Make Up Your Mind Day 365 of 2007 Last Day in this year

Ho’o Pahu: Explode
HAWAIIAN PROVERB OF THE DAY — “Angrily goes the fire and the firebrand.”

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December 31, 1879: The cornerstone is laid for the Iolani Palace, Hawaii (the only royal palace in the U.S.)  To enhance the prestige of Hawaii overseas and to mark her status as a modern nation, the Hawaiian government appropriated funds to build a modern palace in Honolulu.

Despite a quick succession of three architects, work progressed at the hands of locally obtained contractors, artisans and laborers. The building was complete enough by August of 1882 for King Kalakaua to hold a luncheon for members of the Legislative Assembly. In December of that year King Kalakaua and Queen Kapi`olani took up residence in their new home.

December 31, 1956, January 4 1974, and lots of other dates, too: State officials on Oahu call for a ban on fireworks for the entire state. In 1956, there were more than 110 injuries from fireworks, most of them inflicted on children. Fireworks are on sale big-time at Wal-Mart, Long’s  and Costco today, anyway.  

HISTORICAL EVENTS ON THIS DAY – December 31st 

• 1600: The British East India Company is chartered to coordinate the trading of spices in India
• 1744: James Bradley announces the discovery of Earth’s motion of nutation 
• 1775: Battle of Quebec
• 1781: The Bank of North America opens (first U.S. bank) 
• 1857: Queen Victoria chooses Ottawa as the new capital of Canada 
• 1924: Edwin Hubble announces the existence of distant galaxies 
• 1926: After seventy years of effort, the last entry is made for the “Oxford English Dictionary”
• 1946: French troops leave Lebanon 
• 1946: President Truman officially proclaims the end of WW II 
• 1961: The Marshall Plan expires after distributing more than $12 billion 
• 1984: Rajiv Gandhi takes office as India’s 6th Prime Minister, succeeding his mother, Indira 
• 1985: 45-year old singer Rick Nelson, and six other people, perish  a DC-3 airplane
• 1999: Russian President Boris Yeltsin resigns in favor of Prime Minister Putin 
• 1999: The U.S. returns control of the Panama Canal Zone to Panama 

BORN ON THIS DAY – December 31st

Like a bamboo splinter under the nail, I possessed the ability to antagonize and inflame people from an early age. This resulted in me being called many names, by many people, and in four languages. These names were descriptive, but not flattering. It is hard for people to love or understand those who are pricking or scratching them.

Since everything must be permissible in a universe that contains free will, someone has to fill the role of human splinter. Since I was good at this role, I must have been whittled and sharpened for just such a role.

The role requires me to perceive an opening and to bypass the defenses. It requires one to see the chink in someone’s  emotional and psychological armor, and to slip through the defenses with a sharply worded statement, accusation or conclusion. And one must judge the vulnerable party well, to avoid being injured or killed in retaliation.

As a boy, I was quick-witted and quick-footed. I found humor to be the weapon of choice. Not so much ridicule, as good natured ribbing. This is quite an art, especially when one advances to such a degree that he can insult with impunity. Or even beyond that: to be able to insult someone, without recognition by the slighted.

The best targets are the people of power, authority and pretense. The self-inflated are the easiest to shred. Nothing compares with the roasting of the rump of powdered pomposity. Except, perhaps, revealing to it a truth which was hidden behind the acquisitions of its appetites. For example: “The human mechanism and our moral nature are self-balancing fields of form and force. Each injustice committed must reverberate back to the one who committed it. All is self-administered. We are the moral accountants and auditors of our soul.”

– Raphael O’Suna,   Haiku

Bowling Ball Day Day 363 of 2007 2 days left in this year

Kala: Currency, money
HAWAIIAN PROVERB OF THE DAY — “A small eighth of a dollar, very smooth to handle.”

December 29, 1903: Another sign that the American’s were taking over finally appears: The coins issued by the monarchy of King David Kalakaua are no longer accepted as currency in Hawaii, even though the coins are pure  silver, in the case of dollars, and copper in pennies. American currency becomes the coin of the realm. (It is also interesting to note that the first half of the King’s name — Kala –means money in Hawaiian.)

By this date most stores will not accept the coins, although people have until December 31 to exchange the coins for American currency at banks.

Kalakaua coins are available today through venues such as eBay, where, on December 28, 2007, a Kalakaua silver dollar in pristine condition was selling for  $449.95.

HISTORICAL EVENTS ON THIS DAY – December 29th

God of the Sun Day 359 of 2007 6 days left in this year

HAWAIIAN PROVERB OF THE DAY —
“No one has ever died for the mistakes he made; only because he did not repent.”

