Aloha Dump

Cathy Seipp was a 49-year-old newspaper columnist and conservative blogger, who had come from Manitoba, Canada, to become the sharp-tongued doyenne of the Los Angeles media scene, was only hours away from losing her years-long fight with cancer, leaving behind a 17-year-old daughter, a lifetime of work as a plucky and plain-speaking wordsmith, and the respect of colleagues from both sides of the political spectrum. Cathy had a nemesis and as she lie on her deathbed last week he struck with his last desperate and vain attempt at griefing her. Just hours before her death, "Cathy Seipp" suddenly seemed to undo decades of hard work with an oddly written letter posted on the Web site, www.cathyseipp.com. In what came off as more of a bizarre rant than heartfelt apology, her supposed "very last blog entry" called her years of journalism a "shoddy," "despicable" and "irresponsible" career as a “fourth-rate hack.” Her political stance? All a m

I came across an article in the New Zealand Herald that has an interesting piece about the 15 British military personnel taken hostage by Iran. Clearly, Iran is not the calculating chess player I thought they were; instead, they are a bumbling and desparate nation who is at the end of its rope. But I digress. The author of the piece, Gwynne Dyer, chose a spectacular and attention grabbing title- How to start a war- American style . Dyer contends that had Iran came across an American boarding party there would have been a shootout and the United States would now be at war. He bases this claim on a few out of context quotes by the XO of the USS Underwood, a frigate assigned to help out the British ship Cornwall, the ship the boarded RIB's came from. I'm sure the XO was frustrated and pissed that the Brits were taken and perhaps insinuated, "Why didn't they shoot those bastards instead of getting captured?" I had the same reaction also. I doubt the XO had all the in

The recent story about the two men who beat into unconsciousness an Army Sergeant and his wife in a parking is still brewing strong feelings. A local paper featured a commentary by Rick Hamada who labeled the two thugs as "lawless rogues" and "cretins". Many readers wrote in with their outrage and felt the attacks were a disgrace to the people of Hawaii. Please read his article because it will lend credence to something a few paragraphs down. Hamada’s article caught scrutiny from a local woman who tried, in vain, to make the two thugs out as the victims. Unbelievable. Puesta Wong , in her first sentence of her letter titled Paakaula defense, says, "There is really nothing that should excuse or rectify the Waikele beating of what Rick Hamada describes as an 'innocent' military couple." Of course the discerning reader will pick up right away that Wong intends to do just the opposite with her presumptuous use of quotations. What follows would rival

It is no surprise to me that this slipped through the cracks at Hawaii DMV: (I wanted to get a picture but he cut through some parking places to get to the exit lane) FATA55

It is distressing that my street isn't the only one with jackass speeders on it. Normally, I don't give a second glance at the racers who wrap their vehicles around telephone poles, killing themselves in the process. Yesterday one such jackass killed himself as he was driving on Kamehameha Road, slamming sideways into a pole and disintigrating his car in the process. Police estimated Patrick Davis' speed between 80-100 mph. The speed limit is 35 on that stretch of road. Unfortunately, this retard didn't just kill himself- or even another unsuspecting motorist. He killed his 9-month old son, Kingston, who was found dead at the scene still strapped in his car seat but ejected from the vehicle. As a matter of fact, there wasn't much left of the car and debris was found 50 YARDS away from the crash site. I have a hard time with this accident because I see the potential for this type of thing to happen everyday as I watch the locals race around my streets. Forgive me if

It has been 4 years since we watched the cameras decend on Baghdad. I clearly remember the green night vision surveying the skyline of the capitol city, anxiously awaiting the first bomb. The country was optomistic, united, and I'm sure that even Cindy Sheehan was rooting for her son, whom she barely talks about anymore, to kill as many terrorists as he could. Party lines were rechalked in 2001 as Congress held hands, sang, and prayed for the victims of Sepetember 11. Then the bombs fell. It wasn't long before Youtube was getting thousands of hits from people wanting to see our boys doling out the retribution. Although the war was now being faught on two fronts, the other including Afghanistan, we remained optomistic. But it didn't last. Soon the far left dropping bombs here in the U.S. The lines were redrawn but this time they were drawn in blood and the country became diametrically opposed. Our war in Iraq is illegal. How so? How many more resolutions should Saddam have b

I can't imagine what was going through the families of the USS San Juan yesterday as reports of the missing submarine started to come in. During an exercise with the USS Enterprise battle group the ship gave indications that it was in distress- loss of communications and a red flare. For those of you not versed in submarine exercises, this is bad. This means a multibillion dollar submarine with 120+ crew members is in trouble- think Kursk or Widowmaker. During these exercises the submarines are to check in on a set schedule via radio messages and when San Juan did not check in it raises concern; couple the lack of communication with a red flare and hairs start to raise up on the back of necks and stomachs start to sink. The International Submarine Escape and Rescue Liaison Office (ISMERLO) in Norfolk, Va., was alerted to assist with the search and rescue effort. ISMERLO, an international organization, serves to facilitate the rapid call out of international rescue systems in the e

March 12, 2007: When scientists announce they're about to calibrate their instruments, science writers normally put away their pens. It's hard to write a good story about calibration. This may be the exception. On Feb. 25, 2007, NASA scientists were calibrating some cameras aboard the STEREO-B spacecraft and they pointed the instruments at the sun. Here is what they saw: The rest of the story, including an awesome video of the event, can be found HERE.

I have just spent the last 45 minutes going over the transcripts from the ridiculous comments that both Bill Mahar and Ann Coulter made yesterday. The Right was in a tizzy over Mahar's transparent and carefully crafted statement that the U.S. would be better off if the Taliban assassination attempt on the V.P.'s life was successful. But I have zero doubt that if Cheney were not in power, people wouldn't be dying needlessly tomorrow /Lemmings applause on que. Mahar then continued to stick his foot further down his throat with this comment: I'm just saying, that if he did die, other people, more people would live. That's a fact. It's fact? Just like that, because Mahar says so? Don't forget that this is the same guy who calls the jihadists who ran airplanes into buildings on September 11 warriors and the U.S. military cowards because we lob tommy rockets into Iraq. I wonder if he feels the same way about the American Indians who fired at the British formations

I will be on the set of Lost most of the day for the second Friday in a row, contributing to the artistic endeavorers of Hollywood pragmatics. It is amusing to watch them, with the Hollywood attitudes, interact with the locals here. Not ot say that they are rude or snobby, just not from around here. For those of you not familiar with the show, and I must confess I do not regularly watch the show, it is filmed here in Hawaii. A plane leaving form Australia crashes somewhere in the Pacific and the survivors make it to a deserted island- kind of like Gilligan's Island but a lot more beefcake shots and gratuitous skimpy shots of the women. But believe me when I tell you there is more going on with these castaways than figuring out to rig a coconut to work as a side band radio. The show uses flashbacks to develop character history and explain why they are who they are. I have been in two flashbacks, one with Clair which will air the last Wednesday in March, and the current flashback I a