St. Nicolas Day Day 340 of 2009 26 days left in this year

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HAWAIIAN WORD OF THE DAY — ‘Lanalana: Spider
PIDGIN WORD OF THE DAY —Lang: Fly
HAWAIIAN PROVERB OF THE DAY — Be a person well versed.
HAOLE SAYING OF THE DAY — “I think we agree, the past is over.” - George W. Bush

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Last year we ran the following. The funny part: both stories are still news. Sol retains his seat but evidently cannot run for reelection, and Bill is still a pathetic lackey.

Last year,  Sol Kaho’ohalala won a seat to the Maui Council to represent Lanai. Sol is a native son to Lanai, but, strangely, no one noticed that he didn’t live on Lanai, a condition of the seat. He lives on Maui. Surprise! Now his election is being called into question and of course, his opponent wants him to resign.

This tempest in a teapot is stupid for two reasons. First, the seat belongs to Ricki Hokama anyway, who didn’t run because term limit laws shut him down after ten years. Riki has already said he’ll be back, because the law has a huge loophole, which says after skipping a term you can come back for another five. (Wayne Nishiki is back for the same reason.) Hokama is just on vacation. And he’ll win again. Remember, Hokama was the council member to testify in front of the state legislature’s traveling circus – the joke of pretend hearings about the Superferry. There, Hokama said the Ferry was bad, the people didn’t want it, and if the representatives were worth their salaries they’d do what the people overwhelmingly wanted. Unfortunately, they weren’t worth their money and they didn’t.

Second, the residency requirement for running is a joke. Take the lackey for Maui developers – Bill Medeiros – who ostensibly comes from Hana (cough) but whom Lucienne deNaie trounced in East Maui voting. Ol’ Bill isn’t liked in his native parts, for obvious reasons. Medeiros, who really lives in central Maui, got the Wailuku hammer and nail vote. You know, the yokels who demand that we keep paving Maui so they can have over-paid jobs to pay for their illegal, jacked-up trucks and overly tinted windows.

I say, let Sol keep the seat warm for Riki.

The other event is the announcement by the state that it’s reducing mental health care by $25M, this year. That means reducing the number of hours a case manager can spend with clients from 3 hours a day to 3.5 hours a month. This from a state administration that is spending more than $150M on glossy ads in rich, sycophantic travel magazines to get visitors here, and which, needless to say, aren’t working anyway (travel is down an average of 20% in Hawaii).

Linda, please, get laid. You’re wound way too tightly, and it’s affecting your judgment. Help the state residents first. Pay for pretty ads later. It isn’t rocket science, hon. It’s common sense, something I know your party lacks but, really girl, try.

Finally, what IS it with the Maui election board or oversight or whatever the hell it is, or isn’t? Medeiros doesn’t live where he’s supposed to and no one gives a shit. Sol doesn’t and everyone’s having kittens. And Wayne doesn’t follow election regulations and no one notices untl after the election.