December 25, 325 (or thereabouts): The Roman Emperor Constantine (actually rhymes with Constant Whine) holds the Council at Nicaea with Christian leaders of the day.

Until 312, the Roman empire had been ruled by four Emperors who split it into four part, one of which was ruled by Constantine’s father, Flavius (a good and in many ways a noble historical figure).  When the emperors began to die, Constantine decided it would be best if the empire was again united, and that he should be the one emperor. This was a gutsy and risky decision, as Constantine only had his father’s power base from which to launch his campaign, and civil war.

Ever shrewd, Constantine announced that from that point on, Christians, far from being persecuted, would be allowed to practice freely and without harm in his part of the world, and any part which fell under his control (pretty important, that last bit. It’s like running for president today and suddenly declaring yourself against a woman’s right to choose, to win the fundamentalist vote.). This won him a lot of votes with the “roman mob,” many of whom had converted to Christianity during the past 300 years.

In a battle in 312 to unite the empire, Constantine, who was a strong worshiper of the Sun God, claimed to see a cross (or Labarum symbol) in the sunlight; he had his soldiers put the symbol on their shields, and he won a victory as the underdog. Henceforth, Constantine declared himself a Christian, though he never took sacraments, and continued to worship the Sun God until shortly before his death.

After the war, in 325, the reigning bishops meeting at Nicaea argued about damn near everything.  Whether Jesus was a man with godlike powers, or a god who took human form or wasn’t divine but acted divinely, as if they knew any of it. They established rules in what became known as the first Ecumenical Council, a council to determine what people should think and how they should act as true Christians.

It was here that Christian beliefs were first formally written (I believe in one god, the father almighty, maker of heaven and earth ….), which is recited to this day in the Roman Catholic Church as the Apostle’s Creed. They also once and for all established the concept of the Trinity. Yeah, there’s one god, but really there are three, including Jesus and the Holy Ghost. (The 1964 Vatican Council decided that “ghost” was a scary word and changed it to the Holy Spirit.) So, no, we’re monotheistic, honest, but Jesus was a god and the Holy Ghost isn’t his brother but … well, it’s a MYSTERY, dammit!

Desperate times call for crazy beliefs and this was one of those times.

One of their first actions after the council ended was to take pledges from everyone to uphold these new rules,  called the Nicene Creed. Any “Christian” who didn’t take the pledge was excommunicated, and usually slaughtered after torture. So much for Christian tolerance. (During these years, the bishop of Constantinople was twice excommunicated and reinstated, depending on who was meeting and what rules were decided. These were wacky times.)

One decision made was that Jesus’ birthday would be celebrated on December 25 of each year because that was the official Praise the Sun God Day anyway. In addition, it was officially declared by the bishops (with loads of help from Constantine, and the bishops knew which side their host was buttered on) that the day of rest and praise each week for the Christian god would be Sun Day.

Constantine ruled as one emperor until 337, when he grew very ill. Knowing his time to be short, on his deathbed, Constantine called in a priest and was baptized a Christian. Wily to the end, the emperor chose the one sacrament that wipes every misdeed and mortal sin from one’s soul in a flash, no waiting necessary, no praying needed. Extreme Unction and it was automatic. The laundry list of his crimes including genocide, uxoricide and filicide, was forgiven and he was free to enter the Christian heaven, if such existed.

After his death, Christians began a two-hundred year reign of torture and terror for pagans. Anyone refusing to take the Nicaean oath was stretched, boiled, broken and busted, before being murdered. Constantine had ordered toleration for pagans as he had for Christians, but his edict could only be enforced as long as he was alive.

From there, things just got worse, of course. Christians stole the christmas trees and gifts from pagan rituals of Scandanavia (somewhere around 700 CE), and made them their own. They cobbled together an ugly mass of ritual and lie (um, no Jesus wasn’t born in Bethlehem) to finally make what has been since the 20th century a mass market of commerce and greed, and the occasional 24-hour ceasefire in whatever wars are going on, many of them waged by, surprise, Christians.

How the 18th century Christian missionaries indoctriated native Hawaiians into such a “creed” is anyone’s guess, but the natives have sure bought it. To this day there is just one synogogue on Maui. Oh, and by the way, this explains why the Christian sect Jehovah’s Witnesses does not celebrate Christmas — as their literature says, it’s a pagan holiday.

Hey, happy holidays to all you pagans out there!

