand observation.
And now there is a report that journalists dutifully writing what they have been told to may have duped their readers into believing that this long-hyped battle in a “southern Afghan town of 80,000 people” was a major urban street fight.
From an Inter Press Service report:
Marjah is not a city or even a real town, but a few clusters of farmers' homes amid a large agricultural area that covers much of the southern Helmand River Valley. [Asia Times, Marjah, the city that never was, 3/10/2010]
Why not check the place out ourselves? You can do the same, just fly to Marjeh via Google Earth (use that spelling). Here’s a very short clip of my visit this morning.
Another snip from the IPS story:
Richard B Scott, who worked in Marjah as an adviser on irrigation for the US Agency for International Development as recently as 2005, agrees that Marjah has nothing that could be mistaken as being urban. It is an "agricultural district" with a "scattered series of farmers' markets", Scott told IPS in a telephone interview.
…
Marjah has never even been incorporated, according to the official, but there are now plans to formalize its status as an actual "district" of Helmand province.
If this report is accurate, it’s time to examine the mainstream media role in carrying out what may be a propaganda campaign conducted by the military and targeting the US population.
Wikipedia is current with the issue:
Marja (also spelt Marjah or Marjeh) is an unincorporated agricultural district in Helmand Province, Afghanistan, southwest of Lashkar Gah, the provincial capital. The name Marja is also applied to a small location within the district where a number of farmers' markets, shops and a mosque are located. The population of the Marja district is 80,000 - 125,000 spread across 80 - 125 square miles, an area larger than Cleveland or Washington D.C.. During the February 2010 Operation Moshtarak, the largely rural community of Marja was repeatedly described in the press as a "town" and even "city", following a 2 February 2010 briefing by US Marines.
Looking at the Honolulu Advertiser copies that I still have handy, here are the stories with their datelines:
Feb. 21: Marjah, Afghanistan—Marines endure withering gunfire in Marjah
Feb. 22: Kabul, Afghanistan—Allied coalition’s next big fight is Kandahar
Feb. 24: Camp Shorabak, Afghanistan—Afghan troops relish Marjah test
Feb. 26: Camp Geronimo, Afghanistan—Marjah flag-raising a bright spot in longer campaign
Feb. 28: Marjah, Afghanistan—For the most part, ‘Marjah has been cleared’
March 1: Marjah, Afghanistan—NATO force in the for the long haul in freed Taliban town
The Marjah datelines are all AP stories, and all repeatedly quote military sources without evidence of direct reporting.
This is not to say that there has not been a big fight there, just that we don’t really know what is going on other than what we have been told by the military through the stenography of the commercial media. Marjah has been exploited for propaganda purposes. We will have to wait, perhaps, for some independent accounts of conditions on the ground among the poppy fields of Helmand Province, Afghanistan.
Friday, March 05, 2010
The Nation editorial on Bill Moyers
Rail accidents and safety debate
by Larry Geller
There is some good discussion raging over on Ian Lind’s blog on the subject of grade-level or elevated transit. Have a look, and check also for earlier articles.
You’ll find a dispute over the accident rate of elevated vs. grade level rail several weeks ago. I also wrote an article here.
The high accident rate that the grade-level system in Phoenix, Arizona, has experienced is supposed to demonstrate what Honolulu might look forward to should it move to a grade-level system. An Advertiser story Phoenix rail faces a challenging 2nd year (2/22/2010), has fed the fires on and off the blogs. It begins:
On Dec. 27, 2008, Metro opened on time and on budget. Over the next 12 months, the $1.4 billion system carried an average of nearly 35,000 passengers a day, 34 percent over estimates. At the same time, Metro struggled to collect fares and averaged almost a collision a week, causing lingering doubts about light rail's safety.
This year, a new chief executive officer from Portland, Ore., arrives to oversee a system that has already laid off train operators, trimmed support staff and postponed expansions, some indefinitely, to make ends meet.
A collision a week… yikes. Reading further, though, the article explains that the problem is SUVs running red lights and smashing into the rail cars.
Phoenix’s system is brand new. It’s only a year old. The SUV drivers will either learn not to run red lights or be eliminated if they continue, at the rate of about one red-light running SUV driver each week. The train will always be the winner. As time goes on, fewer SUVs will collide with trains, they will learn one way or the other.
I’m not too sure what lesson the Phoenix experience holds for Honolulu. We have an ample supply of red-light runners, so who knows. Our police don’t really bother to enforce the law, so it could be a setup for a future accident situation. The problem would not be that grade-level trains are dangerous, but that we don’t believe in enforcement of safety laws in Honolulu.
In a few years the Phoenix accident rate should decrease, even if by natural selection. Phoenix will be fine.
Another article by the same author has more detail. The last line in this snip says it all:
Of the 52 crashes logged last year - an average of one a week since the $1.4 billion system opened in December 2008 - 23 have been in downtown Phoenix. Of those, 17 involved right turns along a few blocks of Washington and Jefferson streets.
Metro recorded five crashes at just one corner: Jefferson and First streets.
None of the crashes was fatal.
Phoenix police Lt. Adrian Ruiz says most downtown accidents happen because drivers get confused by unfamiliar streets and because Phoenix drivers have a bad habit of running red lights.