1160 Jean Bodels “Jeu de St Nicholas” premieres in Arras
1196 Northern Dutch coast flooded, “Saint-Nicolaas Flood”
1240 Mongols under Batu Khan occupy & destroy Kiev
1631 1st predicted transit of Venus (Kepler) is observed
1732 1st play in American colonies acted by professional players, New York NY
1756 British troops under Robert Clive occupy Fulta India
1768 1st edition of “Encyclopedia Brittanica” published (Scotland)
1790 Congress meets in Philadelphia, new temporary US capitol
1820 US President James Monroe re-elected, Daniel D Tompkins Vice-President
1825 President John Adams suggests establishment of a US observatory
1833 HMS Beagle/Charles Darwin departs Rio de la Plata
1841 Robert Schumann’s 4th Symphony in D, premieres
1843 Amsterdam-Utrecht railway opens
1849 Harriet Tubman escapes from slavery in Maryland
1862 President Lincoln orders hanging of 39 Santee Sioux Indians
1865 13th Amendment is ratified, abolishing slavery
1866 Chicago water supply tunnel 3,227 meters into Lake Michigan completed
1870 Joseph H Rainey, 1st black in the House of Representatives (South Carolina)
1873 1st international football game in US: Yale 2, Eton (England) 1
1876 1st crematorium in US begins operation, Washington PA
1876 US Electorial College picks Representative Hayes as President (although Tilden won)
1877 Washington Post publishes 1st edition
1877 1st sound recording made (Thomas Edison)
1882 Atmosphere of Venus detected during transit
1884 Aluminum capstone set atop Washington Monument, Washington DC
1896 D T Suzuki found the awakening at Engakuji temple, in Kamakura
1904 Theodore Roosevelt confirms Monroe-doctrine (Roosevelt Corollary)
1907 Coal mine explosions in Monongah WV, kills 361
1912 China votes for universal human rights
1917 Finland declares independence from Russia (National Day)
1917 French munitions ship “Mont Blanc” explodes in Halifax, kills 1,639+ and injures 9,000+
1921 Anglo-Irish Treaty signed; Ireland receives dominion status; partition creates Northern Ireland
1922 1st constitution of Irish Free State comes into operation
1922 1st electric power line commercial carrier in US, Utica NY
1923 1st presidential address broadcast on radio (President Calvin Coolidge)
1925 Record 73,000 pay to watch Chicago Bears beat New York Giants 19-7
1929 Turkey introduces female suffrage
1933 Ban on James Joyce’ “Ulysses” in US, lifted
1941 NYC Council agrees to build Idlewild (Kennedy) Airport in Queens
1941 Dutch & British pilots see Japanese invasion fleet at Singapore
1944 US 95th Infantry division reaches Westwall
1950 Pope Pius XII publishes encyclical Mirabile illud
1954 Simone de Beauvoir receives Prix Goncourt
1955 New York psychologist Joyce Brothers won “$64,000 Question” on boxing
1956 Nelson Mandela & 156 others arrested for political activities in South Africa
1957 1st US attempt to launch a satellite fails-Vanguard rocket blows up
1963 Beatles begin a tradition of releasing a Christmas record for fans
1969 300,000 attend the Altamont CA, rock concert feature Rolling Stones
1971 Lewis Franklin Powell confirmed as Supreme Court justice
1973 Gerald Ford sworn-in as 1st unelected Vice-President, succeeds Spiro T Agnew
1974 George Harrison releases “Ding Dong, Ding Dong”
1975 Senator Robert Dole & Elizabeth Hanford marry
1980 Jim Bakker rapes Jessica Hahn
1982 Senator Ted & Joan Kennedy divorce
1982 Bomb attack on Londonderry, North Ireland disco, 17 killed
1983 A bomb planted on a bus in Jerusalem explodes, kills 6 Israelis
1984 Hijackers aboard Kuwaiti jetliner kill 2nd hostage
1987 3 satanist Missouri teenagers bludgeon comrade to death for “fun”
1988 Nelson Mandela is transferred to Victor Vester Prison, Capetown
1988 STS-27 Atlantis lands in California after secret mission
1989 Worst Canadian mass murder: Marc Lepine kills 14 women at University of Montréal
1991 “Star Trek VI-The Undiscovered Country” premieres
1991 “Les Miserables” opens at Circustheater, Scheveningen
1992 300,000 Hindus destroy Ayodha Mosque of Babri India, 4 die; riots follow
1994 Orange County California files for bankruptcy
1994 Warner Brothers announces a 5th TV network to begin on Jan 11, 1995
1995 6th Billboard Music Awards
1995 Michael Jackson collapses will rehearsing for an HBO special