HISTORICAL EVENTS ON THIS DAY – December 25th

• 1821: Clara Barton,  nurse, founded American Red Cross
• 1876: Mohammed Ali Jinnah, founded Pakistan 
• 1883: Maurice Utrillo, painter
• 1887: Conrad Hilton, hotel mogul
• 1893: Ropert L Ripley, cartoonist
• 1899: Humphrey Bogart, actor
• 1906: Clark M Clifford, U.S. Secretary of Defense
• 1907: Cab Calloway, bandleader/actor
• 1918: Anwar el-Sadat, Egyptian president
• 1924: Rod Serling, writer/host Twilight Zone
• 1929: Billy Horton, rocker
• 1931: Carlos Castaneda, writer/mystic
• 1937: O’Kelly Isley, rock vocalist
• 1945: Kenny Stabler, NFL QB
• 1945: Noel Redding, rocker
• 1946: Jimmy Buffett, singer 
•  1949: Sissy Spacek, actress 
• 1954: Annie Lennox, singer
• 1954: Steve Wariner, country singer
• 1957: Shane McGowan, rock vocalist

National Egg Nog Day 358 of 2007 7days left in this year

December 24th, 1927:

HISTORICAL EVENTS ON THIS DAY – December 24th

Roots Day 357 of 2007 8 days left in this year

HAWAIIAN PROVERB OF THE DAY — “The dust that runs after one like a person.”

FULL MOON TODAY:  3:16 pm

Today thru December 30th:
Maui Film Festival’s First Light Screenings 

December 23rd, 1912:
Ships from the ports of Oahu, Kahului and Hilo arriving in San Francisco are fumigated because three people in the past week have died of the bubonic plague on the Big Island. The fumigation continues for the next two months for every ship originating in Hawaii. In two instances, passengers with colds are quarantined just in case.

HISTORICAL EVENTS ON THIS DAY –
December 23rd

• 1597: Martin Opitz, German poet 
• 1777: Alexander I, tsar of Russia
• 1805: Joseph Smith Jr,  found Mormon church
• 1911: James Gregory,  actor
• 1918: Jose Greco, flamenco dancer
• 1926: Robert Bly, poet/editor/translator
• 1931: Ronnie Schell, comedian
• 1935: Paul Hornung, NFL football player
• 1941: Tim Hardin, singer
• 1943: Harry Shearer, comedian 
• 1945: Ronald Bushy, rocker
• 1947: Bill Rodgers, marathon runner
• 1955: Dave Murray, heavy metal rocker
• 1971: Corey Haim, , actor 
• 1978: Estella Warren, actress

Int’l Arbor Day 356 of 2007 9 days left in this year

HAWAIIAN PROVERB OF THE DAY — “The branches grow because of the trunk.”

Today thru December 30th: Maui Film Festival’s First Light Screenings 

Today, nothing untoward seemed to happen in Maui’s history. The sun shone down on the emerald green valley isle, ringed by 83 beaches. No ship sank, no one was murdered, no one was lost at sea, or on a hike. No one of any importance visited us, and no one of any importance left in a huff. It is one of those days that just is, and you’d better enjoy it while it’s around.For Haole Anna.

HISTORICAL EVENTS ON THIS DAY – December 22nd

• 1877: “American Bicycling Journal” begins publishing  
• 1894: French officer Alfred Dreyfus is court-martialed for treason
• 1936: The first common carrier license is issued by the ICC 
• 1943: WEB Du Bois is elected as the first African American member of the National Institue of Arts & Letters 
• 1990: Lech Walesa is sworn in as Poland’s first popularly elected president
• 2005: Astronomers announced the discovery of two more rings encircling the planet Uranus.

BORN ON THIS DAY – December 22nd

•  1400: Luca della Robbia, sculptor
• 1639: Jean-Baptiste Racine, French dramatist
• 1696: James Oglethorpe, general/author/colonizer of Georgia
• 1727: William Ellery, signer of the Declaration of Independence
• 1858: Giacomo Puccini, composer
• 1901: Andre Kostelanetz,  conductor
• 1903: Dr Barbara Moore, walked across U.S. in 86 days in 1960
• 1905: Kenneth Rexroth,  poet/critic/translator
• 1907: Peggy Ashcroft, stage actress
• 1912: Claudia “Lady Bird” Johnson, first lady
• 1922: Barbara Billingsley, actress
• 1922: James C Wright Jr, (Rep-D-Texas), Speaker of the House
• 1936: Hector Elizondo, actor
• 1944: Barry Jenkins, rock musician
• 1945: Diane Sawyer,  newscaster
• 1949: Maurice Gibb, singer
• 1949: Robin Gibb, singer
• 1950: Rick Nielsen, guitarist/vocalist/keyboardist
• 1960:  Chuck Mead, country musician
• 1960: Ralph Fiennes, actor
• 1968: Dina Meyer, actress 
• 1974: Heather Donahue, actress