042706
south korea now ranked the 10th largest economy in the world.

from chosun ilbo:

for the first time, korea has entered the ranks of the world's top 10 largest economies. in 2005, korea ranked 10th among the world's largest economies with a gross domestic product of more than u.s.$790 billion. In 2004, the Korean economy was the world's eleventh-largest.

042406


042406
from honolulu advertiser:

when it comes to grover cleveland, many americans, even residents of his home state of new jersey, have trouble recalling anyting about him except that he is the only president ever to serve nonconsecutive terms. but 5,000 miles away, native hawaiians credit cleveland with sticking up for their rights and sovereignty in the 1890s, when local white landowners and business people overthrew their queen and asked for annexation by the united states. so it was on thursday that three hawaiians landed at new york's laguardia airport, carrying about 20 leis, and found themselves getting lost on new jersey roads as they searched for cleveland's birthplace in caldwell and the town's first presbyterian church, where his father was a pastor. the hawaiians are in new jersey this weekend to pay their respect to cleveland in caldwell and at his grave site in princeton. "we just wanted to come and visit and get a firsthand knowledge of the person and history of cleveland," the rev. kaleo patterson said. the journey is part of the events leading to an april 30 national day of prayer for hawaiian natives. patterson, a united church of christ minister, is president of the honolulu-based pacific justice and reconciliation center, which is helping to lead the effort. it was cleveland who set aside april 30, 1894, as a day of prayer and repentance over the u.s. role in the overthrow of the hawaiian monarchy. american businessmen overthrew queen liliuokalani in a january 1893 coup, declared a republic, and requested annexation by the united states. cleveland investigated and refused, saying the queen should be restored to power. it was not until 1898, when cleveland was out of office, that hawaii became part of the united states. it became a state in 1959.

042206
list of countries by income equality, with the united states ranking in at a embarrassing 92 on the list of 124 countries.



042006
looks like eric may be joining us in seattle! :D

041806
things coming up in the next few weeks:

4/19 final fantasy xi: treasures of aht urhgan release date. :D

4/20 end of hawaii state tax season. (significant only because i work at dotax.)

4/22 cindy sheehan lecture at first methodist church of honolulu (1020 south beretania street). this one's starting at 7 p.m.

5/6 grapefruit playing with the 86 list and the sticklers at pipeline café! 5 p.m. / $5.



5/10 - 5/16 seattle/vacation.

041806


041406
honolulu advertiser columnist lee cataluna took the words right out of my mouth:

perhaps it's hawaii's booming economy or the daily traffic trauma. maybe it's the crazy housing market or the way all the sweet things you remember from childhood got closed down, paved over, built up and too crowded (and you're not even middle-aged). or maybe folks have just reached the breaking point where they had to speak their truth. hawaii is being run for the tourists at the expense of local people. for the first time, local respondents to a survey dared to say so. for decades, we've talked about it among ourselves but not publicly, in keeping with the old "no talk stink" credo. these days, the myriad blogs and public opinion polls thrive on talking stink. these days, there's a lot of stink to talk about. the survey of hawaii residents' sentiments on tourism, conducted by the research firm market trends pacific in 2005 and released to the public this week, tracks residents' attitudes over time. over the past 17 years of doing similar surveys, some attitudes have remained fairly stable: local people still believe the benefits of the tourism industry outweigh the problems. they also believe the hawaii economy is too dependent on tourism. and, the majority doesn't want more hotel development. the executive summary of the report reads: "perceptions about tourism jobs have remained fairly constant over time—strong majorities appreciating the fact the industry offers a wide variety of jobs, but pluralities or slight majorities believing these jobs are characterized by poor hours and little chance for advancement, with the best positions going to outsiders rather than local people." yeah, well, no kidding. at least these days, we can all name a classmate from high school who works somewhere in management at a hotel; only one, maybe two, but certainly not six or eight or 10. another truth that finally came to light was that local people aren't cool with tourists tromping around rain forests and lava fields: "... the idea that more visitor activity should be euncouraged 'in wilderness areas' went from majority agreement in 2001-2002 to majority disagreement in 2005." that same kind of desire to contain tourism sprawl surfaced in responses to other questions, such as: "... in all four counties, about 70% agreed that b&bs and vacation rentals 'should be strictly controlled and limited to areas where nearby residents agreed to allow them.'" so do you think all this dissatisfaction will make a difference? will things now turn the other way? well, that question wasn't included in the survey, but if it was, the choice of answers would have to include the response: "yeah, right."

041106
well, it's about damn time:

tourists suck up resources, jam roads and crowd beaches. they bring money and jobs, but mostly the low-paying, dead-end variety. that negative view of the state's no. 1 industry appears to be growing among hawaii residents. a survey commissioned by the hawaii tourism authority and released yesterday found that for the first time since 1988, when the pollsters began asking the question, most hawaii residents said their island is being run for tourists at the expense of locals. "we need to take care of local needs first," said robin ching, a 35-year-old warehouse supervisor. more tourists' dollars need to go back into schools, fixing potholes and building new sewer lines, ching said. "we already promote tourism so much while our local needs are neglected." tourists account for roughly one-quarter of all spending in the state.

040506
alice lenchanko of ewa beach writes in today's honolulu advertiser:

what has happened to hawaii? local people moving out of this state because they can't afford to live here. young families have to live with family because homes are unreachable for the working class. homeless families are living on the beaches because they can't afford rent. all of these things are happening right now. and yet new subdivisions are targeted toward foreign investors and people from the mainland. politicians talk about how great hawaii's economy is, how we have the lowest unemployment. maybe the economy is great for them (politicians and the wealthy), but the working class is struggling to stay above water. the unemployment rate is low because people must hold at least two jobs each to feed their families. if nothing is done about the problems affecting hawaii's people, eventually the only people living in hawaii will be the rich foreigners and mainlanders, and of course the politicians. i'm still waiting for gov. lingle and mayor hannemann to take action for hawaii's people. stop talking and start doing before our island turn into a giant resort for the wealthy.

040106


photo by lars.