1421 Henry VI king of England (1422-61, 1470-71)
1809 Stephen Thomas Brigadier-General (Union volunteers), died in 1903
1887 Lynn Fontanne Woodford England, Broadway actress (Dulcy, Arms & the Man)
1906 Agnes Moorehead Clinton MA, actress (Endora-Bewitched)
1909 Kenneth Watkins woodland conservationist
1920 Dave Brubeck Concord CA, jazz pianist/composer (Gates of Justice)
1921 Otto Graham AAFC/NFL QB (Cleveland Browns)
1921 Nicolas A Piña Venezulian/Aruban songwriter
1924 Susan Foster Chicago IL, actress (Sierra)
1924 Wally Cox Detroit MI, actor (Mr Peepers, Hollywood Squares)
1941 Richard Speck mass murderer (killed 8 student nurses in 1966)
1948 Don Nickles (Senator-R-OK)
1955 Steven Wright droll comedian (Steven Wright Live)
1971 Ryan Wayne White born with hemophilia, later to contract AIDS from blood-clotting products.
1971 Ainsley Robinson Oshawa Ontario, 62 kg Greco Roman wrestler (Olympics-96)
1971 David Defiagbon Sapele Nigeria, Canadian boxer (Olympics-silver-96)
1971 Matt Maloney NBA guard (Houston Rockets)
1971 Richard Krajicek Netherlands, tennis star (Wimbledon-1996)
1971 Thomas Bailey NFL wide receiver (Cincinnati Bengals)
1972 Brendan Garard Australian field hockey halfback (Olympics-96)
1972 Gary Bandy NFL defensive end (Atlanta Falcons)
1972 James Logan NFL linebacker (Seattle Seahawks)
1972 Mike Gruttadauri corner (St Louis Rams)
1973 Tim Kohn guard/tackle (Oakland Raiders)
1974 Arjan Ebbinge soccer player (FC Groningen)
1975 Natalie Titcume Australian softball catcher (Olympics-bronze-96)
1976 Alicia Machado Venezuela, Miss Universe (1996)
1976 Lindsay Price Arcadia CA, actress (Bold & Beautiful, All My Children)

1658 Gracian writer, dies
1779 Jean-Baptiste Siméon Chardin French still life painter, dies at 80
1882 A Trollope writer, dies
1889 Jefferson Davis President of Confederate States of America (1861-5), dies at 81
1889 Joseph H “Jozef” Neuhuys painter, dies at 48
1966 Hermann Heiss composer, dies at 68
1972 Janet Munro actress (Crawling Eye, Swiss Family Robinson), dies at 38
1984 Ruth Cummings actress (Daybreak, Dream of Love), dies at 90
1988 Roy Orbison US Rock singer (Pretty Woman, Only the Lonely), dies of a massive heart attack at 52
1993 Don Ameche actor (Cocoon), dies of prostate cancer at 85
1993 Professor Wolfgang Paul German physicist (Nobel 1989), dies at 80
1993 Rita Macedo actress (Divinas Palabras), dies of heart attack at 65
1993 Rouaz Lakhdar Algerian supreme court justice, murdered
1994 AJ Bronkhorst vicar/theologist (Reform The Netherlands), dies at 80
1994 Alan Owen English screenplay/actor (Hard Day’s Night), dies at 69
1994 Gian Maria Volonte actresss (Fistful of Dollars), dies at 61
1995 [Schaff] Claire Polin composer, dies at 69
1995 Dmitri Antonovitch Volkogonov soldier/historian, dies at 67
1995 James “Scotty” Barrett Reston journalist, dies at 86
1995 John Trevor Key photographer, dies at 48
1995 Kathleen Harrison actress (Fast Lady, Big Money), dies at 103
1995 Leslie Wilkinson journalist, dies at 97
1996 [Alvin] Pete Rozelle commissioner (NFL), dies at 70
1996 Bryan Clieve Roberts lawyer/civil servant, dies at 83
1997 Alan Mouncer film director/producer, dies at 68
1997 Edmund Charles Wolf Myers soldier/engineer, dies at 91
1997 Eliot Daniel composer (I Love Lucy theme), dies at 89