"I see people every day who disregard the no-left-, no-right-turn-on-red signals," said Ruiz, who runs the department's transit bureau. "Drivers in Arizona are used to seeing where they have to go. . . . They get impatient."
Many of the downtown Phoenix crashes arise from cars making right turns across the tracks. A red arrow prohibits the maneuver, but split-second instincts and years of conditioning tell drivers it is OK to turn right on red.
Phoenix-area drivers are still making mistakes. Police have blamed all 52 crashes involving trains on motorists, not rail operators.
This article continues to describe measures that the Phoenix system is using to help reduce accidents, and says that they are actually fewer than was feared. There are also a couple of interesting statistics as well, for example, that 70.4% of drivers involved in those Phoenix-area accidents were men.
Just to get some contrast, I asked the transit system operators in Portland, OR and Melbourne, Australia about their accident rate. Portland is still pending, but Melbourne sent some detailed statistics. Actually, they make the numbers very visible on a website.
I chose Portland because it has evolved spectacularly recently, after a long history of surface transit (see video here).
Melbourne is also very mature. I visited many times in a previous life, staying near St. Kilda Park and taking the tram into town. My impression was that they had a very well-integrated system, and so I was curious about the accident rate. They also have heavy rail, light rail, and a bus system.
PTSV [Public Transport Safety Victoria] publishes the report 'Statistics @ a Glance' that incorporates the data reported to PTSV from accredited train, tram and bus operators. The report is updated on a monthly basis and data adjusted to reflect new information received during the reporting period.
The latest report is here (pdf). I won’t snip from it, have a look. There are convenient graphs that summarize the accident rate.
What I took away from this report is that the accident rate in Melbourne is very low overall (though further analysis would be needed, for example, to take into account passenger loads). All systems had incidents. Heavy rail seems to have suffered a bit in the January heat. They track derailments and rail issues as well as accidents.
As to heavy rail, I don’t know how to make a valid comparison. I’ll point you to this Washington Post story, Safety, budget woes threaten to consume Metro (2/21/2010) which begins:
Washington's Metro system, once a national model for urban transit systems, has deteriorated so badly that the National Transportation Safety Board plans to use a hearing this week into the June 22 crash that killed nine people and injured 80 as a case study for the adequacy of state and federal oversight at subways across the country.
The most sobering manifestation of Metro's decline is a series of fatal accidents over the past seven months. Since the crash on the Red Line, four workers have been killed on the tracks and a subcontractor was electrocuted while working at a bus garage.
Metro, which opened in 1976, has earned an embarrassing distinction.
"No one can recall another time when the NTSB has had four open investigations involving a single transit system," NTSB spokesman Peter Knudson said. "When we see numerous accidents in a relatively short period of time, we want to determine what, if any, common elements there are that may need to be addressed."
Some of the discussion on the blogs in Honolulu is that we let things deteriorate. The Washington Metro experience may suggest what we could expect if we can’t change our habits.
Do these articles lead to conclusions? I think so, but as I write this, I cringe waiting for hired gun Doug Carlson to pounce on whatever I say. Yeah, that’s the level of discussion we have in Honolulu.
I think it’s safe to conclude that Honolulu may experience some accidents unless we deal with our own red-light runners, should we somehow end up with a grade-level system. We might also conclude that an elevated system could indeed have a high accident rate, depending on design and how well it is maintained. Either scenario depends on whether we can change long-ingrained habits.
As to discussion on the issues, we’ve not been allowed to plan our own communities or transit system from the beginning, the way cities such as Portland have done.
Developers and politicians are forcing a system down our throats that will be profitable for them and costly for us. Whether or not there are accidents is of no concern to them. In fact, those rich developers will not be riding the rail, nor will Governor Mufi. The accidents will be ours to argue over.
This is how a banana republic plans, and we’ll likely get what a banana republic gets.
Which reminds me, it may be time to consult the expert on banana republics. So I’ll be off to the zoo shortly, to see how Rusti the Orangutan is doing in his gubernatorial campaign and see what he has to say about transit. After all, he could inherit this mess if he wins in November.
“Race to the Top” is part of a plot against public education
by Larry Geller
Both Honolulu dailies defined Hawaii’s omission from among the 16 states that were selected for the first round of federal “Race to the Top” grants as a miss and the loss of a possible $74 million (see: Advertiser, Hawaii fails to get federal Race to the Top education funds (3/5/2010) and Star-Bulletin, Hawaii outpaced in initial round of 'Race to the Top' school funding (3/5/2010).
While the money would of course be very welcome, Hawaii wasn’t likely to succeed in the competition, and not just because of Furlough Fridays. Hawaii’s Department of Education and our legislature want to strengthen public education, but the federal “school reform” grant is rigged towards plans to privatize public education. Indeed, “school reform” is a long-standing euphemism for voucher programs, “choice”, charters (usually a form of privatization) and union-busting.
Although there was initial hope that the incoming Obama administration would oppose and defang Bush’s No Child Left Behind program, instead he has embraced and enlarged the program. “Race to the Top” is in line with NCLB objectives.
