The Ides of March Day 75 of 2010 290 days left in this year

TODAY: Zeitgeist Day: “Social problems result from scarcity. When a few nations control most of the world’s resources, there are going to be international disputes no matter how many laws or treaties are signed. If we wish to end war, crime, hunger, poverty, territorial disputes, and nationalism, we must work toward a future in which all resources are accepted as the common heritage of all people.” More >

March 15, 1925: Church-goers Press Their Luck. On this date on Maui – and statewide – in 1925, churches protested a bill in the state legislature that would allow motion pictures to be shown on Sundays. Giddy after their win over the defeat of the Sunday store hours bill, church-goers picket the state house. They lose. It seems you can mess with the soda parlor hours, but you can’t touch the flicks.

March 15, 1918: The very first recorded flight between two Hawaiian islands took place today. Major Harold M. Clark of the Fort Kamehameha Aero Squadron (formed for World War I) flew his bi-plane from Oahu to Molokai. We’re guessing macadamia nuts were served.

Read the rest…

Int’l PI Day Day 74 of 2008 292 days left in this year

March 14th, 2008:

March 14, 1911: The 5th Horse of the Apocalypse Arrives. Not much to report in history on this date. Oh, one small thing. Someone in 1911 had the bright idea of opening a tourist agency on Fort St. on Oahu, to help people with deciding to come to Hawaii and what to do.  Bastards….

Read the rest…

Good Samaritan Day Day 73 of 2010 293 days left in this year

March 13th, 1933:  Maui Money Changes – On this date in 1933, people on Maui could go to their banks again, the federal government having reopened them after FDR closed them to stem the tide of the bank failures. In place of money, banks hand out certificates representing money, in denominations of $1, $5, and $10. It was a neat trick: since most people wanted money, and FDR had promised them that the federal government would back up all banks, most people refused the certificates and let their money sit – which of course is what FDR wanted. It’s all good.

Read the rest…

Commonwealth Day Day 72 of 2010 294 days left in this year

1905: At least four churches on Maui join dozens of others throughout the state in holding meetings to organize protesters. The reason? The state legislature began considering a bill which would allow some stores that sold food to be open for a few hours on Sunday, along with some restaurants and – interestingly – soda parlors. The legislature hears the religious cries and defeats the bill. Sunday hours remain anathema until World War II, when businesses protest blackout and curfew hours. The state allows stores to open Sundays to make up for lost sale hours.
1959: The U.S. House passes the Hawaii statehood bill 323 to 89, again with most of the negative votes coming from Southern representatives fearing dark-skinned Senate and House members from Hawaii would help to pass civil rights legislation. They were right.
1966: Kahului receives the first DC9 from Oahu, the first such aircraft ever used for interisland flights. Read the rest…

Worship of Tools  Day Day 71 of 2010 294 days left in this year

One interesting perspective on this is the 15 negative votes for Hawaiian statehood. Just about every one of them came from senators from southern states. Why? Well, no surprise there, the Southerners were racists. Several complained that a significant portion of the territory’s population was of “mixed race” and an awful lot of people’s skin was dark. The horrors!

Furthermore, the racists feared that the state would put into the senate two pro-civil rights senators, which might give civil rights legislation (which was perennially popping up in the Congress those days) the crucial extra votes it needed to pass.

Thus the link was simple: give Hawaii statehood, and the next thing you know, the darkies in Alabama will finally be able to vote. Funny thing, they were right to fear. Hawaii Senators Hiram Fong and Daniel Inouye voted for passage of the 1964 Civil Rights act.  It’s also interesting to note some of those who voted against statehood, and later, civil rights: Strom Thurmond of South Carolina, Robert Byrd of West Virginia, J. William Fulbright of Arkansas, Sam Irvin of North Carolina, and Albert Gore Sr. of Tennessee.

