The Wombat’s Blog

Human Intelligence … Not0

Wombat tried to get a flight home from here to Australia. This is what Orbitz offered as the low cost option:

15:
Northwest Airlines 222
Honolulu-San Francisco - 23:00 - 05:58 (16th) - 3 stops
British Airways 286
San Francisco-London - 19:50 - 14:00 (17th)
Quantas Airways 2
London-Bangkok - 21:45 - 15:55 (18th)
Qantas Airways 2
Bangkok-Sydney - 17:25 - 06:25 (19th)
Total: 58 hrs 25 min
27:
British Airways 10
Sydney-Bangkok - 17:30 - 22:45 (27th) - 3 stops
British Airways 10
Bangkok-London - 00:10 - 05:50 (28th)
British Airways 49
London-Seattle - 14:05 - 15:50 (28th)
Northwest Airlines 807
Seattle-Honolulu - 17:20 - 21:24 (28th)
Total: 48 hrs 54 min
Price: $2,355 + $488 taxes = $2,843 per person

Usually this is a 10 hour flight, for at least half that price.

Posted: science

How to Fix the Doctor Shortage Crisis0

Sometimes you get smarter people to contribute information to the local paper. Here is a doctor’s perspective on how to address the current “Medical Provider” crisis.

(Original found here.)

How To Fix The Doctor Shortage Crisis In Hawaii
By John Bellatti M.D.
Tuesday, January 23, 2007 8:25 AM HST

Rumors of my retirement are much exaggerated. I am an orthopedic surgeon in my 20th year of practice here in Kona. I read the Jan. 17 article on the M.D. shortage with great interest, including “don’t fracture a bone in Kona because there’s not an orthopedic surgeon.” Later that day, during my second surgery, fixing a broken hip, it occurred to me that perhaps the statement was correct. Perhaps I really did retire, and I’m just having one of those “work dreams.” So I pinched myself. No, I didn’t wake up from this bad dream.

We have an all-out crisis in medical care — a sinking ship. “No new patients” policies are commonplace at existing physician’s offices and more practicing physicians are contemplating jumping into the lifeboats. This problem is not going to turn around in the next six months. But what we do matters.

Realistically, if you are contemplating bringing a family member closer or moving to Kona, reconsider: There will not be adequate medical care available. Most of the readers of WHT do not want to join the emigration to the mainland. There is much hand wringing. Some ask the governor, HMSA, or the Legislature to “do something.”

The success of the U.S. has not come from its governments, nor its large corporations, but from its people, acting in their own interests, and with community spirit. The people of West Hawaii can take this problem into their own hands. Some may not agree with what I am about to say. Great, investigate, cogitate, and communicate. Twenty-five years ago, hospitals, clinics, and medical schools fell all over themselves, tearing down “hospital,” “medical center,” “medical doctor” signs. The term “health care” replaced “medical care.” When you have a heart attack or fracture a bone, you need medical care which is shrinking in Kona.

In order to convince physicians to stay and more physicians to move here, the reason for departures must be faced. The top reason every physician who has left or limited practice has done so, as personally told to me, is “HMSA.” Reimbursement rates are low for the services that physicians supply. Hassle factor is high for the services and prescriptions that physician recommends. When the extremely well paid HMSA executive responds to this letter, just ask yourself — do I believe him or my own eyes?

We need an independent investigation and audit of HMSA just like the one done for the Bishop Estate 10 years ago. For 2005, HMSA had a cash flow of $1.7 billion and a reserve fund of $700 million (see http://www.hmsa.com/about/annualreport/2005/fin_stmt.asp ). This is not subject to any oversight. Remember the old Bishop Estate trustees? Before the Bronster investigation, the papers carried statements that there was nothing to find, that this was a waste of money and time. After the investigation, the discussion of time turned from “waste of time” to jail time.

HMSA continually points to the fact that most physicians “participate” as a sign that most physicians are happy enough with their fee schedule. You’d participate too if someone had a full-nelson on your income. There is a check box on the insurance claim form where the patient can request that the insurance payment be sent to the physician instead of the patient. HMSA simply ignores this. “Non-participation,” for those physicians who tried it (I did once) means too commonly that patients use the check to pay for rent and buy gas, beer and cigarettes and other necessities, before considering paying for the medical services already received. HMSA uses human nature to enforce its protection racket on physicians.

Physicians who might be considering relocating to Hawaii hear of this, and realize they will not be able to set their own fee schedule. It’s HMSA way or bankruptcy — or don’t move here. One urologist did move here without realizing this reality. He left after three months.

This strong-arm practice would be ended very easily if Insurance Commissioner Jeffrey Schmidt could simply issue a regulation that all companies providing medical insurance must honor a request to send the reimbursement directly to the physician. But when it comes to things like this, HMSA says it is not an insurance company. It will take a Legislative statute to bring about change. This is harder because it means the populace (you) must rain down demands on the Legislature to fix. That’s the only way it will happen. Whether or not you are an HMSA member, this problem is seriously affecting you.

A third absolute requirement to attract physicians is to enact medical tort reform — a dollar limit on medical malpractice claims for non-economic damages. This would end the medical malpractice lottery where a very few attorneys can seek huge awards, of which they get one-third (plus expenses). Only a few attorneys in our state participate in the lottery. The rest are in the same boat with us when we or our families need medical care that is not available here.