While a boon to business, NCLB is frequently criticized for its teach-to-the-test mindset and for escalating goals leading up to 2014 when 100% proficiency is to be required in reading and math, a clear impossibility. Instead of offering a carrot or providing assistance needed to improve, “failing” schools are punished.
As 2014 approaches, public education is increasingly demonized nationwide. As time goes on, it’s hard to say how badly our system of education will be battered and how many children’s future will be compromised. Knowing how to read (but not reading) and how to do math are poor substitutes for a complete education, nor may critical thinking survive under 2014 conditions. Kids might as well be uncritical, unthinking robots who can count and follow directions.
Parents who want a well-rounded education such as they themselves might have had, have little choice other than to supplement school with the music, arts, history,civics, and other material that schools are removing from their curricula, or else take their children out of public school entirely.
So can Hawaii win a “Race to the Top” grant? There are clues to be found in this morning’s Democracy Now segment, Leading Education Scholar Diane Ravitch: No Child Left Behind Has Left US Schools with Legacy of “Institutionalized Fraud”. For one thing, the DOE better get hold of Bill or Melinda Gates:
The Washington Post reports that all the first round finalists, except for Delaware and South Carolina, received financial help from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation in preparing their “Race to the Top” application. The foundation gave many states grants of up to $250,000 each to pay for a consultant to help them craft their application.
Even with Bill and Melinda’s help, Hawaii will have a tough time qualifying for a grant if these criteria apply:
They’ve said to the states in the “Race to the Top,” this competition that was just held, that the requirements to be considered are, first of all, that the states have to be committed to privatizing many, many, many public schools. These are called charter schools. They’re privatized schools. The Bush administration would have never gotten away with that, because Congress would have stopped them.
They’ve also required states to commit to evaluating teachers by the test scores of their students, which means that that will put even more emphasis on standardized testing, more drill down of test prep, more emphasis on basic skills. And also, it’s a very unfair measure, because it means that the students who live in poor communities, that they’re likely to get small gains, whereas the kids in the affluent communities will get big gains. And so, we’ll see the third emphasis of the Obama plan, which is close low-performing schools.
The Democracy Now segment is well worth watching (or read the transcript). It’s an interview with Diane Ravitch, who was Assistant Secretary of Education and counselor to Education Secretary Lamar Alexander under President George H.W. Bush and author of The Death and Life of the Great American School System: How Testing and Choice Are Undermining Education.
I’ll end with a quotation I’m fond of, from a radio program I participated in with educator Dr. Larry Lieberman on KCCN many years ago. He said, “You can’t fatten a cow by weighing it,” referring to the folly of using standardized tests to improve public education. No, instead of improving public education, they are weapons used by critics to destroy it.
Thursday, March 04, 2010
End Furlough Fridays with Kwedit
by Larry Geller
As Lingle representative Linda Smith meets this afternoon with the Board of Education to talk about Furlough Fridays, and as the House Finance Committee tosses a few billion in the pot to restore a few furlough days, the unwanted school holidays continue. Is it every other week from now on? Somewhere I think I saw that.
More bad news: Hawaii didn’t make the cut on the federal Race to the Top funding. It will all be in tomorrow’s newspapers.
There may be a way out, though, and one that everyone understands: the kids can pay for their Friday classes on credit. Or should I say Kwedit. That’s right, make them responsible for their own future. Maybe they’ll pay more attention to the teacher if their future solvency depends on it. We all know how it works because we’ve been doing it ourselves. It’s the American way of life. Buy now, pay later.
Why not get the kids involved right away? No need to wait until they are in college to sink them in endless debt. We can start them off by asking them to pay for their own Fridays and end the furloughs now.
Stephen Colbert explains how Kwedit works in a segment from one of this week’s Colbert Reports. Click to play.
| The Colbert Report | Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c | |||
| The Word - Kid-Owe | ||||
| ||||
Outsiders determine the fate of Hawaii’s media
by Larry Geller
Not connected with this article—tune in to Town Square tonight on Hawaii Public Radio, KIPO, 89.3 FM at 5-6 p.m. to hear Beth-Ann Kozlovich and guests discuss the state of Honolulu’s newspaper scene. If you’re out of range, it streams from hawaiipublicradio.org.
Next week on Town Square: interview with Bob McChesney on “The Death and Life of American Journalism” for a macro-view. That’s Thursday, March 11, 5-6 p.m 89.3 FM.
The local media scene here is in a state of flux once again as outsiders compete for your eyeballs. Yes, we’re media consumers in a market big enough to interest two newspaper companies and a flock of Mainland-owned media giants all vying for Hawaii advertising dollars.
Most recently it’s a fight to own newspapers.The previous (and still ongoing) skirmish was over the legality of a shared service agreement between three Honolulu television stations (see: Media Council files complaint against KHNL, KFVE, KGMB shared service agreement, 10/7/2009).
KHNL, KFVE and KGMB may be local stations in that they are physically located here, but Raycom and MCG Capital, two Mainland media giants, are the owners of the stations.
Media Council Honolulu challenged the arrangement with welcome and valuable assistance from another Mainland entity, Georgetown University Law Center. The battleground will be remote Washington, DC.
