Electronic Greetings Day Day 334 of 2007 31 days left in this year

HAWAIIAN PROVERB OF THE DAY —
“It is wasted time and effort getting food for the horse.”

November, 1834: The whaling ship Helvetius, named for French philosopher Claude-Adrien Helvetius, encounters terrible seas while attempting to harbor at Lahaina. The ship, carrying an enormous load of more than 1,400 barrels of whale oil, cannot find safe anchor anywhere near Maui, and so turns to Oahu, not the last time someone was dissuaded from Maui for Oahu and met disaster.

More than 170 years ago, no lighthouses guided ships around the islands. Strong Kona winds, powerful waves and driving rain drove the Helvetius onto the reef off Diamond Head. No one was hurt, and the ship was not in immediate danger of sinking. At this point, the cargo was worth more than the ship anyway. Fearing a fight for the salvage, the crew remained on board.

Read the rest…

FROM: Save Kahului Harbor Coalition  (savekahuluiharbor.com)

Sat 12/1:  East Side Hui’s Ku’e ‘O Maui Meet at Ah Fook’s parking lot at 8am
Thur 12/6:  Give Back Our Harbor Rally Meet at Ka’ahumanu & Pu’unene, 9am
Sat 12/8:  Giant Rally for Maui Meet at Ka’ahumanu & Pu’unene, 9am

Their delay was so that the Feds could shut down the entire Kahului Harbor for an hour prior to Superferry arrival to 10 minutes after it leaves.

Lingle, Bush & Cheney ordered us banned from our own harbor even though there was not one hint that anyone was planning to commit civil disobedience.

In fact we were all working with Law Enforcement to be sure that the Rally for Maui was law abiding.

So this is Maui’s reward for following the rules - to be deprived of the use of our harbor. Our fishermen cannot use the small boat ramp, our canoes cannot go outside one small area, our surfers cannot surf a popular winter break.

We are expected to give up our harbor for the arrogant Superferry. And give it up for even longer when the planned second, third, fourth and fifth ferries arrive.

We warned law enforcement that we could not keep a lid on civil disobedience if they closed the harbor to us.

We are reminded of 114 years ago when our Queen, believing in the rule of law, did not resist the illegal takeover of the greedy American businessmen backed by the military. She trusted the U.S. government to right that wrong.

The U.S. Government betrayed her.

And here it is again. We on Maui worked through the system. And then even when the Governor and Legislature passed an illegal law, still we said, “We’ll play be the rules.” We will trust that this wrong will be righted.

And the U.S. Government betrayed us.

Mistaking our law-abiding behavior for lack of resolve, the U.S. government has escalated its unlawful acts against Maui.

The Superferry will try to land on Maui Thursday December 6th. We’ll be there at 9am.

– Ku‘e