A piece of Hawaii was bought straight up for a change instead of through campaign donations as we "flASHback" on the week’s news that amused and confused:
» Software magnate Larry Ellison, the third-richest man in America, bought the island of Lanai from fellow Forbes list billionaire David Murdock for a reported $500 million. Welcome to Feudalism 2.0.
» Gov. Neil Abercrombie praised the Board of Education he appointed, saying board members have "not been in many headline stories … because they were achieving things." He should try it himself sometime.
» The governor signed a bill passed by the Legislature banning the sale in Hawaii of products containing bear bile or gallbladders. It’s A New Day for Yogi and Boo Boo.
» Two reports said Hawaii taxpayers owe some of the nation’s highest debt for unfunded state retiree benefits, with one study calling us a "sinkhole state." That’ll only confuse folks who think of us as The Pothole State.
» After cutting city bus service and causing overcrowding on some routes, Oahu Transportation Director Wayne Yoshioka argued the $5.27 billion rail system is needed because TheBus is overcrowded. That’s like cutting off your hand to replace it with a prosthetic foot.
» The city transit authority may shorten the length of the rail project’s 21 stations to save money. Mayoral candidate Ben Cayetano offered his own idea for shorter stations: bus stops.
» Marine scientists are fitting endangered monk seals with submersible "crittercams" to document how our flippered friends hunt for food. If it works, the project will expand to study how local pols forage for campaign funds.
» David Lee Becker, former manager of a Waimanalo puppy mill that was shut down for filthy conditions, was extradited from Las Vegas to face 153 counts of animal cruelty and is being held in lieu of $200,000 bail until his arraignment July 12. Maybe he’ll learn something about the importance of a clean kennel.
» Mesa Air Group Inc. is playing the name game with its local airline, which launched as go!, failed in an attempt to become Aloha Airlines, flew as go!Mokulele and is now returning to go! It’s a branding strategy borrowed from the film "Dumb & Dumber."
» Sea Life Park’s iconic Hawaiian reef tank was replaced by a new attraction called "Shark Trek Experience." Visitors will be able to swim with sandbar sharks, scalloped hammerhead sharks, black tip sharks and out-of-session state legislators.
And the quote of the week … from Ben Cayetano on the big bucks being spent by pro-rail forces to discredit him: "Dan Inouye famously said it would take World War III to stop rail. They started the war — and we’ll finish it." If we didn’t have elections, we’d need steel cages to settle these grudges.
Reach David Shapiro at volcanicash@gmail.com or blog.volcanicash.net.