Now comes David Black, Canadian media mogul and owner of the Honolulu Star-Bulletin (who today, incidentally, joined the bidding for the bankrupt Globe and Mail newspapers). Black is a media hero for saving the Star-Bulletin and keeping it in competition with the Honolulu Advertiser all these money-losing years. Still, he is a Canadian media hero, and his agreement to purchase the Advertiser from Gannett is rooted in the profit motive. Knowing that, and uncertain of his plans, employees of the two papers are in a kind of limbo.
No one (perhaps not even Black himself) knows whether there will be one or two newspapers in Honolulu’s future, or how many more heads will roll as this crisis moves onwards. And yes, it is a crisis, because of the risk to local talent and expertise, and the likely drift to the right of the newspaper scene in the absence of competition.
From left field (I hope) and still in the shadows is Peer News.
Pierre Omidyar has the ability to do whatever he wants with his venture. So far, he has hired a very capable editor, but an outsider. John Temple was the editor, president and publisher of the Rocky Mountain News. No doubt the first plate lunch he ever ate (if he has gotten around to that) was when he relocated to Hawaii in January.
Temple announced yesterday (3/3/2010) that Sara Lin, very much a local person, will be coming back to Hawaii to join him in running the news service. Whew! Here is his announcement:
I'm happy to announce that we've hired an assistant editor. We're bringing home a local star - Sara Lin - to work as my partner leading the Honolulu-based news service. Sara was born and raised in Hawaii and graduated from Punahou School, where she was editor of the student newspaper for two years. She's a graduate of Princeton University, where she majored in Politics and minored in East Asian Studies. While a student, she worked as an intern at Honolulu Weekly and The Honolulu Advertiser. After graduation, she went on to a reporting career at two of America's great newspapers: the Los Angeles Times and The Wall Street Journal, where today she is a real estate reporter and columnist. Sara starts at Peer News at the end of the month.
Still, there is competent and experienced local talent who might have been tapped for a senior position. Perhaps that will happen as the masthead is filled in further down the chain. Interest in Peer News is intense, including among university students hoping to find a career in journalism.
No one knows how big Peer News will be, whether it is intended as local or national in focus, or whether it is experimental or will become muscular enough to become serious competition. It could be a billionaire’s plaything or the next new wave in online journalism. It could mean new job opportunities for journalists now wondering where their next bowl of saimin will come from—or not. It could mean a future in journalism for Hawaii’s college students—or not. Certainly, the traditional media scene looks bleak, and Peer News has a corner on all the Hope.
One observation, though: all this is supply-side skirmishing. I suspect many of us depend on diverse Internet sources for news and commentary. Regardless of who owns the TV stations or newspapers, that will not change. Should there be a shakeup that separates us from our daily on-line news fix, that would be a concern. Otherwise, who cares about TV ownership, media conglomeration and struggles to control papers named “Advertiser” and the like?
Give me my broadband or give me death.
Peer News will need to be more than the newspapers its new leaders used to work for if it will be of use to web-surfing news junkies.
Friday, February 26, 2010
Tsnownami in New York City
Thursday, February 25, 2010
Tell ‘em, Bob
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
Cross-blog debate on professional licensing
by Larry Geller
Darren left a comment on Bill would take away consumer protections, hurt marriage and family therapists with a pointer to his discussion at “Give Me Liberty or Give Me Professional Protection!” on his Island Notes blog.
Check it out. I don’t know how to join to blogs together to hold this kind of debate. Comments don’t work well because many people don’t read them.
There’s probably a better way, but in the meantime, you can read another point of view just by clicking for it.
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
Hawaii’s power gridlock
by Larry Geller
Jonathan Cole’s comment to my article HECO shortcircuits Hawaii’s alternative energy plans (2/22/2010) is worth a plug.
I disagree that an efficient power grid isn’t needed. We can’t all generate our own electricity. If it’s reasonable to purchase it, then the grid will be necessary far into the future. Why not, though, feed the grid with power from renewable sources generated by those who can make extra?
There’s an intermediate concept: a local grid. Plans for an innovative tower in Dubai, which now may or may not be built, would have the wind generators that are part of the building provide enough power for nearby buildings as well.
I wrote in Re-thinking Hawaii’s utilities means thinking smaller about local power generation at the housing project in Brooklyn where we used to live. For about 50 years, they have been generating their own power and are now feeding back into the grid. They could also have provided power for the other nearby projects.
We could have neighbors providing power for neighbors, buildings providing power for other buildings.
You could choose to make a buck by generating power in your back yard and selling it to others on the opposite side of the island.
It’s not rocket science. The main obstacles are the will to make it happen and the influence of and dependence upon a system of utilities that favors the status quo (that is, burning oil and selling you electricity at whatever cost).
Monday, February 22, 2010
Your testimony needed on gambling bill—or it will keep rolling on
TO: HCALG Board, Advisers, Member Organizations, and Friends
FROM: Dianne F. Kay, President
RE: Hearing for HB2251, HD1 on Wed, Feb 24, 12:30 pm
The House Finance Committee hearing for HB 2251, HD1 will be Wed, Feb 24 at 12:30 p.m. in Conf Rm 308. Decision making to follow hearing.
The bill establishes a gaming commission to oversee casino "gaming" and issue a 5 yr casino license in a county with a population of more than 500,000 (Honolulu).