There is a growing number of states where tort reform has been enacted. Malpractice insurance becomes less expensive; doctors move in. Presumably some of the affected attorneys moved out to greener pastures, like Hawaii. Again, only a concerted effort by the large number of citizens who consider that they might need a doctor for more than flu shots will force our attorney-dominated Legislature to act. This issue pits the medical plaintiff’s attorneys (small number) against the entire population of the state. In the past five years have you benefited from the current non-reformed system? Did you get to deposit the big check? Or, have you or a family member been negatively affected by the current system — long wait in the ER, trouble finding a doctor to be “your doctor,” deliver a baby, or fix a fracture?

Tort reform does not impede anyone’s ability to sue a doctor for malpractice; it just means your attorney may give you better advice on what is realistic to expect. The alternative is no doctor - no malpractice. In an ethical legislature, tort reform would already have come to a vote at least once. Sylvia Luke, malpractice attorney and chairperson of the Judiciary Committee, not only failed to recuse herself from decisions on a tort reform bill, she absolutely blocked discussion of this bill in committee. Don’t let them dodge the issue again. Rain down e-mails, faxes, letters and phone calls. We need medical tort reform now. It will benefit most of us.

I have outlined two key elements of the medical doctor shortage in Kona and in the state: HMSA’s death-grip on the reimbursement levels for physicians and continuation of the medical malpractice lottery for a few attorneys.

I have pointed out three key elements to attack and win.

1. HMSA must have a Bishop Estate-like investigation and public audit.
2. HMSA (and other payers) must be made to accept the request of their members to make payments directly to physicians.
3. The Legislature must pass a meaningful medical tort reform bill.

Any reader may feel ineffectual in writing a letter. If 1,000 Kona residents write one letter a week, and send it out to 10 people (legislators, senators, governor, HMSA execs, state bar association, insurance commissioner), then modify it and do it again next week, 50 weeks times 10 recipients times 1,000 citizens is 500,000 calls for action. Residents from the other islands would join in because you copy your e-mail to your friends, who do the same. Try 10,000 letter writers with 10 copies sent. One hundred thousand letters a week. This is attainable.

We don’t need another emergency summit with politicians, bands, and grinds, to hear more blah-blah-blah. We need the personal, earnest, broad-based, consistent, tenacious efforts of our many concerned citizens to pummel our elected officials into putting our interests first.

The Legislature and governor must step up to the plate and do just these three things to represent their constituencies. We do not elect leaders, we are the leaders. Let’s remind our representatives. The next election is a long way off. This problem can’t wait.

Please, make this problem your problem. The time to act is now.

Bellatti is a Kona orthopedic surgeon. 

Posted: local, health

Maintaining Space Superiority0

This is an ongoing, low-level, story about China shooting down one of its weather satellites. Apparently that’s a big, big problem, because we can’t just have random countries developing technology that could challenge us. The implicit assumption is that they don’t have the right to do this, because it’ll start an escalation. It sounds like the same argument going “it’s ok for us to have nuclear weapons, but dang if we’re going to let you develop them.”

Now it would not have an issue with this approach, if the power was concentrated in the mind of a beneficent global power, say Switzerland. But U.S. is often abusing its power, and they don’t play nice with others, so why shouldn’t others progress to counteract that? Because China is so much bigger? But what’s the implication if the US invades Grenada? Because the US supports democracy? Like in Chile, or Nicaragua, or say Iraq?

So the reaction is “you have no right to challenge our space dominance.” The reaction should be to focus on science and technology to maintain that dominance. But technology in this county is already falling behind those of other countries. Unless we do something in society, we will continue to shout at people to not challenge our dominance, instead of defending it.

U.S. Criticizes Chinese Anti-Satellite Weapons

The United States criticized China on Thursday for conducting an anti-satellite weapons test in which an old Chinese weather satellite was destroyed by a missile.

The Bush administration has kept a lid on the test for a week as it weighs its significance. Analysts said China’s weather satellites would travel at about the same altitude as U.S. spy satellites, so the test represented an indirect threat to U.S. defense systems.

Since the mid-1980s, the United States has had the ability to take down satellites, but the Chinese don’t have satellites worth attacking, Pike said. The United States may have to develop alternatives to its current spy satellites - perhaps stelathy satellites or unmanned aerial vehicles, which are harded to detec tthan the current well-established U.S. satellite network.

Reconnainsance satellites in low-Earth orbit - “eyes in the sky” - are essential to how the United States fights wars.

U.S., Allies Protest China’s Anti-Satellite Test

U.S. allies joined the United States on Friday in voicing concern about the rising militarization of space after China successfully carried out a test of an anti-satellite weapon.

Deputy White House press secretary Dana Perino said Chinese officials had not yet responded to the concerns expressed by the United States.

officials in Japan, Britain, Australia and South Korea demanded China explain its actions.

They also related their concern that debris from the test would strike other satellites orbiting Earth.

Posted: politics, science

The Business of Sports0

This article seems to focus on scalpers selling superbowl tickets online. My reaction is “who spends $5000+ to spend two hours watching guys carrying a ball and forth.” But sure, the geeks are winning, taking profit away from the people that used to sell tickets outside the stadium. Good for them. But “it’s a once-in-a-lifetime event.” Yes it is. So is today’s weather.
(Original found here.)

