There’s shame in politics, after all

Some ideas are too crass, even in politics, it seems. U.S. Rep. Mazie Hirono — who had knuckled under to the Democratic Party of Hawaii demand that she pay to give a rally speech at this weekend’s convention — has expressed relief that party leaders changed their minds.

"Democrats deserve to hear from their candidates at our convention," said Hirono, who had planned a brief speech at the stated $500-per-minute rate. "I am pleased that the Hawaii Democratic Party has reversed its ill-conceived policy to charge candidates for the opportunity to address their fellow Democrats."

So are we. On the other hand, there are people on the receiving end of all this who surely would argue that being paid to listen, well, that would be another matter.

Kauai joins the mongoose club … sigh

It’s a bit distressing that the presence of mongoose has been confirmed on Kauai — one of the two main Hawaiian islands thought to be free of the potentially destructive creatures (the other is Lanai). A large, very healthy-looking specimen was caught in a trap there this month at Kauai Lagoons resort in Lihue, and where there’s one, there are probably more.

In a botched case of biological control, the weasel-like animal native to India was imported to Hawaii in 1883 by the sugar plantations to control rats, but they ended up eating turtle eggs and birds instead, while the rats continued on their merry way. Mongooses were never officially imported to Kauai, but there have been occasional sightings of them there for almost 45 years, including a dead one found on a highway near Kalaheo in 1976.

So now we know for sure they’re on Kauai, and apparently it’s something we’ll have to learn to live with.