Please notify others and ask them to testify and contact members of the House Finance Committee by phone, e-mail, or in person and state their opposition to HB 2251, HD1. Attached is a list of Finance Committee members with their room, phone numbers, and e-mail addresses. It is most important to contact the Chair of Finance, Marcus Oshiro. Also attached is a table listing the House Finance Committee members 2nd reading vote for HB 2251, HD1.
Persons should submit testimony at least 24 hours prior to the hearing. Those who submit testimony by e-mail must transmit it through the web page www.capitol.hawaii.gov/emailtestimony, also listed in the link below. If you do not want to testify in person or submit a testimony it is possible to write a message in the "additional comments" box after filling in items 1, 2, and 3. Check "oppose"--not "comments only" for testifier position. You should to this 24 hours in advance of the hearing. Be sure to go to the end of the page and check the box for "I understand and agree to the terms above," then click "submit"-- and your remarks will reach the Finance Committee.
The hearing notice (with a link to the text of the bill) and instructions to submit testimony follows:
http://www.capitol.hawaii.gov/session2010/hearingnotices/HEARING_FIN_02-24-10_3_.HTM
See two attachments from this email:
2010 Finance members at a glance.doc
HECO shortcircuits Hawaii’s alternative energy plans
by Larry Geller
Readers of this blog know that an independently owned and operated power grid, as can be found in some other parts of the country, facilitates independent power generation. We don’t have that in Hawaii. So I was not surprised by this article in today’s paper, which would seem to short-circuit Hawaii’s alternative energy plans indefinitely:
Hawaiian Electric Co. is asking that homeowners and businesses that buy electricity from its utilities on Maui, the Big Island, Lāna'i and Moloka'i be barred from installing new photovoltaic, or solar power, systems until more is known about their effects on the electric grids.
,,,
Hawaiian Electric told the state Public Utilities Commission earlier this month that it wants to suspend adding new photovoltaic systems to the grid because the growing number of renewable-energy systems poses a threat to the reliability and stability of its transmission system. [Honolulu Advertiser, Moratorium sought on solar installation, 2/22/2010]
After the last big island-wide power failure, I wrote:
We, the people, are the customers of utility services. We have a right to the best service our money can buy, period. Now there is talk about smart grids and a big clean energy plan. It’s a lot to read (see earlier post), but note that they expect ratepayers to foot the bill.
I say let’s have an independent analysis. Ratepayers might foot the bill in the end, but we need to know that this is not an exercise in “disaster capitalism” that is designed to enrich HECO shareholders while we modernize their system. What about modernizing our own grid, in the same way the state upgrades bridges and roads? Our own grid. Not any utility’s grid. Let HECO take care of the dinosaur generators. [Old power grids are like old taxicabs, 1/14/2009]
What are the alternatives? There are probably many options. Now may be the time to review them and make alternative plans for our alternative energy.
Here’s a vision that we might aspire to. Click on the image to see a video.
If there is to be an independent power grid, somehow it will have to be separated from the local utilities currently operating it. If federal money is available, buying ourselves a grid might not be totally impossible:
I’ve written recently about the advantages of an independent power grid for Hawaii so that we can move toward oil independence by connecting various sources of alternative energy. The problem is that our grid is owned by the utilities that burn fossil fuels, in the old-fashioned model. Other parts of the country (for different reasons) have modernized the administration of their power distribution infrastructure.
Now might actually be the best time to buy ourselves a power grid. HEI stock (the holding company which includes HECO) has plummeted to record lows, and may now be affordable, particularly if stimulus money is available for that purpose. [Now might be the best time for Hawaii to purchase a power grid, 3/24/2009]
The other part of the equation is a proper feed-in tariff so that the grid has to buy alternative power. It can be a boon to individual investors, also. See, for example: Australian feed-in tariff poised to bring big bucks to Australians who feed the grid with rooftop solar (1/17/2010).
Curious about feed-in tariffs? No? Well, at least read why Hawaii should have one (4/18/2009).
It’s not just Australia. Gainesville, Florida has a feed-in tariff:
This winter, as Congress was scrambling to pass the stimulus package, the bottom fell out of the renewable energy sector -- the very industry that lawmakers have held out as our best hope of salvaging the economy. Trade groups like the American Wind Energy Association, which as recently as December was forecasting "another record-shattering year of growth," began predicting that new installations would plunge by 30 to 50 percent. Solar panel manufacturers that had been blazing a trail of growth announced a wave of layoffs. Some have since cut their workforces in half, as stock prices tumble and plans for new green energy projects stall.
But there is one place where capital is still flowing: Gainesville, Florida. Even as solar panels are stacking up in warehouses around the country, this city of 120,000 is gearing up for a solar power boom, fueled by homegrown businesses and scrappy investors who have descended on the community and are hiring local contractors to install photovoltaic panels on rooftops around town.
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Why is the renewable energy market in Gainesville booming while it’s collapsing elsewhere in the country? The answer boils down to policy. In early February, the city became the first in the nation to adopt a "feed-in tariff" -- a clunky and un-descriptive name for a bold incentive to foster renewable energy. Under this system, the local power company is required to buy renewable energy from independent producers, no matter how small, at rates slightly higher than the average cost of production. This means anyone with a cluster of solar cells on their roof can sell the power they produce at a profit. [AlterNet, A Solar Revolution May Be Coming to Your Town, 4/11/2009]
Hawaii deserves no less. First, we need to realize that we can take our alternative energy future into our own hands.