Scalpers put Super Bowl Tickets Online
By MATT SEDENSKY Associated Press Writer

MIAMI - Jeff Block is pensive about cashing in his life insurance policy, wistful about putting off his wedding engagement, fearful about making the big purchase.

One thing the 31-year-old financial analyst is sure of: If he comes up with the cash to follow his beloved Chicago Bears to the Super Bowl, he won’t be buying tickets from a traditional scalper. His attention is focused on one of the many online ticket resellers.

The secondhand ticket market has grown up a lot in the last decade, shifting from a business largely conducted by salesmen lurking outside stadiums to one chiefly online, both in simple Craigslist postings and more sophisticated Internet databases.

“The street business has really died,” said Don Vaccaro, who has been selling tickets since 1979 and is the founder and chief executive of Vernon, Conn.-based TicketLiquidator.com. “The old-time brokers are saying, ‘Look, you got a bunch of geeks selling tickets now.’ It’s really a lot more brains going in now.”

There are about 70,000 seats at the Feb. 4 game, but ticket distribution is tightly controlled by the NFL: 25.2 percent to the league itself, largely for sponsors, licensees and the like; 17.5 percent each to the two competing teams, the Chicago Bears and Indianapolis Colts, with some raffled off to season ticket holders; 5 percent to the host Miami Dolphins; and 1.2 percent to each of the remaining 29 NFL teams.

Many of those lucky enough to get tickets when they’re first sold won’t part with them. Princeton University economist Alan Krueger studied the ticket market during the 2001 Super Bowl in Tampa and found only about 20 percent of seats were resold.

“People were very reluctant to sell their ticket,” he said. “If they won their ticket in the lottery they acted as if they were chosen by God to go to the game.”

That leaves desperate fans with a choice: Pay up or park yourself on your couch.

If they choose the former, and turn to a broker, they will be buying tickets that have been marked up at least twice — by the original holder or holders and then again by the resale company, which typically tries to secure a price 20 percent to 30 percent higher than it paid. The result is upper-level seats from around $3,000 to luxury sideline suites for over a half-million dollars, though the average regular Super Bowl ticket sold online is about $5,115, according to an analysis by SeatSmart.com, an online ticket search site.

The face value of all Super Bowl tickets is $600 or $700.

The National Association of Ticket Brokers says there are about 600 brokers nationwide; those in the industry say their online presence has increased competition and pricing transparency. They say — believe it or not — tickets used to be marked up even more.

“It used to be, buy a ticket, triple your profit,” Vaccaro said. “Now it’s buy a ticket and you’re lucky if you get 20 percent.”

If that isn’t pulling at your heartstrings, consider the rate at which some companies are growing. Mike Domek started his company in 1992, generating $100,000 in sales its first year. Last year, Crystal Lake, Ill.-based TicketsNow.com hit $200 million in revenue.

And it’s not just big sporting events like the Super Bowl, the World Cup or the Masters adding to their bottom lines. While Domek made more on the Super Bowl last year than any other single event, tickets to the musical “Wicked” collectively generated more revenue than anything else.

Mike Janes, a senior vice president at online ticket broker StubHub.com, said people will spend the money because such tickets are seen as admittance to a once-in-a-lifetime experience. StubHub was recently purchased by eBay Inc. for $310 million.

“People spend a lot of money, thousands of dollars quite often, for experiences like going to Hawaii, going on a cruise, going to Las Vegas, going to Disney World,” Janes said. “Fans, especially passionate fans, think nothing of spending that amount of money on an event like this.”

Gene Kudron, a 49-year-old who lives in Winfield, Ill., and owns a small manufacturing company, is among those who decided it’s worth the cost. He bought four Super Bowl packages on RazorGator.com for a total of $24,800.

“I had it up on the screen and I didn’t hit that button for probably 10 minutes,” he said. “I tried to justify it 15 different ways but it’s an opportunity I probably won’t have again.”

Though much of the initial allotment of Super Bowl tickets is going to corporate buyers, many of the resold ones are, too. Companies buy them up to reward clients and employees and brokers say they account for most of the business up until the two weeks before the Super bowl.

“They’re the only ones who will allocate funds no matter what team is involved,” said Michael Lipman, president of Miami-based TicketsOfAmerica.com.

Lipman will sell about 20 to 40 game tickets to Richard Bennetti, chief executive of Ocean Drive Limousine in Miami, who gives them to clients. Bennetti says it keeps customers interested in his business by giving them an unmatchable experience.

“It’s like giving a small baby its first taste of ice cream,” he said.

The majority of states have no price cap on ticket resales by brokers; Florida eased its rules last year and some other remaining ones appear poised to follow. Still, companies can often get around any restrictions by offering travel packages, with tickets, airfare, a hotel room and other perks bundled together. Scalpers who work right outside events typically face tougher constraints, but overall the legal environment has become friendlier.

“The clear trend,” said Gary Adler, a lobbyist and attorney for the National Association of Ticket Brokers, “is toward opening up markets.”