Read the rest…

Middle Name Day Day 70 of 2010 295 days left in this year

March 10, 1970: Today on Maui, and across the state,  a woman can have a legal abortion. Hawaii becomes the first state in the U.S. to formally legalize abortion. The law came into effect through the spinelessness of the governor John Burns. Fearing political repercussions whether he signed or vetoed the bill on his desk, he did nothing, and the ten days passed, making the bill automatically law. New York, Alaska, and Washington states quickly follow Hawaii’s lead. On April 27, 2006, Republican Governor Linda Lingle signs into law a  bill that removes residency requirements for women seeking to abort their unborn children and allows abortions to be performed in clinics or in a physician’s office.In traditional Hawiian culture, several methods were used to induce miscarriages, including ingestional of herbal agents and insertion of a pointed instrument into the uterus. As it has for several years nationwide, the abortion rate in Hawaii has fallen. In 2007 it is estimated that there were 2,740 abortions in the state. More information about this topic can be found here.

Read the rest…

Panic Day Day 69 of 2010 297 days left in this year

March 9th, 1957: Tsunami Strikes Hawaiian Islands
The Aleutian Islands in Alaska experience a huge earthquake which sends a tsunami down to Hawaii. Two people are killed on Kauai, 250 homes are lost there, and $75 million damage is done  throughout the territory, mostly on Kauai and Oahu. Maui experiences a short rise in tide,  maybe five feet. Read more …

In the 1960s, a tsunami warning system was installed in Hawaii with  129  tsunami sirens throughout the islands. These are tested statewide at noon on the first Monday of each month.

If these sirens go off at any other time,  head immediately for higher elevations. In case of an earthquake in Hawaii, don’t wait for tsunami alarms to sound — head for the hills!

That’s because only those tsunami sirens that have been converted to solar/battery operation will sound an alarm if an earthquake automatcally shuts down the power grid. Completion of converting the other third is not scheduled for another 7 years! Geologists estimate that a Big Island earthquake could produce a tsunami on Maui within 10-15 minutes.

HISTORICAL EVENTS ON THIS DAY — March 9th

• 1497: Nicolaus Copernicus first recorded astronomical observation
• 1841: The U.S. Supreme Court rules Africans captured for the purpose of slavery are free (Amistad Incident)
• 1860: The first Japanese ambassador arrives in San Francisco en route to Washington
• 1864: Ulysses S Grant is appointed commander of the Union Army
• 1873: Royal Canadian Mounted Police founded
• 1907: First involuntary sterilization law enacted, Indiana
• 1916: General Fransisco “Poncho” Villa invades U.S. (17 killed)
• 1945: The most destructive Air Raid ever as General LeMay’s B-29’s firebomb Tokoyo, Japan in World War II
• 1954: Edward R Murrow criticizes Sen Joseph McCarthy
• 1979: First extraterrestrial volcano discovered (Jupiter’s satellite Io)
• 1981: The Department of Agriculture, declares ketchup a vegetable

BORN ON THIS DAY — March 9th

• 1454: Amerigo Vespucci, Italian explorer
• 1824: Leland Stanford, governor/senator (founded Stanford University)
• 1905: Rex Warner, English poet/writer
• 1918: Mickey Spillane, mystery writer
• 1926: Irene Papas,  actress
• 1934: Yuri Gagarin, Russia, cosmonaut (1st man into space)
• 1936: Glenda Jackson, actress
• 1940: Raul Julia, actor
• 1942: John Cale,  bassist/altviolist/singer
• 1942: Mark Lindsay, singer
• 1943: Bobby Fischer, world chess champion
• 1945: Ray Royer, rocker
• 1945: Robin Trower, rocker
• 1957: Faith Daniels, news anchor
• 1965: Juliette Binoche,  actress
• 1971: Emmanuel Lewis, actor (Webster)

DIED ON THIS DAY — March 9th

• 1983: Faye Emerson, American actress (b. 1917)
• 1989: Robert Mapplethorpe, American artist (b. 1946)
• 1993: Bob Crosby, American bandleader and vocalist (b. 1913)
• 1994: Charles Bukowski, American writer (b. 1920)
• 1996: George Burns, American actor and singer (b. 1896)
• 2006: John Profumo, British cabinet minister (b. 1915)

Internat’l Women’s Day Day 68 of 2010 297 days left in this year

HAOLE SAYING OF THE DAY —
“One is not born, but rather becomes a woman.”

Read the rest…