Saturday, February 20, 2010
Growing pot in Hawaii is a better bet than legalizing gambling
by Larry Geller
Thanks to George Fox for discovering this article: Why Hawaii Should Legalize Pot Instead of Gambling (The Faster Times, 2/20/2010). I’ll just suggest you click over there to check it out. It’s by travel writer Amy Westervelt.
[I like The Faster Times. It has more variety than most neo-journalism projects, and it’s run out of Brooklyn, where I used to live. Sam Apple may already have more foreign correspondents than most any major newspaper, and his website is much more eclectic than other sites dare.]
Friday, February 19, 2010
Bill would take away consumer protections, hurt marriage and family therapists
by Larry Geller
There are so many bills in the legislature, both good and bad… how to keep up? And do we really need all these laws anyway? (sigh)
Here’s one I should have written about yesterday, when I got the phone call. It deregulates (and de-licenses) several professions in order to save the state a few nickels. But it gives away your protections, and hurts some of the professions.
In particular, it would prevent marriage and family therapists from receiving third-party payments, which would please their competition (psychologists), insurers, and hurt their clients. Just for this alone, I think the bill should be defeated.
Trouble is, it’s being heard this morning (Friday) at 11:00 a.m., so not much time to act for this hearing. But you still can call, send testimony, or emails. If it passes the Finance committee, you can catch up with it later.
HB2029 (follow from the bill’s RSS or on Twitter) also deregulates barbers, cosmetologists, hearing aid dealers and fitters, and electrologists. These are folks you’d probably want to see licensed and regulated.
Anyway, here is the hearing notice. If you want to weigh in, you can still do so, via email, late testimony, or later to all representatives at email reps@capitol.hawaii.gov.
Viral video documents Dubai assassination of Hamas leader allegedly by Mossad
by Larry Geller
A video put together by Dubai authorities documenting the assassination of Mahmoud al-Mabhouh has gone viral. The background to the story can be found on today's Democracy Now, Israel Accused of Stealing Identities, Using Fake Passports in Killing of Hamas Commander in Dubai (2/19/2010), or in this Wired article, <em>Dubai Assassination Was Work of Mossad and Likely Sanctioned by Prime Minister Says Former Intel Officer</em> (2/18/2010):The footage, taken from cameras at the Dubai airport and several luxury hotels, follows the activities of 10 men and one woman as they arrived in Dubai on various European passports and moved among hotels and a shopping center, even changing disguises at one point, during the hours before Mahmoud al-Mabhouh was killed.The Israelis used forged passports of Israeli citizens, which has become an issue itself. From the Wired article:
The video and assassination have sparked extensive debate in the media, inside and outside Israel, over, among other things, the alleged assassin team’s use of forged passports from the United Kingdom, Ireland, France and Germany. At least seven of the passports used the names of residents in Israel who hold dual citizenship in other countries and who say they were not part of the operation. They are now concerned that they could be targeted for revenge by Hamas or others. Another three aliases are similar to the names of Israeli citizens, but they have different middle names.
Here's the Dubai video.
Thursday, February 18, 2010
Corporate opportunity tonight at S. Andrew’s priory
by Larry Geller
Important things, good or bad, often begin in the House Judiciary Committee, and they are often introduced by its chair, Jon Riki Karamatsu, (D-41st, Waipahu, Village Park, Waikele). His position clearly gives him great influence.
Tonight, Karamatsu is holding a fundraiser during the legislative session, even as bills come up before him for decision. He’s holding it in town. This gives others a chance to influence his influence. Who might those others be?
Here’s his Tweet, sent from his Facebook page. St. Andrew’s Priory is right across the street from the State Capitol. It is nowhere near Waipahu, Village Park, or Waikele. Will his constituents fight traffic to be with him tonight? Not many, you’d think.
So like some other legislators (he’s far from alone), the fundraiser is to be held at a place convenient to lobbyists and business interests who may want to buy influence. They just have to walk over, no fighting traffic for them.
It’s not like there are no good restaurants in Waikele or Waipahu. The map above shows a flock of them. But will high-powered lobbyists or corporate representatives travel all the way to Waikele? Only if they or their spouse have some shopping to do.
Hey, these days corporations are persons, and the Supreme Court says that when they spend money it is free speech. Stockholders want the speech to be purposeful, or they wouldn’t pay for it, right? If their money wasn’t buying anything, it wouldn’t be spent.
What kind of businesses would want to influence Karamatsu tonight? Let’s look at some bills that have come before his committee, just a few.
Non-smokers can continue to breathe easy. A bill that would have allowed bars to get a permit to allow smoking was extinguished Tuesday at the State Capitol.
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The State Department of Health, American Lung Association, American Heart Association, American Cancer Society and other health groups spoke out against the bill. [hawaiinewsnow.com, Lawmaker crushes smoking bill, 2/9/2010]
The bill was killed in the next committee by Rep. Bob Herkes, normally a business friendly kind of guy. But Karamatsu remained faithful to his constituents corporate friends:
"We might have to tighten up some of the language next time around," said Rep. Jon Riki Karamatsu, who introduced the bill.