Krueger said his survey showed most fans support a legal ticket resale market but don’t want to see the NFL charge more. Many argue the league could improve the Super Bowl situation by giving more tickets directly to fans, but Brian McCarthy, an NFL spokesman, said there will never be enough.

“If we could build a stadium for 400,000 fans we still wouldn’t have enough tickets,” he said.

As for Block, he was still struggling with his decision as game day neared. He was worried more about the cost than upsetting his girlfriend.

“She puts up with a lot,” he said.

Posted: social/culture, personal finance

Stubbornness or Stupidity0

A quick reflection on the controversy between administrative and executive branches of government. Another insight into how the President doesn’t appear to care that nobody supports him, since he is acting on principle.

Vice President Cheney offers a reminder that we’re talking about the Commander in Chief and that

you cannot run a ware by committee

Maybe not. But you cannot run a war at all. Then there’s also the great

I think the Iraqi people owe the American people a huge debt of gratitude.

No, you can’t think like that anymore. Look what you’ve done to the Iraqi people in the process of earning that gratitude.

(original no longer available, found a cached copy here.)

Bush Refuses To Waver On Iraq Troop Plan
By BEN FELLER, Associated Press Writer
Mon Jan 15, 8:30 AM ET

WASHINGTON - President Bush concedes he isn’t popular, and that the war in Iraq
isn’t either. Yes, progress is overdue and patience is all but gone. Yet none of
that changes his view that more U.S. troops are needed to win in Iraq.

“I’m not going to try to be popular and change principles to do so,” Bush said
in a television interview that aired Sunday night.

Digging in for confrontation, Bush and Vice President
Dick Cheney say they will not budge from sending more U.S. troops to Iraq no matter how much Congress opposes it.

“I fully understand they could try to stop me,” Bush said of the Democrat-run Congress. “But I’ve made my decision, and we’re going forward.”

As the president talked tough, lawmakers pledged to explore ways to stop him.

“We need to look at what options we have available to constrain the president,” said Democratic Sen. Barack Obama (news, bio, voting record) of Illinois, a possible White House candidate in 2008. Democrats remain wary, though, of appearing unsupportive of American troops.

A defiant Cheney, meanwhile, said Democrats offered criticism without credible alternatives. He pointedly reminded lawmakers that Bush is commander in chief.

“You cannot run a war by committee,” the vice president said of congressional input.

The aggressive White House reaction came as the House and Senate prepare to vote on resolutions opposing additional U.S. troops in Iraq.

As the White House watched even some GOP support peel away from the war plan, it went all-out to regain some footing.

Bush gave his first interview from Camp David, airing Sunday night on CBS’ “60 Minutes.” It was his second prime-time opportunity in five days to explain why he thinks adding U.S. troops can help stabilize Iraq and hasten the time when American soldiers can come home. He addressed the nation from the White House last Wednesday evening.

“Some of my buddies in Texas say, ‘You know, let them fight it out. What business is it of ours?’” Bush said of Iraqis. “And that’s a temptation that I know a lot of people feel. But if we do not succeed in Iraq, we will leave behind a Middle East which will endanger America.”

Yet when asked if he owes the Iraqi people an apology for botching the management of the war, he said, “Not at all.

“We liberated that country from a tyrant,” Bush said. “I think the Iraqi people owe the American people a huge debt of gratitude.”

Bush announced last week he will send 21,500 more troops to Iraq to halt violence, mainly around Baghdad, as an essential step toward stabilizing the country’s government.

Democrats in Congress — along with some Republicans — were unimpressed and frustrated. Beyond promising to go on record in opposition to the president’s approach, the Democratic leadership is considering whether, and how, to cut off funding for additional troops.

“You don’t like to micromanage the Defense Department, but we have to, in this case, because they’re not paying attention to the public,” said Rep. John Murtha (news, bio, voting record), a Pennsylvania Democrat who helps oversee military funding.

It is unclear how any effort by Congress could affect Bush’s plan. National security adviser
Stephen Hadley said the White House already has money appropriated by Congress to move the additional forces to Iraq.

GOP Sen. John McCain (news, bio, voting record) of Arizona, a potential 2008 presidential contender who endorses Bush’s call for more troops, said votes to express disapproval were pointless.

“If they’re dead serious then we should have a motion to cut off funding,” he said of those fighting Bush’s strategy.

Many Democrats favor a phased withdrawal of U.S. troops, along with new diplomatic efforts with Iraq’s neighbors.

The Bush administration had hoped that the president’s overhauled strategy would lead to some bipartisan unity or that the White House would at least get an extended hearing before legislative leaders made up their minds. Instead, it encountered majority opposition in Congress and a public that rejected by large polling margins the military and political ideas Bush announced.

In the CBS interview, Bush rejected an assertion that, time and again, his administration hasn’t been straight with the American people about Iraq. He said his spirits were strong.

“I really am not the kind of guy that sits here and says, ‘Oh gosh, I’m worried about my legacy,’” Bush said.

The president also said he saw part of the Internet-aired video of the execution of
Saddam Hussein, which showed some Iraqis taunting Saddam as he stood with a noose around his neck on the gallows. He said it could have been handled a lot better.

Bush said he got no particular satisfaction from seeing Saddam hang. “I’m not a revengeful person,” he said.

