It’s deja vu all over again as the Abercrombie administration reboots and we plant tongue in cheek for our "flASHback" on the week’s news that amused and confused:

» Gov. Neil Abercrombie announced the resignation of his chief of staff Amy Asselbaye and her assistant Andrew Aoki as he scrambled to retool his sputtering administration. Welcome to "A New Day in Hawaii, Take Two."

» It’s unclear who will preside over the transition, since the governor is leaving tomorrow on a 12-day trip to Japan, Okinawa and China. If at first you don’t succeed, duck out of town and say, "Surprise me."

» Lt. Gov. Brian Schatz said Hawaii’s incumbent politicians keep getting re-elected because of a "reservoir of patience" among local people. Either that or an ocean of disgust at the paucity of plausible ballot choices.

» The state Tax Department is launching a review of whether Hawaii’s tax system is adequate to meet the state’s financial needs. It’s like the Big Bad Wolf studying if there are enough little pigs.

» The state Intermediate Court of Appeals ruled that Hawaii County must give holiday pay to employees who are on unpaid leave, even if for disciplinary reasons. Good grief, even Santa Claus doesn’t take care of bad little boys and girls.

» People now trust their local government more than the federal government, according to a recent Gallup Poll. In this usage, "trust" is loosely defined as a slightly lower level of contempt.

» A bill before the City Council would make it illegal to operate any sound-producing device in a public area that can be heard 100 feet away. Personally, I think we’d get more noise relief if some Council members would just use their indoor voices.

» Louisiana Tech coach Sonny Dykes said referees who caused a 22-minute replay delay in his team’s loss to the University of Hawaii "did surgery with a chain saw in trying to get the call right." Seems like fans paid for a football game and a City Council meeting broke out.

» Astronomers using a telescope on Mauna Kea won a Nobel Prize for research that could help predict whether the universe will end with "big rip" or a "big crunch." They borrowed the methodology political pundits use to guess how each year’s Legislature will end.

» Hawaii’s gasoline prices are 10 cents higher than a month ago despite falling sharply in other states. This is testing our reservoir of patience for the economic model known as "Stick ’em up."

And the quote of the week … from Abercrombie in launching a new anti-bullying campaign in the public schools: "When you treat someone else disrespectfully it doesn’t make you bigger. It makes you smaller." I knew something must have stunted his growth.

Reach David Shapiro at volcanicash@gmail.com or blog.volcanicash.net.