Dog Eaters

Biden goes to Maui – August 21, 2023

Posted on 08.22.23 under Uncategorized

President Biden came to Maui on August 21, 2023 the day and time we were scheduled to fly out from Kahului, so we changed our flight to the evening of Aug 20. The morning of the Aug 21, we saw this rainbow from the Ala Moana Hotel that pointed directly to the spot that Jack Yoshitami Tasaka‘s ashes were scattered off of the jetty at Magic Island in 2014.

The jetty

Magic Island

He died just a four months short of 100 years in 2014. Jack Tasaka was a Japanese in Hawaii historian, the first Japanese radio announcer in America, hobnobbed with the Japanese sumo, baseball, singers and actors of the 50s and 60s and was also Junko’s step father. August 21, 2023 would have been Jack’s 110 birthday.

Later that day, Junko’s kumu, Hokulani Holt led President Biden and other Hawaiian Cultural leaders in a purification ceremony at Moku’ula, the original capital of the Kingdom of Hawaii.

Kumu Hokulani Holt is to the left of Biden in the yellow kihei

It’s interesting to see how the news of Biden’s trip to Maui has been covered by pro and anti-Biden media. The New York Post covered the protesters’ complaints about the government response and the jokes and stories that made the story about Biden and the $700 one-time payment to the survivors. The pro-Biden (never Trumpsters) covered the talking points in the speech. There are no winners, obviously. It seems that there is very little objective news coverage — there’s always a spin on it. Why can’t the news be “Just the facts, ma’am, just the facts.”

We’ll see how it all plays out in a year or two…

Lahaina burns…

Posted on 08.14.23 under Uncategorized

August 8, 2023 Lahaina burned to the ground.

It’s terrible. I think there will be 100s of deaths and thousands of displaced people. It’s the worst disaster in Hawaii since Pearl Harbor…

Junko was staying at the condo in Kihei the night of the fire with five hula students from Napualikolokelani in Japan (two mothers, three kids). They’re doing our Maui Hula Immersive. I was working on the land in Wailuku, so I went to Kihei that afternoon, played with the kids in the pool, and ate dinner with them before heading back. We took sunset photos from the condo and wondered about the haze. The winds were so strong we thought it was dust or even water vapor.

The traffic was very light on the road to Lahaina in the afternoon, but at 8pm, the cars were backed up at turnoff going to Lahaina. I thought maybe a tree had fallen on the road or there had been an accident. Traffic to Wailuku — going away from West Maui was very light.

In the meantime, we’re having an active time with the hula students. They’re doing ag, making hula implements, dancing. The day after Lahaina burnt down, we went to a birthday lunch for our realtors’ daughter/granddaughter at Tante Maalaea and Kiharu (the next keiki soloist, age 9) danced Nahiku. People at the party were trying to carry on as you normally would do at a birthday party, chitchat, smiling, and laughing — all emotions held under control. Kiharu danced beautifully and the whole restaurant burst into applause. The 29 yr. old birthday girl started to cry and that catalyzed our party to tears. JoAnn realtor — Junko’s friend from pep squad at McKinley, wrote a check for $1000. The JoAnn-Napualiko grant will fund some kind of relief for Lahaina. The principal of Pūnana Leo o Maui, a Hawaiian immersion school, says this is the place to donate: https://www.hawaiiancouncil.org/

It will take months to find the bottom. They are asking for DNA swabs to identify relatives. The cadaver dogs came in yesterday and they have just started to search. I was told a story by the ex-wife of a fire chief about one of his colleagues who lived in Lahaina. When he and his wife tried to escape, they both ran out of the house. The smoke was billowing black and the husband realizing he didn’t have the car keys, ran back into the house to get them. When he came back out, the smoke was so thick he couldn’t see his wife. He screamed her name but there was no response. He survived… After the fire his friend who had a boat, took him back to his burnt out house multiple times. Eventually, he found her dental retainer and the spinal implant that she had. That was all that remained. There will be many cases where there will be no DNA to identify…

In addition, many were not insured. A multi-generation family who no longer has a mortgage might have neglected to pay their insurance not knowing whose responsibility it was to do so. I think that there are many like that.

The criticism and finger pointing is moot — Lahaina is a 100 yr old town with infrastructure that was not only outdated, but haphazardly laid on layer on layer. On rainy days, there was the smell of gas and when investigated, they discovered that the salt water had corroded the pipe completely away and the gas was running in a tunnel of ground. The wooden buildings on Front St. have been frying in the sun (Lahaina means: cruel sun) and tinder dry. The firebreak around the Lahainaluna fire was 100 yard perimeter but the wind was so strong that embers were flying, power lines were dangling… The wind was blowing offshore and people were trying to get to the ocean on Front St. It’s a long way down to jagged rocks. At night, with the thick smoke rushing over the wall, a very difficult feat…

The mayor, Richard Bissen, has said that donations are not helping. He seems to have no empathy for the survivors. He walked through the War Memorial shelter with an entourage and security where people are sheltering without saying a word to anyone. Oprah has been there everyday, talking to people and finding out what they need. She got flak for having a camera crew there one time, but she went in without them after being told, “No cameras.” There needs to be:

  1. a center to distribute physical donations. Sears in Queen Ka’ahumanu Center in Kahului is closed and empty and would work perfectly.
  2. People have to get out of the shelters. Some are living out of their cars or in tents by the shelters. There is no place to store clothing, etc.
  3. Property owners will have to make some hard decisions about rebuilding. Renters will have to relocate. People will have to have forward movement. They can’t just sit in hotel rooms and not plan what they will do or they will become homeless when the benefits run out.
  4. There has been a backlash against tourists. However, Maui is dependent on tourism. Lahaina should be cordoned off and the rest of Maui open for business. People whose housing is not affected but have lost their jobs or gigs still need to pay rent or they too will become homeless.

It will be interesting to see who gets the contracts to rebuild the infrastructure. If they go to Halliburton or Blackstone or rock, it could mean the fix is in. Or perhaps these types of corporations are the only ones with the capacity to handle a $10 billion project.

Meanwhile, I’m working the land and ag, “prepping” for 2024. It’s going to get even crazier… The Palace-Politics-Game-of-Thrones-Lite is way out of control.

Q: Why do the world leaders have to be sociopaths on this plane of existence?
A: Because it is what it is…

Ahuihou!