Hadley was interviewed on “This Week” on ABC and “Meet the Press” on NBC. Cheney was on “Fox News Sunday.” Obama was on CBS’ “Face the Nation.” Murtha appeared on “This Week.”

Posted: politics

Needing a Boat to Lift with the Tide0

An strange article to come from George Will, taking about one senator looking for government-engineered equality.
(Original found here.)

The Equality Engineer
By George F. Will
Sunday, January 21, 2007; B07

Barney Frank, the 14-term Massachusetts congressman who chairs the House Financial Services Committee, says it might be useful to “make it a misdemeanor to use metaphors in the discussion of public policy,” such as “a rising tide lifts all boats.” Against what he considers that too-complacent view of economic growth (the metaphor was John Kennedy’s), Frank says: A rising tide is wonderful “if you have a boat.”

Frank questions whether market-driven wealth creation is producing more inequality “than is either socially healthy or economically necessary.” He favors much more government intervention in the economy to diminish inequality. Sometimes he means equal dependence on government. For example, he wants everyone enrolled in Medicare — with larger co-payments for higher-income people — in order to take health care “out of the wage system.”

Frank mildly says that Congress should “pay a little more attention” to the seven governors of the Federal Reserve system, all of whom are confirmed by Congress. The Fed, says Frank less mildly, should not be considered “above democracy”: “We can debate whether Terri Schiavo’s life should be recognized as over” and other fundamental questions of existence, “but God forbid anybody in elected office should talk about whether or not we need a 25-basis-point increase” in interest rates. “Somehow that’s sacrosanct. No, it isn’t. It’s public policy.”

The late Sen. William Proxmire, a populist Democrat who represented Wisconsin for 32 years, said that all members of Congress should have written on their bathroom mirrors, so it is the first thing they read each day, this: “The Fed is a creature of Congress.” Frank says Congress should not intervene in monetary policy . . . “unless.” By monitoring whether the Fed’s governors act as they said they would when they were being confirmed, Congress would be “setting the predicate for intervention if they act otherwise.”

He wants the Fed to emphasize full employment as well as protect the currency as a store of value — restraining inflation. But the Fed’s stunning conquest of inflation since the early 1980s is almost a sufficient explanation of subsequent prosperity.

Three years ago, when unemployment was 5.8 percent, Frank outlined his doctrine of “capitalism plus” — plus a lot of government — in a House speech, warning that America was at “a major inflection point” where the economy’s ability to create wealth is exceeding its ability to create jobs. Today, unemployment is 4.5 percent. How low can it go? He answers briskly: It fell to 3.8 percent during the Clinton administration. Could that become normal? And Frank says that when the New York Times wrote that the economy had exceeded its “normal rate of growth” for 11 years, he wrote to the Times wondering whether facts are redefining normality.

Frank may be the most liberal member of Congress. His thinking is what today’s liberalism looks like when organized by a first-class mind. He thinks he discerns cultural contradictions of conservatism: Some conservative policies — free trade and tax and other policies that (he thinks) widen income inequalities — undermine support for other conservative policies. When capitalism’s “creative destruction,” intensified by globalization, churns the labor market and deepens the insecurities of millions of families, conservatives should not be surprised by the collapse of public support for free trade and an immigration policy adequate to the economy’s needs.

Frank’s solution, “fair trade,” is to use the threat of denying access to the American market to force less developed countries to adopt “minimal standards of civility,” meaning more expansive — more American — labor rights and environmental protections. This is an economic version of George W. Bush’s foreign policy. Bush’s Wilsonian goal is “ending tyranny in our world.” Frank’s trade policy is “Wilsonianism without weapons.” Or perhaps it is Johnsonian (Lyndon Johnson): Trade policy should impose semi-Great Society rules on less developed trading partners, thereby helping the poor in those countries — and reducing those countries’ competitive advantages.

Frank’s committee has, he says, “a larger jurisdiction to talk than to legislate.” Pay attention to the talk: In it liberalism’s interest in diminishing inequality (using government power to regulate the economy’s distribution effects) duels with conservatism’s emphasis on freedom (incentives by which market forces rationally allocate wealth and opportunity).

Frank says he is fortunate to be “in a profession where a weakness of mine — a short attention span — is a strength.” In a government with its fingers in far too many pies, legislators must flit from one subject to another. What distinguishes Frank, however, is the coherence — which is not a synonym for persuasiveness — of his argument for more government-engineered equality.

georgewill@washpost.com

Posted: social/culture, politics

The County’s Efforts to Ruling the Law0

A quick update on the condemnation proceedings of a property to allow connection of a second road south to alleviate Kona’s afternoon traffic jam. Apparently the County’s own legal team, goofed. I’ve dealt with them before about a potential safety problem with them dedicating an unsafe road and was told “we don’t care what you think, we got it and that’s it.” Ah well. Point is well taken, they may be cheap, but you get what you pay for.

I’m glad that our local judge Ibarra seems to be a completely competent person, even if he is unpopular.

Now, on this same topic, we get a letter from a frequent contributor that offers a somewhat scary interpretation.

the needs of the overall community outweight the rule of law and the landowner’s rights in this situation

Laws are there for a reason. You don’t get to pick and choose them to suit your own agenda, because everybody else can do so too, and pandemonium will ensue. Much better to deal with the process and change the rules, so everybody benefits. Even if I disagree, I have to support the laws for society to function. What if it was your property in question, would you want to count on the protection?
(Couldn’t find either one of those online, so they’re retyped.)