Ok, he introduced a bill favoring tobacco interests. Let’s move on.
House Bill 2251, which would establish a gaming commission to oversee casino gaming, has a hearing before the House Consumer Protection & Commerce Committee and the House Judiciary Committee Thursday afternoon at the Capitol.
The bill was introduced by Rep. Jon Riki Karamatsu, a Democrat who is chairman of the Judiciary Committee. [Pacific Business News, Legislature considers legalized gaming, 2/4/2010]
Ok, he not only supports smoking but gambling. He introduced both bills.
Moving on to another bill introduced by Karamatsu:
The bill would have permitted people and businesses who competitively bid for government contracts to make campaign contributions. It would have still been illegal for no-bid contractors to make contributions.
"What we're saying is, let competitive bidders be allowed to participate in the political process," said Rep. Jon Riki Karamatsu, the bill's sponsor and chairman of the Judiciary Committee.
Karamatsu, D-Waipahu-Waikele, is considering a run for lieutenant governor. [AP, Loosened Hawaii campaign contribution bill fails, 2/11/2010]
The passage of the campaign contribution bill illustrates the power of a committee chair in Hawaii’s legislature—only one member of his committee dared vote against that bill, yet when the entire House voted to recommit, it was unanimous.
On balance, here is a bill he introduced which is constituent-friendly:
The ingredients in entrees served at restaurants across the state are the target of new legislation at Hawaii's Capitol. Rep. Jon Riki Karamatsu is spearheading a food allergy bill that would require restaurants to post guidelines informing staff of food allergies and their... [World News, Bill Looks At Food Allergy Awareness, 2/8/2010]
Smoking, gambling, payola—business-friendly bills introduced by a committee chair with the power to push them along (though not so amazingly, they often are stopped later on).
Holding fundraisers during session is part of the problem. Holding them in town instead of in the district the legislator represents is an obvious play for corporate money, which comes with corporate strings attached.
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
Contractor payola bill died, forgot to tell you, sorry
by Larry Geller
Just a followup. In a January 28 article I reported that Judiciary chair Jon Riki Karamatsu pushed through a “payola” bill to the House floor even though three organizations testified against the bill and there was no testimony in favor. Last week the bad bill was recommitted by unanimous vote of the House.
This was the bill that would have opened up campaign contributions to contractors who submit competitive bids.
For the story, see Derrick DePledge’s Reality v. Rhetoric (2/11/2010) on the Advertiser’s Notebook blog.
What does it say about legislative process when a committee chair can direct a vote for a bill that later the entire House (minus one “not present”) voted to kill? Those on his committee who fell into line had to eat their vote when their action turned into an election year embarrassment (only Representative Belatti voted No on the committee vote).
After last year’s fiasco over another pet Jon Riki campaign contribution bill, you’d think some of his committee members would pass a little note to him about giving up on these unsavory corporate money grabs.
Medical Cannabis Working Group report available for download
by Larry Geller
Jeanne Ohta, Executive Director of the Drug Policy Forum of Hawaii, announced today that the Medical Cannabis Working Group report is now available on their website.
The full report is very large, 45 pages for the report and 188 pages of appendices.
There is also an executive summary, and a report of a survey of 101 patients.
A tax on oil should be a good thing, right? Not if done this way, which makes things worse
by Larry Geller
HB2421 (or follow on Twitter) will be heard tomorrow (Thursday) by FIN (House Finance Committee) at 4:00 p.m. in room 308. The bill would put a tax on oil to discourage its use. So oil gets more expensive and we have to turn to other things. What can be bad about that?
Plenty, actually. The devil is in the details. This bill badly needs fixing. For one thing, it will encourage the use of coal and tropical biofuels. Those are the ones that result in clearcutting forests and make climate change worse, not better.
If this bill passes, you will be paying a new tax to make things worse!
I’ve also questioned whether the proposed interisland power cable makes sense. Oahu can generate all its own power, and Murdock, on Lanai, can find another way to make more millions. Oahu could make electricity from waves, wind, OTEC (Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion), or lots of other ways. The interisland cable is in this bill.
As usual, Henry Curtis provides the best explanation. Below is his testimony on this bill.
Please check it out and consider weighing in yourself. It is now very easy to submit testimony from the Capitol web page. Even a short statement counts.
Help bring some sanity into the energy debate. Send in something today.
Ok, over to Henry for the straight dope on this bill:
02.18.10 HB2421.Oil Tax
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
Co-opting indigenous culture—Canada vs. Hawaii
by Larry Geller
Ok, what I was looking for was this article, posted on the Sociological Images blog, on the use of indigenous iconography by the Vancouver Olympics (in the article below I describe how I was derailed in my Google search).
It seems to be common in Canada to co-opt imagery related to the indigenous people who were displaced. The Olympic logo itself, according to the article, is an altered traditional Arctic Inuit sculpture.
We can identify with that in Hawaii, of course: lei, hula, luau, love in Waikiki, and so forth, all stolen or co-opted imagery of a culture that was brutally suppressed except when colonizers could profit from it.
