Posted on: Saturday, January 17, 2009
Issues of concern dog GOP to no end
The posh festivities in Washington next week will give us a break from the economy, but money woes dominate our "flASHback" on this week's news that amused and confused:
Police say it cost $200,000 to provide security for President-elect Barack Obama during his Kailua vacation. That's a bargain compared to the $40 million it's costing to inaugurate him.
Democrats felt strongly in an AP poll that the Obamas should get a poi dog instead of a pure breed, while Republicans mostly said there were more important concerns. And they wonder why they lost the election.
The state auditor says the Hawai'i Tourism Authority has no plan for growing our visitor industry, but directors insist they do. They plan to pray Obama turns the economy around.
Honolulu police warned that desperate people might turn to crime as the economy worsens. That's not a nice way to welcome the 2009 Legislature.
State workers may be asked to take off one day a month without pay to help balance the budget. I'm sure they're happy to sacrifice so legislators can collect their 36 percent pay raises.
Sen. Donna Mercado Kim wants to allow slot machines in Waikiki to generate tax revenue. Visitor arrivals are spiking already as gambling lobbyists fly into town.
Sen. J. Kalani English says the Senate position on using traffic cameras to fine more red-light violators has gone from "absolute no" to "hmmm." When they get to "ahhhhh," hide your wallets.
Gov. Linda Lingle said the state will consider anything to solve the budget shortfall. Even discipline?
Mayor Mufi Hannemann blamed a typographical error by the state for the EPA's $1.2 billion crackdown on O'ahu sewage treatment plants. Egad, the memo meant to say there's crab in the water.
Kaua'i police issued 39 citations at a reggae concert. Bob Marley shouldn't have bragged about shooting that sheriff, mon.
A Kane'ohe cop was punched in the face when he woke up a man sleeping in a stolen car. I hope he clocked the sleepyhead back.
Hawai'i doctors are the first in the nation to make house calls over the computer. The good news is they figured how to use the mouse to take your temperature. The bad news is it doesn't work orally.
And the quote of the week from HECO's Robbie Alm on the lightning that blacked out O'ahu: "I'm 57 years old and I've lived pretty much my entire life here, and I can never remember air-to-ground lightning like that." It hasn't happened since the year Moses and Dan Inouye received the Ten Commandments.