County Legal Efforts on Bypass Road Hit Another Dead End

The Hawaii County Corporation Counsel takes another bold move forward, and falls on its face - again. That’s the essence of the county’s crack legal maneuverings as it attempts to navigate an eminent domain condemnation for the South Kona bypass road.

There will be no action on this long-awaited, long-litigated, long-mediated and long-promised road for our long-suffering community - until it goes to trial in July. The Coupe family will have another day in court to hear their argument that an easement being sought for the South Kona bypass road across their property is not a public benefit, rather the half-built highway is a benefit to the developer, 1250 Oceanside Partners.

To put the issue most succeinctly and bluntly, hawaii County attorneys have been som ham-fisted in their pursuit of the entire Hokulia issue, from its development permit approval process, to its “first-of-its-kind” developer’s agreement, this episode has taken the appearance of textbook ineptitude.

County attorneys, working on our behalf, have failed repeatedly to make a compelling case of the importance of this bypass road to the public, that it is indeed a public benefit. This same legal team, motions in hand, again came to bat in the Third Circuit Court earlier this month with claims of new evidence in the proceeding to provide a basis for reconsideration and clearance by the court for the county to proceed with condemnation of the highway corridor, allowing the value later to be determined in court.

Not so, Third Circuit Judge Ronald Ibarra correctly ruled.

The clarity of his ruling was the antithesis of the county’s efforts: “… the court finds there is no newly discovered evidence or new arguments which by due diligence could not have been discovered or raised prior to the hearing on 1250 Oceanside Partner’s motion for pretrial summary judgment …. nor is there any inadvertence, surprise or excusable neglect.”

While blame might easily be cast upon the court in this finding, as in its earlier rulings that stopped the Holkulia project, the court does not base its rulings upon sentiment, frustration over traffic or political allegiance, rather the rule of law, which while subject to argument, ultimately is clear in these rulings.

What our county saves annually in salaries paid to its combined legal assets in the office of the Corporation Counsel is offset by an exponential increase in the expense incurred by that office’s ineffectiveness to our residents, in fascal, civil, socila and political contexts.

Everybody laughs at attorney jokes, but it’s not funny whent he joke is being played upon us.

A Reader’s Response

I’m very frustrated by the seemingly never ending Hokulia bypass condemnation litigation. yes, it seems the county has dropped the ball concerning new evidence and bringing up the laches argument during this latest round.

But to me, the needs of the overall community outweight the rule of law and the landowner’s rights in this situation. Why should the community suffer through bumper-t-bumper traffic just because of one selfish landowner and the ineptitude of Hawaii County? Bottom line is this condemnation litigation has been dragging on for six years. How much longer will this drag on - while the overall community suffers?

Overall, I’m not very optimistic that this much needed roadway will ever be completed, especially after Judge Ibarra’s recent damaging court rulings.

I strong urge the Coupe family to allow this condemnatio of 2.9 acres of their land to move forward. So this much-needed roadway can be completed.

A.S. Kailua-Kona

Posted: social/culture, local, legal

Transparency of Public Service0

Lots of local news recently. There must be something in the water. This one is a somewhat obscure article talking about a hush-hush event involving a local police officer. The police here doesn’t have the best reputation - I wish they did. It’s not a negative one, just not a positive one, which leads to a “I’ll take care of it myself” attitude.

Now this is a little insight into local culture, protecting your own, my cousin this-and-that. Is secrecy the best policy? Will there be anything coming out of this?

(Original found here.)

Incidents Will Be A Bellwether Of Transparency And Ethics
by Reed Flickinger
West Hawaii Today
Sunday, January 21, 2007 10:03 AM HST

Imagine this problem: You are an employer and one of your workers is, for lack of a better term, a problem child.

The employee uses his own vehicle for work, but he gets a sizable subsidy for the vehicle, as well as fuel allowances. And that vehicle is a necessity for doing the job and because of the nature of that work, the employee and the vehicle are constantly in the public eye. There are some rules and conditions that apply to the employee and the vehicle.

To paint the mise-en-scene, the whole picture, let’s put in perspective that this employee has had some problems, personal problems that might have ultimately affected his ability to do the job. But he’s back to work, doing what he’s supposed to do.

However, off work is a different story. The employee has problems, and whether they lead to some drinking or the drinking leads to them becomes immaterial because the drinking is followed by a stint behind the wheel of the employer-subsidized vehicle.

One night, police are called to the scene of an accident. And there police find the employee’s vehicle, abandoned, and in the vehicle, unlocked, the employee leaves one of the critical tools he needs to do his job.

Luckily, nobody is injured in the accident and when police question the employee, the employee says he was flustered, upset and distraught, so the scene of the accident was abandoned.

The problems mount.

Now, however, it’s critical for the employee to have that car to do the job. So within two weeks, behind the wheel of another vehicle, and under the influence of alcohol that registers something like 0.2 on a blood draw, this same employee totals the new company-subsidized vehicle. And the person suffers injuries, requiring attention of authorities in the Police Department, Fire Department and local hospital. It can’t be denied or ignored.

What do you do?