Some people who encounter this Olympics branding are bound to come away with the impression that natives (that is, individuals with a significant enough amount of native ancestry or culture) are respected, empowered, and well-integrated here in Canada. In other words, some viewers will view this marketing as a sign of harmonious bonds between natives and mainstream Canadian society.
Chief Stewart Phillip, the president of Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs, conveyed a much different view of Olympics marketing when he asserted that,
“We’re deeply concerned about the concerted and aggressive marketing campaign advanced by Vanoc [the 2010 Olympics organization committee] which suggests the indigenous people of [British Columbia] and Canada enjoy a very comfortable and high standard of living. The Disneyesque promotional materials suggests a cosy relationship between aboriginal people of the province with all levels of government and it completely ignores the horrific levels of poverty our people endure on a daily basis.”
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As I will explain, there are deep problems with the ‘indigenous’ Olympics rhetoric and imagery, which is very much at odds with Canadian realities.
As I read, I was mentally substituting Hawaii for Canada or Vancouver. Try the experiment in the following snippet, altered by me:
Here are some figures that convey the highly disproportionate impoverishment, vulnerabilities, marginalization, and disempowerment of natives in present-day
CanadaHawaii.
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The worst racism inCanadaHawaii is reserved for indigenous peoples who are trapped between assimilation and ghettoization.
Don’t miss the comments attached to the article.
Denumerable Markov Chains and disappeared opportunity
by Larry Geller
Google took me off into another dimension of time and space just now, as I was looking for something related to the Olympics (I found it, see next post, which of course will be above this one).
You know how sometimes strange and wonderful things just pop up while you are in the midst of a search? Well, what grabbed my attention was denumerable Markov chains.
There was a time when I could tell you what a Markov chain was. Something to do with random processes, I think, but I could be wrong. I doubt I ever heard of denumerable ones, though. And they have nothing whatsoever to do with the Olympics (I hope).
Now, it doesn’t matter what a Markov chain is at all. What I flashed on was that umpteen years ago, I had opportunities that opened up for me because I studied stuff like Markov chains. In New York City, even in pre-Google years, even in high school, it was possible to at least bump into Markov chains. Try that here in Hawaii! Ha!
Those opportunities probably don’t exist here. People complain about the educational system, and I’m sure that they are right.
Back in New York even in the ‘50s and ‘60s, there were specialized high schools. I went to Stuyvesant. Going on to college, there was no need for remedial classes for Stuyvesant grads, generally we could skip some courses. Some students got to skip their entire freshman year in exchange for taking some exams. Those high schools were that good.
Hawaii in 2010 still has no Bronx Science, no Stuyvesant, no Art & Design. Hawaii’s school children are missing opportunity. They are being cheated big time.
We could reinvent our schools. It doesn’t have to be a copy of New York’s model, but we could do something. If we cared. That’s the part that I haven’t come to terms with. The If We Cared part.
Coverage of Indigenous protests at Vancouver Olympics largely disappeared from commercial media
by Larry Geller
Winter Olympics excitement is in the air everywhere. What has disappeared, of course, is coverage of the protests taking place at the same time. In particular, it seems few news outlets want to research and report on how Canada has taken and developed Indigenous land, which will be used first for the Olympics and later for resource extraction.
A good place to start reading would be Democracy Now, Vancouver Activists Greet Winter Olympics Opening Ceremony with People’s Summit, Protest, (2/12/2010). At the bottom of the page are additional links.
The best website I have found for complete information on the Indigenous position is No2010.com. For example, there is an article describing the land issues. Snipping from it:
The 2010 Winter Olympics, to be held in Vancouver-Whistler from February 12-27, 2010, is today a very real threat to Native peoples, the urban poor (many of whom are also Native), and the environment.
While cutting social services, healthcare, education, etc., the BC Liberal government is at the same time providing billions of dollars to construction companies & other Olympic-related industries. The capitalists are making millions, while the poor are literally dying in the urban & reservation ghettos.
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Most of this work is directly linked to 2010, to improve transportation & other infrastructure in preparation for the games.
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All the expansion in transport infrastructure (highways, ports, railways, bridges, etc.) is meant to assist in greater resource exploitation, including ski resorts, mines, logging, natural gas, oil, etc. Since 2003, the BC government has been working to speed up the application process for these industries, making it easier for corporations to get projects approved. Premier Gordon Campbell has described these as “reforms to open up every sector of our economy” (BC Resort Strategy & Action Plan). The result has been huge increases in mining, gas & oil, as well as ski resorts.
Scrolling down on the same page, there is a discussion of how land has been illegally stolen, which begins:
BC is unique in Canada in that most of the province is unceded, non-surrendered Indigenous territories. According to British & Canadian laws, sovereign Indigenous territories were to be legally surrendered to the Crown prior to any trade or settlement. This was set out in the 1763 Royal Proclamation. In accordance with this, the British, and later Canada, carried out a series of treaties in its westward expansion across the prairies, and the northwest territory. These included the Numbered Treaties (such as Treaty No. 1, etc.).
So yes, people have been, are still, and will continue to be exploited and marginalized in order to bring us the wonderful spectacle of the Winter Olympics.
