Aftermath

As the reports and news continue to filter in, it's important to remain calm and refrain from perpetuating feelings of dread and panic. The casualty figures continue to rise and the time to respond is when those details are confirmed, not before. We can all pull together to do our part in helping out however we can during this difficult time.

Earthquake

While it is scary to think of a magnitude 8.9 earthquake and the terror the people going through it must have felt, a little perspective is needed (granted it is easy to say that being thousands of miles away) but I feel the need to express frustration for all the commentary on the opposite side of the spectrum ... people expressing shock and horror at the images; seriously overreacting to the situation in my never humble, but always honest opinion.

The earthquake itself was 15 miles down and 80 miles from the coast so people had sufficient time to get to higher ground. Also, buildings are build with earthquakes in mind so that helps to minimize injuries. Initial reports say that there have been single digit fatalities from this massive earthquake compared to the hundreds and thousands in past quakes. There has been significant and serious structural damage, yes, but the human cost is comparatively small. For that people need to be thankful. Enough with the dismay already ... buildings, like other material things, are replaceable.

Unexpected Developments

The announcement that Senator Daniel Akaka will not run for re-election in 2012 came as a surprise to just about everyone ... I'm sure there were some insiders that were privy to the information before it was released, but for the most part it was a stunning revelation.

The usual praises and well wishes are flowing now ... great statesman, served the interests of Hawaii well, etc., etc., etc. I wonder if anyone is going to do an honest, close examination of the good senator's record and how effective he was in reality. If the definition of effective and good is the fact he voted along with Senator Daniel Inouye then yes, he probably was.

There has to be a higher standard set for our elected representatives and given that senator Akaka is a member of the party that got us into the current fiscal mess and helps perpetuate the status quo, it can be said with certainty that he really was't as good for the state or effective as people say.

Gubernatorial Idiocy

Here we go again ... tax and spend and tax and spend ... ad nauseum. I should have posted a prediction so that I was on the record for saying this is exactly what our current governor was going to do regardless of all the rhetoric he spewed during the campaign.

Abercrombie the Zombie makes a lot of noise about raising money for the budget, but what he ought to be focused on is reducing the amount of spending being done and the level of waste. He's a typical Washington D.C. bureaucrat with the financial savvy of a kumquat. And the lame-brained legislators go along with it and are of the same deficient mentality.