Certainly police will have to investigate and file charges, and then the case can go to the prosecutor’s office for exercise of due process. Or maybe not.

So, where does it go, under the carpet or under the harsh and impartial light of public exposure?

The problem here is not that someone allegedly got drunk and wrecked a car, maybe twice. While abhorrent and indicative of an all-too-common social problem, the incidents are not impossible, though they are by all measures illegal and unethical.

The problem is if these alleged incidents took place and justice takes a vacation, if police take a break and the alleged offender takes a pass on accountability.

What will the Hawaii County Police Department do? This is your officer. While both incidents reportedly took place while the officer was off duty, they were in county-subsidized vehicles. And when the scene of the accident was abandoned, the officer’s service weapon, the county-supplied gun, was left unsecured in the vehicle.

Calls to the Kona and Hilo offices of the county prosecutor found that their search of records did not reveal the officer’s name in any pending cases. However, the Hilo prosecutor’s office confirmed there is a case under the officer’s name in the Records Management System.

What would the charges be? DUI, perhaps twice, leaving the scene of an accident, failure to report an accident and a firearms violation that goes under the name “place to keep,” because it was improperly stored, all pop up on the lists of potential violations.

Deputy Police Chief Harry Kubojiri on Friday confirmed the officer’s DUI and subsequent arrest in the hospital, adding it is public record. Beyond that he would make no comments about the specifics of the DUI case, or the previous accident and gun incident, which he did not dispute or dispel. Kubojiri said, however, the goal of the department is “transparency,” and an openness that will ensure and reinforce public trust in the department.

“I’m glad you’re watching,” he said.

The officer is out on leave because of injuries sustained. Will justice also take leave, or will applicable charges be filed? And will there be an investigation that is as quick and impartial as one involving a member of the community — who is not a member of the law enforcement community?

Several years ago, after wilting under pressure from the union, the State of Hawaii Organization of Police Officers, the Legislature passed a law that kept hidden from the public the identity of police officers subject to discipline. Under that umbrella, the police may legally (though ethically is a matter of semantics) say nothing about this. And if past behavior by the department were indicative of what to expect, rank would disclose nothing even upon filing of criminal charges — despite that being a matter of court public record not eclipsed by the Legislature’s cowering.

This will be a wait-and-see situation: Charges, or dirt under the carpet? Public record will reveal if charges are filed — and for what crime(s) — or if justice takes a vacation and a vicarious DUI joy ride.

These incidents will be an interesting bellwether of the department’s transparency and ethics.

Posted: social/culture, local

Attacking Pregnant Visitors0

And article three of current life in Paradise. Tourism is a big deal here, which makes tourists a target. So this one is about a recent attack on some campers at a beach in South Kona. The fact that local hoodlums try to attack a pregnant woman from Hilo probably doesn’t really matter. The fact that you can’t count on police to assist (or even have a way to call for help). And it just illustrates that Security is really nothing more than a front that you may not be able to count on - deterring what’s harmless, but not really protecting what’s harmless.

What’s next, armed conflict?
(Original found here.)

Campers Assaulted At Hookena Beach
by Erin Miller
West Hawaii Today
emiller@westhawaiitoday.com
Wednesday, January 31, 2007 8:33 AM HST

Caitlin Pomeranz thought if she just didn’t look at her attackers, they might leave her alone.

The strategy didn’t work.

“Some guy hit me in the face,” the 21-year-old Vermont native said of the people who assaulted her and a group of friends at Hookena Beach Park on Saturday night. “He hit me right in the cheekbone.”

Pomeranz took the blow while shielding 27-year-old Radha Harvey, a Hilo resident seven months pregnant with her fourth child, from the attackers.

Neither woman is sure what set off the group of young men at about 7 p.m. Saturday. The women and several other friends and family members, including Harvey’s 6- and 3-year-old sons and year-and-a-half-old daughter, were singing and eating dinner around a campfire when the men stopped at the fire and first tried to rouse the male campers from their seats. When the campers declined, the group of men moved on to a neighboring campsite. Pomeranz said she had seen the men earlier in the day. Other campers spoke with the men without incident prior to the attack, she said.

The next thing Pomeranz and Harvey heard was a shriek and the sounds of campers being assaulted.

“The fight just went on and on,” Harvey said. “We were really afraid. We all basically hid and ran off to the tents.”

Before hiding, Harvey saw a man, probably in his 60s, being beaten by three younger men, and heard the attackers cursing at the campers, telling them to leave the beach and the island, she said.

When the fighting quieted, Harvey and the rest of the group came out of their tents. Harvey’s husband, Michael, spoke with a park security guard, who advised the group to pack up and leave. The campers returned to the campfire and began singing again, Harvey said, but the attackers soon returned. This time, they began hitting and kicking Harvey’s friends and a group of campers who had gathered around the fire, she said.

“No one fought back,” Harvey said. “Everyone just begged them to stop.”

The victims said they are concerned not only about the attack, but the response by law enforcement officers and medics Saturday night. The park security guard was unable to stop the five-minute attack and left the campsite afterward to call for help, Harvey said. As the campers left the park, they said they saw an ambulance parked at the top of the road, not driving down to check on remaining victims. Police officers told them the average response time to a call for help at the Hookena park is about 90 minutes.

Parks and Recreation Director Patricia Englehard said the security guards’ main duty each evening is to check for camping permits. The guard on duty Saturday night would have had to leave the park to call for help, because cell phones don’t have adequate reception at the remote location and the park does not have an emergency phone, she said.

Parks and recreation officials have tried to get a phone installed for two years, Englehard said. She said she asked Hawaiian Telcom again Monday to run telephone lines for an emergency phone at the park after she heard about the weekend’s assaults.

Reports of similar attacks at the park happen once every year or two, Englehard said. But, in the past, when she asked the County Council to staff the park, council members told her the Police Department was responsible for protecting campers.

Medics from the Captain Cook Fire Station would have likely responded to the call, Fire Department acting Capt. Eric Kunitomo said. Kunitomo was not on duty Saturday and did not have information about the attack. He said medics will sometimes wait for police officers before entering a scene, depending on the nature of the call.

Police Department Lt. Jason Cortez said the 90-minute average response time Pomeranz and Harvey heard is longer than usual, but added that a variety of factors can slow officers as they try to reach the park, which is far from the more heavily patrolled regions of the district.

Cortez confirmed that six to 10 people were assaulted at the park. Most of the injuries recorded were scrapes and bruises; one victim required stitches, he said.

Pomeranz, a visitor to the Big Island who arrived in December and plans to stay through March or April, said the incident will cause her to think twice before camping on the beach again.

“I had no thought that that would happen,” she said. “I’m aware, because I’ve been on Hilo side, that there’s tension between locals and mainlanders. … I’m going to keep my eyes open more.”

The investigation into the assaults remains ongoing. Police ask anyone with information contact Darren Cho at 326-4646 ext. 253, or Crime Stoppers at 329-8181.

Posted: local

Hurting the Needy0

Article two of our current series into “Life in Paradise.” This one goes into the nihilism of society. There is a mobile van that provides dental servies to the uninsured, rural population. Somebody vandalized it. Ah well. That’s as good as somebody stealing the Hawaii Food Bank van that delivers food to the needy last year.

Why? What goes on in your head when you make that decision?

I can’t say that people are shooting themselves in the foot, but whatever the cause may be, there is zero sympathy in the population towards the perpetrators.

(Original found here.)

Mobile Care Van Vandalized over Holiday
by Carolyn Lucas
West Hawaii Today
clucas@westhawaiitoday.com
Friday, January 19, 2007 8:52 AM HST

Vandals smashed the windshield of a Mobile Care van, disrupting for nearly three weeks dental care services to the low-income, uninsured and Quest/Medicaid population throughout rural West Hawaii.

Lloyd Mills, the van driver, discovered the vandalism New Year’s Day at St. Michael’s Catholic Church on Alii Drive in Kailua-Kona and immediately filed a police report.

“My heart sank when I answered the phone on New Year’s Day and heard the windshield of the Mobile Care van had been smashed,” said Kaye Lundburg, program director for the Mobile Care Health Project. “Who? Why? These were my first reactions. Fortunately, no one had entered the van and nothing was stolen. However, there were glass shards everywhere.”

As of press time Thursday, the Hawaii County Police Department had no leads or suspects in the case. Kona police are asking for the public’s help in finding those responsible for vandalizing the Mobile Care van.

Anyone with information about the crime or the identity of the vandals is asked to call Officer Kyle Hirayama at 326-4646 ext. 253. Those who wish to remain anonymous also may call Crime Stoppers at 329-8181 in Kona and 961-8300 in Hilo.

The Office for Social Ministry, the Roman Catholic Church in Hawaii and the St. Francis Healthcare System Community Health Services runs Mobile Care. The health -project provides acute and urgent care services to patients, who are either referred by emergency rooms or self-referral.

“The Mobile Care Health Project has served as a safety-net for dental services for 10 years — $1.45 million in uncompensated dental care to people who have nowhere else to go,” Lundburg said. “These people include: the frail elderly, the mentally ill, the physically disabled, the working poor, the recent immigrant, the unemployed and the homeless.”

While dental care is still being offered at St. Michael’s Catholic Church, the vandalism led to the cancellation of the regularly scheduled dental clinics in Ocean View, Honaunau and Kapaau.

“The Mobile Care van has been demobilized,” Lundburg said. “Clinics are restricted to Kailua-Kona until the windshields are repaired. This has created a hardship for many patients, who don’t have the money for gas or own a reliable vehicle to drive to Kona.”

The Office of Social Ministry has ordered the windshield, which is being shipped via air from the Winnebago Factory in Iowa to Kona. Originally, officials anticipated the van to be grounded for six weeks or more because of the surface transportation and the special handling required.

However, Lundburg said the windshield is expected to arrive soon on the Big Island and the van has an appointment to be repaired at Wally’s Glass Shop this weekend. She hopes the van will be ready Jan. 26 to go to Ocean View, where a dental clinic is scheduled.

Lundburg estimated the total cost of repairs, shipping and the windshield to be between $1,000 and $2,000. She said the vehicle insurance would only cover the cost of the surface shipment.

To donate, call 935-3050 ext. 112 or 987-8904. Or send a check to: The Office of Social Ministry, Mobile Care, 140 B Holomua St., Hilo, HI 96720.

Posted: social/culture, local